Category Archive

Full article with thanks to https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2018/09/intellectual-property-law-for-small-businesses/ The entrepreneurs who enter Dragons’ Den often lose points when asked if they’ve secured their intellectual property, or IP. But what is IP? Businesses take reasonable steps to protect fixed assets, like their stock and equipment. But intangible assets can be more difficult to secure. Intellectual property (IP) is an intangible asset. Your IP isn’t physical in nature, but patents, trade marks and copyrights can all add value to your business. What is IP? Your IP is something unique that you create. Ideas don’t count as IP under UK law, but things that result from an idea do. This could be a new invention, the name of your product, your brand, your services, or even how your products look. But whenever businesses introduce something to the world, there’s a risk they might be copied. This risk is amplified by the internet, which makes it …

Full article with thanks to https://www.mbopartners.com/blog/how-market-small-business/linkedin-for-consultants-optimizing-your-profile/   LinkedIn is an effective social networking platform to display expertise, build connections, and promote your services. Your profile sets the stage for your first contact with potential new clients, displaying your work history, client recommendations, and skillset. Because the profile template is geared towards a more traditional employment background, it can be tricky to figure out how to best present yourself as an small business owner. Establish a credible web presence and help your business thrive by following these tips to optimize your profile. Headline: Sell Your Services The Headline section is a short caption that appears below your name and is the first thing people will see in search results, group discussions, and in their home feed. The Headline automatically defaults to your current title, but editing it to include keywords and a short descriptor of your services will make it much more effective …

Full article with thanks to https://www.lifehack.org/292677/how-creating-vision-board-will-empower-you-manifest-your-dream-life When you start talking about goals, one method that comes up in some conversations is vision boards. It’s a method that thrown around in network marketing groups, and many people stand behind this method. Vision boards can be fascinating. However, while there is a lot of support for it, there’s also a lot against organizing ideas in this way. Either way, this divide is a blessing. Because of the varying opinions on the topic, we can uncover how to make a vision board properly. We can explore why many often fail and the various drawbacks, and how you can make a vision board properly to achieve your goals and visions. Why Do Vision Boards Fail? Before you learn how to make a vision board, it’s important to cover why many fail in this area. After all, this method is talked about a lot, and …

Full article with thanks to https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/stay-positive-in-sales Succeeding in sales is 95-percent mental. If you don’t think you can succeed or land a deal, you will ultimately be right. But if you can remain positive you have a huge competitive advantage. In this decade, sales is a very challenging profession. The way businesses sell is constantly changing, and many sales reps are facing impossible deadlines, strict accountability, dozens of curveballs with each deal, and pipeline scrutiny from all sides. But there is a secret weapon — positivity. A positive outlook is essential for every sales performer and is one of the keys to my personal success. Wondering how you can you be positive when you and your team are at 48-percent to the plan with two days left in the month? Or when you have to hit a high goal without any marketing support? Or when the deal you promised your …

Full article with thanks to https://blog.hubspot.com/service/testimonial-request-template Your best sales rep doesn’t work for your company anymore. In fact, your company’s most convincing sales pitch might be thanks to your loyal customers. Customers trust traditional business communication — like marketing, advertising, and sales — less than ever before. Today, you need word-of-mouth recommendations and reviews from your customers to convince someone new to win you the sale. To do that, you need lots of glowing reviews and testimonials to do the work for you. More than half of the customers we surveyed said they trust word-of-mouth recommendations and customer reviews the post when purchasing business software, so suffice it to say, these are important initiatives to ask your customers to help you with. To get you started, read our best practices for asking for a customer testimonial below — along with some tried-and-true email templates you can use no matter what relationship you have …

Full article with thanks to https://bizfluent.com/how-7608270-evaluate-marketing-strategies.html Evaluation is an important part of marketing: it helps your company eliminate ineffective strategies and develop an overall plan that helps build your business. By scheduling regular evaluations of your marketing plan, you can save wasted money by modifying or eliminating campaigns that are not reaching your target market or garnering the response you need. As you plan, build in mechanisms to monitor the success of each marketing effort to make evaluation cheaper and easier. Check for Changes in Sales Because the end goal of most marketing efforts is to raise sales and profits, use the numbers to measure how your campaigns are affecting customer behavior. Look at the sales before a marketing campaign, during its rollout and for six months afterward; keep track of the long-term response to monitor delayed effects. Use a Questionnaire An easy and inexpensive way to evaluate the effectiveness …

Full article with thanks to http://www.bestselfemploymentideas.com/how-to-set-smart-business-goals   When you’re setting goals for your self-employment job or business, it’s important to set realistic goals. You might want to make a million dollars in your first month, but that’s not realistic.  It would be much more realistic to “reach profitability within six months” or something similar.  This goal does not set some arbitrary dollar amount but does say that you’ll be making money.  It’s also time-constrained to motivate you to work hard on it for those first six months. There’s an acronym to help you set smart goals.  Conveniently, the acronym is SMART.  Here’s what it means: Specific – Specific goals are more likely to be accomplished.  If your goal is to “get a lot of customers,” how can you know when you’re done?  Maybe you’ll get 10 new customers in the next month, but is 10 “a lot?”  It’s better to set …

Full article with thanks to https://www.gov.uk/set-up-self-employed What you need to do when you start working for yourself, either as your only job or at the same time as working for an employer. Step1: Check what being self-employed means There are other ways to work for yourself. Check if you should set up as one of the following instead: a limited company a partner in a business partnership Get help deciding how to set up your business Get help starting your own business if you’re on benefits Step2: Check the rules for sole trader business names You can register a trade mark if you want to stop people from trading under your business name. Step3: Find out what business records you need to keep Step4: To pay tax, you’ll need to register for Self Assessment. Apply for a National Insurance number if you do not have one Register for Self Assessment …

I have a lot of clients who come to me having done ‘shotgun advertising’ and don’t understand why it hasn’t worked for them.  Often they think that ‘Facebook advertising (replace with Google adwords/leaflets/networking/exhibitions etc) doesn’t work for their business’.  Of course it’s always possible that, that is the case – not all types of marketing work for all businesses but there is something called ‘the continuum of behaviour’ and it describes the process that we all have to go through before we make the decision to ‘buy’. Generally someone needs to see something at least 3 times before they make the decision to act on it so clever but consistent, strategic advertising is the key here.  A one off Facebook advert is simply not going to get you far enough….below you’ll find a great article that explains the psychological process that we all go through to make a decision… Full …

Further to my previous blog item about the ‘hows’ in starting a job with no money I also came across this great article that also gives some ideas on types of business you could start. Full article and credit goes to https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/02/home-based-business-ideas-you-can-start-with-no-money.html Blogger You can set up your own blog online for free using a platform like WordPress and then earn an income through ads, sponsored content or product sales. Freelance Writer You can also offer your writing services to other blogs or businesses on a freelance basis. Ebook Author Or you can write and publish your very own ebook to sell online. Some self publishing platforms require money up front, but others allow you to publish your work for free and then take a portion of the sales. Affiliate Marketer Affiliate programs let you earn an income through referring potential customers to specific websites. You can sign up for …