Common Mistake #1: Not Researching The Market

There are far too many entrepreneurs that are unaware of who their target market is. This is one of the most important aspects to your advertising efforts. Your target market is never everyone and if this is what you believe then you will fail. 

The key to the success of your business is to find a profitable market that has a demand of specific people looking for a product or service. Then you target your advertising campaigns directly to these people.

Common Mistake #2: Improper Management of Time

One of the best ways to get the most done throughout the day is to manage your time efficiently. You are no longer working under some one, your time is actually now your money.  So creating an outline for the week or for the following day at least is a great way to stay on schedule. And always prioritize your daily tasks.

Common Mistake #3: Incorrect Estimation

There are way too many people that overestimate how much money that they are going to need to start their business. It’s important that you purchase the essentials when starting out, but is it really necessary to purchase all top of the line equipment? Things add up really quick and before you know it you have spent more then you should have, and now you are left with no money.

When you are starting your business it’s really important that you set a budget and you stick to it. If you have $5000 for your startup then you need to make sure that after all is said and done that you have spend only $5000.  It’s so important that you are minimizing your costs and maximizing your profits every step of the way, because if you aren’t then you are setting yourself up for failure.

Common Mistake #4: Lack of Knowledge

There is no possible way that you are expected to understand every aspect of a business if you have never ran one before. So if you have absolutely no idea how to keep records and accounts, or how to maintain a mailing list, it’s okay.

But you do need to learn how to do these things. There are many course offered at local colleges that you can take that will teach you how to complete these tasks. These classes will generally only be a few weeks long, and will not cost much. They will be tax deductible for you business too, so you should not hesitate to enroll yourself in any of the necessary classes that will help aid in the success of your business.

When you are first starting out you will need to do as many things all on your own as you possible can. This includes gaining any business skills that you lack. This means that you can’t get by if your business skills are lacking.

Just remember that all of your hard work and dedication will eventually pay off.

• Develop and facilitate delivery of professional development programs and resources

   

• Establish and apply relevant research

   

• Provide consultancy services for quality improvement

ie limited’s latest activities:

Consultancy:

ie continues to offer independent advice on all aspects of the Code and insurance to several institutions.

Assessment of overseas medical and travel insurance policies. Click HERE to download further information

NEW PRODUCTS : In addition to the popular guide, "Insurance Demystified", ie limited has developed three new products:

• CODEBUSTER - at last a tool to help you keep track of all those policies and procedures you need to review and audit to be Code compliant. Click HERE for further information
• ieInsure lite - a list of over 120 insurance policies that have been assessed for compliance with the Code of Practice. Recommendations to approve or not approve are given. Click HERE for further information
• ieInsure- a full database that incorporates ieInsure lite. It gives details on 120 insurances and can generate reports on why a particular insurance is or is not acceptable. Click HERE for further information.

Research: ie Limited researcher  regularly engages in research to enhance understanding of the needs of students, migrants, education providers and others. The most recent projects are:

Recent papers

Plagiarism and international students: A matter of values differences?

Click HERE

Practical solutions to barriers to effective pastoral care of Chinese students

Click HERE

Pastoral Care Survey

Models of Pastoral Care.

This research, funded by Education New Zealand, investigates the differernt models of pastoral care of international students employed by all types of education institutions. Click HERE or on the "The Survey" button on the left to find out more and to participate.

Report released

Engaging Asian Communities in New Zealand.

This research, funded by Asian New Zealand Foundation, investigated those programs and conditions that most aid Asian peoples to engage with the wider community. Asia New Zealand will be releasing the report in a series of public meetings soon. Click HERE to read the report.

Medical and Travel insurance in New Zealand – a lesson for Australia?

This paper was presented at the Australian international student association, NLC’s, National Education Conference in Newcastle in July 2005. A copy can be downloaded HERE.

Professional Development:

Experienced Staff (Tertiary) Professional Development workshops in Pastoral Care

and

Code of Practice Seminar (both free)

These events are now complete. Thank you to all participants. Some of you requested a copy of the Removal Process flow chart for your own use. This is now available in MSWord format for download by clicking HERE.