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According to the most recent International Trade Association data available through the Small Business Administration, small businesses represent 97.7 percent of the U.S. firms that export goods to other countries. In fact, they account for over one-third of the United States’ known export value.
With business technology ever evolving, expanding our collaboration and communication capabilities, we can assume that more small business owners will want to seize opportunities to extend their customer base beyond U.S borders. With 96 percent of global consumers living outside of the United States (according to the U.S. Department of State), reaching a global market can fuel revenue growth and offer some protection against fluctuations in the U.S. domestic markets. Continue reading
I frequently speak at events for small business owners, both in my area and around the country. I’ve logged a lot of frequent flyer miles! Traveling so much for events can be tiring, but it’s all worth it. That’s because public speaking is a great tool to grow my business. It can be just as effective for your business, too. Continue reading
by Kelly Deis of SoundPoint Consulting
As with many things in life – where we place our attention is what will change. But, if you try to focus on too many things at once, nothing gets done. The same is true for monitoring your business’ financial performance.
Monitor and focus your attention on those few key metrics that drive your business’ health through a dashboard tailored to your needs.
A good dashboard – often no more than one page, is a powerful visual of graphs and other data that provide a snapshot of the key components of your business. It monitors trends and tracks performance against goals, providing the ability to course-correct mid-year.
A customized monthly dashboard should focus on the key drivers of your business and help you quickly and easily assess the health and trajectory of your company. Here’s how: Continue reading
Is your small business thriving? Do customers from out of town ask if you’re going to open another location in their neck of the woods? Are you secretly yearning for a new challenge now that your business is running so smoothly? If you can answer “yes” to all these questions, it might be time to consider franchising your business.
Ask yourself:
A good franchise has operational systems and processes that can be standardized and taught to other people to provide a consistent product or service across all locations. For example, if you own a sandwich shop, do you have a written system for all the steps of making a sandwich, such as:
With the rise of eCommerce and online banking, cybercrime has evolved. Like criminals who pull smash-and-grab jobs, they go where the money is. However, unlike bank robbers, cybercriminals do their best to avoid detection by letting malware do the work for them. Viruses and ransomware sneak into PCs to quietly steal passwords, financial credentials, and other personal information to be sold on the black market for profit. Not all malware is stealthy though. Here are some telltale signs.
With the rise of eCommerce and online banking, cybercrime has evolved. Like criminals who pull smash-and-grab jobs, they go where the money is. However, unlike bank robbers, cybercriminals do their best to avoid detection by letting malware do the work for them. Viruses and ransomware sneak into PCs to quietly steal passwords, financial credentials, and other personal information to be sold on the black market for profit. Not all malware is stealthy though. Here are some telltale signs.
Are your operating systems and programs taking a while to start up? Is your data bandwidth suspiciously slow? If so, your computer may potentially have a virus.
However, just because your PC is running slower than usual doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s infected, as there could be other causes to your computer slowing down. First, check if you’re running out of RAM. For Windows, open task manager (press Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and go to the Performance tab and check how many gigabytes of RAM are used up under the Memory section. For Mac OS users, you can open the Activity Monitor app and, under System Memory, you should be able to find out your RAM usage.
Other causes could include lack of space on your hard drive or even damaged hardware. Once you’ve ruled out other possible causes, then malware may have infected your device.
Continue reading at Cavu Networks…
by Kelly Deis of SoundPoint Consulting
According to the 2017 State Of Women-owned Businesses Report commissioned by American Express, women-owned businesses now account for nearly 40 percent of all companies in the United States. With the increase in the number of women-owned firms a whopping 114 percent (compared to the 44 percent increase among all businesses) from 1997 to 2017, it’s evident women entrepreneurs are a powerful force within the U.S. economy. Continue reading
