General Business and Finance Blog

Considering the ever-growing number of businesses these days, competition has become much tougher. As a small business owner, you continuously need to produce distinct strategies to entice potential customers. This is why coming up with a site for your small business can be very satisfying. Growing your online presence has a lot of benefits.

Net sites can be considered as platforms where you can showcase new products and transmit service updates. In just a few clicks away, customers get the latest data pertaining to your products. This is the finest means to interact with consumers. As time passes by, you will see an amazing increase in sales.

Evaluate your needs

After making up your mind to shell out some money in producing an Internet site, you then need to find a web hosting provider that will suit your business needs. You may think of signing up for pricey offer since they provide more tools. But you must consider hosting plans that are just appropriate for your small business. First, you must assess your needs. Knowing what you need will help you make an intelligent decision.

Expensive plans provide more features which are not necessary to your small business. Settle with a basic package to begin with. Anyway, a lot of small business Net hosting companies will allow you to move on to a more sophisticated plan if necessary. You must put to mind that a lucrative price doesn’t assure you of a high quality offer. Lots of cheap small business web hosting packages have the same features as the costly ones.

Do your research

After making an assessment of what your business needs, you must select which web host provides the finest features and services. This will require some online research. Reading customer reviews and accessing different Internet sites may be useful. Various customers let others know about their experiences with Internet hosting providers. They often discuss the obstacles they’ve encountered and give recommendations to new customers. This will assist you in making an intelligent decision that you won’t regret later on.

Website building features

One important factor to ponder on when signing up for a small business web hosting plan is the number of tools available to design and track your website. Most providers provide software packages such as Fantastico that permit you to download various online programs you may utilize for your company. Also, if you are just starting off, you may not be able to afford web design services. Hence, it’s important that you pick a package which will allow you to use design templates and website builders.

Uptime and customer support

Check to see if your small business web hosting company provides a fast and stable Internet connection. This will save you from having to worry about service interruptions in the future. A lot of companies with fast and stable servers rarely experience downtime. As a requirement, web hosts should have at least 99% uptime. Downtime means that customers can’t access your website, which means less opportunity for your business to earn.

Reliable web hosts also offer 24/7 technical assistance. They provide timely and useful help in times of troubles. They have friendly representatives always ready to be of assistance to customers.

It is best to obtain information about web hosts from the Internet. These providers have Internet sites of their own where you can get more information about the products they provide. You can also post on forums or read blogs that talk about these web hosts. Once you’ve obtained enough information, then you can effectively select which one is most suitable for you.

Conclusion

Small business web hosting will help you implement Internet marketing policies at an affordable fee. Make use of the features that will help you manage your website efficiently. Just make sure to choose the best web hosting company that can provide you the features you need.

Coachingis the practice of supporting an individual or a client, through the process of achieving a specific professional or personal goal. The structure and methodologies of coaching are very numerous with one unifying feature, coaching approaches are predominantly facilitating in style, which is to say that the coach is mainly asking questions and challenging the coachee.  A number of approaches are used within the coaching methodology. Coaching can be performed with individuals as well as groups. It can be performed in person, over the phone and online. The principles of coaching remain the same, no matter what field you’re in.

Here we are talking about the Small Business Coaching. It is very similar to Sports coaching. In sports, a coach motivate and pushes an athlete to achieve optimum performance, provides support when they are exhausted and teaches him to execute plays that their competition does not anticipate.

A Business Coach does many of the same things as a sports coach, but in a way that is focused on creating a successful business. His role is to coach business owners through support, accountability, guidance and encouragement.

Business Coaching helps owners of small and medium sized businesses with their marketing, sales, management, team building and so much more. And just like a sporting coach, the Business Coach will make you focus on the game or your goal.

Hiring a Coach is a big step for any business and should not be entered into lightly. By asking some questions you can find out if they would be a good fit with your business. First, you can find out about their background. Find out are they a specialist in this field or a generalist? Have they are able to handle any eventuality your business may face in future? Find out about their successes and failures. Also you can ask for references from other businesses they have worked with.

Small Business Coaching will help you achieve even more business success if you are just starting up in Business or running a small company. It can help you and your business achieves your full potential. Now coaching is easily available, very commercial, results focused and geared toward coaching for business growth.

The outcomes that clients most often attribute to their coaching are a higher level of self confidence and self awareness, a more balanced life, and smarter goal-setting and lower stress levels.

Every small or mid sized business encounters problems from time to time. Here are some most common problems that small business coaching can help you in

1.      You spend your day fire-fighting rather than developing your business

2.      You find it hard to motivate yourself or business partners

3.      You need to generate more enquiries and new leads

4.      Your sales team don’t perform as well as they should

5.      It’s hard to recruit, retain and motivate good quality staff

6.      Your business seems to break down when you’re not around

7.      You are losing customers due to the competition and want them back

8.      You think lots about business growth, but don’t know where to start etc.

Running a small business can be tough at times and most businesses run a fine line between being profitable and making a loss. These narrow margins leave small businesses very vulnerable to the risk of losses resulting from accidents, theft or lawsuits. Minimizing risk is essential for small business owners and adequate insurance is an essential solution for this. Business insurance offers protection for when your product or service fails, when someone is injured on your property, when a thief walks off with your office computers or when your driver crashes the company vehicle.

Getting the right type and amount of cover is a daunting task for most people. As a result many small businesses are either under insured, over insured or worst of all not insured at all for vital risks. The type of business you are running and the types of products and services you offer will largely determine the type of insurance you require. In general, small businesses need a combination of the following types of policies:

Public Liability Insurance

This type of insurance policy protects your business from lawsuits associated with damages caused by your business or injuries sustained by people on your business premises.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

If you are a professional like an accountant, investment advisor, tax consultant or even an insurance broker then you should definitely consider taking out this type of insurance policy. It protects you from losses that could occur should a client sue you for advice or services that may have led to the client losing money. Professional indemnity insurance covers legal costs, court fees and pays the settlement should you be found liable.

Workman’s Compensation

Many countries have regulations that make workmans compensation insurance compulsory, but even if it is not, this type of insurance can cover injuries sustained by your employees while on the job.

Business Interruption

If something happens like a fire on your premises and you need to stay closed for a significant number of days, weeks or months, this type of insurance will cover your fixed expenses like rent, utilities and taxes. Having to cover these expenses while the business is not generating an income would be disastrous without adequate insurance.

Building Insurance

Just like with home building insurance this type of policy covers the expenses of rebuilding or fixing damaged business premises following a fire, water damage or similar event.

Business Motor Insurance

This is similar to regular car insurance, but usually differs in terms of the drivers stipulated in the policy. Since several different people typically use a business vehicle a policy with multiple drivers is usually needed. Should the business operate many vehicles then fleet insurance will be required.

If you are unsure about your small business insurance needs, then it is vital that you consult an insurance broker who expert in small business insurance. An insurance broker will be able to analyze your businesss services, products and activities in order to determine where your high risk areas are and provide you with policies to cover this risk. A broker will also be able to source several insurance quotes for you in order to find a good deal.

As far as small business marketing goes, free publicity is gold. It’s not just that you’re getting your company name to the public without having to pay for it; it’s that the news publicity – whether it’s in a magazine, newspaper, or online, weighs more heavily in your prospective customers minds. Even as skepticism reigns, people see information printed by news-type sources (whether in print or online) as being more truthful, more objective, than information that’s paid for by the company (advertising).

But simply sending out a press kit to your local news media won’t guarantee you that free publicity. The cardinal rule you have to follow is that your information must be newsworthy. One of the ways that news media keep their reputation as objective sources of information is that they are – they’re not going to print a thinly-veiled ad for your product or service as a news piece. But if you write a release that accomplishes both goals – offering the news media an interesting, informational story and letting potential customers get to know your product or service – that’s where free publicity really pays off.

To start, you need to develop a press kit as a standard component of your small business marketing materials. Your press kit should include:

Small business marketing press kit component 1: A letter to the editor of the newspaper (or magazine, or internet site) pitching your press release as a story idea. Many components of your press kit can be recycled, but the letter to the editor should change every time to send out a new press release.

Small business marketing press kit component 2: The press release. Your press release is where the journalist will look to find most of the information for her story. In the release, you should describe the news item (the launch of a new product that will revolutionize consumer’s lives, for example). Feel free to quote yourself and others in the press release expounding on the issue (that way the journalist won’t have to contact you or others for quotes when she’s writing the story).

Small business marketing press kit component 3: Your business card. Make it easy for the journalist to contact you.

Small business marketing press kit component 4: Your corporate bio. Journalists often like to add background information into their stories; make it easy by including a corporate bio that offers the important information about your business, including who founded it and when, location, and other interesting tidbits.

Small business marketing press kit component 5: Relevant photos. The keyword here is relevant: include photos of the topic your press release is about. If it’s a new product, offer some interesting photos. If it’s a new day care service, offer some pictures of the employees with the kids. Use photos that will make your story more compelling.

Small business marketing press kit component 6: Testimonials. It can be a great strategy to build quotations from current and past customers right into your press release. But even when you do that, don’t be shy about adding more.

Small business marketing press kit component 7: A data sheet for the relevant product or service. A data sheet with give the details about your product or service (that’s being covered in the press release). Relevant details include pricing, components, materials, size, weight, and part number – if applicable.

You should put all seven small business marketing components of your press kit into a folder – ideally one with your logo on the front to finish off the presentation.

Once you’ve created an appropriate small business marketing press kit, you can think about the kind of media outlets that you want to target. That small business marketing decision should be based on where your customers are – are they online, reading the local daily, or a national newsmagazine? Free publicity won’t mean much if it’s not picked up by your target audience – your prospective customers.

Once you’ve decided the media outlet that you want to target, find out who the managing editor is and send a personalized press kit to her. Or, if the publication is very large, send a personalized press kit to the journalist in charge of your area (for example, the Food journalist if your product is gourmet brownies or the Technology journalist if your product is computer software). You can also send out a press release for mass distribution using one of many online press release wires.

Running small business may not be a cake walk for all. It requires a different outlook towards life, a different way of goal setting, if you really want to succeed in it. People who are happy to work for others and be content to pocket their monthly salaries religiously are of one class and those who can’t fit themselves to this comfort zone are of a different class. The second class of people seems to have better chances of becoming entrepreneurs.

If you feel you want to have your own small business and love to manage it all yourself, ask yourself some of these basic questions to ascertain whether you have the entrepreneurship blood running in you to succeed in your wish:

(1) Do you have a dream to realize? Have you a pet idea that you believe will work? Are you willing to pump in every breath in bringing life to your dream? Are you least concerned about position, status, respectability etc in the early stages of working to realize your dreams? Is being the chief of your own little county is more covetable to you than being one of the ministers of a huge empire?

(2) Are you ready and willing to take huge risks if your inner voice keeps saying “you can do it”?

(3) Are you flexible enough to be prepared to live with unsteady and unpredictable income? Do you have wherewithal to guard yourself against financial ups and downs? Is your spouse or parents willing to financially support you till you establish yourself and stand on your own legs? Do you have good savings? Or, are you really capable of jumping into the river and then try to swim against all odds?

(4) Do you take pride in calling your own shots? Do you grasp the fact that you are ultimately answerable to your customers and other stakeholders? Do you understand that, unlike a corporate set up where you might have worked earlier, there will not be a boss above you to take risks nor subordinates below you to blame for the mistakes you committed?

If your answer is yes to most of the above queries, then you have the right entrepreneurial spirit to start your own small business.

Next comes grasping some of the essentials of running a small business:

(1) Do Not Dream Of Making Millions Straight Away

Small business will mostly be with less investment, be less risky and with less “plinth area” and consequently with less scope for making any big money. Not every body can start a venture in the unused Garage and become the owner of a billion dollar enterprise like Steve Jobs. Your goals should be correlated to your line of activity, your investment base and the potential customer base.

(2) Do Not Plan To Have A Large Capital Base

It might be wonderful if you could have the latest computers and gadgets, the best possible machinery and equipment to run your business and a fleet of vehicles to do your deliveries all done from your owned factory building. But until you earn really enough to invest on these on your own, you will be better off with cheaper and less glamorous alternatives, by sub-contracting support services and hire-purchasing the shed, equipment and machinery.

(3) Be Minimal On Hired Man-Power

Until you make reasonable money and afford to have additional hands, be prepared to do mantle many roles the production manager, the marketing manager and the accountant all yourself. If you are the bossy type who thinks all managerial work is to be done only by others and you will only give policy guidelines, then better watch out. A small business is not like a corporate conglomerate.

(6) Be Prepared For A Low-Profile, Less Glamorous Life Initially

Small business is mostly a low profile, adventure-less, glamor-less way of life till you establish well. Until you are stabilized, you can not afford costly parties at 5-star beach resorts to your customers, huge advertisements in Newspapers etc. If you are the type who worked in a corporate business house where you had seen extravaganza and you want to imitate them in your small business, you will soon run out of money.

(7) Have Some Rudimentary Knowledge About Accounting And Taxes

In a small business, you must have some basic capacity to plan and manage cash flow, credits, debits and bank transactions. But one area where it is better to pay money and use specialist services/ consultancy is in the area of Taxes. It may not be worth if you waste your time and effort on this slippery area. At least make use of the services of Tax consultants to get the necessary preliminary registrations done at the appropriate Government Departments, get the necessary forms filled and submitted, and get clear-cut guidelines on the types of taxes you have to pay, the exemptions you are eligible for specific to the type of business you are doing etc.

    A lot of hard work must precede tasting success in small business. People without entrepreneurial spirit, particularly those who are used to hi-fi corporate life, may find it extremely difficult to run a small business successfully. No success is possible without the right spirit, perseverance and focused effort.

Small business conference calls are growing in popularity because they enable small business owners and operators to save a tremendous amount of time while communicating less expensively with more contacts. With telecommunication costs going down, and travel and meeting costs going up, it is only logical to see small enterprises converting to teleconferencing.

Small businesses have a number of conference calling options available to them. The vast majority of companies with less than 500 employees outsource for conferencing services and do not maintain or staff conferencing centers. The vast array of conferencing services, combined with very competitive pricing, makes the idea of purchasing conferencing hardware or software impractical.

Outsourcing your conference calling services is quick and easy. Establishing an account is usually free, and once you are set up you will receive via email a call-in number and a set of passcodes — one passcode for the moderator or leader of the conference (there can be more than one leader) and one passcode for the participants or conferees.

At the designated time, everyone calls the same phone number, punches in their passcodes and your conference begins. You can also obtain web conferencing or video conferencing services which will enable you to show PowerPoint presentations or live video streams during your audio conference. Conferencing can be simple or sophisticated, depending upon your particular application or needs.

One of the most popular services is called flat rate teleconferencing which provides for unlimited usage for a fixed monthly fee. You can access your conference bridge anytime 24/7 and talk as long as you want.

There are no reservations needed and no per minute charges. Small businesses find flat rate teleconferencing convenient and much less costly than traditional conferencing.

Another option for occasional conference call users is the pay-as-you-go service which bills you on a per minute basis. You pay for what you use, no more or less. You can also get a toll free access number with this service which is portrays a professional image, especially for prospects or customers. There is another toll free service that is similar to a cell phone plan, where you can purchase a set number of minutes per month for a discounted price, and pay extra for any minutes that go over your plan.

The most professional and exclusive conference call service is operator assisted teleconferencing. This is when professional operators manage and organize your call. They can even call out to participants and place them in the call for you, providing the ultimate convenience. These calls are used when talking to investors or high profile sales calls.

All in all, small business teleconferencing will continue to grow in importance and popularity as managers look for more ways to cut costs, improve productivity, and enhance connectivity between internal and external company contacts.

It’s going to be a big year for you! You’ve decided it’s time to step up and into your own small home based business – but you want to make sure you get it right so you don’t suffer financially, right? It’s common knowledge that many small business start-ups fail quite quickly, and home based businesses are no exception. There are many reasons why home based businesses fail. Here are just two things that can contribute to the failure of a home based business:

Inability to attract clients – particularly corporate ones – due to a perception of the business as a small home based operation;
Poor customer service including a failure to respond to prospective clients in a timely and professional manner, leading to a loss of business;

If you’ve done your market research and you’re confident you have sufficient funds to survive the early growth stages of your business you’re well on the way to success. The next step is to ensure that your business appears professional and that you’re able to attract good clients and communicate with them in a professional manner. A NYC virtual office from VH International Business Solutions can help you with that – and from as little as a month!

With a NYC virtual office you can:

Have a physical NYC office address for your business. The address can be used on your business cards and clients can send mail to you at the address. Any walk in clients will be able to leave a message for you at our staffed reception area.
Have a New York telephone number. Calls to your NYC virtual office number can be forwarded to you or to a message bank. Alternatively, you can arrange to have a live operator answer all your calls during business hours and take messages personally.
Arrange meetings or presentations at your New York location – we have meeting rooms and offices available for short term hire at inexpensive rates. That means that when you need to be “at the office” physically, you can be.

You might be years away from being able to afford office rental in New York – and perhaps you don’t aspire to that at all – but a NYC virtual office from VH International Business Solutions can give you many of the benefits of a great office address without the expense, or the need to travel to the office!

If your business still does not have a merchant account that allows you to offer full credit card services, you are turning your back on profits. Just take a look at all of your competitors. All of those that pose serious competition accept credit card payments. Those that do not have credit card services do not have great sales figures to show, either. Even statistics point to the fact that companies that have credit card services earn much more than companies that do not have credit card services. The average credit card sale is while the average cash sale is only . That means you are losing potentially per sale.

You may also be spending more by accepting only cash and check payments in your business. The processing of cash and checks has been found to be more costly, requiring more manpower in handling. Studies have shown that the average processing cost of credit card payments is only 2.7% of a transaction while the average processing cost of checks is 4% of a transaction and the average processing cost of cash is 4.8% of a transaction. Once again, you are leaking profits by refusing to accept credit card payments.

So how do you accept credit card payments in your business? This is where credit card services come in. The old route is to apply for a merchant account in a bank. You will then have to lease the software and equipment necessary to actually process payments and send the data to your account. If you want to accept credit card payments online, you need to apply to a payment gateway that allows real time credit card authorization for online transactions. You should ensure that your payment gateway is compatible with the bank or financial institution where you have your merchant account, and with the software and equipment you have leased.

In choosing the bank or financial institution for your merchant account, consider their expertise in combating fraud and reducing chargebacks. Also make sure that they are experienced in handling merchant accounts with online transactions.

If you are a small business owner, stick to a bank or financial institution that caters to small businesses rather than large companies. You may be able to get better rates and packages designed for your specific niche.

There are options for credit card services that offer everything you need in one easy package. You will not have to deal with various entities or go through various procedures. Often, these options also have added benefits, among them, quick reporting on your credit card sales figures. They may also offer interest on your credit card sales income, even up to money market rates.

One very important feature of your credit card services that you may not know of is that it can automatically qualify you to avail of small business loans. Once you have established a record of sales through credit, most credit card services will allow you to make cash advances that are practically like getting previously approved small business loans without having to put up any required collateral. The credit card services consider your future income through credit card sales as your collateral. This can go a long way in further growing your business.

Payment will not be a problem, either. For as long as you have sales through credit payments, you automatically get to pay your small business loans. It does not matter how much your sales are. Your payments are automatically deducted as a percentage of your sales. You are always covered.

Now do you still need further convincing on the benefits of credit card services for your business?

According to the Small Business Administration, companies that can qualify for the 7a SBA loan must meet certain small business size standards. These standards vary greatly by industry, but the general rules of thumb are as follows:

Farming businesses must not have revenues exceeding 0,000
Building contractors can have a maximum revenue of ,000,000
Retail and service businesses can have maximum revenue of ,000,000
Heavy construction trades and industries have maximum revenues of ,500,000.

Additionally, there are headcount tests regarding the number of people that work for your business. For wholesale trade industries, the maximum number of employees is 100 while manufacturing firms can have a maximum of 500 employees. However, these rules are not hard and steadfast. The SBA and its associated lenders understand that revenues can fluctuate as can the personnel summary of your firm. As such, it is imperative that you speak to you 7a SBA loan representative to determine whether or not your meet the standards discussed above. However, as many entrepreneurs seek to use this type of credit facility for starting a new business then the standards discussed above typically do not apply to your business. If your business becomes highly successful and requires additional capital then you may start to require traditional business loan financing rather than debt through programs like the SBA 7a Loan.

It should also be noted that based on inflation and industry trends, the Small Business Administration regularly reviews and updates its business eligibility standards based on revenues and personnel numbers of businesses across a number of different industries. If you are having trouble determining whether or not your existing business qualifies for a 7a SBA loan then you should speak directly to a SBA representative, your banker, or your accountant.

A small business company, whether in Tampa or anywhere else in the United States, will always need a small business VOIP phone system at the core of its operations. This is necessary not only to remain competitive but also to continue to grow and even expand. If the business is in Tampa, it would be best to also find a suitable supplier and service provider in Tampa.

A reputable supplier and service provider should be able to maintain the client’s current phone systems and provide local and long distance phone service; IP/VoIP telecommunications solutions; digital phone systems with IP/VoIP capabilities; SIP trunking; Voice T1; ISDN PRI T1; new and used phone systems with voice mail and warranties; computer networking; internet access; recording of phone calls, emails, screen shots and instant messaging; recorded promotions played while on hold; loudspeaker paging and music for offices or plants; and voice and data cabling.

The best choices in phone systems these days are the NEC phone system, BCM phone system and Vertical phone system. It would be good to find a supplier and service provider that offers these.

Having a VoIP phone system is a basic need of any small business. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. While the old phone system used the Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN, the VoIP phone system sends voice communications through the internet and other IP networks. This is why the digital phone system is also called as IP Telephony or the IP Telephone System. It transforms the analog voice signal a digital format which are transmitted online as internet protocol packets.

For the VoIP phone system to be functional, the use of SIP / VOIP phones is required. The three different kinds of SIP / VOIP phones are software based SIP / VOIP phones, USB SIP / VOIP phones and hardware SIP / VOIP phones.

The software based SIP / VOIP phone, also referred to as the soft phone, is not a physical telephone but a computer program or software. When installed in the computer it enables the caller to use the computer’s built in microphone and speakers or an attached headset to make a call through the internet.

The USB SIP / VOIP phone combines the software or computer program of the soft phone with an actual physical telephone. The physical telephone is plugged into a computer through a USB port in order to be able to use the software while functioning as the microphone and speaker or as a headset.

The hardware SIP / VOIP phone is almost exactly like any normal telephone except for the fact that it shares a network connection with a computer by being connected to the same mini hub.

Any small business VOIP phone system requires a wide range of voice and data cabling products and installation services for its full operations. A supplier and service provider should, therefore, be an expert in all these. It is always best to work with a supplier and service provider that has a long established reputation. One such company is Digital South Communications which has been serving over 3,000 clients satisfactorily since 1991. Although based in Tampa, it serves clients throughout the country with its network of affiliated dealers.