Smoothing Out Some Processes

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Think about how your business is run as a whole. We know that there are going to be some areas that just don’t flow. Some areas that might be holding you back somewhat. We’re sure that you want your business to be a perfectly well oiled machine, but the truth is, it just isn’t going to happen. Sometimes, your business is just going to stay a little rough around the edges. But, as long as you have the main internal processes smoothed out, then your business should be able to go from strength to strength. Plus, we think we know a few different areas that your business might be struggling with a little. And, what’s even better, we think we know a few ways that we can iron out the processes so they’re crease free. If your business needs a little bit of help, have a read of the pointers we’ve got below, and see if we can smooth out those processes for you!

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Smoother Sales

You should always be looking for some smoother sales when it comes to your business. There’s nothing worse than delay after delay happening to your company, but, it’s something that a lot of business owners actually have to deal with. So, if you want smoother sales, one thing you could try is a new point of sale for your small business. This is going to be perfect for those of you who have a shop floor where you make your sales. It works by giving you a system on a tablet that you can use in your store. It connects to card machines, and is easy to use. But, it doesn’t stop there. It will then allow you to analyse your finances for the day, and then allow you to see your profits and losses. It will also allow you to manage your inventory. So, as an all rounder, this really will smooth out your sales processes in store, as everything will be on one app.

Smoother Management

Management of your company is one of the biggest areas that you’ll have to manage, and you’re already going to be fully aware that it’s not as easy as you would think it would be! If you want to do this right, you’re going to have to find out where your flaws are at the minute. For a lot of companies, we believe that a lack of communication is to blame here. If you’re not communicating down the chain of command, you’re going to have a shambles at your feet. The more you talk about problems that people are having, the better you’re going to understand the company, and the better you’re going to be able to manage.

Smoother Marketing

Smoother marketing is essential if you want your company to grow. If you aren’t really putting much effort into a campaign at the minute, then this is what needs to change. You need to have a clear marketing plan, and the best way to do this is to get in touch with a marketing company who is going to run a good campaign for you. If you want your marketing campaign to work, you’re going to have to have a good company to carry you!

Make The Best Use Of Your Time – Outsource!

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Finances are tight at the launch of most new businesses, especially if you factor in the costs associated with employing staff and renting premises. There are ways of cutting costs and one way is to outsource a lot of the essential tasks to freelancers. Outsourcing will lower the number of staff you will need to employ on a permanent basis. Freelancers only get paid for the work they complete and won’t require holiday and sick pay. You can tap into the expertise of freelancers on a global scale. Excellent time management is then required for the remaining tasks.

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Time management is a skill in itself! If you don’t want to spend the whole day running around like a “headless chicken” achieving nothing, time management is a skill you need to develop fairly quickly! It is essential to prioritise your workload and ordering your “to do” list should become part of your daily routine.

Did you know that it is possible to hire the expertise of an online receptionist? This will remove a lot of the call answering tasks which can cause interruptions to your day. It is also possible to choose a new phone number with differing area codes relating to different parts of the country or a different country altogether! Take a look to see how much it costs to manage an australia 1800 number.

At the beginning of everyday, write a list of the tasks which need completing. Your next step is to then prioritise this list according to level of importance. If you can delegate any tasks or purchase software to make life easier – do it!

Here are some tips to make time management easier.

Deal with Urgent Tasks First

Sometimes tasks need to be urgently dealt with first. Staffing issues, customer requests and complaints and delivery issues will all need to take priority. Ensure IT systems are working effectively, especially cyber security software as you don’t want to be vulnerable to a data breach.

Project Deadlines

Your next tasks to take priority will be those related to deadlines. It is essential to meet certain deadlines in order to maintain customer and supplier satisfaction. Your deadlines may relate to accounting issues and if you don’t meet them you may incur hefty fines.

Phone Calls and Emails

If you answer the phone or open an email every time it rings or pings into your inbox you won’t get a great deal of work completed. Switch on the answer phone and turn off email notifications. Of course they do need to be dealt with eventually, but to make the best use of your time it would be a good idea to allocate a window in your schedule simply for responding to answerphone messages and emails.

Speaking by telephone is an essential form of communication. Many customers will prefer to speak to a real person as it gives the personal touch. To lower the amount of calls received ensure there is plenty of information on your website, which covers some of the more common queries. Perhaps consider having a “frequently asked questions” tab on your website.

To reduce the number of queries you receive by telephone ensure that you have sufficient information on your website and other promotional media to answer most common questions.

Outsource

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Even the best time managers in the world would struggle to complete all the necessary tasks needed to run a successful business alone. Being frugal may be a priority but you should put aside some funds which will enable you to outsource certain tasks. You will need to avoid trying to do everything yourself as you will quickly burn out. Any investment you make is likely to be returned tenfold, especially as it will allow you more time to concentrate on generating sales, without sales your business won’t be viable!

Research has shown that 80% of a business owners time should be spent on generating leads and making sales.The internet has opened up the opportunity to connect with freelancers on a global scale.

There are some tasks which naturally lend themselves to being outsourced.

Accounting Tasks

Keeping an accurate set of accounts is essential, it is also tedious and time consuming! Some people love the accounting side of running a business but if keeping your books straight is not your “thing” it would be worth outsourcing this task to an experienced bookkeeper on a freelance basis. An accountant would also be useful at tax return deadlines.

Social Media Management

Social media is a relatively new phenomenon, but it has very quickly escalated into becoming a major marketing tool. Social media platforms literally allow you to promote your business to thousands if not millions of potential customers. The downside to social media marketing is that it is very time consuming. To stay engaged on platforms you need to interact and post regularly. You also need to be available to respond to queries 24/7. It would make sense to employ a social media manager, who could concentrate on building up your followers as well as a rapport with future and existing customers.

Virtual PA

It is now possible to employ a virtual PA, who can undertake all the tasks normally associated with a secretary in the traditional sense. A good PA will ensure records are up to date, complete paperwork, write up minutes and store data safely. All these tasks take time and if you have delegated them elsewhere you will free up lots of time.

For outsourcing to be successful you need to adopt excellent forms of communication. You will not see the freelancer in person so any instructions need to be clearly communicated in the written word as well as spoken. This will ensure that information isn’t misinterpreted and everyone will be working to the same goal.

When choosing a freelancer to outsource tasks to, be wary. Ensure that you can view examples of previous work and follow up references. There are so many people to choose from it’s important to realise that the cheapest isn’t likely to be the best, it’s also fair to say that the most expensive isn’t always the best either! Go for middle ground.

Is It Time To Start Purchasing Your Own Business Assets In Abundance?

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Most businesses rely on the use of outsourcing, hiring other businesses, and using connections for niche supplies. This is quite obviously worthwhile. Not every business can be Google, a corporation with seemingly endless reach and a finger in every pie. However, as your business begins to really gain in profitability, and you decide to invest that back into your operation each year, it’s not hard to see how purchasing your own business assets might become a great long-term cost-saving scenario.

Is it time that you did this? There are many reasons for doing so, and if you have the funding to play with, you could potentially benefit in the following ways:

Transport & Delivery

Could it be that it’s time to branch out into your own logistics solutions? Purchasing your own vans and hiring your own drivers could help you not only ship your goods in a more competent timeframe but save you money in the long term, as the cost of upkeep often beats the cost of renting a service. This is only worthwhile if you ship many, many products nationally. However, if you do, your vans may serve as free marketing as they drive on public highways to get to the destination, and can often pass tens of thousands of cars in the process, effectively serving as a mobile billboard.

Construction

It might be that you own large plots of land, and purchasing your own equipment to help you retrofit this area for your own purposes can help you save plenty of money in the long terms. Simply looking online in the direction of cranes for sale, generators and hired construction services to come to a B2B relationship with could slash the cost of your construction, allowing you to extend offices, generate new lots or custom fit current property to your requirements.

Merchandising

Merchandising is, of course, one of the best methods of natural marketing. Having many pens made, or perhaps a set of mugs for distribution throughout your office can help your name and contact information travel. Merchandising can also become a larger investment opportunity. It might be that you print clothing designs, or decide to have more significant, long-term items made featuring your company names, such as mousemats or even skins for phones. These assets not only help you outfit your office with a personal touch, but often travel wide and far, and can be used as free and mass produced marketing. You’d be surprised how far these merchandising efforts can travel, sometimes around the world.

Property

Purchasing property can serve as a long form use of tying up cash in tangible assets. You may decide to profit from these properties, or generally utilize them to help your business expansion. Property is perhaps one of the most reliable assets you can purchase owner. It’s certainly good to keep in your business inventory.

With these simple investments, purchasing your own business assets in abundance is sure to reward you in the long term.

Finding The Profit In The Food Market

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The food market is a tricky one. People are always in need of food, after all, but it can be hard to find your space amongst the huge producers with enough volume to make your home-grown business look like a lemonade stand. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find your place, however. Here are a few tips on how to do it.

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Increase production, lower costs

Profit in the food industry requires that you’re able to produce a certain amount of goods. Finding ways to lower costs while increasing volume is crucial. Investing in industry-level equipment from manufacturers like Fertilizer Dealer allow you to more efficiently store and distribute fertilizer, for instance, cutting down on the costs of that particular process. If you can’t produce enough of a volume to make up for the costs of producing the food in the first place, you should look into other options.

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Focus on a niche

Being able to produce enough to make a profit is and will always be important. However, there are certain products that have a lot more value per kilo. No matter the industry, finding your niche can be immensely profitable, if it’s large enough to sustain the business. Right now, in food production, hops for homebrewing and ginger are two of the biggest niches. Keep an eye out on agricultural and food business reports to see what the next hot-ticket items are. Keep the space you have aside for the next niche you’re able to capitalize on. For a smaller farm or food production business, one niche can be enough to keep the business profitable enough to grow.

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Find new markets

Who are you selling to? Farmer’s markets have their audience, but it might not be enough to do much more than keep the business sustainable. If you want to make it profitable instead, then you might need to look at finding different markets. As Local Food Marketplace suggests, you can start selling ingredients to restaurants who would benefit from being able to brand their food as being organically grown and locally sourced. The same goes for grocers and retailers in your area, too.

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Lease what you don’t use

If you don’t have the capital or equipment to make use of all the land at your disposal, you don’t necessarily have to use it. Instead, you can make money off it by leasing it to other farmers or producers as shown at Farmland Info. Similarly, if you bought equipment in the past but haven’t had as much use to it, you can lease that as well. Not only are you making money off assets that you’re not using, but you’re also sustaining the business ecosystem by providing resources that other business owners do need.

Small farm owners and homesteaders do not have the space nor the capital to compete head-to-head with the massive food production corporations out there. They simply don’t. They can, however, still find a profit by being smarter in how and what they produce, as well as how they use the assets at their disposal.

How To Monetize Your Free Content Online

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It’s interesting to see just how free content is being given online, in exchange to build communities and potential exposure. From YouTube content to Twitch streaming to a plethora of interesting podcasts, it’s easy to see just how the bulk of online content has shifted from upfront monetization to a subtler approach. There are reasons as to why this is. The on-demand nature of many services means that placing monetization gateways before access can prevent many people from engaging with the work from the get-go, and sometimes it’s best to draw people in before you expect a form of transaction.

There is also the issue of online piracy. Why allow people to steal your show when you could provide it for them on an upfront scale? Also, trends in how content is delivered in the first place (YouTube, Podcasts) are frequently offering access at no cost, and that has led to a culture of content providers feeling little pressure to publish content frequently.

Let’s say you run a podcast. How can you monetize this free content in a way that keeps your operation sustained? Consider the following methods:

Promotion

Just like paid content, you need to promote. In fact, you usually need to promote more in these instances. As well as your content being offered, you should also draw attention to your other means of monetization. This could be a business email address should sponsors wish to contact you. You could choose to use email marketing software to generate interesting copy, for news about your show, or to present new deals on offer via your store. You might archive old episodes and sell premium access to that. You may release certain content a day or two early, allowing paying or donating customers to access that in return. When promoting your goods, it’s important to direct to both a renewed interest and your monetization efforts in a mutual balance.

Merchandise

Merchandise is important to get right. To use the podcast example, using in-jokes from the show to create clothing with subtle text references could help your audience feel part of a secret club. Merchandise can also extend to premium lighters, mugs, pillow cases among many other things. Developing your brand to a strong and attractive point can help you sell these once in a while. Consider expensive, low availability items to generate the ‘limited edition mindset,’ helping you both rely on an easy to gauge income, and to help your listeners or general audience take action.

Funding Sites

There are many alternate funding sites that can be used to support content. In the wake of advertisers regulating content harshly on YouTube, more and more content creators turned to websites like Patreon, and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter to help fund new content. Consider selling premium access to higher levels of your output, and you can be sure that a platform of support in exchange for better content or surrounding content can help you in no small degree.

With these simple monetization efforts, your content is sure to be easy to sustain in the long term.