Another Bad Day At The Office? Here's How To Overcome Your Business Woes

via WooHooInc

Whoever said running a business was easy? Nobody, that’s who!

Yes, people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg seem to manage things effortlessly, but that’s only because they have worked hard to get to where they are today. Of course, they are still as susceptible to a bad day at the office as any of us. They are only human after all. We think!

Running a business isn’t easy, and some days will be better than others. Still, no matter how positive you feel when you walk through the door in the morning, there may be any number of disasters waiting to ruin your day. Or there may be none. You won’t know until you arrive at the office, though you may be able to preempt some of them. While we can’t predict every issue you will face at work; we have come up with some of the common woes faced by business owners today. Have a look and see if any of them apply to you. But don’t worry, we have provided some useful solutions to turn your day around if you do encounter any of them.​

---

You are a staff member down

Problem: You arrive at work and discover a message on your answering phone from one of your employees. They are feeling unwell, and won’t be in today. In fact, they don’t think they will be in for the rest of the week. You try and drum up a little bit of pity for their situation, but you know their illness is going to affect the rest of the working day.

Solution: First of all, ask yourself this important question. Is your staff member ill or are they just throwing a sickie? If they are regularly off work, there may be issues about your leadership you need to be aware of. Secondly, if they are genuinely ill (it does happen), there are ways to turn the week around. While you and your staff may have to work a little harder to get the work done, you could also hire from an HR company who can provide you staffing on a temporary basis. This is especially useful if your fallen employee’s tasks are specific only to them.

---

You delete an important file by mistake

Problem: You are spending the morning decluttering your computer, sending any unnecessary files straight into the recycle bin on your hard drive. Then your heart sinks. You have accidentally deleted something so important that your business will surely fold up and wither away if you don’t get it back immediately.

Solution: First of all, don’t panic. Most files are easily retrievable, even after being deleted. Go to the recycle bin and click ‘restore deleted files.’ If you still can’t find it, most computers save what is known as a ‘shadow copy’ at a restore point. Go to the folder that used to contain the file and click ‘restore previous versions.’ If you still have no joy, try a respectable computer and laptop repair service who will have expert personnel in this type of thing. For added security in the future, always remember to back up your files on an external hard drive or to the cloud to save you any further panic attacks.
​​

---

​Your financial position isn’t as good as you thought it was

Problem: It’s time to take stock of your financial situation, and you are alarmed to discover that you are failing to turn a profit.

​This wasn’t the case a month ago, so what could have changed?

---

​
Solution: This is dependant on how much of a loss you have incurred. All businesses face an upturn and downturn in finances, so there may be a simple reason as to why you this month’s takings aren’t as good as last month. It may be a seasonal issue, for example. However, it may also be down to bad accounting, and you may be spending more money than you should be. Perhaps your competitors have undercut your prices, so you are losing in sales. It may also be that your marketing skills need working on. There are many reasons, so take a moment to work out why and resolve to do something about it. Here are some finance basics that may help you bounce back to a better position.

---

You are faced with a barrage of abuse from an unhappy custome
​
Problem: You pick up the phone, and your eardrums nearly burst with the number of expletives being fired at you from a very unhappy customer. The product they ordered didn’t arrive on time, and when it did, it failed to do what it was supposed too.

Solution: Slam the phone down after telling her to take her business elsewhere. Done and dusted. Alternatively, remember the adage, ‘the customer is always right.’ Even if she isn’t, and the problem lies with her not reading your product description properly, you still need to be polite to the customer. After all, she may get onto Facebook and tell her legion of friends how awful your company is. This may also account for the downturn in losses we mentioned previously. Then again, she may be right, and you have failed to live up to your promises. Make every effort to make amends, such as apologise, and give her the opportunity to return the product for a replacement or a refund. You should already have a returns policy in place anyway. Learn from the mistakes you may have made and be thankful for the feedback, no matter how hard it was to listen to.

---

Final thoughts

They are only a few of the possible challenges you may face when you get to work each day. As difficult as they may be, remember that you can turn things around. Face them head on, deal with them accordingly, and resolve to make improvements at work to negate these events from happening again. It’s tough at the top, but if you can keep your head when everybody else is losing theirs, you will improve not only your day but the day of all others around you.