The Flocksy Blog

We have been working remotely for more than a year thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Recently, many employers are starting to reopen their offices. While there are some workers who are ecstatic about being able to leave their houses and go into work again, others are a bit more hesitant about the change and how their safety will be affected. One of the biggest questions for a lot of people is – how can I make the transition back into work as smooth I can?

Don’t worry. We want your transition into office to be as seamless as you do. Read our 6 tips below about how to make returning to the office as stress free as possible.

Think About What You Need

We are all more hyper aware of germs than we have ever been before. It’s easy to be diligent on your own, but when you go into a shared workspace, you have to consider keeping yourself safe even more. Think about what you need to feel comfortable in your office. Maybe bringing disinfectant spray or wipes, for example, will make you feel comfortable using communal spaces like restrooms. Perhaps you need to wipe down your desk and keyboard each night to feel safe and secure. Consider what feels right to you and secure the information and supplies you need as you think through your return to office plan.

Try To Socialize (If You Want)

If you have been craving face to face interactions with human beings and couldn’t wait to get back into office to get it, try to get back into the groove of in-person socializing.Start by making an effort to check in with your team throughout the day (from a safe distance if mandated by your job). You can also schedule in-person meetings or designate a time to have lunch. After interacting with your team through a screen for over a year, this might feel foreign at first, but soon you will see how those personal connections contribute to getting back to connecting with people and improving your overall mental health.

Know Your Boundaries And Stick To Them

Yes, you are back to work now, but that doesn’t mean that you do not need to speak up if you are uncomfortable about it or have questions. Feel free to get with your human resources department to see what support and resources are being made available to staff during this time. Trust yourself. If being in the office makes you uneasy, whether it’s a requirement about vaccinations or mask, or if you simply prefer to continue to work remotely, make your voice heard. It is important that you are comfortable at work to do your job efficiently.

Support Safety Protocols

If you have made the conscious decision to work in office, it is your professional duty to support your employer’s safety protocols. These protocols are set in place for the safety of yourself and everyone in office. This means that you should be prepared for mandatory mask, social distancing, and daily temperature checks.

It is also your right to offer feedback about protocol if you so choose. Get with Human resources and offer help or suggestions with the current policies. These recent changes are affecting everyone company-wide. Sharing suggestions, as well as empathy, will go a long way.

Get Support

This pandemic is something that we have never lived through before. Some of us have had to watch our family battle COVID-19, others have had to submit to the pandemic changing our social lives and living situations. So, it is okay to feel as if you need mental and emotional help getting through these changes as Covid-19 continues to alter our lives. Whether you’re feeling relieved or hesitant about your return to the workplace, it may be helpful to find a coach, therapist, or counselor to help you get your mind around this transition.

Take this opportunity to get the care that you need so that you can feel well-supported as you return to the office. You deserve mental health care that sustains every part of your life.

Be Realistic About Your Situation

When we go back into office, things aren’t likely to be quite the same as it was before the beginning of 2020.

While it feels good to be back in office, workplace interactions will be different because the World is different. So, prepare your mind for the constant changes that may happen now within your workplace as we navigate through the pandemic and the ever-changing orders from National Heath Organizations and the federal government.

Just breath, be safe and stay prepared

Let us introduce you to Whitney, a Project Manager here at Flocksy

In Her Own Words :

Hello Everyone!
My name is Whitney, and I’m a Project Manager here at Flocksy.
I reside in the western suburbs of Chicago with my 2 year old son, Luca, and our dog, Joplyn. Outside of work, we enjoy being outdoors, listening to music, having impromptu dance parties, and Trolls is on very frequently. I like to say that we live in a beautiful chaos and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Inside of work, I enjoy working with the clients and team members, to advocate, ensure excellent quality of work and customer service, and the efficiency of project completion. I have been with Flocksy since September 2020 and hope to be here long-term and develop great relationships moving forward with everyone. Feel free to reach out to me for anything or just to say hello!

We Asked Her A Few Questions

What is a typical day for you working at Flocksy?

• I like to setup a priority list for the day, to ensure that I’m as organized as possible. Most days are definitely busy, and entails reviewing projects, communicating with clients and team members, handling emails and chat, and trying my best to keep everyone happy!

What do you like best about working at Flocksy?

• Working at Flocksy certainly provides the sense of purpose in the given work, that I enjoy having every day. Whether that be helping small businesses or larger companies, I truly enjoying helping people reach those project milestones.

Tell us a great customer story

• I have developed wonderful relationships with the clients over time, and found a kinship with one in Sweden, who was previously from the Chicagoland area (where I am from) and it made for very nostalgic conversation. Really goes to show, that this is a small world, indeed.

Simply put, the backbone of a company is its customers. The lifespan of your business depends on how you value and communicate with your audience, so you can’t afford to turn off a customer with poor interpersonal skills. To prevent this from happening, it’s important to stay on top of responding to customer complaints, as well as understanding what it is that may be causing them annoyance.

Customer complaints can be stressful, time-consuming and simply irritating, but how you respond to these issues will help your business’ reputation greatly.

Below are 6 tips on how to effectively respond to customer complaints.

1. Don’t Get Too Crazy With Over-Automation

Adopting automation technology may be tempting because it frees up time, but it is not always the best answer for customer interaction. Each customer prefers different modes of communication such as phone numbers, live chats and emails so that they can reach out to you. When it comes to a customer having an issue, there are many who prefer the experience of talking to a live person instead of an automated robot that may not be equipped to handle varying degrees of issues.

2. Take Your Time With Each Customer

Get rid of the idea of having a “script” when customers call. Moreso, don’t assume that you know what your customers want when they call, and thus try to rush to give them a solution to get them off the phone. This type of service can irritate your customer and cause them to feel as if you aren’t listening to them. To avoid losing or aggravating your consumer, invest in “Effective Listening skills” courses for your customer service team, or have weekly meetings about how to improve their skills in this area. The goal is to make sure that your team is taking the time to listen to the customer, understand their specific problem, and offer a solution.

3. Have A Reliable Web Service Provider

If your website is constantly crashing or glitching, especially during a time where your business is offering an exclusive sale for a certain amount of hours, it can be a point of contention for your customers.

Although no online system is perfect, to be on the safe side, look for a reputable web service provider that offers fast page loading time and a reliable, round-the-clock uptime.

4. Never Leave Your Customers Hanging

With the assistance of technology, Everyone wants to have things as quickly as possible. For a business, having a fast turnaround time is a must in order to stay successful. Having a speedy response draws new customers to your business, leading to you gaining long-term customers. Whether it’s on Instagram or your website, respond promptly to your customers’ questions and feedback.

5. Value Your Customer Service Team

Your customer representatives are the first line of communication that your customers receive. They are the face of your business and the ones who interact with your consumers the most.

As the business owner, it is your job to make sure that your customer service team not only has top notch skills, but also are rewarded for their efforts and treated well within the company. Find ways to motivate them to go the extra mile to satisfy your customers. Have weekly team building exercises, have rewards in place when goals are met, pay them well and check in on their mental health. By taking care of your employees, you will also attract top talent to your organization if you build a reputation treating your employees well. Happy employees lead to happy customers.

6. Incorporate Changes From Customer Feedback

Let’s say that multiple customers have called in with a complaint about not receiving a shipping confirmation from your site and your customer service team has said that they will look into fixing these issues in the future. Well, now it’s time to follow through with your word. After all, if you complained about a mishap and were promised a change that doesn’t actually happen, wouldn’t you be a bit peeved? In this case, it would be wise to get with your IT team to make sure of any bugs with your online systems and if they are, get them fixed at once.

It is on you and your team is on you to listen carefully, draw connections between complaints, and determine which course of action is needed to correct the issue.

Work can be a struggle for even the happiest, most outgoing people. The stress and demands of the workday can wear many down and make life more difficult and complicated than it needs to be. If you struggle to get motivated at work and generally feel worse there than you do anywhere else, there are a few things you can do to improve your mood and productivity. Here are seven habits you can form to make you happier at work.

Move Around

Stress is sneaky and can affect you in unforeseen ways. One element of stress is the way it can “pile up,” making you more and more stressed as you sit at your desk, clicking through your workday. To help mitigate stress and avoid feeling anxious at work, you should take frequent breaks.

Moving around helps pump blood through your system and is healthy way to activate your brain and muscles, which keeps stress at bay and keeps your body feeling healthier and happier. Whenever you start to feel stressed or worn down, simply move around the office or take a quick walk outside.

Block Out Response Times

One of the most focus-destroying tasks is responding to e-mails, especially those which are non-essential. You can help yourself focus more readily by blocking out time to respond to such e-mails, improving your concentration and giving you a more robust and concentrated workday.

Cutting out time to scroll through e-mails and respond to those which are important but not urgent will give you a natural little break throughout the day while letting you get important work done. Blocking out time will also give you incentive to finish other work first so that you can check your e-mail and respond to inquiries.

Curate a Playlist

While not every work environment is suited to listening to music while you work, popping in your headphones and listening to some of your favorite songs will go a long way in improving your mood and making you more productive.

While your comprehension may wane while listening to music, your general endurance and ability to focus on one task for a longer period will improve. If you work in an environment where listening to music is not frowned upon or out of the norm, consider making a “focusing playlist” and listening to it while at work.

Eat And Drink Regularly

Other undervalued tasks at work are eating and drinking. Eating and drinking give you the needed energy and nutrients to focus on the task at hand and work out your problems in a timely and controlled manner. Eating will also stave off hunger before lunch, which is guaranteed to put you in a better mood throughout the day and help you focus.

Hunger pangs can often distract workers and keep their mind on other things (like lunch) but eating and drinking throughout the day will mitigate these and allow you to concentrate. It’s never healthy to ignore your hunger at work, as this can actually lead to stress and panic attacks more readily.

Exercise Before Work

Many workers enjoy a nice cup of coffee, or multiple cups, before they arrive at work. While there’s nothing wrong with a cup of joe a few times a week, caffeine dependence can have negative effects on your body.

Instead of drinking a cup of coffee everyday before heading into work, you should consider stopping by the gym to exercise or simply taking a walk or jog around your neighborhood. Exercise will get your endorphins running and make you more alert and awake before you go into work, and it will also have multiple positive health outcomes on your body.

Always Clarify

One of the easiest ways to improve your life at work is clarify any task you’re given. Your managers and coworkers may mean well, but misunderstandings can still arise that complicate your workflow and make you less productive.

To avoid the stress of such misunderstandings, you should always double check instructions and never assume anything you haven’t already been told. Being upfront with your colleagues and bosses may seem a tad rude at first, but it will ultimately pay off down the road when you know exactly what you’re doing and how to do it.

Delegate Whenever Possible

Not every employee is in a position to delegate tasks that mean less to them or that they’re simply not suited for, but if you’re in a role which allows you to delegate, you should take full advantage of that position. Workers today are incredibly specialized, and odds are there’s someone at your workplace who can do the job assigned to you in a quicker and more efficient manner.

You should find multiple colleagues who are great at other tasks and, at the very least, ask for their help or input on objectives you don’t fully understand, or you’re not perfectly suited for. Asking for help is free and will greatly help you with the task at hand.

The research is clear: one of the most important aspects to a successful career is building healthy relationships. This is especially true when that relationship is between you and your boss. When you’re not on their good side, it can be difficult to get ahead in your company and secure promotions. But what does impressing your boss actually entail? How do I know if I have a good relationship with my manager? Well, read on! Below are seven proven ways to set yourself up for workplace success.

Challenge Yourself

The most successful people in the world are those who take risks and challenge themselves to do things they never thought possible. Stretching yourself to go above and beyond what is expected of you will make an excellent impression on your boss. When faced with a stack of work, those who are able to complete it in three days instead of seven come across as the most committed employees.

Be Consistent

It cannot be stressed enough how important it is for an employee or a manager to consistently deliver on expectations; if you only occasionally meet your obligations, that will not go unnoticed. The difference between someone who always sees their commitments through and one who does so inconsistently is impossible to ignore, so be sure to show consistency on the job. When you’re constantly delivering the best results with no excuses, your hard work will be noticed by those around you. When this happens it can motivate and inspire others to get on board too.

Carry Yourself With Confidence

No matter what, you should always make sure that you are on top of your game. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by what your coworkers are doing or what the managers have said. When you arrive at work each day, take a moment to take in your surroundings. Think about how you look and feel in your clothes, and make sure you are 100% presentable. Also, try to think positively and don’t focus on what you don’t have. Making an active effort to push negative thoughts out of your head will allow you to stay focused on the tasks at hand and gain greater respect from those around you.

Take Initiative

Initiative is a strong indicator of success. Those who are creative and take initiative tend to be more successful in life. When you finish an assignment, do you wait to be told what will happen next? Or are you the type of person that looks for a new task or problem and fixes it before anyone else can see it themselves? Those who take initiative are constantly looking around their environment – they know where everything is in case something needs tending too.

Solve Problems

There are a thousand things in every organization that need fixing, but the average person won’t make an attempt and then complain about how this job is dumb. Achieving greatness means getting up to fix something when you’re not 100% satisfied with it. If you figure out a difficult problem to fix in your company then people will always remember you for it.

Set The Bar High

A fantastic employee not only performs well and encourages others to do the same, but often does this by their example when no one is looking- an admirable trait that any leader would want in a team member or themselves! They also bring enthusiasm with them every day which can lighten up even the most difficult days at work. A great measure for how successful someone has been at achieving this is if they are able to encourage other people around them while doing the work too. Going out of your way and setting an excellent example just makes things better all around.

Love What You Do

Working with someone who loves what they do and is always enthusiastic can be very exciting. Working alongside a person who does not enjoy their job, but tries to find the good in it anyways because of office politics can feel crushing after awhile. It may be easy to say that you would never let someone like this get the best of you, but it’s an unspeakable truth that we often cannot control who we work with. Maybe it’s time to be your own best advocate and let your employer know what you would like to get done, what you want to learn, and what you would like to change. If you’re not happy with your job then find a position that would do you better.

Your boss might lead many different teams within the organization, which means she needs her employees’ support more than anything: make sure that when faced with tough decisions or difficult situations, you are supporting your boss rather than undermining her authority. You can build a great future for yourself by setting a positive example and demonstrating your value to the company.

Crowdfunding platforms have grown in popularity ever since their rise in 2009. In fact, crowdfunding projects in North America alone generate an average of around $17.2 billion per year! The crowdfunding market is also forecasted to maintain a 16% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) per year, which means, if you plan on running a crowdfunding campaign, you’ll be a droplet in an ocean full of goals and timelines.

So, with so many campaigns already out there, how will you be able to set your campaign apart? Or maybe the better question is: how should you run your campaign for it to come out successful? Listed below are a few helpful techniques and strategies to help you push your crowdfunding campaign to greater heights.

Research, Research, Research!

As with any worthwhile endeavor, some added knowledge and research are bound to brighten your perspective. If you’re done researching for the product or service you’ll be pitching, you’ll have to do more for the actual campaign strategy you’re going to use. This means stepping back and taking a look at the bigger picture. The following are a couple of important points to research on before taking any step forward:

• Identify your target audience. You can’t appeal to everyone, so it’s best to focus on your chosen demographic. Research what they might like or dislike. Relying on hard facts and data is key; it’s best not to assume traits or preferences. Learn their language and use it to write good copy. Set rewards that will cater to them.

• Look into your options for crowdfunding platforms and weigh the pros and cons of using each one. There might be some more suited to your niche than others, so make sure you widen your options. The platform you choose will be what manages your tracking and your goals, so make sure it is aligned with how you imagine your campaign should be presented to the public.

• Research about other campaigns. Which ones failed? Which ones succeeded? What are the factors that set these groups apart? Once you’ve connected the dots, you’ll gain more insight on what elements you can add to your approach.

Build A Community Before Launch

Even before actually launching your campaign, you can already build interest and grow a community that is sure to support you once you’ve cemented your next few steps. Owning a blog or having an account with a huge following on social media are usually huge pluses when it comes to forming interest prelaunch, but if you’re going to start from scratch, using channels such as questionnaires, surveys, newsletters, and even teaser splash pages will be enough to gain a following.

Market On Social Media

The wider your reach, the better. On social media, everything can spread like wildfire. It’s all about using the proper content, timing, and a lot of hard work. Frequent and consistent posting and engagement is key, after all. Utilize hashtags to your advantage, and invest in using ads. Make sure you use what you learned during your research phase, for example, taking into account hashtags your target demographic uses, or which social media platforms they are abundant in, and which clusters, groups, or organizations they surround themselves with. If you can, partner up with influencers who can speak to your target audience about your campaign.

Make Use Of Multimedia

Videos are a great medium for communication, as they are more efficient to digest than blocks of text and pictures. This is why your videos, especially your main explainer video, should be eye-catching while being concise. The thumbnail and the first 20 seconds of your video are all it takes to create that first impression, so make sure these already give a gist of what your campaign has to offer. Take note that you don’t have to personally edit and shoot all your videos. Hiring professionals who can do this for you will be well worth it.

Host Events And Giveaways Every So Often

Most of the time, during the middle of a campaign, a slump occurs. To get the community back on track with support, you can host virtual events, complete with freebies and giveaways! This will get people talking about your campaign again, and will end up giving you that needed boost.

Share Your Personal Story

Sharing the story behind why you choose to push through with this campaign will be a huge factor when it comes to gaining people’s trust. Introduce yourself and your plans, and show people how passionate you are about the project. Tell them your budget, your game plan, the whys behind your decisions. All these little details will help build their perception of you and your campaign, and when expressed in a way backed by earlier research, can be compelling enough to help nudge them onboard.

Communicate Openly

Sharing your story is only half the battle. Once your campaign has launched, your backers and supporters will expect you to give updates every now and then, especially after the funds have been raised. Transparency is key to build trust, especially in the world of crowdfunding.

Listen To Feedback

Listening to feedback, whether it’s before launch or during launch, is essential. Your target audience is directly giving you information on what they need, after all, the least you could do is hear them out. Some of their ideas have the potential to make your product or service better… or worse. Talk to your backers, create healthy discussions. Give them that yes or no, and the reasons why. Make a poll if you are torn on deciding certain aspects.

Follow Through On Promises

Finally, you should follow through on any promises made during the course of the fundraiser. Not only does this build more trust with your community, this gives you more credibility. This will be very useful if you set out to push through with more endeavors.

Well first, what is a digital nomad?

A digital nomad is a person who works online while traveling the world. 

While Most people probably think that digital nomads are individuals who work on their laptop while sipping a martini on a beach resort, that’s not exactly the complete truth. 

The simple concept of a digital nomad revolves around creating the perfect work-life balance. 

The nomadic lifestyle can add more adventure, fun and excitement than the average person can probably find at a traditional office job. Digital nomads have the freedom to explore new countries, experience new cultures, and meet various people around the world.  The “work part” of the nomadic lifestyle involves working remotely, or online, to make enough income that will allow the ability to continue experiencing the excitement of exploration and adventure in the countries you choose to visit.

Many people are looking around, searching for the perfect answer on how to travel the world as a digital nomad and how to do it well. If you have the right tools and the right frame of mind, you can make traveling and working coexist with each other in the way that you’ve always dreamed.

Scroll down and check out this blog post about 6 tips on how to travel the world as a digital nomad hopping from one place to another.

1. Begin With Short Vacations.

Start with  a trial run. If you can, take a one or two week vacation from your job. During this vacation, you should be travelling to a new place. Unlike a standard vacation where you relax, though, this vacation will require you to do some work. Get started on writing for your new freelance project, or try creating a new product for your small business. 

Keep in mind that when practicing with a shorter vacation, the focus should be on being productive rather than vacationing. The test runs are meant to help you understand if you’ll have the motivation to work as a digital nomad. A digital nomad is a part-time traveller and part-time worker.

2. Have Your Finances And Documents In Order.

Perhaps the biggest tip before you become a digital nomad is to make sure that you already have money saved and that you already have an active income, atleast . Active Income is where you trade time for money such as freelance writing. 

.If you are traveling aboard, you never know which money issues you can run into. Whether that is credit card issues or differing laws about taxes for running a business in each country that you visit. In this case, you will want to already have insurance for your business, and yourself, if you are working abroad, or at least be well versed in whatever documentation that you  need in order to pay any potential legal fees.

Make sure you also have limited debt and a steady income  before you start working on your own and traveling. It will make your new life as a digital nomad easier.  

4. Live Out Of A Suitcase For A While.

Since they are always on the go, most digital nomads practice a life of minimalism. It can be expensive to bring every single possession that you own around the world. Practice living out of a suitcase while at home. Put all of your everyday essentials that you need in the suitcase and, for at least a couple weeks, only use the things in the suitcase. Can you do it? Did you cheat and add something else? Did you miss anything? Many digital nomads feel exhausted living out of a suitcase. Over time, they begin to miss certain products that they had before they left. Or, you may feel too “constricted” with this minimal lifestyle. Make sure you re-evaluate this choice to see if you can handle it. 

5. Join Local Groups.

Digital nomads can often be lonely. To build a sense of community, sign up for digital nomad Facebook groups, meetups and coworking spaces. You can also join digital nomad groups in your area to learn more about the nomadic lifestyle from digital nomads in your community.

 6. Create A Set Schedule.

You may think that the nomadic lifestyle means that you get to wake up and do whatever you please with no schedule, but doing this can actually get a bit chaotic (even for nomads). Are you a morning person or a night owl? How do you want to balance your work and travels? 

Some digital nomads work for two weeks and then take two weeks off. Other digital nomads work daily for a couple hours each day. Some treat it like a 9 to 5 job, making sure to take evenings and weekends off.  You need to find the schedule that works best for you and your daily lifestyle. Remember, it is half travel and half work. The work never goes away.