Category Archives: Corporate Business Solutions LLC

Business 101 – How to Properly Manage A Small Business

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It’s thrilling yet risky to start or manage a new small business in the cutthroat business world. Every day, small businesses are launched by an entrepreneur with a burning desire to tackle a particular need.

Running a business requires more than just having a solid idea. Every company, regardless of size, is constantly worried about management. Every business must have an effective management system to survive.

To make their enterprise a success story, small business owners must be well-equipped with managerial skills and talents. Keep reading to discover helpful techniques for effectively managing a small business.

1.  Proper Time Management Is the Key

You should be aware that time is your most valuable resource as a small business owner. Money can be lost and then recovered. However, you cannot recover time.

Every day, keep a proper record of the activities you spend your time on and aim to eliminate any that are not producing or contributing significantly to your organization. This can help you identify your biggest time wasters.

The 80/20 Pareto Principle rule is a good technique for deciding where to invest more time. The 80/20 rule essentially states that only 20% of your efforts will provide 80% of your results.

2.  Have a To-Do List and Be Organized

You must maintain extreme organization as a small business owner. To help you stay on track, develop the practice of making a to-do list. It’s pretty simple to manage and keep track of daily activities, including those of your staff, with a To-Do list.

Three categories should be considered while creating your to-do list: one for tasks you must complete today, another for things that require your attention but can wait. Create a final category for quick chores and commitments you can complete when you have extra time.

3.  Hire Based On Attitude and Train for New Skills

We live and operate in a world where a company’s ability to thrive depends on hiring staff members who will stop at nothing to keep prices down and quality up and constantly be on the hunt for fresh opportunities to provide value for the company’s clients.

Even in the most technically demanding positions, skills alone are only one component. Many companies have made the error of selecting employees based more on competence than attitude because they believe they can re-engineer any negative attitudes through advanced training programs.

Don’t misunderstand this point; if you need to hire a technically trained person, ensure they have the fundamental technical abilities needed for the position. However, you also need to make sure the person has the correct attitude and fits the company’s culture.

4.  Assign Tasks When It Is Necessary

Business management experts like Corporate Business Solutions always recommend that business owners give up control of the things they’re not good at. Do what you do best and ask for help with the things you don’t enjoy doing.

The desire to outsource some of your tasks so you can concentrate on expanding your business is the first step towards effective delegation. Many small business owners struggle with delegation. It’s a complete departure from what most business entrepreneurs do when their companies are just starting out.

5.  Make Adequate Marketing Investments

While expensive to maintain, marketing is also unquestionably vital. However, you must invest in marketing your company if you want it to expand in any way.

What if you don’t have a lot of money to spend on marketing? You can utilize a lot of marketing strategies that won’t break your tight budget, so don’t panic.

Word-of-mouth marketing is effective if you have a quality product or service, but it’s frequently insufficient on its own. Other proven and effective digital marketing techniques can strengthen it, such as Search Engine Marketing, Content Writing, Media Marketing, and many others.

Conclusion

Nothing is more frustrating than a manager or business owner who lacks management skills. Managing a small business requires you to wear multiple hats and maintain your attention on a variety of tasks. These techniques would assist you in maintaining your attention on the most crucial elements of your small business and keep you moving in the right direction.

 

 

Important Business Management Skills You Need As a Small Business Owner

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Running a small business is a tough and occasionally exhausting job. The satisfaction of eventually seeing your own business succeed makes the struggle worthwhile.

For a business to succeed, you must keep in mind that you will be in control of your team. This indicates that you will need to have management skills. Even though you will require various abilities to manage your business and team, there are six crucial ones you should start developing immediately.

Decision-making, motivation and delegating, communication skills, conflict management skills, emotional intelligence, customer service, etc., are some examples of managerial skills you need as a small business owner. Keep reading to find out why we highlighted these skills.

1.  Decision Making

Decision-making is one of the most crucial managerial skills you need to learn to operate a successful business. The capacity to act quickly under pressure and, more crucially, to act correctly will make a difference.

You must also understand the effects of your choices. You must explain to your team the potential effects of your choice on the business and all parties concerned.

2.  Motivation and Delegation

Delegating responsibilities and motivating your team is another important managerial skill you must master. This necessitates a thorough comprehension of the weaknesses and strengths of each and every member of your team. Without this understanding, you can end up giving the wrong individual responsibility for essential tasks. Delegating tasks will enable you to optimize their capabilities and outputs effectively.

Team motivation goes hand in hand with effective delegation. It can be challenging to encourage your staff to maintain focus and advance the company’s objective. Each person’s innate drive to accomplish their goals serves as their source of motivation.

However, this drive must come from team leaders and business owners. The greatest strategy to guarantee that your personnel will contribute to the business’s aim is to operate with clear performance standards.

3.  Effective Communication Skills

Effective communication is a skill that is necessary for life as well as in business. It is important to remember that communication involves more than just sending messages. Effective communication requires careful attention to one’s tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions.

Additionally, a component of this management skill is actively listening to your team members, clients, and collaborators’ thoughts and suggestions. Effective communication skills can influence your small business’s success.

4.  Conflict Management Skills

Conflict management is a management skill that is frequently grossly underrated. You are responsible for handling and resolving any internal conflicts as well as those with your clients or partners. You also need to acquire conflict managerial skills to recognize and understand possible disputes.

Doing this can avert a dispute that might interfere with corporate operations. Additionally, the effectiveness of your team will be improved by effectively dealing with and resolving conflicts.

5.  Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Any business owner needs to have high emotional intelligence. You will be interacting with people all day, whether with partners, suppliers, or clients. You can develop closer relationships by being able to read their emotions.

Being a business owner is not an easy task, so you must also be able to understand and control your own emotions. Making decisions will be simpler if you are confident in who you are and conscious of your position, especially under pressure.

6.  Customer Service

A thriving business depends on providing excellent customer service. If your company doesn’t offer exceptional customer service, no matter how many clients you attract, they won’t stick around. Business management service providers like Corporate Business Solutions Inc. will always tell you that compared to keeping current customers, gaining new ones is far more expensive.

Every small business owner ought to be able to deliver excellent customer service. This entails discovering appropriate ways to handle angry clients and critical feedback and how to pay attention and react quickly.

Conclusion

That wraps up important business management skills you need as a small business owner. While there are other management skills to discuss, these are the fundamental ones every small business owner must have to thrive and succeed in business.

 

What Are Business Analytics – Why Are They Important?

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A potent instrument in the market nowadays is business analytics.

A recent survey by MicroStrategy found that businesses all over the world use data to:

  • Improve process and financial efficiency (60%)
  • Promote change and strategy (57%)
  • Track financial performance and make it better (52%)

The study also reveals that 71 percent of multinational corporations expect their analytics spending to increase for the next four years and beyond.

Achieving a thorough appreciation of business analytics will help you progress in your work life and help you make wiser decisions at work in light of this trend.

Before exploring the data analysis benefits, it’s essential to understand the meaning of “business analytics.”

What Does Business Analytics Mean?

Business analytics involves using qualitative analysis methods to get meaningful data that can help make informed decisions essential to business growth. In other words, it involves gauging a business’s operational effectiveness. It helps assess both particular facets of a business and the broader organization.

There are mainly four approaches to conducting business analysis:

●      Diagnostic

Using historical information to evaluate past events and ascertain their causes

●      Descriptive

This is the process of analyzing past data to spot patterns and trends

●      Predictive

Using statistics to predict future results

●       Prescriptive

The use of tests to ascertain which solution will produce the best outcome in a particular scenario.

One must choose which approach to use depending on the current business environment.

Business Analytics Evolution

Business analytics has existed for a long time and has developed as more technology becomes available. Operations research, which was widely applied during World War II, is where it has its roots. An analytical approach to data analysis used in military operations was known as operations research.

Over time, this strategy began to be applied in business. Here, the study of operations developed into management science. Again, the data, decision-making models, and other foundations of management science were the same as those of operation research.

Management science changed into decision support systems and business intelligence. PC software began to expand as businesses grew more and more competitive.

The Importance of Business Analytics

1.   Making Smarter Decisions

Business analytics is a valuable tool when approaching a crucial strategic decision.

Uber, a ride-hailing organization, used prescriptive analytics to determine whether the product’s new version would be more efficient than its first version when it stepped up its COTA in 2018. COTA is a tool that makes use of natural processing language and machine learning to help agents enhance accuracy and speed when issuing responses to tickets’ support.

The company discovered that the upgraded product resulted in faster service, precise resolution recommendations, as well as greater customer satisfaction levels using A/B testing. This is a technique for comparing the results of two distinct choices. With the use of these insights, Uber was able to resolve tickets more quickly and at a fraction of the cost.

2.   Increased Revenue

Analytics and data-driven projects can have a huge financial impact on businesses.

According to McKinsey research, businesses that make big data investments see an average gain in earnings of 6%, which rises to 9% for five-year investments.

According to a recent BARC study, which supports this trend, companies that do data analysis report an 8% rise in sales on average and an 11% decrease in charges.

These results demonstrate the unmistakable financial benefits of a strong business analytics strategy. Many companies will enjoy these benefits as the data market and big analytics expand.

3.   Greater Operational Efficiency

Analytics is utilized to optimize corporate processes in addition to generating financial gains.

Many businesses and business management service providers like www.cbs-cbs.com/ now employ prediction analytics to foresee operational and maintenance concerns before they escalate into bigger problems.

An operator of mobile networks who participated in a study said it uses data to predict failures seven days in advance. With this knowledge, the company may better plan maintenance to avoid outages, reducing operational expenses while maintaining assets’ peak performance.

Conclusion

Business analytics has been around for a long time, and organizations have used it to make smarter business decisions, increase revenue, and obtain more operational efficiency. It’s never too late for you to start too.

 

 

What Should Happen if Your Business Partner Passes Away

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Your business partner’s death is probably the last thing you think of when you start in business together.

However, it is generally believed that one of the key aspects of starting a business is planning for when you leave the business.

Most people expect to leave a business they own either when they retire, or when they sell their share to move on to another venture.

While most businesses end with the existing business owners still alive, that is not always the case. While most people live beyond the usual age of retirement, it is a fact that some do not, and some of those who do pass away at a younger age will be business owners.

Normally when a business owner decides to leave a business, they part own, they will sell their share of the business to one or all the remaining business owners, or with the other partner’s agreement, they may find someone else to buy their shares off them.

Some sort of valuation formula will be agreed upon so that a fair price is struck. One of the problems facing business partners is how to fairly evaluate the worth of the business. Disagreements often arise when the selling partner believes the business is worth more than the other partners who are interested in buying his shares are willing to pay. One of the fairest ways to resolve differences in the worth of the business is to have the business valued by a Certified Valuation Analyst with the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA).  This removes the partners with differing interests in the transaction from determining the value of the business and puts it in the hands not only of a neutral party, but one who has been certified to determine the fair worth of a business.

Once the value of the business has been ascertained in manner fair to all, the departing business owner walks away from the business with a fair monetary exchange for the value of their share of the business.

In the event of a business partner dies, the outcome should be almost the same.

It is unlikely that a new owner has been sitting waiting for one of the business owners to die, so it is more likely that the deceased’s share of the business should go in equal shares to the remaining business owners.

The valuation formula will then pay for these shares to the estate of the deceased.

Simple?

No, not always.

Just as the death had probably been unexpected, the need to front up with the money to buy the deceased’s shares is equally unexpected for each of the remaining business partners.

Let’s assume there are five business partners, each owning 20% of the business.

When one partner dies the remaining business partners must each buy 5% of the value of the business and pay this to the deceased’s estate.

What if three of the remaining partners can’t afford to buy the shares at the time of death. But the other partner can afford to buy the full 20%.

That partner now owns 40% of the company and the other three partners only own 20% each. The previously even ownership status of the business has now changed markedly. Decisions over the future of the business will have a far greater effect on one business owner much more than the others.

The solution is reasonably simple and includes three steps and the purchase of life insurance policies to fund the transfer of ownership and the payment of a fair value to the heirs of the deceased partner.

1) A formula is created on how to value the shares at any time and the value of shares is reviewed at least annually – everyone knows what the fair value price of each share in the business is worth.

2) A formal (and legal) agreement is signed by all business owners that in the event of the death or permanent departure of any single business owner, the remaining four partners commit to paying the departing business owner – or their estate – their 20% ownership (5% each) of the business, based on the valuation formula.

3) A Life Insurance policy is taken out on the life of each of the five business owners for the current value of a 20% share of the business. The value of the Life Insurance cover is adjusted each year to remain the same as the current business valuation.

Each Life Insurance policy is owned equally by the four other business owners.

With this plan in place, if a business owner dies, the remaining four business owners have agreed to buy the deceased’s shares off the deceased’s estate, at an agreed price. The Life Insurance policy ensures the right amount of money is received by each of the remaining business owners at the right time. The agreement commits them to pay that money to the deceased’s estate. The deceased’s estate is committed to selling the shares at that agreed price.

This plan keeps everyone happy (in financial terms) upon the death of any of the business owners, at the time of death, and into the future. It also avoids the complication of the four remaining business owners being forced into business with the deceased’s estate or their spouse, who most likely can provide no positive input into the business but would naturally want a maximum income from the business.

Instead, the deceased’s estate has been paid a fair price for the deceased’s shares, the remaining owners have each gained an extra 5% ownership in the business at no cost to themselves, and the balance of the ownership of the business has remained the same.

If you want to know how to plan for the transfer of shares when one partner dies, contact Corporate Business Solutions for a confidential consultation.  You can find more helpful information by consulting Corporate Business Solutions Reviews.

Is Income Protection Worth having if you are Self-Employed?

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For the self-employed in the US, you are the business. Every day you feel unwell and can’t go to work is a day when no income is generated.

Of course, that isn’t true for every self-employed individual. You may have staff who can continue working and generating income without you, so a day or two absences won’t matter too much.

But what if your illness or injury is more significant, and the period you will be unable to work could be several weeks or even months!

It won’t happen to me

Maybe you’ve always maintained good health so a scenario like that will never happen to you?

Maybe.

And maybe not. Up to a third of US, workers have a period during their working life when they are unable to work for three months or more.

How would three months of no income affect you and your family?

This takes us back to the question of whether Income Protection is worth having if you are self-employed.

What is Income Protection Insurance?

If you suffer from any illness or injury that stops you from working, you will receive a monthly payment until you are able to return to work.

There will be a stand-down period before you can claim, e.g., 4 weeks. A waiting period of 13 weeks may halve the cost of the insurance, but if you are off work for 12 weeks only, you would receive nothing.

On the other hand, most policies will keep paying right through to age 65. Although you can choose shorter payment periods, as little as two years. Again, that could almost halve the cost). Some policies may even pay for longer periods, beyond 65, recognizing that many intend to work longer these days.

Another key benefit of Income Protection insurance is around when payments stop.

If you are considered well enough to return to work, payments will cease.

However, most policies have an ‘own occupation’ definition.

Let’s assume you are a builder and spend 80% of your time doing physical building work, and 20% of your time doing paperwork or marketing duties.

If you suffer a back injury that permanently prevents you from ever doing physical work again, then even though you could return to work and do 100% just paperwork, the insurance company can’t make you. You can continue to receive your monthly payments until age 65 or whatever your payment period is.

You can choose to return to work part-time or even full-time and just do administration work, but that is your choice. If you earn the same amount as your monthly benefit or more, your payments will stop. But if you earned less, perhaps because you aren’t working full hours, the insurance may still pay you a pro-rata payment to top up your earnings.

How much will I get paid?

The amount you are paid may also be increased each year to keep pace with inflation.

The amount you can typically cover varies between a maximum of 50% to 75% of your income.

If self-employed, you may need to be able to show your three most recent years of income and ensure a percentage of the average income across those years.

If you take advantage of various tax deductions to reduce your taxable income, this does not help you with Income Protection, as you can only insure your taxable income.

Like all insurance, Income Protection is worth it if you become eligible to claim. You need to understand your policy and find the right balance between cost, what you would get paid at claim time, and for how long.

If you can ensure a suitable income, and you do suffer some illness or injury that has you off work long-term, then Income Protection guarantees ongoing income that could keep your business going until you can return to work. Alternatively, it enables you to close down the business, but still, receive a suitable ongoing income to pay your everyday ongoing family living expenses.

Corporate Business Solutions provides business analytical, consulting services and strategic tax planning to the owners of small and medium-size business throughout the United States.

College Graduates Must Find the Business and Role that is their Best Match

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Every year a new group of graduates enters the job search market armed with resumes of varying quality and a brand-new shiny certificate saying they have an appropriate qualification to work in your business. Filled with excitement and anticipation of their first ‘real’ job, graduates are tempted to take any job in their career field with any company.

But have they thought about the work environment that best suits their working style? To get the best value out of any new graduate employee, you need to make sure they are aware of how your business and the role being offered are a good match for them. A graduate might see your advertised job as their dream job, based solely on the job title. But if you are a small business, a start-up, or a long-established company with hundreds of staff, their experience will potentially be vastly different.

You need to understand what aspect of their career field they want to specialize in, and what are their long-term career goals. A start-up company might be exciting and mostly employ people in their age group. That could have some advantages for their social life. But will that environment provide the experience to help them grow within their career field and gain greater experience to enable them to get where they want to get in their career?

Can the new graduate be assured the business will still be thriving a year from now? Starting a business during the current pandemic, or any time when the economy is struggling is always going to be challenging.

In a business with many staff, what sort of professional development and mentoring is provided? Will the new graduate feel just like a number, left with little support to grow? Perhaps most staff are much older, and they might struggle to develop workplace relationships. Other factors a graduate need to consider when seeking their first job after graduation include:

  • Where do they want to live?

A business in a bigger city might mean higher living costs. It might mean moving away from family, friends, and partners.

  • What type of industry do they want to work in?

They might want to work in sales, but do they want to sell items like alcohol, tobacco, firearms, etc.? Or does the business have a bad reputation for some reason? Do they want to work for a company that has structured training programs, or would they prefer to learn on the job from more experienced colleagues?

  • Work-life balance.

Are they happy working long hours and weekends, or do they value being able to get to that evening exercise class? Are they working in one location all the time, or do you often have to travel around the country spending many nights away from home? Or will they work from home? How would that affect their personal life?

Are they after the highest pay rate possible to live a luxurious lifestyle or pay off that student debt as quickly as possible? Or are you comfortable making less money knowing they will be doing meaningful work?

If you can uncover the answers to these questions, you will increase the likelihood of finding a new graduate who will stay with your business for the long term.

Viewing the Corporate Business Solutions Reviews you will find help with recruiting new graduates.

Managing Remote Employees

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Remote working has exploded since the Covid pandemic spread around the world and now almost 20% of the workforce has experienced working from home.

The benefits for employees include the flexibility to work around other commitments, times saved commuting to and from the workplace, improved health and wellbeing, and the ability to work from anywhere, meaning you don’t have to relocate to the location of the workplace.

Employers also see benefits. In many cases, productivity and performance have increased while overhead costs have decreased, they can access a wider talent pool, and they have experienced improvements in employee retention.

However, remote work is not without its challenges, these can include employees feeling isolated from their work colleagues, gaps in communication, difficulty staying motivated, distractions in the home, difficulties switching off from work, and managing the work team can be more difficult.

Supporting Remote Employees

Managers need to be aware that different employees will have different needs. They will need to adapt their strategies depending on the specific needs of each employee.

Regular check-ins provide accountability and also your availability to provide guidance. Remember to offer encouragement and emotional support. Keep a lookout for any changes in communication or work output that may indicate they are having difficulties.

When some employees are working remotely and others are 100% in the office, it is easy to exclude remote workers from team meetings and social events. Ensure they are included and remain part of any appropriate decision-making.

Keep your expectations of remote workers flexible. Unlike those working in the workplace, your remote workers don’t have to get everything done during work hours unless there is some specific deadline. If they are getting their work done, it doesn’t matter if their work schedule differs from normal office hours.

Be sure to create some rules of engagement. Ask your remote workers when and how they want to be contacted, and ensure they know how they can contact you and other team members.

Most importantly, encourage a sense of belonging. Creating team spirit can be more difficult when you don’t physically see some of your staff regularly. You will have to think of some innovative ways to create a feeling of mutual trust and respect for everyone in the team. Simple things like starting team meetings with a quiz or an icebreaker exercise help all team members get to know each other better and build team spirit.

Managing Remote Teams

When your entire team is working remotely you need to ensure the success, productivity, and efficiency of the entire team.

Set clear expectations so every team member knows what is expected of them. This includes clear communication expectations like where and how to communicate with each other and how quickly to respond to emails.

You will need to take each member’s different work schedules into account. You should set up a weekly reporting system so that you can monitor the completion of tasks to evaluate productivity and if any members are struggling with their workload. Make sure any time frames and deadlines are achievable.

To avoid any feelings of isolation, schedule group meetings at a time when everyone is available. Delegate responsibilities evenly across your team but based on who is best suited to each task.

Finally, ask for feedback. This will encourage them to speak out about things they don’t think are working or things they need support with. It can show them that you care and that their voice matters.

If your business is struggling with the management of remote workers Corporate Business Solutions Inc. can provide consulting services.

How to Increase Employee Retention

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A running truism in entrepreneurial circles is that “one great employee is worth ten bad workers”. A key to success in business is making sure that you attract, identify, and hire the best workers possible, but the challenge doesn’t stop there.

Owners need to provide a situation where the best people happily return to work for years. Employee retention is just as important as the hiring process and here’s how you can make sure that you organize and keep the best team possible at your firm.

Perfect Your Onboarding Program

Ensuring that your new hires are getting off on the right foot is crucial to making sure that everyone knows what to expect and how to operate in a new workspace. Many fresh workers are understandably nervous upon starting with a new firm, so it’s paramount to make their onboarding to your staff as friendly and clear as possible.

Letting employees know what their responsibilities are and what resources they can access can set the tone from day one. No one wants to lose a good worker to cold feet because they were unclear or alarmed by a hostile or vague orientation process. This is especially important for hiring to fill a remote position.

Make Sure That Your Compensation Is Competitive

Never forget that your workers are generally looking to pay their bills. Business owners need to constantly monitor their competitors to be sure that they are offering competitive wages as well as benefits packages when applicable.

Even the most passionate worker can be forced to leave if your offerings don’t keep up with market trends. Don’t miss out on exemplary employees because your company hasn’t updated its compensation or benefits packages.

Provide Constant Feedback

The ritual of annual performance reviews is going the way of the dinosaur, and this is a good thing. Quarterly reviews can be a great way to let your employees know that you acknowledge and care about their production. Furthermore, it can be a great way to discuss your employees’ goals and have them thinking about their future within your company.

This relies on your ability to make performance reviews a welcome experience. You and your team members should be excited to discuss their work and everything that the future might have in store. Don’t make promises that you can’t keep, but don’t make employee reviews feel like being called into an interrogation.

Acknowledge Work-Life Balance

Your employees need to be seen. This means noting that they are not just cogs in the workings of your business, but that they have dreams and ambitions outside of the workplace. Doctors and emergency personnel may have periods where they have to be on-call for several days, but this doesn’t mean they don’t have other obligations.

Likewise, programmers and journalists may have to participate in a “crunch” to meet certain deadlines, but managers should acknowledge that this can’t be a constant in the workplace. Demonstrate how proud you are of your workers for meeting certain milestones or periods of chaotic business with a long weekend.

Anything that lets your crew know that you are aware when they are going the extra mile can go a long way to ensuring their continued enthusiasm and loyalty to your firm.

Hiring practices and employee retention policies are ultimately two sides of the same coin. It is expensive to filter out the best candidates and then train them up in your company.

Doing all you can to keep your team happy and healthy pays dividends in not only your hiring department but also bolster your reputation as an entrepreneur those other talented individuals want to work for. Corporate Business Solutions Reviews can help you in every step of your mission to find and keep the right people in your firm.

3 Ways to Create Time for Your Side Hustle 

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Even if only for a short time, every person in this world has had a business idea. There are a plethora of people out there who have great business ideas that are destined to be good. You could even be one of those people. However, very few people continue the process to see their business succeed.

Perhaps they have been talked out of it, or maybe they just didn’t have the time. Whatever the reason is, every business deserves a decent chance at success. So, what is it that is keeping you from taking the next step? If it is time, we have you covered.

If a lack of time is to blame, check out these 3 tips from your Corporate Business Solutions Consultants that will help you create time for your side hustle.

Join groups

There is no better way to create time for your business than to find a group of like-minded people to discuss it with. Even meeting up once a month to discuss strategies and encourage each other will help to create valuable time for your side hustle. This works well because it holds you accountable to other people and that can give you the extra push you need.

It can be hard to gain and keep motivation if the only person holding you accountable is you.

Outsource

Many successful people outsource work to get help with their side hustle. For example, reaching out to platforms with freelancers or simply automating most of your social media can help drastically. Usually, it will cost you money, but it isn’t the worst when it comes to saving time.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed, outsourcing work is completely okay. There is nothing to be ashamed of, so don’t be hard on yourself.

Make appointments

By making appointments, it doesn’t mean you should book appointments and lose even more time. What it means is that you should consider the time you work on your side hustle as an appointment. That way, you have a set start and finish time that you have to be held accountable for.

Try to make the most of this time. Emails, messages, and returning phone calls can wait. This is the time you want to spend working on your side hustle alone. How you prioritize your time will make all of the difference in the long run. Creating a list of tasks is also incredibly helpful.

With these three helpful ways to create more time for your side hustle, you will also have more time for friends, family, and play. Just a few hours every week to work on your side hustle will bring results and soon enough, everything will begin to fall into place for you. Even if you only have five free hours every week, that calculates to 260 hours per year that you spent wisely.

Your dream life isn’t too far away, so keep up the hard work.

5 Tips for Conducting an Interview

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Part of running a business for many entrepreneurs involves hiring employees. As your company grows, there’s an increased demand for employee productivity that you won’t necessarily achieve. When that happens, you seek out someone to be an employee.

When hiring, you won’t go for the first person you talk to. There’s a process to finding the best candidate for the position and your company culture. The biggest step in that process is conducting the interview.

Interviewing a potential hire can be intimidating at first. Try the following five tips from CBS-CBS.com to get you prepared and confident for your upcoming interview.

Set the Date, Time, and Appropriate Location

When you’re in an interview, it’s not only polite to give the candidate your full attention. You also need to stay focused to gather all the necessary information. You should conduct the interview somewhere quiet and without interruptions. Once you have that, schedule the date and time that works for both parties.

Spend Time Reading the Resume

Have you ever entered an interview where the interviewer asks questions on the first page of your resume? It can feel like a waste of time and resources handing in the resume.

Part of planning for the interview is to read through the resume. Make a note of what stood out, relevant questions based on the information provided, and anything else that pops into your head. Plus. Reading the resume first can help weed out any candidates that aren’t suited for the position.

Set the Tone Right at the Start

As the interviewer, it’s up to you to set the tone. You’re the boss, and the interviewee must know that.

To set the stage, introduce yourself right away with your name and title. Thank the candidate for coming and explaining right away what to expect over the next bit. It may take a bit of practicing in front of the mirror or with a friend, but it’s essential to practice, so you come across as confident without being too serious.

Start With the Basic Questions

You want the interviewee to feel comfortable throughout the process. One way to do so is by starting with fundamental questions about the person. Ask questions that don’t require much thought – like a few points about themselves, their experience at a previous job, or their schooling.

Once you’ve broken the ice and everyone feels more comfortable, then start asking the more difficult questions. Why are they applying for this position? What makes them a good fit? What does the person have to offer the company that makes them stand out from others? These are the questions that require the interviewee to think a bit more.

Offer a Moment for the Interviewee to Ask Questions

Typically, near the end of the interview, it’s good practice to ask if the interviewee has any questions. This does a few things. To start, it can clarify any confusion or anything missed in the interview. It is also a chance for you to show that you know every aspect of your business and impress the potential employee, making them want to work for you.

Conducting an effective interview allows you to pick the best candidate for the position offered. Take the interview seriously, spend the time preparing and practicing for it, and you’ll breeze through every interview.