Set Your Company Apart By Using Multiple Forms Of Communication With Customers | Getentrepreneurial.com

November 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As your business grows, you will find that the time your employees spend interacting with customers is growing to grow substantially as well. In order to keep in line with what you need your bottom line to be and to ensure customer satisfaction, you will want to expand on the various ways you assist your customers.

Why Speed Is Of Importance

Most customers are going to lose faith in a company that is giving them the run around when it comes to getting their questions and concerns answered. Even if you are not really giving them the run around, they might feel as though you are if they have to be transferred to one department after another, explaining their story all over again each time, just to have one simple problem addressed.

Why You Should Organize Donation Drives for Your Small Business | Small Biz Trends

November 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You may think it is easier to just throw their old or lightly used items away instead of donating them. It often seems like the process of donating clothing items, electronics or even office furnishings to charity is too cumbersome or time consuming for individuals — or for your small business.

However, organizing and planning for a charitable donation drive isn’t as difficult as you might think with a bit of help, suggests GreenDrop, an East Coast company that collects lightly used clothing and other denotable items on behalf of charities.

9 ways to get better at small talk | Business Insider

November 11, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In a recent article for Wired magazine, Kristen Berman and behavioral economist Dan Ariely share their experience hosting a dinner party with one key rule: “Absolutely no small talk.”

Apparently, the guests were all the happier for it — and the authors conclude in their headline that “small talk should be banned.”

Whether this sounds to you like a great idea or a terrifying prospect, the fact is that most event organizers won’t go so far as to prohibit small talk — so you’d best get good at it.

4 Reasons Why Immigrants Are Essential for Entrepreneurship | Entrepreneur

November 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

There are more entrepreneurs in the United States than ever before. And many of them are immigrants, whose proportion of the U.S. population is the highest in history.

According to the Migration Institute, immigrants in the United States and their U.S.-born children now number approximately 81 million people, or 26 percent of the overall U.S. population.

And many of them have started their own companies, spurred by the financial crash of 2008. That’s evidence that the long tradition of the American Dream lives on: Immigrants continue to come to this country to make their dreams come true.

Ten Obnoxious Company Rules To Kill In 2017 | Forbes

November 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

I became an HR person in 1984, when many of my readers had not been born yet. I was happy to be able to set my company apart from the other employers in Chicago by killing off stupid, outdated rules and policies.

Getting rid of pointless and insulting HR practices made it easier for my company to hire and hang onto tremendous employees, many of whom are still my homies today.

That was over thirty years ago, but lots of organizations are still following the same archaic rules we abolished in 1984. They don’t realize that every policy they shove down their employees’ throats is another reason for a talented person to leave them and work for a more deserving organization.

Here are ten policies that every employer should get off its books before the champagne corks fly on January 1, 2017.

These policies should have disappeared long ago — so if your company is still following them, now is the perfect time to step into the modern age by killing them off!

8 Signs an Employee Should Be Fired (Which Never Appear on Performance Evaluations) | Inc.com

November 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

We can all spot terrible employees: they under-perform, they don’t work well with teams, they struggle to meet expectations… but oddly enough, it isn’t the obviously terrible employees who cause the real problems.

Whether clearly incompetent or unbelievably lazy, they’re easy to spot. So although it’s never fun to fire people, at least you know there’s a problem–and you can quickly let such employees go and move on.

The real problems are caused by employees who appear to be doing an OK job but meanwhile act like what a friend once called an “insidious cancer,” slowly destroying other employees’ performance, attitude, and morale — and with it, your business.

Here are not so obvious signs an employee is poisoning your company.

5 Features You Should Look for When Buying a Router | Life Hack

November 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Based on personal experience, you may find that the router provided by your ISP isn’t the greatest. Whether you are a habitual or pro gamer or whether you want to stream HD movies on Netflix, your router plays a key role in creating the whole experience.

There are some common features that every router must have. However, everyone uses the Internet differently. You may need to spend more time doing research in order to find a router that fits your needs and provides you with all the required features and functions. Here is the list of five important features you should look for before buying your next router.

5 Questions to Ask Your Team After a Bad Sales Week | AllBusiness.com

November 4, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If your industry is seasonal or fluctuates based on demand, you will have occasional dips in sales. Although this is not ideal, it’s expected. How can you cope with this fluctuation? Round up the troops, and talk about why sales are struggling by asking the five following questions. Also, always be transparent, and during your conversation, look for immediate and actionable solutions.

1. How far were we from meeting our goals?

Were you short by just a few hundred dollars? Or are you thousands of dollars behind? First, let me start off by saying, no decrease in revenue is a good thing, but in business, it’s bound to happen. How you react moving forward will depend on the severity of the fluctuation.

Seven Tips For a Better Home Office | The Startup Magazine

November 3, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Whether a business is being run from your home office or there is an occasional telecommute or perhaps it is where you pay your bills and plan your schedule, you deserve more than a simple metal desk and an additional chair placed in a corner. Why is this important? If your office reflects the decor and comfort level of the rest of your home, it will be an area you do not minding spending working hours in.

Here are seven tips to help create a working space that is comfortable, practical and charming:

5 Items Your Books Need to Balance Before a Capital Raise | Getentrepreneurial.com

November 1, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Unless you are an accountant, the last thing on your mind is probably bookkeeping. However, whether you like bookkeeping or not, it is important to the health of your business. This is especially true if you are looking for a business loan, as you will need to ensure that the following 5 items are balanced before you can receive a capital raise. So if you are thinking about how to get a working capital loan, then you need to read this article.

1. Taxes Payable

We must pay our fair share, but the tax laws exist for the benefit of small business owners. I realize some of you are doing a double take after reading the previous sentence, but it is true. The tax code helps small business owners to offset the investments they have made in their business in the form of tax credits.