It is fair to say, that the only constant in life is change. While I always caution people, that change is not necessarily progress, it is also correct that change is what is creating new business opportunities every day.

It is living with this change and realizing the opportunities change generates that is the important process here. So how could a small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants go about seeing these opportunities?

The answer sounds easy, but requires patience, you need to look at your chosen market segment from the out-side. You have to become a judge, not a participant. Look at all the trends and judge them, find ways to improve upon techniques and find out what people are talking about.

Don’t be blinded by your own business, if you already have one. You must realize, that you can ignore or unfairly discredit someone else’s idea today, only for them to come back and kill your business tomorrow. Fighting a trend is futile and a wasted opportunity.

If something you see is better, appropriate it, in business that is called “best practice sharing” or “benchmarking” - within reason of cause! ST.

When you sign up to WinWeb’s free LiveNet - still in public beta - you can also use our useful and FREE RSS Press Release service.

While LiveNet is an online marketplace for your services and products, which allows you to promote your business to others and find others to help you with work you need to have done. It is also a great place to make new business friends and share experiences.

The PR tool has been around for some time and we have registered this RSS feed with many different search engines and news sites. Using this free service will give your small business web coverage, sometimes even the old media picks it up.

Give it a go - it’s free - and that makes it a great bootstrapper tool. ST.

You may speak more languages and have market segment knowledge about a certain product or service. That is a great basis for a small business startup, two scenarios spring to mind:

Virtual Export Assistant: You may know, or can find a business which has a great product, but they don’t export yet. You could offer your services for a particular country and become their Virtual Export Assistant for that country. You use your language and local knowledge skills and open up a new market for this small business.

Virtual Import Assistant: You could source - using your language and local knowledge skills - products in other countries for retailers in your country of residence. Or you could help the foreign business to import into your country.

But remember you are working with small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, you need to keep the price low for them. To do that you can offer your services to ten or twenty businesses, each paying you a retainer of about $200 - 400/£100 - 200, this makes it affordable for them and low risk, while presenting them with sales opportunities. If they pay you a small commission on top, you are generating a nice little income for yourself.

For this kind of service it would be advisable to get a low cost telecom service for your calls abroad, sometimes you can get fixed monthly subscription pricing for unlimited calls - have a look around.

Other than that your setup cost should be low, if you have computer, ADSL, and telephone. Monthly cost including telephone could be as low as $90/£45.

You can work from home, have your work-life balance and do it on a shoe-string - these are the business ideas I like. ST.

NOTE: If you have any problems with setting something like this up, give our 24/7 live support a “click“, they can help you.

This question is hard to answer, because there are no simple answers here and the outcome of this situation could easily be fatal to the business and if you are personally guaranteeing this money - and you probably are - this could potentially be very serious for your personal life too.

The things that you need to do, in my opinion are:

• Find out why? If the reason given are not satisfactory, you will need to get legal advice.
• Try and extent the deadline? If that is possible reduce the overdraft as soon as you can, or negotiate a stepped reduction of the O/D limit, ie. by month or week.
• Try and change bank, ASAP.

People often believe it is somehow always their fault, if the bank changes their attitude towards them, that is not always the case. Banks will always try and make you believe it is, but in reality they my have new internal guidelines for handing out money - banks can get into “cash-flow” problems too. So - don’t automatically assume it is always your fault.

Banks may have the right to recall a loan or overdraft, but I’m not sure if they have the right to damage your business by doing so - especially if the reason for the recall is not your doing. So if it comes to the crunch, get legal advice. This is one of the reasons why I hate these, IMO, often legal but still unreasonable arrangements between banks and clients.

Many years ago someone made the the loan, O/D - umbrella analogy and it goes like this:

When the sun is shining your bank gives you an umbrella;
when it is raining, they need the umbrella themselves.

It is best if you do everything possible to not need banks in the first place, by bootstrapping, outsourcing, planning your business and keeping your fixed costs as low as possible.

Remember sometimes, attack is the best defense even with banks, they may need their money, but they do not need bad publicity either. ST.

Often you wonder why it is so difficult to get new business from existing clients or new clients, and often the answer to that is we build business barriers.

Time and time again you phone a business and you are confronted with the one of the following scenarios:

• Nobody answers the telephone - that is probably one of the biggest barriers I see over and over again, often not even a answer machine, although I don’t like those either; when you see this happening with virtual assistants (VA), then it’s no surprise that the business is not working;
• There is no contact information on the web-site or e-shop - would you buy from a website, if you don’t even know the name of the business or it’s address, I hope not, even worse if you don’t even have a web-site;
• No call back - you promise your customer a call back and you than forget;
• No staff training - it’s a big turnoff if only the “boss” knows about the products and service, because anyone knows there are only 24 hours in a day for anyone;
• No Credit Cards - you need to accept any type of payment possible, up the price by the credit card fee.

These are just a few points, you need to look at your business with your customers eyes. Learn when you go shopping or order items, write down if you think you got treated badly or if you enjoyed the experience, and then compare it to what you do in your small business or start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.

How often did you get annoyed with some company, not because their product is bad, but it is hard work to place an order? I do very often, and tend to go where it is easy, even if the goods are more expensive.

Make it easy for customers to spend their money with you, it is that easy! ST.

I received this question form a lady working from home, she emailed and explained her business had started of well, she got some clients and kept her costs down. But her turnover is not high enough and she wants to grow her home business. Interestingly she does not want to grow the business more than 20 to 30%, she wants to stay at home with her business. This is not unusual for many small businesses and start-ups, a home business is an ideal way to run your own business.

Getting back to her question, there are really four answers:

• Increase the number of customers - this in turn will increase the your turnover, yielding the extra business you want, while at the same time make your business more recession proof;
• Increase the order frequency from your existing customers - this could be more difficult, you need to find out if you can replace someone else as supplier, or diversify your offering;
• Increase the average order value - same as before, offer higher quality or premium service.
• Increase your own efficiency - outsource more if you can, cut costs this will not grow your turnover, but increase your bottom line, so you can take more money out of the business for yourself.

Once you start thinking about these options you will find out what you can do, often it is a combination of things to do. But you need numbers, so plan your business, get an overview and find out where you stand.

Remember what you can measure you can manage. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.

Good question! When you read many small business publications and online resources, most people talk about growing your business. Sometimes it sound like it is important to grow your business, along the lines of if your business does not grow, it is going backward.

To tell you the truth most people talk about growing their business to attract funding - VC money, loans - believing that this money will help them to grow and this way solve their business problems. Surprise, surprise - that never works and never will, it amuses me no end when I hear some people ranting about VCs, when they not even have a business.

If you achieve your business objectives, whatever they are, why would you want to grow your business? There is no problem in remaining small and as you are, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Work on your work-life balance and enjoy your success.

As Michael Bloomberg - a U.S. entrepreneur and Mayor of New York - once said:

Is your company small you have to do everything yourself? Wait until you’re so big that you can’t. That’s worse.

Could not have said it better myself - there is your answer. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.

This question was emailed the other day, and I must say, in my mind this is only half the question - but first things first. Sooner or later you will think about doing a little more business, protecting yourself more, and that will bring you to the question of changing business and trading environment All small business, micro business, sole traders, freelancers and home businesses can be run in the form of limited liability companies.

A limited liability company - LLC in the US, Ltd. in the UK - is a legal entity, like a different person, so you, the business owner is not direct liable for any debt. The company is to be conducted by laws governing limited liability companies, and providing you do, your company has “limited” liability.

The protection a limited company offers is that when the business fails, and you have to close it down, the company is only liable with it’s assets, i.e any positive bank balance, inventory and other assets.

What does a limited company not protect you from? That is the second part of the question you need to know about.

Answer: Any loans or other arrangements you have made, and signed a personal guarantee for, i.e. a bank loan, or over-draft.

Which brings me back to my favorite topics of planning, credit-control and bootstrapping. If you do not sign any personal guarantees for your limited company, you personally can be shielded from any fall-out in the business - apart from loosing the business of cause.

Think twice before signing a personal guarantee and losing your limited liability. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.

I’m answering three questions here, emailed to me during last week, so excuse the long headline. I will give examples and will let you fill in the rest for yourself.

What are “Fixed Costs”?

Fixed costs are operating cost that are incurred when providing necessities for doing business and have no relation to the volume of production and sales. Examples are rent, some employee costs, property taxes, telephone, heating and interest/bank expense.

As opposed to “Variable Costs“, they only occur in proportion to activity within the business and hopefully that will lead to sales and revenue.

Why should I keep my “Fixed Costs” as low as possible?

When I talk about outsourcing, I’m talking about changing fixed cost into variable cost. Let me give you an obvious example to make my point.

Let us assume you have hired someone to answer the telephone, this person cost you $1,000 per month, and on average you get about 5 calls per day. Most of these calls are not even from clients, or you could take the calls while you are in the office. This $1,000 is a fixed cost, no matter how many calls you get, or if you are in the office or not.

So you outsource it to a virtual assistant, now you pay $100 per month and that includes 50 calls received, each extra call is $1 per call. The $100 are still fixed cost, but you have lowered your monthly fixed outgoings by $900. And depending how often you are in or out of your office, the 50 inclusive calls are probably enough to cover your needs. Combine this with online technology and you can stay in touch anywhere and anytime.

Should that not be the case, then you have “variable costs” of $1 per call, which means you are out of the office, working or enjoying life while it is quiet, for example during holiday season. You phone is professionally looked after in any case.

Outsourcing, bootstrapping (cutting costs), it all means the same for any small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, more money for you, less distractions, and a more recession proof small business, that is why business planning is so important.

Answer: Keep your “Fixed Costs” down. Stay mean and lean, while enjoying your work and life. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.

How long is a string? Let me give you some pointers here, but please remember you can always do more on the cost-cutting front in any small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.

1. Keep your staffing level low. As much as it may hurt, work longer hours yourself, until extra staff is economically viable.
2. Outsource all non-core business activities. This will reduce your fix-cost structure, make your small business more flexible and you can react faster to an economic down-turn.
3. Buy second hand. Do you really need the brand new van? Or computer, or……
4. Work from home, this will not only cut your cost, but may improve your work-life balance at the same time.
5. Let your staff work from home. No office cost, hire a room if you need to on an hourly basis.
6. Use online technology, so you don’t waste time and get distracted.
7. Focus on your core business and sales. Every distraction costs time and money, sales generates money.
8. Bootstrapping. Think before you spend a penny, could I borrow, hire or do it online, get creative.
9. Analyze your fixed cost every month. You will find things you don’t need - trust me you will.
10. Compare and get new quotes. Even if you need the service or product from your supplier, check others all the time, insurance, telephone, utilities, etc.
11. Get better payment terms. Ask to pay in 60 or 90 days, or get an early payment discount.
12. Check your bank charges - you’ll be surprised. Or have it done on a results basis, doesn’t cost you time and gets you money back.
13. Do credit control - get your money in lower your bank overdraft cost and charges.

This is only a short list of what you can do, but it’s a start. Remember even $100/£50 per month is $1200/£600 a year more in your pocket. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.