**Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please read our guest posting guidelines.

While it’s certainly true that there are far too many hyped up and exaggerated claims made by marketing companies desperate for business, there is also no denying the fact that marketing is the ultimately the key to business expansion.

The main problem these days is that people have far more choice than they know what to do with, which means that mass marketing techniques and one-size-fits-all approaches to advertising, which were once very effective, are just not going to cut it anymore.

For every service or product you are offering, there are literally thousands of other businesses offering the very same thing, and even more disconcerting is that many of them will have bigger budgets, a larger staff and more competitive prices.

[image via]

Consumers are tired of being harassed for every penny and bombarded with unending options for every purchase they make. The average consumer receives around one million “marketing messages” every year across all media, which amounts to 3000 messages per day.

Clearly, standing out from the crowd is easier said than done, and spending your meager marketing budget on in-your-face interruption marketing techniques will realistically do no more than anger your potential customers. To put it simply, advertising tends not to perform as advertised.

If you want to set your business apart from the masses of others  vying for consumer attention, you need to find a way to address your customers on a more personal level or at least target smaller groups of people in a way they can appreciate.

Here are four marketing ideas that can ultimately help you expand your business, and while they certainly aren’t the be all and end all of marketing, hopefully they will get you going in the right direction.

Carry out market research.

You’ve probably heard this one before, but do you really know what it entails? Many business owners worry that market research will be too expensive, and in many cases, it is.

However, market research simply isn’t something you can do without; it will tell you who your customers are and what they want as well as which marketing techniques actually work and which ones don’t.

If you are running on a very tight budget, and simply can’t afford to hire a market researcher, here are a few things you can do yourself at a relatively low cost:

• Use a suggestion box, read the suggestions and try to implement them when possible
• Ask your regular customers to complete a survey
• Encourage customers to let you know if they aren’t satisfied, and then analyze and respond to all complaints
• Assess the competition to see what areas you could improve in
• Keep a list of things customers ask for that you don’t stock (or services you don’t provide), and if there are multiple requests for the same thing, you can consider changing things up
• Keep track of any ads you run and note down how much they cost and the results they brought
• Conduct exit interviews when an employee leaves your company

Gain your customers’ confidence.

Research shows that customer skepticism, incisiveness, confusion and indifference are the top sales killers in the business world. No one is going to spend money at your business if they don’t trust or understand your policies.

Try to gain customer confidence by offering satisfaction guarantees, gathering positive customer testimonials and references and signing up with respected organizations like Chambers of Commerce or the Better Business Bureau.

Of course, none of this will help if you don’t deliver what you promise, so take the time to provide every single customer you serve, whether they spend a lot or a little, excellent customer service and a reason to return or tell their friends about you.

Find out why people who buy what you sell haven’t considered your business.

Most business owners understand that they should look at their successes to see what they did right as well as their failures to see what can be improved, but not many bother to look at what didn’t happen.

Try to find out why people who need the services or products that you are offering don’t see your company as a viable option. Which of your competitors are they choosing over you? Are your prices too high? Is your payment process too complicated? Is your website difficult to navigate?

With Google Analytics, you can find out exactly where your customers are going by tracking outbound links. This shows you if their needs were met on your website, or if they are looking for other similar businesses after leaving yours.

Use humor.

Everyone loves to laugh and if you can get people’s attention with a funny slogan, humorous logo or amusing scenario, your brand name will be successfully embedded in their memory forever, or at least for as long as it takes you to come up with the next pitch.

Laughter helps people to feel relaxed, reduces blood pressure, eliminates stress and improves memory and creativity. If your marketing can have that kind of effect on people, they’ll want to share it with their friends and come back for more.

About the Author:

Patrick Del Rosario is part of the team behind Open Colleges. It is one of Australia’s pioneer and leading providers of Accounting courses and Bookkeeping Courses. When not working, Patrick enjoys blogging, travelling, and photography. Patrick together with his father runs a Photo Studio in the philippines. If you have a blog and would like free content. You can find him on Google+.

**Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please read our guest posting guidelines.

From time to time, every business can expect to receive negative comments or feedback. It’s the way the feedback is handled that can make a business either appear professional and reputable, or amateurish and unethical.

Handling negative feedback in a professional way can make you look like an online expert.

As a business owner, learning how to effectively handle negative feedback on your business blog is essential. It’s a basic skill that will help reputation management efforts and business growth.

Carefully Consider Your Response

Dealing with negative comments should be handled in an organized manner. For instance, start by considering your response. That is, rather than immediately defending yourself or your business, it is important to remain calm and think things through.

The nice thing about blog comments is that the conversations are not in real-time. This means you can take a few hours or even a day or so to respond to comments.

Look for the Cause of the Comment

All comments and feedback have a cause or basis. Taking the time to find the reason the comments were left can help you find appropriate responses.

Try to see things from the complainer’s perspective. In some cases, negative comments are left out of sheer misunderstandings.

Get a Second Opinion

Sometimes it can be hard to fairly assess or evaluate your own content or statements. If possible, ask a friend to review the content in question, including the negative comments. Get your friend’s opinion about the content. Is it appropriate? Do the complainer’s comments have merit?

Provide a Kind Reply

Regardless of the fact that you are responding to negative feedback, your response should be kind and professional. It’s a good idea to restate the concerns that have been voiced, and then provide supporting reasons for your own point of view.

It’s also a good idea to leave the discussion open so a conversation can continue. Even if an agreement cannot be reached, it is professional to thank the individual for leaving the comments and for sharing their opinion with others.

Negative feedback can be used in a positive way.

Keep in mind that negative feedback can often be used in a positive way. Business owners can sometimes use the comments to make improvements in their businesses. If that is a bit extreme, at the very least, as more negative feedback is addressed, the business owner will become more skilled at handling it in a professional way.

About the Author

Debbie Allen is a professional writer and blogger that lives in Louisville, KY and often writes about topics of interest to women, business strategies, and gold prices.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

**Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please read our guest posting guidelines.

Running any kind of business is, initially, chaotic. It is often difficult to keep track of all the data that comes in, while trying to make sense of it all and coming up with a relevant business plan. Here are some indicators to help your business go into the right direction.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is significant for each enterprise or organization.  With advances in technology and research, there are various ways to get customer feedback to help improve your organization’s overall customer satisfaction rate.

Employee Satisfaction

The daily work grind hurts both the top and bottom lines of an organization. One method of measuring the workplace atmosphere and employee mood is by using surveys on employee satisfaction. This can show management ways on how to boost performance by addressing issues that are most important to the employees.

[by Dell's Official Flickr Page]

Productivity

Productivity does not mean how many hours each person puts in, or how much work each person does. This can be gauged based on company goals or return of investment. For example, if the company aims to launch a new products. it is important to look at Return On Investment (ROI); targeted customers, and overall productivity across the board. Point of Sales Devices can help boost your business’s productivity and track important company data to help keep business on the right track.

Gross Margin

This is by far, the best gauge of how well a business is doing. The higher it is, the more it shows that the business is thriving in every aspect. There is no need to wait for the annual or quarterly financial reports to establish business profits, productivity, and customer fulfillment. Monitoring and managing gross margin regularly spares business proprietors unpleasant surprises, and help in taking steps for investments, pricing, and sales efforts.

These four criteria should be evaluated in any business from time to time. Running a business entails mounds of data, numbers, and reports. Know which are the significant ones to help get your business running of a long, long time. There are a few solutions that can help your business with productivity and efficiency.

Integrating Point of Sales Systems

There’s an easy solution to help keep your business in check. The old days of a standard cash register have come and gone. Now, almost every company is using some type of Point of Sales device. POS devices offer a number of solutions to help with several aspects of business, including staff training, scheduling, payment processing, store inventory, delivery, and more.

Analysis

Having your company’s performance data and sales figures can tell you a lot about how the business is operating overall. With high tech POS Systems, you can check your total sales for the day with a swipe of a finger. You can then use your company’s data to compare its performance overtime

Increase Sales

If you’re looking for a way to help increase your bottom line, you should consider installing a Point of Sales system. POS Systems streamline the checkout process, making it faster for the customer and less stressful to the employee. In the end, everybody’s happy.

About the Author:

Michelle Mantel is a professional freelance writer with an extensive background in writing and research. Michelle worked as a television news reporter for the Central Illinois News Center, featuring a number of stories and segments to today’s trends in technology. After spending 5 years in the broadcast scene, Michelle switched gears to work with one of Chicago’s leading franchise Public Relations firms, lending her opportunities to work with Retail Point of Sales and other industry clients. Michelle is currently a featured Content Contributor for Checkway POS Systems.

**Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please read our guest posting guidelines.

Small and large retail stores benefit from having dependable inventory management systems. These are systems that are designed to not only keep track of inventory. They work to monitor sales, track specific products and help with production. There are a number of effective stock or inventory systems available today. These systems work well in stores that sell a variety of inventory items and help owners to boost sales.

Some inventory management systems help stores to see employee productivity. Sales are recorded that are associated with employee id numbers. Systems of this sort show owners which employees are selling what products. These are efficient management tools that can be used to monitor multiple locations. Stores in the same city can be managed through inventory systems. Locations that are in specific regions can be managed the same way.

Shoe Fitters are an example of a retailer that has benefited from an inventory management system. This is a full service shoe retailer that sells popular brands like Birkenstock, Clark and Ecco. In 2010, Shoe Fitters put an inventory management system to work in their stores. This retailer has locations in Texas, New Mexico and other places in the southwest. The chain saw benefits when it came to tracking inventory, managing staff, monitoring shrinkage and running multiple locations.

Tracking Inventory

Management expenses soar when inventory is not managed properly. This can be seen when too much inventory is ordered in a specific location. Tracking inventory is the best way to keep budgets low. J & D Educational Services supplies a course that studies inventory budgets. This course shows that an average pharmacy spends 68% of its expenses on the cost of goods. These are goods that are resold in single pharmacies and chains. An efficient inventory management system can help employers to monitor their budgets effectively.

Managing Staff

Each individual employee of a retail chain is a valuable resource. These workers are the ones that actually sell the retailer’s products or services. It is important to have a system in place that helps you manage your resources well. An inventory management system can track employee sales for specific store locations. There are systems that also show productivity of store employees.  They can provide information that utilizes the number of employees at specific stores. At the same time special offers, coupons and promotions can be tracked based on employee data.

Monitoring Shrinkage

Shrinkage occurs when inventory is lost, misplaced or stolen. The National Retail Security Survey showed that retailers lost more than $34 billion due to shrinkage in 2011. This number was based upon shrinkage from theft. Retail stores that are equipped with an inventory management system can reduce the shrinkage that it sees. This is true whether the retailer has only a few locations or a large chain.

The inventory of any retailer is it most valuable resource. Dated methods of tracking inventory and managing stores can lead to a loss in sales. Using the technology that inventory management systems provide is an efficient choice. These systems are effective when it comes to managing stock and inventory. They also provide managers and owners with advanced methods for running retail stores.

About the Author:

Jessica Josh is an author who has been blogging and writing online for a number of years. Her love of inventory management, enterprise resource planning, and customer relationship management has allowed her to review a number of companies like Indigo8 Solutions.

**Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please read our guest posting guidelines.

[infographic via]

**Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please read our guest posting guidelines.

The Benefits of Going Virtual

Do you need to cut your business overheads? Then perhaps moving away from the traditional nine-to-five office setup is something for you to consider. Decentralised and technology based, they can save you big bucks when it comes to personnel, office premises and equipment or material cost.

In some business, running a completely virtual office may not be possible because all or some of the week requires physical interaction or processes performed en situ. But if you are poised to renew a contract for business premises and you  are hesitating due to costs, then it might be worth thinking about making your operations virtual and having your workers provide you a service from home.

[image via]

Aspects to Consider

There are a few things you need to plan before you go virtual. Firstly, it is important to have a self-motivated and disciplined team. Secondly, your communication skills need to be top notch. When you don’t see your employees face to face every day, you need to make sure that you are in regular contact to set goals, review progress and results, give feedback and encouragement and deal with concerns. Finally you need to think about internet access, online communication, software and hardware.

How a Virtual Office Works in Practice

In the morning, checking your inbox you, the manager, may find some new jobs waiting. You could then open one of your work admin folders on a Cloud website. From there, you’d print out some order forms for the new jobs and process them and send them to your team to work on.

In the meantime your employees are starting on the tasks or projects you have set them. They might be reviewing the order forms you sent to them, or downloading work from the Cloud onto their computers, tablets or smartphones. The team members have been instructed to contact their Team Leader,

During the day, you, the manager, might return to the office or just deal with things via your smartphone or laptop. This might mean responding to clients and making calls to providers, dealing with queries from your Team Leader or revising product orders.

At the end of the day, your team members upload all of the day’s finished work to your Cloud site and then your team Leader emails you a short summary of work completed,  jobs pending, and so on.

Virtual Offices: Why They are Popular

Despite the suspicion that still exists towards distance working, virtual offices have been proven to work well, mostly because workers see them as something beneficial and positive. It beats commuting, because working from home via the internet saves huge amounts of time and money. It also allows employees with small children to structure their time more effectively. For you, it completely cuts the huge costs of running an office.

About the Author:

Charlene Mattson is an author engaged in writing over a variety of topics for quite some time now. Over the years she has specialized in writing on education, technology, business development and gadgets. Currently she is associated with http://www.forsyth.co.uk/ which deals with virtual office space as well as office furniture rental services. They also have an office to rent in Manchester.

**Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please read our guest posting guidelines.

You can use two types of marketing to convert people into customers: Inbound and outbound marketing. Outbound marketing, also known as push marketing, means that you present your product to potential consumers with cold calls, direct mail, television, radio and other forms of marketing that amount to begging someone to buy your products or services. It’s disruptive, annoying and quickly tuned out by overly exposed consumers. In contrast, inbound marketing is set up so that consumers come to your product on their own volition.

To be successful with inbound, you must incorporate pull tactics into your marketing strategy. That is, giving the consumer a reason to want to see what you have to offer, rather than beating them over the head with promotions and branding. Just publishing anything in your digital marketing pieces to anyone on your customer list won’t win you sales; it may actually cause people to unsubscribe to your emails and abandon your websites.

Creating an email marketing list

Though there are many newer ways to get your name onto the Internet, email marketing is still an effective way of targeting a specific audience. Instead of using a generic “sign up for our newsletter” link, break the newsletters and other content marketing lists into groups. If you sell a myriad of products, you may have articles about certain products on your web page. Somewhere on the article’s page, put a link for a potential customer to sign up for your newsletters or emails for specials. When the potential customer clicks through, present him with a list of newsletters. For example, you may offer informational newsletters on two or three subjects, a newsletter just for store-wide specials and a newsletter that pertains to specials and information on a specific service or product.

Surveys

Once a customer makes a large purchase, send out an email survey, and make sure you include demographic questions. It can be a short survey to find out a person’s age group, location, how the person likes the service or product and whether they would buy again. Demographics are extremely helpful when you’re trying to match emails, newsletters, web content and blog posts to a person’s interest.

For example, if you sell someone an electric golf cart, but you also sell utility task vehicles, you may want to know a person’s age and where he or she lives. If that customer is over 60 and lives in the city, it would be a waste of time to and sell that customer a UTV. On the other hand, if the customer is 45 to 60 and lives on a large chunk of property or has trails and gravel roads in the area, that customer may be interested in eventually purchasing a UTV to help with travel.

Knowing your customers and their habits significantly increases your bottom line and return on investment. The United Kingdom’s DMA Email Marketing Council published a 2013 report that showed ROI figures of over 21 pounds return on investment for every pound spent in advertising. Set some time aside to look at your inbound marketing campaign to see how you can improve it, thus improving your bottom line.

About the Author:

Joseph Baker has worked in the business world for more than 10 years, specifically in management. He has led development and management teams, and implemented budget reductions both professionally and as an independent contractor. He is also an avid blogger and inbound marketer, with published topics ranging from social media trends to search media metrics and algorithmic trends.

**Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please read our guest posting guidelines.

Running a modern business inevitably means making extensive use of IT. Within this field there are many problems to take into account, but there also plenty of solutions to be found. So what are some of the most common IT problems faced by businesses, and what can be done to address them?

Mobility

Not every business is office-bound all the time, so finding a solution for providing mobile IT support can be important. Many businesses have telecommuting employees who need access to IT on the move, while busy executives who travel to meetings and conferences also need access.

Fortunately, the advance of technology is providing numerous solutions that put IT firmly on the move. Devices such as tablet PCs, laptops and smart phones are making it possible for businesses to operate efficiently while on the move.

Digital Aggregation

We are fast moving towards the world of the paperless office and digital aggregation is at the heart of this. There is a growing need to have all records stored digitally in one place and instantly accessible at the press of few buttons – no more routing around in filing cabinets to find that missing invoice or a specific piece of data needed when putting together a presentation.

Scanning all documents into a computer system is an elegant solution and one that an increasing number of businesses are adopting. It can also mean that multiple offices can have access to the same information as each other, even if they’re many miles apart.

Social and Web Strategy

The Internet is now becoming the primary means by which businesses reach customers and clients. But to make use of the tool effectively enterprises need to have a coherent strategy for marketing themselves online. This should incorporate both a company’s own website and its social media output. To make best use of the web as a promotional tool, it’s important to really develop the online personality of your business.

The key to doing so is to identify your audience, establish what your goals are and then create compelling content that fits the bill. But remember to ensure that your online profile and marketing matches your offline one, so be sure that branding, USPs and the company ethos are consistent across all platforms.

The Cloud

The cloud is one of the latest revelations in the field of IT. If you’re unfamiliar with the term then it is roughly synonymous with the Internet (basically it’s the Internet 2.0!), and refers to the practice of outsourcing your computer software to remote servers. In effect, rather than having a program installed on your own computer, your system simply runs a client which communicates with the remote software, which may be located the other side of the country or even the world.

One of the main benefits of this is that you or your employees can access the program and its data from any Internet connected computer. An example of such software is Intuit’s Quickbooks Online – bookkeeping software which can be accessed via the cloud from anywhere in the world.

Process Automation

Sometimes people just get in the way! Building process automation into a company’s IT structure can save time and eliminate errors. The aim is to remove the need for a human hand wherever possible, in order to create a more streamlined system of doing things.

About the Author:

Carlo Pandian is a Management Graduate and blogs about small business, technology and finance. He is a regular contributor of several online business communities in Asia such as Start Up Malaysia, Asia Sentinel and Tech Node.

**Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please read our guest posting guidelines.

Once you declare that you plan to start your own small business or start-up venture, it seems as if everyone comes out of the woodwork to start kicking in their advice and opinions on what you should do. And much like bellybutton lint, even the most well-intentioned advice often stinks.

[image by kirstyhall]

Here are some common examples of bad advice you should ignore once you decide you want to start your own business.

“Go ahead! Quit your day job!”

One of the absolute worst pieces of advice you may hear before launching your own small business is to quit your day job. Unless you have the luxury of beaucoup bucks in the bank, it is always wise to have a fallback plan to pay your bills in the event that your start-up takes off later, rather than sooner. Many people who are driven to create their own start-up recognize the need to remain gainfully employed while “moonlighting” with their own business venture until that business takes off. It may be tough to perform at your day job while still building your own business, but the end result will be worth it. When you’re starting your own business, you need to be “all-in,” engaged even when it seems the odds are against you. However, being able to make the jump to your business full-time will be that much easier once you know the timing is right and you can move forward, guns blazing.

“Follow your passion / bliss / heart / Yellow Brick Road [insert noun of choice] and all will fall into place.”

While it’s a nice sentiment, following your passion will not necessarily translate into a successful business. Even if you are engaged in doing something that you love to do and take great pride in, there are some aspects of running a start-up that require rolling up your sleeves and plunging your hands into things you may not truly enjoy. A well-thought business plan is a necessity to present to potential investors. This plan should be bolstered by careful research you conduct on your own, as well as contain information and “second opinions” culled from multiple sources within your chosen area. Potential investors will want to see more than just your passion. While enthusiasm can be contagious, it’s not enough to convince backers to shell out some dough and invest in your start-up. They will want to see a vision and a business plan that clearly outlines your aims and where you forecast your business will be in the short-term (3-6 months) and in a long-range scenario (5+ years).

“Don’t worry! You can do it all!”

No. You really can’t do it all. Even the greatest of visionaries recognizes the areas in which he or she is weakest. The key to operating a successful small business is knowing those weaknesses and knowing when it’s time lean on a more seasoned professional in those areas, as opposed to flying solo. Enlist the aid of a reputable accountant or meet with a qualified consultant to discuss the needs of your small business as it begins to grow. Most small businesses do not posses the financial wiggle room to keep an army of consultants and lawyers on retainer. However, it’s a smart investment to meet with experts who offer their services to small businesses to identify where more money can be made — and saved. These professionals can help you keep track of the business expenses, filings required for your industry, and and other items / minutia to be taken care of so that you have more time to devote to the things that drove you to begin your own small business in the first place.

“Chase that Paper!”

Business and industry are just as susceptible to fads as fashion and entertainment. Neon, oversized shoulder pads, and sparkly vampires can be lumped in with such disastrous periods in business history as the Dot-com Boom (and bust) and the housing bubble. In many of these instances, would-be entrepreneurs got involved with a business they may not have had interest in beyond short-term profit that they assumed would translate to larger, long-term gains. Some people create start-ups because of a hunch that something will be “the next big thing.” Without a real yen for an industry beyond profit, very few businesses have a chance for survival — or to adapt to shifting trends if they are focused more on bottom line instead of innovation-driven profit.

“Take a Client! Any Client!”

When your business is in its infancy stages, it’s tempting to snap up any and every client that casts a shadow on your single-shingle. However, you will do yourself and the future of your company a great disservice if you choose a client to whom you may not be able to offer your best work. There may be a disconnect between what services you offer and what your prospective client may be looking for. A little honesty goes a long way towards fostering good will. If you cannot capably handle a client’s request, don’t take that client on. If you can, refer that client to someone who offers the services they require. In turn, you won’t burn yourself and your business out and you’ll avoid burning valuable bridges.

About the Author:

E.J. Dealy is the CEO of The Company Corporation which provides incorporation products and services to entrepreneurs and small businesses nationwide including incorporating in Delaware, California, and Florida.  The Company Corporation offers corporate kits, certificates of good standing, business education books, and permit assistance, but they do not offer legal, financial, or tax advice.

**Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please read our guest posting guidelines.

Procrastination sneaks up on us all at one point or another, raising its time-wasting head at the most inopportune of times. You know how it goes: there’s a deadline looming but then suddenly a thought pops into your head…

“Have a piece of work which needs finishing today? Don’t worry about that now, there’s a sale on down the road and hey, your pal just had a baby, I bet there are some pictures on Facebook.”

It happens to us all, but there is one easy step you can take to ensure that the disruptive procrastination process does not affect your work.

[image via]

Make Work Manageable

Splitting your work into manageable sections is one of the foremost steps you can take on the way to completing your goal. If your task is rather large and overly complicated, it can seem a daunting proposition to complete in the opening stages, but you can soon find a simpler way of progressing if you break it down into smaller, bite sized chunks.

Once the work is split into smaller sections: work out a specific deadline for each individual section and make sure that you stick to it. By enforcing these self-imposed deadlines over different parts of your work, you will move towards the overall goal with efficient pace which could otherwise be difficult to achieve.

Setting these individual deadlines for each section can help ensure that no work is left until the last second, but rather progresses in a pre-determined fashion. Working to only one deadline can be problematic as essential tasks inevitably get pushed aside as other priorities move to the fore. By organising your work into smaller portions which will add up to the overall goal, you can easily eliminate the possibility of overlooking vital work while working towards your final task completion.

Eliminate Distractions

The Internet is an invaluable tool, but it can also be an incredibly large distraction and the biggest agent of procrastination possible. Close down any unnecessary tabs in your browser and do not let yourself reopen them until your work is finished. The temptation to get back into bad habits can be incredibly enticing, but the desire to finish your work should be greater – even if that isn’t always necessarily the case! Regular breaks can help to keep your focus, but these should not be taken at random.

Allow yourself scheduled breaks from your work at designated times in order to refocus your attention span and not become distracted at random times. These can be set at time intervals or, preferably, after certain goals have been met. This can assist with splitting the workload into smaller designated sections and making the entire process much more manageable. The stress from a looming deadline can be overwhelming, but smaller deadlines with regular breaks can help to relieve the stress and keep the work progressing at a set pace.

About the Author:

Ewan Mochrie is the founder and lead trainer at Inspire 360 – providers of NLP training in London and other locations across the UK. Ewan regularly blogs on topics including career development, leadership and stress management.