Business Plus Baby

Your workspace has a direct impact on your success and productivity, so let’s make sure your home office is up to scratch.

Working from home isn’t as simple as settling down on your sofa with a laptop on your knees, you need to carve out a dedicated area for work – complete with the correct desk and chair. Allow office furniture specialists Ultimate to give you their expert tips…

Sit Comfortably

When you suffer, so does your work – that’s why your chair is the most important piece of furniture in your home office. An ergonomic chair that supports your back and improves your posture will help you to maintain your focus and concentration. Pick an entirely adaptable model that keeps your feet flat on the floor and allows you to change the height and recline when you need to.

Colour the Walls

Wallpapering your walls or giving them a lick of paint is less frivolous than it sounds, shades of blue promote intellectual thought and green hues alleviate stress.

 Create a Free-Thinking Space

Creating a comfy area to relax and think away from your computer screen is as easy as putting a tub chair or sofa in the corner of your home office. A space where you can read or brainstorm creatively and enjoy a change of scenery.

Grow House Plants

Aside from improving the air quality in your little office, plants bust stress, boost morale and help you relax – NASA proved it. So pop a few succulents or fresh-cut flowers on your desk, or a houseplant in the corner of your room. Anything from floral Jasmine blossoms to cacti, real or fake, so long as it’s green and natural looking.

Crank the Tunes Up

Whether you use it to block noise when your family are home or to make repetitive tasks more enjoyable. Music can relieve stress and improve concentration. Stick to songs you already know and love, or listen to natural sounds like flowing water or tracks without lyrics.

Spritz Productivity Boosting Smells 

Cinnamon, mint, lemon, orange and rosemary scents boost productivity, so harness their power in the workplace with the occasional spritz of essential oil. Working from home you can light scented candles if you want to – which could never happen in a traditional office. When deadlines roll around, remember that aroma-therapists use lavender to calm and relieve stress.

Get Creative with Your Desk

Go for a statement piece that matches your style and existing furniture or something less traditional like a standing desk. So long as you actually have a desk at home, you can chose what you like. If you’re short on space or your room doubles up as something else when you’re done working, then a desk that you can store away may be your best option.
Position your desk near the window to maximise your exposure to morale-boosting natural light, or even at a right angle in the corner of your room, you do not have to face the boring wall – which can, in fact dent your productivity.

Declutter for Piece of Mind 

Organisation is key to success. So long as you keep the things you use most often at arm’s length, ready for action, the rest needs storing in pedestals, drawers or filing cabinets. This will streamline your work, with fewer distractions, more space on your desk and less time wasted digging through piles of paper work.

With these top tips you’ll soon be on a productivity roll!

Are you thinking of going global? Expanding your company internationally can be a very exciting prospect. It will open your company up to new clients and customers, and you will also be able to use new cultures and markets to help shape your company. But is can also be a challenging process, which takes a lot of careful planning. It will involve a steep learning curve for you and all your employees. However, don’t let this put you off. By moving out of your business’s comfort zone and into a foreign market, you can certainly reap big rewards. But that all depends on whether you make the transition well or not. Here are some points to consider when taking your business to the international stage.

Is There Definitely A Customer Base Outside Your Country?

Not all products or services will do well outside of their home country. That can be down to a variety of reasons. Maybe there is no room for another company in your industry in a particular foreign market. Or maybe a country simply doesn’t need or want what you are offering. So before you start moving into an international market, make sure you will be able to find customers in your target destination. Conduct plenty of market research and test out your product or service in the target country before you commit.

Think About Possible Language Barriers

Most of the time, English is the international language of business. However, that doesn’t mean you should completely neglect your new clients’ native language. That can come across as very ignorant. So try to embrace the new language whenever possible. If you ever go to a meeting at your client’s’ offices, be sure to know some basic phrases such as hello and thank you. The staff who you have the meeting with will probably speak English with you. However, you might have to interact with other people, such as receptionists, who do not know any English. You should also to send any important documents from your company in the foreign language. This is a common courtesy. If you don’t have anyone in your company who can translate, seek help from a translation service.

You Need Staff And Resources

One other important thing to consider is whether or not you have the required staff and resources to take on another market. Your company will be concerned with your established clients as well as trying to find new ones in a foreign country. That will create a lot of extra work for your staff. If you have the funds, think about hiring new employees. If you can find ones that speak the language of your target country, even better! Once you have enough staff, create a team who are solely focused on taking on the business of the international market.

Learn About The New Culture

Every country has their own quirks and habits. And office cultures can vary vastly from country to country. So before you head off for any meetings at foreign clients’ offices, be sure to brush up on local culture. You should also do this even if you aren’t planning on traveling to the destination. Some cultures and traditions will impact on how foreign companies run their businesses. As long as you do your homework and research the country and work culture well, you shouldn’t put a foot wrong.

Tax And Compliance

One of the major problems that companies face when dealing internationally is the tax barriers of various countries. You might also have to pay large fees for dealing with foreign banks. If possible, you could find it easier to set up a bank account in the country in which you will be trading. That will also save your clients a lot of money as they won’t be charged for dealing with a foreign bank account.

Get As Much Advice As Possible

You need to really do your homework before expanding internationally. And the best way to do that is to speak to people who have done it before. They will be able to tell you what you need to do, and any mistakes that they made during the transition. It is also a good idea to hire legal and financial professionals in your target country. They can inform you of all the documents you need to be able to trade in the country. There’s also another advantage of hiring foreign experts. And that is that they can make sure everything you do is in compliance with foreign laws and regulations.

Every exhibition you go to will be full of prospective clients and customers, so it’s vital that you grab their attention. If you stick with the standard table covering and backdrop no one is going to be drawn to your display – and that is going to result in lost opportunity.

You attend these exhibitions for one reason: to get noticed. So how do you grab the attention of prospective clients and customers? By creating an exhibition stand that no-one can simply pass by. It’s time to get creative- in order to get noticed.

Getting Noticed

Attending an exhibition is a big commitment in both your time and your company’s money. Make every minute count by offering a unique display that audiences can’t resist. Make sure it is eye-catching, lively and entertaining. This can all be accomplished by integrating these into your overall display:

• A unique shape or design to your display.  Set yourself (and your business) apart by creating a unique booth footprint.  This can be done by simply angling, or offsetting your displays so it appears different than the rest; offering bold signage and banners, or highlighting specialty models of your products.
• Give away great promotional items. A well-known trick to lure people over to your stand is to give them a freebie, and why not? Give them a small practical branded gift to take home and you will have not only attracted them over, but also made your brand memorable after the event.
• Play fun and exciting games that are relevant to your brand.  Break the boredom of an event by setting up interesting games to play. No matter what business service or products you are trying to sell, think of a fun and interactive game that will make people stop and check it out – especially if it’s part of a competition.
• Show off your products or service. There’s no better way of stopping your customers from walking right past you than a live demo. They give you a chance to show off your products while also engaging with your customers- win, win!

Try something a bit different

Leave the traditional boring approach to booth design to other vendors.  Create a theme that compliments your business or products to attract attention. Make sure your theme is branded but also intriguing to passers-by, ensuring they will want to stop and have a look. You could invite your visitors over by using lighting on your stand. According to industry experts lighting can increase awareness to your stand by 30-50%, so it’s definitely worth the investment.

Utilise a Variety of Display Stands and Graphics Boards

Banner stands and graphics boards come in all kinds of shapes, styles, sizes, and offerings these days. Printed graphics, shell scheme graphics and outdoor displays are just some ways to boost your booth presence and pull in prospects.  Don’t shy away from spending extra money on display equipment, online retailers such as Marler Haley offer a wide range of different products to fit your brand and budget.

Being able to attract an audience to your exhibition stand is the key part to any event, because without visitors – what was the point? Make your brand known, bring in custom and start making connections.

Think back to the summers you had as a kid – they went on forever and every day was filled with possibilities, fun, a bit of boredom too maybe, and lots and lots of sun.

Now, as an adult, you don’t have your mum calling you in from the park any more, which you always dreamed of, but you do have work the next morning, bills to pay, cars to be serviced, kids to take to the dentist…

Even your days off are filed with duties – defrosting the fridge, clearing out the garage – whatever happened to just throwing caution to the wind and getting up in the morning determined to enjoy the day?

Here’s some great ideas to help you recapture that summer feeling

Look at your hometown through tourist eyes

When you’ve lived somewhere for ages, you take it for granted, so try to see it anew. What are the attractions in your town or city? Museums, a waterpark, or a famous deli? Does it have a good network of bike trails, or even a pick-your-own farm? If so, what’s stopping you taking a day off, either during the week or at the weekend and filling your boots?

Plan your spontaneous fun

OK, this is a contradiction, but you’re an adult now, so you have to be a bit more realistic. Find a community calendar – there’s bound to be some fairs, or farmers’ markets, or nature walks – whatever floats your boat, pencil it in your diary and do it.

Alternatively, you could round up your best chums and have a cocktail night, or head to a pub with a nice friendly garden. Remember, though, while being an adult means you can play out for longer, you should drink responsibly so you don’t end up pencilling in an appointment with a drink drive solicitor company.

Get back to basics

What did summer mean to you? Playing catch in the park, climbing trees, chucking water bombs, or chalking pavements? Get back in touch with your old self, drag the kids away from the TV and have some good old fashioned fun.

You could get the neighbours round for an impromptu summer camp night – marshmallows, pup tents, bushcrafts…use your imagination.

Use your back garden

Many people’s backyards are neglected, but long summer nights mean you can rediscover it. Have a picnic among some jar lanterns, or even pitch a tent and build a barbecue from bricks. You can even give the kitchen a rest and make your breakfast over it!

Outdoor swimming

A good summer is all about the water! In the UK, cool or cold water has about a month every year when it’s not reviled, so make the most of it! Head to a lake, a river or just turn on the sprinkler in your garden and splash. Alternatively, go to a waterpark and dive in after the kids. Let yourself go!

If you have any great ideas for making the most of the summer, share them with us; we’ll save you a marshmallow