Use of Business Cards

Everybody knows that a businessman needs business cards to conduct business. If you try to compare various ways to promote a business, you will discover that business cards are indeed one of the cheapest ways to promote a business. The question is how to distribute business cards. Probably one of the most obvious situations is after closing a deal or when you just made a sale. What is the right amount of business cards to hand out? It is at least seven or eight. One business card is not usually enough to make a difference. You need to give a person more than one so that the person will have enough of them to give to other people if an opportunity arises.

Why All Entrepreneurs Need To Care About Health And Safety

Health and safety may sometimes seem like one of those things that only affect certain Industries, but whatever field you work in as an entrepreneur, you have a serious responsibility to make sure your staff are not at risk of Injuries or health problems as a result of the environment they work in or the duties they are expected to perform.

Here are three of the reasons why you as a business owner need to pay serious attention to your responsibilities when it comes to workplace health and safety – aside from, of course, the mandatory requirements for being in business at all in your state.

Avoid Expensive Lawsuits

Almost every day, there are stories in the news about companies who have been sued over workplace injuries or other health and safety cases. As an example, there were some high-profile McDonalds employee complaints where people who worked with the fast food joint giant were litigating because they had been injured in grease accidents, had experienced unnecessary risk due to being expected to work too fast by the computer systems monitoring them, and because they felt they had not been given the proper training to operate some of the equipment in the McDonald�s kitchens. These cases became complex because McDonald’s restaurants are, in most cases, operated by franchisees rather than the overarching corporation. Both McDonald’s and franchise owners had cases brought against them.

While businesses do have insurance against this kind of thing avoiding, lawsuits are obviously something entrepreneurs need to take seriously to protect both their finances and the reputation of their brands.

Even businesses that don’t have things like kitchen equipment or machinery on site need to consider things pertinent to health and safety when it comes to using computers and other hazards that can exist, even in offices.

Better Staff Retention

Another concern for entrepreneurs, especially when the business is a startup, is being able to keep the staff that you managed to attract. Businesses that are able to keep the talent that they recruit and train tend to be more cost-effective and can gain an edge over their rivals. When staff feel that their well-being is being regarded as a priority by the business that they work for, they are far less likely to consider moving to another company.

Better Compliance

If a company does more than the bare minimum when it comes to health and safety and actually goes out of their way to follow best practices, this can make the business compliant at a higher level. This can be important later on if you want to make a public offering or sell the business.

As you can see, there are lots of benefits to taking health and safety seriously and to looking at ways that your business can go beyond what is required by law and become a company that is seen as a center of excellence in this respect. A regular audit of your current processes can be a good place to start.

The Best Ways To Save Your Business Money

No matter whether your business budget is a mighty one, or you�re working on a shoestring, saving money always needs to be a priority. Those big corporations didn�t get where they are today by over-spending. It�s important, therefore, to look into what you are paying out for in your business and reducing as many of those costs as possible. Here are just a few ideas to get you started.

 

Double Your Advertising

Paying for marketing and advertising can take a big bite out of anyone�s budget, and it is, of course, extremely important. However, there are ways to get more advertising for the same amount of money. For example, you could send a flyer in with an invoice � you�re mailing it anyway, and the flyer will cost a minimal amount. You could include a special offer actually printed onto your invoice, or a coupon to encourage repeat business. If you are selling items in a physical store, tuck business cards and leaflets in with your customers� purchases.

 

Ask For Referrals

Having your current customers give referrals to bring in new customers is one of the most cost-effective ways of building your business. You could offer a loyalty scheme so that both parties feel they are getting something out of the deal.

 

Buy Second Hand

If you need more office equipment, tools, or machinery, look at the used market before you spend out many hundreds or thousands of dollars on something brand new. There are many bargains to be had by buying second-hand, and you can save a huge amount of money. It may feel good to buy brand new items for your business, but if you�re spending too much it won�t feel good for long. The important thing to remember when you are looking to buy a used item is to do as much research as possible first. Ask questions, make sure it all works, check that it is compatible with modern systems. If you don�t you could end up buying something that is no good, and you�ll have wasted crucial cash to do so.

 

Do It Yourself

In some situations it�s definitely a good idea to call in the professionals. At tax time, for example, a qualified accountant will always be worth the money as mistakes can be seriously costly. However, there are times when you can try to do things yourself if possible, as you will save yourself some money which could be used to reinvest into the business. If you have a fleet of vehicles, you might want to tune them up yourself; the instructions can be found online and you can buy parts at some excellent places online including http://andantex.com/product/spiral-bevel-gearboxes-z-series/. If you need to design a logo or other branding, you can do that yourself too. Unless it�s truly specialized, doing it yourself will always be worth trying.

 

Don�t Rent Office Space

One of the costliest parts of running a business is paying rent on office space. If you don�t have to pay this money, you�ll make massive savings. One way to stop paying rent is to work from home. This is great if you are a solopreneur or you have a remote team working for you. When you do need to get together for meetings you can rent a room and it will cost a fraction of the cost.