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How To Create A Welcoming & Professional Premise For Your Business

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If you’re starting a new business, deciding to move to a larger premise, or you’re moving from your home office into an external space, creating a welcoming and professional office for your business is the first port of call. It will not only wow and impress future clients, but it can help make your employees look forward to their time in the office. While not all office spaces will have exactly what you and your employees desire, creating a space everyone can enjoy will have positive effects on the productivity of your employees and promote overall happiness in the office. It doesn’t have to be an extravagant venture, but there are variables you should consider when choosing your new office location and environment.

Research Locations

When deciding on a new office space, it’s vital you research locations as much as you can. Finding a central location may be preferable, but is it affordable and practical for the size of your business? Deciding on an office that’s perfect for 50 employees is pointless if you only employ five. You should also take into account where your employees will commute from, and where your clients will travel from. For those who drive, finding an office location with a large parking lot will make sure they can commute easily to work and park their vehicle in a secure and safe spot. However, for those who rely on public transport, when they’re job searching, they will ultimately try to find somewhere that’s easy for them to get to on the local bus or train routes. The location will also depend on what sort of office you are after. If you need a warehouse alongside your office building, premises that are on the outskirts of a large town or city will be more affordable than those in the middle. If you are a small firm, it may be worthwhile looking into renting an affordable office in a larger complex rather than embarking on an office block by yourself.

Research Local Amenities

Not only is the location important for your future clients and employees, but you should consider your employees’ needs. Not only does commuting have to be taken into account, but what amenities are available by the new location should also be considered. Employees and clients alike will look favorably on a location which has good links to local shops and cafes, especially for their lunch options. If your new office location is in the middle of an industrial estate with no stores nearby, it may be difficult for employees to buy affordable lunches, especially if they don’t drive and have to catch a bus into the city center.

Be Realistic

You may dream of an office building that provides fun for your employees, such as a slide from the top floor to bottom, an onsite gym and an onsite café, but this isn’t realistic for a vast number of businesses, especially if you’re a small firm. It’s important to keep in mind your budget and what is practical. There are a variety of ways to find exactly what you’re after on a tight budget and create a space to impress and keep your employees happy.

Furnish To Your Exact Standards

Once you’ve researched and found your perfect location and budgeted for it, it’s time to begin furnishing. Even if you’re on a shoe-string budget, there are solutions to ensure you get the right quality equipment for a great price. You could look into buying ‘preloved’ items such as desks, chairs, and any added furniture you may need, like chairs and tables in the employee kitchen and furniture in the reception area for future clients to use while they are waiting. Furnishing can also apply to items such as kettles and cutlery for your employees to use on their breaks. If the budget allows, you could also consider landscaping of your office building outside. This may mean planting trees or flowers, as both will increase the attractiveness and welcome of your building.

Keep It Clean & Tidy

Hiring an external cleaning firm for your office block will take the pressure of your current employees and will also mean your reception area where you greet clients will be presentable at all times. However, you should try to encourage employees to keep their own work areas clean and tidy, as this will create a sense of respect in where they work. You shouldn’t forget about the outside space when keeping your office premise clean and tidy. While clients may not see your employee parking lot, your employees certainly will and having to park their vehicle in a dirty and messy space won’t put them in the best mood! You can hire an external company to maintain your landscape and parking lot, or you can learn more about purchasing your own parking lot sweeper.

Create Designated Sections

It’s important to create designated areas within your new office space to allow your clients and employees to separate work from their breaks. Having a dedicated kitchen area can give employees a break from their desk, while creating a professional waiting area for clients will impress them before they have even met you. If you have space, you should consider creating a ‘break room’ for employees, perhaps with comfy chairs and sofas, where they can socialize and relax with their fellow workmates. You should also create dedicated meeting rooms within the office to ensure employees and clients have private areas to discuss business.

Decorate Accordingly

Decorating doesn’t have to mean loud wallpaper, bright carpets and multicolored desks. It can be something as simple as clean white walls, a clean neutral carpet and uniformed desks. The decorating of your office space should promote a calm working environment, rather than a busy, frantic environment. Your reception waiting area should also reflect your professional and calm demeanor, while being engaging and inviting. This could be a place where you decorate with the achievements and success your company has enjoyed. It could also be a place where you inject your company’s color scheme, whether that’s a bright pink and white, or green and red. While this doesn’t mean you paint the walls bright pink, it could mean you use accent cushions on the sofa or ensure you have fresh flowers waiting in the reception area.

How to Make Your Business Stand Out in a Competitive Market

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Every business owner wants to stand out from the crowd and outshine their competitors. But, business is booming, and with so many people out there offering similar products and services, how do you show your customers that you deserve their business?

Your business wants to shine; you just need the spotlight. Here are a few tips to stand out from the competition in a competitive market.

1. Creativity

Though it might seem obvious, many businesses fail to fully capitalize on their most creative and unique elements, especially when it comes to marketing themselves.

To stand out among the masses, you need to show your customers that there is something unique about your business that deserves their time and attention.

It may seem risky to adopt marketing strategies that stray from the industry norms, but as a business owner, you probably understand that risk comes with the territory. Playing it safe and sticking to messaging and branding that conforms to everybody else just places your business and your reputation right in line with the rest.

Instead, exercise your creativity through your marketing. After all, the quality of your products or services speaks for themselves. You just need to get customers in the door to show them what you have to offer.

2. Strategy

No amount of marketing will be effective if you don’t implement it with a well-researched and well thought out strategy. Even a multimillion-dollar marketing budget, if poorly executed, won’t help you stand out from your competition.

You need to conduct thorough research, know your target audience, and create campaigns that make maximum use of every marketing dollar.

In the digital age, visibility is critical to success. With virtually everyone turning to a screen to research products and services and ultimately deciding who to do business with, ensuring that you have a strategy to maximize your visibility on search engines is essential to growth and success. By making use of DC SEO, you can get that spotlight your business deserves and shine brighter than the competition.

3. Quality

No amount of visibility and consumer engagement will repair a bad business. Even if every one of your target customers knows your name, it amounts nothing if you are unable to serve their needs adequately.

Consumers today are conducting more product research than ever before, and with the prevalence of social media and online reviews, they have the information at their disposal to make well-informed purchase decisions.

This problem is compounded in a competitive market. People are aware that they have many options, and have the privilege to be selective about where they spend their hard-earned money.

If you take pride in your business and have a product or service that you can stand behind, then you have the foundation to grow your business into an industry leader. All you need to do is market yourself creatively, and get your name out there. The rest will follow.

Top Strategies to Improve Your Office Space’s Function and Appeal

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Office spaces are a delicate balance to get right. Unless you have the budget to custom build your office, or renovate a property to fit your specifications, you typically have to accept and work with what you have and what is nearby. If the only office space near you also happens to be run down, it’s up to you to spruce it up so that your employees can enjoy working there, and your clients can feel assured of your professional and exceptional quality. That is why, when you move into a less-than-ideal office space, you should use these strategies to improve its function and appeal:

1.    Easy Fixes Before You Move In

Ideally, these fixes will be paid for or reimbursed by the owners of the property from whom you are renting. If not, it could still be worthwhile to make these fixes yourself. For instance, replacing rotting or broken ceiling panels, or even adding a linoleum cover on top of broken tiles in the reception area. The specific fixes that you need to make your place look great will depend on the current state of the office. It is always worthwhile to repaint the walls if they are damaged or outdated. Also consider updating the flooring, to help keep the reception and workspaces looking clean and orderly.

2.    Add Storage

The next step before you move in is to add custom storage. This way you have all the space you need, without having awkwardly placed filing cabinets or bulky plastic shelves to accommodate them. Get your custom closet design installed by 180 Closet Design, and be wowed by the professionalism of your office, and, more importantly, how everything has its place. It is the best way to have room to expand your business, rather than be overrun by your paperwork and supplies.

3.    Furniture Fixes

If the chairs aren’t comfortable, or for any other reason the furniture provided isn’t up to standard (or furniture wasn’t provided at all) you have options to fit your budget. You could buy new, or you could shop around and see what used furniture other companies are selling. You may find some amazingly high-quality items for a fraction of the cost.

Furnishing an employee break room can be very affordable, Because customers and clients won’t see this space, you can find low cost, comfortable furniture rather than shelling out for decorative name-brand pieces.

4.    Small Decorations for Employee Happiness

If you want your employees to be more productive, you need to ensure that they are happy while working. One of the best ways to do this is to improve their environment. For instance, adding plant life can enhance air quality and add some much-needed color, and adding simple decorative pieces can help improve the look of the space.

Decorating your office so that it is clean, professional, and functions the way you want it to is crucial. These tips will ensure that not only do you have the space to expand your business, you also have a nice and welcoming environment for your employees and clients.

Small Business Myths Debunked

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In the rest of this post, I will share with you some of the most common myths about starting a small business. A lot of first-time entrepreneurs can get started on the wrong foot if they believe in these myths, which is exactly why such should be debunked.

You Need a Lot of Money

This is one of the most common myths that need to be debunked. Even without the luxury of financial resources, you can start a business. Common Desk can provide offices at reasonable rates. The internet also provides an attractive platform to outsource services that will replace traditional employees. There are also financial institutions that will help you to start your business idea.

There is No Need for an Office

The truth is, even if your business is small, you will benefit from having an office. It will provide a conducive space where you and your employees can carry out basic job functions. To add, it will make a great impression amongst potential clients, especially when you are setting up a meeting with them. Luckily, offices these days do not have to be expensive. For instance, https://thecommondesk.com/ offers an office rental at a price that will be affordable for most people.

Low Price is Better

A lot of new entrepreneurs may be tempted to offer their products and services at a cheap price to attract buyers. While this can work, there are also be significant repercussions. Nonetheless, take note that low price is not the only concern of customers. Many are willing to pay a premium if they know that a company can deliver products with top-notch quality and customer service that is unrivaled.

It Can Let You Live the Lifestyle of your Dreams

If you think that having a small business means lazing around and waiting for money to come, you are totally wrong. You have to be involved and you will have to exert a lot of effort. You will have exhausting days and tiring nights. You will have little time, or none at all, to be lazy. The first few months will be the hardest as you need to get established.

No Need for Marketing Plan

Some of the reasons why your small business needs a marketing plan include having a well-defined guide, being able to estimate the costs, and forecasting. Your plan must stipulate the things that have to be done to get the word across, creating an awareness about the products and the services that you are offering. It will provide a detailed guide on how you will be marketing your business, including the costs that are involved in doing so. Consulting with people who have marketing expertise is necessary for creating this plan.

Starting a small business is never an easy feat. There will be a lot of challenges along the way, but you should remain steadfast to achieve your goal. Do not believe the myths that have been mentioned above and it will be easier for you to have a good start.

Crucial Investing Tips for 2018

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In the early days of 2018, it’s a good time to consider what’s the same and what’s new as the new year unfolds. With investing specifically, some basic principles remain unchanged, but there are some new kids on the block to pay attention to as well.

Let’s dive right in with a few investing tips for 2018.

Crypto Currencies

Everyone is curious about crypto currencies right now. With the sudden rise in Bitcoin during 2017 and other digital currencies being discussed like Ethereum and LiteCoin, there’s certainly good speculative money to be made. The old idea of “buying on the dips” is likely to prove useful to handle the ups and downs of these internet currencies.

Just be careful about the fees involved with each purchase as small batch sizes sometimes, especially in the case of Bitcoin, become quite expensive to complete. Be aware of how you’re buying the bitcoin and where it’s being stored too.

While it’s common to use an intermediary to make the purchase, it’s possible to hold a balance in a digital wallet like Electrum which is open-source and cross-platform (they have multiple desktop client and mobile apps too). This way, it’s not tied to a digital wallet provider and not at risk from the digital currency robberies that have taken place previously; this is the way Bitcoin was originally intended and set up where an intermediate was not required.

Fast-moving NASDAQ Technology Stocks

NASDAQ stocks are primarily technology based. They’re often quite expensive, but they go through periodic price adjustments where there’s often good opportunities to pick up bargains. At stateschronicle.com, they cover NASDAQ stocks that have recently fallen in price and are worth researching ahead of a possible purchase. Obviously, always perform your own due diligence before diving in.

Re-balancing a Portfolio

When setting up a portfolio, you create allocations for each planned asset class. These are based on your level of equity exposure that you’re comfortable with along with a sensible mix of non-correlated assets where some zig when others zag in the markets. Balancing a portfolio in this manner helps to mitigate steep moves upwards (or downwards) and smooths out the bumps.

For instance, in 2017 U.S. stocks had a banner year having risen over 21 percent. However, investors who put an equal amount into international stocks would have enjoyed over 27 percent return on their foreign investments. A 50/50 split would have achieved 24.5 percent return pre-costs.

 

Rebalancing a portfolio is a semi-regular action that sells down investments that have risen in price and buys more of what has been in the doldrums. While it may seem counterintuitive to sell your winners, the idea is to keep reasonably close to your planned asset allocation while avoiding any whipsaw with inflated investments coming crashing down. By rebalancing, the accepted risk levels of a portfolio are maintained too.

Investing in 2018 isn’t much different to other years except there are more opportunities for smaller investors to buy different types of alternative investments including dabbling in digital currencies. Keeping a sensible eye on maintaining a proper balance to your portfolio avoids overdoing things.