Practicing Ethics in Business
From medicine to journalism to education and beyond, ethics is vital in any and every field, yes even business.
In business, it is important that both employers and employees work ethically. Conducting business ethically can build trust and bring your business to a new level.
For employers, treating your employees ethically can potentially decrease employee turnover, increase employee morale and even increase productivity within your business. Instilling a sense of ethics within your employees towards each other as well as towards your customers is also essential.
Your customers are one of the most important aspects of your business. If they don’t trust you, they will not only discontinue their services with you, but they will advices others to do so.
To promote business ethics, in 1912, the Better Business Bureau was founded. The mission of this bureau is to help create an ethical marketplace where buyers and sellers can trust each other by:
- Creating a community of trustworthy businesses
- Setting standards for marketplace trust
- Encouraging and supporting best practices
- Celebrating marketplace role models, and;
- Denouncing substandard marketplace behavior
The Bureau allows customers to file complaints and grades businesses, in order to show customers and potential customers how businesses handle situations with customers.
Merchant Resources International always conducts ethical business practices and we encourage the merchants we work with everyday to do the same.
Investing in Your Business
An investment is defined as the use of money for future profit. As a small business owner, it is important to understand the benefits of investing in your business and to possess the foresight to look past the “lump sum” that is being doled out and look to the benefits, profits and rewards that it can bring in the future.
Entrepreneur recently featured an article on just this, providing brief profiles of three small business owners that made small to large investments (during a time when funds were low) that produced worth-while results in the future.
There are various ways that small business owners can make investments in their businesses.
Going Green
Going green is the act of making your business more environmentally friendly. This can involve investing in energy efficient light bulbs, going paperless, installing displacement toilet dams and/or purchasing products such as IdeaPaint, Personal Energy Generator and the Power Mat, which help to reduce electricity usage and save paper and were featured in “Great Products for Small Business Owners.”
Merchant Cash Advance
The merchant cash advance can be a great investment for small business owners who have found it difficult to obtain business funds using traditional methods. Many small business owners complain about the cost of the merchant cash advance. However, the cost is only a minor issue when compared to the lucrative benefits that it can produce. Small business owners can use their merchant cash advances however they choose, from expansion and advertising to renovating, purchasing equipment and keeping their businesses on their feet.
*How have you invested in your business?
Blogging For Business
We’ve talked about the importance of social networking for your business and using sites such as twitter, facebook and LinkedIn to connect with your customers, but did you know that blogging could also be very beneficial for your business?
What is a Blog?
“…a blog is a type of website that is usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent ‘post’ (or entry) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom,” (Darren Rowse, Probloger). As a business owner, a blog can be used to promote your business and engage customers. You may have a catalog of reasons for steering clear of this form of communication, which may include;
- I don’t know how to write.
- There are already so many blogs out there.
- I don’t have time.
To take care of reasons one and three you may want to hire someone to write for you. When it comes to reason number two, it’s important to remember that the fact that there are so many blogs out there probably means that your competition is also already on the blogging scene, and in order to compete, you may need to get out there as well and show your customers and potential customers what distinguishes you from the competition.
Possible Benefits of Blogging
- Produces relevant content about your business
- Lets customers relate to what your business does
- Allows customers to interact via comments
- Can be repeated and reposted via emails, and social networking sites
Things to remember when blogging
- Make sense
- Encourage interaction
- Post regularly
Take a look at the links below for more information on blogging for your business.
How Can You Use Your Merchant Cash Advance? (However You Want)
On September 29, 2009, we posted a blog titled “Using Your Business Cash Advance.” This post offered various possible ways that a merchant could use the business cash (up to $500,000) obtained through a merchant cash advance. However, as you may already be aware of, there are no restrictions on how merchants can use their advances. Therefore, renovation, expansion and advertising are not the only feasible uses of a merchant cash advance.
Explore New Markets
If you’ve been selling the same products to the same people, year after year after year, it might be time for a break from the monotony. Consider exploring new markets.
Do the research and find out which audiences that you are not currently reaching, may be able to benefit from your products and/or services. Once you’ve done the research, a merchant cash advance can finance the promotions, advertisements and marketing to your new target audience. You may be able to increase your customer base by adding a demographic or two.
Introduce a New Product or Service
Introducing a new product or service to your business could bring in new customers and/or entice existing customers to make additional purchases. Look into competing businesses and see what types of products and services they offer. Use your merchant cash advance to go above and beyond your competition, offering your customers a wider selection, or improving on the products and services that you already provide.
Working Capital
If your business’s sales are low and you simply need a little extra cash to keep your business above water, a merchant cash advance can be the perfect remedy. Working capital is extremely important for any business, so having access to working capital when you need it is key.
As mentioned, these are only a few suggestions on how you can use your merchant cash advance. In the end, the decision is completely up to you.
*If you got a merchant cash advance of $30,000 or more, how would you use it?
Great Products for Small Business Owners
Every small business owner can use a great product that helps to increase productivity and eliminate unnecessary daily hassles. The following products do just that.
Brainstorming is a common and integral part of entrepreneurship. But why limit your thoughts to the confinements of a dry erase board or a sheet of paper?
Idea paint alters the art of brainstorming by transforming walls into dry erase boards. The paint is more eco-friendly than using and throwing away multiple sheets of paper and provides considerably more space than a traditional dry erase board. It also comes in 10 colors.
A small business owner’s contacts are one of his/her most valuable assets. Thus, it is important that a small business owner is able to keep in touch with these contacts while on the go. A dying or dead cell phone can potentially set a business back several steps.
nPower’s Personal Energy Generator (PEG) lets you use your own personal kinetic energy to charge your phones, or other handheld devices (iPod, GPS). Therefore, when you’re not in the car or in the office, your mobile devices can continue to charge.
“The PEG is a small, lightweight device that allows you to create renewable energy while you walk or run…Just place the PEG in your backpack, briefcase, or handbag, and plug it into your mobile device.”
Having a tangled mess of wires is not only unappealing, but can also be dangerous. The wireless battery charger mat eliminates the need for multiple wires and allows you to charge up to three devices at a time.
“The Powermat system pairs an ultra-thin mat with a sleek receiver that attaches to each device, enabling users to simply drop and charge.”
The Pulse is a smartpen that can be used to write, record and playback. The pen can also be connected to your computer, allowing you to upload your notes.
This can be very beneficial for business owners attending events and seminars.
National Entrepreneurship Week
It’s National Entrepreneurship Week, a time to celebrate American Entrepreneurs “and the lifelong learning educational opportunities that prepare the NEW business leaders of the future.”
Merchant Resources International works with American entrepreneurs on a daily basis and we understand the great impact that entrepreneurship has on our society and economy.
Some National Small Business/Entrepreneurship Statistics
- In 2008 there were approximately 29.6 million small businesses in the U.S.
- Small businesses have generated 64 percent of net new jobs over the past 15 years.
- Small businesses employ over 50 percent of U.S workers
- Small businesses generate over half of private sector, non-farm Gross Domestic Product.
Click here to find out what’s happening in your state for National Entrepreneurship Week.
*How are you celebrating National Entrepreneurship Week?
Credit Card Reform?
You may or may not have read about the new credit card rules deigned to regulate credit card companies and protect consumers. The reformed Truth in Lending Act has been a hot topic amongst many small business owners, for good reason, and today, the rules have officially kicked in. Small business owners, however, may not be so ecstatic about this, because though this may be good news for consumers credit card holders, this may be horrible news for business credit card holders as many credit card companies may be trying to make up for losses by way of cutting lines of credit, raising interest rates and closing accounts on business credit cards, as business credit cards are not protected through this act.
This leaves many small business owners who use business credit cards in a difficult predicament, with the need to search for yet another suitable business funding method.
*Do you use credit cards for your business?
Before Your Get a Merchant Cash Advance
The merchant cash advance is designed for small business owners who have already opened their doors, as one of the requirements is that the merchant’s business has been opened for at least six months and is processing at least $3,500 in credit card sales each month. Still there are many entrepreneurs who have yet to open their doors and are currently searching for the funds they need to get their businesses up and running.
Finding startup funds can be difficult, but it is not impossible. In fact, Forbes provides readers with 10 top startup funding sources, which include old favorites like going to friends and family and more innovative methods like using startup incubators. Click here for the complete list.
Once you’ve got your startup costs covered, opened your doors and you’ve been accepting credit card for six months, then you can apply for a merchant cash advance and get up to $500,000 in business funds for expansion, working capital or whatever else you may need for your business.
A Date with a Business Loan
Searching for business funding is a lot like dating. You search and search until you find the perfect fit and then…you commit. The art of dating, however, has grown technologically, with online services such as eHarmony and Match.com making finding a relationship a little bit easier than searching for business funds.
Though there may not be many services that allow small business owners to state exactly what they’re looking for in a business funding method, in order to be paired up with the ones that suit them best, it is almost guaranteed that small business owners who refuse to open their eyes to the multitude of business funding methods and continue to pursue the same one or two traditional methods that keep failing them, will never be satisfied.
Startup consultant Martin Zwilling said it best in an article for Forbes. “I’ve found that entrepreneurs tend to fixate on one or two funding sources–often to their detriment. Better to keep all options on the table.”
Sifting through the throng of available business funding methods and finding the ones (or one) that offer everything that you are looking for may be a painstaking task. But just like the overwhelming feelings of satisfaction, relief and zeal for the future that a groom feels as he views his bride for the first time, the hard work that goes into your search for an appropriate business funding method will be well worth it once you’ve found “the one.”
That said, don’t close your eyes to alternative funding methods such as the business cash advance, you could keeping your business from finding the funding of its dreams.
Put Your Business to the Test
Have you ever bought a magazine just to take the tests and quizzes inside, because, not only were they fun to take, but sometimes, the results were very insightful? Now, small business owners have the opportunity to relive those experiences.
There are various online resources that offer small business and entrepreneur quizzes and tests offering insight on entrepreneurial readiness, business success probability, etc. Take some time out from your day to take one or all of these tests to get a better understanding of your business and what you can do to improve it.
Take this test before you open your business.
Score offers a variety of tests on an array of aspects relating to small business.
Use this test to determine the probable success of your business.
