Michael Levitt's Blog, page 19

Four Good Ways to Make Your Product Stand Out

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As a business, you want to make sure that the products that you are creating are extraordinary. You have to do more than have an individual plan for your product, you have to know that they are going to sell when you present them in the end. Selling products takes something more than just knowing what you want – you have to make them look good and stand out among your competitors.

Depending on the industry you are working in, the market may be saturated, so you have to do something with your product that makes it look different and feel different to consumers so that they will choose yours over all the others. For example, individual and unique clear stickers can make a big difference to your products compared to your competitors, and if this is something that they are not doing, why wouldn’t you do it yourself? If you think your product is going to be able to go above the competition in the market, you’re good to go. However, there’s nothing wrong with taking some advice and we’ve got four good ways to make your product stand out.

Start small with your product. If you want to make your product stand out, you need to tweak it in a small way at first. It’s a nice idea to speculate about how your product is going to perform, but you want to know how it’s going to perform in smaller groups rather than the large corporations at first. How does your product fare against small business products that are similar? Start there, and get an idea of your target market as a result.

Be unique. What does your product offer that the other businesses can’t? Your product has to offer to keep up a certain variation from other products in the industry otherwise it’s not going to stand out. Is it unusual in its functionality? Do the highlights of your product give it an edge over the others? In order to ensure that your product can stand out from the crowd, it needs to have a story. People will always fall for a story. If you can ensure that your marketing team are excellent storytellers you are going to be winning when it comes to your product.

Decide on your price. The decision of a product is always affected by the cost. It’s also affected by the way in which it is introduced. The positioning in the market is going to come from the price and selling it as a lesser price only questions the quality. You need to make sure that your product meets the right price point for your target audience and the materials and the value of the product itself. It’s also important that you don’t undersell yourself.

Build a relationship with your customers. Your customers are so important to your business, but you’re not going to know that unless you build that key relationship with them. Work on that relationship via social media and via commentary online, and you’ll be able to encourage people to buy your product before it even comes to market.

The Benefits Of Renovating Your Workplace's Exterior

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An office renovation is one thing. Given that your team spends most of their time there, it makes sense that you need to refresh the interior of your workplace now and then. However, if you own or rent the entire building and the surrounding lot, then you should give more care to the exterior, as well. Here, we’re going to look at some of the benefits of taking your office renovations outside, and problems that can arise if you don’t.

Brand it from afar

Your brand should extend beyond your marketing. It should be present everywhere that your business is. As such, taking the time get a new exterior facade for your office building can help you sharpen its image. Your choice of color, material, and texture can communicate just as much about the brand as your choice of interior design can. Of course, it can also have the added benefit of protecting the walls beneath a little better.

Let people know that you’re there

Sometimes you want to put your brand on your exterior quite literally. Having a sign-up declaring your business’s location might not be as crucial as it would be for a retail building. However, good-looking signage can still add to the prestige of the brand. If you choose signage that is visible from the road, it can also be helpful for any clients or guests who might be visiting the office, helping them quickly see where to go, as well.

Taking care of your greenery

If you have any greenery around your business, be it a simple lawn, bushes, or trees, then it’s important to take care of them. However, you can offer them more than just basic maintenance. With the help of a commercial landscaper, you can transform the exterior into a more inviting and invigorating place. It will make the office look a lot better, for one, especially if you just had a drab, monotonous lawn beforehand. But it also makes it all a lot easier to maintain, too.

Create new spaces for workers

Renovations don’t always have to be purely about the aesthetic. They can also have practical applications, such as creating gorgeous and inviting break spaces for your employees. Adding furniture like outside benches and tables can help you make better use of the space that you have while invigorating your team and giving them somewhere to relax.

Prevent accidents

You should always consider what work might be needed to make the area safer, as well. Hiring an arborist to take care of trees can prevent branches from growing too heavy and falling down on people. There might be ground surfaces that get too slippery when it’s wet that should have their texture replaced. You might even want some bollards near the road to make sure that vehicles can’t climb onto the sidewalk or lawn.

Whether you’re landscaping, changing the facade, investing in new furniture, or otherwise, a renovation is crucial to maximizing the potential of your workspace, inside and out. Hopefully, the tips above make that clear.

How to Cultivate Your Work Culture Without Having an Actual Office

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Companies, small and large, have embraced work-from-home setups. Entire businesses are operating completely remote. With all the positive points of working from home for both employees and employers, it looks like remote work is here to stay. 

While it is great not having to commute to work every day, it does leave some people missing the traditional office interactions. With everything happening virtually, how do office dynamics translate to the online world? No, having an office culture isn’t a thing of the past. You can still establish a great work culture even with a remote team. Read on to know how you can create one with a remote team. 

Why Do You Need Company Culture? 

Your company’s culture should be the reflection of your company’s goals and values. As a group of people continues working together, they start sharing the same common set of beliefs, behavior, and assumptions, Bloomberg explains. The more people spend time together, the work culture inevitably develops. 

Work culture is oftentimes influenced by people in leadership. It is important to have people in managerial roles who promote healthy company culture, especially since not all managers are leaders. Other influences like workplace practices, systems, and policies also have a heavy hand in how the culture is developed since these determine how employees perform and move in the business. The employees themselves are also big contributors to the workplace culture. Their personalities and values intermingle with their colleagues’.

When a company has a positive workplace culture, it has a significant impact on the happiness and satisfaction of employees. This in turn encourages better workplace retention, and higher employee engagement, as well as promotes productivity and efficiency in teams. Good work culture also attracts talent into the organization that shares and upholds the same values as your team does. 

A negative work culture, on the other hand, can be detrimental to both the employees and the company.  Employee turnover rates will be higher, in turn costing the company a considerable amount as they recruit and hire new employees that may end up leaving too, once they’re fed up with the work culture as well. 

How to Build Culture If You Don't Have An Office

While employees now may not be contained in an office like in the traditional workplace of the past, focusing on the other pillars of workplace culture can still develop a culture in that people can thrive. After all, the company’s culture is more than just the office perks and fun little employee activities. Focus on your team’s mission, values, and goals, and go from there. 

Talk to Your People

Always talk to your employees and listen to their input. No one is as intimately immersed in the work culture as your employees. Get on a call with them one by one and as a team. Layout your plan and discuss the company and team values. Discuss the kind of culture you all want to develop. What can help everyone thrive and propel the team forward? It is important, at this stage, to establish solid and open lines of communication for everyone so you can listen to what they have to say, and vice versa. 

Have Policies in Place

To reinforce a good work culture, have policies in place that support it. Assess your current policies and see what is missing or can be improved. Consider the input of your team when creating or amending these policies. Also make sure that the policies are updated, adapted, and compliant with the current work setups of everyone involved. This just gets rid of any confusion later on. 

It is important to have all of these policies in writing so it is easier to refer back to when the need arises. And just as equally important, have these policies be accessible to everyone. Save it in a folder in your team’s cloud storage that’s really easy to find or pin it in your company’s communication platform. Should anyone need a refresher on those policies, it will be easy for them to pull up.

Adapt your Systems and Processes

Your systems and processes need to be conducive to promoting efficiency and enriching your work culture. Make sure these systems and processes are updated for your remote setup. Keep the company’s values at the core and align your systems and processes to those said values. 

Using the lines of communication you’ve established in the beginning, be transparent about your systems, workplace benefits, and other processes that are of interest to the employees. Ask and always be open to your team’s feedback as well. Taking in their ideas can motivate them and possibly even help create an even more positive work environment as a result

Culture is Always About the People

Your work culture is first and foremost about your people. Encourage, nurture, and develop good people in your team. Support them by reinforcing all the good values of the work culture and taking action and improving those values that no longer serve your team. It all boils down to creating a culture and environment that is supposed to lift employees so they can perform their best. 

Listen to your employees and provide them with the proper channels to give you their honest feedback and you can do the same. 

4 Leadership Styles For Remote Workers

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Remote working or telecommuting has taken center stage since the COVID-19 pandemic began. However, there are inevitable challenges while we've seen the benefits of working remotely — cost savings, increased personal time, freedom and flexibility, and health. Breakdowns in communication and decreased morale and engagement are just a few. 

Finding the right leadership style is a way to mitigate remote work challenges. But, of course, we've known the different leadership styles for a long time now — authoritarian, laissez-faire, participative, transformational, situational, and servant leadership. But unfortunately, not all of them would be a good fit for remote teams. 

To get remote teams to collaborate, engage themselves, and achieve team goals, virtual leaders must keep the authoritarian (concentration of decision-making at the top) and laissez-faire (delegation of decision-making to the team) leadership styles in their tool kit. Below are the leadership styles that strike a balance between these two. 

Leadership Style For Remote WorkersParticipative

As the name suggests, a participative leadership style ensures that the team participates in action plans, team goals, priorities, and improvements. Participative leaders invite their teams to give input and feedback on business decisions. Also called democratic leadership, participative leadership enables employees to take an active role in the company's growth. These leaders also enjoy participating in virtual team-building activities and other initiatives that can boost morale and establish trust. Some notable characteristics include:

Encourages team activities

Enthusiastic

Asks for input from team members

Minimizes competition between employees

Situational 

This approach suggests no hard and fast leadership style for everybody. Focusing on adaptability, situational leaders in remote teams are flexible themselves. They understand that they are called up to address the challenges of a new work environment and the new communication channels. A situational leadership style also works well with teams with diverse cultures and skillsets. For example, remote DevOps engineers, customer service representatives, and technical writers would benefit from a situational approach. However, leaders of smaller teams benefit more from this approach than bigger teams. It will be hard to manage individual needs when there's quite a number of employees. 

Characteristics of situation leaders include:

Utilizes other remote leadership styles together and in conjunction with the situational approach

Good command of processes and ways to improve processes

Self-aware and sociable

Solid communicators

Transformational

Leaders who take this approach bank on their charisma and ability to incite positivity. Transformational leadership is anchored on purpose and vision. While this approach may not be for everyone, it is an effective way to inspire and push teams to always look for opportunities for improvement and become big-picture thinkers. This works best for remote teams that envision themselves going beyond the conventional and creating a more significant impact on society and the world. 

Transformational leaders usually:

Have a great sense of purpose

Have a good grasp of the big picture

Work alongside the team

Foster emotional openness

Servant Leadership

Honesty, mutual respect, and non-competitive teamwork are most important for remote servant leaders. They emphasize the importance of one-on-one conversations, feedback, motivation, leading by example, and providing the necessary tools and guidance for remote workers to do their jobs effectively. If team members fall short in their tasks, servant leaders take an all-hands-on-deck approach to addressing gaps and keeping everyone on track.

Servant leaders:

Treat other team members as equals

Are active in brainstorming sessions

Our compassionate and empathetic

Are active listeners 

Good Qualities of a Remote Team Leader

Whichever leadership style you choose to adopt, the following are four of the essential qualities to have to be an effective remote team leader: 

Flexibility. Remote work poses a challenge, especially to teams that have never tried it. A remote team leader must be able to adjust to accommodate uncertainties and changing requirements of the remote set-up. Remote leaders must also be able to adapt their leadership styles according to current needs.

Trust. Remote team leaders must trust that their employees can work independently, work on tasks at hand, and meet targets even without in-person supervision. This is essential in building trust and cultivating a culture of accountability in the team.

Communication. Remote work removes the nonverbal aspect of communication. A remote leader must have the ability to communicate well with members via email, channels, phone, or video conferences to avoid gaps and assumptions. 

Work-life balance. Remote work has a lot of benefits, but it can also cause people to lose track of their work hours. Since there's no "going out of the office", remote workers tend to check and answer emails and work channels all through the day. A remote team leader must serve as a work-life balance model by practicing it themselves. If the leaders don't "log out," the team doesn't log out either.

5 Signs Your Office Needs Renovating

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The office space of a business plays a significant role in creating comfort, supporting employee health, driving productivity, and increasing employee turnover. Admittedly, your office may not be what it once was before. Several changes and repairs would be needed to ensure it is in top-notch condition for you and your staff. Although time and costs are reasons why many businesses put off renovations, taking the time to update your office space is an investment worth making. But, how would you know your office space is due for renovations? Here are some telltale signs that your office space needs renovating.

Office furniture has remained unchanged for over a decade

Your office decor is an essential component in promoting workplace productivity. Most office furniture is designed to last an average of about 10 years, after which they need to be replaced. However, how frequently you should replace your office furniture will depend on its build quality and maintenance. But if you notice your office furniture breaks down frequently, ugly scratches, and unsightly wear and tear signs, that’s your signal that your office needs a makeover. 

Outdated and deteriorating appearance

The bottom line is that if you’re too embarrassed to host client meetings in your office, you should consider making changes. Your embarrassment is a sign that you recognize your client will not be impressed by your work environment. Your work environment is a place to be proud of; if you hardly feel that way about your space, a renovation is long overdue. 

Too many workplace injuries 

Do your workers experience frequent slips and falls? Are there many complaints about back pain, neck sprain, joint aches, etc.? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you must consider renovating your office space. Of course, workplace accidents can be due to negligence, carelessness, lack of awareness, and other factors. But an office design or setup can also contribute to increasing injuries. For example, poor lighting can lead to accidents in a workshop. A lack of office ergonomics can cause back and spine pain. And lack of design safety features like roof anchor systems can lead to slips and falls when working at high heights. 

Poorly reflects the brand image

Your office space should reflect your brand image. When potential clients are in your workspace, your office design should give them a clear idea of what you do. Your office space should also reflect the values your business operates with, your company culture, and your work ethics. So, look around; if your office space does not showcase your business mission, vision, and philosophy, you may need to make some changes. 

A need for space

Is there a massive change in your workforce size? Has the size of your workforce increased considerably? Do you have more employees working remotely than those on-site? Whether your staff strength has increased or decreased, you need to change your office space to adapt to your current workforce. Moving to a more spacious location may be an ideal option for businesses with an increasing staff.

3 Things Locksmiths Can Do for Your Business

While business owners have become increasingly concerned with cybersecurity in our digital age, old-fashioned, offline security still matters. Protect your business by keeping your commercial building safe.

Use locksmith services to boost your security. Learn three things locksmiths can do for your business.

1. Install, Maintain, and Repair Door Hardware

Locksmiths are masters at installing and repairing locks on doors and windows, keeping these possible entry points secure. And when a business moves out, locksmiths can change the locks by changing out the hardware.

If you have damaged locks, don’t delay calling a locksmith. Often, simply locking doors and windows correctly prevents possible thefts and break-ins. And if someone decides to test your locks, the locksmith’s work can stand up to the challenge.

2. Set Up an Access Control System

Locksmiths still fulfill their traditional role of working with mechanical locks. But it’s a myth that locksmiths only work with physical locking systems. Locksmiths can also protect your building by installing an access control system.

This system requires people to have approval before entering the secured space. Access control systems give a business owner peace of mind and make security convenient. With access control, don’t worry about gathering keys from former employees or making duplicates for new employees. Simply grant or revoke access and let employees use cards or biometric information, like a fingerprint, to enter.

3. Install Security Cameras

The third thing locksmiths can do for your business is install security cameras. Just like locks often deter people from breaking in, security cameras can discourage criminals from attempting to enter.

If something does go wrong, you can watch the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage to learn more about the event. Surveillance can help you prevent and monitor shoplifting, break-ins, burglaries, and violent disturbances. Remote access to CCTV footage allows you to check in on what’s happening at your business wherever you have an internet connection.

How To Increase Your Company's Internal Mobility

When there are opportunities to move up in a company, employees feel much more encouraged to produce better work. You have likely noticed the many excellent employees you have working for you. As they surpass their given capabilities, there comes a time when they can take on more responsibility. However, if there are no prospects available for them to do so, their work can suffer; here is how to increase your company's internal mobility.

Consider the Future

If you want to become a company with opportunities for mobility, you must have employees who can actually move up. That means, when you are prospecting potential hires, you should look for people who have a willingness and drive. Moreover, consider your employees’ present and future potential, as this will ensure the ease of your internal mobility program.

Framework

The first thing you want to do as you work on how to increase your company's internal mobility is to set up a strategy. An actual approach shows employees that you want to invest in them. However, you can't rely on shiny new titles to make them stay; you must create a detailed framework.

Creating a framework involves many moving parts. For example, you must create a plan for your employees to make the switch and create a general schema for the type of tasks they will have assigned. Producing something like this is incredibly time-consuming, which is why companies that help you facilitate employee success can aid you in this process.

Investment

Consider enacting a mentorship to help your team feel like you genuinely plan to invest in them; you may do this yourself and have seasoned employees take this on. When you do this, you create a symbiotic relationship with your employees—they learn from you, and you learn from them. A team that feels invested in and looked after is more likely to stick it out for the long haul and stay loyal to you. Moreover, they gain a more profound knowledge of the company itself and pick up helpful tricks and behaviors to help them succeed.

What You'll Need To Pack For Any Business Trip

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Preparing for a business trip can be difficult and stressful. One of the major elements of this that you will need to prepare for is packing your bag, and that means having a good idea of what you actually need to take with you. If you are keen to look into this, you should find that it helps you to get a good sense of what you will actually need before you go. In this post, we are going to help you out in this regard by listing some of the major things you will generally need for any business trip.

Smart Clothes

First of all, you will need to make sure that you are taking smart clothes with you. This is especially important if you are due to have meetings with people and you know that you need to look your best. But it is also vital even if you are not actually meeting with anyone - for instance, even if you are taking a trip where you are just carrying out research on your own. Why? Because it helps you to have a better sense of feeling official, and that can be hugely beneficial in a lot of ways.

Chargers

There is nothing worse than running out of juice when you are on the move, especially when you actually need your devices in order to do your work. So in order to avoid that situation, it’s vital that you include in your bag all the necessary chargers, as well as any adaptors you might need. You might also want to check out EcoGearFX.com for an example of the kind of charging bank that you might be able to take with you, when your batteries die while you are on the move.

Networking Materials

You never know who you might run into while you are traveling, and the effective business leader is always on form to view each and every situation as an opportunity for networking. To make this effective and to ensure that you are doing it right, you should endeavor to take business cards with you every time and everywhere you go. That way, you will be able to make yourself more memorable when it really matters, which can help you out in a huge way when it comes to keeping yourself in the loop.

Contacts

To help make the most of your business trip, you’ll want to make sure that you have some information about your contact in a particular area. This can easily be achieved in a number of ways. For instance, you might simply have the details on your phone, or you might do it the more old-school way with a paper record. Either way, having some contacts in place that you can get in touch with might help to keep you in touch with the right people at the right time while you are traveling.

Why Cutting Costs Can be Dangerous for Your Business

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Budget cuts for businesses aren’t exactly anything that’s new. Every month, maybe even every day this is happening for businesses. Even some of the biggest companies in the world have been known for cutting back on costs, this even includes major headliner companies such as Tesla. So, cutting costs isn’t exactly a sign of weakness for any business. It’s entirely normal. In fact, cutting back on costs can be a good thing for a business, sometimes. It can help your business save money and generate more profit. But it is important to consider the bigger picture before you make any changes to your business.

The first step of cutting back on costs is to evaluate your company's current needs, goals, and objectives. You need to think about what you are willing to give up in order to save money in the short term and how that will affect your company in the long run. It is also important to consider whether or not you want this change for yourself or for our employees. Unfortunately, more and more CEOs are simply cutting back on costs so they can have a big bonus. While sometimes, cutting back on costs can be a good thing, there are plenty of cases that can be dangerous and possibly the downfall of a company. Here’s what you may want to know before making any major decisions.

Why Your Business Needs to Monitor Expenses Closely as They Grow

There are many reasons why your business should monitor its expenses. Expenses can be monitored for a variety of reasons, but one of the most important is to ensure that your company is making money. Expenses are tracked so that you can see where you may be spending too much and where you might need to cut back.

When it comes to expenses, it is important to have a system in place. This will help you keep track of all the money being spent and make sure that nothing is missed or forgotten about. There are many different types of expense management software available on the market today, so finding one for your needs should not be difficult if you know what to look for. But, this is fairly obvious as businesses know to closely monitor it. However, very small businesses, such as one person, or less than 10, can potentially be more at risk of not closely monitoring their expenses. Thus, they are led into problems where they need to cut costs.

How Cutting Back on Expenses Could Hurt Your Business's Success in the Future

One way to improve your business’s success is by cutting back on expenses. However, sometimes it can be the thing that hurts your business the most. While it’s completely true that this is a very common practice among small businesses is to cut back on expenses. This could be anything from lowering your marketing budget to cutting down on office supplies and other items that are not necessary for day-to-day work. While this might sound like a good idea, there are some things that you need to take into consideration before following through with this plan of action.

First of all, when you cut back on expenses, you are reducing the amount of money coming in each month. This can lead to a decrease in revenue and profits which might not be what you want at all if your goal is to grow and expand your business, One great example would be IT support, or even marketing. These are actually two major departments that tend to get cut off first. 

You need marketing to people to know the buzz around your product, and IT is there to help the tech-related infrastructure of your business (including assisting employees and clients). This can even extend to research and development of their products or businesses too. While cutting costs can be fine, so many companies just tend to make the same mistakes over and over. Here are five additional ways that this can hurt your business.

1. Decreased Customer Satisfaction due to cutting costs

In the past, companies were happy to provide customers with quality products and services. But now, many businesses are cutting costs in order to make more profit. This has resulted in decreased customer satisfaction.

Some of the reasons for this decline include:

- The company doesn't care about their customers like they used to

- The company is trying to save money by not providing the best service

- The company doesn't have enough staff or resources

- The company is too large and cannot provide quality service

If you upset the customer, they can and they will turn to others, and your competitors will thrive.

2. Increased Turnover

Businesses are always looking for ways to cut costs and increase profits, this usually turns into some sort of manner, making work difficult on employees. This can include giving a whole department of work just solely on one person. This not only kills morale, but people will just quit their job, leaving to increase turnover. That on its own can destroy a reputation. Plus, thanks to websites like Glassdoor, people will know to avoid your company.

3. Loss of Talent

The loss of talent from cutting business costs has recently been on the rise. Many companies are opting for cheaper labor which is causing an increase in unemployment rates and an overall decrease in wages globally. Less talent means less innovation.

4. Lower Productivity and Innovation

Productivity and Innovation are two of the most important factors that drive economic growth. However, there is a decrease in productivity and innovation in recent years. One of the major factors that contribute to this decline is the lack of funding or the lack of willingness for companies to put forward that amount. Research and development is crucial, but so many businesses just want to skip out on that entirely. A lack of innovation and change can instantly make a business appear boring, stale, and left in the dust in the industry.

5. Compromised Brand Image

Brand image is the perception that a customer has about the company which can be influenced by the quality of products and services, the marketing efforts of the company, and the way it interacts with customers. The importance of brand image cannot be overstated as it is what defines a company in its customers’ eyes. This means that any negative publicity or bad reviews will have an impact on how people perceive a company. A compromised brand image can lead to lower sales, reduced customer loyalty, and tarnished reputation. This is why companies should focus on how they can cut costs without compromising their brand image.

When a company is faced with the decision to cut costs, it can seem like a good idea at the time. However, if you are not careful about where you cut, it can lead to disastrous results, results like these. Cutting costs is not always the best solution for businesses that are struggling financially. There are plenty of businesses that have cut off what they were needing in their business, only for the business to suffer even more.

How to Reduce Expenses but Still Keep a Healthy Business

Is it actually possible for a business to cut back on costs while still maintaining a healthy work environment? When it comes to keeping your company on track, you don’t always need to worry about shooting through hoops. In order to keep your business healthy, it is important to make sure that you are not overspending. However, there are many ways that you can cut costs without sacrificing the quality of your product or service.

1. Reduce operational expenses by hiring freelancers, outsourcing, and using cheaper products

2. Reduce marketing expenses by thinking outside the box by using free platforms like social media or forums

3. Make sure that your suppliers are giving you the best deal possible

4. Find ways to reduce your energy bill by using alternative or renewable sources of energy

5.Work with other businesses to share services and equipment like printers and copiers

6. Use the internet for research instead of expensive consultants and experts

7. Cut down on travel expenses by using video conferencing instead

8. Automation and AI can greatly help and doesn’t need to be expensive either

9. Look for people who work in other departments who might be able to help with tasks that are not their responsibility, but still related (avoid layoffs though)

Overall, it is possible to save your company money without sacrificing the productivity or quality of your product and services. It doesn’t mean this is exactly a task that’s always easy, but, it is certainly possible to achieve this, however. Sure, this can be a difficult job, managing expenses while trying to not destroy your business. Just think outside of the box rather than taking away some of the biggest pillars that are what keep your business afloat. 

5 Tips for a Successful Career in Accounting & Finance

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Building a strong and successful career takes a lot of mindful planning, regardless of your profession. Even with good planning, there’s no one-track route to achieving success. How easy the journey will be depends on your personality, the company you work for, and the industry in which you work. 

That being said, having the right skills needed for the job will get you far. More importantly, you’ll need to market yourself and network with the right people. This is even more important if you’re in the accounting and finance sector, where competition is high. If you’re unsure about the best steps to take, the tips listed below will help. 

Branch Out

As a newbie in the industry, it’s always best to work in an established company where you gain the necessary skills and experience to grow. However, as you move on, you might feel stunted in growth and yearn for something more challenging. In such cases, many opt to buy preexisting companies, like an accounting firm, for example. This is a great idea as it’s logistically easier than setting up your own company. 

The risks associated with starting afresh are eliminated since the firm already has well-established operations and staff members. If it sounds good, why not check out this guide on buying an accounting practice? That being said, you’ll also need to think deeply about the pros and cons to determine whether or not it's the better option. 

Invest In a Mentor

Having a mentor who has already walked the path you're on is great because they get to guide you on your way, potentially making your journey to success easier than theirs was. Mentors can offer you first-hand experience that enables you to develop the necessary skills needed to thrive in your chosen career. Another great thing about having a mentor is leveraging their connections and networks to advance your career.

Build Varying Skill Sets 

Don't keep yourself in a box. If you do, you'll be self-restricted into a single area of finance. This stunts your growth and keeps you on a journey to stagnant water. With broad skill sets, you add to your marketability and reduce your chances of becoming redundant in the ever-changing business environment. With the continual advancements in technology, you must keep updating your skills to stay ahead of the curve.

Learn About Technology 

Being tech-savvy is fundamental to your skillset. If you can use technology effectively, as well as create efficiencies, and improve processes within your organization, you become an employee with added value, which changes how you're perceived within the workplace. Develop your technology skills by taking courses after work and participating in-office training sessions whenever they're held. 

Welcome Change 

There's nothing more constant than change, so you need to embrace it at every career stage. In today's business environment, things are always changing. This requires finance and accounting professionals to adopt a forward-thinking and informed decision approach to help them make profitable decisions for the company. 

Every new day gives us another opportunity to be better than we were yesterday. In the world of finance, this stays true. If you're looking to grow and find success, pick up one or two of these tips, implement them diligently and watch the results unfold.