If your business is spending too much monthly or annually, there’s only one fix worth considering. You have to make your business more flexible. Flexible businesses can adapt to different situations. So, let’s say that suddenly, you face a cheaper competitor on the market, and unfortunately, they’re selling the exact same product as you. In that type of situation, you have to drop your prices to meet the new competitor. You can only do this if your business model is flexible enough to withstand this type of change. There are various ways you can make your business more flexible.
Are You On The Cloud?
You should be and we’re not going to explain cloud servers here. All you need to know is that they are data servers which, used the right way, mean you can run your company from anywhere. You could be in London, your office could be in New York and with the right server system in place, you could still see exactly what’s happening in your company. But that’s not the only benefit of the cloud server because they also make your business very efficient. There’s no delay between the order and the service or connecting to a client. It can all be instant which is crucial in a business world where every industry is completely globalized. Add to Flipboard Magazine. If you’re interested in setting up a cloud server for your company, make sure you start by talking to an IT support specialist. Once you have a cloud server setup, you’ll be opening various new possibilities on how you can run your company.
No Office Needed?
There are very few businesses these days that need an actual office. You really only need an office if customers are going to demand face to face meetings. Even then, it’s possible to complete these over video calls, as long as you have strong connections. And you will, running your company on the cloud. So instead of an office, you can use a virtual po box address instead. The important thing here is that you’ll have a street address for your company. So, to your customers, it will still look as though you’re running your business in a traditional way. That means you’ll be able to avoid the stigma attached to the home company. At the same time though, your bills will be slashed to that of a home company. It’s a win-win.
Hey, How About Those Workers?
Do yourself a favor and take a look at your business accounts. One of the highest will almost certainly be the workforce. The other interesting factor to consider is that it’s probably not the wages costing a fortune but the incentives you had to offer to get them to sign on the dotted line. Holiday pay, health insurance, company cars and goodness knows what else are all offered to full-time employees. Do you know who doesn’t get these perks? Freelancers and these are the people you should be hiring for your company. By doing this, you cut the costs and simplify the responsibilities you have as a business owner.
As you can see then, there are various ways to make your business model more flexible. But you should certainly start by getting that cloud server set up.
Add to Flipboard Magazine. One of the biggest problems with sticking to a single job is that you eventually get tired of doing the same repetitive tasks. Unless you’re blessed with a job and an employer that allow you to continually grow your skills, it becomes a hassle to try and find a new calling in life. Some people submit themselves to this feeling, giving in to the idea that they will forever be stuck at their job. Even when they lose their job, they’re going to find another similar to that allows them to continue utilising their skills. Sadly, when their skills no longer become relevant or they’re replaced by machines or technology, they become redundant and start to find it difficult to adapt.
In order to ensure your job security and continue getting paid, it’s important to learn new skills and adapt to whatever change the industry is going through. For instance, the future might require web designers to branch off into programming so that they can add things such as eCommerce modules and social media widgets to their websites. Similarly, accountants might need to learn a little about the law to further their understanding of things such as taxes.
To help you out, here is a couple of ways to learn new skills while you work. Doing both at the same time is difficult, but after reading this brief guide, you’ll be a lot more confident in giving it a try and furthering your career.
One of the first things to consider is a group study course at work. Perhaps you hire a teacher or professor to attend your workplace and teach you and your colleagues how to use a new piece of technology or how to expand their skill set. The other option is to hire a mentor to teach you as you work. This is important for when you want to learn something new as you go along.
Studying Online
Studying online is much cheaper and far more convenient than visiting a university, attending a college or hiring a tutor. You can do it in your own time, you don’t need to worry about being late to classes or commuting far away, and you can ultimately pay for it with your work salary. Many of the online study courses are related to business as well. For example, Maryville offers courses on subjects such as business data analysis, which can be useful to further your career. Most of the study material is free, and you can even learn at work during breaks if you have a smartphone or laptop.
Afternoon Classes
Afternoon classes are the next best option if you want a more traditional approach to studying. If you get off work at a regular time, then you can easily attend afternoon classes assuming you have the drive and energy to do so. This is helpful for people who prefer group study or speaking with a professor teacher instead of independent study, but it can be more expensive.
Speaking With Your Employer
Remember to speak with your employer if you want to learn new skills. Some companies offer policies that allow you to get money off your study assuming it’s for the sake of work, and some employers may even suggest you study a specific subject to further your ability to work.
Photo courtesy of Pexels The working world is often a mysterious place. At the tender age of 16, 18, or 22, you’re suddenly propelled into a job, and there you shall stay until you’re ready to retire. It can be a daunting prospect. At that age, not everyone knows what they want to do with their lives. Even when you get part way through your career, you still may not know. So how can you be sure that you’re making the right career choice when you’re only just stepping into adulthood? Sometimes, you have to listen to your inner thoughts, and admit when a change is needed.
When you’ve got a passion for technology, you’re skilled, and you’re on top of the trends, a career in tech could definitely be ideal for you. But what do you do if you’re a doctor, or a teacher, or a clerk? Are you supposed to keep your passions to yourself and head into work every day ignoring the feeling that you might be in the wrong career? No, not necessarily. If you want to be able to enjoy your job, love going to work every day and feel fulfilled, moving into your ideal technology job could be your next move.
Consider Your Current Position
To work out whether or not a job jump into the tech world could really be for you, you should start out by looking at your current job. But don’t just think about how much you hate it – that’s not productive at all. Instead, consider why you don’t like it. What is it about your current job that you don’t like? What do you like about your current career? By writing this all down, you’ll start to think about the things that you want out of a career.
Know What You Want
As your mind starts to weed out what you do and don’t like about your career, you can then automatically work out the things you’re going to need in a career choice that is right for you. Finding your ideal career path isn’t easy, but knowing whether you like to be in a small office, or work on your own, whether you like creative challenges, or prefer strategy will definitely help you to see what tech-related role could work for you.
Do Some Research
With a rough idea of what kind of job role you’re looking for, you’re going to want to do some research. There are a whole range of career options available to you in the tech world, so you’re going to want to read all about then to figure out if any appeal to you. Alongside things like IT and development, creative and design, there are also lots of managerial, strategic, administrative and even promotional roles that could work for you, so be sure to consider them all.
At this point, you may feel like you have a whole load of options running around in your mind. It can often be confusing and all-consuming. So, to help you figure your thoughts out a little bit more, why not try to speak to someone that does the job that you might like to do? Not only can you find out what it’s like to work in IT, design or development, but you’ll also be able to understand the real aspects to the job that you can’t find anywhere online.
Hone In On A Dream Role
Now that you’ve done your research and asked a few questions, you’re going to want to narrow down your choices. Working in tech gives you a lot of options to consider, so you’re going to want to really visualize what that dream job looks like. What will it involve? Will you be designing products, creating code, working on the business side of things or even in sales?
Understand The Prospects
With a couple of strong contenders lined up, you’re then going to want to look at the typical career maps for each role. Whether it’s a coder or IT technician, you’re going to want to work out what the career progression looks like. Aside from the earning potential, each career choice can bring, you’re also going to want to consider the end goal. If you want to be a partner in a business or even CTO, you need to be sure that your starting point can get you there.
Get Some Experience
Right now, it probably feels like you’re getting closer to that dream tech career path of yours. And you more than likely are. But, in order to make sure that it’s right for you, and that you can actually land a job, you might want to think about getting some experience. Doing some side projects, interning, or even freelancing are great ways to not only test the waters in a specific career but also get yourself the experience you need to get hired too.
When you know what you want your career to look like, you’re going to want to start applying for jobs. But, before you get ahead of yourself, you’re going to want to make sure you improve your resume. It needs to make you stand out as the best candidate for the role – whatever that is. So keep working on that experience and make yourself shine.
Network Like Crazy
You’re also going to want to start networking. It’s even something you might want to start doing early on, just to make connections as early as you can. Networking can not only show the industry that you’re looking to join, but it can also be an excellent way to find that dream job, open up opportunities and start to make a name for yourself in technology.
Or, Jump In At The Deep End
And, of course, there’s always the option to start out on your own. There are so many different options for a startup, and if you find that you have a passion for a particular thing or a strong idea for a product, why not start to explore that for yourself? That’s the thing about the technology industry; it’s always evolving, so there’s always room to squeeze yourself in as a part of the evolution.
Add to Flipboard Magazine. We all want to make our businesses as cost-effective as possible; it just makes it easier and faster to prosper. Although we’re all working towards the same goal, some businesses seems to be in the green almost naturally - without struggling and cutting costs. Nobody can make your business grow but you, so take some time to figure out the reasons behind some of these success stories.
We’re not going to give you all the obvious tips, like cutting unnecessary costs your business can do without and keeping track of your finances; you know all of this. If you’re already tried the old tips and tricks to a frugal business, give some of these creative tips a try to keep your business ahead.
Sharing is caring: Split the ad costs
A controversial choice but nonetheless cost-effective, so you should give it a try. Splitting the costs of the advertisement for an event or a sale is a good way to save money; you don’t have to have a formal partnership to work together or split the costs – it’s going to benefit both businesses and you don’t have to feed the advertisement monsters too much. Think about it as being a good neighbor rather than committing to a partnership; it doesn’t seem too odd to carpool with your neighbor, does it? Hopefully, it will improve the relationship and you can keep helping each other out in the future.
Slicing the costs: The office
Undoubtedly one of your biggest expenses, the amount you save by choosing a smaller office is too good to miss out on. Small offices can look spacious, too, if you know how to decorate them, and especially if you manage to do a lot of meetings standing up – it’s healthy, in anyway, so why not? If you have a lot of employees and need that extra office space, see if you can’t move office to a cheaper area – it could even be just ten minutes away to make a difference and the money you save can be spent on bringing in a bit more business instead.
Even better, consider using a virtual office. London is an expensive city, so spend some time on looking into what kind of options you have – yourvirtualofficelondon.co.uk is a good place to start, for example. It’s so much money to save on this, which any business today should welcome.
Happy customers: Make the most of them
Yes, it’s an old advice but thepsychology behind it matters – and it really works. A happy customer will usually not mind giving a testimonial, which you should take full advantage of. It’s called social proof, and everyone falls for it every time. Put the testimonials on your website – actually, put them everywhere, and make sure they focus on exactly what the happy customer achieved by using your services. It will encourage more sales and give you more testimonials, which again encourage even more sales – like a snowball effect, in other words. Seems too good to be true? Take a look atthis article for some proof.
Technology: Get the free tools
Today, you can get a lot of good business tools for next to nothing. Even though you don’t need all of them, and you certainly shouldn’t get them all as it will just create chaos, it’s important to look at which ones would suit your business the best. Comprehensive accounting tools helps to keep you up to date on your finances, a cloud system will ensure the safety of all your documents – and help you withgoing paperless too, which is good for both business and environment. You don’t need to invest in expensive tools unless you know you’re going to use them every day – some of them are all-inclusive, which saves you from downloading a lot of different tools that you’ll never use in any way.
Read more inthis article for a more detailed guide on how your business can take advantage of modern technology. Everyone else is doing it, so why not you? By the way, take a look atDownload.com and you get to see all the free tools that are available out there – you’re welcome.
Get online
Setting up an online store will help you save money the same way a virtual office can. You’ll save on the actual space you would have used to sell your products – and you don’t have to spend a lot on setting it up online, either. Look into selling throughebay.co.uk or other auction sites – you’ll make money selling and save money on renting a physical place at the same time – what’s not to like?
While you’re online, do a bit of marketing there, too. Not the costly type – even though you’re splitting the costs with your neighbor business by now, but rather bygetting social. I’m sure your business has its own Facebook site, but you should communicate in other groups, too. Look at where your customers might be hiding and simply jin the groups they’re in; that way, you get to communicate with your existing customers and keep a good relationship with them, and you also get to connect with prospective customers.
Social media is a great way to market your business and make more money, as it’s cheap and informal. People like talking in a casual way, they love to feel that they’re being heard and that your services could help them – connect with them over social media, and you get to do all of this.
Times are tough lately, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your business a success story. You just need to be a bit more frugal, know which free tools you can take advantage of, and commit to cutting costs wherever you can. The fun part is that a lot of these tips will not only save you money; they’ll make sure you’re a part of the modern world on social media, being a greener business, and even connecting with neighboring businesses.
Post Add to Flipboard Magazine. Anyone that wants to make money from real estate will realize that opportunities exist outside of the country. Yep, that’s right – here isn’t the only place to make a killing. Unfortunately, what seems like a beautiful swan often regresses and morphs into an ugly duckling. Why? It’s because investors just don’t think everything through before pulling the trigger. There is no doubt that foreign property is a potential cash cow, but you need to check a few things off the list beforehand.
Here’s how to make sure your next offshore investment doesn’t become another statistic. At least, not the statistic you’re looking for anyway.
Use A Realtor
The best deals are the ones where there is no intermediary involved, right? Yes, on occasion that is true. However, it isn’t always the case, especially if you don’t understand the language and have zero knowledge of the market. This is where a realtor comes in handy. These people are experts that know a good deal when they see one. And, they can put it to good use as long as they have your interests at heart. At the end of the day, the best deals don’t have any nasty surprises. With an estate agent, you’re more likely to avoid bombshells that could put the entire investment in jeopardy.
Hire Separate Experts
Apart from a realtor, you will also need a legal representative and a translator. If you want to be extra careful, there is also room for an architect and surveyor to name two more. The temptation, wherever possible, is to mix and match to save money. For example, lots of investors like to ask their lawyer to translate documents because it’s easier and cheaper. Although it appears like a good idea, it isn’t savvy to rely on one person. Anyway, there is no way of knowing their level of translation if you hired them as a lawyer. Stick to using one professional for one job to avoid muddying the waters.
Make Sure You Have Enough Cash
Of course, there should be sufficient funds to buy the property, but that is the long-term goal. In the short-term, you might need a smaller amount of foreign money to give the bank as a down payment. Plus, everyone you hire will need paying, and they might not accept credit card payments. No one wants to lose money through exchange rates and poor decision making, and there is no need to any longer. Thanks to a foreign exchange consultant you will be sure to have plenty in reserve. And, they should also help you manage your funds to prevent any unnecessary expenses.
Take The Risk
There is only so much research an investor can do before doubt takes over and ruins a deal. It is true that an international project is a lot scarier than one that takes place at home. But, the chances of it being successful are pretty high as long as you follow the right protocols. Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are no guarantees no matter how hard you study the market.
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