Category: Business Blog

Business Blog

Time to Start Outsourcing?

There’s a time in every entrepreneur’s life where things start going really well, and whilst this can be an exciting time filled with optimism, it’s also a phase in your business that should be approached with caution.  This time of prosperity is somewhat precarious for a fledgling business and the most important thing to consider at this stage is outsourcing key tasks in order to keep you in the position to working “on” the business rather than “in” the business.

 

See, no man (or woman) is an island and if you feel the need to do everything yourself – you’re robbing your business of the growth it craves and denying yourself any kind of life outside of working.

 

Today, there’s a plethora of specialist companies you can offload specialist tasks onto, as an example AM 18 Consultancy could help with all your data analysis needs; or if you’re on a together budget you could choose to work with virtual assistants.  

 

The great thing about virtual assistants (VA’s) is that they often live on faraway shores where the price of living is much lower, thus offering you great value, and they can help with a wide variety of time consuming tasks such as content marketing, social media management and business research.

 

The question, is whether you should hire a virtual assistant (most likely a lot cheaper and an overseas country such as the Philippines or India) or a local based physical assistant?  

 

The answer will most likely boil down to an equation of budgetary constraints, what you require the assistant to do, working hours, and your personal working style.

On the one hand, there’s a feeling of reliability knowing someone is available in the next room, yet this ‘traditional’ way of hiring a personal assistant comes with a substantial administrative and financial burden in the sense of sick pay, holiday pay, taxes, and specialist equipment.

 

Working with a ‘virtual assistant’ is easy to set up.  Essentially, you offer them the job and they are good to go.  There’s no set-up cost in terms of supplying equipment and there is a sense of flexibility about the relationship, in that you can have it as on-demand service where you are only charged for the work undertaken each week; whereas with a physical assistant would most likely require a minimum term contract.

Communication can, of course, be much easier when dealing with someone face-to-face and there are social benefits in terms of the camaraderie and friendship that can come from having a live assistant; however, flip this on its head and the social vibe could head toward ‘office politics’ and resentment.

 

There is a sense of commitment from a physical assistant that you are unlikely to feel with a virtual assistant, in part because you are sharing the same physical space, but that does not mean a virtual assistant cannot be equally, if not more, committed to you and your business.

 

Your concern is possibly more justified that the virtual assistant may not always be available when you need them, whereas, the live assistant in the next room to you – is reliably going to be around for when you need them, but the fact that someone is local does not in itself mean they are better qualified.  Indeed, many virtual assistants in countries like India have Master’s Degree and charge a fraction of the cost of a more local inexperienced assistant.

Business Blog

Early Decisions To Boss If You Want Your Business…

When you are starting out with your business, it is likely that you will be struck with just how many decisions you need to make. These decisions are part of the fun and something which will be essential, but they are also inevitably going to be difficult – and a lot rides on them as well. Certain decisions are more important than others, and it makes sense to focus on those as best as you can above the others. In this article, we are going to look at some of the early decisions which you really need to get right if your business is to succeed as much as possible in the future. Boss these for a stronger business.

 

Company Type

When you are setting up and forming your business, you will want to have a long think about the type of company that you want it to be. There are many different legal types or structures for businesses to have, and they each have a range of different characteristics which are worth considering. As long as you make the right choice here, you will find that it really does improve your chances of success later on in the business’ life. One of the most common types is the limited company. There are many reasons to start a new limited company, but one of the main ones is that you will be personally separate financially from the business – which could save your skin if anything goes downhill later on. Know your types and choose the right one. It really does make a difference.

Target Audience

You need to have a strong sense of who it is that is buying your product if you are to start off in the right way. This is a decision which you simply cannot overlook, and it’s something which you will find yourself wondering about for many months before you actually get it right. However, it’s relatively easy to work out as long as you think carefully about who is likely to make good use of your products. As long as you are clear on that, you will find that you can get to the bottom of this – and once you have made this decision, you will be able to expect a much brighter future for your business on the whole.

When To Quit

It might sound defeatist, but one of the biggest and most important decisions you can possibly make is to know when to quit. Half of all businesses fail in the first five years, so if you want to be ahead of the rest you need to be a realist and make sure that you have a strong and realistic sense of what you would do and when were your company to go downhill suddenly. While you might not want to make this kind of decision, if you do then you will be able to approach your business in a much stronger and more enlightened way – and it really could make a world of difference.

Business Blog

Getting to Grips With Different Types of Trading

Growing up in a capitalist society, we are no strangers to the concept of trade. We are taught from a young age that we trade hours of our lives (and efforts) for cash, then trade this cash with others to get our hands on a whole host of products, goods, and services that appeal to us. But this simple process often becomes so ingrained in our consciousness that we forget there are different ways to trade. We don’t necessarily have to swap cash for personal goods directly. There are all sorts of other trades out there that can see you investing money in a good that we intend to sell later, trading assets for assets without cash involved at all, or trading shares in companies rather than engaging with the stock that they actually have for sale. So, to stir your imagination, let’s take a look at a few alternative forms of trading that you might like to consider engaging with!

 

Contract for Difference Trading

Contract for difference trading or “CFDs”  are a popular form of derivative trading that allows you to speculate on the rising or falling prices of fast-moving global financial markets, including forex, indices, commodities, shares, and treasuries. There are various benefits that come hand in hand with contract for difference trading. It is relatively tax efficient, as there is no stamp duty to pay, and you can also “go short” or sell up if you feel that prices on the market are going to go down, or “go long” and purchase more if you think prices are going to go up. The first steps into cfd’s are to read up on the area and gain as much professional advice as you can. This will allow you to get to grips with everything you need to know to make a success of your engagement with this venture!

 

Forex Trading

Forex trading, otherwise known as foreign exchange trading, will see you take to the foreign exchange market and trade one kind of currency for another. Now, people associate the exchange of currency with spending money for holidays, as this is perhaps the only time that they will look into the market. But when you take into consideration the sheer amount of trade that goes on between one country and another, never mind, multiple countries in huge deals, you’ll realise that the exchange market is used a whole lot more in business than anywhere else. So, getting involved with profitable exchange rates could really be a little money maker for you! Again, you’re going to have to do a lot of research and also be vigilant about keeping an eye on the market. But the dedication could see you make a significant amount of cash out of it.

 

These are just two alternative forms of trading that you might like to consider. You may not be familiar with them. In fact, you may never have even heard of them before setting eyes on this article. But they’re well worth engaging with on some level!