By Melanie Marten
1. Post informative and entertaining posts on forums to increase both personal and brand recognition. Personal recognition is useful to establish yourself as an expert in your field, whether it be internet marketing, fashion, or parenting. The large group of forum posters will get to know you as both a source of information and as a friendly, helpful person. These impression will do much to create positive views of your business.
2. Use a memorable anchor test for your website link, a catchy motto, or even a graphic logo from your business as an avatar, and your business will stick in the minds of the other forum visitors.
3. Include a link to your website with a graphic or small amount of information in a signature file. This signature will be automatically added to each post you make. This link and blurb or graphic will attract interested people who will click on the link and visit your website. Posting regularly on a forum will continuously promote your business online.
4. Network with other online business owners and marketers. Not only can you establish friendships, you can also trade advertisements and links on websites, and learn new methods to promote your business online. Social networking is the catch phrase for online promotion these days, and forums are one of the best places to do it.
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
5 Most Common Business Mistakes!
By Mel Robbins
The 5 Most Common Mistakes
1. Starting a business when under-capitalized.
2. Ignoring gut or warning signs when things start turning bad - (not asking for advice/help).
3. Failing to formalize employee/partner relationships upfront.
4. Failing to grow your network so that you have resources and people to turn to in times of trouble.
5. Cutting corners on book-keeping, legal, the foundations of your busines.
Biggest Financial Mistakes
1. Not paying yourself first.
2. Future spending based on speculation (spending now as if you have already hit your revenue goals).
3. Not keeping overhead low.
4. Spending too much time on things that don't make money.
5. Not charging enough for services.
6. Not allocating enough money to marketing/customer service.
7. Neglecting to set aside money for taxes.
8. Doing nothing when your company is in financial doubt.
9. Drowning self in credit card debt.
10. Starting a business undercapitalized.
11. Not having their spouses by-in which then leads to financial pressure at home.
12. Being niave or too optimistic about sales/revenue and not planning for a long enough ramp up.
The 5 Most Common Mistakes
1. Starting a business when under-capitalized.
2. Ignoring gut or warning signs when things start turning bad - (not asking for advice/help).
3. Failing to formalize employee/partner relationships upfront.
4. Failing to grow your network so that you have resources and people to turn to in times of trouble.
5. Cutting corners on book-keeping, legal, the foundations of your busines.
Biggest Financial Mistakes
1. Not paying yourself first.
2. Future spending based on speculation (spending now as if you have already hit your revenue goals).
3. Not keeping overhead low.
4. Spending too much time on things that don't make money.
5. Not charging enough for services.
6. Not allocating enough money to marketing/customer service.
7. Neglecting to set aside money for taxes.
8. Doing nothing when your company is in financial doubt.
9. Drowning self in credit card debt.
10. Starting a business undercapitalized.
11. Not having their spouses by-in which then leads to financial pressure at home.
12. Being niave or too optimistic about sales/revenue and not planning for a long enough ramp up.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Six Financial Tips For Every Small Business
By Jerry Lynch of JFL Innovative Investments
Starting a business can be one of the most stressful things that any individual can do. It affects their family life, free time, personal finances, their relationships with family members and friends who invested with them, and this is only a partial list. But if the idea is a good one that is executed successfully, the results will more than make up for it!
Especially in a startup business, the owner’s personal finances are totally integrated with the success of the business. Generally there is a period of time from when you start putting money into a business, until the first dollar comes in the door and even more time before you can actually take money out. I have always said, you are not a business owner until you have written a personal check to the company so that your employees can get paid…while you don’t get paid.
As a Certified Financial Planner that works mainly with business owners, my focus is to help owners understand that personal dollars and business dollars are the same. If they cannot pay their mortgage, the business will die, and if they cannot fund their idea, the business will die and their personal finances will suffer.
Prior to starting a business, it is critical to take some time and understand the cost of the project, your cost of living, where you have some wiggle room, and where you do not. Staying power is critical to a startup business and here are some tips that should help:
1 - Don’t buy a BMW, if a Chevy will do.
In a startup company, every dollar counts. Excessive costs in any area such as rent, office equipment or furniture take money away from the core competencies that you need to make your business grow. You do not need a 5th Ave office or top-of-the-line office furniture unless they are necessary to support your core functions.
2 - It’s all ball bearings Everything is related.
Every dollar spent on "Stuff" reduces ever dollar you can spend on marketing, research, or whatever you do to make money. Always look at what you are spending money on and challenge yourself to find a better and cheaper way to do it. Unless that expense is helping you long term, minimize it or eliminate it.
3 - It’s not the shoes.
Always look at everything as a system. The parts of the system need to work effectively. But the overall system and how everything works together is more important than any of the parts. Develop cost efficient ways of running your business. Continue to refine them so that your customer’s experience is positive. This is how you build synergy and get more and more clients
4 - Have a "Plan B."
Virtually everything is more expensive than you estimated the first time, and there are always hidden costs. Whatever you estimate the cost of setting up the business to be, you should set aside as much as 25-50% more, just in case. Begging for money because you can not make payroll next week is not an appealing sales pitch. Getting it up front makes it much easier and avoids a lot of problems down the line. If employees think they will not be paid, they’re leaving and you’re out of business.
5 - Don’t irritate the IRS.
If you upset your spouse, you can always buy flowers. If you irritate the IRS, you have a problem for a long time that may be very expensive and time consuming to fix. Keep good records, get a bookkeeper and a good CPA. Deduct reasonable expenses and document all your costs. These costs are justified from a management standpoint, so you might as well get it done right the first time.
6 - Before you jump, make sure you know your parachute works.
Sit down with a good certified financial planner (not a stockbroker or insurance agent) and understand what you have in place before you ever pull the trigger. How much do you need to survive? Can you fund your start-up? What assets are available to you? There may also be tax planning opportunities, like starting your business early in the year and cashing out your stock options so you are in a lower bracket. Know your options!
A great idea, executed in the best possible way without enough cost efficient funding is almost sure to die. Making sure you understand how your money works and establishing financial priorities will give you a much greater chance of success.
Starting a business can be one of the most stressful things that any individual can do. It affects their family life, free time, personal finances, their relationships with family members and friends who invested with them, and this is only a partial list. But if the idea is a good one that is executed successfully, the results will more than make up for it!
Especially in a startup business, the owner’s personal finances are totally integrated with the success of the business. Generally there is a period of time from when you start putting money into a business, until the first dollar comes in the door and even more time before you can actually take money out. I have always said, you are not a business owner until you have written a personal check to the company so that your employees can get paid…while you don’t get paid.
As a Certified Financial Planner that works mainly with business owners, my focus is to help owners understand that personal dollars and business dollars are the same. If they cannot pay their mortgage, the business will die, and if they cannot fund their idea, the business will die and their personal finances will suffer.
Prior to starting a business, it is critical to take some time and understand the cost of the project, your cost of living, where you have some wiggle room, and where you do not. Staying power is critical to a startup business and here are some tips that should help:
1 - Don’t buy a BMW, if a Chevy will do.
In a startup company, every dollar counts. Excessive costs in any area such as rent, office equipment or furniture take money away from the core competencies that you need to make your business grow. You do not need a 5th Ave office or top-of-the-line office furniture unless they are necessary to support your core functions.
2 - It’s all ball bearings Everything is related.
Every dollar spent on "Stuff" reduces ever dollar you can spend on marketing, research, or whatever you do to make money. Always look at what you are spending money on and challenge yourself to find a better and cheaper way to do it. Unless that expense is helping you long term, minimize it or eliminate it.
3 - It’s not the shoes.
Always look at everything as a system. The parts of the system need to work effectively. But the overall system and how everything works together is more important than any of the parts. Develop cost efficient ways of running your business. Continue to refine them so that your customer’s experience is positive. This is how you build synergy and get more and more clients
4 - Have a "Plan B."
Virtually everything is more expensive than you estimated the first time, and there are always hidden costs. Whatever you estimate the cost of setting up the business to be, you should set aside as much as 25-50% more, just in case. Begging for money because you can not make payroll next week is not an appealing sales pitch. Getting it up front makes it much easier and avoids a lot of problems down the line. If employees think they will not be paid, they’re leaving and you’re out of business.
5 - Don’t irritate the IRS.
If you upset your spouse, you can always buy flowers. If you irritate the IRS, you have a problem for a long time that may be very expensive and time consuming to fix. Keep good records, get a bookkeeper and a good CPA. Deduct reasonable expenses and document all your costs. These costs are justified from a management standpoint, so you might as well get it done right the first time.
6 - Before you jump, make sure you know your parachute works.
Sit down with a good certified financial planner (not a stockbroker or insurance agent) and understand what you have in place before you ever pull the trigger. How much do you need to survive? Can you fund your start-up? What assets are available to you? There may also be tax planning opportunities, like starting your business early in the year and cashing out your stock options so you are in a lower bracket. Know your options!
A great idea, executed in the best possible way without enough cost efficient funding is almost sure to die. Making sure you understand how your money works and establishing financial priorities will give you a much greater chance of success.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Barry Moltz - Now What? Where To Go Next After A Failure
By Barry Moltz
The only way you can describe what happened is to use one word- "a failure". It is painful to thinkin these terms but there is no way to escape it. You got fired, or you lost your money, or you went out of business or you just plain blew it.
I know how it feels because I have founded and run businesses with a great degree of success and failure for the last 20 years. After being fired, I started my first business. A year later, I went out of business. In my next company, I was kicked out by my two partners only two weeks before my first son was born. I was the poster child for failure until I sold my last business during the heady days of the internet in 1999. I paid back the bank $1.3M and got my wife back at the same time!
So after failure, how do you start to comeback and rebuild your confidence?
7 things you can do:
1. Grieve the Loss.
When you fail, it is important to mourn the failure. Feel real good and sorry for yourself. Cheer the darkness! Throw a pity party starring you! You are entitled. What happened just stinks!
2. Let Go of Failure.
After 24 hours of grieving, you need to let go. Learn what you can from the failure (if anything) then take an action so you can move on. Holding on to this failure can keep you stuck and prevent any action that can move you to a new place where success again is possible.
3. Give Up Shame.
Realize that life is not a straight line. We all have been where you are right now before. Life is a cycle of success and failures. Good times don’t last forever, but bad times don’t last forever either. Most people are not going to remember your failures (or your successes) like you will. Remember a time when you were successful. A lack of credibility in our society does not come from failing (since we all fail). It comes from not being honest about our failures and dealing with them in a straight forward and realistic manner.
4. Face Your Fear About Moving Forward.
Forget about having "No Fear". It is okay to be afraid. You can handle the potential outcome. As my lawyer always told me "The worse they can do is eat you and that’s illegal!" Regardless of the outcome, success or failure, we can always position ourselves for another success by bouncing, and taking a new action. Being in any new place is always preferable to being in this failure state.
5. Set Patient Interim Goals.
Forget for a minute about the grand vision. It may be too daunting at this point! In order to plot your comeback, set patient interim goals. Our culture has unfortunately tossed patience to the wayside in lieu of immediate gratification, but patience can be a valuable tool when re-building your life and career. Small successes will give you the renewed confidence to achieve your long term goals.
6. Focus on one thing at a time.
I jokingly tell people they should "Strive for Minimal Achievement". Focusing on one thing at a time can provide you incredible power in your current state of mind. This is becoming a difficult talent because we are a multitasking culture. Multitasking actually reduces your productivity by 50%.
7. Value Action.
Stop analyzing. Stop waiting for the perfect moment when you have more information. Experience through action builds true business confidence.
The only way you can describe what happened is to use one word- "a failure". It is painful to thinkin these terms but there is no way to escape it. You got fired, or you lost your money, or you went out of business or you just plain blew it.
I know how it feels because I have founded and run businesses with a great degree of success and failure for the last 20 years. After being fired, I started my first business. A year later, I went out of business. In my next company, I was kicked out by my two partners only two weeks before my first son was born. I was the poster child for failure until I sold my last business during the heady days of the internet in 1999. I paid back the bank $1.3M and got my wife back at the same time!
So after failure, how do you start to comeback and rebuild your confidence?
7 things you can do:
1. Grieve the Loss.
When you fail, it is important to mourn the failure. Feel real good and sorry for yourself. Cheer the darkness! Throw a pity party starring you! You are entitled. What happened just stinks!
2. Let Go of Failure.
After 24 hours of grieving, you need to let go. Learn what you can from the failure (if anything) then take an action so you can move on. Holding on to this failure can keep you stuck and prevent any action that can move you to a new place where success again is possible.
3. Give Up Shame.
Realize that life is not a straight line. We all have been where you are right now before. Life is a cycle of success and failures. Good times don’t last forever, but bad times don’t last forever either. Most people are not going to remember your failures (or your successes) like you will. Remember a time when you were successful. A lack of credibility in our society does not come from failing (since we all fail). It comes from not being honest about our failures and dealing with them in a straight forward and realistic manner.
4. Face Your Fear About Moving Forward.
Forget about having "No Fear". It is okay to be afraid. You can handle the potential outcome. As my lawyer always told me "The worse they can do is eat you and that’s illegal!" Regardless of the outcome, success or failure, we can always position ourselves for another success by bouncing, and taking a new action. Being in any new place is always preferable to being in this failure state.
5. Set Patient Interim Goals.
Forget for a minute about the grand vision. It may be too daunting at this point! In order to plot your comeback, set patient interim goals. Our culture has unfortunately tossed patience to the wayside in lieu of immediate gratification, but patience can be a valuable tool when re-building your life and career. Small successes will give you the renewed confidence to achieve your long term goals.
6. Focus on one thing at a time.
I jokingly tell people they should "Strive for Minimal Achievement". Focusing on one thing at a time can provide you incredible power in your current state of mind. This is becoming a difficult talent because we are a multitasking culture. Multitasking actually reduces your productivity by 50%.
7. Value Action.
Stop analyzing. Stop waiting for the perfect moment when you have more information. Experience through action builds true business confidence.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
10 Rules for Building a Successful Business
I have an online business and sometimes business is so slow it's discouraging! I can't say how many times I've felt like giving up and just closing my business. However, I'm still hanging in there, giving it my all. I came across this and found it very interesting, it actually motivated me to keep on doing all that I can to make my business grow. It also helped me realize that success does not come easy and sure doesn’t happen over night.
Believe it or not a lot of these big time business men and women that we sit down and admire today did not start from the top. They started from the bottom and worked there way to the top, which was not easy, at some point they were where we are today. But Guess what? They never gave up on there dreams, they faced there challenges and found a way to make it happen.....and look at where they are now! I just thought I should share that with everyone. Hope you find it as inspiring as I did.
Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, grew up poor in a farm community in rural Missouri during the Great Depression. The poverty he experienced while growing up taught him the value of money and to persevere.
Today, Wal-Mart is the world's #1 retailer, with more than 4,150 stores, including discount stores, combination discount and grocery stores, and membership-only warehouse stores (Sam's Club). Learn Walton's winning formula for business.
Sam Walton: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Business
Rule 1: Commit to your business.
Believe in it more than anybody else. I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don't know if you're born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it. If you love your work, you'll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you — like a fever.
Rule 2: Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners.
In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations. Remain a corporation and retain control if you like, but behave as a servant leader in your partnership. Encourage your associates to hold a stake in the company. Offer discounted stock, and grant them stock for their retirement. It's the single best thing we ever did.
Rule 3: Motivate your partners.
Money and ownership alone aren't enough. Constantly, day by day, think of new and more interesting ways to motivate and challenge your partners. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score. Make bets with outrageous payoffs. If things get stale, cross-pollinate; have managers switch jobs with one another to stay challenged. Keep everybody guessing as to what your next trick is going to be. Don't become too predictable.
Rule 4: Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
The more they know, the more they'll understand. The more they understand, the more they'll care. Once they care, there's no stopping them. If you don't trust your associates to know what's going on, they'll know you really don't consider them partners. Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitors.
Rule 5: Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
A paycheck and a stock option will buy one kind of loyalty. But all of us like to be told how much somebody appreciates what we do for them. We like to hear it often, and especially when we have done something we're really proud of. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free — and worth a fortune.
Rule 6: Celebrate your success.
Find some humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously. Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show enthusiasm — always. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song. Then make everybody else sing with you. Don't do a hula on Wall Street. It's been done. Think up your own stunt. All of this is more important, and more fun, than you think, and it really fools competition. "Why should we take those cornballs at Wal-Mart seriously?"
Rule 7: Listen to everyone in your company and figure out ways to get them talking.
The folks on the front lines — the ones who actually talk to the customer — are the only ones who really know what's going on out there. You'd better find out what they know. This really is what total quality is all about. To push responsibility down in your organization, and to force good ideas to bubble up within it, you must listen to what your associates are trying to tell you.
Rule 8: Exceed your customer's expectations.
If you do, they'll come back over and over. Give them what they want — and a little more. Let them know you appreciate them. Make good on all your mistakes, and don't make excuses — apologize. Stand behind everything you do. The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign: "Satisfaction Guaranteed." They're still up there, and they have made all the difference.
Rule 9: Control your expenses better than your competition.
This is where you can always find the competitive advantage. For twenty-five years running — long before Wal-Mart was known as the nation's largest retailer — we've ranked No. 1 in our industry for the lowest ratio of expenses to sales. You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you're too inefficient.
Rule 10: Swim upstream.
Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction. But be prepared for a lot of folks to wave you down and tell you you're headed the wrong way. I guess in all my years, what I heard more often than anything was: a town of less than 50,000 population cannot support a discount store for very long.
Believe it or not a lot of these big time business men and women that we sit down and admire today did not start from the top. They started from the bottom and worked there way to the top, which was not easy, at some point they were where we are today. But Guess what? They never gave up on there dreams, they faced there challenges and found a way to make it happen.....and look at where they are now! I just thought I should share that with everyone. Hope you find it as inspiring as I did.
Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, grew up poor in a farm community in rural Missouri during the Great Depression. The poverty he experienced while growing up taught him the value of money and to persevere.
Today, Wal-Mart is the world's #1 retailer, with more than 4,150 stores, including discount stores, combination discount and grocery stores, and membership-only warehouse stores (Sam's Club). Learn Walton's winning formula for business.
Sam Walton: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Business
Rule 1: Commit to your business.
Believe in it more than anybody else. I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don't know if you're born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it. If you love your work, you'll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you — like a fever.
Rule 2: Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners.
In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations. Remain a corporation and retain control if you like, but behave as a servant leader in your partnership. Encourage your associates to hold a stake in the company. Offer discounted stock, and grant them stock for their retirement. It's the single best thing we ever did.
Rule 3: Motivate your partners.
Money and ownership alone aren't enough. Constantly, day by day, think of new and more interesting ways to motivate and challenge your partners. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score. Make bets with outrageous payoffs. If things get stale, cross-pollinate; have managers switch jobs with one another to stay challenged. Keep everybody guessing as to what your next trick is going to be. Don't become too predictable.
Rule 4: Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
The more they know, the more they'll understand. The more they understand, the more they'll care. Once they care, there's no stopping them. If you don't trust your associates to know what's going on, they'll know you really don't consider them partners. Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitors.
Rule 5: Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
A paycheck and a stock option will buy one kind of loyalty. But all of us like to be told how much somebody appreciates what we do for them. We like to hear it often, and especially when we have done something we're really proud of. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free — and worth a fortune.
Rule 6: Celebrate your success.
Find some humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously. Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show enthusiasm — always. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song. Then make everybody else sing with you. Don't do a hula on Wall Street. It's been done. Think up your own stunt. All of this is more important, and more fun, than you think, and it really fools competition. "Why should we take those cornballs at Wal-Mart seriously?"
Rule 7: Listen to everyone in your company and figure out ways to get them talking.
The folks on the front lines — the ones who actually talk to the customer — are the only ones who really know what's going on out there. You'd better find out what they know. This really is what total quality is all about. To push responsibility down in your organization, and to force good ideas to bubble up within it, you must listen to what your associates are trying to tell you.
Rule 8: Exceed your customer's expectations.
If you do, they'll come back over and over. Give them what they want — and a little more. Let them know you appreciate them. Make good on all your mistakes, and don't make excuses — apologize. Stand behind everything you do. The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign: "Satisfaction Guaranteed." They're still up there, and they have made all the difference.
Rule 9: Control your expenses better than your competition.
This is where you can always find the competitive advantage. For twenty-five years running — long before Wal-Mart was known as the nation's largest retailer — we've ranked No. 1 in our industry for the lowest ratio of expenses to sales. You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you're too inefficient.
Rule 10: Swim upstream.
Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction. But be prepared for a lot of folks to wave you down and tell you you're headed the wrong way. I guess in all my years, what I heard more often than anything was: a town of less than 50,000 population cannot support a discount store for very long.
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