Start An Online Business – Is There An Easy Way?
Do you think it’s difficult to start an online business and make money from it? Well, it isn’t actually complicated, but you will need to figure out – or learn – how to do it. If you are going to work out the whole lot by yourself, it may take a long time and a great deal of work (plus lots of frustration) until you see any significant results.Don’t get me wrong – it really is quite a bit of work to establish a web based business. There isn’t such a thing as “getting rich overnight”, even though there are more than sufficient offers on the internet that “guarantee” precisely that. What I say is that building an internet business will be of much less effort if you learn from those who have experience and know-how.Creating a business and making cash on the internet is just about the same as doing it in the “real world”. Basically, doing business is having an item to sell which people would like to buy. It’s as simple as that.The big difference between an online and a ‘real world’ business is that with a web based business you can perform all the promotion and selling via your laptop. You do not even need a store or a warehouse to sell from, you can do it all from your own living-room, if you so wish.Yet, there are so many various strategies to creating an internet business, and so many pitfalls (not to mention the many scams out there who are waiting to grab your money), that it is a good idea to learn from folks who have gone through the whole procedure before. As mentioned, it is possible to make it all by yourself, but you will be able to achieve your goal much sooner if you take advice and assistance from persons who really know.The quickest route to set up an on line business is to sell, or promote, other people’s products or services. This is called ‘affiliate marketing’. What you do is promoting a product, and once a sale is made by your promotional efforts, you will receive a share of the sales amount. The big advantage with this kind of business is that you do not need to keep stock or handle neither payments nor customers.If you intend to sell your own things (or stuff you buy from wholesalers), you need a website with a sales page. On that page (besides a compelling sales copy) you must offer online payment methods like credit cards and PayPal. This calls for a whole lot of setting up and might be a challenge in itself for newbies who are not tech savvy; furthermore you have to handle and stock products as well as deal with clients.However, you do not have to sell tangible goods at your online warehouse, you can sell digital downloadable items like e-books, software, tutorials, recipes and other knowhow. For example, you can make a course on some topic you know well, which you can deliver online in weekly lessons. The big advantage with downloadable products is that the whole sales and delivery procedure can be fully put on automation.There are several routes you can follow when starting an internet business, as you see. However, do not get lost in the backwoods (and watch out for the scams out there waiting to get your cash) – be sure to get yourself some education in this field and learn the online business basics before starting out. This will save you a lot of time and work and help you achieve success with much less effort.There is one thing online and ‘real world’ businesses alike have in common and are dependent on – customers. The biggest challenge for an internet business beginner isn’t to get a website up, or even set up a payment arrangement; it is to generate traffic – getting visitors and potential buyers – to your website and online store.
The Credit Crunchy Finances
The Labor Department release on consumer prices showed a 1% drop last month in the past month. The change was largest since 1947 and comes along with troublesome news, such as lowest home builder sentiment, markets trading at new lows, and a pending automaker bailout. With the financial crisis damaging the US economic foundation, you may wonder what’s in store for you. There are a few key strategies to employ while running your finances in a crisis mode. Which ones you use and to what degree they are used depends on your situation.1. Prepare a substantial emergency fund. An emergency fund is a pool of liquid assets that you allocate for emergency needs, such as loss of a job or sudden medical expenses. Normally, it should consist of three to six months’ salary. However, in today’s severe conditions, you should pack away the maximum – six months’ worth – and more if you can. Remember to keep your emergency fund easily available such as in a banking account, not in investments, because if you need to access money and your investments are down, you will be forced to take a loss. If you don’t have enough cash, consider buying a job-loss insurance policy for one year to protect yourself from the danger of increased layoffs around the country.2. Adjust risk. Adjust your portfolio risk to the ongoing reality of the economic times. Stocks and bonds, as well as mutual funds and ETFs are now more volatile than normal. If you did not adjust your portfolio previously, you might be exceeding your preferred risk level by owning too many equities compared to what you normally hold in a more stable market. In order to maintain your level of risk, you should counter the risk exposure by allocating less to stocks, and moving more into bonds. In present times, it’s best to reduce stock exposure 2-3 times lower than your normal level. For example, if your typical portfolio is 80% equity against 20% bonds, consider moving to 40% stocks and 60% bonds.3. Employ wise leverage. If your emergency fund is in place, and you’ve been thinking about using credit for a particular purpose, do it now. With the inflation rate nearing 5%, it’s now the best time leverage your good credit. By the time you pay off your debt, the credit will likely be worth less than it is now, and high inflation will effectively minimize your interest cost. But remember, using credit is advisable only if used for strategic purposes, such as making necessary renovations to your home or purchasing a more fuel efficient car. Credit shouldn’t be used as a source of funding extravagant purchases or as a way to build savings.4. Take advantage of tax breaks. Sell your worst performers before the year-end to offset any taxable gains. If you have been fortunate to hold gainers along with some losers, look at selling the losers. If your capital losses exceed your capital gains – a very likely outcome this year – up to $3,000 can be deducted against your taxable income per year (up to $1,500 each for a married person filing separately). Because this annual allowance runs out in a little more than a month you’ll want to act quickly to take advantage, and you will have funds to reinvest as the outlook becomes better. Wondering what stocks to sell first? The stocks that have fallen over 80% since the time you purchased them. It is typical for stocks that have fallen that much to not return to previous highs, so you don’t need to hold them.5. Ensure a better retirement. It is also the best time of the year to convert your traditional IRA into a Roth IRA – and pay lower taxes. Because the value of stocks and mutual funds has dropped so much, your tax burden at conversion will be much lighter. You can then take advantage of tax-deferred growth in your new Roth IRA, and tax-free distribution when retirement comes.
The Key to Small Business Success Requires an Uncomplicated Commitment
Virtually every owner or manager will agree that operating a small business requires lots of hard work on the part of both managers and employees. It’s what is commonly known as “sweat equity”. Or in other words, hard work is required to bring the results desired.Hard work alone is not enough. Additionally, the business owner must be prepared to make a commitment to building and growing the business. That translates to being on the job every day.Unfortunately, some owners, such as those who purchase a franchise, assume that their on-the-job commitment is not necessary if they hire a manager to run the business. Sometimes that works. More often it doesn’t work so well. Nevertheless, operating a small business requires hard work by the owners and managers.There are three fundamental steps in the process of the hard work that are not complicated, but necessary for success.Getting work comes first. Whatever the business does, it must first promote and sell its products and services to the markets served. The business cannot depend on chance. To illustrate, if the business has the cure for the common cold, it must tell the market and provide a way for potential customers to contact the business to purchase the remedy. To get work or sell products and services, the business must make the market it serves aware of its presence and skills as well as how to contact the business. Fortunately, there are many affordable advertising and promotion options for small businesses that will contact potential customers who are likely to buy the products and services available for purchase.Fulfilling and delivering customer orders is the second step. Whether designing, building, assembling or delivering products or services, small businesses do of good job of getting the work done. What they do not do so well sometimes is fulfilling the order or getting the project done on time.There may be nothing more irritating or displeasing to a customer than a supplier or vendor who does not fulfill an order or complete a project on time. This happens far too often with small businesses. While it is desirable to get something done the right way even though it may take more time than originally planned, small business owners and managers must strive to meet deadlines or finish projects before the deadline if they want to be successful.Paying bills and getting paid for the Work performed and delivered is the third step of the process.Small businesses tend to pay bills to vendors and suppliers before the due date because they think the thought doing so will assure a good credit status with the vendor or supplier if the bill is paid before due. Paying the bill when due is good enough.On the other hand, they will allow their customers to pay bills beyond the due date.At the end of the fiscal year, most small businesses will complain that while sales were good, there was little cash in the company checking account. When asked why this is the case, Accountants and Consultants will reply that the cash shortage is in Inventory or Accounts Receivable. Usually the latter is the major contributor to cash shortfalls.Small businesses do not do a good job of getting paid in a timely manner. It does not have to be that way and it should not be that way. In fact, it is very easy to assure timely payments when a consistent and uniform Accounts Receivable Collection Procedures Program is in place.Accounts Receivable systems are a valuable asset to small businesses. The consistent application of Accounts Receivable collection activities will reduce costs which in turn improves margins and operation profits.In closing, a professional Accounts Receivable Collection is not the dreaded last minute phone call to the customer that nobody wants to do. On the contrary, the process begins at the Point of Sale when buyer and seller agree to payment terms required and continues on professional and uniform communication between the buyer and the seller.