Category: Contributed Posts

Why You Should Think Carefully Before Accepting Overtime At Work

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and a key focus is Career Discussions. Not all careers and sectors are the same. Whether earing a salary or a wage, a key consideration to any career is working overtime. Some workplaces offer it, and some don’t, and there are often rules associated with it. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Why You Should Think Carefully Before Accepting Overtime At Work.

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Overtime at work is something of a double-edged sword. Sure, working extra means that you will benefit in more money in your pay packet at the end of the month. However, overtime isn’t always that simple, and there might be some jobs that don’t pay for their employees’ extra hours or won’t let them take any in the first place. So, if you are on the lookout for a job that will come with the option of plenty of overtime, you might need to take this into consideration. That’s not the only thing you will need to bear in mind when contemplating overtime – here are a few extra pointers to remember.

Not Every Job Will Come With Overtime

As I’ve already briefly mentioned, not every job will allow its employees to take overtime. More often than not, jobs that pay their workers in a salary often fall into this category. That’s because employees will receive the same payment each month. They are paid for the whole year, split into twelve payments. This is different to workers on a wage, as they will be paid according to the number of hours done. So, as you can see, it’s easier for an employer to work out overtime for staff who earn a wage, as they just need to add the extra hours to their paycheck.

Unauthorized Overtime Still Has To Be Paid

Most of the time, an employee will have to OK their overtime hours in advance with their manager or supervisor. However, in some cases, an employer can then turn around and try to argue that they never authorized the overtime hours in the first place, and could refuse to pay. This is an example of wage theft and is unacceptable. If this ever happens to you, you should speak to an employment lawyer for advice. In most cases, they will advise you to take your employer to an employment tribunal to sue them and claim these lost wages back along with compensation.

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On A Salary? You Can Still Take Overtime

I may have mentioned that it is unlikely for salaried employees to be offered any overtime, but there are some cases where it could happen. In fact, you need to look at your job responsibilities and current salary to see if you are entitled to extra overtime. Normally, it is offered to workers at the lower end of the payroll. Unfortunately, though, this still depends from company to company, and your employer might not be too keen to offer you extra hours if you are on a salary.

Don’t Overdo Overtime

The prospect of more work to earn more money might be too good to pass up on. However, you need to be careful that you don’t overdo it with the overtime. You need to make sure that you get plenty of rest between shifts or else you could end up exhausted and stressed. And that could have a very detrimental effect on your work!

So, are you ready for overtime?

10 Ways To Make Your Business 10x Better

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, and Business/Entrepreneurship. Once you’ve started your business , it’s important to know what things you do to make it thrive, survive and go to that next level. What aspects should you pay attention to? The following contributed post is entitled, 10 Ways To Make Your Business 10x Better.

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Looking at your business and finding ways to improve consistently is the only real way you can make sure your business is growing at a steady rate. You can’t stay the same, especially not when everything moves so fast these days – you’ll quickly stagnate, and you could easily lose everything you’ve worked for so far.

Below we have 10 ways you can make your business 10x better – take a look and see what you can do:

1. Provide Consistent Training To Staff
Providing your staff with consistent training gives them everything they need to offer the best service imaginable to your customers. They will stay on top of current trends, keep their skills fresh, and be a stronger team for it. Investing in your team is always a good idea.

2. Aim To Offer The Best Customer Service Imaginable
Customer service is key – people talk, and if your service isn’t up to scratch, it will affect your reputation. Consistent customer service should be considered one of the priorities in your business. Make sure everybody is on the same page when it comes to customer service; the customer should always feel like they have had a victory after dealing with your business.

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3. Automate And Outsource As Much As You Can
Automate and outsource to save as much time and money in your business as you possibly can. You could look into managed IT services, project management software, or something else that you think will be beneficial for your business.

4. Set Both Short And Long Term Goals
Having both short and long term goals in business can help you to stay focused. Make sure everybody in your business is on the same page!

5. Create A Business Plan
A business plan is not compulsory, but it will certainly help you to stay focused and on track when it comes to where you want your business to end up. Take the time to make one – use a template if you have to.

6. Invest In Yourself
Investing in yourself could help you to make your business better. How are your leadership skills? What are your strengths and weaknesses?

7. Treat Your Team Well
Your team are just as important as your customers. When you don’t treat your team well, you’ll end up with a high employee turnover, a low quality of work, and a bad reputation. Treating them right can make all the difference to your success.

8. Create A Great Company Culture
Learn from some of the biggest businesses out there and create a great company culture. Keep things relaxed. Offer unlimited paid vacation. Let people take naps. Make your business an awesome place to work!

9. Create Consumer Profiles
Creating consumer profiles means you’ll be able to create content that is perfectly targeted to your audience. It will resonate with them and get you far better results.

10. Build A Strong Online Presence
A strong online presence makes you appear to be a more trustworthy business – these days, the majority of people search for information on businesses online!

The Three Biggest Barriers To Scaling Your Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, and Business/Entrepreneurship. Once you’ve started your business and have gained some traction, it’s important to know when and how to scale up your operations. What are some of the important considerations and barriers to overcome? The following contributed post is entitled, The Three Biggest Barriers To Scaling Your Business.

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There comes a point that you’re ready to take your business to the next level. Or so you might think. You have the demand, you have the market share, and you have the momentum, so why shouldn’t you scale yet? You need a little more time to address the barriers ahead of you. Here, we’re going to take a look at three of the most common roadblocks that turn an immature scaling attempt into a true disaster.

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The money
Besides when you first start your business, the scaling attempt is the second most common reason a business will borrow from banks and investors. Simply put, you’re not likely to have all the money you need from your revenue alone. It’s very likely you will have to apply for funding once more. Take the time to put together a new business plan which outlines why you’re scaling and how you’re going to accomplish it and clearly define how much money you need to pay for the property, equipment, assets, and staffing that you need. You don’t have to necessarily go down the traditional funding route, but a business plan makes your request a lot easier to approve.

The infrastructure
When you scale, your responsibilities are going to grow in magnitudes. You’re not simply increasing the scale but the scope of the business, as well. As a business grows, it becomes harder to keep centralized and to deal with the same responsibilities you used to. Creating a new team infrastructure is its own question. Even with things as simple as your tech, your need for technology management and IT solutions are likely to grow as you hire more people and buy more digital equipment. Similarly, partners you used to outsource to might not be as effective as they once were. Instead of working with a delivery company, you might need a full fulfilment service to take care of your new needs. You need to address most processes to see how to restructure them to deal with the increased size and complexity of the business.

The staff
Your team is also very likely to grow. This doesn’t mean a simple uniform increase in people across all sections of the business. You are likely going to need to look at hiring more management level staff, too, as your ability to personally manage the whole team is likely to go out the window. What’s more, you should look at creating a formalized recruitment process and even potentially partnering with recruitment agencies to meet the need for the increase in staff numbers in the short amount of time you have to do it. Just make sure you don’t rush it. You might identify some areas of the business where you don’t need any additional staff at all and hiring then could be a waste. Plan it in advance.

The reason that most startups that make it to the two-year point go on to fail is a failure to scale properly. You need to make sure you have the plans in place and the resources in place that you can make it safely to the other side. Scaling is always a risk, but you can at least make it a calculated one.

Staying Relevant in the Workplace: The Tips To Help

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and two of its focuses are Career Discussions and General Education. Even after completing school and entering the workforce, it’s important to think about where your career and your field are going. This involves several steps and points to consider. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Staying Relevant in the Workplace: The Tips To Help.

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In a job market that is as competitive as ever, employers are likely to have higher standards than ever for their employees. So in order to stay competitive and stay marketable, you need to make sure that you are relevant and up to date. By checking that you are doing things to improve yourself and your career, as well as seeing how you are doing with things, it can help you to ensure that you are not coming up short. If you’re not too sure about how you can stay relevant in the workforce, then here are some steps to help you get there. Keep going on and on, and you’ll be able to stay relevant in your career. Then you can keep your career going and achieving the things that you want to.

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Check Your Training

No doubt you will have the main qualifications to be doing the job that you do. But there are can be plenty of new technology to learn and understand, as well as software or certain operating systems. But if you don’t get up to speed, then you are going to struggle in your everyday job, as well as struggle to stay relevant. If it is kind of implied that you should know how to do something, then now is the time to learn what you need to learn, so that you can execute your work well and show your employer that you know what you are doing.

Trade Shows

It will depend on what industry you are in. But if your industry is related to an industry that works with (or in) trade shows, then it is a good idea to get yourself there. It can be something to suggest to your employer if you are not already doing it, as well as going and arranging to go of your own accord. It gives you a good chance to network, as well as a good chance to see the latest in your industry, or how other industries could be impacting the one that you work in.

If you work in quite a niche industry, or plan to in the future, then it can be a good idea to attend trade shows to get ideas, as well as seeing what is happening in similar industries.

Get Social

Social media is a great way to get in touch with others in the industry, or it can be used as a great way to read up on latest news or blog posts about what is going on in your world of work. Being online on social channels in a professional way can be a good idea to help you to stay on top of all that is going on. Not to mention that there are plenty of HR influencers online, especially social sites like Twitter. They can be sharing useful updates and relevant content, to help you to stay up to date and stay relevant in your career.

Perfect Your Skills or Specialize

If you look at people in the medical profession, for example, the ones that are earning the most are the ones that are a doctor with a specialism, rather than just a general practice doctor. Being a ‘jack of all trades’ isn’t always the best thing for your career. It can be a really good thing to specialize and to choose one route to go down. You will be staying relevant as you will be much more marketable to that specific career area than if you just kept things quite general. So if you can, look for ways to train in something more specific, but still relevant and in-demand.

Follow Competitors

Whatever walk of life we are in, there will always be competitors. Have a look at them to see what they are doing and what they do so well. If they are having more success, then follow them to see what it is that they are doing differently to you. If people in the same niche are having more success than you, then it shows that there is market for what you are doing. You just need to be the one that people want to come to. So mimicking a strategy or style can help to boost your success, and it adds value to what you are doing, and keeps your role relevant.

As you can see, these are all pretty straightforward things to be doing. But it just takes some time to plan so that you can really focus on your career goals and staying competitive and relevant within that.

The Partners Every SME Needs

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As a ‘Small and Midsize Enterprise’ (SME), it’s critical to understand how to secure all of the services and components your business/company needs without overspending and surrendering significant equity to others. Today there are several technologies available to provide the necessary services in a cost-effective way to entrepreneurs. The following contributed post is thus entitled The Partners Every SME Needs.

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Nope, a partner is not for me. I want to keep my equity. And so you should because the business is your baby and there is no need to give it away without cause. You’ll be glad to hear that the partners that this post talks about are the traditional types you’ll find in the industry. Angels they may not be technically, but they are guardians because they neither ask for a slice of the equity pie nor stick their nose in your affairs. The following trust your judgment and leave to manage the company, for a small fee, of course.

These are the partners every SME needs.

Amazon Seller

In the beginning of life as an entrepreneur, it’s vital that the company creates as many sales and conversions as possible. Without the right amount of finance, the business will cripple under the weight of its debts and outgoings. Amazon Seller might appear to be retro and outdated yet it’s a trusted partner for lots of startups according to brockjrohnson.com. For one thing, over 50% of the giant’s sales come from third-parties such as you say tradegecko.com. By the way, Amazon is the first trillion dollar company. Oh and there’s the fact the click-through traffic is enormous and you get a slice of the pie.

Google Ads

New companies need a digital presence to succeed. With organic, free marketing techniques, it doesn’t seem to pay to fork out for ads. However, SEO is a tricky art to master because of the saturation in the industry as well as the constantly changing rules. PPC is a simpler option as the standards don’t change and you’re guaranteed a top spot on Google’s ranking page. Considering billions of people use this search engine on a daily basis, it makes sense to pay adwords.google.com to generate leads and clicks.

Bitly Analytics

Tracking your marketing strategy is a modern tactic which is essential to success. When there isn’t any data on how the base reacts, there isn’t a way to tweak the plan into a winning policy. Bitly lets users see how many people clicked on your links and when it happened. Plus, it compiles reports on the platforms too. If this wasn’t enough, it shortens links to make them look organic within the content and your website. In conjunction with Open Web Analytics, there isn’t a piece of information you won’t receive. Check out bitly.com for more.

Xero Accounting

Figuring out who to pay and how much to give them is tricky business. Plus there is the tax thing to factor in, which is complicated and dangerous in equal measure. Paying for a qualified accountant is costly, which is why an online version helps. Xero isn’t free, yet it is affordable and does offer summaries of important info. Also, you can access it from any computer so you can do the accounts on the go without missing a payment.

Without partners, it’s tough to get by in this industry. Thanks to new technology, you can find them without paying.

Is Your Company Ready To Take On Employees?

Some of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Organizational and Management Discussions. A major key to running a company is knowing when additional help is needed in your workforce. If you need help, what’s the best way to approach finding it?  This contributed post is thus entitled, Is Your Company Ready To Take On Employees?

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Thinking of hiring employees to work for your company? Preparation is essential when taking on staff members. Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you take steps to hire employees that will tell you whether you are ready or not.

Can you afford to take on employees?

First of all, you need to be certain that your company can earn enough to pay your employees wages. On top of this, you need to be able to afford recruitment costs, insurance, equipment and work incentives. It’s worth getting a financial advisor to help draw up a budget so that you can decide whether you’re ready – you can always take out a loan at first to pay for recruitment costs and initial equipment.

Have you got the time?

You need to be able to dedicate time to the recruitment process such as reading resumes, conducting interviews and providing training. Make sure that you’ve made this time for yourself, otherwise you could end up rushing the process and hiring the wrong employees. You also need to be there for your employees when they’re actually working for you – nobody likes a distant boss.

Have you got the tools and equipment?

Hiring employees could mean having to hire extra equipment. Some of this could be required for admin purposes such as payroll software. Other equipment could be for your individual employees needs such as uniforms, extra tools and safety equipment. You may want to stock up on some of this beforehand, whilst uniforms may be something you want to order when you know your individual employees sizes (although you may still want to come up with a design prior to this).

Do you understand the legal requirements?

There are a lot of legal requirements to consider when hiring staff. You’ll need to first take out employer liability insurance to protect you from injury claims – this is compulsory in many countries. You’ll also want to do a risk assessment of your workplace to ensure that aspects such as fire safety and basic health and safety are met. On top of this, you’ll need a clear understanding of all the benefits you should be providing such as a pension and holiday pay. PEO companies can help when it comes to putting benefits in place. Make sure to keep up to date with your local employment laws. If you are looking for a German PEO visit globalization pedia.

Do you have the personal skills to become an employer?

You may also want to consider taking a couple courses in leadership and management. These could help you to get a firm grip of the admin required whilst also helping to develop leadership skills such as delegation, communication and motivation. You can also try reading books on leadership or simply taking advice from blogs and vlogs. You don’t need experience or qualifications to be a good leader, however educating yourself could go a long way.

How Do You Recover From Disaster? Plan For It

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, and Business/Entrepreneurship. Disasters of all kinds can hit at any time. When running in business, it’s important to be prepared in case one does occur. How do you do this? The following contributed post is entitled; How Do You Recover From Disaster? Plan For It.

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That might sound like a riddle, but actually, it’s rather straightforward. If you want your business to survive a disaster, you must be prepared. A disaster in your business could be anything from a data crash to a fire that takes out half of your offices. While it might not seem like it, you can plan for virtually every single disaster that could hit your company. How do you do this?

It all comes down to your disaster recovery protocol or DRP.

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What IS A DRP?

A DRP ensures you can handle disasters the right way and essentially break through them to the other side. You know, the side where your business is still a profitable venture? DRP plans should be drawn up and put in place as soon as your business enters the market. By doing this, you can make sure you are ready for disaster whenever it might be occur. Remember, a disaster could hit you in year one or ten years from now.

What Are The Most Common Disasters?

You probably have your own ideas about what disasters are most common for business owners. But, you might be surprised. For instance, fires may seem like the worst case scenario but they are rather rare. It will of course depend on your industry, but the typical office won’t have to dwell on the worry of fires too much at all. You check out stats on business fires on www.totalrestorationgc.com.

Well any issue involving data could certainly be a problem for your company. A data disaster could ultimately lead customers exposed to issues such as hacks. If this occurs, you will find that your business brand is impacted and sales could take a dive. This could even lead to a financial loss for your business.that won’t be easy to rectify.

A disaster could also mean a lawsuit against your business. These days, if you are facing a lawsuit, it will likely be due to the actions or issues with an employee. They can sue you for substantial amounts and put the future of your business in serious jeopardy.

What Will A DRP Include?

A DRP could include anything such as a software or set up design that guarantees the tech problem is corrected as quickly as possible. It might even allow for disaster recovery services offered by the top companies such as www.xbase.com. Using their services you can make sure that disaster recovery is completed in minutes rather than taking days or even months. It’s a great way to guarantee your business will immediately be back in order.

Of course, a DRP can also include written instructions showing how to deal with an issue. An example of this would be a number for a law firm to call who will represent you in a personal injury case and guarantee that your case is handled on a professional level.

We hope you see now why planning for disaster is so important and how it can help keep your business on track, even in the wake of a dangerous situation.

Cutting the Costs of Starting a Home Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy and Money, and Business and Enterepreneurship. If planned well and set up correctly, a home business can generate considerable profit. There are some important keys to keep in mind. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Cutting the Costs of Starting a Home Business.

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Most of us have at some point considered starting a business. Sometimes, this is simply because we’re fed up with work. We see mistakes being made, we watch as businesses are poorly managed, and we know that if we had our chance, we could do a better job. On other occasions, our urge to start up on our own comes from necessity. We need more flexibility. We can’t find a job that gives us what we need and starting up on our own would answer all of our problems.

Whatever your reason for wanting to start a business of your own, one thing that might put you off, or at least give you cause for second thoughts is money. Starting a business from home doesn’t need to be as expensive as hiring premise, but there are still start-up costs to consider, especially if your business model is one that requires equipment, machinery and supplies. Here are some ways that you could slash some of the costs.

Buy Second Hand

Every business has needs. Whether it’s just a few supplies, a computer and other office paraphernalia, or tools, machines and equipment, you’ll need to spend money to get started. But, you can save a fortune by buying second hand and replacing things later, when your business is bringing in more money. Look for auction near me for tools, and consider refurbished laptops and other technology. Remember, we live in a world where businesses fail every day. These companies are keen to recoup some of their costs by selling what they can, so keep your eyes open for bargains.

Get Online

Marketing is often one of the most significant expenses for new companies. You need to get the word out and let people know what you do if you want to grow after all. But, in today’s digital-dominated world, there’s no need. Get online, spend time on digital marketing campaigns, work with influencers, and promote your business on social media. It’s perfectly possible to present a professional marketing campaign and reach a large audience without spending a penny.

Call in Some Favors

If you are looking to save as much money as you can, call in some favors. Tell your friends and family you are starting up on your own and they’ll be keen to help. Even if it’s just sharing your posts on social media, it can make a difference.

Make the Most of Your Time

If you want to save money, you should also be thinking about saving time. The more time that you waste, the less you’ve got to be out there finding ways to make money and grow your business. Manage your time well, and make the most of every working hour.

Go Green

Going green isn’t just good for the planet, it can also be good for your bank balance. Start saving money on utilities by printing less, turning lights off, shutting computers down and saving water, and your bills will be much cheaper.

Outsource Work

Staff are another big cost that you might need, but not be able to afford. Outsourcing work instead of taking on permanent employees means that you only pay for what you need, when you need it, instead of having to pay someone all of the time.

Common Mistakes Made While Choosing A Career

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and two of its key focuses are Education and Career Discussions. Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions one can make in life. Unfortunately many students aren’t always guided properly in this area, and have poor career prospects on the back end of their education. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Common Mistakes Made While Choosing A Career.

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When choosing a career, there are so many different factors that need to be considered. Of course, you want to make sure you end up with the perfect career for you. However, this is much easier said than done. How do you know if a job is right for you until you start doing it? Well, a good place to start is by avoiding some of the common mistakes that people have made before you. With that in mind, continue reading to discover more about the common mistakes you need to avoid when choosing a career.

Taking a job with limit growth prospects – The first mistake that a lot of people make when it comes to choosing a career is going for a job that does not offer anything in terms of career prospects and growth. One of the main reasons people get frustrated with their jobs is because they feel like they have hit a brick wall and they can’t go anywhere.

Choosing money before anything else – There is no denying that money is important when choosing a career. After all, we all need money to pay the bills and to buy the things we want in life. However, you have no doubt heard the saying that money cannot bring happiness. You are going to spend most of your life working, so it is important to love what you do.

Failing to map out your route – Choosing a career is one thing, but how are you going to get there? You need to understand what is going to be expected of you and what qualifications you need. Are you going to be able to achieve these? Let’s say you want to work for a trucking firm. Do a search of trucking companies near me online so you can find out what they look from when it comes to their drivers. This is the only way you will be able to plot out how you can make it to the career you want and determine whether or not this is really for you.

Ignoring the signs of industry decline – Last but not least, another mistake you need to avoid is ignoring the signs of industry decline. Industries come and go – they aren’t around forever. Sign painters used to get a lot of business. However, that industry was replaced with vinyl and large-scale printing. When choosing a career, you not only need to consider your passions and what you are good at but you need to think about the state of the industry too.

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of some of the most common mistakes that people tend to make when they are selecting a career. This should give you a better understanding of what you should and should not do regarding your professional future. But if you do make a mistake, don’t fret about it! Lots of people end up changing their mind regarding what they want from a job.

Making The Most Of Your Education

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and a key focus is Education. When pursuing a college education, it’s important to know how to get the most out of the experience both in and out of the classroom so you’re as marketable as possible when you finish. What are some of the important considerations? The following contributed post is entitled; Making The Most Of Your Education.

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Making the most of your education is crucial, whether you’re going to college, university, or even doing an online course. You want to make sure you retain as much information as possible and that you are able to use what you’ve learned to do something great when all is said and done. Whether you want to start a business of your own or land your dream job, below we have three ways you can go about making the most of your education.

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help
You can’t be afraid to ask for help if you’re struggling with something you’re supposed to be learning. Approach your lecturer, ask classmates, and even look at online forums that you can use to make sure you get it. Having a positive, solution focused attitude is everything.

Get A Part Time Job
A part time job can help to give you more money towards school supplies, and can even allow you a bit of a social life (if you can find the time). If you can get a part time job in the industry you’re looking to work in, or even just a voluntary position, this can support your learning and look great on your CV.

Find Your Learning Style
Finally, figure out what your learning style is so you can consume the course material in a way that is enjoyable and stress-free for you. Everybody learns differently. Some people are hands on, some are visual. There were 419 graduates from Effat university in 2016-2017, and chances are, the majority of those students figured out their learning style early on. Below, you can find more information on Effat university.


credit to Effat University