It Is Your Business to Know Who You Hire

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How much time in running your small business do you devote to actually knowing who comes into your office as a new employee?

In some cases, those running companies will give input and even sit in on a number of or all interviews with prospective candidates. In other cases, however, they leave it to a staff member or members to do the interviewing and ultimately hire the individual for the needed job.

So, the question then begs if you should be more active in the hiring process, especially given how too much turnover and training of countless individuals can have a negative impact on your business finances?

In the event you decide to become more active, here are some things you should look at when considering each and every applicant who walks through your doors:

* Are they truly qualified? – While many candidates who come to you seeking a job are truly qualified, others will try and pass off their experience as suitable for the job. The danger with the latter is that you could end up hiring several times until you get the right fit. Some companies will test applicants on their knowledge of the position they would be doing if hired, while others base their decision off of the person’s work background. Either way, make sure you get the most qualified man or woman in order to hopefully fill that spot for several years to come;

* Will they fit with the team in place? – Chemistry in the office is key to any successful business, so keep that in mind when you interview candidates. Does their personality seem like a good fit for the employees they would be working with? Are they outgoing and seem like they will pitch in whenever asked? Do they have a positive attitude that will help them get through stressful times, including constant deadlines? It just takes one wrong piece to mess up the puzzle of office success that you have worked to put in place;

* Is their background too social for me? – Even though there is nothing wrong with prospective candidates being on social media, more companies are checking the social backgrounds of individuals they interview, looking for any red flags. In the event they have questionable comments and/or images on their social media pages, it should at least give you pause to think about if they’d be a good fit for your business. When you look at the judgment they used in some of their tweets or shares, should you worry that they might use similar questionable judgment when working for you? If you do have such concerns, feel free to bring them up during an interview;

* Long-term plans – Finally, while it is not uncommon for workers these days to move from job to job, this unlike the days when people stayed at a company for several decades, you do not want a revolving door at your business. That being said, question each candidate on what their career plans are, where they see themselves in three to five years, and if they feel they can achieve long-term success with you. While most candidates will say the “right thing” in order to increase their chances of attaining the job, some will be very honest and tell you what their plans are. Even though you should not discount those that can’t make a long-term commitment to you, it does give you pause to think about whether or not to hire them.

As a small business owner, what do you look for when a prospective candidate walks through your doors?

Photo credit: ehow.com

About the Author: With 23 years’ writing experience, Dave Thomas covers small business topics for a variety of websites, including Reputation.com.

Invoice Factoring for New Business Needs

Filed Under Business Life, SOB Business, Successful Blog | Leave a Comment

By Tina Hamilton

If you are an entrepreneur in your start-up year, you are still learning the ropes. You may have tenacity, family support, passion, and past experience in the industry. However, you can’t be managing every aspect of the business at once and all too often young companies find unpaid contracts and invoices piled on the desk.

In worse case scenarios unpaid invoices can sit around for months and cause companies to fail to meet payroll or face challenges in ordering inventory. Knowing your options is vital to keeping your head above water. One of the best solutions to this all-too-common problem is Invoice Factoring due to its successful record in helping businesses continue to flourish by providing instant cash. Continue reading to learn how it works, and what to look out for.

Cash Flow problems

Getting a cash advance on your unpaid invoices can be what saves your starting business. But finding the right invoice factoring company is equally vital to protecting your assets, as is the ability to get paid off your unpaid contracts.

Fee

When paying a company to collect on your Factoring Accounts Receivables you want to find one that will charge you zero money upfront and take no more than 10 percent of your recovered unpaid invoices. Asking a business to pay upfront is counter-productive and defeats the purpose of getting a cash advance.

Reputation

A factoring company’s reputation is extremely important. It is paramount that businesses take the needed time to do thorough research on any company they consider working with. If there are a lot of negative remarks surrounding a company is it best to keep looking for another provider. It is completely normal to find one or two bad reviews on any business in any industry. Perhaps your business even has a bad review. Do not let one bad review shake your faith in a company, but if the negative feedback stifles the positive, dealing with them is not worth it.

Terms

Make sure the terms are just as agreeable as the rates. You may not be buying a used car, but you can still try haggling a bit to get the terms to an appropriate arrangement. If you find a company with excellent rates but the terms need some improvement, try doing a little research until you do find a company with better terms and present your finding to the provider you are trying to work with. Often they will try to save face by matching or beating a competitor’s terms. When it comes to negotiating terms you can follow advise from online articles that help entrepreneurs negotiate traditional bank loans. Although the products are totally opposite from one another, the art of negotiating is not.

Moving forward

Once you have been paid out on your invoices be sure you learn from the experience so not to repeat the same action from happening again. Perhaps hiring someone to manage accounts is in order. This would also free up some of your time to spend elsewhere in the business.

Finally, positive thinking is a powerful, contagious force that helps drive business forward. Be sure that when you finally nail down your business processes, you line them in a silver layer of positivity.

Author’s Bio: Author Tina Hamilton is a veteran journalist currently researching invoice factoring as an option for her family’s business. You can follow her on Google+.

How to jump start your creativity

Filed Under Business Life, Idea Bank, Marketing /Sales / Social Media, Motivation-Inspiration, Successful Blog | Leave a Comment

Sometimes the ideas stop.

When The Muse takes an extended vacation and you’re left with nothing but cold coffee and a blinking (accusatory) cursor on your monitor, what do you write? What do you say? Whether you’re writing a business plan, a marketing report or advertising copy for your business (or website), sometimes your creativity hits a roadblock.

My go-to as a kid writing letters home from camp always started with:

“Dear Mom,

I am fine. How are you?”

Even then, The Rut was showing signs of its presence. ;)

Even the most creative of us can encounter a dry spell. But if you hang in there long enough, you’ll also realize that the dry spell doesn’t last. But let’s suppose for the sake of discussion that you are hip deep in the middle of What Am I Going to Write About Land? What Is It That I Want to Say?

Glad you asked. Warm up your coffee and keep reading.

How do you get the Muse to land on your shoulder again?

1. Exercise. Seriously. Even taking a 20 minute walk around the neighborhood will jog the writing cylinders. If you’re determined to generate an idea on this walk, literally say aloud before striking out, “I want to think of a blog post about Penguins Who Wear Sweaters.” (or whatever your particular sticking point is). Then start striding. Your internal Girl (or Guy) Friday will fetch an idea from the Grey Matter Files while your feet do their thing.

2. Throw a bunch of words and phrases into a hat. These can be about any given topic: an industry, an idea, a discipline or craft ~ whatever you want to write about. However, also include some weird stuff, for example, things on your shelf or stuff outside your window. Maybe what you ate for lunch. Then draw out two or more pieces of paper from the hat. See if the phrases you pull out spark a sentence or a theme. Random collisions of unusual suspects will prompt new synaptic connections.

3. Read someone else’s blog. Ix-nay on the agerism-play. That said, reading something outside your area of expertise or outside your normal sphere of influence brings new ideas into your head. New = creativity. Shake things up. There are a lot of smart people with opposable thumbs in this world using keyboards. Read their stuff. Let it inspire you.

4. Read your old stuff. Pull your posts from your blog archives, review any journal articles you may have published… dust ‘em off and see if there is anything worth saving or if they’re still relevant. If they are, tweak them and update them to reflect your current state of mind. You may have learned more stuff. You may have changed your mind. See what happens when you hop in Mr. Peabody’s WABAC Machine.

5. Quotes. There. I said it. Google quotes about a subject that is running through your head and see what other Big Brains have had to say about it. Goodreads is another great spot in the interwebs to read what other SMRT people have to say about all sorts of stuff. Something they say will spark a reaction. Run with it.

If you’ve read this far, you are a creative person. You just forgot that it was true for a second. Go brew some more java and start writing ~ you’ve got something to say!

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Molly Cantrell-Kraig is a woman with drive. Possessing an innate sense of purpose and a pragmatic, solution-based approach to empowering people, she fused these two traits in order to establish Women With Drive Foundation. Based upon its founder’s personal history, Women With Drive Foundation is a means through which Cantrell-Kraig may effect change on both a micro and macro level. By providing women with something as essential as personal transportation in order to transition them from poverty to prosperity, she, through Women With Drive Foundation, seeks to empower women to help them help themselves. Through this action, the individual applicant benefits, as does society as a whole. Follow Molly on twitter as @mckra1g or @WWDr1ve (Women With Drive Foundation) or “Like” them on facebook.

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