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Tips to Prepare Your Small Business for Spring Break

Posted: 27 Mar 2019 03:30 PM PDT

Spring break is right around the corner – this is a time when more than half of all people ages 18 to 34 head to locations both near and far for some sunshine or breaks from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind. Small businesses may find this time of the year tough, but the reason behind the challenges may vary.

Some businesses might experience a welcome boom in traffic and revenue while others may find it's a slower time of the year. Preparation is quite different, based on the location and type of the business.

Take a look at how you can best prepare for the spring break season.

If spring break is a busy time

1. Prepare for an increase in revenue.

If your business is located in a town prone to spring break visitors, it's key to prepare for the increase in traffic in a way that is as lucrative and stress-free as possible. Turn to other data, such as your records from prior years. Data can help you ensure you make smart decisions and meet inventory demands. An increase in both foot and online traffic tends to yield an increased demand for specific products you offer. Whether you're a brick and mortar store or an online business, running low on popular items can lead to poor reviews, decreased revenue and issues related to customer service.

2. Do what you can to prevent overwhelm.

Do everything you can to simplify and automate as much of your business as possible. This can help save you from being overwhelmed as the spring break season hits. If there are tasks you can outsource and it makes sense financially, do it. Based on your business, you may want to find tools to make commodity trading decisions. Use the Internet and its offerings to make sure you aren't overwhelmed by the little things.

3. Keep your orders organized.

As spring break – or any holiday – hits, it's imperative you keep your orders organized. Ensure your team has the ability to keep the influx of orders straight. If you have an online store, the last thing you want is for orders to get shipped to the wrong customer. Spreadsheets and tools to manage sales, inventory and shipments can help save you during these hectic times. Consider adding a hand-written note to each order you send out – one of many reasons why customers love small businesses is due to the personal touches that accompany each interaction.

4. Ensure you are adequately staffed.

You also need to make sure you're adequately staffed. If you will experience an increase in traffic, staffing concerns should be addressed in advance. You can opt for seasonal help or offer current employees overtime to make sure you can address customer questions and mail orders promptly. Remember that if you plan on extending overtime to your current employees, you need to consult Fair Labor Standards Act and stay in compliance with all state and federal overtime laws.

If you choose to hire seasonal staff, it's time to think about your budget, come up with job descriptions and determine training needs. As spring break quickly transitions to summer vacation, it's smart to consider how spring break efforts can save you time when your staffing needs increase in the summer.

If spring break is a slow time

1. Adjust staffing as necessary.

If your business tends to slow down during this time, preparation isn't quite the same. You may find yourself vulnerable to some dips in cash flow.

Adjust staffing needs based on need. Don't have as many people working if you expect you'll have little foot traffic. If you have a business that is largely made up of people in the spring break demographic, you may even find yourself struggling to make a work schedule. Ensure your time off policies are clear and strictly followed before the time-off requests come rolling in. You don't want to find yourself inadequately staffed.

2. Cross-train your team.

Another good idea is to cross-train your employees. As these time-off requests are made, you could find yourself in a position where you are missing many key members of your team. When employees are cross-trained and knowledgeable in various areas of your business, it helps make it easier to handle the staffing shortage. Overall, the more roles an employee understands, the more beneficial he or she is to your business.

3. Focus on infrastructure.

During slower periods you should focus on infrastructure, so you can provide the best experience as your business grows. Focus on marketing and lead generation and use this time  to test various campaigns on your site and Facebook to see which produce the largest number of leads. Use the slow period to progress certain departments of your business instead of simply waiting around for business to pick back up.

4. Stay connected with your customers.

Don't lose track of your customers. Just because they aren't all placing orders right now doesn't mean you can to let them forget about you. Use your email campaign to send out well written, targeted emails with exclusive offers.

If you have a brick and mortar store, revamp it. Encourage more foot traffic with a new display for the front window or even something in your parking lot to pique customers' interest. Make the most of what you have, and you can attract customers to your small business.

If you want to improve your e-commerce site, there are some simple changes you can make. Take the time to update your images to ensure they're appealing. This can make the difference between someone making a purchase or moving on to a competitor. You don't have to hire an expensive photographer, but you do have to invest the time and effort into capturing the right photos of your products.

You also want to make sure your website is easy to navigate. It should be organized in a way that is simple for visitors to browse and search for products. Your visitor should never have trouble finding what they are looking for on your site. Make sure your contact information is clearly located as well.

Spring break vacations are a tradition, yet it means different thing to everyone, especially small business owners. It doesn't matter where your business is located; spring break may present unique opportunities and challenges. With proper preparation and the commitment to making the most of your time, you can make sure spring break is a profitable, productive and enjoyable time of the  year.

9 Tips for Inspiring Your Team During a Slump

Posted: 27 Mar 2019 09:00 AM PDT

You've got an important task to do, project to handle, essential strategy that you and your team need to create, but the ideas just aren't flowing. Despite countless brainstorming efforts, collaboration meetings and insight strategies, you've hit a wall. Who hasn't been here before? 

You may be sitting at your desk staring at your computer screen, or in a conference room with a blank whiteboard. One thing is for certain: you're stuck.

The good news is that you're not alone if you're experiencing an idea block. The better news is that getting out of a slump is easier than you think.  

Here are nine ideas that can – and will – help you and your team find inspiration when it feels like all is lost.

1. Get out of the office 

It may seem trivial, but simply changing your surroundings can help spark ideas and inspiration. Instead of locking down in the office and not leaving until this thing is figured out, go somewhere new and just talk – about anything. 

If the weather is nice, take your team outside for a picnic-like lunch where you can talk in a relaxed atmosphere that doesn't come with the pressure of formality. Green has been proven to be a color of energy and life, and the serenity and calmness of nature can help you reboot your vigor and inspire you with a refreshed mind. Nature tends to trigger happiness and ultimately elevates your level of inspiration.

If you can't go outdoors, try simply changing the venue. Sometimes, all you need to do to trigger inspiration is to look at things from a different angle – at a different place. Try going to a coffee shop. You'll find writers, artists and thinkers all around you, searching for the same inspiration you are.

2. Travel down memory lane

Everyone loves a good story. So, when you're stuck in a rut, try re-living a story of a past success. Talk out loud to the team about a successful project you all completed together, and invite all members of the team to talk about it, too.

Not only will the reminiscing boost everyone's mood, as they remember a time when they achieved something great, it may even spark inspirations for how you can achieve the same thing with the current dilemma. Often, the things that made a past project successful will make future projects successful as well.

3. Catch up on some reading

There's no better place to derive inspiration than from inspirational sources. If you and your team find yourself in a rut, pick up a few magazines that are related to your industry, or business in general, and see if you can learn anything from them.

Pick up other publications such as Time, Entertainment or People to stimulate your mind. By not focusing directly on the task at hand, you'll be more open to reading what others have to say.

4. Draw inspiration from others

Chances are, whatever challenges you and your team are facing is not unique. Someone, somewhere at some time has probably been faced with a similar set of circumstances.

Try drawing your inspiration from what those people did in those situations. It could be from other teams in your company. It could be from thought leaders and inspirational speakers. It could be – gasp – from your competitors.

Whatever the source, know that someone else somewhere else has faced a similar challenge and overcome it. Find out what they did, and you might draw some inspiration from that.

5. Ask for outside input

You should never be afraid to ask for help in business. If you and your team has hit a wall, one of the best things you can do is ask for outside help.

Find a trusted co-worker – it doesn't have to be your boss or another supervisor – to sit in on a few minutes of your brainstorming session. Run this person (or people) through the challenge, the scenario and what you've come up with so far.

Then, sit back and listen. Because this information is new to this person, he or she will have no presupposed notions or biases and might be able to see it from a different angle.

Sometimes, it's hard to draw inspiration out if you're in too deep or if you've already invested countless hours trying to find a solution.

6. Do something else completely

Forcing an issue rarely results in something positive. So, if you and your team are lacking inspiration, instead of putting your heads down and trying to will the challenge forward, take a break. 

Don't just call a recess, though. Really take a break. Call it a day. Go home, rest, grab a glass of wine and read a book. Or, if it's still the middle of the day, have everyone return to their desks to work on a completely unrelated project.

By stepping away from the issue altogether, you or someone on your team may have an enlightening idea when you decide to re-convene. 

7. Give your brain a break

The human brain is quite powerful, but it needs a break every once in a while to re-charge its batteries. But how do you give your brain a break without going to sleep? Do something that requires little thinking.

Go for a drive. Eat a meal. Take a shower. Go for a walk. Go to the gym. Listen to music. Go out with friends.

These are all tasks we do every day that rely more on muscle memory than they do on critical thinking. And, most importantly, they don't require you to be dressed up, sitting in an office or staring at a screen. Try doing something that doesn't overload your eyes with technology – so, avoid browsing the Internet or even watching TV.

When you're done, go to sleep. Giving your brain a break with menial tasks, and then letting it re-charge overnight, could help you feel refreshed and renewed the next day.

8. Listen to music

We're all inspired in some way by music. Whether it inspires us to dance or sing, makes us laugh or cry, music is something that moves us all in some way. 

If you and your team have hit the proverbial wall, tell everyone to take time to relax and listen to music they love. Listening to your favorite song, album or artist might not spark a direct idea on how to solve your challenge, but it will no doubt take your mind off the task at hand and inspire you to create.

9. Get away for a while

There's nothing more re-charging than getting out of town. If you have the freedom to do so, completely changing your environment for even a few days can do wonders for the mind, body and soul. It doesn't have to be an elaborate 10-day cruise on the Mediterranean, either.

A simple overnight getaway to a favorite place you can drive, or even a daytrip to a place you've never been, can be a refreshing experience. By removing yourself completely from your daily routine, you'll be allowing your mind to focus on other things, getting the respite it needs.

These are just a few simple ways in which you and your team can become inspired if you are feeling anything but, if you have hit a wall in creativity. By looking at the challenge from a new angle, by getting away for a while and by giving your brain a break, you'll be inspired to tackle the task at hand.

Why Software Testing is Worth the Investment

Posted: 27 Mar 2019 05:00 AM PDT

I'm a strong believer that quality (and, thus, software testing) should be the highest priority for any type of organization – whether it's a startup or a corporation. Software testing is your health insurance – you don't believe you need it until you receive a hospital bill for thousands of dollars. Let me explain my thoughts.

Why is it crucial for organizations to invest in software testing?

I've been doing quality assurance for more than a decade now. That doesn't sound like a lot of time unless you remember what QA looked like in the early 2000s. I was in college working on my master's degree in computer science at a six-year program with lots of material on software engineering, development, architecture and project management. I also took several courses on business analysis, developing UML and BPMN diagrams for the solutions I was building in Java, .NET and RoR. The only thing missing from the program was quality assurance.

Normally, the professors tested our work by looking at our solutions and randomly clicking links and buttons or entering nonsense text in every text field on the screen. On one occasion, my solution crashed after such user testing. That's when QA came into my life.

Although QA was not a part of college programs – and I can hardly even remember trainings outside of college – there were several books that started the journey. I joined a1qa when testing was still called a "monkey job" – simple and unqualified. Now, a decade later, I have seen big changes. When someone asks me why these changes have occurred, I tell two stories.

The importance of quality

Do you remember the software of the 1990s?

Just a few quick facts: The internet as we know it started in 1991. Facebook began in 2004, and the first iPhone was released in 2007.

If you compare the software products from then to what we have now, it's like comparing the management of a 500-person town to the management of New York City. The complexity of these software products is growing much faster than anyone could have expected. Your end users are more demanding: they want better interface, faster application, availability from wherever and whatever and so on.

Software is a business. It's all about money – making money through subscriptions, ads or reengineering your business to maximize profits. In the early 1990s, the only way to play Solitaire was to access it as a part of Windows on your computer. A quick search of mobile apps shows that there are more than 200 applications that allow the same today. The competition is much different now, and that's where quality comes into play. If your product is not good enough, your customers have 199 options to replace it.

I use Uber and Lyft for my daily commute. I talk to drivers all the time, asking them the same question: Why do you drive with this company? The two factors I hear from them are the amount of money they can make and how good the application is for them. For riders, it's somewhat the same. The focus is on the cost of service and the usability of the app. The quality of the software is something that drives users from both sides. The better the quality and functionality of the software, the more riders a company gets; the more money the drivers make, the better discounts or loyalty programs the company can introduce. Whether you like it or not, quality is growing increasingly important.

The importance of testing

This second story is even more straightforward.

Most of us use airplanes and cars. Would you ride in a car or take a seat on an airplane if you knew these vehicles were not tested? Would you feel safe and secure? Would you buy from that manufacturer or airline again? It's human nature to avoid risks if possible.

And it's human nature to believe that a service provider is taking care of you rather than adding risks to your life. One problem may be fatal. Check out recent stories on Equifax or Facebook if you don't believe me.

Why do many companies still feel reluctant to invest in testing?

The biggest issue with quality assurance is that the result of implementing testing practices is somewhat invisible. When your company invests in software development, you see the results right away. There is a piece of software to play with, a codebase to review, and a database to use to see data.

With testing, yes, you have a test plan and test scripts that you can run, but you cannot sell these to your end users. Users do not care if you do test automation or security testing; they only want to believe the software is working correctly.

They are not concerned with how you achieve this.

The biggest mistake I've seen is believing that the development team is adequate to accomplish the project alone – the members know your business needs, understand requirements, they know the technology, etc. The thing is – nobody's perfect. Every developer is a human being which means mistakes are highly possible.

It's a business decision whether to ignore this risk or mitigate it through working with a professional testing team.

However, our world is full of other risks one cannot even predict. Why not mitigate those predictable risks through quality assurance that will help your organization survive other storms?
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