For any employee of a small business, acknowledgement for a job well done goes an extended way while paying returns that endure in both touchable and intangible ways. Feeling a personal sense of achievement and belonging fosters job satisfaction, increased productivity, and loyalty – traits and assets that are precious to any small business.

But employers frequently misunderstand the character of employee bonuses or lack a keen understanding of which types of rewards and incentives are most effective and appreciated. Here are some tips for making employee bonuses that will keep on giving – both to employees as well as to employers – for the overall benefit of the company:

Cash rewards like year-end bonuses are valuable and significant. However they are also a bit predictable and anticipated, just as your cab driver or restaurant server expects a reasonable tip for services offered. Those kinds of “gifts” are at times already built into the economic equation. If so, they must not be viewed as special acknowledgement for work above and beyond the call of duty.

To really make an employee feel truly valued and appreciated, acknowledge the work they do and identify them in a personal, demonstrative way that makes them feel recognized and significant. Perhaps you can do it best with cash, however couple the cash gift with a creative and personal thank-you to guarantee success.

Venture capitalist Bryan Korba offers an insiders perspective on how to get your green business funded. Working as the managing partner of Y Street Ventures, an investment management company, she shares to us some tips that you have to consider before making your business public.

Accordingly, she identified five types of investment capital in a business – self funding, friends and family, angel investing, venture and traditional lenders. Although the seed stage might just be an idea, it is the one that possesses the greatest risk to the investor. Most investors fall on the early and late stage as it is the stage that gives them the most returns.

So let us identify five tips to get your start-up business taken seriously:

1. Greater focus on building a company and standardizing operating systems
2. Focus on hiring good people that would give you some customers and revenues
3. Constantly assess the risk and issues the company is facing
4. Communicate open-mindedly the strength and weaknesses
5. Research everything from buyers’ and investors’ perspective an all

The most important among the tips for a start-up to get funded is obviously the focus on building a company. Do not think so much about overnight success, as it would lead you astray to the things that you are supposed to do short term. Focus on creating customer adoption, revenues, and sales. A business that generated a net lost for the first month is not going to be losing forever… you could be earning months after your first month’s operation.

To get things done, an entrepreneur just simply has to roll up his sleeves work with his people and focus on the core values of the business. A business owner should spend a lot of time in making sure each of its aspects are working and functioning well. You need to show to your potential investors that you have the right attitude!