Shopify Tutorial

Running an import-export business can be complicated and laced with risks, especially if yours is a small company. Here are some tips for managing those risks and keeping your international trade thriving. 1. Stay Organized Sending and receiving invoices over email can be onerous when you use your email accounts for multiple purposes. Using an online payments network keeps all of your payments administration and communication in one separate place, with the added benefit of working seamlessly across borders. 2. …But Flexible Working with numerous clients and suppliers internationally can also mean encountering and managing different cultures and preferences in doing business and completing transactions. It’s important to stay adaptable, and to work with clients regarding their preferred methods of delivery and payment, in order to avoid damaging relationships that are important to your company’s success. 3. Minimize Currency Risks There are many organizations that support selling services, products or talent overseas….

As soon as a purchase order is signed with a factory, an important next step is to engage in order follow up. This is to ensure that your suppliers are in line to produce the correct product, level of quality, special requests, shipment dates, etc. However, there can be many issues that you may encounter while performing order follow up. Here is a quick list of issues that you may find and hopefully avoid, to make sure everything in your order is correct. 1) Find that the product details the factory is using are incorrect. If you identify an issue with the product details too late in the process (either during production or after) it can be a very serious problem. An example would be if the factory had the wrong requested sizes for products that they needed to produce. This can be a burdensome task to fix, especially if production…

Quality degradation is a supplier’s behavior of progressively degrading the quality of the products to earn more profits, at beginning, it’s not easy to be noticed; but when later on a significant quality degradation is found by the buyer, disputes may arise between the buyer and the supplier, which can ultimately lead to termination of agreements. Why does quality degradation occur? The most important reasons include: 1. Issues concerning business ethics Business is business. Naturally, a businessman’s end goal is to pursue high profit margins. If you do not investigate your suppliers carefully prior to engaging in trade, you may experience issues with certain suppliers beginning to degrade quality little by little over time in order to lower its costs. 2. Disconnection between quality levels of supplier and buyer Buyers can sometimes forget to specify clear levels of desired quality in their quality specifications. Additionally, suppliers tend to sway more to…

Getting to the negotiation stage of a sales process can feel like a marathon. Crossing the finish line with terms everyone agrees on? That’s even harder. From preparing the wrong way (or not at all) to letting the buyer handle the next steps, there are plenty of ways to stumble during this process. Check out six common mistakes to lose a negotiation. 1: Don’t Prepare Walking into a negotiation unprepared is a surefire way to walk out with a bad agreement. It’s hard to think clearly when you’re in the hot seat, so without a defined strategy you might end up agreeing to unfavorable terms or even losing the deal. First, know your goals. What do you need vs. just want? Where are you willing to compromise? At what point must you walk away? Next, go through the same exercise from the prospect’s perspective. If you can anticipate their objectives, where…

Whilst different countries have different etiquette, there are certain universal etiquette rules that I believe apply to all cultures. First of all, though, what does business etiquette mean? Here is one definition: Business etiquette is a set of manners that is accepted or required in a profession. Often upheld by custom, it is enforced by the members of an organisation. Those who violate business etiquette are considered offensive. The penalty for such behaviour frequently lies in the disapproval of other organisation members. Business etiquette is important because it creates a professional, mutually respectful atmosphere and improves communication, which helps an office serve as a productive place. People feel better about their jobs when they feel respected, and that translates into better customer relationships as well. Here are 12 universal etiquette rules I believe we should all follow no matter where we work. 1.  Introduce others Always introduce people to others when…

The following list contains tips as opposed to rules; there are no definitive solutions to perfecting harmony and efficiency when working from home – we’re all different, and different things work for different people. Nevertheless, there are some experiences that we can all relate to.  1) Get out of the house once in a while for some exercise – it’s true what they say, “healthy body, healthy mind” – you’ll be more productive, even if that means taking 40 minutes to have a walk or jog.  2) If you do go and work in a coffee shop, just go for the afternoon or morning session, a whole day will drive you nuts and will be more expensive (also don’t drive back in rush hour if you can help it).  3) Have a space in your house dedicated to work so that there’s a distinction at home between work and relaxation  4)…

As a small business owner, you’re regularly confronted with a range of challenges. And if not handled effectively, these can run your business and even your personal life into the ground. For example, if you don’t have the time to properly assess an issue and how to resolve it, you could create an even bigger problem. This is why effectively managing your time is so important. Successful business owners know that it’s not always about how hard you work, but how smart you work. 1. Plan Your Day Whether at the beginning of the day or the end of the night, plan what you want to accomplish during working hours. Prioritize your list by labeling urgent items that must get done, less-urgent items that must get done, and bottom-level tasks that aren’t yet a priority, but would be great to get out of the way. As your complete tasks, mark…

It can be embarrassing to make mistakes with communication. For example, if you send an email without checking it, and later realize that it contained an error, you can end up looking sloppy and unprofessional. But other communication mistakes can have more serious consequences. They can tarnish your reputation, upset clients, or even lead to lost revenue. In this article, we’ll look at 10 common communication mistakes, and we’ll discuss what you can do to avoid them. Mistake 1: Not Editing Your Work Mistakes with spelling, tone, and grammar make you look careless. That’s why it’s essential to check all of your communications before you send them. Don’t rely on spell-checkers: they won’t pick up words that are used incorrectly. Instead, proofread your work, and use a dictionary to look up any words that you’re unsure about. You may find it helpful to make a list of words and phrases…