Archives for July 2013

The Arguments For and Against Early Exit Strategy

The arguments for and against early exit strategy
Most businesses are built so that they can eventually dole out rewards to their hard-working owners on exit. Whether the intention is to sell the company, offer it as an inheritance or wean it into a self-supporting profit-making machine, the ultimate goal for many business owners is to be free from day to day operations and get sufficient return on their investment of time, effort and money. That is why exit strategy is as important as building the business itself.

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What to Do When Your Business Faces a Lawsuit

What to do when your business faces a lawsuit
When you’re running a small business, you’re so busy with managing employees and meeting payroll that the last thing on your mind is a lawsuit. Of course, when that happens it can bring everything to a grinding halt. Handling legal entanglements can drag on for years and can put you in lot of financial trouble. It is in your best interest to know beforehand what you can and cannot do when you are faced with lawsuits. Here are some suggestions to help you calm your nerves in that situation and deal with the issue at hand.

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How Small Businesses Benefit from Strategic Alliances

how small businesses benefit from strategic alliances
In a competitive, complex business world, there are few companies that have the capability to do everything alone. The skills and technology necessary for success in business today, many times, mandate that companies work with other companies that possess complementary skills for the mutual benefit of each. Regardless of the alliance partner or how the alliance is structured, strategic alliances can bring significant benefits to each partner, especially small businesses.

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Creative Ideas for Small Business Social Marketing

Creative ideas for small business social marketing
If you are a small business owner you’ll inevitably face the challenge of creating and maintaining your presence in social media. Social media presence is a must to promote your business and stay in touch with your customers. However, people will not find you and won’t follow you in social media if you don’t have regularly updated content – you have to communicate with your customers regularly and find the ways to engage them.

Services such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus offer you a great chance to promote your business through social media. You can even do this without a dedicated website as social networking sites offer you a surface to carry your content themselves. You just need to fill these channels with engaging content and this may require some time, and of course, resources.

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Is Your Office Design Helping or Hindering Employee Productivity?

Is you office building helping or hurting your employees
Your working environment can have a significant impact on your staff productivity. The office layout, wall colors, decoration and other surroundings can help or hinder the creativity and output produced. No wonder Google and many other companies spend so much attention and money on office buildings and furnitures.

What factors do you need to consider as you look to improve the working environment to boost productivity, creativity and employee retention for your company? Here are some ideas:

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7 (Not so) Secret Ways to Save on Electric Bills for Small Business

7 secret ways to save on eletric bills for small business
Many small business owners consider the cost of electricity as fixed and do not pay much attention to it. They receive a monthly bill in the mail, make a payment and move on with their daily business. For some, even if they want to do something about it, they feel helpless thinking that they do not have many options to save on electricity, other than to cut the usage.

While this may have been true in the past, many options have opened up recently that can help small business owners save money on their electric bills. Some of the options are driven by the elimination of monopoly and rise of competitors. Companies such as commercial electricity suppliers British Gas have been very proactive in helping business owners with ideas and presenting them with alternatives that can be tailored for specific situations.

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