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Whichever CRM you choose should be based on ease of workflow
What integrates with your email / contact / quoting-billing software?
My limited experience with Hubspot was that it had lots of integrations and could reduce steps taken, not increase them
Better to pay a fair amount for something that makes work more effective than little or nothing and have it be harderUp0I would consider a tiered approach to lock people in rather than a straight rate
For example, 10 hours per month = $750, additional hours are $60
You could have a couple of levels of service and different pricing options and require a 6-month minimum commitment or something tooThis gives you the option to select to work with only those clients who are making a commitment to consistent work
You get more certainty of work and the chance to schedule around the twins
Also avoids the situation where you work hard tidying up someone’s mess once-off or at intervals – as the benefit is having a long term relationship for both you and them
Clients will go elsewhere if that doesn’t suit them – and you might be better off anyway
Up0I guess every new business should do a Business plan and feasibility study on their venture. Including:
- Working guesses on what your costs will be – including insurance and labour (I wouldn’t think simple cleaning labour would be anything like $60/hr)
- What your volume of customers/contracts will be
- How much you can charge at start-up (intro discount) and later on
As Bert said – ring around for quotes and understand ot only the cot per hour but the other conditions that your competitors will apply. For example they might be $50/hr but with a 3 hour minimum per job or require you to use 10+ hours per month
Meet the market in most ways and beat the market in one – make sure that then has a viable/lucrative business model – you will have a successful businessUp0Emilizo, post: 271165, member: 115019 wrote:Just wondering how important terms and conditions are required for an online store that sells items I partly make.
Don’t forget to get some comprehensive insurance cover including (products) Liability cover for anything you sell. In particular if you repackage, alter, import or ‘partly make’ anything then you are deemed to be the original manufacturer and thus likely liable for any product defect and any resultant injury or damage.Beyond that I think clear website T&C give confidence to consumers e.g. a clear shipping and handling and returns policy is something I look for
Up0This is a good point David and not constrained to marketing – it’s true of every aspect of your business. What if you hate cleaning, does that mean your shop can be dirty? Of course one solution is to outsource the things you don’t do well and concentrate on generating income for the things you do well. Easier said than done of course. If everything was easy everyone would be doing it
Up0Lucy Kippist, post: 270368, member: 98720 wrote:Thank you for sharing your experiences, too. So hard to read about the bushfire impacted as well – a terrible double whammy. Thanks Lucy – yes in my neck of the woods fires are still a bigger worry than COVID for many. Challenging times but opportunity knocks, even (or especially) when we aren’t ready for itUp0robdash, post: 270365, member: 117305 wrote:Matt, what about a Goods in Transit policy with a storage extension? Once they have an amount of goods on site, would they not want to consider that risk?
Hi Rob – Sure this is a good idea to provide physical protection of stock items received if that is needed. Given Scott talked about working from their apartment I figured Stock holding would be minimal (which of course doesn’t mean low value) Transit + Storage or other options are available depedning on need and circumstances. The rest of my comment was more around Public Liability in particular as it pertains to import/exportUp0Hi Bert
Unfortunately the stakes are very high in insurance and of course the consequences are massive. I won’t pretend that no insurer is ever in the wrong – of course there are errors. Have you ever heard stories of poor tradesman in your industry? I bet you have.
Given about 2 million households were effected by the fires of course there are issues. But the vast majority of cases are handled well and insurance has allowed those people to move on with their lives. In my experience any claims which come into ‘dispute’ there is a disconnect between expectation and reality. Maybe that miscommunication sits more with the insurer, but often it is more with the client – what they thought they had they didn’t have. Often this comes about when the policies are taken out over the internet with no real discussion or proper advice (a model I am glad to say I don’t work with)
The industry is also highly regulated and there are avenues to appeal including to the Ombudsman etc.
Just don’t believe everything you see on the sensationalist media.
Not every insurer is hard to deal with or shonky I promiseUp0I am late to this discussion but can help
Yes basically an Aust insurer will treat the product as manufactured by you
There is almost Zero chance of suing the Chinese manuf for a product fault unless they are also registered locally (and probably aren’t)
That is no big deal – lots of people manufacture prodcuts in Australia (although fewer than we would like I guess)
The key is – what are the products?
Clothes, tech items, kitchen prodcuts – no big deal
Health and wellness, medical, kids/infants – may be a problem
Nothing is impossible but prices vary accordingly
If you havent yet sorted it out or you want a comparison quote get in touch – quotes are free
Hope that helpsUp0Basically correct
Suggest Public Liability is needed although can be tricky if exports include USA and Canada. When importing into Aust goods received and sold on are basically treated as ‘manufactured’ by you. Presume this is also true when exporting OS but I guess depends on the goods and the likelihood of someone OS getting cranky. If selling clothing for example most people if not satisfied would accpet a return. If selling food and you alleged poison someone a refund won’t be enough
A good Home and Contents cover will definitely cover the Home Office but most will have limited/no cover for business stock stored at home pending shipping
Hope that helpsUp0In my set of accounts via Xero I have a ‘directors loan’ category
I allocate personal expenses to that
Hope that helpsUp0In my experience there are 3 parties
1. The property / building owner
2. The business owner
3. the licencee – someone designated as repsonsible – different in different states but often an individual
All 3 can be the same person / company etc. – or 3 different ones
With country pubs / regional pubs often there is a property owner of the buildign and some infrastructure (kitchen, beer taps etc..) who rents the pub to a business owner who ibtains the licence and runs the business.
Hope that helpsUp0I am not in WA so not an expert on Workers Comp there. Unlike NSW I believe the scheme is private so you can shop around the providers and get different prices (in NSW the scheme is Govt run and a set price/criteria so no shopping).
What is your occupation?
ALmost every business needs Public Liability and those with a professional service or advice need Professional Indemnity too.
If your industry has an association or regulatory body make an enquiry with them as to the preferred insurer/scheme. Sometime joing the industry association gets you a number of benefits including access to a scheme.
Failing that – email me and I can help
CheersUp0Greg_M, post: 269881, member: 38207 wrote:I’ve found insurance is essential, often expensive but not always reliable when the proverbial hits the fan.
My solution was to get an accountant to set up a discretionary trust controlled by a company structure. Supposedly the closest thing to bullet proof for protecting assets in Oz.
I don’t think you can eliminate all risk, there’s a direct correlation between risk and profit it’s really what you’re comfortable with.
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Insurance can be expenisve – if the risk is high. The better you understand your own risk you can- eliminate it
- transfer it e.g. drop shipping eliminates the risk of damage to stored stock or
- Insure the risk properly – communicating the risk clearly helps get a cheaper insurance price
You probably need to do some or all of 1-3 above and each option will cost you something – time, money or both. Not all risks are insureable – but insurance should almost certainly be part of your risk management strategy. Some insurances like CTP and Worker’s Compensation (both of which are more a govt tax than insurance) are compulsory too. Others like Public Liability should be.
As for company structure I would be careful on relying on this solely. I believe Corporate legisaltion and legal precendent has pivoted toward personal responsibility for directors – so you cant just cut and run. Also any significant contract or loan will require a personal indemnity from the director anyway.
So have a think about what your real risks are, what risks you can avoid, insure those you can’t avoid. Those you can’t avoid or insure either live with it if the outcome is not disastrous or else don’t proceed.
Hope that helpsUp0Google comparison on CRM and you will some informative articles
The points they compare on will probably point you in the direction of what is important for you to consider
Example – what email system do you use and does your chosen CRM integrate well with email – you want to be able to add new email contacts (and website leadds, FB messages or SMS received) direct to CRM with a minimum of effort, ideally automatically. Likewise emails sent should log against a customers profile
FWIW I trialled Hubspot and found it very good for the price (free). Adding on some of the marketing options comes at a cost which is how they monetize it. I would expect Hubspot to be around for quite a while – if not for free then at a low cost. Start with that and then compare other options to it for the points that are most important to you. There are lots of tutorials for it around too
