Managing a profitable business is not an easy thing to do. A business owner must manage all of the legal paperwork, employees, insurance, accounting and marketing and many many more aspects of running a company. Make your life simple. I'm sure everyone by now has heard of the phrase, "Work Smarter, Not Harder". In this blog, we've highlighted a few common mistakes that businesses should avoid and a few ways to make your business "smarter".
Delaying Technology Upgrades
It's year 2016 and some businesses are just not up to par with technology. It's time to reassess your company's technology usage and examine the areas where you think updated technology would benefit your day to day operations. For example, if your still using localized spreadsheets and to monitor your current accounting and financial standings, think about switching to a more cloud based tool. Cloud based anything is usually better for anyone who manages a business on the go. You'll have your reports and analysis with the click of a button anywhere you are.
Inefficiently Managing your Social Media
With all of the above mentioned aspects of running a business (i.e. accounting, insurance, employees and etc.) it becomes difficult to manage your day to day social media accounts, especially, if you're trying to manage more than one platform. To stay relevant in social media, you need to create the occasional post highlighting an idea that you had on a subject within your industry. This can become a tedious process for someone who is constantly on the go and has zero time to post. Our suggestion to this problem would be to use sites like Buffer or Hearsay Social. These sites will allow you to fill up your account with as many posts and ideas at once and then schedule them to post at certain times of the day and/or week. With only a click, you can have a website sent to your buffer and create a brief statement regarding the issues that are important toyou. Check it out https://buffer.com/ & http://hearsaysocial.com/.
Not Celebrating Your Success
Depending on what industry you're in, the weekdays can sometimes become long and mundane. It's tough for some to wake up on Monday's which in turn causes the excitementwhen Friday's come around. If you're an owner of a company, we recommend celebrating your, your employees and your companies general success! Whether it be an employee or your company as a whole, break up the monotony by taking time to celebrate any success anyone encounters. This goes a long way in employee appreciation and overall work atmosphere. By appreciating your employees and also the work that you've done, this will in turn, build strong relationships with everyone around you and bring excitement to the workplace.
Not Planning for the Day, the Week & the Future
It's the old saying, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". This is not a very profound statement and obviously if you dive right into something, things could go south real quick. As a business owner, it's you're duty to plan for the day, plan for the week and plan for the future. Anticipate market changes. Revert back to mistake #1 of this blog and let upgraded technology do some planning for you. Watch your industry, watch your industry's market and read updated and current news regarding your industry.
Not Determining a Niche for Your Company
No matter what industry you're in, there is a niche to capture. By developing a company niche, you become a source for that specific demographic that your company's niche is tailored to. Your marketing will become more relevant and you'll see that the marketing dollars you've put into your campaign will give a great return on interest. Developing a niche also brands you and gives you more purpose as a company. You can target certain demographics better and develop different ways to reach those demographics. Tailor your company to meet specific needs as opposed to being a general source.