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Your annual budget could be the key to success

Even with all of the drive and motivation in the world, a business cannot continue to function without one very basic thing — money. While your budget should be able to accommodate various events by either slightly stretching or shrinking when necessary, it should otherwise remain on point.

The first step you should take when developing an effective budget is establishing your expenses. Make sure that you distinguish between weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual expenses. How much will it cost to set up an office or maintain a website? What do the outgoing bills look like? If this is your second, third or even fourth year in business, and you still find that you struggle with these types of figures, go back and review previous expenses to get a better idea of these costs.

Sales estimates and projections are another important consideration in your budget. Keep in mind that an estimated income from sales is more than just a guess. This figure is usually a carefully calculated total that takes a variety of factors into account, including seasonal fluctuations.

Once you have the basic cash in, cash out aspects of your budget handled, you may be discouraged to find that your expenses outweigh your income. This is where successful and innovative entrepreneurs really have the chance to shine. Part of running a successful online business is having ingenuity. When a budget is unbalanced, you will need to find areas to make up this loss. Two examples of this include reviewing expenses for unnecessary costs and finding innovative ways to bring in a little extra cash from other products or services.

If your business is struggling to stay afloat in the online world, consider revisiting your budget to set things back on track.

Turning your purpose into profit

Most people know someone who is a veritable wealth of knowledge on at least one subject. If none of your friends fit that bill, then that fountain of knowledge just could be you.

From tips for keeping a marriage happy to fashion tricks that can keep you up-to-date on fashion trends for half the cost, some people simply find joy in learning the latest secrets for success and then sharing them with others. While those types of individuals might have vital information across a wide array of subjects, they may not realize that there is an actual market for their knowledge.

Information marketing can combine your purpose for keeping up with the latest tips and tricks with a bit of hard work and effort to create a steady and meaningful paycheck. A large number of people who log online do so in search of some kind of helpful information; however, without someone there to supply those answers, their searches can end up fruitless. Articles addressing specific types of needs are in high demand, and people who have the passion and drive to learn and share with others are an invaluable aspect of the entire process.

 

Whether Internet users are searching for “Tips for building a shed” or for “How long meat is good in the fridge,” they need help. Could you be the one to provide those answers?

Muzio’s founder utilizes love of travel for business success

Muzio — an app development company — thrives by remaining open to new and innovative ideas for the mobile platform. CEO and founder Reshma Chattaram Chamberlin helps foster that company-wide attitude from her own love of traveling, which often places her in the midst of new and exciting cultures. Prior to starting Muzio, Chamberlin spent time as both an app developer and manager for large groups of web developers, positions that took her all over the world.

Perhaps, one of the most remarkable aspects of Muzio’s start-up was that Chamberlin and her partner were able to fund the project entirely by themselves. Without any commitments to investors, she was able to exercise her best-judgment and skills to design Muzio and its very first app — Muzio app — in such a way that allows for continual improvement and innovation as the company faces different challenges or new ideas arise.

Chamberlin acknowledges that others may be quick to dole out advice or opinions to entrepreneurs who are ready to strike out on their own, something she is quick to caution other entrepreneurs about. Chamberlin believes that prospective entrepreneurs can gain much more by paying careful attention to their own instincts and experiences. Her success is due in part to realizing that no one person has all the answers, and she has built an extremely successful career out of primarily relying on her own skills.

Want the clicks? Don’t leave room for deliberation

 

When a piece of copy has been crafted to accurately represent a product or service to its target market and also includes unique and recognizable key words, it can be easy to wipe your hands clean of a project and walk away.

Don’t.

Now that your customer has not only found your website (see “Customers unable to find your website? Your keywords could be to blame”) but has a solid understanding of what the product is, what are they supposed to do with that information? From the business’s point of view, the answer may seem obvious, but things can look very different from where a customer is seated.

A quick perusal of well-written copy around the Internet reveals that they all have one thing in common: a call to action. Do you want readers to click a link or make a purchase? Making that call to action clear and concise can be extremely effective at getting your customers to act. Take the following for example:

Ready to learn more? Click here to find out how.

  • Join us as we bring technology into the future.
  • Keep up with new developments – sign up here.
  • Broken computer? Let us handle it.

Consider both a piece of copy that includes a call to action and one that does not. Once a customer has finished reading about a product without any call to action, he or she might still decide to proceed with a purchase or inquiry, but it is equally as likely that he or she might instead choose to put the decision off until a later date. A call to action should encourage a customer to take action now, not later when work and dinner and a mile-long to-do list have had time to take over.

When the right call to action is paired with the best copy possible, businesses should be able to count on those clicks from customers.