The Business Pod's Blog

Avoiding the top 7 business financing mistakes is a key component in business survival. If you start committing these business financing mistakes too often, you will greatly reduce any chance you have for longer term business success. The key is to understand the causes and significance of each so that you're in a position to make better decisions. Business Financing Mistakes (1) - No Monthly Bookkeeping Regardless of the size of your business, inaccurate record keeping creates all sorts of issues relating to cash flow, planning, and business decision making. While everything has a cost, bookkeeping services are dirt cheap compared to most other costs a business will incur. And once a bookkeeping process gets established, the cost usually goes down or becomes more cost effective as there is no wasted effort in recording all the business activity. By itself, this one mistake tends to lead to all the others in one way or another and should be avoided at all costs. B

Have you ever felt that your life was a conveyor belt of …. Go to school, graduate, get a good job with a good company, accumulate retirement savings, and use these to do everything you’d ever wanted to during your retirement? If that’s what you’ve grown up expecting you may be in for a big surprise. Only 5 people in 100 who follow this route can look forward to a comfortable retirement. Are you shocked? That means a whopping 95 out of 100 hardworking people who try to follow this route are going to have to rely on inadequate pensions, social security, and family assistance to live out their golden years. Not a happy picture. Just take a look in your community to see how few retirees are financially independent. If you know any that are truly financially independent then you’ll probably find they did it on their own. So, if you want to want financial independence what are your options? You could pray that you’ll be one of the 1 in 180 million people who hits the lottery o

Do you take your laptop on holiday?  Do you sometimes “hate” your mobile phone?   Harris Interactive recently reported that one-third of business people take their laptops on holiday.  During a Sunday meal at a restaurant recently, I observed a man sitting with his family talking on his mobile phone -- obviously about business. He was not happy – neither was his family!   To paraphrase Charles Dickens, “It is the best of times.  It is the worst of times.”  Certainly that applies when it comes to “connectivity.” Stories of 9-11 victims being able to communicate with family members in the last minutes of their lives warmed my heart, while the story my friend told of her mother answering her mobile phone in the delivery room during the birth of her grandchild chilled my soul.   How grateful I was for my mobile phone when I came across someone with one, and I could immediately help them get help. How convenient it is on holiday to use the Internet to explore the options for entertai

Getting a small business off the ground is challenging to say the least. Here are some tips which will prepare the ground for running a successful small business. Have Goals This is where it all starts – the foundation for success. Know exactly where you are heading. What will the business ‘look’ like in the future? How will you know when your business is a success? When you wake up in the morning, do you know what actions you have to take to get you on the road to success? Take Action The difference between success and failure is down to the actions you take. The failures in life are the people who know what they have to do but never do it. The successful small business owners are people who take action on their ideas, ones who never say, “I wish I had done …” Seek Feedback There is a saying that feedback is the breakfast of champions. During the early days of your business you must continually seek feedback about all aspects of your business. What works? What doesn’t wo

Successful business owners all have one thing in common, they are never satisfied with sales levels. Whether you are making £10,000 a year or £1 million a year, there is always a possibility for growth. Growth only comes when you realise it can happen. You will not grow if you are content or can't see the future possibilities for growth. Here are three easy ways that you can transform your business from the level it is at, into a profit making machine. 1. Always track statistics This may seem obvious, but most people never do it. You should always track and gather as much information as possible. Track the number of new customers, track purchases, evaluate marketing, monitor amount of purchases, how frequent customers buy from you, non-buying prospects, etc. With this knowledge you will be more informed as to how you marketing pounds are doing and where you can increase things.. 2. Find people you can trust You definitely need people you can trust as well. These p