Category: Visitors

 
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Bulk Vending Machines – The Most Popular Ones With Vendors And Customers

Bulk vending machines are everywhere. It is what you sell through these machines that will make or break your business. Of course, the location is important as well, but there are so many different kinds of candy and other products you can sell through the vending machines that it is hard to decide what you should start with. Candy and giant gumballs go over well, as do the bulk vending machines that sell a prize.

There are almost as many bulk vending distributors as there are products that you can sell. These distributors have different models of bulk candy machines. Some of them are single machines, but you can get combo machines where you sell three different products in one machine. The reason they are called bulk vending machines is that they can hold a lot of candy or other products, which means you donít have to restock them as often.

Usually bulk candy machines dispense a handful of small candy. Although the candy doesnít last very long, it is a thrill for small children to put in a quarter and receive the candy. They will often want to spend more than one quarter in the bulk vending machines because they are amazed at how it works. You will most likely see these machines where parents take small children, even though adults like the candy from the vending machines too.

Bulk vending distributors will be able to supply you with large quantities of candy for your vending machine business. The candy usually comes in 30 pound bags, so you have enough candy to refill the vending machines several times. The cost of the bulk candy is about $50 a box, which means that you will have a high rate of profit when you sell them all. The bulk vending machines of this nature are not expensive either and you can save money on your investment if you look for used bulk candy machines.

Bulk vending machines are perfect for people who want to start their own small business as a second source of income. You wonít have to service them very often, so using bulk candy machines wonít take up a lot of your time. There are very few parts that can break on these vending machines because the main components are the turning knob and the coin receptacle. When you add in the fact that they do not require electricity, business owners can easily make money on your investment when they allow you to place bulk vending machines at their place of business.

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Be Famous. Host A Seminar!

Imagine hosting your own seminar. Whether you dream of hosting clients for the weekend, prospects for a few hours, or colleagues for a lunch-hour workshop, let’s make this year the year you realise that dream! Planning and hosting a seminar, workshop, or other event’s not nearly as hard as you might expect. And today I’d like to share with you the five secrets to a flawless event.

Decide on a format

Remember, your event doesn’t have to be in-person. You could conduct it virtually–over the telephone or Internet. You could offer webcasts and live
chats, an email list for lengthier discussions, or you could use an online meeting space.

Besides deciding whether your event will be in-person or virtual, you’ll also need to determine how long the event will last, what you’ll cover, and how you’ll cover it. Will you host guest speakers? Will you offer discussion panels? Or will the event be primarily lecture-based?

Go with your gut on these decisions. What makes the most sense for your audience? What format do you prefer? How can you best deliver your information?

Decide whom to invite

Will you advertise the event? Open it only to your select clients? Offer it to a targeted list of prospects?

It may seem strange to decide on your audience before narrowing down your topic, but by picking out your ideal audience first, you’ll be able to zero in precisely on their interests.

At this stage, also decide how many people you’re comfortable hosting. Are you picturing a small, intimate group of 20 people? Or do you see yourself speaking before hundreds?

Decide what topics to cover

Next, you’ll need to really get at the core of your topic. Sure, you’re going to focus on your expertise. But what, precisely, about your expertise will you devote the time to?

This decision has a lot to do with your goals. Do you want to convert prospects to clients? Dazzle your current clients? Build relationships with colleagues?

Obviously, you’ll want to choose your topic a bit differently for your prospects than you would for a group of clients. Each audience will have different concerns and slightly different interests.

Get the right support

There’s a ton of planning involved with creating a workshop or seminar. You’ll need to find the perfect venue (or technological support, if it’ll be virtual). You’ll need to find hotels for guests to stay at, arrange special rates, and plan special activities during down time.

You’ll want to accommodate special guests in a way that makes them feel truly appreciated. You’ll want someone creating a log of each activity, and perhaps recording and transcribing the event so you can offer copies to participants.

In short, you need a partner who shares your vision for your event. Someone to handle all the details while you’re raring off, full steam ahead, on the big picture elements.

You can easily hand off these details to a virtual assistant who’ll work in the background to ensure your entire event goes off without a hitch.

Close the feedback loop and do it again

You’re going to love holding your event. You’ll shine in the spotlight, your participants will have a delightful time, and you’ll all have an extraordinary experience.

Once the event’s over, make sure to ask participants for feedback. Ask them for what they loved, and what they didn’t. Find out how you can improve next year’s event.

And get ready for an even better event next year!

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Awareness And Mastery – Two Essential Keys To A Successful Small Business

At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.”
~ George Leonard
US pioneer in human potential

””’We often hear managers complaining that their employees aren’t productive, donít listen and just canít consistently get the job done. As a youth sports coach, I hear coaches with similar complaintsóthe kids donít listen, donít know where to go and donít try very hard. I canít relate. The boys on my team are usually focused, do what I ask of them, and work hard. As a business owner, my employees are focused, do what I ask of them and work hard. What am I doing that is different from the rest? And what can this teach you about running a successful small business?’

As a coach, I make my boys’ jobs very simple. I ask only two things of them. I ask them to master one shot and I ask them to be aware of what is going on around them. Of course we work on defensive and offensive strategy, but both of those revolve around the two keys that I gave them for successóawareness and mastery.

I teach awareness by constantly asking them to be aware of where the ball is and at the same time to be aware of their teammates are and where their opponents are. I teach them how to see the ball and their opponent when he doesn’t have the ball. Sounds simple, but for ten year olds this is work.

I teach mastery by assigning homework to each boy. The second week of practice, they have to show me a spot on the court from which they can make a shot every time. I don’t care if it is from just two feet under the basket. I want them to know they can make it every single time. As the season progresses, they may gradually move their spot further and further out, but I still ask that they be able to make their shot every time unguarded in practice.

These two simple concepts have a tremendous effect on the boys during their games. They have incredible confidence in their ability to make shots because they ìknowî that they will always make it. I don’t need to yell at them like other coaches about where they should be on the court because they have developed awareness of what they are doing and seeing. Now letís see how you can use this in your successful small business.’

As a business owner, I put these two key principles to work in training my employees. From the first day on the job, I work with them to be aware of what tasks are needed, what I expect of them, how I want customers treated, etc. And I ask them to master tasks and customer scripts. Once they are mastered, I open it up for them to adlib just like with my players. When correction is needed, it is usually in one of these two areas. They are either unaware of what is needed or they haven’t mastered the task at hand.

Not only does following these two concepts make it easy for me to get results with my players and employees, it also brings incredible results. My first team lost only one game all season and my employees rarely lose a sale. My businesses and products win awards earned by my employees. And, as a bonus, everyone enjoys themselves with this simple structure. I knew I was doing it right when the father of one of my boys told me that his boy enjoyed practice so much that he chose to come to practice instead of going to see our professional basketball team play one night. And I know it works with my employees because they show up on time happy, focused and ready to work. Remember, awareness and mastery are two essential keys to a successful small business.

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A Call to Action

Because of a recent boom in business, my company needed to update our office phone system. We had a very nice system in place already, but our business had tripled within a matter of months. Since we rely on phone orders for the vast majority of our sales, we needed to upgrade in order to handle the increase in call volume. We were lucky to have a great relationship with our telephone equipment provider, as within days we were able to have a new system ready to put in place. It’s not often that businesses find themselves in situations like this, but when they do come up, it’s important to know that the companies you have chosen to do business with are capable of meeting your needs in a timely manner.

Prior to this happening, we had a trunk study performed, after which we were told that we were losing business as a result of not having a new phone system in place. Anyone who has ever run a business knows that losing money because you are ill equipped to handle your customer’s needs is the worst way to lose money. Being able to make a phone call and knowing it would be taken care of quickly and efficiently was a great relief to me. I knew that with every passing day, thousands of dollars were being lost and that’s something I couldn’t afford to let happen. The whole situation made me think about the importance of knowing qualified vendors who can get you the products you need, when you need them.

I soon began looking into other areas where we were dependent upon other companies for goods and services to see if we were utilizing vendors who could facilitate the changes our growing business was experiencing. After a long, hard look, we decided to switch shipping companies and to switch to a new overnight call center operator. It’s not that our needs weren’t being met at the time, but that if things continued to grow, we would likely outpace our current vendor’s ability to provide service. Being proactive in your business relationships is just as important as being proactive about your business. After all, most companies depend on other companies to make their operations run smoothly. I encourage all business owners to seek out the service providers and vendors that can handle your needs both now and in the future. When your business grows, you’ll be happy you did.

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A Look at Brochure Printing Services

A brochure can be a wonderful promotional tool for a wide range of professionals, but getting them set up can be daunting. There are many brochure-printing services available that cater to both the amateur and professional. You can find them in a number of ways, including the phone book, the Internet, graphic design and advertising journals, or word of mouth.

Some companies will provide typesetting, design, color separations (four-color process), color proofing and proofreading service, while other companies just provide the most basic color printing, folding and shipping.

There are brochure-printing companies that will do everything for you; all you need is a clear idea of your brochureís requirements and whether it is business, promotional or another application, and the brochure company will take it from start to finish. Brochure design can be a challenge, so you might consider working with the professional designer that many brochure-printing companies offer. Some companies even offer sales literature development assistance and strategic marketing plans. However if you do your own design, copy writing, typesetting and art placement, and use these services sparingly, you will save money. One thing to keep in mind if you choose to do so is that most basic brochure printing companies will warn you that they will not proof read your work, and that corrections cost extra.

If you simply start at the beginning with a step-by-step review of your needs, many companies will walk you through the features and benefits of their products and services. Because there is so much competition, many services (such as shipping) are offered at a discount or even free. Furthermore, most brochure printing companies will provide their own customer service representative who will work closely with you to make sure your job runs smoothly and efficiently through the entire process, from pre-press to final distribution.

You should investigate thoroughly each brochure printing company and the services they offer to make sure they meet your requirements. A well-designed brochure can work wonders, and are well worth the effort.

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Cash Flow Planning for Solo Professionals

You’ve heard it a million times ñ cash flow can make or break a business. Lack of cash flow planning is the reason why many businesses fail. In fact, many PROFITABLE businesses fail because of cash flow issues. Without adequate cash flow, you can’t pay your bills and you can’t make plans for your business.

SoÖ what is cash flow planning? Cash flow planning is projecting your future cash inflows from sales, services, and loans, and comparing them to your future cash flow needs (suppliers, salaries/wages, loan payments, taxes, etc.). The difference between the two is your net cash flow.

Why is cash flow planning so important? Cash flow planning can help you identify problems down the road, and fix them before they occur. Cash flow planning can also help you make decisions such as should I attend that conference I’ve wanted to attend, should I buy the new computer I’ve been wanting, or do I need to work extra hard this month to avoid a cash flow deficiency next month?

The first step in planning your cash flow is knowing where you spend your money! Solo entrepreneurs need to have a good grip on both their personal and business spending, as most solo entrepreneurs rely on their business income to meet personal finance goals (i.e., pay the bills!). So, you should track both your personal and your business spending, although I recommend that you keep them separate (that’s a topic all by itself).

What’s the best way to track your spending? You can use pen & paper, spreadsheets or a software program. The best method for you is the method that you will actually use on a regular basis.

You should project your spending for at least the next 12 months so that you include annual and other periodic expenses. If you are experiencing a cash flow crisis, you should track & project your cash flow on a weekly basis, instead of monthly.

If you are an existing business, you can project your cash flow for the next year by reviewing your expenses for last year. If you are a new business, you will need to estimate your start up costs in addition to regular operating expenses.

Start up costs include inventory, legal expenses, advertising, licenses & permits, supplies, and many more costs that you may not have thought of. To research startup costs you should contact your local Small Business Development Center, contact a SCORE counselor, join groups of similar business owners, and read as many books or articles you can find on the subject.

To improve your cash flow, you should:

1. Complete the first 3 steps. You have to understand cash flow planning, track your cash flow, and project your future spending needs before you can improve your cash flow.

2. Create best and worst case scenarios and create appropriate responses to both scenarios. For example, if your best case scenario is to increase sales by 50%, how will you use the profits? Will you put the profits back into the company by investing in new equipment, training, etc.? If your worst case scenario is a drop in sales by 50%, how will you continue to cover your monthly expenses? By planning for the best and worst case scenarios, you’ll be ready for any situation.

3. When estimating your future income, realize that some people will pay late, and account for that fact in your projection.

4. Charge what you’re worth. Many businesses, especially service professionals, under-charge when they are first starting out. This is a great way to go out of business. Make sure you are charging what you’re worth, and remember you’re in business to make money, not to give your expertise away for free.

5. Watch your business spending. Focus on the value the item brings to your business, and avoid lavish spending (i.e., do you really need the fastest, newest computer available?).

6. Don’t hire until necessary. Consider using virtual assistants or temporary employees before hiring permanent employees.

7. Give incentives for early payment for products and services. On the flip side, chase down invoices the minute they’re late. Charge interest or late fees to encourage timely payments.

8. Update your cash flow regularly. Your cash flow plan will change frequently as your business grows. You may want to update your cash flow plan weekly when you first get started, then switch to monthly once you’ve got a good handle on your cash flow.

Remember – whether you are a new or growing business, your cash flow projection can make the difference between success and failure.

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Does Your Small Business Need A Web Site?

You are a small business owner. You use the internet both in your business and personally. Obviously you know there are many, many web sites out there. More then likely, you’ve even made purchases through someone else’s web site. Perhaps it is apparent that you could be doing the same thing with your own business. Certainly, extra e-commerce sales could only help your bottom line. But does your business really need a web site?

In deciding that, consider what a web site really is to a business. A well designed site can give your business exposure to a much larger group of potential customers. That makes it a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal.

In today’s hyper-competitive business environment, marketing experts tell us that having a successful marketing strategy is essential to the growth of your business. Effective use of a web site can draw in new leads and turn leads into conversions. Now these new customers (your best market) can be further wooed through follow up online newsletters, automatic appreciation e-mails (auto-responders), special offers or any number of tactics. All the while building a mailing list which is like gold to anyone’s marketing efforts. With this almost limitless and relatively inexpensive marketing tool in the form of your web site, your profits have an even greater ability to soar.

A web site does need to be well designed. Also, in addition to targeted, effective content, your site needs to be regularly maintained and updated. Using its full potential requires someone in your company continually coming up with new online marketing strategies. But these efforts, if thought of as marketing investments, can mean big rewards in the form of increased profits for your business.

In this information age, the internet is key to making innovative marketing decisions that build a successful business. Your competition knows this and he/she probably has a web site. If they are savvy enough to realize its marketing potential, then they have a competitive edge. But you can make up ground and pass them up with a well designed web site of your own.

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Blend Your Strengths with Small Business Needs

If you are looking to start a small business of your own, there is a proven process that is necessary to start off with. Many creative people have great business ideas, but their approach to planning is ineffective and eventually flops. First and foremost, you have to find a market that is a good size. Now what does this mean exactly? Finding a niche market that is a reasonable size entails pinpointing one that is big enough to make a profit but small enough for the resources of a small business and one that does not compete with large corporations.

Two main mistakes that entrepreneurs make in finding small markets are targeting a market that is too broad and targeting a niche that is already heavily exploited. What you decide to sell must connect product to target audience or you will not be successful.

To start off with, choose your own unique area of expertise. What are you good at? What do you have experience in? Use your education, your skills and the people you know who could help you transform your idea into reality. If you have many areas of interest and are not sure which one would be the most profitable, a little more research will be needed. Consider how it will be possible to convert your education and skills into money-making opportunities. Research your surrounding marketplace to see what is needed in your area.

Now if you are trying to find small markets online, be forewarned that this can be tedious and time-consuming. You will first have to think of a list of possible target audiences, then take your first idea and research an exhaustive list of keywords and keyword phrases that people in that target audience are using for information on their desired product. Next, one must research all keywords and phrases for relevancy and then study which keywords on your list might lead to other niches that will need future researching. Then, you need to compare all your keywords to web pages to evaluate the present competition. You will use all your information to narrow down your list to keywords and phrases that have the most online traffic and those that are the least exploited. If your small market does not appear to be profitable, you must start the entire research process over. If you do find one that seems to be a money maker, you then must focus on finding ideas to profit from.

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Bylaws – The Guts of a Corporation

Most states make forming a corporation relatively painless by providing forms for practically everything. The bylaws of the corporation, however, are an area you donít want to rely on a form.

What Are Bylaws?

Bylaws are the technical rules that govern how a corporation will be run. They are a private document for the corporation and are not filed with any government entity. The purpose of the bylaws is to set out how things such as meetings, voting and share transfer will occur with the business.

Provisions

Typically, the bylaws will be the biggest document in your corporate book. If you are a single shareholder entity, they tend to be fairly straightforward since there isnít really any dispute possibility unless you have a split personality. If there are two or more shareholders, however, the document is going to be a key item because it is going to detail voting rights and so on.

Typically, the bylaws of a corporation will cover the following specific issues:

1. Board of Director Meetings – When, where and how meetings will be conducted.

2. Notice of Meetings – The form, time and how notice must be given to board members.

3. Quorums – Before a board can issue resolutions on corporate business, a certain percentage of board members must be present. This ìQuoromî is set out in the bylaws.

4. Annual Meetings – The bylaws typically detail when and where the annual meeting of the entity will occur.

5. Special Meetings – The process by which special board meetings may be called when an issue arises that requires the immediate attention of the board.

6. Voting Rights – Language detailing the voting rights of shareholders and board members in relation to passing or defeating resolutions.

7. Share Transfer Rights – Language detailing share transfer issues such as right of first refusal and so on.

8. Directors – Language detailing how many board members there will be, the length of their term, compensation, etc.

9. Amendment – The process by which the bylaws can be amended to reflect the evolution of the business.

10. Removal – Language detailing when and how a board member can be involuntarily removed.

There are numerous other provisions that can and probably should go into the bylaws of a corporation. Make sure to discuss them with your attorney.

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Can Your Small Business Afford Not to Have a Web Site?

I’ve been accused of being opinionated by more than one person in my life, but try as I might to work on that part of my personality, it remains pretty much the same. So, in this article, I’m going to discuss my ìopinionî on one reason why, even if your target market is strictly local, your small business can’t afford not to have a web site.

A few statistics from Statistics Canada to start us on our way-. In 2003, there were about 12 million households in Canada, and of those 8 million had regular access to the internet from work, home and/or school. Around 60% of the total households had a computer and internet access at home.

Ok, so now we know how many households had access to the internet, but what were they using it for? Almost 90% used the internet for browsing, but more importantly for our discussion- 34% used the internet for purchasing goods and services, and by the way, that’s almost double 1999 figures for purchasing goods and services on the internet.

Industry Canada reports that in 2000, Canadian ecommerce sales were $7.2 billion, a whopping 73% increase over 1999 numbers. And no, it’s not a typo, it really is $7.2 BILLION! I’d say there’s a pattern brewingóinternet usage and sales are increasing rapidly.

And, according to Industry Canada, Canada captured only about 4% of global e-commerce in 2000. Now, numbers may not be my strong suit, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t that mean there was 180 billion dollars spent globally in ecommerce?

Let’s look for a moment to the United States. www.tamingthebeast.net reports statistics and forecasts collected during December 2001ó157million online users forecast to spend $47.8 billion in online retail revenue in 2002. By 2006, the forecast is 210 million users spending $130 billion in retail revenue.

The numbers alone will probably convince many people to invest in a small business web site, particularly if they’re in an industry where their target market isn’t restricted to a purely local one.

But, you say, my business is just a little local shop. Why should I get a web site for my small business? What good will the internet do me? I’ve heard that one before. In fact, the guy I’ve heard it from most is David.

He’s the guy with the auto shop in my article ìI Don’t Need a Business PlanóDo I?î Long story short, his mother in law finally convinced him to write a business plan and his business is making some money, but in my opinion, it could do better with some marketing. I’d really like to convince him to spend some marketing dollars (he’s a little cheap sometimes), but so far, no dice. Anyway I digress.

Let’s use David’s business as an example. So, his business is in Saskatoon, a city with a population of just over 200,000 over five years of age and almost 90,000 households in 2001, according to Statistics Canada. Nearly every household has at least one vehicle in Saskatoon, so that means there are around 90,000 potential vehicle problems for David’s shop.

Of course, not every vehicle is going to break down in a year, and David isn’t going to get all of them to use his shop, but you get the idea. And mind you, some of them will break down more than once. A certain 1988 Jeep YJ comes to mindÖ

In Saskatoon, 72.5% of households had access to the internet in 2003, so around 65,000 households had internet access. And that’s not including the rural population surrounding Saskatoon who also have vehicles that need a mechanic from time to time. Now, let’s say David goes marketing-crazy and spends $2500 for his web site (which in my opinion is way too much money for a static small business web site).

But it does no good to have a web site if it isn’t found. Statistically, when people enter a word or phrase into a search engine, they’ll stop looking after the third page. That means, that in order for your web site to be positioned so people will actually click on it, it needs to be in the top 30 web sites for your particular key words or phrases.

So, lets assume that the $2500 David spent includes some good search engine optimization. His web site copywriter makes sure to research and find relevant keywords, and uses them well in his site.

She adds his site to small business directories, and does more of her seo magic, and low and behold, three months in, David’s site comes up #2 in a Google search for ìauto repair Saskatoonî. Now there are a potential 65,000 clients for David’s business because they’ll find it in a search engine.

If he only reaches .1% of those 65,000 (not 1%, but point 1%), he could have 65 new clients, and you know your bill is going to be more than 100 bucks every time you take your car to the shop, but assuming just $100 for an average bill, he’ll gross $6500, making that $2500 web site money well spent. I’d be willing to bet he’d make that much on maintenance alone, never mind repairs.

Now that I think about it, I’ve never approached David about a web site from this angle. I think I might show him this article. He’s a logical sort of guy, and it just might convince him to get one.

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