Category: Business

As a small business in a vast market, you’re bound to have a lot of competition. Not only are you bumping up against the giants in your industry, but you’re also competing with other small businesses.

If you want to keep your business running, increasing revenue is the obvious path. But that is not always as easy as it sounds. And, as a small business owner, it gets even more challenging to plan how to grow your business when you spend most of your time managing every single detail.

We understand your struggles as a hardworking businessperson. To help you, we’ve gathered eight ways to increase your revenue as a small business. 

A Guide to Increasing Your Revenue in 2021

1. Nail down your business goals

Make your business goals specific and have a particular time frame when you want to achieve them. They should be specific and clear to understand for you and your employees. The clearer the business goals, the better and easier it is to orient your company where to go and where to grow. 

Aside from being specific and putting a timeline, it would help if you had achievable, sensible, and practical goals. You must take into account all the elements that will have an impact on your business. You need to look ahead and prepare for the obstacles that will happen in the future and study the resources that you may need. 

If you’re struggling to develop specific business goals, remember the SMART method:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Attainable 

R – Realistic 

T – Time-bound

2. Prioritize customer service

It has been said that as a small business, you have a lot of huge competitors. The advantage you have against them is that you can provide your customers with the attention they want because you have a smaller customer base. You can offer them the attention that will make them stick with you forever. To do that, you need exceptional customer service.

If you give customers excellent customer service, it helps them feel more satisfied with your products, and it will be easy for you to transform new customers into loyal ones. It is the biggest factor in growing your business. You need to commit and invest in it, for example, by training your staff really well in handling customers. Keep in mind that satisfied and happy customers can give you free word-of-mouth marketing. 

3. Identify your niche market

The importance of identifying your market niche is as important as choosing your business name. These two should coincide and make sense together. Your business niche is your specific and functional area in the industry that you are part of. Once you have identified it, it is easier for you to differentiate your business from your competitors and win your target audience.

Moreover, finding your niche as a small business owner is super helpful in creating a steady flow of revenue. If you have a solid market niche, it will help you have a firmer grip on your current customers. 

In one industry, there can be various market niches. If you feel confused about what your is, think of the most specific product or service that is unique in the market. It could be something that offers affordability, convenience, excellent quality, and many more. 

4. Explore e-commerce

E-commerce has completely transformed the business world and the way consumers purchase goods and services. If you’re a small business that has yet to venture into the online world, know that e-commerce can instantly transform your business and increase revenue. So what are the benefits when it comes to e-commerce? 

The best one is how you can reach new customers, which means you can sell more products. With only your physical store, your revenue will be limited and only to people close by who prefer to shop in person. But by putting your shop online, you can reach out to people near and far. 

However, when you jump into the e-commerce platform, it is like inserting yourself into a big crowd, so you still need to have your unique way of telling the target market that you exist. 

5. Form the best team 

Your small business may not need a lot of people, but it surely needs the best people. Building your team should be one of your priorities. You need to make time to shape your employee into the winning team. You need to see their full potential and get them to be involved in everything you do.

One of the best ways is to get to know each of your employees and see their strengths as individuals. You’ll have a deep understanding of them, and you’ll be able to recognize their capabilities and how they can help your business. They may have different personalities and come from different walks of life, but it is all about having one goal, even with diversity.

Also, do not forget to define their roles. Each of them needs to understand their job. Let them know that you value them, invest in them and share the development of your business regularly. Always keep the conversation lines open for your employees but still keep everything professional. 

6. Prompt repeat business

Gaining new customers is undoubtedly one of your goals as a small business owner. One of the marketing mistakes of small businesses is focusing on acquiring new customers and neglecting the existing customers. You can have time to get new leads, but you should never forget your loyal customers. 

The question is, how can you encourage a repeat customer? You need to present them with something special. You can go and invest with a reward card scheme; for example, every time they visit or buy a certain amount of product and service, they get points as a reward. The points are then accumulated and then redeemed for a free service or product.

7. Listen to your market base 

Listening to your market will help you to be flexible as a small business entity. Even if you are focused on being excellent in what you currently do, you have to be open to new ideas and learn more about trends in the industry. 

One important thing to learn is the process of “social listening.” This way, you can give your small business the chance to analyze, interact with your market base, and track social media trends.

You could also have audience surveys if you have time. You will be able to know which part of your business can still be improved. 

8. Attract customers with discount vouchers and coupons

Discount coupons and vouchers are sure to provide you a boost in business sales. You may be required to invest money. Just remember that you need to spend money in the world of business so you can earn money. 

Discount promotions are known to be one of the effective ways to increase your revenue. They can be a vital part of marketing your products and services. Plus, they are great at introducing a newly launched product. You need to know how to maximize their use. 

You can use websites like Facebook or other big social media to get more people to see it. Also, when it comes to existing customers, you can let them fill out a form where you can get their emails or phone numbers so you can spread the word about your promotions. 

Conclusion

Managing a small business can sometimes be a big challenge. And changes may not be seen instantly. But, remember, whatever you reap, you will sow. Keep the focus on your goal, and you’ll see your revenue increase in no time! 

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No matter what the nature of your business, ensuring that you have the right commercial building insurance is vitally important. 

Commercial building insurance will cover the costs needed to repair and even rebuild your commercial property should it be damaged or destroyed.

In the following article, we will look into commercial building insurance and what it covers and why you should ensure that you are fully covered by a policy today.

What Does Commercial Building Insurance Include?

Commercial building insurance will cover you against the cost of either repairing or rebuilding your business premises. It will cover against eventualities such as burst pipes, falling trees, fire, flooding, storms and theft.

There are two key different types of commercial building insurance; buildings and contents insurance. Contents insurance will cover you for items inside the building including IT equipment and any stock and other equipment used and buildings insurance covers anything related to the building itself.

Typically, commercial building insurance will include;

Property Owners’ Liability

Liability insurance will compensate any third party should property damage or injury occur due to negligence. As the owner of the property, you will be liable, as you are responsible for ensuring that the property is maintained.

Loss of Rent

Should your property become uninhabitable due to an insurable event, your insurance policy will cover you for the rent you subsequently cannot collect.

Landlord’s Contents

Your insurance policy will also cover the landlord’s contents. Essentially, the ‘landlord’s contents’ compared to the ‘building’ is anything that isn’t attached to the building including tables and chairs as opposed to doors, cupboards and walls. 

For example, some commercial properties may be rented with equipment included, such as a fitted commercial kitchen. 

What Will Commercial Property Insurance Not Cover?

Typically, you will find that most commercial property insurance policies do not cover general wear and tear that happens over time, such as office carpet thinning and stains. You may also find that damage caused by an act of terrorism aren’t covered, however some specialist insurers may be able to cover you as an additional premium.

Why Do You Need Commercial Building Insurance?

Whilst commercial building insurance isn’t a legal requirement, it is important to remember that many mortgage providers will insist that you have the right insurance cover before they agree to give you a loan.

No matter what the nature of the business within your premises, it’s always worthwhile considering a commercial building insurance policy to ensure that you’re protected against the costs needed to rebuild and repair the premises.

Choosing the Right Commercial Building Insurance

There are various different things that you need to consider about commercial building insurance to ensure your commercial property is fully protected. However, you shouldn’t rush into purchasing the first or the cheapest policy that you see.

It’s important to note that if your business premises is temporarily unoccupied, then it will be much more susceptible to break-ins, crime, and squatting, amongst many other crimes. Typically, insurers will exclude unoccupied properties from their policies, so should your property be temporarily unoccupied, you should convert your commercial building insurance to an unoccupied property policy.

Before you contact any insurance providers, it’s important to take the time to work out the exact level of cover that you need, as well as any additional features and requirements you are looking for.

After all, your property can be one of the biggest investments you make, and whilst you can easily see your investment returned in time and make a profit, it’s important that your assets are fully covered and protected. Should you not ensure this, even one problem could cause you to lose your property and resultantly your investment money in one go. The right commercial building insurance will ensure that your investment money is secure.

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Fume Extraction Systems

The production procedures are getting complex and well developed in due course of time. This has generated certain peculiarities in the related procedures. These particularities are, on one hand, advantageous but on the other hand, they may cause pollution that can be a health hazard and can be equally dangerous for the workspace. To save the system, several saving modes are being introduced, including the fume extraction systems. 

If you are new to the concept, you need to know the essential details regarding the fume extractor.

What Is Meant By Fume Extractors?

As the name indicates, the job of the fume extractor is to remove the toxic fumes and dust from any workspace. In most parts of this world, the system has to undergo close regulations according to the laws set by the concerned agencies. 

It is a piece of specialized equipment designed to clear the contaminated air with the help of the suction function. Once done, it then clears the air using a specialized filter once the air gets clean, it is allowed to move into space again. Once done, the fumes are collected inside the filter. 

The process then completes with the help of the fume extractor fan. It is a powerful fan that successfully creates the suction flow. The filter, on the other hand, is used as the air filtrate. 

Types of Fume Extraction Filters

What kind of peculiarities is bothering you in your product house?

The nature of each of these determines the kind of fume extraction system that your system is looking for. Here are the common types that are mostly used in any production process. Each of these is for a specialized production process. A system that is effective for one kind will not work for the other. 

ASHRAE, HEPA, and ULPA are the filters that specialize in handling tiny particles like of dust. They are equally good for catching up with the bacteria which actually makes them essential for domestic ventilation systems. 

Activated Carbon filters are also popular for being specialty-blended filters. They are used in spaces where there are chances of chemical fumes and organic vapor for example the pharmaceutical facilities. The more efficient the filter is the better it works by absorbing the chemicals. 

Micro-Pleat filters are cleanable filters that are mostly used in heavy welding production and facilities. It makes a strong filter for all those spaces where extensive soldering and welding work is carried out. They are equally good against dust and chemicals. Once the work is over it can be cleaned with pressurized air. The unclean, contaminated, and unwanted part comes into the catch can. From here it is removed easily. 

Fume Extraction Types

Portable extractors as clear from the name are small in size or light in weight so that they can be moved anywhere. They are fixed on wheels that make transportation much easier. 

Benchtop extraction system makes work very easy. They can be mounted anywhere you want. They make the perfect fit for soldering workplaces, pharmaceutical sorting or any kind of small-scale experiment in which heavy fumes are released. 

Enclosed extractors are fitted within the worktable. You can also add it to the shelf on the work stand. 

Wall-mounted extractors are designed for walls where they can be mounted easily. It is best for the places above the fume applications 

Stand-mounted extractors are kept on the stands. According to your personal preferences, you can add the stand to the ground or not. It can be moved without standing too. Thus, it is to some extent similar to portable extractors. 

Where Are The Fume Extraction Units Required?

The extraction system is required in spaces where a high amount of fumes are generated. The activities mentioned below create too many fumes. If these are not removed it can result in huge amounts of fumes that can even cause risk conditions for any individual. 

• Welding
• Painting
• Plastering
• Sanding
• Grinding
• Plastic bonding
• Working with epoxies
• 3-D printing

Final Words

The above list includes the fume generating activities in descending order. Welding tops the list as it uses welding rods that are too rich in manganese. The metal is used to create strong welds. If the manganese fumes stay for long they can damage the respiratory system. Once they enter the bloodstream they can damage the kidneys and the nervous system.

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How To Make Flyers More Cost-Effective

Flyers don’t have to be expensive. With so many flyer maker tools available, it’s so easy to create one on the fly. For example, Venngage has hundreds of ready templates free for anyone to create, download, print, and use — you won’t need to contact professional designers all the time. If you need a simple print ad, here are six helpful steps to make cost-efficient and high ROI banners.

The Average Cost of Flyers Today

According to PSPrint, having someone design a brochure for a business can cost about $200-$1,500. Sometimes, you can get a design and copywriting deal for $500. Additionally, banner printing can cost you $165 for 2,000 copies. This number is equivalent to $6.5c per copy.

Average digital marketing banner budgets without printed copies will reach about $500 for a design and copywriting deal.

Alternatively, your digital advertising campaign will receive the printing budget. This spending can comprise search engine, social network, and email advertising costs.

Flyer Posters/Adbadshah

Creating Your Flyer Design

If you need inspiration, Venngage and other similar platforms offer pre-designed templates ready for anyone to use. In addition, these flyer templates include royalty-free images safe to use for your advertising campaigns.

On the other hand, paying a pro for custom designs is still an excellent alternative if existing templates don’t work out for you.

Of course, it will be more expensive. But, on the other hand, you get a unique design with a fresh set of images and icons that no other brand can use.

Sometimes, it’s worth paying for a one-of-a-kind flyer or brochure design.

How Much Should You Spend on Marketing Flyers?

Marketing flyer budgets greatly depend on how much it needs to get your message across to your audience. For example, frozen goods might require less marketing materials than clothing companies. On the other hand, consumer technologies might need more marketing banners than healthcare services.

Entrepreneur recommends that new companies spend about 12-20% of their annual profits towards marketing. Alternatively, established brands in any sector spend about 6-12% on marketing. Therefore, new companies will pay $12,000-$20,000 if they net $100,000 yearly.

In addition, your marketing strategy dramatically affects your total marketing flyer spending. For instance, a printed flyer-dependent marketing campaign will spend much more than a digital-oriented marketing campaign.

Mohamed Hassan/PXHere

Why Do New Businesses Start With a High Flyer Budget?

Start-ups and new businesses are unknown to most customers. Plus, an established brand has recognizable products and guaranteed results.

Therefore, new businesses have to “make noise.” To do this, they need various advertising and marketing strategies. Therefore, the strategy might include printing and publishing many of these media for both offline and online advertising campaigns.

Entrepreneur’s figures in the earlier section prove that new businesses will allocate higher flyer budgets. Alternatively, established brands work with affiliates and repeat customer recommendations. But, unfortunately, when it comes to lead generation, flyers can’t compete with the success rate of customer recommendations.

Pricing and Materials For Advertising Flyers

It’s easy to find cheap flyer printing. A quick search engine query will yield numerous printing presses promising high-quality but affordable flyer prints. The best way to find the best price is to find the lowest price and highest print quality possible.

Cheap, entry-level pricing will sound attractive at first. However, printers will produce your flyers on easily degraded stock paper.

Cardboards are the next best flyer printing material. They will cost a bit higher than flimsy stock paper. However, cardboard has accurate color printing. But, you’ll contend with possible water damage during rainfall.

Use this recommended flyer materials list or consult with your local flyer printer to learn about your other best flyer material options.

Drawtify.com/Stockvault

Should I Focus On The Cheap Flyers’ Design or Material?

Banners are cost-effective if they have a high success rate. Therefore, choosing the right design and material matters.

Sophisticated events require a provoking and captivating design. Plus, you might need to spend on better material to give the best representation to your vision.

If the event is happening during the rainy season, using waterproof material is an excellent choice. Alternatively, if you’re solely going for a digital campaign, spend a higher budget on design and digital advertising campaigns.

Therefore, your marketing campaign objectives dictate the design and material perfect for your banners. You can easily gain focus on both design and material afterward.

It Doesn’t Take Too Much To Reduce Flyer-Making Costs

A free banner-making program can help you bypass pro designer prices if you need simple flyer templates. In addition, you can edit each of these templates to suit your marketing campaign.

In some cases, a one-of-a-kind professional design on high-quality material might be much more cost-effective.

Therefore, your campaign goals and brand reputation will give you a better idea of making your flyers more cost-effective.

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Many traders quit the trading field because of lots of pressure. When the market is highly volatile, people face problems in taking quick decisions. On the other hand, when the market is stable, people become depressed as there is no change in the values of the instruments. Sometimes traders take high risk, sometimes take a low risk. Similarly, sometimes they face loss and sometimes they get rewards. There are some ways that will help the traders to reduce the headache of these issues. These are being discussed here.

Learn to Control the Emotions

People need to learn the ways of controlling emotions. Emotional barriers can destroy a long time business career within a second. As the Forex market is the place of making money, most of the investors cannot control their greediness which provides them bad sequels. When a person will able to control his or her negative characteristics, he or she will able to regulate the trade properly. On the other hand, because of the fear, many investors do less trading for which they do not step ahead and hit the target properly. A person can take a deep breath and take some breaks, these will help them to reduce the tensions.

Take the Right Decision in the Right Time

Investors are needed to take the right decision to grab the opportunity. Only a good opportunity can bring a big change in the trading career of the investor. When a big change will appear, the businessmen will feel less tension. Every businessman wants to get good rewards to increase the account balance. To reach the ultimate destination, the investor needs to capture the best opportunity within plenty of opportunities. You should not forget that there are lots of competitors who are waiting for the right option so, you have to try your best to get the chance.  And try trade with Rakuten Securities Australia  so that you don’t have to worry about your trade execution process. With the help of a robust platform, you can improve your trade accuracy and gain better profits from each trade.

Use the Indicators Properly

Indicators are amazing tools that helps to determine the different trends. In the Forex market, people are required to do trade with the trend to make more money. So, identifying the uptrend and downtrend is very crucial for the investors. Different types of indicators help in different ways. Some indicators have shown when the current trend will be gone, and the new trend will emerge. This helps the person to take preparation for dealing with the different types of circumstances and eventually makes them better at trading.

Immediately Take a Break

When you see that you have completed all the things what you have decided in your plan, you need to leave the market for that day. On the other hand, if a person sees that he or she is facing a horrible situation, he or she also needs to leave the market. Because, both the situation indicate that a difficult situation can emerge at any time. So, at this time, the best way is to take a break and relax.

Have an Exit Plan

Because of making more money, sometimes the investors do not want to close the positions. But, this creates problems for the investors. In position trading, people hold the trade for the overnight or more than that and they need to give the charge of this to the broker. After doing this, if he or she sees that the market goes against him or her, they might face unbound loss. So, a businessman should set the exit plan and have to close the position according to this. 

These ways will help you to reduce the pressure and do trading with a fresh mind. If you follow these properly, you will able to keep calm in any sort of difficult circumstance.

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E-commerce is an integral revenue stream for any business, and for many companies, it’s the primary driver for growth, brand recognition, and market accessibility. Given the increasing shift from brick-and-mortar to online shopping, especially in the new COVID-19 world, maintaining and developing your e-commerce store is a paramount task. Luckily there are plenty of platforms and support systems out there to ease the burden of development and maintenance, ensuring increased revenue without all the overhead. 

The question for most companies isn’t implementation, but what to target for the biggest bang for your buck. To get you started, below are three easy steps to get you moving and thinking about the bigger picture. 

Step 1: Make Your Site Accessible to All Customers

Seemingly obvious, most customers will decide whether to view your catalog or not within moments of accessing your store. Clunky, difficult, or confusing sites will scare away potential sales and limit your potential. Having a site that is easy to navigate, shows products clearly, and provides flexibility for both the owner and customer are critical for scaling growth and ensuring customer satisfaction–especially among people with disabilities. The goal of any online store is to present products that can be purchased seamlessly and simply by any customer at any time. 

Standard practice requires that sites are ADA & WCAG compliant, which requires some level of specialization. Companies like accessiBe can help reduce the complexity by providing an affordable automated solution and protection from ADA lawsuits. Their website states, “Here’s the accessibility dilemma: small businesses, who make up 99% of the market, knock on our door with a lawsuit worth $30K in compensations, on one hand, a $20K quote for an accessibility project on the other. The source of these litigations is that people with disabilities simply want to be included in the modern, digital era. So they turn to legislation as a last resort.” 

Fortunately, the advancements of AI have enabled companies like accessiBe to solve the age-old accessibility dilemma. This new development allows other businesses to make compliance attainable for every company, creating a real accessibility revolution, and achieving a win for everyone on all sides. Accessible websites, apps, and digital assets provide better customer experiences for all groups of people – in other words, build up your brand recognition and loyalty knowing that the customer experiences you are creating are optimized for everyone, regardless of ability.

Step 2: Control Operational Costs

E-commerce is one of the most effective ways to earn bonus returns on investment. The difference between a cost-effective and cost-prohibitive e-commerce site is the maintenance and overhead required to run and provide new content and continuous updates. Traditional website upgrades (accessibility included) require product-by-product reviews and changes that can reach tens of thousands of dollars, making the process costs prohibitive for most small to medium-sized companies. As with anything else, the right kind of change requires money and the primary focus of any operational function is to mitigate costs while providing world-class service.

A few ways you can reduce costs on your e-commerce store include: choosing the best payment processor, outsourcing freelancers, and streamlining your supply chain management. Instead of obtaining an expensive payment processing system, you should consider using software that allows you to invoice your customers without added fees. If you’re not careful, the high cost of credit and debit card fees can quickly eat into your profits. As far as freelancers go, a good one can be the difference between a productive and a non-productive e-commerce store. By outsourcing administrative and lower priority tasks through a freelancer or virtual assistant, you can free up more time to maximize business efforts – and save money! Lastly, streamlining your e-commerce store’s supply chain and distribution process is one of the easiest ways to cut down on operational costs. Incorporating supply chain management measures (like stocking just the required products), integrating supply chain methods and vendor managed inventory are some of the ways your online e-commerce company can streamline the supply chain process and earn above average return on investment.

Step 3: Optimize your online store for mobile devices

Online shopping has largely shifted from a desktop experience to a smartphone experience. With people being on their phones for hours upon hours during the day, it’s more likely that they are going to come to your site via a mobile device than on their desktop computer. Therefore, your e-commerce store must be mobile-friendly. Morebusiness.com states that, 

“For your products to sell on your eCommerce site, they must be visually appealing to visitors, and they should also be displayed in a variety of different ways to be successful. One way to do this includes going with a good web hosting company that provides many options to help showcase your offerings in their best light, such as image zoom, and that also enables you to display multiple images for the products, so customers can view them from all angles to determine if they may be the right products for them. If you plan to sell on social media, it should also include an option to share your product images there as well”.

This circles back to making sure your website is easy to continuously adapt as new updates and accessibility options are rolled out on desktop and mobile. “M-commerce” as it’s called, has already become a major channel for shopping and changed consumer shopping habits over the last several years. Customers are reliant on their mobile devices now more than ever, and it is only going to inch closer to becoming consumers’ preferred channel for online shopping within the coming years. 

The Takeaway: It’s Now or Never

If you haven’t already started thinking about how to implement or improve your e-commerce store customer experience, now is the time. It’s undeniable how accessibility enhancements can make an e-commerce store more usable for everyone, greatly increasing the likelihood that the product will end up in a customer’s cart. Remember that if you want your e-commerce business to thrive, be prepared to learn constantly and work on improving your store to provide a better customer experience, starting with these three steps!

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We live in the world of automation. As your business takes new ventures, so must its methods. It is highly imperative to upgrade business methodologies with time to stay competitive in this fast-pacing business climate. 

Long gone are the days when businesses used to amass paper-based records in ledger rooms for their accounting. Technology has revamped the way business and accounting work. And businesses that take up automation climb up the economic ladder with time. Small businesses should not run the risk by adhering to traditional accounting practices. In the present-day business climate, running in the business race with primitive and outdated accounting practices will not help you to win over rivals that reap the benefits of technology.

Big enterprises have already accommodated automation for their business accounting. Also, more than half the small to mid-sized businesses are using automation for their business accounting in one way or the other. Primitive practices are gradually fading out of existence. So, it is already high time to embrace automation before your business gets outdated.

Why should small businesses embrace automation?

The word automation resonates everywhere in the accounting sites and business talks. What really is in it? Why does the world take a steep turn on accounting automation? If such questions crowd your mind, you are not alone. These questions itch every small business owner who is comfortable with old accounting practices. Here are the answers.

Automation is not a new trend in accounting. Accounting has always been running with automation but in simpler forms. When people were using the abacus for calculations, calculators came in as the most sophisticated, modern, and expensive equipment in the industry. And then bashed in the computers, followed by a wide range of accounting applications. Today, accounting and bookkeeping have been simplified to an extent where they can be accomplished hands-free. 

Let us set out how automation can push your business boundaries up and forward. 

Bookkeeping is the most time-consuming exercise in accounting when done manually. Some businesses even have to employ people for manual entry or outsource data entry professionals. The average speed of manual keying is 8000 to 10,000 keystrokes per hour. Data entry professionals may even touch 13,000 to 15,000 keystrokes per hour. Think of the speed, it is nowhere near the rate at which software can do it. However, experienced the data entry clerk may be, it takes about 15 hours to feed 300 transactions. Though it seems like a great task, think of it from the automation side. It just takes five to ten minutes for the software to import these values. With automation, your books are done faster.

Accuracy is another severe concern about manual accounting. However vigilant the data entry person may be, there are always high chances of errors in manual data entry. Trivial errors may unintentionally occur. Mistyping a particular value, missing out on a certain column may seem like trivial errors, but will cause huge implications in accounting, especially at the time of reconciliation. But with automation, businesses can get accurate, precise, and intact records on books. As automation software integrates with the applications, the software does every interaction and so the records are error-free and untouched. 

Usually, businesses need someone to push and pass on the process to the next stage at every stage. A business owner will have to call upon his employee to know the inventory status, invoices, and any such information. But with automation, business owners have every information at their fingertips and can check them anytime. They do not have to wait for and rely upon someone to handle such stuff. 

Most of the cumbersome business processes can be automated and apprehensive reports are generated by automation software. This paves way for the business owner to cultivate business strategies and take actions accordingly. Rather than pecking at such menial issues, small business owners can get their accounting done easier, smarter, quicker, and more efficiently. This leaves them with a clear headspace to work on earnest business decisions.

Best Accounting Automation Software

With accounting automation, small businesses can accomplish accounting chores at a higher degree of speed and accuracy. It aims to take away most of the manual elements in small business accounting and so small business owners have more control over things that really matter.

QuickBooks is the most favorite pick for thousands of small business owners and their accountants worldwide for accounting. It can help businesses to send recurring invoices, payment reminders, reconcile expenses, generate reports, take automatic backups, pay bills, prepare taxes, and so much more.  And it is affordable for the feature suite it comes with.

Though QuickBooks is the most efficient accounting software, importing data into QuickBooks is done manually so far. As mentioned earlier, manual keying is the most time-consuming and labor-intensive part of bookkeeping and accounting. Here are a couple of applications to automate and simplify the manual process in bookkeeping with QuickBooks. 

PayTraQer

QuickBooks needs values to do the accounting process for you. It cannot start accounting with empty columns. Manually keying transactions into QuickBooks will take hours. Despite consuming such a long time, the reports may not always be accurate. In such a case, an application that can automatically sync online payments into the QuickBooks account would save hours of labor. PayTraQer is one such application. PayTraQer can sync your online payments into QuickBooks automatically without any human support. By integrating payment systems with QuickBooks, every transaction detail flows directly into QuickBooks without any human touch. This paves way for accurate, error-free, and fresh books all the time. 

PayTraQer is Intuit authorized and is available in QuickBooks App Store. You can install PayTraQer by just clicking the ‘Get App Now’ button. Sign up with QuickBooks credentials and start automating your bookkeeping with their 30-day free trial. PayTraQer can integrate PayPal, Stripe, Square, Clover, and Authorize.Net transactions into QuickBooks automatically, in a snap. 

With PayTraQer, the whole syncing process can be automated, leaving no room for errors. Not only with ongoing transactions, but PayTraQer can also sync unlimited historic transactions as far back as required. There might be chances of uploading transactions that are not needed in the QuickBooks account. In such cases, PayTraQer can effortlessly roll back the sync, delete synced transactions from QuickBooks without leaving any trace. PayTraQer supports transactions in multi-currency, as long as the currency is supported by QuickBooks. 

SaasAnt Transactions Online

Here is another tool that can make importing way easier, just with a click of a button. It is ideal for small businesses that still rely on Excel spreadsheets for their bookkeeping. SaasAnt Transactions can import unlimited bulk transactions from Excel to QuickBooks Online with just a click of a button. Transactions that usually take hours to import manually can be imported in minutes with SaasAnt Transactions. SaasAnt Transactions can also do bulk exports and deletes in a flash. If you are a QuickBooks user, you will really love using SaasAnt Transactions. You shall try using it with their 30-day free trial. 

To Conclude

Having told everything, it is high time to embrace automation for your accounting. Rather than musing with mundane and redundant tasks, try automating repetitive accounting exercises that eat up the most time, to maximize productivity. An efficient automation tool will free you from doing redundant tasks and leaves accurate results in a short span of time. And PayTraQer does this all and is worth a shot!

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Taking risks can be the difference between a thriving business and one that remains stagnant. This usually happens if an owner is afraid to risk any change, growth, or innovation. However, that doesn’t mean you should jump into risk without a definite plan. An entrepreneur only assumes calculated risks, those in which there is a good chance of success.

There comes a time in the life of every small business owner when you have to take some risk. Do you want to increase your customer base? If so, it will require the risk of investing in marketing. 

Do you want to increase production? This requires the risk of opening a credit line at the bank. Without risks, there is no growth; many successful entrepreneurs had to take them at some point to build the megacorporations they now run. However, it’s important to make certain considerations before embarking on your new investment.

Start Small

Starting small is the best way to ensure you’re ready. If things don’t work out as planned, at least it was a slight change. Before taking any risk, carefully analyze all the variables, identifying their pros and cons. If you have the idea of launching a new product or service, do some market research, listen to your customers’ opinions, and identify the competition that you will face.

It’s also important to set specific goals concerning the risk you intend to take: how much investment you will have to make, how long you plan to recover it, etc. Set reasonable dates for meeting goals and assess whether you are willing to take that risk and whether it’s worth it. You may need to go back and set more concrete or realistic goals before moving it to practice. The important thing is to make sure the risk contributes to long-term success.

Talk to Employees

A risk won’t pay off unless your employees support the decision and are on the same page. If you set your goals and objectives in the previous step without talking to your team, it’s better to go back and start over. When taking any risk, you must have the entire team at your side.

This is also a good time to assume the role of a leader. Not as an authoritarian figure, but as someone who knows how to communicate. There are several ways to communicate to your team that the company intends to take a risk:

• Explain Your Plans Clearly– Rather than making rounds or flourishes, try to be clear and confident when communicating your plans. The clearer it is at this stage, the more prepared the team will be to face the challenges with you later.
• Be Positive– If you appear to be tense when communicating your plans or insist on highlighting how difficult and laborious it will be, your team might get stressed. A leader remains calm in the face of the most challenging situations and is ready to deal with crises. 
• After Speaking, Listen– Talking to employees shouldn’t be a monologue. You must transmit messages clearly and listen carefully to the team’s comments and suggestions, showing them that you care about feedback.
• Set an Example– The business is yours, and you are its representative. Show your team that you maintain the same practices you are demanding of them. To lead, set a good example.

Find Insurance

Insurance is necessary before making any business decision. Having a general liability insurance, for example, can protect small business owners from claims of property damage, bodily injury, and advertising injury. This can happen if your business or services harm third parties or their property, or your ads are accused of plagiarism or slander.

Workers’ compensation insurance helps in the case of work-related injuries or illnesses and covers medical costs and wages from lost work. If you intend to purchase a fleet of cars for the company, you should consider commercial auto insurance, which helps cover the costs if you or your employees get involved in an accident. Find the right policy to meet your needs and staff size.

Keep in mind that some factors impact the cost of small business insurance. Your line of business (what you do or sell) can increase your liability risk and consequently raise the cost. The same goes for the area where your business is located (if there are frequent reports of theft or vandalism) and your history of claims. However, the costs can be much greater in the end without any form of insurance.

Learn from Mistakes

It is not always worth taking some risks. Some business owners can leave the experience frustrated and even traumatized because it didn’t work. Others can face the experience more optimistically and accept failure as an opportunity to grow and learn. 

If an incident happens, remember to keep detailed reports of all errors or budgeting mistakes. By accepting failure and analyzing these reports, the mistakes can teach you how to think and plan more effectively next time. You can even use this material to ask for help from professionals in the same field.

Taking Risks is the Key to Evolving

Risks are directly linked to opportunity. Taking risks can be seen as a challenging step for the professional growth of your small business. The whole process can be a bit scary at first, but making challenging decisions is critical in any company that doesn’t want to remain stagnant.

Don’t be afraid to take calculated risks and remain cautious to get the best results out of the process. Remember that if you choose to stay in your comfort zone and take no risks, your competitors may think differently and invest in some new product or innovation, beating you to the sales.

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Many landlords renting out a residential property for the first time assume that their homeowners insurance policy will protect them in the event of a natural disaster, accident, or other damaging event. It is a common and potentially costly mistake.

Homeowners policies generally only cover dwellings that are occupied by the owner. If you start renting the property out to someone else, that coverage no longer applies.

Once you become a landlord, you will need a specific landlord insurance policy that covers your property and extends your liability and dwelling coverage.

Why You Need Landlord Insurance 

Your investment property has value that you will need to protect. Anything from a windstorm that knocks out the gutters, to a lawsuit from someone slipping on an icy sidewalk, could cost you thousands of dollars. Inadequate coverage could be catastrophic for your business and personal finances.

 What Does Landlord Insurance Cover? 

As a landlord, you will not need to insure the contents (personal belongings) of your units. That will be the responsibility of your renters. That said, you may need additional coverages such as income loss coverage in case of loss of rental income resulting from flood, fire, or significant tenant damage to your property. 

 Dwelling/Property 

This covers the structure of your property if it is damaged by a covered peril such as a fire, electric/gas malfunction, or irresponsible tenants. Other structures on your property such as fences, sheds and detached garages should be protected from damages caused by included perils as well.

Try to get a policy that offers coverage for a replacement cost instead of the actual cash value, especially for homes where the fixtures and furnishings are old. Some options offer a predetermined lump sum of cash

Some riders cover additional construction expenses that will cover the cost of having to bring an older building up to current code after it has been damaged.

Other commonly excluded items include damage from earthquakes, water or sewage back-up, and floods. You may be able to purchase additional coverage for this type of loss but be sure you know what is covered before the unexpected happens.

Personal Property Protection 

Landlord insurance does not cover normal maintenance or wear and tear to the property, including landlord furnished appliances. You can purchase personal property protection to cover your personal items/equipment that are used to maintain or service the property, such as lawn equipment.

If you do not have a property management company to handle maintenance calls, you might want to invest in a rider for emergency coverage. It can help you cover some or all the costs you incur traveling to a property if a tenant calls you to fix something such as a leaking dishwasher or was accidentally locked out of the house.

Liability 

While a lot of liability issues will fall under the tenant’s responsibility, if you are found responsible for an injury on your property, liability insurance will protect you legally and financially. It covers medical and/or legal costs that might occur if a tenant or visitor suffers injury due to a property maintenance issue, such as icy walkways or architectural collapse.

Rental Loss Protection

Rental loss covers lost income when the property becomes uninhabitable for various reasons such as severe mold, termites, or a pest infestation. It provides temporary rental reimbursement to cover the rent money you would be receiving if the property were occupied but does not typically protect against tenant default or vacancy.

You can purchase a guaranteed income rider to cover tenant default, which may be worth considering if you cannot cover your mortgage without the rental income and if you think it will be hard to find a new tenant and/or difficult to evict a tenant who is withholding rent due to no fault of your own. This also covers you if a tenant comes up short on the rent one month.

How Much Does Landlord Insurance Cost?

There is a direct correlation between the amount of your premiums and the length of time the property is leased. If you own a vacation rental, the National Association of Realtors say you should expect to pay nearly double in annual premiums if you rent out your home for 12 weeks as opposed to an entire year.

Short-term tenants are less likely to notice or mention maintenance issues. They are more likely to be careless and less likely to understand the layout of the house, location of the plumbing, electrical wiring, etc. This can increase the probability of problems and the insurer’s risk.

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the average cost of homeowners insurance was $1,211, though prices can vary significantly by state. However as rental properties are more prone to damage and incidents, you can expect to pay about 15% more for landlord insurance on the same property.

Most landlords suggest their tenants invest in a renter’s policy and many make this coverage mandatory. The cost is generally about $20/mo.

The Bottom Line on Landlord Insurance

Landlord insurance helps you rent your property with confidence. When shopping for policies, be sure to ask your homeowners insurance provider about bundle options. If you sign up for homeowners and landlord insurance through the same company, you may receive a discount.

As a landlord, you have a lot of things to keep track of. Not only do you want to make sure your property is functional for your tenant, but you also want to be sure you are protected from liability or financial loss should something happen. Whether you own one or multiple rentals, a property management company can help you understand and implement all that you need for a successful leasing business.

Author Bio

Nichole Shahverdi is the Director of Marketing for Bay Property Management Group. Prior to running the marketing division, Nichole worked as the Director of Leasing, working directly with landlords and property owners to protect their investment properties.

Every business is required to appoint a registered agent to receive notices of a lawsuit (aka service of process) and other legal and tax notices. Whether you already own a business or you’re just starting, you need to understand why a registered agent is necessary and how it can safeguard your business.

Selecting just any registered agent to meet the bare necessities of registering the business can have serious consequences. Here are five reasons why your business needs a reliable registered agent.

Meet State Requirements as Your Business Grows

When you file articles of incorporation or articles of organization to form your business entity, you will be required to designate a registered agent. Without listing an agent that resides in that state (and consents to the appointment), the secretary of state will reject your filing until you do.

Registered agents are state-by-state appointments. As your business grows, you will need to list an agent that maintains a physical address in each one. Many registered agent service companies offer nationwide representation, meaning you don’t have to find and manage individuals or separate vendors. 

Regardless of who or what company you appoint, plan to meet the requirement before you file to avoid costly delays.

Ensure Documents Are Reliably Delivered

The registered agent’s primary job is to receive legal notices and forward them to you. In the event of legal proceedings, response time matters.

Some registered agent companies might lack the technology or infrastructure to deliver documents electronically. Some might mail the documents to you, or worse, forward them to another office for central processing.

A reliable agent will also understand and embrace their role. For example, when a process server knocks on their door, they know how to sign for the papers and immediately work on getting the documents to you. On the other hand, will an individual have the same level of training and know what to do in the same situation?

Consider, too, that individuals have busy personal and professional schedules. It’s infrequent—if not impossible—that the average person will truly be available to receive documents during standard business hours, every working day of the year!

Protect Your Business’s Good Standing

In addition to receiving documents, your business’s registered agent can be a reliable compliance partner. For example, most states require business entities to file an annual report each year, but not every state sends these reminders. Instead, they rely on the business to track their own deadlines and file on time. 

When choosing a registered agent, find one that helps protect your business’s good standing. An ideal agent will provide notices of deadlines even when state agencies do not. The agent might even offer filing services to take care of managing annual reports and other corporate filings.

As your business grows, the right registered agent will grow with you, offering a solution every step of the way.

Protect Your Privacy

The registered agent is your business’s point of contact with process servers, state agencies, and the court system. As a result, the agent’s information is readily available in public records. Anyone seeking to contact you is likely to do so via the name and address they find. Of course, this also means competitors and scam artists,can look up your business as efficiently as legitimate stakeholders. 

Many businesses designate an individual, such as an owner or employee, as their agent to reduce costs. At the same time, they might list the business’s actual address or even the person’s home address. 

As a business owner, would you feel comfortable with your personal information publicly tied to your company? Most likely, the answer is “no.”

By appointing a registered agent provider, the business lists that company’s information, not its own. Regardless of where the business registers, this adds a degree of privacy and security.

Maintain a Professional Image

If you’re like most business owners, you care deeply about your company’s reputation. The registered agent you choose can help uphold your professional (and even personal) image.

Take the above example once more. Imagine receiving a lawsuit in your physical place of business, in front of your employees and clients. Perhaps your home address is listed in state records, and you receive that lawsuit at home in front of your family, children, or guests.

Registered agent service companies are known for receiving and forwarding documents discreetly. They save you the potential embarrassment of receiving a lawsuit in front of your most important stakeholders—and that can make all the difference in your company’s long-term success.

Harbor Compliance does not provide tax, financial, or legal advice. The use of our services does not create an attorney-client relationship. Harbor Compliance is not acting as your attorney and does not review the information you provide to us for legal accuracy or sufficiency.

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