Start, Run, & Grow Your Business

5 Reasons Why You Should Get Rid of Your Business Landline

In the old days, one of the first steps to opening a business was having a telephone installed. Now, the traditional landline phone may be on its way out, replaced by cell phones and PSTN technology. In fact, many companies began phasing out their landlines at least a decade ago. It may be time for you to eliminate your landline, too. If you’re wondering whether you’ll be able to keep a professional business running without a landline, the answer is yes. You can set up a virtual phone system which provides everything that your old landline used to—a call menu, a welcome greeting, professional voicemail, and much more. Of course, if you’d like to keep your landline, that’s perfectly fine! You can incorporate it into a virtual phone system as well. Keep on reading for some of the best reasons to cut the cord on your business landline. Five …

6 Ways to Pinch Pennies & Cut a Ton of Company Spending

Businesses have been looking for ways to cut their operating costs for as long as businesses have existed. It can be a troublesome area because business owners have to sort of use triage to figure out what gets cut and what stays, sometimes resulting in cutting things out that you don’t necessarily want to get rid of. There’s only so much money in the budget, though, which means some things are going to have to go. The trick is to take a really close look at where you’re spending money, down to the very smallest of expenses. In fact, the really small expenses can be the best things to eliminate because they tend to have less of an impact, or consequence on your business. If you find yourself in need of cutting costs, this post is going to help because we’ve compiled a list of a few ways you …

15 Tips for Video Meetings While Telecommuting for Business

Telecommuting has become commonplace for workers across almost all industries especially due to Covid-19. Most people have adapted to the situation, but as with anything, it comes with challenges. Working from home requires you to manage your time wisely, which is not always easy when you need to hop on multiple video meetings throughout the day as well. Dealing with frequent remote meetings is one of the biggest complaints from teleworkers. Which is understandable! In the following article, we give some helpful tips on how to better manage your video meetings going forward.. So you can be confident AND productive. 1. Test Your Video Conferencing Technology Thanks to modern technology, you typically don’t need any special hardware for video conferencing. Laptops, smartphones, and tablets include cameras and microphones. You can also get headsets with mics for better audio or for adding audio to a desktop computer. No matter …

How to Stop Spam Calls to Your Virtual Phone Number

Spam takes all forms nowadays with the explosion of communication capability by way of email, calls, and even text messages. There’s the occasional solicitation call, and then there’s a whole other category of relentless spamming to your phone number that seems unending. Though you may not be able to eradicate 100% of these unwanted calls, you can use these measures to stop the vast majority of them. 1. Consider Switching Out Your Number There is actually one sure way to get rid of all spam to your virtual number, and that is to simply get a new number. Obviously, this is not an option if it is your established business number that you’ve had for years; so, you can only remove it completely if it is not the actual number that people dial to reach you (if you’re forwarding calls to it from your main number), or …

Tips for Managing Stress and Anxiety as a Business Owner

There are many positives that come along with running your own business. You can make your own schedule. You make all the decisions about how to spend your revenue. On the flip side, making all the decisions all the time can feel overwhelming and stressful. It’s important to develop the tools to handle stress and anxiety as a business owner. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports that 70% of adults encounter stress or anxiety every day. Most of these adults say the stress interferes with their lives. Similarly, most business owners would likely report that stress has a negative impact. The problem with being afflicted with burnout when you’re a business owner is that you can’t exactly stop and smell the flowers for a while, and then come back when you’re refreshed and re-centered. The business isn’t going to slow down for you, and neither is the workload. …

Should Your Small Business Make Teleworking Permanent?

Teleworking became one of the most common ways that businesses have dealt with the current coronavirus pandemic. Before COVID-19, about 18% of the workforce worked remotely full-time. In May of 2020, during the height of the lockdown orders, about 35% of employees worked from home. As local & state governments began easing restrictions, businesses started bringing employees back to the offices to get things back up and running again. Well over a year later, close to 25% of workers still telework. So is it a viable long-term solution or simply a short-term answer for dealing with the pandemic? To answer this question, we need to take a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of teleworking for small businesses. Why Continue Teleworking After the Pandemic? Teleworking provides a way to keep employees safe but it comes with limitations. Some businesses have struggled to replace in-person communications with remote …

How Jeni Britton Bauer Turned Ice Cream into a Business Empire

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream is one of the fastest-growing ice cream brands in recent history. The Columbus-based company has amassed a large following, including many celebs and politicians. From Lebron James to President Joe Biden, everyone seems to love the creative & original ice cream flavors. Popular options include almond milk cortado, pistachio and honey, and salty caramel (but can you really go wrong with any of the flavors?). The company was founded by Jeni Britton Bauer in 2002 & now Jeni’s has 47 branded stores and nationwide distribution at over 3000 retailers. You can find glorious pints of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream at stores like Target & Whole Foods in addition to their scoop shops. So, how did Jeni Britton Bauer turn ice cream into a business empire? Let’s find out. Making and Selling Perfume Leads to a Discovery The story of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams …

Still Teleworking? 7 Tips to Help Avoid Burnout While Remote

More than a year after the start of the pandemic, millions of people are still teleworking. Remote work offers a variety of advantages. It allows people to avoid close contact. It also tends to boost productivity. Unfortunately, telework also comes with a few challenges, including burnout. Depending on the type of job, working from home can provide more freedom. You may get to set your hours or enjoy a little more schedule flexibility. This is great for some people, but it tends to blur the lines between work and home life. When you struggle to separate work from your personal life, anxiety and stress creep in. In April, about 45% of US workers reported feeling “burnt out.” By July, close to 69% of employees were experiencing symptoms of burnout while working from home. So, how can you maintain a work/life balance when the two are intertwined? Here are seven of …

11 Reasons You Need a Separate Work Phone Number for Your Business

Forbes estimates that nearly 600,000 people start new businesses every month, yet none of them obviously start out expecting to fail. Many startups unfortunately do not build from a solid foundation when trying to grow their business. They forget about the level of competition that exists today, for customers, investors, and loans. They fail to realize that effective communication is central to the success of any business. Crucial, really. Setting up a work phone number shows your customers & clients that you are serious about this venture & it can also open the door to a lot of future opportunities. Which I’m pretty sure none of us want to miss out on, amiright? Here Are 11 More Reasons Why Maintaining a Separate Work Phone Number Is Important: 1. Keep your personal calls, well, personal! Handing out business cards with your private number on them, plastering the same …

What Keeps Your Employees Happy & High-Functioning

Keeping employees happy has to be one of the most misunderstood elements of running a business. Every business owner thinks they know how to do it, and most have employees who wish they found themselves anywhere but at work. Of course, it’s a given that most of us would prefer to be sipping a cocktail in a hammock somewhere instead of sifting through work emails. That doesn’t mean that work has to be miserable or consistently difficult to get through, which responsibility falls on the owners of a business. You can make it either acceptable (and even enjoyable) for your employees to work at your company, or you can make it a place where everyone hates to be. Though it’s not all that complicated to create a satisfying work environment, it can be tough to know what moves you need to make so that the people working on your …

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