Islam and Business Finance

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net You could gain a competitive edge in business by always reacting to changes quickly, by being innovative. For your business to be able to react to changes quickly, you have to be able to anticipate the change and secondly you have to be very fast at responding to changes. Forecast of how changes might occur in the market in which your business operates in could be gotten by studying past information, however market forecasts are less effective. Information from customers and suppliers are most effective. The way your business responds to changes (such as changes in taste of your customers, changes in the financial capability of your customers and others) has a great impact on your market share. If it takes your company 4 weeks to respond to a change in the market and it takes the next company 3 months or more you could gain a competitive edge cause customers might come to you first and their loyalty could ...

Networking is important to the development of any business. It is great for expanding your knowledge as well as creating business opportunities for your business via your products. Today I am going to be sharing tips on developing such skill. The first step is to find your individuals that might be interested in your products. You will have to make a list of everyone you can think of. This list will include your family, your friends, your acquaintances. The friends of your family members or your friends.  You will always need to expand your list. You can attend events to meet new people. After the list has been composed, then you will have to invite them so that they can understand your products. While trying to get people to understand your products you must remember that not everyone will be interested in your products. Always be yourself when promoting your products. You should be enthusiastic when promoting your products. You could tell individuals about your produ...

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Products are goods or services provided by a business in exchange for money. A business can either apply a low cost strategy or a differentiation strategy. However, some other companies apply both strategy. I am going to write about the differentiation strategy today. The question is how do you differentiate your products successfully. Differentiating a product is all about making it unique, as such some attributes of your products might not be obtained anywhere else. A product can be differentiated by providing complementary services for example a business that sells make up products (halal make-up products) can offer to give their customers free facials once or twice. A business that sells technological products can also offer free repair services as a form of differentiation. The performance and features can also be used to differentiate the products, the location of your business can also be a form of differentiation...

Pride which is arrogance comes before the destruction of man, this is having a feeling that you are better than everyone else. You might possess some excellent skills but it does not make you better than everyone else. All of those skills are blessings from Allah. Everyone needs help. Make sure you ask Allah for help everytime. Allah can help you using anyone. Be willing to give charity to others if it is within your capacity as Allah loves charity and multiplies it if He wills. The charity has to be from an halal income. You should stay away from anything that is not halal. Pride only brings about discomfort. Be always thankful to Allah for the things you have got, thankfulness do open the door for more blessings. Do not be rigid, be flexible!  Halal means anything lawful Islamically. Keep checking my blog regularly. Cheers!

For a challenge to not become so difficult to tackle you must deal with it as it arises. When faced with an unexpected bill, if you find it overwhelming then go and read my article on emotional health. The first step is to write out a realistic plan on how you are going to raise the money. Probably look for another source of income. Make sure you stick to the plan. A financial challenge could be an inability to pay bills, this could be prevented by living below your means. Make sure you create a monthly budget so you know how you will spend your money so that you do not end up spending the money for your bills on something else. For some sticking to a budget comes naturally and for some they find it hard to stick to a budget. For those that find it hard to stick to a budget, my advise to you will be to have a daily budget and once you are able to stick to the budget for seven days reward yourself, change the target to a month and then reward yourself, researchers say that once you...

I mage courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at FreeDigitalPhotos.net In business you must always identify the main success factors in the industry you operate in, of-course, by identifying them and taking them into consideration it will help your business succeed insha Allah (if Allah wills). Various industries have different success factors, however, in order for any business to survive, owners must determine what customers want and determine what the business needs to do to stay competitive. So how do you determine what your customers want?  You first have to know who your customers are. For example are they students or working class individuals. You will have to make an enquiry about their needs and then you make enquiries about how they make a choice between similar products. This could be achieved via a focus group or questionnaires. Once the preferences of your potential customers have been identified, then the factors that could help your business stay profitable could be...

 courtesy of AKARAKINGDOMS at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Your business or career shouldn't be your life, you can balance it all. Have time for your family, friends and business. Make sure you always have time for your family and then your friends before your business. But remember, Allah comes first all the time. A successful business could bring you fulfillment no doubt but obviously you will want to share the success with your loved ones wouldn't you. While you must treat everyone with respect whether younger or older you must pick your friends wisely, you should associate yourself with people that promotes positivity. Some women fight for equal rights in their homes, a woman was telling her husband you do not know how to lay the bed again. While a man can willingly help in the house, out of love, its not your right to demand it. You should not disobey your husband as long as its what Allah loves. You should only advise him, however whatever decision he makes you s...

Image courtesy of jscreationzs at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello! It is common knowledge that some industries are declining, if your business happens to be in a declining industry, this are the strategies you could apply * You can go after a market segment (niche) in the industry. A niche that you know will offer stability  and you know other firms will not invade.  *To be a leader in the industry, this can be achieved by acquiring competitors and motivating them to exit the industry. Once a leading role is achieved , greater profit could be enjoyed. * When it really seems like the industry is not going to take another turn, then the best advise will be to divest before the industry reaches a dead end.  Your business should be for the sake of Allah. Everything happens according to the will of Allah. Whatever Allah wills to prevent no one can make it happen and whatever He does not prevent no one cannot make it happen.

Today, I decided to write up something for United Kingdom(international) students. Some students are usually broke, so how can they avoid that. I can remember when I arrived as a student, I had priced a cab and he said £60, I had a somewhat intention of taking the cab when someone said to me always convert your money to the Nigerian currency first before spending so it could help you with your judgement so I applied that logic all through as a student, you get to save money that way cause you will be buying things similar to prices in your country. Do not buy branded products, tesco, sainsbury, asda and the likes make products of good quality at cheaper prices buy theirs. Cook your food, eat out once in a while, you can try the cafeteria's food in your university just to have the experience maybe their toast, eggs (make sure the food is halal) but the food they have available is not really what you are used to and its a waste of money. That way you don't end up run...

Image courtesy of zirconicusso at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Today I am going to describe how you should be spending as a family. This artlcle for a married couple or married couple with kids. Before couples decide to have children they should have the financial capacity to take care of their children. So you are not only responsible for your mouth only but you are responsible for the mouth of others. Men have be given the role of the leader of the house by God, they are normally responsible for the major part of the household bills, however, the women should still help as such how you decide to split the bills will be agreed upon by both parties. Some couples do have quarrels over money, a woman should obey her husband as long as its not against God's Law. However, a woman should give her advise with reasons to her husband, he should consider her advise and then make the decision for both of them. All major financial decisions must be made together cause any wrong d...

Budgets are like smoothies (smiles) I can remember I said I was going to let you know what your monthly budget should look like in a previous post, so yup! you are getting it today. Some individuals make a reasonable amount of money on a monthly basis but yet still end being broke before their next pay date and they all put the blame on the bills. I have always said cut your clothes according to your size, you can always manage your money very well and still have fun, yes have fun. I know individuals do not earn the same amount of money, as a result of that I am going to be working with percentages today. I alsoknow that individuals do have different responsibilities so I am going to classify the budgets into two. One for singles and one for a family. Today I am going to focus on the one for singles. You are single, you are only responsible for feeding your mouth normally it could be different , so this is how you should be spending your income. Pay zakat if its due, then save...

Motivation is what inspire individuals (employees) to achieve a goal or an objective without force. Every business requires employees, they are important because they will be carrying the day to day activities of a business. Direction, intensity and persistence are the three components of behaviour that has an impact on performance. Direction of behaviour relates to what an individual wishes to do, intensity relates to how much effort an individual  put into achieving a goal and persistence relates to how determined an individual is in achieving a goal in spite of challenges encountered. Insha Allah (if Allah wills) . Motivated employees could contribute to the success of a business . I am going to write about two motivational techniques  The first one I am going to write about is the herzberg two factor theory. It was proposed by Late Fredrick Herzberg. He placed a lot of emphasis on the importance of the job content and job enrichments. He said people are motiv...

Having 2 to 4 children is not only good for you financially, it is also good for the general well being of the family. Any family planning expert would advise you to leave at least 2 years gap between your children. This will not only let you give them the adequate attention they require at that tender age, researchers say anything less than 2 years will increase the risk of having a baby prematurely and underweight. However, it is also good for you financially cause you will have at 2 additional years to save money for university for your second child. Some people might read this and say why don't I leave 10 years between them instead, okay I just exaggerated no one might think that way but I will suggests a maximum of 4 years ,you do not want to be paying school fees when you are 80. Having 2 or more children in the university at the same time could be expensive so you get to reduce the financial requirement placed on you by leaving adequate gaps between your children.  ...

It has been observed that individuals/corporations in the oil industry make a lot of money. But some people get discouraged from entering the industry because of the capital required to start the business because they believe the oil business is basically about drilling or refining oil. They believe they need machinery, oil rigs or they need to build fuel stations. While this is true, the good news I have for you is it is only an aspect of the industry. Have you heard of oil broking before? People in that line of business make a lot of money from it. Oil brokers serve as an intermediary between buyers and sellers of oil, basically you are going to be marketing oil. You do not need to have any previous background in oil and gas to become a successful broker. Most firms that employ oil brokers do not take the type of degree you have into consideration. l am not here today to write about you getting an oil broking job, I am to here to write about you becoming an oil broker as an indi...