(Coaching in business) The Grant File, Read between the lines
No commentsBy James Byrne
By thinking outside the box, you can take advantage of government grant and loan programs you might never check out in a million years. It opens the funding possibilities wider than otherwise possible.
Remember that program descriptions are written to satisfy various political mandates, which might seem to preclude you. But a program directed at rural communities might provide opportunities for a big city supplier who can help them reach the goals of the program, for example.
A small Internet Service Provider in Manitoba took an innovative approach to getting their money. The Manitoba Industrial Opportunities Program provided loans in return for a fixed asset investment and the potential for long-term job creation. The ISP wanted to expand their high speed network so they could get more customers. By crafting their application to fit the program’s mandate of business growth and job creation, they received $225,000 to bring high-speed to 22 rural communities. The Trade and Mines minister saw high-speed Internet access as “a magnet that attracts people and industries”
Would you like to receive money to launch and grow your own business too? There are monies available now for qualified existing & start-up small businesses. Visit The Small Business Finance Centre for more information.
Business Coaching Information From A Professional Source
Profitable Email Marketing Systems and Profitable Online Businesses
By Terry Leslie
Email marketing is one of the most vital elements in online business today. If you are going to make it in e-commerce, you need to know the ins and outs of email marketing. Email marketing reaches the public in one of the most convenient ways. While may people find email marketing annoying, they still tend to stay on the email lists that are part of their favorite companies. They may only open up one in ten emails, but that one email leads to a sale over 45% of the time. Those are pretty good odds for repeat customers.
Email marketing is much more cost effective than direct mail. Email marketing also leads to more direct sales than direct mail. Almost all large companies spend their resources developing their email marketing campaigns and are allowing their direct mail campaigns to either die out or just mirror their email marketing messages.
The internet has brought an abundance of advantages to all sorts of business owners. In fact, nearly three quarters of online business owners do not have a brick and mortar complimentary store. Most online success stories are those who started their e-business in a home office and build it from the ground up into a highly successful company. This means that anyone with the right information and a little ingenuity can really start an online business if they have the drive and the desire.
Using email marketing to push through to the head of the pack is a simple game of knowing who to send your email marketing materials to, which information should be included, and who to not send your email marketing materials to. Spam laws have tightened up quite a bit over the past several years, and the penalties for spamming are becoming pretty stiff. The most simple and most effective way to stay out of trouble is to avoid accusation and avoid sending spam. Spam by definition is the receipt of an email that was not requested or not deemed acceptable by the recipient. If you don’t have permission, do not send the email.
Gather names and email addresses through legal and acceptable venues, such as previous clients, opt in lists, and physical encounters. If someone requests the removal of their name and email address from your list, do so immediately. It just isn’t worth the consequences.
Your email campaign should be customer directed. You want to offer what your clients want to hear. All people who spend money like to know when you have a sale on their favorite items. All people who spend money can be convinced to spend it in your direction if they are presented with a reasonable benefit, even if that benefit is psychological or emotional. Find out what your clients want to hear by offering them something in return for filling out a brief survey directly dealing with your company. Do you clients want off season sales or do they want special bonuses? Do they want to be informed of new products or do they want to be informed when their regular purchases are available for less? While you will want to include all of your campaign information in each and every email, what you are really doing is research to find out what information should be listed first.
Email marketing campaigns are a great way of keeping your client base updated as well as a good way to help you keep up with current records. Having a snail mail address is helpful. When email addresses become obsolete, sending out a snail mail reminder that they need to update their email address in order to receive great offers such as a free bonus with their next purchase can help keep your email list updated.
Give your client base an easy method of subscribing, either through single opt in sign ups during visits or purchases, as well as easy opt out options. Maintain all your records to be able to prevent serious consequences from falling on you should you be accused of spamming. Having documented records of their opt-in as well as all opt-out records, any accusations are more than likely going to be dropped as a miscommunication. Keep it clean and you’ll see ample positive results.
Keep your creative juices flowing. When your clients open your email, make it worth their while. You are competing with at least twenty five other companies that your client has yet to opt-out of. That means that you have to be ahead of the pack, with entertaining emails and fabulous special offers.
OR if you would like to succeed immediately to create financial freedom working only 4 hours a week, check out www.secrets2internetfortunes.com
AND receive a limited FREE copy of the amazing 113 page Book “Online Fortunes A Beginners Guide!” which is jam packed with so many ideas you can use to instantly create an automated income for life! That’s my GIFT to you as a way of saying thank you for reading my articles.
Be The Best Boss You Can Be
By Ben Needles
Being the person in charge can often be very exhilarating for someone experiencing such a feeling for the first time. Whether you are in charge of a project with a team of company employees that are reporting to you or a single employee that you might be responsible for. Either way we all get a rush from the power suddenly handed to us. But those feelings come while working for someone else. Now imagine the rush you will get when you are the ultimate authority over everyone employed by your company! It can be like nothing youve ever experienced before. All the important decisions are yours to make. The fates of your employees are up to you. The future of your company is in your hands. Everything relies on you!
Okay now are we over the rush? Has reality set in yet? I hope so because while it may sound like everything you have ever dreamed that you wanted. Its not an easy thing to be the final authority on everything that happens to a business. Its a lot of hard work. But you do get the chance to be the boss if that is what you really want. So what kind of boss will you be?
Weve all had bosses weve hated at one time or another. And some people have also managed to have a supervisor or two that they liked. Of course no one is ever going to be the perfect boss but what would you prefer. Do you want to be the tyrant or a person that people like coming to work for? We know that its not a popularity contest and the needs of the business will always have to come first. But which is better, having employees that actually like to come to work for you each day and can then give their best while on the job or people that hate their work and will always be watching the clock just waiting to go home?
Remember the supervisors youve had at one time or another that were both good to you and that you hated. No one really wants to be the type of boss that everyone hates but sometimes it does turn out that way. You know in your heart that you can do better and you will. You just have to be willing to put forth the effort. All the good intentions in the world will get you nowhere if you are unwilling to act.
So what can you do to be a good supervisor? Many things can be done, in fact more than we can possibly cover but we can mention a few of the more important things that you can do. Be willing to listen. Your employees should always be allowed a voice. People like to know their opinions are valued. And be genuine about soliciting their opinions. Give employee evaluations. Not everyone is going to like what you may have to say about them but if you do it the right way they may come to appreciate the input. Evaluations are a great way to show that you are paying attention to them. Employees that appreciate their jobs will make your that much easier.
Treating your employees with respect each day will always help. Yelling at them and berating them for mistakes they might have made will get you nowhere with them. Acknowledge that a mistake was made and work with the employee to correct. Try to teach them about the mistake was made and how they can prevent such a mistake happening again. Then move on. Because dwelling on something that is over with will not help you either.
Let people know when they have done a good job. Praise is too often withheld or the benefits of acknowledging a good job are ignored. How would you feel if you put forth your best effort to make a project successful and dont even receive a simple thank you for your efforts? Never forget that people are not machines and so they should not be treated as such. Treat your employees how you would want to be treated and you will not go wrong.
About the Author (text)
Cash Miller is an experienced entrepreneur and speaker who has spent over a decade as a small business owner. His years of experience in small business cover many topics. For more small business information you can go to http://www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com
Saturday, November 15th, 2008 at 9:25 pm and is filed under business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
