The Principles of Goal Setting for Business Growth

When you decide that you want to start a business, there is a lot more that goes into building that company than just a thought. There is a lot of planning that you will have to do before you can allow that business to open up its doors and become established. Once you have opened your company you will not be able to stop there. Instead, you should continuously work on growing the operation. The growth of an organization is one of the best things to focus on as it enables one to become more successful and earn more of a profit.If you are looking for your organization to grow sticking to the old-fashioned rule of setting goals will help you out. You can start by thinking of different goals that you have in mind for essentially developing more satisfied clients. Ask yourself important questions. You might ask, "How much revenue do we want to be generating in say 5 years?" After carefully considering the answers to different growth-related questions, you can make goals for yourself and the company. Writing them out on paper will help to remind you of the goals you have set. You can even include a date that you would like to have those goals achieved. With a date set in place, you will likely feel more inclined to do whatever it takes to reach that goal, even if it means spending more hours on your business than you would like to.If your goal is to become more organized over the span of the next few months, take into consideration the valuable resources and tools that you can use, including assorted software designed specifically to help both SMEs and larger corporations. Using those resources will give you the benefit and advantage that you need to get your business where you want it to be. Organization is one of the several keys to success. If receipts, appointments, and inventory information are all organized, you can start putting your focus into other aspect of the business, ultimately reaching even more of the goals you have set.


Another goal that you might have for the business and its growth is to get a certain amount of additional customers. In this case, you might want to work on a marketing strategy that will help you reach the goal and see the growth you desire. Even if you are on a tighter budget, there are lots of affordable and even free marketing options, including social media outlets.Having goals as a part of your daily work activities gives you something to focus on. Never settle if you know that you have the ability to do better, especially when it comes to your business. If you are passionate about your business and love what you do, why cut back on its potential? Make your goals, stick with following through with them, and have the success that you deserve.

How to Prevent Check Fraud

Check fraud is an increasing problem that causes many individuals to be concerned, anytime they put pen to paper in order to write a check. It is also something that has been sensationalized, thanks to the 2002 film, "Catch Me If You Can". This true to life story showed how, in the late 1960s, one man passed $2.5 million in bad checks throughout the United States and in 26 different countries. How can you avoid being a victim of check fraud today?Avoid Using Checks When Possible - There are a variety of ways for you to make payments, including in cash and using credit card. If possible, it is a good practice to avoid writing personal checks in order to make payments. This is especially true for payments to take place in public locations, such as at the grocery store or at the drugstore. Consider the fact that on the check is personal information, including your address, name and phone number. Each check also contains the routing number and account number of your checking account, as well as your personal signature. In many cases, you also need to include your driver's license number on the check as well. This amount of information can result in a serious leak of security, which can be avoided if you pay by other means.Secure Your Mailbox - When many people pay their utility bills, they write out a check and leave it in their mailbox, waiting for the mail carrier to pick it up and send it on its way. Unfortunately, this also results in security problems, because the flag on your mailbox becomes a flag that alerts thieves to the possibility of committing fraud. If you must write out a check to the utility company, take it to a secure mailbox at the post office.


Balance Your Checkbook - You would probably be surprised with the number of individuals who did not balance their check books every month. If you are not keeping track of your checkbook in such a way, it is possible that you may not recognize the fact that a fraudulent check was passed. According to article 3, section 406 of the Uniform Commercial Code, you only have 30 days to notify the bank that there is a discrepancy on the statement (Source: "Chapter 104 - Uniform Commercial Code - Original Articles", leg.state.nv.us).Use Check Writing Software - Both businesses and individuals alike can use software to write checks on a regular basis. This can help to reduce fraud for several reasons. One of the ways in which it does so is by using a professional image associated with your business on every check. The software also can monitor your bank accounts closely to catch any issues that are occurring, shortly after they take place.Be Cautious at Tax Time - Finally, you should be especially cautious during certain times of the year. At tax time, many people are paying their taxes with a check, made payable to the Internal Revenue Service. Many fraudsters will watch for these checks to appear in your mailbox, steal them and modify the payee in order to deposit the money. There are additional options to pay your IRS bill, or you should send it from a secure mailbox, as was described above.Work Cited:"Chapter 104 - Uniform Commercial Code - Original Articles", leg.state.nv.us, http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-104.html

Business Model Nitty-Gritty

A viable business model is an essential component of a successful business venture. The business model is the roadmap within the roadmap that is the business plan. The business model is the blueprint for the process by which a company will make and sustain a profit.Unfortunately, too many aspiring entrepreneurs do not roll up their sleeves and hash out the details that form its building blocks. When devising your model, think logically about the 360 degree customer experience as it applies to engaging with your enterprise.The business model illustrates how to make the venture work as you intended. The first big question it asks you to examine is, how will you and the clients connect? Will they find you via your website? If so, how will they know that your website exists? What should you do to drive them to your site and what do you want them to find and do when they get there? The type of website that you design and your call to action are business model issues.Or maybe you will connect with clients and prospects via referral. Who, then, will refer to you and what will motivate that behavior? Do you have, or can you create, referral relationships that will feed you a steady supply of prospective clients?For example, if you are a florist, do you have relationships with wedding and other event planners? Perhaps you've worked in a busy floral shop and know a few people who will send brides and others to you. Or do you think you can depend on networking to connect you with enough prospects to get the ball rolling on sales?Where transactions will take place is another issue the model asks you to examine. Will customers visit you at your floral shop, or will you operate as a Freelancer and go to them, toting a binder or iPad that shows examples of arrangements you can create?


For those who sell other types of products, will you sell from a physical location, will you place items into the stores of others on consignment, or will all be sold via your website?Providers of intangible services must know how clients expect to engage in the type of transaction offered. Will an office be needed (accounting or law), or is the client's location the preferred space (HR services or management consulting). Your model calls for you to explain why it makes sense to sell in the way you've chosen. As your operation grows, the business model will change accordingly, to accommodate increased demands on resources and client expectations.Finally, your model will ask you to also address customer service issues, such as the policy for receiving payment for your products and services or the return and replacement policy, in the event that a few customers are not satisfied with a product, or if an item breaks while being shipped.The business model impacts many facets of your planning and its fine points deserve careful consideration before you take the plunge and start spending time and money on a concept that you cannot make work. Ask yourself a few questions and devise guide posts to assist you as you develop a model for a new venture, or revamp the one you're in now.Thanks for reading,Kim

The 90-10 Rule

You may have heard of the 80-20 rule, which states that 20% of your activities will result in 80% of your profits. Actually, it's a rule that applies everywhere-80% of your customer service complaints will come from 20% of your customers, and 80% of your productivity from 20% of your employees. In reality, however, the figures are more likely to hover about 90-10.For example, it's a sad truth that most entrepreneurs spend 90% of their time thinking about what they're going to sell, and 10% of their time thinking about the market they're going to sell to. This is a terrible mistake -- you need to turn that 90-10 ratio around. It's better to find a market full of people who need help with some problem, and then put together a product that addresses that problem in a satisfying way.How do you do that? By getting to know your market as well as you can. Put yourself in your prospect's shoes: try to understand where they live, where they work, their income, marital status, and what their biggest problems are. Even better, try to understand their perceptions of those problems, so you can give them the exact solution they want -- not necessarily what they need, or what you think they need. Try to step into the minds of your customers, see from a realistic perspective what they want to buy, and provide them with that product.Don't just put something together and decide it ought to be useful to a certain market. You might end up broke if you do that, especially if you let your love for the product blind you of the fact that no one wants it. Get to know the market intimately first, and everything will fall into place.


Here's a corollary of the 90-10 rule: most business people spend 90% of their time thinking about all the ways they're going to bring new customers into their business, and spend about 10% of their time thinking about ways to make more money from the existing customers they already have. Change that around. The lesson here is that the market comes first -- always -- and the best market is the market that's made up of people who have already done business with you. This is the secret behind all major successes.Customers are the life-blood of any business. They're the oil that keeps the whole thing running. Without oil, an engine is worthless; it'll wear down and melt down from the heat. The customers are you profits. It's safe to say that most businesses could double or even triple their profits right now by going back and working with their existing customers and developing more products and services specifically for them.Drawing in new customers is an important process, because you do have to replace those you lose to death, moves, changes in lifestyle, and other "leaks" that will gradually drain your existing customer base. But don't forget your existing customers. Create new and exciting offers for them, too -- or you'll just enlarge the holes in the bottom of your own bucket, and lose the loyal client base you've worked so hard to build.

Do You Know Who Your Best Customers Are?

If you're in business then you have customers. You might have a few, or a few thousand, but understanding who your customers are is absolutely vital for the survival of your business. So who are:Who Are Your Best and Worst Customer?
Who Are Your Best and Worst Customer?- and especially who your *best* customers are - is absolutely essential and allows you to target new business too. Think about your ideal customers and even make up an avatar for them. Think about where they live, what type of house, do they have a garden, what they read, what kind of hobbies do they have, do they have children, how old are they, what sports do they watch, where they shop, what other businesses do they use, is there anyone you can build a strategic alliance with for your mutual benefit and what frustrations they have.I heard a story of a wedding photographer who built up a Avatar of his ideal client, from this he realised that they would purchase expensive engagement ring at top end jewelers, so he contact a jeweler that he'd identified, offered to do free engagement photo;s for any couple spending over a thousand pounds, guess who the couples came too when it was time for the wedding.Once you have done this start thinking about who your current customers are, do you have customers that you love working with, they're easy to get on with, pay on time, really appreciate everything you do for them. Then at the opposite end of the scale do you have customers where you heart sinks when they get in touch, they seem to be constantly getting you to work for less money and take up more of you precious time.


Break your customers up into Grade A, B, C and D customers. A's pay the most and take the least time, D's pay the least and take up the most time. The idea is to educate all of your customers to be As! Do they fully understand how good you are or all of the benefits of being with you in comparison to your competitors? A lot of this education moving forward can be done in the initial meetings with the client even before you take them on as a client.However if you have a D client who seems impossible to educate, look at the time and what returns you're getting and then maybe think about recommending they do go to a competitor as you feel that they would better match their requirements, plus they'll end up sucking time and money away from your competitor, which is good for you.Have a great weekBy Alan Adams

What Is Energy Management?

Energy management is a term referring to saving energy in businesses, private homes, public sector and government organizations. Specifically, it is the process of monitoring, controlling and conserving energy in a building or organization. Typically, this term applies to existing buildings and equipment, and finding ways to make these existing assets more efficient.Energy management isn't just about saving money, although that is a key component for businesses and homeowners alike. There is also a global need to conserve, reduce our carbon footprint and make sure we leave behind a sustainable future.By initiating energy management strategies, businesses can get a better handle on their costs, find new opportunities for efficiency, reduce risk, and make more intelligent decisions. Long-term energy planning is becoming an important component to many businesses.With the diminishing amounts of fossil fuels and rising dependence on foreign energy supplies, reducing our energy usage is one way a company can contribute to the community and environment that is good for everybody.Some companies have begun to implement a position for an energy management consultant to help them find ways to reduce their consumption. These positions can do things such as metering energy consumption and collecting data; find ways to save and estimate how much each action would save; recommending and taking action on these any opportunities; and finally analyzing and tracking progress on how each of these actions have saved the company finances.Some of the detailed projects one might tackle include gathering data on current energy consumption and finding out specifics on consumption on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. After compiling data for a period of time, the energy management consultant should be able to pinpoint high-energy usage patterns and find out if there is routine energy waste occurring. Pinpointing routine waste provides an easy starting point to saving energy.


After consumption has been researched and identified areas where a company can improve energy conservation, actions should be taken to achieve a specified goal. These actions should be planned by the consultant and should be able to be measurable to ensure that progress is being made.Some actions may be as simple as requesting and implementing employees to turn off their computers and lighting in their work spaces when they leave every night, some could be as complicated as purchasing new or upgrading old equipment that will help energy savings.There are energy management consultant firms that are employable by businesses to come in and identify the weaknesses and areas that can be improved upon for each business. Many large companies may employ their own full-time position, or even a department, devoted to energy management, however medium- to small-sized companies may find it more financially feasible to hire a consultant to work on their energy management.Some of the specific areas an energy management consultant may evaluate include a company's controls system, they may conduct a retrofit feasibility study, and they will look into network and system integration. Looking into system design will evaluate how efficient the business's equipment is. It looks at the current application of the equipment and makes recommendations on how to best execute the system design.Studying the feasibility of changing out an old energy management system and replacing it with new technology is a big undertaking, but a consultant will have the experience to make the best recommendation to a company. Because energy management consultants are looking out for the best interest of the companies who hire them, their opinions should be unbiased and trustworthy.

Why 2014 May Be The Perfect Year To Sell Your Business

In the entrepreneurial ecosystem, business owners looking for an exit strategy are likely to find 2014 an optimal year for selling.- Peter Lehrman, Entrepreneur Magazine Timing any market is always a tricky proposition, especially in this era of diminishing returns and lowered expectations. The market for selling a small to mid-sized business is no exception.Anyone considering selling a business, especially boomer business owners thinking about retirement, should have a list of compelling reasons why they want to sell and a plan to help them do so.For most business owners, the timing will never be perfect, so waiting until the ideal moment to sell could be an impractical course of action. However, certain indicators are pointing to a better than average success rate for selling a business in 2014.That's why it's a good idea to employ strategies right now that will help you get the maximum money for your business.2014: The "Year of The Seller?" Three or four years of turmoil in a struggling economy makes some business owners understandably cautious when it comes to optimistic projections for 2014. However, there are some very good indicators pointing to the possibility of a perfect selling environment for at least the next 18 months or so.For example:• The majority of businesses have experienced increased profitability for the past 2-3 years. For numerous business owners, 2008-2010 were flat as far as profits were concerned. Those who survived this period felt lucky to break even, much less put profits on the books. With demand down across the country for services and solutions, business owners were unhappily treading water.However, the recession is slowly retreating, allowing businesses to recover. Many are now in a position to show the three or four years of solid growth that qualified buyers want to see when they build projection models.The ability for a company to demonstrate upward trends in their financials shows prospective buyers that it is right to make positive projections for future growth. This in turn gives owners better valuations and does wonders to make the deal viable. Buyers want to know that a business they purchase is poised to survive even a serious economic downturn.• Low interest rates (for a little while longer, anyway) You don't have to have an advanced degree in economics to understand that the artificially maintained low interest rates we now experience will soon be a thing of the past. Forecasters have been fretting that the Federal Reserve will be forced to curtail its' bond-buying program soon.A growing number of experts now say that 2014 could be the year when that finally occurs. This means, naturally, that waiting too long to sell might mean an owner will see higher interest rates and a lower price for his or her business.The reason for this is that interest rates always have a direct impact on the price of capital used to purchase a company. Buyers who rely on loans to acquire a business will feel the sting of these rising rates since earnings are used to pay the interest on loans. An increase in the price of capital will almost certainly lead to lower valuations for businesses.


It makes sense that the more expensive it is for buyers to get capital, the less willing they are to pay top price for a business. As soon as rates begin to rise in 2014, there will be a negative impact on business valuations.• Low levels of debt and lots of positive cash flow Credit Suisse reported in February, 2014 that 73 percent of U.S. companies and 56 percent of European companies have incredibly low levels of debt on their balance sheets compared to their total market capitalization.Private equity companies are awash in cash, with nearly $1.1 TRILLION in cash on hand. At the same time, levels of corporate debt are falling to new lows. So, what does this mean for you as a business owner who is seriously considering selling?Well, for one thing, since all this cash needs to go someplace other than under the CEO's mattress, private buying groups will be out en masse looking for successful businesses they can buy and from which they can see immediate cash flow.For another thing, there is a natural mood elevation that goes on when so many dollars are in play.The old saying "a rising tide lifts all boats" is applicable here. Every billion dollar mega-deal that goes down makes every smaller business deal more attractive. Small businesses are sure to benefit from the optimism that comes with any boom.• Changing demographics are pushing boomers to sell. The first half of the "Baby Boomer bubble" (2005-2010) has passed. During that period, older Boomers were able to sell to younger boomers, although the success rate was still a mere 3%.However recent research indicates that the number of boomer owners indicating they wanted to retire increased from 50,000 in 2001 to over 750,000 in 2009.It is possible we could see over one million businesses go on the market in the next 10-15 years in a transition tsunami. If this holds true, then it makes sense to sell ahead of the herd and reap the benefits of the current buying frenzy fueled by low debt levels and loads of cash.Even if you think you aren't ready to leave your business yet, you should plan as if you are. Positioning your business to sell is never a bad idea or waste of time.By crafting a well-thought-out exit plan, you will be prepared if circumstances (either good or bad) push you to sell, or if you get an offer from a qualified buyer that you just can't afford to pass up.You never know, maybe 2014 will be the year you make a profitable transition from your business and start enjoying everything for which you've worked so hard.