Do you think that your workload is hampering your killer marketing activities?

You need an extra effort not the extra workload. Today when competition is high and consumers have many options to choose, an extra effort towards improvement of your product, managing your customers and taking care of other aspects of your business will give you advantage over your competition. You need to multiply your time may be you can keep your margin low, but will give you more volume and increase in your turnover. 

Most SME’s start well during there initial stage of launching the business but looses its consistency do to pool of workloads on its day today life. It is often seen that hiring more employees gives extra load on limited earning resources resulting less revenue than expected. You need to put more efforts on Marketing and concentrate on your other activities so that you can do business with an ease. Outsourcing is one of the solutions for small and medium business entities too, that give them more opportunity to utilize there valuable time on marketing and other efforts. (Provided they get an honest an able outsourcing partner.) 

Outsourcing is hiring a third party service provider to participate as a team member in your organization and share your workload. You may need to outsource your projects to save your time and get an expert professional to do the job for you. It is helpful to you in terms of, managing and multiplying your time so that you can focus on other important activities of your business needs. This is another effective tool to stay ahead with your competitions. By sharing your workload you get enough time to manage your business and think of its better promotions. You can outsource many things mainly your daily business activities i.e. accounting, document processing, Web site maintenance, Secretarial work, or other works need manual operations as well as marketing services. Below are some reasons to give an idea about benefits of outsourcing. 

1.You save time in finding, interviewing and selecting the new employees by hiring an agency or search for your own. 

2.You save time on providing them proper training as well as they need to adjust with your work culture too. 

3.You can save your time, which you need to do all time-consuming paperwork requires hiring a permanent employee to your organization. 

4.You do not need to purchase extra equipments for your existing setup. 
5.You save cost in your daily office expenses as well as recurring employee charges i.e. Taxes, Insurance, Medical, leave and many more. 

6.You can utilize your time in better way and can deliver better output for your business. 

7.If you are a contractor, you can hire a subcontractor and focus on more orders. 

8.If you are marketing professional you can double your marketing efforts and can have a wider reach. 

9.You will be giving the extra efforts, which all are needed in present competition, to develop your business and getting more volume of works. 

10.You will be getting a professional who has expertise in his own field and can deliver you better output. 

There are many more reasons why you need to outsource your projects. Today time management is an important aspect of your business. There are many instance of SME’s growing to a large business houses simply multiplying there existing time. 

Managing Your Home Based Online Business – 2

In the first part of this series of articles, on managing your online business at home, I wrote about the many management responsibilities and functions you have rolled into one if you have your own sole proprietor business, with no staff. Your management task is perhaps the most difficult of all. You have to manage yourself, in all those different areas of your business such as finance, marketing, purchasing and computing. 

I believe that if you think of your new home business as having different areas of management for you to concentrate on, you are more likely to succeed long term. If you can adopt some of the techniques of good management, you will end up with a more sound business that will stand the test of time. You will be a better decision maker, and it is decisions that dictate the progress or downfall of any business. Decision making needs to be unemotional and as scientific as possible, but as much as anything needs to be based on common sense. Good management is often a matter of common sense, and that is why I believe you, whatever your background, can run a successful business limited only by your ambitions. 

The other virtue you will need in abundance is patience, and this an area where you definitely need to manage yourself. Impatience brings emotion into your decision making. It also brings self criticism, or criticism of others, when none is either deserved or necessary. Patience, realism and common sense combined will contribute greatly to making you a good business manager. With those three attributes, you will be well placed to learn the skills of management in the context of your own small business. You will be able to learn how the different functions of a business relate to each other and interact. 

That is not easy, but over time, if you apply yourself, it will all fall into place. This is where patience is vital. Your age or background do not necessarily matter. I know that in my late 20’s I did not really understand business and how it all fitted together. At 30, I knew I needed some sort of professional qualification, and I decided on management accountancy. The syllabus was tough, with 18 exams over 2 and a half to 5 years. What surprised me was the variety of subjects to cover. There were exams in company law, business law, economics, corporate planning, marketing, production, decision making, cost accounting, management accounting, mathematics and statistics. Each subject was very different. Then, at the end, I suddenly realized that all of them knitted together. The ones I hated (law) and loved (marketing) all had a place in the scheme of things. 

You, of course, have no need to study or be an expert in all of those things. But it does help to at least be aware that some of them are, in their own way, critical to your success. If you are taking a long term view of things, which you should be if you are serious about having your own home business, you have plenty of time to learn about those subjects that are most critical for your business: 

Finance 

Whatever your business, this is a very critical function for you to understand and manage, so when it comes to learning all you can, financial management is a priority. Much of this is again common sense, and realism, and there are many tools around to help you keep good financial records. But as I mentioned before, it is decisions that dictate the progress or downfall of any business. All decisions you make will have a financial impact on your business. However, good financial records alone will not bring the reward of better decision making. If you want to maximize the profits of your home business, you may find it helps to have other, non-financial records to aid your decisions. I will discuss this more in part 3 of this series of articles. 

Marketing 

Marketing is what I love most about business, and it is equally important to finance in all free enterprises. With an online business, the marketing side is an ever moving area of expertise. Offline, marketing has long since stabilised. Online, it has not stabilised at all; it is still developing and evolving. You need to be aware of what’s happening in the world of internet marketing, what has happened, and what is likely to happen. Always remember, though, there will always be a financial impact of your marketing decisions. You are obviously prepared to take risks, as you have started or are starting an online business at home. As the manager of your business you will need to balance the financial and marketing conflicts as they arise. You have to strike the right balance. If the finance director in you is too risk averse, you may stifle the growth of your business. If the marketing director in you is too cavalier, and unrealistic about sales prospects, you may ruin your business in one or two rash decisions. More on this in part 4. 

Computing 

If you are working online full time, or even part time, you will always need to be looking out for developments in the arenas of software and the internet itself, and maybe at times hardware. You may come across software that either improves your efficiency, makes life much easier or takes you into a new and better way of working. This is another area where knowledge is power. You need to be competitive, and sometimes you will come across new software that will make you more competitive. Try to keep abreast of things in the software marketplace, as it affects your business. 

Time Management 

While not a function like finance or marketing, when you work at home alone you will find that time management becomes key to your success and enjoyment of working from home. It is a subject you should always be aware of and make conscious decisions about. I will write more on this topic in part 5. 

The above are just the key areas where you need to view your business from a management viewpoint, and the list of course is not exhaustive. However, pay attention to these from a manager’s perspective, and you should benefit in the long run. You will take the leap from being “employee” to “boss”, even if you are the only one you can be “boss” to. 

The Fun Of Starting A New Business

So you had that fantastic business idea, the one that's going to be wildly successful and make you a fortune - even better, you actually did something about it and started your own business. Good for you! Not everyone gets that far. Most people sit and day dream about what they might do if only .... 

"The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision" - W. Clement Stone 

But you got over the biggest hurdle, that first step and you actually created something. 

Well done - you did more than most. Now you have the day to day details of running your business so how do you keep going? 

There are several things to look at here: 

1. What are you good at and what do you enjoy doing? Make two lists - one of the jobs you like and one of the jobs you don't do very well. Take the second list and have a look at what you might outsource or automate. Do you love doing those accounts or would your time be better spent in forward planning while your accountant does the sums? Must you personally reply to every enquiry or could you create a FAQ which you can post on your website and refer people to by autoresponder? In the early stages of your business you might find you don't have the money to pay someone to do the jobs you hate. Could you swap skills to get the help you need? 

2. Why are you doing this? You need to be motivated to start a business and keep it going. The best way to do this is to know what the effort is for. What really moves you to get up in the morning and do what you need to do even when you don't really feel like it? Write your reasons down. Find pictures of that house, or that holiday and put them where you can see them. 

3. How do you deal with those bumps in the road? Not everything you do will be perfect - sometimes things you've tried will be a disaster - it's the way you react to problems that matters. If you curl up in a ball and give up at the first sign of failure you'd better not be in business. It's all about attitude. 

4. Have a plan and stick to it as far as possible but be prepared to be flexible and open minded. Sometimes the most unexpected opportunities come and you need to be ready to seize them. - as Joe Vitale says 'Money likes speed'. 

5. Get a mentor - learn from someone who has done it. Someone to bounce ideas off and who can encourage you when things get tough is invaluable. 

And most importantly, never let anyone put you down and never be afraid of failure: 

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat" - Theodore Roosevelt. 

Don't ever forget that! 

How Nov. 15, 2004 Deadline for Sarbanes Oxley 404 Compliance Affects You

Public companies have 90 days from the end of their fiscal year to comply. For those with market capitalization of $75 million or more, this clock starts on Nov. 15, 2004; while all others with less than $75 million market capitalization begin July 15, 2014. 

Fast Relief for Sarbanes Oxley Section 404 Compliance 

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires management to confirm the effectiveness of their IT and financial controls in an "internal control report", which is contained within the annual report (10-K) issued to the public. But what exactly is an internal control report, and why is it important to you? 

The Section 404 Internal Control Report 

First, the internal control report must affirm management’s responsibility for controls and procedure, and second, it must contain an assessment of the effectiveness of the internal controls and procedures for financial reporting. Although both of these issues might at first appear difficult to solve, they are actually not as hard as you would think. 

Management’s Responsibility for Controls and Procedures 

Affirming management’s responsibility for controls and procedures means more than to simply say management believes in or trusts their system. The affirmation will also need to include a program for a code of ethics for senior financial officers. The program must include prompt disclosures of any changes to your ethics program. So how do you do this? 

Business Ethics and Compliance Program 

You can easily implement a business ethics program using a step-by-step guide for developing your firm’s business ethics and compliance program. This manual will save you time researching, writing and editing your program. It provides sample policies, surveys, forms and training session outlines that are fully editable using MS Word. And it is also fully endorsed by The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) as a tool to maintain a culture of integrity. 

Internal Controls 

Your internal control report must also contain an assessment of the effectiveness of your internal controls and procedures for financial reporting. In practical terms, control is equivalent to predictability. Everyday management creates forecasts and budgets to predict the future. And the further into the future you can accurately predict, then the more control you have. 

Achieve More Control Over Your Forecasts And Budgets 

A training class for creating well defined processes shows you how to attain more control. Real world exercises and examples explain how to increase management effectiveness, achieve process control, communicate clear procedures, and verify if your processes are working. So what about procedures? 

Procedures Effectiveness 

For dealing with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, you can look at products like the Management CFO Value Series that includes Accounting, Human Resources, as well as policies, procedures and forms for other departments. Such procedures will save you time researching best practices, creating a standard format, and thinking of clear and concise paragraphs to write. 

Easier Section 404 Compliance 

Your internal control report is the key to your Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 compliance. You should also look at a business ethics and compliance program, attend a training class for creating well-defined processes to learn more about management effectiveness, and use a CFO Management Value Series to speed the development of your procedures. You want to achieve fast, easy, and effective relief for your Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 compliance. 

Policies and Procedures Used as Management Key

Managers know the difficulty of getting people to do the right things the right way. And employees need their expertise and understanding of the way things should be done. But how do you get it across so it actually sticks? The answer is well-defined policies and procedures. 

Quickly Convey What’s Right 

Managers can convey the exact way things should be done with policies and procedures, and they can do it faster than ever with pre-written documents. This speeds an organization’s standard operating procedures project effectiveness to get results. 

Create Strong Operating Procedures 

Departmentally-focused manuals provide an excellent opportunity to create strong, consistent Standard Operating Procedures across multiple functions. This includes added savings of time and resources. Departments that benefit with improved results include: 

• CEO Management - Build an effective management procedures system based on best practices for the entire organization 
• CFO Controller - Simplify the job as a CFO or Controller, and speed the development of comprehensive Accounting and HR manuals 
• ISO 9001 Quality Manager - Create ISO 9001 quality policies and procedures manual with prewritten policies, procedures and forms 
• Human Resources Manager - Create HR policies and procedures manual with prewritten policies, procedures and forms 
• Security Manager - Create complete facility security procedures and disaster recovery plans 

Customize to any Business 

When researching effective solutions, the content should be well-researched and follow industry-standard formats. Moreover, the applications such as MS Word-based standard operating procedures documents should be easy to edit and simple to customize for any business or organization. 

Utilize Essential Procedures 

Management should have a solution to implement their entire policy system with essential procedures in one concise, consistent format. And they can do it effectively and efficiently because pre-written documents: 

• Saves research time 
• Improves procedure writing 
• Speeds policy development 
• Eases document editing 
• Enhances policy knowledge 
• Simplifies implementation 

The Right Documents 

Business owners and executives should select a pre-written policies and procedures package specifically created for a particular management scope. And choose the one that identifies their role and needs. 

Can You Play the Drums?

When I was a child, all I wanted from life was to be able to play every instrument under the sun. Pretty lofty goal, right? 

I spent a couple decades learning numerous instruments, a couple I mastered; with many of the instruments I considered myself an 
average player, but that was ok – at least I could do it! Years went by, I kept learning new instruments, and I was very proud of myself. 

One day, I decided it was time to learn the drums. I started with the snare drum, and I was fair at playing that. Next, the 
tri-toms, the bass drum, symbols, and so on. Being the overachiever that I am, I decided one day to get a drum set. I 
worked on it, day in and out, striving to make some sense out of this set of drums. I banged on them endlessly, struggling to find 
my beat – to make them all work together while in my hands. My father, being a kind soul, walked in on me playing my drum set 
and said, “You know, you look like a maniac flailing around over there.” 

Skip forward several years later. I still have that drum set (in my shed), and I still play it occasionally. No set of lessons, books, or study seems to teach my feet and hands to move as they should with the drums. My beats end up half-witted, and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that 1) I can’t do it all myself and 2) If I need a drummer, I might as well hire a professional. 

The moral of my story is, I know what I can and can’t achieve. The drums are not my ‘cup of tea’, but I know of several 
individuals who are very good at the drums. This is true in my business as well; while I can keep my books and do my personal 
taxes, when I put all of the accounting/bookkeeping together, I end up flailing like a maniac once again. 

Many business owners seem to be under the assumption that they can do it all, that they can be the catch-all support that their 
business needs. In my experience, this is only not true, but can also make your business look very unprofessional. Your ability to say, “I’m not a web designer” or “I’m not an accountant” or “I don’t know my head from a hole in the ground in regards to [fill in the blank]” will set your business apart from the crowd. I can 
give you a great for instance: I know next to nothing about real estate. I know it has something to do with houses, mortgages, 
listings, and showings; but what good does that do me? However, I know a friend of mine has ample experience in real estate, and this is her niche market. Thus, every inquiry I get about real estate I send to my friend. 

We all forget at one time or another that we can’t do everything, and take on projects we are blatantly not qualified for. It is imperative that we not only find our niche market, but also figure out what we cannot accomplish successfully, and pass it on to someone who does. 

I cannot play the drums, but I am a master at the flute and trombone. I cannot do bookkeeping/accounting, but am a whiz at 
marketing and design. How about you? 

Issuing Warrants to Investors

When raising capital for a business venture, warrants are a common form of equity that is given to investors. A warrant is like an option – it gives the holder the right to purchase a security at a fixed or formulaic price, which is known as the "exercise" or "strike" price. 

Warrants are often confused with options. Options, as used in the venture capital space, are typically long term (up to 10 years). They are also typically issued to employees versus investors. Conversely, warrants act like short-term options and, unlike employee options, can be traded as an independent security. 

In general, neither the issuance of warrants nor their exercise (at least by non-employees) is a taxable event. In fact, in 1984, Congress reversed the earlier position of the IRS that the expiration of a warrant is a taxable event for the issuer. However, whenever a debt security with warrants attached is issued as a package, original issue discount problems are invited. 

One type of warrant that once popular as a financing mechanism for emerging ventures is contingent warrants. These warrants become exercisable if and when the holder does something for the issuer, for example purchases a certain level of product. Contingent warrants are no longer used often since the SEC ruled in favor of current and periodic recognition of expense to the issuer. 

Like an option, a warrant is considered a "common-stock equivalent” for accounting purposes. And, if the warrant has been "in the money" (i.e., the exercise price is below the market price) for three consecutive months, it is deemed to impact earnings per share under the so-called treasury-stock method. That is, the warrants are considered exercised, new stock is issued at the exercise price, and the proceeds to the issuer are used to purchase in stock at the market price. 

Warrants are a common financing mechanism and companies seeking venture capital should consider and become knowledgeable about this type of equity device. 

Resume Outline - Add Structure & Flow to Your Resume

Building your resume, based on a resume outline will give it structure and flow... it provides an outline of all the things you should include in your resume. 

A resume is one of the most important documents you will ever create 

First you have to decide on a particular format for your resume. The two main formats in use today are chronological and functional format. Which one is best to use will depend greatly on your situation. 

To build your resume you can use free resume forms located on the web. This can provide you with directions if you are having trouble building your resume. A sample resume outline would include the following sections: 

The Heading 

Your resume should start with the heading. You can list your basic details so the employer can contact you. You can include your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. 

NAME 
ADDRESS 
PHONE NUMBER 
EMAIL ADDRESS 

Job Objective 

This is an optional section of your resume outline. Here you can tell readers what the objective of your resume is and what you are looking for. 

Example: 

Entry-level accounting position with medium to large public accounting firm. 

The "Body" is the largest section of your resume outline 
This is where you can enter details about your education, work experience and additional information. The body contains: 

Education 

Here you can list your educational background. 
Educational Background Format: College, Degree, Major, Honors, Relevant Courses 
Sample Education Section: Drexel University 
BA Educational Leadership, May 2000 

If you have a college education, do not list your high school information. You can also list any honors for academic excellence in this section of your resume outline. 

If you are a graduating senior or looking for an internship, you can add a relevant courses section to your resume outline. 

Employment History 

This is an important part of the resume. Here you can list your previous employment history. If you are using a chronological resume format, you should list the most recent job positions first on your resume outline. 

Example: 

Drug Emporium, Wayne, PA 
Cashier, June to September, 2001 
Supervised customer check out 
Handled the cash register 
Managed and stocked merchandise 

You can also list relevant volunteer activities or work experience programs if you do not have much job experience. 

Achievements 

If you have any special achievements you would like to announce, you can use this section. Maybe you made a suggestion that saved your previous boss a ton of money. You can list it in this section of your resume outline. 

Special Skills 

The remaining sections of the resume can include additional skills such as fluency in a foreign language. 

References 

You should leave this section out altogether. References are not required at this stage and stating that 'References are available upon request' is assumed anyway... so you just end up wasting valuable space! 

Additional Optional Sections 

You can add additional sections to your resume outline such as volunteer work, community involvement or honors. 

You also have to decide on the layout of your resume. Choose a common font and medium range font-size, such as 12. Decide how you want to highlight the headings of the different sections. You can use bold, italics or underline to highlight section headings. Some people use bold and a larger font size to highlight their name on the resume. 

The last part of your resume will probably receive little focus, so if you have a marketable skill or outstanding honor you should try to incorporate them in earlier sections of your resume. 

You can find a lot of resources on the web that can provide you with free outlines and sample resume layouts. Usually an outline will differ if the resume is for a recent college graduate or a long time professional. Choose a resume outline that is specific to your career field and you can build your resume around that outline. 

How to Start an Investment Club - Business Model

Your investment club will need to decide what type of entity you're going to adopt for business purposes. You'll have to decide whether you're going to be a corporation, a general partnership, or limited liability partnership. 

Each of these business models has their own advantages and disadvantages. 

· Corporation. Most investment clubs will avoid becoming a corporation. This is because corporations are taxable business entities that require knowledgeable accounting skills to make them run smoothly and in accord with government regulations. A corporation generally means a lot of paperwork. This paperwork can be avoided by choosing another business model for your purpose of running an investment club. 

· General partnership. This type of business model requires less paperwork and knowledge about taxes and other financial issues. Most investment clubs choose a general partnership as their choice of a business entity. A general partnership has nominal paperwork and costs associated with it because the taxes are passed to each partner's tax returns. This type of business model will let you accomplish what you need to do to run your investment club with the least amount of tax influence. 

· Limited liability corporations. This type of a business model is much like the general partnership but it gives individual members of your investment group a bit more liability protection. Keep in mind that this type of business entity can be expensive and will need more paperwork. 

Members of your investment group will have to decide which of the above business models works best for your club. 

You will have to make a decision one way or the other since establishing a business entity is a requirement for tax purposes

Small Business 101: Deadly Ignorance

American small business is again in transition. Many employees, now working from home, are no longer tied to a geographic office and the woes of commuting. This is a relatively new phenomenon with hints of explosive sector growth in the days ahead. As this turbulent economy has forced downsizing, offshore restructuring and closures in large companies, many new entrepreneurs have been born. These are people, who instead of tirelessly attempting to find new employment and possibly enduring the same fate as previously experienced, are now starting small businesses and enjoying the benefits and perils of self-employment. 

There's an old story telling of an Admiral's decision to fight a battle against overwhelming odds. It seems that he was approaching the coast of an enemy land, with a larger naval force closing in from behind and a great army approaching from the land ahead. He prayed and then addressed his men. He announced that their battle weary forces would land on the beach ahead, dig in and prepare for the upcoming battle. There was no turning back and no other alternative. He ordered their ships burned after they landed. Their only choice was to fight to win or perish. They defeated their enemy because he eliminated any other escape route. They were fixed on the goal of survival and none other.

That is the same attitude we as entrepreneurs must take. We can not afford to be denied. We must grow and prosper or our business will surely perish. We must constantly be looking for ways to cost-effectively market our business and increase sales. We must control costs and have sufficient cash flow for daily operations. Each of us must be persistent, relentless and vigilant. As CEO, we are the manufacturer, the sales team, the marketing department, legal office, accounting office, human resources manager, IT manager, the webmaster and so on. We can't afford to be all these positions. Our job is to sell! We must locate cost effective resources to help us grow and protect our investment in our business. 

The growth of the internet has changed our marketplace as well. Years ago, a small business owner decided upon a geographic chunk of the market and set up shop. Today, that shop is typically located in an office at the entrepreneur's home. The marketplace is now the world. The costs of marketing products and communicating worldwide are so low that almost anyone can take part in this revolution. Sophisticated voice mail, cell phones, email and effective ecommerce web sites now provide the illusion of size and grandeur for even the smallest home-based business. The end customer typically has no idea whether their supplier is local or across the world. He may be dressed in a shirt and tie or in his pajamas! All that typically matters is that the exchange of product and services is successfully made for a profit.

It is critically important for the small, home-based entrepreneur to be aware of resources available to her as she makes this great leap. Too many people leap prematurely into business only to fail because of poor planning and insufficient financial resources. Do not get caught in this trap. Don't quit your day job until you have enough cash on hand to pay the bills for at least a year into your new venture. Become aware of and develop the resources available to you. You want everything possible going for you as you make this leap of faith into the entrepreneurial world.

Here in South Carolina, we have the outstanding Women's Business Center (http://www.scwbc.org), a division of the SCMEP, South Carolina Manufacturers Extension Partnership (http://www.scmep.org), one of the best kept secrets available to businesses at all levels in our State. Other States have similar programs modeled after ours. These are incredible resources, partially funded by the State and private resources, available at little to no cost to entrepreneurs, with the purpose of aiding the successful growth of small business. Some additional national resources are:

http://www.national business.org
http://www.nase.org
http://www.gosmallbiz.com
http://www.empoweringbiz.com
http://www.nfib.org
http://www.qualitybusinessdirectory.com

There are also numerous magazines devoted to small business, home-based business, marketing, sales, accounting, etc… Get tuned in to these and other resources available to you. Read your industry publications to stay abreast of competition and other facets of your business interests.

A single legal issue, FACTA problem, accounting error or marketing miscue can put you out of business. In the case of FACTA, insufficient security or poor record-keeping these days could find you legally responsible for a single employee's identity fraud issue, which may end up being very costly. A single lawsuit or vendor dispute can shut you down. Many entrepreneurs are ignorant, ill-prepared and under-schooled with regard to these and other issues. Do not get caught in the deadly ignorance trap. 

There is more opportunity available today than ever before for the wise entrepreneur. Get all you ducks in a row before you make the fateful leap into the new world marketplace. Be smart, learn all you can as quickly as possible and take action on your ideas. Like the Admiral, be determined to win in the face of what may appear to be overwhelming adversity.

Is Your Business Profitable?

What’s your job profitability? Do you know?

Many business owners are unsure of their profitability at a company or job level. They “think” they are making money because they have a few dollars in their checking account. Having money in your checking account doesn’t mean you are profitable. It might simply mean you haven’t paid all the bills yet, so you have a little cash. Cash and profit are two different concepts. If you don’t know your exact income and expenses for each job and your overall business, then how can you know whether you are making a profit? And, if you aren’t profitable, your business won’t last long.

Analyze Each Job

Regardless of the size of your business or your industry, profitability is something you should be monitoring on a monthly basis. To determine your profit, you must know how much you make and spend on each job. Expenditures should be tracked for direct labor and material costs on each job. In addition, you should also be tracking overhead costs and allocating them to your various jobs as applicable. There is always going to be some general overhead, but too often dollars are thrown into general overhead, when those dollars could easily be attached to specific jobs. 


Intuit’s QuickBooks software program has easy-to-use features that allow you to do job-costing for time and materials, so you don’t have to worry about having to track it all manually. Rely on tools to help you run your business more efficiently and effectively. 

Are you curious how you are doing with job costing measurements? Here are some quick and easy questions to gauge your job costing performance:

1. Do I track each customer’s revenue information through a detailed invoice?
2. Do I have a way of breaking down my direct job materials cost by customer?
3. Do I associate all time spent to each job accurately with actual dollar amounts?
4. Do I have access to reports to monitor profitability on each job in a timely manner?
5. Do I have a way to trend the fluctuations in job profitability from job to job, month to month, etc?

If you answered “no” to any of these, then it’s time for you to take an objective look at your financial goals. It’s time for you to implement a job costing mechanism to help you answer “yes” to all these questions. How can you track your profitability and long-term growth plans if you don’t have detail at a job level? 

QuickBooks Can Help

Here are some easy ways to utilize QuickBooks effectively to help you with your job-costing process:

1. Set up the QuickBooks Item list so that you’ll have both an expense and an income aspect to each of the items. This will allow you to track your costs and your income, and will provide you profit by item.
2. Record your sales through the invoicing or sales receipt process. This will record the income aspects of the items.
3. As you purchase the product or service items, make sure that you utilize the Items tab so that it will record the cost to the appropriate item. In addition, make sure to assign your customer/job information to each line item so that you’ll have the costs associated to the appropriate customer/job for job-costing.
4. Utilize the time-tracking mechanism in QuickBooks so that you and your employees can track time by item and customer/job. No dollar value is associated with this time until you actually pay the employees within QuickBooks. 
5. QuickBooks has preformatted reports that you can access to have job-costing information right at your fingertips. These are found under the Reporting menu and the Jobs/Time/Mileage option.
6. QuickBooks has the ability to provide reports for any time period you select. This will allow you to have a variety of detail over the growth of your business and to produce trending reports. You can modify the report as needed to meet your needs.

A good accounting professional can help you understand what these reports are telling you, in terms that you can use. Reports alone don’t provide value if you don’t understand them. So it is key that you understand the reporting information and how you can use that information to assist you in decision-making as you grow your business profitably. 

Job-costing is easier when you set-up your accounting/bookkeeping software package and know how to use it. So, challenge yourself today to become more adept at running a financially savvy business through job-costing. Then, you’ll know, without a doubt, whether your company is profitable.

Here is the latest and accurate assistance relating to laptop bags.

Here is the latest and accurate assistance relating to laptop bags. When you are on the lookout for excellent information relating to laptop bags, you'll find it's complex sorting out the best information from unprofessional laptop bags proposals and guidance so it is important to know how to judge the advice that is offered.

Here's a few tips which we sincerely believe you should use when you're searching for information about laptop bags. You need to understand that the advice we present is only relevant to web based information about laptop bags. We do not offer you any advice or guidance for conducting research offline.

A good hint to follow when offered help or advice concerning a laptop bags site would be to confirm the sites ownership. This could reveal the people behind the website laptop bags authority The quickest way to work out who owns the laptop bags web site is to find the sites 'about' page.

All decent sites providing information on laptop bags, will nearly always have an 'about' or 'contact' page which will record the owner's details. The info should make known major points about the site owner's capability. This permits you to make an informed assessment about the vendor's education and practical knowledge, to give recommendations about laptop bags. 

Resume Writing and Preparation is Free Online

Creating a strong resume is a very important part of applying for a job, either online or off line. There are many resume writing services that will help you build an impressive resume for job interviews. 

You can also learn how to write a resume for free by surfing the Internet for resume writing help. Many sites will show you tips and advice on choosing a resume style that works best for you. 

You can also find samples of resumes, resume templates, resume software, and examples of resume cover sheets or letters. 

Whether you’re looking to create a business resume, marketing resume, military resume, electronic resume, accounting resume, nursing resume, acting resume, sales resume, teacher resume, executive resume, student resume or a customer service resume, you can find great advice online with a little research. 

When preparing your resume, keep in mind that employers use resumes for several purposes: 

** Screen Applicants – Most employers will only look at a resume for about 30 seconds to determine whether or not an applicant is a good fit for their organization. 

** Develop Interview Questions – Statements on your resume can be used to formulate questions they may ask during an interview. 

** Communication Skills – Employers want to see how well you express yourself. 

** Qualifications – Employers will reference your resume when making hiring decisions based on how closely your qualifications match their needs. 

Writing a resume isn’t easy, but by studying various tips and advice, you can learn to create a type of resume that will get you one step closer to your ultimate goal of finding a great job. 

Company/Employee Handbook as Organisational Improvement Tool

A business is only able to grow as fast as the internal organisation is able to process higher volumes of sales. But how to get an optimal internal organisation? Well, you will need to adapt your internal organisation over and over again. It’s a never ending story. However, a Company/Employee Handbook could assist you to achieve the best internal business organisation. 

This brings up the question, What has to be included in a Company/Employee Handbook? Everything what has influence to your business operation. First of all, it has to be outlined which areas the Company/Employee Handbook will cover. As it has to do with internal operation, here is a list of items you should include: 

- Company Background Information (Name-Development, Foundation date and place, History-Milestones, Vision) 
- Owner and/or Manager Bios/Profiles 
- Listing of Officers and Board of Directors 
- Employment Roles (Job Roles, Job Descriptions) 
- Description of the main products and services (just use your marketing material) 
- FAQ (about internal subjects only) 
- Company timeline (What, when, where) 
- Office procedures (Workflow-Information, Working Procedures) 
- List of persons to know (Bank Contact, Tax Advisor, Laywer, Main Suppliers, etc.) 
- Overview of agreements (Rental, Leasing, etc.) 
- Internal Policies (Dress code, Phone usage and answering, Voice Mail Procedure, Parking, 
Business Cards, Drug Policy, etc.). 

The above list shows which information should be included. The following list shows which departments should be included: 

- Distribution 
- Inventory/Warehouse 
- Marketing (How Follow-up’s are handled, Lead-Generation, etc.) 
- Customer Support 
- Research and Development 
- Accounting 
- Human Resources 
- Purchase/Procurement. 

The above two lists just show, how complex it could be to setup a Company/Employee Handbook. But it don’t have to be complex, just start partial. Only include the information which are already available and use the help of your employees. The benefits of having a Company Handbook are numerous, your employees will save time, it will be easier to improve procedures, because the procedures will be broken down into small sections of the whole precodures. Everything is clearly described, so nobody needs to ask over and over again. In case of holiday or illness of an employee, others could jump into the job, because they could be trained faster. 

As employer, you could hire employees with lower education. And your employees will love it, because they know where to look, when they have questions and they could improve their working environment as well. But the most advantage for the owner is, that the organisation will be able to work properly, when the business grows and when the owner might sell the business one day, it might get sold easier, because of the proper organisation. 

When installing a Company Handbook, you will find procedures you could automate. Automating the operation as much as possible will also be a big benefit, because employees and employer are able to focus their workforce on more important topics, such as improving the sales volume. Furthermore automatization will reduce to cost of operation as well. 

A Company/Employee Handbook is a bit like a Business Plan, but far more detailed, because it will contain information on every internal procedure. Only the financial part of the business plan will not be included, but if you like you might include some financial information you like to share with your employees. As you describe your procedures just do it as a numeration or listing. The description don’t have to be very well formed, it’s just important that everyone who will read it, is able to understand what has to be done. 

Remember, a Company Handbook is a living system, if you and your employees are not updating it regularly, it will be death one day, because it will only contain old stuff. So keep all people within your business engaged in improving the Company Handbook, because it will improve your business internal organisation as well. While starting to write the content of your Company Handbook, concentrate on job roles at first, afterwards write down job descriptions, in case a job role has been given to employees twice (Accounting Staff, etc.). Job Roles need to include the duties and the responsebilities of the described job. 

Job Roles, Job Descriptions and Workflow-Descriptions of sepcial procedures don’t have to be the same, but take care that the information is consistent, that means that it is written in a stream. This way the entire Company Handbook will be of benefit for everyone. When rereading something on your Company Handbook and you still have questions, than the entry is not finished. 

Last but not least, your Company/Employee Handbook should be available everytime. To do this, think about an Internet or Intranet Solution, depending on the size of your business. Keep it simple and slim, and you will have many benefits from it. Good Luck. 

10 Amazing Ways To Jump Start Your Sales

1. Find a strategic business partner. Look for ones that have the same objective. You can trade leads, share marketing info, sell package deals, etc. 

2. Brand your name and business. You can easily do this by just writing articles and submitting them to e-zines or web sites for republishing. 

3. Start an auction on your web site. The type of auction could be related to the theme of your site. You'll draw traffic from auctioneers and bidders. 

4. Remember to take a little time out of your day or week to brainstorm. New ideas are usually the difference between success and failure. 

5. Model other successful business or people. I'm not saying out right copy them, but practice some of the same habits that have made them succeed. 

6. Take risks to improve your business. Sometimes businesses don't want to advertise unless it's free, sometimes you have to spend money to get results. 

7. Include emotional words in your advertisements. Use ones like love, security, relief, freedom, happy, 
satisfaction, fun, etc. 

8. Ask people online to review your web site. You can use the comments you get to improve your web site or you may turn the reviewer into a customer. 

9. Out source part of your workload. You'll save on most employee costs. You could out source your secretarial work, accounting, marketing, etc. 

10. Combine a product and service together in a package deal. It could increase your sales. If you're selling a book, offer an hour of consulting with it. 

An introduction to point of sale software

Point of sale software gives business owners a convenient way of checking out customers and of recording sales. It can keep a record of the store inventory, updating it when an order is processed. It can also print out receipts, carry out credit card processing, track customers, etc. Point of sale software eases the flow at checkout terminals, while recording all the information that can help you make better business decisions. 

Point of sale software allows users to input via keyboard or mouse, and some even have a touch screen interface. You can install the software on your checkout register. 

When checking out a customer you can either input the sales item yourself or use a bar code scanner. The point of sale software will look up the item in the inventory and bring up the price. It can also calculate tax on the item and change for the customer. 

POS software can print out receipts and reports. Point of sale software makes your business accounting a lot easier by creating reports on inventory, sales, customers, etc. Since it is already recording each sale, it can easily tell you the sales and revenue of the day. 

Point of sale software can also help with credit card processing. Credit cards are the preferred method of payment. People do not want to carry around cash for all their purchases. Credit card is a convenient method of payment and if you do not have credit card processing, your business can lose some of its competitiveness. 

Point of sale software receives input from the POS hardware, which is the scanning station for the credit card. The software will process the credit card payment for you. It can check that the card has not expired and is valid. You will need a merchant account for the point of sale software to do its job. 

POS software is generally easy to install and easy to use. You will need to know how to update inventory and record a price change for an item. Point of sale software usually provides an easy to use interface to do this. It can make the job of the cashier a lot easier by automating the routine tasks of the day. 

There is a wide variety of point of sale software available. You can choose one that fits your budget and meets the needs of your particular business. The software will have compatibility requirements with the point of sale hardware. It will also have operating system requirements such as it might need a Windows or Linux system. 

Point of sale software can more than pay for itself over time by making checkout faster and doing your accounting for you. Point of sale software may be the right solution for your business and can provide you with tons of benefits.