Small Business Articles & News
Effective Customer Interviews Make Life Much Easier!
One of the critical success factors for service-related businesses is our ability to understand a client’s needs and requirements. Misunderstandings can lead to loss of repeat business, economic loss, and damage to reputation.
Tips For Successful Home Show Businesses
Opportunities for home show businesses have never been more abundant. If you’re thinking about joining the ranks of those in the many show businesses at home available, use these quick tips to get going.
Franchises: How to Find the Best Franchise Opportunity for You
If you are looking for a franchise opportunity, the choice is mind boggling. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of different types of franchise available for you to invest in, with the same variety in cost. Each have their own benefits and usually the more you pay the more potential to earn. You obviously want to select a profitable business venture so it is important that you thoroughly research.
Collection Agency Selection
Frankly, given the legal and regulatory requirements involved in attempting to collect a debt, it makes as much sense to do it yourself as it does to try to remove your own appendix. A collection agency is, on the whole, much cheaper than a doctors - and lawyers. Do yourself a favor and let a professional collection agency handle this complex matter for you.
Mobile Car Wash Market Opportunities in California
The current lack of industry leaders represents an exceptional opportunity for a large and organized mobile car wash company to achieve regional domination and eventually dominate the Southern California carwash market. The best place to start a regional assault on this market would be to concentrate North and West of Los Angeles; Chatsworth and Simi Valley to Malibu and Tarzana to Santa Barbara. Once these relatively competition free markets are won Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and San ...
Franchisor Prospect Checklist Sample Form
Due to the over regulation in the Franchising Industry and the litigation it is important to keep impeccable records. From the first phone call, email to the signing of the franchise agreement everything should be documented. Below is a checklist we created for our franchise company and one I wish you would consider when creating your own. I recommend you copy this article and then modify it to fit your business model.
Packing Material That's Cheap!
Shipping materials can be expensive! Even the styrofoam "peanuts" can cost a great deal. Here's a great idea for packing paterial that is bio-digradable, easy, and best of all...CHEAP!
Small Business Planning -- Three Myths
Copyright 2005 Denise OBerry Are you -- like 70 percent of small business owners -- working without a plan? Here are three myths that need to be dispelled about strategic planning for small business. 1. It has to be formal -- Not so. The value of a strategic plan for your small business is in putting the ideas on paper, creating action steps that will get you where you want to go and implementing those action steps. 2. I'm too small -- Not so. Even a one-person business can benefit ...
Franchising Companies Relationship Strategies
Franchising Corporations need to maintain an iron fist when it comes to certain things in order to maintain absolute integrity of the system; Consistency, Quality, Cleanliness and Customer Courtesy or Service. Ray Kroc in his book; “Grinding it Out” made that point perfectly clear, some called him a hard ass on the details and indeed it served him well and turned 11,000 franchisees into millionaires along with some 1500 executives early on. That of course is one side of the game and it is ...
Quality Controls for Franchising Companies Sample Outline
Quality control in franchising companies is paramount and all franchising companies must have strict guidelines to insure consistency. To insure this takes place throughout your franchise system you must make this a policy in your confidential operations manual. Your first step should be to make an outline of your policies and reasons behind them, since you might need help getting started please feel free to print this article and modify the outline below to best fit your specific business ...
Motorcycle Detailing Procedures Manual Sample Outline
If you are a motorcycle detailer and need to expand your business you will need to have several crews working for you. Each team will need a team leader and/or manager. The motorcycle crowd is indeed a close nit bunch and groups of riders will provide you with endless referrals providing you do what you say you are going to do and lay off the BS. We just do not need any more wannabe, fast-talking, no performance motorcycle detailers in the field.
Business Owners Do You Actually Own a Job?
How many hours do you work a week? When was the last time you took an uninterrupted holiday? Do your staff have a better job than you? Now ask yourself, Do I Own a Business or a Job- with Overheads? Are you happy about the answers to these questions? If not, read on.
Employee Relations Manual Sample Outline
Most smart entrepreneurs and all large corporations have Employee Relations Manuals. Nearly all businesses with over five or more employees have some sort of employee manuals but not all have Employee Relations Manuals for their managers. It is important in today’s litigious lawyer trap to have a good policy in place to protect you from a bad decision or improper handling of an employee situation by a manager. All too often a minor incident can lead to a problematic situation and end up in ...
Fleet Washing Operations Manual Sample Outline
In the Truck Washing Business every single type of vehicle is washed differently. If you are going to run a mobile onsite fleet washing business with multiple trucks in multiple cities you will in fact need a comprehensive manual to keep your crews and equipment running at an optimum. Below you will see a sample outline to assist you in constructing a washing procedure manual, which will include many different types of fleet vehicles.
Combating Over Regulation of Small Business
Many small businesses do quite well due to the blood, sweat and tears of their proprietors. Unfortunately in doing to well often you find that the competition uses the government to attack you. They do this by complaining to various local agencies about how you are not following certain rules, such as the dumpster out back has broken hinges on the doors or that your handicap spot in front of your store is fading? Often they will even make stuff up simply to get the enforcement folks out ...
Mobile Pressure Washing and Cleaning Scheduling
If you own a mobile car washing, pressure washing or auto detailing business you know that when your crews and machines are parked and working that you are making money. You also know that when those units and crews are driving or stuck in traffic you are losing your shirt in costs and inefficiencies. If you are to expand your mobile washing business to multiple units running in multiple cities you will need to have a strict scheduling policy and operations manual to insure that efficiencies ...
Competition Relations in Auto Detailing
There is significant competition in auto detailing and car washing. Even more between types of cleaning businesses, as each company attempts to expand into other services which are the mainstay of similar business models. Many times the line blurs between a car wash, oil change business, truck repair, auto accessories business, electronics installers and auto detailing. What can you do? Well first let’s talk about what you should not do. You should not start a war against all your ...
Franchise Company Operations Manual Sample Outline
Many companies wish to expand and a few wish to use franchising as a method of expansion. Not a bad idea, but one must consider the importance of the fine details. One book I recommend you read is the “E-Myth” by Gerber it is available at all the usual places. You see when going from a small business to a franchise company it is important to make sure you take out all the mistakes you have made in the past in building your small business and insure that your future franchisees never make ...
Aircraft Washing Service Operations Manual
Anyone who is serious about washing aircraft as a full time profession should be prepared to write a manual, which will insure proper procedures are followed during the washing process. Each crew team leader and manager should be well versed and trained in washing each type of aircraft. Many surfaces of individual aircraft vary and within those specific aircraft there will be many types of surfaces. For instance de-ice boots, fabric, aluminum, Plexiglas, fiberglass, composite and even steel ...
Are You Running Your Business or Is Your Business Running You?
Being a small or home-based business owner can be loads of fun and very rewarding. You may have decided to go into business because of your need for personal freedom or to fully unleash your creative genius. You may also have decided to go into business to supplement your existing income, to make yourself available for young children or aging parents, or because the organization you were working for downsized, leaving you to fend for yourself. There are hundreds of different ...
Equipment Maintenance Manual for Mobile Cleaning Business Outline
Service Cleaning Businesses must maintain their equipment in order to insure it is ready to go when the company vehicles reach their customer. It does not matter how many service vehicles or employees you have, a manual can save you both time and money. If your equipment is not running correctly you will find yourself in a position of having to make an excuse to a customer. Although if this happens only once you probably will not jeopardize the account, but if it becomes a common occurrence ...
Accounting and Billing Procedures for Small Business
No matter how small your small business is, it is essential to have some sort of accounting and billing police and methodology. This will prevent you from making mistakes and upsetting vendors or even bouncing checks. Most sole proprietor and single employee companies do not have a plan of attack for accounting and billing procedures until there is a crisis. There is no sense in allowing a crisis to take hold, especially when a few procedures are set in place to prevent it. Remember Noah ...
Does Your Company Have a Business Image Manual
Every business regardless of size needs a “Business Image Manual” to protect their band. Even the smallest companies with only a few employees is well served when there is a business image manual in place. For 15 years I ran a small business, which I eventually franchised and later expanded to 23-states and 4 countries. What I had learned after franchising is that; I should have written my image manual 10-years prior. At first my business was just me alone; like most small businesses, but ...
How to Find a Microenterprise Loan for Your Business
If you're looking for start-up capital for your business, but you don't have the credit, collateral or background needed by your bank to get a business loan, then microenterprise might be your best bet.
Franchising and Royalty Payments
If you are thinking of turning your current into a franchising company you will need to determine a fair and equitable franchise royalty fee. There are a number of questions you will need to ask yourself in determining this fee such as what services you will provide to your franchisee team and what that will cost. You will also need to take a look at the competition to determine the amount that you can honestly charge without forgoing cost conscious franchise buyers.
Top Ten Blunders Business Owners Make
In today’s marketplace the words ‘job security’ have become an oxymoron. So more and more people are venturing on their own. But is it the right thing to do? Are they ready for it?
Carwash Manual Sample Outline
Car wash businesses are unique to other businesses. In fact they are about as unique as the many different type of vehicles one is asked to wash. Many vehicles are best cleaned using slightly different techniques. If you own a carwash or a mobile car wash you will need an operations manual to assist your managers in staying efficient.
Banking and Company Credit Card Policies for Small Business
Does your small business have a banking and credit card policy? If not, perhaps you might wish to think on it. Developing such policies and procedures is not a difficult task. It will not take you long at all to make a relatively simple operations manual to cover your banking and credit card strategies. Below please find an outline or guideline to assist you in developing your own small business banking strategy.
Community Relations Strategy for Small Business
Does your company have a community relation strategy? Have you even considered it? It is essential to have policies in place. Having run a small business for years which eventually turned into a multi-state franchise system, I realized early on that a business who is part of the community it serves can survive the ups and downs of the business cycles, making it somewhat recession proof. Nothing turns off the community more than a business which refuses to give back a little and gives some ...
A Gift Basket Home Business is an Easy Way to Wrap up Profits
You want to know more about making money with your own gift basket home business. You are a creative person and want a career that you can control and find rewarding at the same time. What better way to do this then to start a gift basket business in your own home.