Speak to any established business owner and you’ll find there are many things they wish they’d known as a start-up. If you’re in start-up stage, thinking of launching a business or just want extra insight in a competitive market, these seven tips could boost your business.

With the End of Financial Year just around the corner, it’s a busy time for business owners filled with sales, stocktake and completing accounts to meet the March 31 dead line. If you own a small business, fewer resources and limited support can add extra pressure and make it feel like all the responsibility is on your shoulders. Although we all read about tax tips from seasoned experts sharing invaluable advice, many people aren’t aware of the advantages and additional opportunities available to Bartercard members.

We know competition is fierce when it comes to recruiting the right individuals – there’s so much to consider. According to Forbes Magazine’s, Alan Hall, there are some basic rules to follow:

With the festive season and networking events right around the corner, we've got some quick tips for successful networking to ensure you maximise all of your opportunities. 

Did you know that companies that blog have 55% more website visitors? (Hubspot 2015).

If this isn’t evidence enough that blogging is essential in business, take into consideration that the evolution of the internet, smarter technology and instant access to information combined has vastly re-shaped the way customers shop.  

The digital shift is in full swing, so disseminating valuable content to grow a business and attract and nurture leads should be part of every marketing strategy. In this week's blog we discuss the topic, and look at 8 ways to use content online to boost brand awareness.

Once your business reaches new heights where taking on additional employees is necessary, you enter a whole different playing level. You are no longer one of the crew, you become the manager no matter how deeply you muck in with the others in the execution of your work. Employee satisfaction is paramount to employee engagement. If an employee is satisfied with their job and work environment this directly correlates with the amount of effort they will put into their work.

No business can afford to waste their limited marketing resources on campaigns that are hit or miss. Instead, you need to plan, and track marketing efforts so you can learn what really works and what doesn’t.

As business owners, we are often so consumed by the day-to-day activities of running a business that there is little time or resource to assess strategy. It is easy to forget that strategy is essential to the success of a business and a fundamental that managers should be focussed on.

A simple yet effective way of creating a digitally-friendly workplace is by introducing incentives to motivate employees to adopt new technologies and embrace change.