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Small Business Articles |
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| Creating a Paperless Office |
| When working from home, it is usual to find that you have your office in an area that is not very big, such as a box room or even in the corner of the kitchen. When your business really takes off, you will begin to discover that your work area starts to get swamped by paperwork and that you are running out of storage space.
An excellent solution to this is to aim towards having a paperless office. Obviously, certain documents must be kept for legal and tax purposes, but take a look around you a More.. |
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| 20 Great Ways to Market Your Business Locally |
| Whether your target audience is in your neighborhood or across the world, you can use your local resources to get the word out about your business. Your local community is easily accessible and provides dozens of opportunities for building a buzz about your product or service. The following are twenty ideas to get you started.
1. Offer Your Product or Service as a Free Give Away - For example, if you own a restaurant, you could have your local Holiday Inn give away dinner gift certificates for More.. |
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| Look Like Sizzle, Be The Steak |
| You've heard marketing and advertising gurus quip, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." Advertising initiatives best reach their target audience with benefits and the "wow" effect, not the value or features of their product or service. This may work well to get customers in the door. But once they're in, you better have some substance. How can you ensure you uphold the integrity of your business and still maintain the "Wow Effect"? It just takes well executed strategic steps for business AND person More.. |
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| Collaborative Negotiating: A Win-Win Strategy |
| COLLABORATIVE NEGOTIATING:
Collaborative negotiating is a win-win strategy that can focus the resources of the people involved in the process towards strengthening results, productivity, quality, creativity, and innovation in problem-solving. To use the collaborative approach to negotiating you will have to agree on the aim of negotiations. Before any sort of bargaining can begin, you and your counterpart must define the who-what-where-when-how-and-why of the issue and have a general idea of th More.. |
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| How To Write A Business Plan |
| Writing a business plan is a fundamental step to ensuring your business has every chance of succeeding. Common statistics state that 9 out of 10 businesses fail on the first 5 years of operation, and of the remaining 10%, 90% fail in the following 5 years.
Why? There may be a number of reasons - from poor customer service, inadequate product, poor logistics management and cost control. However, the number of businesses that do not define their goals and map out their path to success is phenomen More.. |
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| How to Start a Paper Shredding Business |
| Paper Shredding Business Opportunities are blossoming up everywhere because in recent years, privacy concerns and new policies have forced companies all over the country to invest in paper shredding services. Large corporations and small are in need of shredding services.
Even in many homes, people have purchased small, trash can sized paper shredders for mail and receipts. Most businesses will not be able to shred the material they have by purchasing one of these same machines. First, the smal More.. |
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| Start a Technical Writing Service |
| Technical writing services are employed to explain the details of a topic in a way that is easily understood by the readers. In todays information age, technical writing jobs are increasingly common. One would think that, eventually, everything useful will have been written! This is not the case, however, and your home-based technical writing company probably has a better chance for success today than at any time in the past.
Business plans, technical report writing, grant writing, instruction More.. |
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| Not Listening Can Hurt Your Small Business |
| Most small business owners seek advisors who can help them improve their businesses. They want advice from those who have the experience and really know what they're talking about. But they can only benefit from the sound counsel if they listen to the expert's guidance. Unfortunately, there are some entrepreneurs who aren't going to hear the professionals out or follow a plan no matter what. At that point, experts realize that they might as well save their breath and hope that the business owner More.. |
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| A Look at Incorporating a Business in Florida |
| As you may know, there are many ways to incorporate a business in Florida. While companies exist to do the legwork and paperwork for you, the most direct way is to contact the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporation's website itself.
When you visit the website for the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporation, you will notice they are surprisingly user friendly. Their website houses various informative databases and in-house automated filing systems that will allow you t More.. |
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| Multiple Clients Create Your Independent Business |
| Would you rather have one good client paying you five thousand dollars per month or ten smaller clients paying you five hundred dollars each per month? Here are two goodreasons for choosing multiple clients over just one client.
1. Avoid Dependence on One Client
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. If you have only onemajor client and lose them, you have zero income overnight.
Knowing that they are your sole (or main) source of income, some clients will make some unfair, unreasonable demand More.. |
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| Does Your Business Need a Toll-Free 800 Number? |
| Should your business have a toll free number for customers to make sales, service and billing inquirers? The industry began in the early 1970's and today most customers expect you to have it. Providing a toll free line can bring in a number of benefits to your business.
From the customer standpoint, it opens an opportunity to inquire about your products or services at no expense. Not only does it show you are established and successful, but it also shows that you care about what is convenient f More.. |
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| Where To Get Money For a Franchise Idea |
| How often have you thumbed through a business opportunity magazine, noticed a franchise opportunity advertisement, and felt you'd really like to get in on that...if only you had the money? If you're like most who are seeking greater opportunity and wealth, this probably happens with you more often than you care to admit, except perhaps in strictly private conversations.
When the average person sees one of these opportunities, or comes up with a similar idea of his own, the problems of start-up More.. |
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| Gold Medal Delegation |
| When the recent Games of the XXVIII Olympiad came to a close in Athens, two events stood out in my mind as perfect examples of the importance of time management:
1. Teenage swimmer Michael Phelps, America's most-celebrated Olympic athlete, matched Mark Spitz's record of four individual gold medals with a stirring comeback in the 100m butterfly. Phelps pulled off an incredible feat in the final 50 meters, making up a half-body length to nip teammate and world-record holder Ian Crocker by four-hu More.. |
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| Taking Stock |
| Back when I owned an inventory-based business, one of my better customers had a clever barb in his repertoire. If we were out of anything he needed in his order, he would say "You know, this would be a great place to open a supply house."
But supply, we did for 20 years on my watch. We were in a smaller market, handling about 10,000 separate items, so we enjoyed few economies of scale. We competed with some large distributors and did very well largely due to our focus on inventory control.
At More.. |
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| Mission Statements: More Important Than You Thought |
| If an organization lacks a mission statement, it is worthwhile to at least try to draft one. Even if it does not yield an acceptable final draft, the exercise will be rewarding for the hard work which must go into figuring out the company's direction and putative purpose.
Mission statements can help companies determine their proper market niche, suggest new fields for the company to conquer, and even serve as a constraint, indicating, perhaps only implicitly, enterprises in which they should re More.. |
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| The Perfect Mission Statement |
| One way to determine your companies mission statement is based on a general overview of the company. Some important questions are asked like: Why does the company exist and what kind of business is it in? Is there a particular market or niche that it will concentrate upon? How will the company be distinctive in its business methods? Once these questions are answered, the focus moves to the accomplishment of these broadly expressed objectives. What actions will the company take toward increasing More.. |
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| How to Start an Office Support Service |
| Office support services can range from basic data entry to a fully-staffed office handling all the details of a client's business.
An office support service company can start very small, offering only a limited selection of services and expanding as you gain the capacity to do so. This modular approach makes office support services very attractive for the talented entrepreneur with limited capital and the motivation to learn and grow over time.
Start Up Costs and Financing Sources:
$500 to $1 More.. |
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| Virtual Assistant - Questions Answered |
| What is a Virtual Assistant?
A Virtual Assistant is a person or persons with whom businesses and individuals outsource administrative and technical tasks. Virtual Assistants work from their home office. Virtual Assistants are entrepreneurs. A Virtual Assistant is a qualified, skilled individual who makes your business their business.
Why should I outsource to a Virtual Assistant?
Virtual Assistants provide their own hardware and software. Virtual Assistants are not paid for vacation days, sic More.. |
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| Patient Records - Your Responsibilities |
| As a practise gets larger & larger the associated problems that you inherit increase with that growth. The Practise Manager finds it increasingly difficult to tend to his duties and look after the administration of the Practise. One of those areas of responsibility is the keeping of Records of Patients who are no longer regularly seen by the Doctor.
These records are not regularly accessed yet have to be kept for variety of reasons. They clog up the information highways of your business. In a l More.. |
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| Proper Care and Feeding of the Business Owner |
| That sizzling sound you're hearing may be a symptom of a major hidden cause of businesses closing their doors. It's called burnout. And you may be its next victim. Often the last thing a business owner considers is his or her health and sanity. The burnout that results from overwork and stress can deliver a death blow to the very enterprise you've been giving your all to create. Setting a course for your business that includes the proper care and feeding of the business owner is a critical succe More.. |
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| So What? How to Elicit Benefits from Features |
| "So what?" is a lovely question.
It can lead to a punch on the nose if you tactlessly say it to others to challenge their ideas but, when you use it to question your own decisions it has endless uses. Today I'm going to describe a process for applying it to elicit benefits from features and to determine if a marketing task is really worth it!
This article will require you to roleplay in your own head, or better still, get the help of a colleague or friend to play the role of the "So what custo More.. |
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| Yeah, It IS Lonely At the Top |
| Sometimes when you run a business you feel as lonely as the Maytag repairman. Loneliness and isolation are very common problems for business owners. You sit at your desk wondering if you are steering your business in the right direction. When faced with a decision, you worry that you may be making a mistake or missing an opportunity. You get frustrated because you have no one to talk to about all the problems and decisions you have to make everyday. When you have a confidential matter you can't More.. |
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| A Key to Success: Be Consistent |
| Over the years I heard the best way to learn something is to to teach it. Well, this week's topic, practicing consistent behavior, is definitely something I need to learn and practice more effectively.
When I made the commitment to refocus my energies on writing again, I had the best intentions. I planned to have a new column for distribution every Tuesday morning. Early morning. Which meant the actual column needed to be written by Monday night.
I spent a great deal of time considering how of More.. |
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| Beating the Small Business Cash Flow Blues |
| Small business owners can relieve a lot of their own cash flow problems, according to Caroline Jordan, small business advisor and author. "Small business owners have more control over their cash flow than they realize." says Jordan.
To help you get a jumpstart on solving your own cash flow woes, Jordan offers a free, "Cash Flow Master checklist" that you can get by sending a blank email to TheJordanResult-110571@autocontactor.com. Jordan also suggests the following tips to help you understand w More.. |
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| The Care and Feeding of Your Small Business |
| While I was hard at work last week, an everyday drama was playing out in a hospital room in the next town. My niece was working on presenting me with a new great nephew. Tyler James came into the world Thursday afternoon, mother and child are both doing well. Naturally, I am able to discern at this early stage that the child is adorably cute, remarkably bright, and very advanced for his age. Takes after his Great Aunt, I'm sure.
Now, watch how I turn this blessed, private family event into a sm More.. |
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| 6 of 1, Half Dozen of the Other |
| Motivational author and speaker Jim Rohn says that for a business to succeed it takes about ahalf dozen things. Of all the millions of things you do, it's really that half dozen that count.
Of course, the trick is figuring out which half dozen things to do to help your business succeed. A while back, I sat down and did some thinking about the half dozen things I need to do consistently to take my business to the next level.
One of my half dozen is establishing and nurturing relationships. Rela More.. |
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| The Hidden Treasure in Your Business |
| I started working with another new client last week. He has been in business for about a year and a half. Yes, he has managed to make plenty of mistakes, like we all do. But, he has done something so very right that I thought I'd share it with you.
This business owner has kept accurate records of all his customers, complete with name, address, phone, even directions to their houses (he makes house calls).
I don't think I've actually worked with a client before who kept such good customer recor More.. |
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| Hard Money Lenders -- No Money Down The Easy Way |
| Would it help you as a real estate investor to be able to "Close For Cash in Days," even if you're tapped out financially?
Hard money lenders are perhaps the best way to get 100% financing with easy qualifying, money for fix- up, and fast closings.
So what can hard money lenders do for you? Hard money lenders make relatively short term (12-24 month) loans to real estate investors for the purposes of acquiring the property and rehabbing the property.
These loans are often funded by pools of pr More.. |
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| A Look at Small Business Incorporating in Florida |
| The choice to incorporate a small business in Florida has several advantages. Corporations are separate legal entities and, as such, the corporation rather than individual owners pay both the taxes and the liabilities. If you are thinking of running (or are currently running) a small business, incorporating in Florida might be a good idea because you would no longer held personally liable if your business suffered a downturn.
Small business incorporating in Florida also means that you do get to More.. |
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| How the Humble Ice Cube Made Business History |
| Gather round while I tell you the story of Kennebec Ice. It's a story full of valuable business lessons even though it happened long ago.
Once upon a time, before the invention of modern refrigeration, folks kept their food cold by using large blocks of ice. That ice was readily available to residents of my state, Maine.
(For my friends in other countries, Maine is the northeastern-most state, bordered by New Hampshire, Canada, and the Atlantic Ocean. We have very cold winters and the ice free More.. |
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| Business Valuation is Critical |
| What is Business Valuation?
The term business valuation is the method by which the business worth is determined. This usually happens when the business is for sale, when the business is looking for extra funding from the banks, when the business is considering taking on extra investors, or where the business is looking at merging with another organisation.
Aspects of Valuing a Business
A business is worth whatever someone else is prepared to pay for it and therefore its value will vary from per More.. |
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| Collect that Debt - Your Business Depends on it |
| The efficiency of debt collection is the difference between a business that will succeed and a business that closes up.
If you do not have control of your debt collection then you will eventually fail. All businesses that grant credit will be faced with the problem of bad debt at some stage. The best way to deal with bad debt is to have a good debt control system in place.
There are three types of bad debt:
# Can pay.
This is where your debtor can pay but will drag out non-payment as long as More.. |
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| Family Business and Conflicts |
| What is a Family Business?
A family business is basically any business in which the majority of the ownership or control lies within a family. Involvement of members of family in a business can bring with it its own complexities because the line between the business system is sometimes separated by a thin line from the family system. Sometimes these 2 positions overlap causing all sorts of conflicts.
Families involve emotion with includes relationships that carry with it loyalties and natural l More.. |
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| Personal Success - Take a Break from Business |
| Have Some Time to Yourself
One of the most important things you can have when running a successful business, is to have time for yourself. Every small business owner needs to make time to be quiet.
The following facts apply in every small business:
* You will always have deadlines to meet.
* No business is perfect.
* No business owner is perfect.
* You will always have disgruntled staff to deal with.
* You will always have customers who are unhappy, due to one thing or More.. |
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| Questions to Ask as Your Business Grows |
| Here are some of the questions that you need to ask yourself regarding various areas of the business before you start your growth push.
* Are you clear on the goals of your business?
* Are your managers and other staff also up to date with these goals?
* Does your accountant or other adviser know what you are planning?
* Have you developed a business plan which brings into play the whole area of growth, which includes the resources that will be required of it?
* Have you More.. |
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| Winning in Business - Lessons from Lance Armstrong |
| Lance Armstrong this week won an unprecedented 7th Tour de France victory, confirming him as one of the greatest cyclists of all time. The fact that he won more Tour victories than anyone else in history is remarkable. But more incredible is that had to overcome life threatening cancer to dominate the Tour de France like no other athlete has ever done. From the Lance Armstrong story, there are many lessons we aspiring business champions can learn.
What are you capable of?
In beating cancer, Ar More.. |
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| Business Owner--Educate Thyself! |
| Remember the training programs, seminars, and workshops you had to attend when you were on the corporate side of the table? You were expected to complete course after course for professional development and skill enhancement. Well, where do you get your training now that you are on your own? Do you learn from your clients? Are they the best teachers? What about your competitors?
Here are six ways to educate yourself and keep your professional edge:
# Learn from your clients. Discover what they More.. |
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| Success & The Nature of Things |
| The story is told of a tiger chasing some goats to catch one for dinner. During the chase the tiger is injured and as she is dying, gives birth to a tiger cub. The goats had never seen a baby tiger before, so they stopped running to watch and decided to make the motherless cub a member of the goat herd.
As the cub grew, he couldn't quite get the hang of being a goat. He didn't have the right teeth for chewing grass, and he liked to sleep in the trees. This made the goats jealous (because everyo More.. |
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| How to Write a Credit Policy for Your Business |
| The book, "Become the Squeaky Wheel," by New Hampshire author Michelle Dunn, says the different ways people use and extend credit makes or breaks your credit policy and bottom line, which could result in less or more sales and money for your business.
"Business owners all have different types of businesses but can all extend credit," explains Michelle Dunn. "So it should only make sense that no two credit polices can be the same."
Dunn explains that one major difference is if you have a servic More.. |
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| Sex Up Your Business Growth |
| A top executive called up me late in the night. He was still awake at 3 o'clock. He told me that he has not been sleeping for last 3 nights. Problem at his working place is working it effect on his marital life with wife. Although problem in professional life was manageable to some extent. But the bottom line was heading towards south. He was always busy in solving problems to the extent of guilty of ignoring the happening in market. He wanted help in solving problem.
What could be the solution More.. |
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