Business Plus Baby

Owning a business in Russia, or any other part of the world, can be a great financial and professional option if it is run well. If you are thinking of starting a business in Russia, it would be a good idea to go through all of the proper diligence steps first. There are five financial questions that you should be asking yourself before you choose to start a business in Russia.

What are my Cash Flow Projections?

The first question you should be asking yourself is what your cash flow projections are. When you are starting a new business in Russia, you need to understand how much money you will be able to make. This should include coming up with a projection for revenues, operating expenses, and capital items. Another big item to consider are the taxes that you will have to pay. The level of taxes will vary on a lot of factors, including how you structure your business and ownership. Because of this, it is important that you choose the right organization structure to meet your business type.

How Much Money Do I Need to Start?

When you are looking to start a business, you also need to ask and consider how much money you will need to start the business. Starting a business will require you to have working capital, purchase equipment, build out a work space, and pay a lot of deposits to vendors. Because of this, it is important that you properly budget your startup costs to determine how much money you will need to get started.

How Much Money Do I Need to Raise

Depending on your cash flow and startup cost projections, you may find that you do not have enough money to get the business started without additional support. It is important that you spend time figuring out how much money you need to raise and consider how you want that structured. If you want to raise capital, it will require you to give away equity. If you want to take out a bank loan, you may be required to personally guarantee it and will have to pay interest and fees.

How Much Will Changes Cost Me?

When you are looking to build a cash flow model, you also need to ask yourself how some changes could impact your ability to earn a profit. You should look at each one of your expenses and determine how small changes in those expenses will impact your bottom line. Based on the potential for volatility, you can use this analysis to determine what vendor contracts to focus on negotiating a fixed rate for a longer period of time.

Can I Support Myself in the Meantime?

The most important financial question that you need to ask yourself is how you will be able to support yourself in the meantime. In all likelihood, you will need to put some of your personal capital into the business to get it started. Furthermore, it could be a long period of time before you are able to take a salary out of the business. Because of this, it is important to determine whether you will be able to support yourself until you get to the point where the business is self-sufficient.

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Photo: Ainis Jankauskas

If your company is looking to extend its promotional reach, it’s understandable if you have foreign markets in your sights. However, in the attempt to make headway in these markets, you should work hard at your promotional efforts there. Delivering fun live experiences can help you to do that, but what if you need to hire staff for delivery of those experiences? Here are some things that we think are especially worth keeping an eye out for when you hire such staff for international events.

The specific kinds of staff that you need

The above might seem like obvious advice, but there are many types of staff that you can choose from. The international exhibition staffing agency Kru Live offers brand ambassadors, models, actors, and hospitality staff, to cite a few examples. However, it could surprise you how much variety there is within each of those categories; if we focus on hospitality staff, they can range from food-runners to wine waiters. Therefore, be specific when telling your staffing agency what you require.

Positive, “can-do” attitudes

Even if you try your best to choose and hire staff who are highly skilled and experienced, this provides no guarantee that these people will be easy for you to get along with. This Eventbrite article advises that “you can train skills, but you can’t train attitude”. Therefore, if you come across an available-for-hire staff member whose attitude you take a shine to, you could really benefit from giving them a chance – even if their skills initially seem a little rusty.

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Inquisitive staff

It’s a good sign if staff ask you a lot of questions. While having to keep answering such questions might feel like a hassle at first, keep in mind that the staff are eager to fulfil their responsibilities to your precise liking. Nonetheless, once such staff are hired, you can prevent questions popping up in excessive number by providing a complete briefing to those people pre-event. For events that will be particularly big, it’d be wise to delegate this responsibility to team leaders or supervisors.

Any issues regarding legal regulations abroad

When preparing a promotional event in another country, you should research local laws to check that your event won’t fall foul of any of them. There could be specific regulations regarding, for example, what breaks the event staff will be entitled to and insurance that these people will need. Therefore, before the event, make sure that you know all of the relevant rules and regulations and will be adhering to them. Breaking that country’s law could land you much inconvenience.

Staff you have had good experiences with

If you have hired particular staff before and had great experiences with them, to the extent that you developed a solid relationship with them, you could hire them again. You could inform your agency about them to ensure that these staffers can repeatedly return to you. Also, whenever they are with you, treat them well; this will give them even more reason to regularly come back.

Group conversation is the pinnacle of cooperation in the world of business. Meetings are a central focus for employers in nearly every field, as gathering employees together to share information and ideas gives everyone a chance to contribute to the success of the company and its projects. Diverse contributions lead to more solid outcomes, and the best way to gather these contributions is to bring workers and management together to discuss them.

Unfortunately, meeting face to face isn’t always possible. In a world of highly globalized industry, there are many corporate entities that have work sites and management all over the globe, or at the very least scattered across their home countries. This presents challenges that are more than just geographical; time zone differences create difficulties for any face time, be it physical or virtual via video streaming services. To save money, time and other valuable resources – and still benefit from collaborative interactions between participants – the use of video and voice calling has increased, and the group call has risen to the forefront of this movement.

What is a Group Call?

According to Techopedia, a group – or conference – call is any telephone or voice communication channel that allows for multiple participants, rather than just two conversing over a single line. The number of participants can vary, ranging from three to several hundred, depending on the needs and intentions of the users. Some of these are interactive sessions, while others are strictly informative, with a single member or small group presenting and others listening in. Both types are especially popular in the professional world.

Voice Advantages

There are many reasons why an employer, director or supervisor might choose to utilize voice-based, multi-person calling as a means for professional communication. The advantages of these exchanges includes:

• Collaboration between remote parties, allowing companies to operate without having to centralize their operations. In this way, no funds need to be provided for relocation; cooperation can often be accomplished over voice chat lines as easily as in physical meetings.
• Communication that is superior to email, fax and written memos. With the use of voice, points can be made quicker and more clearly, cutting down on the time required to discuss plans and projects.
• Time, money and other resources saved by eliminating the need for travel. Facilitating meetings via remote means keeps costs low for employers while also bringing more contributors to the table. Tangible materials are less necessary when topic examples can be given via discussion and description.
• Scheduling flexibility. Because of the fact that participants do not need to meet face-to-face, the timing of teleconferences is much more flexible. Members of the conversation might sit in front of an office desk or might sit in a local café, enjoying lunch while listening. Others might even contribute from the comfort of their couch – with conference calls, it doesn’t matter where or when, as long as you can listen in.

Because of these benefits, many corporations and businesses turn to audiovisual communications companies like BlueJeans to set up programs that allow for group calls.

Mobile Meet-Ups

With the many advantages of audio communication, it makes sense that the medium has been modernized. As with many means of keeping in touch, audio conferencing is now available as part of a great many mobile applications, and can therefore be used from even more remote locations and even more convenient times.

The same applications that many people currently use to keep in touch with one another for social reasons can also be used for business. One of the most widely used – and most compatible with a variety of devices, both mobile and stationary – is Google’s Hangouts application. Using this application, individuals can have conversations both professional and private, with simple, intuitive software.

Initiating a multi-person audio chat is easy. Unlike traditional, scheduled meetings, these virtual meet-ups can be staged on short notice, and joined or exited as needed by participants. Using freely available applications or a Google account, users are able to log in, select persons to contact, and begin a conversation. Text chats welcome over a hundred participants, and while audiovisual exchanges offer support for fewer members, connection is free via any internet or mobile data line. The chat interface can even be moved out of the way of the main area of the screen to allow for multitasking, the essence of today’s workday.

Making collaborative discussions accessible to companies both large and small – as well as private citizens and public entities – allows for the greatest possible diversity of contributions and the best results on potential projects. The increased mobility of smart phone and tablet applications only enhances this. Group audio chats are now simpler than ever to initiate, and easier for professionals to incorporate into their practices, yielding better communication, better teamwork and better goods and services as a result.

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Photo credit: Frank Winkler

Finding a vehicle that suits all your family needs as well as your professional requirements is tough, especially when you have a budget to stick to. What instantly springs to mind in terms of size, flexibility with space and the ability to drive long distances is a Range Rover, but they’ve always been priced way too high to be a reality. That was until I discovered the new Evoque, and I for one can’t wait to test-drive one of these. Initially I would look at a Range Rover Evogue lease, so that I could test different elements of my weekly schedule and see if it meets all our needs as a family, but looking at the specification, it’s hard to see how it could fail. Here are a few top features that make this the perfect all-round vehicle.

The price

Let’s not forget the main benefit of the Evoque – the price! Okay, so it’s slightly shorter and lower than the full-size Rover, but unless they’re sat side by side, it’s incredibly difficult to tell the difference due to the excellent design. It’s thousands less to buy, but if you look at long-term leasing one instead, you’re talking as little as £320 over a 24-month period – far less than a finance payment, and don’t forget that over the years the price will come down to reflect depreciation.

The style

As I said above, the overall look and feel of the Evoque has been so well executed that it feels like you’re getting a full-size classic Rover. However, while the larger model remains sophisticated, the Evoque has a much sportier feel without damaging any of those luxury elements. It’s slightly sleeker too, making it more comfortable to drive if you’re not used to larger vehicles and this is your first family car.

The technology

With every new model of vehicle comes a technology upgrade, and by leasing a newer car rather than buying a much older one for the same price, you’ll reap the benefits of these engineering developments. With everything from an 8-inch touchscreen system with the usability of a smartphone, to the park-assist and built-in sat-nav, there aren’t many emergencies this car can’t help you out of.

The comfort

One of the main reasons people opt for a Range Rover is the level of comfort that’s guaranteed. That level of high-end luxury used to come with a huge cost, but these days all that quality craftsmanship is contained in the much more cost-effective and practical Evoque, so it’s perfect for longer journey with the kids or while sat in a commuter queue.

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The safety

Finally, safety is key for any vehicle, whether it’s for the family or not, and the Evoque certainly won’t let you down here. Everything from the air bags that are on all sides to child safety locks, traction control and in-vehicle assistance are all fitted as standard, but on bespoke models you can even add blind spot sensors.

Are you thinking of leasing or buying a Range Rover?

What do you want people to notice when they first step into your restaurant? Probably it is the ambience, the classy décor, the well turned out staff, and the quality furniture. What you do not want them to see is damaged furniture and furnishings beginning to suffer from the passage of time. Sooner or later all your furnishings will need to be replaced, but the longer you can put that day off by preventing damage, the better it will be for your business.

Customers

A lot of the damage that is done is caused by the customers. There is a limit to how much you can interfere with what your customers do without turning into the British sitcom character Basil Fawlty, but you can try to limit the damage.

Leaning back on a chair is the quickest way to damage the legs. Keeping the distance to the next table to the minimum comfortable gap will discourage this. Alternatively, staff could politely ask a customer if he (it usually is a he) is uncomfortable to draw attention to what is happening.

Wobbling chairs are not only annoying but are likely to scratch floors because the most frequent cause is the loss of a glider. Check chairs regularly for a full complement. When purchasing commercial restaurant chairs get good quality items and, if they use gliders, make sure you get plenty of spares.

Staff

Staff members need to be properly trained to avoid damage to furnishings and floors. When cleaning floors the chairs will probably be lifted upside down onto the tables. Ensure that this is done carefully and that the chairs are replaced gently on the floor.

Not standing on chairs or tables is a basic healthy and safety requirement and alternative means to reach high places should be provided.

Environment

A lot of the damage that happens is the result of the fact that this is, after all, a restaurant. If you have chosen your furniture for its aesthetic properties, you may have to take special care that it can withstand the work it is required to do.

Wood can swell, contract, and split if it is warmed and cooled too rapidly. Avoid placing natural wood furniture in the close vicinity of heat sources, such as ovens, direct sunlight, and open fires. Provide hot plates to prevent hot items being placed directly on vulnerable table tops, causing heat stains and damage.

Drinks will inevitably be spilled. Choose surfaces that can be wiped clean. If chairs have fabric seats, they should be stain resistant or easy to remove and wash.

If furniture gets moved around during a serving session, make sure that it is moved back to its proper place as soon as possible. Be especially alert to customers taking indoor furniture outside.

Protect Your Investment

High-quality furniture is an important part of your business investment. Constant vigilance is a small price to pay for getting the maximum life out of it, protecting your assets and keeping your restaurant an attractive place to dine for many years to come.

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