Wednesday, March 8, 2017

10 challenges a small business owner will face



As an entrepreneur, when can you consider the work of building your company complete? Maybe when the sale of your business closes, leaving you wealthy and content. In the meantime, you will encounter obstacles every day—truthfully, most entrepreneurs would have it no other way. Here are the 10 biggest challenges a small business owner will face:


1. Undervaluing your product

To grow market share and build a business for the long haul, you have to attract consumers who have no reason to trust you. New companies have to undervalue their products and services in order pull off this feat. In other words, you have to sacrifice revenue and play the long game to allow your business to succeed. This tactic requires patience and a large dose of humility, but the reward is more market share than you would otherwise take.

2.Drafting an all-star team

As soon as you become too busy to be the one-person band, you need to build a winning team. Treat every hire you make with extreme care, thinking about the future of your firm, rather than your immediate administrative needs. Paying more than you can afford for an all-star employee could be the best investment you ever make. As with sacrificing revenue for growth, a brilliant employee may be worth the money.


3. Maintaining a life/work balance

A small business owner is usually ready to commit 24-7 to a new venture, but your company is better off when you take breaks. Keep the human (i.e., personal) aspects of your life in a healthy place so you can stay grounded. Having a sound perspective will help your business decisions and make your company stronger. Resist the urge to surrender your entire self to the business.


4.Handing over responsibility

At some point in a company's development, you will have to relinquish control to employees. Learn to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your staff so this challenge gets easier. If you cannot trust anyone in your company to take over leadership roles, rethink your hiring practices.


5. Learning new technology

Entrepreneurs should never stop learning new things, and in today's business world, the main challenges involve technology. Embrace tools that will make your company stronger. You never have to master each new app and program, but get a working knowledge of the tech to use to your advantage. If technology is a weakness, hire team members to compensate or outsource the work to qualified partners.


6. Avoiding employee turnover

Making the effort to find the best employees is the first part. The second part is keeping them happy and loyal to your company. You will succeed by making employees feel valued, compensated, and engaged every day at the office. Businesses often hinge on your ability to meet this challenge.


7. Keeping your passion as a small business owner

Keeping yourself engaged and passionate about a business gets harder as the years pass. If you feel like it is Groundhog Day when you enter the office in the morning, then you know the time has come to recharge your batteries. Tap into the original spirit you had when you founded the company or risk the defection of key staff members. Much like passion, lethargy is contagious.


8. Handling the legal angles

You may be the visionary of your company, but the realities of doing business make you the accountant and legal adviser as well. Take time to manage the legal angles, from protecting products with patents to knowing tax write-offs and insurance liabilities. You cannot afford for your company to get blindsided by a technicality.


9. Adapting to industry shifts

Businesses that launch in 2001 and 2021 have an equal number of industry shifts to face. Entrepreneurs should never consider the issue settled when it comes to steering your company through marketplace changes. Even when it becomes draining to constantly adapt, lean on your team to keep your company relevant.


10. Accepting business as a never-ending investment

Small business owners may be tempted to believe they can sit back and count their profits at various points in a company's life, but that day never arrives. Successful businesses forever require investments in new employees, infrastructure, expansion, and marketing.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Guest Post: Does a Tile Roofing Require Repairs? - New York Roofers



"Once you've installed a Tile roof, all your roofing problems are over for life!" This is not true though. Tile roofing is one of the best options but it can develop problems and leaks that we usually get from our customers in New York.

Things you need to know about Tile Roofing provided by Roofers New York:
The main idea of installing a tile roof is to build a strong long term leak free roofing system. Tile roofs are best because they shed most of the water, especially during rains. But there are occasions when a little water creeps into the felt layer below the tiling. The 'Felt' is something made out of asphalt based materials. Over time 'felt' tends to deteriorate. With aging the material becomes brittle. Over time it is bound to develop cracks. That is when the water that seeps in from the tile roofing finds its way and leaks.

Leaks occur when the penetration pipe is damaged or at times the area near the chimney or skylight opening is damaged.

And, yes tiles break at times!

So to answer the question, "whether tile roofing requires repairs?" is a big YES!

Possible Repair Situations

Fix a leaking roof when it rains
In case your tile roof begins to leak while it's raining heavily; you can get your contractor to get a tarp positions over your roof. This solution works for a while. You can get a complete check up done once the rains stop. The only condition when installing an emergency tarpaulin is that your roof is free of algae and moss deposits.

Fixing Vents

Roofs that are comparatively new generally do not have such issues as our customers reported in New York. You may notice a sudden leakage. But it is advisable to wait till the rain stops because the water may be coming from a vent because of wind-driven rain. Using a tarp during such occasions does the trick. You can call your contractor for a general maintenance visit. They check the pipes and clean off loose debris. Replacing broken tiles or re positioning existing ones can also do the trick.

Damaged Felt
It is possible that the underlying layer made of 'felt' gets damaged; especially when the roofing system is more than 10 to 15 years old. In such situations experts check the entire lower surface bottoms-up to see the course of the water stream. The idea is to fix the damage at the very source. If you can't the problem by yourself find one of roofers in New York and a company will handle it for you.

Broken or Slipped Tiles
You can get your contractor to good a good patch up job if you detect broken or slipped tiles. If you do not wish to get an entire section re-done then go for patchwork; The contractor with replace the old tiles with fresh ones, and you are good to go!