5 Tools To Keep Your Business Financially Stable

Finding tools that work for your business can be challenging, particularly if you are a start-up business as you are just starting to find your feet. Though this may be challenging at first, this will help you to maintain your finances should you be met with a financial emergency. If your budget has reached a breaking point at this time and you are in urgent need of funds, there are a number of bad credit loans solutions that can help you out of your financial situation. However, having finances in order can help you to reduce your dependence on this emergency finance and help to keep your business stable. In this article, we are giving you some insight into 5 tools that you can use to keep your business financially stable.

SagePay

When looking into financial tools for your business Sage pay is one of the most beneficial as it allows you to keep track of your finances and ensure that you are spending as much as you can afford. With plans for both small businesses as well as medium to large businesses, you can track your spending at all times as well as track invoice payments. In addition to this, there is also the option to gain business insight and tailor the plans to your needs and wants.

Evernote

Another tool that is beneficial to keep a business financially stable is Evernote. This can help to track every piece of content that is created. This is great for capturing ideas and keeping track of tasks and deadlines as this can be used on both mobile and desktop. This is particularly beneficial for a smaller business as you can work both in the office or at home allowing you to build the business gradually and keep track of your own work as well as others in the business.

Hootsuite

If your company has a certain number of posts for clients on social media per month then using Hootsuite is the ideal way to monitor the number of posts. Whether this is an Instagram post, Twitter post or a post on Facebook this can all be found in one simple to use dashboard allows you to post and forward schedule posts. This is key to a social media campaign as you can alter this depending on the client’s needs as well as track the amount of money that you are spending on each campaign.

Google AdWords

If you are spending money on your own PPC campaign or other campaigns Google AdWords is the ideal tool to monitor the amount of money you are spending on ads and help to ensure that you stick to a budget. This is beneficial for a business with a large marketing budget as you can then monitor the success of your ads as well as ensure you are spending your money on ads that work. If you find that there are certain ads that are not working, then this money can then be spent elsewhere in order to better the campaign to improve visibility. If you are lucky enough to have an in house PPC department, they can help you to optimize this fully and ensure you get the best ROI.

Wrike

The final tool that will help to keep your business financially stable is a management tool such as Wrike. This tool not only allows you to schedule tasks and track your time spent, but it can also help to create custom reports that help to ensure you are charging people by the hour. This is key to the success of your business as this allows you to track the time and the amount of work that is completed.

Whether you are looking for a way to streamline your business or you are looking to make changes in the way that you operate in order to grow the business, you can be sure that these tools will help you to achieve exactly that. Which if these will you be using first?

The post 5 Tools To Keep Your Business Financially Stable appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/financial-planning/stable-business

Digital Red Flags: Signs of a Bad Internet Business Broker

Just like the traditional process of selling or buying a business, you will benefit by using a business broker when selling or buying an online business. This type of broker is called an Internet business broker, and they specialize in the management and facilitation of online business transactions.

Whether you are a buyer or a seller, there are significant benefits to using an Internet business broker to help you with your transaction. Using a legitimate Internet business broker means that you will be able to access vetted websites, so you are protected as a buyer. Legitimate online brokers also have a huge reach, so they will be able to find the exact business you want to purchase or the exact kind of clients you are looking to purchase your business. Finally, their experience in brokering these kinds of transactions can also help you manage the administrative side of the deal, including following all the regulations and laws, as well as submitting and filing any necessary paperwork.

However, with the rise of the popularity of e-commerce, there is no denying that there has also been a huge boom in the number of people and agencies offering their services as Internet business brokers. While many of them do offer valuable and exemplary services, there are also bad apples in the lot that use underhanded techniques, shady business practices, or are just flat-out scammers looking to steal your money.

The question here is, how do you find a reliable, trustworthy, and experienced Internet business broker, especially if it’s your first time to use the service? Of course, you can try looking through the list of the International Business Broker Association (IBBA) to see if they are certified, or you can use referrals from others who might have used their services in the past, but if you are having doubts here are five signs that should make you stop and think twice about using a particular Internet business broker.

1. Deliberately Inflating the Value of a Website

Many Internet business brokers deliberately inflate the value of the website that they place on their listings as a way to make it more enticing for buyers. If you are selling your website, they might even suggest this practice as a way to generate more interest in your business. However, buyers these days actually practice due diligence, and it’s easy enough to find out if the value of online business has been overstated. In these cases, you as a seller might end up going through a frustrating time trying to explain to potential buyers why your business value was misrepresented.

2. Constantly Reassuring You How “Fast” and “Easy” the Process Will Be

The general rule when it comes to the online business brokerage is that there is no guarantee that a business, no matter how strong or promising it looks on paper, will sell off easily. In fact, a broker who will constantly tell you that they will be able to sell off your business “quickly” is probably looking for underhanded ways to get the process going, such as lowballing your business to potential buyers or just outright lying about your business to get people interested.

3. Bragging about a “Secret Buyer’s List”

Many shady Internet business brokers also claim to have a “secret buyer’s list”, which is a list of repeat buyers that they allow having the first pick of the business. As a seller, they might tell you that these buyers have already been vetted and are looking for the next business to purchase. As a buyer, they might include your name on that list as an incentive to working with them. However, this is a shady business practice because it creates an unlevel playing field where those who are not “in the know” will be left with subpar businesses to choose from. Do you really want to be part of that group?

4. Poor or No Vetting Process

When you take a look at the active listings of an Internet business broker, you might think that having hundreds or even thousands of listings means that they are an active and trusted broker. However, it might mean just the opposite. It could mean that they are a lazy company that takes any job that comes their way and does not take the time or effort to actually vet their clients. They take whatever business comes their way at face value. As a rule of thumb, reliable Internet business brokers will have around four to eight active listings per agent, and these brokers specialize in certain niches as much as possible.

5. Little or No Client Testimonials on Their Page

This might seem like a no-brainer, but an Internet business broker with few or no client testimonials is either starting out or isn’t a good company at all. What’s more, they would be more than happy to send you the contact information of their former clients to use as a reference. If they are a trustworthy company, they would even be happy with meeting a new client face to face in order to represent the strength and reliability of their company.

Selling A Business – Deposit Photos

The post Digital Red Flags: Signs of a Bad Internet Business Broker appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/selling-a-business/bad-broker

How to Start a Dialogue with B2B Prospects on Social Media

It’s undeniable that the majority of casual internet users spend a huge chunk of their time on social media where they try to connect with friends and family, check out new memes, and get updated with the latest real or fake news. It has amassed considerable power, turning itself into a useful marketing tool that can reach a vast and diverse audience.

With users expected to grow to an estimated 2.77 billion this year, social media has well-established itself to be a key marketing powerhouse for its ability to connect people from all over the world. This has encouraged businesses to adapt and exploit this digital marketing channel through users’ online behavior with favorable results.

The main goal of businesses in utilizing social media sites such as Facebook is to generate leads and turn them into conversions. There are methods to effectively use this channel to your business’s advantage, specifically when starting a dialogue with prospective B2B clients to nail those conversions and eventually turn in a profit.

Unlike traditional or other digital marketing tactics, social media opens the door for a two-way conversation, making it an ideal companion of content marketing, particularly for business startups. Starting a meaningful dialogue might pose a challenge, but you can achieve this with these important tips.

Run a Contest

Contests run on social media can deliver that much-needed boost in most marketing initiatives by expanding your brand’s reach, promoting brand recognition, and increasing B2B lead generation.

There may be various types of contests that you can run through social media postings. But, it’s recommended to play some kind of sweepstakes or giveaway where your prospects can only qualify if the mechanics include providing their contact information. Keep in mind that your contest and promotions have to be tailored to what your target market will appreciate, or you’ll risk ending up with low-quality leads.

Offer a Free Trial

Freebies are often eye-catching, so offer a free-mium version of your product and promoting it via social media. This strategy not only generates leads on its own but also expands the reach of your campaign by starting a dialogue with your target audience and amplifying your success.

Offering a free trial proves that you value your customers while improving adoption rates. This also helps you find out how well your product is doing in the market. If your product is good, it’s going to sell itself. In fact, companies that offer best-in-class software report a 60% conversion rate after offering a free trial.

The key here is to include aspects that allow users to see the benefits of your product without giving them the entire set of features.

B2B companies can use this approach and achieve the most success when using LinkedIn, where professionals are both used to seeing conspicuous ads and actively looking for products and services. Linkedin has become a popular social media platform for businesses. It is not only meant to interact with people in the field but it is also one way to generate a relationship with key people.

Conduct a Study

You can use social media to facilitate and promote a research study by asking your target audience important questions about their daily activities, pain points, tools they use and other facts that can help your brand cater to their needs.

Always collect their contact information as a requirement of the study. This method helps you achieve three goals: (1) collect contact information of your potential customers, (2) gain important insights about your prospects and target audience, and (3) acquire user-generated content to base statistics on for future reference.

Implement a Social Listening Strategy

Social listening is not generally thought of as a lead generation strategy, but it could be when used the right way. You don’t have to wait for prospects to come to you or seek out your product, but instead, you can listen to prospects engaging in conversation about your brand. Offer your product as a resource when you find contacts that are ready to purchase or try your product. 

Here are three ways to do this effectively.

1. Set up Google Alerts

Create a Google Alert and set it up to receive emails every time Google finds a mention of your brand, your industry, or your competitors. Google Alerts is a powerful tool to monitor brands that are similar to yours. This is commonly used by marketers who want to track what their competitors are doing.

2. Monitor Hashtags

Be on the lookout for keywords and hashtags on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn using their search feature. Include not only mentions of your brand, but also keywords that tell you a prospect is ready to make a purchase. It is ideal to do research first on popular topics related to your industry. It is a way to consider the voice of your prospective customers.

3. Use a Social Media Management Tool

Social media management tools have since had an upgrade, so their function isn’t limited to just scheduling our posts. Many have features that include advanced tracking capabilities that help you listen to what your customers are talking about, track competitors, and automate social media reports. They’re pretty nifty when you want to use social media to your advantage. If you can shed out a budget, it is ideal to invest in this kind of tools that are proven helpful.

If your goal is lead generation, brand management, networking, establishing your business as the thought leader in your industry, or all of these, social media is where it all can happen. It all begins with a dialogue, so start fine-tuning your methods and engaging your prospects the right way to grow your business.

The post How to Start a Dialogue with B2B Prospects on Social Media appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/b2b-sales/social-media

Why SEO Always Matters for Every Startup

If there is one thing that every business in the world should be doing no matter what size they are that is focusing on SEO. There are many reasons that this is important, especially since it can draw more attention to your website and increase the size of the business and even bring in more customers. However, if you aren’t sure if this is the way to go, then you might need to think about it and why it is going to be important for your new startup business, so keep reading to find out more.

Business Growth

As a startup, you might be small now, but there are probably goals that you have in terms of growing and becoming larger. However, if you don’t use SEO to help you, then reaching that goal is going to be much harder, especially since everything is done over the internet now. You should make sure that you are taking SEO into consideration when you are looking at your business growth because it can help you in a wide variety of ways, including:

• Bringing in new customers
• Keeping your old customers loyally
• Increases the revenue you are earning where you can earn around $40 for each $1 you spend when it comes to email marketing
• Converts your traffic into sales

These are only a few of the ways that SEO can help you when it comes to growing your business, so go ahead and think about whether or not you are going to grow your business or stunt it by not using it.

Data Regarding Customer Behavior

Also, when you are looking for the data that can tell you the behavior of your customers you can find it when you are using SEO. The experts would be able to find all of the information that you might need to help them to purchase something from you that you might not have thought about before. This is the best way to fully understand the target audience that you are trying to reach and what keywords they have been using when it comes to finding your website.

Higher Conversions and Traffic

Another thing that you can enjoy when you are getting SEO done as a startup company is higher levels of conversions along with traffic. The more traffic that you are having come to your website, then the more likely it is that it will translate into a sale for one of your services or products. You should also make sure that you know that from 100 views of your site only about 10 will take some action, which might include adding their email to your subscription list.

Affordable

If you are thinking about how much it is going to cost you, then there is plenty that one must think about before they make the decision. If you are going to hire the experts, then you need to think about what they are going to be able to offer you or if you want to hire an individual to help you with this work. Either way, if you know what you are doing and if you are getting the right package that would cost you depending on the number of keywords, which can start from anywhere around 20 and increase upwards.

Informed Decisions

When you are just starting up your business you might not know what decisions you should be taking and you would want to use the information about the behavior of the customers to help you. If you can determine what the users are looking for then it becomes easier for you to steer them into buying what they need from your business. You don’t want to make any decisions about what is best for the customer without knowing what their behavior is and what is likely to help or hinder their decisions.

Customer Trust and Loyalty

Also, when you are at the top ranks on the various search engines, then you are going to be seeing a much higher level of loyalty as well as trust when it comes to your clients. They would know that you got where you are because of your hard work and determination and they will pick you over the others. The more loyal customers you have, then the more people they are going to refer to your business, which would increase your income and your customer pool.

Long Term Audience

Also, when you start to post blogs, articles and other informative types of content to your website, then you are starting to increase your long term audience. This is the best way that you can get people to keep coming back to your site and see what you can offer them and if you have anything new. You want to have an audience that will do this, so make sure that you are posting information that will help them and that it is done on a regular basis as well.

Results

You would also want to think about what you are going to be getting out of this when you are first starting to consider it. You are going to see results and you can see this if you are doing the work, if you are hiring someone to do it or if you are outsourcing it to the experts. They can give you the direct results so that you can see how the rank is increasing over time and how you can change up the strategies that are being used over time.

The results would be dependent on a wide variety of things that you should be aware of, such as:

• Keywords that are being put into the search engines to find your website
• Amount of traffic that is coming to your site
• Number of conversions that are because of the increase in traffic
• Audience that is reading your website and purchasing from you

The more that you know what is going to be in the results and what you would be able to see, then you can be aware of why this is definitely something to go for.

Techniques

You should think about hiring an expert to help you with this work, especially as a startup business since they would be more affordable than hiring a new employee. They would be able to give you everything that you need to have done and they can handle your keyword research, social media profiles and so much more. Consider hiring the experts since they would know the latest techniques that you might not be aware of and because they would know how to implement them easily. Why worry about which techniques are going to get you a penalty when the experts are aware of everything?

Finding the right strategy for your SEO needs can be hard, but you also need to know why you should be ensuring that this is part of your marketing needs. There are so many techniques that can be used and the experts would know them all and they would be able to give you the results that you want. This is the most affordable way to get your marketing done and to see a higher level of conversions when it comes to both your traffic and your visitors. Think about how this can help you and ensure that you are making the right choice.

SEO – Deposit Photos

The post Why SEO Always Matters for Every Startup appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/seo/startups

An Email Signature as a Part of Your Professional Image

With email being one of the principal forms of modern communication, email marketing automation is one of the most useful tools when it comes to catching the attention of your recipient. Appropriate digital communication is as linked with professionalism and brand image as business cards, brochures, and booklets, and a proper email signature can make this communication very beneficial. With hundreds of emails received on a daily basis, a properly-designed and memorable email signature makes your email campaigns stand out from all the rest that bombard your recipient’s inbox.

Reasons Email Signatures Are Important

Professionalism

Creating a clear and memorable email signature contributes to your company’s professional image and shows that your business is well run. Compare an unsolicited email with a simple name-only sign-off and the same email ended with an engaging personalized signature. Which one encourages you more to contact back and continue communication? The better an email signature is, the more professional value it adds to its sender.

Brand Recognition

By supplying an email signature with your company logo, you promote brand awareness among the recipients. Using corporate colors and fonts for a signature is the perfect strategy to make every email campaign recognizable.

Personalization

Recipients want to know that there are real people behind a message, and there is where an email signature comes in. Teamed up with a photo, it makes your email campaigns look more personal and turns an unsolicited email into a friendlier and more trustworthy message.

Promotion

Using your contact details and social media icons make it easier for people to reach you. An email signature is perfect for accumulating all necessary information in one place and showing your recipients you care about their convenience.

Types of Email Signatures

Different in appearance and content, email signatures can be divided into four major categories:

Professional Email Signatures:

Are the most common type of email signatures used by companies and private experts. Typically, they contain a name, position, logo and contact data, and aim to both provide information and stimulate brand recognition.

Corporate Email Signatures:

Are used on behalf of a team, not an individual, for example, by online stores, call centers, real estate agencies, educational centers, etc.

Laconic Email Signatures:

Include only the basic info, such as a sender’s name, job position, and one or two contacts.

Creative Email signatures:

Provide space for creativity. For instance, you may replace a more traditional photo image with a painted portrait, or give it an upgrade using funny animation.

What Makes A Consistent Email Signature

An email signature should be brief and free of unnecessary information. Do not overstore your signature with text or social media profiles, list only the main links instead. An average email signature should not go over 4-7 lines, so try to stick to that length.

When picking things to include into an email signature, keep to these basics:

– Name;

– Position;

– Personal photo or company’s logo;

– Phone number;

– Website URL;

– Social media profiles.

An email signature should be an embodiment of the whole message: clear, concise and informative rather than overloaded and messy.

Signatures for Plain Text Emails

As suggested by the name, a plain text email signature contains only text elements, with no image components. At its most basic, this type of signatures incorporates personal information such as a name, position, phone number, and email address. With no HTML content, it does not require special skills and can be created using the settings of almost every email client. Before incorporating such signatures into your campaigns, give them a test drive to see how the design works for various devices.

Email Signature Generators

Those who want to adopt a more creative approach can use particular software to give your signatures a personalized touch and make them more recognizable. When picking up an email signature generator, make sure it supports as many email clients.

WiseStamp

WiseStamp supports all main players in email servicing, including Gmail, Hotmail, and Outlook. It helps design both individual and corporate signatures and accompany them with dynamic content.

The corporate uniform style templates can only be built using the corporate version of the app, while individual signatures are easily created for free. To launch a signature building, specify the professional industry and start typing your information into the text box. There is no need to put every single detail: your name, position and website will be more than enough. Upload your photo or a company’s logo and enlist major social media links to help people get in touch with you in the most convenient way for them. With many options available, choose a template that fits your taste, and the service will generate a signature. A generated signature will be automatically added to your emails after you paste the created template to your email client’s settings. Note that this service is paid based on each client’s pricing. 

eSputnik

eSputnik is an email automation marketing software with a built-in signature template creator that has two options for an email signature design: a 2-column signature and a 3-column signature. The editor is really adaptive and requires no special technical skills. 

To create the email design according to your particular needs, you can choose between different options:  

• Decide upon versatile adaptive templates.
• Adjust font.
• Pick the color of the text.
• Use drag-and-drop to add content from the images bank.
• Change the design of the images right in the block.
• Add an attractive banner to your newsletter.
• Add a product card or video file.
• Configure size and color of social media icons.

As a bonus, in case you want to apply some creativity and spruce up your email signature, it is possible to add some themed elements to the profile photo. A funny hat or a couple of flowers can turn a standard email signature into a festive sign-off. 

Last, But Not Least

A great email signature is not the holy grail of company image building, but it is much more than simply putting a name at the end of a message. It initiates beneficial communication with people who can eventually turn into repeat customers. Designing an engaging signature that reflects the identity of the company can grant instant brand recognition and adds great value to your marketing efforts. After all, “the first impression is the one that counts the most.”

Email – Deposit Photos

The post An Email Signature as a Part of Your Professional Image appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/e-mail-marketing/signature-professional-image

Top 9 Reasons Why Developers Prefer To Build Apps For iOS in 2019

Android or Apple – this has always been a crux of the debate between Android and Apple lovers. They have an ample amount of logic to show each other why their OS is better than the others.

But, when it comes to thinking from a developer’s point of view, things become more practical and data-oriented.

From the above data published by App Annie in 2016, we can see, hands down the line, Android is dominating the apps market with a sheer number of apps downloads.

On the other hand, if you check the global apps revenue data, you would find iOS as the undisputed winner in the game of revenue.

Check this data below-

So, if you are looking forward to developing an app for your service and product-based business and want’s to gain considerable revenue from your app, building your app for iOS platform would be the best choice. Wondering why?

Well, here are the top reasons –

1. The Quality Of App:

There is a vast number of android based gadgets compared to the limited number of Apple’s Gadgets that run on iOS. For example, Apple has launched 16 versions of iPhones so far. On the other hand, the number of android based mobile phones is enormous. The reason is very simple-Android is an open-source platform. So, when an app is launched in iOS, it is appropriately optimized for iPhone or iPad users, but gadget-wise optimization is not possible in an open-platform like Android.

As a visible result, when the quality of apps is concerned, Android is no match for iOS as it offers the best in class quality in every significant niche.

The iOS apps are so intuitive and sharp that even a kid can use it without facing any difficulties.

2. iOS Provides Better Earning Potential:

You have already seen from the graph published by techcrunch.com given above that iOS app developers have already made $25.5 within the first half of this year, 2019.

So if your main objective is to make revenue from your paid app, iOS can be your ideal platform.

As of August 2017, the total number of paid apps on iOS was 310,247.

3. The Adoptable Audience:

The average Apple users tend to be female, 35+ years old from media, marketing, and business industries. The average annual income of iOS users is also more than Android users. It indicates the apple users are more likely to buy apps than Android users. In Android, most of the developers rely on in-app advertising revenue system instead of following a direct app purchase revenue model. According to the typical consumer psychology, a user is more likely to use the product which he/she has paid for than using a free product. The same psychology is also applicable to the iOS market.

4. HTML 5:

HTML 5 has become the most popular web scripting language on the web at present. HTML 5 helps the developers cater to the multimedia needs of the users. One of the crucial benefits of developing an app for the iOS platform is that it allows you to develop an application using HTML 5.

5. Tablet-friendly App Listing:

The Apple Store has a sufficient number of apps that are grouped into proper categories. The store has separated sections for iPhone apps and iPad apps. The apps for iPad are designed in a way so that they can easily fit in the large screen of tabs.

6. Most Apps Release on iOS First:

Since the direct earning potential for the app is more in iOS, most app developers launch their apps on this platform first. Later on, if interested, app developers begin the apps on the Android platform with the right monetization strategies.

7. Developing iPhone Apps Is Easier:

Unlike Android, focusing on a considerable number of gadgets for optimization, the iOS app developers only need to optimize their app for the latest iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch. It makes the job of coders and UI/UX developers way easier than Android app developers.

8. No Chance of Going Forward With Bugs:

The chance of getting caught up with a bug in your application is practically zero because it takes 10-11 days on average to get approved by iTunes Connect and, of course, the wait is worth it.

9. The Status-Symbol Factor:

To this date, the iPhone is considered a status symbol. The sustained extensive sales of the new flagship iPhone prove that people are more likely to pay for a device that enhances social status. So, the apparent fact is that iOS apps have better acceptance than Android apps.

Conclusion:

If your main objective is to build a highly functional, intuitive, and user-friendly app, no platform could be a better choice than iOS. It is the perfect platform for securing mobile app transactions and make the right amount of revenue from your app.

Mobile App Development – Deposit Photos

The post Top 9 Reasons Why Developers Prefer To Build Apps For iOS in 2019 appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/mobile-apps/developers-prefer-ios

5G Is On Its Way

Behind all the buzz surrounding 5G, there stands a great opportunity for small businesses to embrace this revolutionary change to our connectivity. 

With so many people talking about how much better the world will be with 5G. Has anyone ever sat down with you and discussed how your small business can reap the benefits. 

Faster and More Efficient

5G promises to keep the world connected more efficiently and with lower latency. Latency is the term used to describe the time it takes for information to go from one device to another. 

This is usually measured in milliseconds. At the moment we tend to see between a 30 – 50-millisecond delay on 4G. With 5G this delay would be undetectable to humans being between 0 – 10 milliseconds. 

Connecting Everyday Items

On top of that 5G will coincide with the introduction of further smart devices, otherwise known as the Internet of Things (IoT). 5G will breathe life into these, making our life automatic and easier. 

An example of how this could be would be, your smart fridge (which will be connected via 5G) will notice what groceries you are running low on and automatically order more in for you. Then the smart fridge will then get these groceries delivered to your address. This will cut out the need to go shopping. 

Now that’s only a theoretical example of how IoT will change the way we live. But it’s not an impossible theory. Experts predict there will come a time where humans may never need to drive again as cars will become driverless. 

Vehicles will know the destination you wish to go and take you there. Accounting also for any other vehicles on the road and using the internet to find any traffic delays and crashes so the vehicle can find you a quicker and more efficient alternative route. 

Predictions go as far as to say in the next 10 years almost everything will become smart and will be connected to the internet. 

AI, AR and VR

Another couple of technological advances that you can expect to see more of with the introduction of 5G. This would be more artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality. 

Artificial Intelligence

Otherwise known as AI, which is essentially the simulation of human processes by machines. These processes would be learning, reasoning, and self-correction. Most AI is categorized into two types –

Weak AI – this system is designed and trained to complete particular tasks. An example of a weak AI would be Apple’s virtual assistant Siri. 

Strong AI – Now this system is given general human cognitive abilities. When posed with an unfamiliar task they will find a solution and complete it without the need for human intervention. 

Augmented Reality

This is also known as AR. This is where technology will overlay information and virtual objects in real-world scenes. By using the existing environment and new information to manipulate the view and create an artificial environment. 

An example of AR would be a popular mobile game Pokemon Go, which allows players to catch virtual monsters in their current environment. Or the IKEA app which allows users to scan a room and place virtual furniture in it so that people can see if the furniture will look right. Cutting out the need for purchasing and making returns. 

Virtual reality

Again also is known as VR. VR differs from AR in the sense that a completely new artificial environment is created. Users are then shown this environment which manipulates their view on the real world and they then believe the reality in front of them is in the fact the real world. 

Most VR is experienced through a computer where actions can be manipulated by buttons or with a mouse. With two of the five senses being used: sight and sound. 3D images are rendered allowing users the opportunity to explore interactively with the world portrayed in front of them. 

An example of VR is the Oculus. This is a headset that is worn where users are presented with a wrap-around view of the environment put in front of them. Along with headphones to truly feel immersive. This is usually used in gaming. 

All of these are expected to benefit to the introduction of 5G. With data being able to be sent out almost instantaneously, machines will be able to so much more with that kind of capability presented to them. 

What Are The Benefits For Business? 

Businesses can be expected to see great benefits for the introduction of 5G. Along with faster speeds and lower latency. There will also be greater capacity for data, more reliability with networks, flexibility and improved battery life of devices connected. 

The mobile phone is expected to become a device that humans will depend on. Much like electricity and vehicles. 5G will finally take mobile devices into a new era of use, having a lasting impact on the economy and a great number of industries. 

Productivity and Costs

Businesses will expect to see an increase in productivity. With faster speeds comes more efficiency when communicating within the business. Also when it comes to completing tasks with lower latency, data will be able to travel without delays. Therefore, helping with getting the job done faster. This, in turn, will have an impact on the costs. 

Moving onto costs. By shifting your business from a hardware to a software-based network. Costs will be lower as there will be lower overheads for mobile operators. These savings can then be further invested in the business and its customers. 

Flexible offices and Remote Working 

Buildings will eventually become ‘smart buildings’ with the introduction of 5G you can expect to see more automation within the working environment.

Radio sensors will be able to check how many people are in the building. Then the lighting will come on as soon as the first person enters the room and the last person leaves the lighting will go off. The temperature will also be controlled to make it comfortable for people inside depending on conditions outside. 

CCTV will also be available in real-time, accessible from mobile devices allowing a constant security network. All of these will help to provide a more efficient, flexible, secure and cheaper working space for businesses of all sizes. 

With the idea of remote working an ambition for some businesses. With 5G this idea could be a reality. Having advanced connectivity essentially means that you can do business where ever you are and be connected with the entire world. 

Also with this faster and lower latency comes the possibility for those in rural areas have the same level of connectivity as those in the big cities. Opening up opportunities for new businesses to start in these areas. 

AR and VR Integrations

The possibilities with AR and VR are endless. Linking to the benefits of remote working. AR and VR can also help when it comes to keeping businesses and employees connected. 

By creating a remote meeting that will make you feel as if you are in the same room as the people you are talking. Even when they could be on a completely different continent. This cuts out the stuffiness and still slightly awkwardness of conference calls, that can be easily cut off. 

With the AR and VR industry expected to rise by billions of pounds. It is important that these applications also integrate themselves with the various industries that might benefit from them. 

An example of this could be in the future we might see doctors and surgeons being taught via a virtual surgery room. Where they will still feel immersive and engaged but there would be less human error or intervention. 

Also, we could expect to see the future of online shopping taking full advantage of AR and VR. Changing the way business owners help customers consume what they are trying to sell. 

Finishing up

5G is inevitable for our future. As business owners, the time is now to start making preparations for when 5G is eventually rolled out globally. With all that was mentioned in this article regarding the benefits. It is only wise business owners, large and small, to take the opportunity to capitalize on these rewards, rather than be left behind. 

5G is expected to be completely rolled out by 2022. 

5G – Deposit Photos

 

The post 5G Is On Its Way appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/technology-trends/5g-service

Why You Need to Automate Your HR Process?

The human resources planning team in any business is the heart of its growth. Want to know how? Well, the answer is self-evident. Leaving the top order of the company, all the resources working for most of the growth activity is an outcome of hr process.

Do you remember your hiring days, trying hard to reach the HR team of your company for getting hired? Hr jobs are form and document-driven task; hence, hr professionals are entitled to manage a lot of raw data. These data are related to business resources that speak loud about business requirements and goals. When an employee gets hired after he clears all the hr process, their personal and professional details are secured and managed by the HR team. This information helps in resource management and their growth analysis for every quarter.

With growing technological trends, eliminating raw data, and repetitive responsibility can improve business productivity.  Hence, having an automated hr process is always a good step for any company. Before we understand the need to automate the HR process, we must know, “what is automation in hr?”

What is Automation in HR Process?

Before we understand automation in HR, let us know what automation itself is. Well, this is one of the hot topics of discussion in today’s technology hungry world. Automation, according to Wikipedia, is defined as “the technology by which a process or procedure is performed with minimal human assistance.” Sounds interesting. Right?

The human resource team, by the name itself, talks about human involvement. Now imagine, having HR with automation means getting work done with the least human interventions. Automation in the HR process is done with hr software, which assists the recruiting team from hiring until onboarding the candidates. The HR automation process is responsible for enhancing the efficiency of the HR department by allowing them to focus on complex tasks like strategizing and human resource planning. With automation, an organization can reduce the cost and time they spend on manual HR processing and planning activities.

Let us understand various needs to automate human resource planning. They are:

1. Improving Productivity.
2. Making intelligent HR decisions with data.
3. Optimizing cost.
4. Avoid Policy and compliance violations.
5. Improve employee engagement.
6. Reduced data entry errors and lost documents.

Improving Productivity with Automated HR Process.

With automation in HR, you can align all business process on a single dashboard. It is usually done with automation applications. It helps you keep a record for all business processes and ongoing projects. Setting goals and the timeline for project completion become easy; hence, deadlines are met adequately. Isn’t this a prior business requirement? Indeed it is.

Making intelligent HR decisions with data.

Handling the manual task in any HR process can be tedious. With data being so informative when taken collectively, it can fetch you useful insights. When you automate your human resource planning, you get rich data of all activities happening on your business floors. Pinning your employees and asking work updates will always give you approximated goal completions. With data extracted from the automated HR process, it shares information like

• Ongoing projects.
• Deadlines.
• Project completion rate.
• Project resources and contributions.
• Employee work hours.
• Tracking daily goals.

Some of these data can help HR team identify the gap between resources, managers, and client and make intelligent decisions to make changes for better productivity and utilization with human resource planning.

Optimizing cost in HR Process.

Yes, you read that right. With automation in your HR process, you can do some significant cost-cutting in your budget. How? Let us know that.

When you implement a cloud service to automate, you reduce costs on things like colossal paperwork. It gets replaced with data storage clouds, which is way more effective than having it done on papers. Other unnecessary costs like printing documents and sending to other offices and departments get eliminated. You share documents under the same cloud services that make communication and data sharing more accessible.

If your business is depending too much on paper works, then you have an excellent alternative to automate and optimize both workflows and costs.

Avoid Policy and compliance violations.

When you automate your human resource planning, you fix your policies and upload all relevant documents under policy agreement and compliance regulations page. It is accepted and abided by all working employees in your organization, which gives you an upper hand. Any misunderstandings and business disruption can be avoided if such vital resolutions of the company are made clear beforehand.

Improve employee engagement.

Employee engagement in business directly improves productivity. The biggest challenge for any hr team of a company is to keep its employees engaged with their work, which is more exciting and tireless. If you are an employee in any organization, you may have experienced events and award ceremony happening monthly. Quarterly or annually.

When you automate your hr process, you improve employee engagement with ways like

1. Sending them regular updates about what’s happening in the company.
2. Send their event reminders which can be of their interest. It motivates them.
3. Emailers could be automated, which make employees informed about other team member availability on tasks.
4. Birthday reminders are made easy may turn out to see some happy faces in your team.
5. Award notifications and words of encouragement can be shared in one click. It motivates an employee to work better.

With so many good points to add, automating your hr process in your organization can end up giving excellent results regularly.

Reduced data entry errors and lost documents.

Data gets generated with daily activities and employee/employer inputs with an automated HR application. These applications are generally cloud-based and allow data feeding accessible by all concerned authority of the business. With automation, data are produced more as compared to data fed. These data are essential for the HR team to understand and make a smart decision. The possibility of data entry error reduces as these data are processed with intelligent applications and fetched and audited by the company’s HR. Earlier, the data entry was also done manually. Hence we used to give a thought on data entry error, but with automation in HR, you eliminate any such possibility and allow the hr team to take smart human resource planning for business growth directly.

Moreover, the documents that were collected from hired employees and pilled up to store in the company’s locker get replaced with cloud storage for documents. This reduces the lost document mishaps to negligible conditions.

These were some of the urging needs that could be met by automation your hr process. If you are a small or medium scale business or startup, handling human resources and planning smart HR moves can be achieved switching to such automation. A growing business is close to impossible if your human resources are nothing matching their essential needs. Making a smart decision can make your business smarter. Try having an inclusion with automation and see your growth scaling exponentially.

Human Resources – Deposit Photos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/hr-and-recruitment/automate-process

5 Ways to Use Dynamic Content in Marketing Automation

5 Smart Ways to Be Proactive Without Excusing Your Challenges

When I started my business blog, IdeasPlusBusiness, I knew nothing about starting a business online. But, I was determined to make it happen.

I was determined to learn and put in the time required to master a new set of skills. I was short of capital when I started, but I was determined to continue.

I was lacking in technical skills but I was determined to learn along the way.

At that time, it was very easy for me to come up with one thousand and one reasons not to start a business online, but I didn’t give in to that inner pressure.

I refused to excuse my challenges.

The first habit of highly successful people is proactivity. It is a habit of personal responsibility. In three simple words, I summarize proactivity as “making things happen!” 

Stephen Covey captured the meaning of proactivity in a 10-worded phrase that has two letters each: “If it is to be, it is up to me.” 

Research has shown consistent evidence that proactivity predicts success in the seven basic areas of life i.e. your physical, mental, spiritual, relational, emotional (love), financial and social dimensions.

The first place to understand proactivity, however, is knowing that in-between “circumstances” and “our reactions” to them, we have the ability to pause and choose how we respond. 

This ability to respond to circumstances is what is called “responsibility”. And the inability to respond is what results in negative reactions to challenges called “excuses”. 

Here are five simple steps to becoming proactive (responsible) and not reactive (excusing your challenges).

1. First, be aware that your thoughts create your realities.

Perhaps the most important discovery in quantum physics is that “You cannot have a universe without the mind entering into it. The mind is shaping the very thing that is being perceived”. 

If this is true, which it is, then it means that your current result is simply an outcome of your past thoughts, words, and actions. And your life in the future is the result of the actions you are taking now and every day. 

So, we are always living in this ‘residual’ (if you will) of our past thoughts, words, and actions.

Complain all you want or give an excuse for your results. It won’t change the fact that it wasn’t anybody’s fault but yours. Your results are simply feedback — maybe you didn’t sow the good seeds after all. 

The first step to living a proactive life is to, therefore, realize that “life isn’t happening to you; life is responding to you! You’re the one creating your own realities with your thoughts”.

2. Take 100 percent responsibility — the one-minute miracle

The very moment you become aware that your thoughts create your realities, there is a sudden miracle that should happen to you. 

You realize that you should take 100 percent responsibility for anything and everything in your life because you are the cause of it all. And if you caused it, then you can change it as well.

The way the masses are controlled is to make them think that their situation is not their fault. This is very disempowering. Not you! 

The moment you know life is merely responding to you, it prepares your mind to be proactive at all times in all situations and circumstances. 

3. Learn the lessons, forget the details.

What are excuses? “Excuses are monuments of fools, a tool of the incompetent; he that is wise will not live by them”. 

Successful people hardly give excuses for their failures because they’ve learned that the lessons from those failures are what makes them eventually succeed. 

Give a successful person an opportunity to succeed without the challenges, and he will refuse to take it. Your first few years in business, for example, will be layered with failures. 

You will normally use this period to learn all the lessons to make the business stronger. 

And your failures become the school fees you have to pay for the lessons you’re learning.

4. Set a clear vision

Proactivity is a natural manifestation of a clear vision. Set the goal, make it very clear and see if your life will not take on extra speed. 

A clear vision (or goal) is a reality in the future, so big and powerful enough to pull you towards it!

It goes without saying. I mean, since you are well aware that your thoughts create your realities, why not create your reality with your thoughts then?

I mean, isn’t that what proactivity means?

5. Take the 30-day proactivity challenge

Try this test. Every day for 30 days, record your actions every time you act proactively. 

Just for today, think about your relationships and work, and take the initiative to solve the problems you are currently facing. 

For every negative news or feedback you receive today, take a moment to pause and respond to it positively (instead of reacting negatively with excuses).

For how you desire things to be in the future, take the initiative to create the vision and make it plain, knowing this very action sets in motion the process of making it a reality. 

For tasks that are on your face, take the initiative to get the job done without requiring supervision or policing.

For a pending problem or goal in which you don’t know how to solve or achieve, act boldly to research it and eventually figure out a solution. 

Just for the day, focus on being (your to-be list) rather than having or doing (your to-do list).

Learn from a mistake you’ve just made and try again more intelligently. Complete every task you promised to complete on your to-do list. 

Focus on the problems you can solve and see how your influence on things beyond you are gradually being affected.

If you can accept that you are the creator of your circumstances, you will become 100 percent responsible for everything and anything in your life. 

And this means you can create your own life the way you choose and turn every obstacle into lessons or benefits. Do this frequently and watch your life take on extra speed!

Leadership – Deposit Photos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/management/leadership/proactive-challenges

How to Apply for a Small Business Loan in Few Simple Steps

Having your personal business can offer terrific opportunities for enhancing your financial scenario and this may be very good. You have a bad credit rating, but you may want to run your own business. However extra frequently than not, starting a commercial enterprise requires investment, and bad credit can save you from getting the essential budget for your startup. You have to not stop it from enforcing your idea, because exist some alternatives like online loans no credit check. Almost continually you may find a manner out of this example. Lenders danger whenever, making an investment money in financing small business, Because extra than half of the startups do not live to see their 6^th year. For a begin, it is well worth thinking about what limits can nullify your efforts.

The idea may appear a hit and necessary to people, but this does not suggest that the marketplace will even react to it. First, for a hit commercial enterprise, you want a product that will be in demand inside the market. This can be a completely new product or a development to an existing product available on the market. To do this you want to conduct a marketplace studies to recognize whether the call for on your product could have an enormous quantity.

Also, you will need to calculate the amount had to release your product and study how to obtain financing for small businesses until your project starts to make earnings. To finance business from small very own savings can be very risky, as it can force you deep into debt, from which it will be tough to get out. You need a crew that will help you to do your business, constructed not from old friends, however from professionals on your subject or as a minimum from those who’ve capabilities in a sure discipline.

That is why you have to begin searching out sources of financing, in spite of your bad credit. In truth, there are several alternatives for this example. Here you may learn how to locate funding to begin your business challenge, if you have a horrific credit score, and what barriers can stand to your manner and the way to triumph over them.

Be ready to start

Now you can see that a terrible credit score isn’t always an insurmountable obstacle in order to launch your commercial enterprise. You have many alternatives to getting a small business loan with bad credit to your venture investment. You just must determine and pick out which one is the maximum suitable for you.

You may also either wait a few years, enhancing your credit score to get conventional financial institution financing or contact lenders who work with low credit score, or it is able to be worthwhile to use specialized offerings to attract investments on your mission.

Where to look for investment without a credit test?

There are various alternatives for the way you could get a quantity large enough to start your enterprise undertaking. For example, the sort of financing option as crowdfunding. With this approach of accumulating investment to your startup, you locate facts about your task on a special platform.

Naturally, no one there conducts credit checks, seeing that the amount invested inside the assignment is split between hundreds and hundreds of customers and every one of them carries minimum chance.

Another option this is worth your interest is the Square Capital mobile charge device, which handiest works with agencies that already use their mobile fee service. To get a credit from them, you need to already have enjoyed interacting with them.

For instance, one of the most famous today is Kickstarter, wherein human beings inquisitive about your product make contributions to the improvement and release of your undertaking. To get exceptional humans from around the arena interested in making an investment for your business, you have to promise something useful in return.

Thus, a number of the maximum successful and exciting projects acquire huge sums in only some days, others in a few months, and some do no longer advantage enough reputation. It all relies upon on your product, its presentation to most people and your organization, which should encourage self-belief in random people.

Low credit score loans

There are many extraordinary creditors, similarly to banks and large monetary companies. Modern technology offers a lot of extra opportunities to look for lenders and pick gives the usage of the Internet. At the moment there are already many distinctive on-line creditors. On their web sites, you could discover ways to observe for a small business loan and files wished for that.

With a terrible credit score, you cannot anticipate financial institution lending. When you applying for a small business loan to such traditional financial establishments you need to remember that they not inclined to study the state of affairs of every potential customer. They trust the figures by way of which credit bureaus check you.

In order to acquire financing from a bank, you have to spend, possibly several years to improve your credit status. You will want to learn how to manage your budget and loan responsibilities nicely.

You must no longer postpone bills and likely consolidate your money owed to enhance your credit score. You will want to get rid of all the old money owed and settle the exceptional debt.

Such measures permit you to expose creditors in which you are a reliable borrower who is aware of how to apply for a small business loan and control his budget and which you bear minimum dangers for lenders.

By enhancing your credit rating over the years, you get right of entry to greater unique types of loans.

However, if you do now not intend to lose some years, because your idea may also grow to be previous or for some different motive lose its relevance, then you ought to turn to groups that work with terrible credit.

In any case, it will now not be superfluous to have a look at this issue in more detail in our economic weblog.

Small Business Loan – Deposit Photos

The post How to Apply for a Small Business Loan in Few Simple Steps appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/financial-planning/small-business-loan

Best Site for Your Online Business. 5 Top Lifehacks

The digital age has presented different modern technologies that have revolutionized the corporate world completely. However, the internet has more influence than any other technology. Today, it’s almost impossible to run a business without an online presence. This presence is largely dependent on a business website. On the other hand, it’s possible to run an online business from home. The most important thing is to have a great website for your online business.

But, what makes a great website for an online business? The main purpose of a business website is to attract targeted traffic and convert that traffic into paying customers or clients. But, creating and maintaining a great website for an online business is not easy. Your efforts will be wasted if you end up with an unappealing and a disorganized website. Fortunately, there are ways and tools you can use to improve your online business website. Here are the top 5 lifehacks to help you improve your online business website.

Clear Any Unnecessary Clutter

You may provide what visitors need when visiting your online business website. However, too much clutter can distract them or make it impossible for visitors to find what they want. This is particularly true if you include ads’ feeds that interrupt the content flow or distract readers. If for instance, your website is about vape pens, don’t include over-the-top flashy ads that distract visitors from accessing information about them. Instead, include images of your products.

The best way to clear unnecessary clutter is to focus the above-the-fold content on the most crucial elements of your online business. Such elements include a request to sign up for a newsletter or your email. Also, leave white space to give your website a clean appearance. This enables visitors to find what they want with ease.

It’s also important to organize content on your site and use the menu. Keep the content on your website easy to read. Use titles that tell readers what the content is all about. Page about vape pens (VapingDaily.com) is a good example of a website that provides great content. It’s well-organized, easy to navigate, and its content has titles that tell visitors clearly what it is all about.

Some of the tools that you can use to clear clutter include graphics. Graphics boost social shares while attracting readers’ eyes. However, excess graphics can annoy and distract readers. Therefore, use graphics reasonably.

Check the Page Speed of Your Website

Visitors are easily annoyed by web pages that take ages to load. Too many graphics, videos, ad scripts can slow down your website. This is particularly the case when a website is accessed or viewed on a mobile device. Fortunately, there is a tool you can use to check the speed of your website pages.

Google provides free analysis of a website’s page speed on desktop and mobile devices as well as useful tips for improving the speed of web pages. Some of the ways to improve the speed of your website pages include compressing graphics, using caching and using JPG.

Make Your Business Website Responsive

More people use tablets and smartphones to access the internet. For instance, a person can use their smartphone to find and buy products like vape pen mods or read reviews about them. That means if your online business website is not mobile-friendly, it will be difficult for them to navigate it and read your content. In fact, Google uses mobile-responsiveness as a ranking factor for websites. As such, if your business website is not responsive, it may not rank well in the search results.

Fortunately, there are tools you can use to improve the responsiveness of your website. For instance, you can use a content management system or WordPress. This enables you to determine if you have a responsive theme. You can also use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test to determine whether your website is mobile-friendly. Alternatively, view your site on a smartphone.

Guide Readers

Basically, your website should not present you as the boss. However, you don’t expect your potential customers or readers to know how to access your products or use your website without telling them. If for instance, you are selling a vape pen, tell readers about it in a polite way. Share details of your product, including its features. After that, include a call-to-action to guide visitors into purchasing it.

But, a call-to-action should not be limited to your sales only. You can use it to engage readers by requesting them to drop a comment or follow your online business on social media. Therefore, while creating pages for your online business site, think about how you want visitors to benefit and what you would like them to do after reading your content. A call-to-action should guide readers into the next step.

Embrace SEO

Owning or running an online business means you most likely know about Search Engine Optimization or SEO. This is something you should embrace fully. SEO relates to crucial marketing methods that make a website rank higher on the search engine results pages. When a website is search engines optimized, it appears higher in the search result pages. That means it has a better chance of being visited by more internet users. Although this may sound complex, it’s easy to do when you work with experienced content writers.

There are tools you can use to ensure that your website is optimized for search engines. These include keyword research tools and keyword planners. The use of the right keywords and including backlinks to high-authority sites are some of the most effective SEO techniques. That’s because keywords and backlinks tell search engines that a website is relevant and has useful information. Without SEO, your online business website might not be found by the target market even if you feature the best vape pens for sale or other products.

Currently, around 4 billion people use the internet. This figure alone is a sufficient reason to invest your efforts and time in your online business website. A good website enables you to connect with more consumers and market your products or services to them. Follow these top 5 lifehacks to improve your online business website. 

Ecommerce – Deposit Photos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/technology/e-commerce/online-business-lifehacks

How to Find Money to Start a Small Business

So here you are. You’ve hatched an idea, talked with friends and loved ones, and take that first step. The dream of operating a successful business is on its way to becoming a reality. Somewhere along the road from thinking and dreaming to implementation, every business contends with the same hurdle: funding.

When hopes are high but funds are low, where can small businesses needing $50,000 or less turn?

If you’re like most of us, you simply don’t have tens of thousands of extra cash. Coming face to face with the reality of how much money it takes to jumpstart a blossoming business can be intimidating. The traditional approach is to muster all the charisma and collateral you have and strut your stuff to the nearest bank. Then you do your best to present yourself as a “good risk.” If all goes well, the rat race begins. Next step: creating a profitable business from your new loan.

But what if a bank loan is not in the cards?

For some, the idea of being in debt to a bank is troubling. Others simply don’t meet the stringent requirements banks look for in borrowers.

If this sounds like your dilemma, keep your chin up. While bank loans are a popular and viable option, they are by no means the only one. Let’s take a look at a few alternative funding options you can pursue instead of taking out a traditional loan from the bank.

Funding Options Close to Home

Before you hit the road and begin exploring ways to borrow money from others, consider self-financing. While you probably don’t have enough in a “rainy day” fund to meet your needs, there are a few other places to look.

Personal Options

Do you have assets tied up in ventures such as stocks and bonds, real estate, or retirement accounts? If so, you may consider liquidating a portion of them for cash. However, it is important to do research on your specific situation so that you are not caught off-guard by potential tax penalties.

In the case that you have no dispensable assets to leverage, there may still be a way. For those who own their own home, there is a chance that you may be able to obtain a special loan or line of credit based on the home’s value. This is particularly lucrative if a significant portion of your home is paid off. The less you owe, the more borrowing potential you have.

If you own one or are able to qualify, credit cards are a relatively hassle-free option. Of course, this works best if you have an acceptable credit score.

Also, be sure you are able to pay the debt off in a timely manner. Few things dig a financial hole faster than compiling credit card interest. To give yourself the best shot, seek out cards that offer special rewards. These can include cashback bonuses, 0% rates for an introductory period, or rewards for spending money with specific retailers.

Helping Hands

After you have exhausted self-funding strategies, go one step further out from yourself: friends and family. If you have a strong family or social network, it can be a great opportunity to find willing financers, and even potential business partners.

The people who know you personally are sometimes willing to look past factors banks and other institutions can’t. In addition, borrowing from family and friends maybe more lax than other financing options. Because of their intimate knowledge and involvement in your day-to-day life, they may be more understanding during hard times.

All that being said, involving friends and loved ones in business ventures should never be done lightly. Never pressure those you care about into a situation that makes them uncomfortable. If you are to proceed in such a way that financial struggles won’t damage the relationship, both parties must be on board.

Talk with them candidly about the risks and rewards involved in your joint venture. Be open and honest about the struggles you might face. If their comfort level with the reality of the situation is not good, then it is best to pursue other avenues.

Non-Traditional Funding Options

With the creation of the internet, possibilities in virtually every area of life have exploded. Most all of us are impacted by the instant access to knowledge, entertainment, and opportunity that the internet provides. As a small business owner, you can take advantage of the web for your financial needs as well. Various online services allow you to connect with people who are willing to help finance your dreams.

Crowdfunding

Traditionally, launching a good idea into a reality involves bank loans, investors, and a ton of face-to-face interactions. However, in our web-connected world, you can find willing financiers online. This strategy is known as crowdfunding. While each of the different crowdfunding platforms works a little differently, the basic concept is this:

• Pitch your business or idea to an online audience, explaining why it is worth their hard-earned dollars to help finance your project. Sometimes this involves exclusive perks for funders, such as a free or discounted product.
• Individuals from all over the world can voluntarily pledge money toward your cause
• If you reach the financial goal, the funds are released and can be used to make it happen!

Peer-to-Peer Lending

Another by-product of the internet age is a new style of lending. In the past, lending has been done almost exclusively through banks or professional investment companies. New peer-to-peer lending platforms, or P2P’s as they are called, make it possible to obtain loans from willing strangers.

The way it works is something like this:

• Individual lenders sign up for the platform and set their own rules about what kinds of loans they are willing to take on.
• Borrowers fill out applications that provide potential lenders with everything they need to know. Typically, the platform will help lenders assess borrower’s risk and recommend reasonable interest rates.
• The platform uses the information and criteria to match up qualified borrowers with an individual lender. The lender then has the final say as to whether or not to proceed with a loan.

Using modern technology and an entirely online process, these platforms can match huge numbers of borrowers and lenders very quickly. By simplifying a process that is usually much more tedious and complex, P2P loans can sometimes offer better rates.

Conclusion

While traditional lending practices through banks and investors still play a big part in business, there are other ways. Small businesses in need of loans under $50,000, in particular, have several other viable options. If you do go the traditional route, make sure to always understand the terms of your small business loan.

If borrowing from a bank is not an option, explore the possibilities we have outlined here.  These include self-financing through personal means, reaching out to friends and family, or leveraging non-traditional funding via the internet. Thoughtfully considering all of the options available improves your chance of success, not only for your small business but also in your life.

Funding – Deposit Photos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/funding/start-small-business