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Notable Startup Meetups In The US In 2013

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Launching a startup is no easy task, no matter the niche you target, and that means that you’ll need access to all of the encouragement and resources available to you in order to succeed! If you’ve got a startup in mind for the near future – or even today – check out these five notable startup meetups in the US:

1. NoPay Startups

NoPay Startups

Focusing on bringing people with big ideas together with people who have the skills and resources necessary to make them a reality, the NoPay Startups meetup group provides an excellent platform from which to outline your plans for the next big thing, and you’re sure to find just the help that you need to get it off of the ground – all for free, of course!

When and Where: NoPay Startups meetups are held throughout the Mountain View, California area all year long, providing a beautiful backdrop to an invigorating topic!

2. Startup OC

Startup OC

If you’re in the Orange County area of California and have a startup to plan, build, or pitch, the Startup OC meetup group is the place for you! Hosting monthly geeky events, this group aims to provide the resources that you need to drive your idea forward, along with the marketing skills that you’ll need to sell it convincingly to willing investors, making it the true total package for those looking to launch their startup sky-high.

When and Where: Pay a visit to the Orange County area of Southern California in order to take in StartUp OC events, held throughout the year. If you’re staying elsewhere in California in order to take in multiple meetups, Click here to check out great car rental rates in the area!

3 Startup Atlanta

Startup Atlanta

Aiming to serve as a sounding board for new ideas from people in and around the Atlanta region, the Startup Atlanta meetup group will assist you in learning to know the difference between smart ideas and those that are destined to fail, helping you to pour all of your time and resources into those with the best chance of success on the open market.

When and Where: Check the southern city of Atlanta, Georgia in order to take part in the fun and professional building taking place at Startup Atlanta meetups!

4. Startup Weekend Houston

Startup Weekend Houston

Part of the International Startup Weekend organization, the Startup Weekend Houston group is one that focuses on less talk and more action where building viable startups is concerned, teaching you everything from the basics of brainstorming, to the many variables that come into play during the planning and pitching stage.

When and Where: Presenting an opportunity for another southern adventure, Houston, Texas is the place to be for these meetups, held on multiple weekends throughout the year.

5. Los Angeles Startup Pitch Night

Los Angeles Startup Pitch Night

A big part of launching a successful startup is being able to pitch your idea effectively to those who would fund your efforts, and that’s exactly what the Los Angeles Startup Pitch Night aims to help you do!

The people attending these monthly meetups will help you to practice and perfect your pitch, showing you the ropes where catching the eye of investors is concerned, promising to increase your chances of getting your big idea from the planning stage to the building stage – to the selling stage!

When and Where: Innovation is the name of the game in a city the size of Los Angeles, so you can count on lessons from all sides when you visit the L.A. Startup Pitch Night!

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Jessy is the business blogger and indie entrepreneur.

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How Entrepreneurs And The Self-Employed Can Better Manage Their Finances

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Entrepreneurs and the self-employed are usually so busy running their businesses and doing, well, entrepreneur-y things that it can be all too easy to overlook a key aspect of the enterprise – your finances. Making plans, organising marketing campaigns and pushing for new clients all seem to take priority over the mundane things such as doing the accounts or ensuring that your tax returns are filled out properly. It’s often the case that, especially when it comes to year-end tax returns, everything gets left to the last possible minute.

That’s when mistakes happen. And those mistakes could cost you more than just a fine – they could impact severely on your bottom line numbers and ultimately on the future of your business. Many small businesses, particularly those based at home, fail due to poor financial planning, and without a proper financial plan in place it’s all too easy to become just another statistic in the number of failed enterprises that fold in Canada every year.

So rather than looking at the negatives any further, let’s take a pro-active approach and find out what entrepreneurs and the self-employed can do to make sure their finances are managed properly. Here are four top tips to help you keep the money coming in:

#1 – Never underestimate your costs

Expenses can quickly run away from you, especially at the start of an enterprise. Keep a tight rein on how much the business is spending. Also remember that in the early stages, you will probably be earning a lot less than you were previously, but your bills are going to stay the same. Don’t just consider your business finances – remember your home finances will be directly influenced too.

#2 – Keep good records

From the outset, good financial records are essential. Not only will you need them to see how the business is doing, but you’ll also need to ensure that your tax declarations for the business are accurate too. Rather than doing it ‘old school’ (a shoebox, a spreadsheet and a pile of paper receipts), one of the essential investments for any small business is good tax software that can be integrated into your system. This will help you keep on top of your tax obligations from the start. Remember also that you will have to put money aside for your tax, so open up a separate account and ensure that you pay in little and often to give yourself a ‘slush fund’ for the tax bill at the end of the year.

#3 – Expect ups and downs

Some months will be better than others. There may be periods where you don’t earn a single cent, and others when the money floods in. Plan for the lean times by using the good times to bolster your business’ financial stability.

#4 – Don’t borrow to expand

Your idea is brilliant – a guaranteed winner that’s sure to bring you in millions. But before you start borrowing on the strength of that certainty, remember that nothing in life is actually certain (apart from death and taxes!), so don’t borrow or take on new debt in the hope of a big pay day further down the line. Your business may not survive long enough to reach that big pay day, and you could find yourself in real financial difficulty as a result.

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IT Professionals Can Improve Time Management For Businesses

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The Struggle for Successful Time Management

There are only so many hours in a day, it always seems almost impossible to get everything done that you might require. In the world of business, this leads to a reduction in productivity and may end up costing you clients. However, when you look at everything and where your day went, you might not initially see what you are able to do. You probably know what aspects of the day take up the most amount of time, but outside of this, it may prove incredibly difficult to see where you can alter your routine to improve productivity. Perhaps you would save time if you took shorter lunches or went to work earlier? Of course, you could always do this, but it wouldn’t help you outside of saving a few minutes. Plus, once you start thinking this way you will most likely start going to work earlier and earlier and eventually, your work will begin to completely take over your life.

What Can be Done to Improve This Issue?

Hire an IT Professional

As a business owner frequently experiencing this problem, it is wise to bring in IT professionals who are able to look over the situation and determine what is causing you to lose time. An IT Consultant will also be able to make suggestions and put new processes in place that will help save time by making current routines more efficient so that employees can get more accomplished.

How an IT Professional Will Help

The IT professional is going to come into your business and look over your daily tasks and how they are being completed. You can help them understand by walking them through your routine and allowing them to converse and do the same with other employees. This is where, the professional is able to see where specific IT services such as programs, network features and applications would be able to save you a good amount of time. For example, if your business has not converted over to digital, employees may be running files between different individuals in the office, eating up a lot of time. Workers may even spend a considerable chunch of their day trying to dig up files off of their hard drive when needing to locate the right vender information. This again, wastes more time than you may think. Those minutes quickly add up but the good news is that from here, the IT professional is able to pinpoint what programs are going to work best for your company.

Maximizing Productivity of The Entire Office

In speaking with an IT professional that provides Phildelphia IT Services, it is confirmed that an IT professional will analyze business operations and point out ways for which, every employee can save time. If every individual is capable of saving time, it drastically improves the productivity throughout the office. Integrating a network system where everyone shares the same file system is going to prevent employees from having to waste time going back and forth between each other and searching for files that may have been improperly filed. If the IT professional thinks a cloud service is best for you, they can set that up on your behalf so that it will be possible for employees to access their work files from anywhere in the world. Depending on what is needed of the business, IT professionals can complete anything from custom designed software solutions to the integration of one-of-kind database designs. The option for hosting information in the cloud has become more popular over the years because even if you have to stay at home due to sickness or dangerous weather conditions, you can still access your files. After all, just because you can’t make it into work, does not mean the work is going to stop. For that reason, it is nice to have the option for accessing work-related files if needed.

Sarah Smith wrote this article on behalf of ION Technologoy Group (@IONTG), a IT Solutions company out of Voorhees, NJ.

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