There are hundreds of guides online that help you launch your own business; however, there appears to be little guidance available for what happens further down the line when you begin to expand your company. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in building your business from the ground up, you’ll have gathered a lot of knowledge and understanding of what it takes to run a company – but that doesn’t mean a little support will go amiss.
There are various things you can do to take your online business to the next level. Whether that means focussing on developing your website and social media presence or beginning to sell your products internationally, the latter can provide you with numerous opportunities to grow and develop while simultaneously increasing your earning potential. However, there are various steps you need to take before you offer your products online.
Do your research.
As with any business venture, it is important that you know everything there is to know about the market in which you intend to sell your products. While you may have this covered for your home base, you should also ensure that you do the appropriate market research in the countries you wish to expand into as well. For example, your product may perform better in some countries than it would in others – perhaps due to harsh competition with other brands or the simple fact that there isn’t space in this market for your products.
Doing your research ahead of time allows you to hit the ground running.
Make your website accessible.
In order to reach a wider audience, you need to make sure that customers can easily access your website no matter where they may be in the world. This means that your website should:
Be compatible across a range of different devices (phones, laptops, PCs).
Easy to access from a variety of countries
Make smart marketing decisions.
The next step towards selling your products to an international audience is ensuring they hear about them in the first place. This means that you will likely need to refine your marketing strategy. Take a look at how your competitors market themselves internationally or what advertisements work better in what countries. Pay attention to your analytics, and make changes to your marketing scheme wherever possible. You can market yourself through:
Once you have completed the above steps, you are ready to start selling your products online. However, you also need to ensure that your customers can quickly get their hands on your products. You need to ensure that you meet all legal requirements for product shipping (in both the country of origin and the product’s final destination) and arrange for the appropriate shipping. However, shipping can be costly and timely to organise unless you work with the right company. For more information, or get a UPS shipping quote for your SMB, get in touch with UniShippers today.
The real estate market is a tough one. The people who are willing and able to buy a home nowadays are not many, especially with the pandemic giving rise to much uncertainty. As the number of clients actively looking and planning to buy a home fluctuate, the number of real estate agents trying to sell roughly remains the same. The real estate industry is naturally highly competitive and combined with the difficult economic situation, even the most experienced agents can find it extremely difficult to complete a sale.
Technology, however, plays a significant role in helping real estate agents cope with tough situations. Needless to say, technology has transformed the real estate industry and has made it easier for agents to gather information, reach clients, and communicate with them effectively. To stay on top of the market, here are 6 tools that every real estate agent should utilize.
Open House Technology
Hosting open houses has always been one of the most prominent sales techniques that allow realtors to market their listings. Though it’s timeless and simple, some technologies have been designed to modernize open houses. At every open house, there must be a sign-in sheet that allows realtors to gather and record information about potential buyers. One of the hardest things to do at the end of every open house is making a digital version of this sheet to send out individual follow-up emails. Many open house technology tools allow realtors to collect this information using an iPad. This makes it more convenient for attendees and makes them more interested in filling out the form. The best part is that these apps allow you to easily send out customizable and professional emails to follow-up with the attendees. Not only does it help make a realtor’s job much easier, but it also makes the listing much more memorable to potential clients.
Broker Reciprocity
Broker Reciprocity, or Internet Data Exchange (IDX), is a policy enclosed by the Multiple Listings Service, or MLS) that enables real estate agents who partake in their local MLS to share listing information online. The professionals behind https://showcaseidx.com explain that IDX allows realtors to make MLS listings accessible on their websites rather than having to refer potential clients to third-party sources. This makes active listings more accessible to consumers and makes them more likely to enter contact and budget information as they will be in control of the real estate agents who can access this data. Modern IDX tools make sure that each listing has an individual discoverable page. This boosts user experience as well as your website.
Camera Drones
Ever since camera drones have become available for public use, they became a revolutionary technology in the real estate industry. They allow realtors to take excellent aerial, high-definition footage of houses. They can also be used indoors to create a steady video experience for potential customers who are looking for a full house guide. This will give you a competitive edge and will make your listing stand out among hundreds of other average images of homes. Besides, if camera drones are out of your budget, you can attach your phone to a regular drone and take equally eye-catching footage.
Mobile Apps
Nowadays, there are mobile apps to help you out with literally everything. App developers work hard to provide tools and apps that can be helpful in many industries. For instance, there are apps that allow social media managers, strategists, and marketers to determine the best time to post to increase engagement.
Similarly, there are apps curated just for real estate agents. Head over to your application store and download a collection of local and international realtor apps that will make your job manageable, fun, and easier.
Social Media
Social media is one of the most important tools that a realtor must utilize. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms will allow you to reach clients. These platforms are probably where all your potential clients spend most of their time. If you are not using them, you are missing out on tons of selling opportunities.
Emails
Figure out ways to make your social media presence a tool to collect relevant emails. This will help you put together a strong mailing list and to connect with real-time potential buyers. For example, you can use pop-ups on your website to make visitors sign-up for your services using their emails. This way, you can send them newsletters, blog links, or other listing information.
Industries evolve with the use of technology. Since hundreds of new tools and technologies are developed every day, our lives have become much easier. There’s a wide array of tools that realtors can use so that they can make it through the tough times that the real estate industry faces.
Accounting has a lot to do with a company’s success. At the management level, the accounting department needs to be well-resourced. With a robust accounting team, different financial transactions and cash flows are worked on well. There are various types of accountants available in the job market. Having an accounting team exhibiting this diversity is resourceful.
Hiring some of the finest accountants for your business is imperative. These professionals besides handling the finance accounts they do also bookkeeping. The tracking of income and expenditure becomes easy. There is proper communication of the economic information concerning the business. Below is a clear guide on why every firm should invest in their accounting department.
Promotes Statutory Compliance
As you work hard in perfecting your operations, focus on the regulations prevailing in your field. Different states have distinctive rules and regulations on business matters. An accounting team helps your firms’ management be aware of the set of rules. It saves your business from losses that come from noncompliance.
The accountants accurately address the issue of the tax obligations of your business. Filing returns in time is something they handle. They oversee the pension funds with the keenness it deserves. A business, therefore, makes smooth payments to retirees. They may advise on why certain investments are not recommendable depending on the government’s business policies.
Aid in Budget Creation and Future Investments
Knowing where you are heading as a business is significant. The sense of direction needs to be based on issues such as the financial position. Accountants develop clear financial records which aid in this. The comprehensive financial income statement gives information on financial position. This is concerning a certain financial year.
Progressive preparation of such documents provides the management with an image of what the future is like. Combining financial data with accurate accounting processes does wonder. As a manager, you build much confidence in a coming project.
Handles Evaluation of a Business’ Performance
Find online accountancy recruitment firms as they can offer a competent accounting team. First, check out their website and see how the profiles look like. Skillful accountants are superb in evaluations. Any business should be conscious of any slight change in performance. A boost or decline is shown by the financial records. Accurate analysis methods give the true image of your strengths and weaknesses. Aim towards boosting the strong points and eliminate drawbacks
They use different criteria or tools in doing the assessment. For your internal business, there are multiple individual evaluations on each department. All elements are later combined to give the resultant business performance. This gives a sense of direction on which policies to be adopted or dropped for better results.
Assist in Filing of the Financial Statements
In a certain financial period, a business has the duty of visiting the Registrar of Companies for filing financial statements. Entities that are listed need to do this with stock exchanges. Private and public firms that pay direct and indirect taxes follow the same procedures. Accountants are at the center of these operations.
Such professionals still safeguard your tax reports as confidentiality is key. Some do this by use of well-protected accounts in databases. Hiring accountants with a clear track record of work is key. They keep your mind as a manager at peace knowing that no tampering of the accounts will occur.
Reviewing of Financial Records and Transactions
In small to medium firms, accountants have the duties of making transactions to records and books. This is because the volume of work is minimal. However, with more transactions in major companies, employees are the ones who do the recording. After, the financial accounting team will take over and do reviewing.
This ensures high accuracy in the accounts. Besides, it positively impacts the account posting work. Accountants need to constantly check the correlation of the records or books with the actual operating results of the business. Any disparity makes it easy to realize a problem somewhere. With proper tracking, the process will narrow down to the issue.
Annual audits normally take place and companies need to do the necessary preparations. The financial accounts team does the proper organization of all books and reports before the process. A good audit report positively impacts your reputation.
The input of accountancy in a company cannot be underestimated. Major managerial steps like investment need proper guidance from an active accounts team. Pouring enough financial resources in this department will see it work even better. This includes having optimal number of staff in it. As a manager, hire the finest accountants for your company as this translates to efficiency. Motivate the taskforce and emphasis on incorporation of modern technology in your accounting matters.
It is in no way easy being an entrepreneur. The journey resembles a roller-coaster ride rather than sailing smoothly in a yacht on fair weather. But like a roller-coaster ride, it is indeed thrilling and perhaps even fun but fulfilling. The advice rendered to you by this article draws on the personal experiences of several entrepreneurs who have each successfully started more than one business. This is the kind of advice seasoned entrepreneurs yearn they had known before starting on their entrepreneurial journey. Without further ado, the seven things you must know before you begin your entrepreneurial journey.
Having A Business Plan Helps More Than You Imagine
Often, we find entrepreneurs without the need of funding sources skipping the forming a spelled-out business plan part of the whole endeavor. But there’s news for them; they might be doing something that will reduce their business venture’s effectiveness and profits. Sure, it is time-consuming to pen down your business plan, develop different forecasts based on data and formulate the marketing strategy. One option is to hire professional business plan writers and get the plan to be prepared by them. Copywriting industry stalwarts writingmetier.com/ however, is quick to point out that it is better to reserve writing services for the different types of copy you need. Seasoned business experts opine that writing a business plan is a worthwhile, effective, and a recommended practice.
Past Experiences Do Not Necessarily Set Future Outcomes
There have been several instances where entrepreneurs have first tried a business in a particular industry and failed or didn’t meet with expected success. However, undaunted, these same people have entered the same market at a more ripe or appropriate time and met with wild success. While previous experiences in the same market give you an upper hand, it might not entirely be as easy as you are tempted to think. It’s a world where only the agile survive, and often successful businesses close shop due to their inability to adapt. Things change, and usually, things change drastically. So, people entering a market for the second time around will do themselves a favor by erasing previous notions concerning customer needs, competitors, service quality. You need to start writing your playbook from scratch. In other words, markets are constantly evolving, and accordingly, business plans need to address the same.
Hiring Friends And Family May Not Be A Great Idea
By the nature of their work, entrepreneurs are friendly people with a vast network of friends and acquaintances. However, don’t let that determine your hiring. Remember your product, its marketing, and its support are all determined by the quality of talent. Don’t let your social side make you commit business suicide by hiring on reference and relationship alone. Merit matters!
Plan All Aspects Of Your Business
Planning helps, whether it be the business plan or any other type of new commercial initiative you are thinking of launching. You know “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” It is quite right and appropriate, and planning all business aspects is critically essential. This is the era of startups, and it’s only too easy to get mired with that great new idea. But you will do your business prospects a world of good by shying away from distractions and focusing on one idea in the form of a service or product. The road will remain open down the line if you succeed with your present idea. And if you do indeed decide to divert attention, remember to let your company vision and goal direct your efforts.
Don’t Give Too Much Of A Discount.
New businesses are often under pressure to acquire a sizable number of customers in a relatively short period. While it is indeed important, you also need to make sure your business activity can sustain the prices you offer. Keep in mind raising prices later on, is always going to be tricky. It is a better option to add value to the product or service you offer instead of slashing prices.
Try To Find An Experienced Mentor
Mentors are not that different from being business parents. They provide you with the guidance you need. Don’t hesitate to make yourself accountable to them for your actions relevant to your business. Mentors play a role of great importance in an entrepreneur’s life. Exercise discretion and judiciousness in your choice of the same. Accordingly, make sure they are successful themselves and have belief and faith in your business idea and you in an entrepreneur’s capacity. The feedback you will receive from your mentor will prove to be of immense value in whatever you may end up doing.
Be Prepared To Fail
There is no shortage of impressive and accurate choice of words in business. One such example is that which talks about how fear of failure might be the most significant impediment to success. It is true. Accordingly, don’t let that bog you down and restrict your realizing entrepreneurial nirvana.
Business is one of those fields where there’s a little guarantee. The proper steps can better your chances of success. Best of luck!
When students write different academic assignments, they may face any sort of complication. One of them is topic selection. It’s not always easy to define an interesting and meaningful topic that can attract many readers. This task becomes more complicated if students are assigned business speeches.
Although a speech makes you introduce and defend your presentation vocally, it doesn’t mean it mustn’t be written. A good researcher surely writes a speech similarly to essays or research papers. Many students fail this challenge and use the help of speech writers for hire. Their specialists can write flawless business speeches on the most popular topics. Our guide will show you that students can write great speeches without somebody’s professional help.
We’ll begin with a list of the 25 most popular business speech topics:
The major advantages of gaining secondary education for businessmen.
What is the most prospective major for future entrepreneurs?
Should internship be paid?
How to avoid conflicts at the enterprise?
Where to get business practice before you graduate from college?
The importance of accounting for a corporation.
How to improve the productivity of a factory.
The main principles of organization workforce according to Henry Ford.
When B2B is useful?
How to run a startup successfully?
The importance of globalization for the business industry.
Can business partners become true friends?
How does a business plan affect future success?
The typical mistakes of the newcomers in the business.
What methods allow predicting losses and complications in business?
Credibility and trust is the base of a brand.
The most effective methods to attract customers.
Why are marketing strategies important for an enterprise?
The resourcefulness and usefulness of technology in manufacturing.
The role of a leader in achieving business objectives.
How can managers reinforce the working process?
Emotional intelligence and its importance for business.
Why is a CEO important to earn money?
How to deal with breach of contract?
The best methods to motivate workers.
You’re welcome to utilize any of these topics. You may likewise use them as a good example of what a relevant business speech topic should be. Thus, you’ll be able to create your list of great ideas to cover. You should also know the main features of a relevant topic. It should:
Be clear for your readers;
Concentrate on an important problem;
Study an unsolved problem;
Be helpful and meaningful;
Be original.
Writing a Business Speech
We believe that you’ll successfully generate relevant topics for your business speech thanks to our list of topic ideas. Right now we’d like to pay your attention to the way a speech should be created. Not all students can do it perfectly.
Know Your Audience
Firstly, define your listeners and try to understand what they want. You should analyze their preferences, age, life interests, etc. Using this feedback, you’ll have a clear understanding of the things your audience wants to see in your presentation. Try to predict the possible questions of your audience. When you conduct your research, you should question yourself about every point. Imagine that you’re an opponent. It will help to identify possible questions of your opponents.
Understand Your Subject
Secondly, make sure you clearly understand the topic you are going to present and defend. Research it thoroughly until you clarify all the uncertainties and can explain every component of the thesis statement. Decide what facts and examples to use. Decide where and how to implement them in your presentation. Do that naturally.
Identify the Purpose
Thirdly, have a clear purpose for your business speech. You may chase different objectives, and it’s necessary to choose the main standpoint. For example, your presentation may inspire business partners, pay their attention to some important but omitted argument, convince them to take the action, assure that your subject is important, and so on.
Outline the Project
It’s good to have a clear vision of how to deliver your speech. A reasonable outline will help to become organized and disciplined. It should include the introduction, thesis statement, main plot, and conclusion. Each section is crucial and consists of tiny bits of information. Your outline is supposed to take into account how to connect different parts, how you implement them, what examples should be used, etc.
Control Your Time
You should consider the time of your business speech. It will be surely limited by a strict deadline. Therefore, you should plan the entire presentation without exceeding that deadline. Give a presentation to your friends or at least to yourself to check whether you’re fast enough. If you run out of time, reconsider the speech to decide what parts can be skipped to meet the time limit.
Practice
Undoubtedly, you should practice your speech many times before the day of the presentation comes. It’s better to ask your friends, mates, or family members to listen to your speech. Ask them to be honest to express their opinion about all the elements of your project.
Perhaps your voice is shaky or your body language is annoying or unconvincing. The slightest details may play a decisive role in your project. Work out your charisma as frequently as possible to get rid of potential drawbacks.
Revise
Finally, reread the writing parts and slides before you approve the last copy. Pay attention to transitions, language, length, arguments, examples, and similar stuff. All these things are important to make your business speech either perfect or spoil it entirely. We have already recommended asking other people to listen to it. Another good method is to use grammar checkers to make sure your presentation is free of grammar and spell mistakes.
Utilize all the topic ideas we’ve mentioned in our article and/or create your own. Obligatorily use the recommendations about speech writing. Thus, you’ll have great chances to create a perfect speech on business to earn the highest grades.
When it comes to growing a business, the underlying philosophies are all over the place. Some gurus recommend building up a company from scratch and taking your time, and enjoying the process. The idea is that you build a firm foundation, a solid brand and then go from there. If the business is a good one, people will naturally flock to it.
Then there’s another school of thought that sees approaches like that as madness. You need to grow quickly, they say, otherwise you’ll miss opportunities. The goal of the entrepreneur should be to secure as much funding as possible to take the business to the next stage and reach a “critical mass.”
The first approach described here is what people in the business community call “organic growth.” You’re not trying to force the issue. Instead, you’re coming at it from a different set of assumptions and values. Your view is that if you have value to offer, the business will grow without you even having to try. Customers will spread the word that you offer an incredible service – and they’ll thank you for it.
Inorganic growth is all about taking risks and seeing how far you can push things. It denies that great businesses will just flourish of their own accord. It sees the world as a hypercompetitive place and that the only solution is to radically scale the company to keep the competition at bay.
So which is right? And which should you care about most?
It turns out that there are merits to both these views. And it is really down to the entrepreneur to think about which environment suits them best.
The Pros Of Organic Growth
In a strictly financial sense, organic growth means only using funds generated by the company itself. The form that this takes depends highly on the profitability of the business. Some companies manage to move forwards quickly, just using the profits that they make from revenues. Others take much longer.
The benefit of this approach is that you don’t have any counterparty risk. You’re not worrying about paying back creditors or whether you’ll get funding for your next mission-critical expansion. Instead, you’re charting a path that relies on the success of your enterprise right now.
That approach to business can be an emotional boon. You get two distinct senses when you approach it in this way. The first is a sense of confidence that what you’re doing is actually working. Sometimes, entrepreneurs can get a feeling in their gut that the world isn’t valuing what they have to offer. But when your company is making profits right now, you have all the proof you need. It tells you that you should be bringing your model to more people.
The second sense is one of freedom. When you’re in debt to somebody, you feel obligated to them. And this then creates a sort of tension throughout your entire body. No matter what you do, you always have this annoying thought in the back of your mind that you’re “in the hole” and have to get out of it.
Bootstrapping your way to success, however, avoids this entirely and gives you a sense of peace – just what you need when you’re striving to make your enterprise a reality.
The Cons Of Organic Growth
While organic growth certainly has its upsides, it also comes with a bunch of downsides too.
Perhaps the most obvious is the challenge of adapting the business to new demands. Let’s say that you operate a ready-meal company and you sell dishes to people through the post.
It’s a great business model that’s taking off right now. But one of the complaints is that there isn’t enough variation in the meals. People are eating the same old food over and over again. And it’s not what their palates want.
At this juncture, the company has a choice. It can either slowly save up money to develop products, or it can approach investors and seek funds for quicker rollout.
In many cases, the sensible option is to invest and deal with the problem now. Not doing so could lead to loyal customers leaving for another brand.
The same process occurs when deciding how to fund the development of a new product. Your customers might be asking you to update your lineup. But if you go down the organic route, you can’t just whip up something new overnight. It takes time – sometimes many years.
Again, here’s where inorganic growth could come in handy. You could just acquire another company that is already making the product you want and start delivering it to people immediately. That way, you could transform the outlook of your business and compete with your rivals more effectively.
The Pros Of Inorganic Growth
Inorganic growth is what most business advisors prefer. Mainly, this concern comes from a place of fear. They worry that if a company doesn’t scale fast enough, another brand will take its place, and all the spoils will go to a competitor.
Inorganic growth essentially allows you to get to scale faster and outcompete everyone else in your segment. With funding, you’re able to make your brand more convenient and your products better. Eventually, it doesn’t make sense for customers to go to anyone other than you.
Think about what happened to General Motors when Uber came along. For a while, it seems like Uber was going to gain the upper hand over the legacy car company. Eventually, the unicorn startup would be able to provide a ride-sharing service that negated the need for personal transportation.
But that’s not what happened. GM hit back by purchasing Uber’s rival Lyft and immediately put itself back in the game. Now that it’s vertically integrated, it’s ready to face whatever changes come down through the car market. If full autonomy arrives, GM could simply create cars itself and then rent them out to people via Lyft, negating the need to make continued private sales (something that other car companies are going to have to do).
Inorganic growth also makes it easier to open a satellite office to reach new markets. Let’s say that you are currently operating in the US but you know your business has a massive target market in France. In situations like that, it makes sense to open a second office in Europe. That way, you can access markets and generate revenue faster.
Going down the organic route would be difficult because you’d have to save the funds you need first. But with investor capital, you could do it immediately and begin generating returns.
The Cons Of Inorganic Growth
Inorganic growth, however, isn’t without risks. There are problems that you’ll need to consider.
Let’s say, for instance, that you try to grow your company via mergers and acquisitions. You carefully select companies you think will add to your enterprise positively. But, it turns out, that your picks were wrong. The enterprises you bought don’t actually bring you the value that you hoped for.
In many cases, companies make the same errors as investors. They pick what they think are winning business models, only to discover that they don’t really work.
There are numerous examples of this from the business world. Failed acquisitions happen all the time, and they put a drag on firms’ overall finances.
Another con of inorganic growth is the sheer cost of it. Startups wind up paying enormous sums of money in interest which can hurt their growth later on. Thus, any company seeking out funds needs to be confident that business will go exponential. They need to have a sense that they’re going to make 10X for every dollar they receive in venture capital. If they don’t, then the debt has a nasty habit of mounting up and up to the point where it actually makes future growth impossible.
Think about it. What if a startup developed a pair of augmented reality lenses, hoping that they would change the world as the smartphone did. They decided to invest billions of dollars in the project, and then put it out to the market to see whether there were any takers. The product could work. But thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones, there’s a good chance that it won’t.
And that’s the problem with inorganic growth. You’re not getting feedback throughout the process. Instead, you’re taking a punt and hoping that it will pay off enormously.
Which approach you use to grow your business depends tremendously on your objectives and circumstances. Where possible, organic growth might be preferable. Sometimes, there aren’t a lot of people in your space, so you have opportunities to corner the market. In these situations, what matters is your brand, not your ability to dominate the market or get to “scale.”
In other cases, however, you will need to borrow from others, especially if you have significant capital requirements to get to scale. Often, you can’t afford to grow organically. It’s just not possible in your industry.
For some, the combination of organic with non-organic works best.
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