Business Guides
BUSINESS PLANNING
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EXITING & SELLING
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FINANCE
Why Should I Move All My Accounting to the Cloud?
What’s ‘the cloud’? Think of it like this: instead of...
INCREASING PROFIT
How to Reduce Your Tax Bill
Taxes – there’s no avoiding them. But there are ways to reduce the amount you have to pay so that your business is more profitable. All it takes is some preparation, planning, and the advice of a good tax specialist.
So, one of the first things you need to do is talk to your accountant about all the legal strategies available for minimizing your tax bill.
What to Do if Your Business is Operating at a Loss
Operating at a loss simply means you’re spending more money than you’re making. And while it’s not uncommon, especially for new businesses, it’s still not an ideal situation and one that shouldn’t be allowed to continue in the long term. Otherwise, eventually you’ll run out of cash reserves and be out of business.
So the first thing you need to identify is why you’re operating at a loss. If it’s because you’re still in the start-up phase, then you don’t need to worry too much as long as you’ve got enough cash to meet your costs. But if the losses are due to a decline in sales, then it’s time to review your business and, if necessary, get professional help.
How Does Depreciation Affect Small Businesses?
Depreciation is basically a reduction in the value of an asset over time. What this means for your business is that if you buy a substantial asset like a computer or a car, you can claim a certain amount of the loss of value over time as a business expense.
MANAGEMENT
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MANAGING TEAMS
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SALES & MARKETING
Use Focus Groups to Understand Your Customer
Two examples of this effective technique show you how you can set up your own focus groups.
The concept of focus groups simply involves gathering a few your target market customers together, and then putting a series of questions to them.
It’s best to get an outside person to conduct this type of research, because you’re probably too close to the issues and may end up ignoring the results anyway.
5 Top Ways to Research Your Market
It’s easy to come up with a number of business ideas but to make sure your idea is viable and can be run at a profit, you’ll need to do quite a bit of market research. The good news is that doing your own market research is not as hard as it sounds. Here are five top ways to research your market.
Undertaking Your Own Market Research
Whether you’re thinking of starting a new business, considering adding new products, opening a new branch, or increasing the services you offer, it’s common sense to research your market to make sure there is sufficient support for your idea.
There’s little point adding the latest top-of-the-range spa pool to your product range, for example, if you’re running a DIY store in a low-income area. A year from now, you’ll be selling them at cost, or below, to recoup your investment.
STARTING UP
Calculating Start-Up Costs
Before you start a business, you need to know exactly how much money you’ll need, and where it’s coming from. You’re out of business fast if you fall short before you’ve started.
Why you need to plan ahead
If you want to see your new business start-up succeed, you can reduce some of the financial pressure by planning ahead. Spend some time estimating your start-up costs before you launch your new business enterprise. It could help to prevent cost blowouts later.
Calculating Your Break-Even Point
Before you start a business, and perhaps leave a job, try working out if your idea will be worth the risk.
If you’re confident there’s a genuine demand for your potential product or service (and at the price you want), the next step is to work out how much you need to sell each month to make a profit.
Buying a Business: How Much Should You Invest?
It can be easy for your heart to rule your head when you find a business you want to buy. However,...
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