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.

Categories
Planning & Management

Have Your 2012 Business Goals in Mind?

Article by Dave Thomas

With 2012 right around the corner, many entrepreneurs are already thinking about how they can dial up more return on investment (ROI) in the New Year.

While 2011 has produced mixed results for millions of entrepreneurs, many of these same individuals are looking at what they want to accomplish in the coming year, how they will go about doing just that, what their resource requirements will be and how they can learn from this year’s mistakes to not repeat them moving forward.

If you have not already set all your goals in motion for the New Year or you have but have some questions regarding them, now is a perfect time to review the pending year and what needs to be accomplished in the next 12 months.
Among the things to look at are:

•    Are your 2012 goals credible or just a shot in the dark? – The goals should be those that appear attainable given what many financial experts predict will still be challenging times in the months to come. Don’t set yourself up for disappointment and failure by setting unattainable goals. Work within the projections of your industry, your staff resources and most importantly, your budget;

•    Industry projections – While no one entrepreneur can say with 100 percent certainty what 2012 will bring, it is important to take an overview of your respective industry to see what is being forecast. If the forecasts are for moderate to increased growth, then proceed accordingly. If the forecasts, however, are for limited to maybe even stagnant growth, proceed with caution. It is much better to go a little more on the conservative side and be pleasantly surprised than to be all systems forward and be thoroughly disappointed;

•    Zero in on core competency – Put the prime focus on your known money makers. While it is good to want to expand your wings, you have to make sure your prime products and/or services continue to serve not only regular customers but attract potential customers. If you’re thinking of expand products and/or services, make sure your core items do not lose focus in the process;

•    Properly price your products and/or services – Given that many consumers are having trouble making ends meet, be sure you don’t price yourself out of their business. If a number of your customers or potential ones are having monetary issues, consider that when setting the prices for 2012. Yes, you are here to make a profit, but what profit will you be making if you have less customers? As an example, the retail gas station that is selling gas for $4 on one street corner is potentially going to make more money than the retail station across the street who is selling the same product for $3.85. That being said, the station selling it at $3.85 can potentially make up the difference and then some by pulling in more customers attracted to the lower price;

•    Review 2011 numbers and trends – It is important each and every year to look at how the past year went and what can be learned from it. Look for trends as far as when sales were at their highest and low points, how you did with your present staff levels, any trends regarding concerns and/or complaints from customers and so on. Always remember that the past serves as an educator for the future;

•    Be prepared for the highs and lows – Very few companies can run the 52-week period from start to finish without some bumps along the way. Be prepared ahead of time on how you will handle the tougher parts of the year, including what actions will be needed if sales go into a prolonged slump etc. Most importantly, have contingency plans in place so that you and your staff can weather the storms;

•    Embrace all aspects of the web – While it seems like a no-brainer, there are still many entrepreneurs who are not fully embracing all the Internet has to offer them. From social media to video and podcasts, make sure your business is utilizing all the various electronic tools. Social media can be looked at as perhaps the best in that it is essentially free, short of time and effort. Be sure that you maximize your Web site in all your marketing efforts to reach as many visitors, who are then hopefully turned into customers, as possible. If you have not already, be sure to review your Web site efforts so that it is at maximum capacity to be visited by search engines and in turn consumers. A well optimized Web site will quite simply add to your company’s bottom line, so what are you waiting for?

With uncertainty filling the minds of many entrepreneurs heading into 2012, those who have reviewed 2011 and previewed 2012 stand the best chance to reap the rewards.

About the Author:

Dave Thomas, who covers among other subjects’ workers compensation, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

Categories
Online Business

Mobile Ecommerce Trends

Article by Mitchel Xavier

There are some who say that that the internet is the biggest revolution of our lifetimes. There are others who say that the evolution towards mobile is the major revolution. Either way, mobile is set to revolutionize the way we access the internet and make purchases. Some interesting trends are set to emerge in the mobile ecommerce arena. The following will outline some of the most interesting developments.

Location Aware Mobile Coupons

To access mobile coupons you need to download an app and the app automatically retrievedeals in your geographic area. When you purchase the product or service, you show the merchant the deal on your phone or tablet and they will scan the barcode to activate your discount. New companies are appearing, for example Shooger, Getyowza, Coupious and 8coupons, offering these types of coupon codes.

In terms of trends, this is an area still in its infancy. Currently only 9% of the population reported having received a coupon code via their mobile. But the trends are showing that this will potentially be very popular. 41% of people want this type of service, in particular for grocery services and movie theatres. Indications are showing thatthis technology will take off.

Barcode Scanners – QR Codes

A QR code is a 2 dimensional code, rather than the 1 dimensional standard UPC barcode we are used to. They can be placed in any location for scanning, can produce text, links, phone numbers, sms, mms, email, contact details and calendar entry. There are other forms of 2D barcodes, such as Datamatrix, ScanLifeEzcode and Microsoft Tag. Additionally they can also be tracked with analytics and there quite sophisticated tracking tools for this.

QR codes are being used successfully for marketing. It can be distributed to share your business card. They are also being used for offering discounts. They are great for SEO to share free offerings such as wallpapers in return for a link. In addition they are often encouraging social network sharing. For simply providing more information QR codes are a novel option.

Currently Japan and South Korean are at the forefront of scanning technology.  In the west, it is only just starting to take off,and the barcode scanning trend numbers have gone through the roof. Research conducted by Scanlife showed a 1600% increase in barcode scanning in 2010.

NFC and tap to pay solutions – Google wallet

Earlier this year, Google announced Google Wallet, a contactless tap and pay device. It allows credit card, loyalty card and gift card payments using a smart phone via a pay-pass terminal. It uses near field communication (NFC) to exchange data for simple transactions. The significant advantage NFC has over Bluetooth is that it doesn’t require pairing. Google are one of a number of companies who are clamoring to jump into the NFC market. Paypaljust announced their intention to start a commercial NFC service.

Initially this Google announced this with Citi and Mastercard as partners, and Mastercard is the official sponsor of Wallet. There are 300,000 MastercardPaypass locations. Recently Google announced that Visa, Discover and American Express have released their NFC details, which means that Google Wallet will license these cards to be used in later versions. Visa PayWave also have 100,000s of terminals worldwide.

Many merchants are already partners, accepting Paypass payments including Coca Cola, CVS Pharmacy and Foot Locker. The loyalty scheme also has a number of partners including Jamba Juice, Office Max and Toys R Us. There are many merchants in the pipeline. Currently Google Wallet only works on the Nexus S 4G and will be available when the Nexus Prime is released Google Announced that it will make available Google Wallet stickers to allow smartphones which are not NFC enabled, to use Google Wallet.

Future Trends

Which these trends becoming more popular, we are likely to see some of these trends become the standard forms of mobile behavior. To gain a perspective about what is possible, it is useful to look towards Japan and South Korean, where advanced mobile technology is already in widespread use.

About the Author:

Mitchel Xavier is a Magento mobile  and mobile commerce specialist in Sydney Australia

Categories
People & Relationships

Business and Relationships: Change Your Words, Change Your World

Article by Lynda-Ross Vega

I have several friends who send me interesting emails. You know the type, You Tube videos, jokes, stories – you probably get a few of these, too. Recently, I received one that got me to thinking about its message, which was “Change your words. Change your world.” It’s a message that really hit home for me, especially within the context of human Perceptual Styles.

How you perceive the world – how you make meaning out of what your senses experience – really does determine your world. This means that the words you choose to create meaning and share your experiences with others have a powerful impact on your life.

We’ve all experienced the positive effect of a few well-chosen words – the smile you get in return for a simple “Thank You”… the glow that accompanies a compliment.

But we’ve all also experienced a complete disconnect with one or more people over words that seem out of context, harsh, or “unnecessary.” The fascinating thing to me is that the value and impact of a word changes based on our view of the world, not just on our understanding of the word itself.

For example, I know what the words ‘always’ and ‘never’ actually mean – in fact, I doubt there’s much argument out there over the meanings of these two words. But I rarely use either of them and neither do most other people with the Vision Perceptual Style.

Why? Because to us, those words feel limiting, and people of the Vision style experience the world as a series of endless possibilities. In fact, Vision folks tend to find comments like “you never….” or “you always……” insulting or challenging when applied to them. That’s because they know that they don’t “never” or “always” anything – they respond to life as it unfolds before them, improvising as necessary to take advantage of opportunities.

But for people with the Methods Perceptual Style, “always” and “never” are simple statements of fact based on what is known from an individual’s past behavior – no future application is considered or implied. So from a Methods perspective, Vision people really overreact to a simple fact!

There are a million other examples of differences between Perceptual Styles when it comes to the ways we use language. Those differences have a profound impact on many aspects of our daily lives – such as what marketing appeals to us and what kind turns us away, and which leaders motivate us and which leave us shaking our heads- not to mention our relationships. As a coach with 30+ years of experience, let me assure you that a key source of conflict in our personal and work relationships is the disconnections that result from the words we use (in guidelines or memos, for example, or at home, during conflicts and arguments) and what they mean to all parties involved.

So the next time you get a reaction from someone over something you’ve said that surprises you, stop to ask what it might mean to them before you react. You’ll be amazed at the differences you’ll uncover and the conflicts you’ll avoid! When you change your words you really can you change your world.

About the Author:

Lynda-Ross Vega: A partner at Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd., Lynda-Ross specializes in helping entrepreneurs and coaches build dynamite teams and systems that WORK. She is co-creator of Perceptual Style Theory, a revolutionary psychological assessment system that teaches people how to unleash their deepest potentials for success. For free information on how to succeed as an entrepreneur or coach, create a thriving business and build your bottom line doing more of what you love, visit www.ACIforCoaches.com and www.ACIforEntrepreneurs.com.

Categories
Starting Up

Experiential Marketing for Your Business

Looking for a startup or business in the video entertainment venue? Well, Dance Heads is one such company to be looked at, which offers compact and mobile video attraction that can be used at weddings, parties, bat and bar mitzvahs, corporate events, exhibitions, trade shows, fairs and festivals or can be placed permanently in amusement parks, shopping centres, cinemas and many other public places. Every event organizer wishes to cause the most pleasant emotions in the guests circles and leave unforgettable memories.

Call it Experiential Marketing. You may draw huge attraction from crowds and make successful events by renting Dance Heads video equipment to be placed in your organised party events. Dance Heads’ video studios advertise themselves, attract crowds of spectators and bring lots of fun to any event. Grow your events business this way and you could retain your satisfied customers and even draw in new potential customers.

By doing this business you can not only search clients by your own but also set up mutually beneficial collaboration with different companies and people dealing with entertainment sphere (wedding and event-agencies, photo operators, masters of ceremonies and anchormen). You will help such companies and people to provide customers with more entertainments and they in turn will help you to find more orders.

Here is a fine example of Dance Heads in operation, see with your own eyes how interesting it is: http://www.dh-business.com

Dance Heads business doesn’t require any huge organizational costs, doesn’t require large a number of employees, assures you of a fast return on investment. Dance Heads is enjoyed by a diversified customer base   – from young children to older customers in their 50?s.or 70; It brings a real sense of joy and also generates great income.

For more details, visit Dance Heads

Categories
Technology

Pros and Cons of Managed Services

Businesses are increasingly migrating away from providing their own infrastructure for IT-related tasks, toward a model wherein necessary services are managed in the cloud by other companies. Before relying on JD Edwards managed services, it is essential to know the advantages and tradeoffs of having a third party manage key infrastructure.

The technology needs of businesses continue to increase. Once it was sufficient to host a website and perhaps to provide a few organizational mailboxes. Eventually, web applications came to replace tools such as calendars, contact lists and other physical components of running a business. Today’s smart companies manage information electronically by default, producing hard copies only when necessary.

This has vastly increased the burden of maintaining the infrastructure that any business must have to compete. Businesses can respond to this in one of two ways. They can either host all necessary services themselves, hiring essential staff and purchasing additional equipment, or they can contract a managed services provider to do it for them. Managed services bring along a number of benefits and disadvantages.

Managed Services Pros

Easing Maintenance Infrastructure
First, managed services encapsulate a number of solid choices and best practices. Choosing a suite of applications to meet a given need is challenging, but any business that hires a managed hosting company, such as IQMS’ ERP software or other planning software, can be certain that the proposed solution will be well-integrated to meet a given set of needs. Said services will also be kept updated, are managed securely, and often come with a service level agreement which commits to high availability.

Cost Benefits
Managed services generally cost less. Just as buying in bulk saves money, so too does hosting in bulk. Buying new servers and bandwidth while also hiring new staff to host a single set of services costs more than does hiring another company. By hosting multiple instances of a similar stack, efficiency is increased and costs are reduced.

Easy Deployment
Managed services are also fast to deploy. It is often possible to set up infrastructure in minutes or hours, rather than the days that would be necessary to set up and network physical servers, as well as to hire essential maintenance and support staff. Managed services can also scale to meet new demand, thus eliminating the need to acquire new hardware and personnel as demand increases.

Managed Services Cons

Reliability Concerns
There are also disadvantages to managed services. When hiring another partner to host critical business infrastructure, one hopes that their business will endure. If it fails, any businesses relying upon them might be left scrambling for a way to replace email, web hosting, calendars and other critical pieces of infrastructure without which any business cannot run.

Less Flexibility
Managed hosting offers less flexibility. While the choice of which applications to use for a given need might be a daunting one, it does allow meeting specific requirements to exacting standards. Managed services take some of this choice away, resulting in combinations that may not be as ideal for a given use case.

Finally, managed service providers generally store information outside of a business’s own infrastructure. In many industries this is a perfectly acceptable choice, but regulated sectors such as health care may require that service providers adhere to additional standards such as HIPAA and HITECH. Such compliance increases complexity and costs.

Whether to use managed services is a complex issue. For some businesses, they represent a great way to cut costs while quickly coming up to speed. For others, the risks and added complexity might override any benefits. As such, there is no right answer for everyone, and businesses and organizations must individually weigh these factors to make the right decision for their unique circumstances.