Michael Pretorius is the owner of CT Floors, a rapidly expanding specialist industrial and commercial flooring company focused on seamless concrete protection systems. Michael is as passionate about delivering value as he is about finding solutions to complex challenges for his industry-leading clients. He is the consummate Entrepreneur with a constant eye on expansion and a gift for extracting the best from employees by empowering them through creating the opportunity for self-improvement.

The casualties in the workforce of many businesses is one of the saddest thing about the whole COVID-19 disaster. We hope this useful advice on how you, as employers, can assist your employees through applying for the Government assistance known as The Temporary Employee/Employer Relief Scheme (TERS), will help. This relief is offered to employers facing distresses and unable to pay salaries and according to Arlene Legate, president of the SAPA, it is actually the responsibility of such companies to make use of it. She also assures us that, despite initial setbacks, payments are being made.

Since COVID-19 has sent us all scurrying into our homes and learning to do more business online, we have been trying to assist you with knowledge about the many ways that Virtual Assistants (V.As) can help you to streamline your online business. For those of you who have only recently learnt to do more business online, remember that the best way you can make it work for you is to involve online services that are familiar with the territory. The virtual world is a somewhat different place in which to do business, but not a daunting one if you have virtual assistance. Once you engage a Virtual Assistant, two main things you can do to really make that partnership work for you is to learn to delegate and not to underestimate how specialised they can be.

Outsourcing is nothing new, but at this time when we are still in the grip of COVID-19, the outsourcing of qualified people well versed in the virtual business world now makes more sense than ever. Virtual Assistants are exactly such people and the many ways that they can help you to streamline your business are quite significant. V-Assist are experts at this and hence we have devised this series of articles which we hope you will find useful.

Lockdown doesn’t need to be ‘shut down’ your business at all. At this time when virtual is better than venturing out, become more aware of, and start utilising online tools to build your business’ and your own skills. Instead of just giving up you could be giving yourself and your business a huge boost through e-learning and these are some options:

Our enforced lockdown, due to COVID-19 has come as a huge blow to many businesses, some of which will at this stage even consider just throwing in the towel. To these businesses we can only say this is something that will, like every other challenge, eventually pass. As dark as these times may be for many, there is always light at the end of the tunnel and the question you need to be asking yourself right now is “where will my business be when we get to the other side?” No matter what your business, during this time you can build your online strategies and here are the 4 cornerstones of doing so:

It is now official, kids can no longer go to school – at least for a time, and along with international travel bans and restrictions on public gatherings, we are facing the harsh reality that COVID-19 has placed on us. In many ways we are lucky as we have had the examples set by the rest of the world on how to curb the spread of the virus.

Etiquette for virtual meetings Virtual meetings have become an essential part of how businesses run. They’re an easy and cost-effective way to align multiple offices, keep remote employees engaged, work with clients and vendors, and basically get stuff done. While virtual meetings are likely part of your daily work routine, it’s easy to fall victim to some major meeting faux pas. That’s right if you have an online meeting from home, and your webcam displays your unmade bed with your Star Wars sheets, that’s a problem. To help you keep your meetings productive and professional follow these seven simple etiquette rules and tips:

We have written many articles for Small to Medium business regarding pitfalls that could have been avoided with just a little knowledge and astute advice. This article is about something that has directly led to the demise of so many businesses who found out the hard way that accepting late payment could cripple your business! Let’s look at the potential negative effects of your clients paying you late…

A virtual assistant will help you save time to do the things that are most important to you.