How To Write A Quick & Relatively Painless Business Plan

by: David Silva

If you've never written a business plan before, the idea alone can be overwhelming.

It doesn't have to be the nightmare of your imagination.

Traditionally, a business plan is used to secure funding from a lender or a potential investment partner. It serves as something akin to your business's resume, outlining the purpose and scope of your business, identifying the goals, marketing and management, and establishing a basic balance sheet.

Now, even if you aren't going to seek additional funding, even if you're going to grow your business by yourself from your office at home, you'd be wise to put together a business plan. Simply going through the process has value. It'll help you develop a clearly defined vision of what you intend to do with your business and how you intend to do it.

These are some of the questions you should already have asked and answered before you sit down to write your business plan:

== What "want" does your business fill, and what service or product will you be providing to fill that want?

== Who will be your potential customer (this should be an established, niche market with die-hard buyers).

== Why will people purchase from you as opposed to the business down the street (in other words ... what's your Unique Selling Position)?

== How do you intend to reach your customers? A storefront? An ad in the phone book? Direct mail? An Internet campaign? Selling door-to-door? A combination of these?

== Will you need additional funding and if so, how much will you need and how do you intend to secure it?

Okay, so let's take a look at what you'll want to include in your business plan.

Most business plans are structured to examine four primary areas:

1. Executive Summary - a decription of the business
2. How you intend to market the business
3. How the busines finances will be arranged and handled
4. How the busines will be managed

Let's take a further look at these.

Executive Summary: what the business will do, its Unique Selling Position, the business goals, its ownership and legal structure, your skills and knowledge and how they will benefit the business.

Marketing The Business: describe your product or service, identify your market niche, how big it is, and how you plan to reach it. Define your customer, identify your competition, detail your pricing plan, outline how you intend to attract and convert customers.

Financing The Business: estimate your start-up costs, project your monthly operating budget for the first year, outline your ROI (return on investment) and cash flow for the first year, project your income and expense balance sheet for the first two years, explain how you're going to compensate yourself, establish who will maintain the accounting records and how they'll be maintained, and if you're in need of funding, explain how much you need and how it'll be used by the business.

Managing The Business: how will the business be managed day-to-day, what the hiring and personnel procedures will be, how the products or services will be developed and how they'll get into the hands of your customers. You'll also need to account for equipment the business will need, and how insurance, rental agreements, etc. will be handled.

That's it. In a nutshell.

If you'd like to see some free sample business plans to get a better idea of how they're structured and how they read, here's a good source for you: http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.cfm



About the author:
David Silva
Business Starter Tools http://businessstartertools.com

If you'd like to take the quickest, straight-as-an-arrow path to Internet success, then learn from one of the most successful Internet entrepreneurs ever, Mark Joyner:

http://businessstartertools.com/internetmanuscript

How to Stop Waste, Fraud and Abuse

by: Chris Anderson

Each year, businesses write-off six percent of revenue to waste, fraud and abuse. But why would managers throw all that hard-earned money away when there is a reliable way to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse using accounting policies & procedures to create internal controls. Internal controls eliminate uncollectible receivables; prevent theft or embezzlement; optimize inventory; and stop waste, fraud, and abuse. Utilizing just a single control will add real money to your bottom line each month.

Look for Easily Customizable MS-WORD files to Save Time

You can quickly and easily develop customized procedures and internal controls for your organization, no matter what size it is. WORD templates reduce the stress of writing clear internal controls, policies or procedures; of staying late at the office to research “best practices” or of worrying over what format to use.

Use Prewritten Text by Industry Experts

It's much easier to edit prewritten controls than to develop them from scratch. Let experienced CPAs, auditors, and business process experts think through the steps for each procedure or form. Then, save even more time by using the resulting content that technical writers have edited in MS-WORD instead of re-entering the text.

Vital Procedures Resource used by Thousands

Accounting Policies and Procedures is one such vital resource used by thousands of executives and managers to strengthen their financial operations. Such a manual contains an introduction to accounting, an explanation of how to create your own controllers manual, an example of a complete prewritten manual, ample policies, procedures and forms for the most common processes (revenue, cash, assets, purchasing and administration), a detailed index to every keyword, phrase and regulation used, plus a Guide to Embezzlement Prevention.

Examples for Every Owner or Executive

Every month executives share their stories about satisfying their auditors with new controls, of increased earnings found in their business and how much time was saved. So, if you want to increase the profits of your business then consider an Accounting Policies & Procedures manual.

Help Your Business Grow Now

Can you afford to let a single precious hour pass without finding out what Policies and Procedures can do for your business?



About the author:
Chris Anderson has over 18 years of sales, marketing and business management experience working with business process design, software and systems engineering for over ten years. He is also co-author of policies and procedures manual products, producing the layout, process design and implementation to increase performance.
Visit: http://www.bizmanualz.com?src=ART68

HOW TO STAY FOCUSSED AND BUILD YOUR BUSINESS

by: Matt Bacak

You have a detailed business plan, which showed the overall intent of your company. You presented the business plan to your bank before start-up and they submitted funding in the amount that you both deemed acceptable. The original business plan contained the basis of the procedures that will help you stay focussed while the company grows. Let's examine some of these processes that you will use to give your business the focus it needs to grow and succeed.

1. A marketing plan. If sales are a part of your operation (and it seems that some form of selling is always a big part of every company), then, you will need to have your sales group focussed on a marketing plan. Short term and longer-term analysis should be a part of this planning and will likely contain an analysis of your competition, market potential and sales projections. Be careful not to fall into the trap of letting “the business take care of itself”, stay focussed at all times and be sure your managers are tuned into this market monitoring regularly, nothing is more defeating to the general manager/owner than to be told by a sales manager…I didn't see that coming! YIKES!
2. Accounting procedures. If sales are important, then the need to stay focussed on receiving the proceeds from sales is equally important. Accounts payable, expenses and accounts receivable need to have fixed procedures in place to allow money to flow freely through the company coffers. Focussing on these procedures at regular weekly and monthly meetings will put the accounting and marketing groups on the same path. A rift between marketing and accounting is a common bureaucratic occurrence; so don't be surprised if one point you hear from someone from sales state, “We make the money here, how come I have to live by their rules?” Getting these two operations to stay focussed on a bottom line results oriented approach is a regular part of an owner's job description.
3. Human resources. If you have ever worked for a manager, who considered his employees as expenses rather than assets, then you will be familiar with the need for managers to stay focussed on human resources within the company. A manager who is fixated on staff reduction regardless of their accomplishments will create an atmosphere of fear. Certainly, no one wants to be grossly over-staffed, but a good owner/manager will focus on keeping adequate employee base numbers, and ensure continuing training, safety programs and top of the line employee benefits. It's your campground, why not have “happy campers?”
4. Selling your business. This does not mean selling in the true literal sense. It means focusing on being sure your company image is one that is the envy of your competitors and is known in the business world as a first class operation. You can do this by having key managers attending industry conferences. Be clear and tell them that their focus at these seminars is to network, thoroughly gathering as much new information that they can. They should also 'sell' other attendees on the importance and efficiency of their company in the industry. Upon their return, have follow-up meetings with these managers where they will report in detail on what they have learned. Managers attending conventions and seminars should take opportunities to enjoy themselves, nevertheless, they will be the “face” of your company, it's wise be sure that they focus on making them business meetings, and not all “playtime.”

If planning, organizing, staffing, direction and control are five major factors in managing a company, staying focussed throughout the process, is paramount!





About the author:
Matt Bacak became "##1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours.
Recent Entrepreneur Magazine’s e-Biz radio show host is
turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories.
Discover The Secrets http://promotingtips.com

How to Start an Investment Club - Business Model

by: chris hickman

Your investment club will need to decide what type of entity you're going to adopt for business purposes. You'll have to decide whether you're going to be a corporation, a general partnership, or limited liability partnership.

Each of these business models has their own advantages and disadvantages.

· Corporation. Most investment clubs will avoid becoming a corporation. This is because corporations are taxable business entities that require knowledgeable accounting skills to make them run smoothly and in accord with government regulations. A corporation generally means a lot of paperwork. This paperwork can be avoided by choosing another business model for your purpose of running an investment club.

· General partnership. This type of business model requires less paperwork and knowledge about taxes and other financial issues. Most investment clubs choose a general partnership as their choice of a business entity. A general partnership has nominal paperwork and costs associated with it because the taxes are passed to each partner's tax returns. This type of business model will let you accomplish what you need to do to run your investment club with the least amount of tax influence.

· Limited liability corporations. This type of a business model is much like the general partnership but it gives individual members of your investment group a bit more liability protection. Keep in mind that this type of business entity can be expensive and will need more paperwork.

Members of your investment group will have to decide which of the above business models works best for your club.

You will have to make a decision one way or the other since establishing a business entity is a requirement for tax purposes.

About the author:
Chris Hickman owns a full info site about investment clubs. Check Out his site at http://www.ez-investment-clubs.com

How to Quit Your Job

by: Debra Thorsen

Do you to know without ending up on the street? In a nutshell, you need to avoid the self-employment trap, think like a business, and create multiple passive revenue streams.

Avoid the Self-Employment Trap

If you quit your job and hang up your own shingle, you might work harder for less money. You may enjoy working from home or choosing your own clients, but you might end up living from client to client without building any real wealth.

Many self-employed people I know suffer from feast or famine. They spend lots of time and money marketing their services and get lots of clients. They get really busy doing the work and stop marketing and then their prospective client pool dries up.

If you set up your business so that you do everything - marketing, sales, bookkeeping, operations, and fulfillment, then you are limiting your success potential from day one. You will spend lots of time on non-income generating activities and may get frustrated and burned-out in a short time.

The real key to successfully creating wealth outside of a job is to avoid the mistake of trading one boss for another boss. You need to stop trading your time for dollars. Stop thinking like a wage slave. Look beyond earned income.

Think Like a Business

There are many problems with earned income. The biggest one is that you are trading your time for money. If you stop trading your time, the dollars stop coming. This is a huge problem if you decide to have a baby, get sick, want to take an extended vacation, or are ready to retire.

The IRS penalizes self-employed people who operate as a sole proprietorship with a hefty self-employment tax. How can you avoid this? Well, I am not an accountant or CPA, so I am not giving legal or accounting advice, but I have learned to think like a business. Before you quit your job, interview local tax advisors to educate yourself on different business entities and tax strategies. Start thinking big.

Build a Company with Multiple Passive Income Streams

You need to build a company that works for you. My best advice on how to quit your job is to build a business that offers multiple streams of passive income in addition to your earned income. There are so many exciting ways to design your income portfolio. It requires imagination, courage and planning.

Structure your business so that your daily activities are fun and challenging. Identify the things that you don’t enjoy or are not good at and find other people to do these activities – outside partners, independent contractors, or employees.

How to Quit Your Job

My advice for how to quit your job is to avoid thinking that you have to do everything yourself to make your new enterprise run. Think big! Set up systems and structures that work for you so you don’t have to work so hard. Incorporate and make the tax system work for you. Design your work around multiple passive income streams to support your active work. And finally, have fun!

About the author:
Find out how to break free from the corporate world. Debra Thorsen is a happy corporate escapee who helps individuals create real wealth and happiness without 9 to 5 jobs. Visit for free tips on career change, wealth building, and living without fear.

How to Choose the Right Accounting Software for Your Business

By: Brandon Hall

With any good luck and a good amount of hard work, you're having the same problem many business owners today are facing. Your business is growing rapidly and you're having problems controlling your finances. Time and time again, that Microsoft Excel spreadsheet you've been using just isn't getting the job done for you.

So, you’ve decided that you’re ready to take the next step, and buy a full-featured accounting software program. Many options are available to choose from, but I believe the best solutions to be Quicken Premier Home and Business by Intuit, QuickBooks Pro also by Intuit, and Peachtree Accounting by Sage. In order to decide on the right package for you, you need define the type of business that you operate.

With the rise of self-employment (businesses with one or more owners but no paid employees) a need has arisen to manage business and personal finances on one platform. Intuit has released Quicken 2005 Premier Home and Business to fill this need.

This software is perfect for the small business owner who receives income from investments, real estate, and/or internet
marketing. Also, Quicken 2005 Premier Home and Business is well priced at only $89.95.

For more typical brick-and-mortar business owners, you will usually need a more robust solution like QuickBooks Pro or
Peachtree Accounting for functions like payroll reporting and check producing. Each piece of software has its advantages,
but don't forget that QuickBooks has been the standard in business accounting software for many years now. As for features and basic operations, both applications will provide you the same functionality and convenience for your business.

One additional factor to consider in your decision is that Peachtree Accounting is less expensive than QuickBooks. Both
starter versions of Peachtree and QuickBooks are priced at $99.95 each, but the full-featured version of Peachtree is priced at only $199.95 while the full-featured QuickBooks Pro is priced at $299.95.

At the end of the day, the biggest advantage QuickBooks offers over Peachtree is compatibility with other applications. For example, most commercial banks (Bank of America, SunTrust, etc...) provide you with files designed to work directly with

QuickBooks, so that you can read, study, and decipher transaction details. Also, some banks will allow you to update account information in real-time with QuickBooks. Check with your bank to see what accounting software their online services support, and you should be able to make your decision.

About the author:
Brandon Hall owns http://www.accountingsoftwareportal.comwhich is a site dedicated to providing resources, links, articles, and news related to accounting software products.

Here is the latest and accurate assistance relating to laptop bags.

by: Tom Brown

Here is the latest and accurate assistance relating to laptop bags. When you are on the lookout for excellent information relating to laptop bags, you'll find it's complex sorting out the best information from unprofessional laptop bags proposals and guidance so it is important to know how to judge the advice that is offered.

Here's a few tips which we sincerely believe you should use when you're searching for information about laptop bags. You need to understand that the advice we present is only relevant to web based information about laptop bags. We do not offer you any advice or guidance for conducting research offline.

A good hint to follow when offered help or advice concerning a laptop bags site would be to confirm the sites ownership. This could reveal the people behind the website laptop bags authority The quickest way to work out who owns the laptop bags web site is to find the sites 'about' page.

All decent sites providing information on laptop bags, will nearly always have an 'about' or 'contact' page which will record the owner's details. The info should make known major points about the site owner's capability. This permits you to make an informed assessment about the vendor's education and practical knowledge, to give recommendations about laptop bags.


About the author:

Tom Brown is the webmaster at accountingdata-info-news.info

FOUR SIMPLE STEPS TO BETTER RESULTS WITH YOUR RESUME

by: Jeff Altman


Is every job description you read the same? No.

Is every job you submit your resume to the same? Of course they aren’t.

If all these job descriptions are different, why do you submit the same resume?

Every day, people send the same generic resume out as though each position was identical and each employer was attempting to hire identical skills and attributes. Too often, the results they receive are like the broken watch that is right twice a day—hit or miss success.

They list their name, address, phone numbers and email address, list an objective, education, and chronology of experience with dates of employment. The resume includes some successes or accomplishments. This is their resume.

In the days prior to computers when changing a resume required you to re-type different versions, this made sense. Today, when computers allow you to customize, spell and grammar check documents so easily, you are missing out on opportunities and costing yourself money by being lazy and not tailoring your resume for each opportunity you are interested in.

Here are several steps that you can do to improve your resume and get better results.

1. Each employer will be interested in different attributes of your experience. They often indicate it by the items they describe in their job ad. Emphasize the experiences that you have that relate to the skills being sought and the functions you will perform in the job they will ask you to perform. If you are applying for a staff position, emphasize your staff experience and minimize your management experience. If you are being hired to be a leader, write about your recent leadership.
2. Employers are more interested in recent work, rather than work you did many years ago. Use more space in your resume to highlight recent experience, rather than things you did before George W. Bush became President.
3. Like setting a goal where you make them specific, measurable, achievable within a specific period of time, describe your successes or achievements concretely. Reducing costs is a nice start but it is more powerful to describe something as reducing operational costs globally by 2%. Increased departmental sales by 27% resulting in . . . You get the idea. Use action verbs wherever possible (For more on this, read my article, Preparing an Effective Resume” on www.newyorkmetrotechnologyjobs.com).
4. Ask someone you trust to critique what you’ve written. Too often, people believe that they can do everything by themselves without asking for help. Ask a friend in your industry to critique what you’ve written to insure you’re on target and aren’t missing the mark.

When you go to a restaurant and order a meal, you have the expectation that it will be prepared in a way that will please you and be presented on the plate beautifully. Writing a great resume requires that you be the chef and prepare a meal that is both visually appealing and tastes great too!

Jeff Altman
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2005 all rights reserved.

About the author:

Jeff Altman, Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist. For additional job hunting or hiring tips, go to http://www.newyorkmetrotechnologyjobs.com

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

Five Reasons to Incorporate a Company Offshore

by: Rhiannon Williamson

When it comes to the term ‘offshore’ used in conjunction with company incorporation, the term ‘offshore’ generally refers to any jurisdiction other than one in which the company incorporated will conduct the majority of its activities.

Usually such a jurisdiction has some degree of taxation or reporting benefit attached that makes it attractive to the company owner, and the concept of incorporating a company offshore will bring at least one of the following five benefits to a business owner: -

1) Ease of Operations – depending on the jurisdiction and the type of business activity to be conducted under the company name to be incorporated, the operating restrictions, auditing and accounting requirements and standards to which the business and its employees and directors must adhere are often far less restrictive offshore than onshore.

Exceptions to this rule are financial services based companies in many jurisdictions for example, who have to comply with extra regulatory legislation for the protection of the company’s clientele.

The advantage of easing operations particularly for a small or start up company is a reduction in operating costs and in the amount of time a company’s directors have to dedicate to form filling and report filing.

2) Reporting Simplification – this ties in with the first benefit; in the majority of offshore jurisdictions favoured for company incorporation the company activity reporting requirements are often far fewer and simpler as the business activities entered into by the company are conducted outside of the jurisdiction in which it is incorporated.

Furthermore personal information relating to the company’s directors and shareholders need not be declared in all cases or the extent to which personal information is required is far less intrusive.

3) Taxation Reduction/Negation – the reduction in taxation liability is one of the main benefits associated with investing offshore, opening an offshore bank account or incorporating a company offshore.

If you set up your company in a low or no tax jurisdiction you could potentially save yourself substantial amounts of money legally. Often the rules are that if the company incorporated in a particular jurisdiction never derives an income from the local economy it can operate tax free.

It’s therefore possible to use an offshore company in an overall international business structure and ensure profits are posted in the offshore jurisdiction and so no tax is liable! Many international corporations operate in this way and actually negate their tax liability fully.

4) Asset Protection – by operating a company offshore, i.e., outside the jurisdiction in which the company operates, it is sometimes possible to position assets away from the reach of any potential litigious action and also to shield business transactions from the eyes’ of the competition.

5) Personal Privacy Protection – the level to which a director or shareholder’s personal information is required, held, visible or investigated offshore is likely to be far less invasive and intrusive than onshore. It is also possible to appoint nominee directors and secretaries for offshore companies in many jurisdictions thus keeping the true company owner’s identity shielded.

The information contained in this article cannot constitute advice. Each individual’s circumstances are unique and whether or not offshore company incorporation is something that could benefit your business can only be determined with personal advice.


About the author:
Rhiannon Williamson is a freelance writer whose many articles about the offshore world have appeared in business and financial publications around the world. To find out more about Offshore Company Incoporation visit www.ShelterOffshore.com

Five Leadership Secrets for Challenging Times

by: Ed Sykes

We consistently face new and ever growing challenges in the workplace such as reorganizing, downsizing, and “left out sizing.” We are faced with the question, “How do we lead in this storm of change?” It may seem difficult at times and the decisions we make define our short-term and long-term outcomes. I will share with you five leadership techniques guaranteed to keep you on track during these difficult times.

1 Integrity.
I put this first because the lack of integrity will make or break you as a professional, as a leader, as a person in the long run. The lack of this will turn yesterday’s heroes in today’s villains. For example, “MCI was the apple of the business community’s eye. High revenues, high profits, and high growth; MCI was beating the competition hands down.

Then it was discovered that there were gross accounting irregularities that accounted for the astounding profits. You see, management made a decision, “Do I continue to sustain good growth and be able to look at myself in the mirror or do I cook the accounting books and spend the rest of my time covering up this integrity deficiency? The real shame of the MCI situation was that AT&T, Sprint, and others in the industry had to cut costs and lay off thousands of employees to compete with MCI’s false numbers. The lack of integrity at MCI not only affected the company but also the livelihood of thousands and the industry as a whole.

I was recently speaking with a recently retired City Council member who is well respected in the community. I asked her what the secret was to her success while on the council? She mentioned that one of her political adversaries said to her, “While you were on the council, I didn’t like the way you voted, but I respected the way you voted because you were consistent with your votes and had the city’s best interest in mind.”

Ask yourself what decisions that you make are right for the long term? Be consistent in your actions, whether it is with management, your team, or your family.

2. Knowledge.
With change happening faster and faster every moment, it is extremely important that you gain the knowledge to master these changes. You owe it not only to yourself, but to your team and management. As I always say, “It’s not having the right answer, it’s that you have the right answer faster than before.” Many times during my teambuilding programs a student will say, “I didn’t know where to find the answer.” Then I will say, “That is an unacceptable answer.” Because part of being a leader is acquiring the skills to find the right answers. With the Internet, classroom and online training, mentors, etc., the knowledge is at your fingertips.

Challenge your team members to use the same resources to acquire the knowledge to master their challenges. By acquiring this knowledge, you will be able to navigate your team through the ocean of change and achieve your goals.

3. Decisiveness.
You have seen them. They wait for information, then more information before making a decision. Then they need more information to support the information they already have.Then they need a committee to analyze the information. Then they wait for the perfect time to make the decision.

Well, you know what I mean. Anyone you know? Make the decision! Good things happen when you take action; you grow, you adapt, and your team grows. There is no perfect time to make a decision. Leaders make decisions based on past experience, putting into action the decision, and staying and adapting the decision if needed. But make the decision. The worst quality you can show your team is indecision. What do you think your team sees when you can’t make a decision? Make the decision and go for it.

4. Vision.
This is the ability not only to see what is the present - anyone can do that - it’s the ability to see the future. Outstanding leaders can not only see their team for what they can do now, but what they can become, and paint the picture for them. These leaders are consistently communicating and coaching their team members to that vision. One of the best ways, and least used methods, to convey your vision is the team meeting.
Every meeting should start out with the team vision, mission, and goals; and the rest of the meeting should tie into the vision. For example, the motivation portion of the meeting should tie into the vision, the information portion of the meeting should tie into the vision, the training portion of the meeting should tie into the vision, etc. Also, invest time to develop your team members’ personal visions and show them how they can accomplish their personal goals by tying into the overall vision. By consistently communicating the vision, your team will move with purpose, feel they are personally making a difference, and achieve their goals sooner.

5. Unselfishness
Stephen Covey, in his successful book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, wrote that a true leader must be a servant to the ones he or she leads. The leader must be able to “give of oneself for the good of the team.” In other words, be unselfish in words and action. Be unselfish in praise of others, in public, especially in front of management.
Be unselfish in the ability to take time to listen, really listen to your team’s concerns. A recent management survey said that the average time management invests doing “pure listening” to employees during the year is a mere two hours- just two hours! What was meant by “pure listening” time was listening with eye contact, acknowledgement, and not answering the phone while listening, not speaking with another person while listening, etc. Be unselfish in the ability to help your team. Whether it’s the ability to readily assist with a difficult telephone call, jump in and remove road blocks for team members, or “be there” for a team member during challenging moments. Believe me, your team will remember those moments and excel for you.

Now I challenge you to put into action just one of the leadership techniques I mentioned above to achieve your vision, your mission, and your goals in the future.


Copyright © 2003 Ed Sykes. All rights reserved

About the author:
Ed Sykes is a professional speaker, author, and success coach in the areas of leadership, motivation, stress management, customer service, and team building. You can e-mail him at mailto:esykes@thesykesgrp.com, or call him at (757) 427-7032. Go to his web site, http://www.thesykesgrp.com,and signup for the newsletter, OnPoint, and receive the free ebook, "Empowerment and Stress Secrets for the Busy Professional."

Explode Your Consulting Income

by: J. Stephen Pope

Here are just a few ways to increase and diversify your
income from your consulting business.


1. Sell More Services to Your Existing Clients


Instead of spending all that time and money trying to get
new business, why not try to sell more services to your
existing client base?

If you are an accounting and tax consulting firm, for
example, you likely have clients who need some assistance
in their record keeping and documentation. In addition to
your year-end tax services, could you provide monthly
bookkeeping and financial statements, accounting system
setups, training in accounting software, or other services
to assist your client?

Monthly services, in addition to annually billed fees, will
help you smooth out your cashflow and minimize the seasonal
nature of your business.


2. Mass Market Your Advice by Productizing Your Services


Could you produce a folio, special report, newsletter,
e-book, book, audio cassette, video, or course? If so, you
could enjoy making money even when you're not billing for
your time. While asleep or on vacation, the sale of your
information products could be generating additional income
for you.

Sell such products through direct mail, mail order,
exporting, and Internet marketing (your own website,
your own affiliate programs, eBay auctions, and so on).

As well as the passive, residual income that information
products can produce for you, they also help establish your
credentials as an expert. This, in turn, produces more
consulting opportunities for you.


3. Perform Group Consulting


Seminars, workshops, and teleclasses enable you to help
many participants in a cost-effective manner. In addition
to paying for admission, your attendees may also purchase
some of your information products or even become your
regular consulting clients.


4. Consider Additional Markets


Could you sell your consulting services to federal, state,
provincial, or municipal governments? Could you be an
expert trial witness?

If you consult with local clients, could you extend your
reach nationally or internationally by using the telephone
and Internet?


These few ideas are a starting point for you to brainstorm
all the possibilities for exploding your consulting income.



About the author:
RESOURCE BOX:


J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc.,
has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits
for over twenty-five years.

For more information about profitable consulting and other
Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit:
http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/consulting.html

Do you think that your workload is hampering your killer marketing activities?

by: Arun Tibrewal

You need an extra effort not the extra workload. Today when competition is high and consumers have many options to choose, an extra effort towards improvement of your product, managing your customers and taking care of other aspects of your business will give you advantage over your competition. You need to multiply your time may be you can keep your margin low, but will give you more volume and increase in your turnover.

Most SME’s start well during there initial stage of launching the business but looses its consistency do to pool of workloads on its day today life. It is often seen that hiring more employees gives extra load on limited earning resources resulting less revenue than expected. You need to put more efforts on Marketing and concentrate on your other activities so that you can do business with an ease. Outsourcing is one of the solutions for small and medium business entities too, that give them more opportunity to utilize there valuable time on marketing and other efforts. (Provided they get an honest an able outsourcing partner.)

Outsourcing is hiring a third party service provider to participate as a team member in your organization and share your workload. You may need to outsource your projects to save your time and get an expert professional to do the job for you. It is helpful to you in terms of, managing and multiplying your time so that you can focus on other important activities of your business needs. This is another effective tool to stay ahead with your competitions. By sharing your workload you get enough time to manage your business and think of its better promotions. You can outsource many things mainly your daily business activities i.e. accounting, document processing, Web site maintenance, Secretarial work, or other works need manual operations as well as marketing services. Below are some reasons to give an idea about benefits of outsourcing.

1.You save time in finding, interviewing and selecting the new employees by hiring an agency or search for your own.

2.You save time on providing them proper training as well as they need to adjust with your work culture too.

3.You can save your time, which you need to do all time-consuming paperwork requires hiring a permanent employee to your organization.

4.You do not need to buy extra equipments for your existing setup.
5.You save cost in your daily office expenses as well as recurring employee charges i.e. Taxes, Insurance, Medical, leave and many more.

6.You can utilize your time in better way and can deliver better output for your business.

7.If you are a contractor, you can hire a subcontractor and focus on more orders.

8.If you are marketing professional you can double your marketing efforts and can have a wider reach.

9.You will be giving the extra efforts, which all are needed in present competition, to develop your business and getting more volume of works.

10.You will be getting a professional who has expertise in his own field and can deliver you better output.

There are many more reasons why you need to outsource your projects. Today time management is an important aspect of your business. There are many instance of SME’s growing to a large business houses simply multiplying there existing time.

About the author:
Arun Tibrewal [ www.arun.info] is an online marketing promotions specialist since 1998 and promoting KPO WEB [ www.kpoweb.com] A knowledge process outsourcing company. Permission is granted to reprint this article as long as the resource box should keep intact.
http://www.kpoweb.com>>Outsourcing services
http://www.arun.info>> Honest Online Marketing Guide

Do You Need Accounting Software For Your Small Business?

by: Jakki Francis

If you’re anything like me then you dislike with a vengeance doing your accounts and taxes.

So how can you make this process easier, less painful and cut your accountancy fees?

Well buying an accounting software package is one way.

First of all you need to decide whether you are going to keep your accounting records manually, that is using pen and paper, or whether you are going to computerize the process.

If you decide that computerizing the process is the way to go then you need to decide whether to buy an accounting software package, for example Sage or Quicken, or whether a spreadsheet, such as Microsoft Excel will suit your needs better.

As a general rule if you are a cash business that just needs to record income and expenditure then you are better off using a spreadsheet.

So, should you choose an accounting software package? Yes if:

· You have customers to whom you extend credit and you buy goods in the same way

· You process in excess of 50 transactions per month

· Your business is an Incorporated Company (Limited Company in the UK)

and

· You are computer literate or are willing to learn!

Before choosing the accounting software, speak to your accountants – they will be familiar with the various accounting software packages on the market and will be able to advise you. Most accountants use software in their office to process the bookkeeping for their clients and will have a working knowledge of the accounting software package they use. It may be cheaper for you to use the same one they do, because they can advise you how to get it up and running and will be on hand to answer questions, plus at your financial year end when your accounts need preparing it will be less expensive, believe me to have a compatible program.

I also recommend doing some research yourself, you may be able to obtain a demonstration disk or download of the most popular accounting software packages and this will give you an idea of how they work and if they are user-friendly.

The cost may also be an issue, so you need to decide on your budget. But consider how your business is likely to expand - you may outgrow that budget accounting software quickly and end up buying the more expensive one anyway.

Accounting software providers may also try and up-sell you a maintenance contract. Save your money! In my experience the established software providers will not have bugs in their systems. They will also try and upgrade you to the next version on a regular basis, but if the software is doing everything you need then there is no need to upgrade.

Of course, you could also pay someone to do your accounts for you, either your accountant or a bookkeeper – the payoff being you don’t have to do it yourself and it frees you up to actually run your business!

Copyright © Jakki Francis,(UK), 2005

About the author:
This article is copyrighted. Please feel free to use it in it's entirety including copyright information and information about the publisher. Jakki Francis operates the website http://www.accountingsoftware-reviews.com