Author: Nibletz Staff

In business, there are a few areas that matter more than most. Think of them as your bones, or your bread and butter, if you will. When you’re creating a business, not only are you going to want to ensure that you can make money, but you’re also going to want to make sure that you can sell your product and service, and market your business too. Across each of these areas, there is one area of business that joins everything up, often, it can even make or break your business, and that would be your brand.

Branding is big. Not only does a color, a sound, a sentence, or an image have the power to bring your business to mind, but it can also facilitate the success of a company or even the failure. Whether you choose to work with Branding Agencies or give it a go yourself, it’s crucial that your business has a brand. When it comes to working on that brand yourself or creating one from scratch, here’s how to do it.

Think About Who You Are As A Person

Now, if you’re new to branding, or if you’ve got some experience but your current brand isn’t doing all that well, you’re going to want to start at the very beginning. In short, branding is all about personality and image. It allows a business or a company to be thought of as a person. One way that you can work on building up a brand is to break down yours. Think of your personal traits – what are they? When you can identify what makes you-you, you can get to know your brand. Then, you’ll start to understand exactly how branding works.

What Does Your Business Do

Now that you’ve dissected your own brand, it’s time to do the same with your company. If you’re going to create a killer brand, you need to work on getting to know it better. Understanding your business can be a lot harder than you think. Often, you can have an image in mind of what you want it to be, rather than how it is seen by the outside world. So, it’s time to break down exactly what it is your business does.

Do You Have An Image?

Breaking down your business can be a great first step. Not only will you uncover issues that you may not have known about, but you will also start to see your business as others see it. When you get to this stage, you can see exactly what image your business has. If you’ve yet to get started, you won’t have one, but if you’ve been operating for some time, your image could be positive, negative, or even irrelevant.

How Do You Want To Be Seen

Despite your current image, you need to figure out exactly what you want it to be. Sometimes, you’ll find that your brand image needs a complete makeover. And that’s okay, that’s what relaunches are for. The important part is that you can see where you are now and where you should be. At this point, you have to work out what your business should be saying so that you can figure out how to get there.

Research

With an idea in mind of what you want your image to be, you can then start to conduct research. It is tempted just to start with the idea that you have, but without research, it could be weak. When you consider the market and look at what your competitors are doing, you can spot new opportunities or work on improving things that they have gotten wrong in the past. It can often be the pivot that turns your brand from something that’s okay, to something that shines.

Understand Your Message

Next, you’re going to work on your messaging. Whether you realize it, every time your company communicates, you’re sending a message to your customers. From heading to Twitter and Facebook, to sending out emails or even speaking to your customers on the telephone, every single word says something about who you are as a company. So, it’s important that you work on getting your messaging right.

Draw Up A Design

With your ducks in line, you now want to work on pulling everything together. Regardless of the company design you’ve had before, you need to use your desires and research to come up with something that works. Imagery is everything here, so it’s important that you portray the image that you want customers to see, not just something that you think looks nice. Focus on your basics here. Are you luxury or budget? Make sure your design follow suit.

Pick A Color

Alongside design, you’re also going to want to make sure that you’re using a color palette that sends the right message too. Colors are powerful. They can signify different things to different people, but most of the time, they all have the same meaning. So, if you want to give off an image that is ‘fresh’ or maybe even ‘elegant,’ you need to pick a color scheme that works.

Stay Unified

Then, as your brand image is being built and customers start to recognize you, you need to make sure that you stick with a unified front. When you have a set design on your website, you need to make sure that it matches your store (if you have one), or things like vehicles, business cards, uniforms and even your social media presence. When you integrate your brand, customers can recognize you, regardless of the avenue they take to find you.

Be Transparent

And finally, as you start to build up your brand more and more, you’re going to want to ensure that it has integrity. A brand can only have a good or positive image if it stays loyal to its customers, it’s honest, and it’s true. One way to do that is to be transparent. That way, you can connect with your clients and work on building relationships that last, rather than selling yourself out and falling at the first hurdle.

Being in charge of any company requires a lot of focus on the finer details in order for the larger details to soar. Regardless of whatever company that you are in charge of, it is always a large task. When it comes to running a manufacturing firm, it is amazing that the focus is very rarely on the staff themselves. It is almost taken for granted that the human aspect will be there to punch in and punch out, but with factory workforces comes shifts, long hours with very little daylight, and low morale. When it comes to leading the factory operation, here are some things that you should take on board.

The little things mean a lot. In a factory setting, paying attention to the smaller details can be overlooked. When manufacturing products on a large scale, making the assumption that the product is correct every single time is not the right assumption. Make sure that you have a follow-up system in place. It is a fact of life that human error is a very common issue, and while we need to reduce these errors, we need to find the right methods in which to do it without reducing morale. One way to do it would be to implement discipline or reliability within a team, much like a military effort where reliability on each other and dependency is promoted as the number one working method, so there is no weak link in the chain, and staff are aware of their individual responsibilities as part of a larger system, especially when you are working in an environment which can compromise safety. For example, if you are working with chemicals.

Reinforcing team spirit is another tool which is seldom communicated. The General Motors credo of “Common, Common, Common” comes to mind. In other words, everyone understanding the same goal, regardless of where you are on the ladder. This is a great way to promote unity and solidarity. Using the right tools to continuously improve the manufacturing process, whether it is technology or employing staff morale techniques, understanding that everybody has the same goal is a good approach for a company regardless of its size and stature.

Understanding your space is an all encompassing term. You could take it to mean your physical factory space, or you could take it to be where you fit in the market. Either way, both approaches are required to make sure that you work as productive as possible. So when it comes to the physical space, are you making sure that you use it as well as you possibly can? The factory line process is a very linear process, are you using that space effectively? And when it comes to your place in the market, understanding where you fit applies especially if you are a start-up company, as you need to make sure that your overheads are not excessive and that you are able to corner a part of the market for you to be successful.

The final piece of the puzzle is keeping your staff happy. Ultimately happier workers are more productive workers, so by integrating some different techniques to increase workplace morale, this will have a benefit on them individually as well as your overall productivity.

You might think that your startup is fantastic and able to achieve anything you want it to. But the reality is probably not quite like that. No startup is an island, and going it alone without using external assistance can be a big mistake. You don’t want to risk the future of your business just because you were too stubborn. So, here’s why you need help and how you should go about getting it.

You Can’t be an Expert at Everything

You might be good at what you do, but you can’t possibly be good at every single thing that There are people out there who are experts and what they do, and that’s when outsourcing can be really helpful for you. It will allow you to take advantage of the skills and abilities of other people. Rather than doing things poorly by yourself, it makes sense to allow other people to do them well. In the end, it’s your company that will benefit from this, so it has to be a good thing. For example, Mustard IT, experts in IT support, can help you to do the things that you probably can’t.

Time is Precious When Running a Company

If you try to take everything on by yourself when you’re running a business, you will undoubtedly become pressed for time. Time is already tight when you run a  company, so why make it even more difficult for yourself? If you use the best external companies and outsource in the right way, you should be able to make sure that you don’t run out of hours in the day. Overworking yourself will take its toll eventually, so it would be a mistake to operate in this way. Eventually, you’ll crash and the business will suffer as a result of this.

Check the Company’s Reputation

When you do decide to start outsourcing some of the tasks that your business needs to take care of, you should always have a look at the reputation of the business first. This is key because you don’t want to outsource to companies that you can’t really trust. It’s understandable that some business owners are nervous about using external companies that they have no control over. It is certainly a risk, but by doing your research and informing yourself, you should be able to make choices that work out well for you.

Don’t Settle for Poor Support When You Outsource

Even if you do your research and find companies you think you can trust, there are still things that can go wrong. Don’t let this put you off, though. Remember, you are the customer when you outsource to another company. If you are not happy with the service you are getting, you can complain and fight for a better service. Or you can take your custom elsewhere and find a preferable alternative. You shouldn’t settle for poor support or poor results when you outsource to another company; that’s simply not how it should be, so don’t stand for it.

These days, nothing captures an audience’s attention quite like the magic of moving image. Before the internet really advanced, people were quite happy to sit through a couple of pages of text if that meant that they got the answer they were looking for. But fast forward to 2017 and most of the general public now require almost instant gratification. Advances in technology now mean that we can access pretty much any information we want in an instant – and things only look set to speed up even more. The attention span of the average consumer is not what it used to be. In fact, a pretty eye-opening study from the Microsoft Corp highlighted that now, humans have a lower attention span than a goldfish – around eight seconds, to be precise. This is considered to be a direct result of living in a digital age, where no one really looks beyond the first page of any Google search. Whether you think this is progression or regression is irrelevant – businesses are getting on board with this new phenomenon, many of them profiting from it as a result. Take a look at some of the most successful, modern companies out there. Many of them are choosing to stay away from long passages of text in favor of explaining their message with video instead. This tends to grab people’s attention easily and effectively – plus, nearly everyone has a smartphone, so video can be consumed pretty much all over the world. If you are the owner of a startup, getting your teeth into some video is one of the best ways to ensure you achieve early interest and therefore success. Take a look at these ways you can use video as a must-have tool in your business.

Business introduction/call to action

If you have started your business from scratch, nurtured it and watched it grow over the years, you’re probably going to feel pretty passionate about it. If you sit down to write a short history of your company, you might find yourself getting carried away with all the trials and tribulations you faced to get where you are today. 1000 words later, and you have the ‘About’ page for your website…right? Wrong! It might make a great story, but your customer doesn’t need to know your backstory in any great detail. Sure, it makes sense to give a bit of context. Plus, many people are keen to support local, grassroots types of businesses rather than major international corporations. But you don’t want to overload a prospective client with irrelevant information – they just need to know who you are, what you do and why you are right for them. Using the medium of video to do this with can be a great way to grab your customer’s attention in just a few easy minutes. Unless you are in a very formal line of business, be wary of making it look too corporate and serious. This can be intimidating for a lot of people and may even put them off contacting you. Show you normal working environment, as well as evidence of your business working positively with a client. Most importantly, don’t forget to show off the outcome and include a call to action. If you have an in-house marketing team, creating a video like this may well be within their realm of expertise. If not, you may need to hire a professional videographer to help you bring your vision to life.

Live video

You may have noticed the recent trend for live video that has been taking social media by storm. Going live can be done for a number of reasons by a number of different people. Maybe it is used to live stream a concert, or perhaps someone is going live to document something that is happening to them at the time. But in business terms, it can also be a useful tool. The beauty of social media is that it has given businesses the opportunity to interact with their audiences in real time. This, in turn, makes your customers feel more connected to what you are doing and aspects like the comments system also give them a chance to interact in a more direct form. It is also a great way to subtly market your brand. Obviously, try not to promote your brand too much when you go live. Anyone who is watching clearly already has some kind of interest in what you do, so you don’t need to overwhelm them with your message. Doing so can feel a little pushy and is likely to make people switch off. Instead, use live video to document anything interesting happening – whether this is a staff activity day (seeing behind the scenes can make a business seem much more accessible) or a conference you are attending. However, you need to make sure that the quality of video you are streaming is of an acceptable level. We all know that live video can go wrong sometimes – just look at the amount of news bloopers you see, even on some of the most major channels. But even live streaming for your business needs to have some modicum of professionalism about them, otherwise viewers won’t give you the time of day. Making use of a professional service like a live streaming sdk can help to ensure that your live video always looks good, thus keeping your clients interested.

Staff training

When you first started your business, it may have been a one man or one woman show. A lot of startups start in their future CEO’s bedroom – minimal overheads, of course – and you have to be responsible for every business aspect. That means doing all your own marketing, logistics, book keeping, and management. But as your business grows, there comes a time where this simply isn’t sustainable anymore. Taking on staff can be daunting, of course. Letting anyone else have a say in the business you have worked so hard to get off the ground isn’t a walk in the park for even the most relaxed of CEOs. But once you have started to build a small and loyal team, you will probably wonder how on earth you managed without them. The first step is finding the right kind of people for your business. Personality is just as important as career-skills; you need to find people who share your vision and who will bring vigor and life to your company. A recruitment video, rather than just a job advert, is a great way to capture people’s imaginations and stir some interest in great potential applicants. Once you have done all your interviews and you have a team that you feel confident with, you will need to embark on the training process. Usually, this would involve some kind of welcome pack and a manual. It’s still fine to hand these out – after all, your employees are unlikely to remember everything you tell them in one go. But a more engaging way to train them is by creating and showing them videos. Even if you have the utmost of faith in your employees, you can guarantee that some of them are going to zone out in a training meeting, or maybe not take it all that seriously. By providing a selection of training videos covering all bases, you can rest assured that they will be more likely to actually take in the things you need them to. Video as a whole is one of the best components a modern business can have. So if you’re not doing it already, make it your priority now

Given that every business out there makes a lot of use of technology, it’s surprising to realize that many small and medium-sized companies are still ill-prepared for the worst to happen. However, it’s also easy to see why. We are used to using technology, but until the proverbial hits the fan, most people have no idea of quite how serious an IT disaster can be.

Of course, there is no single method of preventing IT disasters – nor are there any guarantees. But you can reduce the risk to your business by a significant amount with a little investment and think about your critical business systems. Let’s take a closer look at some of your options.

Understand the potential for damage

Start by running through the worst-case scenarios for your business. It could be a serious hacking incident. Or, a natural disaster or fire that destroys a server. It might even be a simple case of a piece of hardware or software failing. In short, imagine having to take every piece of technology out of the equation, one by one, and ask yourself how your business will survive without it. Once you start to learn about the dangers and how long you could be unable to provide a service to your customers,  there is zero chance you will take your IT systems for granted again.

Develop a plan

Now you know the damage you could face, it’s a good time for some disaster continuity and recovery planning. It’s an enormous subject which deserves a closer look, but in essence, there are a few things that all plans should contain. You should have an inventory of all your IT suites, hardware, and software – including any laptops, tablets or smartphones. You should also establish planning to find offsite backups. Include details of key members of staff and assign duties to them in the event of an emergency. Who is going to be on-call? How many team members will you need to keep the business running? Finally, don’t forget, your recovery and continuity plan should never be set in stone – it will need regular checking, adjustments, and ongoing work if you want it to stay relevant for your business.

Invest in the right solutions

Once you know where your strengths and weaknesses lie, it’s time to invest in the right solutions for your business. You will need to fill in any gaps that you have uncovered, and you might want to think about making some suitable upgrades, too. Take your time when making your choices – you might benefit from hiring an IT consultant, who will have a broader view and advice for your business. Research is critical, whichever route you take – and be wary of taking what you read on the Internet as Bible. Always look for a variety of opinions. Let’s say you are looking for a new backup service. You might start to check out this review of Crashplan from cloudstorageboss.com, for example, but you should also look at other online reviews to give yourself a better overview of product suitability

Communications

Let’s not beat around the bush – communications with employees, customers, and suppliers will be critical if you want to survive an IT catastrophe. Let’s start with your employees. Every employee will be looking to you and the leadership team for guidance and encouragement. Don’t forget that an IT disaster can have a great impact on their lives, too, and there will be plenty of worries and concerns you will have to allay. Customers are another clear focus for your communications, who will be expecting to hear from you, receive services, or accept delivery of products. Without your IT systems in place, all of these activities will be difficult, so ensure you have a customer communications plan in place. Finally, take some time to talk to your suppliers, and involve them in a disaster recovery or continuity plan. Understand what they will expect – for example, you might not be able to cancel orders within a specified timeframe.  

Testing, testing, testing

Finally, you have to test all of your systems for robustness, and your team’s ability to manage in a crisis. Bear in mind that your test results will not just be a case of success or failure, it’s an ongoing process to refine and transfer knowledge between your teams – a learning experience if you will. Waiting for a disaster to occur will be a disaster in itself. Testing will help you identify any gaps or weaknesses in your recovery and continuity system – so never assume you have perfect protection.

Many startup owners have a huge problem where their business gets stuck in a rut. Try as they might, they can’t figure out how to get the ball rolling again. Well, did you know that doing some training can be the secret to running your business more effectively? It’s true, there’s lots of training you can do that will benefit both you and your business. Take a look at the ideas below:

Digital Marketing Training

Marketing is an essential part of every business and will help you advertise and promote your company to your target market. If you can train yourself to learn about marketing techniques and how to use them, then you’ll be doing yourself a favor. Instead of undergoing general marketing training, you should narrow it down to digital marketing. This is the current and future of business marketing, and the skills you learn will be very useful. With some training, you will soon understand how to promote your website and increase traffic to it. You can market your company via social media and learn the importance of SEO. All of this comes together to help you market your business all by yourself without having to rely on other people to help you out. The best thing is, it’s something you can teach yourself as you work and get better and better at it.  

Financial Analyst Training

If you undergo financial analyst training, you can streamline your business and run it so effectively. A financial analyst can help a business with regards to how their money should be invested. A good financial analyst can turn the profits from a business into even more money that helps the company move forwards. If you train to be a financial analyst, you can do this for your company. You can analyze financial situations and conditions to figure out the best way to invest your profits and make more money. You can do training and go on a Chartered Financial Analyst program to hone your skills and become even better. It’s great because you can do CFA exam prep in your spare time while you run your business. It may take a while before the training is complete, but the skills you’ll learn are well worth the time and effort.

Leadership Training

Employees are a huge factor in deciding the fate of a business. The key is making sure your employees are all working hard and committed to your company. How can you do this? By being a great leader and inspiring them every day. The best leaders will lead by example and always keep their employees best interests in mind. Often, if your employees are unproductive, it could be down to your poor leadership skills. So, if you get some leadership training, you will become much better at your job. You’ll be more inspiring and can get your staff to work harder and be more committed. Consequently, workplace productivity will go through the roof.

All of these ideas are great as they help you evolve as a business owner and bring more to your company. Plus, you can learn new things that mean you won’t rely on others and can save money by not hiring people to take care of things.

If you’ve been doing your research on what makes a business successful, you will come across all kinds of tips that tell you to spend money here, there, and everywhere. Money unlocks many doors, but you have a finite amount of it. So, let’s cut through all the budgeting stress and address how to prioritize your budget. We’re going to use a few examples, but it’s the reasoning we use that is going to help you decide when to and when not to spend that oh-so-valuable cash.

DO: Market Understanding

Every business is going to have one relationship, in particular, that is going to dominate most decisions that they make. We’re talking about the relationship to the market. Not just the customers out there, but the position of the business in relation to competitors. There’s no doubt that you can do a lot of free fact-finding, like launching questionnaires and looking at opponent marketing. But it’s worth spending a bit of money on market research at the start so you can have access to things like paid survey services that can get you answers a lot quicker. The entire future of the business depends on how well you understand the market, so you shouldn’t feel guilty about spending a little money on it.

DO: Precise production

If you are creating goods to sell to the market, then by no means should you skimp on any part of the production process. You might think that you’re saving money, to begin with. However, in industries like medical machining, opting for lower quality equipment results in products that simply cannot be used by the market. It means much larger long-term costs due to problems like manufacturing downtime, faulty goods, and the cost of additional maintenance and equipment repairs and replacements. Manufacturing isn’t cheap, we understand this. But it shouldn’t be. At the end of the day, delivering a quality product is what’s going to keep the business sustainable, not scrimping every penny you can from the production line.

DO: Employee development

Any business that doesn’t try to develop its employees is going to find itself having an increasingly harder time keeping them. Failing to retain an employee means having to replace them. This means losing production while they’re not there. It also means having to pay for the recruitment process and any training that needs to be done on the new hire. Per employee, this can cost upwards of $40k. Immediately, it becomes clear that investing in a bit of development and reducing their margins of error. is cheaper. It’s also better for the future of the company. A more versatile skill set means you might not have to expand the number of employees to expand the variety of processes that the business is able to take on.

SOME: Marketing

Marketing your business is essential. You need a brand image and some sort of relationship to your consumer base. That does not, however, that you have to constantly spend to do it. It’s a good idea to spend a little on honing your visual brand and creating a truly professional website. However, you don’t have to pay for people to do search engine optimization, content production, and social media marketing for you. It’s all too easy to take that all on yourself. It simply requires a bit of learning that is very available and very free with the amount of helpful content on the internet. If you want to invest in marketing, make sure you’re investing in methods you can’t do yourself. For instance, paying for video production or influencer marketing on someone else’s blog.

NO: Lots of software

The exact same logic applies to the software that your business uses. There’s no doubt that there are going to be some processes for which you would much rather rely on paid software. CAD software if you’re in the business of producing goods or you work in architecture, for instance. However, for a lot of administrative and organizational tasks, it’s a lot easier to simply hunt down the free ones that exist. Sometimes they might not update as often and they might not have the sleek user interface. But they take the same amount of work to get the same results. There’s even free automating software which means that free software might not only save you money but help you make it by making the business more productive.

NO: Your dream office

Having a workplace that fits all the needs of those working inside it and your responsibilities is very important. Investing in ergonomic chairs, effective HVAC, and proper lighting for desks is a good idea. Going above and beyond by investing in the very best office art and most stylish furniture? That is by no means a vital need of the business. When it comes to the workplace, focus on function first and foremost. Only look at the form if you get a sudden windfall and you feel like sprucing the place up a bit. In fact, we would recommend spending less on office space by using remote working agreements as often as you can, too.

NO: Lots of materials

When you’re creating goods and products, you might think that you’re being smart by going for bulk orders. There’s no doubt that you might get quite the discount at first. But have you considered how good the deal will be when you’re still holding onto some of those resources in the far future? You might be costing yourself space that could very well go to other resources that you need. You will also be increasing the cost of inventory. Most goods need some kind of air quality control to stay in shape, after all. Whether you’re dehumidifying, heating or cooling, that’s adding to your long-term bill. Order materials based on demand and nothing else.

The logic above will help you make the right decision no matter what potential expenses float your way in the future. Most importantly, make sure you’re not spending a fortune when you could get the same result from just doing a little work instead.

As a business owner, it’s important that your company always looks stylish and feels professional. Companies that look a mess are unlikely to get the support from customers or clients and will instead be met with snap assumptions. If your business looks untidy customers might assume that you don’t care about the little details. Some of which might be important when ensuring that they get a quality service from your company. Then there’s the trouble with what it says about your work ethic. If your business building is poorly maintained, does that mean that you cut corners? Or, does it simply mean that appearances don’t matter all to your business. You’d be surprised how quickly ideas like this will spread about a company. So what can you do to ensure that your business always looks like the best and brightest on the market?

Cleanup On Aisle Two

You should make sure that you have a full team of staff dedicated to guaranteeing that your business always looks clean and tidy. This is particularly important for parts of your company that will be seen by the customers like the shop floor. There shouldn’t be any dust, mess or rubbish around. You might also want to keep your office tidy too, particularly if you welcome clients back there or even business partners. Don’t forget, they will make snap judgements about your company based on the way it looks. Luckily, there are plenty of office cleaning services offered by companies online for you to choose from. There’s actually no reason to leave your business property looking like a disaster site with these options available.

Style And Appeal

How does your business look to people on the outside of your company? Does your office seem like a place where next level innovative products are created? Curb appeal is an important aspect to consider when thinking about your business design. You need to make sure that the exterior of your business represents the ideas that you are trying to convey. It should look contemporary with an excellent stylish design that stands out on the high street. Do this and you’ll see plenty of clients and customers flocking through your doors.

Little Details

Weirdly, it’s the little details about the look of your business that customers will notice the most. Are the uniforms of your employees freshly cleaned and properly ironed? Do they have name badges to show customers who they are and allow them to interact on a first name basis? It all helps shape the feeling of your company and your employees are just one example to think about. There are many more that will determine who will be interested in buying from you.

Online Appearance

Lastly, it’s important not just to think about the appearance of your business in the real world. You also need to think about how it looks to people finding it online. The key here is great content. If your release fantastic content related to your company you are always going to attract the interest of consumers.

If you’re looking at complicated aspects of business, then the financial side will be right up there. There are loads of important things that revolve around your business finances. This article will serve as a place where you can gain information on how to manage everything. I’ll talk through the different financial aspects that you need to be aware of, as well as the best ways to manage them and keep your business afloat.

Startup Funds

The first financial hurdle you will face comes in the form of your startup funds. It’s imperative that you find a source for your funds and have enough to finances your startup. The money you get will be used to bring your business idea to life. This includes paying for essential things that will help launch your startup. More often than not, people need funding to pay for an office, supplies, or to hire employees/outsource services. If you don’t have business funding, then you’re going to struggle to get your company off the ground.

There are two important things for you to consider here, firstly, where will the funding come from? Find out where you will get the money from, as it will be a big factor. Secondly, you must ensure you manage the funding effectively. Create a budget to help you figure out how much money you should spend on certain things. This ensures you get the most out of your startup funding and can make it last and be more effective. Consequently, you won’t run out of money and will be able to start your business properly.

Tax Returns

As a business owner, you’re responsible for ensuring your company files tax returns and pays corporation tax. This is an essential financial aspect of your business, as it can result in many problems when done incorrectly. Fail to pay tax, and you could incur large fines that take a huge chunk out of your budget. Similarly, missing the tax payment date can also result in your company being fined. As a worst case scenario, your business could get shut down because of tax evasion or failure to pay as much tax as you should.

So, you can see how tax returns are very important, and it’s crucial they’re filed correctly and sent off on time. The biggest issue businesses have is they don’t know how to file a tax return or figure out how much money they have to pay. Luckily, as you can see here https://thesmartaccountants.co.uk, there are companies that provide corporation tax services for businesses. By allowing a company to help you out, you can be assured of paying the tax you need to pay, on time. Not only will this help you stay on top of your finances, but it will also give you one less complicated thing to worry about. While you carry on with your normal work, your taxes are being sorted out behind the scenes and not causing any disruption.

Employee Payment

Most businesses will have a team of employees that you rely on to complete various tasks. It’s vital that you pay your employees, and ensure they get paid on time, regularly. Of course, the way in which you pay them may differ depending on how you run your business. Generally speaking, companies that hire full-time staff will put their employees on a contract. This means they get paid a set amount each year, which gets split up over twelve months. If you go down this route, then you need a system in place to make sure everyone is paid on time, and that no one gets underpaid. Usually, this is done via computer systems, and it’s recommended you either hire someone to take care of it or outsource this role. My idea is to get one of your existing employees to take on this task, for example, many companies train their admin staff to use payment systems so they can handle this. It saves money as you don’t need to outsource or hire a new employee. It may seem like a bad idea to get your employees to multitask, however, as this article shows https://www.managementstudyguide.com there are benefits.

Another payment option is to pay people based on how much work they do. For example, you can have people on hourly work rotas and pay them based on how often they’re in work during a month. Then, you have freelance employees who you pay based on how much work they produce for you. Typically, you’ll agree on a fee for their freelance work and pay them whenever they complete it. The bottom line is, you need to manage your employee payment methods if you want to keep your business finances in good order.

Business Expenses

Finally, a huge part of managing your business finances is by looking at your business expenses. No doubt there will be loads of things your company spends money on to further its progress. This includes raw materials, office expenses, food for employees, etc. I’m talking about things you have to procure from somewhere else. A lot of these things may be essential for your business, while others aren’t essential but are necessary. Either way, your expenses are very important as they make up a huge part of the money that your business spends each year.

The key to managing your expenses is to create budgets for everything, much like you have to do with your startup funds in the beginning. Secondly, you must keep all the receipts, as they can be used during the tax return process. Some of the things you purchase may be tax deductible, but only if you have your receipts. Also, as articles like this http://www.purchasing-procurement-center.com/ show, there are many ways you can lower your procurement costs to stay on top of what you buy and limit your spending.

Managing your business finances is all about knowing the most important aspects to be wary of. Then, you have to focus on ways in which you can manage each of these individual things. A lot of the time, outside help can be a huge positive and give your business a boost. Manage your finances effectively, and your company will be in a commanding position.

Just because your business is new and small, that doesn’t mean it has to lag behind or settle for second best. Yes, your business doesn’t have the resources of its bigger rivals. But that doesn’t have to mean giving up and accepting its position. You just need to get clever and creative in order to come up with a strategy that will actually help your company to get ahead and beat the rest. It really can be done.

Know Your Limits

First of all, you need to have a full understanding of your business’s limits. You are not going to be able to throw lots of money at the situation if your budgets don’t allow for it. So, putting financial limits and restraints on yourself is an important place to start. This doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything, though. It simply means that you have to find solutions to problems that doesn’t necessarily involve spending vast amounts of money. It’s possible to find success and do well without using money to save you. That’s not to say it’s easy, however.

Embrace What the Internet Can Offer Small Companies

The internet is a democratizing force in the world of business. To some extent, at least, the business landscape has been leveled out a little thanks to the platform the internet gives to small companies. They can now reach people using free or affordable advertising and marketing techniques that simply wouldn’t have been possible in the pre-internet era. So, use things like social media platforms to build an audience and get them interested in your brand. You should also think about SEO. You should be able to find a team who specializes in organic search engine ranking improvement.

Challenge the Weaknesses of Bigger Rivals

Every business, no matter how big or small it is, has its weaknesses. You need to have a look at your rivals and consider how you can exploit their weaknesses. There is no reason why you can’t challenge these weaknesses and use them to the advantage of your business. It simply means getting creative and showing the world that you have something to offer than bigger companies don’t. Maybe one of your bigger rivals is bad at handling problems and complaints. You can exploit this by offering strong customer satisfaction guarantees to customers. Just make sure that you backup your words.

Be Open, Approachable and Interactive

Finally, you should try to make your business more open, approachable and interactive. The reason why this is so important for small businesses is that it makes them more human and relatable in the eyes of customers. That’s also something that bigger companies are very bad at. Those big corporate structures are often dull and gray. They find it harder to connect with people on a genuine and believable level. So, if your business can master this, you might have found a way to exploit your rivals and increase the appeal of your company. That’s a pretty big deal, so it’s something worth making the most of.

Real estate is one of the oldest kinds of investments a person can make. Humans have been living in built houses for thousands of years, and in that time it has become popular for humans to acquire extra property for financial gain. Today it is one of the more potent investments a person can make, especially when compared to stocks or hedge funds because you actually have something physical to show for you purchase. There are many ways in which you can turn around a profit in real estate, but as a startup there will be much trial and error, perseverance is the key.

Use Your Own Skill To Lower Costs

Usually as a property developer you’ll be purchasing houses, making improvements and then selling it on for a profit. The issue is that if you’re having to undertake major structural work you’ll need to pay a qualified professional to do it for you and it reduces whatever projected profit you have. If you have a skill, be in decorating, building or plumbing you can help work on your property and negate the costs of a hiring. If you’re in a partnership then it is easier with two people. It all depends on the turn around time, do you want to make a quick profit or are you happy to hang onto it a bit longer and do some work yourself for more money? If you have the skills, you’re generally better off doing it yourself.

Go Commercial

Commercial real estate is essentially properties and buildings that are rented out or sold to business uses for offices or work based premises. You can make money repurposing homes or buildings and then selling or renting them to business owners who need space. Again, it is highly lucrative but remember sometimes repurposing places into an office environment can be a lot of work. Perhaps you yourself need an office for your new development company? You can find some great mobile office space to suit your needs, it is especially useful if you’re developing property in a far flung place or city.

Permissions

You can also make a profit by purchasing a property, acquiring planning permission on the property grounds and then selling it on at a profit. Homes with planning permission go for more than homes without. This also doubles with leasehold and freehold. If you manage to change the property from leasehold to freehold you can sell the property on again. These methods garner less return but if you manage to buy a few houses at onces, acquire the relevant orders then sell them on you can still make a tidy profit.

Repurposing

Repurposing is a long winded project but gives you the best return possible. You purchase a home, usually a larger home and turn it into an apartment for higher rental return. You can then sell it on to someone who wants to rent it or indeed rent it out yourself. It can be tough because it means installing another kitchen and bathroom, so it means a heavy amount of cash needs to be invested and depending on your skill set could take quite some time to do. But, when you’re ready to sell the profit margins can be huge because you’re selling more than one property whereas you only bought the one.

In business, as the owner, it is your responsibility to make sure that your employees are safe in their working environment. There are many methods in which you can do this, but when it comes to communicating workplace safety, you can start by educating your employees on the correct business procedures for emergencies that arise. But when it comes to the health and safety aspects of your employees in a physical working environment, there are some fundamentals that you need to know and your employees need to know. While many large businesses have their own safety officers, many small businesses cannot afford this luxury. So in the case of an emergency, here are some things that it is worth communicating for the benefit of everyone.

The most common workplace emergency is a fire, so you need to communicate to your staff the right escape procedures. Explain the best way to exit the building, where the exits are closest as well where alternative exits are located. Delegating duties to one or two members of staff that can perform tasks in case of an emergency, such as announcing an evacuation or getting a head count outside at the meeting place after the evacuation, are important tasks to keeping your employees safe during these difficult times.

If there is a very real threat to life in the workplace due to a fire, there are basic steps that you can help yourself to cope in this situation, such as creating a barrier between you and the fire by heading into a room that is unaffected by the fire, and shutting the door while also putting a wet cloth in the gap of the door to help seal the smoke out. So you can wait safely until the emergency services arrive.

The old notion of prevention being better than cure is one that applies to workplace emergencies. So by implementing the right systems and technology will work in your favor, such as finding the best emergency communication system for you, which can help identify potential threats and the best practices your business can implement in case of an emergency. These emergency communication system suppliers can also help to provide round-the-clock support when it comes to messaging the right people in a quick fashion, as well as providing information on the best methods to protect your data.

While you can make sure your business is covered with all manner of systems, overall the best practice you can implement as a business leader, is to ensure that each and every staff member is resilient, resourceful, and is knowledgeable in every security measure. This could be communicated by e-learning packages or by having a security expert communicating potential risks to a business, so that the message is put across firmly.

It pays for staff to be aware of the consequences of human error and by identifying suspicious activity in the workplace, whether it is from colleagues or complete strangers.

Being on your guard is an important method to ensuring a business that is secure overall.

It has finally happened. After all the years of the 20+ hours on a daily basis, scrimping and saving every last hard-earned penny, ploughing cash injections in on a regular basis, approaching prospective backers and clients, and dealing with everything else the freelance life had to offer you, you can now sit back and be proud of your achievements.

At first it was a dream, then it became reality bit by bit. You gathered all the pieces of the puzzle and you managed to fit them all together. It wasn’t a fast process, of course. It took you years of hard work to fit that last piece of the jigsaw together. But, now, everything has come to fruition. Your brand has finally come to the fore and your belief and hunger in yourself, and your fledgling company, has worked out to the best of its capacity and potential. All the sleepless nights, spent in the company of your laptop, numerous mugs of coffee, and a business plan are no longer on the horizon and you can now sleep, content, knowing your brand is ready to reach out to the rest of the world.

Of course, a big majority of businesses are now run solely via the web. So, you would have spent an endless amount of time doing some research on how to make things work, with the easiest accessibility and control. You would have done research on how to build backlinks, how to manage SEO properly, and on how to maintain an original, resourceful presence online where people and potential customers would be able to go to your website with ease.

To begin with, it might have been a little stressful but with time and your goal in mind, it would have become easier. Then, without a doubt, you would have turned to your notes and then finalised staff costs, how to handle tax properly, and the financial implications of your brand – negative and positive.

But now all that is done and you can manage the company with a less hands-on approach, if you are that type of person. You have got the correct staff in place, and they know what they are doing. You could sort of ‘float’ around the business, tweaking this and tweaking that. A business always has an issue crop up, and that is where you could find yourself handling important aspects of the day to day routine of your business.

You should be proud of yourself. You can allocate the stress somewhere else, and put your mind to issues and concerns which you may have pushed to one side while developing your brand. Now, it is time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your hard work. Perhaps you could take a holiday, or treat yourself and your friends (or family) to a meal out where you can catch up properly with everyone. Yes, you have done the hard work. Now, let the hard work do the same for you and allow yourself to develop into the best boss any employee could wish for.

Do you ever hear about an entrepreneur who’s managed to create a successful business and wondered, “how do they do it?” It can sometimes seem as though the world’s most successful entrepreneurs have discovered some kind of secret that the rest of us haven’t. As though they’ve figured out of the formula for success and simply aren’t bothering to share it with the rest of us. But, as nice an idea as that is, the truth is actually a lot less complicated. The truth is, far from having some kind of secret formula, all of the most successful entrepreneurs have a few simple things in common. And it’s these traits that help to set them aside from the thousands of people who have tried and failed. To help you avoid becoming one of those people, here are just a few traits shared by the world’s most successful entrepreneurs.

A fresh perspective

There’s nothing useful about a business that looks at things in the same way as everyone else. Rather than creating anything new, a business built on that foundation is just going to end up being little more than a pale imitation of the ones around it. The most successful business owners are able to look around and see what’s missing. What are businesses doing wrong? What aren’t they doing at all? Being able to find a fresh perspective on something that people might have assumed could only be treated one way is one of the most important things for any entrepreneur. It allows them to create something that is not only new and unique but perfectly compliments the needs of existing customers.

An eye for details

But it’s not enough just to look at the current state of affairs and say that something new needs to happen. You need to be able to figure out what that thing is.  Successful entrepreneurs are those who are able to at look the world around and see not only what is missing but what they can do to remedy that fact.  Sabri Suby King Kong agency’s CEO and founder saw a space in the market for an agency that could be more specific with their clients about the impact on their business. This allowed him to create a business with a very clear, specific set of aims and provided King Kong with the direction that it needed.

The ability to follow through

Follow through is the difference between a dreamer and an entrepreneur. A dreamer will spend all of their time imagining all of the incredible things that their company will do. An entrepreneur will actually go out and do it. They will understand that there’s never a “perfect time” to go out and get started, so they take whatever chance they get. The thing that truly sets someone apart is their ability to stick to their guns when the going gets tough. If you have faith in your business, then you’ve got to be willing to deal with hard times and setbacks. Remember, the harder you work, the more luck you will have.