LA County to Roll Out “Service Worker Fair Pay Audit”
As of July 2025, LA County will quietly begin random pay audits of businesses with fewer than 25 employees who offer professional or digital services — including marketing, software development, accounting, and consulting.
Why this matters:
If you:
Hire 1099s or part-timers
Pay staff below local benchmarks
Rely on flat-rate project contracts
…you’re at higher risk of being flagged for “unfair contract compensation” (per AB 2114, passed last quarter).
Penalties: Up to $5,000 per incident if workers are deemed misclassified or paid below industry norms (even if contracts were signed).
✅ What to do this week:
Review any contract under $20/hour or $500/project
Document project scopes + rate justification (especially for junior roles)
Avoid ambiguous “ongoing” gigs with no hourly/log breakdown
Tax — Skip the Estimated Tax Trap with This Method
Q2 estimated taxes are due soon — but many California founders are overpaying and then getting caught in year-end cash squeezes.
A smarter approach for service businesses under $1.5M gross:
Use the prior year safe harbor method
Pay 100% of last year’s tax liability, split over 4 quarters
This avoids penalties while keeping more cash in your business
💡 If you made less this year than last, work with a CPA to file Form 2210-F to adjust your estimated payments — a legal move almost no one uses.
👉 Ideal for agency owners, consultants, or legal firms with seasonal swings or long payment cycles.
🚨 Business Spotlight for June 22 (Podcast + Newsletter)
Want Your Business in Front of 116K+ Buyers,
We’re featuring just 2 businesses in our June 22 drop—broadcast across our top-rated podcast and California’s most opened business newsletters.
For founders who want visibility that actually converts:
🎙️ A podcast shoutout to a business-savvy audience
📩 A 100-word spotlight with your link + CTA
📣 Distribution to 65K–70K active, engaged readers
No waitlist. No fluff. Just visibility that drives real leads.
Drop Stripe Radar if You Use Manual Approvals
If you're manually approving invoices or have low chargeback volume, you may be wasting hundreds per year using Stripe Radar’s default settings.
Radar’s “advanced fraud detection” adds 0.04% per transaction — which adds up if you’re running retainers or higher-ticket B2B services.
✅ What to do today:
Go to Stripe → Radar Settings
If you only work with known clients and manually review first-time payments, downgrade to basic risk controls
Annual savings: $200–$900 for smaller agencies or service shops
No performance loss, just fewer automatic declines and fewer false flags.
The “Referral Matchmaker” Play (Works in 48 Hours)
Here’s a zero-cost, high-trust way to generate leads without posting or pitching.
What you do:
Text or DM 3 adjacent service providers (ex: You do branding, they do PPC or legal)
Offer to swap warm referrals for leads they don’t take or aren’t best suited for
Share a Google Sheet with 3 ideal client examples to clarify your sweet spot
Why it works:
You’re helping them monetize unused leads
They trust you more than a random cold outreach partner
It creates urgency and reciprocity
This isn't a gimmick. Multiple CA founders reported closing deals in under 5 days using this exact flow.