Thursday, March 30, 2017

What Options Are Available to Get into Business Yourself



Maybe you grew up helping your parents in their own corner store. Maybe you genuinely love customer service. Perhaps you make something super awesome and you want to build a business around it. Whatever the reason, you want to have your own business, but you’re not sure where to start. Here are some tips on various options available to you to start the business and how to get there.



Franchising


Franchising is a great option for people who really believe in a specific brand and who want to bring more of that brand to their own towns and cities. A lot of people believe that franchising is only for restaurants, but this is a myth. There are many different types of franchising opportunities out there. For some, the best franchise opportunities will be more service oriented, like a UPS store franchise. For others, something more fashion related is a better option. Whichever niche you want to enter, though, you can find a franchising opportunity or that.

The best part about opting for a franchising opportunity is that you don’t have to worry about building buzz from scratch. Instead, you’re serving an already enthusiastic market. A lot of the work is already done for you.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

How Can Team Building Activities Help Businesses Grow



Many of us have either participated in or led team building activities in our professional career at some point. Some of those activities may have been very straightforward and short such as playing a game of “two truths and a lie” or “find your way out.” Others could be very intense and may have spanned over multiple days such as climbing a peak or going on a long hike. No matter what the duration or type of activity, it is well-known that team building can help improve communication and employee morale, leading to a better business environment overall.



Team building activities can take on many different forms and can be used for multiple purposes. Some ice breaker activities are good to get employees to know each other while others such as problem-solving activities can help strengthen cohesion between different teams. Some activities can be done in a short 30 minute window, while others can be structured as dedicated activities in a remote location over multiple days. Team building activities can provide a number of benefits to all types of businesses, no matter what their size or type of activity. Here are some of the benefits you can achieve from team building activities:
  • Improve Teamwork – No organization can achieve its goals by relying on a few individuals. The success of any business is dependent on its employees working as a team. The team building activities can show employees the strengths of their peers and how they can work together for the greater benefit of the business.
  • Motivate Employees – According to research, organizations with higher than average levels of employee engagement realized 27% higher profits, 50% higher sales, 50% higher customer loyalty levels, and 38% above-average productivity. Team building activities can show employees their greatest potential and allow them to give their best effort not only during the activities, but also in the normal course of business afterwards.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

4 Important Team Building Tips for Small Business



Employees are the lifeblood of any business and investing in your workforce will ensure you have the skills to drive your company forward. Team building is an integral part of this, enabling you to ensure employees are working towards the same goals as you and identify areas for improvement. However, in the commotion of a typical working day, training staff can often get left by the wayside. After all, planning the agenda and finding a suitable location can be difficult (Find out more about a great training venue here). Yet failing to properly develop your team could impact upon your business’ output and ability to retain staff over the long-term. Here are a few reasons why it is important to focus on team building.


  • Improved inter-departmental communication


Many businesses are guilty of failing to pass information up and across the chain of command – a lack of communication that can often lead to errors and inefficiencies. This is usually a result of inadequate knowledge about the activities of others in the company and how this relates to certain overarching policies and initiatives. Team building sessions are the best way to address this, enabling different departments to come together and share ideas, experiences, concerns and successes. As staff become better acquainted with the goals and pressures of others, communication is likely to improve. You will also be able gauge the barriers to healthy discourse.

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