Business.com

Business.com

The Perks of Self-Employment

Posted: 14 Apr 2019 11:00 AM PDT

"Go big or go home." It's not just the king of corporate catchphrases – it's the American way.

"Bigger is better," "size matters," "dream big," "it's all or nothing," "if you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch," and "scaling is everything" are all common catchphrases. In other words, we say if you can't supersize it, double it, dominate it or climb to the top of it, what good is it?

But I've always been one to question the status quo, and so when given the opportunity, I went home. I stayed small. It's one of the best decisions I ever made. Here's why. 

Self-employment: The home advantage

Like the majority of people who choose self-employment, I'm happier, more fulfilled and better paid for an hour of my time than I was working a traditional job. 

Most weeks, I work fewer hours than I did as a traditional employee (usually 30-35 hours). This week, I'm headed to the dentist, my kids' school music program, a haircut and lunch with a good friend – with zero stress that I'll be missed at the office. During the holiday season, I work 80 hours a week. But I'm not resentful of those extra hours. I'm exhausted after Black Friday, but it's the feeling of running a marathon, not running for my life. 

I get to share breakfast, lunch and dinner with my husband who also works from home, making dishes I really want to eat instead of a frozen Lean Cuisine I grabbed on my way out the door. I sit with a purring cat on my lap, while I drink a cup of tea in my stretchy pants and write, design or fulfill orders with zero interruptions. Most days it really is that idyllic. 

Good things come in small packages

The question people invariably ask when they learn I run a small, successful business is how soon I plan to expand, automate and open a bunch of retail stores. 

But to be honest, expansion, automation and world (or market) domination doesn't appeal to me at all. For one thing, I like being small. I like living in a niche of my market, becoming friends with my customers, making the things that I sell with my own two hands and working in the trenches with my two (incredible) part-time employees. 

My business has grown a lot since 2013. For a while, I was doubling and tripling and quadrupling my sales. But I've stopped casting my net wider. Why? Because if I continue that growth, the dynamics I love will change. I screen print the shirts for my online boutique in small batches, with water-based ink, in a little studio where every inch of space is maximized. If my business keeps growing, I'll have to move out of my studio, outsource my customer service and social media presence, hire more employees and switch to plastisol ink – the gold standard for almost every profitable mid-sized and large-scale screen printer. 

Here's the thing: I love my studio and the two women who share the workspace. I love the personal interaction with my customers. I don't want to manage more employees. And water-based ink is one of the qualities that sets my shop apart from other makers. In other words, I'm really happy where I'm at. This is my big dream. A small shop that pays the bills, gives me all the flexibility in the world and makes my customers happy. 

Home is where the heart is

In most cases, the freedom to work from home means looking past the "bigger is better" model and leading with the heart, especially at first. 

For every "bigger is better" aphorism, there's another one about the "almighty dollar" or how "money is power." I get it. We've all got bills to pay and kids to raise, but if your endgame is growing really fast, scaling like crazy and then selling your business for a pretty penny, you could be setting yourself up to become one of the small businesses that fail within the first two years.

Unsurprisingly, most people who choose to work from home value work-life balance, time with family and freedom more than a big paycheck. This doesn't necessarily mean we don't earn a big paycheck (more on that in a minute), but it's not our endgame.

So what is our endgame? Honing in on an untapped corner of the universe that's the perfect triangle of something we love, something we're good at and something the world needs. Then finding a way to monetize it. 

I love cleaning house – figuratively speaking, of course

I honestly expected to make less money working from home. While it's true that my paycheck does fluctuate from month to month, depending on how much I work and what's happening in the retail market, my hourly rate is consistently and significantly higher than it was at a traditional job. 

Part of that is my new ability to decide exactly when and how I work. As an introvert, I really struggled in an open-concept office space – par for the course in the modern workplace, despite evidence that open workspaces make employees less satisfied and less productive. 

I plan my most critical, creative tasks for my personal peak hours (between 8 a.m. and noon) and save errands and more rote tasks for later in the afternoon. Once in a while, I jump out of bed at midnight when I have a sudden stroke of inspiration for a new design or article angle – then enjoy a slower morning the following day. All this means I accomplish a LOT more on any given day, which, in turn, means better bang for an hour of work. 

Yes, I have to pay for my own health insurance, and it's true that nobody matches my retirement contributions anymore. But between my supercharged productivity and the non-monetary benefits of self-employment, I still feel like I'm cleaning house.

Who says you can't go home?

Working from home isn't just for the job-insecure or the independently wealthy serial entrepreneur anymore. For people who are creative, scrappy and value work-life balance more than a paycheck, it's easier than ever to join the ranks of the self-employed. The tools and technology are there. The opportunities are there. The wildcard is really whether or not you have the skill set, the personality and the perseverance to thrive as a self-employed person.  

What you create might not be big – or maybe it will! But one of the best indications that you'd love working from home is that you're OK with the idea of being successful and small. 

I recently learned that I'm one of the only commercial screen printers in the country whose bread and butter is water-based ink. This medium has been mostly relegated to hobbyists because it doesn't scale very well – and that's OK with me. Staying small isn't at odds with being successful. Sometimes, it's just the right move. 

3 Ways to Increase Customer Retention on Your Site

Posted: 14 Apr 2019 05:30 AM PDT

Customer retention is perhaps one of the most important parts of running a successful company. Sure, you want people to visit your landing page and make a purchase, but when you have an audience that is consistently coming back for more products and services, your business has a better chance at thriving.

Bain and Company developed a study that shows businesses that can boost their customer retention rate by just 5 percent stand to make an additional 25-95 percent based on repeat business. The big question many people have is how is it possible to improve how many customers come back to your website to make additional purchases after their first visit.

We are going to take a look at some surefire ways to help improve your retention rate. It's important to note that every business is a little different, but these guidelines are designed to help you figure out what you can do differently to keep more customers over a long period of time.

Build relationships with personalization

Personalization is a great way to keep a customer coming back to your business after their initial purchase. There are multiple ways to build a personal relationship with your audience.

Editor's note: Looking for online marketing help for your business? Complete the questionnaire below to have our sister site BuyerZone connect you with vendors that can help.

 

You could track your customer profiles and use that data to help make informed decisions about new customers that come to your website. For example, if you sell pet products and notice that virtually everyone who purchased a dog collar later bought dog toys, you can use this to your advantage. If someone comes to your store page and looks at dog collars, try to recommend them dog toys – specifically the ones that other customers seem to enjoy.

In many cases, the customer will impulse buy a toy if you put it on as an extra "add-on" that they have to select at checkout. Amazon is excellent at this, it often shows products that other people have bought and created recommendations for you based on your purchase history. Small personal touches like this can lead to customers coming back to your site for additional purchases.

Master customer service

If your business doesn't have good customer service, the odds of a customer coming back for another purchase are slim. Customers want to know that if they have a problem, question or concern they can get a crisp answer that's relevant to their problem.

You can improve your customer service in several ways. A popular method is using chatbots to communicate with customers around the clock. This form of automation will help you improve and track every customer's experience while freeing up the time for your old customer service employees to work on another aspect of the company.

If you find yourself in the group of business owners who don't like chatbots, there's nothing to fear. You can use your traditional customer service line as well as a neat and organized simple contact page so customers can easily voice their concerns or ask any questions.

Create an incentive for return visits

Retaining customers through incentives is one of the oldest tricks in the book. You may remember when your local Mcdonald's or Starbucks offered the stamps that scored you a free coffee after six purchases. Now, much of that process has migrated to the mobile app, but the principle is exactly the same.

Think about Dave and Buster's rewards points – which you can only spend at D&B's. If a customer has credit in their account, they are likely to come back to your website in order to capitalize on their free points.

On a similar note, you could also create a membership area of your website that is constantly getting new products or exclusive offers. This incentive could encourage people to sign up for your email list and come back for more purchases. It's a win-win situation.

The bottom line

Improving your retention rate is not an overnight process. There is going to be plenty of trial and error before you're able to master the art of keeping a customer around after they have invested in your product or service. If you combine master customer service with personalization and incentives, you'll be able to build your customer retention in no time.

Red Hat Certification Guide: Overview and Career Paths

Posted: 14 Apr 2019 05:27 AM PDT

Red Hat Inc. provides open source software solutions to more than 90% of the Fortune 500 companies, including internet service providers, airlines, healthcare companies and commercial banks. The company has been around for more than two decades and is well known for its Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) distribution. Red Hat provides a fully open technology stack, which you can alter to suit your needs – you're not locked into the vendor's vision of the software or stack components. Red Hat's portfolio of products and services also include JBoss middleware, cross-platform virtualization, cloud computing (CloudForms and OpenStack) and much more. 

Red Hat offers numerous professional certifications based on its software products, including operating systems, virtualization, storage and cloud-based solutions. 

Red Hat certification program overview

The Red Hat certification program aims at system administrators, engineers, architects, enterprise developers, and application administrators, as well as cloud and virtualization administrators, who use RHEL in their IT infrastructures. The certification program aims to ensure that candidates are proficient in RHEL by requiring them to pass performance-based certification exams. Whereas many certification exams ask multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank questions about specific technologies, Red Hat requires you to perform and complete real-world tasks using Red Hat technologies to pass its exams. 

Red Hat traditionally offered certification exams only upon completion of a training course. Now you can take a Red Hat exam on your own schedule, outside of training, if you like. Each exam session is performed on a secured system in a professionally proctored testing center. These centers are located in select cities throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. 

Once you earn a Red Hat certification, you become a Red Hat Certified Professional. This gives you access to Red Hat Certification Central, which allows you to connect with potential employers, join the Red Hat community, create study groups and collaborate on projects. In addition, you can explore Red Hat's training options and easily schedule individual exam sessions. Discounts on recertification exams are offered there as well. 

Red Hat Administrator, Engineer and Architect certifications

The largest group of Red Hat certifications is geared toward system administrators, engineers and architects. Some of the most popular and sought-after Red Hat certifications reside in this category, such as the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA), Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) and Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA). 

The RHCA is probably Red Hat's most versatile credential. In 2018, Red Hat implemented several changes to the RHCA program. The most notable change is that Red Hat now offers two separate RHCA credentials: the Red Hat Certified Architect in Enterprise Applications and the Red Hat Certified Architect in Infrastructure. Over the past year, Red Hat has retired a great many of its credentials, as you can see from the long list of "Retired Certifications" on the company's All Certifications page. Candidates who have previously passed certification exams that are now retired may still be able to apply those retired certifications to current certification tracks. Check the certification overview page for each certification to find more details. 

RHCSA: Red Hat Certified System Administrator

The RHCSA certification is designed for experienced Red Hat administrators and is required by some organizations to meet U.S. Department of Defense Directive 8570. It's also a prerequisite credential for the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE). 

Red Hat recommends three training classes to prepare for the RHCSA certification. The Windows admin classes are Red Hat System Administration I (RH124) and Red Hat System Administration II (RH134). Candidates may also take a Linux/UNIX admin class – RHCSA Rapid Track Course RH199 – to prepare for the RHCSA exam. 

To obtain RHCSA certification, candidates must pass the 2.5 hour RHCSA Exam (EX200). 

RHCE: Red Hat Certified Engineer

The RHCE certification is geared toward experienced senior system administrators and fulfills requirements of U.S. Department of Defense Directive 8570. 

To obtain the RHCE certification, you must first become RHCSA certified. The recommended training for the RHCE certification is based on your skill level. Windows admins with minimal Linux experience should take the Red Hat System Administration I and II (RH124 and RH134) courses, along with the Red Hat System Administration III (RH254) course to prepare for the exam. 

Linux or UNIX admins with one to three years of experience should take both the RHCSA Rapid Track Course (RH199) and the Red Hat System Administration III (RH254) courses to prepare for the exam. RHCEs looking to recertify, or candidates who'd like the opportunity to engage in a lab-based review before taking the RHCE exam, should take the RHCE Certification lab (RH299). The certification lab is a four-day, instructor-led opportunity to work through all of the labs from the Red Hat System Administration I, II and III courses, along with the Rapid Track course. 

To complete the RHCE certification, you must pass the 3.5-hour RHCE Exam (EX300), which is currently based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. 

RHCA: Red Hat Certified Architect

The RHCA certification is the pinnacle cert in the Red Hat Certification program. Red Hat has changed the RHCA program to be more flexible that previous incarnations of the program, depending on the candidate's particular areas of interest and expertise. Currently, Red Hat offers two RHCA credentials: 

  • RHCA in Infrastructure for Red Hat Certified Engineers (RHCE); and
  • RHCA in Enterprise Applications for Red Hat Certified Enterprise Microservices Developer (RHCEMD) or Red Hat Certified JBoss Developers (RHCJD)

Red Hat recommends certain specific certification combinations to achieve the RHCA in Infrastructure or RHCA in Enterprise Applications. Candidates are free to follow the recommended path or select their own certifications based on their professional interests and requirements. 

The RHCA in Enterprise Applications has three recommended certifications combinations: application acceleration, and integration; application automation; or DevOps, containers, and OpenShift. While not required, Red Hat recommends that all candidates obtain the Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift Application Development and Red Hat Certified Specialist in Enterprise Application Server Administrations. 

There are four recommended certification combinations for the RHCA in Infrastructure: open hybrid cloud; DevOps, containers, and OpenShift; Red Hat OpenStack Platform; and Linux mastery. 

RHCA Exams

Certification No. of Req'd Certifications Qualifying Certifcations List
RHCA in Infrastructure 5

Complete five certifications  from the following (listed by recommended combinations): 

Open Hybrid Cloud

  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Hybrid Cloud Management
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Gluster Storage Administration
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Virtualization
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift Administration
  • Red Hat Certified System Administrator in Red Hat OpenStack
  • Red Hat certified Specialist in Deployment and Systems Management 

DevOps, Containers and OpenShift

Red Hat OpenStack Platform

Linux Mastery

  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Linux Diagnostics and Troubleshooting
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Linux Performance Tuning
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Server Security and Hardening
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Identity Management
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in High Availability Clustering
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Deployment and Systems Management
RHCA in Enterprise Applications 5

Complete five certifications exams from the following (listed by certification combinations): 

Recommended certifications regardless of certification combination:

  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift Application Development
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Enterprise Application Server Administration 

Application, Acceleration and Integration

  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Fast-Cache Application Development
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Camel Development
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Data Virtualization
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Messaging Administration 

Application Automation

  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Business Process Design
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Business Rules 

DevOps, Containers and OpenShift

  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation
  • Red Hat Certified Specialist in Configuration Management

The number of recommended training courses varies for each RHCA concentration (RHCS means "Red Hat Certified Specialist" in the preceding table). At present only candidates who've already taken the retired exams in the DevOps category can earn RHCA: DevOps (hopefully, Red Hat will rectify this situation, or retire the credential). There is also some overlap in training course recommendations as shown in the table below.

Red Hat Cloud and Virtualization Administrator certifications

Formerly, Red Hat offered certifications geared toward IT professionals familiar with Red Hat virtualization and cloud technologies. In addition to the RHCA: Cloud (mentioned previously in this article), one could find the Red Hat Certified Virtualization Administrator, Red Hat Certified System Administrator in Red Hat OpenStack and the Red Hat Certified Engineer in Red Hat OpenStack. Today, that last item – namely, RHCE in Red Hat OpenStack – is the only remaining member of this category still available. 

The Red Hat Certified Engineer in Red Hat OpenStack focuses on IT professionals who possess the skills necessary to install, deploy, and work with Red Hat Ceph Storage, including creation of block devices for Ceph and integration of services with Ceph Storage devices. In addition, Certified Engineers in Red Hat OpenStack can create and manage devices for virtual networks and use the OpenStack Neutron Service. Candidates must possess the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) in Red Hat OpenStack Platform 8 to qualify for the credential. In addition to the RHCSA exam (EX210), candidates must also pass Red Hat Certified System Engineer in Red Hat OpenStack (EX310), a three-hour performance-based exam. Red Hat recommends that candidates take the Red Hat OpenStack System Administration Red Hat OpenStack Administration I (CL 110), II (CL210) and III (CL310) courses to prepare. 

Related jobs and careers

With the majority of Fortune 500 companies currently using Red Hat open source solutions, the value of IT professionals well-versed in Red Hat Linux technologies has long been recognized. Trained Red Hat professionals are a key ingredient to the successful creation and maintenance of Red Hat solutions that deliver enduring value. 

Regardless of the type of Red Hat technology deployed, there is a consistent, established ongoing requirement for IT professionals qualified to serve as administrators, system engineers and architects.

System administrators are the foundation of deploying Red Hat Linux solutions. As operating system experts, system administrators possess an in-depth knowledge of essential Linux tools, as well as file systems and storage. Typical responsibilities include creating, configuring, deploying, and maintaining Linux systems along with performing software updates and maintaining system security. 

Red Hat Linux system engineers are the next logical next step in the career ladder for Red Hat professionals. Not only do system engineers possess the same skills as administrators, but they are masters at setting runtime parameters and automating system maintenance through shell scripting. Linux system engineers are also experts at configuring system and remote logging, static routes (including packet filter and translation of network addresses), Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) initiators, and network services such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Network Time Protocol (NTP), secure shell (SSH), and more. 

If system administrators are the foundation of deploying Red Hat solutions, architects are the authors and finishers when it comes to implementing, deploying, and maintaining Red Hat solutions. Architects define Red Hat Linux programs and are involved in all phases of Red Hat design projects – creation, development and testing of proposed solutions, integration with existing systems, defining the overall solution architecture, and providing support as the solution moves into production. As subject matter experts, Red Hat Linux architects formulate and deliver RHEL technology recommendations, create required documentation, and provide installation guidance and assistance. 

Red Hat training and resources

Red Hat offers an extensive training program: in-classroom, online, virtual, remote classroom, onsite team and online learning lab formats are available. Most courses are three to five days in length, depending on delivery format. A remarkably helpful resource is the Red Hat Training Resource Center, which contains links to online tools, references, student guides, a skills assessment and more. 

Red Hat now offers the Red Hat Learning Subscription, which gives certification candidates access to a multitude of online, on-demand classes and exam prep videos for an annual subscription fee that varies depending on the specific certification you seek. In addition, Red Hat offers multiple ways for you or your company to save on certification and training costs. Browse the Red Hat Ways to Save page for training bundles and success packs. 

You can also find lots of third-party study guidebooks to prepare for certification exams. Just search for "Red Hat Certification" on Amazon and be prepared for a lot of results.

 
Posted by: at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)