If you travel by car for business or to commute to and from work, you are probably looking for ways to cut the costs of traveling. An article on eHow.com gives tips on how to maximize fuel efficiency when you travel. Here are a few tips from this article:
Plan the trip so as to avoid metropolitan-area rush hours when stop-and-go traffic will affect fuel efficiency.
Learn of, and plan around, areas of major highway construction. For unavoidable construction zones, plan the trip so as to avoid specific hours of construction.
Use cruise control to achieve further fuel efficiency.
Learning to be more aware of our fuel consumption can have a broader impact on the economy and the environment. The U.S. Department of Energy hosts a website, www.fueleconomy.gov, which provides a variety of articles and tools:
EXAMPLE: Even older-model cars (like my 15-year old Jeep Cherokee) will benefit from many of these suggestions. One that caught my eye was to remove unnecessary items from the car to reduce the overall weight. During the winter months in Oregon, I resort to carrying two 50-pound bags of rock salt in back to help load the rear tires (living by the lake produces several days of icy conditions for my commute).
The Gas Mileage Tips article estimates that carrying an extra 100 lbs. reduces miles per gallon by 2%. That means a drop from 21 mpg to approximately 20.5 mpg for my Jeep. Since I travel approximately 700 miles a month, that’s an extra gallon a month in gas to travel the same distance to and from work during the winter months. So, this winter I may consider storing the bags in the garage and only using them on the days I need, not for the entire winter. A simple change.
Venture capital
Venture capital firms want repeat entrepreneurs. They want plans with huge growth rates, in high-growth industries — usually high tech as well as high growth. They want excellent management teams with proven track records. And they want plans needing multiple millions of dollars, generally $4-5 million and up. There are only a few hundred true venture capital firms in the United States, probably half of them located on Sand Hill Drive in Menlo Park, CA. They invest in new businesses in exchange for substantial ownership, generally more than 50%.
Angel investors
This group includes thousands of individual investors, investment clubs, local investment groups, and others. They are hard to categorize and hard to describe as a group. Angel investors act a lot like venture capitalists in their dependence on business plans and management teams to evaluate businesses, and they also like high growth and high return, but they are more likely to invest smaller amounts. Angel investors will also sometimes accept less ownership than venture capitalists, in some cases as little as 5-10%. However, there are no simple guidelines or standards on this; everything depends on the specific case.
Commercial bank loans
Banks loan businesses money for working capital and even occasionally for expansion, but not without solid collateral. Banks don’t generally invest in new businesses or new business plans, for good reasons. The government doesn’t want banks taking undue risks with depositors’ money. If you don’t have solid collateral, or if you aren’t willing to risk what you have, then don’t expect to get commercial loan financing.
Small business administration guaranteed loans.
The SBA guarantees loans for small businesses in some circumstances. You still need to have 30% of whatever you need to borrow as collateral, but that’s a lot less than the normal 100%.
Friends and family
Many businesses start with financing from friends and family. This is sometimes the only way to start a business, but it is also full of potential problems. Go very slowly.
Self financed
Many businesses start without loans or investment, and many more businesses do their business plans without needing outside financing. If your numbers are strong enough to go without outside money, congratulations, that’s a very good thing.
Research and evaluate your business idea
Here’s a step-by-step guide to evaluating whether you and your chosen business are a good fit.
- Try it out. Before you start a business of your own, get some experience in the industry or profession that interests you — even if you work for free. Learn everything you can about every aspect of the business. For example, if you want to start a pasta shop, but don’t know ravioli from cannelloni, go out and get a job with a pasta maker. After a few months, you should be an expert in every aspect of pasta prep, from mixing eggs and flour to flattening the dough and slicing it into strips.
- Talk to entrepreneurs in the same field. If you’re not familiar with the business you want to start and you’re unable to find work in the field, talk with others who provide the product or service that interests you. To increase your chances of getting interviews and reliable answers to your questions, it’s best to do this in a different locale from the one in which you plan to locate. Small business owners are often quite willing to share their knowledge once they are sure you will not compete with them.
- Evaluate whether you enjoy the work and excel at it. If not, find a new venture. It’s a lot harder to make a success of a business you don’t like, and it’s unlikely you’ll like something you’re not good at. If you enjoyed the work and determined you were skilled enough to base your own business on it, go on to the next step.
- Judge your ability and desire to handle every aspect of the business. If you don’t want to or can’t pitch in wherever and whenever something needs to be done — whether it involves manufacturing a product, dealing with customers or keeping the books — you should think twice about starting that kind of business.
- Determine whether the business has a solid chance of turning a profit. After working in the field for a few months, you should have a good idea of whether the business is a potential moneymaker. To be sure, you should analyze your market and conduct a break-even analysis, a preliminary financial projection that shows you the amount of revenue you’ll need to bring in to cover your expenses (this amount is called your break-even point). If you’re able to bring in more revenues than your break-even point, you’ll be in the black (that is, you’ll make a profit).
- Evaluate the risk this particular business requires. Even the best-laid plans can sour if you pick an unusually risky business. For instance, the following businesses have higher than average failure rates:
- computer stores
- laundries and dry cleaners
- florists
- used car dealerships
- gas stations
- trucking firms
- restaurants
- infant clothing stores
- bakeries, and
- grocery and meat stores.
f you want to work for yourself, but don’t have a particular business in mind, you’re probably wondering what kind of business you should start. Fortunately, the answer is always the same: start a venture you know intimately.
Know the ins and outs of the business
Don’t fall into the trap of starting a particular business just because someone tells you, “It’s a sure thing.” Potential customers will part with their hard-earned money only if you convince them that they’re getting their money’s worth, so you’ll need to know what you’re doing, no matter what the task.
Choosing a business you know
Starting a business in which you already have experience has many advantages. You can use your knowledge about the industry, your training and skills, and your network of contacts, who might help you find financing, suppliers and customers.
Example
For ten years Steve worked for several different construction companies — first as a journeyman carpenter and then as a project manager. When he got the itch to start his own business, it made perfect sense for him to start a small contracting business specializing in home-improvement. He knew the industry well, including the best places to buy supplies and what he could charge for services, and he had the required skills, such as how to estimate and bid jobs — and it didn’t hurt that he knew how to pound nails as well. The contacts he had developed over the years were glad to talk to him about running a small contracting business, and many customers he had worked with in the past told him they’d be willing to hire him if he were working on his own.
If you’re interested in turning something you know and love into a business, talk to people you’ve worked with about what it takes to run that kind of business. Learn all you can about start-up costs, overhead and expenses and how much revenue you can expect to make. If you have several interests but aren’t sure which would make the best business, consider how you can translate your strengths, education and skills into business opportunities, and research the marketplace to see which types of business are presently needed in your area.
Starting a business in an unfamiliar industry
Unfortunately, the lure of quick profits convinces many people to start businesses in areas they know little or nothing about. This is a sure recipe for failure.
Example
Leo opened an upscale nursery and garden supply outfit at a time when, seemingly, such a business “couldn’t miss.” Leo knew a good deal about running a small business, had a personality well suited for it and could borrow enough money to begin. However, the business never took off, and it cost him two years and $30,000 to get rid of it.
Why? In his hurry to make a profit, Leo overlooked several crucial facts. The most important was that Leo, a self-described “brown thumb,” knew virtually nothing about plants and didn’t really want to learn. Not only was Leo unable to chat with customers about what types of flowers grow well in partial shade or how to get rid of various garden pests, he didn’t even know enough to properly hire and supervise salespeople. In short, Leo made a classic mistake — he started a business in a “hot” field because someone was foolish enough to lend him the money.
If you don’t know much about the business you want to start, but are set on it, be prepared to spend enough time learning it before you begin.
Nonprofit corporations, by definition, exist not to make money but to fulfill one of the purposes recognized by federal law: charitable, educational, scientific or literary. Under state and federal tax laws, however, as long as a nonprofit corporation is organized and operated for a recognized nonprofit purpose and has secured the proper tax exemptions, it can take in more money than it spends to conduct its activities. In other words, it can make a profit. Whether a nonprofit’s income is taxable depends on whether the activities are related to the nonprofit’s purpose. Making a profit from “related” activities Let’s take as an example a group called Friends of the Library, Inc. It’s a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (which means it has a federal tax exemption), organized to encourage the appreciation of literature and to raise money for the support and improvement of the local public library. It makes a profit from a lecture series featuring famous authors and from an annual sale of donated books. Because these activities are educational and literary in nature, they do not jeopardize the group’s tax-exempt status, and the proceeds from them are not taxable. The organization may use this income for its own operating expenses (including salaries for officers and staff) or for the benefit of the local library. What it cannot do is distribute any of the income to the nonprofit’s officers, directors or others connected with Friends of the Library. Making a profit from “unrelated” business activities Let’s go back to the Friends of the Library nonprofit corporation for an example of unrelated income. People donate many thousands of books to Friends of the Library for an annual book sale, one of its major fund raising events. Although the sale is always successful, one year thousands of books are left over, and the nonprofit decides to sell the more valuable of these books by advertising in sources for rare and out-of-print books. The response is overwhelming, and before long the nonprofit has six employees cataloging books for sale. Soon, Friends of the Library finds itself in the business of buying books from other dealers and reselling them to the public. The nonprofit will have to report these earnings to the IRS, which will tax them as income from unrelated business activities. In some situations, excessive unrelated business activities can also prompt the IRS to reconsider a nonprofit’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. To avoid this, a nonprofit should never let its unrelated business activities reach the point where it starts to look like a regular commercial business. For instance, unrelated business activities shouldn’t absorb a substantial amount of staff time, require additional paid staff or volunteers, or produce much more income than that generated by the organization’s exempt activities. Activities that are not taxed
Tax-exempt nonprofits often make money as a result of their activities and use it to cover expenses. In fact, this income can be essential to an organization’s survival. As long as a nonprofit’s activities are associated with the nonprofit’s purpose, any profit made from them isn’t taxable.
Sometimes nonprofits make money in ways that aren’t related to their nonprofit purposes. While nonprofits can usually earn unrelated business income without jeopardizing their nonprofit status, they have to pay corporate income taxes on it, under both state and federal corporate tax rules. (Generally, the first $1,000 of unrelated income is not taxed, but the remainder is.)
Because the difference between “related” and “unrelated” activities can be confusing, the IRS has said that some activities will not be taxed, even if they aren’t related to the nonprofit’s purpose. Here’s a quick rundown of the activities that aren’t taxed:
My experience taught me that if it can not be the first, it can be the first in a category. STMIK AMIKOM Yogyakarta by start of the Academy of Computer since 1994, who rented a small house on the street Monginsisi No. 8 Yogyakarta and has not paid the rent, for the good of the owner Mr. Budi Sutrisno, SE, rather than a high school's first computer in Yogyakarta. Besides the candidates who entered the prospective student is not accepted everywhere, or prospective students who have failed. Only one way to arouse a new applicant to fall, which revived his spirits, or provide education in different categories, namely emphasis on the mental attitude (SOFTSKILL) than hardskill. Each candidate was given the education called Achievement Motivation Training (AMT) which is then refined into Super Training Excellence (PSU).
Education is expected that students become more confident, knowing his true identity, motivated to achieve his goals, has a high sense of empathy and have good social skills. One of the applicants comments that have been given this training "I nearly killed myself, because I was destined by God to be color-blind child, but after I attended PSU, I'm excited about returning to live and achieve my goals as a graphic designer. I'll prove it ". To have a mental attitude that is embedded tejaga well, so for students who are required men to wear a tie and finally to the slogan "The People College tie" as a strategy Positioning. Thus the High School Computer with the first category of students wearing a tie.
In 2009, STMIK AMIKOM 13-year-old, although only High School, not the University or Institute, but a university in Indonesia with the number of students. STMIK a High School Computer only in Indonesia who entered the 6000 version of the best Universities Webometrics. This success can occur simply because the grace of Allah the Most high.
Positioning (positioning) by product category is the product positioned as a leader in the product category. Product categories can be grouped in categories of drinks and food, categories, household products, a category of drugs, personal care category, the category of personal equipment, appliances category, the category of communication and information technology, automotive category, the category of banking and finance, transportation category and so on.
In the category of food and beverage sub-categories are still there, such as cooking oil, biscuits, instant noodles, peanuts, soy sauce, flour, chili sauce, margarine, packaged liquid milk, milk powder, bottled tea, tea in non-bottle packaging , tea bags, green tea, coffee powder, energy booster drinks, fruit drinks, isotonic drinks, jelly drinks and so on.
Bimoli using positioning based on product categories, namely categories of cooking oil with the slogan "Perfection Cooking Oil". Bimoli tries to present the best oil quality by processing six stages, ranging from the removal of the sap, cleaning oil colors, removal of free fatty acids, purifying aroma, the formation of the solid fraction up to separation and the fraction of oil. Also has content including Omega 9 which serves to keep normal cholesterol levels. This positioning strategy makes Bimoli as Top Brand categories of cooking oil in Indonesia.
Sariwangi teabag also positioning based on product categories, namely categories of tea bags with the slogan "Tea to be shared not to be served". Sariwangi not just making tea for her partner as a routine and obligation, but Sariwangi inspire women to use "tea moment" as a means to share and communicate in both directions. Positioning strategy does this cause Sariwangi emotionally close to their customers, so as to become Top Brand categories of tea bags in Indonesia.
Positioning (positioning) according to the benefits of the product is positioned as a leader in a particular benefit. Benefits include manfat symbolic, functional benefits and benefits based on experience. Successful positioning requires communication strategies that can draw attention to one customer's needs, whether symbolic, functional and experimental.
Positioning is based on the benefits of symbolic positioning using attraction for someone to have the desire to possess objects of successful people. Symbolic benefits still apply in Indonesia, Mercy cars, BMW and Volvo mostly found in Indonesia, even Jaguar and Ferrari began to be found in the metropolis. Conversely, if the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which we find only the Proton or Perodua cars, very few cars as we temuai Mercy, BMW and Volvo. "Consumers who buy an expensive car to show success in a career. By buying an expensive car, which they obtained success can be seen by others "said one customer Mercy. Though really just a false success, but in Indonesia this sibol benefits many are still chasing him. BMW uses the slogan "The Ultimate Driving Machine".
Positioning is based on the functional benefits on the basis of positioning the functional benefits of these products. Bimoli cooking oil using functional benefits by using "cooking oil with the best quality with the content of omega-9". Benefits of omega 9 is said to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and the relative heat resistance. Similarly ProXL using functional positioning based on the slogan "Not Just Talk".
Positioning based on experimental determination of benefits based on the position in the customer experience using the product both appearance and comfort. Viva face powder using experimental based positioning. With the slogan "suitable for tropical skin". Most use Viva mother and brother because they use it. Youth group woke up not only alone but because of their compatibility with the skin or the convenience to use it. Viva is a local brand that could last more than 45 years of the onslaught of global brands with a wider variety of sharp competition. Viva remains the Top Brand of Indonesia to face powder category.
Harvard University, was selected as the world's best business schools. However, Harvard University still get criticism from one who had invited a guest lecturer at Harvard University. McCormack is the lecturers, to reveal what is not taught in the Business School (Harvard University). Why not be taught? Because the faculty of Harvard can not be taught. It is not taught is creativity and innovation.
There are schools that can teach not only creativity and innovation, but with the ability to teach people the full. Schools teach these people as the Children of Adam, in fact, the man who is able to control themselves from eating and drinking excessively, over-dressed, over-drive and have a desire excessive. Man who is not greedy.
The school also teaches people to become basyar, namely those who have the ability to maintain physical and mental is still healthy and fit. Like a physical machine that is continuously working. So that the machine is working well and need to be durable with both. Rhythm of the soul like machine work. They must become a cohesive and harmonious.
School students to create a human being, the people have the ability to think outside the usual, so it can absorb knowledge, the extraordinary, including knowledge of business. Opportunities tend to be aligned on the people who trained, not just use logic, but with the intuition. If logic like the sun, the intuition is the month. Both are very important in business that should be owned by the person who titled man.
School students make a annas, the students can interact with superiors, subordinate to the colleague with the good. Confidential communications are working together. Communication that actually realized will be able to understand if the intent, the words and feelings of our opponents communication. We must understand our opponents to speak, after that we understood by our opponents to speak.
Schools can also make the students with a abdun, the students who have the ability to serve God well, as the last weapon when a trial or difficulty. Schools that can improve the spiritual intellect. Spiritual acumen make rational intellect and ingenuity to become more emotionally effective. Indeed, this school made the perfect human being, human or perfect. Schools that can beat Harvard University, the school even without the best competitor in the world this is called Fasting Ramadan.
I say "Congratulations" to you who had experienced failure, make good the failure, the failure to reach a job that you want or failure in building the business, Because you can learn from these failures. I have a family told me that he is always what is desired is reached, and he never failed. But when he failed in the work, to this day never to rise again.
You probably still remember the best film in 1990, the dance With The Wolves of Starring in Kevin Costner and reach 7 Oscar trophies. This film is based on a novel with the same title written by Michael Blake, also as its screenwriter. Michael Blake is a figure that needs example of persistence.
Novels With The Wolves dances novel is his second forty. He has written nineteen previous novels, but the behavior is not sold, so he must live in the slums because they are not able to pay for his life. Beds do not have it. But it was taboo desperate to make a novel. When he was in the office issuing novel, he get a phone call from someone. "I have read your novel" said the caller was. "Oh yes" answered Michael Blake. "Your excellent novels. What if I make the movie "the caller said. "I'm happy and I want to help write a scenario is" said Michael Blake. And Michael Blake have not forget to ask the name of the caller. "Oh yes. If you believe this? "Ask Michael Blake. "I'm Kevin Costner" answered the caller. After the novel dances With The Wolves made the film and the reach mazer Oscar as best film, novel dances With The Wolves sold like a roasted peanut. Millions of copies sold, making Michael Blake suddenly rich. Although indeed has started 19 times from the failure to make this novel.
Similarly Colonel Sanders, before achieving success as Kentucky Fried Chicken of the biggest and best in the world, must go through the failure times in 1018 to sell its chicken. Each failure see it as part of the study, and then fix what he caused to fail or not people want to buy a chicken and it does not blame the person who does not want to buy it. New to the 1019 times, some people want to buy a franchise of Kentucky Fried Chicken. He was born 9 September 1890 and achieve new success after the age 65 years. Hartland Colonel Sanders finally became a symbol the spirit of entrepreneurship. Now, Kentucky Fried Chicken have more than 80 countries around the world.
Achieve success that, like climbing stairs. The higher the stairs that we climbing, the higher the level of our success. But before most of the tread of the last, desperate, and they stopped climbing the stairs and up. We do not know in which stairs. Are the stairs in the beginning?. In the middle of the stairs? On the stairs or the last?. Only God Knows the Most. With the abstinence only despair, we will be up to the last ladder.
