5 Quick Tips To Motivate Small Business Owners

      Implement E-commerce: 

      Maintaining a website for your small business is an essential step to success because it allows customers to order online order online. Most small business owners make the common mistake of choosing to sell their products only from a particular physical location such as a home store, but what they don’t realize is that this is can cause great inconvenience to customers. Websites can be a good way to reach a broader audience and generate a higher number of sales.

Implement A Good Delivery System: 

      A good delivery system that allows products to be delivered to the doorsteps of customers will immediately lead to an increase in sales. Many people find it difficult to arrange for visiting your store and then taking the products home. For a rapidly expanding business, it would be a good idea to hire sales force team or even a delivery man who can deliver goods within the city or near your vicinity. This will jump up the number of your sales really quickly.

Create Backups Of Your Documents:

       Inexpensive, movable storage is one way to protect your significant business documents. Sacrificing some of your time by backing up documents and receipts will have a lot of potential of decreasing chances of losing the originals. This will also ultimately result in your peace of mind. For example, you should try buying USBs that have storage capacities like 4 GB or 8 GB always on hand. You can even get a different colored one for each type of work files you want to save so as to be able to access them quickly when you need to.

      Go Through Legalities:

      One of the most crucial aspects of the ground work you need to prior to setting up your home was to go through the legal stuff like legislation and rules involving your specific area of interest. As home business laws are more or less different from one state to the other, it is a good idea to hire or consult a lawyer who specializes in business matters before you start up a business of your own. You can hire such a lawyer on an hourly basis instead of fixed time periods like months or weeks to help cut down on expenses.

      Create A Catchy Brand Name:

      One of the most successful of marketing tips is to go for a brand name that is loud and clear, as well as catchy. It has to be something that can easily be retained by the customer. You should come up with a brand name that is both memorable and significant. Take Victoria’s Secret, for example. It is a catchy name that gives a subtle hint of the products it offers, and thus, almost everyone in a regular household is familiar with it. 

How to Write a First Class Business Plan Proposal

A business plan proposal outlines your business, your market and how you want your product or service to be delivered to potential customers. Think of it this way: It is a mix of both a business plan and a business proposal. While a business plan is used to sell your business to investors, a business proposal caters to a client. Ultimately, they are both used for sales. Much like a sales document, it is designed to persuade the client to hire your company instead of a competitor. The business plan proposal addresses a specific need of a specific client. These require careful attention. 

Getting started: 

The first steps of writing a business plan proposal involve introducing your company. This is quite similar to an executive summary, where you outline what you do and who you are. Here, you should focus more on establishing credibility, and how your business can fulfill the client's needs. It is also a good idea to let the client know about your history and what you've done before.

Researching and planning is always a pre-requisite. Spend some time and effort in researching what the client's actually needs in order to tailor your proposal according to what the client wants.

Paying attention to logistics is an absolute must. The client should be well informed beforehand on how, where and when the product will be delivered. The same case applies to a service delivery as well as a direct sales company. This clears up any confusions, and lessens the changes of lawsuits being filed when a client feels he has not been fully satisfied.

There is usually no hard and fast format specified for a business plan proposal, so feel free to tweak it a bit. Some of the areas that you must cover are the goals of your proposal, the time and cost requirements for the whole proves and the benefits the client will receive by taking up your recommendations. It should highlight the company's strengths and dispel and reservations the client may have.

At the end stage:

You can apply the finishing touches to your business plan proposal by making sure the information is arranged in a proper manner. You should also have someone proofread the proposal to catch spelling and grammatical errors. If you keep all of these pointers in mind, you will soon have lots of clients thanks to the best business plan proposal ever drafted!

Social Media: 9 Questions You Should Ask Before Posting

Using the social media can be tricky, especially if you are running a business. But there are certain rules that apply to both personal and business messages.

Here are 9 questions you should ask yourself before posting/tweeting:

1. Is the message appropriate for a social media network?

2. Should I address the message to a specific audience?

3. Will someone else care for this message besides me?

4. Am I offending someone?

5. Will I feel fine after publishing this message?

6. Is it a vague post? Will everyone understand what I mean?

7. Am I using the social media to unburden? If yes, is this bad for me?

8. Do I look like a teenager? Do I use many abreviations?

9. Do I really want to publish this message?

How to Deal With Criticism

• Change your perspective;
• Know the difference between constructive and destructive criticism (and envy as well);
• Accept that you, as everyone else, have flaws, and don't take things too personally;
• Understand what you're being told;
• Analyze it, see if there is any truth in it;
• Address the issue carefully;
• Thank whoever makes the constructive criticism;
• Remember that constructive criticism can improve you as a person as a direct seller as well;
• Stay confident and show it;
• Always be polite, whether people make you constructive or destructive criticism. Kill them with kindness, as it's usually said.

Quote of the day: Profit !

Profit isn't random, and should never be seen as random, as something that comes at the end. When we think about profit, it should be planned for in the beginning, to be taken as a goal, something to work for.

Tips on How to Fight Stress

Being a successful direct seller or presenter is a demanding job, as well as working towards success. But without work, success doesn't come overnight. There are worries and problems and dealing with them can be very stressful.

So here are some tips on how to deal with stress:

• Learn to breathe!

• Identify the stress - you will only deal with the stress as soon as you identify the sources of the stress. Take some time to think about it and hello good mood ! :)

• Exercise daily - exercise increases the levels of endorphines, therefor you will feel much better after, more relaxed, calm, and promotes a good night of sleep.

• Having a healthy diet - After all , the quality of what we eat influences the state of our physical and mental health . 

Extra tip: Drink more water!

Marketing Tips on Social Media : Twitter

Still following the line of the previous post regarding Social Media, today we're sharing some tips on how to use the big giant Twitter:

 

Marketing Tips on Social Media : Facebook

Social Media has become more and more important to direct sales business, as it connects with everyone, with several other social media platforms and it's a cheap way of reaching everyone online. So here's a quick guide on how to work with Facebook, in order to boost your sales:

Products Are the Key

This quote from Seth Godin couldn't be more accurate regarding Direct Sales business. What happens sometimes is that the direct sellers are more focused on finding new customers in order to enroll their client list, but they tend to forget sometimes the clients they already have, the loyal ones. So here's an advice: find products for your costumers, and don't focus too much on finding new customers for your products!

How to Beat Insomnia

• If you love coffee, you should drink six hours before bedtime.
•  Naps during the day and heavy meals should be avoided.
• Avoid alcoholic drinks.
• If you exercise, try to do it during the day, it will make you feel more tired at night.
• After dinner, switch the television or computer for a good book.
• Try to establish a time to go to bed. You should sleep 7-8 hours a night.
• If you're one of those who snore, try changing positions.
• Avoid having strong lightning in your bedroom.

 If you still cannot sleep, do not stay in bed spin from one side to another. Get up and do something else that will make you relax. From household activities or maybe try some YouTube Yoga video classes.

The Disadvantages Of Being An Enterpreneur

In our previous post we spoke about the advantages of being an entrepreneur, but because the sun doesn't always shine, we're also going to mention the disadvantages of being one. Not because we want to discourage you to pursue your own career as an entrepreneur, not at all, but because knowing the down sides beforehand is helpful, so you can prevent some of the things that can go wrong, and learn early how to deal with them.

• Making your own hours/schedule can lead to distraction and procrastination if you aren't strict and disciplined with yourself;
• The money income comes and goes. Sometimes there is money but sometimes it might be a while without any income;
• If you're an entrepreneur working from home, the chores might catch you up, like laundry, cleaning, etc.;
• Having your own hours can make you work 3h a day or 18h a day, you will never know;
• When you're sick, there's nobody else to replace you.

The Advantages of Being an Entrepreneur

Someone once said that "being an entrepreneur is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't".
There are perks, but disadvantages as well. Today, let's check the advantages of being an entrepreneur:

• You have your own schedule;
• You work at your own pace and rhythm;
• You're the master of your own creativity: you create what you want to create;
• You're the boss, and you get to discipline yourself;
• You can work from any place in the world;
• The money you make is yours and yours only;
• You're always open to any possibilities.

How To Promote Your Business

• Take advantage of the Internet:

The internet is a low cost medium of advertisement, especially with the rise of social media. If before you needed to spend a lot of money on outdoors or radio/tv spots to get your product to the audience, these days internet gets to pretty much everyone,

•  Highlight Available Promotions

 Make sure your audience knows about the available promotions you have on your products. Make sure they're highlighted on your social profiles, blog or websites.

•  Be creative

Use your creativity to promote your business. Get out of your comfort zone, create your own style, your own mailing list and sms list as well: clients tend to read more the promo text messages than the promo emails that often land on the spam box.

3 Simple Rules in Life

Today's tip of the day is 3 little simple rules in life that have a lot of impact on your seller profile and on the way you see yourself as a professional direct seller.
1. Don't procrastinate, if you want something don't wait for it to fall into your lap, go out and work for it. Don't take success for granted, it takes sweat and hard work but at the end, the feeling of mission accomplished, and having what you really want is priceless!
2. Take risks, get out of your comfort zone and ask, you will never know what the answer will be. You already know that the answer can be a round "no" but what if it's a yes?
3. Move forward: don't stay at the same place, make a plan, make a new plan if the first one doesn't work, but remember, don't give up!

How to use Instagram to boost your business

If you look at Instagram as a tool instead of social entertainment, there are plenty of ways of benefiting from it. Almost everyone uses a Smartphone these days and the old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" has never been more actual. Plus, Instagram has the video feature, hashtags and direct sending, plus all the other sharing options for other social media channels, such as Tumblr, Foursquare and Facebook.
You can build your own community of followers, clients and prospect new ones by adding following the ones which profile is related to what your business is about.
Fashion, beauty and the food business have been the most profitable businesses on Instagram. Here are some tips:
Take live pictures from your business events, parties and gatherings and share them in real time;
Use and follow hashtags: by doing this you will be exposing your business as well as knowing what's out there, especially your competition;
Create a personality to your business: don't just share images and videos of your products, share inspirational pictures, thoughts, and tips. Make your audience feel that they are dealing with a human being instead of a marketing machine.

10 Pinterest Best Practices

In the world of social media there are few mediums that go untouched, but there are those that are significantly more prominent than the others.

Facebook and Twitter being the reigning kings and others trailing behind with users unsure of what to do. However, Pinterest is proving to be an extremely useful tool for businesses to engage in.

So why should you be interested in Pinterest? Recent new data is showing that it has now become the 4th largest referral network after passing Yahoo and now only sits behind Google, Facebook and Twitter.

It is a visual niche social network that is proving to be  a driver of significant traffic driver for image rich eCommerce sites. Walmart is considering plans to include trending pins (Pinterest posts) as one of the signals it listens to in its own eCommerce search engine as signalling buyer intent.

Here are some tips when it comes to Pinterest and your business:

1. Plan - Create a content strategy that is centered around the lifestyle of your target audience. Avoid “me syndrome” and only pinning your products and your information. Dive into the interests and aspirations of those that matter most: your consumers.
2. Set Goals - Define your goals. Are you looking to create brand awareness? Drive traffic to you your website? A good benchmark is that 25% of all website traffic should come from social; decide how Pinterest fits into this equation for your brand. Decide how you will be tracking and reporting.
3. Align - Position your brand to align with popular, timely and topical conversations; i.e. if you are a shoe company, pin trendy shoes. “News Year’s Eve” shoes (timely), or “prom shoes” (topical).
4. Optimize - Google LOVES Pinterest! Focus on the keywords that matter most for your brand, align this with what you know about how your audience searches (and what they are searching for) and incorporate them into your board titles and pin descriptions.
5. Engage - Pinterest is a social community that requires two-way engagement. “Repin,” “Like” or comment on pins and boards of others. Interact with your followers and take the time to participate.
6. Organize - Sort your boards well. Also, while keywords are important, have a little fun with how you name your boards. Finally, be sure to set the board “cover image” to a pin that best conveys the topic of that board.
7. Diversify - Pinterest is a great opportunity to reach all the segments of your audience. Create boards and pin items that appeal to every segment of your consumer base!
8. Integrate - Be sure that the content on your website is easy to share. Incorporate the “Pin It” button into your social sharing lineup.
9. Evaluate - Measure your success. What boards and pins are seeing the most “Likes,” and “Repins?” Is Pinterest driving traffic to your website? Evaluate KPIs like bounce rate to ensure that the traffic you are driving to your site is directing to the right place and leverage your ability to use specific links for tracking.
10. Enjoy - Have fun with this awesomely visual medium. Encourage others to pin your content with contests or scavenger hunts, tracked by tagging (@) or hashtags (#).