When it comes to real estate, there are four major ways to invest. The first is residential fix-and-flipping for hands-on short-term investors. The second is residential rental properties for long-term buy-and-hold investors. The third is commercial real estate ownership for experienced commercial real estate investors. The fourth is real estate crowdfunding platforms for hand-off accredited… The post How to Invest In Real Estate: 4 Options for Real Estate Investing appeared first on . from http://fitsmallbusiness.com/real-estate-investing/
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I’ve found that people who want to start a business often don’t have the first idea about what that really entails. Once they do launch a company, they’re often surprised at how real and often stressful it is to be an entrepreneur. Here are a few of the things I’d say might surprise you. Heads up!
It’s one thing when a subpar employee quits, but what about when the one you’ve come to rely on the most puts in her notice? There’s nothing more heartbreaking. It’s easy to take it personally; after all, why is she leaving? You thought you’d bonded, and now she tells you she’s taking a better-paying job somewhere else. It’s important to get into the mindset that no employee, good or bad, will stick around forever. Each has her own professional and personal goals, and you can’t stand in the way of that. Just shake it off and always know you next hire for each key position.
I know running a business sounds fun to you, but in reality, it’s often very lonely. At first, you may not know other business owners to talk to about your problems and questions. You’ll start to notice friends who still work in corporate understand you a lot less. If you work at home, there’s no one to gossip with. Especially when things are tough, isolation can be daunting. Join a networking group or business association to get yourself a new circle of friends.
I know a lot of entrepreneurs who, early on, would take everything personally. A new client left them. They’d decide it was because they sucked. They got beat out by a competitor for a new contract, and decided anyone from the competitor was an arch enemy. But the truth is, none of this is personal. It’s just business. Try to take the emotion out of business issues. You can never blame someone or client for doing what’s in their own best interest. It takes a tough skin to be in business, but it gets easier over time.
Especially early on in business, it’s sometimes necessary to take on work that maybe isn’t your ideal, or that pays less than you want to accept. Just do it. It’s not forever. You have to get your foothold in your industry, and sometimes that means saying yes when you don’t want to. But that’s okay because…you won’t be a new business for forever.
Once you pass the point of having to say yes, you get the freedom of saying no. As soon as you can turn down business that doesn’t fit your niche. And you’ll find that the more you focus on your area of expertise, the more of that kind of business you will attract. And you’ll be able to charge more as a specialist.
We hear the advice “pay yourself first” in business, and while in theory that’s a great tip, it’s not always possible. When you have employees and vendors to pay, your own paycheck sometimes gets pushed to the back of the line. It’s never fun, but hopefully it’s a temporary problem. After a few years if it keeps happening you might need to reconsider your business model or pricing structure.
If you envisioned running your own business so that you could spend more time with your family, I’m here to tell you: that probably ain’t going to happen. Most business owners put in 60-70 hours a week in the early years. Sometimes after you’ve established your business it gets a little easier, but you really have to prioritize building a team around you, so that you can take time off.
Accounting, marketing, writing…even if you outsource some of these tasks, you still need to be well-versed in them so you know what to tell others to do for you (and can ensure they’re doing a good job). While you don’t need an MBA to run a business, having general business knowledge will take you further.
Running a business will show you what you’re made of. It will exhaust you, frustrate you, and make you want to give up. But you must to find ways to stay calm under pressure. Pray to start your day, so you can level set. Schedule a walk to clear your head. Work out at a gym to burn off stress, sometimes it helps just to go the gym to get out of your office. You can start running, doing yoga and meditation and deep breathing really does help too.
If you have kids, you know that while they can sometimes sap your energy like nobody’s business, they also fill your heart in a way nothing else can. Your business is the same. All the blood, sweat, and tears are worth it when you look around and realized you created a thriving business. If you’re considering starting a business, go into it aware that it’s not glamorous. You will be put to the task of giving your business everything you have, and you are in no way guaranteed success. Instead, you keep plugging away, hoping to break even. If you can handle anything your business with throw at you, and you’ll learn to duck. The post 10 Things That Will Surprise You About Running a Business appeared first on Succeed As Your Own Boss. from http://succeedasyourownboss.com/10-things-will-surprise-running-business/ Life insurance pays a lump sum of money in the event of death to the designated beneficiary. As an employer, life insurance is an inexpensive and easy benefit to offer to your employees, and it can mean a lot to your employees if many of them have families or children. In this article, we will… The post How To Offer Life Insurance As An Employee Benefit appeared first on . from http://fitsmallbusiness.com/how-to-offer-life-insurance/ Deciding to handle order fulfillment yourself, use a fulfillment warehouse, or a manage a mix of fulfillment solutions is one of the biggest decisions an online store owner will make. If you’re trying to decide how handle fulfillment for your online business, learning what works for other sellers, and why, can help you make the… The post How 25 Businesses Manage Ecommerce Order Fulfillment appeared first on . from http://fitsmallbusiness.com/manage-ecommerce-order-fulfillment/ What is Square? Square is an easy-to-use credit card processing system and the most feature-rich free Point of Sale (POS) system on the market today. Unlike many other point of sale systems, Square does not charge any monthly fees. As a result, this is an extraordinary deal for small business merchants. In this article we will… The post What is Square? Why Small Businesses Love It appeared first on . from http://fitsmallbusiness.com/what-is-square/ Opening a restaurant is all about location, location, location. However, not every restaurant is suitable for every location, and vice versa. It comes down to a combination of restaurant concept and ideal customer. If you can define your restaurant type and identify your target demographic and its most populated areas, you’ll be well on your… The post How To Choose the Best Restaurant Location appeared first on . from http://fitsmallbusiness.com/choose-a-restaurant-location/ Opening a restaurant is all about location, location, location. However, not every restaurant is suitable for every location, and vice versa. It comes down to a combination of restaurant concept and ideal customer. If you can define your restaurant type and identify your target demographic and its most populated areas, you’ll be well on your… The post How to Choose the Best Restaurant Location for Your Business appeared first on . from http://fitsmallbusiness.com/best-restaurant-location/ Federal labor laws are the broad term for the laws that US businesses with employees must follow. Many federal labor laws apply to certain sizes of companies only, such as those with 15 employees or more. However, it is recommended that small business owners do their best to follow federal labor laws, regardless of size,… The post Federal Labor Laws Every Small Business Should Know appeared first on . from http://fitsmallbusiness.com/federal-labor-laws/ A corporate credit card policy is a document that explains the usage, eligibility, and requirements of a company credit card. A corporate credit card policy is an internal agreement between an employer and its employees, and it outlines the acceptable and unacceptable use of corporate credit cards. Corporate credit card policies contain such things as… The post How to Create an Internal Corporate Credit Card Policy Agreement appeared first on . from http://fitsmallbusiness.com/corporate-credit-card-policy/ Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9 pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Susan Solovic @susansolovic. Susan Solovic is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com top 100 and USA Today bestselling author, media personality, sought-after keynote speaker, and attorney.
Susan Solovic: I’m positive about what the future holds for small business growth. We’ve seen that number of start-ups decrease over the past several years and that’s not good for the economy. Now that small business optimism and consumer confidence is up, I am confident we’ll see a surge in entrepreneurship. Additionally, many jobs are being replaced with technology so more and more people are going to need to rely on their own abilities to make a living. This is the beginning of the age of the entrepreneur in my opinion. SmallBizLady: YOU HAVE A NEW BOOK BEING A PUBLISHED SOON. TELL US ABOUT IT? Susan Solovic: It’s called “The One Percent Edge Small Changes that Guarantee Relevance and Build Sustainable Success.” I’ve studied small businesses for decades and I’ve started and built successful companies myself. In the past, we’ve talked about the steps it takes to build success, but today that’s not enough. You can be successful today and out of business tomorrow because the market is changing so fast. So I’ve developed a process which helps businesses of all sizes build innovation into their DNA. What works today won’t work tomorrow. You need to be agile, flexible and able to manage your business in real time. Businesses that employ this process will be able to create a competitive edge and enhance their ability to remain relevant to the market. SmallBizLady: CAN YOU SHARE SOME EXAMPLES OF BUSINESSES WHO HAVE MISSED THAT MARK BECAUSE THEY FAILED TO BE INNOVATIVE? Susan Solovic: There are many. That’s why only 71 of the original Fortune 500 companies exist today. Think about some of the brands you’ve known in recent years that have virtually disappeared: Linens and Things, Circuit City and Radio Shack. Business leaders marry their products and business operations. As a result, they fail to recognize market shifts. When they wake up, it’s frequently too late. Fewer than 10% of businesses are able to turn the tide once they recognize they have missed the boat so to speak. SmallBizLady: THAT’S VERY INTERESTING. I SEE WHY IT’S IMPORTANT FOR BUSINESSES TO BE CONSTANTLY INNOVATING, BUT HOW DO YOU INCORPORATE THAT IN YOUR BUSINESS WHEN YOU’RE BUSY RUNNING DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS? Susan Solovic: That’s why I developed this THE One Percent Edge Process. Businesses don’t need to make radical, disruptive changes. They need a process by which they are continually making small enhancements in every aspect of their business; their product/service; and their people, process, technology, finances and marketing. SmallBizLady: WE ALWAYS TALK ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT PEOPLE ARE WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION. IS THAT TRUE FOR A COMPANY THAT IS TRYING TO CREATE A SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE EDGE? Susan Solovic: Absolutely. You can have the most innovative product/service offering in the market, but if you don’t have the right people to execute your plan, then you will have difficulty building your success. Furthermore, without the right people who are innovative and creative, you will wind up with the same old strategies. SmallBizLady: HOW DO YOU ATTRACT THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR YOUR TEAM? Susan Solovic: Your existing employees are your best recruiters. You need to create an employment brand as a place where people want to work. Employees feel respected and empowered. Reward them for their contributions and give them an opportunity to be part of the vision. No micromanaging. And real-time feedback is important. Your team wants to know how they are doing. The annual performance review is a thing of the past. SmallBizLady: HOW DOES MARKETING FACTOR INTO A COMPANY’S ABILITY TO BUILD AN EDGE IN THE MARKET? Susan Solovic: Communicating your value proposition is critical to create a competitive edge. However, it’s equally important to be able to engage your market in an authentic conversation. In today’s market you can’t “sell” anything, but you can be a partner and a problem-solver. SmallBizLady: HOW DOES HAVING DIFFERENT GENERATIONAL CUSTOMERS AND CLIENTS HELP BUSINESSES DEVELOP A COMPETITIVE EDGE? Susan Solovic: It’s an on-going saga – Baby Boomers vs. Millennials. The two groups seem to be very diverse and unable to work together. A business with the edge, however, understands that each of these groups brings something important to the table. Just as it’s important to have gender, race and ethnic diversity, generational diversity is important, too. SmallBizLady: HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO ENHANCE YOUR PRODUCT OFFERING? Susan Solovic: The reason businesses struggle and risk becoming irrelevant is because they do the same thing everyone else does. A business with the one percent edge has a product offering with just a noticeable difference. As Jerry Garcia once said, “It’s not enough to be the best at what you do. You must be perceived as the only one who does what you do.” SmallBizLady: DO YOU NEED TO APPLY THIS TYPE OF ANALYSIS TO EVERYTHING YOU DO IN YOUR BUSINESS? Susan Solovic: Every aspect of your business is dependent on the other areas. You know your company is only as strong as the weakest link, so it’s important to build a culture of innovation that resonates throughout your organization. SmallBizLady: DOES YOUR PROCESS APPLY TO BUSINESSES OF ALL SIZES OR DOES IT WORK BETTER FOR ONE TYPE OF BUSINESS VS. ANOTHER? Susan Solovic: Any size business can employ this strategy but the larger the company, the more difficult it is to implement. Smaller businesses are more agile and can pivot more quickly so they do have an advantage. No doubt about it. SmallBizLady: WHERE CAN PEOPLE GO TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YOU AND LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR NEW BOOK? Susan Solovic: My website: SusanSolovic.com. Or join me on Facebook or Twitter. If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9 pm ET; follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. Here’s how to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/1hZeIlz The post How to Stay Relevant and Successful in Today’s Changing Market appeared first on Succeed As Your Own Boss. from http://succeedasyourownboss.com/stay-relevant-successful-todays-changing-market/ |
AuthorHello I am Teri Crawford 26 years old living in Toronto, Canada. I have recently finished my MBA and planning to start my own business. Archives
November 2018
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