I am the owner and manager of a trucking repair company located in the mid-west. My business provides tractor-trailer repair services both in-house and on the road for owner/operators who are in transit. I say “in transit” because a large portion of our business comes from trucks which have broken down on the road. We travel over 200 miles in all directions to get them up and running as fast as we can.

Additionally, we offer diagnostic services and preventive maintenance such as oil changes, plug and wire changes and tune-ups. Located between two fairly large cities, we see a lot of business come in as drivers generally prefer to avoid having to stop near major metropolitan areas as it can often mean several hours of down time. Consequently, we get a lot of calls coming in at certain times of the day, while at other times our phones might not ring for an hour or more. I recently had a trunk study performed on our phone lines, to determine if we were missing calls during our busy times. I wanted to know if adding more phone lines might improve business. I was shocked at the results.

We were missing a lot of incoming calls, more than I had imagined. With the phones ringing off the hook, I really had no idea just how many people were unable to get through. After I received the trunk study results, I added four more lines and hired more customer service representatives. Within a month of doing this, I had to add two extra bays to our building to accommodate the increase in trucks coming in. In short, my business has grown by thirty percent from having the trunk study performed. The alternative would have likely been a decrease in business as drivers might have decided to stop trying to schedule with us as a result of never being able to get through. It just reminds me that what you don’t know can hurt you, or certainly your business.

Have you ever considered why SPAM has caused such a public backlash compared to the deafening silence from its unsolicited paper cousins of direct and junk mail? People seem to care a lot more about what enters their Inbox than their letterbox. And for the word “care” think about logical substitutes of “notice”, “read” and “respond”.

All this translates into campaign results that can surpass other forms of direct communication making it an ideal cost effective option for any small business owner.

And what’s more I believe that as a small business owner the odds are stacked in their favour to become budding email marketing superstars.

Let me explain why.

Firstly, it’s about personality. E-mail messages written in a personal style seem to work the best. Writing this way doesn’t seem to faze most small business owners. Usually their business shows more of their personality when dealing with customers than larger competitors so writing this way seems to be a natural option.

Secondly, a small business owner can understand what content that has a good chance of being read. With them working closely with customers they tend to understand what their customers want to know about and can easily translate this into articles and reports that will be read.

Thirdly, the time and cost efficient nature of email marketing ideally suits the busy small business owner. It can take the same amount of effort to create an email newsletter for 500 subscribers as it does 50,000. Plus the costs of an email production are a fraction of the alternative paper option.

For a small business owner a regular e-mail message can have as much personality and content to end up being the next best thing as a phone call from themselves, just more efficient and at a lot less costly to produce.

So there you have it, three reasons why small business owners can make it big in the Inbox. Have fun harnessing this great tool for your company.

There are many ways to make money at home. You can either start your own home business or apply at a company that employs people who can work from home..

The most common ways to make money at home is by starting your own home business. Because of the internet, it is now possible for people to communicate faster wherever they are in the world.

Therefore, it is easier for people to start their own home business and sell their product or services more effectively.

However, starting a home business is not as easy at it seems, you also need to invest a little time and money for your business to work.

If you plan to make extra cash at home, here are some guidelines, much like making a feasibility study, to remember in order to put you on the right track.

Firstly, you need to create a business plan. To do this you have to find out how much money you want to make and the goals you want to reach.

Be realistic, starting your own home business does not mean that you can become a millionaire overnight. Determine how much extra money you want to earn and how much you are willing to invest.

Research what kind of home business you are willing to consider. Make a list of these businesses and try to figure out what suits you best and figure out the demands for each kind of business. Choose one that is easy to set up and one that does not require you to invest a lot of money.

Choose one that does not need much maintenance, for example, perishable goods like fruits and vegetables are a great income generator, but there are too many competitors and it also requires you to spend large sums of money for storage.

Look for a business that does not need these kinds of special care. Remember, you are in a business to make money not lose it.

To help you decide, here are some types of businesses that are great moneymakers:

Import-Export Business

Since we can communicate with anyone from around the world, you can look for a business that exports quality handmade products that are cheap. You can then import these products and sell them by using the internet with a larger price tag.

There are many quality handmade products with great designs and artistry all over the world. For example, you can sell exotic looking carpets from the Middle East that cost $20.00 each, including the packaging fee, and then sell them in your country for a lot more.

Affiliate Programs

This type of home based business has been around for quite a while and it is still popular. This is because this is one of the easiest ways to make money..

You just have to create a theme-based website and find a company to sign up as an affiliate that is relevant to your website’s theme.

For example, your website is about fishing, what you have to do is find a website that sells fishing equipments or fishing tours and vacations.

Once a visitor clicks on the advertising and buys their products or services, you instantly earn commission for the sold product or service. You are paid by just referring people. The key to this business’s success is targeted internet traffic.

There are many types of work-at-home businesses. All you have to do is find out what tailors your needs. Having your own home business can be either a part time job or a full time job.

It is also very convenient especially if you are a single parent who cannot afford to hire a nanny for your children. By doing online business you can make extra cash and take care or look after your children at the same time.

Setting a health and safety program in place will reduce costs. Having a program will reduce accidents and will lead to lower company worker’s comp premiums; further business insurance companies prefer their customers to have health and safety programs. These insurance companies might even discount the premium if a program can be proved to exist. The average cost of an accident is $68,000. Direct costs in accidents such as worker’s comp and fines levied can close a business. Indirect costs such as low morale of employees, legal fees, and retraining can be as costly if not more.

A working program will:
1) Improve employee morale ? Shows care in their well being
2) Reduce revenue loses ? Fewer accidents keeps all employees at work
3) Give a boost to the customer ? Makes sure business is operating optimally

Small businesses that have a voluntary health and safety program in place have fifty percent less accidents and reported insurance claims than that of their counterparts according to OHSA stats. Most small businesses fall below the legal requirements for having a formal health and safety program in place due to number of employees on staff. Sixty eight percent of reported accidents are in the service industry which shows even businesses such as retail establishments are not free of accidents.

A health and safety program can be started by writing a health and safety policy; this is simply values that a company wishes to convey in its work processes. Secondly, is how communication between all employees and owners will function. And lastly, put procedures in place to ensure safe practices.

To find unseen hazards and unsafe practices, an audit needs to take place. Take a hard look at the workplace and record all factors that may lead to injury. These hazards might be dangerous chemicals or as simple as a letter opener. Identifying these hazards will lead to procedures to controlling them. Controls such as “Don’t run with scissors in your hands” are effective. Write all procedures in a manual.

Implementing these health and safety procedures will be done with behavioral change. Some programs become weak and non effective because of:
1) No definition of safety practices ? No written processes
2) No teamwork ? Safety is communication from the top to bottom and vice versa. A well written plan will describe what roles everyone plays in safety policies.
3) No effective goals ? The “accident free days” poster will come as a result of sound safety processes.
4) Wrong incentives ? Money as a reward does not work well. Health and safety should be fun and worth employees effort. The right incentive plan can be cost effective and have obtainable goals. Incentive plans can include movie passes or simply “free coffee on the boss.” The insurance industry reports for a dollar spent on health and safety yields four to six dollars in savings.

Once all of the hard work of developing and implementing the health and safety program is done, set aside some time each month to review the workplace. Record what is found; this is a good practice to see dangerous trends that might occur such as a fire exit constantly being blocked. On the quarters of the year post a meeting with employees. These meetings are a great way to get vital feed-back from employees and keep them involved. At least once a year, do an audit to make sure your health and safety program is current with present business operations.

Using facility management software programs within your business can help you manage your assets with ease and giving you the confidence in knowing that everything is accounted for and the productivity of your business will do nothing but improve because of this amazing software. Asset management is a must for any type of business and knowing which type of software that would be best suited for your business is also important. These can make all the difference in the world with your businesses success and future. Facility management software is normally implemented by specific managers of the business and it is used for all types of facilities. It can make it easier for you to categorize certain timetables that can help you to maintain maintenance when needed, along with keeping up with the costs of the business and any improvements that are needing to be made.

This facility software program helps the facility managers in so many different ways, including, improving much needed organizational skills, better, more efficient managing maintenance plans and also keeping up with all of the physical assets of the business. These types of software, when they are implemented by managers, will help to control all aspects of the business, and some of these may include, tracking of assets, costs, billing, shipping, contracts, preventative maintenance and project management. By being able to properly manage all of these areas of the business, costs will go down, professionalism will increase, maintenance problems will decrease, billing will always be correct and on time, you will be more aware of when a contract will be coming to an end and it can give you different ideas on project management that would help with the businesses success.

These different types of facility software programs that can be used in all types of businesses are specifically designed to make your work load less and help on preventing any serious mistakes within the business that could and will cost you money down the road. Utilizing these types of software can give you the opportunity for a more stress free environment and the peace of mind in knowing that your managers are doing satisfactory work, all the time, and the business will definitely become more efficient in a short amount of time after beginning to use the proper facility management program that is best suited for your business.

By having asset management skills and being more informed of everything going on throughout your business, you and your personnel will be much more satisfied in knowing that you are top of the line and very reputable because of your abilities to better manage your business and be more productive. Most businesses are relying on help from these types of software for their own benefits and many other organizations or implementing facility software programs into their companies and it is proven to help in preventing mistakes and improving quality and profits.