How Easy Is It to Start a Restaurant in 2019

Business

According to The Statistics Portal, Statista, food and drinks sales in the US in 2017 amounted to almost $800 billion, up from $379 billion in 2000. These statistics are proof that the restaurant and food service industry is growing and thus a restaurant would be a good business invest in. But how easy is it to open a restaurant in 2019? Consider the following:

Skills and Experience

To run a successful restaurant you have to be an experienced chef, or at least someone who knows their way around a restaurant’s kitchen. Without that experience, it will be hard not only to choose your ingredients but also to plan your business. If you are not an experienced chef, you have two options. One, you can invest in training.  Two, you can hire an experienced chef. A chef will cost around $20 to $40 per hour. 

Start Up Cost

When opening a restaurant, you will require money to buy furniture and kitchen essentials such as refrigerators, dishwashing machines, cooking pots, ovens and tableware. Additionally, you will require permits and licenses, and these too cost money. A small restaurant will cost roughly $250,000 and the cost can go up to $1 million or more if you are looking for something hi-tech. However, according to an article on Forbes, one investor opened his restaurant for $13,000. 

How large an investment you make depends on your target customers and how creative you can get. If you don’t have a big budget, you could start small and then look into restaurant financing to expand your operations. The Lending Express company’s resource on loans for restaurants highlights instances when you may require a loan for your restaurant. This is a company that offers help to business owners by linking them up with potential lenders. 

Marketing

Marketing a business in 2019 is pretty easy especially if you know your way around the internet. Many people these days are using search engines and social media to find places to eat as well as food delivery services. To market your business on social media, you simply have to create a page or profile, get people to like and follow your pages and keep them engaged by sharing interesting food related content. You can also use your page to share information on discounts and new items on the menu. To appear on search engines, create a website for your restaurant and don’t forget to indicate your address. Then, make a point of publishing restaurant and food related content often. YouTube videos and social media giveaways can also help in marketing your business. Finally, update your business information on Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor and Yahoo Local Listings. However, don’t focus on online marketing only. Some offline advertising can help too. 

Location

The best location for your restaurant will depend on your target audience. You can build your own restaurant, buy an existing one, rent a space in a building, or even buy and operate from a food truck. 

While everything else can be easy, remember it is your menu that will keep your customers coming back. Therefore, if you choose to open a restaurant, have something unique to offer. 

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5 Ways to Improve Your Customer Relationships

Business

Having a good relationship with your customers is essential if you want to be successful and achieve growth in your business. Improving your customer relationships should be high up there on your list of priorities when running your own business as it can either be the key to success or the key to your demise. There are many different features and software that are now available to help you improve your customer relationships, establish customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Customisation 

Customers like to feel special as this makes them feel appreciated and will make them more loyal to your company. A great way to go about this is to customise and personalise each of your customers experience with you. This can include sending individual emails out to your customers that address them by name so that they know you are making the effort to email them directly. 

You should also consider sending your loyal customers a newsletter using software like Mailchimp to keep them up to date on developments in your business. 

Build Trust by Being More Transparent 

It is important that your customers trust you and one of the main ways to build this trust is by being transparent. While many businesses tend to keep their operations secret, you can build trust with your customers by letting them see what happens behind closed doors. This way, they have a greater understanding of what it is you do and what your staff are doing daily. 

You should consider inviting them to your business headquarters and give your customers a chance to have a look around where you work and give them a guided tour. This will help your clients feel special and appreciative while giving them a better understanding of how your business functions. However, it also gives you the opportunity to build a personal relationship with your customers as you can spend time talking to them and getting to know them better. This personal relationship is often lacking in modern day business negotiations so can make for a great added extra. 

It Is About More Than Just the Sale 

Sometimes businesses make the mistake of focussing too much on just the sale transaction and neglect the opportunities available to improve their customer relationships. While it is important that sales staff meet targets and keep the sales coming in, sometimes being too pushy with customers can make customers feel like you don’t really care about them and just want their business. It is important to show your customers that you do care about them as just because they aren’t interested in buying your services or products today, this doesn’t mean they won’t be in the future. 

Sometimes a customer will come back to you later when they have had some time to consider the purchase, so it is important that you make a good impression even if you aren’t making a sale right there and then. 

By focusing more on the overall customer experience when they interact with your business in any way, you can ensure that you are developing positive relationships with your customers. 

Offer Interesting and Helpful Content 

A lot of the internet is now full of content that is used to entice online traffic, in the hope of turning views into sales. Therefore, it is important that you carefully consider the sort of content your customers will find the most helpful and relevant. Offering information that may help them is a bonus reason why they should choose your business over any of your competitors. 

You should also make sure that your content stands out and is interesting enough to hold your customers’ attention. According to Mail Online, the internet age has made us have shorter attention spans due to ‘information overload’. Therefore, it is more important than ever before to offer interesting content on your website so that you hold the attention of visitors and customers. 

Monitor and Review Feedback  

Potential customers are likely to research your company before they do business with you in the form of previous customer reviews. Therefore, it is important that you ask previous customers to review their experiences with you and show these reviews online for people to see. This will help with transparency, as well as offer a way for you to brag about how good you are! 

However, not all reviews are going to be 100 percent positive, so be sure to respond to all feedback to show you keep on top of customer issues. 

Customer relationships are key to your success as a company, as the happier your customers are, the more likely they are to use your business again, and they may also discuss their positive experience with their friends as a way of a recommendation. So, make sure you consider customer relations as important as customer sales.

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Does Your Small Business Need a Lift?

Business

How well is your small business faring these days?

If you are seeing some troubles with your business, you do not want to wait too long to tackle them.

Money Will Oftentimes Be the Number One Challenge

For many, enough money around will oftentimes be the number one challenge they face.

That said do not feel as if you don’t have any options should money be tight these days.

One avenue you might want to travel down would be attempting to access a line of credit.

By seeing which provider is best suited to help you, you move closer to getting a big weight off your shoulders.

In searching to find the right line of credit provider, be sure you do your homework. The last thing you want or need is getting involved with a company not looking out for your best interests.

With this in mind, do some background research on any provider you think about trying to get credit from.

Among the things you’d want to learn about them:

· How long in business?

· What kind of track record they have when it comes to working with small businesses such as yours.

· If they have a top-notch record of customer service with small business owners

By doing your research, you could get that line of credit you need sooner than later.

Finances May Not Be Your Only Need

As important as money is to run a small business, you may have some other needs that you do not want to overlook right now.

For example, how much time and effort are you putting into marketing your brand?

Some small business owners are very adept at marketing their companies. For others, it can be a big mess.

If you do not have the time or expertise for that matter to promote your brand, it would behoove you to find those who can.

One option is to look for an SEO agency.

If you are not familiar with search engine optimization, know that it can do wonders for you.

The right SEO pros can help you with the following:

· Stellar content for your website

· Making sure you use keywords that rank high on Google with such content

· Quality backlinks

· Driving traffic to your website

· Promoting your brand on social media

· Better referral marketing

Those are but a few of the things SEO pros can bring to the table for you and your business.

Last, it is important to promote your business outside of SEO and other such options.

One that should come to mind for you is networking dates, trade shows, community events and more.

By showing consumers what you have to offer, you can be lifting your brand to new heights.

Look at the beginning of the year to see which events locally and in other locales are worth your time to attend. When you set aside time and money to be there, you open the doors to potential business.

When you have a sound business plan in place, chances are that plan will be lifting you and your brand to success.

So, does your small business need a lift before it is too late?

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Important Tips For The First-Time Manager

Business

There are numerous situations in which people just end up promoted to a management position because of the skills that they show at their job. Unfortunately, being good at a job does not mean you are going to be a really effective manager. This makes people have to learn so many new things that can easily become overwhelming. Because of this, German Trujillo Manrique highlights the following really important tips that first-time managers have to always think about.

Always Keep Learning

If you are promoted to the management position even if you have no management training, there is a pretty good possibility that upper management knows it. This means you are often given the benefit of a doubt and room to learn.

One thing that is not often highlighted about management is that you always need to keep learning. This is practically the only way to keep thriving. You have to be patient and build the skill level in practically all management areas. A great way to do this is to get help from mentors.

Start with learning all that you can about time management and how to deal with the stress associated with the new position. This can do wonders to help you to effectively manage whatever happens.

Work With Your Team

Because of the overwhelming nature of being a first-time manager, it is common to see beginner managers break contact with the team. This is one of the worst things that can be done. You cannot simply use a management strategy that you see somewhere and expect great results. This is because what works great for an organization or an individual does not necessarily work in other situations.

Remember that the manager is the liaison between employees and upper managers. This means that you have to take into account what both of these sides say, with the main purpose being adaptability. The way in which you communicate with the team and other important people in the company dictates results.

Some of the things you absolutely have to remember include:

  • Make sure services are properly budgeted and funded.

  • Never ignore problems and try to solve them as soon as possible.

  • Do create urgency when it is needed.

  • Analyze past practices. You want to question them and see how they can be improved.

  • Do research absolutely all things associated with the issues that appear.

  • Make decisions and stick to them.

  • Take initiative.

Offer Constructive Feedback

As a manager, you need to offer feedback. However, if something goes bad, so many first-time managers fail to talk as they are afraid critique will make them less popular. Management has nothing to do with popularity. It is vital that you offer both negative and positive feedback. Whenever a project is over, you need to discuss positives and negatives. A failure to do this can easily lead to two unwanted situations:

  • Staff members only receive negative feedback so they end up feeling like nothing they do is right.

  • Staff members only receive positive feedback so they gain false confidence.

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Reputation Management Consultants Reviews – How a Reputation Management Firm Can Immeasurably Help Your Business

Business

Do you know what your online reputation looks like for your business? If the answer is no then you aren’t alone and there are a worrying number of companies who have no idea what is being said or written about them online. There is hope however and it comes in the form of a reputation management company, dedicated companies who can greatly help you to clean up and increase the stature of your online reputation, in fact you only need to look at the online reputation consultant management reviews to see just how much they have helped a number of companies. If you aren’t sure whether or not this is a service which you need, here are just a few ways in which they can help you.

Measure

The first step is of course to understand what your online reputation is, before the team can set about maintaining it, improving it or fixing it. Within a day you will have a full idea of what your company’s reputation looks like online and this will set the ball rolling for improving the fortunes of your company.

Social Media

Does your social media reflect the values of the company? If not then the rep management team will first set about to fix this. The power of social media is absolutely incredible and on one hand you can go viral and bring in huge amounts of success to your company, unfortunately you can also bring disgrace to the company with an ill-timed Tweet or Facebook post which can cause irreparable damage. The rep management company will first clean up your social media and then they will help you with what to post and most importantly, when to post for maximum engagement.

Reviews

Word of mouth has long been a favorite marketing tool and in the modern era this type of conversation is had online, via online reviews. You may be blissfully unaware that your business is being slated on the online review sites and this could be preventing more customers from coming through your doors. The reputation management team cannot delete poor reviews but they can give you the chance to respond, which can often turn a bad situation into a good one. The reputation management guys will also set up alerts so that you know whenever someone is leaving a review, good or bad.

Relegation

When someone searches for your company’s name on Google what will they find? If the answer is some negative articles then the reputation management company will be able to help you. Using SEO tactics the reputation management company will be able to produce lots of positive content about your business and then this will ensure that those negative articles are then stuffed further down the search rankings so that nobody will see them.

If you are not managing your online reputation then you could be damaging your business.

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TitleCard Capital – Tips on Choosing the Right Private Equity Firm

Business

TitleCard Capital is a real estate private equity firm who work tirelessly for their investors to provide the very best returns that they can on their investment. I began working with TitleCard around 9 years ago and I have been incredibly happy with how it has all gone so far. Private equity firms are the same across the world, whether they invest in real estate, stock options or oil futures and if you want to invest your money into a diverse portfolio which will be managed by experts, this is a great way to do so. I spent a lot of time weighing up my options before investing with TitleCard and I wanted to offer you a couple of tips on what to look out for when you are searching for a private equity group to invest in.

Returns

The first and most important thing to look at is of course the returns which you should be looking to make from these investments. It is important that you do not focus on the returns which the investment group tell you that you can make, but rather the returns which have been paid out in recent years. Whichever firm you are looking to use, ask them to see some historical data of the last 5 years, marry that up with the returns that they are promising in order to make an informed decision.

Management

I have learned that they key to success for these companies is the right management team, with that they can deliver great results. To make sure that you have a high profile management team looking after your money you should simply look into each member of it, check out their history and make sure that they are the real deal. The team at TitleCard is filled with people with a track record of success and this was part of the reason for my choosing them. If you are looking at a firm who have high turnover and management who don’t have a proven history of success, they may not be the best option.

Investors

This vehicle of investment only works when there is lots of investment coming in and this is something else which you need to be sure of. You should have a basic understanding of how much money is in the pot because if there are limited funds then you won’t be able to enjoy all of the benefits which a firm like this should be able to offer you. Speak with the investment manager to gain an understanding of the financial power which they have.

Gut

It may not be very scientific but your gut will also tell you a lot about whether or not you should invest with a certain firm. If things don’t feel right or the management team just don’t give you the confidence that your money will be safe with them, don’t do it, it is better to wait than make a mistake.

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Tips to Make Your E-commerce Site Legit and Trustworthy

Business Tech

Online users can be very meticulous when it comes to the websites that they support, most especially for e-commerce sites, where they input their personal details and billing information. They make sure to scrutinize if the website is legitimate and trustworthy first before they go any further. And as a website owner, you should do your best to gain customer trust. In this article, we will share with you some tips that will make your e-commerce site safe and trustworthy, and eventually, this will lead to more sales.

  1. Have an SSL certificate – one of the first things that users check in a website is if the site has an SSL certificate or the “https”. SSL certificate allows secure connections from a web server to a browser. Users enter their personal information, especially their credit card details when dealing with e-commerce shops, thus it is important for them to know that their details are safe.
  2. Provide accurate and detailed About Us and Contact Us pages – next, you should make sure to have a detailed and accurate About Us and Contact us pages. You should discuss who you are including the mission and vision of the company. Most importantly, users want to see contact details including phone number, email address, office address and other contact information so they know where to reach you in case they have questions or if there’s a problem with their transaction.
  3. Have a step by step guidelines how your site works – you should also feature step-by-step guidelines how your site works starting with registration, how to order, how to pay and when they can expect to receive their orders. You should lay out everything so they know exactly what to expect. You can do this in the form of video, infographics or a simple and direct to the point write up.
  4. Feature a LiveChat support – it would be great to have a LiveChat widget on your site so users can chat when they have quick questions. You can assign one or two customer support personnel to answer customers’ queries. This will give your customers feeling of relief that they can contact you in real time.
  5. Reply to queries within 24-hr period – it is also important that you answer all enquiries with 24-hour period so customers do not feel neglected. They tend to freak out when not receiving a reply especially when it comes to their orders.
  6. Publish high quality content – next, you should publish only high quality content including articles and photos. Make sure that your photos are accurate and also the descriptions that you include. Do not deceive your customers or else they will not trust your site ever again.
  7. Always update your site – lastly, it is the best habit to keep your site always updated. Make sure to publish new content at least twice a week. This way, visitors will also keep coming back to your site.

Follow the tips that we discussed in this post to help you make your e-commerce site successful. Your first priority is always your customers so be sure to take care of their needs and keep them happy and satisfied all the time.

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How Important are Breaks at Work?

Business Health & Fitness

Breaks at Work

Breaks at Work

One popular myth in the workplace is that tying yourself to your desk helps you achieve more. It is important to note that working for a long period of time is counterproductive. It does more harm (physical and mental) than good.

You probably have a ton of work that should be finished at the end of the day, deadlines to meet and conferences to attend. These tasks will be more easily completed if you allow yourself to take short breaks.

Did you know that a 15-second break every 10 minutes eases your stress level by 50%? Also, a 30-second break can increase your efficiency by 13%.

If these little breaks can help make you productive and decrease anxiety, imagine what happens when you take long and consistent breaks at work.

Below are reasons why taking a break is essential at work.

1. Helps You De-stress

When you work consistently without a break, your mind and body get overwhelmed and stressed. You will notice that your mind starts to give up on you, you become miserable, anxious and depressed. In the process of pushing yourself to get more work done, you start to lose the zeal to work.

Letting stress build up is unhealthy. As much as possible, take frequent breaks to replenish your mind. Move away from your desk often, take a walk, have your lunch away from your desk. Engage in activities that help you relax.

2. Increased productivity

Sometimes, we cannot control how our brain functions. When you are stressed and overworked productivity levels drop. Your brain is designed to work efficiently, but not continuously. When you take constant breaks, you take time to relax, destress and replenish your mind. You will resume work with more focus and be more engaged. Breaks also help you improve your memory and concentration levels.

3. Reduces Physical Ailments

Many ailments are associated with long hours of work, problems such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Gazing at a computer screen for lengthy periods can lead to a condition called Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). Symptoms of CVS include blurred vision, eye strain and neck and shoulder pain. Taking regular breaks will help prevent these health issues. If you do believe stress at work is making you ill, then why not visit your GP for a check-up? If you are limited on time there are places online where you can speak with a doctor via an online GP – the cost of this will often be covered by insurers like AXA.

4. Boosts Creativity

Sometimes, you get the best ideas after a short break. Adults have an average attention span of 15 – 40 minutes. After this time, your attention is rebooted after each break. During a break, your mind takes time to address some unanswered questions.

Simple activities like stepping away from your desk, walking around or meditating can do the trick. Some of the most creative people in the world had their best ideas after long breaks.

5. Helps with Obesity

This might come as a surprise to many people. Did you now, hurried and distracted consumption allows you to eat more? Thus, making you gain weight. Also moving around can reduce your body mass index and trim your waistline. You don’t have to engage in rigorous exercise. Walking around for 5 minutes or a simple stretch can help.

Taking a break might put a hold on your work, but it’s worth it.  It will help you become more productive and give you more time to develop healthier habits.

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5 Must-Haves for Retail Business Success Today

Business

Retail Business

Retail Business

Before opening a retail store, make sure you have defined the legal structure of your business and picked the right name for it. You have made the right financial plans and chosen the best location.  Unfortunately, your family members and friends are appalled by the idea.

Don’t judge them, they have every right to be. It was reported that as many as 2,692 retail stores shut down in the first half of 2018. Now, you are scared and thinking about changing your decision. No, you should not.  Amidst the retail apocalypse, 1,569 stores opened. These stores closed down because there were unable to move with the trend.

It is important to note that, starting something new takes patience, precision and of course guts to compete with the rest of the world. We have highlighted 7 essential things your budding business would need to thrive.

1. A website

If your initial plan did not include having an online store, it should now. E-commerce is transforming retail. According to Statista, online sales account for 21.5% of the country’s retail sales. Most retail stores closed down because they could not afford to compete with online stores.

More consumers are tilting towards buying products from the convenience of their home. And as such, a website is a must-have for your retail store.  It is advisable that your website starts running before your store. Or at the very least at the same time as your store. Your website should be secure and have simple web navigation.

2. Marketing Tactic

Marketing is an important strategy for every business. It does not matter how many people know, have, you need a strategy to get customers. Your marketing plan should be detailed. It should include how your website will look like, your target customers and how you intend to get them to notice your store.

It is important to combine online marketing with traditional forms of marketing. This will give you an incredible ROI. Also, you need to have a strategic social media presence.

3. Insurance

It is not enough to have a store. You need to make sure both your online and offline stores are insured. Insurance protects your business in the event of natural disaster or other unforeseen circumstance. Your insurance should cover public liability, employers’ liability, contents cover, cyber liability among others.

4. Having the Right Staff

As passionate as you are about your business, you would still need members of staff to run it. You cannot be in the store all the time and if you are, you cannot oversee everything at once. The best way to help your business is to get the right set of people and train them.

Train your staff on how you want them to represent your store, operational procedures and customer service.

5. Store Layout

The layout or flow of your store determines how your customers shop and whether or not they would return. Plan this aspect with precision and coordination. Determine the floor type, kinds of fixtures and shelving to be used, how items are to be arranged.

Put basic items at the back of the store, and make attractive items more noticeable. This way you would have succeeded in drawing the eye of most shoppers.

Conclusion

Opening a store could be overwhelming. Make sure you start with small goals and work your way to the larger once. We hope this guide helps you achieve your dream. Good luck.  

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Why Microservice Architecture Gaining Even More Importance in 2019?

Business

Microservice Architecture

Microservice Architecture

In a dynamic environment where businesses operate in this age, most corporations are drifting towards the microservice architecture.  Why is microservice architecture gaining even more importance in 2019?

The main reason why microservice is gaining valid popularity is because of the gaffes with the monolithic development architecture. Microservice is simply jumping in to fill the gaps and inefficiencies of the old system.

Faster problem solving

On the monolithic architecture, you would generally have problems fixing a single anomaly in code without interfering with the other parts of the application. The beauty of microservice architecture is that it isolates every program and makes problem-solving a lot easier.

Additionally, if you want to upscale a specific section/program of the app without affecting the rest, you would need to reorganize the whole application architecture. This could be expensive.

For example, when your app deals in online payments and you just want to revamp the security features of the payment section, you would have to modify other unrelated components like servers and databases.

More stable and secure

Microservice also happens to be one of the safe bets in application development history. With this arrangement, you are sure that one cyber attack does not paralyze all essential company functions.

With the monolithic application architecture, any attack on even simple components as registry could end up disabling the whole app. Similarly, fixing the problematic parts places companies in a fix as it means upgrading the whole app environment.

Given that applications are fairly expensive to develop and maintain, you would usually be safer with an approach that greatly reduces the risk of starting over.

Microservice application development approach has gained much attention and a ton of blogs have written on its pros and cons. In the blog Svitla- a Silicon Valley based application Development Company, microservice is loved by developers due to its ability to develop decoupled application programs that could be deployed on their own.

Modularity

The fact that the application programs operate independently allows developers to isolate and correct defects within the application without interfering with the whole app. This is equally important in testing each component of the app to determine the weak points and strengths.

Compatibility

Microservice produces programs that are reusable, making them more effective in bringing down development cost. Also, microservice is compatible with a wide array of many applications. This ensures efficiency in the deployment and smooth flow of services.

Improved flexibility

Unlike the monolithic development architecture, microservice offers much more flexibility in providing a great User Experience. When the company decides to change the theme of their enterprise application, for example, they could do it effortlessly.

In the old order, you would require developers to literally dismantle every component part of the application to effect one change. This presents a huge financial implication and is, therefore, not good for business.

Easier to develop

Microservice is gaining importance because developers generally love the freedom that comes with Microservice architecture. Developers have the freedom to choose the coding language to use.

Is Microservice architecture a silver bullet?

While microservice presents a host of new efficiencies lacking in the old dispensation, it also has its fair share of drawbacks.

One notable challenge is that due to the number of interactions that have to occur to link each program to the other, communication could take up more costs. You could also experience challenges of consistency especially where developers use different programming languages.

Conclusion

Microservice architecture is gaining even more importance in 2019 due to its improved efficiencies. While it also has challenges, they are outweighed by the major benefits that come with its usage in app development.

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