Archive for November 2019

1. Keep Accounts Simple As a startup, you don’t need a complicated accounts system. What you need is a solution that is user-friendly and simple to understand. Having your accounts in place but migrating to a more diverse system later is easier than starting off with a more complex accounting structure than you need. 2.…

Small Business Ideas for Aspiring Entrepreneurs  If you are looking for a small business idea (or even a micro-business) to kickstart your path to entrepreneurship, you are in the right place. This list of 101 small business ideas includes everything from personal services, to retail opportunities, to environmental services, to pet-related ideas, to technology businesses. It’s bound to…

1. About 5% to 20% of new customers come from trade shows An economics study conducted by Oxford revealed that trade shows are worth the time and expense. In the study, more than half of business travelers said that 5% to 20% of their company’s new customers were the result of trade show participation. Trade shows are…

1. Genuine need  True business opportunities meet needs or solve pain points people have in their lives. The best way to discover these needs and pain points is by being intimately involved in a particular field or industry. Most successful entrepreneurs have worked in the industry they start their business in, in a related industry,…

1. Build a sales funnel. The first way to quickly grow your business is by building a sales funnel. If you don’t have a sales funnel, you’re making a monumental mistake. Sales funnels can help to automate your business. It helps you to scale and grow quickly and easily. Sure, there’s some front-end work involved.…

Step 1: Do Your Homework Conduct a needs analysis Find out if organizations (nonprofit, for-profit, or government) are already doing the same or similar work in your community. It will be harder to get support if you are just duplicating existing services rather than improving or adding to them. Also find demographic or population data that…

Four steps to buy business insurance Assess your risks. Think about what kind of accidents, natural disasters, or lawsuits could damage your business. If you need help, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) provides information for choosing insurance to help you assess your risks and to make sure you’ve insured every aspect of your business. Find a…

1. Choose a location If your business is flourishing now, that means you chose a good location the first time around. Use similar methods when planning for your second. Some business locations do better than others for a reason. It might be because your company is on a major road where more consumers can find…

Lack of Capital  Of the vast number of small businesses that fail each year, nearly half of the entrepreneurs state a lack of funding or working capital is to blame. In most instances, a business owner is intimately aware of how much money is needed to keep operations running on a day-to-day basis, including funding payroll, paying…

1. Research Expenses Prior to starting a business you need to conduct careful research of the industry and consumer makeup so that you can validate your business idea, make sure there’s a market, and know who your potential customers are going to be. While some business owners choose to hire market research firms, you can…