Category: Tools and Information

How Can Small Businesses Afford to Grow? | All Business

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Growth is a very important part of any business. In order to keep the business going and reach all the goals that the business is capable of, business owners need to supply the tools that their business needs to grow and succeed. Necessary growth for businesses can range from adding on more staff to the payroll or buying a new piece of equipment to make their production process go faster. No matter what is needed for the growth that the business needs, it is never an inexpensive investment.

This dilemma causes an all too common issue for many businesses, especially for small businesses. The business owners need to invest in something in order to grow and keep their business going, but they cannot afford to make the investments that they need with the business’s current revenue. This is a problem that seems impossible to overcome, but with a little assistance and the right planning, any business can overcome this obstacle and grow enough to achieve all the goals that the business owner has set for it. Here are some ways that small businesses can afford to grow and how any business owner can make it happen for their business.

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You are Your Own Supercomputer | Peter Mehit

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computers1Many times when people think about starting a business, they cherish the idea of the freedom and control it would bring, but are often overcome by fear. ‘How will I find customers?’, ‘How do I find the money I need?’, ‘Will anyone really buy what I’m selling?’ are typical of the questions we run through our minds as a wave of fear spills over us leaving us grateful for the job we loathe.

Many of us believe ‘it takes money to make money’, yet many of the greatest success stories are people that had little or no money at the beginning of their journey. We convince ourselves that we need ever increasing amounts of education, but Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, didn’t complete college, Sir Richard Branson never went. Many of the businesses you pass by L.A. freeways are owned by people who possess only high school diplomas.

So what is it? What makes some people successful and others not? We believe it boils down to three main things:

They have a clear idea what they want to make or do to start their business.

They believe they can figure out anything.

They understand, actually or intuitively, how the mind works.

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5 Ways to Get the Appreciation You Deserve | Inc.com

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appreciationMany of us are feeling the pinch every day. More demands. More burnout. More stress. The antidote, in large part, is a simple one: appreciation. When you feel appreciated, odds are that you’ll enjoy your job more, do your best work, and feel the kind of engagement that really connects you to what you’re doing. But for whatever reason, even if you know you’re doing a great job, you may not be feeling the gratitude. It is time to look within.To tap into your own source of appreciation, spend some time with these questions:

1. Am I showing appreciation for others?

If you want people to act a certain way toward you, start acting that way toward others. Begin by recognizing the accomplishments of your team members and colleagues. Stop by their office or send them an email and copy it to their boss. Make appreciation part of your everyday conversation and make it a priority to notice what others are doing right. Start by thinking about your own team. Ask yourself: “What is it that each of them uniquely brings to the table?”

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You’ll Never Hear Successful People Say These 15 Phrases | Entrepreneur

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successIf you want to become more successful as an entrepreneur or in your career, you can start by making a habit of talking and thinking more like the people you know or read about who are already successful. Here are some phrases you’ll never hear a successful person say:

1. “We can’t do that.”

One thing that makes people and companies successful is the ability to make solving their customers’ problems and demands their main priority. If a need arises repeatedly, the most successful people learn how to solve it as quickly as they can.

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Bluesmart smart carry on brings luggage into the 21st century | Gizmag.com

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Let’s face it, air travel sucks. You are crammed in a small cylinder at 35,000 feet with a herd of other people like cattle, noshing on junk food a cranky flight attendant pitches at you while hurrying by. Worst of all, you forgot to charge your tablet and now can’t watch all those Marvel movies you wanted to catch up on. A solution could exist to at least this last problem though, courtesy of a new so-called “connected carry-on” called Bluesmart that packs a built-in battery capable of charging your gadgets many times over.

It is, admittedly, a little weird to think about a suitcase as being technology-enabled. In a world where leaving cell phones and tablets on in airplane mode during take offs and landings was only recently given the green light, the idea of a carry-on that communicates to your smartphone wirelessly through Bluetooth seems quite foreign. It is something those behind Bluesmart swear the travel industry is ready for though, claiming they’ve gotten through airport security many times with prototypes without any problems.

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Deadline or Alive Entrepreneurfail | Getentrepreneurial.com

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Ravaging through the rough, grunting and seeking out the next victim….Scavenging anyone and anything that comes in the way…

No, we aren’t describing the latest wildlife channel special about predatory beasts in the jungle.  We are referring to the angry, stressed, tense new entrepreneurs on a tight deadline.  At this stage in the startup journey, fresh-faced founders may get a little anxious, as the viability of their new startups is dependent on each deadline.  Sure, you could argue that it is just the passion coming through, but this attitude could cost a new entrepreneur his/her business.

If your actions are making your employees cower in fear of being the next stop in your slaughter trail, these are a few pointers to help you:

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Count Your Eaches | Peter Mehit

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question markIn the pursuit of multi-million dollar outsourcing contracts, the company I worked for required me to defend my financial projections.  The auditor who usually ran these reviews, was one of the kindest yet toughest auditors I’ve ever worked with. He’d always start with the same question, ‘What are the eaches?’ He wanted to know how many hours, square feet or cubic yards of something we had to sell to reach a specific revenue or profit goal. This experience taught me that looking at a business in terms of units made or sold provides critical clues about the viability of it.

Many projections and budgets lack any real precision. Typically, a desired revenue number is plucked from the air, or other suitable location, as a starting point. Some ‘standard’ percentage is applied to this number for cost of goods to arrive at gross profit, which then has some ‘standard’ expense number applied to it to determine at operating revenue and so on, all the way to the bottom line. If the profit number isn’t satisfying then lather, rinse, repeat.

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How to Make Your Seasonal Business Profitable Year-Round | Business News Daily

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sand-snowmanWhen you’re running a seasonal business, it’s often difficult to stretch the profits you made during the height of your sales throughout the rest of the year. But with the right tactics, you can make sure you stay afloat — and maybe even turn a profit — in your off-season. Whether you’re gearing up for your holiday season peak or slowing down after your summertime rush, here’s how you can keep your business in the black all year round.

Minimize your expenses in the off-season

If your business shuts down completely during your non-peak seasons, then it’s unlikely you’ll have to worry about many overhead expenses eating into your profits. However, if you’re open for business all year, the easiest and most obvious way to stay profitable when sales are slow is to cut down on your bills.

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Once and for All: Is It Duck Tape or Duct Tape? | Adweek

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If you happen to be working on a Halloween costume this week, remember two things: Nothing beats duck tape when you need to fashion a quick coffin or a knight’s shield, and if you do a really good job of it, you can enter the annual Stick or Treat contest first prize: a thousand bucks, which crowns the most innovative use of duck tape.

Wait—or is it duct tape?

Ah, yes, this time of year often gives voice to one of the world’s great unanswered questions: Is the proper term for America’s favorite waterproof, polyethylene and fabric-mesh strip adhesive duct tape or duck tape?

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