Insights, Ideas, Results
As a small business owner, you know that time is money. And the less time you have to spend on something, the less it will cost and the more money you will be able to put in your pocket. There are lots of ways to improve the efficiency of the way you operate your business. They range from getting your staff involved, making them more efficient, automating repetitive tasks and getting outside help to perform tasks at a lower cost. Read on to learn the details on these.
Technology has completely redefined work teams. Companies are allowing — even encouraging — employees to telecommute, and businesses are increasingly turning to freelancers to complete specialized assignments. It’s now possible for a small business owner in the professional services industry, for example, to have employees working from several different locations all around the world.
Those kinds of arrangements can make collaboration among far-flung team members difficult. Even when teams work face-to-face, collaboration can be hard. That’s why investing in collaborative software is an excellent idea, whether your team members are dispersed or all under one roof.
Collaboration software enables multiple users on different systems to share, process and manage documents, enabling your employees to collaborate productively. Here is a roundup of some of the most popular options out there:
Productivity and efficiency are the handmaidens of any smooth-sailing company ship, whether that ship sells novelty bicycle horns or high-end custom kitchen cabinets. When you and your employees are efficient in your work, productivity goes up, which increases your bottom line and job satisfaction with you, your team and yourself. But wrenches can get thrown into even the most well-oiled spokes, making your productivity aims seem unreachable. If you and your team have been less productive of late, it may be time to take a look at your own management style. Here are nine common ways bosses and managers sabotage their employees’ productivity.
Research shows that the decor, lighting and color in the office can have a huge impact on employee creativity and productivity. Bright colors can trigger brain activity and foster creativity for the employees. Providing natural sunlight or fluorescent light can provide upbeat mood not only to people working inside the building, but also to the customers making them spend more time, and money with your business. No wonder companies like Google and Facebook spend billions of dollars in decorating the office with the right colors and furniture. Below are variety of ways in which you can redecorate, and revitalize your office.
The concept of uptime and downtime will be familiar to anyone who uses the internet. Every service provider strives to meet service level agreement (SLA) that determines the amount of uptime it will provide. Often, those SLAs are not met.
In online services, it’s normal to see uptime targets of 99.9 percent or higher. In business, SLAs tend to err more towards 100 per cent. Whatever your provider promises and whatever availability you expect, the reality may be very different.
Containerization is a term used to describe the system of transporting goods globally using shipping containers. Before the arrival of shipping containers the transport of bulk goods and other products was done in a very inefficient manner. The transport used to be cumbersome and required large number of workers at the shipping and receiving ports to handle the cargo. The containerization has standardized the dimensions of shipping containers thus enabling packing as well as loading and unloading of cargo in a much more efficient manner. Not only can the same containers be transported on the ship, but after they arrive at the port they can be attached to trucks or trains easily.
Is there any connection between how your office is furnished and employee productivity? If you look at the amenities provided by Google, Facebook and other innovative companies you could argue that creating right atmosphere and furnishing the office properly can encourage creativity and make your employees more productive. Creating a welcoming atmosphere in the office is just as important is it is in the home. Your employees feel more relaxed and at easy in this environment and can do their best work.
Is there a better feeling than crossing something off your To-do list? Big or small, completing any assignment will give you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, which, in turn will motivate you to keep plowing through the list. I actually know someone whose first item on any to-do list is “make list” so that she can scratch it off immediately. Yes, I’m embarrassed for her.
Some tasks, unfortunately, are not completed or deleted that easily. You know, those pain-in-the-neck projects that you dread the most – the ones that never seem to get done. We all have a task or two that’s taken up permanent residence on our To-do list. It’s like the party guest who just won’t leave, who you’d hide in the coat closet to avoid talking to. Peek out from behind the parkas, and sure enough, he’s still there, double dipping his chips and boring everyone to tears.
When something on your To-do list is bringing the whole party down, it’s time to shake its hand and show it the door! Here are five easy tips to help you tackle that beast, once and for all:
Imagine this scenario. You are working in your home office. A client had sent you a contract worth $100,000 to sign and the deadline to send it back is today. You have to read the contract, verify and send it back or lose this biggest contract you will sign for the year. Unfortunately, you just cannot find the contract anywhere. You are trying to call the client to send a duplicate, but he is out on vacation and cannot be reached. What do you do?
For many people who are not organized this scenario plays all too often leading to lost documents and missed opportunities. Good news is it doesn’t take long or much effort to organize your office and be able to find anything you need in a quick second. All you have to do is spend some initial time to get everything in place and then keep at it on a daily basis. Here are some tips on how to organize your office to improve your productivity.
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?
