Evaluating the Potential of Extending Credit to Your Customer

There has been an ongoing debate among business owners as to whether or not extending credit to their customers is an ideal practice to consider. The reality is that you’re providing your products or services upfront, with the hopes that the customer will repay you at a later date. Of course, there are various risks involved that should be considered, but with the proper management of your cash flow and credit departments, extending credit to deserving and qualified customers can prove to be less of a risk and more of a competitive edge.

Agreeing upon credit extensions

Reality Check: Times Are Rough

Though the global economy is recuperating at a pretty steady pace, it doesn’t negate the fact that many people are still facing financial difficulties.…

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5 Eco-Friendly Changes You Can Make to Your Office Space

A lot of business owners put off making eco-friendly changes to their office spaces and businesses because they believe that those changes are expensive. If we’re being totally honest, the actual implementation of those changes does usually cost money–sometimes a lot (like with the solar paneling we mentioned here). What makes that cost worth it, though, is the amount of money the change saves you over time. Many of the upgrades and changes you make really do end up paying for themselves.

Eco friendly light bulb

Here are five of those types of changes:

1. Install Eco Friendly Lighting

Did you know that CFL bulbs actually aren’t the most energy efficient bulbs out there?…

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5 Small Business Cybersecurity Fixes

In today’s world of accelerating technological advancements, it’s almost hard to imagine a small business not using technology. However, as a small business owner, you may find it increasingly difficult to keep pace with current trends. Yet technology is too important a piece for you to leave out of your business jigsaw puzzle. If you do your best to stay on top of technological changes, your business will grow faster, much faster than your competitors in the marketplace. This difference will be on many orders of magnitude.

Cyber security

There is a good reason why tech companies have valuations in millions or billions.…

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Ways to Improve Your Brand Image with (Relatively) Minimal Effort

Do you really understand the power of a great brand?

  • It allows you to dominate the market
  • It increases the rate of referrals
  • It becomes a major point in the decision making process
  • It creates a strong, opinionated, passionate community
  • It keeps people coming back for more

Brand sign

With all these great benefits you would have to be mad not to pour your resources into branding.

The issue with building a strong brand isn’t about covering the fundamentals but kicking it up a notch and doing that little bit extra to help you differentiate from competitors who may have equally powerful branding in the marketplace.…

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Moving a Business Overseas: What You Need to Know

It’s the dream of all small business owners to extend their reach well beyond their local marketplace because it opens the opportunities to grow a larger brand (and higher profits).

Doing business overseas

The web has facilitated much of small business growth because it demolished the physical borders and barriers, but there is still something to say about having a real presence in a foreign marketplace that cannot be replicated through online commerce alone.

Moving a business (or parts of it) overseas brings with it a wide range of benefits:

  • There are, at times, very little competition within the marketplace for experienced businesses
  • Foreign workers are plentiful
  • Many financial benefits are to be had when moving to certain regions
  • A physical presence allows the business to become one with the community
  • It progresses the brand and opportunities to franchise the business within the new marketplace

The benefits of moving a business (or part) overseas is stacked in the good category but it is important to know some of the issues and “snags” one may face when making the transition.…

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