Business and Finance

So you’ve worked hard to improve your business and make it succeed. You even recession-proofed your company to survive today’s tough times. These days, you’re working harder and longer. Your clients are getting the Red Carpet Treatment, your marketing budget is getting a boost it needs to counteract today’s slow economy, and you are giving out more special offers and freebies than ever before. But somehow you are still not getting results you hoped for and need…..

Maybe the solution how to improve your business is right there in front of you and fixing it won’t cost you a cent. Take a good look around your personal office as well as your business and front entrance. Is your desk a power desk? Does it protect and support you and your vision? Is it placed right? Or is another desk’s sharp corner aiming straight at you (and you keep wondering, why can’t you concentrate there long enough…).

Can you see your office door while sitting at your desk? Or do you keep your back to incoming flow of business and prosperity? What about your client sitting area? Does it make your clients relaxed but motivated enough to give you their business? Or do you let your waiting customers count your burned-out light bulbs and broken wall clocks? What about your front entrance? Does it project strong yet inviting business? Or do you have No Parking At Any Time sign in front of your door?  Read more...

Majority of people admire successful small business entrepreneurs and are sometimes even envious of their success. What they often fail to understand is that successful entrepreneurs have worked long and hard to get where they are. Small business requires dedication, hard work and sacrifices.

The key to leading a small business is actually condensed into three simple virtues: passion, dedication and patience.

The first virtue an entrepreneur must have is the passion. A business person must have the daily excitement of everything that he does about venturing into business. If you own a small convenience store in town, start your day by having the contagious enthusiasm and zeal. It stars with the change of your attitude toward your business and dedicate to love your dealings with passion.

Passion also means being able to get out of the bed early in the morning with a positive thinking. Think of the good things that will happen to your business today. Think of something like making at least 10% increase in the profit. Or start thinking of the development of your business by creating new and helpful marketing strategies to promote your business. Or better yet, start saying this to yourself, “My business is good, it’s getting better and it’s going to be the best!”  Read more...

Everyone in America is looking for new and different ways to create income.  If you are one of those individuals and have a business management degree or experience in business management, there is a fantastic opportunity waiting for you.  That opportunity is working as a business coach.  With today’s struggling economy, once profitable businesses are losing money.  Unless help is sought and fast, those businesses may have to close their doors.  They need you!

As nice as it is to hear that you can make money working as a business coach, you need more information.  Most importantly, you need to know what is expected of you.  What job responsibilities do business coaches have?

Education. As a business coach, you are the expert.  You have schooling or experience that makes you qualified to run a business.  You know what works and what doesn’t.  Unfortunately, many home based business and small business owners did not think their plans through.  They realized they could make money and jumped in with both feet.  Action is good, but having knowledge and experience is even better.

It is your job as a business coach to educate them on how to properly run a successful and profitable business.  To do this, dissect the key components of running a business.  These include leadership development, proper communication, teamwork, organization, resolving workplace conflict, sales, and marketing.  Those who started a business on a whim may not see the connection between these important components and profits.  You need to show them.  Read more...

One of the biggest struggles I had in starting my business was actually coming up with the idea.  I wanted something that was scalable as well as needed in our society.  I combed through hundreds of ideas before settling on my current venture.  Through this discovery period, I uncovered what I believe are the five most important concepts in determining what makes the perfect business idea. 

So, what is a perfect idea?  Each individual entrepreneur has their concept of the perfect business.  While Google is a great business for the founders of that company – it may not be a great business for others that are non-tech savvy or who do not want to run such a large organization.  

Therefore, each perfect business is defined by the business owners.  Keeping this in mind, let’s start on my five concepts of finding the perfect business: 

Number One – Understanding your customer:  This might seem strange to start here as how do you know your customers before you have a business idea in place.  The answer is simple – your customers make the business, therefore without customers there is no business.  If you have a business idea don’t try to develop the idea around what YOU think potential customers will like or need, but find out what your customers actually desire.  Too often business owners get an idea in their head and jump right in with both feet.  However, they soon find out that their target market does not want what they are offering.  Spending both time and money on a project just to see it languish is not the perfect business idea.   Read more...

Do You Need Certification to Work – For Business Coaches

What are the minimum qualifications to be a “Business Coach”? The best would be to have prior experience running a small to medium sized business. After all, you have been there and done it. You know what it takes to run a profitable business. Perform a standard internet search with the phrase “business coaching,” and you will see many training classes and certification programs. Do you need these? No.

In the United States, you do not need special licensing to offer services as a business coach. You are running a business, so you should adhere to all local and state laws. These typically just cover insurance, signage restrictions, and taxes. Although you do not need to legally be certified as a business coach, it does have its benefits.

Familiarization. If you operated a business, are you still doing so now? Did you retire or hand over the reigns to someone else? If it has been years since you were last at the helm, know that things have changed, particularly with the internet. More business owners are utilizing the internet to sell and market business. If you are unfamiliar with these new and improved tactics, a business coaching certification program can allow you to get familiar. Not only can you learn new techniques, but you can brush up on the old too.  Read more...