One of the commonest reasons for failure in business is a lack of financial planning. It is essential to pen down each and every expense that you are expecting in your business. A smart way is to brainstorm all your needs, from tangible goods (such as inventory, equipment and fixtures) to professional services (such as remodeling, advertising and legal work). Now start calculating how much you will need to pay for these goods and services.

First, you will have to come up with an estimate of one time costs to get your doors open and then develop an operating budget for the first year of your business. If you have trouble figuring out how much money you need, do research on other companies in your industry and region of the country. Talk to other business owners about how they figured out start up costs and ask specifically about expenses they forgot.

Take your time with this step, do some price checking and look for legitimate bargains. If you are still doubtful about your projections, in that case overestimate your projections and underestimate your sales. It is a good idea to double your projected start up costs so that you get a realistic number.

Once you are done with your calculations, the next step is to focus on getting your hands on cash. You are of course, aware of the fact that the traditional banks don’t fund start up ventures with minimal cash flow and unproven track records. Well, then what are the other options you can look up to?

An important asset to funding your small business is personal savings. Well, digging into your personal savings will obviously depend upon the life stage you are in. If you are the sole bread earner of a family it is recommended to not use your savings completely and also not be tempted by your retirement savings.

Family and friends can also help you with expenses and thus relieve your financial burden to an extent. Make sure that they are clear that their entire money can go waste and thus it’s always a good idea to take this money as a gift. Of course, you can look at your credit card for help. But be careful as the money drawn from credit card can bring in a lot of stress along with it. Another way to put your hands into cash is to ask for grants from certain organizations such as the National Association for the Self Employed. Their contributions can go a long way in helping you managing your expenses.

Is the thought of a start up frightening? In a way. And yet also in a way encouraging. The very uncertainty of start ups frightens away almost everyone. People overvalue stability – especially the young people, who ironically need it least. And so in starting a start up merely deciding to do it gets you halfway there. After you are done with the basic planning and have found a good funding agent for yourself you are almost there ready to start your own business.

written by REI Circle (www.reicircle.com)

In these times of fierce cut-throat competition it is important that your product does stand out from the crowd. That’s where a lot of companies are realizing the potential of product positioning. Often marketers overlook the importance of positioning their product and tend to focus more on product price rather than the place it occupies. However in today’s hyper-competitive market, product positioning can be the deciding factor when customers have to make a choice between your product and its competitor.

Positioning can be described as a means of placing your product in the market such that it distinguishes itself from competitors. Not only does it help you to find a place in the customer’s perpetual map of the market but it also makes you visible as a kind of business that your customer would be naturally attracted to. Proper positioning helps you match your marketing message in accordance with the desires, feelings and beliefs of your customer, whom you know you can service better than anyone else.

Incorporating the idea of product positioning means that you would need to let go of a few old fashioned techniques of marketing. You can stand head and shoulders above the rest by letting the customer know your full story and adopting a customer centric model and most importantly giving up on old fashioned copycatting and mimicking. Product differentiation should always be based on value rather than some technological geek - speak which the customer would fail to understand.

A clear vision is paramount to the product positioning process as it identifies your path towards achieving what the product is set to achieve for your end users. However while defining your vision you need to make sure that it is aligned with the current and forthcoming trends and focus on customer benefits. A clear defined vision also articulates how forthcoming trends can be exploited to realize new benefits that can be passed on to the end user.

Every organization has a set of core competencies which can place your product ahead of your competitors. By assessing your organization’s core competencies you can determine whether you have an upper hand on your competitor, when trying to leverage on a market opportunity. An organization’s core competencies can be easily measured by conducting strength and weaknesses sessions (SWOT). Technical expertise, cost efficiency and customer loyalties are some of the competencies that can give you an upper edge when it comes to product positioning.

A product exists to solve a need and this is its target market. Careful research of your target market will reveal the major pain areas and help to position your product effectively and differentiate the benefit that your product has, as compared to the others. Similar to core competencies a product has a set of differentiating attributes that defines its position in the market. These attributes can be found by measuring buyer’s perceptions and preferences for a company in relation to the competition and are vital in assessing your product positioning.

While the competition gets fiercer by the day, luckily, it’s not all that hard to stand out from the crowd, as long you realize the importance of product positioning and incorporate it in your organization. Proper product positioning will ensure that your product is perfectly placed in the target market and help it gain the recognition that it deserves.

written by REI Circle (www.reicircle.com)