Category: Strategies

When starting a small business it is so important for you to automate as many processes as you can and to ensure efficient working. One of the ways to ensure both accurate and efficient work every day in your small business is to outsource some processes and take the burden off yourself. 

We all know how hard it can be to manage a small business on your own, and putting your fingers in too many pies can damage your productivity and lead to mistakes. Instead of trying to manage every aspect of the business yourself – today we want to discuss outsourcing. 

Outsourcing is a way to provide yourself with business services without hiring in house. It is cheaper, more efficient, and often the best choice for small entrepreneurs in early days. Here are some of the best departments you can outsource today for your business. 

Project management 

Project management can be a complex subject – and you cannot simply pick it up from reading a few online articles. You need to have a strong understanding of business processes when learning project management – and you should leave this to the experts. Hire a project management contractor or agency to help you complete a project; and once the project is done you can end the contract. The beauty of outsourcing is that you only need to keep the service running for as long as you need it for the business. This is of course much more complex with in house employees and can be difficult to manage. 

Finance 

Finance is complex, and even if you have a good handle on your personal finances you will not be prepared for the complexity of business finance. It is so important for you to not underestimate business finance and outsource this to an accountant. This will ensure that you don’t make mistakes regarding tax and other things that could land you in trouble later on. 

SEO 

Marketing is a huge part of running a business and while you might be able to handle social media marketing; SEO is a whole different ball game. SEO is what determines your viability online and it can be complex if you are new to the concept. Increase your reach and visibility by hiring SEO specialists to help you with your efforts. You’ll see a huge impact on your business with proper marketing and you can grow and thrive as a result of this. 

Architecture 

Architecture isn’t just about buildings – it is also about business. Roles such as business architecture solutions are crucial to a business because they literally determine the building blocks of your business. When considering how to improve your business processes and become more profitable, hiring a business architecture firm is a great idea because they can advise you and help you shape the direction of your business in the future. These are the wizards of business and will make a massive impact on your success. 

Outsource these processes for your small business this year and allow yourself more time to focus on your own talents and skill set. 

Do you have recurring problems with your bookkeeping? If not taken care of, bookkeeping issues can bring your company down. Failing this process can make you suffer losses, fail to pay required wages on time, and suffer other financial inconveniences. You should never leave a bookkeeping issue to persist in your company.

How do you solve these problems? There are many measures you can adapt in your accounting department to ensure bookkeeping problems do not occur. In this article, we will discuss some of the effective measures approved by experts. Here is the list.

Understand the difference between profits and cash flow

As highlighted by experts, it’s easier to spend money than earning it back. If you spend as much as you gain from the sales, you can run bankrupt and lose your business. You might accrue more assets with less cash to pay for business expenses. Growing your business too quickly can lead it to have debts with minimal cash flow. The investments will only leave you running your business using loans, which then accrue interest. To solve this situation, you must understand the difference between cash flow and profits and separate them. Cash flow is the money that gets in your bank account. The gains get taxed in every financial year. You can be making profits but having issues with cash flow. It is essential to keep track of your expenditure and minimize things like buying too much stock or having massive expansions, which you can’t manage with the cash flow.

Take bookkeeping seriously

Some businesses do not take their bookkeeping seriously. Some do not have the accounting departments or professionals to check on their book records. It would be best to have an accurate picture of your business’s finances at any given time. This situation will please the taxman and provide the direction where your business is heading financially. Besides hiring an in-house account, it’s crucial to get outsourced bookkeeping professionals to check on your books regularly and advise you on your company’s financial matters. Through their bookkeeping, you will pay your bills on time, prevent fraud in your business, and will help you save money. They will ensure you get a good credit score on your pending loans and will seal leaks that make you lose money in your business. Other than this, it would help if you had bookkeeping software for accuracy in your accounting department.

Understand the impact of assets

Do you keep on buying assets regularly? Please read this keenly. Buying assets in your business is a good thing. However, you shouldn’t exceed the limit since it can deplete your cash, leaving your business at risk of closing down. Also, assets are not expenses. What you spent on is not easy to recover even when you decide to sell the asset. Only buy the crucial business assets and save on the cash flow. When purchasing more considerable assets, including vehicles, please consider taking a loan. This will avoid stagnating all other processes, keeping your business running.

Reconcile accounts with bank statements

At times, your accounts department can make mistakes on your profit and loss account. It is essential to reconcile the accounts statement with that of the bank to avoid discrepancies. This ensures every transaction is accounted for. It also saves time and money going over processes again in case of losses. It is essential to have accounting software to help you with these tabulations. Going through this will help track your business’s financial situation and point out smaller spendings that go unrecorded, affecting the business’s financial statements.

Keep all accounting records up-to-date

Do you usually wait until the end month or at the end of the financial year to update your records? This situation creates more problems for your bookkeeping procedures. The accounts department must update all accounts statements and financial records regularly to ensure the business runs smoothly. Ensure that invoices, receipts, and other documents are updated every day to reflect the current situation. This idea also prevents inconveniences and issues, especially when the taxman requires such records. Staying on top of the daily transactions makes you manage even the larger transactions. You will know what your profits or losses are on time and gives you confidence in running your business. 

The above five points can help you significantly manage your bookkeeping process. Always try as much to be top of your records, reconcile everything on time, and get experts to manage complicated processes. When you do this, you will be sure of running your accounting department flawlessly. One extra point, try as much to separate personal finances with that of your business.

You’ve successfully established your online presence. Now, all you need to do is think of ways to get more viewers to your website so many can be aware of your products and services. There are a lot of marketing hacks you can try, from social media to a more conventional way. However, there are a few techniques that are proven effective. 

In this article, it will help you figure out what is the importance of increasing website traffic and some methods that can improve your website to get more views. 

Implement Good SEO

If you are in the business industry for quite some time and don’t have an idea of how SEO works, you better start knowing more of this. Learn about the magic of SEO so that you are engaging in the right type of delivery strategies. Plus, by fully understanding the power of SEO, you can get a high number of views. According to a Hong Kong SEO Agency that is managed by Google Search and Scoring experts, SEO is very important, not only because it attracts many visitors, but also can help a business increase their return of investment if implemented properly. By creating a website that ranks at the top of search engine results, you are doing your business a favor.

Write Good Content

As long as you create good and insatiable content on your website, you’ll have more and more potential customers to become loyal customers. Plus, if you have high-quality content, the more engaged your visitors will be. They will even share your link to their social media, helping you promote your services out to the world. 

Use Instagram

We all know that Instagram is one of the most popular apps in the world today. Most people post their stories there almost every day. It is a platform that lets you share photos and moments with other people around the world. Yet, a few businesses know how to use this to their advantage and drive traffic to their site. If your business does not have one, you might consider creating an account there. According to experts, many people have reached their target market solely by using Instagram alone. Instagram is free. You may use it to promote your services and utilize it as your strategy to drive more traffic to your site. 

Mobile Usability

If you are intentional to drive more viewers to your website, then you need to make your site available to all kinds of devices as much as possible. You need to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. You may use different tools like Google’s Page Insight Tool to check if your website is friendly enough and see all the guidelines towards a mobile layout. You should also ensure that all your content, posts are AMP specification ready. 

Getting more visitors and driving them to your website does not happen with just a snap of a finger. It is good that you know how to exert effort to do this. By using these methods, you can get the right visitors, and most importantly, you are converting these visitors to loyal customers.

Debt consolidation refers to the act of combining multiple debts into one large debt. You can consolidate these loans by applying for a loan that comes with better terms of payoff. This helps to reorganize your total debt so that it becomes lesser and easier to pay. You can use debt consolidation for student loans, credit card bills, and other loans. You can apply for debt consolidation through your bank, a credit card company, or other financial organizations. Many creditors are likely to allow for debt consolidation.

This is because the chances of a debtor paying off debt are higher when they consolidate their debts. This method works best if you do not have too many loans and when you have a solid plan of how you are going to keep your debt in check. To qualify for debt consolidation, it is also important to have proof of income which assures the lenders that you can meet the terms of the loan. The lenders will also check your credit history and financial stability. It is also important to have equity when applying for debt consolidation. Given below are some of the reasons why you may consider debt consolidation.

Helps to Pay Your Debts Sooner

Debt consolidation can help you to pay your loans faster than you would have paid each debt separately. For instance, many credit card companies do not give an exact timeline for when you should pay your debt. This can make you take your time in paying off your debt. However, when you take a consolidation loan, it has a fixed payment date and this helps to clear your debt earlier. When you pay your debt sooner, you can put your money into other uses to achieve your life goals.

Lower Interest Rates

When you consolidate your debts, you may benefit from lower interest rates. This is because most consolidation loans have lower interest rates than most credit card companies. The agents from https://www.jubilee2000uk.org/ help you to pay your debts sooner, by assisting in the debt consolidation process.  This means that you will pay fewer interest rates overall. However, the interest rates that you pay with your loan also depend on the amount of your loan, the term of loan repayment for your loan, and also on your credit score.

Boosting Your Credit

At first debt consolidation may lower your credit score because of the inquiry into your credits and the debts that you have. However, over time, debt consolidation improves your credit score, which is because you have to pay your debts on time when you consolidate them. How you pay your debts contributes about 35% of your credit score and therefore the faster you pay your debts, the better your credit score.

When you keep your credit card open after paying your debt, it improves your credit utilization ratio and improves your credit history. This will also contribute to a higher credit score. However, if you decide to close your card after paying off the debt, this can lower your credit score.

 Having a Fixed Loan Repayment Schedule

Debt Consolidation enables you to know how much money you have to pay each month and you will also know when you will finish repaying your loan. The loan agreement that you sign when you consolidate your debts gives you a schedule of when you need to complete paying off your loan. This helps you to have some discipline in paying off your debt, as it is more convenient compared to paying off a credit card debt which has a high-interest rate over a long duration of time.

Lowering Your Monthly Payments

When you consolidate your debts into one large debt, it means that you don’t have to pay each debt individually at the end of the month. With debt consolidation, you only have to make one repayment over the agreed interval until the loan is completely paid off. This means that you will be spending less money per month in debt repayment and if you pay your debt sooner, you will spend less money overall. You will be able to plan your finances better each month when you consolidate your debts.

In summary, debt consolidation refers to combining multiple debts into one large loan. To qualify for debt consolidation, it is important to have a steady income, good credit history, and equity that can assure the lenders that you can repay the loan. The benefits of debt consolidation include improvement of your credit score, lower interest rates, and it also helps you to repay your loans earlier. When you pay your loans sooner, you can direct your money to other uses that help you to reach your goals.

How many emails have you recently received claiming to be from trusted sources you regularly use such as that high street well-known postal service, and the well-known online marketplace to mention just a few. Phishing emails come in all shapes and sizes and they are getting all the more sophisticated, which means it is getting increasingly more difficult to spot the difference between the fake and real ones.

How to keep yourself safe from scammers and fraudsters 

Never open any emails from sellers or businesses that you were not expecting. If you are not expecting a parcel from that well known delivery company then why are you even opening up that email. Look at the sender, check the information in the header of the email, valuing security and safety when looking at your emails early on before you open any suspicious-looking emails will stop you from falling foul of scammers. It’s very important: Before you open any email check who it is from!

Here are 7 reasons email phishing is more dangerous than you know

1. They work. Phishing emails get results for the scammers. So, while people are clicking the emails the scammers will keep sending them and they will be even more believable, credible, and sophisticated – making them incredibly dangerous to both individuals and businesses alike.

2. A False Sense of Security. The emails are so well put together that they lure you into a false sense of security which ultimately leads you to let your guard down and falling foul to scammers. 

3. Often linked to other crimes. Unfortunately collecting your data from a phishing email is quite often only part of the bigger plan. Fraudsters and scammers quickly sell information and data they have on you, which means within a short time you could be being targeted through more channels than just email.

4. They don’t discriminate. Any email user of any age is targeted. From college students to pensioners. Nobody is crossed off the scammer’s list except the scammers themselves.

5. Highly effective. Phishing emails get great results for scammers, for example, they insist you must open an email attachment to look at an invoice that has not been paid. You often buy things from the site the email (appears to) come from, so you open the email, and bang, you have been caught out.

6. Brands get tarnished. If you have been caught out by a phishing email from a seemingly trustworthy brand you feel disappointed.No longer wishing to purchase from the brand again. Even though the brand was not involved in the scam, their name and reputation have been tarnished beyond retrieval in the click of an email.

7. Email phishing is sophisticated. The bait emails cannot be picked up by security software and lots of email providers meaning you will still get these not so lovely phishing emails popping up your email inbox at least once a day. The malware or data capture that comes attached within the email can do lots of damage to both your computer and any sensitive information you store on your computer. From bank details to addresses and pin numbers. If you are unlucky enough to fall foul of these emails and accidentally open one then you will have some serious work ahead of you to make sure everything you thought was safe is once again safe.

The best preventative step you can take to avoid falling foul to phishing emails is to not open emails that make you second guess who they are from and what they contain. Legitimate businesses never use free email addresses such as customercare123 at gmail.com, so be always aware of where the email is coming from.

If you do unfortunately fall foul of a phishing scam then you need to inform your banks and service providers as soon as possible. Changing your pins and access codes and informing companies that you have been a victim of fraud will help you protect yourself going forward.

Online it is super important to be as protective and secure as you are in your everyday life, never share anything online that you wouldn’t share offline. It is important to protect any data or information you keep on your computer safe, so regularly change your pin numbers and access codes. Also if you don’t have anti-virus or malware software installed on your computer/laptop or device it would be wise to invest in some as soon as you can, read reviews and recommendations to get the right protection package that covers all of your needs.

For many people, impulse spending might seem easier and more fun to do rather than budgeting. Some may have even tried budgeting their money, only to not follow their budget plan in the long run, and ending up spending more than they should. 

Budgeting can be overwhelming at times, even downright scary for others. However, with the right knowledge and a gentle nudge towards the right direction, you can learn how to budget your money much more effectively.

Why You Need to Budget Your Money

Just because you already have enough finances to manage your everyday expenses, it does not mean that budgeting is already unnecessary. There are many unforeseen circumstances that may require you to use your savings, and you may get in various sticky situations if you do not have enough in your pockets. 

Also, when you already have a stable budget, you will be more likely to experience financial freedom. The more money you save, the more money you’d be able to spend in the long run. This means more vacations, more shopping dates, and even the increased possibility of early retirement! Who wouldn’t want that? 

Useful Budgeting Tips and Tricks

Identify and calculate your monthly income

Monitor all of the streams of money you have and calculate how much you make every month. If you always receive a paycheck from a regular job, make sure that you have already deducted the taxes that come with it.

However, if you have a variable income, such as the salary you get when you’re working freelance, use the income from your lowest earning month in the past year as your reference in making your budget.

Include other streams of money if you have them, such as side hustles, child support, or pension. When you’re done, add them all up so you can be aware of how much you earn each month.

Pick a budgeting method

Budgeting is not a one size fits all technique in managing your finances, as people have different needs and different incomes. There are various methods of budgeting, and you will eventually find the one that is best for you. You can even devise your own personal method! Here are two examples:

The first method of budgeting that I will share with you is the 50-20-30 method or the Balanced Money Formula. This method means that 50% of your income must go into your needs, such as rent, food, and bills. 20% should go to your savings or should be used to pay off any debts. Lastly, the remaining 30% may go to your wants, or you may choose to save this amount as well.

The second method of budgeting is Cash-only budgeting or Envelope budgeting. Most people tend to overspend when they use credit or debit cards, so using physical cash may help reduce the risk of overspending.

Set your goals

With a worthwhile goal, you will be much more motivated to budget your money. Are you looking forward to a vacation? Want to buy a loved one a gift? Write these goals down, or type them on your phone so you’d constantly get reminded of them. This will fuel your drive to manage your expenses more responsibly.

Track your expenses 

Your expenses always change every month. You have fixed expenses, those who have a fixed cost such as your rent or internet payments. However, you also have variable expenses, those who have costs that change every month, such as groceries and gasoline.

These two different types of expenses may make it harder to track each and every expense manually, so it is advisable to download an application that can help you. With an application that will do the work for you, saving money will be much easier because you don’t have to calculate it manually every time. You can even monitor your progress with an application, and it’ll not only help you save money but also time! With the rise of technology, many different apps can assist you in myriad ways.

Change your habits, if necessary

You may not realize it, but your habits might have caused you to overspend more often than not. You may have made it a habit to buy coffee from a shop every day when you can easily brew your own coffee at home. Because of this, you must monitor your spending habits, so you can always be able to follow your budget religiously.

Managing your finances can be stressful at times, but with a budgeting plan, it’ll be so much easier. Find a budgeting method that works for you, and try your best to be consistent in following it. When you budget your money effectively, you will be able to experience many perks, including early retirement! Because of these reasons, it can be concluding that budgeting is extremely necessary for every adult.