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 In a regular right hour working shift is not your cup of tea, and you are one of those people who would rather work from home and be their own boss, home business is the option for you. Venturing into the home business arena can be a truly rewarding and enriching experience if you are really passionate about your business.
Before Finalizing Your Home Business Idea
Working from home is an option for people who cannot work regular eight hour working shifts, cannot tolerate the lack of creative control over their own work, and find working from home a whole lost easier and convenient. Most of the times people who are very passionate about a particular thing or have a hobby that is close to their heart. Turning your hobby into your profession can be the simplest route to staring your very own home business. However you cannot just turn any hobby into a profession, you need to make sure how to turn that hobby into a viable business idea and tap a particular market segment with it.
Before finalizing your home business idea ensure you have studied and analyzed the idea carefully. It is advisable to carry out a SWOT analysis, which emphasizes on analyzing the home business idea under four categories namely, strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. It is better to evaluate your self, using this analysis technique so that you get a chance to optimally utilize your strength, overcome the weakness, utilize the opportunities and eliminate the threats for your home business idea.
Make sure you have studied the market for your business and have a well-planned business strategy to make your home business idea successful. Make sure you have studied the economics of the business and have sufficient funds to get you started. Do not take hasty decisions and rush into any business without proper planning. It is also advised to start your business on a relatively smaller scale and keep on expanding as you succeed; this reduces the risks of sudden and huge loss in a home business which can occur if you make a hefty initial investment.
In case you decide to freelance your services, make sure you have a valid and credible person to whom you are providing your services. In case you are planning to start a home business that will require lot of space, make sure you have a spare room in your house which you can turn into your home office instead of turning your entire home into a messy workstation. Last but not the least of your concerns, make sure that before starting a home business you have a complete idea of the financial, emotional as well as physical inputs that will be required out of you. Ask yourself whether you are really ready for it.
Interesting Home Business Ideas
Freelancing: Freelancing is working independently on contract basis be it any profession, writing, photography, designing, decorating or even event management. Freelancing gives you the satisfaction of working without bothering you with the time constraints so that you can work from home, on your own, at your own convenience and get paid for it as and when you accomplish assignments. There are a lot of freelancing opportunities available over the net as well. Freelancing has become a preferred mode of working due to the freedom it offers.
Cooking/Baking: People who love cooking can make a lot of profit by starting their very own catering business. Taking up contracts for cookies, appetizers, or whole meals, take-away is a wonderful idea to pursue the passion for cooking and also earn profits out of it. Catering for birthday parties, weddings and other special occasions can be a great idea. Also thinking on the lines of ‘dabbawallahs’ of India who provide nutritious meals to a majority of the working population, starting a regular food service for students / working people who cannot manage to cook everyday might be a great idea since you can offer healthy home cooked meals as an option to eating out everyday. This home based business can be a fulfilling experience if you are really passionate about the art of cooking and are ready to turn your home kitchen into your workstation!
Arts and Crafts: In case you love spending hours in arts and craft then turning your hobby into a full time home based business might not be a distant idea. Manufacturing customized arts and craft kits might be a great idea for a home-based business. Also think about manufacturing decorative craft accessories like origami kits, coloring books, might be a great idea.
Scrapbooking Business: Fast paced lifestyles often rob people of spending time to cherish and express gratitude for the wonderful memories in their lives. If you just love decorating and scrap booking, then taking assignments from people to create their very own memorabilia might be a truly rewarding home business idea. Using photographs, and other trinkets and snippets to create beautiful scrapbooks that you will enjoy creating and others will enjoy cherishing.
Event Planning: Being a party-planner, party decorator or a wedding planner can be a whole lot fun but also requires a lot of effort. If you have exceptional management and planning abilities with the right amount of creative outlook and the ability to understand a client’s needs, then this is the perfect home business idea for you. Planning birthday parties, weddings and other special events will require a lot of time, presence of mind, as well as the ability to handle the creative as well as financial aspects of the events assigned to you. Good communication skills are also a prerequisite for this home business idea, which you can pursue on contract basis.
There are just some of the home business ideas that you can use. There are many more options that you can choose from staring from financial consultancy, real estate, beautician, tarot reading, cleaning agency, event planning, commercial artist, computer training, music or arts teacher, cartooning, cooking classes, cay care center, employment agency, marriage bureau, dating service, nutritional counseling and so on. The choices are abundant, all you need to do is to find the perfect idea that suits your inclination, gives you a sense of creative satisfaction, and earns you sufficient profits.
By Uttara Manohar
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 Emotional Intelligence (EI) describes the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability, to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups.” If you look at the term, ‘emotional intelligence’, literally, it means having intelligent emotions, which have the understanding of time and space. This means that you will only exhibit your emotions when the moment is right. Terrorizing bosses in the corporate sectors have led to increased searches for importance of emotional intelligence at work. I hope, my endeavor to help you strengthen your emotional intelligence at work saves you from a debacle of your career.
Emotional Intelligence at Work
Believe in Your Strength
When you picked up the job, you knew what you were getting into. I strictly mean the job here, and not the company. Your emotional intelligence and performance at work are co-related. Moreover, when the HR selected you for the job, he understood your capabilities. Hence, if your capabilities and your strengths were clear at the time of joining, there is no reason why you should feel stymied now. If your boss is accusing you of being incompetent, prove him wrong with a knock-out performance. You’ve have always had the strength, it’s time you reclaim it.
Say It Right
It’s easy to be an extremist and take drastic measures. For, instance, when things get tough for you at office, it doesn’t mean you stop being tough. It’s easy to put up a fight, call it quits and leave. Patiently, listen to what your boss or subordinates have to say without any retaliation. They are not trying to single you out, it’s their handicap that they do not understand workplace ethics. They are saying it, to get you annoyed and worked up. So, if you react, that would be adding fuel to the fire. Hence, my advise for working at emotional intelligence and performance at work is to say it right with silence.
Befriend Your Co-Workers
I disagree, with statements like, ‘co-workers cannot be friends’. If you are spending good 9-12 hours everyday in a place with the same people, you are bound to develop bonds that will be special to you. The best way of dealing with emotional intelligence in the workplace, is to have friends you can depend on. In the long run, these co-workers will be your support system to climb the ladder of success or to help you get back on your feet when you are down.
Wear Your Attitude
Your attitude is your power of perception. Your perception becomes your judgments, which decides your actions. The important thing to develop a strong emotional intelligence at work, is to rate yourself as much as you rate your boss. If you give your boss, more importance than yourself, naturally, the element of fear is going to creep into your professional life. The day you joined your organization, is the day you started a relationship with it. It is from then on, that you will take it forward, and not prior to that. So forget about all the pre-conceived notions and the myth that your boss is greater than you. Remember you are more important to yourself, above everything else in the world. Read more on positive attitude quotes.
Letting Go
Buddha said, if you let go off your expectations, you will have no pain. In the maddening race of materialism, we are so engrossed in trying to possess greatness, that we forget the fact that greatness can never be captured. Release yourself from all the fears about corporate world, about your capabilities, about work culture and most importantly, your boss. Forget all your fears, to allow confidence to work for you and greatness, will follow you automatically. You will be your best if you be yourself. Read about role of emotional intelligence in business.
These were the five components of emotional intelligence at work. An unbreakable emotional intelligence at work is very essential to reach the pinnacle of success. Those stuck in labyrinth of emotions, sink deeper and deeper in an abyss. To rise up, it’s important to be practical, realistic and to see the bigger picture life has to offer you. Good luck!
By Mukta Gaikwad
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 A team is defined as a group of people who collectively work towards a pre-defined goal utilizing their own skills, experience and knowledge. In order to be qualified as a productive team, the following criteria have to be met.
There should be open communication between the team members and the leader.
Roles assigned to each team member should be clear, and consented by all.
The goals of the team should be clear and each team member should be aware of how the team’s goals fit into the organizational goals.
There should be a harmonious relationship between the team members. The team members have to like each other and trust each other in order to work together.
There are various fun team building activities for work which can be undertaken to meet the above mentioned criteria.
Brightening Up the Workplace Environment: Stimulating posters and art prints on teamwork should be put up in the office. A “My teammate my friend” notice board should be put up wherein team members can put up appreciation notes for fellow members who have helped them.
Themed Afternoon Events: A special theme day can be organized like a “Hawaiian day” or “cowboy day” or a “karaoke lunch” where everybody can dress up casually according to the theme and mix freely. The team members will get to spend social time with each other thereby resulting in increased understanding and communication between them.
Celebrating Birthdays: A particular day of the month should be fixed when employee birthdays that fall in that particular month can be celebrated. It gives the employees, a feeling of belongingness towards the organization.
Interactive Seminars: At the entry point of the room where a seminar is about to be conducted, placing sweets, bubblegums and candies can lighten up the atmosphere. Every team member should be allowed to present his views on the topic followed by a discussion on the same.
Games: Games work wonders as team building activities for adults as they help create a positive, fun environment. At the same time, they foster teamwork.
Following team building activities and games have been especially handpicked to make yours a well integrated team.
Now I know You: This game should ideally be played in a team of 8-10 adults. Ask the team members to list five things they have done in their life which differentiate them from others .They can list things like ” I have visited 5 foreign countries” or “I can play guitar”. Compile this list and handover copies of it to all the team members without mentioning the names against the things done. The team members now have to go to each other and ask for the names of the team members who have done a particular thing. The one who completes the list first with all the correct names is the winner. This team building activity for work helps the team members in knowing each other better.
Make a Castle: Employees should be divided in 3-4 teams. The team members should be seated in a circle and provided with clay. When the leader of the group whistles, they start making a castle. When he whistles again, the clay is passed on to the next member and he starts from where the previous member has left . The team which finishes first is declared the winner .This team building activity for work reinforces that each and every team member’s contribution is important to achieve the goal.
Catch Me if You can: This game can be played with a 5-8 member team. Let the team stand in a circle. One of the team members stands in between and falls on others without lifting his feet. The others have to save him from falling without breaking the circle. This team building activity for workplace helps in building trust among the members. Read team building in the workplace for more information on similar activities.
Make a Story: This game re-enforces how important communication skills are, to built a team. Take one comic strip and tear it. Divide its various pages among the team members. The members have to keep their pages hidden. Ask them to individually guess the correct story by reading their page. When none of them is able to tell the correct story, let everybody open their pages. Give the team members time to arrange the pages. The story will now be clear to them. This team building activity for work shows that team members should communicate openly and not hide anything. It also teaches that it is very important for a leader to communicate to his subordinates, how their individual work contributes to the team’s goal and how the team’s goal fits into the whole organization’s goal.
Design your own Group Activity: Give full freedom to the team to design their own activity. This is one of the most creative team building activities for work. The team members will together conceptualize, plan and execute the entire activity. This leads to better communication and co-operation among the teammates. Someone will automatically assume the role of a leader and direct the others. This activity helps in identifying team leadership abilities as well.
Team Sports: Matches of popular team sports like basketball, baseball and football can be organized. This will help in promoting team spirit among the team members. Such outdoor team building games provide a much needed change from the mundane office routine.
Team building activities for work put team members in challenging positions where survival without each others’ support is next to impossible. They also help in identifying hidden strengths of the team members which can be utilized for achieving organization goals.
By Aastha Dogra
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