Although this article provides information for starting an online small business, the information can also be used for starting a brick and mortar small business in any industry.The first step in starting your online or offline business is to name it. When considering the name of your business, make sure it reflects the products or services you will be offering. Take into consideration not only the products you will offer today, but also the products or services you could possibly offer in the future. Once you have named your business, it is a hassle to change it; especially, if you have done extensive marketing.If you choose a name for your business that is different than your surname, you have to file a FBN (Fictitious Business Name) Statement with your county. For example, if your business name is Brown & Baker Associates or Brown & Baker Sons, you are required to file a FBN Statement. Although, your surname is Brown, as well as Baker being the surname of your partner, associates’ and sons’ surnames are unknown; therefore, filing a FBN Statement is necessary. If the name of your business is Sally Brown Business Services, then you are not required to file a Fictitious Business Name Statement, because you are conducting business under your legal name, Sally Brown.Once you have filed your statement, it is effective for five years and will need to be renewed at the end of that time period. You are also required to publish your FBN Statement with court-approved newspapers once a week for four consecutive weeks. If your business is located in San Diego County, the county clerk’s office provides you with a list of newspapers for you to make your selection. If at the end of your five-year period you haven’t changed your business name, ownership, or business location, it is not necessary to publish your renewed statement. Copies of your filed statement are available, including a certified copy. You will need your certified copy to open a business bank account.Be sure to check with your county for their exact requirements as they may vary from the aforementioned, which are based on the requirements of San Diego County.You will also need a business license, which is required by your city and is renewable annually. When you renew, there is an administrative fee plus $.05 on every $100 ($.0005 x gross receipts) you earned in the previous year. Different cities may have different formulas to determine the fee for a business license. The City of Oceanside uses the previously mentioned formula. Again, check with your city for their exact requirements.After you have taken care of all the administrative tasks, now the real work begins. Marketing your small business is a lot of work. However, majority of the marketing tools available to small business owners today are online and cost little to no money, but they are very time-consuming to implement.You may want to consider working with a Virtual Assistant, who is also a small business owner. You can think of virtual assistants as your online administrative assistants. Chances are they are using the same internet marketing tools and strategies to market their business; therefore, they will know how to apply the same marketing strategies to your business. They can also help you with your other administrative tasks.Overall, operating a small business has its pros and cons. It is your company. No one can fire you or lay you off. However, it consumes a lot of your time and it takes discipline. Becoming a successful small business owner doesn’t happen overnight. Working with a Virtual Assistant will free up a great deal of your valuable time, as well as help you to be organized. This will allow you to focus on your products and/or services, in addition to gaining clients.
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Make The Best Use Of MDM Solutions By Improving Data At Its Entry Stage
The technological advancement and globalization has surely benefited the business environment immensely. While the use of advanced machinery, optimum use of resources and quick access to information has made many companies achieve great heights; competition, corporate scandals, sudden machinery downtime, administrative and technical changes often obstructs the growth of businesses. Though some of these setbacks can be avoided or managed with effective planning, preventive measures can see the light of the day only when the information used is reliable and consistent. Accessibility to quality information is a necessity for every business organization. Though companies can use data quality management tools to improve the quality of allocated information, it is important for them to first estimate the quantity of poor data that lies in their system.Before implementing a master data management software to cleanse data, it is important to understand what is quality data and the effect of bad data present in the company’s repository. Clear understanding of the business requirements is essential to derive appropriate solutions. It can be alarming, if the email addresses of most of the customers are missing in the customer service catalog. However, the situation wouldn’t be that grave, if the email address is not used for communication purpose or if the process does not require them for operations.In order to analyze and evaluate the quality of data, you should ask your business the following questions:Was the information properly fed into the system at the origin?
Was the information maintained as per the strategy proposed by the team?
Are the objects identified clearly? Does all the information known about an object helps provide an accurate representation of the object?
Was the data utilized and decoded properly at the time of access? Has the data been updated recently?
Based on the technique the organization uses to create and understand data, can the same data be used between two systems?The first step of Mro data cleansing starts with the analysis of entry quality. Though its often easy to identify the problem at this phase, it is difficult to correct. Entry issues are mainly caused by manual entry of data. Typo errors and false information create confusion and corrupt the data. Profiling tools and queries can be used to fill the missing information. Again its important to analyze if the missing information is required for the business processes. If the missing values create less impact on the business growth then their existence can be ignored.Verifying the quality of data at its source can be difficult, if the data is sourced from third parties. There are many applications that provide internal information at an additional cost. The companies can use these services and get updated information. However the simplest of all is to ask the individuals who fill the data into the systems to cross-check their authenticity. This way corruption of data can be prevented at the origin itself. To enhance the quality of data and get an organized database that meets the business requirements, companies should make effective use of master data management tools.
Use Your Small Business Website To Gain Leverage Over The Competition – Unlock What’s Inside
There are many arsenal tools of a Small Business, but by far the greatest is the Business Website. Without a business website for The Small Businessman it can be very difficult to reach your fullest growth potential. There are many benefits locked inside your business website. The key is to find them and unlock your websites potential to be a money making machine for your business. See if these 5 power tools can unlock the potential that’s inside your website.Tool 1. The Small Business Website Can Be Designed & Structured To Build BusinessThe structure of a Small Business Website can be designed to bring a focus to what’s important to you company and to bring you more business. Using proper placement of things like opt-in forms, videos, picture images, pop-up pages, landing pages, color palettes, Facebook & Twitter shares & survey forms can not only make you website fun & exciting to see visually, but it can also move and flow traffic to different pages of your website. Website design & structure can lead customers to buying shopping carts, that can boost sales. Large images on a photographer or artist website can help to showcase work better. The right placement of color on your web pages can turn the attention of your customers and highlight sales, a special discount coupon, or a survey form you desire your customer to fill out. What ever strategies you decide to use, make sure as you are designing your website with a little more thought about website design & structure to bring business.Tool 2. The Small Business Website Is Your VoiceThe Small Business Website is the primary tool to share the voice of your company. Your business website should be from your point of view. How or What your company… Thinks? Feels? Wishes? Desires? So how do you accomplish all of this in one website? Through CONTENT! Content Management is your voice. Sometimes on a website it is design with a blogging system that allows you to post content regularly which helps generate a following or leads. For businesses like MLM’s, Direct Sales, or Service Businesses, blogging has a very inexpensive starting cost with a high return value. Share the voice of your business with the world and watch the financial benefits follow.Tool 3. The Small Business Website Can Be A Leverage ToolWhen you have a small business, using your website to leverage or give your business the upper hand over competition is a high priority. There are statistics by Google that show 66% of Small Business do not have a business website. OK… Breathe & Meditate on this for a moment… Ready? What this statistic is saying, is only 44% of people in your industry have a website that is in front of buying customers each day. So if you have a product like Organic Skin Care, or a specialized service for example Immigration Law, then you can see how a business website can almost immediately increase your leveraging power. And remember to use your VOICE… ie CONTENT for more leveraging power. Tool 4. The Small Business Website Can Establish You As The Expert & AuthorityNow that you know only a small percentage of people have a small business website in your industry, it’s easier to recognized how powerful a website can be, and how this can set you as the expert or authority in your industry. Posting articles on your website puts your company’s name in front of your customers or clients. In your article, give your potential customers information that is helpful to them. Provide information that helps them to make a better buying decision on products. All of these things establishes your small business as an authority and you as the expert. Each week by sharing vital nuggets and segments of key reviews, potential customer & prospects look to your business for critical answers.Tool 5. The Small Business Website Can Be The Ultimate Advertising BillboardMost small business have little to no advertising dollars. So one of the best and least expensive ways to advertise is through your website. It is the Ultimate Advertising Billboard. Creating Banner Ads, for example, can showcase what your business does, or what you have to offer can be place on your website to increase your sales. Often time websites are built only as an Affiliate Marketing site for just that reason. Also the cost to advertise in the newspaper, or in a magazine can be expensive, and your ad will only run a few time before you have to pay again. With a website, your ads can stay up for as long as you like. When someone is using a search engines, an optimized website can drive traffic right to the Banner Ads with just what your customers wants.