Small Business | Big & Small Spending

The Advantages of Small Businesses

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There are many advantages to using a small business instead of using a corporation when you need a product or a service. Although you may think that large corporations offer more for their customers, small businesses have much to offer as well. If you need a reason to support your local small business rather than the big chain stores and restaurants, keep reading.

Small businesses offer exceptional service. In many cases, the employees of a big box store or a large chain of restaurants, for example, may simply be at work in order to collect their paychecks. Because they do not have a real stake in the success of the business, they often do the bare minimum in order to get along in their day. In the case of small businesses, however, there is typically a small staff. The owner often works right along with the employees. There is an investment of the owner’s time as well as money.

Small businesses offer expertise. Most small business owners excel at the industry their business is involved in. Whether it is antiques, book selling, food, or some other niche, small business owners generally have a real passion for their business. This passion often equates to a vast amount of knowledge. In most cases, you will find someone who is genuinely eager to help you find the answers to your questions when you frequent a small business.

Small businesses support the local economy. Small business owners are more likely to spend their money within the community in which they are located. This is not typically the case for big corporations. The money the corporations make often ends up in many different localities depending on where the stockholders live and where the corporation’s headquarters are located. In many cases, these localities are far from the community in which that money was spent.

Filed Under: Business Financial Planning Tagged With: Barack Obama, business, Business and Economy, Congressional Budget Office, Employment, Ownership, Small business, Small Business Administration

A Comparison of Big Businesses and Small Businesses

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There are pros and cons to both big businesses and small businesses. It can be difficult at times to figure out the differences and the pros and cons to each of them. For a brief rundown of these points, read on below.

Selection of products. If you are concerned with the actual volume of products, in many cases, big businesses offer more products. In some instances, however, you will find that these stores stock a lot of one particular product such as a certain kind of light bulb, for example. However, they will not have a wide range of light bulbs. The bigger businesses tend to stock more of what most people buy. This can make it difficult for you to find what you need if you are searching for an unusual type of light bulb.

Quality of Customer Service. With big businesses, you will likely find that many of the employees are not experienced or well versed in what they are trying to sell. A job like this is simply a way for people to pull in a paycheck in many cases. With a small business, on the other hand, most, if not all, of the people who work there have a high interest in what the business sells. This, in turn, means that they have a greater knowledge in what they are selling.

Price of products. Because of the larger size of big businesses, they are able to use their buying power to secure lower prices for some merchandise at times. In many instances, however, in order to offer low prices to entice customers to their stores, big businesses do not offer high quality products. Small businesses tend to offer high quality products and merchandise on a regular basis. This means that, although small businesses can sometimes have slightly higher prices, you are actually paying for a higher quality product that will work better and last longer over time.

Filed Under: Business Financial Planning Tagged With: American Express, Big Business, Black Friday, business, Business and Economy, Facebook, Small business, United States

Big Business Vs. Small Business: Who Wins the Marketing War?

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Big Business vs Small Business. It is the business world’s largest feud that has been going on for a number years. Small businesses have long tried to compete in the world of big businesses. Each big business or small business competes with each other on a large scale of issues from marketing strategies, employee retention, taxes and product development. The one issue that has been looked at closely is that of the marketing aspect.

Marketing trends when it comes to big business vs small business have long been analyzed for as long as the feud between the two have gone on. Here is a look at some of the trends that critics have noticed in this business feud.

Personal Touch Vs Impersonal. Small businesses tend to market to those that are looking for a more personalized experience. This can come in forms of small personal notes, personal attention to the customer or even personalized marketing efforts. Big businesses have a tendency to do a more generalized marketing strategy with the hopes of hitting as many people as possible for a short amount of time.

Funds. Big businesses do not have to worry about funds and finances as much as small businesses do. They already have the money to launch multi-million dollar marketing strategies and therefore can afford to buy TV, radio and Internet time. While small businesses need to budget marketing into what little of a budget they may have. Most times small businesses choose to go with more inexpensive marketing campaigns such as Internet marketing, social media ads and word of mouth.

While the feud between big business vs small business isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, it can be a sure bet that the businesses will have varying types of marketing strategies. Due to the different strategies it is hard to say whether one is the ultimate winner when it comes to marketing.

Filed Under: Business Financial Planning Tagged With: American Express, Big Business, business, Internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Small business, Television

Pros and Cons of Small Businesses

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Are you thinking of starting a small business out of your home or in your community? If so there are many pros and cons associated with this type of business. Many people go into the creation of a small business with big dreams of financial success and of being their own boss. While this dream can come true, it will take a lot of hard work and dedication for this to happen. While you may own the business, it is important that you remember that you own the headaches of the business too.

A few pros of owning a small business is that it is small enough that finances are very easy to keep track of, minimal amount of employees needed and being your own boss. If a business is small enough it will be easy to account for all expenses and revenues without the help of a bookkeeper or an accountant. This is important for businesses that cannot afford to hire out for these positions. Many small businesses cannot afford to hire many employees and like to keep the expense of paying wages and salaries to a minimum. Many small business owners only employ themselves and/or their family members to save money. Finally, owning your own business is a great way to be your own boss, set your own hours and be in charge of how the company runs.

A few cons of owning and running a small business include the tremendous amount of work that comes with it and the financial burden it can bring. Owning a small business is a lot of work, as the owner is responsible for all marketing and advertising, staffing, and making the business a success. If the business is not doing well money for products and supplies often comes out of the owner’s personal money, making it quite a burden for the owner and their family.

Filed Under: Business Financial Planning Tagged With: business, Business plan, Congressional Budget Office, Employment, Finance, Ownership, Small business, Tax

Big Business Vs. Small Business: A Look at Employee Treatment

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When the economy starts going in a downward spiral the first action that many businesses seem to take is that of laying of employees. However, when it comes to the business world’s long standing feud of big business vs small business there is a slight difference in the way that they treat their employees.

It is not unusual for big businesses during times of economic downturn to resort to lay offs. In an effort to preserve the bottom line and keep profits up these businesses are more likely to lay off employees to save money. If they don’t lay off employees than they are cutting hours back.

A small business on the other hand does not usually resort to the layoffs right away. This is usually because small businesses do not have as many employees and have already hired with the budget in mind. While some lay offs are possible in small business situations it is less of a likelihood in big business environments then in a small business environments.

The other area that is a popular comparison between big business vs small business is that of employer funded health insurance. Large businesses tend to get discounts from a large number of insurance providers. This allows the rates and polices to be lower and therefore they can afford to provide a company provided health care plan. Small businesses have the opposite reaction. The health care policies that a small business can provide requires them to pay a large portion of the policy and there are no discounts. That means that the employer must come up with the money personally or take it out of the business overhead, which is not always an option.

Clearly, when it comes to big business vs small business, employees don’t have to fear lay offs when it comes to working in a small business setting. However, a large business had the upper hand when it comes to insurance plans.

Filed Under: General Finance Tagged With: Big Business, business, Business and Economy, Employment, Layoff, Recession, Small business, United States

Explaining the Similarities and Differences Between Big and Small Businesses

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Small businesses and big corporations have a lot more in common than most people realize they do. After all, they’re always portrayed as being entirely different from one another in the media and in paperwork but that isn’t at all the case. In fact, the main thing that tends to separate small business from big business isn’t the amount of calls that they get in daily but rather the amount of items that they ship out regularly in addition to the number of customers they serve.

One of the major differences between big and small businesses are how they spend the money that they earn. Small business owners can take the additional cash that they earn and go out and treat themselves or they can put it back into their business in hopes to grow it more and to continue to earn either that amount or more. Big businesses, however, not only always put their money back into their business but never really have a choice in the matter in the first place.

A key similarity in the two is keeping an eye on their competitors. This doesn’t just mean knowing what it is that they’re doing but also doing it either better or doing it first, depending. You definitely need to be ahead of them in technology. If you feel like you aren’t making enough of a profit to really be competitive, you want feel like you should be in order to live the lifestyle that you want to.

How companies treat their employees is becoming more and more of an obvious difference, and a tool to be used to lure prospective employees away from a larger company. This is simply because with the fewer people you have on your staff you will more than likely have a better relationship with them than you would have if you were in a larger business.

Filed Under: Business Financial Planning Tagged With: American Express, business, Business and Economy, Employment, Entrepreneur, Magazines and E-zines, Small business, Small Business Administration

Starting a Small Business

Starting your own small business can be challenging; you have to formulate a business plan, obtain funding and actually find time and energy to run the business. Consider using some form of financial software to save you time and ensure your finances are in order. All of these steps are difficult, yet doable for those that are serious about starting their own small business.

The first thing to do with a business idea is to do research about the type of small business you want to run. Has this same business already been founded by someone else, if so are they successful? Can you make your business different and still succeed? Research can be conducted on the internet, at the library, and on foot by walking around your community and taking notes about how small businesses operate.

The next step in starting a small business is to make a business plan. The business plan will have the following components in it: how to fund your company, your marketing strategy, licensing structure, how to hire and fire employees, how to deal with competition, and your overall vision. Basically a business plan is the big picture that you can show other people and they will understand how, what, when, and where your business will operate.

Finally, you must execute the plan that you have researched. This means finding actual funding for the small business, finding the location, hiring employees, and making it work. To make your business run more smoothly consider using tailored financial software that will allow you to see where money is being spent. Software like this also helps you maintain control of your expenses at all times from where ever you are.

Financial software can also help you keep track of what money is left over after orders and payroll. These extra funds will need to be used for marketing and promotion purposes. Once you have established your business, it will be time to market your product/service and bring in customers, and once they are brought in you will need to control, to some extent, how often they return. A loyal customer base can be free advertising as they will tell friends and family to use your business. This software will help to balance your financial investments and decrease the amount of time you spend worrying about your finances.

Now that your small business is up and running it is your responsibility to take the initial business ideas you had, and turn them into a golden opportunity. With hard work, commitment, and time your small business can be both profitable and enjoyable to run.

Filed Under: Business Financial Planning Tagged With: business, Business plan, Consulting, Information, Marketing strategy, Small business, Small Business Administration, USMLE Step 1

Financing a Small Business

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The first step to a successful small business operation is obtaining funding. Without adequate funding your business will never make it off the ground, and will go nowhere. Finding financing for a small business can be difficult, as many lenders would like to see a few years of financial success before they grant money to a lender. Unfortunately, for businesses just starting out this is not feasible. There are a few types of funds that one can choose from: using personal or family money, forming partnerships and loans from banks.

A common way for a small business start-up to get funds is for the owner to ask family and friends for loans and gifts. Of course every business should put up some of their own money to show people that they really are invested in the business, and that you feel safe enough putting your own money up as collateral. This will help those you know hand over money more easily.

Forming a partnership is a great way to get additional money for your business. If you do this you will have to realize that you have a partner, silent or not, that can have some say in how your business operates. They will also receive some of the profit and revenue received as well. A partnership is a great idea if you know the person well and feel comfortable sharing the operation of your business with the person.

Finally, if you still have not received enough money to establish your small business you will most likely have to go to a bank or credit union to apply for a loan. Since your business will not be established yet your loan will be based off of your personal credit history, assets and income. This can result in needing a co-signer or the need to place a house or something of great value up for collateral.

Filed Under: Business Financial Planning Tagged With: business, Business plan, Entrepreneur, Finance, Financial Services, Loan, Small business, Small Business Administration