curious asked:


In the process of opening a new business. How do business loans work – I know I need a business plan etc before I can apply for a loan, but what’s some other info? What’s the interest rate range, what’s the range of how many yrs u can have the loan, range of amnt they can loan, will they include the first yrs lease amnt in the loan if needed…etc, etc?
We have good credit.

Seymour

Ryder asked:


Let’s say two people start a t-shirt business… one of the people doing the business is an artist who does the designs for the company, such as designs for the shirts. When these shirts get sold ($40 for a shirt for example), and the t-shirt is paid for, how is the money split among the two who is running the business?

Lester

rlc_60504 asked:


If a small business hires either independent contractors or another business to perform work for them, what steps should that business take to make sure that the completed product is legally owned by the business and not the entities or individual employed to create that product? Pointing me to resources on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Haikui

ZeeZee asked:


As a small business, I’m finally getting around to looking at business insurance. God forbid I should get sued, but that would be the only reason I would get insurance at this point.

If I get sued (assuming I did nothing wrong that would terminate coverage), what are my responsibilities with regard to paying legal fees? What role will the insurance company play or what control will they have in the litigation process?

Cindy

debra l asked:


I plan to work as a business person who finds different vendors for this business. Is this profitable? Is this a good plan?Do I meet first with the business with my idea, or do I start with the vendors first , or do I start my own webpage and have the vendors as part of that first?

Rose

Casey Gollan asked:


Picture this…

The typical business owner starts a business. Usually it’s just them by themselves or maybe one or two other people.

They do a great job. As the number of staff is small everyone is working together and they are getting things done.

They become successful and it’s time to employ some more people.

A couple more people are employed – but some cracks start to appear.

As the business employs some more staff – the cracks become wider and wider.

Soon the business owner notices that there’s not much money being made by the business.

There’s staff problems.

There may be some customers complaining. Some customers may even be lost.

Things just aren’t working anymore.

The business ‘plateaus’ and the owner becomes stressed, tired and overwhelmed.

The business owner starts to ask whether it’s all worth it.

Should they downsize and just go back to the way things were… Or do they grow.

They want to grow the business – they know that’s there’s heaps of potential in the business – yet they keep hitting ‘a brick wall’.

They are trying to make it to the next level, but they keep getting sucked back in to the business to ‘put out fires’… and it’s wearing the owner down.

Sound familiar?

I see this all the time. It’s at this point that my clients seek me out.

I specialise in helping business owners through this point in their business growth.

And it’s easy; I do this day in day out.

Let me describe how the previous situation happens.

In the initial growth of the business, when a business only has a few people – everyone has an idea of what everyone else is doing – so they can work effectively together.

Yet when you get to about 3 to 7 people or more, things need to change.

Because around that number of people, some of the people can ‘bludge’, they can hide. So they do.

After all – at this size, the business owner is usually still ‘doing’ things in the business at this stage, so they have their hands full.

And they want to grow so they know they need staff to help them. But because most business owners don’t have much training in how to hire, train and motivate staff – they tend to ‘put up’ with staff that JUST do enough to stay employed.

But what happens is that the business owner ends up ‘finishing things off’ that their people have started or can’t do.

The business owner tends to ‘save’ the day.

They know it, and so does their staff!

So their staff let the owners come in to save the day – and they do it often. After all, most people have a lazy streak in them. So why not wait for someone else to do it, “after all it’s their business” – the employee thinks.

It’s at this point that the business can often start to wander off track, the business owner can become stressed, overwhelmed and questions whether it’s all worth it.

It is worth it, and if you’re at this point in your business – don’t give up – because with a little guidance from me, it’s easy for you to fix.

And the rewards can almost immediately start flooding in.

If you’re at this point you’ve done most of the hard work in business. You’re turning over good money, you have customers, you have a place in the market, and you have employees.

Now it’s a process of getting IT all to work for you.

Rather than YOU having to do all the work – to make it work.

Because when you get your business working – you won’t have to work.

The reason why most business owners work so many hours – is because their business doesn’t work.

All successful business owners have stepped through this phase in business growth.

It’s a phase where your staff have to step up and do what you are employing them to do – without you having to ‘look-over-their-shoulder’ to make sure it’s getting done.

There are 3 Crucial things that you must have in place for you to make it through this phase successfully.

On my 1-on-1 business coaching program I take you though these 3 crucial things so that you have them specifically and especially designed and implemented for your business.

That way it’s unique for you and your situation.

When you have these 3 crucial things in place here are the benefits you’ll enjoy…

When you have first Crucial element in place – you’ll find that your staff will individually take ownership and responsibility for their roles and responsibilities in your business. They will willingly want to work at their optimal in your business, and make it happen.

It’s at that time that they’ll do what’s required of them – willingly.

When you have the 2nd crucial element in place you’ll find that Your staff will regularly review, plan and improve areas in your business to help the business grow.

Everyone in the business will willingly work together and will be aware of what is going on in the business. Everyone will work efficiently and effectively so that their individual roles work harmoniously with each other thus creating the power of synergy in your business.

They’ll also have the initiative to find out what they have to do and when they have to do things by.

And finally, when the 3rd crucial element is in place you’ll benefit because your staff will naturally start to follow you. And they’ll willingly want to perform at higher levels.

They’ll be aware that for everyone to benefit from the business, everyone must work together like a team. And they’ll all know that there’ll be consequences for anyone that lets the others down. So they’ll work extra hard to make sure no-one lets the team down.

This sounds like a dream to most business owners. And sadly – for some – it is.

Despite being readily able to achieve this in their business – for some odd reason they think it could never happen. So they never try to find out how to do it.

And it’s disappointing. Because it can happen.

I’ve been doing it with business owners just like you and with businesses just like yours – for years now. Successfully. Go to my testimonial pages http://www.caseygollan.com.au/businessgrowthtestimonials1.htm and listen to the long interviews – you’ll hear success after success.

Wouldn’t any passionate, determined business owner want to at least try to achieve this level of success?

Happily some business owners do. And with great success.

In essence, the secret is to get everything else working ‘together’ in your business – that way you (the business owner) don’t have to work.

And these 3 crucial areas will allow you to make it happen.

How fast could you do it? Well that depends on you, your business structure and your situation.

But rest assured you can do it.

All the best business owners use these 3 crucial areas. Learn what they are – put them into place and you can reap the rewards.

Copyright © 2007 by Casey Gollan. All Rights Reserved



Selma

Casey Gollan asked:


When it comes to successful business growth – one of the key differences that separates the successful business owners from the average ones…

Is what the business owner ‘works’ on – when they have employees.

I have noticed that the best business owners work on improving their employees…

Why? Well, so that the employees learn and then do certain tasks that the business owner used to do.

By doing this, the owner can remove themselves from the ‘day-to-day’ running of the business so that they can work on areas that can grow the business – and/or do the things they enjoy doing.

Like playing golf, going on holidays, spending time with their families.

On the other hand, the average business owner continues to work ‘in’ the business despite having employees. For a number of reasons the average business owner says that they don’t have the ‘time’ to improve their employees.

As a result, the employees lack the skills and/or the freedom to do the tasks that would free up the business owner from the day-to-day running of the business.

So guess what happens? The business remains dependent on the Business owner.

So the Business owner has to continue working.

Despite having employees, the business owner is still working a million hours… but the business never seems to grow to the levels that the business owner is hoping for – even though they’re working harder than they ever have.

Does this sound familiar?

Let’s explore how this happens.

The average business owner that wants to grow their business – but find it very hard to grow successfully… tends to do the following.

They have a business – and it’s growing. Early in the business it’s just the owner and maybe a few others. The business is growing, and the owner is working a million hours.

The average business owner knows that they should employ staff, but they put it off and put it off, until they can’t possibly cope with the workload anymore.

So they hire new staff at the last minute.

Usually the new person is employed in such a hurry that the business owner doesn’t have the time to train them. Because the business is so busy.

After all, the business owner has been working a million hours, so they’re probably feeling a bit stressed and overwhelmed.

They’re typically not feeling in control and calm – that’s for sure.

And the business owner usually doesn’t have a system to hire appropriately skilled or passionate people.

Because they don’t have a proven hiring system, the staff that are employed can often lie their way through interviews telling the owner that they do have skills – when they actually don’t.

You know how the story goes…

Anyway, a new person is hired.

But because the business is busy, and the business has no real induction or training system to get the new employees up to speed – the business owner continues to focus on doing the work themselves.

When the owner checks to see how the new employee is performing, they get disappointed because the new person doesn’t have the ‘skills’ or the initiative to do things properly.

So the business owner steps in to ‘do it themselves’ because they think that they can ‘save time’ by doing it themselves.

It’s at this time the business owner starts proving to themselves that ‘no-one can do it as good as me’.

And they are correct. Of course no-one can do it as good as them – because no one has taught the new employees properly.

So the average business owner continues to do the ‘day-to-day’ things, and take over from their staff when the staff aren’t doing the right things…

By continuing to do the work that the employees are suppose to do, the staff very quickly realize that the business owner will always ‘save the day’.

So they back off on their productivity, and their passion.

The staff quickly learn how to ‘hide’ in the business so that they just get by.

They become ‘clock watches’. They turn up to work, to watch the clock and as soon as it turns 5pm – they’re out of there.

And this hurts your customers. Because the customers of the business receive inconsistent levels of service.

The customers quickly begin to realize that if the business owner serves them – they may get extraordinary service.

And if the staff serves them – they’ll get inadequate service.

If the service is poor and inconsistent the customers will start to get annoyed. They’ll literally ask for the owner every time they come into the business. Because they know they’ll get the service they want.

And that’s a sign of a poorly trained team.

As a result the customers end up going somewhere else, the business suffers, the sales and profits dwindle – and the business owner blames it on the ‘staff’.

The business owner may then go into “see I told you I can’t find the right people’.

The average business owner has tried to grow the business, yet misses a few crucial things that makes them miss out on the rewards of a successful business.

The result is unhappy staff, unhappy customers, a business that barely makes any money – and an owner that works around the clock, stressed and overwhelmed for little or no return.

Well it doesn’t have to be that way!

You can quickly and easily turn this around, if you’re in this position, or even better you can completely avoid it by following my guidance.

Every great business owner that I know, that has successful business growth follow a number of specific steps to get them out of the situation I’ve just outlined.

And it’s crucial for the growth of your business too.

It’s wonderfully easy when you learn how to do it for your situation.

Let’s look at what the best business owners achieve by following these specific steps – and what you could possibly achieve by following my guidance.

Firstly – your staff will have the right skill sets and attitude to work in your business. Plus they’ll improve and grow rapidly (faster than you may think). This means that you can comfortably rely on them to get the ‘job-done’.

By focusing on getting the team up to the standard you can be assured that in a few weeks or months they’ll be at the point where you can depend on them.

They’ll be doing a great job and delivering consistent levels of service.

As a result you can now forget about having to ‘look over their shoulder’, or forget about having to ‘save the day’ like other average business owners.

Because your staff are now producing – you have freed yourself up from the day to day running of the business – so you can focus on ways to grow and improve your business.

And you can even spoil yourself with reduced work hours, time off and even holidays.

Imagine that?

Now, back to your staff.

Because they’re learning, growing and producing you’ll be happy with them and they’ll be happy with themselves – and of course they’ll be happy working for you.

And it’ll rub off on your customers.

Why?

Because your customers will get great consistent service from your entire business.

So what will this mean to your business?

For a start, your customers won’t always be asking for you, because they know your staff are consistent – so you won’t feel trapped.

Because of this consistency your customers will reward your business with their repeatable profitable custom, positive word of mouth and ongoing referrals to your business.

Now you’ll have a business where the team are growing and happy, your customers are happy and raving about you, and your financials are healthy and very profitable.

That’s right, your business will be profitable which means you’ll be making great money – and remember, your staff will be doing most of the work… so you’ll not only be making great money – you’ll also have ample free time.

Can you see, hear and feel what’s happening to your business?

Multi-millionaire business owners always tell me that the most important part of their growth – is good people. They’ll always hire people that know more and perform better than them on the certains task they are employed for.

People are one of your greatest assets as a business owner. And like any asset you need to invest in it to get returns.

Invest your time and your focus on growing your people to do better than you. That way you’ll have the time to grow your business.

On my one-on-one business coaching program I take my clients through this process step by step so that they can fast track their growth – with the safety and peace of mind knowing that they are following a process that has worked time and time again.

Copyright © 2007 by Casey Gollan. All Rights Reserved



Kyle

Lauren B asked:


I am a business owner in the united states. A dear friend of mine, whom I feel would be a great asset (in the arts) to my business is a Mexican citizen. I know that businesses can often “sponsor” temporary or permanent immigration. After researching online I see that it is a very complicated process. How much does this usually cost and how do I go about starting? Or is it even possible? Thanks in advance!

Michael