Start 2010 Right with These 10 Tax Tips!

With the holidays right around the corner, now is the perfect time to begin making end-of-the-year tax preparations for your business. To prevent a large tax bill in April, spend money now on things your business will need in the upcoming year. Always remember to consult with your tax professional before the end of the year to make sure you are complying with state and local tax laws while not overlooking deductions or claiming ineligible deductions. 1. The limit on Section 179 deductions was supposed to decrease to $125,000 from $250,000 for this... Read more

5 Free Tools to Run Your Bail Business

Running a business can be both stressful and expensive. Luckily, there are several free resources online that will help you run your business more effectively without putting a dent in your pocket book. Learn how these five free applications can help save you money. 1. Google Docs - Have you ever gone home for the night and needed a file that was on your computer at work? With Google Docs, that headache is eradicated. By storing all your data online, you can access your files in Google docs from any computer. Google Docs gives you the opportunity... Read more

Marketing Effectiveness for Bail Professionals

What is Marketing Effectiveness? There are a number of ways to market your bail bond business. Options include phone books, outdoor advertising (billboards, etc.), and of course, the Internet. As you spend more and more on marketing your business, it is of utmost importance to know which advertising initiatives are having positive results and which are not. Tracking the results of your marketing efforts is known as “Marketing Effectiveness”. Outlined below are a number of marketing effectiveness components for bail professionals. Don’t... Read more

Don’t Let Pretrial Services Attack the Bail Industry

The National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies has released the first issue of their “Advocacy Brief.” Entitled “The Truth About Commercial Bail Bonding in America,” this article is filled with specious claims that spin facts and figures to support the abolition of commercial bonding. The 10 page document, available online, paints the commercial bail system as a money-hungry monster who cares little about community or justice. Labeled “Facts & Positions,” this paper consistently falls back on the argument... Read more

Show Your Customers You Care

According to the latest data available from the U.S. Department of Justice, 67.5% of released prisoners will be rearrested within three years of being released from prison. While the rest of the world may call people with multiple arrests repeat offenders, in the bail world those people are called returning customers. While no one may wish multiple arrests on anyone, the fact is the recidivism rate in the U.S. is so high that there is the possibility for two out of every three clients to be needing your services again. The easiest business to land... Read more

PBUS “All Hands on Deck!” Alert

PBUS President Linda Braswell has announced the creation of the PBUS J.A.I.L. Summit, co-chaired by Armando Roche and Debbie Jallad, as a response to the NACo-PJI initiative to evaluate all county jails and, in essence, recommend pre-trial services at each of them (click here to read the NACo-PJI recommendations for Mecklenburg County, NC). The Summit will take place at the beginning of September in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas area. Industry leaders will be invited to take part in this summit and distinguish how to engage PBUS members, bail agents,... Read more

Tying Your Social Media Together

You’ve started experimenting with social media. You’re listening, you’re networking, you’re even writing a blog… now what? It’s time to tie all your social media efforts together to get the most out of the content you are creating and sharing. While the different sites are updated individually with different goals in mind, they should work together to promote your business. First, analyze what is working for you and what is not. Do you have commercials for your bail company? Having a YouTube channel makes sense,... Read more

To Blog or Not to Blog…

Now that you are online and connected to people, how do you build these relationships to better your business and establish yourself as a leader in your field? In the internet world, it’s not just about how many connections you have, but the value you have to these contacts. To create value, provide people with information that is of interest to them. How can you do this? One of the best ways is by starting a blog. What is a blog? A blog is short for “web-log,” or essentially an internet journal. There are millions of blogs on... Read more

FaceSpace? MyLinkedIn?

In the first post of the social media series, we covered what social media is, and why you need to pay attention to it by listening to what other people are saying. Now that you’ve heard part of the conversation, become a part of the conversation! There are several ways to become involved in social media. With so many different sites, how do you know which ones to choose? This article will focus on the websites that allow you to interact on a deeper level with your online network. You’ve probably heard of many of these sites - Facebook,... Read more

Why Do You Need Social Media?

In the past 5 years, the internet has gone from a place to discover information to a place to share information.  This shift has resulted in what is commonly called Internet 2.0. What does Internet 2.0 involve? Everything from being able to comment on articles (like on Collateral), write product reviews on sites like Amazon.com, and being able to network with others via sites like MySpace and FaceBook are included in Internet 2.0. Often times these sites are referred to as “Social Media” because anyone has the ability to publish and share information... Read more

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