Business Best Practices

Getting the right education for the career that you want most can feel like a daunting process. There are so many degrees out there to choose from and they might all seem like they just don’t connect to your goals in a direct way. For many people, it can be hard to pick a path for their degree because they are not sure if they should continue on to an advanced degree or end their degree-seeking experience after four years.

A Master’s degree with the right focus is still really valuable and you will be glad that you took the time to get it under your belt. The process of committing to so much more school might seem a bit daunting, but you will be so glad that you gave yourself the chance to get this experience when you are holding your degree in hand. Master’s degrees in business fields can help you to get a much better job and have room in your career to grow.

If you are ready to learn the ways that a master’s degree can boost your business career, you need to read on!

Ways a Master’s Degree Can Boost Your Business Career

1. Learn New and Important Skills

Master’s degrees will offer you the additional time that you need to grow your skillset in specific directions. This can be a great way to get the training and practice that you need to be able to apply for management jobs or positions with more seniority right out of school. If you can show that your coursework gave you the experience that is required for a specific job, you can likely secure that job for yourself right out of school.

Having a targeted study path behind you when you graduate can make applying for jobs much easier and can help you to interview like an expert. Despite the fact that you might not have worked in your future career field yet, you will be able to talk about the concepts and skills that are necessary for these jobs when you have a Master’s Degree in the field. Advanced degrees make all the difference in your job-hunting success over the long run.

2. Easier to Advance

When you have an advanced degree, you will be able to move up rapidly in almost any organization. Having the skills on your side that you have gathered while getting your advanced degree can help you to be ready for new challenges quickly. Lots of companies will make people without advanced degrees work their way up from the ground up, but you will be able to skip this step.

If you are making a career change and do not have a master’s degree, you will likely have to start all over again building seniority and experience over time. Having an advanced degree can help you to skip this step and move right into positions that you actually want to hold with better pay and better opportunities associated with them.

3. Flexibility

Your advanced degree will help you to be more marketable to more kinds of businesses. While a specialized degree teaches a specific kind of skill set, you will learn all kinds of valuable management and people skills during your added years at school. You will also have a better network of business connections when you come out of school.

These advantages can actually help you to use your degree in surprising ways that you would not have expected when you started on the path to getting it. You might be able to apply a Master’s in Business to almost any industry or job that you want when it comes time to apply for jobs. Business degrees are considered to be applicable across many different industries and you will likely be able to use your degree to seek jobs almost anywhere doing anything.

4. Make a Better Income

An advanced business degree will help you to earn more money over the course of your career with ease. Executives and senior management can make an average of $175,110 per year according to this Bureau of Labor Statistics article. This kind of job title would take years to get if you do not have a Master’s in Business under your belt before you apply. You will be able to gain access to these income tiers with ease when you have an advanced degree and this becomes the base rate of your pay as you advance in the future into roles with more seniority.
Making a better income is one of the most valuable benefits of securing an advanced degree for yourself and these degrees almost always return your investment many times over in added income that you can demand for your skills. Being able to earn a good living and actually get to retire is one of the main goals of most people who are working on benefitting their career in the future. This is an easy goal to meet with a Master’s in Business on your side.

Master’s Degrees Are Very Beneficial

If you have been contemplating whether or not to get your Master’s degree in Business, this article should have shown you the many reasons that it is a good idea. There are so many doors that are opened for you when you choose a Master’s Degree for your degree path. You will not regret having gotten this degree when you see just how much you can do with it in hand.

Master’s degrees in business make you more eligible to get all kinds of jobs and they can teach you skills that you would not learn anywhere else. You will be prepared for jobs with lots of responsibility and you will be likely to earn much more money over the course of your working years. Master’s degrees in Business fields are well worth the investment and can deliver big benefits for you toward your future career goals and plans.

As we enter the New Year, many individuals reflect on the past 12 months and plan how they can improve in the year ahead.

Although there are plenty of ways to improve your business, these 10 tips will make a difference for your company’s bottom line in 2022:

1. Make it easy to buy/Make it memorable

Making your customers want to buy is a must. When they can buy with a few simple clicks, repeat business is easy. The easier you make it to buy, the more likely they will keep coming back. The easier you make it to buy, the more likely they are to share their good experience with their social circle and the more likely they are to refer others. A few ways you can make it easy to buy include:

• Use a single-page checkout form.
• Assign thank you pages.
• Keep the shopping cart on one page throughout the entire buying experience.
• Create your invite list by having an attractive landing page.
• Invite them to an upcoming webinar, demo, or event with a catchy title that’s enticing enough to click on.
• Send out an email inviting them to join and check out the landing page, which will be automatically routed to that event.
• Make sure you build your email list with a tool like Aweber or Mailchimp or risk getting blacklisted by web hosts and email servers.
• Add new leads from various sources and follow up on them consistently with a series of emails that they can opt-in on, but if they don’t, then it’s no big deal because you’re just following up anyway.

2. Keep your prices low and straightforward.

It will be very hard to increase your profits if your prices are too high. In most cases, you want to make sure you have a minimum of 10% profit margin or better on all your products. People will not pay more for convenience for something they can get for less money someplace else.

3. Cut out expenses that are not bringing in results.

There are many ways you can cut down expenses in your small business. The first place to start is by looking at your overhead expenses and things like utilities, rent, phone and credit card fees. You also need to look closely at things like luxury items like cars, furniture, travel and memberships that are not bringing in a direct profit to your business. Just because you have these things does not mean you need them. Stop paying for extras that aren’t necessary to the growth of your business.

4. Make it easy to sell

No matter your business, you have to have the gift of gab and be able to put your prospect at ease the moment they arrive in the building. If you are not good at selling, you will need help from a salesperson or perhaps a marketing campaign to do the selling for you.

5. Dig into your expertise.

Suppose you have been in business for a while and have been successful, then it is time to use that expertise to make more money. So instead of just selling something because you think it will work, dig deep into your business history and uncover the patterns that lead to your success. Determine what works and what does not. Then build on the successful ideas.

6.Increase your sales volume.

While it sounds simple, increasing your sales volume is one of the easiest ways to boost profits. After all, you can’t make $1,000 if you don’t sell anything for $1,000. Here are a few tips to help you increase your sales volume in 2022:

• Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. If a marketing campaign had a positive ROI, spend more on it. If it didn’t work out, cut it from your budget.
• Make the most out of social media. Social media can be highly effective when used correctly. While you may try your hand at some paid ads, focus on creating great content that attracts people to your page.

7. Raise your quality standards.

Add these to your current selling standards to raise your quality and grow your profits:

• Use a printed return policy to reduce returns. The cost of returns management can be a massive headache for online businesses. For example, an online shoe retailer could be losing $4 for every $100 spent on returns. This is why it is essential to start with the correct returns policy and customer service strategy. Many customers are willing to stay loyal to your brand if you have quality products at reasonable prices and a clear, fair returns policy. It would help if you also give your customers a way to contact you via phone or email as they may need guidance when making returns. Creating a significant, helpful returns page is the first step towards improving your customer satisfaction rates and lowering your return rates.: Rakuten’s return management has an excellent guide on how to handle this.
• Accept returns for up to three months after the order date.
• Require buyer feedback for returns for more than $50 and fewer than 10.
• Deny refunds for incorrect shipping addresses unless the buyer can prove they provided accurate shipping info (i.e., it’s scanned into their shipping software).
• Deny refunds within 14 days of the order date, except in California & New York, where you can deny within 30 days as long as you have an explicit shipping/delivery confirmation on record.
• Require a buyer’s signature for items above $500 and no delivery confirmation. Require USPS Signature Confirmation on items above $100 and no delivery confirmation.
• Require proof of delivery on all high-value or high-risk items, and verify this proof with the carrier (nail it down with tracking number, signature confirmation, or other proof).

8. Track everything

Is Tracking Your Business’s Margin a Top Priority?

Margin. It’s a dirty word in business and yet one of the critical indicators for profitability. The margin is the difference between what something costs you to make and sell and the price you charge your customers.

Quantifying your margins helps you quantify your profitability, which every small business owner should be tracking. It would help to track your costs on an item or product level basis and use that data to decide whether to keep selling a particular product at the same price point or raise or lower the price. In addition, you should also be tracking the overall profit percentage of your different sales channels (e.g., online vs. in-store vs. wholesale).

9. Hire A Bookkeeper

We love bookkeepers and believe they’re essential to the success of any business. This is especially true for solo entrepreneurs, as they have no one else to mind the books.

10. Adopt The “No Excuses” Attitude.

You will never become successful if you make excuses for failures. You must be focused and diligent in your work to understand where your weaknesses stand to quickly fix them early on. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, you don’t have the time to be plagued with constant setbacks.

These are all things you can do to increase your profits in 2022 and beyond. Everyone can increase profits, and it’s just getting started. You spend so much time and money on other things; why wouldn’t you spend time and money on increasing your profits?

If you run a business, then you know the importance of having a strong communication system.

Unfortunately, a lot of companies have problems with their phone service. If you are looking for a new phone service, you want to minimize your chances of suffering serious problems.

What are some of the most problems companies have with their business phone service? Here are a few common signs you need a modern phone system.

Using Hardware That Is Too Old

First, a lot of companies are simply using hardware that is far too old. If you have an old phone system at your business, you are probably reluctant to make a change because you are comfortable with your current phone system. Furthermore, you are probably looking at new phone systems, thinking about how expensive they are.

On the other hand, a legacy phone system is simply going to cost your company more money down the road. Instead of continuing to sink money into your old phone system, leave those repair bills behind. Get a new phone system that is less expensive, more reliable, and provides you with more opportunities to customize both your internal and external communications.

Paying Too Much Money for a Traditional Phone System

If you still have a traditional phone bill, you are spending too much money. You may not realize this, but even when you make an internal call with a traditional phone system, you are paying money. That phone call has to go from your company to the traditional phone company. Then, it has to come back into your company. It is taking a circuitous route, costing you a significant amount of money.

Do you want to reduce your overhead expenses? If so, then you need to get rid of your traditional phone system.

A Lack of Advanced Features

Finally, one of the biggest disadvantages of remaining with your old phone system is a lack of new features. Are you looking for a way to save money? Are you looking for a way to streamline the daily operations of your business? If that is the case, then you need to invest in an advanced phone system. With a new system, you can conduct conference calls, record your phone calls, and even have an automatic receptionist. All of these advanced features can help you save a lot of time on your communications. Invest in a modern phone system for your business.

Find the Right Phone Service for Your Business

Communication is one of the most important aspects of your business. You need to make sure that your employees and customers can communicate effectively. That means investing in a quality phone system. If you are still using a traditional, legacy phone system, you are placing yourself behind the eight-ball. Make sure that you are not losing out to your competition. Invest in a quality phone system so that you can place your company in the best position possible to be successful.

Do you have a hobby that you cannot wait to get home to after work? Is there a way to monetize it and turn it into a profitable business? These are questions that many people ponder as they make their way home from another dull day at the office.

If you think that there is a possibility that you could turn your hobby into a business, it might be time to stop daydreaming about it and make your vision a reality.

But where do you start and how do you get it done?

Goal Setting

To think that you can turn your hobby into a business is all well and good, but you need to plan how to do it. Will you leave your job and go into it full-time? Or should you start it as a side hustle and do it part-time while keeping your job and earning an income? Or are you going into business concerned less about money and more about sharing your passion with others?

These are important questions to ask yourself before you proceed. The answers determine what you plan to get out of a business, both personally and financially. By focusing on your aim, you will keep your eye on the prize even when the going gets tough, which it will.

To get yourself fully prepared for the rigors of launching a business based on your hobby, you could enroll in some e courses on starting a business. Understanding what it is going to take will determine if this is the right course of action and how you will handle obstacles encountered on the way.

Next, it is time for target market research. The world of business is tough, and competition is fierce. Before you commit any money to start an enterprise, find out what its odds of succeeding are by seeing what type of market there is for what you plan to sell.

Your hobby might be a personal passion, but that does not mean many other people will be interested in it. Targeted market research helps you identify the type of person interested in buying something from you, analyzing the competition, and how substantial your products’ potential market is.

Preparations

Like any business, an enterprise based on your hobby needs a plan. In an online store, the business plan has a lot to do with your preferred operating model. This is a crucial decision and should be informed by the online courses you take.

Your business plan’s point of departure is how much money it will take to get the online store launched and keep it running until it begins to turn a profit. This includes your choice of online business model, goals, operational plans, and results of market research.

Presenting this information to potential investors gives them a clear picture of what you plan to do and would persuade them to invest in your online store. If you are unsure what to include in a business plan, look for e training opportunities on the subject.

Having your finances in order before making a start is essential as it prevents unnecessary stress. This includes financial forecasts that show how long it will take for the business to start turning a profit. These are vital for loan applications. You should take free online courses about bookkeeping and a business’ financial functions to ensure you have the knowledge and skills to manage your enterprise’s money.

Also, ensure that your personal finances are ready for the onslaught of starting your business, especially if you plan to do so full-time. It would be wise to separate your personal finances from those of your business so that you cannot lose assets you own as an individual should the business fail.

Marketing

No one will buy your products if they do not know about them, which is the core function of marketing. You need to raise awareness about the business and its pending launch to generate interest and improve your online visibility.

Digital and social marketing are the subject of some of the internet’s most popular web course topics as it has several technical aspects about it. These include using SEO (search engine optimization) to make sure searchers find your website. This is essential as you cannot afford to be on page two of the search engine results.

You need a competent website designer to make your site aesthetically pleasing, functional, and easy to use. After that, a digital marketer can help you with content for the web page and social media posts that will generate interest in your business. The financial outlay to pay freelancers to do this work might be high, but the returns will soon cover them.

Logistics

Any e-course in entrepreneurship will tell you that what drives customers crazy are promises made about a delivery that are not adhered to. If you want to keep clients happy by getting their goods to them on time and intact, plan your logistics.

This includes deciding where you will store inventory, who will package it, and how it will be delivered. Some people find it easier to outsource this function to a third-party company that specializes in logistics. While there are costs involved, they are not exorbitant compared with the costs of managing these functions yourself.

An essential component of your logistics is, as mentioned before, keeping customers happy. You need to have systems in place to deal with issues, as they are an inevitable part of doing business.

People do not judge a business on how many complaints it gets, but more on how it addresses those problems. If you show yourself to be committed to customer service and rectify things that go wrong, customers will appreciate that and demonstrate their loyalty.

Logistics should also inform your marketing plan. When planning a flash sale, make sure there is sufficient stock. Also, set up a schedule for uploading social media posts and blogs for your website to ensure consistency in your marketing approach.