Working capital is the difference between a company's assets (cash, inventory, and accounts receivable) and current liabilities (like taxes, wages, and loans). It's a key indicator of financial health and should be carefully managed.
Read MoreThe gender disparity among business owners is very high. One reason is that male leadership has always been applauded. Meanwhile, women have always met hostility in the workplace and entrepreneurial world.
That said, women can be far more compassionate towards employees, ethical in practices, and forge strong business connections. Female entrepreneurs can succeed even though men dominate the business world. Here are some qualities that can help you establish your own company.
Read More
Have you ever wanted to be your own boss with a start-up entrepreneurial business? Maybe you have given the prospect a lot of thought but could not determine the best path to take. There is a demand for professional cleaning services, both commercial and residential. Everyone has had a little exposure and experience with cleaning, if just from doing childhood chores alone. At this point in the economy, more businesses are turning to commercial cleaning services than ever before due to the needs that should be met with the advent of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Buildings and offices not only need to be thoroughly cleaned, they also need to be disinfected, sanitized, and made germ-free. You could be fortunate enough to find that this is where your interest lies. It is also good to know that this business is not gender-specific, nor does it have an age requirement. A dynamic woman owns and operates a successful Houston Commercial Cleaning service, and the business is accruing more clients.
Commercial cleaning services do more than clean the office after the workday is over. They do post-construction cleanup, general business maintenance, and day porter service. A commercial cleaning service is like any other business. You have to have some basic business knowledge, and, like other businesses, it helps to have a business plan. This is a start-up that you could begin from your home. Planning how you want to conduct your business is very important. How do you want to get people interested in doing business with you? Will you advertise, or do cold calling on prospective businesses? At the beginning, your employees may be family and friends. Many entrepreneurs who delve into this business start with getting some house cleaning experience before they decide to strike out on their own. You research the business requirements needed for this venture, then contact your local county clerk's office for information on licensing. Unless you are going to be the sole proprietor, there are many advantages to selecting your company name.
Being a commercial cleaning service owner means that you will have repeat business because you are an ongoing service business. Commercial properties need your service over and over, so, you will have consistent business and a stable income. Commercial cleaning services are an equal-opportunity business venture. The service is not male or female related. The success of the business depends on the quality of the work provided. It is beneficial to always stay abreast of the promotions of the other companies in the area so that you can match or beat their pricing. During this COVID Pandemic, the competitors are busy trying to stay ahead of each other.
Being an entrepreneur is a great feeling of accomplishment. You will have a reputable business that is always in demand. Commercial cleaning services can be generational, with everyone from grandparent to grandchild helping in the business. It is a prestigious occupation that can be passed down to the next generation. Being licensed, bonded, and having trusted and dependable employees will help keep you in business for quite a long time.
You can provide customers with the spotless workplace they deserve by customizing your service plan so that you are giving them everything to meet their needs. The customers will thank you for providing them with the services they need without paying for the services they do not need. You can be like the female owner and operator of her own commercial cleaning service, and take pride in your ability to own your own start-up business in a short period of time.
As a business owner, you need to always think of ways to boost your business to the next level. It means taking care of your day-to-day business operations, coming up with new business strategies, optimizing your daily workings, and even handling customer relations. You know that you have to put in long hours in order to scale your business, but there are quite a few services that your company can utilize in order to make your business a big success. These will help you free up time during your day so that you can focus on the far more pressing needs and concerns of your company.
A survey conducted in Massachusetts concluded that at least 65 percent of companies choose to outsource a few of their IT functions and another 20 percent plan to do the same in the near future. Outsourcing your IT services helps ensure that your IT costs are controlled. Maintaining and hiring IT staff within your company can prove to be quite expensive. Once you do start outsourcing this service, there is the possibility of increased efficiency since there is a lot of competition between other companies.
There is a lot of ongoing debate about the usefulness of hiring a tax consultant for your company. Tax consultants stay up-to-date with all amendments made in tax law. It is always better to hire tax consultants before in order to prevent certain situations rather than hiring them to handle a certain situation. Certain companies even offer companies year-round consulting in order to help you assess your tax situation as well as minimize your tax liability. If you are interested, see website for more details on how a tax consultancy can help you boost your business in the long run. You can even outsource your bookkeeping and accounting to tax consultancies.
Digital marketing has become quite a competitive field. There are huge companies handling the marketing and promotions of prominent and well-established businesses. It is true that start-up companies try to make everything in-house, but hiring a marketing agency will help you more in the long run. Outsourcing marketing actually costs less than having a team on your own payroll. Most agencies work on short-term or rolling contracts, so there is no long-term commitment. A marketing company will actually try to do their best for you since there is so much competition out there. Your business will have access to an experienced and qualified marketing team that can provide you with fresh insight.
Outsourcing customer support for your company helps significantly in cost reduction. You will be freed up to focus more on optimizing your daily business operations. A well-established customer support network will help ensure that you retain your customers. You do not have to train employees within your company for customer support, as outsourcing will help you establish a team that is already experienced enough to handle it.
It is quite a task to boost your business. It takes a lot of time, effort, and money. It is a smart move to invest some of it into these services so that you can focus on scaling your business to the next level.
By: Claudia Jeffrey
'Teamwork makes the dream work' is a popular phrase in the business world and has gained a lot of attention from entrepreneurs and leaders. But, this is only valid if you have the right teammates and a dreamlike work environment. In fact, a vision turns into a nightmare if you have a big dream and a bad team.
According to estimates, 23% of small startups fail within the first year. One of the biggest reasons that entrepreneurs experience business failure is that they rely on the wrong people.
If you are planning to start a business soon, you need good teammates that won't sink your ship. So, before you begin with your business endeavors, it is important for you to familiarize yourself with the most demanding types of teammates that can push your business to new heights of success.
Modern-day entrepreneurs realize the significance of building a dynamic team with distinct personalities.
Here are ten personality types and qualities of strong teammates that make them outstanding in the workplace:
This employee is very passionate about everything he or she does. They are moved by their own interests and desires. Unlike other employees, this teammate isn't bound to a system of assignment and execution. Instead, this teammate invents his or her own projects without needing any constant supervision and counseling.
Visionaries are key personnel in any organization (usually leaders) who constantly analyze the surrounding environment and look into the distant future. They have the ability to visualize the projects as a whole from starting point to end.
These teammates help in building a clear-cut vision and mission for the organization and provide clearly defined targets to other people.
These people can inspire others to excel in their job roles using their healthy amount of experience. They also take responsibility for their actions because they know that their ideas are different, and the other teammates are also taking a chance.
Having this kind of teammate on board is not less than a blessing. Although this individual doesn't work much differently from other people, they carry a positive attitude in every situation, and this is what makes them stand out in the crowd.
They are best known for keeping up the team spirit and always show up with a wide smile. Even in crisis, you'll see calmness on their face.
This teammate has the innate ability to communicate with others, including other team members, clients, and suppliers. Communication doesn't mean speaking only, but it has a lot to do with listening to others peacefully. When acting as a recipient of information, the communicator actively listens to what others are saying even if it contradicts his or her own ideas.
This individual is highly connected with the whole team and strives to bring everyone one the same page. They initiate discussions with transparent dialogue and make sure that everyone is involved.
These people can make sure that the team is on track by sharing important ideas and information timely. But, it doesn't mean that they don't like taking people's feedback.
The strategist is a teammate who perfectly translates the vision and figures out ways to transform it into reality. This person plots the complete course of action for your project from initiation to end. They take a customer-centric revenue first approach to brainstorm ideas and come up with practical applications of it. There are two important characteristics of strategists.
· The ability to make strategic decisions and pull them together into an action plan.
· The ability to comprehend the series of events without being deterred by the biases of people and perceived risks.
When you think about an innovator, you may think of someone like Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple Inc., who invented the personal computer with no keyboard and mouse. But the application of this idea is vast.
In the entrepreneurial context, an innovator is a person who is dedicated to finding new ways to do things or simply creative solutions to existing problems. Despite the fact that everything they introduce will not be accepted, their dedication to novelty is what sets them apart as a teammate.
They are famous for challenging the status quo and can help your startup with its cost-effective ideas for doing big things.
No business owner wants a glamorous personality if they are not valuable for the company. An analyst is a person who recognizes problems before anyone else. These are also known as a problem solver. Yes, you heard it right.
They believe that unseen problems can deter project progress and that's why they constantly put their effort into identifying unfavorable situations and factors that can hamper the company's performance. They see a problem at night and solve them by the next morning (this is how they work).
The goal-getter is a highly enthusiastic person who thrives on challenges. This teammate performs exceptionally in the sales and marketing departments and shows extraordinary results when it comes to individual or collective goals. These individuals are usually motivated by sales quotas or project deadlines.
Rather than feeling overwhelmed, this teammate is fascinated by a lofty goal, and he will encourage other teammates to get excited similarly.
The voice is a person who is vocal about his or her opinions and isn't afraid to express them in front of others. Sometimes the opinions could be positive, and sometimes it could be negative, but they're always honest.
This teammate plays a very important role in your team because you can always count on him or her when it comes to taking truthful and direct feedback from an outsider perspective. The best thing about them is that their habit of expressing and encourage others to be open, cultivating an environment of trust and discussion.
This teammate doesn't feel confined to his or her cubicle and gets their hands dirty if the need arises. They are labeled as a lifesaver for your company because they go out of ways to help people even if they are from a different department.
They do this because they have a strong sense of commitment to the organization. They would love to take extra work from other teams so that nobody gets overloaded with work.
You work with a bunch of people for a good reason – to help you succeed and provide support when needed. Here are six qualities of a great teammate. Do your people possess any or a few of them?
Good teammates put their company interest first before their own. They do whatever it takes to help the company succeed.
Good teammates foster a healthy environment by setting an example. They have leadership qualities that inspire others. They improve themselves so that others will follow in their footsteps.
Committed individuals always take responsibility for their behavior and actions. If you see that any teammate is not performing up to the mark, don't be afraid to confront them and help them get back on their track.
No matter how much talented your teammates are, if they don't respect other people around them, you don't need them. A good teammate is the one who respects everyone regardless of their level and position in the organization.
Great relationships are built on honesty and trust. A good teammate is the one you can trust and rely on during ups and downs. For instance, academic writing startups focus on hiring people who respond humbly to anxious students who request to write my essay for me.
At their infancy stage, startups face a lot of troubles and barriers. A good teammate doesn't complain about what's not going well. Instead, they look on the positive side and strive for better.
Good teams are made up of different personalities, but it doesn't mean that every personality should have a place in your team.
Avoid people who have a negative mindset because they always find a problem in every situation. These people are always on the lookout for flaws in others and in the company.
Secondly, some people are extremely impatient and always do things in a hurry. Note that doing things quickly and doing things hastily are two different things with different consequences.
Great teams are built with personalities, not only with skills. If your team doesn't already comprise of teammates who embody these traits, get some of them as soon as possible. These qualities are essential for improving performance on individual and group levels.
If your teammates exhibit these traits, reward them whenever you can. Remember that things are much easier when you have the right people with you on board.
Beginning anything at all is difficult. It’s even tougher for entrepreneurs because creating a successful business module, funding it, and ensuring that it stands the test of time is an uphill task. The road to business success is paved with perseverance and tough work, no less.
According to SmallBizGenius.net, 46% of entrepreneurs have no business-related training whatsoever. So calm down, you are not alone in your probable confusion as to what to do to get your business up and running, and keeping it that way. Here’s a list of the eight most common mistakes entrepreneurs make and some helpful tips on how to avoid them.
Failing to plan
Failing to plan is essentially preparing yourself for failure. One great big idea is not enough to win everybody. If your family and friends seem hesitant when you pitch your ideas, it’s probably not because they do not want to support you. Instead, they most likely just cannot see it through your eyes. So put everything down on paper and come up with a plan. A business plan comprehensively gels the various aspects of your business concept.
Ask questions such as:
What am I going to need?
How is it all going to come together?
How am I going to fund the production of this concept?
Write down the answers to these questions on paper (not in your head). Also, have your friends critique your module from a client or investor viewpoint. As you comprehensively plan, have it critiqued, and tweak based on feedback. You’ll find that you’ll be able to, first, factor in other details that wouldn’t have come to mind and, second, defend your concept to naysayers. Since planning is foundational to every business, you should invest the time in building a strong one. Many online resources offer free business plan templates. You can download and fill one out and tweak it as you require. This will help you to better view and communicate your business concepts to people.
Over-prioritizing branding
While branding is to a business what clothing is to us, you do not have to make everything about branding. Some entrepreneurs wrongfully interpret branding to mean parading yourself as a hotshot business executive to attract clients who have the money potentially. It’s great to have the funds to rent your very own glass and steel building. But if you don’t, run your business within your means. Most people can sense an ingenious person when they meet one, and clients might be put off by this and not want to patronize your services. You don’t have to adopt a ‘fake it to make it’ business approach. Sometimes the best brand you can be is yourself.
Thinking you can do it all alone
You may be a pro at multitasking, but you can’t be a manager and perform different staff roles all at once. You are not a one-person team, and it could reduce productivity to try to be one. So, don’t underestimate great human resourcing. Make sure to provide accurate job descriptions to attract the best available talent. Also, check out the applicant’s referees as some applicants may lie on their CVs. If you dread making a bad recruiting decision, you can outsource your recruitment to https://xmigrowth.com. Hiring based on how limited your funds are will cost you invariably more money to replace the help, as well as time and productivity. You can also lose other employees as no one wants to work with a bad egg.
Get an industry-relevant mentor
Aside from not being able to do it all, you do not also know it all. This is where a mentor can be of great help. According to Forbes, mentored startups grow a whopping three and a half times faster and bring in seven times more revenue than their non-mentored colleagues. You can identify two or three entrepreneurs who are making it in the industry you want to get into. This is because what might work for the auto industry, for example, might not necessarily help you in the food business as the challenges they may have overcome are not likely to be the same you’ll encounter. You do not have to meet with them to get their counsel physically. You can invest in the material they’ve already put out there, such as books, tapes, and interviews. Tapping into their knowledge is what counts.
Leave the right paper trail
Prioritize getting your business legalities in order. Many businesses only regard the initial cost and don’t pay attention to these things until they require documentation to bid for a contract or access funding.
It could be too late by then, and you might lose out on a big opportunity. Some entrepreneurs also get by on verbal agreements, and it is not an advisable business practice to do so. So, don’t trivialize business documentation. A tip to avoid miscommunication is to get everything in writing. It could be as simple as emails or texts, but whatever it is, get it in writing.
Have a marketing plan in place
Not having a proper marketing strategy and plan in place could spell doom for any startup. Many entrepreneurs have an idealist perception of how business is done. The idea that customers will flock to you once you have a great idea running is not entirely accurate. Even the most successful companies today still need a marketing push.
While it’s great to be optimistic about your idea, factor in the marketing push it’ll need to grow. Harness the power of the internet and take advantage of the dynamic marketing options it offers businesses. It could be as simple as creating a Facebook or Instagram account, and progressing to ads promotion to get your business out there.
Launching into the deep with a bang
While it might seem like a great idea to go big and make your presence known, it could be a recipe for disaster if you can’t handle the stress and demands of new customers after your big launch. You don’t know what challenges lie ahead, so get structured and take things one step at a step. It pays to be ready at your own pace. If you get encouraged when others seem to be doing better and snowballing, remember that sustained growth is the best growth of all. Launch when you are ready to handle the pressure of increased client demands. It’s better to focus on delivering 100% to fewer clients than a half-baked job to more clients.
Ensure that the price is right
Don’t under-sell your product or service just to please a customer or as a marketing gimmick. While it’s true that you can utilize a sale or limited time offer to increase your customer base, regularly slashing your prices for some demanding clients will eventually impact negatively on your coffers. They’ll always come back with the intention of not paying your asking price. You can avoid this by simply saying no. Always be polite and helpful to your customers, but don’t be a pushover or afraid to say no to excessive demands. The customer isn’t always absolutely king. Be kind and let them understand that you have a business to run and a brand to protect.
You’ve decided that entrepreneurship is your calling, and it’s time you also made your mark. Having the idea is only the first step. Now that you’ve taken that step, it’s what you do from here that’ll determine how it’ll all turn out.
Are you thinking about starting your own business and entering into the world of self-employment? This can be a fantastic decision and a wonderful opportunity for the typical worker. It will mean that you will be able to avoid having a boss breathing down your neck constantly and guarantee that you have a high level of career independence. You have probably already spoken to people who are self-employed themselves and they might be telling you just how thrilled they are that they made this decision. However, there are a few details they might leave out that you should be aware of. Let’s take a look at some of the key points here.
The Tax Man Cometh
One of the crucial points that people often forget when they start their own business is that they are suddenly responsible for paying taxes for a company. Now, you might think that this is just like paying your personal tax, however, it’s not quite that simple. Paying business tax can be quite complex and a lot of new business owners slip up here. For instance, you might need to fill out a 1099 form if you are using independent contractors in your business and if that’s the case you could require a 1099 tax calculator.
The big danger here is that you underpay on your tax. If that happens, you can bet that you will be visited by the IRS at some point. The problem is that people accidentally underpay their tax for years and then when the IRS does arrive they are faced with a massive bill that they can’t possibly afford. It can cripple a company and cause closures. This is why it might be worth using a professional service to manage tax payments in your new business. In doing so, you can avoid this hurdle completely. It can be worth paying a little more to ensure that you get a professional service too.
Legal Woes
Some business owners believe that avoiding legal trouble with their company is simply a matter of not breaking the law. To an extent this is true, however, the line between legal and illegal in the business world might be a tad more blurred than you think. Indeed, it’s possible that you cross over that line without even realizing it. This is due to the fact that regulations and laws are constantly changing and it can be difficult to keep up.
It’s also worth noting that a lot of legal regulations are not designed to be understood by the typical layperson. Some require a law degree to fully comprehend all the ins and outs of the regulation in question. Take data protection as an example. If you’re trading internationally, you need to understand the different regulations for parts of the world. Companies were given two years to prepare before the GDPR was officially introduced. For many, this still wasn’t enough time.
That’s why you do need to hire a legal consultant and ensure that they are able to assist you whenever the needs may arise. This will keep you on the right side of that legal line at all times.
You’ll Need To Outsource
Assuming your business is quite small, it’s important to manage your spending effectively. One of the best ways to do this is to make sure that you are using outsourcing solutions. Outsourcing simply means that you pass off areas of your business to other companies and let them handle things for you. The benefit of doing this is that you won’t need to worry about expensive costs. Instead, you can keep things under a tight level of control. If you choose the right company, you will also be able to access a high-quality service. This is important because customers won’t know you’re outsourcing. So, if there are any issues with quality, they’ll blame you directly.
Time Management And Productivity
Finally, you might be thrilled by the idea of not having a boss pushing you to complete deadlines or make a sale. However, there is a benefit to this type of set up. It helps ensure that you remain productive and reach a high level of potential each day. Without a boss, the responsibility for ensuring this happens will fall squarely on your shoulders. It’s easier said than done too, particularly if you are working at home. As such, it’s important to make sure that you do plan out a schedule for each day and each week. Set measurable goals to ensure that you remain on the right track with your new company.
If you are thinking about starting a business at the moment, or you have started one recently that you are keen to keep on working with, then you are obviously going to feel as if you have been dealt a poor hand. It is not the best time to start a business, and you are going to find that it is tough in many ways, with people out of work and unable to spend as much money and the economy generally suffering. But if you are determined to carry on, then there are some things you might want to think about in order to make a success of it. Starting a business in uncertain times is not necessarily going to mean that it is a failure, as long as you remember these key things.
Focus On Offering Your USP
You will always need to think about what your own Unique Selling Point is, and whatever that is you should continue to try and push it through all this trouble. If you can do that, you are going to find that you are much more likely to keep the business going strong even when things get tough, and it could be enough to keep your customer base growing how you need it to during these uncertain times. If your USP focuses on something that is particularly important at this time specifically, then, of course, you are going to be in an even better scenario than most, and that is something that you might want to aim for if you are about to set up your business in the near future. Bear in mind, however, that you will also need longevity too.
Keep The Marketing Going
You might be tempted to draw money away from the marketing budget during all this, as you want to save money for things you might consider more important. But if you don’t keep up your marketing, then you are going to struggle to keep your business alive no matter what is going on in the world, and you might not even have a business after the uncertain times are over. You at least need to keep the marketing ticking along in the background to remind people that you still exist, and you might find that this is easier to do if you have a professional advertising agency on your side doing the hard work for you. That is going to make a huge difference.
Plan For A Brighter Future
You never quite know what is going to happen, but the good side of that means that things could turn out much better than you would expect. So you need to make sure that you are keeping positive as far as possible if you want to have a better chance of your business surviving. It’s just a better way to approach things, and you will find that you have much more luck as a result of that attitude.
It’s a common dream to consider being your own boss and running your working hours how you would like. Earning a living without having to answer to a higher power can be very enticing for a lot of people - and enticing enough based on the increasing number of professionals looking to follow their entrepreneurial dreams.
Perhaps you’re considering running your own business, but you’re not particularly sure how to go about it, what you want to do, or what your base options are. Let this guide help you.
Turn a Hobby into a Business
Most people aspire to earn money from doing something which they love. If you have a marketable hobby that you are passionate about, then you could look into the business potential for your favorite pastime. The most viable ventures are associated with those hobbies which produce a product to sell, such as building furniture, painting, or making a unique item with a personalized touch. This means an opportunity to open an online store and make money from your hobby.
Branch Out on Your Own
Maybe your entrepreneurial aspirations don’t see you wanting to move away from your current job. It may be that you love the work that you do, but you simply don’t want to work for someone else while you’re doing it.
Opening up your own practice or business, under your own name, in the same business area as you currently work is a good option; this also means that you have reputable professional experience which you can use to your own advantage.
For example, perhaps you have years of experience as a dentist, but you’ve always dreamed of opening your own practice under your own name. A skillset like this will always be in demand, so it’s a viable business move. The initial costs will be expensive, but you have the option to look into loans for a dental practice and branch out on your own.
Help the Local Area
If you enjoy getting out and about in your local community, there are many possible small business opportunities available for you. Pet sitting, dog walking, cleaning, and laundry services are all relevant for the area you live in. If you’re already established in the area and perhaps know many neighbors who might require this service, this can be an enjoyable business venture.
Get Educated
Maybe you’re a long way away from even wanting to start any business venture. It might be that you’re curious about business workings and want to learn all that you can about business and entrepreneurial skills before you find your own inspiration. There’s nothing wrong with finding more education on the subject and improving your skill level to understand better the business avenues available to you as an entrepreneur. There is no negative about arming yourself with more knowledge when it comes to business, and you may meet some valuable contacts and fellow entrepreneurs along the way.
Photo Credit: Career Employer
Your startup is up and running. You’ve cultivated a reasonable and growing base of customers who are happy with the products and services you’re offering. Things are going well… but they could be going better. After all, you have overhead to pay for and the debts incurred to get your business off the ground to pay off.
And that’s going to be harder if your small business remains as small as it is. Repeat customers are coming back, and that’s great. Still, it seems as though your competitors are still gaining ground. Could it be that people just aren’t taking your business seriously enough? That you could be doing more to inspire their trust and establish the value in your nascent brand?
Here we’ll look at some reasons why people still aren’t taking your business seriously, despite your commitment to operational excellence, and what you can do about it.
Your website was made using a Wordpress theme
Whether you sell products via ecommerce, your website is an integral part of how you and your business are perceived online. When you’re first starting out, it’s understandable that your lack of HTML knowledge might lead you to create a website using a Wordpress theme. However, this can mark you as an amateur in the eyes of some. Even if you’ve given a lot of thought to how your website looks, you may not have considered the User Experience (UX) quite as carefully. A web design agency can help match you to a talented web designer who can create a new website that looks great and handles beautifully, giving your brand a boost.
Your contact details
If your contact email is a Gmail address and your only contact number is your cellphone, this can scream “amateur” to some and potentially diminish their trust in your brand. While you might, understandably, be shy of overhead costs, a virtual receptionist and physical address may be cost-effective and worthy investments to lend your business a sense of size and scope.
You’re marketing to the wrong crowd
Digital marketing allows you to deliver laser-focused campaigns designed to engage your target audience. This can be far more efficient than the old fashioned “spray and pray” approach to marketing. If you’re failing to gain traction with your target audience, it’s worth asking if you could be doing more to make your marketing more effective.
You’ve not yet built a solid base of social proof
No matter how persuasive and eloquent your marketing copy, however, consumers will believe the word of other consumers before they trust anything you say about yourself, which is why social proof is such a valuable and important aspect of marketing. Make sure you incentivize customer reviews and encourage people to refer others in their friendship groups.
You’ve yet to start posting thought leadership content
You’re clever. You’re passionate. You’re the kind of person to whom people naturally gravitate. It’s time that you let that amazing personality and wonderful experience shine in your content marketing. Blogs, white papers, ebooks, and tutorials can all be great platforms for thought leadership, building trust and value in your brand by building trust and value in yourself.
Photo credit: Career Employer
Investing money is a big deal. It’s one of the two ways you can make money in the world today - the first is to earn an income. When you invest your money, you are looking to get money back - a return, if you will. When you invest your assets, you grow your wealth over time. It’s in your interest to generate as much money as possible, and when you have investment goals, you can make it much easier to earn back money on your initial investment.
Whether you choose to invest your money on a trading platform with a broker, or you want to go ahead and invest your money on a Foreign Exchange, you need to know the best practice for investing your money. You can analyze your investments for your business over and over again, but unless you have some serious tips, you’re not going to know where the best place to start would be. So, what are the 15 best tips for investing your business profit? Let’s take a look!
Finding A Balance
Your first challenge as a small business owner is to strike the perfect balance between investing in your business all over again or spending money on outside investments. You may have plans for diversifying your business, but you need to be able to expand in outside investments, too. You should make a point of interviewing a financial advisor who will understand your need for reinvestment, as they’ll be able to guide you through what to do and where you should put your cash.
Put Money Into Disaster Recovery
Do you live in a town where you’re likely to need a disaster recovery plan due to adverse weather? Even if you don’t, you need a plan for it. Disaster recovery isn’t just about earthquakes and tornadoes, but IT disasters, too. If you don’t have business interruption insurance, then you need to make this investment now. You need this insurance to stop your business from slowing down in times of trouble.
Choose A New Industry
You may love the business you are running, and you may even enjoy the fact that you are in an industry that is progressing well. However, sometimes avoiding familiarity bias is vital for business continuity. For example, some landscapers will invest in architectural stocks and doctors will look at the pharmaceutical stocks, too. You need to have a diversified portfolio so that you cover a broad portfolio. You can use the help of financial advisors when you need to decide on which industry to choose. It can help to align with a similar industry to yours.
Think About Property
One of the biggest and best investments anyone can make is with real estate. It isn't just about your personal portfolio; your business can always use the investment in commercial property and the return on the investment you’ll receive when you sell on. Commercial properties are an excellent investment if you’re looking for somewhere to stash some profits.
Avoid Mixing Personal and Professional
A lot of business owners put their personal money into their business, and when you look at it from the asset class angle, this could be considered to be a micro-cap equity investment. It’s not a good idea. There’s a considerable risk involved, and the chance for loss is more significant than you think.
Research Your Stock Options Thoroughly
Due diligence is so necessary if you are looking for stock options for your profits. Thorough research is going to ensure that you have vetted the market appropriately, and you can make sure that you don’t jump in too fast with any decisions that involve your money. The market goes up and down, and it’s not the most reliable way to invest your cash, but if you do decide to go for it, make sure that you have the best possible broker to guide you along the way.
Pour Money Into Retirement
You should be contributing to a retirement plan for yourself already, but where you can, you need to consider adding more to it. You should supplement your retirement when you sell your business, but that doesn't mean you’ll get to do so. So, you should start saving as soon as you can. There are plenty of different retirement plans available and your future matters. You can easily set up a retirement account and set aside money to fill it up!
Self-Investment
Improving your skills as a business owner is so important. You can better yourself and invest further in your abilities, and you can also enroll in some courses that are related to your industry too. Extra certifications in what you do are going to be the best type of financial investment as you can expand your skills, learn how to diversify your business, and have a better opportunity to improve your business revenue. You can educate yourself and ensure that you continuously invest in yourself to stay on top of your industry.
Keep Up With Your Emergency Fund
You can only invest if you have back up. Setting up an emergency fund is your backup. You’ll not need to touch your savings if you have an emergency fund set up. You can use this for anything your business needs, and it’s the perfect way to build the fund that will catch you should something go wrong or disaster befalls your business.
Buy A New Office Building
Renting out an office space is empty money unless you’re using it all the time. You can instead ensure that your business is stable and established by buying an office building instead. A mortgaged building offers you the chance for investment, and it won’t move. It’s a substantial investment, and you can upgrade it as you see fit. You’ll save money on rental costs and be able to use your office as you see fit. It’s not the same as investing in commercial space and then selling on: this time; you’re using the area.
Invest In Your Employees
If you want your business to run well, you need good people behind it. You should be looking at investing more money in your staff; looking after their needs, furthering their careers, and generally investing in your time in guiding them through to their goals. Your compensation packages could be more lucrative, which will bring on new business. How you invest in your people is going to provide more for them than any other investment. The people you spend while working for you are going to make life far easier for you by staying loyal. The investments that you make in your compensation and benefits package will attract the best talent. The more ability you have, the better chances that you have in impressing the people who work for you. You need them - and they need you. Show them your appreciation and invest!
Embrace Low-Fee Index Funds
When you look to invest your money, you’re going to need to look into things like low-fee index funds. It’s the most straightforward investment strategy in which you can be involved, as all you have to do is set up automatic investments into low-fee index funds. You don’t have to think about the investments you’re making, and you’re going to be able to dollar cost into the funds, which will give you returns long-term. Some so many investors fall into trouble when they are looking at how their investments move, as they allow their emotions to get the better of them. Instead, automation will enable you to cut out the sentiment from the decisions that you make and gives you the chance to gain a return without thinking about it.
Diversify Your Products & Invest Further
Look at the products that you have and look at what they are offering to those around you. You need to expand on what you can provide your customers, and that starts with your products. If you know what you can do more of, you know where to cater to the needs of your customers. When you invest in diversification, you can expand on your offering and people will love what you’re doing!
Invest In Your Business
You must invest in your small business as time moves forward. If you’ve made a profit, turning that money back into your business is a smart thing to do. You can make improvements here and there, and you can improve the health of your business while you’re at it. Investing in your own business gives you a chance to expand and renew your business - which keeps it fresh!
Cryptocurrencies - You Need To Consider Them!
Okay, so you may not have heard much about it, but cryptocurrency is a smart investment to make. It’s not the mainstream right now, but it’s something that is growing daily in popularity. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency in which you should invest, and while you may find that cryptocurrency won’t replace cash, it’s a good investment in the long term.
To ensure that your business is doing whatever it can to remain popular and well-loved, you have to make sure you are keeping it up to date with the way things are changing. There are numerous aspects that you need to consider here, and we’ll look at a few of them in turn in this article. But the important thing is that you are doing everything in your power to keep your business up to date so that you can ensure that people continue to respond well to it, and so help it to grow.
Laws
As a business owner, you always have to keep one eye on the law at all times. There could be any number of changes in the law that might affect your business, and you are going to have to make sure that you are following along with them all the time. You will generally find that there is a lot of messaging around when a big law is changing, but it’s also necessary to keep an active lookout for such things. Of course, having a company lawyer is the best way to do this, as then you can carry on doing whatever you need to, and leave it to them.
Technology
There is no rule that says you have to keep up with all the tech changes. But the more that you do, the more likely it is that your business is going to be viewed by the customer as one to trust and support, and that is obviously going to be hugely important. Your technology is there for a reason, and you are going to need to make sure you are utilizing whatever changes there are in the best way possible if you feel it is necessary. If that means you need to make QR code to help spread awareness of your website or invest in some VR so that you can better visualize changes, then you might want to consider that
Culture
Good businesses also need to reflect the culture that they find themselves to be a part of. That means paying close attention to the kinds of changes in ideas and so on that are occurring, and hoping to fall in line with them in whatever way you can. You shouldn’t feel you have to merely do whatever is expected of you by the culture at large - but it is important that you are clever about how your business interacts with it. You will find that this is what you are going to have to consider, and it is this approach that really helps your business to keep up with what’s changing in the world.
Ethics
As ethical needs change, so too should your business. At the moment, you would be remiss not to consider making a big point of trying to work against climate change, and it is something that you will want to consider if you want customers to respect your business on the whole.
There is little doubt that your top priority as a businessperson should be to help your company achieve sustained and long-term growth. With growth being a sure sign of financial health and strategic success, there’s so much value in finding new and exciting ways to grow your business, from your knowledge of the market and your tapping into new customers, to the investment of your resources in a whole new branch of work. Here, you’ll find four steps to grow your business, from the planning through to the execution.
Investment Funding
These investments—in marketing, auditing, accounting, and providing for higher volumes of sales – require funding. Often, that means either approaching a funding body for an investment in your business or needing to open a line of credit with a reputable business loan provider, like biz2credit.com. With the capital you need to make your investments in growth a success, you’ll be able to strategize and invest freely, without budget constraints imposed by the relative size of your business as it attempts to establish itself in the market.
Map Out Your Space
It’s important to be aware of the business space in which you operate. This means taking account of your competitors, taking account of your customers, and taking account of the business and consumer trends that you see around you, whether they exist in your own particular market or not. Without this important base work, you won’t have an informed foundation from which to plan your growth strategy. So, try to answer the following questions:
· Who is my target customer?
· Why are they my target customers?
· Where can I find this target customer?
· How can I target this customer?
Now, it’s time to look at how you’ll put the answers to these questions to use.
Marketing and Sales
So, you’ve decided that you have an ideal customer—one that you think is most likely to trade with you—and you’ve strategized some ways in which to access them with sales and marketing techniques. Now, it’s time to direct your marketing and sales energy to find these customers and target them with advertising and marketing materials that’ll lead them gently back onto your website, from where they’ll make purchases and boost your profits. Engage with external, outsourced marketing companies for help in getting your message across to your target consumers.
Consolidation
If you grow, you really do not want to shrink back. That can be disastrous for your business, as when you scale too quickly and then fail to maintain the extra business you were anticipating, your whole business, set up for higher volumes of sales, will start to lumber towards debt and high costs with low profits. As such, every time you grow your business, you need to work on a period of consolidation in order to keep the boat steady and ensure that the extra market share you’ve captured is there to stay for your long-term financial future.
These four steps will guide you through the planning and execution of your strategies for your business’ growth in 2020 and beyond.
FemFounder is a one-stop shop for creative entrepreneurs and small business owners who need PR, Instagram, Pinterest, and email list building help.
