business
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March 22, 2018Only a few decades ago, we were living in a time of corded phones and MS Dos technology. Now, tech savvy teens are making more money than adults working at an executive level. According to a study from MTV Insights, one of the reasons why teens are believed to be more tech-savvy than members of the older generation is their pragmatic approach to everything in life, technology included. How do they do it? They do not take anything at face value and will question every new technology before fully embracing it. Consider these lessons taken from successful young entrepreneurs. Marketing for the Digital Age Teenagers are remarkable at sharing information and remaining in constant contact with the rest of the world. It is this knowledge that makes them such effective marketers. Social media has become the easiest way to reach thousands of consumers simultaneously, and teens are veritable experts at using things like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to grow a following and push their marketing products like smart bots. You should never miss an opportunity to catch a product in action, or to share a part of their life that might make them more relatable to their target audience. This brings up the question of currency in the future, and cryptocurrency seems to be the gold standard. Even teens are getting in on the cryptocurrency game. Only a few short years ago, magazines reported on Eric Finman, a 15-year old who turned his grandma’s Easter gift into a $99,000 profit when he invested it with Bitcoin. From here, he continued to invest in his startup e-learning business and quickly reached the top tier for business tech. Teens have a clearer vision of what cryptocurrency will become, and their spending habits can indicate upcoming trends. This is due to an era of online spending that’s still...
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If you’ve decided it’s time to take the plunge and reap the benefits of running your own business, you’re not alone. In the UK in 2017 there were over 4 million entrepreneurs doing just that. Firstly, you need to decide which mode of working for yourself will suit you and your business aspirations best. Working for yourself falls into three main categories. You can work as a sole trader, register a limited company or form a business partnership. But which one is right for you, and what do you need to do too keep everything legal? Registering your Business: All it takes to get up and running as a sole trader is to register yourself with HMRC for self-assessment, which can be done online. You also need to register to pay Class 2 and 4 National Insurance contributions. To keep major outgoings to a minimum you can pay your NI contributions monthly. Tax returns need attending to every year and to be paid on time to avoid hefty financial penalties. The downside – while you get all the profits, you are also solely responsible for any debts accrued by the business. In a Business Partnership two or more people are involved in operating the business. The set-up is similar to that of a sole trader. All partners share the profits and pay their own tax. They are also equally responsibility for any business debts which might accumulate. To register with HMRC, a trading name needs to be picked and a ‘nominated partner’, who will be responsible for tax returns and bookkeeping, has to be agreed. The criteria for setting up a Limited Liability Company are stringent and unless you have previous experience, employing the services of a chartered accountant is to be recommended. You will be paid a salary by the company, but as a Company...
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October 25, 2017Business owners and entrepreneurs are always searching for new ways to be as efficient as possible. Keeping up with the latest tips and tricks can be a challenge for the busiest of us. Often, the search for efficiency ends up taking longer than the original methods business owners were using in the beginning. However, with the right investments made in certain software and technology, businesses can see a significant increase in productivity and efficiency. Getting Your Business Booming Efficiency in the business world is all about how one accomplishes all of their business-related tasks. Spending a bit of your time and money to invest in automating your business practices is the best chance that you or anyone else has at making your business run more efficiently. With the right technology, one can increase cash flow while pushing their business forward. Read on for the best ways to become more efficient with your business. Put Accounting Software to Use Accounting is not something most of us enjoy doing and something not many of us are good at. Even the most responsible business owners find keeping up with finances to be a challenge. When finances are managed improperly, even the most efficient of businesses will suffer the consequences of mishandled money. Businesses that find ways to automate their bookkeeping are significantly more efficient in the long run. Using accounting software regularly will allow your business to take advantage of tax deductions as well as properly manage your expenses and income. This will save a lot of time when tax season comes around and will keep your business on track throughout the year. Writing Everything Down Keeping everything written down helps much more than we like to think. As business owners, remembering everything we must keep track of is hard to do. This...
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An online business can only be successful if it’s constantly growing and enticing new customers. However, a business owner who is busy answering email, solving billing issues, making calls and tackling other similar tasks doesn’t have the time to create new ways to grow the business. That’s why many business owners turn to virtual office services. When an owner gives these tasks to capable virtual assistants, he or she has the time to create some imaginative ideas. Look at three examples of what business owners can accomplish when they assign everyday tasks to virtual assistants. Build on the Popularity of Certain Products With extra time, a business owner can look at the features of his or her most popular products and add more desirable features. For instance, an individual who owns a business selling scented candles discovers that candles with a fruity scent are particularly popular with customers. This is likely to lead to the creation of more candles with fruity scents. Also, the owner may decide to expand the variety of candle sizes available and come up with different holders for the candles. All of these ideas have the potential to boost the bottom line of the owner’s business. Learn More about the Tastes of Customers An owner may take more time to focus in on customer feedback. This means visiting social media pages and emailing customers to get feedback about the products they bought and the service they received. Today, social media makes it very easy for owners to get immediate feedback on all aspects of their business. This sort of information is extremely valuable to the owner of any type of business. For example, the owner may find that many customers are complaining about slow shipping. In response, the owner can change the way his or her...
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February 12, 2015Technology and business have always had a tight connection. However, it was until recently that advanced technology became a vital component of any type of company or enterprise. Technology has completely changed the way we conduct business. Startups use websites, computers, personal digital products and cloud services to create competitive advantages in today’s economic marketplace. Owners should think of implementing advanced technology into their business model, and thus work with the best technology available. Introducing “The Cloud” There are lots of technological advances that impact today’s business ecosystem. However, nothing beats “the cloud”. This pioneering technology broke barriers between startups and companies with huge budgets because it took out the need of advanced investments in infrastructure. Within the cloud, any type of business benefits from super cheap, highly-efficient enterprise-level IT infrastructure. The cloud offers excellent scalability, too. Companies now have the possibility of upgrading their infrastructure on a budget (per-need basis), without having to worry about making bad investments. Upfront costs are greatly reduced, and operating costs diminish in the long run because there’s no longer a need for in-house statistics. Subscription-based software, made possible because of the cloud, is yet another factor that makes the cloud so appreciated by today’s thriving companies. Outsourcing More affordable software and no in-house infrastructure are not the sole benefits of the cloud. Outsourcing has recently penetrated the workforce and it has proven to have lots of unexpected advantages. Prior to the cloud, needing a special kind of services usually involved finding a skilled person who could cater to that need; the interviewing process often took a lot of time, and in the end companies ended up hiring an employee they wouldn’t require after 2-3 months. Outsourcing has completely changed the way people do business. Off-site workers are increasing in popularity, and there are...
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There has been a big buzz around cloud computing for a few years now, although the technology has been around for a while it is not until recently where it has advanced into a much useful tool. You may not even know that you are using a cloud computing service, if you use Google Mail for example, then you are in fact using a cloud service as your emails are handled by an external source. In certain circumstances, cloud computing can be the best thing for your businesses as it has the capacity to allow your business to grow. In addition to this, cloud computing may not be the right type of service for your company, this article shall point out the benefits of each of the main cloud computing services so that you can assess whether they are right for you – although you can contact IT specialists such as these that can outline the cloud computing services to you. The use of managed servers There are many circumstances where having a managed server will benefit your business, if your business agrees with the following points then investing in such a service can be beneficial to growing your company. It is not uncommon now for you to have offices in several different locations, and this is where managed services can help your offices to all work as if it was one big hub. This is also extremely helpful if you’re going to be constantly on the go as you can therefore access all of your applications and files when you are outside of your office. These external servers can be hosted outside of the office too in IT centres which means that you can save on space and have undisrupted maintenance. However, if you have a big office with...
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April 3, 2014It seems that you have finally decided to go with the flow and switch to the VoIP telephony system. Prior to jumping with joy at the prospect of using the best telephony technology, it is imperative that you learn a bit about the technology as well. You also need to learn about the basic factors to consider before migrating to VoIP. In the last few years the number of companies switching to VoIP has immensely increased and there are obvious reasons behind the fan following. VoIP is a technology that converts voice signals into digital IP packets and transmits it over a secured network. Companies are using it to manage large call volumes with greater efficiency by availing the advanced telephony features offered by VoIP. Call centers are heavily benefited by switching to the VoIP telephony system. The new technology provides the call centre owners and business managers to avail cost-effective features to maintain seamless communication with their clients as well as their employees. Now, not everyone needs to opt for the VoIP because not everyone needs the advanced features offered by the VoIP. If you too want to determine whether you need to migrate to the latest VoIP telephony system then there are few factors that you will influence your decision. Some of the basic factors that you will have to consider before switching to VoIP are as follows: Will VoIP positively affect your business process? Well, this is probably the first question that anyone switching to the VoIP telephony system needs to ask themselves. If you are running a call center with more than 20 seats, then migrating to VoIP will definitely prove to be a prudent decision. You will need to understand that the advanced call management features offered by VoIP will be greatly helpful in handling...
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March 12, 2014You’ve probably heard these statements such as “I can’t update my website!” or “My website is broken and if I get my web designer to fix it, it’s going to cost me a fortune!” This is a dilemma that many people come across on a regular basis, and in particular business owners who need to have information on hand at a moment’s notice. If they’re “technically challenged” they may find themselves losing business because they don’t know how to fix it. WordPress is the Answer! We all know that WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms available, but what many don’t know is that it can also be used to build a powerful website. It has a great Content Management System (CMS) which allows you to use it for more than just blogging. This makes it the best choice for small business owners as it’s easy to install and able to be configured how you want for your business needs. Using WordPress as a Website Even though WordPress was designed as a blogging platform, it can easily be configured to build an amazing website using the many WordPress themes to choose from. You can also tweak it and add a “blog” if you wish. There are many places to obtain step-by-step instructions about setting it up and you will also find many YouTube videos. Once you’ve set it up you will find that it is built in a way that it makes it easy to change the content, because even an update to your website will improve your SEO. You also have the freedom to add articles or a newsletter to your site as often as you like without the help of a webmaster. So why is WordPress a good choice? Top Five Reasons to Use WordPress for Your...
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March 11, 2014The Inevitable Importance of Mobile Marketing and Phone Systems for Businesses Today: The number of mobile phone users in the world is not showing any sign of slowing down at all. Recent statistics indicate that the number of cell phone users to have crossed 1.5 billion in 2013. To effectively reach consumers through this very device they prefer to use, marketers have no option but to embrace mobile marketing. Professional marketers know the imminent potential that phone systems have in reaching customers and prospective clients regardless of their geographical location. Customers will in turn respond by giving business to any organization that appeals to them via these portable communication gadgets. How then can mobile marketing boost an enterprise’s competitive edge? Staying Ahead of the Competition: · Mobile marketing ensures that a business stays ahead of its fellow competitors. This is evidently true because this marketing strategy gives a more personalized approach to customers. · Through this powerful strategy, information about new products, services and prospects will always reach potential customers at the comfort of their own offices or living rooms almost immediately they are released. Such customers may respond by dropping by the business’s premises. Making Connections: · Through SMS, E-mail, Facebook and twitter satisfied customers will not be shy to contact a company at any given moment. This of essence since the number of smart phone users has increased tremendously. · Such positive feedback from customers will definitely trigger direct one-on-one communication with customers. The end result is connections with several customers which will ultimately lead to customer loyalty. · Once a reputation with customers is earned it follows from natural observation that these satisfied customers will recommend such a business to other people to join their new found buying venture. This is what every business has a need...