Small Business Blog

Archive for September, 2009

So you already have a design ready to be sent to that business card printing service. You had a whirlwind session with your graphic artist, and you are extra enthusiastic of how it will turn out. Hold on however. Before spending all that money in business card printing, you have to review every aspect of your business card before it gets produced 100 or 500 times over. Any mistake or design error that isn’t caught early enough can be detrimental to your business card. So reviewing them thoroughly  assures you that you will be getting the best quality business card that you can produce. This is what separates a great business card from other poorer quality and cheap business cards.

To help you out in reviewing your business card design, you need a checklist. Below is the standard business card quality checklist that most professionals go through to review business cards. Go through it one by one, and see if your business card options and designs are up to current standards.

Paper Stocks – First, and foremost is the business card paper stock or more specifically its card stock. Not all business cards are printed in the same type of card stock. There are differences in the thickness, coatings and textures for each type of business card stock. To be sure that you have the best quality business cards, aim for the card stocks that offer protective coatings such as UV and moisture resistant card stocks. Some card stocks may also have a sheen or glossy effect that makes it look better. Just ask your business card printing service for your options regarding business card paper or card stocks.

Now, for the quality of your card stock, simple try to bend it a bit and see if the paper follows the fold immediately or not. If the paper stock is easily bendable, then you have lower quality paper stock and you may want to change it if you like. Also try to test if the paper stock easily absorbs water, and if it sheens or not. Lack of moisture resistance and light reflectivity is also a sign of a not so perfect business card.

Ink Quality – Next, we have the ink quality. The business card printer’s ink quality can depend on the printer itself. There are several types of this. It can be offset printing, digital inkjet or digital laser jet printing. Each has a different way of embedding inks into paper, and also they have different types of ink. To test the ink quality, simply run down a few drops of water in front of your design. If the ink “runs” and is easily water soluble, you have a mark of a bad quality ink, and printer. So check this on your sample printing when it comes.

Design Composition – Next on the items in our checklist is the design composition or layout. This refers to the positions of your design and content elements in your color business card. It can be the placement of pictures, the positions of certain text, their font styles and of course the overall theme. Basically, you need to check if all the design elements mesh together to form a coherent design. This design must match the image that you want to project, and it also has to match the prevailing design standards of the time. If you design looks outdated or messy, then it might not be up to snuff for the best business cards out there.

Content Thoroughness – Lastly, be sure to have all the content that you need printed in your business card. The content must be as thorough as it can possibly be. Be sure to have your name, job title, company name, address, contact numbers, website information (if applicable), company logo, tag line and sample service/product list all included in your content information. Be as inclusive as possible so that you can maximize all the information that you want to give in one business card delivery. If your business card content is not this thorough, you may find yourself wasting time physically writing in the missing information which can be difficult. So check the content before going to printing.

That should be a wrap for the checklist on business cards. By going through a review process using this checklist, you should be able to print business cards that are high quality, professional looking and very attractive to business contacts. You won’t be wasting your money in business card printing if you do so.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit Business Card Printing and Cheap Business Cards

If you have a business that growing rapidly, you will realize that you can’t fit in your primary offices anymore. You don’t find any further room for expansion. Sure, this is excellent for your business, but it can also produce its own share of challenges.

Relocation is very taxing, both in terms of time and energy. Not to mention the stress that comes along with it. However, you need not fret! There are some things that you should be aware of before taking the plunge! A bit of planning will go a long way to ensure a smooth relocation.

For beginners, with all of the business that you are managing, it can be daunting to even organize a business relocation because of the effort that needs to go into it. Many corporations simply don’t have the time or resources to manage a corporate relocation. Due to this, you would surely benefit from using the services of a business relocation company.

There are many individuals who specialize in helping corporations relocate. They have proper insight with the relocation process and know everything that you may overlook or avoid. They will be able to manage nearly all facets of the planning and implementation of your move, which will undoubtedly assist you in handling the situation more professionally.

Another important ground why you should take the help of relocation companies is because of the legal implications of your relocation. If you are relocating your headquarters only a town away, you probably won’t face many rules and regulations.

But if you are contemplating on shifting your business out of the country, there are myriad laws, rules, and regulations that you will have to comply with in order to be sure that everything runs flawlessly.

Not all of these laws are obvious, so it is a clever idea to employ a business relocation company as they will already be quite proficient with these issues.

If you are thinking of relocating your business, you should search for an experienced relocation company. This might be a difficult job. But there is a way out. The easiest way to finalize your relocation company is by talking to executives from other organizations.

If they have ever moved, they will be able to recommend which companies to go with. You might also consider comparing two of these companies and see which one offers the best price and service. If you get a good relocation company, your relocation process will become a whole lot simpler!

You may be wondering why a business owner would need online bookkeeping services.  Just a few reasons are as follows:

A need for a better cash flow
Regular profit and loss reports
Better stock control
Monitoring payments to creditors
Staff to work on other profit making projects rather than the time consuming bookkeeping tasks
Focused on customers and sales areas

Online book keeping services are now rapidly catching on and the world is becoming a shrinking marketplace.  If you are able to be amongst the first ones to dip their toes in the water, you will be one of the most successful companies to capitalize on this service when it starts to really catch on.

Next question would now be how online book keeping work.  Online book keeping places source documents in web-based applications to permit bookkeepers to have access to them anytime, anywhere so they can work on the documents remotely so as to update business books.  Basically, a company scans their business documents and uploads them regularly to an online bookkeeping application.  This technology is now being used by employees who are usually mobile in sending their expense receipts to get reimbursed quickly and by companies with multiple branches but with centralized accounting department.

A step by step process is being followed:

Sales and expenses invoices and other documents are sent by email, file upload, fax or mail
All sent information are automatically converted to electronic format and stored in client’s secure personal filing cabinet to allow access to the information at any time
Accountants view the secure documents to complete your business’ bookkeeping/accounting/payroll tasks everyday
Completed work statements may be viewed as a PDF file for easier printing

Online book keeping eliminates guess work in regards to business operations allowing business owners to make confident future plans on how to improve their business and adding to business prospects.  A regular monthly update on business standing will be provided to you.  It is the easiest way to keep a regular monitoring system of how well your business is doing and how fast it’s growing by providing you a simple way to check profitability.  It also gives you a heads up on issues before they balloon into big problems.

After identifying the importance on online book keeping, the choosing of an online accounting service provider should come next.  Net-Accounting provide a vast range of accounting services.  Whether it be processing financial statements or finalizing the payroll or payments to creditors, Net-Accounting can assist your company.  Net-Accounting provide quality accounting service to all their clients, no matter the size.  Complete security and privacy are assured.  With the staff’s combined experience and expertise in accountancy, clients are rest assured that their business will receive only professional, friendly and confidential service at all times.

Net-Accounting offers consultations to discuss particular business needs.  Daily management of your business is made far easier and cost effective with online book keeping.

In building and growing an online business, or one with a strong online component, there are several must-have tools which will allow you to not only have passive revenue, but to enjoy multiple streams of it.

Here’s a quick rundown of the most basic tools (there are other, more advanced tools which will be covered in a separate article):

1. A Shopping Cart.

An online shopping cart allows you to sell digital products, have them automatically delivered to your clients and automate the follow-up so you’re not sending emails all day and night.

I use and highly recommend KickStart Cart as an all-in-one shopping cart and autoresponder service. The Pro Version is $99.00/month (U.S.). If you’re not yet offering products, you can get the Starter ($34/mo) or Basic ($59/mo) versions.

And in order to easily accept MasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover Card, you’ll want to link your shopping cart with a merchant account using a payment gateway.

2. An Email Marketing System/Service.

An email marketing system allows you to send ezines, solo e-mails and contact your prospect list whenever you wish.

While you can, and many people do, use your shopping cart for this, I prefer to use a separate system (due to deliverability issues) and use Constant Contact.

I continue to test deliverability between Constant Contact and Kickstart Cart (which is one of the 1ShoppingCart brands – they all have the same issues) and, for now, remain with this choice.

3. A Website, Blogsite or Other Opt-in Page.

In any online business, your primary goal is to have ideal prospects sign up to your list so they can receive your ezine and other information.

The way to make this happen is by placing an opt-in box on a website, blogsite or single opt-in page.

The one you choose is completely up to you as all have been proven successful. The nice thing about a blogsite is that you can get it up and running quickly and inexpensively and your hosting is usually included.

If you’re doing it yourself, I recommend TypePad for blogs/blogsites as it’s easy-to-use and has responsive support staff.

4. An Incentive to Sign-up.

People are busy. We all receive too much in our email inboxes these days and will only part with our information if there is something in it for us: a special report that we’re interested in, an audio series which will give us new information, a checklist that would be handy to have.

You need to have some incentive on your website/blogsite/opt-in page in order for people to part with their names and email addresses.

The report/audio/checklist is WHAT you’re giving them. Your ezine? It’s the bonus gift they receive as a result of requesting the report.

5. A Mentor.

If you’re starting out or currently stuck in your online business efforts, you will want to strongly consider partnering with a mentor who can keep you focused and accountable while guiding you through the distractions (and there are MANY!).

You’ll want to chat with a few different people to see who you best resonate with.

The time and money spent with a good mentor will save you hours and thousands of dollars in learning and mistakes, not to mention how much sooner the revenue will start coming in!

The above is by no means a complete listing of everything you’ll need in your business, but these 5 tools will see you WELL on your way to a 6-figure business.

The next item? You’ll have to wait for the next issue for that!

My Request to You

If you’ve read the above and are shaking your head saying “I’ve done/have all of the above and STILL nothing’s happening”, then it’s time to reevaluate:

Is your Incentive something your ideal client is interested in? If you’re getting lots of traffic to your site, but no one’s signing up, the answer is “nope”, or you’re not presenting it correctly.

Is your ezine providing information and content which is relevant to your ideal clients? If you’re seeing a lot of unsubscribes, it’s time to revisit what you’re doing.

Do you have a mentor (or coach) who gives you broad strokes, but doesn’t provide the actual steps of what you need to do when in order to move forward? If so, you need to ask if this is the right person for you at this time.

You, and only you, control your business and your level of success. What do YOU want and how much do you want it? The right tools will get you there so much faster!

About Author: To know more about <strong><a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.30minutebooks.com/effective-tax-planning.html”>tax planning books</a> </strong>and<strong> <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.30minutebooks.com/effective-tax-planning.html”>small business books</a>, </strong>visit  <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.30minutebooks.com/effective-tax-planning.html”>30minutes books</a>!While there are many advantages to running a Small Business, there are inherent pitfalls if it is not run efficiently and effectively. Tax Planning is a key element that needs careful attention. This is a year-round process with meticulous details being planned well in advance, so as to maximize profit while minimizing taxes. Every individual taxpayer and small business owner has complete liberty to choose the method by which a financial transaction is carried out,  so that it results in the lowest legally admissible tax liability. To put it in other words, tax avoidance is completely legal, but tax evasion is not. The basics of small business tax planning should be well understood and they should be supported by a Small Business accounting system that helps to minimize Small Business Taxes. Small Business Tax planning starts during the entity selection stage, before you even form your business. For example, which business structure you select will determine future tax implications. Whether you setup an S Corporation, setup an LLC, or choose another business structure, business structure is going to be the basis for the amount of tax that you will pay on all future income. Deductions and write offs admissible for tax purposes should be understood and implemented during Small Business Tax Planning. The objective should be to maximize what you can deduct from the taxable income; and what you can write off, by being aware of what count as deductible expenses.  This is very useful in Small Business Tax Planning, because the question asked by small business owners very frequently is “which expenses will be deductible as business expenses?” The Internal Revenue Code Section 162 gives the answer, which has been tested and has determined many Court decisions – “In general there shall be allowed as a deduction all the ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on any trade or business”. In this legal explanation, the two words “ordinary” and “necessary” assume great importance. Simply put, any expense incurred by Small Businesses which are “ordinary” and “necessary” to run the given business are absolutely deductible from the gross income. Some examples of deductible expenses : 1) Auto expenses – personal car used for business purposes and business vehicles; 2) Expenses related to business : advertising; utilities; office supplies and repairs; 3) Business entertaining: 50% of the cost to entertain present and prospective customers. Taking into consideration all aspects of proper tax planning will usher the Small Business into prosperity.

No matter how you look at it, starting a home business requires money. There are many different costs to consider when it comes to your own home business, so make sure to take out a pen and piece of paper in order to write down all the things that you’ll need to start your business off on the right foot.

Checklist

Make sure that you have these essential items:

- Computer
- Scanner
- Fax Machine
- Printer
- Business Phone Line
- Plenty of Office Supplies
- Filing Cabinets
- Date Book

In addition, take the time to create a clutter-free office space. Sure, your kitchen table might seem pretty comfortable, but you’ll have to devise an actual office area if you want to reap the tax benefits of owning your own business.

Product Items

Depending upon the type of business that you intend to run, you may need to purchase some product items. If you want to start manufacturing small items, you will need to have a large amount of the things that you use to create your products. In general, home manufacturers have a one year supply of materials.

Think of any other costs that you might not have considered. Do you have everything you need to run your own business? Go through a dry run (a typical day at your office), and see if anything is missing. Lastly, think about the extra money that you will need to complete your home business area.

Small Loans

While some banks may approve large business loans, many of them are not quick to approve smaller business loans. This poses a problem if you want to borrow less than $5000 – after all, why should you be stuck paying back a loan that you don’t need?

When traditional lenders turn down your loan request, it’s time to look to alternative lending sources. Loans such as car title loans are often granted in small amounts, and they are also easy to attain. If you own your own car, then you can easily acquire a car title loan. The best part is that you only have to take out a loan for the amount that you actually need. In short, you won’t have to worry about being forced into a large loan.

Once you gain all the money that you need to start your business (along with all the items listed above), you’ll be ready to start working for your new boss – you!