February, 2014

Do You Have the Most Creative Employees?

When a new year comes around, most small business owners will try to make adjustments and improvements to their business plans in order to achieve better results.

To create an effective business plan for 2014, you need to have a good understanding of every aspect of your business, ranging from day-to-day operations to marketing. This can be difficult if you do not have sufficient hands-on experience in the various tasks needed to keep your company running.

4 Secrets to Opening a Coffee Shop Without Going Broke!

Opening a coffee shop is a lot like opening any other business, requiring a mixture of hard work, business experience and a little luck. However, there are a few things unique to a coffee shop that can help you make it in those early months when you are likely to be less about making money and more about just avoiding going broke! Here are some things to help you make it until the good times roll:

It’s Not Such A Good Idea To Wait Until You’ve Reached The Table To Start Negotiations

It’s not always such a good idea to wait until you’ve reached the table to start negotiations. Did it ever occur to you that it might be too late? Negotiations are directly linked to the iceberg theory. It’s obvious that we all want money, services, and goods, but we often fail to get what we want and all those things remain unspoken and unseen, hidden much like the bottom of an iceberg. If you want power, it’s your job to gain access and make use of the parts present at the surface to succeed. It will be a rollercoaster but in the end, it will be worth the effort.

Preliminary Voting Results Revealed. The Companies At The Top Are Very Close. Only 5 Days Left

The semi-finalist voting round has been opened for almost a month now, and the votes are still pouring in. But since its end is fast approaching, we'd love to draw your attention to this important countdown. You have only 5 days until Monday (February 24th) to vote (if you haven't already done so). This is your last chance to support your favorite business idea and help them advance to the final round of the grant campaign.

4 Important Focal Points of a Small Business Social Media Marketing Campaign

While social media marketing is a form of promoting your business it needs to steer clear of a traditional marketing message in order for it to be successful. A common mistake many small business owners make it focusing their social media marketing around the products and/or services their business sells.

Get More Out of Your 2014 Meetings

Office meetings, whether held weekly or monthly, are typically dreaded by employees. They either view them as a complete waste of time or look forward to the fact that they can 'tune out' for an hour while getting paid.

Neither solution is ideal, so here's how to ensure your employees start enjoying office meetings and getting the most out of them.

Six Steps to Make Your Business More Energy Efficient

You pour all your energy into running your business -- so don't overlook your energy efficiency. In order to keep up with constantly changing markets, virtually every business today uses numerous computers, printers and photocopiers together with heating, cooling and lighting systems to generate gratuitous energy bills.

There are some simple practices every business owner can adopt that reduce energy bills by at least 15 percent over the course of a year. The majority can be implemented immediately, lowering your consumption of resources while also reducing expenses.

Take Account of Your Company's Payment System

One of the most important and often overlooked parts of a business is the accounting system.

This is especially true for new and small businesses that may rely on outdated or inefficient methods, especially in regards to their payment processes. This often results in lost income or costly mistakes, but it can be avoided by making some important changes.

Kickstart Your Business: 5 Tips for the "Some Day" Entrepreneur

In our time, the biggest success stories tend to be those concerning entrepreneurs: people who had the will and drive to create companies and succeed on their own merits. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are among the biggest heroes of "some day" entrepreneurs, and it's no secret why: These businesspeople changed the world with their passion. Here are just a few tips towards becoming an entrepreneur yourself.

Five Ways To Get Your Businesses Mail Out Faster

Most companies know that a plethora of communication methods exist these days. At your business, you firmly believe in a blend of the old and the new, and as a result, you are working to find methods that will allow you to send mail out more quickly.