4 Common Small Business Problems and Solutions

The world of business is constantly on the verge of change. This is something that anyone who is involved in a business at some level knows within their heart. To build a business which will stand the test of time, you need to know what the common challenges facing businesses are, as well as having a keen idea of how you might go about fixing those issues. In this article, we aim to help in that endeavour. We will look at some of the major, most common problems that arise in businesses of all kids today, and discuss how you might go about fixing them in an easy and fast manner. Let’s take a look.

Wrong Employees

Sometimes, it becomes clear that you have not hired the best employee for the job. In a manner of speaking, this is just something that has to happen. Hiring employees is very often one of those things which rely heavily on trial and error. If you never hire an inappropriate member of staff, you can never really figure out exactly what it is that you are looking for. So you might decide that this is not a problem at all, but a stepping stone towards hiring better and better people. Letting someone go is always tough, however, and it is recommended to allow someone the opportunity to prove themselves first, so that you can replace them with less of a shock if they should fail.

How Can Data Mining Help Small Businesses Gain Competitive Advantage

Seeing how the customer is always right, a business that already knows what their client is thinking will leave both parties feeling happy and satisfied. A great modern day tool that lends itself to understanding the customer better is called data mining. Data mining has been around for a while, and its use has brought great outcomes to customers and business owners alike. Today’s data collection is affordable and reliable, and it’s something that could be done internally as well as with help of professional external companies, and the information gained can be successfully used and combined with the company’s knowledge management system solutions.

Thanks to technology, the world keeps evolving faster than ever before. Not only are these advancements improving individual day-to-day lives, but are also providing businesses and companies with tools which, in this particular case, improve their understanding of the consumers trends (needs and wants), as well as of the things they’d like to see in the future. Thanks to the introduction of data mining, the gathered information gives business owners a positive review of what is – according to the consumers – going well, and what should be changed.

Is Your Business Prepared for DDoS Attack?

Distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) used to be something only talked about in cybersecurity and hacker circles, but in the past few months DDoS has found its way into the popular lexicon following high-profile attacks last year. After all, it’s hard to ignore DDoS when you can’t access your Spotify playlist or Twitter feed.

For a little background, DDoS attacks take advantage of malware-infected computers (often corrupted through spam emails, clickbait and phony web downloads) and recruit these devices as part of a botnet. This network of ‘slave’ or ‘zombie’ devices obey the command of a remote hacker to flood a website or service with fraudulent traffic requests until the service crashes.

Attacks of this kind are a favorite of cybercriminals and hacktivists because they do not require infiltration into a company’s network. Instead they are launched externally and are extremely visible to anyone visiting the site (making it perfect for cyber protests).

What’s surprising is that according to a recent survey, nearly one-fifth of companies have no DDoS protection whatsoever; and almost 40 percent are unclear on how to protect themselves from DDoS attacks!

Brick Pointing NYC

Brick pointing is the method of applying a small amount of mortar into the face joint between bricks. These bricks can either be newly laid ones or old brickwork. In new brickwork, pointing is done to apply harder mortar to increase weather protection on the exposed faces. In old brickwork, the method is used to repair the mortar joints that have been eroded by exposure to various elements.

For laying new and old brickwork, there are several techniques that need to be followed in order to do the task properly.

On new brickwork, brick pointing should be done at convenient intervals. Breaks at convenient points must be held to allow enough time for cleaning out the surface mortar of the section. The mortar in the joints should be scraped to a depth of about 12 mm from the brick surface. A wall can only be pointed when it has been completed.

In terms of old brickwork, the important brick pointing NYC techniques include chipping out the old mortar and pointing it to a right depth. The standard depth is 12 mm from the brick surface. In removing the old mortar, angle grinders are often used. Take note that the process will cause a lot of dust, so you better wear face mask and goggles as you do the job.

Once the wall is ready to be pointed, the brick pointing NYC techniques for the mortar follows. Make sure that the joints are wetted first before being filled with the pointing mortar.

Make a fairly stiff mix of the mortar and put a small amount on a hawk. In cutting off slithers of mortar, a small pointing trowel can be used. Hold the mortar up on the edge of the trowel and press it into the joints to be filled. Then, carefully draw the blade backwards. Repeat the steps until the mortar is flushed with the face of the bricks.

Do the brick pointing NYC techniques by filling the vertical cross-joints first, followed by the horizontal bed-joints. When more than a square meter has been filled, finish it using the required style.