Archives for 2020

Have you considered giving one-of-a-kind enamel pins to your current and prospective customers? Promotional gifts such as these can really boost your business, and GS-JJ.com has exactly what you need.

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Consumers love having their own unique and customized style today. However, standing out from the crowd has always been a challenge.

How can you create your own unique style? You can start with customized accessories such as custom-made lapel pins, patches, belt buckles, lanyards, and more from GS-JJ / Enamel Pins.

GS-JJ.com is an e-commerce website that offers quality products and services directly to designers and end users.

GS-JJ / Enamel Pins is one of the largest manufacturers of promotional gifts and customized items. Their mission is to offer customers the highest quality products at competitive prices with on-time delivery. And they offer fast, free shipping.

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About GS-JJ and Enamel Pins

GS-JJ is a division of EnamelPins Inc. To clarify, the EnamelPins.com website is devoted to lapel pins and custom enamel pins.

GS-JJ has been manufacturing promotional gifts and custom-made items for more than 20 years. They wholesale direct to some of the biggest distributors, franchise operators, and high-end customers in America and around the world. They work hard every day to be the best in their industry.

Unique Products Besides Enamel Pins

A custom-made lapel pin or a custom-embroidered patch can change the look of your denim jacket, leather jacket, coat, or backpack. You can even wear your custom-made enamel pin on your favorite baseball cap. And since it will be your own unique design, you can guarantee that no one else will be wearing it.

The GS-JJ product lines include:

• Custom-made enamel lapel pins
• Baseball trading pins
• Medals
• Lanyards
• Belt buckles
• Challenge coins
• Ornaments
• Embroidered patches
• PVC patches
• Key chains
• Silicone wristbands

GS-JJ offers much more, since they will customize just about anything and everything!

Fast Delivery on Enamel Pins

GS-JJ will produce your custom lapel pins in 24 hours using their advanced printing technology, no matter how many or how few enamel pins you need. In fact, GS-JJ is the perfect choice for your quality order, even if you have an urgent deadline. You can always purchase from GS-JJ with confidence

No Minimum Order

GS-JJ charges no mold fees for their custom-printed enamel lapel pins, whether you order a single enamel pin or a thousand. What’s more, they offer free professional design support, quality printing technology, and free air shipping.

Giving Back

In support of art and design, GS-JJ / Enamel Pins is offering an art student scholarship contest, called the 2020 Enamel Pins Scholarship. To this end, they are holding a design contest that is open to undergraduate students enrolled at accredited colleges and universities in the United States.

To enter, applicants must complete an online application form and upload designs for both a one-inch enamel lapel pin and a three-inch embroidered patch. Also, each entry must feature this semester’s theme of “Climate Change.”

The designs for both the enamel pin and the embroidered patch need to be designed without gradients, shadows, or photographs. To see examples and learn more about the design and manufacture of GS-JJ pins and patches, visit their website at https://www.enamelpins.com/video/custom-lapel-pins. There you will find images and videos to help you make your entry shine.

More About Entry Requirements

GS-JJ enamel pins are plated in the customer’s choice of metal color, including gold, silver, black, and so on.

In your design, all fine lines and other small details should be in the base metal color of the pin. Also, each color should be completely bordered by a thin stroke of the pin’s metal color. A line width of 0.50 works great for one-inch pins.

Deadline for Entries

The deadline for all entries is March 31, 2020. Only digital designs will be accepted. Fill out the online application form at www.enamelpins.com/scholarship/apply.

With your entry, upload to the GS-JJ FTP server a vector file for a one-inch enamel pin and a three-inch embroidered patch. Be sure to include your first and last name and the year in the name of the design’s file. For example, if your name is Henry Davis, you would name your file “Henry_Davis_2019_pin.Ai.”

Then, in the subject line of your e-mail include both your first and your last name.

The Winning Design

The winning design will be chosen by a trio of professional product designers from GS-JJ. The winner will be notified by both electronic and regular mail. Therefore, please ensure all of your contact information is correct on your application.

The restaurant industry has never been easy. Restaurant ownership is only becoming more competitive each day. Food delivery apps, new restaurants, and the booming price of commercial real estate all affect restaurant success. Statistics show that over half of restaurants close within the first year. Those which make it are often just barely hanging on. Consequently, restaurant owners must schedule their own and their employees’ time for profitability. Scheduling software does exactly that.

Featured Photo by energepic.com from Pexels

Restaurant scheduling software has transformed restaurants across North America. The right software streamlines and organizes the back-end of the restaurant to keep things functioning smoothly and save you money. So, let’s learn more about how it works.

Better Schedules, Sooner

The best restaurant scheduling software doesn’t just create schedules in less time than it would otherwise take; it actually produces better schedules, too. All employees will have their specific needs accounted for. While the software relies on automation to speed up the process, it also factors in manual inputs submitted effortlessly by the staff.

Staff can relay to their manager when they’re free to work through the app’s drag-and-drop calendar. This allows staff to stay on top of their scheduling and easily organize their personal lives. This also ensures savings on labor costs.

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Indeed, scheduling software produces schedules up to 80% faster than it would take otherwise. This can reduce labor costs in a restaurant by 1% to 3%. This is an important savings. After all, labor is typically one of the biggest drains on a restaurant’s finances.

Get Shift Replacements Quickly

No matter how effective the shift scheduling software is, sometimes employees have emergencies preventing them from coming to work. In such cases, a replacement for a shift is needed urgently. Even then, the software has your back.

Managers can contact all employees or specific teams as needed through the app. Each staff member receives an email notification alerting them to the urgent message right away. Whoever is free to take the shift can let everyone know in a group chat. So the problem is resolved before it blows up into a crisis.

This software keeps restaurant staffing organized well in advance, but it also has the ability to problem solve in the event of an emergency with modern, streamlined communication.

Scheduling Software Helps Labor Compliance

Every jurisdiction has laws surrounding labor which need to be complied with, or the restaurant could face penalties and fees. It’s important to avoid incurring such costs, and not to waste much time steering clear.

New restaurant scheduling software gives prompts before the schedule is locked in place. This helps create awareness when an employee qualifies for overtime pay. As such, they will never be given too many hours accidentally.

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Plus, your restaurant staff will feel energized and refreshed, since the software also ensures they get to enjoy the breaks they are legally entitled to. Some expenses in a restaurant are out of a manager’s control, like the cost of food or real estate. That’s why it’s essential to save money where possible, by implementing new technologies such as restaurant scheduling software.

Thinking about opening your own office? Whether you’re thinking about purchasing an entire property as a new workspace, leasing a room in a building among different businesses, or just hiring out a few desks in a communal space there are things to consider for each option.

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Here are five of the top things that you should consider before investing in a workspace:  

Location, Location, Location

Location is key to opening your own office, which is why a lot of larger offices are in city centers. Having a central location usually means that there are reliable transport links, but also plenty of places to grab a coffee or some lunch.

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However, rent can often be high in the center, so it may be worth looking on the outskirts if you’re on a budget. Also, ensure that the location you choose to set up in is in a place where your shop/office will be of interest. Do your research – if someone has set up a similar business to yours in the area and they didn’t last long, that may not be the ideal location. Find out what people are interested in in your prospective area.

Office Safety

This one really should be the top of your priority list. You must ensure that all of your employees are safe in the office. These sorts of things include fire safety, electrical risks, manual handling and having an on-site first-aid kit.

As a business owner, you must ensure that the risks and hazards in and around the office are properly labeled. Invest in some workplace safety signage to display any cautions, hazards, risks, and warnings to your employees and visitors.

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Keep in mind that without keeping your staff safe and putting up the correct signage your business could face some hefty costs in both finance and labor. For example, a member of staff could be off for weeks if they were to slip on a spillage at work and break their leg. They may even sue if the sign wasn’t up to warn them about the wet floor.

Finance Opening Your Own Office

It is all well and good to choose a huge office in the city center that needs a minimal amount of work done to it, but can you really afford this? You must think carefully about your budget and assess what you can and cannot afford when you are opening your own office. This will help you find a suitable property that won’t have you taking out a hefty loan from the bank. Consider leasing a property rather than buying one outright.

One way to grab a property at a bargain is to visit an auction and see what is going up for sale there. However, the property may need quite a bit done to it. Often, these properties need many improvements and are sold at a lower price. Still, there may be some good opportunities for a workspace bargain.

If the financing isn’t fully sorted prior to the auction, do not worry! A bridging loan may be able to tie you over in the meantime.

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Accessibility

If your place of work is somewhere that customers, clients, and employees will need to get to, then you need to make sure that it is accessible. Opening your own office near good transport links is a must because not everyone drives. Think about the nearest bus stop, train stop, and even tram or metro stop.

Adequate parking spaces are also a must. Alternately, make sure that there is on-road parking nearby. This will ensure that those who visit you won’t have any trouble accessing your workspace.

Additionally, consider those who are slightly less-abled and may require some help getting in and out of the building. For example, you might choose to install a ramp that can help those in a wheelchair in and out of the building. You could also make toilets disabled-friendly.

Going Green

More research and resources are available regarding sustainability than ever before. Companies should really think about how they can make a difference. So, when opening your own office, consider a space that has electric car charging ports for those who may need to charge their car during the day. Also, an office with lots of natural light will help you minimize the amount of electricity you need to use. This will also save you money in the long run.  

For some other ways to consider the environment and sustainability in your office space, follow the lead of CBS. They have made some great changes to adapt to having a green office space.

Use these tips to open your own office space.

Searching for a reputable security guard service is not without its challenges. The variety of security services available can leave you overwhelmed and confused. Some services may try to offer excellent deals but knowing how to find the best security guard companies requires a little more than promises.

Feature Photo by Brett Sayles from Pexels

Hire the wrong service and you face unnecessary frustration. Also, your business will be exposed to threats from security violations. Therefore, you must complete a rigorous evaluation of the services available in order to determine what is right for your business.

Here are questions that will help you identify red flags and find the best security services for your business.

Do They Offer Security Services In Your Area?

Location makes a difference when it comes to security. If a security company has no clientele in your area, they may not be familiar with the issues and challenges you face. This should raise flags. Guards must have a working knowledge of your business’ neighborhood and common issues they might face. 

Conversely, consider enlisting a security service with more than one location in your area. Additional offices nearby may mean extra guards on call in that locality should any need arise. For example, presume a security service is covering a building right across your street. Their presence means that the additional security will be monitoring your side of the street, too. 

How Are Their Security Service Reviews?

Before you sign a security contract, look for reviews of the company from previous customers. Take some time to read the reviews on their website. Happy customers will share stories of success. Several bad reviews should cause you to think twice. 

Will They Provide Value For Money?

Think twice if the security firm you are considering provides you significantly lower prices than everyone else for the same service. This could be a sign that they have extra costs unaccounted for in their basic contract. For example, some security contracts do not disclose overtime fees that are charged in case of an incident.

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Talk to your security service about why their costs are so low. Larger companies may offer lower rates because they dominate the market. Also, they may ultimately pay their guards less. As a result, such guards may not be so loyal to the security of your business or their firm.

Insured And Licensed?

A security company must be licensed and insured to carry out its mandate. In the case of an incident, you must know who will bear the burden of cost for damages. You could face problems if they do not have the proper coverage.

What Is Their Response Rate?

You run your business efficiently. It is only reasonable to expect your security service to do the same. Before you sign any contract, evaluate the security company’s response rate. Do they respond to calls quickly? Is it easy to get a hold of them? Their response rate for business-as-usual will give you a sense of how fast will they react if there’s an incident.

These are all great questions to ask before you sign on a new security company to watch over your business.

Working in real estate demands a lot of time and effort, but offers substantial financial rewards for those who become successful. Managing those demands can be an agent’s biggest challenge. Success in real estate is possible with these four principles.

Feature Photo by The Lazy Artist Gallery from Pexels

Real Estate Is Business

Many people picture a successful realtor as a friendly person who is pleasant to work with, knowledgeable, and almost always at ease. However, reality paints a more complicated picture. With all of the pressures to make contacts and finalize sales, the real estate business can be challenging. Always remember that as a realtor, your business is just that—a business.

Do not begin your real estate career without considering all of the normal demands of a business. Like any company, you will need to manage expenses, handle communications, and track cash flow. You will need to market your business and make informed decisions on which marketing strategies work best for your success. Moreover, this is a full-time job, and doing it well requires a full-time commitment.

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Marketing for Real Estate Success

Success in real estate hinges on the constant creation of new contacts and relationships. Therefore, marketing yourself and your business is key to connecting with new potential clients.

Your marketing strategy will require networking and building relationships with the right people in the industry. Brokerage relies on connections, primarily with potential clients of course, but also with professional services related to the business side of real estate. As a realtor, you’ll be marketing yourself to buyers and sellers. You will also build relationships with accountants, lawyers, and investors who can help your business run smoothly. 

Marketing yourself as a real estate broker requires consistency. Target your marketing in a neighborhood with high potential for growth that appears to be overlooked or on an area poised to undergo gentrification. Keep your marketing on-point. 

Marketing expenses should be a constant item in your budget. A portion of every sale or rental should go back into your marketing budget. Don’t waste time and money by frantically trying every marketing approach you can find or dream up. Spend your money wisely with focus and intentionality. 

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For example, while old-fashioned networking luncheons are still viable in today’s world, real estate agents and investors are increasingly connecting online via new tools and social networks. Jake Marmulstein, CEO at Groundbreaker, states, “While at its foundation the real estate industry doesn’t change much from year to year, new technology is beginning to disrupt certain aspects of it, like relationship management and marketing.” Success in real estate demands embracing the disruption of new marketing methods while keeping your message consistent.

Responsive Communication

As your marketing succeeds, you will see an increase in the communication you receive from potential buyers. Your number-one rule for that communication is to respond!

The faster the response, the better. If you can’t take the call right away, or answer the text instantly, do so at least before the day is out. Once your business grows, you may be able to hire help to handle the communication flow. 

In the meantime, it’s up to you to demonstrate to both your current and potential clients that you are available and ready to help them. As with most businesses, clients are drawn to businesses that respond to their needs. Responsiveness and great communication skills show competency and reliability, providing further comfort to your clients and strengthening your relationship with them.

A note about social media communications. Social media can generate a steady stream of feedback from your posts and advertising. Use tools such as immediate responses to ensure that every connection receives an acknowledgment. It is easy to lose track of everything in the shuffle, which could cost you a potential client. Stagger your promotions so you’re not dealing with a potential mass of responses all at once.

Budgeting for Success in Real Estate

The core of any budget is the desire to properly manage income and expenses. Ultimately, the budget keeps expenses lower and income higher, ultimately growing the bottom line. A business budget is as crucial as a personal one, perhaps even more so. Real estate brokerage may not always maintain a steady level of profit even when everything is going well. Be sure to prepare for the slow times, especially when business is going well, by implementing a strict budget. 

When the sales are coming in, the contracts are closing, and cash flow is high, it can be easy to think the good times will last forever. That may not always be the case. Properly allocating your funds in the good months will allow you to reduce the stress that comes with the slower months. This will also ensure that you have the money to market and grow your business throughout the year. The key to any good budget is to remember to set money aside when you can. Always take a portion of each sale and assign it to cover costs down the road.

Real estate brokers and agents face all the challenges of running a business. Developing contacts and good relationships with clients will be much easier when you manage the business side efficiently. These tips will help you keep both sides of your business balanced as you pursue your career.