Microsoft Software For Better Business Solutions

Today businesses have unique challenges within the company and in the market to overcome in order to stay competitive. Now, advanced technology has become an essential tool to increasing business opportunities, helping businesses make more informed decisions, and adapt to constantly changing markets and trends. Businesses need the computer technology to understand their customers, reach new customers, streamline operations, identify risks, and open new business and opportunities. To meet the new business demands and challenges, Microsoft now provides business software to help businesses maintain a competitive edge.

Microsoft has a wide variety of business software to meet demands. For instance, Microsoft offers such business software as: Office 2010, Office Project Professional, Office Visio Professional, Office Web Apps, Office Live Meeting, Office Live Small Business, Office Live Workspace, Windows Small Business Server, SQL Server 2008 R2, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics RMS, Dynamics GP, Dynamics NAV, Dynamics SL, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft SharePoint.

Whether it is a small, medium, or large business, Microsoft software allows businesses to achieve such goals as: gaining better business insight into operations in order to make quicker and more efficient business decisions, gain real-time access to business information to operate more efficiently, and gain the ability to better analyze projects. As well, businesses can effectively monitor sales, improve fiscal management, improve inventory monitoring, reduce production inefficiencies, improve communication, and better simplify management tasks.

Microsoft business software allows a business to decrease operational expenses, make desktop and application managements much simpler, decrease costs for managing inventory, provides IT staff with the right resources to make operational systems more efficient, improve customer service, minimize disruption in services, and create a dynamic and cost efficient business infrastructure. The result of improved business efficiency is reduced operational costs, improved profitability, and more solid business management.

Microsoft business software allows a business to integrate all of the business data into an easy to access and use database so businesses can analyze the information more productively and make informed real-time decisions that benefits business operations. Their software is scalable, customizable, and designed to help automate unique business processes and make it much faster for a company to achieve success.

Microsoft's software helps businesses improve their bottom line by making more efficient reporting, reducing infrastructure costs, reducing ongoing support costs, boosting worker productivity, and boosting working capital. As well, a business will be able to improve inventory management, reduce the time it takes to get products to the market, trim down administrative overhead costs, reduce communication costs, and reduce employee hiring and training costs.

In today's competitive business environment, effective business software allows companies to rapidly identify, take action, and learn and adapt to new market trends and new business opportunities. Microsoft software for business solutions helps businesses leverage their resources and address today's business challenges. By identifying key relationships and problems, and then implementing the proper strategies and applications, a business is better able to maintain profitability and compete in a highly competitive market. Microsoft software is essential for achieving better business solutions.

Is Market America a Legitimate Network Marketing Business

Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, Market America was founded in 1992, and is a product distribution and internet marketing company. They service more than 3 million preferred customers, and have over 180,000 Distributors and UnFranchise Business owners in their network. Since their inception, they have generated over $3 billion in sales, and have paid out over $1.8 billion in commissions and bonuses to their distributors and business owners. Market America employs more than 500 people globally.

The Market America Business Model:

The Market America business model is dependent on network marketing to grow your business. When you become an entrepreneur of Market America, you will be supplied a Web Portal. Through the use of this Web Portal, Market America tracks the buying habits of customers in order to match products to the individual customer. Through this Web Portal, customers have access to over 35 million different products or services, whether that be Market America brands or brands from partner stores. Based on the amount of products and services that they offer, they are three times larger than Amazon.com, and are the largest internet shopping website on the net today.

Market America offers a business opportunity that they call the UnFranchise Business. They have given the business this unique name, because you receive all of the support and training of a franchise, but do not have to pay a franchise fee. Additionally, instead of receiving a franchisor royalty, you will be paid commissions based upon the amount of sales that your Web Portal is able to generate.

Can I make Money with Market America?

The Market America business model is based upon a BV or business volume system. BV represents 80% of every dollar spent by a customer via your Web Portal. For example, if a customer spends $100, that represents 80 BV. When you first become an UnFranchise Business owner with Market America, you will need to find 2 other business owners to join your team. You will put one on your left, and the other on your right. This will activate your business, and you will not be able to collect commission checks until you accomplish this. Once your business reaches 1200 BV on the right side, and 1200 BV on the left side, a $300 commission check will be released to you. The more BV that your business generates on the left and right side, the larger your commission checks. Once your business reaches $109,000 per year in commission checks and bonuses, your business will max out. Once this occurs, then you are expected to start a brand new business, and duplicate all of your original efforts in your first business, if you have a desire to make more.

When you become an UnFranchise Business owner, you will be expected to have hotel meetings, share your business with family and friends, promote home meetings, and host product shows. If you have no problem doing the following activities, then Market America might be a good opportunity for you.

In my opinion, Market America does offer a legitimate business opportunity. Although, the compensation plan does not seem to be a very lucrative one compared to the amount of efforts that are expected from you. With that being said, this opportunity is not a scam.

If you are new to network marketing, or any business that is dependent on marketing efforts, I encourage you to enroll into a reputable online marketing course. This course will teach you the techniques and strategies that are used to market any business online. In my opinion, for the average person, it takes much more than family and friends, hotel meetings, or house parties to make a business of this nature a success. In our modern world, you need to utilize the power of the internet to market any kind of business. If you learn the strategies that are used by top online marketers, you can make any legitimate business opportunity, including this one, a success.

Why Writing a Business Plan Destroys Entrepreneurship

At the tender age of 7, my swimming coach attempted to drown me.

Growing up in Nigeria, a full-sized swimming pool was very hard to find. So it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered that my neighbors from across the street had an actual pool. Unfortunately, my excitement was quickly dampened by a lingering reality, "I couldn't swim." While the other kids jumped and splashed around the pool, I remained rooted in the shallow end engulfed in a resplendent glow. A glow that emanated from the numerous orange colored swimming aids that prevented me from drowning in the shallow end! For years I sat at the edge of the pool wondering what it would feel like to swim unassisted in the deep end...until one summer I met Coach Mike.

Coach was a rocks answer to floating. He was what I needed to overcome my fear of the deep end. Coach's promise was that he would have me swimming laps around the pool by the end of summer. The next several weeks would prove to be grueling as I was subjected to a strict regimen of numbing exercises; from the wall-paddling to the free-style "float assisted" glide. Soon I became an expert, conditioned to swim effortlessly in the shallow end without any assistance.

After weeks of intense training, it came time for us to test our skills in the deep end. Now this was the true test of swimmers. It was what separated the rocks from the feathers. All we had to do was dive into the deep end with floaters and swim across the face of the pool to the opposite end. One by one, each kid splashed, wriggled and paddled their way to the target destination. Every kid, except me. Overcome by fear, I stayed planted to the edge of the pool. The coach employed different strategies to get me to jump. He tried encouraging me, but that didn't work. He even tried screaming at me, but the more he yelled, the more terrified I became. By this time the entire pool area had come to a quiet standstill, everyone had stopped swimming. The resulting silence was suddenly disrupted by a loud scream and subsequent splash. That was the sound of me being flung several feet across the pool, landing awkwardly in the now still water...I struggled frantically to stay afloat, kicking and paddling with the conviction of a man doomed to a bitter fate. In all the chaos I could hear the muffled sounds of bodies splashing around as they dived to rescue me. But in my state of confusion and panic, I kept paddling frantically and then suddenly I stopped struggling and just swam...I could swim!

Several years later, I found myself in a similar predicament. As I stared down the deep end of life, yearning to jump in. But this time, I was stuck in the shallow end of corporate America, working a 9 to 5 routine job. I had a passion trapped inside of me, a strong desire to impact my community through public speaking and writing. Instead I was stuck on the edge of life crippled by my inability to come up with a business plan. I had heard the business-plan-advice everywhere, from financial advisors to legal practitioners...

"You need a business plan to start a business"

"A business plan is a must if your business is to stay afloat"

So for years, I tried working on a business plan, but this turned out to be quite an impossible task. The average business plan consisted of at least thirty pages and I struggled vehemently to get past the first two pages. The plan required too much information. You needed a mission statement, a budget, a five year vision, a business name and much more.

My inability to get past the first two pages of my business plan inadvertently stalled my business dream. And would have killed it completely, if it weren't for a simple phone conversation...I needed price-quotes for a website to complete the budget section of my never-ending business plan. So I called upon the only web developer I knew, my older brother. To create a website I was informed I would need at least $1000! I was shocked but intrigued at the prospects of having a website created.

"But I don't have a business name and my plan is not complete" I blurted out to my brother. The response over the phone was an almost one minute long bout of uncontrollable laughter.

"Business plan?" my brother stuttered incredulously.

"You don't need a business plan to build a website and surely you don't need a business plan to start your business."

But everyone said you needed a business plan. Even the lawyer at the entrepreneurship forum echoed the needs of a business plan. But then I remembered she started her law business only because she got laid off! But what about Kamil? He had written up to 3 business plans, all of which were brilliant. However, he still did not have a business. He had three concrete proposals, but no business. At that moment, I realized that contrary to common knowledge, my business plan was actually an obstacle that had prevented me from starting my dreams.

The next morning, I took a leap of faith and mailed out a $250 check as a down payment to begin work on a website. I didn't have a business name; neither did I have mission statement. But with $250 invested in a website, my mind suddenly became productive. And within a week I had come up with two different business names, a mission statement and a one page biography. An act that led to the creation of Ofili Speaks Inc and a business. A business that has seen me travel all over America and potentially author a book. Accomplishments that were never captured on the pages of a business plans.

As I write today I reflect deeply on the instance I made the decision to start. That moment allowed me to begin a journey. A journey marked by tears, laughter, disappointments and occasional triumphs. But most importantly, a moment that enabled me to struggle but swim against the harsh currents of business entrepreneurship. After I was forced into the pool, I realized that I had always possessed the potential to swim. But yet I was stuck at the edge, paralyzed by fear and weakened by excuses.

Today's business dreams are trapped, in the same way, on the edges of great minds like yours. Your dreams are waiting to leap unto a website, a brochure, a store...but sadly they lie dormant, waiting for the perfect set of circumstances to bring them to life. Unfortunately, those circumstances often come in the form of layoff's or financial difficulties. Your dream is too precious to be imprisoned by a metaphorical business plan. Start your dream, discover your potential and draft your business plan as you swim along.

Securing Business Credit When You Need It

It's important to know how to acquire business credit when you are in immediate need for it, but what is more important is to be aware of all the benefits that maintain a separate business-credit report offers in the business credit journey. By just building business-credit, separated from your personal credit accounts, you will be able to restrict utilization of your personal guarantee for welfare of your business. Even if you have minor glitch in your business, your personal creditworthiness remains unaffected.

A List of Few Advantages of Business Loan Credit Building

• Availability of more cash allotted just to be used in business

• You gain immense convenience in making business related purchases

• Your personal assets are thoroughly protected

• With business-credit it becomes easy to borrow money from lenders

• Your personal credit checks and liability is left undisturbed

Getting back to the subject of getting credit when required, if your aim is to remain in business successfully for a very long time, you should have a very good name among your suppliers. Their trust that you will make the payments promptly will go a long way in the success of your business. But sometimes it becomes impossible to pay your suppliers on time as payment might be pending from your clients. This is when you could use business-credit. You can make use of credit in making your payments promptly.

In addition, business loans in the mode of business loan cards, business loans and other line of credits from banks and financial lending institutions could be necessary to maintain the consistency of your business. It cannot be denied that some businessmen run their business smoothly with their own money, but a little help in the initial years of the business, will go a long way in making your business successful.

Obtaining Business Loan Credit Using Personal Credit

Many business owners wonder if having a clean personal credit record will help in acquiring business loans. The answer is a BIG YES. In the initial years of business when you have no business credit profile, your personal credit report will serve as a parameter for lenders in deciding whether or not to approve your application. Thus if your credit report has any blot that might slow down the process of obtaining trade credit, you need to set it right before submitting any loan application.

Be Sure Of What You Need

The next thing you need to be careful about is the amount you specify for your loan. You should come up with an approximate estimation that is very close to what you need. Never borrow lesser than what you need as you might have to arrange for funds from other sources or go back sooner than expected to the same lender. Also, don't borrow in excess as your profit will be marginalized in repaying with high interest.

If you contact your bank with clean, loan score and improve your credits. If you have further questions, contact reputed business credit services.

7 Big Questions You Should Ask Before Starting a Home Business

Starting and building a good, profitable home business can be one of the most exciting and rewarding things you can do in your life. But before you start, if you truly want to be happy and successful, you should ask yourself these 7 big questions:

1. Do I have some money or credit to invest in my future?

A home business is a business. It is not a salaried job. All good, legitimate businesses and home businesses require some start up capital or credit and some money for expenses until the business turns profitable. Find a business that is in your budget. Be prepared to invest in start up and operating expenses, but don't get in over your head.

2. Am I willing to make a commitment and do some work?

It's amazing how many people want to start a home business and make a lot of money, but they don't want to do the work required to make it profitable and successful. A lot if people are looking for a magical push-button business without investing the time to learn the business, get trained, develop skills for success and do the actual work required. Making a real commitment and actually doing work are a necessary part of being a successful entrepreneur.

As anyone who has held a job knows, there are a lot of lazy workers muddling through jobs out there. A lazy person quite simply will not do well in his or her own business.

Granted, there are some business owners who do not do any work in their business. They simply own it and hire people to run the business and do all the work. Those people are really investors. A home business requires that the owner do some actual work.

3. Can I wait a few weeks to start getting paid?

When starting up a home business, there is a learning curve and a build up phase. Both take time. Ask yourself if you have the working capital to build the business to profitability. Starting a home business is like launching a rocket: it requires a lot more time and energy to get it off the ground than it will later on when it is in full flight, just cruising along with you just keeping it on course.

4. Do I have an entrepreneurial mindset?

Anyone coming from a job or the corporate world and into a home business must learn to make an attitude adjustment and a major shift in mindset. The good employee mindset will not be enough. Every employee has a boss. In a home business, you will be an independent contractor. Although you must learn from other successful entrepreneurs and follow training instructions, ultimately you must learn to be your own boss. You must learn to think like a successful entrepreneur, a successful businessperson and a profitable business owner.

5. Can I be my own boss?

This is a biggie. Some people are just not cut out to be business owners and entrepreneurs. They would be much more successful as good employees. Look at the skills required to be successful in the home business you want to start and build. Do you feel you can do it? Will you enjoy the work that is required? Can you be a self-motivated self-starter on a daily basis? Can you manage your time? These are some important questions you need to ask yourself.

6. Do I have big goals that will drive me?

Success in a home business requires a lot of determination, passion and drive. You will notice that those who are very successful in business all have big, specific goals and dreams. They have them written down and they look at them often.

A forty-year long study has shown that people with written goals are thirty time more likely to be successful that those without written goals. Also, bigger goals are more likely to create and attract bigger success. If your goal is to make $40,000 per year in your business, there is no real chance that you will make $400,000.

Write down all of your goals and get excited about them. Envision attaining them. Know that you will be successful. Be excited and passionate about reaching you goals and achieving your dreams.

7. Will I be able to fulfill my dreams?

It is essential that you feel confident that you will definitely be able to achieve your personal goals and dreams from starting and building your home business. You must have faith and confidence or else your subconscious mind will sabotage your efforts and you will fail. If you are not confident that a particular home business is the right vehicle to help you achieve your goals and dreams, then don't do it. It is not a match for you. Find one that will get you where you want to go in life.

Fulfilling your dreams in life can be wonderful. For many individuals, starting and building a good, fun, profitable home business has been the vehicle to fulfilling their dreams.

If you want to be that business success that you have dreamed about, ask yourself these 7 big questions and get clear about what it takes to be successful. If you feel that you have it, then go for it! Get started and keep going until you get when you want to be in life! And enjoy the journey!

Business Financing: Using Business Seller Financing

What Is Seller Financing?

When selling a small business, one of the most important things you need to consider is where to find your prospective clients, and how you can attract them to buy your busin

ess. Seller financing is one of the things you can offer to attract a wider scope of prospective buyers. There may be a lot of buyers who will be interested in your business and they have the skills to run and manage it properly, but lack of financing prevents them from buying it. You will surely sell your business faster for the price you want if you try to understand buyers' motivation in purchasing your business, and if you are willing to accommodate the buyers' inquiries.

What Is Business Seller Financing?

At some point in owning a business, you may admit that you just suddenly want to sell your business for X amount. You may have arrived at this estimated price by using a combination of valuation methods. These include analyzing the sale price of related businesses for sale in your location and other areas, determining the corporate assets' value, and factoring potential growth of revenue. Whether or not the buyer agrees to your asking price also relies on a number of factors, but the most important of all is business financing. Not all aspiring entrepreneurs have enough cash on hand to buy a small business. Most of them have money for the down payment and they plan to pay for the balance via loan transactions. Credit unions and banks are the ones to turn to for business loans, but due to current condition of the economy, business and consumer credit markets have become strict and tight on providing loans. With this, aspiring business owners turn to business seller financing, where the owner of the business for sale acts as the lender.

Why Offer Business Financing?

The following are some of the reasons why you ought to consider seller-based financing when you sell a business:

The interested buyer intends to meet your asking price but is short on available cash to pay the amount in full.

The interested buyer has excellent credit and a solid knowledge of the industry. However, he is unable to get financing due to current economic conditions.

You wish to lessen your tax liability by receiving the profits of the sale in installments instead of a lump sum.

You want to retain some control over the company during the transition process to ensure its ongoing success.

Seller Financing: How Does It Work?

Being the owner of a small business for sale, you may want to check the credit status of every potential buyer of your business. The information you need to examine are net worth, credit history (commercial and personal), as well as the experience the buyer has in your industry. Surely, you want to be certain that the buyer will run the company successfully so he or she can pay you on your loan. Some business sellers ask for a higher down payment compared to banks and other credit unions because the risks are significantly higher. This process attracts buyers since you are willing to invest time and money for their success. Once you and the buyer have agreed on the sale price, interest rate, and loan period, you can offer 7 to 10 years payback duration.

There are different ways to set payments. Some have varied tax consequences on the seller so be sure to consult a tax attorney before completing the payment paperwork. A straight-line payment allows the same amount to be paid each month until the entire loan is settled. It is also quite rare to find provisions that penalize prospective buyers for paying off the loan early. Any interest paid by the seller is offset by quickly gaining the use of the entire loan amount. Another payment method is based on a performance-based schedule. With this, payments go up at times of higher than average net income, and decline when sales go down.

Understanding Management Accounts To Optimize The Sources Of Finance For Small Business

There are really no business financing course which focuses on how to understand accounting when it comes to understanding management accounts. You can of course use academic books but with the information you will get from them, the probability that what you learn from these sources to match your needs as a manager or owner of a small or medium sized business is very low. Would you agree?

So the question is how to get business financing meaning how do business loans work?

Here's a short list of things to consider

1. Develop a solid, on-going, understanding of both your financial accounts or how to understand accounting.

Remember this, regardless of the business financing model, these elements are vital when it comes to your business financing. This is the reason why understanding management accounts are skills you need to have or if not develop quickly as your financial statements tell the story of your business and most importantly your ability to manage it.

2. Ensure you have a sound personal and business credit.

When you have tried to answer the question of how do business loans work, you will know that you need to have a strong credit file. However beware that your probability of success when applying for a business loan when you are a small and medium sized business is highly correlated with both your personal and business credit histories.

3. Prepare your case, build a strong file

As a business owner, I am sure you are now aware that not only must you ensure your business runs smoothly but also that you can handle discussions and meetings with your banker or accountant when it comes to your business financing.

To do so skilfully and with confidence, first of all, you can answer if anyone asks you how do business loans work as when you are applying for a business loan, you no longer feel paralysed and hopeless. When your understanding of management accounts is under your belt, then you are ready to build a very strong and solid credit file. You now need to focus on assembling the important pieces to make you have everything you need to make it happen. Think of the lender as a customer to better understand what they're looking for. Then, develop a business proposal that addresses all their potential needs and concerns.

4. Sources of Finance For Small Business: do your research!

Beware when you are researching your sources of finance for small business. What lenders focus on is credit history and net worth. There are a wide variety of financing sources and you might want to take into account different criteria such things like industry, sector, and geography when looking for business financing sources.

5. Choose the Right Lender

The best formula to select the right lender for you when applying for a business loan before making any formal application is to ensure that it has the specific terms and conditions you are looking for in terms of length of the loan, fixed or flexible are and that this lender has a good lending track record.

6. Do NOT rush into the loan application

Like for any important and big decisions, applying for a business loan follows the same principle. DO NOT rush into it, in other words do not jump on the first offer. I understand you might be under incredible time and money pressure but DO take your time before you commit yourself. The time you invest in comparing the different options you have will ultimately save you considerable time and money in the long term and also avoid many headaches.

7. Do NOT Procastinate

Well, it is true that I just said not to rush when it comes to choose the right sources of finance for small business. However that did not mean not to do ANYTHING either. This is a huge difference to make. You want to get things done and even if you have to go through a painful process, this is a must do process to overcome so that you can get what you want: get finances for your business

8. GO FOR IT

No matter what your business financing needs are, do not wait. Start investing your time becoming a master at your business financials, develop your skills and knowledge with how to understand accounting so that you will know how do business loans work. You will therefore have the right tools in order to get the financing you need with certainty and a high success. Think how exciting and what a relief it will be the day the money will be wired into your account and you can take your business to the next level.