Flexible Working: Win-Win For Employers and Employees

Flexible Working: Win-Win For Employers and Employees
iPad Losing to More Affordable Tablets
6 Million Things That Can Go Wrong With Your WordPress Site
Small Businesses Spend More on Travel, Per Concur Survey
Are Americans Becoming Interested in Entrepreneurship Again?

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 04:00 PM PDT

Your Better Business has created the following flexible working infographic which takes a look at a new flexible model of working. Many are calling this a “win-win situation” for both employers and employees. Within the infographic you’ll discover an easily consumable summary of key statistics on the flexible working debate between employers and employees as well as a general point of view. Additionally it looks at important issues such as productivity, employee satisfaction and cost reduction.

What are your thoughts? Does this model of working sound appealing? Maybe you are already participating in a flexible working environment and love it. Or are you a traditionalist? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

[Click image for full size version]

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iPad Losing to More Affordable Tablets

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 01:30 PM PDT

ipad sales dropping

The iPhone has exceeded sales expectations this quarter. The iPad, not so much. If you’re in the market for a tablet for business there are many other options to consider these days and some a bit easier on the budget.

iPhone Sales Strong but Tablet Sales Slipping

Apple shipped 31 million iPhones for the second quarter, reports All Thing D. That’s less than the 37.4 million the company says it shipped in the first quarter of 2013 but more than the 26 million it shipped last year around this time.

Sales of the company’s iPad tablet, by contrast, seem to definitely be slipping. This past quarter, Apple reported shipping just 14.6 million of the devices, a steep decline compared to the 17 million iPads shipped by the end of the second quarter in 2012.

Causes for iPad Decline

One possibility is that sales are tapering off as customers wait for the next generation of iPads expected in September. If so, Apple could see an even bigger drop in sales next quarter, reports Max Wang of DigiTimes.

Of course, another possible explanation is that the iPad is simply facing competition from more affordable tablets, reports CNET. In fact, one industry analyst, Glen Yeung of Citi Research, projects iPad sales will remain below the industry average.

The iPhone Could Also be At Risk

And though iPhone sales still look strong, there are signs here too that competitors are making inroads.

The Wall Street Journal reports Samsung’s smartphone revenue eclipsed earnings from the iPhone for the first time this quarter. The Korean company made $5.2 billion in second quarter earnings off devices like the Galaxy S2 while Apple made just $4.6 billion in smartphone sales.

Apple Store Photo via Shutterstock

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6 Million Things That Can Go Wrong With Your WordPress Site

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT

wordpress website

"The website isn't working!"

Four simple words that will send you into a spiral of dread and despair. You go to your website and see something like Internal Server Error or Connection Timed Out. Worse yet, your website seems to have completely disappeared. (This is fondly referred to as the "White Screen of Death.")

While WordPress is a great blog and website platform, between plugin compatibility issues, theme updates and more, there just might be six million things that could go wrong. But for now, let's just focus on six main WordPress issues.

Things That Can Go Wrong With Your WordPress Website

Performance and Security Issues

Before you build a new website, it's a good idea to get your website set up in the best way possible, to prevent future potential performance and security issues.

Million-Dollar Tip:

Not all hosts are created equal. If you are not very technical or just want someone else to worry about performance and security for you, choose a company like Synthesis from Copyblogger Media that offers managed hosting for WordPress. You will pay more but you get guaranteed performance, automatic security updates and piece of mind that lets you sleep at night.

Updates

When logged in as WordPress admin, you will constantly be reminded to update your plugins, your framework, your theme and WordPress itself. Most people proceed with the installation without a thought, then oops—your header image is broken, or your website looks different than you expected, requiring extra work.

Million-Dollar Tip:

Visit the website of your theme or plugin before performing the update. Read the details of the update to determine if your website's look or functionality will be impacted.

Ten Million Dollar Tip:

Make sure you have completely backed up your site with a service like CodeGuard or a premium Plugin like BackupBuddy before you update anything.

Server Migration

Maybe your current hosting runs too slow, maybe you don't like their customer service, or maybe your site keeps getting corrupted. Whatever the reason, when you decide to switch your hosting provider, WordPress might be a little crabby about the changeover.

Million-Dollar Tip:

If you're worried about the migration process, try hiring a WordPress service company like Fantasktic to handle everything for $99. You'll experience minimal downtime (if any) and you won't have to worry about the technical details.

Plugin Compatibility

If you've made any changes to your website recently and now you're having problems, an incompatible plugin is likely the issue. Be sure to check each plugin's compatibility with your current version of WordPress before installation. Sometimes plugins aren't compatible with each other and there's no way to anticipate the conflict in advance.

Million-Dollar Tip:

If your WordPress website is broken and you suspect plugin issues, you need to isolate the plugins folder on your hosting server. To do so, rename your "plugins" folder to "plugins_old" (your server should automatically generate a new copy of the "plugins" folder when you do this). Now, open your website again and, if it now works, you know a plugin conflict is to blame. Copy each plugin from "plugins_old" back into "plugins," one at a time, to identify which plugin is the culprit.

Super Spamming

Spammers can access your WordPress website in numerous ways, and no doubt about it – they'll be on the attack every day. Spammers can create fake accounts on your website or post comments littered with garbage links and inappropriate topics.

Million-Dollar Tip:

Spam-fighter Akismet is an unbeatable solution for curbing all those spam comments. While Akismet used to be a separate WordPress plugin, it now comes default with the latest version of WordPress, so all you need to do is activate it and you're ready to go.

Who The Heck Knows?

Most people who run a WordPress site have, at one time or another, experienced a white-knuckle WordPress situation no amount of tweaking or research can repair. Maybe you're completely locked out of your website.

Maybe you've somehow managed to create an infinite loop of code you can't access to fix. First of all, don't panic. In all likelihood, there's a solution out there somewhere.

Million-Dollar Tip:

If everything else fails, and you feel like all is lost, visit the WordPress Support Forums for help. If the documentation for your problem doesn't already exist (which it very likely does), you can post your specific problem in the forums, and a surprisingly enthusiastic team of WordPress admins and users will offer specific solutions.

Don't Let These Potential WordPress Problems Get to You

WordPress is a useful website platform, and you'll most likely be very happy with your website 99% of the time. Just keep an eye out for issues and don't be afraid to ask for help when you encounter a problem.

Frustrated Woman Photo via Shutterstock

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Small Businesses Spend More on Travel, Per Concur Survey

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 08:00 AM PDT

small businesses spend

Small businesses are playing the role of big spenders on the road. A new study found that small businesses spend more on travel than big business.

The Concur Expense IQ report covering 2012 reveals that small businesses spend about 24 percent more per year on these expenses than bigger companies. The report is a survey of Concur users and how much they spent annually on travel and entertainment.

The study also specifies some reasons for that disparity:

Negotiating leverage, driven by scale and sophisticated spend management strategies, continues to give large market companies significant advantages in controlling their T&E spending.

Air Travel

Items like baggage fees on flights and other ancillary charges for business travelers nearly doubled in the last year, the study found. Concur users spent $58 million on these fees in 2012, compared to $30 million the year prior.

Despite the amount of these fees, which are the same for big or small businesses, it’s small businesses that are paying more often. The report also found that small businesses purchase 37 percent more airline tickets in a quarter than big businesses.

Food and Lodging

Even if your business travel doesn’t require flight, small businesses are paying more for hotel rooms and rental cars, too. The average small business traveler will spend about $736 per quarter, compared to a big business traveler’s $608 per quarter for lodging. Other expenses on the ground also hit small businesses harder.

A small business traveler is dining out about 40 times a year and spends around $340 every three months on take-out or restaurant meals. The big business traveler eats out less often and typically spends less too.

The study found that each small business traveler will spend about $500 more per quarter than a big business traveler. And every expense involved in travel – from airline tickets to hotels to food – is typically higher than what a big business traveler would pay.

Concur provides integrated travel and expense management solutions to 18,000 business customers around the world serving 20 million end users.

Image: Concur Expense IQ Report

Editor’s Correction: the above article was corrected to reflect updated customer and user counts.

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Are Americans Becoming Interested in Entrepreneurship Again?

Posted: 29 Jul 2013 05:00 AM PDT

interested in entrepreneurship

The recently released Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), a nationally representative survey of American adults, reveals that the fraction of Americans who intend to start a business rose to 12.5 percent in 2012 — a substantial increase from the 8.3 percent recorded in 2008.

What’s behind the change?

It doesn't appear to be driven by a shift in Americans' beliefs about their entrepreneurial abilities. In both 2008 and 2012, 56 percent of Americans said they had the skills to start a business.

It might be related to the rising fraction of Americans who believe that there are “good opportunities for entrepreneurship around them.” Only 37 percent of those surveyed by the GEM said that there were good start-up opportunities in 2008. In 2012, that fraction had increased to 44 percent. As the authors of the report explain, the current number “represents a jump of more than 20% from 2011 and the highest level recorded since GEM began in 1999."

While more Americans perceive entrepreneurial opportunities than did five years ago, a greater fraction is also concerned about failing. In 2008, only 25 percent of those surveyed by GEM feared entrepreneurial failure. By 2012 that fraction had increased to 32 percent.

Americans are beginning to act on their increasing entrepreneurial intentions. According to the GEM, the fraction of respondents with start-ups less than three-and-a-half years old jumped in 2011 and continued to rise in 2012, to the highest level since the survey was initiated in 1999.

Other sources show similar patterns. Census Bureau data on new employer firm formation showed a 2.3 percent increase in the number of firms per thousand people (from 1.28 to 1.31) between 2010 and 2011. (Government figures for new employer firm formation for 2012 haven't been released yet.)

However, the rise in entrepreneurship appears concentrated among people just beginning to launch their businesses. While the fraction of Americans who had a business three-or-fewer months old grew between 2011 and 2012, the share with businesses between 3 months and three-and-a-half years old declined.

While start-up activity may be climbing out of its trough, existing entrepreneurs still appear to be exiting at elevated rates. Bureau of Labor Statistics data don't show evidence of an increase in fraction of self-employed Americans. As the figure below shows, after declining continuously for several years, the self-employed share of the civilian labor force remained stable at 6.02 percent between April 2012 and April 2013. If the fraction of Americans starting businesses is rebounding, but the share of self-employed Americans is flat, then the fraction of self-employed exiting must still be high.

American Entrepreneur Photo via Shutterstock

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