How Would You Sell Your Business?

It's a funny thing, that all the effort and marketing and promotion that goes into consulting and helping small business owners, one way or another, by consultants, and coaches and advisors and accountants... how little attention is paid to how to sell your business. And of course, how to get the best price for it!

Really, there is nothing that coaching or consulting can do to help your business as effectively as possible, without considering the potential for future sale of the business.

What are the assets to develop in the business?
What would have to happen now, in order to realise the best return on the sale of the business?
What's my business worth, and how would I calculate that?
How would I find a buyer?


The questions and more, are integral to the decisions that we make as business owners right now - even when a possible sale is years away.

Let's face it - if it isn't sale-worthy now... why would YOU want your business?

Life's too short to waste time (ie your life) toiling away in a business that isn't worth nearly what it could be.






Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering

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Spring - Blueberries and Guiding Principles

It is now officially spring now, in Australia, and of course, as is usual, that means changeable weather and our warm sunny winter days seem to have morphed into rainy wintery skies.

No matter. Spring brings renewal and the gardens begin to wake up and so too, my new blueberry bush that I planted a few days ago. I'm getting conflicting stories. At the nursery, I was told the bush would grow 1 metre x 1 metre, yet others report they grow much taller. Is it a difference of variety, or something else? We shall see. And of course, I realise now, that I will need to put a net over it, or the birds shall beat me to every berry.
How does a blueberry bush know when it is tall enough?

I was thinking about renewal and how that fits with What Was... and what Will Be. And the agency that works behind the scenes to deliver our new Present. And it occured to me to wonder, how aware are we generally, of our motivations, our boundaries and where our things-we-would-be-prepared-to-do, bump up against those-things-we-would-not-do.

I think it would be a worthwhile exercise to articulate our own personal Manifesto. I shall be considering that very thing in the next few days.

What about you?

What Are Your Guiding Principles?

Where did they come from? Did you inherit them, or did you determine them, consciously?

How do you communicate your guiding principles to others? To your family, your friends, your customers, your prospects?

Do you live in alignment with your guiding principles?



Perhaps for a blueberry bush too, it is the genetic map that is imprinted with it's own kind of guiding principles that lets it know how tall, is tall enough.






Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
http://www.designbusinessengineering.com

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The Eight Irresistible Principles Of Fun

Sometimes we forget to value the moments of fun that we have in life.

Sharing these precious moments, is what makes life worthwhile. Never be too busy to stop and share a little joy. Or fun!

Here are some important principles to remember...


Watch The Movie - The Eight Irresistible Principles Of Fun




Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering

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The Wise Woman And The Stone

Here's a story that I've found handy to have around as reference, from the time I first learned of it.


A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.

But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the
wise woman.



"I've been thinking" he said.

"I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious.

Please give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone."




Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus

Design Business Engineering

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Q&A On Websites With Reg Charie

Every day I see dozens of questions online from people who don’t know much about websites but either have a terrible one that doesn’t work, or are thinking of getting a website and have little clue how to go about it. Unfortunately, some of the advice I’ve seen is very disturbing... much of it from self-proclaimed “web experts”.

So I thought I’d call in someone that I’ve observed to give sound and practical advice on the topic, over many months now, and ask them some of the questions that business owners need to know to demystify the website for business process. Below are some questions that people often ask me, and see what Reg Charie has to say. Reg is a regular contributer on Ryze and is well known on the network for his practical, no-nonsense approach.

Reg Charie is the owner of DotCom Productions and Zero Grief Hosting.


Many thanks for making your expertise available here for this blog, Reg.



How much do I really save by making my own website?

This really depends on how talented and knowledgeable you are.
If you understand how to do the site design, how to code for the best
results, how to optimize for the search engines and more.
Most people lose when they make their own sites as it takes
them much longer to do, and they usually make mistakes which cost
them in traffic or conversions.


How can I tell if a website would help my business?

Any business can use a website to increase sales and bring in clients.


What’s the difference between a website ... and a website that works?

It is all in the layout and coding.
It MUST answer the visitor’s first question, “What is in this site for me?”


What are the top things that really MUST be right on a website in order for it to help a business?

As I just said, It MUST answer the visitors first question, “What is in this site
for me?” The site must have straight forward navigation that leads the reader
through the process of presenting your products with a defined call to action.

The site should build trust, have well defined terms of service, privacy policies and full contact information.


How can people measure the results that they are getting from their website? Is that even possible?

Very definitely.
The site owner should have a hosting package with a good web stats program.
AwStats as an example. Other stats programs can be added that do a bit more, such as the Crazy Egg free tracker that shows where people click in a heat map.

This allows for ‘fine tuning’ of the pages to give the visitors what they need.
Sales are another method of tracking results.


What actions can a business owner see and track as a result of having a website that works?

Stats programs show the amount of visitors, the pages they visit, the length of time they stay onsite, the keywords and phrases used to find the site, and more.


If I have a local business, and I don’t sell things that I can ship
all over... why would I need a website?

To advertise to your local market.
Google has really opened up local search.
Advertising your location along with your products will
get you excellent positions in the search engine results pages. (SERPs)
People often search for local merchants.


How can I sell products on my website and what should I know about that? And will selling products on my site cost me thousands of dollars to set up?

You sell products by installing a shopping system on your website or by using "purchase" buttons supplied by a payment processor like PayPal.
Costs would be low. Using the PayPal system all you would need
to do is to copy and paste their code for their buttons.
Shopping systems are available for just about every kind of
operation and range in price from free to thousands of dollars.


I’d like to be able to add information to my site, but I don’t want to set up a website myself. Is there a way that I can do this?

All of the latest Content Management Systems make it easy to add and
edit once the basic site is set up. Everything is done in the site admin or "back end” and no knowledge of html code is required.


I’ve been told that I need a website with Flash. Is that true?

No. Flash, is not recommended as it can cause long page downloading times and search engines do not draw content from it.


How much should I have to pay for a basic website that works and what should I expect to get for that?

Pretty tough question to answer without knowing what you want to do,
how many products you have to sell and the amount of other content.
My prices start at about $300, for a full featured working site with
shopping system.


I don’t know much about websites so how do I choose someone to help me build a website, without getting taken for a ride?

Talk to the designer’s clients, look at their search engine results, and see
what they offer.


My friends have paid thousands of dollars for a website to be built, and they have never had any satisfaction to get it finished and the person they hired doesn’t return their calls (or their money!). How can I prevent this happening to me?

Again, talk to the designer’s clients and get their opinions of the designer’s business ethics.

Be prepared. Do your research.

There are scammers in every part of life from “paving” your driveway to designing website.




You can read Reg’s SEO Tips here.
====================================================
Reg Charie is the owner of DotCom-Productions, RegCharie.com and Zero Grief Hosting,.





Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering


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What's A Social Business Network, Anyway?

Social media and networking are definitely the buzzwords right now, but while many are splashing about in the water, in varying degrees, still there remains a vast sea of people out there in bricks and mortar businesses who really don't know it exists yet, or if they do, think it is probably something for other people... not them.


Robert Scoble has some interesting explanations for Social Media on his blog and that's probably a good point to start on coming to understand the whole social business network potential. Social media allows us to interact, and share ideas and do it in a way that is world-wide and immediate. Using this social media for business networking opens up a whole galaxy of opportunities to better get to know the people we network with and in contexts that would be impossible just in face-to-face encounters at the local Business Chamber. We can share ideas, share links to complex ideas presented online, and share that experience in a way that would be impossible to communicate, just by telling someone about the information expressed on that link. We can share and we can have a permanent repository for those links and ideas that we can save if we so wish, and keep as a permanent resource.

But the media we use in our social business networking need not be limited to just a website, or a blog, or a group like Facebook. We can have profiles on different platforms, and friends on multiple platforms, as each allows for a slightly different context in which to know that person. Sometimes we may know them in one network, and only later discover things about their interests, because of a preference, or passion that is revealed in a totally different context on another network. My business aquaintance that I've known personally for many years, I discover has a secret passion for butterflies! Who knew? That's not the kind of thing that we'd be likely to discover at the BNI. But did you know... someone else I know has the same passion! And maybe they'd like to meet - I would do well to introduce them.


Social Business Networking allows us to make connections that we would never have made any other way. It allows us to expand our reach to people around the world. Now for some they may think that they have a local business, and why would they need to know people around the world? The reason is simple. Our expertise being recognised is important to us and very often it is the people who are not in our immediate orbit, who often are the first to recognise it. This influence on others far away that we may carry, can itself carry enormous weight with those who are closest to us and had not realised how special you are. Now they want to know more too!

One can never have enough supporters. Never have enough people who are behind you and are willing to promote you and your business, and vouch for your expertise. Remember. It is always "the prophet without" - the expert from outside the local circle - that people take notice of. Sometimes becoming that ... will grant you more impact in your local sphere of influence.

Of course, it never hurts to be open to new ideas, and new ways of doing things. Social business networking can open doors to opportunity, but also open the doors of your mind to new ideas, new ways to use old ideas, and new friends with whom to explore this fantastic world of ours.

Active participation in your social business network is the the means to do all of that.









Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering

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Fast Track Business Review

Too Busy For A Proper Business Plan?

If you are like many business owners, you may be so rushed with filling orders, paying bills and getting through the day-to-day crises, that there is just no time to get organized, and put your thoughts down into a business plan, or even know quite where to start.

A Fast Track Business Review might be the way to begin your process of getting control of your business, fix those things that have been left undone that will bring the business fast benefits, and cut through some of the clutter that can turn up in a business, and prevent better results than you could be
getting now.

Getting Started
To get started on your review, take a few minutes and think about your business and how it operates every day. Think about what issues come up time and again and cause problems, and think about the improvements that you may have considered making in some parts of the business.
Now make a list of the things that you would like in the business to work better, stop irritating you or improve your financial position. Is cash-flow an issue for the business, or is something else holding you back?

Make your Wish List.

1. Things you’d like more of
2. Things you’d like less of

Look At Your Business Objectively


Your business has a need to operate efficiently across a range of areas in order to work as effectively (and profitably) as it may. Very often, business owners start out in a business because they have a skill in one area, and may be very adept at performing that technical skill. Of course there are more responsibilities that need to happen for the business to run smoothly.

A good business needs a Vision for what it is to become, so that everything that happens in the business can reflect that and move the business in the direction of fulfilling that ambition. Employees need to know what the owner has in mind, in order to buy-in and help deliver that end result. It needs sound financial management and effective marketing so as to drive new business, and great customer service to ensure repeat business and referrals to drive that cash-flow which is the engine of any business. A business needs good employees and good employees need good systems to follow, good management to inspire their loyalty, and good standards for delivery of product and services.


In each area of your business

Operations

Marketing

Financial Business Health

Sales

Customer Service

Service Delivery

Product & Service Standards

Information Technology

Employee Management

External Relationship Management

Procedures & Policies

Workplace Health & Safety

*Your business may have additional areas, EG Warehouse, Inventory management, Point of Sale, etc

Review
Write down the top 3 things in each section of the business you’d most like to change.

Be sure to include all areas of the business. Be sure to include any items that are particularly prone to producing stress in the workplace for yourself, or friction with employees.

Commit

Write down the actions for each change that has to happen.
Write down the deadline for this to be finished.
Write down who is responsible for making this change happen.
Commit to this undertaking, no excuses.



Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering

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