Business Life Archives - Page 19 of 186

Is Your Business Coming up Short in the Cash Department?

June 15, 2016 by Thomas

Running your business might seem at times like more challenges than it is worth.

That said always remember why you likely got into business in the first place.

For many business owners, it was to grow something they created, allowing them to be their own boss and make some money along the way.

Ah, the money part.

In many instances, it is the lack of money that leads one to have to close down their businesses sooner rather than later.

So, take a look at your business operations to see if you’re in fact coming up short in the cash department.

Meet Financial Challenges Head-on

So that you can meet any financial challenges head-on, remember these tips in running your own business:

Don’t get in over your head financially – The biggest risk one takes in starting and running their own business is getting in over their heads financially. As an example, someone wanting to open a small eatery takes out a significant loan, not to mention taps into some of his or her savings, perhaps even gets family or friends (see more below) to invest in this dream entrepreneurship. In doing so, they must hope that the establishment does well sooner rather than later. In the event it does not, they could find themselves in severe financial difficulties and not even turn a profit along the way. If you are in need of fast cash for your business, it is important that you check around to see which establishment will give you the best deal, that is a deal that does not leave you handcuffed when it comes to your overall financial health. In the event your business is doing well and it might be time to expand, the same rules of commonsense apply when seeking cash. Always make sure you do your research before settling on a financial establishment to provide you with the cash infusion your business needs;
Family and friends – Some soon-to-be or struggling small business owners are inclined to turn towards family and/or friends for a financial investment in their business at some point. So, is this a smart or bad decision to make? On the plus side, you know where the money may be coming from. There is also more likelihood that someone close to you is not going to charge you an arm and a leg in possible interest fees. On the down side, there is always the possibility that such a financial arrangement could curtail a close relationship in the event things go bad and/or you are slow to pay them back the money they loaned or invested in you. Even when it is someone close to you, be sure to draw up an official contract when an exchange of money takes place. In doing so, you acknowledge that the person or persons have loaned or invested money in your business, just as a financial provider would be doing. If something goes wrong, it is imperative that those who helped you get all of their money back;
Recognize red flags and react – Finally, just about every small business goes through some ups-and-downs along the way. That said it is important that business owners know what red flags to be on the lookout for. A nosedive in the overall economy can be the first harbinger of bad tidings to come. Keep in mind that when the economy heads south, consumers typically have less money to spend. With less money to spend, they are less inclined to go on buying sprees. For example, if your small business is running a small eatery, one of the first things consumers typically cut back on when the economy is down is going out to eat. Another red flag is when food prices start to going up rather quickly. Lastly, if your health insurance costs to cover you and your employees suddenly explode, this can be another sign of trouble on the horizon. Always keep your ears and eyes focused on the overall economy and what is happening in the real world.

Running a small business is one of life’s greatest dreams for millions of people.

If you are one of them, do you have the business savvy to make your cash flow?

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

More Lawyers Becoming Adept at the Internet

June 8, 2016 by Thomas

Would you be surprised to learn that more and more legal professionals are using the Internet to their advantage?

While that statement may surprise some, many others are not in the least bit surprised to hear such a thing.

As businesses continue to see all the Internet can do for their brands, law offices are certainly not standing on the sidelines. In fact, many lawyers are using their websites and social media on a daily basis, hoping to attract more clients in their time of need.

That said how can would-be clients reach out to lawyers, hoping to find those best suited to handle their respective cases?

Web and Social Media Getting Thumbs up Verdict

As more lawyers head over to the web and social networking venues to state their cases as to why individuals (and families for that matter) should choose them in their time of need, the former should keep these items in mind to present their best case:

Where to go? – The first question that someone in the legal arena will likely have when venturing over to the Internet is where should they start? While a formidable website is of course important for one’s brand, it is also quite beneficial to have a regular presence on social media. To start with the website, make sure if you’re not capable of putting it together and/or running it, you find someone who is. Even though having a website is great, one that is put together in sloppy fashion, along with not really serving a purpose to the public, is quite frankly a waste of your time and that of the public. You may choose to outsource such I.T. needs and find an individual or company specializing in website construction and website marketing. Just make sure you have a website that is not only productive for the public, but that is also secure. In today’s world of identity theft and other online issues, you need to make sure your site is as secure as it can possibly be;
Social networking is a bonus – As important as having a solid website in the legal field is, whether you are Scheiner Law in Houston or one of the many other law firms out there, it is also a good idea to put social media to work for you. Your social media efforts can also be done by outside sources if you neither have the time or expertise for such efforts. Don’ try and be too many things for too many people right off the bat. For example, if you specialize in DWI cases, there is not a specific social site obviously catering to that problem that will bring you instant business. On the other hand, having a Twitter and/or Facebook profile, you can tweet and share posts with hashtags such as #legal, #DWI, #DrinkingandDriving, #findalawyer and more. When you do that, each of your posts where you added those hashtags will end up in the respective category. Lastly, make sure you do not forget how important LinkedIn is to your law firm. The most popular of sites on social media for professionals, LinkedIn, can be great for bringing more awareness to your firm. Be sure you periodically update your LinkedIn profile, giving the public the latest information about your firm, cases you have been involved in, any new hires to the firm etc. As you can see there is a treasure-trove of opportunities waiting for you when you put social media to work for your firm.

While just about every lawyer will tell you that their top priority is making sure their clients get a fair trial (and hopefully the case goes their way), more in the legal field are learning how much of a role the Internet plays in bringing business their way.

When lawyers apply the time and effort to promoting their services with both a sound website and solid social media promotions, the possibilities for landing new business are endless.

If you are a lawyer looking for more of a presence on the Internet, start today to see how adept you can become at working the worldwide web to your advantage.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.

As Healthcare Evolves, Professionals and Patients Must Too

June 1, 2016 by Thomas

Have you stopped to look at the ever-changing world of healthcare in recent years?

If not, you’ve missed a number of happenings, some of which may very well have impacted you whether you acknowledged them or not.

While many people have heralded Obamacare as being the answer to their healthcare nightmares, others sport a different opinion.

No matter which side of the coin you fall on, it is important to do your best to stay abreast of the changes taking place.

For those who do not stay in touch, it can prove to be a financial and healthcare nightmare for that matter.

Changes in the Making

Given there is an evolving role of transitional leadership in healthcare, both professionals and patients must adapt.

For example, nurses are being asked in many instances to do more than ever before.

From working longer hours to being in on what maybe once were not considered traditional nursing roles, the women and men working in the nursing field have to adapt. Without adapting to the on-going changes in the healthcare field, they can easily get left behind.

As mentioned earlier, the implementation several years ago of Obamacare has changed the landscape not only for thousands and thousands of patients, but also many in the medical profession, notably doctors.

With more and more doctors not wanting to deal with the insurance fallout from Obamacare, the answer for some has been to leave their practices and work elsewhere in the medical field.

Less doctors in practices and for that matter hospitals means nurses are being asked to step up and take on more defined roles.

Demand for Nurses Continues Nationwide

Peruse the newspaper or online want ads on any given week and you will almost always see advertisements for nursing help.

While there are a number of reasons for the demand in nurses, two of them are the critical care that more and more of them are being asked to deliver, along with the fact that Americans are living longer. As the population ages, more of them end up at medical practices and in hospitals for healthcare.

Given that nurses oftentimes serve as a bridge between patient and doctor, it is critical that they have a good relationship with both.

Stop for a moment and think about the last time you were in a medical practice or hospital. What amount of time was spent with the doctor versus the amount of time you had conversations and/or assistance from a nurse? Safe to say, you probably had more time and interaction with your nurse or nurses.

While doctors still take the lead role at both their practices and when caring for patients in a hospital setting, nurses will continue to evolve into more of a leadership role now and in the years to come. This will especially be true if there continues to be shrinkage in the number of doctors practicing nationwide.

For those already in nursing or thinking about such a career, it is important to remember these factors:

Job opportunities – There are no apparent signs of a lessening of demand for nurses across the country. If you have the dedication and skills for this field, there should almost always be job opportunities available;
Increased leadership roles – As more patients come to both medical clinics and hospitals seeking care, nurses will continue to be an important piece of the healthcare puzzle. Along with the necessary medical skills, good communication skills are essential. Given the demands on doctors and/or their absence at times when patients call or stop by a medical facility, nurses must be able to deal with a variety of medical situations. Having the skills and patience to deal with myriad of personalities is nothing short of critical;
Continued education – Being open to continuing one’s nursing education (both online and in-person) is all but a necessity. As medicine continues to evolve, nurses will be asked to do the same. By learning more on-the-job skills, along with additional information in the classroom, nurses will be even better positioned to increase their roles and salaries.

As more changes undoubtedly come in the healthcare industry, those nurses willing to embrace and grow with the changes will more than likely prove successful.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and medical topics on the web.

Avoid Missing Out on the Mobile Payments Train

May 27, 2016 by Thomas

Want to set your brand apart from so many other businesses out there?

While there are various ways to do this, one of the top ones is to accept mobile payments.

In doing so, you give your customers the ease with which to make purchases on goods and services from you.

With that being the case, do you want to avoid missing out on the mobile payments train?

Put More Mobility in Your Business

The first step you need to address so consumers see that your business accepts mobile payments is having the necessary technology in place.

If you think that installing such technology will cost you an arm and a leg, stop your worrying right now.

While there are some costs involved in making sure you are technologically adept to accept mobile payments, the payout over time will be well worth it.

In searching to find the right mobile payment vendor for your business, check to see for starters how long they have been around.

Are they someone who comes with a solid reputation in the mobile payments business?

Also look at their interactions with customers.

If you’re wondering how to go about that, checking their social media pages can oftentimes prove fruitful.

Given thousands and thousands of businesses are on Facebook, Twitter and other social mediums, it isn’t too hard to find interactions between companies and consumers.

If consumers are warning fellow shoppers about a certain company, it at least gives you some food for thought.

You should also ask each vendor for a free trial setup when it comes to accepting mobile payments. See which software works best with your business, thereby making your selection easier at the end of the day.

Mobility and Security

Another factor to keep in mind with why you should hop on the mobile payments train is just that, mobility.

Keep in mind that many of today’s businesses are more than just an office space or store on a street corner.

Many businesses are on the move, looking to capitalize on where consumers can oftentimes be found.

This can mean you will find consumers at streets fairs, sporting events, airports and more. By being able to make a few sales when you’re not at your physical store or office location, you avoid being tied down to only sales out of your main operational post.

If you and/or customers have concerns of mobile payment security, brush those concerns aside.

Yes, identity theft thieves are out and about, but you can do all but guarantee they won’t strike your business and/or your customers.

By having the latest in identity theft protection software installed in your business, you greatly reduce the chances of thieves striking. It is also good to assure your customers time and time again that doing mobile payments with your brand is as safe as it gets.

In the event there is a data breach, do everything possible to alert customers that you are on it, doing all you can to fix the problem. This will help ease the fears of customers to a degree, allowing you to not automatically lose their business.

Finally, stop for a moment and think about where your business might be if you simply stood pat and offered nothing more than in-person sales.

Sure, some businesses do just fine without Ecommerce and mobile payment options, but they are becoming a bit of a dying breed to some extent.

As more and more consumers demand mobility in not only their shopping options, but also how businesses respond to those wishes, it just makes sense for your business to be seen as a major player in the mobile payments industry.

If mobile payments have been on your company’s backburner up to this point, change that line of thinking moving forward.

Remember, staying ahead of the competition should always be one of your top goals as a business owner.

One way to do that recently and moving forward is being on the mobile payments train.

By doing so, you set yourself apart from others who have been slow or even resistant to convert.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Avoid Falling Behind on Collecting Customer Payments

May 25, 2016 by Thomas

There are various things that can send a business into a financial frenzy.

One of the more frustrating avenues for businesses to travel down is when customers do not pay their invoices on time.

For some customers, it is a simple slip of the mind, something that can be corrected in a short period of time.

On the other side of the coin, some customers will purposely delay paying bills, be it because of financial issues of their own or they simply do not want to pay for the products or services they purchased.

So, what is a business to do when a customer is late with a payment?

Get the Money You Deserve

For your business to stay on top of meeting its financial needs, there are a number of actions you must make sure stay regular and relevant.

These include:

Timely invoices – Are you getting your invoices out to customers on time? If not, why is that? Falling behind on invoicing customers presents several problems, most notably the fact that you are not going to get paid on time. When that happens, it sets your finances up for potential peril. If you don’t have someone in your office dedicated to accounting, invoicing etc. change that moving forward. Some companies will outsource their invoicing needs, thereby leaving them with one less major task to have to perform in-house. While all customers not paying in-person for their products and/or services are expected to meet the payment deadlines, you can’t expect them to do so if your invoicing techniques are less than stellar. Finally, make sure the due day, any late fees that will accrue etc. are clearly spelled out each and every time you invoice a customer;
Seeking help – If you’re finding too many customers are not getting their payments to you on time, you shouldn’t wait for the ship (your business) to start taking on water. There are options out there for you, including receivable factoring companies. For those who do not know, such companies will in essence give you the cash (in advance) you need (the money that the customer was supposed to pay you) up front, in turn “buying” the unpaid invoice. The receivable factoring company then pursues your original customer in order to get them to pay up. In order to find the best factoring company, look to not only word-of-mouth referrals, but also the Internet (see more below);
Surf the Internet – One of the best ways to locate a receivable factoring company to assist you in receiving the money owed you, the Internet. Any company that is of any stature in today’s business world has a website. With that website, companies can provide a laundry list of their services, how they stand apart from others in their line of work, and much more. Visit a number of receivable factoring company websites to see which one or ones might best suit your business needs. You can also look to their social media initiatives on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and others. Some in this line of work will even offer videos on sites like YouTube, explaining and demonstrating what they do to assist businesses like yours;
Reviewing your invoicing process –Finally, when was the last time you reviewed how you go about invoicing customers? If it has been a while now, and if your invoicing operations are cause for concern, step back and review the process. It could be something simple that needs fixing; then again, it could prove to be a major change in the way you go about things. Either way, this part of your business is too important to take for granted. When your customers do not pay their bills on time, you are the one who suffers. Yes, it could end up hurting them over time, especially if they end up being reported to a collection agency, but a fair number of customers probably don’t sweat such details.

So that your company doesn’t develop a sizable financial debt now or in the future, make sure you avoid falling behind on collecting customer payments.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

What Practices Keep Your Business Humming Along?

May 18, 2016 by Thomas

In today’s business world, companies have as many opportunities as ever to become prosperous and go on for decades to come.

On the other hand, many companies can also see their dreams go up in smoke, albeit through bad economic times, improper job hires, marketing and advertising campaigns that go astray etc.

With that in mind, what are you specifically doing to make sure your business keeps humming along?

Don’t Take Business Success for Granted

So that your brand can always have the upper-hand when it comes to business success, know what your strengths and weaknesses (if any) are.

For the man or woman running a business, it is important to make the right decisions at the right times.

Among those decisions can be deciding if either PEO or ASO services are best for your company.

In the event you’re not fully up to speed on one or both of these services note the following….

PEO services can assist your brand with the all-important aspect of human resources.

Face it; your business (and many others for that matter) can at times have issues regarding employees. When those happen, having a sound HR regimen in place is critical.

Your HR rules should be in place from day one of an employee joining the company.

Whether in a publication or provided online, the HR information should include important items involving work hours and responsibilities, if/when an employee is eligible for health insurance benefits, and more.

Meantime, ASO services are also important for business owners, so know them from start to finish. You need to be sure your company is not missing out and/or cutting corners on various tasks at hand.

ASO services typically work with business owners in the all-important areas of payroll and tax filings.

In the event you have a midsize to larger-sized business, keeping your payroll in order and on time can prove tricky to some business heads. Having the ASO service available can be a great relief, especially since you want your employees to be paid on time and with the correct amount of compensation.

Meantime, one task that can keep business owners up at night is making sure their taxes are done on time in the spring, not to mention correctly. Once again, the above-mentioned service can be quite fruitful in making sure you meet all your tax obligations.

Mid-Term Business Report Card

So, can you say with the utmost confidence that your business is where it wants to be nearly midway through the year?

If not, check to see if you are falling short on these areas:

New hires – Have you been making the best of hires in recent times? If not, consider changing the way you go about the hiring process in the first place. Some companies opt for experience over personality, others do the reverse. Always look to get the best of both worlds when hiring. It doesn’t hurt to have one or more of your better employees’ sit-in on some interviews. This way they can provide you with some solid feedback on if he or she is the best candidate to join the team;
Promotional campaigns – Whether it is advertising or marketing, are you doing everything possible to put forth the best campaigns each and every time out? Yes, you may have shoe-string budgets for one or both areas, but you need to get your brand’s name out in front of the public as often as possible. If money is tight, look to more “free” marketing and advertising opportunities. Even though it can cost you in terms of getting the right individual or individuals to post for you, using social media can be relatively inexpensive, not to mention successful. When it comes to social networking sites, your brand should be all over the tops ones, ones like Facebook, Twitter, Instragram, Linked In etc. Use social media to not only promote your various marketing and advertising campaigns, but also to listen to what the public is saying about your business.

From working with the right service personnel (PEO, ASO) to hiring the best workers, there are many facets of your business that you can do correctly from day one.

As a business owner, your number one job is to keep your business humming along, allowing you and your team to regularly see success right in front of your eyes.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas writes about business topics on the web.