Today I came across a nice unique site - Creative.gd. Creative.gd (Creative Graphic Design) is an innovative site that offers the designing community at chance to interact with a whole range of different clients, all with a variety of design needs from a simple business logo right through to a complete website design. Creative.gd allows businesses or individuals to post their design requirements on the site in the form of a competition, which can then be accessed by the global designing community. These design contests are open to any level of designer, from a student right through to a world class art director, and are an excellent way for designers to broaden their freelance portfolios and enhance their careers.

Creative.gd was founded in 2008 by a professional freelance creative, who recognised the need for a forum where designers and clients of all levels and budgets could meet and work together, allowing designers beginning their careers the chance to get experience meeting client requirements and deadlines, and also allowing professional freelancers the chance to work on new and more varied projects away from the rigorous and competitive demands of big business design.

It is easy to launch a design contest with Creative.gd, just start by drafting a design brief, listing your requirements and how much you are willing to pay the winning designer for their work. This is the prize offered for the whole competition and could be anything from $250 - $1000, or more depending on your individual requirements. It is completely free to post the contest on the website, so just simply prepay the prize money (held securely in the Creative.gd escrow account) and then post your contest online. Designers from around the world will then submit their concepts to you, and as the client you can rate the designs and provide feedback through the ‘Discuss this Project’ feature in your control panel. At the end of the project (usually between 7-14 days), you then select a winner and the designer will send you the finished, original work and Creative.gd will complete the transaction by forwarding the prize money to the winner.

If you are a designer interested in entering one of the Creative.gd competitions, then you can visit the website  to see all of the latest contests on offer. For example currently Creative.gd are offering an excellent little project to design a new slogan for the Creative.gd website itself, which has a prize pot of $300 and is open until the 3 September 09. It is also a good idea to read through the Creative.gd blog pages, which offer additional prizes and also provide news on any upcoming features and enhancements to the services, and also any bugs that may be affecting the site.:cool:

Often in our day-to-day lives, we encounter situations where we feel completely ripped off by the other party. Sometimes it costs us a fortune and at other times it is a matter of absolute humiliation. It‘s exactly here when CanYouTrustThem.com comes into the picture. Being a brand new public opinion site, it has taken the world by storm with its outstanding performance. CanYouTrustThem makes use the enormous power of the World Wide Web, national media and social networking sites to expose the business entities or owners with malicious intentions. What’s making this site scale heights of success in the recent times is its simplicity of features and user-friendly interface. At any point of time, you can lodge your business complaints without any kind of hassle. What more to expect when it comes absolutely free of cost. Coming to speak of the technological advancement exploited completely by the site, CanYouTrustThem.com exploits clever search engine technology to make sure that any business complaint lodged about any enterprise remains absolutely transparent to the potential customers. When potential customers’ searches for information on any particular company they will come across CanYouTrustThem, which will top the search engine listing; in some cases it may appear prior to the company’s website. The customers’ testimonials are sure to watch out for. Some of them got their claims settled soon after they lodged in their business complaints on this site, yet others were enlightened with valuable information before striking a deal with a company, which otherwise had a notorious reputation. So what are you waiting for? Register as a member right away and express your grievances against the company with which you have had a bitter experience, so that the whole world can come to know beforehand if they are hiring/buying their products or services and save themselves.

Despite the global economic downturn there are still plenty of opportunities for small businesses, but it is more important than ever that you have a detailed and realistic business plan, and have thought carefully about how you will finance your business set up.

Business Plan

The business plan will help you to work through all of the issues and potential problems involved in setting up a small business, and will be an essential tool to help you focus and develop your financial needs. It will also show banks and other potential investors that you are serious about your business idea, and that you have a clear vision for how your business will work. It is important to be absolutely honest with yourself about key issues, such as how much you would hope to achieve in profit in the coming months, as a robust and realistic plan could mean the difference between success and failure in your first years of business. A good business plan should include:

• Executive summary – this should include an overview of your complete business idea, stating who you are, what your business idea is about (services/products that you will offer and customer groups you will be focusing on) and also what you hope to achieve.
• Marketing Strategy – show here that you have considered your competitors, and how you plan to plan to attract customers to your product/services. List here any details of potential advertising and marketing campaigns.
• Management and Staff – if you have any management experience then mention this in the business plan, and also list some details of the skills base you will require and the numbers of staff you hope to employ.
• Financial Forecast – breakdown your business plan into cold hard facts, and give details of what money you think you will need over the next three to five years for set up, equipment leasing, staff, IT and premises. Try and calculate any risks that may affect your business during this time such as commercial, operational and personnel issues, and also calculate your sales pattern over a range of scenarios (such as high opening sales which slow down over the next few months or slow opening sales steadily increasing after 3 months), and also include any ‘down time’ whilst you are recruiting, training or setting up your premises

Business Loans

You may need access to money quickly to cover any unexpected costs and keep your business operating during cash flow problems, and fast business loan from banks and other official lenders can be a good way of applying for the money you need quickly and securely. Compare interest rates before you apply and try and get the best deal you can, as although fast loans are very convenient they can often be less flexible and more expensive in the long run.

Taxes

If you have business premises you will also need to include the ‘Business Rates’ in the overall leasing or running costs, and you can find out more about this by contacting your local council. You will also need to keep clear financial records (accounts) from the start, to ensure that you can work out what tax you will need to pay. As a basic guide you should look be looking at paying Income tax, National Insurance contributions, Corporation Tax (limited companies), VAT (profits exceeding £67,000 per annum) and Stamp Duty Land Tax on bought and leased premises. You should contact your local HMRC to find out more about what you should be paying.

There are various terms used in publicity industry, and these cover a number of aspects that are essential to a successful business:

• Advertising – this is when a product or service is brought to the attention of new and existing customers through a number of methods including direct mailing, television, posters, website banners and email messages.
• Marketing – this focuses on a product or service (either new or existing) and creates a plan to ensure the customer’s needs are being met and the product/service is good value (the right price). It involves a wide range of methods such as research and focus group testing and analysis of competitors, and also includes ongoing advertising and promotional campaigns.
• Public Relations – this focuses on the company image as a whole (products, services, customer relations, company vision etc), to ensure that it has a strong, positive presence in the public arena. Public relations ensure that the company is visible and recognizable, and that people understand who they are and what they sell. This is usually carried out by maintaining a strong presence in the media (publicity) through newspapers, magazines, television and the Internet.
• Promotion – this is similar to all of the above, in that it is designed to attract consumer attention to a specific product or service, and is an ongoing campaign that involves combination of advertising, marketing and public relations.

Public relations, advertising, marketing and promotion are all essential to success for many companies, as there are very few trade ‘niches’ left in the current market and the majority of businesses face stiff opposition from competitors, and must also deal with any global market downturns. In order to sell your product or service to as many customers as possible, you have to reach out to as many people as possible, and persuade them through your strong, attractive company and brand image that they want to purchase from you, rather than from your competitors.

Because publicity, advertising, marketing and promotion is so important, you may want to think about seeking some professional help from a public relations (PR) agency, who can give you expert advice and also run your publicity campaigns for you. Taylor Herring is one of the UK ’s top PR agencies and has won a number of awards in their field including the CIPR Excellence trophy for ‘Best Consumer Campaign’.

Taylor Herring offer expert and professional advice in a number of areas including media relations, brand image, online PR, celebrity endorsements and promotional events, and have covered a number of high profile campaigns in the large few years for clients including Honda, Guinness World Book of Records, Disney (High School Musical film) and the BBC (Doctor Who). Taylor Herring also specialise in personal PR, and have several high profile celebrities such as Robbie Williams and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber on their books. To find out more about the services offered by this top PR Agency you can visit their website  or telephone 0208 206 5151.

There are many reasons why businesses can need a financial boost. It may be that you have just started up and need to purchase expensive equipment or work vehicles, or you may be an established business that wants to move to newer, better premises and taker on more staff to expand your profit growth. Whatever the reasons a business loan can inject vital capital into your company, and it is important you choose the right loan at the right interest rates to suit your business budget.

The first step to applying for a business loan is to work out exactly how much you are going to need. Banks and lenders will want you to justify every penny that you are asking for, so make sure you draw up a complete finance plan, and also project your future earnings during and after the changes you are planning have taken place.

Lenders will be more willing to accept your application if you can show you will have adequate money coming into your business in the future, and also if you are willing to put some cash into the project yourself (which demonstrates your commitment). Owners who do not have any money to put in, can find it difficult to get finance and banks may ask you for some kind of security such as your house.

Banks decide on finance on a case by case basis, so it is vital that you present your business finance plan clearly and professionally, as you can sometimes literally ‘blow it’ by being unorganized or unrealistic. Many banks do provide useful business plan guides, which can help you to write and prepare your finance applications.

The next step is to review the loan products on offer from the various lenders, and see if they can accommodate your needs. Many applications fail because people have asked to borrow outside of the lenders minimum and maximum loan parameters, so don’t waste your time and theirs and check first before you apply.

Don’t be put off if your first application is turned down, Review your small business financing options and see if you can make any changes, then try again with another suitable lender.