Tweet

How to Operate the Back Office of Your Main Street Business on a Budget

Guest post by: Michael Farrell

Article Overview: A good business operates on a budget so that it pays and pays, suggests Mike Farrell with aspenIbiz? Read this short post to learn about an array of back office tools and services so you can operate your Main Street business on a budget.

How to Operate the Back Office of Your Main Street Business on a Budget

In a previous article about building your brand on a budget, it was suggested that a brand is a success if it outlasts the campaign that launched it and A Diamond Is Forever was an example. Another example of a campaign that has stood the test of time is Does She or Doesn't She?

What is the background of this campaign and how did this happen?

Back in the mid 1950s, the Clairol girl was invented as a wholesome girl next door with a shocking secret; her hair color might be fake.

This launched a campaign with a series of ads for tints and dyes that posed the titillating Q&A: Does she or doesn't she? (Only her hairdresser knows for sure.)

This campaign and series of ads launched the birth of shockvertising that generated buzz by tapping into the sexual revolution. Sex sells and ten years later, annual sales of hair coloring had risen by more than $160 million and this campaign has stood the test of time.

It also paved the way for Brooke (Nothing comes between me and my Calvins) Shields and Pam (naked for PETA) Anderson.

The previous blog post concluded with examples of how to use Social Media to build a brand on a budget. This blog post will continue and provide examples of how to operate, on a budget, the back-office of your small business using an ever growing array of virtual services at your disposal spanning 8 categories.

The UnOffice. You can save office rent and work with your colleagues anywhere that has a WiFi signal. Basecamp is a web-based project management application that lets you assign tasks, send instant messages, collaboratively edit documents, create presentations, and track projects with employees and clients. This tool is offered as a service for web design professionals and other creative resources that are completing longer-term assignments.

Credit Cards. Setting up a conventional credit card payment system involves contracts, equipment rental, and thousands in transaction fees. The ex Twitter CEO has a new startup called Square that allows you to plug a simple device into the headphone jack of an iPhone or iPod. This allows your customers to make a purchase from anywhere and you can swipe their plastic with the device to accept payment; and the system is paperless.

The Phone. Telecom systems killed the receptionist. Now Google Voice is set to kill telecom. Voice gives you the local number of your choice and lets you forward it to as many landlines or cell phones as you please giving you an office number even if your office consists of nothing more than you and your dog or cat. This service also transcribes voicemail messages and provides them as text messages or email.

The Fax. Buying a bulky fax machine is so 1990s. And then there is the monthly cost of the dedicated landline needed to run the thing. With eFax, you get a landline based fax number of your choosing and up to 130 incoming fax pages each month. Incoming faxes are sent to you by eFax as an email attachment.

IT Department. Get the perks of a corporate computer network with Dropbox's free downloadable software. Just drag and drop files into a desktop folder to synch them to computers and PDAs; and no IT guys are needed.

Accounting Department. Freshbooks is an online invoicing, time-tracking, and expense service. It automates the accounting department with an easy web interface that sends documents with your logo to clients. Manage as many as three clients for free; upgrade to a version that manages up to 25, for $19 a month.

Complaint Department. Get Satisfaction is a startup that mint dot com and Nike are already using. It collects questions, complaints and feedback from throughout the Social Media universe and organizes it inot a customer service platform that can be used on your website.

Make It Legal. Create a simple LLC, or trademark your business name, with LegalZoom or PROLaw; both are low cost alternatives to hiring counsel. Services include additional document preparation, filing fees, and custom operating agreements.

You must build your brand organically. You must operate your business as efficiently as possible. Follow the steps suggested above and use the suggested tools to build your online brand and operate your business on a budget. Boost your online image and get branded for life. Operate your business in a lean manner so that your small business pays and pays.

I Hope You Enjoy the Aritcles and I Trust You Will Find Them Insightful! Let me Know What You Think.

Happy Reading and Here's to Your Success!

Related Articles
  5 Steps to a Balanced Business Budget
  Office Fit Out Services
  Bottom Line: This is Not the Bottom of the Financial Crisis
  Are you ignoring customers?
  Has Your Business Budget Crossed a Line?
  Living on a Budget Still Possible In Today's Tough Economy
  Big Box Backlash - In Reverse
  The Paprika Effect: The Brain-dead Simple Formula to Instant Customer Delight
  The Top Business Best Practice
  Cost of office fit out
  Increase Sales – The Key to Enormous Sales
  Due Diligence
  Top tips on starting up as a franchisee
  Do you need to do a budget?
  Budgeting Money When You Own A Business
  What's In A Plan
  Ten Tips for Busting the Marketing Budget
  FIND OUT WHAT 95% OF SALESPEOPLE ARE DOING AND DO THE OPPOSITE
  Who do you believe?
  The UPS Store Franchise Information

Article Tags: Advertising, Back Office Services, Brand, Campaign, Internet Marketing, Main Street Business, Make Money Online, Mike Farrell aspenIbiz, Promotion, Small Business, Social Media Marketing, Virtual Services



Related Forum Posts
New Office - Hi Kevin - I'm right on Yonge Street between 401 and Sheppard - For those not from Toronto, Yonge Street is our most well known street and our most well known highway. I'm also right on the subway which makes it a convenient location.
9 Lies that are holding you back - I've picked up this book to assist me with my conversations when coaching business clients and I've found it to be quite enlightening as distinctions are made. The book is titled "9 Lies That are Holding Your Business Back..." by Steve Chandler and Sam Beckford (aka Small Business Millionaire). I'll use this post in two ways: 1. To highlight A Lie 2. To help me internalize the concepts by writing about it in my own terms/understanding so that I can use it in future conversations (yes, I'm feeling a lil selfish and want to take you guys along with the journey) first post to arrive shortly on the First chapter: Lie#1: I Just Need to Know [i:23sag391]How[/i:23sag391] to Do This"
How to Make Management Profile? - Here are some tips to make a management profile which helps to attract lenders to invest in your business: 1- Tile i.e. Name of the Business 2- Legal structure of the company 3- When did it start its operation? i.e. DD/MMM/YYYY 4- Shareholders and Directors detail (if any) i.e. Name of shareholders, No. of shares and its percentage 5- Name of the Board of Directors Name and short brief about them 6- Current Manpower i.e. in numbers 7- Management and their short profile i.e. name, designation, experience and qualification 8- What services you are offering? Write it down. 9- Your Competitors 10- Main clients or Targeted clients
Why should I hire a virtual assistant for SEO purposes? - Do you find it hard to find time for rest because of promoting your business or your website all by yourself? Well, perhaps it is the right time for you to hire the services of an SEO virtual assistant. Virtual assistants for SEO services will help you on the process of improving your rankings within search engine results to achieve an increase in natural traffic. The higher your site in the search engine results page, the more traffic and sales conversions you will obtain. Using the services of virtual assistants (VAs) certainly is the best method to move in order immediate results and in reduced operational charges. This provides a great answer especially for a small business owner whoever company is actually considerably expanding, and the jobs have normally doubled. Here are some of the services that a virtual assistant can do for you: • Traffic Geyser • Main Street Marketing • Data Entry • Web Research • Market Samurai • Managing Facebook • Managing Twitter • SEO • Local Business Listing Robot • Traffic Revolution • Infusionsoft • Senuke • Angela’s Banklink • Linkjuicer • Blogging • SMM • Virtual Assistant • Personal Assistant • Article Writing • Spinning Article • Press release • Email Response Handling • Online Order Processing • Word Processing • Forum/Comment Posting • Social Bookmarking • Video Editor • Internet Marketing • Email Marketing • Link Building • Powerpoint Presentations • Web Development • Other Administrative Support
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Are You Fulfilled

The Strong Leadership Formula

Join Conversations Politely, Part 1

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.