Author: anwaryusef

Anwar Y. Dunbar is a Regulatory Scientist. Being a naturally curious person, he is also a student of all things. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor’s Degree in General Biology from Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). Prior to starting the Big Words Blog Site, Anwar published and contributed to numerous research articles in competitive scientific journals reporting on his research from graduate school and postdoctoral years. After falling in love with writing, he contributed to the now defunct Examiner.com, and the Edvocate where he regularly wrote about: Education-related stories/topics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Financial Literacy; as well as conducted interviews with notable individuals such as actor and author Hill Harper. Having many influences, one of his most notable heroes is author, intellectual and speaker, Malcolm Gladwell, author of books including Outliers and David and Goliath. Anwar has his hands in many, many activities. In addition to writing, Anwar actively mentors youth, works to spread awareness of STEM careers, serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium, serves as Treasurer for the JCSU Washington, DC Alumni Chapter, and is active in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Ministry at the Alfred Street Baptist Church. He also tutors in the subjects of biology, chemistry and physics. Along with his multi-talented older brother Amahl Dunbar (designer of the Big Words logos, inventor and a plethora of other things), Anwar is a “Fanboy” and really enjoys Science-Fiction and Superhero movies including but not restricted to Captain America Civil War, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Prometheus. He is a proud native of Buffalo, NY.

5 Signs You’re Serious About Career Success

A key focus of my blog is Career Discussions. In terms of career, not everyone is going to be successful. Nor does everyone have what it takes to be successful. What are the keys? The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Signs You’re Serious About Career Success.

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Every single person is after one thing in life: happiness. Some people find that they get happy through their families and their hobbies, while others find they are happiest when they are embedded in their careers. For most people, the success that they achieve in the workplace or with their study can define how happy they are, and success is an appealing option for everyone. We all want success in some way or another, but actually attaining that success is a very different thing entirely.

You must do all that you can to achieve what you want to achieve, but most of all, you need to figure out what you want to succeed at first. We’re asked to decide what to do at college, with our lives, at the tender age of 18, but many of us don’t really know what we want until we grow up a little. Are you going to find success when you speak to a Commercial Mortgage Banker about buying your first business property? Are you going to feel you have found success when you get to the point where you decide to open your own business? It’s important to identify the signs that you are serious about finding career success, and we’ve got five of those signs for you below.

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● You are working to achieve your goals. Those who spend time ensuring that they can achieve their goals are those who are concentrating on their future. Concentrating on your goals and working towards them show that you are motivated and happy to push yourself to the maximum no matter what. A keen, solid focus on what you want for your future is going to show the world that you have plans to meet your goals regardless of what’s happening in life.
● You follow your passions. When you are unapologetic about following the things you are passionate about, you show that you are going to be successful in your future. You will be happier and you will thrive better when you are enjoying what you do – it’s why you should always go after things you feel passion for. When you consider both your wants and needs, you may realize that these don’t always marry much of the time. However, the constant push to achieve is going to be worthwhile for you and it’s an important trait to have if you want to be seen as serious about your career.
● Your goals aren’t short term. You see the mountain you have to climb to achieve your goals over the long-term, but you don’t care. You’re a novice climber, but you don’t care. You are hyper focused on sticking to the long-term goals that you’ve set for yourself and you are using these goalposts as an invisible force to guide your actions. You are plotting life and adding your goals to pieces of paper, and you are increasing your odds of achieving them, too. You are the builder and the climber of the mountain – and you’re ready to win.
● You value your time. People who are successful about their goals don’t waste their time doing things that aren’t goal-oriented. In fact, they spend a lot of their time doing things that will help them to achieve, instead. They don’t apologize for prioritizing their goals, either, they are proud to put their goals down as the most important thing in life.
● You focus carefully. A sure sign that you are ready to achieve success is that you are focusing on one thing at a time and you’re happy to do it. You’re more than ready to get yourself together and multitask to get your priorities sorted. Your level of focus is lauded by all – and you know it!

Easy Ways to Improve Your Business Hiring Process

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A critical part of your business is the hiring process. The following contributed post is entitled, Easy Ways to Improve Your Business Hiring Process.

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If you want to improve your business hiring process, you’ll be glad to know that this is very easy to do. In fact, if you are able to improve your hiring process, you may find that you can easily boost your employee retention and that you can also improve your general interaction with them. If you want to find out more about that, then simply look below.

Build a Strong Brand

Did you know more than 75% of professionals are passive candidates? This means that they are not looking for jobs right now, but they are more than open to any new opportunities. If you can, you need to make sure that you build a strong employee brand. This will reduce your turnover by up to 30%, and it will also attract those who may well be open to new opportunities. Glassdoor surveys have found that over 69% of people are much more likely to apply for a position if the employer is able to manage and respond to reviews. For this reason, you need to focus on building your brand, as this will make it much easier when the time comes for you to do some recruiting. It will also help you to be much more active in your recruitment process. If you can, the next time you post local truck driving jobs, or any jobs for that matter, make a special effort to ensure that you are appealing to the right candidates too. Make it obvious what you are looking for, as this will strengthen your brand further.

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Move Quickly

The best candidates are usually off the market in under 10 days. It’s so important that you are able to act quickly. This is especially the case if you know that you are interested in a certain applicant. Even if you have not made your decision yet, you need to try and follow-up with the candidate quite often, as this will help you to address any concerns that they might have as well as helping them to stay updated throughout the process.

Write Better Descriptions

A lot of companies write descriptions that contain all of the requirements and responsibilities for what they are looking for. The main issue with this is that it can sometimes alienate qualified employees. If you want to work around this while also strengthening your core brand, then you need to focus on what you can do for your team. You also need to focus on how you are going to attract candidates who may be a good fit for your needs.

Embrace Trends

A lot of people now want to work with companies that are able to keep up with various tech trends. At the end of the day, part of embracing the new digital age ultimately means working your social media profiles and also making sure that investigations are done on potential clients too. If you can do this, then you can be sure to make the most out of your hiring experience while protecting your company from hiring someone who just isn’t right for the job.

How to Invest in New Machinery and Tech as a Business Owner

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Depending on the type of business you’re running, one of your most critical decisions will be investing in new machinery. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Invest in New Machinery and Tech as a Business Owner.

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Investing in new business technology is something that has to be done at various intervals in the lifespan of a business. Moving with the times and being up to date in order to remain productive and satisfy the needs of clients and customers are some of the most important things you can do as a business owner. We’re going to talk today about some of the most important things to consider when investing in new machinery and tech as a business owner, so find out more below.

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Consider Implementing Cloud Based Systems

First of all, you should think about the fundamental things that’ll serve your business well for a long time still to come. This is something that’s still too often overlooked, and one of the ways to address it is by creating a new cloud based computing system that can connect and streamline your business in a variety of ways. It will also help you to improve security and data management issues.

Weigh Up the Benefits of Renting Versus Buying

When you’re investing in new machinery or technology that you feel is capable of taking your business forward, it’s important to weigh up the costs and benefits of both renting and buying that stuff. If you’re not sure about your long-term usage of the tech or machinery, you should probably rent it at first as a trial and then invest in purchasing it later if you feel it’s necessary and beneficial to do so.

Aim to Boost Efficiency

Efficiency is one of the things you should certainly be looking to address as you take your business forward. When you create a more efficient approach to running your business with the help of the right day to day technology, it’ll help you to perform better and achieve more for customers and clients. That might be something that makes a big difference, so find the technology that makes that possible.

Invest in the Protection of Your Technology Too

As well as investing in the actual technology and machinery that your business needs, you might also want to think about how you can invest in the ways in which you can protect those things. Things like NEMA 6P Enclosures protect technology that’s in danger of coming into contact with water of freezing conditions, for example. These things need to be considered.

Keep an Eye on Future Needs and Changes

Keeping an eye on the future needs of your business and how the ways in which you make use of technology might change is another thing that’s important. If you want to make sure that you’ve always got one eye on the future, do so through your choices of technology.

There are lots of benefits that come with putting in place new technology systems and investing in new machinery. Just make sure that these kinds of things are put in place in a sustainable kind of way. There’s a lot that can go wrong and many mistakes that can be made if you’re not careful.

What Event Staff Investments Say About Your Firm

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A major part of your firm or business is your event staff. Having an event staff actually says things about your firm that you don’t initially see. The following contributed post is entitled, What Event Staff Investments Say About Your Firm.

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As the world slowly returns to normal (more in some areas, less in others), it’s true that many lockdown limits or social distancing regulations will start to cease. They have to at some point. For this reason, forward-thinking businesses are considering their return strategy, as they have a unique opportunity to come back in style after a long absence. Perhaps there will never be an opportunity to return in full form like this again, although of course, the advantages to this are somewhat counterbalanced by the difficulties of the last year (to put it lightly).

Attending events can serve as a fantastic and useful promotional tool for any business, but it also enhanced connections between firms and professionals, while ensuring that they can meet their clients and would-be customers as intimately as possible. When running your own event, such as a keynote, or a business conference, or even just a celebratory affair in which you welcome the public, there are certain essential elements to get right.

In this case, we’re going to talk about your event staff and security and what they say about your firm:

Uniform

The uniform your staff wear is very important at an event, not only to show how much you’re willing to invest in them, but also to ensure they can be seen and identified easily, both for the public, and for one another. A uniform can also draw attention to certain promotions you have on, or allow your staff to immediately showcase their authority, and often, it can help them look well-presented.

The better a uniform can establish the ideals your firm holds, even if that just means the ability to pay attention to great branding, the better. Furthermore, remember that at a long or intense event, the clothes your staff wear will help them cope. Smart polo shirts and smart trousers are so much easier to wear over the course of a summer business event than full suits with name badges, for instance.

Administrative Directions

Administrative directions truly do help you funnel the public and your staff without having to have a marshall for every single person present. From easy signposting that is viewable by all people in the crowd, to bollards and ropes that prevent access, to making sure staff are there to corral the troops in areas where this may be required, administrative directions of this kind can help prevent disputes, ensure the continual flowing of the public, as well as being able to demonstrate safety protocols front and centre.
Administrative directions might involve asking to store smartphones before the beginning of your filmed keynote speech, or it might mean thoroughly ensuring everyone is told the fire evacuation protocols before the event starts properly. All of this showcases your attention to your duty of care. In this respect, you can feel much more confident and able.

Security Protocols

Security protocols are worth considering, for obvious reasons. Hiring an essential security firm or investing in security provided by an event space is important, but make sure they’re up to the task. This involves carefully briefing them on what to expect, the nature of your event, and what response may be needed.

This not only helps you ensure you have prepared for capacity when waiting for the event to begin, but it also helps you curate insurance ahead of time and avoid any nasty surprises. After all, as we’ve seen, even the most public and somewhat official events can be overwhelmed if security doesn’t communicate, isn’t properly invested in, or have their priorities misaligned. And remember, even if you’re running a calm bakery show, security is always needed at public events.

The Right Equipment

The right equipment is absolutely essential to make sure your staff can more readily respond to the needs of a business event and the people who attend it. Do your best not to fall at the first hurdle by failing to equip your staff with the implements they really do need. For instance, Motorola fire radio will help ensure that the staff can more readily communicate with one another, that updates are passed around your staff in a matter of moments, and that safety and security can be better measured. In that respect, you are more readily able to focus on providing a worthwhile solution going forward instead of feeling somewhat discombobulated. This also helps your staff with their confidence as they find their feet once again.

With this advice, we hope you can invest in your event staff as well as possible. It truly does speak volumes about your firm if you prioritize this need.

4 Self-Care Tips For Entrepreneurs

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Health/Wellness. Entrepreneurship comes with it’s own set of personal challenges. The grind can have adverse effects on your health and it’s thus important to understand how to protect one’s health. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Self-Care Tips For Entrepreneurs.

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When you’re focusing on launching or building a business, it can become so easy to focus all of your energies on one problem and neglect yourself. But, as we all know, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Running around, forgetting meal times, working all hours — they come with the territory, but they only work for so long. To create a sustainable, successful business you need to first create sustainable, successful self-care tools to help you along the way. So, here are five top tips to help you look after yourself.

1. ‘Me time’

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, if you’re an entrepreneur you know yourself how hard it is to find time for yourself. It could be the guilt (“if I’m not working I’m failing”) or you’ve got a to-do list that is too long. But, if you work smart, you can claim some time for yourself. It could be that before the day starts, you could diarise half an hour every morning to look after yourself, in whatever way you want. For some, it’s the chance to do a long meditation or yoga practice, for others it’s a cup of coffee or a bath. The important thing is you stop and focus on yourself.

2. Planning

That takes us to the next step, planning. You may be a pro, or you find it hard, but planning time for yourself will make your life so much easier in the long run. Whatever form of diary you prefer – the one on your phone or even a wall-hanging calendar so you can see your day at a glance – make time for yourself around reviewing business video samples or writing to investors. Focusing on specific tasks in your day can help you be more focused and efficient generally.

3. Meditation

Don’t discount the power of mediation outright. There are many different forms, and they work to help you feel more centered, improve self-awareness, reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, and generally improve your wellbeing. You don’t have to immediately resign yourself to the life of a yogi – you can pick up the practice using different online apps, many of which have free trials (so you can try different styles before start).

4. Your body

Taking care of your mind is important, but looking after your body is, too. To avoid burn-out and to keep yourself fighting fit, you’ve got to take care of your physical health. So, that means creating space to exercise, which will lower stress and provide a boost of feel-good hormones. That also means nourishing yourself with real food, not just something that you grab from the coffee shop when you pop in for a meeting. Many entrepreneurs put their success down to their interest in and commitment to health and fitness, so take it from the best, it’s important. If you find it hard to find the time, you can make this your act of self-care in the morning and get it done before the day starts.

Hopefully, these four tips will help you to look after yourself and succeed.

Your Employees Are Not Simply A Means To And End

Two focuses of my blog are Organizational/Management Discussions and Workplace Discussions. So much of your business’ or organization’s success depends on the wellbeing of your staff. Employers who recognize this stand to do better that competitors who don’t. The following contributed post is entitled, Your Employees Are Not Simply A Means To And End.

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Some people think that their employees are simply a means to an end. Like the fact that you sign their paycheck is more than enough to warrant treating them however you want. This is simply untrue. Your employees mean a lot to your business, and there is so much that you need to do if you want them to help you see success. In this article, we’re going to be looking at some of the reasons that your employees are so important, and what you can do with them. Keep reading if you would like to find out more.

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Appreciate Them

Have you ever heard of the phrase ‘a happy employee is a hard working employee?’ It’s true, and one of the reasons that you need to learn to appreciate them for all that they do. It’s easy to get caught up in the fact that you pay them to be there, and you pay them to work for you, however this doesn’t degrade or devalue the things that they do. You need to appreciate your employees and all the work that they do for you if you have any hope of keeping them and not having a high turnover rate.

This is just as simple as saying thank you to them every once in a while. Let them know they do a good job and that their hard work is not going unnoticed by you.

Train Them

Training your employees is essential if you want them to be productive members of your business. But, when you are doing this, remember that you are training them to further their ability, and that you’re making an investment into them. It might be the case that you want to use resources such as https://www.learningbank.io/platform/digital-learning/ to do this, and it’s important that you look around, finding the best way if this is not something you want to use. Sometimes, training courses simply aren’t going to cut it, especially if you can’t send them on one for any reason.

Learn From Them

Finally, you can learn a lot from your employees. Don’t think that because you are the employer and they are the employee that you can do anything you like, and you know more than them. In some cases, this isn’t going to be true and we’re almost certain there is at least something you can learn from the people that work for you. If you would like to know more about this, you can check out some information on a site like https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239502.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see that your employees are not simply a means to an end. They mean a lot to your business, and they are the ones who are going to help you get where you need to be, but they are also a huge part of your business, as well as being people. We wish you the best of luck, and hope that this helps you to understand the need to treat your employees well.

Revealed: The Employee Motivation Techniques That Actually Work

Two focuses of my blog are Organizational/Management Discussions and Workplace Discussions. No matter what type of organization you’re running, one of your key focuses will be keeping your employees and staff motivated. The following contributed post is entitled, Revealed: The Employee Motivation Techniques That Actually Work.

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When you run a business and employ staff to work for you, you should keep in mind that it’s your job to ensure positive morale in the workplace. Employees don’t just want to get paid for their hard work; they also want to feel motivated and valued.

The trouble is, some employers find it challenging to figure out what they can do to motivate their workers. You’re likely reading this because you want to know the ‘secrets’ of motivating people. Take a look at these techniques for some valuable insight and inspiration:

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Incentivize Employees That Learn New Skills

Let’s face it: the people that work for you are a talented group of individuals. If they weren’t, you wouldn’t have hired them. But what if you’d like your team to learn new skills and become even more valuable and productive to your business?

One interesting technique is to incentivize your employees whenever they gain new skills and qualifications through your company. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a financial reward; it could be time off work or a meal for them and their family that you cover.

Invite Motivational Speakers to Your Premises

You undoubtedly want your team to offer their best work whenever they tackle their daily projects. After a while, employees might feel like going on autopilot and seldom have any interest in offering 100% effort all the time.

Sometimes, it can motivate your team to hear some wise words from a well-known figurehead in your industry. A guest speaker can inspire people and even help them look at their work from a different perspective.

For example, let’s assume you run a digital marketing agency. Your team may feel like every day is the same as the last, and their daily challenges are very monotonous and predictable. Someone like Lance Bachmann, the Digital Lion, can be very inspirational for your team.

Radiate Positivity

Nobody wants to work in an office or some other commercial premises and feel anxious and depressed. Luckily, you have the power to help foster and radiate positivity in the workplace! There are many ways you can make the working environment more positive and energetic.

One example is to create a recreational room in your office area where employees can play games and chill out. It can be a place where people can go whenever they want a break and take their minds off a stressful situation.

Another way to radiate positivity is by making most of your internal communications positive. Be sure to mention employees by name who do a great job or exceeded your expectations on a recent project, for example. It’ll make your team feel more valued.

Encourage Flexible Working

Lastly, if there’s one thing that the current COVID-19 pandemic has taught businesses, it’s that people need flexible working hours. To that end, encourage flexible working practices so employees can manage their work and personal lives more efficiently.

Such an approach ensures staff won’t get stressed out about their home lives, and they can concentrate on doing fantastic work for your business.

How to Turn Your Business Premises Into a Fortress

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of your chief concerns as a business owner is its security. Optimizing this your security will ensure your business’s operations and profits. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Turn Your Business Premises Into a Fortress.

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Let’s face it: all business owners want to ensure their premises are as secure as possible. For some businesses, physical and digital security is of utmost importance if they deal with extremely valuable resources, tangible or otherwise.

With that in mind, those organizations want to ensure their physical premises are virtually impenetrable by unauthorized persons. You’re likely reading this because you want to ensure that your building is fully protected 24/7. Here’s what you can do:

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Make Your Security Obvious

Did you know that many burglaries only occur due to opportunity? If a thief sees easy access to valuable items in a property, they will strike without a second thought. However, if they spot plenty of security, they’ll look for another target elsewhere.

That’s why it makes sense to have security measures in place that are obvious to members of the public. At a minimum, your business security should include internal and external security cameras monitoring all entry and exit points 24 hours a day.

You should also strongly consider having a security team that makes their presence known to the general public. Such measures alone are enough to ward off the vast majority of security threats.

Install Access Control Systems in All Rooms

There’s no denying that the oldest access control systems ever used are locks and keys. However, the trouble with those traditional ways of protecting properties is they are very easily bypassed – even by people with little to no tools.

Thankfully, technology provides many ways to install state-of-the-art access control systems for all rooms at your premises. For example, you can have installed key card systems where authorized employees wave a security key card at a reader.

If you’re looking for a more advanced technology solution, you could instead opt for biometric access control systems. Those systems can use an employee’s fingerprint to allow access, or they can conduct retina scans from one of their eyes.

Another example is voice recognition. It’s possible to use multiple access control systems at once for extra layers of security.

Make Your Secure Rooms Blast-Proof

Do you have specific rooms at your premises that must get protected at all costs? If so, you want to make sure no-one can try to gain entry to them using forcible means. You could consider making your secure rooms blast-proof.

The technology involved in making secure rooms blast-proof is similar to what gets used in bank vaults. Several layers of concrete and steel, among other materials, can ensure that your secure rooms are impenetrable – even if someone tries to blow them up!

You might be wondering what makes a room blast-proof. Aside from making the walls thick with steel and concrete, building materials can get reinforced with several micro-thin layers of mesh steel to absorb any impact.

For windows, thick bullet-proof glass like you’d see in presidential vehicles, for example, also help to absorb the force from any blasts.

Filter All Internet Traffic

Of course, you don’t have to physically gain entry to business premises if you wanted to steal something. Almost all businesses that deal with valuable and commercially sensitive resources go online from their premises.

Criminals could turn to the Internet and find vulnerabilities in a company’s Internet and network connection. Once access is possible, they could then find a way to disable access control systems and make it easy for them to gain physical access.

To that end, it’s crucial to filter all Internet traffic and prevent cyberattacks from happening. There are many ways to secure network and Internet connections:

● Enforce VPN (virtual private networking) connections for all employees going online so that all data gets encrypted;
● Installing hardware firewalls to filter all data packets and prevent malware from entering the network from Internet sources;
● Disabling wireless Internet access and enforcing Ethernet-only connections to the network and Internet.

You should also ensure that all computers used at your premises have the latest hardware. All operating systems should be up-to-date to prevent vulnerabilities from security holes at the OS layer, and all computers should have up-to-date anti-virus solutions installed.

Final Thoughts

There are many reasons why a business wants to adopt as much security as possible to protect its assets. The good news is that it’s possible to turn your organization’s building into a fortress and ensure that only authorized personnel gain access to it.

When combined with several security measures, the above examples work well and can make your building virtually impenetrable by criminals.

Have You Tried These Simple Ways To Improve Your Business?

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. No matter what type of business you are running, you should always be looking to improve it. The following contributed post is entitled, Have You Tried These Simple Ways To Improve Your Business?

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If you’re trying to improve your business and struggling to come up with ideas, it’s possible that you are making the problem more complicated than it actually is. Here are some simple ways that you can boost your business and elevate your position on the market.

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Hire A Consultant

First, you might want to consider hiring a consultant. This is useful if there is a key area of your business where you are struggling to perform. For instance, you might be having issues with logistics. If that’s the case, then you should definitely consider investing in the support of supply chain consultants. They’ll help you assess problems and potentially make your entire supply chain far more efficient. This is always going to allow you to deliver a far better level of service to your customers and clients.

Improve Your Recruitment Standards

It’s possible that you just don’t have enough innovative ideas in your business model. These types of ideas are always going to be necessary to take your company to the next level on the market. One of the ways that you can find these ideas is by ensuring that you are getting the right people on board your business team. To do that, you have to improve your hiring practices. You could think about using a recruitment management solution. Alternatively, it could just be a matter of asking the right questions. You can explore interview question guides online to perfect your technique here.

Explore New Investors

Next, you should definitely think about trying to win more attention over from key investors in your business. If you do this, you’ll be able to guarantee that you have the funds you need to make some big changes in your business model. So, how do you win over more investors? Well, you can think about taking your company to a trade show. If you are attending a trade show, then you’ll need to explore some of the best ways to guarantee that your business does stand out amongst a crowd. One of the ways to do this is with the right stall design.

Check-In With Your Customers

Finally, if you are looking for ways to improve your business, then it’s always going to make sense to check in with your customers. Don’t forget, they know what they want for your company. If you ask them, they’ll provide you with all the information that you need to make improvements and changes in key areas. So, how should you do this? Ideally, you should make sure that you are focusing on using social media to reach out to customers. Social media provides an easy, fast, non intrusive way to connect and engage with customers. Customers don’t just like engagement with brands through social media, they’re trained to expect it.

We hope this helps you understand some of the key steps that you can explore when you are looking to improve your business. Use these simple solutions and you’ll be amazed by the impact they could have on your company.

3 Essential Practices To Stay Safe As A Laboratory Technician

Two focuses of my blog are STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), and Health/Wellness. While a lot of important work gets done in research labs, there are a lot of potential health hazards as well. A major component of science is thus laboratory safety. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Essential Practices To Stay Safe As A Laboratory Technician.

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Safe lab practices are essential and shouldn’t be compromised on, as a lab is generally a hazardous place that requires utmost attention and a focus on protection. In 2019, 40% of lab researchers and technicians admitted to not wearing PPE at all times. The slightest error or lack of judgment can result in irreparable damage and even death. How can you ensure that your actions or inactions don’t put you or your colleagues at risk? Read further for details.

1. Proper storage containers

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Due to the varied composition of solvents and other compounds, every chemical in the lab must be kept in appropriate storage containers. For example, it’s not recommended to store organic solvents in plastic containers. Acids should also never be stored in metal containers; neither should HF be kept in glass because it reacts with sodium silicate (the main component in glass) and causes it to corrode.

The reason for proper storage of these compounds and chemicals is to eliminate a hazardous reaction in a close unit such as a lab. It’s a safety measure to protect the lab technicians and others who work within the same space.

Furthermore, flammable chemicals must be handled with extreme precautions. That explains why most labs keep large volumes of such combustible substances in fire-rated cabinets. Lab handlers must also do well to keep acids and caustics apart; they must be placed in isolated cabinets or cupboards with plastic lining. The plastic acts as a buffer against any escaped vapor that may react with any metal element within the cabinet.

2. Quality waste disposal systems

As discussed in the previous list item, proper chemical storage is critical, and that flows into how these chemicals are disposed of as well. The approved method of waste disposal is to have them stored in safe non-reactive bins. An alternative is to use waste bins with a non-reactive inner lining. More importantly, every lab must invest in a hazardous waste removal service to comply with the United States legislation on Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals.

3. Protective garment usage in the lab

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Known as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), these refer to goggles, lab coats, nose masks, gloves, and any other garment intended for self-protection in a laboratory. This includes long pants and footwear that completely covers the lower body and feet. Because of the likelihood of spills and splashes within the lab, you’re better off protecting yourself from biological and chemical agents.

Did you know that some chemical spills on the body can start a chain reaction to developing cancer in the long term? These are substances known to have delayed carcinogenic effects in humans. For instance, medical research indicates that asbestos inhalation can cause lung cancer in the long term. In other instances, chemical inhalation can travel into the bloodstream and cause Leukaemia many years after initial exposure.

The lab environment is a critical area that demands utmost caution at all times. Without these safety measures, it’ll be even more dangerous to choose an occupation requiring physical presence in a lab.