Archives for March 2022

Improving The Effectiveness Of Your Independent Tech Support Business

March 12, 2022 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Running a business is no small feat, and when your business’ whole aim is to assist others, the chances are you’ll be getting a lot of business from other companies. One area of expertise that is incredibly important and popular, especially today, is tech support. If your business is focused and specialized in the delivery of technical assistance to larger businesses, no matter the technology they use, then you’re likely to be very busy. However, the popularity of your service comes with one major drawback. Meeting demand and increasing efficiency is not as easy as it may seem, so we’ve listed a few things to help you deal with this.

Enhance Your User Experience
Whether your business is useful and provides clients with a great service or not, it may dissuade new customers from choosing to use your services if they find it difficult to utilize that service. To prevent this from happening, you should improve your site design and, ultimately, the user experience when using your services. This can include the initial landing page and every step of the process, such as customer services, the user’s dashboard, and even account and payment settings. Try to make every step easier for your customers, and you may find your business growing even more.

Streamline Your Processes
Your success and efficiency are going to be heavily influenced by how well your processes are streamlined. While every business will have different ways of doing things, there are ways in which you can improve and streamline your service as much as possible. Automated systems are a great way to do this, as they can enable your team of techs to focus solely on completing their tickets rather than figuring out which one needs to be done next. Auto dispatching for ConnectWise ticketing is a very useful system offered in part by ServiceTree. This is an extension for the Chrome browser and allows you to automatically send out the most relevant tickets to your technicians, ensuring that those with the right skills and knowledge are given tickets that they can complete and remove their ability to pick their preferred tickets. It also automatically reschedules tickets that aren’t completed or when there’s a delay so that everything stays in order. ServiceTree currently only integrates with ConnectWise, but they are constantly evolving so keep your eye out for any changes in the near future.

Offer Varying Packages
The more businesses that work with you, the harder it will be to decide who gets the majority of your time and effort. One way of dealing with this is to offer different packages within a tiered pricing model. A basic package must still be beneficial to most businesses and will include a standard timeframe for tech support tickets to be completed as opposed to a longer timeframe than usual. It’s imperative that you don’t reduce the quality of your service in any way for the basic package, and instead, simply offer more perks and bonuses to the higher packages. In theory, most people will choose the basic one, allowing you to better spread out your tickets and deadlines. Ideally, you don’t want hundreds of ticket deadlines to be on the same day, or your team is going to risk getting overwhelmed.

10 Frugal Living Tips You Should Adopt Right Now!

March 12, 2022 by Guest Post Leave a Comment

Is being frugal the same as being cheap? Absolutely not! Being cheap is buying the lowest-priced item without considering its quality. Frugality, on the other hand, is evaluating your needs and wants and choosing to spend your hard-earned money on things that really matter to you.

A frugal lifestyle doesn’t necessarily mean putting tight restraints on your spending or missing out on things that make life so wonderful. Frugal living is being cautious with how you spend your money.

Being frugal means that you know your priorities and values and are aware of what you need to do to achieve the most important things in your life. It also means that you are smart enough to identify what things are less important and put a financial restraint in those areas.

Frugal living is of paramount importance more now than ever. Be wise with money and try these tips for frugal living:

1. Make a Budget

Budgeting is one of the oldest and the most effective financial advice. A realistic budget helps you track your spending and cut down on unnecessary expenses.

2. Build an Emergency Fund

Emergencies don’t come knocking; they just strike when you least expect them. The best way to deal with emergencies is to be financially prepared for them. That’s where the emergency fund comes in. Set aside a certain percentage of your monthly income towards your emergency fund. Financial experts recommend saving at least 3 to 6 months of your living expense in your emergency fund. And this fund should be assessed only in emergencies. For other non-emergency cash crunch situations, consider taking a personal loan.

3. Minimal or No Cost Entertainment

Look at low-cost or no-cost forms of entertainment. Some free entertainment ideas include:

Neighbourhood park
Hike
Volunteer work
Picnic

4. Avoid Impulse Buying

Creating your budget (point 1) will make you realise how much of your money is spent on impulsive buying. Surprisingly, it’s quite a lot. The simple solution to avoid impulsive buying is to make a list of items you need and always stick to that list.

5. Sell What You Don’t Need

Most of us have things in abundance – clothes, books, toys or shoes – usually more than we need. It’s a good idea to downsize and clear off the clutter. Sell these things online via various reselling websites like Poshmark, eBay or Facebook Marketplace.

6. Automate Your Savings and Investments

With so many things going on in your life, it’s quite possible to lose focus on keeping up with your finances. That being said, you should never lose an opportunity to save money or invest every month. The best way to ensure is to automate savings and investments.

7. Avoid Credit Card Debt

Although a credit card is an incredible financial tool, it can be extremely expensive. If you don’t pay the balance in full each month, it’s easy to rack up unnecessary credit card debt. Avoiding credit card debt by minimising its use and paying it off in full each month is one of the key frugal living tips.

8. Lower Your Electricity Usage

Lowering your consumption of electricity is one of the best ways to live frugally. You can avoid electricity wastage and save money by:

Only using fans and ACs when it’s hot.
Switching off the lights or TV when you are not using it.

9. Buy Reusable Items

It’s not wise to spend your money on ‘use and throw’ items like disposable plates, food containers, spoons, kitchen tissue rolls, etc. Wise spending would be using your money to buy plates, spoons, and cleaning cloths that can be washed and reused.

10. Cook Meals at Home

This is a great habit, not only for frugality but also for health. Cooking meals at home saves a significant amount of money by reducing ordering takeaways and eating out.

Leverage the Benefits of Frugal Living

A frugal life helps you achieve financial freedom more quickly by pushing you to achieve your financial goals much faster. Every time you make a cautious decision to spend less on something, you put the money saved towards things that matter most to you. The best part about frugal living is you decide what’s worthy of your money.

Frugal living is not a sacrifice. It is, rather, a conscious decision to enjoy what you really care about in life. When you have financial freedom, you can spend the money on things you really care about. Try our frugal living tips and get inspired to live a life you always wanted.

Author Bio:

Tanya Singh works as a Content Marketer at LoanTube – a loan comparison marketplace where borrowers can connect with multiple lenders via a convenient and transparent application. She writes about topics related to personal finance and loans helping her readers in making smart decisions when they need to borrow. Yoga brings her inner peace and strength, and travelling brings her joy (besides her work of course).

How To Make Your Employee Communications More Productive

March 12, 2022 by Guest Post Leave a Comment

Photo by Alexander Suhorucov from Pexels

Did you know disengagement in the workplace costs US companies over $300 billion every year? The number is shocking. However, what’s more shocking is the fact that it takes regular and consistent communication to engage employees in the workplace. Communication is one of those aspects that demand constant effort to be productive and yield results. That’s why we’ve gathered some tips for you to improve communication and make the organization more successful.

Invest in Innovative Tools

Workplaces are adopting the hybrid model. Employees come to the office a few days a week and spend the rest of the week working from home. To combine remote and onset work effectively, you need innovative and reliable tools. Luckily for you, you can use the same tools for both work modes. The tools can help you assign and delegate tasks, check individual and team progress, assist in problem-solving among other things. Then, you can use them for video conferences and text messaging. Since most tools have overlapping functionalities, define how you and your team will use every tool.

Craft Corporate Newsletter

When employees work in the same office, they have direct access to the newest information regarding projects, clients, and corporate events. However, when they switch to remote work, keeping abreast with the current affairs becomes more difficult. To solve this communicative problem, you should give employees a dedicated place where they can look for relevant information. One of many great options is crafting an internal corporate newsletter and sending it via email once or twice a month. You can divide the newsletter into sections giving every department enough space to share news and content. This way you’re not only communicating across different organizational levels but also creating an archive for future reference.

Collect Feedback

One of the ways to continuously improve employee communication is through collecting feedback. It allows you to actively and effectively shape the way they work, engage, and interact in the workplace. More importantly, once you receive feedback, you have the opportunity to act on it right away and make necessary improvements. Therefore, encourage your staff to give and receive feedback while openly communicating with each other. You can also make feedback a part of your workplace culture to make it worthwhile. Another great way of collecting feedback is through anonymous polls or surveys. It might make them open up and make suggestions they usually wouldn’t in public.

Find Time for Bonding

Like most teams, yours too probably worked remotely during the pandemic. This work arrangement has affected your staff more than you can imagine. Although they communicated a lot, they’ve grown distant. Then, they’ve become disengaged from work activities and unmotivated to meet expectations. One of the best ways to break loneliness is to encourage them to bond and strengthen their social and personal relationships. The more they know about each other, the better and more effective they communicate. More importantly, there are fewer conflicts you have to resolve and mistakes you have to correct. Bring back the pre-pandemic rituals such as drinking coffee in the morning as a team or chatting by the water cooler.

Make Expectations and Deadlines Clear

Working remotely for over two years has caused most employees to slack or procrastinate at times. The choice of home office had something to do with it. When you work from the bedroom or kitchen, you tend to get easily distracted. Now that your team is back in their old offices, they might struggle to try to get back to the old regime. What could help them get back on track is having their team leaders make deadlines and expectations crystal clear. Clarity is what makes communication effective no matter what the circumstances are. For this reason, be as clear as possible when setting expectations. This way, you’re helping employees do their jobs more responsibly and efficiently.

Check in On Your Staff

Another way of bonding and making communication more efficient is checking in on your staff. Whether they’re working remotely or in the office, it doesn’t matter. You can still check in on them and see how they’re doing. Sparing a few minutes every day could help you and your team discuss non-work-related things. For example, you’ve heard an employee has bought a place of their own. It’s a huge transition and all the renovating and decorating could make them lose focus. You can approach them and see if there’s something you can do to help them balance work and private life better.

Conclusion

Good communication is the solution for employee disengagement and other problems in the workplace. If you and your team communicate successfully, they’ll feel willing to engage in workplace activities. With these tips, you’ll become better communicators thus achieving business goals easier.

Author bio:

Stella van Lane is a Sydney based mom and a passionate writer in love with coffee, chocolate, music, books and good vibes. Her top interests are business, technology, health etc.

Follow her on Twitter

Things to Consider When Starting a Hotel Business

March 12, 2022 by Diana Smith Leave a Comment

Being a part of the hospitality industry is one of the best ways to make a living, and it’s also one of those things that give you tons of freedom and ideas you can explore in lots of different ways. From restaurants and cafes to pubs and hotels, you can do everything you want, as long as you’re creative and focused on your work. In case you’d like to start a hotel, for instance, you have to consider many things and solve lots of problems before you get started. Therefore, here are some of the most important issues you should look into when starting a hotel business.

Choose the location

Finding the perfect location for your new business is one of the hardest things in the world, and this is particularly true in the hospitality industry. With so many establishments already everywhere around you, finding an empty location that’s far away from all your competition sounds impossible, but it’s not. Some of the things you need to do include checking out local businesses in the area, thinking about the traffic, and checking the previous history of the location. These things will help you determine whether this is the right choice for you or not, so start focusing on them right now.

Find the Right Supplier

Finding reliable suppliers is essential when starting a hotel anywhere in the world but if you are starting a hotel in Dubai it is even more critical. The right supplier is going to play a major role in ensuring smooth operations and high-quality services.

With the abundance of options available, selecting the best hotel supplies Dubai requires some strategic consideration. Firstly, it is essential that they have knowledge of Dubai’s market. It is also beneficial to work with suppliers who understand the local preferences and regulatory requirements that you have to meet when running a hotel in Dubai.

All of this can play a major role in the experience of your guests. Giving your guests the best experience possible while in Dubai is key to the long-term survival of your hotel, so whatever you are sourcing, be it cutlery, wine or even champagne glasses. Make sure that you choose a reputable hotel supplier.

Another consideration is flexibility. Hotels often face fluctuating demands, so finding suppliers with adaptable order volumes is beneficial for managing costs and avoiding excess inventory.

It is a lot to consider but if you take the time to carefully think about what the needs of your hotel are, no matter what region you are in, you will find the right supplier for it. When it comes to the hotel industry having that touch of class and elegance in your establishment is key. It is the only way that you can distinguish yourself from the competition in an effective way.

Work on your brand

Again, getting into the hotel industry is hard because of all those amazing hotels already around you, and the only way to become a part of this world is to work on your brand image and be unique. This is easier than it sounds, though, and it all comes down to thinking outside the box and finding solutions that haven’t been used yet. From a cool logo to a powerful tagline, these things will make all the difference in your hotel’s future and they’ll help you attract people who might be interested in staying with you and spending money on your services.

Insist on comfortable rooms

The biggest issue you have to look into is the standard of your service – the comfort of your rooms and the quality of your food. If these two things aren’t perfect, people won’t stay at your hotel and you’ll never reach the heights you’ve been hoping for. When it comes to rooms, make sure they’re maintained properly and that every inch of space is used properly. You also need to create a maintenance schedule and find a plumber and an electrician who will help you make that happen. While most people stick to professionals in their area only, you can look elsewhere too – if you’re in Australia, for instance, you might check out a plumber from Sutherland Shire who will do everything for you, from repairing your showers to stopping your leaks, and that’s the kind of service every hotel needs!

Work on your marketing

If you wish to attract people and keep them coming back, you need to come up with a great marketing technique. This is an issue lots of business owners can’t deal with, but if you’re creative and not afraid to try out new things, you can find a marketing approach that’s going to work for you. Some of the ideas to look into are working on your SEO score, focusing on your social media feed, and embracing the holiday spirit by altering your marketing approach to suit a particular season and different holidays. This will make you cool and unique, and that’s great when you’re starting a new hotel business.

Though they sound hard, these things are simple and easy to turn into reality, so start doing that right now and have a great time running your hotel!

Top Tips For Launching Your Own Healthcare Company

March 11, 2022 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

According to a recent report, the number of healthcare workers experiencing burnout has risen from 30-50% to 40-70%. While this rise can be attributed to the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, poor employee retention and burnout have been major concerns within the healthcare industry for a while. This is because those working in healthcare are often overworked and underpaid.

However, many people do not enter the healthcare industry due to the wages but rather due to the fact that they want to help others and make a real difference in their lives. This means that they often reluctant to leave their jobs or consider a

career change, even when things are tough.

Photo by Yusuf Belek on Unsplash

If you fall into this description, it’s important to remember that there are plenty of options out there for you to pursue. For example, you could start your own healthcare business – whether you’re a nutritionist or dentist! Here are some top tips to get you started.

Medical Qualifications are key. It goes without saying that people will not (and should not) receive healthcare advice or support from someone who is not qualified to give them this advice. As such, if you want to start your own business, you must ensure that you are appropriately qualified, even if that means you have to go back to school for a little while.

Additional training can make all of the difference. While you may already have a dentistry degree under your belt, completing a range of additional training courses can add credibility to your brand while also enhancing the services you have on offer. For example, you could participate in a Dental Handpiece Sterilization course to ensure that you can keep your dental practice as clean and hygienic as possible – keeping your customers happy (and safe). You may also want to sign up for some business management classes.

Refine your hiring process. When you are first starting out in business, hiring employees may be one of the biggest challenges you face. After all, it can be hard to know on paper whether or not someone is the right fit for your team. As a result, you must refine the hiring process as much as possible. Go into the process with a clear idea of what you are looking for (in relation to both qualifications and personal attributes), and seek out employees that demonstrate all of this and more. You should also ensure that you always check references before hiring someone.

Put together a business plan. While you will have likely already have some experience within your chosen field (meaning you know what your day-to-day practices should look like), it’s vital that you put together a business plan ahead of time. This will provide you with structure and will also help you ensure that your practices align with your goals, helping you to grow your business in no time at all. Without a plan, you may find that you lack direction, focus, and structure – which could bring around the end of your company.