Posts Tagged ‘Small Business Owners’

Do you have a Business Plan? Congratulations, but you are in a small minority. And if you have a plan, is it integral to your business, and instrumental to its growth? If the answer to this question is yes, then you need to read no further. However, most business owners who actually go to the trouble to write a business plan have left it languishing on their bottom shelf, gathering dust! This is the dirty little secret of business consultants.

Most business consultants are only interested in selling their time or their ‘Business Plan in a Box’ but knows that for a business plan to be useful, it has to be part of a Business Management System. But this is a much harder proposition for the consultant to sell, particularly to small business owners who are just looking for a quick fix. So most consultants just sell a quick fix solution- a business plan that they know will, within months, end up on the bottom shelf. Once owners have prepared their “fill in the blanks” plan, they expect it to transform their business overnight just by its mere existence. And because this does not happen, they never look at it again.

Business Plans do work, but you have to make them work. It is not a one-off exercise. If you buy a ‘Business Plan in a Box’, you need to understand that you are responsible for maintaining the plan. You also need to satisfy yourself that the product you buy is not just a fill in the blanks product. These plans always end up on the bottom shelf. They don’t show you how to do your strategic analysis (which is never a fill in the blanks exercise- no matter what someone tells you).

Business Planning is a real soul searching exercise for the business owner. You have to be brutally honest with yourself. Even if you prepare your plan yourself (without a coach), get someone else involved to keep you honest! Looking at examples of what others have done can help, but your business will have different strengths and weaknesses and will operate in a different marketplace. And lastly, make sure any off-the-shelf product you choose will show you how to implement your plan into your business.

When you use a consultant, insist that they show you how the plan should be implemented into your business process. And have the consultant give you at least one review of your performance against your plan six months after the plan has been delivered. While this will cost you extra, this will ensure that your plan does not end up on the bottom shelf- because you know you will be held to account!

Business Planning is not an easy process. It takes time and commitment. You don’t just do it once. This is not what business owners want to hear, and what most consultants won’t tell you, because it might cost them a sale. But the rewards from a well implemented business plan are worth many times your investment.

Everyone arrives at a website that has management education information. Some help manage businesses. Some teach small business owners how to succeed. Others are communities. At first the new business owner passes these by. The day will come when all business owners stop and consider joining one of these groups. Unfortunately, if that day doesn’t come, the business owner statistically reduces their chances of success.

Management education is the key to small business success. But, according to some statistics only 36 per cent of small business owners take any professional development advice, courses, or read books. This could explain why most small businesses will go under in the first five years.

Too many small businesses are poorly funded with insufficient working capital to allow stable, controllable growth. The business owner’s lack of education and development leave them unable to manage their time and money effectively.

Compare this to large companies where all managers typically receive professional development training on a quarterly or yearly basis. In fact, many large corporations now run their own ‘in house’ Internet based schools. The correlation between education and success has been proven time and again.

Not all types of education are equal. Not all training venues are equal.

Where To Seek Advice

The net is a viable source of free information. Some good, most bad. The best rule of thumb is to follow the success rates. Find a website that offers advice. Then, check them out. Do they own a company? Are there employees? Can you find a business location? Phone the company, ask a few questions.

Do you really want to take advice from a business that has not reached a level of success where they need office space, staff, or even a business phone? The next step is to Google the guru’s and company’s name. You want to see hundreds of references to that company, proving that they are successful and respected by other people in the industry.

Types of Education

There are several types of business management education the small business owner needs.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT skills are needed to learn how to increase productivity, manage time, keep projects on track, and understand business law. A business manager can take this type of education free on the net, by reading books, and by hiring a life coach.

College courses will probably not afford the information needed by buying a ‘get started’ or ‘how we succeeded’ package from a proven success.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT is an art more than a science. All business owners need to take crisis management courses. The confidence that you can handle an emergency effectively and efficiently is often enough to help the business owner ride out the most traumatic down turn, or devastating situation.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT is the ability to bring together all types of people, and resources. The objective is to create a time table, and a budget, that includes contingencies for emergencies and problems. The objective is to make sure that projects are finished before their deadlines.

ACCOUNTING is vital, even if the business owner never plans to take charge of their own bookkeeping. Millions of business owners have been robbed, and even ended up in jail for tax fraud, because they could not read a general journal.

No one can create effective cash flow charts and projections without first understanding how to manage a set of books. A small business owner may use one of the bookkeeping programs that ‘does it all.’ However, without a basic understanding of accounting procedures the numbers mean nothing.

Learning the basics of accounting will help the business owner translate their balance sheet into a business building, success creating, management tool.

COMMUNICATION STYLES teaches business managers how to get their point across without causing problems. Most clients are lost by someone who does not understand the basic concept of ‘communication styles.’

MARKETING can be the most confusing, and yet most powerful tool in a business owner’s arsenal. It is the one thing that will help them know the difference between an opportunity and a scam. Without a basic understanding of the concepts of marketing, it will be almost impossible to start a business without buying a ‘get started’ or ‘how to succeed’ kit from a business management success and mentor.

Virtual office is an ideal option for new and home based businesses, as they provide the appearance of a much larger organization, while allowing you to continue working from home. It is a perfect choice for business owners who need office space and business services as and when needed basis. It allows the small business owners to access all the benefits of having a private office space without the cost of opening a physical office.

For the small home-based business or the newly established organization, professional virtual offices offer a convenient and cost-effective way to create a professional image for your company. And for the established small business, virtual offices can provide the extra services and the sophisticated atmosphere that it needs to increase its productivity and profitability. The purpose of a professional virtual office service is to provide a professional business environment for your organization or an exclusive address for personal use.

Finding a virtual office service alternative to standard office setup is a growing trend across many different kinds of businesses. Using a virtual office service allows individuals to work from home while conducting most of their businesses over internet or phone. Virtual office is used to cover a range of activities. You can tailor your own virtual office solution from a variety of services.

Virtual office services are unique services that can enhance your business image with a fraction of cost of full-time office space.

Services offered by a virtual office

Telephone answering service-

 Answering your business calls reliably and in a professional manner, shows that you care about your customers. A virtual office receptionist service allows you the option to have your calls answered in the company’s name. With virtual office services, you do not have to worry that you might be missing important messages because a real person always answers the telephone with the number of your company, handle your mails, faxes and relay your messages as per your instructions. Phone answering service allows you to work from anywhere, giving your small business a competitive edge.

A mailing address in a prestigious office building

  The biggest challenge for many small businesses is perception-to look bigger and more professional. Therefore it is absolutely critical for small businesses to project the best corporate image with a mailing address in a prestigious office building. That you can put on your business cards, letterheads and other company materials. And a virtual office will help you to achieve that objective at a affordable price.

Office space and conference rooms on as-and-when needed basis

   A virtual office advantage is that your office does not need to exist in one single physical location. A virtual office is a combination of the work that one or more people do in their home offices as well as telephone and web interaction with other in different locations. Whenever you need an office space or conference room for meeting, you can hire it as-and-when needed basis at an affordable rate.

4. Dedicated phone number and voice mail with call forwarding services

Your virtual office will have an actual phone line-dedicated to use by your business. During normal office hours, all calls will be answered by a virtual attendant in your company’s name. The line will never be busy and will never go unanswered.

Your mails will be forwarded to you to your designated address, anywhere in the world.

5. An executive suite- An executive suite also known as ‘business center’ or ‘serviced office’ that provides companies with immediate office rental along with telephone answering service and many other secretarial services, is the perfect office space solution for many small and large size businesses as per your need.

In today’s ever-changing business climate, speed and flexibility are essential for success in any business and this is what virtual office packages are intended for.

Virtual office packages are for those who want to create a professional office setting appearance, at the same time do not need a full time office. Various packages are available and depending upon your needs, you have to choose the service that will best fit your company. Whether you need to establish your corporate presence or a conference/meeting room on an hourly basis, virtual office packages offer a wide variety of services to manage your business flow.

Virtual offices are very flexible and cater for the needs of all size and types of business. Investing in an office infrastructure is not necessary for many small businesses. Small businesses can benefit from rented virtual offices, especially those that lack a way to share information among multiple offices.

Here is how your virtual office works. You pay a nominal fee and rent the services of a business center for a small period. In a virtual office, you work from your home as you always have, yet your business has a prestigious business address and phone number. To the outside world, you are sitting in a downtown location.  

The virtual office fits all types of business needs-whether you have a new home business or an on-the-go professional. Using the services of a virtual office on a ‘pay as you use’ basis, such as using a telephone answering service or a virtual receptionist might be a cheaper option to consider. These packages are extremely flexible and ideal for any business.

What are the differences between business credit cards and charge cards? Why should small business owners use a business credit card in handling their expenses? This article should give the basic idea about charge cards and credit cards for business.

Charge cards
Charge cards can also be considered as department store cards or gas station cards. These are credit cards are used only in selected establishments. Thus, instead of paying cash, the cardholder can simply charge purchases to his credit card. At the end of month, the cardholder is expected to pay all his charges completely in order to keep his card active.

Credit cards for Business
As the name suggests, business credit cards are especially offered for small business owners or entrepreneurs. Just like standard credit cards, business credit cards can be used anywhere for purchase.

A billing statement will be sent to the business credit cardholder each month. The entrepreneur may choose to pay all his charges in full or to pay only the minimum due and carry over the rest of his balance for the next billing cycle.

Aside from the monthly billing statements, business credit card companies also send quarterly or yearly account summaries to help the business owner monitor all expenses made for the past quarter or year.

Charge Cards and Business Credit Cards
Both charge cards and business credit cards can be used build business credit. As long as the credit card issuer reports your payments to the business credit bureaus, you can build your business credit history with the use of these cards.

Which ONE Is Better?
So which one is the better credit card? For those who need to build business credit but is also on a limited budget, a charge card is a good choice because balances can be paid off on a monthly basis.

However, for those who need larger credit limit to finance their business, a business credit card offers more flexibility and more options. For instance, if you need to purchase expensive equipment, charging this to your business credit card and paying for it installments will give you the chance to finance your assets without spending a large amount of cash.

Another advantage of using a business credit card is the chance to participate in its reward programs. Since entrepreneurs often spend a lot on business needs, it is so much easier to collect points and earn rewards.

Unsecured Business Loans are monetary loans that are not secured against the borrower’s assets. These kind of loans have higher interest rate and do not offer collateral terms against the business loan. These loans fulfill the financial needs of small business owners easily and quickly. They are flexible and easily available without any need of collateral security. The rate of interest depends upon the degree of risk involved in the whole activity. Unsecured business loans are much cheaper and contain less risk terms to the borrowers. Unsecured business loans can be used to commence a new business as well as to expand an existing one. Prospective business plan helps to win the confidence of the lender. Unsecured business loans are meant for individuals, who need funds to their business without facing any of their assets on risk. It is one of the best options for self employed people working for  other enterprises. You can extend your business domain at any point of time. Unsecured business loans are configured in such a way, that if any business who has no regular source of income, can avail this kind of loans. These loans put a close view on all the requirements of the business. It is quite true that all kinds of unsecured loans are becoming more preferred choice to everyone, as these offer hassle free finance at affordable rates. With these loans a business owner can easily arrange the financial needs to fulfill all the external requirements of the business.

Some of the major benefits of unsecured business loans are:-

1.  These loans do not require any kinds of collateral or security.

2.  One may use these loans for personal, educational or even holiday purposes.

3.  The payment period is up to a maximum of 60 months.

4.  Simple and flexible process: This process provides you easiest way to expand your business successfully and helps to make your business more flexible.

5.  It offers more security and reliable alternative to traditional businesses.

6.  It provides fast track to successful business.

7.  Fast Approvals : the approval process is very fast and efficient. It provides more flexibility to your decision making.

8.  Easy application process: the paper work is very less.

9.  You are free to utilize the funds received for any purpose.

10. It helps to gaining experiencing rapid growth easily

11. Risk: Risk term find out the probability of occurring any event and loses included. Risk defined as qualitatively as well as quantitatively. It is an issue which leads to negative results. In case of unsecured business loans the chances of Risk are very rare.

If your business is facing any major or minor problems in smooth running just because of finance, than unsecured business loans are the best option for you. These loans are available for each industry type, it means business owners from every level of corporate world can apply for them. Well established business owners can also prefer business loan to meet the ever-increasing requirements of their business organizations.

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Though small businesses are privately owned, operated with a small number of employees and relatively low volumes of sales they still play a major role in the development of the world’s economy. A small business is defined by the number of employees, annual sales (turnover), value of assets and net profit. Small businesses are also not dominant in their field of operation.

The advantage of running a small business is that it can be run at a low cost and on a part-time basis. Sole proprietors tend to be intimate with their customers and clients which usually results in greater accountability and responsiveness. A small entrepreneur has independence; he can make his own decisions, risks and reap the rewards of his own efforts alone However, entrepreneurs have to work long hours and understand that ultimately their customers are their bosses.

Running a small business also comes with a variety of problems which are related to their size. One of these major challenges is under-capitalization mostly brought about by poor planning. It is common knowledge that an entrepreneur should have access to money at least equal to the projected revenue for the first one year of business in addition to the anticipated expenses but usually this is not the case.

Small Businesses need to be mindful of contribution margin (sales minus variable costs). This means that a small business must be able to reach a level of sales where the contribution margin equals fixed cost.

Small business owners under price their products to a point where even at their maximum capacity it would be impossible to break even. But cost control or price increase often resolves this problem.

So you’ve worked hard to improve your business and make it succeed. You even recession-proofed your company to survive today’s tough times. These days, you’re working harder and longer. Your clients are getting the Red Carpet Treatment, your marketing budget is getting a boost it needs to counteract today’s slow economy, and you are giving out more special offers and freebies than ever before. But somehow you are still not getting results you hoped for and need…..

Maybe the solution how to improve your business is right there in front of you and fixing it won’t cost you a cent. Take a good look around your personal office as well as your business and front entrance. Is your desk a power desk? Does it protect and support you and your vision? Is it placed right? Or is another desk’s sharp corner aiming straight at you (and you keep wondering, why can’t you concentrate there long enough…).

Can you see your office door while sitting at your desk? Or do you keep your back to incoming flow of business and prosperity? What about your client sitting area? Does it make your clients relaxed but motivated enough to give you their business? Or do you let your waiting customers count your burned-out light bulbs and broken wall clocks? What about your front entrance? Does it project strong yet inviting business? Or do you have No Parking At Any Time sign in front of your door?

If you truly want to improve your business, you need to realize that there is a powerful accumulation of energy sources from the things that closely surrounds us. This energy has the power to nurture, bring success, profit and harmony or to destroy, create obstacles, misfortunes and bad luck. Which route do you want to go?

Harmonizing your close environment or feng shui is an excellent but many times missed opportunity to improve your business and increase your profits, especially for small business owners. Many successful large companies and business people in the US and worldwide have been applying feng shui principles for a very long time. To improve your business, apply this basic rule: any company large or small, can enjoy success, influence and profitability over long period of time only if it pays close attention to and create harmonious relationships with its customers, employees and its work environment.

You can easily apply feng shui to help to improve your business and increase prosperity. The effect is same as when you apply exercise and healthy diet to get rid of your headaches and stress instead of just popping an expensive prescription pill. Nature gives you much more, for less and without any side effects. Good feng shui in your business even minimizes down cycles and lessens severity of misfortunes, bad decisions and business problems.

Feng shui will also make you aware of hidden insecurities and interruptions that are subconsciously sapping your energy and keeping you from being fully effective and making the best business decisions to truly improve your business. Many feng shui tips are just a common sense but long forgotten in our fast-paced, modern lifestyles. You can also check our pages about You can also check how to improve your business at www.lucky-feng-shui-for-life-and-love.com/index.html You can view feng shui tips for so many business categories, including Carreer and Business Success, Job and Salary, Home Office or Cubicle, Office Layout or Boss’s Office

Many of them can be applied right away to improve your business. Start with small changes first and feel the difference. Many times, almost immediately, you will realize that you feel better, more empowered and in control of your business. Results will follow.

Use feng shui as your new inexpensive yet powerful business tool to improve your business and succeed in today’s challenging economy. Make sure you work with – not against invisible forces of nature to create strong and prosperous company.

People look and feel signs of success. They are attracted to prosperity. Usually a business with good feng shui will look prosperous and inviting. Greens will be thriving, streets will be clean and business will be well maintained. There is an air of prosperity that everybody can both feel and see…..

Good luck improving your business !

Majority of people admire successful small business entrepreneurs and are sometimes even envious of their success. What they often fail to understand is that successful entrepreneurs have worked long and hard to get where they are. Small business requires dedication, hard work and sacrifices.

The key to leading a small business is actually condensed into three simple virtues: passion, dedication and patience.

The first virtue an entrepreneur must have is the passion. A business person must have the daily excitement of everything that he does about venturing into business. If you own a small convenience store in town, start your day by having the contagious enthusiasm and zeal. It stars with the change of your attitude toward your business and dedicate to love your dealings with passion.

Passion also means being able to get out of the bed early in the morning with a positive thinking. Think of the good things that will happen to your business today. Think of something like making at least 10% increase in the profit. Or start thinking of the development of your business by creating new and helpful marketing strategies to promote your business. Or better yet, start saying this to yourself, “My business is good, it’s getting better and it’s going to be the best!”

The second virtue is dedication. Each budding business entrepreneur must set goals. You must have an aim in your business life. How on earth can you hit a target you do not even have? To be the winner in the business world, you must become a very meaningful specific. Dedication is the key to do the trick. How much sacrifice or sacrifices can you devote in your business? How far would you go for its development? Are you willing to put an extra effort to achieve your goals?

Persistent small business owners oftentimes make it big in their chosen business endeavors. Their power to battle every disaster that could put their business down is something to be proud of. They are not afraid to give up to the challenges that can help uplift the business. This is pure dedication- making you become 24/7 available.

Finally, the third virtue is patience. Remember that you are engaging not only yourself but your whole lifetime in your chosen business. Patience is definitely a challenging value since it requires you to wait for the perfect time to boom in the business. If your end doesn’t show in the first few months of existence of your business, worry no more. It’s just normal to have situation problems. But remember that no business is established to fail. The means to overcome failure is to be patient. It doesn’t take a month or two to become the best of what you are. The power to wait for the perfect time to shine is the defining glory.

Delving with these virtues, you should come to realize the needs of developing the qualities of a successful small business person or entrepreneur. Most businesses today rise to serve the needs of the people and all other individuals living within the arena of the countless technological breakthroughs. It should exist to provide all the necessities that individuals need in order to grow and develop into an efficient, well-rounded and noteworthy individuals in the fastest and the easiest way possible.

Internet marketing can be highly effective for every business. If you advertise your business over the popular web sites of the internet, people will see your advertise and if they are interested in your products or services, they will be your customer. There are many ways to advertise on popular web sites. You can place your banner on the pages that are relevant to your business. For example if you own a banking service business, you can place your banners at popular web sites such as E- mail services website, sports website and many other popular websites. You can get advantage of pay per click in which you have to pay only when someone clicks on your banner.

Business directory can also be a good marketing tool for any business. A business directory lists all types of business into their website. Although the listing in popular business directory may be costly, it guarantees the increased number of customers to your business. An online business directory helps small and medium sized businesses to grow up rapidly by increasing the number of customers to their business. It lists business from all the industry and from the region of the directory. Internet marketing has many advantages for the small business owners. They can market their business to many people at once, and people seeking for the business services will go to them and buy their services or products.

You can gather information about almost all businesses in your region using the business directory. The business directory lists various manufacturer, marketer, and sellers of various products from your region. It also lists information about institutes such as trade unions, education institutes, etc. A business directory list various service providers who provide services such as money related services, tax services, accounting services, marketing and management related services, etc.

Business directories provide two type of listing facility: regular listing and featured listing. Regular listings are generally free but it has certain disadvantages. Limit of description text, waiting for the approval of listing, no listing in the top category are some of the disadvantages of regular listing in the business directory. Featured listing is better than the regular listing in certain factors. First of all, you can list your business to the top category. Many people do not look for the sub categories if they can find their wanted business in the top category. So, there will be advantage for you to be listing your business to the top category of the business directory.

You can also take other advantages of the listing in the business directory. Some indirect benefits can be there for you after you list your business to the business directory. People can find your business from the search engines when they search for some business. If they find your business helpful for them, they will certainly use your services.

You should consider the importance of the business directory to increase your business. Find the best directory for your region and place your listing into it. This will really helpful to you to increase the number of your customers.

 It’s an unfortunate fact of commercial life that the world of business does not have a unifying theory of everything. Each situation is different and poses different challenges and opportunities for everyone engaged in the business world. Were there to be a template that all small businesses could use then life would be fantastically easy and the rewards bountiful for all. However the economics of the marketplace and human factors dictate that this is an impossible scenario and that those business people that “play the game well” will have heightened success when compared to those that do not.

The purpose of this article is to outline eight basic principles that can be used in every small business during the current economic climate to maximise the chances of current and future commercial success. Each of these principles is discussed in depth in other articles; the key to reading this article is to provide small business owners with a checklist and a brief explanation of why each principle is important. The list is by no means exhaustive but it is this writer’s view that these 8 are fundamental building blocks for success.

I hope you find value in “the 8 C’s of small business management”

(1)    Costs.

One of the problems of boom times is that it breeds inefficiencies since unnecessary costs are left unattended as the company focuses on grabbing “the low hanging fruit” that these good times provide. Who wants to spend days looking at the” leaky pipe” when there are so many opportunities of bounty? In leaner economic periods the easy revenue dries up, but the pipe of inefficiency continues to leak. Thus it is key that all small business take a long look at all of their cash outputs and trim where necessary. This is often a painful decision, but it is essential for the future wellbeing of the company. This has to be the base point for all small businesses during hard times. Ask questions like; do I need the company car that I current drive? Am I wasting money on coffees? Do I over-order stationary? These are small details and we haven’t even discussed the big cost drivers yet, but consider Ryanair who famously cut costs by asking employees to stop using company electricity to charge their mobile phones! Excess fat can be found everywhere and in a world where cash is king, costs have to be trimmed (often to allow the money freed up to be spend elsewhere as investment in the business)

(2)    Customers

Do you know who your customers are and more importantly do you understand them? Loyal customers are the commodity that everyone is scrambling for at the moment. It is imperative that every small business has a heightened knowledge of their base. Whether you are someone that has long or short buying cycle it is incredibly important that you are viewing your customers as assets to be nurtured and developed rather than simply transactional. There is so much data that can be mined from knowing your customers and you don’t necessarily need sophisticated CRM systems to have a rudimentary yet effective customer data base. Customer relationships can allow you to understand and predict, it allows you to foster emotional ties that are key to the customer lifecycle.  If customers are the lifeblood of every business then how you interact with your customers before, during and after the transaction is the oxygen that helps keep the business alive. Your staff, if you have any, are also a key for communication strategy.  How much input are you getting from them about what customers are talking about? Do you have a mechanism so that information can be passed upwards? Charles Dunstone of the Carphone Warehouse group famously said that if you’re looking after the customer and looking after the people who look after the customer you should be all right.

(3)    Competition

Business is often a zero sum game. If you aren’t winning someone else is.  That someone else is your competition. It constantly amazes me that so many businesses (a) don’t know who their competition is and (b) don’t know what their competition is up to.  In a world of easy access to information it’s a sin not to be constantly looking at your competitors activities. Your competitors are looking at your business so you must be looking at theirs and be constantly thinking about what you must do to get an edge. If customers are not buying from you, where are they buying from and why? This basic thought has to be at the centre of all strategic decisions that you make. In my business of training the market is ultra competitive so when I am not successful with a pitch I need to understand why.  Sometimes I can do nothing about it at the moment, but at worst its valuable information that I can use the next time I am selling. Henry Ford said “Competition is the keen cutting edge of business”, Walt Disney remarked that he “couldn’t operate without competition”. These were men that knew their markets and knew the importance of competitor analysis in order to get better.

(4)    Communication

It’s a sad fact of business that if you wait for business to come to you then invariably you will struggle. In the age of mass communication all businesses have to be communicating what they are doing. Don’t wait for the phone to ring, pick it up and call someone. The internet has now provided a relatively cheap medium for all businesses to communicate with the world. Marketing doesn’t have to be hugely expensive, a wise man one said that “advertising is what you do when you can’t go and see all your potential customers yourself”. It’s rare that a product or service sells itself. If people don’t know you exist how can they buy from you? Go back to the costs principle. If you save £500 a year on trimming expensive coffees (or something similar) that’s £500 that you can spend communicating a message, that done right will produce a return on investment for the business. Always be communicating. Even a weekly blog will give you presence and is a cheap but effective communication with your customers. Do you have all your customers email details? Are you talking to them? Do you optimise every touchpoint that you have with your customers?

(5)    Cleverness

 If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing day in and day out hoping for different results then a large proportion of businesses are trading insanely. If you have struggled for the past 12 months and are doing nothing differently then what’s the end result going to be? Use people to brainstorm new ideas. Try new things. Do things that you don’t like doing to get you out of a comfort zone and change the game. It’s incredible the numbers of new avenues that are open to business when they tweak what they are doing and adopt new ideas. For example Don Pepper and Martha Rogers revolutionised business thinking by suggesting that profits could be maximised by selling more things to fewer people. Is that your business? Maybe you want the mass markets as your target? Regardless of what you want to do, you still need to be thinking business in a focused manner with a goal of emerging with clever tactics that will allow you to grow. Scattergun approaches do not work. You must be clever with what you do and run with it.

(6)    Closing

If you are not selling you are not trading. Selling is the cornerstone of every business, without it your product or service is just another commodity. Selling brings your offerings to life. It’s a simple fact that those than can sell do better than those that can’t. Selling is a fluid dynamic ongoing process. Every interaction you have outside your company should be about the sale. You don’t have to be hard selling all the time but you must be aware that you are at some stage of the sale process constantly. Always Be Closing, never were truer words written. A lot of small business owners don’t like selling, it’s not the reason they got into business. Some people see selling as a dirty word and view it as beneath them. These businesses will fail unless they have are lucky enough to have something that sells itself. Read any business book, the giants of business all knew the importance of selling and were willing from the start to get their hands dirty. Without the sales there can be none of the trimmings of happiness or success that most business owners aspire to.

(7)    Concentration

Business has to have a focus. Business people have to understand that business is simple but that it’s not easy. By this I mean that production of wealth is not overly complicated but it’s something that need time effort and concentration. Hard work i.e. concentrating on your business is essential.  If something sounds like easy money it’s probably not, it just means that the person making that money makes it look easy by investing huge amounts of their concentration and focus to it.  We all must train ourselves to do better, to be more efficient with our outputs. This requires focus and concentration and it’s often a long process. Malcolm Gladwells theory in his book Outliers is an example of this. To be fantastic requires huge time and effort. The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

(8)    Calibre

You must be good at what you do. The offering that you make to the marketplace has to be of sufficient calibre so as to be more desirable to customers than your competitors. This means that small business cannot be all things to all people and has to have a focus. For example it’s almost impossible to compete on all of marketing’s 5 P’S. Selling a blue chip product and competing on price is both difficult and dangerous, if you are a low cost- low margin offering, then aside from price it’s difficult to compete on the other 4. The point here is that it is essential to understand that business leaders find a way of bringing something to market and then tweak it until it’s as close to perfect as they can get it. How often have we read of people who are always scrambling for new ideas that sound great but are in fact taking them away from their core offering?  “Big think” is great fun and it’s often the “sexy” side of business however a core fundamental is that big think is useless unless the minute details are managed. The distinctly unsexy side of business is often the implementation and management of ideas, it is this attention to detail that determines the calibre of your offering and will define your success.

There we have it. Eight fundamentals for all small businesses. I firmly believe that there are no small businesses that cannot successfully adopt all of the above. This is not a magic formula for successes. Unlike too many business books out there I do not advance a claim that success is a just “an add water and stir” process. Reading about business is great and understanding business an ongoing necessity. However success comes only from another C word, competent. The above 8 tips are essential for all businesses but they will not remotely guarantee success without being competently applied to your business.

Simon Kenny is a sales and leadership director with Skills4Sales.

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Many small business owners have been disappointed when their applications for small business loans were disapproved by banks under the Small Business Administration’s program for America’s Recovery Capital. According to an article written by Robb Mandelbaum in the August 12, 2009 edition of The New York Times Online, “the program is off to a slow start.” It seems that most banks are reluctant to approve applications for small business loans.

Mandelbaum reports that the Small Business Administration’s program has $255 million to give away, enough to give small businesses 10,000 loans reaching as much as $35,000 each. However, two months after the program was launched, there have only been 1,127 small business loans released, with a total of $36.8 million.

Sources are saying that banks are not very keen on participating in the Small Business Administration’s program because giving the small business loans would not be very profitable for them. Paul Merski,.chief economist of the trade association Independent Community Bankers of America, said, “There’s not a lot of profit motive in a $35,000 loan stretched over six years.” Bob Seiwert from the Center for Commercial Lending and Business Banking at the American Bankers Association reveals that, because of strict underwriting standards, servicing the small business loans becomes even more expensive.

The banks have also found more ways to restrict the approval of small business loans with the Congressional restrictions on loan eligibility. According to Congress, in order to qualify for the Small Business Administration loans, small businesses need to be both struggling and viable. That means the business should have had an “immediate financial hardship” such as a 20 percent decrease in revenue. However, the business must also be at least two years old with proof of positive cash flow in one of the previous two years. It should also submit a two year cash-flow projection proving that it will be able to afford loan payments.

Because of the Congressional restrictions, banks are more likely to approve small business loans from their existing clients. Merski said, “From a financial perspective, it really is a loan that makes sense for an existing customer. You’re not going to have to put out a lot of resources to do a very costly underwriting. You know the business.”

Those who are working in support of small businesses are very much disillusioned. An example is Alex Cooper who is a counselor at the Pima Community College Small Business Development Center in Tucson. He said he had assisted almost 30 small business owners with their loan applications but none of them had been approved. “It’s a disappointment. I thought the banks would be more interested in the community and try to help small businesses,” he said.

When the applications for small business loans are disapproved by banks under the Small Business Administration’s program for America’s Recovery Capital, small business owners still have another option. They can get the equivalent of small business loans from their credit card services.

Credit card services provide their clients with the ability to accept payments through credit cards or debit cards in person, online or through the phone. Clients who have established a certain minimum in average monthly credit card sales are qualified to apply for cash advances that are like small business loans. Payments are automatically deducted from future credit card sales.

If you are a small business owner, you do not have to go through the hassles of applying for small business loans with banks who are reluctant to participate in the Small Business Administration program. Get your trouble free small business loans from your credit card services instead.

In the midst of the global economic crisis, many small businesses are on the brink of closing down if not enough capital infusion is found. It is now even more difficult to get small business loans from banks, though. Ironically, the exact reasons why small businesses need such small business loans – the fact that business has slowed down and profitability has plummeted – are the same reasons why banks turn them down for loans.

Small businesses now have to be more resourceful in finding alternatives to small business loans.

Government Grants and Contracts Instead of Small Business Loans

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama in February 2009 caused the pumping of billions of dollars for the revitalization of the economy. Because of it, there are plenty of government grants and contracts available to small businesses. These can be alternatives to small business loans.

But how can small businesses avail of the stimulus program?

The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) has the responsibility for helping small businesses obtain and perform federal, state and local government contracts. It has Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) throughout the country, ready to help small business owners to get registered and find opportunities in the area of government grants and contracts. Counselors assist small businesses in filling out bids, proposals and quotations.

The PTAC holds seminars teaching small business owners all the ins and outs of government legalese, including acronyms and registries. A one-day seminar with PTAC covers what small business owners may take months to learn on their own.

The PTAC then helps small businesses with Central Contractor Registration (CCR), a requirement for doing business with the federal government. This registration can be so complicated that some companies take two days to do it when the PTAC counselor can help them get through it in 15 minutes.

Local PTACs will be of help in acquiring state and municipal contracts.

Other resources that small business owners should consult include the Small Business Administration (SBA) which also coordinates with the APTAC; the General Services Administration (GSA) which acts as the government’s purchasing department and provides information on becoming an approved vendor; the Federal Business Opportunities website (fbo.gov) where federal contract opportunities currently available are posted; and the Small Business Innovation Research website (sbir.gov) where grant and funded research opportunities for small businesses are listed.

Cash Advances from Credit Card Services Instead of Small Business Loans

Another alternative to small business loans are cash advances from credit card services. This option is much easier than winning government grants and contracts.

Most small businesses are already availing of credit card services that enable them to accept payments by credit cards or debit cards. This is practically a requirement to doing business these days, with people hardly paying cash for goods and services. Many small business owners do not know that they could avail of cash advances from these credit card services, though, and that such advances can actually equal small business loans.

The amount that a small business can borrow is based on its average monthly income from credit card sales. This is so because the cash advance does not require collateral and future sales receivables from credit cards stand as the collateral. Payment will also be done through automatic deductions from those future credit card sales. There will be no set monthly amortizations. Instead, a certain percentage of the sales will be allotted as payment. The small business owner, therefore, need not worry over where to find cash for loan payments.

Cash advances from credit card services are the best bet of small business owners as alternatives to small business loans.

Mature industries like banking, pharmaceuticals and insurance have been outsourcing for decades – even before the term became popular. These verticals have standardized processes in their industries which enable them to easily scale – based on the economy and market conditions.

Because outsourcing has become available to small business owners and online professionals, you can now expect the same level of scalability, efficiency and cost savings that exists in other well-managed businesses that leverage outsourcing.

According to a report titled “Global Sourcing Trends in 2009” by U.S.-based law firm Morrison and Foerster:  Most outsourcing transactions intend to produce immediate improvements to the bottom line for businesses. While this is a common reason to outsource, with fluctuating economic times like we have been experiencing lately, the flexibility to scale up or scale down (based on the business’s needs) has been the determining factor to outsource.

Smart executives are using outsourcing to build flexibility and scalability into their businesses—and to gain access to a global pool of skills at competitive cost.

The recent economic downturn led many companies, especially those who don’t have existing outsourcing contracts, to consider outsourcing. But companies who already have outsourcing agreements are re-evaluating their outsourcing decisions to find providers that offer more business continuity and integration.

In an environment where Fortune 500 companies have disappeared overnight, a successfully executed outsourcing partnership could make the difference in a company’s ability to ride out these challenging times. The flexibility to bring on needed help and expertise in times of growth – without committing to a project contract or adding people to the payroll, has been an invaluable solution to the small business owner and online professional. In addition to providing scalability, this also allows the owner to focus on core competencies of the business.

Outsourcing provides businesses with instant scalability and service flexibility, as well as reducing overhead costs.  One of the major advantages of outsourcing is that companies can now get the best from new developments without the expense.

In terms of new technologies, new processes and new ways of doing things, you don’t have to invest to do that in-house.  Outsourcing is also particularly beneficial for new businesses, or those looking to expand their operation. This includes those who do not necessarily know what hardware or software they will need.

Outsourcing providers with more experience should be able to advise companies about where to spend their money, so that they do not waste time and resources.

Any hesitation to outsource may be affecting your company’s chances to effectively scale for growth in this highly competitive business environment. As a small business owner or online professional, carefully consider your outsourcing partner when looking to expand your business and make it globally competitive.  When considering a company for outsourcing, make certain that they are equipped to handle the ebb and flow needs of your business when scaling up, and when scaling down!

www.reachd.com Rodney Bartlett interviews Google’s Matt Cutts at Pubcon 2007 in Las Vegas. Matt had some excellent tips for small business owners and answered a few great questions.

Managers and owners of small businesses are always on the lookout for methods to help to improve their business. One way to do this that is very popular with small business owners is to implement a small business management software solution. These are web based applications which enable anyone within the business to sign in and work remotely from anywhere in the world. However this is just one of the reasons why a small business management software solution is perfect for a small business. So why does your business need a small business management software application?

•    This will save you and your employees a great deal of time each working day. With only one application in use there is no need to be constantly switching between applications to complete on task.

•    Integrated calendars will help business owners and managers to see what staffs are doing with ease.

•    Project planning is made simple with small business management software – just create a project and assign it to a member of staff. Then track its progress by simply clicking into that project, no more chasing employees up to see where they are with a project.

•    Quoting and invoicing is made much more straightforward by creating both through one application. This means that sales leads can be followed up with ease by simply checking which quotes have been created and not followed up. When a quote is then accepted it can simply be changed into an invoice which means even more time is saved.

•    Document storage, which can sometimes be an issue for small businesses, can be streamlined with small business management software. Now as soon as a document has been created it can be saved directly onto the application, it can then be accessed by any employee with the correct level of access. So no more waiting for documents to be emailed from employee to employee, by saving them all on one application they can be retrieved quickly and easily. In addition to this small business management software can help a business wave goodbye to missing documents, something that everyone will welcome.

•    Small businesses with up to 50 employees can use small business management software, which means that you don’t have to be a tiny company to benefit from it.

•    Any business that has off site employees that need to fill in timesheets can use small business management software to track employees working hours. Off site employees can log into the application, fill in their timesheet and managers or owners can use this information to work out wages. When this is compared with the time it can take to chase up time sheets from various employees it is clear to see why this type of software is so useful.

As you can see there are numerous reasons why small businesses need small business management software. It can cut down the time spent on tasks drastically; this is easy to access and has business wide functionality. It is the practical and simplistic way.