January 2023 - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

5 Public Relations Tips For Home-Based Business Owners

No matter what you read in textbooks, online or hear from anyone else, you need to realise that traditional mainstream media advertising doesn’t work. I mean, it can work if you have millions of dollars worth of advertising budget, but for most businesses it is not an effective tool.

Public relations techniques become the best option for home-based business owners, especially when you consider the possibilities presented from using both online and offline techniques.

The purpose of this article is to share with home-based business owners 5 tips that you can utilise relatively quickly.

Learn to write a basic press release- The press release follows a basic template that almost any business owner will be able to fulfill. You need to learn to write a basic press release so that every time your business does something newsworthy you can send off a press release to try and get some media coverage.

Start a blog and utilise social media- I definitely think that you cannot overlook mainstream media coverage but you should also start your own blog, set up a Facebook page and set up a Twitter account so you can reach out to your audience directly without having to worry about your message being mediated.

Join an online networking forum- You should also look at joining an online networking forum. There are plenty of online groups that you can join and there is bound to be one that is related to you your niche. You should join one or more of these forums in order to build your reputation as a respectable business owner.

Referral marketing is the best way to grow your business- Going out and getting a sale can be tough. It is much better to make referral marketing a large part of your business plan. You need to aim to get as much as possible of your business through referrals. My personal preference would be for 100% of business through referrals.

Credibility is more important than visibility- As a home-based business owner credibility is much more important than visibility. It is now much more about what you say and what others say about you then how many times people see your name.

The old rules of advertising no longer apply. You need to make sure that you utilise the PR tips that I mentioned above so that you can grow your business effectively in this new economy. Otherwise you will find that you are doomed to failure.

Marketing Strategy and Planning: The Road Map

Many small to medium sized businesses face a common struggle; a balancing act of plans, strategies, departments and decisions. All of the elements are present, all of the gears in working condition, but business isn’t exactly booming at the pace it had anticipated or forecasted for. What exactly does this growth and sustainability require? In a turbulent economy teeming with congested airwaves and aggressive business practices, it’s about standing out from the crowd. And surprisingly, your marketing strategy has a lot more to do with it than you might realize.

Conflicted business owners can overcome the masses and draw the customers that are right for their product by executing a stellar marketing strategy, not by yelling louder than their competitors or using neon banners on their storefront (or banner ads on your website). My point is, you don’t have to be throwing yourself out there with a bunch of noise all the time. What you need to do is paint a vision for your business, your employees, and your customers. Make promises that nobody but you can keep, and then blow them away with your admirable businesses practices and superhuman skills.

Take a moment to consider this: marketing strategy is the single most important factor in determining the prosperity or deterioration of a business. That’s a pretty substantial claim and I’m willing to prove its legitimacy. Marketing strategy distributes itself throughout all the facets of a business, whether intended by its creator or not. This is possible because the strategy is created and defined by the overall objectives of a specific business, and integrates these objectives with a company’s unique vision and mission. Put simply, every level of a business should be oozing marketing strategy. Really!

Marketing Strategy

Does it seem far-fetched? Let’s examine the relationship between marketing strategy and four key aspects of any business: market research, the marketing plan, corporate identity, and the economy. First, let’s get the formalities out of the way and set forth a definitive explanation of what marketing strategy actually is. After scouring several websites for the official definition, I settled on a less-official but more effective description of marketing strategy:

Marketing Strategy:

A strategy that integrates an organization’s marketing goals into a cohesive whole. Ideally drawn from market research, it focuses on the ideal product mix to achieve maximum profit potential. The marketing strategy is set out in a marketing plan.

While your marketing strategy is, essentially, a document; its purpose is far more load bearing. Included in the strategy should be your mission statement and business goals, an exhaustive list of your products and services, a characterization or description of your target clients, and a clear definition of how you integrate into the competitive landscape of your industry.

Marketing Strategy v. Market Research

This relationship establishes an order of operations: the first phase in any marketing or branding initiative is research. (See our white paper on this subject: Market Research for SMB’s). No matter the scope of your research, whether it is a broad canvassing of your current client list or unveiling specific, detailed findings about your target market, the outcome will have a direct effect on your marketing strategy. It’s imperative to find out everything about whom you are trying to reach. What generation are they in? How big are their families? Where do they live, eat, and hang out? How do they spend their free time and money? All of this information will influence and alter your marketing strategy.

Research alone will not benefit your business without a solid marketing strategy. Often, business owners narrowly define market research as the collection and organization of data for business purposes. And while that is technically an accurate definition, the emphasis lies not on the process of research itself, but the impact it commands on future decisions regarding all levels of a company. Every business decision presents different, unique needs for information, and this information then shapes a suitable and applicable marketing strategy.

Research can be a grueling, confusing, and tedious process. From establishing or cleaning out a database to creating surveys and conducting interviews, you can receive a lot of information about your clients and potential clients and wonder what to do next. Before beginning to formulate a strategy, the information and data collected must be organized, processed, analyzed, and stored. Rest assured, with a little creativity and a lot of effort, this will all be molded into a structured, effective, and easily adaptable marketing strategy. Furthermore, continuous and updated research will ensure your strategy is a current and relevant reflection of your target market, marketing goals, and future business endeavors.

Marketing Strategy v. Marketing Plan

In this relationship, the marketing strategy is essentially a guide to judge the performance and efficiency of a specific marketing plan. In simple terms, a marketing strategy is a summary of what you offer and how you are positioned in the market (in relation to competitors’ products and services), and your marketing plan is an organized list of actions that you will enforce to achieve the goals outlined in your strategy. The plan will encompass the steps to a real-life application of a marketing strategy, bringing life to your mission and vision. It’s your time to show and sell your products and services so that your target market can experience them in the presence that you truly imagined.

Often, businesses lack a balance of creative personality and logic personality. While a business owner might have the creativity to dream up a stellar product, business model, and brand, they may lack the entrepreneurship and discipline to bring it all to life through research, planning and execution.

Marketing Strategy v. Corporate Identity

It’s no surprise that some of the most successful and recognizable companies in the world are those who establish distinguished, one-of-a-kind cultures that permeate through every channel of a business and reach customers on a human level. The culture of a corporation, its psychology, attitude, approaches to business, values and beliefs, lays the groundwork for a unique and compelling corporate identity. There is a powerful and undeniable connection between the health of these companies and the identities that their culture has provided.

These companies have discovered the delicate balance between a brand and a strategy, and how this symbiotic connection encourages visibility and growth. The relationship is simple: the marketing strategy represents where a company wants to go, and the culture determines how (and sometimes if) it will get there. Think of a corporate identity – the style, words, images, and colors – as the personification of your marketing strategy. The corporate identity is extended and applied in every phase of the marketing strategy, and plays a stylistic role in its execution.

Let’s look at an example. Starbucks, until recently, didn’t really have a marketing or advertising budget, per se. Starbucks started advertising in the New York Times and on TV in 2009, and very gingerly at that. Once a week it would print full-page ads in the Times, and on select channels it would air brief, lighthearted commercials. Prior to, the company was able to very successfully promote itself and its products through word of mouth and slapping the 25-year-old logo on every cup its baristas cranked out, proving that even something as simple as a logo can deeply resonate with consumers. But it was the Starbucks’ identity that its millions of customers were happily waiting fifteen minutes in line for. The infamous Starbucks cup rapidly became associated with wealth, leisure, high standards, and urbanites. From college freshman to corporate CEO’s, people couldn’t get enough.

Starbucks enforced its marketing strategy through clever, catchy campaigns, a genuine and human “front line” at the store level, and for the most part, acknowledging any mistakes or shortfalls that it might’ve run into. All of these actions are traits, portraying a deeply rooted culture that is exuded from top to bottom of the Starbucks hierarchy. And, love ’em or hate ’em, there’s no denying their great success, even in a strained economy.

Marketing Strategy v. The Economy

The economy is an incredibly sensitive subject around the globe. What we’ve also noticed is that a lot of companies and business owners are using a depressed economic state as a reason (and in some cases, an excuse) for the shortcomings in their business.

For example, a big trend recently has been layoffs. Larger corporations are using weak economies as a reason to purge its staff and cut positions, when it knows just as well that that’s exactly the opposite of what needs to happen. Or does it? It’s become hard to tell. Is surviving a “depression” really as simple as, say, reassessing your marketing strategy? While an unstable economy is troubling, risky, and unpredictable, it’s also an excellent test of the flexibility of your marketing strategy. Your strategy isn’t set in stone…the whole purpose of designing a strategy in the first place is for smooth navigation through any given circumstance, whether good or bad. Unfortunately, many CEOs and CFOs target their marketing departments first in lean times, while the reality is that it should be investing in these areas so that its marketing managers can adjust their strategy to survive-maybe even prosper, through tough times. An excerpt from the blog of R. Bruer, the owner and head of a strategic communications firm in Portland, Oregon, lays it all out:

“Most businesses treat marketing as a discretionary expense, making it an easy target for budget cutters. It’s as if marketing is a luxury afforded only when times are flush. Less customer demand, less we can afford marketing, or so conventional thinking goes.

But really, can we ever afford not to market?

It’s natural to want to preserve cash during a downturn. I was an employer for nearly 14 years, so I’m sympathetic. But the tendency is to make deep cuts in marketing when sales head south. Companies often start by reducing or eliminating outside expenses, such as advertising, events, sponsorships, research. And when that’s not enough, they lay off marketing employees, sometimes the entire department.

The net effect of gutting marketing is to stifle generation of customer awareness, demand and retention just when these things are needed most. It’s a penny-wise, pound-foolish decision.”

Your Marketing Strategy

While marketing strategy isn’t tangible, its role in business is just as dire as the product or service being offered. It’s contribution bears significance through every phase of a business plan, from conception to execution and far beyond these four aspects of research, planning, identity and economy.

Marketing strategy will continue to fold itself into business plans as long as it is created and executed properly. Research on your industry and competitors will enable you to develop and formulate a proper, pliable strategy. From here, your marketing plan will act as a guide that will bring your strategy to life, attaining and exceeding the goals outlined, all while establishing your corporate culture and identity. Remember, the culture piece works two ways. Your culture helps to form the strategy, and following that strategy will reinforce your culture. Lastly, your strategy must be both strong and flexible enough to withstand the most difficult or unpredictable of circumstances, such as an economic depression, new trends or competitors in your industry.

Strategy is a small piece of a much larger picture. It can all be overwhelming at times, sure, but it’s part of the adventure. With dedication, organization, and a champion marketing team (ahem! B&A), the pieces will come together with ease, allowing for the truly awesome personality of your business to shine, and profits to follow shortly thereafter.

Small Business Secret #3 – Seven Documents All Small Businesses Must Have To Be Successful

When many small business owners start out thinking about building a small business, they are often mislead into believing that the only document that they need to succeed is a Business Plan. In fact this plan is only one of seven documents every small business should have if they ever expect to survive let alone succeed.

Let me explain …

Doc 1. Business Plan

The Business plan, which is what most accountants, lawyers and business coaches will say is the only document that you need is the first document you must complete. I certainly do disagree totally that this is the only document you need, because the actual roll of this document is to summarize the other six mandatory documents that you must have.

The size of your Business Plan document will vary depending on the size of your business that you are either buying or building. Your business plan should contain details on how your business will be run, how you will finance the business, what sort of profit you will make, how you will advertise and market your business, what your exit strategy will be from your business, what form you business will take, where it will be located etc.

If you are going to be buying a Business rather than starting up a new one from scratch, always ask the previous owner to see their business plan. This will give you a good insight into the inner workings of the business and how it got to where it is. One thing to note though, always make sure that regardless of whether you are buying an existing business or building your own, that you create your own business plan so you have a clear understanding of where you are going with this business.

Doc 2. Business Model

A Business Model is usually built using tools like Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access. The model allows you to apply various scenarios to your business model to see what sort of outcome will occur. This is a fantastic tool for running scenarios and seeing what the outcome would be if certain conditions might occur, like your truck broke down or what would happen to your profit if a certain piece of machinery broke down for a period of time.

The Business Model is also very useful when dealing with organizations like banks or finance institutions. If your business model can show what impacts various factors might have on your business and that you can still survive, then the banks and finance institutions are more likely to give you the money you need.

Doc 3. Marketing Plan

The Marketing Plan document sets out how you are going to market your business. It includes information on the brochures you are going to use, the types of adverts you may use, the frequency of the campaign, the medium you will be using and so forth. The marketing plan provides an in depth look at how you will be marketing your business. Your marketing plan should represent 12 months of operations, that is, you should have developed all of your marketing strategies so that they flow on and build on each previous marketing campaign over a 12 month period.

Doc 4. Operations Plan

Your operations plan is designed to define exactly how your business is to be run. The operations plan should include how to do every task in your organization, checklists on what needs to be done every day, week, month and year. Essentially the Operations Plan defines how your business actually works.

The key advantage of your operations plan is that if at any time you lose a staff member, you can use the operations plan to teach your new staff members the tasks that they need to complete each day.

Doc 5. Sales Plan

The Sales Plan outlines how sales will be undertaken on a day to day basis. How you will be selling your products and services, who your target markets are, your approach techniques to new clients, any clients that you need to contact on a day-to-day basis and what your contact processes are. More so it should define what step-by-step process you follow to convert a prospect into a customer.

The Sales Plan should use flow charts and should also include any letters or marketing material that should be used for a particular sales process.

Doc 6. HR Plan

The HR Plan, sets out the Human Resource structure of your organization. It should include information such as position descriptions, who each person reports to, who they are responsible for, what tasks they are responsible for and any special duties they might have to do during the year.

The HR Plan should also have information in it such as Job Advertisement Templates, approved Position Descriptions and templates, Hourly Rates, Acceptable Work Practices and so forth. The HR Plan sets down how your staff must engage at work and what you define as being acceptable workplace behaviors in your workplace.

Doc 7. Style Manual

The Organizations Style manual sets out how you are going to present yourself to your customers. The style manual includes information on your logos, your business cards, the colors your business will use for its logos, banner layouts, how to place newspaper adverts and what colors must be used, what fonts must be used in Letters or Faxes. The style manual will also set out what information will go onto your business cards, where the logo will sit and what information must be contained.

The Organizations Style manual sets out how you are going to present yourself to the public and what standards you will use. If you have never seen a Style Manual before simply go to any large corporation’s website and type in ‘Style Manual’ and you will generally find one available for review.

After 10 years in small business and a number of small businesses under my belt, the one thing I have learned is that if you do not have these 7 Plans and Documents done prior to creating or building your business, then they will never get done. The simple fact is that small business is incredibly demanding on the small business owner and once the business is up and going, it is highly unusual the owner will ever get the time to go back and create them. Without each and every one of these documents your business will lack focus on what you want to achieve and that is why 70% of all small businesses around the world fail in the first 12 months.

To finish off, I would like to take a moment to summarize the seven documents all small business owners should have before contemplating a small business…

1. Business Plan

2. Business Model

3. Marketing Plan

4. Operations Plan

5. Sales Plan

6. HR Plan

7. Style Manual

Shopify Review: Is This One of the Best E-Commerce Website Templates?

Deciding to build an online store is a great decision and a solid business model. Once you’ve decided on a product to sell, your next big decision is choosing a great e-commerce website template. I’ve tried many e-commerce templates – and I can say hands down that Shopify offers one of the best e-commerce website templates and platforms when you take pricing, template options, style, and ease-of-use into consideration.

In fact, many e-commerce store owners have extremely successful online stores using Shopify.

Let me jump right into the features and benefits in this Shopify review. I’ll also tell you about some of the drawbacks to this e-commerce platform – but in the end it is one of the best e-commerce website options available (please note that these are the features and benefits at the time this article was published).

Features and Benefits of Using Shopify for your E-Commerce Store

Free Trial:

You can try it free for 30 days. Take advantage of this offer by exploring the many e-commerce website templates they have to choose from. Look under the hood and discover how easy it is to get your online store up and running fast.

50 E-Commerce Templates / Store Fronts to Choose From:

Shopify has 50 fantastic themes / template styles to choose from. You can also easily customize any theme or template you get to ensure you get the precise look and feel you want for your business.

No Contract Required:

When you use Shopify you don’t need to commit to any duration. You pay month-to-month. I don’t need to tell you how advantageous this is. After all, when you’re starting up – the last thing you want to do is get committed to long-term expenses.

No Computer Coding knowledge Needed:

You don’t need to know how to build websites to set up a Shopify e-commerce store. Shopify makes it super easy to choose and set up any of its 50 templates simply by clicking buttons.

Payment Processing:

Shopify makes it super easy to integrate with a credit card gateway and/or Paypal. If you sell digital products – no problem – you can deliver them through an integrated app included with your Shopify subscription.

Use Your Own Domain:

I can’t stress the importance of building your store on your own domain. Yes, you can use a Shopify domain – but for the long-term it is much, much better to start building your store on your own domain. Shopify makes it easy to build an e-commerce store on your own domain.

Why use your own domain? Because if you start getting links to your store (great for search engine rankings and highly recommended), then if you switch domains – those links you get to a Shopify domain are wasted. Start your business on the right foot by investing the $10 it costs to get your own domain.

Low Monthly Cost:

Once you decide to use Shopify, it only costs $24 per month for a basic plan. You can sell up to 100 SKUs with this plan, which in my view is a tremendous offering. There is no setup fee either. If you ever need to upgrade your plan, that’s very easy to do. Shopify = flexibility.

In addition, however, you also pay a 2.0 percent transaction fee as part of your cost (when you upgrade plans, the transaction percentage lowers). This allows Shopify to charge low monthly fixed cost rates. Being able to limit fixed costs and have a variable cost option (i.e. costs directly linked to your sales) is a tremendous feature and advantage as you get your online business off the ground.

SSL Checkout:

You definitely want to offer your customers secure shopping. With all of Shopify’s e-commerce website templates and plans you automatically get to offer secure shopping for your customers with the industry standard 128 bit SSL encryption.

Bandwidth: Unlimited.

This means if you get a flood of visitors your site won’t shut down. Obviously this is critical to running a successful online e-commerce store.

Discount Codes for Your Customers:

You have to upgrade to a $59 / monthly plan in order to offer coupon codes. If you’re just starting, this isn’t necessary. Once you start generating sales – then you’re in a position to monitor your sales and then decide if coupon codes can help build your business.

Automatic Back Ups:

Shopify backs up your store so you don’t have to be concerned about losing any data.

Add a Shopify E-Commerce Template to Your Existing Website:

If you already have a blog or website and wish to add a store – it is no problem with Shopify. You simply establish your Shopify store on a subdomain (subdomains cost nothing to setup).

Customer and Technical Support:

You can contact Shopify for help, use their Shopify forums, and check out detailed tutorials in the Shopify Help Wiki. You won’t be stranded to struggle.

Drop shipping Integration and Partners:

If you don’t want to pack and ship your orders you can use a partner drop shipper such as Fulfillment by Amazon, Shipwire, and Webgistix.

Drawbacks to Shopify for Your E-Commerce Template Solution

I don’t like that you have to upgrade to a $59/month plan in order to offer coupon codes. It seems to me coupon codes are a powerful way for a starting business to build revenues. It should be offered in every plan.
Too few drop shipping partnerships. Now I’m not sure if you can set up drop shipping with a company other than Amazon, Shipwire, and Webgistix. Likely one of these 3 will suit your needs, but if not, it may be more complicated than necessary than setting up an automated order-processing system. Again, this is something you would need to discuss with prospective drop shippers and Shopify.

Despite my 2 dislikes mentioned above, I still believe Shopify offers by one of the best e-commerce templates available anywhere.

The Benefits of PSD to Magento Template Conversion

Electronic business is getting more and more popular, one effect of which is increased competition. To differentiate and make their venture stand out among others, business owners strive to add more useful functionality and design features to their sites.

But many of them face various hurdles in the way for being not much tech-savvy. This results in implementation of various actions that cause only harm to their business, quite often what made with good intentions turn out to be time-consuming and expensive. So when it comes to web development, it’s better to find a reputed company that can professionally guide you through the jungle of e-business insides.

As a leading ecommerce development platform Magento offers multiple opportunities to its users. It’s the most widely used CMS (content management system) and many businesses have already fully enjoyed its advantages. Magento is an open source framework, which determines a huge amount of useful tools, plugins and overall flexibility it offers. Online stores developed on this platform are not only attractive for visitors but also cross-browser compatible and SEO-friendly.

If you have specific design requirements it’s a high time to benefit from PSD to Magento conversion. Besides the fact that this process is a fast way to refresh your site, among the important reasons to add PSD transformation to your e-business development plan is that it helps to increase conversion rates.

As for other weighty benefits, check a few ones below:

Unique design. There are a lot of Magento themes and templates available on the market. But as business owner you know exactly who your target audience is and can say for sure what should your store look like. Converting your PSD design files into Magento you get absolutely exclusive theme that will make customers come back.
Lift up on search engines. Properly implemented conversion is impossible without SEO-friendly codes. Well structures and clean coding that corresponds all basic standards ensures top page rank in search engines.
Speed optimization. Online stores contain a lot of data and changeable content, which influences pages load speed. Adding more and more functionality and design elements can affect loading speed and as a result users will leave your site without making a purchase. PSD to Magento theme conversion helps to avoid this problem by splitting Photoshop files into different design layers.
User-friendly interface. Ecommerce site are made for people, so user-friendliness is crucial for them. PSD to Magento conversion helps to make functioning web pages out of regular picture. Sites created on Magento are easy to navigate and as a special advantage its coding allows to implement media files upload such as video and audio.
Pixel-perfect dynamic interface. The conversion of PSD files into Magento requires solid expertise from developers and entails a long-term process. Only skilled programmers are able to provide really smart and totally hand-coded markup. Such a smart and clean conversion allows to add JS and attach images later.

Magento is a powerful framework and it’s getting more and more popular everyday. The benefits above are just a few major reasons to act in this direction. In fact due to its popularity the platform is being constantly upgraded and a significant amount of programmers all over the world create the new features and modules for it every day. Start your own online ecommerce business or enhance the existing one with the help of professional PSD to Magento services.

Top 10 Business Tips For Newbies

1. Love What You Do

It’s a good idea to select an area which you already have an interest in, for a number of reasons. You already have some knowledge and expertise in this area which is invaluable and you won’t necessarily be starting from scratch. If you chose an area which is already of interest to you it won’t necessarily feel like work, especially when the going gets tough. No matter which area you chose you will undoubtedly have rough patches, when this happens you are much more likely to persevere because you have an attachment, a vested interest and a passion. If you have no interest you’ll be much more likely to throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble.

2. Prepare a Business Plan

A business plan is not just something which you need to prepare to show to banks for a loan or to investors. A business plan is necessary and useful as it also serves as a guide to operate by. It’s a great way to set goals, measure progress and achievements and keeps you on track with spending. Keep yourself organised and create a folder on your computer where keep your business plan and other relevant documents that you’ll be using regularly, such as an invoice template or your sales documents.

3. Set Realistic Expectations

Don’t expect miracles over night. Searching the internet you’ll find thousands of people claiming to have generated millions over night with one scam or another. Genuine business ventures take time, care and persistent. There is no such thing as easy money or money for nothing, cliche but true, if it were that easy everyone would be doing it. Know that there will be obstacles and difficulties to overcome from the start.

4. Just Do It

The best way to gain knowledge and learn, is by doing. You can read all the books, take all the courses, study and research for years but until you take that first step you’ll never actually know. It’s like learning to drive, you have an instructor by your side in every single lesson with their safety pedals as a back up. You learn all the technicalities of driving but the real learning only starts when you venture out onto the road by yourself. Nothing and no one can prepare you for every eventuality. Research and educate yourself in your chosen field by all means but there will never be a right time to jump in. Even if you take a very small step into your venture, the sooner you get started the sooner you’ll be on your way.

5. Ask yourself Why

Work out why you want to go into business for yourself. You need to have a good list of all the why’s before you get started. This exercise can also be used as your goal indicator. If you’re looking to have more time for yourself for instance, your business venture could take up to a year if not more before you can get a little time for yourself and your family and if that is your main focus you may get disheartened as you begin to build your business, when you realise your free time is not only limited but you have a lot less of it. Starting a new business is not your typical 9-5, it’s more of a start when you wake, finish when your head hits the pillow. If you prepare yourself for this, it won’t be such a shock to the system.

6. Budget and Finance

Looking to set up a business with very little start-up costs isn’t too difficult in this day and age especially on the internet. You may be looking at setting up an online business and the costs of a website are little and nothing but once you have your website, whether you’re selling products or providing a service you need to advertise and whilst your initial outlay may be minimal you have to be prepared to continue this for the life of your business. Will you require help to run things? Do you have marketing skills? Learning about marketing is going to be a fundamental part of your business growth, you can hire someone but if this puts a strain on your budget you may want to look into learning a few key tips yourself.

7. Building your Network

Networking is crucial in business whether online or in person. Every contact is either a potential customer, or may be someone who has advice or inspiration for you. You’ll be surprised by the amount of successful business owners and entrepreneurs who are ready to impart valuable advice and tips and can point you in the right direction for all sorts of services. There are a whole treasure trove of supportive business owners online, you can read blogs, ask questions in forums etc and its all for free.

8. Learning to Adapt

Ensure that you set a realistic budget for everything from your internet connection down to stock or billable hours. Every single penny counts. There’s no point in spending thousands on advertising if you’re not seeing a return, you may have to go back to the planning stages. This is all part of your learning, so test out strategies and don’t be afraid to adapt to the climate. There are all sorts of things that can impact a businesses growth and income and if your business is not responsive to the market or technology for instance this may cost you dearly.

9. Focus

It’s very easy to be side-tracked, there are so many ideas and new ventures out there, so focusing on the goals you first laid out in your business plan are crucial. Focus on one task at a time. You can always make notes for ideas and projects you’d like to take up in the future but remain focused, otherwise you may fall foul of procrastination, looking at lots of different ideas and at the end of the day find you haven’t achieved anything or actually done any work.

10. Believe in yourself

Self-Belief goes a long way, this is not whimsical advice this is fact, if you don’t believe in yourself and your product or service then you cannot expect anyone else to. It may seem difficult especially when starting out but you have to learn to believe in yourself, this will impact every aspect of your business, from creating your Business plan right down to networking. If you don’t believe what you’re doing this will show in everything you do.

If you believe it, you can Achieve it!

Good Luck!

How To Create A Business Model

Could a stranger enter your office and operate your business? They could if you have a business model that defines each step of your business process. Create one by using a simple business template that provides actual business processes.

Start with an outline of what you do each season of business.

Sell Product or Services

Define your product or services within a pictorial scale, including price, value, and description of what each entails. Give your products names that identify, define, and value the individual product or service, and then put them in your product or service journal.

Define Niche Market

Identify your buyers. Who are they? How much will they spend? How often will they buy? Will they return for more product? Are you going to meet them personally, or online? Will your buyers come to you, or do you take your sales to them?

Select Payment Options

How will you be paid for products and services? What finance plans will be available? Decide how you will accept payment and whether your accounting program will be cash or accrual. Will you send invoices, statements, and other billing options? How will you communicate collections?

How Product is Delivered

One of my favorite sections of the business model is the product section. We get to define our product, decide how it’s produced, and how to deliver our products. Some products are easy to figure out, others require a bit of finesse.

I specifically remember one product that included ordering a mass production from an auto-supply company, ordering boxes, and then spending hours inserting products in boxes, then shipping them out via USPS at the end of each day. Labeling because my most difficult problem. With each order I was downloading labels for shipping. After one particularly grueling week of shipping hundreds of boxes, my daughter found a “drop shipper” who did all the shipping.

We simplified our Business Model, increased our profit, and cut a huge chunk of labor off the shipping process.

The business model offers you a selection of methods for delivering not only one product, but several products. You can drop ship some, while personally shipping others, and some can even be digitally transferred. The key is to have a plan and know what happens with each product grouping.

Service Delivery Options

Another key component of your business is the overall development and delivery of services relevant to the end game of business transactions. Every business has a certain number of services, but determining how those are performed, delivered, and completed is part of the overall business model.

Functional Business Models can be as complete or as circumspect as you wish them to be, but for more automated systems, or for systems that are operated by non-owner entities, the more complete the Business Model, the easier it is to hire assistants to complete the work.

Creatively put as much effort into your Business Model as you expect to get out of it. The better it is written the more effective it will be.

Score Cards and A Book of Procedures might be important with your Business Model. These offer simplified methods of business, and distinctive directions and procedures for each segment of business.

If your business model needs some attention, you might want to contact a consultant.

Project Planning Tips If You Have Asperger’s Syndrome

Effective project planning is often difficult for individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome. It can result in the following workplace difficulties: not knowing how to get started on an assignment, becoming stuck midway through a project, vastly underestimating how long something will take, discovering too late that important items have been omitted, or losing sight of the original goal.

There are four basic steps to effective planning:

1. Establish a clear goal.

2. Create specific, manageable steps to reach the goal.

3. Organize the time needed to complete the steps.

4. Assemble required materials.

The following planning template has been used by several of my coaching clients for both long-term projects and daily tasks. To show you how it works, I have included an example from one of my clients who used the template to plan the writing of a process manual.

Planning Template

1. Describe the goal or task: Produce an internal process manual

2. Due date: One month

3. Steps and estimated time to complete

Step 1: Outline steps required to produce new product

Estimated time: 2 hours

Step 2: Identify team(s) responsible for each step

Estimated time: 1 hour

Step 3: Write draft of process for review

Estimated time: 8 hours

Step 4: Send draft to team leaders, marketing director and supervisor for review Estimated time: 30 minutes to send/ 1 week for comments

Step 5: Incorporate feedback into final document

Estimated time: 2 hours

Total estimated time: 13 ½ hours

4. What do I need to complete the task (materials, information, equipment, etc.): Sample process documents from other departments, organizational chart, list of colleagues who will review document, time with supervisor to review initial outline

5. I will work on this project from: 2:00 – 4:00pm on Mondays and 9:00 – 11:30am on Thursdays

6. At the half-way point, my goal is to have the following amount of work completed: 60% of the first draft written

7. Actual time to complete:

Step 1: 2 ½ hours

Step 2: 45 minutes

Step 3: 10 hours

Step 4: 15 minutes/ 2 weeks for all comments

Step 5: 3 ½ hours

Total actual time: 17 hours and 1 extra week for comments

7. If the actual time to complete a step/task took longer than the estimated time, then:

a) What obstacles, if any, were not anticipated? Draft took longer due to unfamiliarity with part of the product development process; team leaders had more changes than I expected; two managers could not get feedback to me within a week due to travel schedules

b) How can the task be handled differently next time? Allow 20% more time to write the document than I expect; check managers’ travel schedules in advance; make sure that I am familiar with all aspects of the development process before beginning project

The planning template can be used for a variety of situations, and individual action steps can be as detailed as needed. Save your work sheets and review your progress over time. Pay particular attention to how close your estimated times are to your actual times because accurate estimating is an important part of meeting deadlines.

How to Start a Candy Bouquet Business Online

If you are looking for a do-it-yourself type of business and you have an artistic flare, you might consider starting a business with creating gift arrangements of candy bouquets. Candy bouquets are becoming very popular and are the perfect unique gift for all occasions. Everyone loves candy and everyone loves these sweet delights.

Getting started in a candy bouquet gift store is simpler than it seems and getting started online is much easier then opening a full service retail store. In getting started online, there are 10 general steps I used which I will identify below:

Step 1: Choose your form of business organization. You may choose between sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership, corporation and etc.

Step 2: Choose a name for your business. You will want to keep three things in mind here. First, choose a name that is fitting for your product and if possible have your product name in the business name. Second, keep it simple and make it something a customer may remember. For example: If someone was selling widgets, they may pick a business name “Widgets by Sam” or maybe “Cool Widgets for Websites.” Third, not only should your name be fitting it needs its own brand or its own identity to set yourself apart from your competitors.

Step 3: Obtain business licenses and permits. Each state has their own requirements so contact your state business licensing department. In my state of Minnesota, you fill out a form and pay a business licensing fee, and you list it in a newspaper as a new business. Others states may require additional steps.

Step 4: Create and write up a business plan. You can find many templates to help you create and write up a business plan online. They will identify all the areas you need to consider such as products you sell, market, demographics, financing options, goals, etc. This document is critical in pulling together a plan of what you are going to do and how you are going to achieve it. You will also need a business plan should you need financing. If you choose to go the route of an online candy bouquet store, there is a minimal investment up front. Your up front investment would generally be for inventory and office equipment or supplies to get started.

Step 5: Determine funding and financing needed. Take the business plan you created to a bank or look for investors if you have determined you need financing. Each investor will want a copy of your business plan to take a look at all the details of your business. If you have determined it is a minimal investment which you have funding for then you will not need to go to a bank or seek investors.

Step 6: Determine insurance requirements. Contact a local insurance agent to get quotes and determine what you feel is best for your business needs. They will work with you and keep you informed of your options.

Step 7: Set up a business checking account with your personal bank. Since you already do banking with them, you should be able to set up an account rather easily and at minimal cost.

Step 8: Purchase your startup inventory. Your business plan should have identified the products you will be selling, suppliers, and costs associated. Determine and order your startup inventory needs.

Step 9: Create business products. You will need to create your candy bouquet arrangements, brochures, business cards, etc. You may want to start small and as you expand add products to your business.

Step 10: Setup your online website or hire someone to do that.

Advertise your business. You may choose to advertise locally through newspaper or radio. You may advertise through internet marketing. All ways of advertising should be considered.

In conclusion, these 10 steps should help get you started in starting your own venture into a candy bouquet business. Here I cut it down into 10 smaller more manageable tasks. These steps are a guide to help you as you begin and get started.

Remarkable Tips For Freelance Web 2 Graphic Design Templates

“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.” – Albert Einstein

If we close our eyes and think for a graphic design for our website then a simple appealing template arises in our mind first. Graphic design is an art that cannot be done by everybody though it is related with our day by day life., just like our simple lifestyles we prefer the graphic design templates for our websites in a calm, simple and effortlessly accessible manner.

A calm poise of your site will differs your website from your competitors and the dashing appeal will attract your visitors at your site. These two things are known as the backbone of any freelance graphic design. Don’t collapse your optimistic thoughts while designing templates that will help you to bring much confident appealing web design templates.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Never lose a holy curiosity to invent something new.” – Albert Einstein

Always follow this word to become a famous freelance graphic design professional, only your innovative thoughts can push you a long way ahead of your competitors. Nowadays web 2 graphic design layout makes this design process very easier and effective. These unique web 2 templates bring a new tide in professional graphic design industry.

These web 2 graphic designs are much affordable and effortlessly synchronized for the visitors. You can easily attract web visitor at your website through its various quality features. It populates more appeal on your website in an optimized manner.

Some valuable hints to attract your visitors through web 2 graphic design templates

Tempting logos: Recently web 2 logos are really very effective to draw someone’s attraction in a very first appearance. Unique large size good looking colorful logos are the prime weapon to bring visitors at your site and circulate them at per your wish.

Large fonts for important content: Formatting significant key phrases within content with different font is one of the top capabilities of web 2 style. You can also decorate your entire content with different colors for more attraction.

Innermost poise: Telling a story in a confident manner is always respected everywhere. Thus strong innermost confidence of your website will pay you lot more business.

Mild appeal: Calm as well as a gentle appeal is greatly required for the visitors when they enter at your website. You have only 4-5 seconds in your hand to attract their concentration and make them feel comfortable enough to stay at your website and to travel into your important web pages.

Using CSS: Previously websites have enormous numbers of tables which makes the coding very large and complicated which increases the page weight as well. But nowadays through web 2 style maximum professional graphic designers are using CSS style where they are describing everything about the page structure. After that they simply call those styles from all pages at per their requirement. It generally synchronized the coding which helps to reduce the page weight.

Labeling fluorescent color boxes: For highlighting important parts of your web page (like special offers, business news, gift packs etc) you can use different shimmering colorful boxes through web 2 graphic design style to easily provide main points in front of your visitor. In graphic designing term it is actually called labeling.

Wee icons: Attractive wee icons are playing an emotional role into the visitors mind. You should apply this weapon to attract them at your site but in a simple manner. Wisely inserting catchy icons for different business segments rather planning vast content is possible through web 2 graphic design style.

Reduction of columns: Website clarity always depends on number of columns. Through this designing policy designers can able to reduce the number of columns for different business segments on your designed template. Those segments can be colored differently for more prominence advertisement of your business plans.