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In this action packed episode, San Francisco angel investor Manny Fernandez talks equity crowdfunding & the JOBS Act, then Oscar Pedroso pitches Thimble, and amazing new way to learn about robotics, software and hardware! Next we have amazing artist Jessica Martindale pitch her new album!
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Engineering is one of the most lucrative and thriving economies on the planet. It’s no wonder that so many engineering startups are cropping up. As the engineering world expands and grows, it needs small niche companies to work quickly and efficiently. For that reason, engineering startups are often better than their giant corporate competitors. Whether it’s civil engineering, computing, or manufacture, the industry is wide and vibrant. There’s never been a better time to start a small business in this industry. But, before you dive in, here are five things you need to consider.
Just like any other business, you need an acute awareness of the budgets and costs. Running any startup requires a tight reign on the balance sheet, especially in the early days. But, it’s particularly important in engineering. Here, the startup costs for material, equipment, and research is often quite large. Do you have the capital to get started, and run an effective company? Failing to do so is one of the main reasons startups fail in the first year. These budgets will also help you work out how much you’ll charge for your services.
We’ve already touched on one or two engineering niches. And it’s crucial that you understand the scope and range of engineering opportunities. However, clients and customers aren’t looking for a jack-of-all-trades. They’re looking for highly-skilled, technical experts in a niche subject. If you’re to make a success of your startup, you need to choose a highly focused niche. Use your experience, expertise, and passions, to tap into the right market area.
Unfortunately, engineering is not an industry you can simply walk into. It’s technical, skilled, and complex. The industry demands high qualifications, and plenty of junior experience. If you’re looking to start a company in this sector, you should ideally have plenty of experience. You need to know how the industry operates, from the inside-out. You should also build up a database of contacts who can help you along the way. You’ll need these contacts to help land your first job in the business.
Working in engineering means working with lots of components, supplies, and high-tech equipment. If you’re to run an effective startup, you need effective stores management. That means processing your incoming materials and goods, and managing them on site. It is particularly important in the manufacturing sector of engineering, but applies to all sorts of niches. A series of stores management software and expert personnel will help create the right environment.
Success in the engineering industry is all about creating a better future. The best companies are always thinking ahead, and planning for the next generation. This forward thinking requires research and development, and an eye for future design. As a business owner, it’s now your job to manage the future planning, and find new gaps in the market. What technology will dictate the coming decades, and where is engineering going? These are the answers you’ll have to answer.
With hard work, and a clear vision, you can take your engineering startup to the next level. Before you do, take these considerations on board, and plan ahead. Good luck!
One of the biggest concerns that a startup business owner faces is the prospect of their firm failing. Although many startups go on to grow and become prosperous, quite a few fail within the first 12 months. There can be many reasons why that happens, and each case is different.
If you’re starting a new business soon, what can you do to avoid startup failure? The good news is there are plenty of actionable steps you can take. Here are seven examples to help you on the right path:
It might shock you to know that some startups have no idea what they are aiming for! Making money might seem like an obvious goal, but what do you do to achieve it?
Your answer might be to revolutionize your industry. Perhaps you want to offer something fresh and new to the market. Or you may wish to provide a different way of reaching a particular achievement. It’s important that you consider what your brand’s vision or purpose is BEFORE you start!
All startups should have a business plan. It’s a document that provides a “roadmap” of where they see themselves in the future. Don’t get tempted to deviate from it. You’ll have no way of measuring whether your ideas are a success or not.
You need to walk in the shoes of your target customers, in a metaphorical sense. Would you buy your products and services? If not, why not?
The things you sell must be attractive to your audience. Otherwise, how do you expect to sell anything?
The Internet plays a huge part in generating revenue for most businesses these days. It’s crucial that your online presence offers real results.
Many business owners don’t know how effective their online branding strategies are these days. It could be worth investing in conversion optimisation services to boost your online revenue.
The biggest mistake any startup can make is selling something that nobody wants to buy! Before you even formalise your new business, there’s one thing you need to do first. I am, of course, talking about market research!
Let’s say that your business makes and sells toasters. Sure, you might have an impressive range of products on offer. But, what value do you add to the toasters you sell?
Examples of adding value could include selling complementary products like grills. You might even wish to offer an attractive product guarantee. That way, you can entice buyers from your competitors.
The people that buy your products and services are your customers. Without them, you won’t make any money. Yes, it’s important to focus on strategies to grow your business.
But, you should also think about your customers. Listen to their feedback on your service. What could you improve? And what is it they’d like to see you do in the future?
Good luck!
What is the path of the modern entrepreneur? The road from zero to success is probably a lot shorter and easier to travel than most people realise. It’s certainly true to say that becoming an entrepreneur is a lot simpler than it used to be. You first need to formulate an idea. This could be a business idea or an idea for a product or service that you wish to sell. Next you need to consider whether this is a product or service the public need or want. Have you found a market gap and do you know how to fill it? You must be honest with yourself at this point. Make sure you have not convinced yourself the idea is an original concept when it’s something that others have already thought of. Next, you need to think about funding, and this is precisely where the journey begins.
You may have read a few articles online that claim to start a business you do need money to begin with. Essentially, they say, you can’t start something from nothing. But we disagree with this mindset. In fact not only do we think it’s possible, we think it’s the easiest way to do it. It all starts by knowing what type of business you want to set up. We would like to present the idea of an ecommerce business. This means that your business will operate entirely online. There are a number of advantages to this model, but the first one is obvious. It’s free to set up or at the very least, priced to be incredibly valuable.
Before we continue this journey, it’s important that you know all the advantages you get following this path. Firstly, we’ve already mentioned it’s cheap but your business model is already going to be saving you money. By running your company online, you’ll will be able to operate it from home. You’ll also find that you can run it without hiring many if any, other members of staff. If there are jobs that are too big for you, you can outsource these to another company saving on costs.
Since you will not be investing money in your business, you’re cutting the risk. If you do spend money on your business, we think the most you’ll spend is up to a thousand. Losing that isn’t nothing, certainly, but it’s a lot less than you would need to set up a business offline. If your company does fail, you can cut your losses and move on. At least you will be able to say you tried.
You will also find that setting up online; it’s easy to make a name for yourself. There are a number of different tools that you can use to set up your online company and gain interest. Again, a lot of these won’t cost you anything.
You may think at this point your business has already started. But we’re still at the hypothetical stage. All we’ve established is that you won’t spend much money if any and the advantages of this model. We haven’t yet shown how you will do this.
We suggest you begin by making a name for yourself, building an online profile. You can do this using the social media accounts that you are probably active on every day of your life. Af first, we suggest that you use the basic social networks like Facebook and Twitter. On these, you can set up business accounts. You can then use both to update already interested followers and gain new ones. Updating these accounts with interesting information will catch the attention of potential customers online. You need to post about the industry you’re thinking about joining. Start to tease the product or service that you’ll soon be offering and slowly grow your campaign. At this point, you still shouldn’t have spent any money.
Will your business involve anything colourful, graphic or interesting? An online fashion store would be an example of this because you could share pictures of the clothes you’ll soon be selling. Get creative, hiring models to wear the clothes and photographers to snap pics. Then set up a blog adding the pics, and link some to Pinterest. This is just one example of how social media can help your new brand blossom overnight.
When you are starting to gain the interest of people online, it’s important to have somewhere they can find more about your business. This will be your company website. You should only use your blog for advertisement or to expand on ideas. When you set up your site, it’s important you use an e-commerce software that enables easy payments and transactions. If you do this, you make customers lives easier, and they will be more likely to use your company. A poor ecommerce software could damage your business before it’s begun. That’s why this is an area we do suggest you spend a little money to get the best. A Magento agency for ecommerce use one of the best pieces of software on the market. It’s certain to give your company a running start.
Don’t forget when setting up your site you can spend a little extra on marketing. That way you’re sure to gain the interest of consumers. Remember this won’t cost a fortune and will still fit nicely into the average person’s personal budget. We suggest you focus on SEO and web design. You must make sure users find your site, and once they do, it’s important they stick around to make a purchase. That means your site needs to look and feel professional.
Your site is up, your networks are active and you’re ready to sell. But wait, you might be wondering how you can afford to produce what you’re selling? There are two approaches you can take for this issue. Either you do finally take out a small loan to be for the first fixed costs and then pay it back. Or you use the support, you’ve already gained, through a crowdsourcing scheme. We know which option we would choose but you may not want to be dependent on your customers. The choice is entirely yours to make.
Once you’ve taken these steps, you will have a successful business up and running online. The best part is that you could easily have completed the whole process in less than six months on a shoestring. But you’ll still have the potential to make a fortune!
When you start a new business, there are many things you need to consider. One of the items on your to-do list will be to set up an online presence. There’s no denying that the Internet offers a cost-effective way to promote a brand.
You will no doubt have plenty of ideas on how to promote your startup business online. One thing you may not have considered as part of your strategy is PPC marketing. Let me share with you some reasons why it should form a crucial part of your Internet marketing plan.
Many people assume that their new site will become a runaway success. “Build it, and they will come” is probably a saying that sticks in their minds. But, what those people don’t realise is no-one will find their site.
Why? The answer is simple: it’s too new! Sure, you might assume that giving your website an SEO check is all that’s needed. What you may not know is search engines provide little clout to new sites. Did you know that it can be at least a year before you start seeing large visitor numbers from search engines?
PPC or pay-per-click marketing is a brilliant way to drive traffic to your site. It’s something millions of people use when they don’t want to rely on organic search traffic. In a nutshell, PPC ads are those displayed on search engines and niche websites. For example, your gardening PPC ad could show up on a popular gardener’s blog.
Yes, you have to spend money on PPC marketing. But, using a PPC agency can help save you cash as they’ll set up campaigns for you that deliver real results. Startup businesses shouldn’t rely on organic search traffic alone.
Does your startup make or sell products? If so, you will doubtless want to promote your first new product to the world. PPC marketing helps you to target your products to those that are likely to use them.
Sticking with the gardening theme, let’s say that you’re launching a new lawnmower product. You can use PPC ads to target visitors with an interest in gardening. And you can even target certain niches, such as commercial landscaping.
There are scores of case studies out there that prove PPC ads work for firms launching new products. If you relied on organic search traffic alone, expect to make little to new sales in your first year!
As a startup, you might have thought about advertising your brand in the media. The thing about printed media like newspapers and magazines is they are expensive. Most people stick with online advertising as it’s more cost-effective.
They are also viewed across many platforms, such as computers, smartphones and tablets. Startups know they have to keep costs to a minimum. That’s another reason why it makes sense to opt for PPC marketing.
I hope you’ve found today’s article useful. Thanks for reading it!
An excellent customer experience is one of the essential elements of running a business. Your customers need to come away from their experience feeling that you have delivered on your promises. You want them to find your service memorable and to keep coming back again and again. You’re trying to build brand loyalty in them. That means delivering the best customer experience you can. You need to use your customer experience to differentiate yourself from other brands. It should show people what your brand stands for and how you can give them what other brands can’t. Here are some of the ways you can ensure you do that.
Your staff are essential to your strategy of delivering a branded customer experience. Whether they’re on the phone or face to face, they should be consistent with your brand. Even if you hire people with plenty of experience in the industry, you should ensure they undergo training. You need their work to match up with what you promise to deliver as a brand. They should be knowledgeable and helpful to meet customer requests. But they also should be prepared to go beyond that. They can go further to offer help before customers have the chance to ask for it, making suggestions and doing more than the minimum.
If you have identified a target audience, you need to use what you know about them to your advantage. Different groups of people have preferred methods through which they prefer to research brands. Younger demographics will often prefer to contact you through social media or email. You need to ensure you’re using the right avenues to reach your target market. You might think that this seems like common sense. But you can be sure that some of your competitors aren’t doing it. You can get ahead of them by ensuring that you are.
It can be difficult to get customers to remember your logo. Not every company can be Coca-Cola. But it’s important to try to connect your name, logo and branding to your client experience. Your customers will remember how they were treated, so you want them to keep your name in mind too. Offering a branded experience by using your brand imaging will make you stand out. For example, you can use personalised bathrobes for hotels instead of generic products. If you send products in the mail, you can create branded gift wrapping to include a personal touch when you ship orders.
You have to make sure that your customer experience always has the right tone. If your website is relaxed and friendly, your customer service over the phone should be the same. Everything needs to be consistent to deliver a first-class customer experience to everyone.
If you want to differentiate your brand from others, make sure your customer experience is as good as it can be. If you deliver what you promise, customers will keep coming back.
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In this episode Laura Roeder talks about how she successfully bootstrapped her new social media management startup Edgar, and shares her story of becoming an entrepreneur at 22. We also discuss the importance of team building, managing remote teams, and how sometimes it’s smarter to not raise capital and go for it!
Crowdfunding has become a popular way to secure funding for projects in a range of industries. If you can’t obtain money from other sources, or don’t like the idea of them, crowdfunding could be the right route for you. However, not just anyone can launch a campaign and find the success they’re looking for. If you don’t get the attention you need, you won’t reach your target. Most crowdfunding sites work on the principle that you only get the money if you raise everything you need. So bringing in as many donations as possible is essential if you want to see any money at all. Follow these instructions to increase your chances of raising your funds.
There are now many crowdfunding websites available for you to choose from. Some are suitable for just about any project, but there are also more specialized sites. You can find crowdfunding websites that are just for charitable causes. Some are intended for musicians, authors or other creative people. You can even find crowdfunding sites to help you raise the funding you need for a legal case. Even the sites that seem similar can have some subtle but important differences. Before you create your campaign, be sure to look at your options and decide which site is best for you.
Whichever website you choose to use, you’ll have to create a page for your campaign. This is your chance to convince people to donate their money to you. It’s also where you can keep people updated on the progress of your campaign and your project. You will probably have a space where you can upload a video and some photos. Take the opportunity to make yourself look professional, explain what your project is and why people should invest in it. You might create a video showing off your product prototype. Or you could record yourself talking about what your aims are. Write a description too so that people can read about what you’re doing.
Many crowdfunding sites work on the idea that people get something in return for their contribution. They like it if they receive something right away. You might have some promotional products lined up to send out to people who donate. There are other ways you can reward people too that might happen later on. For example, you might give them a producer’s credit in the web series you make. You should grade your rewards at different levels, depending on how much people give.
If you want to have any hope of reaching your goal, you have to tell people about your campaign. Crowdfunding works best when you already have a solid base of people you can market to. You can share your campaign page on social media and send it out to your email list. Otherwise, you’ll have to put in a lot of work to attract the right attention.
You have to put work into promoting your crowdfunding campaign if you want it to be successful. Don’t expect just to put it up and leave it to collect donations.
If you have experience in building and a degree in engineering, you might be thinking about setting up your own construction company. There are a lot of advantages to this business idea. It’s true to say that a number of the bigger construction companies are outsourcing smaller jobs to other businesses. So, there is plenty of demand on the market for another construction company. As well as this with the right marketing, you’ll be able to get a lot of interest from private clients. However, if you are going to grab this business opportunity, there are some issues that you will almost certainly need to think about. We’ll work through them and give you some tips on how to get started the right way.
The first step you’ll need to take is to get funding for your business. There are a number of different routes to take to get your business funded. But we think that the best solution for a construction company is a portfolio loan. You can use a portfolio loan to get a large sum of money with a low interest. But, you will need to show that you have a good financial history. You may also have to demonstrate how and why you believe your business proposal will be profitable. It might take some time to get the loan but it is worth the difficulty for a guaranteed low or even frozen interest.
You do need to think about where to buy the equipment your company will be using on a daily basis. We suggest you look at eCommerce companies. Online you will be able to find businesses selling everything you need, from heavy machinery to specialized safety equipment. It’s important that you buy from a reputable seller as you need to make sure that the equipment will work effectively. If it doesn’t, it could affect how well your business works and this in turn could reflect poorly on your company reputation.
Don’t forget that on a construction site there are a lot of dangers to take into consideration. You need the right safety equipment for the job. One of the biggest dangers on a construction site is a fire. This could be caused by faulty wiring or simply human error. Wireless fire alarm systems are the best solution to this issue. They can be moved easily from one site to the next and don’t require a lot of installation.
You should then look into hiring the best workers, creating a team you can rely on. When you hire workers, it’s far better to get a small skilled workforce rather than a larger group that are not well trained. You shouldn’t cut corners here.
As well as this remember, you must make sure your business is protected. As we have already established a construction site can be dangerous for employees. You must ensure that your business is insured with workers compensation. Otherwise, your company could close down after one bad accident.
Take this advice on board and you will understand all the issues of setting up your construction business. We hope you find great success in this industry.
… appreciating that there are many aspects that create a successful online venture. The sooner you start paying attention to the details, the sooner you’ll start to see improved results in this fierce environment.
The first key element is good organisation. A great website doesn’t just surface through a fluke. The most effective sites have been planned meticulously. If you are serious about following in the footsteps of various big name startup owners, you must be prepared to do this too.
Before worrying about the website itself, you need to think about your business. And the most important part of your venture is the customer. Therefore, they must always be at the core of your focus. Providing a better service for them is the only route to success.
Attention to detail is key. Even your domain name must be perfect. Meanwhile, detailed market research will serve you very well. Understanding the customer’s needs will help tailor every aspect of your business. Once you’ve pinpointed and targeted your niche, you’ll have a far greater chance of converting interest to sales.
However, the first challenge is actively planting those seeds of interest. The online arena is a fierce playground, and you have to take every possible step to ensure that you gain your place within it. One of the best ways to achieve this goal is by increasing your search engine visibility with better SEO. You’ll be amazed at the amount of increased traffic this brings.
Using Google and other platforms to help people find your business is crucial. But your marketing strategies cannot end there. You should also use various social media campaigns to express the ethos of your brand. Find ways to create content that resonates with your core audience, and they’ll soon become interest.
You can additionally use link building, Pay-Per-Click and other advertising to build that familiarity. This is why your branding is crucial to the entire business. If you don’t boast the natural flair, speaking to a graphic designer could make life a lot easier.
Getting people to the website is one thing, but you need to build trust. Placing testimonials from previous customers is a great way to do this. However, you also need to provide customers with a pleasant and easy experience. Using ecommerce website design facilities will ensure that you tick this box in emphatic style.
Having the resources to put the customer at ease should help convert interest to sales. This is a huge milestone. But it’s not the end of your journey. If you truly want to see success, then you’ve got to encourage repeat business from those customers.
Running special promotions is a fantastic option, especially as it offers that sense of getting a bargain. Another great trick is to get blogging. A static website is boring and can turn customers away. Besides, those blog posts are the perfect outlet to promote certain products or deals.
Essentially, the key is to provide a complete platform for the customer to love. Follow this up with good communication, and your online takings should shoot through the roof.
If you’re looking for a great startup idea, then might I suggest opening a restaurant? Restaurants are highly profitable if you can get customers through your doors. Which is why I’ve come up with three tips to help you promote your restaurant startup:
Every business needs a website, and it’s vital for a restaurant. Seriously, if you only pay attention to one thing on this list, it has to be this! You must create a website for your restaurant. Get it done professionally so it looks nice and proper. Why is a website important? Because it’s a way for people to view your restaurant online. They can look at the menus, see pictures of the food. It can entice them to come down and eat there. Plus, you can have an online booking system so they can book a table right there and then!
As I briefly mentioned, you need your site to look professional. No one will go to a restaurant that doesn’t have a well-designed site. Either find a web designer to do it for you, or use a professional website creation tool.
A big selling point of any restaurant is the interior. People want to be sat in a nice place when they go out for a meal. No one wants to pay to eat in a restaurant with an ugly interior that looks half complete. Get your restaurant looking amazing on the inside, and you’ll have a line of people waiting on the outside. Have a look on debretton.com.au if you want to see some classy restaurant interior designs.
Now, you may be thinking that the interior will only have an effect on people inside your restaurant. But, it can be the thing that drags people in. Good interior design will grab people’s attention when they walk past your restaurant. It will catch their eye, and they’ll think oh that place looks nice, I should check it out sometime. Secondly, you could take pictures of the interior and post them on your website/social media pages. This will get more and more people into your restaurant as they’ll like what they see.
Yep, you guessed it, you have to use social media to promote your restaurant business. It’s such a great way of marketing your startup and getting new customers. Social media is an easy way to engage with your target market. For a restaurant, this will usually be people that live relatively close by. You can chat with them and make sure they all know about your restaurant.
My top tip is to make good use of Instagram. Create an account so you can post pictures of food and drinks. People always get tempted when they see a good food picture. Something as simple as an Instagram post can be all it takes to get a new customer.
And there you have it, there are three ways you can promote your restaurant startup. Hopefully, this has been helpful, and you’re now feeling more confident about your new business venture! If you’re interested in other startup ideas, then have a look at the post here.
Are you thinking about running a business online? It’s a great decision particularly for those who are ready to embark on their first start up venture. However, we can’t claim it’s going to be easy. There are a lot of challenges you will face getting your business up and running. But we think we’ve got the solutions that you need.
Our biggest piece of advice is to run your business from home, from the start. You will find yourself running your company from home at some point, even if you start in an office. This is due to the fact that by working from home you can limit the expense of running a company. You won’t have to pay for rent or office space. As well as this, any of your employees will also be able to work from home. That means they are not your responsibility and you avoid the risk of risk that comes with premises liability. Businesses are being inundated with AI claims from annoyed employees. But, if you run your business from home yours won’t be one of them.
When you run your business from home, you still want your company to appear successful. The best way to do this is to make it look like your company is run from an office. That’s easy with resources like Physical Address. You can arrange for your mail to be sent to this company and they will provide you with a business address. They will then scan your mail and you can access it using cloud software. It’s an efficient service and makes your company look professional.
An extension of this concept is a virtual office. A virtual office means that you can rent an office space when you need to meet a client or hold a business meeting. For all intensive purposes this will be your company location but you will only pay when you use it.
Is online marketing free? Of course not, but it is excellent value for money particularly if you are running an online business. Using digital marketing you can make sure that the customers that you need find your business site. As well as this you can use tools such as social profiles for free to boost your business image. You may still want to hire a digital agency to man these profiles as they need to be constantly updated. For instance, your Twitter should be used to update your followers about any new services offered by your business. As well as this, it should be used to post updates about your industry.
A home run business doesn’t have to be small. It can stretch across an international playing field. But only if your business partners and employees can access the files that they need and communicate with you. That’s why you should invest in cloud software. Cloud technology will allow the effortless transferal and access of data across the net, instantly. It’s the only way to effectively run a business from home.
Sometimes, it can be hard to come up with a business idea. You want to start a company, but you can’t find the inspiration. Well, today’s your lucky day because I’ve got four startup ideas that are destined for success:
Gaming is a big industry these days, as people love to play games in their spare time, on the phone, computer or even going out to play some arcade games. Of course the concept of the arcade is rapidly changing, but still exists and is growing in new formats. Gambling is also popular; from daily fantasy sports to traditional casino games. They love the thrill of trying to win money. So, why not take advantage of this popular industry and start a little arcade?
You can set up an arcade and include lots of video games, and depending on your location also looking at casino games. This way, you cater to different audiences. Younger children and teens can come in and spend their money playing your video games, and appeal to an older audience through access to the betting machines and games where they can win money.
The key to making money from this business venture is to have all the necessary equipment. You want popular arcade games from now and from the past. People will love to play a retro Pacman game! And, think about the gambling games, roulette arcade games are very popular. It’s a good idea to look for suppliers of the gaming units and try and get them in your arcade. Also, there are some tricks to the trade of running a successful arcade.
One of those tricks revolves around tokens. When someone plays a game, they get tokens as a reward. Collect enough tokens and they can exchange them for prizes. It’s a foolproof way of persuading people to keep on putting their money into the machine and playing the game. Of course, you’ll have to make sure no one cheats and claims they have more tokens than they actually do. There are plenty of products for counting tokens out there, and they’ll come in handy. They’ll ensure no one cheats and slips in fake tokens to exchange for prizes.
In general, health & fitness is a huge industry. I’ve found that it’s been growing and growing in the last few years. And, it looks like it will continue to grow. People want to stay fit and be healthy, and there are plenty of ways to make money off of that.
One of the best health & fitness business ideas is starting a yoga studio. A place where you will run yoga classes and teach people. Yoga is a massive craze, people of all ages and genders like it. It’s for this reason that it’s a great idea. You have a diverse market to appeal to; you aren’t restricted to a certain market. There’s even yoga for elderly people to take part in too!
To run a successful yoga business, you need a few things. The first is somewhere to hold your classes. You could hire out a sports hall from a local school, or find a place of your own. Some people have bought office space and converted it into a yoga studio. Having your own studio is better than hiring because you’re not restricted in any way. Secondly, you need a range of yoga equipment. Comfy mats, blocks to help beginners, that type of thing. Thirdly, you need to be a qualified yoga instructor. This may seem like a big task, but it’s not that difficult to achieve this. Some people can get the qualification in a couple of months. It’s worth putting the effort into getting this qualification because you can make some serious money from a yoga studio.
You may have noticed that quite a few high street shops are closing down. And, in their place, a restaurant or cafe is popping up. Cafes/restaurants are a highly popular business venture. Why? Because people want to have a bit to eat or something to drink, when they’re out. It’s tough walking round shops, you need somewhere to rest. As a result, there’s a big demand for cafes and restaurants.
To take advantage of this business venture, you need a good location. Setting up a restaurant in the middle of nowhere won’t get you many customers. Instead, you need to look for somewhere close to the middle of a city. Your location should be as close to other shops as possible. If you’re near shops, you’re near people. Naturally, this greatly increases your chance of gaining customers.
Also, think about what you’ll sell and how you’ll make it. My top tip is to emphasise the homemade aspect of your cafe/restaurant. Especially if it’s a cafe. Shout about your freshly baked cakes and handcrafted coffee. People will love that. For a restaurant, it helps if you include nutritional info on your menus. Let people know what they’re eating. Of course, get your ingredients from the best suppliers possible, and make sure they’re natural.
Marketing is a very important part of every business. As a result, it’s become a big industry to get into. There are more and more marketing agencies appearing every day. It’s a highly profitable business idea.
In particular, digital marketing is huge. Start a digital marketing agency, and you won’t be short of customers. Businesses are looking to outsource their marketing to knowledgeable companies. There’s a lot of money to be made in this field.
The trick is making sure you know what you’re doing. Become a marketing expert and hire other experts to join your company. If you emphasise how much you know about marketing, it makes your agency more appealing. Also, look for small businesses. It’s unlikely that a big business will hire you, small businesses are the ones that need marketing help. Success will increase with every job you take on. When people see what you’ve done for other businesses, they’ll be banging on your door for help.
So, if you want to start a new business, consider one of the ideas above. All four of them are great, and can be a source of success!
Criminal activity isn’t something you are likely to think about when you plan out your startup ideas. However, it’s something you need to consider if you want to protect your business.
There are many different ways that criminals can target your business, from inside and out. So, we thought we would put together this short guide on everything you need to know. Read on to find out more – and feel free to leave any tips in the comments section below.
First of all, let’s look at your intellectual property. You will need to cover yourself from the moment you have your idea, because as soon as you put yourself out there, it is open to theft.
Find a business lawyer that specializes in intellectual property law. Make sure that you take out patents, too, and copyright everything that needs protection. Industrial espionage is a real thing – and it would be a tragedy for you if someone stole your idea and made a lot of money from it.
Make sure that you have robust security, wherever you work from. Offices should have lockable windows and doors, as well as security lighting to ward off burglars. CCTV is an excellent option, but above all, it’s important to train your staff to be more secure.
Get them into the habit of closing and locking doors and windows whenever they leave the room – not just the office. You will reduce the chances of an opportunistic thief taking a chance.
If you sell products, then you will have a stockroom to hold your inventory. It’s important that you track this accurately and ensure that all your stock is accounted for. There are many ways that thieves can get hold of your property, so hold regular audits and stock takes to make sure you know where you are.
It’s also a good idea to tag all of your working equipment, from computers to fax machines. All of them are valuable to thieves, but much more valuable to you. Make sure that you give yourself the best chance of finding them if they ever go missing.
Unfortunately, people can go through difficult times, and they can become more open to the idea of committing a crime. It could be as simple as stealing something off the shelves of your shop, or as complex as money laundering.
Make sure you learn about compliance. It can help protect your business from the threat of employee theft, bribery, and other criminal activity. It’s not a nice thought to think that all your employees might be thieves; that much is clear. But, compliance will help you lay the foundations that make it hard for any of them to give into any urges.
All businesses have a lot of records about their customers; that could prove to be fruitful for criminals. Make sure that all your databases and computer systems are secure. Also, shred any papers with confidential information before disposing of it.
As you can see, there are plenty of areas where crime can affect your business. It’s important to take the subject seriously, even when you are just starting out. Put a good plan in place, and it will be much easier to control and deal with. Let us know your thoughts…
Nibletz Staff