When Will Your New Business Start Making a Profit?

You often hear of businesses having cash-flow problems. Put simply, when the cash going out exceeds the cash coming in, the money runs out!
When you're starting a new business, it's unlikely you'll have an income or positive cash flow for a while until the business starts to get established.
During this time, however, you are still going to have expenses: normal living expenses plus expenses to run the business, the car, service loans, pay for advertising, etc.
This is when you need to have enough funds put aside to carry you through until your income exceeds expenses. Obviously, you need to keep expenses to a minimum during this period; otherwise you could run out of money very quickly.
Your Business Plan should include a schedule or timeframe of when you expect your business to become profitable. You should expect to start making at least some small amounts of income soon after commencing your business.
You should also create a Cash Flow Forecast that shows the income you expect and when you expect to receive it, plus the expenses you expect to pay and when you need to pay them. This is not only useful for your business planning, it will also be required if you apply for a business loan.
To create a simple Cash Flow Forecast, record the following information on a computer spreadsheet, or a calendar or diary:

• the amount of money you have on the day the business starts
• the income you expect to receive, and the dates on which you expect to receive it
• the expenses you expect to pay, and the dates on which payments are due
• your running account balance, calculated after each entry

This will give you an idea of how long you can keep paying your expenses until you start making a profit (or run out of money). It can also serve as a reality check for you regarding the viability of your business idea!
Many new start-up owners are so confident that their business is going to be successful, they commit to spending unnecessarily large amounts on offices, office equipment, and other overheads.
If you don't have a large cash reserve, you NEED to think of creative ways to market, manage, and grow your business.
For example, you can take advantage of "virtual" office services to receive all of the benefits of the service while paying a fraction of the price. No need to budget for a full-time receptionist when you can hire a virtual one starting from just $29 a month. And no need to pay for a fax machine, line rental, toner and paper when virtual fax services start at just $12 a month. Using virtual services allows you to present a professional appearance to customers, while saving money (and often time) that is better spent on your core business.
By taking advantage of the latest technology and business services that are available these days, it is relatively easy to start your business part-time while working your normal job. Many successful businesses have started this way.
Once your new business develops a regular clientele and income, you'll soon have the confidence and cash flow to give up your regular job and work at your business full time.

Gail Hodgson is the Marketing Specialist at Alltel Australia. Alltel is a full service business telco and communications company specializing in services for the business market: supporting businesses of all sizes from sole traders to major corporations.
After several years of working in high tech industries, Gail is really enjoying working with products and technologies she understands! Alltel is Australia's 'best service' telco, specializing in products including 1300, 1800 and 13 numbers, and virtual office services including live answering, voice to email, fax to email, and email to fax.

You Are The Expert - Now Act Like It

While you can probably rattle off hair care tips and techniques for achieving the perfect look like you are naming your own kids, the information you have gathered from years of working in your chosen profession is a mystery to the lay person. That's why clients tend to all ask the same questions of you, over and over…
Your expertise is a valuable commodity that should not be ignored. In fact, it should be capitalized upon so that you can continue to expand your client base and reach your full potential. The best way to capitalize on the knowledge in your head is to get it down on paper. Writing an article for a local publication is a great what to be recognized in the community for what you do (see previous article Write an Article - Share Your Knowledge). But not everyone is confident enough in their writing skill to attempt getting published, so let's look at other ways you can spread your knowledge as an expert.
Talk up your trade
This is the easiest, and most obvious, way to spread your expert knowledge - talk it up. Chances are you are already doing this for the most part, but it's time to take it up a notch and work your magic. Everywhere you go, everything thing you do, find away to work your knowledge into the conversation. Girls night with your gal pals, and one of them complains about the cost of her fave products - tell her about another, more affordable option to solve her needs. Waiting in line at the grocery store, chat up the woman in front of you and mention how you love working with hair like hers. If she expresses a difficulty with her hair, offer solutions. Make it your business to talk about your business and let people know that you are the expert.
Answer the top 5 questions
Chances are the majority of people ask the same five questions. Instead of secretly rolling your eyes when someone asks again, use those questions as a marketing tool to show off your stuff. Create a hair Q&A and answer the questions on paper. You don't have to create a novel out of your tips. In fact, short and sweet is the way to go, people like information in bite-sized chunks because it's a quick read. The Q&A can then be added to your website and/or Facebook page as free hair tips and more proof of your expertise. Whatever you do, don't forget to include the most important tip - how to contact you! Make it easy for people to get more information and to contact you.
Spread the word
As you accumulate Q&A tips, create a binder of them to keep with you. Then instead of handing over a stack of magazines for your clients to read while their hair processes, offer them your binder tips. Consider making multiple copies of each tip, and slipping them into plastic sleeves within the binder so clients are free to take their favorite tips with them to share with friends (with your contact information on each page, of course).

Important Tips For Business Owners

There are a lot of things that go into building a successful business. You need to blend a combination of business savvy with great customer service. It is like mixing a combination of hard-nosed business sense and kindhearted compassion for your customers. In addition to balancing this blend of components, you also need a lot of other skills to really stand out from your competition. While accomplishing this is a challenge, it is one of the things that drive entrepreneurs. Business owners love to be challenged and the better they are at overcoming those challenges, the better their business fares. One of the ways to keep your business going strong is to stay organized. To do this, you may need to store some of your stock off-site at a contract warehouse or 3PL. This helps clear up space for work and it helps you keep better track of your inventory.
Staying organized is important for more than just your business inventory. You also need to keep your storefront organized, if you have one. If you do not have a brick and mortar story, you need to keep up with the organization of anything your customers do see. If you operate a website that sells products, you need to keep it organized too. View that as your shop and makes sure the products are displayed in a pleasing manner that makes people want to shop with you.
Another way to boost your business and ensure that your business continues to grow is to be honest with your customers. Successful business owners understand how important it is to operate a business with integrity and honesty. While being dishonest may make you a quick buck, it will catch up with you in the long run. Make sure you are honest with your customers and do the best job you can. If you or your company makes a mistake, be up-front about it and get to fixing it as quickly as possible.
In addition to basic customer service and a pleasant shopping experience, look for ways to offer customers more than what the competition offers. You should do your best to help regular customers out and invite new customers into the fray. Offer discounts and special pricing for loyalty and attract new customers with similar deals. While you may reduce your immediate profits, you will ensure long-term profitability. A lot of companies are reluctant to offer too many discounts because they view it as hurting their bottom line. The truth is, if you add more customers and give more customers an opportunity or reason to buy, it will improve your business and boost profits over time.
Finally, remember to offer the highest quality product you possibly can. Even if you do not sell the most expensive product in your field, be sure you provide your customers with the best product they can get for the money. Some people are looking for a reasonable price and are willing to purchase something that is not top of the line, but they want to feel they have gotten their money's worth. Work hard to provide good quality for a fair price.

Making Money Off Of Advertisements

Whether you are hosting an event, holding a job fair, or handing out pens at a college orientation or for a school event, it is clear that a lot of companies make use of bulk promotional items. Promotional items are great things to give away for free at these types of events. You may have to spend a little bit of money on buying these items, but since you will most likely be buying in bulk, it will not cost as much and these products are great ways to advertise your company. You can event create a company that creates these items; a lot of people use them these days! You do not even have to give away these promotional objects for free; a lot of schools and businesses sell their promotional goods.
Do you ever notice how much college gear there is out there? There are t-shirts, pens, key chains, and everything else you could possibly think of. When students are deciding which college to go to, they usually take many school visits. If they see that someone is wearing a t-shirt and they have never heard of the college before, they may ask the person wearing it; they may visit the school and potentially go there for college. When students go to their visits, they are usually given a free item such as a pen or a folder with the name of the school on it. The schools print their name on everything so that you remember them and potentially pick them as your school.
Have you ever gone into a college bookstore or even bought a shirt for your high school sports team or social club? Do you ever wonder why the school name is everywhere? It is a way to show pride and it is also a way to advertise. Schools make a lot of money on these items when students go in to buy a sweatshirt or office supplies. Also, when students go for a college visit and see everyone wearing that college's t-shirt, it makes them sense that everyone likes it there and has a sense of pride for their school.
When creating things to sell to students or give away at big events, there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, college students do not have a lot of money and to make these items overpriced would probably not be the best idea. Secondly, they have to be useful to the students on campus. Most schools give students an identification card and key to their room, so why not sell or give away key chains with ID holders? Also, since some students do not have cars on campus, they will need to access supplies at the bookstore and these items can have the name of the college on them.
Selling items that promote a school or business is a great way to get your name out into the world. These things do not have to be expensive and they are great ways to promote your business while making money at the same time.

How To Pack Your Books For Shipping

Books are some of the most precious possessions we can have. Besides having been given by people who are dear to us, books are also a treasure all their own. They are the product of a person's ideas and imagination. What they've written are eternal reminders of how these thoughts flowed from their mind into the thoughts of their readers. Indeed, a book is precious way beyond its physical form. However, when you ship books, this very form is what we would like to preserve because it is the only way we can make meaning of what has been written by the author.
When packing your precious books, one thing you should never forget is to clean them. Packing books when they're bathed in dust is never a good idea. If you're dealing with a bad stain on a glossy cover, you can use lighter fluid and cotton to smudge off the stain. Dust the books off using a feather duster or dry cloth, but never wipe them with damp cloth.
After you've cleaned the books of dust and dirt, you are ready to pack them. What you must remember when packing them is to keep them from getting moist. This is very basic. When you pack the books moist, it's going to soften the pages and even make them disintegrate. So make sure you pack them after they're completely dry. To keep moisture from developing during transit, put them in plastic sleeves or put them in a plastic bag and seal it all around with a packaging tape.
Once you've packed those books, you can put them in a container where you'll be putting the name and address of the person you're sending them to. It's a good idea to cover your writings with clear tape so as to prevent the ink from spreading. It would be too much of a hassle if your courier had to contact you and you had to write down this information all over again. It's very important that this information is clear because it is, after all, where your packed books are supposed to go.
Finding a reliable courier will, of course, be important because it can mean the difference between getting those books to the receiver on time and delaying the entire process. Some couriers will even lose your books along the way. You don't want to deal with these people, so make sure you entrust your package to shippers you can trust.

What Key Chain Tags Say About You

A simple and handy item, the key chain tags can be anything from a small and inexpensive plastic items to an expensive much to be treasured gift. As more and more people are driving and have their own homes, and seems to be a product that will be around for a long time. Before the addition of the tag, keys would just be kept on small hoops, and before that, probably an old bit of string. It is likely that the first basic tags, most likely home made items put together with bits of cotton material and leather and given as early gifts.
Some of the basic plastics ones can be found in certain brands of Christmas crackers, and many companies give them away as promotional items. Car companies always make sure your new car has a tag with their name on it. Not only is that a daily reminder of the make of your car, but anyone who sees your keys will also notice the brand. The most expensive one I have been able to find is a platinum Mercedes one for a little under $20,000. I suppose of you want the status car, you may as well have the status accessories.
Most sports team will have them made with the club crest, motto, or shirt on display. It will be a daily way of feeling close to your team, and as they will not cost a lot, most fans will be able to afford one. Not everyone can afford the cost of the full kit, or some of the gold or silver memorabilia, but everyone can feel part of the team if they have at least one item depicting them.
For many people key chain tags represent a small memento either to themselves as a reminder of a place they have visited or an event they have attended, or to others as a useful and practical gift. Some of the slightly dearer ones can be things such as digital cameras, USB sticks, and even digital photo frames, This is a fairly advanced item, as the most progressive one could hold up to about 90 pictures.
The most practical of all, would be the ones that recognize a sound and help you locate them when they are lost. For others it is a hobby and there is such a wide choice of categories to collect, that there would be something for everybody. The Guinness book of records places the largest collection as in the region of 41,000 items, but for many who specialize it would be hard to get anywhere near that figure.
Personalized ones are a nice touch, but may be best of they are kept to people of a certain age. Teenagers may want to portray their individuality, but that could leave them down subject to unwelcome attention from people who can pretend to know them. Even seeing one without a name on it would be easy to strike up a conversation with someone by pretending to share a particular interest.

3 Useful Online Classified Marketing Ideas

Timing and posting the correct type of ads is what online classified advertising is all about. Putting these ads up online is no various than placing them in offline newspapers; it is just that your reach is enhanced. There are lots of new Internet marketers who try their hand at classified advertising without much success, and that's mainly because they aren't persistent sufficient to get targeted results. The three suggestions we will look at in this write-up will ensure you get an improved ROI by helping you generate much better outcomes.
One factor that numerous advertisers do not give a try is testing the price. You will see a large distinction in your response rates by testing much more than 1 cost point. People who search via classified ad sites are just looking for good value goods. Your response rates will increase if your price offers the very best feasible value for the product offered. But in order to find that price, it is essential that you test out different prices for the ads that you put up. Usually respect the rules of the classified website you're posting on. Over-posting your ad or attempting to the spam these sites will land you in trouble, and maybe get your account/IP address banned. Like they say, never bite the hand that feeds you! So it's usually important that you go through the rules which are laid out by the classified sites and comprehend how they want you to approach the ad posting. For example, Craigslist has a rule that you can post only one ad, in one city, each and every 48 hours. In the event you do everything ethically, there's no reason why you won't see a good response from your efforts.
For excellent results, focus on the title of your ad. You need to design headlines for your ads which will generate certain outcomes. When potential clients see your ad, you want them to immediately grasp what it's about and also to be drawn to it. You want to get the attention of your prospective clients in addition to inspire their curiosity. Your title shouldn't be overly long, it should be short and sweet. Make certain that your headline has the main USP of your ad, to ensure that your prospects know what to anticipate. All in all, from the above article we come to understand that in order to get successful with placing classified ads online and actually getting a response, there are a number of things you need to keep in mind. This write-up only took a brief foray in what ought to and shouldn't be done. The advertising business online is large and sites like Craigslist have only contributed to its size. If you wish to become effective at online classified advertising then you should test your ads all the time and make certain you track your outcomes to improve your campaigns.

The Importance of Wealth Secrets Revealed

We often brand a person as successful when he or she has financial freedom. To become financially independent means that the person has no outstanding debt, has the capacity to buy more than what he or she needs and is able to provide for the family. It could also mean that he or she has obtained a certain amount of money and has various ways of making it grow as well as continuously acquiring assets. If we met a person with this status in life, we might ask their wealth secrets and how they achieved their success.
Some people may not see the value in it, but hearing and learning the wealth secrets of successful people has an impact in how we live our lives. Here are some of them:
1. The Value of Learning
The sign of growth is the need and motivation to keep on learning. For as long as we are alive, we will continue to acquire new knowledge and it is important to use these new ideas to achieve success in life. If you don't continuously learn, it becomes more difficult to reach your goals because you lack resources and new skills that could help you reach your full potential.
2. The Value of Motivation
New knowledge often comes with the motivation to keep on moving ahead. Do not underestimate the power of a rich mind. When you continuously acquire secrets to success, it builds up your drive to walk one step at a time in reaching your goals.
3. The Value of Experience
They say that experience is the best teacher and this is why many people have succeeded just by listening to the experiences of others who have achieved much in life. We can certainly learn a lot from the people who has "been there and done that."
Wealth secrets are very important because these secrets help us learn, get motivated and see value in the experiences of others. The best road to take that leads to success is by obtaining these secrets and making sure that you apply these secrets in your everyday life.

Benefits Of Custom Packaging

You may be quite happy with packing your goods into standard cardboard boxes and shipping them out to your customers via a parcel courier. Nearly all companies do this and its particularly true of smaller companies. Also companies that have experienced some growth since they first started out, may still be using the same packaging methods as they did at the start, which may no longer be cost effective.
However if you stop for a minute and look at your packaging in more detail, it may prompt such questions as "If these boxes were just 3 cm smaller, then we could fit another row of boxes in the delivery van". If you stop and look at your packaging, you may well find that whilst it does the job, it is not actually the ideal size.
Now have you considered looking into buying customised packaging for shipping your packages?
Initially you may think, "It is not for us, as it will be too expensive". An easy conclusion to jump to, but have you actually gone and got any costings? It costs nothing other than some of your time to go out and get some quotes. So why not go and do just that?
With modern packaging manufacturing techniques, the price of even small runs of custom made packaging can be far less than you think, and if they enable you to fit another row of cardboard boxes in your delivery van, then you have just reduced your delivery costs.
Custom packaging can also help you fit more stock in the same space in your warehouse. So why not look in to customized packaging today?

Introduction To Total Quality Control

Total quality control, or sometimes referred by the acronym of TQM - total quality management - is a comprehensive and structured approach to the management of quality control processes that aims to refine and improve the quality of products through continuous response and feedback mechanisms, combined with ongoing adjustments to the production process. In short, it's a buzzwords for managing quality control.
Originating in the manufacturing sector, the TQM process has been standardized by the ISO9000 committee, and can now be applied to almost any kind of organization - even those that supply a service rather than a physical good. Some examples of application in the service industry include schoosl, highway management and maintenance, hotels, and even churches!
The TQM processes can be broken down into 4 distinct stages, characterized by another acronym - the PDCA cycle. This consists of:
- Planning
- Do
- Check
- Act
Briefly, during the planning phase, the problem is defined and relevant data is collected. From this, the root cause of the problem should be established.
In the "do" phase, a solution to the problem is decided upon and implemented. At this point, it is also important to establish criteria upon which the effectiveness of the determined solution can be measured.
In the checking phase, results of implementing the solution should be thoroughly compared with comprehensive before and after data.
The final acting phase is about documenting the results and the changes that led to those results, and informing others about the changes. In addition, recommendations will be made at this stage with regards to the next PDCA cycle.
TQM is only as strong as the sum of it's parts, though. TQM generally works on the understanding that quality management is the responsibility of everyone involved in the creation and consumption of the goods and services of the organisation - this includes the managers, shop floor workers, factory workers, distributors, and of course the customers themselves. It is only by the co-operation of all the parties involved that custom expectations can be exceeded.
There are a number of common practices currently associated with TQM:
- Cross-functional product design, whereby design teams are trained in multiple disciplines to ensure they are designs products with the manufacturing process in mind, rather than simply from a design point of view.
- Process management is a topic of it's own, but essentially involves measuring the effectiveness of business processes and refining them.
- Supplier quality management concerns the raw materials of component parts suppliers - obviously, if a product consists of poor quality parts, then the end product cannot be much better. Hence the involvement of all parties.
- Customer involvement is self explanatory, but may include things such as focus groups and surveys.
- Committed leadership ensures that the right decisions are made at the right time, with no delays that could harm the quality management process.
- Strategic planning is overarching idea of implementing quality related changes company wide through policy and strategy adjustments, as well as people. It encompasses the notion that quality management is not simply about reducing the number of manufacturing defects, but about changing attitudes.
- Employee involvement

Wealth Secrets That Everyone Must Know

There are some secrets that are meant to be revealed. Some of them involve wealth secrets that are meant to help others succeed in life. You cannot just keep them hidden and let a chosen few to benefit from them. No. These secrets are meant to be shared and help others.
One of the best known secrets to achieving great wealth and happiness in life is by following your passion. Studies have shown that people who spent more time discovering their gifts and what they love to do ultimately earn more than people who spent more time just trying to earn a living. Your passion should be something that excites you and gives you a good reason to wake up in the morning. This also means finding out your gifts and special abilities that you can enhance and cultivate. If you focus on these things, chances are you will be on your road to success in no time.
After discovering your passions and developing your gifts, it is wise to set certain goals for your self. This should include both short and long term goals. One of the best wealth secrets is the fact that people who have a vision of what they want to achieve in life are usually the ones that eventually get it. Try to concentrate on achieving milestones and celebrate these historic events in your life no matter how small they are, because every small step gets you an inch closer to your dreams.
You should also crave for more learning. This will lead to growth and growth can lead you to reaching your goals. For example, if you want to reach financial abundance, then you should seek the counsel of people who have achieved much in this area. Also read books and listen to audio books that may contribute great knowledge that will help you gain skills and insights in achieving your goals in life. Surround yourself with people who can show you a roadmap to success by giving you guided principles as well as stories of their own personal experiences. Do not stop learning because once you do, it is like giving up on life altogether.

Choosing The Right Packaging Box

You may currently be sending out all of your parcels in standard size packaging, such as the ever-useful cardboard box. Using a cardboard box for packing your goods is ideal for most people. They are fast and easy to use, and you can often have your goods packaged and ready for dispatch in just a few minutes.
Most companies operate in the way described above to ship their goods out to customers. However just using standard size "Off the shelf" boxes may actually be costing you a lot of money in the long run if you are shipping a large volume of packages via a courier, as I will explain later.
The reason for this, is whilst you can buy standard size cardboard boxes very easily, very few companies actually make "Standard" size products. So, in many cases the fact that your goods fit inside the box does not mean that it is the best box for the job!
In the first instance if the box is only just big enough to fit what you are sending in it, then you may end up with more damage to parcels in transit than you would like. This may be due to not having enough room in the box for adequate packing materials.
If the cardboard box is too big then you may be spending too much on packaging materials to fill it out. Packaging materials can be expensive and so you may be spending more than you need on packaging.
Lastly a cardboard box that is bigger than it needs to be may be costing you dearly with your courier, (Particularly if you ship via airmail) as some couriers now charge by a pricing matrix that takes in to account the parcels size, as well as its weight

Wholesale Packaging Supplies and Cardboard Boxes available from Zeus Packaging. Quality Packaging and Parcels, ensuring your products arrive in one piece, at an affordable price.

5 Tips On How To Make Your Business More Credible

One of the most important things a person considers before they decide to do business with someone is whether or not that individual or business is credible. Having credibility is important because it helps brand your business plus it's also a primary buying trigger. We tend to buy from people we trust and consider to be experts in their field. The good news is that with a plan of action plus some execution, you too can achieve an increase in your business credibility. Here's my "How To Increase Your Business Credibility" plan of action:
Tip # 1: Publish - Being published in a major publication is perhaps the single best way to achieve credibility. When you provide quality information to thousands of readers, what you're doing is positioning yourself as a credible expert. Create a plan to get yourself published in some notable places both on and offline. For example, write guest articles for local papers or blog posts for an industry leader. Once you get your feet wet it will be easier for you to try to seek publications in industry magazines or newsletters too.
Tip # 2:  Teach - Teaching also allows you to establish your credibility. With online teaching technology you can now share your knowledge in a number of ways. You can host online seminars or you can create a forum or membership site too. Sharing your knowledge is an excellent way to establish your credibility.
Tip # 3: Be Interviewed - Being interviewed can be a nerve wracking process. However, when someone interviews you it also gives you the instant credibility you're looking for. Look at your circle of influence and consider who in it may want to swap interviews with. You can then publish the interviews or make them available on your website.
Tip #4: Network - It's not what you know, it's who you know. In many ways this old saying is true! You can gain credibility just by who you know. For example, if you're in the speaking industry and you say, "The other day Les Brown told me" and then just like that... you instantly absorb some of his credibility just buy knowing him. Of course you also have to work to retain that credibility. Also it's important that you network not just with industry gurus but also other people in your field. The more you connect with others, the more your own credibility will build.
Tip # 5: Get Good Press - Good press and publicity will also help boost your credibility and of course your visibility too!;o) It puts you in the public eye and if the media picks up on the story, then you would have earned the added visibility and perhaps even a client or two along the way!
Finally, it's important to create a sense of professionalism on your website. This is established by clearly communicating your policies and procedures. Have a clear and effective customer service policy. Treat everyone with respect and courtesy.
Credibility is something that's earned, not automatically given. This is done by establishing yourself as an expert in your industry. Creating trust with your customers and prospects, and through consistency, transparency and being clear with your communications.
Now take a look at your website, your marketing materials, and any communication materials you send out to your clients and ask yourself this question: "How can I make changes that will increase my credibility?" Start there and sprinkle in a few of the tips above and you'll be well on your way towards making yourself the expert of choice within your industry!

I teach entrepreneurs and business owners how to use social marketing to increase their income while building their brand and their business.