Tag: UNOVA Coworking

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Easy Expansion: Hiring and Managing Remote Workers

When it comes to business, there’s always strength in numbers. If you want to take your company to the next level, you’ll need to put together a cohesive team and learn to manage them in the era of remote working – here’s how you can get started.

Hiring Smart

Before you begin the hiring process, it’s important to outline exactly who and what the company requires to succeed. Many new ventures begin with just a CEO and an accountant but, as you begin to expand or take on new investment, you may need to accommodate your growth with a few key additions. At this crucial stage, your new personnel need to represent immediate value – for example, marketing generalists or sales representatives can help increase revenue or spread brand awareness, or a product manager could help to develop your product range and supply chains.

When it comes to actually hiring, the process can be as simple or complex as you need it to be. Generally speaking, however, it’s worth taking time to plan and structure – write out the desired skills, available budget, and experience required. There are hundreds of forums and platforms to help you discover talent. If you find that you’re time-poor, it could be worth hiring a recruiter to help filter out the best candidates and remove the burden of scrolling through resumés. If you’re a microbusiness, try to avoid larger recruitment agencies as you’ll find more affordable fees attached to smaller companies.

Planning Ahead

It’s crucial that new hires understand exactly where you intend to take your company and what their role is in its development. Maybe your priority is to generate high-quality leads and establish your brand within a particular demographic, or to dominate an emerging market, spreading the word as quickly and indiscriminately as possible – whatever your aim, it needs to be communicated clearly, as confusion can quickly lead to lapses in productivity. Create a process map to help to alleviate this issue and enable you and your team to analyze your shared processes and outcomes, helping everyone to stay organized.

To make life easier for everyone, it’s also important to do some work independently. This means taking everything you already understand about your business and your industry and writing the information down in the form of a mission statement. Until now, much of your company’s brand values, work practices, and long-term objectives have lived inside your head – if you want to successfully transition into a team-based business, you’ll need to be generous with knowledge and prioritize patience and clarity.

Managing Remotely

Even with all the right preparation, you’ll never know exactly what you’re undertaking until the team is formed and the work is underway. There are believed to be three primary management styles and up to ten sub-styles – it’s up to you to recognize your own strengths and apply these accordingly. It’s also important to remember that the world of work is changing rapidly and, in this day and age, talent often recognizes its own value. Familiarize yourself with the latest trends in company perks, mental health awareness, and paid leave/vacation allowance.

Remote working can make management tricky at times but you’re likely to turn off good workers if you insist too strictly on in-person attendance. A good strategy is to divide the week up with some days given for remote working and others for office work. With the right communication tools, there’s no reason why virtual management can’t work, just be certain to check in regularly and make use of collaborative software.

It’s always a nervy moment for a company when it comes time to expand, but if you can provide clarity of vision, keep an open mind, and collaborate with your new hires, there’s no reason why your business shouldn’t thrive.

UNOVA is a coworking space established in 2018, offering a range of facilities for emerging businesses. Learn more at www.unovacoworking.com

Questions or comments? Have any additional tips or resources to share? Reply below or reach out to Marissa Perez.

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6 Invoicing Practices for Faster Payments

An efficient invoicing system gets you paid faster and keeps you on customers’ good side (and vice versa).  Bad billing practices, on the other hand, cause revenue leakage, slow cash flow, and hurt customer satisfaction.

Image via Pexels

What sets good billing systems apart from the bad?  Use these tips from UNOVA Coworking to set up an accounts receivable system that’s built for growth.

1. Start with a professional invoice

A standardized invoice template is an essential component of any billing system.  Include your business logo, name, and address, and clearly state payment terms and due dates to eliminate confusion.  Always itemize services and products provided and note the types of payment accepted.

2. Choose an invoicing platform

If you’re still using spreadsheets, upgrade to cloud-based invoicing software.  Cloud-based apps are a boon for all types of business processes but especially finances.  Many of the leading platforms like Xero, Zoho Books, FreshBooks, and Quickbooks Online start at $20 a month or less.

Instead of manually inputting data, cloud-based tools automatically populate invoices to streamline invoicing and reduce errors.  Most include automated reminders so you can remind late-paying customers without any of the awkwardness.  You’ll get paid faster and set a high standard with customers.

3. Establish your payment terms

Clear expectations eliminate payment confusion.  Plainly state payment terms in contracts and invoices and include specific due dates.

How soon should customers pay?  It depends.  Net 30 used to be standard but shorter terms of Net 15 are becoming more common especially for new accounts.  A frequent late-payer might call for cash-on-delivery, while reliable customers might receive more generous terms.  Factor customer history and your cash flow needs when setting terms and consider late payment penalties and incentives to motivate on-time payments.

4. Enable recurring payments

Customers are more likely to pay on time when you make it easy.  Online payments and ACH transfers eliminate the delays and hassle associated with mailing a check payment.

Recurring payments are the gold standard for efficiency because they ensure you get paid.  Overdrafts are the biggest danger when subscription billing — no one appreciates a surprise fee! — but you can avoid overdrafts by verifying account balances using Plaid’s Balance API before initiating a transfer.

5. Monitor accounts receivable

Software takes a lot of the hassle out of invoicing, but it’s not totally hands-off.  Keep an eye on accounts receivable and don’t be afraid to pick up the phone when a client isn’t responding to friendly reminders.  Late payments can cause you to miss your own payment deadlines so it’s important to follow up.

Monitoring accounts receivable also draws attention to strengths and weaknesses in your billing system.  Do you have a lot of risky customers or a high turnover ratio?  You may need to tighten up collection policies to improve cash flow.  Are your best customers regularly maxing out their credit limits?  Raising the limit could encourage reliable customers to spend more.

6. Make sure it’s secure

Putting a customer’s financial data at risk can ruin a business relationship fast.  Security remains a top priority any time you’re handling customer payment data.  Verify that your payment service provider uses the latest security standards to prevent data breaches and protect customer data in the event it’s compromised.  Use strong passwords throughout all business systems and follow cybersecurity best practices to secure devices and networks.

Getting paid on time is easier said than done.  If you’re still relying on slow, manual processes to bill customers and accept payments, you’ll spend more time chasing payments than making money.  Optimize your accounts receivable with tools and tactics designed for the 21stcentury and start getting paid faster.

Questions or comments? Have any additional tips or resources to share? Reply below or reach out to Marcus Lansky.

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From Great Idea to Detailed Plan:  Your Business Destiny Awaits

When an awesome idea hits, entrepreneurs are often ready to pounce, particularly when it is a unique business idea with a lot of potential.  Sometimes the small details of management planning are lost along the way, but those tasks are important parts of the daily management of business.  Fortunately, there are many tools and tricks to help business owners manage the minutiae of administrative tasks.  Read on for UNOVA Coworking‘s tips to make your business destiny come true.

Courtesy of Pixabay

Getting Goods and Supplies

Placing orders for supplies and managing your inventory is a crucial aspect of running your business.  If you are making drastic changes to the business and its goods or services, it may be necessary to identify alternative vendors specific to what you have in mind.  Often specialty vendors can be found through trade magazines.  Shop around to make sure you are accessing good prices and watch out for shipping costs, which can drastically impact your profit margins.

Inventory Assists

Maintaining inventory once your business is established can be a less-than-exciting task.  Fortunately, business owners can use inventory programs to stay ahead of their supply needs.  The best part of an inventory system is the automation that saves a ton of time and misery.  There are many programs available at a range of prices, depending on the size of your business and how much automation you require.

Business owners may be able to delegate some tasks to trusted employees if there is a question about whether there are adequate funds for an inventory program.  Inventory may be a good task to delegate initially.  As business increases and you get your sea legs under you, it may feel like a better time to invest in a program for inventory.  Sometimes there are tasks that business owners take on independently to save capital, and others are more vital to the functioning of the business, such as payroll.  When it comes to payroll, using an established, automated system can spare you hours at a computer and a lot of frustration.

Payroll Simplicity

Most business owners do not relish endless hours crunching numbers for payroll.  To avoid errors in manual calculations, automated platforms can be an ideal solution.  When you use a timesheet calculator, it creates a more accurate account of your worker’s time, including breaks and overtime usage.  Automated systems are also great for keeping track of the varying classifications of workers, which reduces the likelihood of human error.

Another factor to keep in mind regarding payroll is that if you have employees in other countries, you’ll need to find reliable methods for paying them.  One option is to use a money transfer service like Remitly, which allows you to streamline safe and secure payments to people at guaranteed delivery dates in many countries, including Mexico and India.

Technology has offered business owners a wide range of time-saving tools that can change operations for the better.  You can decide which ones meet your needs and whether they are worth the investment.  As your business continues to grow, you may find that automated systems are a time and energy saving way to operate.  Regardless of the systems you choose, consider ways to make your business sustainable and reduce your stress as an entrepreneur.

Questions or comments? Have any additional tips or resources to share? Reply below or reach out to Courtney Rosenfeld.

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11 Essential Apps for Business Owners to Have More Free Time

Business Apps
Image via Unsplash

If you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur, or coach who’s working hard to get your passion project out into the world, but you also want more free time in your day-to-day life, then these apps are perfect for you. They’ll help you get organized and work efficiently so that all of your essential tasks don’t fall through the cracks. UNOVA Coworking offers a list of the top 11 apps that will help increase your productivity and give you back some precious free time!

1) Google Drive. It’s the perfect app for collaboration with colleagues, sharing documents, and storing company information. You can also create a document in seconds that will allow several people to work on it together in real-time.

2) Slack. This collaborative workspace allows individuals to work together with their business teams from wherever they are while retaining complete control over who has access to your conversations. It also offers integrations with other apps such as Dropbox so users can sync files across platforms without switching back and forth between different screens or programs.

3) Trello. Trello is a great way to manage projects. With its clean and straightforward interface, you can create boards for different tasks with cards representing the steps needed to complete those tasks.

4) Adobe Spark. When it comes to creating professional level designs for your social media or website, this app makes it easy to tap into your creativity. For example, you can use their banner generator to quickly craft a compelling design with fun graphics and fonts that give the impression it was made by a graphic designer.

4) Dropbox. This app allows users to store files in the cloud and access or share them from any device, anywhere. It offers integration with many other apps and desktop or laptop computers, making it a handy cloud app to have.

5) Zoom. This app is now a classic video conference and screen-sharing service that offers many of the same features as Skype or Facetime but has some great extras like recording meetings.

6) QuickBooks Enterprise. QuickBooks is distribution software for wholesale businesses that helps you keep track of inventory and optimize your wholesale distribution. It can automatically tally up purchases, record stock updates to ensure you have the correct information to fulfill our orders, avoid out of stock, and provide analytics on sales data for an easy view of how your company is doing financially. Integrations to leading e-commerce platforms are also a welcome feature.

7) QuickBooks. A flexible accounting app, QuickBooks allows you to manage expenses and invoices, track payments, and stay on top of all of your essential financial metrics and help curb your spending, among other things. It offers multiple integrations, as well as the ability to send reminders for overdue payments.

8) Scanner app. This app turns your phone into a document scanner, letting you quickly digitize paper documents. The ability to scan anywhere will make it easier to have your office on the go without needing to carry around endless bits of paper and post-its that inevitably end up getting lost.

9) Asana. This cloud-based work management app is excellent for people with many individual tasks or different projects to complete. It helps you keep track by providing reminders, and it also lets users share lists so that they can collaborate on projects together.

10) Evernote. Dividing up tasks among team members can save time for everyone. This app lets users share notes, lists, and files across devices to work together on projects efficiently.

Do you already use some of these, or do any of them sound like they could benefit your company? If so, give it a try to see if you can get a little help to free up your time.

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Don’t Let Burnout Be Your Only Option When Work-Life Balance is Missing

In today’s society, it can feel like all we do is work; wake up, take a shower, go to work (or work from home!), come home, eat, sleep, rinse, repeat. According to Blue Water Credit, Americans work more hours than any other country in the world. The numbers are frightening. A recent poll shows that Americans work an average of 47 hours per week, and 18 percent of Americans work over 60 hours a week. It’s no wonder we’re all so tired, even when we are still in college or have just started our adult lives!

Image via Pexels

If you’re struggling with the effects of burnout, this guide from UNOVA Coworking offers a few steps you can take to help you find your own version of work-life balance.  

Find a Mentor

There are many reasons to have a mentor. She can give you advice on how to advance your career to the next level, help you build meaningful connections — and offer insight on how to achieve a better work-life balance. Even if there are times you feel you can’t possibly juggle all of the professional and personal responsibilities on your plate, your mentor can help you navigate the stress of it all based on her own experiences.

Find a Job that You Enjoy

Sometimes burnout is simple. Nobody likes putting in countless hours at a job they don’t enjoy. But there are many reasons why people continue to stay at a job they can’t stand. Maybe you’re worried about a consistent income or have recently been dropped from your parents’ health insurance. Unfortunately, these are realities that every American has to think about. But that doesn’t mean you are stuck! 

If you are struggling with burnout, it may be time to reevaluate your options and pivot your career. Closely examine your finances, look for ways to save extra money, and make a plan to find a job you love. Doing something you enjoy with a team that is a good fit can refresh your whole life and bring back your zeal before you lose your zest for life.

In some cases, your best option to further your career is to go back to school. The great news is that thanks to so many online education programs, it’s easier than ever for career-minded folks to continue working while they take online classes around their schedule. Of course, there are many tracks you can take, but as an example, enrolling in an online business program could help you climb the ranks at your current company, become a more desirable candidate at another firm, or even pave the way for you to follow your entrepreneurial dreams.

Whatever your ambitions, don’t limit yourself at a job or company you’re not passionate about. The sky really is the limit!

Practice Mindfulness

So many of us get through our days by just going through the motions. But doing this can make the clock drag, inevitably resulting in burnout. What does it mean to be mindful? Positive Psychology defines mindfulness as “a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment.” But what exactly does this mean?

In essence, it means being aware of your actions and what drives them. When you are mindful at work, there’s a greater chance that you’ll feel like what you do matters. While you are paying attention to your surroundings, it is also a good idea to practice controlled breathing. This can help you settle your mind and body and reduce stress that can hurt you in the long run.

Use Your Vacation Time

If you’re lucky enough to work for an employer that provides paid vacation time, don’t let it go to waste. Many companies work on the mentality of “use it or lose it.” This means that if you don’t use your current year’s allowance, it disappears. You have to wait until you earn more time to take a vacation. 

Think this tip sounds like common sense? Think again. According to Forbes, Americans let almost 50 percent of their vacation days in 2017 go unused. What’s worse, 10 percent didn’t even take a vacation at all. That time away from the workplace can be instrumental in keeping you happy and healthy, not to mention helping you avoid burnout, so put it to good use, even if you aren’t able to travel. Simply taking some time at home via a staycation will give you a much-deserved break from your job and help prevent burnout.

Learn to Manage Your Time Wisely

Time is a valuable thing, and you only have 24 hours in each day. Learn how to use yours wisely. This starts by putting an end to doing the things you despise. While you still have to do the dishes and fold the laundry, you don’t have to give up your day off to babysit your sister’s kids, and you don’t have to mingle with co-workers you don’t like. Remember, your time is just that, yours. You can also make room in your days by being more efficient. Need to get gas, go grocery shopping, and pick up the dry cleaning? Find a grocery store with a fuel station and the nearest cleaners, and make it a single excursion, not three different trips.

Burnout is a reality that many Americans deal with. But it doesn’t have to be. When you examine the root cause and take steps to make a change, you may find you’re able to achieve a greater work-life balance. 

If spending more time working from home is throwing a wrench in your work-life balance, consider a membership with UNOVA Coworking. Having a professional space where you can focus during work makes it easier to firm up boundaries. Check out our membership options today!

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We (Re)Open Today, June 8th!

We’ve missed you!

We’re open and ready to help you
get work done.

Whew!  Nothing quite like putting the phrase “working alone sucks” to the test!  We know that many of you need to get back into an environment that is more conducive to your productivity, and that’s where we can help.

UNOVA officially reopens today, Monday, June 8th under Phase 2 of the NY Forward guidelines.  Our goal remains safety, so we have created a few new policies and procedures intended to help maintain a safe workspace for you and your fellow coworkers.

Reopening Procedures

Upon returning to the space, we will provide you with Welcome Back instructions and a personal hand sanitizer which will reserve your desk for the day.  In return, we require the following:

  • A signed return-to-space acknowledgment
  • Daily screening and check-in
  • Use of masks and social distancing measures

Stop by to check out the procedures, and reach out with questions.

Updated Website

We fully took advantage of the PAUSE and re-created our entire website! We hope it shows you and new members all the ways we can help you get work done, including our brand new reservable Zoom Room with webcam.  Check it out!

*NEW* Simplified Memberships 

You spoke.  We listened.  Check out our new, simple membership levels. They include the most used resources in our space, at prices you can afford.  Each membership (other than Day Passes) allows for 24/7 access to the space and use of our included amenities:

As always, if there’s something else you need, we’re willing to work with you and your organization to create a membership type that works for you!

Well friends, that’s all for now. We realize that your time and money are more valuable than ever, and we want you to know that we are here to support you.  Please reach out with any questions, ideas, comments, or concerns.  We are with you in this and are confident that we will get through it together.  

U NO longer have to work alone.

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Join UNOVA in the Springville Strong! Selfie Scavenger Hunt

UNOVA is participating in the Springville Area Chamber of Commerce Springville Strong! Selfie Scavenger Hunt!

Stop by 29 Mechanic St from May 18 – May 30 for a chance to win one of three $50 gift cards!

Grab a sign, snap a selfie, and show off your community spirit!

You’ll find the signs and instructions in the vestibule of UNOVA. All you have to do is take selfies with the signs at the participating locations and create a collage of the completed sentence:

“We are Springville Strong! We persevere in tough times and grow stronger together in our commitment to each other and our community.”

Other participating locations include Bertand Chaffee Hospital, Emerling Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, M&T Bank, Springville Animal Hospital, Springville Hardware, Springville Pharmacy, Tim & Bonnie’s Pizza, and the Springville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Feel free to reach out for details!

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5 Ways to Take Action from Home

Like most members of the UNOVA Coworking community, we are staying home to help flatten the curve of the spread of coronavirus and COVID-19. However, staying home can lead to restlessness, loneliness, and a general feeling that you are powerless against this pandemic.

You can change that, though! Here are 5 different ways to help you feel empowered (and help others!) in this time of social distancing:

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Share the Love Shopping Pop-Up

Share the Love Pop-Up Header

Happy New Year! Come support the local Springville community and visit UNOVA at it’s inaugural pop-up shopping event on

Saturday, February 8th!

What’s a pop-up, you ask?  For this one Saturday in February, we’re inviting a number of local small businesses, vendors, and artisans into our space for a informal shopping market — kind of like a farmer’s market, but inside out of the winter cold!

We still have room for a few more vendors, so pass this along to anyone interested — the event is free to attend, and $25 for a table.

The event runs from 10am – 4pm and will feature local favorites, such as CASS Designs, Jen McEwan Ceramic Artistry, and Thoughts Captured photography, but that’s not all!  We’ll have Color Street nail products, Mary Kay, hand-made crochet accessories, art, greeting cards, and so much more!

Feel free to reach out to me, Ashley, with any questions.

Share the Love…
…of the Springville community 
…to support local small business
…with your valentine, your friends and family, and yourself!

Hope to see you there!

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