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How To Set Up A Home Office And Use Space Wisely

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

Posted by: Andy Willoughby, entrepreneur and founder of the 3 Step Plan home-based business system.

Finding the right space for office supplies in a home office can often be a challenge. Using space wisely by being organized will allow you to get more work done on time. Unfortunately,  the reality of a home based office is that there seems to never be enough space. A recent article from Entrepreneur.com, written by Jonathan Blum, offers tips on how to organize and best utilize home office space.

1. The challenge: No dedicated office
Some work-from-home businesses (especially the sales-centric ones) require more time out of the office than in it. So they can often get by without a dedicated office. But it’s easy enough to transform an existing room into one.

“I find that dining rooms are often underutilized,” says Jennifer Coleman, principal at JKC Designs, a Rye, N.Y.-based design firm, with a practice in urban home office design.

Simple solution: Choose pieces that can do double duty.
Install an articulating keyboard under your dining table. A pedestal table is best, so the legs won’t be in your way.

Stash the laptop, files and supplies in a buffet or sideboard that closes up after hours.

Perfect solution: The custom-made “rolling office.”
Turn a rolling kitchen cart into a portable desk. A quality choice is the maple-topped “Cuce” Cucina Elegante from John Boos (johnboos.com), which has locking casters and is available with drop leaves.

2. The challenge: Gadgets galore
Technical professionals, such as those in IT or telecom, amass rooms full of computers, printers, external hard drives and cords–often to growing familial horror.

“These clients need a highly customized solution that optimizes all the space they have,” says Claire Tamburro, principal at Tamburro Interiors, an interior design firm in Arlington, Va. “That will most likely involve casework built specifically for the job.”

Simple solution: Reach hig

If you have floor and wall space, install simple floor-to-ceiling cabinets.

If wall space is at a premium, install cabinets horizontally along the ceiling.

Mount power strips inside desks or storage units to power and charge gadgets. Doug Mockett & Co. is the place for state-of-the-art desk organizing tools.

home office desks 300x275 How To Set Up A Home Office And Use Space Wisely

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How Much Do Small Business Owners Get Paid?

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Posted by: Andy Willoughby

Determining your own salary as a business owner can be a difficult choice. Many business owners face the age old question: how much should I pay myself? Here are a few tips written by Entrepreneur.com for new business owners who want to understand what they should make.  This might vary industry to industry, but this is a great way to evaluate compensation.

1. Pay yourself enough to get by.
At least during startup until you are operating in the black. The argument here is to minimize your overhead in order to decrease the amount of capital required to make your business a success. Also, by reducing your overhead, your net loss will decrease or your net profit will increase, providing the business with lean operating requirements until it is well established.

2. Pay yourself what you are worth.
Build that into your business plan so you have an accurate portrayal of how much capital you will need in order to finance your business. By paying yourself what you are worth, you aren’t painting an artificial portrait of the business that will change once you reach the black–operating costs will remain the same.

salary increase 199x300 How Much Do Small Business Owners Get Paid?

Once you have established the startup money for your business, the next step is making your salary work and protecting it as well. Here is information on how to do just that.

Projecting Your Salary
As we mentioned, there are two methods you can use to determine your pay during startup. The first is paying yourself enough to meet basic living requirements. Depending on your situation, that means enough income to cover your bills, food and other miscellaneous living expenses. Strike all other discretionary items from your life for a while and get used to just the bare necessities. If you are used to dining at fine restaurants seven days a week, get used to going down to the local McDonald’s maybe once or twice a week.

To begin planning your pay, you need to put together your own personalfinancial statement that lists all your living expenses and any credit cards with outstanding balances as well as short-term and long-term loans. This may be one of the most difficult things you’ve ever had to do because you don’t want to leave anything out. You want to make sure that your income from the business will be enough to cover your expenses.

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Andy Willoughby’s Press Release Posted On Yahoo Finance Regarding Tips For New Entrepreneurs in 2011

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Andy Willoughby, entrepreneur & founder of the 3 Step Plan Home Business System

KANSAS CITY, MO — (Marketwire) — 11/12/10 — Andy Willoughby, entrepreneur and founder of the 3 Step Plan Home Business System, reviews business strategy tips for entrepreneurs who want to launch a business in 2011 (www.3stepplan.com). Small firms employ half of all working Americans and create two out of every three net new jobs in the U.S. economy (http://tinyurl.com/38xrgvx), according to a White House blog.

Andy Willoughby, who is the founder of the 3 Step Plan, said that goal setting is the first vital step in launching a business. “Goals are the foundation of a business. The process of goal setting allows an entrepreneur time to reflect on the business model and the direction of the business. After the goals are set, they act as guidelines for business endeavors,” said Willoughby.

Willoughby offered additional tips about starting a business (www.andywilloughby.com)

Andy Yahoo 300x218 Andy Willoughbys Press Release Posted On Yahoo Finance Regarding Tips For New Entrepreneurs in 2011

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10 Things Every Small Business Website Requires

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Posted By: Andy Willoughby

This is Entrepreneur.com’s top 10 list of small business website accessories.  Stay focused, simple and make sure you search engine optimize.

1. A clear description of who you are
Someone who stumbles upon your website shouldn’t have to do investigative work to figure out what, exactly, it is that you do. That means clearly stating your name and summing up your products or services right on the homepage, says John Zhuang, of Web-design and SEO-optimization firm Winning Interactive.

social media people 300x200 10 Things Every Small Business Website Requires

2. A simple, sensible Web address
Don’t make things complicated.

“Your domain name is like your brand. It should be easy for a user to type it into a Web browser or an e-mail address,” says Ron Wright, the founder of business Web design and online marketing firm Accentix.

3. An easily-navigated site map
Clear links to the most important pages, and a site map, are crucial for guiding visitors to the information they’re looking for.

“Be sure your navigation is clearly laid out. I always recommend using drop downs in the navigation menu so the visitor can see the content under every heading from virtually any page. You want to make it very easy for your visitors to find what they are looking for, or what you want them to know,” Wright suggests.

4. Easy-to-find contact information
You wouldn’t want to lose a customer to a competitor just because you made it difficult for them to get in touch with you.

“Not every online visitor has the patience to click through every page on your website to find the contact information,” says Zhuang

5. Customer testimonials
Honest words from others help make your products or services more tangible to customers who are visiting you online.

“They help your potential customers to build trust in you, especially if you are new,” Zhuang says. “[And they] help shoppers to confirm whether the product [or] services meet their needs.”

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59 Business Networking Commandments by SmallBizTrends.com

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Posted by: Andy Willoughby, entrepreneur and founder of the 3 Step Plan, home-based business system

Here are a few business networking strategies that Dian Helbig reviewed on smallbiztrends.com.

networking11 300x270 59 Business Networking Commandments by SmallBizTrends.com


1. Identify where you should go. All venues are not right for all people. You owe it to yourself to do your research and find the venues that make sense for your business.

2. Make a decision about which organizations you should join and which you don’t have to join in order to gain value from their events. For example, does it make sense to join a local chamber of commerce, or just go to the events that sound interesting and will most likely include people you should meet?

3. Register for the event and schedule it like a business meeting. Many people either don’t sign up for events or sign up for them and then forget to go.

4. Determine how often you should be networking in a given week, month or quarter. This will help you narrow down where you should be going.

5. Develop open-ended questions you can use to ignite a conversation. Try to find unique questions; don’t ask the same old “So, what do you do?” if you can help it.

6. Attend events with a plan to learn something new. This will keep you from talking too much about yourself and your business.

7.Prepare yourself physically and mentally for the event.

  • Dress appropriately.
  • Bring business cards.
  • Turn your phone off or set it to vibrate.

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How To Execute Small Business Ideas

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Posted By: Andy Willoughby

Scott Belsky, entrepeneur and author of  Making Ideas Happen, argues that most entrepreneurs struggle with jumping from one idea to another  without following through and executing one solid  idea and putting in into action.

From an article on Entrepreneur.com about Belsky, written by Tim Beyers, Beyers reports on Belsky, saying that startup failure rates suggest he is right, and he has built a business to address the problem. Belsky is the founder of Behance LLC, a firm in New York City which operates a networking website for creative professionals called The Behance Network, a tip site for productivity junkies called The99Percent.com, and sells web-based productivity software based on the Action Method.

The Action Method breaks work into a series of steps represented by verbs that specify the next things to be done in executing an idea. Write the plan. Ship the product. Invoice the customer. Belsky’s has three tips for using the Action Method to create a company that executes.

scott belsky1 How To Execute Small Business Ideas

1. Hire the killjoys.
The first step to activating the Action Method, Belsky says, is to create an “immune system” that kills ideas. This means hiring killjoys to capture every action step and say no to new ideas — rightfully so, in most cases.

“It’s important for entrepreneurs  to hire people they don’t necessarily want to have a beer with but who can be the immune system in their startup,” Belsky says.

2. Work with a bias toward action.
No doubt accountability is a key feature of the action-oriented startup, but perhaps the most important attribute is a propensity to act. For that to occur, Belsky says entrepreneurs need   to unlearn some things.

3. Change your vocabulary.
While taking action can be the key to getting unstuck, talking action is often necessary to produce growth. “You need an environment where people are obsessed with taking action steps,” Belsky says.

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