Tag Archives: Business Owners

Business Development, Business Strategy, FAQ, Sales & Marketing, Start-ups

Home Business Blueprint: The Building Blocks When Starting Your Home Business Blueprint

We have all been there… trying to figure out the best ways to get ahead. We are always in search of the next “big thing”… We are constantly trying to find that edge that can separate us from the competition. Why do some people achieve elite success and others, well, others just flounder? There are specific steps we all must do in order to stand high and mighty, on top of that hill. These can and will create a tremendous foundation for anyone navigating through their home business blueprint:

1. Brand Yourself!

The biggest challenge when starting your home based business is understanding that you must create & cultivate a brand… a brand of YOU! When I first started my home business (and had no idea of what the industry entails), I figured I could be that guy behind my computer, growing my business without anyone knowing me. That could not be further from the truth! Set up a Facebook page, a Twitter account, Google+, LinkedIn and start a website with YOU as the focus. People want to know who and what you stand for-the faster you can build your brand, the faster you will ascend within your home business blueprint. Continue reading →

Business Development, Business Strategy, FAQ, Sales & Marketing, Start-ups

Preventing Identity Theft As A Business Owner

However, in a new twist of events, consumers are no longer the only people affected by identity thieves, as businesses have now become prone to the development in the criminal enterprise of business identity theft with quite a number of businesses losing a lot of revenue in the process. What usually happen is that, a criminal will hijack the identity of a particular business and use it to establish a string of credit with banks and other lenders.

This in turn leads to a damage that can be very devastating to the victim’s business. A business could risk having a spoilt credit history therefore raising the chances of being denied credit, a move that will definitely paralyze your operations. Anyone looking to protect their businesses from identity thieves should ensure they have good privacy protection system.

After a number of businesses reported huge losses due to this, many business owners have turned to seeking help on how to keep their businesses safe from the business identity thieves. Some effective guides have been put in place to ensure consumers and the businesses are thoroughly combating the menace to avoid and reduce the threats businesses face from identity theft. Below are ways which businesses use to prevent identity theft. Continue reading →

Business Development, Business Strategy, FAQ, Sales & Marketing, Start-ups

What Comes First: Business Strategy or Tax Strategy?

Any business advisor will tell you the answer, but what’s happening in the real world?

Here are a few examples:

VAT

When Jeanne started her exercise class business, she decided after taking advice that she wouldn’t register for VAT. It makes sense. If you want to compete with everyone else then you can’t charge 20% higher prices to include VAT. But now she’s stuck. She can’t grow the business beyond the VAT threshold because she would have to increase her prices or take a significant reduction in margin. Now she’s contemplating setting up separate businesses to boost her earnings. It’s quickly going to get complicated – she can do without all the distraction of doubling the admin work. Continue reading →

Business Development, Business Strategy, FAQ, Sales & Marketing, Start-ups

Small Business Owners: Improving Profits in Daily Operations

When you own a small business, there are dozens of people and projects vying for your time and attention. It can get hard to figure out where to focus your resources and easy to become overwelmed.

Furthermore, in my years of consulting what I have found to be the difference in success or failure of a business was not the amount of money, a business owner had on hand, nor the education level of the management team. It was his or her daily habits and beliefs, that determined success or the lack there of.

What is profit? It is simply, how much money the business makes after transaction and paying taxes is over.

Traditional thinking about profit says, Revenue – Expenses = Profit. However, this method fails to measure lost opportunity.

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Business Development, Business Strategy, FAQ, Sales & Marketing, Start-ups

Building a Sellable Business: 10 Things Often Overlooked

Eventually, every entrepreneur realizes they cannot work in their business forever. For most entrepreneurs, this is the time they begin thinking of exit. Here are ten things you should think about before that faithful day.

Standardization

The first thing I will like to mention is standardizing services or products. In the onset of a business, an entrepreneur figures things out as he/she develops. As time elapses, the entrepreneur figures out what works and settles into a way of doing business. This usually happens at the $100,000 mark. The problem with this is the knowledge is embedded in the head of the owner. The owner often fails to communicate this knowledge to new hires. There is kind of an “unspoken standard” or “way of doing things”. People learn “the unspoken way” haphazardly. By not standardizing, the owner’s loses 50% of the value of the business when it is time to sell. Nobody wants to buy a business when all the knowledge is in the owners’ head and if they do there are usually lots of contingencies tied to the deal.

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