It’s natural to hope that your business grows and starts to earn money quickly. But the reality is, it’s never that easy. Growing and nurturing a business takes a lot of effort and resources in terms of time, planning, capital, and commitment. Leads won’t come knocking at your (virtual) door and sales won’t come flooding in right away. You need to take practical steps to ensure success. Experience is a tough teacher, it will give you valuable lessons later. Some of us can’t afford missteps and mistakes so if we can avoid the major pitfalls – all the better.

Here are a few essential skills that will ensure you avoid the avoidable pitfalls and keep your business moving in the right direction:

1. Financial Literacy
If you want to see profits, you have to practice good financial management. Given the changing circumstances brought about by the pandemic, businesses are just starting up again and bouncing back. So, as a business owner, you’re in for some tough competition. I won’t pretend to be an expert in business finance as even experts find it a hard topic to dive into. So, these are the basic things that you need to know and teach yourself in order to have financial literacy:

a. Maintaining a positive cash flow
b. Tools you can use to manage your business finances
c. Tax benefits

2. Marketing Skills
Strong marketing is important to every business. Even if you have stellar products and excellent services, clients and customers won’t know about them unless you effectively get the message out there. As a business owner, you must constantly look for opportunities to make people aware of your brand and engage with potential clients and customers.

a. Content creation – this is a skill that can be easily learned and is relatively easy to template, but producing content consistently can be hard and especially time consuming. So, look at those who have gone before you (in your industry) and learn from their example. Adopt their best practices and use tools to get tips and insights.
b. SEO – this helps clients come to you instead of you actively looking for them. Having a basic understanding of SEO places your business in a position where you can get discovered by potential customers.
c. SEM – similar to SEO, SEM gives you the exposure you need to be “top of mind’ of potential customers and clients

3. Leadership
Leadership is not about telling people what to do while you sit back and let them do all the work. Leadership is about influencing people to see a common goal and getting them to work with you and work together to achieve a common objective. Business objectives differ to some extent – social causes, making a difference, environmental impact, etc. But one objective makes a business, a business – profit. So, a business owner’s goal should be to hire and influence people to work towards growing a business and making a profit. Use these powerful skills to master the art of powerful and positive leadership:
a. Communication
b. Empathy
c. Delegation
d. Practical thinking
e. Risk management and foresight

Did I miss anything? What are the skills you think are essential for every business owner? Share your tips with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Those who work from home have never had the unfortunate experience of long commutes and in-office late night overtimes. However, the rest of the workforce have their orders: return to the office. A lot of companies are on the hybrid work model, which could mean that some days, employees get to work from home but work onsite, most days. But the work from home experiment has proven that working from home can produce the same (if not more) output from employees. 

According to a BBC report there is a simmering tension between those who have been recalled to the office and those who are allowed to work remotely. Because of varying roles and levels within an organization, the very nature of the hybrid work model could brew resentment between employees who have their return to office orders and those who have the opportunity to work remotely and manage their schedule as they see fit. How can managers get ahead of the great divide?

Visibility:

Those who work in-office may be perceived as more ‘visible’ by management allowing opportunities for promotion or projects. It’s not just the free snacks or the office sponsored coffee, it’s also the ‘top of mind’ effect. The more management sees you, the more they’ll remember you for leadership roles. Hybrid workers feel excluded as they are not deemed ‘visible’. 

Balance:

The dreaded long commute is the top complaint of everyone who pushes back on the ‘return to office’ mandate. This wasn’t such a big issue when everyone was working on site, but now…

Having the ability to sleep in lieu of prep time and a long commute is just one of the perks of remote work. Then there’s the flexibility of organizing errands and chores and navigating social obligations that remote workers can afford to do vs. on-site employees. 

Social time:

Because of close proximity to one another every work day, on-site workers naturally form social bonds with those they see on a regular basis. They can leave their personal challenges at home and rely on each other for moral support or a mood lift. On the other hand, team members who only engage with their colleagues and leaders through a handful of email messages or via short, work related instant messages/chats can miss out on the social bonds and camaraderie formed through natural everyday conversation.

Next steps:

Managers should ensure that all employees are being evaluated along with the same KPIs. Make it clear (via a conference call, so that everyone has no reason to miss the announcement) that both hybrid workers and on-site workers will be evaluated the same way. 

Managers and employers should also ensure that expectations remain the same of hybrid workers and in-office staff. 

Everyone should follow the same career growth framework. 

Also, take advantage of technology and make sure that managers/ employers arrange time for social activities like regular online activities such as watercooler chats, trivia nights, office sponsored lunches. 

Has your company issued return to the office orders? How did your team handle it? Share your tips with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Webex defines the Hybrid Work Model as: “a flexible work model that supports a blend of in-office, remote, and on-the-go workers. It offers employees the autonomy to choose to work wherever and however they are most productive.” This model is not new. In fact, a lot of companies have adopted this work model pre-pandemic. These were mostly small and agile SMEs who could afford to allow their employees the flexibility of remote work.

However, a lot of big companies have followed suit. One notable example is Airbnb, which announced in April that they are allowing their employees to “live and work anywhere—while collaborating in a highly coordinated way.” If you haven’t yet, here are 5 tips to make the business case around adopting the hybrid work model:

1. Set Expectations
If you plan to adopt hybrid work, set extremely clear expectations on deliverables and work quality. This is the time to use your KPIs and SLAs. Everyone in the company, top to bottom, must understand the level of quality expected of the work they turn in. Also, specific guidelines on allowable time for remote work. Make sure that these expectations and guidelines are communicated to everyone in the organization.

2. Be Ready For Pushback
Traditionally, work is done in the office so that managers can “monitor” an employee’s productivity. Therefore, one of the biggest concerns for employers regarding hybrid work is that remote workers will “slack off” or under deliver. But studies have already debunked this myth. Data has shown that even during pre-pandemic times, remote workers were 77% more productive and were less likely to be absent from work. While a huge part of the organization will readily embrace hybrid work and the flexibility that comes with it, there will be apprehensions re: management and collaboration. Open your doors to communication and allow everyone to voice their concerns through the proper channels. This gives employers the opportunity to alleviate worries and ease employee (or management) concerns.

3. Have Policies In Place
Your policies must be concise – meaning short, and straightforward, with little room for assumptions and confusion. Don’t let people guess what they can or can’t do. Your policy should be short enough that the salient points are easy to remember and just long enough to be able to provide some explanation for the decision. Focus on the benefits and don’t bury the policy in words. Take Airbnb’s example: “you can live and work in over 170 countries for up to 90 days a year in each location. Everyone will still need a permanent address for tax and payroll purposes, but we’re excited to give you this level of flexibility.”

4. Be Transparent
Be transparent with the company’s goals. Airbnb’s April announcement wasn’t just a move to adopt the hybrid work model but a key part of their talent management strategy. They were clear about hiring and retaining the best talent and their hybrid work policy was a brilliant and strategic move.

Has your company adopted the hybrid work model yet? What is your hybrid work policy? Tell us about it in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp