November 4th, 2018 by Admin

The season is upon us. Many take the opportunity to grow or start a business, so here are 51 quotes that can inspire entrepreneurs now.

1. “Stop telling yourself you don’t know what to do. Yes, you do. Listen to your intuition and trust yourself.”

2. “Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.” ~Seth Godin

3. “Stay Positive. Work Hard. Make it Happen”

4. “Discipline is doing what needs to be done even when you don’t want to do it.”

5. “Focus on making yourself better, not on thinking that you are better.”

6. “Entrepreneurs must be willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time.”

7. “Success is when opportunity meets preparation”

8. “Sell the problem you solve, not the product.”

9. “If size mattered, the elephant would be king of the jungle.”


10. “You attract what you are, if you want great, the be great.”

11. “A setback is a setup for a comeback”

12. “When you support a small business, you’re supporting a dream.”

13. “Big things often have small beginnings.”

14. “Look back at where you came from and let yourself feel proud about your progress.”

15. “It always seems impossible until is done.” ~Nelson Mandela

16. “Collaborate with people you can learn from” ~Pharrell

17. “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” ~Warren Buffett

18. “The road to success is always under construction” ~Lily Tomlin

19. “See the possibility, not the problem.


20. “Don’t be busy, be productive”

21. “The key to success is to start before you’re ready”

22. “Always keep your focus on success”

23. “Create a vision that makes you wanna jump out of bed in the morning.”

24. “If the plan doesn’t work change the plan, not the goal.”

25. “Fail often so you can succeed sooner.” ~Tom Kelley

26. “Be the game changer.”

27. “Quality is the best business plan”

28. “Coca-Cola sold 25 bottles in their first year- so whatever you’re going through, it’ll be ok.”

29. “If you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working for it.”


30. “Don’t deliver a product, deliver an experience.”

31. “Do something today that your future self will thank you for.”

32. “Set goals. Reach. Repeat.”

33. “Your success can inspire us all. Risk it.”

34. “What you imagine, you create”

35. “New day. New goals. More accomplishments.

36. “Dreams and dedication are a powerful combination.”

37. “If you can learn self-control, you can master anything.”

38. “Excuses will turn your dreams into dust.”

39. “Giving up is the only sure way to fail.”


40. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

41. “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

42. “The Distance between your dream and reality is called action.”

43. “Make it happen, shock everyone.”

44. “When you know clearly what you want, you’ll wake up every morning excited about life.”

45. “It all starts with a dream.”

46. “Today they call you crazy; tomorrow they will be calling you boss.”

47. “Life to your legend. Death to your fears.”

48. “Business is more exciting than any game.”

49. “Successful people rarely had an easy past.”

50. “Expect nothing but be prepared for everything.”

51. “Don’t be afraid of making big moves.”

Posted in Daily Inspiration Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 28th, 2018 by Admin

In the age where technology is practically king, and your business needs to run. We have decided to share with you, apps that can help your business today.

 

Office Suite1. OfficeSuite : Free Office + PDF Editor. OfficeSuite lets you view, edit and create in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, and perform advanced PDF operations. Many find the app easy to use while on the go; however, do keep in mind that many found a need to purchase the paid version to get the best out of it. As of this post, the app rated 4.3 stars out of 5 in GooglePlay.

 

2. Slack: This app brings your team together and maintains communication a breeze. This app helps you check off your to-do list and move your projects forward by bringing your team, conversations, tools, and information you need together. The app is great for big and small business and as of right now it rated 4.4 stars out of 5.

3. Google Drive: This app can help you manage your projects, documents, and photos with ease. Better yet, you can start working on a document from your computer and continue on the go if needed. Google Drive is a safe place for all your files and puts them within reach from any smartphone, tablet, or computer. Currently, is rated 4.4 stars out of 5.

4. Evernote: This is another note app but with more features! This app can help you jot down a few notes, create to-do lists, scan your hand-written notes, add images, web links and even audio. And best yet, this app can be accessed from your computer or on the phone making it extremely versatile. Rated 4.5 out of 5.

5. DocuSign: Save time, money and the environment with this app. Docusign allows you to send contracts to your clients while on the go. This app also complies with the e-sign act, the documents are encrypted and is ISO 27001 SSAE16 compliant. Rated 4.5 out of 5.

6. aCalendar: We love Google calendars but this app takes it to a new level of organization. It syncs your phone and Google calendar, has agenda and widget view, 48 colors per calendar, moon phases, mini month or graphical week overview in a day and week view. Currently rated 4.4 out of 5.

7. Google Ads: With a business, you got to market. Google is usually a good way to get started a managing your Google Ads from your phone is even easier. You can view your campaign’s performance when you are not near your computer and it’s free. Rated 4.3 out of 5.

 

8. Google Analytics: Google tools can be your friend and Google Analytics can help you learn how your website is performing. While on the go, this is a good app to have. It helps you see how your ad campaign is doing and what you can do to improve, for free. Rated 4.5 out of 5.

9. ZOOM Cloud Meetings: Growing your business can mean lots of meetings in your future. When you are not able to meet in person, ZOOM Cloud can help. This app brings video conferencing, online meetings and group messaging into one easy-to-use application. People can connect through the app or via computer. Rated 4.4 out of 5.

10. Mailchimp: Chances are, if you have a business you are doing e-mail marketing. Up your game with Mailchimp and manage your e-mail marketing efforts on the go. Rated 4.1 out of 5.

 

 

App images via Google Play

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 24th, 2018 by Admin

Having a product or service based business can be easily manageable when you are pricing your business correctly. But can it be done? Before processing, consider pricing.

What does that mean? Before you pick your payment processing service, consider pricing them correctly. Pricing can be tricky sometimes. If you charge too much, you might have a harder time selling your product but if you charge too little people might not honestly see the value of what you have to offer.

 

There are a certain number of things you need to consider that can make your life easier when it comes to pricing. Knowing your market can, by far, be the most important thing of all. Without knowing your market, you cannot correctly know whether your product or prices will be good.

 

Knowing your market can greatly positively impact your business. It can help you figure out anything from pricing to branding and including what you can do to grow the business. Start by building up your perfect customer or “avatar” write what your ideal client would enjoy, dislike, what age, gender (if applicable), and even area where they would live.

Once you have this, it will give you a better idea on how to price your services. Consider this:

You sell handmade bags. Although it does not take you too long now to make the bags, the materials are costly, and you need to maximize its use. Your ideal client would not hesitate in buying them, is into fashion, and although anyone can buy them, you have seen many girls ages 18-25 falling in love with them as you walk around with your bag.

 

Knowing the age group, you know how and where to market and can figure out how much are they willing to pay for your bags. You can also research how much are you competitors charging and see if you price matches, is under-priced or over-priced based on this research.

 

The next thing you need after figuring out the age and market is your materials. How much do you spend per product? You would need to consider if the price covers the cost of making it and gives you profit.

 

Having all of these factors will help you price your items correctly so that you are on your way to business success. Once all of these are set up and taken care of, then it is time to set up your account with National Transaction to have a personable and secure payment processing service to start earning on your business.

 

Posted in Small Business Improvement Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 26th, 2018 by Admin

 

Start-ups, online business and just about any business starts somewhere right? Not every business starts with a hefty amount of money and not all can afford it all. Let’s be honest, even if you did, it wouldn’t hurt getting a few things for free at the beginning.

Here are some incredibly easy (and cheap) tools to get you started:

1. SCORE: The plethora of training and resources on this website is just what any entrepreneur needs. You can also get paired up with an experienced business owner to be your mentor. Best of all it is a free service.

2. Grammarly: Writing the perfect e-mail or proposal can be a lot of pressure. Grammarly makes it simple to ensure you sound like you and your grammar is simply perfect!

3. Pixabay: If you need good quality pictures and graphics and your budget are not existent, Pixabay is the way to go. The pictures are completely free to use at any time. But if you want to help the cause, you can donate or as they say: “buy a cup of coffee” for them.

4. NTCePay.com: Take the hassle out of invoicing and getting paid. Simply sign up for NTC ePay and voila! The fees are low in comparison to other payment processing companies and the services are always personable.

5. Google Drive: If you are an Android user, Google can definitely be your friend. Not only to store documents and pictures but to write up all those important conversations. Goodbye Microsoft, hello Google.

6. TopTracker: Do you work with freelancers or are you one yourself? TopTracker can help you track the time spent on projects and can be an easy tool to help invoice your hours. Best of all, it’s free!

7. Asana: Another great tool to have whether you are a solopreneur or have a team. Asana can help you coordinate all of the work your team does and manage it well. Plus you can keep communication specifically with each project, making it easy for everyone on the team.

8. Canva: An user-friendly tool to help you create graphics and content for your social media and print work. There is no need to learn new software and this can be accessed on your computer and phone. The free version has plenty of tools to get you started.

 

As you grow your business, some of these tools do have paid versions which will allow you to grow with them without worrying about moving to a new tool.

Posted in Small Business Improvement Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

March 6th, 2014 by Elma Jane

Informative knowledge on how to manage and apply innovative cost cutting in your business.

Innovative cost cutting that yields results – small business profit margins hit a six-year high in 2013, but maitaining or widening these margins will require creative cost-cutting measures this year. Many B2B businesses are looking for imaginative ways to reduce expenses without sacrificing talent or businesses performance. Here are innovative – and pain-free – ways to trim small business expenses.

Create test run for new hires

A one-hour interview is unlikely to show whether someone will be a good hire for your small business, so consider bringing on new employees under a 60-day contract and using that time as a trial period. This can help you avoid paying for expensive benefits before you know if a staffer will be a good long-term fit.

Cut down on in-person meetings – by reducing business travel and holding more meetings via videoconferencing, you can take a big bite out of your expenses. While it may not be appropriate for every discussion, conducting virtual meetings has become an increasingly accepted practice.

Lead management software can help improve the efficiency of this process by allowing your business to track which prospects are paying attention to your messaging and then score them based on their potential. Ultimately, you want to spend the most time and money on prospects who are more likely to become repeat customers. B2B marketing firm performs regular audits of its prospects lists and segments them according to their potential value and level of responsiveness. Purging non-responders boosts the company’s sales effectiveness by focusing outreach on the smaller but critically important segment of motivated prospects.

Purge non-responders from your prospects list – wasting time targeting unresponsive prospects is a hidden cost that often goes ignored. If your business regularly sends out direct mail but a large number of the targets never respond or are duplicates it could  drive down the ROI for your campaign. You could cut mailing costs by eliminating those addresses from your list.

Work Space – Rethink. Since lease costs can be as much as 5% to 8% of sales, thinking creatively about your workspace is one of the most effective ways to cut expenses. Consider sharing extra space at your location with another business. That can mean leasing anything from a seldom-used conference room to an extra desk. Another option is using a co-working site, where businesses rent desks and space on a monthly basis. Worksite networks can be used to find these types of facilities.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Financial Services, Small Business Improvement Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,