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10 Common Problems Faced by Small Business Owners and How to Solve Them

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Small Business Owners|10 Common Problems Faced by Small Business Owners and How to Solve ThemStarting a business gives people a feeling of accomplishment and freedom. The ability to open a small business is an empowering way to write your future success. However, many small businesses fail and have to close the doors within the first year. Nobody wants to put the effort into a company to watch it fail. Being prepared for potential issues helps you deal with them in the future. Consider ten common problems faced by small business owners, learn how to solve them, and continue to operate for years to come.

Struggling for Cash Flow

Opening a business involves a significant investment of time and money. Spending money seems to be inevitable to invest in everything necessary to conduct business. Struggling for cash flow is a significant problem for new business owners. Trying to get more money is difficult when you are still developing and marketing your products and services. Inquire about small business loans specifically for companies looking for the funds to get off the ground.

Time Management

Small business owners often comment that there are never enough hours in a day. A longer day is never going to happen, so proper time management is crucial to running a successful enterprise. Software, smart phones, and ledgers are all ways to keep track of time on the job to ensure every hour is being used wisely. Estimate the time it takes to perform essential tasks and strive to accomplish them within that period.

Unpredictable Circumstances

The world and business are both unpredictable. Flexibility is vital to remaining profitable. For example, the recent pandemic stressed business owners around the globe. Have systems ready to handle unexpected circumstances. Invest in business insurance, generators, software to support remote workers, and other strategies that can support interrupted operations.

Finding and Keeping Talented Help

Finding and maintaining loyal employees is a challenge for small business owners, especially those on a tight budget. Create an inviting work environment with other benefits if you are unable to pay workers generously. Remote work opportunities, casual Fridays, and paid lunches are all perks that keep employees happy and working at peak levels. When the company does well, offer bonuses to show you value the employees’ contributions.

Lack of Marketing

Failing to market is a huge mistake that costs companies leads, customers, and profits. Marketing is the most effective way to brand a business and spread the word about what it offers. Without proper marketing, nobody knows who you are. Focus on multiple campaigns to reach a wider target audience. Use signage, newspaper and magazine advertising, websites, social media, and other communication methods to reach out to potential customers and encourage them to take action.

Failure to Comply With Applicable Regulations

Small business owners must learn local, state, and federal regulations for operations to ensure they don’t face fines and penalties. The cost of missed payments can add up to thousands of dollars. Work with an attorney and accountant to make sure the business is properly organized, paying taxes, and complying with all applicable regulations. Ignorance is never a defense against violating the law. Do the research and invest in professional assistance to have peace of mind and avoid facing serious consequences.

Health Care

Employees expect their employer to offer benefits such as health care, which can add up to more money. Small business loans help companies get over these hurdles. With ailments being increasingly possible, people are more concerned than ever before about having health benefits. Additionally, healthy employees take fewer sick days. Companies can depend on workers who are getting the right health care.

Offering paid vacations is another investment in the employees’ overall well-being. Taking time off helps workers feel refreshed and ready when they return to work. Some small businesses also offer gym memberships or rent office suites in a building with a fitness center.

Global Economy

The global economy has a significant impact on the success of small businesses. When the world is struggling, small business owners feel the stress. Being aware of global economic conditions helps small business owners stay ahead of the curve. Flexibility is one of the benefits of owning a small business rather than a large corporation. Smaller companies can quickly change focus and reinvent themselves to accommodate the changing times. Take advantage of this benefit by watching the stock market and business news to find out what the world is doing and how it could impact your company.

Too Few Clients

Building a solid client base is a top goal for small business owners. Having too few clients is a mistake many small companies make. Depending on two or three clients is unwise, especially if the global marketplace changes. Losing the clients would mean closing the doors of the company. Establish a wide client base to ensure operations can move forward if two or three clients leave. If you deal with large volume, continue to market for new customers. The more people you sell to, the greater your profits will be at the end of the year.

Fatigue

Small business owners must wear several hats to do their jobs well. From managing marketing campaigns to cleaning the office at the end of the day, small business owners do it all. Fatigue becomes a problem that gets in the way of creativity and reliability. Exhaustion gets in the way of working every day and makes it difficult to think. Take time for sleeping, recreation, and short vacation to remain fresh. Consider outsourcing work to take time off, and give yourself peace of mind someone else can take care of things for a few days.

Small business owners appreciate freedom and can write their own paychecks. Knowing the challenges small businesses typically face helps you plan ahead. Create a business plan and have cash flow to cover your goals. Explore small business loan options to invest in the company and realize returns that make a difference in the bottom line. When borrowing money helps you make money, you can pay back the loan and enjoy the benefits of building a better business.

How To Keep Your Magazine Relevant In An Ever Digital World

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Digital World|How To Keep Your Magazine Relevant In An Ever Digital WorldIt’s safe to say that the coronavirus pandemic has completely changed the world as we know it. Not only are there the millions of deaths the virus has caused, but there’s the massive impact on the workplace culture to consider as well, with thousands of workers now working from home on a regular basis.

This change demonstrates the growth of technology throughout the years. Going back a few decades ago, being able to seamlessly work from home wouldn’t have been an option – the software and technological infrastructure simply didn’t exist at the time.

Nowadays though, that’s all changed, and more and more industries are now embracing the digital world we live in, utilising an abundance of technological advances in the work they do. From estate agents to construction workers, schools to furniture manufacturers, digital is now – in essence – the thing that makes the world go around.

So, what about the industries which can’t rely on digital advancements in the same way, like the print industry for example? Well, that’s what we’re here to discuss today.

The magazine and newspaper industries have been hit pretty hard by the world’s progressive adoption towards digital, but that doesn’t mean all is lost. In this article, we take a detailed look at how mediums like these can stay relevant in an ever digital world.

The Problem With Print

First things first, in order to understand how to improve the print industry, we need to look at why.

Put simply, the rise of the internet over the years has left the print industry in its wake. As such, content is now created at a faster pace than at any other point in human history.

Coming up with stories, editing them, printing them and distributing them out to avid readers has simply not been able to keep up with the immediacy of the internet. Nowadays, if you want to find an answer to something, you Google it, so there has been a huge dynamic shift in the way people choose to consume content.

To this end, it’s been incredibly difficult for magazines and newspapers to keep up. Thanks to social media, content can now be created in a matter of seconds. If a newspaper or magazine then reports on this content, they’re effectively covering old news and repeating a story everybody may have heard already.

Couple this with the fact our attention spans are now less than a goldfish, our society simply feeds off a need for immediate information. So, what is the print industry supposed to do?

Time For Change

Well, as the old saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them – and that’s exactly what the print industry needs to do if it’s going to survive.

Print publishers need to connect their printed editions to rich, engaging, exclusive, digital content if they want to remain in the game, and they need to implement improved methods of distributing their work effectively.

While the traditional days of printing bespoke magazines may be fairly outdated, that’s not to say it’s completely dead.

Instead, print publishers need to think of ways that offer the best of both worlds to consumers – a printed medium with a digital edge to it. With this in mind, Augmented Reality (AR) is often a good place to start.

The Best Of Both Worlds

Giving publishers the ability to link their physical magazine to engaging content via a smartphone, AR bridges the gap between print and digital, creating a potential stream for advertising revenue in the process as well.

There is so much that goes on behind the scenes of a magazine article, after all. From the photoshoot to the interview itself, all aspects involved with developing a magazine article can create valuable content for a reader to engage with. And now, thanks to augmented reality, consumers can engage with a printed story they’re enjoying, before heading online to discover more.

While the consumer may have initially paid money to consume a magazine’s content, by offering engaging, exclusive digital content on top, they will feel like they’ve received an improved level of value, combining the quality of print journalism with the convenience of digital marketing. Simple.

How Do Prospective Students Choose a Grad School?

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Grad School|How Do Prospective Students Choose a Grad School?With grad school fees on the rise and the level of debt that students end up with mounting, it is no surprise that students are taking a more in-depth and considered approach to picking the right grad school.

Knowing what students are looking for based on both their wants and needs helps grad schools clearly communicate the information that prospective students need to make that all-important decision, and this knowledge can help grad school applicants check that they are asking the right questions.

Read on to find out what today’s prospective grad students are looking for when deciding which grad school to choose.

Return on investment

Because grad school is not a cheap endeavor, students want to know that they will be getting value for money and a significant return on their investment. Prospective students want to be able to apply the skills they learn at grad school directly to their working life the moment they step into it, which means grad schools need to be able to provide learning that is up to date and applicable to real life.

For grad schools, the marketing experts at https://www.sextantmktg.com/ can help make sure the key information students seek is clearly and widely disseminated. Grad school provides excellent progression opportunities in most fields, and students look at these progression opportunities when assessing each course. Grad schools should have clear information on the recent successes of its graduates to help prospective students plan the career they want to follow. Alumni groups can also help prospective students get a better idea of the career trajectories of graduates.

Academic quality

Academic quality is important for grad students. The quality of teaching, course content and teaching materials and access to a network of professionals and support within the chosen subject of study are factors that many prospective students take into consideration.

Tutors who have vast tangible experience within their fields are often preferred, as they will be able to draw on that knowledge to answer students’ questions or concerns.

Flexible learning

Flexibility is an increasingly important criterion that prospective students are looking at because perhaps more than any previous generation, they shoulder a greater range of responsibilities outside of school.

Post-grad students often work full-time jobs to be able to afford to study, and also, more and more students are starting their education journey later in life, due to a change in career path. Rapid advances in technology mean that many workers need to update their skill set to remain competitive in the workplace. This means they may already have children or other responsibilities that require education provision to be flexible.

Flexibility for grad schools should include the option for distance learning as well as in-person study, and also remote access to the resources needed to complete the program.

It is also important to offer courses that take into account students’ varied pace of learning. It is important that learners can take on as little or as much time as they need to complete a program and have access to tutors and course materials that can facilitate that.

Facts About LLCs All Business Owners Should Know

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A Limited Liability Company or an LLC is a company structure that borrows some features from Corporations and others from Partnerships.

Similar to Corporations, LLCs provide you with a huge advantage in the form of limited liability protection. On the other hand, LLCs have a flow-through taxation structure, just like it is in Partnerships.

In a nutshell, LLCs can be considered hybrids.

If you are someone who is looking to form their own LLC, take a step back. First, consider the pros and cons of LLCs carefully.
What Are the Advantages of LLCs?

Let’s first check out the advantages of forming LLCs:

  • Forming LLCs is easy and also relatively inexpensive.
  • Because of the limited liability feature of LLCs, none of the members is liable to pay the debts of the LLC personally.
  • The members of the LLC can decide how they want the profits to be distributed.
  • You don’t need to maintain formal records of resolutions or meetings for LLCs.
  • LLCs do not have a double taxation system.

What Are the Disadvantages of LLCs?

While LLCs do offer a lot of advantages for small business owners, they do also have their own drawbacks.

Here are some of the disadvantages of LLCs:

  • Federal, as well as state-level filings, are required for all LLCs.
  • You need to pay state filing fees for the year when you form the company, and every year consequently.
  • An LLC isn’t the best structure for companies with investors who want to make their companies public.

Now that you have a balanced perspective on LLCs, you can make an informed decision. If you are still interested in forming your own LLC, here is what you need to do.

Steps to Form Your Own LLC

The first step to form your LLC is to apply for your LLC EIN (Employer Identification Number). Once you get it, you need to file Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State.

That’s not all.

In addition to this, you are also required to make an operating agreement for your LLC. This agreement should outline the financial as well as functional frameworks for your LLC.

It should also clearly define responsibilities and profit distribution between members. Although creating an operating agreement isn’t a requirement in all states, it is recommended that you make one.

Want to know more about forming LLCs? Check out the infographic below by GovDocFiling.

The Essentials Facts of LLCs You Need to Know as a Small Business Owner

Image Courtesy: GovDocFiling

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Brett ShapiroBrett Shapiro is a co-owner of GovDocFiling. He had an entrepreneurial spirit since he was young. He started GovDocFiling, a simple resource center that takes care of the mundane, yet critical, formation documentation for any new business entity.

Are You Ready to Start a Home-based Business?

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Home-based Business|Are You Ready to Start a Home-based Business?Many people think about starting a business from home when they are passionate about something and/or have a talent. Working from home and being your own boss is an attractive prospect, but for most, it is certainly not an easy or quick way to make a living.

When deciding whether to start a home-based business, there are two key questions to ask yourself: are you ready to start a business, and are you in a position to run a business from home? The answer is not necessarily a simple yes or no, as there is a lot to consider. This article outlines the key points to examine before you make the decision.

Your personality and talents

We are all born with a predisposition for certain talents and traits, i.e. we are naturally better at some things than others. That is not to say that we cannot learn, diversify, and develop with experience, but often we have the greatest success in what comes naturally and what we enjoy.

Take some time to consider your talents and personality traits which could be assets when running a business, e.g. creativity, self-motivation, communication, resilience, discipline. You may decide that you are not well-suited to running a business and would be better suited to being employed but with more flexible hours/remote working options.

Your skills

While we are born with personality traits and talents, our skills are developed as we go along through experience and training. You might have design skills, organizational skills, writing skills, accounting skills, or people management skills, for example. You can gain and develop new skills as you run your business, but it is best to begin a business which complements what you already have.

Your talents, skills, experience, and interests should all come together to influence your choice of business. Starting a business in an industry in which you have no experience or knowledge is setting yourself up for an uphill battle, so capitalize on your assets. You should begin with a long list of possible ideas before whittling them down to just a handful of options which pique your interest.

Your home

Now that you have some ideas for a business, it is time to consider whether they are likely to function as a home-based business. There are several factors to consider including the location of your home, any local laws or licensing issues, how much space you will need, equipment, utilities, and living arrangements.

If you have a garage or spare room, you may be able to run a business, but if you are restricted on space or need a professional office where you can meet with clients, it may not be suited to a home business. However, if your business can be run from home with the exception of the occasional meeting or day in a professional office, you can make use of serviced offices Belfast as and when you need to.

Your income

Of course, the big question for anyone looking to start a new business is profitability. You may be exceptionally talented and/or skilled, but if people are not going to pay enough for the service or product, it is not a viable business. Can you make and sell enough units of the product to cover your running costs? You need to be sure that there is a market for your business and that you are offering something which other companies are not. Only businesses which can generate profit are worth investing your time and energy into.