You need to train and retrain your employees, whether they are full-time employees or outsourcing partners. Training is a great tool that helps new hires or existing employees gain better understanding about your company and what is required of them. It equips employees to offer their best services to the company.

Here are great tips on how to create effective training materials for employees of a company;

1: Create a Training Handbook or Manual

It’s good to have a reference material that the employees can consult whenever they are in doubt or need to learn more about the company. Consequently, if they have questions at any point in time, they will refer to the handbook. You should create a soft copy that you can send to the employees via email, especially your remote workers who are not within reach and couldn’t get the hard copy.

Here are things you should include in a training manual for employees;

• Best practices for the company
• The major responsibilities of an employee’s job
• How to get in touch with management
• How to use online interfaces, software programs or other pieces of equipment to get tasks done

2: Introduce The Company’s Key Staff

Let the remote workers get to know the key members of your staff. This way, the remote workers won’t be intimidated when they meet those key persons for the first time. These are the people who the remote workers will interface with. Therefore it’s important to introduce them to the remote workers via a video conference call. If video conference call is not possible, you can give out the contact details of those key staff members to your remote workers.

3: Include the Organizational Culture of the Company

Your employee training material should also feature the organizational culture of your company. The training for the remote workers should emphasize the company’s core values and purpose. This will help them form the right expectation from your company. Give a brief of the company’s history to point out the company’s growth process over the years and the activities that helped the organization attain the set values. The employees should know that their daily input is necessary for the achievement of the business’ purpose and vision.

4: Integrate Instructional Videos

Instructional videos are helpful tools for employees training, especially when they are used to demonstrate equipment s or software programs. The visual instructions should be as clear as possible to enable them understand how the machine or program is operated. It’s also good to augment visual aids with written instructions.

Finally, you should be detailed in spelling out how to accomplish tasks. In doing this, you should envisage likely questions or problems that can emanate when carrying out the task. Subsequently, you can include the solution or the way out.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

In the United States and many parts of the world, people are locked down and are working from home as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. It is important to ensure you protect yourself and others while you are locked down and working from home. Keep reading to learn more.

Tip #1: Wash Your Hands Regularly with Soap and Water

One of the effective ways to cut back the coronavirus infection risk is to wash hands regularly with water and soap. Preferably, you should wash your hands with warm water using soap.

To ensure thorough hand washing, you should adopt a certain pattern. When you take drops of soap in your palms, ensure you rub your hands for about 30 seconds to form lather. Wash thoroughly and ensure you scrub your nail areas as well. Place your hands under warm running water to rinse them. Do these while you sing happy birthday song twice.

According to WHO, do not just rub your hands palm to palm, you should interlock and interlace your fingers in different manners, so that you can reach every surface. Dry your hands with paper towel and use same to turn off the tap before disposing it in a closed bin.

Washing your hands becomes even more important when you go out and come in contact with frequently touched surfaces (e.g. door handles) or people. Make sure that every member of your family observes these hygiene practices to ward off Covid-19. If you feel you may forget to wash your hands as often as required, make sure you have a hand sanitizer handy. The sanitizer must contain 95 percent or slightly less alcohol. Alcohol should not exceed 95 percent or it will not be effective.

Tip #2: Avoid Touching the Sensitive Parts

Also, it is helpful to avoid touching sensitive parts with your hands. These parts of your body include your nose, eyes, and mouth. If you accidentally touch surfaces (e.g. counter top or doorknob) that have been infected with the virus, it becomes highly risky to touch these sensitive parts of your body. If you have your hand sanitizer nearby, you should apply it on your hands and rub thoroughly after coming in contact with surfaces. Otherwise, wash your hands as soon as possible.

Tip #3: Try to Stay Away from People Who May Have the Virus

If someone around you is coughing or sneezing, do not linger around such people. Common symptoms of this respiratory infection include sneezing and coughing. These activities are risk factors as they release droplets that carry the virus. While other ailments may come with such symptoms, it’s better to stay away to be on a safer side. Also, stay away from those who have been around individuals with such symptoms or sick people.

Finally, social distancing is a good way to prevent and minimize the spread of the virus.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

The product distribution industry is a big one. Wondering how big the industry is? In the United States, there about 300,000 distributors and they account for approximately $3 trillion in annual revenue. New entrants into this industry also have good profit outlook. As long as you have an entrepreneurial spirit and have the ability to plan well, you will thrive in this industry. Keep reading to learn more.

• Start By Creating a Business Strategy

A good starting point for someone who wants to venture into distribution business is to create a business strategy. This requires strategic steps such as the following;

• Choose Your Preferred Type of Distribution business

For instance, there are retail distributors and wholesale merchant distributors; the former purchases from manufacturers or distributors and sell directly to end users, while the later sells to fellow distributors or retailers after purchasing from manufacturers. You should decide which category is appropriate for your goal and experience.

• Choose the Product You Want to Distribute

Also, it’s important to choose the product you want to distribute. Some people prefer to distribute a mix of products. You may base your decision on your passion. Alternatively, you may be drawn to a product because of its scarcity. If a crowded market is involved, you should consider providing niche products to specialized retailers.

• Create a Business Plan

It’s important to come up with a complete plan of how your distribution business will run. It’s a great way to have a direction that will lead to the success of your business. In your plan, consider featuring your choice of distributorship, your preferred product or group of products, your company name, shipping method, and target customers.

• Determine a Startup Cost

The costs will be estimated. It’s important to have a rough estimate of what is required to get your business up and running. Bear in mind that your major cost incident will be inventory. So, your startup costs will largely depend on the type of product you wish to distribute, as well as the scale. Costs of an office, warehouse, and or equipment’s should also be taken into consideration.

• Determine How You Will Market Your Products

First, you need to determine what you want to sell and the people you are selling it to. Whatever the case may be, you need to create awareness of your product to your target audience. You can adopt different strategies, including one-on-one meeting, advertising, online marketing such as search engine optimization. It’s great idea to outsource search engine optimization to an expert.

Finally, you should make your distribution business legal and official by registering it. You also need to find a good location for your business.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

Whether you are working as an independent contractor or an outsourcing service provider, being you own boss comes with lots of perks. For instance, no one makes schedule for you and you can spend quality time with your family – husband and kids. You can build a successful work-at-home business as a mom. Keep reading to learn how.

Tip #1: You Should Be Passionate

Building a successful business starts with passion. Becoming your own boss requires a lot, much more than when you were working for someone else, especially at the onset. So, you must be passion-driven in order to stay through to your dream even when the going seems tough. Remember that you have your kids and family to mange alongside your home-business. So, passion is necessary to keep you going and not to quit.

Tip #2: Spell Out Your Personal and Business Goals

Spelling out goals will help you gain direction and bearing. Your personal and business goals may include spending quality time with your family, building a successful home-business, and/or eventually becoming an outsourcing agent. The fact is; you need to manage both personal and business goals appropriately since both will be existing side by side.

Tip #3: Strive towards Becoming Tech Savvy

Most home-based jobs require tech skills. As a work-from-home mom, you need to acquire the skills necessary for the type of job or business you have decided to do from home. For instance, you may need to know how to operate the computer, access the internet, and use specialized applications for certain tasks. You can also look out for relevant online courses that can help you manage your home business more effectively.

Tip #4: Learn from Other Work-From-Home Moms

Learning from people who already have experience with your type of work-from-home business can be helpful in building a successful home-business. Good sources in this case include success stories of work-from-home mom and related blogs. You should also research home businesses that are success-driven and generate business ideas from such. Get to mingle with like-minded moms who are also managing their family with their business.

Tip #5: Choose Your Home Business

In choosing you preferred home business, one of the best ways to go about it is to consider the knowledge and skills you have acquired over the years working for someone else. You may generate a viable business idea from such brainstorming. So, consider those areas you were excelling on and producing great result for the company you worked for. You may build a successful home-business in that aspect.

Indeed, deciding to be a work-from-home mom is a great idea because of the juicy perks available. But, you must be devoted and success-driven in this path you have chosen for yourself.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

All over the world, offices are shutting down, schools are being closed and activities are almost coming to a halt. These measures are part of the efforts to combat and reduce the number of people getting sick from the COVID-19. But thankfully, you can still carry out your business functions and official tasks from home while practicing social distancing.

Right now, the most reliable way to work without getting close to one another is to work from home. Many tasks that are done in a conventional office can be accomplished at home. At least, life has to go on while we hope for divine intervention regarding this plague that has befallen the world.

So, What Do You Need to Work From Home?

It does not take a lot to set a home office. Actually, you don’t need any expensive gadget or furniture. You can work from the comfort of your home with simple tools like your computer or tablet, and an internet access. These are the basic things you need for your work at home.

In addition, you also need to choose a serene and secluded spot in your home. The essence is to prevent undue distractions. So, whether you are the programmer in your office, the copywriter, the administrator or social media marketer, you can sit at home and do your work as though you are working in your regular office.

How Can You Work Effectively From Home?

Except you are used to working from home or have practiced working from home a couple of times, you can find it a challenging task. The challenge comes from not being accustomed to working from a comfort zone. The lure to run off to the kitchen, or abandon the task at hand for other home chores is common when you work from home.

Also, if you have a family, that is another huge distraction since everybody is staying at home during this corona virus breakout. Your kids would definitely seek your attention even on a slightest matter. And, it may be difficult to refuse your family members’ call for your attention.

So, in order to work effectively and productively from home in this season, you should adopt the following measures;

• Set schedules. You should create a work schedule alongside home activities, with a time frame attached to the items on your schedule. Be as realistic as possible when you set schedules. For instance, it’s unrealistic allotting 1 hour to a task that should take more than two hours to get it done.
• Get Everyone to Commit to the Schedule. You should make your family commit to the schedule. In essence, they should know they can’t come and knock at your door when you are working, except it is urgent.

Safety Tip: Keep an eye on your kids and entire family while working from home. If you suspect any health symptom that needs urgent attention, don’t hesitate to take necessary action.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

“Stay at home, isolate yourself.” This instruction has become a regular and common one since the outbreak of the corona virus also known as COVID-19. But, what happens to business activities when everyone stays at home? Does it mean work will come to a stand-still?

The good news is that companies can still carry out their business functions by letting their workers work from home. Also, outsourcing tasks this period can help companies avoid work piling up.

However, working from home requires adopting certain proven steps. This will help boost productivity while working from home. Topmost in the list of those steps include the following;

1: Keep Your Expectations Realistic

While you target to be optimally productive, you should be realistic with your expectation. Bear in mind that working from home can be tricky. Your productivity level may drop because of distractions here and there. People who are used to working from home may navigate through such distractions to achieve their targets.

So, you should set realistic targets, taking cognizance of unavoidable intermittent interruptions that can slow you down. Therefore, even if it takes you a whole day to accomplish half the work of a regular day at office, that’s still okay. So, try not to be hard on yourself, bearing in mind that you also need to cater for your family and stay safe in this season.

2: Use a To-Do-List to Get Things Organized

A to-do-list can help you make your daily goals specific. As mentioned earlier, be realistic when you set your goals. Be truthful to yourself about what you can achieve per day, considering the factors mentioned earlier – e.g. unavoidable distractions. A to-do-list will also help you manage your time better.

Don’t stretch yourself when you can’t meet your goal. You should take breaks in-between to check on your family members and be sure they are taking proper precaution to combat corona virus. Tell yourself that you can always finish the undone task the next day.

3: Avoid Distractions as Much as You Can

While some distractions are unavoidable such as an emergency situation at home, you should do your best to avoid the avoidable ones. For instance, you should keep your phone on silence, stay away from the television set, and choose a secluded spot in your home.

4: Make Sure Your Work Tools are in Top Condition

From your home WiFi to your computer, tablet or other work tools, make sure everything is in top shape. You don’t want to be running helter-skelter at the last moment. Check to see that everything is working perfectly before you start working.

Finally, you should make sure that your goals and accomplishments can be measured at the end of the day.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

You probably have not assisted your kids with their school work in a long time. This is because of your busy office schedules. As the coronavirus pandemic lingers, you need to help tutor your kids while also getting your office work done from home. Encourage yourself with the reality that you are not alone in this hurdle. So, just like other families, you will eventually adjust to the situation.

Indeed, self-quarantining or isolation is needful in the time we are in. So, you need to adjust your schedules and find a way to cope with the present situation. Keep reading to learn how you can scale through this hurdle.

Start by Planning Each Day

Planning is essential to success in all you do. While this seems like a humongous task, it can be reduced to simpler and less demanding task when you plan well. So, start by creating a comprehensive plan and schedule on how your work and tutoring tasks will go each day.
Make sure you set your priorities well. For instance, if your optimal work periods are the morning hours, then start with your office tasks first. Then, you can take a break when you have hit a certain target, before settling to coach the kids. It’s also helpful to allot realistic time frame to each task.

Seek Learning Aids

You can make the coaching task easier by looking out for aids. But first, check the internet for online learning plans during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can also contact the local school district for digital classroom activities (if any). You can download the app or program to your mobile device and practice how it works.

Schedule Routines for Your Work

You need a routine to guide you while working remotely. As hinted earlier, your daily work routine and even your coaching routine for your kids should feature the following;

• A specific task –e.g. reading and replying work emails
• Time – You should also learn to allot time to each task to avoid spending too much time a particular task. For the example used above, you can allot 30 minutes to reading and replying official emails. It’s helpful to include the start and end time – e.g. 10:00 am to 10:30 am. You should have a time piece close by.
• A target. In the case of specific task above, you can target at least 10 emails within the time allotted.
• Performance measure for your set goals

Get Help

You shouldn’t stretch yourself beyond the limit you can bear. Especially if you own your own business, you can seek help to make the task less daunting for you this season. You don’t want to wear yourself out completely jumping from business work to tutoring the kids, cleaning the house, and probably preparing meals for the family.

One of such help you can get is outsourcing. You can outsource trivial administrative tasks to a virtual assistant. This way, you can stay strong and combat the corona virus.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

A corporate retreat is not just a fun getaway for a company or organization. It is also an avenue to leverage more relaxing scenery to get new inspiration, solve a problem in the organization, or achieve other aims. It is simply a combination of business and fun. Consider outsourcing corporate retreat planning so that you can focus on mapping out the business goals for the retreat.

Here are the right steps to take in organizing a corporate retreat;

Determine the Goal for the Retreat

As mentioned earlier, a corporate retreat is intended to mix a bit of fun with business activities. You should determine a goal you want your company to achieve with the retreat. When you determine a purpose for the retreat, you can gear your planning towards a particular direction.

For instance, if the company has been experiencing some setbacks recently, the retreat could be a great time to brainstorm on the cause and come up with possible solutions. If there’s breach of communication in the organization, the retreat could be a great time to address the root cause and the solution during the bonding time.

You may also use the retreat to address different aspects by segmenting the goals or activities. For instance, for a three-day retreat, you can use each day to achieve different purposes – relaxation, business ideas, and communication.

Outsource the Planning

You need all the time to brainstorm on the goals for the retreat. So, you should cut back the workload by outsourcing the planning of your corporate retreat. Event planners are professionals and can help you plan your retreat perfectly. Make sure you hint the outsourcing partner what you want to achieve with the retreat.

Get Input from the Participants

Input from employees and others who would be participating in the retreat can be quite insightful and useful. You can use a questionnaire to collect suggestions and inputs from the employees and other participants. Do not underrate the value you can derive by seeking the opinion of employees who will be attending the corporate retreat.

Get a Facilitator for the Program

You can create a different atmosphere by getting an expert from outside to facilitate the event. You should focus on someone who is a professional in the area of focus for the retreat. For instance, if your major theme for the retreat is business communication, you should hire an expert in this area to facilitate the program.

Finally, you should set a budget for the retreat. Get-together s require money to put together. You need to rent a place, pay a facilitator, get refreshments and pay for other logistics. Therefore, you should set a budget so that you do not spend more than necessary.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

Workforce management is one of the primary tasks of a manager or business owner. To run your company without hitch, you need to have the right number of workers at all times. It’s important to know when to increase your workforce. Keep reading to learn helpful tips.

Tip #1: Determine If Your Company is Experiencing Growth and Expansion

The first step towards determining whether or not you need additional employees is to consider if your company is experiencing growth. A typical example of growth sign includes increased sales, more business partners joining the company, the customer care reps are working non-stop, and so on. These cases are sign that your present workforce may be overworked and would need additional hands.

Also, if you add new product lines or additional services to the existing ones, then you will need more employees for the growth. This is also the case when you open new business locations. When all of these happen, sit back and consider whether you should hire more full-time employees, or contract outsourcing partners, or a mix of both.

Tip #2: Determine What Type of Skill You Need to Hire

When it is certain that your business or company needs additional hands, the next step is to find out what type of skill you want to hire. Would you have need for specific skills? If the current employees do not have the right skills for the new project, or you are short of employees with specific skills, go ahead and take the necessary step.

You must do what you have to do to meet clients’ requirements and demands. You must display effectiveness and efficiency. For instance, if your new line of service requires knowledge of a specific technology, do not delay in hiring an expert for the task.

Tip #3: Check If Your Current Employees are Over-worked

If your current employees are working long hours consistently, you may need to hire more employees. When employees are overworked, diminishing returns will set in as a result fatigue and excess stress. Quality will drop and before long clients and customers will start complaining.

So, before it gets to the point where your customers will start turning away, you should recruit more people to help lighten the workload for your current employees. In fact, in some cases, you can outsource a whole department if need. For instance, you may find out it is more rewarding to outsource help desk than hire additional customer reps in-house.

Finally, if you no longer have time to strategize on gaining competitive advantage, it’s time to hire more people. It only means you have become busy with non-core activities. This could be because of shortage of workers to handle those non-core business functions.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

Merely handing out a company’s handbook to an employee is not all that orientation entails. Instead, a company should engage an employee from day one. This will help the person to integrate into the new position or role successfully. Proper employee orientation takes quality effort and time but will be beneficial to both the employee and employer on the long run.

Here are the top benefits that accrue from proper employee orientation;

1: It Reduces Anxiety

Anxiety is common with new employees. Therefore, one of the great ways to reduce anxiety is to engage new employees in proper orientation. When anxiety is less, a new employee can learn and integrate better. Also, an employee is guided on job expectations with orientation and communication. This will help eliminate guesswork.

2: It Saves Time Ultimately

On the long run, proper orientation is a time saver. A well structured orientation should walk a new employee through the basics of the new job. This will help speed up their learning process. Ultimately, the new employees will need less time to perfect on the job and integrate perfectly into the team. Ultimately, it saves time for everyone – supervisors, coworkers, and the company as a whole.

A detailed and well structured orientation program also helps a new employee to generate answers that would help save time and speed up productivity. Indeed, proper and detailed orientation can be likened to mini-training for an employee.

3: It Helps Cut Back Employee Turnover

Adequate and proper orientation helps a new employee to feel welcomed and valued from day one. This in return helps to cut back or completely eliminate employee turnover. So, if you want an employee to be enthusiastic from day one and put in his or her best, orientation is a great tool to engage the new employee.

4: It Helps the Newbie to Have a Realistic Expectation

An employee will develop realistic expectations when given proper orientation. As a result, he or she will refrain from errors and oversights that can result in negative or debilitating outcomes.

5: It provides a Clearer Understanding of How the Organization Operates

Also, orientation helps new intakes to have real and practical knowledge of the organization. The information provided on the website is definitely not enough. New employees are able to come face to face with realities about the company’s policies, vision, mission, and mode of operation through detailed orientation. This is why an organization should not pay lip service to orientation. Instead, it should be a well structured program.

Finally, when you outsource work to a virtual employee, you should also provide detailed and well-structured orientation program.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs to build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.