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Should you rent or buy business premises?

The decision to rent or buy business premises isn’t always clear cut. While your budget will largely determine if you can afford to buy business premises, deciding to buy or rent also depends on the type and size of your business.

Before making a decision, consider your needs and develop a business plan. This should detail how you expect your business to grow, factoring in costs for leasing premises or mortgage repayments.

Should I rent business premises..

Renting is a good option for start ups that can’t predict their revenue over the coming years. It means that if things don’t work out, you’re not left holding a mortgage on an expensive business property.

There are two broad types of business property leases..

conventional or flexible. Conventional leases are usually sold on a square foot basis, and just include the space.

You’ll be responsible for fitting out and maintenance, as well as costs such as insurance. Flexible leases are generally shorter term and cost more, but usually include furniture and office maintenance.

Advantages of renting business premises..

Renting is straightforward – you’ll need a deposit and the ability to cover monthly payments. Renting won’t tie up your capital and rents can be fixed. There’s also more choice with a wide range of options to suit all businesses at all sizes, from hot desking to industrial units.

Business expenses – rent costs can be deducted from profits, meaning you’ll pay less Corporation Tax on your revenue.

Flexibility – if you outgrow your current business premises, it’s easy to move out at the end of your lease into somewhere more suitable.

You might not have an option – in some locations such as major city centres, renting is often the only option compared to buying a leasehold or freehold on a property.

Disadvantages of renting business premises..

Restrictions on space – there may be restrictions on what you can do with the office space, and changes require landlord consent.

You may need to reinstate the office to its original layout when the lease ends.

Competition is tough, especially for prime locations – unless you sign a long-term contract, rents can increase and you may have to find new premises if faced with an unexpectedly high rental increase.

You’ll be committed for the long term – you’ll need to keep paying rent even if business slows or you wind up your company, leaving you liable for additional costs.

Advantages of buying business premises..

Longer term cost benefits – you can fix mortgage payments for five years, far longer than a rental lease. You can also offset interest payments as an expense against earnings, lowering your Corporation Tax liability.

Subletting income – should you no longer require the premises you can rent it to other businesses.

Flexibility – buying premises offers more opportunity to create the space you need. You can choose the décor, layout and add your own branding.

Disadvantages of buying business premises..

Capital intensive – buying business premises requires capital. You may need to take out a commercial mortgage to buy premises if your business doesn’t have the cash up front. A large deposit – often up to 40% of the purchase price – may be needed.

Profit impact – having a commercial mortgage may impact your business’ profitability. Mortgage payments may be affected by interest rate rises, leading to unexpected increases in costs.

There are other costs involved in buying including stamp duty, legal fees and valuation fees, as well as ongoing costs such as business rates and buildings insurance.

Due diligence – you’ll need carry out a survey to avoid problems, such as asbestos in old buildings. Hidden problems can be expensive to fix if not spotted at time of purchase.

Planning permission – if you want to make significant changes to the building to suit your business needs, you’ll need planning permission. Check before buying to ensure your plans don’t run into problems with planning regulations.

Maintenance – you’ll be responsible for repairs and will need to allocate budget for ongoing maintenance costs.

Selling – selling office space can be slow and complicated, which may hinder your business should you need to quickly move to larger or smaller offices, or a better location.

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What Is Debt and How to Handle It!

How to Manage Debt of Any Size..

Everyone with even a little bit of debt has to manage their debt. If you just have a little debt, you have to keep up your payments and make sure it doesn’t get out of control.

On the other hand, when you have a large amount of debt, you have to put more effort into paying off your debt while juggling payments on the debts you’re not currently paying.

Know Who and How Much You Owe..

Make a list of your debts, including the creditor, total amount of the debt, monthly payment, and due date.

You can use your credit report to confirm the debts on your list. Having all the debts in front of you will allow you to see the bigger picture and stay aware of your complete debt picture.

Don’t just create your list and forget about it. Refer to your debt list periodically, especially as you pay bills. Update your list every few months as the total amount of your debt changes.

Pay Your Bills on Time Each Month..

Late payments make it harder to pay off your debt since you’ll have to pay a late fee for every payment you miss. If you miss two payments in a row and your interest rate and finance charges will increase.

If you use a calendaring system on your computer or smartphone, enter your payments there and set an alert to remind you several days before your payment is due.

If you miss a payment, don’t wait until the next due date to send your payment, by then it could be reported to a credit bureau. Instead, send your payment as soon as you remember that it was missed.

Create a Monthly Bill Payment Calendar..

Use a bill payment calendar to help you figure out which bills to pay with which paycheck. On your calendar, write each bill’s payment amount next to the due date. Then, fill in the date of each paycheck.

If you get paid on the same days every month—the 1st and 15th—you can use the same calendar from month to month. But, if your paychecks fall on different days of the month, it would help to create a new calendar for each month.

Make at Least the Minimum Payment..

If you can’t afford to pay anything more, at least make the minimum payment. Of course, the minimum payment doesn’t help you make real progress in paying off your debt.

But, it keeps your debt from growing and keeps your account in good standing. When you miss payments, it gets harder to catch up and eventually your accounts could go into default.

Decide Which Debts to Pay off First..

Paying off credit card debt first is often the best strategy because credit cards have higher interest rates than other debts.

Of all your credit cards, the one with the highest interest rate usually gets priority on repayment because it’s costing the most money.

Use your debt list to prioritize and rank your debts in the order you want to pay them off. You can also choose to pay off the debt with the lowest balance first.

Pay off Collections and Charge-Offs..

You can only pay as much on your debt as you can afford. When you have limited funds for repaying debt, focus on keeping your other accounts in good standing.

Don’t sacrifice your positive accounts for those that have already affected your credit. Instead, pay those past due accounts when you can afford to do it.

Be aware that your creditors will continue collection efforts on your account until you bring the account current again.

Use an Emergency Fund to Fall Back On..

Without access to savings, you’d have to go into debt to cover an emergency expense.

Even a small emergency fund will cover little expenses that come up every once in a while.

Use a Monthly Budget to Plan Your Expenses..

Keeping a budget helps ensure you have enough money to cover your monthly expenses.

Plan far enough in advance and you can take early action if it looks like you won’t have enough money for your bills this month or next. A budget also helps you plan to spend any extra money you have left after expenses are covered. You can use this extra money to pay off debt faster.

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Business launch checklist!

When launching a new business, it’s worth spending some time putting together a business launch checklist. This involves listing all the activities that you must do in order to get your business up-and-running.

Get the right business idea..

If you don’t already have a brilliant business idea but want to set up your own business, you’ll need to brainstorm a suitable business proposition. Think about your skills and experience, what you’re good at and what you’re passionate about. Your business will rely on customers, so think about their needs, desires and the problems they face so you can brainstorm ways to solve them.

Research your business idea..

Spend time researching your idea. Make sure you research the target market, finding out what potential customers need, how they buy and how much they are likely to pay. You can use surveys, research reports and statistics online and directly ask customers using focus groups. Look at existing businesses offering a similar service or product how do they market their business and acquire customers?

Create a business plan..

Consider drawing up a business plan, though this is a must if you’re looking to raise money for your business and plan to approach investors, banks and other lenders. Identify business costs – from materials and capital expenses to staff salaries and other overheads – as well as projected sales and profit margin. Create several versions reflecting worst-case, expected and best-case trading conditions so you can see how poor trading would affect cash flow.

Choose a business name..

You’ll need a business name that matches your brand, but it must be unique or you’ll run into legal issues. Companies must follow the Business Names Act 1985 and Limited Company names must be registered at Companies House and comply with the Companies House Act of 1985. Test out names with potential customers and check with the Companies House register to see if your proposed business name is already taken.

Register with Companies House..

You can register your business directly with Companies House for £12. This includes activities such as choosing directors, identifying people with significant control over your business, and allocating shares. Alternatively, there are lots of company registration services available that can help you and cost around £100.

Register a domain name..

Almost all companies need a website that is identifiable as your business and easy for customers to find online. It’s worth checking to see if a website address – known as a domain name – is available. Domain names cost a few pounds and need renewing annually.

Apply for business licenses..

Depending on the nature of your startup, you may need licences and/or permits in order to trade. Gov.uk has a handy licence finder tool you can use to find out what you need to apply for.

Create a company logo..

Create a memorable logo that represents your business. A cost-effect route is to use online logo creation services or buy a ready-made logo from an online stock library.

Open a business bank account..

You’ll need a bank account to deposit payments and pay suppliers and staff. Sole traders can use their personal bank account, but it makes sense to keep company and personal finances separate by opening a business account. Limited companies must legally have a dedicated bank account.

Arrange business insurance..

You’ll need to arrange a number of different insurance policies as part of your business launch. The key insurance policies are professional liability insurance, public liability insurance and employer’s liability insurance if you employ staff. You may want to consider other insurance policies such as building and contents, commercial vehicle insurance, director’s and officer’s insurance and income protection insurance.

Find business premises..

Many entrepreneurs run their new business from home to keep costs to a minimum, but this isn’t possible for all businesses. When looking for dedicated business premises, carefully consider its size and location, and decide whether you should lease, licence or purchase premises.

Find suppliers..

Look for suppliers that work with similar businesses to yours, and request references or samples. Put a contract in place with the help of a solicitor and use several suppliers so your business is not dependent on just one or two.

Market your business..

Create a marketing plan, delivering key messages using channels your target market is likely to encounter and respond to. Look at marketing across all channels, from social media to pay per click advertising or more traditional radio, TV and newspaper advertising. Measure how successful each is so you can increase the efficiency of your marketing spend over time.

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Travel Business..How to start a tour company.

We hope that this post has helped you to understand more about how to start a tour company that everyone will want to book.

Take Care of the Licensing..

The first thing you need to think about when you’re starting a tour company is the bureaucratic side of things.

This means that you’ll need to get in touch with the Department of Consumer Affairs to obtain a Tour Guide License in your city or state.

You’ll also need to consider whether you’d like to be a tour guide or a tour director. (Or, decide which one you need to hire for your company).

A tour director has a lot more freedom..

They can actually plan trips to multiple destinations, handle the logistics of getting from one place to the next, take care of any emergencies, and of course, provide information about the sites.

You can receive professional training for either one, usually at the International Tour Management Institute.

Remember that, if you’re operating any kind of a vehicle on the tours, you’ll also need to get a commercial driver’s license.

If you’re touring internationally, there may be specific, country-based requirements and licenses. Make sure you get in touch with the proper authorities to keep everything in order.

Know What to Look for in Employees..

Another essential thing you need to take into consideration when learning how to start a tour company?

The kinds of people you’d like to have working for you.

We’re not just talking about running background checks and making sure they have drivers licenses if needed although of course, those things are important, too.

Instead, evaluate their overall social skills. Are they able to put people at ease? Improvise? Manage different and sometimes difficult personalities? What about their physical fitness? Can they handle the tougher treks that some clients may be interested in?

Are they familiar with local laws and customs, and how can they ensure that everyone on the tour follows them? How many languages do they speak? (This is especially key, as that will allow you to expand your business).

Finally, what is their educational background like?

Many a Master’s and even Doctoral student with a love of history, the arts, or even humanities has become an incredibly successful tour guide. Make sure to find people with the right qualifications.

Find Your Niche..

Next, think about your niche as a local guide.

Perhaps you want to cater to a specific market — like those with limited mobility, older tourists, or even women on bachelorette parties.

Maybe you want to do something a bit more creative, like a ghost tour, a tour of famous mob murders, or even food and wine tours and agricultural tours.

Whatever your niche is, make sure it’s as specific as possible. The more outlandish or unexpected, the better off you’ll be. Remember, you can always add less remote destinations later as your business expands.

Get The Right Accessories..

It’s easy to get so overwhelmed by the big picture that you forget about the little things — like the accessories you’ll need to make the tour go smoothly.

First, consider investing in wireless systems so that everyone on the tour can hear you clearly. (Check out www.plant-tours.com to learn more about why wireless tour guide systems are the next big thing in travel).

Also, consider your uniform or how you’ll dress to ensure that your clients can find you if they get lost.

You should also think about things like headlamps for night tours, protective gear for dangerous, thrill-seeking destinations, and anything else specific to your niche.

Market Your Services..

Finally, remember that a huge part of understanding how to start a tour guide business that’s successful is all about marketing.

Luckily, there are countless ways to do just that.

First of all, build up your website, fill it with photos of your past tours and destinations, and even consider starting your own travel blog.

Ask past customers to leave you reviews. Get on social media and connect with travel bugs and tourist boards within your chosen cities. Even consider working with travel influencers on social media, and ask them to promote your tour guide business.

Promote Your Travel Agency..

To get customers, you’ll need to do a lot of marketing. When you’re starting out, almost no one will be aware of your tour company. You need to get peoples’ attention to a range of platforms. Before they can book with you, customers need to know that you exist!

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How To Promote Your Business?

Facebook Advertising :

Two million small to medium-sized businesses advertise on Facebook; it’s an inexpensive and effective way to market to virtually any audience.

Facebook ads excel at advanced targeting. They allow you to target a specific audience based on location, interests, age, sex, online behavior, and many other factors.

Creating Facebook ads is very easy. You just need a solid headline, a bit of descriptive copy, one image, and a link.

The Facebook Ads Manager also makes it fairly simple to run and test multiple ad sets, allowing you to hone in on a winning formula and reach profitability without needing advanced technical expertise.

That said, many new users have a lot of difficulty succeeding with their initial campaigns. It takes some persistence, but on the plus side, Facebook’s popularity has produced numerous 3rd party tools that can help you succeed.

Google Adwords :

is sort of the godfather of online marketing channels. It’s been around a long time. It’s competitive. It’s expensive. And if you know what you’re doing, it can work very, very well for you.

Despite being a paid channel, Adwords’ goal is still to deliver relevant search results to users, and as a result, it will be less expensive for you when you are utilizing proper on-page SEO.

Google assigns a quality score to your ad, which is dependent on CTR (Click Through Rate), relevance and the landing page your ad sends traffic to. This quality score factors into the bid rate you will need to get an ad displayed, with higher scores lowering the bid cost.

Unlike many of the channels we will discuss today, Adwords is a remarkably symbiotic channel that can be paired with many other strategies to maximize output. As a paid marketing channel, it also allows you to obtain immediate results and can scale as far as your budget allows.

Content marketing :

is the process of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience and drive profitable customer action.

Unlike paid advertising, content marketing focuses more on long-term results. The initial payoff tends to be low, but the long-term, sustainable growth in visitors, leads, and customers.

Webinars :

A webinar is essentially a seminar that takes place online. It can be in the form of a presentation, demonstration or discussion.

Webinars are often used as lead magnets for email marketing and the right topic can drive a large batch of new subscribers to your list. It can also be used to build credibility with your current subscribers.

Webinars can also be recorded and used as standalone products or even a series of products. They are a great medium for both live and recorded training.

Webinars tend to be more engaging than simple videos, even if they are used in exactly the same way. The actual start time and live Q&A tends to make people feel like they are receiving significantly more value than if they were watching a video with the exact same information.

Join Local Business Groups :

Joining local business groups will give you the opportunity to meet up with other like-minded people who already share some common ground with you: owning a business. While a lot of more general entrepreneur groups exist, there might also be some niche-specific groups and meetups in your area.

These groups are a great opportunity to bounce ideas off other smart people, share referrals, find talent, and identify new opportunities.

They are also a major catalyst in expanding your network around the city in which you live. Connections tend to multiply, and if your group takes networking seriously, you can leverage your seemingly minor connections into much significant ones.

While these groups are typically best found online, it’s preferable to have in-person meetups for the bulk of your interactions.

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Career Development!

Marketing Skills as One of Smart Skills for You as an Entrepreneur…

Your company is nothing without customers. You sell to them and get money from them. Without customers, you will not have enough money to finance your normal business operations.

How can you find customers for your business, or even better how your potential customers will find your company?

You will need marketing skills to ensure that you can provide enough customers who will buy products and services that you sell. Different marketing techniques to increase the visibility of your company will require different skills from your side.

There are plenty marketing techniques to increase the visibility of your company. Here is how you can bring your marketing techniques to the 21st century.

Sales Skills..

This is maybe the most important entrepreneurial skill you need to have. Your startup company cannot survive if you don’t sell something to your customers. Probably tomorrow you will have your own sales team, but if you are in a startup stage, you will need to close as much as possible sales for your business.

Because of that, you will need to have excellent sales skills that will enable continuous cash flow for your business.

Communication Skills..

As an entrepreneur, you will have daily communication with your customers, your potential customers, your employees and your suppliers. You need to enable that the other side will listen to you when you’re talking about your company. If no one is listening to you, then why you are talking?

Because of that, you need to have strong communication skills.

Negotiation Skills..

Everything in business is based on your negotiation skills. You’ll negotiate with your customers to make a deal. You will negotiate with your suppliers also to make a deal in your favor. You’ll negotiate with your partner. Sometimes, you will negotiate with the community where your company is located. So, you need to start developing your negotiation skills as one of the smart skills for you as an entrepreneur.

Networking Skills..

Before you start your business, in the time of startup and after that as long as your company is live, you must build your personal and business network. How much better and extensive networks you can create, more success can you provide for your company.

Managerial Skills..

Regardless if you like it or not, you will always need to manage your company. You’ll plan, recruit, motivate, control and educate. Managerial skills are essential to your business success.

As a manager, you will have many tasks you need to do. Here are 11 management tasks that matter the most for your company.

Financial Skills..

You have a business that sells something in exchange for money. So, you need to have specific smart skills related to revenue, costs, profit, taxes, cash flow, break-even.

One of the most important things is to ensure enough funds to finance your small business. Here are four great tips when you bootstrap your business and where you can get funds for growing your small business.

Self-Motivational Skills..

As an entrepreneur, you will have too many tasks that only you must to accomplish. You don’t have the boss who will tell you what you must do today. Your wife can’t tell you anything about today’s tasks in your own company.

Procrastination in your company is something dangerous. Because of that, you’ll need self-motivational skills that will enable you to know when you must start something without delay and when you must stop.

Use following five techniques to beat procrastination and win on your entrepreneurial journey.

Time Management Skills..

Too many activities and too many tasks that require your engagement will make your day to look like chaos. You need to know all of your importance and priority. You must know what and when must something to be finished.

When you wake up in the morning, you must wake up with a clear plan for today’s tasks. So, use it to improve your time management skills if you want to become a high achiever.

Leadership Skills..

As an entrepreneur, you’ll lead. Everything that you do in your company, your employees will also do. If you add value to your activities, your employees will also add value to their actions. You’ll merge different people with different backgrounds, knowledge, skills, and experience in your business cause.

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Ways to Help Ensure Your Business Succeeds

Have a written plan. Without a plan, it is merely a dream. It doesn’t have to be a book, but you need a few pages outlining specific objectives, strategies, financing, a sales and marketing plan, and a determination of the cash you need to get things done. Writing it all down is a crucial first step.

Don’t marry your plan. Every great military general in history has known that even the best-laid plan sometimes has to be thrown in the fire when the bullets start flying. Adjust, confront and conquer.

Keep your ego in check and listen to others. Advisors are crucial because you need people to bounce ideas off, inspect what you’re doing, and push you to greater accomplishments, holding you accountable for what you are committing to do. Always be good to your word and follow through on commitments, even when difficult and challenging.

This isn’t about you; it’s about the business. Don’t take things personally and stay out of emotion. Do not let your ego take control.

Keep track of everything, and manage by the numbers. Create written systems for everything, because you will reap benefits from them later on. This is how you train your employees and retain consistency.

Know your numbers and check them daily and make all decisions based on what they tell you. One of the most important calculations is cash flow pro forma. Determine how much cash you need to do the business, and do not start without the required cash on hand.

Delegate to employees and avoid micromanaging them. A manager’s job is to delegate and then inspect progress. So don’t be a control freak. Keep business organization flat.

If you delegate effectively, you will get more and better then you expect. Have an actual written training and orientation plan so your employees know what is required of them. Use an incentive-based rewards system, and maintain a no-problem attitude about issues that crop up.

Use the Internet. It is incredibly powerful and very cost efficient, but it takes time and some skill. It is about creating a community, using social media networking such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogging to build rapport with your market. You need to get on the train and do it, because your competitors are.

Reinvent your business. It is net profit, not gross revenue, that you want to focus on. Separate yourself from your history and create a new competitive advantage, be it a focused niche or super service, but not by discounting.

Above all, have fun. Being an entrepreneur is your choice, so make it work. It can be done. You can survive, emerge and succeed in this downsized economy, if you follow the right path.

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Key Business to Grow your Business.

In First remember that a leader should establish and preserve a creative environment that allows subordinates to perform at the maximum of their capabilities!

Interpersonal communication skills..

Ιn order to lead, you need to possess the ability to articulate your opinion clearly and leave no room for misunderstandings. The art of communication plays a huge role in building trust among employees and across management levels. This a leader attribute that affects how the employees perform, express their own ideas and thrive within a company.

A true leader is always respectful anddoesn’t make generalizations. They know how to manage conflicts and situations where constructive criticism is necessary to move forward.

Strategic thinking..

In the long-standing debate between managers vs. leaders, a strategic mindset is a quality that separates them. What this means is having not only a vision for your company but also the determination to work towards realizing it.

Great leaders don’t get distracted by minor details on the way to achieving their goals. They are constantly asking themselves “what’s the next move that will get the company in a better place?”

It takes great business leadership skills to communicate that vision properly to other members of the company, whether peers or subordinates.

Team player..

Leaders don’t sit all day in their office, looking at charts and micromanaging their team. Instead, they understand that being involved and open to the ideas of employees is crucial to the organization’s success.

Among the most important leadership skills for business owners is making employees feel safe in expressing their disagreement. And, of course, you must provide positive feedback when someone performs well!

That kind of behavior creates an environment of trust in which employees can unfold their true potential and boost their productivity, thus contributing to the business’s vision.

Adaptation..

Change on the economic environment is constant and among the key leadership skills, adaptation is high on the scale. The ability to perceive change, manage it and help others adapt is a vital leadership skill for your company’s well-being.

Business leadership skills for business owners also include implementing those changes smoothly, without disturbing the organization’s balances and overcoming resistance.

Adaptation combined with communication skills enables a leader to pass on the vision of change and inspire others to willingly follow.

Honesty..

Among the characteristics of a leader, we find that being true to yourself and others is important to lead. Honesty is among the key leadership skills for business owners. It allows a person to quickly gain the trust of their peers and subordinates.

Gaining trust is the cornerstone of gaining other people’s respect. So when it comes to giving negative or positive feedback, employees will take it into account and be motivated. This is what we call “effective leadership”!

Learning..

A leadership personality is aware that learning is a lifelong process; this is the reason why they’re constantly seeking opportunities to educate and improve themselves. Moreover, a leader always recognizes that sometimes other people are more knowledgeable than them in certain topics. Moreover, they allow those people to express their opinion for the company’s benefit.

One of the qualities of a great leader is that they hire employees that will fill expertise gaps inside the organization. A great leader also promotes a learning environment so that everyone has the opportunity to grow personally.

Are you a leadership personality?

Exceptional business leadership skills are hard to find. However, you can nurture them over time by knowing that you can always become better at what you do. When you strive to become more than just a business owner or a manager, you inspire employees to follow your example.

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Smart Life Business Solutions!

I advise you to look Use the apps to communicate with all your employees, manage payroll, job scheduling and so much more.

The Best Business Apps To Use:

Expensify

Managing travel can be difficult, but managing expenses can be even harder. You know expense receipt-keeping is important, but it can be painful and receipts are easy to lose. Turn to Expensify to sync with your credit cards and bank accounts. Cash purchases can be scanned by simply taking a picture of the receipt.  Cost: Free. However, there’s a cost for team and corporate plans.

Quickbooks

The Intuit QuickBooks app is a big help when it comes to your accounting and bookkeeping needs. QuickBooks’s accounting software helps you run your business and provides a full sense of your company’s financial health. This app includes robust tools to track your business’s expenses and sales, view financial statements, pay your employees, track unpaid invoices and more. Try it free for 30 days.

Square Invoices

Square Invoices allows you to create and send custom invoices to your customers and clients. When they receive an invoice, it can be paid online – making the process smooth and easy. In addition, Square Invoices helps you keep track of customer invoices. You’ll be able to see who already paid and which customers still have a bill due.

Slack

Slack is a real-time messaging and collaboration tool for small businesses with the ability to organize conversations into separate private or public channels or send a direct message.  Slack’s business app allows you to drag and drop files, so you can quickly share information. It even integrates with Dropbox, Google Drive, Salesforce, and more. You can try Slack for free but a paid plan offers more features and controls for $8/month per user.

Proven

Are you looking to grow your team? Proven is a leading hiring tool for small businesses. This small business app allows you to post to multiple job boards with a single post, post to premium and specialty job boards, store resumes for HR, share job postings on social media, and organize your hiring process. You can also schedule interviews and messages candidates from the app.  Try Proven free for 10 days and pay as you go.

GoToMeeting

No matter the size of your business, there is a good chance you will be hosting meetings or webinars, especially for those not in the office. GoToMeeting allows you to host conference calls or trainings that allow participants to join via phone, tablet or at a computer. You can also share screens with this app and attend or start sessions from anywhere.

MailChimp

There are many email marketing tools available for small businesses today, but MailChimp helps you easily manage email lists and create and send newsletters. With this app, you can build and customize email templates and view reports to track email performance. Pricing for this app depends on the number of subscribers in your email list.

Gusto

Gusto is an online service to help manage your company’s payroll, benefits and HR needs. Gusto offers many options to help you choose the right plan and budget for your small business. This app automatically reports new hires, handles local, state and federal tax filings and automates deductions for benefits and workers’ compensation. This app starts at $39 per month with and additional per-employee cost per month.

Evernote

This handy app helps you remember whatever you need to remember across multiple devices, including from your computer to your phone. You can type messages, record voice notes, and snap pictures all to help your team’s productivity. Evernote’s free version lets users upload up to 60 megabytes of data per month with more options for an additional cost.

TripIt®

Travel frequently for business? TripIt helps you stay organized. Just forward your reservation confirmation emails and the app builds an itinerary you can access while on the go. This app allows you to consolidate your travel plans into one master itinerary that can be accessed on any device, any time. You can also check on flight times, weather, delays or find directions.

HootSuite

You know social media is important, but it’s time-consuming to keep up with multiple apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. HootSuite pulls them all together, allowing you to use a single app to communicate on a variety of social media platforms. There are five plans available, including a free version.

Dropbox, Google’s G Suite, and Apple’s iCloud are all services that allow users to store their files in the cloud. Using a web browser or the respective app, users can access their files on the go. So if you need to show a client a specific document or print out a contract while you’re traveling, you can do so with these apps.

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The Ultimate Guide for Social Media Success.

The social media world has changed significantly over just the past few years and it will keep changing in the years to come. Today, social media is part of your small business simply because you transactany customer can post a review or tweet.

And, if your business is active on social media  or wants to be you’re going to need to learn the new rules if you want to succeed.

Pick one platform and be excellent at it.

The big three social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. But there are dozens of others like Yelp, Instagram, Foursquare, and Pinterest. Each of these platforms has its own unique communities, rules, quirks, and secrets. It’s possible that you can succeed on more than one. But try not to spread yourself too thin.

Pick just one of these platforms — the one where you think most of your audience would be — and be excellent at it. Facebook, for example, has 70 million small business pages. Twitter, however, is very popular with younger audiences and the media. LinkedIn is great for professionals. Pinterest is extremely visual.

Read about your chosen site. Spend a significant amount of time on it. Understand how it works. You won’t be able to really know how to maximize its benefit until you do this.

Have a specific objective.

I’ve learned that to succeed on social media, you need to define success. Some people just want more followers and likes, which is great if you’re a celebrity. But if you’re running a business, then let’s just admit that you’re in it for one reason and one reason only: leads.

Sure, social media is a great way to stay engaged with your community. But you’re looking for business out of this and the only way to know if all this effort is worth it is to get confirmation that it’s generating sales.

If you’re on Facebook, you can track posts that turn into sales in your online store. Same with Twitter and other sites. Or maybe you’re promoting an event, a book, a whitepaper, or a special relationship that requires submission of contact info. (This is called “gated” content.) These are all lead-generating activities that you can do on social media that will prove your platform’s value.

Open up your wallet.

The days of “organic” engagement are over. Today’s social media sites are little more than advertising platforms. If you want your message, tweet, post, video, or whatever to be seen, you’re going to have to promote it. Otherwise it will be buried amidst everything else.

This means having an advertising budget. The good news is that the cost isn’t anywhere near what you’d pay for traditional advertising — but it’s still a cost. Maybe hundreds or even thousands a month, depending on your objective. Do not go into this without a budget or you will fail.

Hire an expert.

Advertising won’t be your only cost. I strongly recommend that you also hire a social media expert to help you. I’ve worked with a handful of people that I’ve found on Upwork, Fiverr, and Craigslist. These are people who know the ins and outs of Facebook and Twitter. I pay them by the hour. They run campaigns, measure success, target audiences, and otherwise spend my advertising dollars. A few of them I even allow to engage with others online on my behalf (with my supervision).

I’m a small business owner and sell certain technologies. I am not a social media expert and don’t have the time to become one. You’re probably the same. If you think you’re going to save money by doing it yourself, you’re wrong — you’ll waste time that could otherwise be spent doing what you do best and serving your customers.

Listen to Michael Jordan.

Ever hear the basketball great’s most famous quote? After pointing out that he’s missed more than 9,000 shots over the course of his career, he said, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” OK, the guy’s a legend — and your and my success probably won’t be anything like his. But his message is clear and directly relevant to social media.

The experts that are helping me with social media are running multiple campaigns at one time. Most of them are failing, failing, failing. This is not their fault. They’re trying lots of different tactics. What I’ve learned is that there’s no silver bullet for succeeding on any of these. You have to spend and fail and spend and fail until you stumble on a methodology that’s providing the best results. This may take days, weeks, or months, so hunker down!

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Best Email Marketing Software Tools for Businesses.

Do a deep dive.

Print out your current general ledger including all of last year and so far this year, then review it in detail. Make it a point to freeze, cut or eliminate expenses where necessary.

Your objective is to minimize overhead and you have to know the details to do this the right way. This is your opportunity to really know every dollar that’s flowing through your business and to take action.

Get money from your state.

Many states have set up funds, grants and loan programs for small businesses in need of assistance during this pandemic.

Every state in the country is providing information, advice, and counseling. Go to your state’s website to see what’s available for you.

Talk with your accountant.

Talk to your accountant about this. Adjust your estimated taxes for this year. Consider filing your taxes early if you’re looking at a refund. Also, if you’re offering paid time off to your employees under the new federal legislation, get familiar with the tax credits you can get back.

Push your banker.

Reach out to your banker. Confirm your available lines of credit. Ask if your bank is offering any special loans or financings for small businesses related to this pandemic.

Many larger banks are already doing this, and it’s likely that your bank will work out new payback programs to defer cash outlays for the short term.

Push your big vendors.

Your smaller suppliers are likely suffering through these times, but your bigger vendors have more resources to weather this storm and many of them are open to helping. Don’t be shy.

You should be calling your largest vendors and suppliers and discussing extended payment terms to help alleviate your cash flow challenges over the next few months. You will be surprised at how open they are to doing this.

Educate your people.

Communicate frequently with your staff, even if they’ve been furloughed, like so many restaurants and merchants have been forced to do. Why? Because they need to hear what’s going on and you need to keep them close for when you’re back in business and needing staff.

Keep them posted on company developments, but more importantly educate them on all the benefits that you and the government have made available for them to get through these times.

Finally, use the downtime.

Hopefully you can steer the ship enough so that things are fairly settled for the next month or so. If that’s the case, then use the downtime wisely. Plan for the future. Get some employee evaluations done. Clean up your data. Do some online training. Rest.

I believe the Coronavirus pandemic is a short term event. I also believe that when it’s behind us, the economic snap-back will be significant.

Those are my beliefs and I’m running my business with this in mind. I’ve taken all the steps mentioned above to keep me going until then, and I hope you’ll do the same.

[findmoneycoach77]

Keep your business going during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With some email marketing tools, it’s taken me three hours to make an email marketing template look acceptable on a mobile device.

While all the email marketing tools featured offer visual email builders & easy-to-use interfaces, some are better than others.

I knew the New York Times article would grab many people’s attention. While this email wasn’t personalized  I did know that the prospects on my list would be interested in learning how their websites could answer prospect questions and save their reps time.

To always be closing you must always be asking. You don’t want to ask for your prospect’s business in a mass email, but you do want to close for a connect call. Asking for a consultation regarding their site is a great way to pique interest in how I can help their business identify and fill gaps.

We all remember FAQs, but asking a generic opening question isn’t offering anything of value to my prospects. They don’t know why I’m asking them if they remember FAQ pages, and if I’m a busy marketer, I’m likely already zoning out and moving on to other emails.

A better way to phrase this opening might have been, “The best way to increase your sales is to answer prospect questions. And the easiest way to do that is by optimizing your website.”

I’ve immediately offered a piece of information that serves my prospect’s business and should earn their attention.

No one wants a random salesperson to insult their website especially via a mass email. A better approach would be to research my prospect’s website before sending a personalized email. Then, I could include one element I like about their site and an idea or two on what I would improve.

This is a less jarring way of offering help. It also provides immediate value to the prospect, without being pushy or offensive.

Or putting all the work on the prospect to find a time to chat The least I could do here would be to link to a calendar or booking tool. Simply telling my prospects, “Let me know what works for you,” is a vague, noncommittal way of asking for a follow up.

A more proactive way to phrase this closing sentence would be, “I’d love to learn more about your website and its unique business challenges.

[findmoneycoach77]

Here’s What the Research Says!

Let’s get practical. Do you notice that you’re “tapped out” or fresh out of ideas after a long day on the job? Do your eyes glaze over important documents that impact your small business?

While working at an agency start-up and for my own small marketing business, I noticed that I operated under the law of diminishing returns  the more I slogged away in front of a computer, the more catatonic I became.

We suffer from decision paralysis. When you work more, you work in circles, procrastinate, and nothing really gets done. You’re too tired to make material decisions, so you end up putting them off, which only hurts your business.

We focus on what’s safe vs. what’s innovative. Everyone’s afraid of failure, but failure is a key component to success.

Failure gives us information that we can use to make smart changes in our businesses. When you spend your time avoiding failure, you can make too-safe decisions that impede growth.

Consider these nuggets of wisdom from Thomas Edison: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” He also said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

We hurt employee morale. Whether we like it or not, employees look to their leaders for model behavior. If they see you constantly stressed, frazzled, tired, and tapped out, they will mimic your behavior until they suffer from burnout, and they could end up leaving your company.

As a small business leader, it’s your job to set the standard for how much you work. When you cultivate a company centered on balance, you may see your profits skyrocket.

Here’s the reality: Nothing productive or profitable comes out of a 12-hour workday. Trust me on this one. So maybe if you slept that extra hour (earning an incremental 5%, according to a University of California San Diego study) and designed your days to work smarter, then you would experience real growth in your business.

Here are my tips to design a workweek that will keep you  balanced, sharp, sane, and profitable:

Create workflows for administrative/repetitive tasks. When you’re a small business owner, you’re suddenly the accountant, administrative assistant, lawyer, and bookkeeper.

All of the departments that you took for granted at your 9 to 5 collapse into a team of one when you’re first starting out.

Take a step back and document all the things you do on a daily or per project/client basis, and see if there are ways you can automate or create templates to reduce the workflow.

For example, if you own a small boutique or coffee shop, you may want to invest in scanning technology to help with inventory management. If you’re a bookkeeper or freelance marketing consultant or graphic designer, you may want to create templates for your onboarding process, so you don’t have to start from scratch every time you have a new client.

Similar to my first recommendation, I would invite you to think about software tools that can make your life easier. Many of them are free for smaller businesses, or come with a minimal monthly cost.

For example, I used tools like Timely to automatically track the hours I work, Google Drive to manage file-sharing and uploads, and Dubsado to manage new business leads and create automated onboarding emails for when leads turn into new clients.

If you have a need, there’s probably an app for it, so do some research to determine where automation or technology can remove some of the drudgery from your day-to-day business management.

Define when you’re at your best and shape your days accordingly. For my small business, I’ve created workflows and processes that save me time on the administrative busy work and allow me to segment my day to focus on being productive at blocks of hours at a time all based on my circadian rhythms.

We’re in love with saying that we can do it all, or that it would take too much time to explain menial tasks to someone else, but the more we’re working.

You went out on your own because you wanted to be your own boss. Being a boss is not just about getting the job done, but it’s also about knowing when you need to kick back and relax.

Time away from your business not only rejuvenates your well being, but also allows for the flow of new, creative ideas. I take Mondays off to relax without the disruption of email and calls. I also take a work-free vacation after two decades of working to the bone, I can tell you it’s possible!

Everyone believes being busy is a badge of honor, but busy doesn’t add zeros to your bank account.

Working smarter and strategically on your business not only will give you the time to build your company, but also will allow you to spend time with the people who matter most

[findmoneycoach77]

When to Fire a Client and How to Do it Right..

Firing a client should be your absolute last resort, and you should only do it when you know that the relationship is beyond repair, or if it’s hurting your team or other customers.

If managed well, your professional reputation will remain intact. Being clear, direct, and honest about the arrangement and why it needs to come to an end may be less painful than you think. However, don’t waver on your decision, and don’t leave the door open for negotiation or discussion.

Determine whether your client is actually terrible or just challenging. Although both may drive you to tear your hair out, the difference between terrible and challenging clients comes down to communication and collaboration.

Bad clients don’t respect your expertise, time, or work ethic, while challenging customers might simply have a work style that clashes with your own, or they’re dealing with unnatural levels of bureaucracy, or they’re likely raising the bar for the work you’re able to produce.

Terrible clients communicate on polar ends of a spectrum. You’re either dealing with the nonresponsive, disappearing artist or the clingy, nitpicking client who fires off 30 emails in an hour and phones, texts, and issues an APB wondering why you haven’t responded to their request to adjust a pixel on an image.

Whereas challenging clients will respect your boundaries and give clear direction in terms of tasks and expectations, but perhaps their communication style might be lacking.

Problem clients believe that every project is “easy and quick” because they don’t understand the complexity of what you do. The know-it-all client requires constant education and a constant defense of your fee and the time needed to complete the project.

Challenging clients, on the other hand, understand and respect that they’ve hired an expert, and they’ll push you outside of your comfort zone to get the best-ever work of which they know you’re capable.

You can adjust your style and process to the challenging client, but the horrible one will never be a true partner.

If firing the client is not the goal, then, as a first step to address the situation, you can raise your rates to pay for the pain (and throw in some small extras to counter the sticker shock). Or, you can offer a transition period where you volunteer to find and train your replacement.

However, if neither of these tactics works, realize that the situation is only temporarily sustainable and map out your exit strategy.

Think about how you felt when you gave notice at your 9 to Create and commit to an end date and then the day-to-day won’t feel as terrible.

After studying all your alternatives, if you determine that firing the client is your best solution, we’ll show you how to cut the cord with the right plan and three stress-free scripts.

Observe the client-firing ground rules.Schedule a time to meet in person or chat via a video conference call. You met the client face-to-face, so it’s important that you give them the respect of ending the relationship face-to-face.

Don’t make it personal. This is a business decision. Show how ending the arrangement is beneficial to them.

Be calm and professional. Don’t engage their anger or play the blame game.

No matter how heated the conversation gets, be polite and professional. Your industry is small and people talk. Let them remember you were the graceful one in the situation.

Set expectations for what comes next. Don’t leave them frantic and stranded, no matter how terrible they are. Remember, this is your reputation.

Deliver all remaining work as defined by the terms in your contract and allow for a reasonable transition period.

Create the three scripts.There are three routes you can take when firing a problem client. Customize the scripts when you speak with them, and always close with a solution and defined next steps.

Regardless of the scenario, your close should be concrete and clear about what happens next. Present a list of next steps, including a hard end date, expectations.

and the associated timing for completion. Communicate that you’ll outline your discussion in a follow-up email.

[findmoneycoach77]

Protect Your Personal Assets as a Small Business Owner.

Many business owners fear losing it all if their business goes under or if someone sues them. This is especially true for those who fund their businesses with their own capital, or if they don’t have any business insurance.

However, even if you are self funded, you can take measures to protect your personal wealth from the risk you’re taking on as a business owner.

Set Up the Right Legal Entity Protecting yourself from business liabilities starts with choosing the right legal entity.

If you are operating as a sole proprietorship, your personal assets including your home, investments, and personal property can be seized in the event of a lawsuit or if you owe creditors.

Setting up a corporation or a limited liability company (LLC), however, can help shield you and your shareholders from personal liability in the event of judgments or debts against the business.

With either an LLC or a corporation, only your business assets would be used to pay creditors if you can’t meet your obligations.

The primary difference between these two entities is that the profits and losses of a corporation are taxable to the corporation, taxed at the corporate rate, while the profits and losses of an LLC pass through to the owners or shareholders, who can choose whether they want to be taxed as a corporation or as an individual.

You can also layer different legal structures for different parts of your business to add more protection.

For example, if you own a retail store and receive rental income from tenants who live above the store, you could set up separate legal entities for the store and for the building ownership.

If your tenants were to sue you, the retail business would not be affected. Setting up a layered structure puts more distance between you and any incidents that might result in business debts or lawsuits.

Get Proper Business Insurance .Each entity you set up should have its own business insurance policy to add more layers of protection between you and your business liabilities.

However, even if you set up a legal structure that protects your personal assets, you still could be exposed to risks.

Every small business owner should have a Business Owner’s Policy as a first line of defense against general liabilities.

This type of policy offers broad protection against several claims that could put your assets at risk, such as copyright infringement or injuries that occur on business premises. It can also help cover the costs of legal defense.

If you have a private practice, such as a law firm or doctor’s office or run a professional services company, such as an accounting firm or consulting company  you may be exposed to other risks and need a more specific type of insurance to protect your personal wealth from business liabilities.

Professional liability insurance, for example, helps cover you against claims of negligence, or errors or omissions, that might arise from services you provide to clients.

This type of insurance is offered as an addition to a Business Owner’s Policy, but check with your insurance agent to make sure you have the right kind and amount of insurance coverage for your business.

Separate Your Business and Personal Affairs.Once you’ve registered your business as a corporation or LLC, use the company name on all documents, including property or equipment leases, supplier agreements, and employment contracts.

Keep your business and personal finances separate by setting up a bank or checking account in the company’s name.

Think about who else might need access to the account and designate signing authority to those individuals as well. You may want to require two signatures for any large checks over a certain amount.

If you have good personal credit, you should also consider getting a business credit card to help keep track of designated business expenses.

While business cards allow you to start building business credit and give you more financial leverage, they do need to be personally guaranteed, so there is still some risk to your personal wealth.

Make sure you are diligent about maintaining corporate records in what’s known as a corporate book, and keeping current with required filings.

Many states require corporations to submit minutes and other annual reports. These requirements also differ depending on your type of legal entity, so it’s a good idea to check with your state or local authority, or with your accountant. Missing the deadline for such filings can result in penalties and late fees or, at worst.

Have a Contingency Plan.Tough times for your business can put a lot of pressure on your personal finances. Put a plan in place to protect yourself and your family against any downturn in business activity

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You Don’t Need to Manage Customer Relationships?!

Clean up those few difficult customers. The reality is you’re doing yourself, and the customer, a favor by letting them go.

When you run into a situation with a difficult customer, you have two options.

Talk with that customer about both your expectations, and try and fix whatever’s wrong.

Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t think we’re a good fit for your needs” and let them find someone else to serve them.

Either you do that or get rid of them, but don’t just keep dealing with the status quo.

If you can remove that 10% of the people who are wasting 90% of your time, you can go focus on finding good customers who are the right fit for your business.

Let them be someone else’s problem, or let them find someone who’s a better match and they’re going to be happier with.

When a prospective customer tells you that they may need your company’s services but not until later in the year, you’ll remember that. You can keep track of all the quotes, opportunities and potential deals in your head.

After work is done or a product is shipped you can remember to make sure that someone reaches out to the customer to check that they’re happy.

If a customers’ sales drop off or if no one remembers to reach out to a key customer in the past few months you’ll just know. When a customer calls with a problem or a service issue, you can remember to make sure that it gets addressed in a timely manner and that the customer is happy with your service.

Your customers and prospects and people in the community know all about you too.

There’s no need to stay in touch with them. You don’t need a database. You don’t need to be tracking their interests, needs and issues.

You have no reason to want to reach out to groups of them and send them emails or postcards or even text messages with information that can help educate them about your company’s products and services.

You don’t need to track visitors to your website or people who came by your booth at the last trade show. They probably know all about you and when they’re interested in what you do they’ll remember to reach back out to you for help.

And besides, keeping track of specific information about your customers and prospective customers is useless.

You’re not a big “data” person, right? Implementing a process for your sales and service people is only something big companies do. Having all of your data in one place isn’t really that important to you – you’re fine with your people entering it a bunch of times.

Take that stress off of your business, because if you’ve got a bad customer that’s making it tough for your team members, they’re going to hate their job.

They’re going to be worried every time that customer calls and get anxiety. If that’s happening, you need to get rid of that customer.

[findmoneycoach77]

How We Badly Used Email Marketing Services!

Waiting too long can negatively affect your brand reputation and also confuse or stress your audience.

They may assume you don’t care or that you aren’t taking the situation seriously.

Don’t take advantage of the situation.If your product or service is in high demand due to the crisis, don’t raise your prices.

While this is a smart practice in normal times due to the law of supply and demand, it’s insensitive and unethical during times of crisis.

Your audience expects to hear from you. Don’t wait to communicate important information.

newsletters should have news. Information. Advice. Helpful hints. We learned that people will read stuff if that stuff is going to help them do better in both life and business.

people don’t care about our products and services unless there’s a specific need they have. We learned to have catchy subject lines to draw readers in.

Sure, we place a few buttons in and around the email to promote some of our services. But our main content is the educational material to help our readers.

Describe the actions you’re taking to deal with the situation. Your customers, prospects, and community want to know what you’re doing to support the health, safety, and well-being of the community.

Monitor the crisis and adjust communications appropriately. Communicate regularly with your audience throughout the crisis. Don’t be afraid to change how you’re addressing or handling the crisis and update your audience with new information.

Show your audience you care.Your audience may be stressed, upset, or in danger during this crisis. Make sure they know you care about they’re well-being, health, family, and friends.

Take time to think about how the crisis is having a direct impact on your community, customers, and followers.

Pause insensitive marketing campaigns like contests or humorous content and unnecessary events like in-person workshops or conferences.