November 2024

The holiday season is here, and with it comes a long list of shopping needs for work, home, and holiday gatherings. Now’s the perfect time to grab a Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership for $65, and with it, you’ll receive a $45 Digital Costco Shop Card* to get started. Whether you’re looking to stock the office or prepare for family festivities, a Gold Star Membership has you covered for the holidays and beyond.

This isn’t just any membership. With access to more than 500 Costco warehouses nationwide, Costco’s Gold Star Membership provides access to high-quality grocery and household items, plus a full range of seasonal holiday decor and specialty baked goods. And with the $45 Digital Costco Shop Card*, you have a head start on your shopping list.

Planning a festive office party? You’ll find plenty of holiday-ready items like treats, snack platters, and beautifully crafted seasonal decor. Whether for business or home, you’ll find terrific value on quality products.

As a Costco Gold Star Member, your benefits extend beyond the warehouse. Enjoy member-only fuel savings that are easy on the budget with the Costco Gas Station, which is ideal for business leaders who need to keep transportation costs down. Plus, you’ll have access to the Costco Tire Center and pharmacy, which can help simplify both business and personal tasks.

You can also shop on the Costco website or app, giving you the flexibility to order on the go. This is especially helpful during the busy holiday season when time is at a premium. And with options for delivery and pickup, it’s easy to stock up without interrupting your day.

Don’t miss a Costco 1-year Gold Star Membership with a $45 Digital Costco Shop Card* for $65 through December 22.

Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership + $45 Digital Costco Shop Card* – $65

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*Services are provided to Costco members by third parties.

*To receive a Digital Costco Shop Card, you must provide a valid email address at the time of sign-up. If you elect not to provide a valid email address, a Digital Costco Shop Card will not be emailed. Valid only for nonmembers for their first year of membership. Limit one per household. Nontransferable and may not be combined with any other promotion. New members will receive their Digital Costco Shop Card by email within 2 weeks of sign-up. Costco Shop Cards are not redeemable for cash, except as required by law. Digital Costco Shop Cards are not accepted at Gas Stations, Car Washes, or Food Court Kiosks. A Costco membership is $65 a year. An Executive Membership is an additional $65 upgrade fee a year. Each membership includes one free Household Card. May be subject to sales tax. Costco accepts all Visa cards, as well as cash, checks, debit/ATM cards, EBT and Costco Shop Cards. Departments and product selection may vary.

My grandparents came to the U.S. with a dream and a deep sense of purpose. It’s to support the family and secure a better future for their children. As a tech entrepreneur, I share the same dream. I want to create something meaningful not just for my customers and investors, but also for my family and the broader community through the Fud app.

Research shows that a variety of firsthand experiences, such as making tough decisions, tackling challenges head-on and taking responsibility for the outcomes, builds a founder’s resilience. I had my share of these experiences early on during the years I spent working in our family’s restaurant, which greatly influenced how I now manage Fud. And for that, I am forever grateful.

Coming from generations of chefs who captured the taste of home for many immigrants, my family opened a series of authentic Chinese restaurants in Georgia and Southern California in the 1970s. And like many children in family businesses, I grew up working in our restaurant. I filled in whenever help was needed, especially when we were short on staff or overwhelmed with customers.

Now that I’m building my own business, I’ve come to realize that growing up in a family-owned restaurant gave me a unique perspective on entrepreneurship which has contributed in shaping me into the entrepreneur I am today. Here are some of the experiences that taught me valuable lessons in running a business.

Related: As a First-Gen Immigrant Founder, My Business Is More Than Just Income — It’s a Legacy For My Kids. Here’s How I Balance Work and Family.

Taking responsibility for my mistakes

When I was a teenager, I helped deliver food to customers. One time, my cousin and I accidentally tilted the bags causing the sauce to leak out of the containers. Instead of taking it back to the restaurant and fixing it, we delivered it as-is. As expected, the customer complained about the messy delivery and we had to redo the entire order.

This experience taught me that hiding and avoiding problems would only make things worse. Had we been more accountable for our actions, we could’ve avoided upsetting the customer and damaging the reputation of the restaurant.

As an entrepreneur, I know that mistakes are inevitable. It’s important to confront problems directly and take responsibility for your actions. Instead of dwelling on the failure, I try to focus on the learnings and steps I can take to prevent the same mistake from happening again.

Experience is my best teacher

People learn best by doing. During my stint as a cashier in my elementary school years, I got used to doing real-world math and became good at handling money. The hands-on experience also boosted my confidence in interacting with customers, teaching me how to communicate well to ensure they had a positive experience at the restaurant.

Spending time at the restaurant has shown me the bigger picture, how the whole team works together to deliver quality service, handle customer complaints and still have some fun. Even with my BA and MBA, I can say that I learned the most from my experience working in our family’s restaurant.

Related: I Learned Everything Important About Succeeding as an Entrepreneur Washing Dishes for My First Boss

Appreciating the work

Working as a host and waiter instilled in me a deep respect for the hard work and dedication of our staff. They have to endure long hours on their feet, work in a fast-paced environment and perform thankless tasks. It’s truly a demanding and underappreciated job.

Delivering an entertaining and delightful experience is not an easy task. Beyond greeting guests with a smile and ensuring their orders are accurate and timely, it takes empathy to anticipate and respond to customer needs, strong interpersonal skills to foster genuine relationships and a commitment to make every interaction memorable.

This appreciation for every craft and form of craftsmanship comes naturally to me and has become a core value within the Fud community. I believe that every craft, side hustle, venture or any effort someone makes to provide for themselves and pursue their goals should be valued and celebrated.

Embracing the competition

I learned from my family that competition in the restaurant industry can be a good thing. In fact, having our restaurant located alongside other successful establishments created valuable synergies for all. It’s not a zero-sum game. The success of neighboring restaurants attracts large crowds and enhances the area’s overall reputation, which everyone benefits from.

Knowing that diners could easily choose another place to eat kept us on our toes, pushing us to innovate in our restaurant. We are always looking for ways to improve our customer service, diversify food options and nurture relationships with our patrons.

I have carried this mindset until now. As an entrepreneur, I learn a lot from the competition and it drives me to bring more to the table and be creative. I would rather share a larger pie with several competitors than be the most successful business in a small market.

Related: Business Doesn’t Need to be Cutthroat — Embrace This Mindset and Watch Your Business Thrive

Building the business without the owner

My family introduced me to the concept of “building a clock” in business. The idea is to build a thriving and sustainable restaurant that can run without depending solely on the owners. For this to work, there should be standard processes, systems and structures in place for the employees to follow and rely on when making decisions.

Another key element to building a sustainable business is fostering long-term relationships with customers. As a Chinese restaurant, our unique differentiation lies in serving authentic food that brings people and families together, keeping traditions alive. Our regulars aren’t just customers, we treat them as part of our family.

By focusing on forming strong bonds within the community rather than pursuing short-term gains, both the business and customers benefit in the long run. As a founder, my goal is to work on the business and not just in the business. I believe in making genuine connections and engaging a community that supports your business.

Many companies face a challenge when it comes to presenting complex data. Information in text form can quickly overwhelm people or lead to misinterpretations, but data shown in graphs and diagrams is more likely to be accurate and easier to understand, according to research by The Washington Post.

This shift toward visual data is why diagramming software has become essential, and Microsoft Visio stands out as a top choice for creating precise and customizable visuals, and it’s only $17.97 for a lifetime license. Skip to checkout while this sale price lasts.

What can Visio do?

Visio is the ultimate tool for transforming data into clear, professional diagrams that not only communicate information effectively but also make it engaging. With a library of over 250,000 shapes and dozens of templates, it offers a wealth of options for various projects, from flowcharts and organizational charts to complex network diagrams. For example, teams looking to visualize their structure can use Visio’s org chart templates, which automatically generate charts from sources like Excel, Exchange, or Microsoft Entra ID.

On top of being a powerful tool for diagramming, Visio is designed to make collaborating on visuals intuitive and flexible. With touch-enabled device compatibility, users can naturally sketch and annotate their diagrams with a finger or stylus. This hands-on feature is ideal for brainstorming sessions, where teams can map out ideas quickly without needing to start from scratch.

Visio Pro also supports industry-standard diagramming notations like BPMN 2.0, IEEE, and UML 2.5, which are crucial for professionals in engineering, IT, and business operations who need their visuals to align with widely recognized frameworks. And if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, you can integrate SharePoint and OneDrive with Visio.

You don’t need to be a designer to make data appealing.

If you’re ready to invest, you can check out now while Visio is still $17.97.

Sale ends November 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional: Lifetime License for Windows – $17.97

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Maybe you have a techie on your shopping list who could use an upgrade. Or maybe you need a low-cost, reliable laptop to take on the road. No matter who it’s for, you’ll pay a lot less than you normally would for an Apple machine.

For a limited time and with limited quantities, you can get your hands on a grade-A refurbished Apple MacBook Air 13.3″ for just $249.97 (typically $999). This means it should arrive in near-mint condition with only the possibility of light cosmetic blemishes.

Enjoy a crisp 13.3″ widescreen display with a 1440×900 resolution, perfect for presentations, video calls, or streaming on the go. And with a 1.8GHz Intel Core i5 processor, you’ll experience smooth performance for multitasking, browsing, and running essential applications.

Weighing in at under three pounds, this MacBook Air is designed to slip into any carry-on, backpack, or tote for easy travel. Plus, it boasts up to 12 hours of battery life, making it a perfect choice for long flights, busy workdays, or keeping up with productivity away from the desk.

This model comes equipped with 128GB SSD storage—enough to keep important files, presentations, and media in one place. The Intel HD Graphics 6000 ensures smooth graphics for video calls, streaming, and more. And you can stay connected no matter where you are with Wi-Fi capabilities, while Bluetooth support lets you transfer files seamlessly from other devices.

This low price makes the refurbished MacBook Air 13.3″ an outstanding gift for anyone who values quality tech, whether a student, frequent traveler, or team member in need of a reliable laptop.

Or, if you’re simply looking for a work-ready device that fits in any bag, this lightweight MacBook Air could be your perfect travel partner.

Get a grade-A refurbished Apple MacBook Air 13.3″ for just $249.97 (typically $999) while it’s still available.

Apple MacBook Air 13.3″ (2017) 1.8GHz i5 8GB RAM 128GB SSD Silver (Refurbished) – $249.97

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When I coach water polo, one of the first things I tell my team is, “Success doesn’t always end in a goal.” Players forget their fundamentals — not to mention teamwork and good sportsmanship — when all they think about is scoring. In the long run, this actually makes the whole team less effective. I want them to focus on the process instead of fixating on the end result.

The result doesn’t actually change my central responsibility as a coach. Win or lose, my job is still the same: to facilitate an open and honest analysis of what happened, including what went well and what didn’t. Winning a few games doesn’t mean the team is finished growing.

I take the same view when I mentor employees at FutureFund, my SaaS company that provides a free fundraising platform for K-12 schools. In either case, I’m pushing people towards developing expertise in their field — showing them how to find the wins and identify areas for improvement no matter what outcomes they achieve.

But expertise isn’t something that can just be given to you — it’s something you earn, which requires the ability to self-reflect. So, as a coach or business mentor, I don’t provide answers. Instead, I lead people toward finding answers for themselves.

That means my greatest tool as a mentor is the ability to ask questions. Here are the ones I find most effective.

Related: Be a Coach, Not a Referee — How to be a Good Mentor and Manager from a Coaching Perspective

“How do you think that went?”

This is one of the first questions I ask when I’m coaching or mentoring someone new. It shows me what a person is able to observe on their own.

Once I know what someone can see for themselves, I better understand the skills and knowledge they’ll likely apply to other endeavors. Let’s say a water polo player scores their first goal in three games — if they can’t tell me what they started doing differently, I have no way of knowing whether or not it’s a fluke. But if they can identify the tactics that helped them score, I know I can count on them to use them again.

Here’s another example: when I ask an engineer how fixing a bug went, they might tell me they think it was successful because the bug got fixed. But when I ask them if they went back and looked for the same error in other code, they often say no.

Again, results don’t always indicate progress. If you want a better idea of your capabilities, ask people to tell you about the journey they went on to achieve those results.

“What would you do differently?”

Once people understand how to assess themselves, you can encourage them to make positive changes. After I ask someone to reflect on their past performance, I always ask them to think about what they would do differently the next time a similar situation arises.

A player might know they were sluggish during a game because they slept poorly the night before — but why weren’t they well rested? Did they drink alcohol or stay up too late? If so, would they do these things again before the next game? What do they think might happen if they avoided drinking and got a full eight hours of sleep instead?

A mentor guides people through answering questions like this and helps keep them honest. Just remember, you don’t want to sound like you’re scolding, which makes people afraid of judgment and shuts them down. Mentorship is not about dictating actions; it’s about encouraging people to take ownership of their growth. That means you need to build trust with people so they feel comfortable opening up to you.

Sometimes, it’s helpful if a person’s mentor isn’t their direct supervisor but someone who can ask questions from an impartial place instead — like an outside consultant. But when you’re mentoring one of your own employees, I’ve found the best way to get an honest answer to this question is to demonstrate some vulnerability yourself.

Try leading by example. Share a story about a similar learning experience you went through so that they feel like you’re relating to them and not putting them under the microscope when you ask questions.

Related: Stop Trying to Manage Employees Without Understanding Them — How to Build Relationships for Leadership Success

“How have you changed over time?”

Giving instant feedback after a game or project helps people grow by reflecting on experiences while they’re still fresh. But you also want them to be aware of long-term trends in their development — so I always like to ask questions that make people think about their performance over time.

If we’re playing baseball and I give instant feedback every time a batter is up, they’ll grow — but I should also take them aside at some point and ask them to reflect on their previous 10 at-bats. This helps them spot patterns or habits that go beyond their actions during a single game.

This is also great for helping people recognize the progress they’ve made after months or years of growth. Some changes take much longer than others — like breaking lifelong habits, attitudes or addictions. Over time, it’s easy to get discouraged and feel like incremental change isn’t enough anymore — but when someone asks you to look back at who you were when you started, you get a much different sense of how far you’ve come since then. And that can inspire you to keep moving forward.

Mentorship is like that too — ideally, you evolve alongside the people you coach or manage. Keep learning how to mentor the people in your life effectively by learning about the different stages of mentorship in the article below.

Related: The Importance of Mentors

As the holiday shopping season approaches, usually lasting from November 1 to December 31, the question arises: how can you make the most of this period? Its peak will hit during the so-called Cyber Five, or Cyber Week, which may generate 16.9% of all holiday season revenue.

Let’s look at strategies that will help you get through this busy time and maintain a steady stream of conversions in the future.

Related: Boost Your Ecommerce Sales — 8 Proven Strategies for the Holiday Season

1. Keep healthy margins while customers save

Instead of offering blanket discounts, a tiered discount system that increases based on cart value encourages bigger purchases. Offering various discount levels motivates customers to spend more to maximize their savings, which boosts the average order value (AOV).

For instance, offer 10% off a $50 order, 20% off $100, etc. By layering upsell opportunities on top, the sale of high-margin products reduces the effect on overall profits. For example, show clients complementary items to raise the total order value, like adding a phone case to a smartphone to reach $500 and unlock a 15% discount. This spreads the discount across products, balancing costs while customers enjoy the savings.

Another approach is to sell high-margin bundles with small discounts. Offer complementary or related items to the main product so that the customer reaches a specified order value to receive a discount. Customers perceive they are getting a deal, but higher-margin products help balance the cost. Last but not least, use your shoppers’ behavioral data to offer real-time incentives. For example, you can set up a personalized pop-up that appears after a user views several products, suggesting orders over $100 to receive a 20% off coupon for their next purchase. This keeps current margins reasonable while encouraging repeat purchases.

2. Incentivize with exclusive offers beyond early access

Offering early access to BFCM can drive sign-ups, grow your subscriber list and lower customer acquisition costs. Greater value from early access motivates a prospect to convert into a customer when the sale starts and maintains customer loyalty. You’ve got a win-win situation:

• Customers are more likely to get the items they want without encountering ‘sold out.’
• You will spread the traffic on your website.
• Your brand benefits from increased engagement, which can transform into loyalty.

Early access is a strong draw on its own, but you can further incentivize sign-ups with extra benefits. The average cart abandonment rate is 82%, with 62% of consumers citing high shipping costs as the main reason for this. The higher the order value, the less willing people are to pay for delivery: 19% won’t pay for a €15 order, 27% for €50, and 35% for €150. A strategically timed pop-up offering free shipping on orders over a specific threshold, shown when a shopper is about to exit, can be both cost-effective and highly enticing for customers.

Besides, offering early Black Friday access to your most active customers or loyalty members strengthens relationships with your highest lifetime value audience. The sense of exclusivity and urgency will encourage your consumers to take advantage of a ‘not for everyone’ offer as soon as possible. An example of this approach is the LEGO or Sephora Insiders programs.

Related: How to Attract Higher-Quality Customers

3. Gamified shopping: excite visitors and drive more conversions

Gamification adds interactivity and a sense of reward to the buying process, increasing engagement and encouraging visitors to spend more time on your site. Winning discounts, gathering loyalty program points, or participating in challenges enhance conversion rates, raise AOV and reduce cart abandonment.

Gamification is about adding game-like elements to the traditional buying process. A common example of ecommerce gamification is a pop-up wheel of fortune. Claspo data shows that the Spin the Wheel pop-up has a 41% higher conversion rate than countdown timer pop-ups. You can assign various incentives to the wheel sectors, such as discounts, free shipping, gifts or festive packaging. With an advanced reward management system, you can set winning probabilities for each incentive — for instance, 55% for a 10% discount, 30% for a gift, and 15% for free shipping — allowing you to manage your prize pool effectively within your budget.

This interactive element keeps shoppers engaged, while the uncertainty of the reward increases the excitement of their inner achievers. As an advanced tactic, behavioral data can be used to trigger pop-ups only when needed, when users are about to exit or leave the cart, motivating them to complete the purchase with a special discount.

Related: 7 Ways to Boost Customer Retention Through Email Gamification

4. Flash deals and countdown thrills: create FOMO

Black Friday is already a time-limited event, but you can trigger FOMO with flash sales. The highly limited time of such promotions creates a sense of urgency and scarcity among consumers, pushing them to make immediate purchasing decisions. This approach is effective for generating excitement around high-demand products and clearing seasonal inventory.

Flash sales trigger FOMO, which is a strong psychological motivator, and push browsers to make immediate purchase decisions. Timed promotions or hourly flash sales encourage consumers to check your site throughout the day to catch the latest deals. Also, you can introduce a mystery quick sale by keeping the assortment secret, which is particularly powerful during BF when shoppers expect limited-time or exclusive deals.

Before the sale, encourage visitors to leave their email to get notified first, and during the event, display a pop-up with a timer to notify them about the ongoing promotion and countdown to its end. Our clients have found that pop-ups with timers and appealing offers can increase conversion by 112%. As an advanced tactic, A/B testing can be used to identify the most effective times for flash sales based on customer engagement data.

5. Put user experience first

With 48% of consumers thoroughly researching products before purchasing and 62% of consumers saying they are more likely to buy a product after seeing them, accessibility of information is key. Enhance product pages with user-generated content like customer images or videos from reviews and social media. Notably, this type of content is often missing on many sites, so there is potential for growth and conversions.

Another way to enhance user experience is by using informing pop-ups, especially for new visitors. For instance, if your Black Friday deals are limited only to specific products, a pop-up or a sticky bar to inform users about the promotion ensures shoppers don’t miss out. One of our clients found that pop-ups promoting sale items increased cart additions by 15% and boosted sales by 19%.

Essential last-minute tactics

Small actions taken early can drive big results, and the impact will carry throughout the holiday season. Ideally, Black Friday preparations would have started in the summer, but there is still some time to get things moving. Data by Google shows that by December, shoppers complete less than half of their planned holiday purchases, meaning there are still opportunities to capture additional sales, even after BFCM. Capture first-time buyers with early bird access, retarget shoppers who showed interest but didn’t convert with gamification, and engage returning visitors with exclusive deals.

You might think you need to hire a team of developers for your budding business, but did you consider how expensive that might be if you’re a new entrepreneur? Instead of hiring programmers, it might be smarter to learn to code yourself—a McKinsey study found that tech-savvy entrepreneurs have a 33% higher chance of securing venture capital funding.

While you can teach yourself how to code, it’s helpful to have assistance from time to time, especially if you’re coding an app or website for your business. That’s where Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022 comes in. This Microsoft app is designed to help you code more efficiently and minimize errors. Check out now to get lifetime access for only $27.97 (reg. $499) until the end of today.

Microsoft Visual Studio Pro: Your coding assistant

It might seem daunting to code on your own, but you could prevent future coding typos since Visual Studio Pro offers features that could eliminate those problems. It colors and highlights variable names, making them easy to spot and correct before moving forward in your programming.

Running into issues with completing your blocks or lines of code? This software comes with IntelliCode, a tool that intelligently understands your code (variable names, functions, etc.) to offer suggestions when you’re stuck. If you like its option, you can click auto-complete or browse other next-best coding suggestions.

Ready to code like the pros do? Head directly to checkout to make Visual Studio Pro yours.

Entrepreneurs that have this app in their toolkit can also:

• Build, debug, and test your .NET and C++ apps in Linux without exiting Visual Studio.
• Code once and craft cross-platform mobile and desktop apps with .NET MAUI.
• Use Blazor to create highly responsive web pages and edit them in web designer view while they’re running with ASP.NET.

If your business does have a tech team, this tool can help entrepreneurs communicate with and manage them better. You’ll see exactly what your development team has coded, as the Live Share feature lets you track your team’s programming’s recent changes, authors, and commit history.

Check out now to grab Microsoft Visual Studio Pro for Windows, now just $27.97 through the end of today, November 21, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Act now while supplies last!

Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022 for Windows

Only $27.97 at Entrepreneur

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Want to apply for a job at the new Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy? The process is selective and the pay is nonexistent, but the big-picture payoff could make getting involved worth it.

President-elect Donald Trump created the new Department of Government Efficiency earlier this week and placed Musk and Ramaswamy in charge. The two are tasked with cutting government costs and excess regulations by July 4, 2026.

Related: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Says Bankers Are ‘Dancing in the Street’ Following Donald Trump’s Win

Though only days old, the department said in a post on X that it has received interest from thousands of people who want to help it achieve its objectives. The interest was noticeable enough that DOGE had to clarify what it was looking for from applicants, including that Musk and Ramaswamy would be reviewing top applicants themselves.

“We don’t need more part-time idea generators,” the department posted on X on Thursday. “We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting. If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”

We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE. We don’t need more part-time idea generators. We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting. If that’s…

— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) November 14, 2024

However, after Musk pointed out some hard truths about the open jobs, the massive interest in the roles may begin to wane.

“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lots of enemies & compensation is zero,” he wrote in a post on X.

Though it may seem surprising that the jobs within DOGE are unpaid, uncompensated work to get a foot in the door is common. Nearly half of U.S. interns (47%) were unpaid in 2022 and some federal internships are unpaid.

In another post, Musk highlighted an upside to working for DOGE: The benefit that DOGE employees would bring to the country.

“Even a brief stint in government by people with high competence and integrity would greatly help America,” Musk stated.

Related: 3 Major Reasons Why Donald Trump’s Second Term Will Benefit My Business and Increase Profits

DOGE has to help the Trump administration downsize government bureaucracy, remove unnecessary regulations, and cut wasteful government spending — all in less than two years.

Ramaswamy and Musk are planning weekly livestreams, called “Dogecasts,” to update the American people on DOGE’s progress.

The countdown to 2025 has started—are you prepared to leverage the most powerful AI trends of the year?

The AI trends that are set to reshape your business in 2025 are here—and most entrepreneurs aren’t even aware of them yet. From AI agents automating workflows to the evolution of search engines, these changes will redefine how you market, create content, and interact with your customers.

In this video, I’ll reveal the game-changing AI trends that will alter the landscape of business. Don’t get caught off guard—watch to discover how to stay ahead of the curve, protect your brand, and unlock new opportunities for growth.

Download the free ‘AI Success Kit’ (limited time only). And you’ll also get a free chapter from Ben’s brand new book, ‘The Wolf is at The Door – How to Survive and Thrive in an AI-Driven World.’

Maximizing productivity should always be a top priority for business owners, but trying too hard to micromanage every inch of your operations can actually do the opposite.

Systems within a business have to exist to ensure it functions smoothly — from having a daily structure to setting meeting agendas, establishing company values and setting hiring criteria — without them, enterprises can implode.

Time tracking is a prime example of a system employers use to improve staff productivity by increasing self-awareness, encouraging accountability, minimizing time wastage and maximizing profit.

The growing demand for time-tracking software, resulting from the rise of remote work, could put the market for this technology at an estimated value of $31.88 billion by 2028.

But it’s not all positive. While time tracking may seem like a smart business move, it certainly has its downsides if not used carefully.

Trust is everything

What separates good leaders from great leaders is their ability to offer guidance, resources and support to their team. At the same time, they need to allow employees the space to manage themselves.

A healthy working relationship between employer and employee relies heavily on having a strong sense of mutual trust and a relatively balanced power dynamic. Time tracking to monitor staff input and output can blur the lines if clear expectations aren’t set.

Asking staff to record every minute of their working day can leave employees feeling unnecessary pressure and as if they aren’t trusted to do their jobs. When employees don’t feel trusted, trust has the potential to be broken both ways.

Chaining people to their desks

Over the past few years, the importance of having a healthy work-life balance has been stressed more than ever. The fact is, people work better when they have time for things that don’t revolve entirely around work.

As a manager, being too nit-picky about the hours an employee logs in their time tracker each day can cause real problems.

Staff are humans, not machines — they need toilet breaks, coffee runs, time off for personal appointments and an early finish every now and then.

Time tracking often ignores these crucial elements of a working schedule. It can even cause employers to penalize staff for not spending a certain amount of “profitable” hours at their desks. The bottom line is this is completely unrealistic.

Related: The Importance of Striking the Right Work-Life Balance

Privacy concerns: Is it unethical?

Then, there are the big concerns around surveillance.

Not only can there be legal requirements for monitoring staff productivity, but the morality of following a person’s every move must also be questioned.

People come to work to do their jobs, make money to live and reap the rewards of their efforts during their downtime. What they don’t want is to feel like they are constantly being watched or waiting to be criticized for not working hard enough.

Excessive supervision can be a huge demotivator for employees. It can cause them to question what other activities are being monitored themselves, which can lead to serious conflict.

Related: It’s a Job Seeker’s Market — Here’s Why Employers Should Think Twice About Using Surveillance Technology

Tricking the system

When employers are too strict about how their staff uses time-tracking software, it leaves room for deception. This is even more true with the increase in people working from home.

If you are not sitting in the office and physically monitoring what employees are doing, there is no way to tell if they are actually doing the work. Your marketing manager could have their time tracker running on a client job while lounging on a beach in an entirely different country. You could be none the wiser.

This is where it comes back to the trust factor. If employees feel too constricted by the pressure to make every second of work count, they might be more inclined to cut corners.

Don’t overcomplicate success

There is a common misconception that tracking your employees’ every move will allow you to determine exactly how much value they add to your business.

However, the reality is that there is no way to 100% accurately measure a business’s success with this software. The key thing to remember here is that there is a distinct difference between productive and profitable.

Take staff meetings, for example. They might not generate income directly, but they are necessary to keep your team up to date, moving in the right direction and on the same page. Without “non-billable” activities like these, a business can’t function effectively. The same goes for client prospecting or networking – the success of these interactions is too complex for time-tracking software to measure.

Related: Defining Success: 4 Key Measurements That Go Beyond Revenue

Food for thought

While I am in no way suggesting business owners rule out time-tracking software completely, as you can see, there is a lot to consider.

If you choose to use these systems in your workplace, it’s paramount that you find a way to use them that doesn’t restrict your team’s ability to do their job — or backfire.

Transparency is everything. Let your staff know exactly how time tracking will be implemented and monitored from the start, and allow them to raise any concerns they may have. It’s also a must to regularly review what is and isn’t working.

And if you think time tracking isn’t the right fit for your business, there are plenty of other, more traditional ways to measure its success without it.