Tag: online vs. brick and mortar business

Why The Internet Is Good For Business

Scott Asai1 Comment

Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

If you’re working online, there’s a good chance you’ve been doing so for a while. Either as your main source of income or as a side hustle, you know how much of a lucrative market the internet can be. But a lot of people don’t realize that! At the same time, a lot of people who are trying to make their way online don’t know the extent of what they could really do to boost their profits, and thus everyone needs a bit of a helping hand. If you’re one of those people, here’s a list of reasons for you to think over.

Easier to Find Jobs

The internet is a great place to find people, as almost everyone has an online presence these days. And that makes it a lot easier to find the kind of people you want to work for, or the people who need your services. Of course it’s still a competitive job market, but with at least 79 job sites out there for freelancers to peruse at their leisure, you’re going to have a lot more freedom to find your niche.

And you can apply to any job at any time from anywhere, meaning you’re going to have a lot more flexibility in your life. So no longer do you have to cope with the daily grind of life; you can immediately change your schedule whenever you want, and even take a plane to another country as long as you have a laptop and a wifi signal to your name!

Plenty of Easy to Find Resources

If you’re using the internet regularly, there’s a really good chance you’ve got a list compiled somewhere of every site or application you could use to make it through a hard time. And from just a few search terms that probably weren’t even spelt correctly! Never before has such a trove of information existed right at our fingertips.

When you’re in business, the principle remains the same. Take the most troubling parts of business: marketing, accounting, or inventory management etc. When you’ve got a quick access portal to a lifeline like Qdos Accounting packages, you’re going to have a much better day at work. Not only that, but you’re going to go from strength to strength.

You Can Reach Anyone, Anytime

There’s a huge pro to not needing to communicate face to face: you can reach anyone no matter what time it is, and pass on urgent messages immediately. Simply leaving someone a text means you’re going to be able to pass on tasks and a to do list that needs completing stat, taking a lot of pressure off of yourself and any employees you might have.

The internet is good for business because you can run internal operations on an international scale, making it a lot easier to take the market by storm. It also means you can compete on the same level as any of the bigger businesses, and take on clients from anywhere in the world.

Growing Your Business: The Need To Know Essentials

Scott Asai1 Comment

Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

Taking the plunge and setting up on your own is one of the hardest, but most rewarding challenges that you can take on in your working life. More and more of us are opting to set our own rules (and working hours), find our passions in life, and creating something true to ourselves. Getting a start-up running smoothly is no small matter, but once you are operation and even turning a profit, a great challenge lies ahead: how to go about expanding. Sometimes knowing where to start can be the biggest barrier, so set your sight on progress and remember the basics below.

Find Other Businesses to Partner With

Sometimes, expansion can be as simple as finding partner businesses to work with. By pairing up, you gain the benefit of each other’s resources, including staff time, customer data and facilities. The trick is finding a company that has compatible – not competing – interests and identifying areas of mutual benefit to present to them. Getting serious about networking can help you find suitable partners, where both companies can bring something to the table. It’s a excellent way to expand sales without usually needing to invest in costly infrastructure.

Locate The Investment You Need

Financing an expansion effort can be almost as much of a hurdle as gaining the cash to set up in the first place, but you do have the bonus of a track record of success to help persuade investors. There is quite a lot of government funding available from economic development authorities to help your business grow – so check the U.S Small Business Administration as a starting point, before seeing what is out there at a local level too. You may require a small business loan to purchase equipment or make an investment, so look for credit unions and the rise of specialized lenders such as Kabbage, who support online retailers, or Biz2Credit. Remember to include a budget for marketing your new offer too.

Get Help With Hiring The Best Talent

If you need bodies to expand, then making recruitment mistakes can be costly and time-consuming, just when you most need to focus your efforts. So it may be worth calling in a recruitment professional in your sector to help with the hiring. Not only will the best ones already have an overview of key players in the market, but they’ll be able to take on some of the administrative burdens and pre-screen new candidates for you. If it’s your first time hiring, they can also help you to avoid legal pitfalls by ensuring that you have the correct policies, legal cover and employers liability insurance in place.

Consider Your Location

If you’re expanding operations, often you’ll need to consider new premises. You may just have been working from a co-working space or a home office before, but expansion means you’ll need to house new people and equipment well. Find space in a dedicated start-up hub that offers access to in-house legal and marketing services, or consider setting up a custom space – perhaps you could fit out a warehouse space or consider a fabricated best steel building to house a tailor-made set-up? When you source your new space, factor in future projected growth as well and future proof your premises for future expansions.

Is Your Tech Letting You Down?

Scott Asai4 Comments

Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

There’s no denying that if you want to run a successful in the 21st Century, you have to be willing to embrace technology. After all, we live in an almost entirely tech-dominated world, and if you and your business aren’t able to move with the times, then you’re going to end up falling behind the competition. Far too often businesses with plenty of potential end up failing because they simply aren’t willing to keep up with the changing world. However, just because you’re using tech in your business, doesn’t mean you’re using it properly. Here are a few ways the tech in your business might be holding you back from the success that you really want.

The wrong tech

One of the most common mistakes that a lot of businesses end up making is that they look at the need for tech in their business and just go completely overboard with what think it needs. The truth is that not all businesses are going to have the same requirements for success and trying to fill your business with technology that it doesn’t need is going to end up making it bloated, confusing for your employees, and will have a serious negative impact on productivity as a whole. Think really carefully about what the needs of your business actually are and only bring in tech that can offer solutions to your problems, not because you’ve seen your competition using it.

A lack of support

Technology can make life far easier for many businesses. It can increase efficiency and productivity in ways that many people could never have even predicted. However, it’s not perfect, and things are probably going to go wrong from time to time. Having things like decent IT Support in place can make all the difference. That way, the chances of something going wrong are significantly reduced, and if something does go wrong, then it’s much more likely to be fixed before it causes any serious issues.

Human error

Of course, all the of the best tech in the world isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference if the people in your business have no real way to use it as effectively as possible. You need to make sure that you’re providing your employees with as much training as possible so that they know exactly how to get the most out of any piece of technology that they’re using. Otherwise, they’re just going to get stuck or pick up bad habits which can bring your entire business’s productivity way down and even cause the whole thing to a total stop.

It should be pretty clear from this advice that the key to any successful business is a sense of balance. Trying to focus too hard on one direction or another is just going to leave you neglected other important things. Think carefully about the tech in your business and ask yourself how well you are actually balancing your focus when it comes to implementing it in the most effective way possible.

A Great Startup Is…

Scott Asai1 Comment

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Launching a new business venture is a truly exciting time in any entrepreneur’s life. However, the statistics show that the vast majority of ventures fade into the darkness within the first few years. If yours is going to be different, it needs to tick all the boxes. Fact.

Every startup should follow its own path, but there are a number of attributes shared by all success stories. Here are some of the most crucial elements that you must aim for.

A Great Startup Is… Financially Conscious

Virtually all businesses have to endure a period of establishing itself to a point where it turns a profit. Having a suitable level of starting capital is pivotal, but it’s not the only key factor. Many companies succumb to those early pressures and, in many cases, it’s due largely to a lack of control over expenses. Whether it’s finding cheaper office rentals, web hosting, or insurance doesn’t matter. Every dollar counts, and it’ll also encourage the right habits for long-term sustainability. Given that money is the main motivator behind all ventures, ignoring this element could spell disaster.

A Great Startup Is… Aware Of Its Place

It takes time for a business to grow its customer base. However, the challenge becomes a whole lot easier when the brand and content are geared towards the target market from day one. Market research may actually show that your core audience is slightly different to what you assumed. Still, pinpointing that niche is sure to work wonders for the immediate and long-term future of the company. Not only will it stop you wasting time and effort on people that aren’t interested, but it’ll also make clients feel closer to the company.

A Great Startup Is… Committed To Customers

As well as knowing its customers, a successful startup will go the extra mile to show commitment to its client base. This manifests itself in many ways. Showing consumers that you care will strengthen that bond. In turn, this will generate increased conversions and loyalty. Furthermore, you must nail down the customer care game at the earliest stage possible. Those interactions are vital for continued sales while they are the key to dealing with issues that could otherwise bring in lost custom. Many modern startups forget this, especially when working with a digital audience. In reality, though, this is the reason it deserves an even greater level of attention.

A Great Startup Is… Online

The success stories show that offline popups and services can achieve great success without even selling via the World Wide Web. On the other hand, the fact that we hear about those people shows that there is a need for online promotion. Generating visibility for your business is central to growing awareness, authority, and accessibility. Furthermore, it ties in perfectly with the concept of using money in an efficient manner as this type of marketing is often cheaper. Many businesses will actively find that online sales enable them to reach a far bigger audience too.

A Great Startup Is… A Team

In the interest of saving money, you may be tempted to attempt doing everything alone. In truth, though, employees are the one resource that can spearhead your business to far greater results. A successful recruitment drive will set the winning foundations in place. However, you can learn about team building and staff training to take things to another level altogether. With a skilled and motivated staff behind you, all aspects from productivity to client experiences will improve. Try to take the solo option, and you’ll find that progress is too slow to achieve any real success.

A Great Startup Is… Thorough With Its Products

Ultimately, it’s the products that will determine whether customers keep coming back for more. However, those items aren’t simply about what’s inside the box. The packaging is crucial for giving clients the comprehensive experience that they deserve. Consumerism is like an addiction, and the extra spark offered by pretty bottles and creative box artwork has a bigger impact than you’d imagine. You can request a quote for quality containers online to realize how cost-effective this investment can be. Seriously, if it boosts sales and loyalty, those extra pennies are vital.

A Great Startup Is… Unique

While it’s true that successful startups share a variety of key attributes, personality is still key. With so much competition on the market, failing to accomplish this aim will bring negativity. Most obviously, it will run the risk of your brand fading into the background as competitors push to the front. Having a brand ethos and identity needn’t stop you from staying professional. But if it helps you grab the attention and stay fresh in their minds, conversion rates will shot through the roof. Besides, it makes it a lot simpler for employees to understand the company as well as their roles within it.

A Great Startup Is… Prepared For The Worst

Nobody said running a business would be easy. Problems will surface from time and time, which is something you must accept. The only way to stop this becoming a major issue is to be well prepared. This can range from having backup electricity resources to having cyber insurance. Either way, those measures help protect the company for a far better future. In addition to the actual benefits, the emotional rewards of knowing the venture is in good health can make a world of difference. Without those potential distractions, you’ll be ready to focus on driving the vehicle forward too.

A Great Startup Is… Ready To Grow

It’s important to walk before you run in business. Nonetheless, the company naturally holds ambitions of long-term success. It might be some time before you think about turning the company into a franchise or adding the second line of products. Still, an appreciation of what’s required to achieve those future goals can help direct the operation. Better yet, it should also provide long-term motivation. Immediate progress is nothing if it isn’t followed by sustainability. With those positive plans in place, there’s no limit to what can be achieved. That truly is the hallmark of a winner.