Business Advice

Are you an entrepreneur?

by admin on June 24, 2009

I love entrepreneurs especially when they are self made!

Entrepreneurs are fabulous people, they reek of passion and clarity, and they are usually visionary and can easily see the big picture. Entrepreneurs also enjoy the company of like minded people; they like great people around them and most find it difficult to suffer fools.

Entrepreneurs are born optimists, they are confident, generally willing to help others and adopt a double win attitude.

This website is based on my real life experiences; there have been many turning points in my business career. The purpose of this blog is to assist you in determining your turning point and hopefully I can give you the inspiration and sanity to continue on your life dreams and goals, even when the chips are down. If I can help one single person avoid the stupid mistakes I made this blog has been worth while.

Never give up despite the setbacks, keep moving forward.
Are you a movie, music, television, or app fan? Buy them all with a $100 iTunes(R) gift card FREE, details apply.

"tough times don't last, tough people do."

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Car Dealers Auckland

by admin on March 7, 2012

Workplace Bullies

 

I have just been watching the program "Fair Go" on TV1 in New Zealand.

 

There was a clip of an Auckland Car dealer giving grief to customers. This is just another example of "how not to do business". It appears this dealer is a bully and has been in the small claims court numerous times.

The Television presenter had a hidden camera in the dealers office and this guy was bragging how he had been in business for thirty two years and looked after his customers. He admitted he had a temper and needed to curve his approach to people. In other words YES, here is another bully in business. What is the problem with these people? Why do they go into business in the first place? These are questions I ask myself every day as the examples are everywhere.

Passion drives business, believe me, if you are thinking of starting a business make certain you have the drive and passion for whatever you want to do. If you need or want a business partner make dam certain that partner has the passion for that business too.

If not I can assure you grief will be the outcome.

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"Business in New Zealand"
I read in the paper this morning how a motel owner in a small town in New Zealand (Katikati) got upset when someone wrote a bad review about him and his motel on "Tripadvisor.com".
The article made me wonder about a number of things:
Who is correct here? Did the motel owner have a reason to question this review? First of all we are speaking of a customer, a person who provides income to any business. We all know the story, "The customer is always right". It is possible this customer was wrong in what he wrote however from reading the New Zealand Herald article I have to question it. First of all it appears the price for the room was more than advertised and the price quoted seemed crazy to me in such an area of New Zealand.

However regardless of who is to blame here the motel is still a business. It is vital any business owner understands how to treat people correctly. Yes there are very difficult customers out there, some are very hard to handle however there are courses available to business owners on "how to handle difficult customers" "how to control anger" etc.
My advice would be for the motel owner to have a very close look at the way he conducts his business, about how he relates to his customers and above all "What value" if any is he providing to his customers.
From personal experience I find the average motel price in New Zealand has risen dramatically over the last few years and the "value for money" has gone down.
There are some VERY basic motels in some of these places and there appears to be a lot an owner could do very easily to enhance the average place.
We are constantly reminded in the media daily how bad the economy is, how tough business is and yet what are business owners doing about it? too many are bleating and complaining rather than getting on and doing something positive about it.

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Self Esteem in the workplace

by admin on February 19, 2012

Poor self esteem is rampant in today's society, and the effects of that quality is carried over into the work place. Imagine, then, the effect on your business if self esteem can be improved. Performance will approve on all fronts in people with a healthy sense of self worth. In addition, there will most likely be fewer interpersonal conflicts among workers if their self esteem was at least healthy and not poor. There is quite a bit a business owner can do to help improve this situation. Making use of the following tips can help you improve the self esteem in your work place.

It is important that your employees feel that upper management and you are accessible. Not only accessible, but that you are willing to listen to what they have to say. You will help your employees in many ways by establishing an open door policy and letting them know they can talk to you. Doing this lets your workers know that what they think and say has value to you. Knowing that someone relatively important is willing to listen is important to a person's self esteem.

Another powerful interpersonal skill that has a direct bearing on a person's self esteem concerns acceptance by others. To be rejected by someone is a feeling that everyone has felt at some point in their life. Acceptance of differences and faults is key as the leader of your company. You do need to make sure your business runs, so not all faults can be overlooked. Showing that these faults can be worked on within a positive atmosphere is key.

It is important, if your goal is to improve self esteem of those around you, to make sure your behavior can't be construed as condescending. Also, make sure you don't give the impression of talking down to anyone. To help your employees also avoid this emotionally harmful behavior, you should implement policies that instruct people how to avoid this behavior. Be sure that you are also able to reinforce people on the same level of emotion. You may initially think that it is difficult to achieve an increase in self esteem among your employees. While it's not really all that hard, it will take some time. However, there are very many ways to bring about this sea of change in the attitudes of your work force. Give serious consideration to the benefits to making this investment in your business.

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Who is to blame?

by admin on February 11, 2012

This is a question all business owners need to look closely at.

 

If you happen to be an importer of high quality goods, or a retailer of great products it is natural you want to hold onto the agencies and products you have.

You also want to build and retain relationships with your suppliers. If the day comes when one of your suppliers drop you for some reason you need to understand why. From my experience long term business relationships are worth retaining. If you work together with your supplier on a double win basis things can only get better.

I am aware of companies who have had long standing relationships with suppliers and all of a sudden they have gone and good business has been lost. Who is to blame? Who is responsible? It is very easy to lay blame on either the supplier themselves or your staff. The fact of the matter is it starts at the top. If you have a passion for your business which in fact you should there is no excuse for losing a great agency or supplier.

Ego and Business

I have seen so many businesses totally ruined because of ego, mismanagement and plain stupidity. Too many assumptions are made and of course untold speculation for a disaster like this happening.

In one case I am aware of an agency lost by an importer simply because the business owner bragged to his supplier about how he got a fantastic deal buying out his partner. The partner was shafted and the supplier knew it. This resulted in termination of the agency. Who was to blame?

I wonder if you have ever read the book "Stupid White Men"? The world is full of them.

Just what is business?

Quite frankly I see it simply as a vehicle, a vehicle if driven properly by a passionate manager it can make an awful lot of people happy. If driven by power and greed it can make a lot of people unhappy. It is a crying shame but I think there are too many of the latter around. If you are a business owner take stock of yourself. Who is to blame in business? The business owner?

 

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If you are prepared to start your own home business, then you can have the financial independence you desire. These tips are designed to assist you in creating a solid plan of action, to ensure your investment of time and money pays off and makes your business, everything you want it to be.

Never underestimate the power of freebies. Your products should always be delivered on time, but also consider what goodies you can pack in your shipments as well. Free promotional items or other goodies will entice customers to come back. It is also a testament of your dedication to your customer's satisfaction.

Add an email signature announcing you home business. This is something you can have attached automatically every time you send out an email. Your closest friends and relatives will likely already be aware of your business but all of those other people you send emails to certainly need to be told.

To build your business you'll need to get as much exposure as possible, and hiring a telemarketing company can help. Look for one with professional-looking offices and a large reference list. You may want to call as many references as you can to hear their testimonial, then choose the company with the highest success rate.

Don't be tempted to branch out into unfamiliar territories just because you are seeing signs of growth. Such a risky venture might turn an opportunity into a sinkhole and ruin your home business. Instead, keep striving to be the best at what you are already doing, and surely you'll find success.

Find out more about affiliate marketing. You can base your home business on selling products you get from affiliate marketing, or you can use affiliate marketing to have people help you sell your products. Recruit your agents carefully, offer them proper training in marketing and pay them regularly if you want them to work for you.

Make sure you understand the tax laws that apply to your home business. Consult with and tax professional to discuss and familiarize yourself with the tax laws. Tax laws change all the time and can become over whelming so understanding them now will save a lot of hassle and time in April.

Figure out what you will name your business and set up a website relevant to your business name. It's easier than you may think to have your own website and you can get your own domain name for as low as $9. You can also expand your business with a website.

The key has been finding the advertising channel that best fits your company and your industry and take advantage of it to get the largest bang for your buck. At the end of the day, it's not about how much you spend or how many eyeballs you reach. It's about how many customers you can bring in the door while still making adequate profits to float your boat.

Buy wholesale. If you need business supplies and have a business identification number, there is no reason for you to pay retail price for the things you need for your business. Find wholesale suppliers and find the best prices for your supplies. You will save a lot of money if you buy your supplies wholesale.

Before you start your home business, it is very important to have a solid understanding of what you want to do, be able to visualize how you are going to do it, and know what resources you will need to make it happen. The answers to these should not just be in your head but also on paper. Write a business plan! It will not only clarify what you are getting into but also point out where you might be lacking.

By following the guidelines shown here, it is possible for you to launch your business from the comfort of your own home and do it successfully. Take the time to review your needs and start making your dreams of a home business, a reality today. You deserve to have financial security and success.

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Starting a home based business can be profitable, and a great way to achieve work and life balance. Sustaining your business requires that you make it profitable, though and often, that is where people fail. So just what do you have to do to create a profitable home-based business that can remain successful? In this article, we will discuss some of the top tips from the pros, for making your business a success.

Always look for ways you can supplement your income by expanding your business ventures. One of the best ways here is to become an affiliate for someone else, using your website and your business to earn commissions on top of selling products. This can be a standalone business or you can piggyback it on your main business.

Order a smartphone especially for your home business. Using a smartphone ensures that you are the only one that answers the phone, that your clients can always reach you and that you can work from your phone. This gives you a lot of control and flexibility on how you run your business.

A great tip for your home business is to join the Better Business Bureau. This is important because many people will check and make sure you are registered before they do any kind of business with you. You can hopefully further your good reputation with the BBB's rating of your company.

Do not post your home address online or on your business cards. Open up a PO Box that you will use for all business related issues. There are a lot of crazy people in the world and you do not want to give them directions to your house.

Creating a weekly and daily work schedule is a must for anyone running a home business. Working at home makes it hard to stay on track and focus with all the distractions. Making a schedule will help you to accomplish your work goals. An essential part of running a home business is to be productive.

It's important to find all the links that point back to your home business website and ensure that they keywords used in the link are included in the list of key phrases you've chosen for your site. Email the author of the article or blog post and ask them to change the keywords if they aren't what you'd like to them to be, and offer a link back to their article in return for their help.

Make sure that you're giving your customers more than they expect, and this goes for any type of business you're operating. If you're selling brownies out of your home kitchen, throw in a couple extra. If you're selling eBooks at a web store, give one away for every one that you sell. It's just good business.

Creating a home based business is the way to go if you want to work for yourself, set your own hours, and achieve a work and life balance. Making that business profitable is key though, if you want to become and remain successful. Achieving profits doesn't have to be difficult, and if you follow the tips we have provided here, you will be on your way. Your home based business can become a valuable investment and a great asset, too.

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Online business opportunities

by admin on January 4, 2012

Online Businesses Opportunities

As you gain more experience in the realm of internet marketing, you will find out that the methods and techniques used by the experts aren't that complicated at all. With articles like these, containing good information and tips on how to succeed, you can formulate a plan and experience true success via internet marketing.

There are simple ways to encourage your customers to opt in to email correspondence. Your customers will likely love contests and promotions, so why not couple an e-zine subscription with the entry into the promotion or contest? This gives your customer an incentive to be emailed in the future and continuously reminds them of your business.

Stop making your banner advertisements look like you're just directing attention to something. By designing appealing banners, you can increase the click thru rate and get more visitors to your website. Banners that contain a trivia question related to your website's niche can be effective, as viewers will click them to find out the answer on your website.

Offer bonus items and freebies to customers who sign up for your mailing list. Providing access to an exclusive video or a free download of an eBook will get your prospects signing up in greater numbers. Make sure the freebie relates in some way to your niche market to increase your conversion rate.

To track how visitors get to your site, use the free Google Analytics program. This program lets you see what keywords are bringing people to your site, and what search engines they're coming from. This data will allow you to choose your keywords effectively in your future, and to see what search engines you need to better optimize your site for.

Change up your terms to see what works. If you have a product that is guaranteed to give results in two days, measure your traffic for a week. The next week, change the two days to 48 hours, and measure your traffic then. Finding out what terms pull your customers will quickly increase your revenue.

Make sure your buying process is simple. Checking out should be a quick and easy event for the consumer. If there are too many steps, or pages take too long to load due to heavy content, a prospective buyer may rethink their decision and back away. Keep everything flashy to a minimum to increase sales.

Generate site traffic by designing and using an interactive banner ad. The ad can include trivia questions, interesting facts, simple hand-eye coordination games, or intriguing questions. Few online users are entirely immune to the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skill, especially if doing so could possibly win them a prize.

When you are using any popular video-posting site to post your videos, you should try to make sure to add closed captions to them. The fact that you would be catering to users that are hearing impaired shows people that you care about your customers, and that you will go out of your way to make sure they are satisfied.

Marketing isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, obviously, but the good news is that you can market just like the experts once you learn the ropes. Use these tips to guide you along your path and you may just find that a successful business is much more obtainable than you once thought.

Online Businesses Opportunities

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Entrepreneur Search Facility

by admin on December 25, 2011

Entrepreneur Search

 

If you have any serious desires to get into an online business you cannot go past the new search facility I have created for you.

This is a way you can find the top four offers currently available on the Internet.

These are right up to date as of today.
You only need to sign in, ( totally and absolutely free) and you will not only be able to get exclusive access to the top four but you will also be first to know about anything better.

Just click on the banner to access my search engine for on-line marketers.

entrepreneur

Get exclusive access to the top four marketing trends as of today, absolutely free.

 

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