business | BizSieve.com

Business Isn’t Always Glamorous

When many of us think of long-term, sustainable profits we may envision a large multinational import-export company or a banking conglomerate generating billions in revenue each year. While these sectors are all indeed vital to the economy and can pull in uncounted millions, an often-times overlooked area that offers the opportunity to produce a steady and dependable income stream is the area of waste management. Let us get a better understanding as to why this industry is one of the most profitable business sectors.

Trash Does Not Disappear

Whether we find ourselves in a booming economy or one where the word “crisis” tops the headlines more often than we would prefer, societies still generate rubbish. Simply because an economic downturn may grip a region does not mean that people are consuming less goods. In fact, there may actually be more trash and junk to collect as individuals and households relocate; leaving massive piles of refuse and goods on the street. Therefore, the fist advantage of junk removal is the simple fact that there will always be business.

Better Usage of Waste Materials

The days of taking a few tons of trash and depositing them in an unsightly landfill are quickly coming to a close. 21st century environmental policies now dictate that much of the waste generated must either be recycled or even used as an alternative source of energy production. Thus, the waste industry has rapidly “gone green”. The main advantage here is that this situation gives junk removal companies the ability to diversify their current operations. This allows waste industries to realise more profits as they now can offer a valuable commodity to other organisations. Many CEOs are highly aware of this, as seen in this article.

Government Subsidies

Another benefit not to be overlooked is the fact that many governments are now providing handsome subsidies to those companies who develop and maintain environmentally-friendly policies. This lower carbon footprint is actively encouraged and industries such as waste management have the ability to take advantage of this extra influx of funds. Also, let us not forget that these more ecologically-aware policies will help protect our environment for generations to come.

Turning Trash into Cash

While these aforementioned benefits are particularly relevant for larger corporations, let us not forget that smaller enterprises can benefit from other aspects of junk removal. Not only can one person’s trash be another person’s treasure (as in the form of antique furniture, copper pipes, etc.) but due to the fact that we live in what has been called a disposable society, older electronic devices are more frequently thrown away. There are many rare-earth metals in this equipment including silver, palladium and even gold. Many smaller disposal companies will actually reprocess these for the metals they contain and turn a considerable profit from what would otherwise be simply known as refuse.

So, it is easy to understand why waster disposal represents a significant income opportunity. Although not the prettiest of industries, the profits that can be generated are quite attractive.

About the Author: John is a freelance business feature writer working with Skip & Bin hire in the UK – a comparison site for waste management services who work with skip hire companies to help promote their best deals when availability is high.

Does Your Company Need a PEO?

Owning a business requires time, patience and a great deal of effort to ensure its success and longevity. A professional employer organization (PEO) will spend time researching your business needs and deliver a cost-effective plan to meet them. Instead of endless piles of paperwork, staying current with employee regulations and interviewing, you can focus your attention on running your company.

*Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/7214600922/*

PEO FAQ

1. What is a PEO?

Professional Employer Organization may be an unfamiliar term, but they are extremely valuable. A PEO provides a variety of services that includes human resources functions, payroll assistance, safety and employment resolutions, regulatory compliance, professional orientation and much more.

2. How can a PEO Benefit Your Business?

Improve the safety of the workplace environment through seminars and training workshops.
Oversee worker’s compensation issues and follow-up on injuries or claims.
Control spending by focusing on their primary duties instead of tedious work.
Reduce payroll and wasteful accounting expenses.
Implement and structure human resource services such as company policies, employee handbooks and vacation scheduling.
Refocus the attention on revenue generating tasks such as sales and marketing strategies to help the company grow and flourish.
Manage employee health and dental benefits.
Stay on top of current regulations and compliance in regard to end of the year reports, state laws and filing any necessary documentation pertaining to the guidelines.

3. How will a PEO Improve my Workplace Environment?

In addition to the many benefits a PEO can provide for your business, the remainder of the employees in your workplace will reap just as many rewards through their outsourcing.

Efficient and timely payroll services – No longer will you have to worry about payroll and getting paychecks out to your employees in a timely fashion. This is part of a PEO’s job and can take the headache out of tallying up regular, overtime and salaried hours for the employees and making sure everyone gets their check when they are supposed to. Managing the correct deductions is just as important when it pertains to insurance, expense and tax related issues.
Improved employee/employer communication – Proper communication is necessary for any successful business and a PEO can ensure that a company stays on top of important dates such as employee reviews, insurance deadlines and other relatable items.
Maintain a peaceful environment – A professional and knowledgeable PEO can take all of the worry out of managing a proper business by providing guidance on legal compliance, safety and risk management services for your company.

If you’re company is having trouble staying on task with their benefits, unable to set a budget for monetary compensation to your employees or having issues with human resource maintenance and employee hiring, it may be time to hire a professional employer organization. A PEO can get your business on the road to effective planning and help the company stay focused on growth.

About the Author: Researcher Shelby Warden writes articles to help small business owners reach their goals. Since 1997 Midwest HR has been identifying new, cutting-edge ways to positively affect the bottom line and overall growth of businesses of all sizes. Read their extensive PEO FAQ for more details on how a PEO can help with payroll, tax administration, risk management, worker’s compensation and legal compliance.

Quick Tips For Reducing The Cost Of Doing Business

No business can afford to pass up on any form of cost saving tips in this tough economy. There are always ways that you can cut back on your business’ expenses without sacrificing quality, but you need to look for them. If you are not actively searching for lower prices, how do you know that you are not paying too much?

coins — License: Creative Commons href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/meshal/40297406/sizes/z/in/photostream/” rel=”nofollow”>image source

Here are a few quick tips for reducing the cost of doing business:

Audit business expenses

Every company needs to analysis and justify each business expense a few times each year. Make it a part of your quarterly strategy or at least annually and always start by re-quoting your supplies. If you don’t find a better deal out there, you can always negotiate lower prices or better terms with your existing suppliers.

Increase staff productivity

In today’s modern world, the first step to improving productivity is searching for technological advancements. Manual entry is a thing of the past and there are now automated systems for nearly anything you need to accomplish in a typical business day. There are automated marketing systems, invoice generators, and automatic order processing, including payment. The less time your staff is spending on entering paperwork means more time they can be spending on innovation and growth.

Cut staff if needed

You may also discuss some positions are not as necessary as you think. For example, if you only need to process less than fifty invoices per week (which is typical for a small business), then you probably don’t need to hire a full-time bookkeeper. You could enter the transactions yourself in less than an hour and save a considerable amount on labor expenses.

Use video-conferencing instead of meeting in person

To save the expense of commuting between locations, try using video-conferencing whenever possible. If you also use file sharing program like Google Drive, you can both even work on the same document without having to email it back and forth.

Use less expensive forms of marketing

Social media marketing is being used by more big business as a way to connect on a more person level with potential consumers. It is relatively inexpensive, especially when you compare it to all other mediums for global advertising. Create an engaging website, an interactive blog, a fun Facebook page, and an intriguing Twitter feed.

Reduce your paper costs

You can save time and money by switching to paper saving online solutions. Use email, online calendars, and online billing software to reduce the amount of paper you use. If you email invoices directly to your customers, you will save on both paper and stamps!

Take action and start saving money today by auditing your business expenses, increase productivity, take advantage of video-conferencing, use inexpensive marketing methods, and reduce your paper cost. These little things can add up to an incredible savings for your company.

About the Author: The article is posted by Gerwyn Wallto. You can find other related articles here.

When, What And How To Outsource

If you’re running an expanding small business it can be difficult to know what you can do in-house, and what you should outsource. There are special circumstances for both – what your company actually does, how reliant you are on the service, and what resources and money are available to you – but there are also general rules that can and should be applied when the decision to outsource is made.

When to Outsource

You need to evaluate what you can do effectively and economically in-house first, naturally.

Running a small business eats up a lot of your time. If you find that you’re cutting time and resources from the jobs integral to your business, just so you can do tasks such as bookkeeping and payroll – it’s worth considering outsourcing.

However, when judging the relative value-for-investment returns offered by outsourcing versus in-house work, don’t just include the cost.

The skills your staff have built up while working for you, their familiarity with your business and your needs, and their greater reliability can all be hidden advantages to using in-house services. So even if it works out more expensive to do everything in-house, you might decide that paying a premium for reliability and known quantities is well worth it.

Conversely, you might decide that your staff’s skills make their time more valuable in real terms than the amount you are paying them – so even if a freelancer costs more, your in-house staff could spend their time better.

Finally, make sure that no editing is required. Editing of outsourced writing or coding might take no more than 15 minutes a pop, but it still adds costs on top of costs. Your time, and the time of your employees, is valuable. Be absolutely sure that you factor in the time-cost of editing outsourced work.

outsourcing dilemma
Image by: Robbert van der Steeg.

What to Outsource

The benefits of outsourcing are that you get to shift tasks that may have been sapping a lot of time and a great deal of money from your company simply because your workforce doesn’t have the skills or motivation to perform these tasks quickly and effectively.

Don’t ever outsource something just because it’s not an enjoyable task. You need to consider whether that task is one of the important things that people come to your business for – give that up, and you’ll compromise your standing as a company.

Do, however, consider whether a task is taking longer because your skilled and professional staff are given no motivation to complete it quickly – that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should outsource the task in any case like this, just that it is an option to be looked at.

Outsourcing data entry tasks might be worth it, for instance, if your company’s paid staff are mostly writers, and thus aren’t interested enough in the task to complete it quickly. If there are opportunities within the company related to data entry, however (being in charge of Content Management Systems, for example), you might find that the work gets completed very quickly and efficiently indeed.

There’s little point in punishing staff for completing boring work slowly, though – it’s easier and creates less ill-will to outsource the work to somebody who gets paid more if they work faster and harder!

There are a lot of tasks that make sense for most businesses to outsource because teaching someone the skills required doesn’t make sense given the limited time they’ll be spending on the task.

Bookkeeping and payroll only generally take half a day a week, so there’s little point in training someone in-house specifically to do that. Similarly, there’s hardly any point in hiring an IT guy if your company consists of relatively few computers – it makes more sense to bring in freelancers.

How to Outsource

When you’ve decided what you need to outsource, shop around for the best deal. Think about what packages are on offer, and whether you need to choose someone local or not. Anything where you might need an on-site visit (for example, IT management or office interiors) will need to be local, with say, an hour of where you are based, whereas tasks that only involve digital communication are fine to be based further afield.

It’s not necessarily a good idea to outsource overseas – even though the costs might be compelling, often you get what you pay for, and your service may suffer.

Think of how comprehensive the service needs to be, and don’t be afraid to negotiate on prices and what you think should be included. Many companies offer flexible rates, depending on both the service and the business.

Outsourcing should be utilised to complement your key business objectives. Ideally it should be implemented to allow your skilled workforce to concentrate on their primary role. If this is done correctly, you will see your business grow and achieve success.

Any outsourcing horror stories to share? Great successes? Let us know in the comments!

About the Author: James Duval is an IT-for-business specialist who is addicted to his Xbox. He writes blog posts for Interaction UK London.

Get Ready For The Trade Show Season

Trade show season is almost upon us! In fact, for some industries, it’s already begun. Toy Fair took place last month, Auto Shows are already taking place, and next month will see the Gadget Show Live along with the first of Europe’s major Games Festivals. If you want to make an impact this year, you’d better start planning your booth, and contacting trailer producers and poster printers now!

trade show tips — Are you ready for 2012 trade show season?

Trade Shows or Festivals?

The state of the economy right now means that many business owners can’t afford to attend several events per year, so they have to plan their events strategy carefully, taking their display trailers only to the events with the biggest impact. The trick is figuring out what kind of impact you want, and who you’re trying to reach.

Sponsoring festivals and sporting events is a good way to raise brand awareness and generate goodwill. If your message is a simple one, such as “Come buy your guitars from our music shop”, or “We sell football kits”, then generating awareness in this way is a good start.

If your message is more complicated, or you want to reach a wider range of people than you would at a local event, then you should consider attending a trade show. Some trade events are industry only – such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. This event is attended by international press, investors, video game publishers, and buyers for stores from all over the world. If you’re preparing to launch a product, and want to generate a lot of buzz, this is the place to do it.

Other events are open to the public. At public events, there are a lot of companies competing for the attention of the visitors, and in many industries there’s an ever-increasing battle to produce the flashiest display trailers, offer the best swag, and pull the biggest publicity stunts. If you’re on a tight budget, getting into this kind of battle is a bad idea, unless you’re sure that you can create a lasting impression. People who visit your booth for a free inflatable sword and shield or other crazy gift set won’t buy your product – but people who visit your booth to demo your product and pick up a catalogue might well turn into customers later.

Keeping Costs Down

Trade shows are great for networking. Ideally, you should try to attend any shows that are local to you, and also try to find room in your budget for a major, highly respected show elsewhere. The power of being able to say “As seen at the Frankfurt Auto Show” should not be underestimated.

To keep costs down, start negotiating with trailer producers early, and show space as soon as you can to take advantage of early bird discounts. Try to get bulk discounts for posters, business cards, and other essentials. While you’re at the show, take advantage of any networking opportunities – get out there and hand out cards to people at other stands, and take the time to see what other people are doing. Trade shows aren’t just good ways to spread the word about what you’re doing – they’re good ways to find out what’s happening in the rest of your industry too.

Image: Yodel Anecdotal / Flickr