Tweet This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

Business success is something you got to earn.Do you know why most businesses tend NOT to make it big? Why do some businesses languish while some make it big? Small business owners have to get one thing straight — even if you hate me for it. You cannot succeed in business if:

1. You have no USP: Running a business without a USP is like trying to run a 10 cylinder, mammoth marine engine with little or no fuel. It will spitter-spatter and choke itself to an abrupt stop in a while. No USP? Go home and watch cartoon network. Don’t even think of starting a business without one.

2. You have no Passion: If the idea of running a business for you is to come to an office and work like it was a job that you had to do — you are barely there, warrior. You got to have more juice. Without passion, you will limp through and keep scratching through your bottom-lines. You won’t make it and even if you did, you wouldn’t last long.

3. You don’t persevere: If you thought you would only have great days ahead and not see a single “happinator” day, you are going to be shocked. It takes tremendous amount of perseverance and guts to sustain through the vicissitudes of business. It would require you to be persistent and to surmount problems that seem to be affecting your business.

5. You can’t manage cash flows: There can be no business without a positive cash-flow. If you don’t know how to manage your cash-flow, have someone else do it for you. But not having cash-flow is like cutting off oxygen supply to your body. Manage your cash well and operate from abundance.

Tweet This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

Come recession (or even without it), people all over the world just have a convenient excuse to postpone wealth creation. They will be even more happy because now they have an entire global economic recession to crib about. Excuses are a serious stumbling block on your path of wealth creation. Here are some common excuses busted right off the bat. After reading this, it will be hard to make any more excuses:

It takes money to make more money; but hey, I have no money

You didn’t have to be any more smarter than an 8 year old to figure out that this is a really lousy excuse to make. The solution is disarmingly simple, isn’t it? If you have no money right now, do whatever you can to make more money .Somehow, anyhow. It is easier to make money legally than risk spending time behind bars to earn money, though. Get yourself a job and put up a part-time business. As you earn more money, with the proper financial education and guidance, you will be able to embark on your journey to create more wealth.

I have no time

If you had the desire, a passion and some fire kindling in your belly, time would be in abundance. Really motivated people somehow find time for endeavors they are passionate about. Not having enough time is just an excuse. Think of various ways you can make time for things you must be doing to generate more revenue – manage time well, get more done in less time, outsource and allow others to do mundane and repetitive tasks. No time? All the roads to wealth are blocked.

I have no need for more money

Let’s be realistic.You are not badgered here to twist your values and turn greedy instantly but then, being wealthy – at least to the extent that it can fetch you things you had always pined for and not to the extent that you have to spend a lifetime to guard and spend your soul protecting it – ensures that at least this part of your problems are solved. You don’t have to worry about hand-to-mouth existence anymore and you will be able to leave a legacy behind that your family will be thankful for. However, a little bit of “ I have no need for more money” attitude is a great counter-weight to greed that can engulf you. Think of this as a balancing element.

I am a highly-paid employee

Assuming you do want to be rich, an employee rarely ever gets rich. Oh yes, there might be well-paid employees, but that isn’t being rich. To be employed is to continuously render your services to your employer and get paid only so much. The amount of time you can spend working and the amount of money you can earn are both limited. That isn’t being rich, which is to leverage your time and efforts – this is what your employer is doing, presently. All work gets done by others; others work while the rich get paid. Leverage is the keyword here – something employees will never have.

I haven’t found the right idea

Someone once said that taking action is half the mission accomplished; It isn’t the idea. An idea by itself doesn’t fetch riches, its “execution” does. Taking the idea apart and making it work is the only way to squeeze the commercial potential from an idea. If you wait around for the best idea there is, you might never get one. Take a mediocre idea and execute it in a new creative manner instead. For instance, in McDonald’s case, Ray Croc didn’t make a new burger; he just found a systemized, consistent, tasty and incredibly quick way of making ordinary hamburgers, all over the world.

Tweet This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

Recession or not, marketing is a must. There is no going back  and the only people who can hurt during times like these are those who don’t take to this seemingly common, but rarely practiced, advice seriously. Traditional marketing methods pop up as solution. Recession calls for warrior hearts and creative heads. Guerrilla marketing is the name of the game and given below are 5 great ways to do just that:

1.Do it the caveman way : Don’t ever forget that even before currency was introduced, business was on. Barter trade or the bartering system was the way to go those days – like a cow for 100 bales of cotton; a cart of sugar for a cart of grapes? There is no reason why you shouldn’t use a variation of the bartering system for marketing. A simple arrangement for mutual promotion of products or services will do. For instance, if you sell “mobile Internet cards”, you could think of a mutual arrangement with Starbucks or even your friendly Pete’s coffee house. You could give out discount coupons for the coffee house and the coffee house could promote your mobile internet device. You get the idea, don’t you?

2.Hit the streets: Most entrepreneurs find it very difficult to hit the roads and sell their products and services. For those who did make it the hard way and got around too build their companies, they just can’t bring themselves to do it all over again. But why not? The best thing to do in times that suck the bottom-line of your company into oblivion is to sell even more. Ramp up the sales volume and put everything to do with sales on a high gear. Just go out there and do it. Action, solves half of your problem.

3.Use Technology to cut costs: Deploying technology for cutting costs can plummet your expenses. Using energy efficient equipment; virtual meetings using the Internet can replace the conventional meetings that consume time, burn energy, cost money and ruin the environment; going paperless in your office can help reduce costs. Use Internet banking and online payments instead of traveling to the actual physical destinations and finally, you could even think of using blade servers, virtualization, thin client computing and cloud computing.

4.Give a reason for them to bit your bait: Consumers don’t want to do business with you if every other competitor can provide the same. They would come to you because you have something or can do something, none of your competitors can. A Unique Selling Proposition(USP) can help. A USP is a set of reasons why your business is so special. Make your USP loud and clear and meet the promises you make consistently enough and see how recession-proof your business can become.

5.Control your cash: Most businesses suffer the no-cash syndrome. Cash flow is crucial and you should do everything in your power to ensure that it is in control. Stop giving out goods and services on credit and if you have no choice, have strong systems in place to retrieve your receivables; if you can, design your payment systems such that you get payment up-front. Perhaps 50% advance will do too. Credit is best avoided.

Tweet This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

Being on your own is not only an antidote to the painful saga of working in cubicles and getting mired in corporate politics, but it also has other benefits – like favoring tax laws, for starters. Did you know that you have plenty of things going for you as a self-employed individual? From a strict tax-point of view, you have even more ways you to save on your taxable income. Let’s see how that is possible:

1.Tax-deductions for expenses towards Home Office: As a self-employed professional or business person, you are likely to be working out of your home. That qualifies for tax deduction (although it could be a little tricky to arrive at).All relevant expenses towards the space you must have made for yourself at home out of which you work regularly can be eligible for tax deductions. This tax deduction is based on the honor system and you are expected to be truthful and honest in this regard. It makes sense to preserve all your utility bills and be prepared for a likely audit on your taxes. Also, apportion the expenses appropriately.For instance, the percentage of electricity bills you claim to be using for business must be proportional.

2.Reading Is not Taxed: Did you know that purchasing or subscribing for books and magazines related to your businesses are tax-deductible? All of the bills you should have amassed over a year full of book and magazine purchases can be put under deductibles which can very well fund your passion for reading and empowering yourself with information, which enables you to do business better. Additionally, expenses towards any kind of course related to the line of work you are currently into is also eligible for a tax deduction. Of course, the class or course you are taking up should prepare you for a new line of work, provide more insight to help you do better in your business. For instance, if you are a writer, a course on “ writing for the web” will qualify, but not classes on French language.

3.Self-employed 401(K): This is probably one of the best tax-deductible a self-employed professional or a small business owner can boast about. This is a great way to save tax, rack up tax deferrals for long-term savings and investments. The latest tax code – as of 2009 – allows you to purse away 25% of your net income (capped to a max of $245,000) from your business/practice into a solo account. You can even add a $16,500 salary deferral to your Self-employed 401(k) or Solo 401(k) – together that’s a lot of money that is being saved.

4.Travel : As a solo business owner, you would have realized by now that you wpould eventually wear all sorts of hats – including that of a traveling salesman. There are benefits that come with this responsibility. All of your travel expenses, as related to your business, are deductible from your taxable income. The trips you took to meet clients, including the usage of your car and the resultant fuel, maintenance and even taxi costs can all be used to reduce your taxable income. Yet again, file away all your bills, flight tickets, etc., so that you are ready when questioned or asked for proof.

5.Insure Your Family’s Health (including yourself) and reduce taxes: As an employee, you couldn’t do much but as a self-employed professional or solo business person, the tax codes are in your favor. You may deduct all the expenses that go towards the payment of the premium for one of more policies for yourself and also for your spouse and other dependents. This way, you would doing your family a big favor and saving truck-loads of money.

Other Relevant Resources

Top 10 Tips for Self-employed

For U.S.

Tax Info Blog

If You Are Self-Employed

Tweet This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

Businesses have a lot to work on apart from just trying to manage their operations.With economy just tripping over live wires now and then, there seems to be no respite at least for a while. Small businesses owners are left to fend for themselves. But what exactly should be done to cut costs?

1. Get real, you don’t have to travel: This is a new era and it calls for new ways to do business. Traveling on business is expensive and out-dated. There is really no need to cross oceans and hill-tops to get there and talk to people about your business. Espouse technology and use virtual meeting, telepresence and Internet for a change. Not only would you be saving tons of money on useless travel, but you would be doing your bit by saving energy, reducing carbon footprints and going green.Greenblog even has a Travel Green Manual in Series, it is a good read and I think you must check it out.
2. Don’t fire, but suspend fancy perks: This might come as harsh but when given a choice between firing someone and just reducing the fancy takeaways, the latter is best. Avoid perks, excessive bonus packages and vacation giveaways. Put a stop on corporate gifting (love, affection, reward and recognition can all wait).Reducing the daily spending limits for your roving, globe-trotting executives.. However, don’t fire and let go of your workforce. Just cut costs.
3. Watch what you are burning away: Energy happens to be expensive. Most of your expenses each month or each year are heavily skewed towards your energy bills and it is only because of the screaming voices of the media and scorching summers that people suddenly realized the need and importance of going green. Now going green isn’t a fancy slogan — it’s an imminent requirement. Watch your energy usage; switch off your equipment when not in use; use computers that meet the stringent norms of EPEAT and energy star 4.0 and beyond.
4. When it Breaks, fix it not replace it: Businesses- small or big - have had it easy for so long now that replacing everything that doesn’t seem to work has been the norm. That can change for good now. Look to repair broken or dysfunctional equipment — machines to computers — instead of replacing them outright. It might not work for all equipment, all the time, but it sure saves money sometimes. An analysis sure helps here.
5. Overhaul payment and hiring structures: Simple ways to do this exist. For instance, all the sales staff can be put on a reduced fixed payment and increased variable type of pay where the fixed outflow is reduced and more payments come only when more products/services are sold. Usually, businesses tend to have more people for ever set of things to be done. Hiring competent people who can multi-task can be profitable since each of these persons can do the work hitherto performed by 2 or 3 people.

Tweet This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

Developing systems so as to ensure multiple and recurring streams of income is one of the best things one can do to achieve financial independence. But then, most people are not even thinking about it. Some of us do stop and gasp, but that isn’t going to get rid of our problems. Let us look into some of those amazing opportunities that can really pump up your streams of income with you having done the work just once:

1.    Write a book – a best seller: See what J.K. Rowling did with Harry Potter and the Secret of Multiple streams of income (that wasn’t any book; it was just made up for effect)? Did you know that publishers keep paying you royalties and also a non-refundable advance initially — applied against royalties accrued on all sales? You never know how much your first book is going to fetch you but you could expect anything from a humble 100 USD to a $ I million and then soaring northwards. Publishers usually give you a portion of what you might be slated to earn within a year or so, after the book is published.

According to Caderbooks.com “Royalties are roughly about  6 to 8 percent of the retail price on paperbacks, 6 to 10 percent of the retail price on mass market paperbacks, and 10 to 15 percent of the retail price on hard covers. But there is plenty of variation. Coffee-table books and reference books often require more investment and production work upfront, and yield lower advances. Certain publishers invest more editorial and artistic effort, and therefore offer lower royalties. And so on.”  The beautiful thing about writing a book is that it is a one time process – do it, publish it and collect the checks coming in.
2.    Invest in Real estate: Of course you might have to shell out a lot of money to do this, but if you can, this is an awesome way to build a steady and long-term stream of healthy income. Build homes, invest in commercial buildings and give them out for lease or sell them. Real estate prices are usually on an upswing more often than not and there are a lot of things you might have to know – but it is worth it all.
3.    Leverage the Internet: There are plenty of business models that have a “digital delivery of informational products” online. These business systems are all automated and make plenty of money for the business owners while there are absolutely minimal overheads. The cost of making the informational products and the costs of managing and hosting the websites; commissions for the credit card processing and marketing etc might be the only expenses. What you spend is a joke compared to what offline businesses have to incur. Set-it up; automate and go laughing to the bank.
4.    Financial Investments: Making money work for you is simple yet powerful. Robert Kiyosaki — the author of the famous Ricd Dad series of books has been an active proponent of this strategy.Using various kinds of financial instruments, you could manage a portfolio that can start making money for you. These are all strategies to build your wealth without your involvement so perhaps you could look at specific products like Mutual Funds and Market- Linked Life Insurance Policies – they should have exposure to equity markets and must be long – term.
5.    Invest in other Businesses: If you have money and an eye for picking up promising business ventures, you could look to become a passive investor. In effect, you are beginning to do some Venture Capital deals here. The idea is to invest in promising upstarts so as to allow them to grow and make more money for you. The businesses will put in the requisite hard work and you will reap benefits. Lawers.com has a helpful guide called “Investing in someone else’s business” to help you do this just right and legally at that.

The message that wasn’t let out until you read between the lines is the fact that most of these ideas are risky. But if you remember the risk-return trade-off principle in finance – the more you risk, the more you stand to gain — you will be off to a good start. Do you have any more ideas on building recurring income?

Tweet This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

1.    Be bold: You thought this applies only to alpha-men, soldiers and rebels? It applies to businesses too. There is no place for the meek in the war fields of business. You either have it or you don’t. You make it or you don’t it. You either have the guts, or you don’t – in all the above cases you won’t survive, if you don’t. Being bold gets attention. Of course it raises your levels of responsibility (Since you need to catch-all with those outrageous claims), but it grabs attention, nonetheless.
2.    Incorporate the “10 times principle”: Simple, but yet profound. Cliched, but forgotten. All things being equal ( assuming you know what the customers want), go out of your and develop a system such that you can do whatever your competitors are doing at least about 10 times much better, faster or cheaper.
3.    Bring in the best practices and remain flexible: There are quite a few best practices are in use in similar or even other industries, world-wide. You could bring them all in and implement them for your business. Keep tweaking until you get it right and once done, incorporate these practices into your business systems. No matter what happens, don’t just stick to what you have in place now. By keeping your eyes and ears open; researching constantly and bring the best there could be – you will ensure that your competition is far behind you.
4.    Think 10 years from now and operate from there: Google is a trendsetter and works furiously for the future. Most other companies operate in a fire-fighting mode – they are more reactive than pro-active. They are looking at customers and competition instead of bringing trends in. This shift in vision is incredibly difficult to achieve. So what should a small business do? Three things – if possible innovate; if not, ideate; if you can’t do either one of those two or both then close shop and leave.
5.    Let them play the pricing game, not you: Yes, you heard that right. If their move is to undercut prices – they are asking for trouble. You don’t do any such thing. In fact, raise your prices all the more as a retort to this move and keep your customers informed about the value addition you offer, consistently and that they get what they pay for – you would, of course, get only those who wish to pay for it. You might miss out a majority of non-payers. But the effort, in the end, is much less on your part for the same amount of revenue. This is good for you because you dealt with lesser number of customers, for the same amount of money while ensuring top quality. Now who is smarter?

Tweet This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

How does one ensure that the business grows profitable and not just BIG?

1.    If you can afford it, don’t grow : There are numerous advantages that accrue to small companies like the ease in implementing decisions; flexibility; ease of management and the ‘ paranoid’ mentality that you don’t see in big companies. Not taking action can cost a lot and the big companies keep paying this cost over and over again. Small companies are better off when it comes to this and hence you will do better to remain small and just grow rich.

2.    Focus on Profitability, not growth: What is important is how much money you seem to be making as compared to how big you are. There really isn’t any point in growing big if you can’t sustain that growth. Growth in business happens organically—not because you want it to grow.

3.    Cut the fat loose, especially when growing: The functions in the business will simply take more weight as the business seems to be growing. While that is great news, you got to be looking to cut all the loose or excess fat here. Keeping your department sizes small and active is certainly possible by employing some of the modern ways doing businesses.

4.    Use technology: We don’t have robots yet, but we do have technology that can replace humans. Here’s the thing about machines – they are easy to acquire; easy to maintained; once purchased or implemented, they are yours and they don’t quit on you. Humans lose the game. So fire as many of them as you can.

5.    If you had to grow, grow strategically: Decide how you want your growth to be – up or lateral? Cut out the hierarchy; decentralize decisions; make each department another business – like a group of consulting firms – within your own company.  The marketing division becomes a marketing consulting firm led by its own boss – you get the picture, don’t you? This kind of growth gives your company the size and also the incredible flexibility that can be made possible.

Tweet This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post 

Wireless Devices: Laptops, mobile phones, PDA or smart phones – all of them would do the trick. If you enable GPRS/3G/Edge or any of those technologies that have changed the way we do computing today, you might just get that much closer to your customers. The beauty of these devices, apart from their feature rich appeal and functionalities, is the fact that you could be connected to the Internet, no matter where you are. You could send your hurried apologies to a disgruntled customer right away, while you were taking that walk down the road, after dinner, straight from your smart phone.

The 10 % principle: If you could make everything about your business just about 10 % easier, better, faster or nicer, perhaps that could translate into a great business strategy. It might seem like a silly notion but if you look at it as incremental changes towards extreme makeovers in due course, it would be a big thing.

Access is top priority: People would want to do business with people, not faceless, behind the glass facade, boardrooms. Get yourself out there, put out your telephone numbers, emails, support ticket systems, toll-free numbers and think of any other whacky way to ensure that you are always reachable to your customers.

Consistent Performance: We have all heard about one off cases of a really prudent individual going out of his way for the customer and making him/her really happy. These one-off cases are indeed reasons to celebrate, but then, if they are the only instances of customer care amidst chaos and pathetic disrespect to your clientele, you got tons of work to do.

Keeping in Touch: it is not just when the customers seem to have a problem that you need to spring to your face in a desperate attempt to buy his/her good-will. It should be a part of your strategy. Your company has to live, breathe and sleep on paranoid customer service.

When your profits seem to be soaring, you won’t mind all that trouble you took to keep so many of your customer’s happy.

Tweet This Post  Buzz This Post  Digg This Post  Reddit This Post  Stumble This Post