Category: Tips and Tools

You’re a savvy, switched on 21st century entrepreneur. You know that even if your business doesn’t make extensive use of ecommerce, most prospective business leads will get their first taste of your brand through your online presence. But you’re also a parent. You can’t afford to fork out a small fortune on a stop shelf web developer to completely overhaul your online presence, and you don’t have the time or energy to become a proficient coder in order to create a website that stands shoulder to shoulder with those of the multinational corporate titans. Thus, many nascent small business people do the best they can with the resources at hand, and while the results may look just fine to their eyes, a more experienced hand would be able to tell you that you’re making mistakes that could undermine the credibility of your business. Thus, while a tip top website may represent a modest overhead, it’s almost always one worth covering.

Fortunately, it needn’t be a costly or time consuming exercise to ensure that your online presence is saying all the right things and none of the wrong things about your business. It’s simply a matter of knowing the “tells” that could make for a potentially embarrassing website and acting on them quickly and decisively. Such as…

Default WordPress templates

There are lots of reasons people set up websites. Some are established by businesses, while others are built by amateurs who simply want a platform upon which to promote their blog, their photography or their worldview. While both have every right to an online presence, it could prove a black eye for your business if you use the default WordPress templates favoured by amateur webmasters. These templates could make your website look amateurish to more practiced eyes. Fortunately, WordPress website design is a fairly easy discipline to source. There are many free to use templates that look much more professional than the defaults. Even if you need to subcontract a freelancer to create one from scratch this can usually be accomplished with a minimum of cost.

Cheaply sourced content

You probably know enough about SEO to know that one of the surest ways to climb to the top of search engine queries organically is by posting regular content. But this can lead thrifty entrepreneurs to outsource their content to low cost, low quality overseas “farms”. This content tends to be poorly written, factually inaccurate or lacking in substance. Make sure that you dedicate sufficient time to contribute your own content, entrust it to a member of your staff or outsource it to a more reputable provider that uses a pool of talented writers.

Non responsive

If users complain that your website is “non responsive” it could mean one of two things. Firstly, it may mean that when customers try to click on a call to action or navigation button it either doesn’t work or results in an unexpected response. This is likely a symptom of poor development or misleading UX (user experience) copy but is fairly easy to fix once isolated.

Secondly, it may mean that your website is not well optimized for mobile consumption. It may become distorted or rendered unusable when viewed through a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet. In an era where mobile usage has overtaken desktop usage, making your website more responsive should be among your highest priorities. Fortunately, most templates designed these days are build with mobile use in mind.

Public domain images

From the outside looking in, working from home should be a piece of cake. You get to wear whatever you want, set your own hours, and be there for your family when they need you most. Though these perks are true, working from home takes some getting used to. You end up needing to spend so many hours in the initial stages of growing a business, that sometimes it could seem like you see your family less.

Not to mention, with increased work hours that leaves less time for you to care for yourself. Eventually, some women end up feeling less accomplished than when they worked a 9 to 5. Some, become depressed while others become so inundated with responsibilities and the pressures to succeed that they start to feel overwhelmed.

Know the Signs of Stress

Stress comes with the territory of being a working parent. Whether you work in the office or from home, the constant battle of trying to find a work/life balance is difficult to deal with. Though some stress is to be anticipated, when it starts to get out of hand, you may notice things like:

• Headaches

• Body aches

• Lack of energy

• Weakened immune system (getting sick easier)

• Changes in sex drive

• Changes in social life

• Resentment or distancing from your family

• Self-medicating with drugs or alcohol

If you’ve noticed these signs of stress, it is imperative that you begin taking the proper measures to reduce these feelings before things get worse. For those who are suffering from drug or alcohol abuse, finding the right detox center is ultimately the first step towards recovery.

Keeping Stress to a Minimum

If you realize that working from home has brought with it an undue amount of stress, you need to start taking steps towards reducing it as much as possible. This doesn’t mean that you should go back to your 9 to 5, however, it does mean getting a clear understanding of what your stressors are and finding effective solutions. Below are some of the most common stresses of working from home and how you can keep it to a minimum:

Your Family is ALWAYS There – When you work from home the lines between work and personal life can blend quickly. If you have younger children, they’re always home with you, and you’ll also find that friends and family members will just pop up or call whenever because they believe you have the convenience to do as you please.

Set Boundaries – It is imperative to set boundaries. Set business hours and ask your family to honor those hours. Avoid answering your personal calls or emails unless there is an emergency. Lastly, consider enrolling your younger children in classes or programs for kids. Even if it’s an art class or summer camp for half the day, it gives you time to focus solely on work.

It Gets Lonely– In an office setting, you had the pleasure of being able to communicate with your coworkers. Whether you were talking about an assignment, what you did over the weekend, or exchanging recipes, it provided you with time to spend talking with others. Now that you’re working from home, communicating is less of an option and it can become depressing.

Get Out of the House – Social isolation is a huge problem for those who work from home. You need to get out of the house to break up the monotony of being indoors, alone all the time. Join a business networking group, go and do work at a local coffee shop, link up with your clients or colleagues on occasion for face-to-face communication.

Your Self Esteem Plummets – Wearing what you want has its perks, however, there is a thin line between wearing something comfortable and not caring about your wardrobe at all. When you’re in the house all day, you begin to feel like there’s nothing to get ready for and your personal appearance and self-esteem can suffer because of it.

Take Care of You – You have to be diligent about self-care now, more than ever. You should continue to get dressed every day, do your hair, and be mindful of your hygiene.

Working from home does have advantages – It allows you the opportunity to pursue your wildest dreams on terms that work best for you and your family. With that being said, there are still some burdens to bear when working from home. To ensure that you don’t burn out, it is imperative to recognize your areas of stress and do something about it such as the tips described above.

Image: efuetatem

One of the main signs that your business is going extremely well is the need to bring new members of staff onboard. These new employees will help take on the extra workload and will make it possible to grow and develop the business as organically as possible.

There’s just one concern that some entrepreneurs and business owners worry about when it comes to recruiting their first employees – they just aren’t sure they’ll be any good at managing them. Management is an acquired skill and new leaders might think that their skills aren’t quite up to scratch for new people on their team. Thankfully, though, being a good manager is something that can be learned and you should be able to easily pick up all the required knowledge and experience as you go along. There are just a few tips that could help you from the outset. Read on to find out more!

Image: DanaTentis

Outsource Hiring And Recruitment

Once you do have your first members of staff, you will find that your role starts to completely change and you’ll be extremely busy. That’s because you will now have to look after these new employees and help them settle in and get on with their jobs. And that is all on top of doing your own work. So, when the time comes to increase the size of your team and bring in even more staff, you just might not have the time to dedicate to sifting through CVs and carrying out interviews. Don’t panic, though; you will be able to use the services of an HR recruitment agency which will make recruiting new employees a whole lot easier. You can outsource as much of the whole recruitment process as you’d like, making your life and business a lot better to manage!

Create A Family Atmosphere

Sure, most people go to work mainly for the paycheck at the end of the month. But there are some other perks of being in full-time employment too. Take the social advantages, for instance. I’m sure that most of your new employees will want to join your team to make friends and meet new people. So, it’s worth trying to create a family atmosphere in your office. This will be good for team building and will help everyone settle in very quickly. As well as encouraging everyone to get along, you might want to give your employees certain benefits, such as being able to bring their dog or baby to the office with them. This helps keep the atmosphere in the office light and friendly, and also ensures that your employees’ personal lives aren’t inconvenienced by having to go to work each day!

Image: JerryKimbrell10

Work On Your Communication

Once you are a boss, you will need to have impeccable communication skills. That’s because your workers will want to know exactly what is going on in the business, especially in their own department. So, you need to have a policy of transparency and open communication in place. Otherwise, you will find that your workers start to distrust you and rumors might start to fly around the office. As well as you being a good communicator, you also need to encourage your staff to be as well. For instance, it’s really worth encouraging all of your employees to give you any feedback whenever they see fit. Make sure there are various ways for your staff to reach out to you, such as through email, an instant messenger app, or a specialist communications platform such as Slack. You should also ensure that you have a friendly demeanor and are approachable so that your employees are never put off to come forward and talk to you about whatever may be on their mind.

Put Good Training In Place

It is also essential that, as an employer, you give your employees plenty of opportunities to take part in training and develop their skills within the workplace. As the business owner, you are responsible for all of your staff’s training, and letting your employees take time out of their jobs to further their skills really will benefit you and your company as a whole. There are various types of training that your employees can take, but the main ones to consider are job-specific types of training that will help them improve their daily work and team-building training that can help their collaborative efforts. Overall, the team-building training will help your company feel like more of a tight-knit team. Plus, it’s worth thinking of offering some onboarding training for the new hires you bring into the company. This type of training ensures that newbies get a good overview of how the company works and the part that they play in it all. It also ensures that they settle into their new position as soon as possible.

Be Decisive

Image: PhotoMIX

Do you always say that you are bad at making decisions? That needs to change and pronto! Once you have employees who work for you, you will be responsible for making the majority of decisions in the business. After all, you are leading the organization, and your workers will be looking to you for help and guidance. So, if you aren’t too hot when it comes to making decisions right now, this is something that you will have to work on. Just remember that the key to making the right decision in any situation is to be as informed as you can be.

Delegate According To People’s Strengths

Once you are in a position to be able to delegate jobs and responsibilities to your employees, you need to make sure that you do so in a way that everyone is given work according to their strengths and areas of expertise. That way, you are 100% sure that the best person for the job is working on it.

Once you follow all of these tips, you’ll find that you become a great manager and will be a real hit with your new team of employees. Good luck with it all!

Starting a business has been made much easier by the huge number of online tools available. Many are very affordable and mean you can carry out activities that used to require a programmer even if you have no coding skills.

The flip side of this is that the sheer range of tools you could choose from is overwhelming. Read on to find out the top ten tools you’re likely to need, plus some suggestions of products to try.

Email marketing service

This is first in the list because it’s a crucial part of your marketing strategy, whether your business is online or bricks-and-mortar. Why? Because you need to keep in touch with your prospects and customers, and – despite all the hype about social media – email is still the most cost-effective way to do this. The best place to start is to write down what you want to be able to do with your email service, plus your budget, then find a tool that meets this need. Many small businesses start with Mailchimp’s free service but there are great alternatives including Constant Contact, Get Response, ConvertKit and Aweber.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

You need a customer database with your customers’ names, addresses and a record of what they’ve bought and when you’ve had contact with them. This is what a customer relationship management does at its most basic, but it can do much more, including marketing automation. You can begin with an Excel spreadsheet, but you’ll probably want to move on to a tool like Capsule CRM before too long. You could also look at tools like Hubspot.

Organization / project management tools

Need to stay on top of your to do list? Try Todoist, or if your needs are more project management that to do list, try Trello or Asana.

Social media scheduling and analytics tool

There’s no doubt about it, social media can be a huge time-suck. Tools like Buffer and Hootsuite can help (if used effectively), and they also provide reports on your social media stats, so you can see how many likes, shares and comments your social media posts have achieved.

Google analytics

If you don’t have Google Analytics set up on your website, go do it now! It’s almost certainly your best tool for tracking visits and views to your website, as well as where your traffic is coming from.

SEO tools

And speaking of traffic, there are many search engine optimization tools you can use to make sure your content gets seen, such as WordPress plugins Yoast and All in One SEO pack.

Data management platform

Larger businesses that handle a lot of data could well need master data management tools such as Profisee.

Automation

Often, these tools will need to ‘speak’ to one another. The good news is that you can set this up using tools such as Zapier and IFTTT (If this, then that).

Accounts and finance tools

It goes without saying that you’ll need to keep on top of your finances. Take a look at Xero, Freshbooks and Wave.

File sharing

And finally, remote working means that many of us need to share files across long distances. Check out services like Dropbox and Google Drive for this.

When you have your own business to look after, it is hugely important to make sure that you do not overlook any of the major or even minor details. Most first-time entrepreneurs find themselves struck by just how much there is to focus on, and the way in which you generally need to be as though you are in all places at once. This is something you get used to in time, however you do need to practise the art of getting good at costing. Costing is one of the most important things you will ever do, as it keeps you in the black and ensures that you are not going to let your business run into the ground. But it is so easy to overlook the essentials here, and a basic reminder of some of them is always going to be helpful. Let’s do that now, to give you a helping hand.

Simplify

If you want to be able to keep your costs down and to be clearer of the costs you do have, you can achieve both of these aims by working to simplify the processes within your business. There might be many processes which you are able to simplify, and you might be wondering where to start. The truth is – it doesn’t matter, so long as you are doing it and you are approaching it in the right way from the word go. The simpler your processes are, the fewer items of machinery you need, the less you have to worry about overspending, and the easier it will be to keep track of everything. It is definitely worth your while keeping things simple and basic, even if it seems as though you want it to be more complex at times.

Details

The more you are able to focus on the details, the more likely it is that you can cost your business effectively, and without overlooking anything which might covertly be costing you a lot of money in the long run. The details means looking at everything from your paperclips and your warehouse’s CNC milling machines right up to the computers in the office and the benefits you might be providing your employees with. It all counts, and the sooner you accept that the sooner you will be able to keep your business in the best possible shape. Pay attention to details if you want your company to be truly cost-effective in the long run.

Shop Around

For every little or big thing you need in your business, you can save money by simply shopping around and ensuring that you don’t get taken in by false deals and promises. There are a lot of companies out there who try to profit from the ignorance of new entrepreneurs. Don’t be that kind of business owner. Try to be savvy and consider whether you really need their specific product, or whether you can go elsewhere and get the same or better for less money.

Image: stevepb