Larger businesses may have more than one leader for different areas. However, the productivity of the team, processes, and organization is affected by how good these leaders and managers are at their jobs. You can start working towards becoming someone who can effectively manage and lead a business with ease. This guide will give you all the answers you need.

What Is a Business Leader?

Business leaders are at the heart of the company. However, there can be more than one within any organization.

Despite the obvious business leaders being in positions of power — such as the CEO, director, or president — smaller team leaders and managers are also business leaders. They may be responsible for different elements of the company. However, they are there to motivate employees, set goals, and achieve targets to work towards the overall aim of the company.

5 Key Traits of an Effective Business Leader

Of course, goals and outcomes will differ between business and industry. However, there are some key skills that will be present in all effective business leaders.

1. Excellent Communication Skills

Communication is the foundation of success, not only in business but in most aspects of life. Effective business leaders are able to communicate expectations, goals, and instructions with clarity and assertiveness. Likewise, they are also skilled at creating a space where employees feel comfortable to ask for help and guidance.

2. Creativity

An effective business leader is creative in the way that they approach challenges and problems. They are able to develop innovative ways to improve processes, organization, and productivity within their team. On top of this, they can influence employees to also begin thinking through this critical lens and solve problems for themselves.

3. Ability to Give — and Receive — Constructive Criticism

Nobody is perfect, and a business leader knows this. They have the ability to give constructive feedback to their staff in a manner that is not demoralizing. After all, they want their employees to grow, learn and develop their skills too. However, effective business leaders do not just give constructive criticism. They are also open and eager to receive it, using it to better themselves and their leadership style.

4. Ability to Self-Judge

Whilst receiving feedback from others is very useful, an effective business leader can notice their shortcomings themselves. They are able to pick up on areas of themselves that require improvements and work on them. Not only this, but they are not afraid to admit when they make mistakes. Mistakes lead to growth and growth leads to better business outcomes.

5. Works to Motivate and Encourage

A good business leader knows their employees’ professional strengths. They set goals and targets that are achievable and realistic, keeping team members motivated and giving them a sense of achievement. Additionally, effective leaders praise and thank their employees regularly. When people feel appreciated and rewarded, they work hard. An effective business leader knows how to use this to encourage productivity, loyalty, and determination.

Becoming an Effective Business Leader

You will not become an effective business leader overnight. The journey is a learning curve that twists and turns the whole way through your professional career.

And you must never forget that you cannot be perfect. There is always something to learn and further growth to be pursued. However, these methods will have you marching down the right path.

Practice clear communication.

The importance of communication cannot be highlighted enough. If employees aren’t sure what you want from them, you are not going to see the results you want.

Whilst communication is a two-way road, as a leader, you have to set the foundations. Organizing regular team meetings where clear goals can be set and people can provide updates on progress is a great place to start.

Communication as a leader is also about picking up on subtle hints and needs of employees, showing empathy, and being aware of your non-verbal communication. Take note of your tone of voice and body language when talking with employees. You want to be encouraging and open to make them feel comfortable and engaged.

Always look for ways to improve yourself.

You can always make improvements! This is true both personally and as an organization.

For example, studying for a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) will give you the advanced knowledge and skills to be able to solve complex business problems and develop professionally. Ashton University’s online DBA course has been designed for business leaders, professionals, and future executives to develop an understanding of processes through links to theory, applied research, and in-depth analyses.

Always take the initiative to make improvements to yourself. No matter how big or small, consistently make self-improvements to work towards becoming an effective business leader.

Listen to others.

Listening is a large part of communication. Honing this skill is absolutely critical. As a leader, listening covers a wide range of aspects.

You have to actively listen and respond to your employees. All of them. Whether they are asking for guidance, voicing their concerns, or putting forward a potential idea. You want them to feel respected and valuable, so make time for them and their concerns.

They are coming to you with hopes of change, improvements, or growth. You need to respond in a way that shows they are heard, their contributions to the company are important, and how they are feeling matters to you.

Lead by example.

Everyone has had or has heard about the lazy manager type that barks out orders to everyone else and then floats around not really doing anything. Don’t be that person.

You are the business leader, and if you aren’t working hard, why should your employees? Seeing you actively taking on tasks yourself, working towards the company vision, and putting in effort sets an example to everyone else. You show what is expected. You motivate them to want to work hard for you.

There are some key skills that all leaders possess. Now you know what they are and how to develop them. You are well on your way to becoming an effective and admirable business leader.

The post A Guide to Becoming an Effective Business Leader appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Here’s why it’s not relevant for your small business today.

I was at an event recently, and the owner of a karate studio asked one of the expert panelists, how he could use blockchain in his business. I use Digital Asset Management that it’s a cybersecurity company that offers a high-security custodian technology.

The “expert” said, well if you had a community of karate enthusiasts, you could use blockchain for the community database. Something like this, the expert explained.

WRONG.

For a small businesses, such as this owner of a karate studio, he doesn’t need blockchain, all he needs is a simple database to keep track of members, hold discussions or etc. SQL or any number of other databases that have been around for years.

Companies such as Salesforce, Netsuite, Zoho, Infusionsoft, Hubspot, SAP, Intuit and Microsoft make all the tools you need to run a great business. With all the other supporting services such as Asana, Monday, and others, you have a full suite of tools and services to help you manage a growing business.

Indeed VERY big companies who want to enhance security, or sound cool, might consider blockchain – banks, Amazon, Walmart, GE and very BIG companies with massive datasets. But for the rest of us, we small business owners we don’t need to think twice about blockchain. For more legal advice talk to a blockchain lawyer and avoid misunderstandings that you don’t need.

• Focus on making a great product.
• Focus on serving your customers.
• Focus on generating awareness for the problem you solve.
• Focus on better marketing and advertising.
• Focus on treating your employees/staff/team well.
• Focus on making a difference in other peoples lives.

Blockchain is nice, it’s cute, it’s the new buzzword, but you don’t need to worry about it for your small business.

The post Blockchain Is The New Hype Machine Small Businesses Should Ignore appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Nearly 1 in 5 US businesses have gone the paperless route. How can you do the same? In this article, we offer 7 tips that will help make your business completely paper-free.

1. Use a Project Management Tool

Company projects often require the coordination of multiple people working from multiple departments with each department having their own timeline and resources to get things done. Monitoring progress on paper can work, but it is inefficient. You have to print and distribute copies to every person involved, and if project information changes, you need to edit your document and print out additional copies. All of this costs time, energy, and resources

Instead of relying on paper to keep track of your projects, your business can leverage cloud-based project management apps such as Basecamp, Asana, and Trello for the same purposes and more. Project management apps enable you to run a project online with no team member limit.

Here are some of the things you can do with a project management app:

• Assign a specific task to a team member or group of people complete with instructions.
• Provide updates on the task in real time, reducing the need to hold meetings and print reports.
• Create a calendar of their own timelines which can be viewed by members from other departments which helps keep everyone involved on the same page.
• Prioritize specific tasks and set deadlines for every part of a project. This lets members identify which tasks to work on first and how much time they have so that projects can move according to schedule.

With project management applications, you can reduce paper use while improving your project’s efficiency.

2. Adopt Electronic Payroll

Nearly half of small businesses pay an average of $850 per year to fix payroll issues, such as missed payments or tax penalties. Reduce the likelihood of errors and go paperless at the same time by using a reliable payroll software.

Instead of tracking employee hours worked, computing salary, and filing taxes manually, payroll software lets you to automate these tasks while reducing paper use and eliminating human error. In addition, the software can also pay employees via direct deposit, saving your accounting department the hassle of making a trip to the bank every pay day or having to print checks.

Your employees stand to benefit as well. Many electronic payroll software have employee self service features. Employees can log in to access their payroll data online using any device. They can view their personal details, direct deposit information, tax deductions, and pay stubs. This gives employees more privacy and security over their personal details and compensation information.

3. Switch to Google Business Suite

Google offers amazing cloud-based apps that can help you significantly reduce paper consumption, including the following:

• Google Mail & Chat – Use for online communication with employees and customers. No need to print and send memos.
• Google Documents – Scrap paper use by collaborating, storing, and managing files electronically.
• Google Sheets – Save more paper by using Google’s spreadsheet functions for database management, charts, scheduling, audits, and feedback forms.

A personal Google account is free, but most businesses will want to get a G Suite business account, and the pricing starts at $5 per user. Included in the cost is a business email account (e.g. JaneDoe@ABCCompany.com).

Google Suite, which is used by 3 million businesses, enables your employees to access data anywhere with an Internet connection. With G suite, you don’t have to pay for licenses, as you would have to if you used word processing software and email clients. In addition, all of your data are saved on the cloud so you don’t have to worry about backing up your system

4. Digitize Receipts & Invoices

Another way to purge paper from your business is by going digital with receipts and invoices. You can start by offering customers the options to get receipts in digital format. Square’s Point of Sale, for example, allows you to send receipts online or via text. This gives your customer the advantage of saving the transaction record for future reference instead of throwing it in the trash.

While you’re at it, ask your suppliers to issue digital receipts/invoices as well. They can send their invoice to you via email. You can create a dedicated email account for this purpose or store electronic invoices in your accounting software program.

5. Store Data in the Cloud

Research reveals that companies spend around $25,000 to fill file cabinets with documents and another $2,000 annually to maintain and safeguard that information. Your business can do away with such expenses while going paperfree by switching to cloud storage. Cloud-based platforms like Dropbox and Google offer massive storage capabilities with an option to organize your files into separate folders.

Best of all, these cloud-based platforms are free up to a certain storage limit. For instance, Dropbox offers 2GB of free storage per user, which is usually enough for text files and images. You can even earn more space by referring friends, family, and coworkers.

6. Invest in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

A CRM is powerful software with a broad set of applications that can reduce your company’s reliance on paper to store internal and external documents. 

Popular CRMs in the market offer the following features:

• Storage of customer data and customer interaction
• Storage and management of employee details
• Management of leads
• Assignment of tasks
• Management of vendor and affiliate data
• Project and task management
• Storage of company documents such as contracts and invoices

In addition, you can use your CRM with other apps discussed in this article. For example, you can save the links of Google Documents and Google Sheets on your CRM. You can also attach digital receipts for storage and easier tracking to projects within your CRM. With your data stored online, all you need is an Internet connection, and you can access it anytime from anywhere.

7. Move Your Marketing Strategy Online 

You don’t need to print mountains of paper to reach your customers. According to Harvard Business Review research, online and email marketing are cheaper but just as effective as direct mail marketing campaigns.

Direct mail campaigns can cost as much as $10 per customer when you factor in design and printing costs. In contrast, you can set a daily budget as low as $5 when you advertise on Facebook, and the average cost each time a user clicks on your ad on Google is just $0.58. Several popular email marketing platforms, such as MailChimp, are completely free for a basic account. Plus, both Facebook and Google offer remarketing campaigns where your ads are shown only to users who have previously visited your site. This is a powerful feature that no print ad can offer.

Conclusion

Going paperless is healthy for both the environment and your business. You save trees by eliminating paper consumption. Furthermore, investing in online software and applications such as G suite, CRM, and email marketing keeps your business competitive while driving down operating costs. There’s a lot of incentive for you to take the paperless route now.

The post 7 Ways to Make Your Business Completely Paper-Free appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Box

Box is a UK-based file sharing service that has both personal and business options. It offers unlimited storage on business accounts and it integrates with Microsoft Office 365. It’s simple to use, secure and affordable.

– Jonathan Long, Market Domination Media

2. Google Drive

We use Google Drive for file sharing among our team and also clients. It is free till 15 GB for each user and get 100 GB is only $2 a month. We can share any type of file and also create Google office files and share. It comes with apps for desktops and smartphones that we can download and synch from there. It maintains the versions. Also, many people have Google accounts, so we can share easily.

– Piyush Jain, SIMpalm

3. BitTorrent Sync

BitTorrent Sync is the best file sharing solution we’ve used by a mile. For most use cases, it is completely free no matter how many users you have via a torrent. It has higher security because it never gets stored in the “cloud.” It’s also fast, especially within a local network, precisely because it goes directly between the users rather than uploading and then downloading on other cloud services.

– James Simpson, GoldFire Studios

4. Slack

People think of Slack as a chat, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s a perfect solution for a remote-working and mobile-friendly team to search, share and store files that need to be ready at a moment’s notice.

– Brennan White, Cortex

5. Copy

Copy is a great service that I’ve used over the past couple of years. It works basically the same as Dropbox, but you get a few more bells and whistles while spending around half the yearly price as most other services like it.

– John Rampton, Due

6. A Shared Server

All of our computers are connected and have a shared folder via Wi-Fi. This method is very low-cost and secure.

– Andrew Namminga, Andesign

7. Hightail

We have a unique Hightail upload link that makes it easy for employees and clients to send bulk files all at once, without dealing with multiple emails. Since our business heavily relies on receiving photo and video content from clients, Hightail has made our lives much easier.

– Micah Johnson, GoFanbase, Inc.

8. Dropbox

I find Dropbox relatively inexpensive for what you get, and with the new functionality of being able to comment on files, it makes my life much easier. If I were to pick a negative, it would be purchasing more storage for your account, which can get pricey for multiple users.

– Jayna Cooke, EVENTup

9. WeTransfer

I love Google Drive for many things, but for sharing it doesn’t always work right. Wetransfer.com is my go-to solution for quick, free and painless sharing for anything up to 2 GB. You don’t even need an account to send anything, and I’ve used it at least 200 times over the years.

– Josh Sprague, Orange Mud

10. OwnCloud

The available SaaS file–sharing services aren’t always a great fit: they have limited features, aren’t easily customized and security is a coin toss. OwnCloud is a self-hosted file–sharing and collaboration solution with great encryption. It’s hosted on your own servers, in a data center or in the cloud. The major benefit is that your IT department has full control over where and how data is stored.

– Vik Patel, Future Hosting

11. Chatter

If you’re already a Salesforce customer then you may be familiar with Chatter, what we describe as our internal social network. We communicate in department groups and often share relevant information — such as training material or marketing collateral — by posting it directly to the group. Chatter shows a PDF preview of uploaded files and allows people to like, comment and download a copy.

– David Ciccarelli, Voices.com

12. MediaFire

If you have a lot of files to share but not a huge budget, MediaFire is a great choice for you and your company. There is no limit on storage space and the interface is extremely easy to work with and show to your teams. There is no limit on how many users can dial in to this tool, and it is a great space for team members to communicate, share files, bounce ideas back and forth and more.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

13. Streamfile

With Streamfile, you can send and share files up to 300 MB for free. No registration is required, and your files are encrypted. You also get 1 GB of bandwidth each month, and premium accounts are available starting at only $79 per month.

– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

14. Seafile and OwnCloud

Seafile and OwnCloud have seen some some good success, are actively supported and offer community editions that are free. They also have paid versions that are reasonable and low-cost compared to more mainstream big tech companies.

– Kevin Conner, Vast Bridges

The post 14 File Sharing Tools Perfect for Growing Teams appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Starting this month, in New York State, doctor’s writing patient prescriptions must do so electronically. Sure, there are downsides to using electronic prescriptions – but my guess is that it will only evolve and get better, as reported by the New York Times.

It’s “forced upgrades” like that that doctors and small business owners can see as opportunities to upgrade their overall business operations and make things better. The only thing is that people won’t get a personal consultation with their doctors, that can be very dangerous for people who may have other complications that they might not now about until they see a doctor, like a revision cleft lip.

Here at Doctor to You consult with the best doctors now.

Upgrading technology enables you to

• Offer better services to your customers
• Improve your collaboration and communication
• Boost productivity

No one wants to be forced to do anything, but sometimes, a forced change is good for us and if we trust the process (as Marcus Lemonis talks about in CNBC The Profit) it might do us good.

The post Electronic Prescriptions: Some Doctors Are Angry. But They Should See The Opportunities. appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.