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LIFESTYLE: 4 Things You Must Not Forget When Running Your Own Business

It doesn't matter what it is that your business does, there are some aspects of running your own organisation that stay true over time, no matter what. In fact, you could call these the foundations of a successful and well-organised business. Read on to find out what they are. 
A business plan 
Would you travel to a new destination without consulting a map, or putting your sat nav on? No, well, then you should not start up a business without having a map or plan of where you are now and where you want to get to either.  
In fact, a business plan is one of the most essential things you will need, not just for the reasons above, but for many other purposes as well. After all, how can you measure whether you are succeeding or not if you don't know where you started and what you are aiming for? Also, don't forget to get any investors on board; you will absolutely need to have a water right business plan. Along with realistic financial projects for at least the next three years. Figures they will want to scrutinise. 
Marketing 
Next, when running your own business, you mustn't forget about how to promote your services or products to the audience you wish to sell them to. In fact, increasingly in this information-overloaded society in which we live, getting your message to stand out above your competitors is crucial. 
With that in mind, carefully selecting the right brand image, then promoting this effectively is essential. 
To achieve this, consider tactics such as SEO, paper products, and social media presence. Content marketing is also one of the most critical strategies you can use in your marketing plan.  
The operational side of things 
It may not be as glamorous as running promotion and marketing campaigns. Still, any successful business will also need to make sure that the operational side of things runs smoothly as well. Of course, that means getting the basics right, such as choosing the correct type and location of premises for your organisation. While making sure your employees have the tools and resources they need to get the job done is also essential. 
It even encompasses issues such as how you will get your trade waste disposed of. Something that can be a lot more important than you think. Not only because of the impact this can have on the environment, but also because of the costs involved. 
Money matters 
Talking of costs, that is just one of the categories of finance that you will need to keep a close eye on when running your business. Of course, the others include income, revenue, salaries or wages, as well overheads such as rent and utilities 


In fact, when it comes to running your own business, you must do all you can to maximise the money coming in and minimise the costs you need to payout. Otherwise, you may discover that your books do not balance at the end of the year. This being a situation that can put the longevity and further success of your business in jeopardy. 
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LIFESTYLE: How To Get Your Business Noticed Online



Image credit 


Online visibility is instrumental to your business success, and for good reasons. It enables potential customers to find your business online without hassles. Moreover, it’s a great way to boost your brand’s credibility and improve how your customers view your business. Since approximately 86.7% of Brits will shop online, establishing your business online will enable you to reach a larger client base and boost your sales. So, are you looking to get your business noticed online? Here are some smart strategies you can utilise for the best results. 


  1. Pay attention to your website 


One effective way to establish an online presence is to pay attention to your website. A good website helps customers obtain more information about your brand and products/services, leading to increased leads and sales. It’s not unusual to be unavailable to attend to clients’ calls or messages at certain times. However, they can have unlimited access to your website and get the help they need. This, in turn, can cause them to stick to your business and recommend it to others. According to the UK Web Host Review, 71% of customers judge a business’s credibility by its website. Seeing these perks, you’ll find it helpful to create your website if you haven’t already. If you already have one, you can update it to enjoy the full benefits. 


You can begin by making your website mobile-friendly since many shoppers may prefer to use their phones instead of PCs. Also, investing in good web hosting and removing unnecessary add-ons can improve your page speed, so keep this in mind. It’s also prudent to invest in live chat to enable your clients to reach out to you in the shortest possible time. You can click here for chat features for the best results. You can also work with SEO experts to ensure that your website ranks high on Google SERPs. 


  1. Be active on your social media platforms


Statistics reveal that 28% of internet users leverage social media for brand research. Indeed, social media is effective for businesses in many ways. First, you can reach a larger customer base without spending substantial money. Likewise, it makes your brand more relatable to the audience, encouraging them to try your products and services. Moreover, it increases your website traffic while generating direct and indirect leads. You can quickly respond to customer enquiries, feedback and complaints, leading to a high customer retention rate. Fortunately, you can increase your social media participation with the right steps. 


It’s essential to determine what platforms are best suited for your business. For instance, Instagram would be ideal if you sell fashion accessories, so keep this in mind. You also want to know your audience to help you create strategic content to appeal to them. Posting top-notch content and encouraging your audience to give their opinions is also helpful, so feel free to consider this. 


  1. Ask your clients for reviews 


It’s not unusual for many potential customers to read online reviews before patronising your products. Therefore, a lack of reviews may lead them to assume that your business is not authentic. This can cause you to lose brand credibility, leads, and sales. Therefore, you want to ask your clients to leave reviews if you haven’t already. You can achieve this by running an email campaign or posting on social media. You can also offer rewards and incentives to motivate your clients to leave reviews, so keep this in mind. 
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REVIEW: FASTPRINT.CO.UK BUSINESS CARDS



I think business cards are great, they are definitely an essential for any blogger or creative. When I first started out my blog I bought some business cards because I went to alot of blog events and found them really handy to pass out to other bloggers. I don't tend to go to many blog events now and most of the ones I do go to I tend to know alot of the bloggers already. I used to be an Art student aswell, I recently graduated but throughout my course I found having business cards crucial. They make you appear professional! You have all of your contact information handy for anyone who may need it. You could meet an investor in your field or someone who just so happens to love your art work, and instead of jotting your number down on a scrap of paper that they might loose you can give them one of your fancy business cards that they can pop in their wallet. My cards are quite plain and clean, but you can use the space to suit you, I had images of my art work on my university business cards which makes they more appealing to people. I had a card holder next to my work at my degree show and so many people took my card, this can open up opportunities with people who like your work or are looking for people to work with.

I'm really happy with the quality of my business cards from Fastprint.co.uk,* the card is a decent thickness and they look so clean and professional. I chose a matte finish but they also do a gloss finish. They offer a great selection of prints aswell, the business cards start at 100 - 5000 prints depending on the quantity you need.

Right now Fastprint.co.uk are offering 20% off on all orders and already offer free delivery on orders over £50. They have fast delivery, and even offer next day delivery if you order before 11am on some items. Fastprint also print banners, leaflets and many more products.

I'm so happy with my new business cards,  I always have some in my purse and my friends and family have them handy in their wallets incase theres ever a chance someone is looking for a blogger to work with.


 





*pr sample.
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LIFESTYLE: How To Promote Safety Inside Your Manufacturing Business

Running a business in the manufacturing industry is not an easy task to say the very least, as it’s a high risk responsibility that comes with a huge amount of potential danger. It’s vital that you can take the right steps to ensure your manufacturing business can maintain the best levels of safety and security, for the sake of your staff, your customers and your assets that you have worked so hard to achieve. 


Fortunately, this guide is here to help make the process of promoting safety as easy as can be. When you can take the time to follow the handy steps that have been carefully described below, you’ll be able to rest assured knowing that you and your team are out of harm's way during each and every shift. 


So, what are you waiting for? Read on to discover more!


Image Source - Pexels 


Sourcing Quality Tools & Materials 


First and foremost, you need to make sure that you are sourcing a range of the highest quality tools and materials if you want to stand any chance of maintaining good levels of safety and security inside your manufacturing business. The risks associated with poor standard tools and materials are worth thinking about, as attempting to save money by opting for a lesser quality alternative could mean that you’re inadvertently putting your team and audience's lives in danger. How would you react if a cutting device were to disconnect from its mechanism while your manufacturing plant is in operation? This won’t happen if you take the time to find reputable, reliable tools and materials that are able to fulfill their purpose and stand the test of time. From the smallest basics like contact adhesive for rubber to large pieces of manufacturing machinery, you must always commit to sourcing quality tools and materials to help your factory thrive. 


Training Your Team Regularly 


Lots of businesses in all manner of industries make the mistake of only training their staff during their initial trial period, and then likely never again afterwards. This is a big mistake, especially if you’re running something as risky and dangerous as a manufacturing business! Instead, it’s going to be much safer if you can take the opportunity to train your team on a regular basis, as this way you can make sure that there are no missing skills or underperforming staff that could be putting your business at risk. Offer hands-on training sessions for your staff at least every 3-6 months, as these refresher courses will help them to remember (and utilize) every bit of information. Keep all training materials totally accessible too, as this way your team can use any resources as and when they need them. This will reduce dangerous mistakes, costly delays and even risky accidents, so it’s certainly a step worth taking. 


Final Thoughts


Running a safe and secure manufacturing business has never been such a simple task when you can utilize some of these excellent recommendations, so get out there and transform your company today.


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LIFESTYLE : Running Your Home-Based Online Store Without Annoying The Neighbors

 person holding cardboard box on table

(Image Source)


Running an online store from home has never been easier. More people than ever before have access to computers and internet connections, making it possible to create your own website without having to pay someone to do all of the work for you. Of course, though, while this sort of business can be satisfying and fun, it can also impact those living around you when you don’t take the right steps to shield your neighbors from your work. To help you out with this, this article will be exploring some of the different ways to make sure that your business doesn’t have an impact on those around you.


Deliveries


It’s likely that you need to take large deliveries from time to time for your online business. This will increase as your store grows, and this will mean that you need to put more and more effort into keeping this from impacting your neighbors. It will always be worth avoid deliveries that will require large trucks in residential environments, and it can even be worth having your stock delivered to a storage facility so that your neighbors never have to deal with large vehicles.


Postage


Many small communities have their own post offices. Businesses like this weren’t built to cope with the demand of the modern world, and this means that local establishments can be slowed right down when they are visited by sellers with a lot of packages. This makes it worth looking at ways to have your deliveries collected, saving them from impacting your local community. Alternatively, you could also travel to post offices that have been designed to offer a higher capacity.


Customers


Having customers visiting your home-based online business is never a good idea. While some companies post their address online, you don’t have to do this. Instead, you can use a virtual address, saving you from dealing with customers trying to visit when they think they will be greeted by a store. This sort of option is good for those who live in areas that couldn’t deal with high customer flow.


Waste Management


Online stores create a lot more waste than many people expect, and it will be wrong to expect your local waste service to deal with this. Businesses will usually be required to pay for their own waste collection, and you can handle this using a skip bin hire company to handle your waste for you. This makes it much easier to deal with the waste your business generates, all without having to spend a fortune in the process.


As you can see, there are loads of ways to stop your home-based business from impacting your neighbors and the local community. Your business should always be a positive force for those around it, rather than causing trouble and making their lives harder.
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LIFESTYLE: Keep These Things In Mind When Running Your Business

 When you run a business, it’s easy to let things get away from you, and it’s easy for things to pile up. Eventually, things get a little out of control and you don’t know where you are, or what is going on. Instead of allowing this to happen, we think that you should keep a few things in mind throughout the entire process. Keep reading down below if you would like to find out more about what these things are.

Location Image - CC0 License

It’s Okay To Accept Help

The first thing that we need you to understand is that it is okay to accept help from those around you, and from other companies if it’s needed. Sometimes you need help and there is nothing wrong with that. It is okay to need help because everyone needs help at times. It doesn’t matter what you need help with, you just need to make sure that you are reaching out and asking for it. Nobody is going to judge you for it, and a lot of companies are going to be thrilled because it means that you need to use their business.

We understand that accepting help might feel like a failure, but it isn’t. If anything, we think that this is a strength as you have been able to ask for what you need, even when a lot of others would not have.

Stable Funding Is Essential

Credit Pexels - CC0 License

Stable funding is essential to a healthy, successful business. We know that this is not always easy to come by, but we know that you can get it if you put your mind to it. You can speak to an investor, or multiple investors if you want and get a steady income for your business. Yes, sometimes it requires being rejected a few times first, but it’s going to be worth it when you finally get the money that you need.

Your Employees Are Like Family

The final thing that we want to say is that your employees are like family, and you should never forget that. You need to be treating them well, ensuring that you are appreciating them, thanking them for their hard work and so on. They are not going to work hard for someone who works them to death and makes them feel as though they are not important. They won’t provide you with their knowledge of VPS, marketing, or anything else if you are not appreciative of the work that they do, and then you’re going to be in trouble. Your employees are a family to you, and you should treat your family well, looking after them, protecting them and being there for them.

Now that you have read all of this, we hope that you have found it helpful. Hopefully, you now see some of the things that you have to keep in mind when you are running your business to ensure that you see success. We know that it’s hard, but it wouldn’t be worth doing if it wasn’t, would it? We wish you the very best of luck, and hope that you see all of the success that you deserve.

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LIFESTYLE: TOP TIPS FOR BUSINESS TRIPS

Travelling for work, whether you’re a career girl heading to client meetings or a blogger attending a conference, can be very stressful. There’s none of the fun of jetting off on holiday, but all the stress of airports, hotel booking and navigating somewhere new. Here are some top tips for making business trips easier. 
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Travel Packing
If you’re going to be flying for your work trip, try to pack into just a carry on bag. If you don’t have any luggage that needs to go in the hold, you can save a lot of time by not having to check it in and not having to hang around at the baggage carousel when you land. Instead, just get off the plane and set off. 
If you travel a lot for work, you could keep a bag of essentials pre-packed. Buy a set of travel toiletries and a spare toothbrush and keep a wash bag packed that you can just throw into your suitcase and not wonder if you’ve forgotten anything. You could also keep packed some things you’ll know you’ll need, like a spare phone charger, business cards or stationery. 
Pack shirts in plastic garment bags to stop them from getting wrinkled in your case. Remember to pack casual clothes for the evenings too! Leave your electronics and liquids easily accessible to make the security queue faster to get through. 
The Hotel
Booking a hotel for work means you’re probably looking for different things than if you were booking a hotel for a holiday. Many chain hotels offer loyalty schemes that are very useful for frequent business travellers. Look for hotels with offers that suit you, whether that’s better prices or faster WiFi. Look for somewhere used to business travellers, like Dorsett Hotel, Sheperds Bush. 
Check hotel amenities. If you’re there for work, it’s important that you have access to good WiFi. While WiFi is a standard in hotels now, it’s often not that great and can be slow. Look for high-speed internet, or somewhere that offers rooms with a wired connection for the internet. 
Is there a safe in the room large enough for things like your laptop? If you’re travelling for work, you want to be sure that you can lock away any company valuables before you head out for dinner in the evening. 
Is there a hotel concierge? They can suggest nearby laptop-friendly cafes if you want to get some work done before your meetings, as well as making suggestions for somewhere for dinner where you won’t feel out of place as a solo diner. 
A hotel with laundry facilities could be helpful if you need to freshen up work clothes after being crammed in your suitcase. If you need to be well-rested, see if the hotel offers different options for pillows, so you can choose the right ones to be comfortable to help you sleep well and arrive for meetings or conference refreshed. 
What sort of food options are on-site? As a lone diner, you might feel less out of place in a hotel restaurant, especially if the hotel welcomes a lot of business travellers. 
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FASHION: THE PERFECT INTERVIEW OUTFIT




It can be so stressful deciding what you are going to wear for an interview so it's a good idea to have an outfit ready should an interview present itself, they are often with short notice and come around quickly — leaving you with little time to decide what to wear! I am due to go back to work and considering a change in jobs so will have to go to some interviews and have no idea what to wear so CT shirts, retailers of menswear and suits, gives us some advice:  

Casual  
Casual dress is suitable when you’re interviewing for charity work or a casual unpaid internship. For these interviews, you might not be expected to dress formally, and will be more concerned with your personality, including your punctuality. Of course, it’s always good to make a positive first impression, so still consider what you’re wearing, ripped jeans or a stained top might not give off the best vibe. 

Women 
For women, you want to feel comfortable, skirts and jeans are appropriate in a casual interview . Make sure you look presentable, you should avoid mini-skirts with bare legs and ripped jeans. You could wear a smart dress with tights and a cardigan. Maybe a shirt and trousers?  
Since it’s likely to be a relaxed vibe, you shouldn’t worry too much about footwear. Opt for a smart ankle boot or flat pump, and perhaps avoid trainers and high heels.  I would feel comfortable in a ballet pump style. 

Men  
For men, it can be hard to dress casually without looking too underdressed. Jeans are definitely appropriate, but similar to our advice for women, steer clear of ripped jeans. No joggers or tracksuit tops, as these will not give off the best impression. A safe option would be a long-sleeved top, jeans, dress shoes such as Chelsea boots or brogues, and a smart jacket.  

Business casual 
Some interviews may specify business-casual attire on the invitation. This may be because they have this dress code in the office or it may be for an assessment day where you are expected to be there all day and recruiters want you to feel comfortable.  
If you dont know what to wear, it’s best to dress too formally rather than too casually to avoid giving off the wrong impression, if your wearing a smart jacket you could always take this off if you feel too overdressed once you are there. 

Women 
With a business-casual dress code, you have more freedom with what you wear than in a strictly professional interview. You could wear pinstripe or patterned trousers with a smart shirt tucked in.  
Or, wear a smart shirt with a wide collar underneath a long-sleeved jumper.  This look gives off a formal impression, whilst not as professional as a shirt and suit jacket.  I usually opt for a trousers and smart blouse combo! 

Men 
For men, to be appropriate for a business-casual dress code, you should wear a smart shirt. Why not invest in a non-iron shirt? It stays free of creases and there’s no need to rush around with the iron the morning before the interview! Also, if you’re travelling by car or public transport to the interview, a normal shirt can become creased but this is avoided through the non-iron garment.  
You should avoid a polo shirt, as this is too casual and still steer clear of wearing jeans.  

Professional 
For formal interviews, you should adopt a professional look. These interviews could be in front of directors of the company for a graduate job or an internship. You want to look your best here; your appearance certainly counts, and with the high level of competition at this stage, you don’t want to fall at any hurdles.  

Women  
In a professional situation, women should opt for a suit. When it comes to dressing the bottom half, go with what you feel comfortable in. If you decide to wear a skirt, wear one with a hemline just below the knee to avoid it rising and becoming too revealing. A suit doesn’t have to be boring — shop around and discover suits that are tailored in different ways — find one that suits your body shape. When it comes to footwear, heels are acceptable but make sure you can walk with confidence in them. If you don’t feel happy wearing heels, opt for pumps or shoes with a smaller heel.  

Men 
Men should wear a suit when it comes to a formal interview, too. Wear dark socks to blend in with your outfit and bring a briefcase to look professional. Brogues are a good choice of footwear — they are stylish and smart without being mundane. Choose a tailored suit that you feel represents your style, a slim leg may be best suited for you and your shape.  

What to avoid  
As we can see, the main thing to do is to make sure you feel comfortable in your outfit — it will show in the interview! However, there are a few things that you should avoid:  

 Too much make up or jewellery  
Too much aftershave or perfume - usually interviews are held in small rooms and this can be overpowering 








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