How would your partner or children cope financially after your death? It’s a sobering thought.

Without your income, paying for food shopping, utility bills, children’s needs mortgage and loan repayments may become difficult or impossible.

What is Life Insurance?

In its most simplistic form life insurance pays out a set amount should the policy holder suffer loss of their life within the term of the life insurance policy. This money is typically paid directly to your dependents if the policy has been written in trust and named beneficiaries. Alternatively, the payout will form part of the deceased estate and will be used to pay any creditors before being divided between heirs of that estate and subject to inheritance tax.

Strictly speaking life ‘insurance’ is actually ‘assurance’ because insurance covers something at risk of happening but end of life is a certainty.
How much cover do you need?

There is no formula for calculating how much cover an individual might need and of course the higher the payout you require, the more it will cost to buy insurance. Thus you may need to find a balance between the amount of cover you need and what you can afford to pay for it.

Considering any outstanding debts is a good starting point. Mortgages and loans will still need to be repaid and life insurance should at least cover these debts.
Next consider covering a reasonable standard of living of any dependents you may have. What proportion of everyday expenses could be paid for by your partner’s income? Or, would your partner need to leave employment to provide care for your children? Or are your children older and able to support themselves financially now or in the near future?

To get the best life insurance check the provider’s terms and conditions for what is and is not covered and remember that cost is calculated on a number of factors including health and lifestyle choices.

A life insurance policy can be defined as a legal agreement or contract between two parties, namely the insurance company and the individual or the policy holder. Such policies spell out a lot of aspects like the duties of the policy holder, his/her rights, the premium payable by the policy holder every month or year, the benefits or coverage that the policy holder is entitled to and lastly, the circumstances under which the benefits can be obtained or paid.

Life insurance policies can be obtained in a lot of different ways, one can purchase them via mail order, brokers, agents or online via insurance websites. When it comes to purchasing life insurance policies, it would be necessary to find out what one gets by going for such a policy. Now, the coverage of such policies depends upon the circumstances of the policy holder, his/her age, the number of beneficiaries and other factors.

When you go for a life insurance policy you can basically get two types of cover: cash value and term value. In case of cash value policy, the policy holder has to pay a high amount of premium during the initial stage and a part of that would be used for setting up an account under the name of the holder. The policy holder can then gain access to that money either for increasing his/her income after retirement, for paying overdue premiums or for applying for a loan.

In case of term value policy, the coverage is provided for a fixed amount of time, which can be one year or more than one year. This kind of insurance policy requires the holder to pay more premium as he/she gets older with age because the chances of dying gets higher as one grow old. In case of the death of the life insurance policy holder, the beneficiary or beneficiaries stated in the policy can make a claim for the money after notifying the insurance company about the policy holder’s death and requesting a claim form.

Now you can easily buy life insurance policy in the UK with the help of the Internet, as most of the insurance companies offer free life insurance quotes to their customers on their websites. This is a highly useful service that can help you in deciding on the best policy after understanding the terms and conditions, and comparing different policies.

Requests for life insurance quotes online can be done in two ways. Firstly, you can directly submit a small form on the website of insurance company and within minutes you will receive a quote. Secondly, you can get multiple quotes from different insurance companies by filling up just one form on a comparison website. In this ways, you not only save time, but have access to several life insurance quotes, which makes the best one easy.

Usually the required information to be filled in these online forms is name, age of the applicant, medical history, profession, and whether he/she is a smoker or not, and if yes, then duration since on how long one has been smoking. All this information should be accurate as this can get you the best quote. All those who are young can get a much lower quote than older people because chances of young person dying during the term of the insurance policy are slim.

Your profession also affects your term insurance. Most of the insurance companies in the UK asses the hazards and risks involved in your profession, your workplace, and the kind of projects you undertake. If one is working in a risky profession, then an insurance company may have to hand a settlement on insurance before its term ends.
When interested in a life insurance policy, you should be honest and provide accurate information to the insurance company. Any inaccurate information can lead to the cancellation of your policy and all your premiums paid till date would mean nothing.

Best thing about getting life insurance quotes online is that you not only save your time, but can also complete the entire evaluation process without any hassles, because instead of making rounds of the offices of the insurance companies to get quotes, you can get them from the comforts of your home.

For a Life Insurance quote go direct for life insurance UK cover At www.grablifeinsurance.com

In recent years millions of customers in the UK were mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) policies on their mortgages, credit cards and personal loans. The PPI policies were designed to ensure loan premiums would be met even if the borrower fell on hard times and was temporarily unable to make payments. However some banks engaged in dodgy practices like adding the policies to the bill without telling the customer or demanding it be paid in cases where the PPI policy was neither required nor needed. Other policies were sold with fine print that made it difficult or impossible to collect benefits.

The PPI policies involved are believed to be worth £17bn with over 12 million customers deserving of refunds. That translates to a lot of money, with the refunds averaging up to 3K, although only the use of a PPI Calculator can accurately estimate specific refund amounts. The process of reclaiming the improper payments can be complicated, which is why the use of a professional PPI Calculator is probably the fastest and easiest route to claiming your refund.

Calculate Your PPI Refund Here

The probability of a customer collecting a refund is quite high. Whatever amount the PPI Calculator estimates the refund to be is likely to be close to what the customer actually receives, as nine out of ten requests for refunds are predicted to be upheld. Most who are eligible have not yet had a PPI Calculator estimate the refund due them, and the total number remaining of those who still need their refunds determined by a PPI Calculator is likely to be much larger than the compensations already paid so far.

So far banks in England have refunded more than £2bn to customers who were victims of PPI scams, but that may represent as little as a third of the refunds still to be paid. If you suspect that you have been the victim of PPI policy abuse then you should contact a reputable PPI Calculator today who can determine the size of your refund plus interest and get it to you as quickly as possible.

Further PPI advice and help go to  ppi claims calculator

Technologically, it is probably the most advanced printing facility in the Balkan. It cost almost 2.5 million. It was constructed in less than a year. And it is in dirt-poor and war-torn Macedonia.

Behind this incredible tale of entrepreneurship, uncommon in these nether-regions, stands Zoran Rosomanov. A stereotypical visionary – mane, blazing eyes, imposing physique – this man, against nightmarish odds undreamt of by his Western counterparts, constructed, single-handedly, an impressive, star-trek like, factory.

Literally single handedly: digging the muddy soil, hoisting bricks onto cranes, driving earth-removal heavy machinery. He begged, cajoled, and persevered. And he made it. His story serves a lesson to all the forlorn dreamers in the sad countries of the East.

Thirty-six year old Zoran represents a new breed of “can-do” businessmen in Eastern Europe and the Balkan. His philosophy is the outcome of first-hand exposure to Western management techniques and ideology. He does not rely on the state to provide for him or for his enterprise. He actively seeks foreign inputs – in capital, contacts, and know-how. He is well-traveled, polyglot, affluent, a consumerist. He is enamored with technology and gadgets.

Still, he likes to think of himself as a creator, or an artist – rather than a money machine. He emphasizes the design-related portions of his company. He brags of his hobbies: photography, interior design, music. His home and office serve to advertise not his wealth – but his aesthetically-informed talents. He is smartly dressed and well-mannered, indistinguishable from his colleagues in the West. Though he loves Macedonia, his homeland, he is, in essence, a citizen of the world.

Zoran started off as a TV music editor in the Macedonian state-owned channel. The highlight of this brief phase in his career was a human rights concert in Budapest. But he soon discovered his true calling: business. He joined a Belgrade-based musical instruments trading firm as a traveling salesman. At the age of 21, he was put in charge of 185 people as head of the Sales Department.

But Yugoslavia was disintegrating. Yugoslavs lost their common identity overnight and woke up as Macedonians, Croats, Serbs, or Bosnians. Zoran went back to Skopje, where he opened, with his savings, a chain of 11 stores of electronic consumer goods.

But he noticed that how you sell is at least as important as what you sell. He discovered marketing. After a stint of studies in Milan, Italy, he came back to Macedonia and, in 1992 he established “Divajn”. “I noticed that everyone in Italy asked me about Macedonia. They were interested. So, I decided to connect people.” The company was the first to offer a vertical, marketing campaign-orientated service: from poster ads to sales force, a turnkey solution.

He also noticed that, the paperless office notwithstanding, there was a great demand for paper products. In a typical move, Zoran bought an expensive computer and began to design such products for his contacts. “But I noticed that, following a first satisfactory order, they circumvented me and went directly to the printer”.

So, he decided to become a printer as well – by merging with a print shop. He placed an ad and settled on one of the applicants. They have been inseparable ever since. Their joint company, “Bato and Divajn”, owns the new facility and Zoran’s partner supervises the daily work there. “Wealth is in people – not in money”, says Zoran.

His secretary has been with him for 11 years. Miki, the talented head of the pre-press division and quality control, has been working with him for a decade. Zoran values loyalty. He trains his staff personally. Every single one of his 40 workers (soon to increase to 55) has gone through a 6-month period of apprenticeship. Then they are on their own. “I believe in delegating,” says Zoran, “though I never lose sight of the details. And I am very demanding”.

When the combined business expanded, Zoran needed new machines. He tried to find investors, both domestic and foreign, but failed. So, he approached a friend of a friend in Holland. This guy owned an envelope factory and was interested to sell one of the used machines for a mere 400 thousand DM (i.e., c. 180,000).

In typical irresistible gall, Zoran offered him 13,000 as an advance payment. “I will pay you the rest over 3 years” – he pledged earnestly. “What is your guarantee?” – asked the shocked seller. “Your trust” – responded Zoran. The stunned Dutchman accepted. Zoran paid him back in two years.

This pattern of unmitigated self-confidence, infectious optimism, and non-conformism pervades Zoran’s way of doing business. He won an order for a million labels simply by waltzing in and producing samples he scanned off empty beer bottles. He is now the exclusive printer for this brewery.

Last April, as he was visiting another client – his firm supplies all the Macedonian blue-chips – he overheard a discussion about problems with a Slovenian supplier. “If I were to establish my own factory here, will you buy from me?” – he enquired. They said yes – and so did many others. “It was my market research” – he grins. Why import from Slovenia if there is a qualitative alternative in one’s backyard? Zoran is a great believer in import substitution and buying local. It is not only patriotic – but it makes economic sense.

He proceeded forthwith to find land. His firm designed the construction project. All he lacked was the printing presses. He had less than 100,000 in cash. He needed another 2.4 million. Others would have regarded this deficiency as insurmountable. Not Zoran.

He decided to get the best equipment money could buy – and that meant “Heidelberg”. So, he picked up the phone and called Alexander Hufnagel, Heidelberg’s director of East Europe. When he asked to buy on credit, they naturally demanded a bank guarantee. Zoran prepared a business plan and went to Komercijalna Banka, Macedonia’s second largest retail bank. He asked for 1 million, partly from IFC funds dedicated to small and medium enterprises.

Macedonia’s economy has been in dire straits long before its independence in 1992. Nearly one third of the workforce are unemployed. The heavily-politicized and under-capitalized banking system is largely dysfunctional. Lending to business is almost at a standstill. Zoran’s was an unprecedented application.

When Zoran dug the first foundations in an industrial park at the outskirts of Skopje, a civil war between Macedonians and Albanians has erupted. Fighter planes and helicopters buzzed above head and police and army streamed to the Aracinovo, a besieged village, not far from the site. There was palpable panic in the air.

Komercijalna Banka asked for a collateral and Zoran offered the new equipment. “Title will revert to me only when I finish paying you”, he explained. Unbeknownst to him he has invented leasing. He then turned around and offered Komercijalna’s money to Heidelberg as his equity. After a grueling few days of due diligence, Heidelberg agreed to give him supplier’s credit amounting to the rest. They asked to him to guarantee the credit personally. He willingly accepted.

Zoran then proceeded to convince them to establish a maintenance center, replete with spare parts, in his new factory. “I don’t charge them rent” – he discloses impishly – “My machines must work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is useful to have a maintenance crew and spare parts handy.” The next logical step is to become their representative in Macedonia. “I am working on it. But I want them to provide me with revolving credit to be able to offer financing together with the equipment”.

But this financial wizardry has depleted Zoran’s resources. He resorted to an old communist stratagem: the barter (“compensation” in East European argot). He traded print jobs for building materials. It was one of the worst arctic winters in memory with temperatures often dropping to way below the freezing point. But construction continued, the shivering workers spurred on by Zoran’s personal example.

When the equipment finally arrived, Zoran was presented with a 450,000 bill – for the newly imposed Value Added Tax. In a complex financial somersault, Zoran borrowed against future VAT refunds and overcame this obstacle as well. The NASA-like control panel, the printers, cutters, templates for different cigarette brands – all were finally installed in the half completed structure.

“This is my country” – Zoran toggles an unlit smoke – “It is beautiful. We just need help. I could never have done it without the help extended to me by Heidelberg, Komercijalna, the IFC, my clients. My wife stood behind me. This network of support is indispensable. There can be no entrepreneurship and initiative without it!”

“Aren’t you afraid to fail?”

“I have no fear. With all our problems – we still must exist. We must survive. Many say I am crazy – but time will tell who will succeed. You must persevere. If the bank would have said no – I would have gone elsewhere. There is always a solution. My advice: get your suppliers involved. Heidelberg now has a stake and they will refer clients to me. I said to them: you want me as a client? Then give me credit!”

“Operating in Macedonia is not easy…”

“A country should be run like a business and politicians should act like CEO’s. Macedonia has the potential to be this region’s Switzerland, though it must concentrate on exploiting its natural endowments: climate and soil. Agri-business is its future. All we have to do is encourage foreign investments by safeguarding property rights and overhauling the court system and law enforcement. We have to learn from foreign investors and emulate them.”

“But foreign investors are potentially your competitors…”

He tilts his head back and laughs uproariously:

“The Slovenians tried to arm-twist my clients, slander me, and spy on my operations. I can now easily compete with them in the Serb market. My transport costs are much lower. My machinery is so advanced that I can work for the strictest multinational anywhere from Switzerland to Turkey. We are getting the ISO quality certificate shortly. So, they are scared. What has been my response? I bought more land for future expansion…”

There are many sorts of qualities a person needs to look for when finding a solicitor. Finding a solicitor can be difficult, because a person should never simply hire the first solicitor that comes to mind. Rather, a person should definitely hire a solicitor that has certain qualities and offers affordable rates for his or her work.

The best solicitor will often be very respectful of clients and be willing to spend time meeting with them. Finding a solicitor is difficult, because not many solicitors have such a gracious attitude when it comes to working with clients. Working with a solicitor that has no respect for clients can be a huge turn off for any client. Many clients end up walking away from solicitors that are disrespectful of clients.

Finding a solicitor is also easy if a person knows how to get good references for a solicitor. If one knows a few practicing solicitors in one area of law, then one may wish to ask these solicitors for tips on finding a solicitor in other areas of law. Even solicitors that practice in a completely different area of law can often give great recommendations to someone trying to find a solicitor that practices in a different area of law. It is truly a great idea for a person to get as many references as possible, when he or she seeks to find a great solicitor.

In addition, when finding a solicitor, a person will want to keep in mind that solicitor’s pay rate. It is very important for a person to ask a solicitor how he or she charges fees to clients. Sometimes, clients are very surprised when they learn that a solicitor charges a very high hourly fee to clients, as opposed to a very low transactional fee. It is important to learn these matters up front, rather than learn them later in the process. A person may be required to pay these fees if he or she is not careful about handling this process right from the start.

Overall, it is easy finding a solicitor when one has these tips.

I caught up with the new entrepreneurs (Terry and Sherry Braley) this January at a Biker Rally. After talking to some fellow riders they were telling me about Terry and Sherrys new website (Road Rash Apparel) and how low their prices were on their Leather Apparel. So after digging through the crowd I finally met up with them. I introduced myself and we sat down and must have talked for over 2 hours about their new business. Well, they talked. I asked Terry and Sherry why they started their business and WHY! Do you sell your apparel so cheap?

Terry Well, we were on the Internet one night looking for some leather jackets and chaps to purchase. We must have searched for three hours looking at what seemed to be every site there was to look at and I couldnt believe the prices of some of them. I know you get what you pay for, but damn? I dont want to pay for the whole cow!

Sherry It seems that all the cheep leather was that patched leather or some call it Diamond Cut leather. We werent interested in that. Not to say theres anything wrong with it. If thats what you like, then buy it. To each its own.

Terry- Yeah. I had asked around about what kind of jacket to buy. The majority of the riders I had asked, told me to get one that was made for riding. You know, just in case you lay your bike down. And patched leather wasnt the best way to go.
Anyway, I made the comment that someone needs to start selling this stuff that caters to us poor bikers.

Sherry I looked over at Terry and said, We can do it

Terry A week later I quit my job and started building the website. I did A LOT of research on Leather. Types, thickness of it and where it comes from. I was almost sick of leather after about 3 days. Anyway, we decided we wanted to purchase our leather from an American made manufacturer and I ended up finding a company in Spokane WA that had what we were looking for. They manufacture leather apparel made for bike riders. And its damn good leather. And Ill tell you. What I pay for the jackets and what I sell them for, we dont make a big profit on them.

Now that we’ve covered those aspects of Biker Shirts, Leather Jackets, Motorcycle Apparel, Boots, Chaps, Vests, Leather Lingerie, let’s turn to some of the other factors that need to be considered.

Sherry Yea, were not in it to get rich. Just make a little money and help out our fellow bikers.

Terry Since weve went live on the Internet we have sold more T-Shirts than jackets. Thats okay. I think when people see our prices they think its cheep leather and stray away from it. But its Top Quality Leather! You cant find our type jackets on the internet for a better price I think

Well without going into the whole 2-hour conversation we had. We continued to talk and they told me more about what they sold on their site. T-Shirts, Leather Lingerie, Boots, Chaps, Vests and the list went on. Terry said right now we sale over 700 types of t-shirts and plan on adding more. By the time we get done, we will have well over 1500. Thats a lot of damn shirts

These were two of the friendliest people I have ever met. Both Terry and Sherry are from Georgia and reside in Douglasville Ga. And you could tell that these were just two people really trying to look out for fellow bikers and our shallow pockets.

I had the honor of speaking this week at a women’s business association luncheon on the topic of entrepreneurship. When I mentioned to my wife the day before that I was speaking to group of women entrepreneurs she asked, “Why on earth would they ask you to speak?”

In her defense, my dear wife has no idea what I do for a living. She’s never read a single one of the several hundred columns I’ve written. She’s never attended a function where I’m speaking or sat in the audience at any of my seminars.

She just knows that we live a very comfortable lifestyle and believes me when I tell her our money doesn’t come from the drug trade.

Beyond that, she’s incredibly happy in her ignorance of her husband’s skills.

When I feigned hurt feelings she waved a hand at me and said, “My point is, what in the world can a man tell a roomful of women that they don’t already know?”

Henny Youngman, Ralph Cramden, Rodney Dangerfield, Tim Knox. At least I’m in good company.

But she had a point. What the heck did I know about women in business? So as not to look like a total idiot in front of this group of what I now call “womentrepreneurs” I decided to do a little research on the topic.

Here’s what I discovered: while some still believe it’s a man’s world, when it comes to business, women are catching up fast.

According to the Center For Women’s Business Research there are over 10 million women-owned businesses in the US, employing 18 million people and generating 2.32 trillion in sales.

Women start businesses at two times the rate of men and women-owned businesses account for 28 percent of all businesses in the United States and represent about 775,000 new startups per year and account for 55% of new startups.

One thing that I found particularly interesting was that the top growth industries for women-owned businesses in recent years were construction, wholesale trade, transportationcommunications, agribusiness and manufacturing, industries traditionally dominated by men.

In the past 25 years the number of women-owned firms in the US has doubled, employment has increased four-fold and their revenues have risen five-fold.

Here is the question I sought particularly to answer: Do women approach business differently than men? I’ve been compared to a bull in a china shop when it comes to business. Would a female counterpart approach things differently? More gracefully, perhaps? As my lovely bride would say, “Duh.”

In her book, How to Run Your Business Like a Girl, Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin explored common female traits and how women entrepreneurs – and perhaps men, as well – can use those traits to their entrepreneurial advantage.

Baskin reported that women tend to use three unique strengths more than their male counterparts: trusting their intuition, focusing on relationships, and putting more emphasis on keeping their life in balance.

Trust Your Gut

Women are much more likely to make a decision based on a gut feeling. Women may gather the facts and figures necessary to back up that feeling, but they generally know what they want to do based on intuition.

Build Strong Relationships

Men play the game of business like a sport. They are out to win and dominate. “Women,” Baskin says, “are much more interested in establishing a connection.”

Find A Balance Between Work and Life.

A number of women interviewed for this book cited on quality of life as their reason for starting a business, alluding to their desire to find a way to juggle family and work. “If having more time for your family is important to you, find a way to work that into your day. It’s not so much how much work you do, but being able to decide when you’ll do it.”

Baskin offers one more piece of advice to women in the early stages of their business:

You Don’t Have To Know Everything.

My wife would argue this point because she really does know everything, but Baskin says when it comes to business, thinking you know everything is not the key to success.

“It’s amazing how many women say they didn’t know anything when they started their business,” Baskin said. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help – you don’t have to be perfect at everything.”

Solid business advice: for guys and gals.

Here’s to your success!

Owning and maintaining a very successful small business can have its challenges but if you know what you are doing, everything can really work out great for you. There are many helpful tips that you should learn, if you are the owner of a small business and then by learning about these tips you should have the ability to have a very secure and profitable future. Knowing how to operate a small business properly will give you and your employees much relief in knowing that their positions are stable and secured. Your employees will be much happier, as will you, if you do all of the right things and play your cards right. In this article I am hoping to teach you a little bit more about managing a small business so that you will be a success. Having a small business definitely has its own advantages and some of those will be included throughout this article.

It is very important for you to learn more about what it takes to run a small business successfully so that if you or someone you know becomes interested in opening your own small business, you will be much more knowledgeable about all aspects of it. Another great thing about owning your own small business is that usually this means you will for sure have many more awesome customers that will tell others about it and continue coming back themselves. You will have a reputation for owning and managing a very reputable, friendly and affordable, yet small business. A small business would typically go over very well because there will be enough customers to continue keeping you with plenty of customers and when people are on vacation in your area, they too have probably already heard about your small business and many of them will choose to come into your small business and will be quite pleased by the friendly employees and the great prices. Check out the other small businesses in your area to see what it is they are doing to draw in more new customers, do not copy them but definitely kind of take a few little suggestions and ideas from watching others with more experience.

Advertising is something that most businesses do, which you as a small business owner will as well at some point in time, however, even without the professional advertising, your small business will still be successful due to all of your loyal customers that absolutely adore coming into your wonderful store. All it takes to have a very successful small business is friendliness, determination, customers that count on you and a good knowledge about business management will always make for a better chance at success. A small business could typically go over very successfully, as long as you first do some homework over managing your own business, as well as talking with other small business owners because the more experienced people could really provide you with a great deal of helpful information and some tips that can almost guarantee your small businesses success and longevity.

Did you know that, in Australia, 60% of small businesses fail in the first twelve months? For those of us who would like to start a small business — maybe even work from home — thats a very discouraging statistic.

Does that mean that your business idea is doomed to failure? Far from it! There are steps you can take that greatly increase your chances of success. With a little time and some serious research you can hit the ground running. Lets start from the beginning

The bright idea

First, of course, you need to come up with an idea. Typically, business opportunities can be divided into four groups:

1. Offering an existing productservice in an existing market.
2. Introducing an existing productservice to a new market.
3. Offering a new productservice in an existing market
4. Introducing a new productservice to a new market.

At this stage of the game the only limit is your imagination. Inspiration can come from anywhere — maybe you have a hobby that youd like to turn into a full-time job; you may be on the receiving end of bad service one day and decide to try doing it better yourself; or you may have a talent that youd like to capitalise on.

Once youve come across something that youd like to do, its time to take a look at the market and see whats on offer.

Passing the test

So youve had a great idea and youre keen to roll with it; now its time to put it through its paces. For the purpose of the exercise, lets say that you have a passion for healthy living, and that you want to distribute a range of lifestyle accessories that promote healthy living with a do-it-yourself approach.

Ask around: Is there a market for products that promote healthy living? What sorts of products are available? Who would you be competing with and what do your competitors offer? Do you have the necessary skills to run such a business and — more to the point — what would those skills be? Where would your business be located?

Once youve answered those questions you should have a fairly clear picture of what your business will look like.

You source some products and decide to do some further research into the range of lifestyle products offered by a company called Vitality 4 Life. Your own life experience plus some work youve done as a dietician has given you the necessary skill sets, and you think that youll be able to work from home, giving you more time for family. There is an existing market, but theres room for expansion. Now its time to take a closer look.

To be or not to be?

Its time to get down to the nuts and bolts. You dont want to jump into something feet first and find out the hard way that the budget just doesnt work.

To get started, sit down and work out if you need to hire staff, which means paying wages.

If you lease a premises youll need to be able to pay the rent, and your location will have to be suitable for your business and target market (which also means that youll have to think carefully about just what that target market is). Youll also need to work out the likely demand for your productservice.

Ok youve worked out that there is enough demand for good quality juicers, sprouters, water filters and other high end accessories to take a shot at a distributorship as a home-based business opportunity. Now you need to make some marketing decisions.

Look at me! Look at me!

Advertising can be costly so youll want to be sure that your advertising budget is spent wisely. That means more market research, this time one-on-one. Profile your customer groups so you can aim your marketing at the right groups of people.

Draw up a questionnaire (a short questionnaire — people run out patience if you ramble for too long) and hang around outside a few of the local gyms (for our particular example). Come up with a mixture of open questions (What do you think of..?) and closed questions (Do you have a gym membership? YesNo.); sliding scales can be useful too.

For our health accessories business, a good question might be How did you hear about this gym? Radio, tv, newspaper, word of mouth etc Such a question would then give you an indication of the types of media that your target group responds best to.

Choose a business name, print up some business cards, buy some stock and get ready to trade!

Measure it, manage it!

A teacher of mine made the point that, in business, if you cant measure it you cant manage it.

You need to be able to plan ahead, and to do that you need to know — or to be able to accurately predict — your total sales. The equation is simple: number of customers x average sale x frequency of visits per customer per year = total sales. Remember it, revise it often, measure your business and youll be able to manage it!

Keep an eye on your bottom line and, most importantly, always be aware of your cash flow — the cold, hard cash that you have in the bank. Allow for invoice periods (14 days, 30 days etc) when youre planning your budget.

The market place has a life of its own, and no one can prepare for every contingency. Put some thought into your idea; make sure that theres a market for what youre offering; research, research, research; promote your business effectively; always know whats going on in your bank account and dont forget about cash flow!

Its not perfect but, if you follow these few simple steps, youll be miles ahead of many new small business ventures. If youve heard of a great home-based business opportunity, or have a product or service of your own to market, youre off to a great start!