Taxes are the business problems every business owner faces. Save tax on energy efficient cars, travel expenses on business trips etc. you can cut them by partnering with others.

2. Save on your bills

a market survey showed that some small business are paying a lot of money in the form of bills, way over what is necessary. What is worse is they know they can slash on the bills, but do not take the initiative for it. Try to slash on your bills and you will be saving a minimum of 30-35% of money on your bills.
3. Save on the inheritance tax

You can save on the inheritance tax by giving away assets, changing your will or set up a trust. However, pay attention to the legal details before you do so.
4. Save money on electricity and gas

The energy costs are increasing everyday and they play a vital role in the company’s profits. Use energy efficient electrical appliances in your office and follow car gas saving methods.
5. Credit control

many small business are busted because they owe money and cannot control the cash flow. Plan credit control systematically, check references, get credit reports and check the company returns etc to save money and improve business.
6. Keep the cash flowing

many businesses do not operate in the privileged place and there is a necessity for them to manage their money. So the secret to managing business for profits or cash is simple. If you have cash then stay in the business, if not stay out of it.
7. Go green and save money

a research done recently shows that, by reducing energy bill by a fifth can save your business an equivalent of 5% sales increase. You also get a competitive advantage and increased sustainability.
8. Prevent employee theft

a research shows that 80% of the workers admit to stealing from the workplace. In most of the cases it was just borrowing some minor things, but when all of them are counted, they sum up to a significant sum over time. Sometimes, thefts are more serious and they cause a lot of loss to your business.
9. Marketing for low cost

marketing is an important part of business. However, without much budget, marketing can be a little difficult. But in the modern days marketing your business can be achieved for a small amount too and you can even do free marketing too.
10. Maintain good financial health of your business

many businesses have good products and services and increasing number of customers. However, they end up as business failures because of failing to manage their finances properly. It is important you keep up the financial health of the business. If you are inexperienced, take professional help if your budget permits it.7

More helpful links :
Co-orporate Finance: www.glaisyers.com.

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Here are 10 best marketing tips for your small business to succeed well.

1. Postcard printing

You can do cost effective marketing of your small business by printing a small add on a post card and send the post cards to all the clients in your targeted market. Keep the add short and brief so that people read them. These post cards can be very effective in driving heavy traffic to your site and improve your sales by a ton, all for very less.

2. Use several marketing tactics

It is not wise and fruitful to stick to only one marketing tactic all the time and for all your businesses. Use several marketing tactics and keep changing them often, also remember that you cannot use the same marketing for all kinds of businesses. Customers usually get bored if you use the same idea to allure them, so make use of tactics that are fun for you and the customer. Plan your tactic well and make use of different marketing ploys. Get feedback from your consumers too if needed.

3. Promote your business with buddy marketing

Do not just promote yourself, try promoting the business of others too and in turn you will receive an offer. If you are distributing brochures, then you include the business card or leaflet of other business friends that you have. This way you build good friendship with them and they will do the same for you thus expanding your business indirectly. This way you can also get a lot of new customers that are not in your business circle.

4. Answer your phone in a different manner

Instead of using the regular phone manners, try answering the call with a special offer. For example, you can say, “Good Morning, this is Emily Jones with Sunshine Express, we have a special offer.” This compels the consumer to ask the speaker what the offer is about. Take care to keep your offer enticing and increase the caller’s urgency to know about it.

5. Use post its

Use stickers, post its and notes that are hand written on your direct mails and business mails. Keep in mind that when you use these stickers on the exterior of an envelope it creates an impression of a billboard. People read it fast so keep your message short and to the point so that it is read entirely.

6. Give your customers another offer

When you have successfully attracted your customers and they have purchased goods from you do not just thank them and let them go. You have to make them keep coming to you and this is possible if you send them a thank you note with give them a private offer saying that they will get a 10 or 20% offer off on their next purchase if they bring the note next time and purchase something.

7. Newsletters

It is harder to make a new customer buy things than luring the old ones to buy something. So send a newsletter to attract your old customers. If you think printed newsletters would cost you a lot you can go for the inexpensive email newsletter, send them to those who subscribe to your web site.

8. Seminars and events

Host an event, this way you will get in touch with many customers. If you want to arrange a seminar them limit the audience and charge fee.

9. Barter system

Trade your product for the advertisement space or for other’s product or service. This way you can promote your business for cheap.

10. Mails

Include flyers, brochures etc on all your outgoing mail to promote your business without spending anything.

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1. Security policy for employees

When the question is about cyber security, the biggest issue is lack of cyber knowledge among the small business owners and their employees. It is very important that the information technology department of your business remains up to date with problems regarding the internet security threats. The company or business owners should make it mandatory for their employees to sign a security policy. This policy should include terms like whether the employees should have the access to personal data on business services, if business data can be permitted on their personal devices and what should be done in case these devices are stolen or lost. The document must be shared with employees and make sure they d what understand what needs to be done and explain the importance of cyber security.

2. Strong passwords

Smart passwords are important foe business owners. If a passwords is a simple 8 letter word which is quite common then it can be guesses easily by your 10 year old kid let alone hackers. So, if your password is a vulnerable 8 letter common word that can be guesses easily, then change it to something more complicated and one that cannot be easily cracked by anybody. Never set passwords which are complete words and can easily be recognized. Create a strong password that would be a minimum of 12 characters randomly chosen containing letters of upper and lower cases and number and symbols included too. Make sure that you regularly change your password and do not repeat the same password two times. It is also strictly advised against using the same password for all the accounts, because if one account is hacked all the other accounts can be hacked too.

3. Data encryption

You cannot keep the hackers entirely away from breaching your system with just a strong password. So take measures to protect the data on your computing devices at least. Data encryption is the solution to the hacking problem. Most of the operating systems have disk encryption tools for example the Windows PC has Bitlocker and for MAC it is filevault. These in built programs convert the data on your computing devices into a unreadable code that cannot be easily uncoded by hackers. Hence, your data stays safe.

4. Educate your employees

The most common ways hackers use to access a network is via phishing emails. Hackers use email messages to tail your business . When you click on a link which contains a malicious code they mail you, your system will be hacked. So as the business owner you need to educate your employees about the threat of opening such phishing emails or clicking on any suspicious links. Educating your employees on the cyber security will help you prevent cyber attacks. Apart from that employees should also be aware that apps should not be downloaded on their smart phones from untrustworthy sources.
Follow these simple security tips to prevent hacker attacks from small businesses.
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1. Data Encryption

Data encryption will make sure that your company’s vital and sensitive info is not at stake when your employee loses any vital info or when your company’s system is hacked. There are many encryptions software and tools that help you keep your data safe, these will make it hard for a hacker to read the data who cannot provide the correct password. There are different data encryption features for different computer soft wares. For Windows it is Bitlocker, for Mac users it is the Filevault.

2. Employee education

The most common ways hackers use to access a network is via phishing emails. Hackers use email messages to tail your business . When you click on a link which contains a malicious code they mail you, your system will be hacked. So as the business owner you need to educate your employees about the threat of opening such phishing emails or clicking on any suspicious links. Educating your employees on the cyber security will help you prevent cyber attacks. Apart from that employees should also be aware that apps should not be downloaded on their smart phones from untrustworthy sources.

3. Learn about your network

Business owners should know what is happening in their network, if any suspicious activity happens, take precautions before the hacker completely takes over your data. So in order to prevent your vital data from being compromised hire a full time security expert who is trained for this purpose. If you have a low budget and cannot a full time security expert for your small business then use a open source software like Security Onion which you can install on your server. To monitor what is happening inside your network. It might appear so that you might not understand the meaning of the log, but in case you suspect an attack because the normal options are not properly functioning or if you find the disappearance of funds then you can take the help of a security expert by giving them the idea of what has been happening.

4. Secure your bank accounts

Many banks support the multifactor authentication for logging into bank’s website. It means that your account will require a phone confirmation apart from a password when you try to access your bank account. This way you will be able to make it harder for the cyber criminals to access your info. It is also advisable to use a separate computer for banking online. This way you will be successful in preventing yourself from downloading malware from phishing emails and links from your computer, which will record your bank password’s keystrokes.

5. Protect your devices when you travel

In certain high risk countries it can happen so that your computers might be checked when you are out of your hotel room. So, it is best to keep your Laptops, iPad’s etc with you all the time. If it is not possible for you then avoid storing important data on your computer and you must clean it when you get home before connecting your device to other networks.

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