What Is Your Business Missing And How Can You Fix That?

Julie Starr • June 5, 2024

When you own a business, there are so many things that you need to think about, and it’s hard to manage. We know this, we understand this, but that doesn’t change facts and facts are that you’ve got to find a way to get it done. One of the most important things that you are going to have to do as a business owner is try to figure out what your business is missing, and then ensure that you get exactly what you need. 


This might not seem like a crucial job, but we assure you that it’s one of the most important that you’ve got. How are you supposed to provide for your customers if you don’t have the necessary things to do this? You can’t. So, in this article, we’re going to be talking about some of the things you might be missing, and what you can do to get this sorted. Let’s go!


Dedicated Employees

First up on the list we’re going to be talking about dedicated employees. Do you have any idea how important it is to have people on your side who want you to succeed? Who wants you to do well and are willing to do whatever it takes to help you get there? It’s going to be one of the most valuable things that you can have as a business, so it’s worth putting the money in to find it. 


The interview process to work for your company doesn’t have to be easy. We know that some people find difficult or testing job interviews too much effort, but these are not the types of people that you want to work for your business anyway. Instead, you want those who are willing to push through because they want this job, as this is showing you the level of dedication that you are looking for.


Strong Marketing

It’s also a good idea to take a look at your marketing as a whole and see what can be done to improve this. If your business is struggling then your marketing may well have something to do with this, and you might need to start stepping up your game a little. There are companies on the market right now who still think that marketing is pointless and a waste of time, but these are the people who are going to fall behind. We are aware that there are some exceptions that prove the rule here, but you are unlikely to be one of them, and that’s why marketing is something you’re going to have to look at. 


Look at your overall marketing strategy, look at your individual marketing plans, look at analytics and decide what is working as well as what isn’t, as well as more. There are so many sources of information that you can look at, and it’s worth looking at them thoroughly to determine how to move forward. 


Social Media Strategy

Next up on the list, we need to look at your social media strategy. Normally we would put this with the marketing section, but it’s so important that we feel it needs its own section. The reason for this is because social media is one of a business's best friends, and if you are missing out here then you are going to be bringing your whole business down. We’re sure that you don’t live under a rock and have social media yourself, so why does your business not have a strong social media presence?


You need to be posting regular content including photos and videos, not just long text posts. You need to be utilizing all of the tools at your disposal, ensuring that you are making the most of what is on offer. If you’re struggling with this because it’s such a big job, then hire someone who will be responsible for this going forward. This way, you know it’s taken care of, and it gets sorted out properly.


The Right Equipment

Onto equipment! If you do not have the right equipment in your business, how are you supposed to provide for those counting on you for a product or service? You’re not going to be able to, or at least you’re not going to be able to very fast, and this is going to cause you to lose customers. So, you need to put the effort in and get what you need, right?


Make a list of things that you think you need to purchase in order to offer a better service to your customers, and go from there. For example, you might need equipment for your factory or warehouse such as a baghouse, or you might need something a little more specific to the process. Whatever you need, it needs to be purchased asap so that your business has the best chance.


Reliable Outsourcing Partners

Now let’s look into a little secret that could revolutionize your business operations: finding top-notch outsourcing partners. It’s about more than just offloading tasks; it’s about building relationships with teams who get the job done right. Consider, for instance, how you choose paper shredding companies. You’d want a partner who’s not just reliable and secure but truly gets what your business stands for. 


With the right collaborators, you can streamline your processes, cut down on costs, and free up your energy to focus on growth and innovation. This kind of support is invaluable, helping you tackle more with less stress. Wouldn’t it be great to have that level of trust and efficiency across all areas of your business?


The Right Logistics Company

A logistics company plays an important role in making sure your products arrive on time at customers' homes from warehouse to delivery point. When choosing one as your partner, it is important to carefully consider their reputation, network coverage and reliability before making your choice. Your business demands a logistics company who can efficiently meet its delivery needs. Check their track record in terms of timely deliveries, how they approach challenges like inclement weather, and customer service response times before selecting one. Utilizing technology is key. Be sure they provide up-to-date tracking systems so there is complete transparency at each stage of shipping process. By choosing the appropriate logistics provider, you can improve customer satisfaction by fulfilling orders efficiently and accurately, strengthening your brand's image in the process. Partner wisely for maximum reach while meeting clientele demands.


A New And Exciting Product Or Service

The final thing that we’re going to say is that if you don’t have a new and exciting product or service for people to look at every now and then, your business becomes boring. While reliability is good, you also need to try and retain that wow factor that you had in the beginning. If you take certain stores for example, sometimes they sell mostly the same things, but every now and then they get new stock that they haven’t had before, and that gets people excited. It’s the same principle, and you need to apply it to your business when the time is right.


Hopefully, you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that your business might be missing, as well as what you can do about this. At the end of the day, the only person that can really fix what’s going on is you as the business owner, so you’ve got to do whatever you can to make this happen. Take your time, when it comes to improving your business you just need to get it right, not get it done fast.

How Student-Led ‘Energy Audits’ Are Cutting School Costs (and Lighting the Way Forward)

By Julie Starr • July 14, 2025
What happens when students stop waiting for adults to fix things and start conducting their own energy audits? Money gets saved. The lights get switched off. Data gets analyzed. And a quiet revolution in sustainability begins—inside schools that once overlooked their own inefficiencies. Across the globe, student-led energy audits are proving that change doesn't always need to come from a policy shift or a major capital budget. Sometimes, it begins with a clipboard, a spreadsheet, and a group of curious minds asking: Why are the hallway lights on at noon when sunlight floods the building? The Energy Detectives These audits aren’t science fair projects. They’re rigorous investigations, often done in collaboration with facilities staff, local environmental nonprofits, or even engineering mentors. Students go from classroom to classroom measuring electricity usage, checking for phantom loads , and identifying where heat is escaping in winter or air conditioning is leaking in summer. One high school in Ontario saved over $12,000 a year after its Grade 11 physics students ran an energy audit and suggested simple changes—LED upgrades, motion sensors in bathrooms, and smarter heating schedules. They didn’t just propose ideas. They pitched them with spreadsheets, thermal images, and payback timelines. It worked. Learning That Pays Off—Literally Unlike textbook learning, these audits blend real-world math, environmental science, economics, and persuasive communication. Students aren’t just learning about sustainability. They’re doing it. And the savings add up. From dimming overlit hallways to reprogramming HVAC systems that run all weekend for empty buildings, students are surfacing blind spots that administrators often overlook. In some districts, their findings are influencing energy policy. Elsewhere, the audits have inspired school boards to hire sustainability coordinators—often alumni of the student programs themselves. There’s something poetic about a school funding new books or laptops from money saved by students who found out the vending machines didn’t need to be plugged in 24/7. Why This Matters More Than Ever With education budgets tightening and utility costs rising, every dollar saved is a dollar that can go back into classrooms. And here’s where it gets interesting from a family finance perspective, too. If you’re a parent setting aside money for post-secondary savings, every bit of school efficiency helps. Fewer energy costs might mean more programming, better STEM facilities, or even bursaries. That raises a broader point: when families save for their children’s future, they often look into RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans). And many wonder—is a RESP deduction available on my taxes? While contributions themselves aren’t deductible, the gains grow tax-free, and students often pay little to no tax when they withdraw the funds during school. A Movement Worth Replicating These audits aren’t just an exercise in environmentalism. They’re leadership labs. Students learn how to spot inefficiencies, speak up in board meetings, and make a business case for change. They don’t just flip switches—they shift mindsets. And they carry these habits into adulthood. The result? A generation growing up not only with climate anxiety, but also with tools to tackle it.

Smart Sensors, Smarter Supply Chains: Enhancing Traceability in Food & Beverage

By Julie Starr • June 20, 2025
In today’s competitive food and beverage (F&B) landscape, traceability is no longer a compliance checkbox—it’s a differentiator. The ability to track every step of a product’s journey, from origin to shelf, is vital for regulatory accuracy and to ensure brand integrity, supply chain agility, and consumer trust. Add smart sensors to the mix: the quiet, tireless observers revolutionizing supply chain intelligence. Traceability Has a Data Problem Despite digitization across many F&B operations, most traceability systems still rely on fragmented or manual data inputs. Batch numbers, barcodes, and handwritten logs often stand between a supplier and clarity when things go wrong. This approach struggles with latency and scale. When contamination or delays occur, root cause analysis is slow, costly, and damaging. Smart sensors shift this paradigm by embedding real-time, contextual intelligence into every stage of the supply chain . Whether monitoring humidity in transit or recording fill-level precision in bottling plants, they remove the guesswork by turning physical conditions into structured, time-stamped data. From Passive Monitoring to Active Optimization Sensors used to be reactive tools, alerting operators to anomalies. But smart sensors now play a proactive role in process control. They measure, and they interpret. For example, temperature sensors embedded in cold chain logistics can dynamically adjust cooling systems or flag threshold breaches before spoilage occurs. These advancements reduce waste and loss at a systemic level. In a production facility, smart sensors integrated with PLCs can enforce recipe compliance, verify clean-in-place processes, and detect micro-stoppages in real-time. This enables operations to pivot faster and isolate inefficiencies before they cascade downstream. Trust is Built on Transparency Consumers are paying more attention to what they eat and drink. They’re looking beyond labels, expecting visibility into how ingredients are sourced, processed, and handled. Smart sensors make this level of transparency achievable —without burdening manufacturers with excessive manual oversight. By capturing metadata throughout production and distribution, these sensors create a digital footprint that’s tamper-resistant and instantly accessible. When this data is integrated with a central platform, brands can respond confidently to audits, recalls, and quality assurance challenges with a level of precision that would be impossible through legacy systems. Intelligence Without Infrastructure Overhaul One common misconception is that adding smart sensors requires a top-down reinvention of supply chain infrastructure. In reality, companies can deploy edge sensors in a modular, scalable way. Many modern solutions offer plug-and-play functionality, allowing for fast integration with existing machinery and MES systems. This is where suppliers like alps-machine.com are reshaping expectations. Rather than pushing proprietary ecosystems, they design sensor-ready equipment with interoperability in mind. This future-proofs investment and keeps businesses nimble in the face of regulatory or market shifts. Designing for Data Longevity Sensors are only as powerful as the context they capture. A smart implementation ensures the data collected can be standardized, stored securely, and accessed meaningfully across departments. This means moving beyond local dashboards toward centralized, queryable datasets that inform everything from supplier contracts to marketing claims. As AI and predictive analytics become more accessible, these data-rich environments will unlock new capabilities—such as predicting demand spikes based on real-time freshness indicators or adjusting production schedules dynamically based on in-transit sensor feedback. Final Thoughts: Smarter Isn’t Optional Traceability isn’t solved by more paperwork—it’s solved by embedded intelligence. Smart sensors don’t just help businesses know what happened; they help prevent the wrong things from happening at all. For companies in the food and beverage sector, adopting smart sensors is less about chasing innovation and more about enabling resilience, speed, and confidence in every decision.