How can Small Business Attract Young Employees

December 15, 2013

Apprentice Programs
When it comes to hiring employees what do business owners value more – experience or fresh ideas? In other words hiring experienced employees or young ones? Both can be useful in their own right. Experience can help avoid mistakes that someone would make when he doesn’t quite understand all nuances of business. On the other hand fresh ideas are the lifeblood of any business. Without them businesses will not be able to compete in this hypercompetitive world. Many business owners are on the fence about hiring young employees because they think that they are not quite reliable. They tend to make mistakes hurting the business in terms of lost customers and sales. However, as I will discuss below hiring young employees does have its advantages.

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Where Did All the Tech Jobs Go?

December 13, 2013

Technology Jobs
There are two sectors of the economy that are supposed to be impervious to unemployment – healthcare and information technology. Tech jobs are supposed to be a constant employment source given the proliferation of mobile computing and the growth of cloud computing. The rise in technical schools, technology boot camps, and IT certifications makes it seem as if the field of technology is only on the upward path.

Overall profits reported by technology companies in the last few years also indicate steady growth in information technology. While not moving as fast as the dot com bubble of the 1990s, industry earnings doubled between 2008 and 2012 and reached over $182 billion in 2012. All predictions had previously indicated that 2013 would also see growth. The forecast was for 7 to 10 percent growth for the entire industry. So many were surprised in 2013 when powerhouse companies such as IBM, Cisco, and even Zynga laid off thousands of workers worldwide. The reasons cited were lack of growth, falling stock prices, a need to restructure, and shift to focus on core products. Two startups blamed the market, stating that buyers weren’t ready for their offerings.

Read on to see the worst offenders in IT job losses and the reasons given by the companies.

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Small Business Owners – Get the Most out of Trade Shows with These Tips

December 5, 2013

Get the most out of trade shows with these tips
Trade shows are a great place to market your business and get new customer leads. You have many of your potential customers in place, who are there for the purpose of looking at new products and businesses. They have even paid to come there. What could be a better place to showcasing what you have to offer to these customers?

While you can achieve great benefits from these trade shows it takes considerable planning and effort to showcase your business and products. You also need to keep in mind that there are many other businesses, like yours, who are also there for the same purpose. You need to make sure you are ready to spend time and effort required to attend these shows before making a commitment. By following these tips on what to do before, during and after the show you will be able to get your money’s worth, and more from trade shows.

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Is your Business Taking Advantage of Technological Advances

December 5, 2013

Is your business taking advantage of technological advances
Technological advances in the last 20 years have transformed the way business is conducted around the globe. Not only has technology helped them become more efficient, but also it has enabled them to improve quality and reliability of their products. This in turn has helped the society as a whole prosper. Recent innovations in the areas of mobile and wearable computing will continue to drive the businesses, and in turn, human society towards higher standards.

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What to Look for in Security Provider for Your Business

December 4, 2013

What to look for in security provider for your business
Online security has received lot of attention lately as a result of NSA scandal and high profile hacking attempts at several large corporations. With the rise of internet and proliferation of computers in our daily lives it is imperative that businesses pay close attention to online security and protect their computer networks like a hawk. At the same time, it is also important to ensure your offline or physical security is in place to protect physical infrastructure from intruders and scammers. Failing to do so can result in theft and sabotage producing large financial loss for your business.

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Can Small Businesses Benefit from Outsourcing?

December 4, 2013

Outsourcing
Large corporations use outsourcing to offload their non-core operations so that they can focus on what they do best. Small and medium size businesses can benefit equally from outsourcing. Many small business owners do not feel comfortable with outsourcing thinking that it does not provide them sufficient benefits or they don’t like losing control of their business operations. This could be a mistake. When done properly, outsourcing can help small business owners grow by focusing on core operations.

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20 Work-life Balance Hacks for Small Business Owners

December 3, 2013

20 work life hacks for small business owners
Work-life balance is not something that is on top of mind for many entrepreneurs and small business owners. After all, when you have customers expecting immediate response, employees asking for help, vendors waiting for payments, all at the same time how can you even think about taking time off from work. Life can wait until you have established your business. Once you have put the business on the right path you can go back to enjoying the life, right? Wrong. Let’s face it. When you are running a small business will there ever be time when you will not need to take care of this?

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How to Grow Your Business with eCommerce

December 3, 2013

How to grow your business with ecommerce
Small business owners are missing out on significant sales opportunity if you do not have ecommerce presence. Online sales continue to grow at double digit rate and are expected to do so for many years to come. Amazon and eBay reported solid online sales for the Black Friday last week. More and more customers are now comfortable buying online, which is why every retailer in the world is trying to set up online presence.

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How to Pick Conflict Resolution Style to Your Advantage

December 2, 2013

How to Use Your Conflict Style Strategically to Gain Results
When you sense a conflict brewing in the business situation what do you do? Do you put your head down and focus on your own work to stay out of it? Do you play peacekeeper and attempt to help everyone just get along? Or do you add fuel to the fire?

According to the leading theories of conflict, there are five major “conflict styles,” or approaches we take to handling disagreements. Everyone uses one of these styles at one point or another, but most of us tend to stick to one or two styles in most situations. The style you are most comfortable with and use majority of time can have a big impact on the outcome. It can help you arrive at a solution to your advantage or make you suffer with unfavorable outcome. It is crucial to understand what style you are most comfortable with and develop alternate styles so you can respond appropriately in a given situation.

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How to Navigate Small Business during Financial Crisis

December 2, 2013

How to navigate during crisis
Warning to all budding entrepreneurs!! Almost 75% of small businesses fail during their first year. This number goes even higher during financial or environmental crisis. During Great Recession of 2008-2009 number of businesses, large and small, failed because they were not in the best position to manage during the time of crisis. They either did not have sufficient financial cushion or failed to generate enough sales to meet their expenses. The key to succeed in the crisis is to prepare for it ahead of time and take decisive actions once the crisis does hit. This is the time not to panic, and you will not, if you have planned ahead. If you do run into financial turbulence here are 3 important steps you can take to navigate through the crisis.

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