January 2023 - Page 2 of 12 - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

How to Pick Your Business Proposal Writing Solution

Looking for a solution to help you write business proposals contracts, RFPs or grant applications? There are three main types of proposal writing systems available on the market:

Desktop software and template-based for PCs and Macs
Monthly paid subscription web-based services
Expensive enterprise class solutions

The prices of the various products vary; so do their features and how many add-on services you may have to purchase to make use of the system. How do you know which system is right for you? Here are basic descriptions and pros and cons of each system to help you decide.

Template-based products generally contain a variety of Microsoft Word documents that will work in many platforms and word processors, along with instructions, samples, and sometimes additional software to help manage the assembly or other processing of documents into a final polished proposal. To use a template-based proposal writing product, you simply download the product to your personal computer, and then use the templates with your word processing program to put together a proposal and print it or save it as a PDF for electronic delivery by uploading to a web site or sending via e-mail.

Template-based products are generally the easiest solutions to get started with, because most people already know how to use their word processing software. If you work remotely or while traveling, you can use a template-based product on any laptop or tablet with a word processor, regardless of whether you have an Internet connection at the time.

The license fee for a template-based product is a one-time license fee, and you can use the product as many times as you like, and as often or intermittently as you like without incurring additional costs. There are no ongoing subscription fees to contend with (which will substantially increase your total costs beyond the costs of template-based products within a couple months); you have complete control over the product material and you manage your proposal content (when you deal with trade secrets and confidential data you don’t want to be giving access to all of that material to an unknown entity that may not be able to keep your information secure).

The main issue to consider in template-based products is that the different offerings vary widely in quality, so carefully compare the actual contents of packages to be sure you’re getting the best value and a quality product. Look at packages carefully to avoid the low-quality knock-offs and don’t be afraid to ask questions and review demos.

Web-based proposal writing systems are exactly what they sound like: you type your proposal information into a web site to create your proposal online and your potential clients look at your web based proposal online. Advantages of using a web-based system are that it usually has a low starting cost (but those monthly fees add up quickly and quickly surpass the cost of a PC/Mac template package) and you don’t have to download and install a program to your personal computer, so it may initially seem cheaper and faster to use. Also, after your proposal is posted, you may have access to some analytics, such as the ability to track how many people view your proposal. However it is typically better to simply reach out to your prospects with the personal touch of a phone call or e-mail and you will gather more-or-less the same information.

A big disadvantage to using a web-based system is that the proposal software and your business information are stored on the web. A web-based system is potentially more at risk from hackers, because the data from thousands of businesses presents a high-value target for hackers seeking confidential business information. Also, a web-based solution may not be available when you need it, like those times you can’t log in when you are flying or on the road. You should also consider whether or not you can easily extract your proposal data from a web-based system for use elsewhere. Most web-based solutions are new business ventures without proven track records – and if you read some of their support blogs you will find out which ones have frequent web site outages.

Web-based programs generally offer users less guidance and formatting and styling options than template-based packages. Web programs typically favor more of a “blank slate” approach and are usually much more limited in the amount of actual proposal writing content (templates, samples, etc.) than a template-based package. Current web-based solutions do not offer many basic features or the layout, design, and graphics capabilities of word processing systems available on PCs, Macs, and tablets. You may be very restricted in how you can create, format, and lay out your proposal, so you might not end up with the most polished looking proposal when you use a web-based system (or even a web-based word processor).

Web-based systems are not very well designed for responding to RFP’s or grant requests. Most of the time you have to follow strict guidelines for how proposals are to be written, formatted and submitted that cannot be done with web-based subscription services. While it may seem they offer something “new” in a web-based interface they are typically 10 years or more behind the curve in creating proposal writing content and polished professional proposals versus other solutions.

While a web-based solution may initially seem like the lowest cost product, keep in mind that a web-based business model depends on extracting monthly fees from customers, using a subscription payment plan. Over the course of just two or three months, a web-based solution will generally cost more than a downloaded product – and the costs will keep rising.

Now for the third category: enterprise class proposal solutions. These products are targeted for the use of big businesses. Often you cannot find a price or place an order online to download an enterprise product; you typically have to schedule a talk with a salesperson to get started. Plan on spending thousands of dollars or even tens of thousands of dollars on an enterprise solution, plan on significant setup time, and plan on bringing in consultants to set up and teach your employees how to use the system.

Enterprise proposal systems may be the best solution for large corporations that need widespread collaboration for their proposal projects and large sales teams, but enterprise systems are not designed (or priced) for individuals or small businesses. Even within large corporations, an enterprise proposal system is sometimes not the most efficient choice for doing a quick custom proposal or a small team project. Low-cost template-based solutions are frequently used by individuals or small teams within a large organization for one-off project proposals or to prototype a very complex proposal.

The three types of proposal software systems are not necessarily mutually exclusive; they can also work well together. You may want to pick multiple solutions to cover a wide array of situations and needs. Many users consider a downloaded template-based package a low-risk investment and a great addition to their basic business toolkits.

Most large corporations use template-based solutions alongside other systems for quick one-off proposals and prototyping. A template-based system allows users to work anywhere, view more samples and get more writing assistance, and use formatting tools to create a polished proposal that can be delivered in print or PDF format.

Template-based proposal kit systems are generally more efficient for smaller projects. And the information from these proposal kit template-based systems can often be uploaded to an enterprise system or to a web-based system when you want to use the extra analytics and other tools they offer.

Construction Safety Management Plan – Short and Long Term Advantages

The construction safety management plan is a requirement made of any construction company when they commence work on a new project, regardless of the scale of the job. This demand is generated by many different levels of government in order to maintain strict laws over companies when it involves the importance of safety on the job. Many companies usually look at these requirements as an obstacle, costing both time and money. However, once you take advantage of a low cost solution like templates, this demand proves to benefit a company. To understand how a business can benefit from this demand, it’s best to look at the short term and long term advantages of supporting a construction safety management plan.

While a company sees this demand on a per job demand, it is common to only look at this method in the short term scenario. Most businesses utilize legal services to achieve this objective, not due to convenience, but as a result of a lack of options to achieve this goal. Templates utilized in this method open new doors of opportunity where companies can create their own plans, ensuing in a saving of both time and money. With this alternative, you’ll find more useful short term results from your construction safety management plan because you take advantage of the message that’s sent once you support an idea like safety, rather than shunning it as an inconvenience to the company.

Besides the short term advantages which are present with this prospect, the long term benefits can prove even more beneficial when you embrace this process. For a business that regularly places a focus on the importance of safety with each job, the probability of accident is highly reduced. Most on the job accidents take place on account of companies attempting to take shortcuts in the construction process or associates looking to ignore safety protocols so as to increase their productivity.

Whilst these may seem like worthwhile risks for the completion of a project, the risks are often not worth the reward. Not supporting safety could often place your associates at risk and threaten your work with regard to both time and money. Long term support of a construction safety management plan sends a message to all associates to follow the guidelines in order to safeguard your business and your current project.

When a business embraces a focus on safety, it’ll find many rewards for taking this path of opportunity. Furthermore, once you make use of the choice of templates to meet these safety plans demands, you will discover a way to save time and money in your noble venture.

The templates available in this site are unique because it is designed to be easily understandable, compliant with OSHA legislation, adaptable to any project and it was also created with ease of implementation in mind.

A Massage Therapy Business – How to Make Six Figures in Your Massage Therapist Business

This article discusses if and how a massage therapist really can make six figures in their massage therapy business.

Truthfully, the median income for massage therapists is below $50,000 per year. Many earn much less than this. This is predominantly because many choose to work part time. But what about the entrepreneur who wants a full time massage therapy business and wishes to make a 6 figure income?

How To Make Six Figures From Your Massage Therapist Business

Well most massage therapists have a base rate that equates to around a dollar per minute, so an hour massage would be around $60. Mind you, I’ve seen much higher, in 2002 I stayed at an upmarket resort in Fiji that charged $250 USD per hour for a massage! But let’s use $60 per hour for this example.

6 x 1 hour massage per day, 6 days per week, 48 weeks per year. This is certainly ‘do-able’. 2 treatments in the morning, 4 in the afternoon / evening, 6 days per week with 1 month off per year for holiday, and you’re making a 6 figure income. $103,680 to be exact.

While a business like this would certainly take time to establish, it’s absolutely achievable. This leads us to 2 further questions:

1. How to make six figures in your massage therapy business while working less than this?

2. For the very ambitious – how to make even MORE than this in your massage therapist business?

1 – How To Work Less And STILL Make Six Figures In Your Massage Therapy Business?

While this work load would not be an issue for some, for others, the thought of averaging 6 x 1 hour massages per day, 6 days per week is a bit too much for their liking. So to make the same amount while working less, it’s simple, substitute some of your massage revenue with a different kind of revenue that you can still make in your massage business.

For example, let’s say you want to do 6 less massages per week. Instead of 6 per day, you want to average 5 per day. Or maybe you want to work 5 days per week rather than 6. You need to find a substitute revenue earner to bring in $360 per week.

The easiest way, sell products, here are some ideas:

· Massage oils

· Massage books

· Massage videos

· Massage pillows and rollers

· Yoga and Pilates products

· Massage novelty products – like mugs and t-shirts

You can also run a course once per month teaching massage for home use. You can specialise in a particular massage niche like:

· Face and scalp massage

· Back, neck and shoulder massage

· Couples massage

· Massage for infants

If you have just 10 people paying $200 for an all day, or weekend course, that’s $2000.

2 – How To Make Even MORE Than 100K Per Year From Your Massage Therapist Business?

When you get to a six figure income level, you may find you are so enthused with your business that you just don’t want to stop, your entrepreneurial genes kick in and you want to increase your income even further.

Of course you can add all the things I mentioned above, sell products, run courses, but there’s also another major strategy… leverage.

Leverage Your Massage Therapy Business

This means leverage your time. If you are doing 6 massages per day, all you need to do to triple your income is do 18 massages per day, except of course you couldn’t physically do it!

But if you are at this level of business expertise, you could certainly scale up your marketing to increase your clientele, and employ other massage therapists. Imagine having 1, 2 or 3 other massage therapists working for you and you keeping 50% of what they make. That’s the power of leverage.

This may seem a daunting strategy, but when you have established a successful massage therapy business and have accrued some business skills and entrepreneurial talent, leveraging your business in this way can take your income to a completely new level that you may have once thought impossible for you.

I hope these ideas on how to make six figures from your own massage therapist business have given you food for thought and inspired you to set higher goals for where you want to take your business. Other successful massage therapy businesses are doing it and reaping the benefits, why not you too?

Homemade Jewelry – How Do I Sell My Own?

So you have been making your homemade jewelry for a while and you are beginning to wonder if there may be a money making opportunity at your doorstep. Well, there just might be. Everyday people are taking their talents and hobbies and creating their own small businesses. There is no reason why you could not become one of these people. There are just a few things you need to do and consider as you get started.

First of all you need a product. This does not mean you need to just start cranking out inventory but you need to look at the jewelry you have made and decide if it is of good enough quality to sell. If you believe it is then press on and start making more.

Next, you need a business plan. There are some templates for these online. This does not need to be complicated but you do need to do this step. You need to come up with a company name, how much you will charge, what you will sell, who will be involved, and other company rules and norms. If you are doing this on your own your plan does not need to be that detailed but the more people that are involved the more detailed your plan needs to be.

After this you need to consider registering your business at the local tax office. This can give you the benefits of getting tax deductions but also can keep you from getting in trouble with the IRS. I would hate for you to lose all the money you might make because you did not do things on the right way. I will not go over any details here but there are a lot of great resources online that can help you with this part of the process.

Finally, you need to decide through what medium you will sale your homemade jewelry. There are a lot of options out there but I prefer to do it online. There are a lot of user friendly sites that are available to help you build a website. There are also lots resources to help you with getting it to show up on search engines. This form of selling has less overhead and helps you have a much larger customer base.

These are the steps to get you started. You need to start brainstorming and coming up with a plan. Then just do what most people do not when it comes to this, get to work and put your plan into action. If you do you could be a successful seller of your homemade jewelry.

Cash Flow – Want Some Tips?

You’re up and running but projects are taking longer than you expected. You’re running into problems that are chipping away at your finances. Customers aren’t paying as quickly as you thought they would. Expenses don’t stop and wait for you to have money. Opportunities to buy materials at an attractive price don’t wait until you have money. These and other issues affect your ability to keep yourself in growth mode. Here are three tips on where you can start having a positive affect on your cash flow.

1. Cash Cow. Looking at your operation, there’s something that is an entry-level product or something that you created in-house to streamline your own processes. Consider putting some emphasis on the quick products that can create a steady flow of income. A high-tech company had a test unit that field engineers took out into remote areas to test the strength of the product. No thought had been given to the marketability of that simple unit and it had the potential to generate sales in remote areas around the world. It was the most inexpensive item that the company built and had never been considered as a product. Another company had a little program that helped their own test engineers with their work. It was another unidentified product that could generate steady income. The owner of a small recruiting firm created a program to simplify his job. With very little effort, it could be used to manage any small business. The last time I saw him, he said that he had sold a number of the programs and made millions with them. It may not even be the business you’re in but there could be a steady income generator hiding in your operation.

2. Changes. This is not about bringing in more money. It’s about plugging leaks. My father was a General Contractor when I was a baby. The first and only project he ever had was a beautiful home in Marin County in Northern California. Dad had a partner – George. George was a customer pleaser. While Dad was out buying materials, George would be ripping out the bathroom because the homeowner realized they didn’t like the color of the floor to ceiling tile as much as they thought they would. Of course, that meant that the coordinating floor tiles had to go, too. George always promised there would be no charge for changes. The project made the cover of Better Homes & Gardens but it drove Dad and George into bankruptcy. If you were building a bridge between two cities you would have agreement on the specifications, completion date, and costs. If, when you were 90% done, the Mayors came to you and said they made a mistake and should have had one more lane in each direction, you could probably say, “No problem. We planned for future expansion in the design.” When the Mayors wanted assurance that you would still complete the job by the same deadline and for the same costs, you would discuss the increased time and money. You may not be building anything as big as a bridge but don’t let change requests eat up your cash.

3. Connections. Keeping your nose to the grindstone does a couple things. It wears you out and it prevents you from discovering information outside of your company that might have a significant effect on your operation. One small company struggling with cash flow issues didn’t have anyone available for networking. They brought in an operations management consultant whose marketing efforts were all about networking. As problems came up in conversation, the consultant had connections who had answers. Some zoning issues that created a safety problem for the employees had a surprising solution when the consultant mentioned the issue to a networking contact who was a commercial building contractor. The consultant knew an attorney who specialized in another area the company needed help with. A casual conversation between the consultant and a networking contact revealed a previously unidentified market for the customer’s product. All three of those happened over a two-day period as a result of the consultant’s ongoing networking efforts. It’s worth your time to stay connected to people outside of your company.

Conclusion: These kinds of solutions can be an ongoing benefit for your business with clear, concise communication of the problems that are restricting your cash flow. Keep your eye out for the kinds of opportunities you’ve seen here.

Strategic Planning With Implementation in Mind

Plans come in all shapes and sizes, but the sorts of plans that I have in mind are those whose effective implementation is vital to the organisation’s continued well-being. The plan might be a marketing plan involving the development of new markets and products; it might be a restructuring to enhance flexibility and customer focus or the adoption of a concept such as lean thinking. It might be all of these which, together, form the elements of a strategic business plan. The common denominators are that the effective implementation of the plan involves many more people than were involved in the plan’s formulation and the price of failure to execute is high.

The three fundamental reasons for poor strategy implementation are:

Planning and implementation are seen as two entirely separate activities whereas the reality is that the seeds of success or failure are sown the moment the planners sit down to plan.
Planners spend a disproportionate amount of time deciding what they are going to do rather than dividing their time equally between that and planning how they are going to do it.
Too few people are involved in the “how” process – assessing the plan’s feasibility and its impact on all the organisation’s resources.

These are further broken down into the following 13 barriers to good planning:

Planning Barrier No.1 – “The plan did not take into account the new environment we were operating in”.

If the plan ignores the present or fails to predict the future environment that the organisation will be operating in, it is doomed to failure from the start.

Planning Barrier No.2 – “The rationale behind the plan was never incorporated into the written document”

It is said that 70% of people will change, given a good enough reason to do so. Since almost by definition these days plans involve change, the rationale behind the proposed changes must be explained and justified. It is not sufficient to state that “this is what we are going to do”. Management has to articulate the debate that resulted in a particular course of action being proposed.

Planning Barrier No.3 – “There was no overall goal that everyone could relate to”

My company conducts Customer Satisfaction Surveys and one of the key outcomes is a weighted Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI). A division of a large public company recorded an average CSI that was satisfactory but which masked a significant problem – inconsistency. The 24% of clients who rated the supplier very highly was offset by the 27% of clients who were dissatisfied with the supplier’s performance. The supplier decided to set an overall goal of a certain CSI to replace the contribution margin that they had previously used. Although the staff found the new measure of performance much easier to relate to than the old one, it would have been even better if the revised goal was to eliminate any customer ratings below an agreed figure in an agreed time frame.

Planning Barrier No.4 – “The plan was just a series of activities – there were no clear results to aim for”

If you were trying to lose weight, you might decide to exercise more, drink less alcohol and eat more green vegetables. These are activities. I’m sure your campaign would be far more successful if you set a goal weight to be achieved at the end of 12 months together with intermediate monthly targets. Corporate plans are no different.

Planning Barrier No.5 – “Those responsible for the plan’s execution were not sufficiently involved at the planning stage”

There is an old adage that says that the more people who plan the battle, the less there are to battle the plan. Not only does this strategy begin the transfer of ownership from the “planners” to the “implementers” but it also results in a better quality of planning.

Planning Barrier No.6 – “The planners failed to integrate the plan with the current circumstances facing the organisation”

Very few planners start with the luxury of a clean sheet of paper. As a consequence any plan needs to address the present as well as the future. Womack & Jones in their book “Lean Thinking” recount the story of a company that decided to embrace the concept of “Just-in-Time” – reducing inventories and manufacturing batch sizes. Unfortunately for them, they made no fundamental changes to their production system that remained as inflexible as before. Manufacturing costs and freight costs skyrocketed due to increased machine downtime and the need to airfreight customer orders to meet delivery times.

These six barriers are connected to the first component of any plan which is deciding “this is what we are going to do”. The next stage is to think through the implications of stage 1 of the plan on every function that makes up the organisation.

Planning Barrier No.7 – “The implications of the plan were not sufficiently worked through by the planners”

For example, what if the plan calls for the development of six new products a year? Such a target has implications for Development, Production, Marketing, Sales, Distribution, Supply, HR and Finance. To minimise this problem, you need to involve the people with detailed knowledge of these functions at the planning stage.

Planning Barrier No.8 – “Insufficient time was spent planning before moving to implementation”

You would think that with all their experience, Boeing could design and bring into service a new airliner in the timeframe originally envisaged. This certainly wasn’t the case with the 787 “Dreamliner”. It was four years late into service mainly because of the problems encountered by not only out-sourcing the production of many components using new technology but in some cases also out-sourcing design. As one senior Boeing executive admitted – “… we put a global supply chain together without thinking through some of the consequences”.

Once the issue of “how we are going to do it” has been thought through, the next step is to look at the implications for human resources and finance. These are the two key Enabling Functions. Without people and money, no plan can be implemented.

Armed with the knowledge of “this is what we want to do” and “this is how we are going to do it”, the next set of questions to be asked is whether the organisation has the right number of staff with the right expertise in the right places to effectively implement the plan.

Planning Barrier No.9 – “The implementation of the plan required changes in the current organisational structure that management was not prepared to make”

Furthermore, is the organisational structure suitable to implement the planned changes? Under the direction of Lou Gerstner IBM underwent massive organisational changes in the 90’s as it moved from a technology driven hardware company to a market driven services company. The “old guard” resisted such changes to the status quo and the reorganisation would not have succeeded, had not Gerstner redistributed the “levers of power”.

Planning Barrier No.10 – “The planners underestimated the cost of implementation”

By this stage of the planning process, you will have built up a shopping list of the requirements necessary to bring your plan to reality. New infrastructure, new equipment, new IT systems… to say nothing of new people for new roles. If you cannot afford to implement the plan in its present guise, then maybe you can stagger investment or extend the period for implementation – or maybe you have to reduce the scope of the plan so it is within your means to execute. Far better that you come to the realisation now that you cannot afford the costs of the strategy implementation than discover it six months down the track.

Planning Barrier No.11 – “There were no clear subsidiary objectives”

It was the Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu who said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Similarly, the achievement of the goal will be dependent on a large number of subsidiary objectives and the strategies to achieve them. It is so important that these objectives are related to “how we are going to do it” rather than “this is what we want to do”. In effect, we plan from the top down but execute from the bottom up.

Every plan should conclude with an initial Action Plan. “Initial” is emphasised because action planning is a rolling exercise. As some actions are completed, others take their place. The final two barriers relate to the transitional phase where the focus on strategic planning gives way to one on execution.

Planning Barrier No.12 – “There was no Action program that set out the objective of each action, who was to be responsible for it and its completion date”

There is one action that is frequently overlooked and that is to communicate the totality of the plan to everyone who will play a part in its execution. If you want to engage your staff – and who doesn’t – you have to explain where the organisation is now, where it’s going and why and each person’s role in getting there.

Planning Barrier No.13 – “Management underestimated the time required for implementation – we simply did not have enough hours in the day to complete the actions that we were responsible for by the date indicated and do our “normal jobs” at the same time”

This very real barrier needs to be addressed at the planning stage – not when the execution of the plan starts to flounder. Before agreeing to completion dates with those responsible for completing actions, talk with them, make sure you understand what is involved in carrying out the action and arrange for them to receive assistance if necessary.

The quality of execution is dependent on the quality of the strategic planning. The good news is that as you successfully tackle each barrier in sequence the next barrier, and the one after that become less daunting.

5 Reasons to Be in the Restaurant Business

Restaurants can be found in almost everywhere that you may go and this is proof that this kind of business is really good. Every once in while, someone makes a decision to open up a restaurant for whatever reasons he/she has. There are evidently many reasons why people choose to open such business and you do not need to have the same reasons. You just have to evaluate what you want and to help you out, here are 5 reasons why you should be in the restaurant business.

The fact that all people need to eat is one of the main reasons why you should be in the restaurant business. People can actually cook their foods on their own at home but sometimes there are people who choose to eat in a restaurant, the busy people in particular. Because they do not have enough time to cook at home, they prefer to go out and eat. In addition, during special occasions or events, there are people who choose to celebrate in a place other than their home and they want to taste different types of foods.

Considering the fact that people need to eat, somehow you can be assured that the chance of your business to become a failure is smaller and this is another reason why you should be in a restaurant business. As long as you know what the people want and what they are looking for, you are going to be just fine. You just have to be creative and imaginative when it comes to the foods that you are going to prepare. If you want a lot of people to come to your place, then you need to come up with something new, unique and delicious. With this, you can surely keep the people coming to your place.

If you love to cook a large variety of foods, then a restaurant business is going to be great for you. Although starting up this kind of business does not really require you to be someone who loves to cook, it’s definitely better if you do. When you are doing something that you really love, then the results/outcome would be better than doing something that you do not have that much interest in.

Having a place where a lot of people pass by every single day is another sign that you should start-up a restaurant business together with your passion for cooking. If you have a really good place that’s accessible, many people would instantly know that your business exists and this means that you do not need to spend too much money for advertisements.

And of course, money is the last reason why you need to be in a restaurant business. Along with all the reasons stated above, if you have enough funds to open up a restaurant, then you should go ahead with starting up your own.

However, if you feel that you are not really interested in this kind of business, that’s the time when you can look into other options available.

Plan? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Plan

Unfortunately that famous line from Humphrey Bogart’s movie The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”, “Badges? We ain’t got not no badges. We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you no stinkin’badges!” is often one of the most misquoted lines in movie history, in fact, when I first started writing this, I had to correct myself when using the quote! That being said, let’s get to the point of this blog……. Planning. Our last blog discussed planning on a global, big picture scale. Let’s focus on what it means to you, as an individual running your business! The first step is to realize “WE NEED A PLAN!” How do you go about developing a plan that will be meaningful and effective for your business? There are many templates and programs that will assist you with the fundamentals, a simple Google search will provide a wealth of information. It’s what you put in the plan that counts! Following are some ideas and thoughts that you may want to consider as you develop your plan:

o What is changing in your industry?

o What is changing in technology and how does it impact your ability to connect with customers

o What is changing with your customers?

o What is changing in the economy?

We all know the traditional ways to reach out to customers….. mailings, telemarketing, mass emails and others. But what is going to grab your customer’s attention, how can you convince them to choose you over all the other alternatives in the market? Think about the following:

o Provide value, beyond the product – value in personal attention and customization

o Make yourself unique – find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition

o Build Relationships – showing the customer you really are invested in helping them make the best decisions and choices with your expertise. They will count on you to make sure their best interests are being looked after!

o Network in the community…. Join the Chamber of Commerce, sponsor a youth activity, help with a charity event, get involved in local professional groups

The key is your plan should focus on cultivating a two-way relationship with your customers. Yes, the new technology of Social Media is important, but so is an act so simple most of us have forgotten it…. Pick up the phone or stop by to say a personal “Hello”.

Vending Machine Business Record Keeping Basics

Keeping good records of the status of each of your vending machines when you service them is both a critical and very easy practice. Even for those who strongly dislike record keeping and struggle with the practice, the process is not overly taxing. The benefits, after all, far outweigh the small inconvenience that it presents. After all, by keeping records, you will be able to see how you are doing over time so you will know exactly which machines are offering the best performance, how many of what product is being sold, and what profits you can anticipate in the weeks and months to come.

As a business owner, this is information that you need. With even the most basic record keeping, you will have a much more thorough understanding of your business and how it is doing from one machine to the next. This allows you to continue what you are doing right with some machines, and consider the relocation of other machines that just aren’t performing as they should be.

That being said, you will also greatly appreciate your efforts to keep accurate records when tax time comes around. Nothing is more painful than trying to scrounge together exact numbers from records that are either sketchy or non-existent.

The two kinds of records that you will want to consistently maintain within your vending machine business are a basic ledger and a report of all of the locations on your route. The basic ledger is essentially your general bookkeeping. It should document all of the income and expenses totaled from all of the locations on your route. You can do this on paper, but it is much easier and faster if you use a simple bookkeeping program on your computer. If you save all of your receipts and keep a good route report, you will be able to update your ledger quickly and easily each time you complete a service route.

While on your service route, you should keep a record of the status of all of your machines at each location. Each machine should have its own page where you take notes from each servicing. This way, you will be able to flip to the page for any given machine to observe its performance including expenses, income, the placement of products, and the popularity of each of the products.

When your business is still small enough for you to do all of the routes yourself, you will be responsible for all of the record keeping for both the ledger and the route. However, once your business gets large enough that you need to hire someone to run some or all of your routes for you, you will need to make sure that that individual is also keeping the detailed, accurate records that you need to make all the difference in understanding the success of your business.

The same thing goes if you wish to hire a bookkeeper to keep track of all of the income, expenses, and other data collected by the people running your service routes for you. The trick is to make sure that these records never fall behind, that they are always complete, and that they are always accurate.

Do not forget to actually use the information that you have collected. Keeping records is only a practical process when you examine and analyze the data that has been collected. Keep a close eye on the performance of each of your machines so that you always know where attention is needed.

7 Top Motivation Killers That Business Women Can Avoid

Women leaders in business must find ways to stay motivated to reach goals with or without outside support. You might have to work alone in the in this effort as your pursue professional opportunities. You can become more aware of ways you might be losing your motivation by understanding these 7 top motivation killers that a business woman can learn to avoid or change.

1. Waiting for others to motivate you. If you need others to motivate you in order to reach your goals you will soon find that you won’t be getting much support. People are busy and few people take time to consistently provide others with the motivational words they need. Reach into your leadership background and find ways to set short and long-term goals that keep you going to reach goals all by yourself.

2. Keep doing what you don’t like. Few things are more de-motivating the continuing to do activities that you really don’t like to do. When you have a lot of skills and talents, don’t waste precious time in life pursuing activities you don’t like. Wrap up your obligations if necessary and move on to activities and adventures that keep you excited and happy instead of struggling with activities you are not excited about doing.

3. Take criticism from others to heart. It is common for others to share more negative words than positive. If you let yourself be discouraged when others criticize you or what you do, you will find yourself down and out most of the time. Put everything you hear in perspective. You are not what others say; you are what you say to yourself. Learn positive self talk and speak truth to your mind on a consistent basis to drown out the negative criticism that might come your way.

4. Procrastinate and increase your stress. When you fail to complete tasks you increase your stress. Procrastinating until the last minute or to the point when things really get out of hand is a way to only cause more problems in your life. Set a schedule and face difficult tasks one step at a time. Get things done ahead of schedule and give yourself relief and time to do your task correctly.

5. Fail to have confidence in your decisions. If you consistently worry about decisions you make learn to look at all of the available alternatives and review the pros and cons of each prior to making a decision. If you have time, don’t make a hasty decision but give yourself time to really think about what you’ll decide. If you have to decide quickly go with the decision that will cause the least harm. Then take a course on decision making so you can feel better about the necessary decisions you will inevitably have to make.

6. Give up easily. One of the best ways to lose motivation is to be in the habit of giving up when things get tough. Instead of being a quitter learn the self-discipline necessary to stick things out to completion. No doubt about it, you will face some very tedious tasks as a leader. But you can’t lead if you can’t finish. Decide to reach the goal and analyze the steps you have to take to complete a difficult task. Be ready to reach the goal line or don’t take on the leadership task.

7. Maintain bad habits. A habit is an action you do without thinking. In order to change a habit you have to be conscious of your activities and then deliberately do something that changes that behavior. If you have a habit of telling yourself negative things you have to consciously know how to change that self talk into something positive. If you have a habit of quitting you have to change that to create a habit of completing activities. It is possible to change habits but like anything else worthwhile it can also be hard to do; but as a leader you are up to the task.

Learning to stay motivated is an important skill for the woman leader in business. Sometimes you can be doing things that you are not aware of that take your motivation away. By recognizing the 7 areas in this article you can increase your self-motivation and become a more successful professional.