Business

by VICKY CAHILL, Will Sill

Offices can often have a cold and antiseptic feel to them, but your home isn’t the office and you should feel welcome to make it a much warmer environment. Adding personal touches like posters, photos and plants will make your office homier.

A second monitor is a cheap way to boost productivity. At a simple level it will increase the amount of screen space available to you. That means less time spent switching back and forth between various windows and tabs. A second bonus is that monitors often come on adjustable stands. That means less neck strain from looking down at a laptop.

The area under your desk might be a nest of tangled wires, so pick up a zip tie to manage your cables. It's best to add zip ties at multiple points, so they stay neat from the power strip up to the desk or PC. Once you secure a tie, use a pair of scissors to snip off the end.

If your home office doesn’t provide enough natural light, schedule regular breaks to go out for some sunlight. If you cannot get any natural light, then invest in a desk lamp that doubles up as some nice decor.

If you have slow internet, run a speed test; if you’re getting less than 5mbs then the problem lies squarely with your ISP. You should be getting around 20mbs. If you aren’t getting good internet speeds then think about changing to another plan that will suit your needs.

It was the opportunity to potentially help people within the local business community support each other while building strong connections at the same time.

My role was to initially focus on the branding of the group so as to make sure its corporate identity is clearly represented, whether that be the pull-up banners used in the room or the pens and paper placed around the tables prior to attendees arriving.

I think that the people who come along to support us really make the meeting. It goes without saying that a great networking event involves professionals making connections, but also approaching one another both before and during the event can be difficult as not everybody is a natural networker. As the saying goes the smile is the Swiss army knife of networking, hence we try to make it more of a friendly atmosphere.

If I had to give one piece of advice I would say be honest with people about your ability to deliver on your promises and try to give as much back as you receive.

It’s incredibly easy to attend a networking event and solely take from the room; people buy from people hence it takes time to get to know, like and trust each other.

Friends and family are very important to me, so spending time with them is important to me. I also love going to the gym, riding my motorbikes and skiing when I get the chance. lifeinmagazines.co.uk

A landmark study from Fix Radio – the UK’s only national radio station for builders and tradespeople – has found that 34% of tradespeople believe they have lost work because they weren't able to answer their phone. It also revealed that 60% of respondents said they struggled to answer the phone when they were at work, which could result in losing some vital new business.

One idea to overcome this is to consider hiring a virtual assistant. They can take your calls so your customers get to speak to a real person and not an answer machine. One such company is The Modern Day VA. Call Debbie on 07986 583987