Posts

Tips For Starting A Medical Supplies Business

/in /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleAs an entrepreneur, you will always want to look at industries which are always in demand so that your company always has a chance to succeed through constant demand. These industries are few and far between, but one which will always be in demand is the medical industry. This means that it is never a bad time to set up a medical supplies business and this could prove to be both a rewarding and lucrative area to work in because there are so many medical professionals that require supplies. This is quite a unique industry and not quite like any other, so here are a few tips for getting started which should help you to succeed.

Identify Target Market

The first thing to do will be to find a target market. There are many medical professionals that require a constant flow of supplies, and it is a good idea to focus on one of these groups so that you can focus all of your efforts on this niche – medical supplies are constantly evolving and changing so it can be hard to stay up to date with all of the different markets. A few good options for a target market include dentists, veterinarians, nursing homes and midwives.

Market Research

Once you have established a target market, you will then want to carry out thorough market research so that you can familiarize yourself with the industry, understand who the competition is and identify any gaps in the market. Identify the products which are high in demand and look at what the competition is pricing these at so that you can set your prices competitively.

Logistics

The logistics will be crucial to success, but this is also the most complex area of the business. Having a suitable warehouse which is carefully managed and dependable shipping will be vital to success. It is a smart move to use medical warehousing and logistics specialists who will be able to provide integrated shipping and logistics solutions.

Business Promotion

As with any startup, it can be hard to establish your brand and compete when first starting out. Business promotion is an important tool early on to make people aware of your brand – in addition to advertising and marketing; you can also use social media, offer deals for new customers and establish authority by posting regular content such as blog posts and newsletters. Additionally, sponsoring healthcare events and getting involved with the local community can have a huge impact on brand reputation and awareness.

Networking

The medical industry is one which can be tight-knit with many opportunities to network and build important relationships. Be sure to attend as many conferences and industry events as possible and meet as many people as possible to grow your brand and increase awareness.

Medical supplies will always be in demand, and this can make it an excellent field to enter as an entrepreneur. It can also be a challenging one to succeed in, but with a little preparation, research and networking you should soon find your feet and start to develop a strong customer base while making a difference to the world.

How startups can use reverse mergers to go public

/in /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleThere are a number of compelling reasons that a new startup might seek to take itself public. Pubic companies, on the whole, usually have much higher valuations than private firms. They also have a patina of legitimacy and transparency that private companies lack. As a consequence, public firms often have access to many different credit facilities and financing options that private companies do not enjoy.

But the single largest reason for a private firm to seek to become publicly listed is in order to raise capital. When it comes to fulfilling this end, the usual route to going public involves an initial public offering, also known as an IPO. IPOs can confer great benefits on companies that are able to go through them. They are usually able to raise large amounts of capital that otherwise would never have been available to the firm that is going public. But IPOs also come with some steep costs and excessive risks. In this article, we’ll look at why a startup might not want to go with an IPO and how a company that still desires to become publicly traded can use what’s referred to as a reverse merger to get nearly all of the benefits of an IPO with almost none of the costs or risks.

Buying versus selling

One of the chief concerns that any entrepreneur may have when considering an IPO is that they are effectively selling their company. In this case, rather than the buyer being another individual or a company, it is instead the total investors who buy into the initial public offering. While this may sound a bit abstract, the consequences are very real in terms of ownership and retention of control. There are many instances where entrepreneurs take their companies public only to later end up being thrown off the board of directors or fired from other executive roles. In fact, this is precisely what happened to Steve Jobs at Apple, the company he founded.

On the other hand, a reverse merger doesn’t suffer from this drawback. A reverse merger involves the startup acquiring an already-existing firm that is already publicly traded. In most cases, this firm will be some form of shell company. At the most fundamental level, the difference between an IPO and a reverse merger is that an IPO is selling the company being taken public while the reverse merger is simply buying the shell company that is already public.

This has a number of major advantages, many of which may not at first be obvious. The clearest advantage of taking a company public by acquiring another already-public company is that the principals of the startup get to retain nearly the same level of control that they enjoyed before the merger. At the same time, they can save tremendous amounts of money and avoid the huge inherent risks in attempting to take their company public through an IPO.

IPOs have huge costs and risks

Another one of the most compelling reasons that smaller startups may choose to go with a reverse merger rather than an IPO is because of the enormous costs and risks associated with initial public offerings. A typical IPO can take a year or more to complete. And going public always requires hiring a team of highly specialized mergers-and-acquisitions lawyers. The company will also need to hire an investment bank to handle the underwriting of the deal. Both lawyers and bankers are required on every IPO deal due to the sheer complexity that often arises. Because IPOs involve the complete restructuring of the company’s ownership, there are many details that need to be ironed out. Old debt holders need to be paid off and new debt is almost always issued, usually with complex seniority hierarchies and special debt instruments such as convertible bonds. The issuance of stock options, warrants and other special equity instruments are also common. In general, these are deals that only highly competent professional lawyers and bankers are qualified to handle.

Because there is always a significant risk of the deal not being completed, the majority of these fees cannot be structured on a contingency basis. This means that the company going public will have to foot the bill out of its cash flow and reserves. With such costs running into the tens of millions of dollars, it becomes impossible for the majority of small firms to foot the bill for these requirements. And worst of all, many IPOs never get completed due to market downturns. When this catastrophic result happens, it usually means that all of the time and money spent preparing for the IPO have been wasted.

On the other hand, reverse mergers can avoid all of these problems. Although it sounds somewhat exotic, a reverse merger is really a very simple transaction. It is simply one company acquiring another, usually paying in company stock. Another feature of reverse mergers, which is usually but not always the case, is typically that the acquiring company is worth vastly more than the target of acquisition. This means that a simple tender offer usually suffices to complete the deal.

Such transactions can be completed in as little as 30 days and for as little as $200,000 or less. Compare that with the more than a year and up to tens of millions of dollars that a typical IPO requires. Clearly the reverse merger is the superior option for the small startup on a cost-comparison basis alone. But there is an even more compelling reason why a startup might want to consider the reverse merger option.

Public companies are worth a lot more

A quick glance at a site like Empire Flippers will show that many solid internet businesses are only being valued at around the three-times-earnings mark. By contrast, many of the largest publicly traded tech companies that operate in the same industry as the private businesses for sale on Empire Flippers are valued at up to 40 times earnings. Such vast disparities in valuation may not be typical across all businesses and industries, but it illustrates the principle that public companies are often worth far more than private companies by virtue of the very fact that they are publicly traded.

This can become a powerful advantage for reverse mergers. Once a private company goes public, it may find that a few years down the road it is valued at three or even four times what it was as a private company. At that point, it becomes possible to raise massive amounts of capital without having to seriously dilute ownership. This is the real power of reverse mergers. And if the reverse merger has been carried out right, this is a result that can reliably be attained.

About the Author

This article was written by Delancey Street, a nationwide real estate lender that provides private money loans to real estate developers. We use artificial intelligence to reduce the time it takes to provide borrowers with an answer by almost 200%.

4 Things You Must Do If You Have A Startup

/in /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleIf you are willing to enter the competitive, field and engage in some high intensity battle for the title of a successful executive then you cannot avoid a few things at all costs. You will be likely to go against some of the most seasoned competitors in the market and therefore being aware of the conditions is the need for the hour.

The seasoned competitors will be always on the lookout for opportunities to take down your venture. One mistake and it could cost you years in the race, potentially discarding you from the competition altogether. Certain steps however will ensure that your business takes off in the right manner and thus gains the potential to make it really far.

The right time to begin

Everything has its very own time and nothing happens ahead of the designated time. The right time to enter into any business is highly dependent on the niche of the venture. Owing to the fact that each market has its very own growth pattern, sighting the right time to begin the venture is important.

A core fundamental regarding the aforementioned aspect is to ensure that you have the requisite financial stronghold to take your company forward. If you were short on funds or having a crunch now, then it would be beneficial to wait for the right moment until finances settle down.

Banking in on the competition

This might sound a bit crazy, but in order to take the business off to a global arcadia, you need to be a bit wayward. The competition in the market is fierce and there are thousands of individuals willing to crush each other. Sighting the intensity of the competition, a large proportion of the incipient companies will back down, some will fail and some will never get off to a good start. The key here is to hold on take it slow. The growth initially might be slow and monotonous but you will be able to make it through the rough phases of the competition. You can also read more posts at TodaysGlobalNews.Net.

Work on your social skills

It is vital for any business owner to have the correct socialising skills up their sleeve. The social media for instance is one of the greatest assets to any modern day business. While the social media platforms allow people to be pretentious, your social skills will come into play when you address the public in seminars and business meets.

Developing social skills will ensure that people are drawn to you and will help to instill the wow factor. At the end of the day, a charismatic charm is always appreciated.

Brand development

The initial phase of any business venture is pretty tough and susceptible to fiascos. As an entrepreneur, you need to focus on brand development ahead of maintaining the profit margins alone. The brand reputation will be the deciding factor for the business in the longer run.

A larger brand value will help the business stay afloat and make it a global venture with the passage of time. Profit margins look lucrative but they have very little to contribute to brand development.

Keeping these 4 aspects in mind can help to consolidate the business amidst all of the volatility and help keep the business afloat in the days to come.

4 Things You Must Consider Before Starting a Company

/in /by

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleStarting a company will never be easy, especially if you are new to the business scene. There are several aspects to consider before beginning which can make things easier from the start. Have a solid idea, but know you may have to bend this to fit obstacles that come your way and you have the right mindset to begin. Friends, family and colleagues will all tell you different things about starting a company, the best people to listen to if you want advice is professionals. Before this, have these things sorted and you will find the transition to becoming a successful company owner a lot smoother.

Understand the Law

This is the boring bit, but unfortunately is such a huge part of owning your own company. If you are lucky enough to already have a law degree then you are pretty much sorted. If you aren’t that lucky (which most of us aren’t!) then the next step is some research. You need to know what regulations your company needs to follow, what taxes will need to be paid and any licenses you may need to have to run your company. There are professionals that can help you when starting your business if you are unsure, such as lawyers and accountants.

Check Your Company Name is Available

This seems like such an obvious step, but can be forgotten within all the legalities and plans you need to consider. The last thing you want is to start a business to find somebody already owns it, after you have put the time and effort into establishing your name and company. An internet search is not enough, as although you cannot find the name on the internet, somebody could have trademarked the name or it is a closed business- this means you are still breaching the law. CFS International Formations offer a trademark search on their website for those interested in offshore company formation.

Be Careful with Money

Knowing how much to put in a company is hard. You can over and under-spend very easily. You need to have the money, and know how much is going to go into your company before starting, as it can be very hard on you and your family. There are things that you will need for your company to be successful depending on what it is offering, and some things you may want to offer, that may have to take a back burner until you are more successful.

Perhaps purchasing adverts is something needed early on, rather than offering customers incentives to join your company, even if that was your original plan. A part-time job could be an option when first starting out, if your company isn’t taking up all of your time whilst it is still finding its feet. If you find spending money in the right places hard, there are many apps that can be used to keep track of your money and help you visualise what you have to spend.

Are You Ready to Begin?

Starting your own company does take a lot of time, effort and cash. Even if it is your dream and you have your idea and you want to get started right now, you need to know you are in the right place to do so. Many people start a business too fast and for this reason, life gets in the way and they may not succeed. Are you in a place where you can give up most of your time to your new company? If something is happening in your personal life, it may be best to sort this out first before venturing into this new adventure. Life will always throw obstacles at us, but we know best when we can cope and with how much. Do not take on so much it overcomes you.

You also need to be aware of money. When thinking about the money you have to put in to your company, your personal life needs to be taken into account also. Have you worked out how much your living costs, transport, rent and any of other bills may take out of your budget? If you cannot afford to live, your company may need to take a time out until you’ve saved up the appropriate amount to look after yourself too.

There are many people out there that can help you when starting your own business, but getting these 4 steps in place before you consult them, can save you a lot of time and money. The most important thing to consider when starting a business is you. You need a good understanding of the legal side, enough money behind you to still have a personal life and the knowledge that starting your own company is going to be stressful and hard, but extremely rewarding.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Starting A Business? Utilising Experts Can Help!

/in /by

When you start your own business, you are putting yourself in a position of ‘jack of all trades’. As a one-man-band, you are effectively doing it all yourself until you get enough traction in your company to bring in more people to help you with your business growth. Not every business owner wants to handle every area of their business, and contrary to popular belief, this is okay! It’s not a failure to want to concentrate on your own strengths and to do this, you need to know where the experts are. Part of your business plan will include a portion on expansion and to be able to facilitate this, you need to be able to focus on the areas of your business that are strengths for you. It’s not a bad thing to know your weaknesses as a business owner, but if you don’t own those weaknesses from the beginning you could find yourself drowning before you’ve even begun.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

The best way to ensure that your company doesn’t fall at the first hurdle is to explore outsourcing. Most entrepreneurs are aware that they have a plethora of talents, if they didn’t they wouldn’t have what is required to get a business off the ground. However, this doesn’t mean that you have every single tool at your disposal to make your company a success. You may not be at the point yet where your company is ready to expand, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have the budget to pay the experts to help you! The hard work of starting a business doesn’t end with a successful launch, it only starts at that point. Not being able to do it all in your company means you need to know where to look to find help. There are many pieces of a business that get outsourced, and the most common are IT, marketing and human resources. If you aren’t aware of how you can outsource, you can read this more in-depth article for more information.

When you start a business, you have to take in as much advice as possible so that you can be a success. Business growth starts with asking for help and it’s that help that can keep your business afloat. When you get advised to outsource some of your business processes, you can feel like some of your company is being taken off of you. Taking steps toward outsourcing can be a long process while you decide how to manage your business. As a progressive entrepreneur, playing to your strengths is the smartest business strategy you can implement. The thing is, to be able to concentrate on your strengths you have to allow outsourcing to happen.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Knowing when you should outsource your daily, time-consuming activities is difficult. If you have a team in-house who are ready to take on the work, timing your outsourcing will centre around you and your staff being unable to continue with the workload. You want your business to grow, but if you have no time left in the day to pursue the growth, then consider outsourcing. You don’t need to have absolute control over everything in your business, so read this article here and learn how to delegate tasks effectively. There is a lot of advice online that can tell you when the optimal times to outsource is, but popular advice says that outsourcing from the very beginning is the best idea. You could start by outsourcing your payroll processes to an external accountant or finance company, and grow into other ventures from there.

We mentioned earlier that IT, human resources and marketing are the most common business elements that are outsourced and the chances are you are already outsourcing your finances. Any task in your business that you haven’t got the time to dedicate your attention to can be outsourced. Using a digital marketing agency to handle your campaigns instead of managing them yourself can be hugely beneficial and money very well spent. Marketing is such a big deal for businesses, as you have the choice of print marketing, digital marketing, email marketing and mobile marketing at your fingertips. You need to spend time on business growth and all of these marketing elements are going to be a big part of that growth. If you hand over your marketing campaigns to an outside company, you end up with a whole team of people working for you that you have allocated your budget to. The beauty of this is that you are not going to be the one to manage personalities, salaries or ego as you have taken that outside of your office. All you have to do is approve the campaigns that your outsourced marketing team comes up with.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

When you are choosing which areas of your business you should outsource, you should ensure that you are doing it for the right reasons. Your area of expertise may not lie in data management and analysis, nor would it lie with data protection, so outsourcing your IT services to a company that specialise in those areas is a smart decision to make. Business management is all about knowing where your strengths lie and capitalising on those. You can pay outside companies to be strong in the areas that you are not and this is something very important to remember. Finding the right IT companies, HR companies and marketing companies to work on your behalf is rather like interviewing individual staff. You have to know your long-term aims and goals before you can go ahead and sift through the many businesses that offer those services.

The key to finding the right businesses to work with will come from recommendations, reviews and personal experiences of those in the same niche of business that you are in. If a trusted mentor tells you to use a particular company because of their efficiency and value for money, it’s worth looking into. It doesn’t necessarily mean they will be the right company for you, but it’s always good to trust the word of someone you know. Once you’ve found the right providers for the work you need, it’s time to check and recheck references and draw up contracts. You must be sure to effectively communicate your expectations to the companies that you want to outsource to. What you have in mind may be completely different to what a new, trendy company has in mind. You have to be clear about the service you want to pay for and as time goes on, a relationship can be built. It isn’t easy to let go of control of parts of your company that you have grown and nurtured, but the only way to keep that vision successful is to trust that there are people out there who have more expertise than you do.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

The last thing you need to do as a business owner is let go. The control that you have to hand over is not simple, but the collaboration of working with other companies can open so many more doors for you. You need experts on your side in all fields to be able to be a success, and it’s less about the logic and more about the mindset behind it. You may be the only person who knows exactly what your business needs, but it takes a village to achieve that vision with you. There’s no need to run everything yourself when as a team, you can get your business to the heights you’d like it to be.