Sally Phillips | Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer

A Guide To Choosing The Right Company Car

April 9, 2020 by Sally Phillips Leave a Comment

A company car is a smart investment for any entrepreneur. It’s a useful branding opportunity, a way to better facilitate face-to-face meetings with customers or clients, and you’ll be able to write off tax expenses. However, it’s important to make sure you choose the right car. There are plenty of options available and choosing the wrong one will inevitably lead to lost money. Before making the investment, it’s important to think about what you want in a company car. What purpose will it serve? What features does it need to have? How should it look? Answering these questions will help you find the right car for your business.

Consider purpose

Make sure you choose a car that suits the purpose you need it for. Do you just need a car to get around yourself or transport your employees? Then a simple, comfortable, and fuel efficient model (or one with good gas mileage) should suit your needs.

As well as being more expensive upfront, larger cars also mean you’ll have to pay more for gas and insurance. If you’re self employed, don’t forget to consider the type of car insurance when you factor in price. Whether you use personal or business car insurance depends on your line of work, with the latter being far more expensive.

If you’ll be using the car to meet with clients, it should look good and create a positive impression — you may even want to brand the car with your company logo. Alternatively, if you need to deliver goods, consider the car’s storage capacity. For example, vans offer ample space, while trucks are cheaper and offer more seating and technological features.

Extra features

Before purchasing your car, consider the extra features you’ll need. For example, if you’re going to be driving long distances, satellite navigation is essential. But, if you’re only doing short drives, you won’t need GPS and may find it drains your battery faster. Passenger airbags are an important safety feature if you frequently drive with employees or clients. Compare car ratings and reviews to find out everything you can expect from a certain model before buying. Your chosen car should have the features you need and score high for reliability, quality, and performance.

Looks are important

Don’t underestimate the importance of the image your car presents to clients, customers, and onlookers. Your company car functions as a method of advertising and a stylish model may even win you some new customers. A company car also represents your brand and should therefore reflect your business values. For example, if you have a green business, invest in an eco-friendly car (like an electric or hybrid model). Or, if you cater to high-end clients, having a luxury car like a Mercedes or BMW is essential. However, always keep your customers in mind when choosing a car. An expensive, luxury model may not be suitable if you assist smaller or struggling businesses.

Running a business can be a challenge, but investing in a company car can make things easier for you. Following these smart tips can help you choose a stylish, quality, and dependable company car that does the job you need it to.

One Policy At A Time: Becoming A Brand With Strong Green Credentials

March 30, 2020 by Sally Phillips Leave a Comment

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Unsplash

For businesses to thrive, they must find ways to deal with shifting consumer desires. In today’s world where many people are concerned with their environmental impact, consumers are looking for eco-friendly brands and businesses. Nearly 70% of consumers value sustainability, according to the U.S. Consumer Sustainability Survey. So if you’re a business owner, the smart thing to do is to boost your brand’s green credentials. But how exactly do you go about doing that?

Establish A Framework

When companies want to show that they are “green,” a sustainable strategy is needed, according to Hannes Partl of Thinkstep. This ultimately means establishing a framework to enact greener directives. For example, if you wanted to go with a plastic-free workplace, you need to first know how much plastic is actually being used. A good way to do so is by enacting a waste audit as the first level of your green framework. From there, you can turn toward building an incentive program for employees to help keep up the plastic-free directive. Having a framework in place helps to guide everyone toward the end goal.

Get Certified

If you want something a bit more official, you can opt to have your business certified by a third-party. A good example of this is the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), which gives certifications to businesses and individuals who have buildings that are aligned with established eco-friendly measures. When you get LEED-certified, you effectively demonstrate that you and your business have environmentally responsible practices that may include energy efficiency, water consumption, and others. Not only is it a good PR tool, but it may invite tax rebates — depending on what state your business is in.

Be Transparent

Large companies like H&M and Zara told their employees and consumers that they were taking active steps to curb their carbon footprint. This resulted in increased sales for them (for a time). However, after Canada’s version of the U.S. Consumer Protection Bureau called them out for “misleading” the public on their sustainability directives, they lost public trust and are not trying to recoup losses. Since then, the public needed more assurances that brands are actually doing what they say. This is something you can do by being transparent about your brand’s green directives. Giving regular updates on the positive imprint made by your brand after going paperless or going plastic-free helps to assure everyone involved of your dedication to greener practices.

Have Like-Minded Suppliers

Your business is part of a chain that contributes toward global waste. If you are serious about embracing eco-friendly measures, you need to make sure that your business partners or suppliers carry the same directives or, at the very least, meet your standards for sustainability. Nike, as a brand, established a sustainability evaluation scale for their suppliers. This helped them build a stronger green credential by only working with those with the same eco-friendly goals, which is something that you can definitely do as well.

Boosting your brand’s green credentials is more than just getting consumers to choose you. It is an investment in the prolonged future of your enterprise. So take some time and review the current sustainability grade of your business. Identifying areas that may need improvement is the key to starting your brand’s journey toward stronger green credentials.

Can Your Seasonal Business Survive Year-Round?

October 30, 2019 by Sally Phillips Leave a Comment

With the holiday season about to kick off, many seasonal businesses will be shifting their operations into high gear as they prepare for their peak period. Every month, around 534,000 new businesses are launched and a significant percentage of them are aimed at catering to customer demands of a specific season like Easter, Christmas or even summer. For any business owner, there are a lot of misconceptions and fears about starting a business, which are magnified for those launching a seasonal one. While it is true that seasonal businesses face some unique roadblocks throughout the year (and particularly during off-season), the key lies in planning ahead and being adaptable throughout the year.

Get Your Cash Flow Management Right

For seasonal businesses to survive, owners must focus on two main pillars: good cash flow management and maintaining control of your costs. Around 82 percent of small businesses fail due to inconsistent cash flow. For seasonal businesses, this worry is enhanced as sales can slow or be practically nonexistent during those off-peak seasons.

This is where good cash flow management comes in. In your peak seasons, create a dedicated reserve fund where you set aside a small percentage of your sales for those slower months. Also, you can time invoices and offer credit options so that you can have payments still coming in during those off-peak months. However, be careful since the downside to offering a credit option is that there is a chance of debtor defaults. A good credit collection policy and a well versed, efficient team are needed to ensure your accounts receivables collections stay on track.

Make Operational Adjustments

The other main aspect of ensuring your business’ survival is taking control of your business costs, particularly in the off-season. Minimizing your costs in those times means you end up with fewer expenses to account for in a time where receipts would have slowed. While some expenses like loan repayments cannot be removed completely during those months, there are ways to cut expenses.

Start with your opening and staff hours. During recruitment, make it clear to employees that offseason hours would be part-time. Alternatively, if you find that the costs of running the business during off-peak seasons exceed any projected revenue or you are unable to service your debt, it may be wiser to close your business. In this case, you may qualify for a discharge of your debts to cover outstanding creditors due to the drop in income. If you are renting an office or factory space, consider a seasonal lease or subletting it in the slower months. However, be sure to establish clear communication channels for the business and let customers know in advance of your changed hours. This avoids any confusion on whether the company has stopped trading, and what hours it is open.

Focus On Off-Peak Marketing & Research

The months when your sales and manufacturing have slowed is the perfect time to focus on other parts of the business, such as marketing, customer research and building your business’ brand. Take advantage of your downtime to formulate a good marketing campaign or come up with unique ways to build your brand offline and online. You can also use this time to conduct market research and customer surveys to identify the trends and changing demands of your target market. You can then incorporate these into your product or service offerings when you do launch your line for the season or when buying supplies for your peak season (if your business is more of a middle man). Keep in mind to keep advertising/ market research activities cost-effective since profits would have slowed.

Make Use Of Forecasting For Expenses

Forecasting comes in useful for those seasons where sales and customer traffic picks up. In the lead up to these periods, businesses have to spend more on preparing for increased business including hiring additional staff/extending work hours, increasing inventory and an increase in variable expenses such as electricity. However, due to the slower months, many businesses find themselves unprepared financially for this bump in costs. Forecasting helps businesses estimate and then put away money/arrange financing to cover these costs. For a cost-effective option, business owners can opt to do the work themselves with the help of business forecasting apps or software. Alternatively, you can choose to outsource it to a business planning and projection professional.

Seasonal businesses do come with a set of distinctive challenges you need to be ready for but they are not insurmountable. Ensuring sustainability of seasonal business centers on planning ahead and the creation of off-peak safeguards. Do this and your business stands a formidable chance of being one of the 50 percent of businesses making it past its initial years.

Personal Investment Tips For Small Business Owners

June 17, 2019 by Sally Phillips Leave a Comment

More than 627,000 new businesses are opened yearly in the U.S, according to the estimations by the Small Business Association. Unfortunately, only half of them make it to the 5 year mark, and only a third to the 10th year. While there are many reasons for this, the biggest one, according to U.S Bank study, is cash flow problems. Marketing your small business using social media and print, having an efficient risk management plan, and creating quality products and services are important, but none of it matters if you cannot properly manage your business finances. With that in mind, here are some personal investments tips to consider as a small business owner if you want to keep your SME running.

Diversify Your Investment

Diversification is one of the most crucial concepts as far as investment is concerned. According to a report by the New York Times, small businesses have greatly been left behind when compared to the large businesses. Most of the small business owners tend to invest all their assets solely in their businesses. This is to mean all profits made are redirected back to the business, which could be risky if anything were to happen to it. Make no mistake, things happen: fluctuation, fire, vandalism, natural disasters etc. Should there be such an occurrence, your SME will be left crippled, and your household’s financial security will be in jeopardy.

The wise move to make is to use a portion of your profits to invest in other projects. For instance, you can consider making a savvy real estate investment by taking out a buy-to-let property mortgage with a cash deposit. Once you buy the property, you should, however, not forget to make your mortgage payments later. The best part is that it is so cost effective and easy to become a buy-to-let landlord. Rental housing was listed among the 7 best 2019 investment options by Forbes. You could also invest in bonds, peer to peer lending, REITs, and high yield saving accounts.

Separate Your Business And Personal Finances

It may be difficult for you as a small business owner to separate your personal funds from your business funds. From your inter-connection with your business, you might well think that your business is you and you are your business. It is, however, crucial to separate business and personal finances. You can consider opening a business banking account, as well as applying for a credit card for your business. This will help you better manage your business expenses. It will also help stop you from using business earnings on personal needs.

Come Up With An Emergency Fund

There are those times of the year when your small business will fare better than other times. The income may vary from month to month, or even from day to day. Not to worry: this is normal, since all businesses are cyclical. In preparation for such times, it is important for you to set aside an account with emergency funds. This will help you during the crisis moments in your business. An emergency fund prevents you from borrowing or taking high-interest loans. With an emergency fund, you will also not have to rely on your credit cards. Keep in mind that you should always separate the emergency fund account from your business and personal account.

Starting a business is easy. Keeping it running, though, is where the challenge lies. If you want your SME to grow, then learning how to properly manage your finances is key. Nevertheless, if you are too busy or not financially savvy, consider seeking help from experts in the field who will help you with handling your investments. You can also use financial management software for small businesses. Growing your wealth and your business is a process that requires patience, dedication and, more importantly, wise investments.

Why Entrepreneurs Need To Invest In Insurance to Succeed

May 17, 2019 by Sally Phillips Leave a Comment

The number of self-employed workers in the U.S. stands at 15 million but Freshbooks forecasts that an additional 27 million workers will go the self-employed route over the next two years. This is due to many people placing more value on maintaining flexibility and freedom. While being in control of your earnings can be rewarding, it is important to remember that high rewards comes with higher risk. Even as you try to safely transition your career into self-employment, the unexpected can happen and you will need an insurance policy that can protect your business, your health and your income.

Property Insurance

This type of insurance is essential especially if you have business property such as office equipment, inventory or other assets. For the cost of $500 to $1000 annually, this product can cover the cost of damage to your business due to a fire accident, vandalism, theft etc. You may also want to include business interruption as part of the policy in order to insure your earnings if the business is unable to operate. While insuring your business’s buildings is not mandatory, if you have a mortgage your provider may require a cover to be in place.

Short-Term Disability

A health insurance may cover your medical bills, but if you’re too sick or injured to work how will you generate enough income to sustain yourself ? Depending on your coverage, a disability policy will replace your income by paying about 60% of your usual income. The catch is that the payments can only last from nine weeks to a year and so it is important that you have an emergency fund in place.

Health and Relevant Life Insurance

In the regular work force, many employees find that medical insurance is included as part of their benefits package. However, as a self-employed person you will have to get your own coverage. Getting health insurance is not just important for you, but for your family as well. A policy will ensure protection for you and your family, covering everything from routine medical care to emergencies. On the other hand, life insurance can be similar to a typical employment-based life insurance policy in that your business pays the premiums instead of you. This policy is a tax-efficient way for your family to receive financial support in the form of a lump sum in case something happens to you.

General and Professional Liability

A product liability claim on average can cost about $35,000. This can cause huge losses to your business if you have no policy in place. Therefore, a general liability insurance is needed to protect your business from third party claims for property damages or bodily harm that may have been caused by your products or services. A professional liability (also known as errors and omissions insurance) is a must have if you offer advice or certain professional services. This type of policy will cover the cost of legal fees and compensation in case a client charges you with negligence, misconduct or mistakes made by you. In addition, if you want to land contracts with government agencies and enterprise clients, you’ll most likely need to present proof of liability insurance in order to bid.

Other types of Insurance that you may need

Based on your company’s specific needs, a business owner’s policy can reduce costs by packaging all the required coverage a business owner may need. If you handle sensitive client information, a data breach insurance can protect you in case of digital or physical theft.

If you are venturing into self-employment you will definitely need some type of insurance. It is also a good idea to review your coverage frequently in order to ensure that you have policies that meet your needs and can be sustained financially.