Working for Yourself vs. Working for Someone Else

December 7, 2011 Bill No comments

In troubled economic times many people wonder if starting a business is their best option for financial freedom. As the job market remains rocky and unpredictable at best many people believe that a personal business is the best option to creating financial and personal freedom and success. While there are some wonderful positives to owning a business there are also downfalls that many new business owners do not consider before taking on the venture.

Starting your own business has a number of benefits that you likely will not find in your average work-for-hire position. As the owner of your own business you have complete creative freedom over the project and can take it in any direction that you see fit. In addition you are also afforded the luxury of being your own boss and making the decisions that could lead to great financial success. Running and maintaining your own business also allows you to use your full set of skills and knowledge, rather than being pigeonholed into a position with a limited scope of responsibility.

While owning your own business does offer a number of wonderful benefits there are negatives to the career choice as well. The full weight of the responsibility falls on the business owner and long hours, difficult decisions and the stress of managing a team of employees can weigh heavily on the business owner. Work-for-hire positions, in some cases, offer more benefits than business ownership. As an employee of an established company you are not forced to make difficult decisions. Your hours are set and you are not asked to deal with the plethora of behind-the-scenes management that must go on in order to ensure a business is successful. You can also move freely from position to position if a more enticing work offer comes along. When you own your own business you are tied to the business and ensuring it is successful.

There benefits and pitfalls to any working situations. Owning your own business or working for an establish company both offer pros and cons that must be considered before making a final decision. At the end of the day it all comes down to what kind of personality you have and what would make you, as a worker, happiest.

Corporate, Startups

How To Start Your Own Business

November 2, 2011 Bill No comments

Starting a business requires a good plan and some organization. The business will also require some start-up capital that will enable it get on its feet and avoid debts or other hazards. Before the business starts, a brain storming session should be undertaken to determine the type of business that can be started. The choice of the business will depend on the skills, training and knowledge of the business owner in terms of profession as well as the chances of success and a need in the market.

A feasibility study should be conducted as well as a basic market research. These studies will provide important information regarding the viability of the business in a particular location. The feasibility study will also indicate whether the intended business and its products are in great demand and have a ready market. A feasibility study can involve the community and certain specific questions can be asked to gauge the need for certain services or items that are to be provided by the business.

When starting a business, it is important to identify a suitable location where the official business will be headquartered and have an office. It is recommended seek some form of office space for the purpose of conducting business. Be it a commercial store, co-working area or virtual office space, you will need an “area” in order to manage your business. These options will depend on the amount of funds available as well as the requirements necessary to conduct the business, such as special tools, equipment or basic office supplies.

The business owner should determine what business it is they want to engage in. Will they produce goods, manufacture items or provide a service? Is the business owner knowledgeable in regards to this matter or are there partners that will provide the expertise? Having answers to these questions is important, especially for planning purposes. If there is a shortage of funds or simple out of a need to reduce expenditure and overheads, a home office may be used or garage. The home office will still need to be official, with a proper office set up away from noise, kids, and pets.

A new business that needs funding or capital can consider several sources, such as personal savings, loans from friends or financial institutions and maybe even start-up capital from venture capital lenders. There are a number of great sources for venture capital though this is only made available to those with unique, exciting ideas.

Good book keeping, accounting, re-investing in the business and a strict work ethic will all be necessary ingredients for the business in its early years. A lot of discipline will need to be applied. Working long hours may be necessary on some occasions though care should be taken to prevent against an earl burn out.

 

Business Notes, Startups

Greatest Business Leaders of our Time

October 24, 2011 Bill No comments

When one thinks of innovators who cleared the path for spirited invention, the name Steve Jobs, would likely come to the minds of most people in the world. Steve Jobs who only recently lost his battle against cancer, was only 56 at the time of his death. Jobs was credited in many quarters as having an indelible and ever lasting effect on the computer industry. The California native, along with his two closest friends, Ron Wayne and Steven Wozniak invented the first Apple Computer in his parent’s garage, when he was still a teenager. The rest as they say, is history. People have benefited from the mind of Job’s creative inventions, mourned his loss. People were left speechless at his passing, and wondered out loud, what would now become of the high tech industry. Time will certainly tell. Certainly though Steve Jobs will be fondly remembered as a man that had a hand in the lives of most people’s day to day activities.

Another Great Business leader, is Mark Zuckerberg, the founding force of the social powerhouse, ‘Facebook’. Zuckerberg, at 19, was a student at Harvard University. He was feeling a bit alienated, from his Ivy League peers, wanted to find a way to ‘fit in’. So he developed a computer code for student to student sharing of social information. At first ‘Facebook’ was merely a venue for college students to share pictures and other social information, like where they were going, or who they were dating, etc. Harvard had to be put on a back burner as Zuckerberg dropped out after completing his junior year, and headed west. He along with some of his associates set up shop, in the most logical place, the Silicone Valley, in Northern, California. The native New Yorker currently resides there. Zuckerberg eventually expanded the website to include high school students, and eventually anyone over the age of 13 that had a valid email address was allowed to open a Facebook account. It is now the most widely used social application utilized in the world. It has completely changed the way people communicate and socialize. At last count it had over 600 billion users world wide. Zukerberg at the tender age of 27, is the youngest billionaire in the world. He certainly is thought of as one of the greatest business leaders of our time, and it’s hard to imagine seeing another Zuckerberg in this lifetime.

The Best

What To Do After You Retire

September 21, 2011 Bill No comments

Retirement is not easy for some, especially for those who have been continuously active on a job. Retirement can be frightening as the days ahead may look long and bleak without a plan of what to do after retirement. If you didn’t open an IRA or have some other sort of financial retirement plan such as a 401K, you might not be able to do all the things you would like to once you do retire.

Most retired persons do not look forward to spending their future days ahead sitting on the couch listening to music or watching television. There has to be just as much to life after walking away from the job as there was during.

If your job has been an active one and involved being around people, especially pleasant people who were also friends as well as co-workers, it will be a difficult adjustment if suddenly there are no people in your life after retirement. What should you do when retirement day comes and suddenly there are no people in your life every day?

As a suggested answer to this question, plans should be made before retirement on how and where you can be involved with people. In some cities, even small ones, there are different kinds of volunteer work that can fill in the gap. Some of those work forces may offer small pay checks to help offset any expenses that may be involved to a retiree willing to work.

There are always travel opportunities if you can financially afford to travel after retirement. Numerous opportunities are available for affordable cruises, airplane trips, or even bus trips across the country.

An important thing about retirement is to stay as busy as possible taking part in the things you love. Retirement is a good opportunity to begin spending more time with your children or grandchildren or other family friends and relatives. You might be surprised at how long those people in your life have looked forward to your days of retirement.

Retirement is a good time to indulge in any type of sports activities that you may have missed out on while you were on the job. How about a camping trip that says you can stay as long as you like? Leave your camper on the camp grounds when you go back home. Some camp grounds offer free camping if the campers will volunteer a number of hours a month to help do simple jobs around the grounds.

Whatever you do, don’t retire without doing something. Life goes on when the job ends.

 

Retirement and Benefits

How Fair Trade Works

August 14, 2011 Bill No comments

When purchasing a new product, you might have recently seen a label applied to the front of the item stating “Fair Trade.” This is an important bit of information to know about, when reading the labels. You might find the product is a bit more expensive than the other options that do not have the fair trade label printed on the item, but there is good reason behind this. The fair trade sticker informs you that all parties involved with the purchase and creation of the product were all paid fairly, without one group in the manufacturing processing losing out on the money.

Most items you purchase, such as coffee, tea and other items from third world countries, are produced for pennies. Individuals work in farms for next to nothing. This is not fair to them, as they are making nothing, yet the individuals selling the product are bringing in an exceptional amount of money. The fair trade sticker means the individuals working in the fields are paid a fair wage for what the products are sold for.

Fair trade allows the labor force to receive the correct amount of money, which in turn goes back into the local community. The more money that is available in these poor countries, the better their lives are going to be. The extra money is going to help not only the families live a better life, but improve the conditions they live in, from upgrading the facility they live in, to improving the water they drink as they are able to afford water filtration systems.

The slight increase in price with the product (although not all items push the price of up, most do somewhat in order to offset the additional cost of labor) helps everyone in the fair trade practice. However, some don’t see the fair trade practice as a viable option for improving the lives of individuals working in the fields. It is difficult to regulate how the “fair trade” is actually in effect, and how much the companies are making off the labeling. Advocates say there should be no regulation as they want international trade to be as open as possible.

When looking at the fair trade labeling on the package of coffee you are about to purchase, it is difficult to know just how much more is going to the local labor force, but it is a substantial increase over what the other farmers are receiving.

 

Social Responsibility

Must Have Office Supplies for Your Business

July 20, 2011 Bill No comments

Every office needs certain supplies to successfully operate as a business. Some of the supplies are inexpensive, but other items could cost more depending on the types you choose. Office supplies can be anything from pens to computers. But every one of them is needed.

A computer may be one of the most important pieces of equipment needed for your office. It can help with the office communications; you can contact customers through email. It is an item that can be used to keep your records up to date and to keep up with your customer’s information. Along with the computer, you will need something to print those records on. An all-in-one printer can print, fax, copy and scan. All of these things are needed at some point in a business. This kind of printer is ideal since it takes up less space than individual machines. You will also need to stock up on paper and ink for the printer. Now that you have a way to communicate by email, you might also need to consider investing in a telephone. Some customers may need to be reached this way; therefore, it is essential to have a telephone for your business since not every customer will be accessible by the computer.

One aspect of the work place that should never be overlooked is scheduling. Make sure that all employees have functional calendars so that they can keep track of not only work days and meetings but clients and other miscellaneous events.

There are some basic office supplies that you will need for your business. These are just as important as the bigger and more costly items. They are things like pens and pencils, markers and tape, as well as scissors, rulers, stapler with staples, and of course the all-important paper clips. You will need to keep all of these supplies on hand; they will be used on a regular basis. The list for basic supplies can continue to grow as your business grows. You will need folders, message pads, rubber bands, calculators, and don’t forget the computer disc to back-up your files on.

 

All offices generally are fueled on coffee; so you might want to stock your office with a coffee maker and everybody’s favorite coffee. When your employees have the right fuel, they will be more productive. So that is why coffee is one office supply you may need for your business. Businesses will thrive when they are equipped with the proper tools to run efficiently. These are just a few of the things you may need for your office. But there are many more that you might need.

 

Business Notes

Working for a Great Company

June 8, 2011 Bill No comments

There are a lot of things that can make a company great. From the people you work with to the supervisors that oversee what you do; from the pay that you make to the benefits that come with the job. Everyone is different but when one sees whether or not a job is a great place to work or not will depend on numerous factors.

One of the big things to look at when running a great company is to take care of the people that work for you with employee benefits. There are many studies that have shown that low morale will cause for low output thus a potentially financially struggling company. The people for the most part are the ones that can make or break a company. Look at it like your vehicle. If you take care of it, giving it the normal maintenance needed then the car will last longer and could save you a lot of money. However, if you neglect the car and don’t follow the basics in taking care of it, you can have tons of issues with it thus causing you unnecessary heartache and a lot of pain in the process.

Having the right people in the right place goes a long way to how successful your company can and will be. Having good financial minds along with smart business people will help create a successful environment. Putting people with the knowledge of the position into the specific area can help you over the long haul. Also, if you have someone that isn’t strong in the particular area they are in but express the traits that make an individual successful, don’t be afraid to experiment with different areas. Many people believe that on the job training and learning to that specifics companies needs is much more valuable than any education that could be gained in a school.

Businesses that show consistent profit makes them look very attractive to potential applicants. It shows growth as well as consistency, which means the potential for great job security. Longevity for employees is another key factor when determining the success of a company. Multiple employees that have been at the place of business for numerous years shows that job security is there and you have the chance to grow and work your way up the corporate ladder. Lastly, working with people that have passion makes a company very appealing as it shows they have people that love their job which will show in their output.

 

Corporate