Clean Up Your Small Business Office for the New Year

Tips on Ringing in 2015 with an Organized Work Space

Get Organized for 2015

With the New Year comes a chance for small business owners to start fresh and jump into the next year of their business on the right foot. As many business professionals know, the one thing that keeps them from being productive all year round is not being properly organized. By this time in the year, a business owner’s desk is piled high with year-end financials, new business plans, final payroll approvals, and other end-of-year business necessities. Instead of starting off the New Year in the same cluttered work space you have been working in for months, it may be a good idea to get organized and start fresh for 2015.

Clean Out Your Email

Email is one of those business applications that can get out of control very quickly. It is easy for business owners to read a note and let it sit for months at a time, even if they have already responded or resolved the issue. While you have some time to get organized before the New Year, start going through emails that are dated six months back or more – anything that was already resolved can be deleted and anything that needs to get accomplished should be marked for your to-do list. The end of the year is also a great time to archive your emails – this will not only help to free up space in your email application it will also allow you to be able to keep important messages that you may need down the road.

Finish Your Filing

Every business professional dreads this statement – “I have filing that needs to be done.” Instead of continuing to ignore those reports, financial statements and other important papers that have been sitting on the desk for months, take an hour out of your day to get those items organized and put away where they need to go. If you need an important paper for a client meeting or presentation and you cannot find it on the spot, you are wasting precious time that could be used to make money for your business. By having filed put away, labeled and organized you can find anything you need quickly. Also, make sure to continue to block out time once a week or once a month to file to keep yourself organized.

Do Not Hold On to the Clutter

Many professional organizers who help individuals clean out the closets in their homes live by the rule “if you haven’t worn it in six months, get rid of it!” The same can be said for the random papers, emails, and voicemails you have been holding on to all year. Chances are, if you have not needed it in the past six months and it is not a crucial document, you will not need it six months from now. For these “clutter” items, you have one of two options – throw it away or pack it up in a box and move it to a storage area. If you choose to store these items, make sure to label the box with the month and year it was packed away – if you come back to that box a year from now and still haven’t touched it, throw it away!

If you do not yet have a small business or work from home opportunity to create your own financial freedom, you should contact Stacy O'Quinn today! He has helped dozens of entrepreneurs already using the techniques he learned at Dani Johnson training sessions and now he would love to help you! For more information about Stacy and his opportunity, please click here.

*Photo Courtesy of Lisa Risager via Creative Commons License

Set Your Small Business Up for Success in 2015

3 Tips to Help Start the Year Off Right

Stacy teaching others how to be
successful working from home

With the year winding down and companies beginning to close for the holidays, many small business owners are beginning to think about what must be done to see continued success into the New Year. What many do not realize is that planning for this kind of success begins way before the calendar changes to 2015 and that preparation for a prosperous new year takes a lot more time than we suspect. If you have not already begun this process, the time to start is now! By implementing these simple tips, it can be possible to set your business up for 2015 success even if the time to plan is running short.

Think of Business Resolutions

Just as we set New Year’s resolutions for ourselves every year – to go to the gym, eat healthy, be more outgoing or work harder – it may also be beneficial to set resolutions for your business. This is a great opportunity to sit down and decide what positive outcomes you would like to see for the business in the coming 12 months and help to set a strategy of how to reach those goals. It is important to be specific about what you would like to accomplish and figure out a way to measure progress and success with those goals as well as share them with the associates within your company. Having these resolutions in place is important to having something to work toward for both yourself and your employees.

Think About Your Business Growth

One of the goals of any business owner is to see his or her company grow and prosper from one year to the next. In many cases, this growth must be supported by adding more talented individuals to the payroll in order to continue to meet goals. A great way to plan ahead for hiring new employees is to think about what you may need and set dates of when you would like to start the search and have someone hired. Think about different options you may have as well, instead of just hiring someone onto the team full time – can some of your needs be met by temps? Or  maybe by outsourcing the work to freelance professionals? Having a plan in place early will make the hiring process much smoother later on.

Get Yourself Organized

Any small business owner knows that there are many projects, tasks, and responsibilities that are touched throughout the business every day. In many cases, this can lead to an overly cluttered desk, email box, office, and voicemail box. An important part of being efficient and being able to get tasks completed quickly is being organized, and being organized is very important for the head of any company. Before the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve, block out some time to get your office and yourself organized to start the new business year off on the right foot.  Having a clean workspace when you return to the office after the holiday will help to get you started on the right foot.

If you are still looking for the right business opportunity for 2015, you really need to call Stacy O'Quinn. Stacy has helped dozens of entrepreneurs create a six figure income and the financial freedom they have always wanted. All you need to do is call him and you could be next! For more information about Stacy and to find out how he can help you with your very own work from home job, click here.

Be a Small Business General, Not a Soldier

How to Effectively Work On and Lead, Instead of Working in Your Business

Be a general, not a soldier!

As many small business owners know, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of working in your business instead of on your business. The problem with this is that as an owner, you get lost in the trenches of daily operations instead of being able to step back and look at the big picture. While day to day tasks help to keep the business running, being able to look at it as a whole can help you to make changes and move the business grow as a whole. Achieving this can include goal setting, business planning, action plans, and many other items which cannot be completed when the day to day tasks get in the way. So, for the New Year, why not consider these tips to help you to work on your business instead of in it.

Create Long-term and Short-term Goals

Many business owners and business professionals thrive on meeting goals and completing tasks, which is why they often get lost in the daily operations of the company. A great way to work on your business and move it toward a state of growth while still feeling a sense of completion is to set both long-term and short-term goals. Long-term goals should include sales growth, business growth, employee satisfaction, and the like. Short-term goals, however, should be quickly attainable to help keep you and your employees motivated and excited to keep moving forward toward completing those bigger goals. It is also important to celebrate these accomplishments and reward both yourself and your team.

Create a Vision Board

A vision board is a great way for business owners to have a clear goal or end state to work toward. Creating a vision board for your business is almost like creating a lighthouse that will to guide you to your biggest goals – items on your vision board should include photos, graphs, quotes, and other items that help to motivate and inspire you. Having one of these in a central location or in your office is a great way to continue to remind yourself what the big picture is and help to pull you back to reality when things become overwhelming. It is also OK to make changes to your vision board as your business and goals change, which will continue to help you keep your eye on the big picture and the end result.

 Delegate Whenever Possible

The hard truth is that it is impossible for you to look at the big picture and work on your business if you are too busy working in your business. This is where delegation plays a key role – be comfortable giving operational and day to day tasks to others to complete while you work on the company’s larger goals. For many business owners, and professionals in general, it can sometimes be hard to let tasks go to others and have the confidence in them that the item will be completed correctly. The solution – let it go! If you as a business owner are trapped in the day to day tasks, there will be no time or energy to work on the business and set plans and initiatives in motion to help the business grow and be successful.

Need more ideas to make your small business more successful? Did you know that Stacy O'Quinn has helped dozens of entrepreneurs just like you enjoy the financial freedom of a successful business? How does he do it? By sharing his techniques and lessons learned during Dani Johnson training. For more information about Stacy and how he can help you, click here.

*Photo Courtesy of The U.S. Army via Creative Commons License

How to Create Your Small Business Budget for 2015

Three Simple Steps to Help Get a Jump Start on Your 2015 Budget

As many business owners know, having a budget and working from it helps to maximize the chances of the business not only surviving the coming year but also increases the chances that the company will also prosper. Developing and sticking to a budget is a critical part of the business’s success, so making sure the budget for the coming year is in place early is an important step. With everything else going on at the end of the fiscal year, it can be easy to push off such an important task but there are some simple steps you can follow to help get the budget created and in place well before the start of 2015.

Compile Your Direct Costs and Expenses

Instead of just guessing at a number or basing your budget off of the previous year’s numbers, it is important to take a few key points into consideration. One of these key areas is what the business’s direct costs and overhead expenses will be for the coming year. These direct costs should include the price to manufacture your products or support your services, administrative costs, payroll, rent, and utilities for the office building or store front and other overhead expenses that will negatively affect your sales revenue. When looking at the price to produce and maintain your products or services, make sure to take into account any predicted manufacturing increases that will up the direct costs to produce.

Forecast Your Sales

Another important key to building out a successful budget is forecasting your sales. This can sometimes be difficult for newer businesses since there is not a significant sales history on which to base the figures. If this is the case, build the number based on how many units you have sold to date, how many you expect to sell and if that number is still realistic. Also, make sure to factor in the price of the products or services and if that price will be increasing for the next year. Other professionals recommend using Excel to help build out this aspect, and all aspects, or your budget and to work through each month one at a time, instead of the year as a whole to take into account the busy and slow seasons of your selling year.

Take Time to Review the Budget

The goal of a budget is to have a gross profit figure larger than the outgoing expenses - the difference between these numbers will predict the business’s yearly net profit. Let’s assume that your predicted budget does show profit – while this is great news, evaluate the number and decide whether or not it is enough for the business to survive on or the number you were expecting. If it is not, go through the first two steps again and see if there are some areas that can be cut or increased to increase your net profit. If the budget shows a loss, or going through the steps again does not yield a higher profit, evaluate whether or not your business can still manage even if it takes a loss through a period of growth. If no solution arises in any scenario, revisit your business plan and consider a different approach.

If you are still looking for an opportunity to pursue as your own small or home business, consider calling Stacy 'Quinn today! Stacy has helped dozens of entrepreneurs with his unique opportunity as well as training other work at home professionals with techniques he learned at Dani Johnson training seminars. If you would like to learn more about Stacy and to find out how he can help you, please click here.

*Photo Courtesy of Ken Teegardin via Creative Commons License

Just Because You Have a Small or Home Business Doesn’t Mean You Shouldn’t Grow It

Business Growth is Crucial to Survival

Just like humans and animals need to grow in order to survive and thrive, so do businesses. Public and private businesses, international companies, and even small or home businesses need to see sales and overall growth in order for them to continue to exist. But what is the definition of “business growth?” Business growth is a term that is often used to describe a variety of things, including sales increase, employee increase, and other items. Simply put, business growth is a demonstration of an increase within a business that is accompanied by an increased yield. While growing a business is important to economic survival, it should not be the only reason why you work for your business to grow.

Business Growth is Important for Market Expansion

Aside from surviving in the business world, business growth is important to help ensure you will have the resources you need to make a move to the next level of your company. Many small or home business owners have dreams of their current business structure being successful, but also aspire to someday being able to make changes or expansions to this structure and see continued success. These changes could include bringing current products or services into a new market or developing new products or services to introduce into the current market. By growing your current business, it will help to make these jumps to new levels much easier and can help to ensure continue growth throughout.

Business Growth Aids in Profit Growth

When a business is successful, but does not work toward growth, it will continually see the same amount of profit being earned year after year. While this may be significant in the beginning, that profit will continue to shrink as the costs of running a business continue to grow. Business growth plays a key role in profit growth, which is something that is very important not only to overall success but also business survival. Profit growth is also beneficial for the business owner and the business – these profits can either be paid out to you as the owner or reinvested back into the company to hire more employees, update equipment and help to make the business run more efficiently and effectively.

Business Growth Grows Brand Awareness

As a sunflower grows, it becomes easier to see, prominent, and more eye catching. The same concept applies to business growth – the more a business grows the more exposure it will receive and the more consumer and business associated will be aware of the company. Brand awareness is important for attracting consumers to the business and possibly enticing them to make a purchase. This awareness is also important for attracting possible business partners that may be able to work with you in a strategic partnership toward a common goal or help to create a new project. Having a strong brand presence affords the business more opportunities in the long run, which can lead to even further business growth.

Would you like more tips on how to grow your small or home business? Stacy O'Quinn has helped dozens of entrepreneurs and he can help you too! To find out how, click here.

*Photo Courtesy of David Joyce via Creative Commons License