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How Coworking Spaces Positively Impact Small Businesses

Posted: 10 Mar 2020 03:35 PM PDT

  • Coworking spaces are making it easier for businesses to reduce costs. 
  • Small businesses can reduce time to on-board employees.
  • Apart from a better work-life balance and reduced commuting time, small businesses are also tapping into the large array of membership perks that coworking spaces have to offer.

In just the past ten years, the world has seen a huge increase in coworking spaces that foster locally-founded businesses and support local entrepreneurs through networking events, collaboration opportunities and more. 

These spaces are essentially open-office concepts that have no permanent residents. Instead, they can be rented out on a daily, weekly or monthly basis by small companies or individual freelancers. This model lets independent-minded professionals work together in a setting that fosters creativity, rather than alone at home, or in the coffeeshops that freelancers are known to inhabit.

By renting out space at a relatively low cost without the long-term lease agreements of true office spaces, coworking spaces let small business owners and independent workers stress less about the financial impacts of renting space than they otherwise would. Early coworking businesses guessed that this would appeal to independent workers and small businesses – and they were right.

With over half of the entire United States workforce projected to be freelance workers by 2027, the demand for blended social and professional spaces is likely to increase. But these spaces aren't just empty rooms that let people come together to work. There are many other fantastic benefits that most coworking spaces offer to small businesses that those companies may not realize exist at first glance.

Easy onboarding for remote workers

Coworking spaces can help small businesses dramatically decrease the amount of time spent onboarding new employees while still getting those employees integrated with the company. When small businesses communicate directly with coworking spaces to get desks prepared for incoming employees, there are a few major processes that can be more efficient, including:

  • Time spent onboarding: In an age where onboarding can take up to three months, finding ways to minimize that process without increasing employee turnover is more important than ever. In the past, tech companies would have to spend a significant amount of time ensuring that security measures and apps used company-wide were properly installed on employee computers, ranging from secure communication channels using company VPNs to VOIP-activated phones.
  • Desk amenities: Employees need some accessories for their desks to make work more productive. Designers and coders need large computer monitors, and data analysts will need prioritizing, high-speed internet to ensure the data they are working with gets transferred accurately. Coworking spaces generally come with these as options for workers leasing the space. As long as companies communicate directly with the owners of that space when a new remote worker is coming to work, they'll be able to efficiently set up these systems to allow workers to get started smoothly.

Work-life balance

Freelance and remote workers often have a hard time separating their home life from their work life, since so much of their work is done in a home setting. Experts think that clearly delineating these two facets of life is the best way to create a healthy lifestyle. 

Coworking spaces offer workers the chance to completely separate work from home, ensuring that professional work stays in the office while workers are there. Incidentally, this can also help small businesses with information security as workers who spend time in an office are less likely to send sensitive information over a less secure internet connection.

Reduced commuting

Employees spend an astounding 200 hours commuting to work each year on average. This time isn't counted as work and certainly can't be counted as rest time at home, but it can be mentally taxing for employees. Many employees cite long commute times as the main reason for re-entering the job market, meaning that small businesses may lose valuable employees if commute times aren't considered on a regular basis. Coworking spaces can offset that commute time issue in a few different ways:

  • Central location: Most coworking spaces are found in city centers or in hubs distributed throughout a city. This allows employees to easily get space without a small business needing to foot a year-long bill for expensive floor space.
  • Distributed work: It's quite possible that not all employees live in the same area. Coworking spaces wherever these employees live can provide a fantastic alternative that can reduce commute time, even if all employees aren't sharing the same office space.
  • Rest and relaxation: Less time spent commuting can help employees get more rest – a facet of life that's been proven to seriously increase work productivity.

Membership perks

As coworking spaces become more common, they inevitably compete. The competition leads to increased incentives for employees to work there that aren't just lowered leasing prices. 

While small businesses may not be able to provide direct benefits that compete with those offered by multibillion-dollar companies, the perks that can be offered through competing coworking spaces can be seriously enticing for remote employees. Some of these perks can include:

  • Free caffeine: Most coworking spaces offer coffee and tea in the morning for workers. Sometimes there's even kombucha on tap!
  • Secure storage: In cities that have issues with bikes getting stolen, coworking spaces often offer secure bike lock rooms, and usually have other storage spaces for goods distributed by companies that inhabit the workspace.
  • Fitness incentives: Some coworking spaces offer discounted or free fitness memberships to local gyms. Especially fancy spaces have gyms built into the space, usually on a separate floor.
  • High-quality office gear: Some coworking spaces invest in office equipment that huge corporations would likely cut costs on. High-quality printers, high-speed internet and soundproofed conference rooms are the norm in these spaces. Other quality-based perks include things like ergonomic keyboards or 4K monitors that can be used for creative design work.

Unbeatable scalability

Some companies see increased demand for employees at certain times of the year. In particular, companies that provide creative goods will generally see an uptick in demand around holidays. Other companies may see regional demand increase in areas where the company is not established. In both cases, coworking spaces provide a method for employees to get to work quickly in new areas.

Because small businesses don't need to pursue long-term leases and only need to pay for desk space for just the number of hired employees during the short-term demand, these spaces can actually reduce costs associated with hiring temporary remote workers of any age. This lets companies scale at a faster rate than would traditionally be possible, freeing up resources in both physical space and finances to recruit better talent from around the world.

Talent acquisition

It's not a coincidence that remote work is so often talked about when coworking spaces are mentioned. That's because these two factors working in conjunction allows companies to recruit top-tier talent no matter where that talent is. There are a few unique ways that these spaces help small businesses with talent acquisition:

  • Specialist incentives: Some small companies require highly-trained specialists to develop their products. But these companies might not be able to offer those specialists the same salary or benefits that huge corporations might. However, if a company can offer a semi-permanent workspace conveniently located near that specialist's current home, the demanded salary and associated costs suddenly become less of a worry.
  • Networking: Experts agree that technology specialists, writers and creatives in the media space are all fantastic candidates for remote work – at salaries that small businesses can afford. For these types of employees, coworking spaces can offer other opportunities. Networking events are held regularly in these spaces, allowing remote workers to bring in new remote talent to small companies without breaking the bank on job advertisements. 

Final remarks about coworking spaces

As coworking spaces become a central part of the business world, small businesses should seek to understand how they can be used in positive ways. From the many perks included with desk rental at these spaces to the potential for acquiring high-quality talent, many facets of daily small business life can be improved quite dramatically. 

While these spaces may not be suited for every business – for example, high-throughput manufacturing companies would not find much use in a tech-oriented space – the vast majority of businesses may see these become a staple in their business models soon.

How to Create Interactive Content for Rapid Business Growth

Posted: 10 Mar 2020 03:00 PM PDT

  • 93% of marketers see interactive content as an effective marketing tactic.
  • Polls and quizzes tend to get the most engagement. 
  • Gamifying your homepage is a great way to get consumers to stay on your website.
  • Interactive emails are great for building engagement and retaining customers. 
  • Free quotes can help you generate new leads by encouraging new visitors to interact with your brand. 

Do you want to step up your marketing strategy and grow your business? If so, you're not alone. Business owners and marketers across every industry are constantly looking for new ways to boost their website traffic, conversion rates and lead engagement. 

As it turns out, one of the best ways to grow your business is by using interactive content. A staggering 93% of marketers say that interactive content is an effective marketing strategy. Due to the rise in competition, consumers are now paying attention to brands that encourage their feedback and engagement. More often than not, consumers expect brands to listen to their needs and adjust their strategies accordingly. If a brand isn't willing to interact with consumers, there is a risk that the company could lose out on future sales and new customers. 

In order for a piece of content to be considered interactive, consumers must have the option to participate in a way that will enhance their experience. It doesn't matter if you're using email, social media or your website, this foundational rule is the focal point of interactive content. 

We are going to take a look at five tips to keep in mind if you're thinking about making this type of content. Our strategies will touch on each of the major marketing channels, which will give you plenty of opportunities to grow your brand. 

Gamify your homepage

Let's start by talking about what is likely your most visited page, your homepage. If you look at your on-site analytics, you'll probably notice that there's a vast difference between the number of people that land on your homepage versus those that end up subscribing and converting into customers. 

Your first priority should be to engage these people. If you let a majority of your audience go without trying to keep them on your site, you're going to see a gradual dip in your traffic and sales. 

Gamifying your homepage is an excellent way to encourage users to stick around after they navigate to your website. Spin-to-win wheels and online contests are a great way to get people to interact with your brand from the moment they find your business. 

Spin-to-win wheels are similar to the type that appear on the popular game show Wheel of Fortune, only virtual. When someone hits your homepage, they will see a wheel with the option to click and stop the wheel. Include some generous prizes such as order discounts, gifts, free shipping and even a copy of your lead magnet. The lead magnet option is especially effective at building your email list, while discounts on products and shipping encourage sales. 

Leverage the power of quizzes and social media

A recent poll revealed that 58.8 percent of marketers see social media as one of the main pillars in their marketing strategy. In your pursuit of building a stellar social media campaign, you should consider the type of content you're sharing with your subscribers. Quizzes and polls are considered by many to be the most popular type of interactive content on social media. 

For example, Buzzfeed regularly publishes quizzes on its site and social media that quickly get hundreds of thousands of views. One of their most popular quiz-style articles racked up a mind-blowing 22 million views. Now, you're probably not going to make one quiz and see your website explode overnight. But, when you consider that there are well over three billion people across all social media platforms, there's no doubt that posting quizzes and polls that are relevant and meaningful to your audience will help you grow your business. 

If you want to see faster results, try sharing your posts on popular groups in your niche. Facebook is notorious for their large, highly-engaged communities, making it an ideal starting point for business owners that want to start sharing their interactive content. 

Send interactive emails 

Email marketing is another vital strategy for growing and maintaining your customer base. There are plenty of reasons users might join your email lists, such as access to promotions, newsletters, and blog content.

Including interactive emails in your mix of regularly scheduled content could encourage otherwise stagnant subscribers to engage with your business. Generally, interactive emails are used to learn more about your target audience while improving your website and product line. 

Let's say you wanted to segment your lead list so that you can send personalized content and offers. You might consider sending over a simple interactive questionnaire that uses conditional logic to ask consumers what they think about products, services, or industry as a whole. The questions will change depending on their previous responses, which creates an engaging email experience. 

This process encourages engagement and can help you create segmented lists for future interactive content. Not only can interactive, personalized emails land you six times more conversions, but it's also a great way to re-engage stagnant subscribers. 

Offer a free quote 

Free quotes are another great way to get consumers to stick around and engage with your brand. You've probably encountered this tactic after visiting a website featuring a law firm, plumbing service, or any other traditional service-based website. Interested consumers can fill out some information about their situation and send their request off to your team. 

E-commerce storefront and SaaS business owners are starting to use this tactic to reach their target audiences. For example, many email marketing firms encourage visitors to contact them for an estimate on the condition of their email list and actionable advice for improvement. 

Similarly, online stores that sell physical products can offer free quotes that teach customers more about various items based on their needs. Not only will you get the opportunity to engage with your target audience, but you'll also gain some valuable data for building and refining your customer personas. 

You can use this strategy to get people who are on the fence to contact your business. If they think there's no way to talk to a representative without buying a product first, they are likely to leave and never come back. 

However, if you can encourage them to contact you for a free – emphasis on the free – quote, they are more likely to interact with you first. As a result, you'll start to build new leads from a percentage of these consumers.

Back to you

When it comes to interactive content, there's no debate. Most people agree that engaging content that encourages users to reach out to your brand is here to stay. As technology grows and we get more tools at our disposal, it's safe to say that most business owners and marketers will use personalized interactive content to increase conversions and engagement. 

If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you should consider creating interactive content for your brand now. There are countless possibilities across all of the major marketing channels. Depending on your industry, some of the tactics we mentioned may work better for you than others. Experimenting with different types of content and segmented leads is the best way to build rapport with your existing subscribers while growing your business with new customers and leads.

How Can Businesses Better Protect Employees Who Drive For Work?

Posted: 10 Mar 2020 01:00 PM PDT

Putting in place best-practice safety measures is something that every business owner should give considerable attention to. While regularly reviewing and adapting needed changes to a business's safety policies might not be at the top of the to-do list for many companies, failure to do so could result in serious injury and threaten a company's future. This happens to be particularly true if your business requires its employees to regularly get behind the wheel. 

According to the United States Department of Labor, "motor vehicle crashes cost employers $60 billion a year in medical care, legal expenses, property damage, and lost productivity." Employee motor vehicle accidents can have a trickle-down effect as well and drive up the cost of everything from employee benefits such as workers' compensation to increases in company overhead cost. 

Law firms see hundreds of whiplash cases a year from employees who were involved in on-the-job auto accidents. Often times one or both parties miss work and injury settlements can climb into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Consider this fact a sobering wakeup call: When an employee has an on-the-job auto accident that results in injury, the cost to their employer is an average of $74,000.

In this article we'll look at several areas business owners should examine when it comes to safe employee driving. 

  • Implementing proper vehicle safety training
  • The risks of company cars vs. employee vehicles
  • What to do if an accident occurs

Driving home the importance of safe employee driving

In order for business owners to protect their companies, their vehicles and their employees, communication of proper safety measures should be a must from day one. For a strong safe driving program to be in place, a business owner will need to gather empirical data on the driving conditions their employees will be undertaking. For example, employees with a Pacific Northwest trucking outfit will likely have different driving conditions than employees making sales calls for a pharmaceutical company in Tampa. 

By evaluating interviews, reports, and surveys employers should determine how much focus is needed for such areas as: 

  • Rural vs city driving
  • Operating large vehicles
  • Difficult weather conditions
  • Large vehicle operation 

Once in place, employers must then shift their focus on hiring the right employees and properly training them. Background checks on a potential employee's driving record should be done and employers should ensure the candidate fully understands the role driving will play in the job. A bad hire can be incredibly costly for a business, especially when safety plays a factor. 

Every job is going to have different training requirements and a program should be put in place that correlates with the job duties your employee drivers will be undertaking. Will they need to acquire a new license or some form of certification for their driving duties? Will vehicle operation training be involved?

It's your job as an employer to ensure that employees have the proper tools to be the safest drivers possible and know what is expected of them when they're behind the wheel. Business owners should regularly check that employees are adhering to safe driving practices and be ready to hand down consequences when driving guidelines are ignored. On the flip side, rewarding safe driving practices will help to create a workplace culture where safety is valued. 

What's at stake with company cars vs. employee vehicles?

It's worth repeating that company driving policies should always be put into practice, whether an employee is driving their own vehicle for work or a company vehicle. That said, if, at all possible, it's better that employees use company vehicles rather than their own. 

Yes, dropping the cash on just one vehicle – let alone a fleet – can be incredibly pricey for a business. In terms of safety, though, it's almost always worth it. 

For starters, this allows you, the business owner, to install safety features like GPS tracking and monitoring that alert you when unsafe driving behaviors like speeding or braking too hard occur. Second, it puts the issue of vehicle maintenance in the hands of the business owner. Following OSHA vehicle maintenance checks can go a long way towards keeping your employees and other drivers safe on the road. 

You can certainly require that employees carry personal insurance on their vehicle, but that's all a business owner can ask of an employee's vehicle. If your employee is using their own car with underinflated tires, worn-out brakes, or other mechanical issues there's really nothing you can do about it other than suggest they take their car into the shop.

Finally, a business with employees operating their own vehicles for work is putting itself at the risk of vicarious liability. In insurance terms, this means that even if an employee is properly insured, if they're driving their own car for something like a sales call and get in an accident, the company can be at risk for liability. 

While company-owned cars can be costly to maintain and have their own liability issues – especially if employees have 24/7 access to them – they simply offer a better safety advantage. 

What to do if an accident occurs?

To be more accurate, it's more a question of not what to do if an accident occurs but when. If driving is a significant part of your business' operations, a motor vehicle accident is inevitable. 

Regardless of whether an accident occurred in a company vehicle or the employee's own vehicle, business owners should show concern for the employee involved in the accident. All parties involved should obviously seek medical attention if needed and a police report of the accident should be filed. It's your obligation as the employer to notify the insurance company and this should be done as soon as possible. Delayed reporting with the insurance company will only create that much more of a headache and could be incredibly costly. 

Traffic accidents involving employees are always going to be a negative aspect of running a business where significant driving is concerned. Like so many things, if you look for a silver lining you can find one, and these accidents can be incredibly valuable in future safety training exercises. 

While some motor vehicle accidents are due to unforeseen circumstances, if human error was a factor and an employee disregarded company driving policy – then enforcing consequences will be necessary. 

Looking ahead

Whether you're running a small business where your employees are regularly driving from one side of town to the other or a company with coast-to-coast operations, safe driving is of paramount importance. Employers should be aware of who is driving on their behalf and have established guidelines for operating any company and non-company vehicles while on the job. It's all about creating the right company culture where safety is a priority from the get-go. 

Having tried-and-true employee handbooks and written training materials in place is certainly not a bad thing, however, in today's modern world it makes sense to utilize cutting edge safety technology as well. While a 2019 report did find that the advancement of such technologies as lane-assistance has made drivers riskier, we also have better technology to help with safe driving than ever before. 

Everything from blind-spot warning systems to drowsy driving alerts can help keep employees safer while on the road. By utilizing technology and stringent company driving policies, business owners can better protect their companies, their employees, and everyone else on the road.

5 Benefits of Equipment Financing

Posted: 10 Mar 2020 11:50 AM PDT

Many business owners experience hardship when it comes to maintaining the right equipment needed to guarantee success. The reality is that having the right tools to do the job is essential for a business to succeed but navigating the finances to equip a business with those tools can be costly. When it comes to purchasing equipment, business owners can utilize their operating cash flow and pay large sums up-front to secure the equipment they need, but there is also a variety of equipment financing programs that are available. Equipment financing allows business owners flexibility by extending the payment terms of large equipment purchases over time rather than paying all at once.

Equipment financing can typically be used to cover any kind of business operating expense – from vehicles to furniture to large machinery – and businesses that take advantage of these funding programs can often buy equipment through equipment financing plans at lower interest rates than with traditional loan options. There are two types of equipment financing products available for business owners: equipment loans and equipment leases.

Equipment financing

Like most traditional loan options, equipment loans are typically a lump sum of money that a business borrows from a lender. However, with equipment loans, there is a restriction specifying that the funds must be used for equipment purchases. Another difference is that with equipment loans, the equipment itself is used as collateral to secure the amount borrowed. This is a benefit for many business owners who do not have other types of collateral to put up in order to secure funding, as the emphasis in the lending agreement is on the value of the equipment over the time of the loan rather than the credit history of the borrower, which is often more important for other types of loans.

Equipment leasing

An equipment lease program is similar to a traditional car lease plan – the business makes monthly payments to a leasing company in order to cover the equipment rental payments. Typically, a borrowing business will negotiate terms with the leasing company in order to set up the amounts of the monthly rental payments and the length of time for the terms of the lease. By leasing rather than making an up-front purchase, businesses can utilize upgraded equipment without the expensive hit on cash flow. Once the terms of the lease are up, there are usually three options for the borrower: end the terms of the lease and return the equipment; extend the terms of the lease and continue to make payments in order to continue using the equipment; or the option to buy the equipment outright from the lender.

Benefits of equipment financing and leasing

Equipment financing is beneficial for business owners because it gives them the opportunity to obtain the most effective and useful equipment without the ridiculous up-front payments for the entire equipment cost. There are several benefits of equipment financing for business owners, including the increase in working capital, the ability to utilize the best equipment, the tax benefits associated with equipment financing, freeing up other lines of credit, and the easy application process.

1. It can increase your working capital

One clear benefit of equipment financing is the increase in working capital that is available when a business decides to utilize equipment financing rather than large up-front equipment purchases. Almost every business owner experiences cashflow shortages at some point or another and equipment financing gives businesses an option to free up working capital for other expenses. When a business uses up their working capital to make equipment purchases, the cash flow available takes a big hit, which can leave many businesses short. By taking advantage of equipment financing instead, business owners can use their working capital to cover other operating expenses.

2. It helps you keep up-to-date with the best equipment

Another benefit of equipment financing is that is allows businesses to always take advantage of new technology by giving them the opportunity to obtain the most effective and efficient tools without worrying about the up-front cost. One restriction that prevents many business owners from attaining the equipment necessary for the job is cost – new, state-of-the-art equipment is not cheap, and not all business owners can afford the newest equipment. Equipment financing gives business owners the option to acquire the tools needed without the blow to working capital.

3. There are tax benefits for equipment financing

Another benefit of equipment financing is the tax benefit. Smart business owners know how to use tax breaks to their advantage, and it is important to build strong relationships with tax professionals in order to capitalize on all of the possible benefits. With equipment financing, the borrowing business typically will make payments to the lender over the course of the agreed-upon terms. With each payment, there is interest paid. For most equipment financing terms, the interest paid on the financing payments can be written off as tax-deductible. There are even bigger tax benefits with equipment leases, specifically – for most lease program terms, the business owner can write off the entire lease payment as a business expense, not just the interest paid. This means that over the course of the financing terms, with equipment leasing, the entire amount paid for the equipment can be written off by deducting the monthly lease payments on the annual tax report. Another tax benefit with equipment leasing comes from government incentives written into the tax code. According to Section 179 of the IRS Tax Code, the full amount of equipment purchases via equipment leases can be written off. Even if the borrowing business does not pay the entire amount for the equipment during the year they are filing taxes, the business owner can deduct the entire amount on their taxes for the year.

4. It can free up other lines of credit

Another benefit to using equipment financing is that it frees up other lines of credit. Instead of using a business term loan to apply for funds that will be used for new equipment purchases, business owners that utilize equipment financing for their equipment expenses will still have other credit lines open. For example, if a business wants to purchase a new piece of machinery, but they do not have the funds available, they could apply for a business term loan and receive a lump sum of funds from a lender, some of the funds they could use to purchase the new piece of machinery. However, in this case, the borrowing business will spend a large chunk of their business term loan on their equipment purchase, which might result in a working capital shortage. Instead, by applying for equipment financing to take care of the purchase for the large piece of machinery, if the business runs into a working capital shortage, they will still have the option to apply for a business term loan later. Equipment financing also uses the equipment itself as collateral to secure the loan, so any other collateral that a borrowing business can offer can be used to secure additional financing products.

5. It has an easy application process

There is one distinction when it comes to applying for equipment financing – the size of the equipment purchase. Applying for equipment financing for equipment costs up to $200,000 is extremely quick and easy, and the entire process – from application to closing – can often be completed within 24 hours. Costs under $200,000 are considered "small ticket" equipment purchases, and the application process is driven by the type and value of the equipment, as well as the credit quality of the borrowing business. If a borrower has strong personal credit, the business has been in good standing for a long time, and the equipment being financed will hold its value, borrowers can expect a very quick application process. For equipment that costs over $200,000, or "big ticket" items, the process is a little more complicated. For these larger equipment costs, the lender will typically need to collect more information about the business and the specific type of equipment, and the process might take up to a week or two.
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