Converting Visitors to Customers
We have requested the collaboration of some entrepreneurs who are engaged in businesses of all kinds on the Internet to compile a list of the main reasons that lead to failure of a startup. Many of these are valid reasons for any business that you are thinking of undertaking. Here is the list in order of importance:
1. Lack of a business plan
It is a very common mistake not drafting a preliminary business plan, not having a business planning. We’re not talking only about the document itself, we speak of knowing in advance how we’re going to make money with our idea, basic to any business.
It is customary for a group of technicians assemble a startup with no thought as to return the van. This planning will allow us to also have a roadmap that allows us to grow.
2. Mismanagement of resources
We have a startup capital that will allow us to start our business but we manage it properly. This problem is twofold:
Trump Says
Donald Trump, billionaire and real estate mogul, echoed what real estate agents have been saying for months in a recent appearance on Good Morning America. “This is a great time to go out and buy a home,” he said. “You might even lose your own home and you’ll end up getting a better one.” As home prices around the country plummet, it creates a unique buying opportunity for both would-be homeowners and investors.
Trump acknowledged, however, that financing is difficult to come by these days and criticized banks for not easing lending restrictions. “What the banks are doing is terrible,” he said. “The banks have billions and billions of taxpayer money, and they’re not giving that money or loaning that money to the taxpayer,” referring to banks that have been receiving funds under the government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program. Trump believes that banks that are taking government assistance or bail out money should be subject to guidelines and restrictions on what they can do with that money. Certainly some of it should be used to infuse the economy with cash by lending to consumers.
How to Build Credibility With Your Prospects
New prospects are a skeptical group. The unfortunate reality is that when someone doesn’t know you, they tend to look for reasons to dismiss you rather than looking at your value proposition with an open mind.
So how do we go about building credibility with prospective clients? Naturally the easiest method is to avoid cold marketing altogether. Being referred by someone who knows you has a huge benefit in reducing the inherent mistrust we often have when we meet brand new people. However, strictly relying on referrals is one of the main reasons why so many small business owners experience the proverbial feast-or-famine business cycles.
It’s easy to understand why. When we rely on referrals we are giving up control of our new business efforts. We are hoping that our network will be sufficiently large enough so that a certain minimum number of referrals will be generated each month. The sad reality is that hardly anyone’s existing network is large enough to accomplish that goal.
Coaching Skills - Can Coaching Help Do More With Less?
I’d like to share this extract from an email that arrived in the office last week:
“….at the moment, unfortunately in this economic climate. I can’t justify paying extra money for training and as I have to pay something towards the course ,Of course if it was all funded I would be but I was lead to believe that I would have to pay part of it….”
We had learnt of some grant funding for training that a local business development agency was promoting* and were circulating details amongst our prospective clients.
I found this particular reply depressing on two counts:
that spending on training should have to be justified at the moment, as if it were some kind of lavish luxury for the good times only.
that because of the downturn, training has become the government’s responsibility and that if they pay for it fine, but if not, we can’t do any.
I may be being unfair and reading too much into a polite, “thanks, but no thanks” email, but it got me thinking.
Discounted Cash Flow
It is a well known fact that the value of money undergoes changes over a period of time and rarely remains constant. In fact, the longer the time period, the higher is the change in the value of money. As it is, the value of money generally depreciates over time. Factors like inflation are responsible for this degradation.
Now, this depreciation in the value of money plays a very important role as far as the cash flow is concerned. This can be explained by way of an example. So, let us suppose that you deposit $1000 in an investment avenue, which guarantees you a return of 3% P.A. and the value of money gets depreciated at the rate of 4% P.A. then that means that you are at a loss.
In order to make sure that the business organization is not at loss, the discounted cash flow system was invented. The discounted cash flow system refers to a method of evaluation of a project, a company, or an asset by using the concept of Time Value of Money. In this system, all the future cash inflows and outflows are estimated and discounted in order to arrive at their current values. Here, the discount rate is usually the applicable cost of capital and it might incorporate the judgments in regard to the uncertainties of future cash flows.
The Heartbreak of Innovation Frustration
We live in a world of continual innovation. Innovation is the new benchmark of business success. It is the driver of increased efficiency and quality in just about everything we do. In short, innovation defines our contemporary experience.
This is a good thing, right? Every moment of every day a better mousetrap is revealed to us. We now have virtually unlimited choices in every area of our life, often where just a few years ago we had just a few, or one, or even none at all.
Are you on Facebook? MySpace? Do you “Tweet?” What blog platform do you use? How about newsletters? How do manage your calendar, your contacts, your tasks? Mac or PC? Windows or Linux? What about cloud computing?
I Want to Be a Star In All My Job Interviews
At the age of fifty-something, I lost my job. My company, here in Oklahoma City, was very pleasant when they notified me that I was not being fired, just laid off. But, you know what? The end result is the same. The bottom line is I am jobless, unemployed, out of work, unwaged and oh, yeah, I forgot, seeking work.
I began my journey to a new job by updating my resume (there was some dusting off involved but I finally got it ready to go). Next, I got the resume out to as many potential employers as possible. But, guess what follows getting your quality resume out? That’s right! You’re called in for an interview. Another journey I hadn’t taken in 36 years.
I arrived on time for my first interview (I would hope so!). I sat down with a smiling Human Resources woman who said that she had a few questions for me and she would be taking some notes as I was answering them.
NYC Bike Messengers Are the Unsung Heroes of the Industry
Driving in New York at any time of the day can be a real pain, especially during rush hour. And for this reason NYC courier and messenger companies turn to their bike messengers to help beat the jams.
Some NYC bike messengers do their courier work as a job on the side, where as others are dedicated to their industry and see it as a career.
The weather means nothing to the bike messenger in New York. Be it severe heat or torrential rain the bike messenger will be out delivering items on their two wheels around the city.
There are many risks of being a push bike courier in a major city such as New York. The volume of traffic in the big city poses a massive risk in itself, and for this reason most bike messenger couriers will know their city like the back of their hand, even down to the way that lights work and junctions and intersections. They will also know all the shortcuts down the back streets to beat the traffic conflicts!
Ten “F” Words to Help You Run Your Business
Title got your curiosity up? Good. This article is not going to be about THAT “F” word. It’s going to be about “F” words that will keep you grounded, sane and healthy.
Faith
Have faith that you will eventually succeed. Have a loving trust that what you are doing will pay off one day if you keep going forward creatively and flexibly. Trust that the “seeds” you plant will flower. You will get what you deserve, not what you want.
Fidelity
This is about loyalty+++. Be loyal to running your business YOUR way. Listen to others and get their advice but stay true to your dream and vision. Be loyal to your customers, suppliers, sales people, etc. as they are the ones on whom you depend for success. As Horton the Elephant says in a Dr. Seuss book, “I meant what I said and I said what I meant, an elephant’s faithful one hundred percent.”
7 Newsletter Writing Secrets That Will Retain More Clients For Life
According to the Harvard Business Review, 91% of small businesses do absolutely nothing to retain their existing clients. That means only 9% of small business owners ‘get’ these facts:
- The average American business loses 50% of its customer base every 5 years.
- An existing customer spends an average of 67% more than new customers.
- It costs 7 to 9 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an old one.
Mailing a monthly newsletter can eliminate all of these problems — if you do it correctly.
A successful newsletter doesn’t just ‘happen’. It’s composed of very specific elements. Without them, you might as well be sending your clients a comic book.
7 Elements Your Newsletter Must Have If You Want to Retain More Clients