Things to Know When Starting Your Business

August 17, 2017 / nancyrubin / Leave a comment

Starting a business is more difficult than people normally realize. Once you set off in the business world, you’ll face many obstacles on the path to success. Many entrepreneurs decide to start their own business and be their own boss. However, a lot of businesses fail because their owners weren’t properly prepared for challenges that awaited them.

In order to avoid failing, you have to know what lies ahead, so that you can be ready to face it on time. The startup stage of your business will be the most difficult one and it will demand a lot of attention and a lot of effort from you. Nevertheless, if you get well informed before you begin, you’ll be able to handle any situation much more effectively. Here are a few things you should know about starting your business.

Be thorough with the research

Research is the most important step you have to make when starting your business. Understanding the market, the audience and how it all fits together is fundamentally crucial for business success. Through research, you’ll be able to determine your target market and who your target audience is. This is vital, because you want to offer your products or services to people who are actually interested in them.

Furthermore, you’ll know who your competitors are and what you will have to do in order to outrun them. Moreover, you need to research what you want to sell. For instance, is there a similar product or service on the market already? Is it doing well on the market and are people interested in it? Is there a way you can make people more interested in that product and will your business flourish if you opt for that idea? You can answer all of these questions and more, by conducting a thorough research and understanding the market.

Start networking

It’s important to expand your network of contacts when starting a business, especially if you’re new to the business world. Your network should consist of more than just friends and family, although they can be helpful as well. Try to find relevant people with experience in your industry and get them to help you out a bit. Any advice or any bit of information you manage to acquire will prove to be invaluable. Furthermore, they might introduce you to more key figures and even potential customers.

In order to expand your network, you’ll have to maintain your presence on social media and attend social gatherings and business forums that are related to your specific industry or niche. Make sure that you never hesitate to approach people that may prove to be helpful. After all, you may approach someone who is willing to invest in your business or even start a partnership with you. Moreover, you may even meet a mentor who will guide you and help you overcome any business obstacle you might be faced with.

Market your business early on

It’s never too early to start with the marketing. Just because you haven’t launched your business yet, it doesn’t mean you can’t start marketing it. The sooner you start promoting your business and improving its visibility, the better. For instance, social media and networks are best places to start things off. Not only can social media help you promote your business but it can also help you familiarize with your target audience. Your audience is the best source of information, especially if you want to start an early marketing campaign, test your ideas and gather feedback.

The best way to know if your product is going to generate enough interest is to ask your audience what they think about it. Moreover, you need to start marketing your business in person, like networking for example. You can use the traditional methods, such as giving out business cards to your business associates and potential customers. Just make sure you invest in effective printing services beforehand, because no one will take you seriously if your business cards aren’t designed well.

Get some help

There are things you simply can’t do on your own and it’s always the best option to get some help. There are things about your business that you may not be aware of and professional assistance can be of great help. For example, you should hire or consult with a lawyer concerning your legal obligations. They will inform you about licenses and insurances you need to obtain to successfully start your business. On the other hand, you should also hire an accountant or a bookkeeper for your business operations.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, then accounting is best left to someone who does, because one missing to pay your tax bill or forgetting to pay an outstanding invoice may result in financial trouble you don’t really need. Moreover, you can also consult with financial experts that may help you improve your credit score. After all, a bad credit score may result in banks refusing to give you a loan when you need it the most.

Starting a business isn’t fun and games. The promise of a lucrative career comes with many challenges and many obstacles. The best way to grow your business is to be well-informed about what awaits you once you start out.

Guest Author is Alex Williams is a journalism graduate, and a rookie blogger trying to find my luck. Blogs are the perfect opportunity for presenting yourself to wider audience, getting the chance to showcase my expertise and receiving recognition. I am a regular contributor at Bizzmark Blog

A Fresh Start: 5 Ways To Revive Your Business

July 26, 2017 / nancyrubin / 1 Comment

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Every business needs a regular reboot. It can help you to take your business to the next level, redefine your goals or simply re-motivate you if you’ve been starting to lose inspiration. Here are some of the top ways to give yourself a fresh start.

Remodel your business services

The services you’re offering may be out of fashion and no longer getting the clientele. They be getting the wrong type of clientele in and damaging your aspirations. Alternatively, the services you offer may be too demanding and simplifying them could be in order. Take the time to really consider what’s working for you and what’s not. Talk to your staff to better understand what they think your company could be offering.

Introduce new expertise

It may be time to learn some new skills. This could include paying for you and your team to take a course and gain some new expertise that could help you expand your services. There are even day workshops out there in topics such as accountancy, marketing and HR that could be useful for modernising and simplifying your business. Alternatively, you could try hiring someone experienced that can bring new skills to this business. This might allow you to access a new niche in the market.

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Move premises

Your premises may be too small, too costly or badly located for your business. Moving will not just provide new practical benefits but could mentally provide that fresh start that you need to re-motivate you and your team. Make sure to budget for other costs such as moving companies and legal paperwork. Also consider the practicalities that your current premises has that your new one will also need. This could include a good storage area, good disabled access or free parking.

Have a refurb

Alternatively you may be able to stay in your current premises and simply reorder things around. If you’re in retail, this might include hiring a shop remodelling company to brighten up the décor and add more space. If you work from an office, it may be a case of reordering desk for better practicality. This will mentally reinforce the idea of a fresh start as with moving but allow you to still keep the comforts and practicalities of your current premises.

Invest in your own custom software

Digital technology is allowing us to become more efficient and more organised. Investing in your own custom software might allow you to better monitor your staff and projects whilst also making life easier for them. This could be anything from a digital till display to an infrastructure organiser to an app for clients. Creating your own software isn’t cheap, so you should consider first whether the added efficiency is worth the money spent. Check first that there aren’t any software solutions already out there that could benefit you – this is likely to be much more affordable.

3 Ways to Get Your Small Business Growing

April 27, 2017April 27, 2017 / nancyrubin / 1 Comment

Do you feel like your small business may be stuck in a rut? When the answer is yes, you’ve got some serious work ahead of you. Being in charge of a small business can wear on some people over time, but the hope is you are not one of them.

That said it is important to do all you can to keep your small business headed in the right direction.

Be cognizant of your financial happenings. Also look at the morale of your team (for those with employees). Yes, it can be much to juggle at times, but would you have it any other way?

Keep Shooting for More Business Growth

So your small business can grow as much as possible, remember the following tips:

Goals

First, always set realistic goals for your business moving forward. To use an analogy, some business owners have eyes that are bigger than their appetites. When this happens, they are not able to grow their companies.

At the start of each month, set a few goals that you want to see accomplished by month’s end. Now, don’t get too disappointed if one or even some of them are not completed. The only time to worry is if you are missing out on most or all them.

Also do a review of where your business was a year ago now. By seeing if you’ve grown, stayed about the same, and even taken a step or two back, it is important to compare periods.

The goals you set for your growth must always be within reach, not those that you are all but assured of not reaching.

Funds

Yes, it would be pretty hard for your company to grow without there being a financial lifeline along the way.

That said if you are in need of direct funds for your small business, where will you turn?This can be a tricky question to answer, especially if your options are rather limited.

Do your best to get whatever funds you need without mortgaging your future.

Before accepting a cash funding arrangement, be sure to research each potential provider.
Look at things such as:

How long have they been in business?
Do they have a solid reputation within the business community?
Is their customer service as good as it gets?
What kind of record do they have with the Better Business Bureau (BBB)?

While it makes perfect sense to get financial help to grow your business, do it wisely.

Outreach

Assuming you’ve been doing various forms of brand outreach up to now, is it working?Even though you might think you are doing enough, are you? One of the best ways to grow your business is making sure as many consumers as possible know about it.

This means marketing, advertising, blogging, social media, the list goes on and on.

If you do not have the time or manpower to get all these needs accomplished, reach out for more help. Sure, while you have to spend money to make money may seem like an old cliché, it is quite realistic.

Never take an axe to your outreach efforts, especially as you look to grow your brand moving forward.

As a small business owner, what practices have worked for you in growing your company?

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers small business topics on the web.

Is It Time To Grow Your Small Business?

April 3, 2017 / nancyrubin

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It takes a lot of work to get to the point where you can seriously consider trying to expand your business. First, you had to take the steps of entrepreneurs before and go out into the world with an idea and the determination to make it work. Many people don’t get that far. Secondly, you have to maintain the success that you have found. Your business should be a foundation for further growth. Before thinking about expansion, you need to be confident that what you have at the moment is not going to fall out from under you. Expanding an existing business is actually a greater risk than starting one: if you fail to establish a business, you are left where you were to begin with, which is with nothing. If you fail to expand your business and it folds in the process, you are similarly left with nothing but that is a lot less than what you once had. If you feel that it is the right time to grow your business, you should immediately stop and carefully plan what it is that you want to do. It stands to reason that you would not have reached this point if you allowed your judgement to be clouded by reckless ambition. Here is a checklist of things to think about before making a life-changing decision:

Growing your business, at least at first, can be an expensive endeavour. You may need to move into bigger premises or take on more staff or substantially enhance your technological capital. All of these things require money and if your business is not making the requisite profit, you may be in trouble. If your business is successful enough to brook these costs, you have to make sure that the money is available to you now. You do not want to start your new business with too much debt. If you want to free up some money, consider taking advantage of invoice finance options. They allow you to get 80% of future invoice payments within a few days of issuing them. At a time when you are looking towards the future in any case, this can make the difference between success and failure.

Besides the need for more money, you will also find that you are facing greater responsibilities. If you are doing more business with more customers, there will be more paperwork and a greater need to ensure that everything is exactly right. While it may be necessary to take on more staff to do the extra work, you should also consider bringing in someone to whom you can delegate some of your newer responsibilities. It can be difficult letting go of the thing that you have had complete control over since its inception, but success can sometimes be difficult and this is one such instance.

The most important thing, however, is to know what you are getting into. It is one thing to ensure that your business is ready to grow, but if you don’t know what it will be growing into, you should find out. Market research is more crucial in this instance than in any other.

Soup Up Your Business With Software

April 3, 2017 / nancyrubin / 2 Comments

Running a business can be difficult and time-consuming, but you can make things easier if you choose to use the right software. By investing in the best software for your company, you can cut time wastage down in your business and make your entire model more efficient and effective. You will also be able to ensure that your company is easier to manage. There will be no issues with getting staff on the right page or setting goals to be pursued. But what software should you be investing in for your company? We think these pieces of software are vital whether you are running a small company or a massive corporation.

Windows Office

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Windows office includes several tools that you can use for management and running your company. For instance, Excel is fantastic for organizing data such as sales info and invoices. Alternatively, you can also use Excel for managing content and controlling when or how it is released. It’s a planning tool. Obviously, Word is still the best software out there for any word processing needs that you might have within the office. You might think the Office is outdated now that Google Docs is on the scene and more importantly, free. However, there are certain capabilities that you will lose without Office so it might still be worth that small investment.

SharePoint

SharePoint is commonly marketed as a way to store and share files. But, if you know how to use it, this software can be so much more than that in your business. You can use SharePoint to create a hub in your company online where information and content can be shared between employees. Think of it as a digital playground where ideas can be formed, assessed and approved. With expert SharePoint consultants, you’ll be able to access the full power behind this software, and you’re not going to be disappointed by what you discover.

Any Antivirus like Norton

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An antivirus software is a crucial tool for any business operating on the market today. Without it, you will be leaving your business exposed to viruses that could easily tear down your business model. You might think that this is an exaggeration, but you’d be surprised. A virus can contain a dangerous trojan software. On the service, it might look as though the cause of the virus is an E-bomb. Beneath that, the software could be stealing your files or simply erasing them.

Ecommerce like Shopify

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This will be particularly important for a business operating purely online. But it could be useful for any company. An ecommerce software will allow you to sell your products easily online. It will create a platform that is easy for customers to use, view and understand. This will ensure that you get plenty of purchases online and it’s not just for purely online companies. With ecommerce software, you can give customers the option of another way to buy. This is always going to be beneficial because it will allow you to attract a larger audience.

Using this software you can keep your company firing on all cylinders.

How to Climb the Corporate Ladder

March 29, 2017March 29, 2017 / nancyrubin

Climbing the corporate ladder, which ultimately ends in you sitting pretty at the helm of a successful business as the boss, is something that people all over the world, every single day, seek to do. Because of the sheer volume of competitors out there, even in the market in which you are seeking to get to the top of, you have to be able to stand out from the rest. Below are a few hints and tips on how you can climb the corporate ladder and leave all your computers in your wake at the bottom of it.

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And standing out from the rest is, first and foremost, what you need to do. If you are seeking to climb the ladder on your own terms, i.e. by starting your own business venture, you must be able to spot gaps in the market in which you are climbing. You must be able to tap into a previously untapped area — in doing so, you will never lose customers that are seeking for something new or seeking to do business with someone who has their finger on the pulse of the market. There are a plethora of ways in which you can spot a gap in the market: you could partake in a bit of ‘creative’ swiping, where you take ideas from another company and twist them, or relocate them, so that you are not doing anything legally wrong and so that you are providing something new for the customer; or it could entail you absorbing all the latest trends and make use of them, i.e. by tapping into the usage of specific social media sites and the services they offer. If you want to climb the corporate ladder, and take your own business with you, then you must be brave enough to try things that you may not have tried before, and you must be brave enough to stand on the toes of a few of your competitors.

But you don’t just have to start your own business in order to climb the corporate ladder: you can do so by making your way to the top of a business that is already there. However, to make your way to the top of somebody else’s business you have to be just as brave in your attempts to stand out from as you would be if you did in fact own your own. You need to be able to stand out from your colleagues, and most of the time simply getting on with your work and doing it well isn’t a good enough way to do so. You need to be brave enough to bring visibility to your work; this means that you should do all you can to demonstrate your work, skills and efforts to your superiors, whether that be by telling them or showing them. And when it comes to the process of making them aware, you should always seek to do it directly in order to ensure that the message has been sent and not become lost in transit (either purposely or accidentally). Having an active and open relationship with your boss will help in this situation. As well as this, you should always seek to take recognition for your work and never allow for others to take credit for it — you have to make sure your boss knows it is your work, and you need to show to them that you are proud of the work you have produced, which could itself convince them that you are ready to take the next step in the corporate ladder.

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Another way to climb the corporate ladder, or even start on it a few steps above the bottom, is to seek professional qualifications. Specifically, you could devote your time to taking a degree that teaches about the world of business so that you can enter the business world with a built-in knowledge of how it works. Taking such a degree will allow you to learn about aspects such as economics, finance and marketing from knowledgeable professionals. In completing a degree in business you will be able to enter the world of work with the skills to be able to interpret business concepts and make informed decisions regarding them. However, you should be aware that taking up this sort of venture is very demanding: it is demeaning in the sense that it is over a prolonged period of time, it means you may not be getting as much ‘real’ world experience as is desired in certain areas and it may even mean uprooting your life completely. But, if you’re the type of person that thrives in educational environments and would rather do this than find hands on experience in the sector, then you should go for this option and not let anybody tell you otherwise — and there will be a lot of people willing and waiting to do that. And you don’t even have to completely uproot your life and go to a university or college: you can look to the Internet for the solution through an Online Business Management Degree. This kind of option is asynchronous, which means that you can simply log on and complete assignments at a time that is convenient; all you need it a strong Internet connection and the discipline to be able to take the work into your own hands and complete it even with the lack of an authority figure looming above you.

What you should always remember is that it is is the little things that makes a big difference in business: it is the little things that you do every day that contribute to making your way up the corporate ladder. When doing anything in the world of business, you have to do it in a way in which it reaches its optimum potential. As well as this, you must be brave. You must be brave when it comes to making decisions, when it comes to showcasing your work and when it to the choices you make in life regarding your development.

The Little Things That Make A Big Difference

March 28, 2017 / nancyrubin / 2 Comments

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Every small business we have ever spoken to has wanted to grow into something bigger. But the common denominator in all of this has been money. Small business owners believe they need money to grow because growing can only spout from big movements, like opening up in a new location or licensing a product or offering their business as a franchise; all of which requires a lot of funds.

However, there are ways you can grow your small business into something bigger without spending a ton of cash you maybe don’t have. What’s more, we have gone and done the legwork for you and come up with a few ideas for you to really sink your teeth into.

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Make Your Business More Simple

A lot of small business owners try and spread their risk by offering a wide range of products or service. The thinking behind this is logical; the more you offer the better chance you have of hooking a customer. But the reality is somewhat different. As such, it may be time you scrutinized your business and stopped selling anything that is turning over a profit and anything that is proving hard to sell.

Organize Yourself Better

This can mean a variety of things, but the more you do to be organized, the more efficient you will be and, well, time is money. Perhaps you could rearrange your shop so that it is less cluttered and more helpful to shoppers. Maybe it is time you learned how to create an organizational chart instead of sticking post-it notes all over your office walls. It could simply be a matter of tidying up your desk and buying a filing cabinet. The easier you make your operations the better your chances of growing.

Try Delegation For A Change

All small business leaders believe they need to do everything. It is as if they don’t trust the people they employed to do a certain task to do that task as well as them. Perhaps you are right. But there will be certain things that you do that increases revenue and other things that have no impact at all. As such, concentrate your efforts on the tasks that help your revenue and delegate everything else.

Give Your Employees Freedom

One of the most successful methods of improving your success is to allow your employees to take responsibility for their work. That means letting them set their own goals and the strategies to reach these goals. You will find that they are determined to achieve the desired the results as a way of rewarding your trust and allowing them some independence.

Value Your Employees

All too many employers believe that their employees are motivated by money. However, studies show that this is only eighth on the list. The feeling of being appreciated, working in a friendly environment and the chance to enjoy a good work/life balance are the top three things that will see their productivity increase, and thus your growth. So tailor your motivational methods to meet your employees needs.