The African way of doing business

Mar 26, ’13 11:28 AM

Follow @SBusinessBlog

As a general rule, I detest the over simplification of a continent with over a hundred nations, thousands of ethnic groups, and millions of cultures into a single guild with uniform precepts and perceptions as to how things operate. Yes, there are challenges faced by many states in Africa but they are better itemized as…

Comments · Email this · Share on Facebook · Tweet · Permalink

UK Economy in “Fragile Recovery”

Apr 28, ’11 7:35 AM

Follow @SBusinessBlog

The UK economy grew by 0.5% in Q1 of 2011 – apparently reducing the risk of a double-dip recession. Different sectors have grown at different speeds, the manufacturing sector is doing very well, while others are struggling to make any gains. Bank lending to the SME sector has fallen again, which makes you wonder. Manufacturing…

Comments · Email this · Share on Facebook · Tweet · Permalink

The 2 % Business Turn-Off

Feb 25, ’08 11:38 AM

Follow @SBusinessBlog

Recently I ordered services and was very happy to have found a supplier. We had agreed prices, scope and timescale of the project. Later I received the contract by email and started reading it. Everything seemed to be as agreed, until I got to the payment terms. There I found an unusual insertion: We will…

Comments · Email this · Share on Facebook · Tweet · Permalink

The Future of Entrepreneurship

Feb 21, ’08 10:27 PM

Follow @SBusinessBlog

The Silicon-Valley based Institute for the Future is telling us what small business or micros business is going to look like within a decade, older, younger, more feminine and above all far more global. What I have been proclaiming as Globalization 3.0, has received validation in this new report out in the last few weeks.…

Comments · Email this · Share on Facebook · Tweet · Permalink

SMEs fail on the Globelization Hurdle

Oct 10, ’07 6:05 AM

Follow @SBusinessBlog

This figure is surprisingly low given the increasing ease of importing and exporting in today's economy."These numbers do not surprise me at all, in survey we did in 2004 we found that hurdles have been considerable: 36% finding local partners;21% understanding local markets;16% Financing export activities;11% defining local customer profile;11% language barriers;5% other.You can read more about our findings here.... Even very small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, will find it less difficult to export their services, using services like LiveNet.

Comments · Email this · Share on Facebook · Tweet · Permalink

Small Business Infrastructure For Business Start-Up.

Aug 28, ’07 12:42 PM

Follow @SBusinessBlog

WinWeb On-Demand Software Solutions - Anywhere At Anytime.AccountsOffice and OnlineOffice are our two software offerings, which are based on the SaaS - Software as a Services model, to allow for the following key business benefits:• tight inclusion of business advisors from the start,• cultivating outsourcing techniques at the outset, i.e. virtual assistants,• no IT knowledge needed and hassle free operation,• real-time multi-user access from anywhere, increasing mobility.2.... WinWeb Live - Networking Community for Small Business Only.To foster collaboration and outsourcing we have expanded our WinWeb Live™ offering to allow for small business community networking - thus enabling the business owner to make decisions about his / her current needs, with the following benefits:• timeshare virtual assistants for professional results,• offer contracts of work to contractors on a case-by-case basis, • promote the business to a large audience or even locally,• find new work and contracts online4.

Comments · Email this · Share on Facebook · Tweet · Permalink

Exporting & Globelization for Small Business

Aug 23, ’07 11:09 AM

Follow @SBusinessBlog

We learned that our customers just used our OnlineOffice and made arrangements for the "Live" services themselves - and this has been the way ever since we withdrew GlobalOffice to focus on our "core" business to provide a Small Business Infrastructure -SBI.Small Biz Labs have a post today about Laurel Delaneey's Global Small Business Blog and one of her recent posts, some of the data is quite interesting: Only about 4% of US companies are exporters and the US has the lowest level of exports as a % of GNP of the G7 countries - roughly 10%. The highest is Germany at almost 45% and the 2nd lowest is Japan at a bit over 15%SME's (defined as less than 500 employees) accounted for 29% of US export value in 2005.While the number of exporting businesses in the US grew rapidly in 90's, it has stayed relatively flat since 2000.

Comments · Email this · Share on Facebook · Tweet · Permalink

Teamwork for Small Business Is Way To Success

Aug 22, ’07 7:43 AM

Follow @SBusinessBlog

A team is defined as a group of people who co-operate in such a manner that it achieves more than the sum total of the individuals achieve each, they are united around a common goal and are accountable to the team for their actions.Examples of teams are: Work TeamsSales TeamsCustomer Service TeamsVirtual TeamsI would suggest that small business owners need to form teams around their small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal businesses, too.... The benefits especially for small business and even more business start-up, can not be over emphasized - teams perform functions so important for small business success: achieve better work results than individuals,are ultimately more scalable and flexible than larger organisations,offer a wider range of services and products than individuals,offer the opportunity of "brain-storming",motivate each other,develop more skills and confidenceshow more commitment to each other.Whatever you do, employ new staff, hire a consultant, work with an accountant, think my-team, think my-community and think my-network - because you are building your Small Business Team.

Comments · Email this · Share on Facebook · Tweet · Permalink

Virtual Small Business and Business Start-Up Teams

Aug 18, ’07 10:53 AM

Follow @SBusinessBlog

I have been writing about virtual assistants and virtual workers for quite some time, explaining the benefits of outsourcing to virtual assistants and workers for small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal businesses.But I never really wrote something about what it means to have a virtual small business team, which is part of WinWeb's Small Business Infrastructure approach - so here it goes, a virtual small business team is: a collection of people working together in different locations, countries and time-zonesa "network" of people working together using advanced online technologysome teams my be project specific and/or limited in duration(time)Not always do people only work virtually together, some times the meet - even if it is only socially.... You should think about these issues in the planning phase of your business start-up.Have you thought through all the possibilities for your small business outsourcing and bootstrapping or how much more green and eco-friendly your small business or start-up would be?

Comments · Email this · Share on Facebook · Tweet · Permalink

Virtual Business, what is that?

Aug 8, ’07 4:42 AM

Follow @SBusinessBlog

Books and co-author of our newest book on Excel VBA.Suat Ozgur is a full time Excel, Access, VB and php developer in Istanbul.Anne Troy is author of a book on Microsoft Word that we are publishing this fall.Barb Jelen works in Tucson and processes all of the orders placed through the MrExcel store.Scott Pierson does all of our flash design from Philadelphia.Mala Singh runs the MrExcel Graphics & Engineering Division in India.Richard Kranesis in Chicago runs the MrExcel-branded training around the country, offering on-site Advanced Excel to companies.We have a number of part time programmers who moonlight while still working at their day job. Lest their bosses find out, let’s thank Al, Angelita, Anhtuan, Audrey, Brian, Colo, Cory, Cort, David, Dawn, Duane, Harry, Ian, Ivan, James, Jake, Jay, Juan Pablo, Marcel, Marie, Mark, Mark, Nate, Nick, Richie, Robert, Russell, Scott, Skip, Suat, Tom, Tom, Tracy, Wendy, and Zack for their expertise in various Office products.There are 3 dozen incredible volunteer MVP's and 100's of Excel Gurus who answer questions tirelessly at the message board.

Comments · Email this · Share on Facebook · Tweet · Permalink