Contributed Post | Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer | Telecom Marketing Content Writer

First Time Entrepreneur? Here’s How You Can Boost Your Chances of Success

October 30, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Starting your own business is incredibly exciting- no longer are you stuck in the rat race, you have your very own venture that actually means something to you. Not only is it satisfying to watch things grow but it’s also rewarding, so many of us dedicate our lives to earning lots of money for the big companies of the world. Starting your own business allows you to break free of this, and puts you in the driving seat. But it’s not all plain sailing, there are some things to consider if you want to maximise your chances of success. Here are a few things to bear in mind when you’re a first time entrepreneur.

First Time Entrepreneur

Gain a business qualification

If you know you’ll be setting up a business in the future, getting qualified in a business related subject first is no bad thing. This gives you a broad understanding of business, and can help you to identify pitfalls and mistakes which you’re able to avoid later. It can teach you skills that will come in useful for your own company, and generally ensure that you’re not going into things blind. While it’s possible to start a business with no knowledge (and many have managed it) there are also plenty who fail where they were completely clueless. You could do an entire business degree, or a shorter college course or even a couple of smaller courses that last a few days or weeks. Either way, gaining as much knowledge as you can ahead of time can put you in the best position so you’re ready to start up a company.

Do plenty of your own research

As well as undertaking formal training or education in business, there are lots of materials online that allow you to teach yourself too. Youtube videos, podcasts, online seminars and books can all give you additional knowledge. These search engine optimization books for example have ranked within the top ten, so could massively boost your understanding of the topic before getting started with your own business. As long as the information you’re taking in is from a reliable source, it’s a cheap and accessible way you can broaden your knowledge before going in, all guns blazing,

Be sure to delegate

If you want your company to grow, there’s no way you can do everything yourself. When you start up a business it’s easy to want to do it all, and you can struggle putting responsibility into the hands of others. However, delegation is part of being a successful leader. You need to hire the right people, and then trust them to get on with their tasks without micromanaging. Another option would be to outsource work if there’s more than what you can handle. Either way, being able to ‘let go’ and trust that you have the right people working for you is important for your success. As time goes on, you’ll become more used to this- but it’s definitely something that first time entrepreneurs can struggle with.

Going Green: Why It Benefits Your Business

October 30, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Green your business Going green should no longer be an option for anybody. Thanks to media opinion and ecological research, we should all be fully aware of the necessity to engage in eco-friendly practices to protect the world around us. We know about the importance of recycling, as this will cut down on the harmful gases released by landfill waste. We know about the importance of reducing our carbon footprint, cutting down our time on the road to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. And we know about the importance of energy conservation at home, turning off lights and appliances as another way to reduce our carbon footprint.

But while you may engage in good practice at home, are you doing enough in your business? Are you reducing your carbon footprint and committing to good practices? You should, as your reputation depends on it.

There are those industries that have long been under fire for bad practice, and you don’t want to take the same flack. However, like those industries, you can take measures to improve matters if you have fallen short. The much maligned auto industry is now implementing greener technology and sustainable fuel to claw back their reputation. And those involved in the fashion industry, who have long been blamed for environmental damage thanks to the unsustainable materials and toxic chemicals used within their garments, are now altering their ways, and are using factories such as these swimsuit manufacturers in an attempt to go greener. If they can do it, so can you!

And while you may not be working within an industry that has fallen prey to such public and government outrage, there are still things you can do on a daily basis to showcase your green credentials. You see, as well as benefiting the world we live in, going green will also benefit your business in the long term.

Why? Consider the following.

Going green will reduce your business expenses. By moving to the cloud, you won’t need to spend as much money on paper and all the associated costs, such as printing and photocopying. And by turning off appliances when you’re not using them, or by replacing them with energy-efficient alternatives, you will reduce your energy bills.

Going green will attract customers to you. You may not be thinking green yet, but many of your customers will be. We have already touched upon the need to secure a good reputation, and if you do engage in bad practices, consumer opinion will be swayed against you. However, should you make an effort to implement sustainable measures, you will attract eco-conscious customers and secure their loyalty to your brand.
Going green will improve your media image. It’s not only the consumer you need to worry about when operating your business. Not only will you turn them away from your business if you behave unethically, but you will also incur the wrath of the media at large. You want to make the news for all the right reasons, but if your business comes under fire for negatively affecting the environment, the news headlines about you will not be kind.
Going green will help you beat your business rivals. Going back to the consumer again, who are they likely to choose? The company that has made an effort to go green or the company who still refuses to? The business world is very competitive, but by enforcing eco-friendly principles across your operations, you stand a better chance at beating your nearest business rivals.
Going green will attract the best employees. A green workplace is high on the agenda for the millennial workforce, so if you’re looking to attract the freshest new faces from college and university, know that your company will be attractive to those looking to work for somebody who is ethically sound.
Going green will improve employee morale. If your employees know that you care for the environment, they are less likely to leave you in favour of a company who has more green credentials. And the happier they are, the more productive they will be. That, of course, will lead to greater company profits.

There are other reasons why going green will aid your business. You may be eligible for government awards for your good practice, for example, and there may also be taxable benefits you can claim too. The advantages to you are many. But by going green, everybody wins. You win, because you have earned a good reputation, and that will lead to a higher profit margin. The consumer wins, because they know they are giving their money to a business that cares. And your community wins, because you are doing your bit to protect the environment. In short, going green is a no-brainer! So, if you haven’t made steps to go green yet, perhaps today is the day you made a start.

How to Sharpen Your Focus

October 29, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

It is so easy to go through your daily life constantly distracted by something. Most of the time it isn’t even really important, we just deem it to be a little bit more important than what we are doing. You might be in the office, at your desk about to get started but you hear your workmates chatting in the coffee room. Or, you are mid-conversation with a friend and hear your emails go off, pop them open and nod while not really listening to your friend. One that is increasingly common is sitting at the lights, grab your mobile phone for a moment, next thing you know the driver behind is honking their horn and you hit the gas a touch too fast (now you’re getting sued for driver negligence too).

Good performance is about the capacity to focus and concentrate – Betty Buckley

So it is time to get to work on your focus. Getting distracted is something no one should really be proud of. Avoiding distractions is just that start, getting yourself into the habit of concentrating for longer than 5 minute periods is what you’re going to start with.

Sharpen Your Focus

Every day, you need to get intentional. Name your goals, or write them down. What do you want to get done by the end of the day? What projects in your working life do you need to clear? Don’t do this while brushing your teeth, set a space out to dedicate to it. Think of it as the first step to getting that focus in order.

Next, only pick three things to complete every day. If you do more, then great, but, in general, we stretch ourselves too thinly and that is when we make mistakes, get burned out or stress headaches.

Control the external factors where you can. For example, the chances are you check your phone multiple times an hour, you hear your email notification and pick it up to read. Whatsapp, texting and scrolling Facebook. You might’ve even got a bit of a shock with the new iPhone notification about just how much screen time you’re using. You can download an application that will lock your phone for certain periods of the day that you set. If you aren’t comfortable with that, put it on silent and leave it somewhere else for a little while. Let people know what you are doing, and they are less likely to get in touch with you unless it is vital.

Tame your wandering mind. Get in the zone by dedicating one space to work, and your brain will start to naturally focus when you’re in that area. You could also employ some great focusing techniques. Pomodoro is one of the most popular, it helps combat the Parkinson’s Law (that we all suffer from).

Upping your focus doesn’t have an overnight fix, but with a few tweaks, you can be a lean, mean, laser focused machine.

The Tell-Tale Signs It’s Time To Leave Your Job

October 29, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

When is it time for a job change?

We can all go through bad phases at work every now and then but, thankfully, these are usually days or weeks that get us down. These bad patches never seem to last for more than a couple of weeks. Once you get over yours, you’ll feel comfortable in your role at work again. But what happens when that doesn’t happen, and your bad patch seems to continue for a few months? In this case, it might be time to start looking for a better job elsewhere. Of course, that is just one sign that it might be time to quit your job. Here are some of the other tell-tale signs.

You’ve Got A Terrible Boss

How is your relationship with your boss? This is the most important relationship you will experience at work, and if things don’t work out between the two of you, it could be extremely difficult to settle into life at their company. In some cases, a bad boss might even try to prematurely terminate your contract or harass you. If that is the case, you will need to consider the laws dealing with employment as you might be within your rights to take your employer to court. And that could gain you a lot of compensation!

You’re Not Interested In The Work Or Company

How do you find the work you have to carry out on a day to day basis? If you are always bored at your desk, then you need to move on to a job that better suits your interests and passions. One reason for this might be that you have no interest in what the company does. If this is the case, then it really is time to find a company to work for that you have a lot more passion for.

You Aren’t Financially Stable

The whole point of having a job is so that you can gain an income and financially support yourself. However, if your job is quite poorly paid, then your finances might not be in a good position at all. As a result, might be in a difficult position in life, but that could be greatly improved if you decide to look for a better-paid job elsewhere.

It’s Made Your Health Worse

We can all get a little stressed at work from time to time, which is entirely normal. However, if your work is extremely stressful, and you find that it starts to bother your overall health, then it is high time you got out of there. Find a job that isn’t as stressful so that you can relax a little and enjoy a healthier life.

You Can’t Improve

Every job needs to have a path that you can follow to work yourself up through the company. If yours doesn’t, then you won’t be able to experience any personal improvement, and your career will be stagnant for the whole time you are with the company.

Does one of the above signs sound familiar to you? If so, then you might want to start job hunting!

4 Benefits of Inventory Management Strategies to Improve Bottom Line

October 28, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Inventory Management

Does your business need a solution for managing inventory? Check out these four benefits which efficient and accurate inventory management strategies provide.

Believe it or not, in the average workplace, your staff is going to be productive for less than three hours per day.

While this might seem absurd, you need to think about all the ways that you could be making it hard for your employees to be productive. If you implement strong inventory management strategies, you could double or even triple that number.

Here are four ways to change the way your warehouse does business from a day to day standpoint.

1. A More Organized Warehouse

If you’re in the business of distributing products, whether business to business or directly to consumers, you know the importance of efficiency. You know all too well that time is money and that the more efficient you make your system for your staff, the faster you can fulfill orders. When you fulfill orders quickly, you make your customers happy.

By not hitting snags related to your inventory, you can ensure everything behind the curtain happens without customers noticing.

Managing your inventory with warehouse management software gives you the ability to have an organized warehouse. When you organize your warehouse, your staff and employees can get around efficiently, putting together orders easily because you’ve built a strong system.

You can optimize your warehouse by ensuring your top selling products are easy to get to. Save time by putting complimentary products together to simplify order fulfillment. Speedy fulfillment can give you a good reputation and earn you great reviews.

Since reviews are a way of life for most business online, if you sell online, you need lots of good reviews to keep building your customer base.

2. Save Time and Money

There’s time to be saved and money to be made by having an organized inventory.

You need a strong relationship between how much inventory you have on hand and how much your digital systems record. This way you can reorder before you run out but don’t waste space with any excess.

Keep track of what you have on hand and how many have been ordered so that you don’t have to do any recounts. With good organization, you’ll have a more accurate count of what you have in stock. Stopping the workflow or paying for overtime so that you can perform a recount is a huge waste of time and money.

However, warehouses have to recount their stock all the time, because of inefficient systems and lack of organization. Keep a close watch on your inventory and you don’t have to do any unnecessary recounting.

Every warehouse has slow-moving and fast-moving products. With a good management system, you’ll get notifications about products that haven’t moved and you can add discounts. Go the extra mile with slow-moving products, especially ones that expire, and offer them as a freebie to your best customers to get them to order in the future.

Check out the system that inFlow offers you in order to keep a close watch on inventory.

3. Accurate Orders

Every fulfillment center keeps track of their order accuracy with a near-obsessive eye. That’s because it gives you a measurement of customer satisfaction and employee performance all in one.

When you give your customers accurate orders, they will never have a reason to complain. If your customers are having to call you, return items, or get what they wanted to have sent to them, you’ll have to deal with potentially losing customers.

Attracting customers costs time, money, and lots of effort on your part. Don’t lose them to a weak inventory management system because you don’t have items when you need them.

Product shortages mean you’re going to have to write an email that your customers aren’t excited to see, telling them they can’t have what they want. Telling someone that they can’t have what they want is hard enough, but if they’ve already paid for it, you’re in for problems.

Your responsible for what’s in your warehouse at any given point. Don’t leave your customers disappointed.

Repeat customers are hard to come by. With a strong inventory management system, those hard-earned clients and customers won’t have any reason not to order again.

Show them you’re ready to meet their needs quickly and efficiently by always having what they need. A strong inventory management system ensures customers can always get what they need. That’s all your customers want from you at the end of the day.

4. Be More Productive

At all times, you should be trying to streamline your company’s workflow. You need to make everything easier for your warehouse staff so that they can move with lightning speed.

Keep lots of inventory management tools on site, like barcode scanners that are synchronized with inventory management software. This way, you can improve your productivity and keep things moving efficiently. While on the ground, staff will have everything they need on hand and you’ll be able to keep an eye on inventory.

You can reorder before you run out and keep your staff and customers happy. When you keep your staff happy by giving them everything they need to get through the day, you make work easier for everyone.

Eliminate manual processes with scanners and software. This way, you can allow your employees to focus on the most important parts of their job. Productivity will skyrocket with the right system in place.

Inventory Management Strategies Are a Must

No matter what industry you’re in, if you’re distributing products through a warehouse, you need to optimize your system.

Every second, every extra step, that your employees take in fulfilling orders, they could be working on their next order. Inventory management strategies that enhance their workflow will make you the most productive warehouse in your region.

If you’re expanding your market in the near future, check out our guide for what you need to think about first.