12 Tips Every Budding Entrepreneur Needs To Know

The world has seen a lot of entrepreneurial activity over the last two decade. Start-ups have turned into billion dollar enterprises and this can be attributed to new technology and funding from angel investors. If you have the right idea and a strong business plan, it is worth taking the risk and walking the entrepreneurial path. While most entrepreneurs walk the less walked path, it is important to follow a few basics of the game. Here in this brief write-up we shall discuss 12 tips that every budding entrepreneur needs to know.

1. Do Not Expect Overnight Success – Most entrepreneurs start off with big expectations and when results don’t come by in quick time they lose the zeal to succeed. There is no time frame for success in business and what you should initially focus on is incremental growth. Monetary success isn’t easy to come by and you need to wait for your time.

2. Take Risks – Ability to take risks is a part of being an entrepreneur and this is what takes small start-ups on a long journey towards success. It is a thrilling experience when one of your decisions pays off well. However you need to make well-calculated moves combine them with your instincts.

3. Learning Never Stops – As an entrepreneur you need to learn every day. You need to constantly keep updated with the latest trends in the market and know customer expectations. Most of your knowledge would come during hours of crisis. Also knowledge often comes from unexpected quarters and you should never shut your eyes and ears to even the weirdest of suggestion.

4. Brand Yourself – One of your initially goals is to create a strong brand for yourself. You need to work towards drawing a line between you and your competitors. In the initial days brand image is all that should focus on. A strong brand image allows you to earn customer loyalty.

5. Pick Up Emailing Skills – You would have to write dozens of emails while starting your business and you need to pick up the skill of writing an email. Keep it short and sweet as a potential investor may not have the time to read your complete story.

6. Be Willing To Innovate – Don’t spend your time reinventing the wheel. As an entrepreneur you should strive to introduce new products and solutions in the market. Always be willing to look beyond the obvious.

7. Develop Business Plan – It is famously said “It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” Having a mere idea won’t take you the distance. You need to develop a strong business plant around the idea to attract investment.

8. Network Constantly – In today’s world of business networking is as important as doing business. You need to network in all directions upwards with people who have achieved success; downwards with the green horns and horizontally with your peers.

9. Use Social Media – There is no better way to network and promote your business than the social media. LinkedIn is a must for every entrepreneur to network within the industry. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. allow you to reach out to your potential customers.

10. Learn To Disconnect – Most budding entrepreneurs start with a flash and then burn out. You need to learn the art of disconnecting from work. Your brain needs rest and only a relaxed brain can afford to think.

11. Listen To Others – You may be passionate about your ideas but never let your emotions take charge of decision making. Listen to what your friends, employees and others have to say before taking a decision.

12. And Don’t Listen – You would be flooded with advice, many of them unsolicited. Don’t let everything you hear influence your decision. Analyze the pros and cons of your decision and learn to trust your gut.

These tips would help you scale your way up the ladder and turn your small business into a brand. It is however very important for you to enjoy what you are doing and always listen to your heart. And most importantly put all efforts into the business and leave no room for complacency. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Want to read more such 10 or 12 awesome list of things? Then check out top 10 hq.

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Small Business Mentoring: 9 Factors to Consider When Looking for the Right Mentor

To get ahead in life, everyone needs advice and help. Ask even the most successful individuals in the world how they got to where they are. Most likely, you will establish that they have at least one mentor who guided them along the way. In this post we’ll look at small business mentoring and the factors to take into account when looking for the perfect mentor.

Whether you are on the receiving or giving end of investment advice, energy, or time, it is extremely important to view mentoring for exactly what it is – a totally priceless gift. This is according to the CEO of Avention, a business information and sales enablement solutions provider based in Massachusetts.

Do you want a good mentor who will help you get to a higher level in both your personal and career life? Today, so many life coaches exist. So how do you separate the chuff from wheat? Here are nine factors you should consider when looking for an inspiring and incredible mentor:

Always know that praise is not necessarily part of the entire deal

Sadly, most people who claim to want a mentor only want strokes and attention. This is not the kind of constructive feedback that results in professional and personal growth. According to the CEO of Avention, if you study the lives of the best entrepreneurs, greatest athletes, as well as investors, they all enthusiastically accepted coaching and advice or had great mentors. He continues to add that, to him, those types of individuals, their curiosity, self-awareness and desire to grow and become better inspired them to seek mentors.

Do not entertain silence – remember silence breeds failure

Excellent mentors help you grow through open and frank conversations regardless of how hard they might be. For example, mentoring mentors provide constructive feedback repeatedly so that no employee ought to be surprised when time for a performance appraisal comes. Avention CEO says that typically, many people that are surprised by their own appraisals are most likely to be poor or weak managers.

Active empathy and listening builds relationships

One thing you should always know is that a relationship is exactly what maintains a mentor-mentee relationship. Once this relationship becomes obligatory, the utmost benefit to both individuals rapidly dissipates. According to Avention CEO, over time, relationships usually diminish because of lack of being true to each other.

Always opt for a mentor you admire and desire to emulate

One of the worst ideas when it comes to choosing a mentor is aligning yourself with an adviser all because of her or his title or for political gain. So you don’t have a wise individual who you admire? Well, the best place to start is hanging out in an incubator or industry events. Widen your pool of associations. Go to any form of venture capital gathering that you can manage. Use LinkedIn and try to gather and garner as many introductions and connections as possible.

Bluntness

Some call it forthrightness, which is agreeable. Your mentor should not act or talk like a politician. When you are in trouble, you need someone to give you strong and cutting blunt advice on exactly what you might not be doing correctly.

Additionally, your mentor should have the audacity to tell you everything like it is. If you notice that he or she cannot do this, then avoid him or her like a plague.

Choose a mentor who allows you to have a vision for your future

In addition to providing advice in the present, your mentor should also offer the required support and scaffolding to allow you to envision your future. Most often, it is very hard to envision the next phase of your life when working so hard in the present. Moreover, at times, after you have completed your PhD, it can be quite difficult to envision what your life will be like. The same applies to any level of education.

Choose a mentor of any sex, but the same sex is much better

Although it is highly preferred that you choose a mentor of the same sex, it is still okay to opt for a mentor of the opposite sex. Man-to-man mentorship, for instance, is brilliant because men can talk about personal issues that affect them without feeling weird. Unless your prospective mentor of the opposite sex boasts of the specific skills necessary for your mentorship, it is advisable to stick to one who is of the same sex. This will benefit you big time in the long run.

He or she should be totally honest

Honesty is one of the most important aspects your mentor should possess. Besides being honest as the mentee, ensure that your mentor is honest as well. It is highly advisable that he or she be more than frank on any issue. Your mentor should be bold to tell you when you are doing things the wrong way. Positive criticism is of utmost importance. It helps you grow and build your confidence. In the end, you become stronger.

He or she should be time efficient

Most, if not all, mentors hold very senior positions. Consequently, they are super busy. They are great at utilizing every single second of their days. Do you want to be efficient at managing time? Well, you need a mentor who is great at time management. Time efficient mentors will share with you the strategies needed to help you become better at managing time. In addition to efficiency at time management, you should look for some small underlying behaviors. Some behaviors, small as they are, might make such a huge difference between your failure and success.

That being said, your success is always your prerogative. You are the driver of your success. Do not sit and wait for a mentor to suggest action plans for you. Get out of your comfort zone and make excellent use of all resources at your disposal – your mentor included. This way, achieving success will be more than possible. There is no doubt about that.

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Charlie Brown is one of the contributors of a leading financial website. Talk to him today if you need help regarding national debt reviews.

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Avoid Making These 4 Common Startup Mistakes

If you’re planning to start a business, you’ll find there are way too many opportunities to learn the hard way. Inexperienced entrepreneurs end up hurting themselves financially when they start a business and fail to avoid common mistakes.

Experience is a great teacher. And someone else’s experience is an even better teacher. One way you can avoid unforced errors in business is to learn from the painful lessons of other business owners.

Here are some common startup mistakes.

1. A Failure to Understand Your Clients

If you’re considering a business-to-business (B2B) operation, be certain you’ve walked a country mile in your potential client’s shoes before you start dispensing advice about how to travel.

You might think you’ve found the perfect market. You might believe you understand exactly what people in a certain line of work truly need. But unless you’ve been in that line of work, you should think again.

Zach Clayton is the owner of Three Ships, a digital marketing company. He says he spent way too much time showing clients detailed reports about how his company delivered a strong return on investment (ROI).

One day, a client company offered him a role as an interim chief marketing officer.

“I had no idea how hectic and overwhelming that job actually is. You’re in marathon management meetings. You’re arguing with the head of sales about the right lead goals. You’re hiring a new PR firm for the West Coast,” he says. “I realized clients were too busy solving other problems to go three levels deep on understanding all the technical work we do.”

Now, he operates with clients on much simpler terms.

2. Allowing the Perfect to Become the Enemy of the Good

Not every project is going to launch perfectly. Accept that while you’re new at this.

Entrepreneurs struggling for a first-class level of presentation in a new release or product launch often allow themselves to say no to something that is good, but not perfect.

Sure, your brand name is on the product and you certainly want to leave a good impression. However, you’re also faced with competition. Some of your competitors in the same space may capture market share because they don’t allow themselves to be caught up in perfection.

If you have a great product, go ahead and release it. If there are some wrinkles that can be ironed out, do so in a way concurrent with your launch. Don’t lose money because you’re stuck on absolute perfection.

3. A Failure to Prepare for the Regulatory Environment

Strictly speaking, your business will have two sets of enemies. The first set of enemies will be your competition. The second set of enemies will be the various regulatory agencies that insist on forcing you to spend money to comply with current laws.

Many entrepreneurs go into business fully aware of the first set of enemies and are ready to tackle them. But many forget about the second set of enemies and end up paying costly fines or, worse, being shut down for a while.

Hire a good attorney to be sure your business is compliant with prevailing regulations. This is one area where you must be proactive. You simply can’t afford to wait until something bad happens and then hope to fix it after the fact.

If necessary, seek the proper training for your employees so they can perform their jobs in line with government standards, and able to maintain OSHA compliance.

4. Being Too Stingy

It’s easy to fall into the “cutting corners at any cost” trap, especially when you’re first starting out and want to stretch each dollar as far as it will go.

The old adage about it taking money to make money is still valid. You have to spend money to earn money. Get used to the idea.

That’s why you should seriously consider opting for a “go big or go home” strategy when it comes to new purchases. Sure, you can buy refurbished equipment and second-hand, lower quality hardware and still launch your business effectively.

But you should also think about the future cost. If that equipment depreciates faster and needs to be replaced sooner than higher quality equipment, have you really saved any money?

Also, what’s the opportunity cost associated with the extra effort required to ensure older equipment functions properly?

In many cases, your best choice is high quality. That doesn’t mean you need to spend an extra 50% just for a brand name, but you want to ensure that you’re getting a great product for the money. Many entrepreneurs don’t do that, and regret it later.

Starting a business can be a wonderful, fulfilling experience. Be sure you do it right and avoid some of the common mistakes made by your fellow entrepreneurs.

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Mindfulness for Business People

Mindfulness is the new (jack) black in business. It is everywhere. And not just as part of personal or self development, but as part of the DNA of businesses. We doing quite some work on briefing companies about happy, mindful staff with a sense of purpose. It makes perfect business sense. Happy staff is 25% more productive.

Focus on self development

There are lots of books on being mindful as a person. From “The secret” to “The Celestine Prophecy” or from “The road less traveled” to “The monk who sold his Ferrari”. Not much in business books. Maybe “Coherence” or “Reinventing organisations”, but nothing that crosses the self development chasm to business development.

The old masters

We have always found that in those cases the old masters are worth studying. Management theory is only 50 years old and Drucker is still the godfather.

Mindfulness is a lot older then management theory. It is part of every religion and was part of ancient cultures as a way of life. The first person who brought this all together in a book was Jack Black. Another old master and also ahead of his time.

Coming to Dublin

And he is coming to Dublin too. On the 11th of June. Talking about mindfulness and business. So we decided to look at his first book, which is “Mindstore, the classic personal development programme”.

Read it

If you are into personal development, you should read it. If you are a start up, you should read it. If you are an owner manager of a small business you should read it. Everything that is now fashionable and “new” is in that book.

Balance

A balanced view on your life. Family life, social life, health, personal development, attitude, career, finance and spiritual life. His theories and advice is not confirmed by neuroscience. You are what you think. PMA is important. You are limited by your beliefs. The need to manage stress. The importance of setting goals. The importance of writing them down (only 4% does). The need to use all parts of your brain (dualbrain).

Mindfulness for business people

The need to avoid being managed by the hypothalamus. Apparently we come with 20,000 inbuilt programmes when we are born. All based on evolution and social biology. A lot are no longer that relevant. The programming in the schools (way before Ken Robinson identified this) doesn’t help either. The trick is to start doing some of your own programming. Your brain is a bio computer.

Start with attitude

It needs to be positive. So you ban negative words (and people) and you keep smiling. The mind can only hold one thought at the time. So negative thought can always be replaced. And neuroscience will tell you that it does wonders.

Quantum physics

If you belief that the mind is a quantum machine with decides on what your reality is going to be, you can see how powerful it could be. Suggest you read “The future of the mind”. Predicting Mindtech as a hotspot.

Vision

The importance of a vision. A powerful one. Forget achievable and realistic. You need to dream. Making is as visual and detailed a possible. Burning it into your brain (like burning a CD). Burning the pathways. The same way your create habits.

Vision is more important then planning. But you need to commit to that vision. Belief it. Helping your quantum computer to make it happen. You are what you think. Our thought become our realities. You are creating future history. And it become part of the programming of your bio computer.

The software to programme your brain

He gives you the software as well. The meditation techniques. The mental structures. Literally. He helps you to build a mental house space where you can apply a whole range of techniques. A mental house with a shower, a library, an editing suite, a sleeping room and anything else you can imagine. As the metaphor for relaxation, the re-energising, the mental cleansing, the affirmation and PMA, the visioning, the remembering and the dreaming.

No short cuts

The point is the burning. It has to become a routine. You need to practice and maintain your mental house. There are no short cuts. You need to take the time to do it. Regularly. The way you would exercise your body. Bruce Lee said “Knowing is not enough we must apply, willing is not enough we must do.”

There is one short cut, the famous tip of your tongue at the back of your from teeth. To bring you in a better mental state almost immediately.

It all works

I am interested to find out how this will work in a business context. Being mindful together as a team? Collective business consciousness? Inter-connectedness with communal wisdom? Business 5.0? Brainstorming in alpha waves? It sounds weird. But so did Mindstore over 20 years ago. Can’t wait to find out. You can book your place here.

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How to Write Good Copy for your Website: A Complete Guide

Do you want to know how to write good copy for your website?

Don’t worry, it’s really not all that hard but it will improve your conversion rates, dwell time and improve your ROI from your digital marketing.

Telling tales

Let’s start at the beginning: does this web development story sound familiar?

You agonized over the design of your website
You pondered over the product pages
You searched high and low for the perfect images
You discussed endlessly your digital marketing strategy to drive visitors to your site
You pencilled in plenty of budget for PPC

And then your developer calls. It’s time to start ditching the ‘Lorem ipsum’ and populate your site with real copy.

A moment of panicked silence is followed by you dropping the phone and frantically scrabbling around for all the marketing materials you can lay your hands on to purloin phrases and pinch paragraphs from.

Web copy converts

Copy converts. It’s a powerful tool not an afterthought.

What did we think our visitors were going to do when they got to our site: imbue our messages by osmosis and convert into customers by alchemy?

Writing great web copy is absolutely central to your web marketing strategy.

And the truth is that producing effective copy for the web will not happen by cutting and pasting catalogues, sales flyers and corporate brochures.

The good news is it’s easy

The good news is that writing great copy for the web is quite straightforward, and you can learn all you need to know in what follows.

The sad fact is that there are far too many businesses out there that simply don’t create compelling or even readable copy. And there are just as many whose copy fails simply because it has written as if the web were a book or a magazine.

Writing great copy is one thing. Writing great web copy is another thing entirely.

So, let’s show you how easy it is to do it, and you need never run round the office in a blind panic again.

First things first

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The web is not a place for flowery, circuitous introductory paragraphs. If you have something to say, say it first (preferably in bold).

Think of a pyramid. It’s wide at its base until it narrows to a focussed point.

Now turn it on its head. Its point comes first and everything else builds out from this.

This inverted pyramid is how you write for the web. You don’t beat about the bush to get to your point (or key takeaway, marketing message, USP etc.). You beat all the bushes away till there is just this: and then you say it clearly. Straight away.

This tactic is not unique to the web. It’s used by journalists too who always make sure that in their first couple of paragraphs the whole story can be found.

This tactic, though, is especially true for the web. People don’t read web pages: they scan them. Study after study has proved this to be the case.

When we scan we quickly check the top and then let our eye take in what we consider the most important parts of what follows: we do not often read all of the text.

Because people are going to scan your copy you need to make sure they can get the important information and key messages upfront, or they will get lost in the mix.

When people can’t find exactly what they want straight away they vote with their clicks and your bounce rate notches up.

And first things last

Whether you are writing a blog post or a product description it’s still a great idea to wrap things up in a summary at the end of the article. (This is particularly true for longer articles/descriptions).

You could do this using bullet points, with a feature box detailing the main points or in your closing paragraphs.

The scanning eye does not take everything in. There is a good chance it may have missed what is a crucial point when it reaches the end of your page.

By summarising your key points (and maybe even including a link back to where they appeared on the page) you can ensure that people can play catch up on what they have sped past.

Heading in the right direction?

The headline you use is critical in engaging attention. It is also critical for your SEO. Get it right and you have won half the battle. Get it wrong and you have lost the war.

Here’s Brian Clark of Copyblogger on the importance of headline:

“On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This is the secret to the power of the headline.”
(‘Don’t read this or the kitty gets it’ in Copywriting 101)

That’s how important it is.

There isn’t space here to give you a masterclass on crafting the perfect heading, but you can find plenty of tips and tricks in the Copywriting 101 eBook that can be downloaded free at the link above.

(Is it worth it? Is the opportunity to engage 80% of your visitors worth it?)

Here are some quick pointers:

Make sure your most important keywords are here:
just think about what your audience might be searching for
Adjectives create interest:
change ‘Car cleaning guide’ to ‘The modern guide to cleaning and protecting your car’
Get them interested: change ‘Car cleaning guide’ to ‘Are you wiping £s off your car’s value every time you clean it?’
If social sharing of your content is important to you try to keep your headlines under 65 characters.

Write for the scan

There are a number of other things you can do to cater for the scanning eye, but first let’s see it in action.

Typically we scan in an F-pattern:

We focus on a couple of sentences at the top of the page
Our eye trails down the left side
We also quickly glance at a few lines near the middle

Examples of the F pattern found on a corporate About Us page, a product page and a search engine results page (source: Nielsen Norman Group)

Look at how the product page (centre) and the search engine results page (right) are structured with broken up text that aids the scan.

Now look at the corporate About Us page (left), where the large chunks of unbroken text, simply leaves large sections left unread.

So what tricks can you use to encourage the scan?

Short paragraphs
Clear subheadings
Using formatting (like bold, font size or bullet points)
Careful use of images

These all, however, allow you to do the same thing: break your text up and divide it into short, clear sections.

Paragraphs

Paragraphs in books and those on web pages are very different beasts.

This is not a paragraph for the web:

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

But this is:

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.

It has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

This dummy text has even survived the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged, and even desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker now includes versions of Lorem Ipsum.

See the difference?

On the web a sentence can be a paragraph.

Huge chunks of text are like a brick wall to the scanning eye. Text that is broken up helps it do its thing (and forces you to use concise language and simpler sentences).

Subheadings

Subheadings are simply another way to help the scanning eye find what it wants.

Just as a book is divided into chapters you should divide your web pages into subsections that signpost the different points you are making.

And, of course, if you are using heading tags (

,

) you will be doing both the scanning eye and your SEO a favour too.

Bullet points and numbered lists

Another way to break up your text is with lists.

Why do bullet points and numbered lists help?

The bullet point or numbered list creates natural breaks in your copy, tends to be short and punchy – which is perfect for inviting a quick scan and they add variety to your layout.

Let me try that again:

Why do bullet points and numbered lists help?

They create natural breaks in your copy
They tend to be short and punchy – perfect for inviting a quick scan
They add variety to your layout

See what I mean?

Keep it simple

It’s important you know your audience. This will affect the sort of content you provide and the language that you use.

Accessibility is the cornerstone of the web. For most businesses it is advisable that they keep their language simple. If you are writing above your audience you will quickly lose them.

Writing simply is not easy. You have to learn to do it.

Keep your sentences short: it keeps them simple
Strip out technical language and jargon
Avoid complicated explanations or break them down into steps
If you are writing for a niche: use their language
If you are writing for a broad audience: avoid niche terms like the plague

To write simply you are going to need to forget everything they taught you in school. If you find it hard, write how you usually write, and then rewrite for the web.

Be careful where you add personality

Adding personality can bring blogs to life but it can also alienate a customer nearing a buying decision on a money page.

This comes down to brand identity. If your marketing copy has a tone of voice and personality you need to reflect this in your web copy. If it doesn’t: don’t add it.

A bit of personality on your blog posts and other content can really help to bring it to life and gain shares.

Be liberal with your links

Links to other web pages on your site are critical to its success. They are important for your visitors and your SEO.

The eye scans because it is looking quickly for important and relevant information. A link helps the eye realise there may be more relevant information on another page and it helps your visitor to get straight to it.

Links also help you keep things concise. If you go into something in more detail elsewhere there is no need to do so again every time it is mentioned.

Links also let you include a summary at the top of every page with ‘anchors’ to places on the page where this section can be found. How handy is that?

Finally links encourage the search engine spiders to crawl your entire site, leaving no page unturned.

It’s time to put it all into practice

So there you have it: a simple guide to writing great web copy.

There really are no more excuses for taking that corporate brochure and plonking it on the web.

Here are the main things you should make sure you do with your web copy:

Whenever you write say the important things first
If it’s been a long page summarise it at the bottom
Your heading must work for SEO and draw your readers in
Break your text up using short paragraphs, subheadings and formatting
Write simply and avoid jargon
A bit of personality can win the day or lose the visitor – use it carefully
Keep everything clearly linked in

Easy, huh?

Of course, the truth is that this is how the best copy is structured.

Writing copy that persuades and inspires action is another story altogether. And it’s a tale that ends in conversion.

You can find some helpful pointers in this web copywriting guide. But for now you should be happy: you are well on the way to crafting copy that is designed for the web.

And you’ll see immediate results.

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Workplace Safety: 7 Things to Do for a Safer and Healthier Workplace

Every business owner, whether big or small, has one common concern in mind with respect to the workplace – no one should get hurt on the job.

As an employer, it is your responsibility to create and maintain a safe and a healthy workplace. Having management systems, plans or programs that are dedicated to this cause can help you develop a healthy and safe work environment. This system/program should essentially spell out what your employees should and should not do to prevent injuries and illnesses at the workplace.

It is totally understandable that even the thought of having extravagant health and safety systems can be quite overwhelming for a small business owner as he grapples with the day-to-day pressures of running his business. This does not mean that looking after the health and the safety of the employees should lose precedence.

Every organization has its own systems and processes which are based on its culture, business practices, type of industry and associated hazards. These systems go a long way in managing the safety and the health of your employees.

If you run a small business in a low-risk industry, your safety process may simply entail listening to the concerns of your employees and responding to them.

To run a larger business, however, you may need to have systemic procedures and all-encompassing policies in place along with a team that specializes in ensuring workplace safety.

Here are a few ways in which you can create and maintain a healthy and a safe workplace environment

1. Make It Everyone’s Concern

You cannot make your entire organization a safe place by working towards this endeavor on your own. You need to make sure everyone on your team does their part. Encourage them to follow a culture of safety, make sure everyone does their bit and hold them accountable.

Create an active workplace safety committee or have a separate team committed to this cause in place.
Assign every employee a meaningful activity that backs this cause.
Pick a few responsible employees and make safety inspections a part of their daily job.
Keep employees informed about injuries, illnesses, and all other safety-related issues.
Encourage employees to give you their recommendations and feedback for improving safety measures.
Hold employees accountable by including safety-related responsibilities in their job description and making it one of the parameters of performance evaluation.
Set safety goals at the organizational level. Establish a clear system for reporting accidents, injuries, and close calls. Rectify the behavior of employees who put themselves or others at risk. Recognize and reward employees who contribute to making the workplace healthy and safe.

2. Manage Your Space Well

Make sure you use your workplace space well. Don’t confuse or misuse the areas for working, resting and storing office supplies. Keep the hallways and passages free of clutter and debris and make sure they’re well-lit. Ensure that clean and hygienic drinking water and restroom facilities are always available to your employees,

3. Sit Right

Make sure you and your employees know how to maintain appropriate postures at work to prevent injuries. For those who sit behind a desk most of the time, it is advised to work at elbow height in a posture that minimizes bending or arm-raising. And, of course, items that are used frequently should be kept within easy reach.

For those who have a physically demanding field job, for example, at an oil field, it is suggested to avoid doing dangerous tasks and stooping or twisting beyond their physical limits. Provide them with ergonomically-designed furniture and equipment to ensure their safety.

Should something go wrong with your employee’s health due to your negligence, they can easily contact an oil field injury lawyer and demand an exorbitant compensation from you.

4. Be Mindful of Dangerous Objects

Make sure all machinery and equipment with dangerous and/or moving parts have guards and that electrical connection and wiring are safe. Sharp and heavy equipment can injure and even prove to be fatal.

It is crucial that you take proper and timely steps to service and maintain your equipment regularly. You can hire an engineer to do this, as well as have him frequently check for and replace/repair broken or unstable parts.

5. Say No to a Hazardous Environment

Working in factories and even offices can expose your employees to hazards such as fire, heat, chemicals, dust and noise. Hence, ensure maximum natural ventilation to prevent safety disasters from occurring.

All chemicals should be properly labeled prior to being stored in a safe place. If heat or cold conditions are a regular feature, consider insulation.

Make ample provision for fire-fighting equipment, adequate clothing and protective gear such as helmets, goggles, gloves, shoes, and earplugs. You should have first aid kits placed everywhere, especially in high-risk areas.

6. Train Your Employees

It is important that you organize safety workshops regularly in order to train your staff about the hazards they may be exposed to at work and how they should protect themselves.

These workshops should include a general safety orientation on company safety regulations, emergency procedures, and first aid usage for all employees, especially the new joiners.

Mock drills and tests should be performed to determine whether or not the employees have understood the safety guidelines. They should be retained as required.

7. Provide Regular Breaks

Overworked employees tend to demonstrate lowered levels of productivity and alertness, thereby increasing the scope for accidents and mishaps. Regular breaks and adequate rest can help prevent such situations by keeping fatigue, exhaustion, and burnout at bay.

Conclusion

As a small business owner, it is your duty to provide all your employees, whether with desk jobs or field jobs, with a safe working environment. For this, you will have to ensure that your workplace is compliant with the basic health and safety legislations. Remember, you’re legally responsible for the health and safety of not only your employees, but anyone else who may be directly or indirectly affected by your business and its activities. The above tips should help you figure out what steps you need to take in your organization to make it a safer and healthier place to work at.

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5 Inspiring Business Success Stories

Generation Y finally decided to take matters into their own hands after the 2008 Economic Crash and that’s how the new startup era begun. A positive point about the new generation’s approach to business is that they took into consideration the mistakes their parents made which led to the big recession. They took the harsh experiences from the past, added their enthusiasm and energy, and converted all that into hundreds of successful startup companies. Listening to more experienced businessmen and constantly searching for positive influences made the Millennials one of the most successful generations in American history when it comes to business. Here are some of the most influential business people from last few decades. Business success stories can serve as inspiration for those looking to follow in these guys footsteps.

Steve Jobs

Although Steve Jobs usually advised his followers to “…find what you love…” and that “…great work is to love what you do…” he didn’t actually follow his own advice and spent his entire life trapped in a business he hated, and of course, we all would like to know what it’s like to be in that “golden cage”. New age hipsters who live in self-sufficient agricultural communes, walk barefoot and preach Eastern Mysticism are definitely not the right material for a geeky business person with a briefcase in one hand and an iPod in the other… Or are they? It is important to focus all your skills and talent on a project you feel right about and after the first million you are definitely going to love what you do.

Marissa Mayer

Marissa Mayer was one of the first Google engineers and isconsidered by many to be the most influential woman in the tech world. Marissa later became the CEO of Yahoo and during this time, this 37-year-old businesswoman learned that when there is no bad feeling telling you that you are not ready for something it means you have chosen the wrong path. It’s there to make you work harder and push through, because for every opportunity there’s a happy ending, and if you work hard enough, something great is just around the corner.

Sergey Brin

Sergey is one of the founders of Google, and currently one of the richest entrepreneurs on the planet. But a few decades ago he was just an average Joe…or was he? He was sending a gif photo together with his CV back in the mid 90’s when there were no online .gif makers. When he takes a break from building conscious machines he likes to share his experiences with younger entrepreneurs. This renaissance man believes that knowledge has been the key to his success, and that it is always good to know more, which is why Google’s mission statement is: “Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim is one of the most successful businessmen in Africa and a subscriber to The Giving Pledge, which means he has pledged to give at least half of his wealth to charity after his death. He also has a foundation that awards The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership to leaders who have provided healthcare, education and economic development to their people. But how did Mo Ibrahim become so financially successful? After completing his education, he worked for British Telecom, and served as the technical director for Cellnet, BT’s subsidiary. He then founded MSI, a successful company that dealt in consulting and software and was which was later bought by Marconi. MSI’s spin-off, Celtel, later became the biggest mobile operator in Africa. For Ibrahim, the most important characteristic of a successful entrepreneur is a belief in oneself and a can-do-spirit, which drives one to try something nobody has tried before. With this perspective, thousands of people all around the world have made millions and achieved the best results in their industries.

Arianna Huffington

Huffington Post is one of the most popular blog and news aggregators. It was purchased by AOL for $315 million and Huffington is still its President and Editor-In-Chief. Before founding this successful media channel with Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbat and Jonah Peretti, she was a prize-winning writer, columnist and political commentator. Huffington thinks that failure is just another step towards success, and that only those willing to fail, learn and adapt are the ones who will succeed.

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Supplier Procurement Survey 15 Infographic – The top 10 observations

The TenderScout Survey provides insight and illuminates the world of public procurement as seen by those most impacted – small and medium enterprises! This highlights of this survey undertaken with Amarach Research include:

22% of companies don’t request a debrief from the buyer – they are unlikely to ever improvetheir performance
43% of companies are unlikely to collaborate with other businesses – effectively ruling them- selves out of many opportunities
29% is the average success rate for suppliers – indicating a ‘spray-and-pray’ approach to tendering
58% of companies don’t use competitive intelligence – they lose twice as often as those that do
€25 million is the amount spent by suppliers competing for tenders that are ultimately can- celled
69% of contracts are awarded primarily on price – this is the most significant factor in winning or losing
57% of suppliers wait over three months for the result of a tender competition, which impacts their ability to operate their business efficiently
26% of suppliers are more encouraged to participate as a result of Circular 10/14 – but they’re not likely to be successful without other measures
€2.7 billion is the value of government contracts that aren’t advertised because they are below threshold
>70% of tendering companies have fewer than 50 employees – they win less than 20% of the time

Download the full report here.

TenderScout Irish Procurement Survey & Analysis 2014:15 Infographic

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Improve your business by using ancient mind techniques

The explosion of research and indeed the apparent exponential growth in universities from all round the world publishing papers on the benefits of practising meditation, mindfulness and what some call ‘calm’ is wonderful opportunity for all of us.

Our brains

This together with the ever increasing availability of evidence and understanding of how our brains actually work through popular acceptance and interest in neuroscience proves beyond doubt that there is direct improvement in functioning as a result of regular practice. All of this gives us legitimate permission and I do mean permission because as we know so many people – in fact maybe the majority of folks seem to need proof even empirical data and evidence that what we do will work before venturing forth.

Magic

Magically, at the same time there are those who are less inclined to need all this and who are even much more confident with more spiritual explanations for what its all about, but nevertheless it still works wonders for them too. So wherever people are on that continuum you can be sure that you will gain all manner of benefits that otherwise would not come to you if you choose to practice with your tools or better still attend one of our up and coming events to get some more. In MindStore we say “it only works” and it has been doing so for over 25 years while it continues to evolve and grow no matter what explanations are postulated for why.

Spiritual not technical

That said, to be honest I can swing in either direction in-terms of explanations though I am more inclined to sit towards the spiritual emphasis. However I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy my smart TV and what it can do, likewise my iPhone and since I was 18 driving around in cars. Each of these things that have continued to evolve and have become central to my life I don’t have a clue about how they work. I’ve got techie friends and a petrol head mate who do and seem love reading about what’s happening under the bonnet or behind the screen. However I can’t be bothered even spending a minute with this, however I absolutely respect their passion for doing so and wish them well with it.

Alpha state

I am much more interested in what you and I can do with it all because that’s just how I am. So for all these years I have been exploring what can be done in the alpha state, how far can I push myself and what kind of tools and programs will help people change their lives for the better? However there has never been a better time to own up to being an enthusiast and for encouraging your colleagues at work or indeed family or friends to take a closer look. Both they and you will certainly benefit from doing so and that empirically is a fact. Like never before has there been such an open willingness in folks to want to know and indeed learn about how to practice and improve with this kind of stuff.

Mindfulness

With newspapers, magazines and endless other sources people will certainly have heard of “mindfulness” which is a word that covers all sorts of possibilities and it’s certainly increasingly becoming more mainstream. So no there’s no need for any of us to get embarrassed or be shy to say that we practice meditation type techniques. After all they are now without question proven to improve all manner of aspects of our lives. After 25 years pedigree and all those companies and leading figures not to mention thousands of success stories with our House on The Right Bank or Island have as much credibility as anyone else in this field and probably much more.

Many tools and techniques for improving personal and group performance

It’s also becoming much easier for me to teach more advanced material too, even to beginners, because the sceptical resistance is melting away and there is a genuine hunger to have as many tools and techniques for improving personal and group performance. Quite simply – it’s just normal now and it’s even beginning to look like not having access will limit folks opportunities especially in their careers.

Bruce Lee

Think for a moment of the folks around you at work, your neighbours and of course family and friends who are moving through this life that is all too short but who still don’t have the range of tools and techniques we have that absolutely give us proven advantages. However, as I say repeatedly “it’s not enough to get this intellectually” we only have the added potential if we actually do it. Bruce Lee said “Knowing is not enough we must apply, willing is not enough we must do.” I know without doubt that the vast majority of “graduates” of MindStore programs have no doubt about the benefits of practising but it’s remembering to do it that is the challenge.

I also know that having people around you who are “graduates” too is more inclined to make it the thing to do, and as a result everything associated with MindStore begins to dramatically improve.

Whether people feel the need to mitigate and free themselves from the downside of modern life or are more inclined to want to unlock the upside and achieve much more of their potential then now is the time to get to it.

Is stress and anxiety part of your day to day life or do you suffer from poor sleep?

So is stress and anxiety part of your day to day life or do you suffer from poor sleep? are you inclined to have headaches? tend to feel overwhelmed at times? or are unable to hold your attention or have a general sense of uncertainty and helplessness? there is no doubt that that’s increasingly the norm especially with most folks working longer and harder. Someone has to be making up the statistics of 70% of doctors visits being stress related and spare a thought for the 1/3 of workers in the city of London for example who are reported to be suffering from mental health complaints. If that’s what is going on than MindStore can tackle it and provide much more besides.

On the other hand we are able to enjoy deeper sleep, more self-control, compassion, focused attention, a better quality and more useful decisions, enhanced emotional intelligence, improving relationships with more self-awareness through more empathy and compassion. MindStore promises a much more authentic you with a brighter outlook, more energy and much more fun.

Active approach

Our approach in itself is not a passive method, one of reaching a state of absolute stillness and quietude, though that is very special in its own right. Our entire approach which does include the peaceful state is actually a dynamic meditative method providing enhanced thinking where all our facilities come together empowering us to achieve way beyond that which is possible rather than if you go about things without our methods, tools and techniques.

I am finding that by and large there are two camps emerging in first time attendees or in in-house events and with conference audiences. First, there is a sizeable portion that do need the security and back up of knowing that science and research is right behind it all and has an abundance of data proving without doubt all the beneficial claims of this overall movement. When I started I was a pioneer in the UK facing huge cultural blocks that I had to slowly chip away at but that has all changed over time.

The Field of Pure Potentiality

On the other hand there is a growing acceptance and belief in the notion of a higher self, higher intelligence, universal consciousness or what Deepak Chopra calls “The Field of Pure Potentiality.” Many more are comfortable with the notion that when we find our way into the meditative state that there is a kind of “connectedness” or “inter-connectedness” with a higher power or communal wisdom. Indeed there is a growing acceptance of the ideas around spirituality anyway, even in hard business settings and that explaining all the benefits form this place is as valid as relying on the scientific and empirical evidence coming from academic research.

The scientists and the philosophers can’t prove or disprove what each are saying about consciousness itself but they do accept that it exists. Maybe it’s enough to have the desire to improve on what we are doing with it and for me probably more important than explaining what it is one way or the other. I have definitely witnessed extraordinary change and improvement in those who seek “to do” and “apply.”

Bring this to your business

We are now bringing these techniques to businesses as well. Hence the Business Master class in Dublin on 12 June.

You can book your place here

Keep Smiling

Jack

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A Mad New Start-Up!

Madinks.ie is a mad new start-up. A new innovative website that makes shopping for Printer Ink as easy as possible for the end user. Our goal is to provide customers with a high quality, competitively priced product, and make the shopping online experience as much fun as possible! We have developed an award winning website that has simplified the process of buying printer ink, while offering customers the best prices on printer ink on the web. Our cartridge finder shows customers a picture of their printer, to help identify what cartridges they need to buy. Customers can then save their preferences making repeat purchases as easy as possible. We have also partnered with An Post Courier service ensuring deliveries throughout Ireland are speedy and next day!

Best Micro e-Commerce website

Since we have gone live, within the first month we managed to win Best Micro e-Commerce website at the 2014 Web Awards. This was an incredible achievement considering the intense competition, and acknowledged all the hard work that had gone into the site development over the last number of months prior to launching the website. It was also the most fun you can have at an Awards ceremony, and we are really looking forward to this years show!

Shortly after this we managed to win Best Digital Retail Experience at the Eircom Spiders 2014 Awards ceremony. This was very much unexpected, and considering our competition we were absolutely shocked to have won in such a difficult category. The Eircom Spiders is a very prestigious award, and both ourselves and our development team at Artizan were over the moon to win in such a competitive category.

So why ink? Well I had previously been trying to order printer ink, and found the whole experience soul destroying! After perusing through outdated websites, which seemed to make the process as difficult as possible for the customer, and lack of sites configured to the new technology platforms such as iPhones, smartphones, iPads etc., I was left perplexed! This in itself was an eye opener, as the industry seems to have stood still for the last number of years, unwilling to catch up with the times.

Friendly Buying Experience

The new world is a hectic one, whereby people want to buy via their smartphones while watching TV, so I thought to myself why not? We then put a team together to investigate why the process was so difficult, and to try and make the buying experience a friendly and easy one…. And we did!

At Madinks we have taken the boring and difficult part out of ordering ink online. All the hard parts are already done for the customer, so the ordering process is made as simple as possible. We have a facility within your account that allows the system to remember your printer, so next time you are ordering, you are only two clicks away from finding the correct cartridges from your machine. This has sped up customer interactions and made the process exceptionally easy to follow.

We also developed a brand character named “Carter”, who is our site mascot designed to help customers by guiding them through our website, and offering live support to answer any and all questions. We felt adapting to new technologies would separate us from our competitors in the market place.

In terms of competitiveness we have found that the majority of customers are more interested in service and support rather than focusing in on price. We have found an increasing number of students are now buying from the website to avail of our remarkably low prices! On average we have managed to price our product 20-30% cheaper than our competitors. Our high customer demand and low overheads have managed to keep our buying power strong, and all of our savings we pass on to the end customer. This strategy coupled with our cutting edge technology has secured our position in the market place and instilled thrust and loyalty from our customers.

For more information and great deals on printer ink cartridges check out https://www.madinks.ie

We are constantly updating our Facebook and Twitter accounts and we also use Google+, all of which can be accessed directly from our website!

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Category Archives: Start Ups