Business - How To Be a Successful Businessman

By Anna Poelo

To be successful in your business ventures, what is really important is your attitude to your work and everything you do. This is what makes you a successful entrepreneur in the end. How exactly is this? Let's break it down.

Passion For Your Business: You should be passionate about what you do and the business you want. There are others who don't think that it's important to believe in the products or services that they offer. This is actually very crucial, because believing in your business, and in yourself, can be obvious to your customers. What the customers see can affect how your business goes.

Go For the Goal: Like every plan and business, it is important that you have set yourself short-term and long-term goals. This will ensure that there is something that you are working for rather than just get lost on the path. Your goal is also important for you to formulate ways and strategies to use to further improve and expand your business. The short-term goals should lead to your long-term and ultimate objective.

Make Up Your Plan: With the goal in mind, you'll then have to make up strategies to reach your desired results. Marketing and business plans should cover all aspects in your business --- marketing tactics, budget and financial objective, logistics, your target market, etc. Research and adjustments will be needed to know how to effectively execute your plans. Do not be hesitant to employ whatever resources you can get hold of to achieve your goal.

Follow Up: When you are in the execution of your plans, make sure that you've established your priorities straight and clearly. Follow up on daily and weekly reports and keep track of everything. This task will naturally require effort and commitment from you. It may seem tiring at times but learn how to keep a cool head and accomplish what needs to be accomplished. It can help if you keep a time diary or work schedule for your daily activities.

Balancing Your Professional Life With Your Personal Life: As your work will be taking up a lot of your time, you should learn how to balance it with your personal activities. It's nice and refreshing to take a break at times, and you'll need your mind to be fresh and alert when you encounter problems with your business. Don't forget to mind your health. A healthy body contributes to a healthy mind. Take exercises if you need to and power up.

Continuous Research and Study: As business patterns and the economy evolve, it is wise to always keep up with the news and evolve with it. There may be opportunities hidden in the oncoming business trends. Continuously studying and improving your business is beneficial and may even be crucial for it to grow and expand.

In every step of the business process, you need to have commitment and passion to keep on the business. This is the right attitude for businessmen. Without the right attitude, your business may become sour and would result in a loss.

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By Peter Venero

As a business owner, the responsibility for the success of your organisation falls on your shoulders. With the markets in the delicate state it's in, wouldn't it be nice if you were one of the businesses that was not affected? Here are 8 Business New Year Resolutions that will help you succeed at enjoying that rainbow at the end of the storm.

1. I will Promote and market my business. This is important if you want to seperate yourself from the competition. Focus on value added benefits and the bargain your particular products and/or services offer.

2. I will focus more on customer service. People are looking for the personal touch from local businesses. Don't disappoint them. Make an effort to know your customers and their needs.
3. I will communicate more with my customers. It is your customers that should come first. Treat them well and stay in contact with them - and they will return. There are many ways to do this. It can be as simple as a printed newsletter sent out once a quarter, an e-mail message reminding them about your new and improved services, personal telephone calls to your best customers, or improving your web site.

4. I will upgrade my technology. You've been putting it off too long. It's time to start using the Internet and other new technologies to your advantage to improve your business. We'll be go over some handy tips in fourth-coming installments.

5. I will work more efficiently. Can you identify three things you can do to be more efficient and effective in your current job? Are you spending too much time on e-mail, for example? Too much time returning phone calls? Does it interrupt your work too frequently? Sometimes, those job inefficiencies are not very obvious. However, if you can specifically identify them, then those inefficiencies can be eliminated and you can become more productive. This can increase work satisfaction as well.

6. I will increase my working network in and out of my immediate area and inside and outside my company. Could you use getting to know more people? Can you meet more people not just to say hello, but to find out what they do, how they do it and what skills they use to be productive? Let them know about your traits, abilities and interests, too. Ask yourself if you can you interact with them to mutually benefit both your jobs. Can you include them in your circle of contacts so that you can call on them when you need a favor, a contact, or a reference? The reverse should be true as well.

7. I will re-evaluate my business model and business plan. It might be time, in light of the economic situation,to look closely at your products and services to better focus your resources and target your promotions.

8. I won't get stressed out! Do whatever it takes to keep yourself healthy and sane in the New Year. Enroll in a calming yoga or metaphysical class. Remember, your customers count on you to be there for them. They are, in a real sense, like an extended family. So, exercise, eat wisely, and stay focused.

Have a happy, healthy and most prosperous 2009.

Peter Venero has been doing business online since 1999. Peter also runs his own consultancy Creatiq http://www.creatiq.com in Sydney, Australia where he works directly with small business owners on improving their own online business in areas such as selling online, strategy, technology and design and getting more clients.

By Bob Vamvas

These days our consulting and training practices are busier then ever! Why? Because our strategy is to become part of the solution not sell something that you don't need. Let me explain...if you have a delinquency rate of 25% do you have a people performance, training or business practice issue? From our perspective you have first a business practice issue and secondly a people performance measurement and expectation issue. Once solutions to these issues have been embedded in your business, THEN you might have a self storage training or HOW TO issue.

For instance, when creating solutions to correct delinquency we'll ask you to expound on your business practices such as your auto debit/credit solutions for your tenants. Further, we might assess the kind of information you capture during the leasing process, how often you keep this information updated and what kind of late fee you assess. These are all business practice issues.

From here, we would then look at how you're measuring the performance of your staff (an in depth look at this is forthcoming). Ask yourself: What are my expectations for my staff and how do I FORMERLY communicate these? Do I have a metric and measurement system in place that my staff understands? How often do I FORMERLY conduct a performance appraisal?

And, did you know there are certain personalities who will out-perform others? For instance, if you've decided to start a records management business, you must hire someone who's more sales driven, persistent yet professional because that person will be interfacing with law firms, doctors, CPAs and other professionals. So then what does their job description say?

There are countless performance management criteria you need to address...and all of this before we conduct...self storage training! From our experience the key to driving success in a manager-centric industry like ours is how well we train our people (assuming everything upstream is done correctly). What discrepancies do they have in their performance based on the expectations previously communicated to them? How often do you train them? What kind of self storage training do you conduct? What are the various training delivery processes can you incorporate without negatively affecting your business.

So, if you're thinking about retaining someone to conduct self storage training, step back and first ask is it practices, performance or people? Don't know? Call.

Bob Vamvas and Bob Copper
Self Storage Training Online
866-269-1311

By Jon L Iveson

Budgets are really tightening. Layoffs have come in droves. In fact, as I write this article, it was announced that more than 50,000 layoffs occurred yesterday. Tension is high on all fronts. And uncertainty is clearly dominating the minds of most people.

Staying positive doesn't mean you ignore current reality. It means operate with optimism and hope despite the negatives of the current bleak reality. You face the brutal facts of the situation but you never lose faith. It is more than the passive hope that comes with going to bed and praying that the nightmare will be over when you wake up.

Now is a time to focus on the right basic fundamentals and look for opportunities to test new inspired and leveraged action to create your new reality. The world economy is going through a dramatic change right now and will never be the same again. So, passive hope only puts you further behind when things do get better. You must use these times to sharpen your strategies, skills, and tools!

If you study history, you'll find that a lot of people and organizations made a name for themselves and grew their businesses during tough times. In fact, Allstate Insurance now has a commercial speaking about its roots from The Great Depression Era. The key for these successful people and organizations was their focus on thriving while others merely tried to survive.

You can do the same things right now to thrive if you stay positive (and have effective strategies for staying positive), fight back fear (and have effective strategies for fighting back fear), and take initiative in the right areas.

Here are five ways to thrive during these tough times:

1. Don't actively participate in the Recession
Businesses and people that thrived during past recessions focused on "forward movement" regardless of the market conditions. They remained optimistic, worked smart and hard and took action in a forward direction. They did what was necessary to deal with their reality decisively and quickly so that they could spend their best energy on forward movement. They left for others to allow fear to paralyze them.

2. Increase Marketing
During recessions, there is far less competitive clutter in the marketplace. People and organizations need to cut expenses and thus pull back on marketing activities and initiatives. There is a great opportunity to build your brand, expand your presence and gain market share during a recession. You might have to re-evaluate your market strategies and how you direct your funds but you can get creative and focused in building awareness, relationships and trust in the marketplace. People will buy from those who they trust. In fact, trust is a very big part of the buying process during tough times.

3. Get Innovative
Great ideas, innovations, and new business ventures are born during tough times. In fact, the boundaries and constraints of tough times help to get thriving people and organizations really focused on transformation. During booming times, it is much easier to dismiss transformational change and innovations. Allstate, GE, Disney, Microsoft and many other successful companies were all born during recessions.

4. Focus on Talent and Strengths
There is no better time to attract, get, and keep the best talent in the marketplace. Over 1 million people were displaced from jobs in 2008. Not all of these people are low performers. There are many talented, high performing people looking for opportunities. Make finding talented people a daily goal. It is also a good time to re-align people and jobs to better fit their strengths and those of the company. If you do these two things, you'll position yourself well for when the market rebounds.

5. Be Audacious and take Inspired Action
The Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge were both built during the Great Depression. And as I said earlier, Allstate, GE, Disney, Microsoft were all born during recessions. They were a result of people setting audacious aspirations during tough times. Not all aspirations will be achieved fully but people and organizations with audacious aspirations, visions, and goals who take inspired action will be many more times likely to have a brighter future than those that don't set their sights high. Add an optimistic attitude and hard work to the equation and you just might be surprise how this current recession became such a great blessing!

About the Author:
Jon L. Iveson, Ph.D., The Champion's Coach, is a Gazelles Certified Coach who helps individuals and companies produce champion results and build champion relationships. Assess how ready you are
(http://www.learningtobeachampion.com/assessments/thechampions.htm) or your company is (http://www.learningtobeachampion.com/assessments/winningcompanies.htm) to "Thrive during Tough Times."

By Kaye Dennan

When you first meet a person usually their face is the first thing you see, and so too it is with a business name. Especially in our technological world today, and with a work at home business, your business name more often than not will be the first introduction of your business to a new client.

A habit most of us have is to form pre-conceived ideas about a person, a business, a sport and other things. This will also happen with your business.

HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON A NAME
-Your business name should have a uniqueness all of its own

- If you have a very good reputation you could use your own name in the business name, but keep in mind that if you want to sell the business at a later stage this could be a draw back with buyers saying that YOU are the name of the business and therefore not want to pay as much for the business.

- It should epitomise your business activity

- Be careful of having business names with geographical names in them because at a later stage as your business grows, this could limit your business marketing area

- With so much business being done on the internet today it pays not to play around too much with the spelling of your business name. Unless you are going to do something like: daze for days. I wouldn't suggest: 4mating for formatting

- Keep the name reasonably simple and short. You can always have a sub-title to describe your business. For example:

BELLA ENVIRO LANDSCAPERS
Creating Eco Friendly Gardens.
Logo: BEL

- Think of a catchy name if you can but if in doubt, leave it out

- Before registering your business name check domain names to see that the one you want or one that you can set up to relate to your business, is free. It is ideal if your domain and busines name match, but that is not always possible. Often though, all you need to do is make a very small change to get a domain name accepted

- Check the name register to see that the name is available for use. This job is a priority. VERY IMPORTANT before you start printing stationery and packaging. If it is free, register it.
Choosing the right business name will make a massive difference to the presence of your business and the ability of clients to remember it.

When you have decided on your business name pay for a graphic designer to design it into a logo. Logos are great for business because once you get known you can use just the logo on packaging, badges, cars and the like. Owning a work at home business needs more work on the marketing side of the business as you do not have a 'face' (shop front), that is why your logo can be so valuable as it can become the 'face' of your homebased business.

Color is very important when it comes to attracting the attention of your buying customer. How many times have you walked through a shopping centre, down the street, or through a market and been attracted by a color. Sure, you may not have gone over to have a look at the product because you did not want that particular item, but it did attract your attention. Remember this when packaging, setting up displays and anything to do with promoting your product.

Write down every conceivable name you can think of, with every derivative, and ask friends for their opinion. Get them to do a vote on the ones you think are the most appropriate and tell you why they think that name is the best. Question every name you choose and make sure that it tells your customers exactly what you do.

Copyright (c) 2009 Kaye Dennan
Kaye Dennan has worked at home for many years and now as an internet marketer and website owner Kaye brings ideas for working at home on her website with A Guide To Working At Home. View her blog at http://blog.ebooksnowonline.com/?cat=67

By Melanie Jordan

Question:
I've always wondered why infopreneurs will give away some of their information products and services for free and not charge for everything they create?

Answer:
An infopreneur can create all kinds of content, and, yes, some are developed as freebies that are used to induce people to take an action, rather than having a cost associated with them. But there's definitely a method to this perceived madness.

Here are three great ways to use an information product as a freebie:

1. To get someone to raise their hand and say OK, I like your stuff, you can have my e-mail address in exchange for this "bribe". People generally don't join your opt-in list without some incentive. You need to address the fundamental question your prospect will have of "what's in it for me?"

2. To get someone to eventually buy from you (hopefully sooner rather than later), because they got a peek into the knowledge you have through your free offerings, believe you are the "real deal" and that your paid products will give them the full knowledge they seek.

3. To get someone to buy a more comprehensive product or service from you than they might have otherwise because the free content you've already given them (a.k.a. "bonus") is something they decide they really want to have.

Of course, you will create plenty of content that is available for purchase, and eventually more than make up for the fact that you gave away a sample of your work. So don't sweat the giveaways, they're an essential part of your internet marketing.

And now I'd like to invite you to check out my What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know Podcast that teaches you how to make the maximum possible money from what you know, working legitimately from home as an infopreneur. You can get free, immediate access to all the episodes by going to http://Podcast.SunLoverPublishing.com.

Copyright 2009 SunLoverPublishing LLC

By Charlie Bennot

By giving a plastic loyalty card to their best customers, UK business owners can increase both sales and customer allegiance. In this article, we'll present some of the benefits associated with implementing a customer loyalty program in practically any type of business.

Make Easy to Identify Your Best Customers
By virtue of a magnetic stripe or an embedded microprocessor chip on plastic loyalty cards, merchants have the unprecedented opportunity to learn exactly what their customers are purchasing. Here are some specific tactics merchants can employ when using customer loyalty cards to increase both traffic and sales.

Consider a Points Program for Your Loyal Customers
A popular customer loyalty reward is a points program. In this scenario, customers earn points on current purchases that can be applied toward future purchases. For example, a supermarket chain might allow customers to accumulate points all during the year. Then at holiday time, customers can use their points to buy a turkey or ham at a substantially discounted price.

Another great way to use a points program is to employ it to stimulate sales during slow periods. For example, the same grocery chain might offer customers double points during the naturally slow sales period that follows a holiday. Another popular option to offer to loyal customers is the opportunity to redeem their points for a plastic gift card that they can give to a friend or relative.
Other Ways to Use a Loyalty Card

One more way to use a customer loyalty card program effectively is to collect information on customers' purchasing history and behavior. If a merchant has data about when customers shop, what they buy and how much they typically spend, he can tailor his loyalty program to identify and reward those customers who spend the most time and money in his establishment. Loyalty card programs are great ways to stimulate sales by offering bonus points when customers' purchases exceed a certain amount. Finally, a business can single out customers who hold loyalty cards for "members only" sales and promotions. An example would be a pet shop that offers a free bag of pet food to customers who have purchased a certain number of bags in the past.

With a little creative thinking and ingenuity, UK business owners who use a plastic loyalty card program to reward their best customers can expect to reap the benefits of increased sales and good will.

Charlie Bennot is premier card printing expert working with conceptcard.co.uk for the last 12 years. ConceptCard is one of the UK's premier providers of cost effective plastic cards for membership, loyalty, hotel key access photo ID and business cards. Over 21 years experience enables ConceptCard to specialise in High Quality, Short Run Card Solutions where Cost, Quality and Speed are your primary requirements. ConceptCard is specialized in providing plastic card - custom plastic card - plastic business cards - plastic card printer - plastic card printing - plastic credit card - plastic discount cards - plastic id card - plastic loyalty card - plastic membership cards - plastic security card.

By Ken Low

In Malaysia, the most common type of limited companies is those limited by shares. These companies are incorporated and governed by the Companies Act, 1965. Companies limited by shares will carry "Sdn Bhd", "Sendirian Berhad" behind their names according to Section 22(4) of the Act.

The meaning of private limited companies is that the liabilities of its members are limited to the amount of shares they hold in the company. For example, if Mr. Tan's shares in a Sdn Bhd amounted to RM10,000.00, and he has fully paid for the shares, in general, he has no further liability with regards to the Sdn Bhd concerned.

A private limited company can only be incorporated if its memorandum and articles:-

- Restricts the right to transfer its shares subject to the approval of its directors;
- Limits the number of its members to not more than fifty (require a minimum of 2 natural persons, but allow another company to wholly own 100% of its issued shares).

- Prohibit any invitation to the public to subscribe for any shares or debentures of the company;
- Prohibits any invitation to the public to deposit money with the company for fixed periods or payable at call, with or without interest.

Advantages
The most obvious advantage is the liability "protection" to its shareholders, limited their exposures to the amount of share capital that they subscribed for. Any amount of debts beyond their shareholdings, they are not liable but provided there is no fraud or other malpractice.

Another advantage is the simplicity to transfer existing shares or issue additional shares to new investors. Existing member can transfer his shareholding, wholly or partially, through selling of his shares (subject to directors' approval, that is). Unlike sole proprietors or partnerships, there is no need to wind up the company in the event of death of its shareholders or directors.

Disadvantages

1. The company's financial affairs will be accessible by the public.

2. Compliance with the Companies Act, 1965. Although complying itself is not a disadvantage, the amount of effort required to comply with the Act is much more than a sole proprietor/partnership.

3. The company had to perform annual audits on its financial statements.

4. At least one company secretary is required to manage its statutory submissions and returns as well as attending and preparing minutes for board and shareholders' meetings.

5. Incorporation cost is high, and there are yearly recurring fees to be paid such as audit, accounting, company secretarial and tax fees.

Why are there still so many private limited companies being incorporated given the disadvantages?

As the business grows, revenue and business volume will increase. Customers will request for longer credit term and higher credit limit, hence an increased credit risk. In turn, the company will also request suppliers and bankers to extend their credit facilities, which means higher liabilities.

The limited liability "protection" given to the shareholders clearly outweighs all the operational and financial disadvantages listed above.

KL Management Services is a business process outsourcing company, offering company secretarial services, human resource, debt recovery & credit control, accounting and taxation and corporate advisory services to corporates and companies in Malaysia and Asia Pacific.

The people behind KLM are elites in their own industries, having years of experience and key figures in many public listed companies in Malaysia. Find out more about KL Management Services, who they are and what they do at http://www.klmanagement.com.my/.

Collaborating and in association with KL Management Services is Idelinq Services, a full-fledged marketing company offering off, on and above the line marketing services and IT infrastructure services in Malaysia. Get their latest update at http://www.elioe.com/blog/.

By Stephen Willis

Sweden has an excellent transport infrastructure for freight forwarding as the government has consistently recognised its vital importance to economic prosperity and prioritised its modernisation and development.

The railroads in Sweden have 13,000 kilometres of track, of which roughly a third are privately owned. The rail network includes a fast rail link between Arlanda airport and the centre of Stockholm, making freight transport fast and efficient.

There are a number of major ports and harbours that include state of the art terminals and offer container handling facilities. These include Gaevle, Goteborg, Malmo, Sundsvall, Helsingborg, Halmstad, Kalmar and Stockholm.

The Swedish merchant fleet, with 165 modern ships, is also regarded as an economic priority by the government and the Swedish international freight industry as a whole benefits from the considerable government support of its shipping companies and infrastructure.

The domestic air market in Sweden was deregulated in 1991 and since then a number of Swedish airlines have been competing to serve the international freight markets by carrying cargo. These airlines include Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), Transwede and Malmo Aviation. SAS is, in fact, jointly owned by Sweden, Denmark and Norway, with Sweden owning nearly half. Of this stake, the Swedish government owns 50%. SAS is committed to air transport liberalisation and has pioneered many strategic partnerships to drive forward its 'open skies' policy. The liberalisation of the air transport market creates a further advantage to the freight services industry.

There are also 164,000 kilometres of paved roads in Sweden, of which 1500 kilometres are expressways, and 2000 kilometres of navigable waterways. The canny freight company makes a full analysis of the various routes and options available for freight forwarding and ensures that the customer is the ultimate winner.

The 10 mile bridge and tunnel across the straits of Oresund from Malmo in Sweden to Copenhagen in Denmark is regarded as one of the most significant transport infrastructure developments in Europe in recent years.

Indeed, nowhere is Sweden's commitment to its freight transport infrastructure more evident than in its road transport policy. In 2006, the Transport Research Arena conference was staged in Goteborg to allow participants to see some developments that are regarded as the world's most advanced road transport developments and will have a significant impact on the international freight market, revolutionising the intelligence available to the shipping company.

These focus on the use of advanced information and communications technology to provide intelligent vehicle and transport systems, designed to improve logistics. Of benefit both to the freight transport market and passenger transport. The new technology will facilitate shorter journey times and also more efficient use of fuel. These will not only give Sweden a competitive edge in the short term, they are also likely to serve as a blueprint for transport systems worldwide, heralding a new era of productivity and optimised efficiency in freight services.

Sweden is also working on effectively using information and communication technology to improve the competitiveness of its rail system for freight forwarding. In Sweden, as in any other countries, rail has lost share of the freight forwarding market to road haulage in recent years and this is an area where Swedish rail operators are keen to build revenues. It is therefore likely that Sweden will also lead the way in 'intelligent trains'.

These improvements will combine to see a picture of continuing innovation and development in the transport infrastructure in Sweden, ensuring that the freight services industry in the country stays at the cutting edge.

Stephen Willis is Managing Director of RW Freight Services a UK based freight transport company, established in 1971 and operating worldwide freight forwarding services including specialist freight services to and from Sweden.

By Lesley-Anne Johnston

The concept and basic structure
The first PCC legislation was enacted in Guernsey in 1997 with the sole intention of providing a secure vehicle for umbrella investment funds (an investment fund with a variety of sub-fund options). Before the creation of PCCs umbrella investment funds would normally provide for separate classes of shares within their articles. That action, however, simply created divisions designed for separate accounting for each sub-fund: it did not create legally distinct sub-funds. This meant that if a particular sub-fund was insolvent, the creditors could pursue a claim against the assets held in other sub-funds, which placed umbrella funds in a disadvantageous position compared to umbrella unit trusts. They had the advantage of the ability to create a separate trust for each 'sub-trust' which provided a legal firewall from the other sub-trusts in the event of a sub-trust insolvency. The purpose of a PCC was to provide a similar structure for umbrella investment funds. Effectively, each cell has a separate legal identity. The assets of each cell are not liable for the debts of any other cell. In practice, there is also a core cell, designed to hold the identity of the parent but usually very little in the way of assets.

Other uses for PCCs
Once the vehicle's status became recognised as effective for this purpose it began to attract interest from other similarly segmented service enterprises. These days PCCs are used for a growing list of enterprises not limited to the insurance and funds sectors. More traditionally, PCCs are used for:

• Life assurance. Useful for separating the assets of different areas of the business e.g. life, pensions.

• Hybrid insurers use PCCs to separate life and non-life assets.

• Insurers and reinsurers are able to segregate the requirements of different clients.

• Conglomerates are able to separate the insurance exposure of the parent by geographical location, type of risk, corporate division or other criteria.

• Reinsurers use PCCs to separate agreements and securitisation contracts.

• Captive insurers favour the use of PCCs to separate groups of assets.

• Rent-a-captive enterprises use PCCs to offer capital financing to companies which are too small to economically establish their own captive insurer.

• Hedge fund managers establish PCCs to separate classes of funds, an essential safeguard in high risk areas such as fund of funds.

• Multi-national companies are able to operate their captive insurance, treasury and other functions offshore in a single entity using the same core capital.

PCC Jurisdictions
As the uses for PCCs multiplied, several jurisdictions followed Guernsey in enacting PCC legislation - Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Jersey, Mauritius, Gibraltar, St Vincent & The Grenadines and the Isle of Man. Some of these jurisdictions have clearly defined the purposes for which a PCC may be used: others have added clauses to their legislation which allow PCCs to be used for 'carrying on finance business'. That fairly loose definition is the key to providing future opportunities for creative enterprises to use PCCs for hitherto unexplored purposes.

Lesley-Anne Johnston is the Marketing Assistant at The ILS Group Limited, a fiduciary services provider with offices in ten countries worldwide.

By Jane Worthington

The restaurant business is one of the hardest industries in which to establish yourself. Restaurants are very expensive to start up and, depending on your location and food specialty, you might have to wait several months before you build up a solid customer base. You might have better luck in a tourist area because they do not already have favorite eateries; however, it is much more expensive to rent in popular tourist areas. If you are passionate about your menu, have good people working for you, and are willing to be patient, you have a better chance of success than other restaurant entrepreneurs.

In order to increase early traffic, you need to invest serious time and work into the look and ambiance of your restaurant. If your dining room looks friendly, welcoming, and fun, more people are inspired to look at your menu and come in a try your fare before they even hear how delicious the food is from their friends. You really want to encourage these early patrons as much as possible; offer free appetizers during one night of the week or discount drinks during happy hour. A fun interior in addition to low prices will definitely help you draw people inside!

The type of furniture and the arrangement of the room play a large role in terms of the atmosphere of your restaurant. The size and placement of the counter bar stools along the bar is just as significant as the type of tables and chairs you use in the dining room. The trick is to try to fit in as many seats as possible without making the room look too crowded. Diners enjoy having their personal space, which is why booths are so popular, so that they can carry on a conversation without feeling that they are too close to other patrons. You also need to leave enough room between tables so that waiters can move around comfortably and deliver the food quickly.

Ambiance is also created by the lighting and decor. You do not want a room that is too bright or too dark. Depending on the type of establishment that you want to have, i.e. a family restaurant versus a romantic date restaurant, the lighting will change. In order to create a feeling of openness, high ceilings and large windows are a wonderful feature. Color is also a great addition. If you want a modern-looking restaurant, experiment with different artwork and wall colors. The more vibrancy, the more your restaurant will feel lively.

Consult experts when you design your first restaurant. If you choose the perfect barstools and create an attractive atmosphere, then you are well on your way to success!

If you would like more information on counter bar stools or where to find the most stylish barstools, please visit the Premiere Barstools website.

By Linda Feinholz

So often our focus is on what's 'not yet' done, what is sitting on our To Do list, and what we 'ought to' be getting to but haven't yet completed.

Children have a great deal to teach us about what motivates our hearts and gives us the impetus to put our energy into growing our businesses. They remind us that our strength in life comes not from what's missing and undone, but rather from what we've accomplished.

My 6-year old nephew reminded me of this as we were celebrating the holidays. His joy as he calculated 600 times 600 in his mind and got it right is his motivation to keep learning how to work with numbers. His glee at that power is a great pointer for all of us to deliberately take stock of what challenges we've taken on, what we've learned this past year, and now can use it.

Here are some of my favorite accomplishment prompts that I use with coaching clients and participants in my programs:

1. List 10 things you accomplished this past year that you are proud of.

2. What were the most important things that you learned this past year, both in business, and personally?

3. What changes did you make based on that learning, and as a result of these changes, how will your life be different this coming year?

4. How have you changed over the year, and as a result of those changes, what new possibilities exist for you?

5. What if it all had to stop now? (take your time with this one) If you had six months to live and six million dollars, what would you do?

6. What changes would you make in the way you work to give yourself the best possible chance of success?

7. How will you have to change in order to give yourself the best possible chance of success?

And here's a powerful BONUS Question. What steps have you taken in the past that helped you succeed?

The reason that final question is a gem is that it's your opportunity to reveal what you DO know how to do, the steps you've used in the past to create your success.

You may have used them unconsciously or deliberately.

Either way, just as my nephew is consciously calculating two 3-figure numbers and coming up with a great answer, you too know techniques that have let you cut through confusion and challenges to create the accomplishments you've listed.

Now is a great time to remind yourself of what you DO know, the tools you already have at hand, and use them as the road map for the challenges you want to take on next.

Copyright (c) 2009 Linda Feinholz

Management expert, consultant, and coach Linda Feinholz is "Your High payoff Catalyst." Linda publishes the free weekly newsletter The Spark to subscribers world-wide and delivers targeted solutions, practical skills and simple ways to build your business. If you're ready to focus on your High Payoff activities, accelerate your results and have more fun at it, get your FREE tips like these visit her site at http://www.YourHighPayoffCatalyst.com

By Linda Finkle

The cornerstone of any successful company is the team that makes it up. There is no other more important contributing factor to building a truly great organization. Effective development methods, the right technology, efficient processes, available money and well-invested time are all important aspects, but none can substitute for the importance of an exceptional team if you want to establish an exceptional organization.

Keeping a team of talented individuals who work together well is one of the top challenges for executives these days - ranking right up there with hiring successfully and then firing. Keeping your team together as your company's core foundation stone is key to each individual's success and most importantly, and obviously, to your company's success.

Now, having talented people on your team is essential, but building a close knit and productive team is even more so. Obviously, each organization is different, so there is no 'one size fits all' solution for how to do this, however, keeping your team together, focused, and motivated is probably the single most important activity you as leader can devote your time to. Take a look at the following ideas for building an exceptional and productive team:

1. Hire right in the first place.
Don't hire someone if they don't meet your company needs or the bar you've set for your team. When you have trouble finding good people who fit your organization, it is extremely tempting to lower the bar and compromise your standards; however it's essential to remember that adding the wrong person to your team could actually lower productivity and morale. You need to hire people who:

a) Want to be part of a team
b) Don't need to be in the lime light all the time themselves,
c) Are interested in the greater good of the organization - sometimes that means above and beyond their own needs and
d) Have not only the requisite skills to do their job well but the desire to learn from others and see how their piece can become a profitable part of the whole.

2. Clearly define the goals and objectives, for the individuals, the company and the team.
Often company leaders have goals for the organization itself, and for the individuals in the company, but miss an important mark by not having team goals. This strategy tends to stress the value of individuals players working on their own individual objectives, rather than encouraging a team approach to resolving challenges and finding innovative solutions. You need to have collaborative goals for your team. Team goals can be developed by the team or by the leadership, but the team needs to buy into them and agree to them. Share the goals and objectives with all team members, often.

3. Heed the simple solution of open and frequent communication.
Very often, the cause of teamwork breakdown is communication - people not sharing how they feel, not being forthright about their challenges or problems with other team members. People tend to talk to everyone about an issue except the person with whom they are experiencing a challenge. One thing I often recommend to my clients is to open their team meetings with time for each person to vent, express their unhappiness, express their happiness, congratulate other team members or make whatever comment they wish - but simple make clear time and opportunity for discussion. What isn't openly addressed ends up buried, but it's important to note that suppressed issues don't go away. They come back to haunt you and your company over and over again.

4. Team members (rather than leadership) hold other team members accountable.
Peer pressure is a strong force. Take, for example, a situation where the CFO says they will provide information to HR on the cost of benefits. The HR person needs to ask by when, and the rest of the team needs to hold the CFO accountable for delivering that information in the time frame agreed upon. This may mean that at the next meeting the HR person is asked if they received the requested information, and if the CFO did not provide the data as promised, the rest of the team needs to ask why and get a time commitment for when the information will be available. If each member is accountable to other members (rather than management) they are more likely to become and stay close knit.

5. Create a culture that appreciates and bonds your team.
Little things do matter. Take the team to lunch or dinner. Encourage them to have a friendly competition amongst themselves (could be work related or something fun like a contest for who makes the most delicious dessert), have them create a name for themselves (the team) - silly yes, but you'd be surprised how often silliness works to bond a team. There are countless ideas, but the bottom line is that you want them to do things together, and see themselves as a unit rather than individual contributors who come together periodically. By creating a culture that appreciates the team as a whole, each member wins when the team wins - and so does your company.

No matter how hard they try, there is no guarantee that talented individuals will make an exceptional team until they have become a collaborative group with common goals and expectations, so it works in the best interests of your organization to develop the best team possible. There is no doubt that team dynamics are integral to a team's success, so be sure to make effective communication a top priority. The ideas above will serve you well as you build your team, and remember,the quality of the team (or teams) that you build determines the success of your company. Keep a good team together.

Linda Finkle is a leading expert on organizational communication strategies and human potential development. As CEO of her executive coaching firm, Incedo Group, Linda has helped countless leaders build internal communication and conflict resolution strategies. She brings about changes in attitude and leadership style that yield dramatic results. Company profitability is an inevitable side effect. Learn more at http://www.IncedoGroup.com

By Phil Smithers

In sales the most valuable resource we have is our time, and our biggest and most important decision is how we use our time most efficiently. So the most important question we need to ask ourselves on each and every opportunity is should I Bid or not Bid.

When you're in a new sales role, naturally you want to be active and will talk to anybody who's willing to listen, and you'll work on any projects that come your way.

However it shouldn't take long until your pipeline begins to fill and you start feeling busy. Now you've got important decisions to make about who you're going to invest your time with. You're decision is made all the more urgent when you need the support of other people within your organisation, and you have to consider the impact of their time and the opportunity cost of their efforts.

The decision to bid always requires the expenditure of time, money, and energy that could be invested elsewhere. So your call to either bid or no bid should not be taken lightly or made carelessly.

Sometimes the decision to go ahead or not is a already made, or it's a "no brainer" because of existing relationship or the nature of the potential contract.

But when you have the choice it's an important decision to me and to be successful in sales it's vital you make this assessment intelligently and weigh up your prospects properly.

Here are 10 crucial questions you need to ask yourself when deciding to Bid or not:

1. Is this a "must Bid" opportunity?

2. Is the prospect really ready to buy? And honestly are you really in a position to be able to supply if they do buy?

3. Is the prospect looking for service and value over a simple price comparison? If they are deciding purely on price and you're not the cheapest then save yourself a lot of hassle and effort and bow out now - No Bid!

4. Can you introduce some extra added value to the opportunity? Can you move the goalposts and alter the specification in your favour?

5. Do you have a good relationship in place with the client decision makers?

6. Can you meet the requirement in full?

7. Do you have a defined competitive edge? Do you have a technical or commercial advantage that can add value to the opportunity?

8. Are you competitively priced? Either you have a cost competitive offer or you can tangibly offer added value?

9. Can you meet the timescales of the project?

10. Will this lead to further opportunities?

The more times you can answer 'Yes' the better this prospect is - 10 "Yes" answers and you've got a hot prospect here! Less than 7 and you need to think real hard if this is the best use of your time.

Phil Smithers is one of the UK's leading sales coaches, sharing the most effective and powerful sales tips, training and mentoring you need to boost your results and start achieving your goals, right now! If you want to learn more about improving your win rate and to close more profitable bids then go to http://www.doublebubblesales.com and listen to an in depth interview with Phil.

By David Nikolic

Virtual office system provides you and your company with the capabilities to remain productive from virtually everywhere- from home, car, hotel or office. It is based on the principle that a business requires effective communication. Hence a virtual office system provides you leading edge technologies that save your time and money. They have various features like call monitoring, call routing, and voice mail delivery via email to help your business run smoothly and effectively. It can send your message in virtually any manner you specify.

There are certain basics involved in setting up a telecommuting scenario to gain the virtual office advantage. Each home office needs a computer, a telephone and broadband internet connection, which are absolutely necessary for telecommuting.

Virtual office uses different systems like PBX phone system, voice mail and unified messaging and phone answering service. It helps the virtual office to enhance image and increase productivity with a comprehensive slate of features ideal for home businesses and other organizations. These systems help your small business to:

- move to the next level by creating an executive impression - sound bigger like a much larger and professional establishment - increase productivity and credibility

PBX phone system - This fully customizable virtual receptionist greets callers, takes messages and routes calls seamlessly.

Advantages and services:

1. It reduces total cost of ownership due to minimal upfront investment

2. It works with any high-speed internet connection to provide all users with access to the same PBX features regardless of their location worldwide.

3. It lowers your monthly phone bill with free in network inter office calls.

4. It's customizable and easy to use features managed online and by one touch, it controls virtual office telephones.

These PBX phone systems improves your communication system and makes it more efficient and competitive while reducing cost. With one phone number, you can connect to multiple locations. Based on the customized settings, your incoming calls can be routed to voice mail, cell phones, home phones.

Phone answering service - You might have been frustrated with a high volume of calls coming everyday to you. It is at this point that phone answering service can help you. The phone calls that you cannot answer in person can be handled efficiently with the help of a phone answering service. With the help of an automated answering service, you can minimize your expenses, maximize your productive time and achieve the goals at a faster time.

Unified communications is the greatest convenience available with a phone answering service. Voicemail messages and faxes can be unified with your personal telephone number.

Voice mail and unified messaging system - This system enables one to send voice messages instantly to other persons without caring the recipient's availability. One no longer has to dial number and worry about busy tones. Voice mails are basically emails containing attached audio files. You can send or forward important voice mails to multiple recipients at a same time. This option saves a great deal of time.

An important advantage of the virtual office system is that it helps work and communication become more efficient and adapts itself well to the needs of the business. Good space utilization and cost effectiveness are the other advantages of virtual office systems.

David Nikolic offers virtual offices in all major business cities all over the US at his virtual office services website. His virtual office system includes world class business address, mail forwarding, secretarial and administrative support, conference rooms, video conferencing and other office support services.

By Lisa Armstrong

Where does cleaning come on your list of priorities for your business? The chances are you don't rank it as one of the most important things to do each day.

That doesn't mean you don't get it done of course; you probably already have a number of cleaners working for you at specific times of the day and week. But how often do you review what is done? And is the quality and presentation of your business good enough?

Commercial cleaning services come in all shapes and sizes, and not all of them will suit every single business. For example, you might think that the company you use at the moment is giving you a good service. But could it be even better?

Unfortunately there are lots of businesses that don't apply the same standards of business to their cleaning requirements. For example, they might do all they can to secure an order from a client, but how much do they pay attention to the cleanliness and tidiness of their surroundings?

In truth, this is just as important as every other aspect of a business. Your premises - no matter where you actually work - represent your business and how you do it. While customers might not be able to see you actually working, they do see where you work, and if that doesn't give the right impression then they may think twice about doing business with you.

It might seem strange to give cleaning so much importance, but this really is true. Good cleaning is merely adequate. Top notch cleaning is what is called for, because it gives you so much more than a nice place to work. It gives you a face to show to everyone else - and that includes your employees too.

You see, while your office building cleaning makes things look good for clients and customers to see, it also makes the business more pleasant for people who work for you. It can make a real difference to how people feel, and a great looking office which is always nice and clean will always encourage people to feel better and work harder than they might otherwise.

When you start thinking about it, it is amazing how important and how valuable great cleaning really is. And yet so many businesses settle for reasonable standards, instead of sensational ones.

If you are in your office or place of work now, take a look around you. What do you see? Are you pleased with how things look? Is everything smart and well ordered? Is it clean and tidy? If an unexpected visitor arrived right now, would you be pleased to let them in - or embarrassed at the standards you are showing them?

There has never been a better time to take a fresh look at your surroundings and get the cleaning services both you and your clients deserve. Make sure you look your best for any visitors, and your surroundings are a joy to work in. You will soon notice the difference it makes.

CleanCorp provides commercial cleaning, landscaping, building maintenance, caretaking, janitorial, emergency and environmental services. For a free quote please visit Office Cleaning.