Empty Filing Cabinets

In 2007,  the estimated number of office pages printed was more than 1.019 trillion according to InfoTrends.  People copied, re-copied, faxed, mailed  and filed all of this paper unnecessarily.

Consider how much the cost of postage stamps, courier fees, filing space, paper, ink and  printing documents is effecting your bottom line.  It’s hard to imagine adapting to the concept of a paperless office, but it is possible.

Adapting cost-cutting measures can be difficult at first, but once the system is in place, savings can be realized.

The vast amount of technology out there has made the paper-free office more than possible.   E-readers, electronic filing systems, virtual offices and scanners all make it possible for an office to become paperless.

Five Great Website Resources (for free!)

Web presence for the small business is crucial.  Many small business owners are looking for a cost-effective way to get their website up and running. Here are five free website resources your small business could benefit from.

1. The first resource is Weebly.  Weebly is a very user-friendly application to learn.
2. Google is another good provider.  They have quite a few templates available for your design needs.
3. A wonderful resource is Wix. Wix has some really impressive templates available for use.  They have an impressive gallery.
4. Homestead is a great option.  The application used to build the website in is very user-friendly.
5. Yola is an additional resource.  This provider also offers a password-protected option.

There are a ton of providers that offer free hosting.  The hidden costs with most of the providers lie within the additional features you have the option of adding on.  There is usually a one-time fee associated with purchasing a domain name.  Should you decide to use the sub-domain option when setting up your website, you will be able to avoid the fees associated with the domain.  Also consider storage capacity when selecting a vendor, the amount of content (images and literature) dictates how much space you will need.

What’s a Virtual Office?

A virtual office is a collaborative workspace that can enhance the productivity of a small business.  Many virtual office applications are designed with the team environment in mind, but solopreneurs can benefit from this tool as well.

What can a virtual office do?

• Store documents online
• Restrict access to certain documents
• Track appointments and contacts
• Allow the user to export documents
• Create a space to huddle in team discussion settings
• Store presentations online
• Allow the user to email documents from within the application

There are many applications out there that can do what’s listed above and more.  The most important benefit of having a virtual office is peace of mind.  When the hard drive fails or a disk is misplaced, the virtual office is that secondary storage place where lost files can be easily retrieved.

Web Conferencing for Small Businesses

Small businesses are always looking for ways to cut costs.  If a business is really looking to cut costs, that business must embrace technology.  It’s easiest to cut costs in the area of travel and this can be done through the implementation of web conferencing.  A company can enjoy great savings by using web conferencing, which offers the ability to share screens, presentations and videos in a virtual setting.

Here’s a list of ten web conferencing service providers.

1. GoToMeeting: Packages start at $49/mo. and they offer a free trial.

2. Microsoft Office Live Meeting: $5-15 bucks per user. It’s important to note that they use licenses, which cannot be shared.

3. Adobe Connect Pro: Packages start at $45 and up. They can also bill at $.32 per minute/per user.

4. Intercall: They offer packages that start at $59 and up. They also offer a plan at the rate of $.17 per minute/per user.

5. DimDim: Packages start at $25/mo.  There’s even a free version available and there’s no software to download.

6. Packetel: They offer packages as low as $10.90/mo.

7. Yugma: They also offer a free package as well and the regular packages start off at $14.95.

8. MegaMeeting.com: Offers packages that start off at $45/mo.

9. WebConference.com: Pricing begins $39/mo.

10. InstantPresenter: Packages start at $39/mo.

Most of the vendors above offer a free trial period for users looking to test the performance of these applications.  One should expect to see three main price plans: pricing per minute/per user, licensing per user and monthly plans with an assigned number limit for users.  While in the process of selecting a web conference provider, be sure to take into your monthly budget, number of users that would need access, and frequency of web conference calls to be made on a monthly basis.  Web conferencing is the perfect solution for companies looking to cut costs, since the business owner can reduce costs associated with travel.  It’s also a great step towards going green.

Email Marketing for Small Businesses on a Budget

Email marketing is changing the way small businesses market their services.  It’s an affordable way for small businesses to advertise and educate their clients about the services they offer.  There are many companies out there that provide email marketing packages at affordable rates and I’ve provided you with a list of ten providers below!

All of the providers below offer email marketing packages with templates and email list management features.

1. IContact- Their packages start at $9.95/mo.
2. Constant Contact- Packages start off at $15.00/mo.
3. Easy Contact- There’s a package for small campaigns that starts off at $0.  They offer a pay-as-you-go plan, as well.
4. My Newsletter Builder- This provider has packages that start off as little as $10.00/mo.
5. StreamSend- The starting price for their packages is $19.95/mo.
6. Contact Pro- This company’s lowest package starts at $9.00/mo.
7. Campaigner- The lowest package starts at $10/mo.
8. Benchmark Email- Their packages also start at $9.95/mo.
9. Mail Chimp- has email packages that start off at $0, if you’re sending less than 500 emails on a monthly basis.
10. Mailer Mailer has a package that starts off at $0, if sending less than 200 emails per month.

If you think your small business could benefit from an effective email marketing campaign, check out a few of the vendors above.  The perfect email marketing campaign educates, entertains, and sells to the reader.  Be sure to connect with your audience on a personal level and be consistent in your marketing efforts.

The Perfect Recipe for Records Management

The beginning stages of getting a business off the ground is tough.  As a business struggles to get established, it has to consider things like: personnel, service providers, advertising methods, administrative processes, overhead costs, etc.   A mistake in any of those areas can prove to be a costly one.  Business owners often make the costly mistake of poorly managing their records.  Small businesses often neglect their records management process because they don’t understand exactly what’s to be considered in terms of design.

Here are some important things  to consider when determining your business  needs for records management:

1. Consider what records will be stored.
2. Figure out if your records will be paper, or paperless.
3. Number of people that will require access to those files
4. Categorize the files into no more than ten categories, initially (typically all a small business would need)
5. Crunch the numbers to see what your business can easily afford for records storage
6. Estimate the amount of time in a given week you will be able to allocate towards records management
7. Based on the budget and the hours of labor available, decide if the process will be outsourced or handled internally
8. Track the number of files that are being created on a weekly basis
9. Consider how long the records should be held to meet business, legal, or other requirements
10. Identify where the records should go once they have aged.

All small businesses can benefit from a well-planned records management system.  There are many systems that are ideal for records management, some of which are extremely affordable.  As you consider the necessity of having a such a system, consider how long it could take you to recover a lost file.   Think of how difficult it would be to reorganize/revamp your entire filing process when the volume of records increases dramatically.

Introduction to the List Feature on Twitter

A list is a way of grouping people you follow on Twitter.  The purpose of this feature is to group content, interesting people or similar contacts together, that you may develop a stream of relevant tweets.

To create a list of your own, follow the steps below:

1. Click “Create a List.”
2. Then begin reviewing tweets in your timeline and select people you would like to follow.
3. Your other option is to select people via the traditional search.
4. Go to that person’s page and click on the list button, it will be on the opposite side of the bar underneath the person’s avatar.
5. Click Lists.
6. Select the list(s) you would like to add that person to.

Things to Remember:

1. If a person has protected their tweets, you will not be able to view them in a list, even if the list is public.  Only the people with public profiles will be listed in public timelines.
2. Following a list of people does not mean that the list is following you, so your posts will not show up in their timeline if you aren’t a part of the group.
3. A list will automatically follow you, if you are included on that list.
4. Lists can be made either public or private by only the creator of the lists.
5. If you are behind the creation of a list, you will not be counted in the follower stats.

Creative Ways to Use Lists:

1. Put together a private list of people to follow that don’t like a product/service you offer.
2. Put together a list of people that raved about an event you had and create testimonials from it.
3. Use the list as a way to facilitate an introduction to a contact to grow your circle.
4. Use a list as a collaborative mechanism for grouping together a knowledge base. (Ex. Tech support people, accounting gurus, etc.)
5. Consolidate a list of people that consistently retweet your material and track the occurrences for each type of content.  In other words, study the trending of your material being retweeted and organize your content accordingly.
6. Group together your competition and follow their content.

I encourage you to experiment with the list, as it can be a wonderful collaborative tool for companies that decide to use the list as a brand management, event planning, or promo tool.  If the list you created is for business-related purposes, make sure that the list brings value to those that you have selected to participate in it.  Highly interactive tweeters would not want to follow a list of people who consistently spam (bots).  I have found that these lists are more about grouping together your favorite people to follow on Twitter.  Happy Tweeting!

5 Tips to Start Saving on Overhead Today

In these hard economic times, it has become more important than ever to cut costs wherever you can.  There are so many minor changes a business owner can make in their daily routine that can result in savings in the long run.  By slightly altering a routine process, your overhead can be greatly reduced.

1. Copying- you can save on paper by using both sides of the paper for your faxing and regular printing.
2. Print to PDF- if this is not correspondence that requires printing, why print it out?  You can print the file to PDF and save to DVD and PC for later use.
3. E-fax- There are so many e-fax service providers out there and they are usually cheaper than using the traditional fax machine (no ink, no phone line, no paper).  You don’t have to have a phone line, which works out great for professionals who primarily use their smart phones.
4. Offer paperless billing- Save a ton on paper by asking your clients if they would be interested in electronic billing.
5. Verify before you print-When printing forms from online, especially government forms, I have found that there are also additional pages included that do not require printing.  Adjust your printer settings to print the actual portion of the form that needs to be printed out, nix printing the directions and the other stuff!

I hope that these five tips are helpful to you.  Start saving today by altering your business processes a little, it will be worth it in the long run.

What Small Business Owners Neglect

Small business owners have a lot on their plates.  It is difficult to stay on top of everything; especially when you are a start-up.

1.  Adequate staffing.  Often small business owners that specialize in a given area, neglect the administrative side of their business.  In order to avoid having to wear too many hats and becoming burned out as a business owner, it is important that you have a well-trained administrative resource available to you.

2. Financial-Bookkeeping.  Often owners are very good at the core business side of their company, but neglect their bookkeeping.  To avoid a messy situation around tax time, hire a resource to track your financial information for you.  If you choose to manage the financial info for your company yourself, make yourself available for any continuing education opportunities that would give you the knowledge base that you need.

3.  Licensing and certifications.  It is often best to focus your efforts toward updating any and all certifications required for your business at the end of each year.  The easiest way to stay on top of this is to begin working on  your licensing, certification and tax preparation in November of each year.

4.  Time management.  Know the profitability of each job you handle.  Know the time invested into projects by all of your employees.  You may find that by paying more attention to time and how it is utilized by all that your ability to maximize profitability and efficiency improves.

5.  Investment in your team.  This is a challenging business environment and many companies are struggling with incentive plans.   Think outside the box with your incentive plan.  Partner up with a local company and set up a barter plan to increase incentives available to your employees.  Award your productive team members with more responsibilities or training seminars.  It means a lot to the employee when you show that you care about their professional growth.

By focusing on these areas of your small business, you are certain to take the administrative side of your business to another level.

Sharing Photos/Portfolios Online (10 Resources)

A portfolio can be important for an individual that owns a business that is heavily reliant on the aesthetic presentation of one’s work.  While many rely on MySpace and Facebook to showcase their work professionally, a business owner may find it hard to drive all clients to social networking websites.  This post will provide ten resources for building a portfolio and sharing photos online.

Most of these resources allow the user the ability to edit, wallpaper, and create slideshows (or screensavers) from within the application.

1. Flickr: www.flickr.com. (can make DVD’s, personalized gifts and cards)
2. Tagged: www.tagged.com (can created personalized gifts)
3. Photobucket: www.photobucket.com (can post to blogs, MySpace, website and Facebook)
4. Spaces (Windows Live): http://home.spaces.live.com (can also share videos and blog with this tool)
5. Shutterfly: www.shutterfly.com (can create stationery, posters and other personalized gifts)
6. Fotki: www.fotki.com (has address book, can post to blogs)
7. Webshots: www.webshots.com (can create mugs, calendars, jewelry, mousepads)
8. Twitpic: www.twitpic.com (restaurants promote menu items, realtors promote properties)
9. KeepandShare: www.keepandshare.com (can be used for online backup of doc’s and calendar sharing)
10. Ovi: www.ovi.com (also has map, calendar, music and address book features)

These applications all offer similar capabilities and are extremely user-friendly.  It is recommended that one opens several accounts with several providers to experiment and find a preference.  All are extremely cost-effective solutions and perfect for the small business owner that needs to share his/her work virtually.

*** Who would benefit from this tool? Wedding/event planners, realtors, restaurant owners, photographers, construction/remodeling firms, travel agents, interior designers, professional organizers, fitness trainers, cosmetologists, stylists, etc.)