Articles: Business And Economy

As we discussed in part one, having a great work history and ethic does not guarantee that you will retain your job. There are many culprits to blame, such as changing economic times, technology replacing humans works, and outsourcing work to foreign companies. The only real way that you ca retain your job is not put yourself in the position to be fired. This may seem impossible, but is really quite simple. You have to become your own boss.

Perhaps you are not worried about loosing your job, but you realize that you will never have the chance to advance any further in the company you are working for. Your monetary resources are capped out, and you will not be able to provide any better of a lifestyle for you and your family unless your pay increases. Again, the only way you will be in total control of your finances is to become your own boss.

The only way to be the boss is to start your own business. But I do not have very much money, if any at all. you say. Well in todays culture there are quite a few businesses that can be started for little or no money at all. This is not a get rich quick scheme, I am not saying that you will be making five grand a month from the very beginning, but I am telling you, that no matter the amount of money that you have, you should still be able to start a business without much fuss.

Here are some more examples of businesses that require little or no money up front:

Bookkeeping

Are you good with numbers and organization? If you are, you may want to think about starting a book keeping business. This business is pretty easy to market since every type of person, and business may need someone to update their business books.

The only thing you may need for this type of job is a program(if you are using a computer) and the necessary paperwork. If you have to supply the paperwork, you can charge additionally for this.

You will want to advertise residually at local tax places or office stores. If you want to target businesses you may want to look into local business directories. If nothing else, you can put an ad in your local newspaper and go from there.

Home Organization

If you good are at organization, then you may want to consider starting a business organization business.

You may want to consider supplying the materials needed for organization such as boxes, labels, shelves, etc. If you provide the materials, then you will be able to charge for it. You may also require your clients to buy the materials themselves. Whatever you decide will work.

Home organization is best advertised at home stores and in your local paper.

Language Translation
You will help break through barriers caused by language difference and improved communication. Businesses will call you when they know they will be dealing with clientele that speak a different language, typically in advance. Every once and awhile, you may be called in an emergency situation. The pay depends on the amount of people you will have to translate for, and if you are notified ahead of time or not.

If English is your second language, or you just have a liking for foreign languages, you services will come in handy for local businesses that deal with multi-cultures.

If you do not know a foreign language, but you are still interested in language translation as a career or business, then translation books and programs number in the thousands, even for the newest user. It just takes a little time and energy to learn a new language.

Contact local business, doctors offices, and government agencies and ask if they are in need of translation services.

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One of the newest phenomenas hitting the business world on the internet is using interactive community sites, such as Myspace to promote your business.

The reasons are clear as to why business owners have chosen to promote their businesses on Myspace. With an average of over half a million long ins a day, Myspace is easily one of the most popular website on the internet today. With this kind of traffic, every business is sure to find a target group that is interested in their products, or services.Perhaps one of the best reasons for using Myspace to promote your business is the fact that it is free. The only investment you will need is some time to build your profile, and time to find and add people to your friends list, which in this case is actually your targeted group.

Setting Up Your Profile

Once you sign up, you will be asked to create a profile. Your profile is the single most important thing when you decide to advertise using Myspace. Your potential targets and clientele will look at this profile first. It will literally give them their first impression of you.

You will want to set up your profile with as much information as you can, however do not overdo it and make it seem as if you are just trying to get them to read about your business. A good balance is key.

Do not over use images or other media within your page, so it will load fast for even the slowest of internet connections.

Gaining Targets

One have everything setup on your profile, you will want to begin looking for targets. You will want to look for the type of people that may be interested in your business.

Myspace provides a search feature that allows you to search by age, gender, status, and location. Use this feature to search and find people in your area. Click on their profile, and if they fit your criteria, the use the add to friends button. A message will be sent to them, and then they will be able to add or deny your profile. Once you see that they have accepted you, then post a thank you message on their profile.



Proper Myspace Etiquette

When using Myspace to promote your business, you will want to practice some etiquette. It is easy to overdo it, which can greatly hurt your image, especially with potential local consumers. After all, the idea is to promote your business, not to hurt its image.

Spaming, or sending unsolicited messages to random users and addresses, is strictly prohibited, and will get your account deleted. Never send unsolicited or unwanted messages to anyone. However, if the person contacts you first (whether it be by comment, or message) feel free to communicate with them about your business.

Another type of spamming, which is potentially dangerous for your business, is over-posting comments. The comment system on Myspace allows you to post comments on others profiles, that is usually viewable by everyone that views that person profile. This can be a great way to reach additional contacts, provided that you follow some rules. First, never post a comment solely about your business. Instead, you can post a message thanking that person for accepting your friend request, or thanking them for sending you a friend request, whatever the case may be. The only acceptable way you should post a comment about your business is if the user posted a comment on your profile first.
Never post pictures on other users profile.

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Everyone wants to improve their business. No one that owns a business should ever be comfortable with their current position. You should always strive to be better, no matter how good you are doing at the time. However, improving does not always meet on the customer side of your business, but rather how you handle your employees. After all, just like a business is nothing without customers, it is nothing without good employees.

So what are the ways you can improve your business on the employee level? You may be making some blunders that are greatly jeopardizing your employees happiness and wellbeing and not even know it.

Using customer feedback to determine what is wrong with your company.-
This may be one of the worst mistake a business owner can make. Sure, you want to listen to your customers feedback, but you will want to take what they have to say with a grain of salt. Why? Because what the customer says is one sided, and does not accurately describe the situation. If this situation happens with an employee too many times, and the employee does not get the opportunity to present their side of the story as well, then the employee will begin to have issues, especially when it comes to dealing with a problematic customer. Your employee may find it easier to walk away rather then deal with the situation. By avoiding this situation, or at the very least, allowing your employee to defend themselves, you will avoid a potentially hazardous situation.

Another form of this blunder is by producing feedback or survey forms, and basing any type of merit reward on these. The main reason that this will not work accurately is because of 2 facts. First, the customer is more likely to fill out a survey if something was not right, rather then excellent customer service. Second, the best employee in the world may never receive a survey review, while a bad employee, who just happens to be in a good mood that day, receives a few. This is unfair to everyone involved.

Introducing set merit rewards- Merits should be just that, rewards. Not all good deeds are the same, so they should not receive the same reward. Imagine if you were the employee who saved 15 customers from stopping service, and you received the same reward as the person next you did, yet they only saved 3. Would that make you feel unappreciated?

On the other end of the spectrum, you could use caution when rewarding employees for recovering from a foul up. If a employee messes up, and then corrects the problem, they probably should not receive a reward for it. This makes it seem acceptable to mess up, provided that you can redeem yourself.

Giving your employee a set way to sale products or deal with customers- You may think that your way of selling your product or business to customers is the perfect way to sell, and that everyone should use your approach. While your way of selling may work for you, it may not work for all of your employees. Why? Because everyone has a different personalities, and your way of selling just simply may not work for them. If you allow your employees freedom to sell, as long as their way is not immoral or harmful to your business, will benefit your business greatly.

If you have been in business for any amount of time, you have learned that hiring new employees is an art form. You have to be extremely careful, especially considering that potential employees will put their best front forward when interviewing. You have to be able to see through the fronts they put up, and really find out whether or not they are right for you business. Unless you master this, you will have some bad situations on your hands.

So what can you do to ensure, or at least improve your chances of getting good employees? The key is to be prepared before hand, and to answer the right questions.

Your preparation should begin long before the employee arrives. You should have a substantial amount of information about the person from their application. Review this information thoroughly.

Most applications ask for job history. I recommend that you call these places, not only to verify that the potential employee actually worked there, but also as a character reference.

Most applications also ask for personal references. Call these references and ask specific questions. Pay attention to their answers, especially if they seem to be the exact same, as this may be a sign that they were couched beforehand.

The Interview

Once you have reviewed the employees application and decide that they may be right for your company, the next step is get them to your business for the interview.

Have a notepad handy so that you can take notes. You may even want to consider using a recording device as well. A voice recorder will come into handy if you forget parts of the interview.

Talents and Skills

You must remember that talents and skills are not only developed in the workplace. A childhood interest may have bloomed a passion for something that no workplace could create. Because of this, you will want to examine what was gained from every aspect of their life.

Character and Personality

One important thing that you have to remember when interviewing a potential employee is the fact that each person has their own character traits and personality. It is up to you to learn as much as you can about this persons personality, and how it will relate to your business. You will want to find out if a character trait will conflict with your business before hiring the person, as it could cause problems later on.

Questions to ask

What have you learned from previously successful times in your life?
What have to learned from a time in your life when you were down?
Did you learn from mistakes?
What interested you the most as a child?
Can you name one specific hobby or interest that carried over into your adult life?
What skill or talent would you consider to be your best?
What have you learned from others?
What work experience taught you the most?

You should never hire someone on the spot, but instead you should take time to reflect on the interview and your notes. This will give you a chance to analyze exactly how you think this person would perform in your business. You may come across something that you did not notice beforehand.

Once you have decided that you will hire the person, call them with the good news and hope for the best!

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There may come a time when you simply want out of owning your own business. There are many reasons why this can happen, but most of them end up with either selling or closing down. A successful business is probably something that you can have someone take off your hands rather quickly, but you may have more trouble if you have not been doing well, or if it is apparently that what was once good business is on the backslide. You may find someone who wants the challenge of saving what they think of as a good idea, so dont think you wont find someone who may be willing to make you an offer when selling a business.

If you arent sure, make sure. What I mean by that is that you have to take a good hard look at what your business is all about, and what you can do to make it more appealing to someone who may want to buy it. If you have a restaurant, for example, you may want to be sure that all kitchen items are in good working order, and replace any thing that seem to be outdated or needs a lot of extra maintenance. That can cost you, but you are going to get that back when you are done selling a business to someone else.

You should also think about the appearance of things when you are selling a business. If the exterior needs some paint, give it some. Not only does it make it more appealing to someone that wants to buy, it also means that you can up your asking price a bit. You spend a little that can make you a lot when selling a business. Replace anything like cracked windows, bulbs that are not working, and signs that appear to be worn out. Pour new cement if that is a problem, and put a few dollars into landscaping if you have any.

Selling a business is not easy in tough economic times, but you should know that there are always some out there that are willing to take a risk in the hopes that it will pay off in the end. Have a good presentation ready about your business, and all that it has to offer the new owner and the community. If you can prove that it has potential, and that the idea is not stale, you can find someone. It may take a while, but someone will come along who would be the perfect person to take over what you have started but no longer want.