Is it Possible to Start a Small Business on a Budget?

Many would be entrepreneurs think that it takes a lot of money and courage to start a small business. They held back by this belief and wait for the right moment to come. Nothing could be further from truth. Starting a small business on a budget is not only possible, but your fellow business owners and entrepreneurs are doing it every single day. Obviously, you are going to need money, but the question you’ll want to know is how much and, unfortunately, I can’t help you with a figure because every industry is completely different and they all come with a range of different costs. But I can provide you with valuable tips that will help you get there. Continue reading to find out what they are.

Establish the Budget

The very first thing you need to do, aside from establishing what business you want to start up, is to work out how much money you have to spend on the new venture. Take a look at your finances and those of anyone who is entering into the business with you and then see about getting a loan. Even people with poor credit can get quotes and loans from certain companies. Just click here for help with that. So now that you’ve established your budget and you’ve got some money in the bank, how do you ensure you stay within it?

Physical or Virtual

If you’re purely virtual then you will save money on having to have a physical premise as you can work from home, however there are still costs surrounding a virtual business, like web hosting, domain registration and design, and your internet connection. If you do need a physical location, then the same rules apply when trying to find a cheap house or flat.

How Online Collaboration Can Help Business and the Environment

Even if the grubby money hungry hounds in corporate don’t believe climate change is real, taking positive action can be extremely profitable – to the planet and your business. In this article, I’m going to talk about how building a corporate structure around sustainability can be lucrative, because when going green puts more green in wallets they’ll listen to the science. From utilising online collaboration tools to downscaling on office space and reducing costs, here are some of the ways businesses can prosper from greenification.

Carbon emissions are costing you

Project management software and collaboration tools allow team members to work from anywhere. This means that employees can work from home and cut the commute from the daily grind, while still working effectively as a team. One TIME article estimated that the average cost of petrol used to regularly commute to work came to roughly £40,000 every ten years. And wouldn’t you rather invest that money in, say, your child’s education or, better still, your retirement? When it comes to the environment, burning through a litre of petrol equates to 2.31kg of CO2 emissions. About 15% of airborne pollution can be equated to car use worldwide.
You can invite clients to use your cloud service to be kept up to date on project milestones without arranging a special meeting which might otherwise call for overseas travel. Flying is the most environmentally costly mode of transport. In the UK, flying is responsible for somewhere between 13% and 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Flying is also very costly; that’s because even low-cost flights present many hidden costs, and airport prices are often high.

Why Your Business Should Provide Tuition Reimbursement Benefits to Employees

Employee benefits can be double edged sword. On one hand, it costs businesses lot of money, but on the other hand they can generate loyalty and improve employee performance. The key to succeeding at this is making sure you implement properly and generate good return on investment. Tuition reimbursement is one such benefit that can help businesses of all types attract good employees and retain them eventually helping businesses grow. Granted, it costs significant money to implement tuition reimbursement program with the rising cost of college in the U.S., but if you manage it properly you can get significant tangible and intangible benefits from it.



That is why many large corporations have recently rolled out tuition reimbursement benefits. For example, Starbucks recently launched College Achievement Plan for eligible employees. It is designed for employees who are in their junior and senior year of college, supporting them in finishing their degrees. Employees must be based in the United States and work an average of 20 hours per week or more. Other companies, including Deloitte, UPS and Home Depot have similar programs.

How does Tuition Reimbursement Program Work

These programs can vary widely between different companies, but majority of them provide full or partial tuition assistance with certain conditions. As long as employees meet those conditions they can take advantage of the program. Many companies stipulate that the employees must maintain grade B or higher to receive the assistance. They also have to enroll in the courses that are related to their specific role or at least help them develop professionally.