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INVOICING MADE EASY – PROINVOICE
Business Owners, how are you coping with invoicing? How do you keep track of your money outside? I have a solution that has been peng for me so far. ProInvoice! Sign up here.
Watch the recording with the Pro-Invoice team on YouTube
Adanna is an upwardly mobile, career driven, analytical young lady that decides to improve her work-life balance by exploring her more creative side. She soon learns that even good intentions can have deadly consequences.The book takes you through Adanna’s growth with her friends and loved ones. It delicately addresses topics like friendship, commitment, betrayal, drug abuse, infidelity, suicide and rape.It also has great business insights for startup business owners.
Mrs Akogun and her two children decided to check out a new, beautiful restaurant in town for a late breakfast of pastries but things became awkward quick and snowball into a mind-bending tragedy for the family.
Money Mistake 1 Never borrow money that accrues interest to start a business . That is to say, never borrow money to start a business expecting that the business will generate income to pay back the borrowed money plus the interest.
Money Mistake 2 Never spend money you haven’t received. Don’t even promise someone money based on a promise you have from someone else. If someone tells you: “Ezra, come to my office tomorrow at 9am and pick #30K”don’t go out to buy items on credit based on this promise, with the hope that you will pay off your creditor when the promised money comes; it may not come as promised and this will leave you in problems with your creditors.
Money Mistakes 3 If you want to save, whenever you receive money, don’t start spending hoping that you’ll save what remains. Normally what remains is zero because as long as money to spend is available, the numerous things you can spend it on are also available. And things to spend on even incite their ‘relatives’ so that you spend even more than you had planned. When money to spend is not available, we naturally find a way of doing without it. That’s why I’ve learnt to save with an INVESTMENT CLUB. Once I send money there I assume I no longer have it. Before you spend any money, put your savings aside then spend what is left after saving.
Money Mistake 4 When you get an opportunity to meet a very wealthy person, never ask for money. Ask for ideas on how to make money. They may even choose to give you money on their own after seeing that your ideas are great, but let getting money from them never be your objective.
Money Mistake 5 Keeping your seed instead of planting it. Many people stop at saving. It’s very, very difficult to save and have all you need to maintain your lifestyle especially after retirement. When you save, your savings are seed; plant it. When you just keep the seed (saving money) some seeds begin to die (eaten by inflation and the like). That’s why I recommend that you read about the different types of investment vehicles you can use to grow your savings. I am not necessarily talking about putting the money in a business, because you can easily lose money in business. I am talking about putting it in an investment.
Money Mistake 6 Never lend someone money you are not willing to lose. By the time you lend someone money, be contented in your heart that should the person fail to pay, you will not die. You should not even lose that person’s friendship if they fail to repay the money you lent them. If you feel the person might fail to pay you and this will not affect your relationship with them, then lend them money. If their failure to pay would make you hate this person’s entire clan, please advise the person to go to the bank.
Money Mistake 7 Never append your signature to guarantee someone on a financial matter if you are not willing or able to pay the money on their behalf. Do I have to explain that one? No, it’s self-explanatory.
Money Mistake 8 Avoid keeping money you don’t intend to use in the short-term within easy reach. For instance, don’t walk with #100K in your pocket when all you plan to do in a day costs #20K. Like I mentioned in Money Mistake 3, there are always expenses available to gobble any money that is within reach, so if you don’t want to lose it, put it away in a safe place.
Money Mistake 9 Avoid keeping money in inappropriate places e.g. in socks, under the pillow, in a pit, in the sitting room, in the bra, in a travel bag that you will place somewhere in a bus … impulse buying is a devil that will keep you busy!
Money Mistake 10 Spending money on an item that you can do without (at least for the time being). These days when I pick money from my pocket or wallet, before paying for something I ask myself: What would happen if I didn’t buy this? If I find I can live with the consequences of not having that thing, I smile and walk away.
Money Mistake 11 Paying an amount for something that’s not the minimum you can get that same value for. In other words, if you are along east Legon road and you pay #5K for a shoe that you can get at #3K at Makola market, that’s a money mistake except for those who have achieved financial freedom.
Money Mistake 12: Consistently spending all you earn or more than you earn. It’s like having a drum where you have an inlet that’s smaller than the outlet. It will never get full. And should the inlet ever reduce significantly the drum will run dry. If you do it the other way round and the inlet is bigger, it will get full and even overflow. Hence, we have to always ensure we are widening the inlet while narrowing the outlet – all the time. Your side hustle comes in handy!
Money Mistake 13: Thinking about short-term only and forgetting about long-term or thinking about the long-term and forgetting about the short-term. For instance, Lydia was told that there’s money in land. She saved money over a long period of time and bought 30 acres of land. Now she has the land but she is always broke. She is always complaining. She’s disgruntled and she doesn’t seem to see herself earning from the land in the near future. Now, let’s ask ourselves: Having 30 acres of land and no money to feed your family or take a child to hospital, is that wealth or poverty? I think Lydia only looked at long-term needs and forgot that she has short-term needs that require money. What of those who find they are one paycheck away from salary? Are they thinking about the long-term needs?
Let’s take stock of our finances. How many mistakes are you guilty of? Do you now feel better-equipped to do better with these tips? Good luck, savers! Share this knowledge with your friends because it will not benefit you if you are selfish with it.
God bless you as you work on your financial prudence.
If you haven’t already solicited feedback from your customers already, you may be sleeping on the bicycle. Please go ahead and do so.
So, when you solicit feedback and you get some negative feedback, what should you do? In some cases, you don’t even solicit the feedback, it finds it’s way back to you without you looking for it.
Below are six recommended steps for handling negative feedback.
Do you REALLY want that feedback?
THANK THE CUSTOMER FOR GIVING YOU THE FEEDBACK
It takes commitment/passion to give feedback, particularly negative feedback. We know that practically no one wants negative feedback. So, it takes a lot of courage for someone to give you negative feedback. Note that the opposite of positive feedback is NOT negative feedback; it is actually INDIFFERENCE. Don’t stifle future feedback due to the mishandling of negative feedback. Also note that the customer cares enough about your business to help you identify gaps that you are blind-sided to.
TAKE TIME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE REAL ISSUE IS
Don’t wave them off as trouble makers that always find faults. In most cases, there is something in your process that could actually be improved upon. The other customers that have not highlighted the issues have most likely noticed the same issues but they don’t want to rock the boat. That “troublesome” customer is bringing an underlying issue to light before all your clients migrate at once. Pay attention to them.
INVOLVE A NEUTRAL THIRD PARTY Where practical, involve a neutral third party to review the situation and give you honest feedback. Many times, we are too emotionally invested in the matter to be objective with negative feedback. You will have reasons that you consider valid why the customer’s expectations were not met. The third party reviewer does not have such emotional investment in the situation and is able to review the issue dispassionately.
APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR LAPSES Apologize for your lapses. Offer some discount, if feasible, to compensate for the inconvenience. Your ego may be bruised but if you are interested in building a business that will outlast you, you’ll need to check your ego. There’s a lot of talk these
REVIEW YOUR WORK PROCESSES TO CLOSE THE GAPS
Review your work processes to ensure that there are no repeat events
GIVE FEEDBACK TO THE CUSTOMER
If practical, give feedback to the customer on the changes you have made to your work processes based on their feedback.
Do you have a story of how you converted a negative experience to a fantastic working relationship? Please share in the comments or send a message.
I have an Independence Day gift for business. Send a WhatsApp message to request for yours. You can also send a WhatsApp message if you wish to discuss your issues with managing customer feedback.