COVID-19 has disrupted our businesses and our personal lives in unimaginable ways. As Vladimir Lenin once said: There are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happen. There is no doubt about which kind of week, month or year we have been experiencing.
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Many small businesses are being to plan for their reopening, or if they have been maintaining their businesses during Covid-19 perhaps they are preparing for staff to return to their workplace.
[continue reading…]Remote working has in the recent past gained momentum among employers, more so for the benefits, it gives to a business. Besides reducing office expenses, it allows the employer to engage the right people regardless of where they are. However, these people can easily become demotivated because they work with all the distractions that come with working from home.
[continue reading…]Good communication skills are essential in pretty much every aspect of life, none more so than in the workplace. Today’s workplace can be a tricky area for employees to navigate, as so many generations are now mixed together and each age group has specific ways they prefer to communicate.
[continue reading…]Christmas sales are crucial in the success of a business and is the key period of the year that determines the overall profit margin for the year, so it is vital to implement a strong business and marketing plan for the festive season to make sure that your business will continue to grow and thrive into the New Year.
[continue reading…]You’ve gone through the hard work of setting up your business and have built up a list of clients you work with on a regular basis. It’s time to begin the effort of securing relationships and setting the stage for growing your business in the future.
These days, when we think about improving productivity there’s probably a good chance that we think about automation and process improvement.
If you’re an introvert, delivering talks may not be your first choice of how to apply your skills. However, as a business owner, you’ll need to present to your teams, clients or investors whether you like it or not.
Scott McGohan, CEO at McGohan Brabender, claims that the lack of communication is every company’s major challenge. Effective workplace interaction is possible as long as productive staff members are in their proper places. Besides, small organisations usually feature unstable internal structure (at the beginning of growth), lack of cash and resources.
Have you ever dreamed of putting your toe in the water and working abroad in a sunny, relaxed place for a few weeks a year, or even working away on a permanent basis? If you’re hearing the call from your dream beach location, then you could work from there.
Technology has broken any barriers of distance and culture. Thanks to this, virtual teams are the ideal solution for small businesses or for tasks which don’t require too much human interaction. Truth be told, there are even solutions that allow people who require high degrees of interaction to work remotely with great success as well.
For any business to prosper, whether it be a small start-up or a global conglomerate, instigating a good ethic of teamwork is absolutely essential. Having good teamwork in a company can improve morale, build productivity and ultimately result in a happier, more effective and ultimately, more successful workforce and business.
Remote working has become the latest trend in employment. It has become so popular due to the multiple benefits it offers for both the individual and the business. Working from home may be a dream for many individuals so offering this option to your employees can be incredibly valuable for the company too. From previous statistics gathered by the Office of National Statistics, it was predicted that half of the UK forces would be working remotely by 2020. This number is huge and 2020 is fast approaching. Therefore, small businesses should look into allowing their staff to work remotely as soon as possible.
Trust is a vital commodity when you are running a small business. When someone in your team does work of a very poor standard, this not only potentially jeopardises your relationship with your customers, it also erodes trust and therefore needs to be handled quickly. However busy you are, you need to make time for a difficult conversation and provide honest feedback.
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Working with family means mixing business and personal life, which can be quite a difficult thing to get right. It has both its benefits and disadvantages, you just need to make sure that you are prepared for it. If you are considering hiring family or having family members as partners in your business, you need to consider how well you could work with them. Working with family can be great as well as challenging, you may bring the best out in each other or you could bring out the worst.
What is the difference between a good public speaker and a great one? What makes people want to know more about one person, and tune another one out? Although content, of course, has a lot to do with who listens to whom, something else that can make someone particularly successful at public speaking is confidence. Without it, talks can be impersonal, boring, flat, and uninspired, and all because the person giving the talk has no confidence in themselves, and what they are saying. To be a powerful public speaker, confidence is key.
When you are focusing your efforts on developing a fast growth company from the ground up it can be easy to put great customer service on the back burner. With things like fundraising, partnerships, product launches and finances all demanding attention, it can be a challenge to prioritise customer service.
Companies are increasingly recognising the benefits of team building – the beginning of 2016 actually saw record spending on team building activities in the UK. In fact, on average companies now spend £305 on activities per employee to boost morale and keep their staff happy. Traditional team building activities such as assault courses are being replaced with more creative days out, with the most popular being cooking and baking. Adventure Connections highlight the many benefits of team building in the workplace that small businesses need to take advantage of.
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Outsourcing for your small business can be a great way to save money, whether you require an individual with specific skills or just somebody to help with the extra workload. Before committing to any business decision, research needs to be carried out to find the best possible option. Outsourcing in its basic terms is the product or service from outside the business, and it’s becoming increasingly popular because it increases productivity and is cost effective.
The price of leased lines is dropping – making them more accessible and affordable. A leased line is a permanent network connection between two points; typically the local telephone exchange (also known as the PoP – the Internet Service Providers Point of Presence) and a company’s premises, and they offer an ‘uncontended service’, i.e. the connection is completely dedicated to you.
