20 Small Business Tips, For Success

These are just some general tips to keep in mind as you design/operate your small business:

1. Take the time out to explore and understand whether or not you are compatible with running our own business. Some people are just plain happier and better off financially on the other end of the paycheck.

2.Get your personal finances in order. Before you jump into the entrepreneurship world, get your own money matters squared away.

3. Pick your niche. Many small business owners succeed in businesses that are hardly unique or innovative. Take stock of your skills, interests, and employment history to select the business that is best suited for you.

4. Benefit from your business plan. The exercise of creating a business plan is what pays the dividends. Answer the tough questions now before the meter starts running.

5. Do not think you need bankers and investors at the outset of your business. The vast majority of small businesses are bootstrapped. 6. Acquire the proper background. In the early months and years of your business, you will have to acquire many skills. Gain the background you need to oversee all facets of your business well, but determine what tasks you should outsource or hire employees.

7. Remember that nothing happens until a sale is made – How many good products go nowhere because they do not reach the shelves? Sales drive your business. You will need a good marketing plan to sell your product or service.

8. You have to see a customer to know one. N o matter how busy you are, spend at least 25% of your time with customers. You cannot make the proper business decision without understanding their viewpoint.

9. Solve your customers’ problems. The best way to satisfy your customers is not by selling them products but by giving solutions to their problems. There is a big difference.

10.Quality takes minutes to lose but years to regain. Quality is not a destination, it is a never ending journey. After you have strayed from quality’s path, your journey maybe sidetracked forever.

11. Put profitability first, rewards seconds. In small businesses, profitability must come first. Find out how to measure your cash flow and understand key financial ratios.

12. Hire supporters. If you intend to create a growing business, your number one duty is to assemble a great team of employees.

13. Do not do it alone. Find such help from small business peers, a mentor, even trade associations. They can help take some of the trial and error of beginning your business.
14. Vendors are partners too! Treat your vendors like customers and watch your partnership grow.

15. Make use of benefits. Understand how to provide insurance and other benefits for your employees and cut your tax bill at the same time.

16. Ignore regulatory issues at your peril. Federal, state, and local governments require licenses, registrations, and permits. Obey them or face losing your business.

17. Know the tax laws. Invest in understanding tax issues that affect your small business.

18. It’s the people! Whatever happens to a small business happens at the hands of the people who work for it. The evolution of the business is a result of their efforts.

19. Fast, good, cheap. Pick any two. Serious trouble awaits those who attempt to be all three in the market place. Stick with what you do best.

20. Develop a passion for learning. As your business grows, you need to change and grow along with it. One common denominator can be found in all successful business owners and that is a passion for learning.

What Buyers Need To Know About The Car DVD, 6 Questions You Must Answer In Car DVD Player Listings

Almost everybody knows the rule of 10 when it comes to word of mouth.

The happy customer tells one person while the dissatisfied customer will let 10 people know about the bad service they have received.

Nowhere else in the field of ecommerce is this more important than when trading car DVD players. The average car stereo DVD doesn't only attract the person who wants to do the car DVD installation itself, it also involves a whole lot of specific data which plays an important part in how well the car DVD player will work in the car.

It's too late to tell the customer in responses to their questions after they have bought the car DVD from you. You need to give them the right information before they even think about making a purchase.

**So what exactly do you NEED to tell customers before they even make a decision about buying a car DVD from you?**

It is absolutely essential that you cover the following things in your listing:
The file formats and discs it plays
The exact size of the player
The condition of the player
The TV signals it is compatible with
The inputs and outputs it has
The voltage the car DVD operates in

So why do you need to list these things and exactly how do you do it?

*The file formats and discs
The days of there being two or three formats and two or three disc types are over. Nowadays people expect the car DVD to be able to handle CD-R CD-RW and VCD discs.

The formats the in car DVD handles are important too, especially with the increased number of people downloading material from the internet and sharing files.

List each disc type separately and separate out video, audio and picture formats to make it clear to your potential customers what the automotive DVD can do and what it can't do.

A good example might be:
Discs: DVD, CD, VCD
Formats Played:
- Video Formats: AVI, DIVX
- Audio Formats: MP3, WMA
- Picture Formats: JPEG, GIF

*The exact size of the player
A common misconception about the car DVD player is that it just comes in two sizes: 1 DIN and 2 DIN.

In fact, the Deutsches Institut für Normung system just refers to the width and height of the unit and the depth of a player can vary a great deal. Not only that but some car DVDs have an extremely large face plate which could obstruct/be obstructed by other elements in the dash.

As a result it is always a good idea to list exactly what the dimensions are for everything on the player
A good example might be:
Dimensions: L:162 x W:178 x H:100 (mm): Length with front panel = 181 (mm)

*The condition of the player
Are you selling a new car DVD player? Is it reconditioned? Does it have any cosmetic damage?

These are not only vital pieces of information which could mean the difference between happy customers and angry customers they can actually get you kicked off many online auction sites if you get them wrong.

*The TV signals it is compatible with
TV functionality is an important feature for many people who have automotive DVD players because many people fit it in their car to A ensure they don't miss their favorite shows, B put on the TV to keep the passengers in the back entertained.

However different regions in the world use different TV signals with some using analog signals like PAL, NTSC or SECAM and others making the switch to digital with signals like DVB, ATSC and ISDB.

If you say that the DVD player for the car can play TV signals and the customer has to ask which signals it takes you've probably already lost the sale.

A good example might be:
DVB-T Digital TV
- Country presets for England, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic, Taiwan, China, Holland, Australia

*The Inputs And Outputs It Has
The car DVD player is more than a glorified stereo that just shows movies these days. It is a hub which can accept information from peoples iPods, USB sticks or SD cards; help people reverse safer, and - in the case of in dash car DVD players - feed video and sound footage to screens and speakers in the back of the car.

As a result you must tell people what they can plug in and what feeds go out so they know exactly what type of hub they are getting.

A good way to show this is as follows:
Media Inputs / Outputs
- SD/MMC card slot for GPS SD card or SD card with media files
- DVD/CD disc drive
- iPod input (front)
- Mini-USB input (front)
- Aux IN (front)
- Reverse camera input (rear)

*The Voltage The Car DVD Player Operates In
This is more important for older cars (especially diesel cars) but not all cars work on the same voltage. Some were 24 volts while others were 12. Nowadays all new models of cars come out in 12 volts which make things nice and easy for car DVD installation.

However putting the voltage the DVD player for the car operates in is important as not doing so could result in a short, which would lead to your customers' brand new automotive DVD not working at all, or working at a lower voltage and not working as well as it should.

Only by giving customers the information they need in your listing will you be able t o guarantee a happy customer at the end of the day.


In this way your popularity will be increased as a seller and more customers will be attracted to your listings.

What Every Advert Must Know About Advertising

There are many truths to be found about advertising. In fact, whoever you are talking with would tell you about so many things that you should do and not do in order for you to have a successful marketing campaign. So let us start with some of the truths and myths that every advert should know to effectively run an ad.

The only bad advertising is no advertising.
Myth or Truth?

There is no such thing as no advertising actually. Advertising is all about trying to sell something, be it a product, a service, or even a response or action on the part of your target audience. It is therefore conclusive that when you are in business, you must have advertised even once to make a sale. That’s why you are in business anyway – to sell, first and foremost.

So, of course not. Bad advertising is bad advertising. Even if you use the most expensive color printing technology to produce your ad, if it does not result to your main purpose for doing it, then that is a bad advert. No doubt about it. Advertising that does not make a sale is
bad advertising.

Repetition – Again and Again.
Myth or Truth?

To make an impact, you need to advertise repeatedly and continuously. Is it a myth or is it actually true? Contrary to what you might think, it is advisable to repeat your advert – especially if that advertising campaign works. It is beneficial for you to repeat your ad for more than six to eight times. As studies proved it, it takes about the 6th to the 8th exposure to your ads before a prospect becomes a definite buyer. And if it happens sooner than the 6th time, then good for you! It is a rare occurrence indeed that a sale can be had that quickly.

However, the magic word is works. It must have an effect on your target market. If not, then what is the use of repeating it?

A bad advert is a bad advert, no matter how you put it.
Myth or Truth?

No matter how much you repeat your advertising campaign, if it did not work the first few times then it would not work at all. The first run that you may have had a bad advert may be just the circumstance at that time. Or that it was not the right opportunity when you sent it out to your target market. The second time, well, it might still have a fighting chance. But if it is not performing at all on the third try, or
fourth, then you should abandon all efforts because it would not improve at all. Repeating your advert would just be a waste of your time, money and energy.

On the other hand, if on the first few times your advert worked its wonders, then you should keep it running. Repeat your effective color printing ad until you have reached the point in your sales that says your marketing campaign needs to stop. As long as you see an increase in your sales, just keep it running.

Size matters.
Myth or Truth?

It is true that size does matter. But you also have to consider that it has to have a great design too. It is true that in order for you to attract your target readers’ attention, bigger adverts have more
chances. As expert marketers would tell you, if you want to stand out, your ad should dominate. And how else can you do that if not for your large size ads? However, it won’t also matter one bit that your ad is as big as Godzilla if it is poorly designed. Small adverts that are carefully planned will always do better than the big ones without the oomph.

The 7 secret keys to wealth - Key #7: Compound Interest.

This article is one out of seven that I wrote about wealth. The whole series contain a lot of free valuable information about key factors that can help you become wealthy. The rich do things in a different way. That difference is the one I want to explain here. Let's scrutinize together these strategies that can make you more money and help you boost your income.

The whole series contain the following articles . . .

1. Add Value.

2. The Multiple Streams of Income.

3. Passive Income.

4. Residual Profits.

5. Leverage.

6. Specialization.

7. Compound Interest.

Here I will refer to the magic of compound interest. This is the last article on a series that I wrote about wealth. Compound interest is one of the greatest wonders ever discovered by humans. It works like magic. Albert Einstein himself was amazed at the results.

I will give you a few examples for you to start thinking. Let's say that you discover a method to double your money every day without risk. So, you get a penny and invest it. Next day you have two pennies. You invest those two cents. The third day you have four cents and you invest them again. You keep doing this for thirty days and at the end of that time you will have $10,737,418.24.

That's close to eleven million dollars within thirty days starting with one measly penny investment! Do you see why I say that this is an amazing discovery.

There is a legend about the origins of the game of chess. The story tells about a king who was bored to death because he had seen everything and nothing satisfied him. Then one day a man appeared on his kingdom and asked to see the king. The king had offered a reward to anyone who showed something fun to him that made him change his mood.

This man showed the king how to play chess. He compared the game to a battle between kings and showed him the rules. The king was so happy with this fun game that he offered the man anything he wanted from his kingdom. It could be gold, land, anything.

Then the man said: "Your majesty, I only want two bags of wheat for the first square of this game board, double that amount for the next square, double that amount for the third, until the 64th. The king said: "No problem. I am one of the richest kings of the world." He asked the managers of the palace to give the man what he was asking for.

They made a few quick calculations and said: "your majesty, with all your respect, even if we could sow the entire Earth and leave no space to walk on it, there wouldn't be enough wheat in the world to pay the amount this man is asking for."

He had just showed the king another marvelous thing. He had just showed him the mystery of compound interest. This is how investors become rich. This is what I tell you about in my other articles on this series where I mention the phrase of increasing your profits exponentially. Also I call it getting ever increasing multiple streams of passive income.

Some sources of income are completely passive like some liquid investments. Of course, investors also spend time conducting researches so they can make wisest decisions, but compared to other sources of profits, these are virtually completely passive. Some people become rich by using compound interest alone. They invest their money and double it over time. Then they invest it again and again and again until their nest egg grows very big.

Unfortunately there is no known method to double your money every day, nor every week, and I don't know of any method either that you could use to double your money every month without risk. In fact it is as the saying goes: "no risk, no reward." Often the higher the reward, the higher the risk.

Anyway, compound interest is so amazing that if you can double your money every two months and you start with $1,000, you will have over $4,000,000 in about two years. Even if you could double your money every 3 - 5 months, you would be able to retire rich, (even if you start with a ridiculous low amount) within a few years.

People risk their shirt on the financial markets. They offer a chance to young investors to risk it with the side effect that if they make it, they make it. Unfortunately most people lose their shirt on the financial markets. The reason is simple. They approach the markets with a gambling mentality instead of a trading mentality.

Even traders lose money from time to time. Compounding your investments could be very risky. It is a dangerous strategy. Other fields seem more secure but if I choose to compound my investments on the financial markets I better make sure I understand that I can lose it all quickly.

Throughout the years I have seen the following environment taking place. If I expect to make a lot of money quickly, I lose. If I expect to make a little at a time, I make a lot in the long run. What do experienced investors do? They combine aggressive investments with those that seem more secure. They diversify just in case.

Anyway, one important rule about investing and compound interest in general is to start early in life. The earlier you start, the greatest your chance to make a lot in the long run. The problem is that the majority of people can't stand to save something today to get it back in ten years. When you are young, you just want to live your life, have fun, enjoy.

Also young people may have less money than those who are already advanced in their careers. But then, once you start to change your mind and you have the money to invest, it is already a little late. As you can see on the graphic above the secret is to start early. The earlier you start the less money you need to invest.

Some investments are safer than others from my point of view, but I can't advice you of anyone particularly. You have to do your own research. It is your decision. In fact it is your decision whether to invest or not to invest at all. I simply wanted to show you how amazing this concept of compound interest is. This is certainly one of the 7 secret keys to wealth. By the way, now it is not a secret anymore, because you know about it.

I hope this article have been helpful to you. You can read my other articles about this subject on my website if you have not done so already. These seven articles contain key aspects that usually make people rich. But it is not the information what changes lives, it is the attitude. When your attitude and choices start to change, things around you start to change also.