Category: Start-Ups

How to Set up The Perfect Office When Working From Home

If you are one of the lucky few, then you have continued to work from home since rules started to change around whether or not you could go to work. For the last couple of years, people were asked to stay at home to work in order to protect the general public from the spread of covid.

However, in the last couple of months, people that are able to have been returning back to work. The majority of people that work in manual labor or similar practices have now returned to work, but people that can work in an office or do computer work have been given the option to work from home.

A lot of people prefer going into the office, as it gives them a chance to get out of the house and communicate with people that live outside their household. However, some people have got used to working from home and it works around their lifestyle better than going into the office.

If you were working from home during the pandemic, then it is likely that you were guilty of working from your bed. Not only does working from your bed have a negative impact on your physical health, but it can also get in the way of your productivity.

In order to be able to work from home successfully, you need to have your own at-home office. This may mean converting a bedroom or a spare room. If you have never made your own office before, you may not know what you need to include or what you need. Here is how to set up the perfect office when working from home.

Large Desk

A big mistake that a lot of people make when they are setting up their home office is buying a small desk. When you are setting up your office, it can be tempting to get a small desk that does not take up too much room. As humans, it is a normal habit for us to focus on aesthetics before practicality.

You may think that you only need a desk for your laptop or computer, but once you start actually working, you realize that a lot of other items take up space too. Though businesses operate mainly online these days, it is likely that you will have to deal with some paperwork or files, which you will need to be able to access when you are on your computer.

If you do not have space for your computer and other materials, then you will likely get frustrated or start to lose things. For this reason, it is worth getting a large desk to work from. I would recommend an L shape desk. This way you will be able to work on your computer on one side of the desk and then do paperwork on the other side without any confusion.

Good Desk Chair

When you spend a lot of your working hours sitting down, something that you will notice is that you start to experience back pains and long-term issues. One of the main reasons why this is the case is because of poor back support caused by a poor chair.

Think about it this way, you are going to be spending hours and hours sitting down to work, so you may as well be comfortable while you are sitting down. If you are not sure what kind of computer chair you should get, you should go with what people that have years of experience in office work use. From my experience, employees prefer task chairs because of their versatility and comfort. They are also incredibly compact, which makes them easy to tuck away, meaning that they do not take up too much space.

If you are not sure about using task chairs, I would shop around until you find something that fits your style. Do be sure to check for back support when you are searching.

Filing Cabinet

When you are working from home, it is likely that you will have a lot of paperwork sent to you from the office. This paperwork is crucial to the success of your business and so you have to take care of it. It can be easy to safely stack a few files to the side, but when the files start to build up, you will need a better filing system.

The files that you take home are very important for your business and so you should do everything that you can to make sure that the files are as safe as possible. When you think of a filing cabinet, you probably imagine big unattractive metal cabinets with a very little style. However, this is not what all filing cabinets look like.

You can find some incredibly stylish cabinets that come at a more than reasonable price. You want to make sure that you can keep track of what files you have, so be sure to have room on the door where you can put labels that say what is inside every drawer.

Though filing cabinets do take up a lot of space, they are well worth buying. Without them, you will quickly notice that your files will become confused and mixed up, which will make your work life much harder than it needs to be.

Always remember to keep digital copies of your files, as they could be compromised and you don’t want to lose all of your hard work.

Protective Measures You Have to Think About as a Business Owner

In an ideal world, no one would ever have to worry about anything. People would be kind to one another all the time. There would be no crime. No poverty. No misfortune. Sadly we do not live in an ideal world. In fact, you could say we live in an often less than ideal world. Once sadly riddled with crime. And as a business owner, you are more susceptible to crime than most others.

And it isn’t just criminals that will be gunning to get a slice of your business. Competitors as well will constantly try to undercut you or steal clients away from you. Disgruntled former customers or employees can make your life hell as well. But there is a lot that can be done to mitigate all of these risks. So we are going to take a look at the various protective measures you should be thinking about as a business owner.

Physical Security Measures

If you are running a traditional business with a publicly open storefront then you will firstly need to invest in some serious physical security measures. Australia might have lower crime rates than some other countries, but it still has a lot of crime. So it is prudent to invest in security as much as possible.

A top-notch alarm system is a must-have. You will want to find a security firm that offers 24/7 security monitoring. If someone breaks in you want the police notified asap and someone monitoring the system from afar. You’ll also want to invest in some heavy-duty roller shutters. These will make it far more difficult for someone to break into your property from the front. Global Roller Shutters has plenty of shutters available in Melbourne while Industry Shutters is the go-to for anyone operating out of Sydney. We cannot stress enough how important it is to not skimp on these two security measures.

You will also want to invest in a sturdy, secure safe. Even if you keep no money on the premises overnight, you will want a safe on-site to store extra cash and important documents during the working day. It isn’t just at night that criminals operate. Some are bold and rash enough to strike during the day. So you will want to have that extra layer of security on site.

Digital Security

Thirty years ago most businesses wouldn’t even need to consider any sort of digital security. Technology wasn’t as advanced and the internet wasn’t around. Companies were blissfully unaware of how complicated things would become. Nowadays, cyber threats are sometimes more serious than a thief robbing your store at night.

Hackers. Identity thieves. Scammers. All of them have made the internet their battleground. And if your business doesn’t have ample security, chances are it will be attacked and you could lose everything. So you need to invest in good cyber-security.

We recommend hiring a cyber-security company to fit all your networks and systems with advanced firewalls. These companies usually offer 24/7 security, meaning someone will be ready to handle any threats that might pop up. You would also do well to make use of a VPN. A virtual private network is a great security tool that adds an extra layer of security between you and potential hackers. And it can keep your business location safe. Especially useful if you are operating out of your home.

For an online business, you will need more advanced cybersecurity. If a hacker gets into your website they could take everything. So you will want layers upon layers of protection around your website and servers.

Employee Confidentiality

Not every threat to your business is in the form of criminal activity. Sometimes it is just old-fashioned business competition that can ruin you. And any business is only as strong as its weakest link. Many businesses have been toppled by careless employees saying something they weren’t meant to or selling off information to a rival.

This is why you need a proper employee contract with many security clauses in it. You should ensure that all your staff knows that they cannot breach confidentiality without serious repercussions. This includes selling off client tips to your opposition. You should thoroughly vet all your employees before hiring them to ensure you aren’t hiring someone with a history of this behavior.

Insurance

Speaking of non-criminal threats to your business, we need to talk about insurance. Unexpected financial costs can devastate a company. And more often than not it is impossible to prepare for the situation that leads to the hefty fees. This is why you need to invest in top-tier business insurance.

Business insurance is designed to protect you against claims from disgruntled customers. Everyone makes mistakes. But some customers aren’t content with letting bygones be bygones and will try to get some money out of you. Without proper insurance, you could end up losing a lot of your money.

Employee insurance is also a necessary addition to your business. If a member of staff hurts themself while on shift, you are liable if they decide to sue. Especially if the accident was due to negligence of another member of staff or due to a safety issue on site. Employee insurance, again, protects you against having to pay out of pocket for a settlement if they decide to take legal action against the company.

How Companies Use Instagram to Turn a Profit

Big companies will utilize any tool at their disposal to turn a profit. It is the nature of capitalism that profit turns the world. And as much as you may or may not agree with it, it is the world we live in.

The best weapon you have at your disposal is knowledge. How you use that knowledge is up to you. But today we want to level the playing field by helping you learn about professional instagram accounts and how companies use them accounts to turn a profit.

The Power of Knowledge

You might be wondering why you would ever need to know any of this. If you are approaching this article as a business owner, then the information provided will give you an insight into how powerful a marketing tool Instagram can be. When used correctly, you can boost your business and turn a profit easily.

From the consumer side, it is important to understand what tactics businesses use to market themselves to you. This helps you better spend your money and allows you to notice things that might not seem like an advert at first, but on closer inspection, you might see it actually is.

Direct Marketing

Most big companies these days will have a number of social media accounts associated with their brand. Coca-Cola has a Twitter. Mcdonalds has a Facebook page. And all of them will make use of Instagram.

The most obvious advantage of Instagram for these companies is the ability to visually market their products. Nothing helps sell a product better than seeing it with your own two eyes. Especially with food-related products. In the past companies would use billboards and posters to achieve this. But this required physically being near the marketing to experience it. With Instagram, they can reach millions of people for free.

By adding to their stories they can actively engage with their customers as well. This doubles down as it tricks people into engaging with them, without realizing they are being marketed to.

 

Indirect Marketing

The more sneaky ways of marketing are what you need to be aware of. It is through these methods a company is able to secure a lot more profit and spread their influence.

The main way of doing this is with product placement. Companies will pay popular Instagram accounts to sneak their products into their live streams or photos. In the same sense of doing this with a TV show, it lets their product be seen without drawing direct attention to it. Studies have shown that this form of advertising affects us subconsciously.

Companies will pay out hundreds upon thousands of dollars to influencers to have them talk about their products. But they manage to mask this by having the influencer talk about the product as if they aren’t being sponsored. This practice is slowly dying out as Instagram is putting safeguards to make sure users are informing people if their content is being sponsored and by whom.

Another sneaky advertising method comes in the form of comedy. Companies like Wendy’s have seen massive success by using their Twitter account to roast people and tell jokes, rather than advertising their products. But this has the knock-on effect of making people associate happiness and laughter with the product in question. These unconscious associations are worth more to a company than any direct advertising. Once a brand is in your unconscious mind, it has secured profit from you.

The Best Business Tools for Start-Ups in 2020

Advertising

I would consider advertising to be a very important aspect for a start up business. Without advertising the public would not be able to see any products or services that you are offering, and what you charge for them. Advertising is also a great way to introduce your company to the world and gives a great opportunity to get valuable initial customer feedback on how your brand conveys itself and its message. Through advertising you are able to see any reactions to your start up business and should you encounter any issues or negative responses you are able to make modifications in the early stages of startup.

 

Webpages

A decent webpage is crucial to any start up business as this is the primary way that people can view your brand and business. Without spending the proper time and effort on a good webpage then users may choose to use an alternative company for what they need. At the end of the day your website may be the first impression of yourself and your business that is given to customers, if this first impression is not a good one then this can affect how successful you are initially and may also go onto spoil your reputation.

 

A Clear Message

For a company just starting out having a clear and distinct message and brand idea is a great way to gain custom. A distinct message and appeal is important as it adds to revenue, should a potential customer stumble upon any of your websites or advertising campaigns then a clear message allows them to make a swift decision as to whether they would like to purchase your products. Another way that having a clear message can boost your success is that it allows you to appeal to the specific demographic that would buy your produce.

Contacts

Another great tool for start up businesses would have to be a great set of contacts. By taking time and making the effort to collect as many contacts in the business world as you can, you are
able to build a rapport with as many people in the business world as you can. A great contacts list will come in handy at so many different times in your business life and it’s always at the time that you would least expect. Having many contacts and gaining a relationship with people in the business world means that you can get advice and help from people who know what they are talking about.

 

How to Start Your Own Removals Business

Starting any business can come with challenges and obstacles that you must overcome before you start operating effectively. There is a large gap in the market for removals businesses and with such a straightforward set up, if you’re looking to start your own business- removal may be worth looking into.

 

You first need to look at your own personal finances. Though setting up a removal companyis far cheaper than setting up many other businesses, it still comes with its own costs. You may want to try and apply for a loan to support your business, or even ask a family member for a small loan. This will depend largely on your own credit and history when it comes to expenses, so before you apply for anything you should really make an account of your financial position.

 

Obviously one of the most important components of having a removals company is having the correct vehicles. You should really look at your other local removals companies and see which vehicles they have on offer.  By doing this you can really look at the gaps in the market as local companies may not have a large variety of vehicle capacities.  An example of this comes with looking at several Mississauga moving companies, some only had vehicles equipped to deal with larger scale removals while others were only capable of doing small scale jobs.

 

You should also focus on gaining insurance that covers you completely. In the removal business you are likely to be moving objects with a lot of worth and you want to be covered if anything accidents were to happen as you don’t want to lose any of your own money.

 

You should also focus on branding. A lot of the moving that you will do in a removal business will be for residential homes. Because of this you will want to brand your business so that it appeals to a large audience, you don’t want to be promoting unsanitary vans when you’re moving someone’s treasured items.

 

Employing the right people should also be a priority when setting up your own removals business. Anyone can drive a removal van, but you should really find people that have experience in the industry and who you can trust to transport other people’s belongings. They should also be able to communicate well as they will have to have constant communication with customers, as well as listening to the customer’s instructions and meeting deadlines that they set.