4 Time-Sucking Activities That Take Away From Your Business

Companies have lots on their plates, and small business owners, in particular, wear many hats. However, not all of those hats are equally important, though it can be hard to know which responsibilities are worth your time and which are major drains.

Time-consuming business activities

Watch for these four ways that businesses — especially small operations — waste money, resources, and time without realizing it.

Constantly Checking Emails

Answering emails is a surprisingly time-consuming task. Far too often, people waste time answering unnecessary emails or lack the discipline to refrain from checking emails and answering messages constantly throughout the day.

Of course, it’s important — even vital, in some cases — to answer certain emails.…

Continue reading

Microfinance is Not the Miracle Pill to End Poverty

The biggest misconception about microfinance is that it is the miracle pill to put an end to poverty. This is just untrue. No one said that microfinance is the key to stopping poverty or to lift all people in developing countries out of poverty.

Microfinance

Poverty is an issue that has confronted several countries over the years. Not even the best leaders have been able to do something to fix the problem. Therefore, to put this kind of burden on the concept of microfinance is just unfair.

Microfinance targets poor people because the idea is for them to have easy access to loans as long as they use the money wisely and repay the loans.…

Continue reading

How To Reduce Stress In Your Financial Life

No one ever said that dealing with finances was easy. In fact, without knowledge or practice, it can actually be extremely difficult.

Stressful financial life

Balancing incomings, outgoings, necessary costs and debts can seem like a never-ending juggling act and as a result, stress is a fairly common response. While you could turn to a payday loan from a Wizzcash lender in the case of a financial emergency, keeping track of your finances for the most part can help reduce stress considerably and ensure your budgets are kept to at all times.

Here, we’re exploring how you can reduce stress in your financial life.…

Continue reading

Tips to Safeguard Your Connected Devices with IoT Security Solutions

A report from Gartner states that in the year 2016, cybercriminals originated distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks.

Internet of things

During DDoS attacks, hackers exploited possible bottlenecks and security weaknesses such as common weakness enumeration (CWE) in IoT devices. It enabled them in hijacking the devices and turn them into the originators of domain name system (DNS) requests. The primary aim was to direct the real-time traffic to the DNS hosting provider by the name of Dyn, headquartered in the United States. The DDoS attacks afflicted companies like Twitter, Amazon and Netflix and caused them a huge loss of revenue.

To prevent IoT devices from such cyber-attacks, enterprises must convoy them with IoT security solutions.…

Continue reading

What Small Businesses Need to Know Before Choosing Cloud Hosting

Small businesses are flocking to cloud hosting because it’s affordable, popular and makes sense. Cloud hosting is scalable, so the hosting provider you choose will scale as your business grows. And while small businesses can benefit from the cloud, there are a few aspects to consider first:

Cloud hosting servers room

1. Managed vs Unmanaged Options

Small business owners or teams will quickly find that not all cloud options are created equal. There are managed and unmanaged options available. Unmanaged options are ideal for companies that:

  • Have an in-house IT team
  • Need a custom environment

But small businesses that want a hands-off approach to cloud hosting will want a managed option.…

Continue reading

Importance of Best Customer Experiences to Increase Your Retail Store Revenues

If your customers enjoy their experience while shopping at your store, then they will choose your store over your competitors. That way, you will be assured of loyal customers, who will keep giving you repeat business, thereby helping you increase your profits or revenues.

Helpful salesperson enhances customer experience

In this post, we shall check out some of the critical aspects of improving the customer experiences at the retail stores.

Train your staff about the importance of building customer relationships

The success of your retail store will depend on the repeat business from your customers. That is why you will need to emphasize on proactive engagement with your customers to improve their shopping experience.…

Continue reading

Top Considerations for Mobile App Development for SMBs

Smartphones are an essential tool in most people’s day to day routine.  Have to keep organized? Use your calendar app. Need to get to a meeting across town?  Drop the location in your GPS app and head off. Trying to find the best local eatery? Hit up Yelp.

The bottom line is consumers’ smartphones are their modern-day Yoda.  It’s the first place they turn to make a decision. And, this is precisely the reason why your SMB cannot afford to be without a branded mobile app.

Mobile app development

Mobile apps create a virtual relationship between an SMB and its customers. That is if you structure and build your app correctly.…

Continue reading

Finding Your Flavour – How to Get Into the World of Hospitality

The hospitality industry is all about the relationship between a guest and a host. If you’re looking to get into the food and beverage world, there are a number of considerations to keep in mind before taking out a loan or making a large investment.

Find Your Size

The food and beverage industry offers a wide variety of opportunities for businesses of all sizes. Choosing which size is best for you can be a huge factor in your success and longevity in the industry. It’s important to start small to avoid taking on more than you can handle, but be sure to organise your business so that you create the room to grow and scale up your business as you find your feet and sales being to increase.…

Continue reading

How to Use Charity to Develop Your Brand

Americans are the most charitable people in the world. Private philanthropy in the US has the size of around 1.4% of the country’s GDP, which is almost twice as much as the next most charitable country in the world, Canada. 67% of American households donate an average of 4% of their incomes to charity.

With 71% of total charitable donations, individuals are the biggest charity donors in the country. That is surprising for many reasons, including the fact that charitable giving can come with significant benefits to businesses. If you are a business owner, a CEO, or someone in charge of the development of a brand, here’s how you can leverage charitable activities to further develop your brand.…

Continue reading

4 Ways to Transform Your Small Retail Space to Increase Footfall & Sales

A small retail space is an ideal choice for budget-constrained business owners as they don’t require a significant investment. However, making the most out of the area can be challenging, from making checkout convenient for shoppers to having enough ample space for your items.

Surfboard store owner

The good news is, with some creative hacks, you can make your small retail space look bigger and create unique experiences for the visitors. Below are some ideas.

1. Consider Tablet-Equipped POS

Retail store owners can replace bulky checkout stations with tablet-based POS (point-of-sale) systems to maximize floor space. Freeing up space means shoppers have more inventory to look at, and you have a more significant area to showcase that inventory.…

Continue reading