Member You - Business

Whine, Moan & Complain - Then Contribute!
Every month I receive messages from students and readers that begin, ‘I got such terrible service from…’ and often close, ‘…and I’ll never go back there again!’I find these stories upsetting, occasionally entertaining, but rarely are they motivating or instructive.Here’s why:Anyone with enough intelligence and emotion to muster a written complaint also has the ability to offer a constructive solution. If you can see what’s wrong with a situation, you must have some idea about what would set it right.Noticing problems is half the puzzle; getting things improved is the more important part.If you are upset with a vendor, colleague or business partner, you must have some expectations unmet, some needs ignored or some preferences overlooked.Your view of the situation is unique and your perspective may be very useful to the other party. Clearly stated, your requests and recommendations could make a differen

ns when you prepare your break-even analysis:

Fixed costs. Fixed costs (sometimes called "overhead") don't vary much from month to month. They include rent, insurance, utilities and other set expenses. It's also a good idea to throw a little extra, say 10%, into your break-even analysis to cover miscellaneous expenses that you can't predict.

Sales revenue. This is the total dollars from sales activity that you bring into your business each month or year. To perform a valid break-even analysis, you must base your forecast on the volume of business you really expect -- not on how much you need to make a good profit.

Average gross profit for each sale. Average gross profit is the money left from each sales dollar after paying th

How a Group Purchasing Organization Can Save Your Business Money
GPO’s (Group Purchasing Organizations) have been around for about ten years primarily in the healthcare industry. The basic concept of a GPO is that a group of businesses can come together and buy products cheaper than any single company can. This model may or may not be beneficial for the Coca-Cola’s, Wal-Mart’s, or Johnson & Johnson’s of the world, but they are great for the small to medium size business because they allow the little guys to buy their products on the discount level of one of these huge corporations.As industries are expanding and products are being developed, we are seeing GPO’s spread into the education, printing, office supplies, and consumer products fields. Manufacturers are willing to cut their margins and deliver products at wholesale prices for the volume of customers the GPO’s offer. In most scenarios GPO’s can save businesses anywhere from 20% - 40% off their already competitive prices.GPO’s are e

Break-even analysis is a tool used to determine when a business will be able to cover all its expenses and begin to make a profit. For the startup business it is extremely important to know your startup costs, which provide you with the information you need to generate enough sales revenue to pay the ongoing expenses related to running your business.

A startup business owner must understand that $5,000 of product sales will not cover $5,000 in monthly overhead expenses. The cost of selling $5,000 in retail goods could easily be $3,000 at the wholesale price, so the $5,000 in sales revenue only provides $2,000 in gross profit available for overhead costs. The break-even point is reached when revenue equals all business costs.

To calculate your break-even point you will need to identify your fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are expenses that do not vary with sales volume, such as rent or administrative salaries. These costs have to be paid regardless of sales and are often referred to as overhead costs. Variable costs vary directly with the sales volume, such as the costs of purchasing inventory, shipping, or manufacturing a product. The formula for determining your break-even point requires no more than simple arithmetic.

Will Your Business Make Money?
Before you prepare a business plan, you should figure out if your business will break even. Figure out at what point you break even. How many sales until this event occurs? How can you tell if your business idea will be profitable? The honest answer is, you can't. But this uncertainty shouldn't keep you from researching the financial soundness of your idea. Preparing what's known as a break-even analysis, as well as several other financial projections, can help you determine whether or not your business will succeed.

What a Break-Even Analysis Tells You
Your break-even analysis shows you the amount of revenue you'll need to bring in to cover your expenses before you make a dime of profit. If you can attain and surpass your break-even point -- that is, if you can easily bring in more than the amount of sales revenue you'll need to meet your expenses -- then your business stands a good chance of making money.

Many experienced entrepreneurs use a break-even analysis or forecast as a primary screening tool for new business ventures. They won't even write a complete business plan unless their break-even forecast shows that their projected sales revenue far exceeds their costs of doing business.

How to Prepare a Break-Even Analysis
To perform a break-even analysis, you'll have to make educated guesses about your expenses and revenues. Although you don't have a crystal ball, you should do some serious research -- including an analysis of your market - to determine your projected sales volume and your anticipated expenses. Your best bet is to invest in a do-it-yourself business plan product to learn how to make reasonable revenue and cost estimates.

You'll need to make the following estimates and calculations when you prepare your break-even analysis:

Average gross profit for each sale. Average gross profit is the money left from each sales dollar after paying th

Tips for Brightening Up a Bland Workspace
Whether you're in a spacious corner office or a cramped cubicle, sometimes a workspace can seem bland and uninspiring. From a neutral palette to cookie-cutter furniture, many offices -- particularly those not open to the public or to clients -- are designed for function over form.The good news is that there are easy ways to brighten any office space. With a few simple touches, you can create a better environment in which to spend your 9 to 5.- Color can play an important role in mood and productivity. Bland office spaces filled with shades of beige and gray, though low on distraction, are often mood dampeners. So why not add some pops of color to your office or cubicle?Buy a great, brightly-colored calendar. Nature calendars are idea. Pages filled with birds, butterflies, and blooms can perk up any workspace.Treat yourself to flowers. Gerbera daisies in bright orange, raspberry, and red are perfect mood lift

eak-even point you will need to identify your fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are expenses that do not vary with sales volume, such as rent or administrative salaries. These costs have to be paid regardless of sales and are often referred to as overhead costs. Variable costs vary directly with the sales volume, such as the costs of purchasing inventory, shipping, or manufacturing a product. The formula for determining your break-even point requires no more than simple arithmetic.

You'll need to make the following estimates and calculations when you prepare your break-even analysis:

Average gross profit for each sale. Average gross profit is the money left from each sales dollar after paying th

Are You Shy? How To Overcome Shyness At Work
Is your shyness causing your trouble at work and limiting your potential?Do you hate the thought of presenting or speaking in front of other people at work?Do you have trouble introducing yourself to co-workers or carrying on a conversation with people you don’t know?With the rise of email, online shopping, chat rooms, ATMs for banking and other devices that prevent or inhibit direct contact with other humans, it has become easier for people to hide their shyness and get by in certain situations.But at the end of the day, job interviews are still done face to face and when the big work presentation arrives, you will be doing it in front of real live people, not through an instant messaging session!It might be getting easier for you to hide your shyness but the problem won’t be eliminated.I find that I’m the type of person who is situational when it comes to shyness. I have no problem presenting or spe

? The honest answer is, you can't. But this uncertainty shouldn't keep you from researching the financial soundness of your idea. Preparing what's known as a break-even analysis, as well as several other financial projections, can help you determine whether or not your business will succeed.

You'll need to make the following estimates and calculations when you prepare your break-even analysis:

Average gross profit for each sale. Average gross profit is the money left from each sales dollar after paying th

Career Search Considerations for Top Salespeople
If you are in the midst of a transition and thinking about making a career change and you’re a top sales producer for your company, it can feel very risky to make a move; particularly if you’ve established a real strong track record in your job. Yet all of us reach a point when we know its time to move from a very good situation into the next phase of our career. I personally have experienced this on several occasions over the span of my professional life and I’m sure you have as well.So what is it that you’re looking for as you search for that next great sales position? Well, a number of things. First of all, think about the following factors:• How stable is the company? • What are its growth opportunities? • What is managements vision for building a successful business? • What is the company’s unique selling proposition? • How much intellectual property does it have to back its ability to comp

or forecast as a primary screening tool for new business ventures. They won't even write a complete business plan unless their break-even forecast shows that their projected sales revenue far exceeds their costs of doing business.

You'll need to make the following estimates and calculations when you prepare your break-even analysis:

Average gross profit for each sale. Average gross profit is the money left from each sales dollar after paying th

Large Corporations
The development of corporations has turned out to be a great boon for American as well as world economy. Basically a corporation is understood as a lawful body that entitles a group of people to act as unit or an individual. But since past few decades a new dimension is given to the term corporation. Corporation now refers to both profit and non-profit businesses that are identified or classified according to their tax structure. Corporations are taxed differently, not like normal businesses. On the basis of taxation, corporations are divided into two categories- C- corporations and S-corporations.C-corporations are those that are required to pay income taxes and to kill or finish the deductions on dividends paid to stockholders. C-corporations comprises of the companies that are publicly traded on stock market. The C-corporations are quite common and dominant nowadays. While small businesses and businesses with sole proprietors fall i

ns when you prepare your break-even analysis:

Average gross profit for each sale. Average gross profit is the money left from each sales dollar after paying the direct costs of a sale. (Direct costs are what you pay to provide your product or service.) For example, if Amy pays an average of $100 for goods to make lingerie that she sells for an average of $300, her average gross profit is $200.

Average gross profit percentage. This percentage tells you how much of each dollar of sales income is gross profit. To calculate your average gross profit percentage, divide your average gross profit figure by the average selling price. For example, if Amy makes an average gross profit of $200 on lingerie that she sells for an average of $300, her gross profit percentage is 66.7% ($200 divided by $300).

Calculating Your Break-Even Point
Once you've calculated the numbers above, it's easy to figure out your break-even point. Simply divide your estimated annual fixed costs by your gross profit percentage to determine the amount of sales revenue you'll need to bring in just to break even. For example, if Amy has fixed costs of $6,000 per month, and her expected profit margin is 66.7%, her break-even point is $9,000 in sales revenue per month ($6,000 divided by .667). In other words, Amy must make $9,000 each month just to pay her fixed costs and her direct (product) costs. (This number does not include any profit, or even a salary for Amy.)

Don't Forgo a Break-Even Analysis
Although creating a break-even forecast might sound complicated, you owe it to yourself to prepare one as one of the first steps in your business planning process. As you can see, a realistically prepared break-even forecast will tell you whether your idea is a sure winner, a sure loser or, like most ideas, it needs modifications to make it work.

If You Can't Break Even
If your break-even point is higher than your expected revenues, you'll need to decide whether certain aspects of your plan can be changed to create an achievable break-even point. For instance, perhaps you can:
Find a less expensive source of supplies

Do without an employee

Save rent by working out of your home, or

Sell your product or service at a higher price.

If you tinker with the numbers and your break-even sales revenue still seems like an unattainable number, you may need to scrap your business idea. If that's the case, take heart in the fact that you found out before you invested your (or someone elses) money in the idea.

Further Financial Analysis
If your break-even forecast shows you will make more revenue than you need to break even, you can consider yourself fortunate. But you still need to figure out how much profit your business will generate, and whether you'll have enough cash available to pay your bills when they are due. In short, a break-even forecast is a great screening tool, but you need a more complete analysis before you start investing real money in your venture. The following are additional financial projections that should also be part of your business plan, to round out your business's financ

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Higher-level job interviews can be huge, time consuming events. Learn how to navigate these challenges!

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Good companies would never forget about their customers. Or would they? We examine why the status of our internal customers usually doesn't match that of the external ones.

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