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Be The Best Person To Run Your Business

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As much as it’s down to your business idea, you are part of the package when it comes to making your company successful. After all, if you don’t have the right skills, it’s going to affect your business. In fact, you might struggle to find clients if you aren’t winning them over with your passion. Therefore, here are some ways you can ensure you are the best person to run your business.

Get in the right mind frame to run your business

It’s time to work on you for the sake of your company. After all, you need to be in the right mind frame if you want to make a success of your business. Otherwise, it’s likely your company will fall at the first hurdle. For starters, you need to make sure you keep calm when starting your business. Of course, it’s easier said than done launching a company. After all, it’s likely to be one of the most stressful times of your life. But you need to find ways to get rid of stress. For example, it might be getting a helping hand when it comes to certain areas of your business. After all, if you are finding them particularly tricky, it can be necessary to get some outside help. Also, you need to ensure you have a good work-life balance. After all, if you are overworking yourself, you are bound to go under due to the stress. Therefore, ensure you are still spending time with family and friends.

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Work on enhancing your skills

You should also take steps to ensure you have the right skills for the sake of your company. After all, if you have lack of experience in particular areas, your business might take a turn for the worse. And you might make errors that jeopardize your company. Therefore, work on your skills for the sake of your business. For starters, you might want to look at doing a course such as an online mba aacsb. After all, you will learn valuable skills which will help you run your business. And if there are areas of running your company you are not so clued on, the masters can give you the knowledge you need to make it a success.

It’s time to be pitch perfect

You need to talk the talk if you want to run a successful business. After all, it’s the best way to win over a client’s trust. However, if you are not very good at public speaking, now is the time to improve these skills. After all, you want to be pitch perfect when it comes to talking about your business. You want to appear confident and passionate to impress them with your communication skills. You might want to work with a coach who can boost your confidence and ensure you are an amazing public speaker. That way, you can guarantee you are the perfect person to pitch for your company.

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And if you don’t have the right skills to run your business, it might be a good idea to get someone to front your company. Then you can concentrate on areas you are more skilled at such as creating the products!

Sussing The Biz Costs And Paying For Success

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Spending and costs are important factors to consider when you set up your company. You need to make sure that you are not wasting money by spending it in the wrong areas or even overspending in areas where it is needed. It’s vital that you get these decisions right from day one. Otherwise, you can end up in the situation where your business is in debt as soon as you enter the market. Starting at the very beginning, we need to look at the overall costs of a new company in year one. On average it costs around 30K to get a new company up and running. For an online company, it can be a fraction of that at around 9K. So, right away, you should be asking yourself whether you can run your business online.

If you can, you could immediately cheapen the deal and make things easier for you in the long run and the short term. But, you do still need to think about where to spend your money.

Legal Advice

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A legal advisor is a crucial hire for the owner of any business. You need to make sure that you have someone who can tell you how to stay on the right page and keep things clear. Legal issues can plague your company at every turn and an example of this would be when you’re setting up your business website. You need to make sure that the name of your website and any images or content that you use on it are completely copyright free. If you don’t, you can run into serious legal trouble, and your business could be put on the defensive stance before it’s even entered  the market.

Or, how about when you hire employees? You might not realize this, but there is some very strict protocol that you must abide by when you’re hiring new workers for your company. The idea here is that you provide fair and equal opportunity to everyone that applies for the job. This means you can’t hire someone for a reason other than their ability to complete the job. A lawyer can be an expensive addition for any business, but you can outsource. That way, you can use the service without paying the typical fortune.

Marketing And Promotion

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Next, you need to think about how much you should spend on marketing and promotion. You can get started by looking at a domain name for your business. It is possible to get a domain name for free or one that’s quite cheap, but you should probably avoid this possibility. Instead, you should spend a little more and get a valuable domain from a seller such as Nameperfection. If you do this, you can make sure that the domain name for your business is memorable, unique and even linguistically attractive. Essentially, you’re looking for a name that will roll off the tongues of your customers.

Aside from your domain for your site, you should also think about the content and of course SEO. SEO will guarantee that customers find your site online and the right content can keep them coming back even after they have committed to one purchase. There are various marketing companies that offer services like this to new business owners, and you should certainly invest in one of them. But which one to use is a tricky question to answer. You might think that the best choice would be the most expensive, but the fact is you probably can’t afford the most popular marketing agencies. They are already being used by the top brands. Instead, you should look for a company that fits your budget and has great reviews online.

Tech

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Lastly, you will need to invest a sizable amount of your business budget into technology. A lot of business owners avoid investing in tech to save money on their start-up, but this is a mistake. Second hand or outdated tech is just going to put your business at a disadvantage compared to other companies on the market that will be buying the latest computers and servers.

Don’t forget that new tech will also make your business more efficient and in the long run that’s going to make your company more profitable. As such, it is in your best interest to buy the latest, new tech for your business. Nothing makes your business more attractive to customers, clients and investors than a little innovation.

Take this advice, and you’ll be able to keep to a budget when setting up your company without crippling it.

6 Quick Tricks to Free Up More Time in Your Small Business

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleSuccess in business is always favoured, but there is one unfortunate by-product that comes with it, you tend to be much busier than before. Suddenly, there’s much more work, more meetings, more projects, more deadlines and more decisions to be made. All of this takes a toll on your personal life as you suddenly have a lot on your to-do list, preventing you from taking time out on other important things.

Thankfully, there are some ways you can free up more time in your business without impacting its success. Here are 6 quick trips to help you do just that.

1.     Automate As Many of Your Tasks as Possible

Most of the tasks that take up your time can probably be automated. Are you supposed to send out regular reports at the end of each month? Automate them. Do you have bills that need to be paid on a certain date? Automate them! These tasks may not seem very time consuming, but they all mount up and distract you from bigger projects. Automating things will free up valuable time that can be better spent elsewhere.

2.     Keep Track of Your Time

To better understand what activities are taking up most of your time, write down everything you do each day and the time you spend on each activity. Include everything such as breaks, social media, emails and calls. This way you will be able to figure out where are you wasting most of your time and can make decisions accordingly. Once you get a rough sketch of the time you spend on each activity, you can make a timetable and dedicate your time to all the important tasks by cutting out the time wasters.

3.     Prioritise by Urgency and Set Deadlines

It’s important to prioritise urgent projects and start working on them first, rather than worrying about the projects that are due next week. This will help you to keep your calm and avoid being haphazard. Also, you should set deadlines for each task and do your best to meet them each time. Deadlines motivate you to complete a project, preventing you from doing nothing when you should be doing work.

4.     Use Invoice Software

Invoicing is one of the most tedious tasks for any small business. It also takes a lot of your time that could have been better spent. Did you know that there’s invoice software out there that can actually take control of the entire process of invoicing from the beginning till the end? You can install online invoice software that not only manages things for you, but that also helps you to create better invoice designs that will increase customer satisfaction.

5.     Learn to Delegate Tasks

Although you may want to believe it, you’re not superhuman. You CANNOT do everything on your own. The idea is to find trustworthy people and delegate tasks to them. Not only will this help in freeing up time in your small business, but will also help you to complete projects within your set deadlines. Focus your energy on the more important tasks you have at hand and leave the rest to your team.

6.     Avoid Distractions

Checking on social media and looking at personal emails aren’t the only distractions we often fall victim to when trying to work. If you work in a busy office full of interruptions, try working from home a few days where you can get some peace and quiet. Avoid making any unnecessary phone calls and only take them if you know it’s urgent. Distractions take us away from the task at hand and can accumulate into hours of lost time.

With these quick and simple tricks, you’ll be able to free up a lot of time in your small business without affecting the profitability at all. It’s important to take time out for personal commitments so you can keep a balance between your work and personal life. If you follow the above advice, you should have some extra time to do just that!

Making Your Way Through The Product Development Minefield

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We all buy products on a day-to-day basis. We go into shops and see things on shelves that were created by other businesses. It’s likely you’ve seen things on shelves or seen a lack of things on shelves and wondered what it would be like to make your own product. Imagine walking through a store and seeing rows and rows filled with something you created.

This whole concept of developing a product has been around for centuries and remains a popular business model to this day. It’s popular because anyone can create a product, all you need is an idea to kick things into motion.

If this sounds like something that appeals to you, then you’re reading the right article. Throughout the course of this piece, we’ll take a look at some of the main concerns in product development. You’ll be faced with numerous little things that can go wrong or cause harm to your product. It’s your job to navigate through the entire process without stepping on any mines at all.

So, without further ado, here are some of the main things to think about when developing your product:

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Originality

Originality is very important when you’re developing a product. If you can’t make something that’s original, is there much point in creating anything at all? If a product is a copy of something else, then there will already be loads of the same product on the shelves, making it hard for you to get a share of the market as you compete with already established products. To be a successful entrepreneur you need to add some originality to your products so they’re set apart from the rest.

It’s important to note that you don’t have to come up with a completely new product idea. This is almost impossible as a lot of things have already been done. What you can do is take ideas from existing products and then put your own spin on them. For example, you may see something and think it would be a better product if it were designed in a certain way. This is you taking something, and making it original by changing key things about its design. This helps differentiate your product from the rest and gives your item something that others are missing.

Staying with this point on originality, you also have legal issues to think about too. If you directly copy things from others, you could be in trouble with their legal team. Some companies patent certain things and copyright the use of things too. So, if you copy this or use someone else’s product name/logo, you can get sued for a lot of money and have your product taken down.

Product Safety

One of the biggest mines you need to dodge revolves around product safety. As the creator of a product, it’s your responsibility to ensure you release something that’s safe for everyone to use. If this isn’t the case, then you will run into problems down the line. You may get away with releasing your product, but it could get flagged up by consumers for being unsafe. As a result, you will end up having to remove your product from shelves and stop selling it.

As you can imagine, this will set you back massively, and cause you to lose a lot of money. So, you must take all the steps possible to ensure your product is safe and can pass any safety test thrown at it. A lot of entrepreneurs are starting to use Failure Mode and Effects Analysis to help create their products. This is simply a method that helps you identify any failures with your product and fix them before you release it. It’s essential you don’t release an unsafe product as it will result in bad things for you and your company.

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Total Product Cost

Possibly the biggest concern will be the overall cost of your product. More to the point, just how much does it cost to make a single product? This plays a huge role going forward, as it determines how much you will sell your product for. You need to sell your product for more than it costs to make it if you want to earn a profit. Otherwise, you’ll just lose money every time you make your products.

How do you calculate the total product cost? Well, it means you have to add up all the different costs that occur during the development stage. This includes adding up how much it cost to purchase all the raw materials you used to put your product together. Then, you have to consider the labor costs too. Do you have employees or did you outsource some of the labor work? Either way, it will cost you money, and you need to add this to the total costs. Finally, add together all the overhead costs you incurred too. This is everything else that’s not included in the first two costs. For example, the cost of advertising and marketing your product.

You need to take all of these costs and look at how many products you managed to create, as well as how long it took to create them. This helps you establish the cost per unit of each product. In simple terms, it shows you how much each product cost to make. Now, you’re in a position to use this figure and work out how much you can afford to sell your products for. The reason the total product cost is important is that it can decide if your product is successful or not. If the cost is too high, then you’re forced to sell your product for a high price, which can put a lot of people off. You must work to keep costs as low as possible without compromising on the quality.

The world of product development can be a minefield. There are many things lurking unseen that can explode in your face at any moment. So, it’s crucial you prepare yourself for these things and ensure you navigate the minefield successfully. Then, you can release a great product that makes a lot of money.

Three Successful Entrepreneurs: The One Thing They’d Have Done Differently

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It can be assumed that if you manage to make your business into a success, you made the right call at every point. You can look back over the road to your current position and feel happy, confident that everything went exactly as you planned it.

Except, that’s not necessarily the case.

One of the key traits of a successful entrepreneur is someone who understands what they have done correctly, yes. However, perhaps the most important ability is to understand what they have done wrong. To paraphrase an old quote; those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

For prospective entrepreneurs, learning the missteps of those who made their business flourish can provide invaluable insight. So, taken from three very different industries, let’s delve deeper into the one thing three very successful business owners wish they had done differently.

THE CRAFTY ONE

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Anna, 42, began her business completely by accident – and those are her words!

“I made a blanket for a friend of mine,” she explains. “They put a photo of it on Instagram, and it went sort of viral really – or as viral as a blanket can anyway! The home community really embraced it and my friend put me in touch with people who wanted to buy their own.”

Now in her second year of business, Anna’s company is flourishing and now employs three members of staff. “We work remotely,” she says, “they do a lot of the marketing side – that’s not really my thing. I like to make the blankets and I take some of the photos too. It’s definitely important to hire people you trust, who can do things that you can’t.”

So what does she wish she’d done differently?

“There was a time when I had so many orders that I couldn’t meet them all,” she reflects, with a tone of regret in her voice. “I ended up having the orders be late, and there were some angry customers as a result of it. The one piece of advice I’d give is that communication is everything,” she emphasizes the last point. “If you’re going to be late, tell people. I didn’t and some of those I was late with never bought from me again. It’s by far my biggest regret.”

BUILDING SUCCESS

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“I knew from the moment I started working as a bricklayer that I wanted more,” Michael, who is 58 and has owned his company for 22 years, “it just wasn’t good enough for me.”

To try and pursue his idea of working for himself, Michael went back to school. “It was tough,” he says, “I’d been earning a steady income for a few years by the time I went back. I had to juggle that job and the course, which messed my life up for awhile. I needed business qualifications, though, and that was the only way to get them.”

By the time Michael was in his early thirties, he had some business acumen and managed to convince a bank manager to take a risk on him. “I got a startup loan,” he explains, “I think the guy liked me. Doesn’t work like that anymore, but back then, you could convince someone to take a shot. Thankfully he did, and now I employ about 20 staff permanently and another extra 10 laborers over summer. I’ve been lucky.”

So what does he consider his biggest mistake?

“Not being quick enough to adapt,” he admits. “Being an older guy, I got a bit stuck in my ways about a decade ago and lost some business because of it. I was really resistant to things like laser surveillance and Turbo Sockets. It was slowing construction projects down, especially when I was doing renovations and speed was of the essence. The solutions were there – I just didn’t want them,” he laments. “I was convinced the ‘old way’ was the best way,” Tony continues. “I shouldn’t have done it. Move with the times. The annoying thing is that when I did, I realized how much easier those kind of gadgets can make life – what an idiot,” he rolls his eyes at his former self. “Now I’m the first one jumping in when there’s some new gadget I can play with. Customers don’t respect you if you don’t innovate.”

So don’t be afraid to adapt to changing times? “Absolutely,” he concurs. “Times change. If you don’t change with them, you’re done for.”

THE STYLED EYE

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Melody, who is now 30, has run her personal style consultancy for three years after a slow start. “I’m no more qualified now for anything than when I left school at 18,” she admits. “I didn’t even have relevant experience!”

She works for herself, though took on a secretary in January. An accountant does her annual tax returns, but the rest is up to her. “My biggest mistake is thinking that wasn’t possible,” she explains. “I was involved in a business in the same industry for a few years. I hated it, but I was so scared to try and go it alone.”

So how did she manage it? “I saved everything I could,” she recalls. “It wasn’t quick – it took me about a year to get all the cash I needed. I had to forgo my social life for awhile, which was tricky, and I got delayed as I took three months out when I had my daughter.”

Nevertheless, she managed to build up “about six months’” worth of expenses in savings. “With that behind me,” she continues, “I quit the company and cashed out my shares. They weren’t worth a lot, but it was a jumping off point. Then I started marketing myself as an individual to clients. About 40% chose to come with me, which is more than I ever dreamed.”

Establishment didn’t come quickly for Melody though; it wasn’t until her third year – the most recent – she turned a profit she could live on. “I’m okay now,” she says, “I got into some debt and had to double down and work hard, but it’s clear and all is looking good. I’m booked up for the next three months anyway! If I had my time again, I’d definitely take the jump to working by myself much faster – I’d be so much further along by now if I’d done that.”

Hopefully there’s some lessons from this trio of entrepreneurs’ that you can take into your own adventures in business!