small business

Using The Laws of Attraction in Your Business Journey

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Applying the laws of attraction to your business might seem like a little bit of hoodoo. However, the chances are you have always, in one way or another, dreamed about what you want to do for your career. Where you would like to live. What you see yourself doing finally. If you’re not familiar with the laws of attractions then this is your quick summary:

The Law Of Attraction is the belief that your negative or positive thought will bring the same experiences into your life. For example, if you a constantly in a negative mindset, and talk negatively about others, or always see why you cannot do something – then that is what you will keep getting.

So when it comes to business, thinking positively can change everything for you. Of course, no one is suggesting that positive thought will pay off your creditors for you, but seeing it in a positive light will make it feel very different. Similarly, when driving, you don’t drive around assuming you might need a car accident lawyer, and then suddenly you need one. It is a little deeper than that.

Goal-Digger

When it comes to setting goals, it isn’t enough to say ‘I want to be a millionaire.’ You need to drill that down. How do you want to make that million? What steps will you need to take in the next few years to make that happen? What are the actions that you will take part in to ensure that you are on the right path?

You need to focus solely on the goal, and the positive way you’re going to get there. It is very easy to fall into the negative mindset and only see setbacks. That has the effect that you will focus so much on them, you will achieve them instead. The very opposite of what you wanted to do.

Keep Your Path High

Have you ever met that person who walks around being negative all day? And they really crush your happy bubble. Then, after you leave them, you are also feeling a bit negative? It is a ripple effect that can keep going. So your job is to ‘vibrate higher.’ Think about everything you throw out into the world coming right back to you like a bouncy ball. Think about the joy you’re going to get from running your own enterprise, or the difference it will make to your family. Focus on the positives. Work with positive people.

Intuition

The Law of Attraction focuses heavily on following your hunches. The basic principle here is that your intuition will be signs from the universe that you are on the right/wrong path and you can adjust accordingly. But, you are also meant to do this intentionally. So if you feel something isn’t working, look at why, how you can change it and move forward.

Using some of The Laws of Attraction you can create your ideal business environment and apply some of the theories and fully immerse yourself in the journey that you have mapped out before you, with a little support from the universe.

Assessing Your Environmental Impact as a Business Owner

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It’s important for all different types of businesses to ensure they’re helping to reduce their environmental footprints. And depending on the venue you’re in and the type of business you run, there are different ways to make sure you’re doing all that you can to be environmentally friendly. Not only will your business be run in a way that benefits the environment and the local area, but you’ll also be able to find a consumer base that appreciates those types of behaviors.

Here are a few ways that various types of businesses can check their environmental impacts and what they can do to reduce their environmental impact.

Restaurants

A restaurant can be environmentally friendly in many ways. Buying local and seasonally available foods will reduce your footprint from the get-go. You can also properly dispose of food waste, such as cooking oil. For instance, cooking oil can be used as a renewable energy when disposed of properly, and it’ll also lower costs of cleanup. There are also various programs that can help restaurant owners specifically with recycling cooking oil. You can also look into local composting rules to dispose of other food waste to local gardens and communities where they can use your compost to grow food and plants.

Offices

There are many things you can do in an office setting to ensure that you’re being as environmentally friendly as possible. When you dispose of paper, you should make sure you’re recycling it and adhering to any local recycling rules (i.e., do you need to use only clear bags, or should all paper waste be tied together?). You’ll also want to watch your paper usage in general, and when possible, you should print double-sided so that you save some paper. Adjust the thermostat and keep it lower when possible, and whenever you leave the office, turn off the lights, computers, printers, and any other appliances so that you aren’t wasting too much power. Not only will these practices reduce your environmental impact, you’ll also save money as well.

Delivery Services

Whether you’re delivering food, groceries, or other miscellaneous items to someone, there are quite a few ways you can keep do it in a green way. To start off with, biking is a great way to keep your services environmentally friendly, rather than using a car. And if you do use a car, you should aim to use something small and efficient rather than a large truck or something that guzzles gas. You can also look into things like drones or electric cars to deliver your items. Past that, you can make sure that the places you purchase from are environmentally-minded and that they use equipment in a green way.

School

Schools are areas that also use a lot of paper and therefore have many options for reducing their environmental footprints. Similar to office environments, it’s important to make sure there are recycling options and that you print on double-sided paper whenever possible. You’ll also want to power down any computer, projectors, or any other classroom electronics at the end of the day and keep all lights off. You can use environmentally-friendly lightbulbs whenever possible in your classroom, too.

Clothing Store

Malls and other shops can make sure they’re being environmentally friendly by only purchasing clothing from sustainably-sourced places. For instance, places that don’t use leather or fur are greener and better for the environment (and the animals involved, too). It’s also important to avoid fast fashion habits like making items out of cheap, non-environmentally sourced materials and using child labor to create clothing. Additionally, you can also source locally whenever possible and recycle whatever items can be recycled in your area.

Sam Casteris is a small business owner and freelance writer operating out of Phoenix, AZ. You can find more of her work on Contently.

Own a Small Business? 4 Advantages of Exhibiting at a Trade Show

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Every small business owner should invest time and energy in exhibiting at trade shows. The cost setting up a booth is minuscule compared to the payoff. Attending and participating in trade shows is an intimate and effective way to boost almost any business. The following are four advantages of exhibiting at trade shows.

Face-to-Face Interactions with Customers

Exhibiting at trade shows gives small business owners an excellent opportunity to interact with potential customers in person, building rapport and establishing a connection between the business and its customer base. People are far more likely to invest money in a business that they believe cares about them and their communication. Never underestimate the value and importance of connecting with customers in person. This will help customers feel as if they are an actual part of a small business’s operations. The goal of any small business owner should be to build a community around their business. This can be achieved by showing up and personally meeting the very people who comprise your collective of customers and target audience. But if you don’t have time to do this yourself, consider investing in promotional modeling, or assign one of your assistants or employees to be there.

Gauge Customers’ Needs and Interests

In addition to the aforementioned benefits, getting to know the people you are trying to sell products or services to will help you to better gauge their interests, desires, and individual needs. Your customers are far more likely to give you feedback in person rather than take the time to respond to survey questions. When you’re visiting with them, be sure to actively listen to their responses. Take note of the things they tell you, and implement their ideas where possible.

Effective Platform to Launch New Products and Services

Trade shows are perfect places to try out new products and services. As a small business owner, you will be able to see, in real time, all reactions to your new products and services when you test them out at a trade show, rather than jumping straight into marketing and selling them. This method of previewing what a business has to offer is time-tested and will allow you helpful analytic data before investing time and money into innovations that won’t work so well.

Networking

Trade shows are attended by people from all facets of business, marketing, and various other industries. Making friends at these events opens opportunities for your small business to reach more people than ever, and the friendships made at trade shows will, undoubtedly, supply you with fresh resources and means to market and sell your business more effectively and on a larger scale. No small business can succeed alone. It takes an entire team to reach any real level of success.

Guest author, Lizzie Weakley is a freelance writer from Columbus, Ohio. She went to college at The Ohio State University where she studied communications. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors and long walks in the park with her 3-year-old husky Snowball.  @LizzieWeakley

5 Big Mistakes No Successful Entrepreneur Will Make Again

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It may seem like some of the biggest companies out there are being run by people who know everything about the business world. While they may know a lot about it, it doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes. In fact, almost every entrepreneur has made at least one mistake in their career. There’s nothing wrong with making a mistake as long as you learn something from it. And if you don’t want to learn from your own mistakes but you’d rather learn from other entrepreneur’s experiences, make sure you read on.

Not using social media

There’s no need to say that social media is huge right now. Just in New Zealand, there are 3.5 million active social media users and we can expect this number to grow in the future. However, some entrepreneurs believe using social media is a waste of time and decide not to create social media presence for their business. This is definitely something you don’t want to do, especially because people now often turn to social media search when looking for a product or service. In order to make sure everyone can reach you, you need to create pages on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and use them on a daily basis to communicate with your customers directly.

Forgetting to pay themselves

Many rookie entrepreneurs get so excited about running their own business that they completely forget about paying themselves. Even if they do remember to do so, they often decide not to do it in order to leave more money for their company to work with. This can seem like an amazing idea at first but it can seriously hurt both your personal and business finances. If you don’t pay yourself, you’ll soon find yourself with no money on your bank account. Also, you won’t get a clear picture of how well your business is doing and doing your taxes will be more difficult. Those who decided not to pay themselves have learned the hard way that they deserve to receive a paycheck for all their hard work.

Not being formal enough

Running a business is a serious task and only those who take it that way will be able to succeed. That being said, you should try to be formal whenever you get the chance. Let’s say you’re responding to a negative comment from a customer. Instead of arguing with them, you should try to be as formal and polite as possible. This will show your customers that you care about what they have to say, which can be a big plus for your company. When meeting a business partner, renting a vehicle from companies such as Avis Car Rental is a good idea as it makes you look more professional and helps you bring your A-game to the meeting.

Setting unattainable goals

Running your own business sure is great and just like most entrepreneurs out there, you dream of conquering it all. While dreaming big is an important part of success, you can’t just expect your business to do exceptionally well from day one. Many entrepreneurs end up setting unattainable goals for their business right from the start which ends up affecting their operations. In order to make sure this doesn’t happen to you, you need to be extra careful when setting goals for your business. It’s important to start small and adjust your goals as your business grows. We recommend putting your goals in writing so that you could review them every once in a while and make any necessary adjustments.

Taking everyone’s advice

The business world is full of “gurus” who believe they’re the next Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Ellison. Those people will often give you advice in order to help you grow your business. Taking everything they say seriously is a good idea and it could help you take your business to the next level. However, this doesn’t mean you need to do everything they advise you to do. Instead, you need to rely on your own knowledge and instincts. Therefore, every time you need to make an important business decision, you should think about what you want to do and only then listen to what other people have to say. Many of those who’ve taken every piece of advice they’ve got ended up failing even before they got a chance to show what they can do.

Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy. Make sure you don’t make these 5 mistakes and you’ll have nothing to worry about. Even when something goes wrong, fix it as quickly as possible and try to learn something from it.

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in latest business news and new social media trends. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family.

Mediation: A Powerful Tool For Dispute Resolution

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How many times have you heard of a divorced couple that has been dragging with children through court for years? Or lawsuit that your neighbor filed almost a decade ago and it still has not been closed? Even though litigation (which is just a legal term for a lawsuit) is sometimes necessary, there are more ways to settle disputes than ending up in court.

Mediation is nothing else than just another form of informal dispute resolution procedure, facilitated by a neutral third party – a mediator. Unlike litigation, mediation gives both parties an opportunity to negotiate and discuss their issues, and eventually possibly to come to an agreement. It is important to highlight that mediator does not have any legal rights of decision making, and all decisions are made by parties together. A mediator does not serve any party, and their task is to understand the positions of both parties, as they try to guide them to a negotiated agreement (without forcing any).

With that being said, it is obvious that both processes are very important, but let us take a look at numerous advantages of choosing mediation over litigation:

  • Less Time – Unlike litigation that can take years (and usually does), mediation lasts only about a few days, weeks, or months if the dispute is very complex. It allows both parties to continue with their lives much quicker.
  • Less Money – With the process being way less formal, it allows it to be significantly cheaper than formal legal dispute. When you combine it with a shorter period of time, you will end up paying way less money for a much shorter period of time. Also, keep in mind that some non-profit organizations offer these services for free (or at a symbolic rate).
  • Less Formal – As already said, mediation is an informal conflict-resolving process. As such, it allows both parties to engage more in the negotiation, than it would be allowed in the courtroom where strict rules are applied. This way the mediator and both parties can be focused on finding the best solution for both.
  • Discreet – Opposing to cases that end up at court, mediation has a benefit of staying private. No records, transcripts or evidence can be used later in court. For some cases, this solely could be a great reason to choose mediation (or not to).
  • Saves Relationships – The collaborative nature of the whole process allows both parties to stay at good terms. Years spend in court are well-known for destroying people’s relationships, as in litigation the only goal is to “win”, instead to agree.
  • More Flexible And In Control – Litigation usually leaves you with little to no control over the process, while mediation allows you to be fully in control over the upshot.
  • Better Solution – For all these benefits, people who have been through it usually report better results than those who filed lawsuits. Especially because this is not a win or lose situation, but rather the process of mutual understanding where the needs of both parties are met.

After all these benefits listed above, you are probably wondering why does anyone goes straight to the lawsuit instead of just choosing much quicker, cheaper, and better option in general? Mediation indeed is a great way to resolve misunderstandings, but it is far from being the best option for every case. Disputes that usually would benefit out of formality are business conflicts, which usually require expert knowledge on a certain subject. In those situations, best would be to seek help from experts in business legal disputes, such as Stevensen business lawyers. There are also plenty of cases where after a failed mediation, parties have turned to more formal legal processes – lawsuits. It is usually the case when both parties are under a very high emotional distress that the subject of a dispute is causing them. Under such emotional distress, it is often impossible to negotiate, and strict rules that the courtroom provides are necessary.

A mediation is a process that both parties need to agree on, therefore it is a voluntary process. It is most common and best advised for small claims courts, housing and family courts, as well as some criminal court programs. It is most common for divorced couples who cannot reach the middle ground but are reasonable enough to negotiate. Since mediation is a non-confrontational process, it allows both parties to truly try to listen and understand each other, without trying to pinpoint on who did what and whose is guilt to bare. It is a process that is simple, quick and inexpensive. Only two things that it requires are emotional stability and willingness to cooperate.

Legal procedures are almost always messy and far from black and white. Now that you are familiar with positive as well as negative sides of mediation, you can carefully estimate your situation to see if giving mediation a chance is a good option for your case.

Guest author, Daniel Brown, is a law graduate and a passionate blogger from Sydney. His areas of interest are alternative dispute resolution and its applicability in different fields of law, IP law and resolution of disputes arising from intellectual property infringement and commerce law.

Spice It Up! How to Keep Business Meetings Exciting

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Business meetings are necessary for a variety of reasons,but employees will not appreciate them or remember anything that was discussed if they are not being engaged. Engaging your employees is one way you can give and receive feedback on previous and current trends, as well as events of the business. There is more than one way to engage your employees during a business meeting. 

Start with an Ice Breaker

Whether you host a meeting in the morning, afternoon or evening, it’s good to begin the meeting with an icebreaker. Everyone can tell an interesting fact about themselves, what they did over the weekend or talk about a few of their favorite hobbies. You can take turns playing catch-ball by going around the room and letting everyone tell something about themselves.An engaging activity helps keeps employees awake, as well as help them maintain focus and remember many of the topics discussed in the meeting. 

Try a Different Location

Instead of staying in a building, get some fresh air and leave the four walls behind. Nothing wakes you up like a breath of fresh air.Try hosting a meeting in a park or make reservations somewhere nice, such as a cafe. New surroundings make people alert because they are busy observing, but still paying attention. New surroundings can also be great for relaxing and unwinding. Employees who are constantly on the edge will benefit from a different surrounding where they can relax. 

Put Technology to Work

Have you thought about hosting a conference call to host the meeting? Employees are more likely to attend because they can choose the place where they are the most comfortable, such as their home,library, bookstore or any other place. When employees are given a little freedom, they are more responsive and more engaged in the meeting. 

Bring Refreshments or Have it Catered

Refreshments are good for business meetings because they give everyone an extra incentive to attend. Regardless of what time you decide to start the meeting, refreshments give people a boost of energy that helps them make it through the last stretch of the day or get off to a great start in the morning. Refreshments could be something simple like light snacks, not a full meal. Bagels, chips, water, juice, coffee, fruit, and similar items make great light snacks that can help employees be more attentive in the meeting.

If you’re having a bigger meeting or just want to treat your hardworking employees to something special, having a full meal catered is a great way to reward them for their effort. Look into local restaurants and services, like El Molinito Restaurant & Catering or another in your area, for the best food and selections.

Employees and many business owners alike are not fond of meetings and dread them because of how boring they can be. These tips can help you spice up your meeting and make it interesting, so the next time, employees are more inclined to attend. Meetings don’t have to be the downfall of your day.

Dixie Somers is a freelance writer and blogger for business, home, and family niches. Dixie lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and is the proud mother of three beautiful girls and wife to a wonderful husband.

It’s Time To Pay More Attention To These Parts Of Your Business!

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When you’re running your own business, it can often feel as though you’re spinning plates. You’re trying to keep everything together but it feels like the moment that you turn your attention to one thing, something else goes wrong. The truth is that this is just a fact of life when you’re a business owner and it’s something that you have to get used to.Sure, there are plenty of things you can do to make life easier but sadly the most common things that a lot of business owners do is to just ignore certain parts of their business that they consider to either be unimportant or that they simply take for granted. If you do that, it’s always going to cause more problems than it solves. With that in mind, here are some parts of your business that you need to stop ignoring.

Your IT solutions

IT is the backbone of pretty much all modern businesses. We live in such a heavily digital world that trying to run any business without IT solutions is just asking to get left in the dust by the competition. Of course, not everyone is going to be an IT expert and trying to deal with it all on your own can often cause more problems than it solves.That’s why it’s so important to find companies that can offer solid IT support to your business. After all, if you’re outsourcing it, you are able to focus your energy elsewhere while ensuring that it’s always being looked after.

Your accounting

Accounting is one of those things that a lot of businesses work incredibly hard to avoid as much as possible. This is often for two reasons. Firstly, accounting is difficult and complicated. And secondly, it can be incredibly boring. Most business owners would rather ignore something quite so dull and would rather focus on the more dynamic aspects of their business. However, just because it’s not that fun doesn’t mean that it’snot incredibly important. If you’re not staying on top of your books then not only could your business end up in financial difficulty, but you could end up in some pretty serious legal hot water to

Accounting is one of those things that a lot of businesses work incredibly hard to avoid as much as possible. This is often for two reasons. Firstly, accounting is difficult and complicated. And secondly, it can be incredibly boring. Most business owners would rather ignore something quite so dull and would rather focus on the more dynamic aspects of their business. However, just because it’s not that fun doesn’t mean that it’snot incredibly important. If you’re not staying on top of your books then not only could your business end up in financial difficulty, but you could end up in some pretty serious legal hot water too.

Employee support

Your employees are the lifeblood of your business and if you’re just treating them like machines who are going to do great work because you pay them every month, you’re letting them and your business down. The truth is that your employees need your care and support in order to feel motivated and happy at work. From rewarding great work to being a little more flexible with them, it’s crucial that you put the effort into making your employees feel supported and cared for as much as possible.

The truth is that you’re almost always going to be in a position where you feel like you’re playing catch up with certain aspects of your business. The key is to make sure that you’re planning and prioritising things carefully without falling into the trap of letting certain things go entirely ignored. Sure, that might sound like a serious challenge but that’s just part and parcel with running a business.