Billing and actually taking payment from your customers is obviously one of the most important aspects of your business, especially when you’re a small business, so it stands to reason that you’ll want to do all you can to make the payment process as simple as possible. Luckily, there are a number of tools that can help you with this.
Here are some of the most important payment tools that small businesses need to know about:
Dealing with surprises is a part of life. Sometimes they are fun and a demonstration of how much those around you care about you, like a party. Other times, they can be rather tragic and stressful.
Some surprises, especially in business, can be just inconvenient though. To keep your business running all the time takes a lot of patience, hard work, and dedication, and that is when things are going your way. If something goes awry, you have to be prepared and be willing to respond dynamically to the problem. This sort of versatility is what allows businesses to weather the storms of the often tumultuous world of business.
In this post, we’re going to talk about something that tends to go unnoticed by a lot of small or new business owners. As the title suggests, the topic is speed. Specifically, why is it so important in business?
For starters, speed refers to how quickly your business does things. It refers to the speed with which you reply to customer service queries, carry out services, ship out products, and so on. A lot of people believe that speed doesn’t matter that much and that as long as you produce things of a high quality – that’s all that matters.
Working from home is becoming more common, and it’s extremely popular because it affords workers more flexibility and enables them to achieve a better work-life balance. However, it isn’t all roses, and many work from home employees, freelancers, and sole traders find that they begin to feel lonely without the contact of colleagues during the working week.
Here are some of the things you can do if you’re a home-worker who’s currently suffering from weekday loneliness:
We live in a world that is continually moving toward a digital platform. Everywhere you go, there are smartphones, iPads, tablets, laptops and different methods of online communication. It’s to a point now, that if a business isn’t online, they’re not going to progress successfully. This isn’t because their business model or idea is a failure, but simply that customers now want the instant service. Customers look for products and services that they can access 24/7 from their smartphones. They don’t want to have to actually go out and find a company to work with, if they can access what they need instantly.
It’s become increasingly clear over the last decade that social media is not some kind of fad or trend that’s going to disappear anytime soon. Instead social media has fundamentally changed a lot of things about the way in which people interact with the world both on and offline. Because of this, there are few businesses out there who still don’t realise that social media is something that they need to adopt when it comes to marketing themselves. However, since it’s still a relatively new medium when compared to other forms of marketing, there are plenty of businesses who don’t seem to understand the full potential of social media as a new and exciting method of interacting with customers. They use it to post updates and adverts about their products sure, but they tend to ignore the thing that makes social media so interesting and valuable: the social aspect. Your ability to communicate directly with customers has the potential to completely change the dynamic between you and them. Here are a few things that you can do to really make the most of this exciting new marketing method.
The recruitment process isn’t quick, it isn’t cheap, and it isn’t simple. When we hire an employee, we have certain expectations and hopes that they will turn out to be a high-performing, engaged employee. We want them to be productive and surpass expectations but, unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, your employees let you down and you need to consider letting them go.
Dismissing staff is a task nobody looks forward to, but if you have tried all you can to manage your employee’s underperformance, it might be time to sever ties. Failing to do so will ultimately hurt your company’s bottom line and affect the reputation of your business.
If you’re uncertain as to whether or not your employee’s performance is below standard, take time to consider the red flags below.
