Business

Building your own office has its advantages over leasing. You can customise it to your needs and preference. With a leased structure, you will get it as it is and the tenancy has an expiration. Having your office built may require upfront cash for the procedure, and you may not be able to move until it’s finished, but the building will be yours without having to worry about monthly payments. If you are planning to build one for your company, here are some things to consider.

Determine your budget

One of the most important factors to consider in any project is the budget. Determine where you will get your financing. Do you have savings that you can use, will you be borrowing from the bank or both? Nevertheless, you need to have a clear budget set, so the people that you hire for building your office will know what they will be working with. They can make the necessary adjustments to finish the job within the said budget. Quantity surveyors can also help you in determining the construction cost. Moreover, they may also oversee the expenses throughout the process and ensure that the project doesn’t go over the set amount.

Work with an expert designer

A well-designed office is vital as it will serve as the basis or guide for the actual structure. Find a designer who is an expert in designing business structures. Work closely with him and let him know the specific requirements that you have for the office. Consider the number of employees that you have and the functionality of the space. Your staff must be able to do their work well and at the same time, feel comfortable in the workplace.

Set a projected time of completion

Have a specific target for the move so that the workers that you hire will know the duration of the project. If they know upfront when you expect to complete the job, they can determine if they will be able to meet the deadline or if they feel that they will need more time. If so, you can also decide if their projected time of completing the work will be acceptable for you or not.

Hire a professional contractor

Make sure that you are only dealing with a trustworthy, reliable and qualified contractor. Look around for service providers and get a quote. Compare their offers to see which one is the most competitive. However, the price should not be your only basis for hiring a contractor. See to it that they can deliver. Research their history and ask for references so you will have a better idea of how well they work with clients.

Find an experienced landscape engineer

Once the building is complete, it’s time to work on its outside. Improve the curb appeal of your work premises through landscaping. An expert landscape engineer will do everything from the design to the landscaping itself. The exterior of your office is what people will first see, so create an excellent impression by making it look presentable.

Once your new office is complete, plan the move properly to avoid downtime. Don’t forget to let your clients know about your new location.

If you’re currently looking for new ways to achieve a harmonious balance in your office, that will maximise your potential for success, in all aspects of your life, you’ve come to the right place.

Simply continue reading to discover a feng shui guide to designing an office that will maximise your potential for success. In each and every aspect of your life. After all, you spend countless hours per week in your office, so it makes sense to design a home office which will provide a harmonious work environment which is conducive to success.

Position your work desk so that it faces the door to your office:

Make sure that your work desk and chair face the door to your office. So that you can see who enters and exits your office. In feng shui having your work chair face your door is a powerful position and also promotes professional success.

Make sure that your back faces a wall:

In feng shui it’s recommended to make sure that your back faces a wall, instead of a window. So that your energy is supported and you feel powerful.

Ensure that your work desk is solid and reliable:

One of the worst mistakes which you can make when it comes to optimizing your office design using feng shui principles is to use a work desk which has a crooked leg or lean awkwardly. While you can opt for a contemporary metal desk, it’s well worth opting for a desk which is made out of natural materials, such as hard wood.

Opt for a work-desk which offers plenty of storage space:

If you follow the principles of feng shui, you’ll know how important it is to keep your home and work space clutter free. One way to help keep your work desk and office organized, is to opt for a work desk which offers plenty of drawers. That you can use to keep your storage all of your files, documents and stationary.

Make sure that you have adequate shelving:

Using office shelving is a great way to ensure that there is a suitable place for each object in your office, as an organized office invites success and abundance into your life.

Choose a color for your walls that suits your job:

In feng shui different colors promote different strengths. So it’s a great idea to choose a color for your office’s walls that suits the industry which you work in. As an example, if you’re an accountant and deal with money on a daily basis, you may want to paint a feature wall in your office black. As black is associated with money in feng shui. Alternatively, if you work in a creative sector you may want to paint your walls white. As white in feng shui promotes creativity.

Add a bit of greenery to your office:

One of the easiest ways to transform your office to increase your success is to add a healthy pot plant to your office. In feng shui opting for a plant which offers rounded leaves is especially lucky. Although plants which flower are also considered lucky in the practice of feng shui.

So if you were looking for a few simple ways to optimize your office for success. It’s well worth using all of the principles which are listed above, to get started. So that you’ll be able to attract success into every area of your life!

Even if you don’t think that your business is in a particularly creative industry, having people on your team that can think and act creatively can benefit any business out there. However, knowing how you as a business owner or manager can help your employees tap into their creativity can often be a challenge.

So if you’re wanting your team to be more creative and assist your company in finding creative solutions to big problems, here are three ways you can encourage creativity from your employees.

Embrace Diversity

One of the best ways to get your employees to start thinking about things differently is to surround them with people who automatically think differently than they do.

According to Kathy Bernhard, a contributor to Forbes.com, having diverse teams within your organization can encourage people to learn from the varying skills and abilities that others have in order to expound upon their own traits and ideas. Additionally, surrounding your staff with people who think about things differently can also encourage more debate among your employees, which could prove to make everyone work harder and smarter toward achieving both individual and organizational goals. So if you’ve been keeping people who are alike together in groups or workspaces, consider switching things up a bit.

Change Up Physical Locations

Just like being around different people can encourage more creativity, spending time in different spaces can increase creative juices, too.

To implement this within your workspace, Adam Fridman, a contributor to Inc.com, recommends that you make alternate areas of your office look and feel differently. This could include creating workspace in outdoor areas or greenspace, wrapping a wall with a piece of art, playing music in certain rooms, or even getting out of the office altogether. By changing up the physical space that your employees inhabit on a regular basis, you can help inspire their minds to think about things differently and come up with creative solutions to both old and new problems.

Be More Flexible

Sometimes, flexibility and freedom are all an employee needs to be more creative at work.

According to AllBusiness.com, being flexible by allowing people the flexibility to think about things differently and come up with their own ways of accomplishing tasks or meeting objectives is a great way to get people thinking creatively. If you merely encourage people to stick to the status quo and do things the way they’ve always been done, there will never be room for creativity or innovation within your organization.

If you’re wanting your employees to be more creative in the workplace, consider using the tips mentioned above to show you how you can encourage this type of creative thinking within the members of your staff.

 

Technology often brings about thoughts of silicon, handheld devices, and fast-paced information. Industrial technology makes such qualities a goal, but there’s a more pertinent purpose behind its development.

Industrial technology is often aimed at environmental support and safety. Take some time to see the brighter side of industrial business, and check out a quick look at a few ways in which industrial technology actually works to preserve and help the environment.

Integrating renewable energy sources

Industrial operations are currently undergoing a sharp shift toward renewable energy sources. If your industrial business can produce a product without drawing on (or even to the detriment of) the environment, then your operation will fair better against competitors who do not make such adjustments.

It’s wise to make every effort possible to boost your business operations in this way. Look after your environment, and the industry will look more gently on your business.

New pipeline construction with care

The oil and gas industry is arguably one of the most scrutinized industrial businesses. However, pipeline construction is done with care. There is no room for haphazard actions in such an influential line of business. Oil and gas organizations take great measures to account for environmental safety.

The world has such a negative view of the industry at times, because any mishap in this line of work affects millions. Take the time to educate yourself on the many different precautionary actions taken by businesses operating within the oil and gas industry.

A shift towards organic growth

Industrial farming equipment is even on a sharp shift towards environmental preservation. The industry is demanding a cleaner product from seed to shelf, making progression in the farming industry a necessity.

Automated, unmanned, energy-efficient vehicles are now working the fields of thousands of large-scale farms around the world. The benefits of organic foods are no longer restricted to an individual’s health.

Energy-efficient machines doing the work

Passing by an industrial center in the 21st century no longer involves being choked out by the fumes in the air. Energy-efficient machines, low emission machines, and other industrial upgrades make it safer to perform common practices with less stress on the environment.

Strict regulations on industrial businesses have pressed companies to grow. It’s true that there are still plenty of industrial centers that don’t work to reduce their effect on the surrounding environment, but standards are becoming more strict every year.

Making materials a non-issue for Mother Earth

Industrial chemicals are still being used, but the level of dumping in our streams and rivers is being eradicated with time. People are finally beginning to see the damage done to the environment from such heinous practices, and businesses are beginning to make real changes.

Everyone wants their business to be successful, but if you don’t how to quantify and measure that success, you’re doing no more than creating a rod for your own back. If you don’t know what constitutes success in your specific circumstances, then you cannot know if you’ve achieved it. If you don’t know when you’ve fulfilled your goals you can relax, or even develop and set other goals!

Today we’re taking a look at some of the key metrics that you can use to track the success (or otherwise) of your business.

Brand Strength

Your brand is not some ethereal quality conjured up by advertising agencies, it’s one of the most important assets your business has. A strong brand communicates the specific identity of your business clearly and directly to lots of people, telling them that this is where they should spend their money: that they’ll be catered to, understood and have their values shared.

A brand can be weak for all sorts of reasons: if you don’t have a clear idea of what it is and aren’t leaning into its most important qualities in your decision-making, customers will receive a weakened impression of brand identity at best. At worst you might be making decisions that contradict with your brand values and confuse and undermine your brand; if your marketing isn’t created and targeted with your brand in mind it will not communicate it clearly; and finally and most simply, if you’re not communicating your brand to many people, it will not be as strong.

You can quantify and measure brand strength with the help of a market research agency, who can conduct brand tracker surveys and tell you how many will name your brand when asked about companies in your industry (unprompted recall) and how they would rank it for key qualities with your rivals. Crucially, they can tell how these qualities change over time, helping you track the progress of your business throughout the year.

Financial Metrics

Financial data is directly and immediately available to you: as you run the business, you know how much it’s making and spending. It’s tempting to make sheer profit the ultimate measure of your success, but this can paint a misleading picture.

A business that makes smaller profits because it’s been investing money in infrastructure, in retaining staff and customers, or in developing new products to launch in the next year is not less successful than one with fuller coffers that have not been investing its money so wisely. In fact, if you privilege revenue beyond revenue retention you could find that what looked like a successful business yesterday could be on the verge of closure today. This attitude leads you into a false economy: pairing down your costs unwisely to boost your profits in the final accounting, and this can set up major problems for the medium- and long-term future.

Work with a trusted mentor and financial experts to set targets and metrics that will demonstrate how well your business is performing as well as encouraging a sensible attitude toward the future that ensures that success will last.