Category: Planning & Management

Article Contributed by Dan Razak

Even though many people think that the business world is very complex, it’s actually pretty easy to explain. Customers are constantly looking for companies that can offer them better products or services at more affordable prices. But of course, reaching the stage where you can offer your customers something like this is never easy. The first thing you have to do is ensure your business is constantly becoming more efficient. And if you’re wondering how to achieve that, here are 4 ways that are guaranteed to do the trick.

Invest in marketing

If you want your business to be more efficient, you should always aim at increasing the number of your customers. And the only way you can achieve this is to invest in marketing. Of course, if you’re just starting out, you won’t have enough funds to start a multi-channel marketing campaign. That’s why you’ll have to prioritize and turn to some less expensive ways to promote your business. Social media marketing is a big deal today and you simply have to run pages for your business on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Another great idea is to turn to influencers who have already reached your target audience and can bring your products or services closer to them.

Take your business home with you

What’s so great about the 21^st century is the fact that it allowed us to do a lot of jobs from our homes. This means you should keep working even when you’re home and encourage your employees to do the same. Of course, they’ll need to have all the necessary hardware for taking their jobs home with them. Even though a smartphone might be enough, it’s always a better idea to equip each of your employees with their own laptops that will allow them to work from home. Those who constantly work from home, however, might fare better with a custom made desktop setup packing a reliable intel processor and a high-end graphic card li NVidia GTX 1070. Also, you can use cloud to store all of the important data, as that way, you and all of your employees will be able to access it no matter where you are.

Keep your employees motivated

No matter how good your products or services are, if your employees aren’t motivated enough, you’ll hardly be able to take your business to the next level. Every successful business needs a set of dedicated employees who are passionate about what they do and share your ambition. And it’s up to you to make sure your employees are motivated enough and want to see your business progress. First of all, this means they should receive appropriate wage for what they do. Another great idea would be to host office parties from time to time and prepare gifts for your staff. Employees who feel appreciated will always be ready to do some extra work, that will help your business grow.

Ask for feedback

There’s no need to say that how efficient your business is going to be heavily depends on your customers. That’s why turning to them in order to come up with some new ideas for your business is always a great idea. If you have a website, you can create a survey where your customers will be able to leave you feedback, as well as their ideas on how you can improve your business. Starting a survey like this will not only show your customers that you care about what they think, but it will also provide you with some new business ideas that might help you make your business more efficient.

Follow these 4 ways and your business will undoubtedly get an efficiency boost. Just bear in mind that running a business is all about working smart, and by thinking your every move through you’ll be able to unleash its full potential.

About the Author

Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is a coauthor on several websites and regular contributor to BizzMark Blog. Currently, he is working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.

Article Contributed by Hannah Whittenly

Every business owner knows that not being productive hurts the entire company. When there isn’t productivity, there are some serious consequences—loss of money, lack of quality, and even the downfall of the company. That is why it’s important for every CEO and manager in the business world to check themselves and their productivity every now and then and make improvements for the betterment of the company. To help you do that, here are three things that you need to watch out for.

Bad Management

Some people might think a good manager is someone who takes command, but being a leader encompasses much more. A good manager is a coach, an empowering figure, and a person who knows how to spotlight an employee’s strengths. In essence, a leader is a people manager.

The problem is that the idea of being a boss can corrupt the person in charge. This could be signaled by many signs such as a leader who enjoys scolding employees rather than dealing with issues constructively. A bad leader seeks to blame rather than take responsibility. This person may hurt productivity and should be replaced. When hiring leaders, hire the ones who will stand up for their teams, are positive individuals, and have great communication skills.

Disorganization

Clutter is a big problem in some companies. You may not think so, but clutter can actually distract the brain, or it could make some people feel hostile about the environment. Both of these issues can hurt your overall productivity. The best thing that you can do is organize some of the clutter in your office. The best method to go about doing this is to get bins, like those that Quantum Storage has, and start making sure that everything has its place. You may even want to label every bin so that things don’t accidentally get put in the wrong place.

Not Considering Health

You might think the health of your employees is not your concern, but the truth is that it benefits you to make sure that your employees are as healthy as possible. A study shows that employees that eat five or more servings of vegetables and fruit a day are 25 percent more likely to be productive. Employees who are given the opportunity to exercise three times a week for at least 30 minutes are likely to be 15 percent more productive as well.

The problem is that most company’s expect their employees to engage in these healthy habits on their own time. Your employees spend a lot of their time with you, so it might be a good idea to promote health wellness in your office. Offer healthy snacks instead of processed foods. Try to get your employees a membership at a local gym or introduce an exercise break at work.

Productivity is not a simple thing to achieve. The first step is to recognize that you are responsible for it just as much as your employees are, so you are definitely heading down the right path.

Article Contributed by Lisa Michaels

Project management is central to a business’s overall success and profitability. When projects, whether carried out for clients or for the betterment of the entire company, become delayed or go off track, they put the business at risk of losing money and jeopardizing its brand.

More businesses today are relying on a management strategy known as the agile methodology. This approach to project management continues to outshine the practices once considered standard for keeping projects on task in the business arena.

Read on to find out how your business can benefit from implementing an agile methodology.

What is Agile Methodology?

The term “agile”, when applied to project management, comes from agile methodology, which originated itself from software development. Along with being applied to projects undertaken by a company, agile can also be applied to every other aspect of running a business including human resources and other key areas.

In fact, when compared to the project management approach known as waterfall, agile is increasingly considered to be the better choice. Whereas waterfall relies on a predictable and rigid method of carrying out a process from start to finish, agile allows for flexibility and individualized attention to a project.

Waterfall follows a one-way progression and does not allow for previous steps in a project to be undone or changed; agile permits project partners to go back and forth in the creation process as needed to meet new expectations or new ideas brought to the discussion table.

Furthermore, agile does not require a long planning process in a project and instead acknowledges that every step of the process may not be foreseen right from the beginning. Because the needs and wishes of the project can be adjusted or changed easily, agile can be carried out in weekly or monthly sprints.

The Principles to Follow for Agile Methodology

The 10th annual State of Agile survey conducted by VersionOne admits that when agile initiatives in a project fail it is often directly related to a business’s resistance to change or to culture issues within a company. In fact, agile requires strong leadership, sturdy commitment, and a clear vision from management to succeed.

For the principles of agile methodology to work in a company, project managers must lead by example and clearly communicate with project members. Frequent updates about status reports, check-ins, feedback, and roadmap updates are all key when utilizing the agile approach.

Managers are encouraged to use video conferencing software for project management solutions and to organize and strengthen interpersonal bonds among management and project members. In fact, this technology is very practical to utilize for the agile methodology when face-to-face interactions among group members are not possible.

One of the most popular communication software options used by agile project managers today is Slack, which offers a free basic edition. Slack is also utilized by NASA and offers both private and open channels for different teams and projects.

Managers also use Asana, which allows for each project task to be split up into different sub-tasks and assigned to individual project members. Asana also permits managers to assign due dates and add files as needed.

A more traditional solution is Skype for Business which allows for polling and whiteboards for 250 project members in video conferencing. It sometimes presents simple problems that are easily resolved with easy troubleshooting tips.

In addition to video conferencing and project management solutions, managers can benefit from utilizing cloud storage such as Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive for organized and secured storing and sharing of documents.

The Agile Methodology Process

Agile is a fluid and friendly approach to managing a project as long as a few simple rules are followed. First, project managers should remember to be transparent. Employees want to know what is going on in regards to the project and what problems need to be addressed.

Project members should also work in groups. There should be several smaller groups working toward one key goal rather than one large group working on a variety of tasks together. Each smaller group should also self-organize and decide how they want to accomplish their goals.

Second, after every bi-weekly or monthly sprint, groups should evaluate the project up to its current point. They should reflect on how to improve the project as well as tune and adjust their behaviors to become more effective.

Third, each group, as well as the entire project team as a whole, should adopt the agile project mode and mindset. It is vital that the groups produce visible results and new content to make clients happy as well as to motivate employees.

Group members and managers alike should request feedback, welcome mistakes as opportunities to learn and change but also act quickly to fix problems rather than allowing them to continue. Managers should use empathy when interacting with employees to fix mistakes.

Final Thoughts

The Agile methodology gives your business one key advantage: while your rivals are planning and perfecting their projects with the waterfall approach, you are making sales and money. Your customers will also know that your company is growing because you are releasing new features and are capable of changing course to adapt to existing ones.

About the Author

Lisa Michaels is a freelance writer, editor and a striving content marketing consultant from Portland. Being self-employed, she does her best to stay on top of the current trends in the business world. She spends her free time trying out new recipes or reading Scandinavian crime novels.

Business management and marketing know-how isn’t something we’re born with … but it can be learned.

Many business owners — especially those with a non-business background — struggle when it comes to creating a strategic business plan for their business.  Chances are they’ve never ran a business before and, even in their “employment” days, were not involved with the day-to-day business management and marketing of the company that they worked for.

So when it comes to running their business they struggle!

“Still need to figure out (sit down and actually learn) how to do this!” said one business owner to me earlier this week.

And this is typically the scenario I see when I speak with business owners…

• You have a dream for your business;
• You are an expert in whatever it is you do;
• But you have no idea how to take that idea/dream and turn it into a viable and profitable business;

… so you continue on in a state of overwhelm and frustration, with a slow growing business.

Spending some time planning all of your business activities is crucial if you are to succeed long-term.

It’s not just about planning your business – you need to understand the strategy behind what you’re going to be doing.

And you also need to understand how all the different pieces of your business fit together to create one coherent business — this is your business model.

Today, I’d like to share with you my simple, 3-step process, for sitting down and crafting your own strategic business plan.

PLAN – schedule some time in your calendar to work on your business plan. Some people opt to take a mini-retreat away from their office.  It could be spending the day in your local coffee shop, or actually going out of town for a few days.  Or you could just schedule one or two hours and sit quietly in your office planning out your business (that advantage of doing in your office is that you have all your business information right there with you). Whatever works best for you is going to work best for your business.  But the important thing is, you to schedule in the time to create your plan!

INVESTIGATE – what is it you’re going to be offering over the coming 90 days; 6 months; 12 months?  I like to have a loose 12-month plan, but then have a very specific 90-day plan in place.  It’s much easier to focus and implement with a shorter time-frame than it is to do so over, say, a 12-month period.  Sometimes planning out so far ahead can feel overwhelming.  But it is important to have that “big picture vision” in place so that you know where you’re heading.

Also when you’re deciding what it is you’re going to be offering ask yourself, “Does this make sense? Does it fit my big picture vision?”  This is where understanding the strategy behind your business comes into play.  It’s no good deciding you want to do a live event, or offer an online training course, if you don’t understand how this fits into your “Big Picture Vision”. All paths must lead you to that “Big Picture Vision”.

EXECUTE – now that you know what it is you’re going to be offering and when, it’s time to put that plan into practice.  One thing that I do in my business is “reverse engineering”.  I always start with the end date in mind and then work backwards.  For example, if I’m offering a 4-part live training class on a specific date, what do I need to do to promote that training class, and when.  It’s much easier to plan out the promotions if I work backwards from the start date of the class.  That way too, I can see if I’m leaving enough time for the promotions or if I need to adjust something in some way.

So there you have my simple 3-step process for creating your strategic business plan.  Now go ahead and create your own!

Training new employees can be a daunting task for many businesses. Sometimes, they don’t have a complete training program; other times, they just don’t know exactly how to use the training programs they do have.

The problem is that proper training is one of the most important ways to get the most out of employees for longer periods of time. Well-trained employees are also happier knowing that they are completely competent at their job. Whether you’re company has trouble training new employees from the start, or if they just don’t have the proper training program down for teaching new equipment, here are a few pointers that can help.

Hire the Right People

A good training program begins with the hiring of the right people. Everyone isn’t cut out for every position in a business — some people make better managers, other make better workers — and you need to understand which person will shine where.

This can be difficult, but there are some basic things to look for when hiring. You want to hire someone who seems eager to work with you: it’s very difficult find someone who cares about your company from the outset, so this is a head start. Also, look for someone who is eager to learn. Every job in your company has a learning curve, and someone who looks forward to learning will be easier to train. And, as odd as it may sound, hire someone who is not exactly like you. This will help bring in new ideas and perspectives that may be able to help the company in the long run.

Finally, look for someone who is willing to take responsibility. This is a crucial trait that can sometimes be hard to come by, so when you find someone who possess it, jump at the opportunity to hire them. The training will be much easier.

Have Experts on Hand

Anytime you are training someone, you need to make sure that the person doing the training is the most knowledgeable person you have in that field. Learning new things — especially new pieces of equipment — can be a challenge, so having an expert can eliminate the many misunderstanding that can arise during training.

For example, if you are training someone on new powder coating equipment, like this from Reliant Finishing Systems, it will pay to have someone who has used the machine for years to show them the ropes. New machines are often complicated and can have many steps for operation that can be a challenge to learn. With an expert nearby, you can have them really drill down into the proper way the machine should be run, including the safety concerns and any insight they may have gained by using the machine over the years.

Make it Interesting

Whenever you train anybody on anything, you want to make sure that their full attention is on the task at hand at all times. This will ensure that the proper messages are getting through to them and that you will not waste time by having to repeat simple steps. The best way to do this is to keep the training interesting.

You don’t want to drone on or lecture the trainee. You want to engage them so that they feel like they are a part of the process, which will, in turn, make them want to know more. You can also use humor when training. It’s very difficult for people not to pay attention when they can laugh during a situation.

Always avoid long-winded speeches where the trainee doesn’t have anything to respond do. Keep them focused and entertained and they can learn any piece of equipment in time.

Don’t Go Too Fast

People can get “burned out” pretty quickly if you try to cram too much information into a training session. This will make the training less effective and may even force the trainer to stay on simple topics for longer than needed.

Rather, break training sessions into small chunks. Have a short lecture session followed by a hands-on-training moment, followed by a break. This will allow the trainee to process the information more efficiently than if you had a four-hour training session that seemed to blend together. Giving out too much information for too long will have a negative effect on your training sessions, so always mix it up and look for ways to keep the training session moving at a nice pace.

Training can be difficult, but remember these few tips and you can make each training session more effective.

About the Author:

Kiera Vincent works as a business consultant. With a number of years experience under his belt he is knowledgeable in a range of business needs whether marketing, recruitment, or money management.