It’s not about the market but individual stocks
There’s a lot of news around today. Everywhere we look someone has an opinion about how everyone else is doing and some of those opinions are from smart people who’ve really thought about what they say. But does it matter to you?
You can compare your business with those on the stock market. Some are doing very badly but better than their competitors, others have had to make changes but as a result they can become hugely profitable in the future.
If your business has taken a hit in the last 6 or 12 months, take a look at what is affecting it and make some decisions and a plan for change in the future. When you make a plan for the future you can forecast and look at how much money you could be earning you might become quite positive. It’s really a simple case of putting some figures together in Microsoft Excel for the coming year. You can always base it on lasts years figures and make an adjustment for current circumstances.
The most interesting thing about creating a forecast is you can then look at it regularly, focus on it and develop a desire for success. That desire and the knowledge that what you earn depends on what you can do for other people can make you perform better than the overall market. Why not give it a try.
Read MoreLess than $3 per logo design
Are you looking for a new logo? Do you have a strict budget? Have you heard about Crowd Sourcing?
The proliferation of the Internet and its ability to connect people from every country has been evident in the political unrest in the middle east in recent news, but it is also causing a massive shift in employment for work that can be completed at home. In Australia we have very strict wage rates and conditions that unions have fought to improve and maintain but tasks like graphic design, building websites, creating apps and programming can be performed from home. That means it can be performed in anyone’s home, in any country and it has greatly empowered the concept of crowd-sourcing for these tasks.
The downside for Australian workers is that they are now competing for certain tasks with workers who would be thrilled to earn several hundred dollars per month, let alone per week (or per day for some workers).
I had the pleasure of hearing DesignCrowd pitch for funding at a SydStart event in Sydney in early 2011 and since then I’ve also come to use a similar site, 99Designs. After using these services you start to realise the game changing potential. Rather than spend a lot of time and money getting YOUR designer to give you a couple examples, you can have hundreds of designers presenting their ideas. Best of all, they all want your feedback and suggestions so that they can create something even more to your liking.
After using both these services with various clients I pondered the future for this type of service for the investors in the businesses, the designers and the customers and here are my observations:
- The investors receive a commission for each competition and will need to find different models to earn more revenue to satisfy their investment desires. These companies may become print or website brokers.
- Each competition provides a connection between a company and a designer and once the connection is established the customers wants good artwork and must pay their new designer to do it. How much do they pay. Many designers then try to charge a “developed country” rate.
- How often will a designer “tender” for work by submitting designs if they don’t win any “competitions”.
- Some customers will get put off by bad design submissions and the need to spell out exactly what they are looking for and may stop using this type of service.
One of the projects I worked with last year gave us 133 design submissions for a total of only $295 which is less than $2.22 per entry so needless to say we were thrilled with the outcome.
We did find that DesignCrowd appeared to have more people you could contact if you had a question or an issue, the only way we could successfully contact 99Designs was via Twitter. Here are a couple other reviews about these sites that may interest you.
http://bloggingyourpassion.com/99-designs-review/
http://www.clickfire.com/99-designs-review/
http://www.xemion.com/blog/99designscom-a-warning-to-freelancers-67.html
Needless to say, with 100% money-back guarantees, there’s no reason not to give it a go yourself:
Read MoreWhy should your business be compliant?
We know that a business is like a cash-flow generating, revenue earning engine. It’s a machine that needs to be maintained and steered (managed) so that it’s revenue is greater than it’s expenses. You could spent a lot of time studying strategic management to learn how best to steer your business forward but you’ll never know which decisions you need to make until you understand what you need to change and that’s when we look at what we have already done.
Getting reports from your database, enrolment system, memberships statistics, accounting system will give you a great insight of historical performance and this is vital if you want to forecast the future, but there is a final step to ensure that you have the real information. You need to be compliant.
Compliance means you have completed your paperwork, lodged it with your account and with the regulatory bodies like ASIC, ATO etc. Only then will you know exactly how much you have really made in profit and only then will you know if your plans have been successful.
Read MoreCan you really forecast the future of your business?
Forecasting is a fascinating thing and many small business owners think it’s impossible. When I speak to some business owners they say it is hard because the cost of borrowing is increasing, banks aren’t lending as much, things are going bad in Europe, customers are not buying as much and I’m sure you could think of many other typical conversation topics.
The most fascinating aspect about forecasting is that it affects almost every part of our lives already. What’s the weather going to be like, how much is my super going to be worth, what about the value of my home. If the largest Australian public companies just kept doing what they are doing there are forecasts for economic growth, inflation and most other financial indicators.
The hardest part of forecasting is that you are setting yourself and your business some goals and targets and the higher the goal the more you have to stretch yourself and your team to achieve them. If you are stretching yourself beyond last years achievements you might start depending on your staff more, need to make a better commitment to your customers, package your products better or provide better customer service.
Every business is really a little cash-flow generating machine and if you plan to grow your machine you’ve got to know that your little machine can handle a heavier workload and higher speed while maintaining smooth operation. So set yourself a target and fine tune the money making engine to achieve it smoothly because everybody who has a stake in your engine wants to know what they can expect to see in the future. And, if the future looks bright and you can demonstrate why, then you might have others wanting to invest in it.
Read MoreWhat you do defines you
I recently wrote about the experiences we are having regarding the resume writing service of EzyLearn called ezyRESUME and how the combined skills of writing and using programs like Microsoft Word and WordPress CMS (Content Management System) for websites enables smart people to effectively and efficiently sell their services as employees as well as the services of companies. The next step in that process is about demonstrating your skills.
In our search for a new team member at EzyLearn we recently had two virtual assistants perform a task to demonstrate their advanced skills using Microsoft Excel and the outcomes were VERY different and demonstrate some simple steps that people can take to build long term relationships that benefit both parties.
Our first candidate wrote a long list of the skills they have in their resume and subsequent interview and ticked a big YES next to the desired skills we were looking for. The second candidate showed confidence in using the software and the willingness and desire to do additional learning if required to complete advanced tasks. The outcome of this exercise showed how important your intuition is in picking the right people. It also demonstrated that those people in direct contact with the potential team members also had far greater insight into the candidates personal qualities.
Candidate One was a young lady that responded quickly but provided results that any one could perform after reading a “Dumbies” book on Excel, she demanded payment immediately and when changes were requested showed a disdain to work together. Candidate Two had more experience working with people, created a much more sophisticated result with excellent productivity tools (with Macros and buttons) and most importantly demonstrated that she wanted to understand exactly what was required so that she could provide the most ideal results.
Not only did candidate two demonstrate excellent skills and willingness to personalise her results, but she showed an open and positive willingness to co-operate and provide a positive outcome. It imperative to be positive and willing at all times and no matter how well you write your resume or how well you know how to format it professionally in Word, your actions during and after the interview will largely determine your ongoing success.
Read More