growth

How to Network Like a Pro

November 6, 2019 by Naomi

We’ve all heard of networking – but how exactly do you do it and why is it essential for running a successful business?

While technology has made networking easier, you still need to get outside of your comfort zone and meet people for success in your business.

Networking is a great way to get your name and business out into the world, find new clients and expand your affiliates.

Regardless of the type of business you run, networking is achieved in similar ways – here’s some ideas to get yourself out there!

Attend Events

Going to events is a great way to network. Not only can this lead to new clients but it also has the potential to lead to affiliates and possibly even partner brands. Being around like-minded people is great too as it allows you to meet other inspirational people, expand your knowledge and give you fresh ideas.

Business Cards

Carrying around business cards is still a great way to network, especially at events. You can even drop your business cards off at cafes and restaurants so you have the potential to reach a wide range of demographics! Putting your key social media handles, phone number and email on business cards is absolutely essential nowadays. People want to be able to research your business before directly contacting you.

Social Media

Networking through social media is another great way to network when you are time poor but still want to chat to people. Even if you have no time to post, comment or message in the moment, you can communicate via paid advertisements and using scheduling programs so you always have content going live across your platforms and live chats.

These techniques will allow you to connect with your audience and potential clients or partners – and you can mix it up with what’s going on in your biz calendar! Trial different ideas and techniques to figure out what works best for you, you never know who you’re going to meet and what opportunity could come your way!

Financing Business Growth

July 5, 2018 by Naomi

By Greg Logue

There comes a time when your business will get to capacity and 24hrs in the day is not enough! This is when some decisions must be made. These decisions usually revolve around:

Staffing – do I need to hire someone?
Financing operations – can I borrow money and how do I use it?
Internal systems – what can we do more efficiently?

All three of the above have one thing in common – they come at a cost!

Most small to medium sized businesses will experience some cashflow pressure throughout their business lifecycle. During these times, how do you get ahead? How do you keep the ball rolling? Ultimately, financing the business will come from debt or equity, but is it a good idea to take on this financial risk and is your business:

Able to access finance; and
Capable of handling growth opportunities

All too often business owners look to get finance but are not in a position to do so. Whether restricted by limited trading history, poor financial performance or existing finance being at a maximum, you need to be aware of your eligibility and how you plan for expansion! If you’re unable to access finance, what are the steps you need to take to ready your business for finance. In other words, what is Plan B and how do we implement this strategy effectively?

I look forward to presenting on this topic and other key cashflow considerations for home staging businesses as part of the DFK Crosbie presentation at this year’s National Home Staging Symposium.

Greg Logue is a Senior Accountant at DFK Crosbie and an advisor to business owners across a range of unique industries. Focusing on business growth and peace of mind for his client’s, Greg has over 10 years’ experience in providing solutions to everyday business problems. Whether it be getting a business off the ground, taking it to the next level or working towards a long-term goal, Greg tailors his approach to suit your needs. Using reliable financial data, Greg and his team can provide strategic advice to drive your business in the right direction.

If you would like to see Greg live, secure you place at the National Home Staging Symposium for 2018!

How to Better Yourself by Questioning Yourself

June 30, 2018 by Naomi

In life we constantly question ourselves and if the decisions we make are the right decisions. Depending on your family and friend situation, the decisions we may can also influence their lives. We question everything from if we really had the best dinner we could have, if we exercised for as long as we could have, if we were as productive at work as we could have been. All these things are questions we ask ourselves all the time. Depending on our answers, we might try harder the next time, or we could have pushed ourselves to the end limit. Regardless, when we keep questioning ourselves over the same thing, at some stage, we will begin to see change.

When it comes to running a business, you question yourself and the decisions you make all that much more. Not only does the decisions you make influence yourself, but it also influences your family, your finances, your career and those you employ. Discovering an effective strategy and way of questioning yourself which always results in successful decision making and successful results is of utmost importance. So, what should you be asking yourself to better yourself as a business owner?

“What am I doing?” I know, this is a big question, but it needs to be asked. What is your business, what is its motto and what is it achieving? If these questions and answers aren’t what you want to hear then it is time to make some changes.
“What are my goals?” This is a great one as we enter the new year! What do you want your business to achieve in the next year, 5 years and 10 years? Where do you see your business going and what changes do you have to make to achieve your goals?
“Who are my competitors and what are they doing?” Knowing your competitor’s business inside out is just as important as knowing your own business. What do they do that is highly successful? Is this successful because of who they are or because of their demographic? How can you incorporate this into your business?
“Who is working for me?” Finding your A-team doesn’t happen over night! Don’t be afraid to reevaluate jobs and those you employ, if someone isn’t doing their job properly then find someone who can.
“What can I outsource?” As the business owner you don’t need to be doing tedious tasks that someone else can do! You can outsource locally or you can look for someone to outsource tasks to from elsewhere, this all depends on what you are comfortable with.

While it is important to constantly be asking yourself these questions, it is also important to sit down every three to six months and have a long think about these questions and what the answers actually are. Doing this regularly to ensure that your business will stay on top of its game and in front of all its competitors.

Outsourcing: How to Get More Done in Less Time

November 22, 2013 by Naomi

Time really does equal money. You are a solopreneur or small business owner and you need to ask yourself what the best use of your time really is because it is YOUR time that equals money. The health of your bottom line is directly affected by the way that you choose to allot your working hours.

First let’s discuss what your job really is as an solopreneur. Your job is to grow your business. Your job is to make those contacts that will make you money. Your job is to conceive ideas and bring them to fruition. Your job is to close that deal! You do agree with that description of your job duties as an internet entrepreneur, don’t you?

Okay! Now let’s discuss what your job as an solopreneur is NOT. Being an solopreneur does not qualify you as an accountant, an advertising guru or a writer. You aren’t qualified to be an event planner or a travel agent. When you decided to become an internet entrepreneur that did not automatically make you a ‘jack-of-all-trades’.

You can waste a lot of your valuable time on tasks that you just plain aren’t very good at. You are the idea man/woman. It IS your job to make your business grow and you’ll be good at that provided that is where you use your time and direct your energies.

If you insist upon doing everything yourself, whether you are good at it or not, you will use up all of your thought and energy and have nothing left to do the things that only YOU can do to make your business grow.

Hire an accountant or a bookkeeping service: Every business must keep a record of its day to day financial transactions and even the smallest of transactions add up to big tax deductions over the period of a year.

You can’t simply file everything under ‘miscellaneous’ and you can’t spend an hour or so every day taking care of just mundane bookkeeping duties either. Bookkeepers and accountants only charge for the time that they actually spend working for you. Usually they have many clients and are a great addition to any business. Unless your zone of genius is in this area it is one of the first areas to look to outsource

If they spend one hour working on your records then you will only be charged for that one hour. YOU aren’t a bookkeeper or an accountant and you would have likely spent three or four hours doing the same tasks and then with questionable results. Hire an accountant or a bookkeeping service!

Hire a VA (Virtual Assistant): A virtual assistant can save you hours and hours of time on the mundane tasks that are required to be accomplished in order to run a successful internet business.

A VA can check your email and send only the emails that you need to personally deal with to you. Book appointments, process quotes and help you work on your social media visibility.

Use ghost writers or copywriter: Writing social media posts and blogs is always a part of all small businesses that want to have an online presence no matter what the niche might be. You will need to have website content and you will also need to submit articles and E-books to use in your resource box which will help with your online credibility.

Ghost writers will post to blogs and forums for you above your own signature file that includes your name and website. Some ghost writers will also submit articles and E-books to banks and repositories for you. If the ghost writer that you employ does not, then you can seek an articles submission company to do that time consuming task for you as well.

Use consultants where needed: Now consultants don’t also come cheap so you will need to be very, very specific about what you want them to do for your business. When considering hiring a consultant always ask yourself… do I have the skill to complete the task myself? How lg would it take me? How much does that cost in at my standard hourly rate that I charge clients? How does that stack up to the consultant charge?

There are only just so many hours in a day and you can only spend just so many of those hours working at making your business successful. There IS still life outside of business.

You have friends and family that do require some measure of your time. That makes it even more vital that you use your time to make your business grow and not waste your time by spending doing the everyday tasks that can take so much of your valuable time.

Think outsourcing, in all areas of life to allow you to do what you love more and that helps your business grow and be more profitable.

Learn more about how to scale your business at the National Home Staging Symposium, for more information click here.