Make Predictions for the Coming Year

You can base your projections for the coming year on your high and low times during 2011 but only loosely. Why only loosely? If you received the most positive cash flow in February 2011, the coming month of February may not supply the same results. When planning ahead, always underestimate. Underestimating will allow you to propose a financial backup plan during times that do not meet the expectations set by the previous year. Additionally, planning ahead while underestimating will allow you to determine if further investments are possible in the coming year.

Limit Spending Despite Positive Flow

This concept is particularly important when your business is new. Whether your cash flow is positive or negative may determine the quality of your Christmas presents and upcoming small business investments. If your backup plan for the coming year requires a saved portion of your yearly profits, you may have to delay small investments until your profits exceed your predictions. Rushing personal financial gain can quickly wipe out the foundation that allowed you to profit in the first place. Remain miserly and protect your profits until your profits far outweigh your overhead—and until that profit has remained consistent over time. A small business will grow if you know how to distinguish smart risks from bad ones, and if you refrain from overextending yourself too soon.

The holidays are a tempting time to spend money, but reflecting on the year’s success and playing it safe will allow you to continue your success in 2012.

It’s not hard to see why, because it’s cheap and convenient, although there are downsides to the idea too. For example, it can be a very solitary existence working out of a bedroom, study or even the garage. What’s more, there can often be frequent intrusions and interruptions from well meaning family members and friends. So, while it might be good enough, it’s far from ideal.

A new way forward

Little wonder then that the reasonably recent phenomenon of renting desk space and hot desking has really been taking off, thanks to an endless array of options all of which can be found by using the free and easy services of a comparison website online. What’s more, renting desk space or hot desking can be a really cheap way of getting you set-up in business at a prime location.

You’ll generally find that desk rentals can be had on a short-term rolling basis when it comes to contractual obligations, and due to the fact that landlords out there are desperate to make the most of their vacant office areas, you’ll probably find that prices are surprisingly competitive too.

Flexible and convenient

When you’re in the early stages of running a business then keeping overheads to an absolute minimum is a must, and the desk space rental scenario does just that. Adding to the appeal is that it’s very flexible, so if you start to outgrow your desk then simply ask the landlord to add on some more space. Further down the line you could always look at serviced office scenario, which is a rather grander setup complete with receptionists, IT support and post. However, in the short term, the concept of desk space rental or hot desking is very likely to help you drum up more business. For a start, there is a much greater chance of being able to network when you’re in an office with other like-minded people. It’ll also make a great location for meeting clients and prospective new customers too.

And, if you’ve got a business that needs to look it’s best, especially if you deal with the public on a regular basis, then having a desk space rental option in an upmarket business park or an inner city location will make a lot of difference when it comes to gaining credibility. Adding to that is the fact that you’ll also gain yourself a decent postcode too, which really could prove to be the icing on the cake of a new website or on your freshly printed office stationary.

In short then, if you’re prepared to spend a little time comparing the options that can be found online in mere minutes, then the desk space rental route is a great one to take. It could well be the best business decision you’ll ever make.

About the author: Rob Clymo writes on behalf of www.officegenie.co.uk, the UK’s online marketplace for finding office space in London and across the UK!.

A new survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF) found more than 30 percent of parents with college-bound kids will supply them with gift cards and prepaid cards. That’s an increase of 2 percent over 2010 and an excellent predictor of sales to come for the holiday season.

What’s even more surprising is the total students and their parents anticipate spending on these handy pieces of plastic, totaling $3.4 billion for an increase of nearly $1 billion from last year. The average expenditure clocked in at just over $60.

That $60, however, will stretch even further with discount gift cards. Websites such as Gift Card Granny allow consumers to buy gift cards and save up to 35-percent off face value when purchased online. The site offers cards for everything from Domino’s pizza to Bed Bath and Beyond dorm-room decor. Students can also check their card’s balance at the site so there are no nasty surprises at checkout.

Those looking for more localized gift cards can find them on Craigslist or eBay and such swap sites as SwapAce.

Internet Retailer noted online gift card sales alone are expected to grow at 29 percent for the next four years. In addition, the increasing popularity of mobile gift cards plays well with this plugged-in generation. The class of 2014 can access discount e-cards while shopping and have them scanned at the register. This technology has made gift card buying and use much easier, with 42 percent of merchants currently offering an e-card option, according to Bankrate.com.

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This is a guest post from Andrea Woroch who is a consumer and money-saving expert for Kinoli Inc.As a nationally recognized media source, Andrea has been featured among top news outlets such as Good Morning America, NBC’s Today, MSNBC, New York Times, Kiplinger Personal Finance, CNNMoney and many more. To view recent interviews or for more savings tips visit AndreaWoroch.com or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

These high office costs leave many business owners wondering whether or not they even need an office setting in the first place. Offices are there in the first place to keep workers together to increase productivity and to provide an air of professionalism. However, if you’re running a small business with functions that are achieved primarily through software and the Internet, then is there really an incentive to house your employees together? If each employee has their own laptop and can access the web with it, then everyone can operate remotely and there’s no need to spend money on an office.

Meetings are still an essential part of running a business, but you don’t need to pay for office space and furnishings just so you have a place to meet up with coworkers and employees. A venture capitalist friend of mine didn’t have an office for the first two years of his SEO company that, at the time, employed over eight individuals. He simply had everybody meet once a week at a coffee shop with Wi-Fi. He was still able to discuss serious company developments face-to-face and flesh out tasks in a way that can only be done in person, while it also enabled his employees to come armed with questions.

You can relax when it comes to whether or not the work is getting done when workers stay home or work from elsewhere. Studies consistently indicate that those who work from home are generally more productive than their in-office counterparts. If you hire the right kinds of employees, there’s no reason you shouldn’t trust them to work from home.

About the whole “got to look good for clients and customers” thing…look, there’s no fooling people that you’re a young inexperienced entrepreneur. Shiny tabletops and rows of workers diligently typing in a conformed pattern aren’t going to make a young business look any more professional, and neither is the mere office environment itself. If anything, clients are going to like the idea that you’re willing to think different and act on it. Saving money without sacrificing skill and capability always looks good to those you do business with.

If you’re at the helm of a start-up and are exhausted by how much money keeping an office space is costing your company, consider dumping the office and working remotely. You certainly won’t have a hard time finding workers who like the idea of doing their job in only their underwear.

Primer, a critically-acclaimed independent film released in 2004, tells the tale of a couple of business-minded buddies that accidentally discover a way to travel backwards in time while trying to invent an error-checking device. While the story mainly focuses on the tragic flaws of toying with time travel, it demonstrates cost-effective entrepreneurialism pretty accurately. To evade the curious and do so cheaply the film’s characters conduct their experiments in a storage unit.

It makes me think of a Canadian friend of mine who recently started operating her own traveling vintage clothing store. She rented out a couple of Toronto storage units to keep her total inventory, then picked up items in the van she used as her “store” When gas and the rental costs are added together she tells me her costs still run under $200 a month!

Most storage centers are happy to accommodate activities beyond mere storage. Many storage center websites encourage people who need a place for band practice or need a workshop to rent out a storage room. They promise clean climate controlled environments that are accessible at any point in time. Most offer great deals on the first months fees, and the superior storage centers that exist make it just as easy to cancel your rental agreement as it is to sign up for one.

I’d check before aspiring to run an actual business straight from a storage center – storage facilities probably have a problem with people coming by to visit your flea market – but so long as you’re simply using the space for a business and not for housing one, you shouldn’t have a problem. It really comes down to whether or not you interfere with other storage customers.

In the meantime before renting office space becomes necessary and affordable, see about renting a storage unit to have access to space you can use cheaply and casually for an indefinite amount of time. Starting a business drains a lot of your worry power, so don’t make things worse by adding the burdens of a lease or compromising for space with family members, roommates, or loved ones. If all you need is the bare minimum space for your business to grow, look no further than self storage centers.

1. The Bento application
This application allows its user to organize every aspect of their life. The mobile software has twenty-five different templates that can be customized to include such elements as personal and professional contacts, inventories, and schedules. This is a great tool for a student entrepreneur as it takes the initial difficulty of organizing information out of the equation. This element can be particularly overwhelming or difficult for a first-time entrepreneur. This application may be purchased from the Apple Application Store.

2. Evernote application
This mobile application allows a person to keep track of thoughts and ideas that they might have for their business. This is helpful as many young entrepreneurs are on the go with their Smartphones in tow and may not have time to find a piece of paper or notebook to record idea. All they have to do with this application is pull out their mobile device. The ideas may be saved in a text, picture, or audio format. It is available for free on many mainstream Smartphones such as Iphone, Android, and Blackberry.

3. Intuit GoPayment
This application pairs itself with GoPayment. With this application, an entrepreneur can accept payments from others using their Smartphone and have these payments deposited into a bank account. In order to accept the transaction; however, both the seller and buyer must be paying using a GoPayment account. The process is very quick and a person can choose to pay a monthly fee for this service. This simplifies an important aspect of the selling process for a busy, student entrepreneur. This application is available for purchase on most major Smartphone application stores.

4. Inventory Tracker
The Inventory tracker is an application that allows a person to keep track of all of their items that have been sold and need to be shipped, or the inventory that has yet to sell. It updates this information as it happens. This is very important for a person with a large inventory and needs some way to keep track of it all. This application is available for Iphones.

5. OmniVoice
OmniVoice is another sales application for Smartphones. It allows its user to easily create invoices and quotes. It calculates discounts, exemptions, and currency exchange. Invoices and quotes are a major part of many businesses and this tool simplifies the process in a way that caters to young entrepreneurs. This mobile application is available for the Iphone.

About the author: Christina Lopez is a freelance fashion writer and pop culture junkie. Christina specializes in all things lifestyle-related. From home and design to health and beauty. With her love of art and all things beautiful, she delights in sharing her sense of style from her life to your computer monitor. Her title pegs her as an editor at a website that specializes in providing people with car insurance quotes, but her passion leads her into writing with a little more substance and a lot more heart.

Most business owners when in need of money to either develop their business or to simply help it along, immediately think of a bank overdraft.  But this isn’t the only option, and in most cases isn’t the best option either.  Bank overdrafts have become harder to acquire and often businesses will only be able to lend a small amount of money.  Also, a bank overdraft is repayable on demand, adding yet more worry as this could happen at any time.  For most owners today, Invoice Factoring is the preferred method of borrowing money in a worry-free way.

What is Invoice Factoring?

Invoice factoring is a financial transaction where a business will sell its accounts to a third party in exchange for immediate cash to finance their business.  Many people think of it as a modern day bank overdraft.

Invoice Factoring Vs. Bank Overdraft

A bank overdraft is normally dependant on the length of time your business has been trading and the profitability of your business, making it extremely hard for new businesses to lend money or smaller, niche businesses.  This is where Invoice factoring differs; Invoice Factoring will be awarded against the amount of unpaid invoices of your business.  Business owners can expect to receive up to 95% of funds from unpaid invoices.

What can Invoice Factoring help you with?

• Bridge the gap between raising invoices and getting paid
• Up your cash flow instantly
• Provide you with the funds to grow your business
• You will have bad debt protection

It is crucial to remember the importance of finding a reputable independent financial business advisor if you decide that invoice factoring is the right solution for your business.  Target Business Assist, one of the UK’s expert teams of independent financial business advisors, offer only impartial advice as they are not affiliated with any particular lenders.  They have access to most of the UK lenders, meaning you are sure to receive the best rates for your business, along with simple, easy to understand advice.

For those of you keen on perfecting this habit, start managing your money now!

To start with it, you may consider investment in stocks as a great option. But you must keep it in mind that smart stock investing for young people differs from that for the veterans. The main reason being that the youngsters in the age group of 20 to 30 years tend to go through spending sprees. Their monthly expenditures are often quite high and leave minimal scopes for savings.

Wondering what smart investment is? Smart stock investment is nothing but investment that maximizes gain and minimizes loss. It is

Some smart investment in stocks can actually secure your finances for future, without having your monthly luxuries curtailed.

Investment can be real time peppy idea and here are some hot tips on investing for all you youngsters:

1. There is never really an ideal time for investment, especially when you are a newbie. But do keep a track of the stocks for at least three years at a stretch, before you embark on first your investment.
2. Smart Stock Investing requires constant practice; while it takes a lot of work, the more you put in the better you get.
3. Try to be extremely logical and analytical while you invest. Do not worry! You will get better at differentiating good investments from bad ones, as you gain experience.
4. Google for a cheap online stock broker to help you buy the stocks.
5. Develop the habit of putting aside some money for investment every month. It can be so that you have to go for a debt consolidating measure and would require making monthly payments. Whether you’re in college or in the working world, you surely save up some extra money each month after paying off your bills. Keep about 10 to 15% of that money for investing in stocks. This percentage, on one hand, will not affect your entertainment/luxury expenses. On the other hand, it would ensure your monetary profits for you.
6. Whenever you zero in on a company in whose stocks you would like to invest, do not forget to do an exhaustive research on that company. Go through its financial statement. And it would give you a fair idea whether the company’s stocks are worth investing in.
7. Check the price of the stock before you make the transaction. For this, log on to your online broker’s website and type in the stock’s ticker symbol on the Stock Trading page. You may also get the information on stock prices at Google Finance.
8. The stock brokers usually charge a commission fee when you book stocks via brokers. The commission fee is usually around 10$ and it gets added to your total stock price.
9. Once you have invested, keep a track of your stocks every day. This will keep you updated about the diurnal rise or fall in the price of your stocks.
10. Developed the habit of reading financial news and statements. This will not only help you learn about the pros and cons of your investment but also sharpen your foresight for possibilities of future investments.

So, you can see investment is not an exclusive area of experienced, grey haired veterans dealing with stocks for years. Youngsters like you too may try your luck at it successfully. All you need is a bit of patience and a rational approach. And you are sure to secure your finances with some intelligent investment!

Guest post provided by: Dorothy Anderson

But, we couldn’t jump directly into it and just drive off the lot with one, we spent time planning for the purchase, doing research, and finding out what the best price we could get was. Now, if you haven’t realized it, now is a great time to buy a new car – any type of car. With so many dealerships closing up, trying to shrink their stock, and merging together with other dealerships or bringing on more brands, they want to sell you a car and will do almost anything you want them to do to get a sale.

We didn’t have a lot of money saved up

We were not completely expecting to just go out and buy a new car when we moved into our townhouse (which we rent), bought a bunch of furniture, and other necessities, so we didn’t exactly have all the cash saved up that we wanted to right away. So, we set a plan and decided on when we would want to make the purchase – at the end of June. So for 2 months we cut down on other expenses, saved our pennies, and moved money around. If we were the more frugal types, we could have completely cut extra spending AND saved up for many more months. But, with the situation we were in, we most likely could not have waited through August before her car would just completely drop dead…which is not something anyone wants!

Now, after doing research, checking out different sites, and negotiating with the dealership, I’ve got a few tips to share and sites that you should check out if you are a first time car buyer or just looking for some extra ‘backup’ that you could take with you to the negotiation table when dealing with a sales associate.

To Trade In or Not To Trade In

That is the question! With Courtney’s car we knew we didn’t want to mess with trying to sell it to someone else, deal with transferring the title, etc. We just wanted to trade it in, get what we could, and knock our payments down a bit.  To get an idea of what your current vehicle may be worth, check out the Kelley Blue Book website.

Once you have a price in mind from KBB, then head to your dealer or CarMax to see what trade in value you can get. At the same time you should be looking at comparable vehicles for sale in your area to see what prices they are fetching. When you get an idea from your dealer, CarMax, or similar car buying service you can decide if you want to trade it in or try to sell the car on your own. This could be a major money make for you depending on your vehicle, the condition, and the mileage. I know someone who was offered around $1000 for her car by CarMax (a 2002 model) and then sold it to someone from Craigslist’s for around $4000. That extra money will sure help make your new car payments!

American Automobile Association (AAA)

AAA is actually a membership based organization that provides services like car towing, road side assistance, travel information, and more, but they also have a great car buying resource. If you head to their website, http://www.aaa.com, they have Car Buying Tips and Car Buying Tools sections that are very helpful. Within these, you can do new and used car buying research and get online quotes. If you are a AAA member, then you can get exclusive AAA discount prices from 3 local dealers. This is a great advantage to have on your side. After I got 3 quotes, I printed them off and took them to our local dealership that we were going to buy from. This immediately let me say “Your price needs to be less then this or we’ll go someone else.” It worked and instantly dropped $2K off our price. Just don’t show all your cards at once!

TruCar.com

This is another great site to check out…especially if you love bar graphs like @CollegeTownMenu does! Basically, it lets you see what others really paid for their cars.  Just start by putting in your zip code and then select the type of car you are looking at. You get to see what a “Great price” is, the actual dealer cost, the average paid price, the factory invoice, and the sticker price. This is a great tool for negotiating!

So there’s a few tips and sites to check out when you go to buy your next vehicle, new or used. Also be sure to shop around for financing if you need to get it. Check with your bank as well as the dealership. The dealership wanted us to finance the car through them so bad that they dropped the rate almost 4% from what they told us originally when I told them that we were going to go through our bank at a much lower rate.

Just remember – it’s all a game. They want to sell cars and you want to buy one. There are tons of dealerships in every city, so if you can’t get the price you’re looking for from one, just walk out the door. I’m sure they will stop you!

Good luck! Leave your car buying tips here if you have some to add!

M&T Bank now offers a great money market account that you can sign up for and have some nice perks.

• Fast Online Signup
• No Monthly Fee
• No Minimum Balance
• 24/7 Access
• Funds quickly and easily available
• FDIC Insured

As I was preparing to write this post, I searched around the net to see what other people were saying about the accounts and the only bad thing, which really isn’t a bad thing in my opinion, is that there is a $1 fee per withdrawl after you make 4 withdrawls in a month. So when you make that 5th withdrawl from your account, don’t be shocked when you get a $1 fee assessed to you.

The money market account is currently offering 3.00% APY, which is pretty good. In comparison, ING which I am sure many of you know about, and probably even use (I do) currently offers a rate of 2.75% APY.

To get started with opening your e-money market account, all you need is a valid drivers license, a valid social security number, be 18 years of age or older, and be a U.S. citizen.

So, what are you waiting for? Go sign up today and start saving your money, and earning more interest than with your normal local bank’s checking account! You can only get this special offer by signing up online, so check out their website http://www.mtbmoneymarket.com.