Kenneth Boyd's Blog, page 54

Helping A Family Member Get Back On Their Feet Financially

Helping a family member get back on their feet may be tough, but personally rewarding.

 

After all, we love and respect our family members, often unconditionally. No matter who you are, you will likely feel the tug at your heartstrings if a family member is in trouble.

 

If the problem is caused by bad decisions, we might lose enthusiasm over time, but that doesn’t mean this will be any less important to take care of. Helping a family member get back on their feet takes patience, time, and empathy.

Assuming your family member is willing to engage with you, the following financial tips can be helpful:

 

Manage and Instruct

 

It can be extremely worthwhile to help systemize the finances of your struggling relative.

 

You may take control over their finances for a time. Applying budgets, building a savings balance, and helping make smart decisions about debt can right the ship over time.

 

Forcing is not the name of the game here. Instead, instructing, demonstrating, and helping them assign their finances to the highest priorities will be the best way forward.

 

You cannot force a family member to make good financial decisions, but you can ask for them to run everything by you, and to provide them instructions and the best direction. It can be painstaking and difficult, but sometimes it’s essential.

It could be the importance of arranging a payment schedule with them after bailing them out using Absolute Bail Bonds, Inc. or establishing contact between them and a debt charity.

 

It all counts, and all your help can be valuable.

 

The Root

 

The root of the issue is often the factor that holds people back.

 

No matter how financially helpful you are to someone with an addiction, the sneaking voice in the back of their mind will always see a payment or a dividing of their own savings as a quantity of the substance they were addicted to.

 

This is why finding them help for the root of the issue is essential, even if that’s tough-love cold turkey rehab treatment, helping them out of a toxic social situation, or generally helping them overcome hardcore spending habits.

 

Presence

 

Stay present with them, and ensure your advice is being followed. You might have a written contract that if they manage to see through a course of treatment, or apply to community college, or get that first job, that you’ll provide them with a small amount of financial help just to help them get back on their feet.

 

You might drive them to the new job. You might help them move through the challenging aspects of their time at work, or help them prioritize their savings to the creditors that are most important.

 

With these tips, helping a family member get back on their feet financially can work. It won’t be easy, but a successful outcome will be more than worth it.

No one can succeed alone, and your efforts can make a huge difference.

This post is for educational purposes only.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) http://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

The post Helping A Family Member Get Back On Their Feet Financially appeared first on Accounting Accidentally.

4 Options When The Bank Refuses Your Loan

There is nothing more stressful that a loan application has been denied.

 

Whether it’s an emergency repair, an unexpected bill or whether you’re trying to buy a property, it can be tricky to know what to do when the bank refuses your loan.

When asking friends and relatives is not an option, you need to find alternatives that are safe and reasonable to ensure you can bounce back and gain the control of the situation.

 

There are options available to help careful borrowers:

Different data?

 

Firstly, imagine a situation in which you’re trying to get a loan to buy a house, but you don’t have a social security number. This could be the case for non-American residents who don’t have a settled residency status yet.

 

However, you don’t need an SSN to obtain a loan. In fact, you can apply for an ITIN loan using your Tax-ID, which is the identification your receive when you fulfill your tax duties in the U.S. A word of warning: a mortgage loan on the basis of the ITIN or the SSN will require a credit history of the borrower, the security of regular income and a review of how much you can afford to borrow.

 

In short, if you were declined due to a poor credit history, you need to sort out your finances first.

 

Riskier Loans

 

When you take a personal loan, lenders research your financial history and credit score before making a decision. A short-term personal loan can inject the cash you need to sort out your financial emergency. If you can budget its repayment appropriately, it can even improve your credit score.

 

However, even short-term personal loans can be refused if your credit history is deemed non-satisfactory. If this is the case, a payday loan can be an alternative for an emergency expense.

 

But caution: these loans have very high interest rates, and a late payment can be very expensive. Payday loans should be a loan of last resort.

 

Find a Crowd

 

Did you know that you may not have to finance all projects by yourself? Indeed, emergency expenses such as medical bills often find their way onto crowdfunding platforms, where most parents ask for support to cover the bills for their kids.

 

Sharing their difficult journey online, Keely and Beau have asked people to help them save their baby girl who’s battling cancer.

 

Crowdfunding campaigns that touch medical bills and emergencies register a record one-third of all the money raised on the world’s largest fundraising platform, GoFundMe. The lesson? People’s generosity can save you.

 

Do The Hustle

 

Ask yourself before you embrace a side hustling journey whether your money requirements are urgent.

 

If you can afford to wait a few weeks or months to secure the amount you need, something like blogging on the side or becoming an online teacher can help you to maximize your income. A successful blogger can rapidly earn over $1,000 per month, for instance.

 

Risk and Reward

 

Having money has never been more important than today. When your bank won’t lend you anything, you’ve got alternatives to cover your financial needs. However, you need to be careful. Plan repayment carefully, so you don’t put your finances at risk.

This post is for educational purposes only.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) http://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

The post 4 Options When The Bank Refuses Your Loan appeared first on Accounting Accidentally.

Financial Mistakes Your Business Needs To Put Right In 2019

Business owners need to get their budgets right to succeed.

 

Nevertheless, this is something that most leaders tend to get wrong. The vast majority of projects tend to go over budget, and this can really hurt a company’s profitability. It is, therefore, of little surprise that this is often an area of focus for most companies in 2019.

 

With that in mind, read on to discover some of the mistakes your business needs to make an effort to put right in time for the new year…

Stop Holding Your Cards

 

First and foremost, it is always beneficial to be transparent with your team regarding your evolving budget forecast. By keeping your team in the know, they will be more inclined to make sure they stick within the budget, and they will be aware of what is expected of them in order to do so.

 

Once they learn of the budget, you’ll notice that more workers are careful regarding how they designate hours and anything else that impacts the projects’ cost.

Create Competition

It is likely you are going to have to make a number of significant purchases throughout the coming year. Why not reassess the way you purchase such items? An auction presents a great opportunity for you to purchase something at a fraction of the cost. You will be surprised by just how much you can save.

What About Resources?

 

You want to make sure that everyone working on the project is focusing on the correct tasks and carrying them out to optimal potential. One of the biggest components of the budget are salaries, and so you need to review resources on a weekly basis to ensure that everyone is putting in the correct amount of hours every week into their tasks, and that they are working on the highest priorities.

 

Software can really prove its worth when managing resources.

Willing to Change?

 

No matter how well you prepare the initial budget, the chances are that it will change at some point.

 

You need to remember that the estimates you put together in the beginning are merely that – estimates. The very nature of doing businesses and the unexpected surprises that come with it, as well as the regular occurrences of scope creep, mean that the budget can quite easily change. If you are not prepared for this, you could find yourself in a very sticky situation.

Know Your Core

When budgeting, it’s always wise to start with the core costs.

By this we mean things that are a necessity to get your projects up and running, for example, software, equipment, team members, and travel. Once you have done this, you should compare the figures to the overall budget.

If these expenses do not fit under the complete cost figure, you need to talk with your stakeholders and/or your boss to determine how the project should be scaled in order to ensure it is completed within the available budget.

 

This post is for educational purposes only.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) http://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

 

The post Financial Mistakes Your Business Needs To Put Right In 2019 appeared first on Accounting Accidentally.

What Can You Do When A Product Is Faulty?

It’s the season for buying gifts.

 

Consumers are looking for the best deals, and this means that prices for goods will go up and down for about a month of so before and after Christmas. As you shop for gifts, you may find that the quality of the items you buy may be very different.

 

Beware of the product or service that is too good to be true- it’s probably not that good.

The old term stands true then, ‘you get what you pay for’. Going cheap and getting a ‘deal’ isn’t always the best option. It could mean that you  get a product that is subpar and you’ll have to replace it sooner or later.

For example, vacuums that are cheap will lose a lot of their suction power in the first year and bits and pieces can fall off the next year.

 

You’ll end up buying a new one, and your original purchase went down the drain- along with the money you paid for it. So what can you do if a product is faulty and you want your money back?

 

Be Right, be Sure

 

Are you sure that you weren’t too rough with the product that fell apart in your hands? Did you do something wrong and not follow the instructions? Be absolutely sure that you are in the right because you might need to make your case either with a retailer in their store or on the phone if you ordered the product to your home.

 

Have your facts ready and your story straight, because customer service operators need to make sure a complaint is legitimate. Every company knows that if they have an item returned and the money refunded, it will affect the company’s bottom line.

 

Complain?

 

Have your receipt and any other proof of purchase ready before you go into the store where you bought the product from and or phone in to their customer service desk. Have the item number, the date, the credit card, the store number etc, all ready so that you can show them you were present at the time and the store.

 

Some customer service managers might want all the details possible before they ever give you one cent of the refund. You may also want to take pictures of the product to document the problem before you turn up.

Harm Done?

 

Sometimes faulty products can actually harm someone. A lawn mower, for example, might have a loose part and the blade could hurt you severely. No one should be harmed when using a product that the company guarantees to be safe, so contact someone like Negretti that can pursue a legal case for compensation, should you have a viable product defect case

 

Before you return anything, have your argument ready and your information in hand, so that if customer service workers do want to know exactly what happened, you can provide that information.

This post is for educational purposes only.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) http://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

 

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Avoiding Slipping Into Debt Over the Holidays

It’s the most wonderful time of the year- but don’t let it become the most expensive.

 

The holidays can be a festive time of year! It’s a period where we take a step back from our hectic professional lives in order to spend a little more time with our loved ones. We celebrate, enjoy ourselves, and give gifts to one another.

 

But, as many of us know, this can also result in the festive season being extremely costly. Increasing numbers of people are finding themselves slipping into serious debt in order to keep up with societal expectations. So, it’s extremely important that you avoid doing this! Here are a few steps that you can take to avoid slipping into debt this holiday season.

Change, Discipline, Gratification

 

When you think about your spending during the holiday season, consider these points:

 

Change is hard

 

The reason that people don’t diet, don’t exercise, and don’t resolve bad personal relationships is that change is hard. As a result, we don’t really, truly change and grow unless we’re in real pain. When we’re at that point, the pain of change is less severe than that pain of not changing.

 

Make the decision to change- don’t overspend this year!

 

Discipline and time

 

With discipline and time, I think most people can accumulate far more wealth than they think is possible. But growing wealth requires change- which is precisely why most people don’t make the effort. The changes I’m suggesting involves an old friend:

Delayed gratification

 

Some decisions are relatively small:

Dropping a subscription music service and just listening to the free version (Pandora, for example).
Making coffee at home two days a week, which means that you stop by Starbucks less often.
Buying more generic products when you go to the grocery store and Target. (I’m not going generic on salad dressing, however).

 

Since these are smaller decisions, the amount of gratification you’re delaying is small. You don’t mind listening the commercials on Pandora (I certainly don’t- I just turned down the sound), and the coffee at home isn’t bad.

So, what do I get?

 

OK- so what do I get out of all this delayed gratification? You save money and avoid debt- which can give you peace of mind.

Here are some more practical strategies to avoid debt during the holidays.

 

Under Pressure

 

Many of us feel that if someone gives us a gift, we have to give them something of equal value back in return. This can be problematic- if someone has a bigger budget than you, they are likely to spend more on your gift.

 

If you feel that you have to give something back of equal value, you may end up exceeding your budget and suffering financially in the long run. Instead, release yourself from this societal pressure. Nobody should give to receive!

 

Stick to It

 

Prepare a budget before you start purchasing anything Christmas related.

 

Whether that’s decorations, food, or presents, a budget will help you to avoid overspending. Make sure that your disposable income makes your budget possible, because this strategy will help you to avoid overspending. You can learn more about this in the Inforgraphy below from PrepaidCards123.

Infographic Design By PrepaidCards123

This post is for educational purposes only.

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) http://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

 

 

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How to Recover Financially After a Car Accident

Experiencing a car accident can be traumatic.

 

At the same time, however, a car accident has a financial impact- and you need a plan to address the physical, emotional, and financial impact of the event.

 

A bit of a bump and scrape between cars in a car park, a collision on a busy road or a bump into a wall – car accidents have a financial implication. Whether it is your fault or the fault of another driver, you need to be aware of what your obligations are and how your finances might be affected.

Fault Lines

Who is at fault?

 

Whether you are the victim of an accident that wasn’t your fault, or you were the responsible party, you still have obligations to fulfill. Check that the other party is not hurt, and call for emergency help.

Regardless of whether anyone is hurt or not, you should call the police as soon as possible. The police, for example, can handle the traffic that is driving past the accident scene- which can reduce the risk of another accident.

 

A great personal finance book I highly recommend. Click below

 

 

 

 

If you have bumped an empty car in a car park, you should stop your car, get out and go and see if you have caused any damage. At a minimum, leave a note on the car windshield which gives your name, contact details and a brief explanation of the accident.

 

In both situations, you should also take a picture of any damage caused, in order to document what has happened. While you can use your phone, a dashcam is a better tool to have, as this will video the accident as it happens. Consider the best dash cam by BBMC.

 

You should also make a note of any mitigating circumstances, such as another car behaving erratically or a pedestrian running into the road. If there are witnesses around, request their details just in case you require a statement later on.

 

Your Rates

Insurance is based on math , and if you file an insurance claim for a car accident, your insurance premiums will increase. However, you can reduce the cost of your insurance by increasing the deductibles.

When you accept a higher deductible level, you can take on more of the risk to lower your premiums costs. Your premiums will be lower, but you’ll pay more out of pocket if your have an accident.

 

If you cause an accident, your insurer will likely have to pay for the damage caused, and you’ll pay higher insurance premiums going forward.

 

In some cases, insurers will also raise your rates even if you make a not-at-fault claim. This may occur the case of a hit and run accident, when the driver at fault flees the scene. Since your insurance company cannot recover funds from the driver at fault, they incur the cost of the accident- and may pass the higher costs on to you in the form of higher premiums.

 

If you can, try to gather as much evidence from witnesses to build your case and track the driver down.

 

Car accidents are simply part of being a driver so the more prepared you are, and the better your insurer is, the less financial implications there will be. Stay safe!

 

This post is for educational purposes only.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) http://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

The post How to Recover Financially After a Car Accident appeared first on Accounting Accidentally.

Freelancers: What About a Retirement Plan?

“Staph, Strep, E Coli, Salmonella”

 

These four serious medical issues were listed on a 4-pack of Clorox Disinfecting Wipes.

 

Well, that’s terrifying- I guess I need to get some wipes to prevent these issues from killing me, or my family.

 

Fear can be an effective marketing strategy.

 

I’m not here to scare anymore, but I do think freelancers need to find access to a retirement plan, if they don’t already have one.

This article defines retirement plans, and why I think investing in these plans may be the most important financial decision a freelancer may make. Finally, I’ll explain where you can locate a retirement plan, if you can’t find one.

 

I Get It

 

Now, I get it.

 

As a freelancer, you work more hours than you might as an employee, and you’re responsible for everything, including administration, sales, and marketing. In addition, you may be plowing the extra earnings you generate back into your business- and you don’t think you have the available funds for a retirement plan.

 

A great personal finance book I highly recommend. Click below:

 

 

But consider how a retirement plan can benefit you.

 

How They Work

 

The most common investment for employees is a 401(k) retirement plan. Now, the structure may be different for a freelancer, but the basic investing concepts are the same.

 

Think about it this way.

 

Most 401(k) plans allow you to invest pretax dollars into a retirement plan that’s provided through work. Let’s say you want to invest $100. If you use your company’s 401(k) plan, the entire $100 is invested. The $100 investment – and all of the earnings – aren’t taxed until you take money out of the plan at retirement.

 

What if you invested on your own- outside of a retirement plan?

 

Instead of investing $100, maybe you invest only $80. Over 20 to 30 years, that extra $20 investment can make a huge difference in your total return.

And that’s the key: the extra dollars that you can invest, because the dollars are not taxed until you take money out at retirement.

 

The Magic

 

The ability to invest a larger amount of dollars can make a massive difference over time, due to the concept of compounding interest, or earn “interest on interest”.

 

When you compound interest, your total earnings can be much higher

 

As an example, assume a $1,000 investment at a 5% interest rate, with total annual interest earned of $50. In year one, you earn $50. Here’s the key point: in year two, the investor keeps the original $1,000 invested, plus the year one earnings of $50.

 

The total amount invested in year two is $1,050, and you earn 5%, or $52.50 in interest. By investing an extra 50 bucks, you earn $52.50- or $2.50 more than in year one.

 

You can envision more money going into the bucket each year, since you leave your earnings in the bucket. If you took each year’s interest out, you’d only invest the original $1,000 each year- and you’d end up with far less money over time.

 

Investing using a retirement plan allows you to accumulate far more earnings over time using compounding interest.

 

Freelancing?

 

What if you’re a freelancer/ self-employed person?

 

You not working for a company, so does that mean no access to a retirement plan?

 

According to the Pension Rights Center, half of the private-sector workforce (58 million workers) are not participating in a work sponsored retirement plan.

 

Much like health coverage, a number of states are providing a retirement plan option for workers who do not have access to a plan through work. In the past few years, 10 states have created retirement plans for the private sector, and more are expected to follow.

 

So, take a look around. Talk with a financial advisor and ask about the current offerings in your state, if any.

 

Worth It

 

The benefits of investing in a retirement plan can make a big difference in the amount of assets that you can accumulate over time. Take the time to find a plan- it’s worth the effort.

 

This post is for educational purposes only.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) http://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

 

The post Freelancers: What About a Retirement Plan? appeared first on Accounting Accidentally.

Minimizing Business Risk

A legal issue can happen to any business owner.

 

Your business may never be accused of negligence, malpractice, or wrongful employee termination. However, it’s important that you protect your company from these risks, because the financial impact can be huge.

What You Do

 

To protect your company from potential litigation, create a written employee handbook and a procedures manual.

 

Employee Handbook

 

An employee handbook provides your staff a guide to working for your business. The handbook includes company policies, such as guidelines for cell phone use, vacation policies, and employee benefits. Most important for litigation issues, the handbook explains how employees will be counseled and disciplined, if they violate company policies.

 

If you implement the guidelines explained in the handbook consistently, you’ll reduce your risk of litigation from a former employee who may sue you for wrongful termination.

 

A great business book I highly recommend. Click below:

 

 

Procedures Manual

A procedures manual documents how each routine task is performed in your business, who does the task, and how often the task in performed. If you operate your company using a manual, you’ll reduce confusion about how a particular task is performed, and your business will operate more efficiently.

Your staff is less likely to make mistakes if you use a manual, and that strategy reduces your risk of legal liability.

 

Counsel

 

While you can reduce your legal risks, you can’t eliminate the risk completely, so you should have an attorney relationship, such as https://www.thedicksonfirm.com/practice-areas/legal-malpractice/.

 

Having qualified legal counsel can help you address a legal problem early, and reduce time and cost required to resolve the issue.

 

Negligence and Malpractice

 

Every profession has a legal expectation related to a level of expertise.

 

If a customer buys a product or service from you, the product should work as intended, and the service should solve a particular problem. If the product or service does not perform as a reasonable person would expect, you may be exposed to legal liability from that customer.

 

Medical profession, in particular, requires a high level of professionalism.

 

Doctors spend years studying in higher education institutes, and they complete a whole lot of training before they are put to work independently

Doctors sometimes make mistakes, which can happen to a professional in any type of field. A patient may sue and recover funds to cover medical costs incurred through medical negligence or malpractice, and to replace earnings that are lose during recovery.

To reduce the risk of a legal issue, Doctors train for years, and take a large amount of continuing education. They document carefully and communicate expectations and risks to their patients. Finally, Doctors carry medical malpractice insurance, which provides a certain level of coverage if a physician is sued by a patient.

 

Your Business

 

To protect your business from legal risk, you need to take a comprehensive approach.

 

Put an employee handbook and a procedures manual in place, and follow your written guidelines consistently. Develop a relationship with an attorney, who can have you address potential legal issues when they come up.

 

Take these steps to grow your business and minimize your business legal risks.

 

This post is for educational purposes only.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) http://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

The post Minimizing Business Risk appeared first on Accounting Accidentally.

Can You Validate Your Business Idea?

Will your business idea succeed?

 

Most people dream of owning their own business at some point; it is simply the case of finding a good business idea. Unfortunately, this is the most difficult part of all! You may think you have an amazing business idea, but how do you know that is actually going to succeed?

 

Read on to discover some tips to determine if your new business idea will work…

Can You Explain?

 

We actually burn calories when we’re trying to understand something.

 

Consumers are bombarded with thousands of messages each day. In order for your business idea to succeed, it must be easy to explain and understand.

A great business book I highly recommend. Click below:

Can your business idea be explained in a sentence or two?

 

If your product or service pitch sounds like a load of complex jargon , you won’t generate customer interest. People buy products and services to solve problems, and your business should clearly explain a solution to a problem.

The Promise

 

The promise you make should be realistic.

 

When you sell a product or service, you’re making a promise that your business will solve a problem. Is that promise realistic? If you sell tire tubes for bikes, for example, will your tire tube inflate and fit properly on the bike wheel?

 

Be realistic.

 

Perform market research when looking for ways to make money online. Here are four important ideas to consider:

 

Does your product solve a problem?
Are consumers willing to pay for your solution to the problem?
Will buyers pay enough to allow you to generate a profit on the sale?
Are there enough buyers to justify starting a business?

 

You need to make sure there is a market for your idea, and you need to determine how big this market is. This is where it proves useful to use the services of an accountant.

They will be able to help you project the financial aspects of your new business idea. They will determine how much money you are going to need to set up your company, as well as projecting how much you can expect to make in your first few years.

 

If you start the business, an accountant can help you put together a business plan and for your business idea.

 

Test Drive

 

Take your business idea for a test drive.

 

Ask family, friends, or co-workers, if they experience the problem you’re trying to solve, and ask them to try out your solution. If they like your solution, ask them out much they would be willing to pay for your product. What’s it worth to them?

 

This information is vital, because it helps you determine if your new idea is worth the effort.

 

Attention and Interest

Can you get attention and generate interest?

 

The whole point of marketing is to gain attention and interest, and you need to consider how you’ll make that happen, and how much it will cost. In addition to building a website, you may create a blog, advertise online, or manage an email marketing campaign.

 

Write a formal marketing plan before your launch your business.

 

And, finally, passion is a must. There are going to bad days and you need to be passionate enough about your idea to see it through.

This post is for educational purposes only.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) http://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

 

 

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Smart Tips For Online Businesses

How can your online company build credibility?

 

Make a good impression when a customer first visits you online.

 

To earn the customer’s trust, your business needs to appear both professional and successful. While businesses with a brick and mortar office can invest in upgrading their office and giving the visitors a proper impression, online businesses tend to struggle with setting the scene for that crucial first meeting with a potential customer.

If your business only exists online, you need to find ways to wow them- beyond flashy office supplies and greenery.

 

Here are some ways to build credibility for your startup and make it appear a bit more professional, even if you’ve just started. Use these strategies to find the customers you’re looking for right from the start.

 

How Does Your Site Look?

 

You’ve probably encountered one of those awful websites once in a while.

hose that are cluttered, filled with different fonts, and almost impossible to navigate – usually, we end up looking around in frustration for up to half a minute before we quickly exit.

 

A great business book I highly recommend. Click below:

 

 

 

Make sure that your website is neat, sophisticated, and a breeze to navigate; try to think about how you’d like your own user experience to be when you visit a website.

 

Customers look for your products and services, perhaps a few testimonials, and possibly a blog page. If these features are easy to find, you’re making the user experience better.

 

Avoid clutter, by making use of white space, and ensure that the landing page is as neat as possible.

 

As an example, look at this site and learn a few of the basics yourself, then find a web designer who can help you create an attractive website.

 

Find Fans

 

Customer testimonials will help a visitor to build trust in your business, and get a better understanding of what your business is headed.

 

Never underestimate the power of a well-written testimonial, because it comes from a satisfied customer and not a sales representative. Your potential customers tend to trust another customer – and a testimonial functions like word-of-mouth advertising.

 

Have a look at this article to read more about the benefits of social proof and get started on harvesting those testimonials to spruce up your website right away.

 

Your first couple of customers will probably be happy to write up a testimonial about your services – but make sure that you offer them something in return. You want to maintain the relationship with your best customers, and make sure that they come back to you for more.

 

While you should work to broaden your customer base, it’s important to stay in touch with your very first buyers and fans.

 

Read up on new and innovative ways to market your business. As an example, this homepage can help you to find ways to build credibility for your startup.

 

Involvement

 

How does your business work on social media channels?

 

These platforms are so important today, because you can interact with customers in a casual and non-committal way. Use social media to interact with your customers, answer their questions and try, in general, to be as helpful as you can be.

Keeping your audience engaged via social media is a great way to lure them over to your website as well, so remember to create content that will engage them. Consider both blog posts and doing some videos to build credibility with your audience.

 

It’s Up To You

 

After this, it’s all up to you. You need to prove that your business can provide a great customer experience- every time

 

This post is for educational purposes only.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) http://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

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