Tag: Business

Are You Making Life Easy For Your Customers

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As a business owner, a key to increasing your profits and the longevity of your business is making it easy for your customers to do business with you. This is something that will improve your reputation and your revenues long-term. The following contributed post is entitled, Are You Making Life Easy For Your Customers.

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There’s no doubt that your customers are at the very centre of your business. After all, without them, it really doesn’t matter how great your business is or how amazing your product is, none of that is going to be worth anything. Because of that, it’s essential that you make sure that you’re focusing on the kinds of quality of life improvements to your business that make it the most pleasant experience for your customers whenever you can. With that in mind, here are some things that you can do to make life easier for your customers.

Provide great customer service

Customer service is an essential part of any business and yet plenty of business owners don’t give it the thought that it really deserves. They tend to think of it as only really applying to making sure that you support your customers when something goes wrong. And make no mistake, that is a crucial part of any business’s customer service. However, there’s also a lot more to it than that. You also need to think about customer service in everything from the initial response that your business provides to customers to the ways in which you respond to any queries that customers might have. You need to be sure that every single interaction you have with your customers is as positive and supportive as possible.

Give them options

In the internet age, one thing that customers have become much more away of is the fact that they don’t have to put up with systems and situations that they find inconvenient. One upon a time they might have settled for things that don’t work exactly as they want them to, but that’s just not the case anymore. Because of that, you need to be sure that you’re giving them plenty of options. This could mean offering different payment options like the ability to send and receive digital checks. It could also involve things like offering multiple product options or ways to customise their experience with your business.

Make things simple

The last thing any customer wants is to have to spend their time dealing with roadblocks getting in the way of them getting the products that they want. One of the fastest ways to turn people off from your business is to make their experience with it complicated. Streamlining and simplifying your user experience ensures that interacting with your business is as simple as possible for just about every single one of your customers.

One of the most important things to remember is that making life easier for your customers isn’t just a matter of making sure that your customers stay happy. After all, happy customers are also a whole lot more likely to recommend your business to other people and drive up traffic towards your business overall. Making sure that customers come away from any interaction with your business feeling positive is essential if you want to be able to grow your business and create a strong and positive reputation for it.

How Do Solo Entrepreneurs Attract Clients?

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key to being and entrepreneur is attracting clients. For a solo entrepreneur, it’s a much different dynamic than what a Fortune 500 Company would have to do. The following contributed post is entitled, How Do Solo Entrepreneurs Attract Clients?

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Solo entrepreneurs face a lot of challenges to launch their independent careers. For many, the choice of working for themselves is the result of unfortunate circumstances, such as struggling to find employment, losing their job suddenly, or trying to make ends meet as a stay-at-home parent, for example. Only a small proportion of solo entrepreneurs have been able to secure sufficient savings to launch their business. As a result, for many, the first challenge is to find clients when you have only limited resources.

Building momentum on a tight budget is difficult, but it isn’t impossible. The key to making it work is to prioritize tasks that are likely to generate income and leads. In other words, you need to filter the most effective marketing strategies that fit your budget. While this means you may not be able to afford promotional work done by an agency, it doesn’t have to stop your efforts. Making yourself visible to the right audience is a matter of being where potential clients are likely to see you.

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Post their services on the right platforms
Customers tend to look for your services on a variety of platforms. If you want to avoid competition on price only, it’s a good idea to stay away from freelancing sites such as UpWork or PeoplePerHour. However, finding new customers for small businesses doesn’t have to be expensive. You can publish classified business ads to promote your skills and expertise to your local audience. Unlike freelancer platforms, targeting your local audience is a helpful strategy to build your visibility and local brand awareness.
For experts who work remotely or prefer long-term projects, LinkedIn has developed a freelancing search platform, ProFinder, for US-based users. Ultimately choosing where to display your profile and ads plays a significant role in attracting the right audience for you.

Showcase your work
You can’t afford to wait for people to discover who you are and what you do. You need to create informative content to share your work with others. Shooting a professional-looking video on your smartphone, for instance, to record your creative process can help you to create a buzz on social media. The best thing about smartphone videos is that you don’t need to invest tons of money to build and share exciting and engaging content. Launching your YouTube channel is entirely free. With very little equipment, you can let the world know about your business.
Alternatively, you can also use a gallery on your website to display your work. Building a website doesn’t have to break the bank, and you can find free or inexpensive options from Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.

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They share their expertise
You want people to know about your expertise. Therefore, you need to be prepared to share your knowledge for free. Don’t worry; it’s got nothing to do with working for free. You can write guest posts for online magazines or blogs to drive traffic to your brand and promote your services. The key is to show off your unique voice and knowledge by targeting suitable blogs.

When you don’t have the budget for a marketing campaign, you need to make yourself visible and desirable without the big advertising guns. As a solo entrepreneur, this means only two things: Being where people search for you and actively showcasing your skills and work where it matters most.

How To Lend Your Business Further Credibility

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Many people attempt to start businesses, but what will make your business credible? There are a couple of key points to address so that your operation will have credibility with customers and your peers. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Lend Your Business Further Credibility.

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It’s important to build trust as a business, but while this is often spoken of in grand terms, it’s a more simple conversation than many are willing to admit. Building business trust is not about how often someone will purchase your goods, or if they accept your marketing claims, or if they believe that their support agent is telling them the truth. Business credibility is often what will inspire someone to find out more about the firm and what it offers in the first place. Many of us are exceptionally gifted at spotting erroneous claims or worthless marketing spiel. For many of us living in the modernized world, we have been practising this since seeing advertisements on the television.

This means that lending your business further credibility is an upward climb, but that’s a good thing, it allows you to earn your place standing shoulder to shoulder with your competition. The more you can get there, the more people will be happy to look at what you offer and make their decision accordingly.

Let us consider how this might work using some practical, worthwhile advice:

Valid Payment Processors

The use of valid payment processors is important. We all wish to see easy and safe card transactions verified through banking formats such as VISA when purchasing online. Some may prefer to use services like PayPal, or, if you’re hoping to appeal to a more refined tech market, even opening your doors to cryptocurrency is a possibility. In fact, many businesses support this payment method, and this will become the norm throughout this decade. Without secure payment opportunities online, your business is unlikely to be seen as reliable. Some third-party processors can be used, but it’s always best to go for the default, most official setup – it’s what customers are most familiar with.

Attend Trade Events

Don’t forget to attend trade events if you get chance to. They can help you connect with a real audience. In fact, for the best trade event 2020 experience, be sure to consider markets that you hope to be part of. Australia is known for some of the best-kept secrets when it comes to excellent trade fair showcases, so perhaps this could be a wonderful opportunity for your brand. When you approach an audience in the flesh, you help establish your credibility by default.

Slowly Build Trust

Remember that trust is not found overnight. It is continually earned, bit by bit, through right action. It can also be lost in a second, and when it’s lost, it’s very hard to get that back. This means that investing in the best cybersecurity to protect consumer’s personal information, doing right by customers contacting your support with an issue, honouring warranties, ensuring that your marketing is accurate and not overblown, and regularly celebrating your team and audience alike can help you build trust, and count everyone as part of your journey. It’s not hard to see how this positivity can spread with care and attention from that point forwards.

With this advice, you’re sure to curate further business credibility.

How Your Company Can Do More In 2020

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When you’re in charge of a business, you always have to think about how expand and your productivity. In 2020 there are numerous ways you can do that. The following contributed post is entitled, How Your Company Can Do More In 2020.

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If you are a business that has been around for some time, you may have found yourself failing to see some year on year growth. If this sounds like you, there is no need to panic; getting back on track is quite a simple process.

Today, we are going to be looking at some modern-day solutions that could benefit your business in huge ways should you consider applying them. While some of them may be simple at their core, you will find their application in your business could be exactly what you need.

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Am I Not Doing Enough?

One thing you should recognise is this; we are not saying you are not doing enough with your business, what we are, in fact, saying is that if you have hit a place where you cannot see any continuous growth from your company, then you are going to need to start applying something a little different.

While different may be scary, it can often be the thing that keeps you company afloat and helps you reach the level that you have been aiming for, for some time.

Improve Your Logistics

While most businesses are able to keep hold of almost every corner of their company, there is often one part that can be placed in the hands of others.

We are, of course, talking about the logistics side of the business. As most companies have discovered, they are able to apply control over every section of their business, but when it comes to getting a consignment to a customer, you have to place your faith in the hands of your logistic service.

Now, while in an ideal world, your company would manage its own fleet, we have to be real and recognise that financially this may not be viable. What you want to look for is an expedited trucking company that will be able to provide a service that gives live tracking and everything your business needs to ensure your shipments reach your customers on time.

Look At Better Software Solutions

As we have moved forward into the 21st century, software solutions have very quickly become more advanced, and you can be sure that if you want to streamline your business, there will be a huge need for an update to the software you are using.

Most people are probably thinking, what difference could software really make? The answer to this is simple; a big one.

Today’s software solutions can automate the menial and laborious jobs that take your employees out of the business for hours on end. By having software that can build data build data files on customers to give them a personal experience, can automate emails and even run a nurturing campaign, you will have a huge portion of your business covered.

Having a simple solution like this can save you time, effort and money, and you will be surprised as to how quickly you will be able to see a change in your business.

3 Tips to Shoot Professional-Looking Videos on Your Smartphone

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In today’s digital age, many forms of business and marketing involve shooting video and posting it online. You don’t always need an extravagant studio to shoot video and sometimes your smartphone will do. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Tips to Shoot Professional-Looking Videos on Your Smartphone.

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Thankfully, it’s becoming more common knowledge for businesses to realize that video marketing is here to stay. It’s one of the most effective ways to connect with people, build your brand, and give your business an actual voice.

In fact, 51% of marketing professionals believe video marketing is the best for ROI. SO, if you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, it’s time to play catchup!

If you have, and you’re not sure why you haven’t experienced as much success with your video marketing efforts, have you considered the kind of video you’re shooting and producing? Are you using quality video SDKs from an app or website to quickly shoot and publish your content?

If the quality of your video isn’t up to par, there’s a good chance people will skip it. That’s especially true as more businesses recognize the importance of video and try to outdo their competition when it comes to quality.

So, what can you do to shoot more professional-looking videos for your business, using a smartphone? The good news is, you don’t have to be a pro videographer to make it happen. Let’s go over some tips that can set you apart from your competitors.

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1. Have the Right Lighting

Even if you have the latest and greatest smartphone with the best camera that’s ever been released, your video could still look less-than-professional if your lighting is bad. Professional videographers rely on good lighting to make their videos look sharp, bright, and easy to see.

You don’t have to invest in studio lights or other fancy equipment to get better lighting for your recording. But, always try to shoot in a well-lit area to prevent shadows and graininess that can make it difficult for people to see the detail in your video.

Most phones nowadays have “touch focus,” so you can tap on the area of the camera that’s highlighted to focus on one area. The phone should automatically balance the lighting based on the area you’re focused on.

2. Audio is Just as Important

It’s great if you have a high-quality, sharp-looking video. But, if the audio quality doesn’t match up, people aren’t going to pay attention. Unfortunately, most phone manufacturers haven’t given as much attention to the microphones on their devices as they have to the cameras.

So, what can you do to boost the sound quality of your video?

The best thing you can do is to get an external recording device of some kind. Even an inexpensive microphone that can be plugged into your phone will make a world of difference when it comes to the clarity of the sound. If you can’t afford an external mic or don’t want to get one right now, make sure you always record on your phone in a quiet room with no external noises. Try to avoid recording outside.

3. Never Shoot Vertically

It’s hard to believe that this still needs to be said in 2020, but perhaps the biggest and most important tip to keep in mind is to never shoot your video vertically on your phone. When you record vertically, it makes playback look strange on many other devices. Hold your phone horizontally, and playback on screens everywhere will look just fine.

You don’t need to hire a professional camera crew or be a pro yourself to create better-looking videos on your phone. Keep these simple tips in mind as you boost your video marketing efforts this year.

Is Expansion On The Cards For Your Business?

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. If your business is one of the lucky ones to make it past its early stages, you will likely think about expansion. Before expanding your operations, there are some things you want to think our first before investing the necessary resources. The following contributed post is entitled, Is Expansion On The Cards For Your Business?

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Expansion is something a lot of small business owners dream about. You think of the day you can open up a second location, or take on more staff to help deal with the influx of customers coming your way. It’s one of the best signs of business success, and you can only hope things will turn out this way sooner rather than later.

But at the same time, you need to be ready for expansion, and to be able to spot the signs of when it’s coming. So, we’ve listed a few questions below that you’ll want to keep in mind when looking at your books. If expansion is on the cards, these little thought statements will help you to keep an eye out for the opportunity.

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Do You Have a Steady Flow of Customers?

A steady flow of customers means a steady cash flow, in and out of your business. And if you’ve got enough customers to ensure your profit margin is always bigger than your costs margin, it’s a good sign you’re ready to take on more.

After all, if you can always turn a profit based on the limited resources you have at the moment, what kind of positive impact could another location or more people to service your customers have on your business?

Are You in Need of Another Office?

Another office is a good thing to have in your collection of business assets. It ensures you’ve got more than one location to work in, and that means you can cover more and more area around you. Sure, you’ve got the online world to rely on, meaning your virtual reach is massive and untouchable, but you need a similar tangible reach to rely on as well.

Setting up satellite offices might seem costly and unnecessary at first, but if more and more people outside of your local area are becoming interested in your business, it might just be the perfect solution. You’ll have another office to work out of, closer to your new source of custom, and that makes business convenient for both sides of the equation.

Is Your Team Eager for More?

Of course, your team needs to come into a decision like this as well. If you’ve got a strong team around you, who are capable of working together and taking initiative as and when it’s needed, it’s a good sign you can take on more business and assign tasks out accordingly.

At the same time, your team members might just be eager for more too. After all, they’re professionals in their own right, and have ambitions and goals just like you do. If you can help them take their professional acumen to new heights, they’ll do their best work for your business.

Expansion is something a lot of small business owners look forward to, and now might just be your chance to make it happen. After all, the sooner you’re ready for expansion, the better your business accounts look.

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.

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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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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.

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.

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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.