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Choosing your business structure is just as important - if not more important - than marketing. You should consult with your accountant or your attorney in forming your business. The process in setting up your company is as follows; these are just the key points that need to be done, but not necessarily in the exact order listed.

First, you need to come up with a company name and ascertain if the URL is available for that website. If the URL is available for that name, the next step is to register that name with the Secretary of State in the state that you reside in. At this point, there are two options: One is to consult with your accountant or CPA to decide if you should be a sole proprietor, partnership, limited liability corporation or a Corporation. At the very least, reserve the name with your Secretary of State for a minimal fee while you decide what business entity you should be.

Here are the four types of business structures and a brief explanation of each:

1. Sole Proprietor - A Sole Proprietorship is one individual or married couple in business alone. Sole proprietorships are the most common form of business structure. This type of business is simple to form and operate, and may enjoy greater flexibility of management, less legal regulation, and fewer taxes. However, the business owner is personally liable for all debts incurred by the business.

2. Partnership - A General Partnership is composed of two or more persons (usually not a married couple) who agree to contribute money, labor, and/or skills to a business. Each partner shares the profits, losses and management of the business, and each partner is personally and equally liable for debts of the partnership. Formal terms of the partnership are usually contained in a written partnership agreement.

3. Limited Liability Corporation - A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is composed of one or more individuals or entities through a special written agreement. The agreement includes: provisions for management, ability to assign interests and distribution of profits and losses. Limited liability companies are permitted to engage in any lawful, for-profit business or activity other than banking or insurance. LLC’s cannot have more than 35 shareholders.

4. Corporation - A Corporation is a more complex business structure. As a chartered legal entity, a corporation has certain rights, privileges and liabilities beyond those of an individual. Doing business as a corporation may yield tax or financial benefits, but these can be offset by other considerations, such as increased licensing fees or decreased personal control. Corporations may be formed for profit or nonprofit purposes.

As you can see, each entity is somewhat different. In my opinion, I would either be a limited liability corporation or Corporation. There is a little bit more record keeping involved for a corporation, but is by far, well worth the time and effort that you expend. I attended to a financial seminar about 15 years ago and I learned that if I could take advantage of every deduction there was as, just a regular working person, I might only be eligible for 70 different deductions. If I owned a home there were a little over a hundred deductions. If I was in business for myself there were close to 200 available deductions. Here is where things changed: if I were a corporation, there were well over 300 deductions!

So, the moral of the story is this; if you can be a corporation, be a corporation, BUT you absolutely must talk to your accountant or attorney before you make a determination of which business entity you should be.

Since meetings continue to grow in popularity for group communication in business, people need a reminder of how to best take advantage of them. I’ve taught people to work in teams and how to have more effective meetings. This training often includes basic meeting etiquette and common manners for behavior. However, I am still seeing many poorly run meetings and occasional bad manners towards each other. I feel it is time to re-emphasize the importance of good manners and professional behavior in meetings.

Everyone in business needs to understand meeting etiquette is an important part of business communications and there is a need to follow proper procedures for professional conduct in them. Bad meetings reflect on one’s ability to conduct professional group communications and have an adverse influence on problem solving. Here is a baker’s dozen (13 ideas) list of meeting do’s and don’ts to improve meeting etiquette knowledge.

1. Do set a convenient time and place for meeting and confirm this with attendees well in advance of the meeting date. This shows respect for their time and confirmation of their attendance better enables meetings where specific people are required for decision making or problem solving.

2. Don’t invite people who do not need to attend the meeting to accomplish its purpose. Inviting people who don’t need to be there is inconsiderate of their time and may actually cost everyone else time in the meeting as they may have to stop and explain why the person was invited.

3. Do arrange to attend the entire meeting time. Going in and out during meetings is disruptive and can throw off the flow of the meeting for others. If leaving early or going to arrive late, ask leaders permission to do so before the meeting begins so agenda can be rearranged if necessary.

4. Do not start the meeting late or run over the communicated stop time as this indicates a lack of respect for other’s time. All attendees should be punctual. It is ok to arrive early, but never to be late. Keeping people waiting is rude and it should not be expected that they will wait to begin once everyone arrives.

5. Do be sure everyone knows the meeting purpose and agenda. Put this on meeting reminders and go over it with everyone at the beginning of the meeting to insure all agree. Once everyone is in agreement, it is easier to follow the agenda and stick to time limits.

6. Don’t forget to assign a recorder to document decisions and actions. Having a recorder will not only insure completion of actions outside the meeting, their visible records in the meeting can help to keep group focused.

7. Do turn off phones and pagers. Some people will find this impossible. For those people, ask they at least set it to vibrate in their pockets. Ask anyone who keeps them on to leave the room if they feel they must respond to a call so the meeting is not interrupted by their conversation.

8. Do not turn on laptop (or PDA) unless it is to be used it for a short time to present information to the group. This equipment often prevents attendees from paying attention to the meeting and is considered rude by others in the meeting as it gives the impression that the meeting topic is not important.

9. Do actively participate in discussion, idea generation, and problem solving. Respect the purpose for the meeting by making sure what you say is relevant to meeting and be brief.

10. Don’t interrupt anyone who is speaking. Be polite and pay attention, as good listening skills are important to increase communication and understanding. Show respect by remembering only one person at a time talks, so take turns.

11. Do honor you presenters by making them aware or their time slot and what is expected during that time. They should arrive early and be prepared with any reports or visuals. During presentations, hold questions and comments until the end and keep questions brief.

12. Do not carry on conversations during meeting discussion or presentations. Having multiple conversations is not only rude, but it can be both confusing and distracting to other meeting attendees.

13. At the end of the meeting, do thank the group for their time, summarize what was accomplished, review and assign actions, and then plan any necessary follow-up.

I hope everyone finds these thirteen do’s and don’ts helpful to improve future meetings. Remember to conduct proper and professional meetings with good manners, attitudes, and behaviors. Basic meeting etiquette has become even more important as the time used in this group communication method continues to increase. Just because meetings are common in the business world does not mean they should not be conducted properly and with appropriate consideration toward attendees. Always keep in mind that badly planned and delivered meetings reflect both on individual and group professionalism.

Staff leasing is one of the most useful ways in increasing your business productivity. We all know that it takes a lot of time and energy for a business to be successful. You won’t be able to fully manage your business when you’re too busy with other part of it. In a situation like this, leasing staff can help you not to be in the bottom line.

You earn high income, decide for an expansion to earn higher but bothered that you won’t be able to supervise it all. Looking for a subordinate might help you to work as one and allocate the tasks but suddenly you think that you couldn’t afford one. So you decided to resort to those freelancers only to find out that they are also a waste of money. They might be inexpensive and fast but they’re not efficient when it comes to the quality of their tasks because their only concern is to finish quickly and start a new project.

It would be better to have an individual who is as competent as a subordinate but inexpensive and fast like a freelancer.

Individuals who belong to a staff leasing provider can give what you want and more. They will work full time exclusively for you like a subordinate. A world class quality of work will be given to you because they have no other tasks or projects to carry out aside from yours. Afford their service at low rates giving you the service your business needs.

No need to be worrisome, staff leasing offers a lot of things for your business:

• do research on products/services
• suggest business strategies
• promote your site and generate traffic
• maintain and develop your website

Staff leasing companies can do many things for you. They can give you a hand anytime you need them.

Making a business successful is difficult for one man but with the help of an inexpensive and fast leasing staff - everything will turn out right for you and your business.

Our team of competent individuals at ManageStaffing™ can give you cost-effective and well-organized labor to all your business needs. They are here to be of service and give you high profits!

Are you a marketer or a business owner who wants to increase the productivity of your business? Staff leasing is the best option for you.

Staff leasing is the secret behind the success of the businesses nowadays. For a business to grow and be progressive, its marketers and business owners need help to make it possible. A person or a group of people that will help your business to grow is hard to find but with staff leasing, you don’t need to worry it all. A staff leasing company will give you the time you need to focus with your business goals.

Why resort to staff leasing?

1. Low Cost. Staff leasing can surely saves you money. It’s achieving your business needs at low rates. You pay $1200 for your local designer, when you can already get a dedicated webmaster with that amount. ManageStaffing™ offers regular webmaster that works 6 days a week. Start counting the savings that you can using our cost effective staff leasing. Start the switch, start staff leasing with ManageStaffing™.
2. Skillful Employees. Staff leasing companies provide you with trained employees that will give you all the business solutions that you need. They are flexible and willing to work anytime at your advantage.
3. High Quality Service. Since staffs are of great knowledge of their expertise, high quality service is assured to be given to its clients. All the tasks will be executed properly with the specific time frames.
4. No-Hassle in Employees Management. No need to worry about supervising your employees. Staff leasing will be responsible with the employees to ensure a good working relationship with you and handle all the workplace matters.
5. Focus in your Business. Through the help of a staff leasing company, focusing in your business will be easy for you. This will give you time to fully give your attention in expanding your business.

The progress of your business doesn’t just depend on you, you can’t do it alone. If you want to attain a successful business that will guarantee you commitment and quality, ManageStaffing™ is the right staff leasing company for you!

ManageStaffing™ is a staff leasing company that offers a variety of skills that suit your business needs. With our value-added, technology-supported solutions, we can help your company increase business productivity at low rates.

We are located at the world’s favorite back office operations site – Makati, Philippines. With ManageStaffing™, communication is not a problem because we are proficient in English that we can deliver product input conveniently. Today’s technological advancements such as instant messaging, emailing, and even video conferencing will enable us to be in touch whenever and wherever you may be.

Our team: Creative Writers, Graphic Designers, Multimedia Artists, Programmers, Systems Administrators, Virtual Assistants, Webmasters, Web Designers, Web Designers – are entirely consists of educated and proficient degree holders in their respective areas of expertise setting us apart from other staff leasing firms in the market. They are formally learned and trained further to assure a world class quality of work.

You can choose from our various individuals and their specialized skills in our staff database, and view their profiles and sample work to asses who you want to lease. You can have direct communication with your staff to relay instructions and information clearly. Compared to other staff leasing suppliers, direct communication is prohibited and may impede project growth.

You can choose from our two detailed solutions made for every business problem – the Dedicated Staff Package and Per Project Package.

With a Dedicated Staff package, a staff is leased exclusively to you to do routine or maintenance-type tasks. Per Project Package is a one-time project that has to be accomplished in a given time and budget. Giving us the needed material is important for the groundwork of our project planning and implementation.

We will bring you give you satisfaction and guarantees you privacy in every partnership made. With ManageStaffing™, you can experience great service, smooth and easy communication, and achieve end-product excellence.

The business world is filled with myths, some of which have become guiding principles for many businesses. One of the most nefarious of these myths is currently all the rage: exceeding the customer’s expectations.

Numerous books have been written explaining the glories of exceeding the customer’s expectations. These authors give shining examples of the concept in practice and then explain in great detail how you can implement the same concepts in your own business.

And thousands of companies eagerly eat the information up and institute the recommendations and proudly proclaim to the public that they too exceed customer expectations.

What a crock.

What both the authors writing the books and the companies following their advice fail to understand is that is impossible for a company to exceed customer expectations. It simply cannot be done the way it is taught. In fact, for a company consisting of more than just a few employees, it is a virtual impossibility.

The Concept Is All Wrong
The fundamental problem with the concept as practiced is that you cannot exceed someone’s expectations if you don’t know what those expectations are. Companies frankly have no idea what their client’s expectations are.

This is not to say that companies don’t try to find out. They most certainly do. Many companies do customer survey’s to help them determine what their customers expect. Others examine their sales and customer service departments and make modifications based on what they anticipate customers want and expect.

Neither of these processes can actually help a company exceed customer expectations. The surveys may give the company some great customer service and sales feedback, but it cannot put the company in a position to exceed actual customer expectations. And, certainly, analyzing the sales and customer service functions cannot do so either.

In both of these cases, the most the company can do is develop policies and procedures that if fully met can help them exceed what the company believes their customer’s expectations should be, not what they really are.

Since every customer is different and has a different set of expectations, the only way for a company to actually exceed a particular customer’s expectations is to ask the customer what they expect and then meet or exceed that individual customer’s specific expectations. Virtually no company does this. “Exceeding the customer’s expectations” is nothing more than a great sounding slogan that means the company thinks is has great customer service.

To maintain efficiency and be cost effective, companies must have standard processes and procedures. Catering to the unique needs and wants of hundreds or thousands of customers for most companies is unrealistic and unattainable. Trying to develop a team of dozens, hundreds, or thousands of employees all flexible enough to make each individual’s purchasing experience truly unique according to that individual’s expectations simply isn’t realistic.

At most, companies with a work force of more than a few employees can only institute excellent sales and customer service processes that result in a satisfactory or possibly more than satisfactory experience for the customer. Although superior to their competition, this experience is still far from exceeding each individual customer’s expectations.

This is, in fact, what the writers of the books on exceeding customer expectations mean-the customer walks away happy. Boiled down to its essence, that’s the definition of exceeding a customer’s expectations-you didn’t irritate the customer and maybe even went beyond what the competition does.

It Can Be Done
However, it is possible to actually meet and even exceed each individual customer’s expectations. It isn’t easy, but it is an attainable goal.

Nevertheless, it isn’t possible for the “company” to exceed expectations. The only individual capable of performing the task is the primary contact the customer has to the company–the salesperson. However, in order for the salesperson to accomplish this successfully, he or she must be empowered by the company with the necessary tools and authority. The larger the company, the more difficult this becomes.

To be able to accomplish this goal requires the salesperson:

Ask: Again, you cannot exceed someone’s expectations if you don’t know what they are. Unless the salesperson specifically asks the customer what they expect and want to happen during the sale, they will never know. They will be in the same position as the company that guesses or tries to exceed the expectations of a theoretical “average” customer.

Asking is a more difficult task than one might think. It is a foreign concept for most salespeople and customers alike.

Salespeople will typically feel awkward and foolish asking, at least at first. They, like the company, assume they know what the customer wants and asking seems to be waste of time. Not until they have experienced the variety of expectations that different customers have will they appreciate the need for the question.

Customers are surprised and confused by the question as more than likely they have never been asked this question or one like it by anyone. The question is so unexpected they are taken aback and many have no idea how to respond. The salesperson may have to ask a couple of questions to get the customer on track. Questions such as:

” “how often would you like me to keep you informed of the progress of the sale”
” “how would you prefer I contact you”
” “if I need to get hold of you on short notice and you are not available, is there an alternative individual I may speak with”
” “are you going to need any additional assistance from us when we deliver”
” “what are your expectations during installation?”

will get the customer thinking about what it is they want to happen. At times, a more specific question such as “what are the most important things you want to happen during the sale” is called for.

Usually, once the customer understands that they are being asked exactly what they want to happen, that is, that they get to help structure the sales process, they will open up. At that point, there is no telling what expectations they might reveal.

If the salesperson has done a thorough job in discovering the client’s expectations and wants, they know exactly what they must do in order to give the customer the purchasing experience the customer wants.

This discussion of the customer’s expectations also allows the salesperson to address any unrealistic expectations the customer may have. Far better to find out about any unrealistic expectations and deal with them upfront rather than to discover them after they have become an issue for the client. Often, if an unrealistic expectation is uncovered it can be disarmed and a satisfactory alternative can be agreed upon. If, however, it isn’t uncovered until it has festered into a problem, explaining that it was an unrealistic expectation won’t work. The damage has already been done.

Have Reasonable Authority: Each salesperson must have the authority, within reasonable limits, to make sure the customer’s expectations are met. This, unfortunately, is where it gets difficult for larger companies. Not only are larger companies reluctant to give salespeople the authority to make things happen, the company’s processes and procedures are so inflexible that it is almost impossible for any customization to take place.

Yet, the inflexibility of the large company and their reluctance to delegate authority opens tremendous doors for smaller companies who do have the flexibility and are willing to empower their salespeople to make the changes to the process that will ensure their customers do have a one of a kind buying experience.

As mentioned above, not every expectation by a customer can be met by even the most agile of companies. Nevertheless, the more flexible and accommodating the company can be and the more authority it can give to salespeople to work with customers, the more impressive the impact the company’s service will have on the customer. In many cases, if the salesperson knows what the client’s expectations really are and can truly exceed them, price becomes a non-issue, as does competition.

Management Support: It isn’t unusual for a manager or company to empower salespeople to make customer oriented decisions and then once the salesperson exercises that authority, come behind him or her and undermine their authority by reversing or revising the salesperson’s decision.

In order for a salesperson to be able to exceed their customer’s expectations, they must have a clear understanding of the breadth and depth of their decision making authority and then once exercised, that authority must be upheld by management.

In addition, if the salesperson exceeds their authority with a particular customer, the company must do everything possible to stand behind the salesperson’s commitment to the client. Discipline and reprimands may come afterwards, but the client’s expectations, if confirmed by the salesperson, should be honored.

At one time, the myth of exceeding the customer’s expectations was powerful. Today, as more and more companies claim to give more than the client expects-and as customers are learning not to expect too much from the companies that make the claim–the myth is losing its luster.

Yet, the companies willing to step out and institute the changes necessary to turn the myth into reality are finding themselves without competition, with enormous word-of-mouth advertising, and are able to maintain their pricing structure in the face of ever declining prices from competitors.