Then again, the principle of budgeting is quite simple at the very roots. Practically anyone who is willing to learn can come up with a budget for his small business. If you think about it, if you were able to start up a business, then budgeting shouldn’t be that much of a deal. Here are some tips that can help.

Where do you start? A good place to start is to set a target. Estimate the sales revenue that you will be having for the year. Take into consideration the economic climate, among other factors, and make a reasonable estimate.

Next, estimate the cost of fixed expenses such as raw materials. This should be easier, especially taking into account your past experience. You should also factor in the variable costs, which includes business trips, sales commissions, and the like. Add these all up and then deduct the figure from your estimated revenue.

Another useful tip is to break down your annual budget into more manageable chunks – quarterly is a good idea. Lastly, make sure that you monitor the actual performance of the company quarterly as well. Compare it to the budget and make the necessary adjustments.

Small business owners, picture this scenario: it’s a Friday afternoon and you’re all ready to unwind. Suddenly, a client calls you up wanting this and that. Or maybe, an “urgent” e-mail comes in. The office is closed. You’re done for the day – for the week, for that matter. What do you do?

This is not an uncommon scenario, really. A lot of small business owners have to face this on a regular basis. On the one hand, you probably would want to ignore everything, and deal with it on Monday. On the other hand, you don’t feel right ignoring the call/e-mail.

Here’s the tip: from the outset, make your expectations and rules clear to your clients. In spite of the fact that you may be offering web-based services or that you are running a small personalized business, you do have a life. Make it clear that you have working hours and that they are to be respected. This way, there will be no issues (hopefully) if you leave things to sit over the weekend.

You should also arm yourself with tools to take care of requests after work hours. Make sure you have voicemail. Turn it on to deal with the after hours calls. Turn on your e-mail autoreply. Last, but most important, make sure you have separate numbers for your business and for your personal use.

Don’t let your business run your life! Set boundaries.

I believe that the transition to open source software is something that a lot of businesses – especially small businesses – will have to make sooner or later. The advantages in terms of cost far outweigh the preference for the proprietary software that we’ve all gotten used to. However, this does not mean that things will be easy. Indeed, the opposite is probably true. Just taking a look at what happened – and is happening – in my company is enough to tell me that.

If you are a business owner and you are convinced that open source is the way to go, you also have to realize that the responsibility of making the transition as smooth as possible lies on your shoulders. Actually, this is the first step in making things easier. Once you have acknowledged that fact, then you can plan your moves more deliberately.

One thing that I cannot emphasize enough is for you to give your employees enough time to let the information sink in. Sudden changes are NOT good. More so, you have to make sure to point out the rationale behind the change. Get your employees convinced about this and you’ll be okay.

In the next post, let’s take a look at specific software that can help you cut costs but not sacrifice efficiency.

Think about social media as a way to get feedback. Feedback is a very important part of any business. You may think that you are giving your customers what they want and need but you never really know until you hear from them. With everyone practically using these networks today, you should be able to use them to get into the minds of your customers. Of course, you have to do something with that feedback.

Use social media as a tool to brand yourself (or your business) as an authority in your field. The goal is to make your presence felt and make that presence an authoritative one. What you want is for people to automatically think of you when they think of your line of business. How do you do this? Write articles and publish them. Publish tweets that add to your reputation (realistic and honest tweets, of course). Bottom line: provide information that will help build up your reputation as an expert in the field.

Associate with the right people. Social media is a great way to connect with everyone. However, you have to make sure that you are reaching the right people – the customers that you want to keep or attract. Do not randomly interact with anyone; instead, focus your energies on those that matter.

You may only have a handful of employees in your small business but that does not discount the fact that you still have to ensure that they are being taken cared of. This is especially important for those employees who are performing excellently and are essential to the success of your business. The last thing that you want is your “star employee” to bail out on you – that just might prove disastrous. What you need to do is set up an atmosphere wherein that person will want to stay with you mid- or long-term. How do you do this?

A very effective way of doing so is by providing enough incentive for the person to stay – not for a year, not even for two years; try five years or more. A term that has been used for financial incentives that are received for five years to ten years is “golden handcuffs.” The handcuffs part may sound negative, but let’s put emphasis on golden. This refers to incentives such as stock options, setting aside money in a fund that “grows by itself,” or even a lump sum bonus that is given at the end of the “lock in” period. Consider it as a reward for those who stay long enough and perform well at the same time.

The bottom line is showing your best employees that they matter to you and that you are willing to share the success of the company with them.

Get interns!
You may find yourself short on manpower during peak season. Instead of hiring temps, why don’t you find a business school that requires their students to spend time in internship programs? You will not only save up on money (you’ll probably only have to pay an allowance) but you will also inject fresh blood and ideas into your business.

Be a guinea pig.
How does it work? Students in business schools have to do case studies all the time. Why not consider volunteering to be a subject? This just might teach you a think or two about how you’re running your business – and at no cost to you!

Attend short courses and participate in special programs.
Yes, business school is expensive and you may already have gotten your degree, but learning never ends; at least if you want to continue improving yourself and your business. Many schools offer special courses that cater to professionals and business owners – take advantage of them. More so, some schools have programs which benefit small businesses – forums, partnerships with venture capitalists, and so on.

You simply have to take a look around and find out what you may gain.

Here’s something to think about, though. How exactly do you use your social networks? Do you interact with people on these networks merely for personal purposes or do you have other agenda?

Experts in this regard say: mix it up! One big mistake that some people make is to immediately engage in shop talk. More so, some people never stop talking about business – even in their personal social network accounts. Let’s take Twitter for example. If you’re trying to build connections, try to expand your horizons and tweet about topics that may interest the people you want to contact. Sure, business is part of it but why not throw in other pieces of information? Your followers will love you for it.

Along the same lines, don’t forget to share what you know. You are probably an expert in your field. You might read up on a lot of other related topics. Don’t hog your knowledge to yourself. Instead, use it to empower your followers or contacts through information.

Interact! Don’t think that you’re the only one who has something to share. For sure, your contacts have something to say. Just as you like people reacting to your posts and tweets, they appreciate your input as well. So don’t let it be a one-sided thing. Interaction is a great way to build connections.

Know what you want to achieve. Make your goals measurable. We all know that advertising’s goal is to get the word out, but what do you want to get out of that? Make sure you have concrete goals so you know exactly where your money goes.

Use various tools. Don’t stick to one medium. Yes, the Internet is cheap and reaches out to millions and millions of people. However, you should also take a look at other options that may reach other potential customers – flyers, brochures, etc. Don’t stop there, though. Make sure that you evaluate the content of these tools thoroughly and that they are aligned with your measurable goals.

Be visible in your own community. Start at home. This is your best bet, really. Even if you want to expand your horizons, you have to capture your home market first. A good way to do this is to make your business visible. Participate in community activities. Organize volunteer activities which your staff can participate in.

Keep these tips in mind and here’s to a luck next year!

Riding on the success of the phrase “the audacity…” Plouffe bestowed the title “The Audacity to Win” to his business book. This book has been receiving a lot of attention both online and offline. I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but I found Robert Pagliarini’s post about it very intriguing. He shares the top 5 business lessons according to Plouffe:

1. The first is to have a very clear theory about how you’re going to be successful so that you can make all of your decisions around that.
2. Secondly, to have great interaction in person so that everybody is important to you, your employees, your customers, and your shareholders, if that’s appropriate.
3. Three, if you’re trying to reach people, and most people in business are, you’ve got to be in every avenue possible.
4. Another thing would be to have clear metrics so that your evaluation, both of your overall performance and the performance of your employees is not subjective.
5. And then I think to basically be unafraid to chart your own course.

These are simple ideas but the implications are astounding. Why not take a closer look at the concepts in Pagliarini’s post? Even better, buy the book and read it for yourself. It might give you that extra something to help you start 2010 with a bang!

So how can you use LinkedIn for your business? The first thing that you should do is to reserve your business name. Naturally, you want to use the name that your business is known for, or the name you want to be known as. Once you reserve this name, others cannot use it. That is why you have to be quick about it – you never know if there are other entities in the world that have the same name (this is very much possible).

Another thing that you should do is to browse and explore LinkedIn. Check out your competitors and see if they are already using the tool. If so, observe and see how they are using it, and then analyze. Ask questions. Should you use LinkedIn the same way they are using it? Is there anything different that you can do to give you an edge?

Take advantage of the host of features that LinkedIn offers. For example, did you know that you can encourage people to write down recommendations for your business? Clients, customers, partners – practically everyone – can leave recommendations on your page. This will prove useful as potential customers can gain information PLUS the more recommendations you have, the better your chances of being included at the top of search results.

Don’t wait any longer. Use LinkedIn to promote your business!