You know the situation. A vendor has just called and advised they will be in the area tomorrow and would love to show you their new range. You’ve just opened the bank account details that morning and the picture looks pretty grim –you are getting closer to the overdraft limit and you’re due a visit to the bank next month. You know you can’t afford it, but that vendor’s inventory is nice product and you wanted to beef up your selection in that area as the aged inventory has built up and nothing seems to be selling. Buying new product is the obvious answer to trade your way out of trouble.

This may seem an unusual topic – after all, telling staff what’s going on in the store should be a forgone conclusion. But sadly, it’s one of those things that so often gets forgotten about during the daily process. Often you forget who has been told what and with many stores running casual staff on different shifts, not everyone is on deck at the same time.

Most retailers depend on a cost plus mentality when it comes to setting their retail price on goods. This week David Brown investigates a more profitable alternative.

Apologies to Tina Turner for the paraphrasing on her ‘80s hit, but it is a relevant question when so many jewelers use cost as a factor in determining their retail prices.

One of the downsides of being a small business operator is the many hats that have to be worn. You’re often the human resources department, the company President, the marketing department, the sales force, the administration department and production all rolled into one. The bigger the business the easier it is to allocate these tasks, but for a store with limited or no staff this can be difficult – but not impossible.

Now that the end of year rush is over, the first few months of a new year can see more cash flowing out than flowing in as December purchases fall due for payment.  In an effort to keep the bank balance under control it is tempting to not reorder good sellers at this point, justifying the decision by the level of debt or, in some cases, claiming that items that sold well at Christmas won’t necessarily sell well during the rest of the year.

For most people, the appeal of self-employment can consist of a number of factors but the top two answers are probably a desire for greater income and more freedom.

Often getting into self-employment can be an emotional decision made through rose-colored glasses. It has to be said, however, that few people who become self-employed ever have a desire to go back to working for someone else – the pluses do outweigh the minuses.