How to stay positive when running your own business

Whilst setting up your own business is an extremely exciting time, it can also be quite daunting, fraught with ups and downs. We want you to enjoy every moment of your new venture so we have found five ways you can stay positive when you start running your own business.

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Learn to delegate

When beginning your own business, it can often feel like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders and that, because it’s your business, you need to tackle it all by yourself; that’s far from true. They’ll be people around you who are rooting for you to succeed and more than willing to help along the way. If you already have a team around you, (and even if you don’t) find someone you can delegate tasks to. Chances are there are people in your team who may have more experience and capacity to help you accomplish the tasks clogging up your to do list.

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Work in an environment that motivates you

The environment you choose to work in can have a massive impact on the work you produce. A small room with your computer in and little else is unlikely to give you the oomph and drive both you and your business needs. A bright and fun office filled with like-minded people who will continue to push, drive and motivate you can not only have a positive effect on you, but also the work you’re producing, in turn aiding the success of your business.

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Remove negative people

Just like your working environment, the people you surround yourself with can have a massive impact on your own state of mind and the work that your business produces. Take a moment to assess the people in both your working life and personal life. Are they pushing you further towards your goal or putting roadblocks in the way? The same goes for clients. If you’re working with a client who is being extremely difficult and you can see the effects trickling into the way your business is operating, consider cutting them loose. Not only will it alleviate the strain they’re placing on your business, it’ll free up your time to focus on other more fruitful clients.

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Find different ways to define success

We all measure success in different ways and can often get caught up in the desire of being ‘successful’. However if you change the parameters in which you define your success, it can often have a positive impact on your business and yourself. Perhaps stop thinking of success in monetary value and find a new angle, such as the feedback you receive from clients.

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Learn to say ‘No’

Much like our first point, when beginning a business it can often feel like you need to say ‘yes’ to every opportunity coming your way and feel like if you don’t there is the possibility you may not get another chance. However, if you continue to say yes and end up stretching yourself too far, you won’t be able to sufficiently deliver on all the things you’ve said yes to in the first place. When taking things on, take some time to consider if you can really handle the work you’re saying yes to.  There’s no shame in saying no.

Simple ways to boost your concentration at work

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Step away from the phone

Our phones are the biggest distraction in all of our lives, right? It’s so easy to get lost in group chat, or scrolling on social media that you don’t realise how much time you are wasting. We’re championing the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ policy to keep our concentration levels high, put it on silent, in a drawer or face down on your desk. Whatever it is… can wait ‘til lunch.

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Your emails can wait

Just like your phone pinging/flashing/vibrating every few minute, receiving emails is just as distracting. “But we can’t ignore work emails” we hear you say… yes you can. A study at Loughborough University found that the average UK office worker checks their email around 36 times an hour. That’s a lot of time wasting. There’s lots of thing you can do to stop pesky emails from disrupting your workflow, why not try disabling desktop notifications or turning off automatic downloads and see if your concentration levels improve.

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Set reasonable + achievable goals

There’s nothing quite like a to-do list as long as your arm to demotivate you the minute you start work. Prioritise and break it down. By setting reasonable goals for the day it will be easier for you to track your progress and you’ll feel more accomplished after ticking them off. Even better, if you can allocate time for each goal you’ll be more likely to power through without wasting time.

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Reclaim your lunch hour

We’re all guilty of eating at our desks and working right though our lunch hour but you really need a break to disconnect from what you’re doing and reset your mind. Make the most of breakout areas, local parks (when it’s warm) or go and meet a friend.

Another good way to boost your concentration is to go let off some steam at the gym during lunch. Studies show that a 30 minute workout can boost your concentration for the rest of the day, not to mention help you with your beach body goals… However we’re not all lucky enough to have our gym on our work-doorstep. Stretch your legs and get some fresh air into your lungs. Trust us, you’ll feel energised after stretching your legs and ready to power through the rest of the afternoon.

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Cut the coffee

No, not entirely… we wouldn’t suggest such a thing. That late afternoon coffee when you’re working late? Forget it. You might think you need it at the time but who wants to be kept awake at night by caffeine? Not us! Which brings us to our next point…

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Get some sleep

Here are some random facts about sleep and why you should get more of it.

(Facts via https://sleepfoundation.org)

1. “Man is the only mammal that willingly delays sleep.”- We’ve all been there, “just one more episode” later and we’re full of regret after setting your 6am alarm and realising you’ll only be sleeping for 5 hours tonight.

2. “In general, most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. However, some individuals are able to function without sleepiness or drowsiness after as little as six hours of sleep. Others can’t perform at their peak unless they’ve slept ten hours.” – Know what works for you, if you know you can’t function on any less than 8 hours, change your routine and watch to see your concentration levels change. Getting the right amount of sleep with keep you feeling energised and motivated.

3. “We naturally feel tired at two different times of the day: about 2:00 AM and 2:00 PM. It is this natural dip in alertness that is primarily responsible for the post-lunch dip.”- Taking our advice on lunchtime exercise will keep you feeling energised, but you can also beat the post-lunch slump with a well-timed coffee. Make 2pm your last of the day to ensure you power through the day and aren’t left staring at the ceiling all night.

10 things people don`t know about mindfulness Why business cards still matter in a digital world

Whilst you may think business cards are a thing of the past due to the ever growing popularity of online operations, the business card is something that should not be left in the shadows. In this post we discuss the reasons why business cards are still extremely important to your business.

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It makes you memorable

When at networking events filled with lots of other people it’s easy for people to forget your name and your businesses name (don’t take it personally!) However, when you hand someone a physical record of your encounter, it makes it a lot easier for them to follow up on any conversations you may have. If you feel that you’ve made a good contact at a networking event, a business card containing your details and an easy way to contact you makes both of your lives easier, and it increases the chance that conversations will be followed up.

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They add professionalism

Believe it or not business cards still help make your brand appear more professional. Whilst you may be an online whizz, many still judge a business by how they come across offline as well. A well designed business card will lead people to your website and digital presence, which they may miss without seeing your card first.

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You’re always accessible

People who have your business card are able to access your information at all times. This means they’re not dependent on having decent (or any) internet access to retrieve your contact details.

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They make interactions personable

Technology is great and has opened up a wide range of new communication tools but, it can often feel quite impersonal. With a business card however, you bring back the personal touch that so many desire; in turn making your connections feel that little bit deeper.

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Wider promotion range

Unless you’re going into stores that have tablets and phones on display, it can be difficult for you to leave your businesses’ details lying around. With a business card you have the ability to leave one in your local sandwich shop, on the notice board of a busy coffee shop and even at important networking events. This allows you to promote your business to a whole host of people outside of the digital world.

Whilst these are all great reasons on why you should still be using business cards if you’re not one for keeping business cards or are desperate to bring a digital edge to the use of business cards, why not use an app like Evernote? This will allow you to save snaps of business cards, file and store them in a simple manner so you can benefit from both!

Seven easy ways to make consumers love your brand

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1. Know your target audience

Why do people love some brands more than others? Well, the most successful brands manage to develop a very real emotional connection with consumers. They stand for something that resonate with what people believe about themselves, or aspire to.

Nike’s celebrated TV ad (‘Last’) is about a marathon. It focuses not on the person out front, as you’d expect, but on the weary woman who is limping her way in to last place. It brilliantly illustrates the importance of emotional connections. It triggers a strong emotional response. It is the work of a company that has a deep understanding of its target audience. It speaks to us all. It isn’t selling us running shoes. It’s telling people something about themselves. Everyone knows what it’s like to struggle. Everyone knows what it’s like to not be the best but to not give up, either.

Nike’s mission statement is built on a phrase coined by its co-founder, Bill Bowerman: “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” Now that’s something everyone can get behind.

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2. Make sure everyone at your company loves what they do

All the best brands, the brands that inspire love and devotion, the brands that motivate us to open our wallets, successfully engender the same feelings in people. They believe in what they do. They aren’t the invention of cynical “marketeers”. They are what they say they are. They have a set of values and every single member of their organisation, from the CEO down, lives them.

The late branding guru Wally Olins was a proponent of the argument that branding should be a kind of long-term strategy, and not just a sequence of TV ads, online activity and press releases. It is more than that. It was about establishing a culture among the people behind the brand. The brand was a result of the behaviour of everyone, from the CEO to marketing department to the call-centre staff.

Take dog food brand Pedigree, for example. “We’re for dogs” is their pay-off line and has been for years. That might, in these cynical times, sound a bit obvious and a bit shallow. But look at the evidence. Staff at Pedigree are encouraged to bring their dogs to work. They even provide free dog treats.

Get your staff to live and breathe your mission statement. If their belief is infectiously enthusiastic, then love of your brand will spread to your customers.

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3. Give great service

And speaking of customers, make sure that they have a brilliant experience of your company, every single time they interact with you. Keep that relationship open and two-way. Welcome interaction. Share content that is relevant and meaningful. How else can people get to know you and fall in love with you?

London-based creative agency Isobel conducted an independent survey earlier this year to learn what the UK’s best-loved brand was. Hint: it wasn’t Ukip. No, it was Amazon. Isobel’s managing director, Paul Houlding, said: “Affection, it seems, has been hard won. But it’s not just about affection, it’s about relevance and usefulness and what better proof of that formula than Amazon…” Say what you will about their attitude to paying tax in this country, Amazon keep prices low, deliver the next day (even, now, within an hour) and have a no-questions-asked policy when it comes to returns and refunds. They offer a good product and great customer service.

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4. Establish real emotional connections

A couple of years ago, strategic communications agency Apco Worldwide conducted a survey of 70,000 customers from 15 of the world’s most important global markets so that they could compile a list of the top 100 most loved companies. They came to the conclusion that eight emotional triggers evoke feelings of love for an organization: understanding, approachability, relevance, admiration, curiosity, identification, empowerment and pride.

Saatchi & Saatchi’s ‘Lovemarks’ is a marketing concept that is intended to replace the idea of ‘brands’. They say, “Lovemarks are the future … because they inspire Loyalty Beyond Reason. Lovemarks transcend brands. They deliver beyond your expectations of great performance. They reach your heart as well as your mind, creating an intimate, emotional connection that you just can’t live without.” Among the Lovemarks are Guinness, Apple, Moleskine, Coca-Cola and Google.

Looking at a random selection of what Saatchi & Saatchi class as Lovemarks, what all of the above organizations have in common is quality of output. The product they are pushing, be it tech, stationary, beverages, or information, is pretty much peerless. Yes, Coca-Cola is sugary, but it’s wonderfully sugary and it’s wonderfully egalitarian too. Remember what Andy Warhol had to say about it: “America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking.”

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5. Have a relationship with your customers that is truly one on one

Marketing expert Susan Fournier wrote a respected 1998 study on what she termed brand relationship theory. In it, she identified that the definition of marketing had evolved from being about simple “give and get” to being about relationships. Relationships that are mutually rewarding, and long-term.

And with the advent of social media, allowing for an open, one-on-one interaction, loyalty, trust – and love – are more easily within the grasp of organizations today. “It’s easier to love a brand when it loves you back,” writes American business writer Seth Godin.

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6. Know what you’re good at, and do it well

It is the way of things that while some brands thrive, others must fail or at least not thrive. No one is sure why MySpace is a bit of a damp squib and Facebook has made its founder one of the 25 richest people on the planet. It seems clear that few people quite knew what to do with their MySpace page, but that Facebook was and remains so intuitive and in tune with what people want, that within thirty seconds of getting on to Facebook, everyone was sold on it. And why did MySpace decide that that needy guy called Tom was the best way of keeping in touch with us? Presumably he is still there, wandering the empty corridors, hearing his own footsteps echo sadly off the walls.

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7. Consistency is the key

If you can do all of these things – not one by one, but all at once – and you can make sure everyone in your organization is doing the same, then you will discover that something interesting and very powerful will begin to happen.

Behaving in all the right ways will mean that you become a real and meaningful presence in the lives of consumers. And when that happens – you are getting it right.

Evening habits to ensure a successful tomorrow

Your day is only as successful as your previous evening and we want to help you make sure your day is as successful as possible. That’s why we’ve found different ways that will leave you wanting to high five your past self throughout the duration of your day.

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Before you leave the office

Plan for tomorrow

Having your to-do list ready and raring to be ticked off as soon as your arrive to the office means your morning can be spent firing off things and getting stuck into tasks, rather than wasting time thinking about what needs to be done. Writing your to do list whilst still in the throes of key activities means you’re more likely to know what needs to be done and with what urgency. Without doing this is can often take a while to pick back up where you left off when you get back to work the next day.

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Reflect

Take a moment to assess what has gone well today and figure out a way you can recreate it the following day. Also consider what may have not gone so well and figure out a way to solve it or prevent it from happening again. You should also think about things that went well, but could go even better and consider a plan of action of how you would make this happen. It’s essential to reflect in order to grow.

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Once you’ve left the office

Disconnect from work

Chances are you’ve been there all day and will be there all day tomorrow. Responding to emails and doing the odd task here and there can mean you never truly wind down, causing stress signals when you’re trying to relax and go to sleep. At a minimum, try to steer clear of work related issues at least an hour before you hit the hay.

Spend time with others

Book in time to see family and friends, especially those you’ve been neglecting. Make a date in your diary and don’t allow yourself to cancel under any circumstance. If possible, ban the mention of work and focus on other things that are occurring in each of your lives. Taking your mind off of work for a few hours and re-connecting with loved ones can leave you feeling calmer and more level-headed.

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Exercise

Exercise is so important not just for physical health, but for your mental health also. Finding time to fit in exercise can often be tricky, and if you can’t fit it in before work, you should try and make time after. It can be a great way to relieve any stress from the day. Even just a simple stroll can do wonders, plus exercise has been proven to aid sleep quality. Something all busy entrepreneurs need help with.

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Prepare breakfast and lunch

Do your future self a favour and prepare your breakfast and lunch for the following day the evening before. There are plenty of recipes you can make the night before that will save you time fussing over what to eat. Having lunch handy can also reduce costs of having to buy lunch and ensures you don’t panic buy that chocolate bar and processed sandwich. Here are some healthy make ahead recipes for you to try.

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Before you go to bed

Meditate

With apps such as Headspace it’s never been easier to fit in some time to meditate. It can help relax your body and restore some piece of mind.  Due to meditation bringing the brainwave pattern into an Alpha state it can help promote healing. This reduces stress and boosts creativity, amongst many other things.

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Set a bedtime

We know you’re not a child but having a regular bedtime means your body will naturally tire at a similar time each evening making it easier to fall asleep each night. Just like having a regular alarm means your body is more likely to naturally wake up at your set time. This means your body will notice the time and send signals to the brain suggesting it’s time to wind down.

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Read

If it’s good enough for Gates and Obama then it’s a pretty sure sign you should be doing it too. Reading before going to bed can help take your mind off of the stresses from the day whilst also helping you expand your creativity and knowledge. Try not to read a book related to your work, after all you’re meant to be switching off; try a novel that you’ve been desperate to read but never found time for.

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Unplug

Disconnecting from the world of work, and the outside world in general can help you de-stress and feel a sense of calm before heading off to the land of nod. If your evening routine currently consists of scrolling on your phone, you should seriously consider finding another alternative. This is because the blue light emitted from your phone mimics the brightness of the sun, keeping your body awake when it’s time to go to sleep. Try banning technology from the bedroom and replace it with or book or puzzle.

The truth about building a successful business

Stress, pain, misery. Starting a small business sounds like fun. And it is, actually–fun, rewarding, and ultimately life-changing. But it’s also a huge undertaking, which shouldn’t be approached with a half-baked attitude. You’re not a candidate on The Apprentice, willing to stake your hopes and dreams on a comedy business plan that would be laughed out of any serious investor’s office. This is your life, and the livelihood of your family. It’s your chance to turn your idea into a reality.

It’s no coincidence that start-up similes almost always end up being about marathon runners. Of all the small businesses that make it, none have done so by luck. Getting off the blocks is one thing. Running the race to the finish line is quite another. You’ll need to do the business equivalent of training, eating right, and listening to the people who know how to push you further. And that process begins with a few home truths. Knowing what you’re getting into is the only way to understand what you’ll have to do to make it.

So get your mental gym shoes on, and come with us. We’re going on your first training run…

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Belief

If you don’t believe in your brand, no-one else will. It’s the simplest, oldest and truest bit of wisdom in the small business playbook. You can’t pitch an idea you can’t get behind. And you can’t navigate through the tough times if you’re sailing a ship you don’t love. The simple reality of every start-up is this: if it’s going to succeed, you have to be able to convince investors, clients, and staff to come on board. If you can’t even convince yourself, it’s all over.

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Difference

Doing the same stuff as all the other brands, but a little bit better? Same same but different isn’t good enough. For a start-up to make an impact, it’s got to offer a completely new way of solving consumer problems. For every successful small business, there are hundreds of ideas that didn’t make it off the drawing-board. Inspiration’s what you need, if you want to be a record-breaker.

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Leanness

Bigger, faster, harder, stronger? Not if you’re a start-up. Pump up your brand with unnecessary gear – flashy premises, a high-rolling lifestyle – and it’ll look great for about three minutes. But when the first emergency hits, and you’ve got no credit left to fall back on, all those show attributes will fall away faster than you can say ’24 miles to go’. No, the secret to long-term business success is to run like (you guessed it) a marathon expert. Actually, scratch that. An ultra-marathon expert. Steady, smooth, and conserving as many resources as you can. Endurance is your best asset when the road is long.

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Own It

Many entrepreneurs start a small business with a view to selling it on. But the exit plan, while it’s a keynote for investors, shouldn’t be the reason you bring a start-up to life. The best businesses succeed because the people who started them created something they really wanted to own–and if they sold in the end, they did so because someone made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. Or they’d taken the company as far as they wanted to go, and it was time for fresh life to be injected into the brand.

If you’re not building something you’d want to keep, you’re not building with enough care.

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Be nice

It’s just business, they say, as they do something that in any other walk of life would be called unethical. But here’s the newsflash from the start-up world: an entrepreneur and her business are often the same thing. It’s not just business at all. It’s who you are, and how you want your clients and partners to perceive you.

When you build a small business, you’re frequently doing it for reasons that go beyond simple monetisation. You want something that’s different from the world of big business. A friendly way of doing things is part of your proposition. Competition is good, but underhandedness will bite you in the butt in the long run. Be nice (don’t confuse niceness with weakness, btw), and you’ll be treated nice. Get treated nice, and you might just survive.

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Time

Anything can be started in your spare time – but at some point, a successful hobby becomes a full-time commitment. The scary part is, all of a sudden you’re not dabbling with your start-up on the side. Now you’re out in the cold with no holiday pay, no sick pay, no PAYE and no clue. And you’ve got a whole lot of time to fill with a growing business.

The big question, to which there is no magic answer, is ‘how do I find the business to fill the time?’ This is the crux of every ‘shift moment’. The bit between having your idea and realising you’ve got a fully-functioning business is the bit that makes you or breaks you. And the first investment you put into it is more time, with no monetary return.

Simply speaking: you have to free up the time to chase the investors, perfect and market your product or service, and test your small business in the real world. And during those crucial months, you’ll need to give all of your working time to a project that probably isn’t making you any money.

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Money

No successful small business ever got off the ground without investment. Even if you start with nothing, and run on nothing for the first year, you need to start putting aside cash for the times you can’t do without it. Budgeting for a start-up isn’t just about controlling the financial factors you know about. It’s about squirrelling capital away for the mistakes that come out of nowhere.

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Stress

The life of an entrepreneur is often stressful. But don’t confuse long days and impossible deadlines with the misguided belief that pain is good. Pain is painful, and stress hurts.

Ultimately, working every hour in every day and never having any fun will take you down, and your small business will go down with you. Successful businesses are run by people who are prepared for stress. They know it’s coming, and they have systems in place to deal with it. Time spent away from the office. Time spent with family. Stress makes you ill, and ill people can’t run start-up brands.

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Support

When you’re all alone in your garage, staring at the screen of a MacBook and wondering if you can afford a space heater, who’s going to help you see that you’re not crazy? A support network is the difference between a visionary and a crackpot. And it takes many forms. Your family and friends are there to give you the emotional support you need, as your small business takes its first nervous steps on its own. Professional networks are there to bounce ideas off, to share skills, and to offer expertise and practical advice. Find people who have been through the process of creating a start-up, and accept all the assistance they’re willing to give.

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Working environment

Kids running around screaming? TV on in the next room? Suddenly working from home isn’t looking so good. Wherever you locate your small business – home office, coworking space, cafe – atmosphere is vital. Good work happens when your professional space is separated from your domestic space. So no more working in the kitchen. Find a place you can dedicate to the creation of your idea. Surround yourself with the things that make you work better. Be tidy. A successful business has a home of its own, and that’s the place you go to be an entrepreneur. Kitchens are for making sandwiches, not business connections.

There. We’ve made it to the end of the first run together. There’ll be many more training miles to clock up before your small business is running smooth and steady. But with every piece of information you collect, and every connection you make, your stamina will rise and your technique will improve.

Every start-up post you read takes its metaphor and stretches it to breaking point. So I’m going to sign off with one more piece of–not advice exactly, but, well, I guess it’s a homespun truth to ease the pain of all that stretching down you’re doing right now. Here’s where the start-up becomes a different thing from a marathon runner, subjectively at least. Marathon runners will always tell you, with a faraway look in their eyes, that you run distance on your own. You don’t. Marathons are run with other people. That’s how you make it to the end. Look around you. Take advice from the brands and entrepreneurs that have travelled this route before. And good luck.

Ten things all professionals should master in 2017

New Year, New You, right? Many apply this mantra to their personal life, but we also believe it could be applied to your professional life too. So we’ve provided you with some solid and achievable goals that should be on your list to master throughout 2017, to make it the best year yet for your professional development.

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1. Daily Creativity

It can be easy to lose your creative sparkle once your daily workload begins to build. Many begin to push their blogs to one side, give up on writing that book or pop their paintbrush down for a little longer than they should. However, having a daily time slot where you can unleash your inner creativity will help clear your head, putting you in a better frame of mind for the day. You never know, you may also create something wonderful. Only time will tell.

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2. Design Skills

A picture can often speak a thousand words, and in this ever growing visual world having the knowledge on how to create simple designs and images will make your life a lot easier. Even if you only master the basics on how to tweak or pull together small designs this year, it will put you in great stead for the coming years also. Why not get started and learn the basics in under 25 minutes?

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3. Excel

Regardless of the type of environment, you work in; there’s no denying that a good working knowledge of Excel will make it easier. From keeping track of your finances to creating daily reports, having in-depth knowledge of Excel is a vital tool that every professional should master.  To help you get started, take a look at this article.

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4. Hiring

Having the right team around you can make or break for many professionals, and one thing that is vital to master is hiring the right candidate. While many enlist specialist teams’ help with the recruitment process, knowing how to correctly hire for yourself is the best way to ensure you will be left with the best team. Knowing what you require from a candidate and picturing how they’ll fit within your team is essential for employee retention and general peace of working within your business.

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5. Measure Success

Success is different for each professional, but having a clear vision of what you class as success and how you would measure it is extremely important. Take some time to consider what you would class as professional success, and look at a variety of ways you could measure it. Once you feel comfortable with one form of measurement, stick with it. A clear measuring tool will give you a great indication of the direction in which you’re heading.

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6. Listening

Whether it’s taking on board feedback you’ve been given, factoring in changes in your chosen career or even just making a note of advice from family and friends. Set aside your emotional responses and take a step back to really absorb information from others in your life. Listening is an important part of communication, and often one of the toughest things to master.

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7. Skill Sharing

Not only is skill sharing a way to help you develop professionally, but it also helps other people grow. Many of the skills we’ve learned and developed have been honed through the help of others, and being able to share skill sets and learn from others is a key cornerstone for professional success. Co-working is a great way to share skills in a relaxed and comfortable environment.

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8. Time Management

With lives getting busier and work demands growing, it can often feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. Not only should you be working on ensuring all work is complete promptly, you should also focus on ensuring your work/life balance is equal. Remember, if you have a dedicated desk with Us&Co you have access to your space 24/7, allowing you to plan your days perfectly.

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9. Keyboard Shortcuts

Many of us depend on our computers for our day to day lives, not to mention to thrive in our chosen business areas. Learning a handful of keyboard shortcuts will not only make your life easier but also help you amaze at your next board meeting. Here are some to get you sorted.

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10. Saying No

When you’re your own boss, it can often feel like saying no is a big faux pas and that you should be grabbing every opportunity that comes your way with both hands. However, saying yes too often can cause more problems than it will solve. Learning to say no occasionally will help ensure that you can manage your time better and help you focus on the items that truly matter.

Tackling each of these steps throughout the year will leave you ringing in 2018 ready to tackle anything the year has to throw at you.

5 easy new year’s resolutions you may actually keep

We’ve all been there, the clock strikes midnight and we enter the New Year full of optimism and motivation that the coming year will be “your year”. We get swept up in the moment and make a long list of resolutions, from quitting smoking to giving up chocolate and going to the gym 5 times a week. And we’ve all been there on the 15^th January where these resolutions are already a thing of the past and totally not feasible. So why not make this year different? Set yourselves some quick and easy resolutions that you will actually keep and that could really help make 2017 YOUR YEAR.

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1. Give something back

Giving something back not only helps others and puts a smile on someone’s face but can also make you feel really great as well. It doesn’t have to include large sums of money, it can be anything from random acts of kindness like buying a round of coffees for your colleagues or taking home a baked treat to your neighbour, to donating a few hours of your spare time to a local charity at the weekend. Try it this week and see how it makes you feel.

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2. Educate yourself

As the age old saying goes “every day’s a school day”, you may not be a student anymore but that doesn’t mean the education has to stop. Take a few minutes out of your day and learn something new, even if it is just a random fact of the day (try googling “fact of the day” and see what comes up). Got a bit more time? Then why not start an online course, there are thousands out there from business management, to sign language, to mindfulness and well-being. Keep your brain active this year; remember knowledge is power.

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3. Stop procrastinating

Now this one is definitely easier said than done. We are all guilty of doing everything possible to avoid the task in hand. Quickly checking emails, writing a shopping list, making plans for the weekend, scrolling through Instagram, cleaning, whatever your crutch may be, make 2017 the year that you stop. Make a to-do list with realistic deadlines and deliberately pick the most unpleasant item first, to get them out of the way. Mange your technological distractions, limit how often you check your phone/emails; lock it in a drawer if you need to. And stick to completing one task before starting another. All of these things should slowly but surely help to cut down your time spent procrastinating. Try it this year; you know you’ll feel so much better after completing your to-do list.

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4. Cut down technology

The thought of switching off completely can fill some people with dread, and may not be totally practical for your work or social life. But taking baby steps to cutting down your technology use can really help to cleanse your mind and aid productivity. For example keep your bedroom tech-free, and avoid aimless scrolling right before bed. Alternatively why not try Freedom, an internet, social media and app blocker which works on phones, tablets and computers. It allows you to block certain websites and apps for particular times during the day, to help improve your focus and productivity.

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5. Treat yourself

It’s always important to look after number one, so make sure you find time to treat yourself this year. Whether that be buying yourself that pair of shoes you’ve had your eye on, a new book or the latest bit of tech. Big or small, treats of any size can help to keep a happy and healthy mind. You definitely can’t fail at this resolution.

Keep us up to date throughout the New Year with how you get on with these resolutions through on Facebook or Twitter and tell us how you’re making 2017 your year.

Write emails that always get a response

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Make it personal

People like to feel special and important, which means your email should in turn make them feel that way. Always use the person’s name when beginning your email and try to slip in something that shows this email is tailored specifically to them. For example, if you know they like cycling, try asking if they’ve been on a bike ride recently. These personal touches will show the recipient that you care and took the time to email them, making them want to repay the favour.

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Short and sweet

People can often be put off by a long email not only because of the time it will take to read and digest but because they feel like they’ll have to send a long response back, which will use up more of their valuable time. Try and condense what you want to put across into as few words as possible. Make it snappy and to the point, allowing for a fast response. If you have a lot to say, maybe try to schedule a follow up call instead, at a time where you’re both free.

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Proofread

Aside from looking unprofessional, typos and mistakes make it seem like you don’t really care and haven’t put much attention to your email, and if that’s the case the person you’re emailing isn’t going to want to put the time into responding. Put your email through a spellchecker, read it out loud and if possible ask someone else to cast a glance over it.

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Tell people you’re going to email them

Give the person you’re emailing a heads up so they know to look out for your email. If you know you’re going to be receiving an email, it’s easier to look out for it so that it doesn’t get lost in your inbox.

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Make sure it’s necessary

Could what you’re sending via email be said in a more efficient way? For example in person or over the phone? Whilst email may be the most used form of communication at the moment, you should never underestimate the power of a phone call or face to face meeting.

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