Getting your very first business off the ground and making your mark in your chosen industry is an endeavour to be proud of, as not everyone can say they took a great idea and made it a success in a competitive industry. As a matter of fact, most inexperienced business owners often start their business feeling discouraged due to the high level of competition.

After all, there is very little leniency for a new company — you are expected to compete at a professional level no matter the size of your company, and the largest and most popular businesses are direct competitors from the get-go. While it can be quite intimidating, it does not have to be a miserable affair. Here are a few things to consider when getting your first business off the ground!

On the topic of proper insurance

Insurance is not just about begrudgingly purchasing coverage options to maintain the bare minimum in order to run a company. Insurance might not seem that important, but there are few things more crucial than having proper coverage. After all, having a crack in the armour is something that will eventually cause problems down the line, as it can be easy for someone to take advantage of the situation and get the business caught in a legal issue. Few things can tank a young company harder than a legal loophole, which is why it pays to err on the side of caution when considering coverage options. Be safe, and be thorough — you never know what could happen in the future!

The power of digital marketing

Without a doubt, marketing is one aspect that is going to make or break a company. After all, a company that provides the very best service will still end up going under without the necessary relevance and influence. With so many people keeping indoors due to the COVID-19 crisis, more and more online users are checking reviews and various other online channels to see whether or not a company is worth their time and money. Getting started with an effective digital marketing strategy in your preferred social media channel is a great way to get started. After all, a social media account is entirely free.

Implementing solid systems with outsourcing

A fine example would be human resources — maintaining an HR system can be quite challenging for most startups, which is why many new business owners go for Tugela People for their payroll solutions and HR systems. Sometimes, the ideal solution would be to implement the services of other companies through outsourcing methods. It can make a startup look like a company with years of experience rather than the new kid on the block.

If you want clients and competitors to take your company seriously, it is crucial to make the necessary preparations. Understanding your niche and filling the demand with your services is at the very core of running a business, and the steps above are designed to help you reach your goals.

The goal of every business owner is to expand. When the business grows bigger, the chances of earning more money also keep expanding. However, there are times when downsizing is better. It might not bring more money, but it will keep the business alive. These are the instances when you have to start considering downsizing your business.

Financial instability

If your business is in a financial mess, you have no choice but to downsize. You will keep bleeding money if you decide to expand. You would rather wait until your business becomes more stable before considering other options. It’s even more crucial during this pandemic when you don’t have the same amount of money flowing in. You might even fail to keep up with the operational costs. If you barely make ends meet, you have to consider downsizing right away. However, you should also be cautious, and ensure that you aren’t wasting money in the process of attempting to save it.

For instance, looking for a supplier of high quality, cheap stationery isn’t always easy, but that little extra time will save you plenty in additional costs in the long term. Quality remains key, even on a budget.

Reduced profits

You can check the company’s profits over the last few months. If there’s a downward trend, it’s a bad sign. It means that the business isn’t doing well. While it’s not the only barometer to consider, it’s quite important. If the profits are moving down, it might be time to downsize. It won’t increase profits, but it reduces expenses. The net profit will be more stable as a result.

Product quality gets affected

If you keep on growing your business, but you can’t keep up with the demand, it’s a sign that you should downsize. You might earn more money because of the increased demand, but product quality is on the line. If it gets affected, it would be bad for your business. You will lose even your most loyal clients. They stayed because they believe in what you have to offer. If you can’t even meet the standards, it would be terrible for the business.

Work-life balance is on the line

When you started your company, you were alone. Even as it began to grow, you still didn’t have a lot of employees with you. You got help, but you’re pulling a huge bulk of the work. At some point, the work-life balance gets affected. It’s time to downsize if you already spend your entire time working on your company. It’s no longer healthy, and it will affect how you deal with people around you. There’s no time to spend with family and friends. You might earn a lot, but you’re not happy. There’s no point in living this kind of life.

Be reasonable 

Downsizing your business isn’t an indication of failure. It’s a smart decision to keep things going. If you decide to operate under the same conditions or even grow, your business will ultimately suffer. You might even have to close. Before it happens, you have to take the right step. Don’t allow your emotions to determine the next best step.

You can make gradual changes and try to downsize where you can. Eventually, you can get back to a bigger operational scale. Monitor the changes in your business and decide if it’s safe to go big again. You know what’s best for your company, so you have to make the right choice.

As a business professional, it’s important to maintain a clean reputation. Networking and being social is a strong asset for an entrepreneur. You have to put in work to achieve a good name with other professionals in your circle.

If you’re looking to start building your own empire, it’s time to do some research. Take a few moments to consider these tips on how to build your reputation as an entrepreneur, and get started today.

Always do what you say you will do

It sounds like a simple piece of advice, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Think about how it feels when you ask a vendor to call you back about something and they never get back to you? Don’t be that person.

Return phone calls. Deliver on deadlines, and strive to hit a little above the bar. Doing what you say you will do shows that you are dependable as a professional. If you run a business, it also reflects well on your establishment.

Network through social media

Networking is a huge part of business and a huge part of building your rep as a professional or entrepreneur. Social media happens to be the hotspot for digital networking, and building yourself a notable presence will also build your reputation.

LinkedIn is a great business-centered social media outlet. Heidi Houston, a successful real estate entrepreneur on LinkedIn shows you how to get started with building your name on the platform. Nurture the connections you make through social media, because you never know where they will take you.

Go out of your way to help others in your realm

It’s easier to build relationships with others in your profession when you’re focused on boosting the endeavours of all, rather than having a more one-track mind. Foster the mindset of helping others.

Offer up your time to answer questions or offer guidance. Maybe you know someone that could help another professional you know. Make the move to connect the two, and they will be grateful for the effort.

Engage with your community

Engage with your community, whatever that may be. It may mean being more social in the office. It could mean hosting a holiday event in the neighborhood. Consistently find ways to connect with people.

Take the time to look the part

If you want a solid professional reputation, you need to look the part. Whether or not people admit it, they make judgements before ever hearing a word out of your mouth. Looking the part will help open doors. Even if you work in a generally casual field (like a tattoo artist, for example), it helps to always look well put together.

Even with websites making up an important part of over 80% of businesses, there is still no standard server size. However, to some degree, someone who is considering web hosting for their business site can compare different features in each available server and determine which is the perfect size for it. When it comes to web hosting, no amount of time and attention to detail is too much considering it is the foundation of your website. Therefore, in this guide, we will be looking at how to arrive at which package is perfect for your small business. The method would be to consider the different factors that are relevant to the issue and the capabilities/components of the hardware available to you.

Factors to Consider

Before getting down to look at the components of the servers available, first, consider these factors to help make your decision easier and more informed. Those elements include:

Server Use

Knowing what you would be using your server for is essential in determining the ideal size for your small business. Therefore, you would be asking such questions as “will my visitors be uploading lots of videos”, “do I need this server mostly for backups”, and so on. In fact, once you are done choosing a domain name, the next decision you will make will be this. But a good understanding of the functionality of your server will make it easier.

If your reason for looking for a server has a lot to do with computer power, then you would be emphasising processors in your choice. While some uses rely significantly on hard drive space, others will focus more on RAM.

Number of Users

For big companies and servers used for website hosting, it is critical to determine the number of persons who would be using it. Also, you will have to go further to calculate the volume of users at particular times. There is a formula for calculating what the processing power and memory each request made to such a server will be.

However, since you are measuring for a small business server, the number of users would be obvious and hence, the demand on your service will be easy to calculate especially when it is basically for email handling. However, you should also be able to consider the number of users you expect to have in the future.

Redundancy

Assuming you have been able to narrow down these factors and have an idea of the size of server you need, there is also something else to factor in. Because of the need for backup (even when you have taken all security and hardware measures to ensure you need to), you will need a server you can depend on. This is why the good ones are fitted with multiple redundancies that are designed to kick in in the event that any component begins malfunctioning.

However, these extra components increase both the cost and power that a server consumes which generally affects the size you will ideally be going for.

Set-up

When setting up a server for your small business, you will have to also consider whether it will be done in your office or hosted in the cloud. Whichever you decide to go for may have a bearing on the size that is ideal for you. For instance, with cloud-hosted servers, you won’t have any physical access to it and the charges will be recurrent. This will have you re-evaluating your needs for size in each component.

Components

The kind of hardware component of any server you come to choose will be determined by your specific needs. So when you are choosing a server, you have to check out the component of each.

RAM

When you are running a business, you will need to pull up information and most times as quickly as possible. It is the RAM of your server that helps in that. It serves as the memory of the computer where you hold some data but are not really stored permanently as you do in your hard drive. When more information is needed, the hard drive is accessed. Therefore, if you need faster access to information, then you would need a server size with a slightly large RAM.

Processors

If you are more interested in speed, then you should focus on the processors of each server available to you. If the RAM is the memory of your server, the processor is the brain and today, you will find a lot of servers that run on multiple core processors. These are the ones you should be checking out for more efficient communication

Hard Drive

While RAM is the short term memory of your server, your hard drive is the long term memory. This is where you store all your data. Therefore, the size will be dependent on the amount of data your business will be storing. However, hard drive consideration should come after you have been able to measure and factor in everything else your server will be doing. This way, you will easily check off each server package for those that meet your specifications.

Final Thoughts

Now you have determined your needs, server type and size, and your budget, you can then go ahead to make the purchase. That is assuming you have decided to go for the one you can set up in your office, however. Just make sure you have enough of a server so that your resources don’t run slowly – which can be frustrating and produce poor results. Domains4less.co.nz offers more information on the ideal server size and web host for your small business.

 

 

You may have noticed that many jobs these days seem to come with rules and regulations attached. This goes double with dangerous and hazardous job sites; with many companies, you won’t be able to access those sites at all without a work permit.

What is a permit-to-work system, and when and how is it used? For many companies, strict controls on who can perform different jobs, or even enter a particular job site, is part of their standard operating procedures. These systems are essential controls for hazardous industries; they are especially common at hazardous job sites like construction zones or industries dealing with flammable gases, like the oil and natural gas industries. The goal of these management systems is to ensure safety standards, limit the risk of accidents from human factors, and take appropriate precautionary measures to protect workers.

Effective structure

Permit-to-work systems are typically top-down affairs. The management level uses a structured, formal documentation system to ensure the safety of a given job and reduce hazards. By requiring permits to carry out specific tasks, managers can control the work being done and ensure proper safety measures.

A work permit system is part of a broader safety management system. An effective permit system works alongside clear emergency procedures and a well-trained workforce to protect workers around hazardous substances or in high risk jobs.

How a permit-to-work system operates

The end goal of a permit-to-work system is, of course, a permit – typically a written document, occasionally a virtual permit. But how does that permit fit within the system?

Every permit-to-work system tries to achieve a number of goals. These include:

• Improved communication

By requiring a permit before work can be done, the permit-to-work system ensures that all responsible parties need to talk to each other. Workmen need to ask for permission, and managers need to communicate with workers to issue permits and make sure that all rules are followed.

• Detailed planning

Permits not only allow someone to work, but they also explicitly state the work to be done. That allows supervisors to plan out each step of a project in detail, and then track the completion of each step. From a safety perspective, it lets managers consider what aspects of a job might be dangerous, and try to plan to mitigate those risks.

• Explicit procedures

With communication and planning comes procedures – step-by-step instructions for safety measures that need to be followed or each job. Those procedures identity which parties are involved and responsible for each step, so that supervisors know who should do what and when. Those precautions often require managers and supervisors to be involved in safety checks and in making sure that all workers leave a jobsite after a specific time. With the permit-to-work system, workers are tracked on entry and exit, meaning that no one goes overlooked in case of accidents.

• Verification and inspection

Equipment inspections, transport of dangerous or valuable goods – all of that can be more easily managed with a permit-to-work system. Since there’s more direct oversight on who can enter, ie., only workers with valid permits for assigned tasks, managers can verify that work is being done correctly and safely.

• Accountability

These systems provide both security and accountability. Workers have less risk of using faulty equipment and gain more knowledge of safety procedures, while supervisors are better able to track completed work with appropriate precautions.

• Centralized oversight

That accountability benefits centralized oversight. With a permit to work system, a single site supervisor can know exactly which tasks are being done, with what equipment, and by whom, at any given point. This avoids one workgroup endangering another.

Permit-to-work tips

• Companies often use permit-to-work systems alongside risk assessments and method statements. Risk assessments lay out the dangers of a particular job, while method statements identify how a job should be done. Work permits are the final step, ensuring that only approved workers who know the risks and are prepared to deal with them can enter the jobsite and complete the task.
• Permit-to-work systems succeed when the given authorities clearly and adequately identify the tasks that need to be done, and communicate when those tasks are completed. One of the more notable failures of a permit-to-work system resulted in part because of a failure to communicate an incomplete work permit. when

What’s on a work permit?

Most work permits contain all or most of the following:

• Identification of the work to be done, the personnel responsible, and the necessary equipment
• Necessary safety precautions
• Communication channels – other workgroups, supervisors
• Issuing authority
• Length of validity
• Witness of work completion
• Emergency actions

With this information, work permits allow centralized control over otherwise busy, hazardous, and hectic workplaces.