Business Tips & Strategy

Networking: Is It In You?

Clerical Business Solutions — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:04:17 +0000

Being an entrepreneur can take a lot out of you. So maybe the last thing that you want to do is networking. Sometimes (depending on your line of work) networking can be highly important for the success of your business or career. Networking can expand your contact list lead to future sales, expert advice and even business partnerships. But not everyone has the innate ability to network easily and effectively.

Networking is a skill that can be developed & mastered. Networking isn’t going to come to you you have to get out there and make it work. In networking, being more proactive & more approachable is the key. If you simply just hate networking, well then….you might just have to lose the hatred of networking just to build your business. Sometimes you just got to do what you got to do to build your business. Even if it’s something positive but you hate it. Just try to do it any way you never know what benefits it will bring for you.

Invest more time in public networking events & internet social networking. Public networking isn’t the time to just simply hand out your business cards & leave. Even though that might be want you really just want to do. It is a time to socialize & get to know people. Then when the opportunity presents itself & the conversation & timing is right, then pass them your business card or tell someone about your business.

When you are trying to build your contact list, remember quality is better than quantity. The quality of new contacts is more important than the quantity. Just be selective about who’s information that you collect & who gets your information.

Attend networking events that attract people in your field of business. become more creative in your conversations with people. You have to peek their interest in your business or product. Try not to use a sales pitch or sound like a commercial but just simply explain to people what it is that you actually do. Don’t say things like, “I am the king of business growth”. Don’t use slogans, people want to know you. Until you try, you just never know that networking could be one of the best strategies for growing your business. So get out there and talk to people.

If you can’t bring yourself to talk to people in public bring a friend with you or rehearse a speech to help calm your nerves. Try to be more proactive in networking that’s a good way to help build up your confidence. The main goal in networking is to peek peoples interest into your business or products. You have to build their curiosity and excitement about your business.

Try not to miss an opportunity to network. You never know when just one new contact can have a huge positive impact on your business’ bottom line.

Your Small Business Should Provide Exceptional Customer Service

Clerical Business Solutions — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:34:57 +0000

Providing exceptional customer service should be at the top of your list. Does your company provide great customer service? If not then maybe you should work on it. If you don’t provide great customer service then I’m sure that your competition does. If you value your customers then providing exceptional customer service is highly important. With so much competition around, you wouldn’t want them to steal your customers away.

Increasing competition is forcing businesses (big & small) to pay more attention to satisfying their customers by providing exceptional customer service. You could start by developing a customer service manual & use it as a guide book on handling your customers. You can edit it as time goes by. Every business should have one. Provide open lines of communication. Be available for your customers in good or bad times. Let your customers know how they can contact you. Be very attentive to their needs, let them know that you are there for them.

Don’t take forever to respond to your customers requests or inquiries. Answer their calls or emails in a timely manner & provide necessary feedback. Learn to anticipate your customers needs. Look for patterns & observe your customers. When you see that certain customer behaviors match a certain pattern make note of it & take action. How are your customers purchasing habits? Will your customers have the same needs in the future? What do they have to say about your products or services? What are they doing? Etc… Look for cause & effect to see how they react to certain products, services, specials, changes in your business etc….

Keep track of their comments, questions, suggestions & make note of them in your customer service manual. If they make a suggestions on how to improve things in your business, take this into consideration. You can make note of it, think about it then decide if you’ll follow up on their suggestions. Watch how you interact with them & take steps to improve on your involvement with customers. Do what you need to do to improve your products or service.

See if making certain improvements are in the best interest of your company or customers. This could help you to determine if customer suggestions are viable options for your business to pursue. Solve any problems as soon as they arise in order to avoid later complications. When handling a challenging situation or phone call from a customer, remain poised, calm, and confident.

This allows you to focus on a solution and show the customer that you have the situation under control & that you’re willing to provide a solution. Document, strategize & plan how you will deal with your customers. When you create a customer service manual it could greatly benefit you & your customer. When a situation arises you’ll know what to do & have a handbook to refer to on how your company will deal with customers. Your customer service manual should be: immediate, clear, succinct, and complete. If you have co-workers, keep in mind that other people have to be able to quickly and easily understand your notes. Everyone should follow the same customer service procedures. Take time to improve on your customer service today!

Should You Patent Or Trademark Your Idea?

Clerical Business Solutions — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:44:20 +0000

Should you patent or trademark your idea or invention? At first when you are inventing things and coming up with ideas, getting a patent may not come to mind at first. Since you’ve got a great idea, product, service, process, business etc… And you want to put it out there for all the world to see. Then you’ve got to ensure that nobody else uses it or claims your idea. So therefore, you go & get a patent or trademark.

In case you didn’t know a patent is a type of copyright granted from the federal government as a fixed-term monopoly to an inventor to prevent others from copying an invention or improvement to a product or process.

So what are you working on or trying to invent? Many people come up with all sorts ideas and inventions. So if you feel like what you’re trying to invent or working on is going to be something simply different or revolutionary, why not seek ways to get a patent?

When you file for a regular patent or trademark usually means that you’ve done your research, you’ve got your plans & invention together & you know that your product will sell, earn profits or be of some use on the market. If you aren’t sure about how well your product will do on the market then file a provisional patent. Filing a provisional patent gives an inventor time to fine-tune their product to meet the requirements of customers and the market. This still gives you ( the inventor) protection against your competitors. If you can’t do it on your own then seek the help of a patent or trademark attorney.

Some people invent products to make money, change things etc… Some people don’t seem to realize that getting a patent can give their ideas or invention some protection. Depending on what you’re working on, you don’t want too many people to know about your idea until it’s finished or you have a patent for it. Because so many people steal inventions & ideas. Even when you do have a trademark or patent, some people will still try to copy & create knock-offs, similar products to yours. So whomever is the first to get their patent approved then they would be considered to be the 1st inventor or creator of said product. If you disagree & you feel like you were the first to invent a certain product or idea, you can always challenge that person in court or through the USA patent/ trademark office.

That’s why you have to be careful about who you tell your ideas to & who you let help you. Depending on your idea, product or service, getting a patent or trademark for it could be highly important. If you need outsourced manufacturing, buyers or a license, it’s good to have a trademark or patent. Some manufacturers won’t help you if you don’t have a patent, trademark or if you haven’t applied for one. That’s something to think about. Sometimes for certain products, if you don’t get a patent & someone creates the same or similar product to yours, it could be hard to tell who the original creator is. Situations like that can create many legal battles. That’s something that you should try to avoid. Check out the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO):http://www.uspto.gov/

If you strongly believe that you have a good idea to patent or trademark, then file your papers with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO): http://www.uspto.gov/ . But first do research on the pros & cons of filing a patent or trademark. Also do research to make sure no one else has a patent for your idea. Then file your papers to protect your invention.

Do Genes Help You Become An Entrepreneur?

Clerical Business Solutions — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:11:16 +0000

There can be much debate as to if genes play a major or minor part in someone becoming an entrepreneur. You could say that entrepreneurs are born but developed. Your innate skills or the skills that you learn have to be nurtured or developed to better enhance or bring out what’s already in you. Some would say that it’s your environment that helps you decide whether or not to become an entrepreneur. Your environments such as home, school, friends, family, work, social, certain events or moments in your life etc….

But the question is do genes help?
Do genes or environment make you a better entrepreneur or do they just aid in the process?

You could say that it stems from both and sometimes one over the other. Being an entrepreneur could be learned & developed. But how well you learn stems from your genes. Genes play a big part in how good you become as an entrepreneur. Everyone has a talent but everyone isn’t capable of being an entrepreneur. Genes play a big part in your abilities but you have to have a nurturing, cultivating environment to go along with them. The genes give you your abilities to think, act, do, how well you learn, optimism, determination etc….

Entrepreneurship is first and foremost a mindset. Your genes play a big part in your mindset. Sometimes hard times or a non-nurturing environment can bring out some great entrepreneurs. Sometimes in situations like that, a person had that entrepreneurial gene already in them. It’s not really an “entrepreneurial gene” per se, but I mean that ability, skills, knowledge, drive, determination, will power etc…, to be an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs possess innate personal qualities that distinguish them from others. Entrepreneurs have certain characteristics, behaviors, values, attitudes etc… That stems from your genes. Many people have that entrepreneurial ability already instilled in them which can be developed even more. For others it could be worked on, developed or learned. But honestly…do you have it in you? It’s not just the environment that you grew up in but also business, school, social & working environments which could help you to uncover what’s already in you. Being a entrepreneur can be great. But becoming an entrepreneur depends on whether you have the skills to be one and if you decide to take on that role. Honestly for an entrepreneur, you either got it or you don’t.

What Do You Know About Business?

Clerical Business Solutions — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:50:38 +0000

You might say:”I know what I know and that’s all that I know”. So do you know a lot or a little bit about business? Depending on your level of business knowledge, sometimes you have to branch out and learn a lot more than what you already know. Developing & improving your business know-how or knowledge can benefit you greatly. The more that you know about business and your niche, the more of a competitive advantage you’ll have. There are many ways to be successful in business. But you need staying power, sustained success and it’s all about the knowledge that you have & how you implement what you know.

So what do you know about business?

Take advantage of what you do know, use it to plan better, develop new strategies, set new goals etc… For what you don’t know learn more about it such as strategy, planning, marketing ,your niche, business matrix, change, decision making, six sigma, take a training class, learn from other professionals etc…. Research and education is a continuous process in business. Once you gain the knowledge that you need, don’t stop, learn more. The more that you know the more you grow, especially if you implement what you know.

Take the knowledge that you have and manage it correctly. Make notes, plan and set goals. You could look at it as knowledge management. The goal of knowledge management is sustained individual and business performance through ongoing learning, unlearning and adaptation. Knowledge can play a crucial role in gaining competitive advantage. Knowledge Management is a branch of management for achieving breakthrough business performance through the synergy of people, processes, and technology. Its focus is on the management of change, uncertainty and complexity.

Having an elementary or basic business know-how is very important. Once you have that down packed, then you can build off of that and develop a better business. Knowing about the basics can enable you to better plan and manage your business. The basics can help you to better manage your finances & budgeting, arrange and run meetings and hopefully make good profits. You should at least have a basic understanding of how business works and the basic concepts of different business strategies. For the life of your business you’ll need to continuously educate yourself.The old saying that knowledge is power is so true in today’s business world.

Your business acumen or knowledge is a concept pertaining to your knowledge and ability to make profitable business decisions. Developing business acumen is fundamental to your business alignment. It’s a basic understanding of how your business makes money. Business acumen is gained by knowledge and can be gained by reading, studying & doing. It’s not about working harder, it’s about working smarter. By working smarter and using what you know, the world is yours.

Hey, StartUp…It’s Time To Add It Up

Clerical Business Solutions — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 06:00:06 +0000

Sometimes for many startup businesses they make many mistakes. Start your small business with low startup costs that you can control. Sometimes some entrepreneurs are in such a hurry to get their business going till they don’t add up the cost to start a business or maintain their business.

They just dive right in.

Is that you?

It probably is.

So hey you startup biz…it’s time to add up the cost to be the boss.

You need to learn how to manage your money, track your expenses, startup costs & maintain a budget. If you don’t know how then get help from an accountant, bookkeeper, financial expert or software for bookkeeping or money management. You might even find some free sites on online for money management. If you want to be in business any length of time then it takes money to maintain that business, even if it’s a virtual business. I’m not an accountant, bookkeeper etc….but I do know about business and how to maintain one.

There is so much that you need to know about maintaining a business and starting up one. But today we’ll focus on start up costs and maintenance costs. Entrepreneurs need adequate monetary support in order to create and run a small business. So where are you going to get it from? Could you get financial assistance from: self-financing, loans from bank, friends or family, private stock issue, partnerships, venture capital, credit cards etc…

You have to set up your new business the right way to help develop a strong foundation for future growth. Many times that begins with money.There are thousands of tasks that every small business owner must consider and do in order to set up a new business.It is imperative to manage your cash flow throughout the life of your business. No matter what the economy looks like.

If your cash flow gets out of control or mismanaged, that’s when you’ll want to call it quits or wonder what went wrong. Then as a small business you might want to start filing for bankruptcy. That’s not good, especially when you could have just done things right in the first place. Track your sources of capital and expenses. Like I just stated, if you can’t do it alone then get some help. However, you need to plan wisely and assess your available resources in order to start a low-cost business.

Do You Have A Leadership Mindset?

Clerical Business Solutions — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:10:56 +0000

Leaders possess innate personal qualities that distinguish them from others. The difference is rooted in mindset. Leadership is a journey and can be challenging. You can work at it, and you can get better if you develop the skills. Great leadership is needed in a start up business & daily management. Mismanagement and the lack of leadership are routine causes of business failure. You must apply yourself & demonstrate enough leadership to succeed. A great leader is a thinker & planner. Someone who will think through his actions before making a move or providing a solution. Someone who is prepared to get things done and when an urgent need arises. Traditionally many people think of leadership as the skills, qualities and behavior of an individual who exerts influence over others to take action or achieves a goal using their position and authority.

You may think talent, rather than hard work, is the fundamental component of leadership success. It’s little of both. Sometimes you might be scared to face a challenge because you are afraid of failure. But that’s what a leader does, they face challenges head on. You can (& should) learn from challenges & mistakes. A challenge is an opportunity to learn and do better next time through a step by step process.

The more experience that you gain and the more successes that you have, the more likely you are to believe there’s not much left to learn. That’s highly incorrect. There is always something to learn & improve on. As time goes by things will change. Are you ready for the change & challenge? A great leader is. If you cannot manage your personal affairs then managing others, a business or projects could be even more difficult.

Setting Goals Is Imperative For Your Business

Clerical Business Solutions — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:06:39 +0000

Setting goals is imperative for you business or projects as well as the follow through. In a business or project you should have long and short term goals. To help you set the appropriate goals, you must know what is important for you to accomplish. You need to have personal goals as well as business goals because a business is a big part of your life.

Setting goals for you business is important and a big part of your business strategic planning. Strategic planning is a management tool for you to set and record the direction of your daily, monthly or quarterly business management. Setting goals is a part of the management of your business and gives you a road map to follow. It can be adjusted as time goes by.

The implementation part is the MOST important part of reaching your goals. You just can’t set goals and not take action. Because if you do then you are just wasting your time planning goals. Get started, start writing things down. Brainstorm, do some strategic thinking & find out what it is that you really want to do or achieve.

Write down your goals to have a record of them. If you can’t do this alone then get help in this area. You must set specific and clearly stated goals. If you do not have clearly stated goals, your efforts will lack direction and focus. You’ll be all over the place trying to achieve something. Then you’ll never be able to achieve success in your goals. You’ll just end up doing things half way, you’ll have no structure & no guidance. That doesn’t do you any good and that’s bad for business. It could mean the end of your business or you’ll have to restart things when you could have just done them right in the first place.

It all begins with planning and goal setting. Strategic planning and goal setting is great for the start of your business and regular management of your business. You need to have the will power & determination to get through things & set the right prioritizes. If not, then get help in this area, get a mentor, business consultant, strategic planner or coach to help you along.

Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future and for motivating yourself to turn your vision of the future into reality. By setting sharp, organized, clearly defined goals, you can measure them and take pride in the achievement of those goals. GET STARTED TODAY!!!!

Do You Have A MicroBusiness?

Clerical Business Solutions — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:17:27 +0000

Many times a person or entrepreneur has a microbusiness and don’t even know it. A microbusiness is usually defined as a business with a single owner/ operator or by having less than 10 employees or people operating the business. Some government agencies state that a microbusiness has less than 25 employees or people working in the business. A microbusiness and small business are interchangeable terms. They’re sometimes seen as one-in the same. Microbusinesses are currently the fastest growing segment of the business population. A large population of business growth stems from microbusinesses.

What many microbusiness owners don’t know or fail to realize is that they too, can reap great benefits from onshore outsourcing. Onshore outsourcing isn’t a bad thing, it’s a great thing. It involves you partnering up, reaching out to others & leveraging the resources of other to help you operate or improve on your business or projects. Which makes for a better business & a great way to operate your business.

Many times a microbusiness really needs to invest in onshore outsourcing. As a microbusiness you can’t do everything alone. You should outsource & partner up with a business management company and get an online business manager. Many times an online business manager can help your business to prosper and grow by helping you to lighten your load so that you can be more customer-focus, you can get out and network more or do more of other things that you love. All at the same time while keeping your business operations running smoothly.

An online business manager or business management company can:

help you with marketing, daily business operations/ tasks, project management
strategic planning (small and micro businesses NEED strategic planning)
help you with strategic thinking
help you with business planning, business growth strategies

So basically getting a virtual or online business manager for your business or projects would be a smart business move. Which helps you to release some of the chaos that you have in your business and provide you with greater focus. You really need to focus in business. By choosing onshore outsourcing and better business practices helps you to develop a greener business and improves your business. As a small/ microbusiness entrepreneur you need all of the help that you can get.

Outsourcing Brings Benefits To Your Small Business

Clerical Business Solutions — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:04:59 +0000

Outsourcing brings benefits to your small business. If your company is considering outsourcing or you’re already doing this, your business is joining an increasing global trend. There are so many things that are needed in managing and operating a business. Outsourcing can help out a lot with the operation of your business or projects. Many times it is a wise decision to invest in onshore outsourcing. Many small businesses have decided to invest in onshore outsourcing with virtual assistants. Outsourcing helps to improve your efficiency, your productivity and your bottom-line.

Outsourcing can help you to save money and reduce your over-head cost. It can help to reduce your need to hire additional in-house help. When you make the choice to outsource, you have to learn how to delegate and decide on which functions could be outsourced. Many small businesses have chosen to outsource their administrative office support, marketing, business management, blog posting, social media management, transcription, strategic planning, business planning etc, etc…

Outsourcing these types of operations and others can help to lighten your load, improve your focus and your business productivity. This helps you to start and finish projects quickly and gives you more time to invest in more business opportunities. Onshore outsourcing can help you to manage and reduce risks. Outsourcing can help your small business look “big” by giving you access and support to the same economies of scale, efficiency, and expertise that large companies enjoy. Get started and outsource today!!!