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Running your own business can be a challenge. There are a variety of expenses you have to pay for. You have plenty of customer and client relationships to maintain. There’s also the fact that you have to continue crafting new innovative ideas that serve your company well into the future.

Thankfully, there’s an abundance of tools that can make your everyday life as a business owner easier. Check out these applications below before you start up the next day.

1. Keep it in the cloud
You’ve got important documents to keep track of. When your employees need to access a report, manual or file to complete a task, you shouldn’t have to scramble around your computer to find it. Allowing particular team members to access documents in the cloud allows you to free up your own time. They’ll also help you keep your files safe in case anything happens to you or one of your employee’s devices. Services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box and OneDrive are tools that you can use.

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Early preparation is the key to a profitable holiday season for merchants. Review last year’s holiday season and then decide on a plan that will help you avoid the same hassles this year. Budget wisely and remember that it takes money to make money to make money in retail. Explore unique funding solutions to make this holiday season less stressful and more profitable.

Hire Extra Help Early
Hire temporary employees several weeks before the rush begins. You’ll have extra help to get holiday stock out, create eye-catching displays and decorate your business for the holidays. Make sure new employees are comfortable with the job before the rush begins. The last thing you need during your busiest season is an employee who keeps making mistakes at the cash register. Slow checkout lines discourage shoppers from coming back.

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The goal for every business is not only to grow and attain new customers, but to also maintain a solid base. The way to do this is with a customer loyalty program – rewarding people for coming back.

This can be seen at small pizzerias like Gino’s in Babylon Village, NY, where customers gain points with each purchase and end up with a free or reduced order after so much money is spent. For those who were going to eat there anyway, it’s nice, but there are some customers who may have frequented another establishment just down the road had they not had this program in place.

With a restaurant the concept of how to build a customer loyalty reward program seems pretty simple, but what about other types of businesses?

Guaranteed Overnight Delivery – Kleer-Fax
A few years back the office products factory, Kleer-Fax, saw that the world was changing in its industry. The stores that sold their goods were trying to do their best to hold less and less inventory, but this led to challenges. How could they (the stores) sell goods for a profit if they weren’t going to buy them in large quantities?

This was when Lou Nigro devised a plan to solve this problem, rewarding the mom & pop stores who were being overtaken by behemoth stores by offering two programs that would allow them to sell Kleer-Fax for a profit and carry no stock.

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When a small business prepares for the holidays, it needs to engage in a wide array of plans to accommodate the pending boom in business. One of the more critical elements of your business that needs attention as the holidays approach is your website. During the holidays, consumers will go to your website to check out why they should buy from you instead of one of your many competitors. That is why your website needs to be better than ever when the holidays roll around.

Have The Cash Ready To Improve Your Site
Everything in the business world costs money, and that includes maintaining and growing your website. You will have extra personnel costs for your holiday upgrades, extra services costs and you will also want to be able to invest in higher bandwidth and other upgrades to enhance your customers’ experience.

Business Credit and Capital can help get your funding together and make sure that you have the cash you need for holiday website maintenance. The financial experts at Business Credit and Capital will be able to provide your business with funding you can draw from to get the things you need done.

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As a business owner, it is critical to know when your biggest sales days are. These are the days when the revenue generated could help make your entire year a profitable one. Therefore, it is critical that you prepare for them as far in advance as possible to ensure that every customer has the ability to purchase what they want and how much of what they want.

Order More Inventory Than You Think That You Need
On an ordinary day, you may carry only the inventory that you think that you will sell until your next shipment comes in. However, on one of your busiest days, you want to have more than you think that you will sell on hand. This ensures that your business will not run out of the high margin goods that will drive profits. More importantly, it will position your company as one of the places to shop during the busiest times of the year.

Put More Staff on the Floor Than Usual
As you will see more customers than usual on the busiest sales days, you are going to need to have more people on the floor. This may mean increasing the number of hours current employees receive or hiring new workers on a temporary basis. Depending on the number of people who can work at a given time, it may be necessary for managers to get on the sales floor to ensure that everything goes smoothly for employees and customers alike.

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Whether you are a small shop that mainly services one town or a medium-sized business that draws customers from the whole country, you may very well wish to expand your business. Taking the next step and finding a bigger place to work, or having a stronger presence in the marketing world, requires some thoughtful planner.

Secure the Funds
When you want to leap into the bigger-business world, you need to have the money to do so. As you assess your current financial situation, you might find that your profits have been more than expected, so you are able to make that type of investment. On the other hand, you may feel that you need a bit of a boost to help you get started on the next step. Checking out Business Credit and Capital can lead you to a loan. Just make sure that you are able to agree to all of the terms and to pay it in full.

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As environmental concerns continue to grow and inform customer decisions, more and more businesses are looking for ways to lessen their environmental impact. Of course, reducing your carbon footprint isn’t just a good public relations move for your business or just good for the environment. It can actually help to help you save money over the long haul. So how can you go about diminishing your carbon footprint?

Heating and Cooling
Heating and cooling are two of the biggest offenders when it comes to a business’s carbon footprint. Both tend to rely, to some extent, on burning fossil fuels. Heating units often burn natural gas directly, while cooling units depend on fossil fuel driven electricity. Upgrading to a more efficient heating and cooling system reduces your fossil fuel consumption. You can also take additional steps, such as upgrading to more energy efficient windows to cut down on heat loss and gain. While expensive up-front, these steps typically pay for themselves within a few years as heating and cooling costs drop.

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If you plan to do a job right, then it is imperative that you use the correct tools. This is especially true for business owners. One of the most important tools available to an owner of a business is credit. Cash flow is king, and practically every business will have a need sooner or later for an injection of cash in order to sustain or grow their operations. Making the right selection when it comes to the type of credit tool that you utilize is of the utmost importance. This article will discuss why you should consult with a business loan expert to ensure that you make a wise choice.

Time is Money
While it is true that you could devote hours toward understanding the intricacies of business credit, it is far more efficient to draw on the expertise of others. If you own a business or have been charged with determining the best financing options for an organization, you without a doubt have many responsibilities to fulfill. Since applying for and obtaining credit can be a paperwork intensive and time consuming process, it can be extremely frustrating to go down the credit path simply to de denied. This is especially true if a streamlined process like the one offered by Business Credit and Capital is the best fit for your business. Investing a little time to talk with a loan expert early on can pay huge dividends because it will help to ensure the efficiency of the credit process.

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For many businesses, obtaining a loan is paramount to not only starting the business, but being able to see it grow and strengthen over the years. While in recent years it has been sometimes difficult for many businesses to obtain loans due to a struggling national economy, there have been several recent trends that seem to indicate it is becoming much easier to get the money needed to see a dream become reality.

SBA Loans
Many businesses today would not exist had it not been for their ability to obtain an SBA Loan through their lender. Small Business Administration loans, while having many qualifications included such as size requirements and finance and lender qualifications, are still considered the best loans available for those wanting to be their own boss. Fortunately, it’s far easier to obtain an SBA Loan today because the Small Business Administration has recently stated it will guarantee a certain percentage of these loans, which makes lenders more willing to say yes when future entrepreneurs apply. Some of the SBA Loan programs being guaranteed include the SBA Express program and the Micro Loan program.

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No matter what type of business you own, having a proper planning system is of utmost importance. Without a system that looks toward the future, you could end up in serious trouble. However, so many different elements of business need to be planned that you may need a guide to remind you what components have to be reviewed on a regular basis and what type of short and long-term plans you need to make within that scope.

Financial Planning
This element is really one of, if not the, most important items when it comes to a business. Whether you are consulting with your own accountant or with the professionals at Business Credit & Capital, having an outside opinion on the financial future of your company can help to shape and deepen your perspective. Not only do you want to ensure that your business is safe and secure with a nice cushion of money, but you also want to think about ways to expand in the future and any new products or services you want to roll out.

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