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You started your own business because you have a burning passion for what you do. You are also - we hope -- good what you do and have a desire to help others. Little do you know that running a business includes, well...running a business. This little bombshell can throw many a new business owner for a loop.

I receive numerous phone calls every week asking me how to start a business as a professional organizer. The first thing I say is that the organizing part is easy because it is a natural gift (sometimes a curse); it's running the business that can trap you. This is not to scare a potential entrepreneur away, but to help them realize that it's not all fun and games doing what you do best. You have to:

1. Find an accountant
2. Buy insurance
3. Get legal advice on how to set up your business
4. File for the company name with the state
5. Find working capital if necessary
6. File all the proper tax forms
7. Open up a checking account
8. Get office supplies
9. Market the business
10. Build a network
11. And the list goes on and on...

In the initial start-up stage, entrepreneurs are often so excited about starting a new business that they pay little or no attention to what is happening with all the paperwork and electronic data you are generating. That is typical and expected. However, around the six to twelve month mark, entrepreneurs start calling people like me - a professional organizer - begging for help in setting up a system to help them be organized. I envision a hand protruding from mounds of papers reaching for help.

The sad news is that many small businesses have never taken the time to set up systems once they've built up paper and electronic backlogs. They just keep generating documents without stopping to assess what is being created.

I firmly believe that the healthiest small business is the one that visits and reviews their organizational systems every six to twelve months. The small business that keeps doing the "same old, same old" is losing money. So where do you stand?

Something that has really hit home in the past year or so is that you don't GET organized and have long lasting success. You have to BE organized. Getting organized is a quick fix of cleaning up and putting things away - usually a Band-aid (r) approach - that doesn't last for more than a few days.

Being organized is recognizing that organization is an ongoing journey. Life doesn't stop happening the minute you GET organized. You have to have systems in place that will help the daily flow; a lack of systems will cause clogs. These clogs come in many forms:

Piles of papers
Lost documents
Misplaced items - glasses, phone, pens, keys
Running late
Stress and frustration...

You get the picture.

When it becomes clear to you that you are running through your day feeling like you've accomplished nothing, you may need to reassess your organizational skills and systems.

Your small business must overcome many hurdles to be successful. Fortunately, being organized is one hurdle that you can learn to overcome. Or you can work with a professional organizer to set up customized systems that make you functional, productive, and more pleasant to be around.

I challenge you take a deep look at the state of your small business' organization. If you see your passion being overrun by disorganization, it's time to take some action.

Here's to simplifying your life!

Broadband can be vital to companies and businesses, many companies now use email as their primary form of communication and lots of businesses, especially retail have had to do business online to keep up with the times.

If your business is not already using business broadband or unhappy with your current service then there are a few aspects to your service that you may need to consider to make sure you get the best deal for your money.

The Speed of your connection – In order to get the benefit of faster internet you should look to higher speed connections such as 8mb broadband, some connections are faster such as 24mb or even 50mb. 

The Upload as well as download speed – in business you will likely be doing a lot more uploading that a home broadband user, such as uploading page content for a company website.  Making sure the upload speed is adequate is important; some providers go up to 600mb in special cases.

Traffic levels (contention ratios) – Of course faster speeds are no good if there are lots of other people vying for bandwidth as well, when choosing a provider it’s worthwhile finding out the contention ratios of all providers and aiming for the ones with the lowest ratios.

Security options – Many broadband providers will nowadays offer deals including anti-virus software to protect your PCs, some business packages though can allocate you online storage space to backup your data should anything happen to your computers or servers like a fire or a flood.

Service Levels – If your business lives on the internet then you will need to be on there 24/7, if your service suffers an outage are you guaranteed that the problem will be fixed in a short space of time?  Also will your call be answered straight away by an operator?  You should also check the downtime percentages of the company to make sure they are reliable.

Network opportunities – A single connection will only cater to so many computers if the connection is being used between multiple computers on a network.  It is worth asking about wireless networking to save having to spend extra money on wiring.

These are just a few points to consider for your business broadband package to make sure you get the most performance for your money.  Looking at all the providers out there and seeing which ones cater to businesses is the best way to ensure you get a good deal.

When forming a limited company the name of the company can be an important decision. Some people may choose the first name that they think of and others may select a ready made company for speed or because they like a particular name. However, many businesses may prefer to select a company name that either clearly distinguishes itself from its competitors or contains something unique or personal. Company names can be chosen for different reasons.

One of the most common ways of selecting a company name is to use something personal. A quick look through your local newspaper will probably introduce you to many personalised business names. Johnson Consulting Limited, Dhealove & Son Limited, Stephens & Barley Limited are some fictional examples of what may be found. This may instantly make a company recognisable locally, it can be deemed as more personal by its customers, and often works well within geographical areas. However, it does little to tell new customers what your company does.

A popular choice for a small business is to choose a name that is 'descriptive'. This tells prospective clients exactly what your company does. Examples of this may be to call your business The Window Company Limited, City IT Consultants Limited or The Advertising Agency Limited. Whilst this does serve to reinforce your primary business it offers little differentiation and may easily be adapted by competitors.

A less personal option is to use a company name that is 'associative'. This type of company name helps to create an image or connection to your business activity. It is less direct than using a descriptive name but helps to position your company's name within the market through peoples understanding of what words mean. For example a flick through the Yellow Pages will offer plenty of examples of this. A hairdresser called Classic Cuts or a printer called Selectaprint Limited are examples of what may be found. These names offer some differentiation but may not ultimately set your company aside from its competitors.

An alternative is to choose a company name that is 'freestanding'. These names are completely abstract and not related to the companies business activities. A fictional example may be to call your catering company Zedoc Limited. There are many popular brand names that illustrate this point. Consider, Kodak, Gillette, or Mars, these names will probably be instantly recognisable to you and conjure up a particular product or business. This is a good way of setting your company aside from the competition but it is important to consider the market that you operate in. Will your prospective clients know what your business is offering?

Choosing a company name may be a simple process, but it is not uncommon for people to deliberate over names for quite some time. Whilst company names can, and often are, changed during the life of the company most people like to choose a name that they like from the outset. Therefore consider your market, how much you want to differentiate from your competitors and what your company name should say about your organisation. Once the decision is made focus on the important business of making your company a success.

By: Michael Harris

We all make mistakes in business. The important issue is that we learn from them and apply the lessons in both our online and off-line business activities. One of my most costly mistakes happened about twelve years ago in the off-line business world. However, the lessons I learnt are just as applicable online as they are off-line.

Having established a small mail order business part-time, I decided to expand the business using direct mail techniques. I had read all the books and attended a course and it seemed like the best approach to achieve my goals. After approaching various mailing list providers, I decided I had found the perfect list to reach my target market.

Pricing was obtained from the list owner and he was happy to provide me with small quantities of names initially so that I could test his list. These tests were successful enough for me to decide to undertake two large mail campaigns one after the other. I was very confident that I would be receiving countless orders and soon leaving my full-time job.

Disaster struck with the first mailing and the second mailing was too far progressed to stop. The initial sign was a significant increase in the dead letter rate. Then the quantity of orders was less than half what I expected. The second mailing had similar results. I was significantly out of pocket and I had to stay in my full-time job to repay the debts I had created.

Shortly thereafter, I began to read reports that the list owner was being investigated for fraud and other criminal charges. All in all, a sorry state of affairs.

The key lessons I learnt from this experience were:

a) Always check the integrity of who you are doing business with - especially if you have not had previous dealings with them.

b) Never assume that limited test results will be duplicated in larger scale tests.

c) Never over-commit to promotional activity - it is better to grow slower than to lose your hard earned money.

d) The stated size and quality of a mailing list should be regarded with caution.

e) Ensure you have sufficient profit margin in your product to be able to survive should your response be very poor - especially in direct marketing activities.

Today, the lessons I learnt are applied to my online business activities in the following ways.

Solo mailings to lists of newsletter subscribers are done with caution. Some list owners will inflate their subscriber numbers to encourage advertisers to use their services. The first thing I do is subscribe to the newsletter to see the quality of content and what others are advertising via solo ads.

Then I run a classified ad in the newsletter to test the responsiveness of the subscribers. This also gives me an indication of whether the stated size of the list is true or not. I have had better response from a list of 20,000 than what I received from a list of over 200,000. Many factors can influence such a result.

While you should receive a far better response from solo ads than classified ads, it still pays to test wherever you can. If a classified ad in the newsletter did not result in responses, I would not advertise using the solo ads. However, I might test a few different classified ads to see if the initial results were correct before moving on to other possibilities.

It is worthwhile to "do the numbers" before spending on advertising. While many marketing experts talk about the 'lifetime value of a customer' concept, those whose business activities centre on promoting the products of affiliate programs should regard this with caution. Instead, determine how many must be sold so that the commission you receive will cover the cost of your advertising.

The higher the percentage response to your offer you need to cover your advertising cost, the greater the chance you will make a loss. Do not rely on industry statistics or averages to make your decisions. Keep careful records of your activities so you know what works, what is to be avoided and what to expect from future promotional activities.

Finally, exercise caution when considering safe-lists and any type of email address lists that can be purchased. My experience is that there are NO truly safe-lists available other than having your own opt-in list. Any form of bulk email to people who have not agreed to receive your message will damage your business reputation and your prospects of making a decent living on the Internet.

Do you own a traditional business with a physical location? Do you have an online presence to go along with it? If so, your website can serve dual purposes for your business: it can be an additional source for your customers to shop and buy your products and services, or it can simply act as a supporting branch of your brick-and-mortar location. Either is a valid use for your online presence, but many traditional businesses use theirs for the latter - to drive traffic to their business' physical location(s). So how can you use your website to drive customers to your store?
Use Your Website to Encourage Repeat Business from Current Customers
One of the biggest mistakes that most businesses make is constantly pursuing new customers and forgetting about existing customers. Avoid this at all cost. Your current customers have purchased from you in the past and they know your business. You simply cannot find a more qualified pool of people to market to, so take advantage of your relationship with them. Not only will your current customers be more likely to buy from you, but they'll be more likely to recommend new customers to you, so keep them close by treating them well.

First you'll have to collect their information so you can stay in touch with them and alert them about news and specials, etc., but once you've got that out of the way, there are several ways to encourage repeat business. Since an active customer base is the quickest and easiest way to boost sales, I'm going to focus on that aspect of using your online presence to drive offline sales in this article, but most of these ideas will work with new customers as well.
Use Your Website to Build Credibility
One of the simplest ways to use your online presence to drive offline sales is to build credibility with site visitors. There are many, many ways to do this - here are a few.
Become a member of a reputable service organization - and make sure both your current and potential customers are well aware of that you are a member. Once you become a member of an organization like the Better Business Bureau, for example, you can put their logo on your site. This will give you a lot of credibility. Every chance you have to let your customers know about what a stand-up business you run, do it. You can do this with professional organizations, industry organizations, and chambers of commerce as well.
Use customer testimonials wisely. Most savvy business owners already know how valuable testimonials can be to establishing credibility. Well, what if you take a slightly different approach? Try using customer testimonials that focus on the benefits of your brick and mortar store. You obviously have customers who already shop at your physical location - ask the ones that love your products and services to help you with some testimonials about the virtues of your store.
With any testimonial, it's best if you write it and then ask your customer to approve it. That way, you'll get the testimonial you want when you want it without hassling your customer. All they have to do is sign off on it - not spend time writing it for you. Make it easy for them to help you out, and reward them when they do.
Testimonials that extol the great qualities of your store might include details about how personable your staff is, what great customer service you have, and the convenience of your location. You can probably think of fifty reasons why people shop at your store. Start making a list and then compose ten testimonials based on the list.
Pick one at a time and ask a loyal customer to sign off on it. Keep doing this until you have endorsers for all of them, and then rotate three or so every couple of months on your site. As you get more customers, revisit your list and write new testimonials to be approved. Your loyal customers will love helping you out, and their testimonials will help you solidify your relationships with new customers.

Remind website visitors about the benefits of shopping in your store. If your business derives most or all of its profits from in-store sales, remind your customers about the benefits of shopping there. When customers visit your store, they don't have to pay shipping, they can take the product home right away instead of waiting for it to be delivered, they get hands-on customer service, etc.
As with any of these promotional ideas, there's surely a long list of benefits to visiting your store. These things might seem obvious to you, but posting these facts on your website will remind your customers that there are many benefits of shopping in your store and increase visits from new customers who might otherwise purchase products online.
Start implementing ideas like this into your marketing strategy, and you're sure to see an increase in in-store traffic. Next time I'll include even more great tips for driving customers into your store from your online presence.

By: Tom Swanson