Opening your company: 5 tips before doing it

/in /by

Currently, opening your own company can seem easy if you have enough money, have a well-structured idea of what you want to do and are willing to be your own boss, being able to control most of your working life.

Even counting on the above, it is likely that, being a first-time entrepreneur, you will fall into some mistakes when wanting to create your company. Get advice from competent professionals, and share your initiative with them. They will enrich your point of view and help you make key decisions at an early stage.

We offer you 5 useful tips to consider before opening your own company.

  1. Develop your business idea. It is important, before opening a business, to have a clear idea of what you want your company to be about. If you already have it, it is the perfect opportunity to develop the products or services that you as a company want to sell or offer, defining its purpose, the customers you want to capture and the benefits you expect to obtain a Business Plan.
  2. Structure your time. Once you have a clear idea of ​​your business, make a calendar. Set a timeline. It will help you organize the time you will devote to achieving the different milestones you set as your goal. Use the tools we offer in our Entrepreneurship Tools section.
  3. Financial strategy and operations plan. Have a financial forecast that includes income, costs, expenses, cash flow and income statement. In addition, establish your funding sources and any additional capital requirements. It is also necessary, if your business meets certain requirements, that you describe the operational processes of your company, from the acquisition of raw materials to the delivery of the final product. If you have specific location, logistics or infrastructure needs, think about it and keep it in mind.
  4. Do you need human resources? One of the advantages of being your own manager is being able to choose the right people to work with you during this process. They can be occasional collaborations or salaried persons. The cost differs between the two options, but also their time availability. If you need to hire your own staff, you will need the services of a consulting firm such as Lladó Grup Consultor.
  5. Start your business safely. Identify potential risks that could affect your business and develop strategies to mitigate them. This may include financial, legal, operational or market-related risks.

From Espai 114 we support you when starting your company by offering you entrepreneurial tools, business domicile and professional activities, financial solutions, consultancy, coworking space…

We are the Business Center of Badalona, to give visibility and possibilities to your business. At Espai 114 together we form a team; we want to inspire you and accompany you.

STORYTELLING FOR ENTREPRENEURS

/in /by

Storytelling is used in entrepreneurship as a tool that will help you capture the attention of your clients, communicate with them and make your projects successful.

Capturing the attention of your current and potential customers is important to generate income and give a good brand image. For this reason, storytelling will be the perfect tool to achieve all these objectives.

Storytelling is the art of narrating a story with the ability to transmit certain feelings to the user of that narrative.

Regardless, from the messages transmitted, users should feel identified or attracted by these feelings. It must have a positive impact and ensure that the message last in the minds of consumers in a memorable way.

This concept can be applied both to tell the story of your company and those of your products or services.

Storytelling

To carry out a storytelling correctly, we must take into account a series of foundations to build a well-told story.

First, we must establish the topic or message you want to transmit and decide through which emotions we want to do it. It is these emotions that will connect with the receivers of the story. Next, this story that you want to narrate must be structured according to the message. What is the objective, the theme, how it will start, how it will end, etc. Finally, the main characters or elements that will give life to the story or that will be in charge of its narration must be defined. (Here you will find an example of Storytelling).

Storytelling

Once these foundations are established, it’s time to start scripting the story and doing a market study. In this way we will be aware of our current situation, what our competition is like, if you have ever used storytelling in your company, what things we can improve, which ones we cannot, etc.

If you don’t know how to connect with your audience or how to explain who you are, your company, products or services, using storytelling is a great solution.

We are Badalona’s Business Center, to give visibility and possibilities to your business. In Espai 114 together we form a team; we want to inspire you and accompany you.

 

Tell your story!

 

The festivities of Badalona: The “Cremada del Dimoni” (The Devil’s Burn)

/in /by

During the month of May, the festivities of Badalona give light to the city with the “Cremada del Dimoni” (The Devil’s Burn) and Different activities to awaken the feeling of belonging of all Badaloneses and fill the city with joy. This is the most symbolic and representative act of these festivities and takes place on May 10 on the night of San Anastasio.

This tradition began in 1940 when Badalona invented a new festival to eradicate the social depression caused by the war. Within this period, the origin of the devil arises from the burn of a figure by fishermen on the beach of Badalona. It is at this time, where on May 11 of that same year, the figure of a demon is burned in honor of the city, giving meaning to this day during the following years.

The tradition makes that every year a different design of the devil is made, chosen through a popular contest called “CREMA’L TU” (Burn It Yourself), where all inhabitants over 16 years old can present themselves with their designs, and from which the winner will be chosen.

All this is possible since for Badalona the participation of its inhabitants in the May festivities is indispensable. People give life to the parties and this feeling is revived with the sale of all their products and the different shows for the inhabitants of the city.

These shows range from the most important, which would be the Devil’s Burn, accompanied by fireworks and music, to activities such as concerts by well-known artists, correfocs, stops with figures, dance and poetry shows, performances for children, etc.

As every year, the devil represents a specific social issue. For this 2023, the theme of the devil’s design has been low emission zones. Where the figure of the devil has different burned cars around it, representing those who do not comply with the rules of the ZBE (Low Emission Zone).

We are the Business Center of Badalona, to give visibility and possibilities to your business. In Espai 114 together we are a team; we want to inspire you and accompany you.

 

Let’s burn it!

How to take advantage of technology for remote work

/in /by

In recent years we have all taken a step towards remote work. For this reason we must make sure that this type of work gives us the same or better results than working in the office.

To do this, we need to create a distraction-free environment and choose the best remote work tools. Wherever you are, these tools will help you increase your potential and work performance.

Zoom

One of the most popular video conferencing platforms. With Zoom we can communicate with audio, HD quality video and share our screen with other people.

 

 

 

Teamviewer

This tool is a connectivity platform, to access, control, manage, monitor and repair devices remotely, from computers or mobile phones to industrial machines and robots.

 

 

Canva

With this tool, you can build your brand from scratch or improve it without investing resources in graphic services. In a matter of minutes you can create logos, brochures, presentations, advertisements or banners. It is very easy to use and has many plugins, templates and a large library of royalty free images that you can use in your designs.

 

 

Asana

This platform allows you to create and organize your projects and commercial jobs. Each project has a leader who can delegate individual jobs to team members. In addition, the whole team can add notes, comments and documents directly to the project.

 

Signaturit

This app offers a unique digital signature and certification service. It makes it much easier to track what team leaders sign. With this tool you can sign contracts, process new members, make payments, etc.

 

Google G-Suite

It is a set of applications provided by Google to help better organize your business. Includes email, Hangouts, calendar, documents, and a drive.

We hope that all these tools will help you in your day-to-day life, and that in this way you will develop remote work in an easier and faster way.

We are Badalona’s Business Center, to give visibility and possibilities to your business. In Espai 114 together we are a team; we want to inspire and accompany you.

 

Collaborative business: the keys to the collaborative economy

/in /by

Building an innovative, sustainable and lucrative company is not an easy job. But if we partner with other professionals, this can change! This is how the collaborative business model emerges, giving rise to organizations with divergent and convergent synergies that change the rules of the game.

 

But what is a collaborative business? It is one that offers services through collaborative platforms, creating an open market for the purchase of products or services normally offered by individuals. This method involves three agents: service providers, users and intermediaries. These participants connect through the platform and facilitate transactions between them.

From this idea we can extract the main characteristics of a collaborative business:

  • Exchanges of products or services.
  • Use of individuals’ resources.
  • Possession or temporary access of products or services, usually for a fee.
  • Better use and exploitation of little-used goods.
  • A digital platform that puts different parties in contact to link supply and demand.
  • The goods borrowed can be products, services, resources, knowledge, experience or time.
  • Distrust of traditional institutions or certain market sectors.
  • Environmental concern focused on the use of resources and the reduction of production.
  • Displacement of the company as a central figure to put people in their place.
  • Renewal of traditional offerings by providing new or complementary services.

What are the benefits of setting up a collaborative business?

 

The first of all is that the company profits from the creation of a platform that largely supports the labor of third parties, this business model encourages the possibilities of entrepreneurship.

 

The second benefit is that the person who practices as a service provider benefits from the emergence of new business models. You can also manage your workload and work schedule and even take a second job to complement the first.

 

The third benefit is that the consumer has direct communication with the service provider and access to a greater supply of goods at a more attractive price, as well as the option of using a good without owning it.

And finally, another benefit is the business ideas that have emerged based on this idea favor sustainability, the use of resources and the amortization of products by extending their useful life, so the collaborative economy is also based on the conservation of the environment.

 

Did you know that two great examples of collaborative business are Aribnb and BlaBlaCar?

 

We are the Business Center of Badalona, to give visibility and possibilities to your business. In Espai 114 together we are a team; we want to inspire you and accompany you.

What is democratic leadership?

/in /by

Would you like to work in a team where everyone is heard and valued? This is what democratic leadership is all about, which we will explain below.

It is a modern and effective management style, in which leaders work in collaboration with their team to reach common goals.

It is a working method where the management style actively involves all team members, either to make a decision or to reach common goals. This method of working is ideal because it ensures that all opinions are considered and that all team members feel heard. This causes an increase in involvement with the company and also very high levels of proactivity.

 

 

Below we explain what their characteristics are.

  • Maintain healthy communication with all group members.
  • Great adaptation to changes. This flexibility allows them to respond more positively to both changes and challenges.
  • Promotion of a good working environment and good collaboration between the team.
  • Delegation of responsibilities. This is one of the most important, since by doing this the chances of the entire workload falling on a single person is minimal.

 

 

Finally, we explain some of the advantages of applying this leadership method:

  • We work to create a safe environment so that everyone can give their ideas.
  • All members of the group play an active role in decision-making and the achievement of goals.
  • Everyone will experience a greater sense of permanence.
  • An efficient team with a better ability to take advantage of opportunities is achieved.
  • Long-term workers show higher job satisfaction.
  • The team gains autonomy and they feel confident in their actions and decisions.

Now that you know democratic leadership and all its characteristics and advantages, are you encouraged to apply it?

We are Badalona’s Business Center, to give visibility and possibilities to your business. In Espai 114 together we are a team; we want to inspire and accompany you.

 

5 successful tips

/in /by

Here are a few tips to increase success when starting.

The first of all is not to get carried away by emotions. It is essential to touch your feet on the floor. That is why building a good business plan will help increase probabilities of success.

The second advice is to see mistakes as learning. In the face of obstacles, we must take control of the situation, without letting us control us. It is normal to feel shot down in the face of a slut, but this does not have to condition our performance or attitude.

 

 

Another important advice is to study the cases of other successful entrepreneurs. The beginnings are not easy. There are many successful businessmen who failed in their business origins and have been able to overcome this situation. Failure is a great opportunity to start better, more strongly and with valuable knowledge.

The fourth council is to be clear about the value that our product or service brings. Explore and correctly communicate what it offers to improve consumer life, it will work better than simply communicate the characteristics of the product or service.

 

Finally, but no less relevant, constant training must be maintained. What worked yesterday, tomorrow can be obsolete. We will need new knowledge and additional experiences to continue to progress.

These are just a few tips to increase the chances of success of a new company. We hope you are helping if you are starting the way to take.

We are Badalona’s Business Center, to give visibility and possibilities to your business. In Espai 114 together we are a team; we want to inspire and accompany you.

Mistakes entrepreneurs make

/in /by

Starting a business is an adventure, and like all adventures, it involves certain risks. Some of these are avoidable, but others can be mistakes that throw your effort overboard.

In this blog we will talk about the most common mistakes that tend to be made, whether due to lack of experience, ignorance of the business environment or bad business decisions.

Starting a business often involves many more steps and obligations than we could have imagined before we started.

The first time we start we will encounter obstacles to overcome and it is common to make mistakes. The recommendation is not to despair or let fear take hold of us. Find out as much as you can before starting your project, ask friends or acquaintances who have already created a company for advice. Leaning on professionals will be of great help and will prevent you from many headaches.

 

undertake

 

A common mistake is ignorance of the market where we want to enter This is a very determining factor in the success or failure of your business. Jumping into an unknown market without analyzing the competition and customers is very dangerous and could kill our plans in a few months.

 

undertake

 

The next mistake that entrepreneurs make is the poor choice of partners. The fact of choosing wrongly who accompanies us in our project can end in absolute failure and even you having to give up your company.

It must be taken into account that knowing a person in a certain environment is not a guarantee that the relationship as partners will be successful. A great friend or trusted family member can be a bad professional, and vice versa.

 

undertake

 

Another mistake is not giving importance to our team. The safest way to choose your employees is to define the professional profile you want for each position in the company.

By investing a little more time and care in the selection process, you will avoid potential problems or inconveniences.

It is also a mistake when starting a business to leave aside the legal aspects and the procedures. Every company is subject to a large number of laws and regulations that regulate its operation. Knowing all these obligations is practically impossible for a single person. If the company does not have everything in order, it is exposed to fines and sanctions.

Again, we recommend leaving it in the hands of professionals who will help and guide you throughout the process.

 

undertake

 

The last mistake that entrepreneurs make is to bear very high fixed costs. The workforce, services, premises leases are some of the fixed costs we will have. Accounts must be made so that they do not exceed the income.

A good way to reduce the cost of location is, for example, to work in a coworking space. You’ll save while having access to everything you need.

Now that you know what the most common mistakes are when starting a business, are you ready to create your project?

We are the Badalona’s Business Center, to give visibility and possibilities to your business.

In Espai 114 together we are a team; we want to inspire and accompany you.

5 apps to organize your schedule

/in /by

Having good organization within your work environment is very important. That’s why we show you different tools that will make you more productive in your coworker routine.

There are several applications that can help you organize your daily work with the aim of reaching your goals. Below we detail the five most useful and simple applications:

 

 

  • Evernote

 

It’s a tool that can help you capture and organize your ideas. Its main purpose is the organization of personal information through the filing of notes.

All notes, photos, documents, audio files and web pages saved in Evernote will automatically sync with the other devices the user uses. Other functions of this application are: the integration of a personal calendar through e-mail, a scanner of information, documents and business cards or direct annotations through PDF.

 

 

 

  • Do It Tomorrow

 

It is one of the simplest tools to note pending jobs and organize them by days, topics and priorities. Basically, it’s a digital diary that mimics the physical appearance of a paper diary.

The best thing about this app is that it is free and ad-free, simple and minimalistic. It has customization and widget options. You can find it available for iOS and Android and has an extension capability with Google Chrome.

 

 

 

  • Todoist

 

It is a multi-platform job and project management. It helps record pending activities and responsibilities that a work team or individual user must attend to within a specific time limit or order of priority.

It’s a good way to follow the process of your professional projects, make lists, collaborate with other jobs and keep track of the responsibilities of your workers or colleagues. One of the most productive functions is the possibility of integration with other basic work tools.

 

 

 

  • Trello

 

It allows you to manage teams of any type of project, as well as supervise jobs. You can include files, checklists or even automations. It is a very complete and powerful tool, but very easy to use.

The main benefits of Trello are avoiding communication breakdowns, as all tasks are clearly specified in the main entry, saving time and optimizing work quality, facilitating remote work, automation of work and, finally, it has compatibility with various platforms.

 

 

 

  • Google Calendar

 

It is perhaps the best known. An electronic agenda and calendar developed by Google that allows you to sync with your Gmail contacts to share different events with them.

One of the features that this application offers are different views, both weekly and monthly or daily.

After going through all these organization apps, we hope you find them useful for your day-to-day work. We are the Badalona’s Business Center, to give visibility and possibilities to your business. In Espai 114 together we form a team; we want to inspire you and accompany you.

Digital Nomad, what is it and how does it work?

/in /by

Digital media and current technology are increasingly providing us with more facilities to reconcile personal life with work. Thanks to the new ways of understanding work, we have given way to the figure of the digital nomad.

If you are not yet familiar with the term digital nomad, you may be interested in this post.

A digital nomad is, basically, that person who only requires the internet to work, whether as a freelancer or as an employee in a company. This fact makes it possible for him to carry out his work while traveling or moving to different places.

 

 

A digital nomad only needs a good internet connection to be able to do his work around the world. This figure decides to break with the routine of going to the office every day and works enjoying time and geographical flexibility.

More and more people decide to join this trend by becoming digital mixers. Following this trend you can achieve the same success as working from a physical company.

In our Espai114 Business Center we have digital nomads hosted continuously. Will you be next?

Being a digital nomad can provide you with great advantages:

  1. Travel and see amazing places without the need to ask for holidays from work.
  2. Enjoy flexible hours, since you organize yourself to be able to deliver or do your work on time.
  3. Increase productivity.
  4. Enjoying this lifestyle will make you more creative.

 

 

How to be a digital nomad?

It is true that not all companies are open to implementing this trend. But, if you want to start this adventure, you just need to have a few things clear:

First of all, this concept is a way of life. If you like to travel and change location every so often, this is the best option to reconcile both aspects.

In addition, you will not need many resources, just a laptop or tablet and a good internet connection.

You will also have to adapt your travel habits. This way of living does not give you the freedom to be out all day, but you will have to organize yourself to be able to combine it with work.

And, finally, you will have to be very organized to dedicate the necessary time to planning your work, setting goals and deadlines.

 

 

If everything we have explained fits you and your work, and you really value becoming a digital nomad, at Espai 114 we give you the possibility to domicile your company at our Business Center in Badalona.

We are the Badalona’s Business Center, to give visibility and possibilities to your business. In Espai 114 together we are a team; we want to inspire and accompany you.