Tips to Help You on Your Quest to Start a Coffee Business

Starting a coffee business is a complicated endeavor but definitely a worthwhile one. It makes you risk a valuable amount for the capital but when managed and run properly, you can earn substantial rewards from it.

Coffee is an integral part of people's lifestyle. You work with coffee in your table, you study with it, and you chill with it. Coffee is the best partner when catching up with friends, when brainstorming for ideas, when working on your thesis, or during your graveyard shift. It all boils down to the idea that coffee is a necessary part of people's lives, whether they are a self-acclaimed coffee lover or occasional coffee drinker. One out of five people all over the world consumes a cup or two in a day. If you'll put up a coffee business in a good location you are sure to earn a satisfying ROI in a year.

Starting a coffee business however is not just about finding the best coffee shop for sale. It takes serious planning and deliberation over which coffee shop is worthwhile and if the location has good potential. Here are some tips that can help you with your quest to start a coffee business.

First is that you need to register your coffee business and file the necessary paperwork.

Once your business is registered and you have applied as well for the employer identification number, you can now start looking for the best location. Depending on your type of coffee business you should find a location with adequate space for all of your planned layouts.

If you're going the coffee shop for sale route, you should still check it out if it would be easy to redesign or renovate. Check the quality of the structure if it's still safe to operate for a good number of years. Take notice of the foot traffic as well.

Before you even decide to buy coffee shop premises consider first if you'll not have trouble finding good suppliers. You can map out your business plan - who, where, and how are you going to tap potential sources of coffee beans, syrups and equipment?

When you've taken care of all the plans, start planning on how you're going to attract customers. What type of marketing and advertising strategy are you going to use? Since you're just starting the business, you need to focus on a brand awareness campaign.

Promote your business to your friends and colleagues, pass out fliers and brochures, use the potential of internet marketing to make your coffee shop be known to as many possible customers as possible.

Joseph works at Cafe2u, a mobile coffee franchise company. The company provides franchise opportunities for anyone looking to buy coffee shop premises. He enjoys writing blogs giving tips and advice on how to go about starting your coffee van.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Gund

4 Ways To Lead With More Influence

Many leaders set goals to move ahead without fully leveraging their leadership ability to use their influence without authority. While this approach of non-authoritative leadership may at first seem oxymoronic, this style of leading is very important in today's ever-changing world.

The old strategy of being an overly directive boss is not nearly as effective as it once was, and requires reexamination and self-awareness.

Using various functions of your physical being as an analogy, you can quickly determine whether you have the full range of conversational perspectives that a leader needs to influence people in almost every situation. A quick body scan can easily help you remember how to improve your leadership by gaining more influence using less authority.

1. Left Brain.

The left brain is the house of facts, reason, analysis, information, and data. When you are an authority, or when you know facts that are meaningful to the other individual, relying on the left brain can help you resonate with that person with ideas that make sense.

However, most leaders use the left brain excessively, especially in our culture. There are limitations to facts and logic. For example, it is hard to win over someone's heart with a PowerPoint deck.

You may have heard the saying, emotions sell and reasons justify. To access your own logic ask yourself, "What does my [left] brain tell me about this situation?"

2. Right Brain.

The right brain is where we process images, stories, metaphors, and pictures. It is the entryway to the subconscious. By using more anecdotes and images, leaders can reach people at a different level than with the left brain alone. If you can help someone see it, they will believe it.

3. Gut.

Dr. Herbert Simon, the late social scientist, is known for helping us to understand how we accumulate knowledge. Our brains seek to organize the knowledge into patterns, known as "chunking". With this stored knowledge, we are alerted to danger, sense when someone is lying, or determine a course of action. The message seems to come from an inside voice or our internal self. It comes from our gut.

The gut, or "hara" as the Japanese refer to it, is our core. The gut speaks to us and gives us our gift of intuition. It is where we go when we take a stand, negotiate, declare appropriately, form an agreement, or set boundaries. When we use our gut to influence, we inform someone what we prefer or don't like about his or her actions, we share our expectations, and offer incentives to encourage them to conform. When we connect with others at a gut level, they respond instinctively. When you ask someone on your team to take a gut level check, they are to determine if the idea makes sense or seems reasonable. Ask yourself, "What is your gut telling you?" to see what your instincts are telling you about a situation.

4. Heart.

In business settings where we seek an authentic commitment and not just compliance, it is not enough to direct or to assert. We need to become better askers than tellers. We have to be willing to be vulnerable.

The discussion will shift to asking for advice and help, to listening to the other person's hopes and goals in order to collaborate and find a solution, and being flexible about the process to produce results. The leader is not being indecisive, especially on the ultimate goal, but is being open and receptive to novel views about how the individual can be better, about how to get to the target. This approach builds team engagement. Remember, most people don't care how much a leader knows until they can feel that their leader cares. To improve your leadership influence without authority, use different perspectives when you give and receive information. Make the quick body scan to remember how your messages are given and received.

Barb Girson, International Direct Selling Industry expert, trainer and Registered Corporate Coach (TM), is a highly interactive, creative speaker and author offering professional skill development programs for workshops, leader retreats, annual conventions, and teleclass sales training programs. To contact Barb, sign up for her FREE teleclass and get her Sales Strategies Ezine go to http://www.MySalesTactics.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barb_Girson

3 Essential Disciplines Needed to Becoming a Success

When I was a kid, discipline meant a spanking, standing in the corner, or going to my room until I could "play nice with others". So, as I became an adult with an entrepreneurial ambition, the idea of discipline as a successful business tool did not set well with me at first. Only when I could see the benefit of certain disciplines, did I adopt a new mind on the matter. Below I will discuss three essential disciplines that I have adopted as daily habits to having a successful business (and life!).

1. Self-Improvement: Set aside time everyday, every week, or every month if that is all you can for self-improvement. The self-improvement I'm talking about is not necessarily physical (however, that is good too), but working on the non-organic part of you; mind, spirit, soul. The best business tool is to genuinely know yourself. When you know yourself (and this is a lifetime process!) you can genuinely connect with others, and they can connect with you. Whether you are in sales, providing a professional service, or leading a company, being relatable to the people around you is essential to your success. There are an abundance of resources available for self-improvement.

 My recommendation would be to ask a trusted friend, family member or co-worker who you see qualities in that you admire for their recommended resource. Also, there are a lot of self-improvement communities that you can become involved in; such as a church group, bible study group, addiction anonymous groups if that is what you need to work on, etc. The discipline is to make the effort and stick with it - you won't regret it!

2. Invest in Knowledge: Whatever business you are in, the more you know and understand about the people, industry, finances, economy, the products, etc., the better prepared you are for growth and success. Find respected authors online or published in your business area and set aside time to invest in growing your knowledge. Reading and even watching informational videos is an easy way to expand your knowledge everyday.

3. Gain Perspective: Let's face it! Life is busy! The more successful your business becomes, the more the business will demand your time. This is a critical point in every business owners career, to either step back to gain perspective of the goals, or keep going and eventually let the business take control of your life. An essential discipline is to set aside time away from your business to reflect, journal and gain perspective of the goals. You are in control of the direction of the business, so take the time to keep perspective and remain in the driver's seat. If you are not careful, the business WILL take the control from you, in one way or another. I recommend taking at least two to three "retreats" per year just to refocus on the business goals. The "retreats" can be three to seven days, but no less than three, sometimes it takes a couple of days to clear your head from all of the busyness. Be careful, these are not vacations! These retreats are business in nature and are essential for your success. 

Rewrite your goals mission statement and make plans for any changes that need to take place in order to get the business back on course.

In conclusion, self-improvement, knowledge and stepping back from your busy life are three essential disciplines for any successful business owner.

My name is Lisa Williams, I own and operate an accounting office for Certified Public Accountants. I have been a CPA for 21 years. I am also an Independent Business Owner of the Amway Corp. which has prompted me to write this business article to share my experience as a business owner and to open the door for like-minded entrepreneurs to share the business opportunity that Amway provides. Please visit my personal website at http://healthywebstore.wix.com/lisa-williamsibo for more information about me.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_M_Williams

3 Questions to Ask Before Closing Your Business

Have you ever had a business that you felt inclined to close? Are you currently considering closing the doors to your business? Does the thought of it all give you anxiety? Do you wonder what to do next? You are not alone. Countless other entrepreneurs, including myself, have had those same feelings. I look back on those moments and I can now see that those were "breakdowns before breakthroughs".

Often times those breakdowns can be the best thing for you to experience growth. Several clients have asked me "How do you know when to walk away?" My response to each of them was the same.

 It is truly a personal decision that no one except the business owner can answer. Today on Social Media's "Throwback Thursday" I posted a picture of a private preschool that I owned for several years that I eventually had to walk away from. I have not openly talked about that situation for it was such a hard decision and it still stings a bit. So bear with me; this may be a pseudo therapy session!

After the birth of my first son I was practicing law full time and had to rely upon childcare providers. I quickly become very unimpressed with the quality and high pricing of childcare providers. Those feelings caused me to begin to have visions of owning my own pre school. It came to fruition 6 years later when I purchased a daycare center that was literally in its last days. 

There were less than 20 kids enrolled and the center and it had a $7200 per month financial deficit. I worked soooo hard to pull the center out of the mud! I believed in myself and what I could do. I worked with professionals to create a structured curriculum, implemented extra curricular activities, introduced a foreign language program and so many other things. In less than a year I quadrupled enrollment and pulled the center from the grim financial state. 

As an attorney I knew very little about the childcare industry aside from what I would expect as a parent. I studied, I researched, I WORKED. I put countless hours and over $100,000.00 of my personal savings into this business. (Yes, that's the part that stings!)

Eventually obstacles started to arise. Obstacles that made it very hard and incredibly stressful for me to run the business. Telling you about all those obstacles would be an extra long post all in itself... or maybe even a short TV drama series! I stuck it out as long as I could, but eventually made the personal decision to walk away from the business. I had to weigh my options. 

The stress that the business was causing & the attention it was taking from my family was not worth it. The amount of money I made from that venture could not possibly justify the huge effect it had on my quality of life. I loved all those children in the school like my own; however my quality of life was much more important. 

I considered those factors and the length of time that I endured the stress and it just made sense to walk away and maintain my sanity!

For awhile I felt like a failure. I cried, I was upset, I was disappointed... so many feelings at the same time. I spent so much time in the business that I honestly just felt lost and confused about what to do with all the extra hours I had in a day. Looking back on it I am positive that was the BEST decision; however at the time I could not see that (not even a little bit). The only things I could think about was how this private preschool was what I wanted and how I worked so hard. I also beat myself up because I had spent money that very well could have funded at least one of my children's college education.

I'm slowly coming out of being hesitant to talk about it. Why? Because I no longer feel like a failure. I do not feel like a failure because now I know that I am NOT a failure. I turned the business around and accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. I had the pleasure of meeting and having relationships with over 100 sets of parents, loving on and nurturing over 100 children, supplying over 13 ladies with a job and was able to scratch a big task from my bucket list! I lost money. So what? Money comes and money goes. If I was able to save that amount once I had to reassure myself that I was totally capable of doing it again, but now because of what I learned in that savings journey, I can do it quicker than I did before! One business did not work out the way I had liked. OK. 

So what! There are several others that have and still are doing well. That is the chance one takes as an entrepreneur, right? It took me 6 weeks to continuously remind myself of this and grieve. After that I picked up my feelings and was on to the next venture.

It was a tough experience, but a necessary experience. If you are considering closing your business here are

3 Questions you should ask yourself before shutting your doors:

1. Is what you are experiencing truly your hearts desire?

2. Is continuing in this business going to drain you even if its a raging success?

3. Does the thought of the business magically disappearing and you moving to something new bring you excitement and a sense of lightness?

Once you have the answers to these questions you can make a better decision. Remember, when it comes to tough decisions like this it is your heart that has the answers; not your mind. If you have a business that you are considering closing or if you have a business that closed, don't let that be the end all! It happens. It is the UGLY in the good, bad and the ugly of entrepreneurship. When you were learning to ride a bike you fell off, right? You did not get on the first time and ride with ease. 

If you were anything like me you were determined to learn to ride even more after a fall! I bet after you fell and put a bandage on your knee you got right back on. It is the same thing with entrepreneurship. If it is in your blood to live a life of entrepreneurship there is nothing you can do about it! It is a trait that you are stuck with. Knowing that fact about yourself, don't let one disappointing experience keep you off the bike. 

Get back on the bike, regain your balance and peddle with even more force and determination! A quitter never wins and a winner never quits!

Have you ever walked away from something and found that walking away was a huge blessing? What was the biggest take-way lesson learned?

For more information on strategies and techniques to rebrand and rebuild your business, visit my website at http://www.LeniseWilliams.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lenise_Williams

3 Tips For Using Your Facebook Page To Build Your Business

Social media offers a variety of different platforms to use to reach new clients. For me and my clients, Facebook is often the best fit.

If that's true for you too, use the tips below to get started using a Facebook page for your business, or to improve your results.

1) Be yourself.

Don't hide behind your business' name and branding. Use your photo, not a logo, as your page's profile picture. The page's cover photo can be a version of your website's branded header or a stock image that represents your business well.

Include your full name in the name of your Facebook page, if you can. Be sure your name is listed at least once in your page's descriptive fields. (I'm shocked by how often I can't figure out who's running a page, without a ton of digging.)

Your potential client is looking to connect with an individual expert like you, not a faceless company, to guide her towards the transformation she wants.

2) Be consistent.

There are many different theories about how to most effectively post on your Facebook page. I recommend experimenting with the types of posts you share and their frequency until you discover what creates the best engagement with your unique tribe.

What's essential is that you remain consistent in message and tone, and that you post regularly (once daily is a good start). You can use the built-in scheduler on your Facebook page to make this easy.

You can offer valuable tips, recipes, inspirational quotes and informative videos. You can share links to articles and videos by other experts, but do this less often and always include your own thoughts or commentary with the link.

Share your free gift ezine optin regularly, and occasionally also offer your Breakthrough Session or products. Keep the main focus of your page about providing value, but don't forget that you're running a business. Make it clear that you offer services and products related to the informative tips you share.

Remain consistent in your brand's message. This starts with clarity around who your ideal client is. For example, if you specialize in showing busy moms how to prepare healthy family meals, don't post an article you just read about an 80 year old vegan marathoner. Stick to the topics of most interest to your ideal clients and you'll create trust, and greater engagement.

Step outside your comfort zone and share yourself personally on your business page to the degree that feels good to you. Some coaches love doing this and regularly share personal stories and pics of themselves and their families, bringing their brand's message to life in a fun way.

If that doesn't sound like fun to you though, find your own version of this. Maybe you shy away from posting pics of your family's hiking trip, but you might post a link about your favorite trails and a few words about why you love to hike. Every time you show up online as a real person living the life your clients desire, you're bringing them closer to you and effectively building your brand.

3) Be patient.

I most often recommend a Facebook business page to my clients who are already using Facebook regularly. If you're already there, and feel comfortable with it, then it's a good idea to bring your business to Facebook (if you know it's a place your ideal clients spend time too).

Don't spend all your Facebook energy on getting likes. Cover the basics: invite your friends, and share the link to your Facebook page on your personal profile, in emails, on your website, and when talking with people in person. Participate occasionally in "Fan Page Friday" events and Like Swaps.

Put your energy instead towards creating engagement. It's not much help to have 1000 likes, and only reach 15 people with each post. To reach more of your page's fans, you need to get them to like, comment and share your posts. To do that, follow tip #2 above about experimenting with post types and frequency, and being consistent in your message and tone.

Consider boosting some of your posts. Spend just $5, once in a while, and you'll often reach hundreds more of your fans with that post. If they like, comment or share it, those same fans are more likely to see your subsequent posts. Use this feature to boost a post that's already attracting some interest, a link to your free gift ezine sign up, or a special limited time offer.

This costs very little, so experiment with it to see what kinds of results you get.

Business building results from using a Facebook page will vary, so I recommend you bring a lot of patience to this piece of your overall marketing strategy. Continuing using your other marketing tools (including your blog, ezine, speaking, and networking) consistently for best overall results in your business. Your growing brand needs your support from multiple directions.

About the Author: Heather Cottrell, HHC, HLC of Get Awesome Tech shows health coaches, wellness pros and other creative entrepreneurs how the right tech can grow your business and simplify your life. With solutions for every stage of your business, Get Awesome Tech offers business coaching, website design and online marketing strategies specially designed for creative wellness professionals with a mindset for success.

Get started with FREE resources at GetAwesomeTech.com now!

Join us in the Awesome Tech Facebook Community for daily tips and inspiration to move your business forward.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Heather_Cottrell

Ways Businesses Can Increase Their Flow of Customers

The last several years have shown a great amount of economic distress and unknowns. Businesses have had their share of hard times and especially those who count on the tourism industry for them to survive and turn a profit. However many companies and businesses are quickly turning around to make their businesses just as successful, if not even more successful than they have ever been.

The recent increased trends in tourism have helped many business owners, both large and small, start to see profits again as they look for innovative ways to bring in customers and clients to their establishments. For example in many places, arguably one of the hardest hit areas of economic downfall, many club owners have called in consultancy services to help them decide what is working and what needs to be improved in their businesses. There are ways for businesses to drum up the business they need without having to do an entire overhaul of their businesses operation.

Perhaps one of the easiest and least expensive ways for business owners to drum up excitement and interest for their business is by starting a social media page for the business. By starting a page and linking it to a few initial friends it has the potential to expand to even more people. Post information not only about your own business but include links to other businesses in the area that may be interesting to someone wishing to travel there. It is possible that some people may have never heard about the area, so by including as many things as possible about the area will increase the likelihood that they would travel there.

Remember, if starting a social media account, to monitor the page and update it often. By keeping in contact and answering comments concerning the area and business being promoted it shows potential customers the type of care and customer service they will receive if they travel there. If someone has posted about their service it is also a good way to thank them for visiting or apologize for any of the businesses possible shortcomings and try to work on them.

Club consultancy services can be great options for businesses looking to do a major overhaul. There are great for larger businesses and restaurants looking to bring in a new demographic or a larger number of customers and clients. They work well because often a fresh pair of eyes looking over an existing business plan can see potential gaps in services or notice things that are not working well.

Most consultancy services have consultants who have a great deal of experience both in business as well as customer service. They have usually had their own businesses or worked at businesses where they had a great deal of insider knowledge therefore they know the inner workings of a successful business venture. They can help with many aspects of a business from hiring staff to renovating restaurants and clubs to be more appealing to larger groups of people.

Other options for businesses looking to bring people in are to offer coupons or samples by mail. Very often individuals may not even be aware that such a business exists. By offering coupons, special discounts or even offers for free and reduced samples can increase their interest. Some areas offer these services to small businesses for a nominal fee and will deliver postcards to all mailing addresses within a certain location or area. However big or small businesses decide to go, in order to drum up their sales and customers by taking any of these measures they can bring business to their area and communities.

Renaissance Club Advisors is a consulting firm based out of Pinckney, Michigan. With over 30 years of club experience they use their expertise and knowledge to lead private clubs and resorts to excel in service while increasing customer satisfaction. They offer leadership that is unsurpassed and empower their clients to delve into their business, business plan and decide what is working and where changes need to be made. They can offer assistance throughout the application and entire hiring processes. For a complete list of their services visit them at http://www.renaissanceclubadvisors.com and be sure to check out testimonials from several satisfied clients.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stuart_Cavcey

Boost Your Business With Innovative Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are innovative ways to draw the attention of customers in a very competitive market. They have been made use of by businesses for over 30 years to increase the number of repeat consumers by offer incentives like cash back for purchases over a certain amount or points for a free food item. Worthwhile these programs not only help to boost sales but also help to retain customers and provide that all useful data on customer behavior. Such programs can also bring in new consumers and increase the spending of already existing consumers. Businesses have continued to concentrate to find innovative ways and means to expand their loyalty programs.

Loyalty programs are usually found attractive to already existing consumers and they fail to attract the competitor's customers. Most loyalty programs offering similar rewards and failing to differentiate themselves from others will not appeal to new consumers.

These days there are many compelling ways to boost to your market share with innovative programs. Gone are the days where the typical one-product-suit-all mentality to loyalty marketing. It is no longer the powerful tool it once was for generating customer loyalty. Now loyalty programs need to be designed in such a manner so as to drive loyalty by offering valuable incentives and rewards to customers and should include more specific offers.

Drive Loyalty:

Combining loyalty into the entire experience is important when designing a unique loyalty program. As shoppers feel honored to be identified by a particular store as their frequent customers, this recognition should be made tangible through special offers that are meant only for members. Permitting non-members to have access to rewards or discounts reduces their appeal. Offering special offers exclusively for members will help to entice new consumers to become a part of the program. These rewards can include points to be made use of for a particular item to draw people who just shop for pleasure, reduction in prices for those motivated economically or giving access to checkout counters or priority lines for those wishing to save time while they spend shopping.

Valuable Rewards:

It is seen that shoppers often change their spending behavior depending on the reward and if they feel that the reward will be of value to them. So a points program where a huge number of points are needed to redeem a reward that is insignificant only devalues the whole program. Therefore, it is crucial that while designing a loyalty program, care must be taken to make it worthwhile for the customer. What this means is that the value of the reward should never be higher than its cost.

Companies will go on exploring loyalty programs and find ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Even though the strategies discussed above are inter-related, its success depends on designing such programs that are unique in itself and stands out from its competitors, segments customers to identify them individually and finally, and most important, on establishing new and broader contact with customers.

With a tailor-made loyalty program to meet your goals for customer acquisition and retention, using instant and interactive gratification, you can take your customers confidence and engagement to a new soaring heights & increase the share of his spending on your brand/product.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bhawna_Vikram_Kumar