Archive for the 'Small Biz' Category

Understand Your Cash Flow

Published
by
Jason Smith
on November 10, 2008
in Small Biz
. 2 Comments

It is difficult to run a business, especially during the economic downturn. People are very careful spending their money by all means. Your suppliers start to chase outstanding invoices and your customers order less than ever.

So, it is really important to review your cash flow on a regular basis to find out your exact CASH situation.  And then, you have to dig deeper to look at “everything” could help you through the troubled economic times. If you are not cash flow positive at the moment, you need to work out a plan to achieve that asap. And one way you can do that is by negotiating prices with all your suppliers, even your broadband provider. Remember, every little helps!

Your cash flow, at the same time, measures your business performance and assesses your options for growth. Why? It is always telling you the truth and never trying to hide anything.

Best Places to Launch Your Web2.0 Startups

Published
by
Francis Green
on September 9, 2008
in SEO and Small Biz
. 1 Comment

Are you looking for a place to ……..

  • Get your startup founded and get the snowball rolling;
  • Get yourself a mentor who will see your business from a different perspective;
  • Get significant media attention (VCs, fellow entrepreneurs and press).

TechCrunch50 (once a year)

  1. Number of applicants: 1000+ groups.
  2. Number of accepted groups: 50+.
  3. Founding: ?.

DEMO (3 times a year)

  1. Number of applicants: 1000+ groups.
  2. Number of accepted groups: 70+.
  3. Founding: ?.

Y Combinator (twice a year)

  1. Number of applicants: ?.
  2. Number of accepted groups: 20.
  3. Founding: $5000 + $5000n, where n is the number of participating founders (i.e. 2 founders get $15,000, 3 get $20,000).

SeedCamp (once a year)

  1. Number of applicants: 400+ groups.
  2. Number of accepted groups: 5.
  3. Founding: Up to EURO 50,000.

TechStars (once a year)

  1. Number of applicants: 300+ groups.
  2. Number of accepted groups: 10.
  3. Founding: Up to $15,000.

What smart salespeople need?

Published
by
Francis Green
on July 18, 2008
in Bizroof and Small Biz
. 0 Comments

WHAT’S YOUR WEAKNESSES, SMART SALESPEOPLE?

Good salespeople always know what, how, when to talk to their customers. Wow, that must take ages to learn! How the hell could they remember all the previous conversations with their customers?

Hmm… that is not that difficult… I can simply take notes about phone calls and have a look at them just before I pick up the phone again. Ain’t I smart? :-)

But what if you are not the only person talk to the customer? What if your colleague take a day off and the boss want you to do his work on that day?

Hmm… I don’t know then, what do you reckon?

You need a database to store the contacts and conversations collected by all the people in your office. You will soon discover the magic of that database which tells you everything you need to become a smart salespeople.

GOOD PRODUCT + EFFECTIVE MARKETING + ? =  REPEAT SALES

We have a brilliant product. We invest heavily on marketing. BUT, the sales report makes me cry. I need advice.

If you think your potential customers believe what you tell them, you are in danger. They do digest your message, BUT they prefer to trust what their friends tell them. Therefore, you need to focus on your existed customer and MAKE THEM HAPPY, and they will definitely pass the “happy” experience to their friends.

How could I make them happy?

Simple, you just do whatever you promised, even tiny stuff. The straightforward approach is to populate the “promises” onto an easy-to-use calendar which makes you confident to say “I’ve done it all!”

WHAT DOES BIZROOF PROMISE?

We try the best to provide a best way to store, organize and share information.

We try the best to make you succeed.

Effective online advertising

Published
by
Francis Green
on July 7, 2008
in SEO and Small Biz
. 1 Comment

Online advertising is all about conveying a simple idea to your potential customers as quick as you can. Time is precious in the age of information overload. So, you have to get your concise message to the targeted audience in an effective way, which doesn’t make them think and eager to hear more.

Lessons learned from my experience:

  1. Understand the habits of your targeted customers. For example, what websites do they visit on a regular basis? What are their common interests? What do they say about your competitors?
  2. Tell your customers how you’re going to solve their problems. Make sure people understand what values they are expected to get, no matter how you’re trying to reach them.
  3. The ads / messages should be driven by keywords for SEO sake. i.e. 5% to 8% of the content should be the keywords themself.
  4. Tell the bloggers why their readers should be interested in your topic.

What makes your rich? The idea or the execution

Published
by
Francis Green
on June 27, 2008
in Bizroof, Small Biz and Whatever
. 2 Comments

It is not hard to write a long list of great ideas. If you are lazy, you can just visit some business startup forum or network sites to steal them. Sitting around your office, sipping latte and looking at the idea list, now what? You probably thinking how the hell you can convert a idea into a product…. It is probably pain in the neck to get it built. But, if you find the right person to do it, you can still get it done without any problem.

And now, you feel released and excited about the beta launch… You are in danger if you think you make a solid step in the direction of making money, seriously. The real battle is just about to start, and the new product is no more than a weapon. Come to think of it this way, any senior web developers like myself can clone an application like ebay, facebook, amazon etc within months, but could any of them make me a millionaire? Not now, and not in a million years. :-)

As time is ticking away after the beta launch, you will loss your enthusiasm and start to doubt about the product. The big question marks will be all around your office - what have I done wrong? Nothing wrong but you didn’t realize the fact that either the idea nor the product itself will make you rich.

9 months back, I was in that situation…. But, I was lucky, I found a great mentor who showed me everything from a new angle, including:

  1. Think globally from day one
  2. Understand your competitors as much as you can, including their strengh, weakness and targeted markets
  3. Ask yourself how are you going to provide the best customer service
  4. Ask yourself what could be the worst case scenario in terms of markeing approach, and then how you can improve on
  5. Don’t make assumptions. If you don’t know say I don’t know, and then try to find the answers

Regards,

Matt

A post dedicated to small biz owners

Published
by
Francis Green
on June 14, 2008
in Small Biz
. 0 Comments

Understand the people who work with you

As an entrepreneur, you take the full responsibility of any business decisions and the consequent outcomes. Also, for any failure, no matter big or small, you are the person to blame. Unfair? Not if you don’t understand the people who work with you. So, what do you need to know about them then? Here are my opinions:

  1. You want a profitable and scalable business. Do you know what do they want apart from the salary?
  2. You expect them to deliver. But, do you know if they’ve been experiencing problems? Also, do they tell you the problems in detail?
  3. You think you put them onto the most suitable tasks. Have you asked them what they think?
  4. Do you know if they are 100% confident with your business model and roadmap?

Pay serious attention to your financial reports

What is a business? My definition is the accumulated outcomes from the products or services you are offering. So, you will always be looking for new and more valuable ways to organize your available resources. But, how do you know if the new method work? I don’t know the answer, but your financial reports (Cash Flow Account, Balance Sheet) do. ;) Therefore, the paperwork deserve your regular review with respects.

Top 10 reasons why use web-based CRM software

Published
by
Francis Green
on June 9, 2008
in Small Biz
. 1 Comment
  1. Transparency across the entire business, no matter small or big operation
  2. Avoid duplicated data entries, and save precious time for more creative stuff
  3. Productivity and collaboration on top of accurate performance measurement and trends analysis
  4. With full access to customer contact histories (notes and events), the sales team will be much more focus and provide higher quality services
  5. Management is all about managing exceptions, and which can be prevented with early precise decisions beneficial from critical operational data
  6. Substantial cost reductions, and more competitive pricing
  7. Real-time data updates enables all the staff to have a better understanding of what’s happing in the business right now, no matter the team members are in the same building or from different countries
  8. Marketing process becomes smooth and pleasant. Think it this way, you and your targeted clients are literally a few clicks away
  9. Absolutely no need to worry about data backup and computer crash
  10. Manage your business online is just the future. If you don’t make the move now, you will be behind your competitors. Seriously ;)