Time was, you could just hang up a shingle and call yourself a business. As long as you didn’t shoot anyone, you were pretty much left alone. Not so any more. A glut of federal and state regulations have come into being, many just over the past few years, and many apply to small businesses. These regulations are meant to accomplish any one of several social goods, such as protecting an individual’s privacy and preventing identity theft, preventing corporate financial scandals, or lastly, or so it would seem, just to annoy small businesspeople by increasing their paperwork burden. Fortunately, if you understand these regulations, complying doesn’t have to be too difficult or expensive.

If you have a publicly-held company, you’ll have to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which sets technological standards and reporting requirements for how companies handle their financial reporting. Passed in response to the recent wave of corporate scandals, fiscal mismanagement and outright theft, Sarbanes-Oxley puts in place a set of requirements for establishing internal controls that ensure the integrity of a company’s financial data. Although the requirements are generally the same for companies of all sizes, smaller companies have been granted some flexibility in terms of longer timeframes to become compliant. This Act calls for, among other things, security-related solutions to be put into place to regulate access to financial data, provide an audit trail, and generate detailed reports for the government. The good news is, if you already follow best practices in security, you’re already more than halfway there.

If you are in the healthcare industry, whether you are a healthcare provider, pharmacy, or a data processing agency serving the healthcare industry, you’ll have to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA calls for any company that handles private patient data to guarantee that it is secure and protected against unauthorized access. If your company handles healthcare information of any sort, for any reason, you will have to take technological steps to ensure that it is secure through measures such as encryption, strong two-factor authentication, and adequate firewalling.

And if you’re in California, or if any of your customers are in California, you’ll have to comply with SB 1386 (the California Information Practice Act). This law requires that your company provide notice to customers whenever any technological hack, or other attack has occurred and caused personal information to be exposed and vulnerable to theft. Meant to safeguard against identity theft, this state law also applies to any subcontractors of companies that maintain information about California residents. This particular law is ground-breaking, since although it is on paper just a California law, it has, in reality, become a federal law. California is the largest state, population-wise, in the U.S., and any mid-size company and many smaller ones have at least a few customers in California, regardless of where the company is actually located. If, for example, your company is in Maine, but your mail order division sold some products to someone in California, you must comply. Compliance simply means that if your network is attacked, you must notify your customers. Although this can be done individually, most companies actually make notification on their Web sites, or through issuing a public press release.

The Visa Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP) isn’t a state or federal law, but a mandate from VISA USA created to protect cardholder data. It calls on all vendors who accept credit card payments to adhere to a higher standard of information security for the purpose of guarding against identity theft. CISP calls on vendors to implement standard security measures such as firewalls, anti-virus software, and strong authentication to regulate who has access to customer credit card data. Visa also has set forth a set of best practices. Compliance is easy, and involves adhering to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard which includes a call for implementing standard security technology, restricting access, and encrypting the transmission of any cardholder data.

Do you sell products or services to commercial or government customers? If you do, then you must be very familiar with having to wait 30, 40 or even 60 days to get paid by your clients.

Most large businesses can afford to wait. Unfortunately, few small business owners can afford to wait and worse most small business owners do not take into account that they will have to wait to get paid when they first start their businesses.

But what if you cant afford to wait 60 days to get paid? The best solution is to factor your invoices.

Factoring is a financial tool (similar to a line of credit) that eliminates waiting to get paid by your clients. Factoring financing provides you with money for your invoices, usually 24 hours after you submit them. It provides you with the necessary cash to pay rent, expenses and take on new opportunities.

Invoice factoring is an ideal tool for cash intensive businesses such as trucking, staffing, business services, medical offices and IT. It works as follows:

1. You deliver a product or a service and generate an invoice

2. You submit the invoice to your client and send a copy to the factoring company

3. The factoring company advances you up to 85% of your invoice

4. The remaining 15% is held as a reserve to cover charge backs and credits

5. Once your client pays the factor, the transaction is settled and the reserve is rebated (less a small fee)

And how much does factoring cost? It varies on your business volume, how long your clients take to pay and their credit worthiness. Most factors will charge a fee of anywhere between 1% and 2.3% for every 10 days that an invoice is outstanding. However, fees vary and can usually be customized to fit your needs.

The biggest difference between invoice factoring financing and a bank loan is that factoring is easy to obtain. Since the factor is financing your invoices, their biggest concern is that you do business with strong credit worthy businesses. This means that factoring is available to small and new businesses, provided that you have good clients. And as opposed to a bank, a factoring company will not ask you for endless financial reports and three years worth of audited financials.

Five Steps to Create a Budget for your Small Business

How I hate budgets!

Every time an accountant told me to put together a budget for my company, my response was – When I get the time I will! I just never seem to get the time.

For several years when I first started my company I never paid attention to a budget. I knew if I made money by looking at my financial statements and that was good enough for me. Also, every time I tried to put something together I never compared my actual financials to the budget numbers I created.

Two years ago, I decided to take a different approach. I developed a forecast for a quarter of what I expected income and expenses to be. I came up with the figures based on the previous year’s actual numbers. It was easy to look at last year and just add a percentage increase to the numbers. Then I took the time to review once a month the forecast with where we were at that point.

By using this system of creating a forecast and comparing that to actual financials on a monthly basis I was able to focus on income areas that were falling behind and stop expenses that I didn’t need to make.

I am an avid fan of informational products. I buy thousands of pounds every month. With the forecast in place I caught myself spending more then I allocated and was able to just cut back the next month. The great thing about this system is that you are not locked into a specific figure each month but yet you stay within guidelines of where you want to be before the year or quarter finishes.

The best way to set this up is to use a financial program such as Quickbooks or Peachtree. Track all income and expenses using the software. The next step is to print financial statements that track what you have done. Then take the numbers of your financial statements and increase your income by the percentage you want to raise revenue by. Then look at expenses and determine what categories will increase based on the sales increase. This will become your financial projections.

The last step is to review your actual financial statement (Income Statement or Profit and Loss) to your projections. Have systems in place to increase revenue and decrease expenses as necessary.

Common Mistakes Small Businesses Make and How to Avoid Them

Unfortunately very few start up businesses make it beyond their 3rd year. Failure is usually down to a number of clearly identifiable mistakes, which if small business owners are aware of, can increase their chances of survival.

Here are the top 10 common mistakes which small businesses tend to make.

Lack of Market Research

When a budding entrepreneur comes up with an idea for a new business he assumes that because he would buy such a product or service then everyone else will. This may be the case for day-to-day necessities but for other items this is usually not so.

Its important that when you start up you carefully research the market to check that:

There is demand at a level which would lead to a sustainable business

People are prepared to pay the price required for you to make a decent profit

Undertaking market research may appear time consuming but the effort will pay off.

Poor Record Keeping

Some business people are not born administrators; they feel more comfortable getting out there and doing the business. Paperwork is too easy to ignore but can never be put off indefinitely.

Sales, purchases and other expenditure must be carefully documented, so you know whether you are making a profit or not. Invoices must be issued on time and chased up promptly if there is a delay in payment. Its all very well having the sales but poor record keeping can hold you back.

Having your paperwork in order will also save you time when it comes to your accountant doing your year-end books!

Insufficient Capital

When starting off its easy to decide what capital is required for fixtures and fittings, machinery and stock. What many new business owners forget about is the cash needed to fund day-to-day requirements, i.e. cash to pay expenses before your customers pay you. This is known as your working capital requirement.

Small businesses can fail because they have insufficient cash to start off to meet these immediate expenses. If you wish to survive make sure you set aside enough cash to meet all your needs for the first few months.

Ineffective Marketing Or None At All

You cannot afford to treat the cost of marketing as an unnecessary expense. A business with no marketing is like waving in the dark you know you are doing it but no one else does!

There are many ways to promote your business on a small budget; its just a case of being inventive and creative. What ever you do, dont assume that people will quickly know you are in business they wont, unless you tell them.

Ingoring Changes In The Market Place

As a small business owner its very easy to get immersed in your business and not see what is happening around you in the market place. Always keep your eyes and ears open to what the competition is doing and what your customers want. Dont get left behind.

Owners Attitude

Attitude is everything in business. Dont forget that the real boss in your business is the customer. Running a business may make you feel important but dont let this develop into an I am better than you attitude. Do this and you will quickly chase your customers away.

Spending On The Wrong Things

Being in business can be exciting, especially as the cash starts to roll in! However, dont be tempted to spend it on a new car, a house or just a good time. If you are to own a successful business then you have to keep some cash back to fund future growth. A business cannot grow without cash, so commit to spending business money on the business.

Dependent On A Small Number Of Customers

Dont fall into the trap of setting up a business just because one person says they will buy from you every week or month. Setting up and running a business, which is dependent on one customer, is not a recipe for success. What happens if, one month after you have spent all your cash to set up your business, that customer says he has changed his mind and has decided to buy elsewhere? Unless you can find other customers very quickly you are faced with closure.

Before embarking on a new venture make sure you have a sufficient number of customers such that if a few go elsewhere you can still continue trading.

Growing Too Quickly

Surprisingly, growing too quickly can be a problem. You have to be disciplined enough to only take on work you can handle. If you are tempted to accept too much you could end up disappointing not only the new client but also your existing ones.

Also, dont under-estimate the impact rapid growth can have your administrative burden. As I mentioned earlier, getting behind on the paperwork can have an equally damaging effect on your business.

Trying To Do Everything

Finally, the problem most small business owners have is the fact that everything falls on their plate. Inevitably this is how its likely to be in the beginning, when the limited budget means that staff are a luxury, but as the business grows be aware that you cannot continue to do all tasks. There will come a point when you become inefficient and not have enough time to complete everything in sufficient detail. Taking on an extra pair of hands will increase your costs but you will be surprised at how much time will be saved, allowing you to do what you do best getting the business in.

Take a look at each of the mistakes and make sure that you dont fall into these traps.

Grabbing opportunities with open arms is often easier to talk about than to actually do. Most people find themselves dreaming about being rich but never actually doing anything about it. A combination of procrastination and ‘what if’ syndrome can cripple your creative spirit and might mean your idea will never become a reality.

Socrates said “Action equals knowledge’. He was one of the greatest philosophers of our time. What he meant was that it is through action that we achieve results.

For example, you could think about learning Spanish for months, imagining the holidays you will take and the people you will communicate with. You can dream forever but accomplish nothing unless you actually make the effort to start taking lessons.
Much like the martial arts approach – the idea is to take action immediately and avoid over analyzing the situation.

Do you want to start your own business but are afraid of what kinds of things can go wrong? What if your initial investment doesn’t pay off? There are millions of things that could go wrong but likewise there are many things that can go right! Fear can be paralyzing. When thinking about starting a business particularly if you keep waiting for the right time. There will never be a perfect time. It’s now or never when it comes to starting your own business.

Overcoming your fear is a step by step process.

- Do you have a clear idea of what kind of business you want to start? A clear plan will help keep your worries at bay.
- Do you have access to the resources you will need? This includes the necessary start up cash as well as anything else you will need.
- Do you have access to clients or do you know enough about marketing basics to ensure you will have enough interest in what you are offering?

Just like anything – taking action is the most important part. Make an itemized list of what you feel needs to be done in order for you to start that business you always dreamed of.

Prioritizing your list will help too. Don’t wait for all your ducks to be in a proverbial row before you begin but make sure you have all the basics covered. Don’t wait for that ‘perfect someday’. Make an imperfect start.

Don’t over think everything. Sometimes the best approach is to just jump into the deep end.

Don’t wait to start discovering your own entrepreneurial spirit. Take action today!

A Secret Technique that Entrepreneurs Can Use to Almost Guarantee Success!

If you were to walk up and ask successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs what they did to succeed or fail, most of them would cite some mentor or lack of trait… Blame genetics or outside influence. But if you were to ask the exact same group if they used this secret, 99% of successful entrepreneurs would say yes – and almost all of the unsuccessful entrepreneurs would ask what you were talking about…

The secret to being a successful entrepreneur is very, very simple. It is called “Quantifiable Goals”. It might sound complicated, but when you have finished reading this article you will completely understand what it means – and why it is so important.

Lets say, for example, that you walk into a room full of entrepreneurs, and ask them to state their goals. To state why they are ultimately in business for themselves. Most of them will respond something along the lines of time or money. But watch them puzzle when you ask them WHY they want to earn money or have that extra time. This is the most essential part of Quantifiable Goals. Any John Doe can say he wants to make money, but why? Is there something in particular he wants to buy? Something he wants to do with that time?

Once you establish WHY you want that extra time or money, you have just taken a big step towards success. You now have a goal. For example, you want that extra money to buy a house. Buying a house is your goal. Now comes the Quantifiable part.

How much are you going to spend on this house? 250,000? 1 million? You need to come up with a pound amount or time amount, something of quantity, to properly set your goals. That way, once you earn that 250,000 or gain those 3 hours, you have essentially attained your goal.

But waking up one morning and deciding to earn 250,000 doesn’t make it happen. So how do you achieve your long-term Quantifiable Goal? By breaking it up into smaller, medium term quantifiable goals.

For the example we have been using, buying a house for 250,000, your medium-term goals would most likely be monetary. You could set goals to complete two projects that would each bring you 125,000, or even 10 projects that would bring you 25,000, or break it down even further.

But what good are these goals anyway? They are still difficult to achieve, and how do you know what to do to achieve these goals?

Well, you break each of your medium-term quantifiable goals into short term goals. For example, if you chose to get two projects with a price tag of 125,000 each, your first goal might be to think of what kinds of projects you can do that would bring that kind of money in for you. Your next goal would be to close the sale on such a project, and then to complete the project, and finally to collect payment. That way, each medium-term goal is broken down into manageable tasks.

At this point, you want to break everything down into a flow chart to help establish your goals. Put your life quantifiable goal at the top on its own piece of paper. Then, put each of your medium-term goals on their own paper in a horizontal line directly beneath your life goal. Then directly below each medium goal, fill a sheet with the short term goals that it will take to achieve each medium term goal.

This method will help you visualize what you are working towards, and how each step is necessary to achieve your dream.

Now you’ll want to check off each short term goal as you complete it, completing one sheet at a time. By doing this, you will be able to visually SEE your results progress quickly. Each time you complete a short-term goal, you are one step closer to completing a medium-term goal, which brings you one step closer to completing your life goal.

Now that you know the secret, what are you going to do about it? I suggest following the visualization techniques given, and build yourself a “life pyramid” on a wall that is visible while you are working. Glance at it every so often, and it will keep you on track. Reward yourself when you complete your goals – from the smallest achievement to completing the entire pyramid. It will most likely be the most positive experience in your life to see that pyramid completed – and the construction process of the pyramid itself will set you on the right path.

Awareness And Mastery Two Essential Keys To A Successful Small Business

At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.”
~ George Leonard
US pioneer in human potential

We often hear managers complaining that their employees arent productive, dont listen and just cant consistently get the job done. As a youth sports coach, I hear coaches with similar complaintsthe kids dont listen, dont know where to go and dont try very hard. I cant relate. The boys on my team are usually focused, do what I ask of them, and work hard. As a business owner, my employees are focused, do what I ask of them and work hard. What am I doing that is different from the rest? And what can this teach you about running a successful small business?

As a coach, I make my boys jobs very simple. I ask only two things of them. I ask them to master one shot and I ask them to be aware of what is going on around them. Of course we work on defensive and offensive strategy, but both of those revolve around the two keys that I gave them for successawareness and mastery.

I teach awareness by constantly asking them to be aware of where the ball is and at the same time to be aware of their teammates are and where their opponents are. I teach them how to see the ball and their opponent when he doesnt have the ball. Sounds simple, but for ten year olds this is work.

I teach mastery by assigning homework to each boy. The second week of practice, they have to show me a spot on the court from which they can make a shot every time. I dont care if it is from just two feet under the basket. I want them to know they can make it every single time. As the season progresses, they may gradually move their spot further and further out, but I still ask that they be able to make their shot every time unguarded in practice.

These two simple concepts have a tremendous effect on the boys during their games. They have incredible confidence in their ability to make shots because they know that they will always make it. I dont need to yell at them like other coaches about where they should be on the court because they have developed awareness of what they are doing and seeing. Now lets see how you can use this in your successful small business.

As a business owner, I put these two key principles to work in training my employees. From the first day on the job, I work with them to be aware of what tasks are needed, what I expect of them, how I want customers treated, etc. And I ask them to master tasks and customer scripts. Once they are mastered, I open it up for them to adlib just like with my players. When correction is needed, it is usually in one of these two areas. They are either unaware of what is needed or they havent mastered the task at hand.

Not only does following these two concepts make it easy for me to get results with my players and employees, it also brings incredible results. My first team lost only one game all season and my employees rarely lose a sale. My businesses and products win awards earned by my employees. And, as a bonus, everyone enjoys themselves with this simple structure. I knew I was doing it right when the father of one of my boys told me that his boy enjoyed practice so much that he chose to come to practice instead of going to see our professional basketball team play one night. And I know it works with my employees because they show up on time happy, focused and ready to work. Remember, awareness and mastery are two essential keys to a successful small business.

Benefits of Outsourcing Accounts Payable in small and lager Business

Every individual running a company wants to be free of encumber of paying money which they owe to anyone as soon as possible. Accounts payable accurately means the money which a company owes to sellers for products and services which have been bought from them on credit. If you are result it complicated to keep a follow of the amount of your accounts payable. This is just right way to contract with this condition.

When you are management a company, keeping track and managing of things like accounts payable, can become very difficult and wild. We provide Accounts Payable Services to clients all over the world. However this is a significant feature of any company process and has to done and done in time. Accounts payable outsourcing services are presented by many businesses which deal with finance and accounting outsourcing.

The accounts payable processes have important contact on the earnings of a company. Companies use up enormous amounts of money every year to process invoices, implement get order matching, address deficiency and respond to dealer inquiries. If the accounts payable system is not efficient, a company has to allow the additional cost of late payment consequence, missed discounts, reproduction payments and rewrite. With an enlarged focus on cost reduction and enhanced fiscal management, executive management teams are realizing the profit of a successful accounts payable process.

Accounts Payable outsourcing services at India are paying attention at convert our customers entire payment movement by successfully automating the processes of transaction management, documents management, elimination of duplication, exception resolution and disbursement-related services. Our Accounts Payable Outsourcing Services at India offer our worldwide customers the suppleness to outsource all or part of their accounts payable business purposes. Accounts payable solutions superior workflow and imaging technology, best practices, and high levels of superiority make certain that we process the clients Accounts Payable proficiently and exactly.

Accounts payable outsourcing has many advantages. One of the major advantages is that you can save enormous amounts of income through the outsourcing work. Work is outsourced generally to increasing countries where there is great quantity of manpower. This automatically means that your accounts payable outsourcing work will be handled by trained professionals at a very cheap rate. The profits which you will save in this approach the profit for your business.

Nothing happens in business until a sale is made. Marketing is simply about getting new customers and keeping them. If youre not doing something everyday to market and promote your business, your competitors are. Here are ten easy-to-implement tips to effectively market and grow your business:

1. Partner with large email database list owners and offer to cross promote each oher. The list owner will advertise your event, product, or service to their email database and youll offer to do the same to your list.

2. Create your own blog which is an online journal with frequently updated posts to entertain and excite existing and potential customers. Its more personal and immediate then a website and keeps people engaged and hopefully coming back for more. You can even create one for free at http:www.blogger.com.

3. If you want to increase word-of-mouth fast, do something beyond normal industry expectations. For example, Mr. Lube offers fast and affordable tune-up service to customers right on the spot, without having to leave the car, while offering coffee, cappuccino, and a fresh newspaper.

4. Always ask happy clients for endorsements or testimonials and put them on your website and other marketing collateral. Theyre worth their weight in gold. Try to get some recognizable names in your community for additional cachet.

5. Put a special offer or product advertorial on every invoice and statement you send out. Likewise, you can also negotiate a deal with another company to advertise your product or service on all their invoices for a percentage of revenues from placed orders.

6. Make your business cards stand out and be natural keepers. Offer important information on the back such as emergency phone numbers, a map, or special dates to remember. Have a slogan that offers a powerful benefit statement to your prospective customer.

7. Offer special bonus packages with your product or service offering. Get corporate sponsors to give away products as part of the bonus package in exchange for free exposure.

8. Align your business with a cause or charity. Give back to your community. Customers appreciate doing business with companies that are bettering their communities and the environment and being good corporate citizens.

9. Find an angle that makes your work controversial. The banning of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, reviewed as “trashy and vicious,” was a blessing in disguise. Twain made a poster advertising the ban, which significantly increased sales.

10. Post frequently in online message boardsforums relevant to your business or expertise. Include your signature and offer tips and valuable advice. Eventually you will begin gaining word-of-mouth exposure as a leader in your field. Posting messages with your company information also helps to increase your search engine rankings and drive traffic to your site.

[Excerpted from Sharif Khans new ebooklet: "101 Ways to Market Your Business," http:tinyurl.comm2nsf ].