business tips

3 Lessons Your Business can Learn from the Medical Industry

Angela Manning Business , , ,
3 Lessons Your Business can Learn from the Medical Industry

Inspiration often arrives from strange places. Indeed, progressive entrepreneurs constantly have their eyes peeled looking for new, innovative ways to conduct business and improve their company. And the medical industry is one area where businesses in other fields can seek to learn a few lessons. Because while your business may not have much in common with pharmacies or hospitals on the surface, some basic tenets of good work always remain the same. With that in mind here are three things your company can learn from studying those in medical professions:

Put Your Customers at Ease

Hospitals and dental offices can prove to be locations patients dread to visit –– even if nothing’s wrong with them. However, the best medical waiting rooms go the extra mile to create a comforting and welcoming atmosphere for their visitors. Accoutrements such as vending machines, televisions, and relaxing furniture serves to take some of the nerves out of a trip to the doctor’s. Similarly for companies that deal with face-to-face client/customer interaction often, creating an office where your visitors feel at home is vital to establishing a solid rapport with the people who matter most –– your customers!

Use Top-of-the-Line Tech

No, it’s probably not feasible for your business to spend as much as hospitals or pharmacies spend on medical testing supplies or lab equipment. However, the lesson to be learned here is that in the medical field, nothing goes to waste. Every tech upgrade they purchase goes to good use –– and that precept is essential if you’re going to streamline your business. In addition, pharmacies use premium POS systems to log all of their data correctly –– something to remember if you too run credit-card transactions through a POS. (And for more information on said POS systems, you can check out companies like Retail Management Solutions.)

Employ a Stellar Work Ethic

Ask any medical professional about the hours they have to put forth to do their job, and you’ll likely find that they consider an eight-hour shift to be laughably short. Indeed, the work ethic of those in the medical field is nothing short of admirable. And even though lives aren’t likely to be on the line in your given profession, understanding how to dig deep and work long hours is crucial to success in any situation. That’s why it’s important to spend some time helping your team members stay happy and productive at work. Developing mental fortitude to power through difficult periods isn’t easy –– however, it’s incredibly valuable for ambitious professionals.

How Upgrading Your Company’s Tech Can SAVE You Money

Angela Manning Business, Tech , , ,
How Upgrading Your Company’s Tech Can SAVE You Money

It may sound counterintuitive at first blush, but in practice, you can actually save money by upgrading your company’s tech. Indeed, many businesses soldier onward with outdated or outmoded technologies at their own detriment. And while it may be understandable that business owners are reticent to shell out hard-earned savings on new technologies, it will actually prove more expensive to hold out in the long run.

Make Productivity a Priority

More so than ever before, the modern worker relies upon their cell phone and their laptop to get their assignments done. That’s partially because the contemporary workspace has shifted from the office to –– well, anywhere and everywhere. So you need to be mindful that your employees need the technology to allow them to work remotely. In terms of tech that could mean anything from purchasing new smartphones, to replacing old monitors, or even installing a cloud-based phone system. The good news is, according to Votacall, a Hosted VoIP system can prove more cost-effective than traditional landline options anyway.

Perception is Reality

Whether it’s fair or not, the harsh truth is that people believe that older technologies and ways of doing things are less effective than modern methods. Though that might not always be the case, you need to recognize that holding onto archaic tech is going to make you look bad –– not only to clients, but also to potential hires and partners.

Cut Out Repair Costs

Even if you’re no longer paying off your current tech products, they still might be costing you money. If you’ve had to dip into your business capital to cover repairs to old modems or monitors –– or if you have to pay an exorbitant amount for IT support –– you’re really not saving any money. Rather, you’re creating a problem by ignoring it.

Competition Never Sleeps

The corporate world can be a ruthless environment, but the reality is if you don’t spring to find the newest and best solutions to your problems, someone else in your industry will. So there’s little sense in continuing with ineffective resources simply because it helps balance the books. (Which makes loans all the more important for companies to explore.) Without a boost in tech-power from time-to-time, you won’t have any books left to balance. In the end, it all goes back to a tried-and-true business axiom: you have to spend money to make money. Keep that in mind when it comes to making important purchases around the office and you’ll be on the path of success soon enough.

The Biggest Investment Mistake and How to Avoid it

Angela Manning Business, Finance , , , , , ,
The Biggest Investment Mistake and How to Avoid it

Have you ever been skydiving? Most people haven’t but most people do know some of what it involves. Mainly, they know that, on your first few dives, you will be jumping in tandem, rather than being thrown out of a plane by yourself. The reason for this is that, whenever you start something new, you have to have an expert to hold your hand while you do it.

Gregory Lindae isn’t a skydiving expert, but he is an investment expert. And the biggest mistake he sees people make again and again, is that they believe the can read a little bit of information online, such as on Wikipedia, and believe they suddenly know it all. The reality is that you can read as much as you want, you will never have real life experience unless you have an actual go. But, just as with skydiving, there is no room for mistakes. They say that, if at first you don’t succeed, you should simply try again, but this, for obvious reasons, isn’t possible with skydiving! Similarly, it is not really an option with investing, because you will lose all your money if you don’t succeed.

The Other Key Mistake to Make

The reason why so many people who invest for the first time do things wrong, is because they are driven by their emotions. Did you know that studies have shown 96% would prefer to burn their mouth than to wait for food to cool down? And that 50% of people hang up the phone if they have been on hold for a minute? We want instant gratification, something that simply doesn’t exist in the world of investment.

Gregory Lindae also warns that we are no longer in the 1999 or 2000s, when stocks just grew and grew and people made millions overnight. At the start of 2000, there was a 15.6% drop in shares, and people panicked, selling everything that they had. Had they hold on to their stocks, they would have been sitting on quite a lot of money today. But that would have required patience, something that beginner investors in particularly do not have.

Similarly, those without experience often miss golden opportunities. Take solace in the fact that even Warren Buffett has been guilty of this. He once recommended people didn’t invest in big tech, including Amazon and Google, something that he now feels a lot of guilt about. He didn’t believe in tech systems himself, and that was a mistake.

Key to being successful, clearly, is to work together with an expert, someone who knows the ropes. But even that isn’t enough. It is best to have things checked and double checked, because even the experts have emotions. This is why people like Gregory Lindae always get second opinions on any decision they want to make, and they recommend their clients do the same. By building on the success of others, you have the greatest chance of becoming successful yourself.

Simple Things Every Company Needs To Succeed

Angela Manning Business , , , ,
Simple Things Every Company Needs To Succeed

Managing a business is difficult, but it doesn’t need to be complicated. You have to have the right attitude and mindset to make it seem easier than it is in reality. Avoid over thinking it and making you sick trying to decide what to do next.

Analyze where you’re at and where you’d like to be. Step back and give your company room to breathe while you sort it all out. Prepare yourself to make changes that are going to affect your business, but not put any extra stress in on you in the process. See simple things every company needs to succeed.

Goals

It’s quite simple; you need goals and objectives to keep you moving forward. You don’t want to stay where you are forever. Your goals will keep you and your team on track for advancing and improving your business. Work won’t get done without goals and objectives in place. Have a vision and share it with everyone. Map it all out and communicate to your team what they’re working towards each day. This will motivate them to do their job better because they’ll have a purpose.

Hardworking Employees

You have to have hardworking employees in your corner if you’re going to succeed. You can’t do it all alone. Be strategic in your hiring decisions and only bring on board those who you know are fit for the role and company. Take your time and do it right the first time. Ask multiple people in your company to interview the candidate and make sure they match your list of desired qualities. You want everyone on the same page and working together toward a common goal. Lousy employees will bring you down and make more work for everyone.

Policies & Procedures

Write policies and procedures that staff is to follow to keep order in your office. You never know when an incident will arise and you’ll need to refer to your documents for guidance. Protect yourself and your business by having guidelines in place for sticky situations. For instance, employees may act out, or you could be faced with a hard drive failure. In this case, you would know who to call for an HDD repair when at your office because you were prepared. Not knowing what to do in an emergency wastes time and puts you at risk for worse consequences.

Happy Customers

Always remember to focus on your customers. Keep your clients happy, and everyone will be satisfied. Tell them how much you appreciate their business and be there to help them out when they run into issues. Work as a team to ensure clients are being heard and feel valued. Put a customer service department in place that goes above and beyond to please the customer. Losing clients is never a good feeling. Avoid this circumstance by putting in the hard work upfront to put smiles on their faces.

Conclusion

Every business needs a boost once in a while. There are ways to improve the current environment without breaking your back. These are simple things every company needs to succeed.

Top Tips To Help You Believe In Your New Business

Angela Manning Business , , ,
Top Tips To Help You Believe In Your New Business

My buddy David J Turlington and myself very often head around the country giving motivational speeches at business seminars and answering questions from business owners and those who are interested in a career in business. I have been doing this for a few years now and occasionally I will see the same people who I saw some years ago. The one thing that always strikes me in this situation is ‘why’? The reason for this is because usually these are the people who came to me and told me that they had a great idea and they wanted to know how to execute. Worryingly, when I speak to these people again, they are yet to get things up and running.

I thought about this for some time, the reasons behind why people don’t move forward with their idea for a business and the key them that I keep coming back to is a lack of belief. For that reason I wanted to offer a few tips on how to overcome a lack of belief in your new business, and go ahead and get it off the ground.

Ignorance

If you have naysayers around you who do not think that you have got what it takes or that you do not have a strong enough idea for business, you need to be belligerent and ignore them. This is not always easy and the best way to work out who to ignore and who’s constructive criticism to listen to is to see how they are telling you, is it from a standpoint of jealousy or nastiness? If so then cut those people out of your life and push on regardless. If you cannot stomach the necessary criticism now, you won’t do very well when you get into business.

Lose Fear

What are you afraid of? Sit down and make a list of all of the worst case scenarios, you will find that there are actually very few and financial failure is probably about as bad as it can get. Nobody will die if you fail at business and you life will not be over,  highlight the fears that you have and tackle them head on.

Obstacles

If you are truly passionate about your idea and you think that it can be a success then you need to hold on to this and use it to defeat any obstacles that are in your path. Once again, write a list of the obstacles that stand in your way and that make a strategic plan as to how you will overcome each and every one of them. Many people fail to focus on what their obstacles actually are, they just have it in their mind that they exist. If you can actually detail what the things are that are standing in your way then you can own them, beat them and stop them from preventing you form believing in yourself.

Three Ways to Streamline Your Business

Angela Manning Business , , ,
Three Ways to Streamline Your Business

In today’s business climate, companies large and small alike can ill-afford the excessive inefficiencies that come from poor management. There are numerous ways of reducing your company’s waste and streamlining your operations, and any areas you can identify for improvement are worth exploring. Here, we look at three of the most popular and efficient means of streamlining a business. The specific steps will depend on the type of business you run, but the broad steps outlined below are applicable to just about any kind of business.

Automation

Automation is a big part of any streamlining initiative and, as the name suggests, involves automating as many tasks as possible so that they can be completed without tying down a member of your staff and taking up valuable and unnecessary time. If you have any talented programmers on staff this is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of their skills and provide them with a new challenge. You should consider which administrative tasks your company is currently doing that could easily be done by a specially designed program; data entry tasks are always good targets for automation.

Invest in New Skills for Existing Employees

When looking at gaps in your team’s skillset, consider whether it would be more economical and a better long-term investment to train an existing employee with the necessary skills rather than hiring from the outside. An increasing number of companies are finding themselves with employees who hold degrees and other training that they are not currently deploying. Many of these employees represent a huge missed opportunity in terms of a potential pool from which an employer can draw talent.

Online degrees are a cost-effective method of investing in your staff over the long term. For example, if you are operating a relatively small business whose accounting needs are simple, you could consider selecting an employee to undertake an online masters in accounting degree. An online MSA program will equip your staff member with the necessary skills to carry out accounting for your business. Other good degrees to consider are coding and programming, which will assist in automation, as well as degrees relating to skills such as marketing that you would often have to outsource.

Make Data Work for You

Data is one of the most powerful tools modern businesses have at their disposal, allowing you to learn about your employees, your company, and your company’s performance and efficiency. Data analytics is the science of analyzing and interpreting data and while you will need to get the permission of the relevant parties to collect data on them, you should consider hiring a data analytics firm to help you identify if and how you can use data collection and analysis to your advantage. Data mining is the process of obtaining data and generally it is most efficient to do this in a passive and broad manner.

Streamlining your business needs to be part of an ongoing process of constant review and evaluation. In this way, you can build new ideas upon old ones and grow and evolve your strategy.

Starting a Consulting Service- Building Credibility

Angela Manning Business , , , ,
Starting a Consulting Service- Building Credibility

Source

In a previous article, we talked about several business ideas you can test over a weekend. There are plenty of opportunities to explore, especially in today’s growing market. Aside from developing your own mobile app and starting a service company based on market demand, you can also offer consulting services.

Aside from skills and experience, there is one crucial equity you need to jumpstart your consulting firm: credibility. Developing credibility is not something that can be done overnight, but the tips we are about to discuss in this article will help you get started right away.

Credentials

One of the first things you need to do to start developing your credibility as a consultant is gathering credentials to support your skills and expertise. You may already have certificates and degrees that back your expertise in a specific field; these are great starting points to build on.

Of course, you can also choose to pursue a higher degree in the specific field of your choice to earn more credibility. If you want to open a public relations consulting firm, for example, pursuing an online public relations degree is a good investment to make.

I said an online degree because online degrees are easier to access, more affordable, and equally valuable compared to offline degrees. Reputable universities such as George Washington University are making their online SPR program – and programs in other fields – widely accessible.

These are accredited programs, so you can rest assured knowing that your master’s degree will be just as valuable as an offline degree. In fact, online courses are usually more in line with market demands, so you will also pick up relevant new skills along the way.

Online Presence

The next important ingredient to add is an online presence. You can’t expect to reach success in today’s market without having and maintaining a strong online presence. Establishing a strong social media presence and setting up a representative website to tie everything together is something you should do as soon as possible.

We are used to searching for products and services – and other information – we need online. Potential clients will also search for your past work and other details online. With a strong and positive online presence in place, converting potential clients into paying customers will be a lot easier to do.

Happy Clients

The most important ingredient of them all, however, is a reference. Happy clients are your best marketers. They will tell others about your exceptional work, boosting your credibility to new heights while attracting more potential clients in the process.

Don’t hesitate to go the extra mile to ensure maximum client satisfaction when working on projects. The happier your clients are, the bigger the investment you make to your credibility and future success. It won’t be long before you start getting calls from friends of past clients, asking if you can help them with their projects.

Credibility is everything in the service industry, especially if you are offering consulting services. These are some of the elements you need to develop a strong credibility and achieve the success you are aiming for from the beginning.

How to Make Sure Your Small Business is Actually Productive

Angela Manning Business , , , ,
How to Make Sure Your Small Business is Actually Productive

Productivity is the secret sauce of many a successful business. No matter how great your business idea is, if the workplace is not actually productive, your company will not be making much money. Productivity for business means making as much money as per labor spent. If your employees work 9 hour days with little to show for it, then you are not making much money. So here are several essential tips for making your startup or small business more productive:

Assign Leaders

If you assign a team of people to handle a particular task or a project, make sure the team has a leader. When it comes to groups, a hierarchy is important to assign responsibility. The team leader will ensure that everyone does what they are supposed to on time. Without leadership, there will more room for members to be lazy, get into lengthy disputes, and overall be less productive. So, make sure there’s someone responsible for the project or task at hand.

Invest in Communications Software

A lot of time in offices is wasted on employees not communicating properly. Long chain emails, memos that go nowhere, and talking loudly in cubicles are all signs of lack of productivity. Companies should ensure that employees can communicate easily and quickly. So, do invest in communications software. Some, like Skype, won’t cost much money and will make communication much more accessible.

Do a Business Review

It won’t be possible for you to know how productive your small business is without doing a comprehensive review, like Global Resources Reviews. So, don’t hesitate to hire management consultants to review practices at your small business. The professionals will be able to tell you what you are doing right and what you are not doing right. A review from an outsider’s perspective would be highly beneficial to ensuring productivity as well as efficiency.

Ban Spur of the Moment Meetings

Most businesspeople are familiar with those spur of the moment, “5-minute” meetings. Such meetings do nothing but take up valuable time. It’s best to ban these meetings. Do not let employees hold meetings that have no clear purposes. If a team needs to discuss things over, it can be done via Skype or email. Let them hold meetings only when it is absolutely necessary. Discourage all other meetings that only waste time.

Have Clear Agendas for Lengthy Projects

If a project can last for months, then employees that handle the project must approach it with a clear agenda. Big tasks must be broken down into smaller ones, and there should be a team member leading various aspects of the projects. Without a clear agenda, the management of the project will be a mess, and deadlines will definitely be missed. So, make sure projects have a clearly thought out timetable so everything gets done on time.

Allow Employees to Take Breathers

Too much work can hinder productivity rather than make things better. So, if you have employees who are overburdened with work, it can take a toll on their individual productivity levels. So, do allow employees to take a breather and think clearly to be more productive afterwards.

The above tips should allow your small businesses to be more efficient and productive in the long run, and ultimately, more profitable as well.