Victoria Richardson is an engineer and a business woman with a little bit of Spiderman thrown in for good measure . As a Chartered Building Surveyor, Victoria’s job involves not only office-based work, report writing and client liaison, but also scaling large buildings in a single bound! Part of her work involves abseiling down the side of all types of buildings to inspect for defects or maintenance requirements. To us,… Read more
It’s no secret that data loss can be a costly nightmare for a small business, with recent estimates citing the total cost of data breaches exceeding $2.1 trillion by 2019. Unfortunately, cyber attackers increasingly target small businesses because they are less likely to have security protection in place. Accidental loss or loss due to a natural disaster can be just as harmful to a business, with recovery efforts and delays… Read more
If your business hasn’t made it a habit to support a good cause, here’s why you should: giving back does more than make a difference in your community. Participating in charitable activities can have a positive impact on your staff, your customers and your bottom line. Customers want to support companies that demonstrate a commitment to more than earning a profit. A 2010 study by Cone Marketing showed that 85… Read more
Increasing efficiency and minimizing costs are essential to running a profitable business. Yet many small business owners waste countless hours on meetings that lack focus, run on too long, and pull staff away from more productive tasks. Follow these seven tips to make your meetings more efficient and cost-effective. What’s your goal? Every meeting should have a clear objective, and a reason the meeting is needed (versus an email or… Read more
We are often asked by people who are setting up in business “Which entity structure is suitable for my business?” A typical answer would talk about the options of using a sole trader structure or a trust, but would focus on the asset protection benefits of using a company. Companies are the default trading structure for most businesses in New Zealand, due to the creditor protection benefits and ease of selling… Read more
While working at home as a freelancer sounds like the ultimate dream for anyone tired of the rat race and daily commute, freelancers still have more than a few financial issues to worry about. Perhaps the most important trait that you should have as a freelancer is the ability to be fully responsible and accountable to yourself, and saving money is something that you should think about on a daily basis! So let’s walk through… Read more
We believe that storing a copy of your receipts and invoices electronically in Xero is the best and most efficient way to do the business filing for most organisations. There are many benefits to this – not just that you can do something else with the space where the filing cabinet went! Read more about document storage using Xero Files here. For those organisations who have a lot of invoices or… Read more
Entrepreneurs want to have their hands on every aspect of their start-up. This is understandable, as many entrepreneurs come into their respective industries from a place of passion. Their passion will drive them to spend long nights at the office, working hard every hour of every day. Unknown to them, this kind of attitude can actually lead to some destructive outcomes. You must avoid these habits, despite the allure of… Read more
Don’t be left up in the air by traditional IT solutions. Check out the top 9 advantages for small businesses switching to cloud computing. Cloud computing is fast becoming the norm because storing information and using software hosted on the Internet has many advantages. 1. Save money Traditionally, a small business spends money licensing software or buying packages to install or download onto individual computers. Cloud computing, on the other… Read more