Posts Tagged ‘starting a business’
Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin..Reviewed by Fiscal Student
Did you ever see someone at work or in school achieve something really great, and think to yourself, you know what, I knew that guy/girl a while back and she didn’t seem that much better than me. Well the good news is your right, the bad news is that they succeeded where you failed through tremendous hard work. Geoff Colvin’s book is quite comprehensive in its study of excellent human performance across multiple fields from chess to golf to business and music. In all cases the greatest performers had been practicing extremely hard for at least 10 years before any exceptional performance was achieved.
You often hear commentators say of Tiger Woods, he makes it look so easy, the truth is that the shot he is playing probably is easier than he’s used to. A good example of this is a technique used frequently by Tiger to practice bunker shots. He drops a couple of balls in the sand trap, and then stands on them, burying them into the sand, before practicing this shot for hours. So if he is faced with what most people would consider a difficult bunker shot in a major tournament, it is much easier than what he has been preparing for. Extraordinary achievers practice consistently over long periods of time and continually make that practice more challenging as their skills improve.
This book comes to the conclusion that while a certain amount of performance is unaccounted for by hard work, the success which is attributed to innate gifts is overrated. If anything is the difference between great performers and the rest of us it is the motivation to do the required work.
This is a well researched and well written book. I also found it very inspiring because what your parents tell you when your younger is true, anything is possible if you work hard enough. Or as the old saying goes, “You know how to get to Carnegie Hall?” practice, practice, practice….
Thank You FiscalStudent….looking forward to reading this one!
www.fiscalstudent.com
Startups Technology blog by John from www.complex.ie
Introduction
From 15k RAID 5 SCSI HDD’s to that all important 1920×1200 WUXGA Matte display, yes with rubbish bamboozling terms like that you might be tempted to put technology for your business way down the “todo” list. Well this is a big mistake. Your business needs to use IT from the very beginning to have any hope of even matching the competition. Yet if used correctly, technology can help any small business punch way way above their weight. Follow these few tips to have your business roaring like the God of thunder gargling with nails!
The Landline
Forget about phone land lines such as Eircom, you need what is known as a “VOIP” phone system. Get a fast internet connection, any VOIP phone handset and sign up for a www.blueface.ie account. This will give you 1) your all important land line number with the ability to take 5 calls at the same time, 2) Fax line and 3) it’s VOIP so you can move that landline number anywhere with an internet connection or even route calls to your mobile at your leisure. Don’t forget that’s only scratching the surface of a VOIP phone system’s capabilities.
The Mobile
A mobile phone is not just used for taking calls. Pick up a smart phone (such as blackberry) for instant access to email. Your phone’s calendar and contacts will also be linked into your main email system (Google Apps). Adding an entry to your calendar on the phone will sync it on all your computers automatically wirelessly over the air. Even your business partner or secretary can add in calendar reminders for you on their computers that sync to your phone automatically.
Domain Name
Register a domain name and try to get one with words related to your business in the name. If your business is called Contoso and you are wedding DJ, well www.contoso.com is of little no use, you need to try register www.weddingdj.ie and yes if your business is based only in Ireland, that needs to be a dot ie not dot com – Google.com will redirect most Irish searchers to Google.ie and Google.ie always gives higher ranking to sites ending with a dot ie. Registering a ie domains used to be expensive but www.Blacknight.com have fantastic deals.
Website
Before you run wild looking at designs creating a site, don’t forget the purpose. Sales and Marketing. You may have a pretty site but if people can’t find it well I’m sorry but let me whisper to you…..it’s useless… For a website to generate business you need to have it at the top of Google. There are three top spots in Google. 1) If you pay for Google adwords 2) Submit your business to Maps (these appear under adwords for any search that has a place in the search term e.g. wedding DJ Dublin) and finally 3) Google Organic listings.
For 1) Adwords, make sure your web development company has your site ranked at least 7/10 with Google – the higher the rank the cheaper the ads. Adwords is a bidding war but if you are not up on top it’s a waste of time and money. The worst is to be paying just that small amount under the competition and only appear on the side right panel. Increase the bids until you are at top.
Submit your business to maps for point 2) at www.google.com/local/add and please take time to fill in everything loading in as many keywords related to your business as you can.
Finally, to get to the top of Google organic listings, ask your web developers to optimise the website for search engines and install a wordpress blog. You must run a blog and make regular posts , at least once a week in the correct way -by this I mean ensure you have loaded up the title of your blog post with keywords “Wedding Music Service by Wedding DJ in Cavan” and follow this by adding keyword tags “Wedding DJ Dublin” “Wedding DJ Cavan” etc.
So as you can see, getting the website to the top is a job in itself but put in some hard work and it will become your entire sales team.
The Email
Less than 5 people? Google Apps. Google Apps. Google Apps. Nothing can beat this for a new small business. It acts like a central email server storing all your email, gives you SPAM and Virus free access over the internet, through Outlook, on your mobile phone. All email is synced too which gives full access to all email including sent items from anywhere. You can always move to a server running email software when you are a bigger company.
The Network
Again, with Less than five people do not buy a server. A real server will cost 3k to 5k – and please don’t even consider the cheap “fake” sub 1k servers that are nothing more than glorified PC’s. Use your own PC in the office to act as the server, sharing out files and keeping the files and folders in a central location with two USB external drives as backup. Swap the backups disks every Friday and bring one home for that all important off-site backup. There are other options too like www.dropbox.com and www.idrive.com if you trust having your files with a third party. Antivirus software is essential as is your office productivity software – Microsoft Office 2007 or Open Office are the typical choices.
Remote Access
A free option here is to use www.logmein.com or alternatively a firewall for your network will provide remote access with additional security features. Remote access will let you work on your office computer from anywhere as if you are sitting at your desk.
General Tips
Going that extra mile is absolutely essential to any new business starting up and IT is like the coach running along side shouting words of encouragement. Whether it’s the technology that allows you to take that vital call/answer that important email out of hours or perhaps finish that tender document remotely on the office computer from home on a Saturday morning. The extra mile turns into an extra 26 mile marathon with success at the finish line.
Great Blog John Thank You.
Contact John at www.complex.ie for great web design and IT Support
Selling is often a dirty word among small business owners. Of course, that’s kind of silly because it’s selling (and more of it) which keep us in business. But, for many small business owners, this is an activity they abhor. They would rather have their teeth pulled at the dentist than to cold-call or attend sales appointments. That’s because the activities they enjoy are usually associated with what they are good at – for example, fixing people’s backs (chiropractor), crunching numbers (accountant), working out (fitness trainer). If they could spend all their time involved in their area of expertise, they would be happy. The last thing they want to focus on is sales.
As a result, some small business owners don’t have a sales plan or strategy in place. It’s something they fit in around their other work, to be done grudgingly when the appointment book looks bare or when cashflow is tight.
However, if you put some simple strategies in place, selling doesn’t become so arduous, especially when you incorporate it as part of your daily/weekly routine. So what can you do?
1. Dedicate a specific amount of time
Block out a set amount of time every day/week where you only focus on selling. When you try to fit it around your other activities, there is always an excuse not to do it. Instead, diarise it so that you ensure you can give it the attention it deserves. Remember, that doesn’t mean you have to spend the entire time cold-calling, there are a whole range of other (less painful!) activities you could be doing to boost your sales.
2. Automate your marketing
Sales can seem so time-consuming, especially if you think that it can only be done on a one-on-one basis. But your sales can be an easier process if you support it with an automated marketing campaign. Here is an example. If a customer has bought a particular product/service, it can be useful to send an automatic message (whether by email or snail mail) letting them know about another product they may find useful.
The key here is to ensure that you are upselling them with a product/service they are likely to find useful. So, based on the product they purchased originally, consider what other product most customers also purchase. When you are targetted, many customers appreciate being told about other products that will help them (and which they may not have come across unless it was brought to their attention). It’s only when you try to sell them an unrelated or irrelevant product that they may find your marketing annoying.
3. The fortune is in the follow-up
It’s not your customer’s job to remember that you are in business. Sometimes, a friendly phone call or email can simply remind customers that you are there. If you haven’t heard from a customer in a while, get in touch. This doesn’t mean you have to sit on the phone for hours (although some customers do require that personal touch). You can automate this to a degree as well. Use a customer relationship system that can flag when it’s been a certain number of months since your customer’s last visit or purchase. After that period of non-sales activity, send them a friendly reminder about your new stock or specials.
4. Ask for the sale
Years ago, I learnt one of the most useful strategies about sales which I still use every day. And that’s simply to ask for the sale. For example, I run a training business which offers writing courses. When I first started out, people would call and enquire about courses. I’d happily tell them about the courses they were interested in and I’d finish the conversation with: “Well, have a think about it and if you’d like to enrol, give me a buzz back.”
While that might sound fine, I eventually realised that if people were already taking the time to call, they were already pretty interested in the course. So I changed that script to: “Ok if that’s all the information you need, would you like to enrol now?” My sales conversions increased immediately with that simple tactic. Think about when you can ask for the sale. And make sure you do!
Ultimately, we need to stop seeing sales as a chore. If you integrate it into your business systems, it will soon become an easy part of the process. Remember, as Zig Ziglar once said: “For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you’re not enthusiastic enough.”
Accounting is by far, one of most important aspects of starting and operating a business. It’s so easy to get caught up in the start up glamorous tasks of designing a business card or choosing a business name, yet without a solid understanding of the numbers you will not survive.
The streets of entrepreneurship are littered with former business owners who ignored the financial side of business only to discover too late they were operating at a loss not a profit. Without a firm grasp of your margins and cash flow, you can price yourself right out of the market.
Over 28% of businesses declaring bankruptcy cite problems with the financial structure of the company as the main cause of failure, according to a Small Business Administration study, “Financial Difficulties of Small Businesses and Reasons for Their Failure.” Take the responsibility of entrepreneurship by learning the basics of accounting.
Hiring an Accountant
Unless you are a numbers wiz or have a degree in accounting, you will need to employee the services of a professional to set up your accounting system. To get a grasp on your small business accounting and financials, should you hire a bookkeeper or an accountant?
Each start up situation is unique but generally most start ups can begin with bookkeeper. A bookkeeper’s services make sense for average start-ups with no plans on building an empire. The bookkeeper will help you start off with a good record keeping system, handle financial transactions, and produce financial statements.
Hiring an accountant makes sense for growing companies, businesses with more complex business structures (such as limited liability companies) and when you add additional employees to your company.
Initially, you may start your business part-time or at home to keep expenses low. The cost of an accountant on a monthly basis can be too much for a one-person business. Either prepare the books yourself or have a bookkeeper involved in the process. Use the accountant for your year-end tax planning.
When you do plan to hire an accountant or bookkeeper, remember to find one you can trust and build a solid relationship with because you need their advice and guidance in steering your business now and in the future.
The term ‘franchising’ has been used to describe many different forms of business relationships, including licensing, distributor and agency arrangements. The more popular use of the term has arisen from the development of what is called ‘business format franchising.’
Business format franchising is the granting of a license by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to trade under the trade mark/trade name of the franchisor and to make use of an entire package, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business and to run it with continual assistance on a predetermined basis.
The principle is simple – some companies choose to grow, not by developing in the conventional way, but by granting a license to others to sell their product or service. There are clear advantages to this:
•You don’t have to come up with a new idea – someone else has had it and tested it, too!
•Larger, well-established franchise operations will often have national advertising campaigns and a solid trading name
•Good franchisors will offer comprehensive training programmes in sales and indeed all business skills.
•Good franchisors can also help secure funding for your investment as well as e.g. discounted bulk-buy supplies for outlets when you are in operation
•If aware that you are running a franchise, customers will also understand that you will be offering the best possible value for money and service – although you run your ‘own show’, you are part of a much larger organisation.
Who is in Control?
Each business outlet is owned and operated by the franchisee. However, the franchisor retains control over the way in which products and services are marketed and sold, and controls the quality and standards of the business.
What are the Cost Implications?
The franchisor will receive an initial fee from the franchisee, payable at the outset, together with on-going management service fees – usually based on a percentage of annual turnover or mark-ups on supplies. In return, the franchisor has an obligation to support the franchise network, notably with training, product development, advertising, promotional activities and with a specialist range of management services.
THERE were more business start-ups in the first quarter of 2009 than for the last quarter of 2008, according to new figures released by Bank of Ireland.
The increase in business start-ups is as a direct result of rising unemployment across sectors such as construction and services, as innovative individuals facing the dole queue look at new ways of generating income.
There is an overall 6.6% increase in New Business Startups in Q1 2009 nationally, compared with Q4 2008, or 3,363 new company registrations. However, the findings from the latest Bank of Ireland Business start-Up Barometer reveal a 18.4% decrease in new company registrations, when compared to Q1 2008.
Enda McDonagh, Manager, Bank of Ireland said “The total start up figures come as no surprise as the year starts largely as predicted with a slow down in business start-ups and a reduction of over 18% year-on-year. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that there is a positive story here: 3,363 new businesses were formed this quarter, demonstrating the willingness of this sector to chart its own road to recovery. Despite the harsh environment, there are still some real opportunities for small businesses to develop and grow. The diversity of businesses set up in the last quarter is promising, and highlights the opportunities available – these businesses have identified new niches and market gaps.
“What’s more, history has shown us that more resilient businesses are set up in times of difficulty. Just look at Microsoft and Apple. Nonetheless, we recognise that there will be significant challenges for small businesses throughout the coming year. It is imperative that businesses remain focused in the months to come. Businesses must have a clear customer focus, be innovative in reaching its customers and maintain robust financial disciplines ”, said Mr. McDonagh.??
