If you have entrepreneurial determination then that’s a good starting place for a business. Of course, it’s only one component of many. You need to think about your own experience or expertise regarding the management of a business, how you’re going to fund such a venture, how many other people you might need to hire to help you with this company, and, most importantly, what type of business you’re going to start. Money is probably the biggest worry on your mind but if you focus on making sure all other components of your business are running smoothly then the profits will look after themselves. Here’s some more detailed advice for any first-time business owners out there.

Become a real boss.

You might have an innovative idea and qualifications in a certain line of business but that isn’t going to be enough to transform you into a successful business owner. When you’re the boss of a company, you need to be an all-rounder. For example, if you’re running a legal business then it isn’t enough to simply have a qualification in law. You need to know how to manage finances, marketing, and, most importantly of all, people. If you want your business to get off the ground then you need to learn how to manage your team and fill them with the same passion for the company that you feel. Making that step will transform you from somebody with a great idea into somebody with a great business.

Research the market.

It’s your job to drive the direction of the company. You might have a good business plan at the moment but the market is always changing. You need to update your approach in order to adapt to a changing industry. You need an enticing and widespread online presence in this digitally-driven era of business, as we’ll discuss in the next point, so you might want to look into online companies such as Youi Pty Limited, who deal specifically with buying and selling goods online, for a little insight into their credit ratings and financial situation.

It’s important that you take note from other companies, whether they’re in your industry or not, so as to not only get an idea of what they’ve been doing well but what they haven’t been doing well. The great thing about being the second or third business to dive into a certain industry is that you don’t have to make the same mistakes as the companies that took the plunge first. You can save yourself a lot of money and time by figuring out how to cut straight to “Successville”.

Get your online marketing campaign right.

As touched upon in the point above, you need a strong online marketing approach in order for your business to succeed. You might not be a marketing expert but you should certainly get marketing professionals to help you if that’s the case. The “build it and they will come” mentality doesn’t always work because there’s a lot of competition offering the same products and services as your business. You need to stand out from the crowd if you want consumers to come to you. Figure out how to optimize the content on your website and social media pages so as to climb the rankings on Google and other search engines. That’ll get you in front of your target market.

Share to Explore !!

Facebook

Digg

Pinterest

Twitter

Reddit

Linkedin

StumbleUpon

Tumblr

Print

email

Yummly

Buffer

Freelancing is becoming an increasingly popular way for people to make a living. With the freedom to choose your own hours, who you work with and a bigger share of the profits – what’s not to love?

Many freelancers find themselves struggling to manage their finances, with bad habits that can be hard to break. Want to take control of your self-employed earnings? Here are five new year financial resolutions for freelancers.

1. Prove you’re a professional with a business account

A business account may seem like something that’s unnecessary unless you’re earning the big bucks, but even freelancers on a small income can benefit from having a business account. There are many reasons why you need a separate account for your side job or freelance business, but mostly it will make your life easier. Make it easier to manage your finances by being a professional with your business.

2. You will start keeping better track of invoices and payments

Your earnings can be unpredictable as a freelancer, and while the majority of your clients will pay you on time, there’s always the danger that some will be late with their payments or worse – not pay you at all. Start working out a good cash flow system that helps keep you out of trouble and allows you to manage your income and outgoings better. Get on top of when payments are due and start imposing penalties on those who don’t pay up on time.

3.You’ll manage your taxes better

The end of the financial year can be a dreaded time for freelancers, especially if your paperwork is all over the place. You can keep better track of your earnings and outgoings online. Make the most of tools that are available such as a generator for your 1099 form 2017 that can help make it easier to file your return at the end of the year. When working as a freelancer, you can never be too organized, so make it your mission to keep on track in the new year.

4. Start protecting your earnings

With freelance work, nothing is certain. One month you could have several well-paying clients under your belt and the next you could end up with none. It’s time you started planning for those quiet periods by having a good pot of savings you can dip into if the worst were to happen. There are other ways you can protect your earnings that will help you be more confident in dealing with difficult financial periods and help you to protect your future.

Knowing your finances and protecting your money will be important for getting approved for a home loan if you are still renting. Mortgages for self-employed workers are handled differently than full-time salary workers and require extra attention.

5. Don’t accept less than what you’re worth

When you first start out as a freelancer, it can be tempting to take on jobs that are badly paid, or not even paid at all. This kind of behavior not only hurts you but others in the industry too. You deserve to be paid the fair amount for your services, so start getting into the habit of charging what you’re worth. Always agree payment upfront to avoid any difficult conversations when it comes to billing time.

It’s good to have goals for the new year, and as a freelancer, you should always strive to be better. Give your finances the attention they deserve and start taking better charge of your earnings in 2018.

Share to Explore !!

Facebook

Digg

Pinterest

Twitter

Reddit

Linkedin

StumbleUpon

Tumblr

Print

email

Yummly

Buffer

Investing in profitable schemes is a great way to improve your financial conditions and secure your future. However, it is important to carefully plan where you should invest your money. Gold is a safe investment that provides a good value. Whether you want to purchase gold coins or put your money on gold in the stock market, here are some tips that will help you make the most of your investment.

1. Understand Factors that Influence Gold Prices

Gold prices fluctuate with time. Unless you know about the factors that influence the rates, you may not be able to get profits on your investment. Gold is only used for making jewellery and in the electrical market. Since there are almost no industrial uses of gold, its prices in stock market depend on the strength of the currency. The lower the value of the dollar, the higher will be the price of gold. If you fully understand currency market, you can make the right decisions.

2. Determine Whether It Is the Right Time to Invest

Instead of keeping your savings in your bank account, why not invest in a profitable market, such as gold? However, you need to consider whether it is the right time to invest in gold. There is no defined rule to determine the right time for investment, but you should consider current market trends and history of gold prices so that you do not lose your hard-earned money.

3. Choose the Right Dealer

The reliability of the dealer matters the most when it comes to investing in gold. Never go for a gold dealer with a shady background, since it will risk your investment and may create legal problems for you in the future. Not every dealer out there can be trusted. Be careful when choosing a dealer to stay away from scammers. Contact gold bullion dealers for safe investment.

Go through the policies of a dealer before purchasing gold. The selling rates of gold vary with dealers as they define their own policies. Therefore, get in touch to discuss their policy in detail and find out any hidden charges.

4. Stay Away From Rare Coins

Unless you are a pro at investing in gold, you should refrain from investing in rare gold coins. It requires a good insight into the coin industry to make the right choice. Some gold coins may look the same, but their value varies due to different factors. If you want to purchase some rare gold coins, you should hire a professional grading service to determine the current value of coins.

5. Do Not Over Spend

Do not invest all your savings in gold just because you think it will be more profitable. Begin your venture by investing low amounts and then gradually increase your investment with time. It will allow you to understand the market and make decisions that will benefit you in the long run.

6. Do Not Worry Unnecessarily

Gold is a long term investment. Do not panic by day-to-day changes in the gold market, or else you’ll end up making the wrong decisions.

Share to Explore !!

Facebook

Digg

Pinterest

Twitter

Reddit

Linkedin

StumbleUpon

Tumblr

Print

email

Yummly

Buffer

You can’t have missed the rumblings in the air. From water-cooler chat to major media focus, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the phrase on every business owner’s lips. A lot of the noise concerns what the shape of society will look like with robots in our midst and whether our skills will become redundant under the slow creep of automation. With estimates from the PEW research centre showing that two-thirds of us in the US expect robots in the workplace to be a common sight within the next 50 years, it’s easy to take a dim view of society’s desire for a walking, talking embodiment of our knowledge. But robots are not exclusively a force of the future – since Victorian times humans have created and refined machines to take on drudge work and liberate them to dream bigger and achieve more. So could the future be brighter for small business owners who embrace AI? And how can you use it now? We take a look…

Customer Care Made Easy

One of the most significant challenges facing a young start-up is manpower. You need staffing to grow, but you need more revenue to employ those people. It’s a chicken and egg situation that’s stifled the development of many promising start-ups. And that’s why AI technology is so promising for entrepreneurs struggling to do it all. The advent of a more transparent, internet-connected customer base means that reputation is a more important sink-or-swim factor than ever in business, and whole sectors are now driven by customer review platforms. This means that excellent customer care is simply a hygiene factor, and customers expect an instant response when something goes wrong. For small businesses without an army of staff, this can be all but impossible – so investing in chatbot technology can be a real breakthrough moment. Thinking through the customer journey and created some scripts is simple and doesn’t require any real programming skill. You will find that a lot of basic enquiries are the usual suspects, so this can be an extremely efficient way of filtering those out to allow you to deal with more complex cases. Chatbots are good at instantly retrieving customer information, which can cut call queuing, and it’s a scalable solution that will grow with your company while helping to reduce barriers to sale with potential customers.

Get Your Accounts on Track

Smart software can make your financial management a smooth process, from solutions that allow you to access business loans and receivables all in one seamless system such as www.octet.com to machine learning that can use big data to predict spending patterns. If the day-to-day functions of finance become fully-automated, the resource can be diverted into strategic, long-term planning rather than the bandwidth-drain of servicing routine processes – returning you to being more of a specialist rather than a jack of all trades.

Your Personal Assistant in the Clouds

Keeping on top of the day-to-day onslaught of a small business involves being on the ball about hundreds of micro-decisions that need attention, but not many entrepreneurs can afford a PA from the get-go. Using a remote virtual assistant to schedule and monitor tasks such as travel arrangements, diary planning and admin support makes perfect sense. Using a virtual assistant can free up time and headspace for more demanding tasks, even if we’re not quite in the era of being followed around by a Jetsons-style sassy robot yet (although those will be on shelves in the very near future).

AI doesn’t have to be scary – in fact, it’s working with us right now, and its influence could future-proof your business.

Share to Explore !!

Facebook

Digg

Pinterest

Twitter

Reddit

Linkedin

StumbleUpon

Tumblr

Print

email

Yummly

Buffer

There might come a time in your life when you could do with some extra capital. Maybe you want to start a business, or you fancy taking the kids away for the holiday of a lifetime? Either way, most people think they have to work harder than they do at the moment to build their bank balances. However, in many instances, it’s possible to do that without making too many changes to your routine. Believe it or not, the average family wastes thousands of dollars every single year, and so you just need to stop doing that as soon as possible. The advice below should come in handy.

Transfer the balance from your credit cards

Lots of people take out credit cards and then only make the minimum payment every month. That is fine for the first year because most cards come with 0% interest. However, after twelve months, the provider will often begin to charge interest on the balance, and that’s where folks tend to make mistakes. If you continue to send the minimum amount, you will never make a dent in the debt according to sites like thesimpledollar.com. So, search online for a new credit card that offers 0% on balance transfers. You can then move the money you owe to a different creditor and continue reducing the amount you owe.

Look for a debt consolidation deal

Debt consolidation arrangements have many advantages including:

• Only having to deal with one creditor
• A single affordable monthly payment
• Lots of breathing space

The people behind debtconsolidationprograms.co and other industry leaders claim that a significant percentage of individuals could benefit from a deal of that nature. In most instances, you just have to get in touch with a consolidation expert and explain your situation. They will then take a look at your finances and let you know if they can assist or not.

Use comparison sites to find better contracts

You live in the digital age, and so it makes sense that you should use technology to your advantage. There are many different price comparison websites around today for almost everything. That means you could secure some astonishing savings if you visit the right domains and shop around. People who compare deals online could save a fortune on:

• Home energy
• Home insurance
• Cell phone contracts
• Car insurance
• And more

If you’re not aware of the top comparison domains at the moment, just search Google, and you should discover lots of sites that will help you to reduce your outgoings.

The suggestions made in this article are almost guaranteed to provide you with some extra cash. Now you just have to work out the best ways of spending that money to improve your situation even further. Some people might want to use it to start a business or make investments. Others may choose to pay more than the minimum amount each month and get themselves out of debt a little faster. The decision is down to the individual. Just make sure you don’t waste the money or get yourself deeper into financial trouble.

Share to Explore !!

Facebook

Digg

Pinterest

Twitter

Reddit

Linkedin

StumbleUpon

Tumblr

Print

email

Yummly

Buffer