02/05/2012

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10 Money-Saving Apps for Business Travelers

01/10/2012 By

Today there are so many apps for smartphone users it can be difficult to find one that does what you want, when you want it to, that is reliable and easy to use. Well, you’re in luck. There are thousands of apps to help with everything from finding you a great hotel to cheap car hire to flight trackingóusually quicker than the airline!

Here, I have pulled together a list of my favourite travel apps to ease your mind and save you money along the way.

1) FlightAware This completely free app lets you track your flights to let you know if your flight is on time or running late, before leaving the house. It will send you delay notifications and any data on your flight, all in real time.

2) Babelingo ñ There are many wonderful translation apps on the market, and many of them are free, but for $1.99 USD, this app gives you basic and heavily used phrases in hundreds of languagesóall without requiring a Wi-Fi connection. This way, you can easily communicate with hotel staff, vendors, or cab drivers, without trying to find a signal or paying for wireless service. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Featured

Employee vs Independent Contractor: What You Need to Consider

12/30/2011 By

Especially in this down economy, many business owners are utilizing the services of independent contractors and freelance workers over hiring part-time or full-time employees. As an entrepreneur, knowing when to hire an independent contractor or bring in a new employee requires much consideration.

First, let’s differentiate the two. If you go by the IRS definitions, an individual whose work is controlled by you—if you direct them and you dictate what is to be done and how it is to be done, then you have an employer/employee relationship. If on the other hand you have control or input on just the result of the work done but not the methods and means of achieving that result—then, they’re an independent contractor. As a business owner, you need to be careful in hiring and paying independent contractors if they should be made an employee. Remember, the tax collector never sleeps. The IRS provides criteria and classifications for workers if you’re still concerned about the difference.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Growing Your Business, Management Tagged With: , , , , ,

5 Ways to Cut Down Business Cost

12/23/2011 By

With the ongoing economic problems it is becoming increasingly important for businesses to look for ways to decrease their cost in order to remain competitive. How do you do that without compromising on the quality of your products or services? In this article I will be sharing 5 simple ways that you can help cut down your business cost and I hope that you will find it useful.

Training Cost

Training is really important for your employees and for this reason I will not advocate on removing training from your organization. But there are some simple ways that you can use in order to decrease your cost. For example you might want to shift to online training where your employees may learn from their comfort of their own home or during spare hours instead of losing productivity through classroom-style training [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Management

Why Small Businesses Should Exhibit at Trade Shows

12/20/2011 By

As a small business owner, you need to be acutely aware of your budget, and spending the time and money on attending exhibitions and trade fairs might not be uppermost in your mind. Not only do you have to take time away from running your business, which costs money, but there are also all sorts of other costs to consider, such as display stands, transport, having brochures and presentations produced, and so on.

But taking part in an exhibition or trade fair could ultimately be very beneficial to your small business. And, if you make the most of it, you can get back everything you put in and maybe more. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Marketing, Promotion Tagged With: , , ,

How to Close First Wholesale Deal Successfully

12/19/2011 By

Not all people are confident about their success during the initial days of their business. Especially with the intense competition in the market, the ratio of probability of success in any business isn’t always all that high. While starting your own retail business, you are required to make many crucial decisions like choosing the right products, deciding on location, marketing techniques, target audience etc. Among these various issues, deciding on the right wholesale supplier for the first order is also quite a daunting task.

Closing the deal with any supplier for the first time is quite risky. This is because you are new in the business and there is a chance that your suppliers might turn out to be unreal or the product they supplies isn’t up to the mark. What would you do if it happens? Would you be able to sustain such a heavy loss in the start? Obviously not! Not only would you lose money but self-confidence and motivation as well. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business
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