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Isolation Innovation – 5 Tips for Small Business Owners Working from Home

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Source: Pexels / Pixabay

Across the world, business owners and employees are being urged to work from home. For some, it’s an effortless process, and one they may have already been doing to some degree. For others, it’s foreign territory that can take a while to navigate and explore. Here are a few different things that can help make that adjustment period a bit more comfortable:

Keep Your Professional Support Contacts

Working from home may mean you’re working in a different setting, but it doesn’t mean you aren’t going to face the same challenges as you would in your office. Don’t cut contact with those other businesses that keep yours going. Stay in touch with your small business IT support guru and remember to keep your accountant informed with business operations.

Everyone you needed to run your business at the office will still be required while you work from home.

Don’t Change Your Routine

Working from an office has always promoted a sense of routine. You rise at the same time every day, get in the car or jump on public transport, then spend the working week doing the same things. While your morning commute is now from the bedroom to the dining room, that doesn’t mean your work routine must change.

Wake up at the same time, have a shower, get dressed in tidy attire, and start the working day at the same time. The sameness of your routine can ensure you achieve the same level of work as you would if you were in your office.

Educate Your Family

Your spouses and kids know that when you’re at the office, you’re not available to make them lunch, help with chores, and answer the door when there’s a knock. After all, how can you do those things when you’re not home?

Once you’re working from home, though, it can be easy to forget that you’re in work mode. When the working week kicks off, offer a gentle reminder that interruptions can be disruptive to how much work you achieve. Of course, spend time with your family, but set aside a few hours of your day just for you and your regular work routine.

Be Comfortable

Most people have their work station set up ergonomically at their place of business. Once you get home, though, you’re more likely to learn over a laptop in bed or stare down your phone with your neck at a crooked angle. Working at home should mean the same ergonomic principles apply.

Use a comfortable chair and desk, keep your monitor an arm’s length away, and adjust your chair height, so your hips and knees are level with each other. The more comfortable you are, the more you can achieve.

Use Apps

Working from home can mean you go without some of the creature comforts of the office. You may not have the same conferencing software, dedicated room for meetings, or microphones and camera equipment. Things are different, but there are some apps online that can make your working-from-home experience better.

Try apps like Skype, Slack, Trello, and Calmly. Whether you need fewer distractions or a working platform for you and your team, you’ll find plenty of options online.

Working from home may not be something you are familiar with, but that doesn’t mean it has to impact how much work you get done. Stick with your routine, talk to your family, and keep your same professional contacts so that your business operates like a well-oiled machine. You’d be surprised at how convenient and effortless working from home can be.

Australia: One of the greatest places in the world to live but at what cost?

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New Cost of Living Comparison data reveals exactly what prices people are paying across the UK, America and Australia and shows just how expensive Australia’s cost of living is.

numbeo compariosn cost of living by budget direct us uk australia

Whether it’s surfing the net, grabbing a bite out with friends after work or going to see the latest blockbuster movie, on average Australians are paying some of the highest prices in the world.

Cost of living – World  and Australia comparison

One of the standout differences was the cost of a pre-paid mobile phone tariff. Australians are paying on average nearly four times more for this than the US and nearly three times more than they are in the UK. When comparing the individual cities LA costs $0.11 per minute compared to Sydney, which is nearly 9 times more at $1.00 per minute.

Clothing prices also set an expensive trend in Australia with Aussies paying on average 57 per cent more for clothes and shoes than they are in the US or the UK. One particular price comparison that stood out from this was a pair of Nike trainers. In the US and UK these would sell for approximately $90 where as in Australia they would cost approximately $150, a staggering 60 per cent more. No wonder Aussies like to go online to stock up on their favorite wardrobe essentials.

An individual bottle of your favourite soft drink, like Coke or Pepsi, may not go down as smoothly knowing that it costs less than half price in some parts of the US than it does in Australia.

The comparison tool, which uses data collected primarily from Numbeo; the world’s largest database of user-contributed data, allows users to compare three cities across a number of key categories including their Weekly Shop, Living and Getting Around.

Aussies will be pleased to know that one of their beloved simple pleasures, coffee, was cheaper on average than the UK and the US.

To see how much your weekly shop costs in Sydney compared to London or to see how much a night out would cost in Melbourne compared to Los Angeles please visit the cost comparison tool which can be found here.

Getting the right Business Insurance

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Insuring your business may seem like a no-brainer but for many people, just staying on the right side of the ledger books is more of a concern than insurance. However, not getting the right insurance for your business could leave you out in the cold if something were to happen, and unfortunately, bad things do happen.

small business insurance australia

Is Business Insurance a priority

Many people think about business insurance as a big lump sum that gets taken from their bank account every month, but business insurance is different. Not only are there many different types of business insurance, but these types can also be tailor-made by insurers to suit your business. If you own a retail store for example, you may need to insure the building you operate from and the contents of your business. If a fire was to occur and you were left without any stock to sell you would have to go out of business.

On the other side of that coin, anyone who has a service to offer won’t need this kind of insurance. They may need malpractice insurance and public liability insurance to ensure that if they are sued by a client or customer, they will be covered for legal fees.

Comprehensive or Partial insurance

Comprehensive business insurance is an attainable goal, but not everyone needs this kind of insurance. Why bother with comprehensive insurance if you don’t have any vehicles that need to be insured, for example? A company that does make use of a fleet of vehicles would need very different insurance to a woman selling cupcakes out of her home kitchen. It all depends on various factors, such as what your business or service is about, how much money you make a year and what type of product you sell.

Many people see the sense in getting public liability insurance if they have a service to offer. If you were to operate a gym for example and someone broke a leg on your property, you would need insurance to cover their medical costs. If you are selling products however, and your geyser bursts, damaging your products, you would need product insurance.

The best way to get the right business coverage for your business is to contact a professional who will be able to take you through the various forms of insurance and how they could potentially aid your business. Remember that for business professionals, not having any insurance should never be an option. It is just too risky.