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

How to Manage Your Time Properly Without Making Sacrifices

May 23, 2018 by Contributed Post 2 Comments

Managing your time seems to be one of those things that just gets harder and harder as you get older. There are so many things that you have to spend your time on. Work becomes more hectic and high-pressure as you climb up the career ladder, and your growing family will need you around. That’s why it also becomes more important for you to manage your time better. It’s not as difficult as you might think right now.

Despite what other people might tell you, you can manage your time more efficiently and more effectively without making major sacrifices in your life. It’s not easy, and you will certainly need to make some tough decisions, but if you’re willing to work on it, you’ll find the balance that’s right for you. We’re going to discuss some of the things you can do to get better at managing your time, so read on and learn all about them now.

Be Very Clear About Where Your Priorities Lie

First of all, you need to be clear about where your priorities lie and how you should go about focusing on them. Everyone has certain things in life that are more important than others, and that’s not a bad thing. The things that are most important to you should always come before the less important things. It might sound simple, but many people lose sight of this.

Learn to Say No

Sometimes, you just have to tell people that you’re not available to help them. This is not always easy to do because you want to help people when they ask for it. But if you don’t have the time, it’s important to take on the responsibilities that are of primary importance to you. You can’t take on extra work that’s not even yours to begin with. So if you do learn how to say no to people, you will free up a lot of your time and be able to better focus on the most important things to you.

Work to Avoid Procrastination

When you allow yourself to procrastinate, you waste time that could be spend on other important things in your life. It’s very easy to stare into space and completely ignore the things you’re supposed to be doing, but that will only cause you more problems than are necessary. Work hard to avoid the enduring temptation of procrastination if you can.

Note Down Commitments and Reminders

If there are certain things you need to do and remember, note them down. It’s such a small thing but it makes such a big difference to how you live your life. Note down the little things that are easy to forget and because you can do this on your phone, you have no excuses not to. You carry your phone with you anyway, so why not use it as a way to remind yourself of the things you need to take care of.

Spend Less Time on the Less Important Things

There are always some things that are more important than others when it comes to doing tasks throughout the day. If you’re not convinced that the things you’re spending your time on are actually useful and worthwhile, you should try to spend less time on them. That’s the way it should be, so don’t get caught in a cycle of spending too long doing things that are almost certainly pointless.

Don’t Sacrifice Your Sleep Because it Won’t Work

Many people decide that the best way for them to make more time is to sleep less. Makes sense, right? Wrong. If you sleep less, you’ll be burnout and tired during the times when you’re awake. That’s not a good thing and not something that will help you make the most of your time. Keep a regular and healthy sleeping pattern in place for as long as possible because it’ll help you stay healthy and alert.

Don’t be Afraid to Ask for Help and Assistance When You Need It

If you have a lot on your plate to deal with, there’s no shame in reaching out to other people and letting them help you with all the things that you need to get done. For example, if you’re a carer on top of everything else, getting help from CareBuilders might be a smart idea. And if you need extra time or help at work, talk to your boss about it. You will never get the help and assistance you need if you’re not even prepared to ask for it.

Make the Most of the Little Moments

There are so many little moments throughout the day that you can make the most of if you’re willing to use them. For example, in the morning before your kids go to school, you have the chance to bond with them over breakfast. Why not make the most of that time rather than wasting your time rushing around and not really paying much attention to your family? It’s something that makes a lot of sense, so try to make the most of those moments.

Don’t Try to be Too Much of a Control Freak

If you’re one of those people who feel the need to be in control of any and all situations, this is something that you should try to let get of. Control freaks never have any free time because they spend all their time making sure that they’re the ones in control of all situations. This is something that often applies to private lives and work lives. So be less of a controlling person and learn to trust the people around you instead.

It can be give attention to all of the things that you need to give attention to in life when there’s so much on your plate. Dividing up your time and energy is never going to be easy, but with the help of the tips discussed above, it certainly is possible for you to make it happen. So start putting some of these ideas into practice.

Common Business Challenges to Overcome

May 22, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

When you run a small business, you have to make sure that every aspect of your company runs as smoothly as possible at all times. Think of all of the different components that allow your company to function like cogs in a machine. It only takes one cog to malfunction for the entire system to be thrown into chaos and disarray. Now, hopefully, everything is plain sailing for you and all of your different cogs run perfectly in time. But every now and again, you are bound to experience a few issues at some point or another. So, in order to be able to identify problems and rectify them as quickly as possible, it’s best to be aware of what can wrong and how to fix it before problems actually arise. So, here are a few common and widely experienced business challenges and how to best overcome them!

IT Problems

Nowadays almost every business is becoming increasingly dependent on technology. Regardless of the products we are selling or the services that we are offering, we’re having to sell, advertise, and work online. So it’s important that all of your IT is up and running at all times. Generally speaking, you’re best off outsourcing your IT department. Now, if you’re not yet familiar with the term “outsourcing”, it’s about time that you get to grips with this basic business practice. When you “outsource”, you contract certain aspects of your work out to alternative agencies or companies. Now, when you’re outsourcing your IT department, you should pair up with an individual or company that will engage in using technology to solve business challenges. They will tailor plans to your company and its needs, as well as ensuring that all of your tech systems are up and running as they should be at all times of day and night. It’s important that you do your research before partnering up, as you want to ensure that the individual or agency you outsource to meets all of your requirements. Preferably, they will take full responsibility for your IT systems, dealing with third parties on your behalf rather than asking you to carry out part of their work for them. They should also be able to communicate with you effectively without using complicated jargon. You want problems and their resolve to be highlighted in layman terms so that you can keep an eye on what’s going on without having to oversee and research everything. Finally, find a company that charges fairly. Many will charge per device, so if something goes wrong, they earn a lot more. Think about it: one individual within your company can use a number of devices. They may have a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone. This means that you would be charged four times over to ensure that everything they are using is up to scratch. Instead, look for an agency that charges per user. This will prove much more cost effective, as everything they use will be repaired and put to rights with just one charge.

Conflict Between Employees

No matter how professional your employees may be, there’s bound to be some sort of conflict between at least two members of staff at some point or another down the line. It’s inevitable. After all, we’re all only human and sometimes different personalities or attitudes just won’t gel all too well. However, conflicts between employees can have a negative knock-on effect on your entire workplace as well as your profits. Think about it. Colleagues tend to make friends with other individuals in the office. But when two colleagues fall out, details of the fall out are likely to spread around the office and it is highly likely that employees who aren’t even involved in the initial conflict will start to take sides. This can cause a rift in the workplace, which is highly detrimental to the working atmosphere. Having conflicts also means that people are focusing on drama rather than their work, so their output will be reduced. Now, there are two things that you can do to help resolve conflict between employees. The first is to take on a HR department. HR stands for “human relations” and amongst other responsibilities, the HR department will help to address any major problems such as discrimination, abuse, or harassment that might establish itself in the working environment. They can also help to settle down any minor workplace drama, encouraging staff members to talk and resolve their conflicts in a professional and neutral setting. The second is to actively encourage your workers to work together. This can be achieved through team building activities. Team building exercises can be almost anything you want them to be. They can be short, taking up just ten minutes or so at the beginning of the workday, or they can be extensive with you dedicating an entire day solely to team building activities. They can take place in the office or outdoors. There really is a lot of room for creativity.

Now, this is by no means a comprehensive guide of all of the potential issues that may arise, but knowing how to deal with two is definitely better than being entirely unprepared. While these are just two business challenges that frequently arise in any business, knowing how to deal with them can save you a whole lot of time, stress, and money. After all, leaving problems to worsen will only result in a loss of profits and ensuing chaos, while handling them in the wrong way can prove even more problematic, as you are likely to create further issues, which will then have to be cleared up and resolved too! So, hopefully by knowing how to deal with IT issues and conflict between employees effectively, you’ll be able to tackle the problems as quickly as possible and stem the problem before it evolves. Your business should continue to run smoothly and you can continue making profit and establishing yourself as a respectable and reliable brand to your potential clients and customers!

Hi, I’m An AI Service And I’m Here To Help Your Career

May 22, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

The idea that the title is correct isn’t widely believed. AI is here to take away jobs according to the conventional logic. Businesses and bosses will use it to automate services and cut the cost of labor. There is no doubt that this is going to happen and jobs will be at risk as a result. Aside from the apocalypse, taking over the world stories, this is what makes artificial intelligence scary. No one wants to lose out to a software program.

There is point denying that AI isn’t a risk and may backfire. Companies are profit-driven, not human-driven, and that means they make decisions based on figures. However, to say that artificial intelligence is the devil and will ruin your career is short-sighted. For all the potential bad, there is a lot of good too. Never has the world been this technologically advanced, and that has a range of benefits for employees.

It doesn’t sound right after hearing all of the negative stories in the news, but the impact may not be as damaging as you think. In fact, here are five ways AI services will assist your career in the not-too-distant future.

Create New Jobs

Do you know what ranks as one of the biggest problems for workers? It’s the lack of challenge and motivation in the workplace. People hate sitting in the office doing the same thing day in, day out. Even worse is coasting along until clocking off time. Yes, sometimes it’s nice to chill, especially when the weekend is near. But, for the most part, humans are competitive people who need a routine that inspires them to be better. Otherwise, careers get stale and begin to stagnate. AI is the leader in helping with this problem, not bosses. In layman’s terms, it’s cutting jobs but it’s also creating new ones across the board. And, they are better and more sophisticated than the ones that existed before. Imagine being the person figuring out the code for driverless cars. Or, consider getting to monitor healthcare software that consistently saves lives on a daily basis. There is no way that these men and women come home and think “god, what a boring day.”

Boost Overall Prospects

So, the position is far superior to the one you had before. What a great feeling because everyone needs a challenge in life. However, the good times don’t stop there because a new, better job has some cool knock-on effects. Take your monthly wage as an example. Now that you’re employed in the tech sector dealing with revolutionary ideas, there’s bound to be a pay rise. In fact, salaries are expected to jump as AI gets rolled out across the board. This is because software should handle the menial jobs while the specialist subjects are left to employees. Then, there is the career progression factor to consider also. New sectors are full of opportunities because the sky’s the limit. Growth is expected to boom for years and that means expansion and promotion progression. Staying in a traditional role tends to end at a certain level for the majority of workers. And there are many AI aspects that save lives too.

Save Time

To stand out from the crowd, a person has to be an unbelievably efficient worker. Promotions may be more frequent but it doesn’t mean the management team will hand them out to anyone. They want the best, and you have to it into that category. The great news is that artificial intelligence can help in a variety of ways. In a typical day, would you spend lots of time answering queries and questions that had little to do with the task at hand? Speaking to customers, for example, is necessary because the firm doesn’t want them to bounce, but there is always something more important. Instead of multitasking and wasting time, you can use answering services to solve this problem. Granted, consumers aren’t infatuated with automated services because they are hard to hear and don’t do well with regional accents. Still, they are getting better and deal with a high percentage of questions and complaints. The same goes for chatbots. These are web-based programs that deal with initial contact and answer the FAQs. If they can’t, then that is where you step in and deal with it. It’s a time-efficient system.

Helps The Work Anywhere Policy

Businesses are obsessed with being able to work remotely. To them, it’s one of the biggest advantages of trading in the 21st century. Not only does it cut costs, but it improves output and productivity also. Plus, standards are thought to follow suit. Working remotely from anywhere in the world is essential if you are going to make it in the industry. Thankfully, AI is a friend in this regard. For starters, it is possible to configure your settings so that the software retains your network connection. Considering there is no way to work out of the office without wifi or 4G, this is vitally important. As crucial is the fact that it AI takes over menial activities and lets you concentrate on other things. Driving was once a skill that required tones of focus, but you don’t have to look at the road now because of automated cars. Just input the location and let it get you there in one piece while working in the back.

Monitors Health

Well-being is something career-driven people tend to dismiss. You are fine and there is no need to worry. Of course, there is a lot more going on underneath the hood. And, even if you are okay now, it doesn’t mean your work ethic isn’t toxic. Employees need to graft, but they also need to learn when to take a break and de-stress. AI is the answer because it’s compatible with your smartphone. All you have to do is download an app and monitor everything from blood pressure to cortisol levels. In fact, the application will do it for you and alert you when there is an issue. Remember that you can’t secure promotion from a hospital bed.

AI does carry risks, but are the pros bigger than the cons? What’s your opinion?

Holding Onto The Tech You Love In A Growing Business

May 22, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Tech Upgrades

If you started your business more than a decade ago, it’s very likely that the tools you are using to do your work have changed over the years. Things will have gotten faster, services will have risen and fallen, and you may have been left behind in the process. Of course, though, just because people around you are changing, it doesn’t mean that you should have to follow suit. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the best ways to breath new life into old technology in your business.

Computers: Unfortunately, for this first area, computers are impossible to avoid upgrading if you want to keep things running smoothly. Leases can make this cheaper, and a lot of people will find it easy to handle once they have the right support. But, even if you have people to help, it will be impossible to avoid upgrading your operating system eventually. Even leaps between options like Windows 7 and Windows 10 can be very challenging to deal with, as the UI changes loads each time. To help with this, there are loads of software tools on the web which can be used to make newer operating systems look like their predecessors. This enables you to retain the usability you used to enjoy, while also gaining the benefits of a newer piece of software.

Communications: The way that businesses talk to each other has changed loads over the last few years. Instead of using options like SMS, a lot of people will use a combination of email, instant messenger, and social media to talk to one another. With a service like Textbetter, you can move all of this to your regular landline phone. By setting text reminders for things like emails and messages, followed by routing the texts to the main phone, you will enable yourself to avoid missing a communication ever again. Of course, though, it will be worth doing some research to find the services with the best offerings.

Advertising: This area is a little different to the others. Instead of being something which has changed in itself, this field had evolved to be handled in a DIY fashion, rather than adapting to include loads of new methods. Companies are able to spread their name using social media at absolutely no cost. Of course, this will be challenging if you don’t know how to use software like this, and most people will want to avoid as much of the work as possible. To solve this issue, you can still pay other people to do this work for you. While this is similar to stepping backwards, it will make all of the work much easier for you.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time you put into the technology in your business. While you should never have to change the way you work to meet the times, you may have to put some provisions in place to make an approach like this work. Of course, though, you could also consider diversifying your own range of tools.

Creative (And Unusual) Ways To Market Your Business

May 22, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

You don’t need us to tell you that marketing is key to your business strategy. You probably don’t need us to tell you how to market your business, either. From print marketing techniques (flyers, newspaper advertisements, business cards) to digital marketing (setting up a business website, social media, email), you have probably utilized a fair few of these methods to broadcast your business to the world. And that is fine. However, it’s also worth thinking outside of the norm, finding new and creative ways to market yourself. The more ways you can spread the word about your business, the better. We have listed a few ideas here, many of which won’t break your marketing budget.

Place your brand on a range of items, not only your business cards, flyers, and staff t-shirts. Check out this service for a range of custom button ideas. Consider advertising your business on car decals, whether that’s your company vehicles, or paying others to drive around on your behalf. Think about caps, mugs, posters, bags, diaries, and other items that can be given away promotionally. Arm yourself with these items at trade shows, conferences, and even on the high street, and get your business brand out into the world to as many people as possible.

Hire word-of-mouth. Some people love to talk, so why not get them to talk about your services? For example, think about hiring somebody to walk around town, handing out your promotional materials while talking about the wonderful service you offer to passersby. You could do the same online, with an influencer who will promote you on social media, blogs, forums, Youtube video, and the like. You could pay commission based on how many leads these people generate, or offer other incentives, such as a discount on the product or service you are selling to your happy talkers.

Project a logo. Rather than relying on posters and banners stuck up across town, go one better, and project your logo onto buildings, rooftops, or into the night sky. You will need to find somewhere to install your projector, but once you have overcome this minor hurdle, you will soon have people talking about your business. It cuts down on paper and marketing costs too, as a cheap slide projector will do the job just fine.

Stop people in their tracks with a publicity stunt, whether you do something wild and crazy in the middle of town, or plan a stunt that will grab the hearts and minds of the world’s public and media. Take inspiration from some of the greatest publicity stunts of our time, from creating viral content to spread word about your business, to one-off events (such as flying an airship plastered with your brand over town). A guaranteed way to get people talking about you, but you do need to be careful. Don’t break any laws or cause harm or injury to yourself or others, as people will end up talking about you for all the wrong reasons.

Self-publish your own book, and either sell it or give it away for free online through the various eBook sellers at your disposal. There are some tips here on how to go about this process, and providing you do have some written ability (or you could hire somebody to write it on your behalf), you can both share your expertise in business with others, and hopefully garner an interested audience into what it is you are offering for sale.

Reward your customers in a variety of ways, both securing their loyalty and encouraging them to spread word about your business. This can include remembering anniversaries (sending out birthday and Christmas cards), randomly sending out freebies through the post, and offering special discounts to those clients and customers who have been with your business for a set amount of time. Don’t spam your customers (or go over budget with your rewards), but send them out sparingly for more positive results.

Volunteer your time or money at a community or charity event, or hire members of your staff to do so. While this can be rewarding in itself, especially if the cause is close to your heart, you will also reap some of the benefits by having your name affiliated to whatever the event is supporting. However, don’t over promote your ego in the process – there is a balance between doing something good for others and helping your own cause – so let the media spread the word about any good deed you have done, and share your branding appropriately.

Take a stance on a hot industry topic, and share your thoughts with local media to draw attention to your opinion. To do this, you will need to have an understanding of what you are talking about, and a genuine feeling on the matter. Do your research first, and ensure you don’t say the ‘wrong thing’ as public opinion may turn against you. For example, one of the current hot topics worth focussing on is the environment, as this is something common amongst many industries. How is your company dealing with the issue? How are you different to others? Let people know your thoughts on this or any other matter that could generate interest into your business.

Hit the streets, and do something that will catch the eye of passers-by. You could commission a local artist to paint a decorative mural on the side of a wall, or something created with chalk on local pavements. You could hire a walking billboard, somebody dressed up as mascot to provide a verbal or a visual marketing aid to your business. You might even hang coat hangers around town emblazoned with your brand (makes a change from flyers and posters). Whatever you do, ensure you have the correct permissions first, as you don’t want to get fined for graffiting, or find yourself being accused of being a public nuisance.

So, let us know what you think. Did any of these ideas take your fancy? You may have some creative (and unusual) marketing tips of your own. Please share your thoughts and ideas with us – promoting yourself in the process – and giving others the benefit of your helpful advice.