Business Failure – The 9 Roadblocks To Look Out For Which Could Be Your Main Cause Of Downfall

Posted on September 29, 2011 by admin

The reasons why most business failures occur can be summarised by the following nine contributing factors. Knowing these factors will allow you to do some evaluation to see if any of these apply to your business. In return, you will have the opportunity to take action and change the course of your business before it is too late and any lasting damage occurs.

Check the following to see if any of the following apply to your situation:

Lost

Have you simply lost direction, lost sight of your goals, or lost the motivation to commit to getting the job done?

Technophobia

Are you afraid to move with the times and up-skill? Alternatively, do you take the long way to do something and not use the technology that is available to you?

Attention Deficit Disorder

Do you find yourself easily distracted and not accomplishing tasks on time or within budget?

No Plan

Studies have shown that really without a written plan, there is effectively no plan. Plans should cover personal, business and entrepreneurship areas. In particular, the business and entrepreneur plans should be broken down into daily tasks, weekly goals and monthly and annual achievements. How detailed are your plans?

No System

If you have no system going, to facilitate your goals and objectives, you will struggle to get there. How exactly are you going to reach your targets?

No Mentor

We all need someone to aspire to who has a proven success record in a field of relevance. We must strive to model our actions and behaviours on what they successfully do. You do not have to pay someone to do this if you so wish. Just find someone you respect and would like to model. Mimic what they do and take action.

No Focus

It will be very difficult to keep focused without written plans, a system that works, and a mentor you aspire to model.

Get Distracted By Hype

Do you find yourself distracted by hype and not focus on your goals and the daily, weekly, and longer-term targets you set yourself? If this occurs, review your written plans and see if this hype will bring you closer or farther from your goals. The chances are that it will be of little benefit.

Afraid to Succeed?

Being afraid to succeed really occurs on a deep level within your subconscious mind. It can be associated with a fear of the unknown; fear of the changes success will bring to you, and the steps you need to take to become successful. It can be quite complex and requires a great deal of self-evaluation to assess if this is the reason behind business failure.

Have a close look at the above and see what areas you can improve upon.

Choosing an Attractive Business Name

Posted on August 26, 2011 by admin

Most people don’t realize it, but one of your first and most important business decisions can be picking your business name. A great name is one that attracts customers and can really give your business legs in terms of starting a buzz. Do you think Google would have created the fanatical sensation it has with a name like Search Engine USA? If you are not the creative type, then bring in others to help you to name your baby. Work with a team of advisors, family or even just some business savvy friends, but don’t delegate this task completely to someone else, and especially not to a stranger or some internet naming company. A naming company is not going to understand your business or know you. If it is your business it should be a name that you like and that links back to your unique value proposition and the personality of your company. People will ask you, where did you come up with your name. This can be a golden opportunity for you to say something really brilliant and memorable, come up with a name that allows you to take this opportunity. If you are conservative, don’t be persuaded into something wild, that makes you uncomfortable and if you are zany, then don’t go conservative just because everyone else in your industry does. Picking a name should happen over a period of time, not in a day or an hour. Forcing creativity seldom works, so give yourself and your team time to percolate on it. Hold a series of brainstorming sessions until you are comfortable and excited about saying, seeing, hearing and owning a particular business name. During these brain storming sessions you should work through these eight rules for choosing a business name:

1) Be distinctive and be memorable, but be easy to spell and pronounce.

Your potential clients should be able to easily remember your business name. However, they also need to be able to find it easily if they’re looking for it in a phone book, directory or online. So choosing a business name such as “Phorgetmeekknot” is not a good idea. While we usually encourage the unique, we also suggest that you be unique without the difficult spellings. Your business name should also be easily pronounced, which is why, for instance, we discourage our clients with predominately American clientele from using French words or names.

The test: If someone were to say your business name over the radio, would people be able to remember it, spell it correctly and easily translate it into a properly spelled dotcom address for surfing at another time during the day? A good name is something that can be mentioned on the radio or over the phone, without a lot of explanation. A great name does this and is memorable.

2) An attractive business name needs a visual element.

What popped into your head when you read “Phorgetmeekknot?” Most people wouldn’t visualize anything when they read this name. Generally we are hard-wired to “See” images when we read or hear language. Incorporating a visual element into your business name can be a powerful aid to customers’ memory and a powerful advertising tool. So you want your business name to have a strong visual element to it.

3) An attractive business name should have a positive connotation.

Many words suggest both literal meanings and emotional meanings. A word’s literal meaning can be positive, neutral or negative depending on the emotional associations that people generally make. The classic example is the difference between “Mom,” which has a very positive literal meaning and “Mother,” which has a neutral connotation. It would not be advisable to name your company Mother’s Toffee when Mom’s Toffee has a more positive underlying suggestion.

When you create your business name, you need to choose words that suggest positive meanings that people will associate with your business while making sure that these meanings are suitable for your business. So, don’t name your business Dad’s Cookies if you’re going to be selling Tofu.

4) An attractive business name should allude to what your business does.

You need to be sure that your new business name gives your potential clients some clues about what you actually do. That’s why almost all banks have the word “Bank” in their name, and bars include words such as “Pub,” “Saloon” or even “Bar” in their names.

Including information about what your business does in your business name also makes it easier for potential clients to find your business in phone books and directories on and offline.

Including a descriptive component in your name can help customers understand the nature of your business. However, you should avoid including descriptive elements that could quickly become out of date or inaccurate. We encourage our technology clients to not use technical abbreviations or words in their business names as those terms can quickly become archaic.

5) An attractive business name should be short, but not too short.

This is vital because you want your clients to be able to remember your business’s name so they can tell other people what it is. It’s also important for promotional purposes. You want a business name that will fit on a business card and stationary, look good displayed on a sign or in an ad and work well as a domain name for search engines if you choose to use search engine optimization. So, keep it as short as you can. That being said, avoid abbreviations or initials as a startup. Your name is part of your branding so it needs to convey meaning. Standalone letters do not convey meaning. This is a case where it is not wise to emulate the big boys. Names like IBM and DHL while now household names, are not good names for a startup, because they carry no meaning. You can shorten to initials after you have developed your image, but it will be easier to develop your brand image if you start with a name that has meaning built into it.

6) An attractive name should distinguish you from your competitors.

If your top competitor is Jewelry Works, you should not choose the business name, Jewelry Worx or Working Jewelry. You need to choose a name that will distinguish you from your competitors. There is a lot to be said for being the black sheep in business and targeting a market based on your unique value. Better to be bold and stand out then be timid and blend in.

7) An attractive business name in today’s world has a dotcom option.

As the Internet reaches a critical mass, owning a good dotcom domain name has a tremendous value. If you believe the Internet will play an important role in the future of your business, you’ll want to factor the availability of dotcom names into your name choice.

It’s easy to find out what domain names are available, and which ones are taken. Use free online resources that determine the availability of a particular name. While .net, and .us are other options for the most part they are not seen as having the same status as a dotcom, so keep that in mind depending on your target market and their status sensitivity.

A lasting business name should not violate IP rights.

You must be sure to choose a name that does not violate the intellectual property rights of another business or organization with the name you choose, which could put your ability to use the name in jeopardy. You can use the internet to research if there are other businesses with your name or search businesses by name with the State government division in charge of registered businesses. This is a state affair so the body governing business registration will not let your register an already existing name. When searching a database, try different spacing and word combinations to find all possible matches. For example, try Prairie Dog, PrairieDog, PrairieDog.Com and Prairie Dog Café.

If you want to trademark your business name you should search the US Patent and Trademark Office website before you choose your name. You can also hire an attorney to do this work for you.

One last tip: think about colors and images when you’re choosing a business name. Colors and images will be an important component of your business logo and other business promotion materials and your business web site. Colors and images have strong emotional associations that you and your team of advisors should take the time to consider. You can read up on this on the internet or at your local bookstore.

For more business tips or information about starting or developing your business visit www.flourishingbusiness.com.

Get Your Business Ready for Tax Time – The End of Financial Year

Posted on August 20, 2011 by admin

The end of the financial year is an extremely important period for all pharmacy business owners. It is a time to understand your financial position as well as plan for the year ahead. If you did not have any accurate monthly financial reports last year, now is the best time to start.

The best way to begin is by organizing your bookkeeping systems and financial procedures in order to ensure that you maximize returns and have full control over your pharmacy. This is a critical part of running a successful business.The majority of time business owners, especially pharmacists who work long hours, do not have the available time to accurately organize their financial papers. A bookkeeper however, can help you improve and make the job easy and painless. Generally, bookkeepers are able to take care of all the paperwork and manage the payroll.

Generating and understanding financial rations can be a complicated process. For this reason, it is important to seek a bookkeeper’s advice when it comes to analysing your business performance. Bookkeepers are able to give the business owner monthly accurate financial figures and rations in an easy to understand format with an explanation. This whole process can be linked to the pharmacy industry as a whole, which enables you to see how your pharmacy compares with the rest.

There are bookkeepers that specialize in the pharmacy industry, who have the means and experience to further assist pharmacy owners. These specialists know everything regarding pharmacy bookkeeping, from specific suppliers (API, Sigma, Pfizer), to pharmacy wage awards to dealing with service trusts. They are able to deal with processes that pharmacies require, easily and correctly.

Director of a bookkeeping firm, Anatole Kabov says that, “most bookkeepers are unaware of how to process invoices correctly in order to receive the full GST amount back. Entering forward charges can be a complicated process that not all bookkeepers might be familiar with.”

Most importantly, bookkeeping specialists are able to identify specific areas to claim back GST and tax. Understanding which monthly adjustments are required in order to generate 100% accurate financial reports for pharmacy owners, banks and accountants. Expertise in these areas is something that general bookkeepers may not be aware of. Anatole says that bookkeepers should “work with the majority of banks in providing financial figures for quarterly reviews… advise clients of specific financial changes to the pharmacy industry, such as wage awards.”

The End of the Financial Year is only around the corner, and keeping these tips in mind, businesses as a whole, can see why it is essential to seek professional advice during tax time. Having a professional help with your tax returns is an essential way to make sure you maximize on your returns- making sure that the new financial year is more successful than the last.

Types of Business Licenses and Permits

Posted on August 20, 2011 by admin

The last thing you want to find out after starting your business is that you have failed to conform to the law by not filing for the right permits for your business. Before establishing a small business, you should pay attention to your town, city, and county regulations. In most locations, every business needs a basic license which is sometimes called a tax registration certificate. Apart from this, other permits and licenses may be required as well.

Business licenses and permits are issued at all levels of government – federal, state and local (city, county, or town). Depending upon the kind of business you are running, you may need to apply for licenses at multiple levels. For example, if you decide to open a restaurant in the city of San Francisco, you will need a business license and health permit from the city of San Francisco, sales tax license from the state of California and a federal tax ID number from the U.S. federal government.

Not sure what kind of license or permit you need for your business venture? Well, as usual, we’ve made it simple for you. Below is a quick checklist covering the most common federal, state, and local licenses and permits you may need to acquire before commencing business:

Business License – This is the basic license that you will need to operate a business legally. If the business is located within city limits, a license must be obtained from the city; if outside, it is procured from the county. Contact your city’s business license department to file an application. Also remember that you need to pay an annual fee.

Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) – Also known as a tax identification number, this is required for almost all types of businesses. Depending on where your business is located, you may also need to acquire a similar tax identification number from your state.

Zoning and Land Use Permits – Before you start your business, you have to find out if the space you are going to use is properly zoned for the kind of usage that is planned. You may need a zoning compliance permit. Zoning laws regulate off-street parking, waste disposal, and the size, construction and placement of signs.

Health Department Permits – If your business involves the preparation and/or sale of food, you will need a county health department permit. Note that the health department will inspect your facilities before issuing one.

Sales Tax License – This license is essential before you can sell almost any product or service in any state.

Fire Department Permits – Businesses such as restaurants, day-care centers or any other that attract a large crowd need a permit from the fire department.

Special State-Issued Business Licenses or Permits – You may need special licenses if your business involves the sale of certain types of products including liquor, lottery tickets, gasoline and firearms.

Special State-Issued Occupational / Professional Licenses – In many states, people in certain occupations must have licenses or occupational permits. State licensing is typically required for auto mechanics, plumbers, electricians, building contractors, collection agents, insurance agents, real estate brokers, repossessors and personal service providers (beauticians, cosmetologists, therapists and masseurs). If you are thinking of starting any of these businesses, you will have to pass state examinations in order to get the permit. Contact your state government offices to get a complete list of occupations that require licensing.

Special Federal Business Licenses or Permits – You may also require special business licenses from the federal government if your business involves investment advising, drug manufacturing, preparation of meat products, broadcasting, manufacturing tobacco, alcohol or firearms.

Licensing and permit requirements for small businesses vary from state to state; it is therefore a good idea for you to contact your state and local government to determine the specific obligations for your new business.

Start a vending machine business

Posted on August 6, 2011 by admin

How to start a vending machine business? If this has ever been a question in your mind, we will help to make it happen. Yes, we will tell you how to start a vending machine business and be successful. There are lots of people in confusion worrying about how to start a vending machine business. And most of the people who have dreamed about how to start a vending machine business have been hesitant to put their plans into action, as they cannot find answers to their questions. This comprehensive guide is meant to help people successfully launch and grow a vending business by offering expert advice on each and every aspect of setting up and running a prosperous vending machine business.

As you all know a vending machine is an automatic machine which dispenses merchandise when a customer deposits adequate money. The vending machine validates the money with a currency detector and checks whether the money is sufficient to purchase the desired item. Each day millions of coins are poured through coin operated vending devices.

Nowadays the vending machine business and the vending industry is a great business opportunity for anyone. In the United States, most vending machines are operated either by store owners or by individuals who buy or rent several machines. And if you are thinking about how to start a vending machine business, there is a wide spectrum of business opportunities such as candy, stamps, snacks, coffee, soft drinks, food, music, games, and arcades where it can be put to use. Each type of vending has its own business advantages and to start out you have to be specific on which vending business will suit you the most. You have to have a clear idea and business plan before you start your vending machine business.

One of the most important aspects you have to consider before starting a vending machine business is the location. Keep in mind, finding an ideal location is a difficult task indeed – it is all about zeroing on the right place. The possibilities for vending items and locations are limitless – for example Family Fun Centers, Amusement Parks, Medical Supplies, Parking Meters, Arcades, and so on.

For those thinking of how to start a vending machine business don’t worry much about the initial investment. In the vending machine business you do not need a large scale investment to get your business started. In vending machine business your entire investment is in buying the equipment and product.

In the entire deal, you are the only one who can determine your degree of involvement from the very beginning of the business. The more machines you have and the more locations you have – you can surely make much profit from the vending business.