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Category: Entrepreneur

Individual skilled in a specific field or area working independent of established “salaried job” setting. Best described by the term “spirit of the entrepreneur”, this type of person is known to carve out his/her own niche, call his/her own shots and work according to his/her own schedule.

  • Can Financial Window Dressing Help Your Business?


     

    Financial managers can do certain things to increase or decrease net income that’s recorded in the year. This is called profit smoothing, income smoothing or just plain old window dressing. This isn’t the same as fraud, or cooking the books, though, just in case that thought had crossed your mind.

    Most profit smoothing involves pushing some amount of revenue and/or expenses into other years than they would normally be recorded. A common technique for profit smoothing is to delay normal maintenance and repairs. This is referred to as deferred maintenance. Many routine and recurring maintenance costs required for autos, trucks, machines, equipment and buildings can be delayed, or deferred until later.

    A business that spends a significant amount of money for employee training and development may delay these programs until the next year so the expense in the current year is lower. A company can also cut back on its current year’s outlays for market research and product development.

    Some businesses might ease up on their rules regarding when slow-paying customers are written off to expense as bad debts or uncollectible accounts receivable. These businesses can put off recording some of their bad debts expense until the next reporting year.

    A fixed asset that is not being actively used may have very little current or future value to a business. Instead of writing off the un-depreciated cost of the impaired asset as a loss in the current year, the business might delay the write-off until the next year.

    You can see how manipulating the timing of certain expenses can make an impact on net income. This isn’t illegal although companies can go too far in massaging the numbers so that its financial statements are misleading. For the most part though, profit smoothing isn’t much more than robbing Peter to pay Paul.

    Accountants refer to these as compensatory effects. The effects next year offset and cancel out the effects in the current year. Less expense this year is balanced by more expense the next year. The important thing is knowing how far to push the envelope in these kinds of maneuvers and keep yourself and your company out of trouble with the IRS, ’cause that kind of a problem you just don’t need.

     

  • The Keys To Success In Your Own Entrepreneurship


     

    Fundamentals

    Success in your own entrepreneurship – or small business – may depend on a lot of different things, and many an entrepreneur would achieve instant wealth if they had the formula that could be patented and sold to other entrepreneurs; but there is no such formula. Many so-called experts will tell you what does NOT work for achieving entrepreneurial success, instead of what does.

    It has been said that success in business has nothing whatsoever to do with salesmanship, and little to do with a knowledge of your company’s products or services. That also is incorrect, because the lack of salesmanship or product knowledge will surely be a one-way ticket to the dump heap of so many other once-promising enterprises whose owners didn’t bother to learn how to deal with their market or convey to that market why their product was worthwhile.

    While salesmanship and/or product knowledge will not be the only skills you need to succeed in business, when they are combined with other important and fundamental principles your success or failure at anything you do in life will certainly be determined. Those other principles are your A,B,C’s, Attitude, Belief and Consistency. Let’s take a closer look at these basics.

    Attitude

    Possibly the most important of the three principles mentioned above but useless on its own. It’s no good having the best attitude in the world if you sitting on one’s own in a closed room not talking to or exposed anyone else. So what is attitude apart from how one feels about oneself and others. Attitude can best be described as a shining through of your inner self.

    Your face is transparent, totally transparent and your attitude shines through whether it’s positive or negative. The instant that a prospective customer sees you maybe even before you see him, your attitude comes through. The customer sees it, maybe only subconsciously and will react accordingly.

    We all know that the first thing any salesperson has to sell is his/her self even s/he they begins to talk. If s/he can’t sell the public on who s/he is and what s/he represents then s/he might as well turn round and go home and go back to bed. If salespeople can’t sell themselves they wouldn’t be able to sell an iced cold drink to the most thirsty individual.

    NAVAN Global, the REAL SEAL!

    So when we get up in the morning and do our consistency things let’s get a really big warm smile from within feeling good about ourselves and keep that all day. When we go about our business we need to keep our good attitude with us. If we can’t also be in the place where we are physically there’s no point being there in the first place. It’s easier to ride a horse in the direction that it’s going.

    Belief

    An absolute and genuine belief in our business, it’s products and services and the benefits it can provide to ALL customers who use it. Belief is commitment. Total commitment to and in what you are representing to the marketplace. You have to be ready, willing and able to demonstrate to anyone in your presence how your product/service benefits YOU and your family; and why it is without question the best thing of its kind you have EVER seen in your life.

    Consistency

    We get up every morning, we brush our teeth wash, get dressed have breakfast. We are consistent in our actions. We do it every day. We need to do the same with the tasks associated with our business for the days that we have chosen we are going to work, be it 1 or 7 days a week. We need to take mental notes of each positive action we perform and be prepared to repeat it whenever necessary.

    However, we need to do the same thing for the negative actions we took so we can avoid these kinds of actions at all costs. Developing good habits comes with repetition which means that we need to be consistent in positive actions, and just as consistent in the elimination of negative actions that can take down our enterprises. We need to concentrate on the actions not on the result. I’ll repeat that, we need to concentrate on the actions not on the results.

    Methodical approach

    When we go mountain climbing, if we would continually look at the summit we would soon trip up and fall. We need to concentrate on each small step at a time, one after the other and as surely as the sun goes down we will reach our summit. So the combination of all the important ingredients that determine your success or failure must be taken and utilized together in order to be effective.

  • Today’s Entrepreneur is Yesterday’s Superstar Employee




    Think about this headline for a little bit and then ask yourself this simple question: How did I get the confidence to start my own entrepreneurship? Understanding, of course, that your entrepreneurship is an extension of yourself, it’s reasonable to conclude that you have already proven to yourself that the skills, knowledge and experience needed to operate a business are all a part of your make-up, but had been honed during a former employment position.

    You may have used this talent to catapult your employer’s company to super success status; but could not claim any more of the company’s success than what your position commanded, which was somewhat short of the value you added. Now that you are an entrepreneur with your own business that needs to be catapulted to success status, you’re betting on this same talent to take your business over the top; and that is certainly understandable.

    However, you need a plan for your business and it cannot be the same plan used by your former employer; although the time and energy you put into it will undoubtedly be the same, if not more. Yes, you need a new plan for your new business. A plan that is just as good as or better than the one under which you became a superstar while carrying out the duties for your former employer. A plan to grow. A success plan.

    Your strategy must be a proven one that has worked for small businesses as well as some of the larger companies; and it must be a strategy that is flexible enough to allow for the kind of adjustments that will become necessary as your business begin to grow and take on additional responsibilities, new staff and renewed objectives. Of this new staff, perhaps the most important part, is the sales staff whose function it is to promote and market your product/service, but also a positive image of your company.

    Understand that no matter how small your company is, you can hire a sales force that can catapult company growth like you never imagined. Therefore your plan must supportive of astronomical growth and the strategy employed to execute such a plan must be instructive as well as thorough; taking into account that while you have a natural ability to build your own business, the help you will need to achieve massive success must also have “natural” ability or be capable of being taught to perform at the highest levels of achievement.

    In other words, the kind of help you’re going to need is individuals who are considered to fit the profile of top producers in your type of business and you – based on your strategy – must be able to identify this type of individual based on a psychological profile, or the person’s past achievements. This type of person might be someone you can put in a bad situation with poor tools, no training, bad resources and still, within a few months, begin to out-perform any other individual within the same setting.

    Since it will be your responsibility to select the kind of superstars you want for your company – as you had been when you were employed – you may be interested to know, if you don’t already, the two things that drive the superstar. They are both critical traits and they work perfectly together when you can find them. The first is empathy and the second is self esteem.

    Empathy is described as the need to bond with others; to find something likable about every person. It is a wonderful trait to find in a salesperson and allows that individual to just keep going at the client every which way, trying to find more and more ways to serve that client, to please that client. Empathy is a key trait and part of your interview process – part of your overall strategy – must be specifically designed to find their empathy.

    Self Esteem is described as a strong sense of self; and you have to recognize that great sales results come from people with very high self-esteem. Only a person with an extra dose of self-esteem persists with a client time after time even after the client has said no. People with weak self esteem will walk away after only a single rejection, because they fear rejection and therefore never actually close a sale.

    Studies show that 48% of salespeople give up after only one rejection. Only 4% will try more than 4 times. Yet it takes 8.4 rejections to get a meeting, and even with eMail Marketing it takes 7 emails to a subscriber before the marketer makes a sale. What makes the difference between someone who will face that rejection one time and quit or 40 times and never quit, is purely personal self esteem.

    Another aspect of a strong self esteem is personal ambition. Don’t you love it when you hire someone who innovates, expands upon and improves every single task you assign to them? You were that person with your previous employer, so it stands to reason that you will have a pretty good understanding of this type of individual, and as such will be profoundly empathetic to his/her desire to join your company’s sales staff.

    Another characteristic of self esteem can be described as the need to please, which can make some people of this ilk seem overly eager-to-please in a job interview; but you shouldn’t let a little bravado put you off; it is the quintessential trait in every superstar. In an interview, the person is the product, so they must present themselves with confidence to assure you that s/he is the one you’re looking for. Such aggressive behavior will scare some employers, but it is exactly what you need in a salesperson, and something you know only too well.

  • Your Small Business May Need a Virtual Assistant – Part 2


    This is the continuation of a previous post titled, Your Small Business May Need a Virtual Assistant

    7. You have a blog, but do not have time to update entries regularly. Brief ideas and thoughts or links can be emailed to your VA, who then updates your blog.

    8. You need a website set up, either on a directory site or using a web-hosting service. Your VA can design a custom site or adapt a template, and can maintain it on a regular basis, adding current articles or information as needed.

    9. You need a telephone conversation (i.e., conference call, teleclass, etc.) recorded. The VA records the call and transcribes the tape for the participants.

    10. You dictate letters, reports, notes or memos on a cassette tape and mail it to your VA via overnight delivery. Your VA transcribes the tape, prints the letters on your stationery and mails them the following day. Or, send your VA an MP3 file of your recording. S/he transcribes the audio and emails the completed transcript back to you.

    11. You cannot keep up with the volume of email and are missing important messages. You or your webmaster set up a general email account (info@mycompany.com). Your VA retrieves all email, sorts, responds to routine requests, and forwards items of importance to you at your personal email account (myname@mycompany.com).

    12. You are going on vacation, but can’t let your customers wait for two weeks. Your VA answers the phone and email and responds to customers. You are called for urgent calls while you are away if you want.

    13. You need bill paying services. You simply have all bills mailed to a post office box near your VA. Your VA sets up a checking account with payment authorization for both you and the VA. As the bills are prepared for payment, your VA notifies you how much money to deposit into the account. The bills are then paid. Another option, if available from your bank, is to use on-line bill payment services. Security features can be set up which make this a safe and simple solution.

    14. You implement an advertising plan or promo. Your VA can monitor the plan, submits ads by deadlines, track expiration dates, coordinate payment, handle correspondence with advertising vendors, and continually update the advertising report and/or advertising budget report for your review.

    15. You would like to write a book, but can’t get organized. Your VA can compile rough drafts, notes, fragments, letters or memoirs and get them into an editable form to begin the process of formatting the book, research publishers, and send out queries.

    Virtual assistants are here to stay. The above shows that virtual assistants can and do work well for most small and home-based businesses and especially solo-preneurs. Over the next couple of years you can expect your conversations with regards to virtual assistants to go from “What is a virtual assistant and what does a virtual assistant do?” to that of “Who provides your virtual assistant services?”

    Implementing the use of a virtual assistant, especially through a virtual staffing agency, is a low-cost, low-risk undertaking. If the virtual assistant doesn’t work out, you simply request another, perhaps for a better fit. What’s more, coupling the use of a virtual assistant (or several virtual assistants) with your already up-and-coming business can catapult your income and success to the next level and beyond.

     

  • Practical Steps to Building Your Business


    Plan for business

    Building a successful and profitable business is no easy undertaking. If you currently own a business this news is obviously not alien to you. Business owners know that building a business from ground up is dependent on many outside factors like competition, timing, market trends and demands, and other elements which you have very little control over, if any at all.

    Assuming that all of these outside factors are in your favor, there are factors within your control that are as important – or even more important – as the outside factors mentioned above. One such factor is a business plan. Having a sound business plan can lead to having a successful business and long business life if the plan is adhered to.

    That having been said, you will find in the following paragraphs, a number of steps to consider when building your business from the ground up.

    Determine your business

    What are you selling? This question isn’t as easy to answer as you may think, and to p[rove this point we’ll use a well-known sporting apparel company. Nike is in the sportswear business, but the truth is that when you buy a pair of Nike shoes and a t-shirt at the mall you’re buying a lot more than sportswear — you’re buying an image, a feeling. You’re buying the Nike brand.

    Richard Thalheimer, the former CEO of The Sharper Image and the founder of RichardSolo.com, has worked in specialty retail for more than 30 years. When asked what business he’s in, he has often answered, “convenience” or “innovation” before he specifies any particular industry, and Mr. Thalheimer has built one of the most powerful brands in America.

    It’s important to keep in mind, that there’s more to a product or service than the product/service itself. More often than not your brand is what sets your product apart from your competitor’s; and your brand is comprised of the kind of service you provide to your customers, quality of your product/service, company policies like “Money Back Guarantee”, “Warranty”, and other such intracacies of your company policy.

    Select your market

    Who are you selling to? This step is a bit less interpretive than the first, though equally important. Who are you selling to? or more importantly, what do you know about this person? Understanding your consumer is one of the keys to success. What do they do? Where do they hang out? What do they watch on television? Demographics has become one of the most important words in modern (digital age) business.

    There are many demographic statistics that you should have at your disposal wehn you are building (and running) your own business. Knowing the answers to these questions can answer a lot of questions of your own when it comes to a devising a marketing strategy. Richard Thalheimer understood his market for The Sharper Image, probably as well as they understood themselves.

    From an article in the LA Times some years ago, Tracy Wan, who was president and chief operating officer under Thalheimer says “Richard has the amazing ability to figure out the things that people want to have.” This ability to perceive your consumer’s desire can only be a result of knowing them like your neighbor. Understanding the demographic breakdown of your market is critical.

    Create a marketing strategy

    How do you speak to these people? A good marketing strategy is the culmination of understanding your brand and your market demographic. As mentioned in number two, understanding your consumer can answer a lot of questions concerning your marketing strategy: Where should you advertise? What’s the voice of your brand? What kind of prices are reasonable for this demographic?

    In order to engage your consumer, (i.e. sell your product to them), you must know where your advertisements will be noticed, how to speak to them, and how much they will be able to spend, among many other things. Really, this step is really an extension of the last one, because who your market is dictates your marketing strategy entirely.

    Learn by example

    Seek advice from those who have done it. There are many books written by professionals who have already started their own business and have been successful in operating them. One that comes to mind immediately, as we’ve already mentioned him a couple of times, is Richard Thalheimer. With “Creating Your Own Sharper Image”, he shares the story of how – using practical, workable strategies – his tiny office supply company, The Sharper Image, grew into a thriving enterprise.

    Remember, building a successful business is not all about the dollars and cents. Equally valuable is your brand equity and your ability to engage the consumer; your customers, which is only attainable by understanding them. Assuming there is a demand for your product, and you can compete with the other brands, following these four steps will guide you in the right direction.

    A primary business tool on hold

  • Keeping Your Assets and Liabilities in Proper Balance


    Making a profit in business is derived from several different areas. It can get a little complicated because – similar to monetary activities in our personal lives – business is run on credit as well. Many businesses sell their products and services to customers on credit, and as such, adhere to certain accounting principles.

    Accountants use an asset account called accounts receivables to record the total amount owed to the business by its customers who haven’t paid the balance in full yet. Much of the time, a business hasn’t collected its receivables in full by the end of the fiscal year, especially for such credit sales that could be transacted near the end of the accounting period.

    The accountant will record sales revenue and the cost of goods sold for these sales in the year in which they were made and the products delivered to the customer. This is called accrual-based accounting, based on the fact that it records revenue when sales are made and records expenses when they’re incurred as well.

    When sales are made on credit, the accounts receivable asset account is increased. When cash is received from customers, then the cash account is increased and the accounts receivable account is decreased. The cost of goods sold is one of the major expenses of businesses that sell goods, products or services. Even a service involves expenses.

    Therefore what this means exactly is what it says: The cost that a business pays for the products it sells to customers is the cost of goods sold. A business makes its profit by selling its products at prices high enough to cover the cost of producing them, the costs of running the business, the interest on any money they’ve borrowed and income taxes, with money left over for profit.

    When the business acquires products, the cost of those products goes into what’s called an inventory asset account. That cost is deducted from the cash account, or added to the accounts payable liability account, depending on whether the business has paid with cash or credit.

  • Your Small Business May Need a Virtual Assistant


    If you are the owner of a small business, you probably spent most the early years dealing with most of the duties required to keep the business operating in an efficient manner. You know the kind of duties that, though mundane in nature, are very much a part of any business or entrepreneurship:

    Clerical work that includes everything from answering the phone(s) to typing up contracts and balancing the books, in addition to writing checks to merchants which, ultimately, is the task that determine whether or not you get the services necessary to keep your business operational.

    Those early years in business consist of some of the longest days – and some nights – a small business person or entrepreneur has to endure. You are afforded very little time for rest or leisure because, in addition to doing what you do best (generating revenue and managing the business), you had to do everything else.

    As an entrepreneur you know your time and money are worth more when you are able to concentrate on what you do best and leave the rest to an assistant. The kind of assistant you can readily afford without the need to establish workman’s compensation, or withholding and payment federal and local taxes on behalf of your employees.

    I’m referring to Virtual office assistants who work from their own home-based offices and are highly trained in their skill areas as well as a variety of technologies. Many of them have advanced degrees as well as years of professional experience. Not only can a virtual assistant relieve you of mundane, everyday tasks, but also in many cases, s/he can even help you grow your business.

    One of the biggest benefits to hiring a virtual assistant is the ability to delegate work to people who have better skills, and can do work you don’t know how to do, don’t have time to do, or just don’t want to do.

    The next big draw (when considering virtual assistants over bricks-and-mortar assistants) is that virtual assistants only clock-in and work when you need them and use their own resources. In other words, they’re not charging you to sit there and play solitaire on a computer you purchased for them.

    Here Are Some Reasons that Justify the Use of Virtual Assistants:

    1. Your VA receives calls routed to his/her home office phone and your prospective customers do not receive a voice mail. You pay only for the minutes that the VA is on the phone
    2. You need to confirm appointments for the week. Your VA calls the appointments and notes who is confirmed and who must be rescheduled. Your VA even updates your calendar online, if you’re using a mutually accessible calendar program.
    3. By purchasing a software program that installs a desktop electronic billing system on the VA’s computer, billing can be done off-site. The software vendor technical support trains the VA to use the program, then you email or fax information to the VA, who then does daily electronic billing or accounting services to get your billing done.
    4. You are preparing a marketing plan and need further information. Your VA can contact possible advertising outlets on the Internet, magazines, periodicals, newspapers, etc. and acquire information on pricing, publishing dates, publishing deadlines, payment policies, etc. All information is compiled into a report for you to review.
    5. You are preparing a direct mailing and need to verify your database. The database is sent to your VA via email attachment. Your VA telephones each name and verifies name, spelling, title and address. All corrections are made, old names are deleted, and new names are added. The corrected database is “zipped” and returned to you via email attachment.
    6. You need a brochure, business card or flyer for your business. Your VA can design, type and print your advertising material using your own artwork or stock art. Your VA can also make the materials ready to print by a professional print shop and simply email the file to the shop for printing.

    To be continued. Look for more VA skills in our next post