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

Time Saving Tips For Applying For A Job

So, you're looking for a job, you've started researching where to apply for jobs, and your resume and cover letters are ready to go. Does this mean that you're ready to start applying? Maybe, maybe not. Being prepared is essential to saving you time and energy, and helping you get as many applications out as quickly as possible.

Most job applications will ask for specific information, some will not. I have found that most companies want you to enter information into their format. Having this information readily available will expedite the applying process, especially when detailed information is requested. Here are some examples I have come across:

Education

Many applications I have filled out ask for the details of my education. This includes:

• The school name
• Degree type
• Major (sometime even the minor)
• Dates attended
• And even my GPA for that program in some instances

Company Information

I usually see requests for the details of my previous (and current) company, such as:

• Company name
• Address
• Phone number
• Supervisor's name
• Supervisor's phone number
• Dates employed
• Responsibilities (occasionally this space only allows for a couple of sentences)
• Beginning and ending wages, including bonuses or commissions (some ask for yearly wages and some ask for hourly wages)
• Reason for leaving

Gaps in Employment

Most companies I apply to specifically ask for an explanation of any gaps in employment. Even if this is due to unemployment, which many people have suffered from, I recommend listing something else that you were doing without saying 'I was unemployed,' such as: personal travel, family or home management, primary caregiver for terminally ill relative, etc. Just be honest whether you are asked to explain this on an application or in an interview.

References

Some companies will request references directly in the job application. The number of requested references varies by company, but my experience has been that three references are the norm. The information requested is usually not required, but can include:

• Reference name
• How you know that person
• How many years you have known each other
• Address
• Phone Number
• Email address

Letters of Recommendation

Some sites that allow an individual to create a profile for a job search will typically give a place where letters of recommendation, cover letters, and any other pertinent information can be uploaded and saved in the profile.

----

Gathering all of this information each time you are filling out an application can be daunting, and time consuming. Gathering this information ahead of time can save a great deal of time, especially when applying to several jobs. I have a saved draft in my email that includes all of this information in a list so I can copy and paste where I am able to, but above all so I can find the information quickly and easily.

This information can be listed like this as an example (repeat format for additional information in that category):

Education:

Bachelor of Science, Management

University of Phoenix

Phoenix, AZ

[Dates Attended] 1/1/2006 - 1/1/2008 (some applications request the exact date started and finished, some don't)

[GPA] 4.0

Company Information:

XYZ Company

123 Main St

Anywhere, CA

555-555-5555

[Direct Supervisor] Bob Dillon

[Bob's Direct #] 455-555-5555

[Dates Employed] 1/1/2000 - 10/10/2010 (most applications request the exact date started and ended)

[Wages - Yearly] $24,000 / $49,000

[Wages - Hourly] $11.54 / $23.56

[Responsibilities - Shortened] Serviced 50 national accounts; assisted accounts with growing revenue by 78% through training and customer service; helped company grow account business by 30%.

[Reason for leaving] Laid off

Gaps in employment:

10/11/2010 - 1/15/2011 (some may request exact dates and some request only the month and year)

Family and home management

References:

John Smith

333-333-3333

789 Main St.

Anywhere, CA 91111

[John Smith email]

[Years Known] 9

Former Supervisor

In regard to letters of recommendations, resumes, cover letters, list of references, examples of work, and any other documents that may pertinent to applying for the job of your dreams, I recommend having these saved in a file on your computer, in your Google Drive, or on a pin drive for easy access without having to search for them all over the place. Also, saving each document with an appropriate title will save a great deal of time when looking for one of these documents.

For more job search techniques, please visit my blog at http://www.kristymlopez.com

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

The Economic Impact of Ebola on the Economy of Grass Valley, California

The title of this article would seem at first glance to be ridiculous. Really, how much of an economic impact can Ebola have on a small Northern California town? Consider this: I am a rough diamond gemologist living in Grass Valley and I earn my living working mostly in the DRC, Guinea and Sierra Leone. 

My normal business has been severely diminished because my clients are afraid to go into the bush in the DRC, Guinea and Sierra Leone because of Ebola. This means that I am delaying building my dream house on a gorgeous mountain property my wife and I bought recently. In addition, because I need a four wheel drive car for mountain driving, I wanted to buy a new Toyota 4 Runner, but have opted to buy a Toyota Rav 4 because I need to be financially prudent.

You may laugh because my small contribution to our economy is not of any great significance except to the sales people, vendors and contractors I would have done business with. Of course, there is a small ripple effect from these people. Still, I know it is not going to affect most of the people of Grass Valley. That being said; there are thousands of people in the world just like me. All of us together make up a pretty big group of people with a substantial impact on the overall world economy.

Already, Ebola is destroying the economies of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. These countries in turn are affecting the economies of their surrounding countries and all businesses and countries where there is trade. In addition, people are now afraid to go to other African countries even though those countries are free of Ebola. A case in point is Angola. I have an opportunity in Angola to purchase large quantities of rough diamonds. Normally, my clients would jump at the chance. Now all of my clients are afraid to go to Angola because they consider Angola to be part of West Africa.

I know what you are thinking. What do the far away problems of West Africa have to do with Grass Valley? The answer is simple. The world is a very small place where disease can travel without restriction and fear can spread faster than a California forest fire. What happens on the other side of the world today can cause disastrous consequences here tomorrow. With each collapsing economy, our economies become weaker and we may find ourselves suddenly in the middle of a world economic collapse with all the social-political problems inherent in such a collapse.

The sad part is that Ebola could have been stopped months ago. I was in Sierra Leone at the end of July and the government of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea were begging the world to send help. Anyone who has ever worked in developing nations can tell you that these countries cannot cope with major diseases or calamities. They do not have the money, infrastructure and expertise to deal with it.

Yet, knowing this, our government and the rest of the governments have done little. Even this week, the Presidents of these countries made a desperate appeal for help. Without serious intervention and assistance, Ebola will spread to the West and perhaps the whole world, if that happens you will be worried about more than you're your pocket book.

One of my clients has asked me to go to Sierra Leone next week. I wonder how my trip will impact the economy of Grass Valley.

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

Are Retail Employers Abusing Their Employees?

By Arnold Nadler 

It is great that we have put all kinds of labor laws in the work place such as no sexual harassment, safety, breaks times, and amount of hours considered regular time. Even with all those in place I still believe most employees today in retail are not being treated well when it comes to duties, hours and remuneration.

 It seems to me where in the past an employer would hire people to work certain positions, the trend now is more employees wear many hats doing multiple positions for same pay as one person. The rules of engagement for employers and management is simple, be polite, no foul language, and your employees must adhere to any job that is asked of them within legal reason. With so many people being unemployed it is a field day for employers even in their contractual job descriptions. Someone is hired to be a clerk it is stated clearing the expectations, but somewhere they might put from time to time the employee might be asked to do other duties as well. The employee signs the agreement it is a done legal deal where they can have that person do whatever extra duties are assigned.

Over the last several years I've personally witnessed employers over working and under paying their employees. Here are a few real stories to make my point, and afterwards you can decide if these situations would be ideal working conditions for you to accept as an employee.

I worked briefly in a retail store, with a person who had a child to support, and had been with this company for many years. They promoted her to be the Customer Service Manager basically throwing her under the bus with an overwhelming work load. I witnessed her breaking down crying on a weekly based being so overcome because they had her doing two or three job positions weekly, and constantly giving her heat because it was impossible to accomplish at times. They had her paid hourly refused to allow any overtime to complete the tasks at hand. On top of her job title they had this person doing the inventory for the whole store weekly which was around 65,000 square feet. It was also her responsibility to ensure every item had the price tag properly placed including their endless sale ones, help out the office manager with administrative duties, and replace other management during their days off. When there was a special event like B.B.Q for customers she was the cook. We have not even spoken about her actual Customer Service position yet. 

This company would purchase many of their products from the orient with no spare parts, if a customer had a damaged or broken item many times it took months to receive shipped by boat. Customers were irate to start with knowing it will take months, there were no returns being final sales, and the many of these customers bought on credit, still required to make monthly payment for their items purchased not even in their homes. All she could do was take the heat daily which wore on her, and was not given any alternative solutions in providing the client service.

The second major problem for this women had in her position as Customer Service Manager was when the parts arrived how long until the items were fixed from there. The person they expected to repair all the broken or damaged merchandise was the Shipping Manager who had very little extra time to fix broken items. They refused to let him hire enough warehouse personal or delivery drivers always short of man power, he had no choice but to help empty trucks many times by himself, place and enter inventory in the warehouse, do some delivers, and bring new merchandise to the floor, find and place in vehicles merchandise picked up by clients, plus scheduling and managing his team for deliveries at the same time. 

Not to mention his other extra responsibilities like cutting the grass and trimming the bushes on the property in summer, clearing walk ways of snow in the winter, washing the store windows, and doing small in-store repairs like fix entry doors. With all that how much time did he really have to repair broken or damaged merchandise which does take considerable amounts of time? The Customer Service Manager was well aware of this, sharing an office with him in the shipping that was as small as a match box, cold, and dirty. The sad part for me is these people earned a little more than minimum wage, worked hard, and at end of the day were up to debt to their eyeballs. Both didn't leave because they felt painted in corner financially to find something else, this city has a 7% unemployment rate.

As much as we would like to believe that was an isolated situation it is happening all the time now. I went for an interview to become a store manager at very well-known submarine place. The duties were hiring, training, ordering, doing inventory, serving customers, daily written reports, maintaining standards, basically running this man's whole business at that location. The owner told me it was 44.5 hours a week unless someone did not show up or short-staffed plus time for meeting with him etc... The yearly salary for running this man's business was $27,000 gross or take home after deductions at source $20,250. An hourly take home of around $9.00/hour based only 44.5 hours platform. I obviously passed on his generous store manager opportunity.

If an employee like the ones above say it is too much for them to handle, they are given the riot act about being team players, or not able to multi-task which is a criteria required to work there. If they still refuse can get written up, and possibly fired over time for not performing their job well enough.

Once again I blame this whole mess on our government who is failing us in many aspects of our lives like reducing taxes and inflation, making a fair minimum wage, and reducing unemployment where people can earn a decent living. In the last century the watch dog for employees where unions, who made sure employers to treated fairly, positions were defined in stone. Taxes were lower earlier into the century, and inflation was always high but not unreasonable. I feel the way things are structured today is retail employees are being abused, all wrapped in outside look of decency.

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