Although franchising is widely known to offer aspiring, new business owners the best possible chance of success with the least amount of risk, there are some myths out there that can tend to alienate even the most die-hard entrepreneur. Below, I clear up some common franchise misconceptions that will breathe new life into your goal of owning a franchise business.

Owning A Franchise Guarantees Success. You need to get clear on the myth that by owning a franchise, you absolutely cannot fail. That's a crock. There are numerous factors, both controllable and uncontrollable, that can determine the fate of your success. However, a huge statistic is in your corner: overall, the success rate of franchising is as high as 95%. Of independent start-ups, on the other hand, only about 2/3 are still in business after 2 years and, sadly, less than half survive 4 years, according to the Small Business Association. No guarantees here, but with a determined effort on your part, franchising is the obvious choice.

Brand Name Means Everything. While you cannot minimize the importance of a highly recognizable brand name, it is only part of the equation. Brand is very significant with burger and automotive franchises. However, there are many franchise categories, some you may not even be aware of, where the brand clearly isn't the main focus, but that doesn't translate to a lack of success.

Mr. Handyman, for example, a homeowners and commercial maintenance and repair franchise, has over 300 franchise units across the United States and Canada. The Home Improvement market is huge and continues to grow, with Americans spending more money on remodeling, renovating and decorating than ever before. The brand isn't a household name like Mcdonalds, but this home based franchise is a highly successful one, with a much smaller investment required.

There are hundreds of consulting type franchises that most people have never heard of by name. Many are extremely successful, with much less overhead, than fast food or automotive franchises.

A significant investment is involved, so the only one getting rich is the franchisor. What a joke. Franchisors absolutely need profitable, successful franchisees to flourish. The fact that ongoing royalties are paid by franchisees on a regular basis indicates that a fair an equitable relationship exists between the two parties, and that the franchise is profitable. If they weren't, who would pay these fees? A poor performing franchisee will not last very long. The franchising business model is structured specifically so that both the franchisor and the franchisee succeed.

Bigger Is Always Better. Not true, especially in the franchising world. Think about it: would you rather invest every last dime you have into a fast food business, make a decent income, and deal with high turnover, high overhead, theft, worry about what is going on at your store with the brand new teenager that is working the Saturday night shift? Or, would you prefer a home-based service franchise that costs $50,000 (or less), allows for plenty of family and free time, and generates as good or even better income than the food business? Most potential franchisees are better suited, and would even prefer, a small franchise with limited, but highly skilled, employees.

Owning A Franchise Means You're On Your Own. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, ultimately, whether a franchise succeeds or fails is the responsibility of the franchisee. However, a huge benefit of being a franchisee is that there is always a support staff, provided by the franchisor, ready to help you with any issue you may encounter regarding your business. Some offer 24-hour call centers. You are most definitely in business for yourself, but not by yourself.

Because the general disposition of our society tends to be negative, positive aspects regarding anything, including franchising, can become distorted. I've focused on clearing up five of them here, although there are more, to be sure. Do your research and align yourself with an experienced franchise consultant who can provide you with the necessary facts so that you're able to make an educated decision about a specific business opportunity.

Find Your Perfect Business

Cory Barber is a professional franchise consultant affiliated with the world's top franchise broker network. His free, confidential consulting services help guide you through the entire process of purchasing a franchise based on your background, skillset, lifestyle, and financial goals. For more information about his free Franchise Consulting Service, please visit: http://www.thefranchisingauthority.com or contact Cory at his office: 877-271-4305.

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How many people do you know that have a business or are planning to start one because they want to make money? This is wrong - this is bad thinking - it's not healthy for you or your business. I just want to say it clear right from the start of this article: starting a business with the goal to make money will not get you anywhere. The reason behind this judgment is because you're starting a business that will produce nothing. If your goal is to make money then your product doesn't exist.

Take a look at Walt Disney. His big goal was to create a company that will put a smile on everyone's faces. This is what made him do Snow white (his first animated movie that also was a big success). He didn't thought to make money but still he made millions. Because he always placed people first and he always thought to a product that will entertain.

That is why you, as a business owner, have to ask yourself the basic questions:

- What basic need does my product solves?

- Can I sell my product to more then one person without adapting it?

- Will people search for my product because it responds to one of their needs?

- Will people afford to buy it (I'm referring here to the people that have the need for your product)?

- Is there a chance that the people who buy my product to tell others about it?

These basic questions will help you answer to a much bigger question: what do I really sell? Believe it or not there are people who own a business and don't realize what they are selling. Take me for example. I offer SEO services, how to develop a business blog services and a few others. What I'm really selling is the possibility to move your brick and mortar business to the web, to build brand exposure and business awareness. I help small businesses to spread their ideas: I offer freedom because they are no longer constrained to the local market - the world is their market (freedom to write relevant content about their business and publish it on their blogs or to express their ideas through the help of videos placed on YouTube).

The same way you should ask yourself these questions because it will help you sell better. Why? Simply because you will know how to advertise better, how to leverage the strong point of your business better, you'll be able to answer to that old question almost any client asks: why should I pick you? What do you offer me?

Now, what do you think about this? How useful do you consider this article to be? Do you have different thoughts or opinions? Do you have any questions?

For more articles on SEO, Social Media, Business Blogging, Business Development you can subscribe to my blog and receive my articles in your e-mail: http://www.OptimizingTheWeb.com

Contact me if you need some help in any related matter. Send me an e-mail or contact me on Twitter @TomaBonciu

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Company Winding Up

A company winding up is the mechanism by which an insolvent business legally ceases to trade with the help and assistance of an insolvency practitioner. As a company director you need to be constantly aware of the financial position of your business, and take steps, if you conclude that the company is insolvent, not to increase the debt levels. If you conclude after a review that the company can be turned around, then you are allowed to trade it, but such decisions need to be minuted at meetings and evidence of the steps taken documented. A failure to do this can later result in an action against a director for wrongful trading.

If the company has an underlying good business, but will not trade through its problems then the business should be closed, but it could continue in another guise, with a pre-pack sale to a phoenix company.

The liquidation is begun by directors reporting to the shareholders, that the company should cease to trade. They will then generally approach an insolvency practitioner to help prepare a statement of affairs and call a meeting of creditors, who will ultimately vote to liquidate the company.

If you are unsure of the procedure take advice from some one such as an insolvency practitioner who will be ideally placed to help you take the first steps, which will include preparing the necessary paperwork, and also getting the finance in place for a pre-pack if so required.

It is generally thought advisable for directors to take the bull by the horns and begin the winding up process themselves as it is a clear sign of corporate responsibility.

The winding up process is not difficult but I understand that it can be emotional. It is common place to have feelings of guilt about closing down a business. If you have dealt with suppliers for many years you will feel bad about not paying them. I suspect that for too long many of you have even paid suppliers out of your own pockets. That is not the point of a limited company enterprise, It exists to protect personal liability. If you continue to trade whilst insolvent, you risk wrongful trading as I outlined above. It is better for all to take steps to close down the insolvent business and if appropriate pre-pack the sale of the going concern to a clean company, that way jobs are saved, no further losses are incurred and your suppliers can trade afresh with a solvent entity. Remember you do not have to face this alone, but by delaying making the call, could make matters worse for your creditors, and ultimately that may reflect upon you.

Information provided by Steve Thatcher of Help With Debt (UK) Limited and total debt solutions company.

For all further reading see http://www.helpwithdebtuk.com
for personal contact email sthatcher@helpwithdebtuk.com

For Steve's thoughts see http://steves-debt.blogspot.com


Finally if in the UK and you need a friend to speak to call 01162171406

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In addition to a clear strategy, good measures, and streamlined processes, reinventing enterprises requires a focus on personal relationships and human potential. As a result, it depends upon emotional connection and excellent communication to function well. The objective business world has often struggled with the sub­jects of emotions and communication. If they are considered at all, they are spoken of-in businesses and business schools-in somewhat demeaning terms such as "soft" skills.

Something that I learned as a consultant that I didn't understand very well as an executive was that the notion of command and control with knowledge workers is largely a delusion. When I worked in a large company, people who reported to me would often nod their head "yes" when I asked them to do something. With regularity I would later discover that they really didn't know what I was asking for, and many times I really didn't either.

In large Enterprises these types of command and control misconcep­tions have the effect of making executives think that things are changing faster than they really are. After I began consulting, it became clear that co-creating solutions and building broad relationships was really the only way to achieve sustainable and productive change. It's hard, but it is required. There is probably no business management area where I have changed my view more than on this one. The truth is that with knowledge work, the command and control mindset needs to be demoted, and communications and emotions need to increase in importance.

If knowledge work isn't co-created, chances are it's not going to get im­plemented productively. Co-creation is different from consensus, however, because co-creation also requires a decision maker. Even though co-creat­ing work produces slower starts, it will lead to faster and more sustainable results. Investing a little extra time now will save a lot of time later. If you want something done productively and sustainably, you'll probably need to put more of your own skin in the game-in conjunction with those who are actually doing the work.

The objective nature of Scientific Management effectively bred subjec­tivity out of businesses during the 20th century. Nonetheless, it is very im­portant to articulate how you're feeling so that you can better connect with how others are feeling. Emotions are important to productive knowledge work and Enterprise reinvention. They increase energy, clarity, and the productivity power of relationships. In this context, key motivators include the desire to win, achievement of something worthwhile, a sense of personal power, approval and acceptance, and recognition of efforts.

In the Operate work-behavior area of the an enterprise reinvention system, feelings influence actions which produces results. As part of this, it's important to remember that people ultimately love others because of how they make them feel. We too often forget how important the need is to be appreciated, that neglect can often be more damaging than abuse, and that if you really want to honor someone, you should ask for their help. Leaders need to lead with their heads and their hearts, and in difficult times, emotional resis­tance can only be overcome by a stronger emotion. It's important to turn negative emotions into positive ones, with special emphasis on the positive emotions of optimism, hope, faith, courage, ambition, determina­tion, self-confidence, and self-worth.

In addition to elevating the status of emotions in Enterprises, commu­nication also needs much more emphasis for companies to be more pro­ductive. This requires integrating the four steps of Enterprise Reinvention: Envision-Design-Build-Operate. Where a Design-oriented person might be overly blunt, an Operate-oriented per­son can instinctively be overly nice. Combining the blunt facts of Design with the emotional sensitivity of is the most productive answer. In practice it is called tact. It is the equivalent in the medical world, of the nurse who has the ability to give his or her patient a shot without having it hurt too much.

Productive communications are socially negotiated. This is harder than being blunt or telling someone what they want to hear. In the communica­tion process, it's important to connect the dots between where you've been, where you are, and where you need to go, because if something doesn't fit with the past, it will very often be discarded or misread by people. This logical and emotional transition from the past to the future is necessary for sustainability.

Effective communication requires leaders to ask great questions and stick to a few key points. Asking questions instead of giving orders empowers people. Statements limit creativity. When you communicate, it is important to articulate what needs to stay the same, what needs to change, the steps required, and the progress being made. Consistent with this, it is important to have a clear and formal communication strat­egy to control the dialogue and to channel formal and informal organiza­tional energy toward achieving the vision of the Enterprise.

Focus is as important to communications as it is to each step of the knowledge work productivity system. Short-term memory is lim­ited to about five items. Three is better. If you have more than five points, people won't remember any of them. To communicate pro­ductively, it's important to be consistent, give people something that they can't get anywhere else, and make them genuinely feel wanted and loved.

Productive relationships are essential ingredients in effective and effi­cient Enterprises. To activate them, the Operate step needs to help in­dividuals achieve something as part of the company that they can't achieve on their own.

Enterprises need leaders who set the tone, connect with people's personal lives, support employees when they struggle, provide levity in dif­ficult times, and motivate people to achieve the firm's vision. Motivation requires the combination of emotions and communications. As hu­mans we all need to be treated fairly, trusted, have a chance to grow, and have a vision that is larger than ourselves.

The Enterprise Reinvention system is an important mechanism to activate the human spirit on a sustainable basis. It requires Envision-Design-Build-Operate as a total system. All are needed to help Enterprises, functions, and individuals productively self-organize-using a unified framework and the cybernetic process.

To set the system in motion, it's necessary to energize human relation­ships and activate human potential through the Operate work-behavior area. This requires that companies co-create the future with their custom­ers, recognize and capitalize upon informal as well as formal organizations, coach people effectively, and communicate with a combination of objectiv­ity and emotion.

Jack Bergstrand is an expert in enterprise reinvention and knowledge work productivity management. He founded Brand Velocity, Inc., the first company ever prototyped using knowledge work productivity principles, and created the Strategic Profiling (R) instrument, a tool to help firms accelerate and improve important enterprise projects. To learn more about his book, "Reinvent Your Enterprise," visit: http://www.ReinventYourEnterprise.com/.

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It is important to be innovative these days. People say that you should have extra income to augment the family savings. That's what part-time jobs are for. But most people cringe at the thought of getting another job aside from their full-time jobs. However, what if you make money from what you love most doing? So it would not feel like a "job" anymore because you love doing it.

If you are into gardening, why not have a profitable greenhouse. Make a greenhouse and grow some vegetables, fruits and other plants and sell them. The great thing about it is even if the vegetables are not in season; you can grow them because the temperature is controlled. So you are assured that you can make money out of it. People will cater to the fruits and vegetables that you have especially the ones that are not in season. Neighbors will clamor for it and see and buy what you got. They know that what you have used for fertilizers is relatively harmless.

When you love plants and you have a green thumb. You will love to have a greenhouse. Plus the money that comes in when it becomes a profitable greenhouse will be worth it. It can even serve as an inspiration to keep you going. Who knows? This small business may become big one of these days. Everything starts out small. But when you love what you do, it eventually becomes big and money is just icing on the cake.

Cheryl Forbes owns and operates the website http://www.profitablegreenhouses.com.

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In business, paper is a very important peace of information. Papers play key role to make your prediction more accurate and feasible with time. They are containing very important data which must be available at ease. If not, it will surly create trouble for business to move upwards. Let's check how paper is important.

• It provides reference to our errors which we done in the past.
• It gives idea about current position of business and how far we have reached.
• It helps to take more accurate and speedy decision because it contains information of past and current business trends.

So, paper makes future of business with reference of past and current. If any references are missing, your business will have gloomy future. Some disadvantages of having papers physically.

• It requires more space to store.
• It requires extra care to save from environmental effects.
• It requires accurate management to get the paper at proper time.
• It costs you a lot for maintenance.

Paper scanning offers digital conversion of physical papers. I will call it 'digital papers'. Digital papers are very portable and can available at any time. They overcome the disadvantages of normal papers.

• They require less storage space.
• They are protected against environmental effects.
• They are easy to manage and search. You can get the digital paper at any point of time with some clicks.
• Maintenance is near to none.

In Addition,

• They are very portable so you can have it in your flash drive and can use at any system.
• You can protect them with password which increases the security of the confidential information.
• You can take backup copy to have safety against sudden deletion/corruption of digital papers.
• Many executives can refer the scanned document at a time without having photo copy of papers. That's how paper scanning saves your stationery cost.

Paper scanning facilitates you to have the important papers at proper time without wasting in searching here and there. Ultimately it saves your time which helps you to act before you competitors do. So paper scanning helps you out, to give your business brighter future.

Ethan Allen is online marketer for Scanning Indexing, providing scanning services and indexing service. They deliver high quality paper scanning though their 4S model. They provide Speedy, Secure and Superiority scanning services at huge Savings.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ethan_Allen_B

1. Promotional items - Free giveaways such as pens, calculators, t-shirts, etc. are yet another way to gain exposure. Similar to the cross promotion idea, you can ask to put your promotional items in another company's place of business and offer the same courtesy to them.

2. Newsletters - You can write regular newsletters and email or mail them to current customers. Provide free information to customers that they can use and they will likely keep coming back. Even better, they'll tell others or forward your email newsletter to others! You can also offer articles for others' newsletters. It gives them a break from writing another article and also gives you exposure to a whole new list of clients.

3. Cross promotion - Think about your customers, and the kinds of products/services they are likely to use. Then approach these other businesses and ask them about cross promotion opportunities. You can reach more potential customers who might not otherwise be exposed to your business, and you offer the same to the other business.

4. Marketing and learning how to advertise your small business is easier than ever. What used to cost a fortune running TV, radio, traditional, and direct mail campaigns, you can now have for a fraction of that cost with local online ads. A local online advertising campaign can not only reduce your advertising budget by up to 80-90%, but it's an easy set up process that takes about 5 minutes to implement.

Imagine, being able to target local customers that are searching specifically for your product or service, in real time! Forget traditional media and costs involved. Now, you can customize a local internet advertising campaign for as little as $70.

It's only a matter of time before local internet advertising will be a sign of professionalism. Stay ahead of your competition and incorporate a local marketing strategy and begin bringing mind-blowing profits to your small business

Jason Cole helps connect local businesses with local consumers. Having helped thousands of small businesses with their marketing since 2002, it is now easier than ever to market your business down the zip code in your local town or city. We can also help with Website Development, Article Marketing, Video Marketing, Link Building, etc. Check it out now http://www.LocalOnlineAdsNow.com

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Planning an important corporate event such as corporate party, a sales meeting, the annual year end party, trade show, a retirement party, a promotion party or any hospitality event for valuable clients can be a stressful and hard work.

Not many companies have a person to leave all their duties and spend dedicated time to organise a conference. Nevertheless hosting one, organised with high standards can sometimes be vital for the business.

Many organisations when looking for an exceptionally well managed event without the hassle of organising it in-house turn into one of available on our market, conference professionals. With their sound experience, any company can relax and look forward with excitement, rather than concern, to the event.

Many conference organisers are exceptionally creative and always aim to exceed you expectations.
However, hiring any conference organisers, will not guarantee a success. You as a client have to work very closely with a chosen organiser, in order to express your expectations and provide the above with your wish list.
The most important key points of your lists should include:

* What type of event are you holding? Is it corporate event, outstanding evening for your guests or perhaps a celebration of company's accomplishments?
* What is the size of the planned event? How many people will attend and will all of them stay for the entire day/evening?
* What is your ideal location? What is your choice of cuisine for beverages?
* Will you need to provide any accommodations for your guests?

All of those questions and many more, will be ask by some conference organisers. If not all of them pay any interest into the basic questions, it is usually recommended to look for a different, more experience one.

For more information on Conference Organisers visit TSNN.co.uk, the leading UK exhibition and event services website in the UK. Our Quick Quote service will send out your requirements to numerous UK suppliers so that you can find preferred supplier easily.

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Having a virtual office instead of the traditional office space makes sense for numerous business owners when working capital, daily need for office space and other issues are considered. One of the largest bottom line costs for any business is their office. Many times this cost keeps smaller business owners from opening an office outside of their home. A great solution can be a virtual office especially when you want to open additional offices to cover a metro area.

Take the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex for example.

For a business owner to cover the cities within DFW he would have to open over twenty offices however by opening virtual offices he could greatly reduce his cost and still have an address and phone number for each city. This is a wonderful benefit. So what do you look for? Let's say you are looking to open an office in Fort Worth several things should be considered. Probably the biggest consideration should be the address. Is it a prestigious address or does the building reside in a neighborhood that is less than attractive? Another aspect is the staff, after all they will be answering your phone and taking delivery on your behalf and if they are not professional it is a direct reflection on you.

Once you've decided on the appropriate virtual office in Fort Worth you can be up and running in no time allowing you to conduct business with that address and phone number in literally hours in some cases. The benefits to a virtual office are numerous and so the consideration of where to locate that office should be done with forethought and time.

Mark Stone writes articles for numerous websites including Meridian Business Centers a provider of Fort Worth virtual office and Houston virtual office space.

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The General Medical Council notes that most workers spend seven hours a day seated at work. And may we add a few more hours sitting while commuting to and from work or having lunch, dinner and a few drinks at the bar.

Hardworking executives spend more time sitting down than their subordinates. That's a fact. And the bad news is: while sitting is more comfortable than standing, it can also cause backaches, shoulder pains, neck pains, headaches and other discomforts.

You can think of the usual solutions: painkillers, massage therapy, chiropractic sessions. Or you can think of getting yourself an expensive but comfortable executive office chair.

Here are 10 tips to help you choose the best seat in the office:

1. Height adjustment. Knowing the difference of every person's height, an executive office chair must have height-adjustment mechanism that doesn't make it wobbly or squeaky. It could be costly, but it can last for years, even your whole career.

2. Back support. Ergonomic office chairs have high backs for this purpose. But you may also try adjustable backrests. Whichever you choose, it works to prevent you from slouching, which often result in back pains and fatigue, and some researches even link bad posture to hypochondria.

3. Head and neck rests. Your head feels heavy sometimes while deep at work, so you'll need to lay it back comfortably once in a while.

4. Width. Another important factor is the width compensation. You surely won't sit on a chair that makes you feel like you're a hotdog sandwich. Make sure you can wiggle comfortably while seated.

5. Cushion. A golden throne looks nice but you wouldn't want to sit on it for the whole day without some cushions. Sitting on a hard surface for a few hours would make you feel like your buttocks are burning.

6. Armrests. You need to reduce tension in your arm muscles while working. For that, you'll need cushioned armrests.

7. Stability. It is very important to have an office chair with strong support no matter how heavy or big you are. It shouldn't wobble.

8. Covering. You can either choose the executive office leather chair or the mesh office chair. If you choose a chair covered in fabric, make sure to have it vacuum-cleaned to discourage dust mites from nesting in it.

9. Weight. Opt to have an office chair that is easy for transporting. You can just transfer it when you please to do some office modifications. But make sure it's not too light as to compromise the chair's stability.

10. Price. Check the price at office furniture dealers at the mall or the internet. Some stores or online vendors may be selling the same executive office chairs at different prices. Check the delivery charges too and do the math.

For those who would like to learn more about office chair types: office chairs

When you need more information on choosing the right ergonomic office chair, try searching for it here: ergonomic office chairs

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What do 90% of business failures have in common?

Lack of cash.

Cash is king. According to Dun and Bradstreet, 90% of business failures happen because of poor cash flow. In today's fragile economy, maintaining a strong positive cash flow for your small business is more important than ever.

Cash Flow Basics for Small Business
Well, duh, right? Any high school economics student can tell you positive cash flow is important to a small business. But knowing about cash flow and keeping a positive cash flow for your business are two different things. So what do you need to consider when it comes to your business' cash flow? Three factors affect cash flow:

- Accounts Receivable (cash flowing into your business)
- Accounts Payable (cash flowing out of your business)
- Overhead Expenses (a subset of accounts payable)

In this article I give you three ways to increase the cash flow into your business.

3 Ways to Increase Cash Flow into Your Business
If you accounts receivable records look good, your business cash flow should be good, right? Wrong. A positive accounts receivable column only helps your business if you can convert your receivables to cash. Your business' accounts receivable is a listing of money owed to your company. But being owed and having cash in hand are two different things. So how do you turn accounts receivable into cash faster for your small business?

1. Bill Promptly and Accurately
Another "Duh!" suggestion, but you might be surprised at how many small business owners are guilty of neglecting regular and prompt billing, viewing it as another paperwork hassle that goes on the back burner. If your small business doesn't bill promptly, start now. Assign an employee to handle this task if necessary. When working on long-term projects, arrange to bill monthly for work-in-progress and ask for a deposit before you start the project. Also, be very careful and detailed in your billing. Nothing strains a good business relationship like billing errors. Review your bills for errors and omissions before sending them out.

2. Avoid Slow or No-Pay Clients
You might be amazed at the kinds of clients who are slow to pay, or totally delinquent. According to Dun and Bradstreet, the worst slow-pay offenders are large businesses, those with 500 employees or more. On average, these businesses take 62.7 days to pay up, more than 4 weeks past normal 30-day terms. Here's the other shocker: the most common no-pay offenders are clients who owe $500 or less. Apparently, these clients feel that this amount of cash is insignificant, and don't feel guilty about not paying up.

Before you take on a new client or extend credit to a client, do your homework. You can do a credit check on all new clients using an outside agency, or request credit references and do your own checking. Another option is to call other businesses that do business with your client to learn whether the client pays on time. If the potential client turns out to be the slow/no pay type, don't take them on. In lean economic times it may seem crazy not to accept all the business you can get, but clients who don't pay up can seriously and negatively affect your cash flow. Not only will you wait endlessly to get paid for goods and services already delivered, but you will also spend a lot of internal resources tracking delinquent accounts and chasing your cash. The best policy is: "Just say no!"

3. Plan for Fast Cash
There are two ways to get your clients to pay up sooner. First, you can negotiate short payment terms when you contract with a client. These days, many small businesses are asking for and getting "net 15? terms. See which if your clients might be open to these terms. Second, if you're not comfortable asking for "net 15? terms, you can offer clients a discount for early payment. Offer a one to two percent discount for paying within 10 days. While you'll be losing a little cash to the discount, you're overall cash balance will be a lot healthier.

These three simple strategies for cash flow management can be the difference between your small business operating in the black or becoming one of the business in the 90% failure bracket.

Do you have your own unique ways of preserving or increasing the cash flow into your business?

Stephanie Valentine has been a small business owner for over 15 years. Her blog, http://www.gosmallbizblog.com, offers helpful tips on taxes, productivity, revenue generation, and more for small business owners. She also writes about online MLM marketing at http://www.gomlmonline.com/blog

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When staff turnover is costing your company highly, you know that more than just finding out what is interesting workers to do their job and stay with your company is at stake. You need an effective retention plan that can kick start your economy but that plan must be based on an understanding of the things which will influence your best workers to stay or attract good workers to join your organization, a catch 22 situation.

There are some classic motivational factors which in this present climate, with the changes in workforce practices and how people work, are worth revisiting to take a look at their meaning and consider how you as an effective Leader can apply them to stimulate growth and an upturn in staff retention. Ones such motivational factor is Stability.

Stability

For some workers this is a major factor in job satisfaction. Job stability will often equal security but security depends on stable times. Consider that for some workers stability might mean flexibility in how they work, for example that there is a work at home policy and workers can do their 35+ hours as it suits them during the week. A good example of this is outsourcing work, you can change workers status to be either freelance or use new outsourced labor. Or you can offer them certain hours and they are therefore free to get more hours doing other freelance work.

Today short term contracts have much more meaning to workers than they did in the past and it is with an assortment of contracts that you can offer stability that suits your employees job satisfaction needs and your company's need for productivity with a stable work force during difficult times and into the future. The shift in some countries from manufacturing and primary production to service- based industries lends itself to this type of working practice.

When putting together your companies effective retention package consider in what ways the attraction of stability might mean to those you employ.

Discover the Staff Motivation and Leadership Techniques that has has helped hundreds of Managers like yourself succeed Today. Visit http://www.InstantStaffMotivation.com and download your free gift to immediate Leadership skills

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Time management is probably the number one most effective success building tool for any small business or entrepreneur. Without it, creating long-term success is like trying to catch that elusive brass ring on a merry-go round. Round and round you go, just hoping to grab that ring (and more than likely missing it over and over). If you can put a reliable time management system into place from the beginning; however, week after week you get to avoid some pretty big pitfalls. What kind of pitfalls? Let's start with missed deadlines.

There's no way around it, deadlines are hard to manage if you work on your own. Projects and clients can easily start to become a blur during busy times. And if you get busy enough and are lucky to have a team - or need to hire subcontractors to contribute to one or more projects - well, you get the picture. People and tasks and timing can get pretty overwhelming. The sooner you have a flexible mechanism in place to help you make sure that project benchmarks are met and things stay on track, the better.

There are unimaginable rewards to having this type of foundation solidly in place at the start of your business. One is that you will obviously build and KEEP a great client base - and the other is free time. Without a system, believe me, you'll find yourself working twice as hard and for many more hours than you would otherwise, and you'll be so busy treading water that even finding ONE day off will feel like a miracle.

Another pitfall of poorly managed time? Money! I won't even talk about the potential money that you can't make because you're busy spinning your wheels ineffectively and NOT marketing in those lost hours. Let's just talk about the inaccurately tracked project time that you can't invoice your clients for. Or the time that is forever lost when you spend it tracking down team members and following up missing documents and unmet deadlines.

Look, when it comes to running your own business, big or small, you MUST have a time tracking system BEFORE you start invoicing. Preferably you'll choose one with easy reporting. That will allow you to not only invoice your clients simply and correctly, it will also let you easily cross-check your incoming subcontractor's invoices.

The POM Factor. Finally, when it comes to the business of business, NOTHING beats POM: Peace of Mind. It's tough enough to do the work, run the show, and please everyone on every side of every equation. Putting foundational tools into place before things get crazy will allow you to focus on creating great work and marketing your services and your company. It's extremely difficult to be mentally available for great, unexpected opportunities when you're tracing and retracing the same issues and questions every day. Managing your time and your projects is like having a safety net under your high-wire act. It leaves you free to focus on the work directly in front of you and the other people you're performing with (and for).

Dave Churchville
dave@myclientspot.com
ClientSpot by ExtremePlanner Software
http://www.myclientspot.com

For a free 30-day trial of the best time / project / team management software, go to http://www.MyClientSpot.com.

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