Business Software

So you are considering starting a business with a partner or partners. If you’re doing so keep in mind some absolute truths. Most business partnerships end in a break up by a factor of 8 to 1. I know you’ve got the perfect formula – I’ve heard it before but… heed these words of advice. You must be willing to suffer the loss of your relationship if the business partnership ends.

Is your partner a friend or relative? If he or she is close to you, keep in mind the importance of this relationship. If you are going to have a partner, here is the best way to reduce compromising your relationship. Yes, even if they are your best friend or family member. Define to the finest detail your roles and responsibilities, all of your expectations and then have them reviewed by a non-biased third party (NOT YOUR MOM) and be sure the reviewer has a business background. Next, define exactly how all the income is going to be divided up – to the penny. Third, have clauses defining exactly how you may buy each other out for and how much in what type of payment if one party decides to leave. Don’t ever let the other party walk without a financial payoff — even if it is small. They will forever feel you jipped them and you’ll have an awkward five hundred pound gorilla between you forever. Finally, sign a document agreeing to these roles, responsibilities and financial issues. Consider this a pre-nup and be sure to understand the reason you’re doing this. You want to remain friends first and foremost because all the money in the world won’t buy you that relationship again. So, plan it out and make sure you are both on the same page with the same interest in starting a business. Don’t believe for a moment that you can separate business from your relationship — it’s a lie.

Have you “really” addressed the stuff that has been on your mind but is hard to talk about? Cover these things now before you go into a partnership and put plans in place that force a positive outcome fueled by your ability to recognize both of your shortcomings. Know your own personal limits and those of your partners. Most of the limits and problems in a business are fueled by personal “stuff”. It’s not that the personal stuff is all bad. Maybe you or your partner to be is married to a jealous spouse that will certainly have a problem with you starting a nationwide trucking service gone on the road 6 nights a week. Maybe your Mom lives nearby and requires your daily attention of which would certainly come to a screaming halt if you open that sign shop. Let’s face it, people are more important than money. If you don’t think so, ask the lonely and bitter millionaire. You will have to adjust your business model to suit both your lifestyles and personalities. This is the stuff, the personality “face the music” stuff that if addressed up front, during the planning stages, will reduce the likelihood of breakdowns and break ups of your new company.

By: Dan Nichols

Moms Business – is there really a way to do it successfully? After all, motherhood is a full time occupation already. If you try to create a new business venture, oftentimes while still holding a regular full time job, it’s easy to get overwhelmed before you even start!

But it is possible. And not just to survive, but to thrive doing so. Off the top of my head, I can think of 5 women, many of whom are home schooling their kids, who have created successful mom businesses from home making over 100,000/year. And the truly amazing part is that their businesses are at the point where they only work a few hours a day to maintain that kind of income.

It can be done!

So what’s their secret?

Here’s what these amazing women have taught me about creating a successful moms business.

1. Believe in yourself. Before any of these women became successful, they had to truly believe in the vision of their success. They had to see it, prepare for it, and know with all their heart, that it could be theirs.

Self-limiting doubts and beliefs can cripple your moms business! For example, if you have a belief that you’re not worth very much, you’ll find it hard to charge what you should for your services, thus stifling your growth. There are so many little ways that lack of self confidence and doubts can creep up in your business – it’s vital that you get your mental game straight before you open your doors. You’ll be amazed at the speed in which cash will start pouring into your business when you do!

2. Maintain focus. Time is your most precious commodity. You must create tunnel vision when working on your business. Create to do lists the night before of what you’re going to tackle the next day. Start with the ones that will create income the fastest. Money is a great way to keep you motivated and excited about your business! Don’t overload your list but try and find three marketable things you can do to grow your business each day.

For example, writing an article, calling a prospective client, attending a network-marketing event – all of these have the potential to lead directly to a sale. Non-marketable activities – checking email, filing, paying bills, etc – can be done after your marketing activities.

3. Don’t work harder, work smarter instead. Especially for moms, business time is very limited. It’s vital that you learn the fastest way to accelerate your success, and miss all the mistakes and dead ends along the way. Basically, you don’t have time for the typical learning curves of a new business – you need to get in the express lane now!

Let me give you an example of this outside the business world – cleaning your microwave. You have 2 choices. You can spend a lot of time and energy scrubbing it out. Or you can put in a cup of water to boil, and then spend a few seconds wiping out the microwave once it’s loosened all the crumbs. The end result is the same. It’s simply the time and energy you have to exert that’s different.

One way to achieve this kind of shortcut in the business world is to find a mentor who is ahead of you on the journey. Someone who has worked through the mistakes, knows the short cuts and is willing to share them with you. Many successful business owners have mentoring programs but often they have a very expensive price tag. You could look for some reasonably priced ones or join forums and connect with other moms in business that way. The time and money you’ll save doing this, will pay off very quickly for you.

By: April Vereen

Many businesses each year bring in new software to help run their business more efficiently and effectively but there are always minor problems along the way. The most common is staff not wanting to see change and also worried they won’t be able to understand the new software put in place.

If you decide to implement new business software you should make sure all your staff understand why you are putting in place new software, the benefits of this and also any important points of what the software package does to help the business. The more you explain the more likely your staff are to understand and enjoy the new training.

There are two different ways in which you can train your staff on new computer software but there is the idea of not training your staff at all and letting them learn the new software themselves but this is just unproductive. Your staff could take weeks maybe even a good few months to learn a new piece of software on their own wasting their time and yours as well as money. If you want to run an efficient business then you will need to always train your staff with new software as well as up to date training when necessary. The more your staff know the more productive they will be in their work.

The two ways in which you can train your staff are as follows:

On-Site Training – this offers you the ability to train multiple staff in a suitable training environment with all the resources needed also at hand. Training lots of people at the same time can work out well sometimes but other times there are a variety of people, some who can pick things up quickly but others who take longer to understand and therefore may struggle getting the hand of the software from this kind of training. Sending a large group of staff to be trained can be costly but also not possible as not everyone can leave the place of work as work needs to be carried out still.

Bespoke Training – this kind of training offers a bespoke service in the way of understanding that different people learn at different speeds and in different ways. The same is for every business has different training requirements for their staff and themselves and this needs to be taken into consideration. If you have a large group of staff who have the same ability and require the same training on a certain area of the business software then this can be arranged. Bespoke training is a good way of getting exactly what training you and your staff require as an individual business. Whatever the training may be from accounting packages to call centre software to customer relationship management software, training can be given. Bespoke training offers you a tailor made solution for your business training needs.

So if you’ve having a new software package implemented in your business or workplace from outsourced, in-house or purchased from a shop you need to train your staff on the new software. Not only will this make the switch over more productive but it will also help your staff welcome the new software if they fully understand the software package and how it will not only help them in doing their work but also how it will help the business become more productive and more competitive within their market.

By: Jene Pedder