Business

We often assume that all it takes to start a thriving business is an idea and truckloads of money, but it’s not so simple. In addition to the right skills, it takes a lot of perseverance and motivation to be a successful entrepreneur. The good news is that you can take various steps to make your business a smash hit. You’ll have to roll up your sleeves, put in the time and do some hard work, but with these tips you’ll be well on your way to success.

1. Dress the part.

 

To be successful in business, you need to dress the part. There’s truth in the saying, ‘Dress the way you want to be addressed’. Besides physical features, when people look at you, the first thing they observe is your clothes. Your outerwear, accessories, jacket and the whole shebang go a long way to make the right first impression. This means you really have to up your fashion game.

 

To dress for success, sites like Chico’s offer a wide variety of women’s clothing. This includes womens jackets, coats, vests, sweaters, and even business jackets. With their different collections, styles, and sizes, you’ll have no problem looking and feeling confident. Even better, they always have deals, gift cards, free shipping and promotions that they offer for both first-time buyers and existing customers—even on new arrivals. With such a great setup, it’s clear why they’re becoming a leading brand in their niche.

2. Make good partnerships.

 

It takes a village to run a successful business! Entrepreneurship is hard and no one can do it alone. It’s not just about the employees, but partners make all the difference as well. Besides being able to count on your employees and partners to live up to their commitments, they should also be innovative enough to bring value to your business.

 

Recently, Alastair Barnes, alongside a distinguished brokerage team, landed a deal of a lifetime. Why is this relevant? The partners involved, HN Capital and Red Bluff Partners obtained the loan of a lifetime with the help of JLL Capital Markets. With a $26.7 million construction loan, the joint venture plans to erect a five-story office building. With an innovative project like that, there’s no doubt Alastair Jamie Barnes and his team will attain and surpass their goals. It’s important to note that Alastair didn’t do this alone—by working with a team he and his partners were able to move forwards in an incredible way.

3. Monitor your finances.

 

Going in, you’ll probably have all your books in the right shape. The real challenge is keeping them in order once the business starts running. You need to have a plan going in and keep to it. Make sure that you have a projected budget for each quarter and that you update your financial records regularly. Make your financial plan work for you every step of the way by adapting it as is required.

4. Learn from your mistakes.

 

No one likes to hear this, but you’re going to make some mistakes, whether you own a little kiosk or a full-blown fashion outlet. Some of those mistakes may be basic, while the rest are colossal. Don’t spend too much time dwelling on them, though. The survival of your business relies on your adaptability and willingness to learn from errors. Get right back up, deal with it head-on, and learn from those mistakes.

5. Accept and use feedback.

 

Ultimately, every business is out to serve their customers. If your customers are unsatisfied, then you might as well pack up and leave. Rather than getting defensive when someone does not appreciate your efforts, turn that negative feedback into a booster.

 

Think of feedback and reviews as a cheat sheet for your business; once you weed out some dramatic or irrelevant ones, you can use the rest to your advantage. Altogether, your target market knows exactly what they want. So, to run a successful business, keep an ear out for what the customers like and dislike. Consider surveying customers regularly to keep one finger on the pulse of your customer base.

In business, projects are characteristically unique operations which are conducted to meet particular goals. Examples of projects could be:

• The designing of software, the purpose of which is to enhance employee productivity,
• The construction of a building which will house community events, or
• The designing of a website to lower call volume to a business.

These are just a few examples and the list can go on for days. All of these categories of projects need a team of people who are responsible for various aspects of the delivery. For instance, you’ll probably see a designer, developer as well as copywriter working on website design projects. In many instances, a project manager is allocated to these projects in order to ensure that the team provides the project on time, under budget in addition to meeting its stated goals.

‘Project management’ is defined as the application of processes, methods, skills, knowledge as well as experience in order to achieve detailed project objectives according to the project acceptance criteria within the agreed parameters. Project management has final deliverables that are constrained to a finite timescale as well as budget.

A key factor which distinguishes project management from generic ‘management’ is that it has a final deliverable and a finite timespan, as opposed to management which is an continuing process. Owing to this a project professional needs a wide range of skills; often technical skills and definitely people management skills in addition to good business awareness.

What is a project manager?

Project managers perform the lead role in planning, executing, monitoring, controlling as well as closing projects. These people are accountable for the entire project scope, project team, resources, in addition to the success or failure of the project.

A project manager, with the assistance of their team has multiple responsibilities which encompass the five project stages of a project life cycle (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring as well as closing).

Initiating phase

• Integration management: Creating a project charter
• Stakeholder management: Pinpointing stakeholders

Planning phase

• Integration management: Building a project management plan
• Scope management: Identifying and controlling scope, establishing a work breakdown structure (WBS) in addition to requirements gathering
• Time management: Planning, defining, as well as developing schedules, activities, estimating resources in addition to activity durations
• Costs management: Planning and estimating costs, and deciding on budgets
• Quality management: Planning as well as identifying quality requirements
• Human Resource Management: Planning in addition to identifying human resource requirements
• Communications management: Preparing communications
• Risk management: Planning for as well as identifying potential risks, performing qualitative and quantitative risk analysis in addition to planning risk-mitigation strategies
• Procurement management: Planning for as well as identifying required procurements
• Stakeholder management: Preparing for stakeholder expectations

Executing

• Integration management: Directing as well as managing all work for the project
• Quality management: Doing all facets of managing quality
• Human resource management: Selecting, developing in addition to managing the project team
• Communications management: Overseeing all aspects of communications
• Procurement management: Taking action on securing necessary procurements
• Stakeholder management: Controlling all stakeholder expectations

Monitoring and controlling

• Integration management: Monitoring in addition to controlling the project work as well as managing any required changes
• Scope management: Validating as well as controlling the scope of the project
• Time management: Managing the scope of the project
• Costs management: Regulating project costs
• Quality management: Maintaining the quality of deliverables
• Communications management: Controlling all team in addition to stakeholder communications
• Procurement management: Managing procurements
• Stakeholder management: Controlling stakeholder engagements

Closing

• Integration management: Closing all stages of the project
• Procurement management: Completing all project procurements

Project management may seem to be complicated however chances are that you’ve already been involved in a process such as this one. So the next time that you’re planning your friend’s birthday, know that you’re essentially working on a project and that you are your own project manager!