How to organise yourself for maximum productivity

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Most of us want to learn how to be more productive. Who doesn’t want to get more work done in less time? But aside from reading countless articles about productivity and hearing about super-heroes that wake at 4am and get everything done before breakfast, most of us don’t really take the time to consider what it takes to organise ourselves for maximum productivity.

Like most important things, the secrets to being more productive are simple – once you know them. That doesn’t mean they’re easy though! Any time we ask ourselves to change our default approaches it’s always going to be difficult. But it’s also one of the most important life skills to learn.

I’ve been studying the theory and practice of productivity for the past few years – and of course, experimenting on myself. If you want to be truly productive, here’s how to get yourself organised…

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Low Investment Business Ideas

7 Low-Investment Business Ideas You Can Start Online

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Buy stock, store it, pick it, pack it, ship it.

Managing inventory is a big commitment when you’re running an online business. But there are actually many business ideas you can start that let you focus less on the logistics associated with inventory and more on your business.

These low-investment, no-inventory online businesses make a great entry point for beginners or anyone with a busy schedule, giving you a hands-on education in entrepreneurship at a fraction of the cost.

You still need to come up with a solid idea, build a brand, do marketing, and provide customer service. But you won’t have to keep a stack of products in your living room or ship every order yourself, making them excellent home businesses to start. Here are some low-investment business ideas that let you make money without investing a lot upfront, while freeing you from the demands of inventory management.

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Home Office Design for Success

Inspire the Entrepreneur in You: Home Office Designs for Success

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For the average hard-working person, taking the work home has become a crucial job requirement. That’s why many homeowners have decided to create their own home offices where they can completely focus on their work and run their business successfully. In order to help you follow in their footsteps and build your dream home office, we have singled out our top décor trends that will inspire the entrepreneur in you. Let’s take a look.

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Tips for Small Business Owners

Tips for Small Business Owners

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  1. Know your basic targets- your Break-even point (BEP) is the absolute first target.Most businesses I have worked with, have this made up number based on what they ‘think’ it is rather than what it actually is. This will scare most of you as most think it is much less than what it truly is, but without this as a minimum target, you will actually lose more money as you do not have the basic turn over target. Read more
Improving Customer Loyalty Through User Experience

Improving customer loyalty through user experience

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Creating a lasting bond between a brand and its customers is important for business but, regrettably, it’s the most daunting task that any brand faces in the modern business setup. The modern customer is more enlightened in terms of the quality of products as well as the before & after sale services to expect from a brand. Companies are resulting to mobile apps and websites to improve their users’ experience online as well as high-quality products to appeal to offline shoppers. In this article, we will delve deeper into this topic and give you the five main ways of improving customer loyalty through user experience.

  1. Functioning Website

We are living in an era where customers judge brands by how technologically advanced they are. The modern client is more comfortable with brands which have invested in functional websites, through which he/she can browse through products’ list, ask questions, get real-time & satisfactory answers, and most importantly, make purchases from the comfort of his/her living rooms. Today, a brand can make its customers more loyal by improving its website’s loading page and minimizing its requirements for new subscribers or shoppers. If, for example, a new customer is able to subscribe to a service with just a single click from the brand’s website, there is a high chance that he/she will become loyal sooner than later. If, upon subscribing to a brand, he/she is able to order for products/services fast and securely, he/she is likely to convince people around him/her to subscribe as well. This form of networking and brand building has never been experienced before.

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6 Businesses You Can Run from Self Storage Units - Photographer

6 Businesses You Can Run from Self Storage Units

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If you’re running a small business from home successfully, chances are that even though you’ve chosen a dedicated space just for work, the work has taken over the whole house nonetheless. Although you try to keep your business operations enclosed in a certain area, it somehow always manages to get out, in form of products all over the house, paperwork on the sofa and materials lying around.

If this is your case, it may be time to step things up with a more professional location — like an office or other place of business. However, if you’re not in the position to take out lease and add hundreds or even thousands a month to your overhead, there is another solution. A 20 to 30 square meter storage unit can be inexpensive and give you all the space you need. Here are some businesses you can take on from self-storage units:

E-shop

If you’re selling your products online, whether through your own shop or something like Ebay, a self-storage unit is an ideal solution for your business. Not only will you have an office where you will take in your orders, you can also use it as a photo studio for your merchandise and also store it there, where it will be safe. You probably have your goods piled up all around the house so you will make room in it by storing everything in the storage unit. If you’ve considered starting an online business, make sure to get all the information before you get started and follow the numerous guides you can find online.

Second-hand

If the facility allows such activity, opening the door to your store regularly could only mean popping the lock and sliding open the doors to your new second hand shop. Records shop, bookstore, clothing store, furniture studio – whatever it is, it can be done from a self-storage unit. Choose the right unit for your business and start selling things. Your home will be grateful for taking everything out of it and making more space. You can organize your shop by buying some nice shelves and putting clothes or whatever it is you’re selling on them, nicely decorating the unit and of course, don’t forget to set up a cash register near the entrance.

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Printed Media

How Newbies Benefit from Printed Media

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The modern world is always changing as we speak. New developments are always becoming a reality at an increasingly fast pace. These developments don’t only concern the field of medicine, technology, and other branches of science. The reality is, change is moving everywhere, including the world of business.

In the past, ordinary people hardly had anything to set up their business. If they had the means, maintaining a stable firm has its issues which will eventually lead to their failures. Today, with almost limited starting funds, a business could turn into an empire in no time.

Indeed, the advancements in the world have become the main contributors to this fast pace change that everyone is experiencing. In the world of business and entrepreneurship, the age of paper and printing is slowly nearing its end, while digital advertising is at the top, enjoying its prime.

A curious case for paper and printing is that they never seem to die and succumb to the changes. Despite the advantages that digital media brings, paper and ink remain relevant with business owners, especially those small and aspiring entrepreneurs. Here’s a look why printed media remains a good choice for a starting business.

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Five Daily Habits You Should Have As a Business Owner

Five Daily Habits You Should Have As a Business Owner

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The aim of every business owner is to realize meaningful success. For this to happen, it is mandatory to have a well-planned daily business routine. This article discusses some of the habits you should have as a business owner.

1. Eat Healthy, Live Healthy

Personal health is of paramount importance for as far as business owners are concerned; being unhealthy translates to workplace absenteeism and less productivity. Your health is heavily dependent on your lifestyle regarding what you eat and the body exercises you undertake. As a conscious business owner, you must always avoid being ill by eating healthy foods and exercising regularly. Avoiding sickness means zero workplace absenteeism and an eventual business success. Besides absenteeism, being unhealthy means that as much as you may be ever present at the office, you will always be less productive. Business success is hard to come along without a 100 percent focus on its day-to-day running.

2. Understand Yourself, Plan Your Day Accordingly, and Save Time

As a business owner, you stand out as the most important asset in the business; your success is your business’ success and vice versa. In that regard, it is important to understand whether you are a morning or an evening person so that you can plan well. Important business affairs ought to be handled during the time that you are most active. During these active hours, you should try as much as possible to avoid unnecessary distractions, such as emails and phone calls.

With a good plan, time-saving comes as a by-product. However, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of saving time since every second in business matters.

3. Make Networking Your Lifestyle

There is a general misconception that business networking only entails swapping business cards during business meetings. The plain truth, however, is that networking can be as basic as discussing your business in informal discussions. As an entrepreneur, it is important to seize every opportunity to talk and campaign for your business. In the course of this informal conversation, you might end up meeting potential clients or business partners.

4. Be a Risk-Taker

Risk taking best defines business. The more eager you are to take risks, the higher the chances of succeeding in business. However, it is good to divorce reckless business investments and decisions from business risk-taking. While the former may be done from the point of naivety, the latter is informed by a clear analysis of the possible causes of either success or failure.

You realize that as much being conservative in business and fearing to venture into new business leads may appear safe, it may be a bottleneck to the growth of your business. As a business owner, it is advisable to always be on the look-out for potential business opportunities and to be ready to invest in them.

5. Be a Family Person

As much as you need to focus seriously on your business, forgetting to spend quality time with your family may not be the best thing to do as a business owner. Sparing a few hours from your busy business schedule to interact with your loved one is important in that you get to refresh your mind in readiness for further business interactions.

The five habits discussed in this article are just a few of the many regular habits that you should always have as a business owner. When applied in the right way, then success is guaranteed.

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Brian Rees is a media relations representative for FB Solutions. In his spare time, he enjoys writing, music, and spending time outside.

 

SEO for Small Businesses

8 Amazing Ways For SEO To Help Small Businesses

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In a world full of large scale companies competing in a cut-throat environment, a lot of small ventures get beaten by a considerable margin. From logistical capabilities, enormous financial differentials, to overall company power, a small business just cannot compete with such huge corporations.

For small time entrepreneurs, the fact stated above may discourage them from starting home-grown ventures. They think that they’ll just end up with the other businesses that get eaten up by the “Big Boys.”

However, to the few who want to wade into deep waters and test the market, an emerging strategy is beginning to take the world by storm: Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short.

Here are some advantages that SEO can bring to small time business owners.

Cost Efficiency

One of the advantages that SEO can bring is that utilizing it doesn’t have to cost too much. As with other types of businesses, finances usually have to be spent. These funds are called investments. There are a lot of services out there that can offer help when it comes to SEO ranking.

Some companies who manage SEO, they have a “no rank, no pay” policy. This system means that if a blog or site does not appear to rank, then the entrepreneur doesn’t have to pay anything to that company.

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How to Defend Your Business Website from Negative SEO

How to Defend Your Business Website from Negative SEO

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Even if you’ve been playing by Google’s rules, keeping up with frequent algorithm changes, you might still find yourself to be a victim of negative SEO.

How come?

You have to look over the fence into your competitor’s backyard, as they might be the ones playing it dirty, setting up traps in order to make sure you fail. By dropping out of search engine’s good graces, your company is bound to hit the bottom, what has a negative effect on your rankings, visibility, visits, and, ultimately, conversions and revenue.

What many tend to forget is that once you hit the rock bottom, the only way you can go is – up. But how?

1. Use Google Search Console alerts

Google Search Console represents extremely valuable collection of tools which include information about search traffic, search appearance, technical status update, crawl data and other educational resources. With this in mind, it is evident why it found its place in almost every website owner’s, webmaster’s and SEO professional’s toolbox.

If you’re using Google Search Console as well, then you know you can leverage it to monitor the safety of your website. It helps you detect any kind of abuse, and to react quickly to any weird activity, turn on alerts. In order to do that, go to the GSC dashboard, choose settings and then go to Preferences. There you simply enable email notifications and you’ll get alerts directly to your inbox.

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