Business Tax - Strategies for Small Business Owners

With all the trumped up ya-ya from the press lately over big businesses, corporate tax, and rich folks not paying their fair share, I wanted to offer up some detailed directions for small business owners who may want an opportunity to save some money on their tax debt and still be able to make a good living income.
How to Strategize Spending -
Business owners have always planned and strategized their expenses for best benefit, but this may be a bit more structured. To strategize your small business spending program to best influence your tax statement, I have a few recommendations.

1. Either operate as a DBA, or pay yourself as a contractor so you can personally deduct any business expenses you may have.
2. Use your personal vehicle for business and deduct ALL business miles possible - read the tax code, or ask your accountant - keep documented proof.
3. Use the home office deduction and work from home at least 50% of the time, as your primary place of business.
4. Don't overdo it on the deductions. Stay legitimate and don't take advantage of the situation, it will get you in trouble, but do take ALL legitimate deductions.

How to Plan Income -
Income generally comes in randomly if you have a small business, and you never know when you'll have income, and when you won't, so strategizing your income and taking advantage of the options you do have are important. An investment in your business is always beneficial tax wise, because you often don't need to take income out of your business, and can take it in deductible results.
How to Apply Deductions -
Items that can be purchased and depreciated for the business - purchase them, depreciate them, and after depreciation is out, sell those items for actual value or below. Once an item is no longer being used in your business, get rid of it.
How to Prevent Over-Payment -
Remember that every dime paid into the government in pre-tax payment is money you don't get to spend yourself, and cannot draw interest on. Keep your money in your pocket as long as possible, and don't pay in until you must. For those who pay in quarterly, be sure you're not over-estimating y our taxable income?
How to Invest in Your Business -
Depending on how your business is owned, corporation, partnership, or proprietorship, you may prefer to purchase needed equipment for your business personally, and take depreciation options. The way you choose to invest in your business, and take income back, will determine much of how you are paid by your business, and the type of tax you will be paying on your personal income.
Income tax is not a personal requirement, and there are many ways to avoid having anything due at the end of the year, by strategically planning your investments, deductions, and income. The more money you make, the more important your strategy becomes.
The question then becomes, what taxes will you be paying through your business?

Larger, more profitable business owners often hire a tax consultant to determine their tax strategies, and help with financial planning to cut the wasted dollars often left over at the end of the year, and paid relentlessly into the tax program. IRS gains by your not having a tax strategy. You gain by having one.
For more information, contact our tax consultant at http://verhoeffconsulting.com

The "Plunge" of Newspaper Advertising - It's a CUSTOMER Issue

I've talked about this issue in probably 700 of the 1000+ speeches I have given over the past 8 years... traditional media, predominantly newspapers, are in a free fall and it will only get worse. To prove this point, a recent article in WSJ (Wall Street Journal) shared some research by GroupM where they stated that "global spending on newspaper print is expected to decline 8.7% in 2016... the biggest drop since the recession of 2009 when it dropped 13.7%." These are big numbers when converted to dollars. And while this is significant, it isn't my point... their CUSTOMERS are the real issue.
We can talk all day about the implications this has for many people, including the employees and suppliers to these organizations, but that is a topic for another day and another discussion. Let me just leave this one on the table by summarizing it in just 3 words... THEY MISSED IT. If you want to read more about how this impacting thousands of employees and changes in their industry I would encourage you to read the article, "Plummeting Newspaper Ad Revenue Sparks new Wave of Changes."
These traditional media organizations, newspapers being a major component, missed it... they missed the Internet Revolution and the Digital Economy. They were so powerful and consumed with their own success and domination that they missed the Tsunami headed to shore that was going to change their world forever. And if you need a quick refresher... think of Craigslist... the first "shot across the bow" that literally wiped out their stalwart of classified advertising. They never recovered from this and never attempted to change their model to compete with Craigslist... they missed it.
I could go on and on about how they missed many other aspects relating to their industry but that is not the point I want to make... or the opportunity that is present today for EVERY BUSINESS LEADER. I want to talk about HOW THEY COULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS FROM HAPPENING so we can all learn from each other's mistakes and apply them to your industry.
I want to answer the question, "WHY DIDN'T THEY SEE THIS COMING... THEIR CUSTOMERS WERE TELLING THEM WITH THEIR ACTIONS."
These changes didn't happen overnight. Granted, they happened faster than any other time in our history but they weren't instant. There were plenty of warning signs from their customers... their subscribers, advertisers, and readers... that could have guided them out of the cave. Customers were telling them how they wanted something more effective, less expensive, and easier to use.
Back to Craigslist for an example... it was a great model they could have overcome and become a leader in if they had been more "outwardly focused" rather than "inwardly focused." They missed it. When Craigslist entered the market it was new and innovative... a Blue Ocean strategy for a fat and overpriced service called classified ads. I know, I placed many of them in my day and couldn't believe how much I had to pay for minimal results. It was a bloated system designed to make newspapers very rich.
And just like all the other models that come along and blew up a bloated industry (think of Uber, AirBnB, Amazon, Zappos, etc.) they became successful because the incumbent's didn't want to change their model... it was their "cash cow" at the time and they made billions. They had all the power because they had the audience... the CUSTOMERS. They could have adopted more of a Craigslist model and stopped Craigslist in its tracks... but they didn't. They thought because of their power in the market they could dictate what the customer should get... remember Henry Ford when he only wanted to offer black cars?
If they had actually LISTENED TO THEIR CUSTOMERS and realized their true wants and needs... to sell their stuff in less time and less money... they could have owned this market and created an entirely new revenue stream. They missed it because they didn't listen to their customers and come up with a plan to give them something of great value. The only wanted to offer it in black.
They also missed that the CUSTOMER WAS IN TOTAL CONTROL of the purchasing decisions. With the switch from the Industrial Revolution to the Internet Revolution, customers had many more choices and could now vote (with their wallets) which one(s) they wanted to support. They chose Craigslist because there was no competitive alternative from the newspapers. The newspapers customers left. They went to a better model... one that gave them what they were screaming for... efficiency, time, and cost.
The newspapers must still be in denial today because they still don't have an offering to compete effectively with Craigslist. But as the saying goes, "the cows have left the barn" so their opportunity is gone. They missed it.
THIS WAS A CUSTOMER ISSUE... IF THEY WERE LISTENING TO AND IN TUNE WITH WHAT WOULD HELP THEIR CUSTOMERS LIVES THEY COULD HAVE CHANGED.
Now I would ask you to think about this with regard to your own business... your own industry... your own customers. What is it in your industry that is "fat and bloated with margin" and not giving your customers what they truly want at a reasonable price? I believe there are opportunities to identify this in virtually every industry. What exists in what you do or provide to your customers they would love to see changed? What could be changed in your business which would actually help your customers lives (or businesses) improve? What could you offer that would be more efficient and/or less costly?
And what could you change in your CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE which would blow your customers mind in how much you cared about them and demonstrated how much you cared about improving their lives (or business)? What are these? If you don't know, it's time to find out... because they are there. If you don't believe the opportunity is there and there is nothing you can do, go back up to the top of this post and reread the case study on Craigslist... there is always an opportunity.
THIS IS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR EVERY BUSINESS LEADER TODAY... identify the areas by finding out from your customers what would improve their life significantly if you could change it. Be bold... be open minded... be creative... and encourage this feedback from your customers. If you do this... constantly... they will actually see you truly care and maybe, just maybe, start telling you something they aren't telling anyone else (including your competitors).
When this happens, you all but eliminate the danger of becoming the "newspaper in your industry" and it opens the door to become the "Craigslist in your industry." This is where future minded business leaders want to go... now you have the insight to get there. Are you up for the challenge?

If you found this helpful, please share it with your friends so they can also learn from the material. It not only means a lot to me but it helps other people see the story. And if this resonated with you, please visit my http://www.WOM10.com site and read more posts like this one.
We used to get excited about moving our companies from being GOOD to being GREAT... but today, being GREAT isn't good enough... it's a commodity. Today, if you aren't on a path to move your company from being GREAT to being REMARKABLE and MEMORABLE, you don't get talked about.
My PASSION and MISSION is to help INSPIRE, GUIDE, and HELP you move your company from being GREAT to being REMARKABLE... and create Word-of-Mouth on STEROIDS so you get talked about... a lot.
I have a model that helps get you to REMARKABLE. In the core of the model is creating unbelievably incredible amazing and awesome Customer Experiences... you can learn about it in my book, "Creating and Delivering Totally Awesome Customer Experiences." With this as a foundation, you are well on your way to being REMARKABLE.
I get to SPEAK about it, WRITE/BLOG about it, and HELP leaders understand it, aspire to it, and achieve it. There are four key components to help get you to being REMARKABLE... getting talked about in the market... and ultimately letting your CUSTOMERS DO YOUR MARKETING FOR YOU.
Are you ready to become REMARKABLE? Shoot me a message... we'll have an awesome conversation!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9558428

Can Your Company Grow?

If the economic climate seems to be shifting in a way that would suggest now is the time to grow your operation, and you decide to bring down the checkered flag and announce growth plans for your company, can your company execute on that strategy?
I ask not because your people don't desire to grow, but whether they have the necessary skills to make things happen. Is your talent development strategy been one that has regularly been building the competencies people need to perform their current jobs, and does it allow for rapid deployment for growth challenges?
First and foremost, if your training function has been reactive and running programs just to keep the lights on in the training room, you will have problems growing. If your training department operates without a training plan that models the strategy of the company, you have a weak learning organization that will prevent your ability to grow.
The Training Physical: Diagnose, Treat and Cure Your Training Department
So if the health of your training function is in doubt, start by evaluating what is working and what is missing in a functional training department that returns on the current investment. Do not proceed to allocating any additional money to this function until you know how it is working today.
Pointless Training: The Consequences of Inadequate Training Strategies
In the process of your evaluation, take note of the current training strategies and whether they are working for your adult learners. And, are you training everything that your employees need to perform their jobs well? I cannot stress enough that you want to look at what your employees need, not every skill known to man that could be trained. During this process you just may find you are training unnecessary skills just because "we have always done it that way."
In all of the years I've been working with organizations that want to rebuild their learning functions, I have never found a lack of will. People want to provide quality training, and they have the right heart and spirit to work hard to make it happen. What they often lack is the knowledge of how to provide good training and learning transfer.
For companies that simply have not had a learning function, and see no value, there is not much to be done. Oh sure, you can preach the good news of learning, but your audience has no desire to hear your message. I have made it a personal hobby to keep track of these companies, and over time they simply disappear.
You see there is a basic similarity in every company. They all need human beings to make them function. Granted, not every task is performed by a human these days, but no company is without the human element. It boggles my mind when I see a company trying to survive, let alone grow, without training employees. Management in these organizations is focused only on the bottom line, and if someone can't do the job they are fired and replaced. This process of firing and replacing goes on until the right person is found. Sadly this leadership style is prevalent and is why I see the lack of training in a company as a key indicator for applicants to consider before accepting an employment offer.
So if your company wants to open another location, hire more employees, acquire a competitor, ask yourself if your training function can facilitate this transaction. Do they have processes in place to train quickly and just the missing skills needed. Training an acquired competitor is different from a new hire with very different learning strategies. Does your training leadership know how to do what you need to grow?
Before you can take advantage of a shifting economy, I beg you to check in with the folks that can make your goals come true, or because they are not ready completely screw up your plans. Remember, they want to help you succeed, but they may not know how.

Improve Your Business Skills With NLP

Feel like you have run out of ideas at work? Do you think that you are unable to convey your thoughts to your colleagues? Well, maybe you have to approach work in a different manner. You have to see things from a different perspective. This is where the concept of Neuro Linguistic Programming comes into play. NLP is a unique approach to business which has the capability of boosting a business greatly if implemented in the correct manner. NLP was the brainchild of John Grinder and Richard Bandler in the early 1970s. Though an uncommon take on business, companies, these days, are starting to offer NLP Courses and NLP Training to their employees. Few big companies such as British Gas, Bupa and Virgin have successfully implemented the concept of NLP in their businesses.
At this point, the question that pops into most of our minds is- What exactly is Neuro Linguistic Programming? To begin with, NLP can be defined as a tool to connect neurology, language and programming. So basically, NLP defines the basic dynamics between the mind and language and how the two affect our body and behavior. NLP takes into account everyday things that we think are trivial. What most NLP training programs teach is a more effective way of communication of a message. NLP also explains the impact of body language on the delivery of a message. Hence, NLP has the capability of improving your performance when working with a group of people. Thus, NLP is an effective practice in places like offices and businesses.
Few ways in which NLP helps in improving business skills
1. Communication with fellow workers
NLP helps in improving communication skills and hence assists in getting your message through exactly the way you want it to be projected. Improved communication skills amongst employees will boost the performance of everyone. NLP also teaches you how to tune your senses fine and be more sensitive to the feeling of your workmates.
2. Self-confidence and presence
NLP, when implemented with the right technique, can boost confidence immensely. A person with high confidence can be clear as to what he or she wants and what matters.
3. Leadership
A good communicator can take command of things. With good communication skills, a person can make people around them feel more at ease and happy. Good communication can make people feel valued hence motivating them and boosting their productivity.
4. Sales and negotiations
A person who has mastered the technique, has the ability to convince and win the trust of a particular client he/she is doing business with. This is because good communication skills can help in putting your vision, objectives, demands and plan of action to your business partner.
5. Presentations and Public Speaking
The practitioners have high levels of confidence and great communication skills-Two of the most important traits required while delivering a presentation or speech. The quality and the impact of a presentation is greatly improved with the right body language and appropriate use of words.
6. Self-Motivation
An NLP trained person always concentrates on getting the job done. Procrastination is not a word in their dictionary. Neuro-Linguistic Programming has the ability to inculcate the sense of self-motivation in a person; Motivation is contagious, and hence a self-motivated person has the ability to motivate his/her co-workers thus boosting the efficiency of the whole unit.
Conclusion
Though NLP Training has been discredited by science, it is pretty clear that people with NLP skills perform better at work than those who do not possess these skills. Thus, if a person is looking for a different approach to work, NLP must be something to be considered and practiced by him/her.

NLP Courses and NLP Training

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9543913

21 Top Marketing Mistakes Small Business Owners Make

The analogy between marketing and a business is similar to the relationship of body and food. Marketing is the heart of the business. Every business is different so each business has to offer marketing and development, which fits each unique business's need. There are many ways of developing and marketing for any business, but first let's find the true concept and definition of marketing.
Marketing definition:
"Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large".
1- Thinking advertising is marketing:
The biggest mistake most of the business owners make is to think advertising and spending money is the only marketing way exist. This group only focuses on advertising, which when the desire result is not achieved at the end of the month, they complain of how much money they wasted away. Advertisement is merely one of many ways of marketing.
2- You don't enjoy what you do:
As stated above Marketing has many ways and approaches. The main marketing for your business is to love what you do. Nothing is better than your "Love what you do" attitude since it brings out your creativity, shows your talent and tells everyone how devoted you are to your business. Your daily positive attitude defines the successful future of your business. The love of your business construe in your daily interaction with new clients, employee's moral and making important and effective marketing decisions. To be a good marketer for your business, first rule is your love for what you do.
3- Don't have a good business plan:
What is business plan?
"A written document describing the nature of the business, the sales and marketing strategy, and the financial background, and containing a projected profit and loss statement".
Having a business plan is like having a map. Many businesses start their business ignoring this very effective tool and get lost in the middle of the road. Every business plan states the exact details of the business's concept and outlines clearly the marketing strategies, profit and loss, demographic, place of business, finances and targeted niche market. In order to make a solid business plan:
A) Know your business inside and out
Knowledge of your business is important to know the answer to all the categories of business plan. If you do not know the concept of your product or service, business plan and the pillar of your business does not exist.
B) Study, analyze and scrutinize
When you know the back and forth of every detail in your business, you can access all the required information needed to project your business in a business plan. In order to access all this information you need to study, analyze and scrutinize every file and information in libraries, city records and valid informative site on the Internet.
C) Print it and have it accessible
When you put all the info together and created your fully detailed business plan, print a copy and keep a file handy and accessible.
Your projected analysis for the business works as a map to your success. Don't drive to an unknown destination, not having a map on hand.
4- Don't have any plans:
Marketing and developing its strategy is vital for every business. Marketing works as fertilizer to boost the lawn of your business. Even more importantly, marketing acts like sun to shed light and direction to your business for finding leads for the potential clients. Marketing is like having your open sign on in the dark street. I think I emphasized enough and you understood how important marketing is for any business, small or large.
5- Not analyzing the market for correct pricing.
Every business offers products or services. Then producing and providing the products and services involves certain cost and fees. Setting the price according to the market is very important and cause for a major failure for small businesses if done without market awareness. The root and source to find a perfect price is your business plan. It is necessary for every small business owner to investigate:
A) The demographic income of the targeted niche and audience:
The business plan states the average income of the targeted audience and the niche market. Set prices based on the factual statistic and spending ability of potential clients.
B) Market needs and economy balance:
An involved business owner is always aware of the market needs and the economy balance. Based on your niche market, be on top of the factors of change in economy that can impact your client's ability to spend. If you deal with bankers and investors, keep up with stock market news and its daily changes and adjust your prices regularly.
C) Competitive market prices:
A business person is always on a lookout for its competitors and is aware of their side of story. It is necessary to know your competitors and adjust your prices based on their offering and similar services.
D) Demand of the product or service:
Investigate the demand before putting the price tag on your product and service. You can find this information through the data in your business plan. Balance your prices based on the market demands;

• If you projecting a good volume of sale, price it lower than competitors.
• If the demand is lower and the project of volume is slow, price higher to accommodate the distance between each sale.

E) Uniqueness of the product or service:
A unique product and service in the market attracts more attention. Price it higher than other regular products.
F) Acceptable profit margin range in the area:
Profit margin's acceptability is always decided based on the market and economy as well as the market demand for the product.

• Consider a big city. If you have a product or service that is unique, but projecting a high volume of demand, based on the economy and your targeted niche, the profit margin should set higher than normal.
• In a small community, If you are investing on a product with limited demand, go conservative on your profit margin.

6- Not having any budget
Many small business owners make a big mistake and do not place any budget for daily, monthly or yearly marketing plans. Whatever the profit and loss data projects on your business, it must include certain amount of budget for marketing plans that are realistic and traceable. Unfortunately small business owners mostly have no budget and deduct the cost of marketing plans from their profit data. This particular budget assignment is very effective in the future of business growth. Increase the marketing budget with business slowly reaching the peak of demands for your product and services.
7- Spending money on non-traceable ads
As the market changes, so as the marketing plan, pricing and target audience. Invest and assign marketing plans that are traceable. Traceable marketing means follow-up charts to analyze data.
The worst mistake of marketing is to spend money on a plan that cannot be traced and measured. This marketing mistake is wasting money or in other terms is shooting in the dark.
8- Do not trace the result
Many businesses have assigned a budget for the traceable marketing plan but sadly do not follow-up on the result and do not trace it. This is just the same as spending wasteful money on non-traceable.
9- Think in a closed box:
Each business is unique. Even if the business offers a same product as other business few streets down the road, the two are still unique and different in many ways. The biggest mistake small business owners make is to follow other businesses' footsteps. Marketing and its strategies should not have any limitation. Think of marketing out side of the box and do not limit the marketing strategies to a cliché approach others do. Be creative and design a plan unique and suitable for the very business.
10- Don't know what plans to set:
Everyone is familiar with the word marketing. The first conversation when opening a new enterprise is "Lets do marketing!" But do we all really realize the core meaning of it?
I compare marketing strategies and its unique approach to our fingerprints, which is distinctive. Many understand the word marketing but are not familiar with how to set the strategy and the game planning related to the business.
It is a big mistake not knowing how to set the strategies while being fully aware of marketing important role in the business. Since setting the marketing plan requires research, analysis and knowledge of he market, hire a professional researcher and marketer to create the necessary game plan.
11- Assuming the product or service will sell itself:
One of the biggest marketing mistakes is to assume your product or service is going to sell itself. This assumption is misleadingly translating marketing into advertisement. I have met many small business owners who declared that quote-to-quote "I don't spend money on the marketing, to me I only rely on word of mouth".
Word Of Mouth is the strongest way of marketing. So what this small business owner was under impression that he does not do any marketing because he thought marketing was spending money on advertisement. So he was counting on the most effective marketing, the word of mouth. Word of mouth consists of two factors:
A) Product or service:
People have to like the product or service to continue talk about it and refer their friends.
B) Customer service
Another major difference between businesses is the level of customer service. I didn't say the level of good or bad. What I mean is each business owner or employee that has been fully trained to look after a client as a customer service has his or her own charm. This specific charisma and character make the business unique to others and is a major influence for word of mouth.
Let me give you an example of how powerful the word of mouth and spreading the word is to any business. While ago, I worked as a junior manager in an up-scale restaurant. The general manager identified his target niche as young professionals in downtown area. So he hand-picked few employees in the same age range as the targeted niche to use public transportation and talk about the restaurant among each other. His decision, although was not directly traceable, but yet had an amazing effect. How did I analyse the result and witness the proof?
The restaurant offered comment cards, asking "How you hear about us?" and many without any surprise responded via word of mouth in public transportation.
Even if the business owner is avoiding any advertisement cost, they still rely on spread of word about their service and product via the community and the word of mouth marketing.
12- Don't know the target audience:
To plan and set a marketing strategy, any small business has to have a direct target niche as an audience. Analyze everything about the niche audience. The list certainly is not limited to the audience's income, age, interest ratio to the product, sex, education, commitment ratio and their loyalty.
13- Don't know the competition:
The best way to analyze the market is to get familiar with the competition and rivals. It might sound cliché but as the Godfather movie suggested, "Keep you enemy close". Or if I may rephrase " Keep your competition close and be aware of their moves".
This is especially important for small business owners in small community to have a good relationship with other competition. To share my experience in the same restaurant I used to manage, the general manager always encouraged me to go to other local restaurants and dine. He even offered to pay the bill. All I had to do was to analyze everything from the greeting, staff knowledge, manager's presence, client's relation and the overall quality. My report helped him to understand his competition strengths and weaknesses.
14- Hiring wrong person to do marketing:
Many small business owners out of desperation and lack of networking, hire wrong people to do their marketing. As we said earlier, every business has unique offering and services so must focus on unique planning for its marketing strategies.
It is the small business owner's responsibility to hire a professional firm who can relate to the business's need and offerings.
A good reputable marketing firm whose focus is to promote books and authors in not a good fit for a small local bistro.
15- Underestimate the value of existing clients:
A good businessperson always knows the value of the existing clients;
The best way of follow-up with the existing clients is to create informative data about them. Many small business owners lack this very important source of information. To avoid this mistake, keep a record of every client's information. If the information requires certain personal data, keep it in a safe and secure place.
A client whom already has experienced your product and service knows about the quality of it. Always do follow-up calls and do not be afraid to ask how they liked the product or service. Even if the client responses back with dissatisfaction is a perfect opportunity for the business owner to fix the problem.
Gain a new customer is costly. I am gong to explain this by an example:
"Nancy enters Joe's café because of a coupon she found in a local magazine offering 10% discount. She solely relies on a menu attraction, prices, quality of the food and customer service. Joe the owner spent lots of money and time for marketing after analyzing the community needs, price affordability and the targeted niche market.
Joe has three ways to collect emails or phone calls for follow back:
A) placing a note pad in front of the cashier's desk asking new clients to write email or contact info for special promos.
B) Placing a glass bowl by the cashier's desk offering the weekly draw of free lunch from dropped business cards.
C) Offering comment cards and asking for contact info.
Joe has three ways to accumulate client's information and follow-up with them. So everyday he goes through all the information and creates a secure data.
Nancy finds the place charming and the food great but not a good customer service. It is Joe's responsibility to follow-up and gain back Nancy's business once again to avoid spending all the money and time all over to attract another new client."
Existing clients are the perfect way to promote every business. Send special offering, communicate with them and even ask them to share your business with their friends. Respect the boundary between proper communication and spamming.
16- Not offering giveaways and novelty items:
One of the most effective ways to attract clients is to giveaway your product or service for free.
A) Test run: Offer a monthly test run of your product and service and giveaway a free sampler. People love to get samplers. It gives them information about your business and its quality.
B) Propose monthly contest: Proffer a monthly contest and giveaway prizes based on participating in your business. People love contest and it excites them to know they can win something. If it didn't work, Lottery and Casinos didn't exist.
C) Give out novelties like mugs, pen, key chain, notepad, calculator, shirts and hats with the business information printed on it.
17-Wrong niche:
As a business owner recognizing correct niche market target is necessary for further marketing planning and budget assignment.
To explain this better lets picture a shoe store that carries high-end fashion shoes for women. The first thing that comes into the mind, high-end fashion niche is only younger generation and teenagers. A good business owner will explore the possibilities to analyze further more into the data from business plan to understand the local community needs.
If selling high-end, then its higher quality and higher prices. A teenager on a student living budget cannot be a direct and only target niche. So the correct niche is a professional and higher income spender who is more interested in quality without considering the price tag.
This example clears how a business owner distinguishes the certain target audience by analyzing the local market data from business plan. With enough knowledge in market research, the business owner avoids wasting the marketing budget on a wrong niche.
18-Not participating in community:
"Every big things has small beginning"
Regardless of the geographical target of any business, whether global or corner store in a small village, it all begins with local community.
Who are the first people you would share news with in your everyday life? Family and friends are the strongest link to marketing and spreading the word. It starts from friends and family and spreads to their friends and family and before you know it, is a snowball effect and cumulative.
The local community is the test run before spending a time and money on a dead-end marketing plan.
19- Do not own an informative and representative website:
Internet plays a great deal of connection in people's life everyday. Many customers use the Internet to search and review local businesses. No matter what kind of business, it requires an informative and user-friendly website. A good business website is a gateway that welcomes customers to enter and experience the business offering.
Many small business owners making mistake and assume their line of business does not need a website. With daily development of technology, people get more connected via Internet and do their shopping online. Search engines get stronger everyday by developing codes and programs to bring up the exact and precise inquiry.
20- Do not appreciate the value of the Internet:
With a vastly growing competition on the Internet and the increase in demand for business development, simply having a website that offer information is not enough. Popular search engines are only producing websites in their search result, which have better ranking. Many small business owners simply making a big mistake by avoiding the presence on the Internet and ignore the growing highway to success. Every business must have an informative website and optimizes the business on search engines, social media and popular relevant forums. This subject of Internet marketing and its highly effective marketing plans is a lot of subject to cover in this article.
21- Expecting too much in short time:
Do not expect too much in a short time. There is always cause and effect but it requires proper time period to produce best effect. A seed needs time to open the surface and grow to a strong tree. But it requires water and good fertilization. Marketing is the water and fertilization to the business. It takes time for a good marketing plan to spread the roots and make a strong holding ground.
"Rome was not built in a day"
It took generations and much hard work of skilled engineers, planning and proper budgeting to build the mega city of Rome.
Can you hold a roof without building the pillars and the walls?
Marketing is the pillar of the business. Without marketing and planning, business lacks a foundation.
Many business owners place the marketing and development in their last page when the business opens its door to the public. Marketing starts when the business idea takes shape. It begins before the business is even called a business. Avoid making marketing mistake and start your marketing with knowledge and strategy.
Marketing is the heart of every business and keeps the health of the company in balance. But treat the heart right. Eating healthy, exercise and lack of stress are keeping the heart healthy to beat the life into our body. Practicing and implementing the right marketing strategies keep the business in shape. Don't make mistake if you had a good run. Many small business owners get too excited for this temporary beat of recognition and look at it as everlasting. To keep a good balance in business, marketing and planning should match the flow of the business. Increase your strategies as your business grows and increases.
Marketing is the pillar of every business and is the only foundation to go further, faster. Imagine a boat with no engine crossing the Atlantic. The marketing to a business resembles the engine to a boat. The planning and strategy of the marketing to the business is the safety gear of the boat that keeps it balance and not to tip over.

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Online Business Marketing: How to Deal With Angry Customers Online

In this Article:

• The Importance of Knowing your Core Business Values
• Realize that You May Not Have all the Answers-and that's OK!
• Finding Unhappy Customers Online

Worldwide Exposure. As an online business marketing on the internet that's what we go for, right? But, it's also what a lot of online businesses dread as they open up their businesses as free game to millions of anonymous people that are either going to love you or hate you. We all love the ones that love us, that's easy. But what about the ones that "hate" us? How do you deal with angry customers online? How do you deal with the haters, that aren't your customers but for some reason seem Hell bent on the demise of your business? Here are a few simple tips to seduce your haters.
"You attend to their issues as rapidly and transparently as possible. And here's what happens: the squeaky wheel is not only silenced but seduced..."-Bob Garfield
Don't ignore them and hope they will go away.
Now, by saying this I'm not suggesting that you try to please everyone. Taking a cue from a little something that Bill Cosby once said, If you try to please everyone in your business you'll end up pleasing (and serving) nobody.
Smart online business marketing starts with understanding the core value and core mission of your product and service. Yes, you will tweak some of your products along the way, make improvements, present them in a better way, repurpose your content, and incorporate new information that is aligned with those core values. But the foundation of your business, the stuff that you are building your empire on, shouldn't change.
So deal with an angry customer, hater, or squeaky wheel. If you are honest and have been transparent with the intentions of your business, then there is no reason to hide.
Is your Online Business Marketing Content Confusing?
First, take out your ego, pride and hurt and decide if there is some validity to what the angry customer is saying. Most of the time, their hatred stems not from any personal feelings toward you but instead from frustrations over a transaction that didn't go as planned. Other times they may have had expectations of one thing and then received another. In both of these cases, figure out if you need to make any adjustments to your online marketing. Is the content confusing? Could you explain things in a different manner? One good rule of thumb is to always try to under-promise and over-deliver.
"In a transparent world, engaging an unhappy customer has a twofold win. You get to learn from the critic with a megaphone and you get to turn a foe into a friend." - Steven Rosenbaum "Curation Nation"
Be Transparent - If you Don't Have the Answer, say so!
There will be times when you can't answer or solve the angry customer's problem. That's okay! If you are like most entrepreneurs you are curious, and you like to solve problems. So their frustrations may just be an opportunity for you to create a solution, create a product to sell, and then actually profit from their anger by providing a benefit or solution for other customers with that same concern. You turn their anger into a solution! You can tell them, "I don't have an answer for that right now. But I appreciate you bringing it to my attention. If I'm able to come up with a solution that might help you, I'll be sure to let you know!"
Now - here's a tip: If you keep getting the same frustrations over and over from various clients - happy and unhappy - then you know that there's an audience for that particular solution! Develop a product to sell that addresses their problem...cha ching!
Deal with Angry Customers on the Same Platform
If an unhappy customer is talking about you on Facebook, then be sure your response can be found on Facebook; if it's YouTube then a video response may be a good angle, if they have a blog, then comment on their blog. The goal here is to acknowledge them...often people just want to be heard.
Don't deny, deflect or quash. In today's online business world that's not very effective. Acknowledge them, but don't feel as if you have to fuel any continuing ill feelings. You don't have to continue to engage with them if they truly are just mean-spirited. That's a waste of your energy and time.
How to Find Unhappy Customers
Now, notice I didn't say how to find unhappy people...that's easy enough! I'm talking about finding the discussions that involve your company - the positive and the negative. If you haven't set up alerts yet through a system such as Google Alerts, then you should do that. This will tell you anytime someone mentions your company name. You want to monitor the chatter and stay in the loop about what your customers are saying.
And remember - when someone says something Awesome about you...be sure to acknowledge that as well! It's a funny thing, but people that have a negative point to make seem to have a lot more time for "hate mail" than those that are genuinely happy. So when those happy people take the time to give you a thumbs up for what your business does, then be sure that you are taking the time to thank them.
It's just a good way to handle angry customers, happy customers, and your online business marketing success!
Until next time...Dawn

Content Marketing is not something that you just do once and then forget about. Online Business Success comes when you do the right things in your business, consistently. To learn what to do and HOW to do it without losing your mind...click through here and subscribe for the most important market updates: http://www.yourresearchdiva.com/content-marketing Dawn Damico has become the content marketing "secret weapon" for her clients as she consistently and quietly just gets things done!

5 Tips For Dealing With Stress When Trying to Make Money Online

If you have ever tried or are currently in the process of trying to make money online you know how stressful it can become. Stress not only can be the reason why you fail at making money online it can also be damaging to your health. This is why you really need to know how to deal with your stress. In this article I will be giving you 5 tips that you can use to help you deal with your stress that may come from trying to make money online.
1. Get Away from it. Sometimes you just need to shutdown and just get away from it all. Depending on how you personally are feeling you might only need to get away for a day or two. Sometimes it may be wise to get a way for an entire week. Getting away will allow you to clear your mind and come back to efforts with a refreshed out look on what you are doing. When you are away make sure that you do things that have nothing to do with the computer or making money online. Just get completely away for a bit.
2. You may need to cut back on what you are doing when trying to make money online. Sometimes having to many things to do can cause some unwanted stress. Cutting back may slow your progress to slow up a bit but it will reduce your stress and improve your overall production in the long run.
3. Focus on one thing at a time. I know from personal experience that trying to do to many different things at once can be very damaging to you and your results. Take on and complete one task at a time. Doing this will reduce your stress levels and once again allow you to do quality work.
4. You may want to look into outsourcing. I know when first starting trying to make money online you are all about making money not spending it, but you would be surprised to find out how many tasks that you can get done for you at a very reasonable price. Having someone else take care of some of your annoying little jibs can definitely relieve some stress. There are many places that you can go online to find people that are eager to do jobs for you. You can do a Google search for "outsourcing companies" or "freelancers". Doing this will give you lot of options.
5. Setting obtainable goals. I see so many people set goals that are practically impossible to achieve and then as time goes on they become more and more stressed because there goals are not being met. Before you set any goals you should make sure that you know where you are at skill wise and effort wise. Do not make goals for yourself that you already know that you won't be able to achieve in the time frame that you given yourself.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2543586

How Concentration Can Bring You Wealth

Pick up a magnifying glass and bring it outside. Then find a small stick and hold the glass over the stick for at least a few minutes. In a little while you see that the rays of the sun being concentrated in time begin to light the little stick on fire.
Just as it is for the rays of the sun when concentrated to strike fire to a given area,just so the rays of your mind can be concentrated to bring unlimited amounts of wealth into your life.
Micheal Jordan he is the greatest basketball player of all time. However, at some point in time he wasn't. Funny and impossible as it seems Micheal Jordan actually didn't even make his junior varsity team.
Micheal Jordan was a good player but didn't become Micheal Jordan until he began to concentrate all his mental energies toward playing the game of basketball.
It all changed when he began to eat, sleep, live basketball. All of his thoughts pertained to basketball and so did his actions. He was the first to arrive to practice and the last to leave. He spent hours and hours looking over game film and even began to lift weights so that his body would be in the best shape possible to play basketball. Basketball had taken over his mind and the results were something we have never seen before and are likely to never see ever again.
The billionaire Mark Cuban said it as well that " the sport of making money was played for 24 hours 7 days 365 days a year, and here lies the secret to the creation of his enormous wealth.
Thomas Edison who was arguably the world's greatest inventor had a mind that was so immersed into his work that he would think of nothing else. When Edison was trying to invent the light-bulb he would decided that nothing outside of achieving that goal was worth his time. He decided that if he did not find out how to make the light-bulb then he would do nothing else and that is history.
Even many of you who have entered into colleges and universities understand the power of concentration. I can remember committing social suicide day 1 of college. You no longer have a life,you no longer have any interests and you no longer have any friends (it seems). It's like you are in class all day long and when you get home, all you are doing is homework. Yeah I know it sucks but it is the way to have success in your studies.
I'm not telling you that you need to be one of the worlds greatest people and devote your every moment to making money or some special project. However, I am telling you of a secret that great men have used to achieve their goals in life. A secret that you too can use in your life to achieve your financial goals.

http://www.lmnworld.com/Makemoneynow/