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

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4 Legal Battles Your Small Business May Have To Face

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One of the priorities that you may have overlooked as a small business owner is the fact that you may have some legal battles to face at some point. Legal headaches are not to be overlooked, though, because not only do they cause you stress as a business owner, they can seriously damage your business’ reputation and how well you do in the future.

No one wants to hear about a business local to them getting into hot water with the law, but as a business owner, you’re going to be the last person who wants to be put into that position. It’s important, therefore, that you have your ducks in a row. You need to have back up plans for back up plans in case of litigation, so that you can avoid a huge hit to your bottom line. With that in mind, you need to think about which legal battles you could face at some point and how you would handle those if you did come across them. Below, you’ll find four of the most common legal battles that your small business could face someday and what to do.

Business Legal Battles

Upset Employees. There are a lot of laws surrounding what you can and cannot do when it comes to the treatment of your employees, and one of those things surrounds wrongful termination. A contract should always be laid out crystal clear before you bring someone on board to your business, because the last thing that you need landing on your desk is a request from a workman’s comp attorney landing on your desk. Ensuring that all legal obligations from your side are listed clearly can help you to stay in control in a crisis.

Intellectual Property. Most businesses don’t worry about intellectual data being an issue, but it’s something that should be on your radar – it’s not just the big businesses that have issues with intellectual property rights. You should ensure that your property is not going to be copied and ripped off by making certain that trademarks and copyrights and patents are sorted on time.

Unhappy Customers. You don’t want unhappy staff pulling lawsuits, but even worse – unhappy customers. If a customer is unhappy enough, you could find yourself in legal hot water. Always try to diffuse customer disputes before they become a legal issue, and make sure that you are paid up with insurance for your business premises, just in case.

Mishandled Taxes. It’s so important for you to have the right information for your tax returns and while your accountant will do this for you, it’s worth educating yourself on your own money. Financial issues can see you in deep water with the IRS, and there’s no need to put yourself in that position at all if you’re smart about your paperwork. Be meticulous and avoid the legal fallout.

All businesses come up against something at some point – it’s just a matter of ensuring it’s handled as swiftly as possible.

5 Ways to Improve Your Project Management Skills

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Project Management Training

Project management is as complex as it is crucial. Doing well in one aspect of the project has little benefit if the other critical path tasks aren’t completed in time. Conversely, upping your game in project management can truly allow you to do more with less. Here are five ways to improve your project management skills.

Improve Your Communication Skills

Communication skills are one of the most important skills a manager can have. This is what allows you to clearly communicate what you want done and when. There are fewer mistakes when everyone understands what to do and who is to do it. There are fewer delays, since everyone understands the timetable, task list and overarching vision. You’ll get the exact resources you need when you can effectively communicate with subcontractors and C-suite executives. Your customers will have reasonable expectations when they understand what they’re getting and when, and they will be more likely to point out issues before they become a serious problem.

Communication skills are not just presentation skills or public speaking skills. You use communication skills when you’re sending emails, editing project plans, and sending status reports.

Get Training in Project Management

Sometimes the best way to improve your project management skills is to seek project management training. There may be areas that you identify as your weaknesses, such as time management or project estimation. If this applies to you, you could check here for training and consider getting educated in principles like leadership or the software you use on a regular basis. Or you could learn the nuances of particular areas like IT project management or dealing with stakeholders. For those who want to move up into project management, you can learn the specifics of managing small projects.

Use the Right Tools

Project management is not a one-size-fits-all thing and can look very different to different people. For instance, a local coffee shop won’t need the same types of tools that an ad agency who has to deal with multiple remote moving parts will. As a matter of fact, using a full project management suite could actually work to your detriment depending on your business. However, most industries will require that you have some sort of digital project management system in place, whether it’s to check supplies or schedules without having to check the board in person.

The good thing is that most project management suites will have a free trial version that will allow you to check them out in detail and see if they work for you. Tools like Basecamp and Trello, for instance, allow various team members to assign tasks and make updates on their phones. Instead of using the hot new app everybody’s using, try a few for yourself, and pick the one that fits your team’s needs the best.

Make Reporting a Daily Habit When It Cannot Be Automated

You cannot remove obstacles if you don’t know that your team is facing them. The sooner you know about delays and issues, the sooner you can address them. The solution is to make daily reporting a habit for your team. At the end of the day, if you have found you can’t get it done or need more help to complete it, inform the manager who can. This is aside from team members tracking the time that they work for each project and managers comparing this to the time specific tasks are expected to take. If someone is going slower than expected, maybe they need help or training in how to do certain things better.

Another issue is ensuring that team members update their work as they pass it along in the chain. If they are in the habit of updating documentation or reports before handing it to the next person, then you’ll have more accurate reports and better communications within the team.

Take the time to review the project plan on a weekly and identify gaps. Monitor the scope, so that scope creep doesn’t end up killing your schedule. Monitor the costs so that you don’t end up running out of money too soon.

Cultivate Leadership and Collaboration

Management tends to focus on the details and the data. You are monitoring schedules, scope, and finances. However, project managers are managing people. Learning how to motivate and manage people allows you to get more out of them and get the best they can offer. When you become familiar with each person’s strengths and weaknesses, you learn what you need to know to delegate effectively to the people most capable of doing the task in the time frame allocated for it. Learn how to foster collaboration so that people work with each other more easily and effectively.

Without the basics of good project management, software tools and management fads are irrelevant. Gain these key skills to be able to deliver projects on time, in budget and per expectations.

Recruiting Staff the Right Way!

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How to Hire Staff

Every small business owner is likely to have to take on staff at some point or another. This, of course, is a positive thing, as it shows that your business is expanding, and the more your business expands, the more profit you are likely to be generating. However, taking on staff can be a relatively daunting process if it’s something that you are unfamiliar or inexperienced in. But not to worry. Here are a few steps that you can take in order to ensure that you recruit your staff the right way!

Advertising Positions Effectively

The first step on your journey to recruiting new employees is to start advertising positions. Now, this can be relatively difficult, but you have a few different options on your hands. If you’re operating a brick and mortar store, it’s relatively traditional to stick a sign in your storefront window advertising available job roles. On top of this, or alternatively to this, you can use online job advertisement sites and also advertise positions on your own website. Make sure to list the job title, job responsibilities or what the role entails, previous experience or qualifications desired, and a means of contacting you. You can request that applicants drop resumes directly to you, or you can provide them with an email address to send them over digitally.

Conducting Interviews

Once you have received resumes, it’s time to start deciding who you want to interview. You can pick between one resume and another by focusing on listed areas, such as education and candidate experience. Once you’ve whittled down who seems appropriate for the position, it’s time to start conducting interviews. This will give you the opportunity to meet applicants on a face to face basis and get to know them a little better. You will be able to ensure that they have a professional presence and a positive attitude. You want to make the interview as positive an experience as possible for all involved. The better an experience an applicant has in their interview, the more likely they are to accept a job offer later down the line.

Employing Individuals

At the end of your interview process, you are going to eventually come to a decision in regards to which individuals you want to employ and which you are going to have to reject. Let’s start with the positive. Offering a position to an individual is relatively simple – they have applied for the job, so they are likely to accept it. Send a congratulatory email or make a phone call to offer them the position. You can use this opportunity to come to final agreements about contracted hours, rates of pay, and other terms and conditions of the individual’s employment.

Rejecting Individuals

Now, it’s never pleasant having to reject someone when they have their heart set on a given job. But it’s inevitable part of any recruitment process, and something that you are likely to have to step up to at some point or another. A mistake that many small business owners make is simply ignoring rejected applicants once they have decided that the individual isn’t the person that they want to take on for the job.

It is absolutely essential that you do not do this. This person will be waiting to hear back from you and may be postponing their job search until they hear further news. You don’t want to waste their time. If you know that you are not offering them a position, let them know, as this will allow them to start seeking alternative work elsewhere.

Not only are there moral implications behind notifying rejected applicants, but there are logical ones for the sake of your business too. As we have already highlighted, you want every applicant to have a positive experience within the recruitment process of your company, as you never know when they might be customers or when they might come in useful later down the line. If you provide this individual with a rude and abrupt end to the recruitment process, they will not have a high opinion of you and may speak negatively of your brand to others. They may stop buying from you themselves, which will reduce your profits.

What’s more? If the applicant you have chosen to take on doesn’t turn out to be all that you hoped they would, or if they turn around a reject your job offer, you may want to reach out to rejected candidates. Candidates who felt wronged at some point in the process are likely to reject your offer too, meaning you have to carry out the entire recruitment process again, which can prove costly.

So, formulate a polite rejection email, or (even better) give rejected applicants a call and let them know that you appreciate their application but you have simply found someone with more experience or who is better suited to the role.

These are a few steps in the recruitment process that any budding employer should familiarise themselves with. Remember to place focus on making the experience as positive as possible for everyone involved. Not only will this ensure that you recruit high-quality staff members, but it also means that your business will be presented in the best light to everyone involved.

6 Ways To Get Your Foot In The Door Of Any Industry

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If you have your eye on an industry and you really want to get your foot in the door, there are a few smart ways you can do this. Below we have 6 smart ways that you can use to break into just about any industry, so take a look and see what you should start doing today.

  1. Be Willing To Start From The Beginning

If you’ve only ever worked in industries that are foreign to the industry you want to work in, you’re going to have to be willing to start from the very beginning. This can be disorienting and a bit scary, but totally necessary if you’ve never worked in an industry and it’s something you really want to do.

Save up some money so you can have peace of mind when choosing to move to a new industry. A cash cushion can help you if you’re taking a pay cut or experience another type of emergency.

  1. Volunteer Or Shadow Somebody

Perhaps you can get in the door by asking to volunteer or shadow somebody in the industry you want to work in. You won’t get paid, but it could be valuable and a great thing to put on your resume. This way, you’ll get a feel for whether you truly want to work in the industry and what your new role will entail.

  1. Network

Networking is key, because let’s be honest; in many industries, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. When you know people in the industry, you never know who they might know, and you never know what kind of opportunities might be presented to you. Use LinkedIn and go places in person where you feel you’ll be able to meet the right people. It’ll make the biggest difference!

Job Search Networking New Industry

  1. Do Training And Appropriate Courses

In your own time, you should do training and appropriate courses to improve your skills and become more desirable to the employers that you’re trying to impress. They don’t necessarily have to be courses where you will get a certificate and an official qualification, unless of course that’s what you’re going to need to land the job. Do your research so you know what you can teach yourself, what workshops and seminars you should be attending, and any official courses you should be doing. Investing in yourself is always worth while!

  1. Craft A Fantastic Resume And Cover Letter

Having a fantastic resume and cover letter that really relates to the job you’re applying for is key. If you don’t customise your resume and cover letter you’re going to run the risk of getting lost in a pile of other resumes and cover letters. You can use resume templates to create yours, but make sure you customise it depending on what the company are looking for.

  1. Follow The Company On Social Media And Interact With Them

Following the company on social channels and interacting with them can create a connection with them. Then, when an opening comes up, you’ll stand more of a chance of being employed!

Keep Your Building Business Warm Through Its First Winter

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Surviving your first year in business is a challenge no matter which field you’re in. During that short twelve-month stint, most entrepreneurs come across all manner of challenges. The fact is that going wrong this early in the game can undo your efforts irrelevant of what you’re trying to do.

In some fields, though, that first-year hurdle is even harder to get right. Consider, for instance, a business which is based outside. What happens when winter rolls around? Too often, failure to consider this can freeze the success you found during those summer months. This applies to anything from gardening to window cleaning. Here, though, we’re going to look how you can get through your first winter with a construction company.

Say that you started up in the new year, and received your first commissions during March and April. By then, the weather was changing, and the frosts had thawed. Now, though, you’re looking down the barrel of at least five months of cold weather. That’s frightening, and you could find yourself snowed under by next spring. The good news is, there are steps you can take to make sure it doesn’t happen, and we’re going to look at them here.

Get picky about the jobs you take

Running your business during the Winter months

At this stage, being picky with jobs may seem like the last thing you want to do. But, it could be the thing which saves you. You don’t have to turn work down outright. But, if a client wants you to build something up high in the middle of December, it may be worth postponing the work. Things only get colder the higher up your team go. As such, agreeing to jobs like these in the coldest months of the year is never a good idea. Instead, schedule indoor jobs, or at least work which allows your team to stay down on the ground.

Reinforce health and safety

It also pays to rethink your health and safety going into winter. This is something you should already be on top of to some extent. Every building site needs safety procedures and personal fall protection equipment at all times. But, these things become more pressing than ever in icy and cold conditions. Falls on building sites are far more likely during icy weather. Account for that by investing in even more safety equipment. Think, too, about increasing the number of breaks you offer. These will help you to avoid cold-related health problems.

Construction Worker Health and Safety during Winter Months

Consider reducing work hours

It may also be worth shifting your work hours during the cold season. Working first thing in the morning and late into the night should be a no-go at this time of year. Instead, you may need to quote clients for work which starts mid-morning and ends before the sun sets. These reduced days aren’t ideal, but your team would be unable to work either side of this slot anyway. By explaining this to clients and allowing longer periods for jobs, your business shouldn’t suffer as a result.

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