Do Student Loans Stifle Potential Businesses?

Approximately 50% of the American private sector is comprised of small businesses. But due to student loans, the American entrepreneurial spirit has suffered a hit and in 2016, CNN reported that US entrepreneurship has been at an all-time low for nearly 40 years.

College student starting up a business

According to a 2015 study done by Brent W. Ambrose, Larry Cordell, and Shuwei Ma, student loans can stop Americans from financing a startup and inadvertently hamper economic growth. The researchers say that potential business owners are encumbered by student loans that they longer have any way of borrowing more money. The student loan debt in the United States is now over $1.3 trillion.…

Continue reading →

6 Common Mistakes of Site Owners Going Global

Taking your business abroad is a great way to get new clients while also exploring new markets. But, going global is no easy feat, and without proper planning, you could end up facing all sorts of obstacles.

Business website owner going global

Going global requires all sorts of changes, especially to your existing company website. Here are 6 common mistakes that site owners make when going global as well as ways to avoid them.

1. Taxes & Duties

No one likes to worry about the tax side of business, but this is a common mistake that you’ll definitely want to avoid. Be sure to research the various tax and duty factors including:

  • Which countries you need to register in

  • Tax amounts

  • VAT thresholds

It’s also important to determine when taxes and duties should be paid.…

Continue reading →

How Having Competitors Nearby Can Help Your Business Grow

Business owners in general avoid locations where there are competitive businesses, wrongfully assuming that the more similar businesses there are in the area the fewer clients/customers there will be for them. And naturally, fewer clients or customers translates more often than not into lower profits.

Competing shops

But even though this conviction may make sense at a first glance, it’s not entirely true. On the contrary, it has been proven that having competitors nearby can actually be beneficial and help your business grow.

Here are a few examples how you can benefit from choosing a business location within a short distance of your ‘business rivals’:

Attract more clients/customers

Areas with high concentration of similar businesses within a short distance from one another often tend to be associated with those particular businesses.…

Continue reading →

International Business Trends to Look Out for Throughout 2018

It is very important for businesses to adapt to their market, but also to update their technology and business operations according to what the competitors are doing. Indeed, most industries are in such competitive environments nowadays that not keeping up with the current technologies, trends and innovative business models might put you out of business.

International business talk

New tools, apps, platforms and other kind of technologies allowing businesses to improve on their day-to-day operations by advertising more efficiently or saving more money for instance are created almost everyday, and keeping up with all of them might be a little challenging, however, knowing what will become popular on the market remain important if you would like to stay ahead of your competitors.…

Continue reading →

Why it’s Crucial to Understand if Your Business can Afford a Business Loan

If your business is running low on cash, or if you’re keen to expand but don’t have the capital, a business loan can seem like the perfect answer.

Business loan

It’s true that a business loan can provide a valuable boost to working capital, especially if your income fluctuates. It can also enable you to pursue exciting growth opportunities.

And these days, getting a small business loan is much easier than it used to be. There is a booming alternative finance market in Australia, with a huge range of lenders eager to lend to small businesses. In fact, about half of Australia’s two million small businesses have a business loan facility other than a credit card.…

Continue reading →

Insure The Future Of Your Small Business

Owning your own business comes along with a whole slew of responsibilities. One of the most important responsibilities of being a business owner is planning and investing in your future. Taking the necessary precautions to insure every angle of your organization is wise.

Business insurance types

Unfortunately, there is no umbrella insurance policy set up to cover every possible malfunction of business. In fact, there are more than ten different types of business insurance. Here is a brief breakdown of a few of the most vital types of insurance you’ll need to protect your business.

Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation insurance is required by law for most business owners.…

Continue reading →

Virtual Office: Mail Service Only or Full-Fledged Service?

If you find yourself reading this, it’s likely you’ve been considering renting a virtual office for a while. Making the move to a virtual office is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly, just as you wouldn’t rent the first physical office your Realtor shows you. For all intents and purposes, the virtual facility you rent will be listed on your website, marketing materials, and government business registration profile.

Businesswoman working in a virtual office

Some CEOs rent a virtual office merely to legitimize the business, receive official mail, and have it forwarded from the virtual location to their actual location. However, that’s not all a virtual office service can offer.…

Continue reading →

How Much Can You Save when Using Virtual Office vs. Physical Office?

The goal of any business is to generate as much revenue as possible while servicing their customers to the very best of their ability. A virtual office is a great way to save tens of thousands of dollars per year in office expenses. Virtual office rental accomplishes this for many businesses by offering a physical office for important meetings, a private place to work as needed, and mail drop off/forwarding that adds a level of professionalism to any business.

Save money on staff

After all, where you reside says a lot to customers about how much value you can offer. Setting up a Virtual Headquarters, you get the prestige of the virtual location you rent, without all the expenses.…

Continue reading →

5 Steps for Planning a Seasonal Marketing Campaign

The lowdown on when and how to plan a seasonal marketing campaign that will deliver results for your brand.

Seasonal marketing campaigns are not just about Christmas because, as you will see from this whistle-stop 5-step course, there is so much more choice when it comes to hopping on the seasonal campaign bandwagon…

Seasonal marketing in Christmas

Step 1 – Identify the right seasonal opportunity for your brand

Before running and hitting every major commercial opportunity in the calendar, start with one seasonal opportunity. Identify one (or two) that sit most comfortably with your brand and one that people would expect to see from your business.…

Continue reading →

Virtual HQ in Australia: Sydney or Melbourne?

Ready for world domination? No business plan is complete without defining where your headquarters will be located. If you’re like many modern entrepreneurs, you’re interested in a virtual office. These virtual office spaces are hosted in physical spaces but offer a number of benefits that serve your business around the clock. It won’t matter where you are or what you’re doing; they offers Virtual Services you need to keep your company running 24/7.

Australia

You likely already have a list of reasons why you want a virtual headquarters, but now you’re delving into what could be your most serious decision yet. If you’re looking to put down a headquarters in Australia, you’ve undoubtedly got your eye on two of the country’s top cities: Sydney and Melbourne.…

Continue reading →