5 Focuses For Business Owners Across Different Industries

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Business Owners|5 Focuses For Business Owners Across Different IndustriesNaturally, every single business, even rival companies, are entirely different and vary widely in terms of how they operate, the structure and design of their individual business model and how they conduct business.

However, the world of business does share more than a few similarities across the plethora of different industries so here, for your reading pleasure and of course information, are 5 things to know for business owners across different industries.

1. Always Analyze Your Competitors

There is no feasible way your construction company can climb to the upper echelons of success within the field without keeping a close eye on its rivals and competitors.

It is therefore important to always ensure you are aware of any large developments, changes or new directions that other local construction businesses are making, so as to best assess not only if those changes will work for your own company, but to see if they are more successful as a result.

2. Always Keep Detailed Records

Attention to detail is absolutely essential to the success and longevity of a business working in the construction area.

Every single job you undertake, no matter how big or small, should be recorded and filed and it is generally advisable that records of each and every job should be safely and securely stored for at least five years after the job has been completed.

3. Always Endeavor To Exceed Service Expectations

The construction industry is firmly centered around people; both your clients and your employees.

It is for this reason that it is exceedingly important to always strive to exceed the service expectations of your customers and clients, be those from a small and private firm or a national, larger corporate company. One way to ensure your customers are receiving a top-quality service is to outsource, for example to a reputable and established Aluminium Supplier, such as Righton Blackburns.

4. Always Be Aware Of Both Risks & Rewards (and Be Prepared to Compromise)

When approached by either an individual customer, or else a large corporate client, even though the bottom line and the main focus is to make as much money as possible to increase both cash flow and profits, it is still important to assess the risks and rewards of taking on the specific contract.

Whether you are the owner or manager of a construction business, or else are a loyal member of the workforce, the secret to teamwork is the knowledge that sometimes, it is much more effective to compromise or even sacrifice, in certain situations, too.

5. Always Be As Organized As Possible

Organization, both in one’s professional and personal life, is one of the most important ways of giving oneself the space and opportunity to be objective.

It would therefore be exceedingly pertinent to ensure that both yourself and your department heads and senior managers are all committed to being as organized as possible, at all times even when you are under the proverbial pump.

4 Effective Ways To Make Your Office More Eco-Friendly

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Eco-friendly office|4 Effective Ways To Make Your Office More Eco-FriendlyIn 2022, there is frankly no way you can feasibly run a successful business, regardless of the industry in which your company works in, without paying due attention to the carbon footprint and the environmentally friendly nature of your core business processes.

Not only do you have a moral obligation to do all you can to reduce the amount of product waste and energy your office space uses, but also more and more customers and other businesses are choosing to only work with and alongside companies who are shown to be eco-friendly.

With this in mind, continue reading to learn of 4 effective ways to make your office considerably more environmentally friendly.

1. Recycle

One of the simplest yet most effective ways to become an eco-friendlier workplace is to remove every single individual garbage bin in the office and instead create a central station with recycling-specific trash cans which separate different types of waste products.

This way, you can easily arrange for your recycling to be collected quickly and efficiently, as it is all in one place and already organized ahead of arriving at your local recycling center.

2. Use Sustainable Materials

When your office is being redesigned, or a new structure is being created within the space, it is incredibly important to ensure that only sustainable materials and metals are used.

An eco-friendly Aluminum Composite Panel, for example, has a myriad of different uses and can be custom-made to your exact specifications, such as from Multipanel UK. Aluminum is often referred to as ‘the green metal’, as the material can be recycled again and again without compromising the quality and strength of the product.
Additionally, aluminum is entirely fire-resistant yet is effective in acting as a thermal conductor, making it the perfect metal for use in a variety of different office settings.

3. Go Entirely Paperless

Just as at home, when you receive a seemingly endless volume of advertisements, leaflets and takeaway menus printed on high-quality paper, there is also an excess of paper usage in an office environment, and in both locations, most paper ultimately ends up in the trash.

Instead, make a business decision to move forward with an entirely paperless system, even if this means having your in-house, or else outsourced, IT specialist to design extra information spaces and functions on your office intranet.

4. Switch To Renewable Energy Sources

Not only would the switch to entirely renewable energy sources make a huge difference to your company’s overall carbon footprint, but it will also make for a much more sustainable and environmentally-friendly workplace.

Additionally, it is highly likely that at the moment, devices, electronics, white goods, computers and other technologies are being left on overnight in the office, even if this is absolutely not your intention. The best way to counteract this moving forward is to designate one or two ‘green champion’ employees whose role it is to ensure that everything is turned off at the mains, or at the very least, in standby mode.

4 Hacks For Managing Your Team Virtually

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Managing your team virtually|4 Hacks For Managing Your Team VirtuallyManaging a team was hard enough before 2020.

With modern culture forcing many to work from home, management styles have changed. With meetings and catch-up sessions taking place via computer.

If you are a manager, this was hard to adapt to in the beginning, and as it goes on, it can be tough to think of ways to keep your team motivated.

How can you ensure that your team stays on target and continues to produce? Below are some key strategies to help you and your team to thrive.

1. Allow flexible working

Remote working has allowed many businesses to expand. You may now be responsible for managing workers from around the globe.

This is great for the business. Though it can make working in synch tricky. When you are heading to bed, your staff located in different countries may be waking up.
This is where offering flexible working can help. Look to accommodate different time zones. While also allowing your team to strike a better work/life balance. Try not to take anyone out of their natural work rhythm by forcing them to comply with your time zone, as work output will drop. This is also where a virtual office setup can help. By having tasks displayed on a webpage, they can be accessed with ease from around the globe. So, your international team can work even when you are sleeping.

2. Make the office virtual

This can be tricky in the short term. In the long term, it simplifies the working environment.

Aim to sign up your workers to a group email address. Invest in online meeting software that allows you to also send out invites. You will also need to set up a virtual mailbox. Many location-based offices regularly receive mail. So, you will need to update your business associates about your e-post box.

If you aren’t sure where to start, look at sites like theworkstation.co.uk for advice.

3. Progress reports

Many people don’t want to micromanage their teams, but with the lack of a physical workplace, what other options are there?

To keep an eye on your team, ask for progress reports. Weekly if you have a deadline coming up.

It is worth having daily meetings. For a more in-depth progress report, it is worth doing so every week. Make progress reports a part of the week and have them towards the end. Like on a Friday or Thursday.

This will help you to keep track of where your team is relating to productivity. While also providing a set structure for them to work to.

4. Organize 1-on-1 meetings

A working group is essential to the overall function of the workplace. However, among all the meetings and tasks, individuals can get lost.

Aim to host monthly meetings with each member of your team. This will allow them and you the space to better assess them. Without the stress of doing so in front of the rest of the team.

This will also allow you to look at their capabilities, and, of course, enquire into more personal issues, such as their health. If necessary, you can add or deduct tasks from them to make them more comfortable.

Four Tips For Job Hunters

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Tips for job hunters|Four Tips For Job HuntersThe irony of job hunting advice is that there is so much out there that you don’t have to spend more than a few seconds Googling before you come across some piece of wisdom or another.

At the same time, there is so much information accessible (some of which contradicts other recommendations) that it is easy to become overwhelmed. Which, in fact, is likely to be the exact opposite of what you’re searching for when you go snooping for genuinely beneficial advice in the first place.

Make Yourself The Obvious Fit

When you apply for a job online, your resume will almost certainly be evaluated by an applicant tracking system before moving on to human eyes (if you make the initial cut). The first human eyes to scan your resume are generally those of a lower-level HR representative or recruiter, who may or may not grasp all of the complexities of the job for which you’re seeking. Looking at things like Resume 101 reviews can really help you to get your resume in the right order.

You also need to make sure you are showcasing your strengths, perhaps by including some of your portfolio or latest publications.

During Your Job Search, Don’t Limit Yourself To Online Applications

Do you want your job search to last forever? So, you should continue to rely only on online applications. Do you want to speed up this bad boy? Don’t give up after you’ve applied online for that job. Begin by locating and then endearing yourself to people who work at the company of interest. Set up informational interviews with potential peers. Ask a couple of questions to an internal recruiter. Get on the radar of the people who can help you get an interview.

You Need To Be Interesting

Don’t get me wrong: you must always present yourself as polished, eloquent, and professional during your job search. Many individuals, however, interpret this as Must. Be. Boring.

Wrong, wrong, and again. Understand that few people are recruited because they had perfect white space on their cover letters, knew all of the “right” interview questions, or employed extremely safe, common cliches throughout their resumes. All of this precision will make you appear manufactured and unnatural. Instead, allow yourself to be both polished and appealing. Candidates who are memorable and likeable are usually invariably the ones who advance.

Remember To Be Polite

If it comes between you and another person for a position and you are both head-to-head with skills, fit, and qualifications you need to remember to be polite. You can almost guarantee that you will get the job offer if you send a personal thank you to your interviewers and the other person sends nothing.

Finally, keep in mind that the interviewer is much more interested in what you can accomplish for them than in what you want out of the agreement. Certainly, once you’ve shown your worth, they’ll be quite interested in what you desire. However, during the interview, you must show why it is a good business decision to recruit you.

These tips should help with your job search and securing a few job offers. Do you have any more tips that should be included? Please add them to the comments below.

3 Ways To Earn More Interest On Your Savings

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Interest on Savings|3 Ways To Earn More Interest On Your SavingsWhen you have money in a savings account, you’re likely to get a small amount of interest on it. Unfortunately, the interest you accrue may not be enough to cover your expenses. Low interest rates mean that’s definitely the case.

The money you’ve saved may actually lose purchasing power over time if your income falls below the inflation rate. However, no matter what the state of the economy is, there are always opportunities to make extra money. For those who have some money saved up and wish to increase their yields without taking on too much risk, here are some options to explore.

Switch To A High-Interest Savings Account

Some banks provide special, high-interest savings accounts with rates that are much higher than ordinary accounts.

Online banks are a great place to search for high-interest savings accounts. Online banks, which benefit from cheaper expenses due to the disappearance of brick-and-mortar branches, seldom impose monthly fees and often provide rates that are much higher or higher than those offered by conventional banks. Another advantage of using online banking is that it puts your money out of sight and out of mind, making it simpler to resist the urge to spend it.

Invest In The Stock Market

The only people who should consider this particular idea are those who have a lot of experience with investing or are willing to work with a professional advisor such as Fair Forex to help them grow their money. With cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin rising and then crashing in a matter of hours, this year’s stock market has been a roller coaster. This is why it’s important to know what you’re doing before you invest anything at all. However, if you get it right and you’re patient (investing won’t make you rich overnight), then it could be an ideal way to earn more on your savings. Plus, many people who try it find it fun to get involved in.

Consider Buying Bonds

Instead of a standard savings account, you could put your money into bonds, which carry a degree of risk and limit the amount of money you can withdraw, but which can be a good option in the long term.

An investment in bonds is similar to borrowing money from the business or government that issues them. If you hold the bond to maturity, you will get a return on your initial investment plus any interest. If you want to invest in bonds issued by major corporations, you can do so by purchasing US Savings or Treasury bonds. Each has a varied interest rate and payback schedule, with more risky bonds offering higher rates. Yields are often higher on long-term bonds and corporate bonds with a greater chance of default.

Bonds can lose value as interest rates rise, so it’s important to keep this in mind. A bond’s price fluctuates in the opposite direction of its interest rate. This means you may end up selling your bond for less money than you purchased if you do so before the bond matures. If you’re looking to raise the interest on your investments while accepting a bit extra risk, bonds are an excellent option.