Category: Tips and Tools

You will never forget the first person you hire. It doesn’t matter if you started out as a solopreneur that suddenly needed to expand or you’re one of three co-founders that always wanted to grow; your first employee is memorable – your role is to make sure they are memorable for the right reasons.

You are now in responsible for someone else’s livelihood, you have proof your business is worth working for and you have a sudden boost in productivity. It’s a huge adjustment to get used to, and the benefits are incredible. However, the pressure is on to find that perfect person, and here is some advice on how:

It’s A Race Against Time

As soon as it becomes clear you could do with an extra pair of hands, make your moves to hire someone. Yes, it will probably be tight at first, but having someone else devote forty-plus hours a week to your cause will be more than worth it. More brainpower, more ideas, more innovation and more resource.

Their Future Not Their Past

You really want to be hiring someone based on their potential, not one they have achieved thus far. One of your key responsibilities is to see the potential in others, but it also goes beyond this – you also need to draw that potential out, which is where others may have failed. Yes, the fact they have worked someone well-known and have years of experience is good, but don’t underestimate the power of passion, empathy and a shared mission. Oh, and the fact they’ve worked in lots of places before is not a bad thing. After all, you probably dated a lot of people before you found the one.

Bring On The Professionals

Finding the perfect person is not as simple as putting an ad onto some job board and waiting for them to come to you. Oh no. That will be like trying to find a cotton wool ball in a snowstorm. Instead, you need to bring on some professionals to help you. If you are looking to hire an HR professional in order to scale up, then speak to some HR interim services that have a wide net of relationships. When it comes to standing out and attracting top talent, hire a creative copywriter to do your job description in a way that sells your culture as much as anything. Hiring isn’t easy. It is fierce, competitive and important. Remember that.

Don’t Allow Any Room For BS

It doesn’t take the most accomplished BS’er to blag their way through a set of interview questions and that’s because most of them are generic and rubbish. So, instead of just asking questions and letting a bunch of chatterboxes convince you they are right, have them complete a task of some sort. If it is a salesperson you’re hiring, then have them sell you something. If it is a marketer, then have then come up with an outreach strategy of some sort. If it is a creative copywriter, have them tell the story of your brand, even if it just to show off the tone. Trust us, you will separate the ones who want and deserve a shot from the ones just looking for a paycheck.

Image: startupstock

When you decide to launch a business, you should be aiming to start strongly to give yourself the best chance of succeeding. After all, you won’t have an unlimited amount of time to make a success of things, and a lot of businesses end up failing within the first year.

Whether you choose to buy a business or start one from scratch, the principles of getting off to a strong start remain the same. So, let’s look at a few ways that you can do this.

Find Out What People Actually Want to Buy

So many business owners start out with an idea that they think is brilliant, but they haven’t done the adequate research to ensure that other people agree with them. A lot of the time, people are too broad in the market they are aiming for, and you are much better off targeting a highly specific area rather than doing exactly the same thing that everyone else is doing.

Get Cash Flowing Immediately

No business has a chance of succeeding without a steady flow of cash, so you need to make sure you get into good habits from the get-go. First of all, you should get into a habit of sticking to a budget, and carefully managing your outgoings. When it comes to collecting payments, asking for deposits on work up-front is a good idea, and if you can get into a direct debit system with your clients rather than having to chase invoices all the time, so much the better.

Put the Focus on Sales and Marketing

When you are just starting out, your focus needs to be heavily sales and marketing based. Essentially, this means you will be getting a steady flow of cash into the business, while also making more people aware of exactly what you are doing. And you should be aiming to get repeat business, not just getting in new customers all the time. This is by far the more cost-effective way of growing your business.

Find Ways to Keep Costs Low

Another important financial point to make is that you should always be looking for ways that you can keep your costs low. Business is all about successful negotiation, so you should always be looking to get the best deal possible. Sometimes, you can form a reciprocal relationship that involves exchanging services rather than paying for them. In a fast-growing business, it is easy to let costs get out of hand, but this is always a recipe for disaster.

Monitor Your Results

If you don’t stringently monitor your results, you will never be able to tell if what you are doing is a success or not. So, whenever you launch a marketing campaign or bring a new product to market, you should be analysing what you are doing closely in order to maximise your chances of success.

Get off to a strong start in business, and you will be much more likely to keep that success going in the long-term.

Image: Pixabay

When you set about starting your business, or when you need a revamp, it’s easy to think that your website is just a small part of things. That it can be a simple thing that will do its job without any help or updates. Well, you’re wrong. Your website is only going to be successful if you give it the right things. You need to drive traffic towards it, gear it up to look the best, and give it a leg up on the competition.

Your website is an outward representation of who you are as a business, and as such, it should have as much attention given to it as any other part.

Design

From the get-go, your website needs to be appealing. Looks do count when it comes to your site. It needs to be easily accessible, and easy to navigate by everyone. With web-building sites like WordPress and Wix, a lot of websites have a similar feel to them. And that can easily work in your favour; if a person is familiar with how to use your site, then they are more likely to spend more time there. But, obviously, you still need to make it stand out from the other, similar sites. Build the page around your company’s aesthetic, match your business cards with your website, and continue the colour scheme through your office.

SEO

You need to gear up your website with SEO. For those who don’t know, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is where you use keywords or phrases within the body of some text which increases your standing on a search engine. These keywords are what people type into a search engine most to get the results they want. So, by using them on your site, it’s much more likely that you’ll be found. SEO marketing is one of the most important parts of your marketing campaign. It should be used in every piece of text you put out on the internet. And for your website, you want the keywords to fit seamlessly into the content, and not stand out like a sore thumb. Similarly, your wording should be readable by everyone. You might be a highly qualified lawyer, but you don’t want to turn away possible clients purely because they couldn’t understand your website.

Social Media

Probably the only thing in your marketing arsenal that is more important than SEO is your use of social media. Everyone is on some sort of social media platform, so why would you not be? It’ s a great place to connect with customers, gain new ones and show the world that you are a relatable human being that they could easily do business with. And everything you post or update should be leading people back to your website. Just wrote a blog? Tweet about it, the link will lead them straight back to your site. Something happens in the news that you can link back – link it back. Every opportunity should be grasped with both hands and used to your advantage.

Image: Pexels

Image: boboshow

The need to say yes to going green is greater than ever, and it shouldn’t only influence your personal life. Turning your business into a more eco-friendly operation doesn’t only bring personal satisfaction. It can additionally inspire your team of employees and give clients an incentive to choose your company over its competitors.   

 Gaining the desire to enhance the efficiency of the operation is one thing, but actively doing it is another altogether. Here are five simple tricks that should work wonders for the operation and brand.

• Reduce the need for business travel by improving communication. Modern businesses can be split over several locations while you may also do deals with clients from over the world. Video conferencing facilities can provide a great alternative to meeting in person. Not only will you save time and money, but you’ll also save the planet. As for internal communications, cloud computing and team messaging smartphone Apps are the answer.

Image: Pexels

• Stop printing so many marketing materials, and take your advertising ventures online. Digital campaigns can reach far wider audiences, meaning that you’ll gain far more revenue on a smaller budget. Meanwhile, wasted digital impressions cause less damage to your pocket than wasted printed flyers. Better still, they won’t cause any harm to the planet. When combined with the fact it’s easier to edit a digital ad, there is no reason to ignore this realm any longer. 
• Utilise old materials, especially in the workplace. Second hand office desks are just as useful as new ones, and stop perfectly fine products being trashed. Liquidation items can also help your business become greener while saving a lot of money in the process. Aside from making the company greener, you’ll be helping the old owners reduce their carbon footprint. Better still, you can keep the cycle going when it comes to replacing them in future years too. 
• Choose greener packaging and distribution services. Eco-friendly packaging sends a clear message to customers, which can be another selling point for the company. However, the method in which those items reach their destination is equally important and should not be forgotten for a second. If nothing else, going the extra mile in this step will actively encourage a healthier mindset. In turn, that will promote positive moves in the other aspects of the operation. 
• Reduce your carbon footprint with an improved approach to energy consumption. Solar panels are the obvious one, but there are plenty of ways to save water, electricity, and gas. The right office windows, for example, can work wonders for the temperature. On a similar note, going paperless can have a telling impact on energy as well as paper consumption. LED lighting and smarter usage will also make a noticeable difference. Best of all, your energy bills should fall dramatically.

Going green brings a whole host of benefits for a modern business. As such, entering 2018 without at least starting those transformations simply isn’t an option. Make those changes today, and you’ll be destined for a far brighter tomorrow.

Business events are great promotional tools, for established businesses and for start-ups. Companies large and small use them for a multitude of reasons, including team building, product launches, networking, social functions or conferences.

If you’re contemplating holding your first event, you might be wondering where to start or what to include to make it a success. Here are three vital aspects which, once considered, will give you a good foundation to build on.

1/ Go it Alone or Hire a Professional Organiser?

A business event needs a lot of the same organisation as a private function, with a few extra, specialised features on top depending on the type of event. Most people underestimate the amount of planning and organisation that happens behind the scenes.

First things to consider include:

• Reasons why you’re holding it – these will help you determine the type of people to invite.
• What type and how big your venue should be.
• The what, who, where and when of catering.
• Activities during the event.
• Daytime or evening? One day or running over several days?
• Do you need power – should you hire a generator?
• Health and safety, and insurance.

These points are a starting place, not an exhaustive list. Anyone organising a wedding soon realises the value of wedding planners when it comes to nailing all those small, important details, and it’s the same with events for business. If you’re organising everything yourself rather than hiring a professional organiser, gather a team of helpers and delegate tasks. Arrange regular meetings for updates.

2/ Choosing the Right Venue

The right venue can make or break your business event. Major considerations when deciding on the right venue include:

• Size – can your chosen venue hold all the people you plan on inviting?
• Venue layout and general suitability.
• Parking and transport availability.
• Location convenience if attendees will need overnight accommodation.
• Technical support and venue management.
• Performance areas if these are needed.

When choosing a venue, all the stakeholders’ needs are important, including emergency services, participants, clients, entertainers and performers, or speakers. When you know the facilities you need, visit and inspect several possible venues before making a final choice.

3/ Creating the Right Surroundings

Bearing the previous points in mind, the next step is setting your stage. This is a highly specialised area with many considerations. Not least of those considerations is health and safety, especially when large numbers of people are moving through the venue at the same time.

The type of staging needed will depend on the type of business event:

Seating

• Banquet seating if you’re hosting a formal dinner.
• Theatre seating if your event includes spoken or performed presentations. Tiered seating like this ensures everyone can see the stage.
• Classroom seating if your event is educational or instructional.

A Physical Stage – Considerations include how large a stage you need, what type of lighting and sound, and how will you ensure all cabling is safe. If it’s an outdoor event, would a canopied dome help make the stage the centre of attention and focus?

Catwalks or Poles and Podiums – Are you having a fashion show? If so, you’ll need a catwalk and suitable seating for guests, plus possibly screening or quick-change facilities for models. Modular catwalk systems from professional staging companies provide a variety of sizes and shapes to suit all fashion show needs.

Barriers – Directing people and organising movement flow through a venue is often best achieved through erecting barriers along with appropriate signs. Custom made, purpose built barriers and fences are also useful for cordoning off areas, or indicating queueing directions.

And finally, when organising any event, time is a prime consideration. Think in terms of months rather than weeks for relatively small events. Large corporate events may be a year or more in the planning.

Image: Cozendo