There has been a lot of hype in recent times about social media, and you may well be asking yourself if it’s a useful business tool.  Here I will look at one of the fasted growing social media outlets – Facebook.

To give you an idea of the sheer size of the Facebook community, here’s an interesting statistic.  If Facebook were a country, it would be the 8th largest in the world, with a larger ‘population’ than Japan and Russia.  At the beginning of 2009, there were over 150 million users.  And while it started out as an outlet for college students it now comprises users around the world of all ages, education levels and interests.  The fastest growing demographic currently is users over 35 years old.

So why use Facebook as one of your promotional tools?  There a a number of reasons: Read More

I so often hear this question:  “I am showing a profit in my business but I have no money.  Where is it???”  There are a number of places to look, and a few things you can do to improve your cash flow.

Debtors

When you review your income statement, the sales might look great and the bottom line nicely in the black.  Yet, you look at your bank statement and the balance is depressingly low.  The answer will be lurking in your balance sheet.  The first thing to look at is your Accounts Receivable (Debtors) balance.  These are your outstanding invoices for which you haven’t been paid.

How promptly *do* your customers pay you? Read More

It is a rare business owner who does not need to use a computer, at least for basic tasks such as emailing, accounting and the like.  There are a few things you need to be aware of when securing your data and protecting yourself against data loss.

Backups

I cannot emphasise this one too strongly.  DON’T FORGET YOUR BACKUPS!  Disaster can strike in the form of a hard drive failure, a power surge or a virus attack, and you will have lost contacts, emails, documents and other important business data.  There are many good backup programs available to manage this for you.  Make sure you have a backup policy in your business, and follow it religiously.   Also make sure you know how to restore the data.  A recommended plan is: Read More

The long awaited Small Business and General Business Tax Break legislation was passed by the Senate last month.

Small Business Investment Allowance

In summary, businesses with turnover less than $2 million will be able to claim a 50% tax deduction on any purchases of new equipment costing more than $1,000.  This is up from the proposed 30% and has been extended out by 6 months.  The Investment Allowance applies to most types of new plant and equipment, including motor vehicles and computer equipment.  To be eligible, the equipment must be purchased between 13 December 2008 and 31 December 2009, and be installed and ready for use by 31 December 2010. Read More

You’re not alone if you feel like you can’t keep up.  The last decade has seen the most incredible developments in technology.  Where only a few years back we were talking about megabytes of memory on our hard drives, it’s now hundreds of GIGAbytes – and only the other day I saw a 1 TERAbyte external drive advertised for around $150!  Our children are growing up with computers and know more about how to use them than their parents.  In a few years’ time we will be using gadgets which haven’t even been invented yet.

This Youtube video will just astound you – it will really open your eyes.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY[/youtube]