In life, we need to have good quality relationships in order to gain any substantial meaning from them. Whether you are running a business or doing your best to nurture a friendship, relationships are crucial. But when you throw money into the mix, this is when things can get tricky. Money is the ultimate goal, but we need to remember that money isn’t everything. But when we are suffering from debt or struggling to keep our business afloat, we have to put certain components in place to guarantee success. But before all this, you need to fix your personal relationship with money. And how can we do this? Prioritise As our lives change, we have to choose priorities in life. When you consider your value system, such as if you prioritise money over everything else, is this going to damage your relationships in other aspects of your life? There are so many business people out there that are driven by profit that they ignore the needs of their employees, consciously or unconsciously. And this is where we have to look at fixing our own values. This means that we may have to look at our debt system. While there are systems out there like the Debt to Success System (DTSS) and if you’re wondering is DTSS legit? It is one of those systems that can open your eyes to the wider world. It’s not just about the finances, but something like this can throw up so many pertinent points that we can’t help but address our attitudes towards money. Prioritise it, but don’t let it take over your life. Stop Using It for Manipulation Purposes The very nature of doing business relies on money as the most vital commodity. And with money comes the balance of power. But when you start to think about the things that you really care about in life, does money really factor into it? Or to rephrase it better; should money factor into it? When you love someone, would you manipulate someone into doing something to get you money? As soon as you start to remove the ideas of power with regards to your money thoughts, it makes for more clarity in life. Relationships and Passion Will Bring the Answer Whether we are setting up a side hustle or we are looking to forge a life for ourselves, when we have more control when we place an onus more on money rather than how we feel at the end of the day, this can throw things out of balance. When we start to put our passions into a project, this may require a lot of effort on our part, but the results we get out of it will be worth it, financial or not. When people are looking to make a living from doing something they love there comes a point where they have to address their own passions towards the project. Once you start to address your own relationships with a certain type of work, you can ask yourself if you are happy to do it without earning money at the outset. Naturally, we all need to make a living but money is a commodity used for trade rather than the route of happiness. This is why you have to fix your relationship with it.  https://youtube.com/watch?v=28-FMrg0KqQ

The internet is the most powerful and important business tool at your disposal. Without it, many firms would cease to exist, struggle to make a profit or even be noticed in a sea of small businesses all vying for their customers’ attention. But what’s even more essential is a good broadband connection and high speeds. Failure to have these established and you may struggle with the simple day to day running of your business. From cloud access services, file transfers, screen sharing, communication between clients and employees and more, without a good speed your business will be left floundering. The costs of poor broadband aren’t just felt in your business’ success, you may also feel them in your pocket. Getting the best deal for your broadband is essential for any business owner who is conscious of that bottom line and their expenses. You can check out the latest broadband deals here. Here we’ll outline why good broadband is essential for your business. Tech! Technological advances are happening every day and the best way your business can keep up is to invest in high-speed broadband. Most devices now require a certain broadband speed or bandwidth for them to work efficiently. Companies and clients alike will want to use the latest in technology to connect with you and make their working life easier, from smartphones and tablets to video conferencing, online payments and e-commerce. Ensuring you have high-speed broadband will allow you to cope with high volumes of traffic and requests both in your office and from your customers. Remote working Due to Covid-19, more of us are working from home than ever before. This means you need to provide a network that is flexible and easily accessed by those who work remotely. From data back up requirements to sharing projects, online meetings, chats and so on, your workforce needs to know that they can log onto a secure network that won’t hinder their productivity and their ability to do their job. Fast broadband will allow them to do this. Better customer service Providing outstanding customer service is essential for any business. You can provide your staff with excellent training and incentives and only hire those with good levels of experience in customer service. However, all of this means very little if your staff cannot implement their skills due to poor connectivity issues. If you can’t connect with clients online efficiently, then your customer retention numbers will start to suffer. Data back up Preserving your files, customer data and other online files safely are only possible with superfast broadband. Imagine losing all your customer data, your product information, vendor information and financial data for everyone you do business with. Automated cloud backups and confidence comes with high-speed broadband. And finally, increase those profit margins The better your broadband speed, the better for your budget. Not only could you potentially save money on your energy bills but with improved customer engagement and staff productivity, your profit margins will increase in no time.

Starting a business can be daunting because it involves a lot of different components. Getting a great start can drastically improve your chances of launching a successful business, but there are often a couple of things that entrepreneurs forget when setting up a new company. So in this post, we’re going to cover some of the most commonly neglected areas that you should really be focusing on as a priority when starting a new business. Marketing shouldn’t be an afterthought–it should take priority You could set up one of the best businesses ever but if you’re not willing to advertise then you’ll never get noticed. Marketing should take up a huge percentage of your initial capital since you want to make a big impact. Once the basic foundation of your business has been set up and you can start taking orders, you should focus on creating an accessible website. After that, you can pour the rest of your capital into marketing to get people to notice you. Your team needs to be strong and able to work together as a cohesive unit Far too many new businesses hire a mix of experienced individuals and fresh employees. This leads to a mixed team that is difficult to lead because the difference in knowledge and skill is far too much. You want to establish a team that has a strong bond instead of focusing only on their experience and expertise. Even if there’s a gap in knowledge, strong company culture can create powerful bonds that will uplift the entire team and help them work as a cohesive unit. Remembering all of the legal steps to take before you establish a business It’s important to remember that you need to register to do business in your state and you need to speak to a legal professional to ensure a solid foundation for your company. The last thing you want is someone taking you to court because your company name is too similar to theirs or because your products are infringing on their patents. Internalize all criticism and feedback so you can act on it One of the biggest mistakes that new businesses make is ignoring any initial criticism and feedback. The typical excuse is that your business isn’t “ready” yet or it’s not set up properly, so you might think you’re immune to any criticism. In reality, if you’re getting some kind of criticism early on, you should immediately listen to it and figure out how to solve those problems. Don’t forget to network at every opportunity Lastly, you’ll want to remember to network at every opportunity to build strong relationships with other businesses in your industry. If you ever attend a trade show or have the opportunity to do so, you should mingle with as many different groups as possible and try to absorb all the information and insider knowledge that you can. This will help you identify who the big names in the industry are and who you should befriend if you want to accelerate your business growth. Always stay in touch with other companies and use these events to learn more about your intended audience as well.

The importance of marketing is often overlooked in the real estate sector, despite the impact that this can have in selling and promoting brand new developments. This is reflected by numerous statistics, which underline the importance of imagery and text when selling real estate to potential buyers. For example, listings with sharp and attractive images sell at the list price or above 44% of the time, which is considerably higher than those without. In this post, we’ll explore this concept further while providing the best property marketing advice for new developments. Bring Developments to Life with CGI While clean and high-definition images can prove crucial in real estate marketing, often these aren’t enough to engage buyers in a competitive market. However, this may not be possible with new developments, where there’s a pressing need to sell units before they’ve been fully realised – in other words, you can’t take a picture of a property that doesn’t exist yet. This is where computer-generated imagery (CGI) can come into play, as this can be used to create new images or rendered pictures of how a development will look in the future. The main advantage of this is that it allows buyers to visualise the development in fine and accurate detail, creating a scenario where they’re ultimately encouraged to make a more informed and confident purchasing decision. In the modern age, CGI should serve as the starting point for all new build marketing, based on existing architectural plans and a clear aspirational vision. 2. Make the Physical Site Dominant and Hard to Miss When marketing your development, it’s also important that potential buyers are aware of the physical site and the stage that the work is at. This also helps them to build a connection between the development and your brand, potentially creating an organic marketing channel through which buyers can contact you. To achieve this, you’ll need to invest in durable and prominent signage, which can simultaneously thrive in outdoor elements and target passing traffic effectively. Aluminium and magnetic signs are great in these respects, while correx signage is also available in sizes ranging from A4 to A0. This highlights the need to create an integrated marketing approach, and one that targets customers through various different means. 3. Produce a Development Brochure With this point in mind, the next step is to produce a development brochure, which should be stylish, well-designed and capable or helping to convert interested parties into certified buyers. This can help with the conversion process and increase the number of sales over time, by combining high-quality imagery and detailed floor plans with active text that sells an aspirational lifestyle. This can also feature CGI and maps of the location and the surrounding amenities, creating a comprehensive guide that’s both informative and persuasive in equal measure. With the right distribution, this can create a great and insightful marketing tool, and one that has an impact at the most important stage of the consumer journey.

Cohesive Menus There’s much that goes into ensuring that a restaurant is as good as can be, but the most important detail is the menu. It has to be. While customers can enjoy the atmosphere, the drinks, the price, whatever else you have going on, if the food isn’t up to standard, then they won’t be coming back anytime soon. It’s not just about making delicious food, however. A restaurant gains a lot from having a cohesive menu. Do the meals that you offer make sense when you see them side by side? Essentially, it’s about picking some sort of theme. There’s a lot of space for freedom still, of course; what we’re saying is that your menu should not be entirely random.  Finding Good Staff What do people go to restaurants for? Ultimately it’s all to have a good time. And there’s no avoiding the fact that your staff will play a big role in this. We’ve all been to restaurants where the staff seemed a little miserable or treated us like we were an inconvenience. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it does make you think twice about the establishment. Would you visit again, if the staff hindered the experience? Probably. So when it comes to your restaurant, make sure that you’re hiring talented and likable people. If they don’t like engaging in small conversations with other humans, then they’ll be ill-suited to the world of restaurant work. Of course, finding good staff can be difficult — for that reason, it’s important to put together a hiring process, and not to rush anything. It’s better to wait for the right employee, rather than hire someone who will turn out to be an underwhelming employee. Handling the Money If there’s one thing that restaurant owners know, it’s that handling the money side of things can be pretty time-consuming. It is, however, essential. It’ll have such a big impact on the venture’s overall success or failure that it’s not something that you can avoid. If you have a solid grasp on the money side of things, then you’ll find it much easier to avoid many of the problems that cause restaurants to fall into difficulties. Take a read of some tips for restaurant accounting, and set aside some time each week. You’ll find that it’s much easier to feel like you’re on your way to restaurant success when you know that the money aspect has been taken care of.  Additional Revenue  The profit margins of restaurants can be pretty slim. For this reason, it’s important that all restaurants look at ways to maximize their revenue. Fortunately, this is something that’s possible for many restaurants. There are two primary ways to add additional revenue to a restaurant. One is to extend the hours that you’re open. Many restaurateurs shy away from opening for lunch, but it’s something that’s worth considering. There are a lot of people — more people than we usually give credit for — that prefer to go out for lunch rather than dinner, for one reason or another. Another potential revenue stream is hosting events. Could you host parties or weddings, for example? You may need to upgrade your space somewhat to bring it up to the standards of event hosting, but if you can do that, then you’ll find that there’s a lot of scope for boosting your income.   Finding Reliable Suppliers It’s not just the meals that you make; it’s the ingredients you use to make them. One of the best things that a restaurant can do is to take their time when it comes to their suppliers. This is true of all ingredients, but especially of fresh produce. It just has too big an impact on the overall quality of the meal to be left up to chance. As well as the quality, check reliability. There’s nothing worse than having to tell a customer that they can’t have their preferred dish, all because you don’t have the ingredients you need to make it. (It’s important to remember that this job isn’t just up to your suppliers: taking stock of your inventory will also help to prevent any problems from arising.) Monitoring Feedback It can be difficult to get feedback from a customer in most industries, but this isn’t the case in the restaurant world. One of the good (and bad) things about food is that everyone has their opinion, and won’t mind sharing it with you. This can help you to make any changes as you see fit. Of course, it’s not as if you should make changes based on one person’s feedback. However, if you find that you hear one thing over and over, then it’s probably worth listening! The Neighbourhood There are some highly important details that can have a tremendous impact on a restaurant’s success or failure. The location is one of them. While it is possible to succeed in a remote, out of the way location, the truth is that you have to be pretty special to succeed in those spaces. In most cases, your reputation must already be developed — the out of the way restaurants will be your second/third operation. For nearly all restaurants, it pays to be in the mix. You might have to spend more than you’d like on rent, but it’ll be worth it. If there’s a restaurant district in your corner of the world, then that’s where you’ll want to be.  Pushing Forward You might be experiencing a wave of success right now, but will it always be that way? Not necessarily. As with most industries, it’s important that you continue to push forward and develop. If you don’t, then it won’t be too long before it feels as if your best days are behind you. Pushing forward usually involves three things in the restaurant business. One is updating the menu. Another is updating the decor and your branding (for example, your signs, the physical menu, your restroom stalls, etc.).. The

If you run a business or have dreams of being a business owner, there are plenty of places you can learn from. Perhaps you know people personally who run their own businesses; perhaps you have been to college or university and have studied business; or perhaps you have worked in business all your life, building up your knowledge from experience. Whichever avenue you go down, you are bound to have formative experiences which help you lay the groundwork for your future business endeavours. Any experience with business – the good, the bad and the ugly – will form your knowledge and skill base which will help you down the line when you finally set up your own company. But when it comes to doing your own research, outside of education and personal experience, how can you learn about business? Well, look around and point to something. Nowadays, absolutely everything is wrapped up in business decisions – whether it’s healthcare, real estate, sport, technology or space travel! Even politics, scarily, seems to boil down to business decisions. While the increasing monetisation of everything around us seems frightening and isn’t necessarily beneficial for everyone, it does mean that as a prospective business owner, you can learn your lessons from the best of the best. Here are some examples of business decisions which teach a valuable lesson! Football Transfer Deals Football is one of the most lucrative industries in sport, and in that vein, you can take your business lessons from the transactional approach that footballers have to their teams. When it comes to transferring to a new team, the line between a business decision and an emotional decision becomes blurred. While some players are staunchly loyal to their teams for nostalgic or sentimental reasons, others choose their head over their heart. When it comes to learning from these decisions, it is important to look at deals that were almost made, as well as deals that were made. The biggest transfer deadline deals in football often never happened at all; reading why these decisions were not taken is just as valuable as learning from those who took the plunge. Ethical Consequences When business decisions and the media collide, the consequences can be pretty huge. Especially in today’s times, with the younger generations being keen to ‘expose’ companies who run unethical practices behind the scenes, it is hard to get away with any risky moves as a business owner. Fashion company BooHoo recently came under fire for underpaying their garment workers, which devastated their sales and harmed their reputation for life. As a business owner you can be subjected to trial by the media which can ruin your name. What’s the answer to this terrifying prospect? Simply run an ethical business, which pays its employees properly. If there are no skeletons in your closet, then you need not fear exposure.  Conclusion Learning about business can be done in your own experience or from outside research. With business decisions happening all around us every day, there is no limit to the lessons that can be learned, simply by looking around and taking notice. 

The construction business is a booming one, and there are huge incentives to venture into this field. The industry also offers a wide range of opportunities for newbies – from public infrastructure and ground-up development to residential renovation, just to mention a few.  However, the difference between becoming a successful contractor vs folding up your construction business after a few months lies in proper planning and attention to detail right from the start. A lot of work goes into the planning and preparation stages, which will ensure that your business takes off on the right footing. There are also some rookie mistakes you need to avoid if you want to have a smooth start. Let’s take a look at some of the avoidable mistakes. Failure to nail down your service offering As we have already mentioned, the construction industry offers a wide range of opportunities for a newcomer. In fact, the vast number of options usually end up tempting a lot of newbies into venturing into as many of them as they want. This is a rookie mistake. Even if you intend for your operations to cover a wide range of construction services, you need to begin by focusing on one (at most two) specific areas of service. Attempting to become a Jack of all trades right from the beginning is likely to cost you a lot. Picking up any job and every kind of job offered to you may seem like a good idea, especially when you are trying to make in-roads into the business field. But this can also leave you with a lot of unprofitable projects and wasted time. Plus, the chances that you may not complete most of the projects are very high – already started on a wrong footing. Thus, to carve a niche for your business, pick one or two specific services to start with. These services should suit your strengths and should also not cost you a lot of money or time to offer.  2. Not planning out the structure of your business It is a bad idea to enter into the construction business – or any other business for that matter – without thinking about what your business structure is. This is very important whether you are setting up your business alone or working with a partner. There are usually three main things to consider when it comes to the structure of your business. The first structure has to do with a partnership. A partnership agreement is very important if you are entering into business with one or more other people. The agreement should spell out the rights, obligations, and rewards of each partner. The second structure is for a sole trader. This structure is usually a very simple one, as it involves only one person at the helm of operations. With this structure, there is usually no legal distinction between your business and you. The third structure is for a limited company. This structure can be an ideal alternative for different partners with stakes in the business. Getting the right advice from an experienced professional about which structure best suits you will help you avoid certain costly situations in the future. 3. Not having any source of funding The fact that the construction industry is booming and is a very rewarding one does not mean that you will start raking in revenue as soon as your business starts operating.  Several factors will determine how quickly the profits start trickling in or how long it will take even to start breaking even. But the certainty of this period (that is, the first couple of months after starting operations) requires that you have a source of funding to rely on. Workers need to be paid, whether you’re making profits or not. Some projects may need to finish before payment is made into your account. Some customers may fail to pay up on time and leave your hanging. Generally, it will cost you some money to run your business on a daily basis. Having a source of funding will enable you to test the waters and ride the storm until you start reaping some rewards. It will also enable you to recover from certain setbacks you may face that might cost your business money. You can also open a small business account at the beginning stages, and, if possible, acquire a loan with an overdraft facility in place. It is always a safer option to have some sort of emergency funding available to you should your business hit the red. Unfortunately, ignoring this important tip is one of the huge mistakes that most rookie contractors make. 4. Ignoring the importance of technology One of the reasons why the construction industry continues to grow is the fact that it makes use of different kinds of technology and software. As the industry continues to grow, different kinds of soft and hard technology are introduced. In order to stay ahead of the game and remain relevant in the business, you need to take advantage of the relevant technology available that allows you to be efficient in the way you manage products, reduce the amount of time it takes you to complete those projects, yield better results, and be cost-effective.  From accounting software to LMS software consulting solutions, it is important to take advantage of all the ‘help’ you can get with respect to online tools and software that will help make the running of your business less difficult. There are always easier and less expensive ways of doing things. And most of these technologies could help your business reach success. 5. Underestimating the power of your reputation Even with the power of social media and the internet, one of the most effective ways of attracting new clients is through the old-school word of mouth channel. Indeed, it can even be far more effective than having a plush-looking website or creating expensive advertising campaigns. Unfortunately, a lot of rookie contractors ignore this. Thus, right from the start,

Broadly speaking, an agency that can offer a broad range of web design services is one that can help your business grow. You may not need e-commerce services right now, but if they’ve got that capability, they’ll be ready to step in – and know your business well enough – to implement an effective solution in the future.  So what services other than e-commerce should you be looking for? Obviously, search engine optimization (SEO) is critical. Here, look for an understanding that optimizing your website isn’t just about getting you to the top of the search engine rankings. Of course, you want your company to stand out from your competitors. But it’s equally important that the agency you choose for web design has a plan for converting those visitors into paying customers. This is called conversion rate optimization: essentially, identifying and removing any barriers to potential customers spending money on your site. That can be done in many ways, from optimizing existing text on your landing to directly address any questions visitors may have, to simplifying a complicated buying process, to inserting clever calls to action.  Similarly critical is ensuring that your website is fully mobile responsive, to take advantage of the increasing numbers of consumers shopping on the go. Finding an agency that offers expertise in services such as those listed above will give you a better ROI than an agency that simply offers a slick-looking website design. They should also keep you informed on website performance, sending you screenshots of the data. Head to https://setapp.com/how-to/screenshot-on-mac for steps on screenshotting on your Mac if you’re unsure. Why Choose A Web Agency That Offers WordPress Design? As a small business owner, it’s likely you’ll have to become a jack-of-all-trades, expected to turn your hand to any role as and when needed. You’ll, therefore, be looking for tools that keep your website both up and running and up-to-date with minimal fuss and effort. What you don’t want is to have to spend a fortune and wait forever for your web design agency to make every little change to your price list or add new text to your website. That’s one reason why the better web developers offer WordPress design to small business clients.  WordPress has grown to become the most popular website content management system today. That’s partly because it’s one of the easiest for beginners to get their heads around; but also because it includes plenty of advanced features for the more experienced user. In short, there’s all the potential there for a WordPress developer to create a stunning website for you, which you can then maintain on a day-to-day basis without needing a ton of training or years of experience. Equally, though, there may be times when you come unstuck and need assistance with your website. The best design agencies are genuinely interested in your success and will work with you in partnership on an ongoing basis to grow your business.  Our final recommendation, therefore, is to check that the agency you’re thinking of hiring offers additional and follow-on services. Will they be there to help you when things go wrong? Will they offer ad hoc advice on wider queries relating to social media or email marketing, for instance?