Friday 28 February 2020

Teach to One: Personalizing Math for Every Student

The world’s foundation rests on new ideas, theories, and approaches that cultivate modernism and drive humanity forward. “Out with the old, in with the new” is a credo fitted to education as well as global science. No more are educational institutions bound by traditional teaching methods that treat all students one and the same. Personalization is the newest educational tool, and it’s helping students understand material they once deemed impossible to grasp.

Traditional Methods

Every student has their favorite and least favorite subjects. They may vary from grade to grade and year to year, but there is one subject that remains more reviled than others, even over passing decades. Math is often touted as impossible to understand and designed with the sole purpose of making students suffer.

Traditional education has a specific math curriculum teachers must follow for each grade level. Every student is expected to learn and master the fundamentals of their grade and carry that information through to the next level. But not all students learn at the same speed and with the same comprehension. Often as students advance from one grade to the next, there are learning gaps.  

Without filling in those gaps, they only grow bigger. Students get left behind as teachers push the new curriculum onto them, treating every student as though they possessed equal knowledge and understanding. The more advanced the math becomes, the further behind students fall. 

Innovative Learning

Heading the charge in the modernization and customization of math curriculum is Teach to One. Cofounded by Joel Rose and Christopher Rush, Teach to One’s innovative learning model recognizes that every student has distinct needs and learning abilities, addressing them with customized programs that allow students to master the fundamentals, develop new skills, and ensure comprehension of the material before moving on to the next level.

Teach to One aims to create a unique learning environment that blends technology with classroom experience for real-world comprehension. Instead of treating all students in the same grade level identically, Teach to One separates students with similar comprehension levels into smaller groups where teachers lead them in exercises based on their current understanding. They receive the benefit of personalized learning through human interaction with teachers and peers, balanced with innovative technology that pushes them towards greater comprehension. 

Teach to One’s Daily Schedule

Teach to One’s smart algorithms are a big part of their innovative learning model, enabling students’ daily schedules to be designed around their needs. Every time a student sits down to work, Teach to One’s specialized software records how well they’ve mastered the material, accounts for their learning style, and deduces their success in continuing down the current path. The software is completely adaptable to a student’s changing needs, allowing their potential to be maximized instead of limited.

When a student first enters a Teach to One area, a digital screen advises them on which station to begin at and what lessons will be covered. The lessons may be completely individual or designed as a group exercise. Sometimes it’s a combination of both. Students continue working at this first station until they hear a buzzer, which signals it’s time to move on.

The second station always differs from the first in both topic and the manner in which the student is to complete it, providing a well-rounded lesson. When both stations are finished, students are given an exit slip to confirm their understanding of the day’s lessons. If their comprehension matches or exceeds expectations, they advance. If there is still a lack of understanding, they repeat the lesson in new ways until comprehension is achieved.

Because emotions and learning are inherently linked, part of Teach to One’s methodology involves building up a student’s social-emotional learning. It’s with this in mind that students work in larger settings. Even when working individually, they are surrounded by their peers. Seeing others achieve positive results and learning to establish productive relationships crafts positive feelings about math, resulting in an easier time learning the subject matter.

It’s not ego boosting, it’s teaching students how to get over the mental battle many face when it comes to math. Teach to One knows students who believe they can succeed are far more likely to do so. A positive social-emotional learning experience stays with students across multiple subjects, ages, and times of life, including college.

Teach to One aims to bring students up to their grade level and beyond, ensuring they reach their full potential and are college ready when the time comes. The program isn’t concerned with counting test scores the same way traditional math programs are. They’re concerned with two things: do you understand the material, and are you ready to move ahead. If a student can answer yes to both those questions, they’re one step closer to being college ready.

Moving Forward

Teach to One continues to grow. As of 2015, the program was in schools across all four US time zones. So far, the program has demonstrated a marked improvement in learning within participating schools, sparking further interest in expanding Teach to One’s program to include all grade levels as well as science. 

Educational needs rise with the population, and innovative techniques are needed to resolve issues that traditional systems don’t or can’t address. Teach to One’s personalized technological and human approach creates positive feelings for both students and teachers struggling with math curriculum, ensuring a successful educational experience and more opportunities for advancement. 

Is Teach to One a program all schools should adopt? When you’ve had a student who’s struggled for years to understand the most basics of math, their sudden comprehension is like hitting lottery gold. Teach to One enables students to thrive, teachers to teach, and schools to achieve. It’s the trifecta of success. That alone makes it worth consideration.

 

Follow Teach to One on LinkedIn

 

math formulas -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/growth/personal-growth/personalizing-math

When Should You Put Your Faith in a New Technology

These days, technology is constantly evolving and changing. Advances in different areas are being made at ever-quickening speeds and our lives are becoming increasingly dependent on the newest devices, apps and programs. People are more reliant than ever on various technologies, whether they realise it or not. It’s fair to say that many of us are too reliant, since technology is such an intrinsic part of our lives that we can’t manage effectively without it.

Consider Security

When deciding whether or not to start using new technology, you should consider just how safe and secure it is. The online gambling industry continues to use the latest technological advances to improve the player experience. For example, the number of PayPal casinos Canada has, such as https://mrcasinova.com/payments/paypal/ is on the rise. PayPal, like other e-wallets such as Neteller and Skrill, is a convenient way to make online transactions not just for gambling, but also for retail purchases. It’s a technology that many millions around the world have accepted and use regularly. The operators of this e-wallet use all sorts of protective measures to ensure that transactions are risk-free and that no one’s details will ever be compromised. Casinos want everyone who signs up to be able to gamble with problems. That’s why they continue to invest in the latest technologies and offer payment methods such as PayPal that are proven to be as safe as possible. 

Trends vs. Practicality

Whenever some new technology comes to market, do you blindly accept it or do you take time to form an opinion of it yourself before taking it on? It’s very easy to do the former. When new iterations of popular smartphones are released, they can sell millions on the first day of sales. Details of these new phones and their brand new features are made public well in advance. People feel that they have to have get their hands on one of these new phones not only because they’re an improved version of the phone that’s already out there, but because everyone else is doing the same. In other words, acquiring the latest technology and using it has become something of a trend. People rush to purchase the newest, most up-to-date gadget or gizmo simply because lots of others are doing the same – if loads of others are going after this new smartphone, it must be worthwhile, surely?

Form an Opinion

So when should you put your faith in a new technology? The best thing to do is to form your own opinion of it in your own time and not do what everyone else is doing just for the sake of it. Find out what the new technology has to offer and decide whether it’s going to be beneficial to your or not. You should definitely take this approach if it’s a new device of some sort, as they can be incredibly expensive. You shouldn’t spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on something just because it’s the latest must-have – think about whether it’s really worth all that money before placing your order.

Conclusion

Whether it’s a device, a software program or something else, you should always do some research into it before bringing it into your life. Wait until it’s released and see what other people have to say about it and whether they think it’s worthwhile or not. If you accept every new piece of technology, your life’s going to end up becoming dominated by it. You should take a selective approach and only put faith in technologies that you really do think are going to be beneficial. Don’t be scared to wait – you don’t necessarily have to start using the latest technology the day it’s released. Take some time to decide whether it’s right for you.

The post When Should You Put Your Faith in a New Technology appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/technology/trends/new-tech-decisions

Ways to Get the Most Value From Competitor Analysis

Analysing the way that competitors handle marketing can give you valuable insights into how you can improve your own efforts to grow your business.

Of course it is easy enough to say that you should invest time and effort in competitor analysis, but actually going about this in an optimal way can be tricky. Here are some strategies to help you get started.

Consider Competitors From a Customer Perspective

This is perhaps the most important effect of analyzing a rival brand since it will let you consider their marketing with relative objectivity and perceive them as if you were a customer. Taking such a stance can be much harder to do when considering your in-house marketing campaigns, so it is much easier to learn lessons from the mistakes of others than trying to find the flaws in your own work first.

For example, in the case of PPC competitor analysis in the digital space, you should focus not only on which keywords are being targeted, but also on the effectiveness of the landing page at the other end of a paid link. There are a range of tools to analyze PPC competition which provide actionable tips and comparisons for paid ads.

Indeed, there are plenty of well-known landing page mistakes to avoid, but evaluating them at first hand on a competitor’s site, or indeed seeing how a well-designed page can make all the difference, will give you a customer-eye view of what works best in the world of web marketing.

Choose Competitors Carefully

Unless you research your rivals thoroughly, you might make the false assumption that one firm is getting its marketing spot-on, when in fact their ROI tells a very different story.

There are tons of tools that can point you towards those competitors that are worthy of your attention while giving you clues about which might not be as savvy with their strategies as they seem on the surface.

For example, do not be fooled by high follower counts on social media sites; if a brand has a huge pile of followers but generated very little engagement relative to this when they post, it is a sign that something fishy is going on.

Carry out Analysis Frequently

You might think that after your first bout of competitor analysis, you are ready to crack on with your own marketing and turn your attention away from key rivals. However, no business operates in a vacuum and you can only stay up to speed with customer habits, trends, and key changes if you regularly come back to re-assess the competition.

By scheduling regular stints of scrutiny, you will not miss out on any potential opportunities to optimize your marketing based on what others in the industry are up to.

Annual reviews are usually enough to make a positive impact for most businesses, although you can carry out smaller quarterly sessions of competitor analysis if you occupy an especially fast-paced marketplace.

Pick the Most Pertinent Data Points to Assess

Squeezing the most value from your competitor analysis sessions is only possible if you are actually looking at the data points which allow you to draw relevant, actionable conclusions.

Carrying out keyword research and conducting a study of how well competitors are faring with their PPC campaigns for top targets can be one of the most useful ways to go about this. You can also base a lot of your organic search marketing strategies on the information you accrue here, which makes it doubly useful.

Online reviews also provide a wealth of useful data on competitor performance, and there are plenty of other sources to consider, many of which offer up information to anyone who wants to take a look, making this an affordable option.

With hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on digital marketing annually, competitor analysis can enable you to make your money go even further.

 

business analysis -DepositPhotos

The post Ways to Get the Most Value From Competitor Analysis appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/strategy/competitor-analysis

The Importance of Email Marketing for Your Business

Email marketing is known to be an extremely powerful and vibrant way to reach out and connect to all of your loyal customers. The majority of us have an email address that we can use and email has become a huge part of all of our lives. Whether it is for work or domestic use, all of us will regularly check our emails, especially now they are so accessible via our smartphones. Email marketing is also considered to be quite a personal way to reach out to your target audience because they can be personalized to you and what you buy and will sit in your inbox next to emails from people you know personally. If you are considering email marketing for your business but you are on the fence, then here is why you should take that step to make it a part of your marketing campaign.

Highly Effective

Using social media and other online sources is a vital component of the marketing strategy of any business. Social media is a great way to reach out to people all over the world and when done correctly, can be very effective. However, email marketing is said to be more effective in some ways, especially when it comes to converting leads.

Cost-Efficient

For a simple, inexpensive and effective method of marketing, then email marketing is the way to go. This is especially important for small business owners on a budget. You may want to invest in a marketing automation platform to help organize your emails. Mailchimp tends to be a popular choice, but you should look into a cheaper alternative to Mailchimp to get the most out of your money.

Builds Relationships

When done correctly, email marketing is a great way to build relationships with current customers, leads, prospects, and even previous customers. This is because it gives you an opportunity to communicate with them directly, at a convenient time for them. Your emails should be personable and friendly and you should do your best to avoid invading their space.

Constantly Accessible

The majority of us own a smartphone and take it with us everywhere. This is an advantage and should be remembered when considering email marketing. These mobile devices allow us to have constant access to our emails, which means they are easy to check, wherever they may be. People tend to link this to social media, but email marketing should not be pushed aside.

Action Orientated

Everyone has been trained to do something with any email they receive. This can consist of a reply, a click-through, a forward, a sign-up or if the email is offering a product or promotion, it can lead to someone buying straight away. Due to it being so action-orientated, emails can be a highly effective way to direct people to your website and drive sales in return. Especially when sent out correctly.

There are a number of things that you need to think about and consider to ensure your emails are personal, eye-catching, and promote the right things to your target audience. Once this has been refined and put in place, be prepared to see immediate and positive results.

 

email tablet -DepositPhotos

The post The Importance of Email Marketing for Your Business appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/e-mail-marketing/business-importance

Thursday 27 February 2020

How to Optimize Your Product Images to Boost Traffic and Increase Your eCommerce Revenue

When it comes to driving search traffic and improving conversion rates and sales for any eCommerce site, image optimization is one of the most vital yet neglected areas.

Image Optimization

In terms of search engine optimization, people mainly tend to think about backlinks, content, and keywords. Of course, these are all important areas.  Nevertheless, there are plenty of other areas that you need to consider when it comes to powerful ways to optimize your website.  Image optimization can benefit your website in many different ways. It can help you to boost your eCommerce store ranking. It can also result in faster loading times, leading to more conversions, as well as bringing new traffic sources to your website.

In order to optimize your product images successfully, you need to make sure that you have a good tool for that image optimization. You also need to have a careful and considered strategy. This should always begin by focusing on selecting high-quality images. After all, there is no point in optimizing low-quality images for your eStore. Even if they do show up in the Google search results, the photos will not look attractive and no one is going to be motivated to click on them.

Bad Practices

You need to make sure you own your copyright. One thing you should never do is copy and paste images from other websites to our eCommerce store. Not only is this terrible for search engine optimization but it can also result in you getting sued. Another important piece of advice is to only select one primary keyword for each picture.

All SEO experts today know that keyword stuffing will have a detrimental impact on your ranking. This is especially the case when it comes to images. This is why it is critical to make sure you only use one keyword per image. This can be a phrase or word that people are most likely to be looking for. Make sure you use Google Analytics data to empower your SEO efforts.

Naming and Tagging Your Images

You can also enhance SEO by naming your image files. A lot of people make the error of uploading photographs with their original names. This is not something that you should do. Instead of having a photo named with random letters and numbers, it should contain keywords that are relevant to the image and will help you to rank better.  You also need to make sure you set up alt tags on the images. These are vital because they represent details about the picture displayed in the event that the photo does not successfully load. Google considers this a critical ranking factor because the tag is utilized to describe the image. You should use a minimum of 125 characters for the alt tag.

A title tag is also going to be critical when optimizing your image. When you move your mouse cursor over a picture, you will usually see a visual caption with a text. This is the title tag. The main idea behind this is to display information about the image to the user. In a lot of instances, this will even boost the chances of the person clicking on the image.

Last but not least, you need to manage page load times. Page load times can have a massive impact on your SEO ranking, and one factor that can slow down your website is big image files. This is why you need to compress images effectively. Not only compress, but reduce in size, make sure they are responsive and deliver them fast. This is where the tool we mentioned at the top comes in handy.

Conclusion

So there you have it, these are all good tips that you need in order to optimize your product images effectively.

If you follow the advice that has been mentioned above, you will give yourself a great foundation for boosting traffic and increasing eCommerce revenue.

 

eCommerce concept -DepositPhotos

 

The post How to Optimize Your Product Images to Boost Traffic and Increase Your eCommerce Revenue appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/seo/optimize-product-images

How to Deal With Legal Matters in an Organized Way

Most people spend the majority of their lives never having to deal with any serious legal matter until the day comes along when they must. Similar to everything else in the world that we are not accustomed to handling, it can feel very daunting to deal with major legal matters without experience. The good news is, by the time you are done going through the points here, you will have at least a decent idea regarding how to deal with unexpected legalities in an organized manner.

Acknowledgment

Fast acknowledgment is important if you wish to handle the situation in the best way possible. We do have the tendency to ignore problems for as long as possible because we are anxious about dealing with them. In legal matters, fast acknowledgment is a necessity, because the more time you take to acknowledge the fact that there is something that you must attend to, the lower your chances of the matter being resolved in your favor are. Step away from denial and accept the facts as they are because if you can benefit by taking legal recourse, the real question is, why not?

Reporting

Whether it’s a car accident or a case of domestic abuse, it is of the utmost importance that you report it at the police station nearest to you. Not only will the police assist you in handling the immediate emergency, but that report will prove to be invaluable later on when you escalate the matter and seek legal aid. It will act as proof of your claims, especially if the police report matches your own description of the matter. Be careful not to overlook common mistakes, such as abbreviated/wrong dates and missed details.

Consultation

In order to help you plan the whole case in the best way possible, you must seek legal consultation and work with your lawyer to figure out an organized strategy to deal with it. For example, if you or someone close to you is injured in a car accident or a work-related accident, you don’t have to take on all the financial burden yourself. Your personal injury attorney can help you organize a case against the party to blame so that you can be compensated for the harm caused to you on their account. The reparations will vary in accordance with the situation, but at the very least, they should cover your medical bills and missed wages, that resulted from the accident.

Documentation

Your attorney should be helping you with this part by telling you exactly which documents you need to start organizing. For example, if you are going to cite the Lemon Law, you will need to organize all your receipts from every time you have had to take the faulty car to your dealer or workshop.

From the police reports and repair receipts to any threatening letters/emails you may have received or threatening calls you may have recorded, it’s all evidence that will strengthen your case. Your attorney will advise you in not just organizing the proof you already have, but he/she will also help in gathering and organizing more evidence in your favor. However, it is quite likely that a major portion of the necessary documents will already be in your possession.

Always remember that whether it may seem like it at the moment or not, the law was originally designed to help citizens on the right side of it. Admittedly, things don’t always happen in the way they should, but as long as you are methodical about it, the chances of the law helping you will definitely be much higher than one might imagine.

 

law pillars -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/global/legal/organized-legal-matters

Wednesday 26 February 2020

Understanding Financial Stability and Debt Management

When you have debt piling up on your accounts, you need to manage them properly to stay afloat and get financial stability. Though debt is a significant concern for your finances, you can consolidate it with the right strategies. It can help you to deal with unexpected medical bills, overwhelming loan repayments, get financial freedom, and make a fresh start.

Debt relief can come forth as the best way to resolve your worries and have a stable financial condition. Here’s what you can do.

Settle the Debts

With the help of the debt negotiators, you can bring your overall debts and loans to lower levels where you can manage them. It includes scheduling of installments to make them feasible according to your income. The negotiators work with both debtors and banks to settle the accounts in the best ways.

In this arrangement, the creditors agree to accept the amount less than what you owe for the closure of debts. There may be some risks with debt settlement. Your credit score may take a beating while interest and late charges keep on building up.

Also, there is a debt settlement fee to pay. It will help if you work with a reliable debt settlement company having the best debt relief programs focused on client protection.

Consolidate the Debts

If you have multiple debts like credit cards and other loans, debt consolidation is an excellent idea to get rid of these burdens. Since the interest rates are falling, you may get a debt reconsolidation loan at 8-10% to pay off your high-interest debts. It will make your monthly payments manageable to eliminate the debts.

Before you opt for this, make a budget depending on your income and financial status. Your repayment plan needs approval from the creditors. If all goes well, you will not only have a reduced overall debt but also extended repayment terms and waivers on several charges. Once you have everything within manageable limits, financial stability also becomes feasible.

Take Your Time

Since debt settlement and stability in finances are significant financial decisions, take time to plan it well. Instead of hurrying up the process, talk to the experts to consider various options. Do not panic. Get some credit counseling from the specialists and take small steps to get the stability that you need for financial freedom.

From tracking each cent to saving consistently for your future, make structured financial plans. Debts can impede your financial goals. Hence, getting rid of them is the best way to go. Settlement or consolidation of debts, therefore, is vital to your long-term goals. Take your time and plan your future with the help of experts to accomplish these goals.

Choose the Right Consultants

Whether you want debt relief or stability in finances, choosing the right partners is the first step in the right direction. The consultants can help you with every financial goal that affects your future. So, don’t pick the wrong company that may cause more harm than good to your finances.

Look for their history and fee structure. Also, stay away from companies that do not offer a completion certificate after the settlement program.

Attaining financial stability isn’t complicated if you make the right financial choices and manage your debts properly.

 

man doing finances laptop -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/finance/financial-planning/debt-management-stability

3 Highly Rewarding Ways to Supplement Your Income

Who among us can honestly say that we don’t want to earn more money? Very few, that’s who! But while earning more than you currently do might seem like a fantasy, there are plenty of ways that you can supplement an existing income. Here are just three ways that are particularly rewarding.

Go Freelance

Working as a freelancer for your primary source of income is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, freelancers are responsible for finding their own opportunities – if you aren’t able to do this, you simply will not make any money. If you already have a number of satisfied customers who are likely to recommend you to other friends and businesses, you may find that work begins to come to you. However, until this occurs, you are going to have to go out there and hustle in order to generate work.

For most freelancers, these obligations are balanced out by the degree of freedom that freelancing gives you over your own professional life. When you are established as a freelancer and you have a roster of regular clients, you don’t have to worry nearly as much about where your money is coming from.

Freelancing is a fantastic way of supplementing your main income because having a primary source of income eliminates much of the uncertainty that is inherent in freelance work. Also, if you are freelancing on the side as a way of supplementing an existing job, then if you aren’t able to find much at work for a few weeks, it is not going to have a significant impact on your finances.

Consider Investing And Trading

Many people are under the impression that if they want to begin trading stocks and shares on a stock exchange, then they need to have significant access to the financial capital. However, thanks to technology, it is now possible for anyone to begin investing or trading using freely available tools and platforms. 

Of course, making money by buying and selling stocks and shares will not happen automatically. You have to buy and sell the right shares at the right time in order to turn a profit. However, you do not necessarily have to risk your life savings in the stock market in order to make investing worthwhile. In fact, over the last decade or so there has been a real drive by online platforms to encourage average people without huge amounts of money to invest to consider investing as a viable way of making money.

Of course, making money with options requires a strategy – you can’t expect to just buy and sell at random and return a profit. If you know nothing about the world of investing and trading, you will need to familiarise yourself with it before you can consider this a potential side hustle.

Start A Blog

The world of blogging, like everything else, has changed a lot over the last few decades. Starting your own blog with the intention of making money is not quite the same game as it used to be. In order to make serious money today with a blog, you really need to be at the top of your game.

However, if you are looking for a way of supplementing an existing income and you don’t necessarily need to generate enough money to live off, starting a blog is an excellent way of earning some money on the side. Not only can blogging be a financially lucrative pursuit, but it can also provide a fantastic emotional and creative outlet.

If you are looking for a way of earning more money, the methods above are all viable routes to take. If you already have a reliable source of regular income, you can afford to take more risks in augmenting it. Don’t shy away from taking risks if you think that they will pay off in the end.

 

man working from home -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/growth/personal-growth/rewarding-income-supplements

The 3-Step Focus Funnel That Will Change How You Lead

Business owners and leaders don’t have the luxury of unlimited attention or time. As companies grow and their needs become more complex, the biggest players eventually find themselves with more on their plates than they can handle. 

Creating a focusfunnel allows executives and owners to follow a dedicated process to reduce their workload without sacrificing productivity in the process.

What’s a Focus Funnel?

In its basic form, a focus funnel provides a framework for someone to reduce his workload by eliminating, automating, or delegating tasks based on need. A focus funnel, which became known through leadership speaker Rory Vaden’s viral TED Talk, “How to Multiply Time,” empowers leaders who generally have more work to do than time to do it. Its aim is to help them fulfill their obligations when they would otherwise struggle to do so.

A good focus funnel helps business owners and executives make snap decisions, eliminating both time wasted doing unnecessary work and time spent debating whether to do that work. Instead of suffering from analysis paralysis, leaders can evaluate a problem through a focus funnel, make a judgment, and act immediately.

Focus funnels exclusively concern themselves with whether to do tasks. They don’t include processes to handle specific situations — other best practices and guidelines handle those details. A focus funnel can only answer “yes” or “no.” What the person does with that answer depends on the person, company, and situation.

The 3 Questions of an Effective Focus Funnel

Build an effective focus funnel by starting with these three questions:

  1. Is this worth anyone’s time?

Is this task worth doing? If not, you can confidently dismiss the request or set the task aside. Consider both the needs and resources of the business for this question. You might love to build a new website, but if your budget is already empty, you must focus on more important tasks like sales and order fulfillment before you can consider luxury items.

As the leader, your time is worth a lot, but your employees’ time has value as well. By asking whether to eliminate the task at the top of the funnel, you can save your employees the potential headache of wasting hours on unnecessary work.

Sometimes, a task not worth doing may become worth doing later. If you anticipate a change, set a calendar reminder for a few months in the future to re-evaluate the situation then. The process takes little time on its own, but it could save you tons of wasted effort over the long run.

  1. Can a system do this work for us?

Programmers love to automate, but they’re also the first to acknowledge that unnecessary automation is a waste of time. Once you acknowledge a task is worth doing, ask yourself whether the upfront work of automation would save you enough time in the long run to be worth the effort. 

Consider the tools at your disposal as you debate whether to automate the task. Can you automate the work with the resources you already have, or would you need to acquire new resources to get started? You may discover that a small request leads you on a path that ends with a new set of workflow automation software. More likely, though, the tasks that arrive on your desk will fit within the ecosystem of your current capabilities.

When evaluating automation potential, weigh the likelihood of repeated tasks against the effort required to set up automation. If the task takes 30 minutes to perform and occurs once a week, a few hours of work to automate the task would be worth the trouble. However, if automation can’t completely eliminate the task — perhaps automation would reduce the task’s time to 20 minutes instead of 30 — the upfront effort may not save enough time to be justified.

  1. Can one of my employees handle this responsibility?

When you can’t eliminate or automate a task, ask yourself whether you can delegate the work to an employee. Don’t treat this step as an opportunity to throw away unwanted work, though. In many cases, asking whether you can delegate the work includes asking whether you can teach someone else to do it.

Keep a healthy respect for your employees in mind at this stage of your focus funnel. If you do decide to delegate, make sure employees understand why you decided not to eliminate or automate the task before passing it on. Offer support for employees, and encourage them to come to you with questions. Once team members learn how to do the task, you can delegate the work and expect faster completion in the future.

While making your decision on whether to delegate, remember not to stick one employee with all the work. Even if you’re grooming one team member for a leadership position, that employee has other things to do. Employees may not realize they need to ask their leaders for opportunities to improve, so speak up and offer employees chances to diversify their skill sets when the occasion arises.

What Happens After the Focus Funnel

Most tasks filter out of the focus funnel at some point. The tasks that don’t filter out represent your most critical work — your focus. Once you eliminate or pass along everything that doesn’t require your immediate attention, you can spend the rest of your energy on the big items.

Don’t think of your focus funnel as an excuse to pass the buck. That’s not the point. On the contrary, the focus funnel starts by identifying what’s worth doing, then moves to finding the best way to get the work done.

As a leader, you can’t afford to spend your time performing tasks that someone else could do just as well. Maybe you could program with your software team or help your marketers craft email messaging, but that’s not your role. You trust your teammates to take care of that work so you can focus your energy on things only you have the experience or authority to do. Sure, you could step in to help with a coding emergency, but no one from your coding team can represent you at the next board meeting.

Practice using your focus funnel over the next week to see how it changes your perception of your priorities. Over time, you may find that you need to add or subtract questions to your funnel, depending on your role in the business. Perhaps you should consider outsourcing work after delegating to employees. Whatever form your focus funnel takes, consistent and respectful use will help you and your team maximize productivity and spend less time on unnecessary tasks.  

The post The 3-Step Focus Funnel That Will Change How You Lead appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/management/focus-funnel-framework

What’s Included in an Employee Drug and Health Screening?

One of the biggest costs to companies is their staff. Your team is a big investment, so it’s important to make sure you’re staffing employees that are fit for the job and able to perform according to company standards.

In many industries, one of those standards is that your employees pass a drug or health screening that determines that they are equipped to address their job duties. Substance abuse and other health concerns can impact job performance and create an unsafe working environment for others.

Therefore, as part of most business’s hiring processes, and even as an ongoing requirement for employment, employees generally need to undergo a drug test. But what exactly does a drug and health screening include? And how is it beneficial to employers?

Drug and Health Screening

A drug test is a screening that detects the presence of any illegal or prescription drugs that can be tested using urine, blood, hair, saliva, and even sweat. 

You can test for drugs such as marijuana, opioids, amphetamines, cocaine, and steroids, to name a few. It also can detect high levels of alcohol in the blood. Physical exams may also be part of a drug and health screening if certain physical health requirements must be met for the job role.

A drug and/or health screening is typically done prior to hiring if required as part of the job role, or can be done as part of an ongoing occupational health process in the workplace to ensure employees maintain a certain standard of health and avoid substance abuse.

Why Screen Employees?

As has been mentioned, there are some sectors and industries that require a certain level of health for their employees to be effective, especially if they are doing physical labor. Not doing drug and health screenings can put your employees and business at risk. For example, people operating heavy machinery can put lives at risk if they abuse drugs or alcohol and cause several safety and liability issues for the company.

Beyond those working in jobs that require manual labor, employees who have consumed too much alcohol or have abused drugs can present dangers to any workplace and make the environment unsafe for other employees. Doing regular drug and/or health screenings incentivizes employees to refrain from substance abuse and maintain a healthy work environment, no matter the industry.

Screenings can also offer lasting benefits to employees who may struggle with substance abuse. As a result of a drug test or a health screening, your company can provide resources to help employees overcome substance abuse or other health concerns. By being proactive and concerned about the health and well-being of your employees, you can offer support that will create a safer, healthier place to work.

Symptoms of Drug Abuse

As an employer, you also have the right to do random drug and health tests, especially if members of your team exhibit symptoms of drug abuse. 

Symptoms of drug abuse may include the following:

  • Slurred speech or slower speech than normal
  • Dilated pupils
  • Signs of agitation, panic, paranoia, or delirium
  • Breathing problems
  • Sickness and nausea

Being clear with your team that random drug tests can be administered at will by the employer can also motivate your employees to refrain from drug and alcohol abuse.

What Happens During a Drug Test?

A drug test will require employees to give a urine sample, as a general rule. Only a couple of ounces will need to be collected, after which a test can be run to determine alcohol and drug levels.

In some instances, a medical professional or member of staff may need to be present when the sample is collected, especially if the drug test requires a blood sample. Blood tests would obviously require professional assistance, meaning either on-site testing at a lab or bringing in medical professionals to the workplace.

Before administering tests, it’s a good idea to remind your employee that they should let you know if they are taking any prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines, and even supplements. These could cause a drug test to come back positive, even though employees may not be abusing drugs or alcohol. 

What the Results Say

If the employee’s results come back negative, then it means no drugs were found in their body, or the level was very low. If the results come back as positive, then it means that one or more drugs were found at an established level. It is worth noting that on occasion, false positives do happen. So often after a positive result, there may be another test to determine if that employee is taking certain drugs or not.

From there, you can offer support resources and determine a course of action for employees that have positive tests. It’s wise to develop policies prior to administering tests that clearly outline the repercussions for employees who do not pass a drug test so that your staff is aware of your right to administer consequences based on the test results.  

The post What’s Included in an Employee Drug and Health Screening? appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/hr-and-recruitment/drug-health-screening

Monday 24 February 2020

Buying Stocks Online

When you are buying stocks you need the help of a stockbroker. It is in order to ascertain that the said stockbroker is an individual licensed to buy stocks on your behalf. This is crucial to avoid being duped and also to negate problems with the relevant authorities.

However, before making a resolution on a stockbroker you need to determine which stockbroker is the most appropriate for you. There are four primary classifications of stockbroker. These are: 

  • Online stock brokers
  • Discount stock brokers
  • Full-service stock brokers
  • Money managers

This discussion will focus on online stock brokers and how to buy stocks online. Buying stocks will make you a bona fide part owner of an organization. Buying stocks online can be done either on commission or commission-free, depending on personal preference. Technological advancements are making it simpler to buy stocks as businesses battle to lower cost of buying stocks online.

Steps of Purchasing Stocks Online

Open an Online Brokerage Account

Opening an online brokerage account is equivalent to opening a bank account it is easy. The requirements are to complete the account application, provide identification details and select the mode of funding the account which could be either electronically or by mailing a cheque.

There are considerations to opening an online stocks account they include commissions; the stipend charged by a broker for buying or selling stocks on your behalf. Select a stock broker who charges little to no commissions and provides the support you want. This is crucial for new investors as you want intelligent customer service attendants to respond to your queries.

Select the Stocks You Want to Buy

Once you have initiated and endowed your brokerage account, you then select the stocks you want to purchase. The ideal place to start is by looking at existing companies that you know of as an investor, for instance, Saxo bank.

When combing through data and the options available keep the objective simple. The objective is companies that you will become a bona fide part owner of. One of the world’s most shrewd investors; Warren Buffet is quoted saying “buy into a company because you want to own it and not because prospectively the stocks will go up.”

Make a Decision on the Amount of Stocks to Purchase

When buying stocks for beginners it is crucial to start small as this gives you an idea of what it feels like to be part owner of a company and whether the strength to go through the difficult times without giving up.

There are certain aspects that are to be considered before deciding on the stocks to buy such as the cost of the shares, diversifying your stocks portfolio, the price per share of prospective shares you intend to buy and other savings as well.

Select Your Stock Order Type

There are a couple of stock orders types’ available including a market order, limit order, stop-loss order, and stop-limit order. The two main stock order types available are market order and limit order.

A market order is an application to buy or sell stocks as soon as possible and at the best obtainable levy.  A market order puts no limiting factor on price and your order will be processed instantaneously, whereas a limit order is an application to buy or sell stock only at a specific rate or better.

Optimize Your Stock Portfolio

Portfolio optimization is the procedure of selecting the most appropriate portfolio out of all other portfolios that are being considered. Of importance to investors with regards to optimizing stock portfolio is investment objectives, risk tolerance, time horizon, and available finances to invest as a starting point of asset constitution.

 Conclusion

To sum it all up, when buying stocks online make sure you have the best available tools, be mindful of brokerage fees as they can have a negative impact on your returns, and consider backing mutual funds because they allow you to buy as many stocks as you want in a single transaction.

 

stocks tablet -DepositPhotos

The post Buying Stocks Online appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/stock-market/online-purchasing

How to Practice Workplace Wellness When You’re Self-Employed

Your working style has a major impact on your health and well-being. For business owners and entrepreneurs, the responsibility of running a commercial organization can certainly take its toll. By practicing workplace wellness, self-employed workers can minimize the risk of burnout and enhance their well-being. 

If you work for yourself, or you run a company, it’s important to prioritize your physical and mental health. To find out how, take a look at these top tips for boosting workplace wellness when you’re self-employed.

1. Workplace Yoga

Before you began working for yourself, you probably thought your new flexible schedule would give you plenty of time to exercise. In reality, however, being self-employed can mean working long hours. If you’re unable to fit a trip to the gym, a morning jog, or even a brisk walk into your schedule, your health could be suffering.

Furthermore, workers who routinely use computers or sit at a desk can experience posture problems, such as backaches and neck pain. By practicing workplace yoga, you can incorporate low-impact exercise into your day-to-day routine. As well as helping you physically, yoga can help to reduce stress and anxiety too, so it’s an ideal way to cope with the mental and physical stress of being self-employed. 

2. Get Enough Sleep

Most people don’t get enough sleep and business owners certainly draw the short straw when it comes to making time for rest and relaxation. Without a decent night’s sleep, you can experience a whole range of health issues, including fatigue, headaches, forgetfulness and poor concentration. 

When you implement a better sleep schedule, you’ll find it has a significant impact on your mood, well-being and workplace performance. However, it isn’t just sleeping for longer that’s important. 

The quality of your sleep is critical to enhancing your well-being. A comfortable mattress can make a big difference to your quality of sleep. If you’re waking up feeling sluggish or experiencing aches and pains, it could be due to your mattress. Investing in a new mattress could be the fastest way to enhance your sleep quality and improve your well-being at home and work. 

3. Build a Network

Depending on your business or specialism, you may spend a lot of time working alone. Although many people enjoy working solo, it can have a negative impact on your well-being in the long-term. Often associated with feelings of isolation, being self-employed can leave you feeling disconnected. 

To prevent this, it can be beneficial to build a professional network. By attending industry-related trade shows and exhibitions, for example, you can network with other people in your sector and promote your business.

Similarly, scheduling face-to-face or even video meetings, rather than conference calls, gives you the opportunity to interact with others in a more meaningful way. With plenty of online platforms aimed at self-employed business owners, there are numerous ways to increase your network without taking up too much of your time. 

Why Is Workplace Wellness Important?

Many people experience health problems because of their working environment. Whether you’re feeling the strain of running a business or working with an unsupportive team; your workplace can affect your well-being in many ways. 

As a result, your workplace performance can be affected. If you’re feeling unwell or emotionally drained, your productivity and motivation will drop. By tackling workplace wellness, you can enhance your physical and mental health, while also boosting your own success at work. 

When you’re self-employed, it’s important to be at the top of your game. By putting your health first and implementing a workplace wellness strategy, you can enhance every aspect of your life.

The post How to Practice Workplace Wellness When You’re Self-Employed appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/growth/personal-growth/home-workplace-wellness

Saturday 22 February 2020

5 Ways Psychometric Tests Can Make You Rich

Psychometric Tests, also known as Aptitude Tests, are standardised assessments used in many businesses, and even in schools and colleges, to demystify the complexity of every individual that made up these organisations. As a user of Psychometric Tests, here are 5 ways this great invention can make you rich.

To Get You a More Fulfilling Career

Having been used heavily in recruitment, especially for high-paying entry-level roles like internships, industrial placements or graduate schemes at global companies like EY, Deloitte, Capgemini, Ikea and many more; Psychometric Tests are the tickets to your dream career. These tests are designed to filter the best out of the bests, based solely on one’s current skills and abilities, without the need of work experience or years of expertise in a certain field. Passing Psychometric Tests might not get you the job straight away, but it is a significant first step to get you ahead of many others and secure you an in-person meeting with your employer.

Make Your Team More Efficient

If you are already working, or if you are simply completing a university project, the key to your success is the people around you. Often times, a lack of understanding of team members’ traits and attributes can cause a highly skilled and experienced team to break under pressure. Psychometric Tests like Personality Tests, Situational Judgement Tests or E-Tray Exercise will have you find the right fit to the ‘puzzle’, by showing each individual of the group what they are capable of and where they thrive; therefore make allocation of responsibilities more seamless and efficient. Your team will nail it and earn a bonus; and for those of you in university, who knows, your successful experimental project might turn into a paid one.

Boost Your Skills and Cognitive Ability

Regularly practising Psychometric Tests can drastically improve your numeracy and literacy skills, your logical thinking, your test-taking skills and your cognitive strengths in general. In short, Psychometric Tests can make you smarter and more mentally agile. And who doesn’t want to move a step closer to becoming a genius? Training your brain with Psychometric Tests can make it easier and more effective for you when learning something new, be it a new skill or a deeper understanding of an issue on the job or in school; and consequently, one can become more qualified for more professional disciplines in general. Use Aptitude Tests right, and the sky’s the limit.

Advance Your Career

Employers frequently offer employees initiatives to learn and grow in their jobs, via training opportunities, studying towards a qualification or monthly reviews and reflections. These are created for you, as an employee, to show how far you have gone since the first day, and how much more you are capable of. Psychometric Tests are often incorporated in these opportunities, as an ongoing process; so that employees can evident their progress and any new skills acquired. For this reason, being successful at Psychometric Tests or Aptitude Tests can help you shine among other coworkers and perhaps, get that promotions you have been waiting for.

Bring You Self-Awareness

Finally, besides many other uses, Psychometric Tests can help you become more self-aware. With the wide range of innate abilities, personality traits and skills Psychometric Tests can measure, they are able to provide any individual with truthful and unbiased insights of all the elements that made up the person they are. Self-awareness can take you anywhere you want to be, not only geographically or in your career, but also in your personal relationships and internal contentment. Money will follow, but first you must know your purpose. Thus, above all, Psychometric Tests can make you truly ‘rich’, with the knowledge of yourself and your place in the world.

 

adults taking test -DepositPhotos

The post 5 Ways Psychometric Tests Can Make You Rich appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/growth/personal-growth/aptitude-tests

How To Design Your Email Drip Campaigns

Without an email campaign, your marketing strategy is incomplete. Emails, whether in the form of regular newsletters or occasional offers, keep your leads engaged. There is no better tool for lead retention.

One of the most effective methods of email marketing is to use an email drip campaign. This refers to automated emails that are sent to leads at relevant moments. Email drip campaign examples include emails sent after a client has been using your product for a while, offers for leads who have stopped engaging, and reminders to individuals who left items in their carts without checking out.

Email drip campaigns are significantly more effective than your regular emails. That said, to get the most out of one of these campaigns, you need to develop it according to certain standards.

Here is how you can design your email drip campaigns to optimize your content marketing.

Strategize

The first step in developing an email drip campaign is to create a strategy. This strategy cannot simply be a carbon copy of other companies’ drip campaigns. Your business has particular targets, brand expectations, and certain strengths. Your strategy needs to take all these things into account or it will come across as disingenuous at best.

Think about your strategy as if you are one of your leads. When would you like to hear from your company and when would an email frustrate you? Does the message you’re sending sound authentic to a customer, or does it seem manipulative? Would you respect the company more if its communications were written more formally, or is yours a company that has a personal touch?

Once you know what kind of emails you’re trying to send, you need to decide who you’re sending them to.

Separate Your Lead Pool

The factor that makes drip campaigns work is that they are relevant and particular to the recipient. Your emails should reach someone at the right moment for them to make a decision, and should be geared towards whatever stage of the process they’re currently in.

For this reason, a large part of designing your campaign is separating your lead pool and choosing markers to identify the different groups. These markers should be quantitative, even if sometimes they seem arbitrary. Those at the boundaries of each category could go either way, but you need to draw the line clearly.

Determine Outcomes

Before figuring out what kind of content you want to send to your leads, you need to determine what outcomes you want to achieve from this campaign. These outcomes will differ according to each category of leads.

For leads who have yet to purchase a product or service, your outcome may be to make a first purchase. For returning clients, customer retention might be key. Alternatively, boosting engagement might be the most important outcome. Engagement can be a hugely effective means for converting leads, as they end up converting into sales.

Whatever the case, you need clear outcomes before you’re ready to decide on the content.

Design the Content

With your outcomes in mind, start designing the content. You may be working on emails that give more information about a certain product or service. You may be writing copy that engages its readers and gets them to participate in a conversation. You might just be reminding them to renew a subscription or to check out what is already in their carts.

If you’re targeting particularly well-educated clients – as is often the case when you’re selling very technical products or services – you need to consider that they will most likely engage with high-quality content that adds value. Showing that you’re committed to moving the industry forward with high-end conversation is an excellent way of generating loyalty.

Automate It

Finally, you need to automate your content. This process should be easy with good software and the strategies and content you’ve already created. The software should identify your separate types of leads according to the quantitative data you give it, and track each lead according to timeframes or actions. You should be confident that the content will speak to its intended audience. And you should have at least one more pair of eyes ensuring you have set the right emails to send at the right times.

Email drip campaigns can be incredibly effective at converting leads and they’re not too difficult to design. As long as you’re thinking of the mindset of your leads, you’ll be able to design a campaign that really speaks and at the right times.

 

email campaign concept -DepositPhotos

The post How To Design Your Email Drip Campaigns appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/e-mail-marketing/drip-campaign-design

Recommended Software for Small Businesses Looking for Best Productivity

In 2020, you need to nail your productivity as a small business owner. By getting bogged down in menial tasks, you will have less chance to actually work on the projects at the heart of your business. If you are searching for the best software for improving certain areas of your business, here are some of the best options you could choose.

Trello

Should you need a little focus to your day, you should consider Trello. This allows you to create private boards with your tasks and individual lists and checklists for each one. You can add all the steps needed for a project plus a final deadline so you can see everything in one easy-to-view place. If you are concerned about mishandling your deadlines, this is a great way to keep things on track. You need to make sure that you are completing every task as they come in.

Hourly

If you need an app to streamline tracking time for your team and paying them, then you should look into Hourly. Hourly is an easy employee time tracking solution that will help automate the process of collecting time cards, making sure your employees are where they’re supposed to be, and seeing how much you’re actually spending on labor. Employees clock in and out on their phones, so you know how much they worked down to the second. They can even see their time card and wages any time they want, and request time off. If you’re looking for one app that makes managing your employees a breeze, this is the app for you.

Quickbooks

Not every business owner is a trained accountant, yet you still need to be able to manage your books correctly. Quickbooks is one of the best accounting systems on the market. It has been geared towards smaller businesses so it should be intuitive for you to pick up. Why waste time trying to correctly file your accounts when the software can do it for you. From this portal, not only will you be able to manage your income, but you will also be able to pay taxes and other expenses as well as manage your payroll and wages from one easy location.

Hubspot

Every business has to deal with marketing and customer management in some way. One of the best tools to allow you to do so is Hubspot. The great thing about the Hubspot program is that, at its core CRM function, it is completely free. Though you can subscribe to their additional tools if you need them, the core program will allow you to effectively manage your content, marketing, and contacts in one. No matter what industry your business is in, you need to get your sales and marketing strategies to be as effective and as well-managed as possible. Hubspot is the program to help you do so.

Hootsuite

A good social media strategy is key for many businesses. With the right strategy, you can reach out to any number of new customers and drive engagement through your posts. Many brands are discovered nowadays through sites like Facebook and Instagram and, in addition to making your posts the best they could be, you need a place where you can manage them all. Hootsuite is a social media manager that lets you effectively manage your content across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and more. If you want one place to layout and effectively plan your social media strategy, this is going to be the best tool for you.

Xero

Many business softwares are designed for use with Windows. While many businesses do choose to use PC systems, there are some who prefer Macs. However, this can be difficult for running a business as it means that you won’t have access to nearly as many of the same tools as a Windows user. That is where Xero comes in. It is an easy-to-manage accounting software compatible with both Windows and Mac systems. There is also integration with 500+ other programs built-in, so no matter what you should be able to complete your tasks whether you are a Windows user, a Mac one, or you need to bounce between the two.

In business, you cannot afford to let yourself get held back by trivial tasks. The above softwares can help you manage your staff and day better no matter what your business might be. They can help you to streamline and manage your company in a much more productive and effective manner. Identify the areas of your business that need help and find the right tool to combat them now.

You should also try to track the hours that your team is working so that you are not ever overpaying them.

Take everything that we have discussed in this article into consideration and see what it can do for your business. Hopefully, you’ll be able to save some money along the way and your profits will increase as the year goes on.

productive team -DepositPhotos

The post Recommended Software for Small Businesses Looking for Best Productivity appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/start-ups/productivity-software

Friday 21 February 2020

Should Employers Monitor Employees? 6 Reasons Why It’s Necessary

The relationship between employers and employees is a fragile one.  It can be tested when companies decide to use employee monitoring software to keep an eye on their staff. Some employees may feel as though their privacy is being invaded and their employers don’t trust them. The bottom line is that if a company decides to monitor their employees, it has the right to do so. But, is it ethical? Should employers monitor employees?

What Does Employee Monitoring Entail?

When a company monitors it’s staff, they use software on company devices to view employee activities. Usually, the information that is tracked is accessible by companies through an online account or through a private server. Some of the key activities companies monitor include employees’ social media usage, emails sent and received, internet usage and history, Google Drive documents, and instant messaging (text, Skype, Slack, etc.). Once this information is found and stored, companies can review it to help them evaluate their business and staff performance.

Is It Legal?

Yes, it is legal for a company to monitor and track its employees. However, the company must meet certain requirements including; 1) It must notify its employees and gain their consent to be monitored, 2) Monitoring software must only be used on company-owned devices, and 3) Only company-related data can be viewed by companies. There are state and federal laws that prohibit companies from tracking employees without their knowledge and permission, and viewing their personal information.

6 Reasons Companies Should Monitor Employees

Uncover Weaknesses In Your Business

Using monitoring software, companies can evaluate their business and uncover weaknesses. Weaknesses could be employees, processes, corporate structure, tools being used, skills, and business resources. These flaws can be found within the business data that is retrieved, and can be used to improve the business further.

Improve Your Employee Productivity

Employees are the driving force behind any business. Without employees, the business wouldn’t function. So, with this in mind, companies are highly concerned about their employees’ productivity levels. By viewing their activities on a regular basis, employers could provide their staff with recommendations to improve their work process.

Block Business Distractions

According to a study, 3 out of 4 workers feel distracted while on the job. The workplace contains numerous distractions that can interfere with work. Talking, texting, emailing, social media, playing games, and watching videos, just to name a few. If the distractions are technology-based, monitoring software can uncover what distractions are plaguing certain employees.

Protect Your Business Data

The most precious commodity a business has is its data. This includes private documents and records, client information, email contacts, and more. In today’s technological world, businesses must have a data protection plan, such as using monitoring software. Tracking company device activities can help detect any threat to your data.

Prevent Corporate Sabotage

Businesses can seek opposition from competitors and even their own employees. These people usually seek to sabotage the business and steal its trader secrets. Just like a magician, businesses don’t share their tricks. If they get into the wrong hands, the business could be ruined. However, corporate sabotage can be easily prevented by monitoring all company communications, documents, and servers.

Monitor Remote Workers

Many businesses don’t feel the need to have employees report to a physical office. Instead, many work remotely from their home. And in some industries (like sales), employees are required to travel for work. However, the risk of this is not being able to physically see and know where your employees are at all times. As long as they use company devices, monitoring software will enable you to make sure they are doing their job and abiding by company policies.

Ultimately, it’s up to a business owner whether or not using monitoring software is a good fit for their company. In some cases, it may be beneficial to get your employees’ opinions on the matter. By having your staff involved in the process, they may feel less like their privacy is being invaded, and more positive about it.

 

watching businessman -DepositPhotos

The post Should Employers Monitor Employees? 6 Reasons Why It’s Necessary appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/management/hr-and-recruitment/employee-monitoring

Technology to Safeguard the Generation Z Tech Savvy Children

Things have changed a lot since the ’90s and unlike those generations, Generation-Z has things nobody could have imagined. Sure we don’t have flying cars yet, but we have internet, touch-screen smart phones and devices.

In this technology-dominated world mobile phones, laptops and iPads are no longer a luxury, they are a need that you can’t deny your child of.

However, with exposure to technology come the dangers of them being exploited to all kinds of dangers that have also arisen.

But alas, where there is a will there is a way. There is a lot of phone tracker app that will help parents ensure their kid’s safety and get a peaceful sleep.

Here are a few of those apps

1. FamiSafe

Developed by the WonderShare group this app will help parents keep track of their child’s activities on their screen, online and while they are out and about. The app is put into the child’s phone and parents’ phone which are then connected giving the parent access to everything on the child’s device.

Now as parents we can’t deny children of gadgets but with the help of this, they can make sure that child is safe at all times.

2. Qustodio

Now we all know that the internet is full of stuff and all of it is not completely appropriate. Hence here you would need Qustodio. This will help you monitor your child’s activities on the web and also block any website that has content that is inappropriate for the child.

3. ESET Parental Control

Do you have just an android based phone and gadgets? Then this is the perfect app that was specifically designed for Android software users. The app with a simple download on both phones will give the guardian access to tot’s phone and they can keep an eye out.

Also, this app has features like location trackers, web filter and application guards. Simple to set up and operate it is a user’s dream app.

4. MMGuardian

This app is one of the oldest and most experienced in line. Even then this works well does the guarding flawlessly for the guardians. It even gives you a notification when the youngster downloads a new app and you can easily block text and calls from someone you don’t want them in contact with. If you are someone who likes to see everything down to the details then this app will also provide you with that.

5. Net Nanny

You need a nanny or baby sitter, for your toddler every time you leave the house for your work. Similarly, when you let the teenager use the mobile phone with internet access you are exposing them to the World Wide Web something much more intense than anyone can imagine. Hence at this age, they need you to look over them and you can do that with the help of app Net Nanny.

It has all the features that you would require to keep an eye and also alarm you when things go wrong.

6. Sygic Family Locator

Now if you have older ones like the age of 18-19 you can trust them on the internet as they know the good and bad now. But at this age, they tend to go to the wrong places and get bad influences. So if you want to make sure they are in a safe place at all times without poking in their privacy then this is the perfect solution. This will connect the whole family and each one of you will be able to see where the other one is at the moment.

7. Kaspersky SafeKids

This app works on all devices for instance desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, and even Macs. So this one application will help you connect all the devices that your child is exposed to in the home and you can know if they did something bad no matter what device they use. This one will solve the problem and help you get away from the hassle of getting a different one for each device.

As elders, we know the dangers of this world and we always want to protect and care for them. We can’t always save them from falling but we can always ensure that they don’t fall so bad that they are unable to recover. The technology-savvy world is something we live in today and this is a part of our reality. So instead of not giving the child something they need with the help of the above apps, you can make them safe for your child.

 

child on tablet -DepositPhotos

The post Technology to Safeguard the Generation Z Tech Savvy Children appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.



source https://tweakyourbiz.com/technology/mobile-technology/safeguard-apps

Improving Your Client Reporting with Reliable SEO Software

Excellent customer service is the cornerstone of all great companies, even search engine optimization providers. According to a recent sur...