How the Recession Has Changed Retirement Planning

Expert Offers 3 Tips for Baby Boomers

The economy may be recovering, but some of the changes wrought by the Great Recession may be long-lasting. Anyone planning for retirement, no matter what their age, needs to take those changes into account, says financial advisor Philip Rousseaux, a member of the esteemed Million Dollar Round Table association’s exclusive Top of the Table forum for the world’s most successful financial services professionals.

“People in their 40s and younger have some time to retooltheir plan, but Baby Boomers need to think with more urgency,” says Rousseaux, founder and president of Everest Wealth Management, Inc., www.everestwm.com.

“A lot of boomers had all of their retirement investments in the stock market and, if they didn’t lose their principal, it will take some time for them to recoup their gains. Others moved their money to short-term savings, like CDs. But with interest rates so low, they’re actually losing money when you factor in inflation.”

Those are the two most common mistakes people make in retirement planning – having everything in either stocks or short-term savings is a bad idea, he says.

“Space your investments so they’ll come due as they’re needed,” Rousseaux says. “Plan some that can be available in the short term, for emergencies, and others that will be available as you age.”

Only 14 percent of Americans are very confident they’ll have the money to live comfortably in retirement, according to a 2012 survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Here are Rousseaux’s suggestions for ensuring you’re part of that 14 percent.

• Don’t take risks you can’t afford. This is another common mistake. “Don’t put the bulk of your assets into anything that makes your principal vulnerable. Gambling that you’re going to win big on the market, or any other investment, means you also risk losing big.” A portion of your investment should have a guaranteed return.

• Seek any guidance from independent financial advisors. This has two benefits: Advisors who aren’t marketing their own products have no conflicts of interest. “You wouldn’t go to a commissioned salesman for advice on buying a high-tech product. Instead, you’d probably turn to a trusted friend or an independent expert source, like Consumer Reports. Take the same care with something as important as your retirement.” The second benefit is that independent advisors can devise creative, innovative solutions to meet the needs of individual clients. Those working for companies like MetLife are not free to think outside the box. And that’s especially important In this new, post-recession economy.

• Consider alternatives to the stock market. One of the effects of the recession is that the public realizes Wall Street is not a safe retirement plan. Even if it can get you there, it’s not necessarily going to keep you there.“There are a number of great, safer alternatives,” Rousseaux says. One of those is fixed, indexed annuities. “You loan an insurance company money and it guarantees you payments over a specified length of time. It’s a contract between you and the company,” he explains. Fixed-rate indexed annuities have a minimum and maximum interest payment that’s linked to a common index, such as the Dow. When the Dow goes up or down, so does the interest rate, but it never go below the guaranteed minimum or above the guaranteed maximum. “Your principal is safe and you can ride an up market without the risk,” he says.

With pension plans a luxury of the past and Social Security not a guarantee for the future, Rousseaux says whatever your age, it’s important to start planning now for retirement by creating your own private pension.

“The good news is, our life expectancy grows every year,” he notes. “It’s up to you to ensure that you have a great quality of life when you decide you no longer want to work.”

About Philip Rousseaux

Philip Rousseaux is the founder and president of Everest Wealth Management and Everest Investment Advisors money management firm. A staunch advocate of objectivity in investment advice, he’s a member of the Million Dollar Round Table, the international association of independent advisors whose members are held to a rigid code of ethics. He is the co-author of “Climbing the Mountain to Financial Success.” Philip received his bachelor’s in economics from Towson University and completed the Wharton School of Business’s Investment Strategies and Portfolio Management Executive Education Program.

 

 

Why Do Small Businesses Fail?

 

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration over 50% of all small businesses fail within the first five years. Why does this happen? Isn’t the U.S. supposed to be the place where anyone can make anything happen as long as they try hard enough?

In addition to the current economic crisis in the U.S. there are several specific reasons why many small businesses can’t quite seem to make it. If you are starting your own business or thinking of doing so you may want to watch out for the following.

1. They Don’t Have a Product/Service People Feel the Need to Buy

Many people make the mistake of thinking that because they have a cool idea they are automatically going to strike it rich. The reality is a company needs a compelling advertising strategy that tells the customer why they need a product. Especially during times when people don’t want to spend money, there needs to be a strong reason for someone to buy something.

2. The Boss Just Isn’t Cut Out For the Job

Being the boss isn’t easy. Some people underestimate what it takes to run a business. In order to be a successful boss one needs to be a strong communicator and motivator and know how to lead. They also need have the patience and determination to work past difficult situations and to help other people do so as well. If a small business doesn’t have a boss that knows how to do these things it doesn’t matter how cool the product is. The company will fail.

3. Growing Too Fast Too Soon

This one might be confusing to some. Isn’t growth a good thing? Of course it is. But a company also needs to know how to handle that growth. Lets say a new restaurant opens and experiences great success. Some people may want to immediately spend money opening new locations and buying a bunch of new equipment.  They may soon realize however that those other locations aren’t taking in what they thought they would and suddenly they are unable to get out of debt. This happens much too often. When your business experiences success be patient and allow it grow at a steady and manageable pace.

4. Poor Location

The idea for your business really becomes irrelevant if you try to sell it at the wrong place. Companies that set up shop in a poor location usually don’t fully understand who their target market is. For example, its not a great idea to place a high end jewelry store right next to a high school, where the people who see it every day can’t afford to buy anything.

5. No Online Presence

In today’s world people use the Internet for everything, including finding businesses. They look up things like where to eat and where to shop, all online. If a company doesn’t exist on the Internet, they will go unnoticed by a large percentage of the population. Companies need more than just a website too. Social media and customer outreach is essential for the survival of any company, especially small ones.

About the Author: Robert Cordray is a freelance writer and expert in business and finances. He has received many accolades for his work in teaching small business news.

 

Managing Your Time Expectations For Online Marketing

Enough with “don’t look behind the curtain” marketing. We want clear, quantifiable results, and we want to know what the timeframe is before we’re going to see them.

Here’s the good news: more than any other previous marketing medium, the Internet is amazingly good at giving you those quantifiable results. But of course there has to be a downside, and in this case, it’s the fact that giving a timeframe depends on a lot of factors, most importantly which forms of marketing you’re using.

Some have results that you’ll notice quickly – but may just as quickly drop off – while others follow the slow build approach. In order of the length of time it will take for your strategies to pay off, from short to longest, here are several different potential strategies you can try – and many people use more than one concurrently.

Paid advertisements on sites. If you’re smart about when and where you place your paid ads (depending, of course, on the type of business you have), paid advertisements can lead to lots of quick hits. How quick? You can literally see the results as they happen by checking in on Google Analytics or similar programs.

Pay-per-click ads. This is arguably the more pocket-friendly version of the above type of advertisement, where a service will place ads for your company on different sites completely free of charge. You only pay them if those placements cause a people to click the ads and come to your site. Just like regular paid advertisements, you can see how well these are working the second they go up.

Guest blogging. You write a blog post on someone else’s site for free in exchange for them allowing you to link back to your own site. Typically, you want to use someone who has a following at least moderately bigger than yours. If they’re huge and your post really resonates, you might see a fairly immediate uptick when the post goes live, but most of the time you’ll get a trickle from one site, then more, and then still more as you do more guest blogs.

 

Link-swapping. I’ll advertise yours if you advertise mine? Yep, that’s the general idea. The idea is that through many people all sharing each other’s links, you’ll all raise each other up. It’s a strategy that helps you to build partnerships, of a sort, as well as get more hits. Of course, it takes time to swap enough links to really get momentum going unless you manage to get someone with a really sizeable audience.

Content marketing. In other words, blogging. That’s not always the only thing that it means, but in general that’s what people are talking about. You write blogs (or pay someone to write them) so that your site continually has new content to draw people in and keep you higher on the search engine rankings. People like the content and share it, then those people do the same, and on and on. The bad news is that this kind of build is usually really slow. The good news is that it can be the kind of marketing that you pay for once and continues driving people to your site for years.

About the Author: Steven Chalmers reviews web products and computer software, including Intercall. By training, he is an SEO and online marketing expert.

 

How To Create A Dynamic Trade Show Space And Attract New Customers

Trade shows are an excellent way to boost your business. They give you the opportunity to meet new customers, make big sales, and connect with other companies with a shared vision. They also give a great chance to check out the competition and maybe pick up a few new marketing ideas. But going to a trade show costs money, so it is important to think of it as an investment. You need to pay for plane fair, hotel costs, and of course, the price of having a booth at the trade show. That makes it that much more important to get the best results out of your trade show booth. You want to make your booth dynamic and exciting so that it attracts new customers. If you are strategic and creative, your investment will pay off exponentially! Here are some ideas to get you started!

Get the basics right. Before you try to make a booth that stands out, make sure you are making a booth that works. Don’t forget the basic necessities for a good booth. Lighting, for example, should be great. A dark booth is not inviting! Keep the entry space to your booth accessible – don’t put a table in front of it. Make sure your sign is professional and polished and provides your company name, and if the name doesn’t make it obvious – what your company does. (“Rick’s Pickles” doesn’t need an explanation but “Services By Rick” does.)

Make your freebies creative, conceptual and convenient. When you walk out of a trade show with four new tote bags, ten new pens, and thirteen travel mugs, they all start to blend together. Many people just pass them along to friends, and the company sponsoring them gets none of the intended exposure.  So why stick with these boring old toss away items? Think more creatively. Keep the concept relevant, either to your company or something else – the physical location of the conference for example. And make sure that whatever you are giving away is easy to pick up and take with you. Going to a trade show in Hawaii? Whatever company you are, you could consider handing out chunks of pineapple on toothpicks – tasty, healthy, and memorable – just keep a little trash on the floor for the toothpicks.

Use social networking to bring people to your booth. Most conferences and trade shows these days use social networking to get the word out. Some have Facebook pages, others have Twitter accounts, and a lot have both. Create a hashtag for your booth and display it so people who pass by can search for it on Twitter. Tweet exciting promotions and use any conference hashtags that are being used. Take pictures of what is happening and what you are giving away, and share them on your accounts.

Be friendly and interesting but non-invasive. Customers walking through trade shows are bombarded by sights, sounds, and smells. Everywhere they look there is something being handed to them or somebody inviting them into a booth. Obviously you need to be friendly, too, but try a different, more creative strategy than the same old tired lines. “Hi, would you like to hear more about LASIK surgery?” is not creative. “What if I told you you would never have to wear your glasses again – would you like to hear more?” is a big improvement. But at the same time, you need to learn accept no as an answer. If somebody isn’t interested in your product, they won’t become more interested if you become pushy. In fact, it will probably have the opposite effect.

About the Author: Thomas has been an independent writer and business professional for over 20 years. Amongst his most often covered topics is NimlokOnline’s top trade show displays. When he isn’t writing, you can find him spending time at home with his family or honing his guitar skills.

 

 

Why Cold Calling Has Some B2B Advantages

One of the most effective ways of securing new business is through cold calling – it is a fabulous way of acquiring new leads if you do it right. The unfortunate thing is that many businesses go about their telemarketing the wrong way and are letting potential business just slip through their fingers. Telemarketing can often be an overused tool, so your marketing team should assess when is the right time to start a telemarketing campaign and not just launch one for the sake of it.

The Advantages of B2B Cold Calling

There are four main advantages to running a cold calling or telemarketing campaign, which can be described in the following ways:

• Lead Generation. Telemarketing is a great tool for lead generation. If your business is relying on inbound calls alone for their leads you may find that there are simply not enough to meet your targets. You can’t always be in the position of waiting for business to come to you, there are times when you need to go out and secure that business for yourself.
• Marketplace Education. One of the things that cold calling allows you to do is to get a feel for what is happening in the marketplace. It can give you insight into why the business is not coming to you of its own volition, cold calling provides valuable information about the current marketplace as well as opening up possible sales leads. The act of cold calling puts you in touch with what people actually need, they will tell you what they want and if you don’t have it they will tell you who does! This will give you an insight into possible market trends and the needs of your customer base.
• Business Visibility. During a telemarketing campaign you are throwing the name of your business out into the public domain, raising awareness of your existence and the services that you provide. It could be that one of the reasons you are not receiving as many inbound calls as you would like is the fact that no one knows that you are there.
• Professional Staff. By using experienced cold callers you will find that your telemarketing campaign is more effective than simply utilising your existing staff. Cold calling professions have been doing the job for a long time, they know how to engage the potential client and keep them on the line. They have the knowledge of techniques and strategies for cold calling that you do not, and you should be able to recoup the cost of hiring them through the new leads that they generate for you.

Research

Research is essential before undertaking any marketing campaign. You need to know the names of the purchasing managers, stock controllers and decision makers in the companies that you will be calling. Telemarketing might not be popular with those that are on the receiving end of the calls but by making those you are raising awareness, promoting your business and growing your lead generation figures into a much healthier place.

Mark Adams is an expert author on all aspects of B2B marketing – he regularly visits Sure2Door.co.uk for more details on up and coming marketing strategies.

 

Enhancing Workplace Wellbeing: Ways To Maximize Employee Health

 

Towards a healthier workplace

Look around most offices these days, and it’s fairly obvious just how healthy we already are. With our water coolers, air conditioning, and bright, comfortable surroundings, those of us who work in a modern office environment are really very lucky in many respects. Health and safety legislation plus advanced technology has meant that the contemporary workplace is somewhere that allows us to give our best in an environment that’s geared towards safety and comfort.

But although we’ve come a long way over the years, there are still things we can do to continuously improve workplace wellbeing and employee satisfaction levels.

Workplace wellbeing strategies and productivity

Studies have often indicated that happy and healthy staff are more productive, and in looking to minimise sickness absence, many organisations are also helping to increase employee satisfaction along the way. Benefits that are offered as part of an employment package can include the following:

• Providing private medical insurance for staff
• Offering an employee assistance programme
• Health & wellbeing benefits such as subsidised gym membership

Having staff health cover means that in the event they fall ill, they will be treated promptly and in good quality surroundings. It also means that waiting lists, which can be lengthy, are avoided.

One useful way of helping staff is through the provision of an employee assistance programme. These provide (among other things) counselling for staff who may be going through difficulties in their life outside of work, such as bereavement or divorce.

Measuring employee satisfaction

While employee benefits such as health cover are popular – and also a useful tool in helping to attract and retain the best staff – it’s also useful to get some feedback on how you’re doing. This is where employee satisfaction surveys come in. There are some good guides on the bigger HR and personnel sites showing how to build an employee satisfaction survey.

In some cases, staff may have concerns about the confidentiality of their survey response. However, one way to guarantee the anonymity of survey returns is to use the services of a third party company.

Employee satisfaction surveys can also be a useful way to engage employees – this can be done by involving them in the survey by consulting them on the scope of the survey, and the kind of things it should ask.

Going foward with a wellbeing strategy

Once your wellbeing strategy is in place, it can be reviewed periodically and any changes that need to be made can be implemented. It’s worth keeping up with all the up-to-date news on employee engagement and wellbeing by looking at the major HR and personnel news websites, as there are often quite in-depth articles on the subject discussing all the latest developments.

About the author: Jen Jones writes on small business health insurance and wellbeing topics for various UK and international health and business websites.

 

Are You a Woman Launching a Business or Book?

Your Competitive Advantage May Surprise You!
By: Marsha Friedman

What’s your best advice for women in business?

 

It’s a question I hear frequently as more and more women strike out on their own, whether it’s to start their own company, write a book, turn their great idea into a product, or otherwise monetize their talents. The number of women-owned businesses in this country is growing 1.5 times faster than the national average. From 1997 to 2011, they increased by 50 percent.

I love seeing this surge of confidence! Putting yourself out there is risky, but it’s better to try and fail then to spend a lifetime wondering, “What if?”

Yes, I do have a favorite piece of advice for women in business but first, a word about self-employed women.

Did you know that our businesses added 500,000 jobs over 10 years while other privately held firms lost jobs?

That in 2007, we accounted for $1.2 trillion in sales receipts?

Unfortunately, we’re also less likely than men to borrow money to expand, so our businesses are smaller. They’re also more likely to fail and, despite that huge number of sales receipts, we ring up disproportionately less than our male counterparts.

That information, by the way, comes from an interesting report produced by the U.S. Department of Commerce — “Women-Owned Businesses in the 21st Century.”

It details the progress we’ve made and some of the hurdles we still must overcome. The latter include the legacy of a long history of discrimination; our tendency to be risk-adverse; and even some of the ventures that we choose. The report says we can help ourselves by creating more supportive networks, having access to more information, and finding mentors.

That last point gave me pause. When I launched my first business, there were comparatively few female CEOs, and certainly no internet to foster communication among them. I learned how to run a business mostly through good old trial and error. That’s also how I figured out how to balance that work with my roles as mother, wife and daughter, and how to fit in time volunteering for the community organizations I valued.

But women don’t have to go it alone anymore, and nor should we. Which is why I welcome questions like, “What’s your best advice for women in business?” I’d like to see the new generations of self-employed females blow through the hurdles that still remain before us and create even more opportunities for the generations to come.

So what’s my best advice? That’s impossible to say, but here’s one for starters.

Know your audience.

And guess what? It’s you!

Women account for 73 percent to 85 percent of all consumer decisions (according to Boston Consulting Group, Competitive Edge Magazine, and TrendSight Group founder Marti Barletta),. From the grocery store to the automobile dealership to the tech industry, women drive purchasing.

You need to communicate with that audience in mind. No, you don’t want to exclude men, but you also need to be sure your message appeals to women.

When I’m writing anything, whether it’s an email or a media pitch, I make a point to read over what I’ve written from the perspective of my audience. If I’m writing for industry peers, technical language is probably fine. If my audience is the media, concise and direct is best. If it’s clients, I want to be sure whatever I write also reflects my appreciation of them.

And then there’s the feminine factor.

As a woman, I’m a sucker for honesty and sincerity. I’m turned off by condescension. Unless the writer is somebody I already know and respect, I have little tolerance for preaching, judgment, or demands.

Any message that takes those things into account will work for men, too.

Whether you’re writing marketing copy, posting on social media, or working on an article or newsletter, if your goal is to turn your readers into buyers, you need to write with your audience in mind.

That’s not so hard – if you’re a woman.

About Marsha Friedman

Marsha Friedman is a 22-year veteran of the public relations industry. She is the CEO of EMSI Public Relations (www.emsincorporated.com), a national firm that provides PR strategy and publicity services to corporations, entertainers, authors and professional firms. Marsha is the author of Celebritize Yourself: The 3-Step Method to Increase Your Visibility and Explode Your Business and she can also be heard weekly on her Blog Talk Radio Show, EMSI’s PR Insider every Thursday at 3:00 PM EST.

 

 

6 Businesses That Thrive In A Recession

Recessions mean everyone suffers? Well, not necessarily true at all and some businesses thrive during a recession and see the opportunities that it throws up really help them flourish. When most others who did well in the good times stall, these are the businesses that people should invest in.

Sin Industries

Where you would have once purchased a new TV, or taken a holiday to the wine region of France, people will scale down their luxuries in a recession. Fortunately for them most sin is cheap and though they may bypass the new electrical goods, it’s a good time to own an off-licence or sell cigarettes; all of which improve in sales during recession. Chocolate also becomes an alternative to a good night out and does well. The only morally dubious industry to suffer is gambling, which relies on extra cash to do well and takes advantage of the happy go lucky feeling of the good times. All that being said, mobile gambling is currently thriving during the recession.

 

The Constants

There are some businesses that just continue as usual and there is no boom or bust cycle. Pharmaceutical companies, grave diggers, waste disposal companies and healthcare companies are all constants that do well either way. People get sick, are taxed and die whether times are good or bad.

Discount Retailers

Those who can sell goods at a lower price will obviously do well when people are watching their pockets. Discount retailers benefit greatly during a recession as they allow people to save, something they may not care for significantly in the good times. People will purchase more expensive items when things are good, but may lower their quality when looking for goods in bad times.

These companies also benefit from economies of scale and so can offer cheap goods at great prices to consumers. Though people don’t shop there as an ideal, they still do so during recessions.

Freelancers and Freelance Service Providers

Instead of bringing someone in during a storm and paying them a full wage, business providers and freelancers are taken on as they cost less. These freelance providers don’t require health insurance, a roof, canteen facilities and all the extras that add up in business and so thrive during bad times.

Property Management

Letting agents and others in the property management game do well in recessions as people find it harder to get mortgages to purchase a house. These businesses do well from the increased rental market and so make plenty during recessions.

Debt Settlement

Anyone involved in the area of money collection does well during the bad times. As businesses close, people lose money and need to employ professional services to get their investment back. This means that they will employ people in this area including debt collection companies, legal representatives and others, who all do well when things are down.

These examples of companies, who do well during the bad times, show that there is opportunity in the bad times as well as the good ones.

Cormac Reynolds writes for http://snap-edition.co.uk/ and has written numerous articles on how businesses can succeed during recessions.

 

Juggling Work, Family And Your Education

 

 

Many people attend college directly after graduating high school. For others, they wait until later in their lives to attend college, or attend graduate school later in life. Attending school at this time in life can be challenging as their lives have many different responsibilities. Some of these professional students also have families at home including children, work and hobbies that they are involved with. This results in professional students facing the challenge of balancing work and family while finding time to complete their education.

Scheduling is Key

Creating a schedule is critical to be able to balance these items in your life. If you think that you can do things “on the fly”, you will find that one or several areas of your life will not get the time they deserve. Work with your family, employer and others when crating your calendar. Let them know what your schedule is. That way they can work around your schedule instead of you having to adjust to theirs. Over time you may find you can make slight adjustments, but during the first few months, stick to your schedule. If you don’t respect your schedule, nobody else will. For that schedule, include time for class, studying and school projects.

If you are completing your schooling to improve your performance in the office, work with your employer for accommodations. Your office might be willing to let you set aside a half hour or hour a day of your workday to complete school assignments if they can see the benefits of your classes for them. If they won’t set aside time at work to let you complete your school work, they might be willing to allow you to work a more flexible schedule.

Set Aside a Location

Set aside a specific area to complete your school work. Isolate yourself from distractions when you are completing your school work. This is important for you to establish a time when others will not approach you with potential distractions. A small office in your home or even a bedroom are appropriate locations to use for your school work completion.

Celebrate Your Successes

Celebrate your accomplishments with your family. Your family may feel that they are losing time with you, and they are probably correct. Make them feel that their flexibility is appreciated. When you complete your courses for the semester, plan a special night out with your family. This might include a nice expensive dinner at one of their favourite restaurants.

This article was written by the team at the Engineering Institute of Technology, specialists in online engineering courses including hazardous area training certification and more.

 

Prevent Larger Rivals From Poaching Your Staff

The past Olympics has created more jobs and opportunities not only in the UK but all over the world. If your industry is experiencing a sudden growth or demand for manpower, you better keep watch. Chances are the bigger companies are also on the lookout for new people. With the increase in job availability and the diversity it offers, you are in danger of losing your senior or most valuable employees. You should not let that happen because it will affect your business negatively in so many ways. How do you keep your staff and prevent them from being hired by your bigger competitors? Here are some suggestions.

• Offer training. You can offer your staff skills training in areas outside their expertise. If you’re hiring foreigners, offer them basic English training or basic IT training. If you have competent staff, train them in advanced levels of their jobs.
• Then offer a higher paying job. When your staff “graduates”, create a job that they can apply for. This method allows you to hire from within, with qualified workers who have already undergone training. These are people you trust and you are sure that will perform. Lower level jobs are lower risks so there’s not much problem when you need to hire outside the company. This method also prevents your senior, trained staff from leaving your company because you have already given them an opportunity to grow.
• Quality over quantity. It’s understandable that a small business cannot compete with a large company in terms of salaries but you can compete with quality of life. Being small allows you to be flexible. When a family member gets sick or there’s a soccer game or school play, you can afford to give your staff the day off. Most big companies do not allow that.
• Be family-friendly. Take the time to know each of your employees and their families especially if you only have 5 full-time employees. Knowing a little bit of their background helps you understand the way they work and can give you a better insight of their strengths and weaknesses. Who knows, you might find a valuable supplier in Lisa’s aunt’s cousin’s friend.
• Offer small bonuses. You can’t give a large salary but you can give a small performance bonus to deserving employees. Make sure your employees are always motivated.
• Movie nights? Take your employees out to celebrate the success of a business partnership or closing a deal. It can be a simple movie night, bowling night or drinks at your favourite pub. A happy employee stays with you.
• Check your tools. A workman is only as good as his tools. Observe if your employees are getting frustrated with their jobs because of faulty equipment. This can cause them to look for another company that can provide with the proper tools to do their jobs.
• Provide help. Help doesn’t necessarily mean a person. It can be a new printer, a new computer or a new device that can help your employees do their jobs better. Take for example the simple franking machine. A franking machine sorts, weighs, calculates the correct postage and stamps your mail. Oh, and a franked mail also gets discounts from the post office.  If the person in-charge of outgoing mail in your company is swamped with work each day, it’s only a matter of time before he decides to do something else. After all, who wants to be buried in a pile of mail five days a week? A franking machine can process at least 90 pieces of mail per minute so think how fast your employee can finish. You can then assign your employee to do other things. This also keeps your employee from getting bored with his job.
• Pool resources. Check if your area has a group of business owners that pool resources. For example, one company is in need of a clerk and the other company has an extra clerk that they need to let go because of budget constraints. They then can refer that clerk to the other company in need.
• Join a group. If you have an association of business owners in your area, you may want to check it out. Talking to like-minded people gives you new insights, new ideas and a new perspective in running your own business. You need to talk to people who understand what you’re going through. Ask them if they have lost an employee to a bigger paying competitor and what they did to prevent that from happening again. These things are better discussed with people who experience the same things that you do instead of your spouse or family.

Finally, the next time you’re hiring for a senior position, you might want to hire “mature” people. They have a wealth of experience and they tend to stay in one place. They’re not impatient like their younger colleagues. You need patience and understanding to grow a company and these people can provide you with that.

This article was written by entrepreneur blogger Dawn Biggs. Please visit my Contractor Money site if you liked this article.