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How to Start a Home Business – the Right Way

Written on March 30, 2012 at 12:21 pm, by admin

How to Start a Home Business

With the economy in shambles and a lot of ordinary folks looking for extra income opportunities, many people wonder how feasible it would be to learn how to start a home business. The truth of the matter is, if you have access to a computer and the internet, there are literally hundreds of legitimate opportunities available to you to make money from home! You can do anything from starting an online store, get paid to take surveys, make money testing video games, perform data processing from your couch, affiliate marketing, sell stuff on EBay, and on and on. Sounds great, right? It can be great, but there’s a catch, and I’m going to reveal the biggest secret to success to you right now:

YOU HAVE TO WORK AT IT!

Nothing, and I mean nothing, great happens in business (online or otherwise) unless you are willing to work hard to learn how to start a home business and make it happen. If it were easy, everyone would be an internet millionaire sitting around by the pool drinking fu-fu cocktails. Granted, plenty of people DO make some serious money with their home-based businesses, but not the lazy ones! If you aren’t willing to work hard to make your home-based business successful, then turn back now!

As for myself, I own a brick and mortar business, a gas station, I work as a manager in the auto industry, and I dabble in online businesses on the side. I can honestly say the online stuff is as fun and exhilarating as anything, but it takes time. A lot of time. You have to prepare yourself for that fact before you dive in. A business is a business, not matter which format they come in, and no business comes easy.

Let’s examine a few tips to follow when learning how to start a home business:

How to Start a Home Business Tip #1 – Nothing is Free: Even though a lot of programs would have you believe you can started for nothing, don’t fall for it. There are always costs involved, such as a computer, the internet, signing on with a marketing program, website development, hosting the website, domain purchasing, and so on. Granted, it is much less expensive to develop a home-based business then a brick and mortar business, but it will still take some funds out of your pocket.

How to Start a Home Business Tip #2 – Nothing is as Easy as It Appears: Even though many people would have you believe you can be an accomplished internet entrepreneur inside of six weeks, or some other ridiculous time frame, the reality is that it takes time and lots of effort & hard work. You will have more then one false start, and just when you think you have it figured out, something else comes along to make you realize you don’t know anything. Keeping plugging away!

How to Start a Home Business Tip #3 – Learn Everything you can about your Craft: If you think just reading one e-book or a couple of posts will give you all the knowledge you need, think again. You have to approach this business methodically, and absorb every piece of information you can get your hands on, whether you think it’s important or not. This website can provide you with tons of information and resources to help you succeed, whether its How to Start a Website to How to Create a Logo for Your Business, you can find a lot of what you need right here.

How to Start a Home Business Tip #4 – Expect Success to Take Time: As I mentioned before, nothing in business happens overnight, and home-based business are no different. If you approach your new business with the mind-set that it will take a year or two to really start reaping the benefits, you’ll set yourself up for success instead of disappointment. As for myself, I never expect anything to work as fast as people claim it will, and I’ll usually expect it to take three to five times as long.

How to Start a Home Business Tip #5 – Never Give Up: If you have ever heard or read anything by Donald Trump, his mantra for business has always been “Never, ever give up.” Nothing could be more accurate when it comes to business. No one ever “made it” by getting disgusted and quitting. You have to believe in yourself, and knock down every mountain that stands in your way. Obstacles are made to be overcome, and you will overcome them and succeed if you just keep moving forward!

How to Start a Home Business Tip # 6 – You Have to Start Something to Finish Something: You can sit there for the rest of your life dreaming about “what could’ve been” or “what should’ve been.” The truth of the matter is: if you never get started, you’ll never get anywhere. No success. No new car. No internet millionaire. Figure out which direction to go in, make the committment, and start moving. You can always steer the ship in another direction later, but the ship has to sail first! You’ll get a huge sense of accomplishment just starting, and you can use that momentum to keep propelling you forward!

If you made it this far, you’re ready to start looking at some of the best How to Start a Home Business Resources available:

* BigCommerce – If you are looking to develop your own home-based business selling products, Launch your Ecommerce Store with BigCommerce. All-in-one, easy to use, SEO, marketing tools and more. Try it free!

* Ashop Commerce – Another company known for assisting members to sell online, Ashop can help you develop a home-based business, and you can Create Your Online Store in Minutes!

* Splash Media U – Splash Media U can help you learn to Work from home as a social media marketer! Learn how!

* Find the Best Legitimate Home-Based Online Jobs Available – Click Here!

* Get Paid for Completing Surveys at Home – What could be cooler then that? Click Here!

* Home Job Group – Real Home-Based Jobs you can do in your spare time – Click Here!

* Make Money Testing Video Games! – A super cool way to earn extra money! Click Here!

The companies listed above are a small sample of what you can achieve by learning how to start a home business, and I plan on adding a bunch to that list in the near future! Speaking of futures, start improving yours today, and get started!

How to Lease Equipment for Small Business

Written on March 21, 2012 at 5:22 pm, by admin

How to Lease Equipment

As a small business owner (the owner of a gas station to be precise) I understand how equipment replacement-intensive small businesses can get. If you are anything like me, I’ve investigated equipment acquisition options for my business until I’ve been blue-in-the-face. In my experiences, leasing has won hands-down as the most affordable and least-stressful alternative for equipment acquisition, which has prompted me to write this post on how to lease equipment for small business.

With traditional banks clamping down on business loans, more and more small businesses are considering equipment leasing as a favorable option to get the business equipment they need without the huge up-front expense. And you’re not alone if you’re considering leasing for your business. In fact, research shows that eight out of ten U.S. companies are currently leasing at least some of their business equipment. With the ability to pay-as-you-go as you use your equipment, understanding how to lease equipment can not only help your business survive in tough times, it can help you manage your cash flow to prepare you for the next economic upswing.

Lease payments on equipment are a fully tax-deductible expense in most instances (check with your accountant for details.) When you lease equipment for your business such as computers, printing equipment, point-of-sale systems, restaurant equipment, construction vehicles, etc., you may qualify for benefits that you may have been unaware of. Additionally, understanding how to lease equipment allows your business to conserve precious working capital for other needs, protect you against obsolescence and increase your financial flexibility.

My best advice is to use a well-established, nationally known company like Advantage Leasing Corporation. I have personally used Advantage, and I can attest to the fact that pursuing new equipment through them becomes a “non-event”. Leasing makes sense. You’ll find, like I did, that the equipment leasing process is faster, simpler, and often less costly than other financing alternatives.

How to Lease Equipment for your Business:
A leasing company (Lessor) purchases the equipment and then leases it out to the business owner. A lease is generally easier to obtain than a line of credit. Most small business owners seek a lease amount of less than $100k, which can be obtained with little or no documentation.

A. Typical Leasing Requirements up to $50,000:
◦2 years in Business
◦Clean credit report for best terms
◦Down payment from 0% to 15% depending on strength of file

B. Typical Leasing Requirements from $50,001-$150,000:
◦4+ years in business
◦Clean credit report
◦Bank checking account with a minimum balance of $10,000
◦Down payment from 0% to 15% depending on strength of file.

Understanding how to lease equipment for your business can and will be a life saver for most owners, especially those in construction, restaurant, gas station, or other equipment-intensive businesses. Go with a national leader in business equipment leasing, like Advantage Leasing Corporation, and you and your business won’t regret it! To find equipment for your business, check out out Equipment for Business page!

Financing, Restaurant Business, Retail Store Business, Small Business Basics how to lease equipment 3 Comments

Rise in Gas Prices and Consumer Behavior

Written on March 12, 2012 at 12:11 pm, by admin

Rise in Gas Prices

It isn’t any secret that there has been a rise in gas prices this year, and they haven’t shown any signs of reversing themselves yet. And though there has been a rise in gas prices, they haven’t increased to a tipping point, according to research.

A new Gallup poll conducted March 5-6 shows that the price of one gallon of gasoline would have to reach $5.30 to $5.35 before the average American driver would make major changes to their routine. Remember, this is a poll talking. I don’t particularly agree with it.

Two separate random split samples of approximately 500 respondents each stated the price at which they would be “forced to make significant changes” or “forced to make significant cutbacks” in other spending areas. There were no significant differences in responses based on the wording of the question.

While nearly 30 percent of respondents would cut back once fuel prices are in the $4.00-$4.99 range, the average response of $5.30-$5.35 shows that there is still a relatively large amount of room for prices to increase before Americans face serious consequences and lifestyle changes, said Gallup.

Still, Americans are definitely feeling the crunch to their wallets : 85 percent of respondents said they want President Obama and Congress to “take immediate actions to try to control the rising price of gas.” Only 65 percent believe such control is possible, while 31 percent said they believe fuel prices are largely beyond Washington’s control. Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to believe the President and Congress can make a difference.

The poll was conducted through telephone interviews with adults in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and has a maximum margin of sampling error of plus or minus five percentage points, according to Gallup.

I am the owner of a gas station, so I’m at “ground level” when it comes to seeing how consumers react to the rise in gas prices. I don’t mean to dispute Gallup, but in my opinion, they are full of horse manure. I see first-hand consumer reaction to gas price increases, and there aren’t many of my customers that show “no effect.” Gas prices affect virtually everything we buy in some form or fashion, and those financial gurus who believe everything is fine should share their drugs with the rest of us. The country has never fully recovered from the Great Recession, and every time the economy has even slightly good news, the commodity traders go nuts on gas prices.

Additionally, for those who believe the government “can’t do anything about it” are wrong. Governmental policies have everything to do with how crude oil gets to or is drilled for in this country. The really sad thing is the U.S. has enough oil reserves underneath it’s soil to sustain us for hundreds of years at our current rate of consumption, but government-mandated restrictions have all but choked the refiners from doing anything in a cost-efficient manner, which would stave off a rise in gas prices. Also, the last time a run-up in gas prices happened, the government was all puffy about instituting restrictions on traders for how they traded commodities, which tends to artificially inflated prices. What happened to that? Until the government does something about it, consumers and small business owners alike will continue to suffer.

If you want to do something about the rise in gas prices, email or call your Congressman and let them know how sick and tired you are about them stifling the economy with their own inaction!

For information on how to improve a business, just follow the link!

Business News rise in gas prices 9 Comments

How to Start a Website Successfully

Written on March 10, 2012 at 11:16 am, by admin

How to Start a Website

From small businesses looking to set up an online presence, to people looking to earn a few bucks online, it is wise to learn how to start a website successfully. Unfortunately, too many people have the notion that you just need to produce a website, set up some links, write a few articles about the same B.S. someone else already wrote and you will be sitting at the bar drinking martinis while collecting 1,000′s of dollars a month in easy money! Nothing could be further then the truth!

Unfortunately for those looking for easy money, it takes an incredible amount of hard work, lots of time, good writing skills, and more then 5% of your brain power to make a website work successfully. You have to approach this as any other business venture – with dedication and some degree of business sense. Otherwise, everyone would be a rich internet millionaire and we wouldn’t have the economic mess we have today! Here some of the most important tips to follow when learning how to start a website:

How to Start a Website Tip #1 – You Can’t Do It for Nothing: Let’s face it, if you don’t invest in decent hosting or buy a domain name, how do you think you will survive everything else that goes into building an online business? Although a lot of “gurus” will tell you this can be done for free, it takes an investment to create a successful online business.

There are free platforms out there you can start on, but even then an investment will be required for various things, which we’ll cover in a bit. And, you have to look at it as an investment, not a fee. You are investing in your future, and a genuine business! Online businesses can certainly be less expensive then a traditional business, but a business of any kind requires investment. I own a brick and mortar business–a gas station, to be precise. I know that any business takes money to operate, whether it’s online or not. If you start to think more about it as a real business, then maybe you can see the reason it is important to invest in it.

Below are listed a few of the “investments” you should be planning for and considering:

A. Hosting: Get Hosting from a reputable company like UltraHosting so you can be sure your site is always up. You can get good small business website host providers by following the link I provided.

B. Theme: Get a premium theme, again from someone reputable, like DreamTemplates. Follow this link for great information on websites for small business.

C. Education: Don’t forget to spend money to educate yourself; join a forum, buy an e-book, get consulting, etc… You can spend a couple of years learning web marketing, or you can spend a little money and learn in a fraction of the time. Learning Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques is a must, and you can learn a lot more about SEO Marketing in Small Business Websites here!

D. Logo: Get a good logo! It is so obvious when people (like myself) try to do graphics, and they stink at it! You can follow this link for some great, inexpensive help on how to create a business logo. Get yourself a good logo, brand yourself, and be professional!

E. Design: It is perfectly ok to start with a standard theme without many modifications, but at some point you will need to upgrade to something with your own voice; your own spin on it. Again, following the websites for small business link will provide some great options for you!

How to Start a Website Tip #2. You Need to be Dedicated: You need to put some time in to make this work; most likely, more time then you have. When I first started, I worked on my sites every spare minute I had during the day, until I started seriously irritating my wife! Now, I try to work on my sites at least a few hours per day, but I’m not always successful at that. Working on websites and/or online marketing can take 24 hours per day, and you still wouldn’t get everything done that you wanted to, so you have to learn to pace yourself! Following are a couple of tips to help you stay sane:

A. Limit the amount of time you spend lurking on other blogs and commenting. I am not saying that commenting is all bad, but if that’s all you spend your time doing, then you are probably going to fail.

B. Limit the amount of time you spend on social media. Don’t leave Tweetdeck or Facebook (whichever app you use) open all day, as you will never get anything done! Limit the time you spend on those sites to a specific amount, and stick to it. Think about what you could be improving on your own site, and then start doing it. After a few minutes of concentrating, you’ll get into the grove.

At the end of the day, if you blow all your time reading, writing, and socializing, when do you think you’ll actually grow your business?

How to Start a Website Tip #3. Be Original and Be Passionate: Most people who aren’t all that serious will struggle with this one. They’ll find a successful blogger, do some minor re-write of their content, and go about their merry way. If you go that route, at least have a different opinion and write about why you feel differently (linking to the source), but just re-writing content is doomed to failure.

Being passionate about your niche goes a long ways towards making it a valuable commodity. If you really don’t care about what you blog about, how easy will it be to be motivated about it? People who are passionate really care about the information they pass along, and it shows!

Understand not every piece of content needs to be original, but it should, at the minimum, have your own style and voice to it. People that truly do this for a living are providing real solutions to real problems, and that’s why they succeed!

How to Start a Website Tip #4. Use Your Knowledge and Strengths:: If you don’t fully understand what you’re talking about, it becomes apparent very quickly! That’s why you have to choose something you know very well instead of trying to copy someone else.

In my case, I have managed, developed, and owned businesses for close to 20 years. That’s why I feel comfortable writing about starting, improving, and running businesses; because I’ve been there and done that, and it is a passion of mine to see it done right! If you were a stock boy at the local grocery store and started a blog about developing businesses, how far do you really think you’d get before your visitors figured out you were full of you-know-what? Not long!

If you are an HVAC technician, consider writing a do-it-yourself HVAC blog. If you are a loan officer, write about how to qualify for a loan. If you are a car detailer, write about insider’s tips on how to detail a vehicle. If you don’t even have a 401K plan and you want to start a blog on FOREX Trading, you most likely won’t make it!

How to Start a Website Tip #5. Get a Product: Do you realize how much traffic you need to get on your website to make any real money on affiliates and/or ads? A lot more than you will probably ever get. There are MILLIONS of people out there right now trying to do the same thing you are, so you have to at LEAST differentiate yourself with something unique.

Come up with a real business plan and some real products for your online business! Find a niche within an industry and start there. Instead of selling fashion shoes, sell ruby slippers. Instead of selling car tires, sell NASCAR racing slicks. The point is, you need to dig into your industry and find a product that is less generalized and more specialized, with less competition.

You need to distance yourself from the pack. Find your own place in the circle, and use whatever experience, passion and knowledge you already have to get into a niche that you can profit from. Local niches can even work, finding a need to be met.

Online businesses are not any different than offline business. They both take hard work, dedication, investment, and sacrifices to make it work. If you aren’t willing to do any of the above, then you may be better off not wasting your time! Learning how to start a website successfully can one the most satisfying things you’ll ever do, but only if done right! For information on How to Increase Sales, just follow the link!

Marketing, Small Business Basics how to start a website 37 Comments

Essentials of Business – The 5 Things You Need

Written on March 7, 2012 at 2:15 pm, by admin

Essentials of Business

If you currently own a business or are planning on owning a business in the future, you need to learn the five most-important essentials of business to know. The essentials are based on a study conducted by the convenience store industry and are centered around a shopper’s “hierarchy of needs,” including safety, cleanliness, hospitality, simplicity and ease, and time enrichment.

The five needs described by the hierarchy apply to all retail shoppers and patrons or restaurants; all convenience shopping occasions; and all the channels that serve them, from corner markets and interstate travel shops to dollar stores, drugstores and quick-serve restaurants.

Of the five essentials, shoppers must first see safety, cleanliness and hospitality. These basic needs must be addressed before shoppers will give a retailer more business, but many stores still neglect them.

Let’s examine the five essentials of business in detail:

Essentials of Business Tip #1 – Safety: Quite obviously, if a customer doesn’t feel safe in your establishment, they won’t be coming back anytime soon. Who would want to frequent a store or restaurant when you felt you could be robbed at any moment? Creating an aura of security can be as simple as repairing outdoor lights that are burned out, installing security cameras, having more then one employee on duty at a time, closing before a certain time, etc. You, as an owner, absolutely have to make your customers feel secure!

Essentials of Business Tip #2 – Cleanliness: Have you ever heard the saying “Your restroom tells a customer everything they need to know about your business?” Well, if you haven’t, you just did! It’s true–your restroom will send a message to your customers: good if it’s clean, not-so-good if it isn’t. A clean restroom tells customers you take cleanliness seriously, and they feel much more secure buying product, and especially food product. Just remember to not stop at the restroom, however; you need to carry the “clean theme” throughout the rest of your business as well!

Essentials of Business Tip #3 – Hospitality: Customer service skills are arguably the most important item on the list, in my opinion. If your employees treat your customers like they deserve to be treated (as in “well”), customers tent to overlook a lot of other things that could have driven them away if they were mistreated. Price doesn’t matter as much, having to drive a little further to get to your store doesn’t matter as much, product selection means less…great customer service makes up for a lot! Treat the customers like gold, and they’ll be back.

Essentials of Business Tip #4 – Simplicity and Ease: Many customers will not frequent a store simply because of the location or layout of the business. How many times have you skipped a gas station because it was hard to get into or out of? How many times have you been in a cramped, crowded store that’s hard to get around in and vowed never to return? I know I have! Make your business easy to navigate and to purchase from, and your customers will purchase plenty!

Essentials of Business Tip #5 – Time Enrichment: Does your business make customers feel good that they stopped by, or does it make them feel like they wasted their time? Do you provide reasonable solutions to their concerns and problems at a reasonable price? People have less time to spend on anything right now then any other time in history, and if you don’t enrich their valuable time, you’ll be history!

If you take these five tips on the essentials of business to heart, the odds of your business survival will go through the roof! Another great article for you to study would be 7 Business Terms Every Entrepreneur Should Know. Learn everything you can about how to improve a business, and you will go far!

Restaurant Business, Retail Store Business, Small Business Basics essentials of business 6 Comments

How to Motivate Employees – 6 Tips for Success

Written on February 28, 2012 at 5:25 pm, by admin

Every manager or business owner runs into issues with how to motivate employees at one time or another–a seemingly good employee hits a slump or drops off the deep end, and you don’t know what to do about it. Or, you hire what appears to be a good candidate, and for whatever reason they just don’t seem to pan out.

Obviously, some employees can be saved–and some can’t. One thing you can do, however, is stack the deck in your favor to ensure most employees are productive and engaged with your business and customers.

Following are six tips for how to motivate employees that work well in any work environment:

How to Motivate Employees Tip #1 – Establish Overall Expectations: Nothing is more frustrating for a manager or business owner then expecting employees to do one thing, and the employees do something else. Start off clearly on the same page by writing down your expectations of each employee, going through the list with the employee, and having the employee sign off on the list. The expectations should be similar to “be on time, no purple hair, must smile at customers, no nose rings,” etc. That way, no one can say “I didn’t know!”

How to Motivate Employees Tip #2 – Set Daily Goals: You need to have a clear, consistent vision of the tasks you want to be accomplished every day. That vision needs to be communicated to the employees either in writing or verbally, with emphasis on anything needing special attention for the day.

How to Motivate Employees Tip #3 – Follow-Up: Employees need to be directed–don’t expect the them to take it upon themselves to initiate the work. If they do initiate the work, great, but never assume the work will automatically get done. You need to manage employee activities and get the ball rolling. That way you’ll never be disappointed in their “lack of motivation,” and you will always be on top of the game.

How to Motivate Employees Tip# 4 – Enforce Consequences: It’s important to consistently check the employee’s work to ensure they completed the tasks–if the tasks weren’t completed, or were done at a less-then-desirable level, have the employee do it over again. They will quickly learn not to take shortcuts. If their work is a consistent problem, start documenting their activity with write-ups. Give the employee three write-ups to improve, with consequences increasing in severity with each write-up. If no improvement is made, then terminate them. If you do not, that employee will undermine your efforts, and become poison to the rest of your staff.

How to Motivate Employees Tip #5 – Maintain Standards: You must be consistent in your enforcement of company standards across all employees–including yourself! Once settling into the routine of consistent standards enforcement, the standards will be accepted and won’t be a shock to anyone. Everyone involved will know exactly what is expected of them and what the consequences will be if not performed.

How to Motivate Employees Tip #6 – Recognize and Reward Peak Performers: It’s important to recognize the employees that go above and beyond the standards–they need to know their contributions are appreciated. You don’t necessarily need to hand out raises, although it would be recommended from time-to-time! Most “good” employees just need to know that what they do is noticed and appreciated, which can be conveyed through time off, free gifts, event tickets, apparel, etc. Nothing is more irritating to an employee who tries hard to be rewarded with nothing more then extra work because no one else will do it! Do not let that happen, or you will lose that employee for good.

We’ve look at six solid ways on how to motivate employees. Keeping motivated employees moving in the right direction isn’t hard as long as you are consistent in your efforts, and your business will be much better for it! Keep researching information on small business, and you’ll go far in business!

Restaurant Business, Retail Store Business, Small Business Basics how to motivate employees 9 Comments

How to Create a Logo for Your Business

Written on February 25, 2012 at 11:32 am, by admin

Learning how to create a logo for your small business can catapult your operation from low-budget to five-star status, if done correctly! Your business’ logo is your visual representative to the pulic for what you and your company stand for. If you think of major corporations and their accompanying logos, you see the image of their logo and instantly visualize their products!

An iconic logo is simple but unforgettable, and consumers identify with that logo for generations. Think Ford, Betty Crocker, BMW, McDonalds, Chevrolet…all have been around for many years, yet still seem relevant today. The funny thing is, as important as a logo is, many companies still skimp on developing this very public key to their identity.

In theory, your company logo intrigues potential customers or corporate partners’ critical first impression of your business. A great logo can develop a bond between your business and your customers, establishes a brand identity, and provides the appearance of a solid, established business. It creates trust. And, if you think you can just whip out a drawing on a napkin over a couple of beers and come up with a logo that will do all that, you’d most likely be wrong (although it has been done on more then one occasion!).

Now that we all know what a logo can be, let’s examine how to create a logo that will inspire your customers!

Types of Logos: Basically, there are three different type of logos. Font-based logos consist mainly of a type treatment. Examine the logos of IBM, Microsoft and Sony. They all use type treatments, with a twist that makes them distinctive. Illustrations are logos that literally illustrate what a company does, as in a tire manufacturer company using an illustration of a tire with wings in its logo. And finally, there are abstract graphic symbols, such as Nike’s swoosh, that become linked to a company’s brand. Trying to establish a graphic symbol as a logo takes way more time and money then most small businesses can afford.

Small, growing businesses can rarely afford the millions of dollars and years of effort required to create these iconic associations, so a logo that accurately illustrates what your company stands for or does would most likely be a better choice. Even a type treatment of your company’s name may be too generic, says Placitas, New Mexico, logo designer Gary Priester, principal of gwpriester.com, the Web arm of design firm The Black Point Group. Priester believes customers should be able to tell what you do just by looking at your logo. With that in mind, let’s get to business!

How to Create a Logo Step #1 – Getting Started: Before you begin sketching, first determine the message you want your logo to project. Try writing a one-sentence image and mission statement for your business to help you focus. Stay true to this statement while creating your logo.

How to Create a Logo Step #2 – Examine Logos of Your Competitors: Do your competitors use solid, conservative images, or flashy graphics and type? Think about how you want to differentiate your logo from those of your competition, so you establish your own identity.

How to Create a Logo Step #3 – Focus Your Message: Decide what you want to communicate about your corporation. Does it have a distinct personality…serious or lighthearted? What makes it unique relative to your competition? Who’s your current target audience?

How to Create a Logo Step #4 – Make it Clean and Functional: Your logo should work as well on a business card as on a billboard. A good logo is scalable; easy to reproduce, memorable and distinctive. Icons are better than photographs, which may be incomprehensible if enlarged or reduced significantly. Make sure to create a logo that can be reproduced in black and white so that it can be faxed, photocopied or used in a black-and-white ad as effectively as in color.

How to Create a Logo Step #5 – Business Names Affect Logo Designs: If your business name is “J.T. Jewelers,” you may wish to use a classy, serious font to accent the letters (especially if your name features initials). For a company called “Lightning Bolt Performance,” the logo might feature some creative implementation of (you called it!) a lightning bolt.

How to Create a Logo Step #6 – Use Your Logo to Illustrate Your Business’s Key Benefit: The best logos make an immediate statement with a picture or illustration, not words. The “Lightning Bolt Performance” logo, for example, may need to convey the business benefit of “ultra-fast, guaranteed racing engine services.” The lightning bolt image could be manipulated to suggest speed and assurance.

How to Create a Logo Step #7 – Don’t Use Clip Art: Let me say it again – “don’t use clip art!” As tempting as it is, clip art can be copied too easily. Not only will original art make a more professional statement about your company, but it’ll set your business apart from others that did use clip art!

How to Create a Logo Step #8 - Avoid Trendy Looks: If you’re redesigning your old logo, you run the risk of confusing customers. Even worse, alienating them. One option is to make gradual logo changes. Instead, try to choose a logo that will stay current for 10 to 20 years, perhaps longer. That’s the mark of a good design.

How to Create a Logo Step #9 – Watch Your Colors: One thing you need to be careful of as you explore color options is cost. Your five-color logo may be gorgeous, but once it comes time to produce it on stationery, the price won’t be so attractive. Nor will it work in mediums that only allow one or two colors. Try not to exceed two or three colors unless you decide it’s absolutely necessary.

Your logo can appear on a variety of media: signage, advertising, stationery, delivery vehicles and packaging, to name just a few. Remember that some of those applications have production limitations. Make sure you do a color study. Look at your logo in one-, two- and three-color versions.

How to Create a Logo Step #10 – Hire a Designer: While brainstorming logo ideas by yourself is a crucial step in creating your business image, trying to create a logo completely on your own is a mistake. It may seem like the best way to avoid the high costs of going to a professional design firm, which will charge anywhere from $4,000 to $15,000 for a logo design. Be aware, however, that there are thousands of independent designers around who charge much less. According to Stan Evenson, founder of Evenson Design Group, entrepreneurs on a tight budget should shop around for a designer. “There are a lot of [freelance] designers who charge rates ranging from $15 to $150 per hour, based on their experience,” he says. One such company for creating a logo design is The Logo Company out of the UK.

Even if you have a good eye for color and a sense of what you want your logo to look like, you should still consult a professional designer. Why? They know whether or not a logo design will transfer easily into print or onto a sign, while you might come up with a beautiful design that can’t be transferred or would cost too much money to be printed. Your logo is the foundation of all your promotional materials, so this is one area where spending a little more now can really pay off later.

How to Create a Logo Step #11 – Using and Protecting Your Logo: Once you’ve produced a logo that symbolizes your company’s mission at a glance, make sure you trademark it to protect it from use by other companies. You can apply for a trademark at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site.

Then, once it’s protected, use it everywhere you can…on business cards, stationery, letterhead, brochures, ads, your Website and any other place where you mention your company name. This will help build your image, raise your company’s visibility and, ideally, lead to more business.

Figuring out how to create a logo may sound easy, and it can be. Just remember to keep your customers and the nature of your business in mind when you put it all together. In time, you’ll have succeeded in building equity in your trademark, and it will become a positive and recognizable symbol of your product or service. For more information on Small Businesses, please click HERE! For more small business marketing ideas, please click HERE!

Marketing, Small Business Basics how to create a logo 3 Comments

Cash Flow for Business – 10 Best Tips

Written on February 23, 2012 at 5:06 pm, by admin

To say that cash flow for business is important is an understatement. Cash keeps your doors open, your lenders happy, and your employees from leaving. Cash flow is ultimately what investors or business owners need to see, and cash is your business’ breath of life. As a gas station owner myself, I know nothing on Earth (well, almost nothing) feels better then having cash in the bank to pay the bills. These are 10 tips to help you increase your cash flow right now:

Cash Flow for Business Tip #1 – Pay with Credit Cards: You can delay cash disbursements by 30 days or more if you merely pay by credit card instead of cash. We use this technique for product purchasing at my store as well – a lot of our vendors have a net 7 or 10 day payment plan. We buy a lot of product at our local wholesale warehouse store that carries many of the products we sell, and delay payment of those products for 30 days as opposed to just 7 days with our grocery and beverage product distributors. Just remember to pay the card off, if possible, every month.

Cash Flow for Business Tip #2 – Make Monthly Payments, Not Annual Payments: Vendors may offer you a discount if you pay for 6 months or a year at a time for expenses like insurance payments, website hosting and software costs. However, if cash flow is the issue, it would be wise to pay a smaller payment each month rather than a large sum up front, even if you pay a little more in interest. Shelling out small payments is way easier the big payments!

Cash Flow for Business Tip #3 – Negotiate Better Terms with Vendors: Do you allow some of your customers to get away with waiting 45+ days to pay? Why do you do that? Is it because you trust them to pay eventually, or they are a large company, so you just have to deal with it? If you allow your customers to push back their payments, maybe your vendors would allow you to push back payment as well. Just ask. You may be surprised that your vendors are willing to work with you to help you manage cash flow.

Cash Flow for Business Tip #4 – Don’t Offer Credit to Customers: The easiest way to avoid customers paying late is to not give them the option. Many places don’t offer credit, and your customers will learn to deal with it like they would anywhere else. If you offer credit now, however, suddenly turning it off could cost you customers, so place that game wisely.

Cash Flow for Business Tip #5 – Perform Credit Checks on Customers: If you do decide to offer credit to customers, you might consider requiring a credit check on all potential customers. Again, this isn’t ground breaking news, and most customers expect it anyway.

Cash Flow for Business Tip #6 – Manage Inventory and Supplies Effectively: It takes cash to buy inventory. If you are cash poor, the last thing you want to do is tie up cash in inventory that’s growing old. Implement a “just in time” inventory mentality, so that your cash can be put to good use, rather than sitting for months at a time tied up in excess inventory. A great way to manage this is buying product yourself, as you have precise control over your inventory as opposed to having to buy the amount the vendors tell you. A great way to micro-manage supplies is by using Restockit.com, who has thousands of business supplies at your fingertips. A couple minutes on the computer, and you’ll have what you need, usually at a better price then having to go to a big box store yourself, and certainly cheaper then vendors!

Cash Flow for Business Tip #7 - Offer Discounts for Cash Payment: Cash is as liquid as it gets. If you are worried about cash flow, then offer discounts for customers who pay with cash. This also allows you to avoid those pesky credit card fees as well. Once again, be careful, because you may alienate customers who habitually pay with credit cards.

Cash Flow for Business Tip #8 – Stay on Top of Late Customers: You need a process for keeping current on delinquent accounts. Don’t let customers get away with paying three days late, then five days late, then twelve days late. You need to have a policy and stick to it. A good way to do that is strictly enforce a late fee for delinquent payments. Charging interest in this manner is more then fair, because you have already paid for the inventory you sold your customer, and they need to reimburse you in a timely manner!

Cash Flow for Business Tip #9 – Find a Partner Interested in Profits: You might be able to find a partner who is cash flow rich, but wants to increase profits. You might be able to cut them in on the profits of your deals in exchange for cash as needed. I don’t normally recommend business partners, but if it is a matter of life or death, you have to do what you need to do.

Cash Flow for Business Tip #10 – Offer Alternative Payment Options: If you want to get paid on time or even early, then make it as easy as possible for customers to pay you. Ask them what the easiest way for them to pay is, and make it happen.

The best way to manage cash flow for business is to implement these policies from day one. If you want to stop worrying about whether or not you can make payroll next week, then implement these ten tips and turn your business into a cash flow machine. To take cash flow one step further, study our post on How to Increase Sales Now!

Stock up now on all your Restaurant, Janitorial and Office Supply Needs & Save Big

Financing, Restaurant Business, Retail Store Business, Small Business Basics cash flow for business 3 Comments

The Restaurant Business – How to Increase the Sales

Written on February 20, 2012 at 9:51 pm, by admin

You own a restaurant. You may have been wondering if you are maximizing your business’ potential. The answer, unfortunately, is “probably not”. The restaurant business can be tricky and full of moving targets, but the good news is you can learn how to increase the sales of your store right now based on the latest research from Technomic. According to their recent survey on the most influential factors prompting a consumer to eat at a given restaurant, Technomic has produced a list of the top ten items customers look for. What is boils down to is this: Fast-Casual Restaurants are the clear winners. You may or may not agree with results, but understand one thing–these are your customers talking, and you would be well advised to listen!

“Full- and quick-service operators continue to adapt and reposition their concepts toward areas in which fast-casual has been effective with consumers,” added Technomic Executive Vice President Darren Tristano. “This shift will likely blur the definition of fast casual in the eyes of consumers and increase competition in the segment.”

Here are the ingredients for How to Increase Sales in the Restaurant Business:

1. Food Quality: This should be a no-brainer. No one likes to go to a restaurant and be served garbage. If customers wanted leftovers from yesterday’s dinner, they could have just stayed home and ate on the couch.

2. Fine Ingredients: Once again, customers expect the food served at your restaurant to be made of better ingredients then they typically use at home, and they should. Unfortunately, some restaurant owners feel the need to lower food quality because sales may have slipped temporarily, but this ends up being a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” The more you try to save, the fewer customers show up.

3. “Fitter,” Wholesome Food: With all the hoopla surrounding the “fattening of America”, customers want choices that make them feel better about themselves, but taste great at the same time. The days of serving the One-Pound Burger & Mountain-o-Fries Special are dwindling, and dwindling fast.

4. Fresh Ingredients: If you have ever watched “Kitchen Nightmares” with Chef Gordon Ramsey, you’ll know this is a must-have for anyone serious about the restaurant business. All it takes to lose a lot of future business is one moldy bun or a dinner salad with wilted lettuce. Word travels fast in the restaurant business, especially these days with social media, and you’ll find yourself with an empty dining room faster then you can say “I’m screwed.” My wife can taste staleness a mile away, and if she detects it, she’ll never go back to that restaurant again!

5. First-Rate Decor: Eat at your restaurant as a customer once in a while, and look around. Nobody wants to eat in their Grandma’s kitchen, with tired wall paper and dusty pictures on the wall. Consumers want to know the owner cares enough about their restaurant to keep it up-to-date, because if you keep the decor fresh, chances are the food will be fresh, too!

6. Fair Price: With the economy the way is these days, nobody is going to be plunking down a ridiculous amount of cash for food, just to say they did. That doesn’t work anymore–you don’t hear people bragging about how much money they paid for a meal, unless they’re bragging about what a great value the meal was. Be reasonable with you prices, give your customers a good value, and you’ll go far!

7. Fast Service: If you haven’t noticed, the pace of life has accelerated. Consumers don’t like wasting time on anything, and that includes eating. If you still think people want to relax with a meal stretched out over a couple of hours, then the 1970′s is calling…and they want you back!

8. Friendly Employees: Your hosts and servers are the front line of marketing for the restaurant business. It would behoove you to have regular meetings and/or training sessions on customer service, because exemplary customer service is what will keep you alive. Loose that, and you’ll lose your shirt–guaranteed!

9. Flexible Offerings: Today’s consumers are used to being able to get what they want, and NOW! Look at how everyone uses the internet, smart phones, TV, ipads, etc. The world is at their fingertips at all times, and not allowing customers to pick and choose what they want in your restaurant is absolutely going to cost you sales (and customers). Design your menu to allow for different options with all offerings, and you’ll greatly reduce the ammunition customers need for complaints.

10. Full-View Preparation: Consumers don’t like not being able to see the people preparing their food. With too many horror stories circulating about “what happens behind closed doors”, everyone feels more comfortable seeing the professionalism of the kitchen staff out in the open. Be proud of what you do and don’t be afraid to display it. If you aren’t proud of what’s going on in the kitchen, then it’s time for some changes!

These ten tips will absolutely help you learn how to increase sales in the restaurant business. Take them to heart, be honest with yourself about what you need to change, and you will realize more success! For further information, we also offer small business insurance, marketing, and general resources!

Customer Service, Restaurant Business how to increase the sales, the restaurant business 4 Comments

Capital for Small Business is a Mess

Written on February 16, 2012 at 4:59 pm, by admin

If you have been searching for capital for small business ventures, then you are most likely frustrated and I feel your pain! The government said the Great Recession was over in June 2009. Yeah, right. Unfortunately, we’re at year three and still counting for very difficult economic conditions for many people, and most business owners. It’s not just the protesters at Occupy Wall Street or in your local community; it’s every darn small business owner. So, why are we so mad?

For small business owners, large commercial banks got them into this mess and now they are keeping them from getting out. Bankers now have been getting lumped in with used car salesmen and lawyers. Large commercial banks that practiced unprofitable lending policies that were deemed “too big to fail” were bailed out by the federal government through the “Troubled Assets Relief Program.” While most of TARP’s $245 billion that it invested in banks has been repaid, the banks aren’t doing much with the profit. Then again, maybe “not much” is an understatement. Try absolutely, positively nothing.

Robert Eyler, professor of economics at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, Calif., provides troubling insight into the current state of banking. Prior to the 2008 recession, he states that banks had about $2 billion in assets that they had not lent out. Right now, they have $1.5 trillion on hand! For those seeking capital for small businesses, how does that make you feel?

“We Are Lending!” is a popular message in front of many banks these days. It prompts the small business owners to apply for a loan, even though realistically their chances of getting one is extremely low. Even worse, banks tease small business owners by advertising low interest rate loans. Banks used to lend money, not just charge fees to keep your cash or give out coffee, cookies and trinkets on Saturdays. Fortunately for you, I have an affiliate relationship with Prosper.com, one of the few capital for small business sources left! Prosper is a peer-to-peer lending platform, allowing borrowers to secure fixed rate, unsecured personal loans through a network of lenders for small business investment opportunities. Give them a try!

Paradoxically, owners seeking capital for small business need to prove they don’t need a loan in order to get that loan. You can all the money you want, provided you don’t need it! Without credit, it becomes very difficult for most small business owners to expand their companies, and that is exactly what the economy needs. Large commercial banks should be ashamed of how little of their available funds has been lent out in the past three years.

At the same time that banks are stockpiling cash, their fees are increasing on virtually everything. Public opinion recently prevented Bank of America from charging fees for using its debit card.

This triggered a response by small business owners to move their accounts to community banks and credit unions, including myself. Not surprisingly, in the retail banking sector, more customers are choosing Wal-Mart’s financial services over those of banks.

To be fair, the blame is not targeted completely on the bank executives. In an overzealous effort by the federal government to ensure that another politically-damaging banking failure does not happen, the FDIC imposed very strict lending rules. It makes it much more difficult for the banks to lend money for capital for small business, even as political leaders publicly push those same banks to do more with the SBA. New laws require the FDIC to establish minimum leverage capital requirements and minimum risk-based capital requirements for all banks.

Banks also make payments to the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund based on total domestic assets minus the tangible equity of the bank. The FDIC determines new ratios of insurance premiums to assets, where banks with higher safety ratings get lower ratios. In other words you pay less if you lend less. That makes sense to me – NOT! In fact, the largest banks with $50 billion in assets are also now required to demonstrate to the FDIC how they would break up and sell off their assets if they were in danger of failing.

Small business owners seeking capital can no longer wait for the pendulum to swing back to the lending side of the ledger. The FDIC must take action to allow and instruct banks to make capital for small business available again. They could establish a fund for small business from the $20 billion profit that the federal government made from TARP. This “Small Business Relief Fund” would more than double the loans that are currently available through the SBA.

Some business, such as restaurants and gas stations, are on the lending “black list”, and the SBA won’t loan money on them under any circumstances. Pretty sad. I will say, however, that one company I’ve found does an excellent job assisting business aquire equipment, and that is Advantage Leasing Corporation. I have used Advantage with great success, and if you are in the market to add equipment to your business, give them a shot!

If small business is the key to a wide-spread economic recovery, the FDIC, the SBA and the federal government need to pay more than lip service to it. Large banks are still failing the economy and every owner depending on them for capital for small business.

In the end, owners seeking capital for small business need to approach their community banks (where I have had some success), credit unions, or investigate leasing programs (again, where I have had some success) in order to be able to grow. At this point, there’s nowhere to go but up, and trying to increase sales for your business! For information on How to Increase Sales Now, follow the link!

Business News, Financing capital for small business 8 Comments

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