What Should You Consider in Choosing Location for Small Business

May 27, 2013

What should you consider in choosing location for small business
When it comes to starting small business location is everything. Where you locate your business can eventually decide whether the business will survive in the long run or will encounter headwinds forcing you to shut it down or relocate it. This is especially true of retail businesses that largely rely on customer foot traffic. I have seen number of promising business that had to close down because they chose the wrong location.

Large retail businesses have dedicated real estate departments whose job it is to scout locations for expansion. Now, small businesses cannot afford to have a department to focus on real estate, but that doesn’t diminish the attention you have to give in choosing a location for your business.

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Filed Under: Management Tagged With:

Best Approaches to Screen Resumes to Find Qualified Employees

May 27, 2013

Best approaches to screen resumes to find qualified employees
Any small business owner who has tried to find employees to fill open positions can tell you how difficult it is to find good employees. Despite all the talk about high unemployment and difficulty people are having to find jobs it is also true that there are number of vacancies small businesses have that are going unfilled because they cannot find qualified employees. This situation will only get worse as economy improves and more and more people start finding jobs.

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Why Training Employees is Essential for Small Businesses

May 26, 2013

Why is training essential for small business employees

Employee training is not something that most small business owners give much thought to. They think of employee training as something that large corporations need to ensure their employees are equipped with the company policies and procedures required to perform their jobs. Most new employees in small business go through on-the-job training, if at all. After all, who has time to spend on training employees when there are so many tasks waiting to be completed, right? Besides, as a small business you don’t want to spend extra money on employee training.

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Small Business Owners – Do you Know How Much Asset You Own?

May 25, 2013

How much asset do you own
Here is a simple question you should be able to answer quickly – how much asset do you own in your small business? No, you cannot look at your balance sheet statement to find out the value of total assets. I am talking about the inventory of everything you have in your business. I bet most small business owners do not really know what they own. And yet this is one of the places where they spend lot of money.

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Filed Under: Operations, Technology Tagged With: ,

Small Biz Owners – Do not Use Limited Resources as Excuse to be Unprofessional

May 24, 2013

Small Biz Owners - do not use limited resources as excuse to be unprofessional
There are lot of limitations on small business, many of which are resulting from lack of resources and size. Retail business owners can only carry certain products due to limited budget and order minimums, service businesses can only serve limited number of clients due to lack of resources and they cannot bid on certain jobs due to lack of equipment and manpower. However, you need to be careful about not using limited resources as excuse for presenting yourself in unprofessional manner to your customers.

In professional transactions, business image is as important as the products or services you provide. Granted you don’t need to wear fancy suits in all situations, but they may be required when you are presenting your clients in the courtroom as their lawyer. Similarly, you do not need graphic laden, interactive website for your business to attract customers in all situations. If majority of customers are expecting a certain image and you are not projecting that image it is going to be difficult for your business to succeed.

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Maximize Sales in Small Business by Managing Retail Space

May 24, 2013

Maximize sales by managing retail space in small business
The largest expense for most retail businesses is real estate. With floor space rents increasing every year maintaining a floor space large enough for your business is an ever increasing cost. In addition to the rent you have to pay by the square foot for retail space, you also incur associated cost that increases with the size of the floor space. Insurance premiums are often based on square feet, maintenance and janitorial costs increase, and security needs become more of a challenge. To reduce the costs associated with retail space you must be able to display as much retail product as reasonably possible in as small of a space as possible.

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Filed Under: Operations Tagged With: ,

5-Step Process to Buy a Franchise Business

May 15, 2013

5-step process to buy a franchise business
Buying franchises in Canada, or anywhere else in the world, entails a long and difficult path to pursue for the untrained investor. However, equipped with the right information and resources, franchise buying can become less painful and a lot safer. We have broken down the process of buying a franchise into five easy-to-establish steps that serve as guidelines on the road to becoming a successful franchisee. Here are some details about these five stages of the franchise buying process:
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Smart Marketing Solutions For Small Business

May 13, 2013

When it comes to promoting your small business, every cent used for marketing really counts. You’ll need to create a presence for yourself in your community as well as cyberspace. That’s where a great digital printing company comes in. Without their help, you might as well hang up your hat.

With thousands of businesses being created daily, it’s hard to set yours apart from the crowd. Without the right tools, no one will know who you are. You’re going to need to create materials that get the word out about your business and the products and services that you offer.

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4 Essential Tips to Increase Productivity in Small Business

May 9, 2013

4 ways to increase productivity
Whether you’re a small business owner, aspiring entrepreneur or hard-working professional, the battle to constantly produce good work is ongoing. Maybe it’s the monotony of workloads or effort we put forth to get better, but seasons of high productivity seem to come and go. If you’re stuck in a slump, you’re not alone. Millions of professionals struggle to meet expectations every day. Luckily, the parade of employees and entrepreneurs hoping to boost their output has led to helpful tools and strategies.

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Filed Under: Management Tagged With: ,

Calm in a Crisis — How Egypt’s SMEs are Weathering the Financial Storm

May 9, 2013

How Egypt SMEs are weathering financial storm
When turmoil strikes and everyone around you is losing their head (and money), it’s hard to stay calm and find solutions. Egypt is one such place where entrepreneurs have had to breathe in deep and think smart while revolution and financial turmoil increased unemployment and caused businesses to think hard about their economic future.

Faced with unemployment, many Egyptians have rolled up their sleeves, started their own business, and tried to make things work. But what about the SMEs that existed before the revolution and the financial crisis broke out?

Here are some of the problems they’ve faced, and how they’ve handled them.
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