Startups

5 Startup ideas for Atlanta businesses

If you want to start your business now, here are some startup ideas for Atlanta businesses. Read on to learn what businesses work best in Atlanta.

Why should you start a business specifically in Atlanta?

Atlanta is a great place for entrepreneurs due to convenient transportation and low living costs. Atlanta is also slowly rising to a world-class business powerhouse. This makes it a good and worthwhile investment for business success.

If you want to start your business now, here are some startup ideas for Atlanta businesses. Read on to learn what businesses work best in Atlanta.

Fitness Centers

People who live in Atlanta are very conscious of their physical and mental health. They understand the effects of being overweight, reducing the risk factors. This is a great startup for Atlanta businesses to get attention for the business launch.

If you have a background in fitness training or physical education, this may be the option for you. Health-related businesses are the second-fastest business to grow in Atlanta. Consider speaking with business consultants to give you a perspective on the strengths and weaknesses.

Car Rental Services

One of the best thriving business startup ideas is a Car rental service. Cars are a part of our daily lives, making it a great startup for visitors and tourists. You don’t need huge startup capital for this type of business.

With a website, few cars, and a telephone number, you can set up shop anywhere. You can also go for event car rental services, focusing on cars for weddings or funerals. It’s a business that is currently in high consumer demand.

Agriculture

Using this Atlanta business startup is profitable with the available fertile lands. The agriculture sector holds over half of Georgia’s labour force standing. A good start is by running a poultry farming business.

Go for various foods and crops, such as pecan, blueberries, corn, and vegetables. If you want this type of business, it’s better to secure a relationship with other industries to be their local supplier. Get along with large-scale and long-term customers, such as restaurants and hotels.

Cafe Shops

Atlanta is one of Georgia’s most visited places due to its views and tourist places. You can attract many visitors by making a cafe for customers to sit back and socialize. As stated earlier, people in Atlanta like health-related businesses, so go for a tea cafe.

A cafe does not need large capital and it’s easy to register this type of business. Tea comes in many blends and flavours, offering many health benefits. This type of business will get plenty of attention from local customers.

Nursing Homes

A significant fraction of Atlanta’s population is about to cross the 60-year line this year. Senior nursing demand is now increasing with either health or non-health services. You can have services such as cooking, body massage, driving, or running errands.

If you have experience in people care, consider this type of business. You can also use the opportunity to make a retirement real estate business. It involves selling real estate to people who plan to retire.

Five Startup Ideas for Atlanta Businesses

Be sure to talk to business consultants about your permits and licenses. Consider choosing something from this list of Atlanta businesses that fit your speciality and experience.

Take the risk and start your Atlanta business! We have more info about Atlanta business with our other guides. Feel free to take a look at our other posts for more information, too.

4 Ways to spread the word of mouth about your new startup location

While there are many ways to build word of mouth, here are a few of the ways that work most often.

Opening a new location represents a major step forward for your business. At the same time, it can be a little scary because you don’t know if anyone will come to your new location. That’s why it’s so important to build word of mouth about your business so that you can gain momentum and see exciting results. While there are many ways to build word of mouth, here are a few of the ways that work most often.

Sponsor a Local Sports Team

Communities big and small take great pride in their local sports teams. Therefore, a great way to build word of mouth about your new location is to sponsor one of these sports teams so that people know you support the community. The good news is that most sports teams have various levels of support, meaning that you don’t have to blow your entire advertising budget on this one venture.

Distribute Printed Advertisements

Anyone who thinks that print advertising is dead has never received a high-quality print advertisement from an enthusiastic business owner. By giving individuals something to keep with them, you’ll be much more likely to be remembered versus someone who relies solely on digital advertising. Of course, you’ll want the quality of your advertisements to be top-notch. Therefore, it’s important to utilize high-quality printers like those from Eastman Kodak Company and other local businesses.

Appear on the Local News

If you can build some expertise in your field, you may have an opportunity to appear on a local news station. For example, if you operate a restaurant and have a particular recipe that everyone loves, you can work to appear on the local news and teach others how to make this recipe. Since people tend to trust local news stations, you’ll likely find that you quickly build positive word of mouth.

Reward Customer Reviews

Although it’s dishonest to pay people to review your business, rewarding customers who take the time to leave a review is totally acceptable. Since many people won’t patronize a business that doesn’t have positive reviews, this can be a great way to earn trust in your community. Just be sure that you’re willing and able to reward every reviewer, even those who leave negative reviews.

No matter what you’re doing to build word of mouth, the most important thing you can do is to be present and approachable. People want to connect a face with the businesses they patronize so that they can feel as though they’re getting a personalized experience. Therefore, if you’re willing to build relationships with your customers, you can be sure that they’ll reward you with good word of mouth.

3 Challenges and 3 opportunities that await in the cleaning industry: What can you bring to the table?

On one hand, new challenges have been presenting to the industry. On the other hand, is the opportunity for a business to grow with these new challenges and pull in profits by offering new and different cleaning services in addition to what they currently offer.

Every business has been affected by the current health crisis and the state of the economy, and this is especially true regarding the cleaning industry. Before COVID hit, not many people realized that cleanliness and safety go hand in hand. Since the pandemic, safety is a top concern and everyone knows that it starts with how clean the area is. This is both good and bad for those working in the cleaning industry. On one hand, new challenges have been presenting to the industry. On the other hand, is the opportunity for a business to grow with these new challenges and pull in profits by offering new and different cleaning services in addition to what they currently offer.

Air Quality is a New Challenge in Cleaning

In the past, thousands of people could be packed into a crowded mall and no one batted an eye. Now people avoid busy crowded areas at all costs, and they think about how clean the air is before they go into a place. Because of this new air quality and cleanliness concern, this adds a new challenge for the cleaning industry. With this new challenge comes a new service opportunity for cleaning companies, air quality, and air filtration services. Those who want to offer air cleaning services should get more information on starting their own cleaning business, as the business is booming in this field, and offers many new money-making opportunities.

The Cost to Clean Has Become Quite a Challenge

In the past, company owners didn’t have to put much thought into the cleaning supplies that they purchased for their company and for their employees to use. If the product was for cleaning, then it was good enough. Thanks to COVID, there are new guidelines and regulations on cleaning products. People now want certain cleaners proven to kill germs and viruses, such as those that spread the flu and COVID-19. While finding these products is a challenge on its own, there’s also the higher cost of these highly demanded cleaning products. Businesses are now spending more on cleaning supplies, which means that budgeting for cleaning supplies is now a new challenge for some. On the other hand, this is a new money-making opportunity for those that produce high-quality cleaning products.

Employee Safety is a New Concern and a Challenge

Before COVID, gloves were commonly worn by those working on cleaning crews but that was about it. Now that the pandemic has hit, employee safety has been a huge concern. Those on cleaning crews are the ones cleaning up after others and possibly being exposed repeatedly to germs and viruses. To meet this new challenge, employers are now providing employees with more than just gloves. It’s very common for cleaning crews to be fully decked out in personal protection equipment, known as PPE. These can be masks, gowns, face shields, shoe covers, and more. This new challenge has created a huge opportunity for those producing PPE, as these products are in high demand.

In conclusion, this year has added several new challenges for those working in the cleaning industry. With new challenges comes the opportunity for new profit opportunities. Thanks to these new challenges, cleaning companies can now offer customers different cleaning services that were not previously offered, meaning that there is new money-making opportunities as well.

5 Things to know and do to build a successful event planning business

Event planning industry has a bright future ahead, and that now is the time for a focused and motivated entrepreneur like yourself to start building your very own event planning business.

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the event planning industry to operate almost exclusively in the online realm, that doesn’t mean that this sector isn’t booming. In fact, organizing events online is a great way to kick-start your own business in this field, but you also need to take into account the fact that live, physical events are going to come back in a big way as the pandemic subsides.

This means that the event planning industry has a bright future ahead, and that now is the time for a focused and motivated entrepreneur like yourself to start building your very own event planning business. With that in mind, here are the five key things you need to know and do in order to build a thriving business in this growing industry.

It all starts with market and competitor research

First and foremost, you can’t hope to kick-start a successful business if you’re unaware of the trends that prevail in your market, who your competitors are, and what potential clients expect from their event planners. This is why your first order of business is to research the event planning industry thoroughly and gather as much actionable information as you can before launching your business.

Market and competitor research will prove invaluable in shaping the core of your business model, defining your pricing strategy, creating your unique value proposition to set you apart, and more. Be sure to look for honest opinion pieces online, look for successful event planning businesses and analyze them mercilessly, track industry forecasts and statistics, and most importantly, educate yourself on how to plan events for maximum impact in the online and offline worlds.

Pick the minds of the leaders in the industry

Planning and organizing events for clients is a complex process with a lot of variables, and as the leader of your business, you will oftentimes be wearing many hats at the same time. If you want to venture into this field successfully, then you need to find out how other successful individuals have built up their businesses, and what their recipe for success was. Never underestimate the power of networking for the growth of your event planning business.

As an entrepreneur doing everything to improve their business, you should find and get in contact with successful business leaders in your industry and try to pick their brains for useful tips, tricks, and strategies. Be sure to attend online workshops and meetups as well to learn as much as you can about what it truly takes to stand out.

Find reliable and trusted partners

Probably one of the most important elements of success in event planning, especially as a new entrepreneur, is having a reliable network of partners. You see, your job is not just to make a plan for the event, it’s also to help your clients execute it. Sometimes, high-paying clients will ask that you completely take over the event planning process and handle everything related to the event online and offline.

You will be tasked with organizing the event online, but also finding event AV solutions and equipment rental partners that will provide you with all the resources necessary to create and execute your event plans without breaking the bank. These specialized partners in your network should be affordable but reliable and trustworthy, and they should use the leading digital and physical tools to bring your elaborate plans to life.

Be flexible and adaptive to new industry trends

Aside from surrounding yourself with trusted partners, you also have to build your business on the foundation of flexibility and adaptiveness in the face of changing industry trends. In other words, you have to be prepared for whatever the new trends may bring, especially now that event planning in the new normal is quite different than what it used to be before the pandemic.

Staying open-minded, innovative, and on top of the latest trends will one day allow you to turn your business around should you hit a rough patch, as well. Always remember that high-paying clients are looking to work with event planners that can adapt their strategies to every socio-economic shift that hits the market.

Invest in building a recognizable brand

Last but not least, never underestimate the power of branding in the event planning industry. Clients looking for reputable event planners probably already know who the trusted names in this field are, so if you want to get on their radar, you need to invest in comprehensive brand-building.

As any reliable beginner’s guide to branding will tell you, you need to define your brand’s values and strengths in order to build a trustworthy business. Your brand also needs to have a unique tone of voice and visual identity for your website to capture the attention of potential clients. Don’t forget about SEO optimization and be sure to spread the word of your new business by making quality content and disseminating it across the online world. After all, marketing your amazing brand is an essential part of long-term success in this competitive field.

Wrapping up

Event planning is an industry that is always on the rise, even during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no wrong moment to enter this industry as an entrepreneur, but that doesn’t mean that success is guaranteed. Be sure to use these tips to maximize your chances of success and obtain high-paying clients for your event planning business in the first month after launch.

Here’s how a 34 year old single broke mother became the owner of Halli Mane Rotties in Mangalore

Shilpa, a 34-year-old mother based in Mangalore who went through hell and back, now owns a food truck and is a successful woman entrepreneur.

All of us go through bad days in our lives and these days can make you or break you. It all depends on how you seem to look at them and how determined are you towards your goals. Shilpa, a 34-year-old mother based in Mangalore who went through hell and back, now owns a food truck and is a successful woman entrepreneur.

She completed her education to standard 10^th and lived a happy and contented life. After getting married, she moved to Mangalore with her husband, Rajashekar, a city-based businessman. After a few years of their marriage, he went to Bangalore stating some business purpose but never returned. He left Shilpa with their three-year-old son. Their families tried looking for him and also lodged a complaint, but nothing helped.

Only when the bills started to pile up and with no money in her hands, Shilpa started taking small jobs. But with an income of only Rs 6000, it didn’t help meeting her needs and so she started looking for other better options.

One day, during a family conversation, everyone started praising about Shilpa’s cooking skills and emphasized about her ability to make delicious Karnataka cuisine. For all this time, experimental cooking was her hobby but this time she was thinking about it seriously. She told her brother about starting a venture which serves healthy food.

While leaving, her husband did not leave a single penny for them but she had Rs 1 lakh in her bank account which she saved for her child’s education. After a lot of thinking she used up that money. She saw a Mahindra showroom nearby and planned on getting a truck but 1Lakh wasn’t enough for it and so she had to sell her jewelry.

In 2015, she bought a Mahindra Bolero pick-up truck and started a food joint called Halli Mane Rotties.

She was criticized by many for her decision to sell north Karnataka cuisine in South Karnataka. But to everyone else’s surprise, her stall became a hit and everyone was gob smacked. Working from 4 pm to 10 pm every day, she earns around Rs10,000 every day. They key to her popularity is the material from her hometown and they don’t add additives or colors thereby keeping the food homely.

For having online visibility, a few students helped her map her food truck on Google maps which only added to her customer base. She also plans on opening a second outlet with her brother and Anand Mahindra has offered to buy her Bolero as an investment.

Today with a turnover of Rs 3 lakh a month, she has set an example that our fate lies in our hands.

Arun Kharat’s journey from a two room Chawl to an annual turnover of Rs.140 crore is inspiring

Starting his career from a two-room Chawl in Khadki, Pune, Arun, who now works from a posh locality at Koregaon Park, has come a long way facing all the difficulties and hardships.

Starting his career from a two-room chawl in Khadki, Pune, Arun, who now works from a posh locality at Koregaon Park, has come a long way facing all the difficulties and hardships.

Being born in a lower-middle class Maharashtrian family, he always dreamt of getting into entrepreneurship. His father retired as a civilian Health Superintendent. Arun was not a bright student, so after completing his 10^th std, he started loitering around his uncle’s footwear shop.

On the other hand, his brother ended up becoming a doctor. Arun’s family pressurized him to not quit his studies and thereby, he was pushed into engineering. After its completion, he took a couple of jobs but realized that it wouldn’t pay him enough and so he ventured into business by setting up an STD booth for selling tickets for a private bus company. Within a few years, his confidence boosted and he stepped his shoes into car rentals and started buying cars, building his own fleet.

Arun’s Wings Travels did not stop there but instead kept adding on attractive features and also helped socially. They trained around 300 people from the LGBTQ community for driving private taxis. They have now collaborated with the Humsafar Trust and are now working towards providing opportunities for the people who have been looked down on by society.

Another feature added by them brings a feeling of safety to its passengers. Their cabs come with an SOS feature which gets activated when a passenger screams or panics. If it looks like the passenger is in trouble, the staff dispatches other cabs nearby to aid them.

Today, Arun achieves a yearly turnover of 140 cr, the boy who has been building his dream outside the footwear shop, has now made it to his dream.

Everything you need to know about early stage VC funds

There are heaps of financial alternatives for firms trying to innovate and expand. However, one of the common options is venture capital funding.

There are heaps of financial alternatives for firms trying to innovate and expand. However, one of the common options is venture capital funding. When you’re one of the business owners trying to find the appropriate assistance program, perhaps you need to take a closer look at early-stage VC funds. This may give you an overview of the procedure.

You don’t have to be an expert in financing to understand the entire concept. The process is pretty straightforward, as long as you take note of the basic terminologies and the benefits you can get, then you’re good to go.

Venture Capital

Pooled investment funds that control individuals’ cash looking for private equity stakes in SMEs with high potential growth are known as venture capital funds. Usually, these investments are categorised as high-risk-high-return options.

Previously, early-stage VC funds were exclusively granted to credible venture capitalists. But today, accredited investors have higher chances of getting involved in venture capital investments. But these are still not readily available to ordinary investors.

The Process

This is the kind of asset financing that provides small businesses or entrepreneurs with the chance to gather funds prior to earning their income or starting the operations. Venture capital funds are recognised as investment transporters aiming to invest in enterprises that present high-risk-high-reward opportunities based on their asset, size, and product development level.

These funds are different from a hedge or mutual funds since they concentrate on the early-phase of investment. All companies that are given venture capital investments hold a strong potential growth with long investment paths and are risky. These venture capital funds hold a more vital involvement in their investments through having a board seat. Thus, they have a hands-on and active part in the operations and management of the business.

These investment funds hold portfolio returns that appear like a barbell technique to investing. Most of these funds have little bets on multiple start-up businesses, thinking that one of them will obtain high returns and earn a considerable huge payout. The fund will mitigate the risk of other investments.

Running a Venture Capital Fund

There are several categories of these investment funds: early-stage, seed, and expansion-stage. They all rely on the maturity of the enterprise at the period of the investment. But no matter the level of investment, all these funds work in a relatively similar way.

Venture capital funds, just like all pooled investments, should gather cash from external investors before they make their own investments. Potential investors will be given a prospectus and then extend cash to that fund. All these potential investors who raised their commitment are contacted once the investment amounts are settled.

These investment funds then look for private equity stakes with a high potential of getting positive returns. Typically, this means that the fund’s operators evaluate several business plans as they find firms with high growth potential. Their decisions are based on the prospectus’ directives and the investors’ expectations.

After investing, the fund requires a yearly management charge. But several funds don’t have a fee, only the investor’s returns earned. These fees will pay off the costs of payroll and the general partner’s other expenses.

Venture capital has significantly grown over the years, and financial experts see it as something that could expand exponentially. This investment’s entire procedure is very much helpful to all parties involved, such as entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, lawyers, financial advisers, and accountants. Therefore, regardless of its risks, there are still people who are willing to take their chances.

Address Advisors, an Indian firm writing new standards for real estate brokerage solutions

Address Advisors is a transaction-oriented, real estate firm engaged in providing advisory and consulting services to clients as investors, developers, MNC’s, individuals etc.

Headquartered in Bangalore, the company has about 100+ years of consolidated experience in the real estate industry. Boasting high on success in a short span of 4 years, Address Advisors have closed around 300+ deals comprising of over 5 million sq. ft. of Real Estate transactions in Bangalore.

Address Advisors’ commitment to their clients, integrity and a non-wavering ethical policy has allowed them to deliver spaces that surpass the expectation of their customers. They have done that and always strive to do that, which was how the company came into being.

Address Advisors has some impressive list of clients, which includes some renowned names like Amazon, Big Basket, Mahindra Lifespaces, Tyson Foods, Swiggy, HGS, BDO, etc.

Address Advisors – Founders

Address Advisors was founded by Bhawana Khetan and Sunny Mogra in 2016. The clarity of the thought process, exuberance and the ideology behind the start-up brought the founders together.

The co-founders Ms Khetan, MRICS (Member of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) and Mr Mogra had the last stint together at Cushman Wakefield, which had been a successful one.

As both were handling different verticals at work, their diverse skill sets and the seamless synergy gives their partnership an edge over others. Thus, neither of them required a lot of convincing to get on board with this idea.

It was their mutual respect coupled with their belief and support for each other’s talent and growth which has resulted in this organization scaling heights so quickly.

Address Advisors – Vision and Mission

With a consulting and advisory approach to real estate brokerage services, Address Advisors strives to be a one-stop shop for all real estate brokerage solutions. Their driving belief is that they can raise the quality and standard of service levels in this brokerage business.

Their mission is that the name Address Advisors should become a pioneer for setting the benchmark for real estate consulting & brokerage services in India and for global clients.

Founders aim to establish new standards through their work and execution of services, setting an example that companies aspire to achieve.

They take pride to be known as an Indian home-grown company that can be a pioneer in this field and blaze the paths for young budding entrepreneurs who wish to enter this industry.

Address Advisors – Solutions

They offer a series of services that pretty much cover most of the industry. The list includes solutions:

Brokerage & Transaction Services (Leasing, selling and purchase) in:

Commercial /Corporate Real Estate
Residential Services
Warehousing & Logistics
Land & Industrial
Hospitality
Investment Sales
Financial Structuring

To visit the Address Advisors website, click here.

Follow Address Advisors on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Where to start as an online retail entrepreneur if you actually want to make money

Making money online is one of the best ways to tap a nearly unlimited income potential while enjoying a flexible schedule and no commute.

Making money online is one of the best ways to tap a nearly unlimited income potential while enjoying a flexible schedule and no commute. Of course, if you want this career to last long-term, you have to actually make money from this pursuit. With so many possibilities for building an online business, it can be difficult to know where to start. That’s why it’s important to consider a few ready-made ideas beforehand so that you don’t waste time and resources. Here is a guide to help you to become an online retail entrepreneur.

Carefully Source Your Inventory

Unless you’re planning on supplying your inventory yourself, you’ll need to find a good inventory source to help your business succeed. While good wholesale prices are important, it’s also important that the supplier is reliable so that you’re never stuck with a lack of inventory. You also want to be sure and order from an established business to ensure your supplier doesn’t cease operations right as you’re trying to build your business.

Build a Good Website

Without a physical retail location with which to attract customers, you need to be sure to build a good website to help your business succeed. When thinking through how to make money online, you need to think like your potential customers to determine which elements you should include on your website. Take a look at other successful websites to see which elements you like and want to incorporate on your own website in some form or another. You’ll also want to make sure that your website includes elements to help it rank highly on search engines.

Find Additional Advertising

It’s unlikely that your website will be able to gain much traction on its own. To help pull visitors to your website, you’ll need additional advertising sources. For example, you’ll want to be sure to be active on various social media platforms and then include links to your website on those platforms to help your website stand out from other competitors in the space.

Know Your Market

Unless you have an exceedingly unique product, it’s likely that you’ll have multiple competitors selling the same types of products that you’re selling. It’s important, then, that you ensure that the market you plan to reach has a need for the product you’re selling. If the market is already over-saturated, you may be sorely disappointed when you finally get your business up and running. If there is room to break into space, though, you could find great long-term success.

Even as your business begins to grow, it’s important to stay hungry and continue performing at the highest level in order to sustain that growth over many years. In the online world, it is easy for products and businesses to go stale quite quickly. If you keep a start-up mindset, though, you can continue to surpass your competitors and build a strong source of income for your future.

Tips for managing personal finances for start-ups and small business owners

When you are just starting up or if you have a small business, the initial few years are high investment years in terms of both product validation and market uptake as well as steady income. In this phase, it is essential to manage your personal finance well. Because when personal finances are not managed well, your business will also suffer and start a chain of losses.

Here are some tips for your personal finance management:

Don’t quit your job

A start-up usually demands high capital investment in its initial years. You may begin by investing a good sum of money into your business, but you will realise that you will need many such smaller investments during the initial growth years. Some of these may have been accounted for while some may not have been accounted for.

So, it is a good idea to continue at least partially with your steady income and job while working on your start-up idea side by side. This will ensure that you are financially secure for your personal expenses at the very least. At the same time, it will give you freedom for growing the start-up to a point where you can quit your job and investment full time, energy and resources in your venture.

Diversify your income sources

It is great to have focus, ambition and drive in whatever you do. However, from a practical perspective, it is a wise decision to diversify your income sources and hedge your risks. This will ensure that when one income stream is struggling, you have the ability to depend on other sources for at least covering your bills and regular expenses.

Improve your Credit Score

A good credit score is your gateway to acquiring easy credit options like a personal loan or personal line of credit. It proves your creditworthiness and assures lenders of your ability to repay. This means a lot for your personal finance, as you shall be able to negotiate good interest rates, easy repayment options and more. If you have a good credit score, you may also be able to secure a slow interest personal loan or line of credit without collateral. MoneyTap is an app which provides a seamless online loan and personal credit, in a fashion where you pay interest only on the amount of the approved loan that you actually utilize. If you are looking for a bad credit loan, try Lendforall.

Here are some tips to improve your credit score:

Clear any bills that are due, on time
Clear your credit card debt as soon as possible
Apply for a new credit card only if needed, and try to sparse out credit card applications
Don’t close your unused credit cards, to strengthen your credit history
Diversify the forms of credit that you use

Separate Business from Personal finance

Most start-up owners find it difficult to delink their personal life from their business. This trait is often instrumental in making their business successful, but the same characteristic can have a negative impact when adopted in managing finances.

Small business owners make mistakes when they muddle up their personal finances and their business finances. Here are a few reasons why you must consciously make an effort to keep your finances separate:

It will help you save tax-related stress. Mixed finances and inter-usability of incomes without clarity often leads owners into tremendous stress during the tax filing season.
Separate accounts will lend more credibility to your business.
If there ever occurs a crisis on the business front, your personal assets will remain safe and you shall not have any personal liabilities.
It will ensure that you do not put any burden of your venture’s financial position on your personal account.

Diversify your investments

As a start-up owner, you will need all three – savings, investments and liquidity. But make sure that you hedge your risks by diversifying your investments in different fields like mutual funds, stock markets, etc. This will ensure you do not suffer any major losses from a single failed investment, if any. Learn about index funds at thestockdork.com.

Develop a Frugal lifestyle

As a start-up, being thrifty is absolutely essential. Minimise your demands so that you can reinvest the maximum amount of your income into your business. In order to develop a frugal lifestyle, you need long term planning, budgeting your expenses, and always being on the lookout for ways to reduce unnecessary expenses.

Make an Emergency fund

A contingency fund is a must-have for all small business owners and entrepreneurs. Maintain this fund at any cost, and ensure that you do not break this fund unless there is an actual emergency. If you really need funds, you could consider opting for other credit options like a personal line of credit or a personal loan which will help you get through your requirements without disturbing your emergency savings.

All in all, while working on your business idea is important, it is equally crucial to managing your finances which is the backbone of your business. And these small tips and practices can go a long way in developing a successful organization and stable personal income.

Author Bio

Lily Tran is a content writer, working for MoneyTap, who writes about all things Finance. Her passion for credit, debt, loan & investment drives her to help readers get an insight into everyday finance.

How to tell the wiring needs work when buying a small business location

One component, in particular, that you need to carefully inspect is the wiring in buildings that you’re interested in. By knowing what to look for, you can make this process much easier.

If your business has grown to the point that you’re ready to buy a physical location, you can take pride in knowing that your efforts have directly led to this day. Before you sign your life away and spend a significant amount of money on a new building, though, it’s important to carefully inspect the condition of potential locations so that you don’t end up facing significant repair bills down the road. One component, in particular, that you need to carefully inspect is the wiring in buildings that you’re interested in. By knowing what to look for, you can make this process much easier.

Flickering Lights

Flipping the light switch in a potential business location can tell you a lot about the condition of that location. If you turn on the lights and they immediately begin to flicker, it’s probably best to consider another alternative, use a wire crimping tool. Flickering lights can indicate an electrical system that has seen better days and is no longer able to provide adequate power to the light fixtures in the facility.

Unusual Smells

If a building has been closed-up for a while, you may encounter some unusual smells when you first walk in. While this is fairly normal, unusual smells that come from the building’s electrical system are anything but normal. These smells could indicate that insulation on certain wires has been stripped away, leading to wires becoming too hot, meaning that you’ll need serious assistance from commercial electrical services to get the building up and running safely.

Old Outlets

When considering an older building for your business location, it’s a good idea to pay attention to the outlets in the facility. If you notice any outlets with non-polarized plugs, then you’re likely looking at some electrical work before you can get your business going. This is because non-polarized plugs haven’t been installed in facilities in several decades, meaning that the building’s electrical system may have not been updated in several decades, as well.

Sizzling Sound

If you turn on a light switch or plug in a device and hear a sizzling sound, you’ve got some work ahead of you. A sizzling sound indicates a poor connection and could mean that some sparks are being created. Before a fire occurs, it’s important to cut the power to these particular components until they can be properly repaired.

Even if the location you’re considering has some electrical needs, that doesn’t mean you have to take it out of the running. If you can find a good electrician to help with the repairs, you can dramatically transform a building in need into a space that takes your business to the next level. By understanding which problems to look for, you’ll be able to have more leverage when asking for concessions from the seller so that you get the best possible price.

Starting a Retail Business? How to get the utility infrastructure you will need

An essential part of operating any business is having access to utilities.

An essential part of operating any business is having access to utilities. Even the simplest enterprise requires electricity, water, and the internet, and more complex businesses could need natural gas, fuel oil, wireless data, and more. As you begin setting up your operation, use these strategies for getting the required infrastructure in place. You may need some good child mannequin too for your store, so investing in flexible ones is more wise.

Tie on with Existing Service

The first step in getting utilities is to find out if they’re available in your area. For example, your new general store in the countryside might sound like a good idea until you realize there’s no city water for two miles in any direction. If the utility is available, contact the provider and see what fees, permits, and other requirements are necessary for you to connect.

Run a Private Line

In some situations, you may have to run your own line some distance to connect. In the case of our general store example, you could probably afford to run your own line some part of that distance. It may even be possible to join with others in the area to split the cost of running the line even further. Better yet, your combined interest could be enough to convince the utility provider to run a new line to serve all of you.

Construct a Tower

One great thing about modern communications is that you don’t necessarily need a cable to connect. Wireless TV, internet, and telephone are commonplace. All you need is adequate reception to have reliable service. To do that, it could take constructing a small, private tower. You’ll have to pay for the materials, rigging services to bring them in, and good IT people to hook everything up, but in the right situation, it’s a good solution.

Use Fixed Sources

When the supply is too far away, you might need to create your own. Water can still be accessed through a drilled well. With the right filtration, pumping, and testing system, groundwater can be just as reliable and clean as a municipal source. Propane and fuel oil can be trucked in and stored in a bulk tank on your site instead of arriving through pipelines. The only question in this situation is whether it’s more cost-effective than running lines in from elsewhere.

As you choose your location and type of business, it’s critical to take into account what utilities you will need for routine operations. Make a good plan in the beginning so that your business can work smoothly and efficiently.

Got a Business Idea? 4 People you should talk to now to get your funding set up right

Most successful businesses start with a great idea. The next thing they need, though, is the right kind of funding. If you have a great business idea, you’ll want to talk to the following four professionals about how to get your business the right way.

An Accountant

If you’re going to talk finance, it makes sense to start out by talking to an expert. Working with an accountant is an excellent way to make sure that your business idea can feasibly be supported by your finances. A good accountant won’t just tell you whether what you want to do is possible. They will help to guide you on the path to making sure that you are making reasonable financial decisions.

A Loan Officer

Your next stop should be a loan officer. Unless you are planning on bankrolling the entire operation with the cash you have on hand, you’re almost certainly going to need to take out a business loan. Talk to a loan officer about what the application process is like, what you should expect when you apply, and what kind of funding is likely for a business that’s similar to the one that you have dreamed up. You might be surprised by how much information you can get from a simple conversation.

Another Person in the Business

It’s also a good idea to talk to someone else who is running a business of a similar size or in an industry similar to your own. These are the people who have already dealt with the biggest roadblocks to funding and who know all the mistakes you can make. Many of them are more than happy to let you learn from the obstacles they have already overcome. Even sitting down for an hour with another business owner can teach you quite a bit about how funding works.

LinkedIn is a great place where to find people with relevant experience. A simple search for the profile you are interested in, write a small connection request and reach out to them. Once they reply, try to schedule a quick consultation. More often than not you will get a free consultation, and get all your questions answered

A Securities Law Attorney

Finally, make sure that you talk to a lawyer who is experienced in dealing with business financing. A solid securities law attorney will let you know the legal implications of your business plans and will help you to find ways to get where you need to go while still complying with various state and federal laws. A good lawyer will be an incredibly valuable asset as you put together your business.

Always make sure to reach out to professionals about topics like funding. A few conversations can help you to avoid major mistakes, so have them early. Once you know how your funding should be set up, you can start to build your business.

How to build an affordable bike rental business in New York City

The crowd does not just consist of the health freak crowd, but there are also tourists and even college-going students who are looking to find affordable bike rental in NYC.

Riding bikes has become more of a health connection, with time running faster than ever, bike rides become one of the best exercises to offer. In fact, New York City or as you may call it, NYC has seen several people using bikes on streets on a regular basis these days.

While not everyone may have a bike to ride, there are several Bike rental businesses that do offer their services for people to get bikes on rent on an hourly basis, and sometimes even on a day to day basis.

The crowd does not just consist of the health freak crowd, but there are also tourists, and even college-going students who are looking to find affordable bike rental in NYC. If you wanna explore into the bike renting business, this may just be the best way to build your business in the Big Apple.

Planning

The first and foremost thing that needs to be done is planning thoroughly before you do plan to take over the business of offering affordable bike rental in NYC. You need to know and understand the startup, the cost that will go into the business, along with your target base, and the name of your business.

Register

After you’re done trying to finalize the idea and the cost that your business will incur, you need to legalize it so that you aren’t personally held responsible if the business does get sued in any way. You can pay minimal costs for legalization and save yourself from all that trouble.

Open an Account

If you’re starting a business, one thing that definitely needs to be in order is your accounts. In fact, you need to separate your personal and business account to ensure asset protection on both ends.

Permits and Licenses

Another thing that needs to be taken care of is the obtainment of the necessary permits as well as licenses so that you steer clear of paying high fines. You also need to ensure that you do have a certificate of occupancy as well.

Insurance

Well, after all, is in order and you are all set to begin your business of affordable bike rental in NYC one more thing that you need to keep in place is the insurance. You need to protect yourself from losses and thefts, and one of the most important is getting proper insurance in order.

Brand Definition

There may be many businesses with the model of providing services like affordable bike rental in NYC, what will set you apart is your brand identity and how is it perceived. Make sure you are using social media channels to promote your brand, find avenues which may help your brand stand out and make it different and more interesting than others.

Website

One last touchdown in the business pyramid is establishing a website. You definitely need to have a website where people can know about the services that you do offer and can even make bike rental in NYC booking online. A website will provide you the edge and the depth your brand will need from you.

Ed-tech startups making learning fun and interactive for the kids

We have listed a few educational game apps that have made the learning process more engaging and children friendly.

This pandemic has proven to be a conjugating time for the ed-tech industry where many sectors were dripping down various Indian ed-tech startups like Byjus, Toppr, Unacademy started raising their fundings.

These ed-tech startups are changing the outlook of education and learning from the conventional way of learning in a classroom to that of learning online through various apps thereby making it more fun-loving and creative.

We have listed a few educational game apps that have made the learning process more engaging and children friendly.

BYJU’S

BYJU’S – The Learning App, an ed-tech and online tutoring firm founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran at Bangalore, is the world’s most valued ed-tech company with a valuation of $11.1 billion. It offers educational content to school students from class 1 to 12. The company also trains its students, for various examinations such as IIT-JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS as well as for international examinations such as GRE and GMAT. Also, after collaborating with Walt Disney in 2019, it launched the Disney BYJU’S Learning App for children and started featuring Disney stories and characters enhancing the experience all the more.

KUTUKI

This app founded in 2017 by Sneha Sundaram, is an award-winning early-learning app for children below the age group of seven and was also recognised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as one of the winners of the AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge. Kutuki focuses on language and phonetics, math and science, social and life skills, and cognitive development. It offers simple games to build vocabulary, life skills, and learn letters and numbers by using exclusive stories and songs-based on the students’ curriculum. They make sure about bringing art and technology together to create quality and engaging content.

KIDDOPIA

Paper Boat Apps, focussing on both the education and entertainment of children, was founded in 2013 by husband-wife duo Anupam and Anshu Dhanuka. Kiddopia’s main focus is on providing interactive games and activities which helps to foster self-expression and cognitive development among children. It also promotes learning by way of offering creative and invigorating activities. It covers the curriculum in such a way which ensures the coverage of various activities like role-playing, general knowledge, language skills, etc. Today, it has over 2.5 million downloads and more than one lakh active subscribers.

e-PR Inc: The creation of an automated PR service

E-PR is an online platform that helps connect clients interested in digital advertising with media websites on which the client can advertise on.

A great entrepreneur knows a business opportunity when they see one, and their inspiration often comes from personal experience. Yury Mosha, CEO of e-PR Inc, was able to do this successfully with his company. E-PR is an online platform that helps connect clients interested in digital advertising with media websites on which the client can advertise on.

Yury immigrated from Russia, which inspired him to create his own immigration business, Second Passport, or Vtoroipasport in Russian. He started picking up speed in his company, and he realized that the best way to further promote the business would be to generate PR. He sought out these services on his own by personally reaching out to media platforms and getting their rates, as well as understanding what services they offer for advertising. This process was very tedious, as it takes a long time to get in contact with the right person, and then further communications to get pricing. More so, it is even more difficult to understand the offers when one does not have a solid understanding of this industry.

So, Yury realized that there was a demand here which was not being met and that people such as himself would greatly benefit from a service which simplified this process for the client and did the work for them. The idea for the platform, e-PR, is to create one place where clients can browse all the available media sites at once. Customers will be able to browse websites based on various key factors which are important to them, such as geography, demographics, topics, appearance on Google News, pricing, and more.

The only thing the client will need to do is create an account, browse through publications which they are interested in, submit content through the platform, and get their advertisement published. Based on the client’s request, e-PR can even create content for the client that will fit the theme of their message. E-PR also can be greatly involved in the process, or not at all, also depending on the client’s wishes. If a customer chooses to go through with this more independently, the platform is set up in a way that will allow the customer to have this independence by only using the online services offered.

In the future, e-PR plans to expand its media base to an international platform, by having publications from Europe, China, and other regions in the world to create a global project. Currently, they are based in the United States and are focusing on North America. With the expansion of the project, the company plans to become the Amazon of PR services, by being fully online in a mainly brick-and-mortar industry. This business model is more convenient now than ever before, due to COVID-19 and clients not being able to frequent shops and go to offices for business meetings. Now, e-PR is able to meet the expectations of its clients with an online platform, which their team monitors on a daily basis.

For more information about e-PR Inc, visit their website.

16 year old Arushi Agarwal, founder of Unknown16 is providing free virtual education to children in Bihar from New Jersey

Along with this, Arushi also happens to be a UN Climate Action Speaker and activist. She has also launched her first book Project: Hackathon which is available on Amazon.

Charity begins at home and Aarushi decided to go the extra mile at a mere age of 16. Arushi Agarwal has been helping kids get an education, and that too free of cost.

Born in Hisar, Arushi is currently residing in New Jersey in Class XI. In the year 2016, she joined FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and was able to understand how important programming learning at an early age was.

She would spend five hours of her day coding, programming games and designing bots and helped her team in getting selected in FIRST World Championship. However, during the contest she realised that there were only boys and very few girl participants.

When she dug in deep, she came to know that due to a lack of resources and confidence, they were not able to make the progress they should have. She wanted to do something to change the then situation.

So, in 2018 Arushi came up with an initiative named Unknown16 where she not only organized workshops but also created resources online which focused on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics along with programming and it wasn’t limited to school going students of New Jersey but also to the ones in College.

She even went on to collaborate on a youth collective in Bihar, Lahanti Club, and took virtual classes on the weekends. She teaches about 300 students in Bihar’s villages of Kumbadih, Naiadih, Jabardah and Govindpur.

In fact, she even ended up setting up computer labs for the students. Her parents provided all the support and even helped her build her website for her initiative Unknown16.

After her website was completed, Arushi also added resources for students who wanted to learn Python, Scratch, Java, CSS and HTML along with Data Visualisation. She also conducts workshops at libraries that are located in her neighbourhood.

She even started a campaign on GoFundMe in October 2019 to help her raise a thousand dollars to help her build the infrastructure including purchasing the computers and furniture. So far, she has already raised $450.

Presently, Arushi is teaching those kids in Bihar to read and write in English, as for coding, the basic knowledge of the language is a necessity. Once they learn this, she will start with the basics of coding for those underprivileged children.

Along with this, Arushi also happens to be a UN Climate Action Speaker and activist. She has also launched her first book Project: Hackathon which is available on Amazon.

From failing to crack IIT to assisting aspirants, Aditi Avasthi’s ed-tech startup Embibe is all about helping students

The startup has received a total of 590 crores since February 2020 as funding from Reliance Industries

In the era of digital learning, teaching several thousand students via audio-video classrooms has become a business but what teachers fail to understand is as to how will a student’s weakness be identified by the teacher in such a setup.

Aditi Avasthi identified the problem since she went through a similar phase after not being able to get into the IITs because of her not so amazing chemistry skills and no teacher in sight, to help her fix the problem. In fact, since Aditi could not crack the IIT’s, she went ahead and pursued an MBA in Chicago and worked for several popular firms like Barclays, Ben and Co., etc.

While Aditi had several other options abroad to explore her career options further. However, she decided to come back to India and in the year 2007 toured 15 Indian cities, meeting with teachers and students from coaching classes, which made her realize that it was not the right way for students.

It is then when she established the online test preparation portal Embibe. It was in December 2013, when her venture got funding of Rs.24 crore from Kalaari Capital and Lightbox Ventures. In fact, in April 2020, Reliance Industries invested a whopping Rs. 500 crore on the ed-tech startup

Now, there are over 3 lakh students who take the Embibe online test. Embibe has a team of 70 analysts, who after the test give a detailed explanation to students regarding their weaknesses along with ways and methods to make them right.

As per Avasthi, while coaching centres end up charging about a lakh rupees, Embibe does the same in a third of the amount. In fact, since there is no classroom involved, the cost is way less.

The test will be soon made free of cost and there will just be the analysis fee for students to pay. In fact, she is also planning online tests for students from Class 8 to 10. As per Aditi, the analysis by Aditi for JEE students has an accuracy of about 92 percent.

At 34, Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath is the youngest billionaire, Mukesh Ambani remains wealthiest

India’s Richest list of 2020 by Forbes is here and all eyes on the youngest billionaire in the list of top 100, Nikhil Kamath, the founder of the biggest stock brokerage company in India, Zerodha.

India’s Richest list of 2020 by Forbes is here and while the year has been an economically taxing for many around the block as well as India as a whole, the rich in India continue to get richer. The man of the hour, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of the Reliance Industries has continued to remain seated on the Iron Throne and has been named as the wealthiest man in India for the 13th consecutive year. Moreover, he has managed to add a whopping 37.3 billion dollars to his kitty which has only been increasing each year.

With the whole world waiting for an antidote for the deadly Coronavirus, Cyrus Poonawalla, the vaccine maker is the new kid on the block to have entered the top 10 list, being stationed at the sixth position. If percentages are to be calculated, the highest gainer has been Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson of Biocon.

However, all eyes on the youngest billionaire in the list of top 100, Nikhil Kamath, the founder of the biggest stock brokerage company in India, Zerodha. Kamath is just 34 years old and has a net worth of Rs. 11, 300 crore which is about $1.55 billion.

Kamath was not even an adult when he started stock trading, it was at the age of 17 wherein he dropped out of school to partake in Indian National Chess Championships. At the mere age of 19, Kamath was the co-founder of his company called Kamath Associates for the purpose of managing high net worth individual portfolios in public markets.

It was in the year 2010 that he founded another company, Zerodha with his brother Nithin. With three million users, Zerodha boasts of being one of the most popular retail brokerage companies in India. They also have an investment firm with the name of True Beacon which focuses on investors who have an ultra-high net worth. The firm operates on a zero-fee model.

With the lockdown in place, trading saw an increase and there were several who opened Demat accounts which helped the Kamath brothers to enter the list at the 90th spot.
Divya Gokulnath is the second youngest billionaire in the list who is the wife of BYJU’s founder Byju Raveendran and is also the co-founder in BYJU’s. At age 39, Raveendran is the third-youngest billionaire who had founded his company back in 2011.

How Kaagaz Scanner pulled off millions of downloads from zero within 15 days

Ever since the ban of the Chinese apps, Kaagaz Scanner has been reaching great heights. It has also got a special recognition by the Indian Government at the Atma Nirbhar App Challenge.

Ever since the ban of the Chinese apps, Kaagaz Scanner has been reaching great heights. It has also got a special recognition by the Indian Government at the Atma Nirbhar App Challenge and to add to it, it has also raised undisclosed angel funding from the investment firm, First Cheque.

On June 30th, Indian Government banned a few Chinese apps which included the Cam Scanner, the founders of Gurugram based Ordenado Labs hinted an advantage in the situation “they were craving for”. They said that it was not because of the ban of the apps but because of the downloads which they were able to pull off.

Within the first fifteen days of Kaagaz Scanner launch, the company was able to get more than a million users. Kaagaz Scanner was also successfully able to replace the Chinese app, Cam Scanner.

Their main motive behind building Kaagaz Scanner app was to promote the campaigns initiated by the Indian Government by making and using more of Indian Apps rather than the foreign apps.

The Co-Founder of Ordenado Labs, Gaurav Srisrimal said, “We spent nearly 10 sleepless nights in checking thousands of emails which we received as a form of feedback.”

He also added that “though there are many more substitutive apps for Cam Scanner, we at Kaagaz Scanner aim at making our app user-friendly.”

The founders saw the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Campaign as their waking call for creating Kaagaz Scanner as it would be of further usage for the Indian public. After the ban of Cam Scanner, Indian market did not have any such equivalent app. Inspired by their reason for the start of the company, they named the app after an Indian name.

Kaagaz Scanner plans on expanding their market and they are planning to build a freemium monetisation model. This model would include a certain amount of fee which has to be paid as premium and this premium will have many perks of its own like unlimited storage, extra security, AI engine, and many more features.

Gaurav also added that none of the users will pay for vanilla storage, but they will only pay for the intelligence. Moreover, he explains that during the launch of the app it was not easy to add up the spice elements to the product or any kind of an additional advantage which the customers always look for.

Gaurav also added that they have been updating the app now and then. They are always looking forward in making Kaagaz Scanner app a world-class one by reaching and expanding its sources and markets or at least trying to make it a better app than Microsoft Lens or Abode Scanner.

Download the Kaagaz Scanner app from this link.