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Start Your Own Business Articles

Profit 101 – Cash Flow Is Not Profit and Other Financial Realities

Above all else, plan your business to be profitable.

Your road to success is paved by profit.  After all, you aren’t starting a business just to while away your hours.  No, you want positive financial results.

Whether you sell a product or provide a service, whether you are for-profit or not-for-profit, it is imperative that your revenue exceed all your costs.  While that sounds easy enough, there are many ways to be tripped-up on the road to profitability.  Here we’ll look at two of the chief culprits that pave the road to red ink.... read more >


Profit 101 – Deciding How Much To Charge

For many ‘solo’ business owners, deciding what to charge is a big hurdle.

Millions of Americans are self-employed.  Self-employment spans every industry and job category.  There are self-employed strategists and inventors just as there are self-employed plumbers and cleaners.  Each self-employed individual uses their skills, their training and their experience to shape their products or services.

When you are self-employed, you are also a business owner.  That’s right, you operate your own business and owning a business is not easy. Owning a business means you are also the business manager and the admin person.  Business owners need to think about business insurance and... read more >


How Is Your Company Different In Your Buyers’ Eyes?

What makes your firm stand out from your competitors? Is that what your customers want?

Why will people spend their money with your firm?  How are you different from your competitors?  Do those differences matter to your customers?  While you may believe in what you are offering, while you may have planned carefully, while you may be certain you can deliver value to your customers, have you asked the most important question?  What is it about your firm that will keep customers coming, not just once but again and again?

Competition exists for virtually every product or service.  These are the question you must answer: ... read more >


What Is Your Company’s Mission?

Mission statements are a timeless description of an organization.

Mission statements inform your customers.  They also inform your employees.  They even provide you, the head of the firm, with an operating platform.  A mission statement tells people about your firm, the nature of your firm at its most basic level.  It is your organization’s statement of purpose.

In a very few sentences, your mission statement tells:           ... read more >


How Does Your Business Benefit Your Customers?

Too often, companies forget that their customer's first thought is, “what’s in it for me?”

When you define what your firm does, you are actually saying what you do for others.  Have you asked yourself, "What’s in it for my prospective customer?" "What are we offering that actually benefits our customer in a way they value most?" "What is it about our product or service that provides a tangible benefit to our customer?"

Benefits are not features.  Features describe your product or service.  Your product features may be the technology used, its size, that it has fewer emissions or even that it has a specific design feature.... read more >


Multiple Streams of Revenue

Support your business venture with multiple streams of income.

When you go into business for yourself, it’s likely you’ll run into times when you’re just not generating the income you expected.  In fact, it’s entirely likely you’ll run into times where there is no income – no income at all.  Why, you ask?  There are loads of reasons.  Business start-ups can be far slower than planned which means a delay in income.  For some firms, growing the customer base is slow, again, delaying income.  Some businesses are seasonal while others rely on... read more >


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