4 Ways to Ensure Your Business Doesn’t Fold

September 19, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Every day dozens of businesses close their doors for good. While every businessman or woman believes that this type of fate won’t happen to their business, there is a possibility that it could happen to any business.

While there is no guarantee that your business won’t fold, there are four main things you can do to ensure the success of your business.

Always Stay in Constant Contact

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is limiting the way clients and customers can contact them. To stay successful you will want to make sure you have every possible form of communication covered. Whether it is using a text messaging service or Metrofax email faxing, you will want your customers to be able to reach you by any means possible.

Keep Marketing Your Company

Many businesses feel that if they are successful they don’t have to keep marketing themselves. To be successful you need to keep marketing your business and reaching out to new customers. This ensures a constant stream of clients and customers

Create a Budget

You can’t stay in business if you aren’t profitable. Try to create a budget for your business and stick to it. This will allow you to see how much you are bringing in, where the money is going, and where you can make changes.

Create a Business Plan

Many business owners make the mistake of jumping into the business world and not having a set plan of action. By creating a business plan you are giving yourself direction and helping yourself succeed in the business world.

Following these four tips will help you keep yourself in business.

Filed Under: business Tagged With: , , ,

Saving Money on Business Trips

September 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Bad design: Where does the credit card go?

Image by stevegarfield via Flickr

Millions of salesmen and managers are traveling for work each day. The cost of traveling can quickly add up, especially if your company doesn’t cover your expenses.

The most effective way a company can save money when they send their employees on business trips is by proper financial management. Financial expert Armandao Montelongo works at helping people and companies get in control and on track with their finances.

Here are tips to saving money on business trips.

Corporate Credit Card

The senior employee should handle the responsibility of having the corporate credit card. This card will allow you to get more benefits and frequent flier miles when you use it to pay for all business-related expenses, which include your meals, hotel, cab fare and car rental.

Reimbursement

Some companies will offer a policy for reimbursing employees when they travel to make sure that they’re not spending too much. Put in strict guidelines when it comes to what and how much an employee will get reimbursed for their trip. This will also avoid any company money from being wasted.

Fly Early or Late

Choosing early morning or late night flights is the easiest way to save money. While these times are not ideal for many people, they often come at a discounted price. Airlines do this to fill up each flight.

Travel Light

Many people end up spending more money because of the amount of baggage they take with them. Limit the amount of luggage you’re bringing on the business trip.

Take Advantage of the Benefits

When you’re traveling for business, most clients will offer free food and drinks. Take advantage of anything that is complimentary. It will quickly reduce the amount of stops you make and how much is spent on dining out.

Filed Under: business

All About Business Casual

July 5, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment
Bill Gates in business-casual attire.

Image via Wikipedia

There is no doubt that business attire has become more casual in recent years. In many businesses, you can now find even the president of the company and the members of the board dressing in khakis and polo shirts much of time. Other companies are not quite ready to take such drastic steps and, instead, prefer to implement the occassional casual Friday.

Regardless of whether you work for a company that has a permanent business casual dress code or one that only allows such dress once day a week, this does not mean that you can wear what you choose. Indeed, in most businesses, you will still need to dress somewhat formally. You will also need to be aware of a few rules that can help prevent you from making a fashion blooper.

Whether you are a woman or a man, you can expect that khaki pants are suitable business casual attire. A long sleeve shirt that buttons down is considered to be a safe choice as well. For some companies, however, you can wear a short sleeve button down shirt or a polo shirt. Be sure to tuck your shirt in and wear a belt regardless of which type of shirt you choose to wear.

Athletic shoes and sandals are not typically appropriate footwear when you are dressing in business casual attire. Rather you should wear a business loafer or, if you are a woman, you can wear low heels. Be sure that all of your clothing and footwear is in good repair, clean and pressed.

 

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: business, trends Tagged With: , ,

Keeping Your Business Alive During a Recession

June 16, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Tough economic times are always tough on businesses. No matter how big or small your company is when people don’t have money or are facing tough financial decisions, it can affect your business drastically. Luckily, there are some things you can do to help get your business through tough economic times.

Here is a look at what business experts recommend you trying to do for your business in order to help keep it afloat during a recession.

Diversify

The businesses that are doing the best are the ones that offer more than one service or product. Offering more products and services can help absorb the hit your business is taking financially because one section may be doing better than another.

If you are considering diversifying your business make sure that what you are offering is relevant to your business and not something completely different because this could negatively impact your business. Try to stick to something that is different but still within the target audience for your customers.

Step Up Marketing

It might sound silly that you need to step up your marketing during a recession but studies show that customers will tend to gravitate towards companies that are in their radar. To get in the customers’ radar you keep to step up the marketing.

To step up your marketing consider launching an internet marketing campaign, taking advantage of community events and getting the word out there about your business anyway possible.

Diversifying and amping your marketing campaigns can help give you the advantage your business needs to stay in business during these tough economic times.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: business, marketing Tagged With: , ,

Low Cost Marketing for Businesses

June 15, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

One of the most expensive business expenses you will face when trying to start up a small business is the cost of marketing. Marketing through newspapers, magazines and radio ads can cost thousands of dollars and there is no guarantee it can generate any income. Luckily, there are some low cost marketing solutions out there that can help you get your business’ name out there and not have to spend a fortune doing it.

Here’s a look at some of the most popular low cost marketing solutions for small businesses.

Local Search Engine Directories

Search engines like Yahoo, Bing and Google all have local search engine directories where you can list your local business. Most listings are free and allow you to link back to your business website or place information about your business on the listing. These listings are great ways to bring in customers as people searching for a service or product through the search engine may pull up your business and choose to use it.

Social Media Pages

Social media outlets like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook all are great ways to market your business and the best part is they are free. Just create a business page for your company and start interacting and following people on the websites. Within no time you’ll develop a following and that following will bring in new customers.

Networking

Word of mouth is free and can really generate a lot of hype and marketing for your business. Talk to anyone who will listen about your business and always have a business card in hand so they know where to go.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: business, marketing Tagged With: , ,

Choosing the Best Business Software Tools

June 14, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Software has come a very long way from the days when it was little more than a gimmick or a huge, Stone Age storage system for basic information. While punch cards are long forgotten and even physical drives themselves are starting to seem like clunky things to carry around, software is here to stay, regardless of what type of machine you keep it in. This software can do incredible things for your business, from the beginning to the end.

For starters, you can use FreeMind to map out where your business is going, before it even takes off. As time goes on, you’ll naturally drift a little bit, but the overall plan is made to evolve. As time goes on, you’ll start attracting customers. You can go with a marketing company, or market yourself directly through the Warrior Forum or Craigslist. As you begin garnering customers, you’ll start to pick up on trends.

Of course, this is just intuition, which needs to be tempered with facts. From this intuition, you can employ survey software to learn more and more about what your customers really want.

In time, you’ll be able to harness the power of your surveys to really know what your customers want and how they want it. Sometimes, you’ll find that the software supplies you with answers you could have guessed on your own. However, there are going to be times when you would never have guessed how people would reply. While people can always say things on surveys — whether intentionally misleading you or not knowing themselves very well — such an occurrence tends to diffuse over large numbers.

 

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: business, marketing Tagged With: , ,

Looking Into Tax Audits for S Corporations

June 12, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment
IRS building on Constitution Avenue in Washing...

Image via Wikipedia

Many businesses consider themselves an S corporation. It is estimated that over 70% of all corporations in the United States use the S corporation status when filing for their federal and state income taxes. S corporations are extremely popular because the owners report the income and deductions to the IRS which avoids  the dreaded double tax effect that can sometimes happen.

The problem with S corporations is that there is an extremely high risk for a tax audit. The IRS pulls 5,000 random S corporation filings to audit every year. Here’s a look at what the IRS is looking for when they audit S corporations.

Appropriate Compensation

Many S corporations have a tendency to underpay their shareholders and various employees. This is done in an effort to lower the social security taxes the corporation needs to pay. While this is not illegal it can be viewed as a sly way for corporations to get away without having to pay various employment taxes and stick their employees with this burden.

Excessive Write-Offs

S corporation owners have a habit of making excessive write-offs when it comes to business tax deductions. During an IRS audit, the IRS is looking into all tax write-offs the corporation claimed and making sure that these are legitimate and substantiated tax deductions. It is also looking for proper documentation and receipts to support these various deductions.

While filing as an S corporation may be helpful to many businesses, you run a risk of facing the dreaded IRS tax audit. Knowing what the IRS is looking for can help you prepare and prevent any problems from occurring during your audit.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: business, finance Tagged With: , ,

Types of Business Tax Deductions

June 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment
Seal of the Internal Revenue Service

Image via Wikipedia

The taxes that are required when you own or run a business can be extremely high. Many businesses in an effort to offset the taxes that are owed will try to make a number of business deductions on their tax return. Business deductions are expenses that you the business owner put out and can claim on your taxes as a deduction. The amount you claim is often subtracted from what you owe making it less expensive for you.

While business expense deductions might sound easy enough to figure out, there are certain expenses that are covered and some that are not. Here’s a look at the basic business deductions the IRS will accept.

Financial Business Deduction

Many of the business tax deductions come from the financial side. Deductions can include any bad debts that you had to write off, customer accounts that were not paid in full, bank fees you had to pay, rent, and any interest that incurred on a business loan.

Cost of Operations

Business tax deductions can also include the expenses you have to pay out to keep the business operating. Rent and utilities, as well as the cost of supplies and purchasing goods can all be deducted.

Marketing and Advertising

Every business needs to market themselves in order to bring in customers. The money that you put into your marketing and advertising can be deducted on your taxes.

Business tax deductions can really help reduce the cost of taxes that you have to pay out to the IRS every year.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: business, finance Tagged With: , ,

Covering Business Expenses

June 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

There are some times when it becomes necessary to use other means of covering business expenses aside from the profits or proceeds from the business itself. These times can include when natural or man-made disasters bring on a slow-down or even cessation of business for a period of time, economic downturns, and other incidences.

In these times, you may have to rely on cash loans to cover your business expenses until things change for the better (and they usually will). If this is your situation, there are some things you can do to make sure you are getting the best loans for your business:

  • Check to see whether taking out loans means you don’t have to have collateral. Many times, you can get funding without having to put up any type of collateral. This can be very helpful, especially if you do not want to tie up assets or property.
  • Compare offers from different lenders before you actually need the money. When you first start to realize that it may be necessary to make arrangements for covering business expenses, that’s the time to start making comparisons. This way, you can take your time to determine the best type of loan for your company.
  • Consider your options. How much should the loan cover? Find the terms and conditions that will suit your company’s needs. In addition, you can also compare interest rates, which can sometimes be lower with cash loans than with other options.

Doing what it takes to cover your business expenses can save your future. When finances get tight, consider a cash loan.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: business, marketing Tagged With: , ,