Category: Productivity

Productivity is something every leader cherishs — and here, you will learn the best productivity tips to become a great leader and to have more time.

  • Why You Need to Backup Your Business Data (and How to Do It)

    Why You Need to Backup Your Business Data (and How to Do It)

    Losing data is always a conundrum, let alone how damaging it can be for a business. As a business owner, you are not responsible only for your staff’s data but also for your customers. This makes data loss or corruption a pitfall you must avoid at all costs.

    Technology is a capricious thing; one moment, your systems may all be up and running, and the next, you might find that your local data copies have been lost. Luckily, creating another copy of your important files is not as hard as it sounds. Check out the following points to learn why backing up data is vital for businesses and how you can make the process a breeze.

    Why Are Data Backups Important?

    Access Files Remotely

    Long gone are the days when employees had to be on-site to access business data. Nowadays, most people take work back home with them or rely on their smartphones to finish up tasks. This makes having a cloud copy of your company’s data a must, not only to improve workflow but also to allow employees to set their own work hours, which is extremely important in the COVID-19 era. So, if you want to have full control over your files even when you are not in the office, definitely invest in data backups.

    Decide Which Files to Keep

    Realistically, not every file is worth backing up. However, finding out which ones are can be challenging, especially if you have thousands of files to go through. Because the amount of data you want to create a copy of directly affects the cost of the process, particularly when it comes to cloud backup, you have to make sure that you are not just copying all the files you can find. To make the process a bit easier, ask the head of every department to find the data that is worth keeping. This way, you can keep important files protected without going over your budget.

    Avoid the Woes of Power Cuts

    Even if you have the best generators on the market, they may still not be enough to power up your systems during blackouts. This is especially the case if your business is based in an area that experiences wacky weather and frequent power cuts. Why go through all the trouble of finding a professional to retrieve important data when you can always be sure that your files are safe and sound? Creating backups can help you avoid the worst-case scenario and allow you to get some peace of mind.

    Add an Extra Layer of Protection

    To blindside you, hackers are getting increasingly craftier with the way they plan their attacks. They exploit any security loophole that your system may have to assume control of your data. By gaining access to sensitive files, they can also employ extortive means to sell them back to you for thousands of dollars. Because you certainly do not want to give these nefarious individuals that much power, backing up your data often will help you prevent these sticky situations from ever happening.

    Free Up Space

    If you own a startup, you may not have enough money to invest in expensive storage solutions, which makes destroying old data a necessity. However, by sacrificing this data, you may end up making things harder for your staff. After all, you never know when you might need to retrieve a certain file. Instead of continuously getting rid of files to free up space, why don’t you create another local or a cloud copy? Most solutions do not even cost that much, so you will not have to break the bank to keep your data protected.

    Keep Customers Satisfied

    Losing your staff’s data is one thing, but losing your clients’ information is a different story altogether. Customer satisfaction is always most business owners’ top priority, so it only makes sense that you may want to go above and beyond to keep your clients happy. This is particularly important if you have an e-commerce business where storing credit card information and other sensitive data is mandatory. Even if a power cut happens and you lose your local copy, you can ensure that your clients will never be cut off from your services as you try to fix the problem. 

    How Can You Create Data Backups?

    Set a Budget

    You can try many solutions if you want to create data backups for your business, but not all of them cost the same. This is why you need to set a budget before choosing a method. Generally speaking, the fewer data you need to back up, the lower the cost will be. However, this cost can go up if you decide to hire professionals to handle this process. For this reason, startup business owners who have enough tech knowledge or a strong IT team are advised not to seek a professional company when creating backups to keep the cost down.

    Find a Method

    As we’ve mentioned, you can choose from a plethora of options when it comes to data backups. The easiest way is to purchase a few external hard drives and USB sticks. Although this is usually seen as an outdated method, it still works pretty well, especially if you have a limited budget. Just make sure to keep these storage devices off-site in a safe place. You can also go for cloud storage. Yet, when picking a cloud storage provider, make sure that they have an intricate security system because you definitely do not want hackers to get to your data. Moreover, to guarantee that you will be able to access your business files anywhere, cross-platform support is a plus.

    Follow a Schedule

    Routine backups are very important. That said, you do not have to create one every day. Experts agree that backing up files once a week is usually enough. Nevertheless, if there is sensitive information you are afraid you might lose or your area experiences frequent power outages, it is best to incorporate this practice into your daily routine. 

    Business data loss is a nightmarish scenario. However, you do not have to spend thousands of dollars on fancy professionals who claim that they can retrieve lost files when you have a more straightforward solution at your disposal. By investing in creating several copies of important information, you can rest assured that your business remains on top of the food chain and give your customers the best possible experience.

  • How Workplace Design Can Impact the Success of Your Business

    How Workplace Design Can Impact the Success of Your Business

    When it comes to running a profitable business, what do you think of? Most people will answer with productive employees, smart business models, and competitive pricing. While all of these answers are correct, they forget one major area that impacts success. This is your workplace design. While it might sound strange, studies have shown that a good workplace can greatly increase the profitability of your business. In what ways can it do this? Here is how your workplace design can impact your business and make it more successful.

    Open Layout Boosts Morale

    The first thing to look at when it comes to workplace design is the overall shape of the office. Are you having your workers work in cubicles? Are they segregated off from everyone else? While you might think this is a great way to minimize distractions and increase productivity, statistics have shown the exact opposite. Offices that are more open concept allow employees to feel more free to get their work done. Instead of feeling imprisoned, they can move around and work. Having the ability to speak with one another will greatly boost morale, which will keep your workforce happy.

    However, accomplishing these goals might be difficult as there is plenty of furniture in the office along with desks and files that will have to be taken care of. In certain situations, a lot of this stuff might even be destined for the garbage. If you are unsure what to keep and what to get rid of, you can get some experts to assist you in the matter. Replacing this furniture and equipment is a great start, according to the experts at Vestra Workspace fitouts, who continue to add that clearing everything up is the first step to achieving the design that you are looking for. The best part about bringing on a team is that they can help fulfill the vision that you have. They will consult you every step of the way and work with you, so the space that you are creating is one that you will truly be happy with. An open concept will be great and will increase the morale of your staff.

    Better Productivity

    The next best thing about improving your workplace design is that you can expect better productivity as a result. As morale gets boosted, so does your employees’ drive to work. They will complete their tasks that much faster, and the quality will be higher as well. A properly designed workplace will also have a breakroom, which will help with this.

    How does a breakroom help with workplace productivity? Employees are not mindless workers who have the ability to slave away all day. They will burn themselves out if they work too hard, and their productivity will greatly decrease. Having a breakroom will give them the chance to step away from their desk and refresh themselves mentally. It will also give them the opportunity to catch up with their coworkers and have a conversation. After their break is done, they will return to work and jump right into things. The break will do wonders for their brain, and they will once again operate at high efficiency for the rest of the day.

    Improved Communication

    When it comes to running a business, you have to make sure that all departments are in constant communication with each other. If there are any setbacks, people have to know early so they can react accordingly. A well-designed workplace allows people to communicate easily with each other, allowing for important information to be delivered quickly and effectively. The faster information can be conveyed, the better it will be for your business.

    A Safer Environment

    Worldwide, there are hundreds of thousands of work-related injuries each year. A lot of these are caused by the workplace being designed improperly. Taking the time to come up with a design to make things safe will allow your employees to feel much safer when they are working around the office. You’d be surprised at how much more success a safer business can bring.

    What are the repercussions if you do not do this? If your employees are nervous about their work environment, they will not output work at an acceptable rate. An even worse situation would be if an employee were to get injured at work. You will be held responsible for the injury and will have to pay a large sum of money to the employee, putting your business in a financially dangerous situation. Safer workplace design is a better workplace design for both you and your employees.

    Better Mental Health

    An office that is full of clutter takes a mental toll on those around it. A mess creates stress, and as it continues to build up, it will affect your employees more and more. By taking the time to clean your office, you can keep all of your employees relaxed and feeling good. What are the other benefits of this? Employees who feel healthy and fit are much less likely to take sick days. This means that you will be operating at 100% each and every day instead of having to worry about who is going to call in sick. Proper workplace design will enrich your employees’ mental health and keep them in the office.

    Drive Sales

    If you deal with customers who come to your business, you want to ensure that it is presented in a way that is conducive to the business that you are doing. If your customers are unhappy with your layout, they might end up taking their business elsewhere. Everything matters when it comes to closing a sale. Find a design that is welcoming towards your customers so that they are more willing to speak with you and purchase from you.

    All of these are great reasons as to why you should improve the design of your workplace. By taking the time to implement some of these tips, you will notice that the productivity and morale of your employees will improve greatly. A final recommendation is to speak to your employees about what changes you can make around the workplace. As they are the ones working in it every day, they will know what is best for it. What changes do you plan on making to the workplace?

  • How You Can Easily Make Logo Online With DesignEvo

    How You Can Easily Make Logo Online With DesignEvo

    Brand awareness is on the rise. A good-looking logo is often impressive. For example, the Apple logo is an apple that has been bitten. The Nike logo is presented in a swoosh. What if you need to make a good-looking and impressive logo? DesignEvo is a practical logo tool that allows you to design a good-looking logo without hiring a designer.

    What is DesignEvo?

    DesignEvo is a logo design software developed by PearlMountain. This software allows everyone to handle logo design easily and get the best design experience.

    DesignEvo’s Key feature in briefly:

    • 10,000+ Logo templates are available for reference
    • More than one million searchable icons
    • Hundreds of file fonts and shapes to choose from
    • Powerful editing tools: crop, resize, rotate, layer management, copy, cancel/redo, etc.
    • Most Element in the template could be edited

    To have a better user experience, you might need to register a DesignEvo account.

    Register Account

    DesignEvo account registration is straightforward, as long as you use your Facebook or Google account to log in. Even if the registration is completed, of course, you can also enter your email and password to register. After registration, you will be asked about your group identity and occupation and a confirmation will be sent. Register to the email address you filled in. After verification, press the “Free Design Logo” button to start your design.

    And since you have registered the account, and click Make a Logo,  then you would be directed to the logo selecting page. So here, you can choose a template to customize. Also you can start from scratch.

    Choose a template

    Choose A Template With DesignEvo

    Choose A Template With DesignEvo

    Designing a logo from scratch is a headache for the average person, and DesignEvo provides intimately and categorizes more than 10,000 templates. Just select the template according to the theme you want to create and start designing your own logo.

    The operation guideline

    When entering the editing page, DesignEvo will jump out of the guide interface to guide the icons and fonts you can use and the location of the download button after the design is completed.

    Add icon

    Click the Icon tab on the left bar, and some popular search icons will be displayed. Click one of the sample: Circle circles to have many styles for you to choose. Tap and hold the desired icon and pull it to the right You can add icons in the editing window, and you can set the color of the icon, horizontal and vertical flip and transparency, and you can zoom in or out.

    Choose font

    Choose A Font With DesignEvo

    Choose A Font With DesignEvo

    How can a good-looking Logo get fewer fonts, DesignEvo has hundreds of fonts, including Classic and Art, to choose from, click the text on the left side to find the font you like, then select the text in the editing window Then press the font you like on the left.

    Add shape

    The operation of adding a shape is the same as adding an icon. Select the shape you want and add it. It is also a good choice to put a beautiful frame on it.

    Choose background

    If you think the set background is not good for your logo, then you can consider changing the background too.

    Download your logo

    After going through the above difficulties, the logo is finally designed. Finally, press the green download button on the upper right to download the file back, but the free version only provides 300 x 300 size and transparent background image files to download. If the pixel is bigger, you need to buy the paid version, and if you want to apply for a trademark or copyright, you should purchase the Plus plan.

    To sum up

    The advancement of technology makes people more and more convenient. In the past, designing a logo required spending money to ask an art designer to design. Now DesignEvo is really convenient. Go to the website and simply edit the logo to get. The free version is easy to use if you want to use it for yourself. However, if you have a large image output, it is better to buy a basic package to download a large-size image.

    The logo represents the brand symbol of your personal or company identification. If you have a budget, please ask the graphic designer to design. If you don’t have too much budget, consider using DesignEvo.

  • Remote Working Made Easy

    Remote Working Made Easy

    Working remotely is becoming more popular, and in some cases, a requirement. This means that many companies are learning how to enable their staff to work from home – and produce almost identical results to office based working. 

    The global work culture has shifted in recent years, and there are more online businesses and freelancers than ever before. What does this mean? 

    There are now a plethora of services and tools to help us maximise our working hours and our output. 

    Here are some ways that you can make your remote working life easier to manage. 

    Systems & Software

    If you manage a team, then this responsibility falls to you. While you might have access to a working laptop, high-speed internet and the files you need. It would be wrong to assume that everyone has the same access. When it comes to files and data, then a cheap VPS is the ideal solution. A collaborative and secure way to work in a team. Zoom or Google Meet are both great options for group meetings. Make sure you equip your team with the tools they need. 

    Communication

    Following on from the last point. Keeping in touch both in a group and on a one-to-one basis is essential. Much of how we communicate is by reading body language and tone of voice. We need to work harder on remote chats to get those across. You should have meetings scheduled once a week to keep everyone on track.

    Goal Setting

    Have clear weekly and monthly goals set so that everyone knows what they are doing. Collective goals mean that your team will all want to do their best to meet the targets and expectations. 

    Expectations

    A remote team will usually consist of a range of people. Some will be morning people, others will be night owls. And while you won’t have too much control over their working hours, you can set expectations. You expect them to be around for group calls, checking in with emails and delivering their work on time. Be clear. 

    Structure

    If you are new to working from home or have had an online home business for a while, you still need structure. Routine is still essential. A considerable perk of working from home is the ability to work around other parts of your life, but some routine is necessary. Without that structure, you will find tasks take longer (Parkinson’s Law). You will not be able to give defined hand-in dates and may need to rush. Create a good routine as soon as possible. 

    Rest

    There is a temptation to burn the midnight oil, wake up very early and get started again. The enthusiasm is impressive, but you will burn out. It is essential to set yourself some rest breaks during your working hours too. Pomodoro timers will give you focused periods of working and designated breaks also. Use the breaks to hydrate and walk around. 

    If you find that you get stuck on something, then use the opportunity to take a more extended break. 

    There is a particular dedication and discipline that comes with working from your own home. Once you have the basics laid, running a home business, or managing your team from home is a rewarding experience. 

  • 10+ Best Sticker Mockup PSD Templates That Will Make You Go “WOW”

    10+ Best Sticker Mockup PSD Templates That Will Make You Go “WOW”

    Best Sticker Mockups Free PSD Templates

    10+ Best Sticker Mockup PSD Templates That Will Make You Go “WOW”

    Stickers are excellent ways to showcase your design work while highlighting your brand. Since some years back, stickers are very useful mean of promotional tool for businesses around the world.

    More importantly, stickers play a vital role especially for designers and entrepreneurs. Using sticker and label mockups, you can easily create designs, graphics and make printing much easier.

    In this article, you will find the 10 best sticker mockup PSD templates that you can use … absolutely FREE.

    Free Sticker Mockup

    Free Sticker Mockup

    Free Sticker Mockup

    Free Round Rectangle Sticker Mockup

    Stickers Mockup Set

    Stickers Mockup Set

    Stickers Mockup Bundle

    Sticker Mockup Bundle

    Stickers Mockup Bundle

    Sticker Logo Mock Bundle

    Logo Sticker Mockup PSD

    Logo Sticker Mockup Psd

    Round Roll Sticker Mockup Set

    Round Roll Stickers Mockup Set

    Sticker Generator Mockup Set

    Sticker Generator Mockup Set

    Decals Sticker Mockup Set

    Decals Stickers Mockup Set

    Sticker Mockups Smart Art

    Sticker Mockups Smart Art

    Keyboard Sticker Mockup

    Keyboard Sticker Mockup

    Best Stickers Mockup PSD Templates

    Do you have your favorite sticker mockups? I hope you find the sticker mockups PSD templates above useful for your online business!

    Find this useful? Share this with your friends now!

  • How To Convert A PDF File Into Word Format?

    How To Convert A PDF File Into Word Format?

    How To Convert A PDF File Into Word Format?

    You might have seen people having problems while sharing a document from their computer to another device. They usually complain about the difference in the formatting, or the low quality of the content and even the size issue.

    One of the biggest reasons for all these severe issues is the inappropriate document format. There are many formats that are being used by people for creating and managing documents.

    Many people prefer various formats according to their needs, but there is one format that is considered as the best when it comes to sharing content from one device to another, which is PDF format. 

    This format is considered as the most suitable format for transferring your documents from one device to another without affecting the quality and formatting for the content. Whether you have an android device or IOS, and you want to share it with any other device, this format is the best.

    You don’t have to get worried about the consistency of the content after sharing, as this format assures you the unity of the formatting of your content. You can also include images, text, tables, and graphs in a single PDF file. But, there is a serious issue with this format, that you cannot edit your content in a PDF File easily.

    You have to buy some expensive software or need some premium tools for editing a PDF document like https://onlypdf.net

    But, what if I have a PDF file with some errors? How can I make some changes to my PDF file?

    These are the questions that might be coming into your mind right now. Well, the best approach to overcome this issue is to convert your PDF File into a WORD file. The word format allows you to make as many changes in your content as you desire without any hurdle. 

    Simple ways to convert a PDF file into Word

    Converting a PDF file into word format is a challenging task. There are different ways that can be used to turn your PDF file into a Word file, and you can adopt any of them according to your requirements. In the conventional method, you can type all the content of a PDF file into a Word file by yourself.

    The other way is to install some massive size document converter on your device to turn your PDF into Word. However, both of these methods require a huge amount of time and effort from your side, and still, the chances of errors remain. But, you don’t need to get worried anymore, as you can use an efficient online PDF to Word converter without any such hassle quickly. 

    You don’t need to install any software on your device or write all the content on your computer again by yourself anymore. You can turn your PDF file into Word file without typing a single word easily by using this fantastic online converting tool. You also don’t have to go through any robust methods for converting your file as you can perform this conversion by a few clicks on your device.

    Once you upload your PDF file on this fantastic online PDF to word converter, this amazing tool process it and gives you the converted file only in a few seconds. There is also no need to make an account on any website to use this tremendous online PDF to Word tool. 

    So, if you are worried about the conversion of your PDF files, then you don’t have to anymore, as this online PDF to Word converter is the best option you have at the moment. This online tool gives you the safest and high-quality conversion of your PDF file into Doc, without charging a single penny.