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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 16 – TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

When was the last time you had time off to just have fun, enjoy being with your partner, your family and friends? What? Not enough time? Too busy attending to your business? Do you realise that life balance is important too, because without some time for relaxation and time out you are likely to get stale, stressed, bad tempered, and risk falling out with those family members and friends that help support you and your life. So time management techniques become more and more important the busier you are and the more your business grows.

Time management techniques don’t have to be boring or dull. In fact, it is quite an exciting challenge to spend a day timing your actions and finding out exactly how the time flies, whilst you are having fun . . . or not!

In this BST I start to look at ways that you can benefit from monitoring your time management using simple techniques to keep track of daily tasks. I look at what is important and what moves you on forward towards achieving the goals that you choose.

Setting goals and achieving them is what will move you forward in your business, and it will help you survive when all around you is failing. It also gives you a far better insight into how long it should take to achieve tasks so that when you are delegating them to others you have realistic knowledge about how long the jobs should take to achieve, instead of getting stressed out because jobs are taking longer than anticipated. This way, you have evidence that will tell you if your staff are taking too long, maybe because they are uncertain as to what exactly you want from them or how to go about doing the job. Assuming that you have clarified this beforehand, you will then be a better judge as to how efficient your staff really are. Using time management techniques can save you time in the long run, and help you move forward quicker.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 15 – ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE FOR BUSINESS II

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 15 – ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE IN BUSINESS II

Once again we are talking about accounting and finance in business part II and today Angela Saunders is mentioning the important aspects of business accounting that can be very important to you as you decide to grow your business.

Angela suggest ways that you can learn more about your business accounts, and bearing in mind that this is a short daily reminder blog series, the points raised are useful to beginners.

If you want to know more about ways that you can develop your knowledge about accounts practices then you should follow this link and consider Angela’s Business Mastery Plan which is designed to help you put together a valuable business plan that will help you to do some interesting accounting that will, in turn, bring you rewards when you want to expand your business or use strategic planning to identify areas of expansion or development.

Here’s the link: http://internetcoachingschool.com/webinarmagic/register.php?wid=4574

Organising your business finance and getting involved, especially in the early days and at times that pressures are off you, will ensure that you can easily and effortlessly hand accounting and finance for business when things get tougher and you face difficult decisions and are put into the situation where you need to make choices.

Don’t miss this episode today!

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 14 – ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE FOR BUSINESS

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 14 – ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE FOR BUSINESS

Do you hate to be involved in business accounting and finance? Is it just a boring part of your business that you leave to anyone else? Do you leave your receipts lying around and unentered into your accounts software or manual books? Well, you shouldn’t because your accounting and finance for business is where your business survival and power of your business lies.

Of course some of you will wonder if I have gone mad when you read the first paragraph of this blog post. Have you ever realised that if you did think that then you are some of the few people who realise how to make your business successful and succeed?

I learned at an early stage of building my first major business (a property development programme that turned a 6 bed-sit house into a 28 bedroom licensed hotel) the importance of meticulous business accounting and dedication to correct financial planning through the support and advice of consultants from the Small Firms Service which existed at that time to help small businesses survive, here in the UK.

If you want your business to develop and expand then you owe it to yourself to learn as much as you can about business accounting and finance, and how to manage the same to your best advantage, for herein lies the tale of your business future.

I hope that this Business Skills Tips leads to you wanting to know more about business financial planning and how you can take your business to the next level.

Good luck to all, see you tomorrow.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 13 – POSITIONING II MEDIA AND MARKETING

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 13 – POSITIONING II MEDIA AND MARKETING

This morning I am looking at positioning II Media and Marketing and how you can get your USP information out there in the world and use this to spread the word about your products and services, and about your story, your route that brought you to where you are today. The releasing of that information will carry your story and that of your products and services out into the market, using media and marketing techniques that still work in 2015.

People love to read the stories in the newspaper. It is the stories in the newspaper that make up the news. Not all of the stories are about celebrities and their often damaged lives. Often the biggest stories that carry the most meaning to the average reading is about the incidents in the lives of ordinary people like us. Using this understanding, you may begin to realise that you have a story to tell. Perhaps it is linked to something going on around us in the world now. Why not tell people about your story and how that connects to the news item. Now that is really news!

As well as that, you can put together a short article about how this story is relevant today. How your struggle, learning and understanding, fight to survive or win through against the odds, or how you turned an idea into something that helps people, advances ideas or products or services that people need, how your products or services that you offer makes other peoples lives enhanced, may help other people feel better about themselves, encourage them to move forward. Go tell your story and put it out there. Submit your article to article directories. Link that to your website. Every business today however you think it not relevant, needs a website in order to tell the world about your treasures.

Market yourself and use positioning to do that. It is a reality of life today in business that you need to get the word about yourself and your business out there. Positioning II Media and Marketing should be your tool.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 12 – POSITIONING BUSINESS AND PRODUCTS

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 12 – POSITIONING BUSINESS AND PRODUCTS

Yesterday I was talking about your unique selling point, and at risk to becoming too boring I wanted to look deeper today into the marketing strategy of positioning business and products. The concept of positioning relates to where you place your presence and your products in relation to others in the market, i.e. competitors, and how you use that to build your brand, get noticed and sell more product.

The term is used in Advertising and has been so for at least 30 years. However, it is just as relevant today as it ever was. Hence my insistence that you fully understand what it means to ‘position’ yourself and your business / products. You can gain great advantage by doing so.

Yesterday I mentioned a book which had great influence on me. I repeat the paragraph about this book here again because I feel that it still works now in 2015.

“Years ago I read a truly valuable book called Positioning – The Battle For Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout which is all about the world of Advertising and how to use less words to create more of an impact, even piggy backing on the 1st class position of your competitors. Marketing strategy is a minefield if you do not have good information to guide you. It is a worthwhile read even though it has been changed from the original for our era.”

So now, if you care to, do a little research into where your products stand in relation to other people’s. Ask yourself, can I put into practice any of the marketing or advertising ideas mentioned in this book? How would I use the position in the market of other competitors to gain leverage in the market? Is there someone who markets their products using a feature that applies to mine, and maybe I can borrow an expression which is recognised as being part of their campaign but alter it to add a statement of my own? Just an idea.

I think Angela positioning business and products understanding shows how important this is in gaining market share and building customer loyalty or increased sales.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 11 – UNIQUE SELLING POINT

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 11 – UNIQUE SELLING POINT

Today’s BST is all about identifying your USP (unique selling point) which is that essence of your business, your service or your trade that makes you stand apart, ahead, from all the others in your field.

Ask yourself today, what exactly it is that you offer your customers, clients, the people who buy what you offer them. Are you unique because of the quality of your product or your price, where are you pitching your products and do they meet your customers’ needs? Have you asked them? If you were to ask them, what do you think they would say? Is there something else that they would like your products to incorporate to make it that much better for them, make them more likely to buy from you rather than your competitors?

Do you know who your competitors are, and where they have pitched their products in relation to your own? A clever business person will have already determined this information – maybe your competitors have already assessed you and your products. Where are your products placed in relation to theirs. Do they come in more expensive, are they of superior quality, do they have a more modern edge, extras that go along with them? All these aspects are so important.

Years ago I ready a truly valuable book called Positioning – The Battle For Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout which is all about the world of Advertising and how to use less words to create more of an impact, even piggy backing on the 1st class position of your competitors. Marketing strategy is a minefield if you do not have good information to guide you. It is a worthwhile read even though it has been changed from the original for our era.

So, I hope that my little BST will trigger something in your mind and make you take a second look at your products and services to see how you can get that edge, using your unique selling point to get results.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 9 – MOVING FORWARD AND ACHIEVING GOALS

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 9 – MOVING FORWARD AND ACHIEVING GOALS

From revolving daily lists, to setting SMART goals, you can move your business forward faster and ensure that you are achieving goals by tackling those jobs that you dread, the ones that make your stomach lurch when you think about them. Having the strength and determination to tackle them, one step at a time will ensure that you get to achieving goals.

Tune in to todays BST and discover some tips that will help you on your way to moving forward. Angela talks about goal setting in this brief blog post. A whole range of webinars are planned from January to March 2015, complete with useful downloads, so watch our podcast show for news about upcoming events.

In the meantime, plan ahead yourself by breaking down your goals into easy to do mini-bites, or even chunks that you can easily digest and make sure that you are moving forward in your business and achieving goals along the way.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 7 – LEARN FROM BUSINESS FAILURE STORIES

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 7 – LEARN FROM BUSINESS FAILURE STORIES

Today Angela asks the question, why do businesses fail? Easy to find out, just read the financial pages and then ask yourself how you can learn from business failure stories.

Some businesses fail because they have not paid sufficient attention to their profit and loss figures and some, because they have neglected customers, clients and other important people that they rely on including their staff, outsourcers and others.

If you want to avoid your business failure then look to your own stories and compare them to other companies that fail. Do you have areas in your business that are neglected? Are your staff undertaking their tasks under excellent guidance, using informative and correct practice, taking care of your customer needs?

Most failures are due to poor delegation, under staffing, over spending, unrealistic projections and lack of knowledge about products, services, customer needs or lack of clear branding or unique selling point. Examine your business plan and check your story against those of the failed businesses. Better still, ensure you have a plan!

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 8 – YOUR MOTIVATION TO SUCCEED

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 8 – YOUR MOTIVATION TO SUCCEED

What is your business motivation? Do you want to be famous, become an authority figure, use your income to perform humanitarian actions, or just make loads of money and retire early?

I am asking questions again. Today I am thinking about what your business motivation is all about. Do you know for sure why you want to be in business and why you are pursuing the direction that you have chosen? There is no shame in being in business for the money! In fact, most successful entrepreneurs admit having a taste for making large sums of money. Sometimes it is for the challenge that excites them, sometimes for the power it brings them, sometimes just because they like to spend money on nice things.

Others are in their business so that they can help people. Maybe they run a consultancy, a therapeutic practice, work at a trade – all these businesses help other people directly. Some people want to earn a position of authority and being a business person brings that to them. Academics and lecturers may enjoy having other people listen to them and the role they play in enlightening others – and, of course, the authority.

Whatever your motivation for being in the business you are in, there might be days when your motivation flags a little, so refocus, build a picture of your success, and enjoy the journey. Make every day an adventure and use the challenge to work towards your dreams. Expand your level of motivation and watch your success take off.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 6 – BUSINESS MODELLING AND CUSTOMER PROFILING

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 6 – BUSINESS MODELLING AND CUSTOMER PROFILING

Sounds like a heavy title, eh? Actually it is all about methods that can ensure your business success that are easy to do, cost very little and can save any business person time and money in building a business model that is bound to succeed, and customers that are truly happy with what your business has to offer. Using business modelling and customer profiling you are bound to enjoy increased income and a big list of happy customers.

So, in this short session Angela shares one or two methods you can use these concepts, which say more about childhood copying and using selective probing questions than it does to scientific methodology.

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Angela used business modelling herself when she was setting up her hotel business, and through contacts in the Chamber of Commerce she located other hoteliers who shared information with her that greatly advanced her business. Later she developed customer profiling and used it to discover exactly what her customers needed, and designed products to meet that need, both sensible and good business practice.