I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
Read, subscribe to my newsletter, enjoy!Tash
Reducing spam
I just came across a blog post that very clearly outlines some anti-spam techniques for your business email. While it is hard (impossible even) to stop spam completely, we can reduce it for our own sanity.
I will add that contact forms are not a guarantee against getting spam. I have found that the contact form is immune from spam for months and then they hack it and I just reset the form with a new email address to solve the problem. Using captcha or recpatcha reduces the spam entries into the form itself, too.
Stephen made the suggestion of not adding an email address to business cards and printed stationery so there is no need to reprint things if you change your email address. I understand his point – reprinting is expensive!However, I do a lot of my business via email and actually prefer it to the phone so I want my email address on my cards.
My compromises to Stephen’s suggestion are:
- have a soft copy letterhead you print as required so it is easy to adjust the email address
- use a different email address on printed items and never use it online so it is less likely to be found by spammers
- don’t put an email address on expensive printed items
- only give out your business card personally – use a different card or a flyer/postcard for use in mass handouts (eg in a showbag, at an expo, in a mail out) and don’t add your email address to that
Again, as someone who likes emails, I would find it annoying to get a business card which didn’t include an email address – then I would have to search their website for one. So I think you need to decide if your clients & prospective clients would expect an email address or not before deciding whether or not to print it.
Do you include an email address on your business card? What about on your letterhead and invoices?
Do you have a website?
I posted earlier about the MYOB survey of small business owners’ response to the global financial situation, but am startled by another part of their survey.
Apparently, 60% of surveyed small business owners don’t have a website for their business. That is incredible. They surveyed 1,503 business owners with no more than 19 employees, so it is a reasonable number but perhaps not statistically significant compared to how many small businesses there are in Australia.
Not all businesses are internet based, obviously, but offline businesses can have a website and use it to good effect.
Why am I so surprised they don’t have a website?
- personally, I often refer to the website for further information or to get a feel for a business before I contact them – no website and there’s a good chance I’ll move on. This is especially true now I have a baby as it is easier to research and compare from home than to drive around
- a website is like a brochure that works 24 hours a day, every day of the year, so why limit yourself to paper?
- a website can be a lot cheaper to run than many traditional advertising options (I pay $5 a month for hosting – you won’t get much advertising for $60 a year!)
- people generally find it easier to remember words than numbers so if you or a happy customer are inviting someone to learn more about your business, a web address could be more successful
- people expect websites now – not meeting that expectation may decrease your credibility in their eyes
A website can be simple and as short as one or two pages; it can be static and need little maintenance (although search engines prefer more active sites). Some online directories offer full page listings which can act as a website, which is better than nothing, but the URL may be long.
SO back to the original question? Do you have a website? Do other business owners you know have websites? If not, why not?
Small business is apparently pessimistic…
MYOB has conducted a survey of small business owners and found that 43% of them had experienced a negative result from the global economic situation. Which of course implies that 57% have NOT experienced a loss in turnover.
63% think a recession is coming, and I agree that is likely. I disagree however that it means small businesses are all about to fail or feel pessimistic. Many people actually thrive and do better during a recession , and it means many will just cut the excesses and find more efficient ways of doing things which is all good to me.
Their survey also showed 43% of people (I guess they weren’t the same 43%!) believe their business will perform better over the next 12 months. This may be down from 56% in June last year, but I still think it is a positive response.
Mr Reed, CEO of MYOB, said “Now more than ever business owners need to step out of the daily chaos and look at the ‘big picture’. There are many things they can’t control – they should accept those and put energy into what they can control. Business owners shouldn’t be afraid to seek specialist help, such as talking to their accountant about ensuring their business is running as efficiently as possible”
I think he is right – let’s accept that we can’t control the world finances but we can control our own businesses and attitudes. If the financial crisis does reduce profits and makes it tough for some businesses, being creative and looking for opportunities could help many small businesses survive and even thrive.
What do you think – does the financial crisis mean small business should worry or get conservative? Or is this the time to work on strengthening and refining your business to weather the storm?
Hosting location not important
Michelle of Shel Designs added an article to her latest newsletter about where your domain name is registered. She states that where your domain name and hosting are located are not important for your site’s ranking. In fact, she writes “Where it is registered or hosted will not affect the way Google (and other search engines) rank your site.”
I have had clients advised to change their registration and hosting to improve their rankings and it really annoys me when I know they could improve rankings easily in other ways instead of paying a lot of money to move without benefit.
The only ways I think hosting affects a website are:
- great distances between a site visitor/user and the server can make it a little slower. So hosting a .com.au site in Australia or New Zealand would make no significant difference but hosting in the USA might load a little slower
- time zones can make it harder to get assistance
- a drastic event near the server can impact a distant site even though the event wouldn’t otherwise impact on it. For example, when the tsunami hit Asia a few years ago, a number of cables were disturbed under the sea. If your site connected to its server via those cables it may have been unavailable whereas an Australian server connection wouldn’t have been damaged. Obviously, this isn’t a frequent occurrence.
Next time someone tells you to move your website, remember that a reputable distant server/host is better than a close one you don’t know or trust. And it really doesn’t matter where you register your domain name, other than for your pocket (there is a huge variation in registration fees.)
“anti-spam” spam!
I write this post partly to warn people but also out of amusement!
Like any public blog, I get people adding spam comments occasionally. Most of it is caught by Akismet so it doesn’t bother me but I received some interesting ones today that I thought I’d share.
The comment was:
Hi nice post, i read your blog from time to time but i was wondering something. I also run a blog on a similar topic, but i get 1,000’s of spam comments and emails every day does that happen to you.. Any ideas to stop it? I currently have commenting disabled but i want to turn it back on.. Thanks!
Sounds nice enough doesn’t it? Which is why I want to warn people not to fall for it as it is not a genuine request for help.
There are two main reasons I know it is spam…
- The email address was nonsense – just random letters typed either side of @ symbol. Someone seriously asking for help would give their contact details
- I got the exact same message (punctuation, spelling, everything) on a different post and from a different person with a different fake email address but the same IP address and the same URL to be added to their comment.
It amused me because it is appearing to hate what it is – very circular! And that the spammer has no idea of how silly it is to post it twice under different names in the same blog.
So if you get the same request, please delete the comment and don’t click on their links.
Paying yourself and profit
Yesterday, I wrote about the definition of profit. As a small business owner (that is, a sole trader or partner rather than a company or trust,) how do you get paid – it is an expense or does it come from your profit?
Depending on how you have set things up, it could be either way, or even both.
1. you pay yourself a salary/wage
If you pay yourself regularly as you would any employee, then your pay is an expense – as are the workers compensation, superannuation, PAYG and other employment expenses. Your pay is removed from your turnover before you calculate profit and your profits are in addition to your income.
2. you don’t get paid a salary/wage
If you get money from your business on a less formal arrangement, such as only when there is enough money in the account or as you need it, you take drawings from your investment in the business. Drawings are not counted as an expense so they come out of your profits. The more profitable the business, the more money you can draw upon, but if there is little profit, you can’t access much.
Either way, your profits are there for use in the business or for you to take as drawings and spend however you wish. The distinction is important in accounting terms for the following types of situations:
- you are taxed on the profits of your business
- calculations based on your profits (eg x% of profits as a donation or as rent)
- applying for financial assistance (loans, etc) and facilities (merchant accounts, etc)
- division of profits with a partner (if in a partnership)
- valuations of your business for insurance or selling purposes
How do you get paid from your business? Why do you manage it that way?
What is profit?
I have seen a lot of businesses recently offering a proportion of sales or profits to the bushfire appeal, and seen/heard various discussions about this. What thing that has stood out to me is that not everyone understands what a profit actually is, so I think it’s time to discuss it!
The concise Oxford dictionary gives the following definition…
profit: 1. advantage, benefit 2. pecuniary gain, excess of returns over outlay.
Or as a verb, it defines it as bringing or being of advantage.
Profit is different to proceeds or turnover which is the total amount of money coming into your business from customers. If you sell 10 items at $50 each, your turnover is $500 but your profit could be a lot less.
Simply put, profit is the money left over once you have paid all your business expenses. Or you can view it as profit = turnover – expenses.
So continuing from the above example, if each item costs you $20 to make and your overheads are $10 per item, your expenses are $30 and you will make $20 profit on each item. So from a turnover of $500 you will make $200 profit.
Expenses are everything your business spends money on to conduct business. As well as obvious costs such as materials and equipment to make products or products from a supplier, it includes what are known as overheads – the cost of electricity, marketing and promotions, staff, office/shop space, insurance, registrations, legal fees and so on.
Getting back to making donations as a business, ‘100% of profits’ would mean a $200 donation from the sale of 10 items whereas a ‘100% of proceeds’ would mean a $500 donation.
Generosity isn’t just money
Last week I wrote about generosity killing mediocrity and I wanted to add that I don’t think generosity only involves money and things.
Sharing information is also generous
Generosity also doesn’t have to be about sacrifice or ‘doing without’ on your part either. I believe it is about contributing and benefiting someone else – the focus is on who you are helping rather than on you. Obviously, the more you give, the more generous you are being but we all have to work within our own constraints.
You can be generous in many ways, even as a business. Here are some examples of non-monetary generosity:
- by giving someone your time – for example help at a working bee
- by sharing your expertise – for example I share tips in this blog and in my articles and speak at workshops and conferences
- by providing a free service – for example, I want to find a Victorian business and help them rebuild their documents after the bushfires
- giving a smile and nice messages when dealing with people – it takes little effort but can mean a lot
- arranging something, such as a fundraising event or a networking function
- sharing resources
- by promoting something. For instance, referring someone to your client’s website, linking to a charity or reviewing a book
- networking – I don’t mean just going to networking events but helping people you know connect with each other as relevant and forwarding useful/interesting things to those in your network.
With the bushfire appeal high on the minds of many Australians at the moment, thinking of ways to be generous may mean we can give more than our finances alone will allow.
*image courtesy of 123rfGovernment help for small business…
“Businesses in Australia – especially small businesses – are the engine of the Australian economy and deserve direct support during a global recession.”
I agree with the Treasurer that Australian business are a crucial part of our economy – and helping those businesses will therefore help the economy.
Yesterday, the Rudd Government announced a huge package to help prevent or reduce the recession for Australia. Part of the package is aimed at business, whilst the remainder is aimed at creating jobs and increasing spending.
The small business and general business tax break is described in the Treasurer’s media release and fact sheet. For most small businesses, it makes the purchase of a new computer or other eligible assets (excluding cars and trading stock) more affordable.
Great news if you need a new computer – or you sell computers!
There are of course conditions to qualify for these deductions, such as having a turnover under $2 million to qualify as a small business.
The 30% tax deduction only applies for assets greater than $1,000 which may exclude many micro businesses. For example, an additional $300 deduction applies if you buy a $1,000 computer before the end of June 2009 – how many micro businesses would be buying a $1,000 computer unless in that industry?
However, if you are considering buying a new sewing machine, desk, computer, printer, camera, or similar, maybe the tax deduction will make it feasible for you to buy a larger and more expensive model.
How valuable do you think this tax break will be for your business? Will it impact on your buying decisions in the next few months?
Goal setting process
I have previously posted about SMARTY goals and rewarding yourself when you achieve goals, so I thought I would add a little about the process of setting goals.
There are a number of ways of setting goals (brainstorming, asking a coach/mentor/friend for help, breaking down bigger goals, adding onto previous achievements, doing workshops or workbooks or just following the SMARTY acronym for example.)
I have found some recent examples of goal setting processes which you may enjoy reading:
Belinda Lindhart has recently gone through the process of setting business, artistic and personal goals for 2009. She has posted about her process in her blog and I think it is a great process that she is sharing.
Chris Brogan has a very different goal setting technique – he uses three specific words to keep him on track for the year. It is actually a very challenging thing to do, but has a lot of potential – I think I will try this one myself! I also love the words equip and armies that Chris has set for himself – he probably wouldn’ t mind if I copied them as it is my aim to equip people with clear communications (through my tips and own writing) and environmental consciousness, and I would love armies of people to push for clear communications and more respect for our planet. However, I will sit down and see what words I come up with myself.
Ali reminds us that goals should be fulfilling as they happen, not just for some mythical future happiness. While not every step of a goal will be fun, it will ideally have some reward for you along the way – and certainly be something you want rather than what you ‘should’ do.
“A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step” said Confucius. Apparently, the Japanese system of kaizen has a similar meaning and I agree with Emma that taking baby steps is the way to achieve anything – and I loved reading that she used this system for breaking a habit like smoking as it is exactly how I think such habits can be broken!
Some years I ago I used a list of questions (out of a book originally but I can’t remember it’s title or author now) to review the previous year and start the new one. The questions were things like ‘what did you learn this year? what was your biggest achievement? which goals did you reach? which people influenced you this year? what was your biggest challenge this year?’ and then repeat them for the upcoming year (so what do you want to learn next year? what do you want to achieve next year? how will you overcome/avoid those challenges? which old goals need refining?) It was an effective exercise in choosing a direction and goals which I could then write out.
So what process do you use, or will you now use, to set 2009 up as your best year so far?
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