Category Archives: Tools and Information

Hiring and Retention Tips for Small Business Owners | Business News Daily

Posted on June 2, 2023 by knjohn | Leave a comment

Hiring and retention remain top challenges for small business owners. Here’s how employers can improve their recruitment and retention efforts.

Hiring and retention remain top challenges for small businesses due to a lack of workplace engagement.
Businesses have difficulty retaining workers because many of them feel under-compensated and burned out. Additionally, finding employees with the right skills and qualifications is a challenge.
To recruit and retain quality candidates, businesses must provide fair compensation, career development, flexibility and a positive company culture.
This article is for small business owners and recruiters looking to secure and retain talent in the current job market.

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Tagged finding employees, Hiring and Retention Tips, small business owners

11 Reasons Why We Fail to Achieve Our Goals | LifeHack

Posted on June 1, 2023 by knjohn | Leave a comment

Thinking up a goal is the easy part. Pinpointing the specifics of a goal, developing a plan of action, and then following through with that plan of action and pushing past the inevitable obstacles that will arise is a different story altogether. As you can see, there are many reasons why we fail to achieve our goals (and our new year’s resolutions every year).

Former U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt is famous for having said: “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.”

It would be easy to blame people’s avoidance of pain and difficulty for the fact that a great majority of goals fail to be met, but there has to be more to it than that, right? Well, there most certainly is. So, why do we fail to achieve our goals?

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Tagged obstacles to achieving goals, Why We Fail to Achieve Our Goals

9 Types of Goals to Help You Move Your Life Forward | LifeHack

Posted on June 1, 2023 by knjohn | Leave a comment

Goals can be about anything in life, as long as it is something you set to achieve within a timeframe. There are different types of goals you can set to make your life better.

For example, you can set a goal to improve your vocabulary by reading 30 books in a year. To achieve this goal, you’ll probably have to set smaller goals, like reading 30 minutes a day or 4 hours a week and reading up to 3 books every month.

While at it, you may discover that your family and relationship need more attention, as does your business. You might also find that you need to raise the bar of your income to meet surging expenses. Moreover, you also do not want to keep your health in the danger zone while pursuing your wildest dreams.

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Tagged Move Your Life Forward, timeframe, Types of Goals

Amazon Launches Innovative New Echo Devices | Small Biz Trends

Posted on May 24, 2023 by knjohn | Leave a comment

Amazon has unveiled an expanded line of Echo products that are set to change the landscape of the home tech market, and with it, present opportunities for small businesses. The tech giant introduced four all-new Echo devices: the Echo Pop, Echo Show 5, Echo Show 5 Kids, and Echo Buds. Additionally, the Echo Auto is now available in eight more countries, bringing Alexa’s assistance to even more drivers around the globe.

Small businesses can leverage these advancements as Amazon’s smart devices become increasingly integrated into daily routines. With over half a billion Alexa-enabled devices now sold, these innovations are set to have broad reach and diverse applications.

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Tagged Amazon, Echo Buds, Echo Show 5, Echo Show 5 Kids, New Echo Devices, the Echo Pop

Why Downtime and Work-Life Balance Are Critical for StartUp Success | The Startup Magazine

Posted on May 22, 2023 by knjohn | Leave a comment

What Is Down-Time and the Work-Life Balance?

The work-life balance equation is all about having a balanced approach to work and play – in other words, working hard and playing hard. The constant hustle that we have all become accustomed to is simply not good for our long-term mental health and well-being. The increase in startup failure caused by owner burnout has become more common than ever and, as such, the importance of downtime relaxation is more often than not cited as the solution. Understanding this is the first step that should be followed by determining how much time you intend to put aside for yourself and then choosing what you intend to do.

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Tagged Downtime, startup, work-life balance

Use it or lose it: Google says it will delete inactive accounts | CNN Business

Posted on May 17, 2023 by knjohn | Leave a comment

If you haven’t logged into your Google account in a long time, you better use it or lose it.

Google announced Tuesday it will start deleting accounts that have been inactive for at least two years, a move that the company says is intended to prevent security risks.

The updated policy takes effect immediately, but Google said it will not begin deleting accounts until December. The company plans to send out multiple warning notifications to users and to conduct the purge of inactive accounts in phases.

The first accounts on the chopping block will be those that were created and then never revisited by the user, Google said. The policy also will only impact personal accounts, leaving organizations like schools and businesses untouched.

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Tagged deleting accounts, Google, inactive accounts

EMV Technology: What Small Merchants Need to Know | Business News Daily

Posted on May 16, 2023 by knjohn | Leave a comment

EMV chip cards have become the bread and butter of in-person card payment. So why aren’t you accepting them yet?

EMV technology powers credit and debit cards that include payment chips alongside the traditional magnetic stripe.
The liability for credit card fraud stemming from non-EMV transactions lies with merchants, not credit card companies.
The primary benefits of EMV ― fraud reduction, mobile add-ons, easier customer payments ― substantially outweigh the challenges of implementation.
This article is for small business owners interested in accepting EMV payments through credit card chips.

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Tagged easier customer payments, EMV chip cards, fraud reduction, mobile add-ons

9 Inflation Tips for Startups | AllBusiness.com

Posted on May 15, 2023 by knjohn | Leave a comment

The United States experienced historic inflation in 2022, and it paved the way for the surge of price increases that followed into 2023. Meanwhile, people continue to become entrepreneurs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, over 5 million applications were filed to form new businesses in 2022. And now, many of these companies are facing an impending recession—or an economic squeeze at the very least.

For these fledgling startups, it’s important to proactively combat the rippling effects of inflation to stay afloat. From reassessing margins to cutting costs, the following inflation tips can help startups and entrepreneurs lessen the impact of economic headwinds.

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Tagged entrepreneurs, Inflation Tips, startups

Why You Should Pay Employees to Stop Working for You | Business.com

Posted on May 15, 2023 by knjohn | Leave a comment

Learn what voluntary severance is and when you should offer it.

The past few years have been somewhat tumultuous in terms of the labor force. The pandemic led to a massive wave of layoffs, which was followed by a rapid — and somewhat chaotic — rehiring of workers. Now, as businesses face high levels of inflation, a looming recession and economic uncertainty, many employers are rethinking those recent hires and starting to make cuts again.

An obvious and common way to cut labor costs is to lay off workers. According to the Layoffs.fyi database, more than 1,000 tech companies made layoffs in 2022, resulting in more than 150,000 employees being laid off. However, layoffs aren’t business owners’ only option when it comes to reducing their workforce. One alternative is to offer voluntary severance — paying your employees to quit.

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Tagged inflation, layoffs, voluntary severance

Scaling Smarter: How Payroll Platforms Benefit Startups | The Startup Magazine

Posted on May 12, 2023 by knjohn | Leave a comment

Starting a new business can be an exciting journey where you’re bound to experience your fair share of ups and downs along the way. In this regard, one of the necessary evils startups have to deal with is finances, especially when it comes to managing payroll. The issue is, how can you even think about scaling your business when such a bottleneck is staring you right in the eyes, with each mistake having costly ramifications to boot?

That’s where payroll platforms come in. In essence, these are designed to automate the process entirely, an investment that virtually pays for itself considering how much time they save you – your most valuable asset you should rather invest in growing your business. They will help you make the deductions where necessary, generate pay stubs, and all the other tedious tasks you’d otherwise have to do manually.

In today’s post, we will explore payroll platforms from the perspective of startups, noting how they can help them overcome the setbacks they face on a daily basis.

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Tagged entrepreneurs, new business, Payroll Platforms, startups