As a small business owner you know that you cant afford to not be ahead or at least on par with the competition right? Well if you’re a small business owner don’t have a small business websites yet, stick around.
So lets take an example, lets say you are a Plumber in the city of Long Beach, CA and someone has a slab leak, that someone is most likely gonna go onto his computer and type in Slab Leak Plumber near Long Beach, CA, right? Well if you don’t have a website then you will not come up and you are invisible to potential clients searching the internet. On the other hand your competition that do have small business websites will come up and you just lost yourself some new business!
Now we both know that you didn’t start up your business to let the competition trample you down now did you!?
You may think that creating a small business website is a complicated, expensive deal? If that is what you think then you are making a big mistake. Today, getting a website up and running is simple, quick and CHEAP!
If it isn’t obvious enough why you need a website for your small business then let me elaborate on a few other good reasons. Besides gaining new business from the internet, people searching for your company online would like to see a nice, professional looking website to make them feel better about purchasing your product or services. When you go to buy a new car would you rather the showroom be old, smelly and not well kept or a nice, new, modern styled and professional showroom? Your website is your image to customers on the internet and you want your small business to have a good image right?
Another great thing about that people don’t think about is that once you have it up and running you can list the website on your promotional materials such as business cards, flyers and even banners! Most people that see a banner will most likely just go on your website to see the list of products or services that you offer before they actually come in to ask about it. This way you are converting more potential clients into money… If you are driving down then road and see a banner for a plumber and a phone number, are you really going to call to see what he offers? No. But if there is a website that is easy to remember you will most likely go online and see what services that plumber offers.
In conclusion I think it is obvious as to why your company needs a small business website. But even if it isn’t, do your research, look up your competition online and see if it makes sense for you!
Hey Gang my name is Dana aka Small Business Resource Queen. For five years now I have been gathering up resources for small business owners and posting them online. I take pride in my work and my main goal is to help small business maximize their potential in this rough economy.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions and/or feedback!
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intuit.me The lifestyle of a small business owner often reads like the plot of a blockbuster Hollywood movie. There’s boundless action, enduring suspense, and constant drama. Mix in a few laughs, the obligatory blood, sweat, and tears, and at that point, who needs Bruce Willis? The exploits of a small business owner can make even the most hair-raising antics on the silver screen seem tame by comparison. According to Chris Mahlmann, CEO of Ideas in Motion Media, running a small business is more of an adventure than most anticipate. “It’s pretty harried,” Mahlmann admits of his own entrepreneurial lifestyle. “But I think it comes with the territory. There’s a lot to get done every single day. I think a lot of people believe that when you own your own company, you can make your own hours and work whenever you want. And that’s just not the case.” The workload is virtually inescapable, Mahlmann warns, particularly in the earliest days of a start-up when there are financial plans to make, financial problems to solve, employees to hire, staff to train, a team to motivate, and products, services, and a promotional strategy to launch that must attract and — most importantly — retain customers. Without exception, becoming a small business owner is one of the gutsiest moves a person will ever make in their professional life. And nowhere is such a risk-taking bunch of entrepreneurs more prevalent than in the United States. According to the US Small Business Administration, small <b>…</b>
It really depends on who you are. Are you outgoing and want to start a home business with parties in other people's homes or not?
Sounds like you are a natural and have the experience needed to do about anything you want.
My advice is to look around and pick something you are passionate about and then RUN with it.
If you are passionate about helping people with their health, and help them become financially independent as well as you, then i strongly feel I have a link that might help you out
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if you would like to find some research and testimonies behind what i do, go here
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There is a category here under biz and finance called taxes, if you ask over there, someone might know the answer better than here under the small biz category……
~jennifer
Helping others create income from home through education of the system and how it really works.
Just curious, what kind of business do you plan on opening? Because I'm the same age and looking to open my own business as well, but not sure what I want to do. Thanks.
Definitely keep track of your expenses. Most start-up expenses should be capitalized until operations begin. This means that you cannot deduct certain expenses until the date the business started, even if you paid them last year. Some expenses should be amortized over a period of time.
Business start-up costs are the expenses you incur before you actually begin business operations. Your business start-up costs will depend on the type of business you are starting. They may include costs for advertising, travel, surveys, and training. These costs are generally capital expenses.
You usually recover costs for a particular asset (such as machinery or office equipment) through depreciation (discussed next). You can elect to deduct up to $5,000 of business start-up costs and $5,000 of organizational costs paid or incurred after October 22, 2004. The $5,000 deduction is reduced by the amount your total start-up or organizational costs exceed $50,000. Any remaining cost must be amortized.
For more information about amortizing start-up and organizational costs, see chapter 9 in Publication 535.
A free online ebook for starting a new business.."Go it Alone.
Find it at New Free Books.
If you're only really asking about training, then it would depend on the size of the business. If there's only about 1 – 10 people, then it would usually be the duty of the owner to train new staff, as he or she would be the person with the most interest in ensuring that everyone knows what they are doing. If you go into 10 – 30 or so staff, you'd probably have an operational or production manager who should take care of training.
Most businesses don't fail because of inadequate training though. As you pointed out, it's more about lack of planning. I ran my own small businesses for a few years, and I made sure to only hire people that didn't need any training!
Is your concern that businesses fail because of no proper training programs?
Just charge more for shipping to the customer than it actually costs you. You can use it as a buffer income because you will always have something that you needed that wasnt in the budget.
You ask a lot of really good questions that would take HOURS to answer.
Here are several links from the SBA which should help you
http://www.sba.gov/assessmenttool/index.html
http://www.sba.gov/tools/index.html
There are no grants to start a business. You can apply for government loans though, http://www.sba.gov has information for small business loans.