Duration : 0:3:43

Technorati Tags: software + Services; S+S, Software Plus Services

What would you recommend? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

- Stallion

Get the full version of QuickBooks
Will do it all, including keep your books
Not that expensive

Financing for a Small Business
► Obviously this depends on the type of business – retail, service, consulting, etc., but as a former owner of two fairly successful book stores, I can’t claim to have followed my own suggestions to others. I got lucky in both situations and "disproved" my own rules of thumb, which follow (for retail businesses only):

► Determine the best location for the type of retail business by looking at other successful businesses of the same type.
► If a street corner location is desired, note WHICH street corner other businesses of the same type occupy. Some corners are better than others, depending on the flow of day or night-time traffic, usually AFTER the traffic light in the direction of the main flow and very visible to passers-by. Follow the old rule of success in business: location, location, location.
► Find the lowest possible rental space for the desired area and negotiate a short-term lease (6 months, if possible) because if your business fails before your lease is up, you will be liable for the balance of the term of the lease.
► Determine, if possible, what kind of monthly sales other businesses of your type have. This can be in dollars or in product volume. Either figure will give you the needed information for determining your bottom line.
► Determine what the monthly cost of utilities (if not provided in the lease) will be.
► Find the lowest cost fixtures possible. There are businesses in large (and some medium sized) cities which specialize in theses items. Counters, display cases, registers, etc. can be had used, which defrays the initial cost and allows for other necessary expenses – like more inventory.
► If your retail business will need more than yourself (or family members) to run, then figure out how many employees you might need to start. Use the lowest figure possible. If it’s an immediate success you can always hire more as needed. Figure on spending at least 50 hours a week on the business yourself but NO MORE THAN 70 hours a week. Any less than 50 and you’re not spending enough time to develop the business. Any more than 70 and you’ll burn out very quickly.
► Figure out how much and what variety of stock you’ll need to meet your projected demand of a full fledged business (look at #4) and then cut that by 1/3 or 1/2, but leave enough to make the shelves look reasonably well stocked. You won’t be selling as much as the established businesses at first but you need enough to meet initial demand.
► Now start adding up those figures and then multiply that by 3 months’ worth of costs.
► If at all possible, start off with your own money, NOT a loan from family and definitely NOT a loan from a bank. Get a government grant if possible. Failed businesses often force people to go into bankruptcy and that’s not a pleasant experience. It can also ruin families, so start off with money that you could put into a slot machine and never miss if you lost it all.

It appears to have access to such software as quick books pro and Sage 10. There’s also loads of other applications.

You could also look at http://www.businesslink.gov.uk which has loads of business help.

Good Luck!

Such as Management Information System, CRM, Order Management System???

I am going to develop small business software using the latest technology but need to some help in what direction will generate the most interest and revenue from small companies.

Thanks
Noon dont worry about the time or technology, I am using WPF and Silverlight which is just in its early stages and will be the future of windows development, also it will only take me 6 months .

It will take you two years if you want to compete with the software that’s already available, such as Quicken and so many others. By that time technology will have advanced, and your software will be out of date.

Duration : 0:1:52

Technorati Tags: collaboration software, community software, Jive, jive software, SBS, Social Business Software, Thrive

There are a lot of new lawn care business owners just getting started this year due to many economic factors. Because they are new, they dont know where they can get away with using a verbal agreement when providing lawn care services or when they need to use a signed agreement. I want to use these recent discussion as an example to help you expand your business knowledge base.

Dean wrote us and said Here is my situation: I posted an ad on craigslist to perform lawn care for any realtors who have vacant homes that need lawn care. I was contacted by one wanting mowing, seeding, plugging, fertilizing and pine straw put out. This job was for two homes, both on the same street. I came up with a price for labor and got prices for material. I was then contacted and told I could go ahead with job. The problem is I had no address to send the bill to and had not met anyone in person. I called back and asked for an address for which I could send an invoice to and guy said the work was for someone else and he would get back to me with an address. I have not heard from him as of yet. I am looking at spending $400.00 out of my pocket for materials to do this work. I think there should be a meeting and signing of a contract to ensure I am covered in getting paid for this work. Without any meeting or something signed if whoever decides not to pay, I have no recourse in recouping my expenses. I need to know from all of you if I am right and should not do any work until there is something signed to cover me and the lawn care customer so everyone gets what they paid for. All suggestions are welcomed.

Eli: You are correct. I think you have plenty of reason to be concerned. I would not perform any work until you have laid eyes on the lawn care customer and, especially in this strange case, until you have a signed contract in hand. I think I would make sure the contract included specifically who is responsible for payment. Then I would make sure that the person signing the contract also prints his name (I would probably have a spot for him to print and another spot for him to sign rather than just having him sign and print his name below the signature.).

I think I would start out with drawing up the contract and then calling him to ask for a place to meet him or whoever is authorizing the work. Make it clear to him during your telephone conversation that no materials will be ordered and no work will be done until a contract is signed. Maybe even ask for some money upfront to purchase materials. This would help ensure they are willing to go through with the deal. I suspect someone is trying to pull a fast one on you. I would not lose a lot of sleep over the deal until you have met the customer and have that signed contract in hand.

Victor: We have had past problems with realtors and owners who are actively selling/managing foreclosure properties. We only do prepayments with signed agreements for these types of customers now. We either meet with them for signing or mail them an agreement. They can provide guaranteed full payment or a good faith deposit in cash, check or money order or via PayPal. Once payment and agreement is received/cleared then the work will start. And so it goes with ongoing service.

With renters, we asked that they provide their drivers license # on an agreement in the event of defaulted payments.

Chuck: Be careful here. Like other have said above, meet the client & get a contract signed. I have had 2 or 3 instances where a new client called, requested an estimate, I called them back & they approved the estimate by phone & gave a billing address. I did the work & got stiffed. Prepaid cell phones & BS billing addresses. I cant track anything at all, it sucks!

These are great responses from people who are in the know. Dont be so desperate to get your business started and do this kind of work only to find out when its completed that you cant find the person to pay you. If you would like to join in on this discussion visit the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum.

If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts, estimate and proposal forms. Download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. Check out my lawn care business blog at http://www.lawnchat.com and my lawn care business forum at http://www.gopherforum.com

Duration : 0:10:0

Technorati Tags: advertising, Business, care, Entrepreneur, forum, Gopher, GopherHaul, grass, landscaper, landscaping, lawn, logo, Marketing, mower, mowing, plowing, service, snow, software, tree, yard

Duration : 0:2:12

Technorati Tags: accounting, Business, small, software

This is my first zero turn and I have been looking at Scags and Exmarks. What should I look for before I decide? I think this is a good deal. Any comments or suggestions appreciated.

Thankfully one of our forum members is a outdoor power equipment dealer and he knows his stuff. He responded First, are you buying this from a Dealer or from an individual? If from a dealer, will they give you any warranty? Since you have been looking at new mowers of the same brand, how much would a similar one cost you new? Assuming it has no warranty and passes the test as follows below, I would pay no more than about 60-70% of the new price of a similar piece of equipment. Do you know if $3000 is the lowest price you can get on it? Have you tried to get a lower price?

Here are some questions you should ask the seller before you buy a used mower.
1. If you are buying from an individual, why are they selling it?
2. Was it used to mow their own yard only? or was it used for commercial use (to mow more than their own lawn).
3. Can you verify their answer to the first two questions without asking them directly or even indicating you are questioning their answer (they may answer I no longer need this big of a mower, or I decided to get out of the lawn care business, or.. Just think, does their answer make sense?)
4. Do they have maintenance records? Will they provide these records to you to preview before the purchase? Will they provide these records to you with the purchase?
5. Can they tell you who serviced the equipment when it was serviced? Can you verify this?
6. If buying from a dealer, have they serviced the mower including sharpen the blades, check the belts, change spark plugs, Air Filter, Fuel Filter, and oil?
7. Have they ever serviced this mower before buying it?
8. Did they sell the mower new?
9. Why did the original owners sell it? (Again, think about their answer to see if it makes sense or not. Typically power equipment dealers are considerably more honest than car dealers but there are a few here and there that may still lie to you.)

There are more questions to ask, review them here http://lawnchat.com/?p=640

If you are in need of free lawn care marketing material for your lawn care business, please visit our site at http://www.gophersoftware.com. We have hundreds of free lawn care logo, flyer, door hanger and web templates you can download and use for your lawn care business. We also have free lawn care business contracts, estimate and proposal forms. Download our trial version of Gopher Lawn Care Business Software. Gopher will help your lawn care business schedule and invoice more customers in less time, allowing you more time to grow or enjoy your life. Check out my lawn care business blog at http://www.lawnchat.com and my lawn care business forum at http://www.gopherforum.com

Duration : 0:7:35

Technorati Tags: advertising, blower, Business, care, Entrepreneur, equipment, forum, Gopher, GopherHaul, grass, insurance, landscaper, landscaping, lawn, logo, Marketing, mower, mowing, page, plowing, power, pressure, sales, service, snow, software, squeeze, tree, trimmer, upsells, washing, Website, yard