All entrepreneurs should know how valuable time is. When you waste it, you put a strain on the entire business. Anyone starting a new venture understandably wants to be active in every aspect of the company. However, trying to do everything yourself, especially when you’re not qualified, is risky. Even if you avoid making mistakes, success will take longer and cost more to achieve. Because of this, every business should outsource. Not only is this cheaper, but it causes less hassle. With that in mind, here are eight tasks to outsource in small business.
1. Employee Training
Outsourcing in business doesn’t have to mean giving up employees entirely. Certain tasks are much better performed in-house. However, if you insist on having employees, you must provide the proper training. Having inexperienced workers in your business can cause many problems. Untrained staff members are dangerous, but wasteful too. Thankfully, you can outsource the training of your team to an expert, which avoids any problems and ensures the task is done well.
2. Market Research
Before making any changes in business, you must conduct market research. After all, you don’t want the changes that you make to put current or potential customers off. Marketing research is also essential in learning about competitors and customers. While market research seems relatively simple, many businesses make mistakes that lead to incorrect results. Outsourcing to an expert is recommended because third-party companies can provide entirely objective data.
3. Receptionist Duties
Most people start a business to make a difference. Unfortunately, that will be difficult to do when you’re chained to a phone all day. The good news is, you can outsource many receptionist duties, including answering phone calls. Many answering services, like the Ivy answering service, offer value for money by providing you with experienced and professional virtual receptionists. What’s more, you aren’t stuck in a contract, so you can change the service to suit your needs.
4. Website Design
A website is a powerful digital marketing tool for any small business. Even if you don’t intend to sell online, you should still have a company website to connect with customers and raise brand awareness. Unless you have web design experts in-house, you must bring in professional help. The only problem worse than having no website is having an unprofessional one. Rather than choosing the first design company you find, therefore, you must research to find the best one.
5. Content Creation
No website in today’s market is complete without a blog. Most company websites use blogs to educate customers and clients about what the business does. Blog content can also optimize websites for search engines and attract more customers. The trouble is, producing and publishing content that converts will take time. For this reason, many companies outsource the task to freelancers. Although this isn’t free, the rewards of doing so far outweigh any expenses.
6. Inventory Management
All businesses typically begin with a small and manageable inventory. With so few units to keep track of, you can manage your stock on a simple spreadsheet. However, with any luck, your marketing campaigns will pay off. When that happens, the orders will multiply, which will make inventory management much harder. Rather than risk losing stock, you must minimize shrinkage by outsourcing this task. Doing so will reduce operating and staffing expenses, among others.
7. Customer Support
Unless you’re sure you have enough time to handle customer support, you shouldn’t be doing it. Customer service is perhaps the most important aspect of business. After all, without loyal customers, your company wouldn’t stay afloat. Outsourcing customer support will ensure that you have access to any resources necessary to provide excellent service. Unlike in-house customer service, you will also have the capacity to expand quickly and support efficient growth.
8. Tax Planning
Money keeps the business world alive. While there are many reasons why a business might fail, all those reasons typically boil down to lack of capital. Because of this, you must take care with accounting tasks, like tax planning. Even a small mistake can cause huge problems for your business. Entrepreneurs can save money and hours every week by using an outsourced bookkeeper. What’s more, you will have peace of mind that your finances are in trained hands.
When done the right way, outsourcing in business will save money, time, and plenty of hassle. Rather than taking on every area of business yourself, you should hand over certain tasks to the experts. Hopefully, with the advice above, you have an idea of which tasks to start with.
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Building a successful business requires a well-planned and efficient strategy. You need to consider the way in which you use your time and resources on a daily basis if you want to maximize the growth of your company and its profits. Having an innovative idea for your products and services, of course, will help you to succeed. And having motivated workers will help you, too. But if your company operates inefficiently, then you’ll be squandering your opportunities for growth in the future. Or, at the very least, you’ll be slowing the rate at which you grow. In this article, we’ll look at some ways in which you could achieve time-efficiency and cost-efficiency to ensure steady business expansion.
Help your team to work productively.
The first way in which you could make your business more time-efficient and cost-efficient is by helping your team to work productively. Firstly, of course, you need to ensure that every single employee is engaged with their specific job role. Hiring professional candidates will help, but they need to be passionate about their careers. If you feel that your members of staff have become apathetic towards their jobs, then you might want to help your team by offering incentives for hard work. Recognition in the form of an “employee of the month” award and perhaps even a bonus could encourage staff members to work hard in the hope of being noticed and rewarded. You have to give workers a reason to do more than the bare minimum.
Of course, even motivated employees need a bit of help from time to time. Even if your workers are pushing themselves to be highly-productive, you might not be maximizing efficiency. After all, there’s only so much that people can achieve on their own. So, you might want to use technology to improve your operations. Make sure every employee is connected to the company’s central network through their devices, so as to make communication easier. You might want to do some research on mobile malware. It’s important that workers know how to keep their devices secure and prevent infiltration of the main company network. You might also want to get automated software to handle administrative tasks. That way, your employees will have more time to focus on important aspects of their job roles. This will help to make your business more productive on a daily basis.
Reduce wasteful overhead costs.
If you want to ensure steady business expansion, then you should also reduce wasteful overhead costs. You might be pulling in plenty of sales from happy customers, and that’s great. However, if your expenses are excessively high, then this will erode your profit margins. In turn, that will give you less money to invest in your company. Your growth will be slower. So, pay attention to wastefulness in your budget. You could reduce your office’s energy bills, for starters. Thicker window glazing and even wall or roof insulation could help to trap heat and reduce energy consumption. You could also stop buying paper and start creating documents entirely digitally. In 2019, going paper-free is easier than ever. Everything’s done digitally in the modern age, after all.
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From time to time, a business will celebrate its anniversary. Of course, perhaps celebrating three years of being open is not something you will celebrate outside of the office, even though it is somewhat of an amazing achievement. But five years? Ten years? Twenty? These are large milestones that show you have the staying power you once felt impossible, and this is worth celebrating.
There are many methods of celebrating a business birthday. You could finally loosen that tie a little and enjoy a drink with your employees after hours. You might decide to hire a couple of new people for the interesting and exciting year ahead. Or, you could celebrate your business birthday with something truly memorable, something that adds an additional sense of occasion to the entire affair, giving you and your staff an amazing memory to remember.
This may also be a great opportunity to drum up further press for you and your business, as we often see the age of certain companies plastered all over social media once a business passes that threshold. Here’s how you can celebrate in style:
Limited Edition Products
Why not curate a wonderful set of limited edition products? You needn’t go overboard with this, of course. Sometimes, a different set of packaging, sometimes a smaller measure such as a combination of two items into one, or perhaps a collaboration with another company can give you a great means in which to sell a few products and also celebrate your firm. Perhaps if those in your office are a great fan of horror, you might opt for a spooky edition of your flagship product, even if that’s only related to its packaging. You’ll be sure to draw attention.
Office Prizes
You may wish to celebrate the staff that have helped you build your firm thus far, from morning to night. Running a staff award ceremony, running a competition, or perhaps investing in a worthwhile gift can give many the willingness to interact with and feel respect within your business events. Why not offer first prize as something quite amazing, such as flight school lessons or paid vacation? The opportunities are endless. After all, a little reinvestment in your team can be appreciated more than you may expect.
A Huge Unveil
Why not use this time to add weight to a marketing proposition you have? For example, unveiling a new product line, a new marketing campaign, or perhaps a new recruitment drive can help add a sense of value to things. For example, consider two product launches, perhaps two bottles of Whisky. Inside, they are the exact same. However, one is titled ‘Whisky Company’s Own Scotch!’ while the other is titled ‘Whisky Company’s 10th Year Own Scotch!’ – which sounds more premium? Which adds that sense of intrigue as you shout this from the rooftops? This ethos can help aid many of your other birthday plans.
With this in mind, we hope you can celebrate your business birthday effectively.
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For those who love traveling, business trips are another welcomed opportunity to stay in a furnished apartment in a new town, bask in the culture, and try new cuisine. For others, traveling for business is somewhat of an inconvenience, usually because of commitments at home, such as family, friends, and pets and being taken away from their usual routine. However, there are ways to navigate around this.
For a few tips to help ease you into your new life in Chicago, look no further.
Choose The Perfect Place To Stay
Where you choose to stay in Chicago makes a big difference in how much you enjoy your trip, and that’s why it’s essential to pick the right place to stay. If you’re staying for a few nights, you might think that a hotel is your best and only option. However, if you need to stay in Chicago for a couple of weeks or months, booking a fully-furnished and serviced apartment will be a better option for you. You can find a range of apartment sizes and styles to rent that are available for a minimum of a month-long contract across most areas of Chicago, from the South Loop to the Old Town area.
The longer you need to stay in Chicago, the more essential it is to find a temporary home that you’ll love. For instance, having a fully equipped apartment with all the mod cons you’ll need will provide a much more comfortable setting for you to adjust to being away from home. Renting an apartment, rather than staying in a hotel on your trip also makes it easier for you to invite your family to come and visit or stay with you too.
Pre-Plan How To Get Around
Part of having a relaxed trip to Chicago is figuring out how you will get around the city. Whether meeting with clients, traveling to an office, or running daily errands. There is no one size fits all transport option. Some people prefer the environmentally friendly benefit of using a bike. Others like the hustle and bustle and the fast and cost-effective choice of using the Chicago Transit Authority buses and the ‘L’. While some prefer the scenic route via water taxi, others like to hire a vehicle to get around.
Choosing solutions ahead of your stay will save you a lot of hassle. How you decide to travel is a matter of preference, but it’s worth checking out the routes on Google Maps or Waze to figure out getting to and from your accommodation and workplace. Also, don’t forget to set up a backup travel solution in case there are delays with the first transport you choose.
Set Up A Routine
A handy tip that works well for those traveling away for business is to create a new routine. At home, you already have a routine, meaning you don’t have to waste time and energy thinking about what you need to do. From getting in the shower to ironing your clothes, feeding the dog, making your lunch, and so on, there are specific things you do each day.
To help you enjoy your trip and get your life in order, create a sense of stability and comfort while you’re away in Chicago. Other factors, such as finding the closest supermarket, drug store, and doctor’s office is also helpful ahead of your stay.
Socializing
It’s a good idea for you to make plans to meet with people while you’re in a new place. Whether that means reaching out to work colleagues or contacting friends/family that live in Chicago to meet up. You may even want to plan a few exciting excursions to some of Chicago’s attractions. For instance, Millenium park, the Museum of Science and Industry, or take a Chicago crime tour. By making an effort to be social and connect with people during your trip, and by taking a break and having some fun, you’ll feel happier, more content and even more productive!
Enjoying your business travels to Chicago definitely takes planning. It’s natural to feel a bit stressed when you’re away from home, but if you sort out the best accommodation that truly makes you feel at home, preplan your transport routes and develop a routine, you’ll quickly settle in with ease and enjoy your stay.
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The name of hedge fund billionaire Raymond Dalio triggers emotions of adoration, admiration, and even dislike. That’s the effect success has on people. You do not climb your way up without meeting people who have mixed feelings about you. This should not deter you, and if anything, it should motivate you to be a better version of yourself.
The success, and sometimes, failures of Dalio has made him an inspiration to many. He is on record for saying we make millions of decisions during the course of our lifetime. These decisions, or the logic behind them, determine the quality of lives we lead. While many of us are afraid of failure, Dalio fears mediocrity and boredom.
These are the hallmarks of a true leader, be it in business or politics.
Born in 1949, the American investor, philanthropist, and hedge fund manager is the founder, Co-Chief Investment Officer, and Co-Chairman of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s leading hedge funds with a more than $130 billion in assets under management.
With a net worth of $18.7 billion, Dalio started investing at the age of 12 and his life has revolved around finance. There is no doubt that he has lot to teach people and you can learn to be a better leader by imitating how he has managed the investment firm he launched from his apartment in 1975, around the same time that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs founded their tech companies.
Here are five leadership lessons that you can learn from Dalio.
1. Hire people who are better than you
The self-made billionaire is a firm believer in the importance of the people you hire for your business. After many decades of hiring, grooming, and firing people, Dalio says one of the best decisions you can ever make as a business leader is hiring someone who is better than you.
The key to this is the ability to recognize talented employees who bring a particular skill set on the table. This means that if you have people on your team that can perform a certain task better than you, it takes away the need to micromanage them.
This has two advantages. It gives you much time and room to focus on the bigger picture of managing your business. You can spend more time growing the business instead of fulfilling tasks that can otherwise be done by your employees. Secondly, employees are more productive when they are left to their jobs with little to no micro-management.
Real leaders know how to choose the members of their team.
2. No harm in making mistakes
Mistakes are a part of life and there should be no shame in making them once in a while. However, Dalio points out that not correcting them is a big mistake. You have probably heard making the same twice is a choice because you have an opportunity to correct it.
A mistake needs to be identified, analyzed, and lessons learned to prevent the same thing from happening again in the future. A common issue that many organizations face is the lack of courage to personalize mistakes, but more often, generalize them.
At one time in the early 1990s, Ross Waller, the head of trading at the time forgot to place a trade and cost the company some money. Dalio did not fire Waller but instead created a management tool to deal with mistakes and errors.
Dalio learned from the experience that people deserve second chances. He also capitalized on the mistake to develop new methods that can be used to achieve desired goals.
3. Be open-minded
Open-mindedness is one of Dalio’s important lesson yet the hardest. Being open-minded goes hand-in-hand with the ability to evolve fast and learn new things quickly. Some of the techniques that go a long way in helping you to be open-minded are:
Feedback – try to get as much feedback as you can especially from other successful people that are not in your immediate circle of mentors.
Spend around 90 percent of your time on what you don’t know and the remainder putting what you know to good use.
Be an avid reader and on the lookout for new ideas.
Listen to people who don’t disagree with you.
4. Taking risks with humility
Dalio became popular in the early 1980s when he pointed out that American banks were overloading Latin American countries with debt. He was proved right when Mexico’s president announced that his country was not able to repay its debt amounting to $80 billion.
He became the go-to person on financial issues. Analysts and the U.S. Congress sought his advice on what would happen next. He predicted that the American economy was headed towards a downturn.
It didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite happened. Stocks went up and the U.S. economy was in a bull market. Dalio was wrong and lost money for his clients. He had to borrow money from his father to pay the bills.
After recovering, he realized that he was not going to stop taking risks, but was going to do so with humility and a changed mindset. He became more open-minded and diversified his portfolio. He has tried to maintain a perfect balance between what he knows and doesn’t.
5. Don’t build walls in your company
One of the biggest mistakes that companies make is personalizing their departments so much that the employees are isolated from each other.
Dalio suggests that employees should be allowed to mingle as much as they can in order to share knowledge and motivate each other to perform their jobs better. Having no walls allows team members to bond and increase productivity when they work together on projects.
This does not literally mean that companies have to break down walls and have an open office space. It’s all about encouraging communication amongst employees and possibly having an open-door policy where employees can feel comfortable approaching each other with their problems.
Conclusion
One of the traits of intelligent people is learning from the experiences of others. Whether it’s value investing in Singapore or learning a new language, it makes sense to learn from those that have traveled the journey before you.
The investment world is filled with successful figures such as Dalio, Warren Buffett, George Soros, and more. They have made a few mistakes along the way. We should learn from them. These great leaders also teach us what it takes to be a great leader. There is no shame in copying what is right and noble.
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Eight Tasks To Outsource When Running A Small Business
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenAll entrepreneurs should know how valuable time is. When you waste it, you put a strain on the entire business. Anyone starting a new venture understandably wants to be active in every aspect of the company. However, trying to do everything yourself, especially when you’re not qualified, is risky. Even if you avoid making mistakes, success will take longer and cost more to achieve. Because of this, every business should outsource. Not only is this cheaper, but it causes less hassle. With that in mind, here are eight tasks to outsource in small business.
1. Employee Training
Outsourcing in business doesn’t have to mean giving up employees entirely. Certain tasks are much better performed in-house. However, if you insist on having employees, you must provide the proper training. Having inexperienced workers in your business can cause many problems. Untrained staff members are dangerous, but wasteful too. Thankfully, you can outsource the training of your team to an expert, which avoids any problems and ensures the task is done well.
2. Market Research
Before making any changes in business, you must conduct market research. After all, you don’t want the changes that you make to put current or potential customers off. Marketing research is also essential in learning about competitors and customers. While market research seems relatively simple, many businesses make mistakes that lead to incorrect results. Outsourcing to an expert is recommended because third-party companies can provide entirely objective data.
3. Receptionist Duties
Most people start a business to make a difference. Unfortunately, that will be difficult to do when you’re chained to a phone all day. The good news is, you can outsource many receptionist duties, including answering phone calls. Many answering services, like the Ivy answering service, offer value for money by providing you with experienced and professional virtual receptionists. What’s more, you aren’t stuck in a contract, so you can change the service to suit your needs.
4. Website Design
A website is a powerful digital marketing tool for any small business. Even if you don’t intend to sell online, you should still have a company website to connect with customers and raise brand awareness. Unless you have web design experts in-house, you must bring in professional help. The only problem worse than having no website is having an unprofessional one. Rather than choosing the first design company you find, therefore, you must research to find the best one.
5. Content Creation
No website in today’s market is complete without a blog. Most company websites use blogs to educate customers and clients about what the business does. Blog content can also optimize websites for search engines and attract more customers. The trouble is, producing and publishing content that converts will take time. For this reason, many companies outsource the task to freelancers. Although this isn’t free, the rewards of doing so far outweigh any expenses.
6. Inventory Management
All businesses typically begin with a small and manageable inventory. With so few units to keep track of, you can manage your stock on a simple spreadsheet. However, with any luck, your marketing campaigns will pay off. When that happens, the orders will multiply, which will make inventory management much harder. Rather than risk losing stock, you must minimize shrinkage by outsourcing this task. Doing so will reduce operating and staffing expenses, among others.
7. Customer Support
Unless you’re sure you have enough time to handle customer support, you shouldn’t be doing it. Customer service is perhaps the most important aspect of business. After all, without loyal customers, your company wouldn’t stay afloat. Outsourcing customer support will ensure that you have access to any resources necessary to provide excellent service. Unlike in-house customer service, you will also have the capacity to expand quickly and support efficient growth.
8. Tax Planning
Money keeps the business world alive. While there are many reasons why a business might fail, all those reasons typically boil down to lack of capital. Because of this, you must take care with accounting tasks, like tax planning. Even a small mistake can cause huge problems for your business. Entrepreneurs can save money and hours every week by using an outsourced bookkeeper. What’s more, you will have peace of mind that your finances are in trained hands.
When done the right way, outsourcing in business will save money, time, and plenty of hassle. Rather than taking on every area of business yourself, you should hand over certain tasks to the experts. Hopefully, with the advice above, you have an idea of which tasks to start with.
Achieving Time-Efficiency And Cost-Efficiency To Ensure Steady Business Expansion
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenHelp your team to work productively.
The first way in which you could make your business more time-efficient and cost-efficient is by helping your team to work productively. Firstly, of course, you need to ensure that every single employee is engaged with their specific job role. Hiring professional candidates will help, but they need to be passionate about their careers. If you feel that your members of staff have become apathetic towards their jobs, then you might want to help your team by offering incentives for hard work. Recognition in the form of an “employee of the month” award and perhaps even a bonus could encourage staff members to work hard in the hope of being noticed and rewarded. You have to give workers a reason to do more than the bare minimum.
Of course, even motivated employees need a bit of help from time to time. Even if your workers are pushing themselves to be highly-productive, you might not be maximizing efficiency. After all, there’s only so much that people can achieve on their own. So, you might want to use technology to improve your operations. Make sure every employee is connected to the company’s central network through their devices, so as to make communication easier. You might want to do some research on mobile malware. It’s important that workers know how to keep their devices secure and prevent infiltration of the main company network. You might also want to get automated software to handle administrative tasks. That way, your employees will have more time to focus on important aspects of their job roles. This will help to make your business more productive on a daily basis.
Reduce wasteful overhead costs.
If you want to ensure steady business expansion, then you should also reduce wasteful overhead costs. You might be pulling in plenty of sales from happy customers, and that’s great. However, if your expenses are excessively high, then this will erode your profit margins. In turn, that will give you less money to invest in your company. Your growth will be slower. So, pay attention to wastefulness in your budget. You could reduce your office’s energy bills, for starters. Thicker window glazing and even wall or roof insulation could help to trap heat and reduce energy consumption. You could also stop buying paper and start creating documents entirely digitally. In 2019, going paper-free is easier than ever. Everything’s done digitally in the modern age, after all.
How To Celebrate A Business Birthday
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenThere are many methods of celebrating a business birthday. You could finally loosen that tie a little and enjoy a drink with your employees after hours. You might decide to hire a couple of new people for the interesting and exciting year ahead. Or, you could celebrate your business birthday with something truly memorable, something that adds an additional sense of occasion to the entire affair, giving you and your staff an amazing memory to remember.
This may also be a great opportunity to drum up further press for you and your business, as we often see the age of certain companies plastered all over social media once a business passes that threshold. Here’s how you can celebrate in style:
Limited Edition Products
Why not curate a wonderful set of limited edition products? You needn’t go overboard with this, of course. Sometimes, a different set of packaging, sometimes a smaller measure such as a combination of two items into one, or perhaps a collaboration with another company can give you a great means in which to sell a few products and also celebrate your firm. Perhaps if those in your office are a great fan of horror, you might opt for a spooky edition of your flagship product, even if that’s only related to its packaging. You’ll be sure to draw attention.
Office Prizes
You may wish to celebrate the staff that have helped you build your firm thus far, from morning to night. Running a staff award ceremony, running a competition, or perhaps investing in a worthwhile gift can give many the willingness to interact with and feel respect within your business events. Why not offer first prize as something quite amazing, such as flight school lessons or paid vacation? The opportunities are endless. After all, a little reinvestment in your team can be appreciated more than you may expect.
A Huge Unveil
Why not use this time to add weight to a marketing proposition you have? For example, unveiling a new product line, a new marketing campaign, or perhaps a new recruitment drive can help add a sense of value to things. For example, consider two product launches, perhaps two bottles of Whisky. Inside, they are the exact same. However, one is titled ‘Whisky Company’s Own Scotch!’ while the other is titled ‘Whisky Company’s 10th Year Own Scotch!’ – which sounds more premium? Which adds that sense of intrigue as you shout this from the rooftops? This ethos can help aid many of your other birthday plans.
With this in mind, we hope you can celebrate your business birthday effectively.
Business Travels in Chicago? Here’s How You Can *Gasp* Enjoy Your Trip
/in Practices for Professionals/by StrategyDrivenFor those who love traveling, business trips are another welcomed opportunity to stay in a furnished apartment in a new town, bask in the culture, and try new cuisine. For others, traveling for business is somewhat of an inconvenience, usually because of commitments at home, such as family, friends, and pets and being taken away from their usual routine. However, there are ways to navigate around this.
For a few tips to help ease you into your new life in Chicago, look no further.
Choose The Perfect Place To Stay
Where you choose to stay in Chicago makes a big difference in how much you enjoy your trip, and that’s why it’s essential to pick the right place to stay. If you’re staying for a few nights, you might think that a hotel is your best and only option. However, if you need to stay in Chicago for a couple of weeks or months, booking a fully-furnished and serviced apartment will be a better option for you. You can find a range of apartment sizes and styles to rent that are available for a minimum of a month-long contract across most areas of Chicago, from the South Loop to the Old Town area.
The longer you need to stay in Chicago, the more essential it is to find a temporary home that you’ll love. For instance, having a fully equipped apartment with all the mod cons you’ll need will provide a much more comfortable setting for you to adjust to being away from home. Renting an apartment, rather than staying in a hotel on your trip also makes it easier for you to invite your family to come and visit or stay with you too.
Pre-Plan How To Get Around
Part of having a relaxed trip to Chicago is figuring out how you will get around the city. Whether meeting with clients, traveling to an office, or running daily errands. There is no one size fits all transport option. Some people prefer the environmentally friendly benefit of using a bike. Others like the hustle and bustle and the fast and cost-effective choice of using the Chicago Transit Authority buses and the ‘L’. While some prefer the scenic route via water taxi, others like to hire a vehicle to get around.
Choosing solutions ahead of your stay will save you a lot of hassle. How you decide to travel is a matter of preference, but it’s worth checking out the routes on Google Maps or Waze to figure out getting to and from your accommodation and workplace. Also, don’t forget to set up a backup travel solution in case there are delays with the first transport you choose.
Set Up A Routine
A handy tip that works well for those traveling away for business is to create a new routine. At home, you already have a routine, meaning you don’t have to waste time and energy thinking about what you need to do. From getting in the shower to ironing your clothes, feeding the dog, making your lunch, and so on, there are specific things you do each day.
To help you enjoy your trip and get your life in order, create a sense of stability and comfort while you’re away in Chicago. Other factors, such as finding the closest supermarket, drug store, and doctor’s office is also helpful ahead of your stay.
Socializing
It’s a good idea for you to make plans to meet with people while you’re in a new place. Whether that means reaching out to work colleagues or contacting friends/family that live in Chicago to meet up. You may even want to plan a few exciting excursions to some of Chicago’s attractions. For instance, Millenium park, the Museum of Science and Industry, or take a Chicago crime tour. By making an effort to be social and connect with people during your trip, and by taking a break and having some fun, you’ll feel happier, more content and even more productive!
Enjoying your business travels to Chicago definitely takes planning. It’s natural to feel a bit stressed when you’re away from home, but if you sort out the best accommodation that truly makes you feel at home, preplan your transport routes and develop a routine, you’ll quickly settle in with ease and enjoy your stay.
5 Leadership Lessons I Learned from A Billionaire Investor: Ray Dalio
/in General, Management & Leadership/by StrategyDrivenThe success, and sometimes, failures of Dalio has made him an inspiration to many. He is on record for saying we make millions of decisions during the course of our lifetime. These decisions, or the logic behind them, determine the quality of lives we lead. While many of us are afraid of failure, Dalio fears mediocrity and boredom.
These are the hallmarks of a true leader, be it in business or politics.
Born in 1949, the American investor, philanthropist, and hedge fund manager is the founder, Co-Chief Investment Officer, and Co-Chairman of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s leading hedge funds with a more than $130 billion in assets under management.
With a net worth of $18.7 billion, Dalio started investing at the age of 12 and his life has revolved around finance. There is no doubt that he has lot to teach people and you can learn to be a better leader by imitating how he has managed the investment firm he launched from his apartment in 1975, around the same time that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs founded their tech companies.
Here are five leadership lessons that you can learn from Dalio.
1. Hire people who are better than you
The self-made billionaire is a firm believer in the importance of the people you hire for your business. After many decades of hiring, grooming, and firing people, Dalio says one of the best decisions you can ever make as a business leader is hiring someone who is better than you.
The key to this is the ability to recognize talented employees who bring a particular skill set on the table. This means that if you have people on your team that can perform a certain task better than you, it takes away the need to micromanage them.
This has two advantages. It gives you much time and room to focus on the bigger picture of managing your business. You can spend more time growing the business instead of fulfilling tasks that can otherwise be done by your employees. Secondly, employees are more productive when they are left to their jobs with little to no micro-management.
Real leaders know how to choose the members of their team.
2. No harm in making mistakes
Mistakes are a part of life and there should be no shame in making them once in a while. However, Dalio points out that not correcting them is a big mistake. You have probably heard making the same twice is a choice because you have an opportunity to correct it.
A mistake needs to be identified, analyzed, and lessons learned to prevent the same thing from happening again in the future. A common issue that many organizations face is the lack of courage to personalize mistakes, but more often, generalize them.
At one time in the early 1990s, Ross Waller, the head of trading at the time forgot to place a trade and cost the company some money. Dalio did not fire Waller but instead created a management tool to deal with mistakes and errors.
Dalio learned from the experience that people deserve second chances. He also capitalized on the mistake to develop new methods that can be used to achieve desired goals.
3. Be open-minded
Open-mindedness is one of Dalio’s important lesson yet the hardest. Being open-minded goes hand-in-hand with the ability to evolve fast and learn new things quickly. Some of the techniques that go a long way in helping you to be open-minded are:
4. Taking risks with humility
Dalio became popular in the early 1980s when he pointed out that American banks were overloading Latin American countries with debt. He was proved right when Mexico’s president announced that his country was not able to repay its debt amounting to $80 billion.
He became the go-to person on financial issues. Analysts and the U.S. Congress sought his advice on what would happen next. He predicted that the American economy was headed towards a downturn.
It didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite happened. Stocks went up and the U.S. economy was in a bull market. Dalio was wrong and lost money for his clients. He had to borrow money from his father to pay the bills.
After recovering, he realized that he was not going to stop taking risks, but was going to do so with humility and a changed mindset. He became more open-minded and diversified his portfolio. He has tried to maintain a perfect balance between what he knows and doesn’t.
5. Don’t build walls in your company
One of the biggest mistakes that companies make is personalizing their departments so much that the employees are isolated from each other.
Dalio suggests that employees should be allowed to mingle as much as they can in order to share knowledge and motivate each other to perform their jobs better. Having no walls allows team members to bond and increase productivity when they work together on projects.
This does not literally mean that companies have to break down walls and have an open office space. It’s all about encouraging communication amongst employees and possibly having an open-door policy where employees can feel comfortable approaching each other with their problems.
Conclusion
One of the traits of intelligent people is learning from the experiences of others. Whether it’s value investing in Singapore or learning a new language, it makes sense to learn from those that have traveled the journey before you.
The investment world is filled with successful figures such as Dalio, Warren Buffett, George Soros, and more. They have made a few mistakes along the way. We should learn from them. These great leaders also teach us what it takes to be a great leader. There is no shame in copying what is right and noble.