Tag: Start

How To Start a Wood Working Business From Your Garage

Starting a woodworking business from your home could be an excellent way to earn an income. With right business plan and woodworking training system you could reach your financial goals with little or no woodworking skills.

As we all know financial times are tough in many areas of Canada and The USA. Their seems to be no stability working for various companies. Even if you employed the income you receive is poor. Consider starting a home based business that will create products that you can sell with very little effort. This home based business will be fun and easy to start.

Consider starting a business constructing and selling wooden furniture. Many people are often interested in purchasing wooden furniture for their homes. Good quality wooden furniture always has a way of being sold. Home owners will pay top money for this type of furnishing. This type of furnishing looks good and gives the customer a product that indicates that their money was well spent.

With proper business plan and correct construction method you might even be able to make money in your spare time building furniture and related products.

Of course you will need a place to work such as your garage. You could even construct a shed in your backyard to start your woodworking business. Constructing a shed, made of wood, could be a way of starting your woodworking business. After successfully building a shed in your backyard you could have people paying you to build a shed in their backyard.

There are a number of resources that will give you step-by-step instructions with regards to construction of various woodworking projects including numerous backyard shed plans. Types of sheds to consider are the pent roof shed and clerestory style shed.

The pent roof style shed is simple to build. It is a mono roof shed, which consists of a one piece roof sloping in one direction. It can be attached to your house or barn, giving it increased structural strength

The clerestory style shed ideal for use a place to work. The roof of this shed consists of row of windows which allows natural light to beam inside of the structure. Because of the roof its structure will mor complicated to build when compare with the pent roof style shed. However designs can be found on the internet that will help the construction process less problematic.

This type of business will require that you purchase various tools if you do not already own them. Their a number hardware stores likely in your area that will help you purchasing the tools needed in starting your woodworking business. You will also likely be able to purchase used woodworking tools in good working order.

Best Regards

Start A Woodworking Business In Your Home

It is possible to start a woodworking business in your home and make good living. However if you are new to this type business you will a plan. This plan will show you to get you woodworking business up and running in a timely and cost-effective manner.

The plan you choose to use should consider a number things in its outline. These woodworking business plans should include the following:

1. A Detailed Guide

This will be a guide that shows you step-by-step how to make money selling wooden furniture and small crafts in a cost-effective and timely manner. These will plans should how you make a profit quickly as possible so you can invest in your business. Making a profit quickly will allow you to upgrade you tools and work space allowing you to become more efficient and profitable.

2. How To Start Up You Woodworking Business In A Cost effective Manner

This business plan show you how to startup without investing a lot of money in expensive power tools. You also be given information to start this business from your home. This could mean using your garage or backyard shed. You could also consider using a utility room located at the back of your house.

3. How To Market Your Woodworking Business And Attract Customers

Starting a new business will require customers to buy your products. You could make the best product in the world, but if no one knows about them you will not make any money. If people don’t they exist you will not make any sales. That is why the business you use should use must teach about marketing and how to attract customers. This key to the success of your woodworking business and any other business you get involved. You need to attract customers who are interested in your product and you need to market the services and products you are selling.

4. This Plan Should Teach You How Build Wood Working Projects That Sell

Marketing products that will sell is key to your business success. These products should easy to produce and be produced in a cost-effective and timely manner. This will reduce the cost of manufacturing them and giving you a reasonable profit margin. Of course if they are popular items you will sell more of them and make more money. When you start making money on woodworking project that sell you invest in your business and improve the tools you are using and upgrade your workspace.

Best Regards

Think Big Start Small – SPQR – 10 Ways to Small Profits – Quick Returns

Introduction: Think as big as a Roman Emperor and start with small steps towards your own empire. The reason for a big vision is to have clarity of purpose. The reason to take baby steps is to get results quickly. The sooner you can get ‘returns’ the better. Returns may come in the form of feedback as much as from income or saved expense. There is no business that goes according to (business) plan. If you take those initial steps without having the big picture, you’ll soon be lost.

Plan for the Horizon: Be very concerned about what’s on the horizon-that’s where you’re headed, but be preoccupied with what’s on the agendaâEURothat’s what will get you there. Live your future now; if you don’t, it’ll soon be your past. The returns are going to be bigger if your plan is writ large. While planning is vital, allow yourself to grasp the unexpected-don’t avoid opportunities that pop up simply because they weren’t in the plan.

Sell Your Prototype: If that’s all you’ve got ready, sell it, at a big discount maybe. Or, even give it away (protecting your invention, of course). Getting feedback on prototypes early ensures you get the return of buy-in from others later and will ensure that you can make ‘Mark II’ better. That’s the whole idea behind software developers launching Beta versions for free. It’s the next best thing to being your own customer.

Work with Lead Users: You can collaborate with lead users, offering them special deals in return for being available for reference once your definitive product is on the market. When I started in business, I was very pleased to work from Day 1 with a company that was always being asked by others for advice. I offered more in use-value than was paid for, but the ‘return’ was generated over a long period.

Offer Service Before Products: There may be a way that you can sell a service before your product is ready. There are many services that you can perform if you have the expertise to produce products. Your knowledge will enable you to offer your time for sale more quickly than perfecting something that you have to manufacture. The fee that you earn generates the revenue that you can apply to the production process. the return may be smaller, but it’s sooner.

Stick to a Simple Range at First: You may have conceived a grand plan for your product range, but you should not wait until everything is in place before you start selling. Selling a few items will get the revenue flowing and more importantly, you’ll start getting customer feedback before you are fully committed. You can even go out and sell a spec that you fulfil once you have a signed order. This way you’ll avoid unnecessarily scrapping things that have not worked or were unacceptable to clients on a larger scale.

Test Drive Procedures: If you plan to open a restaurant to offer meals throughout the day, start by opening just for one meal only, say in the evening. Then you can use the day time for doing all the many things you need to get done before the full launch, like visiting suppliers. Your kitchen procedures that have let you down in the evening can be perfected in the closed hours the following day, without getting in the way of food preparation when you have customers waiting.

Sell Close to Home: Small clients close to home may not seem exciting and be without huge potential, but they will be easier to sell and sales costs will be lower. Getting paid is likely to be easier. If there’s a delay, you can visit the customer personally. Chasing payment long distance is always more problematic and you’ll need all the cash flow you can get to cover your operating costs. Your margins will be better short term if you can keep the cost of sales down.

Go for Low-hanging Fruit: You must plan on the big or complex sales that are going to give you the best margin eventually, but grabbing easily accessed sales, the ripe fruit, that is right near by will help you on your way, while bigger ones mature. The big return on these quickly-made sales is that the feedback-and-product-modification process can be accelerated. Little incremental improvements will soon add up.

Have Staff On Call: Of course you want to hire the people that you think you’ll need for the operation of your business, but if you take staff on to the payroll, you need to be sure that you can pay them on an ongoing and regular basis. Maybe you should be thinking about creative ways that you can get round that level of commitment. You can recruit staff on call. What work can you contract out? Can you pay by the hour-worked or are part-timers possible? Only undertake work that is absolutely essential. The return you’ll get from delaying recruitment is keeping cash in the business at the early high-risk stage.

Don’t Go for Broke: There are some startup businesses, like in hi-tech, where you may have to commit big sums of money up-front before you can sell a thing. But most startups work best if you work with as little money as possible. If you’re hungry, you’ll find ways of getting that vital revenue instead of capital. There are many entrepreneurs who have wasted vital time doing the rounds of investors when they could have been on the road selling goods. In any event, you’ll be better at attracting funding if you have a track record to back you claims.

How to Start a Service Business in an Area You Have Little Or No Experience

Going by the increasing toll of unemployment in Nigeria and in most countries of the world, one option that readily comes to mind is churning out business ideas and making a living from such ventures.

However, good as entrepreneurship may seem, certain challenges are likely to be faced by the aspiring/budding entrepreneur who, due to lack of experience in his chosen career path, finds it difficult to get notice in the marketplace.

Amongst other qualities, experience, is obviously the most vital requirement needed for a successful service business. But this is not to say that some service business can’t be ventured into with little or no experience.

If you are thinking of starting an interior decorations business, for example, you are most likely to do well if you have worked in an organization or with someone having similar interest. Consider someone who starts a business and offers human relations management services, but never worked in an HR firm or as an HR administrator for a company!

Experience readily brings the judgment you would need to manage your business. This is the single most important skill needed in the service industry (and perhaps, in all types of businesses).

All hope is not lost if you are just a fresher. You can start a particular service business, and do well even if you have not worked professionally in a similar field. “How?” you ask. I will tell you now.

Let me identify two types of experience. These are: 1. Hands-on Experience; and 2. Self-Acquiring Experience.

Hands-on experience is the type of training you get as a result of your involvement in a particular activity. Here, you learn the skill first-hand; you make mistakes/errors and get corrected. Over the years, hands-on experience has proven to be the most accepted method of staff training, and many companies are aware of this fact. An accountant just starting off cannot, in any way, be compared with one with many years of hands-on experience. Likewise, a veteran sales person will, in most cases, outsell a beginner.

It is, however, worthy of note that acquiring corporate experience is not limited to the hands-on level. In the self-acquiring experience level, you engage in a conscious, self-acquiring exercise in order to be ahead of the game in your chosen career path.

The following are methods you can quickly use to become an experienced business person:

1. Read books authored by people who have several years of hands-on experience in the field that interest you. For instance, one of the professional books that have shaped my career is The Corporate Communications Bible by Robert Dilenschneider. In just one book, I was able to acquire public relations “wisdom” which had took the author several decades to learn!

2. Attend professional training/short courses. Attending programmes of this nature gives you unique opportunity to listen to experts as they teach. In most cases, you get opportunity to ask questions and practice what you have learnt.

3. Subscribe to and read newsletters regularly (whether paper or electronic-based). Newsletters offer unique information that may not be found elsewhere. Your self-acquiring effort may just pay of by reading one more newsletter.

4. Associate with ‘senior’ friends. You have no business spending your time with people who don’t know as much as you do. Pitch your tent with people who have gone ahead of you (and are successful) in similar business. Have them mentor you. By doing this, their experience rubs on you.

5. Apply what you have acquired. It is important to note that acquiring does not equal applying. You need to apply the wisdom acquired. Start small. Offer a kind of service that you can proffer immediate solutions to. The more you use what you know, the more you get skilled in the art, and the more you become experienced in that area! In the words of Dr. David Oyedepo, “Every fact you locate and apply puts you in control of life’s circumstances.”

Small Business Start Up Financing

The number one question I get asked as a small business start-up coach is: Where do I get start-up cash?

I’m always glad when my clients ask me this question. If they are asking this question, it is a sure sign that they are serious about taking financial responsibility for start it.

Not All Money Is the Same

There are two types of start-up financing: debt and equity. Consider what type is right for you.

Debt Financing is the use of borrowed money to finance a business. Any money you borrow is considered debt financing.

Sources of debt financing loans are many and varied: banks, savings and loans, credit unions, commercial finance companies, and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are the most common. Loans from family and friends are also considered debt financing, even when there is no interest attached.

Debt financing loans are relatively small and short in term and are awarded based on your guarantee of repayment from your personal assets and equity. Debt financing is often the financial strategy of choice for the start-up stage of businesses.

Equity financing is any form of financing that is based on the equity of your business. In this type of financing, the financial institution provides money in return for a share of your business’s profits. This essentially means that you will be selling a portion of your company in order to receive funds.

Venture capitalist firms, business angels, and other professional equity funding firms are the standard sources for equity financing. Handled correctly, loans from friends and family could be considered a source of non-professional equity funding.

Equity financing involves stock options, and is usually a larger, longer-term investment than debt financing. Because of this, equity financing is more often considered in the growth stage of businesses.

7 Main Sources of Funding for Small Business Start-ups

1. You

Investors are more willing to invest in your start-up when they see that you have put your own money on the line. So the first place to look for money when starting up a business is your own pocket.

Personal Assets

According to the SBA, 57% of entrepreneurs dip into personal or family savings to pay for their company’s launch. If you decide to use your own money, don’t use it all. This will protect you from eating Ramen noodles for the rest of your life, give you great experience in borrowing money, and build your business credit.

A Job

There’s no reason why you can’t get an outside job to fund your start-up. In fact, most people do. This will ensure that there will never be a time when you are without money coming in and will help take most of the stress and risk out of starting up.

Credit Cards

If you are going to use plastic, shop around for the lowest interest rate available.

2. Friends and Family

Money from friends and family is the most common source of non-professional funding for small business start-ups. Here, the biggest advantage is the same as the biggest disadvantage: You know these people. Unspoken needs and attachments to outcome may cause stress that would warrant steering away from this type of funding.

3. Angel Investors

An angel investor is someone who invests in a business venture, providing capital for start-up or expansion. Angels are affluent individuals, often entrepreneurs themselves, who make high-risk investments with new companies for the hope of high rates of return on their money. They are often the first investors in a company, adding value through their contacts and expertise. Unlike venture capitalists, angels typically do not pool money in a professionally-managed fund. Rather, angel investors often organize themselves in angel networks or angel groups to share research and pool investment capital.

4. Business Partners

There are two kinds of partners to consider for your business: silent and working. A silent partner is someone who contributes capital for a portion of the business, yet is generally not involved in the operation of the business. A working partner is someone who contributes not only capital for a portion of the business but also skills and labor in day-to-day operations.

5. Commercial Loans

If you are launching a new business, chances are good that there will be a commercial bank loan somewhere in your future. However, most commercial loans go to small businesses that are already showing a profitable track record. Banks finance 12% of all small business start-ups, according to a recent SBA study. Banks consider financing individuals with a solid credit history, related entrepreneurial experience, and collateral (real estate and equipment). Banks require a formal business plan. They also take into consideration whether you are investing your own money in your start-up before giving you a loan.

6. Seed Funding Firms

Seed funding firms, also called incubators, are designed to encourage entrepreneurship and nurture business ideas or new technologies to help them become attractive to venture capitalists. An incubator typically provides physical space and some or all of these services: meeting areas, office space, equipment, secretarial services, accounting services, research libraries, legal services, and technical services. Incubators involve a mix of advice, service and support to help new businesses develop and grow.

7. Venture Capital Funds

Venture capital is a type of private equity funding typically provided to new growth businesses by professional, institutionally backed outside investors. Venture capitalist firms are actual companies. However, they invest other people’s money and much larger amounts of it (several million dollars) than seed funding firms. This type of equity investment usually is best suited for rapidly growing companies that require a lot of capital or start-up companies with a strong business plan.

How to Start an Oil Extraction Factory for Edible Oil

The concept of extracting edible oil from seeds such as olives, soya beans and groundnuts is on the rise globally. For instance, in the United States of America alone, there is an annual production averaging more than 16 billion pounds. This huge production can be attributed to the increasing demand for edible oils. As the living standards or people continue to improve, so does the consumption of edible oils. It is used for various purposes such as cooking. Therefore, the extraction of edible oil is a profitable venture that in most cases rewards manufacturers with profitable returns. Although it is not difficult to start an oil extraction factory, the below steps will help to simplify the process further. They are the primary steps that have to be followed for one to start a successful oil extraction factory.

The first step to starting any successful business venture lies in the ability to have enough knowledge about the business. Thus, the first step would be to know more about the edible oil industry, its trends, and the factors influencing it. The edible oil industry information or data can be sourced from the internet, government agencies or from the already established edible oil manufacturing industries. An investor can seek the opinion and view of an expert in the edible oil industry to get a more informed opinion about the market trends. Also, this will give you an opportunity to know more about the different firm in the market that you will come to compete with.

Second, create a business plan for the manufacturing venture. A business plan will act as the guide or central reference point for the business. The importance of planning is best captured in the popular cliché’ failing to plan is planning to fail’. Without a business plan, the oil extraction factory set up venture will fail. In fact, it might not even takeoff. When coming up with the business plan, it is advisable to engage the services of an expert in the field. He/she will help you to create a comprehensive business plan that covers all aspects of the manufacturing process. A business plan is basically a formal statement that highlights the goals of the business, and plans of achieving these goals. Also, the business plan will contain sections that cover the financial needs of starting the manufacturing plant. Without enough funds or capital, the business might stall on the way. Hence, a business plan will help you to know the cost of the venture (cost such as equipment costs, transport costs, capital for running the plant, and wage costs), and the subsequent sources of capital needed to start it. A business plan will clarify the target market for the product and how to gain a competitive edge or advantage in the market.

Third, figure out where you will get your raw materials. Raw materials are the backbone of the manufacturing plant. Without the raw materials, the plant will not. Also, during this step, it is vital to know the type of materials that will be used for the oil extraction since edible oil can be processed from many sources. Availability of the relevant raw materials is also a major factor. The raw materials should be adequate enough for the business to run. A small source will be depleted quickly. Since edible oil is extracted from arable grains, the investor can decide to plant his or her own raw materials or buy them from another party.

Location has a significant effect on the success of the manufacturing business. The plant should be located near the source of raw materials. This will help reduce the transportation costs incurred when moving the raw materials from the field to the factory.

Fifth, apply for the relevant licensees and certification from the state or federal authorities. This will make you to run a legal and licensed edible oil extraction business. You can be arrested and charged if you run a business without a license.

Lastly, get the funding of the project and subsequently purchase the plant equipment, hire employees, and advertise the business.

These steps if followed strictly will make the process of starting an oil extraction factory for edible oil easy and simple.

Planning To Start New Online Business – E-Commerce Web Solutions!

Planning, We Don’t Need No Stinking Planning!

Business planning is another step in the process of developing your business that many people would rather skip all together.

“Planning? We don’t need no stinking planning!”

If you’re not familiar with the line then you’ve been deprived of a comedic masterpiece, but I digress. The point is that many of us prefer to “do” vs. “plan.” Nevertheless, it is sometimes necessary to bite the bullet and do some planning. This is one of those times.

A business plan serves as the roadmap for your business and as its primary sales tool for financing. Even if you have no intention of going to a bank to get startup funds for your e-commerce business, you should still develop a business plan.

A business plan will help you to develop a real course of action to get your business off the ground. Most business plans contain the following:

Executive Summary – discusses the high level goals, mission statement and keys to success for the business.

Startup Costs – a list of the initial costs to open the business.

Product Overview – what are you selling and why will it work?

Market Analysis – find out who are your target customers and how will you attract them?

Competitive (SWOT) Analysis – determine your competitors and how will you beat them?

Sales Strategy – how will you sell your products?

Sales Projections – how much do you expect to sell in the next 3 years?

Website Development Plan – how will you get online? Who will make it happen?

Operational Plans – Who will run the business? How will it operate?

Financial Plan – When will you break even? What’s the projected profit/loss for 3 years? Cash flow? Balance sheet?

Seems like a lot, right? Sure the concept can be overwhelming, but you don’t need to start from scratch either. What if I told you there was a place to go and find over 500 different sample business plans you could use to model for your own business? Okay, so there is and I’m telling you.

I know you’re ready to skip ahead to the next chapter and avoid this important but intimidating step in the launch of your business. Don’t do it. Even if you’re not planning on seeking financing from traditional sources like a bank, this is a valuable process that will help you understand more about running a business.

If you are going to seek financing from a bank or even mom and dad, having a solid business plan will make you more confident. Would you invest in a business that didn’t even have a plan?

How to Start a Staffing and Recruitment Consulting Agency – A Complete Guide

Have you ever considered a new business idea or consulting career into uncharted territory? Perhaps starting a staffing company? The mere thought of taking the plunge can often feel very intimidating particularly start a temp agency from home and you’re unsure of where the whole idea might land. The entrepreneurship world is packed with endless unknowns, particularly if it is your first time in that specific industry or sector-it can scare you enough to even hinder you from taking that important first business step.

The goal of employment and recruitment consulting firms is to help match employers who have job openings with qualified employees who are available. Going by different names such as recruitment agencies or staffing agencies, this type of business or industry can be found in big cities and small towns giving support to lots of different industries or organizations.

The objective of this comprehensive guide is to bring to the fore in a transparent manner what and how to start a staffing agency or consulting business entails when you are completely new to the consulting industry and fully in charge of the staffing venture. This is your ultimate guide to creating and starting a recruiting and staffing consulting firm.

To start a staffing company may appear to be a straightforward transaction or business undertaking. You need just a couple of employees, there’s no huge inventory to acquire, and you could even start your staffing consulting business from the convenience! There are, however, plenty of things and steps to be considered before your staffing and consulting business is ready to take staffing orders from clients or even face your first candidate. This article is designed to guide you if you are thinking about how to start a staffing agency online or establishing a brick and mortar recruitment consulting company.

Starting a Staffing consulting Agency – What Do You Need

So, you are determined in terms of starting your own staffing consulting and recruiting agency – excellent business idea. Remember that entrepreneurship in any industry comes with lots of ups and downs, many quite unexpected and the same is true of staffing agencies. Even when you have a great love for what you are intending to do, your consulting business won’t succeed with passion alone. You not only need to be fully committed for the long-haul but also have an in-depth understanding of every possible staffing situation, business downturn, or even points of frustration which you could be transformed into a growth opportunity. And that is what this article intends to equip and guide you with as you enter this potentially lucrative consulting agencies industry.

Let’s first look at the basic staffing and consulting business requirements and areas that you will need to focus on when starting your consulting and recruiting agency in your new industry.

Get your Staffing Business Registered and Licensed

Perhaps you have explored the business plan or ideas on running agencies, or may be actively considering taking the plunge from your modest in-house temp recruiting to starting full consulting. Step one is obviously to get your staffing business registered. Before starting, learn all the relevant local requirements for that appertain to getting the appropriate business licenses, contact your local business bureau or check online. Then proceed to register the name of your staffing recruiting agency at the designated office, file your business articles of incorporation, and pay all fees.

Some of the key staffing business registration requirements for this consulting and recruiting agencies industry before starting include:

• A business name

• A qualified accountant

• Money for fees

• Business Banking account

• Insurance cover

• A place to work

• Website.

You may, in addition, need to obtain extra staffing licensing to place employees legally in select specialized sectors or an industry like health care. Before you start the staffing or recruitment consulting agency, it is prudent to consult your local business bureau or licensing office regarding special staffing licensing information. They can also advise and guide you on ideas, business and industry approach strategies.

Obtain Legal Counsel that Understands How to Open a Staffing Agency

A larger portion of investment when starting recruitment agencies will go into getting suitable legal counsel to ensure proper due diligence on clients and employees. It is important to make sure that the legal counsel you employ understands staffing and the consulting business as well as all the relevant national and provincial legislation dealing with the staffing and recruiting agencies industry. This way, you are sure of them giving good guide tips.

Such legal counsel will assist you in terms of the requisite staffing consulting business documentation before starting operations in this industry. Some these will include:

• Employment Agreements

• Workplace Violence and Harassment Policy

• Termination & Layoff Clauses

• Disciplinary Policy

• Health & Safety Policy

• Client Service Agreements.

Secure Staffing and Recruitment Consulting Business Insurance

Most clients will want to see proof that your staffing agency has in place some insurance in case one of your temp workers cause damage as they work for their company, industry or site. Getting affordable insurance capable of meeting the needs of your clients is imperative. Talk to a reputable insurance company that understands your staffing, recruiting and consulting operations to ensure you remain covered for all manner of possible insurance situations before starting any consulting or recruiting agency or agencies as they can guide you.

Finding Your Staffing Consulting Business Niche

Staffing and recruiting services have traditionally been operating across all employment sectors. However, increasingly staffing consulting services can now be seen operating within a single niche market. The growing number of specializations existing today in the staffing industry is making the staffing industry more complex.

Also, beware of special niches existing within a single staffing or recruiting sector. If for example, you plan to start staffing agency that focuses on clerical and office positions, you will discover that it’s possible to even specialize further. For example, you may decide to only provide midlevel administrative support staffing needs to only select Fortune 500 companies. Other examples worth looking into include recruiting for finance or legal personnel staffing if your location has many accounting or legal firms.

As you plan and look into the above staffing and recruiting business niche possibilities, take some time before starting and consider the following important staffing and recruiting factors as they can guide your choices and strategies in the recruiting industry:

Past Consulting and Recruiting Experience

If you happen to have a background or previous experience in a specific field or sector, this could turn out to be a greatly advantageous. You will not only be able to assess job applicants better in that particular field, but the experience also lends much credibility to your recruitment business. The other great benefit is that you will be feeling more comfortable because you are doing business in an industry that you understand well or have sufficient experience in. You will still need to carry out your staffing market and industry research prior to starting out in this employee recruiting industry. Understand the employees and clients industry well to be successful.

Staffing Demographics and Psychographics

The most common structure when it comes to starting a staffing agencies or recruitment consulting business is to acquire a small office staffed by a handful of employees who do the recruitment of candidates and selling employment services to businesses operating in the local area. The composition of your staffing or recruiting consulting services agency should be determined by the demographic and psychographics of the area you intend to specialize in. In general, staffing agencies should make sure they are adhering to the country’s labor laws.

Competition in the Staffing Consulting Services Industry

The competition level in this industry will by a large degree depends on the location of your business and of course your chosen staffing consulting niche. If for instance, you start your own staffing agency and it is the only one dealing with recruiting nurses for the home care industry in the whole location, you can be sure of monopolizing that staffing aspect right from when you are starting.

Whatever the case, it pays to be prepared and have ready strategies to face all manner of competition, either as you set up or later as you begin recruiting.

Local Staffing Industry Demand and Supply

Staffing and consulting agencies need both clients and temporary employees to survive. Before choosing your niche, ensure you know what types of jobs opportunities are available in your location as well as the supply of potential staffing labor. If for example your town 10 factories, you cannot afford to rule out the potential for industrial placements.

Before you start a staffing company or recruiting services, plan a visit to your location’s chamber of commerce website so that you may get to know more about the top companies and industries in the area.

Economic Feasibility

Occasionally, a staffing consulting market niche that would appear to be the natural option given your background may not be feasible due to the financial implications. For example, you might be a medical professional with experience in clinical services but choose not to set up a medical staffing business because of its rather steep start-up financial demands. In addition, nursing homes, hospitals, and other medical facilities generally tend to pay after 1 to 3 months. In that case, you may decide to try your hand in higher-end clerical recruitment instead.

Different Types of Staffing Consulting Agencies

Having covered a staffing agency or consulting business in its broadest sense, here are the different types to help you plan your recruiting strategies.

• Temporary staffing agencies

• Long-term staffing agencies

• Temp-to-perm staffing agencies

• Contingency Search Firms

• Executive Search Firms.

While it’s important and helpful to understand the existing distinctions among these different types of staffing consulting services, you can now easily start a staffing agency from home that offers all these services combined under one roof.

Starting a Temp Agency from Home

A temporary agency employs individuals who are trained in specific fields to work for other businesses through short-term contracts or assignments. This is a very hands-on type of environment as clients and employees may contact you any hour of the night or day throughout for a variety of reasons. When starting a temp recruiting and staffing consulting agency from your home, it is important that the staffing or consulting business is structured in such as to maintain your home’s privacy while still keeping in contact with your consulting clients.

In terms of choosing whether to rent or lease staffing recruitment office space, what should guide all your strategies is your business budget.

Important steps in setting up staffing/consulting business include:

• Visiting your local zoning office.

• Get insurance coverage and all vital staffing business licenses employees!

• Obtain worker’s compensation and important consulting and business tax details even for employees.

• Acquire a dedicated or private phone line for your staffing agency.

• Plan on purchasing ads in the local radio stations or local paper for promoting your new consulting agency to find new or additional employees or consulting clients.

• Consider accepting online applications from potential employees. This helps in keeping employees and clients away from your private home and offers security.

• Organize meetings with human resources managers and executives; explain the working of your staffing consulting business and the benefits that come with temp employees.

• Keep yourself accessible so that staffing consulting clients and employees can inform you in case of no-show employees or any other staffing or recruiting incidents that need your immediate action.

If you want to run a staff consulting and recruiting firm of medium scale, experts suggest that you will need at least 10 key staff when starting. Of course, there may be times when you may need to go further and engage experts to assist you in recruiting high profile employees.

In all probability, when you are just starting consulting, finances may be limited or your staffing consulting business structure still growing and unable to retain all the recruitment professionals full-time hence why it is important to partner with other recruiting experts operating as freelancers. Locate your staffing consulting office near where potential clients are operating and identify a convenient spot for interviewing temporary workers or future external employees.

Get Latest Applicant Tracking & Payroll Processing Systems

Once your staffing business is rolling, you will need to plan how to begin paying your contract workers employees on a regular basis: weekly, bi-weekly or every month. On top of that, you have to regularly remit both the employer and employee taxes. Options to handle all these technical consulting aspects include either outsourcing a professional business payroll processing provider or hiring an in-house payroll administrator.

It is possible to use Microsoft Office as you are starting out but soon you are going to need some more robust staffing and recruiting tools geared to boosting the efficiency of your staffing agency. Ensure that you research the available tools as well as technical support, functionality, and cost.

Staffing Client Credit Checks

Clients credit checking is perhaps one of the most important components of the entire process of your taking on all your new clients. A credit check on clients informs you how long it takes a particular client to clear invoices on average and whether they could be experiencing financial stress. Don’t unintentionally plan to be part of those waiting to be paid or those that never saw their money after offering consulting or legal services.

Give your Expertise and Consulting Time

There is a very reason why recruiters are referred to as ‘Consultants’. Some of the leading recruiters end up developing lots of industry expertise and knowledge which they openly share that openly with many of their clients. Hiring managers and industry owners need access to experts they can easily contact to seek guidance and discuss the latest trends in salary rates, resources, legal issues on recruiting, consulting, employee availability and so on. Become that person to whom your clients can confidently turn to consulting, and remember to do that for free – you will reap the benefits in the long-run. You will be amazed at the referral this approach can bring to your brand, especially if you are starting a recruitment agency or consulting firm in an area that is untapped.

Develop Relationships

As you prepare on how to start an online staffing agency, remember that when it comes to recruitment, developing personal relationships is everything. Spend time off-net getting to personally know your key clients. When funds allow, take potential clients for lunch as you sell your staffing business ideas to them, call them weekly just to say hello, invite them to a game of golf, share useful information with them even before thy ask. While these business tactics may appear obvious, the art of building relationships is disappearing slowly in many recruitment sectors as it becomes too automated.

Experiment and be Flexible with your Consulting Terms

When starting a temp agency from home, it is important that during the initial period you don’t become too fixated with your business Terms and Costs. Of course, this necessarily doesn’t mean you should go giving discounts everywhere, but it’s good to become creative and try experimenting with different arrangements in attempts at finding what works best for your clients and yourself. Engage clients in discussions on retainers, fixed fee arrangements, exclusivity, etc. You will be pleasantly amazed at the kind of deals or ideas that you can get by offering a more personalized kind of staffing service, each customized to the needs of individual clients.

Steps on How to Start an Employment Agency from Home

Starting a staffing business that cost much money may appear to be an intimidating undertaking, but the key lies in staying organized. By following the simple guidelines described below on how to start a staffing agency from home or in a leased office, you’ll be positioning yourself for success.

1. Gain some experience: Lots of people launch a staffing business with very little or zero experience in this competitive industry. Try and gain some experience or basic knowledge about the industry before you start.

2. Research all governmental requirements: plan for and look into aspects like areas licenses, taxes as well as workers’ compensation.

3. Have a viable cash flow analysis: During the first year of your consulting, put into place a realistic estimation of your cash flow needs. Take into account all staffing business overheads to avoid potential pitfalls towards the close of the year. It is important to determine your staffing business income and expenses, from there calculate the amount of much cash needed to operate your operations on a daily basis.

4. Consult industry and business experts: Free counsel is always available. Talk to others who have also started a staffing firm. Talk to business owners not operating in your geographic area or the chosen recruiting niche to avoid unnecessary competition.

5. Develop a niche: This allows you to stay updated on current staffing consulting trends and needs in the chosen niche and also limits levels of competition.

6. Hit the streets. Use all the contacts you have to bring in employees and clients and if you lack these, hit the streets and knock on doors.

Locating your Staffing Agency

‘Location, Location, Location’ – You may be forgiven for thinking that this is something only found in the real estate business sector. It is, however, equally true when applied to the staffing and recruitment consulting industry. Office location matters a lot, and generally speaking, operating from home is the best idea except when you are grappling with how to start a staffing agency with no money or at low cost. Ideally, you need a professional atmosphere to conduct your consulting business like testing applicants, interviewing and training candidates as well as for holding business meetings with clients.

So when looking for a suitable location for your new staffing consulting firm, make sure it’s located in an area that is easily accessible and visible, probably in the business hub of your city. Your applicant ought to easily locate your staffing office when seeking to submit their CVs, or coming for background checks. Your staffing clients should easily locate you and drive there with no difficulty.

As you work out how to open a staffing agency and scope out possible locations, consider all of the following business-related factors:

• Image: Depending on the clientele you want to serve, location can be very important. For instance, for the legal consulting profession, image is everything and you may want to locate your staffing office in an upscale area. You also want to project the image of professionalism in tour staffing consulting business.

• Proximity to client: Often choosing your business office location on the basis of the clientele you wish to attract pays. If you want to serve McDonald’s, placing your office close by may be a good idea!

• Accessibility: Your consulting business location must be easily accessible to your potential staffing employees and clients. It makes no sense locating your business where those who want plan to reach your office must hire a taxi cab.

• Economic Feasibility: Your staffing office location must make economic sense. Go for a location that contributes to minimizing business overhead.

• Possibility for expansion: Always consider and hope that your consulting business and brand will grow. Therefore choose a location that has room for potential expansion as moving is expensive. To plan ahead is to be successful

• Lease flexibility: When starting small, it’s an excellent idea to consider taking up temporary space for an initial couple of months. If you feel the decision to start a staffing business is not your idea, then you won’t find yourself locked into a binding long lease.

Starting a Staffing Agency – Promotion Strategies

Marketing is vital for any business, especially a new consulting startup. Here are several advertising strategies that you can adopt or modify to suit your specific promotion goals and the cost you are ready to incur:

• Brochures – This is a recognized staffing brand advertising vehicle.

• Direct mailing – Choose your list in such a way that it focuses on those organizations and companies whose industry sector and size make them potential staffing clients.

• The Internet – Well-crafted electronic business ads place on select bulletin boards are an effective method, especially when they are industry-specific.

• Newspapers. This traditional tool is useful for select staffing industry sectors.

• Specialty publications. Helpful when you’re staffing consulting agency is targeting specific types of organizations or brands.

• Telephone – Your consulting and staffing business can use this to get in touch with existing clients to alert them about available applicants. An effective business tool of generating additional business.

• Select Business &Trade Journals/Publications – Effective for targeting professional clients and technical sectors.

• Word-of-mouth – Perhaps the best method of brand advertising, most credible and certainly one of the least expensive.

• Yellow Pages – Ads placed on Yellow Pages are effective when you want to recruit employees though not very good for attracting clients.

Financing a Recruitment Agency Business

The most important and greatest expense for a recruitment consulting agency goes to employee payroll. Employees have to be paid on time and regularly otherwise they may seek employment elsewhere. Your staffing agency business will, in addition, need to have funds that are sufficient to pay for relevant employment taxes as well as other employee associated expenses. Tax compliance is another issue that a staffing business has to deal with and to fail can cost you much money and could even put you out of work besides having to pay penalties.

Starting Recruiting Agencies – Financing Options

When starting a recruitment agency, much needs to be done and you cannot afford to relax. To get suitable financing will require perseverance, diligence, and great wisdom in identifying the best financing option for your new staffing business. Today, however, securing business credit can be easier than many would assume.

Assuming you have now fully registered your staffing business, obtained licenses, have ready employees, and secured all applicable insurance certificates, you are now ready to roll. However, before you proceed to apply for all available business loans, sit down and carefully go through your business plan. Take a detailed look at the projected business operating costs over the initial 6 to 12 months including how long you are expecting to be operating before you begin turning a profit.

Here are some of the options on how to start a staffing company when it comes sourcing for business financing.

Small Business Loan

If you are considering how to start a temp agency with no money or limited saved funds, the Small Business Administration is implementing strategies designed to make loans available for wider range of small businesses. However, similar to any standard loan, the process of small business loan underwriting can take anything from a couple of weeks to several months. It might also entail pledging collateral – something that might not be possible for a new staffing agency. While some of the application and approval criteria have recently been relaxed, it remains it is incredibly difficult for new businesses or those with less than perfect credit rating to qualify for this type of loan.

The main drawback associated with small business loan is that even if you qualify you are not guaranteed that what will get approved is the amount you need to comfortably operate your staffing business. In addition, there is no way of ensuring that interest rate is going to be low enough as to justify the debt appearing on your new business balance sheet.

Unsecured Business Loan

Also referred to as a business cash advance, an unsecured business loan is basically a short-term financing option that gives you the financial cushion you need to get the staffing agency started. Unsecured business loans don’t demand any form of collateral, although they require business bank statements of at least 3 months. While this may not be the best option for new business, if your recruitment agency can supply those needed bank statements, they offer a reasonable financing option.

Private/Angel Investor

Private investment may typically assume several forms such as stock options or a friend or family member contribution. It is always tricky business navigating money contributions coming from a family member or friend, particularly when you consider the risk of your business not succeeding and them losing their contribution. This avenue of financing should be approached with care and very candid communication.

Another mode of private business investment that gaining popularity is financing from an ‘angel investor’. This is a person who gets sufficiently motivated by the business concept and plans you have and is ready to contribute some hard cash into the business.

In their own standing, angel investors are tricky enough, though also advantageous. Usually, there is no pre-existing connection with them on a personal level, which a useful angel when it comes to negotiating agreements and contracts. Typically, these categories of investors also have access to more funds compared to your typical relative or friend. However, the trick comes in terms of convincing an unknown angel investor to trust you and take their chances with their money on your business. This certainly calls for a well-drafted business plan along with convincing financial projections that guarantee near-future success.

Consulting Business Growth Impossible Without Funds

Once you start a recruitment agency, one of the biggest challenges you are likely to face is ensuring that your employees get paid on time and accurately. The consequences for your brand and business are sadly understandable if this fails to happen. As a new startup, what you need the least is to constantly worry about having to pay your employees (and other overheads). You need financial freedom so that you can concentrate on building other aspects of the new business.

The majority of government and commercial clients generally clear their invoices after a month or even 60 days. For most agencies, this time frame could pose a serious business and financial challenge. Remember you need to pay your corporate business overheads during that period before the invoices are cleared by your respective clients.

The only way your business will grow is if you got adequate money sources or reserves capable of meeting all your corporate expenses. It goes without saying that when you have larger contracts you are going to need a reserve that is larger. Without a reserve, you certainly will not be in a position to take up any new contracts. When you cannot take on board new contracts, your growth will be stifled.

Include in your overall financial plan and budget extra start-up cash that you will utilize in paying your external employees. Most likely, you will have to arrange how to pay your employees before you get paid by the clients. In your business financial forecast, establish your payment plan overall pricing, including details such as hourly pay rates in case you have engaged external employees, the markup percentages to be charged to clients as well as your gross margin target percentages.

Starting a staffing agency from home – Possible Threats and Challenges

To start a temp staffing agency requires hard work but is well worth your effort and time if you love the recruitment industry. Among the major challenges likely to be faced when setting up a new staffing business is the possibility of competing with well – established consulting firms offering similar staffing services like yours. The only route to avoid or overcome this type of business challenge is by creating your own niche market; focus on providing services to start – ups who may not be in a position of affording the high-end fees being charged by the big and established forms.

The majority of start-up temp staffing agencies don’t even realize they have to pay their temp workers out of pocket as they wait for the clients to honor the invoices, something that can take even 60 days. Securing the adequate payroll financing is possibly your biggest single challenge towards securing your staffing business startup success. A healthy cash flow is critical for business survival.

Be Aware of All Relevant Laws

When looking into how to start a temp agency from home options, it is up to you to ensure your staffing company follows both national and local labor laws. While knowing the national laws on employment is important, some may become more complicated when you apply them specifically to the staffing and recruitment industry.

Some business and labor laws related to recruiting labor you may need to get familiar with include:

• Official Wage and Hour Rates

• Non-Discrimination Guidelines

• State/Provincial Law on Workers’ Compensation and Unemployment Insurance

• Locality-Specific Labor Laws

• Business Taxation.

Final Thoughts

Whether you are looking into how to start an online staffing agency or an office-based business, this is a potentially very viable business option for those who love the task of matching personnel to appropriate companies and jobs. Through opening a recruiting agency, you are helping those seeking employment to get temporary or permanent work in your area or elsewhere. You are also helping businesses to get the right candidates suitable for job openings they have.

It’s important, however, to realize the degree of responsibility you are taking on towards businesses and employees you are recruiting when you start your own staffing agency. You must put in place appropriate staffing business measures to not only streamline the entire hiring process but also ensure that everybody is happy with the service being offered by your recruitment business. A happy client is the surest route to a good Return-On-Investment on your staffing consulting business.

With the right tools, information and a good plan, there is absolutely no reason why your small staffing consulting and recruiting business can grow, thrive, be successful, and compete with other well-established players in the industry. A good plan is all you require for a successful consulting recruitment company that will be the envy of many in the recruiting agencies industry.

Party Planning Business – How to Start?

If you are asking yourself what is in it for me there are many things to consider about starting a party planning business. Are you the one people always come to when they want a party planned? Do you always have ideas about parties, and think about how much better a party that you attend could be if you had planned it? If you have had any of these things happen to you, maybe a career in party planning could be right up your alley.

The first place you should start in the party planning business is finding the niche that is right for you. If you are always being called upon to supply food, then maybe you should look into a catering business of some kind. Start with things that you are good at, like making appetizers, or main dishes. While this field can be quite demanding, it pays really well, and there are many people and businesses that can use a good caterer.

While you don’t really have to have any real formal training for the party planning business, you should at least have a high school diploma, and it is a good idea to take some courses. There are many duties that a party planner has to cover. You have to be able to talk well on the phone, deal patiently with customers, even if they are rude and obnoxious to you. You have to be able to book space for the party, get caterers, and an assortment of other things. You have to be able to be really detailed, and look ahead to unforeseen circumstances, like if the caterer backs out at the last minute, or the entertainment you booked doesn’t show up.

You don’t have to actually start a party planning business yourself, there are many different venues to choose from. You could work for a hotel or restaurant, or some other company. You can also start small, planning parties for friends and family, to see if this is really the right choice for you. This also gets you some real hands on experience, and is something you can add to your resume when seeking bigger planning jobs.

So if you feel that a career in the party planning business is right for you, then there are many resources to help you. You can go to websites like Party 411; they have an abundance of tips and information that are free. If you look up EzineArticles, they have an abundance of topics about all aspects of party planning, from tips on foods to serve, to step-by-step instructions on what you need to do to start your own business. If you do decide this is a right step for you, and you are really considering starting your own business, then you should go to your local city building and get a business license.

One of the reasons for doing this is that with a party planning business license, you can get a wholesale tax identification number. This way any supplies that you need to buy are at wholesale prices, and there are no taxes on what you buy. A business license also protects you, and businesses who need party planners hire more people with a license than those who don’t.

Raising Start Up Capital For Your Small Business

You have your business idea, your business plan in tow, your ducks in a row, and you’re ready to get your business off the ground except for one problem – you have no start up capital. Unless you were born into wealth and have it at your disposal, then you are like most small businesses and need a helping hand.

How can you raise start up capital? There are a few ways to go about it:

Small Business Bank Loans

Many financial institutions provide some type of small business loan program. In order to get funding from a bank for your small business, you will need a solid business plan. You’ll have to prove that your business will generate enough cash to make the loan payments. Each bank’s requirements are different but if you are able to articulate how you will succeed, have decent credit, and possibly a co-signer, you may be able to secure a small business bank loan.

SBA (Small Business Administration)

The SBA is a great resource that provides information on requirements, credit factors, how to apply for loans, etc. The web site is a good starting point before attempting to apply at a bank. The better prepared you are, the easier it will be when you begin the application process.

Family & Friends

A lot of small businesses raise start up capital this way. Family and friends usually want you to succeed and believe in your business. It is wise to treat these relationships as real business relationships. Plan how you will repay their loans, the time frame, and at what interest rate.

Angel Investors & Venture Capital Firms

Private angel investors and venture capital firms work primarily in the same way. They invest in the equity of your business and expect a return in the form of an acquisition, IPO, or stock buy back in the future.

The key to any of the above methods is to have a well written business plan. A good business plan will prove that you are serious about your business and that you can demonstrate the way you plan on making it successful.

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