The Benefits of Implementing SaaS Solutions for Small Businesses

Business

November 3, 2021

As the future of work creeps ever closer, organizations everywhere are turning their attention towards the digital world in search of ultra-modern, cost-effective business solutions.

For the small businesses out there, the prospect of SaaS (software as a service) solutions could be the next best way to save money without sacrificing the quality of their processes.

If you happen to be a small business owner looking for a reliable way to expand, or simply streamline your infrastructure in general, here are some important points to think about.

Taking Better Care of Your Data

Looking after your business data is crucial in the modern age, partially because the consequences of failing to do so can be so dire.

By utilizing an online platform to help you with this, you can create a scalable solution to your data storage requirements, one that remains adaptable to your ever-evolving business.

Just take a look at the wonderful options available at www.avepoint.com for a prime example of what to expect from a reliable SaaS solution.

Saving Your Business Money

SaaS can save your small business a great deal of money in the long and the short run, especially if you need to consider strengthening your IT infrastructure.

Building a physical infrastructure from scratch often requires data storage facilities, servers, employees and many, many more expensive contributing factors.

Opting to instead digitalize your efforts is a great way to save in this area, without having to sacrifice any quality.

Many great SaaS options are highly customizable, too, so no matter what situation you have currently found your business in, there will likely be an avenue that benefits you.

Reducing Financial Risk

Software can be exceptionally expensive, particularly custom solutions that may be highly unique and require a great deal of time to optimize.

For small business owners, forking out cash should often be done with a little hesitation, particularly if you are about to obtain an expensive software infrastructure that you are not 100% sure you will benefit from.

SaaS on the other hand, utilizes a subscription-style model that offers you all of the benefits of ultra-advanced and expensive software, but at a fraction of the price.

If you need to save money until you can hire your own dedicated coders and develop your own software, this could be a superb bridge to cross – you may find that you want to stick with it for the long haul.

Greater Accessibility Options

By introducing a system hosted on the cloud, you can, in theory, access your software applications from wherever in the world you happen to be (as long as you have an internet connection).

Increasing accessibility can help you reduce downtime and increase flexibility for you and your employees, which might be ideal for anyone wishing to better support a remote workforce, or implement a hybrid approach to working.

Instant Gratification

SaaS solutions can deploy pretty much immediately. They are ready to go straight out of the virtual box as it were, so if you need to get started as soon as possible, it is certainly a road worth exploring.

Preparing Yourself for a Leadership Position

Business

Admin

November 2, 2021

When it comes to getting a leadership position, there is a lot of groundwork you need to put in to ensure success. You cannot just walk into a leadership position, you have to work for it, and you have to ensure that you are ready for it. Whether you are wanting to lead a team of 10 or a team of 1000, there are essential skills that you will call upon. So, just how can you get yourself ready to step into a leadership position and most importantly what can you do to prepare yourself for what lies ahead.

Contents

Where Do You See Yourself and Are You Achieving Your Full Potential?
On the Road to a Leadership Role
Do You Have what it Takes To Succeed in Leadership?
Your Skills, Traits and Attributes – What Do You Have to Offer?
Identifying Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengthening and Developing Your Areas of Weakness
What Are Your Visions and Ambitions For the Future?
Advancing and Enhancing Your Education
Mentally and Physically Preparing for the Journey Ahead
Building Support Networks
Your Attitude and Your Approach
What Type of Leader Are You?
How Will You Influence and Lead Others?
What Type of Leader Do You Aim to Be – What Do You Want to Achieve?
What Impact Do You Want to Make?

Where Do You See Yourself and Are You Achieving Your Full Potential?

Before you progress into a leadership role, you need to establish what you are doing now and how well it is working. Of course, when you undertake a leadership position, most likely your thoughts and views will evolve but realistically they will not differ too much from what you think, believe and follow at the moment in your existing role. So, take a good hard look at yourself and your role at the moment.

Ask yourself – are you achieving your full potential within your current role and where do you see yourself going? Maneuvering into leadership will feel more natural and easier if you can confidently say you have achieved everything you set out to in your current role.

On the Road to a Leadership Role

Not everyone is suited for leadership and this is important to remember. You want a leadership role, but that does not mean your colleagues or acquaintances’ will. When you strive to reach the top, you can accidently excluded people and even alienate them because you believe they are heading in the same direction as you and realistically this is detrimental to your journey to the top. Embracing differences and even focusing on the benefits that each person can add or bring to a role, will help you see the best in everyone and not the potential threat.

Do You Have what it Takes To Succeed in Leadership?

To succeed in leadership you have to have the right approach and you have to have the right mindset. Not being in tune with yourself and with those around you can hinder your success in leadership, so remember that you are not alone in this journey. To succeed in leadership you must be strong and determined. There will be times when you have mountains to climb, and there will also be times when you feel that everyone is against you and your ideas.

On these occasions, you must strengthen your resolve and your character. Being a leader to any number of people will not be easy and it will not be simple. However, the challenges that you face and then overcome will help you to improve your leadership skills, style and approach.

Your Skills, Traits and Attributes – What Do You Have to Offer?

There is no right or wrong approach to leadership, and there is no such thing as a perfect leader. However, there are skills, attributes and traits that all leaders share, that make them a force to be reckoned with. For example, most if not all leaders are effective communicators at all levels. Leaders must communicate their vision with many and to do this successfully they have to be able to communicate clearly and efficiently.

Alongside the ability to be an effective communicator, a leader must also be a fantastic listener. Of course, a leader does not have to listen to everything that is said, as this would not be efficient but they do have to listen to feedback given, especially when it affects their vision. Leadership skills can be built up over time, however, knowing what you bring to the table will help build your confidence, which will in turn strengthen your persona and image.

Identifying Your Strengths and Weaknesses

You cannot be the master of everything. Identifying where your strengths lie, and also establishing where you are weak is important for any leadership role. If you do not establish where you need to make improvements, then you can never develop and become a great leader. So, if you were to look at what you can offer to a role today, what would it be? On the flipside, also look at areas of improvement because a great leader needs to be aware of where they can improve what they are doing.

For instance, are you fantastic at communication but not so good at listening? Or, for example, do you have a great vision in mind that you struggle to show or share with others.

Strengthening and Developing Your Areas of Weakness

Once you have identified where your strengths and weaknesses do lie, it is important that you focus on strengthening and developing those weak areas, to ensure that you are a better leader all around. When tackling weaknesses, try and tackle one area at a time. By focusing on one area or issue at a time, you can ensure that you overcome existing hurdles before tackling anything else.

What Are Your Visions and Ambitions For the Future?

Where do you see yourself in the future and what ambitions do you hold for yourself in a leadership role? If you do not have clear visions or ambitions, then how can you expect to lead others? So, if you haven’t got any concrete visions or ambitions already in place, you need to focus on creating and sculpting these as soon as you can.

Advancing and Enhancing Your Education

Whether you are leading from the middle or you are leading from the front. How you lead matters and so too does your education. The more educated that you are and the broader the education you hold, the more you can offer to a leadership role. When you focus on enhancing your education alongside a leadership role or position, you put yourself in the best position possible.

You put yourself in a position to be better and to offer more. When it comes to enhancing and advancing your education, you must look at undertaking a leadership master’s because you need to ensure that you get the knowledge and awareness you require to succeed in leadership and not just tread water.

Mentally and Physically Preparing for the Journey Ahead

Learning, improving yourself and getting ready for a leadership position is both physically and mentally exhausting. To ensure that you are ready for what lies ahead, you must work on strengthening your resolve.

Undertaking exercise and getting fitter will help you find clarity and focus, and mentally preparing yourself for longer working hours, more confrontation and increased learning will ensure that you can handle an increased workload when it comes around. If you are not as prepared as you could be, then you may expose weaknesses that others may use against you.

Building Support Networks

Even though it may feel like you are alone in leadership, you really aren’t. Building your support networks to include business leaders and other like-minded people, will ensure that you have someone to talk to and possibly even lean on in times of need. There is nothing wrong with having people to talk to and with using the support and assistance of others. So, do not put off building a strong support network.

Your Attitude and Your Approach

How will you approach a new role, and what is your attitude like? How you are in your personal life is probably very different to how you are at work and this is fine. However, if you do not focus on how you will approach your new role, you could end up blurring your work and home life, and this is when you can end up causing yourself more stress and mental anguish than you need to.

So, what approach are you going to take within your leadership role? Are you going to be a bit elusive or are you going to be in there with the rest of the team and as hands-on as possible? What will your attitude say about you as a leader? Will it say that you are not picky, or will it say that you are meticulous?

What Type of Leader Are You?

Even though no two leaders are the same, you may share the same leadership type as someone else. For example, you may lead from the front because you like to be in charge and take the brunt of everything that gets put in your direction; or you might like to lead from the middle, listening to your team members, taking their thoughts and views on board and even possibly running with their ideas.

When you can establish what type of leader you are, you can then establish what is acceptable for you and what is not. When you step into a new role, you need to create expectations and you need to make boundaries, or else you will struggle to gain and command respect. So, think about what leadership style you want to follow and most importantly, which style suits you because it is intrinsically important to your success as a leader.

How Will You Influence and Lead Others?

It sounds easy to influence and lead other people, but in reality, your colleagues (and others with influence) will have their own views, thoughts and opinions, and sometimes these can be very hard to change. So, what approach are you going to adopt? Are you going to go for a softly does it approach when it comes to influencing those that matter or are you going to go for a full force, nothing held back approach?

Sometimes a half-way approach works best and sometimes, a mixture of approaches works well. As a leader you will have to weigh up each situation and then adapt your approach to tackle the situation at hand.

When you are leading others, they need to know where they stand with you. So, think carefully about how you will lead because consistency is important to successful leadership. For example, if you want to lead others with minimal stress and fuss, and you want to take a more back seat role, then make this clear from the start.

However, if you want to be more hands-on and potentially micromanage, then make this clear too. The clearer you are with your thoughts, ideas and approaches, the easier it will be to influence and lead others, and the more success you will have.

What Type of Leader Do You Aim to Be – What Do You Want to Achieve?

So, aside from leadership styles and skills, what do you aim to be and what do you aim to achieve? For instance, do you want to be known and perhaps remembered for your fierce approach to negotiations? Are you aiming to be a leader who listens to everyone within a business or company, and not just those at the top? When you have aims and objectives to achieve, you can then ensure that your time within a leadership role is as successful as possible.

At the start of a new role, you need to set out clearly what must be achieved and what you would like to achieve. When this is clearly visible to others and seen by those that count, you can ensure that everyone is working off the same page and ultimately working towards the same goal.

What Impact Do You Want to Make?

Making an impact is important because it signals to others that you made changes and that you made a difference. Making a tangible and visible impact is also important to use when you are going for your next leadership position. So, ensure that you can and will make an impact, and make sure that you are credited for the impact you made. A lot of information can get lost in translation, but when you are building up a reputation and an image as a business leader, you want to ensure that your achievements and areas of impact are recognized and respected.

How to Make the Transition from Nurse to Nurse Entrepreneur

Business

Admin

October 5, 2021

The healthcare industry is huge and will only continue to get bigger in the next coming years. Nurses have a very valuable set of skills that can translate into a successful career as a nurse entrepreneur.

If you’ve been working the floor for a while and want to enjoy more freedom, then being a nurse entrepreneur could be a good option. You have to know some of the challenges that come with being one, however, as not everyone is built to run a successful business. You may also realize that you prefer the stability a regular nursing position provides and will have to ask yourself a few important questions before you start. Here’s how you can make the transition from nurse to nurse entrepreneur successfully.

Assess if You Have the Skills and Disposition to be an Entrepreneur

Transitioning from being a salaried employee to having to hunt for your food is something not everyone is prepared to do. Being an entrepreneur means that you’ll always be living with a sense of uncertainty. You’re the one who’ll have to market your business and may have to deal with failure after failure at the beginning. You have to be driven and resilient to survive in any business, and if you feel like you get easily discouraged in the face of adversity, then you might struggle as a nurse entrepreneur.

The main difference between being a worker and an entrepreneur is the element of risk. Not only is starting a business a risk, but you will have to take tons of other risks while running one. For example, you will be taking risks when choosing which suppliers you should work with or whether buying a brand new piece of equipment is worth it. You’ll be taking risks when bringing partners in or expanding to a new location. The ability to take calculated risks at the right time is what separates successful nurse entrepreneurs from the rest.

Moving from a worker position to an executive one is not something everyone is prepared for either. You might be a great team player and appreciated by your peers, but things become different when you have to manage people and give orders. Some people realize too late that they lack assertiveness or the leadership skills needed to give directions and make sure that people follow through. Some find out that they’re terrified of confrontation and scared to hold people accountable. This is something you will need to observe in your everyday life right now.

If you notice that you tend to shy away from conflict, then you’ll have a hard time as an entrepreneur. You’ll have to deal with people disagreeing and sometimes being hostile all the time, may it be employees, clients, or service providers. Some of your employees may get in your face from time to time if you point out something they did wrong. You will also have to put your foot down if they’re constantly ignoring procedures or show unacceptable behavior. If you’re too consilient or tend to avoid confrontation, you won’t be able to implement rules correctly and your business and employees will lack direction.

You also need to be a great communicator and judge of character to be a successful nurse entrepreneur. Being able to quickly identify people’s strengths and weaknesses will allow you to delegate better and know what you can expect from your employees.

Having a great sense of observation and attention to detail will also be very useful. This is what will allow you to identify when there’s trouble brewing quickly. You’ll also be able to tell who’s telling the truth if there’s a conflict between employees. Or you may notice when one or multiple of your employees are starting to get disengaged. These are all things that will allow you to run a tighter ship and get the best out of your team.

Be Ready for the Challenges that Come with Entrepreneurial Life

You also have to know that things are not all roses when you’re an entrepreneur, and even if you get to enjoy more freedom and possibly more money, you may have to make some sacrifices. Being a business owner is a 24/7 job, and you might not be able to enjoy some of the perks of a regular job like vacations and having weekends off. Being an entrepreneur is also very tough if you have a family to attend to, especially if you’re single.

If you have a family, you will need to look at how you’re managing your workload now. If you’re barely making it, then becoming an entrepreneur now would be a bad idea. The only solution here would be to partner with someone who would handle most of the administrative load. But you might also have to give up majority control over your business, which is not something everyone is willing to do.

Another challenge of being an entrepreneur is that you’ll have to handle taxes yourself. It’s very easy to get in trouble with the IRS in a highly regulated industry like healthcare, and if you don’t stay on top of your taxes and new rules, they might come knocking on your door when you least expect it. Being on your own also means that you will have to plan for retirement yourself. You will need to start looking at things like IRAs to see which retirement plans would work the best for you.

One more thing you’ll have to get ready for is lawsuits. Lawsuits can be serious enough to ruin your business, and you’ll need to hire a business lawyer before you do anything. You could get sued by someone who claims that your advice ended in injury, but also for seemingly minor things like using a copyrighted picture on your website. So, make sure that you know about all the sides of being a business owner and surround yourself with the right people.

Look at Nurse Business Ideas

Once you’ve identified that you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, you need to start looking at options. The most common choice for nurse entrepreneurs is starting a practice, and if you feel like this is something you could do, this can be a very fulfilling and lucrative career path.

You can decide to go for either a general or specialized practice. Going for a specialized practice could allow you to fill needs in specific markets and stand apart. One of the fields to open a clinic right now is family nursing. But you first need to have a genuine passion for the field and know what the work of a family nurse practitioner entails.

If you want to learn more about what the job of a family nurse practitioner is like, we suggest you check this page from Marymount University. It explores the laws governing the family nurse practitioner scope of practice and in which states nurses are allowed to run their clinics. You’ll also get to see outlook numbers if you decide to continue your career as a nurse instead of as an entrepreneur.

If you feel like running a clinic is too much for you, there are tons of options that would be less work extensive. Many of them could be started from home. If you’re more of an introvert and don’t want to manage a big team, you can always start working as a nurse blogger. If you like sales, then you could work as a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company.

If you don’t mind the challenge, however, know that you can go bigger as well. You could get into manufacturing, for instance, and manufacture medical equipment and supplies. The field offers so many different opportunities, so look at as many options as possible and find those that fit your skills and disposition the best.

Speak with Other Nurses Who Became Entrepreneurs

It would also be nice to speak with nurses who started businesses in the field you’re interested in. This will give you more information on what it’s truly like to run a business and some of the challenges that come with it. Organizations like the NNBA will allow you to connect with nurse entrepreneurs from all over the country. They could even help you find someone who will be willing to mentor you through your journey. Having someone looking over your shoulder who’s already been there and done that can be a very valuable asset to have. They will be able to see possible issues before they come up and allow you to learn from their mistakes. They could also be able to tell you if being a nurse entrepreneur is something you should pursue in your situation.

Start with a Side Business

You should also start small to see if you like the idea of being an entrepreneur. Starting a side business is a great way to tell if you can handle the administrative side. It’s always better to have a safety net. Not having a plan B to fall back on can cause additional stress, which can be counter-productive.

Start a side-hustle that is close to what you want to do. If you want to start a clinic, for instance, then you could start by providing some home care service first. If you’re struggling with logistics or respecting engagements, then this is a clear sign that you might have trouble running a full-size business. This will also allow you to learn through trial and error.

If you decide to jump in head first, however, you have to make sure that you have a solid nest egg. We would suggest that you have at least six months of living expenses saved up before you start so you’ll be able to get back on your feet in case anything happens.

Get a Business Education

You should also consider getting some sort of business education before you get started. You don’t need to get a business degree, but you still need to have some sort of business background if you want to run your business efficiently.

If you decide to run a business with many moving parts and employees, you’ll need to know how to manage human resources properly. This is not something you can learn on the fly. You will need to learn how to recruit, screen, onboard, and train employees. You will also need to learn how to build a company culture and what can build or destroy a team’s morale.

Another area where having a business education will help is when trying to gauge certain markets. Being able to understand and perform market analysis will allow you to avoid some of the major mistakes nurse entrepreneurs make when they start. You’ll be able to tell if a certain niche is profitable, or to determine the level of competition in that niche. You’ll also be able to assess the needs of a market or choose the best location for a clinic. These are all things that will significantly increase your chances of success.

Don’t Burn Bridges with Your Current Employer

You should also be careful to leave on good terms with your current employer. They may actually be one of your greatest allies depending on what field you decide to enter. You also never know what might happen in the future, and knowing that you have somewhere to go back to will be reassuring.

Your current place of work can also be a great place to start recruiting or finding partners. If you click with some of the other nurses on the floor and you feel like they could be great assets, maybe you should run your ideas by them. Working with a partner can make things easier for you and allow you to share risks and expenses. You could also benefit from their expertise if they are skilled in areas where you might be lacking.

This is all you need to know if you want to make a successful transition from nurse to nurse entrepreneur. It’s not for everybody, but if you feel like you have what it takes to make it, this could be a great second chapter to your career.

7 Ways you can prepare yourself for promotion to a managerial position at work

Marketing

Admin

August 26, 2021

If you have spent several years building up your experience in the workplace and are ambitious about your future career path, you might have plans to progress to a managerial position. As a manager, you will be in charge of a team of people. This brings with it responsibilities and stresses and you will have to prove that you are capable of being an effective leader of people without cracking under the pressure.

As such, there are several things that you can do to develop your skillset and prove to recruiters that you are a future leader. Here are seven ways you can prepare yourself for promotion at a managerial position at work.

Earn a degree

Going to university and earning a degree demonstrates to recruiters that you have the dedication and concentration to apply yourself to a higher level of study. They will be particularly impressed if you have managed to balance your study around working full-time.

If you have no previous university experience, a bachelor’s degree will provide you with a firm grounding in a relevant subject, such as business studies. If you already have your bachelor’s degree, an online MBA will deepen your knowledge and skillset and help to boost your career prospects in an increasingly competitive job market.

Professional certification

As well as university degrees, there are also plenty of professional certification program’s that you could pursue to develop yourself in a particular workplace skill. For example, effective communication is a big part of being a manager and an area in which many people fall short, so a certificate in effective assertive communication will demonstrate to recruiters that you have prepared for this.

Alternatively, there are professional certificates specifically aimed at developing leadership and managerial qualities. Professional certificates are often cheaper than a three-year degree programme, and are offered by both universities and training centers specializing in workplace training.

Develop your technological skillset

There’s no getting away from the fact that technology plays a big role in the modern world, and nowhere more so than the workplace. Make yourself stand out from other candidates by developing your technological skillset.

Your company might use particular software, such as the Adobe Creative Cloud to produce marketing materials, or you might want to consolidate your proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite. Though use of such programs might not be a part of your day-to-day activities as a manager, a comprehensive knowledge of how they work will allow you to more effectively assist and supervise your team.

Keep track of your accomplishments

It can be all too difficult during the stress of an interview to remember all that you have achieved in your current role. Remembering on the spot might be even more difficult if you have worked in your current position for several years, the result being that you end up leaving out a vital piece of information that could even cost you your promotion. To thoroughly prepare yourself, make it a habit to record all of your achievements in the workplace.

Having this information at your fingertips will make it easier for you to fill in job applications and preparing for interview questions, and ensure that it is backed up by data to provide clear evidence of your achievements. For instance, excellent customer feedback and reviews, or if you ran a successful ad campaign, note how much this affected sales.

Take note of who gets promoted

Though it can understandably be frustrating to see others get promoted ahead of you, paying attention to who does progress in your workplace can provide you with plenty of useful information to aid your own career progression. Is there a common thread that suggests that your company is looking for certain traits in its manager?

Those who are promoted, for instance, may consistently exceed their sales goals by at least 10%, or have a master’s degree. Paying attention to the habits and accomplishments of those who have been successful in gaining promotion will provide you with some pointers of what you need to do in order to progress yourself.

Find a mentor

Finding a mentor in your workplace is great for your professional development. They will help you to develop your professional skills and give you a better sense of how to navigate the challenges of the workplace. If you find a mentor who has experience of the role you want to progress into, they will be able to thoroughly prepare you for promotion.

Furthermore, by developing a relationship with a mentor at your company, you will have someone who can advocate for you and your skills and recommend you when a position does open up. You can be confident going into interviews that you have been thoroughly prepared for a higher position thanks to the ongoing personal development provided to you by your mentor.

Dress for the job you want

It might seem superficial to consider clothing and you might think that what you wear is not important compared to your professional qualities and skillset. However, as a manager it is important that you present yourself in a smart and professional way.

This includes dressing smartly and being well-groomed, as well as interacting with staff both above and below you in a confident but respectful manner. So, leave the jeans and sloppy shirts for the weekend and invest in a neutral toned separates that can be mixed and matched for a professional and classic work capsule wardrobe.

Conclusion

Furthering your education by pursuing degree programs, professional certifications, and seeking a workplace mentor is key to developing the advanced skillset needed to be an effective manager. You should also present yourself in a professional way to demonstrate that you are a solid representative of your company. While you might not get promoted immediately, by thinking strategically and being proactive with this goal in mind, you will eventually achieve your dreams of a higher position.