There are various factors for Startup success which we must consider early to avoid failures. Many startups face the risk of failure due to various reasons. However, by keeping these factors in mind, entrepreneurs can significantly increase their chances of success. Starting a new small business seems exciting and full of rewards if we consider and handle the challenges associated with it properly. In this article, I’ll explore some important factors that can save startups from failure.

1. Thorough Market Research

One of the fundamental steps in launching a startup, after registering the company, is conducting thorough market research. Startup owners should understand their target audiences, analyzing competitors, and identifying market trends. These are essential aspects of the startup or business process. By gaining insights into the market, startups can make informed decisions, tailor their products or services to meet specific needs, and stay ahead of the competition. They should also be aware of the startup laws in their respective country.

2. Clear Value Proposition

A clear and compelling value proposition is crucial for any startup. This statement should communicate the unique benefits your product or service offers to customers. A strong value proposition not only attracts customers but also helps differentiate your startup in a crowded market.

3. Financial Planning

Financial planning since the inception of the business is crucial and any mismanagement during the starting and mid of business causes startup failure. Proper financial planning involves creating realistic budgets, forecasting expenses, and managing cash flow. Startup owners should know how to raise capital for the startups. They should also know startup funding stages and explore various funding options, such as loans, investors, or crowdfunding, to ensure they have the necessary resources to sustain and grow the business.

4. Scalable Business Model

A successful startup should have a scalable business model that allows for growth without compromising efficiency. Entrepreneurs should consider the long-term sustainability of their business and plan for expansion. This might involve adapting products or services, entering new markets, or exploring strategic partnerships.

5. Agility and Adaptability

The business landscape is constantly evolving, and startups must be agile and adaptable to navigate changes. Being open to feedback, continuously evaluating and adjusting strategies, and embracing innovation are vital for long-term success. Flexibility enables startups to respond to market demands and emerging trends effectively.

6. Strong Leadership and Team

Every startup faces challenges during the journey of success, a strong leadership is required to come out of these risky situations when challenges appear stronger than our efforts. Business owners can follow the teamwork tips as one of the factors for startup success. Strong leaders inspire their teams, make strategic decisions, foster a creative work culture and keep up positive work environment. Additionally, assembling a skilled and motivated team is crucial. A cohesive and talented team can overcome obstacles, contribute innovative ideas, and drive the success of the startup.

7. Customer Feedback and Iteration

Listening to customer feedback is key to refining products or services if you’re in ecommerce business. Startups should actively seek input from customers, analyze their preferences, and iterate based on the feedback received. This iterative process helps in creating a product that resonates with the target audience, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

8. Business Technology Tools to Grow

Business technology tools are helpful in saving time and money. In many businesses, POS systems and POS terminals are required which should be adapted well in advance. ERP software and CRM software should also be considered in advance if required.

Conclusion

While startups face inherent risks, considering these factors can significantly improve the chances of success. Thorough research, a clear value proposition, financial planning, scalability, adaptability, strong leadership, and customer-centric strategies are crucial elements for startup survival. By incorporating these factors into their business plans, entrepreneurs can build a solid foundation and navigate the path to success. Small business insurance is also an option to adopt to tackle and come up at any odd situations.

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In the journey of Startups and life itself, facing challenges and obstacles is inevitable. “Always be optimistic and never quit” is a powerful mantra that resonates with the idea that a positive mindset can make a significant difference in one’s ability to navigate through life’s ups and downs. The key to overcoming them lies in maintaining an optimistic outlook and refusing to give up means never quit, which brings the leadership quality to enlighten others.

The Power of Optimism

Optimism is more than just seeing the glass as half full; it’s a mindset that focuses on the possibilities rather than dwelling on setbacks. When faced with challenges, an optimistic person looks for solutions, maintains a hopeful attitude, and believes in the potential for positive outcomes. This perspective not only makes the journey more enjoyable but also boosts resilience in the face of adversity.

Benefits of an Optimistic Outlook

1. Stress Reduction

Optimistic individuals tend to handle stress more effectively. By approaching challenges with a positive mindset, they reduce the impact of stress on their mental and physical well-being.

2. Improved Mental Health

Positivity contributes to better mental health. It helps in coping with anxiety and depression, fostering a sense of emotional well-being even during tough times.

3. Enhanced Problem-Solving Skills

Optimists are proactive in finding solutions. They view problems as opportunities to learn and grow, leading to the development of effective problem-solving skills.

4. Increased Resilience

Optimism strengthens resilience – the ability to bounce back from setbacks. The combination of optimism and perseverance builds resilience. Resilient individuals are not only able to endure difficult circumstances but also to thrive and grow stronger through them. Instead of seeing failure as the end, optimists view it as a temporary setback and use it as a stepping stone for future success.

5. Positive Relationships

Optimistic individuals radiate positive energy, making them more approachable and enjoyable to be around. This positivity contributes to the development and maintenance of healthy relationships.

6. Never Quitting – The Perseverance Mindset

While optimism provides the foundation, the second part of the mantra, “never quit,” emphasizes the importance of perseverance. Life is a series of challenges, and success often requires persistence and determination.

7. Learning from Failure And Continuous Learning

Rather than viewing failure as a reason to quit, it should be seen as an opportunity to learn. Each setback provides valuable lessons that contribute to personal growth.

The mindset of never quitting is closely tied to the idea of continuous learning. Every experience, whether positive or challenging, presents an opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills.

8. Setting Realistic Goals

Setting achievable goals and working steadily towards them helps in maintaining motivation. Small victories along the way build confidence and momentum.

9. Adaptability

Life is unpredictable, and being adaptable is crucial. The ability to adjust to changing circumstances without giving up on long-term goals is a hallmark of those who never quit.

10. Seeking Support

It’s okay to ask for help. Seeking support from friends, family, or mentors can provide encouragement during challenging times.

11. Embracing Change and Growth

The mantra “always be optimistic and never quit” also encourages a mindset of embracing change and continuous growth. Optimism fosters an openness to new possibilities, and the determination never to quit propels individuals forward, even in the face of uncertainty.

12. Cultivating a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset involves seeing challenges as opportunities for development rather than as insurmountable obstacles. This mindset encourages a love for learning and a belief that abilities can be developed over time.

13. Celebrating Progress

While the ultimate goal may be significant, the journey is made up of smaller milestones. Optimists celebrate these achievements, recognizing that each step forward is a victory in itself.

Practical Tips for Living the Mantra

1. Practice Gratitude

Regularly acknowledging and appreciating the good things in your life can shift the focus away from challenges. Gratitude is the thankfulness towards whatever small or big you’ve received.

2. Surround Yourself with Positivity

Positivity breeds positivity, and surrounding oneself with uplifting influences can reinforce an optimistic outlook. Positive attitude helps in solving odd problems which can’t be resolved through clumsy minds.

3. Set Realistic Goals

Break down larger goals into smaller, manageable tasks. This not only makes the journey more achievable but also provides a sense of accomplishment along the way.

4. Learn from Setbacks

Setbacks sometimes should be tackled as an opportunity to learn from them, make positive attitude to come out of every odd situations. Whatever mistakes have been done should be avoided and should set a new path to success. Setbacks never stop you, it’s your mindset which stops you. So make a clear mindset to regularly improve you.

5. Stay Flexible

Life is always unpredictable, and the ability to adapt is important. Stay flexible in your plans, and be open to adjusting your course when necessary.

Conclusion

“Always be optimistic and never quit” encapsulates a philosophy that extends beyond facing challenges, a mindset that propels individuals towards success and fulfillment; it encompasses an approach to life characterized by resilience, adaptability, and a commitment to continuous growth. By adopting this mindset, individuals can not only navigate the complexities of life more effectively but also find fulfillment and success in their personal and professional endeavors. Remember, optimism is a choice, and perseverance is a powerful force that propels individuals towards their dreams and aspirations.

If you are an entrepreneur and starting a profitable eCommerce business then you need to decide your niche of products first. Now a days, eCommerce has become a common name to all and it has proved driving force in the global economy in providing employment and services. The convenience of online shopping, combined with a vast customer base, makes it an attractive stream for aspiring entrepreneurs. Things to know before starting a profitable ecommerce business, are careful planning, dedication, and an understanding of the ups and downs of online retail business.

In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through the essential steps to kickstart your eCommerce venture, such as starting a bedsheet business, and set it on the path to eCommerce success. There are various small business ideas you can refer to find your product niche.

1. Market Research and Product Niche Selection

Identify Your Market: You should identify the market first. Your eCommerce business should align with what you genuinely care about to keep you motivated.

Market Research: Investigate potential markets and product niches. Look for gaps in the market or underserved customer needs that your business can fulfill.

Competitor Analysis: Analyze existing online marketplaces/competitors. Understand their strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning to identify your unique selling points.

2. Business Planning For Profitable eCommerce Business

Create a Business Plan: Outline your business structure, mission statement, target audience, and unique value proposition. A well-defined business plan can help you achieve your goals.

Legal Considerations: Register your business, obtain the necessary licenses, and consider legal matters, such as trademark registration and tax obligations.

Financial Planning: Create a detailed financial plan, including startup costs, budget, pricing strategy, and sales forecasts.

3. Setting Up Your ECommerce Store

Choose the Right Platform: You can choose an eCommerce platform that suits your business needs. Popular options include Shopify, Woo-Commerce (for WordPress), and Big-Commerce.

Domain Name and Hosting: Register a memorable domain name and choose reliable hosting to ensure your website’s accessibility and performance.

Design and User Experience: Opt for a clean and user-friendly website design. Easy and user friendly navigation impacts positively the user experience and a mobile-responsive layout is must as most of the people search and order online through their mobile devices only.

4. Sourcing Products and Inventory Management

Product Selection: Carefully choose your products. Consider factors like demand, profit margins, and shipping logistics. You can opt for dropshipping, wholesaling, or creating your own products.

Inventory Management: Implement an inventory management system to track stock levels, replenish inventory when necessary, and avoid overstocking.

Quality Assurance: Prioritize product quality, as it directly impacts customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

5. Marketing and Branding For Profitable eCommerce Business

Content Marketing: Develop a content strategy to provide value to your audience. You can include blog posts, videos, and infographics in your site to attract, engage, and retain customers.

Social Media: Leverage social media platforms to build a community and engage with your audience. Develop a consistent posting schedule.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimize your website for search engines to increase visibility in search results. You should choose relevant keywords, meta tags, and quality backlinks to increase the visibility in search engine.

Email Marketing: Build an email list and use email marketing campaigns to promote products and build customer loyalty.

WhatsApp Marketing: You can build WhatsApp number list and you can share your product details and campaigns in WhatsApp groups and channels.

6. Customer Service and Satisfaction

Excellent Customer Support: Prioritize responsive and helpful customer service. Quick response times and issue resolution can turn customers into loyal advocates.

Feedback and Reviews: Encourage customers to leave reviews and feedbacks once they receive and use the products. If there is any negative comments then address it immediately and provide professionally maintained solutions to the users and use criticism constructively for improvement.

Returns and Refunds: Create a clear return policy and make the process as hassle-free as possible for customers.

7. Scaling and Growth For Profitable eCommerce Business

Data Analytics: Continuously analyze website data and sales metrics to identify opportunities for improvement.

Paid Advertising: Consider investing in paid advertising, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads, to expand your reach and attract more customers.

Expanding Product Lines: Gradually expand your product offerings and consider entering new markets or niches.

8. Adaptation and Innovation

Stay Updated: Keep abreast of eCommerce trends and technological advancements. Innovation can set you apart in a rapidly evolving market.

Adapt to Feedback: Listen to customer feedback and adapt your business accordingly. Their insights can guide you to make necessary improvements.

9. The Road to Profitability

Patience and Persistence: Understand that building a profitable eCommerce business takes time. Be patient, stay persistent, and continuously refine your strategy.

Diversification: Consider diversifying income streams by offering subscription services, creating digital products, or expanding into affiliate marketing.

10. The Future of Your eCommerce Business

Long-Term Vision: Set clear long-term goals for your business, such as achieving a specific revenue milestone or becoming a recognized industry authority.

Legacy and Sustainability: Plan for the sustainability and potential legacy of your business, whether through succession planning or charitable initiatives.

In conclusion, starting a profitable ecommerce business is a rewarding but challenging endeavor. Success comes from a combination of passion, strategic planning, adaptation, and dedication. By following this guide and staying committed to your vision, you can build a thriving eCommerce business that not only generates profits but also makes a positive impact on your life and your customers.

If you are thinking about the need of small business insurance then your search ends here where we’ll discuss the points to consider and need before taking the small business insurance. India is a diversified country with different forms of socioeconomic culture, dialects and social needs and to meet this diversifications, small businesses form the backbone of the economy. They come in various forms, from local mom-and-pop stores to innovative tech startups. However, along with opportunities, running a small business also brings risks in the form of natural disasters, accidents, legal issues, or even unforeseen emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. To protect themselves and ensure their survival, it is must to have small businesses insurance. This article explores the critical need for small business insurance in India, discussing its benefits, types, and how to choose the right coverage. If you are looking to start a small business then you can refer the article on Small business ideas for more insights and apart from your regular job you can refer the article on earn money online as well.

Small Businesses in India

Small businesses appear everywhere in India, they provide jobs for the middle class people, create new things, and make lives of people around better with their products and services. Everyone in any country can not get white collared jobs then these small businesses serve the purpose. India is a land of entrepreneurs. Small businesses contribute significantly to the country’s economic growth as well. They generate employment, foster innovation, and bring essential products and services to communities. However, the path to success for small businesses is difficult and full of challenges. While they strive for success, they often face risks that can damage their very existence.

Understanding Small Business Risks

Small businesses in India confront various risks, including-

1. Natural Disasters: India is prone to floods, cyclones, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. These events can cause extensive damage to businesses, leading to financial losses.
2. Theft and Vandalism: Small businesses are vulnerable to theft and vandalism, which can result in the loss of valuable assets and disruption of operations. Accidents: Accidents can occur at the workplace, leading to injuries to employees or customers. Small businesses may be held liable for medical expenses and compensation.
3. Business Interruption: Events like fire or a pandemic can disrupt business operations, causing revenue loss. Small businesses may struggle to recover without small business insurance coverage.
4. Legal Liabilities: Small businesses can face legal actions from customers, suppliers, or employees. Legal expenses can be substantial, affecting the financial health of the business.

Benefits of Small Business Insurance

Small business insurance offers several advantages-

1. Financial Protection: Insurance provides a safety net against financial losses. In the event of an unforeseen incident, insurance coverage can help a small business survive.
2. Business Continuity: Insurance can enable businesses to resume operations quickly after a disruption. For instance, business interruption insurance covers lost income during downtime.
3. Liability Coverage: Insurance protects businesses from legal liabilities. It covers legal costs and settlements in case of lawsuits.
4. Peace of Mind: Knowing that the business is insured provides peace of mind to business owners, allowing them to focus on growth and innovation.

Types of Small Business Insurance

There are various types of small business insurance policies tailored to the needs of small and medium businesses in India-

1. Property Insurance: This type of insurance covers physical assets such as buildings, equipment, and inventory against damage or loss due to fire, theft, or natural disasters.
2. Liability Insurance: Liability insurance protects against claims for bodily injury or property damage that a business may cause to others. It includes public liability insurance and product liability insurance.
3. Business Interruption Insurance: This insurance provides coverage for lost income and fixed expenses during a business interruption caused by covered perils.
4. Health Insurance for Employees: Many small businesses offer health insurance as part of their employee benefits package to attract and retain talent.
5. Professional Liability Insurance: Also known as errors and omissions insurance, it covers legal expenses in case a business is sued for negligence, errors, or omissions in its services.
6. Laborer or Worker Compensation Insurance: This insurance is must for businesses with employees whose work is labor intrinsic. It provides monetary benefits against medical expenses and lost wages to employees injured at work.
7. Cyber Insurance: In an increasingly digital world, cyber insurance protects against data breaches and cyberattacks.

How to Choose the Small Business Insurance Perfect for your Needs?

Selecting the right insurance coverage is essential for small businesses. Here’s how to go about it-

1. Assess Risks: Begin by assessing the specific risks your business faces. Consider its location, industry, and size. Identify potential threats and vulnerabilities.
   Consult an Insurance Agent: Seek guidance from an experienced insurance agent or broker. They can help you understand your insurance needs and tailor coverage accordingly.
2. Compare Policies: Request quotes from multiple insurers and compare policies. Look at coverage limits, deductibles, and premiums. Select a policy that fits in your budget and risk tolerance.
3. Read the Fine Print: Carefully read the policy documents, including terms and conditions. Ensure you understand what is covered and any exclusions.
4. Review Regularly: Business circumstances change. Review your insurance needs annually or when significant changes occur in your business.

Conclusion

In India, small businesses are the necessity of the economy. To thrive in a dynamic and often challenging environment, they need protection. Small business insurance is not a luxury but a necessity. It safeguards businesses from unforeseen events, provides financial security, and ensures business continuity. As small businesses continue to drive economic growth and innovation in India, insurance becomes an indispensable tool to secure their future.

In the face of uncertainties, small business insurance stands as a shield, allowing these businesses to pursue their dreams and contribute to the nation’s prosperity. Small business owners must recognize the importance of insurance and make it an integral part of their business strategy. In doing so, they not only protect their investments but also empower themselves to face whatever challenges the business world throws their way.

With the ever-evolving Indian business landscape, insurance remains a constant and reliable companion for small businesses, ensuring that their entrepreneurial dreams stay resilient and vibrant. Small business insurance isn’t just a financial transaction; it’s a commitment to safeguarding the spirit of entrepreneurship that drives India’s economic engine. You can also refer the article on top general insurance companies and health/life insurance companies in India and can compare the plans they offer online.

Image credit- Pixabay

If you are planning to start an eCommerce business by your own then you are at the right place where I’ll explain some important things to keep in mind when you starting an ecommerce business in India. In this article, I’ve mentioned 6 things to follow before starting the ecommerce business. Like almost every aspiring business owner, you too may have always thought about what it would be like to start an eCommerce business of your own. Over time, the growing allure of starting eCommerce businesses is significantly becoming stronger than earlier. Especially with the rise of the latest digital technologies and the seamless convenience of online shopping, you can find many entrepreneurs venturing into the world of online stores.

The captivating charisma of the virtual experiences offered by prospective online stores has caught the attention of several viewers and customers online. So, to start an eCommerce business can provide you with immense opportunities to skyrocket your success in no time. But before you get started with the entire process of launching your eCommerce store, here are six things you need to know-

1. Decide what your sales strategies will be

Did you know that being in the online sales market can include various small and big prospects? When you start an eCommerce business, you will notice how there are various ways you can choose to make your sales. Each way has its own pros and cons, making it essential for you to find the right one for your business model.

Of the many methods you can use to make your sales, online arbitrage can be one sales strategy. It includes buying products from one online store only to resell them for a profit in another marketplace. Such a sales strategy allows you to draw advantage of fluctuations in prices across different locations. You can also buy products in bulk (or wholesale) from prospective manufacturers at a discounted price and resell them to make a profit.

2. You need to be creative and innovative in your ways

Given the rising competition in starting an ecommerce business in Indian markets, it has become exceptionally essential for startups to be as creative as they can. It is only when you can procure your brand image as unique and different from the rest of the brands available in the market that you can attract the attention of customers.

You can even try starting an ecommerce business in India by thinking in different ways to design your products or service with a unique selling point in mind. You will hardly find any satisfactory profits if you are dumping in your products that are in no way different from the rest in an oversaturated market. Therefore, you need to add something new and stylize your products or services as innovative and creative to grab the attention of customers.

3. Understanding the vitality of marketing strategies

After procuring innovative and new kinds of products and services, the next thing you need to focus on is devising the right marketing strategies. It allows you to bring products or services effectively before the eyes of prospective buyers. You can break down this task easily into smaller tasks to make it easier for you to focus on it.

So, you can start by first identifying your target audience and market where you wish to pitch your products. Once you can understand your target audience well enough, you can accordingly design your marketing strategies to efficiently target them.

4. Choose the correct eCommerce platform for your business

While choosing a potential platform to operate your eCommerce business, you can start your own online store or make use of an already existing marketplace. Part of the overall impression your business creates in the minds of customers lies in the platform you choose.

When you choose a platform allowing you to showcase your products efficiently and offer users a great experience, you can stand out from the competition in the markets. Many new sellers like eBay or Amazon started with a third-party online marketplace since they didn’t want to start things from scratch.

They work by getting you organic traffic, which means you would not be spending much on advertising here. However, if you want to exercise complete control over the traffic to your site, you can consider building your eCommerce website from scratch.

5. Understand the importance of content

After the fundamentals of your eCommerce store are put in place, the next thing you need to focus on is devising the right content for your site. Now it includes both written and visual forms of content. The most basic thing that you need to ensure while you are devising your content is to check if you are effectively communicating with your customers through your content.

It is essential for you to work on designing proper product descriptions, a home page, an about us page, and later even a few blogs on your products or services; only when you start designing your website in this way can you effectively grab the attention of your customers and increase your sales.

6. Do not forget to use SEO strategies on your site!

Last but not least, you cannot forget the immense vitality of SEO strategies in today’s digital world. SEO demarcates by itself the amount of importance prospective websites receive on the web. Using the right SEO strategies can help you ensure that your eCommerce website ranks higher on the SERPs.

To start implementing SEO strategies on your website, you need to start by finding out the right keywords relevant to your business. Thereafter, you can start incorporating them without obstructing the flow of your content on your website. Further, maintaining and updating your content regularly can help you receive a better ranking and gain more traffic to your site.

Conclusion

While starting an eCommerce business in India or anywhere is undeniably an exciting venture to even think of, there are a few things you need to think of before getting started. Once you have gathered all the required knowledge, you will be better equipped to make conscious decisions and help your business thrive.

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Trying to build a startup from the ground up is always an adventure with unpredictable outcomes and no guarantees of success. There is an infinite variety of ways a startup can fail or succeed, and a definitive recipe for success is yet to be written.

However, if we were to look for one common denominator to virtually any startup success story, one thing we would encounter time and time again would be a strong team spirit and a high degree of teamwork.

Why teamwork matters for startup success?

Of course, it is true that teamwork plays an important role in the success of any professional organization. However, the importance of teamwork is particularly emphasized in a startup setting.

Most startups begin their journey as relatively small teams starting from scratch and competing with established entities that have already seized their own shares of the market. This position, almost by default, creates a strong underdog, “us against the world” mentality that can be a potent unifying factor among team members. A shared sense of purpose and a common goal motivate team members to produce for the team and go above and beyond in order to achieve the shared objectives. A tangible and vibrant team identity is what fuels the dedication to the excellence of their product and services which often grace successful startups. Ultimately, it is the team spirit that carries teams through the hard times and helps them overcome their challenges.

While we may instinctively believe that teamwork develops spontaneously and organically, simply by bringing people together and letting them interact, that is often not the case. In fact, it is the startup leadership (both formal and informal) that sets the tone for the team identity.

How to nurture teamwork?

The ultimate identity of the team will greatly be determined by the combination of individuals that make up the unit. Therefore, you will most likely wish to tweak your approach to fostering teamwork to suit the personalities of the team members. However, there is a number of tried and tested and universally applicable best practices that build a strong team spirit and form a strong collegiate bond between colleagues. We will dedicate the following lines we will focus on some of the key principles and practical actions startup founders and team leaders can utilize to create a solid foundation for a teamwork-driven environment.

1. Be the change you wish to see

At every startup – particularly those in their initial, formative stage – team members will look to leadership for cues on how to act. This includes everything from operational procedures to the overall vision and all the way to the general attitudes towards others and the work itself. Whether directly or indirectly, leaders and other influential team members set an example for everyone else. It is highly relevant to actively demonstrate the behavior and attitudes you wish to see in others to stand behind the values and the vision on which the startup is built.

In the context of teamwork, it means being a good player – treating others with respect and honesty, communicating openly, and allowing for other voices to be heard.

2. Allocate work clearly and fairly

Teamwork can only work if everyone understands what they are supposed to do. A clear and well-structured division of roles and responsibilities should be one of the managerial priorities from the start. While startups are largely defined by innovation and improvisation, they also need a high degree of procedural and operational clarity in order for work to get done. Balancing between these two opposites is a delicate art, but it has to start with a clear definition of individual roles. Remember – ambiguity is the enemy of productivity.

Additionally, leaders need to pay mind to a fair and even distribution of duties. Teamwork works best when team members feel that everyone is contributing to the achievement of the common goal, and having team members with noticeably different workloads can only lead to friction.

3. Be transparent and encourage open communication

Startups are not bound by the constraints of traditional organizational hierarchy – which is great news for teamwork. Leaders should use this greater degree of informality to their advantage by avoiding some of the downsides of organizational hierarchy such as information tiers and one-way communication only going from top-down.

Be open and transparent in sharing all relevant information about the company’s plans and activities, and encourage two-way communication. By including team members in planning and decision-making processes you make them feel valued and respected, as well as more invested in the outcomes of the joined work. Employees who are engaged in company activities will also possess a higher degree of motivation to contribute to the success of the team.

In practical terms, it also means providing the team with all the necessary communication tools that enable different channels of communication while also encouraging transparency and inclusiveness. While collaboration tools/solutions like Slack and Microsoft Teams are ubiquitous, you can also find free alternatives like Pumble that will cover the team’s needs without eating away at the budget.

4. Be quick to resolve conflict

Good teams are not distinguished by avoiding conflict, but by how they respond to it. Differences in opinion and clashes of personality are unavoidable in any collective environment. Rather than letting things simmer or pushing them under the carpet, it is important to resolve them in a timely, respectful, and constructive manner. While many disagreements can be resolved in a direct and spontaneous fashion, it is important to install clear procedures for conflict resolution in case the tensions escalate.

5. Celebrate the team and its achievements

If you have a good thing going – value it! Whether we are talking about individual contributions, team efforts and achievements, or the bonds built from shared experiences, it is important to recognize and acknowledge the things that matter.

We all wish to feel valuable and valued, particularly if we are deeply invested in our work. Recognition can come in many shapes and forms, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be a financial reward (although it is rarely unwelcome). The key here is to be invested enough into the team’s activities in order to be able to identify any significant individual and collective contributions. This degree of investment will also enable you to know your team well enough to figure out the best way to recognize and reward the efforts.

Finally, the strongest motivators for teamwork come from the bonds formed between team members. These bonds will grow from day-to-day interactions, but you can further encourage it by devising team-building events and allowing team members to interact outside of the immediate professional context. In other words, it’s never a bad idea to party!

To conclude, team spirit and team identity are greatly influenced by the actions and attitudes of leaders and influencers. If we wish to foster a strong and vibrant spirit of teamwork, it must start by embedding those values into all aspects of the operations and demonstrating them through concrete actions.

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94 percent of executives believe that a well-thought organization culture is crucial for any business to grow.  Culture change is, therefore, critical to the success of any business. Here is an overview of how cultural change affects business growth.

According to Deloitte, 88 percent of employees and 94 percent of CEOs agree that having a solid and distinct company habit is essential to the success of any business. A business that instills the right and positive corporate culture improves employee satisfaction, ensures recruitment and retention of top talents, and guarantees a happy human resource. Companies must initiate habit transformation when the situation demands.

Culture change management is no mean feat just like Golden Touch. The modification of habits presents a wide range of challenges that demand well-thought responses and strategies. This article will address everything one needs to know about corporate culture change, explain how the transformation grow your businesses, and the steps to follow when effecting the modification.

What is Corporate Culture?

Corporate culture is the sustained behavior and belief shared among employees based on their values and experiences working in a company. A positive and influential company habit transforms individual workers into a cohesive and collective unit. Culture change at work is essential to the day-to-day running of a company. It determines how decisions are arrived at, how challenges are confronted, and how new processes are implemented.

Companies must proactively design and activate habit change at work that aligns with their employees, strategy, and environment to take advantage of the benefits of culture change that will in turn grow your business.

The Benefits of Culture Change

Fostering a positive corporate culture change cannot be overstated. Businesses that ignore the importance of a positive habit change by allowing toxic habits to take root are destined to face many roadblocks to their growth. Below are the benefits of actualizing a positive culture change at the workplace to grow your business:

1. Creates a Brand Image

The brand image of a company is crucial to its success. Investors and customers pay great attention to detail on the brand image of a business they are interested in before deciding whether it is worth their dime or not. Thus, a positive habit change focuses on creating a brand image that employees, customers, and investors can relate.

A positive culture change improves the brand image of a business. The healthy culture modification creates a workplace that employees are proud to work in, which increases their productivity. In addition, the improvement of the brand image enables the company to hire top talents, as they are always looking to work in healthy environments and leading companies.

2. Shapes Employee Workplace Interaction

The way employees interact with their workplace determines their productivity and their motivation levels. Thus, a healthy culture change should improve this interaction to guarantee company growth. An effective culture change determines how employees relate to the workplace.

When a healthy habit is activated in a company, it motivates the employees and enables them to remain loyal to the management. In addition, positive company habits ensures healthy competition and healthy relations among employees, which, in turn, improves their performance levels. Happy and motivated employees guarantee returns to the business.

3. Gives a Sense of Direction and Belonging

Employees need a sense of direction and belonging to perform to the best of their ability. A healthy company culture change represents predefined policies and clearly defines the responsibilities of each employee. These predefined policies guide employees on what is required of them in the workplace and how they can relate with their colleagues, which gives them a sense of belonging and direction and promote positive employee habits.

The habit change, in turn, churns out the best in every employee, which allows the company to grow.

Steps to Follow in the Cultural Change Process

Companies don’t activate culture change from scratch. The executive must take their time to understand the culture change they want to implement and ensure accountability to influence and instill new behaviors successfully. Here are the steps executives must follow to ensure that the habit modification they want to introduce in their companies has the desired effect.

• Plan in Advance

An executive who wishes to make a culture change in the workplace must plan about the implications of the changes. They can do this by doing thorough research about the companies that have made similar changes and learn from their experiences. Planning enables them to find ways of engaging and retaining high-performing employees and finding the best ways to explore, learn, and innovate.

• Narrow the Scope

To effectively change a company’s culture, executives must first consider the mission, values, and vision that the new modification will be focused on. They also need to identify the factors that determine employee behavior and choose the right employees to accentuate the new changes. They will then be required to clarify the core behavioral changes that the new changes will advocate for the employees.

• Tell stories

Good stories presented creatively can evoke emotion and action in the audience. Telling impactful stories to employees is one of the most effective ways to catalyze transformation in a team. Leaders should list their priorities and bring them out to their employees in a meaningful, reliable, and exciting way.

Leaders should brainstorm on potential interventions that the management can make to activate results to achieve their goals.

Factors that Leads to Culture Change

Culture change is only viable when the existing company habit is inconsistent with the company strategy. The inconsistency between strategy and culture is a serious problem as it inhibits talent optimization. In addition, it allows competitors to be above the curve, which bleeds losses.

As if that’s not enough, an existing toxic habit is another hindrance to productivity and one of the factors that lead to culture change. The unhealthy habit develops when the company values aren’t clearly defined. If left unchecked, the toxic habits can hamper productivity.

Final thoughts

Company culture is both an investment and an asset when creating an engaging workplace environment that human resources can thrive to grow your business. Thus, executives must actively manage and shape their company habit to drive action and improve employees’ productivity. If left unchecked, the toxic culture can hurt the growth of any business.

How has the habits’ modification in your company affected your productivity, and how you relate with your colleagues? Send us your thoughts in the comment section below. We would love to hear from you.

Image Credit- Unsplash

If you’re creative and want to start business then you’re at the right place where I’ve explored creative small business ideas you can start from the comfort of your home with minimal investment and workforce. So if you’re planning to start a business, but you don’t have a lot of money or time to invest in developing special skills then you should read these ideas. They’ll help you to get started easily from home. Creating and running a successful business today doesn’t require large investments or a diploma. You can start any creative small businesses from home without much investment or business knowledge.

Small business owners have many opportunities that they can successfully explore. They just need a great business idea. Not all good business ideas require an increase in budget, but they certainly need careful research before deciding on them. Be sure to take the time and keep well-thought-out marketing plans to get started.

Choosing a company is a purely personal decision. You can find many other options, but some small business ideas or creative small businesses that are more profitable can be a little tricky. So choose your passion wisely and make your dream come true. Here are some small business investment ideas you can use to start your own business:

1. Sell Products Online

You can sell a wide variety of products online, such as books and fashion items. Having a blog allows you to write about your products, the issues they have solved, and how to get the most out of them. Then people who visit your blog can get your products easily.

For example, if you have a book, you might want to share snippets and concepts from your book and invite the audience to buy your book so they can learn more about it. Some of the most common products sold among creative small businesses from home are books (paper and electronics), creative toys, custom printed T-shirts, arts and crafts, decorative items, fashion accessories, and more.

Selling products online is easy and one of the best among 7 Creative Small Businesses. You can list your products in markets like Amazon or sell them on your website. With the free WooCommerce plugin that turns your WordPress blog into an online store, you can create an online store linked to your blog. You can use numerous plugins to upgrade your Woo store.

2. Clothing Boutique

There are people who are well versed in fashion, can create different styles with any pattern and can look amazing anyway. If this person looks like you, your passion for fashion should be part of the business.

As with any other business, you need the right business plan, location, and trained people before opening a clothing store. When setting up your business, make a list of suppliers in advance and promote your business. Here are some tips on how to generate business name ideas for fashion companies.

3. Event Planning

Are you a very organized person who can work as to meet strict deadlines. Can you handle crises well and do you have good communication and interpersonal skills? Then event planning can be a great business idea for you.

Organizers seem to be planning events. However, you may not be aware of the possibilities. Businesses, hotels, non-profits, local authorities, and government agencies all need event organizers to put everything together from conferences to excursions. Or you specialize in certain types of events, such as a party or wedding organizer. The best part is that you don’t need a diploma to become an event planner.

Strong organizational skills, planning and communication skills, as well as the ability to meet deadlines is required. This type of business often develops orally, but you can create a page on Facebook, Instagram, or any other popular social network where you can brand your customers and gain popularity.

4. Online Tutoring

The online learning and tutoring industry is growing rapidly with advances in technology and the widespread use of the Internet. People who do not have time for full-time courses have started attending online courses.

Pick an area you like and help others gain knowledge in the virtual classroom. At every stage, people love to learn new things. So online learning can be a profitable business and one of the best among 7 Creative Small Business Ideas.

5. Print on Demand

If you are looking for successful business ideas, try printing on demand. In this case, you sell your projects for products such as cell phones, cups, and t-shirts, but you don’t print artwork. Instead, you work with vendors who print your design on the product. They even pack the product and send it to your customers so you don’t have to worry about logistics.

You only pay when you have sold the item. One of the fastest ways to get started is to create a Shopify store and install a POD program like Printify. From a market perspective, POD advertising with influencer partners is an effective way to reach audiences. To see if print on demand is right for you, watch our video where we start a helpful discussion with wholesaler Ted (a print on demand company).

6. Sell Online Courses

Material products are not the only things you need to sell to start a business. This can lead to complex inventory management and logistics, which also cost money. However, digital products such as online courses are unique and can be sold without significant investment. If you are an expert in a specific niche, create your own website, create online courses with valuable information, and sell them online.

Since it is not a material product, there are no reproduction or shipping costs. In other words, it is a very profitable low investment if your margin stays high.

The most important aspect to consider when entering this industry is choosing the right niche. The content of the course should be useful enough to make people want to pay for information. For example, if you have more than a decade of digital marketing experience, you can use your knowledge to create an online course to help companies improve their search engines.

For example, if you are a personal trainer or a lifelong coach, you can create additional courses and sell them online using a learning management system like LearnDash.

7. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Do you have experience creating backlinks and improving your site’s visibility in search engines? If so, you have the opportunity to use your skills. Website owners worldwide need the services of SEO experts. Therefore, opening a store in this area may be one of the best decisions.

If you are looking for clients, focusing on a good audience, learning from experience and building your portfolio – share your success stories and you are sure to see an influx of clients if your SEO techniques are right. They can target a wide variety of companies or occupy a specific niche, e.g. companies from the fields of law, medicine or finance.

Apart from the above, you can also read 100+ small business ideas to work upon and also can be started from small amount of money. So try to bring any of the creative small businesses on to floor and get success.

Image credit- Pixabay

If you are trying to start a bed sheet business specifically then you’re at the right place where we’ve explored the topic broadly and written key points to consideration when you start a bed sheet business. Though there are plenty of small business ideas but if you are planning to start a bed sheet business of your own and if so, congratulations! Despite the ongoing pandemic, 2021 seems to be an exciting and promising year to put up your own business. We now know more about the COVID-19 pandemic and have actually rolled out effective vaccines. Soon, this pandemic will be over, and your business can flourish.

The sleep-system business is a really good and solid industry to engage in. Remember that people need to sleep, so you’ll always have a ready market. In a few years or months, people will need to replace their worn-out bedding and will be on the lookout for providers that can provide new ones. Yes, that’s potentially your business!

Putting Your Bed Sheet Business Out There

Here are some tips to get you started with your new bed sheet business. This article does not cover the fundamentals of the creation of a business such as acquiring necessary permits, building a brick-and-mortar store or e-commerce store, generating capital, and more.

1. Genuinely help your customers

In any enterprise, the bottom line is to regain ROI and accumulate as much profit as possible. But that’s quite difficult if you don’t actually provide your customers the solutions they need or want. In other words, you need to let customers know that you actually care for them rather than just focusing on getting their money.

Thus, you need to provide value. For example, give them thorough resources on how to find the right mattress whether through a mattress selection app on your website or through the guidance of your staff. Make sure that you source out bedding materials that are safe, eco-friendly, and high-quality. Train your service representatives not just about your product’s technical aspects but also on handling customer issues. These are stuff that will provide you long-term benefits such as sustained income, customer loyalty, and brand awareness.

2. Include products that compliment your bed sheets

One of the most effective ways to increase brand awareness is to focus on a certain industry or niche of products. In that way, people know you are a specialist in something -in the case of your business, bedsheets.

However, you can draw in more sales if you also sell related items such as pillows, pillowcases, blankets, comforters, and more. You can also include products for the maintenance of your products such as specially formulated detergents, fabric softeners, or cloth perfumes.

By including products that compliment your bed sheet, you encourage prospects to buy more. Think about it: if you buy a mattress, you would most likely buy bed covers, bed frames, pillows, and other stuff to go along with your mattress. That’s the same idea with bedsheets.

3. Present something unique

There are many businesses like yours. So why should people choose your company over theirs? This is the reason why you need something unique that you should incorporate into your business. As an innovative master in visual design and communication teaches us, each sign is followed by a reaction. What this means is that your customers will choose your bedding business more eagerly if you manage to show them something interesting and appealing. Study your competitors, look for common denominators, and determine an opportunity where your business can have its own identity. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

• • incorporate a mattress selection app in your website
  • custom dyeing or decorating of bed sheets
  • free bed sheet repair for the first month
  • inclusion of freebies such as pillowcases for every purchase of bed sheets

4. Build your online presence

Today, the world runs on the Internet. According to Statista, as of October 2020, there are more than 4 billion people around the world who use the Internet to communicate, gather information, entertain themselves, or do business. That is a colossal market that you don’t want to slip by your hands.

To market your product through the Internet, you need to have online channels such as a website and social media accounts. Optimize the use of these online resources. For example, invest in improving your website or keeping your social media channels updated. Implement online strategies such as content marketing, link building, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and so on. Professionals such as web designers, SEO specialists, digital marketers, and content writers can help you establish a firm hold on the Internet.

To put the importance of online presence in another way, remember that your website, social media accounts, video channel, or online gallery are your salesman, customer service representative, cashier, manager, and others on the Internet.

5. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly

According to Statista in a 2018 study, 52.2 percent of the world’s website traffic originates from mobile phones and tablets. That is a massive half of the world’s online activity. The robust sales and technological advancement of smartphones, tablets, and laptops mean that this number is simply going to go up.

To appeal to your market who uses mobile devices, you need your website to be mobile responsive. That means, your website should be configured in such a way that it modifies itself or adjusts to whatever screen the viewer is using. You’ll be missing out a lot of opportunities if your website doesn’t show or is clumsy to scroll through on a mobile device. Here’s a useful tool to check if your present website is mobile-friendly.

Mobile responsiveness has become so important that in 2015, Google rolled out an update that puts mobile responsiveness as a major ranking factor in search engine results.

6. Consider franchising

If you’re new to entrepreneurship and hesitant to start wholly on your own, you can try franchising with big brands. Franchising allows you to distribute well-known and proven products from a franchisor (the brand). You can do business under the franchisor’s name and existing system.

You don’t have to start from scratch because the franchisor will take care of a lot of important things—supply, business plan, marketing strategy, sales promotions, and more. And because the franchisor’s brand is already proven, you’re assured that you’re selling products trusted by many people. All you need to do is to stick to your agreement with your franchisor, and you’re all set.

Conclusion

Any entrepreneur will tell you that starting a business is not easy. In fact, the first steps are always the hardest. The tips listed above will help you launch your business, forming a lasting and firm impression on your prospects and would-be customers.

Image credit- Canva

If you are running an e-commerce business then this Complete Guide to E-Commerce Success is a must read article. Online retail has become an increasingly popular option for people to leverage convenience and make seamless purchases every day. No more waiting in long lines at the register, getting annoyed that someone snatched the very last pair of boots in our size under our nose, or having to hail a cab because you’d otherwise have to haul an entire month’s worth of groceries home. E-commerce has become the perfect solution especially during the coronavirus pandemic to help people reduce social interactions while getting everything they need from the comfort of their homes.

The result? More business leaders are looking to switch to online sales or start their own new e-commerce ventures. As promising and prevalent as online shopping has become, new brands need to remember that they are about to join the ranks of some of the most competitive businesses in the world. The fierce competition alone is enough to put you out of business if you don’t prepare properly and pave the road to e-commerce success with a powerful strategy.

It all begins with strong branding

If you build your brand as just another faceless online store with piles of products on offer, you risk being forgotten rather quickly. With the number of options at their disposal, people will now choose only brands that share their values and provide them something they can relate to. Determine your UVP, your core values, and weave them into your brand’s purpose – which should be the core of your tone of voice, choice of visuals, and entire presentation.

Are you sustainable? Do you donate half of your profits to charity? What about empowering education equality? Are you providing free internships for minorities? Whatever your uniqueness and purpose might be, it’s up to you to build an identity around them and make sure your audience knows who you are. Your brand reputation will heavily depend on what kind of impact you have on your community and the world.

Leverage digital tools for smarter marketing

Even with an army of marketing professionals, SEO experts, and content creators, you still need access to relevant customer insights that will drive all those strategies forward. For starters, enable the use of a wide array of SEO tools to maximize the impact of the content you post and analyze your ongoing campaigns properly. From SEMRush to Google Search Console, you’ll find that the tips and data you receive from such tools can be invaluable in understanding your audience.

However, you also need to be able to create actionable reports based on the data you collect. To do that, you should leverage comprehensive reporting software that will automate the process of filtering through piles of collected information and prevent human error. Your marketers will no longer have to deal with raw data but with meaningful, actionable information based on all the data collected from various tools and unified onto a single dashboard. Finally, reporting in this manner saves you not just time, but also prevents typical errors that any marketer might make in interpreting the statistics.

Web design trends to be mindful of

Your website is not just a store. It’s the main representation of your business and it needs to portray your image, your values, and your relevance in your industry. No matter what kind of products you’re selling, it’s essential to make sure your website can keep up with your audience needs.

Make sure to create a website with the most vital web development trends in mind, from mobile optimization, optimal loading speed, all the way to optimization for search engines and better ranking. In addition to these design and development core principles, make sure that you focus on best practices within your niche. Some e-commerce brands might benefit from introducing video-based tutorials, animated content, while others can leverage VR, or boost customer service with AI-driven chatbots.

Focus on customer experience

In addition to industry trends and design preferences of your customers, there are various other elements that greatly contribute to customer experience as a whole. Now that you’ve perfected your product and your brand in its entirety, you should make sure you present your business in the best possible light for your audience, and turn their browsing and shopping into a wonderful experience they’ll want to repeat.

• Conduct regular A/B testing to make sure you’re on the right track.
• Make sure your website pages and all of its content load quickly on all devices. Modern customers don’t tolerate delays.
• Keep your site clean and easy to navigate with simple, but inviting CTAs.
• Make the checkout short and easy even for guest shoppers, without the need to create an account for everyone buying on your site.
• Personalization is the key to inspiring loyalty – offer personalized discounts, cross-sell, and up-sell based on their online behavior.
• Ask for feedback and respond to reviews to engage your customers and create a valuable source of trust for new buyers who come to your site.

Security as the foundation of your e-commerce success

The growth of the online market has brought on a surge of security issues with it. Security experts have recognized that in addition to what we treat as traditional hacking methods, hackers are now leveraging advanced algorithms and hacking techniques to automate the process and increase their chances to breach your defenses. In addition to preventing data breaches and security information leaks, you need to keep your customers’ accounts safe, as well as your website impenetrable.

Add to that, let your customers know what steps you’re taking to achieve stronger security on your site. What credentials do you have to claim that they can safely shop with your business? What makes your transactions secure? What payment providers have you entrusted with your shopping process? Place visible, prominent security seals on your site to showcase that you invest in ongoing data protection and breach prevention to put your customers at ease.

More customers are turning to online brands for all their needs, but in a sea of these fast-growing offers, people need a reason to trust your brand and stay loyal to your business. By building upon these strategic guidelines, you have the opportunity to set the stage for e-commerce success and allow your brand to outlive its competition for years to come.

Image credit- Canva

If you are a handyman, then there are several things that you need to consider while you want to start a handyman business for your startup. You need to take care of multiple items while you are making up your mind to create the handyman business. Now, many of you may have the question in your mind how to start a handyman business. This question is very relevant as per the need of your business.

We all want our business to grow and at a rapid pace. To do this more effectively, you need to know the techniques you need to employ to develop your business in the right direction. There are many things people often forget while starting the handyman business or other small businesses.

List of Handyman Business and Handyman Services

• Drywall Installation
• Gutter Repair & Cleaning
• Fixture Replacement
• Smart Home Upgrade Installation
• Painting for the Interior and Exterior
• Painting of vehicles
• Power Washing
• Tile Installation and Flooring
• Window Repair
• Small and Home Appliances repair
• Deck Construction & Repair
• Electrical Wiring and repairing
• Plumbing & Bathroom Remodeling

Important Things You Need To Know For Starting Up A Handyman Business

Several important things that you need to consider while starting up a handyman business. Therefore, let’s explore the essential facts in light of this matter to understand it better.

1. Put Together A Perfect Business Plan

You need to put together a perfect business plan so that you can develop your business in the right direction. If you are starting a business without any specific business plan, then you are just setting up a trip without having any specific destination. You need to set up a goal that you want to achieve from your handyman business. You need to consider things in the right order so that you can develop the perfect business plan of your choice.

There are a few important questions that you need to address before you start your handyman business-

1. 1. • What is the amount of money you want to make?
      • How many clients do you want to have?
      • The kind of clients you want to have?
      • The kind of work you want to be doing?
      • How many hours can you afford to spend today?
      • Will you maintain the employee database?

Hence, in each and every aspect, you need to take care of it while you will be preparing your business plan.

2. Learn About Your Areas Of Legislation

You need to maintain the law of the state in the area of your legislation. If you do not abide by the law of the land while handling your handyman business, it can ruin your business’s reputation, and you may have to face many more difficulties in the future. You must know about the certification and the license you need to acquire to start the handyman business. You need to know the limits or the charge that you need to pay for starting the handyman business. If you want to start your online trading business for more than $500, you require a contractor license. In other regions of the USA, it must be more than $3000.

3. Consider The Insurance Part

Insurance is the most important part of your handyman business that you need to consider in your business’s initial phases. The reason is the unforeseen situation will not arrive at your door by giving any prior intimation. You need to be ready for such a situation in advance. It is very important to look at the requirements and as per that you can strategize your plan.

There are two main kinds of insurance that you need to take care of. Therefore, let’s explore the main two types of insurance types to apply when doing the insurance for your handyman business.

1. 1. • Liability Insurance
      • Professional Liability Insurance

Hence, you need to consider these facts one after the other to prepare yourself for the worse situation in a better way. Without insurance, you are just exposing your business in front of the danger.

4. Outsmart Your Competitors

You need to prepare a very smart plan for your business. The plan must be unique and strong enough so that it can easily outsmart your competitors. You need to consider certain important things while you are focusing your attention on the service pattern of your competitors.

1. 1. • The prices that your competitors are offering
      • The services they are providing to their customers
      • The requirements of their customers
      • The geographic location of a particular place
      • The marketing plan that they are employing for their customers

Hence, the proper monitoring of competitors is very important for your business. It will help you employ the perfect plan for your business as per your business’s requirements. Thus it will help you to hit the perfect marketing plan for your business. You need to think proactively to get success in the handyman business. You cannot lose your focus from your competitor’s activity.

5. Make Choices Of Your Services Wisely

You need to make your choices for the business wisely. Do not get submerged among multiple preferences for providing the services to your client. Sometimes it becomes a better choice for you to choose one project and leave the others that mongers in your mind. You must set a specific goal. Then you can become successful in your handyman business. Do not divert your mind here and there. This can kill your productivity. Hence, try to give your best services as per the need of the situation. Try to take your investment decisions as per the requirement of the clients. It will help you to develop your business in the right direction. Do not jump over from one service to another.

Conclusion

Hence, from the above discussion, it has become very transparent on how to start a handyman business? It would be best if you correctly fixed your goals to deliver your best services to your clients. Do not jump from one service to another. It can hurt your level of productivity. Make sure that you provide the best services at the most reasonable rate. It will help you to develop the right services for your brand. You need to take steps regarding your handyman business properly to seek the desired results from your work. Hence, you need to develop such a marketing plan for your clients that can help your business to satisfy their requirements in the best possible manner and you can also earn income out of it.

Image credit- Pixabay

One of the biggest challenges we face as humanity is global hunger, affecting not just the underdeveloped Countries but also many developed ones. Many scientists and technologists dealing with this problem head-on are trying their best to develop solutions that will end global hunger exponentially.

Among the many Biotechnologies, GM, also known as ”Genetic Modification” of crops, require extra care and attention. Genetically modified crops possessing the genes of different species can help in the rapid production of food, helping resolve global food shortages.

As great as the GM crop solutions sound, there are still concerns regarding such crops’ benefits and whether this is a viable option in solving global hunger and bad harvest problems.

The GMO crops of today help farmers combat any potential crop loss. The three most common traits found in GMO crops are-

1. Resistance to plant viruses
2. Resistance to any insect damage
3. Great tolerance to herbicides

A large chunk of the scientific community proposes earning export income from the higher yields of good crops that can reduce the food shortage in developing countries. However, it is easier said than done, and there are many challenges associated with the practicality and application of this proposal.

Nonetheless, there are significant benefits to GMO crops that shouldn’t be ignored, and the possibility of reaping great benefits from biotechnology is significantly present for the taking. Moreover, biotechnology’s advantages can cover a wide range of agricultural aspects apart from crop generation, including livestock management, storage of agricultural products, and much more.

Coming back to GM crops’ pros, manufacturers are using this method of producing crops to place desirable and healthy traits within their production. For example, there has been a development of two varieties of apples that do not turn bad once cut. Naturally, apples turn yellow and get dark upon cutting them open or keeping them for too long. The engineers are trying to create more long-lasting food and the more nutritious kind.

The main drive behind producing GM crops is to drive crop protection and sustainability. Come to think of it, if a longer-lasting, healthy and nutrition-filled yield, that too in a large quantity is harvested, the price of food will be reduced, and the poor can afford it.

World Hunger Through Statistics and Data

According to the sources, from 2018 to 2019, the number of undernourished people grew by a whopping 10 million, and there are now nearly 60 million more malnourished people compared to 2014. Another more recent estimate by the Food and Agriculture Organization suggests a population of 854 million undernourished people. Unfortunately, most of the community affected is that of children showing visible effects of hunger and pain. The hunger robs them of their bright futures, and malnutrition only welcomes various diseases, including measles and malaria.

However, the silver lining remains. Between the increase in world hunger as shown in the statistics above, the concerned organizations have been working hard at reducing hunger; one such effort is under discussion.

Biotechnology has opened a world of possibilities that include popper food distribution and production ratio, hopefully ending world hunger. The bio-engineered seeds that include our choice of genes can produce a promising harvest. Such advancement in agriculture will also ensure less crop loss. Moreover, using the technique of ”no-till farming”, you can grow crops on previously unplanted lands as well.

If you are not familiar with what no-till farming is, then the concept is quite simple. No-till farming is also known as direct drilling. It is an agricultural technique that includes growing crops without disturbing the soil through tillage. This process decreases any soil-erosion. Another great benefit that no-till farming provides is increasing the amount of water that infiltrates the soil, circulating the water evenly.

New Variety of Rice; Solution for Global Hunger in Reach?

We have spoken about how biotechnology has enabled us to produce crops that are high in nutritional value. For example, apart from the two varieties of apple, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology developed a new breed of rice that contains higher amounts of iron that can cure iron deficiency around the globe addressing the iron deficiency present in 3.7 billion people worldwide.

In another news, ”Golden Rice” created by researchers in Germany and Switzerland, contains three new promising genes, two extracted from daffodil and one from a bacterium. These extracted genes help in producing pro-vitamin A. Considering that we face approximately 140 million children, mostly from low-income households distributed among 118 countries, this solution can be the savior.

This rice variety is one such product of biotechnology that is geared towards eradicating global hunger. Life sciences consulting firms are also playing a significant part in providing the right consultation to the people.

What Does the Future Hold in Biotechnology?

Biotechnology and the concerned scientists are professionals and experts in their field. Meaning they are focused on handling such a grave matter that requires urgent attention as much as global warming.

The possibilities of biotechnology coming up with solutions to such global problems.

The question is since this technology and concept of ”biotech farming” has been around for some time, where has it been implemented? To this, you can say many developing countries participate in being “mega-biotech crop” farmers. For instance, in India, more than five million farmers contribute to planting 7.6 million hectares of cotton that can protect itself from insects.

So the possibility of producing GM crops and reaping great healthy harvests is a possible option to end global hunger. However, there are still some cons to this that need addressing, which we are sure the biotechnology and life sciences community will work hard towards.

Many of the startups are working on biotechnology to produce more quality crops, more produces that can help the world to feed the underprivileged population and also this can feed a growing world population to a greater extent.

Image credit- Canva

Entrepreneurship is a passion not a fashion. You need to think out of the box while you start your own home based scrub business and want to grow it as one of the best business ideas. You need to make quick decisions so that you can flourish your scrub business in a short span of time. Once you open your scrub boutique the better you will gain access to the market.

There are several ways to grow your scrub business just you need to be sure of the fact that you make the right choices. There are three important factors that you need to take care off regarding the development measures of your scrub business. First, you need to develop your strong online presence, second you need to calculate your estimated cost and third you need to prepare your strong team.

Different Ways To Grow Your Home Based Scrub Business

There are several important points that you need to consider while you develop your scrub business. Therefore, let’s explore these points one after the other to get a better insight into it.

1. Create A Business Plan For Your Scrub Business

A business plan can be very intimidating at first. Just you need to break it in small pieces. This is the step that most of the people will skip. You need to frame your business strategy first. You need to frame your budget, marketing strategies, business structure, and the business plans. You will surely get a better position and the necessary but after a certain period of time. You need to think in a proactive manner.

2. You Need To Register your business For Meeting Your Licensing Requirement

You need to make proper registration of your business so that you may not face any difficulty in future. Proper licensing and the registration of your scrubbing business will make your organization authentic and trustworthy in the eyes of your customers.

You need to apply for the business license in the local municipality this will help you to serve the business existence in the municipality. The license may be of different forms like vendor license, business license and the sales tax certificate.

3. Get the Capital Of Your scrub Business

You need to make the arrangements for the capital of your scrub business so that you can meet the initial startup cost. You need to create a budget for the operating cost and for meeting the expenses. You need to go for this if you want to establish your business in a better manner for that you can make the arrangements of the capital from the following resource

• • Get the loan and the credit card for the business.
  • You can also raise the funds by organizing different events such as go FundMe raisers and Yard sales.
  • You can make the arrangements of the funds from a partner.
  • You can take the help of an investor.
  • Take your time to launch your business and save the money.

4. You Need To Understand The Needs And Wants Of the Customers

The objective of any business model is to solve the problem of the society. The more actively you address the problem of the society the better you will get the response from the clients. You need to proactively think in this manner. The better you can think the more developed you will become in the future.

You need to understand the preferences of the society and your clients needs then only you can give your best services and solutions to your customers. You can also design a questionnaire to understand the buying behavior of your consumer.

5. Develop A Strong Marketing Plan

You need to develop a strong marketing plan for keeping your business effective and sound. Today branding can be done in both online as well as offline manner. You need to build a strong awareness of your services among your target audience.

For this you can use social media platforms, and also can build your website to develop your brand image effectively. You can create your YouTube Videos to create a social awareness for your brand so that it can create a TOMA effect in the minds of your target audience. You need to grab each and every opportunity to deliver the quality services to your clients.

6. Purchase All Necessary Inventories For Your scrub

You need to make strong connections with the whole sellers and the manufacturer who can deliver you all the required scrub materials to your shop. You need to be ready with all the materials that can help you to attract the attention of your target audience easily.It will be a best money investment idea to open a small business. You can also do research on which brand scrub materials are the best and you can get it at the most reasonable prices. The better you can understand it the sooner you can develop your business.

7. Develop A Strong Community Of Buyer And Seller Of Your Business

In social media platforms you can create a group where you can communicate along with your pro sellers to develop your business strategy. You can also showcase your brand message and service offerings to attract the attention of your target audience. You need to be a bit proactive in your approach. The better you understand this fact the faster you can grow your business. You need to react fast to get the better results for your business in the long run. It will help you to improve your brand image actively.

Conclusion

Hence, You can easily get the maximum returns from your investments on home based scrub business if you can deliver the right services to your customers. Most importantly, you need to understand the needs of your customers then only you can solve their problem and only then they will react positively.

You need to understand one thing that your customers have the options in their hand. Competition is huge and you need to be creative and proactive in your approach to deliver the best services to your potential clients. You cannot compromise on your quality. You need to react actively to deliver the best services to your client.

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SMS marketing considered to boost sales, by being a very effective and cost efficient tool for large and small companies all around the globe. Knowing all the trends and new tendencies in your sphere is commendable and essential for every professional. However, it is not always a good idea to forget the tried and tested tools that once brought success. I remember how one of my ex-colleagues, a very competent marketer, always advised his mentees to try to find new features and ways of usage for traditional marketing tools.

Nowadays, marketers are continually putting efforts to identify new and profitable channels for reaching out to as many customers as possible. When searching for new tools and apps, some of them don’t realize that some traditional marketing tools can be old but gold.

One example is SMS marketing which is believed to be outdated and inefficient. However, various research statistics shows that a single text message can be a practical and fast way to reach customers.

The current trend is email marketing, as it is very popular in this day and age. But it is worth mentioning that the average person checks their email less than three times per day, which is not enough for a marketer to deliver and get feedback from the message. Whereas a text message is directly sent to the potential customers’ phone and there’s a higher chance that they will open it straightaway.

So why and how marketers can use SMS Marketing?

SMS advertising or SMS Marketing is one of the most popular types of mobile marketing
which is developing day by day.

According to some resources, text message advertising is in the first place compared with email, Twitter or Facebook. SMS can be a great way to send information directly to your customer. A single SMS can be sent as reminders, discounts, contests and other advertising messages. Some of the industries which have already used mass text message for their business include but are not limited to E-commerce Companies, Nonprofits, Retail, Car Dealerships, Events, Political Campaigns, Schools, Religious Organizations, Food Trucks, Real Estate, Spas and Salons, Doctors and Dental Offices, Hotels & Hospitality , Restaurants, Sports Teams. The large number of industries using text message marketing shows how useful and important tool it is.

Well Planned Strategy for SMS Marketing

A well planned SMS Strategy can be highly effective which depends on a few points-

1. We cannot imagine our lives without mobile devices. A plenty of people spend most of their day on their smartphones and other gadgets. For instance, according to Statista , 62.9% of the population of the world uses a mobile phone. 98% of all SMS messages are opened on a daily basis, while 83% are opened within 3 minutes. To feel the difference, only 24.79% of emails are opened by the customers.
2. SMS is short and attractive. The content is usually not too long and is clear to potential customers. An additional call to action button makes the message precise, fast and effective.
3. SMS is the most immediate and direct channel of communication with anyone who has a mobile gadget. It has a 97% reading rate in a 15 minute period of time.

SMS Marketing is comparatively affordable and due to its cost efficiency it is suitable both for large and small enterprises. 
Each day there are more and more users of smartphones and this fact has revolutionized the way marketers reach customers and text message marketing is now a very trendy tool. Companies like Facebook, Subway, Jack in the Box, Nordstrom use SMS Marketing.

SMS Marketing Strategy Tactics to Boosts your Business Development 

Only knowledge about how effective SMS Marketing can be is not enough, as the need is to master some tactics to help your marketing strategy transform. If you want to get some basic skills on SMS marketing or bulk SMS strategy to the fullest, you are reading the right article. Here are some helpful SMS Marketing tactics that will remarkably change your business and make it grow rapidly.

1. Use Personalization while SMS marketing

Without a doubt, the opening and reading rate of messages is higher if they are relevant and personalized. Details like location, age, preferences and gender will make the text more relevant for your target audience and this will be a chance to establish lasting relationships with each customer.

2. Have a clear and brief message in SMS marketing

When you write brief and informative texts instead of long and boring ones, you save customer’s time. In addition, short and to the point text messages can grab attention quicker. For a marketing message, the optimal number of characters is 160.

3. Use a simple call-to-action (CTA) for SMS marketing

Well written call-to-action can make customers act in an exact manner. They can directly follow the latest promotions and visit newly opened branches or use products. One important factor to consider is that your call-to-actions should be powerful and goal-oriented, as if the SMS marketing plan is well-structured, it can bring nearly 8% conversation rate, which is 4 times more than for email.

The usage of such simple rules will not make you wait for the results.

There are a lot of options where businesses/individuals can set up their SMS marketing campaign. Usually those businesses which represent an online SMS marketing software such as SendSMS and various others, provide business messaging and mass texting services to companies ranging from local businesses to large enterprises as well as individual users in any country and give an opportunity to connect with your customers and generate new leads. The greatest advantage of this tool is its cost efficiency as it has a direct connection with a lot of MNOs all over the world.

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Domain Name strategy-You have small business ideas and you need strong digital strategies to overcome the competition. Nowadays, your business either has an online presence or its falling behind the competition. Having a digital strategy means the difference between long-term success and a quick nosedive into failure in the modern business world, which is why building a strong online presence should be at the top of your list of priorities. What’s more, your digital strategy should be broken down into various sections, categories, and different projects, the most important of which is choosing and building a strong domain name for your business. Having a strong domain name will build website authority, brand trust, and recognition, and it will drive your marketing, sales, and PR strategies forward.

To achieve all of this, you have to have a clear plan in place and know the key elements of a winning domain name while staying clear of the common pitfalls and mistakes that business leaders make when creating their domain name strategy. Let’s take a look at the five crucial tips that will help you build the best domain name for your brand and its online presence.

1. The different types of domain names

Many marketers and business leaders will struggle with the problem of devising the right domain name for their company, often being unsure how to approach the problem of domain name creation. This is because there are benefits and drawbacks to different domain name types, and because there are certain considerations you have to take into account in order to ensure domain stickiness, authority, recognition, as well as its value to the search engines. After all, your goal should be to make your domain as relevant to the online audience as possible.

To start, you have to know the different types. You can narrow domain names down to branded domains and industry-specific domains. The former are the domains that bear your brand name, and the latter are the domains that closely portray what you do. You can easily weave a relevant keyword into the latter, but a branded domain will make your company more recognizable and memorable in the online world. All things considered, the best option is to brand your domain, and try to integrate a relevant keyword if it sounds natural and doesn’t affect domain name stickiness in a negative way.

2. Emphasize domain name security

A big part of your strategy is finding a domain name provider, also known as a registrar, that emphasizes the security of their domains. Now that cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important in the digital world, it’s no longer enough to have a strong firewall or to use a VPN to ensure the security of your network and data stores – you also need to elevate the security of your domain name.

You can achieve this by choosing a reputable registrar, but also by leveraging some advanced security features. Be sure to enable two-factor authentication for your domain name account, enable WHOIS protection, and use a strong password management tool to create randomized security codes and update them regularly.

3. Choosing the right top-level domain

The next important consideration is the domain name extension, or the TLD. It should go without saying that you have to have a top-level domain in order to improve domain name authority in the eyes of the search engines and your online audience. That said, standard TLDs like .com or .net are typically preferred or you can choose a lower-tier extension for your domain.

4. Making your domain catchy and memorable

It should go without saying that your domain name needs to be catchy and memorable so that you can gain exposure and attract traffic from branded searches – which will help you boost your SEO efforts in the long run. Aside from choosing a memorable domain extension, you also need to make your domain short and punchy, something that is easy to spell out.

Modern brands will often make the mistake of intentionally misspelling their brand names to make them more appealing to the online audience, but that has the potential to confuse their customers. Be sure to stick with grammatically-correct branded domain names, and if you’re misspelling it on purpose, then make sure that it reads well.

5. Domain name features to avoid

Last but not least, there are several common mistakes when creating a domain name strategy that you have to avoid at all costs. Be sure to avoid putting numbers and special characters into the domain name if you want people to find your site easily. These include hyphens and underscores and every other special character out there.  What’s more, don’t choose domain names that sound similar to other popular domains to avoid driving traffic to other sites. These mistakes can negatively impact your SEO score and reputation, so be sure to stay away from them if you want to build a strong and authoritative digital presence.

Wrapping up

Choosing the right domain name might not be the only key element of a winning online strategy, but it is definitely one of its foundational pillars. Be sure to use these tips to create a success-driven domain name strategy that will skyrocket your online presence.

Image credit- Rawpixel 1, 2

Grow Your Business Online-Want to get rich without leaving the comforts of your own home? They say that if you want to be wealthy, then quit your job and put up your own business. Many people are scared to do so. Why? Because it is risky and they do not know how to start especially if they have small capital. So how do you grow your business online? I have here some tips which I find to be very helpful for entrepreneurs.

1. Create the Best Content

To create a standard-quality content is important whether it’s a company blog or a product description. It’s all about engaging the audience and giving them what information they need. You need to introduce your product. It can be through  a blog or through a product description. Whatever it is, you need to establish connections with your readers and make the language easy to understand.

In addition, you need to be credible. Many people worry about misleading information, so you have to convince them that you and your products are legitimate. In short, you have to have a company that appeals to your audience as the expert. You can heighten your credibility and reputation, and as well as improve your ranking in search engines.

To make it short, you want your company to be viewed as an authority in this field. Authority helps to enhance brand reputation as well as search engine ranking. Google Algorithm can help you with that. Remember, it’s not only about high-quality content but how you deliver that information is necessary.

Loading Speed

Many smartphone users don’t have enough patience to wait for a site that takes long to load. This suggests that you need to have your site improved for speed. Platforms like WordPress are a great help because it is equipped with different features to help optimize your website.

Layout

If the layout of your website is awesome, then expect that many site visitors would stay on your site. This means you need to be careful about the choices you make in colors, photos, graphics, and the layout of your sites function. As mentioned before, there should be a connection between you and your site visitors.

Avoid Wordiness

Word count is important but don’t dwell on it too much. Don’t be wordy. It can confuse your readers.

2. Be User-Friendly

Almost everybody now has a smartphone. Most of the transactions today are done through it, and with the fast pace of life, one person will find it irritating to visit a website which can be difficult to use. To be user-friendly the users must experience: easy navigation, a site that fits a screen 3 to 5 inches small, and buttons on links that are big enough to for the thumb to click on,

Take note that you don’t need to spend money on these things. You can do some of them by yourself. You can redesign the menu bar or modify the images. WordPress can help you with that.

3. Take Advantage of Social Media

One of the beautiful things about social media is you don’t have to spend money yet it is still effective. It’s free to create a profile on almost every platform and can easily put your business in front of potential customers. The good thing about social media is that it is very effective yet you don’t need to spend money just to have your business promoted. Plus, there is a big number of soon-to-be customers.

However, if you have a social media account, you should also be active in posting. You need to be responsive to inquiries. You need to be sociable.

Daily Posts Matter

Make it a habit to post. You can do it once, or even up to five times. Be active, make your audience know your business exists.

Post Images

To engage your target audience, use images. Photos, videos, and graphic materials boost the imagination of your audience so they can be encouraged to react, leave a comment, or share.

Use Meaningful Contents

It is not good enough to just post the basic information. Be sociable. You can also comment on other posts or share other pages or websites. In this way, your content can be something that your audience will be interested in.

Social Buttons Work

Don’t be left behind, almost every website has social buttons. Your target market can be big  that they might share your products with their own friends.

4. Pay Attention to Your Market

Pay attention to your market. You should know who your target audience should be. You will know this when you get to have your own set of followers. That is why it is essential to always be active on your social media accounts and/or your website. In that way, you can focus on those who are likely to spend money on your business.

Let’s say you sell flowers. You would not want to write a blog post about home appliances, would you?

When you know your market, then you would know the next steps. You can now write more high quality content; you can start stocking items.

Forget about creating a market that involves everybody. It would only make you lose focus. When you get enough audience and profit, then you can start investing on paid advertisements and limit it only to those whom you think would buy your product.

Another advice I can give is to check on your competitors. It does not necessarily mean that you need to spy on them but you can also study their strategy. This is one of the 7 Best Ways to Grow Your Business Online.

5. Be Flexible

On top of your own products, you can also add some items that you think might also interest your customers. For example, a company that offers English as a Second Language tutorial online. Aside from promoting their own service, they also offer books that the potential students can use while taking the courses with them. Some companies also give freebies like if you buy one item, you get the next same item at a 50% discount.

6. Free Marketing Tools

The Internet is full of free marketing tools from email marketing campaigns to designing perfect social media graphics. While it may take a bit of effort to find tools that work best for you, the end result is a far more streamlined system. We are lucky to be in this era where you can find almost anything on the internet for free. You can navigate and search about different marketing strategies. You can capture and edit photos. You can make videos and edit them just like how they do it on advertisements and movies. You can also have tutorials. So what else do you think you cannot do?

If you see your phone is too small for you but the tool you need is only available as an app on your phone, then you can Download BlueStacks. If you need to process a shipping, the most reliable source is PayPal Secret Shipping. The point is, take advantage of everything you find online which you think would help you boost your business.

7. Build a Network

Building a professional network with other businesses can be rewarding. Among those is you can introduce your own business to other customers who were not aware of your yet.

Networking takes nothing but effort on your behalf. This involves connecting with other businesses or individuals who are in the same industry but not exactly fighting for the same buyers. In fact, a lot of big companies partner with each other simply to have a wider reach. Building a network is not difficult. You just need to reach out to other companies or individuals but make sure you are not competing for the same customers.  If two businesses can benefit from each other, then building a network is suggested for all parties involved.

Conclusion

In this article, we have talked about how to grow your business online. There are many steps to start, grow, and expand your business. All of them effective if you would just focus on them.  I hope this inspires you to go ahead and keep on moving forward with your business. All in all, if you want to succeed, perseverance is the key. Be determined and never give up. There are many obstacles along the way. It’s not that easy but always bear in mind that at the end of the day, you’ll get more and more lessons on how to grow your business. And remember that a house is not built in a day, and so is your business. Follow these simple tips to reach your business’ full potential. Be patient. Stay focused and you will achieve your goal.

Perhaps you might want to share something on how you handled your business. Are you a business owner? Or are you just starting your business? Or just planning up to have your own business? We encourage you to give your thoughts, opinions, or any tips on how to grow a business. Come on and be a source of encouragement and inspiration.

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Just starting a business is not enough but managing its day to day activities and expenses is an essence of true entrepreneurship. Looking after the day to day financial needs of the company is a real task. Businesses always face the problem of scarcity of funds. As a result, it leads to instability and at the end, liquidation of the firms. Are you facing a similar problem of managing funds for day to day business activity? Looking for an effective and reliable way of getting enough finance for the business that can help in day to day activities. Hands down! Remedy your snag is here.

What’s this working capital loan?

Running a business doesn’t mean earning profit but also means carrying day to day financial needs effectively. Avoid these expenses is inevitable. Nowadays, almost every company faces this problem of managing funds for daily activities. As a result, they run out of funds at the end of the day.  But with the help of the working capital loan provided by most of the financial companies, you can solve this problem of scarcity of funds.

Working capital loan means a loan taken to finance the day to day financial activities of the business-like rents, payrolls, and debt payments. The working capital loan is simply a corporate debt borrowing which is used to meet the temporary financial requirement of the firm.

Role of the working capital loan in the business

The working capital loan is popular among business-people nowadays. It helps to manage its economic activities smoothly and effectively. Every company faces a business cycle, during recessions need funds, and it is when the working capital loan comes to rescue. With the help of working capital loans, they can quickly deal with the recession phase. So, it won’t be wrong to say that working capital does play a significant role in any form of business as no business can survive without effective management of daily needs.

Let’s see some merits of working capital loan

1. Easy to obtain

The procedure to receive such a loan is very simple and quick. Not much documentation is required. But the credit score of the company should be good to quicken the process.

2. Helps to deal with cash flow problems

It’s an excellent way to meet the need for funds by the business. Due to this, there is less fluctuation in the activity of the company. Business can run smoothly.

3. No need to set budget to repay the loan

You don’t have set any budget and set aside a portion of profit to repay the loan. It’s needed only for managing the temporary need of money, and once business turns normal, the loan can be paid after that.

4. Debt financing

A working capital loan is a form of debt financing. It doesn’t require an equity transaction which means that the company exercises full control, even if the financial need is drastic.

Now its time to look for cons of working capital loan

1. Effect your credit score

Yes, it’s true that every time you take a loan, it will be added in the credit history of the company. So next time you apply for other types of loans, then this may affect.

2. Not suitable for long term business goals

This time of loan won’t help the business in the long run as it only meant to meet the temporary need of funds. ROI is low in this type of loan.

3. The rate of interest is high

The rate of interest is relatively high as compared to secured loans, and the period of repayment is short. Sometimes it acts as a liability for the firm.

4. Collateral security may be used

Sometimes when the credit history of business is not good enough then in that case collateral security need to be attached to get loan sanctioned.

A Final Word of Conclusion

The working capital loan is an excellent way for any business to meet its financial crisis. Yes, we all will agree that working capital loans gives energy shot to your company and helps it to function smoothly. It’s an instant way of getting finance on a rainy day. Today demand for working capital loan is significantly increasing as every business faces scarcity of money some or the other way.

While we talk about the pros of the working capital, but we can’t ignore the significant cons of the same. Before applying for this type of loan, one should consider both pros and cons and should understand the economic condition of the business as credits have to be paid back with interest. So, ponder thoroughly before signing anything such and do a bit of more research for effective decision making.

Image credit- Pixabay

There is a very famous proverb, which states that it is never recommendable to put all the eggs in a single basket when you are dealing with the business strategy. It has been noticed that the statement is entirely true when the point of financing a business. One thing that you must be aware that the banks are not the only source of getting finance, there are some other ways too. Listed below are some of the sources of finance for a business. They are-

1. Personal Investment

The first and the foremost thing that you must keep in your mind that staring a new business means that you must have a bit of cash or asset of your own. This gives an indication to the investors that you are planning for the long-term commitment of your own project.

2. Love money

This is the money, which is generally loaned by the parents, family, friends, and spouse. In terms of bankers and investors, this amount is referred to as patient capital. In this case, the money needs to be paid later when the business profit increases.

3. Venture capital

This source of finance is only applicable for the businesses, which are technology driven and also the one which has higher growth potential. Generally, these sources of finance are given to the business in the field of information technology, biotechnology, and communications. When you opt for the venture capital than in that scenario, they expect a healthy return on their investment.

4. Angel Investment

You will be amazed to know that they are the retired company executives or the wealthy individuals who make sure that their money is invested directly in the business that is owned by others. The only limitation of the angel source of finance is that they provide money only during the early stage of any business.

5. Business incubators

In the case of the business incubators source of finance, they focus mainly on the high-tech sector. They stretch their hand to provide support for the business in their several stages of development. Usually, the incubation period does not last for more than a couple of years. It has been noticed that business, which gets this type of support often, operates within the state of the art sector.

6. Government grants and subsidies

One of the important sources of finance for your business can be government grants and subsidies. But getting grants from the government can be really tough as there are strong competition and criteria that you need to follow. It has also been observed that you need to match the funds for which you are given. Moreover, the amount also varies based on the granter.

7. Bank loan

You must be aware of the fact that bank loans are one of the most common sources of funding for different businesses. But one point that you must not forget that all the banks have their own merits as well as a demerit. Hence, it always better to go around and look for the one, which best matches, your demand.

FSSAI is Food Safety and Standards Authority of India comes under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. It has been established under Food Safety and Standards, 2006 consolidated under various acts & orders which handles food related issues in various Ministries and Departments. These standards are based on Science for food safety. It also regulates food manufacturers, food storage, food distribution, food sale and import of quality food to ensure safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Genesis of Food Safety and Standard (FSS) Act, 2006

After the commencement of FSS Act, 2006, below listed Acts were, which were handled by various ministries and departments, repealed.

1. Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954
2. Fruit Products Order, 1955
3. Meat Food Products Order, 1973
4. Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947
5. Solvent Extracted Oil, De- Oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967
6. Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order 1988
7. Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992

After the FSS Act, 2006, FSSAI was consequently established in 2008 but work within the Food Authority effectively began in 2011 after its Rules and key Regulations were notified.

This Act established an independent statutory Authority for the food safety, which is FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) with head office in Delhi under which various State Food Safety Authorities shall work and FSSAI along with State Food Safety Authorities shall enforce the various provisions of this Act.

FSSAI Functions as per the FSS Act, 2006

• Framing of Regulations to lay down the Standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food and specifying appropriate system of enforcing various standards.
• Granting FSSAI food safety license and certification for food businesses, laying down procedure and guidelines for laboratories in food businesses and notification of the accredited laboratories.
• To provide suggestions to the Central and State Governments in framing the policies.
• To collect data regarding contaminants in foods products, identification of emerging risks and introduction of rapid alert system.
• Creating an information network across the country about food safety and issues of concern.
• Promote general awareness about food safety and food standards.
• Contribute to the development of International technical standards for food, Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary standards.

FSSAI Legislative Framework

• Highlights of the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006 states-
  • The Act aims to establish a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety and standards, by moving from multi- level, multi-departmental control to a single line of command.
  • The Act established FSSAI and the State Food Safety Authorities for each State.
• Highlights of Food Safety and Standards Rule, 2011. The Rules provides for-
  • The Food Safety Appellate Tribunal and the Registrar of the Appellate Tribunal, for adjudication of food safety cases.
• Highlights of Food Safety and Standards Regulations 2011,
  • It covers Licensing and Registration, Packaging and Labeling of Food Businesses, Food Product Standards and Food Additives Regulation.
  • It prohibits and restricts on sales or approval for Non-Specified Food and Food Ingredients, such ingredients may cause harm to human health.
  • It provides for Food Safety and Standards on Organic Food and regulates Food Advertising.

However there are shortcomings and challenges as well such as unorganized sector, but these sectors also need to get registered with basic registration of FSSAI.

Lack of infrastructure such as food testing laboratories was another concern, but now there are 179 National Accreditation Board for testing and calibration Laboratories (NABL) accredited Labs.

Food Safety Training & Certification (FoSTaC) has been made necessary before undergoing the registration process.

FSSAI registration and approval is also a cumbersome and lengthy process however we should know the approval process if any startup wants to set up his/her food processing business then one can follow below steps-

Steps to Apply as FBO in FSSAI

Food licensing and registration system (FLRS) is an online application launched by FSSAI to facilitate FBO in India to apply for the Licence/registration and track their applications during the course of processing. Latest version was launched in September, 2014.

There are different license applications such as central license (annual turnover above INR 20 crores), state license ( annual turnover of more than INR 12 lakhs but confined to INR 20 crores) and basic registration (up to INR 12 Lacs annual turnover) available one should be aware of before applying for the FSSAI license. This license is valid for 5 years then after it is needed to renew the license after submitting required document and applicable fees.

Below are the registration steps one can refer but expert advice such as Lawyers/CAs should be taken as they help in creating documents and help in application process.

1. Go to FSSAI Food Licensing website
2. Check supporting documents such as premises photograph, company documents (how to register a company), directors list etc., applicable fees, rules and guidelines given at the bottom left of the site
3. You can search food business operators in your area/district from FBO Search and can contact them about the process
4. You can also get the contact details of the FSSAI state office from Contact details and can communicate with them for more information
5. In the site click on Apply Now button and on the next page, click on Accept button to accept the terms and conditions
6. In the next page, select your state from the drop down
7. Click on No radio button if your offices/premises or food business is not located in more than 1 state
8. Select your kind of business (KoB) on the page and click on proceed button
9. Now click on “click to apply” link given on the page where you need to login into the site as food business operator.

   

10. If you have not registered in the site then create your username and password then login and fill rest of the details along with supporting documents/photos/fees and submit the application. On this, you will be given an application reference number which will be used to track the application status in future
11. You can also refer guidelines for the registration

Steps To Do FSSAI License Number Search Online

1. You can visit the FSSAI site at “foodlicensing[dot]fssai[dot]gov[dot]in/index[dot]aspx“
2. At the right hand side, enter your Application reference number
3. Give captcha code and click on ‘Go’ button
4. In the page, your application status is shown

Steps To Do FSSAI License Number Renewal

1. Click on the link (“foodlicensing[dot]fssai[dot]gov[dot]in/LICRGDetails[dot]aspx“) for the renewal of your FSSAI license
2. Enter your 14 digit License/Registration No., Validity date and captcha code
3. Complete rest of the formalities such as documentation, fees etc. to complete the renewal process

Anatomy Of 14 Digit FSSAI License Number

The FSSAI license number which is issued to all types of FBOs consists of 14 digits which is further divided into 5 groups. These groups are denoted as below-

1. 1st digit shows the business is having FSSAI registration or FSSAI license. In case of FSSAI registration, 1st digit will be ‘1’, while in case of FSSAI license, 1st digit will be ‘2’.
2. 2nd & 3rd digits show the FSSAI License state code. Central FSSAI license is depicted by ‘00’, while State licenses are shown by successive digits.
3. 4th & 5th digits show the year when the business got the FSSAI registration.
4. 6th, 7th & 8th digits signify the Registrar Officer under whose jurisdiction the FSSAI License falls. So, each state will assign these digits from 001 to 999 as Registrar Officers.
5. 9th to 14th digits show the serial number of the food business operator, who is under a specific Registrar Officer. Each Registrar Officer can hold up to 10 lakh food businesses or serial numbers up to 999999.

You can also call the helpline number 1800112100, working hours from 9:30 AM to 1 PM and from 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM on all seven days, you can email them and go through the guidelines and tips to avoid delay in registration process of Food Licensing.

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Although you always want to build a successful career with the passion of creating distinct values, money is the life-blood of your company. If you want to be successful, you need to talk a lot about money and it is even an unavoidable thing.

Robert Kiyosaki has impressed the importance of financial intelligence several times in his famous book “Rich Dad Poor Dad.” If you want to earn a lot of money without working too hard, you must be financially intelligent. For those who want to start their own business, raising capital is the first issue they have to handle. If you haven’t yet decided your startup, then you can explore 100+ small business ideas in really less investment.

So, how to raise capital for your startup? Scroll down to know more.

1. Sell products in advance

Selling products or services in advance to raise capital is often ignored, though it is an effective way. It doesn’t lie. You know Adam Khoo – a famous Singaporean millionaire, who was successful with the idea of organizing a mobile dance floor. When he organized the first event, he used money from ticket sales to pay for musical instrument hiring fees and employee’s remuneration before the event happened. This way, he could start up his business model without money beforehand.

2. Negotiate with providers

You can negotiate with your providers to postpone the payment until you receive money from your customers. Sometimes, the provider may require you a mortgage because you are a new company. If possible, avoid giving them mortgages.

In most cases, people prefer negotiating with a person who they know clearly; therefore, please contact them directly to explain what you are trading and how you would like them to assist you. Try to capture their hearts and mind with your passion and integrity.

3. Do outside business activities

Business owners can consider doing outside business activities as an effective way for capital mobilization. Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computer Corporation, is one of the youngest billionaires in America. When he was 12 years old, he washed dishes for a Chinese restaurant to earn money. Before starting his company, he sold subscriptions to the Houston Post and earned about $18,000. He used this amount of money to buy an old computer, repaired, resold them, and gradually expanded his business.

4. Sell properties

Sometimes, we may not realize simple ways to raise capital that is exposed in front of us.

To open Apple Inc., Steve Wozniak sold his HP 65 with the price of $500, though he received only $250 from the buyer. Steve Jobs sold his Volkswagen with a price of $1,500. However, two weeks later, the machine was broken, and he had to pay half of the money for preparing.

Although it is not so easy to sell your loving assets at a low price, starting a business is much more important for an entrepreneur.

5. Use credit card

This is not a good way for those who need long-term loans, but it is useful when you start building your business model. For instance, you can use your credit card to buy goods and sell them to pre-ordering customers.

This is a useful way when you don’t have enough money for your startup. However, this should be a secret; don’t tell anyone that you use your credit card to make a purchase.

6. Find angle investors

Angel investors are those who have a large amount of money but don’t want to create a savings account just because of the low-interest rate. The main advantage of finding an angel investor is that you will have full powers to make a decision and don’t need to ask for too many people’s opinions. Angel investors may also bring you customers and business opportunities.

If the startup gained some momentum with some minimum viable product (MVP) then you can reach to venture capital firms for the advanced stages of funding.

7. Start a crowdfunding campaign

A crowdfunding agency plays an intermediary role between community sponsors and projects which need capital. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are two overwhelming examples. However, before choosing a crowdfunding agency, you need to browse the agreement carefully to understand your benefits and responsibilities.

Some agencies may require you to have a certain amount of initial fixed capital, while others want to earn a commission basing on the amount of attracted capital. They may also charge you a fee for the fund raised. Therefore, research each agency’s policies well before deciding to choose this way for fundraising or raise capital for your startup.

8. Win a competition

If you are lucky enough, you can raise capital by winning a start-up competition. Tran Tuan Anh, the founder of ticketbox.vn, started his business model after participating in Startup Weekend. First, he developed an app that helps people participating in the same event find each other and won the 2011 startup idea prize. This prize has paved the way for him to participate in the ASEAN Demo event organized by IDG and brought him a chance to get access to a lot of domestic and foreign investors.

9. Raise capital from employees

You can also raise capital from your employees. For example, if you build a new hospital and hire a lot of doctors and nurses. You can ask them to submit a certain amount of money based on their situation, and this amount of money will be paid back when they resign. Moreover, they will receive an amount of money which is equivalent to the bank’s interest rate monthly.

This is an effective way you can do with less effort. Both your employees and you will benefit from this agreement. You can raise capital for your business, while your employees will get an extra amount of money each month.

Besides, you can borrow money from your family members, friends, or strategic investors who have the same directions with you. There are many intelligent and effective ways to raise capital for your startup rather than waiting until you have enough money. At that time, you may be financially independent, but there are no opportunities.

Once the management of funding is done and product is developed and gained some momentum then you can expand the business into other territories as well but there are some basic business growth strategies which should be adopted before going global.

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