Finding the Best Location for Your Business

What good is a mini supermarket that is located in an area where a single soul does not reside or pass by? Locations are of marked importance for any business having to do with public interactions. This especially turns out true for food and retail items.

Demographics work magic

The winning formula for the success of any business is to look at traffic patterns. If there are other industrial units or schools or colleges in the area, you are likely to get more customers. In other words, if your business location is standing at a convenient place where people pass by everyday for one reason or the other, you can be reassured of business success, provided your product/service rocks. Remember that foot traffic is as much as or perhaps even more, important than highway traffic.

Don’t be afraid of competitors

Experts assert that you should get as close to your biggest competitor as possible. This stands true even for the location. According to Greg Kahn, a pioneer in the field of behavior research with regards to locations assert that, being as close to the competitors will earn you competitive advantage by allowing room for you to benefit through their marketing efforts. The bottom line is that your competitors spend a lot of money and effort on getting customers to reach them in the area. So if you could base your business in the same area, you could do without advertising aimed at trying to attract customers to come in the particular area.

Professional services

Finding an excellent location is not end of the story. In fact, signing up a good leasing contract is also important in choosing a location. For this, you will need to hire a lawyer. Real estate agents can be of massive help when trying to spot out the perfect location.

If your business needs grants and proposals to be written, you should consult a professional writer. Similarly, coming up with a business plan is as important as other aspects of things in your ‘to-do’ list. Simply, Google for writing and editing professionals and, for guidelines on how to write a business plan to proceed. The resources you will find online will usually save you one third of money that may be otherwise spent on formal services.

Interrogate yourself

Answering a few basic questions will win you advantage and clarify your doubts on selecting a suitable location for your business. So here are 05 crucial questions to be asked.

01.   Can you gain competitive advantage out of setting up your business in a particular area?

02.   Is the space you found large enough to carry out all your business work?

03.   Is the space good as it is or does it need any repairs? Is any partitioning, additional lighting, sound systems etc. needed to be installed for it to suit your layout?

04.   Is the lease within your budget and are the terms agreeable?

05.   Is it easy to find employees from the area?

Free Healthy Eating Plan

This free healthy eating plan is a great way to ensure that you stay in shape. By following this 1500 calorie diet plan you will be ensuring that you get all the nourishment your body needs as well as not gaining any extra weight.

Meal Plan “B” 1,500 Calories 125-149 grams of protein

BREAKFAST: 1 HERBALIFE Wild Berry  FORMULA 1 SHAKE + 1 FRUIT

Example:

•        2 scoops (2 tablespoons) Wild Berry Formula 1 Shake Mix +3 tbsp.Formula 3 Herbalife Protein Powder +8 fl. oz, nonfat milk or soymilk + one half of a fresh mango

=approximately 35 grams of protein

OR:

1 PROTEIN + 1 FRUIT

Examples:

7 egg whites (hard boiled or cooked as an omelet) + 11/2 grapefruit OR:

•        1 cup nonfat cottage cheese + 1 cup pineapple

=approximately 25- 28 grams of protein.

            A.M.SNACK     1 PROTEIN SNACK

Example:

1 Herbalife, Protein Bar Deluxe

=approximately 10 grams of protein.

LUNCH:         1 HERBALIFE French Vanilla FORMULA 1 SHAKE + 1 FRUIT

Example:

•        2 scoops (2 tablespoons) French Vanilla  Formula 1 Shake Mix + 3 tbsp.Formula 3 Herbalife Protein Powder + 8 fl, oz. nonfat milk or soymilk + 1 cup strawberries

=approximately 35 grams of protein

OR,

1 PROTEIN + 2 VEGETABLES + SALAD +1 GRAIN= 1 FRUIT

Example:

•        6-8 ounces roasted chicken breast, or turkey breast, fish, tuna or shellfish

•        AND 2 cups steamed broccoli

•        AND 4 cups of salad greens with seasoned vinegar

•        AND ½ cup of brown rice

•        AND one large orange

=approximately 50-60 grams of protein.

P.M. SNACK:   1 PROTEIN SNACK + 1 FRUIT

                               Example:      

          1 packet Roasted Soy Nuts with Cardiae- Salt + one fresh orange

DINNER:        1 PROTEIN + 2 VEGETABLES + SALAD + 1 GRAIN + 1 FRUIT

                           Example:

•        8 ounces broiled fish with teriyaki sauce

•        AND 1 cup steamed spinach + 1 cup steamed carrots

•        AND tossed green salad with light dressing

•        AND ½ cup whole-grain pasta

=approximately50-60 grams of protein.

Following this 1500 calorie diet plan is going to be beneficial to your health but you have to ensure that you drink enough water. To avoid dehydration which will lead to fatigue, make sure that you drink at least three to four 8 ounce glasses of water a day.

If you are combining the 1500 calorie diet plan with exercise then it is even more important that you drink enough water as you will lose a lot through sweating. However, when following this 1500 calorie diet plan make sure that you don’t overdo drinking water, as this will lead to swollen hands and feet.

Drinking green tea is a great way to increase your energy and so is coffee. Green tea is another great option and studies have shown that green tea also increases your metabolism. However tea and coffee should not be substituted for water.

When following 1500 calorie diet plan, make sure that you get all the required vitamins and minerals. Colorful fruits and vegetables are a great way of ensuring this but it would be more prudent to also take multivitamin/multimineral supplements. An advantage of this is that folic acid is available in most supplements and is better absorbed when taken in this form. By taking multivitamins daily, you also ensure that your body gets all the required key minerals and vitamins.

To make sure you stay healthy, when following this free healthy eating plan, it is important sure that you are getting your required dose of calcium. The required amount of calcium need by men and women under the age of fifty is 1000 milligrams daily, which can be obtained from a balanced diet plan as well as supplements. Women over the age of fifty should ensure that they consume a total of 1,500 milligrams of calcium daily. To find out how much calcium you are consuming, calculate the amount in your food and soy milk. If you find you need to take a calcium supplement then ensure it has vitamin D in it to get the best benefits.

This free healthy eating plan is designed to make sure that you eat healthily while at the same time enjoying what you eat and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Finding Product Sources for Your New Business

So you’ve done everything required to start that dream business of yours minus finding the product sources to fill your empty shelves. What good is a business plan, a perfect location and even an ecommerce website promoting the products if you don’t have the real thing in hand to sell?

One of the biggest business mistakes would be to create a huge hype among potential customers and disappoint them with lame excuses “stock arrives next week”, “we’ve run out of stocks this time” etc.

Sometimes we simply overlook the need to collect and connect to product sources because it seems like a common sense deal which is outright easy, right? But at the last minute, which is a day before your business inauguration, if you find that you don’t have products, what an embarrassment would that be?

Don’t knock your head on the wall! Finding product sources cannot get any difficult than having to search the world and with the internet to back up your efforts, searching the world is not considered a difficult task at all.

If you want to hunt down the best of local products, trade shows and talent shows will surely add insight to you. Subscribing for a trade magazine is another very simple yet effective way of finding product sources for your business needs. Then there are trade organizations in which people in the industry knit a network. These networks may operate virtually involving international associations or locally involving only the local community. Each of these models will make you benefit at the end by acting as a platform through which you could build connections in the industry.

When you choose product sources and suppliers, you need to remember your goals. The business scenario in which you fill the store shelves while the supplier earns cash should become a win-win situation. Remember that you got to play the role of impressing customers. So filling your shelves with things that do not carry a product personality or a strong image does not carry any value to your business. So you ought to watch out in there!

The general rule is that if you want quality products, don’t look for freebies or don’t look for discounts. Talk to your vendors before signing working agreements. Make sure that they understand what your business is and who your target market is. Always follow the ‘customer is the king’ strategy and it would be great if you find a vendor who thinks the same.

A little background check on the vendors as well as recommendations of your personal network will also work fine in determining the best vendors to deal with. Partnering up with too many vendors is not a necessity. If you are quality conscious about the products, simply be prepared to evaluate samples from a few vendors. There after choose a few finalists and proceed with the business.

Above all, remember that finding product resources is not the end of the journey; rather it is just the beginning. So try to get everything right from the initial step to derive marvelous results through and through till the end.