Do Business Well

13. Eliminate unnecessary partitions

Factories and offices, particularly old ones, often have too many nooks and crannies, cubby holes and partitions. The more of these there are, the less visibility there is of personnel, stocks, machinery and production in general. Partitions and walls take up too much space.

14. Re-allocate space per department/function to save money

Work carried out by separate departments could be merged following physical re-allocation of work areas. For example, a combined despatch/goods inwards department could be less costly.

15. Dispose of obsolete items

Storing obsolete items in the stores and on the shop floor takes up costly factory and warehouse area. Continue Reading »

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1. Control the size of the establishment

Large-scale production brings certain economies with it especially in times of stability or growth, but in periods of retraction large-scale facilities can be too costly. Ensure that establishment costs are affordable for both high and low levels of activity.

2. Assess the minimum/optimum establishment size for your present activity level

Firms often work with facilities which have grown over the years as demand has developed. But are they what you really need now and for the future? Assess your ideal facilities objectively and compare them with what you have at present; you will at least have a picture of the changes you might make. Continue Reading »

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You will usually need a business license. This is a requirement of the city or county where the enterprise will be located. You will almost certainly need this license if you plan to operate out of a commercial facility such as a storefront, office building, or warehouse. You may not need a business license if you have a home-based business that provides professional services, such as a manufacturers’ representative or business consultant, or if you are part of a multilevel organization.

When you begin to research your location, you’ll see the major disparity in business climate from city to city or county to county. Some are very eager to have businesses of your type locate in their area. You may be bringing jobs for their citizens and additional tax revenues for their coffers. In these cities you may find that getting a license is a ten-minute exercise in filling out a form and paying a small (under one hundred dollars) fee. Continue Reading »

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Excessive Overhead

I’m sure most of us would like to start our new business with all the luxuries. I’ve seen plenty who’ve tried. Start with a very nice location (and very nice rent to go with it), big payments on the first- class furniture and fixtures, and plenty of talented staffers. With all this in place, if you do everything else right, you’ll only need one hundred thousand dollars per month in sales to break even.

Ask yourself these three questions every time you want to add to overhead. Will this expense add to sales? Is this expense absolutely necessary to maintain long-term quality and service? Do I take a substantially greater risk by adding this overhead than I do by going without awhile longer?

Items like advertising are much harder to quantify by these three questions, but at least it will keep your focus on the reason for advertising; adding to sales. Other expenses, like a newer truck or a second accounting clerk, should be easier to figure using just those questions. Continue Reading »

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Finally, this is a checklist of what to avoid in the subject line:

• Make sure the subject line is not too long. If you leave the best to last, the offer may be truncated.
• SHOUTING!!! Shouting is using capitals. It looks unprofessional. Worse still, it is often associated with spam — and spam filters stop e-mails with too many capitals in the subject line. Exclamation marks are not a good idea for similar reasons!!! Some capitalization can work — for example, just on the first word or on the first letter of each word.

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Although relatively rare, franchise agreements do exist that remain valid for an indefinite period. Such agreements usually contain a minimum performance clause but this is difficult to implement. Whilst sales targets can be linked to a cost-of-living index or similar indicator, this will not always reflect changes in the market that may be difficult if not impossible to project with any degree of certainty.

Territorial rights

The agreement will define the territory for which the franchise has been granted. This may be limited to a specific address (No. 125 Bond Street, Newtown, Gauteng), a clearly defined area surrounding a particular location (a radius of 10 kilometres measured from the Johannesburg City Hall) or an entire territory (the area encompassing the municipalities of Germiston and Boksburg). Continue Reading »

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