Author: Complete Controller

Most important to any start-up is undoubtedly ‘time’ and ‘money.’ Both play an essential role in defining the fate of a new business. Gone are the days when people could afford to launch a new company with a common idea and still make profits. They can never expect to survive without a brilliant idea backed up by a failure-proof plan, as both go hand in hand. Business adventurists have different priorities, and they try to put their best knowledge and skills to task right from the beginning to yield intended outcomes.

Why do New Businesses Fail to Survive in a Challenging Business Environment?

According to statistics, 3 out of 5 business ventures fail to survive in the first year of their launch. The reasons may include lack of experience, knowledge, skills, and expertise, managing critical business affairs like cash and inventory management, marketing, and the strategic balance between demand and supply. It indicates that the reasons could be internal and external, and one needs to keep a close eye and focus on changing corporate dynamics to ensure long-term survival in terms of profitability, sustainability, and growth.

Capitalizing on Score Strengths and Avoiding Risks

Starting a new business is no easy feat. Your thrilling adventure may turn into an awful experience if you don’t create and follow a unique strategy. Moreover, entrepreneurial business ventures are often threatened by risks. At the core of every start-up business lies risks and uncertainties. Those who can fight them well and capitalize on their strengths can achieve their short and long-term targets and business goals. With so much entrepreneurial knowledge and professional guidance, fighting against the odds has become more accessible.

Money, Money, Money

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that ‘money’ is one of the main reasons most commercial ventures fail to survive long term. According to studies, the success or failure of any business is usually determined by how well it can manage its money. For any new business to survive and succeed for long, it becomes necessary to manage money-related tasks effectively—the better they are, the better the results! A solid game plan must be in place, and priorities must be set to avoid risks and uncertainties to complete business failure and mismanagement of money.

5 Crucial Money Tips to Failure-Proof Your New Business

Manage Your Money

Starting a new business requires a hefty stack of hard cash. To ensure a smooth flow of a financial life cycle, you need to keep track of business transactions daily to avoid discrepancies for the whole month. You must know your financial status exactly, the influx and outflow of cash. Since our academic and professional careers began, we have been learning that profits keep the business running. However, we’ve focused little on the ‘effective cash management’ behind every successful business.

Entrepreneurs may have a fantastic idea to launch their new business, but they usually significantly lack cash management knowledge, skills, and experience. Hiring an expert bookkeeper or accountant to manage money-related tasks is a smart choice for ensuring optimal results. It will give you a clear snapshot of your business’s financial status. Moreover, it lets you focus on core business matters while your accountant manages the finances. Investing in a professional accountant will surely save you time and money strategically!

Diversify Your Business

Any new business needs to keep itself updated with the latest trends. Companies fail to keep their competitive advantage and market share if they rely solely on old customers. The sole reliance on one single client is a secret recipe for disaster, as you may never know when that big client might change their direction. When you want to keep your new business up and running, you need to evolve with time and find new clients to maintain and grow your business.

Don’t Overpay Your Taxes

Most start-ups often make this serious mistake when they overpay their taxes. Tax returns must be filed carefully, and you must only pay what you owe, not more! It is better to procure the expertise of a professional accountant who may turn things to your advantage, which is a tax reduction. Any new business feels the heat to save as much as possible, so hiring the expertise of a professional will lower your concerns about mismanagement and calculation.

Know Your COGS and Margins

COGS is the cost of goods sold, which refers to the total cost incurred on the goods produced and sold. Knowing the total production costs of different products or services is essential to setting a price that will bring you significant rewards or returns. For example, if a product costs $20, you won’t sell it for $20. You will need to sell it for more to earn a return.

Time Is Money—Both Must Be Allocated Wisely

Any new business start-up has little time to make a mark. Creating a perfect balance may be challenging in the initial phases of business development. However, to attempt things correctly the first time, you must make a sensible judgment and realistic analysis for allocating time and money to your business. No business can survive without being productive for long, so you must wisely give your hard-earned money and time. Spending too many resources on a single person or employee can be dangerous for a new start-up, as you may never know when they may leave the organization.

Summary

For a unique business idea to survive and thrive in the market, money tips to failure-proof the new business can be implemented and applied to give the business more time to create an impact. It all starts and ends with effective money management—the better that is, the better the result!

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Public cloud environments like AWS, Azure, Google, and Microsoft are cost-effective for IT infrastructure. It doesn’t happen each time because of the continually increasing complexity of what the cloud offers its users. Due to a lack of knowledge and visibility about cloud environments, most organizations fail to deal with the cost and unknowingly overfill money into public clouds. It is one error that makes it difficult to control or fix.

Here are five mistakes you should avoid when increasing cloud instancing optimization and resource efficiency without affecting performance risks in new environments.

Optimizing Cloud Workloads: Understanding the Impact of Workload Patterns

Not all workloads need to be designed, regardless of which public cloud you’ve been hosted with. You meet the error when you go deeper into cloud instance selection. To select the cloud instance, you must be well-informed about the reason for the workload and the use pattern.

The system of a batch workload is different from the usual application. In apps, constant varying from peaks to valleys occur. While in a public cloud, the workload works at least once at the end of each day. Please select the correct cloud instance and resources to understand the workload pattern between the days and its variation over a business cycle.

Making Cloud Migration Seamless: The Power of Data Normalization

‘Like for Like’ is a common approach to resource allocation when migrating from one cloud environment to another. There is a dire need to use targets to standardize the workload information. It gives a clearer idea of how the workload will perform in the new environment. This way, you can expect enhanced performance on the new platform, which has better hardware than the previous one. In simple words, normalizing the data is the only way to make an apple-to-apple comparison.

Balancing Sizing and Modernization for Cost-Effective Cloud Performance

While sizing is essential, it shouldn’t be the only focus. When you migrate to an environment running on more advanced and powerful hardware, you can also reduce costs by modernizing workloads. Compared to the savings delivered by right-sized instances on the public cloud, modernizing can add 20% more value.

Modernizing requires a proper understanding of the workload, catalogs, cost, and ability to normalize the data. It all adds up to performance optimization. Analyzing these aspects should be ongoing, especially for regularly updated apps.

Breaking Free from the Bump-Up Loop

One of the major culprits behind overspending or over-provisioning is the infamous bump-up loop. Specific workloads will use as many resources as they are provided. When more resources are provisioned, those apps will take more of it and do it for short cycles. It is the bump-up loop, which can hog resources and multiply the spending.

You must analyze and understand each workload’s behavior and pattern to prevent this expensive situation. This way, the overall resource allocation and utilization will be optimized. 

Unmanaged Zombie Cloud Instances

Zombie instances occur when the short-term instance is deployed but not shut down. A single zombie instance may not cause much harm, but a pile of them can send the cost skyrocketing. A reasonable approach to avoiding such waste is to monitor the workload pattern across a certain period, i.e., a monthly or weekly cycle. Tools that cannot provide long-term visibility into the workload are usually incapable of identifying zombie instances.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the potential cost-effectiveness of public cloud environments, such as AWS, Azure, Google, and Microsoft, can be harnessed with a strategic approach. However, the increasing complexity of these cloud platforms presents challenges for organizations. The lack of knowledge and visibility often results in unintended overspending, which can be challenging to rectify.

Avoiding the common mistakes discussed, addressing these challenges, and enhancing cloud instancing optimization and resource efficiency without compromising performance is crucial. Organizations can navigate the cloud landscape more effectively by gaining command of detailed application workload patterns, meeting benchmarks for data normalization, and focusing on factors beyond just sizing. Additionally, understanding and mitigating the bump-up loop and identifying and managing zombie cloud instances are essential to optimize cost and performance.

By steering clear of these mistakes, organizations can make the most of their cloud instances, ensuring that they minimize costs and enhance overall performance.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

The Role of the HR Department in Every Organization

The Human Resources (HR) department plays a crucial role in the success of any corporate organization. Without an experienced team to support HR operations, companies can never expect to grow their employee base or get competent resources from the pool of potential candidates. In short, the HR department makes or breaks the game for any company because it becomes nearly impossible to make staffing assessments and projections without them. Based on growing business demand, they have the knowledge, skills, expertise, and experience to make employee-related issues happen for the company.

The Significance of Cutting HR Costs

In today’s economy, companies encourage each department operating within the organization to cut costs or trim expenses at the individual level while demonstrating the overall value that it provides to the organization. An HR department in each organization is no exception, which means it has to cut HR costs without impacting the employee experience. HR professionals and experts from across the globe have invented ways in which the costs of HR can be significantly shortened. Some of these ideas work, some don’t.  

HR and the Employee Experience

Organizations can’t survive without a solid and effective workforce. Retention is only possible if you provide an extraordinary experience to your employees. Gone are the days when the employee experience did not matter, but now, it matters! One little strategy to cut HR costs could be a disaster for the whole company. The rightful creation and execution of strategy to cut costs are essential in the corporate world. Employees generally feel threatened by changing compensation and benefits policies, which is a significant cause of concern for most employees.

The employee experience has to be ensured at all levels, and an HR department plays a significant role in keeping employees’ morale high while catering to their needs and expectations at the highest level. The mantra of employee performance and productivity is simple: the better the strategy, the better the results! Creating a balance between HR costs and the employee experience may be challenging, but there are ways to achieve the strategic fit. HR experts can use several tactics to cut costs without sacrificing employee experience and satisfaction.

Here are four ways to maintain HR Costs without impacting the employee experience.

Employee Wellness Programs

Improving the working conditions of employees or giving them a suitable and balanced environment to work can boost the productivity of a business. Employee wellness programs don’t necessarily have to be expensive. Looking at the bigger picture, employees are the real assets of a company, and investing in them seems like a fair trade. It indicates that whatever you do for the betterment of your employees is healthy for your business.

Creating a healthy culture and lifestyle is essential for your business from every angle. Practically speaking, employee wellness programs cost less than hiring and training a new employee. Integrating them into your organization is an intelligent choice. This way, the employee experience will be elevated, which will further encourage them to work in the company’s best interest.

Learning and Development

By initiating cost-effective training programs, you will cut HR costs and see a significant rise in the performance and productivity of employees. Often, mentors within your company exist who have the knowledge and skills to help increase performance and productivity. This way, a positive culture will be developed within the organization, and everyone will feel encouraged to have a say and dive deeper into the employee experience with top executives or superiors.

Employee Benefits

Healthcare costs and other fringe benefits comprise a large portion of company finances. As employees increase, the cost of benefits increases, which means you have to allocate resources proportionally. After establishing a budget that fits your company, you must work closely with the finance department to ensure timely payment schedules. When the employees receive reimbursements and benefits, the employee experience is increased.

Use of Technology

Undoubtedly, most businesses have gone digital in managing their daily operations. However, some people still trust a pen and paper entirely. Companies can save many resources once they integrate technology into their operations. Regarding employee experience and HR costs, the HR department can save significant money by integrating advanced yet cost-effective platforms into fostering, training, and development activities. It is a one-time HR cost, but these digital platforms continue to serve the purpose for a long time. The centralized software for managing HR, benefits, and payroll makes things convenient for the employees. Moreover, it helps employers eliminate paperwork—using cost-containing options.

Conclusion

Creating a balance between HR costs and employee experience is never easy. The HR department has to play a significant role in making the right strategic plan to maintain a healthy working culture. No matter how hard it may sound, the HR department has to make optimal use of resources and cut costs whenever possible.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Natural abilities in productivity and efficiency fuel some individuals. They make a list of tasks prioritized by most to least important and power through them every day. They seamlessly move from one task to another, dealing with significant issues and speed bumps during their task execution process. But others look at their to-do lists with a sense of wonder, jealousy, and a little anger about how they’ll be able to do them all in one day.

A business-building to-do list fears that the manager can fail to follow it and get everything done day-to-day. The habit of procrastination is one of the biggest reasons for failure. Do you find yourself a victim of this habit? If so, do not worry! Here are four great ways to stop procrastinating and start growing your business. 

The Power of Preparing Tomorrow Today

One of the most powerful business-building tricks is to begin your day knowing what you must do, even before reaching the office. Take just half an hour to prepare your to-do list for the next day before you leave the office or go to bed.

Planning for tomorrow prevents you from spending the early hours of each day when your mental and physical energy is at peak levels, figuring out what to do. Also, it helps you to stop procrastinating and start doing. Assign every activity on a priority level from most pressing to least urgent and significant. Also, estimate the time required to finish each task individually to ensure optimal efficiency in your task execution process. Take caution; starting with high expectations may easily create stress and make you fall short of your organizational goals. So, allow yourself to learn this process instead of expecting perfection. Consequently, it is crucial to set reasonable limits, as your time is also limited. 

Email Management for Productivity: Don’t Let It Derail Your Day

If and when something is urgent, whoever requires your assistance will contact you via phone. Checking your emails first thing in the morning distracts you from your business-building to-do list. If possible, it is good to delay checking your email to an hour before lunch. Also, having your assistant update you with only the most important emails at any time you prefer at the workplace is a much better idea. It will save you time and make you more focused on your work with enhanced efficiency. Of course, some may not have this luxury. It’s essential to do what’s best for you.

Breaking Down Tasks for Morning Success

Every task mentioned in your business-building to-do list may be subdivided into smaller tasks. Sometimes, the primary task is so big and complex that you have to distribute the tasks into smaller chunks to handle them more easily. Opt for a challenging task in the morning when you and your staff are most energetic. On the contrary, leaving such a task to be handled at the end of the day will end up on the next day’s to-do list. 

Managing Unfinished Tasks

It is expected to see specific tasks unfinished for the day for many reasons, such as handling an urgent task or postponing a scheduled meeting. Being stressed about an uncompleted task will not produce a solution; you are wasting your time and creative abilities.

When preparing your business-building to-do list, you should consider such unplanned situations and adopt a three-level categorization. The tasks categorized as the third level should be those that can be delayed. Also, discard your to-do list and create a new one at the end of the day. Make the most of today’s experience in revising your time estimates so you no longer burden yourself with over-loading tasks.

Conclusion

In conclusion, productivity and efficiency vary among individuals, but the struggle with procrastination is a common challenge. Overcoming this hurdle is crucial for business success. Planning ahead, minimizing distractions, breaking tasks into manageable parts, and avoiding undue stress over unfinished work can boost your productivity and work towards your goals effectively.

Embrace these strategies, and you’ll be better equipped to tackle your business-building to-do list and achieve success. Remember, success is a journey; these techniques will help you stay on the path to your goals.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Going into debt has forced most households to struggle to make ends meet. Without evaluating the repercussions, they keep borrowing money from different sources over and over again to fulfill their dreams and desires. There comes a time when they find themselves stuck miserably in financial obligations, and it becomes challenging for them to meet their debt repayment schedules. This indicates that debt levels among poor, marginally poor and moderate-income households have increased over the past decade or so.

Even high-income households are not that far behind poor or moderate-income level households. According to a study, the highest-income households carry the largest amount of debt. This is an alarming situation for all us, no matter how well we are managing our debt repayment schedules. Once you get into it, it can feel that there’s no way out! The study further revealed that people don’t borrow money for fun; they borrow it for meeting financial uncertainties. The need for going into debt is forced by economic factors, such as recessions, high inflation rate, internal/external financial mismanagement, etc.:

Debts—Tackle Before Your Retire!

Money does not discriminate. It doesn’t matter if you make $25K or $250K a year, you will never win a race against high-interest debt. If you want to enjoy complete financial freedom, you need to spend less and save more for your rainy days. They will never tell you before coming—they will show up any time when you’re least expecting it. As far as the debts are concerned, it would help if you tackled them before you retire, or you’ll probably find yourself surrounded by a retirement crisis.

No matter how much you earn through your working years, loans, or outstanding amounts always raises serious concerns around managing your finances. Even slight mismanagement in finances can cause you a great deal of stress. Loan repayment requirements, during your working years, will restrict or prevent you from saving more for retirement. Deal with your loan obligations or repayment schedules within your working years to save more for your retirement. Here are four debts that you need to tackle before you retire.

Credit Card Debt

Winning a race against high-interest debt is no easy feat; you have to be careful whether you can afford a credit card or not. Getting a credit card is easy, but repaying it is a lot harder than anyone can imagine. According to accounting data, about 1 in 3 American adults use a credit card, which means that its usage is quite extensive. This doesn’t make it hard to see why most Americans are strangled in debts. Thus, you must get rid of it, as credit card debt typically carries a high-interest rate.

Moreover, you will have less money to put in retirement funds or savings. It is something that eats your retirement savings without even realizing it. Hence, you must handle credit card debt, or it could even raise serious legal and financial issues.

Student Loan Debt

It gets tough for baby boomers to save money, especially when they are liable to make debt repayments. According to a survey, those who carry student loan debt find it difficult to save money for retirement. This is why paying them off within your working years is a big plus for you, no matter how much one may argue. The ultimate goal is to maximize your retirement savings, so you have to be careful in dealing with student debts. You must not miss your repayment schedule.  Ensure that the record is well-maintained for dealing with any sort of discrepancies.

Mortgage Debt

Mortgage debts are a huge stress for most American households. Most people die before paying their mortgage loans, especially those who start a mortgage plan a bit late in their lives (let’s say in their 40s-50s). However, those who start at a relatively younger age (in their 20s-30s) manage to pay their mortgage loans by the time their retirement rolls around.

Nearly 75%  of people fail to meet their monthly mortgage repayment schedule. This indicates that people find it extremely difficult to pay off their short and long-term debts. It would be best if you devised a repayment mechanism to make scheduled payments. A mortgage loan is one of the most important loans that you must tackle before you retire, or it will eat up your retirement savings.

Medical Debt

Medical loans acquired at any stage of life must be repaid in time. If not, expect to face a possible financial crisis at the end of retirement. Some agencies may finance your medical needs but look out for those who offer easy and smooth repayment schedules. Medical loan debts are very burdensome on those who are near their retirement age. Therefore, you plan and tackle these before you retire or be mentally prepared for facing financial difficulties at the end of your career.

Conclusion

People across the globe face extreme difficulties in meeting their financial debt obligations. Debt loans can help us to meet uncertain financial situations. But, paying them off, in the long run, becomes extremely challenging for the entire family, especially when you are near your retirement. You must prioritize and tackle your debts before you retire to have a financially secured retirement life.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Starting a business can be a daunting journey, and along the way, you’re likely to encounter a plethora of entrepreneurial advice. While some of this advice may sound like golden nuggets of wisdom, it’s essential to approach it with a critical eye. In this guide, we’ll explore four commonly heard pieces of entrepreneurial advice that, upon closer examination, may not be as brilliant as they seem. From the notion of quitting your job to believing you get only one chance to make an impression, we’ll debunk these myths and provide insights to help you navigate your entrepreneurial path more wisely. So, let’s dive in and uncover the truth behind these well-intentioned but questionable words of wisdom.

Transition to Full-Time Business Ownership

Remember, having more time to put your efforts and energies into your project will not make you more successful. You value your time more when restricted. You are typically focused as the time constraints force you to be more productive and efficient. Instead of quitting your job, losing your primary source of earning, and increasing financial stress, learn to get more accomplished in less time. Reinforce your productivity with task automation that requires repetitive efforts. It would help if you also outsourced the activities that you cannot automate with the help of a virtual assistant and make the most of your extra time in networking and building a customer base for your new venture.

Stop thinking that it’s all or nothing. Remember that the most successful businesses were part-time gigs long before the owners made it their full-time attention.

Entrepreneurship Thrives on Risk

Although starting your venture or side business is never without risk, not every entrepreneur is a bold risk-taker. Most successful corporate owners do everything to minimize their risks. The founders of Warby Parker continued working their old jobs for a long time, even when their company was already a huge success. They waited until they were confident with the net functional safety and effectiveness of the business in generating revenue before taking significant risks. Consequently, as a start-up enthusiast, you must weigh the benefits and advantages of growth against the time, effort, and costs needed. As bookkeeping is essential for preparing financial statements, idea evaluation is necessary for entrepreneurship. 

Guarding Your Business Idea: The Caution of Sharing

You may have heard stories of people who had their unique business idea stolen. However, I have never known an entrepreneur who has experienced this. Is it possible? Certainly! However, the harsh reality is that most business ideas we think are brilliant are terrible in one or more ways.

Although you may not prefer telling everyone you meet your business idea, you must obtain genuine feedback and business advice from experts. Your friends will hesitate to give negative comments about your ideas, as they think you might feel disappointed and see them as your enemies.

If you are deeply concerned about your idea being stolen, there are many NDA agreements available online from which you can benefit. However, you will hardly find ten other people who may have pitched an investor willing to sign it as the same idea. Thus, they cannot afford to lock themselves into an NDA. Also, implementing your idea is more necessary to them than the idea itself. Following this entrepreneurial advice could lead you to spend years pursuing a wild idea.

You Have Just One Opportunity to Make an Impression

When you share your idea with someone renowned in the industry, they will probably not remember you. They meet so many individuals daily that each face becomes part of another crowd. Although it is undoubtedly a big deal for you, it may be one of the hundreds of interactions they have daily, not to burst your bubble.

Consequently, avoid worrying about whether you did or said the right thing. Instead, visit different organizations, make new professional friends, and show courage.

Conclusion

While there’s nothing wrong with accepting guidance and help from professionals in the industry longer than you, proceed with caution when someone suggests the four pieces of entrepreneurial advice discussed above. Listening to and following them could significantly harm your career and start-up business success. As with any big life decision, it’s most important to listen to your intuition and allow that to guide your way.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

It can be a tricky job to work with leading fashion bloggers. Hundreds of online and offline brands are competing for attention. Standing out from the crowd can be a difficult proposition, especially if you are a local business.

Before you approach an influential fashion blogger to promote your product, ensure that you a goal in mind. The best way to reach out to them is to have a specific and focused idea. Bloggers will say yes to working with you if they don’t have to work hard to include your product in their content. It is important to come up with a creative idea.  

Banner ads, typical sponsored links, and product mentions are promotional methods that are quickly becoming outdated. These types of promotions have little impact on readers nowadays because they are aware of old-school sponsoring methods. There are still ways to stay on top of your game as an apparel or fashion brand and, that is to come up with creative methods for promoting your product.

Are you searching for some ways to do so? Listed below are four ideas that you can implement right away.

1. Ask the blogger if they can Feature your Product in an Outfit Post

If you want to make headway with a blogger’s audience, then outfit posts are the easiest way. Normally, lifestyle or fashion bloggers mention their complete outfit at the bottom of each post. Before you approach the blogger, ensure that your product aligns with their personal brand because bloggers usually start to queue the items that they accept to feature.

Once the blogger has accepted your product feature and price if you wish to amplify the impact of the post, share it with your networks.

It is a good idea to send the fashion blogger some of the things from your product line. Even better, create a promotion that makes the audience visit your online or boutique shop.

2. Ask the Blogger to Feature your Product in their next Closet Tour

Fashion bloggers can promote your product in their upcoming closet or apartment tour. Such tours have become popular when it comes to promoting products that are not directly “fashion-related.” In these heavy-hitting videos, five to six products are usually promoted at the same time.

The way to slip in your product with their next apartment tour is to straightforwardly ask if they can mention the site/brand in their video or photographs. If you want to get extra attention for your product, be sure to send the most attention-grabbing and flashiest product that you have in stock.

3. Create a Look Book Featuring the Blogger

If you want to approach an influential fashion blogger to work with you, look books are the most flattering way to do so.  However, this method can be a bit tricky. In this case, you need to ensure that the blogger’s style and your brand are perfectly aligned.

A good indicator is whether they have worn your products before or if anyone in their comments has mentioned your brand’s name. If you have a good eye, you will be able to tell if your blogger is a vintage-lover, edgy, high fashion, or boho (with, of course, many sub-genres included).

If you are launching your new summer line, include a top local blogger as a model for your photoshoot. Make the storyline creative, and the blogger’s recognizable face will attract more attention than your regular look book.

4. Invite the Blogger to an In-Store Party to Promote your Product

If you want to build a relationship with the blogger and impress them, this is your chance. This is also an opportunity for the blogger to take authentic pictures of themselves in your store.

Bloggers enjoy being handpicked and invited to elite events. Get a party going for them, and be sure to give away nice gift bags so that they can take pictures and post them on their social media sites. Please take note of all of the expenses related to this event, as it will help you with your bookkeeping. Before reaching out to the fashion bloggers, include a hashtag for your shop or event.

Conclusion

After reading about these four creative ways to promote your product through an influential fashion blogger, you must have realized that it is not too difficult to promote your boutique with fashion bloggers. Irrespective of whether it’s a promotion from an outfit post, an apartment tour, a look book, or a blogger party, these are all creative ways to have your product shine out from the crowd.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

With recent technological gains and the evolution of the web, IT systems, including cloud-computing solutions, have become the norm. While crucial for a business’s performance, cloud computing taxation is perplexing. With even more complicated laws and regulations, it can be challenging to understand the concept of sales and tax. There are considerations to keep concerning taxes, and if SaaS is exempted. The considerations vary from state to state.

SaaS (Software as a Service) companies do not help from real-time reporting with third-party integration by enterprising tech start-ups. Due to existing technological research weaknesses, some may even emphasize that it’s like using a cannon to squat a fly. The costs can certainly act as a repellent and shun away from any interest that brings business to the conclusion that the software wouldn’t be able to handle the complexity of requirements that it needs to accommodate. Audits for taxes should be set-up well ahead of time, and “hope” is not a plan to depend on. An accounting solution for all SaaS start-ups is critical before the state issues orders to the IRS for investigations.

Under the law, SaaS is similar to perpetual software licenses, where the software is used indefinitely, sometimes by paying a fee. Such software needs to clarify how it would be used and for what purpose. Like perpetual licenses, SaaS laws vary and differ from state to state and are never the same. Accounting solutions for all SaaS start-ups need to conform to laws. Audits are prone to harsh and strict regulations so that any irregularities may be handled. It’s a good idea to think before they happen.

Nothing beats a professional service/tool, and using one helps audit and taxing matters greatly. Hiring one to check and recheck straighten things up without any chances of error. However, there’s more to be done than that. Even without expertise or great knowledge of accounting, here are four accounting musts for your SaaS start-ups to accomplish before state auditors come knocking.

1. Account and Tax Planning While Growing

There is no greater mistake in business than not planning for growth. Before being proactive in a business, it’s necessary to punch in all factors to attain a picture of ground realities and, thus, form a solution towards it. When discovering new markets for potential growth opportunities, many or most of the applied accounting solutions have to be consistently tallied with the law so that SaaS start-ups comply with the vital laws of states or wherever it is expanding to. Use a professional at every corner and step of your expansion plan so that they can eradicate any problems that could arise. This helps to avoid future erratic and hectic problems.

2. View the Bigger Picture

The strategy of up-front revenue recognition is fairly risky. If a client or customer withdraws their finances from a contract and requests a refund or return, it can get pretty messy if the cash is already earmarked for something like accounting expenditures. What that does is significantly disturbs strategies and plans. However, prepared SaaS start-ups have to have ways to handle such scenarios.

3. VAS for SaaS Users

If you are selling services that supplement all core products, otherwise known as VAS (Value-added Service), you must handle things with the utmost care. If you are charging outside of the area of your core products, it can get tricky fast. It is highly recommended that all services and fees are clear and precise. Otherwise, it may take days just to clear up confusion caused by misinformation. Generally, the rule is to designate and distribute revenue and income between components for accounting based on their selling price on an individual basis.  SaaS start-ups need to recognize this to benefit.

4. Track Change to Grow Smart

From laws and regulations to procedures, change is a part of the process to improve and develop. Change may arise from any direction, and being prepared is the smart thing to do. Keep track of changes to handle better any indications of arising or upcoming turbulence in an audit. Each year, rules and laws are updated, or even modified, so knowing these enables one to be in a better position to respond accordingly. Also, in SaaS start-ups, always plan and notice any changes or news, for example, changes in tax codes.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Like all technology trends, the cloud technology model emerged with lots of hype and promises. It would be wise to step on new soil with the utmost care, especially regarding the risky commerce and finance segment, when the information has more security, regulatory, and privacy concerns. Despite all these various concerns, numerous financial companies have been making progress using cloud-based technological solutions across multiple lines of business, such as ERP, CRM, front office, procurement, supply chain, and commerce applications.

Adopting cloud-based solutions presents an opportunity for vast operational and technical improvements. Cloud technology is a faster, more straightforward, and more affordable way to host numerous different software applications with enormous amounts of data, to put it in simple words. In the broadest definition, cloud technology represents a substantial transformative force where users can employ new business competencies and customer experience to launch excellent short-time scales, reduce risks, and lower expenses.

Cloud technology will enable a business transformation in numerous ways that the traditional approaches will not. It is because of the extended application schedules along with the significant capital investments that the customary approaches often require. However, using this innovative opportunity for transformation also comes with embracing the change and following the best practices, which will support successful implementation and adoption. 

Know the Limitations

Because of the size and the department silos, commerce and finance companies have a large and diverse portfolio of existing technological systems. Many of these systems span years of procurements, new product launches, or the execution of modern technology. Some of the applicants might not be perfect candidates for cloud technology due to the limitations it has on security or usage. In reality, a recent study by Frost & Sullivan on cloud adoption validated this finding, with 61% of financial service companies quoting an “inability to meet compliance requirements” as one of the reasons for not moving numerous applications over to the cloud. Other business procedures might still use manual or paper-based operations, making shifting to cloud technology more challenging. As stated by Frost & Sullivan research, 53% of all financial companies who were surveyed have implemented a “cloud-first” approach for the new applications. However, they do not plan to transfer legacy apps.

Adopt the Best Practices

So, where does the company start? The very first thing you should do is complete your homework and research entirely about the industry you are working in. You must talk to your peers and employees to identify the correct business processes that make sense for the organization. However, through this entire process, keep in mind that you will be required to follow the best practices that are employed for successful cloud technology implementation and deployment. The following are three ways to ensure successful cloud technology deployment. 

1. Have an all-inclusive cloud vision, strategy, and blueprint. Before you embark on any of the cloud technology campaigns, it is essential that you completely understand the purpose of this change. Numerous companies believe using the cloud is a technology play, missing the precious opportunity to develop a vision for noteworthy business transformation. In reality, careful business planning is probably the most complex challenge to overcome.
2. Create a genuine, well-designed road map with an implementation approach. Beyond this vision, you might also need a tactical plan. Most often, corporations initially bite off more than they can chew. They plan the initial scope to be very expansive and almost unobtainable. Before you begin with the deployment, ensure that the team is entirely ready to handle the entire process.
3. Obtain leadership buy-in. When your leadership team, including the CFO, CEO, CMO, COO, CHRO, etc., is not on board, it may hinder the decision-making process and slow down the progress of major initiatives. Nevertheless, if the CTO and the IT department only support your cloud technology initiative, the actual transformative business advantages of cloud technology may go entirely unnoticed. Thus, the organization might resist the implementation option. The process might even begin to feel like a complete failure. When you get everyone on board, it overwhelmingly increases the potential for success.

Conclusion 

In the fast-paced world of technology, cloud technology emerged with great promise, particularly for industries like finance and commerce. However, embracing this transformative force necessitates a cautious approach due to security, regulatory, and privacy concerns. Nonetheless, many financial institutions have successfully leveraged cloud-based solutions across various business functions, leading to operational and technical improvements.

Cloud technology offers speed, simplicity, and cost-effectiveness for hosting diverse software applications and vast data sets. It presents an opportunity for rapid business transformation, reduced risk, and lowered costs. Cloud technology outshines traditional approaches, often involving extended implementation schedules and substantial capital investments.

It is vital to understand and embrace change while adhering to best practices for successful implementation and adoption to harness the benefits of cloud technology. Finally, obtain leadership buy-in across all departments to maximize the potential for successful cloud technology implementation and transformative business advantages. By following these guidelines, companies can unlock the full potential of cloud technology in the finance and commerce sector.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Contract surety bonds are three-party agreements during which the first party fortifies the second party’s performance to the third party. Contract surety bonds protect the performance of all construction contracts. The performance bond gives advantages to the project owner and the contractor’s performance of the entire contract to define it precisely. The payment bond secures the contractors’ obligation to pay the suppliers and provides an added advantage for the suppliers and the subcontractors. Furthermore, the performance and the payment bonds have terms and conditions that must be included.  

One of the most frustrating parts of being a contract surety bonds writer is having to reject the bonding ability of the contractor, who seems to have all the required experience and skills along with the financial stability needed to carry out the project they have in mind. The qualification process is one of the most critical moments for any contractor to prove their skills to meet all the different contract commitments. All the preliminary steps to the surety should be detailed and completed through presentations to avoid creating a negative first impression. The following three reasons are the most common reasons why contract surety bonds are denied despite the applicant being qualified. 

Overextension

One of the most essential parts of the application review is when the surety writers compare complexity along with the size of the project proposed with the various projects that the contractor has completed in the past. It is required so that the contractor picks only the projects that they know they will be able to achieve. Bidding on jobs that are significantly larger in scope and complexity and lie outside the contractor’s primary work specialty becomes one of the leading causes of the contract surety bonds being declined. Most of the time, location distance from what the contractor typically considers the geographic center of operations also becomes a serious condition. 

Realistic Lead Time

It is very unreasonable for any contractor who has no previous qualifications for the program bonding capacity to submit their request a day before the ultimate bond is due. The writer should be given sufficient time to digest all of the required biographical information provided to them by the contractor. They need enough time to read and thoroughly understand the contract and get an idea of the nature of this bonded obligation. Time is also required to retrieve and review the credit and financial rating service feedback, along with proper analysis of the contractor’s financial statements and work-in-progress schedules. Throughout this entire review process, numerous concerns might arise that may require further clarification through phone calls and emails to both the project owner and contractor. The more minor contract requests do not require as much attention as the larger ones. Irrespective of what the project size might be, the same underwriting fundamentals are followed. 

Inappropriate Financial Presentation

In the effort to present bonding opportunities to all emerging contractors, most of the sureties have developed “quick bonds” or “fast app programs.” It is a known fact that those contractors who are relatively new to the field are highly unlikely to have CPA-prepared financial statements. The cost of formal financial reporting might be challenging to budget. As the project values increase, all writers should be able to trust the precision of the working capital, efficiency, and revenue along with the billing figures, which have been contained in the financial statement. All of the different presentations prepared to review or audit the standards are the absolute prerequisites for more extensive bond requests. Offering a formal statement also gives the writer a clear indication of the contractors’ financial maturity, along with an understanding of the various basic principles of credit applications. A contractor’s reluctance to quickly deliver the demanded financial information organized to the appropriate standards is a huge red flag.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, contract surety bonds are essential for protecting construction contract performance and payments. Contractors can face bond denials for typical reasons: overextension, unrealistic lead times, and inappropriate financial presentations. Contractors should select projects within their capabilities, provide ample evaluation time, and present organized financial information to improve approval chances. Understanding these reasons can help contractors navigate the qualification process effectively.

In an industry where trust and reliability are paramount, taking these steps not only improves bonding success but also enhances a contractor’s reputation and credibility. So, as you navigate the complex world of contract surety bonds, remember that these challenges can ultimately lead to growth and success in the construction business.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.