Tag: Business

Are You Ready To Hire Your First Employees?

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Once your business is ready to go to the next level, you have to decide if you’re ready to hire help. It’s a critical stage for any business. When hiring employees for your business, there are few keys to consider. The following contributed post is entitled, Are You Ready To Hire Your First Employees?

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Hiring your first employees is a big step. Before you start recruiting, you need to be sure that you and your business are ready. While employment verification is critical for onboarding new employees is important for example, there are other important steps as well. This is especially true for new employers. Here are just a few ways to equip yourself for becoming an employer.

Hone your leadership skills

Few of us are born leaders. If you’ve never been in a leadership role before, it could be worth taking a course to develop your leadership skills. On top of building your confidence, such courses could teach you important skills for motivating and organising your team. You can also read self-help guides and watch YouTube videos for leadership tips.

Get registered and insured

You’ll usually need to register with your state and apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to be legally classed as an employer. On top of this, you’ll need to apply for worker’s compensation insurance, which can help to provide compensation if workers are injured or become sick at work. Make sure to shop around for insurance rates.

Set up a payroll

Next, it could be worth downloading payroll software to help manage your employees’ wages. Alternatively, you could outsource an accountant to handle your payroll. Both are better options that trying to manually manage your payroll, which can be time-consuming.

Work out all the costs

There are lots of expenses that come with hiring employees. On top of their wages, you may want to consider employee benefits such as annual leave and bonuses. You may also have to pay to supply employees with equipment – this could be anything from a PC to a company car, depending on how generous you’re feeling. Make sure that you have a clear idea of all the costs that will be coming out each month so that you can budget effectively.

Create an employment contract

An employment contract isn’t compulsory, but can be beneficial when hiring employees. It can help protect your rights as an employer and outline the duties that are expected. Such contracts are best written up with the help of a legal professional.

Write a winning job ad

To help attract applicants, you’ll need to put out a job ad. This advertisement should list all the requirements needed to work at your company, the duties you expect of that employee and the perks that they will gain by working for you. There are plenty of platforms that you can use to post job ads – consider using multiple platforms to attract a variety of talent.

Do You Know the Secrets to Selling Success

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Whatever you business venture is, a key is selling. Selling isn’t something that comes easy to everyone and there are a couple of secrets to it. The following contributed post is entitled, Do You Know the Secrets to Selling Success.

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When you’re running a business, making sales is always on your high priority list. You don’t want to spend hours of your time and see no results. There are a handful of secrets to selling that you might not know about. Some may seem quite obvious when they’re explained and others are more innovative. All in all, you want to make life easy for your customers so that they checkout without any hassle. Here are some of the best secret to selling, so take note!

Do Your Research

Making sales is one thing, but if you’re not actually making a profit, this is not going to be very beneficial to your annual turnover. If you’re an Amazon seller it can often be very difficult to find good deals in your niche. When you use tactical arbitrage the process is so much easier as they will source the products for you. Spending a little bit of extra time and money researching the best of the best will really benefit your business in the long run.

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Understand Your Ideal Client

Getting inside the mind of your ideal client is so important, especially when you’re looking to make more sales. You need to know exactly what they’re looking for and give it to them on a plate. Carry out plenty of market research in order to find out what the pain points and problems of your ideal client are.

Make Their Lives Easier

When your ideal client clicks onto your website, are you making their life smooth and simple? Do they know exactly what they need to do next? Place clear calls to action on your website so that it is very clear what your customer path is. Lead them seamlessly to your product page, explain everything they need to know and you are more likely to turn them into a paying customer.

Tell Your Story

People buy from people, so if you’ve got an interesting story to tell, you need to be sharing it. Perhaps there is a reason why you started the business you’re in now. Your potential clients and customers would love to hear about your story, because many of them will probably be able to relate to you.

Get on Social Media

You have probably been told this so many times before, but social media is the key to business success. When you utilize social media consistently, you will start to see increased engagement and enthusiasm around your product. Without platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, you are actually doing yourself a huge disservice. Most of your leads will probably come from social media platforms so it is so important to find a social media strategy and stick to it.

You may already be working on some of the ideas mentioned above, but it is very important to remain consistent. If you put a lot of work into something for one week and then neglect it the next, you’re not going to see the long term growth you’re looking for. Keep an open mind when it comes to implementing these strategies and you will soon go from having a sales slump to a sales skyrocket.

How To Make Money Online With Your Business

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In today’s digital world there are so many ways to leverage the available online tools to make money. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Make Money Online With Your Business.

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When it comes to your business, you want to exhaust all the opportunities that come your way to make money. And when it comes to the online world, there are plenty to sink your teeth into. Regardless of where your business stands right now in the real world, here are some tips to make money online with your business.

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Take Advantage Of Video Content

Video content is a hot commodity right now and something you should definitely be using for your business not only to make money but to get a boost to your traffic. Video content can become profitable when using platforms like YouTube to advertise that content. So many of us are now watching videos on a daily basis and it’s because they’re usually bite-sized content that you can keep scrolling through and watching for hours on end. You want to help relieve people’s boredom but also get them engaged. So think of how you can engage with your customers and potential customers, through video content. For example, it might be a look into the manufacturing process of a product in a documentary style way. Get creative with your ideas and start posting content as regularly as possible.

Make Use Of Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is a great way to make some extra dosh and you should be using it where you can to help generate leads. When doing online advertising, it’s more of an investment in order to buy potential leads that could convert into customers. That’s one way of doing it and the other is by making full use of your company’s website. Does it bring in a lot of traffic? And if so, then it’s a good idea to reach out to the other businesses and offer an advertising slot for a certain amount of money or based on however many click-throughs they get from your website. These ppc management tools can be really handy if you need some guidance.

Build A Shop On Your Website

When you’re bringing in traffic, depending on your business, you might find it beneficial to have a shop on your website. This could be selling merchandise or products that you may be selling in a physical store or via another website. It’s important to try and diversify your selling points and online is a great way of doing that. Get your website set up with a shop by using any of the ecommerce companies that are available and start selling your branded products directly through your website.

Offer Exclusive Subscriptions

When it comes to your email marketing or selling your services, it’s a good idea to try and offer this in the form of exclusive subscriptions. It could be a few dollars for your existing customers to subscribe to and then you can offer them content, freebies or whatever you want that is worth the amount they’re subscribing for.

Making money online with your business is a must-do, so start looking at what you could do with your company.

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