All posts in July 2018

Business journals come in many forms. You can get a GSTF Business Review that is specific to your type of business or industry, or you can get a general business journal that will provide you with tips and tools to build any business. For every type of business journal out there, there are at least one or two benefits for your business.

1.Business journals help you keep up to date on trends and news that could affect your business. Breakthroughs in technology, computing or your industry can greatly affect your business success rate. You need to stay up to date on all of this information in order to make wise decisions regarding your business and the management of your business.

2.Business journals give you information, tips and tools for managing your business effectively. You may have systems in place that are flawed. Whether you see those flaws immediately or not, a business journal can help you see the flaws in your systems, management, or processes, and give you ideas on how to perfect them. This is great for management of your business, computing, and technology.

3.A journal on computing can give you new ideas on how to use computer technology in your business. How your business handles computing tasks can make a big difference in how much time employee’s take to complete tasks. It can also make a big difference in how much money you spend on computer technology. Sometimes getting the newest technology is an investment to begin with, but will save you money in the long run. These business journals keep you up to date and help you make sure your company isn’t left behind.

4.A business review journal can give you great ideas on what to do or avoid in your own business. The reviews of businesses are detailed so that you can easily see what is good and bad about a company. It can also give you ideas on which companies to use as vendors or suppliers and which ones to avoid.

5.A journal of business law keeps you up to date on the laws that affect your business on a daily basis. Laws are often made or changed, and if you do not stay up to date on these legal changes your business could face some serious consequences. These business journals are a must have for any serious business owner or manager.

Planning is an essential function in the success of any business. Planning does not refer simply to pulling out a calendar and recording things to do on random dates. Planning is all about actively plotting a course to meeting goals. Goals are really the start of any discussion about planning in a business.

We all are familiar with the concept of a goal. It’s something we write down that we hope to achieve. However, we could greatly increase the effectiveness of our goals by adhering to a few simple principles.

The first principle is setting a specific goal. For example, the goal, ‘do well in the first quarter’ does not rank as a specific goal. If we changed that goal to read, ‘sell children’s books in the first quarter’ then we are on the right path.

However, a necessary caveat to specific goals is making sure the goal is measurable. So, using the same example again, ‘sell children’s books’ becomes ‘sell $24,000 of children’s books in the first quarter.’ By now we have a goal that is specific enough that we can then break it down into even smaller measurements and know whether or not we are actually getting somewhere with it.

A second principle of goal setting is maintaining a vision. If the company we work for is an internet marketing company, than selling $24,000 worth of children’s books is not a very effective or even applicable goal for our company. While this is an extreme comparison, the principle of vision can help ensure that all goals aim for the same destination. Let’s say that instead of internet marketing we’re in the grocery business and based in Utah.

We’ve conquered local markets in Utah and we want to expand further west into Las Vegas and Southern California in order to take advantage of more lucrative markets. If the vision entails aggressive westward expansion, then all the goals we’re setting will need to help us get there. A vision is actually a long term milestone-type goal, and to accomplish a vision we need to establish benchmarks along the way.

So in the grocery case some appropriate benchmarks might be to establish a store in St. George as the first major benchmark. The next might be to establish a store in Vegas; the third to flood Vegas with stores; and then the fourth and beyond to hit California. A vision is meant to be grand, and can be as grand as the senior directors have imagination.

The final principle of planning is accountability. It doesn’t do much good to establish specific goals within a defined vision when no one holds themselves accountable to the goals and makes efforts to make the vision reality. In order to facilitate accountability (which has to occur at all levels, though headed by the senior directors of a company) certain companies are hiring out managed services.

Managed services allow the directors of companies to focus on their goals and visions and give the grunt work to contracted workers. However accountability happens, through companies’ own workers or through contracted ones, it is a critical step to achieve a well-laid plan.