100 Ways to Be a Better Entrepreneur (Part 2/6)

100 Ways to Be a Better Entrepreneur (Part 2/6)

Learn how to run and grow your business more effectively and efficiently.

Provided by Entrepreneur.com

13. Insurance Intelligence
Buying insurance is one of those necessary evils all smart entrepreneurs put up with. But that doesn't mean you have to break the bank. Here are some cost-cutting ideas:

·        Save by association. When looking for insurance, check with your trade association. Many associations offer competitive group insurance.

·        Raise your deductible. Raising the deductible on your insurance usually lowers your premiums. Even if you end up having to pay the deductible, it's likely to be less than the amount you save.

·        Make a foul-weather friend. By arranging for an alternative place to run your business in case of a major disaster, you may be able to save on business interruption insurance, advises the Insurance Information Institute. For instance, you could arrange with a firm in the same industry to use their facilities in case of damage, and vice versa.

·        14. Office Overhead
Small office essentials can nickel-and-dime you to death, unless you buy smart. Purchase recycled printer cartridges. Check Google or your Yellow Pages for a local recycled printer cartridge supplier. You can also find free forms online that you can download, customize and print. Start with our forms on Formnet. Another way to save money is buying used equipment. You can save up to 60 percent with used computer equipment, copiers and office furniture.

15. Penny-Pinching Promotions
Want to market your business on a budget? The people you know can help. Here are three ways the people in your network can assist your marketing efforts: 1. Split advertising and promotion costs with neighboring businesses. Jointly promote a sidewalk sale, or take your marketing alliance further by sharing mailing lists, distribution channels and suppliers with businesses that sell complementary goods or services. 2. Ask the people you know for help. The kind of support you'd most like to get from your contacts is referrals-the names of specific individuals who need your products and services. So go ahead and ask! Your contacts can also give prospects your name and number. As the number of referrals you receive increases, so does your potential for increasing the percentage of your business generated through referrals. 3. Got a happy customer? By telling others what they've gained from using your products or services in presentations or informal conversations, your sources can encourage others to use your products or services.

Becoming More Tech Savvy

16. Up to Date
Here are some of the most effective and least expensive items you may want to buy to bring your older computers back up to speed:

Hard Drives. One of the most important features of any computer is its ability to store large amounts of data. Whether you need desktop drives to back up your primary hard drives or store your digital video files, or a portable large-capacity drive to carry a hefty business presentation, there are several solutions that may help meet your needs.

CD-ROM/R/RW and DVD-ROM/R/RW Drives. Upgrading to a speedier CD-ROM drive may be just what you need to give your system a valuable boost in performance.

Processor Upgrades and Accelerators. Processor upgrades and accelerators allow you to increase the overall performance of a computer by allowing it to process information faster. Accelerators do this by shifting operational functionality and providing additional cache memory, thereby freeing up the computer's main processor so it can do its real job-running software applications.

Memory. While everything that has already been mentioned can help increase the usability of your current computers, one of the most tried and true ways to improve performance is to simply install more random access memory, otherwise known as RAM.

17. Shopping List
If your company is going to expend the time and resources on new technology purchases, they need to be worthwhile. Keep in my these three tips next time your company is ready to do some serious tech buying:

1.     1. Renegotiate existing contracts for services such as network support and consulting. Telecom is especially ripe for bargains. Start by setting benchmarks for rates and auditing bills to ensure you're not overpaying. Then instead of buying all long-distance, local phone and other telecom services from one vendor, dual-source it. Vendors will treat you better and charge you less.

2.     2. Make sure you need whatever new technology you do buy. Inventory all PCs, printers and software. Look for opportunities to consolidate purchases, standardize configurations and root out duplication.

3.     3. Set up a system to keep doing it. Pick a team of people from IT and other departments, and meet with them regularly to discuss what they need and how to save on it.

18. Buy Smarter
Investing in technology for your business doesn't have to send you to the poor house, as long as you know how to get the most out of what you can spend. You can't afford to have a key business hardware component go down without protection. A warranty will give you peace of mind. It's as important to know when not to skimp as it is to know when to go for the extra discount.

Discount stores have decent-size technology sections and can net you good value on everything from laptops to printer cartridges. What you won't get is a lot of one-on-one service. If you're sure of what you want, go ahead and look out for good deals. If you need to ask questions, go somewhere else.

You can also save money by working closely with a value-added reseller (VAR). This is a good route to explore for large purchases where you want the reseller to also be the installer. The reseller will be up on the latest special offers and promotions that fit your needs. Selecting the right VAR is also important. See how long they have been in business and whether they have experience serving your particular market.

19. Leave No (Paper) Trail
Drowning in paper? Technology can help you reduce or even eliminate your need for paper. Try the following nine options to free your office from stacks and stacks of paper that threaten to overwhelm:

·        Computers: PCs, laptops and handhelds can be combined for document creation mobility and flexibility, stamping out rampant paper use.

·        Scanners: Scanners create digital images so that documents can be exchanged electronically and preserved easily. When scanning, remember to employ image compression to maintain network performance, and make sure to choose a single, standardized electronic document format so that images can be indexed and searched easily.

·        E-mail: E-mail is a great substitute for paper memos. Effective e-mail systems should allow users to filter content and file messages electronically by topic. They also should let workers combine e-mail with fax and voice-mail retrieval in a unified messaging system.

·        Storage systems: Affordable, robust storage technology is essential for high-speed, centralized electronic information management. Check out low-cost systems built upon RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) technology or iSCSI-based storage-area networks.

·        Fax over IP (Internet protocol): The boring old fax goes high-tech with a Web- or e-mail-based fax capability that eliminates the need to send hard copies.

·        Wireless local area networks: Wi-Fi LANs are spreading like wildfire, making electronic information mobile, portable and easily accessible to workers anywhere.

·        Secure remote access: Virtual private networks (VPNs) ensure that home workers and road warriors get secure, confidential access to the company intranet, abolishing the need to lug around a briefcase full of documents.

·        E-learning systems: Workers in training can say good-bye to books and binders when they use online or Web-based training systems.

·        Advanced printers: Printers that print on both sides of a sheet can significantly reduce paper use.

20. Back It Up!
At any time, you could lose your computer equipment, whether it's a laptop that gets stolen or a desktop that's lost in a house fire. So be prepared: Back up your data weekly-or even daily. Some backup options include portable hard drives, DVD-writers and online data.

There are also several networked data storage options, including:

·        Direct Attached Storage: Known as DAS, this technology attaches storage media (like disk arrays and tape backup) directly to servers.

·        Network Attached Storage: Called NAS, this standalone, self-contained solution connects directly to a LAN, rather than to a server. The separation of data from servers tends to improve performance.

·        Storage Area Network: SANs create a separate, dedicated high-performance network that is highly secure and scalable.

·        iSCSI SAN: This type of SAN offers most of the strengths of the Fibre Channel SAN, but it's easier to install, has lower-cost connections, is much easier to manage and grows with your business.

·        Managed Storage Network: Managed storage services are offered by specialized service providers. Businesses can contract with these providers, who implement and maintain the storage network on an outsourced basis.

Regardless of which backup method you choose, remember it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your data.

Get Your Marketing Act Together

21. Marketing on $4 a Day
Research shows consumers need to hear a message at least three times for them to have name recognition and recall, and nine times before they become a customer. One-time or sporadic tactics are ineffective in increasing awareness, acceptance, preference and demand for your product. You can create more marketing momentum with daily action. One way to do this is to use a $4-a-day marketing program.

The basic strategy is to contact 10 clients, prospects or contacts each day, five days a week. You can contact them by phone, fax, e-mail, letter or postcard. You can send out press releases, sales or follow-up letters, brochures, special offers, information sheets or thank-you notes. Your cost is about 55 cents to print and mail five letters for a total of $2.75. The telephone calls or faxes cost about a quarter each for a total of $1.25. You do the math. If you're communicating by e-mail, your costs will be even less. Your goal is to create a combination of daily activities that help you communicate with existing as well as potential customers.

22. Take Time for Marketing
The key to maintaining a year-round marketing program, without those nasty peaks and valleys that can cost you so dearly, is effective preplanning. Have you written down your annual marketing plan? It doesn't have to be elaborate-just an outline will do, so long as you also schedule your tactics in a contact management software program or even on a paper calendar. With an outline and schedule for your basic marketing tactics, you can "gang" production and planning. For example, a monthly e-newsletter is a terrific way to maintain contact with prospects and takes less time than making individual phone calls. Each quarter, you can plan three issues at once, picking your topics and compiling content so that on the designated monthly mailing dates your newsletters are ready to go.

There's no hard and fast rule telling you exactly how much time you should spend marketing your businesses. In the fastest-growing businesses with sales of $1 million or less, the owners tend to spend from about 25 percent to nearly 40 percent of their time in sales and marketing every week. However, if your business is new, you may need to devote about 60 percent of your time for a while to get it up and running. The most important thing is to maintain a consistent effort. This will keep your growth rate steady and enable you to more effectively build your business over time.