Hiring the right remote virtual assistant is much tougher than most entrepreneurs initially think. Forget the fact that they’re often continents away from you, which presents its own set of challenges. Remote assistants are just like any other employee you hire – some are good and still others are a nightmare waiting to happen.
Like Tom Hank’s Forrest Gump character famously said “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” If you’ve ever hired employees before, it’s quite likely you’ve pulled a bad apple or two out of the bag.…
A virtual office is a great way to add legitimacy to an online business and gain access to physical office space when you need it, while saving loads of money you’d otherwise spend leasing or renting a permanent business location. While the selection process is fairly simple, there are a few things you’ll want to consider before making a final decision.
Here are 8 things to consider when choosing a virtual office:
1. Flexibility
Ask yourself what your virtual office’s ideal business hours should be.…
Superheroes are ridiculously awesome; I think we can all agree on that. But what if they had to work normal jobs like us average, non-super people?
Would they be able to cope with working 9:00 – 5:00 like Dolly Parton and us? Maybe, maybe not; but that’s not what we’re here to find out. We want to take an educated guess at what they’d be good at in the real world.
Nick Fury
Without a doubt Nick Fury would be in some sort of directing, managing job.…
In recent years, open source software has exploded into prominence. In 1998, only 10 percent of businesses made use of open source software. By 2011, that figure had grown to 50 percent. Today, the percentage is even higher; nearly 80 percent of businesses use open source software. When you consider the myriad benefits of such programs, it is easy to see why they are used so widely. Not only are they free, but they are also functional.
Did you know that WordPress is an open source platform?…
When you attend an entertaining, informative and memorable business event, it seems like everything happens automatically, just when it should. If things go smoothly, you can be sure there was a mammoth amount of preparation and planning behind the scenes.
Here are three vital behind the scenes things you have to put plenty of thought into:
Logistics Planning
Early stage planning can make or break an event. Things to consider include choosing the date, which ideally won’t clash with any other local or national major event.…
Businesses around the world have moved unto the next big thing which is doing businesses online. No business can survive in the overcrowded and competitive business world without the internet. It is important to quickly figure out how to succeed online. Understanding the basic facts about running a successful online business will guide your decision making. Online business may sound convoluted to you when you first start out because of the complicated terms that are used including search engine optimization, video marketing, email marketing, building websites, and social media marketing.…
There is no shortage of competition in the ecommerce arena, as there are hundreds of thousands of online stores out there, many of which in your industry. You will need to stand apart and one of the most straightforward ways to do that is with a little bit of digital marketing.
Despite various “experts” telling you that digital marketing is the easiest thing in the world, there are still innumerable ways in which you can mess it all up and end up throwing your money away.…
Before business owners knew how to go out and make a name for themselves online, they depended on marketing and digital advertising agencies to develop their branding. Then, the next wave of online marketing highlighted the DIY approach – build your own website, generate your own leads, and be highly approachable.
What digital marketers and business owners have learned is that effective marketing strategies need to be finely tuned. So, for instance, if you’re a business owner who is great at creating and maintaining a company blog, you should do that task yourself.…
When you’re running a business, one thing matters above all else – your bottom line. If you can generate sufficient sales and cash flow to cover your expenditure and have something left over, you’re in a strong position to grow the company substantially. If you’re sweating about making it to the end of the week, you might need to look back and see how such a precarious situation came to pass.
It takes a large element of good fortune to succeed in business, but no entrepreneur has kept a company going for several years without being financially sensible and having the unwavering drive to be number one.…
Whatever your individual business does, and however well you’re doing at the moment, you can always benefit from increased foot traffic on your shop floor – and there’s always more you can do. Think about the style of your brand, the features of your products that bring customers in, and how much exposure your business is currently getting.
There are mistakes that small businesses tend to make, refer to this article from Multi Signs to ensure that you avoid making them.…
