Intelligent Office University

6 Bootstrapping Tips for Entrepreneurs

As a startup, it is hard to find angel investors or sources of other capital to infuse into your new business, but sometimes it pays in the long term to launch your own business by bootstrapping, that is, by funding it out of your own pocket. While it is an excellent and admirable way to start your business, it may not seem obvious at first. It’s all about making the right plans and taking the right steps. You need to be diligent, flexible and determined in order to succeed. Here are the top tips for your bootstrapping adventure.

Leadership Skills - What Makes an Effective Manager?

Google is famous for its love ofdata-based decision making.Yet even Google was in for a big surprise when it decided to crunch the numbers to decode the secret of success so as to uncover the most important leadership skills. In a study that involved the collation and analysis of 10,000 manager observations, using surveys, performance reviews and nominations for top-manager awards and recognition, Google reached some amazing conclusions, not least that technical expertise is the least important skill for a good leaders. So what leadership skills are the most important?

Public Relations: 4 Ways to Score Free PR

It's possible to deploy a quality PR campaign without breaking the bank! Here are 4 low-cost ways to raise your public relations profile.

Time Management: Become the Master of Your Own Time

You may have adopted resources already to manage your time better, but if you haven’t now is the time to do so. If you have already dedicated resources to time management but still don’t seem to have enough time, here are some more tips that will help you to become master of your own time.

6 Best Practices to Minimize Remote Work Expenses

If you have your own virtual business or are a remote worker you may find that sometimes the costs incurred during work hours from overheads or other expenses substantially detract from the profits you are making. In order to maximize your profits you need to ensure that you adopt the best practices so that your income is yours to spend or save, and doesn’t go into the pocket of others. Here’s how.

11 Hacks to Maximize Your Day

In order to maximize your time, minimize your hassle and optimize your productivity there are a number of simple steps you can take to ensure that every day is a good day! Here’s how.

Small Business: Get Organized with Virtual Office Services

Thanks to today’s rapidly evolving technology, small businesses no longer need to have a physical location, nor do they need to keep their staff on-site. Increasingly, virtual offices are being used by firms of all types, ensuring flexibility as well as professionalism. Virtual office services can be a great aid in many ways to your small business, ensuring you are always on top of your game, consistently organized and ready for any challenge.

4 Reasons Remote Work is More Productive

Demystifying Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is a marketing tool that focuses on ensuring the visibility of your website by increasing non-paid search engine results. Using SEO improves rankings, drives traffic, and increases awareness of your website in search engines. There are many methods of improving your website’s ranking using SEO. These include carefully choosing the words you use in content orlinking pagesto your website. Additionally, mindfully structuring your website in a way that search engines can understand may also increase SEO. This guide will teach you techniques to improve your website’s ranking.

5 Ways to Build or Expand your Business Networks

Business networking can potentially happen anywhere anytime, even when you are pursuing your own hobbies. You don’t need to attend business events; you can start by leveraging your hobbies to business network out of office hours. You can join a club that you go to on a regular basis or if you’re introverted, you can go online to meet new people and build your business networks. Here’s how to use your personal interests to create an expansive network.

3 Killer Content Tips

Creating great content does not need to be hard. If you understand the magic formula then it’s easy. If you buy every book on the subject, read every web article, attend every seminar and ask every expert you will find that you come up with 3 rock solid elements that should be your cornerstones anytime you work on content. In this article we’ll let you in on the secret to killer content.

How to Motivate your Team Under Pressure

When your team is under pressure, it is vital to provide them with the support they need to push through to the end. Businesses are bursting with bosses who demotivate their teams, when their staff needs to be inspired. Most are unaware that their approach is a hindrance, not a help. Frequently bosses become tyrannical, thinking that by playing tough that staff will then do whatever it takes to make it to that finishing line. Research suggests that increasing stress is the worst approach you could take to motivating your team. Employees consequently suffer from unnecessarily high levels of stress, and increased stress means less productivity not more. This article will guide you on the right way of motivating staff, to ensure that they work with maximum productivity and creativity. This will benefit your business and get your entire team through those difficult days.

Embrace Diversity in Your Workplace

When companies begin to stagnate it is often because they have failed to embrace diversity. A lack of diversity in their workplace results in a dearth of fresh ideas and an inability to tackle problems innovatively. It is vital to encourage diversity of all kinds. Academic research has proven that it pays off. Your staff should embody diversity; this includes taking into account race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and disability. A study by the Harvard Business Review suggests businesses benefit from diversity, especially in terms of creative problem-solving. Another research project by Morgan-Stanley determined that gender diversity in the boardroom may result in higher stock prices. The bottom line is, the more varied the talent working in your firm, the more diverse the opinions and ideas backing your business. This in turn will lead to a more savvy, innovative and agile company. Here is how to ensure you embrace diversity and benefit from the competitive edge it will give your firm.

Referral Groups 101

Referral Groups are networks of people that have built bonds based on trust, commitment andreferral. The ideal referral groupcontains a wide range of committed members who regularly meet to forge trusting, professional business relationships, as well as to pass on quality business leads andreferrals. Referral groups owe their success to the power of a unified team of people affiliated through trust and common goals. Sociologists use the term social capital to describe the collective benefit to a group of people when they cooperate through social networks. They explain that social networks generate value that is based on group bonds. The referral group is the ideal way to generate social and financial capital for your business.

4 Things Remote Companies Can Do to Build Company Culture

Most people believe that co-located staff have a more unified company culture and therefore sync better together as a team. This does not have to be the case. For any company, whether co-located or remote, there is no easy route to building company culture. It does not just happen overnight, even if everyone is in the same building. Every business has to work on it. Obviously, when teams are remotely located, different measures will need to be implemented to build company culture. With a distributed team, if you put in an effort you can build a company culture even when employees are located thousands of miles away from one another. Here is how.

How to Motivate your Team Under Pressure

When your team is under pressure, it is vital to provide them with the support they need to push through to the end. Businesses are bursting with bosses who demotivate their teams, when their staff needs to be inspired. Most are unaware that their approach is a hindrance, not a help. Frequently bosses become tyrannical, thinking that by playing tough that staff will then do whatever it takes to make it to that finishing line. Research suggests that increasing stress is the worst approach you could take to motivating your team. Employees consequently suffer from unnecessarily high levels of stress, and increased stress means less productivity not more. This article will guide you on the right way of motivating staff, to ensure that they work with maximum productivity and creativity. This will benefit your business and get your entire team through those difficult days.

Take Your Business to the Next Level With a Virtual Assistant

Companies are increasingly hiring virtual assistants for the plethora of services and skills they offer. Virtual assistants, aside from providing aid during busy times, can also enable your business to launch, establish itself, and grow. But you may wonder “what exactly can a virtual assistant do for me?” The ways in which a virtual assistant can help you and your business are manifold, they are as diverse and distinctive as the individual virtual assistants are themselves. However there are some clear cut ways in which a virtual assistant can aid you to acquire a professional face. Here is how.