5 Popular Online Trading Opportunities to Consider

Online trading has now pretty much changed how traders, brokerages, and exchanges do business with each other. What once required dozens of phone calls for the investor and hundreds of calls a day for the average broker to facilitate, is now neatly condensed into easy-to-use online platforms that require little direct communication between the two.

Online trading

Who can trade?

Anyone can trade online. Once they find an online broker (this site has it all) that can work with their trading needs. All will charge a flat fee per trade, usually offering lower rates for student and active investors, and most requiring you to maintain a minimum balance in your account to do any kind of aggressive trading on their platform.…

Continue reading

Should You Use a Third-Party Accountant or Bring Someone In-House?

Unless you as the owner of your business happen to have a masters in accounting, chances are that right from the start you’ve been using a third party accountant to keep track of your books, do your taxes, ensure you can survive an audit, and make recommendations on how you manage money within your business.

Accountants discussing business finances

However, if your business has seen some recent expansion and your accounting needs have become more complicated, you may be considering whether or not this arrangement is still best for your business.

Should you stay with your current small business accountant and up your demand for their time, hire an accounting firm with more capacity, or hire a full or part time in-house accounting expert?…

Continue reading

Bad Credit Business Loans: 8 Warning Signs a Lender isn’t Right for You

Sometimes a business can just spiral out of control financially, despite all the owner’s best initial efforts. This is reality, as markets can dry up, or unexpected expenses hit and compound one after the other. Growth problems are another big reason for a business to become cash strapped — from buying property and equipment in anticipation of expansion that never takes place — to being over-run with expensive inventory you can’t sell.

Bad credit business loans - in AUD

Regardless your individual reasons, you now find yourself faced with a bad or poor credit rating and an uncertain financial future for your company, which you’re sure can be fixed with a bad credit loan.…

Continue reading

An Overseas Money Transfer Guide for Small Businesses

A plethora of small businesses the world over have used the Internet to good effect, by reaching out to customers from different parts of the world. While the growth is welcome, the process of selling services or products internationally comes with its share of challenges.

International money transfer

A commonly faced problem is that of having to deal with poor exchange rates and paying steep currency exchange fees. Fortunately, the online world comes to the rescue again, giving small businesses various options from which to choose.

Several international money transfer companies have come up in the last two decades, mainly because of Internet-based advances.…

Continue reading

Equipment You Need When Remodeling The Office

As a small business owner, success and growth go hand in hand. Sooner or later, you realize it’s time for your office to grow, too. You may need to create space for more employees or an expanded range of products and services, or it may just be time for a refresh so your physical environment feels welcoming and current.

Office remodeling

Whatever your remodeling goals are, you need the right equipment to turn them into reality. Here’s what you need to get the job done.

Hand Tools

You probably already own some of the things you’ll need for your office remodel. Think about construction basics like hammers and screwdrivers, extension cords, safety goggles, ladders, tarps, and brooms.…

Continue reading

5 Logistics Management Tips for Small and Medium-sized Business

When done right, supply chain and logistics management can be a harmonious symphony of vendors, trucks and warehouses. All parts work together to ensure the product is delivered undamaged, on time and to the customer’s satisfaction.

Logistics

On the other hand, an incoherent, poorly planned and ineffective supply chain can potentially deal a fatal blow to the average small and medium-sized business (SMB). Products lost in transit, sent to the wrong location and unexplained charges on customer receipts can all cause angst that’s strong enough to push customers to the competition.

The following logistics management tips are an essential read for SMB owners.…

Continue reading

How to Plan a Business Dinner With a Client

Every January, thousands of professionals and entrepreneurs gather in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)—one of the biggest trade expos in the technology calendar. During the daytime, some of the biggest companies and most exciting startups in the world put their new products on display. But according to one insider, “the real show begins about four hours later,” at dinner.

Business dinner

When the trade show’s doors close for the evening, entrepreneurs flood local restaurants, wining and dining potential clients with whom they want to work in the next year. With a little luck, these meals will lead to deals.…

Continue reading

4 Powerful Ways to Market Your Business

The main objective for any small business owner is to sell as many products and services as they can. Though there are a lot of layers to successfully making sales, the largest component of that is marketing. By effectively positioning your business in front of your target audience as a solution to a common problem, you increase the likelihood of turning them into sales.

Marketing strategy

As marketing is constantly changing, it is necessary for a business owner to first establish and then continually update or improve their marketing plan. This plan should essentially outline that various methods you’ll use to reach your target audience.…

Continue reading

8 Huge Inventory Management Mistakes

Inventory management is way more than taking a tally of boxes in your warehouse every six months. In fact, an updated inventory management system can give you all sorts of insights into your business, from tracking seasonal trends to understanding why certain products aren’t selling. Yet, plenty of companies continue to perform manual counts, making all sorts of egregious mistakes that cost their business vital money and time.

Inventory manager is making inventory management mistakes

Here are some of the worst inventory-related blunders made by more businesses than you might expect.

1. Refusing to Spend Money on Inventory Tools

Among new business owners, there is a rampant misconception that all you need to manage your inventory is paper, a writing utensil, and a strong ability to count, so it seems that spending money on inventory management tools is a massive waste.…

Continue reading

The Last-Minute Checklist for Business Trips

Are you preparing to leave on a business trip in the near future? Do you have everything in order, or do you have some concerns that you’re going to leave something of importance behind?

Packing for business trip

While there may be a lot going through your mind as your business trip closes in, here are some of the last minute questions you should definitely address:

1. Did you book your hotel?

If the answer to this question is yes, make sure you have your reservation information handy.

If the answer is no, now’s the time to begin your search for the perfect hotel. For example, if you need to book a Hollywood hotel, you can use Expedia to find the perfect accommodations.…

Continue reading