Greener Business Bureau

Archive for the ‘Business Budgeting’ Category

Business is a dream. We all want a business that would be guaranteed to be successful. Business is something that gives us a better life and a better future. When we think of business we see the bright side of it; we see the colours of rainbow, we see the big, black leather chair, personal office, secretary, meetings, appointments, travelling in style, five star holidays and a big, fat, bank balance. Power, position, decisions, respect; these are few of many more…but boss this is not easy, if you think it is easy then good luck!

Any business you wish to do requires many key factors in to considerations, such as; commitment, dedication, knowledge, experience, hard work, a support network, money, time, sacrifices, contacts, communication, skill, education, qualifications, back-up plans, business plans, budget, business proposals, forecasts, predictions, back-up loans or funds, insurance, accounting, finance management, knowledge of making, purchasing, storage, health and safety, policy and procedure, public liability insurance, vision, advertising, marketing strategy, sales skills, pricing, cost of production, level of profit, articulateness, honesty, registration of business, approval, inspection from authorities, customer service, complaints procedures, quality of product, security, risk assessment, stock, production, staff, transport, pension, wages, bills, bank loans, out goings, overdrafts…above all Luck, blessing, pray, mercy of God

The list can go on, but, if you are dedicated and sure of your business venture then these need not be an issue. The key factor of business is personal experience, profit, good management skills, quality of product/service and good customer service. The rest will come as it grows.

No business is guaranteed for life. The ups and downs are always part of business. The life of business is very unpredictable, some businesses are seasonal. Therefore, if you have one bad season then you have to rely on your business acumen and cut expenditure to survive until the next season.

Some businesses rely on public services, and those public services may be changes which in turn will affect your business. Some businesses will have too much competition which may have both positive and negative effects on your business.

The best businesses are new born businesses. When you have identified a need, if you can fill a niche, you will become a pioneer. In this circumstance you will enjoy a healthy profit. Many big businesses were very small and vulnerable once; even a strong, giant was a weak, fragile baby once upon a time.

One thing in business is risk. If you have invested all your money in a business and then you come into debt and have reached the end of your credit you may well have to close the business. Then you are in trouble. However, if you have the skill to get out ‘clean’ then you are still a winner. If you don’t have an instinct for judging risk and perfect timing you are in trouble.

In any business if you are successful then you will gain, and likewise, if you lose then it is your pain.

When it comes to budget planning you need a solid plan that will map out what it is you need to be doing with your money. If you don’t have a budget then you are out spending money and really aren’t making sure you have enough to pay your bills or even that you have enough set aside for emergencies or retirement. So, it is important to have budget planning software that will help you create your budget and follow it each month. That way you will spend only what needs to be spent and save whatever amount it is you want to save. Budgeting software is excellent because it does all the work for you!

The first and most important aspect of budget planning is determining how much money you make each month and how much you must spend. The “must” refers to necessities like food, gas, car payments, house payments, and those general living expenses that are necessary. Work out your budget based on these numbers. Once you know how much you make and how much you have to spend to survive then you just look at the difference to see how much money you have left over to save, play with, invest, or donate. When you know what is left of your income after bills each month then you will have a good idea whether you are living above your means or not.

Now, if the number that was left over from your income after bills seemed like a lot more money than you have at the end of the month you need to figure out where it is going. Sit down and think. Are you buying a fast food lunch every day? That would account for at least $100 a month for one person. Do you buy drinks at the gas station or magazines at the grocery store? Find all the little places you are spending your money and you will see very quickly that there are better ways to save and still get what you want. If you like to have a cold drink in the car then take one from home. If you like reading magazines then subscribe. You will pay for a year’s subscription about the same price of three or four newsstand prices at the grocery store. Doing little exercises like this will allow you to see where you waste money and how you can rein it in.

As you can see you can creating a budget is not that difficult and using forecasting software can also help you determine how much you need to save for future events.

Imprinted items have become a staple of any reasonable marketing budget, whether it’s a multi-million dollar corporation or a small mom-and-pop business. It’s no secret that these nice, little advertising promotional products buy good behavior. Even the local auto repair shop will send a promotional calendar and the bank may hand out imprinted pens.

The mall is full of stores with imprinted bags and even the Starbucks latte is corporate branded as a subtle reinforcement. Surveys show that the next generation of consumers like being bribed into buying, rather than entertained into buying, as in their parents’ generation.

Their grandparents’ generation was enticed by practicality and appearance. Today’s consumer is a complex being that wants the best of all worlds. Marketeers need to take heed and look at all available custom promotional options.

Imprinted items often come in and out of style in phases, but with a little bit of redesign, they can return with renewed popularity. For instance, promotional marketing lanyards quickly became a buzz idea when they first came out a few years ago — mostly due to the fact that people were more and more concerned about losing their pieces of identification, their passports, their keys and their cell phones.

They even started using custom promotional lanyards to hold business cards or employee badges. “Lanyards have really saturated the market,” admitted Charley Johynson, Marketing VP for SnugZ, “and we’ve been looking for ways to make lanyards exciting again, and to show people they’re good for more than just tradeshows.”

He explained that his distributor company is “spicing things up” by offering a one-time setup charge for new clients and allowing an unlimited number of color choices. Thanks to a new merger with Crestline, SnugZ offers a wide variety of dye sublimated lanyards with 13 background designs to add to the corporate logo (or the ability to submit original artwork). This functional gift is great for a variety of people of all age groups.

The good news regarding the influx of direct marketing promotions is that there are always exciting new imprinted promo items coming out! Many marketeers like to play it safe and stick with the imprinted pens, the t-shirts and the tote bags. However, for the internet savvy individual who’s willing to go the extra mile to impress the public, there is a whole world of unusual items that are sure to make an impact! “HorizonSources” offers “logo toasters,” which is every bit as intriguing as it sounds.

A custom imprinted message can be cooked right onto a slice of toast in a custom logo toaster! Another innovative idea is to take the successful corporate apparel formula but go beyond the traditional hats and t-shirts to offer imprinted promotional items like socks, tote bags or bottle cap opener/hats. At “4Imprint”, custom socks go as low as $3.50/pair and there is a wide selection of trendy tote bags, coolers and duffel bags.

Glow-in-the-dark tattoos go over well for a club promotion, whereas a poncho or umbrella might go over especially well during the rainy season in the Northwest. In the age of technology, imprinted promo items like USB devices and mousepads have become industry favorites. In New York City, Lifebrands condoms offered branding opportunity for 4 cents/package, which definitely caught a lot of attention among that 20-something demographic!

“Health and fitness” is another theme many marketing divisions are running with now. Imprinted stress balls have become hot sellers because there are so many colors, shapes, sizes and graphics from which to choose.

Additional health product imprinted items include: big inflatable exercise balls, pedometers, spa sets, pill timers, portable first aid kits, digital jump ropes, sports water bottles, back massagers, frisbees and sunscreen. Health and fitness products promote wellness, while promoting a business at the same time, making it a win-win situation for everyone.

Online marketers are constantly looking for ways to improve their advertising plan and budget. This article will present you with some helpful tips that will stretch your dollars and increase your sales.

There are generally two types of people who get involved with home internet marketing business opportunities. The first are internet marketers with a budget and the second being internet marketers without a budget.

One of the most critical points is that you MUST keep your internet marketing advertising budget separate from your personal money. You cannot be dipping into your business budget for personal use. It just doesn’t work if you want your online endeavor to be successful.

So here’s how to implement a plan to become successful at internet marketing business opportunities on a shoestring budget.

Choose A Business Model

The first thing you need to do is to decide what kind of online entity or business you want to get involved with. Although developing and marketing your own product might seem like a good idea, I would recommend that you don’t do this at first. When you are new to online marketing, you’ll be better off promoting someone else’s product so that you can focus on learning how to run an online business.

Website Design

It is imperative that you have a website to tell prospects about your online opportunity. Although the company that you will be promoting will have their own website, you also have to have your own individualized site. More specifically, a lead capture page is what you need. This is a simple and concise one page site that tells your prospects a little about you and your company. You’ll want to include a video or audio message introducing yourself, a picture of you with or without your family, and a place for people to input their contact information. This carries us right into our next subject of autoresponders.

Autoresponders

Once your prospects enter in their name and email address on your capture page, your autoresponder will now go to work for you. An autoresponder works by staying in close contact with your potential clients by sending out automatic, well designed follow up emails. Your success will be in the follow up. An autoresponder will greatly cut down on the amount of time that you will have to be personally sending out emails.

Generate Traffic

Your next area of concern, and where you will spend the bulk of your time, is in generating traffic to your site. There are so many options for free or low cost advertising. Article marketing, chatting in forums, keeping an online blog, YouTube video production, and Craigslist ads are just some of your potential options. It is advisable to try out a couple and find what works best for you. After some of the free or low cost options start generating you an income, you will be able to reinvest and spend some money to advertise.

It’s a fact that when budgets get tight, promotional efforts are the first thing businesses cut. Whether it’s PR, advertising or marketing – companies usually slice these programs quickly without a second thought. As one boss once told me “PR people are the last to know and the first to go.” Unfortunately, if you look at industry studies, companies need to be do just the opposite – they need to continue to promote their businesses more than ever in slow economic times. Historically, companies that have continued with their promotional programs do better and come out ahead of their competitors.

PR Versus Advertising
The question remains: How do you promote your business when money is very tight? The answer: Be creative. Think strategically and focus on your core audience by using public relations instead of advertising. If you don’t understand the difference between the two than you probably have not been doing a good job of promoting your business anyway. Here’s why: There is a big difference between PR and advertising.

Public relations is a targeted approach that extracts an intrinsic buy-in from your customers. It tells your story through third-party outlets, primarily the media. This gives PR credibility. Most people find out about new products or services by reading about them or asking other people – not by seeing ads. People are hit with hundreds of ads a day and we all tune out to keep our sanity! Think about it, would you rather pay for an advertisement or have an article in your local newspaper that features a happy customer that educates potential consumers about your product, who you are, and what you do?

Advertising, on the other hand, is an expensive buckshot approach where you pay a lot of money to reach everyone, hoping that a few people will notice. It simply is not a good investment for small to medium-sized companies (which make up 95 percent of the economy). Business owners know this so they don’t advertise. The bottom line: advertising works well if you have unlimited funds and are a huge company like Nike or a Microsoft, and can continually throw massive amounts of money into advertising to reach consumers.

The Major Difference
Here’s the major difference between PR and advertising: PR (publicity) builds a brand name; advertising is then used as a follow up tool to maintain the name. To understand this difference I recommend a book (which I give to all my clients) titled “The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR” by Al and Laura Ries. You can find it for .95 cents at any online book store.

The other major difference between PR and advertising is that PR takes more time and commitment on your part. You are not turning the keys of the kingdom over to some supposed industry “guru/artist.” You are part of the team, fielding the ideas and recommendations. PR is not a ground attack, but an air strike with specific targets. This keeps the cost of PR low, and helps you provide a steady stream of information about your company to potential consumers.

A good PR person has a lot of tools at their disposal to help you promote your business. You pay them for their time and any stories or articles that end up in the news do not cost you anything.
Such major companies such as Starbucks, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and Dunkin Donuts have been launched with very small PR budgets.

What a Good PR Person Can Do for Your Business:

o A good PR professional can get your name out in the media by telling your story through consumer and educational stories, and tie-in’s to topics currently being discussed in the media called “hot button issues.” Example: Health care reform. If your company deals with privacy or living will issues, there is a story to be told now.

o A good PR professional can promote you as an “expert” in your field. This makes the media aware of you, who you are and what your company does. They will contact you when they have questions about a topic related to your industry and this, in turn, raises the visibility of your company.

o A good PR professional can write articles for you for your web site and send E-newsletters to your current customers loaded with news, information, tips and advice about your industry and business.

o A good PR professional will find opportunities for your company with local organizations so that you can support special events such as health fairs or charitable events. Your employees can get involved and this creates a win-win because you are helping your community while increasing your visibility.

o A good PR professional can promote your business through on-line article services that are viewed by hundreds of companies in your industry every day and use other “new media” such as Facebook to update your account(s) and keep your news fresh and interesting.

Tips on How to Promote Your Small Business and Not Break the Bank:

o Determine your budget and your commitment level in employee hours on your part.

o Find a reputable PR professional, there are a lot of good freelancers out there who have extensive experience. They are much cheaper than an agency, and you get personalized service from the top dog, not a college-aged kid, hired to save the agency money.

o Find a PR person by observing what other companies are doing, if you see a company that has a successful PR program, call the owner and ask him/her who they use, or Google PR professionals in your area. Example: “Public Relations professionals in Louisville.”

o Once you have identified a few candidates, set up meetings and go over your goals, ask them for some ideas, and pay them for two hours of their time to find out if they are a good fit for you. Most will not charge you for an initial meeting.

o Invest in a long-term plan of at least six months to a year. Go back and re-evaluate your plan in three months.

As a business owner, you know the importance of building your business at a slow and steady pace. PR works the same way. Think of PR as the tortoise in the “Tortoise and the Hare” fable. Slow and steady wins the race. Remember, building strong relationships with your customers is the most important goal you have. Let a good PR professional help you meet that goal.

Business incorporation can be difficult on a good day. In California, it seems that it is becoming more difficult by the day. Why? Three words…Budget, Budget, Budget!

California government just can’t get it right. In the best of times, the process employed by the Secretary of State to process Business Incorporation and Limited Liability Company filings was one of the slowest in the country. Even then (back in the good ol’ days), it took several weeks for the Secretary of State to process the paperwork if you wanted to incorporate or form an LLC, while many states would process a business filing in less than 24 hours. If you think several weeks to incorporate or form a limited liability company in California is bad, hold onto your hat. As of this writing, California is taking about 2½ months! That’s right, if you want to form an LLC or incorporate your business in California, plan on about 10 weeks of waiting for the Secretary of State!

There is a way out, however. By paying extra money, your filing can be completed in about 7 business days! How do they do that? Well, they do it by continuing to push normal processing times back even farther to collect the increase in upfront fees. Make sense? No, not really…California’s entrepreneurs who are considering business incorporation or maybe starting a limited liability company are the answer to California’s budget problems. Their business incorporation is a vote of confidence in their ability to be successful in business and their success will bring untold tax dollars to the coffers of the state. The state should do everything in its powers to get these new businesses up and running so that the hungry and eager entrepreneurs who have always made California great can help to rebuild its struggling economy.

I am not writing this as a means to prevent you from pursuing your dream of owning and running your own business. In fact, I believe that your business incorporation and the thousands of LLCs and Corporations, like yours, that are waiting to be filed are the answer. We are no longer even offering a filing that will take in excess of two months. Our price now automatically includes the extra rush fees required to complete the filing faster. Incorporate. Form an LLC. Chase your dreams. We will do our part to continue to help and, hopefully, we can help California understand how important your business incorporation success really is.