Business Archives - TODAY INDIA

Enhancing Business with Envelope Printing

In history, envelopes have been used and proved to be a good packaging medium. They are effective and widely being used for carrying letters, with variation on sizes and shapes. Within your first impression of envelopes, they surely are only being used for its purpose, a pack, protection for mails. Of course, you can always enhance your message to a recipient whether it’s only a business reply envelope, corporate envelope, direct mail envelope, billing envelope, there are endless ways to customize an envelope and envelope printing can enhance its packaging.

Envelopes have different sizes and formats. There are pocket envelops and a banker envelopes, the size varies depending on the size of the document inside. Along with quality material, envelops are widely used for handling documents whilst being sent or kept.

In helping your business niche, envelopes carry the name of your company or simply have fancy prints to make them look pleasing to any recipient. Here are some of the benefits you can get when having a customized print on your envelopes.

With those window envelopes, having a custom print can always expose excellence in service, In billing envelopes, a good printed one can always have the impression of quality, so to speak, this carries a company’s image, and packaging can always be a good way to boost quality service.

Direct mail envelopes are one of the things that need a good printing scheme. Your promotional material does need a good packaging. Often being the first thing a customer looks out for, making them attractive and pleasing will always become a business enhancing strategy, with a good customized print that can entice customers, you can lessen the instance of unsolicited mails.

Corporate envelops can be used to portray its style, class, and distinction to others, having a good customized print will also depict quality. With storing files, legal papers, and a corporate document too needs its own customized envelop, there are a lot of things you can design and embed to your corporate envelope prints.

Business reply envelops need a custom print to distinguish and have its own set of standards in marketing. A good customized design will likely get good impressions from your clients. This can also benefit from having their own print that signifies your sincerity, your aims on quality business, all counts when you are transacting with your clients so don’t stint on good quality prints on your envelopes.

Custom envelopes can also be used to send out your messages, of course, you need to have your own style when sending out to clients. Having to produce envelopes to match your preferred audience can always be gratifying, this can have your own scheme and could be able to attract more of your clients.

There are a lot of online printing services available today. They can meet the demands of printing bulk envelopes to suite your needs. Often having a quick turnaround, the printing technology is evolving and always having the best solutions for its customers. From there, having a custom-made envelop can enhance your business in terms of quality.

Envelopes are not just common sheath of material for mails; they can be a very potent tool in terms of marketing. They can draw customers’ attention, with high quality printed envelopes; this will likely enhance your business to its highest point.

Gardening Business – Developing Your Elevator Pitch and Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

There are two (2) concepts that you need to understand and embrace if you want to succeed in business. These concepts are your Elevator Pitch and your Unique Selling Proposition.

The Elevator Pitch is:

a short and sweet summary of what you do and it is not really about trying to sell to someone. So instead of telling someone “I mow Lawns”, you might say “We turn our customers gardens into Landscape Showpieces”.
a pitch for other people’s attention
what you tell people if you were in an elevator and you only have 30 seconds (or 100 to 150 words) to impress them or to engage them
a pitch for someone’s attention telling them what you do and hopefully they will be interested to ask you for more information. It is an introduction to what you do and in the process you create some intrigue and hopefully generate some enquiry from the listener

Your Unique Selling Proposition is:

the reason (or the compelling Point Of Difference) your customers choose you over your competition
the foundation of your advertising program – it is what you communicate to your market-place. It may be your slogan or tagline.
the foundation of your professional image – Your image and brand are a result of devising your USP, and your image and brand is carried through to all your livery – clothing – uniforms, letterheads, business cards, magnetic stickers, motor vehicle signage, web sites, emails, flyers, brochures
the first impression new customers and prospects have of you
most probably more important to have than your Elevator Pitch

If you avoid or skip defining your own USP, you’ll struggle to grow your business.

Your Unique Selling Proposition is what you tell the market place through your Flyers, Leaflets, Website, Business cards, Brochures, Radio advertisements and so on. It helps to remind prospects and existing customers why you are different to your competitors. It is a summary of all the benefits (as opposed to all the features) you provide to your customers.

This Point of Difference (your USP) that you articulate may be something as insignificant as the location of your business, the way you carry out your service, or the speed of service delivery. So when you develop these concepts or slogans don’t say something like “We provide excellent service”, because anyone can say that. In other words there is NO point of difference here!!!

Famous examples of good Unique Selling Propositions include: “You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less – or it’s free.”

Domino’s Pizza:

FedEx: “When your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight”

DeBeers’: “Diamonds are forever”

You can see why the Domino’s & FedEx slogans are so effective because they are very specific with their mentions of benefits & guarantees. These slogans or taglines are complete statements which can be verified by the customer and they don’t resort to marketing hype words like “ultimate”, “best”, “greatest”.

The “Advertising Age” voted the DeBeers’ “Diamonds are forever” the best advertising slogan in the 20th century. Also, DeBeers would have benefited nicely from the glamorous James Bond film and book with the same name.

In summary, with both the Elevator Pitch and your Unique Selling Proposition, you are communicating to prospects and customers how you take Prospects with a Problem or Pain to another place where there is Pleasure.

Start a Home Based Company With Small Business Grants

In this day and age as we witness the rapid advancing of technology in unison with the increasing unemployment rate, many American citizens are turning to small business grants sponsored by the US government as a means of establishing home based online businesses. This practice is becoming more and more popular each and every day as the evolution of technological business enhancements is rapidly rendering traditional methods of company operations obsolete.

There is no better time than now to begin considering telecommunication and virtual office positions as a regular work or career procedure. This is the age of computers, and web cams, and digital this, and automated that. It’s seldom that you are ever even able to reach an actual live representative when calling most customer service centers. It is pretty frightful to think that your job can actually be eliminated and replaced by an inanimate object, yet those days are growing near. It is a daily occurrence that thousands are laid off of their long time jobs while major corporations downsize employees to redirect payroll funds, in order to upgrade their automated systems. Becoming self-employed is seemingly the last chance at any type of job security for some, and small business grants are often the only chance of achieving that.

The smartest thing about using small business grants to establish an online “work from home” business is, obviously, because this is free government money. Most taxpaying American citizens are eligible to qualify for business grants, and the best part is, they never have to pay them back. There is no credit check, cosigner, interest, collateral, or anything else. This is a gift from the government awarded to you to establish your new business. By using these funds to create an online web and/or home-based business, you can virtually open up shop and see an immediate profit with absolutely no overhead whatsoever. No other type of business can achieve those highly favorable results.

You can acquire enough free government money in small business grants to start your home-based business in the utmost of professional fashions. It is entirely possible to be awarded enough funding to…

*Construct and/or set up an efficient and well equipped home office

*Purchase computers, software, telephones, copy machines, fax machines, printers, and all other essential major electronic or technical equipments to keep your company running smooth and efficiently.

*Buy all paper, pens, folders, professionally printed letterhead stationary, calendars, business cards, and all other necessary office supplies that you will need.

*Afford advertising materials and services to properly promote your business, whatever it may be.

*Obtain special training or college courses that correspond to your choice of career path to enhance and improve your business.

These are just a few of the advantages of creating your own online business. We haven’t even touched on the pleasure and freedom of not having a boss, not having to commute to work, not having to pay for gas or parking, wait for trains or buses, get stuck in rush hour traffic, be late for work, take a cut in pay, or get laid off. Sounds pretty appealing, doesn’t it. Well imagine being able to do all of that, for free.

Follow the links below to see how much free government money you qualify for in small business grants. It may not be long before you are enjoying lifetime job security in that plush corner office with a window…with a view of your patio.

Project Outsourcing: Why ALL Businesses Should Consider Outsourcing An Integral Part of Business

OUTSOURCING: AN OVERVIEW

Businesses of all kinds can and do benefit from the tool of outsourcing every day. Businesses large and small have been outsourcing every day projects for many years. The businesses that use outsourcing as a tool to enhance and grow their business already know the value that outsourcing brings to their organization. Outsourcing is a business process term for what has literally become known as hiring a consultant, independent contractor, or freelancer to do a specific task or tasks for an organization in which the organization either does not have the time or the expertise to do on their own. The organizations that have used outsourcing for many years know that with the positives it brings to the organization that it is also important to have a well managed plan of action for hiring a consultant or contractor for a business task. This includes deciding which projects or tasks to outsource, whom to hire for these tasks, how to manage the project, how to agree on payment terms, and how to achieve the desired results. There are many forms of outsourcing ranging from outsourcing payroll to outsourcing package handling, to everything in between. Small businesses hiring a self-employed accountant to handle the corporate tax returns are in essence hiring a tax consultant. Large corporations that hire outside customer service firms to handle their customer support are outsourcing that function of their business to focus more on their core business functions. It is entirely possible to outsource practically every business process within an organization.

OUTSOURCING TOOLS

There are a wealth of tools available for the organization looking to outsource business processes. Companies such as SmartyLance.com, enable a business to post a project to a project marketplace and receive bids from experts in the field. These type of freelance sites match companies with freelance professionals, consultants, and independent contractors. There are many advantages for a business to use services such as SmartyLance. First, the marketplace enables businesses to use a centralized location to post their project, receive bids on that project, communicate with potential providers, choose a winning bid (either based on lowest cost or based on the credentials, expertise, or prior feedback of a particular provider), manage the project specifications, receive the delivered project and make final payment based on the terms of the auction. This centralized marketplace provided by SmartyLance greatly streamlines the entire outsourcing process and enables the business owner or manager to have greater control over the entire outsourcing process.

INCREASING COMPETITION

Competition is a complicated subject for many people. Ultimately, competition is good for the consumer, whether the consumer is an individual or a business, competition enables products and services to maintain high quality and low cost. Although many people dislike competition because it forces action to improve quality, the benefits to the overall economy even result in improved products and services for the very people that dismiss competition and the headaches it sometimes brings. Freelance marketplaces such as SmartyLance are no exception in that competition improves the overall quality and value for the project buyer and causes the freelance provider to adjust to market conditions in a practical, intelligent manner to win new business. The benefits to the company looking to hire freelancers are obvious. For example, Company A can compile a list of consultants to work on the design of their new company logo. This list may include a multitude of design firms from the same geographical area. Company A would be required to submit an RFP by contacting each design firm individually, stating the requirements of their project and requesting a quote based on the requirements. Many factors come into play in deciding which design firm Company A will choose. Chances are, that using this approach, Company A will end up paying too much for the project and will only have a handful of providers to choose from. Company B also must outsource the design of their new company logo. Rather than compile lists of design firms, which can result in overpriced quotes, Company B decides to post their logo design project to the SmartyLance marketplace. Doing so enables Company B to get competitive bids that help ensure that Company B gets the most competitive price for their project. By posting the logo design project to SmartyLance, Company B not only reduced costs associated with the project, they had access to specialists and skilled professional designers from around the world that were competing to give Company B the best cost and highest quality design for their money. The entire process was managed easily through Company B’s SmartyLance account enabling them to keep in contact, manage project specifications, manage competing bids, and send payment easily and securely through one of several different payment methods. An escrow account enabled Company B to ensure that payment wasn’t released to the provider until all project requirements were met. Company B successfully outsourced the logo design project and was able to save several hundred dollars. They also received the project several days quicker than Company A. In this example of Company A and Company B, we see that Company A had limited its ability to find a skilled professional and limited its ability to save money on the project. Company B took full advantage of all the resources and benefits of the SmartyLance marketplace and was able to save time and money. By outsourcing critical business functions that are not core business functions, the organization greatly benefits through a savings of time and money which in turn benefits us all through decreasing costs that are passed down to the consumer.

TO OUTSOURCE OR NOT TO OUTSOURCE?

That is the question many small business owners and large corporations alike are asking themselves each and every day. Risks are inherent in any new business strategy or thought process. However, like any business decision, risk can be managed. By intelligently choosing a provider that matches your intended skill requirements, carefully detailing and outlining your project requirements, and ensuring that you maintain the requirements within budget, the benefits can far outweigh the risks.
One of the more common fears among some larger organizations that may be reluctant to outsource projects is a fear of the unknown. This fear stems from the inherent inability to oversee each and every aspect of the project from start to finish and to evaluate each step along the way. Internal employees devoted to a project are more easily evaluated and can be guided through performance and work appraisals. Managers may feel that outsourced projects are more difficult to oversee and manage with an eagle eye. The fact of the matter is that so long as there are well-defined contractual obligations and project reporting requirements, an outsourced project can in fact result in a more manageable outcome than actually thought. Also, the talent pool and skills obtained that may be completely unavailable to the organization allow the organization to reach milestones and achieve success that may never have been possible with their current employees.

OUTSOURCING CONTROVERSY

The outsourcing controversy that is making headlines today is the public opinion of outsourcing jobs to other countries. This includes manufacturing of products, such as those that are “Made In China” as well as service outsourcing such as computer programming that is outsourced to skilled workers in India. One can argue that outsourcing projects overseas is taking opportunity away from workers in their native country. Others may contend that outsourcing projects, whether it’s overseas or in the same country is a great opportunity that will improve business processes, improve productivity, reduce costs and have an overall positive effect on the economy, thus creating more new jobs and specialized jobs in specific skill areas. All businesses are consistently looking for ways to increase productivity and lower costs. From an economic standpoint, increasing productivity and lowering costs are essential elements for business success. Business success, in turn leads to more growth, which leads to new job creation, be it in a more specialized skill area or through the development in new types of jobs in new specialized areas.

OUTSOURCED BUSINESS PROCESSES

As mentioned previously, practically any business process not related to the core business activity can be outsourced. Some examples of commonly outsourced business processes include:

Accounting and Finance

Graphic Design & Multimedia

Sales and Telemarketing

Web Design and Development

Administrative Support and Data Entry

Business Strategy, Advertising, Business Plans, Consulting

Legal, Contracts, Copyright, Corporate, Incorporation

Software and Technology, Database Development

Writing and Translation, Copy Writing, Creative Writing

Press Releases

A REWARDING CAREER

Having a specialty or skill in a particular business area can enable you to begin a career as a consultant or freelancer. Freelancing enables you to have the flexibility to work on your own and on your own schedule. You can choose which projects match your skill set and decide which types of freelance projects that you would be interested in working on. There are numerous sources available to find freelance work. Some sources include browsing freelance directories, job boards, and registering with talent auction sites such as SmartyLance. All of these resources are filled with potential jobs. In comparison, it seems that talent auctions are the most comprehensive resources offering the most flexibility to both the freelancer and the company hiring a freelancer. They offer the breadth and depth of listings and the simplicity to bid on numerous projects as well as services enabling the handling of the entire payment process through a service provider account with the talent auction site. Bidding on projects requires much discipline and planning. Before placing a bid or giving a quote on a project, the freelancer must take into account many factors including the length of time required for the project completion, the budget the service buyer can afford, and whether or not they can actually meet the requirements to complete the project. It is also important to keep in mind that developing relationships with service buyers can lead to more work in the future. Developing a relationship with service buyers and meeting or exceeding their project expectations will enable you to develop a client base that allows you to practically always have new projects to work on.

COMPETITION FOR PROJECTS

There will always be competition in all forms of business. Competition for freelance projects is fierce. One of the major ways to compete and win is to make yourself stand out from the rest of the crowd. You can start by fine tuning your resume. This will force you to think about your accomplishments as well as your exact skills and abilities. There are numerous services that can help you with your resume, including ResumeEdge. Using a service to help you with your resume will enable you to better explain your accomplishments and present them in a manner that will captivate and impress the reader. Especially if you are an independent freelancer, having your resume retooled by ResumeEdge will allow you to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Many freelance service buyers will wish to see a list of your accomplishments and your skills. If you register as a service provider with a freelance marketplace such as SmartyLance, they offer several different options that enable you to stand out above the crowd. First, there are different subscription levels when registering. There is a Limited subscription, a Novice subscription or a Professional subscription. Each higher level subscription offers more options to the service provider. Every service provider does have the ability to post a profile, detailing various information about their abilities. Limited subscriptions limit the cost range in which a service provider can bid. For example, a Limited service provider can only bid on projects with a price range less than one thousand dollars. Novice subscription service providers can bid on projects less than five thousand dollars, and Professional subscription service providers can bid on any service level project. Several added bonuses with the Novice and Professional subscription levels include the ability to purchase credential verification services as well as the ability to post “Buy Now” projects. Credential verification services enable you to post information related to your references, certifications, licenses, education and previous employment. Simply adding these options to your account gives you a special designation stating that your information has been checked and verified as being true and accurate by the freelance marketplace. This designation gives you an added level of credibility making you stand out from the rest of the service providers and enabling you to showcase your achievements and abilities, giving a service buyer confidence in choosing you to complete their project. This will undoubtedly lead to more work and more projects coming your way. In addition to verifying your credentials, you have the ability to showcase a portfolio of your previous work. This allows you to show the service buyers your achievements and your successes with previous clients. Showcasing your portfolio is another important aspect that gives the service buyer confidence in your ability. Finally, the higher level subscriptions enable you as a service provider to offer “Buy Now” solutions. Similar to purchasing products immediately without bidding as on major product auctions such as Ebay, “Buy Now” solutions enable freelance service providers and consultants to make a solution available to all service buyers for a specific set price. For example, a freelance graphic design firm may create a “Corporate Identity Package”, enabling a service buyer to purchase this package that may include the graphic design of a logo, along with designs for letterhead, business cards, and banner ads. Another example could be from a lawyer or legal consultant who creates an incorporation package that includes corporate setup and incorporation services for all fifty states, creation of shareholder agreements, employment agreements, and registered agent services all for a set price. These simple examples of “Buy Now” services enable freelance consultants and independent contractors to create easy options for service buyers who are looking for simple solutions and quick turnaround time. Service providers also enjoy creating these type of services because it enables them to focus on their core interests and abilities. Only higher level subscriptions such as the Novice or Limited subscriptions enable freelance service providers to post “Buy Now” projects. The beauty of these additional options as a freelance service provider is that you can focus on one specific aspect of your business. If you are a consultant for a graphic design firm and you simply enjoy creating and designing corporate logos and identities, then you can find work specifically in this area by posting your own “Buy Now” solution. If you are a lawyer working for your own legal firm and your passion is new business setups and incorporation services, then you can steer projects your way with a “Buy Now” solution posted on a freelance marketplace like SmartyLance.

CONCLUSION

These are only a few examples of the many opportunities that exist as a freelancer. Whether you are a small business, an individual, or a large corporation, this article simply serves as a guide to help you in your quest to use outsourcing to your advantage to help your business grow and flourish. Outsourcing, when done correctly, can benefit your business in so many different ways. The two most obvious benefits are a savings of time and money. From the freelancer’s standpoint, this article has been developed to help educate and guide you with the many options available to find work as well as to delve into the minds of freelance service buyers. Knowing their concerns and understanding the reasons for choosing one service provider over another will greatly benefit you by enabling you to increase your odds for getting new business. Understanding the concerns and needs of service buyers will lead to your gains as a service provider. If you are able to provide enough people with services that they wish to have, then you will always be in demand.

Digital or Business Transformation

Digital transformation refers to the changes associated with the application of digital technology in all aspects of human society. Digital transformation may be thought as the third stage of embracing digital technologies: digital competence → digital literacy → digital transformation. The latter stage means that digital usages inherently enable new types of innovation and creativity in a particular domain, rather than simply enhance and support the traditional methods.

– Wikipedia

It has been more than 30 years since computers had been introduced into business world. With the help of, powerful mobile devices and high connectivity, now we are living in a momentary world that is evolving so fast towards digital that now digital transformation is inevitable.

Most of the C-Levels in corporations started to pay more and more attention to Digital Transformation. They believe, without this transformation, even a long-established company may extinct. It is the Kodak example they are afraid of. To be honest, the risk is there, however is ‘Digital Transformation’ just enough?

Marketing, sales, manufacturing, finance processes should all be digitised in order to fulfil the transformation. It includes working anywhere anytime, broader and faster communication, enterprise integration that would enable performance & efficiency improvements.

That is all well planned and should be executed step by step. Yet can you imagine any change to be internalised without a holistic approach? Without embarking every team member, adjusting / improving their competencies, engaging them all around the same evolving mindset…

That’s why, we believe this topic should be handled with a broader scope and it is the reason behind we like to call it a “Business Transformation’ rather than a Digital Transformation.

In other words Business Transformation shall handles the topic more broadly including mindset and organisations, leadership and entrepreneurial mindset, education and pragmatic planning.

Your Business Transformation journey is unique

Every company has its own inner dynamics and every category has its own realities hence your journey should be tailor made to your business. When there is so much at stake, it is not an easy task to move the rocks around, without rigor planning, sufficient on-boarding, kicking off the new mindset with an adjusted organisational structure.

The internal impact – Mindset & Organisation

Any change in a company first impacts its own resources, starting from human. Top-down transformation approaches tend to stay at the top level with Digital Transformation Teams, causing manager level (or further) to think it is not their business. The only way to beat the resistance to change is to embark the resistors ASAP.

Corporate and entrepreneurial mindsets are two far ends thus moving from one to other is not given. However, with the power of a corporate company, an entrepreneur mindset can achieve higher goals sooner. That’s why, we should keep on increasing skills of the individuals in our organisation, empowering them to move forward within the team.

The Impact on Consumer Experience

Digital transformation for the consumer end includes an architecture of your digital ecosystem to be able to do better listening, segmentation and tracking, enabling you to increase your digital media investments efficiency, letting you to fish where the fishes are. All these changes will definitely have a positive impact on your consumer engagement and thanks to the new tools, we will be able to measure the ROI of your campaigns / activities.

Step by Step Approach

As said, digital transformation is a key stage throughout this journey. All your existing processes should be analysed with expert analysts according to the dynamics of your company and industry. Only after then, a solution can be determined and tailored to your needs. The gains here are not necessarily immediate, therefore long term investments should be planned with an entrepreneur mindset.

All in all, Digital Transformation is inevitable in this era, we just need think it as broad as it requires to land it well in your organisation. As Portera we are committed to understand, analyse together and help you build the right organisation to reach this new mindset fully.

Printed Business Stationery a Propaganda Tool

In times of pandemic and frequent lock downs businesses deem fit to reduce or halt completely discretionary expenses. These are thought to be as avoidable with no strategic implications. But reducing marketing communications or propaganda tools is a sure shot strategic failure the impact of which may not be immediate but would be realized as a negative move much later.

For expenses and investments in marketing communications and advertisement have a long term implications the results if executed correctly and persistently can increase tremendous profitability due to customer engagement, earned digital reputation and consumer awareness. There are many cheap ways of company propaganda one of which is the subject of discussion here.

Absence of propaganda even for a brief period can create a void among the brand loyal customers or clients who seek regular services. Absence of marketing communications in any form for a long duration would invite negative impressions about the company and the brands. This can even reduce the market share and trust in a brand. Hence propaganda should never be curtailed. Thus sending the right messages using the right medium should never experience disruptions.

Printed business stationery is cost effective and right medium for propaganda. Businesses should always be focused on the customers and partners. Since long printed stationery has proven to be an effective marketing tool that promotes business if the campaign is careful planned and executed.

Design and colors are weapons of attraction and to add to it a message that portrays the company in good light is a powerful way to garner reputation bring products and services in bright light and create an everlasting trust that add business year on year.

Printed stationery is making businesses more and more empowered thanks to constant innovation in design and technology development in printing. The medium be it a paper, plastic or boards the effect of modern printing is spectacular. The channel could be any even a small business card can yield wonders and the use of appealing letterhead is not an old method of communication any more. The artistic representations, fonts and the actual subject matter make a difference.

It is not only the business stationery suppliers that matter to a company. It is those innovators, designers and copy writers that matter too. Attention has to be paid towards professionalism in designing printing and sloganeering on stationery items that are used for promotional purpose. If taken seriously this marketing communication and propaganda tool can enrich the company’s fund.

The IRS Wants to Know, Are You Running a Business or a Hobby?

Being a small business owner brings with it a whole host of challenges. Not only are you concerned with taking care of your client’s needs, getting paid and paying your vendors. You also have to be concerned with staying compliant with federal and state laws as well as local guidelines. Small business owners, especially sole proprietors, are at an increased risk of audit. The federal government believes that self-employed people are grossly under-reporting their income and over-reporting their expenses. According to the website Tax Help Online, “You might be shocked to learn that 20% of all small business audits involve disallowing deductions because the IRS reclassifies the small business as a hobby under the so-called ‘hobby loss’ rule.” Internal Revenue Code Section 183 (Activities Not Engaged in For Profit) limits deductions that can be claimed when an activity is not engaged in for profit. IRC 183 is sometimes referred to as the “hobby loss rule”. As a small business owner, it is your responsibility to make sure your business is viewed as a legitimate business in the eyes of the IRS and not a hobby.

Below, I have listed some smart business practices that will not only help you define and grow your business, but will also help you document that you are running a real business and not just performing a hobby.

1) Write a business plan. There are lots of local small business support centers that can help you to put your plan in writing. For example, the Small Business Administration has both local and online resources to assist you.

2) Determine your legal structure (LLC, Partnership, C-Corporation, S-Corporation, Sole-Proprietor).

3) Obtain an Employee Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS.

4) Open a separate bank account for all of your business transactions (deposits and expenses). You need to keep your personal and business transactions separate.

5) Establish a separate line of credit or credit card to use with your business. Put personal expenses on a personal card and put business expenses on a business card.

6) Keep your business documents organized. The National Federation of Independent Business recommends keeping business records and receipts for at least seven years.

7) File completed tax returns on time. This would include all required schedules and signatures. Depending on the type of organization you have, you or your CPA will be filling out forms like 1020, 1065, 1040 Schedule C, 1096, 1099, 940 along with calculating your self-employed tax. I highly recommend finding a local Certified Public Accountant (CPA) that is familiar with your industry to help you determine which forms you will be required to file and making sure they are submitted on time and to the right government office.

8) Hire a support team: A lawyer can help you with your legal structure and a Certified Public Accountant can help you keep your finances in order as well as keeping you compliant with local, state and federal government.

9) Create industry standard business documents and forms to include: logo, letterhead, business cards, and website.

10) Advertise in your local media along with appropriate trade periodicals.

According to IRS document, FS-2008-23, below are some of the questions that the IRS may ask when determining if your business is engaged in for-profit activity. You will need to be prepared to answer these questions and provide documentation.

1) How many hours a week do you work in the business?

2) Do you depend on income from this activity to pay your bills?

3) Do you have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business?

4) Have you made profit in similar activities in the past?

5) Does the activity make profit in some years?

6) Do you expect the activity to make a profit in the future?

7) Are there elements of personal pleasure or recreation?

8) Has your business made a profit in 3 of the last 5 years?

According to IRC 183, “If your business activity is not carried on for profit, allowable deductions cannot exceed the gross receipts for the activity.” The result is that your business deductions will now become itemized deductions and be limited to your hobby income.

For more information and assistance in helping your company maintain their position as a legitimate business, please contact a local CPA. Each state has its own independent licensing board. If you are located in North Carolina, you can contact the NC CPA Board website and click on their “Licensee search” button to locate a CPA near you. All licensed and active CPAs in North Carolina will be found on this website.

Build Your Startup Business Infrastructure on a Budget

There are quite a few steps to take when building a business from the ground up. This article assumes you have already gained a basic knowledge of these steps and are at a point where you have some funding and you are ready to put the building blocks of your business in place. If you are not familiar with the basic steps to build a business, I encourage you to go check out the multitude of publications you can find on the web and then come back and revisit this article.

In most cases, it is paramount to build your business in steps, being very careful how you spend the precious funds that are available to you, regardless of the source of your capital. By now you should have a list of components that need to be put in place, such as the IT infrastructure, including but not limited to email accounts, a website, internal software systems (both “canned” packages as well as custom software) and more. On the creative side, you will need to decide on your branding (logo and color theme). Then most likely you will need business cards, brochures, letterhead, fliers, signage and the like.

Building a business in steps (or increments) can be done, but you need to look for the right talent. At the beginning, you will be much better off finding individuals that are competent in several different areas. The less resources you have to employ, in most cases, the lower your spending outlay will be. If one individual can perform the duties of six or eight people, your budgetary savings should be significant. Later on, when things are taking off, you can replace these multi-talented individuals with dedicated resources, as each duty will likely become a full-time job. Over-staffing too soon can put you out of business in a hurry or put undue pressure on your business to perform sooner than it is capable of.

Let’s turn the clock forward and assume your business is gaining traction. Let’s say your multi-talented individuals just helped you get your business off the ground and now you are going to replace them with employees dedicated to specific business segments, or departments. It will be painless to replace them because they will be expecting it. Why? Because you brought them in as contractors. You have a lot of flexibility with contractors. If it’s in your interest, and the contractor’s interest, you can propose a contract to hire arrangement. Then if things work out well, you could bring them in as part of your senior staff since they will have such a good understanding of your business. Or, they could simply move on. There are many advantages to using contractors in a case like this. If things are not moving as fast as you hoped, you can reduce the contractor’s hours to stay within your budget. You can cut them loose if they are not performing as expected. You will also save money because you will not be providing benefits, and in many cases, not providing a work-space for them.

Another smart move may be to secure certain essential services on an outsourced basis. These days, you can even outsource your human resource department. Outside services are becoming more popular these days. Such services take the worry out of keeping up with ever-changing legal requirements, minimizing the exposure to your brand new, fragile business. The cost is normally a lot less than in-house staffing for comparable services. A good service company will come with a guarantee (they will have an insurance policy) that protects your company should the service company fail to keep up with current legal requirements, unintentionally creating a liability for your company. It is not practical for in-house personnel to make such a guarantee. In that case your business is assuming the risks for your hired employees.

Preparing a Business Plan – Components of a Business Strategy

Who do you want to help or serve with your business? What issue or problem does your product or service solve? What is the composite of the profile of the members of your target audience? What do these questions have to do with business planning?

In Starting to Plan

All of the above questions need to be answered directly or indirectly in some part of the plan that identifies your business strategy. At some point, the plan needs to be as detailed as possible and written even if it is not written initially. A record needs to be made of ideas that are attempted that were unsuccessful because of market timing or lack of resources.

Start a checklist that is expanded from the executive summary draft. On the checklist, make sure that you include information that is needed for funding sources. Information needed for making decisions for starting, developing and growing the business should also be included. “As texts that represent a given organization’s strategy, strategic plans are of course specific to that organization, and yet the notion has a generic quality that draws on shared institutional understandings of what such a text should include (its substance), how it should be structured (its form) and what it is intended to achieve (its communicative purposes)” (Cornut, Giroux & Langley, 2012, 22). Keep in mind that time spent in business planning could make the difference between a successful business venture and one the struggles and eventually fails. Be prepared to do research to find needed information. Remember if all you do is copy what everyone else is doing you may risk ending up with only the level of success of everyone else.

Identify the personal brand of the CEO in order to insure that it is in line with the business brand. The vision and mission should show its relationship to the target market in the marketing message that is cohesive on the web and in printed materials like mailing pieces, letterhead and business cards.

Plan Inclusions

The master copy of the business plan will include information and sections that may not be contain in other versions for some audiences. The purpose of having a plan that includes everything is to create a resource to be shared with specific audiences for specific purposes at the appropriate time. There may be a risk in sharing the entire plan to the wrong audience. Therefore, it will be necessary to cut some of the information out of the plan according to the audience for which it is intended.

Work in process

The business plan of a thriving business is expected to be forever changing to reflect the current operating activities of the business based on what ideas have been tried and adjusted to best serve the stakeholders of the firm. When the business plan stops being a changeable document, the business is endanger of stopping its growth and development processes.

References

Cornut, F., Giroux, H. & Langley, A. (2012).The strategic plan as a genre. Discourse & Communication, 6, 1, 21-54.

How Branding Benefits a Business

A brand is the unique identity that a company creates for its business. This brand identity plays a vital role in earning the trustworthiness among the clients to purchase the company’s product or service. Branding is an efficient and easy way to approach the client’s in a market place. It connects to your target audience and strengthens the customer loyalty.

Building a corporate brand identity is not an easy task. It happens only after years of consistent business, customer credibility and maintaining persistent marketing strategies. A formation of a brand foundation layer happens when the customers benefit from innovative products or services, engaging content, creating a unique business model and delivering high quality services.

A brand is defined by its name, colour combination, design, slogans, symbol and lot more combinations. A corporate branding company will focus on developing integrated branding features to enhance their public contact. Corporate branding incorporates features such as logo, brochure, catalog, flier, business card, letterhead, colour palette and tagline.

Take a look at the different ways of branding a business.

Remarkable Logo:

A logo is a visual symbolization of your company that should create an everlasting impression on the client’s memory. People should target on creating a unique logo design that creates yourself as an established enterprise and maintain a reputable position for your company that attracts more clients. A tremendous logo will strike the customers’ memory when they think of a product or service.

Well-designed Brochure:

A well-designed brochure is the foundation of setting up an effective business strategy. A brochure gives the complete description of a company’s product or service. A brochure design and quality acts, as a promotional tool that creates a quest amidst your target audience. It is easily portable and efficient marketing tool to withstand the cut-throat competition in the relevant field.

Single page Ad-flyer:

The flyer is a cheap and efficient promotional tool. Most of the branding companies opt flyer as their marketing tool because it requires very less cost and it’s easy to produce. The flyer embraces attractive offers provided by the company that hooks the customers to purchase their product or service. Some special festival offer flyers may result in an unexpected hike in product sales.

Professional Business card:

If you’re a job-seeker, entrepreneur or representative of any organization, then a business card is the most significant spectrum in your career which makes you professional among the plenty of other competitors. A business card portrays yourself and leaves an impression on your clients that reflects your business motive. There are several branding companies that give you the perfect business card that look and feel great.

Stylish Letterhead:

A professional letter-head style sets you apart from the large pool of competitors. It represents your corporate image among your potential customers. If you have an extra-ordinary letter, then certainly people will consider your product as a quality product. A branding company can boost your corporate image among the clients.

Informative Catalog:

A catalog is used by several industries because of the extensive advantage it provides. An informative catalog benefits the customers with detailed description of the product, including product photographs, services and price details effectively. The catalog will be kept safe if it’s informative and printed with high quality. The catalog is a simple and effective marketing tool.

Conclusion:

A brand interacts with the customers in all aspects, whether a logo or brochure, it delivers the motive of a business. People get attracted by these brand images or messages and emotionally get in touch with a product or service. A company’s image is highlighted by its stationary designs which include logo, brochure, business card, letterhead, etc that creates a space for your company and identify your efforts in developing quality products. This corporate identity creates a revolution in your business by increasing the number of sales.