June, 2012 | BizSieve.com

Knowing When it May Be Beneficial for Small Businesses to Outsource Work

Whilst it may appear as if your small business is saving money, handling multiple responsibilities in-house can be both time-consuming and extremely expensive. Granted, you’ve likely decided that the key to business success lies in developing good behaviour. As such, you may see your ability to assume multiple roles and responsibilities as an inherent strength. However, what do you do when those tasks become too much to handle? What do you do when some tasks become too costly to manage in-house? After all, you’re responsible for business development. Doesn’t it just make sense that you focus your efforts elsewhere, instead of rationalising your decision to go it alone? When faced with such a decision, it is important to understand the innumerable benefits of outsourcing. Regardless of whether it includes outsourcing IT, marketing or payroll, there are a number of immediate benefits to choosing an outside firm to handle these day-to-day tasks.

Free Up Valuable Resources: One of the first benefits of outsourcing is how it immediately frees up valuable internal resources. Whether that includes removing timely obstacles for yourself, or your employees, your business is bound to reduce its costs by outsourcing certain redundant and repetitive business functions. You’ll not only reduce your overhead, but you’ll be able to hand over these responsibilities knowing they’ll be managed properly. After all, you’re in the proverbial “driver’s seat.” You are now able to dictate terms of service with your chosen outsourcing firm.

Protect Business Knowledge and Know-How: Your business knowledge is an asset, one that can be stolen, used against you or simply copied. Whilst you may view your employees as loyal and committed to the cause, the reality is that information theft is a going concern for all enterprises. Outsourcing IT reduces the growing concern of theft by protecting confidential and critical data. You’ll be able to upgrade your service capabilities, protect your vital data, and provide remote desktop management to both internal and external customers. Whether that includes providing 24/7 support, or revamping your website with improved online order fulfilment capabilities, outsourcing IT is a cost saving solution that just makes sense.

Reduced Tax Burden: It’s amazing just how many enterprises must cover late, incorrect and incomplete tax filings. Whilst PAYE rules are clearly defined, small businesses still face yearly fines for not properly filling out their returns. However, your small business can immediately eliminate these fines by using an outsourcing firm. In fact, most firms will provide a guarantee that any fees will be reimbursed.

Don’t rationalise your decision to keep these aforementioned business functions in-house. There is an immediate savings to using outside firms, ones who assume full responsibility for a given business function. Reduce your costs and focus on growing your business. In the end, that will not only save you money, but make it easier to grow your enterprise.

Robert Dean has worked in the document shredding business for several years and believes in the importance of data security. He currently works for The Shredding Alliance.

What are the steps to start Your New Business with a Clean Credit Score

Many people dream of owning their personal business. However, before you give wings to your dream, it is very important to organize your personal finances. At this stage, you will be required to put in your own personal finances to get started with your business. However, to initiate successfully, it is very important that you use a ‘professional eye’ approach towards your personal finances.

Start-up expenses can be huge but it is advisable that you use your own personal finances to carry out the initial expenses. Avoid funding these expenses on credit or else you will end up with huge credit debt. You also have the option to go for a business loan. This is a better option as compared to credit card because it is a one-time loan with usually lower interest rates as compared to credit card.

However, there is a connection between your credit card and business loan that you must understand in order to successfully apply for a business loan. The relationship is that your credit card debt must be in order before you could apply for business loan. This means that you must maintain clear credit score if you wish to win the business loan without any hassle.

If you do not possess an organized business loan history, then lenders will look up to your personal credit score to negotiate loan terms. Do not let credit score problems affect your business set-up in its initial stages.

Your credit score is indeed a very important number for your personal business career. You will need to show it off for various purposes once you are running your own business. It works as the determining factors, especially for negotiating loan application and interest rates.

Three Steps to Set-Up Your Business with Clean Credit Score

As a new business owner, you must definitely look for lower interest rates on any credit finance or loan you acquire. This will give a solid base for your business to begin.

Step 1 – Pay Your Credit Card Debt

After identifying your credit weakness, take appropriate measures to improve your standing. The basic goal you will be working for is to eliminate any credit card debt you are liable to pay. At first this may not seem to be the best idea, but it is true, paying your debt faster can actually ease down your debt payment. It will also cause it to be less expensive eliminating the additional interest you will be required to pay otherwise.

The idea is to make double payments on the minimum balance of the debt with the highest interest liability. You can manage the rest of your credit liability with lower interest rates the way you like. By paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first; you can save yourself from paying the additional amount of the extra interest for a particular debt liability.

Once the highest is paid, move on the debt liability with the next highest interest rate and so on. Eventually, this will lead you to clear out your credit card debt maintaining a healthy credit score for you.

Step 2 – Study Your Credit Report

How often do you check your credit report? You must do it often in order to ensure there are no mistakes that are reflecting any negative effects on your credit score as well as your interest rates.

In case you find a mistake, you can seek assistance from the credit-reporting agency and dispute them. Your dispute will be responded within 30 days successfully. This is indeed worth trying since you have nothing to lose in this procedure, except for bad credit score.

Step 3 – Pay Bills

The negotiation over your business loan will not solely be based on your debt liability payment. You must also show that you are responsible when it comes to your bills and debt payments. You can do this by showing a good history of your rent, car payments, or utility bills. In short, keeping all the payables and debts in place and organized will help you achieve business loan with a lower interest rate.

About the Author: The article is provided by Rosette Summer. She thinks that good finances make successful business! But in case this does not persuade you, visit Consolidated Credit’s website for debt relief advice.

4 Tips for Understanding the Difference between Insolvency and Bankruptcy

Insolvency and bankruptcy are two entirely different things although the two are often confused. Insolvency is a state in which a business no longer has the means of paying debts on time. This occurs whenever liability or debt exceeds the company’s revenue or cash flow. Once a company is deemed insolvent, immediate action must be taken in order to settle or negotiate debts. Not effectively solving insolvency can lead to bankruptcy or a liquidation of all assets. Because insolvency and bankruptcy are often confused, it is helpful to know the differences in the two.

Insolvency is defined as the inability to meet current financial obligations. In other words, your company is not currently making enough money to pay your debts. This can occur at any time if your business revenue falls below what you require to keep debts paid on time. Bankruptcy is often the end result of insolvency and involves liquidating assets in order to pay debtors. In some cases and depending on the type of bankruptcy filed, the business itself may not be required to pay the debts off but will likely end up closing due to lack of assets.
Creditors have the ability to invoke additional rights if a business becomes insolvent. During a bankruptcy however, creditor rights are limited. Once your company is declared bankrupt you receive a bit of protection from your creditors. In the case of insolvency however, you have no such protection and creditors are legally allowed to collect their debts using a number of different means.
Companies that become insolvent actually have a way out. Bonds can be sold that will help to raise needed cash to pay debtors. Once a business enters into a bankruptcy however, this leeway is no longer an option. If you are forced to file bankruptcy on your business you will have to follow through with the bankruptcy. Becoming insolvent can be turned around by simply accumulating more cash.
Companies that are insolvent may be forced to become bankrupt or go into receivership. In some cases, you may be forced to liquidate assets in order to pay debts. Once you have found yourself insolvent you have a number of decisions to make regarding the future of your business. You can choose to attempt to raise additional revenue to keep your debts paid or find ways of refinancing that debt to lower your payments and/or bring your accounts current. Bankruptcy is normally the last result for small business owners who are insolvent and cannot find a way to bring their debts current.

Businesses can recover from insolvency and many have. There are a number of ways that you can raise capital to keep your business head above water while you build up customer bases and sales. Choosing to declare bankruptcy is a decision that should be considered carefully and again, this is often the last resort for small business owners. Understanding the differences between bankruptcy and insolvency is important as is choosing a qualified and experienced attorney should you decide that bankruptcy is in the best interest of your company.

Insolvency does not always lead to bankruptcy and all businesses that are insolvent are not bankrupt. However, all businesses that do file bankruptcy are considered to be insolvent because they have exhausted all means possible of paying debts and have found no viable solution for doing so.

About the Author: This article was written by Real Business Recovery, a team of award-winning insolvency practitioners specializing in Company Voluntary Arrangements or CVA. Visit us at http://www.realbusinessrecovery.co.uk for more information.

Increase your Brand Awareness with Banner Advertising

Banner advertising is one of the most effective marketing strategies you can use to promote your business, event or product. Banner advertising has a number of advantages over more common forms of advertisement, and has become quite popular as a result.

The first advantage of banner advertising is its cost, as it is relatively inexpensive compared to the many other types of available advertising. Banners are able to be used until they are worn out, and you only have to pay for one banner at a time, giving you a value for money advertising system. Other forms of print advertising such as magazines and newspapers require you to pay for each time you want to advertise in every different issue. Television advertising holds the same problem.

Another advantage of banner advertising is its high visibility. Banners come in a variety of different shapes and sizes, including amongst others, tear drop banners and flag banners. This allows you to cater for the type of space or area in which you wish to advertise. Due to their large size, banners are instantly eye catching, especially when designed with large words and bright colours in order to make people take notice. Customised banners such as the tear drop and flag banner, allow you to place them in areas with high traffic, whether that be vehicle or pedestrian in nature. Banners are likely to be seen by thousands of people every day in some situations, and if they are effectively designed, they will give your message a lot of attention and greatly increase your brand awareness to the general public.

Banners are also able to be easily set up and transported. This allows you to take your advertising with you to a number of different areas and events to help spread your message in a wider area. Banners are easily portable in carry bags, and can be quickly set up and secured via the use of accessories such as pegs, stands and weights. This allows you to effectively and efficiently advertise in and move between multiple areas, using a variety of different banners available including tear drop banners, flag banners, sail banners, pop up banners and many more.

Banners have been proven to be an effective marketing tool in a variety of different situations. Whilst not everyone watches television, or reads newspapers and magazines, they will leave the house to travel to work shop or socialise, which gives indoor and outdoor banner advertising a great advantage over other more conventional advertising methods.

About the Author: Joseph Caley is a proficient blogger and reader always on the lookout for information on different ways of marketing and advertising, helps to add insight to the designers creating Tear Drop Banners, Advertising Banners and Banner Stands.

An Independent Local Bookstore Beats the Odds

Few industries have been overturned as violently by the information revolution as the book trade. Amazon.com has proven such an efficient, convenient, and comprehensive retailer of the printed word, that for years now observers have questioned whether it might mean the demise of the brick-and-mortar bookstore.

However, this does not tell the whole story. The bookstore business had already been decimated on a local level by the rise, first, of national chains within the once-thriving mall ecosystem (B. Dalton, Waldenbooks) and then of big-box stores (Barnes & Noble, Borders). The latter could offer a selection of inventory that most independents could not, but in turn they were roundly beaten at this game by the big yellow e-tailer, whose ability to retrieve what customers want to buy is slowly approaching infinity.

So when Borders went bankrupt last year, it might at first have seemed like the end of the physical bookstore. But away from the malls and main drags, all across America, a dwindling number of small, independent bookstores had long been hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

A case in point is Houston’s Brazos Bookstore. Founded in 1974 by local literary scenester Karl Killian, over the decades Brazos developed a reputation as one of the city’s artistic hotspots. Always first and foremost a labor of love, the store buckled under 21st -century financial pressures and nearly closed its doors before being rescued by a consortium of patrons of the arts in 2006.

brazos bookstore
Image by Liz and Gianna’s Adventure Bookland

Despite new ownership and management, the store continued to lose money and faced another crisis in 2011. The end looked nigh once more, but in a bold vote of confidence (nearly simultaneously with the Borders collapse!) the ownership elected to keep the store open and bring in new management again. Today’s manager, Jeremy Ellis, has overhauled both the image and the infrastructure of Brazos, bringing not only a palpable new vitality but a steady profit. I asked Mr. Ellis the keys to his success in this extremely challenging niche. Here are his answers:

1. A hyperlocal emphasis

One advantage Brazos has over competitors like Amazon and even Barnes & Noble is that it’s a genuine, unique part of the community. The store’s bulging Texana section and close relationships with area authors provide real assets that can’t be outmatched by the more impersonal online experience.

2. Aggressive social-media presence

In tandem with this community focus, Brazos has beefed up its online activity. Readings and other events are announced via Facebook, email newsletters, Twitter, and across multiple other platforms. In-store inventory is now visible on brazosbookstore.com, where they are also selling e-books. On an internal level, the office has streamlined its operations, going all-Google for mail, document collaboration, etc.

3. Personalized service

This spring the store launched an initiative called Inuchan, patterned on a Japanese retail concept Ellis had read about and become enamored with. Enrollees in this subscription program complete an interview with mysterious questions right out of a personality quiz (“Paris or New York?” “Dogs or cats?”) in order to determine what monthly books and gifts each customer will get. This high-end service complements the store’s existing book club, special-order policy, and savvy, approachable staff.

4. Quality over quantity

Along with the new manager came a new buyer, Danielle DuBois Dimond, a graduate of the University of Houston’s prestigious Creative Writing Program. Besides her extensive literary knowledge, Dimond brings a keen aesthetic eye, insisting that “customers do judge books by their covers and so I do too.” Indeed, the store almost gleams with colorful displays and its gorgeous out-facing art section. This is not mere frippery, says Dimond but another strategy of survival in the shadow of Amazon: “I treat my job like that of a curator, because that’s our competitive advantage: we can’t have everything, but we can have the best things.”

About the Author: Aniya Wells is a freelance blogger whose primary focus is writing about online degree programs. She also enjoys investigating trends in other niches, notably technology, traditional higher education, health, and small business. Aniya welcomes reader questions and comments at aniyawells@gmail.com.