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Services Your Business Should Be Using

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Business Services|Services Your Business Should Be UsingRunning a business isn’t easy. Especially during times like these. Right now, companies are doing everything they can to stay afloat and keep their head above the water. Of course, when we first start out in business, we tend to run everything ourselves. We bear the bulk of the weight of business operations on our own shoulders and take care of operations independently. But as time goes on, chances are, you’ll find that you need a little help to keep expanding and advancing and to provide the best products, services and customer support as possible. Generally, this means taking on part time or full time employed staff. Of course, this isn’t where things end though. The vast majority of businesses need a little extra help from third party or outsourced services that can make all the difference to their operations. The perks of these services is that you don’t necessarily have to create an in-house team, which means more financial commitment and responsibility. Instead, you can often just use these independent parties as and when you need them. Here are just a few that you might want to take into consideration!

Consulting Services

No matter what industry you are operating in and no matter what products or services you’re selling, chances are, you can benefit from consulting services operating in your area of expertise. You can find business expansion consultants, financial consultants, a CARF Consultant, customer experience consultants, market research consultants and all other sorts of consultants. Make sure to use their services. They can give you the insight you need to make sure that your business is always running as it should be. This can also give you confidence in your actions too!

Property Maintenance

First, let’s focus on maintaining your commercial premises. Whether you run a traditional brick and mortar store or an office space, you’re going to have to invest in maintaining this space on a regular basis. Why? Well, if you rent the space, you don’t want it to become run down, as you can lose your deposit when you eventually decide to move out of it. If you own the space, you want to maintain its value. On top of this, you need to make sure that the space is clean, safe and pleasant fro your staff to spend time in. This can improve happiness levels, ensure that you are running everything in a compliant manner and maximise productivity. This is where a property management company can come in pretty handy. These individuals tend to cover every area of your business’ operations, ensuring everything runs as smoothly as possible.

Property maintenance companies can often provide cleaners to ensure that your business is clean. They can provide removal services if any animals die on the property’s land. They can grit your carparks in the winter. They can provide electrical maintenance, plumbing maintenance and other professionals who can generally ensure that everything is running as it should be. Make sure to browse a variety of options in your local area and to select the one with the most positive reviews and recommendations.

PAC Testing

Another extremely important service you need to be using is PAC testing services. Nowadays, it’s highly likely that a significant proportion of your staff are using technology and gadgets to get on with their work. The most popular tend to include computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. When these are used as part of their day to day work, it becomes of the utmost importance that you have all of this equipment and these electrics tested regularly. This will make sure that they aren’t a risk to your staff and that nobody becomes hurt as a result of their use. The best way to do this is generally through a PAC test, which will ensure that everything is safe and ready to use. These tests should be carried out regularly by qualified testers.

IT Services

IT support is one of the most important services your business needs to make use of nowadays. Why? Well, as we briefly highlighted above, the vast majority of businesses nowadays are online. They have websites online. They take sales online. They process orders online. They communicate with customers online. Plus, business operations such as emailing, video calls and other internal communications take place online too. The problem? Cybercriminals are aware of this and are seeing many small businesses as easy targets for infiltration. Sure, major companies may have more money or data to lose. But they also have some of the best cybersecurity in the world. Smaller businesses or often not so well set up to defend themselves against attack, so cybercriminals tend to have more success with them. You need to make sure that you avoid data breaches to maintain your reputation and to comply with data compliance laws. You also need to avoid infiltration wherever possible to maintain operations and maximise productivity. This is where IT services come in. The vaedt majority of businesses use IT services to help maintain their tech and keep everything up and running in the safest and most effective way possible. Having an IT company at hand can also ensure that if your team ever have any problems with their software or hardware, they can simply get in touch with the IT services you’ve signed up for and get all the advice they need to resolve their problems and to get back to work. when they experience any issues and the IT company can quickly resolve them, getting employees back to work and productive as quickly as possible. IT services can also provide protection against hackers, helping your business to avoid security breaches.

These are just a few suggestions that can make all the difference when it comes to running your business. Each of the above services can really help your business to tick over smoothly safely and in a compliant and profitable way. Invest in them to benefit from them sooner rather than later!

6 Ways You Can Market Yourself Effectively

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Market Yourself|6 Ways You Can Market Yourself EffectivelyA lot of marketing advice discusses ideas based on your business including how to maximize sales or get the most out of your employees. This advice is crucial, of course, especially for entrepreneurs who are always looking for more out of their professional endeavors. However, this big picture is not always where you should direct your focus. As much as improving your company is important, you’ve got to remember how essential marketing yourself is, too.

Marketing yourself will vastly improve your chances of finding the best business opportunities, which will help you grow your company in ways that everyday marketing can never live up to. If this sounds appealing, but you aren’t sure where to start, consider these ideas.

Know Your Worth

Finding your self-worth is one of the most challenging things, no matter how confident or successful you are. But, you will not be able to market yourself effectively if you do not understand what you can offer people in a professional and personal setting.

This is the first step you need to take when looking at ways to market yourself. If you know what you can offer by understanding what you are best at, you will be able to set yourself apart from others. Through this, you can push yourself ahead of the competition and make you the most appealing individual around.

Get to Know People

Networking is always a vital element of business success, and this is why getting to know people is more beneficial than you might believe. The problem here is that some people are not as outgoing as others, which could affect your chances of meeting the right people.

So what can you do? Swallowing any nervousness and acting as you belong in any scenario is useful, but it can be exhausting to keep up. Besides this, look for influential people who are similar to you, as this can make you feel more comfortable in their company.

Remember the Details

Marketing yourself is not always about how you speak or feel about yourself. You also need to consider the details. These details can apply to anything physical, whether your attire or holographic business cards rather than traditional but ultimately drab alternatives.

As you want to stand out in any situation, especially in competitive industries, these details could be the difference between winning promotions, new jobs, or increasing your influence. They will prove that you can match your substance with some style, and although you need substance over everything else, it’s always worth trying to impress others, as long as you don’t try too hard.

Trust Your Knowledge

Imposter syndrome can affect anybody. It’s easy to feel like you don’t belong and that you’ll be found out one day. But, you need to understand that you are much more capable than you give yourself credit for, and you can use this understanding to establish yourself as someone worth hiring.

While you needn’t spend all your time making bold but baseless claims about things you don’t know anything about, you can still trust what you know. If you want to be even more certain, make sure you prepare for interviews or casual meetings, as this will boost your confidence even further.

Put Your All Into Everything

If you want to build your reputation, you need to make sure you are someone who puts their all into everything, no matter how small a project might be. While it might feel like you’re doing too much, it demonstrates exceptional work ethic, and this will make people take notice.

It’s never a good look to merely go through the motions, especially if you want to increase your standing in the industry, and the harder you work now, the easier it will all be later.

Be Consistent

Consistency is key when it comes to finding success, and there are many aspects of consistency you need to remember. High-quality work is one area, but you should also remember that consistency across social media is an important tool for marketing yourself.

This means making the most of the platforms available to you. Use the same picture across your professional profiles so that people recognize you and develop a brand voice that ensures your audience knows who is talking.

Your Time

Marketing yourself is one of the most effective methods to increase your chances of finding new opportunities. Whether you want to grow your company or look for a new position in another industry, you will discover significant success by establishing what makes you a valuable asset to any company.

6 Ways to Stay Motivated and Productive on the Night Shift

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals | 6 Ways to Stay Motivated and Productive on the Night ShiftMany Americans are snug in their beds once the clock strikes the witching hour. This, of course, doesn’t apply to employees who are required to work at night. Some remote workers, security guards, health care professionals and call center agents of companies that offer 24/7 customer support have to work the graveyard shift.

A lot of people wince at the idea of working at night. After all, staying energetic when the city is dark and quiet is difficult to do. If your job or employer requires you to work on a graveyard schedule, don’t fret. You can take steps to make your nights on the job relatively enjoyable.

Here are a few strategies to stay positive, energized throughout the graveyard shift and maintain optimal performance at the workplace:

1. Stay Hydrated, But Moderate Your Caffeine Intake

Coffee is the best friend of night shift workers. The caffeine in this popular beverage can help you stay alert during your shift.

Just make sure that you don’t drink too much coffee. Too much caffeine in your body could prevent you from getting some shuteye once your shift is over. So make sure you drink your coffee at the start of your shift.

If you’re looking for other options, consider drinking fresh juice (or sugar-free, fruit-flavored sparkling water if you’re not a fan of sugary beverages). Staying hydrated will help keep you awake and reduce the risk of dehydration.

2. Commit to a Solid Routine

If you see yourself working the graveyard shift for quite some time, you’ll need to create and stick to a nighttime routine. Switching between nights and days will only make things hard for you and prevent you from being productive.

Here’s an example: let’s say you wake up at seven in the evening to prep for your graveyard shift. Then, you go to sleep on or before 11 a.m. During your days off, follow that routine. Avoid the additional stress of altering your sleeping patterns on weekends.

3. Make Friends with People at Work

As the saying goes, best friends make the difficult times easier and the good times better. If you’re going to work a long, graveyard shift, you’ll want to spend it with people who can make you happy and motivate you to succeed. Great work friends offer an outlet for healthy social interaction. What’s more, connecting with friends helps relieve work-related stress and makes going to work fun.

4. Get Quality Sleep

Staying productive at work is next to impossible when you lack sleep. If you’re having trouble obtaining quality rest time after your shift, try out these suggestions:

  • Minimize the Noise – Although nights are generally peaceful, you can’t say the same during the day. If you live in a busy neighborhood, you’ll likely be distracted by children playing outside, construction work and honking car horns. If these noises are driving you crazy, use a sound machine to minimize or drown out the unpleasant sounds. Alternatively, wear earplugs or wireless comfortable headphones with a noise-canceling feature.
  • Set the Ideal Sleeping Temperature – The temp usually dips at night, making you crave for your favorite blanket. The opposite, however, can happen during the day. You can prevent waking up in a messy sweat by regulating the temperature in your bedroom. Your goal is to replicate nighttime conditions, so that you can sleep soundly and comfortably.
  • Implement Light Control – Sleeping is difficult when you have bright, morning sunshine entering your windows. Regulate the amount of light in your room by installing blinds or curtains that effectively block the sun. If you’re on the budget, put on a sleeping eye mask.

5. Adhere to a Healthy Diet

Fueling your body with the right food can keep you energized and motivated throughout a long graveyard shift. Unhealthy sweet snacks, such as donuts and cookies, won’t do much to get you through the night.

Although sugary treats provide an energy spike, they’re temporary. You’re likely to experience a serious sugar crash hours after eating. This could sap your motivation and make you feel miserable for the rest of the night.

Instead, munch down on small, healthy snacks throughout the night. Foods, such as nuts, raw veggies and fresh fruit, can provide your brain with the nutrients and energy it needs to keep you going.

6. Work Out Regularly

Staying active outside of your work shift helps prevent fatigue at work and keeps you physically and mentally fit. Before your shift, do some light exercises and stretching to get your blood pumping and prepare your mind for work. Also, make sure to work out regularly on weekends.

These suggestions will help you stay pumped and energized during the graveyard shift. Although working at night is hard, it does come with a few benefits, such as higher pay and a shorter commute time.

How to Write a Professional Development Plan

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article | How to Write a Professional Development Plan

It doesn’t matter if someone has long-term or short-term goals. The path to success always comes with a proper plan. That is the reason why a development plan may help people reach their goals more effectively. Yet, many people don’t know how to write a professional development plan. There are a couple of stages they need to go through to complete the process successfully.

First Step: Remain Objective and Analyze Yourself

People need to ensure they understand their weaknesses and strengths. However, it is not only important to improve the skills that will bring them a job or business success. They also need to have in mind their personal characteristics and habits that can potentially become a distraction.

That especially counts when we talk about transferable skills. For instance, organizational skills are the ones that need to be at the highest level. People need to organize their time properly, design their workspace to make it inspirational for working, etc. If they need to improve that, they should write it down in their professional development plan.

Second Step: Identify the Career Goals You Want to Achieve

There is no universal definition of the term success. For some people, that would be the improvement of financial stability. On the other hand, others would focus on flexible work hours, expanding a business to another country, etc.

Still, people often make a common mistake. Long-term goals are inspirational, and they motivate people to work hard every day. However, it is not going to be enough to say “I want to become rich one day”. Every long-term goal contains many mini-goals that people need to pass.

For instance, let’s imagine that an entrepreneur wants to become a content writer and start a personal blog. He realized that it can be a good way to improve the brand identity of his business. However, his content writing skills are not at the highest level. Short-term goals would be the improvement of SEO knowledge, vocabulary, etc. In other words, a person should improve the weaknesses determined in the previous step.

Third Step: Finding the Best Method to Reach the Goal

The long-term and short-term goals may seem impossible to achieve at first glance. However, with hard work, persistence, and a good plan, all the goals become achievable.

Let’s use an example of a person that wants to improve his graphic design skills. One way to do that is to subscribe to a course published by a professional designer. Despite that, finding a mentor that is willing to share his knowledge and skills is also an excellent alternative. Whichever option people choose, they have to be sure it will bring them positive results. That is the reason why they have to research all the available options.

Fourth Step: Determine the Deadlines

Planning a professional development without a proper deadline is impossible. However, the timeline needs to be realistic and motivational at the same time. For instance, if someone started a small business three months ago, it is hard to believe that person will be an owner of a multinational company for one year.

The purpose of the deadlines is to remind people they should be self-discipline. Making excuses and delaying completing some duties will never help anyone to make professional development.

Fifth Step: Check the Plan Once Again

After going through the previous four steps, people should write down their plans. However, that doesn’t mean people should start their journey without double-checking everything.

All the goals need to be SMART. For those that do not know, SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. In that way, they will determine whether a certain part of the development plan requires changes or improvement. It is essential to realize immediately if some pieces of information are missing as well.

Final Thought

The development plan will not mean anything if its creator deals with a lack of self-discipline. Whatever people write down, they need to respect it until the end. With a high level of discipline and a clear and realistic development plan, success will come.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Linda FergusonLinda Ferguson started her career in a local company as a content writer 5 years ago. Now, she is the CEO of https://subjecto.com/essay-samples/ thanks to her determination and complete dedication to work. Linda has always been passionate about academia and writing. Besides her busy work schedule, she manages to find time for attending conferences that keep her up to date with the latest news in the industry.

5 Reasons Why Companies Should Give Back

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StrategyDriven Corporate Culture Article | 5 Reasons Why Companies Should Give Back

On the surface, running a business may seem simple. Products are created and sold to customers, expenses are paid, and profits are tallied up. However, the process is much more nuanced than that. While establishing a relationship with the community is not required, it can play an important role in determining how successful a business is. Taking the time to build a positive relationship with the community can be an excellent way to establish a good reputation and promote positive word of mouth. Giving back can also improve employee morale and encourage a positive culture in the workplace.

1. Establish a Positive Workplace Culture

Providing a safe, comfortable work environment is something that many entrepreneurs strive for. However, the management style, personality of the workers, and expectations placed onto staff members also contribute to the workplace culture. Toxic workers, impossible goals, and unfair distribution of work can all create a poor environment. Even if a company has fantastic managers and workers, employees may not feel completely fulfilled. From high-level management experts like Claire Lucas DC who are passionate about equality to entry-level workers who want to foster animals, most people want to do something to help the world.

Inviting staff members to contribute ideas about what causes they care about can help business owners figure out what is important to workers. If many of the workers are ardent environmentalists, then perhaps scheduling everyone to participate in cleaning up a beach once a month could be a big hit. While giving workers a few days off to volunteer may seem counterproductive, there are many studies that show a correlation between employee happiness and an increase in daily productivity.

2. Benefit the Community

While the people who live in a community may want or need certain things, they may be at a loss about how to get them. A company can provide some of the funding and use its large platform to advertise to a wide audience. Even though it may cost the company money to allow workers to volunteer, donate money to a charity event, or organize a fundraiser, the benefit to the community can make the effort worthwhile. Whether the company is able to make a difference on a local level or a global scale, many people will be able to benefit. A business that contributes towards the construction of a public park may not reap profits from the new space, but the employees and community members can use the area to exercise, socialize and play games.

3. Foster Feelings of Public Goodwill

Companies, especially large ones, can sometimes be perceived as uncaring by consumers. Unlike the local shop where the owner is often behind the counter, a large corporation can appear faceless to customers. Giving back is an excellent way to create feelings of warmth, admiration, and appreciation in the general public. A positive reputation can result in an increase in customer loyalty, even if prices go up in the future. A company with a positive reputation can enjoy more sales from happy customers.

4. Promote Brand Awareness

Often, if a company contributes to a cause, the name of the business is featured somewhere. Pamphlets and banners at events may feature the names of any sponsors, while charities may list their donors on a website page. Current and future customers may notice the name of the company, especially if the contribution made is notable, such as a large dollar amount or a flashy, unique prize won at a raffle. Companies that give back also enjoy good word of mouth among consumers. If people are impressed that a business supports a cause they agree with, they are more likely to not only support that company but to share that information with others.

5. Networking Opportunities

Charity events often appeal to local philanthropists, local celebrities, and business owners. Hosting or attending a notable event is an excellent way for business owners to meet other like-minded people. The opportunities for networking are limitless as long as it is done correctly. The business owners should not make it appear as if they are only present to meet people who may benefit them. However, they should be sociable and friendly with everyone they encounter, which will leave a good impression on all of the attendees. Business cards can be handed out and asked for in return in the hopes of sending an email or making a follow-up phone call after the event.

When a business gives back to the community in any way, the benefits are numerous. The charity selected should be as free from scandal as possible and provide a valuable service to the community or the world. As long as the cause and charities are carefully selected and align with the company culture and vision, then the business can provide support through donations and volunteer time while also generating goodwill.