How 2 Kids And Working From Home Taught Me To Become A More Efficient Business Owner

At first, I felt euphoric.

It was 2012. I had ditched the 9-5 and I was my own boss. I no longer had to ask permission to leave work early and I could pick the kids up from school whenever I wanted.

But it didn’t take long for things to change.

Work from home issue

Sometimes I wasn’t putting the hours in when I should be. Other times I found myself pulling all-nighters and getting grumpy from the lack of sleep.

Something needed to change.

Pretty quickly, I realized that I needed to be more disciplined.

Here are 3 tips that taught me to become a more efficient business owner:

Tip 1: Set yourself a routine and stick to it

Most businesses have a normal working day, so why should I be any different?…

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Management Tips For a Staff That Works Remotely

In this digital era with the internet making communication and productivity so much easier, it is becoming more and more common for entire staffs to all live in different locations working remotely.

Remote employee

Telecommuting is something that is made possible not only to one specific type of career or only a few. Recent research shows that over half of Americans have a job that has potential to be done remotely.

While the convenience of working from home and running a business or working for a business in your pajamas is undeniable, it does have its challenges. Having your employees spread out instead of all together under the same roof can be a bit like herding cats.…

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7 Awesome Ways to Get More Instagram Followers

Do you want more Instagram followers –silly question, of course you do. More Instagram followers mean more exposure for your blog, site or business and more eyes on your business mean more publicity for you. So, follow these tips below to see how to grow your following.

Instagram on smartphone

Tell People About Your Instagram Account

If you have a large following on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or have a blog, tell people to follow you on Instagram for more content. Don’t hesitate to tweet a link to your Instagram account or to add a link to your Instagram in your blog or YouTube channel description.…

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5 Marketing Campaigns That Helped These Small Businesses Grow

The goal of a marketing campaign is to help your audience understand the brand, increase awareness and engagement, and of course, generate sales. The best marketing campaigns go above and beyond to resonate with consumers by playing into emotions and generating excitement for a product or service.

Marketing strategy

Regardless of the industry you’re in, there are always unique ways to create effective and relevant marketing strategies. One of the best ways to help business owners think outside of the box is by working with marketing firms like Polar Mass. Often, it’s difficult for entrepreneurs to step outside their comfort zone and devise research-backed solutions to their problems.…

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7 Customer Service Best Practices Tips for Retaining Great Customers

Let’s face it: Getting customers is easy most times compared to actually keeping them. There’s so much competition to contend with these days, it’s near impossible to keep running with the best prices in your industry, your city; your little cozy niche that nobody knows about… Yet!

Then one day Joe Bigtime, who’s been watching your every move and figuring out how to do it even better than you, strolls into town and upsets everything you’ve been working toward. While you’ve been focusing on customer acquisition, your retention efforts have been left on the back-burner.

Suddenly, your customer’s lack of loyalty toward your business, and your obvious lack of loyalty toward getting their business again and again becomes of significant importance to your bottom line.…

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Smart Business Approaches To Handling Different Types of Loans

If you plan on starting a business, or perhaps plan on keeping a business going, by taking into consideration different types of loans, then it’s important to understand the ramifications of each possibility.

Business loan

Five types of transactions that can have an effect on your business financial possibilities include dealing with student loans, small business loans, loans from family and friends, private loans, and then the choice to take on credit card debt as a form of self-loan. Each movement of money with respect to these categories has its own pros and cons, especially if you have business matters sitting in the background of the decision.…

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7 Employee Retention Strategies You Should Start Using

Ever noticed how every smart entrepreneur refers to their employees as a team? That’s because they know the value the right people bring to their companies. A business cannot be successful without the right people.

That might sound obvious, but many small businesses ignore the importance of their human resources. According to a recent survey, more than 50% of companies said that they don’t have a strategy for retaining employees.

The problem is that most managers see retention as a compensation issue – incentives, salaries, benefits, etc. In reality, what drives employees goes deeper than merely physical possessions.

With that in mind, let’s look at seven employee retention strategies every business should use.…

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How Can SMEs Thrive During and After Brexit?

Brexit has been one of the most important news items of the past 12 months, and whether you were for or against leaving the EU when the vote was held, chances are that as a business owner you have some concerns about how it will affect you.

Brexit

There has always been a saying in business however that every crisis brings with it its own opportunities – so can you really stand to benefit from the current volatility caused by the Brexit situation?

1. Leaving the Single Market

It remains to be seen how leaving the single market will affect different industries, but since Theresa May announced that that was the intention Britain would be going with – rather than trying to negotiate a deal where Britain left the EU but remained in the market – the pound has rallied somewhat.…

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Expanding your Business: 3 Things to Consider

Many business owners hear the term expansion and assume that we are talking overseas, and yet expanding even within the same town carries many different duties with it. For a start, there is finding the right property and deciding what makes it a good space to expand to.

New office space

There are different factors which will affect what kind of property you might want to go into, such as its location and proximity to conveniences for staff. This makes the building seem more attractive to staff and can help with longevity.

Buy or rent

When it comes to finding industrial property, you will need to think hard about whether to buy or rent.…

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5 Tips for a Successful Product Launch

A successful product launch is what every business wishes for, but which a few achieve in real life. Having a revolutionary new product or service is no guarantee of success. After spending millions in product development, you can watch your brainchild fail to gain traction from day one. While it may look easy when Apple sells over a million new iPhones in the first few days, successful launches require strategy.

Product launch

Here are six strategies they use to ensure a successful product launch.

1. Focus on the Needs of Your Target Market

A good product solves a real and acute problem that buyers are facing and are frustrated about.…

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