Reasons To Offer Your Team Training This Year

When you are put in charge of a team, the main thing you want to do is look after them and make sure that they stay loyal to both you and the company. One of the things you can do in order to keep your customers loyal is to offer lots of training.

Business training is essential if you want your team to develop and work their way up to the top in your company. Investing in training is incredibly important and there are plenty of reasons why you need to do it this year.

Work Smarter

The trick when working for any company is to find a better method of doing something and therefore being able to complete the task much quicker than before. When you have a team of employees in your office you want them to be able to work on a task and complete it easily without stressing themselves out or burning out. Training will provide your employees with the means to complete tasks with much better ease and in a smarter way than before. It gives them the knowledge and resources to work in a more efficient way, which is beneficial for them and your business too.

Learn To Budget

A huge part of business is having the ability to budget for your different departments and be able to save money wherever needed. If you send your team on a money management course they will be in a much better position to be able to create budgets for sales and marketing.

Cross-Training

The beauty of offering your employees training in different areas of the business is that you will be able to utilise your staff in different departments and projects. For example if you train a purchasing assistant to work with marketing you will be able to send them off to help the marketing department with different projects. It can make a big difference and broadens their horizons so they are happier overall as people.

Use Their Strengths

As a manager you will need to learn that the best thing out can do for your employees is to learn their strengths and exploit them. Everyone who works for you will a different qualities, and to create the perfect team you will want to use what they are good at and what they enjoy. It will allow your employees to work in a way they love, and your team will be so much stronger because of it. For example you might have someone who loves talking to people- so they would make a great candidate to represent you at trade shows, and you may have another employee who is great with taking photographs and can be used for your social media accounts.

Growth

Training your staff to work in a better way only provides the building blocks you need for the company to grow bigger. You will be able to develop into other areas and the company will grow and expand to new heights with the extra services you are able to provide.

Things Change

In any industry you work in, new ideas will form over time and you will need to retrain to learn about new techniques and software in the field. It is important to offer your employees continuous training over the years and make sure that you are always in the loop with new development. This will allow you to grow above the competition and always stay well ahead of the game.

Stand Out From The Competition

The way you treat your team has a big effect on the overall success of the company and how you are able to continue to grow in the future. If you want to be successful and get ahead of the competition: training your staff will give them the ability to beat the competition and work more effectively. You will be more likely to come up with amazing ideas to keep your business one step ahead of the rest.

Two Heads Are Better Than One

One of the greatest benefits of investing in training for your employees is that they will be able to gain a lot of knowledge and experience which can help you with problems you have in the workplace. If you ever find yourself struggling with an issue at work, don’t try to solve the issue yourself: get the whole team involved and see what happens when a few fresh heads are put in charge of the problem. You will likely find that they are able to come up with solutions that you would never have thought of yourself. This can be great for you and your team, and allow you all to bond.

Employee Loyalty

If you were to be employees by a company for several years and wanted your career to progress, would you stay there if they didn’t offer you any training or invest in your future? The answer is no. No employee wants to work for a company who won’t put in the time and effort to help them grow and develop within the business. You will gain a huge amount of customer loyalty if you take the time to show them you care about their career. Offering training keeps your employees feeling valued and it keeps them excited for what their future holds in the business.

It Makes You Look Better

When you own a business, the image you put across to your workers and customers is incredibly important. If you never offer your employees training and don’t care about their development they will likely complain online and this can be seen by the public. If you want to keep a good reputation as a business and a place to work you want to offer your employees all of the opportunities you can. You will always here stories about amazing companies who offer their employees great benefits and training: and to could be one if these companies if you take the time to invest in it. You will seem more credible, trustworthy and people will want to do business with you.

Why Agricultural Startups Are the Next Big Thing for…

Agriculture has long been an industry that has hidden in the shadows. It has always been something that people rely on, but not something they would be willing to invest in. This is largely because the costs associated with the agricultural world are high. It’s not unlikely to spend several million on a farming project, only to see a fraction of it (usually around 2-3% percent of your investment) return in profit each year. The time in which it takes you to recuperate your losses is far higher than most other industries, hence why it’s such a daunting prospect.

In addition, the agricultural industry is a completely different beast to tame. There aren’t many people in the world that could comfortably say they are experts within agriculture as many of the techniques and secrets are passed down from farmers. Without that kind of knowledge, it takes a lot of time and effort to examine the soil and make good judgments on what type of crops you should be planting.

Yet, as with most industries in the world, technology has slowly been creeping into the agricultural industry and it has transformed a once difficult sector into one full of innovation and technology integration that has made it easier than before to become a part of. Although it’s still not an easy industry to get an entrepreneurial breakthrough, the doors have been left wide open and there is plenty of room for daring entrepreneurs. But what exactly makes agriculture such an appealing prospect in 2018 and beyond? Let’s examine a couple of the biggest points that you can take advantage of as an entrepreneur.

It’s not just farming anymore

When we talk about agriculture, one of the biggest talking points is usually farming. Yes, there is plenty to be done when it comes to buying land, planting crops, harvesting them and selling them. In fact, it’s the most common way of getting involved with agriculture and starting your first business in the industry. Sadly, as mentioned before, it takes an extreme amount of money to even get started and far too many years to start breaking even unless you’re incredibly frugal and smart about it. It’s simply not a practical choice for most people. Luckily, there are other types of business that will allow you to get started in the agricultural world that doesn’t involve farming or even going out into the countryside.

There are now software developers that are using their skills to develop tools for the agricultural industry. One good example is a program known as ProducePay. It’s effectively a cash flow solution that is tailored specifically for farmers. In the future, farmers will be able to use ProducePay as not just a cash flow solution, but also a trading platform to buy and sell larger quantities of produce. The idea behind ProducePay is to bridge the gap between harvest seasons and gaps in income. Farmers can receive advances in payments before the harvest even begins, and this can be used to pay for equipment and other similar investments. Farmers can also monetize 50% of their harvest crop as soon as it is harvested, and up to 80% of their invoice immediately after the produce has been shipped.

It’s innovations like this that allow the agricultural industry to thrive and accept new technologies. Although it may be new territory for the agricultural industry itself (and thus its farmers) there’s no doubt that the sector as a whole is maturing and accepting new technologies. With so much potential for innovation and growth, it’s completely possible to consider yourself part of the agricultural industry even if you’ve never stepped foot on a farm and your office is located in the heart of a major city. With help from technology enthusiasts and companies that are primarily focused on the technical side of agriculture, the industry can grow exponentially and there are still plenty of opportunities to capitalize on.

Of course, if you’d like to get up close and personal with farming yet still create an innovative startup, then why not consider doing something similar to what BrightFarms has done. Even in major cities, the demand for local fresh produce is high. The shipment and harvest times can take a while and it can compromise the quality of the produce, which is why BrightFarm have decided to create hyper-local produce in the form of urban and suburban farming areas. These are essentially massive greenhouses that are partnered with local supermarkets, enabling them to offer extremely fresh produce for a fraction of the price and with less logistical concerns. This startup idea hopes to bring the joys of freshly grown produce to urban environments and creates more usable farming space with the help of technology.

As you can see, agricultural startups aren’t always about farming in the countryside. Thanks to demands for fresh produce and innovative technologies to assist farmers, it’s possible to become a part of the agricultural industry using your current skill set. This enables you to tap into the potential of the industry without requiring you to study several years for a degree in agriculture.

Seeking the right assistance for an agricultural startup

Of course, if you want to get involved with the agricultural industry then it’s important to get the right assistance. This is especially important if you plan to actually grow crops. Ideally, you’ll want to seek help from companies such as MKC Coop that specialize in agronomy services. They can help you get the most from your farmland (if you do choose to specialize in the farming side of things), but they can also help you with other aspects of farming if all you need is information.

It’s important to understand that agriculture is an entirely different industry to what you’re likely used to. There’s a reason why most people study for years at a university before they get involved in anything related to agriculture. Although it’s possible to learn as you go, there are far too many complex systems to keep in mind that you won’t even begin to understand until you’ve studied them thoroughly.

If you’re planning to skip the entire study and learning process then you need to ask for help. Always consider hiring a team of advisors and listen to what they have to say. Their advice is extremely valuable and will help your startup grow. They’ll also be able to offer ideas and assistance with any new innovations that you have planned, but you do also need to keep in mind that many farmers are indifferent when it comes to adding technology to their workflow. Many farmers like to keep it simple and use the same processes to grow their crops that they’ve used for the past several decades. As a result, you’ll be hard-pressed to find farmers that are willing to test your new technologies unless you have the right contacts.

As with any business or industry, networking is an extremely effective and necessary method of building contacts and making it further in the industry. Even using the internet to learn about farming and trends is a great way to get in touch with figureheads and well-informed individuals that are capable of teaching you how farming works, the type of innovations that are needed in the industry and where the market has space for your ideas.

Plenty of untapped potential for adventurous entrepreneurs

The agricultural industry is ripe with opportunity. From using drones and thermal imaging to increase harvest yield to growing fruits and vegetables without even using soil, there are plenty of startups already drawing in lots of attention from the agricultural industry.

The fact is; food is always something that we will need to consume. Until we develop some high-tech food that is capable of sustaining us without the need for fresh fruits and vegetables, we will always need farmers. In addition, the demand for organic, fresh produce is surging thanks to healthier diets, vegetarianism and a spike in veganism. With all of these factors combined, the agricultural industry isn’t going to slow down anytime soon.

With so much room for growth and innovation, it’s only a matter of time until the industry fills lucrative new ideas and becomes a difficult nut to crack. If you’re willing to invest in the agricultural industry and be at the forefront of innovation, then there’s a lot of money to be made and many business opportunities. Just remember that the agricultural industry isn’t all about farming. There’s a technological side to it that is ripe for innovation–all it needs is someone willing to tap into that potential and make good use of the technological advances that we’ve experienced in the past few years.

The Basics Of Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of the best forms of marketing that you can do, but it is possibly one of the lesser used techniques compared to others such as social media. Social media is just so accessible and cheap that it’s obviously going to be the better option price wise. But is it effective? Not as effective as content marketing is. Content marketing works by creating content to be used on things such as vlogs or blogs, that is not directly promotional, but it does prompt the reader to investigate further. So let’s have a look at the basics of content marketing.

How To Do It

Content marketing is pretty easy if you know what you’re doing. The key thing you need to focus on is having quality articles or videos produced for you. This can either be done by a team that works for you, or it can be outsourced. If you’re going for a team that works for you, we recommend they take a look at something such as the writer’s workshop to make sure they’re producing the best quality work they possibly can for your purposes. Because the whole effectiveness of the process relies on the content, and there are certain ways of writing it to get better results. One really effective use of content marketing is by using infographics. Infographics are a long vertical graphic that displays facts, images, charts, statistic etc. It gives you the chance to get really creative with how you display the image and the information that you need displaying. Using blogs posts is also effective if the content is written well. With this, it might be best having the content pre wrote by yourselves, then asking the blogger to publish it. That way you know it’s going to be exactly how you need it to be.

Effectiveness

Content marketing is highly effective, but only if done right. It helps to raise awareness of a company without actually having to be risky with marketing, because some techniques truly are risky. It ultimately helps a customer go through a period of querying the content, thinking about what the content meant, researching, then hopefully ending up at your company. With content marketing that’s posted on a blog post, there’s usually going to be a link to your company within it, and naturally, so that customers just have to click a keyword and it’ll take them to your website.

Downsides

The only downside to content marketing is that it can be hard to sort, but you can always outsource this bit so it isn’t too much of a worry. If your budget is tight, some extensive research will enable you to do it yourself, and make sure it’s done right. There’s also the risk of it being completely pointless if some terrible content is created, hence why it is better to leave that side of things in house! Whether outsourcing or keeping it all inhouse, it is still a very expensive form of marketing. But then again, so are most marketing techniques, this just so happens to be one of the better.