SMALL BUSINESS ADVICE

A common challenge for small business owners is making time to develop their business, yet this is a key element of any business strategy. With all the day-to-day responsibilities of running a home and family, it can be hard to focus on growing your own business. We’re all guilty of not getting around to things or making plans that never get executed. It’s much easier to prioritise someone else’s deadlines over our own! Unfortunately, if you don’t take time out to prioritise your own business development, your business will plateaux. That can be demotivating and when you’re not feeling inspired, it’s hard to feel excited about your ‘passion.’ So, what can you do? Prioritise: Don’t try to do everything at once, or nothing gets finished. Choose one idea and go all in. Store the other ideas safely so they’re there when you need them. Map it out: Draw out the steps you need to take. When climbing the stairs, we don’t leap straight to the top of the staircase! We take it one step at a time, making steady progress until we reach the top. Feeling overwhelmed: Decide what you’re going to do over the next two weeks only. This makes things more manageable. Time: How much time are you willing to give this project? Two hours a day? Four hours a week? Spend your allotted hours focusing on the business development project and you’ll keep moving towards achieving your goal. If something unexpected arises and you have to sacrifice your allotted time, make it up asap. Short on time? Watch an hour less of Netflix or ask for help with children. Use that time to make up your missed hours. You’ll feel so good that you did! Don’t put your own goals on the back burner; your business doesn’t deserve to come last. Even with a couple of hours a week, you’ll make steady progress. If your business is important to you, make time for business development!

Government statistics suggest that since the pandemic began, 49% of adults are spending more time working from home. Remote working since the pandemic has been shown to give staff a better work/life balance and there are more and more small businesses owners opting to run their business from home. Effective, secure IT systems are absolutely crucial to remote working though. Without things such as laptops, PCs, email and the internet it would be impossible. Another very important factor for home working is IT security. This will not only keep personal devices safe but also protect any key systems and data stored centrally. But what are the major things to think about? Here are our top 3 tips for keeping your systems and data safe when working from home:

on devices Whether staff use their own PC or a company laptop, the device must have up-to-date, robust anti-virus software installed. In addition, it is essential to make sure it is active on the device too. This software will protect the computer from dangerous viruses and malware when online. Without it, the device is exposed to being infected by some very nasty IT viruses. 2.Complex Passwords Make sure you are using complex passwords. Passwords should always be different for individual apps and logins. They should consist of numbers, case sensitive letters and at least 1 symbol, 8 Characters long at least and not relate to any personal information. 3. Updates If your laptop or device needs an update, then do it! Breaches in security can occur through outdated software. So, the next time you see that Windows needs to run updates, let them run! Check that your applications are still supported. If they no longer receive updates, then your device could be left vulnerable. It’s always best to check that your software is current. If you need any further advice on internet security, consult your friendly neighbourhood IT consultant.