Small Business Start Up - Getting Ready

If you are considering launching your own business for the first time - congratulations! The first stages of small start up can feel exciting but also overwhelming. There is so much to learn, so much to do, so many decisions to make. Here is an overview to the first steps any potential new owner should take.

Evaluate yourself 

Start by evaluating your strengths and weaknesses as a potential leader of a small business start up. The most successful leaders are, among other characteristics, creative, confident, visionary and persistent. This type of new venture is very risky and requires endless challenge. However, it also provides opportunities to learn, excitement and self-satisfaction.

Only you can evaluate whether you will be motivated enough by the benefits to deal with the downside. Without the drive to take on the responsibility and the stamina to endure it for the long haul, a business has more of a chance of being among the 50% that fail. The good news is that anyone can learn what it takes to be an entrepreneur if they are committed to doing so.

Ask for help 

A small business start up is going to require an entire network to survive. From the family members closest to you, to the political decision makers in your state, your business will be impacted by a large number of connections. Make a commitment to reaching out to people. Don't be too proud to ask for assistance when it's needed. From finding a mentor, to asking for a loan to asking for sales, the process never ends. Unfortunately, this process also requires the ability to handle rejection.

An owner must also be capable of developing positive relationships with people from a variety of backgrounds. As they are the primary face of the company in the beginning, it's critical that their face be a positive one. This can be tricky when dealing with irritable customers or underperforming vendors.

Don't rush the process 

The excitement of the small start up can be addicting. It's tempting to capitalize on this powerful emotion and get things moving as fast as possible. But the most successful entrepreneurs are those who commit themselves to exhaustive research, education and planning. They don't get bogged down and paralyzed by the process, rather they are able to effectively balance preparation with the capitalization of opportunity. This process is continuous; as the operations must be constantly re-evaluated as the business grows and expands.

The 7 Mistakes You’re Probably Making on LinkedIn

By Louise Fletcher

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Before I get to the 7 mistakes (and how to fix them) let me explain why having a good LinkedIn profile is important and why more than 1 million people are joining the service every 2 weeks. Not only is LinkedIn a great way to network, it’s also increasingly used by recruiters to post vacancies and, more importantly, to search for passive candidates. (“Passive candidates” is recruiter-speak for a person not actively looking for a job).

Indeed, LinkedIn now markets a service for recruiters that allows them to search profiles, store results and contact candidates, all from within an interface that they pay to access. But even recruiters who don’t pay for access, use the system to research candidates.

And the best thing about LinkedIn? It’s free!

If you do have a profile, you might think you’re set, but most of of you are not. Most of you are making simple mistakes on your profile that are negatively impacting your search. So if you have a profile already, use these tips to make it better. if you don’t, use them as a guide to create your first profile.

The 7 Mistakes You’re Probably Making on LinkedIn

1. Not Listing Every Position

Many people just list their one or two most recent positions, but this is a mistake because recruiters will often search for people who have worked at a particular company in the past. If you don’t include that company in your career history, they won’t find you.

Likewise, LinkedIn allows people to search for former colleagues (which it does by looking for employer names). If you don’t list all your employers, you’re missing the chance to reconnect with a lot of people.

Key point: Linkedin’s search rankings depend in part on the number of contacts you have – don’t limit yourself by not making every contact possible (I’ll say more about this a little later).

So my first tip is this: List every position you have held. Also, be sure to list all associations and certifications because recruiters may choose to search by these rather than by employer.

2. Not writing job descriptions for each position

It may seem like a drag to write a description for each role, but this is important for 2 reasons:

1. Recruiters want to know what you’ve done and this is where you can describe your successes and accomplishments.

2. The descriptions will naturally contain keywords used by recruiters when searching and therefore may help you to be found.

Tip: Write something about each role you held and focus not on boring descriptions of responsibilities but on actions, impact and results. See my profile for examples of this.

LinkedIn Mistake #3. Not writing a powerful summary section.

It’s crucial to write a powerful summary section. That’s because this section of the profile allows you to tell your story in 2,000 words and is the first thing people will see when they come to your profile. It’s also an important place to add keywords to help recruiters find you when they’re looking for someone with your skill set.

Tip: It’s a good idea to go through job postings looking for commonly used keywords as these are often the words recruiters will use to search too.

(Oh and don’t forget to add a good photo. Here’s more on why this is so important.)

4. Not editing the auto sub-header provided by LinkedIn

When you enter your current job title, LinkedIn automatically places it right underneath your name on your profile. So mine would read “Louise Fletcher, President of Blue Sky Resumes” if I hadn’t edited it.

Don’t leave this headline as is! Not unless your job title itself is so impressive that people would want to hire you just because of it. (For example, if you’re a joke writer for The Daily Show, that might be all you need to say!) But for the rest of us, our job title isn’t the most compelling thing about us.

When you search within LinkedIn, the results page looks like this:

See how the sub-header is right there. So you can either tell recruiters your current job title, or tell them something that will communicate your value. I recommend the latter.

Here’s more on how to write a powerful LinkedIn headline.

5. Not Building an Extensive Network

The image I posted above shows my search results when logged in to LinkedIn. Notice the little numbers next to each name? That’s how closely connected I am to them. LinkedIn serves up the people who are immediately connected to me first, and then goes on to 2nd degree connections – those people who know someone that I know, and then third-degree connections and so on and so on.

This means that the more connections you have, the more likely it is that recruiters will find you.

There’s long been a debate about whether you should only connect with people you know and can personally vouch for (this is what the company recommends) or whether you should be what is called an ‘open networker’ and connect with anyone who asks.

I’ll probably write more about this at some other time and it mostly depends on your goals for LinkedIn and your own personal philosophy, but if you want to be found in the maximum number of searches, there’s no debate. Open networking is the way to go.

Tip: If your goal is maximum visibility, run a LinkedIn search on the word “LION.” This is short for “Linkedin Open Networker” which means that they are open to contacts with strangers. Connecting with them can increase your visibility enormously because they all have many contacts of their own.

If you decide that open networking is not for you, and that you really do want to limit your connections to people you know, then at least make sure to add as many of them as possible using the various features LinkedIn makes available.

6. Not Creating a Personal URL

When you create a profile, LinkedIn will automatically assign you a profile URL that people can use to access your profile directly. It will usually contain numbers and letters. But you can change this URL so that it contains your name (mine is www.linkedin.com/in/louisefletcher).

This is important not so much for internal LinkedIn results, but for external Internet searches. When a recruiter or potential client researches you, you want them to find compelling and positive information. LinkedIn has enormous weight with the search engines, and so your profile is one of the best ways to ensure you make page 1 of Google for your name.

(If you need proof of this, just google my name. I share a name with a famous actress (yes, she played Nurse Ratchett in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and yes I’ve heard all the jokes!) so you would expect that I wouldn’t make page 1 of Google, and yet, at the time of writing, my LinkedIn profile was #7 – that’s the highest result I have despite having a blog, a website, a Twitter profile and writing numerous articles on high traffic web sites).

7. Not Making Your Profile Public

Just the other day I was reviewing a client’s online presence and found a LinkedIn profile with almost no information. “That’s impossible,” he told me, “I filled the whole thing out.” After a little back and forth, we figured out that he had set his profile not to display most information on the Internet. Remember that not all recruiters or clients will be viewing your profile after logging in to LinkedIn. Many will come to it via a Google search. If you set most of your profile to private, it won’t be very impressive.

Tip: To change this, click on the ‘edit profile’ tab and look for ‘Public Profile.’ Click the small ‘edit’ next to the URL and you will arrive at the page where you can choose what to make public. Unless you have a strong reason not to do this, I recommend sharing everything.

In Summary

LinkedIn is increasingly becoming an essential tool for professional and executive-level job seekers. Not only do they advertise vacancies and provide the opportunity to research and network with people in your target companies, but they are increasingly marketing their database to recruiters and this gives you an excellent opportunity to raise your profile and get in front of the right people.

So if you had made any of the mistakes listed above, don’t waste any time in fixing them. (Oh and if you know of more tips and strategies, please feel free to add them in the comments).

PS: If you’re ready to really get the most out of LinkedIn, check out The Blue Sky Guide to LinkedIn. This downloadable e-book takes you step-by-step through the site, with detailed instructions and screenshots on everything from setting up an effective profile through making connections all the way to understanding the many additional benefits the site has to offer. Once you learn how to use LinkedIn properly, you’ll never leave.

Got a New Strategy? Don't Forget the Execution Part

The following post was published on the Knowledge@Wharton website on July 31, 2013.

When it comes to executing strategy, the old saying “the devil is in the details” holds true for many companies, according to Wharton emeritus management professor Lawrence G. Hrebiniak. While executives may readily participate in the development of new strategies, execution tends to get short shrift, because it is often viewed as a lower-level task or concern, he notes. In the following interview, Hrebiniak — who just published the second edition of his book, Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change — explains why it’s critical for firms to create a “culture of execution” in order to succeed.

An edited version of the conversation appears below.

Knowledge@Wharton: Why do firms tend to focus much more energy on strategy and less on execution?

Lawrence G. Hrebiniak: Strategy execution takes longer, involves more people, demands the consideration and integration of many key variables or activities, and requires an effective feedback or control system to keep a needed focus on the process of execution over time. The strategic planning stage is usually more concentrated and of shorter duration than the execution stage. It often deals with interesting conceptual issues that appeal to many managers. The longer execution time horizon results in developments and changes that must be addressed over time — for example, manager turnover, competitors’ reactions to a company’s strategy, changing economic and competitive conditions, a changing industry structure and forces, etc. — suggesting the importance and difficulty of organizational adaptation during the execution process.

Keeping managers and functional specialists involved in and committed to the execution requirements over a long time period can be difficult. Some managers simply give up or turn to other developing problems and opportunities, reducing the energy expended on implementation plans and activities. To some managers, execution-related issues aren’t as exciting or conceptual, resulting in less than enthusiastic attention or energy being focused on these activities. These factors, among others, increase the difficulty of strategy execution and cause managers to avoid critical implementation requirements. The key here is management support — from the top down — to create a culture of execution and maintain a focus on execution and its benefits.

Knowledge@Wharton: What are some of the biggest mistakes that companies make when it comes to implementing strategy? What are the common pitfalls?

Hrebiniak: There are a number of mistakes I’ve observed over the years. One is that strategy execution or implementation is viewed as a lower-level task or concern. Top managers with this view believe that making strategy work — the decisions and activities associated with this task — is somehow “below them,” literally and figuratively. This often creates a “caste” or class system in which upper management feels that it’s done the hard work — strategic planning — and that the lower-level people then can do the easier work of execution. This is a huge mistake, one that can create cultural rifts and poor communication across organizational levels, leading to ineffective performance and other serious problems.

Another mistake managers make is to assume that execution is a quick, one-shot decision or action, like “Ready-Aim-Execute” — or even worse, “Ready-Execute-Aim.” Implementation or execution simply isn’t a one-shot deal. Strategy execution is a process, with important relationships among key variables, decisions and actions, not a quick fix marked by simple clichés, such as: “Give him the ball and let him run with it.” Failure to see and appreciate the interdependence or interaction among key factors — strategy, structure, incentives, controls, coordination, culture, change, etc. — is a costly mistake that detracts from strategy execution success. The complexity of the implementation process also results in managers ignoring the execution process, an issue I mentioned earlier.

A mistake I’ve observed occasionally is that a good strategy is seen as sufficient to motivate effective execution. The assumption is that solid execution will come naturally, as people see the benefits and logic of the strategic plan and act accordingly to foster execution success. This assumption rarely, if ever, is founded; execution takes hard work, communication of actions and benefits, and effective incentives to get managers to buy into the execution process. Managers need skin in the game and logical guidance about their roles in the execution scheme to make even a good strategy work.

A related mistake is to assume that a really bad or unsound strategy can be made to work well if “we execute it well.” A bad strategy cannot be saved by working hard at execution. “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” as the saying warns. Good strategy comes first and is essential to sound execution. Skimping on the strategy formulation stage of strategic management can only lead to implementation headaches.

There are additional pitfalls that threaten the strategy execution process in addition to those suggested above. An important one emanates from not having a solid plan of execution or implementation. Every strategic plan requires an implementation or execution component or plan. Every corporate and business plan must be supported by a plan of execution. The execution plan or component must lay out clearly the key decisions and actions required for making the strategy work. The interdependence or interactions among key factors must be spelled out, and well understood. Responsibility and accountability for decisions and actions must be clear and agreed upon, with areas of overlapping responsibility and need for cooperation laid out and committed to by key personnel. Failure to develop an implementation plan is a problem or pitfall that usually ends in disastrous performance. Again, the assumption seems to be that execution simply happens or unfolds seamlessly, and this is a mistake.

A big pitfall or mistake emanates from a poor understanding of organizational structure. Not understanding the costs and benefits of different structures or designs can lead to severe problems. Treating structure as an afterthought or something that changes according to managers’ whims or fancies and not as a response to the demands of strategy represents a major problem or pitfall. Structure has a role to play. It affects many things, including efficiency, effectiveness, getting close to markets and customers, and so on. A lack of understanding of structure’s role in making strategy work usually leads to problems.

Also, a major pitfall with all sorts of related problems is inadequate or inappropriate attention to the management of change. Implementation or execution plans often include the need for change, and handling it poorly can lead to resistance to new execution efforts.

Knowledge@Wharton: What new kinds of problems have emerged since you published the first edition of your book — that is, what kinds of new challenges are managers facing when it comes to executing strategy in today’s business environment?

Hrebiniak: A number of new challenges emerged after publication of the first edition of Making Strategy Work. One might think that the old or consistent, ongoing challenges I noted earlier would be sufficient to keep managers who are interested in execution busy for a long time. Yet, new challenges and ideas were presented to me, adding to the list of execution-related needs. One [new area of concern was] the service sector, including not-for-profit organizations. The question simply was: Does the material in Making Strategy Work apply equally well to service organizations? Not-for-profits? Another request was for a deeper coverage of the execution of global strategies. The first edition of the book contained little insight here, and managers told me that they would like to see more about implementation in the global arena.

Quite a few managers raised questions about project management. In fact, I was contacted by someone representing the Project Management Institute who asked [several] questions about the role of project management in the execution process. Additional questions regarding making M&A strategies work also were raised. The new edition [has sections] dealing with service organizations, global strategies and project management, as well as a revised chapter on making M&A strategies work.


Knowledge@Wharton: What can a company do to become more focused on executing successfully?

Hrebiniak: The basic step for a company to follow to become more focused on execution or implementation is to create a culture of execution. How does one create such a culture? Let’s look at some basic facts. First, it’s a fact that culture affects behavior. An organizational culture include values, prescriptions on how to act, how to treat others, how to react to performance shortfalls, how to compete, etc., and these have a profound impact on behavior. A related fact, however, also must be kept in mind: Behavior, over time, affects organizational culture. Culture, [in other words], is both an independent, causal factor, and a dependent factor, affected by behavior. How, then, does one create a desired culture? By creating behaviors and performance programs that become an integral part of an organization’s way of doing things. By creating and reinforcing behaviors and performance programs that affect the very essence of how organizations act and compete, i.e. their culture.

A company, then, can [create] a culture of execution by [developing and reinforcing] behaviors that affect culture. It can: lay out key decisions, actions, and capabilities needed for successful execution; support the model and execution plan with effective incentives and controls; create structures and processes that support desired strategic and operating objectives; and manage execution as a change process in which agreement and commitment are sought and rewarded. Creating and reinforcing behaviors related to execution will impact culture; culture will reflect the critical execution-related behaviors. It is important to design, reward and otherwise support the right behaviors, those that are vital to making strategy work, in order to create and nurture a culture of execution.

Sources: Got a New Strategy? Don't Forget the Execution Part

Human Relation Principles

Nine ways to make people Like You!

1. Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest, sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.
4. Become genuinely interested in other people.
5. Smile.
6. Remember that a man’s name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
7. Be a good listener, encourage others to talk about themselves.
8. Talk in terms of the other mans interest.
9. Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.

 
Twelve ways to make people think in your way
 
1. Show respect for the others persons opinions. Never tell a man he is wrong.
2. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
3. If you are wrong admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Gets the other person saying Yes, yes immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

 
Nine ways to bring around people without giving offence
 
1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to peoples mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement.
6. Let the other man save his face.
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.


Four ways to Analys worry

1. Get all the facts.
2. Weigh all the fats-then come to a decision.
3. Once a decision is rached, act.
4. Write the answers of the following questions.
     a) What is the problem?
     b) What are the causes of the problem?
     c) What are the possible solutions?



Four ways to Overcome worry
 
1. Live in day-tight compartments.
2. Face the trouble the following ways.
      a) Ask yourself what is the worst that can possibly happen?
      b) Prepare mentally to accept the worst.
      c) Try to improve on the worst.
3. Remind yourself of the exorbitant price you can pay for worry in terms of your health.
4. Apply the law of averages in your favor.


Six ways to break the worry habit

1. Keep busy.
2. Don’t fuss about trifles.
3. Use the law of averages to outlaw your worries.
4. Co-operate with the inevitable.
5. Decide just how much anxiety a thing
6. Don’t worry about the past.


Seven  ways to Peace and Happiness
 
1. Fill your mind with thoughts of peace, courage, health, hope and prayer.
2. Never try to get even with your enemies.
3. Expect ingratitude.
4. Count your blessings-not your troubles.
5. Do not imitate others.
6. Try to profit from your losses.
7. Create happiness for others.

 
Seven ways to face criticism and grow strong

1. Remember that unjust criticism is often a disguised compliment.
2. Do the very best you can.
3. Analyse your own mistakes and criticize yourself.
4. Learn to relax at your work.
5. Apply the following four good working habits.
     a) Clear your desk of all papers except those relating to the immediate problem at hand.
     b) Do things in order of their importance.
     c) When you have a problem, solve it then and there if you have the necessary facts to make a decision.
     d) Learn to organize, deputize and supervise.
6. Put enthusiasm into your work.
7. Don’t worry about insomnia.

Get Malaysian Business Online (GMBO)

 

Tahukah anda bahawa terdapat bantuan geran sebanyak RM1000 untuk anda para usahawan mikro?

Pemberian geran RM1000 ini adalah kelangsungan daripada program "GET MALAYSIAN BUSINESS ONLINE" yang dikhaskan untuk para usahawan-usahawan mikro yang ingin membawa perniagaan mereka secara online. Namun usahawan-usahawan lelaki juga boleh memohon untuk mendapatkan geran yang bernilai RM1000 ini dengan membuat permohonan. Dibawah ini saya sertakan maklumat2 berkenaan GMBO yang diambil dari laman web SKMM sendiri.

 

Perkara yang anda perlu tahu tentang GET MALAYSIAN BUSINESS ONLINE

1.  Apakah itu Get Malaysian Business Online?
Get Malaysian Business Online ialah inisiatif yang diumumkan dalam Bajet 2013 oleh Perdana Menteri bagi membantu 50,000 usahawan mikro terutamanya wanita untuk melonjakkan perniagaan atas talian. Geran RM1,000 akan diberikan kepada pemohon yang
layak.

2. Apakah syarat untuk mendapatkan geran Get Malaysian Business Online?

Syarat-syarat permohonan:

1. Warganegara Malaysia berumur 18-65 tahun dengan keutamaan kepada usahawan wanita;
2. Pendaftaran/Lesen Perniagaan/Syarikat;
3. Pendaftaran nama domain (.com.my/.my/.net.my/.edu.my/.org.my) dan laman sesawang yang aktif;
4. Mempunyai langganan perkhidmatan telekomunikasi jalur lebar atau menjadi ahli berdaftar di Pusat Internet 1Malaysia (PI1M);
5. Akaun bank tempatan atas nama usahawan/perniagaan/syarikat yang digunakan untuk perniagaan; dan
6. Keutamaan kepada usahawan mikro – jumlah pekerja (sepenuh masa) tidak melebihi 5 orang atau pendapatan tidak melebihi RM 200,000 setahun.

3.  Bilakah saya boleh mula memohon?Permohonan dibuka bermula dari 1 Januari 2013 hingga 31 Disember 2013 atau sehingga peruntukan RM50 juta telah dipenuhi.

4.  Bagaimana cara untuk saya memohon?Permohonan boleh dibuat melalui laman sesawang Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (SKMM) di www.skmm.gov.my atau di Pusat Internet 1Malaysia (PI1M) yang berdekatan. Klik sini untuk download senarai PI1M.

5. Bagaimanakah geran diagihkan?
Geran RM1,000 akan dimasukkan ke dalam akaun bank yang didaftarkan atas nama usahawan/syarikat/perniagaan.

6. Berapa lamakah masa yang diambil untuk permohonan diproses?
Permohonan yang diterima akan diproses dalam tempoh 30 hari bekerja.

7. Apakah sebab permohonan ditolak?
Permohonan ditolak disebabkan beberapa faktor:

- Permohonan yang tidak lengkap dan tidak tepat;
- Syarat-syarat tidak dipenuhi;
- Permohonan telah dibuat oleh ahli kongsi usahawan/syarikat/perniagaan.

8. Berapa kali permohonan boleh dibuat?
Setiap usahawan/syarikat/perniagaan hanya boleh memohon sekali sahaja.

9. Bagaimanakah pemohon mengetahui bahawa permohonan telah diterima?
Akuan penerimaan dan nombor rujukan akan diberikan oleh SKMM setelah borang permohonan telah diisi sepenuhnya dan dihantar.

10. Bagaimanakah untuk mengetahui status permohonan?
Pemohon boleh menyemak status permohonan melalui laman sesawang SKMM melalui nombor kad pengenalan pemohon. Semak status permohonan disini.

11. Adakah terdapat sebarang perjanjian antara usahawan dengan pihak SKMM setelah mendapat dana tersebut?
Tiada.

12. Adakah terdapat sebarang caj perkhidmatan bagi memohon geran tersebut?
Tidak

13. Adakah penerima geran perlu melaporkan penggunaan wang RM 1,000 yang diterima kepada SKMM?
Penerima geran tidak perlu menghantar laporan. Pihak SKMM akan membuat pemantauan dan tinjauan berterusan mengenai keberkesanan program.

14. Adakah terdapat sebarang bantuan/geran susulan bagi membantu usahawan meneruskan perniagaan?
Tiada

15. Adakah terdapat sebarang bantuan atau syarat minima bagi membantu usahawan membuka akaun bank?
Tiada.

16. Adakah geran RM 1,000 ini hanya boleh digunakan untuk pembangunan laman sesawang atau kegunaan lain syarikat?
Geran yang diberikan adalah untuk melonjakkan perniagaan atas talian dan tidak terhad kepada pembangunan laman sesawang tetapi boleh digunakan untuk kegunaan lain seperti latihan/kursus, langganan perkhidmatan jalur lebar atau telefon pintar, komputer, langganan perkhidmatan aplikasi perniagaan awan (cloud based business applications) dan sebagainya.

17. Adakah usahawan lelaki dibenarkan untuk memohon geran tersebut?
Ya.

18. Saya adalah usahawan yang memasarkan perkhidmatan dalam talian. Adakah saya layak memohon?
Anda layak memohon sekiranya memenuhi syarat-syarat yang ditetapkan.

19. Adakah saya layak memohon sekiranya saya hanya memasarkan produk melalui laman blog dan facebook?
Anda perlu mempunyai lawan sesawang (.com.my) atau (.my) bagi memasarkan perniagaan anda selain dari laman sosial yang digunakan. Anda juga boleh menggunakan domain lain seperti .net.my/.org.my/.edu.my.

20. Adakah geran RM1,000 tersebut akan dibayar terus kepada saya atau disalurkan kepada pembangun laman sesawang tersebut?
Geran akan disalurkan terus kepada usahawan/syarikat/perniagaan yang memohon melalui akaun bank yang didaftarkan.

21. Saya mempunyai perniagaan tetapi masih belum berada dalam talian. Bagaimanakah saya hendak mendaftar dan membangunkan laman sesawang perniagaan saya?
Pendaftaran laman sesawang boleh dilakukan dengan myDomain Registry manakala pembangunan laman sesawang boleh dilakukan dengan mana-mana agensi atau syarikat yang menawarkan perkhidmatan pembangunan laman sesawang. Anda juga boleh menggunakan kemudahan yang terdapat di www.getmybusinessonline.com.my untuk membina laman sesawang dan pengehosan percuma.

22. Perniagaan saya adalah perniagaan pemilikan tunggal. Adakah saya boleh menggunakan akaun bank peribadi bagi memohon geran tersebut?
Ya.

23. Saya mempunyai syarikat perniagaan tetapi tidak mempunyai akaun bank syarikat. Adakah saya layak mendapatkan geran ini?
Ya. Akaun atas nama usahawan boleh digunakan.

24. Saya mempunyai 3 buah syarikat. Adakah saya boleh memohon untuk ketiga-tiga syarikat tersebut?
Tidak. Setiap individu/syarikat hanya boleh memohon sekali sahaja.

25. Sekiranya saya ada pertanyaan, kepada siapakah patut saya ajukan?
Sebarang pertanyaan boleh diajukan melalui email iaitu gmbo@cmc.gov.my atau telefon 1-800-88-4040 (Isnin sehingga Jumaat kecuali cuti umum dari jam 8.30 pagi hingga 5.30 petang) mulai 1 Januari 2013.

26. Adakah pendaftaran secara talian ini akan beroperasi 24 jam?
Sistem talian ini akan diberhentikan seketika pada pukul 11 malam sehingga 7 pagi setiap hari. Ini bertujuan agar penyelenggaraan sistem dan mengemaskinikan data dapat dilakukan.

Kepada usahawan-usahawan mikro yang belum ada website atau ingin membangunkan lagi website anda atau usahawan-usahawan internet atau pemasar-pemasar servis ambillah peluang dari geran RM1000 yang diperuntukkan kepada anda sebaiknya untuk memajukan lagi perniagaan anda.

Dengan kerjasama:

5 Questions You Must Ask to Set Your Customer Strategy

Your customers are the most important part of your business – without customers, your company wouldn’t exist – and your customer strategy is best built by talking to those same customers. By asking them (and yourself) the questions that matter, you’ll be able to make the best decisions for your business and for your customers.

 

Serve Customers by Asking Questions

Gary Hoover says it well in an interview conducted in 2011: customer strategy starts with serving customers.

Only people can focus on customers.  And all businesses are customer-centric whether they think so or not.  It’s just that some are focused on screwing their customers while others focus on making customers’ lives full of delight, and everything in between.  Those who don’t cherish and respect and innovatively serve their customers will not be long for this world. –Gary Hoover

Strategy, like other processes, gets better as you iteratively improve it, so you should strongly consider using a rubric – like the 5 Whys Method pioneered by Toyota – to force yourself to answer the questions that need to be asked. These questions, like the 5 whys, build on each other in a manner of philosophic first principles. You can ask any one out of order, and they are more powerful when used as a holistic process to guide your strategy.

 

Question 1: Who is your customer?

The first question you need to ask to set your customer strategy is to honestly ask yourself about the identify of your customers. Do they belong to small businesses, or large ones? Do they communicate on only one channel (like email) or do they tweet, Facebook, and Pin all day long? The best way to find out is to get out of the building and go to the customer’s office and talk to them about their likes and dislikes, and about the ways their business can be more successful. If you can’t visit them, survey them.

And if you want to make customer personas to guide your team with the insights you learn, here’s some information to get you started.

 

Question 2: How does your customer like to be contacted?

We all have our preferences about how to be contacted by a company with which we do business. Those communication norms stem both from our comfort level with the business, the type of service we buy from them, and how often we contact them normally. You might think it’s strange to be contacted by your insurance company more than once or twice a year, and you might welcome a weekly call from a recurring service provider.

Be flexible and allow your customers to tell you how often they like to be contacted, and don’t overwhelm them with messaging. Once you determine how often your customers want to be contacted, you can use an integrated calendar that incorporates your CRM and inbound marketing tools, or you can simply use a spreadsheet to manage this communication. You might recognize this strategy from content marketing – here’s a template for a content calendar.

 

Question 3: What will you do when your customer is disappointed?

Customer strategy sounds great when the customer is happy. So what should you do when things go wrong, or simply not as planned? We’ve written here about dealing with demanding customers, and an important part of your customer strategy is deciding how you will respond to the unhappy customer (whether it’s your fault, their fault, or somewhere in between.) A very useful rubric that you can consider is the idea of Acknowledging the issue, Apologizing for any inconvenience, Offering to find out information, and Answering with a fact-based explanation (including offering a workaround if one exists.)

If you can’t solve the disappointment, address it directly and your customers will appreciate avoiding a run-around explanation. You may not be able to solve their problems, and you can give it your best effort. An excellent way to check your experience for new customers is to periodically sign up for a new account on your own service and write down any observations that seem relevant.

 

Question 4: How do you know when your customer is successful?

It would be awesome if all of your customers told you when they had a rousing success with your product or service. More often than not, they won’t tell you when they are able to do the job they hired your product to do – because to them, “it just works.” So part of your customer strategy needs to be working actively to understand the conditions that are necessary (perhaps not sufficient) for success. That might mean that all of the documentation needs to be in synch with the 4 steps to complete an action in the product; it might mean that the team members are all briefed early in the product process on a new feature; and it might mean creating a beta group to test how customers will react to the thing you think they should be able to do.

You’ll know when your customer is successful both when they tell you, and when you anticipate the necessary steps for them to have completed along the path to success – and make them as easy as possible. One of my favorite ways to check whether I’m building success for my customers is to check out the Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development and flip to any page for a good idea.

 

Question 5: What’s Next?

The practice of asking questions, as in the 5 whys method, allows you to get the raw material to determine your customer strategy. And these questions that we’ve posed here are not an end in themselves. The act of asking these questions provides the raw material that you can use to pick the people, processes, and tools that will allow you to build a customer strategy to understand your customer, communicate with them effectively, know when they are disappointed, and when they are successful. Asking these five questions will get you started, and building the resulting strategy is an ongoing process. When you build the right customer strategy, it’s easy to create, communicate, and deliver unique value to your customers.

source:desk.com

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How to Set Up Wifi Printer Easy Way

This was from my own experience, installing a wireless printer to my laptop. My printer model was Canon MX347 Wifi.


What you need;
1. a computer/laptop with Wifi
2. a printer with Wifi function also
3. Internet line/modem which we call  'access point' after this
*Note: Please install the printer driver to the computer first (CD that comes with the printer when you buy it)


A) Set the printer to the 'access point' (your internet modem - has SSID, and WEP/WPS Key or password)

1. Push 'ON' printer > MENU button > device settings > LAN settings > activate WLAN (WIFI turns blue)
2. Wireless LAN Setup > easy setup > choose your internet ID and enter the WEP key (password)
3. Print LAN details

B) Computer/Laptop to detect the printer (thru the 'access point')

1.control panel > devices and printers > add a printer > add a network, wireless or bluetooth printer
2.Searching printer - successful - add; but if not successful, click 'the printer that i want isnt listed'
3.Choose 'add a printer using TCP/IP address' > Next > Device type > Web services device
4.Fill in the blank the 'Hostname or IP addressing' with your IP; refer A)3.Print LAN details,
  your IP should be written in the printing.
5.Automatically, your printer will install/add the wireless printer. No need USB cable in this process.
6. Test print

ENJOY!