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Starting a business is the most exciting thing you’ll ever do. It can also be one of the most challenging and stressful. You have to balance so many things, from getting funding for your business, to finding the right team members that fit your brand, to making sure you don’t go into debt for no reason. It’s no wonder why starting a business is so scary for some people! However, if you approach it with an open mind and prepare yourself in advance, it can be a lot less intimidating. Here are twelve things you should know before starting your business.
You’ll Need Money First and foremost, you will need money to start your business. No matter how great your idea is or how well you plan, you can’t successfully run a business without money. Some people may be able to fund their businesses out of their savings, but most entrepreneurs need outside funding. You can get funding in many forms, including equity investment, loans, crowd-sourcing, grants, or grants. Be Continuously Learning One of the best ways to ensure you don’t plateau in your business is to continually learn and grow. You may already know a lot about running a business, but that doesn’t mean you know everything. There will be new trends, laws, and technology that you need to understand to stay competitive. To be on top of your game, you will need to constantly educate yourself. You also need to learn new skills and grow old skills as a leader. You can do this, for example, by taking online courses that are designed to help you improve your skills. You can even find a free business course so you don’t have to spend extra money that you might not have to do this. You Need To Have A Great Idea Before you go into debt or spend months and years of your life working on a business idea that may or may not be great, you need to have a great idea. A great idea is the key to starting your own business. There are many ways to get an idea for your business, but the best way is to brainstorm as much as possible. Think about what you can offer, what the market needs, and what products and services haven’t been tapped into yet. Then brainstorm product and service ideas based on the answers to these questions. You Should Be Willing to Be Disappointed As an entrepreneur, you will be disappointed. You will get rejected by investors, you will have to put your product on hold, and you will be disappointed with your results. You need to be ready to handle failure, and be ready to move toward disappointment. That is the nature of entrepreneurship. If you are not willing to be disappointed, you will never be able to move past those disappointments and improve your business. Understanding the Legal Side of Running a Business Is Important Running a business can be exciting, but it can also be very stressful. However, if you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, you could end up in a lot of trouble. Before you start running around hiring lawyers and signing contracts, make sure that you understand the legal side of running a business. This will help you make better decisions when it comes to protecting yourself and your brand. Talk to Mentors and Investors Before Calling Anyone On Board When you are trying to find mentors and investors for your business, you may be tempted to cold call them and ask for money or help with your business. However, that is a big mistake. Before you do that, make sure you have done your research and have a good list of people you would like to call. Make sure you understand who they are, where they are from, and what their track record is like. The Importance of a Smart Business Plan A business plan is an essential part of starting any business. It should be a comprehensive, written overview of all aspects of your business. It should include details about your company’s vision, strategy, financial model, customers, market, operations, and more. The more you know about your business before you start it, the less you’ll be stumbling around while you’re building it. Cashflow is King You have to have a strategy for generating revenue. Otherwise, you will quickly run out of cash and need to find more funding. The most important thing to remember is that you have to have a cash flow strategy. It’s not enough to want to make money. You need a plan to make it happen. You need to make sure you’re meeting customers’ needs so that your product or service sells, but you also need to be able to negotiate well with other businesses from which you may purchase goods, manage your credit policies, and be able to track your finances. You’ll Need More Than Just Digital Marketing All successful businesses use a variety of marketing techniques to grow their business. However, digital marketing is only a small part of the picture. Several non-digital marketing techniques can help you overcome the challenges that come with starting a business. These include public speaking, which can be a great way to connect with your customers, spread the word about your brand, and generate leads. You should also personally engage with your customers to establish a dialogue and build a relationship with them. Finally, hosting and going to events and conferences are important ways to connect with your target audience, spread the word about your business, and get your name out there. Don’t Assume Everyone Will be Grateful for Your Work Building a business is not a walk in the park. It’s a lot of work. You’re not going to consistently get paid for your work, and you may even spend more time fixing the business than you want to. The truth is, some people will complain, especially when they have to pay money for something. You have to remember that there are people out there that don’t appreciate your work, and there are going to be a lot of them. One thing that helps is to make sure you have a clear, concise value proposition for your product or service. You can also use their feedback to improve your business model. You’ll Need to Draw On Your Expertise One of the areas of business that can give you the most satisfaction is when you have to draw on your expertise and the expertise of others. For example, if you know you are experienced in a particular skill set, such as marketing, you can utilize this skill set in your business and ask others for help with skills that you are less inclined towards. For example, you can partner with an expert in a different field, such as logo design, and they can share in some of the profits for their work. There Is No “Set-and-Forget” Strategy One thing you have to remember is that your business will always be in a state of flux. The best thing to do is to have a strategy for every situation. For example, if one of your key customers cancels their contract, how do you deal with it? Or, what happens if your key client has a family emergency that takes them out of town? You need to have a strategy for every scenario. The most important thing is to not panic. Final Thoughts Starting a business is exciting, but it can also be scary. There are many things you need to know before you start your business, including finding the right team, funding it, and getting the legal side of running a business. However, with a little bit of research and preparation, these things won’t be so scary to you.
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 Image credit: Karolina Grabowska from Pexels One of the biggest responsibilities that you can have is your finances. Whether you are running a business or you are trying to manage your own finances as an individual with a family, you need to ensure that you are keeping up with your money. You want to know that everything that you are buying is aligning with your incoming and outgoings because if you don't, you’re going to find yourself caught up in problems without being able to manage your cash.
Talking to an accountant can really ease your mind when you need it to. You’re going to reduce your stress and keep your finances in check no matter what when you have an expert who understands money on your side. The right SMSF accounting team will help you to manage your money in a way that you might not be able to do by yourself. Below, we have put together five reasons why you should set up a meeting with an accountant. 1. You may not know how to lodge your taxes. It’s new, it’s complicated and even if it’s not new to you it can still get complex, so having an expert to help you with your taxes will make a big difference to you. Although it’s possible to file taxes on your own, it’s infinitely easier when you do have someone to walk you through it properly. 2. Save for retirement. Are you aware of your own retirement fund? When was the last time you checked how much was in there? Everyone needs a nest egg for those later years and you’re going to have an easier time of putting one together if you have someone else to walk you through it. You can maximize your retirement savings with their help. 3. You’re starting a business. When you start your own business, it can help to have someone working with you to make sure that all of your finances are aligned. Where are you going to spend your business budget? How are you going to manage it? You don't ever manage it on your own - not when you can have an accountant working with you! 4. You find it hard to stick to budget. Are you struggling to get your budget under control? You’re not alone in that! If you can ensure that you are keeping up with payments and with the money coming into the account, you are going to be in a better position to stick to your budget in the end. 5. You’re about to spend a lot of money. If you want to spend a lot of cash, it can help to have someone working with you. Whether it’s a new home, a brand new car or more, you need to think carefully about any big payouts. When you get some advice, you’ll tell whether or not it’s a good idea to buy now or whether you should wait for the right time. This will be something your accountant can do for you.  Image credit: Florian Pircher from Pixabay As the world rapidly approaches a climate disaster, it is more important than ever for organizations to step up and do their bit for the planet. After all, it is businesses who are largely responsible for the damage inflicted on the natural world over the past century. Even if you're a small startup with minimal impact, there is still a lot you can do to display corporate social responsibility and reduce your carbon footprint. One highly effective method being adopted by an increasing number of businesses is the practice of going paperless.
Going paperless means taking steps to fully eradicate the use of physical paper from your company’s processes. This practice will look different for every business, but will almost certainly involve digitizing documents, utilizing cloud storage, and relying more heavily on mobile devices. Many traditional business owners are understandably hesitant to adopt such an approach. But there are countless reasons why ditching paper is a smart move for businesses. Here are just four of the most compelling benefits. It’s good for the environment Every year, approximately 15 billion trees are cut down in their prime. Rainforests in the Amazon and other parts of the world are being destroyed and disfigured by deforestation, and this is having a huge impact on natural ecosystems and local communities. Not to mention the enormous quantity of greenhouse gas emissions produced during the manufacture and transportation of paper and other stationery. Going paperless reduces the need for these practices and allows your business to operate in a sustainable way. It Reduces Waste The average office worker uses around 10,000 sheets of paper each year. A lot of this paper ends up in the bin, which creates mountains of unnecessary waste in landfill. And that’s not even considering the amount of plastic packaging, unrecycled printer ink cartridges, and other office paraphernalia that ends up in the oceans and polluting the environment. If you go paperless, you can dramatically reduce the amount of waste your business produces. Not only will this help the planet, but it will also directly benefit you and your team by reducing the amount of unsightly clutter in your workplace. You'll Save Money Office equipment is one of the biggest expenses for any business. It costs a great deal of money to buy paper, stationery, and printer inks, and these costs can add up over time. If you go paperless, you won't have these expenses to worry about. You’ll instantly reduce your overhead costs and have more money leftover to feed into the company. It's More Efficient Having a paperless office can help you to streamline your operations and become more efficient. You'll be able to find documents more easily, and you won't have to waste time dealing with physical files. Everything you need will be stored in the cloud or on internal servers, and instantly accessible at the touch of a button. In conclusion, there are plenty of reasons to consider going paperless in your business. Hopefully, this list has given you some food for thought. Making the switch to a paperless office could save you time, money, and help you to do your bit for the environment. What's not to love?  Image credit: Mikhail Nilov from Pexels Usually, there are two main ways to borrow money. You can take out a loan, getting the exact amount of money you need, or you can use a credit card. In either case, you’re basically using money that you don’t have and paying it back at a later date.
By definition, you’re already in debt. However, there’s a difference between being in a small amount of debt and being in massive debt. If you play your cards right, you can borrow money when necessary but avoid being in huge debt that leaves you on the cusp of bankruptcy. What should you do to ensure you’re not going to end up with debt collectors banging on your door? Don’t borrow too much money We see this all the time with people that end up in thousands of pounds of debt, and it usually comes from credit cards or payday loans. In both scenarios, the person will borrow more money than they either need or can afford. As a result, they struggle to pay back what they owe, leading to extra fees and higher interest rate charges. It can mean that you spend years trying to pay a loan back when it could all have been avoided if you just borrowed a little bit less. Credit card debt is perhaps the best example of this because people use too much credit on their cards, maxing them out. Then, they can’t pay the balance in full, so they start gaining interest on what they owe, while still using too much credit in subsequent months. It’s a slippery slope and a lot of debt would be avoided by using less credit and paying the bill in full. Be wary of interest rates When borrowing money from any source, always be wary of the interest rates. This is what you will pay on top of paying back the money you borrowed. With credit cards, you can often bypass interest rates by paying your balance off in full every month. With loans, the interest rate is basically how the lender makes money - think of it as a fee for borrowing money from them. Check the APR of loans or credit cards to see how much interest you’re likely to pay. The higher the APR, the more worried you should be. Ideally, you want to borrow money with as low an interest rate as possible, making it easier to repay without ending up in too much debt. Improve your credit score Following on from the previous point, interest rates fluctuate from person to person. Your bank can offer the same loan to you and another customer, but both of you have different interest rates. This is because people with better credit scores get better rates as they are deemed more financially trustworthy and responsible. So, improve your credit score to get the lower interest rates, allowing you to be in a more comfortable position to pay what you owe. There will be times in life where you have no option other than to borrow money. As such, it’s important to learn how to keep yourself in as little debt as possible for as short a period as you can. These three tips will help you do just that!  Image credit: Energepic.com from Pexels Stocks, forex and crypto are some of the most effective ways to grow your money. But just which of these investments is right for you? This post explores the pros and cons of each - and what you need to get involved.
Stocks Investing in stocks involves buying shares of companies, waiting for them to increase in value and then selling them. You can make a lot of money by investing in the right companies. You can also lose a lot of money if you invest in the wrong companies. You can reduce risk by diversifying your portfolio. This involves investing in a range of stocks in a range of industries. The most stable stocks to invest in tend to be long-established companies - these stocks tend to gradually increase in value over the years. Newer companies tend to be riskier, however they can offer some of the highest and fastest returns. Anyone can invest in the stock market with as little as $1. There are free trading apps that allow you to buy parts of shares on your phone. Alternatively, you can hire a stockbroker to invest your stocks for you. This involves paying fees, however you could reduce the risk of loss by having an expert invest your cash for you. It’s worth researching into companies before investing in them. By understanding the industry and the company, you can make good predictions as to whether a stock will rise or fall. Forex Forex involves trading foreign currencies. By buying a currency that is rising in value and then converting it back, you can make a profit. Buy the wrong currency and you could lose money. As with stocks, you should always diversify your portfolio by buying a range of different currencies. Some currencies are likely to be more stable than others - the more stable ones are less risky but will offer slower and smaller returns. To invest in foreign currencies you need to use a forex broker. To create an account, you’ll generally need to place down a minimum deposit of $100, although there are some brokers that allow you to invest with less. Fees are charged on every transaction. Currency prices can be affected by political events, travel popularity and rate of trade. By educating yourself in these matters, you can more accurately predict when a currency may rise or fall in value. Crypto Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies. They include the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. The principle is similar to buying a foreign currency - you buy a currency, wait for it to rise in value and sell it. Cryptocurrency however can be more volatile. This can result in much bigger potential returns, but also much bigger potential losses. As with forex and stocks, you should buy a range of cryptocurrencies to spread the risk. Certain cryptocurrencies are likely to increase at a much greater rate than others. You can look into buying ETH with Swyftx or another cryptocurrency exchange platform. Minimum deposits and fees can vary depending on the platform you use. When buying large amounts of crypto, it can often be worth using a digital wallet to keep your currency secure. Cryptocurrencies rise and fall in value based on demand. These rises and falls can be a lot harder to predict than with stocks or crypto however there are still ways of educating yourself and spotting trends. For a great introduction into how to buy bitcoin, SoFi Invest has some learning resources and is the ideal place to begin your Crypto journey. |
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