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Are You Protecting Yourself As A Freelancer?

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Freelancer|Are You Protecting Yourself As A Freelancer?More and more people are now starting to work from home and provide their skills by freelancing. It has rapidly increased over the last few years, however, because some people have been pushed into it, they have had much less time to plan and research their move to this way of working.

Freelancing, of course, has many benefits such as the ability to work from wherever you like and the flexibility to work around your lifestyle, however, self-employment needs to be well-researched in order to protect yourself and your income.

Self-employed people are protected in the same way as an employee, which can lead to issues. Protecting yourself with a firm that has a good reputation in lawsuits such as the Zarwin Baum lawsuit, outsourcing to an accountant for your taxes, and using an IT service are three ways you can protect yourself, but what uncommon areas need to be looked at?

Let’s have a look below at some of the ways you can protect yourself, that you may not think about.

Sickness And Holidays

This has to be one of the top benefits of being an employee, sick and holiday pay. As soon as you are a freelancer you lose this benefit, and it’s not something that people think about until they need it. This can pose a threat, especially if you need ot take a week off sick, or want to go on a well-deserved holiday without worrying about losing money.

The best way to resolves this is by resting yourself a sickness and annual leave fund. Put some funds to one side each month. This way you have a buffer to rely on if you are sick or go on holiday. If you have a business bank account, then you will probably do well if you pay yourself a wage each month, and leave the remainder in the business bank.

Insurance Is An Essential

It’s natural to make mistakes, therefore, you need to ensure you are protected. You can have strict protocols and consider yourself a strict worker, and still make a mistake. NOt having insurance to protect yourself could have a huge impact on your earnings, especially if you end up being liable for a mistake. Liability insurance is the most common insurance that freelancers use.

Use A Contract

This is the first way that you can protect yourself. It is the number one way you can ensure you are getting the correct payments. You should have a contract for your clients ot sign when you are planning any projects. This both protects your funds as well as protecting you if there are ever any disputes. It provides something for you and your clients to refer to throughout the contract period so you both know what to expect.

Although freelancers may face some challenges, there are still many benefits that outweigh the negative, even more so if you protect yourself with the above tips. As long as you put steps in place to ensure you are protected freelancing is a brilliant way to have control over your career and earning potential.

Monthly Office Checks Your Business Should Run

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Office Checks|Monthly Office Checks Your Business Should RunWhen it comes to creating a safe and positive working environment, you’re always going to need to stay ahead of the curve. You need to be able to anticipate potential hazards within your workspace, and eliminate them wherever possible to keep your team producing the great work they do day in and day out.

But how can you be sure the office is a good place to be? Well, as long as you’re running monthly checks to ensure health and safety is top priority, you’ll be well on your way to crafting an unproblematic workplace. Here are the kind of checks you should be running.

Fire Safety

Fires are the most common hazard in the modern workplace, next to tripping and falling. And in a commercial setting, a fire can happen in a dozen different places at once! From equipment overheating, to someone taking a smoke break in the wrong place, to an electrical fire in the server room, you’ve got your work cut out for you checking here.

You’re going to want to keep multiple fire extinguishers on site at all times, as well as check them as regularly as you perform maintenance on office equipment. Similarly, make sure all potential fuel sources (including waste paper baskets!) are disposed of in a timely and safe manner.

Air Quality

A lot of toxins can leak into the air in a commercial setting; from dust to foreign particles to actual harmful gasses, there are a lot more hazards in the modern workplace than there’s ever been before! And if you’re going to be spending at least 8 hours a day in your office, you owe it to your team’s health to check on the air quality on a monthly basis.

Most of all, keep an eye on your AC or central heating function. A lot can leak through these two systems, and making sure you know the warning signs before a gas accumulates to a hazardous degree is essential. You can read more about keeping your air pure in a workplace setting, but it’s mostly simple care and maintenance; make sure those AC vents have been washed out by a cleaning team!

Mental Health Assurance

You’re also going to want to think about the human element, in terms of health and safety, as most inspection criterias now include mental health and wellbeing as part of the pass rate. And not only that, but if you can’t be sure that your employees even enjoy being in the workplace, how can you ensure they’ll do their best work?

You need to keep work exciting and/or challenging within your office, as well as define the job expectations as clearly as possible. You’ll also want to keep work hours as flexible as possible, and never expect an employee to stay beyond the average 8 hour working period. It’s just good practice this way!

Your office needs checking out; keep health and safety in mind for a much more productive workday.

Keep Your Cost Per Customer Low

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Cost per Customer|Keep Your Cost Per Customer LowAcquisition cost is one of the preferred metrics on Google Ads to enhance the value of your ads. In essence, the acquisition cost refers to how much you are likely to spend on a prospect lead to turn them into a customer. In the world of Google AdWords, the metric is used to automatically increase bids in AdWords auctions to maximize chances when a user is likely to convert.

If you are familiar with this definition of the acquisition cost, you might assume that customer costs refer to the thing. In reality, customers costs are all the costs involved in the acquisition and retention of your customers. The overall customer management process could end up costing you more than you get paid for the product or service. Here are tips to ensure you can keep your cost per customer as low as possible.

Improve your SEM campaigns

As mentioned, Google Ads has strategic acquisition costs bidding. This approach can be successful if you set the most profitable cost. Paid marketing doesn’t have to break the bank. On the contrary, Google Ads lets you choose and manage your budget. But if you’re going to secure high rankings on the SERPs, you want to understand how to improve your ads for best visibility. High bids can win the auction, but other strategies can keep your costs low and your results high. Adding relevant ad extensions such as your phone number can increase the conversion rate. Additionally,m you can add business information to appear only for local searches.

Keep shipping costs profitable

Ecommerce shops have a tough task keeping their costs as appealing as possible. As a result, shipping costs need to be kept intentionally low. However, it can be tricky to manage all shipping-related costs effectively, including return costs, return checks, preparation for international shipping, etc. it might not physically cost more to transport a parcel from A to B, but your team will be working around to clock to manage the logistics strategy. So, why not give yourself some slack and turn to simple order fulfillment services to keep shipping processes cost-effective?

Let a bot help them

Customers frequently need help and guidance. Companies often feel overwhelmed by the volume of calls or emails reporting issues that are easy to solve. It is a time-demanding process that wastes the workforce. Simple queries could be easily managed by an AI bot. Whether a customer wants help finding the right product or needs basic troubleshooting, a bot can guide them effectively through the steps. More complex queries can also be filtered and passed on to the team.

Exceed their expectations

Customers have expectations on the quality of your services or product. The quickest and easiest way to keep customer costs low is simple to deliver precisely what they expect. Exceeding expectations is a popular marketing buzz phrase, but in reality, if you have to work extra to deliver more value than people have paid for, you are ultimately running your business to the ground. Meet expectations at all times, including in terms of communication. Honesty and authenticity in your communication with customers can remove increased costs linked to complaints.

Why You Should Start A Company

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Start a company|Why You Should Start A CompanyMany people would love to start a company. But have you ever really asked yourself why you’re doing it? Like, what’s the point?

Well, in this post, we provide some answers. It turns out that starting a business is about more than just having more money in the bank. It’s about so much more.

You Have More Job Security

Climbing the corporate ladder is an ordeal. You never quite know whether you’re about to go up the next rung. And when you don’t progress, you can feel like you’re being deliberately targeted or let down by the people around you. It’s not fun.

But when you have your own business, those sorts of politics don’t matter one bit. Instead, you’re the boss and you decide the direction that the company goes. It’s your job to create a system that generates money. And because you’re not worried about promotions, you have so much more energy to devote to providing customers with value.

You Can Be More Creative

Another advantage of setting up a company is the fact that you can be more creative. Corporate environments often force people to follow tried-and-tested paths. But as an independent businessperson, you can branch out and take risks that regular management teams would never allow.

You Get Tax Breaks

Why do some many ultra-wealthy people own businesses? It’s pretty simple really: they love the tax breaks.

Think about it. Corporate taxes are much lower than income taxes. So if you run your salary through a company, you wind up keeping more of your profits than if you do it through regular PAYE.

You Get More Control Over Your Life

Here’s the biggest benefit of owning your own business: you get to call the shots. There’s no manager sending you emails at the weekend, demanding that you have work done by Monday morning. Instead, your time is your own, and you can use it as you please. If you’re not happy with the amount of time you’re spending at work, you can always hire somebody to take over the necessary tasks for you. Nobody is telling you that you should do anything.

You Can Get Real Financial Independence

You can achieve financial independence working nine to five in a regular job. But it takes years and years of struggle.

When you own a business, though, you can massively shorten the time it takes to build wealth. What would take some people ten years might only take you two. If you’re really quick off the mark, you could make serious returns that outpace your regular job in less than a year.

You’re Following A Passion

Following your passions in life is critical. You’re only here for a limited amount of time, so you need to find things to do that make you feel fulfilled. And, if you’re like most people, that’s not working in insurance for 30 years. Starting a business is a blank slate which you can take anywhere you like. It’s something that makes you feel engaged every day of your life.

Don’t Fall Off Track With Your Current Project

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StrategyDriven Project Management Article |Project Management|Don't Fall Off Track With Your Current ProjectManaging any sort of team is not easy. It does not matter whether you have ten team members or you have 50, you have to make sure that the project remains on the right track so that you can achieve your objects on-team and on budget. However, this can be a lot easier said than done. As any project manager will attest, it is difficult to ensure things don’t run off in another direction. So, what can you do to aid this? Let’s take a look:

  • Make sure there is a clear direction – You must make your team’s goals and mission clear. The importance of this cannot be overlooked. After all, we tend to find that projects go off track when people are on different pages and things aren’t very clear. This can result in people prioritising the wrong things, for example. Clear and effective communication is at the core of every project today.
  • Targets should be communicated on a regular basis – Setting a clear target is a good place to begin. However, you then need to make sure that your employees can achieve these targets, and that is where supporting management strategies come in. Communication is key here. After all, you are only going to be able to move forward if you communicate with your team regularly throughout about their performance. Onboard learning management systems can be beneficial here.
  • Self-awareness should be promoted – All of the people working on your project need to have a thorough understanding of the individual role they play. This not only relates to their own specific tasks. It also relates to their part within the bigger team. This can be challenging when you have people who are preoccupied with issues relating to everything from policies to processes and governance. Nevertheless, the mindset of your individuals is what is going to make or break your project. This highlights why it is vital to make sure that your team has good self-awareness.
  • Encourage your team to collaborate effectively – Aside from the points that we have discussed above, it is important to create an environment that is highly collaborative. This is critical in terms of reaching your goals, as you need everyone to work together, and you need them to do so in a manner that is as efficient as possible. You cannot be a dictator as a project manager. Yes, you need to give out tasks and lead, but you also need to encourage others as well.
  • Don’t drift away from your project plan – Last but not least, the final thing that you need to keep in mind is to make sure you do not drift away from the plan. This is something that can easily happen when the end goal seems so far away. This is why it is vital to make sure that you set smaller milestones and targets along the way to keep everyone on track.