Category: Financial Literacy and Money

Why Personal Branding Is Essential

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. No matter what your business is, a key to is your branding. Your personal branding will set you apart from your competition. The following contributed post is entitled, Why Personal Branding Is Essential.

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This is a competitive world that we live in, and it’s not always (or ever) as easy to get ahead as we would like it to be. There’s always competition for jobs, or for the products and services that we are trying to sell. All we can do is our best, and hope that people take notice. There is, on occasion, ways that we hold ourselves back, however — for example, if you’re not investing in your personal brand, then you’re missing out on an opportunity to show off your credibility and professionalism.

But what’s personal branding all about, anyway? It’s a term that you hear often, but it’s not always so clear as to what it involves. Essentially, it’s all about controlling your own message. It’s about ensuring that people that are searching for you see the values that they want you to see, and not anything that might harm your reputation and cost you business. With the rise of the internet, it is easier to look up people than ever before. This is why personal branding is such a priority for executives and professionals; they know that their business may be harmed if it’s not watertight.

Personal branding can also be used during the job search. All large companies do a background check on their candidates, and it’s usually the ones that have put the time into making their personal brand as watertight as possible that get ahead. To learn more about the importance of personal branding, take a look at the infographic below.


Infographic design by University of Maryland University of Maryland

3 Ways To Ensure Your Accounts Are Up To Date

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A significant part of a business is accounting. Depending on the volume of your business, a major challenge may be making sure that your accounts are up to date. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Ways To Ensure Your Accounts Are Up To Date.

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When you’re a business owner, making sure your accounts are up to date is one of the most important things you’ll do. This ensures you’re paying the right taxes and claiming the right expenses, and that everything is above board. It can be difficult to do this, and it can take a lot of time that you simply don’t have if you’re doing it inefficiently. Below, you’ll find 3 ways you can ensure your accounts are up to date:

1. Use An App
Start by using an app. An app like Quikbooks can be a huge help and can help you to keep track of absolutely everything so that you don’t need to worry about missing anything out or forgetting anything. Although it may cost a little, there are free apps available for when you’re just starting out.

2. Outsource
Alternatively, you can outsource your accounts to another company. This way, it’s not taking up any of your valuable time and you’re still free to do what you’re best at.

3. Hire In House
Alternatively, you could hire an accountant or accounting team in house to take care of everything for you. However, if you do decide to hire, then it’s a good idea to be aware of the trends in accounting so you can make the right decision. The infographic below will help clue you in so you can decide exactly what you want to do.


credit to University of Alabama Birmingham

Preparing to Start Your Own Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Starting your own business can be a massive endeavor which many people talk about, but only a few do. There are steps to consider before starting your business. The following contributed post is entitled, Preparing to Start Your Own Business.

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Developing your business can be an exciting time. The desire to get things moving and set up can be overwhelming and potentially lead to something being overlooked. Just as you wouldn’t build a house without a solid foundation, it isn’t advisable to jump straight into a new business without having a solid business plan in place.

Image Credit: Pexels CC0 License

Putting the effort in before you open for business will help you to reap the rewards of your hard work once you are up and running. There is a lot of talk about building a business plan for now, and the future of your new company – knowing what needs to be done and getting it done to reach your goals is something every business owner should be doing.

The simple fact is, setting up a new business can be a difficult and stressful time. So how can you make sure it runs smoothly so you don’t burn yourself out before you even start trading as a company?

Plan Ahead.

The rules for business vary from state to state and are dependant on the sector you are going into. Taking the time to get all the necessary permits, licenses and insurances well ahead of time will take a huge weight off your mind. The last thing you want to be doing is cutting it fine by not having all your paperwork in order for opening day.

Try not to leave anything to the last minute. This will cause issues later on as you start to run out of time

Register your business.

Make sure your business is legal as soon as possible.

● Tax
● Bank Accounts
● Insurances
● Phone Number
● Be compliant with state regulations
● Find a business lawyer.

There are different acts you need to make sure you are compliant with before you start trading. For example, for those looking to set up in the financial industry, hiring a compliance consultant such as Scott Robert can make sure you are legal and ready to accept business before your go-live date.

Look After Yourself.

The last thing you want is to be burnt out before you even start trading. The only way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to make sure you are looking after yourself in the run-up to opening day.

Eating well, getting enough sleep and exercising is all part of a healthy lifestyle and is more important when you are taking on a new project. Set yourself boundaries and clear working hours to help you separate business and work life.

Believe in Yourself.

You know what you are doing, you are well versed and experienced in your sector so relaxed. Trust your instincts and have faith that you know what you are doing. If you have uncertainties, then look to do something about this. Brush up on any areas you are lacking knowledge in. Take a course or even hire someone to take care of this for you or teach you all you need to know.

Be confident in your abilities and the hard work you’ve put in to get to this point.

Home Work: 4 Ways To Ready Your Home-Based Business For The Next Phase

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Home-based businesses are some of the most effective enterprises out there. If you’ve had some initial success, you’ll want to take your business to the next level. The following contributed post is entitled, Home Work: 4 Ways To Ready Your Home-Based Business For The Next Phase.

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Pexels – CC0 Licence

The vast majority of us have no choice but to start our business in modest surroundings. While you might have dreams about acquiring a commercial property when you are running a home-based business you need to put a lot of leg work into it. And whether it’s become a full-time endeavor or a side hustle that’s making significant inroads, what do you need to do to ensure that your business is ready for the next phase?

Getting Your Finances In Order
For those people who start with a modest side hustle, it can get to the point where you’ve got to have your books in order. When you are at the point where you’ve got to start paying your tax it can benefit to get a QuickBooks accountant so you don’t have to keep track of everything. If you are somebody who has already been in charge of your finances, an accountant can give you a new perspective of things. It’s not just about cooking the books but it’s about addressing areas that can be reduced. Accountants can also provide you with invaluable information relating to tax breaks.

Diversify Your Marketing Efforts
Whether you’ve been using affiliate marketing techniques or have been able to get a dedicated group of customers without necessarily advertising your products, when you start to improve your efforts you will begin to see significant returns. Marketing is one of those things that can seem like an expensive investment. While so many people use social media as the one singular way of marketing, setting up your own website and creating marketing strategies to acquire extra custom will make sure that you stay competitive.

Focus On Fine-Tuning The Processes
Look at what you’ve done right and start to see if the process can be shortened. Working at home means you have your own way of working but when you struggle to find a new approach you might be losing time, and therefore, money. There are numerous ways to help a business improve its processes. Automation is one of the best ways to help any company make more of its processes. A small home-based business usually means that you do everything. And even if you’re not able to automate if you can find ways of doing things quicker, for example, dictating emails rather than typing them gives you the opportunity to multitask more effectively.

Start To Employ
Part of readying your business for the next phase is about getting additional help to push your products. It’s all about supply and demand. Even if you have the money you might think that it’s worth purchasing more products to be ready for market demand. The same applies to employees. To begin with, it might just help by getting a family member to help you out. This is cheap labor after all! But when you need to make significant inroads and require people with skill this is when you can start to hire freelancers and then get a full-time employee. It’s not as anxiety-inducing as you may think. The key is about looking at what you really need and finding a person that fits the mold.

Deep Cleaning The Office: The Why, How & When

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key to running any business or organization is keeping your office both clean and efficient. There are several considerations for cleaning your office effectively. The following contributed post is entitled, Deep Cleaning The Office: The Why, How & When.

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Credit – CCO Licence

It is important for any workplace that it is clean enough to work in. having a clean office is important for a number of reasons, which we will look in some detail at below. But whatever your main reasons for doing so are, it is valuable to ensure that you are clued up on how you should be doing it and when, or how often. It is especially valuable to deep clean regularly, and this is specifically what we are going to look at in this article. You will find that as long as you follow the advice in this article, your business is going to be much more successful, your employees happier, and your work day much more of a joy. Let’s take a look at this a little more closely now.

Why

Keeping a clean office means that your employees are going to be much happier, and that improvement in morale is central to ensuring that you are running a strong business. You are also going to find that you are sticking to the health and safety protocols which you need to follow by law, and in order to keep your people happy in that respect too. Having an office which is deep cleaned will help to keep illness low as well, which enables you to keep your employees coming into work, and helps to keep productivity up. As you can see, there are plenty of great reasons to undergo regular, thorough deep cleaning of your office. But how should you do so?

How

In essence, you need to make sure that you have a professional team working for you, who are going to be able to clean the office regularly. You will need the office cleaned lightly once a day after everyone has gone home, and about once a week for a deep clean, so make sure to hire teams for both of those purposes. You should also focus on what methods are best for a proper deep clean, so you and your staff all know about it. That could include using commercial cleaning products for desks and related areas, a commercial steam cleaner for the floors, and especially commercial products for the bathroom areas. If you do that, the place is going to be much cleaner indeed.

When

As we have indicated, such a deep clean should be carried out roughly once a week. But you might also want to have an extra-deep clean once a month or so, just to make sure that you are really keeping the place spotless. And those daily cleaning rituals are going to be so important for ensuring that the deep cleans are easier too, so remember to clean the office a little daily too. Finally, remember that you might need to sometimes clean the office on a special occasion, such as when visitors are coming or you are using the office to host a corporate event. Bear all this in mind, and your office should look its best at all times.

What To Look For In A Commercial Property

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Part of the success of your business is finding the right commercial property in terms of cost and location. The right property can make difference between your business succeeding or failing. The following contributed post is entitled, What To Look For In A Commercial Property.

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Restaurants, stores, and many other enterprises require commercial property to run their business. Of course, that means that choosing the right one is a pretty important task. In fact, if you select poorly, you can affect all sorts of aspects of your business that will impact on your profits. With that in mind, check out my post below that covers the most essential things a commercial property needs to have.

Image found at Pixabay – License CC0

Smart exterior

First impressions really matter when it comes to commercial property. After all, it will be hard to tempt customers inside if the exterior of your premises looks run down and shabby. To that end, you must consider three things.

The first is the style of the building you choose, as this needs to gel with your brand identity. For example, an antique store will often select an older historic building. While an on-trend clothing shop will opt for a new custom-built home.

The second is the signage that you display, which you can read about at https://retailminded.com/4-tips-for-designing-great-storefront-signage/. This being something that needs to not only be a good representation of your business’s branding but look smart and well maintained too.

Finally, do not forget that the way the outside of your premises is decorated will make a massive impact on how customers perceive your business as well.

To that end using commercial wall panelling like the stuff you can get at https://www.nichiha.com/commercial-applications can be very effective indeed. In fact, you can even have come with a built-in rain screen, so your window displays and ambience can stay visible even in bad weather. This being something that will help to temp more customers through your doors.

Good location

The location of the commercial property that you pick matters as well. In fact, there are two elements you must consider here. The first as highlighted in the post at https://www.smallbizdaily.com/4-tips-choosing-right-property-business/ is footfall. That is you need to select a location where you will get enough potential customers walking buy to meet your sales targets. Something that means a high street or retail park location is usually the best bet.

While the second is logistics. That is enough space for deliveries to be made to your business without causing chaos and disruption. Something that retail parks often do much better on. The reason being that they are designed with rear loading bays that cause no inconvenience to your customers.

Ample security

Finally, when it comes to finding the perfect commercial property for your business, you do need to think about security. Of course, some units will come with security features already added including CCTV, alarm systems, and even links to a site security team.

However, if you are looking at a property that does not have these, you must carefully consider whether you will be able to install your own effectively. Otherwise, you could end up taking a much higher risk with such a property than you bargained for. A situation that could end in disaster if you are unfortunate to have someone try and break-in. Therefore making such a commercial property anything less than ideal for your business.

Stop Shouting! Simple Ways For Your Business to Get People’s Attention

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. It’s important to get the word out about your business but it’s important to know how. The following contributed post is entitled, Stop Shouting! Simple Ways For Your Business to Get People’s Attention.

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Pixabay – CC0 Licence

Trying to get people’s attention is harder these days in the grand scheme of running a business. We are forever in competition with our contemporaries. If we host an event, they will host the bigger one and it can be one-upmanship that goes on forever. But what can we do to play the long game so we ensure that we get people’s attention in the right ways that don’t involve us shouting so loud that we exhaust our resources?

Working With The Community
Working with the community is an approach that guarantees marketing your business in an organic sense. While many businesses are keen to shout from the rooftops and spread their product across the planet this can result in excess expenditure and not having adequate demand for the product. While hosting an event is one of those little ways to ensure a company starts off on the right foot, perhaps try something modest, like a market fete or a funfair. And if you go down this route it’s important to ensure that all the rules and regulations are in place as well as the health and safety aspects. You may also want to invest in the basics like Foothill portables and other outdoor hygiene implements. Because when we start to make an impression on the customer through such a modest fashion we are going to stick in their mind for much longer. Many companies go for the hard sell but as so many consumers are now savvy to the hard sell it is better to go down a different route.

Establishing Press Presence
Getting into the public consciousness isn’t just about bombarding everyone with our image but it’s about learning to align ourselves with the pressing news stories of the day. Getting into the local newspaper can help us to build up an organic image. There are things that can support you in this respect, such as an electronic press kit. When you start to integrate yourself with the local press and become more prominent in local events, you are going to gradually encourage word-of-mouth. You could write a column for your local paper which can be a simple as picking up the phone and getting in touch. By establishing press presence you’re going to slowly build up that name for yourself.

Be A Human Being!
While there are so many subtle ways of becoming an expert in your field, when you’re trying to encourage positive word-of-mouth and get people’s attention, sometimes the simplest methods are the best. When we provide a good service we are going to make such a good impression on a customer that they will spread the word for us. Sometimes it’s not necessarily about marketing or bombarding people with imagery but more about delivering the service that we promise. Partly we can manage people’s expectations to ensure that we are not over-promising and under-delivering. But in the modern-day where communication is such a faceless approach, giving people the opportunity to interact with a real human being is rare. If you want to get people’s attention, simple works better.

Reduce Business Downtime to Save Time and Money

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key to any business operation is increasing productivity and efficiencies. Doing so will increase the likelihood of staying viable and outlasting your competitors. The following contributed post is entitled, Reduce Business Downtime to Save Time and Money.

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Downtime for your business can cause all sorts of problems. Your business can waste time and money while you’re trying to get back to normal, and it can even damage your reputation if you’re not available to your customers. When you’re experiencing a lot of downtime, it can have a significant effect on your business, and it won’t be a positive one. By reducing the amount of downtime your business experiences, you can improve productivity, save time and money, and boost your business reputation with your customers too. Here are some of the ways you can start reducing downtime so your business can run more smoothly.

Get the Right IT Support

In any modern business, experiencing IT problems will often mean that the whole company comes to a halt. Severe disruptions can occur if certain things aren’t working as they should, interrupting the systems that the business relies on. One of the smartest ways to deal with this problem is to ensure you have the right IT support. For many businesses, especially smaller ones that can’t afford large IT departments, managed IT services are an excellent choice. If you visit the fidelis website at fidelisnw.com, you can see how one company can provide managed services that keep your business going. With managed IT support, you can concentrate on other areas of your business.

Image from Pixabay – Pixabay License

Perform Preventative Maintenance

The most significant disruptions to your business can be caused by sudden problems resulting from equipment that stops working. Whether it’s office equipment or manufacturing equipment, you don’t want your business operations to stop suddenly because essential equipment isn’t available. If you want to avoid this type of thing happening, preventative maintenance is the best option. You need to ensure regular maintenance of key equipment so that any problems can be taken care of long before they can cause disruption to your business.

Have a Solid Continuity Plan

Any company should have a continuity plan. Your business continuity plan will set out what happens if something goes wrong, and your business experiences downtime. It might outline some of the things that are expected to happen automatically, like a backup power generator kicking in, as well as what your staff members are expected to do. Your business continuity plan will cover different areas of the business and provide a step-by-step action plan for how to deal with any periods of downtime. The aim is to get your business back up and running as quickly as possible.

Prepare Your Staff

Part of developing a continuity plan for your business can be ensuring your staff knows what they need to do when something goes wrong. Walking them through their roles and how everything should happen if there’s a problem will make everything run more smoothly when the time comes. It can also help to identify any flaws or difficulties in your continuity plan so that it can be optimized before it needs to be put into action.

Reduce downtime for your business, and you will be able to save both time and money. You can improve productivity and preserve your reputation by being prepared.

Inspiring Loyalty In Your Customers: 3 Clever Tactics

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key to your business being successful is winning the loyalty of your customer base. Doing so will assure a continuous flow of profits and an assured furthered health of your business. The following contributed post is entitled, Inspiring Loyalty In Your Customers: 3 Clever Tactics.

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Why does your business need loyal customers? Well, the first reason is that it is much easier to sell to someone that has previously bought from you than a cold lead. Also, particularly loyal customers will help you spread brand awareness and act as ambassadors online too. Something that can also help you boost your sales. The good news is that you can find out exactly how you inspire customer loyalty in the post below. Keep reading to find out more.

Provide the best possible experience.

One way that you can ensure your customers are as loyal as possible is to pay attention to the experience that you provide them when they interact with you. In fact, this applies not only IRL in places like stores, restaurants, and other businesses but online as well.

In fact, there are some specific strategies you can use to ensure that your customer’s experience is as positive online. The first is to make sure that any website you operate is customized with the visitor in mind. After all, if you can’t get your website to work, customers are very unlikely to trust you with anything else.

Additionally, some businesses also go for innovative applications to complement their websites. These being intuitive to use when designed well. Thus, they can help to build up that trust relationship with your customer that is such a valuable foundation for long term loyalty.

Really listen to what they want.

People love to be listened too, customers doubly so. Of course, there are some serious advantages to actively hearing what the people that are responsible for your income have to say.

The reason for this is that listening to feedback and changing the way you do things in line with this will ensure that your customers are much happier. Both because they have been heard, and as things have been changed to better suit their needs.

Of course, happier customers are much more likely to remain loyal to your brand. Something that can ensure you have an effective sales funnel at all times, and your business is as successful as possible.

Be transparent, and keep promises.

A big part of gaining the loyalty of your customers is trust. In fact, if your customers trust you, then they are much more likely to be loyal. Of course, for a business to be trusted by its customers requires several things.

The first is that you keep any promises, you make no matter how small. Something that means deliveries need to arrive on time calls returned and problems solved.

Additionally, being transparent about your business’s ethos and practices is also essential if you want your customers to trust you. Something that means you need to both have a policy regarding company and supplier ethics and that you make sure you operate in line with this.

Of course, the work involved in establishing such trust will often be well rewarded. With customers coming back time and again for repeat business. Some may even become superfans or ambassadors for your brand organically, spreading the good word about you online and IRL!

3 Ways To Attract People To Your Business Event

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Business events can be critical to getting the word out about your products and services. It’s important to get the word out about your event. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Ways To Attract People To Your Business Event.

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(Pixabay CC0)

There are all kinds of reasons as to why you might put on a business event.

As examples, you might want to…

● Introduce people to your new product or service.
● Offer training to other local business owners.
● Celebrate an anniversary with your customers and investors.

Of course, no matter what the surface reason is for holding a business event, the underlying reason is this: you want to increase your local visibility. It’s a perfect marketing ploy! Still, your event will fall flat if people don’t show up, so it’s important to find ways to attract attendees. You can do this in the following ways.

#1: Raise awareness on social media

The earlier you create a buzz about your event, the better, and social media is the natural place to do it. After all, how many people don’t have a Facebook or a Twitter account these days? So, create a Facebook page for your event and invite your customers and other relevant people to take a look at it. Get people excited with well-crafted Facebook posts or tweets on Twitter. And generate interest on YouTube too, perhaps with a promo for the event detailing what will be happening on the day, or a funny video that somehow connects to the event and that has a chance of going viral. Be sure to use all of those other social media channels that your target audience uses too, such as Instagram and LinkedIn, and be creative in your postings.

#2: Send out personal invites by mail

Okay, so we know snail mail has become less popular these days thanks to the rise of digital marketing, but people still enjoy finding a piece of mail that isn’t a household bill in their letterboxes! So, send out personalized invites using an invitation maker, and be as creative as you can with the design. Let people know what to expect on the day, perhaps by including an itinerary with your invite. And give them an incentive to come, perhaps by offering them a free drink at the bar or a free raffle ticket if they show their invite at the door.

#3: Be charitable

If the people you invite suspect the event is all about your business and nothing else, then they might have less incentive to come, even with the free drink idea that we suggested above. However, if you can show your charitable side, then you may give them an extra reason to attend. So, you might give half of the proceeds you make from ticket sales to a popular local charity. If you hold a raffle, this could also be in aid of a good cause. And you might also hold a charity auction, where your attendees can both give and acquire prizes at the event, with proceeds going to an established charity.

These are just a few suggestions, so consider them if you’re holding a business event any time soon. And think about your own ideas too, but be creative, as a generic email or text message may not be enough to sway people away from their televisions on the night of your event.

Let us know your thoughts and ideas by leaving a reply below.