How to Turn 2015 into Your Breakout Year in Business Success

2014 was a good year for your business, but not a great one. It is not that you did anything particularly wrong. You considered the size of your business, and made decisions based on that. If things keep progressing in this manner, you are going to have a perfectly acceptable small business one day.

Climbing the success ladder

There is a good chance that if you stay the course, 2015 will also be just fine. But if you are wondering when you are going to have that breakout year, the answer is, never. At least, it is never as long as you keep thinking like a small fish in a big pond.…

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How to Buy Shares (and Not Losing Money on Them)

CEOs/Founders – you have diligently accumulated funds for investing and it’s time to start doing something with the funds. Stock investing is one of the most popular ways to make your money to work for you. But how to buy stocks and shares? How to know which one to buy? This article can shed some lights for you.

Buying shares

Although we tend to think of shares as the reserve of City brokers in pinstriped suits, this isn’t the case at all. Shares are becoming far more accessible to the masses, thanks largely to the advent of the internet and smartphones, which give people the opportunity to invest anywhere and at any time.…

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Could Invoice Financing Benefit Your Business?

Invoice financing can be a highly useful tool for start-ups looking to raise capital quickly, yet a large number of business owners don’t consider it as an option when they’re attempting to increase their available funds. In fact, many don’t even know what it is…

Invoice financing

What is Invoice Financing?

Invoice financing is an asset-based means of borrowing capital. The way it works is that a third party, known as an invoice financier – either a banking or independent financial institution – purchases unpaid invoices from a business, thus granting them instant capital for their customer’s outstanding debts. Many businesses find it useful to use free broker services such as through Touch Financial to assess which lenders will offer the best services and rates.…

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What to Do with an Unwanted Property

The good news for property developers keeps coming as the most recent report from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has found that the UK housing market is up over 12%. However, it’s not all positive news. The boom has created an increased competition amongst developers for buy-to-sell homes that has led to many investing in riskier ventures.

Abandoned barn

Risky Properties

The property market has long been seen as an ideal get rich quick scheme to outsiders of the trade. The previous boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s inspired a generation of Location Location Location viewers to dust of their tool boxes and get in on the action.…

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5 Reasons to Offer Employees Voluntary Legal Benefits

Most Americans are faced with at least one new legal issue each year. Legal matters require time and money to resolve, and some of that time is spent while on the job. Companies are increasingly helping to relieve their employees of this burden by providing a voluntary legal benefits plan.

Voluntary legal benefits

There are many reasons why an organization may opt to include voluntary benefits in a work package; here are just five:

Retain and recruit great employees

It used to be that one of the most important things a potential employee was concerned with were medical benefits. Now that the ACA is in effect and employees have other options for health insurance, employers are looking for additional ways to increase retention and attract great employees.…

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Employee Education Questions: Onsite or Offsite Training?

There’s no doubt about it, employee education creates outstanding results for companies, but even so, most businesses aren’t quite sure how to go about it. The questions are many: What exactly should the subject matter include? Who should teach the materials? And the most common question of all: Should workers train onsite or offsite?

Employee education

Onsite vs. Offsite Training: The Pros and Cons

Unfortunately, there is no concrete answer to this question, because it depends on several factors specific to your business. The most obvious reason to consider onsite training is because learning takes place in the actual work space on the same equipment and technology workers use in their day to day operations.…

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7 Essential Considerations for Choosing a Cloud Hosting Service

You’ve probably heard that moving your business to the cloud has its advantages, but where do you start? What options do you have and what are potential pitfalls? You shouldn’t just pick any random cloud host, and preparation and careful consideration will help you avoid data loss when you move. Here are some considerations you should make before you sign a contract with any cloud host.

Cloud hosting

What Type of Reliability is Offered?

Reliability determines your uptime, which you depend on for productivity and servicing customers. If you rely on the cloud host for both public-facing apps and internal apps, any type of downtime results in revenue loss.…

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Evaluating the Potential of Extending Credit to Your Customer

There has been an ongoing debate among business owners as to whether or not extending credit to their customers is an ideal practice to consider. The reality is that you’re providing your products or services upfront, with the hopes that the customer will repay you at a later date. Of course, there are various risks involved that should be considered, but with the proper management of your cash flow and credit departments, extending credit to deserving and qualified customers can prove to be less of a risk and more of a competitive edge.

Agreeing upon credit extensions

Reality Check: Times Are Rough

Though the global economy is recuperating at a pretty steady pace, it doesn’t negate the fact that many people are still facing financial difficulties.…

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How to Improve Your Customer Service Through Efficient Process

There are two types of business in the world, there are those that rely solely on the talent of their employees, and then there are those that measure, track and report back on the work done by their talent. By far and away, the second type of business is going to have more success with your customers.

Efficient customer service

Customers don’t care if part of your business is failing; they simply want to know that they’re going to get what they’ve paid for. Businesses that rely on talent alone are unstable and unpredictable, and when there’s a problem with an aspect of the business, there aren’t the processes in place to find it, isolate it, and fix it to get the product to the customer on time.…

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5 Tips for Small Businesses Looking for a Loan

The ways in which small businesses and startup companies find the funding they need to develop their ideas and target growth has changed significantly in recent years. The process is no longer focused entirely on winning the approval of your local bank manager and there are new dynamics at play in this vital context for SMEs.

Business loans

Here are some ideas worth having in mind if you’re looking for a loan as a startup or a small business:

1. Be honest and realistic

It is vital that you believe in what you’re working on as you apply for any form of funding.…

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