Zoho One is a comprehensive all-in-one suite with 40 integrated applications. And the Zoho One Seminars provide insights into how you can use all of the applications in the most efficient way possible.

The next seminar is going to be held in Miami on May 15 at the Lab. According to Zoho, the seminar will help you get a complete view of your business using the apps in Zoho One.

The seminar will cover, introduction to Zoho One, marketing, sales, accounting, HR, collaboration, productivity and more.

You can see a full list of events, contest and award listings or post your own events by visiting the Small Business Events Calendar.

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Featured Events, Contests and Awards

DigiMarCon East 2018 – Digital Marketing Conference
May 10, 2018, New York, New York

DigiMarCon East 2018 Digital Marketing Conference takes place May 10th to 11th, 2018 at the luxurious New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square, New York City.
It’s the one digital marketing event you can’t afford to miss! Whether your goal is to reinforce customer loyalty, improve lead generation, increase sales, or drive stronger consumer engagement, DigiMarCon East 2018’s agenda will help attendees enhance their marketing efforts. Sessions will focus on building traffic, expanding brand awareness, improving customer service and gaining insight into today’s latest digital tools. Register today!

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Zoho One Seminars: Simplify and empower your business with Zoho One
May 15, 2018, The LAB, 400 NW 26th. St. Miami FL, 33127

Learn how Zoho One, our complete suite of business apps, can help you market, sell, support, account, collaborate, and analyze so you can spend more time on what really matters.

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Zoho One Seminars: Simplify and empower your business with Zoho One
May 16, 2018, Loudermilk Conference Center, 40 Courtland Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30303

Learn how Zoho One, our complete suite of business apps, can help you market, sell, support, account, collaborate, and analyze so you can spend more time on what really matters.

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WEBINAR: Small Business Doesn’t Mean Small Security: 3 Major Threats You Need to Combat
May 16, 2018, Online

Data breaches, inventory shrinkage, theft, oh my. On average, data breaches cost $3.62 million per breach and stolen customer data costs $141 per record. And inventory shrinkage in the United States is a $60 billion a year problem. Believe it or not, your business exists within both of those realities. Do you know who is accessing your most valuable assets and sensitive information? Do you know what your employees do when you are not physically onsite? On May 16, 2018, at 2PM ET join Nicki Saffell, Senior Security Consultant at Brivo, Sara Polon, Owner of Soupergirl, a DC area small business, and Anita Campbell, Founder and CEO of Small Business Trends, for a discussion on these challenges and discover modern ways to combat these threats – including electronic access control.

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Zoho One Seminar Boston: Simplify and empower your business with Zoho One
May 18, 2018, Boston, MA

Learn how Zoho One, our complete suite of business apps, can help you market, sell, support, account, collaborate, and analyze so you can spend more time on what really matters.

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Zoho One Seminar New York: Simplify and empower your business with Zoho One
May 22, 2018, New York, NY

Learn how Zoho One, our complete suite of business apps, can help you market, sell, support, account, collaborate, and analyze so you can spend more time on what really matters.

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Zoho One Seminar Philadelphia: Simplify and empower your business with Zoho One
May 23, 2018, Philadelphia, PA

Learn how Zoho One, our complete suite of business apps, can help you market, sell, support, account, collaborate, and analyze so you can spend more time on what really matters.

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Zoho One Seminar Chicago: Simplify and empower your business with Zoho One
May 24, 2018, Chicago, IL

Learn how Zoho One, our complete suite of business apps, can help you market, sell, support, account, collaborate, and analyze so you can spend more time on what really matters.

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TECHSPO Houston 2018
June 06, 2018, Houston, Texas

TECHSPO Houston 2018 is a 2-day technology expo which takes place JUNE 6 – 7, 2018 at the luxurious Houston Marriott Eaton Centre Hotel in Houston, Ontario. TECHSPO Houston brings together developers, brands, marketers, technology providers, designers, innovators and evangelists looking to set the pace in our advanced world of technology. TECHSPO Houston 2018 promises to be better than ever and we’re excited to see all the amazing tech companies and talent that will join us. Register today!

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Growth & Success Con
September 17, 2018, Online

This small business virtual conference is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs at all stages who are stuck in the daily grind of building their businesses and struggle to get solid advice and guidance. An amazing panel of experts in various disciplines and business coaches will share tips & tricks on topics including Growth, Marketing, Management & Business Building for Success. Register today!

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More Events

• WSJ Future of Everything Festival
  May 08, 2018, New York, United States
• Free webinar: Increase your sales with customer-centric conversion optimization
  May 09, 2018, Online
• SharpHeels: Small Business Summit
  May 10, 2018, Portland, OR
• Navigating Tax Reform for Private Sector Businesses
  May 10, 2018, Maitland, Florida
• TECHSPO New York 2018
  May 10, 2018, New York, New York
• Energy Risk USA 2018 | Houston
  May 14, 2018, Houston, TX
• Experiential Marketing Summit 2018
  May 14, 2018, Online
• Chief Learning Officer Forum, Spring 2018
  May 15, 2018, San Francisco, United States
• The Business Show 2018
  May 16, 2018, London, London
• AM Days
  May 16, 2018, Las Vegas, United States
• New York Blockchain Alternative Capital Summit
  May 17, 2018, NYC, NY
• TECHSPO Toronto 2018
  May 17, 2018, Toronto, Ontario
• DigiMarCon Canada 2018 – Digital Marketing Conference
  May 17, 2018, Toronto, Canada
• Small Business Expo 2018 – BOSTON
  May 17, 2018, Boston, United States
• LEAP HR: Higher Education Forum, Chicago, May 2018
  May 22, 2018, Chicago, United States
• North American Financial Information Summit 2018
  May 23, 2018, New York, United States
• Small Business Expo 2018 – CHICAGO
  May 24, 2018, Chicago, United States
• Incite Group Brand Marketing Summit 2018
  May 30, 2018, San Francisco, United States
• World Business Forum Sydney 2018
  May 30, 2018, Sydney, NSW
• International Franchise Expo
  May 31, 2018, New York, NY

More Contests

• Public Vote to Crown America’s Most Unique Small Business Underway
  November 08, 2018, http://www.paychex.com/vote?utm_source=contest&utm_medium=press%20release&utm_term=americas-most-unique

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends and SmallBizTechnology.

Image:ZOHO

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You know, there isn’t a whole lot to talk about with this cartoon. The animals in the office I’ve discussed before. The joke is fine, but nothing special. Even the background, while nice, isn’t particularly interesting. (Except for those L-shaped windows on the building on the right. I stole that idea from the late great Darwyn Cooke.)

So I have to admit, I was busting my brain a little to figure out what to talk about here, and that’s when it hit me — the shading. You probably didn’t even really notice it, did you? But that’s totally the point.

Years ago I looked for someone to outsource the shading of my cartoons. We gag cartoonists need to create a lot of cartoons per week to make a living, and I figured this was a way to take some work off myself on a part of the job that I didn’t really enjoy. It took a few tries, but I finally found a terrific partner in my assistant, Rick Hughes.

Look at the gradations in the shading. Look at the way the lighting is done. Look at how the important parts pop, and the background recedes. Look at the subtle saturated paper effect. Rick is the man. And he does it all beautifully, on time, and without any input from me.

Every artist should have their own Rick. I’m so glad I have mine.

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Back in 2010, Melinda Emerson launched her book How to Become Your Own Boss. Since that time, Emerson has energized small business owners everywhere with her workshops, webinars and SmallBizChat format on Twitter.

Emerson is back with her second book, Fix Your Business: A 90 Day Plan to Get Back Your Life and Remove Chaos from Your Business.  The book is a fitting followup to her first book, offering insights for businesses of every size and industry.

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What Is Fix Your Business About?

Fix Your Business builds upon Emerson’s 12 Ps — the principles for running a successful business. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific “P”, with suggestions planned for 90 day turn around.

At the end of each chapter is a set of action steps and expert interviews to reinforce the chapter topics. The ideas are meant to quickly guide the reader through typical upgrades needed in each aspect of your business.

The quick turn around is meant to address a sophomore slump many businesses face. After a good start, many business owners find themselves struggling to be time efficient, cash flow efficient and rested to make good decisions.

The book helps business owners reach those goals by establishing the processes to start producing money within the business.  As Emerson mentions in the opening pages, you can’t stand still. “It’s really hard to stay where you are for much time without any change or growth. The world will change around you fast.”

What I Liked About Fix Your Business

One aspect I like about the book is how Emerson presents her perspective so readers can easily get to essential ideas and leverage them to reach the “next level” in their businesses. Part of this comes from Emerson’s experience as a business owner for 20 years, but it also comes from her having interviewed small business owners in her regular SmallBizChat events on Twitter.

Take Emerson’s comments on Perseverance in Chapter 12 where she provides straightforward advice on dealing with investors.

“If this is your first business then you don’t have a financial track record, which puts you in a beggar’s position. The investor you seek funding from has the power and may deploy an agreement that puts you at a disadvantage.”

Tip 6 of the chapter suggests options like growing your network and increasing sales when seeking to build investor interest.

Many authors add comments from a few experts to bolster their arguments, but Emerson’s choice of experts is what sets her apart. For example, Emerson draws from Stephanie Chandler, founder and CEO of the Nonfiction Author Association, for thoughts about  creating the right business model. She also adds comments from such experts as Palo Alto Software founder and chairman Tim Berry, marketing luminary Jay Baer and productivity expert Laura Stack.

Action steps at the end of each chapter allow you to practically apply the book’s suggestions to your business.

I also liked Emerson’s unique twists on current trends.

Take her suggestions in Chapter 5 about dealing with a diverse workforce with potential language barriers:

“If you know or if you discover you have an employee with language needs, quietly provide them with the opportunity for formal instruction at your expense. If you have a bilingual workforce, provide instruction in both languages to everyone. You will always be an employer of choice for making this investment in your team!”

Chapter 6 offers software tools to improve productivity ranging from Google Voice to Nozbe, which integrates with Evernote.

What Could Have Been Done Differently?

The book is brief, so some topics will require more research to gather the detail Emerson did not have the space to provide.  For example, a section on cyber security could have been longer and more comprehensive given the potential risks facing small businesses today.

On the other hand, implementing better cyber security may take longer than the 90 days mentioned in the book’s title.  And Emerson does offer readers a descent primer giving small business owners a good idea of what they need to look for when seeking better cyber security solutions.

Also, a Facebook group has been established to continue the discussions begun in the book so many topics are likely to be fleshed out in far greater detail there.

Why Read Fix Your Business?

Some books can be extremely technical, lengthy and even intimidating — though the information they share is vital. So having a guide to cut through all this and focus specifically on the ideas busy small business owners need to focus on first is valuable too.

Fix Your Business offers this essential streamlined view of what’s important while also providing substantial insights. This makes Fix Your Business a perfect guide for business owners. But more importantly, Emerson is the right mentor to provide next level advice for success in business and life.

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While Fortune 500 brands enjoy an advantage in scale, small businesses thrive by differentiating themselves through agility and personal customer service. And for family-owned luxury bed linen manufacturer Matouk, choosing the right technology partners empowered the company to compete on price and service while growing customer relationships against their web-based competitors — the result is a 223% ROI over just six months.

Founded in 1929, Matouk has thrived through almost a century of challenges in part because of its commitment to customers, and its knack for adapting to meet their needs. In 2014, Matouk recognized that it needed a powerful technology platform that could improve everything from customer interactions to inventory and shop floor management. With more than 100 employees, Matouk runs most of its manufacturing in one factory. While the physical operations ran under one roof, Matouk’s IT systems did not. Financials, orders and inventory, and shipping management were all built on separate systems, making integrations difficult and limited in scope. In addition, there was no platform for feedback with Matouk’s shop floor, and no CRM, which prevented the business from having a complete view of their customer.

To streamline business processes, Matouk chose Salesforce CRM and Rootstock, an AppExchange partner and Salesforce-native ERP solution, and is well on the path to modernizing management of its manufacturing business. A new report from Nucleus Research found that the integrated CRM and ERP project has enabled Matouk to drive greater visibility and productivity across all facets of its business. Accelerating time-to-promise and accuracy of price quotes drove increased order volumes, supporting year-on-year growth of more than 10% while improving margins and customer satisfaction.

“Having an integrated CRM and ERP system has helped us unlock efficiencies that we knew our business was capable of,” said George Matouk, CEO of Matouk. “The ROI data is a clear indication that the right IT investment can be a boon to any business.” 

Through the use of automation and improved technology management, Matouk has improved in a number of key areas, including:

• Increased manufacturing staff productivity with automation and controls that enable the company to increase output without a corresponding increase in manufacturing staff.
• Increased customer service productivity with Salesforce Community Cloud to provide self-service to customers, reducing the burden on internal customer service staff while accelerating issue resolution.
• Increased marketing automation capabilities that have increased both the volume and personalization of digital marketing campaigns with the same number of staff.

American small businesses, particularly manufacturers, face significant headwinds that take smart leadership and smarter technology to overcome. Matouk has proven that with the right mix of customer-centric tools that reduce manual processes and augment current staff, even long-standing businesses can grow and thrive.

The ROI percentage is based on a case study conducted by Nucleus Research and sponsored by Salesforce. Additional information and the full report is available here.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Images: Salesforce

More in: Sponsored

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At most companies, the profile of a large-scale technology initiative has looked astonishingly similar over the last several decades. The initial pledge of US$30 million and two years soon balloons to $50 million, and two years becomes four. And this pattern of heavy investment shows no sign of slowing down: Gartner predicts that global spending on enterprise software will grow 9.5 percent in 2018, reaching $389 billion — up from $355 billion in 2017.

We can think of these traditional IT initiatives as “big” automation, with a nod to their big budgets, big timelines, and big functional agendas. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, customer relationship management software, and product life-cycle management software, among other systems, have helped companies streamline functions and track data. However, many of these automated systems still require significant manual processing. For example, PwC’s 2017 Finance Effectiveness Benchmark Report found that finance professionals spend half their time focused on the mundane, repetitive task of gathering data from various systems dependent on structured databases. As a result, although enterprise IT remains essential to companies’ business operations, many of these systems have reached the point of diminishing returns.

Fortunately, the speed, scale, and cost of automation are evolving beyond this point. Intelligent technologies such as robotic process automation, machine learning, and natural language processing systems offer companies new opportunities to improve process performance and realize significant cost savings. These technologies can be implemented in short sprints, focused on a specific problem, with manageable costs. Although big automation involves creating core enterprise systems that drive commonality, standardization, and centralized control, “small” automation is the fast implementation of flexible and adaptable technologies that fill the gaps left by your current enterprise systems — enabling new levels of productivity.

The potential impact is striking: Small automation can improve the productivity of individual processes by 80 to 100 percent (the top of the range reflects a transition to a touchless solution) and overall functions by 20 percent or more. The PwC benchmark report cited above found that in the finance function, automation could reduce by up to 46 percent the time and cost of key processes such as billing, management reporting, general accounting, and budgeting. Finance professionals then would be able to focus on higher-value activities, such as analysis that could lead to breakthrough insight. The same level of improvement is possible in other functions, such as customer service, supply chain management, and sales. This ability to economically solve problems at the team or even task level marks a significant change in business technology.

Enterprise IT Gets Flexible

Small automation does not replace big automation. Instead, it relies on new technologies to build on the foundation of data and standardized processes that large-scale IT initiatives have established. The small automation approach has several key differences from big automation that enable process improvements.

For one, small automation is easier to implement and much less expensive: A sprint can come with a price tag as low as tens of thousands of dollars, versus the tens of millions typically spent on big automation efforts. And large-scale IT initiatives usually apply to an entire function, such as finance or sales. This involves significant coordination among the various functional leaders and frontline employees. But small automation can be applied to individual processes or tasks. For example, a company could put a bot in place to pull specific finance data from a spreadsheet and load it to the company’s ERP platform. Because such tools can be so targeted, they do not require institutional buy-in.

Small automation is also far more flexible than big automation. Traditionally, companies could not begin to capture gains from automation technology until they had standardized processes and databases that were accessible to a broad set of users, which could take years. Before the process itself could be implemented, committees had to agree on what the optimal processes were so employees at different sites would all execute that process the same way. Small automation, in contrast, does not depend on standardization. For example, intelligent process automation platform software such as machine learning can accommodate differences in terminology and other types of complexity, offering immediate gains. This software can also bring together multiple data sets in the cloud and allow for the use of more unstructured data.

Finally, the technologies enabling small automation are easily configurable and able to learn dynamically, rather than relying on predefined rules or programmers to write the perfect algorithm in advance. This allows companies to deploy small automation in environments where the input and output are highly variable, such as service centers that manage multiple forms of inquiry and require tailored responses. New automation technologies work with those variations, rather than requiring someone to manually process and standardize the data beforehand. For instance, a chatbot can learn about a company’s benefits plan — its various policies and protocols — and instantly provide answers to questions specific to an individual employee’s package.

Consider a company with multiple units and departments that buy products and services from different vendors. Management wants to bundle those purchases to reduce complexity and become more efficient, but because the purchases are made on different systems, the company has limited transparency regarding who’s buying what (or what they’re paying). The traditional, big automation solution: Standardize processes, data, and systems across the entire enterprise — a time-consuming and expensive undertaking.

Now contrast this scenario with a small automation approach. With a properly trained algorithm and a sufficiently sized historical data set, the company uses machine learning to identify patterns in the purchasing data — even when the data has inconsistencies — reducing redundant purchases and streamlining the entire process.

A machine could be tasked with sifting through historical data to determine which vendors for a particular service offer the best value: the best price, quality, delivery or financing terms, or some other metric. But the underlying information does not need to be standardized or even labeled consistently. One business unit might have categorized a vendor as providing “secretarial services,” another might have it as “administrative support,” and a third might call it “clerical contracting.” Machines are smart enough to scan the data and derive a synthetic master data model to see that those three terms all refer to the same service, group them together, and assess them accordingly.

Using existing data, in whatever form, machines also can spot historical patterns, determine how vendors have performed, recommend one vendor, and even make predictions about future transactions (for example, the potential volume discount a company can demand by bundling purchases for different units). And critically, all of this happens instantly: Buyers can direct their orders to the preferred supplier in real time, or the system can do that for them automatically. This wasn’t possible before, when the information was fractured across multiple ERPs.

The Small Automation Mind-Set

The distinctions between small automation and big automation offer companies a fundamentally different level of operational performance and cost. But adopting the small automation approach can be challenging at organizations where large-scale initiatives have long been the norm, because it requires a significant change in mind-set. Company leaders should start with the following three steps.

1. Focus on value. Because small automation can solve targeted problems, it’s up to company leaders to identify applications that offer the most potential value. Leaders must stay true to the promise of small automation and avoid getting overly ambitious in scope — for example, by aiming for the large-scale consolidation or standardization that employees have grown accustomed to. Employees will be used to projects that overpromise and under-deliver. Demonstrating strong returns in a short time will convert the cynics. Small automation projects typically happen in a series of sprints, and can be completed in 16 to 20 weeks.

2. Consider the future of work. Automation alone does not save money or improve performance: People and processes will also have to change. This is an area where there is understandable anxiety; automation stokes fears that machines will take people’s jobs. But our experience suggests that many of the tasks being automated are activities people tend not to want to undertake, such as spending half the day pulling and loading data. Or they are tasks for which small automation can actually improve people’s performance — for instance, by introducing predictive algorithms that help them make better decisions and free up their time for more rewarding, interesting, and higher-value-add activities.

This is an entirely new way of working, and company leaders will need to ensure that both they and their people have the right knowledge and skills — such as programming and data science knowledge and process improvement skills — to be successful. And they’ll need to ensure that everyone’s mind-set and behaviors also shift accordingly. People will need to be able to accurately align automation opportunities with fit-for-purpose automation types (big or small), accelerate time-to-value from automation by breaking solutions into minimum viable products, and incorporate predictive algorithms into real-time workflows to drive better decision making.

3. Take a big-picture view. The backbone of this new way of working is strategy. Companies need to know their own strengths. There will be “keep the lights on” activities that can become touchless, as well as differentiating activities that should become increasingly intelligent. Moreover, companies need to take a fresh look at their organizational structure to ensure that it gives teams the freedom to develop creative solutions and experiment. Small automation works well at the level of individual processes or tasks. To that end, the company should put some guardrails in place to ensure accountability, and then let business units and departments adopt the tools as they see fit.

Large-scale systems, though challenging to implement, have created troves of valuable data in nearly every corporate business unit and function. Now, with new technologies at the ready, companies can make this data work for them in ways that were mostly unheard of only two or three years ago. The next generation of automation is small.

McAfee’s third annual cloud adoption and security report says 97 percent of organizations, including small businesses, now use cloud services from public, private, or a combination of both platforms. The bad news is 1-in-4 of organizations using the public cloud have experienced data theft.

2018 Cloud Adoption and Security Report

The McAfee report, “Navigating a Cloudy Sky: Practical Guidance and the State of Cloud Security,” looks at the state of cloud adoption and the challenges organizations face in protecting their digital assets. This year’s report also addresses concerns with private and public cloud services and the impact of Shadow IT. The term refers to IT resources built and used within an organization but without its explicit approval.

With cloud adoption nearing 100 percent, the technology is being used by organizations of all sizes. This includes small businesses who are beginning to appreciate the full benefit of cloud computing despite the risks.

In a press release, Rajiv Gupta, senior vice president of the cloud security business unit for McAfee, explains how businesses counteract the risk by having the right security protocols in place. Gypta says, “By implementing security measures that allow organizations to regain visibility and control of their data in the cloud, businesses can leverage the cloud to accelerate their business and improve the security of their data.”

The survey for the report was carried out between October and December of 2017 with the participation of 1,400 IT professionals. McAfee said a diverse set of industries and organization sizes across 11 countries took part in the survey.

Data Theft

When it comes to data theft, it is the number one concern of the IT professionals who were surveyed. This is because more than 25 percent of the IaaS and SaaS users have fallen victim.

McAfee attributes the problem to a shortage of security skills. Only 24 percent of the respondents said they are not facing skill shortages. This means 76 percent are experiencing different levels of shortages in cybersecurity skills.

Other Data Points

Asked what type of data these organizations store in the public cloud, 83 percent said they store sensitive information and 69 percent indicated they trust these public platforms to keep their sensitive data secure.

Again, this is despite the fact 1 in 4 organizations (or 25 percent) have suffered data theft while using the public cloud, and 1 in 5 have seen advanced attacks against their public cloud infrastructure.

You can download the full report here.

Best Practices and Recommendations

• As the result of the study, McAfee has come up with three best practices organizations should adopt to ensure the security of their cloud infrastructure:Improve code quality and reduce exploits and vulnerabilities with DevOps and DevSecOps and Integrating development, quality assurance, and security processes within the business unit or application team.
• Automate with tools such as Chef, Puppet or Ansible. (McAfee says use of these tools is fundamental to modern IT operations. The same tools should be used when migrating to the cloud, the company says.)
• Move away from multiple management tools and deploy a unified management platform across multiple clouds to reduce the complexity and cost while increasing security.

The Cloud Has More Benefits Than Risks

Still, when all is said and done, the cloud offers too many benefits to ignore. Ninety percent of respondents trust it more now than they did a year ago. This is attributed to an increased knowledge of cloud technology. Native security and third-party integration for commercial security technologies have also made cloud technology safer as has an increased sense of responsibility by all parties involved.

Images: McAfee

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National Small Business Week runs from April 29 to May 5, 2018.

As a co-sponsor of the event, Small Business Trends (SBT) is putting together a Big List of events and offers of interest to the small business community in commemoration of this week set aside to celebrate U.S small businesses.

If you are taking part in the week-long celebration by hosting an event to go along with National Small Business Week 2018, please let us know and we’ll share your event with our community.

The event can be anything from special promotions and sales to commemorate the week, to live or online events. The goal is to support fellow small business owners with valuable information so they can continue to grow.

You can also take a look at the U.S. Small Business Administration site for more information and additional events here.

The Big List will be updated until the National Small Business Week 2018 takes place, so make sure you get in touch with us as soon as possible by emailing your information at [email protected]

 

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Featured Events, Contests and Awards

Big List of National Small Business Week 2018 Events
April 26 2018, Online

National Small Business Week is fast approaching. The annual event is being held from April 29 through May 5, 2018. And we know there are lots of special events to celebrate the week.

This year, again, Small Business Trends has the honor and distinction of being a co-sponsor of the event.

So, we’re putting together a Big List of National Small Business Week events and offers. This list will reach small businesses and entrepreneurs across the country on the Small Business Trends website. Share your event.

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DigiMarCon East 2018 – Digital Marketing Conference
May 10, 2018, New York, New York

DigiMarCon East 2018 Digital Marketing Conference takes place May 10th to 11th, 2018 at the luxurious New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square, New York City.
It’s the one digital marketing event you can’t afford to miss! Whether your goal is to reinforce customer loyalty, improve lead generation, increase sales, or drive stronger consumer engagement, DigiMarCon East 2018’s agenda will help attendees enhance their marketing efforts. Sessions will focus on building traffic, expanding brand awareness, improving customer service and gaining insight into today’s latest digital tools. Register today!

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WEBINAR: Small Business Doesn’t Mean Small Security: 3 Major Threats You Need to Combat
May 16, 2018, Online

Data breaches, inventory shrinkage, theft, oh my. On average, data breaches cost $3.62 million per breach and stolen customer data costs $141 per record. And inventory shrinkage in the United States is a $60 billion a year problem. Believe it or not, your business exists within both of those realities. Do you know who is accessing your most valuable assets and sensitive information? Do you know what your employees do when you are not physically onsite? On May 16, 2018, at 2PM ET join Nicki Saffell, Senior Security Consultant at Brivo, Sara Polon, Owner of Soupergirl, a DC area small business, and Anita Campbell, Founder and CEO of Small Business Trends, for a discussion on these challenges and discover modern ways to combat these threats – including electronic access control.

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TECHSPO Houston 2018
June 06, 2018, Houston, Texas

TECHSPO Houston 2018 is a 2-day technology expo which takes place JUNE 6 – 7, 2018 at the luxurious Houston Marriott Eaton Centre Hotel in Houston, Ontario. TECHSPO Houston brings together developers, brands, marketers, technology providers, designers, innovators and evangelists looking to set the pace in our advanced world of technology. TECHSPO Houston 2018 promises to be better than ever and we’re excited to see all the amazing tech companies and talent that will join us. Register today!

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Growth & Success Con
September 17, 2018, Online

This small business virtual conference is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs at all stages who are stuck in the daily grind of building their businesses and struggle to get solid advice and guidance. An amazing panel of experts in various disciplines and business coaches will share tips & tricks on topics including Growth, Marketing, Management & Business Building for Success. Register today!

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More Events

• PATCA Consultants Networking Lunch-South Bay
  April 24, 2018, Sunnyvale, CA
• Create a Powerful Brand and Connect with Customers
  April 24, 2018, Online
• Business Networking for Professional Success
  April 25, 2018, New York, NY
• VR Franchise Seminar – Experience the only VR platform for Franchising 2018
  April 25, 2018, San Francisco, CA
• SearchCon 2018 Digital Marketing & SEO Conference
  April 25, 2018, Breckenridge, CO
• The Sixth International Conference on Digital Information, Networking, and Wireless Communications (DINWC2018)
  April 25, 2018, Beirut, Lebanon
• CHICAGO BLOCKCHAIN CONFERENCE 2018
  April 27, 2018, Online
• Free East Cooper Networking Event powered by Rockstar Connect
  May 01, 2018, Mount Pleasant, SC
• Free Roseville Networking Event powered by Rockstar Connect
  May 01, 2018, Roseville, CA
• Business Inc.
  May 02, 2018, Toronto, Canada
• Small Business Expo 2018 – NEW YORK CITY
  May 03, 2018, Online
• New York’s Biggest One Day MBA Fair (Free)
  May 05, 2018, New York, NY
• Manufacturing Leadership Forum USA
  May 06, 2018, Atlanta, GA
• WSJ Future of Everything Festival
  May 08, 2018, New York, United States
• TECHSPO New York 2018
  May 10, 2018, New York, New York
• Energy Risk USA 2018 | Houston
  May 14, 2018, Houston, TX
• Experiential Marketing Summit 2018
  May 14, 2018, Online
• Chief Learning Officer Forum, Spring 2018
  May 15, 2018, San Francisco, United States
• The Business Show 2018
  May 16, 2018, London, London
• AM Days
  May 16, 2018, Las Vegas, United States

More Contests

• Public Vote to Crown America’s Most Unique Small Business Underway
  November 08, 2018, http://www.paychex.com/vote?utm_source=contest&utm_medium=press%20release&utm_term=americas-most-unique

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends and SmallBizTechnology.

Photo via Shutterstock

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Most of the time, being more productive means striking a better work-life balance and learning to mitigate the little stressors that eat away at efficiency and the psyche.

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Work Productivity Hacks

These work productivity hacks will help you maximize your time and happiness.

1. Know Thyself

What time are you at peak productivity? Now schedule your most >crucial tasks during that time. If you’re a genius between the hours of 10 p.m. and midnight, then by golly, do whatever you have to do to block off that time and get ‘er done.

If you need a little help discovering your peak productivity, check out this app that promises to help you find it.

And if you work from home, here are some special hacks just for you.

2. Skip Facebook

It may be tempting to log in and just *peek* at what your news feed is up to, but that’s a dangerous move when you’re trying to get something done. Before you know it, you’re tangled in a web of cute animal videos and profilestalking, and it’s 30 minutes later before you realize you’ve entered the Facebook time warp.

One study showed 23 percent of workers cited Facebook as the destination to “waste time.”

But what if it’s your job to manage social media profiles for a company? Try staying within scheduling apps like Hootsuite so you’re not tempted to log in?—?or check out the Facebook at Work product that promises to keep work and personal separate on the network?—?and limit distractions from screaming goats.

3. Ditch the Smartphone

The average smartphone user checks his or her device 221 times a day.Putting your cell phone out of sight during work hours helps get it off your mind?—?unless you’re so far gone that you experience phantom cell-phone vibrations. In that case, start rethinking your relationship with technology.

4. Forget Multitasking and Just Focus

You might think you’re being more productive by sending those emails during a conference call, but think again. Multitasking reduces efficiency and the quality of work (plus, research shows it literally lowers your IQ). So when you have to get something done, just focus on the task at hand for best results.

And keep in mind that studies show the human brain can only focus for 90 to 120 minutes at a time before it needs a break.

5. Reimagine Your Inbox

Emails build a to-do list that other people create for you. So you need to manage that daily annoyance somehow.

Schedule certain times of the day that you check email, and stick with it. You can try tackling email first thing in the morning, after lunch, and at the end of day. And for God’s sake, turn off email notifications.

If you think this is going to be a problem for your teams or clients, let them know ahead of time how you communicate throughout the day.

You can also look into apps that let you get a handle on your inbox, like Productive Inbox , SimplyFile, or Boomerang for Gmail.

6. Change Your Scenery

If you’re feeling a little foggy midafternoon, try looking out the window into nature. No window? No problem?—?one study found simply looking at a computerized image of nature helped increase focus.

Even better though is to take a short walk outside. Research shows that a 30-minute lunchtime walk can help people cope with stress and boosts enthusiasm for the remainder of the afternoon.

7. Meditate

Just 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation can lead to more rational business decisions?—?not to mention better teamwork, being more creative, and a whole slew of health benefits.

Not the yogi type? Try the Headspace app, which has brought meditation to the masses. So go ahead and get your ohm on.

8. Ask for Help and Delegate

There is power in numbers. And frankly, there are things you’re just not good at and probably don’t want to do. When you’re feeling overwhelmed with tasks or underwhelmed by the tedious work on your plate, ask for help.

Guaranteed there is someone out there who can do the tasks you don’t want to 10 times better (try looking in Upwork), so find the person and delegate!

9. Create Innovation Time

Google made famous the idea of giving team members a percentage of time to work outside their normal projects and on what they think would most benefit the company.

If you’re constantly “doing,” you have no time to innovate. Making the same widget day after day does not allow you to think about what new widgets you might make.

Try setting aside time to work on something that will move the needle.

10. Be Agile

The agile approach to building products and software and managing projects is finding its way into other areas of business and even into people’s personal lives.

A popular method is Scrum (an agile framework), which breaks large tasks into smaller items that are worked on and completed typically within a one-week sprint.

11. Get Ergonomic

Sitting is the new smoking, don’t you know. And some research suggests that even if you exercise but still sit for long periods of time, your health is at risk. Not to mention aches, pains, and fatigue can be a real productivity killer.

Luckily, there’s been innovation in workstations that offer affordable sit-standoptions, chairs that move with you more naturally, desks that recline and even allow you to take a nap. (By the way, napping has also been linked with productivity.)

Republished by permission. Original here.

Photo via Shutterstock

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