 |
Small Business Information
Increase Sales in Your Home Business With These 10 Simple Ideas
Every home business has the same problem of how to increase sales without a hugely expensive marketing campaign. By utilising the following simple ideas you will be able to do just that.
10 Ways to Start a Business on a Budget
If you?ve been thinking about starting a business, but are held back due to cash-flow issues, there are plenty of ways you can get your plans off the ground. Though your vision may be to own a big store, restaurant, warehouse, or office, consider starting on a smaller scale.
Effective Customer Interviews Make Life Much Easier!
One of the critical success factors for service-related businesses is our ability to understand a client?s needs and requirements. Misunderstandings can lead to loss of repeat business, economic loss, and damage to reputation.
Job Costing - Do You Know How?
What?s your job profitability? I meet with business owners every day that are unsure of their profitability at a company or job level. They ?think? they are making money because they have a few dollars in their checking account. Having money in your checking account doesn?t mean you are profitable. It might mean you haven?t paid all the bills yet, so you have a little cash. Cash and profit are two different concepts. If you aren?t profitable, you won?t have longevity in your business.
Money Series 1: Who Takes Your Money
Your business is making profits, but where is the cash? It seems that someone has taken away your money. Your bank account is still the same, and your personal wealth is still the same. There must be someone that took your money. Based on my over 18 years of professional experience and study, there are 8 persons that take away your money without your knowing...
How Disabled Veterans Can Win Government Contracts
The Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) is a program that allows small businesses to self-certify as service-disabled veteran-owned businesses providing them increased opportunities to win government contracts. Significantly and permanently impaired veterans may be assisted in the daily business operations by a spouse or permanent caregiver.
Financial Strategies for a Mobile Car Wash Business Plan
Writing a business plan for a mobile car wash is fairly easy, yet often operators fall down in understanding the financial strategies and costs. Bankers and Investors alike will want to see that you have a well thought out business plan to insure your start-up goes successfully. Below you will find a sample mobile car wash strategic financial strategies section for a business plan. I recommend that you print this out and modify it to best fit your over all plan and then once you have a good rough draft think on it for a few days and add in your additional costs and thoughts or insights. Then type it up and use it in your over all business plan so that you can get the funding necessary for a success start-up either thru a loan or investor partner. This sample is written from the perspective of a franchisee, which is part of a larger franchise company. If you are to be an independent business your plan may slightly vary somewhat.
Technology Community Helps SMBs Focus on Their Core Business
If you?re starting your own business or currently work for a start-up, you wear a lot of hats. Any disruption in your business can eat up hours of your time and kill your productivity. Many start-ups are so focused on getting their business off the ground, that they overlook technology considerations that can help increase their productivity and enhance their efficiency. Unlike mid to large corporations that have dedicated IT personnel, start-ups typically do not have in-house IT resources to evaluate and deploy new technologies to pre-empt unforeseen issues, such as virus attacks, and streamline processes to increase efficiency gains. This is due partly to time and partly due to budgetary constraints. Small businesses want to focus on the next sale, not the next purchase. Largely for this reason, many small to medium businesses (SMBs) are categorized as laggers on the technology spectrum -- classified as conservative IT buyers and slow adopters of new technologies. This profile make it seems as if SMBs are risk adverse, when in actuality, SMBs are more risk takers than corporate employees ? after all, they?ve started their own business or are part of a start-up where the P&L is felt throughout the company.
Pressure Washing Market Niche
Those who are in the pressure washer business should not neglect the Hotel exterior cleaning niche. Many five-star hotels spend significant dollars in making sure that their grounds are meticulously cleaned. There are also many regular hotels, which take pride in their hotels. It would be wise to have a customized sales letter and/or brochure made especially for this type of service, with follow-up information on your website.
How to Wash Mobile Homes as a Business
Washing manufactured homes, mobile homes, can be a lucrative and steady business. Generally Mobile Home owners desire to have their mobile homes washed twice per year. There are many mobile home washing companies who make a very good living and have multiple rigs running. If you currently own a pressure washer you may wish to consider a new business washing mobile home and manufactured houses.
Cleaning Service Stations with a Pressure Washer
Fuel prices these days are quite high and they take their toll on a service business. It is time to strike back. If you own a cleaning business that uses pressure washers why not clean service stations and get some of your money back as you pay $2.30 per gallon for fuel? Gas Stations are usually franchises and have cleanliness commitments as part of their franchise agreements with the oil companies they sign on with. This means they have no choice they must keep their gasoline stations spiffy. Currently with unemployment rates so low 5% on average many stations do not have the extra labor needed to keep up with the cleaning.
Why Clean Mobile Homes for a Business?
Manufactured and Mobile Home owners know that the weather this year will be quite harsh. It?s imperative these owners to clean out rain gutters and debris from on top of their homes. They realize that they must thoroughly wash off this summer?s dirt so they do not have drip marks on the sides of their cottages this winter. They must eliminate the mold buildup, and unsightly stains. Those mobile homes which have not been cleaned all Winter must have their rain gutters cleaned so when Hurricane remnants dump massive amounts of water in a region the roofs do not collapse. It is equally important to clean the bottom of the eaves and carport to prevent mold spots from forming.
Pressure Washing Aircraft Hangers at the Airport
If you are looking for a way to own your own business using a pressure washer or expand your current pressure washing business you might consider cleaning Aircraft Hangers out at the airport. Why Wash Aircraft hangers? For one it can lead to much more work cleaning all sorts of things at airports which is an encapsulated market. Larger airports have terminal buildings, staging areas, parking structures, fuel depots, retaining walls, security vehicles, airport shuttles, rent-a-cars and of course aircraft. If you get a job cleaning a hanger or several you will be seen by others who need services desperately.
Mobile Car Wash and Cleaning Post Office Jeeps
If you own a mobile truck washing, pressure washing or mobile car wash business you may wish to consider washing postal vehicles. They have one of the largest fleets in the world and they are relatively easy to wash. Yes, like all quasi-government agencies they pay slowly, but you know you will get paid as long as you show up to wash.
Pressure Washing at Golf Courses
There are many potential niches for pressure washing companies that often go unchecked. Some are quite lucrative and are worth investigation if you own a pressure washing business. One such niche is the pressure washing of golf courses, clubs houses, golf carts and facilities. To target this specialization of services you will need to slightly modify your sales approach.
More Articles from Small Business Information:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
34 |
35 |
36 |
37 |
38 |
39 |
40 |
41 |
42 |
43 |
44 |
45 |
46 |
47 |
48 |
49 |
50 |
51 |
52 |
53 |
54
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
20 Great Ways to Market Your Business Locally
Whether your target audience is in your neighborhood or across the world, you can use your local resources to get the word out about your business. Your local community is easily accessible and provides dozens of opportunities for building a buzz about your product or service. The following are twenty ideas to get you started.
10 Best Practices to Consider as Your SBIR Negotations Approach Contract Signature
10 Best Practices to consider as your SBIR negotiations approach contract signature:
Politics, Environmental Rules, and Mobile Car Washes
During the California Recall Election, I was very interested. Without getting into the political scene at all; my entire company, The Car Wash Guys, and all our staff and franchisees were closely watching The California Recall and Election. Why you say? Why would a National Car Wash Franchising Company care much? Well we have some friends of past days who were very much involved there. See some of these articles and find out how we were assisted in our early company years by Mr. Tom McClintock (Rep) of California who was running a very close third in the election with the fastest moving up numbers in the polls. We all wondered would it be The Terminator just like in the movies? Arnold Schwarznegger, who promises to terminate bureaucracy or will it be Mr. Tom McClintock? We did not believe that California will choose more of the same regime or elect Mr. Bustamonte. Tom McClintock's assistance to our company when we were the smallest of small businesses helped us from bureaucracy and un-ethical competition. To this day he continues his ideals and does not waiver on issues.
Small Business Operators - 7 Reasons You Should Change Your Accountant
A recent survey showed that only 28.7% of small business owners were happy with their accountant, and only half of those would recommend him to their friends because he was too busy already.
Pressure Washer Concrete Cleaning Equipment
Cleaning concrete is tough and there is an easy way and a hard way. There is one thing you need to understand when you are pressure washer cleaning concrete; the concrete cannot always be made to look brand new again after it has been stained. You can always get stains lighter or bleached but completely removing it is very difficult, sometimes you get lucky, but if you are looking for perfection, chances are you will be underwhelmed. So when talking to customers let them know up front and explain this to them otherwise they will be asking for a job that just can't be done unless the entire concrete slab is ripped up and re-poured.
10 Ways to Start a Business on a Budget
If you've been thinking about starting a business, but are held back due to cash-flow issues, there are plenty of ways you can get your plans off the ground. Though your vision may be to own a big store, restaurant, warehouse, or office, consider starting on a smaller scale.
Small Business Security No Passing Fad
How careful are you with the data you collect from your customers? How about the handling of money in your business. And passwords? What controls have you put in place to protect computer data?
Fleet Washing Operations Manual Sample Outline
In the Truck Washing Business every single type of vehicle is washed differently. If you are going to run a mobile onsite fleet washing business with multiple trucks in multiple cities you will in fact need a comprehensive manual to keep your crews and equipment running at an optimum. Below you will see a sample outline to assist you in constructing a washing procedure manual, which will include many different types of fleet vehicles.
How to Manage Your Pipeline
How is your pipeline structured?
Using Technology to Manage Customer Loyalty
Don't let your customer satisfaction research initiative collect dust on a shelf. Integrate technology with research to optimize the use of customer information.
Franchise Rule to be Revised; Why?
The FTC, Federal Trade Commission, is considering modifying the franchise rule. So far it has be a ten-year process; just imagine working that slow in your business? In 1995, 1997 and 1999 when the comments were first considered and taken in, which spans a ten-year period. When you combine those comments with this current rule making period they may have broken the record for the longest rule making session since voting on the slavery issue; one heck of a long rule making period by any means.
Outsourcing and Virtual Assistants: Small Business Saviors
Work smarter, not harder
9 Things You Must Do To Maximize Your Chances Of Obtaining A Small Business Loan
To get approval for your small business loan application, you must be able to meet the lending criteria set down. Some organisations are more risk averse than others, and will therefore have more stringent criteria. To vastly increase your chances of a successful funding application, you will need to present the following information:
How to Compete with the Big Guns?!
Many small business startups fail within the first 2 years of existence. There are several different factors reason for the failure. One reason many entrepreneurs often under estimate the need to find a niche market and to serve it well. Instead of finding the niche market they attack the big guys head on. If you have enough money to throw at 'this problem' you might succeed, but in reality almost every small business doing this will fail and eventually shutdown operations.
Accounting Methods ? Cash and Accrual
When starting a business, you have to determine the method you are going to use for accounting and paying taxes. The two choices are the cash method and the accrual method.
Speed Kills on the Web!
I only have to point to the 555 plus failed .com companies (according to Web Mergers) as the poster children of the "speed at any cost" business mantra that clearly doesn't work. And these were companies who burnt through significant amounts of capital (in the millions, tens of millions or hundreds of millions in many cases) while they were rushing to get to market.
Concrete Cleaning Discussed at World of Concrete Expo 03
If you are in the pressure washing business and are serious about what you clean on the ground floor, I suggest you attend the WOC. The WOC is the World of Concrete Expo in Las Vegas, which is held once per year. Each year it grows and is now one of the largest trade shows in Las Vegas. We spent two days walking the halls, meeting vendors, potential customers and learning about new materials, cleaners and equipment.
Business Relationships Defined
What makes a business relationship?
A Small Business Must Have a Solid Foundation
We all know that a building has to have a strong foundation if it is to survive, so, too, a business.
Why The Carwash Industry is Stagnant; What You Can Do to Change Your Field
Many years ago, I had warned the carwash industry of problems brewing in customer dissatisfaction as we continued to grow our car wash company into a National Franchise Chain. I warned of environmental controls, speed of wash, water usage, quality of labor, price points, car wash fundraisers, car damage, up selling and hot wax. At that time I was called everything under the Sun by operators who did not wish to change.
|