Is Self-Sabotage Hurting Your Bottom Line?
- Written by Intuit Small Business
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Something sinister could be lurking behind the doors of American businesses. According to Dr. Edward Selby, Ph.D., a recognized expert at Psychology Today, small-business owners are as susceptible to self-sabotage as the rest of the population. But when business owners sabotage their goals by engaging in certain behaviors, it can be disastrous to the bottom line. What’s more, business owners may not even realize they are the reason their business isn’t thriving. Here are three ways you might be sabotaging your business without even knowing it, along with advice from Selby about how to reverse the behavior.
1. Anxiety avoidance. In business, there are two ways to meet a challenge. The first is to meet it head on and make the best decisions you can. But Selby says some people respond to challenges with avoidance rather than facing the difficulty of making a decision. In other words, in an effort to avoid anxiety, they avoid the situation, which can put a small business at risk. “But once people understand that avoiding a problem is self-sabotage, they’ll often be motivated to make the best decision possible, even if it’s not perfect.”
Selby says, “One of the best ways to determine if you are making a decision for an emotional reason is to make a pros and cons list for both the results of making the decision and the results of not making the decision. If on such a list the primary benefits to making a decision are not directly related to the outcomes of the business, then you may want to reconsider that decision.” For example, if you feel that yelling at an employee for a mistake will vent some anger and make you feel better, then the decision is being driven by emotions and you should reconsider it. Similarly, if you’re avoiding giving an employee necessary constructive criticism because you’re feeling anxious about his or her reaction, then you may be letting anxiety interfere with your ability to successfully manage employees.”
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8 Tips for Going Paperless In Your Small Business
- Written by Sys-con Media
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Ray Coleman is a small business owner who writes about money management, green living, and sustainability.
One of the great benefits of the modern age is the ability of small businesses to conduct a majority of their operations in the digital realm. Eliminating the need for bulky file cabinets, storage facilities, photocopiers, printers, and scanners can reduce overhead dramatically. Replacing costly courier services with emails, and swapping out newsletters and solicitations for social media and web-based marketing programs means serious cost savings, as well.
Essentially, all of this comes down to replacing paper with pixels. By taking your business green, you're not only helping the environment, you're freeing up a ton of working capital for your venture – and often creating a better and preferred experience for your customers, partners, suppliers, and employees. For some very effective strategies to help take your small business paperless, read on.
1. Use Google Apps For Business
The suite of apps offered by Google can help small businesses cut down on the amount of paper documents they need. Use Google Mail and Chat to communicate online with your staff and clients. Collaborate electronically on projects via Google Docs - its word processing and spreadsheet functions can be contributed to and saved by multiple members of a group. For non-Google Docs files, share them through Google Drive. Insist that your staff work solely off their devices and you can cut back significantly on the wasteful use of paper.
2. Switch to Electronic Payroll and Accounting
Reduce the number of paper invoices and checks your business sends out by taking your payroll and accounting needs online with the FreshBooks website. It's a cloud-based accounting solution designed specifically for small business owners that allows you to create invoices and track expenses and hours worked all with an intuitive software interface and solid customer support. Freshbooks offers mobile apps as well, so you can handle all of your accounting responsibilities on your tablet or smartphone if you happen to be on the go.
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Four cost-effective ways to stay compliant with CASL
- Written by Globe and Mail
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It’s likely that you’ve received one, if not several, of those ‘opt in to keep receiving e-mails from us’ notifications this week. These e-mail signal the July 1 start date of the CRTC’s anti-spam law (CASL).
The law changes the way businesses can communicate with their customers, making it necessary to get express consent to send e-mails and other marketing messages. For more on implied versus express consent, read this.
So what does the new express consent requirement mean for small businesses who have cultivated e-mail marketing lists over the years and are now worried about losing those contacts? The good news is there’s a grace period for getting consent – as long as you’ve communicated with the customer prior to July 1st, 2014, you have three years to convert them to express consent. If you get implied consent after July 1, 2014, you have two years to convert to express consent, but that’s still a good chunk of time to get your lists on board.
So while there is an initial rush to be up to code by July 1, the truth is that if you’ve been playing by the rules all along, there is not much that needs to change.
Often the most expensive part of tracking e-mail marketing consent is managing the database, since with express consent you need to keep a record as to who said you can send them e-mail updates. If you have a small number of e-mail subscribers (fewer than 2,000) you can use software to manage your lists for free, but once you grow beyond that threshold the monthly fees can add up.
Here are four cost-effective ways of managing your customer’s data that keeps you compliant with CASL.
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4 Financial Obstacles for Business Success
- Written by Small Business BC
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If you’re just starting out you’re probably excited and looking forward to achieving success. It can be easy to get caught up in the potential of new opportunities however, as with any new venture, cautious optimism is important. After all, there are a number of roadblocks that could easily arise, putting a stop to plans.
This is why one of the important traits of an entrepreneur is flexibility, in all aspects of their business. You must be willing to tweak your plans, goals, finances and other aspects without sacrificing quality and effort.
Although there are plenty of factors that you can’t plan for, there are some common obstacles that if prepared, you can easily overcome. Here are four of those common obstacles:
1. Denied a Loan
This is a very challenging obstacle that could present itself very early on when starting your business. After a number of turbulent years, financial institutions are still generally wary of taking risks. If you can’t show an iron clad and probable business plan or if you simply don’t have a lot of experience in the field, there’s a chance you will be denied a loan from a bank.
There are a number of strategies that you can use to avoid this. For instance, banks aren’t the only source of loans. There are industry associations, angel investors and many others who can help provide the fiscal boost you need. However, if a bank does present the best opportunity for your business, the you need to make sure you have all your ducks in a row before approaching a loan officer. By attending these meetings armed with an automated accounting system, you can show an accurate, real-time picture of the business across the board to quell any fears.
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Partnering with a venture capitalist: What young entrepreneurs need to know
- Written by Financial Post
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As an investor in various accelerators and incubators in Canada and the U.S., including The Next 36, I often meet young or first time entrepreneurs who are raising venture capital with little understanding of how VCs operate. There are a few key points that new entrepreneurs should consider when approaching a VC for funding:
Venture capital is not for every business The ultimate goal of any venture fund is to make a return on their investment of 10 times. VCs like to look at businesses that are based on big ideas and target an extremely large market, address a pain point or area ripe for innovation, and are infinitely scalable. Now, think about your business. Does your business address these three key points for a VC? Is it in the area of expertise of the VC you are approaching?
VCs want to see committed, focused and passionate entrepreneurs The founding team is a vital consideration of a potential investment for a VC. They want to know: is the founding team passionate about the idea? How does their experience play in? Does the founder have the ability to attract a great team?
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