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How To Thrive In A Co-Working Space As A Business

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Co-working Space|How To Thrive In A Co-Working Space As A BusinessCo-working spaces have certainly become more popular over the years for their affordability and opportunities that it provides for businesses of all sizes. Whether it’s a temporary space in between offices or a permanent one, this is an environment that can work for you. Here are some tips to thrive in a co-working space as a business.

Use All The Features Available

Co-working spaces have a lot of benefits that come with the package you pay for. Depending on the type of co-working space, it will also depend on the number of amazing benefits that can come with your membership and the level of packages that are available. Some of the best ones might include a personal gym for members only, coffee and tea-making facilities, and even a bar. When you’re paying for this space, you might as well to take full advantage of all the features available because it’s a package that is worth utilizing, especially if it can help your business in a variety of ways. Working in a coworking environment certainly has it’s perks and in some cases, can be better than non-serviced buildings.

Network With Those Around You

Networking is a great way of meeting new people, and you can certainly get this when it comes to co-working spaces. There will be lots of people from all different backgrounds, and with these spaces, you usually get a lot of different businesses, start-ups, and individuals. You want to take full advantage of meeting these people and creating connections. You never know how they might be able to help you on your journey as a business. The influence that some might have could be life-changing, so start shaking hands and making small-talk!

Alternate Locations

There is usually a lot of different spaces within a co-working space, and it can certainly be beneficial to alternate between different locations. This can help your productivity, and it’s not something you would always get with a non-serviced building. You’ve got the freedom to go wherever and enjoy different setups whether it’s a sofa with a coffee table or a traditional desk area. It can also be great to do when you’re feeling particularly unmotivated to get anything done that day. Switch it up every couple of days or even every day if you prefer.

Keep The Productivity High For Team Members

Keeping your productivity levels high is important, especially for any team members that you might have who work with you in this co-working space. As much as it can be great for meeting new people, it can also pose as a distraction. Make sure you have a schedule that you can stick to and not deter from too much when it comes to your working day. Taking regular breaks is important, but it’s good to keep to a schedule in order to keep yourself motivated and productive.

A co-working space is definitely something worth considering if you think it’s the right fit for you. Use these tips to help you thrive!

Who Knew There Were So Many Financially-Rewarding Nursing Careers?

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Nursing Career|Who Knew There Were So Many Financially-Rewarding Nursing Careers?Becoming a fully-trained doctor is a massive undertaking and something that can take many years. A medical student can start college at the age of eighteen and still be doing exams as they approach their thirtieth birthday.

Sure – they ultimately wind up making a lot of money. But getting to that point is by no means easy. There are all kinds of pitfalls and struggles along the way.

However, taking one of the top online LPN programs provides an alternative route into the medical profession. And it is no less rewarding. Many senior nurses get paid over the odds for the work that they do. And they develop specialisms to rival those of any fully-trained physician.

Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner

The opportunities to help people who have psychiatric disorders, for instance, are considerable. Psychiatric nurse practitioners work alongside physicians and provide mental health support for patients with identifiable disorders in the DSM-5.

While these nurses work alongside psychiatrist physicians, they are almost always specialists in their own right, providing front-line care to those who need it most.

Nurses who want to go into this field require a Master of Science In Nursing – the lowest degree requirement for becoming a nurse practitioner. Getting an MBA, however, is usually pretty straightforward. You just put in a couple of years of your time and get a significant pay-off when you come out on the other side. Psychiatric nurse practitioners typically earn around $105,000 per year, translating to around $51 per hour worked.

Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse

Nurses who can work in neonatal intensive care are in high demand right now. Hospitals need professionals who can work alongside doctors and provide the correct level of attention to premature babies.

Currently, this area of medicine is experiencing rapid growth. New technologies are coming online that are allowing premature babies to make it to maturity when they simply wouldn’t in the past.

The work, however, is also becoming more labor-intensive. More babies are viable, so hospitals need more staff to look after them all. And that’s pushing up demand for certain types of nurses – particularly those able to work in the neonatal unit.

Salaries for neonatal nurses, therefore, are going up quickly. The latest figures suggest the average nurse in this professional earns $102,000 per year, translating to roughly $54 per hour.

There are employment opportunities in various settings, including birth centers, intensive care units, and well-baby units.

Registered Nurse Anesthetists

Administering anesthetics is a highly specialist job, requiring an immense level of skill and training. Anesthetists must understand how to prepare and administer sedatives in a variety of settings, including operating theatres. It is essential to get it right to protect the patient and ensure the operation is a success.

Pay in the sector, therefore, is tremendous. A qualified nurse anesthetist can earn upwards of $167,000 per year, translating to around $80 per hour.

The growth outlook for the sector is also quite considerable. For instance, the BLS expects demand for anesthetist services to grow a whopping 17 percent annually, with only a moderate slow down as we go into the mid-2020s.

The requirements for the role are also relatively mild. As a minimum, you need to have completed a master’s degree from an accredited institution and completed an anesthesia educational program. You also need to complete the National Certification Examination – as all nurses must.

These nurses find employment in a variety of settings, including surgical and pain-management centers.

StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Nursing Career|Who Knew There Were So Many Financially-Rewarding Nursing Careers?General Nurse Practitioner

What if you don’t want to specialize in any particular area? Do you still have options?

It turns out that you do. Currently, there’s significant demand for general nurse practitioners – people who can slot into practically any medical setting.

General nurse practitioners can offer their services in hospitals and specialize in particular fields if they want to progress their careers.

General nurse practitioners earn an average of $107,000 per year. If they work forty hours per week, that translates to $51.45 per hour – which is a very competitive rate of pay, compared to most other sectors.

The requirements are a Master of Science in Nursing and a Nurse Practitioner License for the relevant state. Nurses can change from one state to another, but there are rules governing this that they must observe. These nurses tend to have the most options when it comes to choosing where to work. They can offer their skills in practically every setting.

So, are you considering pursuing a career in nursing that rewards you financially? You probably should!

How to Develop a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2020

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, How to Develop a Digital Marketing Strategy for 2020

Every business needs to have a digital marketing strategy in 2020. If your business has any kind of online presence at all, as every business should at this point, digital marketing is essential to your survival.

But just throwing money at your digital marketing isn’t going to get you very far. If you want your marketing to have an impact and achieve your goals, you need to have a solid strategy at the core. Developing a comprehensive strategy doesn’t have to be difficult; you just need to approach it in the right way. Here’s what you need to know to develop your digital marketing strategy in 2020.

Start by Defining Your Brand

Throughout all of your digital marketing campaigns, the essence of your brand should shine through. The first stage of planning for any new marketing campaign should be working out what you want to say and what you want to convey to your audience. Messaging is very important with regards to marketing, and all your marketing needs to convey something about the nature and ethos of your business.

Having a clear and detailed definition of your brand and what it stands for is essential if you want to put together a thoughtful marketing strategy.

Set Yourself SMART Goals

SMART goals are goals that are simple, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. This means that they should be easy to understand and you should have a clear idea of how you will achieve them. There’s nothing wrong with setting yourself ambitious goals, but if you set yourself unrealistic goals, then you will be setting yourself up for failure and frustration.

Keep Things Scaled

You do need to make sure that you keep your digital marketing strategy scaled as much as possible. This means that you should be exploring your budget and keeping things under a tight level of control. Letting the costs balloon is one of the easiest ways for your company to end up in trouble. You can’t trade a fantastic marketing campaign for an unhealthy financial situation. Luckily, there are options for small businesses including solutions such as small business SEO packages. This will provide the marketing service you need without the heavy costs that larger companies endure.

Call in Professional Help If You Need It

Not every business is in a position to do their own digital marketing to the best of their ability. Some businesses will be better served by calling in an external digital marketing agency like Smartboost to handle their strategizing for them. There is no sense struggling to put together a comprehensive digital marketing strategy if you don’t have access to the resources and knowledge that you need. Hiring a marketing agency to do things for you might be a smarter move financially than trying to do it all yourself.

Always Track Your Results

It is only by tracking the results of past marketing campaigns that you can learn the lessons you need to improve future campaigns. The data and feedback that your campaigns produce is the most useful tool you have for refining your marketing strategy and improving your approach for the future. You can never know too much when it comes to your past campaigns and the impacts that they have. Knowing what has worked and what hasn’t enables you to take a more considered approach the next time.

A coherent strategy is an essential foundation for any successful marketing campaign. If you don’t have an overarching strategy, your marketing is inevitably going to be aimless and unfocused. Sticking to the advice above will enable you to develop the digital marketing strategy you need to make 2020 a success.

4 Screening Tests for Employees That Management Should Consider

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article | 4 Screening Tests for Employees That Management Should ConsiderA company’s strategy towards employees typically requires managers to be vigilant about potential employee issues that happen unexpectedly but demand an immediate response. However, not leaving things to chance means being proactive and not just reactive to avoid potential issues becoming all too real.

To avoid management getting bogged down with interpersonal conflicts, security issues, or concerns over questionable conduct, here are four screening tests for employees that are worth considering.

Criminal Background Checks

While checking if someone has a criminal record that they’ve failed to disclose on a job application form avoids employing an ex-con, that shouldn’t be where the checks start and finish.

It’s necessary to run periodic employee background checks to verify that the information is still correct, and the situation hasn’t changed. For instance, an employee could have had a domestic violence complaint against them, or been charged with shoplifting, and the company would not necessarily know if they weren’t diligent enough to run a check on it.

Verifying that an employee doesn’t have a criminal conviction since the last time it was reviewed avoids continuing to employ someone who may be a danger to themselves or others. Also, issues with theft represent a significant new risk to assets and intellectual property rights too.

Financial Credit Check

A financial credit check is something that every employer should do for each employee or job applicant on a second or third interview for a position. For someone who’ll work in the finance department or handle confidential business information that the company wouldn’t want to be available to the highest bidder, a worrying credit score is a concern.

At a certain level of indebtedness, the employee could become a financial risk where money troubles could cause them to become compromised. At which point, they could do something seemingly out of character due to either being persuaded to by a third party or for pure financial motivation.

A Decline in Work Performance or Attendance

If an employee who has previously been an exemplary worker suddenly has a significant and sustained drop in performance, this should raise some eyebrows. It’s good to understand the reason(s) for this happening to ensure there’s nothing that the company should be overly concerned about.

Poor attendance is a cause for concern from a generate tardiness with a timekeeping standpoint. Also, additional sick days without a forthcoming sick note from a doctor is another area that raises some red flags. It’s beneficial to put some time into getting to the bottom of why this is happening. Check-in with the staff member to discuss the matter, determine the cause, and confirm what they’re doing to resolve it.

DMV Checks on Driving License Status

If you have employees who drive for the company, either with a company car or operating a van or long-haul truck, it’s necessary to check their driving license record each year. Doing so will clarify whether they’ve received any penalties on their license relating to new infractions. It will also confirm that they still have a driving license and are not driving a company vehicle without one.

By performing check-ins with the employee and screening tests, you’ll be able to confirm if there’s been a change in status that’s a potential conflict or cause for concern. These come in a variety of forms with the management having some degree of latitude on how they may respond to them. Not running certain screening tests both prior to hiring, and during employment periods, leaves the company in the dark.

5 Ways Small Business Can Cut their Shipping Expenses

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | 5 Ways Small Business Can Cut their Shipping ExpensesShipping is a major expense for many small businesses. Yet, you can’t keep on expecting your customers to pay, and there’s a point when you’ll have to reduce costs in order to stay competitive. Thankfully, there are lots of things that you can do to keep these costs under control. Sometimes, all you have to do is make some minor adjustments, or look at ways that you can streamline your processes. Let’s take a look at a few ways small businesses can cut their shipping expenses.

Look at Shipping Insurance Software

One thing you should do is automate your shipments, insurance process, and tracking. Find a shipping insurance software company that offers third party insurance, and will allow you to save money in the process. Not only will you be able to find insurance for less, but you will also be able to get insurance on items that other carriers usually won’t offer. Find a tool that will allow you to manage all of your packages in one place, file claims, and get automated notifications about things like risk zones among other things.

Have Things Shipped through Your Shipping Account Number

A lot of businesses will have a tendency to have inventory shipped directly to them and get billed, but a better option would be to ask them to ship through your account number. Not only will it increase your volume, which translates to lower costs, but you also won’t have to deal with suppliers padding their shipping fees.

Use Your Carrier’s Packaging

Another thing you should do is use any packaging your carrier is providing instead of your own. If your packaging does not meet the size regulations of carriers like FedEx or UPS, you might have to deal with “dimensional fees”. Doing something as simple as putting small boxes in a FedEx envelope could save you tons of money.

Look at Regional Carriers

You should also consider working with regional carriers as well. Many of these carriers do as great of a job as national carriers like UPS but at a fraction of the cost. Some examples of great local companies include Lone Star in the state of Texas, Spee Dee in the Midwest, and OnTrac on the west coast.

Look for Association Discount

If you aren’t a member of a professional association in your industry, we suggest you start looking immediately. If you are already, then you should check to see if you can get a discount. You’d be surprised at how much you could end up saving. As a matter of fact, you could save up to 50% on shipping fees if you join the right organization. Not only will joining an association allow you to save on costs, but you’ll be able to get tons of visibility through directories and discounts on all sorts of things.

Conclusion

These are just some of the ways your business could make significant savings on shipping costs. This could have a big difference on your margins and allow you to offer better shipping terms to your clientele.