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The holiday shopping season is here, and customers are poised to spend more than $586 billion on gifts this year—a 4.1 percent increase over last year. But not all of that action is taking place on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, or at the local mall. For smart small businesses whose products have wide appeal, holiday arts and crafts fairs and local flea markets or other outdoor shopping events are great ways to garner additional sales this time of year. To get started, follow these steps. Check out what events your community and...
One of the benefits to building a creditworthy company is that lenders, creditors and suppliers will determine the level of credit risk based on the company’s creditworthiness rather than that of the owners. However, there are instances where a lender will require a personal credit check as part of the overall risk assessment. In these cases, it is in the best interest of you, the business owner, to have a positive credit rating with the consumer credit agencies. If credit scores currently fall below 680, then focus on taking positive...
Social media, as with anything new, is sometimes misunderstood. People either overinflate or underestimate the value and importance of it. And that’s not the only things they get wrong. Often they misunderstand what it takes to incorporate social media into your marketing. Here are 5 of the biggest social media myths about using social media in marketing: Myth #1 - Social Media is Not Real Marketing If you’re still thinking that social media is a fad and will eventually fade away, I have news for you: I hope you...
If you’re searching for the right franchise to buy, it’s important to set some goals. One reason that you’re going to want to have some specific goals set up is this: There are over 3,000 franchise opportunities to choose from! With that many choices, it’s way too easy to get lost and flounder around aimlessly, trying to find that perfect opportunity. My aim is to make the franchise discovery process as seamless as possible. (Actually, it’s my goal.) Goal #1- Budget You need to decide how much you’re willing...
Warning: this post is all about the questions. It doesn’t include the answers. Asking the right questions is a good first step to getting the answers. Theoretically we should be able to measure the ROI (return on investment) of anything we do in our business. We talk about ROI, and return, and payback when we look at an ad campaign, direct mail, product development, purchasing some big-ticket item. We make assumptions about ROI all the time. But it’s not always easy, and our assumptions are not always correct. What about social...
According to Wikipedia an asset can be defined as a resource controlled by an entity as a result of past events and from which future economic benefits are expected to flow to the entity. Many startups rely on the use of personal assets to secure funding for the business. Although money is often tight during the early stages, the goal of a small business owner should be to not only increase sales revenues but to build the company’s creditworthiness. In particular, business credit is an asset and considered an economic resource that make...
We learn in grade school that it’s not right to copy others, and even as adults we know copying is usually frowned upon. But when it comes to business marketing, there’s nothing wrong with being a copycat—in fact, it’s downright good business. Looking at how your competitors market themselves can teach you what to do (and what not to do) with your own marketing strategy. Here’s how to be a successful marketing copycat. Start by determining your major competitors, and include both big companies and small...
Now that we're in the fourth quarter of the year, it's time to get ready for 2013. There is much to do from a financial, legal and tax perspective. In this article are guidelines for mapping out your company’s financial plans for 2013. In upcoming articles, you’ll see what legal steps you should take and last-minute tax planning moves you should make before the end of the year. Overview of budgeting Budgeting is a process in which you estimate the income you expect your company to receive as well as the expenses you expect...
Due diligence, the research part of buying a franchise, includes several different things. If you’ve never worked through the process of researching one before, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll miss something. And, it all starts by knowing what to ask. Franchise research encompasses a lot of different things. Some of the obvious ones include: · Learning about the operation · Contacting existing franchisees · ...
For years now I’ve thought of business planning in terms of the special case that I call a business plan event. The business plan event is when you have to produce a business plan for some specific business hurdle or gateway. For example, a startup looking for either angel investors or venture capital needs a business plan to give to interested potential investors. And a business applying for commercial credit needs a business plan to present to the loan officer at the bank. Some other business plan events are the sale of a business, a...
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by Rieva Lesonsky, Guest Blogger on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 - 11:41