5 Smart Accounting Tips to Help You Manage Your Startup

Startups and small businesses are sources of both excitement and frustration for their owners and managers. And one of the biggest sources of the latter is accounting for all the money that goes in and out of the company. However, bookkeeping doesn’t always have to be a big source of headache for budding business owners.

Startup accounting tips

If you’re thinking of ways to make your processes easier, then read on for some smart accounting tips that might just do the trick.

Separate Your Personal and Business Accounts

If you haven’t already done this, then you should get on it as soon as possible.…

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4 Benefits of Switching to an Online Inventory Management System

There are several reasons why more and more people are turning to online platforms to shop. For one, they have a wider range of products to choose from, which may even include items that are only available overseas. The price points are also quite competitive and various payment options can lead to even more savings for the customer.

Using online inventory management system

But perhaps the most compelling reason for most people to buy online is convenience and speed. In fact, customers expect businesses to do everything they can to deliver the products on as quickly as possible, especially if the online store makes the delivery earlier than the promised date.…

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3 Mistakes to Avoid When Getting Corporate Headshots

Getting corporate headshots are important for marketing yourself or a small business. For an individual, your LinkedIn or other online profile gets many more views with a headshot. For management teams on the company website, headshots are an essential first impression with potential customers.

Headshot photography

So, if you’re in the market for getting headshots there are at least three considerations to avoid getting a bad one.

Don’t Use a Selfie

First, never use a selfie. At least one recent survey demonstrates why using a selfie for a corporate headshot should be avoided. The results found that 88 percent of hiring managers find a selfie for online business profiles like LinkedIn to be “unprofessional.”…

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Complete Guide To Starting Your Own Business

There are many amazing benefits to starting your own business – you have the flexibility and freedom to be your own boss and choose your own work schedule, plus the potential to receive incredible financial rewards. However, setting up a business takes hard work, time, and dedication, so you want to do everything possible to make sure it’s a success.

Business people starting a business

With this in mind, here’s a complete guide to starting your own business.

Develop the necessary skills

Advancements in technology mean that businesses are constantly evolving to meet the growing needs of modern society. It is therefore important that you develop the necessary skills and knowledge to be successful in the every-changing business world.…

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5 Benefits to Working with Real Estate Agents

Not working with a real estate agent can be tempting. You might do some reading and decide that you know enough about it to just do it on your own. Plus, you won’t have to worry about losing money on a realtor’s commission if you do the work yourself. This seems like a good idea, but this isn’t something you want to handle alone.

Real estate agent on the phone

Many people go wrong when they try to buy or sell a home without a real estate agent. There are plenty of things in life you know that you aren’t qualified to do, so you hire a professional.…

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The Benefits of Using Accounting Software for Business

Running a business requires that you pay attention to many financial details. And, even though you may find it entirely possible to manage your personal finances without using any specialized software, managing business finance is far more time-consuming if you’re trying to do everything on your own.

Accounting software benefits

Hiring an accountant to look after the books for you is a popular option, but if it’s not in your business budget, you might be wondering if there’s anything else that you can do to make balancing the books easier without having to go through everything manually.

Accounting software products are designed specifically with business owners in mind, and offer a wide range of advantages including:

1.

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5 Ways to Stimulate Questions During Your Panel Discussions

Panels attract attention primarily because of their speaker lineup—the audience attends because they want to hear the individuals in question weigh in on a certain topic. So, it’s easy to forget the importance of the glue that holds it all together: the moderator.

Comic Con panel discussion

photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia

Moderator may be a more understated role than panelist, but it’s quite literally the make-or-break factor on whether a panel is successful in achieving its goals and engaging the audience.

When you’re moderating a panel, your biggest responsibility is to stimulate great questions—these are the gateways to insightful answers. Keeping things flowing with quality questions gets panelists engaged, which in turn gives audience members a reason to care and retain what they’re learning.…

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7 Ways To Future-Proof Your Small Business

As a small business owner, you don’t always have time for the little details that help your business run successfully. Answering every email, following up with every lead. These can all slow you down especially when you’re managing accounts and nurturing prospects.

Work process automation

If the administrative aspects are occupying too much time, here are some resourceful ways to automate work processes.

1. Automate customer communications

First impressions matter. About 58 percent of customers open welcome emails versus 15 percent that receive offers for promotions (when they’re not shopping). After a sale, use automation software like MixMax to send a welcome email to new customers.…

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3 Reasons Why Your Company Should Have a Staff Retreat

Work has an emotional pull that keeps people checking their emails and worrying about work even when they’re supposed to be resting. In the midst of all this stress, it’s becoming clear that taking a real break is as good for business and for the employees who operate it.

Staff retreat to the mountains

Retreats let everyone reflect

When every day is the same, creativity suffers. Taking time to reflect not only refreshes you physically, but it also frees your mind to be creative. It’s not at all uncommon for a business to have certain habits for no better reason than “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”…

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4 Ways to Effectively Address the Cyber Skills Education Gap

America has more than 30 million small businesses with fewer than 500 employees apiece. These companies pay almost half the wages in the country and are huge engines for job creation. For too many of them, however, cybersecurity isn’t a pressing priority.

Businesswoman learning about cybersecurity

We learned this in the Q1 AppRiver Cyberthreat Index for Business, which surveyed more than 1,000 small to midsize businesses. The results reveal that 58% of respondents consider the importance of cybersecurity to be “high” or “very high.” Another 78% say that cyberthreats are on their mind some of the time. These are positive signs, but they’re not the most revealing takeaways.…

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