Month: October 2016

For any business managing staff sickness can be a key issue.  But particularly if you own a small business, absence can become critical.  If you employ two waiting staff and one phones in sick, how will you manage being 50% down?  If you only employ one skilled designer and do not come in, what happens to client work that is due?

A recent study by FreeOfficeFinder found that 30% of people have actually lied about being sick, compounding the problem.

“Out of the 10,000 participants, 3.097 admitted to lying about having time off sick in the past twelve months.”

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Last year, Twitter made a number of changes to Direct Messages to expand their functionality and increase their usage.  They made it easier than ever to have a private conversation on what is essentially a public network.  So Direct Messages could now form an important part of your social media marketing, if you are not using them already.

In case the changes slipped under your radar, here are some of the key alterations and some ideas for how you could now use Direct Messages:
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We all know that in small businesses every penny counts.  Sufficient cash flow is vital to make your business run effectively.  Adequate funds to pay your bills and invest in your business are critical.  But when it comes to investing in your business there are so many demands.  From money for marketing, PR and social media, to new technology, premises or stock, the ‘wish’ list can seem endless.

In this ‘How to’ guide one of our virtual assistants Kimba talks about how something like training doesn’t have to demand cash from your business, due to the wide range of free online training courses available.

Training for yourself or for your staff can easily be put to the bottom of the ‘to-do’ list.  But continuous professional development (CPD) is vital to ensure that you continue to stay at the top of your profession and deliver real value for money for your customers and clients.

In some industries such as accountancy, this CPD is non-negotiable.  It has to be completed in order to maintain your accredited status.  For other industries it can seem a nice to do.  But in this digital age, training doesn’t have to take up a lot of your hard earned cash.  There are lots of online resources that will only need an investment of your time.
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