Small Business Tips and Ideas - BizSieve.com

Rule the Outdoor Advertising Scene with Your Banner Printing Campaign

Banner printing is one of the oldest forms of outdoor advertising and it remains an effective and reliable option for all types of businesses. Banners are simple and inexpensive to produce and hang or place. In the old days, banners are made by painting large pieces of cloth. Modern outdoor signage are now produced using materials like polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the third most widely-manufactured plastic.

Image by Sam Howzit / Flickr

Computer-generated designs and large automated printers make production a breeze. Vinyl is ideal for outdoor applications due to its durability, as it can withstand all types of weather conditions and last for more than three years. Banners also require little or no maintenance and can be easily folded and stored when not in use.

Advertising Made Easy by Banner Printing

Banners help you attract all types of clients or customers. The basic purpose of hanging a banner is to mark the location of your business. You can also hang your banners away from your premises where they can attract drivers or pedestrians who do not regularly pass by your office or shop. But of course you can design your banners in such a way that they will be able to target specific demographics while enhancing the reputation of your company.

If your company is offering consumer goods and need to announce a sale or other special promotions, printing a banner is more likely help you generate sales compared to putting up a newspaper advertisement, buying radio spots, or direct mail, which are only good for a limited period of time. Banners can be used for as long as you want. You have the option of choosing the artwork, colors, designs, fonts, images, and other details. After you have approved the proofs, you can expect your banners to be delivered in less than a week. Many printing companies also offer discounts if you order banners in bulk, which helps you increase your savings.

A banner is a hardworking ad, promoting your products or services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whether your office or store is open or closed since they do not need any electricity or power source. As drivers and pedestrians see your signage more and more as they pass by, they will become more familiar with your business and eventually pay a visit to your office or store. You can also use banners for outdoor personal events like beach parties and reunions. The signage will help relatives who are coming from out of town to find the party.

About the Author: I’m Kaycee Mabborang, I write for Arete Digital Imaging http://www.aretedi.com a leading large format printing company that provides vehicle wraps, architectural wraps, and banner printing services. I have been producing top quality content at a very quick pace since 2007.

How does international banking work?

International banking or offshore banking is often a plausible solution for small business owners. By definition, offshore banking is banking done in a foreign country. Typically, the country offers favorable tax regulation; it even considered as a tax haven.

With those being said, there are some typical reasons for small business owners to use international banking services:

1. Your small business wants to secure hard-earned profits

You work hard to bring in healthy profits; it’s time for you to secure them, especially when your small business resides in a region with uncertain local economic situation.

2. You are dealing with overseas clients and partners

With an offshore banking account, you can access your money worldwide, making it an ideal solution for you to do business – wherever you are.

3. You want to explore opportunities to plan your small business finance better

Offshore banks allow you to have an account in multiple currencies. With those, you can avoid exchange rate fluctuation. What’s more, you can access your account from anywhere in the world, making it easy for you to secure opportunities easily.

How things work

The concept behind offshore banking is not that complicated, really. Let’s say that offshore banking is a set of products launched by a bank to cater those who have needs to do banking in other countries.

Offshore banking products can consist of offshore savings, offshore investments, forex services, International current account, and more. Typically, offshore banking supports online banking, so you can do transactions over an Internet connection.

International banks are typically for a company doing business internationally and wealthy people. But it’s good to know that there are banks catering to a wider group of people, enabling them to enjoy the benefits of international banking.

International banking: Pros and cons

International banking is certainly not the “ultimate” kind of banking. Just like any other banking products, International banking has its own set of benefits and drawbacks.

Pros

Offers competitive interest rates
Your account is less impacted by local interest rate fluctuations
Easy to access – internationally
Can accommodate you with multiple currencies option for better currency exchange rates
More financial planning and wealth building options via offshore investment, tax planning, and more.

Cons

Due to the issues of international banks (often exposed to money laundering, tax evasion and other illegal financial activities), the government will keep an eye on your account activity – closely.
You can still lose money, as the foreign currencies also fluctuate like domestic currency does.
Due to the location restrictions, physical access is not as easy as domestic accounts.
It’s often available for businesses and individuals with higher incomes.

Should I open an international banking account?

The answer is rather cliche – it all depends on your situation. If you are doing business internationally, opening an offshore banking account might be a good decision. Whichever decision you make, be sure you do your homework in choosing the right offshore banks. You don’t want to be involved with banks related to illegal activities!

Stretching Your Business’ Dollar

When you run your own business, every dime is precious. Cutting costs is crucial, and just because there might not be any obvious ways to do so, doesn’t mean that there aren’t any. In fact, there is almost always some way to run your business more efficiently and with less overhead. Once you have developed an eye for effective cost-cutting measures, you can generate more profit than you ever thought possible.

cost cutting tips
Image by o5com / Flickr

Simple Things

The first thing you should do is look at the cost of your utilities and determine what is actually essential. For instance, many small business owners can do without a landline telephone. Most people use a cell phone as their primary means of communication, and services like Skype and Google Talk are better for teleconferencing than traditional phones. If you must have a landline phone, you could potentially save some money by using a VOIP service like Vonage. Some packages cost as little as $10 per month, and VOIP services generally provide cheaper long distance and international calls than conventional phone services.

Re-Think Your Insurance

If you have more coverage than you need, you can go ahead and drop the extraneous parts of your small business policy without hamstringing yourself in the process. Once you have a decent buffer of cash in your savings account, you may want to opt for a higher deductible in order to lower your monthly premiums.

This kind of thinking extends beyond your home and business space. If you are working out of your house, you can lower your auto insurance costs by reducing the number of miles that your policy covers. This can have a domino effect as less time on the road means that you are much less likely to get into an accident, and your maintenance costs will be drastically lower than someone who has to commute every day. Depending on where you live, it may be possible to reduce your annual auto insurance premiums to a few hundred dollars.

Buy as Much as You Can

You will need lots of supplies to keep your business running smoothly, so make sure to purchase in bulk. Not only is buying in bulk cheaper over the long term, you can deduct the storage space from your taxable income. Even if your business supplies only take up two to five percent of your home storage space, that makes a big difference come tax time.

Use the Cloud

This is one of the biggest things that people overlook. The cloud provides a large number of services ranging from off-site storage to free Web applications that are capable of replacing standard word processing programs. The cloud tends to be cheaper than investing in a number of physical hard drives, and the backups are available from any computer that’s connected to the Internet. The cloud gives small businesses a huge advantage because it allows for greater flexibility and efficiency than the old way of doing things, but many businesses have yet to adapt to the technology.

Barter, Bargain, and When Possible, Get Things for Free

Networking is important for reasons that go beyond drumming up clients or catching wind of new opportunities. Entrepreneurs are more than glad to help each other out, and if you can trade one item you don’t need for something that you want, or you can procure something that you need in exchange for your services, then you may be able to save a lot of money.

There are countless resources devoted to frugal living, and you don’t have to go off-the-grid in order to opt out of the usual consumerist claptrap. If you learn the best ways to save money and cut spending before you hit rough times, you have a much higher chance of keeping yourself and your business afloat until the worst of it passes.

Geoffrey Williams blogs about good deals on car insurance for small business owners. If you are looking for affordable and reliable car insurance, try carinsurance.org.uk, where you can compare quotes.

How does international trade affect small businesses

When your small business has finally made it to go beyond the local boundaries, you will soon realize that it’s a whole different ball game out there. There are great markets to tap, meaning there are more golden opportunities available for you. Indeed, International trade is lucrative, but if you are not careful, you will get burnt out trying to putting off fire here and there.

International business
Image by bpsusf / Flickr

To help you do your due diligence, there are some issues you should address when trading Internationally – either exporting or importing:

1. Foreign exchange rate issues in making and taking payments

The fluctuative nature of foreign exchange rates can pose a threat to your small business in the form of currency risk. If you are not careful, your business might not be as profitable as expected. With that being said, you should start to benefit from corporate FX.

2. Shipping woes

Shipping is very important in getting your products delivered to your customers. There are some issues you need to be aware of, such as late delivery, damaged products during shipment, and so on – not mentioning how to handle returns effectively from your clients abroad. Making sure you understand the shipping terms and conditions can help you avoid potential disputes in the future.

3. Regional policies and regulations

Getting your products rejected and returned by the customs office – even worse, seized – abroad will negatively impact your reputation – not mentioning the loss of profits. Understanding the policies and regulations is the right thing to do when you are about to export your products overseas.

4. Cultural clash

Building a partnership with an International partner can be a complex issue as there are some sensitive matters involved in the deal making process. Understanding the culture of your International partners can help you close more sales, as well as opening up more windows of opportunity for you.

Responding to those warnings above will not only give you the edge in International trading, but also help you to gain trusts. And believe me, a trust is not something you can buy; it’s earned.

The Many Hats of Small Business Ownership

Small Business Owners Wear Many Hats… One at a Time.

As you launch your own business, you inevitably will “wear many hats.” Of course, day-to-day operations will require frequent changes of hat and headgear, but you always must remember, when you don more than one hat at a time, you just look and act silly. More importantly, you absolutely cannot change your mind each time you change your hat. Change-up the millinery as circumstances demand, but make sure each new brim contributes to building the business by commanding customers’ loyalty.

Pat on his Mac (next to another Mac)
Image by Kevin Galens / Flickr

Maintain Your Priorities and Solve Urgent Problems

Before you celebrate your grand opening, take time to examine your entire hat collection, assessing the relative importance of each. The collection surely will include marketing, public relations, advertising, accounting, finance, IT, forecasting and planning; as the business grows, you will add personnel management and training. Day by day, your profit-and-loss, your market share and the quality of your competition may influence your hat selection, but do not allow exigency or expedience to prevail over your genuine priorities. Baseball caps and hard-hats come and go, but your dedication to building the business persists. Therefore, go to the hat tree with a realistic sense of what to wear in the moment and throughout the day.

Customer service always comes first

Inventory management and marketing always seem urgent, but they never become so urgent you cannot set them aside and devote your undivided attention to a customer’s needs. You always have known this cardinal principle of good business, but the pace, distraction and stress of running a one-man-show may cause temporary lapses of memory. A well-chosen customer service cap will keep you safe.

Become exceptionally skilled at problem-solving

Skilled problem-solvers develop their powers of discernment, and they use those powers to determine which problems they can solve with their own resources and which require professional intervention. In order to remain focused on building your business, call-in qualified people to fix urgent problems outside your areas of expertise. If you cannot fix a toilet, call a plumber. If you cannot do taxes, call a CPA. In general, if you cannot see cause and solution in a problem’s symptoms, call an expert.

Dedicate your best efforts to building your business

Choose your hat with consummate respect for your own time, talent and temperament. If you have exceptional marketing and public relations skills, devote lots of time and energy to using them in service of boosting revenues. Conversely, if you have little accounting skill, devote even more effort to marketing so that you generate enough revenue to hire a bookkeeper. Even as you wear your PR hat, though, keep scanning the horizon for customers in need of your special attention.

Take time for reflection

No need to hire a small business consultant. Your conscience and intuition will tell you exactly where you went wrong, and they will outline the best ways to fix your mistakes. Take time each day for serious reflection, asking three essential questions: First, find courage to ask, “Where did I go wrong?” Then summon insight and imagination as you ask, “What can I do better?” Third, reward yourself as you consider, “What did I do well, and how can I do more of it?” Record your thoughts in a journal. Make journal-writing the last item on each day’s to-do list, using it to complete the day’s business and anticipate what comes next.

Add a mortarboard to your hat collection

When your journal routinely calls your attention to a big vacancy in your hat collection, fill the empty spot by going back to school. Several reputable online universities offer advanced business degrees in entrepreneurship. Because you take just one class at a time and you complete the work online, you can focus and study according to your schedule. Andrew Shigeru, an MBA student at Ashford University, exults, “I immediately can apply the benefits of each class session and every discussion in the next day’s work. I feel myself becoming more skilled and professional literally every day.” (interview. 2012. July 7)

Recruit dedicated staff

As your business grows, promote staffing to second place on your list of priorities. When you recruit devoted employees to wear hats that do not fit you well or complement your complexion, you relieve much of your stress and gain time for wearing your own favorite hat, the one that always has held a little magic and inspired your best work.

About the Author: Kelly Smith is a full-time writer for higher ed blogs and journals nationwide with a focus on online education opportunities. Several schools offer online degrees in strategic management, including New England College and Quinnipiac University.