What makes a business a business? 

Not only some out-of-the-box ideas and fierce marketing skills to sell it, but you also need a budget and a team of dedicated employees to turn your vision into reality. As always, running a company smoothly gives more headaches than starting out. 

As the great thinkers said, understanding human nature is a mystery to God, which hits even harder when that human being may change everything about your endeavors. 

A team of skilled, good employees may take your company from the basement to the high table of Commerce, and obviously, hiring a bunch of bad employees only ensures a slow death of your dream to own the business world.

Money, time, energy, reputation, and more, cost a lot. 

Hands down, hiring the best productive employees for your business is difficult. That’s how it is. You just accept it. But do you retreat? Why?

That’s what we’re discussing here today. Keep scrolling, and you’ll learn a few things soon.

1. Company Values Come First
   

Every business has a motto, some predefined goals, and a fixed set of values that the founders of the directors believe in. It may be as simple as some special office culture, the type of product your company sells, or what your firm demands from the staff.

 You must know what you are and what you’re looking for as an employer.

Just like, the potential candidates should know if they can fit into the company policy and shine by the rulebook. 

This is vital for both sides to get the right match fast and easily.

2. Soft Skills Are a Winner
   

We love people who explain boring stuff like a story. 

People spend time and loads of money on learning marketing, programming bla bla bla but hardly take time to even think about soft skills.

Soft skills are not about talking softly with a forced accent. It might sound catchy but does it help your company? Mostly, no. 

Working skills would be top-notch for most of them. But you don’t need robots; a company demands enthusiastic workers who know how to communicate when needed—speaking, writing, listening, and presenting matters.

3. Evaluate, Constantly and Consistently

Hiring doesn’t end with the interview. Learning about newly hired candidates is a constant process that takes effort but pays back, certainly. 

An interview involves many factors, including luck, and it isn’t that rare to hire an employee who rocked the interview and impressed the whole board but is a poor performer. 

Probably this is why renowned entrepreneur Eben Pagan, in his TedTalk, said, “Hire slowly, fire quickly.” 

After all, business, at its core, is nothing but a team game like football. Even if one member fails to comply, the whole team suffers. So, cast the team carefully. These people are the fundamental parts and parcels of your institution. 

4. Leveraging your Network

Putting it simply, “Leveraging” means knowing how to use things you already have. This is more smart work than hard work. 

In hiring, leveraging can come in various forms, using referrals from the current employees, taking the help of an employment agency, hiring freelancers from social media or job networking sites, offering internships to find raw talent, or temporary postings to understand the employee’s suitability and more.

Now you’re going to say it’s easier said than done. 

Agreed. But why are you taking extra stress on your own shoulders? We live in the 5G era, so why not use its full potential? This is called leverage on the technology. 

Many start-ups, professional coaches, and even online services help you with this, like Compono, a company founded by young entrepreneurs, psychologists, and data scientists. 

Compono believes in intelligent hiring. They offer Candidate analysis, job analysis, and even Company analysis using advanced Machine learning, AI data models, and scientific psychological techniques to predict the right fit for you. This company even offers a few courses. 

 To know more, we’d suggest looking through: https://www.compono.com/, their official website. 

Now, last but not least –

5. Leadership Qualities for the Captain
   

Employees are your human resources; like every other resource, you must learn how to utilize them wisely. This is where your leadership skills play a pivotal role.

A ship without a captain is lost in the waves.

A captain knows how to bring out the best from his folks. So you, captain of your business, must act like a worthy one. 

Leadership skills can vary from collecting regular feedback, conversations with the team, or knowing who is suitable for which role. 

For more tips on hiring skills, you may read a resourceful article here. 

So that’s all. All these might sound overwhelming, but we believe you can be the next Interview room Maestro, the Big Boss with an eye for the gems, out of this crowd.

Ever since the inception of the internet, website designs have advanced at an exponentially increasing rate. Year by year, and even month by month, new web design and development trends are identified; and just as quickly, most of them are surpassed—staying on top of that constant evolution can be a full-time job in and of itself.

There are some trends that we are seeing this year, however, that should stand the test of time. Here is our overview of the trends in web design and development that we think are here to stay.

Chatbots

Yes—the bane of the consumer is here to stay. Of course, chatbots have been around for a few years now, so why is this part of our list of 2022 trends? Because the artificial intelligence that underpins the chatbot has grown in leaps and bounds and is now significantly more sophisticated than it was even twelve months ago.

That means that while chatbots have historically been hated by end-users, the functionality is now so much improved that it is as close to being in conversation with a human operator as can be. This evolution is a direct result of concurrent advances in machine learning, language processing, artificial intelligence, and data retrieval speeds—all of which are still being improved on right now.

Security

Cybercrime is on the rise, so you can expect to see some changes to the way that webpages are structured to incorporate security. Users can already see these changes in the uptick in retailers using two-factor authentication to ensure that a purchase is genuine, and this is something that will grow throughout 2022 and beyond.

SPAs

The SPA, or single-page application, is a fundamental change to the way that your website is delivered. Essentially, a java-based application is used to load your web page on the visitor’s browser. That page can then be updated and changed without having to reload the page. SPAs are good for both sides of the website equation—webmasters need less storage space to host their web content, and visitors can access all the information they need quickly and easily.

User experience, of course, drives most innovation when it comes to web development and design. So the increased speed and ease of navigation that come with single-page applications means that they are here to stay for the long term.

Full Site Editing

WordPress is an extremely popular content management system, with an impressive 39% of the market. Earlier this year, WordPress released a new update for 2022 that includes what is being called ‘Full Site Editing,’ which allows users to create and edit entire sites using the ‘block’ style of editing that was previously only used for certain content boxes.

What does this actually mean? It means that creating and updating websites just got a lot easier and a lot quicker. We can expect to see more websites being updated with fresh themes, as well as more small businesses finally dipping their toes into the digital world.

Mobile-first

Mobile-first web design has been on its way for a few years now, with sites being designed to work well on different device types. In 2022, we expect to see the next iteration—truly leveraging the physical hardware to improve the web experience. This means allowing users to log into sites using fingerprints or retina scans, using the GPS in the device to accurately locate the user, and taking into account the idiosyncrasies of voice searches.

This is a definite trend that will be here for a while, and as smartphones and tablets evolve, so too can you expect the way that web pages are designed to evolve.

Dark mode

Dark mode is a feature that changes the color scheme of a device, application, or page to a darker palette. This is supposed to be better for the user (it reduces blue light, which can damage the eye), it uses less battery, and it makes the content easier to access and engage with for everyone.

The adoption of dark mode by developers, designers, and, ultimately, users, has been one of the more surprising trends of recent months, but one that is likely to continue, with users being given the option to quickly and easily transition between standard/light mode and dark.

Hardware

Serverless architecture, or cloud-based technology, has become widespread and more user-friendly over the last few years. This means big changes for web development and design—now, instead of being encumbered by the limitations of the server hardware available, they have unlimited potential power thanks to the cloud. Additionally, it is more affordable for those at the entry-level end of the spectrum to rent some power from AWS or another cloud provider and launch their site, app, or program, and all upgrades, updates, and maintenance for the hardware will be taken care of for them.

So with serverless architecture the web developer can run the required code without having to even think about the server—no provisioning, no upgrading, no downtime worries, just a seamless, easily up- or down-scaled service.

PWAs

A PWA, or a progressive web application, is a way of improving the user experience for a particular application. This technology, which has really seen a massive increase in use over the last twelve months, improves the speed with which a website loads as well as reduces the amount of space taken up by the application on the user’s device.

This can help with a number of performance metrics—time on site, conversions, visit frequency, bounce rate, and page visits can all be improved with a PWA. As a result, expect more websites to be designed and developed in this format as the year progresses.

Pranjal Bora is the Head of Product Management at Digital Authority Partners, a Las Vegas Web Development Agency. For help deploying any of the design and development trends discussed in this article, or any other digital marketing strategy, get in touch with the agency today.

New legislation signed into law by President Trump on November 15, 2021, limited the Employee Retention Credit to wages earned before October 1, 2021, unless it is a recovery starting company. 

Employers who qualify for the credit can have immediate access to it by reducing the employment tax deposits they would have been forced to make otherwise. Additionally, if the employer’s employment tax deposits are insufficient to satisfy the credit, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may provide the employer with an advance payment. To calculate the amount of the credit equal to fifty percent, wages (together with specific health plan charges) of up to ten thousand dollars can be counted for each employee.

Employers that went through a partial shutdown due to government orders limiting commerce, travel, or group meetings are eligible to participate in this program. Additionally, employers that went through significant declines in quarterly gross receipts (as compared to their quarterly gross receipts in 2019) due to the pandemic are also eligible to participate.

How do ERC Credits work?

Two critical requirements for ERC credits must be passed to be eligible: a partial or total shutdown that was ordered by the government and the corresponding drop in gross receipts. A partial or total shutdown is considered to have been ordered by the government for at least some portion of the quarter. The documents don’t need to be a copy of an announcement made by the government. It can be any record that demonstrates there was a shutdown that was ordered by the government. The drop in gross receipts test is predicated on a decline in gross receipts that are “substantial” and the rules regarding this change between 2020 and 2021.

For the year 2020, a company will be eligible for the credit if it experienced a decline in gross receipts of at least 50 percent within a given quarter beginning on March 12, 2020, and continuing through December 31, 2020, when particularly in comparison to the same quarter in 2019, and if the shutdown was either partial or total and was ordered by the government. The credit for the year 2020 will be based on payment of wages of up to fifty percent of qualified earnings, with a maximum of ten thousand dollars per employee. This will result in a credit of five thousand dollars for each employee for the year 2020.

The requirement for a partial or entire closure of the government due to an order from the government will still be in effect in 2021; however, the requirements are substantially more lenient in all other respects. When compared to 2019, the quarterly drop in gross receipts must be no more than twenty percent. The dates that count toward eligibility are January 1, 2021, through September 30, 2021. It is now 70 percent of qualified wages rather than 50 percent of qualified wages, and the maximum amount that can be deducted from an employee’s paycheck is now $10,000 every quarter rather than $10,000 per year. Therefore, the maximum credit for 2021 is set at $7,000 every quarter, which might potentially add up to $21,000 for each worker over the course of three quarters. Companies have a huge incentive to investigate this possible possibility if they have access to this information.

In addition, the time restriction for submitting modified payroll forms for ERC Credits is three years from the original filing date. Therefore, a business may still be eligible for the cash return linked with this credit if it qualified in either the year 2020 or any of the first three quarters of 2021.

Rules for ERC Credits

• Earnings paid to employees and any healthcare costs incurred by the employer are included in the definition of qualifying wages.
• If an employer meets the requirements for a specific quarter, they are eligible to submit a claim for that quarter’s credit.
• The comparison is carried out every quarter and contrasted with the corresponding quarter in 2019.
• The filing is completed by adjusting the quarterly payroll tax reports known as Form 941.
• Any PPP funds acquired throughout the aforementioned period are required to be withdrawn.

ERC Credits and Startup Businesses

Companies that were established after February 15, 2020, have a good chance of being qualified for a unique variation of employee retention tax credits, sometimes known as ERC Credits or ERTCs. In the context of the tax incentives for retaining employees, these kinds of companies are referred to as “Recovery Startup Businesses.”

Established after February 15, 2020, companies have a good chance of being qualified for a unique variation of employee retention tax credits, sometimes known as ERCs or ERTCs. In the context of the tax incentives for retaining employees, these companies are referred to as “Recovery Startup Businesses.” If your business was established in 2020 and you submitted this paperwork in 2021, then you are looking at the year 2020. You may need to put certain queries to the company you work for, such as “Did your company bring in less than one million dollars in gross receipts or revenue in 2020?” And with the exception of some truly enormous rocket ships, the majority of new businesses will be able to respond positively to this question. They will be able to qualify for that because it is extremely unusual for a firm to generate a million dollars in sales within its first nine or ten months of operation. They will be able to do that.

Working with your payment provider and your local startup CPA firm, Kruze Consulting, to ensure that you are eligible and actually going through a questionnaire are the two steps that need to be taken in order to lodge a claim for this. Then, your certified public accountant will be able to assist you through the process that you will follow to claim the credit with your payroll provider.

It is really necessary to acquire more knowledge about the ERC provisions in order to assess whether or not they are eligible. The ERC is able to issue considerable reimbursements determined by the number of employees at the company as well as the number of quarters in which the company was eligible. In addition, there are specifics that must be followed in order to get the most out of the program; therefore, it is imperative that every company learn about it and assess the possibilities. In these trying circumstances, businesses that are eligible for the program have the opportunity to file an amended Form 941 for earlier quarters, make use of the program, and collect tax refunds to assist them in maintaining and expanding their operations.

Many things are required of you as a remote entrepreneur. To manage your online business successfully, you would have to prioritize effective team collaboration, task delegation, and knowing when to use third parties. Effective collaboration through digital channels is essential since there’s no office space. And you might need to outsource logistics if you sell online. 

6 tips for running an online business

Running an online business remotely is as easy as the following steps:

1. Build a strong online presence

You’re a home-based entrepreneur, but you don’t really want to let that show. Getting valuable customers and the right employees depends on the professionalism you display. And you do that through your online presence. 

From your website to your social media posts, you must showcase yourself as a fully functional company that knows its stuff. It doesn’t matter whether you run an e-commerce store or specialized services. The value of customers you attract will depend on how professional you appear.

2. Hire the right remote team

A key step to managing a successful online business is hiring the right remote team. You have to understand you can’t do everything alone, no matter how much you try to minimize costs. There would be so much to do, just like in a traditional business, some tasks beyond your strengths. So you have to delegate anything that overwhelms you or wastes valuable time. 

Virtual assistant services are a great way to go if you’re not considering full-time employees just yet. You can find virtual assistants on Upwork or other online platforms to help with blogging, website maintenance, bookkeeping, customer service, etc. You’ll always find incredible talents for whatever role you’re looking to fill. 

3. Create effective communication channels

Effective collaboration is vital to managing an online business. You’re not in physical contact with your team, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t communicate as much. It’s crucial that team members always know their tasks and can find updates and share feedback in one place. Email isn’t very convenient, so investing in project management software that works well for your team is best. 

Aside from project management software, you could use a simple communication app with private and group chats. These are good for quick chats. For example, anyone can drop a message to clarify something and stay up to date on projects on the go. 

4. Use the right tools

Running an online business means appreciating digitalization for all it offers. That involves leveraging tools and automation while managing your business remotely. For example, you’ll need software to allow team members remotely access company files and documents. Conferencing software to conduct webinars and live interviews is also helpful. 

For e-commerce stores, you might want to invest in inventory management software. You get an instant notification for out-of-stock items so you can restock them, after which the product becomes visible to shoppers once more. 

Furthermore, you might be faced with a truckload of mail. A virtual mailbox is an excellent solution for remote businesses looking to handle mail conveniently and maintain a professional image. With a virtual mailbox, you get a commercial address where your packages are sent; you may then have them forwarded to your home. In that case, you won’t have to publicize your home address, and clients won’t visualize your company as someone working from their garage. When creating your LLC, you may also use the virtual mailing address as your business address since PO Box is often unacceptable. 

Many mail forwarding companies are providing this service; look for one that works best for you. 

5. Outsource fulfillment 

Do you sell products online? Every e-commerce store is plagued with the trouble of fulfilling orders. From processing orders, labeling products, packing, and shipping from the warehouse to delivery, you’ll soon find fulfillment is not a task you want to continue with. 

In most instances, it’s best to outsource fulfillment to a third-party logistic company like UPS and FedEx. Since the company is focused on order fulfillment, they have the tools and know-how to improve speed and customer satisfaction. This would relieve you of much burden so you can focus on giving your new prospects a good experience. 

6. Set parameters

Trust is important while running an online business, and your remote team members would often need to access the company database for information required to complete tasks. However, setting certain parameters is a smart security move you shouldn’t neglect. These levels would ensure only authorized parties can access certain controls, such as purchasing power. 

For example, you can provide a virtual assistant with a separate username and password that doesn’t give him full control over the platform. 

Thankfully, some software platforms have these parameters built into them. If not, you might need to call a web developer. 

Final words

It’s wise to encourage a culture of regular communication amongst your remote team. So many video conferencing tools are available today. Business owners should use these tools, so remote employees don’t feel isolated. Helping everyone connect casually, just as in a traditional workplace, can help them thrive mentally and productively.

Employment law is the thing that regulates the partnership between employers and their employees. It encompasses every part of employment from the hiring process to the very end and the exit process. Its sole purpose is to make sure everyone is treated fairly. Employment law is a complicated process and is full of potential pitfalls. In order to stay ahead of the game, it is worth hiring a lawyer that specializes in this area, like the ones from HKM, who are able to help you navigate the twisting turning waters of employment law. Here is a little introduction to employment law and what may affect you. 

Recruitment 

When you are recruiting people, all you need to do is hire good people, then you will have little problems later on. However, this is easier said than done. People make instant judgments and have to follow their guts about candidates. This can lead to having to sack a new hire which can lead to legal difficulties. One of the best ways to avoid this is to make sure that your interviewers give everyone a fair chance but also to probe an interviewee if they are just regurgitating information easily found on the internet.

Working time regulations

No matter how much work you need to get done, you need to follow the working time regulations when it comes to working hours, breaks, and paid annual leave. Staff should not be working more than 48 hours a week unless they have agreed to and should have access to see how many hours they have worked. By keeping track of this and keeping everything transparent you can ensure that people are not feeling taken advantage of.

Employees rights

Employees should receive a statement and contract setting out the terms and conditions of their employment. Certain rights may not be written but are often implied. You should try and foster a relationship of trust and confidence with your employees. This can be created by allowing a reasonable amount of privacy, the ability to join a trade union, and the entitlement to stop any employer wrongdoing. Granting these small things can keep up staff morale and prevent legal clashes later on.

Disciplinary procedures

The main thing you should do is to set out transparent disciplinary and grievance procedures for your employees to follow. This will make things easier if you need to let someone go as you will have a written record of just cause for the dismissal. The grievance procedure can also call you to show that you listen to feedback and can act on it should you see something wrong within your company. This can stop you from fighting tough legal battles later.

Employment law

This is not an easy aspect of the law as it constantly evolves and thus you can be caught out. This is why you should seek to hire an employment lawyer who can guide you through these difficult times. Make sure to protect you and your business by complying with the law of your state.

Making the U.S. an evolving hub of desi culinary paradise surfaces top Indian food serving eateries that promise to deliver the most sought taste of homeland as Indian Meal Kits

The U.S. is witnessing a strong exposure to the Indian piquancy with top Indian restaurants, Grocery Stores, and other storefronts offering offline and online on-demand services. Catering to the food demand of more than 1.5 million shoppers every week, robust platforms like Quicklly, SpiceBox, Inner Flame, and Buniyaa, to name a few, offer the most authentic Indian Meal Kits at 40-60% less than the market price.

The focal point of all these online stores remains the rising Indian population across the country. Students to NRIs and people migrating for varied reasons in the U.S. make their targeted audience, and the only thing to expect is a strong surge in the community of Indian food lovers. This invariably leads to a rise in the demand for homeland taste and products that cater to their taste. And realizing the hope of people reminiscing about the flavorsome desi masaledaar food, these online and offline food delivery providers ship to the door at the most affordable prices – Indian Meal Kits!

Indian Meal Kit: An Indian Culinary Tale

Indian Meal Kit is a big to-eat item on every household’s dining list as it offers a great home-cooked nutritious Indian meal coupled with a mouth-amusing taste. These easy-to-make refrigerated kits come with pre-measured Indian spices, chopped dry vegetables, pre-mix Indian whole masala, and other items depending upon the dish you pick. No need to hunt for the ingredients or attend daunting online cooking classes as Indian Meal Kits make cooking simple and fun.

To cook, add boiling water and mix the content together until they blend into a delicious bowl of rich Indian flavors.

Rustling up your quick meal plans, whether, for that unplanned date night or gatherings, organic meal kits are a delicious and economical way to relish the decadent Indian flavors for times when you’d just put a meal together for yourself.

Let’s look at some of the top Indian Meal Kitsuppliers that are catering to the second largest immigrant group in the U.S. with their time-bound deliveries and unrivaled prices.

• Quicklly

Quite indicative of a fast-track delivery, the brand vision’s to ease the access to authentic Indian food and groceries via online delivery and offline storefront they established across 10 different cities. Partnering with more than 300 independent local businesses, Quicklly is an all-inclusive marketplace that offers Indian and South Asian cuisine at competitive prices with frequent launches of Indian products, building an expansive range of offerings. Their products cater to a wide array of Indian communities in the U.S. with their store-to-door services.

Their latest products/services recently launched include Just Lassi – a recreation of yogurt-based Indian drink, QuickllyMoments which allows you to send personalized pre-recorded videos along with delicious Indian sweets, delightful recipes, and more. 

Quickly offers an Indian meal box that’s as easy to make as the brand name sounds. Roll up your sleeves, and add hot water. You’re done! Their Indian Meal kit offerings include an elaborate menu of classic Indian dishes to choose from.

The brand is emerging as an Industry disruptor, scaling heights in terms of revenue and nationwide popularity. However, the startup is yet to announce time-bound Indian Meal Kit delivery and its nationwide free delivery, which can add another big win to its kitty.

• Indian Meal Kit

Expanding your palate with flavored and nutritious meals, Indian Meal Kit, founded by Puja Mehta, offers a wide range of easy-to-make Indian meals at home. Each Indian Meal Kit comprises pre-measured Indian spices, curry, rice/bread, or both. The refrigerated meal kits can serve you good food in 30-40 minutes, just by adding hot water. Making your homemade cooking easier and quicker, Indian Meal Kit empowers local businesses across the nation while embracing sustainability as a part of their vision to deliver the authentic Indian taste on every plate.

However, they do not offer free delivery, charging some amount on every order you make. This can save big on large orders, but for 1-2 servings, the delivery cost can be an issue.

• Spice Box

A Chicago-based meal delivery platform, Spice Box promise to deliver the restaurant taste of Indian food made healthily. Selected ingredients by prolific chefs create the Indian indulgence comprised of authentic Indian spices, delivering a balance of taste and health. Their ready-to-eat food service has garnered attention for being amusing and healthy, making a further impact with their door-delivery options. Spice Box offers meal kit plans in four variants, such as 4, 6, 8, and 10 organic meal kitoptions per week; plus, they are inclined to innovate their menus by adding new meal offerings every week.

However, their rigid delivery days may be a point of discomfort for people not familiar with their terms and expect their service arbitrarily.

• Indian Flame

Indian Flame is centered around offering health-conscious wholesome Indian food and concoctions inspired by rich Indian traditions. Their diverse, authentic Indian offerings include easy-to-make organic meal kits, immunity booster Indian tea, kitchari cleanse kits, organic spices, and soup, to name a few, along with catering services.

Based on the Indian Ayurveda, their offerings imbibe healing properties or medicinal values with authentic home-cooked taste. Indian Flame is purposed to infuse organic ingredients in your everyday eating with its reasonably priced line of earthy products, delivered to the door for free. 

Plus, their yoga section flourishes to inspire the adoption of mindful yogic practices by detailing in and out of yoga techniques like lung breathing, aum chanting, pranayama, etc.

Their limited menu does not offer you a wide range of choices. Just a few tea options and a soup can be a disappointment for ones who love experimenting with flavors.

• Bunyan

An all-inclusive e-commerce warehouse that stores around 3 million pounds of authentic Indian groceries at any given point in time, Buniyaa is a reputed online platform that partners with distributors and ethnic stores to sell their range of Indian varieties. Bunyan marks 40% annual growth in revenue every year as it widens to pool together the most robust line of suppliers and local businesses to market its products.

The product lists include Indian groceries, sweets and snacks, beverages, and the continual inclusion of new products. Plus, their dedicated brand category allows you to easily pick items from the desired brand. Buniyaa offers on-time Indian meal kit delivery that comes with a pre-made spice mix, dry masala blend, whole spice mix, and a recipe card.

They charge you for small orders and do not serve many localities in the U.S. This can be a trouble for people ordering in small volumes and residing in the outskirts. 

Here’s a table-wide comparison of the above brands on varied metrics based on their Indian Meal Kitofferings.

Here’s a table wide comparison of the above brands on varied metrics based on their Indian Meal Kitofferings. 

Meal Kit Store	Starting Price	Shipping	Meal Kits / Ready to Eat
Quicklly	$4.99	Free over $30	Ready to Eat
Indian Meal Kit	$6.50	$4	Ready to Eat
SpiceBokx	$8.99	Free	Meal Kit
Inner Flame	$6.99	Free	Ready to Eat
Buniyaa	$6.99	Free over $50	Ready to Eat