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Self-Employed? 3 Strategies to Better Manage Your Finances

January 20, 2017 By admin 2 Comments

Financial success is difficult for most people, but for the self-employed, it’s an entirely more complicated beast. You don’t have the luxury of asking anyone for a raise or negotiating better benefits. Sure, you have the flexibility to make your own hours and you don’t have to deal with a micromanaging boss, but sometimes that’s the hard part: it all comes down to you.

So while the flexibility of being your own boss is second to none, so is the weight of that responsibility. That’s why you need all of the help that you can get when it comes to making strategic financial decisions for both you and your company.

Don’t Rely on a Single Income Stream

While it may be hard to imagine how you can make time to generate income from anywhere but your main business, diversifying your income stream is crucial to financial security when you are self-employed. Get creative and think of ways you can serve clients in new ways through side projects, whether they relate to your current business model or not.

Another option is to generate income in an entirely new realm, through direct sales, real estate or property management. For instance, you could invest in a multi-family development to generate rental income. Or you could build a guest house in your backyard and rent it online through Homeaway or Airbnb.

Keep an Open Mind for New Business Strategies

Change is inevitable, so keep your business nimble by always remaining open-minded to new business strategies. Learn as much as you can about the state of your industry and current trends by attending conferences and classes. Listen to the needs of your target audience by requesting their feedback at every opportunity, and incorporate your findings into new business strategies.

Some new strategies may seem counterintuitive, but they could be best for your business in the long run. For instance, many companies resort to outsourcing their product manufacturing to save costs, but direct sales giant Amway found that the “Made in America” sticker helped them stand out and save costs in many areas, reports Forbes. However, for liquid products that are expensive to transport, the company completes its manufacturing in other countries.

Set Financial Goals & Reach Them

When you are busy juggling all of the responsibilities that are required to keep your business running and generating an income, a year can flash by before you know it. For this reason, it’s critical to set financial goals for the year and check in on your progress each month to ensure you can follow through and achieve your goals by the end of the year.

To help maintain this habit, set a calendar event to repeat every month so you can spend time evaluating your progress. All you need is an hour to review your goals and make plans for how you can reach new heights toward your financial goals.

Executive Exhaustion – 5 Tips to Streamline Your Working Life

January 18, 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

If you are anything like me, your desk has become your surrogate home.

I spend so long in my office chair that I believe I have taken root here.

Between running my business, looking for new business and invoicing clients, I have somehow become the one thing I always disdained – a workaholic. The rewards of all my work have become secondary to the constant demands upon my time. Considering this recently, I decided the time had arrived for me to overhaul my thinking, and look for ways to streamline my efficiency and to get more things done in less time.

After researching my options, I was amazed at the wealth of services offered which would save me time, money and stress and I have decided to share these pearls of wisdom with you. Hopefully they will bring a little relief into your life as well and allow you to take back a little of your precious time. Let’s take each area of your life individually and see how small changes can make a huge impact.

The Breakdown Blues

I mention your vehicle first on this list for a very good reason.

This was the bane of my life – not only was my car constantly breaking down on me, its maintenance was costing me a fortune. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the time, energy or desire to spend hours, days and even weeks trolling through car yards looking for a replacement.

Finally after spending over $5,000 on attempting to resolve an electrical issue, I said “enough is enough”. A friend had recommended I utilise the services of a car broker who would go out and actually buy my car, negotiate a discount price and have the car delivered to my doorstep. Perfect.

The company they recommended was Australian Car Brokers Cars & Co, and whilst there may be others out there who do a similar job, I can’t speak highly enough of Cars & Co.

Home Harmony

Setting up and equipping a home office is one of the best investments you can make to improve your time management. Sitting in traffic to and from the office every day can sap hours of valuable productivity. Consider using the services of a virtual office which would enable you to work from home but have access to prestige offices for meetings and travel.

If you don’t have a housekeeper or at least a cleaner, I highly recommend you get one.

For a nominal sum, housework has been taken out of the equation of my life. When I think now of all the time I spent trying to run a household – cleaning up and feeding the hordes, I lament the waste. Time that was once spent doing menial chores has now become quality time with my family.

Office Organising

Whilst an office cleaner is mandatory, have you ever given thought to embracing the benefits of a part time assistant? Before you decry the idea as being expensive and unnecessary, consider how much time you spend sitting in traffic or waiting in queues when you could be at work actually earning money. The cost of getting a student in to free up your time, is tiny compared to the huge benefits.

Travel Time Savers

Booking travel and accommodation can take up a substantial amount of time and energy.

A corporate travel consultant may be just the lifesaver you need. They will quickly get an idea of your travel preference and tailor every booking to suit your needs whilst saving you money. It is a great service, and it’s one that no busy executive can afford to be without.

Technology Taming

Having the right tools to do the job is imperative to any hard working executive.

Standing waiting for a slow printer to get its act together or having a computer drop off line constantly can be intensely frustrating and lower productivity substantially. Call in some expertise to assess, suggest and streamline your office functionality.

Whilst none of the above are exactly revolutionary ideas and you may be rolling your eyes just at the thought of finding the time to implement anything new in your life – each one, in its own way, will make inroads to taking back small slivers of your precious time. Put them all together and voila! Suddenly you may find yourself able to steal a little ‘me’ time back into your busy life. Best of luck!

Self-Employment Apps to Use Throughout Your Day

November 22, 2016 By admin Leave a Comment

Starting your own company could help you create a sense of financial freedom unlike anything else in the world, but this process can be quite challenging as well. During your first few months of business, you will most likely rely quite a bit on technology to keep yourself organized and moving forward. Here is a quick look at a few mobile apps that will help you maximize your self employment income, navigate through tax season, and keep up with modern marketing techniques.

Most VoIP systems are designed for larger companies that need to create dozens or hundreds of user accounts, but those programs can be quite pricey. Google Voice is a great alternative for self-employed entrepreneurs who only need a single account and limited features. After downloading the app and connecting it to your Google account, you will be given a new number you can use to make and receive calls. You can also create a custom greeting, carry out conference calls, or even record your calls.

Evernote

No matter how good your memory might be, there will come a point when you have too many things to keep track of at once. Instead of writing down those thoughts, you can use Evernote to securely store and access them on all of your devices. This simple app allows users to quickly take notes, share thoughts, or save files for a later time. In addition to writing notes, you can also use this app as a digital clipboard to save pictures, videos, or entire websites.

Cam Scanner

Losing an important document could devastate your income or even land you in serious legal trouble if you are not careful. While it is vital to have hard copies of all important documents, you can also save those files digitally with Cam Scanner. Cam Scanner uses the camera on your phone or tablet to save a file and upload it to a cloud server. Each account comes with a small amount of cloud storage, but that can be upgraded if you find yourself nearing the data limit.

MailChimp

As a self-employed entrepreneur, your marketing budget is most likely very tight. In addition to having an eye-catching website and being active on social media, you should also consider email marketing. This style of marketing has an excellent return on investment as long as it is carried out correctly. As a free user, you will be able to send 1,000 emails per month to your contacts. You will also have a full suite of contact management tools to ensure you are sending the correct emails to each contact. The app itself has a number of unique templates for surveys, sales, and newsletters.

Wave

Every self-employed individual must have a secure program to store and organize their financial information. Wave remains one of the most popular accounting apps because it is easy to use, very secure, and free. It connects directly to your personal and business accounts so that you can effortlessly keep up with your finances. You can create unique categories for all of your transactions to help you keep track of expenses, income, and other reports. As an added bonus, business owners can send digital invoices with just a few taps of the screen.

mSecure Password Manager

With all of these apps and accounts, it won’t take much to forget a password or have one’s accounts hijacked. According to the National Small Business Association, over 44 percent of small businesses have had a cyber security breach within the last two years. Instead of storing all of your passwords in a single file, this app allows you to save them in an encrypted digital vault. As soon as your phone goes idle or you exit out of the program, you must automatically sign in again to access your passwords. You can also use another device to lock a user out of the app if your phone is lost or stolen.

Weebly

Without an eye-catching website, keeping up with your competition will be nearly impossible. If you are not quite ready to invest in a more comprehensive website, then you might want to consider creating a few pages with Weebly. You can use Weebly to build up to ten unique pages on your site with a drag-and-drop layout. It allows you to create a simple and elegant website in under an hour. Those who decide they are ready to upgrade their site or change their address can purchase a paid account for a year or longer.

There are now hundreds of thousands of mobile apps on the market, and many of them are designed specifically for self-employed professionals. These few options should help you take your business to the next level while protecting all of your hard work.

Top 3 Benefits of Having a Business Administration Degree

November 16, 2016 By admin Leave a Comment

Nowadays, so many people are so quick to insult the idea of pursuing a degree in business administration, arguing that “a degree is not needed” to launch a successful business. While it’s possible to do well in business without a degree, it would be downright foolish to say that studying business administration won’t benefit someone who intends to manage businesses. If you’re not convinced that completing an online business administration program is worthwhile, consider the following three undeniable advantages that are often overlooked by pessimistic naysayers:

1. The Ability to Take Business into Your Own Hands

How often have you seen instances of businesses failing due to poor management? Hiring bad managers is probably one of the leading causes of startup failure. Sadly, even people who already have business degrees aren’t guaranteed to put as much care and effort into running your business as you would. Why not take matters into your own hands and strengthen your managerial capabilities by studying for an online business degree? It’s possible to get lucky and launch a few successful businesses without ever doing any hands-on management, but when you actually know what’s happening within a company, there’s no luck involved because you’re at the controls at all times.

2. Avoiding Unnecessary Mistakes and Research Later On

There’s an old saying that goes: “An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure.” Investing the time and effort to become a master at business administration will lessen your chances of making rookie mistakes during the important stages of a startup launch. With a degree and the expertise that comes with it already in hand, you’ll be equipped enough to not have to research business administration while actually trying to get your company off the ground.

3. Impressing Investors and Partners

Gathering external funding and finding partners are two aspects of business that are commonly neglected. A business owner with an MBA or bachelor’s in business administration is much more likely to impress and attract the attention of investors and potential partners. Nobody wants to give a bunch of money to somebody who doesn’t have any experience or credentials to prove that they’ll use the funds wisely. When it comes down to it, most investors would rather put their trust in the hands of someone who has a degree versus the alternative of trusting it to an individual who only has a high school education.

If You Can Do It, Why Not?

Oftentimes, we find ourselves making excuses about why it’s not feasible to pursue further education at the moment. People have jobs and other commitments that take up their time, so attending a college campus frequently doesn’t seem like something that would fit into their schedule. Fortunately, online business programs provide the opportunity to study at home on your own time. Ask yourself this: if you could make the time to focus on your education for a couple of hours here and there, then why not study for a degree if it stands to provide the tremendous benefits mentioned above? It’s a no brainer!