General Business and Finance Blog

If your business is regularly represented at trade shows, you need a quality trade show display that will give the right representation of your business. Trade show displays come in a variety of sizes with many different features, so choosing one is not as easy as you might think. Before you buy or order one, be sure to consider these things.
Size of the Display
Make sure the display is going to be the right size, both when packed and when in use. Trade show exhibits need to fit in the size of booth that you regularly use. If you regularly reserve double wide areas, for instance, make sure that the exhibit will cover the space well. On the other hand, if you regularly reserve the smallest area, make sure the display will not overwhelm it.
Also, you need to make sure that it is the right size when folded. Is it portable enough to easily move? If you regularly travel by yourself, will you be able to carry it? Will it be something you can check on the airplane, or will you have to pay extra fees for oversized baggage? Will it fit in the trunk of a small rental car? These considerations will help you narrow down your search.
Versatility
Another consideration to make is whether or not the display is versatile. Can you easily change the photos and text if you need to, or are they mounted permanently? Sometimes the display case has another function, such as serving as a podium or stand. If you are going to spend the money necessary to buy a display, you might as well get as much functionality out of the system as possible.
Set Up
Learn all you can about the setup of the display. Some trade show exhibits are quite difficult to set up, and even require special tools that you may not have on hand. If you are going to need some tools, make sure you bring them with you. Also, find out how many people are needed to set up the display. If you need several hands, but regularly travel by yourself, you probably need to consider a different display that is easier to put in place. Finally, find out how much time it will take to set up the display, and make sure that you will be able to give yourself that much time on a regular basis as you are traveling to exhibits.
Portability
Keep in mind that you will be regularly moving with your display case. Find one that is easy to transport. Wheels on the travel case are a great feature. Also, check for handles that will make transport easier. Finally, make sure the weight is not more than you can handle.
Purchasing Options
A final consideration is whether or not you really need to buy a trade show display. Believe it or not, trade show display rental is a very valid option. By partnering with a display booth rental company, you can get a quality display for a fraction of the price.
How does rental work? The rental company provides the display structure and some custom graphics and logos. Everything you need is included, including lights, chairs, when applicable, and display boards. Some set ups even come with television screens or computer monitors that can be used for videos or presentations.
One benefit of renting over purchasing, besides the ability to save money, is the fact that you do not have to replace components that stop working. If a light breaks, not because of your actions, the rental company will replace it. You will eliminate much of the stress that comes with owning your own display and being responsible for maintaining it. Unless you need to own your own display, renting is an economical and practical option.

Link trading is a great, free way to promote your small or home-based business. However, many links pages are crowded with inappropriate or disorganized links, taking away from the professionalism of the website. Here are a few tips to make your links page work for you:

Place your links page at the end of your website. Believe it or not, I’ve actually seen links pages placed high on the site map. The first thing you want your clients to see is your services, not the services of another company.

Don’t trade links with online gambling or game sites, unless it truly relates to your business. For example, if you are a financial planner, yet include links on your site for online gambling, it takes away from the professionalism of your site.

Don’t trade links with competitors. While you want to keep the links on your website relative to your business, you don’t want to lose business.

Trade links with companies that can provide useful information or services to your target audience. Your clients will appreciate the information, and your business will gain a reputation for excellent customer service.

Organize your links page. Links that are crowded too closely together look unprofessional, as do links that are in no particular order. Organize your links into categories using headings and lines or dividers to separate the categories. Do not list categories with links to other pages that actually contain the useful links. This detracts from your site and uses extra bandwidth.

If you follow these simple guidelines, you will build a professional links page that boosts your business and offers you a great reputation for professionalism and customer care.

Research what’s selling and what it’s selling for: Check with your country’s embassy in the country where you are hoping to export or import. They should have a good idea about what products are in demand. From here, you can use the available information to help you in the next step, which is:

Locate a reputable supplier: This is perhaps the most important obstacle you will face in setting up shop for a successful export-import business. Having good business partnerships means that you will be in a better position to pass cost savings along to potential customers. Taking this portion of building your own import-export business for granted may spell doom for your company.

Obtain a letter of credit: You will need a form of payment that you can trust. While many business transactions are conducted with reputable payment systems such as Paypal, it is always safer to seek a letter of credit from a financial institution for the transfer of goods and services. A letter of credit is proof that products have been shipped and received in good faith, and that the funds are adequately transferred to the necessary parties.

Look for and show transparency in your business relationship: Transparency, like in a marriage, is a great way to build trust. And while trust is somewhat of an intangible when it comes to any kind of relationship, it is vital to your success. You should both strive to be “see-through” about the way you do business. Back up what you say. Be honest and upfront about every aspect of your business transactions as well as what sells best, and what products to shy away from and you will have a long-term bond of profitability rather than a quick buck that doesn’t last.

Stand by your products: In every export-import business, there comes a time when fulfillment is less than perfect. Whether the product is something tangible, or provided services, make sure you stand behind it. Be willing to put your money where your mouth is and deliver if expectations ever fall short.

An export-import business is one of the best ways to make money in a troubled global economy. Put these essentials to work for you and avoid the doom and gloom!

One of the biggest struggles I had in starting my business was actually coming up with the idea.  I wanted something that was scalable as well as needed in our society.  I combed through hundreds of ideas before settling on my current venture.  Through this discovery period, I uncovered what I believe are the five most important concepts in determining what makes the perfect business idea. 

So, what is a perfect idea?  Each individual entrepreneur has their concept of the perfect business.  While Google is a great business for the founders of that company – it may not be a great business for others that are non-tech savvy or who do not want to run such a large organization.  

Therefore, each perfect business is defined by the business owners.  Keeping this in mind, let’s start on my five concepts of finding the perfect business: 

Number One – Understanding your customer:  This might seem strange to start here as how do you know your customers before you have a business idea in place.  The answer is simple – your customers make the business, therefore without customers there is no business.  If you have a business idea don’t try to develop the idea around what YOU think potential customers will like or need, but find out what your customers actually desire.  Too often business owners get an idea in their head and jump right in with both feet.  However, they soon find out that their target market does not want what they are offering.  Spending both time and money on a project just to see it languish is not the perfect business idea. 

Moreover, let’s say you don’t already have an idea – getting out and understand consumers (those who will eventually become your customers) may lead you to the perfect idea.  Knowing what potential consumers need and building products to meets those needs will get customers beating a path to your door – that is a perfect business idea. 

Number Two – Passion:  Passion here does not mean being fanatical about your product or service.  But, it does mean having some interest in what you do. More times than not, you will be spending 15 to 18 hours a day working on your business in the beginning – usually for the first 12 to 18 months (more like 2 years in this economy).  You have to constantly be thinking about ways to improve and grow your business as well as be out talking about it to everyone, everywhere. If you end up starting a venture that you don’t have passion for, something that does not make you jump out of bed each morning, it will be very hard to put in the hours and energy to make it successful – thus not a perfect business idea. 

Number Three – Understand Your Competition:  Every business has competition – either direct or indirect.  Think about movie theaters.  They have direct competition from video rental stores or at home television.  They also have indirect competition from any other activity that consumers spend their disposable income on like bowling, paint ball, golf, etc.  Anything that people do in their spare time. 

Further, some competitors are ruthless.  Meaning that if you promote and offer a product that is similar to theirs but at a lower price, these competitors will just lower their price to match or beat you.  If they are already established businesses – they may be able to undercut your price enough to drive you out of business.  

If you don’t know your competition – what they are willing to do to keep you out of their market – you may be spending more of your time in a pricing war then growing your business – not the perfect business idea. 

Number Four – Cash Flow:  Lots of entrepreneurs enter the business world with great ideas but very poor understanding of the capital it will take to get their venture off the ground.  Most will prototype their product or service and understand what it takes to make the product or provide the service but they don’t understand the capital it takes to manage the rest of the organization – including marketing (very expensive but extremely necessary), employees (more than just salaries or wages), insurance or supplies and all the little miscellaneous expenses that add up very quickly like phone, internet, computer services, etc.  Knowing your total cash flow will help ensure that all of your costs (variable and fixed) can be covered by the business – the perfect business idea.  I have seen way too many businesses with great products fail because they could not cover simple expenses like rent or utilities. 

Number Five – You:  Know who you are.  Know your strengths and weaknesses.  Know that you are ready, willing and able to do what it takes to make your venture a success.  I have worked with many business owners in the past that think all they have to do is hang out their shingle and they have it made.  Thus, when it comes down to actually running the business day-to-day – they are unwilling to invest the time, energy or money necessary for success.  Thus, know how hard you are willing to work. 

Moreover, know your personal financial situation and what you need the business to generate to cover your lifestyle.  If you think your business will pay you a great salary from day one – it will not.  And, if you need it to, it is not the perfect business idea for you. Take away outside distractions like your personal financial situation – get those in order – thus, when your business concept does materialize – you will be able to solely focus on its conception and growth.  In the end providing you the financial security you are seeking – it will be the perfect business idea. 

Regardless of the level of your desire for your business – a lifestyle mom and pop operation or a multi-national conglomerate – if you develop a business idea with these five concepts in mind – your idea will be the perfect business idea for you.

 

 

 

 

When it comes to marketing your home business, you should definitely use the tried-and-true methods such as Internet advertising, newspaper advertising, yellow pages advertising and flyer advertising. However, there is absolutely no rule that says you can not utilize innovative and interesting marketing techniques to spread the word about what your home business has to offer. If you like the idea of marketing your home business using unique and interesting ideas, you will definitely want to read on.  

 

 

 

Everyone Loves Candy 

 

 

 

Personalized candy bar wrappers have become very popular ways of announcing marriages and births, why shouldn’t they be used to advertise a home business? Everyone loves getting candy. If you wrap Hershey bars with personalized candy bar wrappers that advertise your home business and hand them out in front of a mall or another high-traffic area, word about our home business will certainly get out. This is an especially good idea if your home business involves catering, gift basket creation or other food-related products or services.  

 

 

 

Billboard Body Advertising 

 

 

 

Using temporary body tattoos to advertise your home business may be a great way to get the word out. Some home business owners have experienced great marketing success by renting “body space” from people and then putting temporary tattoos on them and having the person sign a contract to display the tattoo in public for a certain number of hours each week. If you want some “shock value” advertising, having your home business web address tattooed on someone’s forehead is surefire way to get noticed. 

 

 

 

Get Media Attention

 

 

 

One of the best advertising methods is media attention. While it is not always easy to get the media to do a story about your home business, it is indeed possible. The first thing you need to do is create a buzz about your home business. If the product or service your home business offers is newsworthy, that should not be hard to do. However, most home business owners need to rely on more creative measures to get the buzz going about their home business. 

 

 

 

Some good ways to create a buzz about your home business include making a substantial gift to a charity, giving away a certain amount of the products or services offered by your home business, sponsoring a local contest or event, or holding a food drive for the homeless.  

 

 

 

Once you have something newsworthy to report about your home business, you need to get it to the media so they can cover the story. To do this, you will need a press release. You can either write the press release for your home business yourself or you can hire a writer to write the release for you. Once the press release has been created, you just need to submit it to the different media outlets and then give interviews to the news people who contact you. Make sure you plug your home business each and every time you give an interview. 

 

 

 

Sponsor a Local Little League Team 

 

 

 

If you live in an area where local businesses sponsor little league teams, you may want to think about getting in on the action. Little league sponsorship is surprisingly affordable and the kids will be wearing uniforms displaying the name of your home business for an entire season. That is quite a bit of exposure.  

 

 

 

Get Into the Movies

 

 

 

Getting movie theater advertising may be a lot easier and cheaper than you would think. In some areas, movie theaters rent out slide ad advertising. The theater rotates different slide ads for local businesses before the movie trailers and feature film begin. When people arrive early to a movie, they have nothing better to do than watch the ads rotating on the screen. If your ad is one of the ones they are looking at, it is going to draw a lot of attention for your home business.  

 

 

 

While you may think this form of advertising would cost thousands, many movie theaters offer this type of advertising for well under $100 a month. If you think about how many people see movies each and every day, you begin to realize how much exposure this type of advertising can give you.