Category: Financial Literacy and Money

Smart Ways To Build A Sustainable Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A lot of businesses start out but don’t make it to the finish line. Often there is something inherent in how they were built, that causes them to falter. Proactively building in ways to make your business sustainable is critical to its survival. The following contributed post is entitled, Smart Ways To Build A Sustainable Business.

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As a business, it’s crucial that you keep up with the times. This is why, every once in a while, you might follow a new practice or trend. Some of these fizzle out and fade away, but others make more of an impact and become quite popular. Sustainability is an example of one of those trends that stuck around. As well as the benefits to the planet, sustainable practices can also cut costs and boost your image. With that in mind, here are six ways to build a sustainable business.

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1. Upgrade Old Office Equipment
These days, businesses rely on technology to stay up and running. This tech varies from company to company, but almost all require computers, printers, and phones as a minimum. Sticking with older equipment can save you money in the short term, but the inefficiency of these devices will cost you and the planet. For this reason, you should upgrade to newer models.

2. Allow Working From Home
Even when you use energy as efficiently as you can, powering a whole office is still going to have a big impact, as will heating the space. The commutes your employees need to take each morning will also contribute to global warming. Allowing your employees to work from home will significantly reduce your business’ carbon footprint and offer additional benefits for everyone.

3. Choose The Right Suppliers
Improving the sustainability of your own business will mean very little if you work with companies who don’t share the same values. Because of this, you should switch to suppliers who have sustainable practices of their own. Fuel supplier, Gas Oil Drums, for example, take old oil drums away when you re-order. You should also conduct a supply chain audit and review any issues.

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4. Reduce Your Paper Use
Among the many resources businesses tend to waste, paper is probably the largest. After all, this resource is used for marketing, shipping, accounting, and so much more. That being said, it is possible to reduce your paper use. There are many ways to go about this, including sending emails instead of letters and focusing your marketing efforts on social media rather than flyers.

5. Sort Out The Trash
When you do use paper, it’s vital that you dispose of it in the right way. Instead of throwing it in a bin with food waste and other trash, you should put it in a separate one to be recycled. You can also do the same for bottles, containers, and other plastics. Many other items in your office space can be recycled too, including computers. You just need to take it to the right place.

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6. Use Green Cleaning Supplies
A clean office is necessary for a happy and healthy team of employees. Unfortunately, the products that you use for this task may cause more harm than good, both to your staff and to the planet. Many standard cleaners contain chemicals which damage the environment and can cause sickness. Using natural alternatives, like vinegar, therefore, is the better option.

Building a sustainable business does require work, but, hopefully, the tips above make the task much easier.

How To Simplify Your Hiring Process

Three of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Career Discussions. A key aspect of any business or organization is properly bringing on new talent and employees. The smoother this process is for both parties, the happier each will be. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Simplify Your Hiring Process.

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When it comes to hiring people to work for you, the process can be quite simple, but often business owners don’t really know where to start with the whole thing and can quickly find themselves a bit overwhelmed with everything since there are definitely some planning and steps involved – this can be especially true if they’ve never hired anyone before.

So, if you’re looking to start hiring either your first or next team members, then in this post we’re going to share with you some ways to really simplify your hiring process to make things easier and also help you find the best candidates for your business so that you can grow and scale accordingly.

Know what you’re looking for:

The very first step is to know what you’re actually looking for, so for example, you should get clear on the areas of your business that are a high priority to focus on growing right now. Whether that’s building a marketing team, hiring someone to manage the financial side of things, or whether it’s bringing on people to create a customer service support team for your clients. It really doesn’t matter which area you focus on first because it will always be about what works best for your business, but it’s definitely important that you’re able to identify what these areas are before you start hiring people.

Creating onboarding systems:

Like everything in your business, you should be looking to have as many systems and processes in place to make sure that things are organized and automated, so for example, you should create an onboarding system for people you’re hiring that will include various steps such as creating a video library where they can access all the important information and tutorials on how you do things, automatic contracts that get sent out upon hiring. You can use a hiring software to set up this system or you can create your own through something like Google Docs or Trello – whatever works best for you.

Have an interview process:

Having a clear and effective interview process is also essential in your business because this allows you to know what steps are going to be included so that you can manage things easier. So, for example, maybe your interview process will include something like a telephone or video conference and then a face to face interview or even some other steps to make sure you can have better chances of finding the right people for your business.

Do trial runs:

When it comes to hiring people in your business, one of the very best things you can do to make the process effective and efficient is to do trial runs and make sure you’re hiring people who are truly a good fit. Interviewing people is fine, but the best way to see if someone is a good fit is by actually working with them and a trial run allows you to do that without committing long term, and it’s also good for them since it allows them to see if you’re someone they’d like to work with long term. A trial run of a week or two should be more than sufficient to see if someone really fits well within your company.

What Works In The World Of Construction

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. The construction business is a world all in its own. There are distinct keys to succeeding and distinct keys to failing. The following contributed post is entitled, What Works In The World Of Construction.

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If you are thinking of starting your own construction business, there are a lot of things you will want to consider in order to make the most of it that you possibly can. In many respects, a construction business is like any other kind of business, and knowing that will enable you to focus on some of the major elements in the right way. However, there are also a number of things which are unique to construction itself, and which you will need to think about in order to ensure that you can make construction work as well as possible. In this article, we will look at some of the things that really work in the world of construction which you will want to consider for your own business in order to see that it is as successful as possible.

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The Right Tools

Something that can be said for running a construction business is that you need to know how to focus on the smaller elements as much as the larger, and in many respects these small things are the kind that you are going to need to look into most of all. One perfect example of the kind of smaller thing that really matters is the tools and equipment that your people are using. You need to make sure that everything, from the aerospace cutting tools to the plant you use, is as close to perfect for the job at hand as you can possibly get. As long as your employees have the right tools, everything will be considerably easier, and you will find that this has a strong knock-on effect for your business as a whole.

Connections

You can easily say that having the right connections is something that works well for any kind of business, and it is especially true when it comes to construction. One of your major difficulties is always going to be finding contracts, and that is just something that is so much easier if you are able to speak to as many people as possible within the world of construction itself. Hopefully, you have been a part of that world yourself for a long time, so you will already have some connections you can get started with, but you should aim to never stop networking either. As long as you can keep your connections going strong, you will find that it is much more likely you will get all the contracts you need to keep your business afloat.

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Safety

Without a clear focus on safety, running this kind of business is always going to be difficult to get right. Not only is it a legal concern, but it’s also a moral one – and ultimately, if you cannot keep your people as safe as possible then you will not be able to keep your business going strong either. So make sure that you are aware of all of the possible things you need to consider if you hope for your business to remain safe and legal at all times.

Nailing Your Social Media Campaigns

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. A good deal amount of business takes place online these days and thus it becomes critical to use social media effectively. Doing so could take your business to the next level, and not doing so could cost you. The following contributed post is entitled, Nailing Your Social Media Campaigns.

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Your business is going well, your team (or just you) are fantastic at what you do, you outsource where you need to. Virtual assistants, some social media management – the type that can even tell you about your social media footprint, and the occasional copywriter. But what about if you want to have a go at your own basic social media campaign?

After all, it pays for you to understand what goes into it, and how to do it in the future.

Learning and implementing a social media campaign might seem like a bit of a daunting task but gathering up hints and tips from respectable sites, chat sites, and joining facebooks groups will help you on your way.
For a quick reason as to why you should be making an effort – there are 600 million people on, and they are scrolling for hours a day. Your adverts should be something the right people see.

Here are some quick fire tips for tackling your next social media campaign.

Social, Social, Advert & Social

Or something like that anyway. Social media is about taking part, conversations, communications and interacting. When you are putting together your campaign, skip the boosting altogether. In all of your materials, from graphics to text posts have questions. Ask and be curious. Be authentic in your communications, hold your communities attention and post links to your products – sure – but weave it into more social posts.

Don’t Beg

Running a competition for likes and follows is fine. Posting every day for likes and follows can come across a little bit needy. Growing organically takes time and care. Of course, ask people to share the content that they enjoy with their friends too, why should they want to share and follow? Content focused – always.

Be There

Make it simple and easy for people to be able to find you on all of your social media platforms. On your website have a share button, so that people can do your advertising for you. When you post new content, you should share it across your platforms too. When you start pushing out content with a message about your new product or service, make sure that you follow up with people that respond and any questions that are asked.

Purpose

Through all of your interactions, you should stick to your goal. Have your text, images, and communications all focused on the message. If you have a sale, make sure that everything is focused on that.

Photo by Rahul Chakraborty on Unsplash

Money

Don’t be scared to put some money into your social media marketing. It is almost impossible to be seen now without paying the price. So spend it well. Go through your analytics and see what your most robust set of numbers? Spending there makes sense, or use the tools to build a similar audience profile to advertise to.

Your social analytics can give you a lot of insight into where your campaigns have been successful, on from that your google analytics can help you see where people arrive and the conversions too.

4 Ways You Can Save Water

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. A key resource that all of us need is water. Quality and safe water is not a resource that everyone has access to, and thus conserving it is of the utmost importance. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Ways You Can Save Water.

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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Many of us don’t take the time to think about saving water and what a difference it can make if everyone was to changes a few things to help. Whether you need to save water because of a heatwave or are interested in saving money it’s definitely something to be mindful of and to try to make a little bit of a difference. Have a look at some of the easy ways that you could be saving water.

Only Use What You Need

Most people don’t over think how much water we are using with different activities such as making a cup of tea or cooking food however making a small change can make the world fo difference. Try only filling your kettle and boiling the amount of water that you are going to actually use rather than filling the kettle all the way to the top and see how much difference it makes. You can also take on this concept when thinking about watering your garden. By switching to watering by hand using a can you are significantly reducing the amount of water you are using compared to using a garden hose.

Cut Down Your Shower Times

Let us be honest, when we shower we don’t really think about how much water we are using we are preoccupied with getting clean. Fun fact though every minute your spend int he shower can equate up to 17 litres of water, now that sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Try setting a timer and cutting down the amount of time spent in the shower or switching to a more efficient showerhead, they should both help to save you water and cut down on your bills.

Store Rainwater

You really are making the most of your natural resources by catching, storing and using your rainwater and why shouldn’t you? Companies such as National Poly Industries supply and install water tanks, these are brilliant way and highly economical way of helping you to save water and money. You can use it to drink, water your garden and many other ways so it’s something you should be looking in to help take you in the right direction with saving water.

Change Your Diet

This might seem like a strange one to see on the list but there are ways that changing your diet can help you to save water on a much larger scale than you probably think. You could consider eating less meat as rearing animals for dairy and meat for meals uses a massive intensity of water. So by cutting down on the amount of meat you eating can reduce your water footprint immensely. When preparing vegetables you should also consider steaming rather than using pans of boiling water. With a steamer, you are using a considerable less amount of water to cook a larger amount of food.

Do You have any other tips for cutting back on water usage and helping to cut costs? Please share them in the comment section below.

Want To Run A Solo Business? Don’t Forget These Things

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. If you’re starting a solo business, there are a couple of key things to keep in mind as it can be a huge undertaking. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Want To Run A Solo Business? Don’t Forget These Things.

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Every day more and more people are deciding that the best choice for them is to walk away from a life of 9 to 5 employment and take their lives into their own hands by starting their own business. And this is pretty understandable. After all, the desire to take charge of your life and pursue something that you’re really passionate about is a pretty universal one. And the great thing is that thanks to the internet, doing so really has never been easier than before. Of course, that doesn’t mean that all of the challenge has been taken out of starting any kind of business. If you’re looking to start a business on your own, there are plenty of things that can make that difficult With that in mind, here are some essential things you need to remember if you’re looking to start a solo business.

The cost

There is no doubt that running any kind of business is one that will always come with at least some degree of necessary financial investment. From the cost of your equipment to the cost of outsourcing certain parts of your business that you’re not equipped to handle, you need to figure out where that money is coming from. Whether you’re investing in the business yourself or you seek investment places like Kickstarter, you need to figure out how you’re going to cover the costs of keeping your business running before you start to turn a profit.

Available resources

One of the best things about running a business in the modern world is how many resources are at your disposal to help you avoid spending too much. From things like social media that allow you to create a strong online marketing presence without spending a single penny to places online where you can get the equipment you need at a reduced price like 123inkjet Canon Cartridges. Being able to save as much money at the beginning of your business is one of the most important things about keeping yourself afloat in the early days.

Burnout

One of the most important things to be aware of as a business owner is that there is always a risk that you’re going to end up putting too much pressure on yourself and burning out. After all, no one can work every hour of the day without it taking some kind of toll on them. Make sure that you learn when to walk away from your business and take a break. Trying to put all of your energy into it is often tempting but is ultimately pretty destructive.

Of course, one of the most important things to remember is that there is no rule that says you have to do everything on your own. Sure, things like outsourcing can be incredibly valuable, but why not consider going into business with someone else. That can often bring about its own set of challenges but partnering up with someone else can be one of the best ways to create a really great small business.

Creating a Successful Business from You Art

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. The art business is a niche all with its own caveats and nuances. If you’re interested in this type of business, it’s important to know how be successful it its unique arena. The following contributed post is entitled, Creating a Successful Business from You Art.

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To build a business with your art there are three things you need to do. Of course, the most important is to be able to create work that people want, but you also need to be able to market what you have produced and put the whole thing on a proper business footing.

Create Appealing Work

This is the first thing you have to do as without any appealing work you will not make any sales. You need to make work, whether that is painting, sculptures or some other art form that people will be prepared to pay for and then you will have taken the first step.

Research Your Target Audience

Once you know the type of work you are producing you will need to do some research to find the audience that is most likely to buy it. There is no point in marketing to consumers that will not purchase items of art, as that will just be a waste of your time and effort.

There are also other things you need to be aware of such as how big is the potential market you will be aiming to engage with, and what competition are you up against? Information like this can affect your marketing strategy and the time spent on research will be well spent.

You also need to know the best places to show your pieces of work. Would that be in a public exhibition space, a commercial gallery or a studio of your own that consumers can have access to?

You can make it simple for fans of your work to connect with you by using the various social media platforms. Posting images of your work on the like of Facebook and Instagram can create a lot of interest in your products. Joining local art groups can also help to build a circle of fans that will hopefully become future customers.

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Develop A Business Plan

Businesses do not just happen; you have to work at them for success. You should start with a business plan to work out how much finance you will need when you expect sales to start to happen and how much work you need to produce each week to make the business viable.

There are other things to consider too, such as how will you move a piece of art to the address of the purchaser. There are specialist art movers that deal with these matters, but you need to have spoken to them and let them know that you may need their services in the near future.

Having Business You Love

It is really good to be able to turn a passion into a business and if you are prepared to work hard and plan every stage there is no reason why this should not work for you. Creating a successful business from your art is a great idea and one that you should start on now and not just leave it as an idea to be forgotten.

Common Mistakes Companies Make When Buying New Tools

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Depending on the type of business or company you’re in, there will come a time when you’ll need to upgrade you tools and technologies. Doing so properly will prevent any interruption in your operations, while doing it incorrectly can interrupt your operations. The following contributed post is entitled, Common Mistakes Companies Make When Buying New Tools.

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Buying new tools for your business? Here are a few common tool-buying mistakes to avoid.

Skimping on quality

When it comes to tool quality, you get what you pay for. Cheap tools tend to be less reliable and less efficient, especially if you’re buying used tools. As a result, you’re likely to pay more in repairs and replacements in the future. Such tools also tend to look cheap, which won’t do any good for your professional image.

Consider the factors that affect quality control before buying and research into these. If you’re buying a cutting tool for instance, consider the cutting tool material. You’ll generally pay extra for this added quality, but it’s worth it in the long run.

Splurging on gimmicks

Whilst spending a little extra could guarantee better quality, you should avoid splurging your money on tools beyond your needs. If you need to buy a printer for your office, consider whether you really need an industrial printer capable of printing hundreds of copies per minute. Make sure that you’re likely to use the tool to its full potential.

Buying single-use tools that could be hired

If you’re using a tool once, there’s no use in buying it only for it to gather dust for the remainder of its life. When it comes to these tools, use rental companies to hire them for a short period instead. You’ll save a lot of money by doing this. Just make sure to hire from a reputable company – the best companies will look after their equipment and ensure that it is top quality.

Using too many different brands

Whilst you don’t need to stay completely loyal to one brand, there are advantages to having several tools of the same brand. Firstly, it’s likely that such tools may have similar controls – a die cutter and a vacuum mold machine from the same company may have similar buttons and dials making it easier to learn the controls. There may also be a certain level of integration and cross-compatibility. Hand-held tools of the same brand for instance tend to use the same battery packs or the same chargers. Two types of software from the same brand meanwhile may be linked together so that you can easily move data from one to the other.

Overlooking energy-efficiency

This one applies only to electrical machinery, but it’s an important factor to consider. Machinery that uses up lots of electricity will cost you more in energy bills. Such machines tend to be older used machines – most modern machines are very energy efficient. You can usually find energy ratings for machinery online.

What It Takes To Be A Great Business Leader

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and two key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Many people want to start businesses know much about becoming great leaders of business. There are a couple of keys to it, and the following contributed post is entitled, What It Takes To Be A Great Business Leader.

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Leadership is a funny thing. Many people compare themselves to a lion, and there are many memes that talk about how to be fierce and forceful. But perhaps a real leader looks more, a wolf. One single leader, with a pack underneath them that includes workers, managers, and the weak and elderly.

But what does it take to be a great business leader? To have the acumen of people like Kheng Ly, to take things and turn them into success stories?

Photo by Eva Blue on Unsplash

Work With Your Strengths

Not everyone is good at everything, and personality matters. Being ‘strong’ looks different is pretty much any situation. But working with your personality, knowing what makes you tick can help you as you then put that to use and learn how to get the best out of other people. Being open and knowing where your personal weaknesses are is a great asset. You don’t have to label them as a weakness either, acknowledge their existence and work with them. Your personality will be a big part of your brand, and it should be celebrated rather than broken down and rebuilt.

Flexibility

Business changes so quickly it can make your head spin. Being able to roll and adapt is going to make a real difference in how you run your empire. Seeing when things are going to disrupt your company and making the necessary changes will mean that your staff and support won’t feel a significant impact, but instead, they will be able to adjust too. Following the example, you have set.

Care

While you do need to keep a keen eye on your bottom line, you also need to be aware of your staff, production line, and the people all the way down to the office cleaners. Showing that you care about their job and them as a person. Learning names, building an office ecosystem that rewards your staff and being available when you are needed will make a huge impact. Remember in Happyness, when the 5 dollars was returned? It can be something as simple as repaying kindnesses.

Focus

Focusing on your goals is going to be essential to getting things done. Avoiding distractions and not getting pulled into things that just don’t make an impact on your business is one of the best things that you can do for yourself and your business.

Authenticity

You can’t build a global brand if you are faking it. This feeds into the point about personality and your strengths too. Develop your own voice, one that staff and customers can all trust. Leaders, in most cases, can be trusted and speak honestly on any topic – no matter how difficult.

Great leadership comes in many forms, some people are said to be natural born leaders due to their confidence and curiosity, others get there in time while growing their own voice and learning. Leadership isn’t always about leading the charge, it is often about being at the back supporting others in their goals too.

Taking Care Of Your IT In Business

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In today’s modern age, most businesses use some form of technology. Information Technology (IT) services that aren’t operating properly can be costly and hurt productivity and thus their maintenance is paramount. The following contributed post is entitled, Taking Care Of Your IT In Business.

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Any business in the world needs to use a considerable amount of IT if they are to keep on top of things and to keep moving in the right direction. If you are starting up a new business, and you are unsure how to approach the whole issue of IT, then there are many things that you might want to consider in order to make it a little easier. For most entrepreneurs, the tech behind a business is one of the more challenging aspects, and it might be something that you find you need to work on in order to improve it and keep the business going strong. In this article, we are going to take a look at just some of the things you might want to do in order to properly take care of your IT. Do that, and you will find that your business is much better off for it.

Only Have What You Need

One of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make is trying to get technology to do absolutely everything, even that which is clearly not intended to be completed in that way. The trouble with overusing tech is that you only end up causing more issues for yourself, as you inevitably will find that you are going to have to spend more time fixing and keeping it running than the amount of time you will have saved by using it. Therefore, you should make a point of only making use of technology where you need to, so that you can hope to keep it as simple as possible, and also keep the process of looking after it simple too.

Outsource IT

Something that the vast majority of business do these days is outsource their IT. There are many great benefits to doing this, and it is one of those things that you will find you absolutely have to do if you run a smaller business or a startup. When you outsource your IT, you effectively free up time and space in your own business for whatever else you want to do. At the same time, you will find that it is inevitably going to be looked after considerably better, and that you will run into few problems. Any problems that remain are likely to be fixed quickly by that team, and you might never even heard of it. If you visit https://www.ribbitbusiness.com/ you will see a great example of this kind of service which you might want to consider for your business.

Consider Training

If you do have any IT teams in your building, you will want to make sure that they know exactly what they are doing. In order to do that, you will need to think about training them up wherever necessary, in order that you might be able to keep the IT running as smoothly as possible. The more training you give them, the more likely it is that they will be able to do whatever is required to keep it going.