•A Brief History Of Franchising
The three largest franchise companies in the world Yum! Brands, McDonald's, and Subway between them operate nearly 100,000 locations. Franchising today is big business and there are many companies that have gotten in on the act. But how did the modern franchise company come about? Well it all seems to have started with Isaac Singer the man better known for his Singer Sewing Machines. He had just finished improving on an existing sewing machine of the time and was trying to work out a way to...
•Are Banks Turning You Away? You Might Want To Consider Person To Person Lending
Are Banks Turning You Away? You Might Want To Consider Person To Person Lending About two years ago I was in the process of searching for money to help stabilize my companies financial situation. My bank had refused to extend my line of credit and I had spent weeks trying to line up a new bank. While I was in the process of looking for money I ran into a website called Prosper.com. What an eye opener this site was. Now at the time I wasn't able to apply for a loan because I was in the state...
•Cash Flow Is King!
There are alot of definitions as to what exactly cash flow means which can cause a little confusion. This is how I explain cash flow. It is the amount of money you have left during a given period of time once all your bills are paid. But lets not confuse this with profit and loss statements. Cash flow is a physical thing, how much actual cash is left in the bank, while profit and loss statements are recordings in your financial statements but don't reflect physically held money.
Now if you...
•Cultural Diversity Is An Opportunity!
Cultural diverstiy within your business is an opportunity and needs to be embraced as one. Just take a look around you. Opportunity abounds because our world is a diverse place. Whether you have come to realize it or not as a small business owner, your awareness and respect of cultural diversity in the workplace truly matters to your employees and your client base. If you want your business to be successful and competitive in the future, you will have to utilize these human resources and...
•Do Not Be Afraid To Drop A Bad Customer
You spend a lot of time, energy, and money developing new customer relationships. Many times you will find this to be a rewarding experience for you. You might develop relationships that will last years into the future. Some of your customers may become close friends of yours. All in all a very enjoyable experience for you. But sometimes the exact opposite happens and depending on how badly you need the business of that customer it can become a nightmare for you. That is when you might have to...
•Finding Managers Within Your Organization
If you plan on growing an organization that requires employees of any significant number you are going to need managers to lead and guide them. But some businesses are often very specialized. It can be hard to hire just anyone. Many people go out and get a degree in business. They may specialize in management, human resources, marketing and any number of other business specialties. But just because they are trained to manage people within an organization it does not mean they can manage people...
•Good Management Is Hard To Find
For a small business owner that has a growing business one of the greatest challenges that you will have to face is how to find experienced management. Every business large and small faces the difficult task of finding competent managers but large enterprises generally have a much larger pool of qualified candidates to choose from. They'll have newly minted MBA's beating down their doors every graduation. People with years of experience looking for a change of scenery. They're biggest problem...
•How Does Accounts Receivable Factoring Work?
? So what exactly is accounts receivable factoring? Well very simply it is the process of obtaining funds by selling your company's accounts receivable. To go into a little more detail a company takes the outstanding invoices it is owed and sells them to a third party company called a factor. By doing this the company selling the invoices receives an up front payment on the invoices instead of waiting thirty or more days to be paid. When the invoice does come due the payment is sent to the...
•Need A Little Breathing Room? Ask Your Suppliers For A Credit Line
Need A Little Breathing Room? Ask Your Suppliers For A Credit Line Most businesses in today's marketplace are in the unenviable position of having to provide credit to their customers. This is especially true if you own a small business that sells to large businesses. Your customers due to their size and buying ability can put the squeeze on you just about anytime they want. So you end up extending them credit. Maybe you give them thirty days to pay you. But I bet they take sixty days or longer...
•Reasons Not To Buy A Franchise
Some of the largest companies in the world are actually franchises. They exist in many major industries. Everything from cleaning services, and fast food restaurants to vending machine companies and consulting services. And they are all looking to add you to their always growing list of franchise owners. Before joining that select group of people though you had better be aware of the potential problems you might just be facing.
The number one thing on our list is that some people are just too...
•The Value Of Competition
So what is competition? Many people consider it the chance to beat someone else's brains in. To show that they are better than the other guy. Some companies today do all that they can to crush the competition. They buy them up or force them out. And of course it's their right to do such things. But really where would we be if we didn't have some competition?
Look at IBM for example. For decades they were the big guy. Hell they were nicknamed big blue of all things. And they felt they were...
•The Value Of Diversity
Many businesses that are based around a trade have come to rely on very culturally diverse employees to provide their workforce. In fact it has become a necessity. If they were not willing to hire people from other cultures they might literally go out of business. If you feel like something has been holding your business back this could be it.
It's quite possible that the ability to expand your workforce has been a leading problem in your ability to grow your company. This can be especially...
•Tips On Using Business Lines Of Credit
Banks nowadays are being pretty tight fisted with their money especially when it comes to small businesses. I recently talked to a friend of mine who is a Vice President at Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas. The topic of the current credit situation came up and I asked him how tight the lending was. He said to me the only thing that the banks really care about now is your Fico score. Even your company financials are secondary to your score. He then mentioned to me that the same principles are...
•What Tax Dangers Should You Be Aware Of?
? Whether you own a small business or not we all dread the IRS. They always seem to want more money and if you fail to pay them or pay them late they'll penalize you straight into the poor house. But as a small business owner your worries about the IRS are compounded by the fact that you may now or in the future have employees to deal with also.
With employees comes more taxes to pay and returns to file. It seems to be never ending. Death and taxes as they say are the only two inevitables in...
•What You Pay Is What You Get!
Depending on the type of business you're in your employees can be worth every penny you spend on them or they can be considered nothing more than a necessary evil. A lot of the time it's the business you're in and the economics of that business that will dictate what you can afford to pay them. You need to remember that what you are willing to pay your employees directly impacts the quality of people you'll have to choose from when you need to hire someone.
While every business is different...
•Why Write A Business Plan?
? Getting a business off the ground is not an easy thing to do. It requires a lot of hard work, a good plan, and a little luck. Most people can handle the hard work part and you'll either be lucky or not, it's the planning part that most people have trouble with. Many people looking to go into business for themselves have no idea what a business plan is or even looks like let alone how to write one. Luckily the internet provides a lot of resources to give you a hand. But some circumstances may...
•Your Suppliers Are Your Partners
Forging strong relationships with your suppliers can be critical to the success of your company. And like any relationship you need to embrace building and strengthening that relationship. You may only see yourself as a customer and them as a vendor but your relationship can be much more than that. You may say that there are other suppliers out there and that may well be true but will having to start all over give you more value or less. And if you do a lot of business with other small...
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