Business Guides
BUSINESS PLANNING
Planning for Disaster Recovery
Anyone who has been through a major earthquake, flood, fire or other disaster can confirm that a lot more could have been done – and should have been done – to lessen the impact. Forethought is the key to recovery.
Work Out a Price for Your Service
Many service providers simply pitch their price somewhere near the middle of the prevailing market rate. But it makes sense to calculate your overhead costs and hourly rate to work out what price you should charge to ensure the income from your business meets your expectations.
Work Out a Price for Your Product
There are a number of ways to arrive at the price to charge customers. Regardless of which method you use for pricing your product, you’ll need to know what it costs to supply your product to be sure you’re able to operate at a profit. Alternatively, you’ll need to know the cost to your business if you plan to use a product as a loss leader.
EXITING & SELLING
10 Steps for a Financially Successful Exit
Successfully exiting a business is a dream for many owners. Follow these ten steps and you’ll be in great shape to make your dream become a reality.
Many entrepreneurs desire to build and sell a thriving business. A financially successful exit is certainly achievable, but it requires several years of hard work and planning. Many business owners fail to think about how they’ll exit their business until they want to leave.
Choosing How to Value Your Business to Prepare it For Sale
Knowing the value of your business is vital should an unexpected buyer come along, and the timing is right for you to sell. You’ll want to get the best price you can so make sure you have an accurate idea of your business’s worth.
Planning Your Exit Strategy
Whether you complete your business objectives in a year or 20 years from now, or you just feel like you need a change of scenery, leaving a company you built with your own two hands is never easy. You’ve got to consider your employees’ futures, commitments to financial partners and even family – not to mention your own business legacy.
FINANCE
Dealing with Cash Flow Problems
Below are some suggestions for unlocking funds without affecting your operational capacity. Keep in mind that you should always seek professional guidance before making changes to your business if you are unsure of the repercussions or potential issues.
How to Start a Business on a Limited Budget
So, you have a great business idea and are convinced you can make it work, but you don’t have much capital to get your business off the ground. Juggling existing financial commitments such as a mortgage or bank loans could put a squeeze on your business plans. A growing number of entrepreneurs are using creative thinking and shrewd planning to get businesses off the ground with the smallest budgets.
Why Do I Have to Pay Tax When I Had a Cash Loss?
How can there be a profit if the year’s ended with no cash? It’s quite common for businesses to end the year with little or no cash, only to be told by their accountant that they made a profit and must now pay tax. The reason for this is that tax is decided on the net profit the business has made, not what it has left over.
INCREASING PROFIT
The Power of Cash Flow Forecasts
At some point in its lifetime, every small business suffers from cash flow problems. The trick is to think ahead and figure out when these problems are going to arise, so you don’t have to unexpectedly postpone a purchase or hurriedly seek out additional finance. This is where cash flow forecasts come in.
How to Increase Your Profit Margins
Profit margins are fundamental to business success and growth. How you choose to increase your margins so your business can achieve sustainable development is up to you – but taking small steps on a regular basis will help keep your customers on your side.
How to Handle Debt So You Always Get Paid on Time
If your customers owe you money, the faster you’re able to obtain it using effective collection tactics, the better. Ideally, you want to reduce the chance of bad debts and pressure on your business’s cash flow.
It can be easy to neglect managing your debtors when you’re busy growing your business, but smart credit control is important.
MANAGEMENT
Creating Value in Your Business
The key to building value in your business is to plan the process in a systematic way, whether you’re aiming to grow your business or groom it to get a better price from a buyer.
Looking through the eyes of buyers
Whether you just want to build a stronger business, or you’re looking ahead to the day when you might want to sell it, it helps to think of your business through the eyes of a buyer. Aim to:
How to Write a Customer Questionnaire
Questionnaires provide an excellent way of getting feedback from your customers because everyone is familiar with them and is used to filling them in. You can use the feedback from a well-designed questionnaire to improve your business procedures and your marketing. A questionnaire-based survey should be conducted on your customers at least once a year. It’s likely that over time your customer base will change, so you must keep up to date with the profile of your most common type of customer.
Do You Have What It Takes to Run Your Own Business?
Getting your business up and running and making a profit is usually much more difficult than it sounds. This article focuses on the skills you’ll need to make it happen, either by acquiring these yourself or consulting professionals to help you out.
MANAGING TEAMS
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SALES & MARKETING
Identifying Your Target Market
Choosing the best export target(s) for your business is critical because ‘getting it wrong’ can waste time, energy and money. This section provides ideas and information to help you understand the opportunities better and identify the best targets and marketplace.
Build Your Marketing Plan by Creating Awareness
You probably already have a coordinated marketing plan, set prices, and know what you’re doing. However, to create more awareness and increase sales of your offerings, you may need to make some minor adjustments to your overall marketing strategy.
10 Ways to Build a Competitive Advantage
A competitive advantage is something that you offer or have that the competitor does not. There must be some compelling reasons for people to do business with you rather than with other businesses.
The need to identify your point of difference is important. The more similar your business is to many others, the greater your need to develop competitive advantages.
STARTING UP
7 Ways to Tell if Your Business Idea Will Succeed
Document the positives in your business plan to persuade both yourself (the most important person) and stakeholders such as lenders, investors, suppliers and potential customers that your business idea is sound.
1. Your idea has a strong point of difference
To survive in business, you need a compelling point of difference. Period.
7 Revenue Priorities When You Start Your Business
1. Generate sales as quickly as possible
Your first priority when you launch your business is to gain some traction in the market as quickly as possible. Some tips:
• Ensure you have a compelling point of difference
• Build and promote your credibility
• Work for free or less than the normal rate in return for endorsements
• Feature customer feedback in all your marketing
• Actively ask for referrals.
Break Even Analysis
The break-even point is the point at which your company makes enough money to cover its costs. Past this point, the company starts to make profit. Finding the break-even point through the analysis of costs is one of the most useful processes an entrepreneur can undertake. It helps you answer questions such as:
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