Do you want to maximize your revenue and minimize your expenses? Do you want to get access to specialized skills and services? Do you want to concentrate more on your core business? Do you want to save on money, time and infrastructure? If your answer is yes to any or all of the above questions, you might be interested in outsourcing. Outsourcing — the practice of using outside firms to handle work normally performed within a company — is a familiar concept to many entrepreneurs. Small companies routinely outsource their payroll processing, accounting, distribution, and many other important functions — often because they have no other choice. Many...

The dreaded words of “Business Planning” makes strong people shudder and the weak run in terror.  Yes, I may be exaggerating but not by much. A majority of people get themselves into routines and comfort zones and the thought of breaking that routine to conduct business planning is not what most of us want to do.   Why? Why do those two words cause us such dismay? It does, because it is a reality check. It is a time to put your thinking cap on and really explore where you are going. For some it is a scary thought. For others it is just too much out of...

    Like many of you we have been looking at utilizing social networking to help increase the exposure of our company. I have been asking myself and "experts" about how well this really works and if there are successful case studies available for companies like ours. I found an interesting article posted on Entrepeneur.com earlier this month that looks at this very question and I wanted to share it with you.   http://blog.entrepreneur.com/2009/10/conflicting-reports-on-social-networking-for-business.php   Let us know if you have had any good or bad experiences with social networking for your business.    

More and more companies are realizing the value of outsourcing non-core competencies in order to focus on growing their business. There are still many however that hesitate in handing off any responsibilities that are typically done “in-house”.   How do I know the people I am outsourcing to are competent?   There are a couple of ways to ensure you choose a quality provider. First, research the history of the company and find out how long they have been providing the services you need. Companies that have been around for a long time have probably done so because they are doing something right! Second, ask for references. Client...

Why did you go into business? That question often is faced by business owners, often when the tough times come. The answer for many is so they can be the driver of their own destiny and make their own decisions.   Yet, we end up listening to people who have no vested interest in our business; who likely do not know our own industry as well as we do ourselves. Who are these sage individuals we give so much of our future to, you may ask?   The media! Everyday, business owners and decision makers listen to the news and the other media sources and make decisions based...