Different Strokes: Every Business Is Unique And Has Unique Needs

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There are a lot of things written both on and offline about what every single business needs in order to be successful. A lot of these blog posts and articles can be incredibly valuable. They go through many of the fundamentals that all businesses share so that any business has a strong foundation to work from. The problem is that there are many budding business owners out there who assume that they can get by with these fundamentals alone. Sadly, that’s not the case. In fact, one of the most important things to learn is that every business is unique and no two businesses are going to have the exact same needs. In order to help you avoid falling into that same trap, here are some things that are going to differ, perhaps slightly, perhaps significantly, based on the type of business that you’re running.

Staffing

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The kind of staffing needs that your business have is going to depend very heavily on the kind of business that it is in the first place. If your business is focussed on something like manufacturing, then you’re going to need workers with specific skill sets within the science and engineering industries, whereas if you’re running a business that provides SEO to other companies, then it’s likely that you’re going to be recruiting from selections of creatives and humanities graduates instead. Knowing what your business needs and choosing your staff accordingly are the key to a business that is made up of people, all moving the same direction.

Safety

Safety is a concern for any business, no matter what it is. However, that doesn’t mean that the safety concerns of various businesses are all going to be identical. Standards set out by The American Society of Safety Engineers are going to relevant to people within construction or engineering companies, but they aren’t going to have the same level of importance to those working in office environments. For those employees, it’s more important to focus on the basics of workplace health and safety.

Infrastructure

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It’s true that certain aspects of your business’s infrastructure are going to be the same no matter what. For example, there isn’t a single modern business that isn’t going to need some form of internet and telephone connection. However, businesses that are exclusively online are going to have a much greater need for reliable, fast internet than companies that only use it for certain tasks. Knowing the needs of your business can prevent you from falling into the trap of huge infrastructure costs that your business simply doesn’t need.

Marketing

Every business needs marketing, that much should be obvious. However not every business is going to appeal to the same people. This means that each business is going to need to find the best possible marketing methods to help it reach its desired audience as effectively as possible. If you’re trying to reach companies who might want to use your services, then you’re going to marketing yourself very differently than if you were trying to connect directly with consumers. And even then, not every consumer is going to respond to the same kind of marketing in the exact same way.

Is Your Office On The Brink Of Disaster?

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You may not realise this but your business office could be on the edge of a disaster for a variety of reasons. If it is, it’s not too late to complete a course correction. The problem here is that most employers have no idea what disaster they are going to face until it hits. Let’s look at a few and see if we can work to tackle them head on.

Legal Lows

It is possible that your business could be heading for a lawsuit. This will certainly be true if you are not keeping health and safety levels in your office high. You would be amazed by the type of issue that could cause a serious injury in your office. For instance, there might be loose wires over the floor. This could mean someone trips, falls and breaks their neck. It can happen and if it does your business could lose hundreds of thousands.

Tech Failure

Or, maybe your tech is about to fail. You hope this isn’t the case but you can’t be sure. Tech can falter or fail for a variety of reasons including a glitch in the software that you are using. You can’t prevent it but you can prepare for it. To do this, think about hiring an IT support team. They’ll monitor your tech and ensure that there are no serious issues.

Loss Of Faith

Or, perhaps your employees are losing faith in your business. When this happens it can be a disaster because they may stop working or bothering to come in at all. High employee absences are a clear sign that something is going wrong in your business model. You can learn more about managing this issue in the infographic below.


Managing Employee Attendance created by brighthr

Need to Hire Developers? Here’s the Perfect Strategy

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Whether you’re looking for a developer for your website, your app, some desktop software, or a game you’re developing, you need to ensure you’re hiring someone who can really bring the goods. Sounds like obvious advice, I know. But it needs to be highlighted because hiring a developer can be trickier than you think.

Where exactly do you turn when you want to find a developer? Who can help you out during this process? What kind of developer should you be hiring first? We’re going to take a quick look at some key advice for those looking for code wizards to join their business.

Take your time – and hire the best

The best developers out there only want to work with the best developers out there. Something you should learn pretty quickly about this field: there’s a huge ego problem going around. Developers really want to stand out from the rest – unless they’re truly passionate about taking a project to as great a level as it can be. Many business owners have found that “B-level” developers tend to want to work with “C-level” developers – this means that, when it comes time to recruit more developers, those are the ones that will be recommended to you.

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If you want to ensure you’ve got the best on your team, then it’s recommended that you give each developer a trial period. You may want to go with ninety days, or three months. Bigger companies, like Google, go with 180 days. This way, you can find out what “level” a developer is. You want the best. But how can you tell how good a developer is?

Judging the developer

There are a few metrics you can use to judge the quality of a developer you’re trialing. If they’re delivering the work on time and with minimal fuss, then that’s certainly a good indication. But there is more to consider. A developer who does this is simply doing the job you asked them – the best developers not only work well with others, but they also contribute creatively to the project.

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The best way to judge this, of course, is to have developers on-board already who are working with them. They’ll be able to tell you how good their code is, whether they’re using the best practices available, and will be in a better position to inform you about the developer’s potential longevity at your company. If you don’t have another developer, then this guide may help you!

Make sure they know what you want

Your job advertisement has to be crystal clear. Don’t hire a developer who knows C# then surprise them later with a request to investigate some Java or some Objective C. And just mentioning the programming language you want them to use probably won’t be enough; you also need to detail precisely what kind of problems they’ll be expected to solve.

They should also be filled in on work hours and company culture. Make no mistake: a good developer won’t have a hard time finding an excellent job with great benefits, a friendly and fun company culture, and a fat paycheck. You need to be ready to offer them a very good opportunity indeed.

Tools Every Small Business Needs

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Setting up and running a small business can be a huge challenge to take one. There’s little hiding from the statistics – according to this study, for example, a whopping 80% of small businesses end up folding within the first 18 months. That’s enough to put anyone off, right? But if you persist and get through that first difficult period, running your own small business can actually be one of the most rewarding and fun things you can do with your time. That said, there are a few different tools you can bring on board to make sure that your business is one of the few that survive.

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Good outreach

Before even embarking on your business plan, you probably had an ideal target customer in mind. Then, you probably built on this in your market research and fine-tuned it for the operational side. What a lot of small business owners tend to fail to do, however, is to actually check whether they are reaching the people their business is targeted at. If you’re lacking in clients, this could be the reason why. One easy way to see where your online outreach is going is to use tools such as Google Analytics. This way, you can track who is seeing your content and where, and can tailor it accordingly. Social media apps such as Twitter also have similar tools integrated into them, some of which you can use for free. If your website or social media feed is not being seen by the people you want it to be seen by, you can use SEO and boosted posts to help increase the outreach.

Innovative technology

If there’s one thing your business needs to be one step ahead of, it’s technology. Technology has completely transformed the way in which businesses operate, and you are kidding yourself if you think you don’t need to move with the times. Often, the internal technology you have in your business – phones, laptops, tablets etc – can be integral to how efficiently the company operates. If your office computers are more 1999 than hot off the press, you might want to bring in some experts in IT Consulting. Professional expertise will help you be able to choose the best system for your business and you can even improve features such as bandwith and security protection while you’re at it, too.

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Organization

For the first few months of your business, you may be able to operate with everything written down in the same old notebook, or even with it all in your own head. But fast forward to when things are picking up, and you will soon realize that you need a much more precise organizational strategy at hand. If you have staff on board, this is even more important. Consider getting hold of an organization-focused app such as OmniFocus, or even using a group Google calendar with your team. This way, you can see everyone’s to-do lists and you can notify each other when tasks have been completed – and there’s no better feeling than ticking something off your list, right?

Getting Things Right In Business – First Time Around

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No one likes wasting time, especially in business. In fact, business is one of the few areas where there tends to be little room for mistakes. Unfortunately, many professional sectors are so cutthroat that if you mess up, that can sometimes mean the very end for your company. This is why it’s important to get things right first time in your business, so you don’t put yourself at risk of failure. When you have members of staff, this only becomes more important, as they are relying on your to pay their wage. Here are a few ways in which you can ensure that your business takes off on the right foot, and how you can continue to nurture it as it grows.

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Get down to the nitty-gritty

Let’s be honest: business is full of a lot of legal jargon that many of us really have no idea about. You would be surprised at some business professionals who seem, on the surface, as though they know every facet of their company inside and out. But in reality, much of the legal business may in fact go over their heads. Of course, it isn’t integral that you know every aspect of your business from top to bottom: that’s a lot of information to take in and you probably have enough to think about as it is. But, familiarize yourself with things such as company law, contract law and media law, and make sure you have a good relationship with your attorney. The last thing you want is for your business to get in trouble for something that could have easily been avoided, so don’t just dismiss any legalities you come across.

Promote good communication

Once you have a healthy number of staff acting as your team, your managerial skills will really need to come into play. The number one thing you need to do is to promote good communication from the offset. This could be having an email protocol you all stick to, or getting a company such as WesTec to kit your office out with a practical phone system. Explain to your employees the difference between ‘urgent’ and ‘important’, and what to do when the two overlap. Good communication is the basis for every successful business, and it holds the key to running an efficient workplace.

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Plan ahead

Being caught out in business is one thing that can easily send your revenue into a downward spiral. So, make sure you keep on top of everything that’s relevant in your business’s sector – inflation, your competitors, what the hot new marketing strategies are, etc. Good business policy is all about being one step ahead, so if you need to, hire a member of staff who can dedicate a certain amount of their time to looking at your business model and whether it works in today’s fast-paced society. That said, never rush into a new product or a new marketing campaign. These things cost money, so take the time to perfect them before you go ahead.