Custom Made Crafts » Business

Financing a Craft Store

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:39:23 +0000

Do you have a passion for crafts? Many people do – and it’s a wonderful hobby to have. However there are a few of us that take it a step further – and make it our life’s work. Nothing will stop us until we make our passion a reality – and open our own craft store. If you desire to open your own craft store then follow these steps to get started.

First of all you will need to establish a business plan. Yes I know this this is far removed from the world of crafts – but its a necessary step that all business owners have to take. To get started look at similar businesses in the neighborhood that you would like to open your store. Look for services that you can offer that are not been offered by others. In the plan you will also need to project the financial costs including start up and operating costs. Your business should bring in enough revenue to cover these costs and make a profit.

Once you have the plan ready you can approach a bank or other financial institution to seek out a loan – assuming you don’t have the necessary savings. They will require the business plan and will run a credit check on you. If this does not work out you may have to find someone with cash that is willing to invest in your business.

Once you arrange the financing you need to hire a realtor and find the perfect location for your store. Work out how much space you will need in the store, including storage and office space. You may also want to incorporate a teaching room. If you are going to buy the property then work with the real estate agent on finding a lending institution that can provide you with a mortgage. For commercial property you will need a down payment and enough money to cover closing costs. One option is refinancing your home to get the capital you need. And remember your mortgage payment should be included in the business plan.

You will also have to find a bookkeeper to handle the finances including tax, insurance and payroll. Once you have the property you should buy inventory from a wholesaler for the store. You can use the prices to determine your markup to cover expenses and profit. You will need to find competent employees to work in your store. They would hopefully have a passion for crafts. And finally – marketing is one of the most important aspects to drive customers to your store. You will need to evaluate advertising, web presence, social media as well as other forms of marketing to get your name out there – and begin selling product.

Article provided by Refinance Calculator helping you to determine you financial costs.

Image via Creative Commons

Financing a Craft Store is a post from: The Art of Business

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Professional Licensing in the Mortgage Industry

admin — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 04:00:00 +0000

There are certain jobs that are expected to live up to a higher standard of behavior. It’s not just a matter of appearing to be professional and knowledgeable to potential clients. The public expects that those practicing certain professions have the proper educational background and expertise to handle their job. In most of these cases, governments have required legal licensing in order for individuals to engage in certain professions.

No one wants to go to a doctor who isn’t licensed to practice medicine or a lawyer who has failed to pass the bar exam in their state. Consumers want proof that professionals are competent, ethical, and will serve them well. After all, they are entrusting their financial, medical, and legal safety to these individuals.

After the collapse of the real estate market in 2008, the importance of mortgage broker licensing was brought to the forefront. Many consumers hadn’t bothered to verify that the broker they employed had completed the necessary Loan Officer Training to get their state license. The result was a slew of illegal mortgages that were designed to benefit the broker or loan originator rather than complying with state and federal regulations.

With the passage of the SAFE Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008, the federal government made it clear that they expected all mortgage loan officers to meet minimal standards in order to be licensed. Many states actually have must stricter requirements, which means that consumers can rest assured that if someone has a valid loan officer license, they have met those rigorous standards.

Professional Licensing in the Mortgage Industry is a post from: The Art of Business

Recognize Your Employees with Awards

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Don’t wait until your company Christmas party or annual banquet to recognize the employees that drive your business. Employee morale is a vital part of your day-to-day success. One way to keep morale high is by consistently recognizing the hard work, energy, and innovation that your staff devotes to meeting your business goals.

A simple employee award doesn’t have to come with a huge bonus or bragging rights. Those can be saved for annual sales or customer service awards. Recognizing an employee of the month may seem cliche, but if you regularly call attention to your top employees, or to outstanding effort by your rank and file employees, you let them know not only that you appreciate them, but that you are interested in their progress. A simple plaque, gift card, or award to display on their desk is all it takes to applaud their efforts.

In addition to regularly scheduled awards, you should keep an eye out for any outstanding performance. Maybe someone breaks a long standing sales record or someone else comes up with a truly innovative way of doing some aspect of your business. If you delay recognition of that accomplishment, you subtly discourage your entire staff from striving to reach those heights. Employee awards should be timely as well as appropriate in order to have a significant impact on employee morale and in motivating similar accomplishments in the future.

Recognize Your Employees with Awards is a post from: The Art of Business

Accepting Credit Cards Online

admin — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:00:00 +0000

It is fairly pointless to open an online store or other business without the ability to accept credit card payments. This applies to companies that provide services or consulting as well as those that sell specific products. Internet commerce is about speed and no one wants to have to mail in a check or call a telephone number to submit their payment. Well, there are still some people who are afraid to enter their credit card information online who will call to complete an order, but they are a dying breed.

The best merchant accounts are going to offer web solutions for those who conduct a lot of online transactions. Even companies with lots of in person sales will still need a good internet processing solution for those customers who find them online. A good merchant solution will offer fast processing and detailed archiving of transactions to make invoices and reconciling of payments easier.

Security is also a major concern for both customers and businesses. Consumers want to know that the company processing their credit card is secure from hackers or others who would steal numbers and identities. Businesses need to know that the account will be on the watch for fraudulent cards and transactions to protect their bottom line.

Another important feature of merchant accounts is customer service . This includes not only having someone available to answer questions and solve problems. It also relates to the ability to customize accounts to meet the specific needs of a given business instead of relying on prepackaged options.

Accepting Credit Cards Online is a post from: The Art of Business

Outdoor Banner Ads Attract Street Traffic Business

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Advertising out on the sidewalks of your business is one of the most effective ways of drawing in street traffic or getting the attention of motorists . And businesses that are located in heavily populated areas, such as popular strips in major cities or any other area that has a high volume of sidewalk traffic will definitely want to attract the traffic into their establishment. And if you’re a small cafe, coffee shop, ice cream parlor or independent retail store you want to draw in as much traffic as possible. Of course this is true for most businesses, but these are particularly interested in spontaneous cravings, which can be strongly influenced and inspired by an attractive sidewalk display.

The sidewalk advertisements can serve various purposes and many eating establishments will put out their daily specials or even their full menu. Retail stores will list their sales and most popular merchandise and a bookstore can even set up an outdoor section of books. Regardless of the type of business you are running, sidewalk displays are an extremely beneficial way to advertise. One thing to keep in mind is you don’t want the poster or ad to blow away or otherwise become dismantled or damaged. Solid outdoor banner stands will help to keep the board in place and also add to the professional image of the advertisement.

If you are a businesses owner or manager, take advantage of this great advertisement resource and calculate for yourself the increase in walk in customers you receive.

Outdoor Banner Ads Attract Street Traffic Business is a post from: The Art of Business

Finding a Job in Canada

admin — Mon, 24 May 2010 00:10:00 +0000

How one finds a job in Canada is similar to the way you would find a job in the USA but you should know that there are some specialized sites just for finding jobs in Canada as well as some sites that will charge you a fee in order to help you find a job. Why some people would be willing to pay money to get a job in Canada is simple. It is hard to immigrate to another country without being able to show that you can be successful there. Most countries are happy to let you live in the country if not move to the country if you can prove that you can hold down a steady job and succeed in that country. If you don’t have the money to pay for someone to help you find a job there are a few sites you can check out.

Try Linked In
Linked In is the universal job hunting tool, with businesses all over the place hooked up to Linked In, your profile is likely to get found if you are on this site. The best way to get your profile seen as the valuable gem it is by a great company like Transglobe Property Management Services is if you have more information on it as well as if you are on the site often, interacting with people and networking with people in the field you would like to be working in. Like any network you may not find a job right away through the people you know, but you may find a job through people who know someone, who knows someone, who knows a co-worker of yours. These sort of links are essential to getting a good job on Linked In.

WowJobs
It is WowJobs.ca in specific that you will want to be looking at if you want to get a job in Canada. There are a number of very prominent companies as well as a number of up and coming companies who will post job openings and opportunities there. If you know where you want to work or what type of work out want to do, there is a way to search for these types of jobs. You will of course still be responsible for having the experience needed to fill the job, but there are at least a number of jobs ready to be filled all the time on this site.

Finding a Job in Canada is a post from: The Art of Business

Celebrity Endorsements: Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong?

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:27:53 +0000

When a company makes the decision to use a celebrity, a sports figure or any public figure to endorse their products or their services , they are taking a risk. This risk may prove to be worth it, or it may prove to be disastrous. The public is interested in the lives of public figures, sometimes obsessively so. It is for this reason that the character of the person making the endorsements be taken into consideration. Online companies such as moneymutual.com have employed the use of celebrity endorsements, just as the endorsements have been used through other mediums such as TV and Radio. Take the current situation with golf legend Tiger Woods . Due to his personal life becoming public knowledge, he has lost corporate sponsors and lost his credibility when it comes to speaking for companies services and products. It is not whether or not a person’s private life should be anyone else’s business. It is that regardless, Woods is in the public eye, and when that happens there is no long a life that is lived privately and discreetly. The other side of the celebrity endorsed advertising campaign coin, is world renown cycling legend, Lance Armstrong . Here is not only and extraordinary world class athlete, perhaps the greatest cyclist of all time, but due to the strength and the courage he demonstrated during his long battle with what should have been terminal cancer, he has gained not only the respect of the those in the world of biking, but the respect of all those struggling with fighting cancer themselves. The Nike advertising campaign is well known. It is the simple statement, Just Do It. Nike took a risk on Armstrong. Due to the fact that Armstrong came back to win so many Tour de France titles following such an extreme medical situation, he was accused of taking drugs to enhance his performance. This is the kind of accusation that makes him a greater investment risk and could have the end endorsement gigs for him. But the man was tested more in one year than most other athletes get tested throughout their careers, and he always proved to be riding clean. And not only that, his strength and determination was even more emphasised, creating a more powerful spokesman for the the Nike Company. This high risk investment paid off, and their Armstrong campaign is one of the most successful campaigns of all time.

Celebrity Endorsements: Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong? is a post from: The Art of Business

Page Speed and Swift Rank Changes

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:46:11 +0000

It’s a marketing tool that was on its way for a long time, and it’s one that really hasn’t surprised anybody. The schools of thought that are currently developing around SEO are varied in outlook, when looked at from certain points of view, but in their essence, there is nothing to remarkably distinguish one from the other. There might be some who would claim that certain kinds of optimization are worse than others, but in the end, it’s all advertising, and all of it would fall under the same suspicion and should be given the same scrutiny.

It seems disingenuous then to look askance at issues such as page speed, and how this can affect a website’s performance in an international marketplace. The swift rank changes to a site after it does a few minor touch ups with its key words sometimes cause suspicion, but whatever the cause, the reasons are the same as any other operation or organization using marketing strategies to improve its numbers. At the end of the day, we will probably not be judged by the quantifiable analyses of our actions, but on the actions themselves.

Still, it’s necessary to perform up to industry standards, even if it is simply to save face in the eyes of your peers. Perhaps in many cases, or even most cases, it is only your peers who are paying attention to such things, anyway. A good marketing strategy, then, may not result in any vast increases in revenue or even in interest. It may only have results in virtual realms, and only exist virtually for a fraction of a moment. It’s something that may or may not ever entirely make a difference in how the world decides to spin, but it can certainly take up the bulk of a day’s thought, if only to attempt to conceive of how to conceive of such things.

Page Speed and Swift Rank Changes is a post from: The Art of Business

Is Your Company a Great Company to Work For?

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:27:21 +0000

What is true in the business world, big and small businesses, is also true in the restaurant world, in the retail world, or in a law firm. No matter the differences in the goods and/or services the various industries offer, the same characteristics are those that make a place a really good place to go to work each day. Go to any leadership training course, and one of the philosophical ideas is just how far “trust” will go with people. Sincerity and trust. When employees really trust those for whom they work, the owners and the managers they are able to take pride in knowing that they work for a great company, for great people.

I have worked in various companies throughout the years, some great, some not so good. Two small business owners in Phoenix, never succeeded in gaining trust from the people working them. The lines of communication were not open, and often very muddled. The vision and the goals of the company were never established, so therefore they were never consistent. And above all, the employees were not treated with integrity and with respect, often being criticized for actually, and simply wanting to get paid on time.

Read through any management or employee training book, and you will find that it will be amazing if these two can stay in business. Not only is it difficult for them to keep qualified employees, the public can read the situation, and they are losing business. With respect, and with vision, a good company will become a great one. And as with all the other aspects of life, when employees are appreciated and celebrated for their individuality and their hard work, well it just makes them happier, and more productive. It is just simple human relations. But it will carry a company into the future, with employees that created respectful relationships not only with each other, but with the clients and the customers as well.

Is Your Company a Great Company to Work For? is a post from: The Art of Business

TransGlobe and Spirit of Community

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:53:10 +0000

With all the splendid neighborhoods that Canada has to offer, TransGlobe Property Management is in a spectacular place at a spectacular time. They have over 15 years of experience here, and those years have been very fruitful as well as educational for the company. With all of their involvement in community events, as well as participation in charity activities, there’s a real sense of commitment to the places they work and live. It’s always a good thing when you can have good communication with the company you’re renting from, and they seem to really be there, with fast and efficient service in every step of the process.

Canada has always been a great place for neighborhoods, where you can invent your own life and follow your bliss, with a very high standard of living. This comes from the hard work of the generations that came before us, who understood that building good neighborhoods begins by being good neighbors ourselves. It’s a hard act to follow, but there seems to be a wonderful sense of community here, so we must be doing something right. One of the best ways to make yourself at home is to make your home a beautiful place to live. With TransGlobe Property Management, they’ve selected some truly gorgeous buildings, and have thousands of properties to choose from, and that saves the renters a step or two.

Being able to choose from places that are already beautiful, and very well-maintained, we can focus our time and attention on the finer details. This begins when we start looking through their listings for business as well as residential properties. We can start to imagine re-creating our lives in these new spaces, rearranging furniture in our minds, to consider what it might be like to live here. Once we move in, it’s even more spectacular, and they’re certainly partners for life. A good neighborhood is a possibility, and with this spirit of community, it becomes that much more likely.

TransGlobe and Spirit of Community is a post from: The Art of Business