Successful Blog

Is a Leader Emerging Within Your Company?

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Old New Life Future Past Goals Success Decision ChangeHow do you know if you have a budding leader or leaders within your company ranks?

In some cases, that individual or individuals will emerge from the ranks right before your eyes in no time at all. In other instances, the employee will take time (perhaps even years) to fully blossom.

No matter how leaders emerge under your guise, it is important that you give as many employees as possible the opportunity to work their way up the company ladder.

In doing so, you enable them to chart their courses for not only leadership opportunities within your company, but perhaps elsewhere.

So, as 2016 nears the halfway point, is a leader emerging within your company?

Why Leaders Are Important to Your Brand

Some employers may look at their rosters and feel like there is no one willing to step up to the plate and become the next leader within the ranks.

Others, meantime, see the talent they have onboard and note that any number of candidates could easily be a department manager in no time.

So, how do you encourage your staff to take their work games to the next level?

Among the ways to go about this:

  1. Encouragement – It is so easy at times to point out the wrong things that your employees do. Instead of taking a pessimistic view of things in the workplace, always do your best to be positive. Sure, constructive criticism is always necessary and should always be part of your company’s blueprint. That said don’t allow the criticism to take on negative tones. When you encourage your employees to strive for excellence, you will typically get more effort out of them than if you always pinpoint the bad stuff;
  2. Incentives – When employees are incentivized to strive for things in the workplace, they typically will provide you with even better efforts on a daily basis. Even though it is fine to offer a little friendly competition amongst employees, don’t turn it into a knockdown brawl. Encourage teamwork (see more below) and putting heads together to solve problems, especially as they relate to customers and their needs. One of the incentives you can offer is taking a customer problem, then bringing all company heads (in that related department) together to fix it. For example, if you have a customer feeling like the accounting team is not working with them on a payment issue, sit down as a team and figure out the best response. It could be someone lower down on the accounting totem pole that actually comes up with the best means to solve the problem. Make sure he or she is rewarded in doing just that. All voices in a select department should be heard, not just the individual who is wearing the title of manager or supervisor ;
  3. Speakers – Remember when you were in school and you would have guest speakers come in to speak to your class on a wide variety of topics? Business owners are best-served when they do the same. Whether it is someone like Michelle Stacy, a woman who has been focused on putting together first-rate cultures in companies, or Dana Perino, a woman who knows all about the importance of communication having served as a White House press secretary, make sure you tap some of the best minds out there. Bringing this kind of talent to speak to your employees can not only benefit them, but also allow them to hear from outsiders as to why their roles with your company are in fact so important;
  4. Unity – Finally, how much of an effort do you put into encouraging unity and teamwork in your business? If you’ve been a little lax in this department as of late, alter that thinking as you move forward. Your team is just that, a team. Yes, some individuals will shine more than others (there is nothing wrong with that). That said always do your best to stress unity in the office. This is not only true while everyone is working, but it can carry over outside the workplace too. From get-togethers after work to even an occasional weekend retreat, treating your employees as one big family can go a long way in making your brand the best it can be.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

 

 

Is Your Business Coming up Short in the Cash Department?

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Man using scissors to remove the word can't to read I can do itRunning your business might seem at times like more challenges than it is worth.

That said always remember why you likely got into business in the first place.

For many business owners, it was to grow something they created, allowing them to be their own boss and make some money along the way.

Ah, the money part.

In many instances, it is the lack of money that leads one to have to close down their businesses sooner rather than later.

So, take a look at your business operations to see if you’re in fact coming up short in the cash department.

Meet Financial Challenges Head-on

So that you can meet any financial challenges head-on, remember these tips in running your own business:

  • Don’t get in over your head financially – The biggest risk one takes in starting and running their own business is getting in over their heads financially. As an example, someone wanting to open a small eatery takes out a significant loan, not to mention taps into some of his or her savings, perhaps even gets family or friends (see more below) to invest in this dream entrepreneurship. In doing so, they must hope that the establishment does well sooner rather than later. In the event it does not, they could find themselves in severe financial difficulties and not even turn a profit along the way. If you are in need of fast cash for your business, it is important that you check around to see which establishment will give you the best deal, that is a deal that does not leave you handcuffed when it comes to your overall financial health. In the event your business is doing well and it might be time to expand, the same rules of commonsense apply when seeking cash. Always make sure you do your research before settling on a financial establishment to provide you with the cash infusion your business needs;
  • Family and friends – Some soon-to-be or struggling small business owners are inclined to turn towards family and/or friends for a financial investment in their business at some point. So, is this a smart or bad decision to make? On the plus side, you know where the money may be coming from. There is also more likelihood that someone close to you is not going to charge you an arm and a leg in possible interest fees. On the down side, there is always the possibility that such a financial arrangement could curtail a close relationship in the event things go bad and/or you are slow to pay them back the money they loaned or invested in you. Even when it is someone close to you, be sure to draw up an official contract when an exchange of money takes place. In doing so, you acknowledge that the person or persons have loaned or invested money in your business, just as a financial provider would be doing. If something goes wrong, it is imperative that those who helped you get all of their money back;
  • Recognize red flags and react – Finally, just about every small business goes through some ups-and-downs along the way. That said it is important that business owners know what red flags to be on the lookout for. A nosedive in the overall economy can be the first harbinger of bad tidings to come. Keep in mind that when the economy heads south, consumers typically have less money to spend. With less money to spend, they are less inclined to go on buying sprees. For example, if your small business is running a small eatery, one of the first things consumers typically cut back on when the economy is down is going out to eat. Another red flag is when food prices start to going up rather quickly. Lastly, if your health insurance costs to cover you and your employees suddenly explode, this can be another sign of trouble on the horizon. Always keep your ears and eyes focused on the overall economy and what is happening in the real world.

Running a small business is one of life’s greatest dreams for millions of people.

If you are one of them, do you have the business savvy to make your cash flow?

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

As Healthcare Evolves, Professionals and Patients Must Too

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Young Intelligent Female Doctor Talking To Elderly PatientHave you stopped to look at the ever-changing world of healthcare in recent years?

If not, you’ve missed a number of happenings, some of which may very well have impacted you whether you acknowledged them or not.

While many people have heralded Obamacare as being the answer to their healthcare nightmares, others sport a different opinion.

No matter which side of the coin you fall on, it is important to do your best to stay abreast of the changes taking place.

For those who do not stay in touch, it can prove to be a financial and healthcare nightmare for that matter.

Changes in the Making

Given there is an evolving role of transitional leadership in healthcare, both professionals and patients must adapt.

For example, nurses are being asked in many instances to do more than ever before.

From working longer hours to being in on what maybe once were not considered traditional nursing roles, the women and men working in the nursing field have to adapt. Without adapting to the on-going changes in the healthcare field, they can easily get left behind.

As mentioned earlier, the implementation several years ago of Obamacare has changed the landscape not only for thousands and thousands of patients, but also many in the medical profession, notably doctors.

With more and more doctors not wanting to deal with the insurance fallout from Obamacare, the answer for some has been to leave their practices and work elsewhere in the medical field.

Less doctors in practices and for that matter hospitals means nurses are being asked to step up and take on more defined roles.

Demand for Nurses Continues Nationwide

Peruse the newspaper or online want ads on any given week and you will almost always see advertisements for nursing help.

While there are a number of reasons for the demand in nurses, two of them are the critical care that more and more of them are being asked to deliver, along with the fact that Americans are living longer. As the population ages, more of them end up at medical practices and in hospitals for healthcare.

Given that nurses oftentimes serve as a bridge between patient and doctor, it is critical that they have a good relationship with both.

Stop for a moment and think about the last time you were in a medical practice or hospital. What amount of time was spent with the doctor versus the amount of time you had conversations and/or assistance from a nurse? Safe to say, you probably had more time and interaction with your nurse or nurses.

While doctors still take the lead role at both their practices and when caring for patients in a hospital setting, nurses will continue to evolve into more of a leadership role now and in the years to come. This will especially be true if there continues to be shrinkage in the number of doctors practicing nationwide.

For those already in nursing or thinking about such a career, it is important to remember these factors:

  • Job opportunities – There are no apparent signs of a lessening of demand for nurses across the country. If you have the dedication and skills for this field, there should almost always be job opportunities available;
  • Increased leadership roles – As more patients come to both medical clinics and hospitals seeking care, nurses will continue to be an important piece of the healthcare puzzle. Along with the necessary medical skills, good communication skills are essential. Given the demands on doctors and/or their absence at times when patients call or stop by a medical facility, nurses must be able to deal with a variety of medical situations. Having the skills and patience to deal with myriad of personalities is nothing short of critical;
  • Continued education – Being open to continuing one’s nursing education (both online and in-person) is all but a necessity. As medicine continues to evolve, nurses will be asked to do the same. By learning more on-the-job skills, along with additional information in the classroom, nurses will be even better positioned to increase their roles and salaries.

As more changes undoubtedly come in the healthcare industry, those nurses willing to embrace and grow with the changes will more than likely prove successful.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and medical topics on the web.

Avoid Falling Behind on Collecting Customer Payments

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Credit Check 1There are various things that can send a business into a financial frenzy.

One of the more frustrating avenues for businesses to travel down is when customers do not pay their invoices on time.

For some customers, it is a simple slip of the mind, something that can be corrected in a short period of time.

On the other side of the coin, some customers will purposely delay paying bills, be it because of financial issues of their own or they simply do not want to pay for the products or services they purchased.

So, what is a business to do when a customer is late with a payment?

Get the Money You Deserve

For your business to stay on top of meeting its financial needs, there are a number of actions you must make sure stay regular and relevant.

These include:

  • Timely invoices – Are you getting your invoices out to customers on time? If not, why is that? Falling behind on invoicing customers presents several problems, most notably the fact that you are not going to get paid on time. When that happens, it sets your finances up for potential peril. If you don’t have someone in your office dedicated to accounting, invoicing etc. change that moving forward. Some companies will outsource their invoicing needs, thereby leaving them with one less major task to have to perform in-house. While all customers not paying in-person for their products and/or services are expected to meet the payment deadlines, you can’t expect them to do so if your invoicing techniques are less than stellar. Finally, make sure the due day, any late fees that will accrue etc. are clearly spelled out each and every time you invoice a customer;
  • Seeking help – If you’re finding too many customers are not getting their payments to you on time, you shouldn’t wait for the ship (your business) to start taking on water. There are options out there for you, including receivable factoring companies. For those who do not know, such companies will in essence give you the cash (in advance) you need (the money that the customer was supposed to pay you) up front, in turn “buying” the unpaid invoice. The receivable factoring company then pursues your original customer in order to get them to pay up. In order to find the best factoring company, look to not only word-of-mouth referrals, but also the Internet (see more below);
  • Surf the Internet – One of the best ways to locate a receivable factoring company to assist you in receiving the money owed you, the Internet. Any company that is of any stature in today’s business world has a website. With that website, companies can provide a laundry list of their services, how they stand apart from others in their line of work, and much more. Visit a number of receivable factoring company websites to see which one or ones might best suit your business needs. You can also look to their social media initiatives on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and others. Some in this line of work will even offer videos on sites like YouTube, explaining and demonstrating what they do to assist businesses like yours;
  • Reviewing your invoicing process –Finally, when was the last time you reviewed how you go about invoicing customers? If it has been a while now, and if your invoicing operations are cause for concern, step back and review the process. It could be something simple that needs fixing; then again, it could prove to be a major change in the way you go about things. Either way, this part of your business is too important to take for granted. When your customers do not pay their bills on time, you are the one who suffers. Yes, it could end up hurting them over time, especially if they end up being reported to a collection agency, but a fair number of customers probably don’t sweat such details.

So that your company doesn’t develop a sizable financial debt now or in the future, make sure you avoid falling behind on collecting customer payments.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Has Your Brand Tasted Mobile Marketing?

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success ingredients - ideas, passion, time and action - a napkinIf your brand has been slow to gravitate towards mobile marketing, change that moving forward. As for that change, make it sooner rather than later.

As more brands are discovering, mobile marketing has many positives and few if any negatives.

How you deploy mobile marketing can go a long way in determining the level of success you have with it.

So, is your brand ready to taste mobile marketing if it has not up to this point?

Consumers Want More Mobility

Brands galore are moving forward with mobile marketing plans on a number of fronts.

Whether you are just rolling out a product or service or have been around for many years, you can’t sit back and watch the benefits of mobile marketing pass you by.

Successful brands have everything to gain and really nothing to lose with mobile marketing.

With that in mind, how can you best take advantage of mobile marketing without coming across as too sales hungry?

Among the ways to do this:

  • Geo-location for on-the-spot sales – Knowing where current and potential customers are shopping at any given time may seem like over-reaching to some, but it actually makes good business sense. For example, say you’re a food brand and you know by tracking shoppers that some customers (ones you have now or ones you hope to add) are out doing their weekly grocery shopping. By pitching them a coupon or two over mobile devices, the consumer is more apt to by your product. With just one simple text, you’ve likely made a sale you might otherwise not have had. When one of the focuses of your brand is providing more affordable options for consumers, especially in today’s challenging economic climate for so many of them, you can hit the jackpot by targeting shoppers in action. Another such example is sporting events, concerts, movies, and more. Just about no one can go to one of these venues without downing a drink or two and getting some food. If you have the data to suggest some of your regular customers will be at such events, text them a rewards coupon they can redeem. Once again, you build up good PR with consumers when making such efforts;
  • Entertaining Apps for consumers – Another means whereby you can connect with consumers is giving them entertaining short videos to watch. From the vantage point of a beverage company, showing consumers drinking your respective product in a happy and healthy environment is almost always going to go over well. If your product is a drink loaded with healthy ingredients, showcase it. From individuals taking a drink after a workout to mothers seeing the delight on the faces of their children after consuming the drink, you want happy people and positive vibes. Introduce a short 30-second spot that can be easily watched on a mobile device. A consumer who is not a customer presently may see the video and decide they need to try the product. Next thing you know, you’ve registered another sale;
  • Socialize the mobile experience – Finally, if you’re not already using social media as much as possible that needs to change today and not tomorrow. Social media for the most part is free, so why wouldn’t you take advantage of it? By using your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube accounts, you can let consumers know that mobile marketing is a big component of your overall brand marketing. As an example, remember those short 30-second spots discussed a moment ago? Plugging them on your Facebook and Twitter accounts is great public relations for your brand. Once you upload a 30-second spot on YouTube about your latest product or service, link to it on your Facebook page, and then send out a Twitter post with a correlating hashtag. Many companies are getting creative with their social media marketing. For example, Hampton Creek has a YouTube channel where it posts videos of recipes in action. It then shares those pieces of visual content across its social networks. Target is known to announce which brands are becoming exclusive members of its store’s shopping experience. Next, consumers are passing a link around via their mobile devices. Before you know it, you’ve created a buzz, a buzz that very well can translate into more sales.

No matter what your brand or brands may be, they can get so much more traction when they are given some mobile marketing love.

The question is has your brand tasted mobile marketing?

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Practices Keep Your Business Humming Along?

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Jobs Job Career Occupation Human Resource Recruitment ConceptIn today’s business world, companies have as many opportunities as ever to become prosperous and go on for decades to come.

On the other hand, many companies can also see their dreams go up in smoke, albeit through bad economic times, improper job hires, marketing and advertising campaigns that go astray etc.

With that in mind, what are you specifically doing to make sure your business keeps humming along?

Don’t Take Business Success for Granted

So that your brand can always have the upper-hand when it comes to business success, know what your strengths and weaknesses (if any) are.

For the man or woman running a business, it is important to make the right decisions at the right times.

Among those decisions can be deciding if either PEO or ASO services are best for your company.

In the event you’re not fully up to speed on one or both of these services note the following….

PEO services can assist your brand with the all-important aspect of human resources.

Face it; your business (and many others for that matter) can at times have issues regarding employees. When those happen, having a sound HR regimen in place is critical.

Your HR rules should be in place from day one of an employee joining the company.

Whether in a publication or provided online, the HR information should include important items involving work hours and responsibilities, if/when an employee is eligible for health insurance benefits, and more.

Meantime, ASO services are also important for business owners, so know them from start to finish. You need to be sure your company is not missing out and/or cutting corners on various tasks at hand.

ASO services typically work with business owners in the all-important areas of payroll and tax filings.

In the event you have a midsize to larger-sized business, keeping your payroll in order and on time can prove tricky to some business heads. Having the ASO service available can be a great relief, especially since you want your employees to be paid on time and with the correct amount of compensation.

Meantime, one task that can keep business owners up at night is making sure their taxes are done on time in the spring, not to mention correctly. Once again, the above-mentioned service can be quite fruitful in making sure you meet all your tax obligations.

Mid-Term Business Report Card

So, can you say with the utmost confidence that your business is where it wants to be nearly midway through the year?

If not, check to see if you are falling short on these areas:

  • New hires – Have you been making the best of hires in recent times? If not, consider changing the way you go about the hiring process in the first place. Some companies opt for experience over personality, others do the reverse. Always look to get the best of both worlds when hiring. It doesn’t hurt to have one or more of your better employees’ sit-in on some interviews. This way they can provide you with some solid feedback on if he or she is the best candidate to join the team;
  • Promotional campaigns – Whether it is advertising or marketing, are you doing everything possible to put forth the best campaigns each and every time out? Yes, you may have shoe-string budgets for one or both areas, but you need to get your brand’s name out in front of the public as often as possible. If money is tight, look to more “free” marketing and advertising opportunities. Even though it can cost you in terms of getting the right individual or individuals to post for you, using social media can be relatively inexpensive, not to mention successful. When it comes to social networking sites, your brand should be all over the tops ones, ones like Facebook, Twitter, Instragram, Linked In etc. Use social media to not only promote your various marketing and advertising campaigns, but also to listen to what the public is saying about your business.

From working with the right service personnel (PEO, ASO) to hiring the best workers, there are many facets of your business that you can do correctly from day one.

As a business owner, your number one job is to keep your business humming along, allowing you and your team to regularly see success right in front of your eyes.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas writes about business topics on the web.