The World Business

Archive for the ‘Small Business’ Category

If you've ever considered starting your own business, perhaps you've considered the pros and cons and found yourself feeling a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of creating a successful business from scratch. With many business ventures requiring a pretty hefty investment, it can be a tough decision to really go for it and start the small business you've always wanted, but many of the cons of a traditional business can be tackled by choosing a small business franchise that suits your taste. With the hard work of market analysis and crafting a strong business plan and the proven success shown by companies that choose to franchise, a small business franchise can offer you the freedom of a small business with much less risk than starting your own business from scratch. If you're still on the fence, consider the following Top 5 Reasons To Start A Small Business Franchise.

Work from Home

With many small business franchises conducting business through the internet and through house calls, you'll be able to work from home in a variety of businesses that would have previously required commercial office space. Being able to work at home not only frees you up to work when and however long you want to, but also saves plenty of money on commuting costs, office space leasing and commercial storefronts. You can take the money you would have spent on setting up a retail space and pour it back into your business every month, giving your business some extra momentum and ensuring much more profit for you and your partners. Unlike many home business opportunities that rely on supplying you with products that you direct-market to consumers, a small business franchise is a real business in fields ranging from computer services to education to travel and everything in between.

Be your own boss

Most people have had that recurring daydream of being the boss and with a small business franchise you'll not only be the boss but you'll also control the direction and momentum of the entire business. franchise opportunities provide you the potential franchisee with a pre-made business that's ready to go, give you any essential training to prepare you to run the franchise and then set you loose to get your business going and make plenty of money. While there are certain guidelines setup by the franchisor, you'll experience a lot of freedom in your franchise as you outline your marketing strategy, hire your staff and begin making the important decisions that will help your business succeed. Even if you've never run a company before and are a little apprehensive about taking the reigns, the franchisor will give expert training in the specific field and in many cases will offer management training to new franchisees, giving you the training you need to lead your business effectively and efficiently.

Do what you love

For many people, a job is just a job, but with a small business, you have the opportunity to choose the precise business you want to own and run with it. In the corporate world, it's easy to get stuck in a job where you have no passion for your work and to find yourself simply coming to work every day for the paycheck. While the pay is an important aspect of a job, doing what you love and having passion for your work is often what takes someone from viewing their work as a job to seeing it as a career. There are hundreds of small business opportunities in nearly every field and niche-market, so if you're ready to dive in and start your own business, there's bound to be a small business franchise that fits you to a tee.

Set your own schedule

Whether you're a stay at home mom, someone looking for a second job or simply someone who doesn't want to conform to the 9-5, Mon-Fri work week, you'll benefit greatly from the flexibility that comes along with owning your own small business. Most small business franchise opportunities are either run from the home or appointment based so you'll be able to set your schedule week-to-week and also decide which days to work and how may hours in a week you want to put into your new business. The more time you put into your business, the better chance you have to succeed financially, but many small business franchises can also be done on a part time basis as a second job or as a job for a student or primary caregiver, allowing you to work as little or as much as your schedule allows.

Meet your financial goals

The main reason most for-profit businesses exist is to make money, and with a small business franchise you'll be in a great position to generate sizeable profits even within the first year. Because all of the hard work of market analysis and testing has been done by the franchisor, when you purchase a franchise business you'll know that plenty of people have already tried and tested the proposed business model and have had success. Unlike many other business opportunities, a small business franchise can be a stand alone business and many times can be run by just one or two people but with the majority of small business franchises you can expand as your business grows by adding more units or locations and instantly increase your profit potential. Franchise businesses also have been shown to recoup the initial investment and begin to make profit much faster than a small business startup, which will put you in a position to make more money faster and grow your business at an exponentially higher rate.

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A small business start up marks the beginning of the business which is categorized in small business. A small business can be corporation, partnership or a proprietor owned with a small amount of manpower and funding. In America, a small business start up comprises of less than 100 employees, whereas in UK it has less than 50 workers. In countries like Australia, a small business start up begins with 1-19 employees. A small business start up is identified by its small investment, small turnover and profit and less manpower.

The smallest business start up can begin at home which are termed by the World Bank as Micro-businesses. They usually have manpower of less than 10 employees. Higher versions of small businesses can be general stores, lawyer practice, clinics, private agents, restaurants, free-lance writers and small-scale manufacturing industries.

Advantage of a small business is that it requires less investment. The working hours of such a venture is also less and requires smaller work area. They have a closer relationship with their customers and clients. They are highly independent and flexible to the changing market. Disadvantage of such a small business start up is the high risk of bankruptcy. In absence of strong financial back-up, the business may go into heavy losses, resulting in legal action against the proprietor in case of loan taken.

A small business start up should follow the below mentioned methods for grater success:

Formulating a business plan

For any small business start up, a well defined plan is a must. The final objective of the business should be precise and clear. The requirements should be formulated and the money to be invested should be prudently calculated. Almost equal amount of money invested should be available for back up in case of heavy losses incurred. The amount of man power required and their required qualification and skills should be decided.

Implementation of the Plan

The business plans made initially should be implemented and all objectives set should be achieved. Financially, loans should be taken if self financing is not possible. Most of the banks provide loans for businesses. It is easier to obtain loans for partnership ventures. After the principle amount is obtained, the hiring of man power is done. This is followed by purchasing of all commodities needed for the business to start. The small business start up can now function fully.

Getting customers and Marketing

Getting the right customers is the key to success for all small business start ups. Doing a small research on the market trends and customer needs helps in changing the business strategy for higher profits. Marketing the product of business to the target customers is optional, depending on the type of product. Marketing for a small business start up can be restricted to pamphlets, news papers, and small hoardings.

Expansion of business

Upon attainment of the set objectives, the small business can increase its investments, manpower and productivity. This can be achieved if the small businesses start up earned considerable profit. This can expand the boundaries of the business and reach to a larger group of customers to increase the profit margin.

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Every small business owner starts out with the dream of watching his small business grow until it is no longer small. Every small business leader is looking for ways to make his small business more successful. But very few small business owners know what it takes to be successful in their ventures. Most small business owners are knowledgeable about one specific area of their business, but overall, may not understand how to effectively manage their small business venture. There are two key times when dynamic leadership of a small business is especially crucial: During significant downturns, and during explosive growth.

It seems obvious that a small business needs a dynamic leader during times of stress and struggle. This is especially true in today's tough economic climate. When a small business is struggling, it needs a leader who can step in, identify the core problem, and implement a plan to correct it. Sometimes finding and implementing the solution to the small business challenge lies outside of the scope of its leader's abilities or skill set. One of the most important traits of any small business leader is recognizing when he/she is in over their head, and seeking help from a third party expert in the field. Many small businesses have failed because the leader/owner failed to recognize the need to bring in outside resources to correct the core problem. Or worse, the small business leader thought they had identified the core issue, when in fact they were focusing on a symptom of the problem, rather than getting to the root or core cause. A dynamic leader in a small business will recognize when it is prudent and necessary to bring in outside counsel or professional advice to correctly identify core weaknesses or "fatal flaws", and to create and implement a plan to correct the issue.

Less obvious is the need for dynamic leadership during times of explosive growth. It is ever small business owner's dream to watch the company's revenues triple year over year. However, most don't pause to consider the potentially devastating effects of explosive growth to a small business. As company revenues increase, so do expenses and capital needs. If a small business does not have adequate sources for working capital in place, the small business will likely fail, despite rapidly rising sales. Furthermore, a small business infrastructure may not be adequate for explosive growth. Its personnel may not be adequate for the challenge, both in capacity and ability. Any small business should look to its leader to develop and implement a structured growth strategy. Without a solid growth strategy in place, explosive growth can be equally as devastating for a small business as is rapidly decreasing sales. A small business must look to its dynamic leader to guide it through times of rapid growth, and this leader must recognize within himself/herself their own abilities and capacities, and may need to seek expert help in structuring a sound strategic growth strategy.

In conclusion, it is the dream of every small business owner to watch his or her company grow. But uncontrolled and unstructured growth are equally devasting to a small business as is rapidly shrinking sales. A small business relies upon a dynamic leader to guide it through both times of prosperity, and times of struggle.

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There is a common understanding that SEO or search engine optimization is just for big businesses and corporations who want to extend their market reach online. Search engine optimization is not just the domain of large companies; small businesses also need the services of SEO in order to compete well in the market. So how to you implement the SEO for small business?

Research is critical in doing SEO for business

In any kind of activity, the need for research will always be there. In trying to tweak and update SEO for small business, you need to ask yourself what you will try to change in your site. Jumpstart your SEO job by writing down your goals for the business and start writing the possible queries that user may type in order to find your website and your small business. In trying to use SEO for small business, make sure too that you research the chosen keywords. You can make it happen by signing up with Google Ad Words. From there, your SEO for small business will now call for the identification of the right keywords that you can use for your websites. Plus this step requires you to understand your competition- see what are the high performing keywords for that site and learn the things that they are doing best so that you can copy their strategies as well. Once research has been done, then the next step for the SEO for small business requires you to do some on-site tweaks on your websites. Doing the SEO for small business means you need to evaluate the visual design of the business site. If the design of the website don’t attract readers but repel the readers, then no amount of work on the part of the SEO firm can help. In doing on-site checks as part of SEO for small business, make sure that you look at the HTML code of the website and optimize as well all the related tags.

Selected tips on how you can do your SEO for small business

Here are other tips when doing the on-site tweaks as part of SEO for small business:

Make sure that the keyword should be in the title tag Make sure that the keyword is in the H1 for each page Keyword must be present on the content Try to optimize the URL architecture and this is part of SEO for small business And on relevant images, make sure that you incorporate the keywords in the alt tags and in the file names

Consider off-site tweaks when doing SEO for small business

Other on-site steps that you can take as part of your efforts on SEO for small business include the need to decide if our website is in need of meta-description and the need to include the company address and the phone number. The contact information should be made visible on all pages of the website and this should be part of your SEO for small business. And finally, your SEO for small business should include offsite activities. Your SEO for small business on this stage will include the need to include the website to major industry-related directories. This stage of SEO for small business means getting more links plus deciding if the social media sites will deliver more benefits for you. And more importantly don’t stop your SEO for small business without tracking its improvement- or non improvement.

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