BizSieve Team | BizSieve.com

Capitalizing Your Business for Success

Every business needs capital to grow, no matter whether it’s a mom-and-pop storefront or a mature multinational corporation. Startups face particular challenges, however, given that they are generally untested and unproven.

For a new business in today’s economic climate, securing enough funding from a bank may prove a difficult proposition depending on how much it needs to borrow and how much collateral it can offer. For that reason, some entrepreneurs turn to courting investors or financing the business themselves. Both of these methods have own pros and cons.

venture capital — photo credit: Bikerock via photopin cc

Investor Cash Can Be Blessing and Curse

Money from outside investors can be very appealing for the simple reason that a business owner is not risking his or her own nest egg on the new venture. In addition, investor funding can help fuel massive growth in a relatively short term. However, that has the potential to be both a blessing and a curse. Uncontrolled growth can bring challenges – business owners may have little time to consider and refine their product and/or strategy as they become consumed by the demands of daily operations.

Large sums of outside capital can also bring publicity and media attention. On the plus side, that exposure can create word-of-mouth buzz, bringing customers without the expense of traditional advertising. On the flip side, however, a heavy amount of attention can overwhelm a startup, ratcheting up demand beyond supply capacity and threatening to undo any initial positive press with a wave of customer dissatisfaction.

In short, a new business must be ready for all eventualities when it hits the market.

Bootstrapping for Controlled Growth

Unless we’re dealing with the likes of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, the option of self-financing a business – also known as bootstrapping – probably won’t yield the quick growth and flash of an investor-funded startup. What it can offer, instead, is an enhanced level of control and stability, which may prime a business for long-term success. When owners bootstrap, their business can only grow as fast as their revenues and their ability to pay employees. That makes it less likely that customer demand will outpace the quantity or quality of the goods, or the capabilities of the workforce.

Of course, there are tradeoffs. Bootstrapping means the owner assumes the financial risk if the business fails. It may also be tricky to cover expenses, especially in the early days when sales volume is low. This is where a business owner may need to get creative, at least in the short term, in generating revenue and trimming expenses, which could include reducing or foregoing a salary. Other possible options include working from home to avoid office rent and using social media and other technology for low-cost marketing.

Funding Help Available for Small Businesses

There’s no denying that having a pot of cash at the ready would probably make life easier for startup businesses. Still, there are ways to grow a business with little or no capital. Online affiliate programs, for example, can provide a revenue stream – a business earns a commission each time a visitor to its website clicks a link to another firm’s products. Joint ventures, meanwhile, allow business owners to pool resources and share expertise.

The Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program, which is part of the U.S. Small Business Administration, seeks to help business owners secure private funding and long-term loans, with the overall goal of boosting private-sector job creation.

In FY 2012, the program provided financing totaling $3.1 billion to more than 1,000 small businesses, a 17% increase over the previous fiscal year. Almost one-third of the recipients were owned by minorities, veterans or women, and/or located in low- to moderate-income communities.

According to the Small Business Administration, about 65,000 jobs were sustained or created as a result of SBIC-related financing in 2012.

Whether entrepreneurs and small business owners tap into government programs such as the SBIC, finance themselves or seek backing from outside investors, they have options for securing startup capital.

About the Author: Dean Vella writes about business and leadership on behalf of University Alliance, a facilitator of online certificate programs in business administration, and leadership and management.

Business Marketing on a Budget

Even the most inexperienced entrepreneur will recognize the importance of marketing for business success. The problem, however, is that marketing can be rather expensive. Many small companies find themselves incapable of doing the right kind of advertising due to the high cost.

Creativity and internet will help you do amazing marketing on a budget. Sometimes, a great idea can be carried out free of charge. The following marketing techniques are perfect for businesses that are trying to do promotion on a tight budget.

The Power of Internet

Internet marketing is one of the best options for you. The web is one of the most inexpensive channels and it provides the added benefit of a highly targeted audience. No other communication channel will help you reach such a demographically appropriate group of individuals.

Social networking brags high efficiency, while it typically happens free of charge. Websites like Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Twitter are perfect for marketing on a budget. Even sms marketing software can have great returns for minimal start up costs. Even if you decide to pay for the campaigns, the sums will be minimal in comparison to other kinds of promotion.

Always go through your bills and examine the internet marketing reports that you receive in the end of the month. Stick to reputable websites because you may otherwise fall into a scam trap. Forensic accountants can help you figure out the best online promotional tools for your business.

words of mouth — photo credit: Pricklebush via photopin cc

Word of Mouth Promotion

Happy customers will be willing to spread the word. Provide a stellar service and your clients will do the promotion for you.

Word of mouth promotion is highly efficient. Most often, people remain skeptical about marketing messages and commercials. When they need a service or a product, however, many people are likely to turn to friends and relatives for recommendations.

Support Events and Fundraisers

Participating in community events and fundraisers will help you increase brand awareness without spending a fortune on it.

Support causes and charities that are of paramount importance for the community. You will be creating an image of a socially responsible business. People like such initiatives and they will be willing to check your company out in the future.

Help for the organization and the popularization of the event. You can donate a sum to the charity, as well. It does not have to be a large amount. People will still notice you and remember your company.

Article Marketing

Article marketing is one of the newest and most efficient forms of online promotion.

In its essence, article marketing is the creation of content for popular websites and blogs. In return, you will get a link to your corporate website.

Writing useful articles about the topics you are knowledgeable in will help you establish yourself as the authority inside a particular niche. Clients will be more willing to turn to a well-established business. Article marketing takes place free of charge but you will have to spend some time thinking about interesting and informative content.

Participate in Conferences

Being a guest lecturer will help you increase corporate awareness, as well. You can easily get invited to participate in conferences and seminars. Work on your biography, increase your portfolio and contact the right people in order to benefit from this kind of promotion.

Participation in conferences and seminars is the perfect form of business-to-business marketing. You will get to make a presentation in front of industry specialists. The B2B sector is exceptionally important for corporate success and you should make use of such opportunities.

Local Online Marketing

Google+ and Foursquare have added a local dimension to online promotion.

Create a Google Places page dedicated to your business. These pages are used by people looking for products and services in their city or neighborhood. Local marketing is the most practical form of online promotion because it translates in the biggest number of actual sales.

Business promotion is all about making use of the available channels, even if you have a very limited budget. It will require time and effort but you will easily increase your popularity without spending too much on marketing campaigns. Take your time, think about it and be original – this is the only way to set your business apart.

Author Bio: This guest post is written by Nick Anderson an experienced finance writer.

The Rise of Video Conferencing

Every business who wants to reduce their costs will probably jump at the chance to use a free service that could help them to improve the way in which they communicate with customers and co-workers. You may think that such a tool doesn’t exist, and that your company and its employees will have to stick to traditional methods of communicating with potential clients, but the Powwownow video conferencing service is perfect for any company looking to reduce costs and improve its operations.

How video conferencing works is that it allows you to make a call to anyone in the world with the same software from your office. Using your computer, you can arrange a call in a matter of minutes and invite anyone you like from different locations to every conference call. This is perfect if you want to get clients from different countries but don’t want to spend money on travelling to their office and back.

Something else that video conferencing can help with is allowing people to work from home to communicate with the office without having to travel to and from there every day. Remote working can be made possible with the right software, with those working from home not missing out on every single development at the office. Meanwhile, workers can save money on travel costs, while business owners can spend less on office costs for computing, electricity and office furniture.

What has helped to make Powwownow the leading conference call provider in the UK is the fact that their service is easy to use. For anyone who’s worried about not being able to get to grips with video conferencing, it’s not that hard to use for the first time. Having cheap, simple technology at your fingertips is something any business owner, remote worker or even if you work from an office.

Premises Liability: Proper Outfitting for Your Small Business Location

Business owners face a variety of legal hassles when operating a business. Obtaining permits, collecting and paying taxes, and dealing with the ever present possibility of litigation can be cumbersome. Small business owners who operate a business that is open to the public also have a duty to keep their property free of hidden hazards. Failure to do so may result in liability for negligence.

Hazardous Conditions

One important note is that the property does not have to be free of hazardous conditions. The hazardous conditions must be latent, or hidden to be a liability. Additionally, the law normally requires the business owner to know about the condition or at least be in a condition where he or she should have known about it. This responsibility extends to the employees. Spills happen, people drop glass items, and individuals come into the store while physically ill on a regular basis. If the business uses a larger property with few employees, taking an occasional walk throughout the business to check for hazards or signs of theft may be a good idea.

With a small business, hazardous but hidden conditions can appear in a variety of ways. Obstructed or slippery floors can result in a slip and fall injury; oil, water, and ice are often invisible on the neutral-colored linoleum used by many small businesses. If the building is open during construction or maintenance, visitors may also encounter exposed wiring. If items are improperly stacked or if the shelves are of poor construction, items may fall off the shelves and onto customers, causing serious injury.

Protecting Yourself From Liability

The Perecman Firm says that, “property owners [at least] in New York are responsible for keeping people on their property reasonably safe from injury.” However, business owners who do not know or could not reasonably have known about the defect may not have a duty to repair it. Courts in most states hold the business owner liable for his or her constructive knowledge if the hazardous condition was caused by an employee; in other words, the business may be sued if the owner’s agent caused the defect. As a result, claiming ignorance of a defect is not normally a good tactic to avoid litigation.

Business owners can satisfy their duty to their customers in two ways. The first is through the use of warnings. Warnings can include signage, caution tape, fencing, or any other similar measure that would cause a reasonable person to recognize the hazardous condition. The second way to avoid liability for injuries stemming from the hazardous condition is by repairing the condition itself. By removing the danger altogether, business owners can avoid customer injuries.

The Issue of Negligence

Most U.S. states use a doctrine known as comparative negligence. In these states, a plaintiff who suffers an injury as a result of another party’s negligence may recover even if he or she was largely responsible for the injury in the first place. Different states have different rules on the matter; some states require that the defendant be at least 50 percent negligent to recover anything. However, some states do not have any cutoff limit. In those states, a slow-witted plaintiff can recover at least some damages even if he or she was 99 percent at fault for the accident.

This is important because when it comes to warnings, it does not take much to make a colorable argument that the defendant was one percent negligent or even ten percent negligent. Simply arguing that more signs, more warning lights, better placement of existing signs, or auditory signals would have reduced the probability of an injury happening can be enough to convince a jury that the store owner bears some of the responsibility for the accident. Warnings should only be used while the hazardous condition is being repaired, such as when an employee is getting a mop or a broom. From a liability standpoint, fixing the condition will be better than simply leaving a warning sign alerting customers to the defect.

When a hazardous condition appears on the property, owners have a duty to either repair the condition or warn customers away from it. In practice, most business owners will use a combination of the two approaches. For example, if water or ice is spilled in an aisle, posting temporary signage or briefly closing the aisle while an employee finds a mop and a bucket is a common tactic that businesses use to avoid liability. Closing a section of the store briefly while a defect is being repaired may cost the store a percentage of its daily sales, but it will be much less expensive than paying for an injured customer’s medical bills.

About the Author: Saam Banai is a freelance writer and editor and proponent of safe business practices.

How Important is Hosting for a Small Business?

As a small business owner, you already understand that your business needs a great website. You may understand SEO and the principles of great content and finely-tuned usability.

However, website hosting is also crucial. Hosting underpins your website; it makes the process of maintaining your website easier and ensures it’s always available when customers visit. Choosing the wrong host can be an expensive mistake.

web servers — photo credit: Tom Raftery via photopin cc

With so many plans on offer, how do you make the crucial decision and pick the best web hosting package?

The Importance of the Right Plan

On a very basic level, there are three types of hosting: site builder hosting, shared hosting and VPS/ dedicated hosting. As the price increases, so do the resources (and, in some cases, the quality of support).

It’s essential to choose a website hosting package. You need a service that supports your business without adding unnecessary admin to your daily workload.

Types of Hosting

Site builder tools are fine for many small businesses, particularly when they’re just starting up, but they’re inherently limited. Site builders are browser-based tools that offer templated designs and pre-set widgets.

An upgrade to shared hosting will be needed if you’ve engaged a website designer (or plan to in the future). Shared hosting is also more suitable if you wish to use a popular script like WordPress.

The type of hosting you choose will also affect the price. Costs vary greatly, from a few dollars a month right through to dedicated server packages costing hundreds (or thousands) of dollars a year. Also, you’ll notice that many web hosts offer discounts for hosting plans taken out over a longer term. This is effectively a contract lock-in, and if you don’t know how well the host performs, this lock-in could be a false economy.

Looking Ahead

Before parting with your money, it’s wise to closely examine the terms of the host’s money-back guarantee; if you want to move your website midterm for any reason, a money-back guarantee will ensure you don’t wind up paying for web hosting twice.
If you’re not sure about the resources you need, ensure your web host offers free upgrades. You’re then free to start with the most affordable package. Even if you outgrow the resources on your plan, you’ll be able to scale up effortlessly – and with zero downtime in most cases. This is usually better than over-committing to hosting that will drain your bank account unnecessarily.

The Importance of Availability

It’s important that a business website is available around the clock – or as near to that as possible. That’s why web hosts almost always provide some kind of uptime guarantee.

These guarantees are designed to protect website owners against faults at the data centre which can cause their website to become available.

Checking the Uptime Guarantee

Hosts that offer 100 per cent uptime are rare, and generally more expensive, but they do exist. However, it’s far more common to see 99 per cent uptime guarantees. (Remember: 99 per cent uptime actually allows for up to 3 days’ downtime per year.) Look for the best uptime guarantee you can afford.
Check the terms carefully. Many hosts offer account credits for prolonged downtime, but how easy is to claim? Would the credit compensate your business adequately – and is there a catch?

The Importance of the Right Hosting Provider

There are thousands of web hosting providers battling for custom from small business owners, and that can make the buying decision complex and tedious. Impartial hosting company ratings and host user reviews offer a shortcut, making it far easier to select the right plan.

Before signing up for any web host, check web host reviews from users carefully. Examine the specifications for your chosen plan, then compare host ratings and check the small print for each one.

Finally, don’t forget to look for webhost user reviews that are relatively recent. Web hosting providers occasionally change hands, and that can affect the quality of service customers experience. A stale webhost user review is unlikely to be as accurate as a current, up-to-date user review.

About the Author: Claire is a creative content writer working for WhoIsHostingThis.com, an independent hosting review website.