Getting retailers to stock your product is notoriously difficult. The development process is often long. The money that you need to risk is high. And often the terms you end up with aren’t much to write home about.

It can be brutal for smaller players. But, as with most business operations, there’s a process than can improve your chances.

Have A Plan

Before you start out even developing a product, it’s a good idea to have a plan. In that plan, you want to map out all the usual financial metrics that will tell you how many units you’ll have to sell to make a healthy profit.

But you also want to include all those stores that you plan to approach. For many products, it’s necessary to sell a large number of units to break even. So this may influence the type of retailer you approach. If you’re looking to market a new health food product, you might want to plan to pitch to chains of newsagents.

Just make sure that your product complements their current advertising persona. It wouldn’t make sense for you to advertise health food in a fish and chip shop, for example.

Be Direct When Pitching

Getting time with retailers is difficult. Like other resources, their time is finite. They want to know immediately why they should stock your product and how it is priced.

All they care about is whether your product will improve their business’s bottom line and you have to make sure that it does.

Adapt To Their Systems

One common stumbling block in the way of getting a product into the stores is using the right systems. Often smaller companies are prevented from retailing because they haven’t completed a GS1 application.

Fortunately, there are plenty of barcode solutions out there that allow you to quickly and cheaply register. Having a barcode ready to go with your product will make it more attractive. It’s just one less thing for the retailer to have to think about.

Understand The Needs Of The Retailer

It might be the case that your product is amazing for the consumer. But is it amazing for the retailer too? Retailers want products that will sell reliably. If your product is something quite quirky and different, they may be reluctant to take it on.

This is where doing your research can help. Find out whether any of your competitors has stocked their products with other retailers. Then find retailers with similar characteristics. It’s likely that they will look at your product favourably if their competitors offer your competitor’s product.

Don’t Give Up

Too many entrepreneurs think that the only way to success is to land one big contract with a big retailer. However, this is rarely what happens, even for the most successful products.

Rather businesses start off small, using independent local stores to get their product off the ground. Then follows a long, drawn-out process that involves a lot of setbacks and rejection. Often, it’s only after many years and tremendous effort that products find their way into the big retailers. But if you stick it, the rewards are there for the taking.

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When you see the stock market in movies, it looks easy. It looks like nothing but fun and quick cash (and sometimes illegal substances). And, for sure, the real stock market can offer those things. But the films you’ve been watching often leave out the unsexy details. One of those unsexy details is capital gains tax.

Many people have heard the term capital gains tax. Many know what it is but don’t think it applies to stocks. Well, they do! Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know about these taxes on your stock sales.

Capital gains tax: a quick explanation

A capital asset is something you own that you use outside of business. The money you’ve sunk into the initial price and subsequent costs are combined and called the basis. When you sell a capital asset, you either make a gain or a loss. If the price at which you sell the capital asset is more than the basis, then you’ve made a profit. And in the government’s book, that means you’ve made a taxable capital gain. The capital gain minus the basis is the total profit. That value is what is going to be taxed via a capital gains tax. When filing your taxes, you need to get yourself a Schedule D (form 1040).

So this applies to stocks?

Yes. Capital assets include land, vehicles, real estate and securities, among other things. Securities include bonds and stocks. If you own stock for personal investment purposes, then it’s a capital asset. The profit you make from the sale of a stock can be taxed by your national revenue agency. So if you want to work out the total money you’re going to pocket after an exchange, you need to calculate capital gains tax.

Are there different types of gains?

There are indeed. There are what we call long-term gains and short-term gains. Short-term gains are the taxable profits you made from the sale of stock you held for less than a year. They don’t benefit from any special tax rate. The value, minus the basis, is usually taxed depending on your income. Long-term gains are the taxable profits you made from the sale of a stock that you held for over a year. The tax rates on these are much cheaper. In fact, if your ordinary income tax is less than 15%, there’s a chance you’ll pay no capital gains tax at all.

Keeping a record

When it comes time to file your taxes, you need to have everything in order. You’re not going to be taxed for every single stock; that’s unreasonable and will hurt the IRS’s calculator fingers. What you need to do throughout the year is work with your stock broker to record all of your gains and losses. These should be arranged into short-term and long-term. Oddly enough, this is when you find out whether or not you actually made a short-term gain or loss in the long run. If all your short-term losses outweigh all your short-term gains, then you’ve made a short-term loss. Whatever the result, put the calculation on Schedule D when you’re filing your taxes.

A loss isn’t a total loss

Revenue agencies aren’t completely heartless. Keep a record of your losses. You can use these losses to offset any future capital gains tax you incur!

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When you’re trying to create and launch a thriving business, you need to look for an extra edge. There are so many avenues you should be exploiting for new business. You have to add finishing touches to your business that help improve it. These should be things that will set you apart from the competition and help to draw interest to your company. Have a look at these ideas and use them where you can.

Get a Sign

Think about things your business could do with to give it that extra edge. Perhaps things that competitors might not be doing. One of the big things to do is make sure you have signage for the business. You might be surprised by the impact you can have just by getting a sign for the company. Things like A Frame signs, banners and billboards can have a huge impact on the way the company operates. You will give yourself an extra chance of attracting new clients and businesses as much as possible.

Social Media Profiles

When it comes to helping promote and market your company, you need to make sure you do what you can here. There are so many great ways to do this, and none are more powerful than social networking sites. So, to add the finishing touches to your business you need to make sure you have a perfect social media profile. This is the best way of raising brand awareness and attracting people to you. So it’s important to make sure it’s as good as it can possibly be. This will elevate you above competitors, and help you secure important business.

Perfect Your Website

The most important part of your whole business is your website. It might not seem like it, but these days where the internet is so prevalent, your website is crucial. So, it’s important to take the time to make sure your website looks amazing all the time. You could think about getting a web design team involved to help you perfect this as much as possible. Having an amazing website is the best way to stand out and help give your brand that extra edge for your customers.

Get Business Cards

Business cards are a great finishing touch to any business. They allow you to market your brand in another way. Business cards provide a great touch for the company. They are an excellent way of ensuring that you raise brand awareness. You can create and personalise your business cards to make them look exactly the way you want to. They are an excellent and personal way of getting people interested in the business. People are likely to be more responsive to something like a business card than simply an email address.

It’s important to give your business important finishing touches. This is how you help it to stand out and compete with other companies. Finishing touches are vital because they give you that extra edge these days. But, it’s so easy to overlook these and launch a business that’s not at the optimum level. Be sure you take these things into account so you get the best out of your company.

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Have you ever wondered how the products on the shelves of your grocery store end up there? They are all based on recipes from someone – but who? It could be a person working for a large corporation, a scientist in a lab, or even someone from home. It’s that last example we’re going to look at today. So, if you have a high-quality recipe that you think could make it to the shelves of your local food stores, read on. We’re going to take you through everything you need to know.

Understand your responsibilities

When you are producing food products, it’s important to understand your responsibilities. You would be wise to take a look at the many factors you need to consider before getting started. There are many different issues – and they are enough to put anyone off the idea! You will need to know about food hygiene, and get your kitchen into a condition where it is safe to cook and create recipes. Get in touch with your local food authority to find out everything you need to think about.

Developing your idea

It’s one thing cooking fresh food, but another entirely to produce something that sells in a store. So, even though might have an excellent signature dish, you might have to make some changes. Fresh food goes off quickly, for example, and you might have to think about using more preservatives.

Clearly, this can cause issues – will your recipe now be too salty, or too sweet? A vacuum packaging machine could be the answer here, as it helps you keep fresh foods for longer. You will also face a quantity issue – how are you going to make your product in bulk? Can your kitchen handle the extra pressure? And of course, you need the cash to invest in your new business. When you are just starting out you might get along fine, but any increase in demand could cause you problems.

Developing your brand

Branding is one of the most important aspects of your food business, and it’s vital to get it right. Many small food companies go for the traditional home-cooked branding to create their appeal, for example. While you don’t have to go down this route, it’s important to have an angle to the food you sell. Perhaps you have an unusual cultural background you can draw upon, or maybe healthy eating is your thing? Successful branding is essential for success, and it is something that any store buyer will look at straight away.

Getting a buyer

Now comes the difficult part – who is going to stock your food product? Superstores might give you national or state-wide coverage, but they can be tough to crack when you are just starting out. It might be an idea to find local stores that share your ethos first. Farmer’s markets are another option – or you could try selling your product online. Once you have a record of selling your product successfully, you can use your data to impress the larger stores. That proof will give you a lot more chance of getting bigger orders.

As you can see, there is a lot to do before turning your home-cooked recipe into a viable business. But, with the right dedication and determination, it can be done. Good luck!

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Any entrepreneur looking for success knows that the key lies in being able to expand a business and a brand. If your business has hit a bit of a speed bump, that doesn’t mean it has grown to its full potential. It could mean, instead, that there are opportunities you haven’t yet taken advantage of. Below, we’ve compiled six of these opportunities that could show you there’s plenty of life in the old business yet.

1) Accepting different payment types

Something that every company should ask when they reach their zenith is what kind of customers they’re currently missing out. The answer almost always involves some sort of payment option that’s currently missing. If you’ve never given much thought to it, take a look at the various methods your customers are likely to use. Scout around and see if it’s worth investing in opening your business to more.

2) Going B2B

Another opportunity that doesn’t cross quite as many people’s minds is the possibility of going business to business. Set the focus on consumers aside and consider the benefits of marketing to other businesses. For one, businesses tend to value loyalty and reliability. If you successfully keep their custom once, you’re more likely to keep hold of them.

3) Mobile business

If you’re running an online company, you may need to take another look at how your services and store look online. You may have a site you optimised so perfect for presenting your site on a personal computer. The chances are it doesn’t fit quite as you would want it on mobiles. Your customers will notice this too. Developing an app or mobile site with the help of web design firms could stop them from visiting the more optimised sites of your competitors.

4) The business event

If your clients are the kind to pay close attention and learn as much as they can about your services, this could be ticket. When properly marketed, it presents an opportunity for people to get to know your business in detail without making a commitment. It’s a great way to add a human face and some energy to your sales process, too. On top of that, they work just as well for networking with other businesses.

5) Funding platforms

If you’re looking to expand your business, you may not always have to try scrape as much as you can from your business. You don’t even have to go to traditional investment options. There are a lot of alternative funding platforms available nowadays, so check them out.

6) Selling your expertise

One great way to build your personal brand at the same time as bringing attention to your business is by selling your knowledge. This is primarily done through paid speaking opportunities. You can find a lot of these about, that give your chance to establish yourself as an expert in your field. For an entrepreneur, the profile does a lot of good for both you and your business. Providing you can sell yourself well enough.

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