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Innovative Funding for New Businesses

Having a great business idea can only be converted into a real business when you have the required funds. The requirements of each business plan are unique and hence need varied levels of investment. While really small business owners, for examples, those who work out of a home based office, generally need very little funding and can raise the amount themselves in most cases. However, if you are going to set up a medium scale office then you may not have the required funds at hand. Office space, furniture, equipment as well as hiring staff can be expensive and you would need the help of external sources to meet this investment. Here are some innovative yet effective methods of acquiring funds for your business in the United States:

1. The U.S. Small Business Administration is an organization aimed at helping upcoming entrepreneurs with workable plans. You can get find out if your business qualifies for one of their many funding schemes by visiting their website.

2. Individual states and counties too have their own initiatives to help out budding local entrepreneurs to acquire fund. Get in touch with these departments to know about on going programs.

3. Small community banks are driven towards helping their target community to develop businesses as it eventually means ore business for them too. They also run funding programs along with providing loans to small business owners at subsidized rates.

4. If you have a major college or university in your state, you can approach them too as they may have mentoring and funding programs for young entrepreneurs.

5. Some of the corporate giants too have such initiatives as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. Look up the major players in your state and approach them with a well etched funding plan.

Filed Under: Business, Financing Tagged With: , ,

An office space you will love

Work environment plays a major in improving the productivity of employees and enhancing levels of job satisfaction. Your office space forms a big part of the work environment. How your work station is organized and placed impacts your happiness at the office more than you may realize. While you may not have much of say about office space if you are working for someone, small business owners have the freedom to decide on how they want to organize their work space. It is best if you plan the office space during the initial set up phase so that you don’t end up incurring unnecessary costs to make changes. Here are some tips on how you can create a comfortable office space:

1. Location matters. If your office is located on a busy and noisy street, it is bound to cause inconveniences. Select a prime but quite location that provides business benefits as well as comfort.

2. The location should be close to your own home and should be easy to commute to for others.

3. In most cases, you will need to share your office space with colleagues and employees. Make sure you have separate desks to avoid cluttering and give each individual enough of space. Keep your stationary and supplies separate as people often don’t like their own stationary being used by others.

4. Plan your office space in a manner that personnel get a quite environment free from distractions and comfortable enough to help them focus on their jobs.

5. Your business will grow in time and so will its requirements. Factor in growth and arrange to expand office space, purchase furniture and equipment to avoid last minute rushing and the inconveniences it will cause.

Filed Under: Business Costs, Small Business Tagged With: , ,

How to interact with people at work

Your success in the corporate world depends a lot on the level of cooperation you get from the people who work with you. Whether it is subordinates, colleagues or superiors, having the right kind of interaction with them will go a long way in helping you get your work done quickly and efficiently. Here is a look at some character traits that make for good interpersonal relationships at work:

1. Say Hello: People always like it when you greet them first so make sure you make the initiative. Not greeting people when you see them or meet them in corridors will give you a reputation of being ‘stuck up’. Make sure your greetings are warm and courteous and don’t appear fake and plastic.

2. Chat up: When you go to the canteen for lunch or to the pantry for a coffee break, start off conversations with colleagues around you. It doesn’t always have to be about work. You could discuss sports, movies, real estate or anything else that interests everyone in the group. The more the people involved in the conversation, the deeper reach you will have.

3. Listen and acknowledge: When you are trying to have a friendly image, people are bound to approach you to share views or even grievances. Always listen attentively and if you are not comfortable with what is being said, don’t just walk off or cut the conversation short but listen politely. People like listeners!

4. Don’t be a groupie: Office politics can be dangerous and you should try your best to stay away from becoming part of a group. If a person is bad-mouthing a colleague, listen but never contribute your own two cents. Always remain unbiased and stay away from negativities.

5. Body language: The way you carry yourself makes a huge difference to how people perceive you so always portray a confident, self assured image.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: , ,

How to develop effective business policies

The effectiveness of your policies can be the defining factor between success and failure of your business. Policies underline how a business is run and how it operates. A good policy framework means your business has its processes streamlined and is better prepared to meet future contingencies. You need good business policies to make sure your business runs smoothly and maximizes its profits. Here is a look at some of the things you need to keep in mind in order to form effective business policies:

1. Different stages of the business setup required various policies to be in place. You need to figure out which policies you most urgently need. During the initial stages of a new setup you would need to decide on a mission and vision statement and what are the terms you want your business operating on. Later, of course, you would need to formulate payroll, performance management and other HR policies.

2. Often businesses make the mistake of attempting to form policies only after they get hit by a crisis. Don’t wit for errors to happen. Instead, keep an eye on the future requirements of the business and plan policies in accordance so that you avoid crisis situations.

3. Brainstorming almost always leads to better policies. You may miss out on key points if your try to frame policies on your own. So take feedback and inputs from employees, advisors, board of directors and other stakeholders in the organization to form policies that cover maximum ground.

4. Communication is the key to effective implementation of policies. Employees can’t follow policies if they are not aware of their existence! So make sure that everyone involved in your business knows and understands the business policies well.

5. Businesses change over time and their policies need to be changed likewise. SO review your policies at least once a year and update them according to current and future requirements.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: , ,

The Buy Cycle is not a Ride-on Toy

Ever heard of the ‘buy cycle?’ It’s a four-step process businesses go through on deciding whether to buy something or not, and everyone goes through it in some form or another. Companies are no different, especially because they make bigger decisions and spend larger amounts than most individuals do.
Companies and Individuals Buy the Same Way

  • Step 1: Realizing there’s a need for a specific product or service necessary to be able to complete a task or operation. This usually comes at the time it’s needed, but business owners should try to anticipate these needs ahead of time. Having a company ready and waiting in the rolodex when disaster strikes is half the task done.
  • Step 2: Research is the next step. This is where the potential buyer looks up the products/service to see what’s available and which vendors can solve the shortage at hand. The buyer might compare prices or service packages and look into payment plans.
  • Step 3: Consideration and Comparison. Information has been distributed and the buyer has contemplated which model or brand is wanted. Buyers begin narrowing down the choices, dropping vendors that can’t meet their needs and listing the potential of the ones that do.
  • Step4: Procurement. This is the last step, the one where the buyer actually makes a decision and purchases the item or service and arranges for delivery. It’s this point that the salesperson can finally relax, the work has been done and the cycle has been completed.
Businesses use the ‘purchase funnel’ to show how the system works. It’s wide at the top of the funnel, where awareness of the problem comes to life. Narrower is the research part of the buy cycle. Below that, and smaller, is the Consideration and Comparison, and finally, the Procurement near the spout of the funnel.
Individuals also go through this same process when making major purchases, like a car or large appliances, they just do it faster than a business might. But, the cycle is the same.
Filed Under: Business Costs, Spending Tagged With: , ,

Creating a Successful Business Through Online Surveys

Successful businesses are ones that pride themselves on having a high level of customer interaction and listening to their customers when they offer feedback. While this is a formula for creating a successful business, many online businesses struggle with how to provide that level of customer and client interaction through the Internet. The best solution that online businesses have come up with is the use of online surveys.

Online surveys are a great way to get up close and personal with your customers and get your company all the feedback that you want or need. While it might appear hard to create an online survey it really isn’t. There are various programs that allow business owners to plug in the questions that they want to ask and send out the survey to their customers or clients.

If you are considering using a survey software company or program you will want to keep a few things in mind so that you get the right company or software for your business. The first thing to consider is how the survey is programmed. Look for companies that offer surveys in programs that almost every computer user uses, such as Flash or JavaScript. This will get you a high number of survey returns as all customers can answer your surveys.

Another thing to consider is whether or not the surveys will be compatible with your website or blog. Try to figure out if the company will use surveys that can be used on Blogger, WordPress, Tumblr or other platforms that you use. If the survey isn’t compatible then customers will not be able to give you any feedback.

Online surveys, when set up properly can be an important asset to your online business. Surveys offer you a chance to interact with customers, who can offer feedback on how your company is doing. In return, you can provide the customer with the service that they want.

Filed Under: Business, Business Costs Tagged With: , ,

Google’s New Baby; Android Market Web Store

Google has done it again. February 2nd they launched a new App Store called, the Android Market Web Store, with previews of their new iOS made for tablet computers and over 100,000 apps for Android users to browse through. Before this the apps were only accessible by a mobile app, but this one opens it up.
Google’s Android technology quickly became Apple Inc.’s leading smart phone iOS (having the largest smart phone market share), with developers creating over 300,000 different apps, total. Its first year was a whirlwind of success, selling over 14.8 million tablet computers and forcing developers all over the world to start looking into producing their own tablet products.
Apple’s newest toy, Honeycomb, is an iOS developed for tablet computers that will also work on smart phones, with an array of improvements to the user’s interaction with it. Google big-wigs wouldn’t talk about modifying the apps for others to use, but we all know it’s only a matter of time until it’s out there for anyone.
Google is Growing Up Fast With Apple

Honeycomb is Google’s first official act in releases for tablet computers. The dynamic basic interface of Honeycomb is more active with widgets being updated automatically on the home screen. Messages, weather, news and other apps are kept current, and yet other apps being used are noted along the bottom in easy-to-read boxes. Honeycomb is touted to have a more sophisticated look, too.
Google doesn’t mass produce its own products, it out-sources that by bringing software developers and hardware manufacturers together and making a profit on its advertising and gmail programs, which come standard in the new operating system.
Android is very popular; as per NPD Research, 53% of people that bought smart phones in one quarter bought an Android device. At the same time, iPhones were purchased by 19% of all US consumers.
It’s predicted that Apple will be coming out with a new version of iPad around the same time that Honeycomb reaches the market. We’ll have to wait and see.
Filed Under: Business, Business Tools Tagged With: , ,

Watch What You’re Doing; Body Language is Important in Business

Body language has been studied as long as there’ve been people to look at.  A person can make others feel confident in what they’re saying or give the impression of lying by how they conduct themselves and hold their bodies. Certain moves betray the impression someone wants to give or tells someone exactly how they’re really feeling inside, no matter what’s being said. This can be disastrous for potential employees and bosses, both.
Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and Stanford Graduate School of Business conducted a recent study that found a powerful posture actually gives the person a sense of power that is visible in his behavior. In fact, posture can produce influential changes no matter which person has higher rank; a power stance makes everyone else believe the person, including the person doing the stance.
In each experiment body language ruled over job title; the ones who used open stances and gestured were more successful in getting their point across than those who were of higher position.
Watch Body Language in Government Meetings

In places where appearances mean a lot, like in government talks, the participants are actually coached on how to stand and hold themselves ahead of time. All of them want to appear as powerful and confident as possible.
The eyes are important, so keep them up, looking right at the competitor, directly in the eyes if possible. It’s important for leaders to be influential and returning a gaze to a speaker lets them know there’s interest in what’s being said and that they understand. It also conveys honesty, participation and directness, and is an important part of both listening and speaking.
When listening (and sitting) it’s important to lean slightly forward to show interest in what’s being said. A speaker will react favorably to an audience that shows interest, and a standing speaker commands attention more than a sitting leader.
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Filed Under: Business, Business Costs Tagged With: , ,

Being Cross Trained is a Value Today More Than Ever

Workers around the world are being shared, cut back and overloaded all at the same time. The global recession has affected everyone and small companies aren’t able to hire qualified people because of the cost of wages and training. People need their jobs as well as employers need others to work the businesses, so job sharing has become a thing of the future, saving businesses money on training and hiring and saving people their jobs.
Being a cross-trained employee makes someone very valuable these days. Someone who can work well at more than one place or in more than one position is just what the recession ordered. It enables such a person to keep working steadily, instead of being laid-off or getting hours cut so far back that they can’t make a living. It also enables businesses to keep staff working so their businesses can operate and possibly make a profit.
Don’t Toss out Those Old Skills

Keeping up on skills of old jobs is a good thing. As time goes by, people forget little things or the nuances of a skill, but if kept in practice, it can become useful in the present. It not only adds to the list of things one can accomplish for an employer, but it adds to their hire-ability.
For instance, if someone works as a waitress for ten years and then attends and graduates from bookkeeping school, a new employer might see this new hire as an asset who can handle the books and know how to treat customers at the same time. This person could be put on the desk and then spend half their hours dealing with customers, having honed the skill of communication while a waitress. This person also knows how to up sell products and services, and can make the business more money in the long run without having to hire salespeople.
Employers have to look to the future more than ever before these days, but looking at an applicant’s past can help to see the future in the green.
Filed Under: Business, Business Costs Tagged With: , ,

New Term Coined; Customer-Centricity is Here

Customer-centricity; a new word meaning customer-oriented business practices in which the customer is put at the center of everything. Demographics have been taken at the point-of-sale for many years, telling businesses about buying trends, age ranges of customers and where they live. But statisticians are saying those are the wrong data to collect; they are useful to the business but they give no interaction with the customer, no follow-up stats are available as well as no reason for the purchase was given.
The company can’t ask enough questions about shopper’s choices and the whys of their decisions, but the demographics of location and level of education don’t matter. But, a successful business will learn to predict the customer’s next move and that can only be done through studying previous habits and activities. Learning the people that keep the business profitable can only behoove the company and make for a better experience for the customer.
Who is Buying Your Products and Why do They Want Them?

Getting to that customer as a person; a thinking, feeling entity to be revealed; that’s what metrics need to be about today. What motivates a person to make certain purchases and what moods come out in shopping habits? This would be good to know.
It’s safe to say that 20% of a business’s clients create 80% of the profit. Sometimes 90% of the revenue is realized by 5-15% of the customers. Understanding those customers is at the heart of each business’s goals, and wise business decisions and investments should depend on the behaviors of the clientele; which ones deserve investment and which ones are worth differentiating a marketing strategy for.
Many businesses still don’t get it; focusing on the customer has always been good business practice, but few companies put the customer in the center. In fact, in a recent study done by Forrester Consulting they showed that 44% of the responders think their business is customer-focused more than brand-focused, and although they all think they’re customer-centric, it’s a fallacy of wishful thinking.
Filed Under: Business, Business Costs Tagged With: , ,
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