The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success. While vast, the world is a small place. As we all share this world, we can all play a major part in making it better. It’s the only world we have, and there are numerous ways we can do that. The following contributed post is entitled, So You Want To Minimize Your Footprint?
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In this day and age, we all know enough of what goes on in the world to care about being more responsible. You just cannot avoid it. The news is very much reporting of all of what goes on, and sustainability is finally on the rise. However, there are just too many people that then go on to assume they just cannot contribute. That their small efforts don’t make a difference. But they do. And so, let’s take a look at what you can do to minimize your footprint.
Avoid Waste
This first one is an easy one. Because it’s safe to say that we’re all wasting far too much in the world right now. We throw things away like it’s nobody’s business, and it’s time to change that. But how? If you can only consume what you need, and look to reduce your consumption altogether, it can really help. The less that you send to landfill, the better. So really try to recycle what you can.
Lend A Hand
But then also, you might want to physically get as involved as you can. When this is the case, you may find that helping out in community projects, or leading the way with big local initiates really helps you. So don’t be afraid to be a part of something bigger.
Get Smart Also, you need to get smart about the recourses that you’re using. Use less, and know what you’re using. The infographic below can help you here.
Two of the principles of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Trucking businesses can be very lucrative if run the properly. A key aspect is keeping your fleet drivers safety. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Ways To Keep Your Fleet Drivers Safe On The Road.
As a business owner, safety needs to be your number one concern, especially when it comes to protecting your employees. An accident and an injury at work could prove costly for your business, not only from compensation claims sought by your employee but by the level of productivity that will be cut if you are consequently short-staffed because the injury has resulted in an employee absence. Your reputation might also take a hit if you are seen to show negligence as an employer, and that could have a knock-on effect on your profits.
Now, health and safety dangers are not only found on site. As many business owners are reliant on company cars, vans, lorries, etc. for business meetings and cargo purposes, there are all of the expected risks that can be found on today’s roads. According to Automotive Fleet, the annual accident rate for commercial fleets has risen to 20%. Sadly, many of these have resulted in fatalities, and so, if you do have employees working on the roads, you need to focus on their safety to ensure they don’t become yet another statistic.
So, what can you do about it? You can’t be with them on the roads, so you might think the situation is out of your hands. Not so, as there are a number of things you can do.
1. Make sure the vehicles are safe to drive
It is important to inspect your company’s vehicles regularly, and while both you and your drivers should take steps to know what danger signs to look out for, you should also seek the assistance of a qualified mechanic periodically. If there are any problems, you should deal with them immediately, and that means booking in your vehicles at your local garage, or looking for specialist service support if specific parts are needed, such as those Sprinter Fleet companies who have the relevant Sprinter van accessories and parts to maintain your vehicle.
2. Ensure your drivers are trained to drive the vehicles in your care
While you know your drivers need to be trained and licensed to drive your company vehicles, you should still invest in extra training to ensure their safety on the roads. This includes specific ‘behind the wheel’ training courses for vehicles they may or may not have had the relevant experience in before, as well as e-learning courses that might focus on particular aspects of road safety. With prices starting at around $85 with courses provided by Skills Driving, you don’t have a lot to pay, although even if at premium rates, you should never let a price tag get in the way of your employee’s safety.
3. Install a camera system in your fleet vehicles
In some instances, your driver will not be to blame for any accidents that might occur on the road. However, there are other instances when they might be, perhaps because they have tried to pull off risky driving maneuvers, or maybe because they have become distracted and taken their eyes off the road. A fleet vehicle camera system will let you see everything, and while the driver might resent being checked up on, you should remind them that you are doing it for their safety. You can then bring up any mistakes or bad driver behavior with them should you notice them, although, in theory, the driver will probably drive more safely knowing that their actions are being monitored.
Finally
There is much you can do to protect your driver’s on the road, so follow our suggestions if you are reliant on a business fleet. Let us know if you have any ideas too, especially if you’re an employer where day-to-day driving is a necessity for your employees.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and two key focuses are a Career Discussions and General Education. Depending up your career aspirations, a Graduate Degree may be a logical move. The pursuit of higher degrees should be carefully calculated out. The following contributed post is entitled, Why A Graduate Degree Is A Good Idea.
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Thinking about going to graduate school or studying online? Debating an MBA? It’s a great idea for a range of reasons. And here’s why.
Boost Your Knowledge
First of all, a huge selling point for a lot of people, is that you are going to learn a lot more. Maybe you want to go into academia, or you don’t feel as if your education journey is quite over? Or maybe you want to progress in your career, and going back to school to get your MBA can help you to do that? If so, it’s a great idea.
Keep Your Options Open
The next thing reason why going on to graduate school after you get your bachelor’s degree, is so that you can keep your options open. Maybe you don’t know what you want to do for a career right now? Then going on an getting a MBA allows you to learn more and it bides you some time while you figure things out too.
Earn More
You’ll often find that with the right degree, you can also earn more too. Lots of graduate degrees lead to higher positions and higher-earning roles. Not only that, but you may find that you’re able to get a promotion, or you’re offered a higher tiered salary right off the bat. So if you want to progress in your career, getting a graduate degree like an MBA can help.
For more information on the benefits of graduate programs, particularly the online MBA, take a look at the infographic below.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A part of running your business is putting the proper security in place. Doing so will ultimately lower your expenses and increase your chances for success. The following contributed post is entitled, Five Ways To Improve Security.
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Office security is an important part of any business. The hub of your work needs to be safe for your staff, products and equipment. Office security doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective, however. Here are five ways you can improve your office security.
Invest In An Alarm System An alarm system is the first and most obvious tool to keep your office secure. Choose one that is easy to set, so you don’t have to worry if it’s been properly done if someone else is the last to leave the office. Make sure the system you choose is reliable; wireless systems like MeshWrx Alarm Monitoring have less in them to go wrong.
Decide if you want an alarm that automatically alerts you or the police (or both) to a break-in. Knowing immediately there is a problem can be very helpful.
Look After Equipment
Make sure any valuable equipment, such as laptops, is properly labelled. Mark these items with ID tags or barcodes so it’s immediately obvious if something isn’t returned. Keep an inventory of kit so it can be checked in and out easily.
Make sure any onsite storage for electronics is secure. A sturdy cabinet or cupboard with a strong lock is an easy way to do this. Ask employees to return any kit they won’t be taking home to this cupboard at the end of every work day. A laptop properly stored is far less likely to go missing than a laptop that was left out on a desk over night.
If staff will be taking any equipment home, make sure you provide them with a suitable carrier to protect it, such as a good quality laptop bag. If you need to, put in place rules to stop employees leaving laptops or other gear in unattended in the car or in public places.
Keep Track Of Who’s Coming And Going
Ask your staff to wear ID badges that prominently display your company logo and their name. Give visitor passes to any site visitors that are equally prominent. Anyone without an ID badge or pass will immediately stand out as someone who shouldn’t be there.
Locking the office with key card or fob access can be an effective way to keep out unauthorised people too.
Install CCTV
CCTV is another obvious choice to keep you secure. In the case of a breakin or other incident in the office, CCTV can be a valuable evidence tool. Prominent signs telling people that you have CCTV also acts as an effective deterrent to would-be thieves.
Set Office Security Policies
You’d be surprised how many office break-ins or security breaches occur that could be avoided with a proper protocol.
Make sure that the office is never left open and unattended. Impose the same rule to any rooms or storage areas that are used to keep equipment or sensitive data. Ask your staff to lock their computers if they leave their desk, and to secure any desk drawers or filing cabinets that contain sensitive or confidential paperwork.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and a key focus is Career Discussions. Allowing your staff to work remotely is double-edged sword. It can boost productivity and it cause a decrease in productivity as well. It’s something that has to be properly managed. The following contributed post is entitled, When Remote Work Goes Wrong.
Not so long ago, remote options seemed like the holy grail of the working world. For the average workforce, there could be nothing better than the security of set salaries and the freedom to work when it suited. And yet, as recently as the last two years, remote work has become just another way that we do business.
Now, 70% of workers spend some time operating remotely. In large part, this is because employers noticed how beneficial it can be. Employees get to manage their life/work balance at last, while employers get to enjoy the benefit of increased employee satisfaction and productivity Not to mention that remote work can help to reduce the prices which come with a commercial space and even the need to waste time finding the perfect business premises in the first place.
But, for all the articles boasting about the benefits of this way of working, there’s little mention about what can go wrong. And, sadly, remote work can go very wrong if you aren’t careful, especially during the transition stage. That doesn’t mean it can’t still work for you, but it does mean you might want to consider the following before you implement it.
The question of health and safety
As a manager, you have a responsibility to keep your team safe. That applies whether they work in the office at home. As such, you should seek home working-specific health and safety training courses like those offered by EssentialSkillz straight away, and make sure to apply that new knowledge to your changing arrangements. Make sure, too, that you ask employees to assess their work environments, and let you know about any risks so that you can take the correct action.
The small matter of rules
You should also consider rules as you make this switch. If you still expect your team to work office hours, for example, you must make it clear to them. Equally, be transparent about things like uniform. If you have conference calls, the last thing that you want is a remote worker going live in a hoodie and sweatpants. To avoid that, be clear from day one that you still expect your team to present a professional image, even when they’re at home.
Contact is also vital. When your team isn’t next door whenever you need them, it can cause issues and delays which look terrible to customers. This is especially the case if you can’t get hold of remote team members for extended periods. Avoid that by implementing contact plans ahead of time. It’s always a good idea to conduct a morning meeting with remote staff using programs like Skype to start communications in the right way each day. You should then also ask every team member to stay logged onto a program like Google Hangouts, which will allow you to get hold of them at a moment’s notice whenever you need. And, that can go a considerable way towards smoothing the remote journey for all.
A key focus of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and a key focus is current events. Some would argue that as the world is changing, the sense of community is being lost. If that’s so, it’s going to be important to understand how to build communities and pass that information as much as possible. The following contributed post is entitled, What Creates A Community Feeling In Today’s World?
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Communities have always been a significant part of human history. Together, we are stronger, as the saying goes. Communities only exist when people get together. However, while throughout history, communities were created through a natural process to encourage the survival of its people, things have changed dramatically. The days were the population worked together to protect and feed their villages are long gone. Nowadays, you can order everything you need from your preferred online retailer in a matter of a few clicks. As a result, the community spirit is dying out in the western world. Neighbors don’t interact with each other. People help each other so rarely that when they do, their action makes the news. Local businesses suffer against big competitors.
But communities have, nevertheless, a raison d’être, even in modern society. They continue to bring us together around the same goals. More importantly, they give economic and business advantages to the local population. What can we do, today, to rebuild our community feelings?
Each community shares common interests that are related to the specific elements of their local areas. Take, for example, the population of a town. Creating a forum that discusses the infrastructures and local events will appeal to the locals. Even self-government towns that have grown together into a vast concentration of population can tap into their common interests to build their identity. Take, for example, The Villages golf course discussion online; it helps the population to connect. Additionally, the advertising campaign to play free golf for life in the area ensures that the locals take the condition of their golf course very seriously. The bottom line is that once you find the common interest, you can start creating a community of enthusiasts who share knowledge, tips, and stories.
2. Keeping in contact with the audience.
An active community is not only about talking together. People also need to be heard. At a business or municipality level, every project to bring people together on an online platform or through a community center needs to be monitored. Indeed, you have to keep in touch with your audience, making sure they know about the steps your organization takes to protect the community. Email marketing campaigns or direct mailers are excellent ways of informing your community, for instance. Additionally, your communication strategy needs to include a contact email address or phone number to gather relevant feedback.
3. Creating a positive local network.
Last but not least, when a community is defined by its geography – people from the same town or district – it’s essential to encourage the local network of businesses and experts. Ultimately, shopping local is about helping the small and independent businesses to thrive, because every dollar you spend locally goes back to the community. While you can’t get rid of online retailers and other giant competitors, it is in the interest of the community to support the local economy. Indeed, not only does it create a sense of shared values within the population, but it can also lead to the creation of new jobs and wealth for the local area. A community that builds a strong economy stays together.
In conclusion, communities are more relevant than ever, even though our modern lifestyle doesn’t give them a chance to grow. It’s time for businesses and local organizations to invest time and effort into building shared interests, audience, and economic network.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. While businesses and corporations are independent entities which a policed by the federal government, there’s another force which can impact them, and that’s public image and perception. A poor public perception of your business can erode your customer base and profits. The following contributed post is entitled, Corporate Social Responsibility And The Benefits For Your Business.
In today’s business world, there are generally four ways to demonstrate your social responsibility.
1. Environmentally, placing a focus on your carbon footprint and taking measures to run a greener company. We suggested some of the ways you can do this in one of our previous articles here at https://bigwordsarepowerful.com/.
2. Philanthropically, running a business that is either specifically geared towards helping others, as can be demonstrated by the IT company at https://www.itforedu.com/ who work to serve the schools in our communities, or by donating your time and money to local charities and community causes.
3. Ethically, by running a business that treats its employees and customers fairly and responsibly.
4. Economically, by growing your business to profit your employees, shareholders, and customers, as well as yourself. You might also create job opportunities that are available to the local community.
These are the four main strands of corporate social responsibility, and as a business owner, you owe it to yourself and your business to consider each one.
Why?
Well, there are some obvious benefits to your business if you do, and these are outlined below.
You will improve your public image. With a negative public image, your business would suffer. If you became renowned for treating your employees badly, for example, or if it could be proven that your business had a negative impact on the environment, you would receive both public and media backlash. You would then experience financial losses when consumers decided to ditch your business in favor of a more socially responsible company. Turn that around then and think of the improved perception of your business when you start taking steps to be more socially responsible.
You will improve your employee’s morale. Would you want to work for a company that operated unethically? We assume not, and we are guessing neither would your employees. If they had the knowledge that the company they worked for was making active steps to support the local community, they would have greater morale and job satisfaction. Their productivity would then increase, and that would profit your business. You might also attract the best hires, including those millennials fresh out of grad school looking to make a difference in the world.
You will have an advantage over your business rivals. By taking steps to demonstrate your social responsibility, you are going to attract more customers to your business. By doing those things that your competitors aren’t, such as donating some of your profits to a local charity and using more sustainable ways to package your products when shipping, you will establish yourself as a company that cares. If your rivals don’t follow suit, then they will struggle to gain the same public recognition and positive word of mouth that your business will receive.
You will feel happier getting out of bed in the morning. Knowing that you are making a difference in the world should give you an extra spring in your step. And even on your worst days in business, those days when you are tired, and problems seem insurmountable, you are more likely to persevere if you know that what you are doing actually means something to others, as well as to yourself.
Demonstrating your corporate social responsibility is not only good for others, but it’s good for business too. Today then, think about what you could do, and then start to action any plans that could benefit both your profit margin and the local community around you.
Let us know what you think, and if you have anything to add to this article, perhaps in the way of how to demonstrate social responsibility, please share your ideas with us.
The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and a key focus is Athletics/Sports. While we tend to think of sports in terms of the professional level, there is a lot of knowledge that the they teach people even if they don’t make it to that level. This knowledge transfers into the other areas of life. The following contributed post is entitled, The Knowledge Of Life Sports Give Us.
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Little did you know it, but when you were involved in a sport you were being taught life lessons. Whether you were a football player, baseball player, soccer player or even some kind of racing driver, you were in the school of harsh lessons and personal growth. When we’re young we don’t take it that seriously but as we grow older we see some of the similarities in sport to the thing we go through in life. A double play can be screwed up in a tight baseball game, because someone who was thought to be mentally tough ended up choking under the pressure. The ball might have slipped out of their hand or they perhaps lost their focus. These are things that happen in life to us all but in very different ways. Not folding under pressure at key moments in your life and being mentally ready for hard or intense times is just part and parcel of the lessons we learn.
The style of outlook
All of us in life, carry some kind of style. No we’re not talking about fashion or perhaps the way you walk. We carry a style in life of our approach to situations, we carry a carefree or a cautious mindset wherever we go. In certain situations the people who will think strategically will end up thinking further than those around them. For example, you are trying to out a mortgage. Many banks will actually offer smaller rates for a short term contract that then suddenly rises in price. In sports we learn to not think about how much energy we might have at the beginning of the game, but how much we’ll have at the end of it. Thus our training and our mindset are focussed on the long term goal. Someone with this kind of mentality would rather take a long term mortgage with smaller rates or a short term loan with high rates. This kind of outlook maintains financial independence and self-reliance.
Reading other people
Without a doubt the psychological aspect of sports is coming more and more to the fore. We are now seeing that the most successful players in the world, always engage in some kind of psychological battles with their opponents. Whether it’s Sebastian Vettel from F1, Tiger Woods from golf or Christiana Ronaldo from soccer, they all do it. If you are very in tune with sports you will be able to see which team is going to win even before they play against each other. You can use this knowledge of reading other people to earn a living when you work with a company like payperhead247.com. They can help you set up a business in which you can make money from games and the sport you yourself love and watch. Many other people just like you are know about the teams in depth will also be able to have a chance at putting their money where their mouth is.
Sport always teaches us things we don’t really know about until we are older. Things like reading people and using that to help us in life, or approaching challenges with a long term mindset for example.
Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. An important part of any business today is its Information Technology Services (IT). When thinking about your operations moving forward, it’s important understand if you need those services managed. The following contributed post is entitled, Does Your Business Need Managed IT Services.
Do you often find yourself worrying about problems that aren’t really related to your business, but you think is vital for its success? Are you getting distracted by tech-related problems that you barely know how to fix, instead of giving your 100 percent to running your business? If you can overwhelmingly relate to these scenarios, you need to get a managed IT service soon.
A managed IT service takes care of the tech aspect of running your business. This includes ensuring your business website doesn’t go down with the influx of visitors, your security is up-to-date to avoid any data breach, and you have the best IT support at your beck and call throughout the day. It’s like establishing a whole in-house IT without paying too much for them.
Do All Types of Businesses Need This Service?
Sadly, no. There are a few kinds of business that will significantly profit from a managed IT service provider, however there are likewise some that won’t. Despite the fact that the advantages of having an IT expert do sound appealing – and it genuinely is – you should even now initially assess if your business is a solid match.
Does the Size of Business Matter?
Not so much. Despite the fact that you may feel that the size of the organization is what matters in picking whether to hire or sign up for managed services, the most important consideration in choosing is just the degree of what your business’ reliance is on innovation.
Regardless of whether your organization is simply comprised of ten excited people, as long as that ten can’t work without technology, enlisting this service is crucial. It would be unrealistic, exorbitant, and an exercise in futility to train these people to learn how to troubleshoot IT problems.
How Can I Tell If My Business Needs Manage IT Services? https://mycs.net.au/why-business-managed-services/ You can tell whether your business needs managed IT services or not if you think IT is necessary for your business to function but you don’t have the time and expertise to proactively take care of it. Or if you accept that putting resources into your technology is an absolute necessity and it’s never again a discretionary decision. Maybe cost of downtimes is taking a toll on your business more than employing an IT service provider. In the event that you can identify with any of these, almost certainly, you ought to consider having managed IT services for whatever business you have.
How Does Managed IT Services Work?
That would depend simply on the terms you, the business, and the supplier concurs on. In general, the service will take care of your business round the clock, monitoring the whole IT side of your company. Commonly, programming, framework changes, and redesigns are done remotely while the hardware side is, obviously, attended to on-site by experts. There is usually a 24/7 hotline or helpdesk that you can contact whenever you encounter any problems. You’re immediately connected to an expert who will guide you through the necessary troubleshooting steps. If it can’t be addressed through that, a repair schedule would typically be set as soon as possible.
Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When you’re creating a new and novel product, one concern is counterfeit products. Counterfeit products can cut into your profits and also ruin the reputation of you product. The following contributed post is entitled, Counterfeit Products: Advice For Business.
You have worked incredibly hard on ensuring that your business’ products are as good as they can possibly be. You’ve researched how to make your products a success, refined the manufacturing techniques, taken customer feedback into account, and much more besides – and you have built your brand, and a strong customer base, as a result.
When you have gone through the above process, and have enjoyed the rewards, it is fair to say that you will only want your own company to enjoy the success that a great product can provide. It’s your company that has put in the hard yards, so your company should be the one to reap the rewards…
Then you realise: counterfeit versions of your products are now available
There are a few different ways that business owners can become aware that counterfeit versions of their products are being sold. Sometimes, you may notice it yourself – perhaps by browsing auction sites or visiting a competitor’s store. Alternatively, you may notice a sudden sharp intake in complaints from customers who have bought a product from a third-party vendor and are now questioning why the quality has declined.
However you find out about the counterfeits, it’s a problem – and one you’re going to need to take swift action to rectify.
The harm caused by counterfeit products
If counterfeit versions of your products are being sold, your business will feel the impact in two specific ways:
● Revenue. Customers that would once have bought genuine versions of your products are now buying counterfeit goods, often without even realising that they are doing so. ● Reputation. The customers that do buy the fake versions of your products will, inevitably, see poorer performance and lower quality – and if they have bought counterfeit products without realising they are counterfeit (which is incredibly common) then they will judge your company for producing a poor product. In the long run, this could be hugely detrimental to your brand and your ability to operate.
How to address the issue
If you have become aware that counterfeit products are being sold, the first step is to try and stop the sale. If the products are being sold through a third-party (such as an online auction site), then contacting the third party to say that they are selling counterfeits is the best port of call. Unfortunately, you may find that the response is not what you would expect: there are countless examples on online forums of people saying they have reported counterfeits and no action has been taken.
If there is no response from the third-party, or there is no third party for you to contact, then you may need to take further action. You may need to hire an investigator and pursue legal recourse, as well as reporting the counterfeits to the appropriate authorities. Given the risks that counterfeits can pose, drastic action is required to try and stop the problem in its tracks.
Finally, contact your customers and explain that you have become aware that counterfeits are being sold. You can provide a list of “safe” places from which to buy if you sell through third-parties, or simply encourage people to buy directly from yourselves. From a customer relationship standpoint, it can also be helpful to offer to replace counterfeits that customers have bought unwittingly.
In conclusion
If you manufacture your own products, then there is always a risk that counterfeits of those products will be sold. If you encounter such a scenario, you can protect your business by following the methods mentioned above to ensure the problem is dealt with as quickly and effectively as possible.
