It is one of the most important factors in the grooming process in order to be an attractive company to invest in i.e. “Investor Ready”. There are dozens of areas and hundreds of ways in which a business may be exposed without knowing it. In the normal course of business an owner may not worry about these factors, as they are within the “comfort zone” of operation. For an external party to get involved however, they need a much more transparent organisation so they are not confronted at a later date with skeletons in the closet. It is important because businesses already face uncertainty. And while a venture capital investor may have a reasonable tolerance for risk, they will not welcome unnecessary risk. The goal is to control as many areas of risk as possible, so at least the risks are known. Most companies who have had an internal focus (i.e. have focused on sales, marketing and operations in order to grow) have not thought about all the areas in which they are vulnerable. The process of derisking limits the areas of exposure, and therefore decreases exposure to uncertainty. It also increases the chance of success through improvements in clarity in almost all areas of the business. Derisking falls into two areas – one is simply clarification (i.e. creating a contract where an informal arrangement was in place) and the other a change of substance i.e. changing a supplier because it lowers risks.

Some examples include:

• Formalising employee agreements. This may mean creating contracts for employees that have previously operated without one, or strengthening existing contracts. Particular issues would be with protection of IP, ownership of IP, confidentiality and restraint of trade after employees leave.
• Creating / clarifying written agreements with suppliers
• Creating/ clarifying agreements with customers
• Moving “ad hoc” sales to contracted revenue where possible
• Formalising and documenting internal processes
• Protection of IP – patents, designs, copyright and so on.
• Protection of data by limiting and monitoring access to key systems (CRM, accounts etc)
• Key employee insurance (including of the owners) in the event of death.
• Creating or clarifying credit terms and policies. Getting credit offered back within trading terms, and ensuring that all credit offered is documented with the correct application forms and personal guarantees.
• Removing reliance on key personnel, in particular vulnerability to information or relationships which may be lost on their departure. This may mean adding additional points of contact to key client accounts so individual relationships are less critical.
• Documenting key processes – getting the knowledge out of people’s heads
• Ensuring insurances of assets are up to date, and sufficient.
• Lowering legal exposure (liability). Ensuring insurances are held that cover product liabilities and so on.
• Ensuring compliance with all ATO and ASIC regulations. Creating systems for their ongoing compliance.

These days, it’s getting tougher and tougher to differentiate between those who are passionate, ambitious individuals with legitimate people skills, and those who are just looking to make a quick buck. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the former group tends to get unfairly lumped in with those in search of get rich quick schemes. However, the best way to tell the businessmen/businesswomen from the fakers is by looking at the fruits of their labor.

Direct sales (MLM) is the purest form of business left alive in today’s modern America. Also called Network Marketing, it requires a type of caliber in a person that can’t necessarily be taught. One needs to be able to see a need in a person, and find a way to speak to it without coming across as pushy or overbearing. And on top of all this, the person needs to have it in them to build a network of clients that they are solely responsible for. No one to get leads for them, no one to push them to sell harder, and no one to provide ways out. This is their business, and no one else’s. Get started with your MLM advertising and direct sales business today at johnnaparr.com.

As it stands today, network marketing is, across the board, creating success stories for small business owners around the world. During these extremely difficult economic times, many have found it necessary to find means of bringing in extra income on top of their barely sufficient salaries. Direct selling has provided individuals with the determination to finish a job they start the opportunity to not only make ends meet, but live comfortably after working hard at establishing creditability amongst various circles in their preferred business ecosystems. Many people have gone so far as to replace their previous salaried roles with their newfound business models, thanks to a rigorous yet rewarding career path offered to them via MLM clients.

Have you ever wonder if you can avoid getting up early in the morning rushing for work? Do you wish you can avoid wasting time commuting to work while spending more time with your family? How about having full control of your time and life? This is absolutely possible with home based internet marketing business.

You can easily make money online for a full time income with home based internet marketing business from the comfort of your own home. However, you have to put in effort and did the right things right from start!

Most people did not make any money from home based internet marketing business due to the fact that they aren’t doing the right things. They get excited when they first encounter internet marketing thinking they can easily make money on the internet with little knowledge.

Frankly, this is not the truth! Many people have been told they can easily make money online with only a few simple clicks of the mouse with just working several hours a day! Unless you have a proven plan of actions, or all your effort will goes into waste. Getting the right stuff done is the answer!

Those who haven’t made a dime through home based internet marketing business are absolutely different from those who are successful and making tons of money. If you are looking for a full time income through internet marketing, you must follow a proven model way of doing it profitably.

Imagine, if you have no sense of direction and completely lost, how can you get to your final destination of success? Therefore, a proven effective home based internet marketing business program will guide you with confidence and take you step by step to generate sales, leads and profits with success.

If you are thinking about supplementing your staff with IT contractors, you are not alone. Why? It makes good financial sense. Contractors are more economical than full-time employees because of the fact that they are paid on an hourly basis, and require no benefits. However, there is some risk associated with staff augmentation if it is not done correctly. So, as a business owner who is attempting to improve your business processes as economically efficient as possible, how do you go about determining which jobs to keep in house and which to use contractors for?

Some of the things to consider are:

• The employees that you have today
• Your IT project prioritization
• Your internal culture

For example, if you have excellent Project Managers or Team Leaders on your internal staff, you can consider contractors for the specific, task-oriented skills where you may not currently have coverage — like programming or application development. Here, you would hire a programmer or application developer and your internal resource would take care of project and resource management. This would ensure that the right resource is working on the correct task and increase project success in an efficient manner.

It may be that you are trying to get a new system implemented and you don’t have the expertise to manage all of the tasks internally. In this case, you may want to either outsource the entire project to a firm who can do it for you, or hire a project team on a contract basis to work with the staff on hand who understands the end goal that you are trying to accomplish. Here, the project team would manage the implementation, and your staff would be involved as subject matter experts (from a company needs perspective). This helps to ensure that the implementation is done correctly (using contracted expertise) and that your internal organization has buy-in since they have been involved along the way.

Perhaps the most important element of deciding when to use IT Staff Augmentation is your internal culture. Every company has a it’s own unique corporate culture and when introducing new employees into your organization, it is important to ensure that they’ll fit correctly. To facilitate contractors’ seamless integration into your environment, work with a good IT Staffing firm that takes this into consideration. Any good staffing firm has a clear understanding of this and will question you on your culture to get a feel for the type of person that will fit into it most easily. When done correctly, you will have contractors that work well within your corporate environment and who become a solid part of your team during their term of employment.