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Three Tips for Small Business Owners

There was a time when you couldn’t start a business without putting your credit on the line with a business loan. Today, all you really need is a two hundred dollar laptop or used smartphone and an internet connection. Here are a few principles to keep in mind before you get started:

A Word on Cost, Risk and Planning

Something to bear in mind when it comes to the concept of cost and risk: the more something costs you in terms of time, money and effort, the more planning you should put into it, the more research. When you pay for web hosting, for instance, you need to do you homework and make sure that you’re going with the right web host for your business. On the other hand, sending an email to a graphic designer for a quote takes about one minute, so you don’t need to spend all day researching graphic designers to make that choice.

The more something costs, the more planning it should involve. Maintain this rule of thumb in order to manage risk and to avoid getting hung up on the small stuff.

Plan to Fail

Big ideas are the only ones worth having anymore. You need to be the best at whatever it is you do, and that means thinking big. Making a modest profit on iPods on eBay isn’t going to work, because the people who already dominate that market will just cut their prices lower when you come in to compete with them. They have the access to greater bulk quantities of goods that they can sell for cheaper, so simply selling commodities won’t cut it, someone will always be able to undersell you in that area.

Big ideas are the ones with potential to fail. When you decide to be the very best shoe repairer in your city, when you decide to create a new kind of light bulb, these are the kind of ideas that will allow you to dominate that field if you succeed, but that always have the potential for failure.

Luckily, every failure is a chance to learn, to grow, and to try again. We don’t like the idea of failure, but anything that doesn’t kill us or bankrupt us is a failure that we can afford to risk, and more importantly, nobody ever succeeded without risking failure. Some of the most successful business people failed dozens of times and tried their hands at dozens of things before finding the niche where they truly excelled.

Selling the Story

What you’re really selling at the end of the day is not a better hair dryer, it’s not a nicer pair of athletic shoes, it’s a story. Your customers want to experience something through your product or service, some kind of adventure or competitive edge. Even someone who buys an energy drink isn’t buying caffeine, they’re buying an extra couple of hours partying or they’re buying greater productivity at work.
Stop thinking of your product or service in terms of commodity and start thinking of it in terms of the story.

About the Author: Charles Moore has the credit of writing articles on home organization and solution. He is also a regular contributor to Movingtips.org.

The 3 Most Important Concepts Business Schools Teach

As mentioned in a previous post, you don’t necessarily have to have a business degree to be a successful business owner. You do, however, usually need to have an understanding of certain business concepts to run a profitable business. If you skipped business school and are in the process of starting up your own business, here are a few concepts you should be aware of:

1. Globalization is here to stay

Everything you do in the business world will be affected by global business trends. Even if you open up a brick-and-mortar store, the price of the inventory you order will most likely depend on how much it costs to make the inventory in another part of the world. More and more businesses are outsourcing work to cut costs and selling to the global market. Because of this, business schools teach students that they need to learn to think about global business trends. If you didn’t get your degree in business, you need to be aware of how big of a role the rest of the world will play in determining the success of your startup.

2. Cash flow management is key

Sales matter, but they don’t matter as much as cash flow. You can have record sales numbers and not have enough money to pay your bills on time if you don’t manage your cash flow well. Ultimately, you have to get paid enough from your customers at the right time to be able to pay everything you owe for your office, inventory, etc. Cash flow management is a very important balancing act that business schools spend a lot of time teaching students about. Since you probably don’t have time to go back to business school, you should know that you’ll need to carefully monitor your inventory, orders, payments, and bills to ensure your company’s finances stay on the right track.

3. Your success depends on the profitability of one unit

This is one of the simplest and most essential business concepts, and it’s one you should definitely be aware of before you start your own business. When you’re developing your business plan, you should think about whether or not one unit of what you’ll be selling would be able to make a profit.

If you’re going to be selling smoothies, for instance, you have to consider how much the ingredients to make one smoothie cost, how much it costs to pay an employee to make the smoothie, how much you’ll charge for the smoothie, and whether you’ll be able to make a profit with all these things in mind. If you are able to make a profit, your business, in theory, should be able to make a profit. Business schools stress the importance of the profitability of one unit for a reason, and it’s absolutely critical that you keep this concept in mind as you make business decisions.

If you understand that business is global, sales aren’t everything, and you have to be able to sell at least one unit to succeed, you’ll be just as prepared as all those business grads for the wonderful, crazy, and daunting adventure of owning your own business.

About the Author: Patricia Garza is a freelancer and blogger who primarily writes about education, online college accreditation, business, and technology. When she’s not writing, Patricia likes to spend time with her kids, discuss current events, and paint. Please feel free to leave your comments and questions below. Patricia appreciates your feedback.

Don’t have a business degree? Good!

Why you are probably better off without a business degree.

It seems crazy, but it’s true: an undergraduate degree in business isn’t a door to wealth. Parents think they can’t go wrong by sending their kids off to business classes at the university, but business school, unlike most other vocational fields, doesn’t offer experience or a big pay-off.

Business majors learn fewer applicable skills.

Let me break it down for you. A recent high school graduate who goes to school to learn to be a mechanic actually gets his hands dirty and works with physical parts, gaining knowledge that can be directly applied to his vocation. Business majors learn how to respond to theoretical scenarios in the sheltered vacuum of a classroom. It’s a little like learning to drive a submarine by playing a video game and then being expected to survive once you’re unleashed on the open waters.

Becoming a business leader takes a variety of skills – psychology, mathematics, communication – but it also takes creativity. Many students who aspire to make money in business fail to make the correlation between imagination and ingenuity. It was, in fact, Andy Warhol who called business “the best art.”

business graduates
Image by Rob Chan

Some undergraduate liberal arts degrees are even father down on the pay-scale than business (which ranks 35 out of 75), but for some graduate programs, a liberal arts degree is more promising than an undergraduate degree in business. Students who study philosophy and English literature are well-versed in analytical thinking and are constant practitioners of sharp communication. On the other end of the spectrum, mathematics majors understand the language of economics and statistics.

Your life can become overrun by work.

Degrees in business are extremely common, so once you graduate; you’re going to be forced into an oversaturated market with high levels of competition. In this case, becoming a small business owner is a great option, but most college students don’t have the resources to fund a startup right after college. With no career history or savings, most people are starting from scratch.

In a study completed by labor economists, business majors working in the finance and consulting sectors were shown to have extremely difficult times juggling their work and lives. The fields are so competitive that they demand constant participation, and those who go on leave or drop out of the race for even short periods of time, face great challenges and penalties in terms of resuming their careers and moving forward.

If not business…then what?

By all means, if you find the right business degree program and you are confident that you will have a job after college, go for it! Some people thrive in competitive environments and can juggle project and personnel management with a happy home life. Creating your own small, independent business is a great way to exercise business skills, but there has to be a passion beyond making money, and that is what a business degree fails to nurture.

A business degree isn’t necessary to becoming a business leader. Higher education is a way to improve the skills you already have while exploring new territory, and you can pair any degree with business classes if you are interested in becoming an entrepreneur.

About the Author: Melissa Miller is blogger and freelance writer for associatedegreeonline.com. She is interested in all things education and writes to help recent college graduates navigate the challenging world of first-time employment, adult responsibility, and finances. Throw your questions to melissamiller831@gmail.com.

How Loans for Small Businesses Help Owners Cope with Rising Expenses

People especially the small time business owners are extremely afraid with the latest economical condition in the global market. This article shares a few tips which will help them to cope with the rising prices.

Ever since the global market faced the economical slowdown few years back, the market is yet to recover from the shock completely. A number of brands and organizations are still suffering from the effect of the recession and trying to get back to the track by cost cutting, and handing over pink slips to a number of employees. But the worst sufferers are those who run small business. They are facing lots of difficulties to survive. As the price of foods, gasoline, other raw materials which are quite important items for manufacturing many products have increased a lot, the small business owners are compelled to raise the price of their products to cover the cost. But they face strong opposition and rejection from the end of their potential customers as they are just not ready to pay more. But we cannot blame them solely as they are also suffering a lot with the sudden blow of recession as they have financially become weaker than the earlier with a little or no savings.

It has become quite tough for the business owners to get easy finance or cash loan easily. Therefore they have to face the situation all by themselves. A number of solutions and effective tips are there which they can follow as small time business owners who want to deal with the recent rising of costs of the materials.

Observe the exchange rate

If not in your home country, you can improve your business abroad. Thanks to the recession the price of US dollar has become quite weak. This has opened the opportunity for the buyers from different countries across the world to buy products from US. Therefore if you cannot get much opportunity in your homeland you can think of expanding your business across the world. It is not always necessary that you have to open branch in each place which are your target markets. You can also boost up your sell through online marketing and online purchasing facility.

Design most affordable products possible

If the products which are produced by your company are expensive or hi-end you should think twice and reconsider the price of the products to boost up the sell. You can start new set of products and promote them so that both your existing and the potential customers start showing interest towards the products. You may find a number of customers who are eager to use your products but unable to do so because of the high price. Once you reduce the price this section of customers will also show their interests.

Take a small step if increasing prices

As the owner of a small business it may happen that you will decide to increase the price of the products to cover the costs and make profit. But take time before doing this. It is suggested that you should take small steps while revising the prices of the products instead of taking a big step at a time. If you increase price in small doses it will not affect your customers much.

You should not get afraid of this situation instead you need to prepare yourself to face it. Once you take some of these cleaver steps you will be able to run your business successfully.

About the Author: Parker is an experienced finance officer who specializes in the loans sector. She advices everyone to opt for cash bill pay as it is the most convenient way to deal with financial problems.

How to Create a Healthier Work Environment Without a Wellness Plan or a Budget for it

Many people today are very conscious about their health, and while these people are making the necessary choices to improve their health in their personal lives, they want to find a business that places just as much importance on the topic as they do.

Many companies are realizing that their employees are making healthier decisions, and these companies are making the decision to also become healthy.

Some companies make the mistake in thinking that in order to make the work environment more healthy for employees, they need to take the time and invest the money in creating a detailed health and wellness plan, but they don’t. In order to make your work environment healthier, you don’t need to invest in fancy incentive programs or bring doctors in for health screenings. Instead, you need to implement the following changes around the workplace to make it a healthier environment for all.

Ban smoking.

You’re going to upset some employees, but since their habit has a negative effect on others in the company, you don’t have to feel too bad about banning smoking on company property. Don’t let your employees stand outside the front door to smoke a cigarette—make them leave the property in order to do so. If you have a large business and leaving the property would be too much of a hassle, create a designated smoking area far away from the building. This allows everyone in your office to breathe in fresh air. Plus, if the smoking area is far enough away, it may incline some of your smoking employees to quit.

Invest in healthier office furnishings.

If you sit at a desk all day, your chair and your desk can be damaging your posture and your overall health. Enlist the help of an office furnishings specialist and invest in ergonomic chairs and desks to make your employees more comfortable and improve their overall health. Make sure that employees who use computers for most of their day have the correct mouse, mousepad and keyboard support to reduce their risk of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Open up the stairs.

Some companies have their staircases locked and only allow employees to use them during emergencies. Instead of doing this, unlock the doors to the staircase and allow your employees to use it to travel from one floor to the next. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator is a great way to exercise, and doing this provides an easy way for your employees to burn some calories throughout the day.

Offer healthy snacks.

Most companies have food and drink vending machines in their buildings, and if yours does, make sure to replace unhealthy snacks with healthier choices. Replace pop machines with water machines, and if you can’t replace the vending machine with healthier food, remove it and invest in a different program, such as a fresh fruit delivery program, which offers your employees the chance to snack on fresh fruits instead of chocolate.

Creating a healthy environment for your employees is important, but doing so does not mean that you have to invest in a health and wellness program. Instead, you can make these small changes around the office to make it a healthier environment for all.

About the Author: Lucille Anderson is a human resources educator providing guidance in the creation and implementation of health programs for corporations.