This bean can help grow your business, learn how.

Don’t know about you, but my life thrives on coffee.   Whether it is business or pleasure, I need that caffeine hit to keep moving.

As regards the old Java injection, this chart is a lifesaver.   Find it, print it, and stick it somewhere close to your heart.

It comes with phonetic translation too.   Somehow, that’s important.  

Boost your business productivity.   I write twice as fast with a good coffee inside me…

Until next time, work smart.

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If you are in a position where you sell a product that requires distribution you might want to think about adding a bicycle to your list of business tools.

They are becoming even more affordable now (great for business start-ups), and even more relevant due to environmental issues.

But check out this item to learn how it works for a small business:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/savingscenter/article197446.html

And until next time, work smart.

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Found this amazing image the other day.  

It is of course vitally important that we don’t suffer from repetitive strain injury while we create and develop our successful small businesses.   Contacting and working for clients need not mean we should break our wrists and forearms.

Possibly one of the greatest (and most surprising) small business resources there is.   In fact, warp it a little, and you have one of the best small business ideas around.   The profit margin would be incredible (I think).

http://lifehacker.com/233097/

What do you think?   Has anyone got any other totally cool DIY ideas to help you run your small business?

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Take a look at these guys:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/successstories/article202282.html

The thing about this story is that it illustrates a couple of key small business success principles.   They have got where they are without any ’store front’ to manage.   This is what all small businesses have at the start, just their ‘product’, nothing else.

They also pushed their venture along without spending gazillions on advertising.   By focusing on just the product, and believing in it totally, they have created a real, legitimate, growing business.   And they now have real small business success.  

And I suppose that is what this story tells me.   Take your time with your small business startup, believe in what you are doing, and protect the growth aspect.   Don’t run before you can walk, and you will end up with something like the first dream you had right at the very start.   A small business idea becomes reality.

Until next time, work smart.

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Your home business just needs to be functional in that first week...

Okay, here is the second post in the series that looks at how you are going to survive the first week in the life of your home business.   And in this one we are going to look at the issue of office furniture for your home business.   While the subject is vast, and there are zillions of websites out there that cover home office furniture and organisation with high levels of detail, here we are talking about your first week.   Your home business needs to survive that short period, so this post is going to look at basic functionality, nothing more.

The most important thing you can do in those first seven days is separate your new home business from the rest of the house.   This means taking the clear decison to section part of your living space off, so that you effectively lose square footage to your home business.   Do not compromise on this, no matter what.   Either create space, or reduce the value of what you are trying to do.  

Your laptop or PC takes centre stage.   Give it a space that is uncluttered.   Give it a central position.   Respect the fact that this is the key tool in your home business.   This is the tool that makes you money.  

If you can afford an inexpensive desk (and if you have done any kind of planning for your business you will have factored this in) then place your laptop or PC on it and resolve, there and then, to keep it tidy.

Then hook up a telephone and place that on the desk too.   If you are going to go all techie and have telephone conversations over the Internet, good for you.   This is definitely the way of the future.   But for now, don’t assume that your clients have that technology.   Instead, buy a cheap phone, and get it hooked up.   The phone is almost as important as your computer.  

So far then, we have a desk, a computer, and a phone.   There are only two things that you now need to make sure that you have before you can confidently say that you are ready for your first week.   A desk lamp, and a pad of paper to jot down stuff on.

Make sure all of this stays tidy, and then get to work.   You can worry about adding more stuff to your home office later.   For now, focus on pure functionality.  You can work (with the computer), at all hours (with the lamp) and you can stay organised and contactable (the pad and the phone).   Everything else will fall into place.

As long as you have devoted some space in your flat/house/garage/Googleplex to your home business, you can’t go wrong.

Now get to work.

And until next time, work smart.

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