Business Growth 7 Solutions to Grow Your Company By:Mary Townsend

Business growth requires that you to make some definite decisions about where you want to take your business next. Before you can map a clear and successful route, you also need to know where you are starting from.?Take a closer look at everyone that comes in contact with you and your business.

1. Market Concentration - There is always great potential for business growth in existing markets, so start by looking at your existing customers to see where you can increase your sales. ?What have their needs been so far? ?Are you providing other complementary products or services that they are not yet utilizing? If that's the case you need to ask yourself a few questions.

Could it be that they are unaware of exactly what solutions you offer? You need to make sure that all your existing customers know the full range of your products or services. Are they receiving those products and services elsewhere? If that's the case you need to find out why they prefer your competitor. Are they supplying a better/cheaper/later version?

Once you know you can start to think of ways to persuade your existing customers to buy these extras from you instead. Selling existing customers more of what you already provide is the most economical route to business growth there is.

Could your customers benefit by purchasing larger amounts of what they already get from you? Could using your product more frequently give them better success or faster results? Could you offer an incentive for bulk purchases or discover new ways your product could be used?

2. Listen - By listening to your customers, employees and suppliers you can find some great ideas for new products or related services that will grow your company quickly and easily. If customers keep asking if they can put a down payment on a particular item, maybe a payment plan is a service you should be offering.

Are you supplying DIY items like flat pack furniture? An employee may mention that a lot of people are asking if someone is available to build it for them. If you are already getting inquiries, it means there is a demand and potential to grow your business in that area.

A supplier mentions he's been selling a lot more oriental sauces this year. Should you expand your range of oriental food products; include a range of woks, oriental serving dishes, utensils and recipe books or, if you own a restaurant, should you add an oriental dish to your menu?

3.?Revitalize - Potential for growth may be right under your nose. Take an old product line and give some thought to presenting it in a new way. Perhaps you could package it differently to stimulate new interest in the product. ?

Do you have another complementary item that you could couple it with to start getting it noticed again? ?Emphasize a new angle to it. Does it fit with a current trend or topic? Is it safer, healthier or a more eco friendly model than newer items on the market?

4. Add value - You can increase customers' perception of value with optional extras. Just make sure they are complementary to the existing product or service, or at least relevant to the same type of customer.

Could you grow your business and serve your customers better by offering different types of services or product ranges? Think about Platinum, Gold, Silver or Deluxe, Standard and Economy. Would the seasons or other time considerations add that little extra, like a Christmas or Limited Edition?

Do you have products that can be personalized with a name and/or a special message, or made special in some other way with the customers own photo or artwork? If you find there's a market for it, what investment would it take to grow your business in that direction?

5. Complement - Think about providing items or services that would really complement your core business. If you own a bookstore, you might also sell writing material and designer pens.

You have a natural health outlet selling mainly vitamins. Could you locate a lovely natural hair product range and sell it alongside your women's hair loss treatment tablets? Package some appropriate products together into a luxury gift pack.

6. Cross Sell - Offer more services to your customers. These could be supplied by you under license from others. Or you could refer your customers to a complementary service for a commission. The latter is a great way to grow your business without having to incur extra expense.

Do make sure any other service you are recommending meets your standards and doesn't offer anything else that your customers are currently getting from you.

7. New Markets - Research to find other markets that could use your product or service in a slightly different way. Perhaps you are supplying a component to motor manufacturers that would be equally as useful in the aircraft industry.

Have you developed a process or a piece of software for use in your business that you could sell or license to others that are not in direct competition to you?

Business Management Tips Top 7 Ways to Screw Up Your Business What to Do Instead By:Linda Feinholz

In entrepreneurial and small business, the greatest challenge is to grow the business while at the same time stop doing everything yourself. This is an enormously important part of building any business successfully.

Over the years of consulting and coaching business owners and entrepreneurs, I've uncovered quite a few ways to mess up your efforts. Below you'll find the top 7 ways to mess up, and what to do about it.

Top 7 Ways To Screw Up Your Business

1. It's all about you - most people believe they're in business to sell what they're interested in putting out in the world. Do you think your buyer really cars about this?

What to do instead - Your business is all about your prospective customer and what is in it for them. Tell them.

2. Being a "Do It All" - I also see professionals and business owners try to do everything so they'll know it was done right. Silly idea.

What to do instead - Leverage others. Hire others to hand off lower level work so you can focus on business building.

3. Being a "Know It All" - I've seen people assume they know how to do everything. Yep, even thought they have no way of knowing the new and improved technique that might be out there.

What to do instead -?Hire for the experience and expertise people have gained in other companies. Now that's leverage!

4. Meeting hell - Yep, I've seen 100s of companies waste 1000s of hours of people's time, energy and intelligence in worthless meetings. C'mon, you have too.

What to do instead -?Never start a meeting if you cannot describe the single result you want to create by the end.

5. Ad Hoc Hell - I've seen it. People letting themselves be interrupted constantly by others who have 'just a quick question.'

What to do instead -?Use time blocking and create uninterruptible slots at least 3 times every day.

6. Technology Interruptions - Just because someone invented email and cell phones doesn't mean they should command your attention.

What to do instead -?Turn off both for 2 hours. Then check and answer what needs your attention AND turn them off again to keep working.

7. Getting lost in To Do's- All too often our personal list becomes a mile long and swamps our attention.

What to do instead -?Pick 3 to 6 items that will be the focus or your day. Delegate the rest.

10 Sure Ways Not to Get Scammed By:Glenn Thomas

This is for everyone that sells on the internet. Whether you sell ebooks, income products or physical products maybe through eBay or your store's website, you will be a victim at some point to people trying to scam you.

1. If you get an offer for a product that offers you more money than usual. I have been offered outrageous prices for items I knew were not that expensive. Obviously, the bad guys hope you will send this item to them before you realize the scam.

2. Look for suspicious emails. These might include emails from PayPal that says you have been paid. When you go to your PayPal account there is no money for the product. The bad guys have gotten really good at copying PayPal's site. They will try to duplicate PayPal's email to you. Payment is immediate in PayPal and if there is no money there for your product...watch out.

3. Watch for the "I can't pay through your site. Can I pay you with another merchant close by you?" If you are a seller, you probably have a merchant account set up and there is no reason they cannot pay you through your site.

4. Be alert if a buyer offers you more than one credit card to use for the product being sold.

5. Advertisements being answered by email asking if you still have the product and they want you to reply ASAP. The bad guys like to make all offers seem urgent. Hurry and reply to my email. Hurry and send the product. Be Aware.

6. Emails that threaten you to ship the product immediately or you will have legal action taken against you. This is at first glance, shocking. You wonder if maybe you should believe the emails that preceded this saying you have been paid, although payment is never made and does not show in your account.

7. Letters on website or reply email to you are jumbled and numbers are out of place. Most merchant account businesses that send email to their clients do not have jumbled numbers and words. They are professional and they will look that way all the time.

8. If you use eBay, iOffer or sites similar to these of course you need to be up to speed on their policy but make your buyer go through the actual process setup by the host of your products. These guidelines are set to protect you from this type of scam.

9. Watch for people that want to talk you into accepting a payment by a method you are not using or don't want to use. If the seller truly wants your product, they will buy in the form you want to sell from.

10. Common sense. I know this might sound kind of arrogant, but it is true. Think through your transaction before you accept some off the wall payment option a scammer has come up with.

I know maybe some of this is elementary, but all of these have been tried on my business and I am sure some of these have been tried on your online business as well. There are good buyers out there and there are honest people. Be smart and hope you sell your products safely.

7 Top Tips to For Building Confidence For Women in Business and Leadership By:Consuelo Meux

As a woman?leader in business?you always need to know how to build on your levels of confidence. The good news is that staying confident in your abilities is something that you can control.?These 7 top tips give you specific ways that you can develop your abilities and increase your self awareness in leadership. ?

1. Listen. ?Listening is one of the most important skills for any leaders to develop. It is more important than speaking skills as listening lets you form the foundation for a good public speech. Learn to listen to the right people who have wisdom to share. Be selective about whom you listen to and the type of information you feed to your brain. Verify information and be sure your sources are accurate and worthwhile. There's so much talking and things being said that it's easy to get confused. You can't be a confident leader if you design your information base from faulty materials, so learn to listen carefully. ?

2. Prepare.?A confident leader is a prepared leader. She knows what she will present and how to present it. Preparation even means having the right materials in order for you to present a professional and powerful image through your dress and accessories. Don't wait until the last minute to pull things together that you need to be a confident leader.?By staying prepared, you can accept an invitation that could expand you career at what seems like a moment's notice, because you are always ready to make a move. Preparation is the key to being confident because you will know what you can do and what you understand about a situation.?Preparation is how leaders stay confident in all circumstances. ? ?

3. Mentor. Leaders learn how to lead by watching the steps of a mentor. A mentor is usually a person who is wiser in an area than you. You can't learn everything from a book; practical knowledge is needed to know how the theories actually work. Find a mentor to show you the insider ropes to leadership. Mentoring is a needful skill for women in leadership and one that many women are not provided with on a normal basis. If you don't have a person to mentor you in your local area of company, look for a professional mentor or leaders in professional associations or organizations locally or online. Contact that person and ask them to be your mentor. ?

4. Network. A confident leader will have a strong network of influential people that she can call on in a variety of circumstances. Your network should have people who provide insider information, can provide contacts that move your goals along, and be people who can tell you where to go and when to increase your visibility and opportunities. Carefully create a strong network of power brokers that you can nurture and grow in order to build your leadership confidence. ? ?

5. Assess. Take time to assess your personal and professional background and realize how many sills and abilities you actually have.?It's easy to forget how skilled you might actually be because of your busy lifestyle. You might have forgotten that you already know what a lot of people are trying to learn.?You can find opportunities to teach, lead, guide and mentor from a data base of skills you already possess. This lets you understand the range of your capabilities and potential. ?

6. Train. Stay on top of the latest technology and continue to increase you knowledge in areas pertinent to your leadership.?Taking courses to increase your skills is easy with the addition of online and offline classes. You can find a course in almost any topic. Don't get behind when it's simple to stay ahead of the learning curve by getting the training and education you need. Go to workshops and seminars include those designed especially for women in leadership positions. ?

7. Read. Leaders are readers.?It is known that people who lead will read at least 12 books on business and leadership a year, if not more. Pick up a book and read it. Learning just one new concept or technique will be worth the price. Also get a subscription to a leadership magazine and read monthly updates on what people are doing in different industries.?Take ideas from one place and use them to enhance the operations where you are. Read newspapers, special reports and white papers and online ezines designed for women leaders. ?

These 7 tips provide important ideas that you can use to increase your levels of confidence as a women leader. ?You can take immediate responsibility for your leadership growth by doing the things that let you know you are prepared, ready and able to lead when the time comes.

7 Top Motivation Killers That Business Women Can Avoid By:Consuelo Meux

Women leaders in business must find ways to stay motivated to reach goals with or without outside support.?You might have to work alone in the in this effort as your pursue professional opportunities. You can become more aware of ways you might be losing your motivation by understanding these 7 top motivation killers that a business woman can learn to avoid or change. ?

1. Waiting for others to motivate you. If you need others to motivate you in order to reach your goals you will soon find that you won't be getting much support. People are busy and few people take time to consistently provide others with the motivational words they need. Reach into your leadership background and find ways to set short and long-term goals that keep you going to reach goals all by yourself. ?

2. Keep doing what you don't like. Few things are more de-motivating the continuing to do activities that you really don't like to do. When you have a lot of skills and talents, don't waste precious time in life pursuing activities you don't like.?Wrap up your obligations if necessary and move on to activities and adventures that keep you excited and happy instead of struggling with activities you are not excited about doing.

3. Take criticism from others to heart. It is common for others to share more negative words than positive. If you let yourself be discouraged when others criticize you or what you do, you will find yourself down and out most of the time. Put everything you hear in perspective. You are not what others say; you are what you say to yourself. Learn positive self talk and speak truth to your mind on a consistent basis to drown out the negative criticism that might come your way. ?

4. Procrastinate and increase your stress. When you fail to complete tasks you increase your stress. Procrastinating until the last minute or to the point when things really get out of hand is a way to only cause more problems in your life.?Set a schedule and face difficult tasks one step at a time. Get things done ahead of schedule and give yourself relief and time to do your task correctly. ?

5. Fail to have confidence in your decisions.?If you consistently worry about decisions you make learn to look at all of the available alternatives and review the pros and cons of each prior to making a decision. If you have time, don't make a hasty decision but give yourself time to really think about what you'll decide.?If you have to decide quickly go with the decision that will cause the least harm.?Then take a course on decision making so you can feel better about the necessary decisions you will inevitably have to make.

? 6. Give up easily. One of the best ways to lose motivation is to be in the habit of giving up when things get tough.?Instead of being a quitter learn the self-discipline necessary to stick things out to completion. No doubt about it, you will face some very tedious tasks as a leader.?But you can't lead if you can't finish. Decide to reach the goal and analyze the steps you have to take to complete a difficult task. Be ready to reach the goal line or don't take on the leadership task. ?

7. Maintain bad habits. ?A habit is an action you do without thinking.?In order to change a habit you have to be conscious of your activities and then deliberately do something that changes that behavior.?If you have a habit of telling yourself negative things you have to consciously know how to change that self talk into something positive. If you have a habit of quitting you have to change that to create a habit of completing activities. It is possible to change habits but like anything else worthwhile it can also be hard to do; but as a leader you are up to the task.

? Learning to stay motivated is an important skill for the woman leader in business. Sometimes you can be doing things that you are not aware of that take your motivation away. By recognizing the 7 areas in this article you can increase your self-motivation and become a more successful professional.

7 Top Areas to Establish Competitive Advantage in a Small Business By:Consuelo Meux

A small business has a lot of competition, particularly as the economic situation tightens up in the marketplace. When potential clients do competition research, what will they find that is different from any other business in your area? This is your competitive advantage. Here are 7 top areas you can use to establish a competitive advantage in your small business.???

1. Unique Quality. Have something in your business that lets you be unique.?Make sure it's something others are not able to easily copy. This can be a value added service or product your bundle with all purchases.

2. Personal Story. Be willing to get personal with your clients. Tell them your story and let that become a part of your brand. No one has your story and this could be the area that lets the target group connect with you instead of the competition. ??

3. Education. Promote your special education in the business that lets clients develop a sense of confidence in your abilities. Promote your formal and informal educational background to show you know what you're doing.

4. Experience. Your business experience doesn't have to be in the direct area that you're in now. Let people know about special certifications, travel, or work that is exciting and unusual that led you to be an entrepreneur.

5. Hire Locally. Find ways to create employment opportunities in the community. Hire locally or take on interns from the local college. Letting students work with you to learn the business is a newsworthy idea that could possible let you get recognized by local media.

6. Suppliers/Service Providers. Your suppliers and providers could give you a competitive edge by providing consistent quality, quick turnaround and unique items.

7. Price Right.?Are you priced right??Do you have the goods to deliver? You make your business accessible by pricing your offerings so people can buy them without feeling like they are destroying their budgets.?Be flexible and offer a range of prices to keep your target market during economic shifts.

Your competitive edge can be something small when you are in business for yourself. More often, it's how you promote your competitive edge that makes it an advantage for you.?Increase your marketing efforts by learning and using creative ways to establish your competitive edge as a small business in a crowded field.

7 Tips on How to Be More Effective in Your Business By:Veronica Lim

Most people find time management doesn't work for them because they use only their logical thinking mind in scheduling tasks. The key is to blend both mind and heart - following your own energy rhythm to decide when to do things, and your mind to determine what to do.

Time is the only resource that we have a finite amount of. Will you spend it in ways that support you? Or let it while away?

(1) Work on your high payoff activities

High payoff activities are revenue-generating. These comprise marketing, delivery and business development. Determine which activities are revenue-generating and make sure that you allocate time every day for this.

Wherever you can, delegate out the rest, especially those tasks that are not your forte.

Ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?" This allows you to determine firstly, whether the task should be done at all, and secondly, whether you are the right person to be doing it.

(2) Chunk your day into set time chunks

Do the same thing at the same time each day and then stick to that routine. For example, do your marketing activities at the same hours each day. Check emails at the same times each day and so on. Allocate the times for the various activities according to your own energy rhythm.

For example, I'm an early morning person and do my most effective work in the morning. So I'll work with clients at 6 or 7 in the morning depending on the time zone differences. On days when I'm not working with a client, I'll nip out for a quick coffee and make sure I'm back by 9. From 9 to 10 a.m., I focus on marketing activities. Then from 10 to noon, I write articles and work on idea development. Then at noon until 2 p.m. it's lunch and emails. Afternoons are flexible.

Notice how all the scheduled activities are my high payoff ones.

I'll stick to this routine as much as I possibly can.

Again, it comes back to knowing yourself. If you're going to shuffle things along to a time that never happens, don't.

This is a powerful technique which I would never have guessed would be as effective as it is. It's allowed me to work half-days with peace of mind, knowing that if I cover the items that have been chunked into the day, I'd have completed the important things I need to do. With this, I no longer get to the end of the day feeling as if I've spent the whole day at the desk and yet not achieved much.

(3) Outsource and delegate

This was one I resisted for a very long time because I felt that I "should" be doing it all myself - especially in the early days of my business. I insisted on doing the book-keeping myself, for example, because I'm a qualified chartered accountant and I knew how to. But I dreaded the day each month that 'd allocated to book-keeping. As soon as I outsourced this, I felt such a sense of freedom. And more importantly, it freed up time for me to spend on other more lucrative activities, like preparing for talks at associations and conferences, or writing articles for publications.

The same thing happened with maintenance of my website. Being creative in setting up my website was enjoyable but I found maintaining it incredibly boring.

Plus, these tasks are administrative in nature and definitely not revenue-generating.

So which tasks to you know that you don't enjoy doing but you keep on doing it because you think you should? Outsource and delegate those as a matter of priority.

If you're thinking that you can't afford it, do think again. I wouldn't advise that you go into debt in order to outsource, but outsource even when you think you aren't at the income level you think you should be at before you do so. It will release you to do other business-generating activities.

(4) Take inspired action when the inspiration hits

Sometimes inspiration hits us in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't work by the clock. So when the idea hits you, make a judgment call and take the better inspired action.

If it's a topic for your newsletter, just make a note of it in your notebook. If you get a string of points for a talk you're giving, write them down. Then carry on with whatever you're focused on. If it's an inspiration to phone someone, tune in - is it just the idea to phone that person or is it the intuitive hit to actually make that phone call straight away. Learn to listen to your intuition and ideas, and learn to discern whether the inspired action is to just write down? the ideas and continue, or stop for a moment with what you're doing to act on the idea immediately.

Once again, it comes back to knowing yourself. Be honest! If you're one of those people for whom inspiration hits but you talk yourself out of it over time, then, you must take that inspired action immediately, before you talk yourself out of it.

(5) Only check your emails at set times

Resist the temptation to check your emails every time one comes in. Email is addictive. Set specific times in the day to check your emails and only check your emails then.

When you get to your emails, deal with the ones that need attention immediately. Batch up any others to read into a "To Read" folder and read them when you get to your reading time. Then clear it out.

My goal every day is to get my Inbox down to less than a page long...and I'm working on getting it totally clear each day.

(6) Create a "To DAD" List

Don't carry everything around in your head. It takes up energy needlessly. Get everything down onto a list and you'll find that you'll clear your head. The "To DAD" list is your "To Do And Delegate List".

In the left hand column, write down the to-dos for yourself but only write down those items that you absolutely MUST do today. (Clue: High payoff activities and those for which you have an imminent deadline). You should have only a few items in this list, no more than 5.

Everything else goes in the right hand column - "To Delegate". Allocate whom to delegate each task to - your virtual assistant, your webmaster, your book-keeper, and whomever else you outsource to, and also your Divine Self (or Higher Intelligence or Universe or Source, whatever you call it). Typically, the items that I delegate to my Divine Self are things that I know are coming up for me that I want worked on "in the background". Examples are: Get ideas for my next newsletter topic, line up 60 people for my preview teleseminar, get 5 clients ready to sign up when we launch the website product.

Doing this allows you to free up your mind and releases energy that you can channel into the activity you are focusing on.

(7) Stop multi-tasking

If you think about it, there really isn't any such thing as multi-tasking. We can only ever focus on a single activity at any one time. It may appear that you're multi-tasking if you are able to do many things quickly, but notice, that at any one moment, you can really only attend fully to one single thing.

If, for example, you're listening to a class recording and writing emails at the same time, you're actually zoning in and out between one and the other. You miss bits and pieces in between, and ultimately it takes you longer to get things done. If your class recording isn't important enough for you to be fully present with it, then don't bother listening to it.

YOUR TURN

A trait of super-successful people is that they don't just implement one thing at a time. They pick several and get them going. If you don't feel that you can put all 7 of the above ways into action right now (why not?), then pick at least 3 and run with it. You'll be pleased you did because you'll be more effective and have more free time to do other things you love.