If you’re a home based business owner, you know what I mean. Priorities shift constantly. The home based business accounting tasks that you meant to get done this morning are still waiting for you when 6:00 p.m. rolls around. And since you’re at home, well, you think, why not, and plunge right back into your home based business chores. Before you know it, it’s 11:00 p.m. You’ve missed dinner with the kids and only want to fall into bed, exhausted. Every home based business owner has days like this occasionally, but a steady diet of them can cause serious home based business burnout. Luckily, by using these tips on making the most of your time, you can prevent it from happening to you–which could ultimately save your home based business.One of the first things you should do is categorize tasks that are similar and do them all at once. For instance, make as many phone calls as you can during one block of time. Knowing you have other calls to make to your home based business clients will help you keep your calls shorter. And it also just makes since. You already have the phone in your hand and your phone book, if necessary, handy. Do the same thing with writing letters and taking care of email. Grouping your chores this way will help you make the most of your time.Another thing you can do to help you get more home based business work accomplished in a day is to set priorities. Write them down, and then look at your home based business to-do list. If there’s a task or two that won’t take a great deal of time to do, take care of them first, then jump into the higher priority jobs on the list. This gets a few things off your home based business to-do list that you may not get to otherwise, and over a period of days, those unattended to tasks add up to a mountain that seems overwhelming. Getting a few less important home based business chores done early in the day also has a psychological effect of making you feel more productive, and so you become more productive.You also want to build some breaks into your home based business schedule. Eating lunch and/or dinner at your desk in your home based business office is a big no-no. Make it a point to take meal breaks anywhere but in your home based business office. You might build in a short walk during the morning or afternoon to give you an additional break. You’ll come back to your home based business more refreshed, and this makes it possible to do your work more quickly and efficiently.Learning to say no is important too. When you’re just starting your home based business, this can be difficult to do. You want your home based business to be successful, after all, so it’s only natural to want to say yes to everyone and everything. But taking on too many clients or projects, particularly ones that don’t really fit with your personal and home based business objectives and goals, can end up actually costing you money, not to mention energy that you could put to better use doing your necessary home based business projects and chores. So before you say yes or sign any contracts, give serious consideration as to whether it’s the type of client or work that fits your home based business goals and if you can realistically take on more work.Some other tips on making the most of your home based business time include:Delegate whenever possibleOutline the work for any project in advanceMake appointments with yourself to do certain chores–and keep themBring in help if you need toOrganize your home based business office for maximum efficiencyCreate a filing system–and use itFinally, don’t make the mistake many home based business owners make in thinking working harder means getting ahead. Remember that saying about working smarter, not harder? Well, it’s true, and it’s also the best way to prevent home based business burnout.Charles Fuchshttp://www.charlesfuchs.comhttp://charlesfuchs.blogspot.comI grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.
10 Survival Tips for Small Business Owners
The reality for many small business owners is that they were forced into starting something of their own. Perhaps they were retrenched, fired or unable to find a job.
What this means is that often small business owners really haven’t even had time to obtain some training in basic small business practices such as finance, human resources management and marketing.
The other real danger is that the small business owner works so hard in the business, trying to push for more sales, handling negotiations with suppliers, making month-end payroll and trying to get big customers to pay on time that they don’t catch major problems in their business before they become a threat to their businesses survival.
Newspaper reports recently indicated that about 4,000 businesses went insolvent in 2013. The causes for these business failures were not reported on but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure the usual fatal mistakes: bad business decisions, running out of cash, a market that has dried up or even an employee when employees who have embezzled the company.
Here are 10 practical survival tips for small business owners:
1. Stay inside your “circle of competence”: the investor Warren Buffett avoids making investments outside his “circle of competence”. Starting something new, venturing into a new market requires competence that the existing small business owner may not have. Stick to the knitting in bad times.
2. Keep focused on cash flow: When the cash dries up, the game is over. In hard economic times its important to monitor cash flow more frequently, if not daily. Set up a simple system and watch your cash like a hawk. Big customers want to take ever forever to pay and suppliers want their money now. This makes it vital to manage cash carefully.
3. Don’t sign sureties: when cash runs out, the temptation is to go to the bank to increase your overdraft. Don’t sign sureties that for a small loan require confiscation of all your business and personal assets. Enough said.
4. Temptation: Act ethically at all times: even what may seem harmless will become a major issue if it involves and an unethical business practice. Ensure you have a clear red line where you will not cross over. In this economy with people desperate, unethical, explotative small business are on the rise. Detect them early and avoid them at all costs. Some are not paying their taxes, operating illegally and not complying with health regulations and should be shut down by the relevant authorities.
5. Take time to work on your business: Working in your business gives you very little time to work on your business. Make time each week to review where your business is going and how you can improve your operations and increase your market.
6. Insurance cover: Have insurance cover in place for fire, theft and personal liability: It sounds like a no-brainer but how many small business owners have adequate insurance? Don’t be wiped out because of this.
7. Business advice: The biggest risk that a business often faces is poor business advice. Airlines and utilities are virtually bankrupt because of bad business decisions and have to be bailed out. Double check business advice and rely on your own common sense and savvy.
8. Avoid the dangerous number 1: there is a danger in having one big customer or one key supplier. Check your business for this kind of risk and make backup plans.
9. Keep a watchful eye out for unusual employee behaviour: One of your employees could be handling too many critical tasks, employees could be taking out stock without you knowing it and finance or bookkeeping employees could be involved in an invoicing scam. Watch out for suspicious behaviour.
10. Be frugal: keep costs down and avoid unnecessary purchase of new assets. Set your small business a cost reduction percentage target and stick to it.
These 10 tips for small business survival are just a few that any small business owner should keep in mind during these economic times.
If you are in any way concerned that there could be un-seen or hidden risks in your business, get in the right professionals or a business adviser before it’s too late.
Considerable Factors Involved in Product Creation & Marketing
The niche you have chosen should allow creation of more than one product or service. With the technological advancements in the hosting industry, from automated control panels and scripts that simplify creation of accounts, to complete turnkey solutions; there is no need to worry about spending time on the real products sold to the customer. The main ones are keyword selection, sales copy principles, graphics, affiliate programs, product creation, online payment processing, auto responders, and search engine optimization.
Once you’ve earned money from this type of information product business, you can invest in the creation of your own products if you want, or start offering more informational products that allow you to sell your knowledge. But the creation and production costs of a similar big ticket in sequence product, although higher, are still pretty low. A key by-product of this process will be the creation of 3-D, Computer Assisted Design art.
The Association for Financial Professionals permits the following activities for repatriating funds: Research and Development activities, advertising and marketing programs, hiring and training new recruits, acquiring patent and other rights to intangible property, improving transportation, funding capital investments with the purpose of job creation and job retention & funding product responsibility or environmental claims.
It prohibits certain activities like: Tax payments, Payment of executive recompense, Payment of dividends, Redemption of stocks, Debt investments and Portfolio investments. Therefore, before repatriating the money, you must consider whether it is worth or not.
Checklist on what artist and product development necessitate includes: Exceptional vocals, musicianship and/or songwriting skills, Continued education and enhancement of musical skills, Quality equipment, Performance ability, Image creation and maintenance, Plan of action, goal setting, excellent promotion materials including photographs, press releases and artwork, Business management skills, Marketing, Publicity and Promotion knowledge, Online and Offline Professional management, Basic knowledge of recording, producing, engineering, and mastering, Basic knowledge of manufacturing, distribution, and sales online, brick and mortar and air-play, Good choices in members, staff and advisors, Physical and mental preparedness, Basic knowledge of finances, accounting Law and legal issues etc.
The goals for doing so are for the product owner to: Communicate the whole, Determine and communicate when releases are needed, Determine what functionality is sufficient for each release & focus on business value derived from the releases. The delivery team on the other hand will see the whole, learn about the steps to realize the vision, learn the business priorities, provide technical input to the roadmap and provide estimates for the projected features. The salesperson must lead the prospect through the various decision criteria needed in order to secure a sale. Whether your idea is the development of a product, launch of a service business, or even the creation of an event or program for a non-profit, creativity is the root of all entrepreneurial efforts starting with the vision itself.
People quickly learn to spend their time on marketing and product creation, rather than repetitive tasks. Apart from empowering companies and individuals, there should be a particular focus on identifying labor intensive businesses that have the potential to make a significant and positive impact on employment creation as well as those businesses that have a product or service offering for export markets with the final objective of booming local economies.