Do you have to be a person to be social or successful?
There’s a US company I communicate with via email and they are fantastic. They solve problems 24 hours a day and they jump right in an do the little stuff that we don’t know how to do. It’s a supplier to a company I work with and they are a very important part of that company’s business. The most amazing part is that no one has spoken to a single person from this company.
It’s a far cry from the days when we were scared to communicate with strangers online let alone trust crucial parts of your business to them and give them your credit card details.
This company is social, with a Twitter page, Facebook page and even a LinkedIn profile and yet still there is no sign they are humans. At no time has a name ever been revealed and in a way it makes sense. I mean just because you speak to Lucy from Telstra, does that make Telstra a different company?
The good news is that this company will receive more business soon and its because they do such a great job!
Read MoreIt’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 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 MoreMicrosoft Office files shared in the cloud – easy access
In my involvement with virion the business voip people who provide cloud based telephony I have come into contact with a lot of new cloud based technology but this news release at the beginning of the week from Google really got my interest.
As a Google Apps user I love the fact that I can simply jump on any computer connected to the internet and handle my email. I can also quickly find customer information using our contact relationship management system (CRM) and check support tickets for important updates for customer. This news release from Google shows how everyone can get the benefits of their Microsoft Office software with the benefit of having them all in a central location available from any computer with Internet access.
This is a real benefit because most people still use Microsoft Office but want the benefit of accessing their files no matter where they are. Cloud based access is also becoming an easy alternative to backing your important information up.
Read MoreManage your project tasks online
Several months ago I heard about a great new startup business called Producteev which created a way for you to manage project tasks with other team members (who can be in remote locations). It looked like a great idea and I had a project where I had to manage a couple other people so we all gave it a go. It worked perfectly and best of all we receive email reminders when tasks were overdue. It was a great way to manage the dialog about specific tasks within a project too and all task members could see a clear history of discussions about the task.
The service is free if there are only two of you working on a project so you can get started and use the service as long as you need. If you like it an need more people to be involved there are paid levels and an unlimited number of people can be involved in your projects from only $20 per month.
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