Small Business Resource » Small Businesses

When Does A “Virtual Office” Set-Up Make Sense?

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:13:50 +0000

When does a virtual office set-up make sense … and for whom? For example …. using virtual office packages from Packet8 or iTeleCenter.

Small businesses and home offices appear to be the best candidates (improved cost effectiveness, “big time” presence and reach, and efficiencies gained) … true or false?

Short answer … true.

As for when it makes sense … and for whom?

I would say a virtual office set-up makes sense when you need to be mobile and can actually add more value by doing so, i.e. costs would be incurred by requiring you and your employees to be at a specific location for a specific required time. Or, to improve the productivity of an already existing dispersed group.

To illustrate the advantages of a Virtual Office here’s a testimony from Mark Adams of MergingDesign.com ……

“My company is a marketing/design agency, and being virtual works wonderfully for us. It started out of necessity six years ago because we simply couldn’t afford office space in the beginning. But it turns out that allowing designers and programmers to work out of their home office is a great benefit that helps us attract experienced talent. We use Packet 8 Virtual Office and most of our clients don’t even realize we’re virtual. And we use IM, Email, BaseCamp, shared servers, etc. to communicate and manage files. So I am a big fan of the “virtual office” and would never want to fight traffic and lose hours a week driving needlessly.”

A virtual office set up makes sense if your small business does not have a regular parade of customers that require face time at your office site. Since most small businesses struggle with cash flow, it’s wiser to invest in technologies that can extend their reach without the added drag of going to an office every day. The additional bonus for small business is that a virtual office arrangement allows them to tap into talent they might otherwise miss.

Here’s 3 advantages of a virtual office that many don’t think of …. but are definitely a big plus.

1. If your company business fits to support a virtual office environment this can be a potential “huge” cost savings in the cost of real estate, building expenses, taxes, etc.

2. A virtual office environment will increase you opportunity to acquire skills through personnel that may not otherwise be availble to you ….. due the fact that when they have to come into an office everyday, you are usually limited to those who live in the surrounding region or will relocate (many times at your expense), which limits your overall potential talent pool.

3. When bad weather strikes, a virtual office many times provides an excellent disaster recovery scheme to allow business to run uninterrupted.

IMHO Virtual offices are going to change the way we all do business, and it’s going to happen much sooner than most realize.

So …. now that your convinced here are 3 highly recommended options for setting up your own Virtual Office:

* The Servcorp Virtual Office

* iTeleCenter

* Packet8

Now pick one and get started.

Incoming Searches that might interest you:

SBI! Community

admin — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:07:57 +0000

The SBI! private forums provide friendly, helpful support from other Site Build It! users. Help is available from folks who are in the same place as you. This peer-to-peer support gets you over the humps along the way in a stress-free environment. Help is available even for advanced questions. The forums are a business-building support community ready to help you succeed.

The SBIX! weekly newsletter brings you the latest news from SiteSell and around the Web, highlighting only what you “need to know,” and saves you time. You won’t have to worry about keeping up with the latest online marketing developments. We do it for you. You’ll stay informed but not bogged down so you’ll be able to continue focusing on your business.

The tortoise approach symbolizes SBI!’s steady-and-sure approach. It’s definitely not GRQ (GetRichQuick) and keeps you from getting distracted by false promises or dead-end tools and strategies that end up costing more money. Experienced users will appreciate avoiding time-wasters that don’t help you succeed. Think of it as a simple, direct, hype-free path that leads to success.

SiteSell.com was established by Dr. Ken Evoy in 1997. His series of books have helped hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs and small businesses. Make Your Content PREsell! and Make Your Words Sell!, formerly books sold by SiteSell, are now free. They are literally the dynamic duo of “Web-writing.”

Dr. Evoy realized that the average business person needs more than some information in books, no matter how good. S/he needs both the C T P M process and an all-in-one Web site hosting, building and marketing suite of tools that enables them to execute the process flawlessly. To this day, SBI! is unique.

Ken Evoy provides a rare level of dedication to his customers. He’s extremely active in the SBI! forums with over 5000 posts to date. He makes a tremendous personal effort to help people succeed and is highly passionate about helping people build businesses online. Anyone who owns SBI! can benefit from this extraordinary Internet business visionary.

Incoming Searches that might interest you:

sbi hosting

BRAND YOURSELF

admin — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:11:23 +0000

You don’t have to be a Fortune 500 corporation to have a ‘brand‘–sure, we associate the branding process with products/services such as “Brillo” , “Subaru” , “Apple” or “H.&R. Block”, but we can all create and market ourselves and our small businesses with a Personal Brand.

Your brand is your identity. Build your brand based on who you are, and what you want your company to say, to mean, to represent.

What message do you want your company to convey? This is part of the branding process. You can create a logo that ties-in with the message you want to send to your clients and potential customers.

For example, if you run a small kiosk that sells coffee in a busy office complex, you might want to convey “speedy service” with “quality” coffee. Maybe the coffee cup in your logo is flying quickly through the sky? Or, maybe to suggest that fresh brewed aroma, you create a bag of coffee beans that looks professional, but fun.

Everything you do in your small business should be all about your brand. If someone approaches you and wants to pitch a product to you to sell in your store, make sure it is appropriate to your brand. Your brand–in the case of the coffee kiosk–is all about fresh taste, rich brew in a speedy setting–selling fountain pens or fresh baked bread from your kiosk is not in keeping with your brand. Deliciously prepared fresh sandwiches to go, however, might be.

Who are you? What do you represent? Make a list of five words or concepts that best tell who you are and/or what your small business is, and you are on your way to creating your own brand.

Subaru is all about creating an automobile for the rebel, the non-conformist, the person who doesn’t mind quietly standing out in the crowd. Every car they design and manufacture, their showrooms, their salespeople, speaks to this emphasis on individuality. What do you want your company to convey?

SBA Applauds Treasury Action to Bolster Secondary Market for Small Business Loans

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:06:53 +0000

More on the SBA Loan issue. An SBA press release yesterday announced that the Treasury and Federal Reserve has taken steps to make pooled SBA loans more attractive to investors. The result will likely mean banks that were out of SBA lending will get back in. This is a good sign for small businesses in need of capital.

WASHINGTON, Nov 25, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) —

A plan by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to improve market conditions for asset-backed securities – including those composed of SBA-backed small business loans – should be welcome news to credit-hungry small businesses across the country, said U.S. Small Business Administration Acting Administrator Sandy K. Baruah.

The plan, announced today by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, establishes the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, to breathe new life into a secondary market that essentially ground to a halt in October. The TALF would make loans to investors who purchase asset-backed securities made up of small business loans guaranteed by SBA, auto loans, student loans, or credit card loans. As a result, lenders will find it easier to sell the loans they make, and use the proceeds of those sales to make new loans.

“The approach announced today is a significant and important breakthrough in our efforts to help unclog the secondary market and to help restore the flow of credit and credit products to normal levels,” said Baruah. “This is a big step toward reviving a healthy market for investors who want to purchase secondary market loan pools of SBA loans. I believe it will help restore the flow of buying activity in what has been a disrupted secondary market for SBA-backed loans and generate the liquidity lenders need to step up their lending to small businesses.
“We expect these efforts to help free up the capital both brokers and investors need to purchase new SBA loans,” Baruah said. “As this cycle continues, we expect secondary market activity to begin to return to normal levels.

“We will continue to work with the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, and with our partners in the SBA lending industry to reinvigorate the secondary market for SBA guaranteed securities to help craft solutions to bring much needed capital to the nation’s small businesses,” Baruah said.
About $4 billion in securities backed by SBA-guaranteed loans are bought and sold in the secondary market each year, with the total outstanding amounting to about $15 billion. At present, a share of the current year’s volume of loans securitized by lenders – estimated at up to $3 billion – is essentially frozen. The resulting lack of liquidity hampers the ability of some of SBA’s lending partners to make new SBA-backed loans.

The loans that investors will receive from TALF through this new action can be used to purchase these securities from brokers.

The actions announced today follow steps already taken by SBA, including the recent emergency implementation of LIBOR as a base rate for SBA loans and the development of Weighted Average Coupon Pools.

SOURCE: U.S. Small Business Administration U.S. Small Business Administration
David Hall, 202-205-6697
http://www.sba.gov/news

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

SBA Applauds Treasury Action to Bolster Secondary Market for Small Business Loans

Incoming Searches that might interest you:

Discover Small Business Watch

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:06:51 +0000

40% of Small Operators Expect Less Holiday Business This Year

The Discover Card Small Business Watch is a monthly index measuring the relative economic confidence of U.S. small business owners who employ less than five employees, a segment that consists of 22 million businesses producing more than a trillion dollars in annual receipts. The Watch is based on a national random survey of 1,000 small business owners. It is commissioned by the Discover Business Card.

The Discover Small Business Watch continued to decline for the third straight month, dropping below 70.0 for the first time since the Watch was established in August 2006. The index fell 3.9 points in November to 67.5.

"Small businesses are continuing to feel pressure in this weakening economy," said Ryan Scully, director of Discover's business credit card. "The number of owners having trouble paying their bills is the highest we've seen since April and more than half of owners are cutting back on their business development plans, which is an all-time high."

November Key Findings:
-- 44 percent of small business owners have experienced cash flow issues over the last 90 days, up sharply from 38 percent in October. This is the category's highest rating since April 2008, when the same number of owners reported cash flow issues.

-- Cash flow difficulties were most pronounced for small business owners whose primary customers are consumers: 49 percent said they had cash flow issues in the past 90 days that caused them to hold off on paying some bills, while only 33 percent of owners who sell business-to-business expressed the same issue.

-- 51 percent plan to decrease spending on business development over the next six months, up significantly from 42 percent in October and a record-high for this category; 20 percent plan to increase spending, down slightly from 23 percent last month; and 24 percent are not planning any changes in the next six months.

-- 65 percent rate the economy as poor, up 1 percent from October; only 5 percent rate the economy excellent or good, the lowest rating in this category in the history of the Watch.

-- 54 percent believe economic conditions for their businesses are worsening, up from 53 percent in October; and only 15 percent feel conditions for their business are improving, which is another record low.

-- The number of small business owners who think the U.S. economy is getting worse decreased by two percentage points to 72 percent in November; 8 percent feel the economy is getting better and 14 percent think it is staying the same.

Forty percent of small business owners expect to do less business this holiday season than in 2007, while 47 percent expect it to be about the same, 9 percent expect more business this year and 4 percent weren't sure.

As the Pain Trickles Down…

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:12:09 +0000

Many small businesses are created in order to serve the needs of the larger corporate sector. High end restaurants and caterers, decorators, landscapers etc. are not needed as many large companies disappear and those still afloat trim their spending to show they are feeling the pain to their stockholders. Those who lose their jobs are cancelling child care, house cleaning, lawn maintenance, music lessons, you name it. All of this leads to harder times for a wide array of small businesses.

Jacksonville is a case in point. All of the lost jobs in our formerly large development and home mortgage related industries have a direct effect on local businesses. All of those cancelled holiday parties add up and we are seeing a lot of clients who are likely to go out of business in the coming months despite best efforts to hang on. Read this article from Reuters called Small Businesses Feel Wall Street's Pain.

Top Tips For Small Businesses To Survive The Recession

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:12:10 +0000

Here are some tips for small businesses to survive the recession …. courtesy of the everywoman network:

1) Know your cost base.

What costs are fixed (ie, costs that you HAVE to pay) and what are variable (ie, that are essentially optional or that fluctuate with sales). Splitting costs in this way will help you to pay what needs paying and cut back on what doesnt.

2) Good credit control

Dont let your clients use you as a bank, if they want a loan for goods or services – thats where they need to go! You should be paid to the terms on your invoice, or earlier. Start a policy of telephone chasing outstanding invoices when they are X days overdue, then follow it up with a letter. Make sure your invoice terms are clear on your invoices.

4) Asset finance

Think about whether you really need to pay upfront for an asset or piece of equipment, could you lease the equipment? perhaps over the short term until you are sure its required or that your business finances can support a longer term commitment.

Or I like this one:

“I have a sign (just typed and laminated!) above my PC screen – it tells me “This business is not participating in any recession”

The rest are here: Small Business Survival Tips

If you have any tips you’d like to suggest …. by all means please do so by adding them as a comment.

Incoming Searches that might interest you:

CRM For Small Business ….. What Works Best?

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:09:18 +0000

Contact management for small businesses is a big deal …. often having abig impact on your bottom line. Afterall …. how well you connect and stay in contact with customers (and potential customers) ….. track and manage your sales and marketing data …. and drive business to your company is crucial to your overall income numbers.

Here is a quick “Guide” with strengths and weaknesses of three CRM software packages I’m comfortable recommending:

Salesforce.com …….

PROS: Integration with dozens of 3rd party tools including marketing automation. Hands down the most powerful import functionality of all CRMs my test group ever used. Salesforce.com allows you the most flexibility with mapping of data ….. and gives you full control of what data gets overwritten, merged, and updated. It is also easy to use and quick to navigate.

CONS: Expensive compared to other alternatives. Little to no contractual flexibility.

SugarCRM ……..

PROS: Nice interface and powerful customization, most powerful if you count the ability to edit code. Flexible contract terms. More cost effective than Salesforce.com in the OnDemand version ….. and free if you host the Open Source version yourself.

CONS: Little support for third party applications out of the box. Import process is limited in that you can only overwrite, versus update existing data records. This can be bad if you like to regularly update your database and import tradeshow and other marketing data.

QuickBase …….

PROS: Month to month contract terms, ability to host unlimited instances or have unlimited applications. As low as $15 per user per month. Easy customization.

CONS: Tedious import process with no ability to update certain fields versus overwrite. Little to no ability to connect to 3rd party applications.

My friends use Salesforce.com for their sales and marketing. They use Quickbase for delivery of their services.

Tidbits on a few others …… Act and Goldmine require more IT resources for multi-user environments, and you will have trouble with people not syncing often enough. I have yet to meet anyone who has used Microsoft CRM and liked it.

Whatever program you choose really depends on what are your priorities and needs within CRM. Is it sales driven, customer service driven, internal help desk driven, campaign management drive. There are always some niche tools that are for specific needs and still people develop custom development. Proposal Making is a separate software in the CRM space for instance.

One thing to always remember when selecting, and integrating any CRM product. Installing and running the CRM is the easy part, no matter which one you chose. The hard part is tailoring the CRM’s robust feature set to the unique aspects of your business, your sales goals, and the personality of your sales team. This tailoring will cost far more, take far longer, and incite far more arguments than you could ever imagine.

If it’s so hard, then why even do it? Because that IS the payoff for CRM. A lot of people spend a lot of time analyzing all the features and choosing one CRM over another, and my point is, the feature sets aren’t what matter.

The real beneit of CRM software isn’t the automation, it is that in automating, it forces you to have all those tough arguments, make all those tough business decisions, and have all those debates about sales philosophy.

And if you do it right, you will be richer for it, no matter which software you choose.

CRM isn’t simply contact management on steroids, it is your company’s opportunity to identify best practices in customer life cycle management, codify those practices into defined processes, and an automated system to help your sales force understand and follow those practices.

Incoming Searches that might interest you:

IRS Tax Calendar for Small Business

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 06:10:40 +0000

The IRS 2009 Small Business/Self-Employed Tax Calendar is stocked and ready to go. With its professional illustrations, in-depth business tax information, and day-to-day reminders for which business taxes are due when, the 12-month wall calendar has always been a popular item. The calendar is FREE. Small business and self-employed taxpayers can also download the business tax dates and reminders directly to their Microsoft Outlook calendars, and access the calendar via electronic organizers and portable hand-held devices.

New 2009 topics include:
• The 2008 Economic Stimulus Act

• Section 179 Expensing

• Minimizing Identity Theft

• Disaster Recovery for Small Businesses

To order, visit https://webaccess.unf.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/page/0,,id=82780,00.html on IRS.gov or call the National Distribution Center at (800) 829-3676. Early orders are being accepted for the Spanish version. The tax calendar will be available online at www.irs.gov/formspubs/lists/0,,id=97819,00.html by early December and in Spanish (Pub 1518SP) by mid-November.

The Best Online Discussion Forums For Small Business Owners

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:07:13 +0000

You may have other online discussion forums for small businesses that you'd suggest .... by all means add them as a comment in reply.

Here's a few to wet your whistle and get you started:

spotabusiness.com
linkedin.com
biznik.com
businessownersideacafe.com

They are all free .... and you get out what you put in. Participate regularly as a contributer (offer assistance/information in discussions) and/or ask questions for yourself. You can get useful information for your own purposes ... as well as network with other small business onwers for potential B2B joint ventures.