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How to Become a Financial Specialist

July 11, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The position “financial specialist” can have an unclear job description. You may be looking into becoming the financial specialist of a small business, which can be a straightforward process. In order to become a financial specialist for a big company, however, the road is varied and takes many steps.

A financial specialist is anyone who is involved in directing or planning a company’s financial goals or directions. This could mean anything from preparing an investment plan for the company’s resources to deciding what type of installment loans to use to grow the business. No matter what the situation, a financial specialist will be involved in making sure that the money aspect is handled properly.

Most financial specialists who work for a big company have a lot of training and education. These are people who start off doing the bookkeeping for small businesses and work their way up to CFO positions within the company. They have shown a keen ability to make the most of a company’s money. In effect, they have used money more efficiently than their counterparts.

If you are interested in being a financial specialist, you will need education and a lot of experience. Even if you are just going to take on the role in your small business, it’s best to have some classes under your belt so you have a basic understanding of how to make the most of your company’s money. It will pay off for you and your business.

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To Hire or Not To Hire In A Slow Economy

June 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

In uncertain economic times, business owners may put a freeze on hiring new employees in order to reduce expenses. In the worst-case scenario, they may feel pressure to downsize. While it may help balance the books, it may not always be the best thing for the health of the business.

 

Reducing the size of the workforce means that fewer employees are left to perform the work. As positions and responsibilities are consolidated, the remaining employees may become overburdened, stressed, and generally resentful of the added workload. This resentment is magnified if the extra work is not accompanied by additional pay.

GPO employees printing the budget 

Image via Wikipedia

 

When employees are unhappy and feel that they are taken advantage of or exploited, they typically begin searching for new jobs. Replacing these employees can be costly, especially if they have many years of experience and long-term relationships with customers.

 

Hiring during a slow economy may actually be the optimal time. When unemployment is high, there are more people looking for work. They may also be willing to work for a lower wage than they normally would in order to avoid unemployment. This can result in the opportunity to add to the staff at a significant cost savings.

 

Remember that slow economic times never last. When the economy improves, employees will feel more confident and search for new jobs. Employees that are happy and feel appreciated will stick with an employer who treated them well during the difficult times. It is to an employer’s advantage to retain valuable employees, and to hire new ones in order to keep the workload balanced and to keep good employees from burning out.

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Traits of an Effective Business Leader

February 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment
This is a photo of Chris Crawford, Management ...

Image via Wikipedia

You likely started a business to pursue a personal passion. That is the true beauty of entrepreneurship; you come up with your own ideas and bring them to life. However, all entrepreneurs are not natural-born leaders. Along with other necessary business traits, such as sound accounting skills, the life of your business depends on effective leadership skills. Every team needs a leader to help keep them driven and focused. If you cannot lead your workforce, then your employees will not be as effective. As a result, your sales will not be as profitable.

One of the most important things to relay to your team is enthusiasm. If you are not an enthusiastic leader, then how can you expect your team to exhibit enthusiasm? Your attitude will always affect the way your business turns out. Customers want to deal with businesses that are confident and warm, not ones that are unenthusiastic and unsure of why they are there. Keep the workplace fun but still professional. Everyone should understand their purpose in your business.

Communication is an essential trait of an effective leader. Constantly keep in touch with your employees. Talk to them on a daily basis, especially if you are there at the place of business. If you operate multiple businesses, then keep in touch on a weekly basis at the bare minimum.

Recognize success just as much as down-falls. As a leader keeping tabs on a business as well as the people who make it happen, it is easy to get caught up in the mistakes. If you are constantly pointing out others’ mistakes, you will come across as nagging and pessimistic. This decreases morale in your team. For these reasons, it is vital that you point out the great work that your employees do. Not only will this make them feel valued, but you are helping to set an example so that other employees can follow suit.

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How Managers Directly Affect Employment Morale and Business Production

February 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

As a business owner, it takes a lot of trust to let someone else run your business. But this is inevitable, especially as your business continuously grows. Adding managers to your team also helps give you the personal time you need away from your business so that you can return refreshed each day you are at the office.

Finding appropriate managers can be a big task. This is especially the case if you are hiring from outside of the company. Every business owner looks for similar traits in their managers: passion, trustworthiness, a good work ethic, enthusiasm, leadership, and experience. Once you have found the perfect manager, you cannot just leave it at that and be on your way. No one is perfect, and even managers can sometimes fall off the bandwagon.

Every team needs a leader, and you cannot always be around. The leadership role is then the responsibility of your management team. A leader always sets the tone of the business. If a manager is having an “off” day, then your employees may also be down. Everyone has their bad days, and this type of scenario has a quick turn-around. However, the danger is that customers do not get into the buying spirit if they are in a depressing place of business.

In more serious situations, managers might become disgruntled. They often share their misery with other employees, causing backlash against the company. This is potentially dangerous, since again, their attitudes directly affect the customers.

Avoid negative impacts on your business by keeping in constant communication with your managers. Touch base one-on-one at least once a week. Also reward your managers for hard work and great accomplishments. This will keep up the morale and decrease the chances of discontent with the job. Finally, if another employee raises concerns about a particular manager, listen closely and do your own investigations. Talk to your manager and see what can be done to improve the situation. If your manager does not wish to improve, then it is time that you both parted ways professionally.

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When Sharing Information with Your Employees Gets Too Personal

February 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

As a business owner and manager, it is important that you inject an atmosphere of friendliness and teamwork within your business. It is normal to chat with employees and to get to know one another. There is a long-held belief that personal matters should stay out of the workplace. This holds true for employer-employee relationships. There are reasons to justify this stance:

  • You might make your employees feel uncomfortable. A story to share with your closest friends may not sit well with an employee, particularly if you don’t know him on the same level as your friends.
  • Your employee might spread gossip. When talking about your personal life, it is easy to let things slip. Although a piece of information might seem harmless to you, it can turn into something big. For example, think of what could blow out of proportion if you tell an employee that you drank too much that weekend. Unfortunately, it is a part of human nature to talk and to share news about each other.
  • Your stories might be offensive. Your business is likely dynamic and diverse. You should keep your small talk G-rated in order to avoid any type of backlash.
  • A disgruntled employee might turn other employees against you.

So what can you do to maintain the friendliness in your place of business without crossing the line? First and foremost, your focus should be work. It is okay to get to know your employees and talk, but do not take it too far. At the same time, if you notice an employee being too gossipy, seek her out and talk to her about it. It is best to address any type of job dissatisfaction directly with the employee before it gets out of control and affects the atmosphere of the whole business.

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Advertising Your Business: Which Form is Best for You?

February 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Advertising is an important part of your business. Although you might have customers now, you constantly need to reach out for new ones. Let’s face it: your current customer pool doesn’t likely purchase goods or services from you on a daily basis. Advertising also plays a role in keeping your customers interested and excited about your business.

The confusion begins once you decide how and where to advertise. There are several venues to choose from for different markets. Different types of advertising also vary in costs, with business cards being the cheapest and television ads being the most expensive. Here is a breakdown of different types of advertising and what they entail:

  • Business cards. These are useful to pass out to potential customers and to give to your current customers so they can share information with friends. Depending on how fancy you get, a pack of 500 cards can range from $20 to $150.
  • Yellow pages. These are hit-and-miss unless your customer is specifically looking for your service. No target market reads the yellow pages front to back. These are more appropriate for specialized businesses. Examples might be a wedding boutique or a pediatrician.
  • Magazine and newspaper ads. These run a set amount of time. You can choose between different sizes and colors, and perhaps even page placement at an additional cost. Newspaper ads are the least likely to capture attention unless you run it every single day.
  • Radio advertising. This is expensive and is becoming more outdated as more people are using satellite radio and different forms of media to play music. Many radio ads yell at their targets in hopes of getting their attention. If this is not how you want to be portrayed, you may want to skip it.
  • Television advertising. The most expensive, with ads ranging between 15 and 30 seconds long. Not only do you have to pay a company to help you create the ad, but you also have to pay to air it. Television ads are not for newbie business owners on a tight budget.
  • Word-of-mouth: free and based on excellent customer care.
Filed Under: Advertising, Business, Employment Tagged With: , ,

Company Production: How to Determine When to Hire More Employees

February 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

As the economy is slowly on the rebound, you may have found that production has increased in your business, whether in the form of services or goods. You may have even found that your business is so busy that you do not have enough employees to accommodate customers. This can be anywhere from an increase in clients, patients, and retail shoppers. It may be time to hire more employees. At the same time, this will cost you more money. There are some things to consider before expanding your team:

  • Can the business really afford another team member? Although you may want more employees, it is time to be realistic. Is the increased amount of people at your place of business actually purchasing what you have to sell?
  • Consider the amount of people you want to hire and plug in the numbers. Calculate potential salaries, 401k sharing, paid time off, and benefits.
  • Is the influx in business seasonal? Does customer volume increase during the summer or winter? If this is the case, you might consider hiring seasonal or temporary employees to help cover the workload. Keep in mind that you should tell potential employees this before they are hired.

Finally, it is important to figure out what having more employees means in terms of your bottom line. Some business owners are concerned about quick profits to turn their business around. If this is the case, you might need to stick it out with the employees you do have until you make enough money to get out of the hole and have enough profits to expand your personnel.

If you do have the money and do not want to spend it on hiring other people, consider this: will not having enough employees impact customer satisfaction? If the answer is yes, then you will potentially lose customers for future business. The point of a business is to profit, but you cannot accomplish this without happy customers.

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