Owning a successful business is a goal that many people have. Yet, a lot goes into being an entrepreneur. It’s easy to think about the end product, but the process of making the transition from dream to reality takes a lot of planning and preparation.

Maintain Contingencies
Starting a business consists of many challenges and rewards. One worry is money and how to go about staying afloat in the beginning. Depending on the type of startup you pursue, you may be able to launch a venture with little cash. However, to truly grow a business, you need to give your enterprise all that it needs. For example, if you decide to work from home, you still need to pay utility bills and potentially upgrade office equipment to give your business impetus. Having a cash buffer is prudent, not only to support yourself financially but to ensure you can be adaptable to future emergencies. Do you intend to work a day job initially? You can build up cash flow to put into your business through freelancing. There are plenty of options available, from graphic design to tutoring. Rates will vary, but it offers important flexibility to let you focus on developing your business plans while accruing essential capital.

Adapt Your Home
One of the best ways to cut startup costs is using your home in lieu of renting an office. Setting up a home workspace still requires structure to create a productive work environment. Give yourself a daily schedule, with specific times just as you would at a conventional office, and make sure that your family knows you are off limits during work hours. Distractions may happen regardless, so look for a room with its own door to better separate work and personal spaces.

Once you have a structure in place, your next step should be to assess what additional equipment you need. A decent computer will be essential, along with a fast internet connection. But you should also think about what might aid your productivity. For example, a standing desk as a refreshing alternative to sitting throughout the day. Of course, when you do need to sit, purchase an ergonomic chair to give another boost to a constructive day at the home office.

Build Your Vision
Knowing exactly what you want from a business, in the form of a long-term plan, doesn’t just imbue stability — it also gives you a footing that allows you to better budget your business. Overextending financial capacity is something that can quickly leave a business unviable. Flesh out a budget that keeps expenses under control by detailing incomings and outgoings. Identify where efficiencies might be made or shifted toward goal fulfillment. Your plan needs to be realistic, one that takes into account potential hurdles during the first couple of years. Give your plan a vision that defines the scope of your goals and ambitions. Perhaps you want a certain number of clients by a given date. By embracing attainable objectives, you can give yourself the momentum to keep moving toward success.

Identify Your Market
Finding your niche is another crucial aspect of giving your business strong foundations. It’s tempting to do everything, but finding a specific niche can provide your startup with a tantalizing advantage and keep things focused. Support your efforts with plentiful research. There may well be a gap in the market that your skills and know-how could fill. Determine who you want your customer base to be and how you intend to reach them. Use social media to assist with this, as feedback can be an excellent gauge in assessing your idea’s place in the market. Further your efforts by networking to build connections with fellow entrepreneurs, and potentially attract investors. Even if attending events and seminars does not yield financial backing, you may well acquire valuable insights that you can apply to your venture.

Give your efforts a solid footing. Ensure you have a steady flow of cash to support yourself, know what you want your enterprise to be, and consider turning your home into a business hub. There may be bumps along the road, but you can drive your venture to success.

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Retailers know it’s not enough to simply open stores and expect customers to cooperate. It’s important to make sure shoppers have the best possible experience in the store to ensure they become customers — and remain customers for a long time.

Retailers need to make the shopping experience at their stores as convenient and enjoyable as possible. One of the biggest ways retailers have boosted the convenience factor for their customers in recent years has been to add an e-commerce element to their businesses. However, just because e-commerce is more convenient doesn’t mean retailers and other businesses don’t need to put the same level of attention and care into their websites as they do in-store shopping experiences.

The novelty of e-commerce definitely has worn off for most people, and e-commerce businesses these days must do more than simply be open for business. With so many e-commerce choices, don’t give shoppers an excuse to ditch your website for a competitor’s. For example, poor website design is one of the biggest reasons why shoppers avoid e-commerce businesses. A website that features unpleasant design or has a broken interface will turn away customers faster than anything.

For better or worse, customers also have come to expect a lot from e-commerce businesses when it comes to logistics. They want their orders to be filled quickly and delivered even faster. What’s more, they’ve come to expect free shipping as one of the perks of buying online — so e-commerce retailers that ask customers to pay through the nose for shipping that takes more than a few days are asking for trouble.

Although e-commerce has become a major differentiator for many businesses, it can become a significant hindrance if they don’t take the time and effort to offer their customers the best possible experience. The guide below spells out many of the most common e-commerce problems businesses may have, as well as tactics to use to avoid or solve those problems. It’s no longer enough for business to simply have an online presence — they must work to earn customers’ business (and trust) in the virtual realm as they do in the “real” world.

Today, approximately 75% of consumers prefer to pay with a credit or debit card. One of the biggest reasons why these transactions have become increasingly popular in recent years is because it’s so much easier for a shopper to swipe or dip his or her card instead of carrying the right amount of cash for every purchase. Yet, although card transactions are so easy for the consumer that most people never even think about them, the opposite is true for the merchants accepting those transactions. Behind the scenes, there’s a complex infrastructure humming to help guarantee all of those card transactions are as seamless and secure as they appear to the shopper. Further, it’s the merchant’s responsibility to maintain payment processing protocol to keep transactions secure and minimize liability risks.

To help make card transactions seamless and secure, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has implemented a set of data security standards that all merchants need to follow to accept card payments. If businesses are found not to be in compliance with PCI standards, the consequences can be dire. In addition to risking their customers’ sensitive financial data, merchants who do not comply stand to be hit with monthly fines on top of the penalties they may incur from issuing banks in the event of a data breach.

PCI compliance is much too important to ignore. However, because there are so many factors to PCI, it can be difficult for merchants to separate fact from fiction. For example, businesses that use an outside vendor to process cards may be under the impression that this alone puts them in compliance. Still, it remains their responsibility to ensure that they are following the guidelines to become and remain compliant.. This guide details some of the most persistent myths about PCI compliance. Take a look and make sure your business is doing everything it should.