Month: March 2012

Categories
Planning & Management

5 Tips to Keep Your Interns Happy and Productive

An internship program can be a tremendous asset to your company. Not only does it become a source of relatively inexpensive labor, it can also become a hiring pool. Yet, if your interns don’t’ find your program valuable, they’re going to bolt. You’ll wind up with a program that’s lackluster, at best, with high turnover, low productivity or both.
That said, you’re not IBM. You can’t provide extensive benefits to your interns. However, there are a few things you can do to make your interns happy with the program and more productive while they’re in it:

1.  Give him something to do.

One of the biggest challenges facing companies with interns is finding something for them to do. Interns aren’t yet skilled in their field; after all, that’s why they’re interning. They want to be, though.

Not only do they want to learn how your business runs, they also bring to the table skills of their own. Find meaningful work for your interns to do, and you might just be surprised how well they do it.

Along these lines, try to pick meaningful tasks for your interns. Give them something to do that makes a difference. Let them contribute to the whole business. Even if it’s a small task, let them do real work. They aren’t there to do mundane data entry; they want to be able to have hands-on, real-world experience in your industry.

Give your interns progressively larger and more important assignments as you go. When they complete something well, move onto something bigger and better.

2.  Provide her with constant feedback.

Understand from the beginning that feedback for an intern can be different from feedback for an employee. An intern is there to learn. As such, you need to be able to provide all feedback in a positive manner. Point out what the intern does well, of course, but also be positive about things that didn’t go well.

For example, if you need to make corrections to an intern’s work, follow up with a discussion about it. Explain to her why you made the changes that you did. Talk to the intern and make sure she understands what those changes do to the overall process and the overall product or service. Make her feel like an integral part of the creative process.
Feedback for an intern shouldn’t be a weekly or monthly meeting focus, either. It should be something that happens on a daily, moment-by-moment basis.

3.  Help the intern identify his strengths.

Don’t ask an intern what his strengths are. He may not know, especially when it comes to how those strengths relate to your industry. The question creates all sorts of unnecessary pressure, and there’s even a good chance they might answer wrong.
Instead, find out what the intern likes. You’ll get a more honest assessment. Put interns on assignments that interest them, and you’ll find them in a much happier state. Along the way, chances are pretty good you’ll help them identify what exactly it is that they really are good at.

4.  Make the experience usable after she’s gone.

You want your intern to take what they did at your company and be able to proudly display it on a resume. By allowing your interns to do real work (see #1) you are giving her real experience. That experience will help her when they move into a job of their own.
Teach your interns how to describe the work that they did at your company so that they can use it during the job interview process.

5.  Value your interns.

If you truly value your interns, they’ll know it. If you demonstrate to them that you appreciate the work they do, that you are happy with the work they do, and that you’re glad they’re a part of the team, they’ll be much happier. Your interns will believe you truly care about them, and that you’re not just out to get free labor for a summer or a semester.
Accordingly, treat your interns to an occasional lunch. Consider inviting them to certain office events, such as your annual holiday party. Introduce your interns to a visiting client, and let the client know how happy you are to have the interns with you.
Give your interns some positive experiences, and they’ll be much more productive. Not only will they learn more in the process, your internship program will have a decent reputation and you’ll draw only the best applicants, year after year.

About the Author:

Greg Muender is President of of Ticket Kick, a California company that helps drivers get red light tickets, speeding tickets,  and other traffic tickets dismissed by helping drivers through the “trial by written declaration” process. The company, which formally launched in 2010 has been providing similar services since 2006 and is the leading company in this location and growing rapidly.

Categories
Success Attitude

3 Ways to Feed Your Business Positively

I really enjoy feeding the birds this time of year. I set up a bird feeder in our backyard. The problem is that squirrels love bird seed, too.

I waged war on the bird-seed-stealing squirrels one winter. I borrowed an air rifle and looked for the squirrels as I walked by our bay window. I even put our younger daughter on alert—“Honey, let me know if you see a squirrel on our bird feeder.”

That is, until one day she said, “Daddy, we used to look out the window for pretty birds. Now we look for ugly squirrels.”

It’s easy to stop looking for the beautiful qualities in your business these days, to cease listening for the lovely songs of the cash register cha-ching or the relieved look on a customer’s face when you solve a problem; to miss the brilliant colors of the relationships you enjoy with employees and clients alike.

Here are three ways to look for the beautiful at work and feed your business positively.

Abstain from negative conversations

Choose your conversations carefully whether on the phone or in the hallway. Listen actively. Redirect quickly when the conversation spirals downward into negativity without a suggestion of course correction. Attempt to reframe—“Yes, and yet…”—if the redirect is ineffective. Remove yourself with “I must go” if the redirect or reframe fails.

Words impact our perception of reality. Think about how you feel after hanging up or what you’re thinking as you walk away from conversations. Positive exchanges lift dark clouds and energize you. Negative words do the opposite.

Deal with conversations quickly. Ask yourself, “Where is this going? Do I want to participate?” and choose accordingly.

Allow for interruptions

You’re goal-focused with a prioritized list for the day’s activity. That’s great—focus on the positive and do those things that increase your profitability most effectively.

Also, allow for interruptions which happen regardless. A customer appears suddenly with a situation you can resolve. A client calls in with an opportunity for more work.

It’s easy when these detours appear on the day’s path to get frustrated, and sideways in your mental model. Such a reaction prevents you from feeding your business positively.

Instead, anticipate interruptions. Deal with them positively, quickly, and effectively. If resolution is achieved in a matter of minutes, do it. If not, promise to get back with the person and get your Work Positive dream team on it.

Then return to your schedule with a renewed interest sustained by your expectation of interruptions.

Access news/information positively

When you watch TV and listen to radio news, you abdicate your editorial license to someone with a negative agenda. Your filters are down and you simply absorb. These are “push” media that will shove their spin into your mind…as you let them.

Instead choose “pull” media like Internet news site where you are the queen/king of content. Proactively choose what to read or watch and allow into the theater of your mind. You may stop reading or follow links for more. Your plethora of sources is virtually infinite. Diversify the viewpoints. Filter out the negative for the sake of negative. Focus on information you can use to your business advantage positively.

Sure, you’ll feed some ugly squirrels in doing business today.

Choose to focus on the beautiful birds with these three ways to feed your business positively.

About the Author:

Best-selling author, speaker, and coach Dr. Joey Faucette shares how all of us working together create a more positive world this week. Adapted from his #1 Amazon best-seller, Work Positive in a Negative World.

Categories
Franchise

Low-Cost Franchises Increase in Popularity

Article Contributed by Carly Evans

When people think about franchising, they normally think about fast food chains and other time-consuming businesses. The truth is, however, that there are tons of franchise industries that are economical on both time and investment. These low-cost franchise industries are also increasing in popularity; it’s easy to see why. With the U.S. economy in an unstable state, people want to be entrepreneurial but not too risky. These industries allow people to start their own businesses without the high-risk situation that a restaurant or similar establishment might yield.

So what are some low-investment franchise industries?

Cleaning Franchises

Cleaning franchises can span many types of services. The most popular right now are housecleaning services. Providing an affordable and trustworthy housecleaning service is important to many people in this busy world. They do not have the time to devote to their houses that they should and are looking for a professional clean. From a franchisee perspective, it’s perfect because it is a home-based business. You can dictate how many employees you have (if any) and how many jobs you take. There is flexibility in your schedule and low overhead.

Carpet cleaning, mold eradication, power washing and dry cleaning franchises are also in the cleaning category and can yield great business opportunities for a low initial investment.

Vending Franchises

Vending franchise industry is one of the best-kept secrets in franchising. Many people are unfamiliar with just how many vending franchises there are. Just to name a few that you see on a weekly basis are DVD vending kiosks, snack and soda machines, back massage chairs, ATMs and breathalyzer vending machines. All of these machines turn a profit for their owners—and that owner could be you! They are low-cost and many of them low maintenance. An option like massage chairs is great because there is no merchandise to restock. You only have to keep up with maintenance. These can be some of the least time-consuming franchises to own.

Pet Care Franchises

Pet care franchises are also low investment because it can be home-based or mobile. There’s no need to pay rent on a space when you can go to your furry clients easily! This is a great opportunity if you love animals; there are franchises that do pet grooming, pet sitting, sell pet supplies and dog walking/running. You can pick the facet of pet care you’re most intrigued by and spend your days playing with animals.

Mobile Franchises

Mobile franchises encompass all kinds of industry, everything from senior care, to vending, to cleaning, to maintenance. Though these franchise industries vary in initial investment costs and time consumption, there are several that can provide a fun work environment for little risk. Being constantly on the go can be the most interesting job you ever have—and being your own boss wouldn’t be so bad either.

The Bottom Line

Check out these new and upcoming franchise industries for more information about specific franchises. Most low-investment franchises are under $20,000 to start. Feed your entrepreneurial spirit without risking your nest egg.

About the Author
Franchise Advice Expert Carly Evans works as a Content Writer for www.FranchiseClique.com.

Categories
Networking

Avoiding Social Media Marketing Pitfalls

Social media is the buzz word these days. Everyone seems to be talking about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs these days. The migration of customers to online and social media platforms has also attracted the attention of business, both big and small. The smaller, start-up ventures seem to be benefiting most from social media channels as they do not have the big budget required for traditional, outbound marketing.

If you do not maintain a virtual presence, you do not exist for the customers. However, many start-ups join the bandwagon of social media advertising, without a well-thought-out plan. In doing so, they make several mistakes, which could spell death for their business. Let’s have a look at some mistakes that entrepreneurs and start-ups must avoid to ensure marketing success.

1. Bombarding customers with information without a marketing plan

Some entrepreneurs believe that developing a Facebook page and signing up on Twitter is central to their social media campaign. This may not be the best approach. You need to have a well-thought and coherent social media strategy. Your social media operations need a strategic plan that clearly identifies the social media campaign goals, target audience, ways to reach that audience and measures by which a campaign’s success would be judged. Simply blasting customers with information could prove to be detrimental and annoy them.

2. Being clueless about the social media audience

A traditional marketing plan also requires adequate research on the target market. Businesses cannot afford to throw darts in the dark. You need to do some research on who they should connect with, who they want to speak to directly and who they think will be reading their posts. You should regularly engage with top influencers in the industry well ahead of the competition. Marketing initiatives, which do not target the audience, may well in fact be a waste of time.

3. Forgetting social media etiquette

You might be well aware of email etiquette, such as greeting people properly, using correct grammar and providing a signature at the bottom. However, you also need to be mindful of social media etiquette. Social media etiquette involves asking potential customers thought-provoking questions, promoting other people as well as your own brand, and not always sounding like an advertisement without caring to establish a strong bond with the people. People would appreciate you if you are mindful of these basic etiquettes.

4. Measuring success

All marketing efforts need to have some measure through which success of the campaign may be judged. You may use several tools to help measure the success rate of customer engagement sessions. These tools should take into account your total online community size, the number of mentions you’ve received, how many people have commented on your Facebook page, and traffic referred to your business site from social media outlets. One such tool, Facebook Insights, is built in a Facebook page to track the progress of your marketing efforts.

5. Do not spam, time your posts

Small businesses may also make the mistake of spamming people with automatic direct messages after they follow you. You should get rid of all spam accounts from your social media pages. You should be creative and develop new content to circulate your product or service. As social media acts in real time, you should time your posts and updates well to increase your following. By being unique and creative, you can win new customers.

About the Author:

Martin Vance is a marketing and brand enthusiast, and regularly contributes articles related to marketing strategies for Degree Jungle.

Categories
Finance & Capital

Top Tax Tips for Home-Based Businesses

With the deadline for filing fast approaching, we felt it’d be useful to establish a list of tax tips and reminders for home-based businesses. In particular, those who started their businesses in 2011 have much to learn when it comes to the ins and outs of dealing with the IRS. Using your home as the site of an ongoing enterprise may seem like it requires diligent navigation of the tax code to avoid an audit, but the process is not nearly as complex as you may think. With half of American businesses located within the home, how could it be?

While it may be a little late to put some of the following to use for this tax season, these pointers should become engrained into the tax paying planning for your home-based business:

Time your startup expenses accordingly: Up to $10,000 in costs of enterprises that are losing money – mainly those just starting out – can be deducted as capital expenses. This can include just about everything that goes into establishing a home-based business, from advertising costs to supplies. Therefore, it’s wise to get all the necessary purchases bought and paid for prior to your small business getting up and running.

Fear not home-office deductions: Many folks starting out with a home-based business mistakenly believe that the IRS has a separate division of employees that analyze every move of entrepreneurs working at home to catch them double-dipping. But regulations for home-based business deductions have loosened in recent decades, and the IRS has a webpage that describes in detail what constitutes a home office deduction.

Keep track of mileage: You may think you won’t put more miles on your automobile for the sake of your business than the standard deduction accounts for, but you may be surprised when you add it up at the end of the year. Many miles mean big deductions, so keep track of how much you’re driving for your business from the get-go, even if you don’t expect to do much traveling.

Put the kids to work: Wages count as business expenses, and children can earn up to $5700 ever year and not pay taxes on their income. The result is simple: give your kids positions within your company, cut them checks, hand out W-2s, and enjoy the tax breaks as a result. If you’re going to be handing out allowances and using the help of your kids anyway, this strategy makes a lot of sense.

Stay organized on all levels: From receipts to invoices to mileage, you need to keep track of everything in order to minimize the surprises come tax time. But more importantly you need to consistently adhere to a realistic home business budget in order to not only prevent making poorly planned financial choices that may lead to major tax burdens later one, but to be better prepared in the event that such emergency debts to the government need to get paid.

Starting a home-based business is one of the most American of entrepreneurial experiences. But so is paying taxes. Giving Uncle Sam his correct cut is sure to keep you from hiding your assets in Edmonton self storage out of paranoia, as well as enable you to have as much money as possible to further invest into your enterprise. It’s one of the few aspects of starting a successful small-scale enterprise that’s easier said than done.

About the Author:

This Guest Post is written by Samantha Peters, an active blogger who enjoys writing about anything of interest to entrepreneurs and business start-ups.