5 Tips for Using Colleges and Universities to Help Your Business

1.

Volunteer your company to be a business school case study. You’ll learn much about your company in the process and get good ideas for the future.
2.

Obtain management and technical assistance from one of more than 50 Small Business Development Centers. Check the U.S. Small Business Administration web site at www.sba.gov for locations.
3.

Participate in special programs. Many colleges and universities sponsor venture capital forums, entrepreneurship centers and family business programs.
4.

Work with the business school to offer internships to graduate students.
5.

Find out what expertise is on a business school’s staff. You may find just the right person to hire as a consultant or serve on your board.



surce: www.score.org

Before you start-up in business

Setting up on your own is one of life’s ultimate learning curves.

Not just about making sure you succeed and earn a living, but also in terms of what it will teach you about yourself. We guarantee that by the end of the first year, your self-awareness will be considerably more acute.

But it’s not just awareness of yourself that is vital to survival in the cut-throat world of commerce – what do you know about your competitors? More to the point – do you know who your competitors are in the first place? What are their weaknesses? What do they charge? Remember that research into your competitors is an ongoing process, as too many failed businesses have discovered to their cost.



Time management is another string you’ll need to add your bow. You need to be prepared for the fact that the usual nine-to-five existence you’ve probably enjoyed so far in your working life may have to become a 12 hour day or longer, at least for the first few months or so.

You’ll have to be prepared to put personal arrangements on hold and maybe even to change social arrangements at short notice. Your closest friends will want you to succeed and will hopefully cut you the slack you need. It’s one of the few downsides to starting your own business, but you know what they say about broken eggs and omelettes.

Money is likely to be your greatest sticking point. Even with a solid business idea, with all the costs of setting up a new business – from computer hardware and equipment to crafting your own website – you’re going to need a little financial back-up to keep you going in the early days.

Set a start-up date and save up with this in mind. Alternatively, you could present a well-structured business plan to your bank manager with a start-up loan in mind. And whenever you are working out costings for your business, always formulate these with the worst case scenario in mind. It’s far better to have a little money left over than find yourself in debt before you’ve even started to generate a profit.

But even though funds are likely to be tight in the beginning, it’s not advisable to try to do everything yourself. Think hard about yourself and write down your strengths and weaknesses. If marketing isn’t your forte, call in someone to help. Likewise, call in a few favours from friends who may have the necessary expertise you’re lacking in those areas.

Similarly, book yourself an appointment with the two professionals you will perhaps need the most during your first few years of business – an accountant and a business advisor. These people really can mean the difference between make and break.

Good ones will have already played an active role in the setting up of hundreds of businesses and will be able to tell you if there is any aspect you’ve overlooked. It’s not difficult to seek out free business advice at the start-up stage. You’re best advised to shop around for an accountant. Try not to pick one on price – select the one who you feel will work best with you and your type of business. Relationship and trust is more important than anything.

You’ll also need to shop around the find the right bank to handle your new small business affairs. Consider factors such as whether you will have an individual available to answer any queries as they arise, as well as what the bank charges for borrowing money and general transactions.

And if, after all of this, you’ve decided that starting a business is the thing for you, you’ll need to think about the business structure you will be trading under – are you going to be a sole trader, set up a limited company or form a partnership?


source : www.bytestart.co.uk

Business Management Tips (part 1Basic Email Management)

Checking email, reading email and answering email can take up hours of time if you let it. But only if you let it.

Is your email killing your productivity? Then it's time for some basic email management. Here are four simple email management rules to help you keep control of your inbox:

1) Let your email program manage your email as much as possible.
Email management starts with setting up and using filters. If you're using an email program such as Outlook, you can configure email rules to send your spam directly to the trash - meaning that you don't waste your time reading and deleting it.

2) Do not check your email on demand.
You don't need to see every piece of email the second it arrives. If you're using an email program that announces the arrival of new email, turn off the program's announcement features, such as making a sound or having a pop-up screen announce the arrival of email. Checking email on demand can seriously interfere with whatever other tasks you're trying to accomplish because most people will read email when they check it.

3) Don't read and answer your email all day long.
You may get anywhere from a handful to hundreds of emails each day that need to be answered, but they don't need to be answered immediately, interrupting whatever else you're doing. Instead, set aside a particular time each day to review and answer your email. Schedule the hour or whatever time it takes you to answer the volume of email you get, and stick to that schedule as regularly as possible.

4) Don't answer your email at your most productive time of day.
For me, (and for many others, I suspect), my most productive work time is the morning. If I start my work day by answering my email, I lose the time that I'm at my most creative. If I'm writing a piece, for instance, it takes me twice as long to compose it in the afternoon or evening than it would in the morning, when I feel fresh and alert.

Answering email, on the other hand, isn't usually a task that calls for a great deal of creativity. So by ignoring my email until the late afternoon, and answering it then, I get the dual benefit of saving my most productive time for other more demanding tasks, and not continually interrupting whatever other tasks I'm trying to accomplish.

What time of day is your most productive? Scheduling less demanding tasks such as checking, reading and answering email outside of your "best" working time will help you make the most of your working day - and that's good email management.


source : www.sbinfocanada.about.com

Financial strategy

Financial strategy aimed at the use of financial resources to support business strategy, both long term and short term. This strategy includes the financial capital acquisition strategy, capital allocation, diveden allocation and management of working capital.
The acquisition of capital usually involves consideration the reasonable cost of capital, the proportion of short-term debt and long-term, the desired balance between internal and external funding, risks and limitations of ownership and the level and form of a lease that must be used. Microsoft to develop the company do shares with a sales price of 21 dollars and 28 dollars closed in 1986. Microsoft’s stock price reached the peak price of 119 dollars in 1999.

Capital allocation priorities include the consideration to the allocation of capital projects, the basic selection of the end of the project and the allocation of capital is allowed without the approval of operational managers managers higher. Microsoft does not share dividend from 18 September 1987 until 16 January 2003. Capital that are used for a project to develop the Microsoft Office launched in 1989 and Windows 3.0, which is issued in 1990. In 1993 the Windows NT 3:01 and in 1995 launched Windows 95 equipped with Internet Explorer and MSN (Microsoft Network). In 1996 the Windows CE.1.0. and in 1997 launched the Internet Explorer 4.0. and in 1998 raised a Windows 98. Windows XP, released in 2001.

The allocation of dividends and management of working capital include consideration of the division of the profit should be distributed as dividends, dividend stability, the form of dividends other than cash, cash flow needs, the minimum cash balance and the maximum credit policy, credit policy billing, the provisions and procedures of payment. Berkshire Hathaway more pressure on the company’s net wealth rather than allocate greater dividends in the division, such as AOL Time Garnet, Exxon Mobil and Toyota.

Toyota Motor Company on 31 March 2007 net profit to total 23.95 trillion yen, an increase of 13.8% compared to the previous fiscal year. Contribution of positive operating income of 720.0 billion yen from 330.0 billion consists yen from marketing efforts, 290.0 yen from the positive effects of exchange rate changes in foreign currency and 100 billion yen from cost reduction efforts. Toyota Motor Company to share half profit as cash dividends for the six months worth of 70 yen per share, up 15% compared to the past period, so the total dividend paid a full year is 120 yen shares. President of Toyota Motor Company, Katsuaki Watanabe, said: “The result is the ratio of dividends distributed increased from 21.3% to 23.4%, continually trying to get to our target of 30%.”

Start businness from accident

Various ways to start a business. One way to start a business is through an event, such as that done by Ruth Handler, Barbie Toys inventor. This is a toy doll children the most successful in the world. Barbie comes from the name of the daughter Ruth Handler, which is Barbara Millicent Roberts. Business dolls started when this day. Handler see the children playing with paper dolls. Then the day. Handler thinks dolls make a more permanent and realistic. Mrs. Handler is the wife of one of the founders of Mattel. In modern management, Barbie dolls that can survive long this is strange. According to Ian Ritchie from the Oxford Group consultant who has worked with the toy company Hasbro children, find the key lessons from the business toys children. Leaving children’s toys to market as quickly as possible is very important. The time required from an idea to stockholders in the shelves of shops toys children can be a difference between success and failure. In the world of marketing dolls election time must be really appropriate. To achieve success dolls must follow the trend movies, books, stories, or the latest television series.
Barbie is a product that is universal and is usually standard. There are also a number of costumes are diverse. More than 100 new costumes are added each year. This is because, Barbie is a woman Renaisansi, a successful career woman, a member of rock band Serious players and football world cup for women.
Success is when deciding the next male friends from Barbie, namely Ken. Ken creation is indeed not accidental, but in fact produce the brand’s expansion outside of the normal. Ken introduced in 1961, which hides in the background, the possibility he was pleased to see Barbie achieve success in various aspects of their lives. Introduction Ken has been laying the foundation for all network expansion to maintain the Barbie brand remains the center of attention.
Barbie is a friend Midge, which established 1963, and younger women, Barbie, Skipper, namely in 1964, followed by 1968, Christie, a friend of color. In 1988, Barbie has a confident, and Teresa is a Hispanic friend. People are Regina, as a friend of Asia was launched in 1992. Younger women is the smallest Barbie Kelly and Becky, who sat in a wheelchair, introduced in 1997. Barbie now has 15,000 combined with the change shirts, eyes, color, but not to change his feet.
Similarly Elton John, created the song “Candle In The Wind II” in the event of passing Lady Diana. The success, because in one month sold 32 million pieces. Even in 1997, keeping VCD containing the Candle In The Wid II, as the Best Product of the year 1997