Turn Your Downtime Into Uptime.

Most company’s experience periods of increased workflow that is usually followed by downtime. If your company experiences these periods, you will notice that they usually go in cycles around the same months every year. However these vary for every company. If you can pinpoint when this cycle of downtime is going to occur you can prepare yourself early and possibly turn that downtime around before you really get to the heart of it. If they come and go unexpectedly you can use this time wisely by rekindling old business relationships, analyzing your goals and assessing your web site. Here are a few ways you can make the best out of your downtime.

Rekindle Business relationships
Have you been out of touch lately? Downtime is a great time to send out a few catch up emails, meet up for coffee and rekindle some old business relationships. They could be starting out on a new business venture or could use your company’s assistance or services. It is important to keep close ties with people in your network.

Analyze your goals
We are all guilty of being overly optimistic in January when New Year resolutions seem all too easy to make and in your mind accomplish. However, come June, we forget about the beginning of the year goals we set for ourselves. Use your downtime to analyze your goals, look at the progress you’ve made in the past few months and figure out what you need to stay on course or get back on.

Assess your website
When you are swamped with work, it is easy to neglect your web site. This is a great time to freshen up your content, images, portfolio and concentrate on SEO. You should also check all web forms to make sure they are all working properly and directed to the right place and check that your contact info is still correct.

Client Feedback
Send client surveys and get their feedback on your service, what you can do to improve, what your strengths are as a company and if they can provide you with a testimonial that you can then post on your web site. It is always good to have updated testimonials with dates on your web site to show that you have recent clients that are pleased with your work.

Follow–up
Are there a few proposals floating around that you never heard back from? Now is a great time to send follow ups to see if they are still interested and let them know you are still there so they don’t forget about you. This could generate new work or could help you cross off pending clients from your list.

6 Tips to Network more Effectively for your Business

Networking and marketing go hand in hand. If you network correctly, you can save a ton of money on marketing while making great contacts that can aid in your future investments. Below are some tips to help aid you in your networking goals.

1. Never try to sell your product or service while you are networking. Remember that the reason for your networking is to establish potential business relationships that will benefit both parties. And to maintain these relationships so that you can carry out these benefits that can possibly aid you in acquiring new clients.

2. Stick around after the event. You will be putting yourself at a disadvantage if you are the first one out the door after a networking event. Once the event is over, more people are willing to discuss what was learned during the event and how it applies to their business or how you can both benefit from what each other has learned. If you leave too quickly you will miss out on a ton of networking possibilities.

3. Always look presentable. There is nothing worse than promoting your company wearing an old pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Your image reflects your business and you should always look your best when presenting yourself. First business impressions are crucial. Your business cards will only get you so far.

4. Never sit back and wait for networks to come to you. If you expect to make contacts you need to be proactive. Sitting back and waiting for people to come to you will not gain you any success. If you are shy or uneasy about the idea, remind yourself that everyone there is trying to gain the same relationships and are there for the same reasons.

5. Don’t let yourself feel inferior. It is easy to get discouraged when you are surrounded by many people that may have a lot more networking experience than you. Learn from their experience. Focus on how they introduce themselves, and talk about their business. This will help you in your own efforts and will allow you to build more confidence.

6. Always have enough Business Cards. There is nothing worse than being unprepared for an event. Make sure you come fully equipped with as many business cards as possible. It looks very bad for business if you run out of business cards and most people will not take you seriously. If you are uneasy about having enough, call up the event supervisor and see how many people are expected to show up. This will help you to be more prepared.

How Often Should You Update Your Website Content and Design?

We often keep our homes up to date with seasonal maintenance on our gardens and a fresh coat of paint on our walls. The same goes for maintaining your website. It is important to keep your website up to date with current information and a fresh design to keep your viewers interested and continue to come back to your site. The question is how often should you keep updating your site?

A good indication or rule of thumb to maintaining your website is to update it as often as you want your viewers to visit. For instance, if you were to receive a newspaper every morning with the same headlines and the same information, eventually you will stop reading the paper. Well the same applies for your website, make sure your readers have fresh content that will keep them coming back to learn more or they will lose interest.

Updating the design of your site can be a little trickier. If you update your web design too often you can risk communicating instability, if you don’t change it often enough than you can risk looking outdated and deal with other complications and factors that come from browser updates and rules of the web that are constantly changing and progressing. A good rule of thumb for maintaining the design of your site would be to update it every other year or so. However, you can still update flash components on your homepage or other small graphics you may have that still give it a fresh updated look and that capture your viewers attention. This is all relative to the type of business you may be projecting. If you are an ecommerce site, you may want to keep things updated more often with new sales or showcase your latest model of furniture, or museum piece etc.

Make sure you keep track of expired dates on your website. You want to make sure your viewers know that your information is new and updated. Having an expired sale or showcase can give your readers the impression that your website is not maintained and therefore will stop checking.

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What the Health Care Reform Means for Your Small Business

Small businesses are extremely disadvantaged currently in regards to the U.S health care system in comparison to large businesses and their counterparts and are an important entity on the U.S economy. With the new Health Care Reform taking effect what will that mean for small businesses now and in 2014? Below are some pros and cons you can expect to see in the next few years.

It’s important to define what a small business is before you can determine whether these changes will benefit or affect you. A small business is defined as fewer than 100 employees or in some cases fewer than 50 employees depending on the state. Companies with 10 employees or less will benefit the most by receiving the highest tax credit if the employee wages are low.

Starting this year:

1. Very Small Companies: If you have a 10 employee company or less with an average salary of less than $25,000 you can get a 35% tax credit.


2. Small Companies: If you have a 25 employee company or less with an average salary of less than $50,000 you can qualify for a smaller tax credit.


3. No Tax Credit: If you have more than a 25 employee company and/or an employee that earns more the $80,000.

Starting in 2014:

1. SHOP (Small Business Health Options Programs) Exchanges: Small companies will be able to set up health insurance pools which will allow small companies to group together to purchase health insurance.


2. Very Small Companies: If you have a 10 employee company or less with an average salary of less than $25,000 you can get a 50% tax credit.


3. Penalized: If you have a company with 50 employees or more you will be penalized $750 per full-time employee if you don’t provide health care insurance, excluding the first 30 employees you don’t cover. This does not affect companies with fewer than 50 employees.


4. Additional Fines: If you do not cover 60% of your employees health costs overall and government-defined set of services you will receive additional fines.


5. Higher Premiums: If you pay more than $10,200 per year for health insurance for your individual employees, or more than $27,500 for your employees with family coverag, the insurer will get charged by the government a 40% excise on the portions you pay, which means higher premiums for you and/or your employees.


6. Coverage: If you offer your employees health care you must cover no less than 72.5% of the cheapest health plan. If your employees have a family plan you must cover no less that 65%.


7. No coverage: If you choose to not cover your employee’s health care you must pay 8% of the average wages defined in a certain period to the SHOP exchange Commissioner. You are fined a $100 per violation day if you do not pay your SHOP fee. (The penalty for not providing insurance will increase to $2,000).

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