Its solution, which you were looking for…

He was lost and he lost.

He was confused, lost, caught in the process; he was so much into the process that he forgot the purpose, lost the track of time. He did not know the purpose, he didn’t ask for propose, he had a task given and time ample, he didn’t bothered. When he realized it was too late, and they shouted and they blamed. He listened and he promised but he did same again.  

This is a common story of any person who is trying to earn livelihood, in majority of cases and at many occasions. We often lose the focus, the purpose. Purpose is to find out solution, whether its business, a project, a client’s requirement or a question staring right into your eyes. Solution is, what you were looking for, there are many choices to make many ways to define, many ways to solve the same question.  A war can be fought in a battlefield, with thousands of lives at stake or same can be resolved in a secret meeting room by signing a peace agreement. It’s not about how we do it; it’s about what we want. Solution. And there are ways and means to arrive at solution, at work place and in business and at home in much more peaceful, effortless, economic and pleasing ways.   

You know, you will win.

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How to raise money to start a small business

If your requirement is of larger scale you can approach any bank but only after consultation and advice from a Chartered accountant or any related accounts personal or may be people in your business field,

Borrowing loans from friend and family may be a good idea if your requirement is not big.

Review your business plan once aging scale it down to make it more realistic,

You can bootstrap if needed, you can also cut down on fancy technological stuffs and save on fancy office interior at the beginning of your business

There is no end till what time you will keep on saving, launch when you think its right time,

Do take your intuition in account,

Know Top Advantages of Niche Marketing, in the following article http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/top-10-advantages-of-niche-marketing.html

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What should be the Long-term Targets of an online business and startups?

It’s very important to have a vision for any company and its process and strategies should be aligned to that long term vision to make it sustainable. Long term targets are generally macro level targets spread over the period of 10 to 15 years or more. Some of the essential long term targets for any online business can be-

To get established as a trusted and honest brand

To get recognized as one of the leading business faces of the industry

To get recommended as a stable brand with strong track record and consistent performance

To be known for excellence in service and product

To globally establish itself as a known brand

Should have a client portfolio which showcases some of the biggest and trusted  brands nationally and worldwide

Should have a project portfolio which showcases a healthy mix of projects which help establish company’s expertise

To accomplish some of the most challenging tasks in their industry

Should have a well established company culture and Vision in which employees have faith.

Learn Top 10 suggestions for new start-ups and entrepreneurs - http://bit.ly/zU5soj

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What should be the "Medium-term Targets" of online business startups?

Getting recognized and getting positive publicity in virtual world is much easier than the physical market domain and every startup should utilise the marketing and brand building advantages of virtual world

They need to get established as a brand in the period of 3-5 years nationally while spreading its presence globally.

They need to get noticed and get compared with some of the big companies in their industry, due to their uniqueness, innovation and great services, if not on financial parameter.

They need to expand their business in term of manpower in this growth period, they need to hire and retain faithful employees to share workload so that they can focus on larger picture

They need to start leveraging their business through synergy with similar business possibilities, like expanding their product base,

They should have a long list of loyal clients and repeat customers by now-  list length will depend on niche, demand and competition

They should have even longer list of prospective clients by now, 50 to100 or more depending, niche, location, demands etc.

They should definitely get coverage by both social and print media in the period of 3-5 years either for their contribution to that particular industry or for their unique approach, product or services, or at least for some good reason. Its very important for brand positioning.

Learn about Long-term Targets of an online business and startups http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/03/what-should-be-long-term-targets-of.html

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How to manage Business risk

Take calculated risk

Never put all your eggs in one basket

Have a functional back up plan ready

Assess vulnerability of your business plan on different parameters and varied possible future scenarios

Keep a flexible business mindset to quickly negotiate changing business dynamics

Don't regret on mistakes made, learn from mistakes, change the strategies and move forward

Maintain professionalism in in your work even if you are doing business with friends,

Always keep few alternate revenue sources or prospects around your business, it will give you hope and boost your moral when business in down.

Always be prepared to materialize approaching business opportunity

Learn how to materialise every Business Opportunity which comes your way in the following post - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/never-miss-business-opportunity-again.html

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Business setbacks as measurement scale.

Setbacks are part and parcel of business dynamics, sometimes business has high growth momentum, at times its all time low . What is business without a little bit of thrill. Setback is the measurement of how much risk you take in business, its part of business thrill. If you didn't ever have setback probably you didn't take enough risk. Come out of your comfort zone and have courage to take risk. Calculate the risk, have a backup plan and go ahead. You can't wait till business plan is 100 percent perfect; otherwise you will be too late in the market. 

Learn what to do when things go wrong in Business here – http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/what-to-do-when-things-go-wrong-in.html

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Why and how of customer service

Why customer service?

It helps you retain customers

Returning loyal customers

You get word of mouth publicity

If your product is same as your competitors, you should have something sort of service edge which will keep customers busy talking about

How to service?

Customized services

Deliver wow

Launching regular new products will keep customers busy and coming back

Learn what are the top problems faced by new business owners in providing customer service in the following post -http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/top-5-problems-faced-by-new-business.html

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How to minimise obstacles between customer and product online

Give crisp and precise information regarding product or services

Provide customised information to repeat customer

Eliminate the membership and signup process for payment

Reduce the number of clicks from landing page to payment once and reduce it again

Using behavioral tracking software for optimised user experience

Create engaging audiovisual user interface

Induce surprise elements in the website to keep them stick to website till the payment is done

Learn about the top 5 problems faced by new startups in providing customer service here - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/top-5-problems-faced-by-new-business.html

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Never miss a Business Opportunity again

Never say No to any opportunity - if it aligns with your company vision

Never say No to any opportunity - no matter how challenging is the work

You should be either able to accomplish the work or should be able to convince the client to modify the nature and scope of work itself, - Just don't give up

Learn to operate in adverse financial situations- know where to cut the cost without compromising the quality of work- learn to bootstrap, learn to scale down when needed

Prove one now secure one for future - win the trust of client by accomplishing given project well and don't hesitate to ask for another project in advance from client

There are ways and means to accomplish the job - for each part of work where you lack expertise; there are people to help you out in those areas.

Be always ready with several versions of Business Plan, for different prospective clients

You should have a scalable, flexible and realistic business plan  

Learn best ways to make a realistic business Plan, here http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/how-to-keep-business-proposal-and.html

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How to keep business proposal and project schedule realistic

It's easy to get swayed away by sheer numbers - do regular reality check

Don't get overenthusiastic with numbers - get your numbers validated by partners / trusted others

Overall business plan should make sense to your over-skeptical clients

Keep all the odd possibilities in mind while preparing project time schedule 

Business strategies should reflect in numbers and should complement each other

Try to foresee all the future obstacles and keep the time schedule flexible enough to accommodate the time lost due to this obstacle

Learn how and why to use Mindmapping tools which helps you streamline your business and makes your business plans realistic- http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/why-entrepreneur-should-start.html

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Top 10 indicators to assess your business positioning & value for yourself

Customer satisfaction - Online or ground survey

Employee satisfaction quotient - companywide survey

Employee productivity quotient - annual/ semiannual appraisal

Quarterly financial comparison with competitors in similar segment and scale of operation

Prepare a list of monetary as well as intangible achievements in quarter/ previous year

Percentage of targets achieved

Pace of development towards macro level target/ vision

What you get out of your own business - personal gain/ satisfaction

How easy or difficult you find it to keep your business at auto-pilot mode

How much leisure time you get out of your business

Learn basic thumbrules of dealing with customers in the following post - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/3-basic-thumbrule-of-hospitality-and.html

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Why entrepreneur should start Mindmapping right away

What is Mindmapping?

Mind-mapping is systematic arrangement of interrelated data in visual form mostly related to a single subject. Can be in different form- A tree diagram, radiating circle, visual collage, grid matrix etc

Why to use Mindmapping in business?

It helps you to see the bigger picture

Helps in right assessment of time and engagement

Helps you to organise resources efficiently

Can help you strike balance between professional and personal life

How to use it? What are the tools to use mind-mapping?

Professional software and services

Online platform - free or paid

A whiteboard

Or even a pen and paper

Suggestions

Be creative - remember the drawing classes of school?

Try to build a logic and interrelation out of available data

Try to work out different scenarios

Mindmapping helps you summarise your thoughts and paves the way forward for the project and business. You will learn the tricks and advantages of short and crisp business plans and strategies in the following article “One page Business Philosophy” - http://fromthediaryofmentor.blogspot.in/2012/02/one-page-business-philosophy.html

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