When retiring or laid-off Baby Boomers launch a home-based business, one of their most important decisions is choosing what type of solutions to utilize.Previously, the answer was clear – use resident software for performance and security. However, in the era of high-speed Internet connectivity, switching to cloud-based solutions offers many advantages:
Lower costs – no software licenses or equipment to purchase and maintain.
Instantly available – you do not have to install anything on your home computer.
Often available with no long-term contracts.
Accessible over the Internet from anywhere.
Secure access.
Free updates.
Satisfies the need for disaster preparedness – If you lose your hard disk or your house burns down, your critical business information is still available from any laptop!
Sometimes free for up to 2-3 users or basic functionality!!
Cloud-based solutions are those (e.g., accounting or customer relationship management) not resident on your home office computer, but which rather reside on a remote server and are accessible over the Internet. Typically, cloud-based solutions are less expensive and offer an easy means of quickly adding functionality. They are especially beneficial when you have partners, contractors or employees working at remote locations because databases and activities can be easily synched, ideas and projects improved through online collaboration, and sales/marketing management simplified.For example, many home-based businesses use online QuickBooks or FreshBooks for accounting. Pricing is reasonable and partners can access and update information from any location. And having an easy accounting solution is critical for any small business, especially at tax time!A plethora of cloud-based solutions exists for backing up critical business data and online collaboration. Two of the most popular are Google Docs and Dropbox. Residing online at distant servers which are backed up daily, they also provide the benefit of disaster preparedness should your home office suffer a burglary, fire, flood or earthquake.Cloud-based solutions can also assist Boomers who have client-based home businesses. Consider DocuSign, for example, which facilitates secure online delivery and signatures for agreements. These services are professional, save a lot of time, and enhance customer relations.Baby Boomers discover soon enough that achieving success with a home-based business requires time management. There is a hard way to get things done and the easy way. Leveraging cloud-based solutions is economical while also adding ease-of-use and functionality. Compared to resident desktop solutions, these online tools are hands-down winners!In short, Baby Boomers starting or operating a home-based business can expedite their launch, cut costs, acquire professional functionality and make their operations run smoother by simply embracing cloud solutions. What’s not to like?!

Estimating your assets value:

Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.

Compensation and Expenses:

Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.

A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.

In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.

In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.

In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.

In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.

What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.

Auction Expenses:

In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.

All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.

Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.

Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.

Buyer’s Premium:

What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.

The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.

It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.

Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.

Pre-Sales:

We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.

As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.

Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.

A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.

It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.

When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.

Starting a home based business can be one of the best ways to increase your income and start moving closer towards achieving your financial goals. However to be successful it is important that you focus on doing the things that need to be done in order to make your business a success.This means that you must focus the majority of your daily efforts on doing the things that will lead to not only making sales but also to earning you a good profit. The good news is that when you plan and prepare a realistic budget and stick to it, this is much easier to accomplish.The mistake that many first time home based business owners make is that they do not take a structured approach to building their business. This causes them to be easily distracted, jumping from one thing to another and as a result they may end up over spending, accomplishing very little and soon just quitting.However by following a few simple tips you can significantly increase your chances of achieving online success and reaching your income goals.Here are 5 Home based business marketing tips that can help you:1.) Set clear, specific, realistic and achievable goals. Many people start off with hopes of striking it rich within their first few weeks of being online. This rarely if ever happens, especially if you have no prior business experience, training or additional guidance.It is much better to start with small achievable goals like getting a certain amount of traffic per day and then increasing that number until you are starting to see results.2) Identify your target market – This is an important step that a lot of new business owners skip but it is important that you identify A.) who is your idea customer and B.) What is the best way to reach them. This can save you a lot of time with your marketing budget and efforts.3.) Have a strategy that you can use to develop your plan of action. This strategy could and should include more than one approach for marketing your home based business.For example your strategy could revolve around using search engine optimization and this could include article marketing, bookmarking at different social media sites as well as using other forms of social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.4.) Create a plan of action and systems for doing things. This should include ongoing tasks management systems which allow for things to be done on a regular basis. You should not rely on how you feel each day to determine what will get done that day.By creating a plan of action or a work flow system you can set up daily action items to be done each day that will move your projects forward and allow you to achieve your income goals and objectives.5.) Manage your time well. Having daily achievement goals is a great start to achieving success with your home based business however unless you are maximizing your time usage, you may not be getting as much done as needed. This can prevent you from realizing even more success even faster.By following these 5 tips you will be able to stay focused on doing what needs to be done to make daily progress and achieve your income goals.