Business Archives - Page 57 of 144

For Sale by Owner: Off MLS Listing Is Risky Business

Since 2013, there has been an increase in sellers pre-selling properties and listing them off the Multiple Listing Services(MLS). Core Logic reported that in 2013, 53% of real estate transactions conducted in the U.S. were not listed on the MLS. Most sellers do not hold a real estate license, and are not permitted to use the MLS – the standard listing portal for a licensed real estate agent. Although buyer’s agents are willing to work with For Sale by Owner (FSBO) listings, they are not permitted to give the seller any advice or access to marketing.

Sellers who want to list a FSBO may be losing out on tens of thousands of dollars in real market value on a property, especially if they list properties without an up-to-date appraisal or current market research. Often a seller will list a FSBO based on the sale price of a neighbor’s home, which may or may not be the best choice for a comparable property. A local real estate agent lists properties continuously in their regional sales area and is best suited to offer a market comparison in the neighborhoods he or she covers. Remember, tax assessments, though readily available, are not the best tool for gauging a property’s true market value at any give point in time.

One nuance about FSBO sales that should give sellers pause is the fact that an experienced buyer’s agent may hold the upper hand in a FSBO real estate transaction. Why? The seller may not be familiar with state laws and fiduciary codes and/or ramifications of contract issues that crop up during negotiations. Even with a lawyer creating a real estate contract on a property, the final outcome of a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) real estate sale may be held up over a variety of issues. Experienced REALTORS know how to circumvent these roadblocks quickly and keep a property transaction on track.

FSBO is Not Equal to a REALTOR’s Advertising Potential

Working with a professional REALTOR is worth the commission under these circumstances. A FSBO has a limited opportunity for marketing, becoming more heavily reliant upon web real estate portal sites such as Zillow.com. With a seasoned agent, advertising penetration for a property is far greater. For example, I list my properties for sale in Williamsburg, Virginia on four MLS websites. This gives my sellers and extensive area of coverage so that other agents can see the listing and buyers on the MLS can also see it. My MLS listings are also republished on Realtor.com, which is owned by the National Association of Realtors and is also a reputable website in the industry.

My broker, Coldwell Banker Traditions, also has a listing mechanism on its locally based website, where my client properties receive excellent visibility. Not all REALTORS list properties this widely on the Web, so check with individual real estate agents and ask them for specific information about advertising provided for client listings through MLS and other venues on the Web.

There are other disadvantages to listing properties without an agent. If the owner happens to miss a showing with a potential buyer, he or she may miss the opportunity to sell a property altogether. For real estate sales in my territory, Southeastern Virginia, an owner is not permitted to use legal forms created by the Virginia Association for Realtors (VAR), unless they are licensed. Real estate forms are formally copyrighted by the VAR and sanctioned for use only by membership. This puts the seller at another distinct disadvantage in the transaction. Having to create legal forms anew is not only time consuming, it may increase costs for an attorney.

Besides some of the more obvious advantages to listing with a licensed real estate agent, there is also a common misconception that the use of a real estate lawyer will save money versus paying agents’ commissions. The seller still has to pay the buyers agent fees (which is variable by state and type of real estate transaction). All FSBO sales contracts must be created and finalized with a lawyer. The sales process involves having the buyer read the contract and make changes. The lawyer revises the contract appropriately and it is presented at closing. Lawyers in Virginia charge far more to create an original contract (in my experience) than the commission on the seller’s side – in most instances. Sellers who want to go it alone should seriously consider the lawyer’s fees may be more expensive, and are largely unpredictable, depending upon the number of legal forms needed, length of negotiations and additional contract requirements.

Sellers need to forgo the FSBO and get smart in a real estate market that is definitely on the move in many regions of the U.S. Pricing is trending higher in the 2014 market and inventories are low in many markets. So sellers need to have expert advice on pricing real estate at current market value now – more than ever. In addition to potential loss of profits from home sale, the seller may easily run up against legal and contract issues that may not be quickly resolved. Worse yet, these matters may be settled too late to adhere to the time limits on certain loans such as FHA and USDA. If the seller does not know what they’re doing and timeframes are not heeded, this can cause the buyer to forfeit a loan. In turn, the property loses a good buyer and valuable time on the market.

Be wise and don’t engage in risky business – listing a property off the MLS or without a licensed agent. It is best to have the representation of a licensed agent for a variety of reasons. The main reasons are: the seller will have expert advice, will most likely sell the property sooner and the property will command a fair market price. Say no to FSBO. Instead, seek out a capable real estate professional in your region for piece of mind.

7 Ways to Promote Your Business Online

1. Get a Company Website

What was a novelty a mere decade ago is a critical requirement today. A business website is a pseudo B2B Portal, allowing businesses and customers from around the world to connect with you. A business website is akin to your Company brochure, available 24×7, and projects you as a professional outfit.

2. Social Media Websites = Free and Fast promotions

The biggest achievement of our era has been the ease with which people have learnt to communicate- Social Media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube etc, are the latest methods to communicate across wide demographics of age, taste and culture. By actively promoting your company on these social media, you are getting the world to talk about you.

3. Blogging and Forums

Here is a powerful axiom- ‘Content is King’. Produce powerful, genuine and compelling content as part of your Company blog. Be a regular on relevant forums and discussion panels. Learn the art of connecting your business themes into the content that you produce. In time, your content will stand up to be the biggest promoter of your brand.

4. Pay per Click Advertising

If you are willing to pay- relevant traffic can be encouraged to visit your website. Write an online ad for your business, set a reasonable price that you are willing to pay every time someone clicks on your ad (as hosted on third party websites). Payment is only done when someone actually clicks on your ad- if not, you don’t have to pay. Pay per Click Ads allow you to setup a daily advertising budget and can be cancelled or restarted upon your discretion.

5. List your business on the three biggest listing services

Register your business on ‘Google Places’- this allows your business to feature on Google searches and be listed on Google Maps. Other business databases that you must be part of include ‘Yahoo! Local’ and Microsoft’s ‘Bing’. Joining these services is free; setting up an account takes very limited time and the far reach of these services translates to free promotion for your business.

6. Email Marketing

In recent times, bulk emailing isn’t a very favoured promotional concept. However, if done well, and with good intentions, email marketing could be a powerful tool in your Company’s online promotional arsenal. Personalised emails speak directly with the target audience, helps you get an immediate response and can aid in the opening of a line of communication with your prospective customer base. It’s free and fast promotion- with an impactful feedback.

7. Hire a good Digital Marketing Company

If you aren’t sure about pulling off a good promotional job individually, maybe it’s a good idea to hire an innovative, enthusiastic Digital Marketing Company to handle your Company’s B2B Portals online promotional strategy. This action will allow you to be on top of your promotional ideas on buyers and sellers while employing a professional unit to implement concepts that drive towards your expected results.

There it is- 7 strategies that can help you promote your business, unearth new customers and maintain a loyalty bound relationship with your existing customer base. Why wait? It’s time to exploit the full power of the online media in relation to your business.

3 Tips to Find the Best BPO Service Provider for Your Business

Most businesses, whether domestic or international have started using the outsourcing leverage extensively. It is natural and obvious as well. With businesses expanding like never before and technology and methods of communication being constantly innovated, the need for external teams to handle your non- core processes is increasing.

Further BPO service providers have also evolved into KPOs which means that if you source out your operations, you actually can use multiple skills and focus on your core business. The real question however is to know about how to select the right service provider suited to your business needs. Let us look at 3 ways in which an ideal BPO solutions provider can be differentiated from the others.

Business Continuity Plan

Find out if your potential partner has a strong and robust business continuity plan in place. Evaluate their plans on the basis of your needs. Are you in a business which serves customers globally? Are you running an e- portal? Or is it the inbound sales you’re outsourcing? If you’re a big food brand that needs to outsource its inbound sales, then you need someone who’s capable of hiring extra support staff on bench.

If you’re a business into energy and utilities or have an actively running e – portal, then you might want the online customer support BCP to be more robust than the telephonic. However, if you’re a bank or the credit card division of a bank, you might in fact want someone who operates from multiple physical and / or geographical locations.

Cost Arbitrage

Reduced overhead cost is one of the major factors that need to be kept in mind in order to find the right service providing match. So, before you finalize on your potential Business Process Outsourcing solutions provider, make sure that you compare costs.

Also you will need to ensure if the cost arbitrage still covers all the business needs you have. What this means is that you do not wish to suffer on the quality or the levels and standards of service provided to you, just because you’ve found a relatively low – cost solution provider.

Homework

Before you finalize the name, another thing you need to keep in mind is whether or not your prospect for sourced out solutions has done sufficient homework. Do they understand your industry well? Do they understand your brand? Do they believe in similar business values as you do?

These questions certainly are tough to judge, but they are as important as any other question. In most cases, it is very difficult to ascertain past references, given the fact that most companies prefer keeping their external teams undeclared. There are NDAs and other relevant information involved.

Affiliate Marketing – Can I Earn Multiple Streams Of Income Starting Today?

O YES YOU CAN!!!

“Definition: Affiliate Marketing is a system of revenue sharing between one site (the affiliate merchant) which

features an ad or content designed to drive traffic to another site (the advertiser). The affiliate will receive a

fee based on the amount of traffic generated.”

Fact: Affiliate marketing is a $95 billion industry that is expected to grow to approximately $230 billion by 2008.

(Source: Forrester Research)

The aim of this article is to introduce you to a system that has the potential of propelling you towards realizing

your dream of creating multiple streams of income.

This system is called cbGlobe’s Clickbank Mall – A clickbank products portal.

This is A FREE Clickbank Mall, That Enables You To Automatically Promote Over 10,000+ Clickbank Products With Your

Affiliate ID Embedded In Them, Earning You Multiple Streams Of Income…

You don’t need a website or Experience in affiliate marketing. Plus IT IS ABSOLUTELY FREE!

Yep! It is. You can grab your very own ClickBank Mall TODAY at no cost! (See the author’s link for more details)

Not convinced you can make huge profits with a Clickbank Affiliate mall?…Hmmm…

I guess I understand your reservations and hesitation.

Alright, let me show you a few of the benefits of owning your very own Clickbank Affiliate Portal:

** Earn Money by Giving Away Free Websites! – (This is too important to ignore!!!)

** Ad Tracking feature that you can use and give away to your website visitors. (You have unlimited tracking urls,

so you can even track ALL your advertising here and know where your visitors are coming from)

** Clickbank Portal plugin to place on other websites you own and sell more than 10,000+ digital products and

services, which are embedded with your Clickbank affiliate ID, earning you up to 75% commissions per sale!

** Adsense-like ads – You choose what they are about, and whether you want a banner or a tower, and how they look,

so they can blend in with your own content. Just by pasting a small snippet of code on your pages, you can have

your own AdSense style type of ads, generating huge commissions instead of pennies (tip: you can use these for any

kind of niche you operate in!)

Are you ready to take advantage of this “insane” offer?

If your answer is “I Do” then visit the link below to grab your very own Cash-Generating Clickbank Mall In

Minutes…Absolutely Free! (This is too important to ignore!!!)

Still not sure?….

Okay. What EXACTLY are people saying about this affiliate marketing opportunity?

*********************************

CbGlobe is perfect for promoting ClickBank products and is easy to set up.

I have had my ClickBank portal for a few months now and I am generating a steady affiliate income. It compliments

my eBook website perfectly.

I have seen similar products on sale for $97+ so the fact Stelios is giving this website away means you really

can’t lose.

John Thornhill

planet-e-books.co.uk

*********************************

Having been associated with Internet Marketing for approximately 5 years or so; I was about to give up on some of

the Affiliate programs.

Stelios has brought an open and renewed sense of business to the field. I appreciate how he has thoughtfully taken

the time and patience to help new marketers as well as veterans who may still need coaching. His strategic

instructions and breakdown on questions, technical issues, how to promote products, reselling them as well as

getting a niche of your own has enlightened me.

With CBGlobe, Stelios has captured a brilliant way to market Click Bank. I believe we will all do well if we keep

up with these positive actions.

T Lowery

piedmontgiftsmarket.com

*********************************

Well, what more can I say?

If you are ready to make some Serious Money,

sign up at the link below to get started today Absolutely Free!!! (See the author’s link for more details)

YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID!

How Can Mobile Software Development Companies Help Small Business?

Today, most of the businesses, be it an eCommerce website, or a bank, a school or a cab service provider, everyone needs a mobile app to expand their reach and grow their business. Even the business owners, who once did not consider having an online presence for their business, are now looking at creating one for it.

Mobile Experience to Users

Mobile apps offer a personal and quick experience to users. Eventually, use of desktops and laptops are getting replaced by tablets and mobile devices, for most of the activities, which people carry out online. Given the busy schedules of people, they prefer to have facilities like to book travel tickets, pay bills, book a cab for travel, or book a table in a restaurant right from their fingertips. Thus, without a mobile app, businesses are incomplete, and are always at a high risk of losing their customers to their competitor, for their businesses.

Role of Social Share in Mobile Software

Social media software has become one of the vitals for very mobile applications now. Anybody who owns an account in any of the social media networks, like Facebook or Twitter, are always on their toes, to share whatever they are passionate about, with their friends on the same social media network.

Social share feature in the Mobile app allows users to like, comment and share. This calls for a very good strategy to get customer feedback for eCommerce business owners. Based on the number of likes and shares for a product, they can easily find out, which are the products that are in high demand.

Apart from the eCommerce websites, social sharing is effective for news and magazine apps also. Even the news and magazine business owners, and bloggers, do prefer to have social sharing integrated into their mobile app, in order to encourage sharing of news and articles among their readers.

In this manner, social sharing plays a vital role in taking a mobile app wider and farther, ultimately increasing the users.

Vowing to all the aforesaid reasons, the earlier exclusively web development service providers, are widening the scope of their service offerings, by adding Mobile software development to them. These companies usually specialize in mobile technologies, which help in developing cutting edge mobile apps for every business requirement.

From business perspective, these companies very well understand how mobile apps can rightly complement with the existing web application or portal of a business, in order to increase the leads. They also do understand that social sharing is one of the enticing features, which should not be missed out on a mobile app at all.

They usually follow the right procedure for their mobile development process. They clearly understand your business requirement, and come up the best solution for the mobile. Of course, there are a few limitations, But there are many advantages as well that lack on the other platform. They analyse the most important functionalities within your website or online portal, which are most likely to be used by your site visitors on the mobile app.

4 Reasons Why Your Retail Business Needs a Mobile App

Mobile epidemic is spreading. Nowadays, there are more than 2 billion active smartphone users all over the world. And all these people choose a smartphone as the most convenient device for the majority of their daily tasks. The possibilities of this market are unlimited, and if you still haven’t done anything to use them, it’s high time for you. In this article, we’ll explore why a website is not an option anymore for online retail business, what benefits you will get if you create an appealing retail mobile app and what functionality you’ll need to include there.

Your site isn’t enough

Ask yourself what device you use more. Is it a PC or a phone? I’m sure that it’s a smartphone. Now, ask yourself what is easier to work with a mobile app or a website via a mobile browser? I think that the answer is obvious. And we are not the only people who have noticed the difference. Here are some statistical facts taken from PR Newswire portal to prove my point:

Mobile app users browse 280% more items compared to websites on mobile devices.
Mobile apps have 90% higher rate of goods added to basket compared to mobile websites.
Mobile websites in the retail sphere have more than 100% less conversion rate if compared to mobile apps.

The numbers clearly show that the mobile apps work much better in such areas as customers’ engagement and profits increasing. And one more thing for you to consider, the portal Flurry analytics has calculated that modern mobile users spend about 90% of time working with apps and only 10% on browsing.

You see the statistics and have to make conclusions because your competitors do. Every day we get thousands of retail mobile apps and there are several reasons why business holders create them.

Benefits for business

All these phrases like “business improvement” and “profit increase” sounds very hazy. Let’s talk about real advantages which you’ll get after your retail app release:

Sales boost. It was calculated that more than 85% of users who installed a retail app use it regularly. Almost 55% percent of these people have made a purchase via the app last month.

Very promising statistics, right! Besides, with the help of discounts, special offers and a loyalty program for mobile shoppers, you can easily break these records. For instance, Alibaba, an online retail app famous for its discounts, has got the highest profit from mobile users – almost $25 per a user a month!

Extinguish competitors. This business if taught and the race is very intensive. Did you know that 60% of all interviewed business holders in the retail sphere confirmed that they are ready to start their own app development or they have already released one? Modern apps are very easy to use, they have much more intuitive interface than mobile websites do and %45 off people who took part in AYTM survey claimed that they prefer doing shopping via a mobile app rather than a website. Sounds like a lot of people, right? Don’t give these customers a chance to choose another app. Contact a mobile app development company and release your product faster than your competitors!

Build brand loyalty. Brand recognition and loyalty is a huge plus for your company. Many businesses are trying to build their marketing campaigns in a way to increase their brand popularity. That’s one of the main reasons for many business holders to create their own mobile app.

In-store experience improvement. It was calculated that more than 50% of customers can use both a mobile app and physical store shopping. Which means that these notions aren’t mutually exclusive. Moreover, one can help another. In such a manner, you can improve your in-store experience with the help of a mobile app.

For instance, with a barcode scanner app, your customers can get more information about a product and its peculiarities without pinging a staff member. As well as that, your customers can pre-order goods and pick them up whenever they like.

MVP feature list

Still, there are some features which are an absolute must in your retail mobile app. Here they are:

Convenient catalogue. It has to be really well-organized and structured catalogue to help users save their time and nerves. Here’s a tip for you, use only high-quality goods photos and keep your catalogue up-to-date. Nothing drives customers crazy as an item which you can see in the app but can’t buy because there are none.

A lot of filters. Customers are very demanding nowadays that is why it would be useful to add additional filters to the usual ones, like size, colour and so on.

Convenient payments. Add several payment options. Not all people use only Visa or MasterCard. Different options give a user right to choose. It would be also great if you add total cost feature to your shopping cart, so a user can see whether he has enough money or it’s necessary to exclude one or a few items.

The information we’ve listed above should become a guide for you if you want to make your retail business prosperous. The modern era demands only modern technologies and approaches. Don’t waste your time and give your customers a chance to shop with comfort!

Complete Online Web Portal With PSD to osCommerce Conversion Services

Are you searching for an advanced technique to boost up your business online through your online web portal? The basic requirement is a well designed, eye catching online web store incorporating many interactive features to augment the traffic rate in to the website. PSD to osCommerce conversion and customization is one-of-its-kind solution which can bring some relief to an individual on the path of getting fully fledged and SEO semantic online e-commerce shop.

osCommerce stands for open source commerce. osCommerce is a free online e-commerce solution with a feature rich set of out-of-the-box online shopping cart functionality that allows store owners to setup, run, and maintain online stores with minimum effort and with no costs, fees, or limitations involved. With the help of this application, you can customize, manage and control your online e-commerce web portal without any hassle. The custom made PSD to osCommerce theme/ template conversion service contribute a lot in building a highly successful e-commerce based web portal. By the means of PSD to osCommerce conversion, its possible for you get solutions for osCommerce installation and configuration, template generation, custom PHP code development and lots more.

The main features involved in osCommerce are:

• object oriented backend

• user-friendly framework

• multilingual support

• automatic web-browser based set-up

• supporting unlimited products and categories

• rapid search

• secure transactions using ssl

Getting a reliable and adept developer or team who are experts in PSD to osCommerce conversion is also a challenging job. Even though there area multitude of firms offering virtual assistance in PSD to osCommerce conversion services, only a hand full will be good. You have to filter out the experts from the many. The professional service providers are highly committed to offer maximum profits using integrated osCommerce solutions, and also emphasize on the potentiality of the online shopping & e-commerce program. The PSD to osCommerce based solutions is embedded with custom php code development, Pixel-precise osCommerce design integration and customization, PSD to Os Commerce conversion, pre-developed osCommerce module installation and configuration, payment gateway setup and integration, developing osCommerce additional modules etc. Make sure that the service provider has a very good reputation for following industry standards by converting PSD to osCommerce theme and templates, and that also without compromising on quality standards. The PSD to osCommerce conversion service provider should also ensure quick and accessible customer support and assistance.

Now that you have decided to opt for osCommerce conversion for your PSD files, an individual get highly interactive e-commerce based website, improved online presence, high traffic rate, more profits.

Getting Started With CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

It amazes me how many businesses or midsize company sales or service departments that do not take full advantage of modern CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Either they are using an ancient version with limited capability or they still rely on paper based processes. Some have invested heaps of money in a full ERP solution with supply chain, finance and human resource automation, but have never integrated a front-end sales and marketing solution.

The competition in the marketplace in general and from Microsoft and SalesForce in particular have made entry level CRM possible for all size businesses and departments. With all players focused on cloud based solutions and each offering their own set of integration options, there are many ways to spend very little money to get started, making it possible to invest and build on your solution as results are gained. Gone are the days of a twelve to twenty four month implementation plan before results can be gained.

CRM is intended to be a full life-cycle solution for managing customers from marketing to after sales support. The below is a sample sales solution that can broadly be implemented within five days and cost you less than $10,000. This give you a foundation to build onto. If you select a cloud based solution, you only pay on-going license fees based on usage and have no upfront hardware costs.

The functionality below are some of the areas you can consider implementing for under $10,000. Costs are kept in check by “time-boxing” the solution. The idea is to offer a time based solution that involves the key stakeholders to get a solution going within a week.

Sales Automation:

Account, contact, opportunity and activities
Basic workflow
Customisation of Objects and Fields
Data mapping, transformation, migration and data validation
Notes and Attachments
Lead Management, Routing and Assignments
E-mail templates and tracking
Analytics, reports and dashboards
Product catalogue
End user training

Note there are many areas not included in the above, such as territory management, full life-cycle management, contract management, customer portals, Service dashboards, etc., but the above is more than enough to improve your business and establish a foundation for the future.

The five days roughly include:

Day 1: Initiation and Analysis including a design workshop

Day 2 & 3: Configuration and Review – prototyping a solution based on design workshop for immediate feedback, allowing time for minor changes.

Day 4: Data Migration

Day 5: Training and Wrap-up

We are not promising a perfect solution, but instead a usable software that allows room to maximum staff efficiency in rolling out a foundational improvement to managing your client life-cycle.

Give your local technology partner a ring for more information.

The 3 Most Common Mistakes Freelancers Make (& How to Remedy Them)

Recently, I attended a conference given at my local Chamber of Commerce. It was entitled, How to Bring Your Business to the Next Level. The reason I mention it is that the speaker covered several points that tie in with the 3 most common mistakes freelancers make, outlined below.

1. Not Targeting a Market: I call this lack of freelancer focus. Do you drive without a destination? Probably not. Most of us know where we’re going when we get in our cars, on the train, on the bus. We have a specific destination in mind.

Because editorial and creative freelancing encompass such broad categories, it can be difficult to focus. Eg, writing. Huh? For what – magazines, e-zines, newspapers, websites, newsletters, brochures, direct mail, etc., etc., etc.

What type of writing for what sector? Legal, medical, technical, scientific, real estate, financial, general (what does that mean?), etc., etc., etc.

What type of client? B2B, B2C.

As you can see, your choices are endless. And, you may be talented enough to write in many sectors. However, you will have a hard time selling this to potential clients, and you will almost always be beaten out for assignments by those who specialize and have the body of work to prove it.

I know this first-hand. I owned Inkwell Editorial, an editorial staffing agency in New York City, from 1996-2004. When I was recruiting for clients, I ALWAYS chose freelancers who had a background in the discipline for the assignment. Why? Because clients demanded it and they made me look good. I mean, when you think about it, why would I choose someone who was a generalist when I had 15 or 20 just as qualified candidates who had years of experience in what I was looking for? It was a no brainer.

That’s why I’m adamant that freelancers should specialize. It’s not that you can’t go outside your speciality, but if you target a specific market, you build your client list that much faster and can service them better. Once you have your bread and butter clients, you can choose a secondary market – if you feel it necessary.

So, choose a niche market and focus all of your marketing dollars on it. Feel free to take other things as they fall in your lap, but give your chosen market your “laser focus,” eg, ad dollars, promotional efforts, etc.

2. Not Creating a Business Plan: Don’t shut down! Come back. Focus. Pay attention. This is not more corporate mumbo jumbo – I promise. I’m not saying spend 6 months to a year writing a 30-page document that has to be presented to a venture capitalist.

BUT, I am saying that you need the bones of a business plan in front of you. Eg, who’s your target market; how will you reach them; via which advertising medium; what servies will you offer; how much will you charge; how much will it cost you to provide the service (remember, as an editorial/creative worker, your “product” is time); what is your ad budget; how much will you need to reach your goals (eg, quit your job, bring in an extra $x/month)? All of these questions – and some more – should be answered.

Many freelancers fail at freelancing because they don’t do this type of detailed thinking before starting out. You can take one weekend and flesh all of this out and be done with it. Just be sure to write it down and REFER TO IT OFTEN.

3. Not creating a marketing plan. If you are building your business on the cheap, as many do just starting out, it will take much more time than you realize.

So, you will need to map out a plan of what you’re going to do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis to reach your financial goals. Trust, trust, trust me that if you don’t, you will make less money and become frustrated with what could be a wonderful career. It ALWAYS takes longer than what you think.

Doing even a scractch marketing plan will make you feel accomplished – especially if you are doing something every day to market your business. It could be as simple as writing one article a day, pitching 10 potential clients whose info you found on the web, submitting one press release a week.

Imagine if you did just the above, that would be five new articles, 50 client pitches and one press release – all in one week. Now, multiply this by four (a month); 12 (a quarter); 52 (yearly) and you can see how just garnering even a 2% response rate would net you 52 new clients a year (50 client pitches/week x 52 weeks x 2%).

I could go on and on on this topic because it can’t be repeated enough. Many freelancers think that they can just get a website, put in a marginal effort and things will happen. And sure, it will, but it will be in trickles, dribs and drabs.

If you want to make a real go of freelancing, treat it like a real business from the get-go, and you exponentially increase your chance of success.

Microsoft Great Plains Reporting – Overview for Developer

Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular, partly because of Microsoft muscles behind it. Now it is targeted to the whole spectrum of horizontal and vertical market clientele. Small companies use Small Business Manager (which is based on the same technology – Great Plains Dexterity dictionary and runtime), Great Plains Standard on MSDE is for small to midsize clients, and then Great Plains serves the rest of the market up to big corporations. There are several reporting tools available and you definitely need to know which one to use for different types of reports.

If you are developer who is asked: how do we create report for Microsoft Great Plains – read this and you will have the clues on where to look further.

Great Plains Report Writer (ReportWriter) – this is built-in reporting tool. All the original report in Great Plains are written in ReportWriter. ReportWriter itself is Dexterity module. You should use this tool if you would like to modify existing Great Plains reports, such as Blank Invoice Form – here you can place your company logo, change the positioning, fonts, colors, etc. ReportWriter will allow you also do new reports – simple option if you want to export all the records from one Great Plains table – use it. New report, however doesn’t have interface where you would enter parameters – so it is not useful for real custom reports. Another limitation of ReportWriter – you can not do cross-modules report – when you need sales and purchasing info on the same report for example.
FRx. This is excellent tool when deal with financial reporting – it works on the General Ledger level (Balance sheet, P&L, Cash Flow Statement, etc.). It also allows you to do multiple companies consolidation – when you do consolidated Balance Sheet (with inter-companies transactions elimination).
Smart List – Export to Excel – this is nice feature in Great Plains – you could create a list with simple criteria and then export it to Excel.
Crystal Reports. It gives you unlimited functionality. Obviously flexibility requires you to know Great Plains table structure: Launch Great Plains and go to Tools->Resource Description->Tables. Find the table in the proper series. If you are looking for the customers – it should be RM00101 – customer master file. If you need historical Sales Order Processing documents – they are in SOP30200 – Sales History Header file, etc. Create ODBC connection to GP Company database. Use the same technique as when you create standard ODBC connection for GP workstation – but change default database to targeted company database. Create SQL Query to probe the data – we always recommend tuning your query and see that you are getting adequate results – in any case – Crystal Report is just a nice tool to show the results of your query.
Direct Web Publishing off Great Plains databases – yes – it is easy now with Visual Studio.Net and you can hire good programmers. This is good – Microsoft Business Solutions products: Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta will be integrated into so called Microsoft Business Portal – which will have web interface – you can get the idea if you look at Microsoft CRM web client – so direct web publishing is good taste.
SQL Queries. If you have SQL background – this is great field for you. You know – with properly formatted SQL query you can realize simple EDI export/import for the integration with legacy systems.

Happy designing! If you want us to do the job – give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com