Ways to Protect Your Small Business

December 12th, 2008
small business management
Charly Nicole asked:


 

If you have that entrepreneurial spirit, or just had a great idea for a business, chances are you started a small business. With so many small businesses out there, and those that continue to emerge, it can be a little overwhelming if you are new to the business market. And because of the number of new, and sometimes naïve, businesses, there are those out there who take advantage. That is why it is important to protect your small business. And if you are unsure how to do that, take a look at the following tips:

· Pre-Screen Your Employees: Just because your business is small doesn’t mean that you have to hire the first few people that come in looking for a job. You can be picky; you can have standards. Make drug screening a standard in your hiring process. If applicants know about it before you can weed out—pardon the pun—those uncomfortable with the idea. Also, call their references. You’ve asked for them for a reason, so use them.

 

· Manage Your Money: If you aren’t an expert at money management, you might want to find someone who is—especially if you’re in the start-up phase. Money will be extremely tight and you need someone to help you budget and get everything done that you need to get done in the first few crucial months and years. If you can’t afford to hire someone on just to manage the business’s finances, consider getting some training for yourself, at least.

 

· Up-To-Date Policies: Keeping your policies fresh and up-to-date not only protects your employees, but it protects you as well. And make sure your employees are supplied with the new policies and that they are discussed regularly. You will be able to avoid many lawsuits this way.

 

· Protect Your Documents: Many small businesses have the mindset that nothing will happen to their work-related and financial documents because they don’t have as much as the larger businesses and corporations have. But this is not the case. If you have your business’s documents saved on a computer, you will need to have some form of computer backup. This will protect your documents from computer crashing, natural disaster, and thefts.

· Get Feedback: This will help you know how you are doing in regards to your employees and your customers through survey software. This way, you can correct any problems before they become large issues.

 

 



Marvin

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Posted in Entrepreneurship | No Comments »

i want to know what are good business opportunities for a young women?

December 9th, 2008
small business management
caramelle asked:


i’m studing communications, business management and marketing and in my second year.
i dont know where to atart but i want to do something and i dont mind starting small and working my way up. i’m a hard worker and a good leader. please help me with ideas.

Arlene

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Posted in Search Engine Optimization | 5 Comments »

I am looking for a small/medium sized business DSL router with IPv6 compatability, any recommendations?

December 9th, 2008
small business management
Bob S asked:


Preferably, the router would have some sort of management ability as well.

Vernon

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Posted in Computer Networking | 1 Comment »

Opening a business?

November 26th, 2008
small business management
Nikki ツ asked:


I am a sophomore in high school, and I want to open a business when I get out of college. I want a degree that would help me the most in opening a small business. Would a degree in Business Management or Entrepreneurship be more useful?

Agnes

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Posted in Higher Education (University +) | 1 Comment »

Small Business Ventures and Causes of Bankruptcy

November 18th, 2008
small business management
David H. Urmann asked:


Filing of bankruptcy may lead to a negative effect but this can be avoided with some bankruptcy alternatives. Such alternatives include credit restructuring, negotiation with creditors or formal proposal to creditors.

Bankruptcy pertains to the legal declaration of an individual or corporation regarding the inability to settle their debts to creditors. This happens when a business does not generate enough revenue to cover up its expenses or if the business is mismanaged. Bankruptcy can be filed by an individual or company at bankruptcy courts. It is a legal procedure that discharges debts of the individual who has filed bankruptcy. This may save an individual the burden of repaying his creditors. However, this will have a negative effect and will make it difficult to borrow money again.

Small businesses usually have a small workforce. In legal terms, small business differs by countries and by industries. In the US, small businesses usually have employees not more than 100 while the European Union has fewer than 50 employees belonging to the category mentioned. In Australia, 1 to 19 workforces belong to the small business category while businesses with 20 to 200 workforces are considered as medium businesses.

Small businesses are privately owned corporations or sole proprietorships. In other instances, annual sales and assets are used to classify the size of a business. Small businesses exist in all countries. Common examples of these businesses are convenient stores, bakeries, beauty parlors, restaurants, photography firms, cyber cafés, etc.

A few great advantages of small businesses are that they can be started with the least cost. They can also either be part time or full time. These businesses can be smoothly run too because they only involve a small number of employees. In addition, small businesses can easily resolve major decisions without implementing bureaucratic system.

Start up capitals of small businesses largely come from:

• Self-financing

• Loans from friends and relatives

• Loans from lending institutions such as banks

• Partnerships

• Collateral based lending

In most cases, a lot of small business owners tend to be in a hurry when establishing their business. They do not conduct necessary studies essential for the success of the business. Feasibility studies and market surveys are vital before engaging in any business. And because of the size of small businesses, it is common that they will suffer bankruptcy.

Undercapitalization, along with poor planning and mismanagement are one of the usual problems that lead to bankruptcy. At this point, the business owner can file bankruptcy. In some countries, they provide exemptions to small businesses assets so that they can operate even during or after bankruptcy.

It is a basic principle that small business owners should have at least enough funds equivalent to the projected income for the first year of operation. This is a buffer for the fixed expenses that maybe incurred. In the event that the business does not have the funds for this requirement, the company is likely to experience bankruptcy. Besides the security of enough funds, the entrepreneur should also consider its gross sales versus its expenses. The company must target a gross income that exceeds the fixed expenses in order to break even. This is at least manageable as compared to bankruptcy.

The strategy of most small businesses during their initial operation is to under price their products in order to capture potential market. This is the planting period that can typically last for a few weeks or months depending on the results. If the strategy has generated enough market, then prices of the products will gradually increase to generate more profit. But if this fails, it would be a big loss for the enterprise and it would find it tough to recover.

There are other factors that render a small business to just about cope with its capitalization requirement and operation. Some of these are due to high cost of insurance, energy costs, and taxes. Lack of management skills is a big issue that may cause bankruptcy, as well.

In the occurrence of bankruptcy, business owners may perform certain crucial decisions or strategies. They can have the option of selling the business to a new owner. Or proprietors can sell its assets to generate money to repay its obligations such as unpaid salaries, taxes, and any other liabilities. In a few cases, reorganization can be implemented to acquire the necessary skills in order to run the business smoothly.



Jim

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Posted in Business | No Comments »

The Cold Facts of Starting Your Own Small Business

November 13th, 2008
small business management
Cynthia Macy asked:


Do you have the right stuff to make it work? Ask yourself these five questions before making that leap from steady paycheck to entrepreneurial uncertainty:

1. Are you a self-starter? You must have the self-discipline to plan, set goals, not procrastinate and stay focused.

2. What are your expectations? Do you think you’ll work less and have less stress and more money? Think again.

3. What are your financial goals? Be prepared to work more for less money, at least in the beginning. Set up your retirement plan in the beginning and stick to it. Forget vacations and be sure to keep your health insurance going….now there is no one but you to take care of these things.

4. Can you plan and organize? You’ll be making countless decisions each day. Can you make a workplace for yourself that is free from distractions, where you can think, plan and communicate? To be a success, you must combine your fantastic ideas and business tools with solid planning and organization.

Success is never guaranteed and the variables and factors can sometimes be out of your control. But if you ask yourself honestly, before taking the plunge: Do I have what it takes to run a business? The answer should tell you if the “American Dream” is right for you.

95% of small businesses fail within the first five years? Why?

Here are a few reasons why:

1. Mistaking a business for a hobby. Just because you “love” to cook doesn’t mean you should/could start a restaurant.

2. Poor planning. Have you researched all aspects of start-up costs and on-going expenses? Do you know what your monthly nut is going to be and do you have enough capital to carry you through for several years? Do you realize the sheer number of hours you’ll be working? Do you have the management skills to wear all the hats necessary?

3. Only one product, one service or one big client. Markets change and needs change…will you have the foresight, flexibility, resources and ingenuity to change with the times? Diversification will cushion you against the ebb and flow of business tides.

4. Poor record-keeping and financial controls. If you don’t know how to keep records and do accounting and file taxes and other business filings, find an expert to do it for you! Learn how to review your revenue and expense reports each month so you always have your finger on the pulse of your business.

5. Poor money management. Be prepared to plow all revenues back into your business for the first several years. No frills, no thrills, stick to a budget and a plan and forget vacations. Don’t use any of the business income on personal spending and watch your business and personal debt, it can kill your new business faster than a speeding bullet.

6. Wrong location. Can your customers easily find you? You know the old saying “Location, Location, Location!” What about visibility, image, parking, room to expand?

7. Competition. Check out your competition. Know who they are, what they offer and what makes your products or services better (or worse).

8. Poor time management. Wearing many hats is a reality of an entrepreneur. Learning how to manage your time means the difference between success and failure. A daily “To Do” list is essential, with the top priority items at the top of the list. Hire help for those things you don’t know how to do or **** to do.

9. Lack of Marketing and Sales Skills Keep track of what marketing/sales ideas work and don’t work and quickly drop those that don’t work. Hire a pro if you need to.

10. Poor Customer Service. Once you have a client, you need to keep them. This means you have to pay attention to the customer, fulfill their needs in a timely manner, return their phone calls and emails promptly, bill them properly, utilize a win-win problem-solving attitude and BE NICE!

11. Entrepreneurial burnout. Owning your own business requires a huge investment of time, money, energy and emotion. Take time off for yourself, you are your greatest asset!

A lot of people do not realize that entrepreneurs play a big role in our society.

When you put the total number of entrepreneurs together, they count as the biggest financial contributors to our nation’s wealth. If only politicians would give grants to finance small business start-ups, the economy’s growth could be hastened.

Knowing the obvious financial rewards and the important role to society of business owners, many individuals aspire to be entrepreneurs. The fact remains, however, that several business start-ups fail and never take-off from the ground because of one thing: the lack of adequate and sufficient knowledge on how to start and run a profitable business.

With proper planning and research and the necessary professionals to help you in the areas that you are lacking in, accompanied by adequate capital and resources, and fed by imagination, energy, excitement and self-discipline, you could be one of the many successes that is the backbone of the American economy.



Gary

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Posted in Business | No Comments »

How Small Businesses Can Reduce Operating Costs by Utilizing Windows Virtual Private Server (vps) Hosting Solutions

November 2nd, 2008
small business management
Tom Silver asked:


 

Small business owners and new startups find it hard to raise the capital the needed for the hardware, networking, licenses and staff required to operate in today’s connected business world were solutions like Microsoft Exchange, SQL, SharePoint and CRM’s are now a part of almost every business.

As small business owners, you work pretty hard on windows desktop applications and software, sometimes for testing, other times for running applications to keep your business up, developing or running these applications in the past required windows servers within your business or hosted dedicated servers. The costs of server hardware, IT management and network infrastructure within your business can be a very costly. Most start ups or small business cannot handle such one-time or large monthly expenses to provide them with the IT infrastructure or management they require.

But luckily there is cheaper and sometimes better option to use Windows VPS Hosting. Windows VPS hosting providers such as ResellerChoice you can retain all the power you would get from windows dedicated servers but only pay a fraction of the cost. For example, if you have multiple windows servers in your office they tend to take up a lot of room, power and management. You can make a simple change or start to convert your current dedicated servers into Windows VPS servers instantly. This will start and reduce operational costs and hardware costs.

Windows VPS hosting providers can offer you reduced cost, simply by creating virtual multiple windows servers on a single physical server. With this advanced technology, you can run your multiple windows servers from a remote desk top session, running your applications and software as needed with full administrator and consol access. You can create private networks or complete virtual clusters of servers or load balanced geographically diverse servers all at a fraction of the costs.

Windows VPS hosting providers using Microsoft such as ResellerChoice offer this economical solution to help small businesses run the multiple servers that are often required at a fraction of the cost of dedicated hardware. Microsoft has released new technology, called Hyper-V, which comes as a key feature with Windows Server 2008 and continues to be the talked about in the IT world as possible contender in a world once powered by VMware and Linux.

With Windows VPS hosting solutions you still get all the great benefits of having multiple windows servers. You get root and administrator access, terminal server/RDP and select from any Windows OS you prefer. It’s really everything you need and would expect from your old servers but with windows VPS hosting you won’t need the dedicated hardware on site and just have one small monthly fee.

The system that Windows has created uses isolation of partitions to separate sections of the server. While there will be one root partition running on a Windows Server 2008, the technology of Hyper-V will allow the server to create ‘child partitions’. These child partitions act as individual servers but running off one server. The child partitions don’t have access to the hardware directly. Rather, these partitions simply get a view of the hardware, and it’s more in a virtual environment.

Now windows hosting providers and take a single server and split the costs among two or more customers allowing each customer to now pay less by sharing the costs of the physical host server.

So, it can work, but you’re a business, and what you want to know about is cost. For small businesses, plans for windows vps servers running this new technology are actually rather low in cost. You can compare prices and many windows vps hosting starting as low as $60. That’s great savings compared to buying multiple servers, which can cost several hundred, to several thousand dollars a month. If your bottom line is important to you, you’ll want to talk with a hosting service that can tell you how you can save money and still keep your server system, as you need it.

In the small business world, saving money is just as important as making money. When you can reduce your need for dedicated servers hosted in in-house into windows virtual servers it can save you money by increasing your bottom line. Switching to a Windows VPS hosting solution is very simple.

When you want to save money and improve performance, consider this solution that has changed how small businesses do business.



Mary

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Posted in Small Business | No Comments »

Small Business Credit Card

October 30th, 2008
small business management
Bradley Carson asked:


It has only been recently that the larger credit card companies began aggressively marketing small business credit cards. If you are a new entrepreneur and have decided it’s time to get a small business credit card, you are in luck!

Most new businesses are sole proprietorships and credit is an important part of growing your business. The credit card issuers look at your personal credit history to see how you’ve managed your personal debt. A good personal credit report can prove that you take your obligations seriously.

As with any credit decision, you need to review what your requirements are before you apply for a small business credit card. The financial institutions are offering numerous incentives for your loyalty such as rewards, cash back, airline miles, high credit limit, and an option to pay over time or in full.

A small business credit card can assist with your cash flow. If you purchase supplies to do a job and bill the client upon completion, a small business credit card allows you that needed extension of time. You should keep this in mind and perhaps apply for a higher limit credit card. Consider the invoicing cycle. If you think it may run over thirty days, you would want to apply for a card that offers the option to pay over time. Look at a lower interest rate small business credit card.

If you have been in business for at least two years and just want to add to your cash flow. The Small Business Capital Line offered by American Express may be what your looking for. This offer includes an unsecured line of credit with a minimum of $10,000. Their easy application process doesn’t require any supporting forms for most applications and gives you 100% access to your cash. This offer includes a competitive APR.

If your new commercial endeavor includes travel, a small business credit card with rewards that offers savings for airline miles, hotel and car rental would be ideal. An added advantage is you can keep track, remotely, of an employee‘s expenses through online viewing of your account. This is a big plus when on a tight budget!

The SkyPoints Business Credit Card from Delta and American Express, lets you earn double SkyPoints for everyday purchases and Delta purchases too. You can receive up to 75% discount on airfare when you redeem your SkyPoints. There is a small yearly fee for this program, but the first year fee is waived, offering an immediate savings of $49.

Credit card companies have formed alliances with a number of retailers, both online and off line. Some rewards perks are discounts when using your small business credit card at specified locations.

The Chase Platinum Business Card offers additional savings through their Visa Business partner Advantage. Receive savings of up to 20% from leading retailers with special offers on computer equipment, office supplies, and many other items.

Choosing a small business credit card is made easier by the internet where you can compare offers side by side. Each of the small business credit card programs offer extra value. It’s your choice which program fits with your financial needs.



Brittany

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Posted in Advice | No Comments »

Hr Software for Business Management

October 27th, 2008
small business management
Radha Kishan asked:


In today’s busy world, many managers find that there is not enough time in the day to do all the things that they need to do. They find themselves overwhelmed by menial and repetitive tasks that need to be done for the good of the company and the employees that they are responsible for. The good news for these managers is that there are now many different types of HR software available to assist them with these everyday needs.

Many of the HR software products available take an everyday process and streamline it so that it takes much less time to complete. Some of the most common types of software focus on the most time consuming aspects of business, such as tracking employee attendance, and reduce the number of steps that need to be taken to perform the job effectively. By reducing the amount of time that the manager needs to spend focusing on these menial items, the managers are more effective at handling the larger issues that occur at the company.

Some of the most common types of HR software include:

Recruitment Software – Recruitment software streamlines the process of searching for and hiring the best individuals for the company. From creating customized employment forms for the company to tracking individuals moving through the hiring process, recruitment HR software covers all of the bases and reduces the amount of mistakes made when hiring individuals to work for the company.

Personnel Management Software – Personnel management software provides a variety of benefits to the workplace and reduces the total amount of time spent on personnel management. These software products provide easy methods for completing common tasks such as tracking employee attendance, tracking vacation time earned and taken, and calculating overtime, as well as providing solutions to many other issues that often arise in an HR environment.

Training Software – There are a number of different training software products available on the retail market today that allow HR personnel to track the training accomplishments and training needs of a large or small workforce. By using software that was specifically created for training, the department will also ensure that they can minimize the costs associated with training and that every employee gets the training that they need.

Self Service Software – There are many companies where the employees interact directly with the HR department regarding sick days, scheduled vacation time, and time card reporting. Self service HR software provides the employees with the tools and forms to accurately communicate these items to the HR department of the company or management.

Using HR software for the company’s Human Resource needs helps to identify any issues before they become costly problems. For example, in some industries, if every employee at the company does not have the necessary training to perform a job, the company can be fined between $5,000 and $25,000 per occurrence that is found. This could quickly bankrupt a small business and will cause major issues at larger companies as well.

Preventing these issues from occurring is one of the primary functions of all HR software products. By issuing an alert when a problem is noted in the database and providing monthly or quarterly reports detailing the information that has been entered into the system, errors can be corrected quickly before they are buried under subsequent correct information. In many cases, the most common types of errors will be flagged as incorrect as soon as they are entered into the software program.

By using different types of HR software to streamline the processes used within the company, the HR department will save money and reduce the amount of errors made within the department. There are HR software products available for companies of all sizes, from small start-up businesses to larger corporations to non-profit companies. Every employer could benefit from the right software products for their business and obtaining the right HR software for the company is not a difficult task to complete.



Catherine

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Posted in Human Resources | No Comments »

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