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Office Design – How To Really Make Your Office Space Reflect Your Brand
So, you have started a business, and you have found some space to use as an office. Whether your company has two or two hundred employees, you are going to want to make that office not only a comfortable place to work, but also somewhere that really sets the tone for what you want your company to be like. This means making your office space truly reflect your brand identity and values.
If you have a rented office space, you may not feel you are able to change and customise it too much, however there is still a lot you can put in place to give your office the right look and feel without having to change anything permanent that the landlords or building management may not allow. Even if your budget is very low, you can take some simple steps to really brand your office.
Colour Schemes and Accents
One of the most important parts of your brand image is going to be the colour palette you have chosen to work with. This isn’t just the one or two colours that appear in your logo, but the entire scheme you will have chosen to use on things like your website and stationery. If you haven’t got this far with your branding yet, and only have a basic colour scheme based around your logo or other key brand elements, then you should take a look online – there are plenty of tools that can suggest appropriate palettes based around colours that compliment or contrast with your key colours.
You may not be able to change things like the colours of carpeting and walls, and some things like your computer hardware are likely to be in neutral colours, but you should use your palette for everything else. Any art work you hang on the walls, any signs you have (not just signs on the exterior, but things like signs identifying meeting rooms), vases and other decorative objects and if possible, couches and other furniture (beyond generic office chairs at peoples’ work stations) should fit your brand’s palettes, and be used in the right proportions. This means if your key colour is bright blue, but you have bright orange as an accent colour, then you should have a lot of blue and a striking splash of orange here and there, rather than the other way around.
Match Your Company’s Mood
Whether you have a literal mission statement or just a concept in your head of how you want your company to be perceived, your office should match it. If you want your company to feel traditional and friendly, then you aren’t going to want ultra modern sculptures and loads of cold chrome everywhere. If your business is slick, hip and minimalist, you won’t want notice boards with stuff about bake sales and fun runs pinned up on them all over the place and collections of toys and memorabilia on your front desk.
Do you want that trendy, work hard play hard look? Put in a pool table, table football game or some other fun recreational stuff your team can use. Want your office to look traditional and classy? Think fresh cut flowers and luxurious name plates on doors and desks. Prefer people to think you are innovative and cool? Look for bold modern art and unusual furnishings.
By matching both the colouring and the objects you use to your concept, you can actually create a very powerful sense of brand without having to do too much!
Attached Images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
Jenny Wadlow, author of today’s guest post, works as a freelance blogger with Sassysigns which is a leading provider of house signs. Her hobbies include reading and swimming.
How To Improve Your Own Working Environment
As a professional person in the modern climate, it’s only right that you should try and make sure your employers treat you responsibly. There are a number of ways that you can improve your working environment for yourself, although it’s sensible to remember that getting ahead in the world of work is about maintaining good relations with other people.
This goes for your supervisors and managers as well as your immediate colleagues. The transparent, honest and approachable you are the better your relationships are likely to be. This is the first step towards a more positive working environment.
Working relationships
It’s important to negotiate distance in the first place. You need to ingratiate yourself with the team and the best way to do that is to make yourself approachable and to use break times and lunch hours to strike up conversations and learn about the people you share the office with. This deepens the connection you have with the people who actually have a say in how much you enjoy working in a given post. Of course, maintaining professionalism is important, but taking the opportunity to connect is not at odds with this.
Your behaviour and performance
It goes without saying that you will be treated as a more valuable employee if your behaviour is exemplary at all times and your performance shows signs of continual improvement.
Training and development
Show an interest in training and development. The fact is that the more responsibilities you take on, the more opportunities you are likely to be dealt and this is great for your career. Turning these opportunities down in favour of an easy life may work for a spell, but it is generally the surest route to becoming dissatisfied with your working environment because you get stuck in a rut. Show interest in promotions that may be available to you.
Look after your interests
It’s not just about keeping people on board. Sometimes you have to think about your own interests above and beyond anyone else’s. For instance, you have to fight your corner if you feel you are being taken advantage of. It’s important to try and secure the pay rise that you feel you are entitled to and to ask about the things that would make your life easier – more flexibility, better office furniture and accessories, more responsibility and so on.
Seek legal advice
There are certainly times in your professional career when you feel you need legal advice in order to know where you stand with relation to the circumstances you find yourself in. You want your employers to treat you properly but how can you be sure that is the case without a bit of professional guidance? This is particularly prevalent if there are factors like illness, childcare, emotional issues and other sensitive matters involved.
A good sign that your employers are interested in your wellbeing is if they offer you the opportunity to seek legal support – then you know they really do care that matters are resolved in the proper manner, even if they aren’t resolved in your favour.
Amanda Hardman offers her team members employee assistance from a professional legal team to demonstrate she has their wellbeing in mind and to keep all procedures above board.
Why Temping Is The Key To Unlocking A Fantastic Future!
If you are currently out of work but you have good administration skills then you are missing a trick if you’re not on a few temping agencies’ books. Temping is a brilliant way to gain experience and earn money while you are looking for a permanent job. It’s really easy to get signed up – just book an appointment to register. You will be asked to give a copy of your CV, and any relevant certificates. Then you will be given a series of tests to do. These include a typing test (this can be audio typing or copy typing or both) to establish the quality and speed of your typing, along with some basic tests to see how proficient you are at certain software applications. If they see that you know your stuff it won’t be long before you are on their books.
The concept of temping is simple – you are offered work for short periods of time to cover holiday or sickness. Sometimes it’s a week and sometimes longer – depending on the assignment. Or perhaps the company needs extra help during a particularly busy time of year. Whatever the reason, there are a lot of companies who are seeking multi-skilled temps to help them out.
There are loads of benefits to being a temp – here are just a few:
No Commitment
If you feel uneasy about taking on a permanent contract (maybe you are pregnant or perhaps you plan to go travelling etc.) then temping is a great solution. You can take work on to suit you, and if you know there is a time when you can’t work then you can just make sure you don’t accept work for this period. Temping allows you to take on as much or as little work as you want and need – with no contracts to sign.
It’s a Great Way In
Taking on a temporary assignment is a great way of seeing how you like working for the company. It gives you a chance to get to know all of the characters and you will get inside information about any permanent jobs that are up for grabs. It also gives you the chance to show them what you are made of – if you really impress them don’t be surprised if they go out of their way to offer you permanent work. Companies really value competent members of staff, and recruiting a stranger is always a gamble. They’d much rather employ someone that they already know can do the job.
Flexibility
Unlike permanent employment you’ll get paid weekly and some temp agencies offer holiday pay and sick pay too. You can choose flexible hours to suit your lifestyle and if there’s a place you really don’t like working you just don’t accept any more work from them!
Lots of people go on to find permanent work through working for a temp agency – it’s a really great way back into the workplace and you can earn money at the same time. Make yourself known to be a reliable and proficient temp and the work will come flooding in!
Attached Images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
Guest contributor, Henry Hudgens, has worked with many reputable temp agencies in Melbourne and is currently employed with Kaleidoscope Legal Recruitment.
6 Ways To Promote Your Product Once You Take It Online
If you want to start selling your product online it can be overwhelming. You have been offline your entire life, so where do you start after you have built your website? You’re actually really lucky because it’s never been easier to promote a product to the masses. Here are a few ways to get you started. You should obviously test out a few of them, but when you find something that works you should concentrate on that one method until you start making as much money as possible.
Just pay for ads
If you’re looking to see instant results there are not a lot of ways you can do it. The quickest way to bring in some money is by paying for ads. There are a lot of different places you can test out, but the general idea is always the same. You must find a winning campaign then scale up. That means you make more money than you’re spending, which can actually take a while to achieve so don’t give up as soon as you lose a few hundred dollars.
Give your product away
If you have a physical product it might be a good idea to give it away to a few people. You will have to select them very carefully because they should have a platform where they connect with a lot of followers. If you need an example you can think of a blogger with lots of readers. If you gave them one of your products and they loved it they might help you promote it on their blog. This does work well if you send your products to the right people.
Team up with someone
There are plenty of people who will happily team up with you and it’s only a matter of finding them. You have to be careful because you’re not looking for anyone you are in direct competition with. If you sold snowboard boots you could team up with someone who sold snowboard bindings. Each person could recommend the other person’s product. You just need to find someone who has a product that complements yours.
Run a competition
If you offer your product as a prize in a competition it will help get it in front of more eyeballs. You should ask people to share the link to your competition and in doing so they automatically enter the draw. I’m sure you have seen a lot of these already if you use Facebook. The reason they are so popular is because they work. You just need to be creative because there are a lot of ways you can promote your competition.
Try to go viral
If you come up with an amazing blog post or video it has the potential to go viral. When this happens it will spread like wildfire around the Internet and you will end up with a huge amount of people back at your site. They will then buy your product because your post or video was so good. You can never predict when something will go viral, but you can definitely aim for it with every single thing you do.
Email people regularly
If you have a website you need to be collecting email addresses. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you sell. If you email people on a regular basis they will think of you whenever they want to buy a product you sell. You just have to make sure you are not pitching them in every email. You should be giving them some great advice that changes their life. That is how you turn someone into a customer and email is a great way to do it.
Attached Images:
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/en/reply-all-e-mail-email-letter-post-97621/
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/en/blog-blogger-together-community-92132/
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/en/icon-outline-cup-free-gold-sports-39763/
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/en/personal-group-silhouettes-man-109965/
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/en/euro-money-currency-man-woman-76203/
Author of this post, Adam Tyler; is a marketing manager at conceptplus.ca, a leading firm for manufacturing custom usb in Canada. He is a keen reader and reads business magazines in his spare time to keep himself updated with the latest happenings in the world of business.
Supporting The Entrepreneur’s Vision With Effective ERP
Time is money, as Benjamin Franklin stated in his letter Advice to a Young Tradesman, Written by an Old One, and as a Founding Father of the USA his advice still carries weight in the business world today.
One of the greatest tasks for entrepreneurs is to manage their businesses effectively, without cutting corners, to maximize profits and ensure that effective solutions for every aspect of the business are in place. Streamlining management systems is one of most valuable ways to reduce costs, enabling the traditional functions of business, such as human resources, finance, manufacturing, sales and marketing and supply chain management, to be part of a fully integrated system. In this regard Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the ideal tool for an organization to utilize.
What is ERP?
ERP provides businesses with a system whereby all those traditional and usually separate functions are rolled into one. The system is made up of various modules and sub-modules, each representing a specific business element. Entering data into one module automatically updates modules that are related, and does this in real time. Thus, for example, if data is entered into the module for receiving, it will update inventory and accounts payable, removing the need for multiple entries of identical data.
The advantages of ERP
Monetary resources for many businesses can be scarce, especially when economic times are as tough as they are at present. Securing a healthy bottom line is of paramount importance, and by using an ERP system significant cost savings can be made to assist with this. Instead of having several separate cost centers everything is combined into a single system, and with a reduction in the number of machines and servers required there is an immediate cost benefit to the business. In addition, fewer machines means less people needed to input data and thus a saving on the cost of human resources is realized.
Speed is of the essence when satisfying customer demand and using an ERP system means that time can be saved and productivity enhanced. The centralized database allows client details to be found quickly and the automatic updating process takes away the need for error correction. A more productive use of time can lead to earlier project completion dates and, consequently, reduced costs.
Strategic planning
All businesses should take a strategic approach to planning, and ERP can assist by storing variables such as demographics and cost implications in the system, giving a range of options to the business and allowing CEOs and senior management a choice of how to move forward. It is essential to train those who will implement and use the system so that there is a real benefit to a streamlined organization.
Building a new enterprise
Entrepreneurs starting a new business can use ERM to help plan how the organization will work most efficiently and effectively. The system cuts out many wasteful areas of running a business, enabling the main focus to be on satisfying customers and making a good profit. When margins are squeezed and time is wasted on laborious and repetitive data entry into a number of cost centers, ERP can help create a smooth-running and slick operation.
Dress To Impress – Interview Outfit Secrets!
Once you have managed to secure that interview, you will need to check out your wardrobe for some killer gear to wear on the day. There are many aspects to consider when attending an interview and the way that you present yourself is one of the most important ones. No matter how awesome your resume may be, or how many Masters Degrees you had for breakfast, if you turn up looking like a dog’s dinner, you will not get a chance to even warm up the seat. If you are struggling to decide what to wear, check out this article for a few nifty suggestions.
Check Out The Co-Workers
It is a rather cool idea to present yourself as one of the team, even before you have been asked onto the playing field. If you have some time available, why not pop down to the company building and check out what the employees are wearing? At least you will get a feel for the type of company you may be working for. If they seem to be obsessed with smart suits and shiny shoes, then you need to adopt a similar dress code.
Don’t Overdo It Hombre!
If you are still undecided about the best route to take, you could do worse than choosing a smart pair of trousers and a plain shirt. Wear a tie and bring a jacket by all means, but you can easily remove these if you get the feeling you are overdressed for the interview. If you overdress slightly you can always remove a few items, but if you arrive underdressed, you are toast!
Okay Now Here’s The Science Bit!
Well, not really but assuming that you have decided on the best dress code to follow, you may want a few pointers on how to enhance these trendy threads. If you stick to these guidelines you will certainly enhance your chances of a return match:
- Always iron your clothes before an interview. If you are hopeless with the hot metal thingy, ask your mum or girlfriend to give you a lesson. Turning up in crinkled clothes is a sure fire way to kick your chances into touch.
- Choose clothes that fit you properly, those tight trousers may have the girls in accounts blushing, but your potential boss is not going to be impressed. Many a possible job has been binned just because someone forgot that they added two stone in the winter holidays.
- Flashy Jewellery is bad news – Save the bling for those Friday nights at the club, try to appear as normal as possible, even if that is not very easy!
- Aftershave and Perfume – Have a shower and use some deodorant by all means, just don’t risk your interviewer having a coughing fit after you enter the room.
- Hair – Make sure your hair is nice and clean for the interview, get a nice haircut but leave the Mohawk for your retirement party!
Good Luck!
If you follow these tips you will look and feel great at your interview, and that is half the battle – Go get ‘em tiger!
Attached Images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://pixabay.com/en/abstract-activity-red-white-13640/
- License: Creative Commons image source
Chloe Sharpe, the author of today’s guest post, is a fun-loving person and she gives useful tips to help people improve their chances of getting employed at Job Seekers’ Allowance. You can get in touch with her on Twitter @ChloeJSA.
Be Ready For Anything At Your Next Job Interview – How To Answer Those Really Tricky Interview Questions
If you’re looking for your next professional opportunity, then you’re probably putting a lot of thought into how you’re going to approach interviews. Some people dread interview situations, feeling nervous about being grilled and evaluated by a panel of people who have the power to decide whether or not their dream job becomes a reality. Others actually quite enjoy them, relishing the challenge of proving why they are able to help a prospective employer thrive.
Whichever camp you fall into, there are some questions that interviewers like to use that just about everyone dreads. Here are some ideas to help you deal with them. Use them to help you prepare some answers you can have ready, and you’ll be able to confidently respond without missing a beat!
“Describe yourself in one word…”
Some interviewers love to put candidates on the spot with this question, or a variation on it, so have a few ideas of words that describe your working style in mind before you head in to an interview. Some people are tempted to try and be funny at this point and reply with something silly, ironic or self-deprecating (for example “tall”, “fabulous” or “crazy”). If the interview feels right for this, it can be a way to break the ice and show you have a sense of humour, but that won’t get you out of giving a proper answer so you’re still going to need one.
Think of something that is appealing to these specific employers, not too self-aggrandising, and apt. Words like “enthusiastic”, “energetic”, “direct” and “honest” can be good. Avoid buzzwords like “innovative”, which don’t really tell the interviewer anything (except that you use buzzwords), or things like “experienced” which tell them something they should already know from your resume.
“What would you say your weaknesses are?”
Nobody likes this one, but don’t fall into the obvious trap of “giving a weakness that is also a strength”. This is something the interviewer will have seen people do time and again, and is a clichéd response that doesn’t work (unless your interviewer has just arrived in a time machine from the eighties). Do not say you’re a perfectionist, or a workaholic, or you care too much about your staff, or anything along those lines, even if it’s true.
Instead, think of something that is a genuine weakness but which is skill based rather than personal and could be easily rectified. Something like “I’m not as good with Microsoft Excel as I could be” is a good one (assuming the job would require you to use Excel, but it isn’t one of the main responsibilities) – it highlights a training need rather than a serious personal flaw, and shows that you are willing to look at your skills objectively and admit where you need improvement.
By having answers to these questions in mind ahead of every interview, you won’t be thrown when
Attached Images:
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://www.andertoons.com/interview/cartoon/6542/do-you-have-any-experience-in-addition-to-been-there-done-that/
Deborah Rodriguez, the author of this post, works for a successful legal recruitment agency and often writes blog articles related to her work. She likes to spend time with her family and friends on holidays.
Lock Up Your Stock! Sticky Fingers May Be About…
Running a busy store is not without its stresses. There are plenty of things to worry about every day and there’s a never-ending ‘to do’ list to battle through. The last thing you want to deal with is theft in your shop – you work hard to earn the money you do and nobody wants a thief to get the better of them. There are several things you can do to protect your shop’s security and it’s something that you should give serious thought to if you don’t want to come unstuck.
We’ll give you a few tips on how to increase your shop’s security – consult with your local police station too to see what they suggest.
Security Is Paramount
Obviously it should go without saying that you should have a failsafe security system to protect the building when you are not there. Locks should be completely robust and reliable and you should think about having an alarm system fitted. But also consider what happens when the shop is open. Do members of staff leave back doors open? Anybody could cruise in and help themselves so it may be time to review your security procedures.
Lockable Cabinets
Unfortunately shoplifting is one of the most common crimes there are. It’s also very hard to detect until long after it has happened and unless you can afford CCTV or a store detective you will lose out. Don’t make it easy for thieves to walk in and help themselves. Make sure all your valuable stock is displayed in lockable display cabinets that can only be opened by a member of staff. Genuine customers will not mind asking at all, and thieves will give up and move on to somewhere else in search of an easier target.
Regular Stock Takes
Sadly many shoplifting occurrences turn out to be an inside job. Make sure you do regular stock takes listing exactly how much of everything you have, so that if things start to disappear you are made aware of it.
Roller Shutters
Roller shutters are a good way of reinforcing your shop’s security overnight when you are not there. They pull down in front of the windows adding an extra lockable layer to your security. It also helps to protect the windows from being smashed by drunks and vandals. You can put one across the back door too. They are quite expensive to fit but you will save money on your insurance as added security brings the premium down. And you’ll save yourself a lot of bother in the long run dealing with break-ins and damage.
The key to security is to always have an eagle eye. It’s really easy to be too trusting but very soon your good nature will be taken advantage of. Keep your wits about you and make sure every member of staff knows the security procedures. Work in close contact with the police and it’s also a great idea to buddy up with other shop owners – they’ll be happy to look out for you in return for you doing the same for them.
Don’t let the criminals win!
Attached Images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
The author of this post, Ian Stephen, is an interior designer specialising in shop fittings and office fitouts. Ian works with SpaceWall Industries, a leading store fittings company based in Victoria.
Entrepreneur Revolution
This week saw the official launch of Daniel Priestley’s new book “Entrepreneur Revolution” published by Capstone. His last book “Become A Key Person of Influence” was number 1 on Amazon for business books and became a best-seller. This one is also a brilliant read!
Already the book is #1 in Amazon for all business books and #28 across all categories!
It’s one of the best books on Entrepreneurship in a very long time. Many of Daniel Priestley’s groundbreaking entrepreneurial ideas are contained in this book.
There’s another reason to buy it now. Imagine for a moment a world where the chart-topping book on Amazon wasn’t:
• a dieting book
• a book about 50 shades of naughtiness
• a book about 15 minute meals
• a book about wizards, vampires or oversexed teenagers who who fall in love with wizards and vampires.
Imagine a world where the number 1 book was about Entrepreneurship! That alone must be worth a tenner to see.
As one of the reviews on Amazon itself says: “Some books just cant be put down, they are few and far between agreed, but let me tell you, this is one of them” – Amanda Kennedy
At the very least you should read the free preview available just by clicking the graphic above!
Shipping Containers Add A List Of Advantage For Home Based Businesses
Homes made out of shipping containers have become very popular over the past few years; intellectual people have been able to transform these ugly metal boxes into innovative pieces of architecture at the most economical and reasonable rates.
The recent trend is to use these metal boxes to form commercial buildings and shops. Further on, such shipping containers can be used to create multiple office buildings at an affordable rate. The idea behind the workaround: in reality, thousands of these boxes go waste in every country due to extensive trade deficits. So why not use them for something meaningful and make them an essential part of the housing domain?
How shipping containers can help home based businesses flourish?
Consider the following advantages of shipping containers with reference to home based businesses; such businesses usually suffer due to low funds and majorly, the entire budget for the business needs to be directed to run the core functions of the business.
Environmental way of doing business:
These containers can be efficiently used as office buildings by small scale businesses; such offices are not only comfortable and extremely affordable but are also based on the ‘go green’ principle.
Ability to deal with competition:
If you’re a well skilled entrepreneur looking to exploit the extensive space for your professional comfort, you would find yourself swaying with the comfort and the ease of operation which one gets with these shipping containers. He or she would also have the product knowledge, customer base and would be able to do well without a high street presence or a boutique shop in big malls.
Affordability:
Running the business from a home set up is the best affordable way; the costs of rent and overhead charges of running an office get eliminated here. The business could also be delineated from the home space, with the help of a container that could be situated in the backyard or the garden. The size of the office space could also be achieved by stacking containers on top of each other.
Saves effort:
Spacing the office close to the residence gets the entrepreneur close to the locals; it allows him/her to understand their preferences and desires and tune the business accordingly. They also get a chance to interact with fellow entrepreneurs. This form of direct communication is better than all advertising channels.
Place to store stock and inventory:
Businesses involved in storage of physical inventory and stock need dedicated space for storing their inventory. They need an arrangement which would ensure that the stock is well protected from rain, rodents and winds. A container building offers the best storage option for any businessman looking for potential storage spaces.
Manages budget:
How can you maintain your budget? Shipping containers offer you the best renovation options when it comes to sprucing up your interiors with shelves and cupboards. Not only are they economical but they also help a business in budget allocation during the lean periods.
If you’re a home based business looking for some cool, ubiquitous spacing opportunities, nothing can quite beat the need as shipping containers. They are innovative, convenient and always readily available to become a reliable asset in your balance sheet, for a lifetime.
This article is submitted by Steve Chamley. He is a flourishing businessman who trades products like footwear and woven bags from South America. He shares excellent trading tips and insights through his articles.
