business consulting

Useful Advice for Starting A Business

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Portal CFO Starting Your Own Business Photo

A lot goes into establishing a business and building it to the point of realizing profitability, and for that reason, the decisions you make at the initial stages are critical. You also need to give room for mistakes as a budding entrepreneur because they allow you to learn through experience! In this post, we have summarized three main pillars of getting a new business off the ground. Read on to learn some useful advice for starting a new business.

Start Today

Time waits for no one, which means that the perfect time to start a business will never come. The opportunity you are seeking to implement the business ideas you have on paper is here; it is today. Many startup ideas do not kick off for various reasons, which means that they will only remain a dream if you do not act. For instance, if funding is a challenge, you cannot wait to save enough as an aspiring entrepreneur. You only need to start with what you have right now, and soon your enterprise will be up and running.

Pursue Your Passion

If you are considering becoming independent and you do not have an idea of what kind of business you should begin, focusing on your passion can be a starting point. Venturing into any field in the marketplace is not advisable as well because it is one of the reasons why most startups fail. Pursuing what you genuinely love as you get into the business arena brings a sense of fulfillment in life, and over time you will join the league of those who own large enterprises.

Embrace Progressive Growth

As you start your business do not bite more than you can handle. Trying to work your enterprise into a multinational as soon as you begin is not a wise idea either. Instead, set realistic goals that will help you build your firm over time. Small incremental goals encourage continuous business growth and adopting the latter strategy gives you a better sense of how to maneuver challenges and seize opportunities.

Remember, running a business does not need to be complicated.  Keep it simple!

For more ideas on how to keep your business healthy and thriving, check out our website at www.portalcfo.com.

4 Exciting Ways to Grow Your Business

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Instead of spending a lot of time (and much needed capital) on uncovering new ways to grow your business, focus your investment on streamlining your current model. Empower your staff to work more effectively at meeting the customer’s needs. Give your clients a reason to take another look at what you have to offer! Here’s what you can do differently!

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How to Keep Employees Happy in a Family-Owned Business

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One of the most difficult challenges to tackle in a family-owned business is the perception that employees who are part of the ownership family will be given special treatment when jobs open up.  The important thing is to make sure that as an owner, you do the best you can to make sure that those feelings don’t arise in other employees.  One of the biggest risks of that line of thinking is that your talented employees will be constantly looking toward the exit if they feel that there are no opportunities for advancement within your company.

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3 Simple Ways to Improve your Decision-making Skills

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One of the most important things for any small business owner to do is to make sound, effective decisions. This is easier said than done, of course, as there can be many outside influences that can pressure a decision-maker. Sometimes, decisions will be rushed by time, while others may be influenced by financial pressure. Sometimes a decision will have to be made while an entrepreneur is juggling many tasks at once, making it difficult to devote his or her full attention to the question at hand.

That’s why it is important to focus on some of the methods that can help you to develop strong decision-making skills.  These methods will enable you to implement them when you are under pressure to make the right move quickly and confidently. Let’s examine three methods to consider.

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How to Manage Small Business Finances

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small business finances

Many small business owners are individuals who had a great idea and executed on it, but may have a little bit less experience when it comes to the financial side of a business. Obviously, not all business owners have accounting or finance backgrounds, but they still have to learn enough to manage small business finances. Here are a few tips to help you keep your small business finances on track.

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Small Businesses: Choosing Health Insurance Penalty

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After the Affordable Care Act passed last year, a lot of analysts and business owners began discussing the impact that it would have on small business health insurance. The law requires small businesses with at least 50 employees to provide health insurance to their employees who work 30 or more hours per week, on average.

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Internet Sales Tax Bad News for Small Business Taxes

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If you’ve got a small business that sells products online nationwide, despite being physically located in one state, there’s a bill heading for Congress that could cripple your growth opportunities. The worst part is that it’s being touted as a law that could help the brick and mortar side of your business to compete with online businesses, which may mislead some small business owners into supporting it.

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Online Options for Small Business Financial Management

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online options

When it comes to small business financial management, there are a number of options available and each has a wide array of features and distinctions that separate it from the competition. It would be impossible to review every single small business financial management tool available, but below are some of the basics about the most prominent tools available.

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How to Cut Costs at the Bank

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Today’s guest blog post is from John Gower from NerdWallet  www.nerdwallet.com

Cut Costs at the Bank

There are a multitude of areas in which a business owner might choose to trim expenses, but one that is often overlooked is the cost of day-to-day banking transactions. You may have had the unlucky experience of incurring bank fees in your personal finances, and the same concern applies to businesses. That’s why shopping around is critical to finding the best bank account for your small business needs.

Maybe your new business needs a financial institution to meet its banking needs. Or perhaps your established business is coughing up large sums in bank fees and service charges with regularity. In either case, it may be time to look for a new business checking account.

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How fast can I grow my small business?

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Many small business owners ask the question, “How fast can I grow my small business?”  The simple answer to this question is, “It depends on how much capital you have.”  I will use the example of a boot-strapped Service Company.

You start your business with $10,000.  You buy a desk, a chair, and a computer.  You land two new clients which means that you are making enough money to pay your overhead, pay yourself, and still have a little money left over.  Congratulations, you are on your way!  You land two more clients.  Then, you find that you can’t handle all of the work by yourself anymore and you need to hire some help.  You hire some help.  You are still able to pay your overhead, pay yourself, pay your help, and still have some money left over.  Your small business is growing and you are managing your growth in the most perfect way possible!

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