From Research to Portfolio Career

From Research to Portfolio Career Success Story > From: Job To: Portfolio career From Research to Portfolio Career “I would sit with one eye on the clock, counting down the hours and minutes until I could walk out the door.” * From Research to Portfolio Career Elaine Massung waswishing her life away in her previous role. After one pointless meeting too many, she hatched an escape plan, bringing together her passions, skills, and a solid financial safety net. Here she shares why her leap's taken longer than she expected, and the profound lessons she's learned along the way. What work were you doing previously? After earning a PhD in Archaeology, I worked in a postdoctoral research position for several years. Then, I took a role working for one of the agencies that oversees the distribution of funding for research in higher education. I managed a portfolio of research areas, including one that was politically active at the time. This involved processing grants, organising workshops, delivering government programmes, dealing with impossible deadlines, and attending far too many meetings. Throughout all of this, I was always doing something on the side. For several years, I ran a small online business for my parents; I developed an environmental charity within my community; I dabbled in greeting card production and gift design; and I launched a travel blog to showcase my writing and photography. What are you doing now? I have gone from managing a portfolio of research to having a portfolio career. My main income stream at the moment is running Blue Eagle Academic Services. I provide proofreading, editing, training, and consultancy services to students and academics in higher education. Blue Eagle allows me to capitalise on the skills I've gained over the past 15 years of working in academia to genuinely help researchers improve their written communication. Although my previous role was a bad fit for me, the network that I assembled while working there has been invaluable for getting this up and running. As an American expat, I love to share my adopted country with the world, so for the past several years I've also run a blog that showcases my travels around the UK. I'm evolving this into a second income stream as I've been successful in getting published in print and online media, and I'm planning to develop additional income through my photography and digital designs. I'm also using my newfound time and energy to relaunch my environmental charity and its associated blog so that I can directly make a difference to a cause I care about. How did you feel in your work before you decided to make the change? When things were at their lowest, I found myself wishing my life away. I would sit at my desk with one eye on the clock, counting down the hours and minutes until I could walk out the door. Each day would get crossed off in a mental tally leading to those two blessed days of the weekend. Perhaps even worse, I no longer felt like myself. I would put on a professional mask to go to the office each day, wearing the attitude and behaviour of someone who did care about the tasks at hand. I thought the 'fake it ‘til you make it' mentality would help, but the longer I tried, the more draining it became. It got to the point where work no longer felt like reality, and I only felt completely myself when I was elsewhere. I also knew I could offer far more to the world than what I was currently doing. Don't get me wrong, I was never going to cure cancer, eliminate poverty, or bring about world peace. But I knew what I was capable of, how my strengths could shine, and, perhaps more importantly, what it felt like when I was doing work I was passionate about. The feeling of flow, of doing exactly what I was meant to be doing, was like nothing I'd ever encountered within the confines of the office. Finding an outlet for those talents, giving them the necessary space and time to develop, became my priority. My goal became to work at home for myself, using my strengths to do activities I enjoyed while making a positive impact on the world. Bringing all parts of my life into alignment so that I felt whole 24/7, rather than 24/2, meant changing how I approached things â€" dropping the mask, reminding myself that I had a choice in how I ran my life, and deciding what I wanted my life to look like. Why did you change? The short answer: the job I was doing was a very bad fit for my fit for my personality, my strengths, and what I want to accomplish with my life. The slightly longer answer: in his great book ‘Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us’, Daniel Pink writes about the importance of autonomy, mastery, and having a sense of purpose in your career. None of those needs were being met by my job. Instead, I found myself putting all of my energy into side hustles and other activities outside of employment that not only ticked those boxes but also allowed me to exercise my strengths. Life's too short to spend years of it doing something that makes you miserable, so I turned my attention to developing skills and projects that interested me while figuring out how to turn them into an income. When was the moment you decided to make the change? I was two months into the job at the funding agency and I knew it wasn't for me. I left yet another pointless meeting, and spent the return train journey putting together a two-year escape plan. In reality, it ended up taking four years, but I got there in the end! How did you choose your new career? I literally spent years trying to find the ideal job for me. I wanted something that would allow me to be creative, use my love for communication, and bring real benefits to people and the environment. However, job application after job application went unanswered. When I did have interviews, the feedback was either that I didn't have the required level of experience in paid employment or the right qualification. I finally realised that I could either continue to wait for other people's approval of my abilities and skills, or I could do something for myself. I'd always wanted to run my own business, I was a detail-oriented person who'd dabbled in freelance proofreading, and I'd spent a lot of time in the higher education sector, so a business built around proofreading, editing, and training seemed ideal. I'd always loved writing and designing but had always been told that it wasn't a 'real' job. However, developing my blog has shown me that it is possible to leverage these skills to bring in an income, so this is something that I'm working to develop even further. Are you happy with the change? Indescribably so! It's only been two months since I made the shift, so I'm still pinching myself. In speaking with others who have gone the self-employed route, they say it usually takes about six months to fully sink in. What do you miss and what don't you miss? There are so many things I don't miss. The early morning commute; the open-plan office (as an extreme introvert, it was like kryptonite); the steady stream of we-need-this-by-yesterday deadlines that made it difficult to take pride in a job well done because there was never time to do a job well; the unproductive meetings; the acronyms and indecipherable governmental jargon; the feeling of being a glorified Google; the mental exhaustion that I came home with every day. However, although I'm an introvert, I do miss my former colleagues. The organisation I used to work for attracts great people, many of whom became good friends. While I no longer see them on a daily basis, I'm making sure to keep in touch via email and the occasional get-together. How did you go about making the shift? Trial, error, and a lot of planning! I'd tried running my own business before and hadn't succeeded, which put me off trying again for many years. But once I took the time to recognise how much I'd learned in the intervening years and that now was not the same as then, I was able to move on. I tried a lot of different activities I enjoyed to see what could be developed into a viable income stream and what should remain at the level of a hobby (although this is one of the reasons it took four instead of two years to get out of my previous job). Once I found something that was feasible, I did several dry runs during periods of annual leave to make sure I could make a go of it. After convincing myself, I finalised my plans: how I was going to notify my network, what my daily routine would look like, and how I would ensure that I didn't lose sight of the other activities I enjoyed, such as my environmental charity. What didn't go well? What 'wrong turns' did you take? I spent a lot of time focusing on activities that ultimately didn't help me reach my immediate goal, which was to get out of my job. For example, I spent a year immersed in the world of greeting card production and the gift industry, producing cards based on my photography and keepsake gift tags. I sold them at local stores and craft shows, but discovered that the margins were so tiny at this level that it was difficult to make a living out of it. Expanding it to a viable level would have taken an investment of far more time and money than I was willing to spend. One of my biggest regrets is not taking the time to learn a proper website builder from the start. I was so concerned about the steep learning curve it required that I jumped into a basic, easy-to-use system. While it was fine for a few years, ultimately it couldn't do what I needed and I had to switch everything over to the proper one… which actually wasn't as difficult to learn as I'd built it up to be in my imagination. This meant a lot of time went into designing my various websites twice, dealing with reformatting, and sorting out broken links. I also dealt with a period of burnout that led to poor mental and physical health: my full-time job was so overwhelming and stressful that I threw all my energy into trying to find a way out of it, but the result was that instead I felt constantly stressed and anxious. I had to learn how to look after myself, how to conserve my energy, and how to prioritise my activities. All that being said, I don't know if I would necessarily describe some of these as 'wrong turns', but rather detours. I certainly picked up a lot of new skills along the way: my graphic design and programming skills have increased in leaps and bounds; I got a lot of practice cold pitching in person, on the phone, and in email; and I got used to stepping outside of my comfort zone. How did you handle your finances to make your shift possible? There are a lot of jobs available online for those who want to work from home â€" some good, some not-so-good â€" but the money is out there. I took one of these so that I could bring in an extra income while preparing to shift; this meant I had a financial cushion when I did leave my job. It also continues to mean that I have a safety net if it looks like my other income streams are not going to bring in the desired amount for the month. What was the most difficult thing about changing? There are three things that I found most difficult throughout the entire process: 1. Ignoring the voice of fear in my own head: It's so easy to talk yourself into a bad situation for the sake of security (which is how I ended up working in a job that was a poor fit in the first place), as well as to talk yourself out of expanding your comfort zone. Over time, I learned to pick out what was a genuine concern from what was needless worry. 2. Ignoring other people's voices: Telling people that you're planning to start a business is a great way to introduce even more self-doubt into the mix! People who don't have much experience with self-employment see it as a very risky move and their comments can make you question your own judgement. I had to remind myself that their perceptions were not my reality… and make sure to have regular chats with people who had been there, done that, and had the successful business to prove it. 3. Focus and prioritising: There is a reason that there are three things on this list and not one â€" I'm not good at focusing or prioritising (one of the many reasons my writing website is called miss-elaineous.com!). This dilution of time, energy, and effort is one of the reasons it took longer for me to shift than otherwise. What help did you get? I read a lot of self-help books, books about productivity, and books about how to start your own business. I cruised websites dedicated to helping people make the jump from employee to self-employed. These reinforced the notion that I was not alone â€" others felt the same way and there was nothing wrong with wanting to do a job I found rewarding. Others who were self-employed were also a godsend. Talking to them helped me realise that the roller coaster of emotions I felt once giving my notice (which ranged from jumping out of my skin with excitement to scared witless) was perfectly normal. My husband was one such person who'd made the leap to self-employment several years previously and it was great to have someone who understood exactly what I was going through under the same roof! What resources would you recommend to others? I must have read several dozen books while preparing to make my shift, but these are the ones that made such an impression on me that I've since revisited them: Marianne Cantwell's Be a Free-range Human: Escape the 9â€"5, Create a Life You Love, and Still Pay the Bills was the very first of these types of books I read, and it's still my favourite. I found it incredibly insightful, with steps that are easy to put into action. Everyone I've recommended it to has loved it as well. Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington's The 12 Week Year is an incredibly helpful, practical support for thinking about how to organise your days, weeks, and months, throwing out the old twelve-month system. Both my husband and I have started using it for our respective jobs and household management, and we've found it makes a big difference to what can be achieved. Bob Burg's excellent Go-Giver series provided a real boost to my motivation and wrapped up some powerful business lessons in a novel format (literally â€" three of the four books are written as fiction). Jen Sincero's You Are A Bad Ass was a much-needed kick up the rear end to get my act together and shed the limiting beliefs I'd been holding on to. When coupled with Susan Jeffers' Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, I felt practically unstoppable! And last but not least, Stephen Guise's Mini Habits takes the idea that we are the sum of our habits to an extreme. However, his idea of a consistent approach coupled with habits that are too small to fail is a powerful way to achieve whatever you want to accomplish. What have you learnt in the process? Over the past four years I've learned so much about myself â€" what motivates me, what I want from a career, and what I don't. I've learned that I'm capable of achieving what I set out to do, but that it takes planning, perseverance, and constant, consistent action. I've learned not to be afraid of failure, but to pick myself up, learn from what went wrong, and move on. I've learned to celebrate wins, no matter how small. I've learned about limiting beliefs and worked to eliminate them. I've learned that the only person I can control is myself, and that I always have a choice in any situation. What would you advise others to do in the same situation? Know thyself / to thine own self be true: Both the Oracle of Delphi and Shakespeare himself have gotten to the heart of this â€" if you're not happy in a job and you have that little voice in your head saying that you must get out of it: listen. Figure out what it is that you do want so you can move on. Practise gratitude, meditation, and mindfulness: There's a reason these tend to be common recommendations â€" they really work! Focusing on gratitude helps you to see opportunities rather than dwelling on negativity. Meditation can allow you to calm the brain, and mindfulness can help prevent ruminating on the past or worrying about the future. All three were absolutely invaluable when I was feeling stressed or overwhelmed. Make an escape plan: The last six months at my job were probably the least stressful because I had a mental end date in mind. I found it much easier to roll with the punches when I knew I would be getting out soon(ish); it's the idea of being trapped in the same situation without a light at the end of the tunnel that can be incredibly soul-destroying. Take yourself (and your business) seriously: If you're serious about growing your own business, show your clients-to-be that you're a professional. Good headshots, a decent website, and business cards can go a long way towards not only convincing the world that you are legit, but convincing yourself too. Once you start investing in yourself in this way, it becomes much easier to imagine the career shift becoming a reality. Start before you plan to start: I can't remember where I first read this piece of advice, but it's something that I've found incredibly helpful. If you're planning to run your own business, experiment with it before you leave full-time employment so that you can start building routines and get yourself into the right mindset. Work out any problems before you take the plunge so that when you do shift, you have less of a learning curve to contend with. To find out more about Elaine's academic writing services, visit www.blueeagleacademic.com, and for her personal writing, visit www.miss-elaineous.com. What lessons could you take from Elaine's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.

Professional Resume Writing Services - How to Land the Job of Your Dreams

Professional Resume Writing Services - How to Land the Job of Your DreamsProfessional resume writing services in New York are professionally run by highly qualified individuals who understand the significance of a quality resume and ensure that you get one to land the job of your dreams. In other words, these service providers have high professional standards and expertise in this field so that you get your dream job of your choice.Job security and future job opportunities are two of the major benefits of hiring a professional writing service. This means that if you hire a New York resume writing service, you can rest assured that you will be able to land the job of your dreams in no time. Therefore, to get the job of your choice, you should first consider hiring a reputable New York resume writing service.Professional resume writing services in New York have a wealth of experience when it comes to making your dreams come true. Your dream job means a secure and steady future for you. Therefore, it is important that you are able to acquire the best possible skills and credentials to get the job of your dreams. A professional resume writing service will help you achieve this goal.Professional resume writing services in New York are able to provide you with powerful job descriptions that are designed to market your resume and ensure that you land the job of your dreams. To do this, they need to know what skills and qualifications you have so that they can craft a personalized job description. You should also know that such professional services are very skilled in presenting resume ideas that will ensure that you land the job of your dreams.If you want to know how professional services of resume writing can make your dreams come true, then you must have the ability to assess the skill and talent of the writer. A great resume writer is one who has a deep understanding of the format and laws of resume writing and is able to impart his knowledge to others. Moreover, a resume writer should also be well-versed in grammar and punctuation standards so that he or she is able to create a top-notch resume.Although some New York resumes writers may be experienced in this field, it is always important that you choose only those resume writers who are certified by the American Bar Association, which is a standard recognized by most professionals in this field. It is also essential that you choose writers who are versed in different formats of resumes. This means that they should know how to create an outline of the job description so that you get a clear idea of what the job entails.Another benefit of hiring a professional New York resume writing service is that they can offer you examples and samples of their work. You can use these samples as a guide to ensure that you land the job of your dreams. This means that you should be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a specific job description.Resume writing services can greatly help you land t he job of your dreams because the writer is able to make the job description more interesting and intriguing, thus making the search for a job easier. Therefore, it is crucial that you take the help of professional resume writing services to land the job of your dreams.

5 Essential Hiring Tips for Start Ups

5 Essential Hiring Tips for Start Ups For a start up business  to really flourish, what it needs is the right people.  In the early days the success of a new business is determined by the team behind it, so you want to build a strong one that will work well together and share the same values. So how can you go about attracting and identifying the best people to join your start up? Here are a few things you should  focus on! 1) Be sure that it is time to hire Dont feel obligated to expand your team  purely because it is part of your business plan. Hiring is a big commitment, not to mention expensive; so you need to be 100% sure that it is the right time to recruit someone new. Are you in the financial position to hire and is the business ready for growth? You dont want to rush things and waste resources finding someone before the business is strong enough to handle it. 2) Identify exactly what you need Before you start hiring, identify the qualities and experience that you want and need in a candidate. Once you have come up with a list of requirements, it will be easier for you to assess a candidates suitability and to avoid getting side tracked by other characteristics. An individual may you win you over with their personality, but if they do not have the required skills, then they may not be the right option for your business. The same goes for being completely clear with the candidates about what is expected of them in the role and how the role may change over time, so that they know exactly what they are applying for. This way you can ensure that you can identify an individual who is genuinely interested in an prepared for the responsibilities of the job. 3)  Focus on creating a great company culture As a startup you may not be able to compete with the fancy benefits and perks  offered by the large global corporations, so youre going to have to find other ways to convince job seekers that working at your company is the best option for them. You can do this by creating a strong company culture, that people can see themselves fitting into and would enjoy working in. If you cant convince yourself that you have a positive and enjoyable working environment, then youll have trouble convincing candidates so. Some of the benefits of working for a start up are having influence within the company,  working as part of a collaborative team and the opportunity for professional development, so these are factors that you can use as selling points for your business. Once you have created and attractive company  culture, it wont only help with  talent attraction, it will also improve  employee retention. 4) Hire someone who is a good cultural fit When making your hiring decision, its important that you consider how the individual will fit in with your company, as well as their skills and experience. Are they someone that you think you will get along with and can build a good professional relationship with? Other qualities that you should look for are whether they seem like they would be reliable, trustworthy and hardworking, as hiring a loose cannon could be detrimental to your business. Make sure you ask the right questions in the interview to build an accurate idea about the kind of person someone is. A couple of examples of these are Why did you leave your last job? and Where do you see yourself in 10 years? These will help you to understand what went wrong in their previous role and whether their career aspirations align with the company. 5) Continue your hunt for talent even when youre not hiring By growing and maintaining a network of professionals within your industry, you will have an existing network of contacts who could potentially be interested in a role at your business when it comes to hiring. Even if they are not suitable or interested themselves, they may know somebody who is and be able to offer a referral. You can meet these individuals by attending events and meet ups regularly and being vocal within online communities. [Image Credit: Shutterstock]

Why is Age Discrimination an Issue In Job Search - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Why is Age Discrimination an Issue In Job Search - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Many of my clients are concerned that their older age may be a deterrent to their ability to compete for jobs in the current economic climate. Their concerns are valid. While age discrimination is illegal, we all know it exists. So, what can a job candidate do about it? Answers can fall into three relevant categories. First, on your résumé it’s best to avoid giving the reader an opportunity to disqualify you because of age. (The résumé reviewer’s actual first interest is to qualify or disqualify you based on your skills.) Therefore, there’s no need to list jobs you had many years ago. The reader’s focus is more or less only on what you did in the past 10 to 15 years. All jobs prior to that can be lumped under the heading Additional Relevant Experience without mentioning datesâ€"unless there’s something very relevant to the position you’re applying for. And there’s no need to mention your year of college graduation, either. The second category under age-related concerns is personal appearance. In most cases, an in-person interviewer can estimate your age within a few years. Of course there are exceptions, but one is advised to appear younger. Ask for advice about that from an unbiased and trusted source. In my role as a career coach, I’m often asked for such suggestions. The third category concerns learning how to give interview answers that project youthfulness. Whenever you have the opportunity, mention to the interviewer that you’re physically active. Perhaps you work out five days a week, or bike in the summer, or enjoy long walks and hiking. So, these are the best tactics you can take. But what’s happening across the desk? What are the concerns of recruiters, hiring managers, and others regarding your age? This is what you should be aware of. With today’s technology in the era of the Internet, employers have easy means to find out a lot about you in addition toand beyondyour age. There are numerous paid-for services that provide quite an array of personal information about you. Some of the services are even free. For example, try a search for your own name on www.pipl.com. It’s likely that you’ll find there not only disclosure of your age but also your address, your phone, perhaps your e-mail address, addresses where you lived previously, and the names of your spouse and children.   A similar website is www.spokeo.com. Several other common search engines also publicly reveal such personal information about you. In doing my research for this article, I found that in some instances, people were able to avoid the unwanted disclosure of such information, while other people provide ample opportunities for the seeker to find it.

Some Of The Things To Do With A Logistics Resume

Some Of The Things To Do With A Logistics ResumeLogistics resume help is something that you should be aware of because of the type of careers that you might like to get into. There are a number of industries that will hire people who have a background in logistics, so you might want to make sure that you put as much detail as possible on your resume.One way of writing your resume is to write your requirements down so that you can include them in your resume, but the other way to do this is to refer to them when you need them later on. This is also going to help you when you are trying to get your application into a company. You want to be sure that you provide all of the details that they ask for on your logistics resume.One of the great advantages of having a logistics resume is that it is usually formatted for a wider audience. In other words, it will be easier for you to send it out to potential employers. It will be good to have a more professional look to your resume. For instan ce, you want to show that you know how to write well and that you have a good command of grammar and punctuation.Another great thing about having a logistics resume is that it will be less of a hassle to update your information from time to time. You will want to have a more current list of jobs so that you can be sure that you are up to date with the changing industry. By keeping a current set of information, you will be able to easily review it later and know what jobs are still available.There are some companies that will need to see your entire past employment history, but there are some that only need to see the first three years of it. You will want to make sure that you include all of the pertinent information for each job that you had. You might want to use a company that will allow you to add information directly to your resume so that you can be certain that you have everything in it.There are many different types of jobs that a person might want to have, so you need to be sure that you include the right information for each one. For instance, there are jobs that involve manufacturing and there are also jobs that involve shipping. If you do not include those that you might want to include, then you will not be able to properly prepare for the job.There are some different job titles that are associated with these jobs, so you will want to include them all in your resume. Each of them will require different types of information, so you will want to make sure that you have a good idea of what is going to be needed for each one. In addition, you will want to add in the skills that you have that might help the company find you a better job.There are certain fields that you might want to include in your resume as well. These include customer service, sales, and management. Depending on the field that you are in, you will be sure to want to have a complete set of information on your logistics resume.

Are You Selling Yourself Short 4 Ways to Get Ahead

Are You Selling Yourself Short 4 Ways to Get Ahead Are You Selling Yourself Short? 4 Ways to Get Ahead In a country brimming with self-confidence, it turns out that Americans are actually selling themselves short, especially in the workplace. In a recent survey from Sandler Training, four in five Americans believe that “selling yourself” is a key factor in getting ahead in life or business, but almost two-thirds (62%) of us spend an hour or less a day actually doing it. It’s not because workers don’t believe in themselves, either! Two out of three workers surveyed say they have the utmost confidence in their selling abilities, while more than half say they can outsell their colleagues or competitors. I spoke to Dave Mattson, CEO of Sandler Training, to find out why workers spend so little time selling themselves, even though they recognize the importance. “Stereotypically, there’s the notion that salespeople are pushy and a nuisance,” Mattson says. “But, even if ‘sales’ isn’t your official profession, there are palatable ways you should be selling at work.” Here are four important ways to sell your ideas â€" and your overall contributions â€" at work: 1. Align yourself: In order to successfully sell your ideas at work, passion and conviction alone won’t be enough, Mattson says. Instead, couple them with ideas that support your organization’s mission. “You can’t lose sight of the end goal,” he says. “Know where leadership wants to take the company, and check yourself regularly to make sure you’re in line.” 2. Speak up: Workers these days are somewhat trained to hide behind email, thinking it’s more efficient. “Conversation in person or by phone has the added feedback of a person’s tone, and you can shift your argument according to their reactions,” advises Mattson. 3. Be aware of your brand: Selling at work isn’t just about what you say. According to Mattson, selling yourself should actually be woven into every part of your day. It’s in how you dress, what you choose to become involved in, your general attitude at work, and the conviction and depth of your ideas. Added up, all of these things create an impression of who you are and what you do. 4. Make it normal: Workers should be careful to avoid selling themselves only at annual review time. A better approach is to be conscious of selling yourself and your contributions on a continual, consistent basis. The worker who is surprised by his or her annual review â€" either for good or for bad â€" hasn’t had the right approach. As an employee, you have to put the responsibility on yourself to make sure that those “check-in” conversations happen. And yes, those should happen face-to-face or via webcam; not via email. Incorporate your boss’s feedback as you adjust your working habits, your contributions, and the way you sell yourself. Your career is yours and yours alone. Nobody â€" and I mean nobody â€" cares about your career as much as you do. If you are not selling yourself, no one else will. So why are you putting so little time into it? Challenge yourself to start something new…right now.

Simple Ways to Make Your Business More Profitable This Year

Simple Ways to Make Your Business More Profitable This Year Whatever your business does and no matter how much money you make, it is always possible to increase your profits, and doing so should be a no-brainer. With that in mind, here are a few things that you can do to increase your gross profits this year and beyond… Make Your Design Cycle Faster If you run a business where you manufacture your own goods, a really effective way of increasing your profits is to speed up your design cycle. If you can so this, you can develop many more products in a shorter amount of time, which should help to bring those profit margins up. How do you do this? You could use greater automation and better software to speed things up or you could outsource to a company who specializes in designing the kinds of products you sell only you will know which option is likely to work best for you. Ditch Tasks That Don’t Add Value If you want to make bigger profits, you need to be more efficient and one thing that will really help you in this endeavor is cutting out those tasks that don’t add value to your company or to your customers. Every cent that you save by ditching processes and procedures that aren’t valuable are cents that you can add straight to your bottom line without having to do any extra work what’s not to love? Create More Value Speaking of value, finding ways to add more value to the products and services you offer, so you can charge a slightly higher price for them is a great way to add more value to your business too. For example, you could bundle your content writing service in with some basic seo, which won’t take you too much more time to work on, but which will allow you to bump up the price and make more money. Outsource Outsourcing tasks like bookkeeping and administration to freelancers is a great way to cut your staffing budget and add more money to your bottom line, and since there are so many great freelancers out there right now, you’ll still get the same great service you’ve always benefited from. Invest in Stocks If you run a small business, it’s seriously worth thinking about investing some of your profits in stocks to maximize your bottom line. There are few restrictions on doing this when your business is small, and if you invest in something like the best lithium stocks, which are in high demand now due to the increasing use of lithium-ion batteries in tech, it can really pay off. Of course, investing does not come without risk, so you should not place all of your eggs in this particular basket. Retain Your Customers It can cost as much as 3 times more to bring in new customers than to retain existing customers and existing customers have already shown that they are interested in what you do, so if you do anything you can to keep them sweet, perhaps by offering them special discounts of valuable bundles, you will save money, make more sales and increase your bottom line. Do you run a business? How have you made your company more profitable this year?