Blog

The holiday season is once again here, and with it comes time to relax, focus on family and friends and take stock in what is really important in life. Unless you’re a small business owner. Every small business owner knows that being away from the office can be just as stressful as being in it.

Every businessperson knows that not all customers are created equal. Some customers are loyal, while others will stray if they're offered a slightly lower price elsewhere. Some clients are demanding, while others only call when they wish to place an order.

“How much should I spend on marketing?” Most small business people ask me this question at some stage. Many small business people find working out how much to spend on marketing a tricky exercise to calculate.

Generally there are five ways to work out a marketing budget for the year. Remember that these are marketing budgets, not advertising budgets. Marketing covers everything you do in your business that creates awareness, including such activities as advertising, brochures, competitions, free tastings, demonstrations, trade shows, travel, personal selling, direct mail, sponsorships, etc.

Businesses become a success because it is something you love and therefore work hard at it. It does no necessarily mean you love balancing the financials. However, accounting is crucially important to your success when first starting up.

If your small business operates on a tight budget you might be tempted to eliminate costs that you think aren’t necessary. Often small business owners choose to go without business insurance as a way of saving money, but doing so can be incredibly costly in the long run.

Without knowing your break-even point, you can’t make informed business decisions.

To cover the costs of your business you need to sell enough goods or services to reach your break-even point. Knowing where that point is, and how long it will take you to reach it, can be fundamental to your success. This especially true if you’re thinking about starting or buying a business.

Value investing is the stock selection strategy famously used by business magnate and third wealthiest person in the world, Warren Buffett, whose total net worth exceeds $82.2 billion.

If you feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of technological gadgets out there, never mind apps and other digital “solutions”, you’re not alone. Technology sprawl and the rabbit hole of more and more information, available all the time, is making productivity—and healthy downtime—a real challenge for many of us.

Although we may be quicker at completing redundant tasks, more time is wasted managing all our different apps and technologies—and more of us live in a near constant state of distraction.

It is fairly agreed upon that having fun in the workplace is something that should be encouraged. Not only does it increases satisfaction and result in a turnover decrease, but your employees want to come to work. Therefore, creating a happy and productive work environment for both you and your employees.

Being an entrepreneur is often about getting the most value out of your resources. That means spending only on the necessities, and nothing more. Unfortunately, things you consider to be a waste of your capital may actually be what your start-up needs to survive. Some of them are expensive, especially for a new company, but they're worthwhile.