Creating Ecosystems of Success – Page 8

The Importance of Business Resilience- in a Changing Climate

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and two key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of the only constants in life is change. When running a business, one must keep their finger on the pulse of where things are going in order to survive. The following contributed post is entitled, The Importance of Business Resilience In a Changing Climate.

* * *

The changing pattern of our climate is a hot topic of conversation these days, isn’t it? And the focus of much debate – understandably. But, if you’re in business, is its impact something you’ve given proper consideration to? It should be…

Pixabay

Why is it important?

Businesses across the world need to build their resilience to extreme weather incidents – and prepare for climate change.

Virtually all sectors are affected by the impact of these factors on their supply chains, for example. As well as costs associated with any damage to properties, declining productivity, illness and accidents. And, if you’re involved in hospitality, food production, or construction – being resilient is especially crucial.

How you can respond

So how can you make sure your company is responsive to change – and able to deal with these issues effectively? The solutions are sometimes industry specific, but there are many key areas that everyone should look at.

The importance of planning

Firstly, you need to create a clear business continuity plan, which sets out your response to weather related challenges.

Pixabay

What should it include?

Look at where you are now and analyse realistically how the weather affects you and your company. And draw up a business impact analysis too – taking into account all possible scenarios.

Set out the threats and potential benefits of any unexpected change in the weather – in the present. A warmer winter could result in increased disruption to supply chains due to flooding, for example, but fewer snow related ones. Or it could impact on your building’s fabric and structure – but make it easier and cheaper to heat. How do you respond ?

We’re not suggesting for a moment that changes themselves are positive – but that we have to be ready. Even more predictable fluctuations in climate, or weather incidents, need to be considered, in business.

Maintaining the right staffing levels

One important area to consider is your staffing level – and how to balance that alongside business demand.. If a heatwave or storm arrives, for example, you need to be ready – how will it affect you? Even more moderate switches in temperature or conditions will have an impact.

Staffing has been, and will be, a challenge in these kinds of situations so it’s crucial to have a well considered, robust plan in place. Imagine you own a small manufacturing company, for instance, and shut down operations because of storm warnings.

Pexels

It would be unfair to deny your employees a day’s pay if that forecast was inaccurate. And your profits would suffer. But, if you keep the doors open, that has to align with your legal obligation and duty to keep people safe. And maintain a functioning working environment. If you fail to meet the correct standards in all of these areas, your staff could rightly apply for workers’ compensation. This illustrates one of many practical applications of having accurate, timely information.

In conclusion, it’s crucial not to underestimate the effect of unpredictable weather conditions on your business. But, if you stay fully informed on their impacts and forward plan effectively, you can get ahead of potential challenges.

Then you will be best placed to respond successfully to a changing climate. And remain resilient.

Why Teamwork Is Essential In Your Business

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and two of its key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Teamwork is critical in any organization and having the right staff working to together as a seamless unit, can make all the difference in the world in terms of achieving your mission. The following contributed post is entitled, Why Teamwork Is Essential In Your Business.

* * *

Image by rawpixel from Pixabay

Teamwork is essential in business, if you have a team, then they won’t work well without teamwork, and your business will not succeed. Everyone must work together towards the same goals and achieve the targets. In your business, if it doesn’t already exist, then it is essential to instill a culture of working together and getting your team to bond. It is important for them as individuals as well as for your business, and here’s why:

Teamwork Brings New Ideas
Businesses can only succeed with new, fresh ideas as it’s such as competitive world out there. Your business has to bring something different and have a unique perspective, and businesses thrive when they have a team of diverse people who can contribute to individual ideas.

Teamwork Helps To Solve Problems
Two heads are better than one; four heads are better than two and so on. People working together can help solve difficult problems. Brainstorming is a great opportunity for your team to exchange ideas and come up with creative ways of doing things. By working together, teams can find solutions that work best.

Teamwork Gets The Best Result
Teamwork ensures that deadlines are met and that there’s high-quality work. If one team member falls behind, there are other people there to help, support, and to pick up the pieces. When work is divvied up among members of a team, it gets done faster, making the overall business operate more efficiently. Your team will develop a sense of comradery as you work toward a common goal.

Teamwork Builds Morale
You’ll feel that your work is valued when you contribute to something that produces results. If you offer an idea that helps improve productivity, such as a new filing system, confidence and trust are built within the team. Each different person has something special to bring to the table, and by working together, team members feel a strong sense of belonging and commitment to each other and the common goal they are working towards.

Teamwork Enhances Learning
What someone learns from their individual experiences is entirely different from someone else’s so as teamwork maximizes shared knowledge in the workplace and it helps people to learn new skills which they can use for the rest of their career. If you want to encourage more collaboration among your staff and enable them to learn more, then you can encourage this by improving the technology that your company uses, such as cloud computing.

Teamwork Builds Trusts
When you have to rely on other people, you have to learn to trust them. Teamwork helps to build strong relationships with coworkers, and while there will always be the occasional disagreement, an effective team enjoys working together and shares a strong bond. Trusting teammates also gives a feeling of safety and allows employees to open up and encourage each other. Working in a team means that people learn that winning and losing affects everyone on the team.

A team is one thing to have a team, but teamwork is something entirely different and very special.

Organising A Killer Camping Trip For The Office

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success. A major key to running a successful organization is hosting successful team-building events for your staff. One such even is a camping trip. The following contributed post is entitled, Organising A Killer Camping Trip For The Office.

* * *

Image

Sometimes your workplace needs to take a break and get to know each other from another perspective, rather than by the coffee maker or around the conference table. As a working team, it is important now and again to go out and bond with your work friends to help improve the team work in the office as well as employee morale.

Today we are going to take a look at an awesome idea for a summer getaway with your team: camping. You may think that organising a camping trip will be far too complex and stressful, but it can be a beneficial way to bond and get to know your coworkers. Here are the things you need to do to plan a simple camping trip this year.

Set a Date

The important first step in planning a camping trip for the office is to set a date that works for everyone in the office and stick to it. Create a group chat with the whole of your team and give them a selection of dates to choose from. Ideally, going on a thursday and returning on a saturday works best because it still allows everyone in the workplace to spend time with their families on Sunday. Once you have a date everyone agrees on, you can set it in the calendar, choose a campsite and get ready to go.

Gear

When heading for a team camping trip, you will likely have to gather some of the supplies yourself, but it is worth asking your team if they have tents and other equipment they can bring along. One great way to create a team feel for the camping trip is to get some printed tents Here and show off your brand to the world. When gathering gear, remember that you also need to buy cooking gear and food. When deciding on food, a good idea would be to ask every member to bring some food with them which you can cook and share as a camping potluck meal.

Don’t make it too difficult

There will be people in your office who go camping every single weekend, and there will be people in the office who have never been in a tent. When planning a camping trip, it is important that you don’t assume people have been camping before, and also make sure that the campsite you use has facilities such as a toilet and shower for those who need it.

Choose activities

One of the things you need to consider when planning a camping trip is the activities you will partake in during the trip. The best way to go about this is to share the destination with the team in a group chat and simply ask people to come up with ideas they want to try. This will ensure that people aren’t forced to do things they don’t want to do, and it will also likely make people more excited to get involved.

Arrange transport

When it comes to your camping trip, the final thing which needs to be arranged is the transport. The easiest way for you to do this is to arrange for a coach to drop you off and pick you up at a certain time and day. A coach is an affordable way to travel and it will make things less stressful for everyone.

What Kind Of Content Makes A Good Blog Post

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and a key focus is Blogging/Writing. Blogging is actually an art. If you’re thinking about becoming a blogger, there are a couple of keys to this fun artform. The following contributed post is entitled, What Kind Of Content Makes A Good Blog Post.

* * *

In the modern day and age, and in a world that’s saturated with content, how are you meant to make your online creations stand out? There’s millions of people in the blogosphere, and you’ll only get to know maybe a handful of them – how do you compete with unknown names and faces, and even companies who have entire teams on their side?

Well, you start with your content strategy. You start with your research. Ultimately, you start with creating a tone and style people respond to, and that you’ll become known for. And to do that, you’re going to have to consider what makes a blog post good. And to help you do that, we’ve compiled a couple of the best tips below.

(Source)

Putting an Emphasis on Opinions

If you have an opinion on something, and it’s something that’s relevant to the type of blog you want to run, don’t be shy about letting people know what you think! Make sure you’re writing about what’s going on in your head, and what you think about what you see out there in the whole wide world – being organic, and thus being refreshing, can bring a lot of people to you door.

If you hold an opinion, there’s going to be at least 2 other people who agree with you. And at the start of your blogging journey, having those 2 people read and comment on your piece can feel absolutely amazing. After all, if you’ve been able to find and reach them, you’re going to be able to reach others.

Talking to Someone

Another one of the best ways to make sure you’re rolling out good content is to interview as many people as you can, who are related to your niche, and who you’d love to get to know a bit better. Take a leaf out of Anya Raza’s interview, if you’re not sure how to proceed with a blogging idea like this: reach out to a personality, perfect your pitch in asking them for a moment of their time, and then present them with interesting and unique questions.

As an interviewer, being able to stand out from the people who came before you is key – you want your interviewee to have a good (and interesting) time, and thus, to build a bridge through it. If you’re a memorable person, and what you ask gets to the heart of the issue your blog is trying to explore, you’re going to have a top quality piece to post on your blog the next day. So don’t be afraid to get networking with the ‘higher ups’; most of them are amenable, and it’s a great way to promote yourself to wider and higher circles.

Writing a good blog post can be extremely hard, seeing as most of us have our own personal preferences, and you’re never going to reach everyone! But knowing your niche, and knowing how versatile your content can be, is definitely key to standing out in your readers’ minds.

How to Keep Your Office In Tip-Top Condition

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and two key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. I key to keeping your business running optimally is keeping your office in tip-top condition. It can be done if properly planned for. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Keep Your Office In Tip-Top Condition.

* * *

Your office might not be the top of your priority list when it comes to your business, but it is worthwhile paying attention to, for one simple reason: it can have a big impact on how people view your company. You’d take a company with a clean and well put together office more seriously than a company that worked out of a dark and dingy office, wouldn’t you? As such, it’s important that you’re taking steps to keep your office in tip-top condition. It’ll boost your company’s appearance and overall morale.

Source: Pexels.com

Clearing Out

We’re beginning to understand much more about what the mind needs to work at its best. If your place is cluttered, dark, and dingy, then the whole mood of the office space will be brought down. On the other hand, there’s much to enjoy when it comes to working in a light and spacious workspace! It has been some time since you’ve had a clear out, take a look at going through your office and getting rid of anything that is no longer needed. You might just be surprised at how much better the space looks afterward.

Regular Cleaning

Your space might be free of unnecessary items, but that won’t solve the problem of dirt and grime, which can build up over time, and significantly compromise the overall quality of your office space. As such, it’s recommended that you hire a cleaner. Some offices try to keep the job in-house, but it never works out — all it takes is one busy day, and all of a sudden, the task has been overlooked. If you hire an outside cleaner, you’ll know that you’ll always have a tidy space to work in, no matter how busy you are. Even if you’re OK with a little mess, remember that your office visitors may not be.

Beware of Mother Nature

It’s all good and well taking care of the general mess that accumulates, but what about the big issues? If you live in an area that gets extreme weather from time to time, then you run the risk of arriving at your office one morning and seeing a terrible sight. As such, it’s important that you’re taking steps to ensure that mother nature can only do minimal damage to your office space. For instance, performing regular checks on the roof and other vulnerable spots, and also having commercial window film by SolarTex installed. It’ll help contain any broken glass contained by heavy hail or other weather. You’ll also want to brush up any outdoor areas that are affected by extreme weather — even if it doesn’t technically belong to you, those entrance ways do have an influence on how people perceive your business.

Furniture Upgrades

Your office might have looked the part when you first arrived, but if that was ten years ago, then it’s probably time for an update. Because we see our office every day, we usually don’t notice that it’s beginning to look a little behind the times until it’s way outdated. Make a habit of upgrading your infrastructure before it’s too old.

Stop Handling These 4 Company Calamities By Yourself

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. There are some issues that you can’t fix on your own as a business owner. In many instances, trained professionals are needed depending the nature of the problem. The following contributed post is entitled, Stop Handling These 4 Company Calamities By Yourself.

* * *

As an entrepreneur you have a gut instinct to do everything by yourself. You came up with your business plan without any help; you handle the day to day running of your company without a worry. However, could you be taking on too much at once? When you step back and look at the ongoing issues you’re dealing with, you might suddenly feel a sense of overwhelm. Whether you’re struggling with budgeting or battling with IT troubles, you shouldn’t have to be dealing with these problems on a daily basis. Think about the following company calamities and see how you could prevent them from spiralling out of control in the future.

Image

1. IT Glitches

Every business owner has been there before; your IT system crashes and you spend hours and hours on the phone with a company that has no idea how you operate. This type of problem can be expensive to fix, especially if you are paying a company on an ad hoc basis. Outsourcing IT to a trusted company who understands all the ins and outs of your business might just be one of the best things you can do. When disaster strikes, you can feel at ease knowing that there is someone ready to fix the glitch in an instant.

2. Payroll Problems

When you are in charge of paying all your members of staff, you are bound to make mistakes. Instead of grinning and bearing this type of pressure, why not hire a bookkeeper or invest in reputable payroll software. Issues and disputes can be dealt with by a professional and you won’t have the overwhelming responsibility to pay everybody on time.

3. Marketing Mistakes

As a business owner, you want to have a strong handle over all aspects of advertising. However, you cannot expect yourself to deal with everything by yourself. You might need to hire a digital marketing expert or a social media whizz to help you with your online campaigns. Dealing with marketing problems can cause you a huge amount of grief, especially when you aren’t an expert in this field. Hire the relevant help you need and make the most of their talent and expertise!

4. Branding Blunders

You want to avoid branding mistakes at all costs, especially when you are first starting out. Seek out advice from a professional designer, writer or business coach and you will soon be able to put brilliant branding techniques into place. As long as you have a clear idea of what your business represents, there are so many people who can help you.

When something goes wrong you will always have an overwhelming urge to fix it all by yourself. By hiring some extra help and accepting that you can’t possibly do everything, you will have a much smoother business operation. So stop stressing yourself out and accept the help you need. Dealing with company calamities are not your main priority; you should be focusing on improving and expanding your company for the future.

Will Your Business Event Impress Your Guests

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and two key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. At some point you might want to host a business event. During such events you want to make the best possible impression on your guests. The following contributed post is entitled, Will Your Business Event Impress Your Guests.

* * *

What would your dream business event look like? Would it be the epitome of aesthetics? Would it be filled to the brim with industry professionals? Would it be calm and casual, where your networking feels like real mingling? Well, now’s your chance to set these kind of events up!

Running a business event that’s good enough to impress each and every guest is going to be hard. It’s going to be a challenge, especially as a small business, and there’s going to be a lot of planning involved. So, in the interest of making this process a little easier on you, here’s just a few ideas you might want to employ, to make sure you’re setting the foundation just right.

(Source)

Start Your Planning Early

You know what doesn’t impress? A mishap. Sure, dealing with a mishap shows off how resourceful you are, even under pressure, but on a night like this? You’re going to want to make sure your event goes off without a hitch.

So it’s key to start planning early. Your Event Planning schedule needs to start months in advance, and even a year if possible, to make sure there’s enough time to get everything in order. You’ll need time to secure a venue, and to get in touch with as many guests as possible. You’ll need to factor in time for changes in the plan, and you’ll need to make your staff aware of the big event looming on the horizon, to make sure they can all work that night.

Create a Buzz Around Your Event

Creating a buzz means your event is going to be a hotspot for the night; it’s going to be marked on quite a few calendars, and reach the ears of executives up and down the country (or at least, the county!). And to do that, you’re going to need to market before the event, and during it as well – you never know who might be a latecomer!

Creating a buzz creates a hype, and that’s what gets attention. If your business event is being advertised all over the place, with a bit of mystery, and plenty of shine, people are going to notice it. So make sure there’s at least 6 months of marketing to go through, before the event actually happens.

Curate the Guestlist

And finally, one of the best ways to impress is to curate the guestlist. You want the right people to attend, and that means the guests need to be relevant. They need to be within the sector you’re advertising for, and they need to be interested in what’s going on during the night. You’re going to want to get into the niche, and to make sure all kinds of people within it are interested in coming along, to make sure your guests are diversified enough.

The event you’re planning to host and run can be absolutely amazing, as long as people know about it, want to come to it, and have an interesting night at least!

You Love Your Art, But How Do You Gain Fans Who Do Too?

Buffer

“At the very least, every artist wants an audience or some sort of recognition. Of course, that’s hard to achieve. You love your art, but how do you gain fans who do too?”

Buffer

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and some of it’s key focuses are Art, Authors and Books, Blogging/Writing and Music/Entertainment. Whether it’s the cinematic media, music, the visual arts, or some sort of writing we all have some sort of creative genius inside of us. If we’re to make good on our talents and share them with other people, how do we create fans and supporters of our work? The following contributed post is entitled, You Love Your Art, But How Do You Gain Fans Who Do Too?

* * *

Picture Source

If you’re struggling to create a career out of your artistic talents, then you’re not alone. There’s a reason that the idea of the struggling artist has become such a prevalent concept in pop culture. All artists struggle at some point; many of them struggle and suffer once they’ve become successful too. Still, it’s the price that many of us pay for the chance to share our innermost feelings and skills with the world. At the very least, every artist wants an audience or some sort of recognition. Of course, that’s hard to achieve. You love your art, but how do you gain fans who do too?

Find out what makes you unique

When Radiohead started out, they sounded similar to The Smiths and other big artists of the 80s. When J.K. Rowling first started the Harry Potter series, comparisons to Tolkien’s work were made frequently. Plenty of artists in all manner of creative industries have worn their influence on their sleeves. There’s nothing wrong with being similar to other successful artists. However, you just need to find out what makes you unique. Both of those artists ended up finding their own way. They defined themselves in a unique way, and that’s what attracted listeners. You need to know what you want as an artist. That’s how you’ll figure out your own personal brand.

The best way to find out what makes you unique is to keep creating. Instead of worrying about perfecting every single song you release or every single story you write, you should simply focus on finishing your work. Never stop creating. Even if you don’t like the finished product, you’ll have learned something. You can’t get better without practice. So, make sure you finish every creative project that you start. Fallen out of love with the song you started writing yesterday? It doesn’t matter. Wrap it up. Record it. Even if it sits in a private folder on your computer because you’re too embarrassed to release it, the point is that you’ll have improved simply by committing to finishing the project you started. Otherwise, how will you get closer and closer to creating that one fantastic song? After all, even Dave Grohl said that Nirvana sounded terrible when they first started making music in a garage.

Learn from other successful artists

Another great way to ensure that your art reaches people and captures their attention in the long run is to learn from other successful artists. Everybody has to make mistakes before they can succeed, but why not avoid such mistakes by learning from those who have already made them? You might want to read about Mateus Asato’s early years or explore the collaborative journey of painting partners like Marta Thoma Hall and Jeni Lila. You could learn some things that help you to find your own way to success.

Pursue a creative career

It’s not easy to get paid for your art, so you probably have to work to make money to afford your creative endeavours (and pay for your rent, of course). That’s why your career itself should be creative. You shouldn’t settle for a job you hate in an industry which doesn’t inspire you. By pursuing a career in a creative industry, it might lead to better things. If you’re an aspiring writer, then you could intern for a newspaper. If you’re an aspiring actor, then you could search for other jobs at theatres as you keep trying to make your big break. Pursue a creative career if you want to turn your artistic passion into a career too.

When Others Want You To Fail – Keep Yourself Focused

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and two key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Business in a lot of ways is competition and it’s critical to understand the keys to making your particular operations successful. Knowing what to do at the key junctures can pay big dividends later. The following contributed post is entitled, When Others Want You To Fail – Keep Yourself Focused.

* * *

Pexels

While it takes immense optimism and positivity to establish a brand and hope to develop a business from an idea – it can be that fervent competition makes certain markets anything but. Despite their size, Coca Cola would likely be quite content if other drinks manufacturers decided to close up shop. By default, as good business sense, it’s natural for other businesses to wish an end to your operation.

This can come from undercutting costs and taking a loss in order to outbid you in the market, corporate espionage, directly suggesting they are better than you in marketing, and a range of other tactics many of us see businesses pull all the time. However, as a small business, it’s unlikely your local area is going to be awash with this kind of trouble.

It’s worth keeping in mind how your strategy will evolve in this direction, though. Thankfully, there are many measures that anyone can put in place to ensure a better and more competent sense of business development – despite the hidden negative wishes of others. It’s all to do with refocusing. Let’s see what that might look like:

Refine Your Game Plan

Sticking to, or refining your game plan can be worthwhile from time to time. This is because in the intense measure of planning and development you’ve likely had to experience, it’s easy to get sidetracked, particularly if having to defend yourself from criticisms, or overcoming a failure of a launch. Going back to the most time-honored elements of your plan can be worthwhile, because then you can separate the wheat from the chaff and begin anew with the ideals that hold some value.

On top of that, becoming refocused and understanding what really matters can help you avoid the deep emotional turbulence you might feel when having to justify your business to others. This way, you’ll only have to justify it to yourself, and the results you focus on. Refocusing can be a great goal for any person’s headspace.

Use Professional Help

It can be that using professional help to get you to the next step can fuse your business acuity with the acumen of a professional service. This is especially worthwhile for those who might not have the deepest of business experience yet still want to gain professional results. For example, commercial buyers agents are often the best bet to utilize when hoping to find an incredible commercial property, one that keeps you focused on the task at hand and enables you to set up in the perfect environment.
Business consultants, lawyers, outsourced health and safety personnel, all of these might further help you isolate the issues that you might have previously experienced and help you refine your goals and set about committing to the straight and narrow. This can seem like an overly ambitious goal, but it’s incredibly worthwhile and deeply human to wish to revive immediately. If you can do that, you’ll be quite stunned as to the positive results you can achieve in this direction.

Set A New Standard

It can be hard to find comfort when being set against by all competition in the marketplace, but there’s no reason why you need to stoop to that level – and you might sometimes actually subvert that into something good. Like a prism taking light and showing multiple strands of color, you may be able to foster business goodwill by acting ethical to a fault.

For example, championing a new means of developing a product could seriously get you noticed, and can help you avoid the bad publicity associated with certain competition. Let’s bring this down to a humble level. It might be that the other cafes in your area are quite happy to use battery-farmed eggs and instant gravy or other forms of low-quality food. While it might eat into your profit margins, ensuring that you use the best of produce, that you take time with each coffee or meal served, and that you champion your branding in that direction can do something similar to killing with kindness – and that’s killing with better standards.

There’s almost no better revenge than ensuring your business is on the straight and narrow path, and focuses on making its output as good as possible. If you can do this, then setting a new standard becomes the exceptional norm.

With these tips, we hope you’re better able to keep your business focused and direct from its heart – no matter the social challenges that come your way.

What You Should Keep in Your Car

The principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success. A key focus is Health/Wellness. Regardless of where you’re driving, there are a few select items that you always want to keep in your car. Doing so will assure yours and your passengers’ safety under most circumstances. The following contributed post is entitled, What You Should Keep in Your Car.

* * *

Is your car filled with old receipts, dirty jumpers, empty drinks bottles, and food packaging that should have been in the bin a long time ago? Or, are you a super tidy car owner? Do you clean your car out every time you get home, and take it to be washed and vacuumed every few weeks? Most of us fall into one of these two camps. Your car is either very messy, so that you are ashamed to offer anyone a lift, or always clean and tidy and ready for guests. But, whichever camp you fall into, chances are your car is missing a few of the things that you should always have with you.

There are a few things that you should have with you in your car at all times. Things that could keep you safe in an accident, help you out if you get lost, or even save your life if you end up stuck somewhere. Let’s take a look at some of the things that you should always have in your car.

Credit – https://unsplash.com/photos/IAc1x02D9K0

Contact Numbers

Do you know What happens in a hit and run? Would you know who to call if you broke down? Or if you were involved in another accident? Have contact numbers like your breakdown service in your phone all the time in case you need them quickly.

A Map

You might use your phone or a satellite navigation system. These are great and exceptionally useful. But, they’re not always accurate, and cell signal still isn’t 100%. It’s a good idea to carry a map too, especially if you are traveling to somewhere new.

A Phone Charger

Your contact numbers are in your phone. Your map is on your phone. There’s a torch on your phone. If you have an accident, you might use your phone to photograph the damage. You might even use it to play music. What if your battery died? Take a car charger wherever you go, and you’ll never need to worry.

Water

If you breakdown or find yourself stuck waiting to be rescued, you can manage without most things. But not water. Take a bottle of water on all long journeys. Snacks and spare clothes are a good idea too, but at least take water.

A Basic Tool Kit

You’d be amazed at how much you can repair, or patch up enough to get to a garage yourself by the side of the road with just a basic tool kit and some car repair videos on YouTube. A first aid kit might come in handy too.

A Spare Tire

You should always have a spare tire, that’s pumped up and in good condition, or if you drive a newer car, an emergency repair kit, just in case. A jack can also be handy in case you need to change it yourself by the side of the road. It can also be a good idea to carry an air pump and pressure gauge. Sometimes just adding a little air is all that you need to be able to drive it to a garage, which can be a lot easier than trying to change it yourself.