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

3 Effective Tips for Simplifying Your Professional Life

October 25, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Simplifying Your Professional Life

It often seems that our professional lives run away from us and end up being vastly out of control. In fact, it would be hard to argue that this wasn’t the norm experienced by the vast majority of professionals in the world today, including employees and employers alike, and spanning all industries.

When you’re working hard — and particularly in the fast-paced and hyper-connected modern business environment that we all find ourselves operating in — tasks just add up, things seem to go wrong, and issues build up at a rapidly accelerated rate.

Things become too chaotic — or, in other words — things become too complex.

And, as the authors of the hit productivity book, The One Thing, point out, your success in business is influenced to a large degree by your ability to focus your energies on core goals, rather than having to put out fires everywhere, all the time.

Bearing that in mind, here are some tips for simplifying your professional life.

Use scheduler services to organise meetings without fuss

Organising meetings, booking rooms, and ensuring that important discussions are had at the right time, and at the right place, with the right people — in a way that creates the right impression — is a major element of virtually all forms of business today.

The thing is, the process of organising all of this can quickly become chaotic, wildly complex, and may take a lot more time and energy out of your day than you would otherwise like to spare.

Room scheduler services exist, in large part, to help take care of this task for you and free up some of that priceless time and energy for you to spend elsewhere.

Timeblock your day as much as possible for essential tasks, and say “no” wherever possible

Whenever a survey is done of the success secrets of influential figures in business, a recurring theme emerges. All of these people are very good at setting aside significant chunks of time during their day to devote to a particular, pressing issue, and they’re all very good at saying “no” to things of lower importance.

In fact, a quote attributed to Warren Buffet states that “the difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything”.

Focus on your top priorities for the day, and schedule a substantial block of time for them. To the greatest extent that you’re able to, say “no” to less pressing tasks.

Keep your to-dos organised with the help of a task and project management system

You simply cannot expect to remain on top of things if you don’t have an effective system for gathering today and weighing the importance of your to-dos, as well as managing your projects. Doing it all on the fly is untenable — you’ll constantly be playing catch-up and the chaos will likely overwhelm you.

David Allen has created the “Getting Things Done” method, which is famously used by high-ranking business professionals all around the world.

Adopt that, or an equally effective task management system, to really get a handle on things.

How to Keep Your Innovative Business Ideas Under Wraps

October 24, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

When you come up with your latest business idea it can be very easy to run around and shout it to the whole world; it’s something you are incredibly proud of, so why shouldn’t you sing about it with glee? The truth is there are so many people out there who are willing to steal those ideas straight from your hands, so be careful about what you are doing. There are so many ways you can improve your business and keep your ideas under wraps, whether you’re trying to recruit the right people for your company or learn how to protect yourself better, these ideas will help you along the way to a safer and happier business life.

Get Protected

Anyone can hop onto your wonderful website and start stealing words, pictures and ideas from your company. Have you ever thought about protecting yourself even further and finding a way to deter these business criminals? You might want to research dmca takedown service provider, so that you aren’t getting your content stolen. This type of foul play is happening all across the world each and every day, so don’t let your business be the victim to this.

Protecting your business ideas

Don’t Blab in Public

You might be sat on the train making an excitable call to your business partner, parent or wife, but who knows who could be sitting next to you eavesdropping. You could be spilling vital information about your ideas and business goals, leaving them open for public consumption and theft. If you have to discuss confidential information then make sure you do it in a private place where nobody can hear what you are talking about. This is the same for reading out bank details and passwords; you should never discuss this type of private content over the phone.

Make Sure You Trust Your Employees

When you hire a new employee you want to make sure they are the most trustworthy person in the world. If you feel like you can’t talk to them about your new business idea, then they might not be the person for your team. You need to have complete faith in everybody who walks through your office doors everyday, so make sure you don’t make the mistake of hiring a blabber mouth or snitch. Keep all private and confidential ideas to the more senior members of staff in the first instance, so that you can keep your business circle as tight knit as possible.

Secure Your Data

When you leave your laptop unattended to nip to the bathroom or you scribble down your new password on a post-it note, you are basically asking for people to come and steal your private data. Keep every ounce of important information under lock and key so that you aren’t leaving yourself open to snooping eyes and criminals.

Overall, you want all of your innovative business ideas to be kept under wraps until they are out for sale to the public; even then you don’t want people to be copying your ideas. Take into account all of this information and you will soon have a safer and more secure business instantly.

How to Make Sure You Recruit The Right People

October 23, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Recruit the right people

If you’re expanding your empire and are in a position to recruit staff to join your business, then you’ll know that making the right choice can feel like a minefield. It’s a big decision as ultimately people are what make up your business

If you’re in this position then you will need to consider these four vital aspects to ensure you get the certainty you require that you are making a good choice. After all, recruitment isn’t something you should take lightly, as once someone is contractually employed it can be challenging to let them go – which is why it’s so important to make the right choice, first time, every time.

There’s a reason so many people choose to outsource this onerous task to a professional recruiting company as there are many time saving benefits in addition to being able to leverage the expertise and processes of an external company that specialise in this one specific area. However, many small business owners want to be much more involved with the process, meaning they go it alone and do it themselves.

Here are three pointers to help ensure you recruit the right people:

GET CLEAR ON WHO YOU ARE LOOKING FOR

When it comes to advertising for a job and trying to fill a role, the most important ingredient you require to be successful is clarity – as unless you know exactly what you are looking for and are able to articulate a clear description in a job advert, things are going to get very confusing and incongruent.

You don’t want to rely on your gut instinct when recruiting people, of course, utilise this intuitive power but don’t rely solely on it. The need for getting clarity in all aspects of your business is high, but it becomes even more important when looking for the right candidates; so spend some time drafting your candidate criteria and really think about it.

INTERVIEW IN A VARIETY OF WAYS

You want to interview people in a variety of ways, as people have different strengths and will shine in different aspects of the interview process – for instance, someone faced with a panel interview where they have to give a presentation might make them freeze and lose their composure, but that’s not to say this isn’t an ideal candidate – just that they are nervous and intimidated by the process.

This is why task based interviews offer a more holistic insight into the person, as you can watch them interact with others and see how they manage tasks, especially creative problem solving skills.

THOROUGHLY CHECK THEM OUT

Last but not least is that you want to thoroughly check out a small number of shortlisted candidates, as it’s very easy to talk the talk, but you need to ensure they have walked the walk before – and that their CV isn’t fiction.

In summary, you want to make sure you are crystal clear on the type of person you are looking for, interview them in different ways, and thoroughly check out the shortlisted candidates backgrounds.

Expanding Your Empire – What Are The Options?

October 22, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Building the business to the point where it is making a profit is something that should fill you with immense pride. However, it’s important to keep things moving in the right direction. When the timing is right, expanding the empire is crucial.

There was more than one option open when it came to building the empire, and there’s more than one option now you wish to expand it. Here are five of the best ways to make things bigger and better than ever.

Acquire A New Business

Whether it’s buying a competing brand to incorporate it under the umbrella of your business or start a fresh idea doesn’t matter. Buying another business is a great way to expand your empire without having to start afresh. If you run an electrician firm, you could look at a commercial plumbing company for sale. It may be worth rebranding the new acquisition, or perhaps you’ll let things continue as they are. Either way, the extra source of revenue can work wonders.

Go International

If the business has started out as a success in the local area, it might be time to expand. While international online sales is clearly an option, it pays to have a presence in other countries too. Turning the company into a franchise is a fantastic way to do this without increasing your workload by any significant level. As long as you connect with the right people, additional profits will be assured. Even if you only take a low percentage, it’s a wonderful solution.

There are some additional things to think about when you expand your business into other countries. You’ll need to think about the language, for one thing, but also ensure that any local customs and business processes are adhered to. It’s usually best to hire a specialist to help you. For example, if you were expanding a gaming company into new territories, you could search for mobile game localization, and so on. Asking for help from those with the experience and knowledge is never a bad thing, especially when it comes to something as important as global expansion.

Take On More Staff

It’s hard to increase the productivity without taking on extra employees. However, this can be quite daunting if you aren’t ready to increase the size of the office or working properties. Hiring remote workers is a great option, though, especially when you know how to manage freelancers in a winning fashion. So, if it allows you to take on more staff and complete more work, grab this opportunity with both hands. There’s nothing worse than missing the boat in this manner. Seek Crowd Support

Money is usually the main obstacle standing in the way of your business and the prospect of expansion. Even with the success of your story so far, traditional lending might not be possible. If you look at crowdfunding, though, it may be possible to raise the funds from your customers and prospective new clients. Aside from clearing the financial hurdle, it can be the best way to secure interest in the new products or services that will be used in the expansion.

Increase Customer Flexibility

Everything you do in business should be geared towards the customer. Therefore, one of the best ways to expand the venture is to think about giving the option of splitting their payments over a plan. This will require using a credit agency to ensure that you avoid getting mistreated by dishonest clients. Moreover, it may be necessary to use a line of credit that is based on the invoices to maintain good cash flow. Get it right, though, and you’ll be destined for a smoother expansion.

Job done.

Convincing Customers to Buy

October 18, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Buy, Customer Focus

It is easier than ever to set up an online business and it can be done in a very short time. The problem is making sales, and once you have those customers, convincing them to buy again. There will always be a lot of one-off customers who never return, that is just the nature of business. You want to make sure as many as possible do come back though, so how can you convince customers to buy?

Make It an Easy Experience

Your website needs to be as user-friendly as possible. If potential customers have difficulty navigating the pages, they will soon move on to one of your competitors.

Your site also needs to be appealing and attractive to the eye. It is estimated that you have just 4 seconds to grab someone’s attention so that they look closer. Search almost anything these days and you get many thousands of results. Because of this, if they do not like the look of your site it is very easy for them to find another.

Look at your site from their point of view. Is it easy to move around, find the information you need, or to order the goods? You may think it is a wonderful site nut if the user experience is not good, customers will not return.

Get Your Prices Right

Pitching your price at the right level is vital It needs to be high enough for you to cover all your costs and expenses, but low enough to attract the customers. This can be a difficult thing to get just right, as there could be many similar products already on the market. www.frigginyeah.com can help you to price your products competitively, and save you the hassle of spending hours searching through data about other concerns. The

Encourage Interaction

Encourage interaction with your customers, either by having them set up profiles or through social media. When people interact with you they feel as though you are one of their friends. They would always rather buy from someone they know than from a stranger. This is a good way to build trust in your products and to get them recommended to others.

Provide Excellent Customer Support

An online business provides 24-hour customer service. People do not expect responses in the middle of the night, but their queries are not restricted by opening times. If you cannot respond to any query straight away, deal with as soon as possible.

People will often pay a little more for a product if the customer service excels, and they are more likely to be a repeat customer.

Accept Multiple Payment Methods

Multiple payment methods are a must if you want to convince customers to buy. Internet security is a serious matter and many consumers are not happy leaving details on a site. Online businesses that accept multiple payment methods constantly rank among the highest in search engine results.

Avoid linking payments information directly to user accounts, as this will make users very wary. There are so many accounts of Internet fraud in the media that everyone needs to feel their bank details are safe.