Starting your own e-commerce business can be quite the adventure. There is nothing wrong with falling head over heels in love with your ideas and plans and becoming overly excited, but always remember, feet first. Creating a business from scratch is like a child learning to walk. You need to grab on to something solid, feel around, get a sense of balance, and take baby steps. Risky Business Before running full speed ahead with your brilliant business brainchild, proper planning is required. Be More..

Expanding your business.

Are you a small business owner who wants to expand your business? Do you need to add another professional location to your company to test and explore a new market? Does a prospect of spending thousands of dollars to find a right location, sign a new long term office lease, purchase or lease office equipment and hire new employees holding you back? Virtual office center may be the answer for you! The concept of virtual office is not new but with advancements in latest internet/communication tec More..

Web Based CRM Systems: Get Mobile; Get Results

Everyday more web based companies enter the business scene. The low initial investment, potentially high revenue, and convenience of owning and operating a business from your home PC or laptop is enticing an ever-increasing number of entrepreneurs to try their hand at e-business. Unfortunately, most of these would-be companies disappear shortly after their initial market entry. Many of these businesses might have been more successful if they had invested in a web based CRM system. CRM (customer More..

Accepting Checks in Your Business Virtually Risk Free

Most businesses accept checks as form of payment for goods and services. However, accepting checks can be a risky endeavor if your company doesn't follow good policies and procedures for preventing loss from bad checks. In fact, the reason some businesses do not accept checks is because of a history excessive "bad checks" that costs their business to much money and aggravation, preferring to accept only cash and credit cards. Whether a business currently accepts checks or not, they can minimize More..

Small Home Business: Ad Copy Secrets

So it's time to invest some finances into advertising your business and you are considering producing a flyer to advertise your business. Rather than sweat all night on writing the perfect flyer, first take some time to consider what the experts have found to be effective. Here are ten ad copy 'secrets' you might consider before you spend your money. These 'secrets' can be used for both online and offline flyers. 1. Use a short hand written letter on your ad copy instead of text. Adding a pers More..

Deciding Which State To Incorporate Your Small Business In

Once you've decided to incorporate your small business the next step is deciding which state to incorporate in. A common misconception is that businesses must incorporate in their state of operation. You can, in fact, incorporate in any one of the 50 states and the District of Columbia regardless of where your business currently operates. It is perfectly acceptable to incorporate in a state other than your current area of operation, but it is not always a good idea to do so. If your company cho More..

Batting Cages Business - Making Profits With The Swing Of A Bat

There is a Batting Cages Business for those people who love baseball and/or softball. This business will make you a profit and will help raise the self-esteem of the children who come to your facility. Batting Cage complexes are popping up all over the world. A Batting Cages Business requires conviction on the part of the business owner. There is just as much or more work for the person wanting to open the batting facility before the grand opening. Many things must be researched, and obtained. More..

How to Profile a Client

At first glance, this topic may seem a little repetitive, but you will find that although you have done homework before getting a contract and already know a fair amount about your client, you, however, do not know everything that is pertinent to the job. Once you have the project underway you will be adding to your knowledge of the client. In other words, you will be getting to know them more intimately than before. The information you had at the beginning is what the organization allowed you a More..

Read more About Business Pain Defined

What Is YOUR Value Proposition?

Every company has a value proposition. That is a statement of their perceived value to their clients. Often a company will have one perception at the executive level, another at the sales level, and even a third one at the client level. Value propositions need to be aligned so that the customer is getting a consistent message. If the value proposition is not aligned you will have different level, different directions, and different speeds that not aiming at the same results. If you take the tim More..

Tracking Revenue For MORE Profits

The revenue history is a vital piece of your power page and you need to record that information. Keeping track of client revenues should not be done in a paper format, it should be recorded electronically. It is too easy to make mistakes when calculating by hand, the results of the data entry can then be recorded into your power page. You need to date these numbers as they can change quite rapidly and you will want to know if there is a growth pattern. You will also be aware of diminishing retur More..

Financial Dose for Business

The goals of businesses have undergone much evolution from the times when entrepreneurs were content with anything that they received above the capital invested. Businesses now want to expand their reach globally, riding on the wave of technology. Nevertheless, technology does not come cheap. A huge amount of capital is required to buy the latest in technology. Businesses generally have two options. The first will be to purchase the latest technology. This however suffers from the disadvantage More..

Local Government Relations for Small Business

Most small businesses simply go about their daily business and serving customers without ever worrying about local government relations. For some it turns out okay but for others it can become a disaster. You never know when a new project down the street may call for new plans to adjust the roads or put in center medians. If you are on a busy road you rely on traffic from both directions. A five-month road project can kill a business and what if it is in your busy season. If you are in retail th More..

Setting Up a Pressure Washer Rig to Clean Concrete

Maximum efficiency in the cleaning industry is a key to survival and higher rates of income. The trailer or tuck unit needs to be set up so that you can use a garden hose and external water supply, because you never know when you are going to need one for concrete or other types of jobs. Any new rig should also come with quick releases between the tank and the intake tube to the pressure washer. There should also be a valve that is turned so the water is running from the black tank that now hold More..

Pressure Washing; How to Bid Concrete Cleaning Jobs

Remember the cleaning business is all about time ratio to money. You want to be making at least a $1 a minute when doing concrete work at a minimum and aim for $100 to $200 per hour if you can get it. If you are not achieving this income level then you work too slowly or you did not bid correctly on the accounts you are taking. You need to have a work order form. This form should have an area for time it took to do the job, how many people were on the job, gas to get to the site and mileage to g More..

Pressure Washer Concrete Cleaning Equipment

Cleaning concrete is tough and there is an easy way and a hard way. There is one thing you need to understand when you are pressure washer cleaning concrete; the concrete cannot always be made to look brand new again after it has been stained. You can always get stains lighter or bleached but completely removing it is very difficult, sometimes you get lucky, but if you are looking for perfection, chances are you will be underwhelmed. So when talking to customers let them know up front and explai More..

Creating a Dynamite Account Plan

Why do you need an account plan? When you first decide to approach a company through an introduction, networking event, or from your daily routine, you will need to put together and account plan. This account plan will be part of your power page and it will contain information about your own personal approach to winning the account and a plan on when to follow-up. An account plan is like setting goals. You have the ultimate target and the steps to get where you want to be. One thing about the a More..

Business Reviews that Work

What is the satisfaction & expectation review ofthe business history to date? You have spent a lot of time and effort gathering information about your clients and potential customers. You have kept track of everything that you need to know and have followed-up with precision. It has now been awhile since you have updated any financial information as you find that you do not have the time; or in reality do not want to find the time to do so. If you have been working according to your action plan More..

Looking into the Future for Profits

How to identify future solutions and opportunities? Your power page, if used extensively, will help you to identify areas where the client may need more help or may need to purchase additional products. When you read through your notes, you will be able to pinpoint areas that will be a business pain. Customers are always happy to find solutions to potential problems if they see their value. You must do your homework on various solutions before you make any suggestions. It is too easy to just pr More..

More Business Card Marketing

If you are worried about how many different business cards you should carry, let me speak from experience, you need only ONE! The best way to confuse a potential customer is to present them with more than one business card. You may be doing a number of things and have cards for each one (even have several businesses where you do work) but you need to focus on what it is that you do best. I remember being at a Chamber Mixer one evening and talking to a man that wanted me to come by his shop to h More..

What is your Motto?

Company mottos can easily be printed on a business card. Sometimes you wonder if a company motto is remembered by anyone in the company. If you ask them, they will have to search around to see if they can find where they wrote it before they will be able to tell you. Most often, the motto is so long that it is totally ignored by everyone, except the person that wrote it. The best attack for you is to write one that has meaning and that you can recite easily to your customers. I have a friend th More..

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The More you GIVE the More you GET

Why give freebies? We have all seen freebies at trade shows and we have all probably seen the person that goes from booth to booth collecting as much of it as possible. There is always someone that only goes to get the free stuff, but then again there are also people that go there to learn about new products or services. These people may be genuinely interested in what you have to say. Even if they are, there must be an element of what is in it for them (we call them WIFM - pronounced Whiffem - More..

Small Business Health Check-Up

If your home business is not performing the way you hoped for, rather than stay away at night...use this simple list to check-up on possible reasons why your business is under performing. 1. You don't offer free original content. 2. You don't use a signature file on your e-mails. 3. You don't offer free software. 4. You don't have your own domain name. 5. You don't offer a free contest or sweepstakes. 6. You don't test and improve your ad copy. 7. You don't offer a free web site directory More..

Pressure Washing Companies; Pricing Dock and Deck Cleaning

If you own a Pressure Washing Company and wish to get business at the local Marina there are a few things you should know. You need to be careful in bidding these types of jobs. Square foot pricing is generally the industry standard. For example a 400 square foot one boat dock would be $1.00 per square foot times 400 square feet, which equals $400. Then there may be a price break at 900 square feet at 75 cents per square foot, another at 1500 square feet at 59 cents and another at 2250 square f More..

Boat Hull Cleaning Procedures for Owners and Detailers

For really tough boat hull cleaning you will need to break out the acid. Muratic acid is the best for this. You'll want to have a 50/50 mix of muratic acid of 6-8% concentrated (12% is the highest concentration you can legally buy over the counter), water and a good strong sprayer. You can purchase muratic acid at Wal*Mart, K-Mart, Pool Supply Stores, Home Depot, Lowe's, Van Waters and Rogers Chemicals. Sears Craftsman makes a nice strong sprayer or try a local store for another brand of commerc More..

Boat Detailing Tips and Procedures

Auto detailers are often asked to clean boats and detail boat trailers. There is an easy and efficient way to do this with little effort. Washing and waxing boat trailers is an easy sale. Be sure to offer the boat owner a trailer wax. Let the owner know that a heavily waxed trailer is more rust resistant even when used in salt water. They can wax now or repaint later. To remove rust, brush on two coats of Ospho Acid, available in paint stores and marine supply shops. It will change the chemistry More..

Boat Detailers; Add-on Products and Services

As a Boat Detailing Specialist, you may want to offer services such as making sure your clients' boat's batteries are charged and offering to charge them or test the boat before they arrive for their departure. This is an easy service to provide and will keep you on the top of the boat owners list of reputable and reliable service companies. Battery Chargers can be purchased at: http://www.exocache.ishophere.com/shop/list/9/start.html You may offer to stock the vessel's gallery and refrigerato More..

Environmental Boat Washing and Detailing

Some marine biologists feel that the concentration of dead marine growth on boats and in boat harbors can create hypoxic zones or a lack of oxygen. This causes a decline in the water quality and may at times cause adverse effects on living marine life such as salmon in the case of the State of Washington. Also some paints have heavy metals in them, which come off with the use of pressure washers. If you coat the boat with our glass-coating product and wash it with our readily environmentally bio More..

Mobile Car Washes and Shoe Policies

Mobile carwashing is hard work, it is tough on the your body and it pays to have athletic type shoes that do not get wet easily. Sometimes rapid pace car washing in parking lots can be a lot like playing basketball, except you are on a slippery and uneven surface. Here is some advice after 27 years in the business of twisted ankles and soggy socks. Don't wear blowouts. If you have a favorite pair of shoes and they have rips in them, buy some 'Shoe Goo'. It's a rubbery substance that bonds and d More..

Incorporating a Small Business: S corporations versus C corporations

If you've been considering incorporating your small business, you've probably been confused about the difference between S and C corporations. The similarities between S and C corporations are as follows: 1. Both S and C corporations are both separate legal entities that offer limited liability protection. If, for example, the corporation is sued only the corporation's assets are at risk. The assets of the board members or CEO are usually safe. 2. An S Corporation is essentially a C Corporati More..

Franchisee; Vacation Managing

Do you own a franchised business? Over 400,000 franchised businesses currently operate in the United States, which is a true testament of free enterprise. There are many advantages of franchised businesses, which anyone who owns a small business has thought about. One thing they probably have not considered; whether they are franchisee or not is that in a franchise system; your local franchise runs as store exactly like yours. They are aware of every single aspect of your business. So it makes s More..

Slip And Fall Professionals; Service Businesses

Since you own a business you probably have liability insurance to help you against a scam of slip and fallers. Some entrepreneurs call them slip and fall professionals. The scout out the area, bring friends as witnesses trip and fall and then file a lawsuit, go to their chiropractor who is best friends with a lawyer and soak you or your insurance company out of tens of thousands of dollars. If you own a service company and you work on site, do not think for one minute you are safe from these ins More..

Getting Grant Funding For Your Nonprofit Organization

Do you need grant funding for your nonprofit organization? If you do you are most certainly not alone in your needs. This combined with the fact that because of regular government budget cuts there's not as many federal dollars available as there once was. And because of our current economic recession foundation dollars are down as well. What you now have are some serious concerns facing your nonprofit organization. On the other hand there is still a vast source of funding out there for your or More..

Book Yourself Solid Key #5: Go Forward With Gusto & Articulate What You Do

Want your small business to flip instead of flop?! Statistically half of the entrepreneurs reading this will be out of business in three short years. Establishing a long standing, profitable and successful business absolutely depends on your ability to convey a clear message. A heartfelt message that tells clients exactly what you do, the specific 'invest-able opportunities' you bring to the table and all the ways clients will have a bigger, better, fuller life as a result of working with you. More..

Does Your Small Business Marketing Suffer From The Bulldog Effect?

If you're an entrepreneur responsible for your own small business marketing, there's a marketing method you should avoid at all costs, which I've coined the bulldog effect for reasons you will understand shortly. Keep reading to find out if you're guilty of using this technique in your own marketing and learn how to fix it. After a recent weekend jaunt to San Diego, my husband and I arrived back in Los Angeles tired and hungry, so we walked the small handful of blocks to a local all-night diner More..

What Help is there for Veterans Starting a Business?

Some of the very qualities that attract people to the military life are what make them good candidates for an internet based home business. What are these qualities? A sense of adventure, an attraction to signs of leadership and the ability to discern what constitutes a good leader, courage and idealism and an understanding of the joy of testing one's own limits. A sense of adventure: What could exemplify this more than launching out with a good idea and seeing where it can take you? This was t More..

Franchisor; Ongoing Support and Ideas

Ongoing support for a franchise system is omnipotent. A major part of any family relationship is communication. A large franchise system is similar to a giant family; it needs constant communication. By providing on going support for your franchisees, we will guarantee both success and open communication lines will strengthen you company and team in the market place. Some things, which many franchisors do not do or do not do enough are little things which are really low cost and simple. For inst More..

Are You Really the Boss in Your Own Business?

I recently met with a very successful magazine publisher whowas telling me how a chain of retailers for his magazineswanted everything their own way, even at the expense oflosing revenue for their stores and missing out on theopportunity to provide real customer service to thecustomer. He was mainly concerned that some of the members of thischain, which, was made up of basically "mum & dad" storeowners honestly thought that as it was their business, noone else should ask them to do anything ove More..

Mobile Carwash; Senior Citizens and Mobile Homes

Senior citizens are generally not a large marketing segment for mobile detailers or car washers, however, they should not be ignored. You will find in a near by area a seniors-only mobile home park. You will also find square dance clubs and senior centers. All of these places can be extremely good places to look for new business. If you want to accelerate word of mouth advertising, you should meet with people in these groups. Wash cars at senior centers while they play cards. Hand out flyers, et More..

Mobile Detailing VS Fixed Site Detailers

Mobile detailers will find themselves with lots of competition even if they do not see them around town. There are also many fixed site detailers who specialize in wholesale detailing or the retail detail or both. Many fixed site detailers have accounts with new and used car dealerships. This provides them with lots of work. If they are good, they usually do prep work for all new cars at all the local dealerships or share the work with a couple of other detail shops, additionally there are alway More..

Sample; Territory Reduction Policy for a Franchise Company

I propose this thought on the subject of Franchisee territory reduction based on performance for a Mobile Business Model. Please read the sample policy below as it explains the reasoning and methodologies considered to extend brand without risking underdeveloped territory. We will use a Mobile Car Wash Franchise Business for this discussion. This sample is speaking from the Operation Manual of the franchisor to the franchised unit: If the volume of your business decreases to forty percent of yo More..

Small Business and Wichita

Owning a small business in Wichita, KS might not be a bad idea, job growth is good, housing has rebounded and the aviation manufacturing capital of the world is on an aileron roll. So consumer spending is up and retail and service sectors are doing fine again. Code Enforcement said to be a big pain in the ass to local small businesses at least the ones we talked to although we have no real knowledge since that is all second hand smoke, however when you start hearing the same thing over and over More..

Wichita Kansas is a Great Place to Run a Business

We love Wichita because it has great all round weather except during ice storms and the once in a while Tornado threat, which could carry away you best workers to meet Dorothy. 225 sunny days a year snow about 5 days a year. Which makes a Downtown out-door'sy type setting even better. Wichita easy to cross even in high traffic periods. Traffic to get around town and to the downtown area is also good. It is 28 minutes on Rock Road during non rush hour, 18 minutes on the 35, 14 minutes on the tol More..

Wichita KS; Anything is Possible in Wichita Business

Just when the entire state was kissing Wichita goodbye, economically speaking, they turn around their economy like a hammer-head stall. The BTK is caught and has gone away and the Aircraft Industry has decided to stay. Last year 40% of all the aircraft in the world were made in Wichita and instead of losing market share they are gaining ground on the other aerospace manufacturing cities in the United States and around the world. What other sectors are doing okay still; Small Businesses, Enterta More..

Mobile Detailing Environmental Concern in the Deep South

Macon, GA goes after garage-gas station conversion detail/hand car washes for allowing storm drain pollution. I can remember a time when we were in the Macon GA. we stopped and talked to be head of the DEP and showed them pictures of people polluting after someone complained about our company we knew it was a competitor. They looked at the pictures and then looked us in the eyes and said "we do not want any problems around here, you must be from somewhere else are you from California?" we said y More..

Small Business Grants - Tips from the Pros

Every business starts with an idea or a dream. To implement this idea or to turn your dream in to reality you require finance. A grant supports the business ideas and turns the dreams of an entrepreneur in to reality. There are many types of grants offered by the Governments and other financial institutions that include individual grants for personal necessities, business grants for starting new business, education grants for funding education and many more. Grants are always a feasible option More..

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