Tag micro business

Entries 25 Total

Business Startup Software

Jul 28, ’11 11:13 AM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Startup

Thinking about starting a business? You may also wonder about what software to use, Microsoft Office (now even available online), accounting software and so on – but is that really the software you need right now?

Starting a business is a process in itself – I don’t want to scare anyone here, but getting this part right will increase your chances of business success by over 20%! Business Start-up Software should help you through the business start-up process, which means you want to set yourself goals, plan your cash-flow and do a SWOT (Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threads) analysis.

These tools will help you to think ABOUT your business and not IN your business – working out if and how you can succeed is what business start-up software does!

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WinWeb SME Performance Index Q2.11 for UK released

Jul 13, ’11 5:27 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Infographics, Small Business / SOHO

WinWeb has published a SME performance report for the second quarter of 2011 in form of an infographic. Just click to enlarge the graphic.

WinWeb UK SME Index

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The Social Customer

Jul 13, ’11 12:05 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Social Media

We humans are social animals – there can be no doubt about that, given the rise of social networking & social media. Social networking is centered around the exchange of ideas, knowledge and more – in other words it helps people to interact.

A business wanting to use social media effectively you’ll need to ask yourself, “how can we as a company add value to this network?”

It is certainly not about selling to the network, but it is about helping members of the network. Now the question is which conversation will bring your business in contact with those members of the network that need your help to achieve their business goals?

Find the topic for this conversation and you will find network members (new customers) you can help!

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I’m the CEO, Sorry!

Jul 6, ’11 9:17 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Psychology

It’s a funny old world sometimes – I usually spend several hours per day doing online customer support. Instinctively I always introduce myself just as “Stefan” and do not elaborate on who I am or what I do.

Today however I had two people ask me if I was the CEO of the business and truthfully I said yes! One of my conversation partners was obviously quite disturbed about this fact and I asked why? She said that she did not realize that we were such a small business, that the CEO of the business had to make customer care calls! I must admit I always felt a change in the conversations atmosphere, when people realized that I was WinWeb’s CEO – but this was shocking in a way.

Instead of being happy to speak to me – I felt as if I had to apologize for offering customer care to the most important people in my business, my customers. It took me about 30 minutes to explain that this had nothing to do with the size of WinWeb, but instead how important my time with my customers is for me, in order to understand my customers needs, see how our products and services are received, where we can do better, etc., etc.

I think there is something wrong, when CEOs hide behind their colleagues from their customers – but what is really shocking to me is that at least some of my clients seem to agree with those CEOs.

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The Branson Model

Jul 1, ’11 10:10 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories grow your business

The way Richard Branson starts businesses is very simple – that is why it works so often.

He looks at an industry where the market participants have accepted that the current way is the way this industry works (complacency). He goes and finds the most profitable part or sector of it, makes it better and focuses on the on that niche to establish a strong base before moving deeper into the industry.

That is how anyone can start a business! It is much easier and less risky – since you do not have to worry about the market and you are often surrounded by over confident competitors.

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Sugar – Who needs him?

Jun 26, ’11 2:06 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Comments

The man who apparently failed to recognize that we were in a recession, has now decreed that engineers can’t run successful businesses.

What gets me, is not “Lord” Sugar, who in my opinion is well past his sell by date (lets face it anyone can make money out of a large real-estate portfolio), no it’s the public outcry and interest in these “celeb-entrepreneurs”.

We live in a different world today. Sugar was very successful in his day, but he would most likely not succeed today, where very different qualities are needed to succeed in business, none of which he evidently has ever heard of.

If a would be entrepreneur (including engineers) looks and listens to Sugar, Dragons & Co, he or she would get the completely wrong end of the stick of what it is like to run a business today.

While I have to admit he is a great advertisement for starting your own business, because who in their right mind would want to work for someone like him?

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Pension – Strike – Micro Business

Jun 21, ’11 8:33 AM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Comments

While many understand that we in the UK, after the reckless years under Labour, have to look at saving money and balancing the books, it seems that every-time this actually happens people threaten to go on strike.

To me it seems unbelievable, that the same people (Labour) who, IMO, are largely responsible for the financial mess our state finances are in, are now advocating resistance to the much needed and much delayed measures, which will allow our economy to recover and strengthen.

Ed Balls is currently calling for an emergency VAT cut, how much would he like to cut VAT by – 20%? It worked so well last time around, didn’t it, under Labour’s Darling Brown debacle. Could this be another “BallsEd” idea?

Anyone seriously considering the Labour frontbench as a source of sensible economic policy, must have already forgotten the mess of 2008. Problem is that the real effects of Labour’s failure and incompetence are now beginning to show up, for instance in our benefit system.

Some new approaches to the pension system are being debated. For instance, some people should retire later than others, Prof Harper of the Institute of Aging, has come up with this ideas:

Pension - Strike - Micro Business

In my opinion totally unworkable and will punish for example doctors for their extra effort. We could link pension age to productive work, then Prof Harper, would have to consider retirement at 99, as this is a complete waste of time and a useless concept.

Why don’t we discuss concepts like a maximum wage, we have a minimum wage? Why does Labour not get all worked up about that? Do you really need multi-million pound bonuses every year, paid for by the tax-payer?

Or, maybe if people would rely less on the state but on themselves to provide for their old age, by running a micro business and taking control of their life and their finances, we would all be better off.

Strike, which is what is going to follow, will hurt our economy even more. Labour is going to use every opportunity to fuel the fire for their own means, but most of all micro and small businesses are going to suffer.

Many of my customers have all their belongings in their business and they need a functioning infrastructure to run their business, they also employ of 50% of the UK workforce. My clients can pay themselves bonuses when their business is doing well – only then!

We are not talking about the big corporations and financial institutions who lost in the global greed mania our pension monies and who then had to be bailed out with our tax money – why did nobody strike then?

IMO, anyone thinking about striking during times like this is reckless, does not understand the real problem and will kill small & micro businesses and with that their own future.

It is going to get tough – let’s not make it even worst!

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Top 5 Tips for Small Business Mobile Websites

Jun 20, ’11 7:00 AM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Checklists, Mobile Website

The weekly top 5 tips post is always full of helpful hints and advice for small, home and micro business owners.

1. The number of people with smartphones is growing exponentially. Consumers increasingly expect to be able to access company websites from their mobile devices, so a mobile-friendly version is important.

2. You need to make sure that the mobile version of your website is compatible with all of the major smartphones. This can be difficult, as many of them use different operating systems.

3. Try to distill your most useful website features so that they are usable on the small screen of a smartphone. Things like instant order updates or stock checking are great for people on the move.

4. Ensure that all of the text on your site is readable on a mobile devices and that images or other content will display correctly. Navigation is also a big issue for mobile devices.

5. It is advisable that you delegate the construction of your mobile website to someone with experience of building them. WinWeb offer a great bundle that will allow you to get a business website and mobile website for one low price.

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Cloud Based Accounting Software

Jun 18, ’11 3:14 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Accounting Software

Accounting is most certainly not the the most favorite entrepreneurial occupation – rightly so. Let’s face it accounting is all about the past, at a time when we all need to look to the future to navigate these perilous financial times.

But, accounting software will help us to manage the past, improve our cash-flow and make better informed decisions for the future. The problem is that most accounting software products are just about accounting and not about managing your businesses finances with a forward looking emphases.

What are the accounting software features you will need to manage your business better for the future? Here are some to look out for:

■ Cloud Computing – will help you to manage your work-time better, automate data back-up, allow access from anywhere & anytime and allow you to collaborate easily with others.

■ Cash-Flow Integration – taking control of your cash-flow is vital for your businesses survival, a automatic 30 day cash-flow forecast will keep you on track.

■ CRM Integration – How much credit are you going to give your client? If you have no client history, you are stabbing in the dark and put your business at risk.

■ Sales Integration – selling online or off-line, both needs to be connected to your accounting software, this will save you time & money, while keeping you up-to-date. An invoicing function is not enough to provide you with what you need.

■ Software Integration – many vendors will talk about APIs, to connect to other software vendors for some or all of the above software modules. Don’t be fooled, your data is being shared and distributed to different vendors, the API is going to fail and you the customer will be suffering – always look for an integrated solution, ie. everything from one vendor.

These are just some of the considerations you need to keep in mind when choosing you next accounting software.

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Just Don’t Quit!

Jun 17, ’11 6:24 PM
Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Psychology

I ran one of the largest ISPs in the 90′s and it was not always easy (the understatement of my life), we were growing so fast, that we never had any money, our cash-flow was catastrophic, always.

During those years my CFO and I had a saying, “It’s going to be another interesting day!” – meaning, we did not know if we’d still be in business by the end of that day, literally.

I spoke the other day to a group of people about these times and at the end someone asked me, “How do you survive those years of extreme growth, decline, change and/or financial upheaval?”

That is a very good question and I’m sure many of you, running your businesses, are in the same position now and then – so here is my highly unscientific, but in my opinion the only correct answer:

Just don’t quit!

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