Why Self Employment Could Be The Answer? [Infographic]
If you’re not happy in your current job, and you’ve been debating whether or not you should leave and do your own thing, you might want to think a little more seriously about self-employed life.
Creative Freedom
The first exciting reason as to why self-employment might be perfect for you, is because of the creative freedom that goes with it. When you’re your own boss, you create the work and come up with ideas - it’s all you until you hire someone else. There’s nobody telling you what to do.
Financial Freedom
Another huge plus of self-employment life is that you are also in control of your finances. You dictate what you earn and how much! Your earning potential is practically endless - if you want it to be. But at the same time, you’ll want to make sure that you are setting goals for yourself and actively working to grow and get your finances to where you want them to be.
Enjoyment & Satisfaction
Now, if you know that you’ve just not been happy in any of your jobs that you’ve had, there could be a number of reasons as to why. You only have to take a look at the infographic below to see that job satisfaction is a problem, but that it’s also crucial too.
Yet when you go into self-employment and you decide to be your own boss, you may also find that everything changes. And that you now feel as if you’re happier and more content than ever.
Tax is a word we don’t enjoy hearing. When we think of tax we think mostly about the government taking money from us and maybe even those fictional villains such as the Sheriff of Nottingham from the Robin Hood tales. Tax is not a word to be scared or confused by thought and it simply refers to any money which we as working folk pay to the government to fund public services such as medicine, the police, and schools.
There are ways to make tax a lot easier to understand and manage such as digital vat software and tax breaks, but today we are going to share some facts to help you understand it a little better.
Not everyone has to pay
It’s not like a magical switch flips when you get a job and you suddenly have to pay tax for the rest of time… in fact, not everyone needs to pay. The reason for this is that there is an income cap which states that anyone earning less than this will not have to pay as they cannot afford to. It is something which can be helpful when you are younger but will change as soon as you reach the threshold.
Not all income is taxed
Taxable and non-taxable income are two different things, and it means that you don’t have to pay tax on all of the money you earn every year. When you have things such as student finances, bursaries and disability allowance you will not be taxed on this as it is often given by the government to those who need it.
You can reclaim
Tax might seem like a big scary monster but it is a fair one. If there is a year where you believe you have spent too much on your tax or your national insurance, you will be able to claim back the difference. The HMRC will be able to check this easily for you and reimburse you for anything you have overpaid.
Self employed can save
When you are working for yourself, tax can be a bit more daunting because your employer won’t input tax data for you and you will have to do it yourself. Recording your own tax will involve a self assessment and this can be a long form to fill in. However if you work from home, you can stand to save money on tax. If you use one of the rooms in your house for your business, you can claim back your electricity or gas for this room, for the number of days you spend here a month.
It means you can claim back a few hundred pounds right away. This can be something which is super useful for people who work for themselves and it will make life a lot easier for you going forward too.
Tax shouldn’t be something to be daunted by, it is a simple payment we make to help fund public services. Hopefully after today you know a but more about this buzzword and how it is used every day.
5 Ways To Grow Your Brand Awareness with Influencer Marketing
Brand awareness and growth is at an all-time high, and even relatively unknown brands are catching in on the frenzy. With the necessary steps taken, any brand that has substance can become a worldwide fantasy.
One super-smart way to get in on the fun with increased brand awareness is by engaging influencer marketing. With influencer marketing platforms and tools such as https://izea.com/unity-suite/, your brand’s reach can be increased, leading to more exposure and eye-popping engagements! Not just that, but you also get more leads and conversions when you have a proper approach to influencer marketing.
What are the 5 top tips to help grow your brand awareness with influencer marketing?
1. Building a Network of Influencers is Almost Foolproof
For brand growth, you might need to work with a community of influencers; and not just 1 or 2 of them. This is especially true if your brand proposes to cut across different strata and demographic indices.
If you can build a network of influencers to help promote your brand, you are likely to connect with a larger audience and create brand awareness within these various groups. The end goal of this is increased brand visibility, an excellent step towards the growth of your brand.
2. Visibility! Visibility! Visibility!
This is one of the major things it boils down to increased visibility.
A well-marketed brand is one which is very visible. That means you can’t afford to sleep on the use of social networking sites and platforms, as you execute your influencer marketing campaigns.
However, the best platforms to push your visibility on would be those your target audience routinely visit. Instagram in particular, is very good at helping to engage different brands and target audiences; and then we have Twitter and Facebook.
Your influencers should focus more on producing content for these platforms, as well as others like YouTube and even blogs, so as to increase your visibility on search engines.
3. Whoosh! The Oh-So-Amazing Brand Experience
One secret to growing your brand via influencer marketing is to sell your brand experience to influencers, who would then gladly sell this experience to their followers! That being said, you would have to create a unique experience around your brand that’s lively and exciting to your potential clients or target audience.
Influencers have a certain kind of energy- and when they are sold in on your brand experience, they exude this energy whilst describing your brand. Isn’t that a great way to grow your brand?
4. Work with Influencers to Support a Good Cause
Big brands caught this bug a while back. A crucial example is GUESS, which helps rape victims with the GUESS Denim Day Campaign.
This is a very good way to build awareness for your brand, as there is data to prove that 8 in 10 customers are willing to try out a new brand that fulfills the corporate social responsibility clause for businesses.
Working with influencers to support any cause you choose e.g. feeding homeless children, creates a strong impact for your brand, and makes clients more willing to trust you. It is very important, at this juncture, to choose influencers whose values align with those of your brand/ the chosen cause.
5. Allow Influencers Freedom to Create Unique, Engaging Content
Influencers are valuable because of how much they can engage their audience.
Isn’t it counter-intuitive to dictate how they provide content, and which sort of content they provide?
Besides giving influencers a broad overview of what you want to be communicated, it might be a wise step to actually allow them to do their jobs!
It will be in the best interest of your brand if you do not consistently try to battle the power of shaping fluid content out of the hands of influencers, and into your own hands. Remember, you’re on the same team! Allow authenticity, and everyone goes home happy.
Wrapping it Up
Growing your brand is paramount in your mind. A right approach to influencer marketing might be the tipping point your brand has been waiting for.
17 Tips To Help You Rapidly Grow Your New Start-Up
Starting a business can be a fun and exciting experience. It gives you the chance to set your own goals and you may even be able to achieve financial freedom as a result. If you don’t have a solid plan however then you may eventually run your business into the ground, and the worst thing is that you probably won’t have anything to show for it either. If you want to avoid this situation then you need to rapidly expand your start-up when you start gaining traction, so you can establish a sustainable business model that will keep on turning profit for years to come.
Build your own Sales Funnel
The first way for you to grow your new start-up would be for you to build your own sales funnel. If you don’t have one, then you are making a huge mistake. Sales funnels give you the chance to completely automate your business. They also give you the chance to scale and grow your company according to the sales you have. When establishing your sales funnel, you need to make sure that you consider the options that are available and that you also make it work according to the business model you have.
Invest in a Customer Management System
Tracking all of your transactions manually can be difficult. It can also be incredibly time-consuming too. If you want to grow your business quickly then one way for you to do this would be for you to invest in a customer management system. There are so many out there for you to choose from, and when you find one that works for you, you can easily reap the benefits.
Research your Competition
Before you go to market, you have to make sure that you research your competition. You need to analyse their landing pages, their advertisement copy and the various other stages of the funnel too. This will give you the chance to uncover their strategy and it will also help you to emulate their success through your own avenues.
Have a Loyalty program
If you don’t have a loyalty program, then you could be losing out on customers. Loyalty programs remain to be a great way for you to increase your sales. Acquiring a new customer will cost three times more when compared to selling to a customer you already have.
Getting new customers can be expensive to say the least, but by building a loyalty program, you can help to retain the customers that you have. It gives them a clear incentive that will help them to spend money through your company and it will also really pay off in the long-run. If you are not sure how to offer a loyalty program, then you need to look at your competition and also think about what your customers really want from you.
Identify New Opportunities
It’s so important that you analyse any new opportunities that may arise in your current business model. You need to understand everything from your distribution channel to your market competitors and even the foreign market too. This will provide you with a ton of new opportunities and it will also help you to pursue avenues that you might not even be aware of.
One of the most effective ways for you to build abusiness would be for you to establish your own email list. This ultimately means that you need to have a lead magnet. Think about it, why should people subscribe to your list? What can you offer them? This will help you to ensure that you are giving your customers what they want, and it will also help you to give them incentive.
Partnerships
Strategic partnerships that are formed with the right company really can make all the difference. It gives you the chance to reach out to a whole new audience of customers and you may even find that it attracts more sales too. If you want to get the best result out of the business you have then you need to make sure that you partner with someone who offers services that are complementary to your own. Contact other providers and propose an opportunity. When you do this, you also have to make sure that both sides benefit and that you aren’t just looking out for yourself.
Go Global
If you work ineCommerce then there are plenty of services that you can leverage to try and go global. This will help you to grow your business quickly and it will also help you to capitalise on the success of other companies.
Think about it, what complementary products can you offer? What other services can you realistically provide? The more you offer, the more chance you have of appealing to someone. Expansion really is so important and the more you focus on building your business, the more success you will experience. If you want to get the best result out of your expansion, then you have to make sure that you uncover pain points. Work out how you can meet a new market need and also make the effort to listen to your customers. Be careful though because if you offer too many products too fast then you may end up burning yourself out.
Acquire another Business
You’ve probably spent quite some time building the business you have right now, so it seems like a shame to just buy someone else’s. That being said, this can be one of the best ways for you to rapidly grow your start-up. It gives you the chance to target a new audience and it also allows you to scale fast too. Take a look at your industry and always keep an eye out for any potential opportunities that might be coming your way.
Expansion
Look at the products that you have right now. Can you expand internationally? What would it take for you to bring your business to Europe, Canada or even Mexico? Sure, this will cost you for the time being and you may even find that you lose out on money to begin with, but eventually it will bring a brand-new source of income that can really help to carry your business into the future.
Webinar
Webinars are a great way for you to try and promote any product or service that you have. It can also help you to grow your business incredibly fast too. If you want to get the best result out of your webinar, then you need to make sure that you understand your customer requirements and you also need to develop something that can meet them. Personalise your webinar and always listen to customer feedback, as this will help you to truly take things to that next level.
Offer a Fantastic Customer Service
You have to make sure that your customer service is absolutely on-point. You also need to make sure that you go the extra mile for them wherever possible. Your customers will remember you for this and they will also be much more likely to refer you to their friends and family. It also helps to have strategies in place that will nurture the customers that you have right now. This could include staying in contact with them via email or even sending out a newsletter. Another thing that you can do is send them a deal or even a promotion ahead of time. This will help you to increase loyalty and it will also help you to further the connection that you have with them.
Be Willing to Learn
If you’re not willing to learn then your business won’t be achieving its full potential. You don’t need to attend a physical training program in order to increase your skills either, in fact, sometimes it’s more than possible for you to do it at home or even while you’re at work. Look upthe best distance learning MBA to find out more.
Utilise Social Media
Social media is an incredibly powerful tool and it can easily be used to promote your business. It is also great if you want to gain a higher level of insight into what your customers really think of you as well. If you want to give yourself the highest chance of success with your business, then you need to identify your target market and you also need to create a profile that relates to that.
Give Back
Building brand awareness in your local area is a fantastic way for you to attract new business. You need to think about having a sponsored event or even participating in a local fun run. When you do, you will be raising awareness of your company while also giving yourself the chance to boost your profile in general.
Measure your Results
You should always be measuring your results and you should also be aware of where your customers are coming from. This will help you to find out what avenues are working, and it will also help you to focus on the marketing efforts that are actually benefiting you.
Improving Standards Throughout Your Entire Firm (5 Proven Strategies)
Once in a while, we might look at ourselves and realize that we need to improve our standards. It could be that we feel a little like we haven’t been trying our best lately, or that we’ve let circumstances override our usual passion. There’s nothing wrong with this provided you notice it, shake off the cobwebs, and then try again. If this is true for individuals, it is certainly true for the businesses they run, or the business you might run.
Improving standards throughout your entire firm is not only something you can do for positive PR, but also to improve processes, save money, and potentially lead to that next innovation to profit from. However, improving standards is rarely easy. It can take a little time to get just right, and a little bit of patience to perfect. We think of firms that have struggled to move with the times and realize that often, this comes from the arrogance of thinking what worked in the past will always be relevant.
Don’t let your standards also fall by this mindset. With the advice below, we hope your standards can be raised expertly:
Ensure Staff Standards
It’s important to ensure that staff standards are up to scratch, and that you’re having them abide by reliable working responsibilities each day. For example, asking them to come in by a particular time should not be advisory, although some in salaried positions can sometimes feel this way. Having reasonable targets to hit and giving staff bonuses should they exceed them can be a great method of staff routinely try their best.
Remember, asking what you can do to help your staff is often better than simply telling staff to do better. Repairing a faulty incentive structure might be the first step. Considering how the workload is divided might be another. Over time, your staff will feel secure and comfortable in their jobs, and will know that hard work is always rewarded.
But it’s also important to train them in many ways that you haven’t as of yet. For example, teaching them the best online social media practice could potentially help you avoid an online incident via an ambassador of your firm. Training them in regards to essential security protocol can help them avoid making security mistakes when working remotely.
Demand Better Marketing
If you feel as though your marketing strategy has been tepid thus far, it might be worth taking a step back, thinking it over, and trying again. But it’s worth trying better marketing tactics. Opting for the higher-end options of social media promotion is important if you hope to reach a targeted demographic or perhaps adjust to those with a particular advertising ID.
Going with a professional production studio instead of an in-house videography or infographic firm could help you polish your output to gain a better response. Not only this, but services such as FATJOE can offer some of the best SEO output in the industry, potentially yielding you much in the way of exposure.
Marketing is not something you can play around with - it must be something that is direct, targeted, and calculated. This could be a first step in expecting better results from your outreach - potentially from head to toe.
Improve Communication
There are all kinds of businesses that run in many different ways, but one thing is certain - no business can ever succeed or even thrive without open communication. It could be that you’ve noticed your departments are speaking to one another less, that people seem less inclined to share ideas, that noticeable issues in the office environment are being swept under the rug. None of this is ideal in the least.
This is where improving communication could be your next best step. It might only take a moment to achieve, but if you can, then your office productivity will increase dramatically. Ensure everyone is connected to everyone else within the company, as in knowing extension numbers, Hangouts chat information, or instant messaging contacts. Use one centralized service for your online communication so everyone is on the same page.
We would also recommend ensuring an open-door policy so that reports of issues can come to you or HR at any time. Workplace mistreatment, bullying or anything that could amount to a stressful working environment for colleagues should be shut down in a moment. Improving communication is, almost always, one of the best cure-alls for issues a firm might be experiencing. The more a company can communicate, the more flexible it is.
Equip Your Staff
Staff simply cannot be expected to work well if they have trouble with the equipment they use. For example, smart mobile devices should be granted to every employee of a certain level, as they may need to communicate remotely or keep all information on a set device. This goes for potential laptop usage (with your security solutions) and of course, always the best and most ergonomic desktop setup.
Equipping your staff for work can also mean the little things. A complete staff kitchen that’s routinely cleaned and stocked with coffee or other items can help your staff avoid the treachery of yawning each day. It makes a difference. This goes for locker facilities to keep personal items secure, and always ensuring your staff toilets are in top condition. There are no substitutes for these needs. Furthermore, if you have yet to implement a staff room where employees can eat away from their desk, then arranging a space for this could be a fantastic idea.
Consider Your Ethics
It can be hard to have frank discussions regarding company ethics. This is because most of the time, we might think we are operating at our best capacity. Sometimes, implementing ethics isn’t a good idea for your bottom line. But it’s always a good decision in the long-term, and this isn’t even mentioning the obvious positive impact your firm can have.
For example, if a firm that deals in the production and supply of paper solutions does little to replace the trees it uses, or has any mind for the environment whatsoever, then there’s a problem there. Not only is the firm taking and not restoring its imprint, but this could turn into a true PR disaster. Considering the ethics of your decisions could be a great idea. For example, Pride month came and went in June, and for it, we see many companies changing their company logo to reflect the rainbow Pride colors. But how many donated proceeds to charities helping LGBTQ people? We are sure some did, but certainly not all. This cheap marketing tactic is quite rightly being called out by some people, and those firms who just used this period for the optics could be labelled as acting unethically.
This is often what we mean when we mean ‘standards.’ They are the internal standards you hold, but also the standards that you express, those that impact the world and development around you. It’s always a relevant question to ask if your firm can go the extra mile to secure some form of good thanks to its process and power. For example, a food company choosing only to utilize free-range chickens in their products rather than battery-farmed coop options.
This could be the first step you take to create a firm of real worth, something that deserves its standing on the corporate stage.
With this advice, we hope you’re much better able to raise your standards as a firm. We have no doubt you will be more than successful.
With job competition as fierce as ever, it is extremely important for businesses to be hiring the right kind of employees. The one thing that no company wants to deal with is constant employee turnover.
In order to bring in the talent, you need to stand out amongst the competition. Your company should be able to provide reasons as to how employees can continue to grow in the company and how they can best represent the brand they are interviewing for.
Let’s dive into some ways that you can be the most attractive option for any potential top-notch candidate.
Advanced Career Opportunities
A very clear mission should be set describing the vision of the company for any prospective employees. They should know exactly what they are applying for and what the expectations of the company will be. It is also extremely important that you convey to potential employees what career options could lie ahead for them down the line. Present it in an exciting way that would grab their attention.
Everybody wants to know that there are chances for advancement in their jobs, so making this very clear to them could help to attract the absolute best employees available on the market. Develop the right business exposure to help bring the employees you would most want to interview.
Show Off Your Current Staff
Identify those staff members currently doing well in your business and enlist them as ambassadors for your company. They should be looking on LinkedIn to reach out to high potential clients. Attracting strong employees through your current employees can show potential new employees how valuable they could be. This is also a clear message to new staff members that the culture of the organization is strong and relies heavily on their employees.
Your staff can be your best salespeople. If they can convey to potential employees how much the company cares for their employees, the more top quality applicants you will receive. Companies that succeed go far beyond amazing benefits. These companies build a reputation for the respect they have for their employees and is the main reason why so many employees choose to never leave the company.
Target the Right People
You will ultimately know the kind of person that you want working for you. The kind of person that will fit seamlessly into the day-to-day activities at a level you greatly desire. Know what you are able to offer as incentives and what kind of employees could benefit from those offers.
Preach the culture of the organization. So many times today, people leave their current job because of a poor working culture. Promoting the many positives that your culture offers will certainly help to lure in the best employees possible. Know exactly the kind of employee you desire, advertise in that manner, and hire that person immediately if they fit your needs.
Benefits of Social Media
Any potential employee will undoubtedly do their research ahead of time. They will scour Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see what is being said or conveyed about the company. Use this to your advantage.
Be active in social media by promoting all the good things that are happening at your company. Highlight employee success stories and make it clear how much the company values its employees. People who are looking to potentially work for you will be very carefully monitoring how employees seem to be treated in these situations.
Be sure to have people keep an eye on a German recruitment blog for potential employees that could fit the mold you are looking for.
Provide Educational Incentives
Great companies want to see their employees continue to get stronger and grow with the company. Offering educational programs that the staff can participate in will be a big booster to morale. Providing incentive programs for acquiring higher education can help to keep your employees fresh and enthusiastic. This helps to make employees feel valued and strengthen their loyalty to the company.
Authenticity Goes A Long Way
People will be able to see right through a dog and pony show. If your company really is everything that was discussed above, it will naturally come through to the potential employee. The right employee for your company will see immediately what the culture is like, how people are interacting with each other, what the company looks like, and if they could see themselves working in this environment. You want someone who fits right in with how the company actually conducts itself on a daily basis. Showing off anything that is fake will land you a fake candidate.
Believe in what your company has to offer and have high standards for hiring the right kind of employee. The decision is ultimately yours and the goal is to have strong candidates to make the decision difficult. If you accomplished that, you have done everything you could to lure in the right fit..
