It’s important for business owners to understand the ins and outs of operating a business. Read on for some business tips and best practices that you can take advantage of.
Starting a business can be hard work. If you're a small business owner or have started a business, most of the time you have some sort of drive behind what was the inspiration. Some people get financial backing and some people don't and start from scratch and back themselves. I was lucky enough to be in a professional job where I was able to save enough of a safety net to start the business as a side hustle, while I was still employed by my regular employer.
A common belief is that as the year-end approaches everything slows down. People start leaving for home early to catch up on last-minute shopping for Christmas and New Year, a lesser number of phone calls are attended because employees are either on leave or celebrating early and new jobs are postponed until the new year starts. All these are indicators of slowing down. But what you don’t realise is that it’s the people who are slowing down and not the business itself. Just because it’s the holiday season doesn't mean you should slow down. It just means it’s time to focus elsewhere. What you need to focus on are those activities that don't expire or have an end date when you have more time. You will get no other better opportunity to play catch up.
Today's question is: Remote working, is it worth the hype?
I think this is really, really interesting that I've been asked this question because I'm in a very good position where we are in IT company that operates with companies remotely. We employ staff that work with us remotely. So we are both the employer, and in a sense the employee of a remote workspace. In my opinion, it definitely helps productivity as long as you're in an environment that allows for it and you've got a mindset of success. You can't have someone who needs to be spoon fed working remotely. You need to make sure that you have the discipline and due diligence to continue to work day in and day out to get the job done, make sure that this is easily viewable, and you don't get ripped off.
In business, numbers are important. But all numbers are not equally important. Quantitative data has a way of becoming confusing, chaotic and irrelevant if the right parameters are not set. This does not mean you need to stop looking at them. What you need is caution. Be cautious that the numbers you are concentrating upon really matter. One of the basic truths about why most businesses fail in the first year itself is that they are not looking at the right set of numbers, the numbers that really make a difference.
An Italian economist by the name of Vilfredo Pareto is known to have proposed the 80/20 rule. According to this rule, 80% of the results are delivered from 20% of the efforts. When applied to the business world, the rule means simply that 80% of the company's sales or revenue comes from just 20% of the customer base.
How to Have a Creative Rapport With Your CustomersRunning a business can stink! Some people are extroverted natural talkers, some are introverted, detail-oriented amazing workers. To have stratospheric success in business you need to articulate and able to be both, you need to be comfortable to have a CRAP with your customers. This book teaches you how to step away from your throne, out of the shadows and become the person who listens to what your customers want, delivers on the promises and do it in a way that doesn't feel unnatural and grows your business at the same time.
When did your IT guy last pay you for downtime?
Work with a Managed IT company who can help you streamline your systems and operations management. Implementing high‐tech solutions to ensure the integrity, uptime and accountability of all internal system processes gives you the assurance that you have continuity.
