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Legal Time Billing Software

6 Tips for Successfully Starting a Business

6 Tips for Successfully Starting a Business

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Thinking of starting a business? You’re a smart person and have ideas that others don’t. If you had your own company, people would line up just to give you their money in exchange for your great service or product, right?

As exciting as that sounds, starting your own business is no simple feat. You’ve got to be the head of every department simultaneously, and all the while you’ve got a family to feed. So how do you turn an idea into profit?

Nobody has yet determined a foolproof formula to easily starting a successful business.  After all, no pain, no gain, right? But expert advice always helps things operate more smoothly. Instead of learning from your own mistakes, why not learn from the mistakes of others who successfully run businesses today?

Here are a few tips that may alleviate some of the stress:

  • Be patient. While you may be anxious to leave your current job and never look back, remember: you must learn to crawl before you can walk. Start your business as a side project during your free time, and don’t try to jump into everything at once. Create a list of goals and tackle one at a time. Doing fewer tasks can allow you to concentrate your efforts. This way, you can focus better and maintain your sanity as you begin to work two jobs.
  • Know the industry. We all have to start at the bottom. Maybe promoting yourself to Commander-in-Chief right off the bat isn’t the best idea. Have you worked in this or a similar field before? If not, it may be worth your time to get a position that can show you the ropes first.
  • Save up plenty of start-up capital. You can’t predict what you’re going to have to spend your money on, but I can guarantee that you will spend a lot of it. If you’ve got a rough idea of how much you’re going to need, double it. Or maybe triple it. There will be unforeseen costs that you must be prepared for.
  • Use the available resources. Read a book. Take a class. Browse the internet. Get help from a friend. The Small Business Administration offers classes and seminars for people starting businesses just like you. So does your local community college. Also, blow the dust off of that Rolodex. Maybe you have a contact that could be your mentor (or at least give you some advice). Just because it’s your business, it doesn’t mean you have to do it all alone.
  • Get creative with your marketing. Traditional methods of advertising are expensive and don’t always work. After all, we have trained ourselves to tune out mass-media advertising. So try to think outside the box. How can you reach your target market? Is there an event nearby that you could set up a stand at? Can you get yourself mentioned somewhere that your target audience looks? Do you have free samples or trials that you can give out? And always remember that word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising.
  • Relax! Just because you are going to be your own boss, it doesn’t mean you won’t be working late hours. If you find yourself brewing coffee after midnight, then maybe it’s time to go to bed. Establish boundaries for yourself to maintain a healthy work/life balance.

Are you a successful business owner? Our readers would love to learn from you. Please include your “running a successful business” tips in the comments below.

Reference:

http://www.bubhub.com.au/info/articles/jobs-careers/top_tips_for_running_a_successful_business.shtml

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/07/27/5-tips-for-starting-a-small-business/

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/06/13/ask-the-readers-advice-for-starting-a-new-business/

 

Tip of the Week: How to Achieve Your Maximum Per Day

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Bill4Time’s Time Management Tip for Business – The Critical 6-A-Day

As a side business owner and mom to a busy family, I use and have come to rely upon this incredible time management tool to get the most out of each day. We introduced this tool to the Bill4Time team and immediately saw an increase in productivity.

The Critical 6-A-Day, also known as Ivey Lee’s Critical 6 A Day – is said to be a formula for practical magic that changes lives. It is an old tool that was introduced in the 1930’s to Charles M Schwab, President of Bethlehem Steel, by Ivey Lee. Bethlehem Steel’s challenge was increasing productivity. Employees knew what they were supposed to be doing but the problem was getting them to do it. Ivey Lee introduced his idea as a way to become more efficient and told Charles M. Schwab to try it for 21 days.

The 6-A-Day Tool:

  • On the night before or the morning of, write down the 6 most important objectives to achieve that day.
  • Write them in order of importance. This list of action items becomes your list for that day.
  • Work through the list. Do not proceed to #2 until #1 is completed.
  • Whatever is not finished rolls over to the first item the next day and so forth.

Ivey Lee told Charles M. Schwab to use the tool for 21 days and to send  him a check for whatever he thought it was worth. A month later, Ivey Lee received a check for $25K with a note saying: “That is the most powerful tool for achievement that anyone has ever taught me and here is a fraction of what it is worth.” Bethlehem Steel went on to become the largest steel producer in the US within 5 years. Charles M. Schwab became the most powerful steel man alive earning millions of dollars on his own when the average income was $2 per day.

Many famous powerful business people attribute their success to this technique.  I originally learned of this technique in the book “Harmonic Wealth” by James Arthur Ray” found on Amazon.com and also on www.ReferenceForBusiness.com.

Give it a try!

Share your own success stories and other time management strategies in the comments below.

 

Bill4Time is Now a Premium Solutions Provider of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management

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Bill4Time, the time tracking and invoicing software proven to help professionals run their businesses successfully, is now a Premium Solutions Provider of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section (LPM).

Since 1974, LPM has been the resource needed for lawyers to successfully manage their law practice. LPM supplies lawyers and legal professionals with information and resources in the core areas of marketing, management, technology and finance.

“ABA LPM Integrated Media Packages are designed to bring top legal vendors in the LPM space as a unique way to engage with members,” says Tom Mighell, Chair, ABA Law Practice Management Section. “These packages provide an incredible amount of value by combining print, digital, online, email, social media, and public relations marketing. This program brands companies as a partner to all 14,000 members of the ABA LPM section.”

Bill4Time is a complete web-based time billing software offering time and expense tracking, project and case management, invoicing and more. Developed with the guidance of law firms, Bill4Time’s web based time billing software serves solo, small and large law practices. Bill4Time has created simple to use, intuitive and user friendly software with strong focus on convenience. Bill4Time offers anytime, anywhere online account access and mobile apps so professionals can focus more on what they do best. Bill4Time has all the basic features a general law practice requires, plus more sophisticated features for specialized firms including ABA Task Codes, LEDES invoice exports, conflict checker, Trust accounting, Trust reports and summaries on invoices.

“At Bill4Time we commend the mission of the ABA’s LPM to help lawyers practice law effectively and successfully while maintaining the highest standards of the profession,” says Jeremy Diviney, Head of Operations. “Our goal is creating software that does the same which is why we find great value in being an ABA Premium Solutions Provider.”

About Bill4Time
Developed with the guidance of law firms, Bill4Time is a leading legal time billing software serving both small and large professional service firms. With offices in New York, NY; and Bellevue, WA, Bill4Time has created simple-to-use and intuitive software at a fraction of the cost of other billing systems. With strong focus on convenience, Bill4Time offers anytime, anywhere online account access, mobile apps and a desktop widget. Bill4Time’s goal is to streamline the time tracking and billing aspect of business so professionals can focus more on what they do best.

At Bill4Time, we pride ourselves on our close relationships with our customers, whose direct feedback helps to shape the direction of enhancements and features. We strive to provide quality software backed by knowledgeable and responsive customer support. For more information visit: http://www.Bill4Time.com.

How Small Law Firms Bill Without a Billing Department

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Customer story from Cynthia Monaco, from the Law Offices of Cynthia Monaco, New York, NY:

The biggest headache for a small law practice is keeping up with billing without a billing department, Bill4Time solves this issue.

Before transitioning away from a large firm into my solo law practice, I asked other attorneys for advice on the challenges ahead. Most of them told me that their biggest headache was keeping up with billing without a billing department and a secretary to chase billables to be entered.

As a Harvard University and Harvard Law School graduate, I started my career as a clerk on the Second Circuit, then worked in the Clinton Administration as an appointee for Janet Reno. I then did short stint at Ropes and Gray then became a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn. Leaving government for a law firm in the midst of a large recession was eye opening. It taught me that the large law firm model isn’t well suited to the type of law I wanted to practice, representing individuals and smaller investment advisers in connection with SEC and criminal investigations.

As a prosecutor, I learned to work with limited resources in terms of manpower and support staff in putting together cases. I learned in private practice that my clients wanted to hire me and not my entire firm. Given the explosion of web based technologies, there was no reason why I couldn’t be equally effective in the private sector. Web-based time and billing software like Bill4Time made small firm management efficient in time consumption and cost.

So I left large firm life taking my loyal clients with me.

I acted carefully and read a number of reviews from the ABA and other legal sites before choosing Bill4Time. The iPhone application makes all the difference in saving me time and making sure I capture my hours. Yesterday I had a long day in court followed by a drink with colleagues. If I hadn’t logged my hours in via my iPhone during breaks in the proceedings, I would have missed much of the detail and the time worked. I now work with fewer clients but have seen receivables grow.

Small law firm life has taught me to share the efficiencies I practice with my clients and colleagues.

Join Cynthia and Try Bill4Time For Free…

The need for cloud based time billing is becoming more and more a necessity for small to medium sized firms. Bill4Time improves the way lawyers manage their firms by enabling them to enter time and expenses on the go using their mobile devises. Bill4Time clients earn more money because they track more time with accurate detail, and look professional and modern by sending invoices and getting paid electronically.

Bill4Time has all the basic features a general law practice requires, plus more sophisticated features for specialized firms including ABA Task Codes, LEDES invoice exports, conflict checker, Trust accounting, Trust reports and summaries on invoices.

Sign up for your free 30-day trial today!

New Features: Email History, Customized Client IDs, and More

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Additional Emailing Features

Now you can email your invoice to as many contacts as you like. Bill4Time has now added a CC field to the Email Invoice screen. Choose from your Contact Management list or just type in an additional email address, and separate them with a semi colon and a space.

Bill4Time also provides email history. Hover over any envelope icon, and see either the date and email addresses that the invoice was sent, or the status that the invoice hasn’t been sent yet. Click on that envelope icon and see the full details of the email history for this invoice.

  

 

 

 

 

Contact Management Centralized

Add your contact in Bill4Time once, and you don’t have to put it in again. Click the blue “Clients” tab and then click the “Manage Contacts” button. Here you can search through ALL of your contacts in one place. Add or remove them from specific clients or projects. They’ll still stay in the Contact Management list until you delete the contact all together.

Edit Contractor Rates

Just like you can change contractors’ billable rate per client or project, you can now change the contractors’ rate to your company. Now your Bill4Time system can reflect the contractor’s rate change on the client or project level. Learn how to edit your contractor’s rates here.

Customizable Client IDs

With the latest system update, you can now choose your own client identification numbers. The numbers will be displayed in the Client Management list and throughout the entire system. Learn how to edit client IDs here.

Invoice Summary Flexibility

Now you can split up your invoice summary to apply to just the labor, just the expenses, or both individually. Learn how to apply an invoice summary here.

Bootstrapping a Business to Fabricate a Debt Free Company: Steps to Take

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Guest writer of this post is Marlon Powell who writes on finance related matters such as debt consolidation, settlement and other aspects of handling debts to keep you debt free.

Lines of credit, business loans, venture capital and personal loans all exist for those business organizations that need to purchase equipment and inventory, and also grow and expand their services. It is most commonly seen that much of the initial growth of a business firm is basically funded on borrowed money but such steps can cost you dearly in the long run. However, with the present debt situation in the US, a large number of businesses suddenly began to move away from incurring business debt, either by their own choice or by circumstances. The tightening of credit standards and the general skittishness among the investors has recently made bootstrapping a business the most viable option. But running a business debt free and growing it in such a manner has some downsides too. Read on to know more on it.

Starting from Scratch – Bootstrapping Your Business

Well, big business tycoons are also of the opinion that starting a business firm without borrowing money can often become a challenging task. The only thing that the business owner should come to terms with is that he has to start off small and allot a longer time to reach his desired goals in the long run. Though you may see your competitors gaining market-share and flourishing with increased business revenue, you must remain slow with your business plan. As you have to maintain this debt free strategy throughout, you must not get demotivated by seeing the success of your competitors. You have to be financially diligent and dedicated in order to run a debt free business.

Steps to Take in Order to Start Off with a Business without Running into Debt

You can sense brewing financial trouble when your business revenue is not more than the investment that you made. If you want to make money from your business without incurring too much debt, you must be sure about the financial decisions that you take. Here are some of them.

  • Hire a book keeper: If you’ve thought of managing every spick and span of your company alone, then you’ll be more prone to making mistakes. Accounting or book keeping is the most important part of your business and you must hire a professional who has an expertise in doing such jobs so that you can attain perfection.
  • Follow a commercial budget: There’s no substitute of following a commercial budget. Just as a consumer needs to follow a budget in order to keep his finances on track, so does a business firm. Track your pennies so that your hard-earned dollars don’t run into water for your carelessness.
  • Save money on marketing: When it comes to spreading the word about your product, you can leverage some DIY methods like networking and social media marketing as this will enable you to save your bucks. You can promote your products through a blog or even through social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

As a business building strategy, bootstrapping will become a success in any kind of economic climate. Don’t be a budding entrepreneur who gets lured by credit, overextends his budget and then falls into debt. Harbor a solid business plan so that you can run a debt free business and boost your revenue at the same time.