Business Advice

Do Professional Removalists Aid Efficient Office Relocations?

Do Professional Removalists Aid Efficient Office Relocations?

An office relocation is a task laden with several to-dos and complications, but that doesn’t change the fact that it sometimes needs to be done. Can you manage to minimize downtime and sustain operations while you relocate? Such a high-stakes situation requires the expertise of a great removalist company, whose input is often invaluable.

You may think all they do is move the chairs and tables and get them into the new office. Well, they do that all right. But they also plan, execute, and adjust the relocation with acute precision. A potentially stressful, disorganized office move could turn into a structured and orderly one in no time.

Should I leverage a removalist company’s expertise for my relocation? You’ll find out below. Without further ado, let’s see how removalist companies affect office relocations.

Popular Office Relocation Challenges

Office relocation could be a hard nut to crack due to the following challenges:

Minimizing Operational Downtime

Moving from one office to another is nothing like moving from one house to another. With offices, operational downtime is a huge factor to consider. The move disrupts your work, which may lead to financial loss.

But to prevent this, you have to plan meticulously. With adequate planning, you can limit downtime as much as possible. It’s all about balancing effective relocation without sacrificing business functionality.

personal appearance

Consult a Professional Digital Marketing Agency Before Going Online

These days every business should have an online presence. Doing business today is not like it was a decade or more ago. With laptops, tablets and iPhones, your customers or clients spend much of their time online, so this is where you must be. Otherwise, your business will not be as successful as it should be.

But getting online is not as simple as throwing up any website and hoping you will be found. Consulting a professional digital marketing agency before you start will enable you to get up and running without making many of the mistakes that can hinder your business and make it look amateurish, not to mention bury it many pages below the top search engine results.

Just as you wouldn’t dream of designing your own logo without any professional help, or writing out and designing an advertising brochure by yourself, so you need to consult a professional digital marketing agency to ensure you get all the components right. After all, your business website is a marketing tool, just like a big ad in the newspaper was for businesses long ago – and still is, to some extent.

5 Tips For Entrepreneurs And Business Owners Who Wish To Invest In Shares

5 Tips For Entrepreneurs And Business Owners Who Wish To Invest In Shares

You may be someone who owns a business or who derives their income from several sources thanks to your entrepreneurial skills, and this post relates to another means of increasing your wealth, investing in shares. Share investment is one of the core means of wealth creation that financial planners regularly plan for and manage for their clients, and the beauty of share investing is that entry to it is relatively easy.

Unlike property investment where you need a huge level of capital or need to be prepared to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, you can get started with share investment with as little as $1,000. Obviously, at that level, you are not going to earn a huge return, but it is a great way to dip your toe in the water and to see if you like share investing.

If you do, then and plan to significantly increase your level of investment, then we again stress it is important that you discuss this with Perth financial planners. Trying to trade shares without any advice or support is a recipe for disaster. In addition to speaking to your financial planner, there are several core principles that you must follow. These ensure that you buy and sell shares sensibly and that you reduce your risk of losses.

Below we have highlighted five tips as these are the most important ones to follow and thus stay true to share investing’s core principles.

Why The Costs To A Business Of Drug Addiction Are More Than Monetary

Why The Costs To A Business Of Drug Addiction Are More Than Monetary

The people who require admitting to a drug rehab program come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Not all are the archetypal “down on their luck junkies” that the movies tend to depict. Instead many of the individuals in drug rehab are in professional roles, including lawyers and accountants, and others are in gainful employment.

A business and drug addiction raise many issues including what level of support is given to employees by employers when drug addiction occurs, and the impact that drug abuse can have on a business. Whilst supporting employees is a positive attitude to take by employers, the negatives that drug use can have also need to be considered.

For example, just an employee who suffers from drug addiction can cause not just for the business as a whole, but other individuals working within that business. Some relate to that individual’s ability to do their job properly, some are behavioural, and ultimately there are those which can create extremely serious consequences. First, let us look at some problems from drug addiction affecting how the person fulfils their role.

5 Reasons Why Drug Addiction Is More Common Amongst Well-Paid Professionals Than You Might Expect

5 Reasons Why Drug Addiction Is More Common Amongst Well-Paid Professionals Than You Might Expect

If surveyed people about who they imagine a typical person attending drug rehab might be, it is almost certain that a majority would describe someone who has come from a broken home, perhaps an abusive childhood or whose life has been one mired in poverty. That classic model of a typical drug addict probably comes from media depictions of drug use and abuse.

Whilst it cannot be denied that some people who have not had the most idyllic of lives do turn to drugs, it must also be pointed out, that many well-paid professionals have also fallen under the spell of drugs and require drug rehab services.

Although they do not account for the majority of drug users, and some surveys put the percentage of those who could be classified as ‘professionals’  who admit to using illegal drugs regularly is around 10%. That might not seem a huge number, but it accounts for over 250,000 individuals who have a drug problem in Australia.

One myth to dismiss immediately is that the main reason professionals with high incomes are regular drug takers is because they can afford it. Ask anyone who helps those addicted to drugs and they will tell you that, for their patients, the amount of money they have is not what drives their drug use, it is their addiction. Actually, those with little or no income are usually able to fund their habit whenever they need to, albeit some may turn to crime to do so.

So, if their high income is not what drives their drug addiction, why do around a quarter of a million professionals in Australia, turn to drugs? Here are five of the most common answers to that question given by high salary professionals who have entered drug rehab programs.

The Three Stages of Sponsoring Overseas Workers For Australian Businesses

The Three Stages of Sponsoring Overseas Workers For Australian Businesses

For employers considering taking on workers from overseas, there is a process that must be followed to for a work visa to be granted that allows them to work in Australia. As part of that process, an employer is regarded as a worker’s sponsor, and it is essential that they what the approval procedure is. Failure to follow it can mean an application is rejected.

The main process has three stages to it, and we recommend seeking help from an expert migration agent in your destination to make the process as smooth as possible.

  • Approval Of The Business As A Sponsor
  • Approval Of The Position Being Offered
  • Approval Of The Visa

For each one of those three stages to be completed there are a number of requirements that must be met, and as you read on, we will outline the requirements for each stage.

Stage #1: Approval Of A Business As A Sponsor Requirements

In order for a business to be considered a valid sponsor of overseas workers it must be approved as a Standard business Sponsor (SBS). There are two main requirements which must be met. The first is quite simply that the business is currently trading and operating as a valid business. There is no minimum time on this, so even if it is a new business, as long as it trading normally, it can be approved as an SBS.

5 Tips That Will Ensure Your Business Relocation Is A Success

Moving a business to a different set of offices or new business premises is a considerable undertaking, even for a small company. While you might have hired the best from Brilliance Removalists Melbourne to help you, it can nevertheless be an extremely stressful project, not just for the business owner but all the staff, too.

There are a multitude of steps and actions that will each individually help to make the periods before, during, and after the relocation easier to cope with, significantly if they contribute to the move’s success. To give you some ideas about what you can do, we have outlined 5 of the most effective ways to make your office relocation something to enjoy and see as a positive experience rather than a horror show you have nightmares about.

Plan for the Worst, But Expect the Best

No office relocation can succeed if it has not been adequately planned. This should start when a decision to relocate has been made and involve as many of your staff as possible. Your plan will cover all of the basics regarding your move, but it should also anticipate any issues that could arise. This is not to tempt fate but to ensure you are ready to deal with any problems.

Make Sure Everyone Knows What They Need to Know

One of our best tips regarding making your office relocation a success is to communicate with everyone for whom the relocation will have some impact. Your management and staff are communicating with them regarding the relocation specifics. Other business associates, suppliers, clients, utility companies, sign installers, landlords, and so on all need to know. If anything, over on providing too much information rather than not enough.

5 Essential Services A Professional Fire Protection Company Should Offer

5 Essential Services A Professional Fire Protection Company Should Offer

Whether you are in need of, or are considering, fire protection services, unless you have a comprehensive knowledge of the subject, it is understandable that you might not be aware of what exactly these kinds of services include.

Another variable will be that some fire protection companies will offer services their services almost like a menu where you select which individual ones you want, and others will package them up with several services included in each package. Regardless of how they are being offered to you, it is important that you are aware of what fire protection services are available to you, so we are going to briefly explain them to you.

One point we must stress is that given the huge diversity of businesses and organisations, and the buildings they are located in, we obviously cannot be too precise with respect to equipment and how each specific service will be implemented, for example. Each location and the fire safety requirements and risks within each will differ, however, we can give you an overview of what the services mean.

5 Nasties That Lurk In Office Carpets Even If They Appear Clean

5 Nasties That Lurk In Office Carpets Even If They Appear Clean

The phrase ‘seeing is believing’ is apt in many circumstances; however, when it comes to the cleanliness and the hygiene of office carpets, it most definitely does not apply. By that, we mean that if you look at the carpet in an office, see it is clean, and believe that it does not require any carpet cleaning, you could be very much mistaken.

The reason you would be mistaken is that whilst the human eye is a marvel of our physiology, it cannot see the microscopic world within the fibres of a carpet. Were it able to or were you to examine the office carpet using a microscope, you would see that, rather than it is clean and hygienic, it instead plays host to an entire world of microscopic unwelcome guests and requires the cleaning services – Let us examine 5 of these miniature nasties.

Food And Drink

Whether it is coffee drips, small spillages from juice bottles or crumbs from sandwiches and crisps, even with daily vacuuming, some of these remain deep within the fibres of an office carpet. Whilst they stay, they are a magnet for bacteria and mould.

Even the occasional rodent out looking for food scraps could be attracted towards your crumb-filled office carpet, which also means that as nature takes its course, the rodent has to deposit its solid waste somewhere. If that is also on your office carpet, the combination of this and the other nasties we mentioned make your office an extremely unhygienic place to work.

4 Ways A Business Can Relocate Its Office With Maximum Efficiency

4 Ways A Business Can Relocate Its Office With Maximum Efficiency

Office relocations can happen for all types of reasons. Some can be negative such as a business downsizing due to poor results, but many are positive such as a business expanding, and needing more office space as it employs lots of new staff. Other reasons could be that the lease on a particular office space is expiring and not being renewed. or even that the building that the office is located in is earmarked for demolition.

Relocating to another office can be a considerable project and will most likely require cooperation across a number of departments within the business, requiring business management. There is also the planning and the execution of the move to consider and the potential of lost revenue on the days that office relocation happens, that you will want to minimise.

To give you some assistance in ensuring that everything that you want to happen with respect to your office relocation, happens, and everything you do not want to happen, does not, here are our top tips for an efficient office relocation with the help of office removalists.

Plan, Plan And Then Plan Again

You might have surmised from that sub-heading that we see planning as important, and it most certainly is. The key to your entire office relocation going ahead with as little disruption as possible is how well you plan everything, down to the smallest detail.

If you have departments within your office get each department head to make their own little mini-plan as to what needs to be done in order to move their department. Make updates and alterations as needed throughout the planning stage so that on the day of the move, you are simply checking each stage of the relocation from a checklist as it happens.

5 Unusual Team Building Activities With Specific Objectives

5 Unusual Team Building Activities With Specific Objectives

If you are a team leader, if you do even a little research you should be able to find lots of unusual team building activities that you can use to boost, enhance, and motivate your team. Whilst those three objectives we just mentioned are desirable, there are many other benefits that team building exercises can produce.

As the leader of the team this means that before you organise a team building activity, even one which is considered unusual, you should first determine what your goals and objectives are for it. Obviously, you want it to at least be fun for your team, but more importantly, what benefits do you want the activity to produce, and what are the positive outcomes you want for your team.

Without first establishing these and then arranging team building activities that can facilitate your objectives, the activity will be nothing more than a day out, and whilst it may produce some positives, it may not have satisfied the needs of that team as you see it with regards to making it a stronger and more focused team.

To help you make a better choice we are going to list 5 unusual team building activities that all generate one or more positive benefits for a team.

 

1. Axe Throwing

Objectives: Team Bonding, Communication, Leadership

Imagine throwing a dart at a dartboard, and then multiply the thrill and fun by about 100-fold and you might just get to where axe throwing is at. This is a great way to bond your team and to give everyone a competitive edge as they compete in teams to score the most points by throwing an axe and hitting as close to the centre of the target as they can. Find out more about Axe Throwing at www.kissmyaxe.com.au

 

2. Blind Drawing

Objectives: Listening skills, Communication

Two players sit back to back and one of them is blindfolded. The one without a blindfold is shown a word and then has to describe it to their partner without actually giving away what it is. Their blindfolded partner now has to draw what is being described. …

Office Needs CCTV

Five Reasons Your Office Needs CCTV

If you own or manage a business, you probably already know just how important it is to have a high-quality, reliable alarm security system. Things like 24/7 monitoring and CCTV surveillance are crucial parts of looking after your business and preventing theft and vandalism.

However, not all businesses have CCTV surveillance or a professional security team included as part of their security system. Generally, this leaves you open and vulnerable to intruders, especially if the rest of your system is neglected or poorly maintained. In the rest of this article, we’ve outlined our top five reasons why you should always install security cameras and/or CCTV to protect your office.

  1. CCTV Reduces the Risk of Theft and Intruders

The simple action of installing visible CCTV cameras can help prevent theft and vandalism of your business premises. Visible cameras are a natural deterrent for intruders and can make burglars look elsewhere for an easier target.

This is logical and our primary reason for installing CCTV around your business. Really, why would an intruder target secure premises when there are so many easier and more vulnerable options out there?

Terminate an Employee’s Contract

When Can I Legally Terminate an Employee’s Contract?

In Australia, both employee and employer rights are clear and comprehensive. In general, Australian employment law is fair and provides adequate protection for all parties. However, it can also be extremely confusing, just ask the experts at www.perthemploymentlawyers.com.au – and figuring out what your rights are can be time consuming and frustrating to say the least.

Fortunately, though, the information is readily available. An experienced employment lawyer will be able to help you figure out your exact rights, and it’s often worth spending a little money to hire one if you find yourself stuck in a complicated situation.

Contract termination is one such complication area, so we’ve decided to provide a brief overview of the subject from the employers point of view. With this in mind, let’s have a quick look at when you can legally terminate an employee’s contract.

  1. If There’s a Termination Clause in the Contract

Many employment contracts contain some sort of termination clause that provides a way out for those who want to terminate their employment early. Sometimes, these come into place if a particular event or action happens, or they may be triggered at an employee or employer’s leisure.

For example, a particular employee’s contract could have a clause that allows early termination without penalty if particular performance targets aren’t met. Note that it’s extremely important to read all contracts before signing them to ensure you know about and are comfortable with any clauses or other termination details they contain.

5 Team Building Mistakes to Avoid

If you’re serious about building a successful business or company, you need to make sure that you build a cohesive, functional team of employees. Unfortunately, this isn’t always as easy as it sounds, which means that you might need to implement some team building strategies.

However, according to Team Works Development, team building can go seriously wrong if you’re not careful. In our experience, there are a few common mistakes that a lot of team leaders make, and they should be avoided at all costs. The five most common include:

  1. Assuming Everyone Is Equal

Although we shouldn’t have to say this, your employees are not equal. Everyone is different, with unique skills, emotions and learning abilities. If you assume that everyone is equal, you won’t be taking advantage of their unique traits.

Additionally, this assumption can be dangerous because it can lead to some members of your team under performing and not performing to the best of their ability. Ultimately, assuming every member of your team is equal is a sure fire way to not achieve the results you want.

personal appearance

The Double Edged Sword of Your Personal Appearance

If you are a woman in business you may have become aware that your personal appearance can be a double-edged sword. You do everything to make yourself attractive and presentable for the job only to find you can’t advance because someone thought you were too attractive and that would distract the male employees. If you’ve been in business for some years and have wondered if you should get Botox treatment for those fine wrinkles, take this into account.

Of course you want to look your best, but the trouble is that if you appear too attractive you’ll have to work twice as hard to make people take you seriously. Those with suspicious minds may have other thoughts on how you got the job in the first place or how you managed to keep it. This is why it’s good to go with what you like and don’t pay too much attention to what other people think of you.

Business Plan

What Should be in Your Business Plan

Behind every successful business there is a comprehensive business plan. According to experienced financial planners Andep, there are many things this plan should contain, apart from your personality, including a financial planning section. This should be written by a financial advisor, or at least from information they have provided. Having a financial planner to help will show any lenders that you are serious about your business and they will be able to quickly see whether it is a viable investment opportunity for them.

Here are some of the other things that should be in your business plan: –

  • The title page is more important than you might think. By including this page your lenders will be able to quickly see what the plan is for and general information about it.
  • A one-page business summary. This will need to be written after everything else, but it should be included in the front so investors can get a comprehensive, but brief idea of your business.
  • About your business: this is all the information about the structure, registrations, premises, location, staffing and your products or services.
  • Your marketing plan: You need to do a marketing analysis of the industry you are entering, describe your target market and your competitors. Detail your key marketing plans and how you intend to meet your targets – digital marketing, traditional marketing, email marketing? This will show investors you know what you are doing.

Dress-Sense-in-Business

Business & Your Appearance

It is said that a woman’s age is told by her hands rather than her face. Whether that is true or not, many women in business turn to cosmetic surgery in particular botox in order to present a smooth and young looking face to the world. But if the back of their hands are wrinkled and spotted, their age is still going to show up. That is why it’s important to take care of your hands as well as your face.

There are many facial cosmetics that can hide small veins or age spots on the face, but not as many for the hands. In any case, you need to wash your hands often and that would remove the make-up on them. The best way to keep hands looking young is to slather them in moisturiser at night and after washing them.

commercial-leasing

How to Find the Best Corporate Property to Lease

Professional legal advice will tell you that there are many different criteria to finding the best lease, but before you can even start to look at what is in the lease you have to find a new office building that suits. Here are some tips to help find the property best suited to your kind of business.

  • Know your target market. Only by knowing the market and where they are likely to be can you be sure of putting your business in the same place. While location is not that important for some, it can spell success or disaster for others. So if you have a coffee shop or a butcher’s shop you need to be right where the foot traffic is, but also where there is plenty of parking. If you sell bulk supplies of timber or hardware your business will be in the industrial area. But you’ll need room for larger vehicles to drive in and access their goods rather than multiple parking spaces for cars.

start-an-ecommerce-store

What You Need to Do to Start an Ecommerce Store

Many businesses both large and small are consulting digital agencies such as Slinky in order to make use of the Internet to enlarge their business and increase their bottom line. Even sole traders can start up an ecommerce store from which to sell their product or advertise their services. In fact, a great many people have found success in doing this. If you are thinking about starting up such a project, here are some tips on what you need to do.

  • Create a plan. This will include several components such as deciding what to sell, finding out where to access it, working out how you will differ from the competition, locating your target market and getting the legalities and store policies into place.
  • Setting it up. There are many things to decide in this step. Will your store have phone support? What domain and plan will you use? What will be the name of your store? Will you use drop-shipping or have stored inventory and if the latter, where will you store it? Selling digital goods saves a lot of problems with storing and packaging. You need to create a special bank account and decide on your merchant account so that people can pay you. PayPal makes it easy, but they do take a percentage of each transaction.
  • Decide on your website details. It is essential to make your website easy to navigate, with all the important details highly visible. Make sure it is responsive so that people using iPhones and iPads can use it easily. A content management system (CMS) like WordPress will make it easy for you to add and edit content instead of relying on – and paying for – a website designer to do it each time. You will need to write the product descriptions, including all the relevant information to help customers make their choice. You also need to write your privacy policy and get an SSL certificate to protect customer’s credit card details. Get a marketing plan and to learn how to measure results with analytics.

Leasing Business Premises

Tips for Leasing Business Premises

If you start up a business that cannot be run from home, you will need to lease business premises. There is a great deal to consider and plan including getting professional advice from Perth lawyers and in this case, an experienced property lawyer because signing a lease will mean you are committed to pay a specific amount on a continual basis for the term of the lease. In addition, you may need to outfit the premises before you can start selling to get an income. Here are some of the things you will need to consider apart from the price.

  • The future needs of your business. You may need to expand, so are the premises large enough? If you expand in a different direction, is there anything in the lease that may prohibit you from selling different goods? Moving from the location after you have built up goodwill there can mean you are virtually starting all over again, so get it right the first time.

online business

Running your online business like a rock star?

An interesting pocket of web design is found on Naldz Graphics, with a gallery of 40 websites of rock bands. Now, the point of this post is “look at designs, be inspired in your own designs” and in fact some of these might work better for businesses other than a band.

We asked our own resident rock ‘n’ roll expert (he has a Frank Zappa poster in his cubicle) to rate how these designs work for a band as a business case.

Here’s some of the verdicts: