Small Business Tools
Advanced small business tools help to avoid a big problems with the finance planing strategy.
Posted by Sara Lopez on September 24th, 2010 ~
0 Comments Remember that old saying about teaching people to fish, instead of giving them a fish? That applies to business planning as well: don’t give a person a business plan, help them do their own instead.
I’m in San Antonio Texas today attending the annual conference of the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC), where I did a workshop yesterday on using the business plan as a teaching tool. It reminds me how I got into this business planning specialty in the first place. It was because the business planning brings together everything that’s important in a business, from strategy to market to metrics to numbers.
All of which reminds me once again that what works to help people with business planning is to help them develop their own plan, to teach them how, rather than just to do a plan. What you want as an end result is somebody who can use planning process to run the business. It’s not about having a one-time-use document, it’s about planning over the long term, which means regular plan-vs.-actual review, course corrections, and management.
Keep it on the computer. Update it
Read more…
Tags: Business, Business Plans
Posted by Rachel Garcia on September 23rd, 2010 ~
0 Comments
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal opened with this:
The Galapagosization of Japan continues. According to a survey released today, a shocking two-thirds of the country’s white-collar workers said they didn’t want to work abroad…ever.
The results are downright depressing, given that Japan has recently suffered the ignominy of ceding its position to China as the world’s second-largest economy. The younger and more junior the employee, the greater the resistance to the expat life: 70.7% of “regular employees,” or those who aren’t managers, said they didn’t want to go abroad, according to a survey of 400 people conducted by the Sanno Institute of Management, a graduate school in Japan.
You really have to follow the link and read the full story to see what’s wrong with this story. The author goes on to say:
On a recent flight to Shanghai, the passenger next to me, a Chinese man in his 20s, said he was heading home for a short break from his university in California. He said this in n
Read more…
Tags: Journal, Street Journal, Wall Street, Wall Street Journal
Posted by Brian Reed on September 22nd, 2010 ~
0 Comments You’re busy. I’m busy. As small business owners, we’re all busy and we’re all looking for ways to get more done in less time. And that means doing everything we can to increase our productivity. Below are six ways that I’ve been able to be more productive. I’d love if you could share your own tips.
1. Use the right tools.
One way small business owners kill their productivity is by using the wrong tool for the job. They keep using their pen and notebook when they should be using a tool like Evernote to trap and record their ideas. They waste time manually entering receipts into QuickBooks instead of using something like Shoeboxed that can quickly handle their accounting for them. As a small business owner, it’s worth it to spend some time finding the tools that you need to better run your business. Don’t try to hack a tool to do something it’s not supposed to do. We live in an economy where it’s pretty easy to find free, online productivity tools. Don’t be afraid to use them.
2. Stay up to date.
Read more…
Tags: Ways, Ways Productive
Posted by Sara Lopez on September 20th, 2010 ~
0 Comments Did you know that Halloween is the second biggest decorating holiday of the year, second only to Christmas?
If you’re used to thinking of Halloween as just a blip between back-to-school and the holiday season, think again – Halloween isn’t just a trick-or-treat obligation or a chance to dress up. Halloween can be a really sweet business opportunity.
And What About These Business Opportunities?
- Best Green Business Ideas
- Best Business Opportunities 2010
- Senior Care Franchises
More on Finding Business Opportunities
Tags: Halloween, Halloween Sweet
Posted by Brian Reed on September 20th, 2010 ~
0 Comments There’s an industry of consultants offering advice to city, county and state policy makers on how to generate more entrepreneurs in their locales. Much of this advice is based on research that looks at what’s different about places that have more entrepreneurs from places that have fewer of them.
Many governments are following this advice without looking deeply enough at the research behind it. A brief glance shows four problems with using much of the analysis to develop public policy.
1. The evidence doesn’t always support the theory. Consider, for example, the argument made by economic development guru and consultant, Richard Florida, that increasing demographic diversity will increase entrepreneurial activity. Florida’s own research fails to show that places with more diversity have more entrepreneurs. His diversity index, which measures the share of the population that is gay, and his melting pot index, which captures the foreign born share of the population, have no statistical relationship to the rate of new business formation when other factors are also considered. The the
Read more…
Posted by Rachel Garcia on September 19th, 2010 ~
0 Comments Bingo has been popular game for fundraising events and family gathering occasions for decades since it can be played by people of all ages. Bingo creates excitement and fun atmosphere for all players and by doing proper planning and preparation, anyone will be able to set up a successful bingo event. If you happen to be in a non-profit organization and are in charge of a fundraising bingo event this year, here are few tips to help you set up a successful bingo event.
1. Time and location. Discuss with the people in your organization about the date and time of the event, and the location where the event will be held. Also, you need to consider making sponsorship proposals to help you buy bingo supplies such as bingo sheets, bingo cage and balls.
2. Bingo supplies. You may also prepare bingo sheets or bingo books for the players. There are great-quality bingo books for sale on online wholesale bingo supplies store that you can easily purchase online. Browse around for online wholesale bingo supply store that offers a wide selection of bingo goods at great price.
3.
Read more…
Tags: Event
Posted by Sara Lopez on September 16th, 2010 ~
0 Comments If you’re thinking of expanding your company internationally or even nationally, Tim McGuire’s answers to questions about the challenges and opportunities for companies expanding beyond their borders (The Globe and Mail) is a transcript worth reading.
McGuire, a senior partner at McKinsey & Co. and head of its retail practice for the Americas, stresses that Canadian companies can succeed internationally, but that they “have to figure out how and where to win before they go”. For instance, he says, many Canadian companies try to expand into the U.S. market first, when actually it should be one of the last markets they try to broach as the competition may be fiercest there.
He also speaks about the importance of not waiting until you’ve saturated the Canadian market before trying to capitalize on international opportunities.
Canadian businesses, says McGuire, need to
“recognize that eventually you’re going to run out of room in Canada – we live in a relatively small-population country.
Read more…
Tags: Expanding, Expanding Business