Relocating Your Business Internationally: A Guide

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Relocating Your Business Internationally: A GuideDeciding to relocate your business can come down to a number of factors. Perhaps your service or goods would find more success in a different country. Maybe you’re ready for a new challenge, or a family reason has prompted the move. No matter why you want to move to a new location, there are several considerations you need to keep in mind to ensure it runs smoothly.

The Location

If you’re moving due to a family reason, you will no doubt already have a location in mind. Perhaps your partner or spouse would like to return to their home country. However, if you are relocating to find a new challenge, determining the best place can be tricky. Would your products work better in a hotter climate? Or are they ideal for a country which experiences harsh winters?

Once you’ve chosen the location, you should begin to look for the best place not only for your business to be located but for you and your family also. It’s a challenge to view new homes online, so if you can, try to plan a visit where you can visit a number of properties before choosing one. If you have decided to move to Egypt, for example, Capital Egypt specializes in real estate Egypt and will help you find the ideal property.

Create a New Business Plan

When you began your business, you will have created a business plan. This critical plan will have detailed your idea, the funding you required, the profit you expected to hit in the first year and beyond, and more. However, it’s likely that in a new country, this business plan will not be applicable. That’s because the market will be different, you’ll face different challenges, and you may even require extra funding to get the business off the ground quickly. For that reason alone, it’s time to create a new plan, one which takes into account the new market.

Research the Market Thoroughly

Following on from the above point, when you are relocating your business to a new country, it’s crucial you research the market you’ll be entering. Who will your target audience be? It may be very different from your current audience, depending on the see economic climate, lifestyles, and more. Your market will also be able to show you if you require further funding once you arrive in the new location, or whether you will be getting more bang for your buck once you move.

The Legalities

The legal structure which you used in your home country may be completely different from your new location. In the UK, should you employ workers, you will need to adhere to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Equal Pay Act 1970, to name a few. In contrast, to carry out any business in Egypt, a foreign investor must either establish an Egyptian subsidiary or a brand, which will typically be a joint stock company or a limited liability company. Ensure you are aware of your legal status before making the move.

 

Protecting Your Personal Finances When Starting a Tech Business

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | Protecting Your Personal Finances When Starting a Tech BusinessAre you finally ready to build your dream of starting your own tech business? If so, you may be concerned about how your business will impact on the personal and family finances that you are responsible for. However, there are many ways that you can help to both protect your business and your family at the same time when starting your tech company, and this guide will provide an FAQ to help you.

How can you finance your business?

If you are thinking about starting your tech business, then you may be worried about how to get the right amount of capital if you do not have the full amount in personal savings. However, there are many ways to finance a business without dipping into your savings. These include finding funding from the government or a business awards scheme which can provide you with the funding that you need to research and produce your innovation.

You may also be able to find an angel investor through attending networking events or create a crowdfunding campaign where the public can help to contribute towards your business on websites such as Kickstarter. You should also look into getting loans from your friends and family as these will help to support you without the interest of bank loans.

How can you keep business and personal finances separate?

Many new businesswomen are concerned about their ability to both support their family and create their business from scratch, even though it is possible to do so. To keep your personal and business finance separate, you should create separate personal and business bank accounts, enabling you to keep track of your expenditure for both, know how much profit you are making in a glance, as well as how much money you have to re-invest into your business easily, and allow you to fill out tax returns quickly.

You should also set yourself a business budget and a personal salary to enable you to split your money into reinvestment and family funds and to ensure that you have enough money for both of your purposes. This will stop you from exceeding the amount of expenditure that you can afford. You should also consider employing a financial advisor who can help to separate your expenditure and advise you on how to manage your finances more effectively.

What should you do if you are struggling financially?

If you do find that you are struggling to manage your personal finances successfully, you should consider taking out a personal Quick Loan, such as those provided by Cash Lady between £100 and £2000. This can help you to deal with any unexpected expenses that you have at the same time as building up your business which you have failed to budget for, as well as helping you to balance your personal and business finances more effectively until you are able to manage these and repay the loan that you have taken out.

 

Tips For Planning A Successful Business Event

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Tips For Planning A Successful Business EventOrganizing a successful business event takes time and careful planning, whether you’re holding a small event for 20 people, or arranging a huge company-wide conference for hundreds of attendees. Whatever your reason for holding an event, here are some top tips to help you plan a successful business event and ensure that everything runs smoothly on the day.

Consider your budget

Before you can start planning your business event, it is vital that you determine what funds you have available so you can create an event budget. You need to plan carefully to ensure that every necessary element of your event is covered. For example, you could consider cheaper catering options to allow you to invite more guests to your event. However, on occasions where brand image is essential, you may choose to host fewer attendees to allow higher-end catering at the event. Remember that your budget should include things like catering services, venue hire, guest speaker fees, equipment rental, and supplies. You can look online for advice on how to create an event budget.

Choose the perfect venue

Remember that first impressions count, so wowing your guests with an impressive venue is definitely worthwhile. For instance, the award-winning Adelaide Hills Convention Centre offers the perfect conference venue with its modern high-tech facilities and stunning views over the picturesque Mount Lofty Ranges. If you have a small budget, then you can always help dress up a simple room and create an atmosphere with a few finishing touches like flowers and lighting. It is also important to carefully consider the location of your venue; try to choose somewhere that is centrally located and convenient for all attendees to get to. Make sure that you also check for things like free onsite parking and public transport links in the area.

Provide food and drink

When people are attending an event, they will expect some food and drinks to be provided. The style of catering you offer at your business event will largely depend on your budget and number of attendees, but it’s important to remember that quality is generally preferred over quantity. For instance, champagne and canapes will usually give a far better impression than a cheap 3-course meal. Whatever you decide to provide, be sure to make your attendees aware before the event. People are likely to be unhappy if they turn up to your event expecting to be fed, then find that no substantial food is being provided. You should, therefore, include a quick line in your invite outlining what food and drinks will be served at the event.

Think about the guest list

Planning a guest list can be a challenge, and it’s important to think carefully about who you’re going to invite to your event. Remember that the size of your guest list will largely depend on the budget you have available, so make sure you consider which people are your priority. If leaving certain people or groups of people off the guest list is going to cause problems, then you could look for ways to cut back on other areas of your budget to allow you to increase the guest list.

7 Tips for Organizing Your Business Projects

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StrategyDriven Portfolio Management Article 7 Tips for Organizing Your Business ProjectsIf your life is a jumbled mess at work, you’re not alone. Many people feel like they’re running a circus when they walk into their office.

Too many business projects can negatively affect your performance unless you learn how to manage them properly. Organizing your business projects doesn’t have to be a bore.

Continue reading this article to learn how to organize your business and get things done on time.

What You Need to Learn About Organizing Your Business

You might be learning more about getting help in your business. Even if you get help, if you don’t know how to organize your projects properly, you won’t experience progress.

1. Let Your Team Know Your Expectations Early

You can’t take on everything by yourself. Since you can’t take on everything by yourself, your team needs to be on the same page as you.

Letting your team know your expectations early will help keep you on track as well as help keep them on track. If you don’t have anyone looking up to you and counting on you to get things done, it is easy to let things slide.

When your team is watching and everyone knows the expectations you have for them, they will be held accountable and so will you.

2. Create & Follow a Template

Why recreate the wheel? If you’ve done something that worked in the past—keep doing it. Creating a template for your projects can help you save hours on end when you’re working on simple projects.

3. Compare Project Progress to Project Plan

If you don’t have a detailed project plan, it is far too easy for you and your team to fall behind on your projects. One of the best things you can do is to set times you’ll review the project’s progress and compare it to the project plan.

When you compare the progress and the plan, you’ll be able to see where things are going awry so you can fix them as quickly as possible.

4. Set Hard Deadlines for Milestones

Your project plan needs to include hard deadlines. If your team thinks there is leeway in the deadlines, you’ll rarely see them hit their deadlines.

While you don’t have to be hard on your team, you should let them know that you know what they are capable of and that you believe they can hit these milestones. Setting hard deadlines for milestone will keep you out of panic mode at the end of your project and ensure you stay organized and on track.

5. Communicate Frequently

Failure to communicate with your team frequently will result in project failure. If people have a question about a challenge they’re up against, they often don’t want to bother you so they’ll wait until the team meeting.

If you don’t have frequent team meetings, they will be stuck on the problem for quite some time which will delay the project unnecessarily.

6. Create & Stick to a Filing System

When you’re managing multiple projects you may have stacks of papers on your desk. While it does look like you’re busy, it doesn’t mean that you’re productive.

If your papers get mixed up or if you lose paperwork, this can be a major problem. A well-designed filing system can keep you from losing paperwork or making it difficult to find.

You can organize your filing system alphabetically but also consider color coding and splitting up different projects into their own filing cabinets to make things even easier when you’re trying to access files for a given project.

7. Use Project Management Software

The web can get pretty sticky and that is where much of your information is. If you don’t use project management software, you’re making your life unnecessarily difficult.

When you use project management software, you’ll be able to share digital files with your team in a click of a button. You’ll also be able to communicate about files and folders so everyone is on the same track.

While you do need your offline hard copies of files and folders, having information available in the cloud will reduce the amount of tag you need to play with your team. Almost all project management software is searchable as well so if you want to find a file, just type in the name and the results will be there for you.

Bonus Tips

When you want to keep your business projects in line, it helps if you have the rest of your business in hand as well. If your books are going wild and you aren’t on track with your taxes, you’re putting more stress on yourself than necessary.

Meeting with an accountant to make sure your books are in order, purging your office of anything you don’t need and even cleaning up your inbox can make it easier for you to run your business and all of its projects.

The small things you aren’t taking care of can add up to major problems that slow your business down and keep you from getting necessary work done. If you can’t get things in order on your own, delegate it to team members that work well in those areas.

Learn More Tips to Up-Level Your Business

Now that you know about organizing your business, why not get even more information to help your business? We have many articles on various business topics that can help you grow your business.

Navigate through our site, find your favorite section, drop a bookmark and come back later for more great reads.

 

A Guide To Starting A Home Mechanic Business

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | A Guide To Starting A Home Mechanic BusinessAnyone that knows their way around under the hood of a car and is looking for a rewarding way to earn money from home should consider starting their own mechanic business. You can be a self-employed mechanic and earn a good living working from the comfort of your own home and get to work on cars every day. People always need the services of a reliable mechanic so the work can be stable and being able to work from home gives you good work-life balance, and the ability to put yourself in control of your earnings. Read on for advice on becoming a self-employed mechanic.

Treat It Like A Business

Although you can operate out of your own garage, it is still important to treat this like a proper business and to go through all the proper channels. This will involve:

  • Carrying out market research
  • Writing a business plan
  • Securing funding
  • Registering as self-employed

Set Up Your Garage

Of course, in order to be a success, you will need to have a suitable work environment for working on cars. A few tips include:

  • Clearing out clutter
  • Investing in high-quality tools and equipment
  • Having a desk area for paperwork
  • Having a computer with internet access
  • Adequate lighting and ventilation
  • Having a first-aid kit

Insurance

You need to have the right protection in place before you commence business as otherwise, you could be putting your finances and home in jeopardy. Motor trade insurance is one of the most important types to arrange as this will provide cover for any car that you are looking after for professional purposes – you can get motor trade insurance from Tradex which will provide the cover that you need.

Running The Business

You will also need to consider the business side of the operation, such as accounting, invoicing, web presence, and marketing. These are all key areas which will need as much attention as the car repair work. You can either teach yourself how to handle these areas (which can be interesting and rewarding), or you could hire somebody to help you.

Building A Reputation

Developing a positive reputation is vital to success in this industry. This can be challenging when you first start out, but you can get early business by offering reduced rates to friends and family. You can then build a positive reputation by:

  • Encouraging word-of-mouth marketing
  • Using customer reviews on your website and social media
  • Partnering with relevant local businesses (like a car dealership)
  • Advertising online and offline

The information in this guide should give you the confidence and knowledge required to set up your own garage at home. There is the potential for great success as a self-employed mechanic once you start to develop a positive reputation, plus you have the benefit of being able to work from home which gives you a great work-life balance and allows you to handle any other large responsibilities that you have. Much like any business, it will require hard work and commitment, but it can also be highly rewarding.