Learn With Marla

Business • Tax & Accounting • Entrepreneurship • Leadership • Stewardship • Personal Growth • Faith

Articles and lessons from Marla and her companies, sorted the way she teaches.

Through writing, teaching, and practical tools, Marla shares lessons developed through more than three decades of business, leadership, ministry, personal growth, and stewardship.

Business

What is CFO-level advisory for a small business?: Article. The layer above bookkeeping and filing: reading the statements, watching margins and cash, and thinking ahead about hiring, debt and growth.
What payroll service costs: Article. No figure comes off a page like this one. What actually drives payroll pricing, and how to ask for the all-in number so two quotes can be compared.
Payroll for one employee: Article. The compliance behind one employee is very nearly the compliance behind twenty. What a first hire requires, and where first-time employers go wrong.
Employee or contractor for payroll: Article. No single factor decides it, and the contract is not the answer. The federal test, Rhode Island's own test, and what getting it wrong sets off.
Payroll tax mistakes and what follows: Article. Penalties compound quarter by quarter, the state assesses its own separately, and one of them can follow a person after the business has gone.
Payroll for salaried and hourly staff: Article. A mixed workforce is the normal case. What changes between salaried, hourly and tipped people, and the two errors that cause most of the trouble.
What does a business advisor actually do?: Article. Structure, pricing, hiring, growth and the decisions in between — with somebody who knows your numbers and is still there afterwards.
When should I bring in a business advisor?: Article. Usually when decisions start outrunning the information you have. The four moments where advice is worth most, and why they all come early.
Business advisory vs consulting: Article. Consulting is a project with an end. Advisory is a relationship that keeps the context. Which one fits the question you are actually asking.
Which industries does PSC advise?: Article. Construction, food service, hospitality, media, property, professional services, retail and nonprofits. What changes by industry, and what does not.

Tax & Accounting

Tax preparation vs tax strategy: Article. Preparation records what already happened. Strategy happens while the year is still open and the decisions can still change the outcome.
How much can a tax strategy save me?: Article. Any number quoted before someone has looked at your income, your entity and your year is invented. Where the difference actually comes from.
When should I start tax planning?: Article. Now, rather than at filing time. Why the structure chosen at the start keeps working for years, and why an open year is worth more than a closed one.
Tax strategy in Spanish, English or Portuguese: Article. Say which language you want to be contacted in and the office follows it. The site and its helper run in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
What does monthly bookkeeping include?: Article. Categorising, reconciling, a profit and loss, a balance sheet and the cash position — every month. What each one is, and why it is there.
Bookkeeper vs accountant: what is the difference?: Article. A bookkeeper records what happened. An accountant interprets what it means and advises on what to do next. Why most small businesses need both.
Do I need an accountant if I use QuickBooks?: Article. Software records and organises transactions. It does not tell you whether the chart of accounts is right, or what the numbers mean for your business.

Entrepreneurship

LLC or S-Corp: which should my business be?: Article. One is a legal structure, the other is a tax election. What each one does, and how the comparison is actually made for a specific business.
Separating personal and business finances: Article. It starts structurally, with a business account and a business card. The harder half is deciding deliberately how money moves from the business to you.
Choosing a business structure: LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp: Article. What each structure does about liability, tax, partners and an eventual exit — and what the decision actually turns on for your business.

Stewardship

How often should you review your financials?: Article. Quarterly is the floor and some businesses are better served monthly. What a review covers, and when the business earns a closer look.
Financial planning vs financial advising: Article. Advising usually means managing an investment portfolio. Planning is the wider job, and for an owner it has to include the business itself.
Do I need a financial plan?: Article. If you are making financial decisions one at a time without a framework connecting them, that is the moment. The signs, and what a plan actually is.
Retirement planning for business owners: Article. An owner has no plan by default and nobody contributing on their behalf. What the options are, why it is also tax work, and why the sale is not a plan.
What financial planning costs: Article. No figure comes off a page like this one. What it depends on, what to ask so the number you are given is comparable, and how to judge it afterwards.

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The four paths

BusinessFive companiesBuilding companies, systems, services, and economic opportunity.FaithDerribando Murallas Christian CenterLiving and leading from a foundation of spiritual conviction and service.CommunityShekinah Praise Agency, Shekinah Global FoundationDeveloping people, families, workforce, education, and community resources.ImpactInfinity Plaza, Comuna, Premium Services EnterpriseCreating pathways toward entrepreneurship, ownership, investment, and legacy.