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A business plan is an important piece of information, so you should take care to make sure your create one that will form a solid foundation for you to build your business upon. Simply put, it is a written document that accurately describes your business, outlines your business objectives, what strategies you plan to use for operation and marketing, and projections for your sales and financial forecasts.

How will a business plan help me?

You may have the perfect business idea in your mind, but actually writing out your business plan will help you to clarify your business ideas and help you to think about them in fine detail. Laying out your business plan can often show up potential weak spots or problems that you may not have considered, but will also allow you to set about solving them before they ever become an issue.Everyone that sets up a business will have goals to achieve. Your business plan will enable you to set your business goals, whether they be short-term ones that can be easily reached within a few short weeks or months, or longer-term goals for where you see your business in five or ten years time.You can also use your business plan as your guide as you grow your business and measure your actual progress against your set goals and milestones within your plan.Many businesses will look to secure financing from banks to help them start up or expand their business. You will need a sound business plan in place if you want to gain a business loan from a bank or seek investment from other financial bodies.Having a well thought out business plan can also help to establish your reputation as a serious business. It can help to build trust in customers and clients, convince suppliers that you are genuine, and also help potential new employees to believe in you and feel secure in their employment.

How much time does a business plan cover?

Your business plan will set out your strategy and plan of action. Most typical business plans initially cover the first one to three years, but sometimes this can be longer depending on the rate of growth you want to achieve.Putting your plan into writing will help you focus on each goal or idea and prioritise the most important ones to achieve first. Once you have sorted out your priorities and shelved any objectives that can be brought in at a later time, you can end up saving yourself a lot of precious time.What you originally thought may take three years to implement may actually take less than two to achieve once you have sorted out your most important objectives. Your business plan will act as your benchmark for your business performance. It can help to keep you on track to achieve your goals and prevent you wasting time on other actions that may not be as crucial right at that time.

Tailoring your business plan to suit others

As well as setting out your own business goals and objectives, your business plan may be needed to sell the idea of your business to others, such as investors, shareholders and bank managers. In this case you should base your plan on detailed financial information where possible. Investors may not be too interested in the minutiae of your operational and marketing strategies, so you can tailor your plan to suit their interests and needs.When applying for financial backing, try to keep the plan short. Use our checklist to make your business plan more appealing to investors:

• Keep the plan short
• Focus on what the investor needs to know
• Cut out any waffle or details that are not of their concern
• Check your spelling and grammar
• Overly detailed business plans are often quickly shelved

You might want to include:

• CVs of key personnel
• Detailed financial forecasts, projections and assumptions
• Market research data
• Product literature or technical specifications

Presentation is key

When presenting your business plan to others, the overall presentation is very important. Make sure it looks professional or else you may not be taken seriously. Put a cover on your plan and include an easy to read contents page at the front complete with page and section numbering.It would also be wise to start your business plan off with an executive summary as a nice introduction and overview for the reader. People will often make assumptions and judgements based on the summary you provide. This will basically summarise the key points of your plan to make it easier for your readers to understand. You should treat your business plan as an important and professional document, even when it is only ever going to be for internal use only.Put yourself in your readers shoes. Look at your business plan from your target reader's point of view. Does it make sense to you? Would it convince you to invest into it if you were approached for financing with this plan? Review and amend your plan until you are completely happy with it.

How to write your business plan

Going into detail about how to write your business plan and what to include in it would take up a lot of your reading time here, so instead we would like to recommend that you take a look at the Princes Trust website where you will find plenty of free tips on how to write your perfect business plan as well as free business plan templates that you can download and use in Word or PDF format. You will also find free downloadable business tables in Excel that you can use for your financial projections.

Setting up your company and business banking

When you have your business plan in place and are ready to make your new business official, you should take a look at our Company Formations service. Establishing a business can be a complicated process that involves a lot of paperwork and reporting to the correct authorities. Should you be unsure about any aspect of setting up your own company or even make a mistake with your registration, you could experience a whole range of problems later down the line.This is where we at Capital Office can help you. We have decades of experience in these areas and offer a fully comprehensive professional company formation service. No matter if you are looking at setting up as a Limited Company, a Limited Liability Partnership, or a company that is Limited by Guarantee, we have the right package for you. We can help and guide you through every step of your company formation process and ensure your new company is properly and expertly founded.

Barclays Fast Track Banking

You will want to set up a separate business bank account for your company and we can help you with this too. We provide all clients with Barclays fast track banking. We know how important it is to keep on top of your finances, and that is why Capital Office have teamed up with the UK's leading Bank and Accountancy Practice. Capital Office can help you get a Business Bank Account through Barclays, this is a fast track scheme which is available through us.

There are many startups investors should be looking at in 2016. On both sides of the Atlantic there are a number of startups to watch. Investors should consider the following big players when they are thinking about where to put their money over the next twelve months.Have you heard of any of these startups before?

CityFALCON

Based in the UK, CityFALCON is a fintech startup that has received awards and acknowledgements from a host of different organizations. These include the Ministry of Ontario, UBS, and Standard Bank. The goal of this company is to democratise the process of gaining access to the latest financial news.They’re seeking to disrupt the investment industry through helping people to avoid the high subscription fees. CityFALCON has made the same investment news free to retail investors. It hopes to offer their widgets and API to businesses as its main way of generating revenue.

Inverse

Established in the Bay Area, Inverse is a media company that covers the latest news. The difference is it does it from a millennial male point of view. It has already formed partnerships with Crosslink Capital and Rothenberg Ventures in an attempt to ditch the reporting policies of current news outlets.

Mobcrush

The Mobcrush organisation is a mobile live game streaming platform. It also provides a community where mobile gamers can get in touch with each other. It has already managed to raise $15 million in its attempts at gaining some traction. The hope is that it will be able to take full advantage of the live streaming revolution.

Product Hunt

There are many ways companies can lose a customer. The idea behind Product Hunt is to present a ranking of the best new products in each industry. Venture capitalists are already using this tool in order to find out more about the best new startups in specific niches.It already has a lot of investors, including Greylock Partners and SV Angel.

Patreon

Patreon is another company that has managed to raise huge amounts in funding. Patreon allows content creators to promote themselves and reach out to their fans. It’s geared towards YouTubers, authors, writers, photographers, and a variety of other artists.There are already over 2,000 people with full profiles on this site. The whole idea is to help people keep up with the latest trends in social following. This is a specialist social media platform.

Whichit

Whichit is a startup that provides a way for businesses to make their content more interactive. Customer engagement has always been a major topic of discussion and now this aggregation platform is making it easy. They provide content like visual polls to make things easier.

Onfido

Onfido is a startup specialising in background checks. It works with some of the biggest companies in the UK to make it easier for people to verify the authenticity of the self-employed. For example, a company could easily verify that a cleaner on a jobs platform is genuine.

HeySuccess

HeySuccess is another startup taking advantage of smart computing. They’re in the business of helping students and graduates find positions abroad. It’s also going to serve as a way for companies to find the best international talent to fill their positions.It brings together thousands of international student platforms.

Zeek

Zeek helps people to get rid of their unwanted gift cards. With an estimated 47% of UK citizens receiving more than one gift card every year a huge portion of this credit goes unused. Zeek provides a marketplace where people can get rid of their unwanted gift cards through cashing them in or exchanging them.

Kazooloo

Kazooloo is a startup that takes advantage of the rise in virtual reality technology. Strictly speaking, this is about taking advantage of augmented reality, but it’s a major step forward in the world of entertainment. Young people can enjoy playing games with the Kazooloo system and experience something they’ve never come across before.

Conclusion – Startups to Watch

These startups to watch represent major disruptions for multiple industries. It’s an exciting time for investors who want to see the future of investing in these organizations themselves. Which of these startups do you think is going to hit it big in the next twelve months?

Much of the world was confused with the announcement of Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn. Many had difficulty understanding why Microsoft would want this company and why LinkedIn wanted to sell. LinkedIn was at a standstill in its business growth/strategy. In order for the brand to move forward, it needed a fresh perspective, which is something that Microsoft can offer. It is a great opportunity for marketers, as you will learn from the information below.

Better Networking Capabilities

Microsoft was rather interested in the fact that LinkedIn had over 433 billion business-driven users, with at least 2 billion of those users having paid memberships. The tools available to those with paid memberships are far more advanced than what free users have available. The availability of these tools allows marketers to network more, build a name for themselves, and make new connections to further their careers.

Increased Skill Learning Potential

LinkedIn has the ability to help users increase their skill sets. This means that marketers can use new tools, new methods, and new approaches to making those cold email campaigns work. Some of the published content on LinkedIn is helpful for marketers as they learn how to use the platform to make sales and market to the right audiences.

Social Media Exposure

LinkedIn is considered a social media website. Given that it is a social media networking site; marketers have the ability to help increase advertising potential to a more diverse audience. Connections can be made, messages can be exchanged, and meetings can be set all from this platform. The ability to use a single platform for communications, promotion, and having social media presence is invaluable to some marketers.

Larger Customer Base Potential

Customers have the ability to leave commentary in the form of a review on LinkedIn content. Your marketing department will have access to a larger customer base by being present on LinkedIn, and with that comes the requirement to market to the multiple demographic groups within that customer base. It is best to develop an online presence, build a reputation, and work on building relationships with your customer base to learn what marketing approaches are going to work best for that specific platform.

Improved Technology Platform

Microsoft plans to improve the technological aids available to LinkedIn users to progress the platform. LinkedIn was at a standstill, it was stuck – new technology and software tools will help grow the membership at LinkedIn and will help marketers keep better records from new connections, campaign performance, and learn what tools will help them in their everyday life.

Better Business Structure

From viewing some of the content and business descriptions of successful industry leaders, marketers can learn how to develop a better business structure. Marketers can also learn the importance of marketing in a way that fits a business’ structure. It makes for more successful marketers because the marketer needs to learn how a business creates a budget, how it determines what it will pay for a product/service, and what types of brands/products it wants to be associated with.LinkedIn offers businesses the opportunity to create a detailed business profile within the platform. This outlines the brand’s goals, preferences, and direction. Marketers should be able to read between the lines to determine whether to proceed with client gaining or work on obtaining a different client.

Recruiting Marketing Team Members

Marketers will often post a resume, along with previous job skills online. When a major corporation is looking for someone new in their marketing department, LinkedIn is one of the places that they look. It is important to make sure that your contact information is up-to-date and that you highlight any special skills. When you are looking to be recruited, consider offering a sample pitch on your LinkedIn profile so that potential employers can see that your pitch is optimized for the web, has substance and includes a good teaser.

Final Say

With the increased potential for creating stronger, bigger networks, marketers stand the chance to make a name for themselves. Marketers also have the means available to access larger vendor/client pools to further their careers. It is important for marketers in all avenues of the industry to embrace the acquisition of LinkedIn as a step in a forward direction with advanced technology, better sales tools, and an easier way of communicating with clients.

Your customers are what helps a business survive. When customers spend money, your business can keep its doors open for another day. It is important to listen to the feedback given by customers to make improvements to slow down the frequency of customers buying from the competition.

Poor Customer Service

Poor customer service is at the top of the list when it comes to customer retention. When customers feel like a number or as “just as sale”, it does not make them want to continue to do business with your brand. Customers should be made to feel important and their questions should never be a bother to any of your employees.

Not Trending

Is your business following the current business trends? If not, your customers may be discontent with your brand. Consumers like brands that can change and evolve with advanced technology, buying trends, and consumer needs. Consumers are more attracted to brands that stay up-to-date on industry and society trends. The use of advanced technology will help your business become up-to-date and able to compete by being trendy.

Defective Products

Repeated reports of defective products makes customers leave and seek a substitute with a competitor. It is important to fully test products for safety, function, and practicality prior to releasing them for sale. When consumers see multiple product recalls from one company, their impression of the company suffers.

Poor Website Performance

When a website is slow, freezes, or does not have a properly working search function it drives traffic away. If a consumer cannot easily find what he or she is looking for, frustration sets in and additional options are sought. Ensure that your brand’s website is mobile-friendly, optimized, and organized.

Poor Brand Reputation

All it takes is one bad review being posted to start an ambush of negativity for a brand. The negative reputation can be difficult to overcome, but persistence pays off. Begin interacting with your audience, posting reviews, and reacting professionally to negativity to bring customers back.

Inconsistencies

Inconsistencies in content display, and even shipping, confuses customers. A recent trend is the demand for same day delivery, businesses not offering this option are losing customers. Society has become impatient. With advanced technology and logistics options, society expects brands to be consistent with the rest of the industry. Consumers also expect brands to deliver consistent content on a regular basis for communications purposes.

Toxic Employees

Employees that are not focused on their jobs are easily detectable by customers. When customers see employees checking cell phones, chatting in corners or are seemingly distracted, it is a big turn off. Not only does it reduce productivity, it tells customers that employees do not care about their employer or the customer.In some cases, a toxic employee may be bringing their personal issues to work, which sabotages the productivity of the entire staff.

Pricey Products

If the products manufactured by your brand are too expensive for the target audience, customers will seek out more cost effective items. It is difficult to regain customers when your prices drive them away. It is important to be competitive while still making a profit, but this cannot be at the expense of losing your customer base.

Behind Technology

Customers want to work with brands that are up-to-date on technology and features. It tells the audience that the company pays attention to society’s evolution and technology. Advanced technology enhances consumer experiences and increases brand efficiency.

Boring Marketing

If your brand’s marketing attempts are not performing, your consumer base either is bored or is unable to connect with the product. This big marketing issue needs to be fixed immediately. When marketing campaigns fail to capture the intended audience, customers will go to a competitor that has marketing campaigns that do grab their attention. To reel in new customers or keep those on the fence around, consider a few promotions.

Final Thoughts

If you make a few changes to your business strategy and standard practices, your customers will stay loyal for a longer period. With that being said, consumer experience should be a priority for your business. The customer may not always be right, but their words should act as insight regarding their unique experience with your business.

In order for a business to remain relevant in today’s world, it has to be up-to-date with trends. It also has to be in-tune with technology. Brands that use the latest technology to improve customer experiences are dominating their respective industries. To become a driving force in your specific industry, it may be time to make some upgrades to your business’ methods, tools, and strategies.

Use Video Marketing

Video marketing is trending in 2016. It is important to learn the tricks to creating a compelling video-marketing campaign that displays the brand’s ability to adapt to change. When creating video advertisements, make sure to only include text that is relevant. Society wants to watch and listen rather than read. Show examples of how a product or service works while explaining simply why a consumer or business needs the product/service. Simple is the best approach with video marketing.

Telecommuting Employees

Telecommuting (virtual) employees are ideal for growing businesses. Not only are virtual offices and virtual employees becoming more popular, it is a better way to keep overhead costs down for businesses. Employees that have the ability to work remotely are more productive, have better work ethics, and are more relaxed. They also have less sick days and require less vacation time than traditional employees. Going virtual is trending in 2016 as more businesses see the advantages of a virtual workforce and the need to cut spending on traditional office spaces.

Mobile-Friendly Websites

In 2016, much of the world has gone mobile. This means that your business needs to be able to go with them. More people are accessing the Internet from wireless devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers. Google has also made changes to its policies requiring businesses to be mobile-friendly.Your mobile users should be able to access the same features as your web-users. When consumers have to go to a computer to place an order rather than right from their mobile device, it is seen as an inconvenience.

Increased Demand for Faster Service

Consumers do not like to wait for ordered items to arrive in the mail or via parcel delivery. More are demanding same-day service for goods, services, and consultations. If your business has multiple locations, it may be a great marketing strategy to advertise same-day delivery for local customers. This will increase your client base and allow for the business to expand to more areas around the world with the same business model, operations, and delivery practices.Those that are not local should be offered the option of overnight delivery, at their cost for shipping. Companies have to be able to cater to customer demand in order to have longevity in their industries.

Upgrade Computer Networks

Upgraded computer networks using an individual business server, cloud networks and integrated applications, makes working easier for your employees. Advanced technology is designed to make performing tasks, staying productive, and reaching co-workers with questions easier. It is important to include a central location for employee chatter for employees to decompress, joke a bit, and take some of their work-related stress off.Consider implementing the use of tablets, mobile inventory counters and mobile conferencing technology, to keep all employees on the same page. Outdated technology tends to fail over time, and this can result in a huge loss of company data. It is vital that you stay up-to-date with technology.

Use Digital Tools

Digital tools help keep all of your employees on the same page. Tools like Dropbox, Slack, Trello and Evernote, are ideal for keeping files in a specific location while allowing access to them by all employees. Some of these tools can be used with additional integrated apps to create time lines, have productivity reminders, and deadline reminders. Anything that helps employees stay on-track, upbeat and happy at work, is a good addition to your digital tools. The tools should be available to all employees so that none are working at a disadvantage.

Final Word

Working to get your company up-to-date may cost a bit up-front but will be worth it. It will also provide a better overall experience for your customers. The increased revenues from happy customers that continually come back, gives you more to re-invest into the company for further technological improvements to your everyday operations.

A virtual office space is beneficial for small businesses and solely online companies. Business owners do not have the worries of paying for building repairs, dealing with building malfunctions, or paying for the cost of a company location. Instead, employees have a centralized location to refer to while working from anywhere in the world. Productivity increases when employees have the option to work remotely either regularly or from time-to-time.

Low Company Overhead

When there is not a need for a physical office location, you can cut a lot of overhead costs out by going virtual. You will not have to worry about paying for utilities, cleaning services, or renting office space. The lower overhead means that you can put that money right back into your business or work on the next phase of growth.

Lower Business Start-Up Costs

There are dozens of costs associated with setting up a new business. That comes with finding and securing a building, creating office space for administrative purposes, and paying for proper licensing fees. Physical locations also require equipment, furnishings, and sanitary restroom spaces. There are building codes to adhere to and they often come with hefty maintenance bills. Avoiding all of this when you are just starting your small business is less of a financial burden right from the start.

Physical Location Information

A virtual office does have a physical address and real phone number. It is provided as a means for mail delivery, global mail forwarding, and access to a receptionist. If you have a board of directors or high-profile positions, the personal information of the directors can be kept private as well. Their data would show as the company location for security purposes.

Happier Employees

Employees that can work from any location and have access to a virtual office set-up are happier. Their work is of higher-quality and their productivity remains high. Since employees have the option to design their personal workspace and access virtual offices, they are more likely to stay on-schedule, complete more work, and stay with an employer for a longer period of time.

Advantages for Internet-Based Businesses

Internet-based businesses do not need a physical office location for its employees. It may be a good idea to create a hybrid business model situation here as a small group of executives could work together in one space. If you require a physical meeting space for a conference or potential industry-changing meeting, you can use office space that is available through the entity that you set up your virtual office with. Most have meeting spaces available for client use in their packages along with the ability to provide materials to use during presentations as well.

Potential for a Hybrid Business Model

In some business situations, having a small workforce in one dedicated space is necessary for operations purposes. The rest of the employees can be virtual employees, working from any location in the world. Integrate a cloud networking system and communications tools for your workforce to communicate with. The workforce should also have a dedicated means of contacting superiors and department leads.

Higher Attendance Rates

When you create a virtual office network for your business, you have a higher attendance rate and less employees calling in sick or requesting time off. As employees can work from anywhere, their work can also go anywhere. If an employee is under the weather but still able to perform their job duties, having the ability to do so from the comfort of their bed or home office will allow them to still complete your expected tasks for the day without affecting their work performance.

Global Telecommunications

With the increased technology of the Internet, you can have a workforce that is located anywhere. The use of VoIP services, video conferencing technology and cloud networks helps a virtual office work as a traditional office would. Teleworkers are able to work on flexible schedules in any time zone and adapt their working times accordingly.

Final Word

Consider if the benefits of a virtual office are ideal for your small business. As a start-up, it can cut down some of your immediate spending and allow the business to build and become successful. A virtual office location is convenient and allows for safe communications between employees and customers.

A cluttered work area leads to frustration and decreased productivity. If you work in an area that requires creativity, you may lack some of that creativity with too much clutter around you. The tips below will help you to organize your office for increasing your focus and productivity.

Purchase a Desk with Storage

A simple desk that does not take up much room is okay as long as you have zero paperwork to put on it. You do need room for typical supplies like pens/pencils, staples, paperclips and organized tabs for reports. Everything else, other than a small calendar, should be kept off of the desk. The more organized your immediate workspace is, the more productive you will be.

Keep Distractions Out of Sight

Anything that distracts you such as mobile devices with social media access, a television or an open window, should be removed from your sight. Log off of social media accounts. Turn the television off and consider noise canceling headsets to still enjoy nature with an open window but without the noise distraction.

Add a Creative Element

Your private workspace should have one little dedicated area for a creative inspiration piece. Whether it is a book, a painting or a photo, anything that helps you stay creative is helpful. When your mind is working and coming up with new ideas, it is productive.

Electronic Organization

Rather than keeping boxes of files and records in your office space, consider using an electronic organization program. You can use a scanner and an internal file system on your computer to save digital copies of every piece of paper you need for work purposes.

Organize after Each Project

It is a good idea to take a few moments after each task and put things away. Anything that you took out for one project but do not need for the next, should be placed back into its assigned space. Keeping clutter off of your desk keeps your mind focused on work and the next task you have to complete.Keeping unneeded items out on your desk all day means that more is going to join it. By the end of your day, half of your immediate work space could be taken up by items that you just did not feel like putting away when you were done with them. Get into the habit of cleaning as you go, just as professional chefs do in order to keep their immediate workspace free of debris, distractions, and potential hazards.

Dress for Work

It may not make sense to some, but in order to help your desk area and office space stay organized, you should still dress for work even if you are working remotely. If you have a video conference or meeting planned, your space needs to look neat and clean. You also need to look neat and clean. A clean, professional appearance helps you maintain productivity and stay on-task.

Include Natural Light or Natural Elements

Being closed off in a stuffy workspace is counter-productive. It makes working seem mundane, boring and displeasing. When you set up your own workspace area, make sure you have access to natural light. If you do not have a window in your office space, change your light bulbs to LED options and bring in a couple of small plants.

Give Yourself Room to Stretch

As you work to create your workspace, make sure you have room to stretch. A cramped workspace often leads to losing interest in the task at-hand. When designing a home office, make sure it is on the opposite side of the home to prevent clothes and other items from finding their way to the office. As you build a collection of dishes/silverware, clothes and beverage containers, it makes the space seem more like a general purpose room than an office space.

Final Thoughts

Your personal workspace does not need to look like it belongs to a minimalist, it just needs to be tidy and well-organized. Assign everything a place and remember to always put things back in their proper place. This requires a bit of diligence on your part, but it is only a second or two of extra effort. You will notice that your productivity will increase when your office space is neat, clean, organized, and fresh looking.

Recognizable business leaders often become authors to help other business owners become successful. Each successful person has had a different path to success. Each has learned what works and what doesn’t in terms of building a strong company, meeting business goals and becoming dominant business leaders in their respective industries. These New York Times best sellers offer guidance, tips and strategies for business owners to command attention and dominate in their respective industries.

The Third Wave

Written by Steve Case, The Third Wave is both a New York Times bestseller and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Case is a very successful entrepreneur. He is partially responsible for the biggest merger of companies in business history. His writing help aspiring business leaders achieve their goals and creates a pathway to success through examples.Case stresses that hard work is required to be successful. The book also displays that without a few failures, the “next big thing” cannot come to its full potential.

Shoe Dog

The creator of Nike, Phil Knight, gives readers an inside look at how the most recognizable name in shoes came to be. Nike was started with a small, $50 loan to import a high-quality running shoe from Japan with low costs. Knight began his vision by selling pairs of shoes from the trunk of his car before ever opening a brick and mortar location or starting a manufacturing facility.

#GIRLBOSS

Sophia Amoruso, author of #GIRLBOSS, discusses her difficulties as a teen. She started from nothing, and was tired of living an unhappy life. She struggled to feed herself, keep a roof over head and just live. After getting angry at her situation, she did something about it and started one of the most successful retail companies in the world, Nasty Gal. The goal of this book was to display that fancy degrees and expensive college educations aren’t needed to be a successful leader in the business world.

Dream Home

Drew and Jonathan Scott, hosts of multiple HGTV television series’, are successful in the real estate industry. Drew Scott is the realtor and his twin brother, Jonathan, is the construction expert. The brothers have built a business based upon buying and selling homes while making a few improvements prior to selling, to maximize selling potential. A theory of theirs is to invest a little now to have a bigger return later.Their book outlines how others in the real estate or property investment industry can maximize profits and achieve goals, even on a tight budget.

Money: Master the Game

Financial freedom is something that most people want to achieve. Tony Robbins outlines how to make good investments, how to reach financial goals at any age and be a successful leader. He includes that diet, exercise, setting goals and making a profound impact on those around you at work are part of what makes you a successful business leader.

Disrupted

Decorated and previous Newsweek writer, Dan Lyons chose to make lemonade when he was given lemons with the news that he was being let go. He became a marketing fellow with HubSpot, which seemed great at the time but turned out to be what he did not want. Disrupted outlines how investors and startup companies seem to conspire to achieve financial greatness, which is often misinterpreted as success.

Extreme Ownership

Take a few lessons from a former Navy SEAL, Jocko Willink and co-author Leif Babin. This compelling read outlines how SEALs have to plan attacks and each move on the enemy carefully to be successful. This applies to leaders in business because every move has to be carefully laid out and followed to a “T” to work. This book discusses how to motivate those around you, and those in your workforce. It also talks about overcoming adversity and strife in times of turmoil while still coming out on top. It is motivational and inspirational for all of those aspiring to be a leader in business.

Closing Thoughts

If you wish for your business to dominate in its industry, study your competition and what led them to success. Take notes and set goals for your own career and/or business. Meeting goals means that you are making progress and are successful. Some of the best leaders in business started as followers who chose to follow their own dreams.

Being happy in your career is important for both productivity and personal happiness. When you are unhappy with a career, it ruins your outlook on that career and reduces productivity. If changes to your work situation need to occur, it is important to take the steps to do so in order to meet your own career goals.

Bringing Personal Situations to Work

Not leaving personal difficulties at home wrecks your outlook on your job. If you are unhappy at home, it comes to work with you. Leave your personal business at the door and focus on your job. Save personal discussions for breaks. It is difficult to leave tragic situations at the door, so in those situations, ask for some leniency.

Not Setting Work-Related Goals

Without goals, you have nothing to look forward to in your career. Set a goal to receive a promotion, become a team leader or obtain a raise. Reach that goal and set another. Make each goal bigger so that you have to work a little harder to reach it. Reaching goals should become a personal game to see how quickly you reach each one.

Constantly Checking Email Accounts

Unless you need email for work purposes, keep it closed. It is a distraction and reduces productivity. Schedule 5 minutes per hour to check emails and only respond to those that are work-related.

Working Long Hours

Working in an industry that requires long hours is exhausting. It can make you not want to go to work. Consider a schedule change, or speak with a superior about working a different shift with less hours per shift. You can also get more done each hour to prevent working longer hours.

Not Sleeping Enough

Sleep is important. When you don’t get enough, you don’t perform well. Make a sleep schedule and stick to it, even on weekends. Your body needs a schedule to be in sync so that you can perform at your best at work.

Working too much remotely

While working from a remote location, or from home, is more comfortable, it can be a distraction. At home you are likely to be more interested in enjoying your relaxation space, watching recorded television or taking care of household chores.To remedy this, work from home or in a remote location sparingly. When you are at work, in a work setting, your concentration stays on work. It is important to maintain a productivity schedule when working from home.

Working a Job you dislike

There is not much point to working a job or in an industry that you dislike. It is essentially the career kiss of death. If you are not excited about the industry you work in or the company you work for, it can affect your performance.Find an aspect of the industry that you do enjoy and focus your energy there. It will help you take more pride in your work and the company you work for.

No Room for Advancement

If there is no room for growth or advancement in the career you work in, it makes it hard to stay positive about going to work. If advancing is important to you, schedule a meeting with your superiors and let them know that you are slightly unhappy and wish for more responsibility as an added challenge.

Procrastination

While some people do work better under pressure, procrastinating can actually bring on a lot of stress. Rather than waiting until you actually have to perform a work-related task, set yourself a task schedule and stick to it. It will help you get more done throughout the day and it prevents you from having to work late or on weekends to make up for what wasn’t completed during your normal work week.

Social Media Distractions

Social media is a huge distraction. Most people check social media multiple times throughout the day, on the company time. Stay off of social media while at work. Only access these networks on breaks and when you are away from the job.

Final Thoughts

By taking some of the advice here, you can help yourself have a lucrative career doing something that makes you happy. When you are unhappy, make changes and set goals. Without goals you have nothing to look forward to in your career, which often leads to dissatisfaction.Are you guilty of any of these bad habits?

Baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. Now that many have reached retirement age, their need and desire to continue working has increased. By the year 2030, roughly 20-percent of the population will be baby boomers. Opening franchises in an industry that interests the individual often produces better results since there is more drive to succeed.

Promedica24

Franchising with Promedica24 is ideal for those wishing to enter the senior care sector. The program is structured to place live-in caregivers with clients to assist with daily tasks, appointments, housecleaning and managing their health. Having a live-in caregiver gives families of loved ones with diminishing mobility and/or health issues a bit of peace-of-mind knowing that someone is with their loved one at all times.

Eazi-Apps

Internet-based franchise businesses are ideal for baby boomers. Eazi-Apps teaches those interested in marketing a new mobile application from the development to launch phases and beyond. For those that require more flexibility and the ability to be creative, mobile applications are ideal. Baby boomers can easily design apps for those in their generation to add convenience to their lives. Apps created by those for a specific generation by that generation have greater success since those creating it have experienced the issues requiring the need for the app.

No Need to Paint

Painting is something that many homeowners and business owners just do not have time to do themselves. Operating a professional painting franchise is a good option as both residential and commercial properties require painting from time-to-time. This is often the case when homes/businesses are bought and sold and require décor changes.This is an ideal option for a baby boomer that wants to own a franchise and have the label of business owner without all of the responsibility. A general manager should be sufficient for day-to-day operations. The general manager would answer to you (the business owner) with any issues and updates on the dealings of the business. Transparency is a must between you and your general manager so that you (the baby boomer) can enjoy your life and still receive an income.

Business Doctors

Coaching and mentoring new business owners is a lucrative way to work for yourself and own a franchise. This is an ideal option for those that wish to work with small and medium businesses in a variety of industries to help efficiency, productivity and strategic marketing tactics to increase revenues and improve overall business operations.Working in business consultancy helps struggling companies adopt rules, regulations and structure to improve operations. Safety concerns can also be addressed and the consultant (you) would help implement proper safety protocols.

Tutor Doctor

Tutor Doctor has over 400 franchised locations throughout the world. Private tutoring offers struggling students the one-on-one attention they need to grasp what is being taught in the classroom. Each student is paired with a tutor that specializes in the area of study they struggle most in. Lessons are made to adapt to each child’s style of learning to ensure that they excel in the classroom.Services like this are easily franchised as the benefits of the flexible learning techniques catches on. Testimonials from satisfied parents and students help a small tutoring business gain attention, build a reputation and grow.

Coldwell Banker

Franchising with Coldwell Banker is a good option for those interested in working in the real estate industry. This brand is well-recognized and has a strong reputation around the world. A franchise opportunity here means that the realtors working in your office may have more success than those working independently simply due to the brand’s name and long history in the industry. Realtors work with residential and commercial property buyers and sellers for a variety of reasons from those looking to start a new business venture to those looking to begin a family in a home of their own.

Final Thoughts

After working for someone else their entire lives, many baby boomers want to venture into new territory. Many are not ready to stop working or their financial requirements require continuous income. Franchises are ideal because these businesses come with guidelines already in place. It is easier to start-up a well-developed franchise than a ground-floor business. It is important to select a franchise, or new business in an industry that interests you for better success.