Author: Ethan Theo

Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.

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Starting Up

Starting a Business? Consult the Experts

Start straight for business

Starting a business from scratch is incredibly difficult. The stuff of childhood dreams, running a business can quickly turn into a nightmare if you’re not careful. However, should you require it, help is always at hand. Using experts to advise you and inform your decisions may seem expensive, but it can actually save you money in the long term. Here’s who you should consult when starting your business and why their expert advice is invaluable.

Accountants: Get Your Finances in Order

Unless you’ve run a business previously or spent some time self-employed, it’s likely that you’ve never filed a tax return before. Understanding how taxes and expenses work is vital for business owners. This is because, if you get it wrong, you could be hit with a huge fine or end up paying far more money than you need to.

When sorting out your tax returns and getting your expenses in order, you’ll want an expert in your sector. Find an expert that will be able to fulfil your business’s needs and you could be able to save a small fortune. As well as this, you’ll have peace of mind that your tax returns are correct and you can get on with running your experts.

Logistics: Ensure Your Stock Arrives

If your business can’t receive stock in its warehouse or send stock to customers on time, then it’s doomed to fail. In 21 st century business, customer service is the cornerstone of any successful business. This is now truer than ever, especially due to the rise of review sites like Feefo and TripAdvisor.

As such, getting the logistics right is vital. Any delay to the sending of packages and parcels can cause complaints and negativity towards your business. Employing the right logistics partner will mean you’ll be spreading the good word, not the bad.

Web Development: Get the Right Team

Finally, consider your online presence. Unless you know how to code, use HTML and web servers, you may struggle to build a site. Luckily, you can hire a freelance expert through great sites like People Per Hour. This way, you can have a site built quickly by an expert, but won’t have to keep someone on the permanent payroll. Having a website can never be a bad thing, and a fully functioning website can hugely boost the exposure of your business.

Of course, there are even more areas than this where you can employ expert help, and these are just three. However, as this post has hopefully demonstrated, although experts can sometimes be costly, they’re worth their weight in gold.

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Planning & Management

Three Ways to Help Keep Your Staff Productive

Three Ways to Help Keep Your Staff Productive
Your staff are vital to your business. They handle your orders every day, they speak with your clients, they put out messages over social media and they keep all of your online transactions secure. Without a great team behind you, you’ll never be able to achieve the global ambitions you have for your company.

So, how do you ensure that those people remain productive? Below are three ideas that should point you in the right direction.

1. Create an engaging environment
If your employees’ minds are not stimulated and their environments are dull and drab, it will affect their productivity. There are so many things you can do today that will improve the working conditions for your staff. Plus, it will entice more people to come and work for you if they hear you have a fantastic workplace.

Your staff are more likely to remain loyal to you if you show that you care about their wellbeing. Make sure that they take regular breaks, make provision for breakout areas so that they are encouraged to step away from their screens, and include plenty of natural light to reduce headaches for people that are looking at monitors for long periods of time.

2. Invest in equipment
Similar to ensuring that the working environment is kept to a high standard, making sure that you have the right equipment and software for your team is essential to greater productivity. On the one hand, this extends to the physical environment, such as the need for ergonomic desk chairs for those who sit for long periods of time, or the use of good quality smartphones and tablets for your mobile team, so that they can show your product offering to clients in the best way possible.

On the other hand, this relates to the software that your staff are using. PR and marketing will find it difficult to create award-winning campaigns with a cost-effective version of what the competition uses. Meanwhile, HR would benefit from something like CascadeHR payroll software, which reduces the risk of human error within the payroll processing side of the business.

3. Provide regular training
Training is one of the top reasons for people seeking new employment. If you hire a team of tenacious individuals, then it’s only natural that they will want to progress. People with a thirst to move up the career ladder want to learn new skills and grow with the business. Many small companies hesitate about training their employees however, concerned that they might leave for another company, but this is far from the case.

By recognising the ambition within your workforce, they’ll see you as an employer that cares about them, and their personal development. They are far more likely to remain loyal to an employer that provides regular training and the opportunity to grow. Plus, if they feel happy in their role and more confident, their productivity will increase as a result, leading to better customer service and ultimately more business.

How do you keep your staff motivated and productive?

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Finance & Capital

Successfully Starting a Business Using Credit Cards

A calculator, pen, and financial statement.

In a perfect world, you would have made the decision to create your startup last year. You’d have taken on a side gig, in addition to your full-time job, to help build up a sizable savings account to help fund your first year or two of entrepreneurship. You’d have spent what little free time you had putting together a business plan and researching VCs. And in a perfect world, everything comes together and you create a successful startup with zero debt. In a perfect world.

In the real world, the choice to go it alone might have been spontaneous or a choice you made because your job hunt was going nowhere. You might not have had the option to save up a year’s worth of income to float you through while you got your company off the ground. What’s more, in the real world, you have student loans, utility bills, etc. If you’re really serious about starting up your own company, dealing with debt is inevitable. It is also a good thing.

Wait, what? Yes. We just told you that building up some debt in the name of your business is a good thing.

The Right Kind of Debt

First, let’s be clear: we aren’t talking about taking out a five-figure small business loan that buries you in debt for years. We’re talking about smaller amounts of debt that you can pay off pretty quickly once you start making sales. For this type of debt, you’ll need to use credit cards.

Finding the Right Card

Finding the right credit cards for your business might take some time. You’ll want to read the reviews of what’s available. Not every creditor is willing to offer credit to a brand new venture. You’ll also want to consider the benefits associated with each card. If you’re going to be a consultant, you might want a card that lets you rack up frequent flier miles. If you need to finance inventory, you’ll probably be better off with one of the cash back credit cards that are available.

How Many Cards?

Start with one. All you need is one creditor to agree to set up a line of credit. You don’t even need the credit line to be very big. In fact, if you can’t find someone to offer your company some unsecured credit, you might want to consider opening up a secured card. Opening this first line of credit is essential for establishing your business’s credit (which should always be kept separate from your own). If you use this card responsibly for the first six months of starting up your company, you will likely be swimming in credit offers to help you finance your larger expenses.

How to Use Credit Cards to Finance Your Business

This is going to depend quite a bit on the type of business you’re trying to build. For the most part, however, concentrate on the most important purchases that you know you’ll be able to pay off within a few months: a new business-dedicated laptop. Software. A desk. Pay each purchase off in full before moving on to the next. You can worry about stocking up on inventory after you’ve built buzz for your company and researched vendors thoroughly. By then you should have access to all of the credit you’ll need.

Why This Plan Works

As we’ve previously stated, using credit cards to finance the initial stages of your startup is the best way to build your company’s credit history and score. The better your company’s credit, the less likely you’ll have to dip into your own money to get things moving–which is something you really want to avoid. Using credit keeps your personal and professional expenses separate. This makes your taxes and accounting much simpler and gives you legal protections if something goes wrong.

Remember: go slowly. Don’t max out your credit lines as soon as you acquire them. You need to use these credit cards responsibly so that later, when you need that big business loan to help your company grow, you’ll be guaranteed approval.

Categories
Operations

4 Solutions to Simplifying Your Business Processes

 4 Solutions to Simplifying Your Business Processes

Are there actually ways to simplify business processes that can save you time and money? Well that’s the million dollar question most business owners ask themselves on the regular basis. It is important to continually seek ways to get the job done in a more cost effective manner without compromising quality – and your brand. Though there are many avenues you can take, many small business owners have leaned towards the use of technology to help streamline practices.

Intuitive and advanced technologies are being developed every day that provides several options to businesses looking to simplify processes. Whether its business applications for improved communication, or interactive tools and resources to provide better marketing platforms, there several resources at your disposal. The question then becomes…

What technologies are worth investing in to simplify the business? Below are a few most commonly considered:

1. Business in the Cloud

When cloud technologies and cloud computing became a popular term, it was first thought of as applications that were great for storing files like music downloads and pictures. However, with new advancements, cloud technology has gone above and beyond the storage platform. Today, there are cloud based business applications for just about every business need. Employees are now able to remotely have access to documents, files, and cloud based databases/applications anywhere there is an internet connection. Whether you’re in need of an affordable word processing system, file storage, or an accounting system for generating reports, there are cloud based solutions available.

Cyber Security: With the increased investment in business software and applications, company data becomes vulnerable to cyber thieves. Investing in network security software ensures that your company information is never compromised. Such features allow you to stay vigilant and proactive against threats with real time warnings and easy to implement solutions. When you consider the fact that one threat could set you back thousands of dollars as well as a ruined reputation, investing in cyber security should be of extreme importance.

2. Internet Marketing Solutions

Marketing is essential to the success of your brand. However, if you’ve been in business for a while, you know that marketing can also consume a large portion of your time, resources, and finances. If you’re looking for cost effective solutions that will help you streamline marketing practices utilizing internet marketing tactics would suffice. Some options for streamlining might include:

Emailing for advertisements – email marketing is an efficient method of internet marketing. By creating a sizeable email lists, companies can send promotional or informational materials. With the click of a button, hundreds if not thousands of potential consumers will receive notifications to their inbox.

Social Media Management Tools – social media is a huge factor in marketing today. As businesses strive to connect with consumers on a more personal level, the need to post regular content is necessary. Social media management tools can make daily posting to multiple platforms a lot simpler. Creating an account can connect all of your social media accounts. From this social media management tool, you’re able to create and schedule posts, review analytics, and respond in real time to your target audience.

3. Virtual Phone Solutions

If you’re looking to improve business communications, investing in a virtual phone system can help. Essentially a virtual phone system is created using cloud based technology. There are plenty of benefits to investing in a virtual phone system.  Workers are able to access the phone system wherever there is an internet connection allowing them to be more productive throughout the day. Calls are connected through the internet and can be routed to anyone else who has access to the virtual phone system. This is great for small businesses who have more than one location, remote workers, or simply for businesses looking to save money while streamlining company communications.

4. Project Management Tools

When collaborating on projects within the company it is imperative that staff remain on the same page in order to produce quality results. Project management applications can assist in keeping the lines of communication open and ensuring that the project is completed from start to finish. Managers can assign projects, create steps for completion, monitor the progress, set budgets, and even communicate with involved staff and customers to ensure that things are on target.

Hopefully this has given you some idea on where to start implementing new processes within your business. Streamlining your small business practices is really all about evaluating your company’s areas of weakness. Take a step back and review each segment of your business to discern if there are areas that could use improvement. Whether it is communication systems, marketing platforms, or project management, there are efficient technological systems, applications, and tools that can be used to cut time and money while improving productivity.

Categories
How-To Guides

Tips to Write an Essay From Scratch

Tips to Write an Essay From Scratch

It’s all in the planning

Don’t waste time with needless worry when you know that you have to write an essay but take the necessary steps to prepare yourself mentally and simply believe that this is something which you are well able to do if you put your mind to it. The first steps will always be to read carefully through all of the instructions or questions and it may help to underline some keywords which seems to strike a chord in you. Also identify those words within the instructions that seem to be placing some kind of limitation or restriction on the discussion with in that essay and this may be especially those areas which deals with a specific time period. Look at exactly what it says in the instructions such as what is the keywords, is it compare, discuss or explain because this will give you an excellent indication of where you should be heading. No one has all knowledge and therefore if you find words which you do not know then make use of a dictionary also pay close attention to words which may have reference to a particular subject with in that essay. In order to learn how I write my essays from scratch readers should pay special attention to the following paragraphs.

Approach carefully

Before you actually start pouring words on paper sufficient consideration should be given to the relevant ideas, you know like brainstorming and as things come to mindwrite those ideas down because they may just be an excellent starting point to your narrative. Absolutely any additional information which is relevant to those ideas which you have already discovered or anything at all which could substantiate those ideas should also be written down in your preparation notes. Look at the available information from all possible angles and just let your mind go in order to see if there is any other realistic connections between the available portions of information available to you. Most topics will require a substantial amount of research in order to ensure that the essay either has sufficient background information to actually be able to write a compelling essay. Not all sources which could be found on the Internet or in the library will necessarily be useful for your purposes and therefore choose carefully. It is important to make notes of all resources which is used so that they can be included in either the bibliography or in the footnotes of your essay.

Plan your essay carefully

Put all the information which you have accumulated in a logical sequence and it’s important to ensure that every snippet of information which has been gathered during your research process is really relevant to the instructions and the questions which has been included into that project by the teacher. Once this process has been completed and everything has been written down in a logical sequence the student or essay writer should know exactly where they are going with the rest of the content. This whole process will require intensive consideration because it is important to provide a response that will be in keeping with the mood of the entire project and it also serves no purpose to provide content which is too simplistic and which does not address the issues properly. You need to carefully plan the entire style of the essay and you need to clearly indicate your intentions right from the opening paragraph. You need to frequently refer to that strategy or most important thoughts and once again when it comes to the conclusion of that essay the final proof as to the validity of that strategy have to be proven in a convincing fashion.

The importance of the introduction

It is vitally important to provide content that will be able to engage the reader and that will keep them interested. Therefore during the actual introduction it is important to put your case on the table and open it up for discussion. It will now be necessary to proceed to present your centralthoughts or also known as the thesis. Although you still have a long way to go in actually writing that essay the introduction should provide at least some indication of how the questions which are relevant to that essay is going to be answered. Once that has been done the essay writer should not proceed to the main body of the essay. When reading expert essays it will quickly be seen that the preferred practice will be to address each point in a completely new paragraph. It will be important to ensure that there is an intelligent link between separate paragraphs and it should be clear to the reader how those paragraphs relate to each other. It is not merely sufficient to provide information but the essay writer should be able to support every point which is made with sufficient evidence. Some important points will have to be repeated two or more times in order to emphasize their importance and also their relevance to the main topic.