How can small businesses garner enough support to succeed?

Transcript: Can I get a flat and some advice on long-term stick no substance please are you putting a sickie no no it's not me one of my staff's being signed off with stress for two months now not sure how to handle it hmm tricky bomb it's worth checking if you have a long-term sickness absence policy in your employment contracts a good policy should give you employees the best chance of returning back to work but also protect your business from any unfair dismissal claims should it come to that Thanks I'm running a business doesn't make you an HR expert like John so from employment contracts and health and safety policies through to our 24-hour advice line Peninsula provides small businesses with award-winning HR support focus on what you do best we'll take care of your HR... See more →

Key quotes:

• "“However, face-to-face interaction really speeds up the process of solving a problem, answering a question, or getting something important clarified.” How can you make sure your employees balance the two for optimum efficiency? While chat and email have their place, by making sure your employees are comfortable communicating face-to-face, you’ll keep your business moving efficiently, and a problem that could have been solved in a five-minute face-to-face chat won’t end as a 20-message-long email thread."
• "“The meeting serves as a firehose of information that keeps everyone in the loop, including a roundup of our key performance indicators, the celebration of accomplishments, and the identification of opportunities to improve.” Not only is it a good way to keep all employees up to speed on any new developments within the company, keeping meetings short and sweet forces a streamlined meeting process, and reduces time wasted."

Key quotes:

• "Over time I was able to relinquish myself from several responsibilities within the business while orchestrating a process of documenting new problems and better ways of doing things."
• "If you haven’t created a mindset of documentation and collaboration then it’s easy to end up with employees who are afraid to share what they know for fear of being replaced."
• "I’ve spent a lot of time creating internal processes, but I always had trouble getting my employees to refer to them, let alone remember to update them."
• "I’m not talking about an anonymous suggestions box but creating an environment where your employees actually spend part of their work-hours trying to optimize or improve the company with some long-term objective in mind."

Key quotes:

• "Underscoring the urgency, here are a few assumptions from technology research firm Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019[i]: “By 2021, organizations that bypass privacy requirements and are caught lacking in privacy protection will pay 100% more in compliance cost than competitors that adhere to best practices.” “By 2022, at least 40% of new application development projects will have artificial intelligence co-developers on the team.” “By 2023, 20% of organizations will be budgeting for quantum computing projects, compared to less than 1% in 2018.” These assumptions have implications that can affect your business faster than you might think."
• "Thanks to recent advancements in cloud computing technology, you now have access to highly secure data centers at companies like Microsoft and Google for a fraction of the cost of maintaining a data storage server at your office."
• "If your company files are centralized and stored on Microsoft’s cloud servers, each person on your team can use their local, powerful Word, Excel or Powerpoint applications to edit the same document at the same time."
• "[vi] www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/scale-the-business-meaning-origin [vii]www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903480904576512250915629460 [viii] www.tech-news.com/imagesap/utahdisplaystudy.pdf [ix]money.cnn.com/2006/03/30/news/newsmakers/gates_howiwork_fortune/ [x] www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140808111931.htm [xi] hbr.org/2018/08/research-cloud-computing-is-helping-smaller-newer-firms compete?es_ad=34899&es_sh=16c04f96ff060c309498555eb26989c4 [xii] www.informatica.com/services-and-training/glossary-of-terms/data-synchronization-definition.html [xiii] www.apnews.com/dea73efc01594839957c3c9a6c962b8a [xiv]www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2019/08/09/535353.htm [xv] www.willistowerswatson.com/en-GB/news/2017/03/when-it-comes-to-cyber-risk-businesses-are-missing-the-human-touch [xvi] www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2013/08/08/cloud-services-you-can-trust-office-365-availability/ [xvii]www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/cyber/nationwide-remote-workers-are-the-biggest-cyber-blind-spots-for-small-businesses-174947.aspx [xviii] www.statista.com/statistics/873789/internet-users-comfort-companies-purchasing-personal-data-online-ad-reasons/ [xix] cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/digital-security/world-becoming-a-computer-privacy-is-a-human-right-nadella/64072494 © 2019 Craig Toberman Written by."

Key quotes:

• "In fact, side projects should be stupid, says ex-Spotify product designer Tobias van Schneider: “The only way a side project will work is if people give themselves permission to think simple, to change their minds, to fail — basically, to not take them too seriously."
• "Investor and Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham says the most successful business ideas share three common features: They’re something the founders themselves want, that they themselves can build, and that few others realize are worth doing."
• "As Basecamp founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson write in their bestselling book, Rework, “the easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use.” Once you have a prototype, it’s time to ensure you have an eager customer today , not sometime in the future."
• "As I explained in Why you don’t need a co-founder to start your own business , take your time and see how it feels to work on your own."
• "It also enables founders to sleep well at night, spend time with the people they love, and create products that attract loyal, satisfied customers."

Key quotes:

• "While there is no shortage of advice for those looking to start a business, startup founders often are still in the dark when it comes to common legal issues."
• "A good place to find out about your state requirements is www.sba.gov where you can find a list of small business assistance agencies in your area."
• "Non-courtroom approaches like negotiation, mediation, and arbitration can save you thousands of dollars, headaches, and lost business."
• "Instead, go out and talk to your community of small business owners and look for referrals to create a list."
• "Here are some tips on saving money on lawyer fees: Here are some services focused on the legal needs of startups: The services we’ve mentioned are all great and plenty of businesses vouch for them."
• "If you’re about to start talking to investors and potential business partners, you may want to look at a trusted firm like Walker Corporate Law."