Explaining bits and bytes of startups and entrepreneurship.
Category: Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship: Get the latest news and updates on Entrepreneurship, along with relevant information and material on Entrepreneurship. Explaining bits and bytes of business, startups and entrepreneurship.
Check out these ten of the binge-worthy Netflix shows you must watch for the Entrepreneur in you.
With some free time in your hand, work from home and work for home may have gotten a little monotonous for all of you out there. What do we do then? Well, the answer is right at that red and black N icon on your phones and TVs, Netflix.
While there are several binge-worthy series that is a must-watch on Netflix, some of these are perfect to be watched for the Entrepreneur in you. So, whether you have a full-scale startup or are aspiring to become one, here are some shows which you definitely must watch in the next two weeks and even after that!
Workin’ Moms: While it may be difficult for normal people to multitask, the super amazing workin’ moms can whip up breakfast, speak at a conference for two hours, and drop her kids to school, all in the first few hours of the day, without even batting an eyelid. If you are a working mum or your spouse is one, you must not miss this outstanding series where a few friends manage nailing at being a mom and acing at work. You’ll realize, it isn’t a cakewalk.
Breaking Bad: No, no. We aren’t asking you to cook up meth in your kitchen, but only Walter White can teach you how to turn lemons into lemonade or we can say chemistry teaching into drug lordship. The loving father ends up becoming a warlord, who is in a nutshell fearless. While the start-up idea may not be the best to take from here, you must learn how you can overcome all hindrances and challenges once you really want to get something.
Suits: Wanna win in style? Let Harvey Specter, the legend, teach you how to ace every time and never lose. If you still need some more tips, there is Mike Ross, who teaches you that a high-end degree is not everything and you can still win all corporate wars with your wit and street smartness. You get a glimpse of the real corporate controversies.
The Office: What’s cooler than watching a show in the office, also called The Office. If you’re in for some comic fun and love a good laugh in a corporate set up, this is it for you. If nothing, you will at least learn what you shouldn’t be doing at the workplace.
Mad Men: The advertising agencies of the sixties were a time where if you did have a proper tagline, you could market anything at all. Without the whole internet scene in a play, Mad Men shows you how an ad agency life is from the inside and you need to be really smart to survive in such an environment.
Dirty Money: Right from cars that cheat emission tests to crippling payday loans, dirty money basically is a series that exposes the dirty side of corporate corruption as well as greed. There are a few scandals that you may have not even heard about.
Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates: Well, if you dream of becoming an entrepreneur, Bill Gates is someone you definitely need to look into. The show talks about the magnificent journey of Bill Gates into becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs and richest men alive. You will learn how Bill Gates has the never-ending drive to innovate.
Better Call Saul: if you’ve learned some tricks from Breaking Bad, it is time to switch to its prequel, Better Call Saul. The dark humor and the drug lord capabilities of Walter White will definitely take your breath away, again!!
Shark Tank: If you are ambitious and looking to become an entrepreneur, Shark Tank is definitely a must-watch. It is a show where several ambitious entrepreneurs come up with ideas which they fully believe will have some profits. They try to make a case to a panel of investors, who are in one word, ruthless.
Money Heist: The Spanish Heist Drama which gained a lot of recognition is a must-watch. While you should not get ideas of a heist from the series, you could get great inspiration from The Professor, who was the brainchild of the heist. You’ll also see how focus and dedication turn into confusion and bloodshed, once things start going out of hand. However, we would like to warn you that no one can watch just one.
Diving into some of the top tips and expert startup advice to help you make it through troubling times. How to keep your business afloat during an economic dip.
Did you know that only half of startups with employees survive their first five years?
The world of business is tough at the best of times. At the moment, though, we’re facing plenty of new challenges and an economy that’s all over the place. For most of us, we can’t think of a time when the world ever looked like this.
But economic lulls aren’t uncommon. We’ve seen market crashes and closed business tons of times before – and we’ve taken plenty of recession business advice from them. Now when the economy is a bit low we know more about what to do.
To make sure you thrive through the rough times, take a look at our expert startup advice.
Manage Your Cash Flow
If your startup runs out of money before you’ve even got off the ground it’s not a good sign. So, managing your cash flow is essential during an economic lull.
Here are some easy tips to start managing your cash flow:
Set up a calendar: On here, plot out when you’re set to receive payments by. It will help you keep track of when money’s meant to be coming in and spot it if it doesn’t.
Plan your expenses: Instead of tracking expenses after you’ve bought something, plan what you need to buy before. This way you can create a detailed calendar of what you need and when you can buy it, stopping overspending.
Negative or positive? Keep an eye on whether you’re getting more money in than’s going out, or the other way around. If your cash flow is negative, you’re losing money. Why is that? What can you change?
An economic crisis is tough, but by keeping an eye on your cash flow you can create a financial burden resolution that’s suitable.
Do Your Own Accounts
When you’re a startup, you’re going to have expenses coming at you left, right, and center. But, hiring an accounting team isn’t always a viable option, especially with an unstable economy.
Instead, check out accounting software. This can make it easier for you to monitor your accounts without adding expenses.
Know Where To Spend Your Money
If you’re looking at preventing company downsizing during an economic lull, you need to only be spending money on essential items.
Here are a few things that are worth putting your money into:
Shared cloud-based resources for remote access by all staff.
Website and hosting services.
Shipping insurance for products. Take a look at Forum Insurance for more information about land, sea, and air insurance.
Payment processing. This can be both for in-store and online.
Payroll software. Choose automated software like Gusto to make it easier.
Find More Expert Startup Advice!
If you’re a startup, times might be tough when the economy is going a little downhill. But by no means does it mean it’s the end!
Put finance measures in place to monitor your money and know when to cut back.
For more expert startup advice on boosting your startup when times are tough, get in touch with our experts today.
Read through this list of startup ideas for instant inspiration for applicable business lessons from some of the most unconventional (yet successful) startup ideas.
Coming up with brilliant startup ideas may feel tricky to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially when it may seem that everyone’s already swooped up every good idea for a business. Once you’re reaping the lifestyle benefits of being your own boss and hustling your way into making significantly more money with your business ideas than you ever could at your day job, the hard work will have all been worth it.
The cost of setting up a new business has never been so low. Especially for online-based businesses. Technology has made starting your own business easy, affordable and possible. Obviously, some of these small startup ideas have more earning potential than others, but what they all share in common are relatively low barriers to entry and the flexibility to work at them for a limited amount of time per week.
Read through this list of startup ideas for instant inspiration for applicable business lessons from some of the most unconventional (yet successful) startup ideas. Some of these business ideas you can start right now, while you’re still working full-time.
Here is a list of the 21 best business ideas for Indians to start in 2020:
1. Start a Blog
Think blogging is no longer a viable source of income? Think again. Recent blogging statistics show that tens of thousands of bloggers are creating profitable content on topics as diverse as scrapbooking, home cooking, travel, film, lifestyle, business, personal finance and more.
You can grow your blog into a successful business, thanks email subscribers, affiliate marketing, blog sponsorships, and other revenue streams.
2. Organize Specialty Travel Tours
Make a specialized travel tour company to cater to individual lifestyle preferences. A tour startup made for solo travelers, a food-based tour geared towards certain diet preferences, or even an age-based tour company could gain traction across various demographics.
3. Make Local Guides
Whether or not you consider yourself a local expert, creating local guides can get you familiar with your surroundings and help tourists enjoy off-the-beaten path experiences in your area. Make themed guides, highlight attractions, and partner with local businesses for advertising opportunities.
4. Create a Food Waste Solution
Creating a startup focused on reducing food waste could not only earn you some serious funding but also positively change the food system and help save grocery stores and restaurants money.
5. Start Ghostwriting
Create content for busy professionals that don’t have the time or the skill to write themselves. If you don’t mind not attaching your name to your writing, ghostwriting is a great way to earn money with little to no startup costs attached.
6. Create Online Courses
Obscure hobbies can lead to lucrative business ideas if you make them easy for others to learn. If you’d like to teach others but aren’t interested in the coaching route, creating an online course could lead to reliable passive income.
7. Social Impact Investment Funds
Social impact is becoming a priority in India as consumers are intelligent and know what they consume influences them and the earth. This business idea involves fundraising money from various groups of investors to create a fund that will invest socially responsible and positive earth-impacting ventures.
There is a lot of demand in India for social impact, instead of just creating a business that makes money, due to the sophistication of people being quite high.
8. Cheap Home Solar Energy Setup Company
There is a large opportunity for residents in India to generate their own power and save money. For this idea, you would buy and setup solar equipment for people to install on their roofs or balconies, since apartment living is popular.
The solar could feed into the main battery for the individual or building to provide additional power. To execute, you could start by finding 10 people interested in this service that will pay you before the work is done, and then you have the money to buy to solar panels, creating a low initial investment for this business idea.
9. India Culture E-Commerce Niche Store
E-Commerce is growing at a substantial pace. This is mainly due to the access to cheap labor and goods, as well as the ability to ship internationally at a fraction of the cost it used to years ago. This business idea specifically relates to selling cultural items from India.
Given that many people around the world appreciate the culture in India, many would like to have authentic pieces of art in their homes. By setting up an e-commerce store to fulfill this, you can solve that problem. The company would be low-cost to start, and you could begin by partnering with your favourite street vendors.
10. Last-Mile Delivery Solution Company
In India, many shipping companies are facing the problem of having extreme difficulties providing delivery services to some rural areas. This is because the road infrastructure is not developed enough, or it is just very far from everything else. With this idea, you can provide the last mile delivery solutions by setting up a warehouse on the edge of the city limits.
Then, once the other shipping company gets there, you handle the final miles of the trip. This may involve buying a fleet of scooters or shipping trucks to deliver the shipments for the last couple miles. Places where regular shipping companies are not willing to do.
This company would need some investment to fund the warehouse at the outside city limits, as well as vehicles or drones for the last-mile delivery service.
11. Disaster Relief Location Finder Mobile App
The rise in mobile phone use also creates a lot of opportunities to help people in times of need. The Disaster Relief Location Finder would use sensors all over the highest buildings, along with ones along tectonic plates, and areas prone to hurricanes. This way, when signs of a disaster start to appear, the sensors would detect it and send messages to the users to take appropriate action.
Secondly, it would send out a location signal to everyone in your family so they know where you are in case disaster strikes. The app itself would not need that much investment to create, however, the setup of the sensors would be the costly part. To make money, you could charge a subscription service, as it provides piece of mind for people in disasters.
12. Graphic Designing
Companies are always on a lookout for graphic designers for branding purposes.
From designing marketing collaterals, including banners, posters, and logos to creating stunning designs of landing pages, the opportunities here are immense.
You can pitch your design skills to small business owners or individuals to start your gig. Graphic designers can also join freelance websites to find relevant work.
If you have prior knowledge of this field, then getting clients would be helpful. However, learning the basics of graphic design from scratch is pretty easy, with a vast number of online courses.
You can leverage graphic design software like Adobe InDesign to learn the foundation of graphic design. Alternatively, you can use other user-friendly tools like Visme and Stencil to hone your graphic design skills further.
13. Affiliate Marketing
It’s been a buzzword in the marketing arena for quite some time.
When someone asks how to make passive money online, a lot of people automatically envision affiliate marketing.
According to one blog income report study, bloggers making between $7500 — $25k per month make 38% of their income from affiliate marketing.
In simple terms, Affiliate marketing is a business model where bloggers and influencers recommend services or products they like or find useful, something that will be genuinely helpful for their followers, and earn a percentage of profit for each sale that follows.
14. Virtual Assistant
You can use your excellent organizational skills to create an extra stream of income. Virtual assistants are in high demand by corporations, freelancers, and every kind of business.
It is also an excellent opportunity to know successful and influential people from different fields of work to build a vast professional network. At the same time, it also provides you the opportunity to work from anywhere in the world while developing your professional skills.
People are always looking for efficient Virtual Assistants on freelance job websites.
15. Social Media Manager
Billions of people are on social media, and businesses are spending millions to reach their target audience through various social media platforms. If you are glued to social channels and understand how the eco-systems work, then you can put your knowledge to good use and start your own social media marketing business.
Small businesses, start-ups, and influencers with massive social media presence are always looking for capable social media managers to help them grow their social media presence. You can pitch for social media account management and help businesses run paid ad campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, and other channels.
Create pages on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp to promote your business and connect with people who want to leverage great deals. When you develop a solid follower base, you can also collaborate with travel agencies to cut exclusive deals for your customers.
16. Wedding photography
Wedding photography has become grander and fetches handsome pay per project. Professional wedding photographers can charge anything between $2500 – $10,000 and even more for each photoshoot.
At the start, you can build your clientele by searching online and registering on aggregators to find the business. You can also reach out to potential clients through Facebook and Instagram.
To hone your skills, you can either take online wedding photography classes or learn by reading this detailed guide. Here is the list of wedding photography gear you would need to start your wedding photography business.
17. Child Care
Singe parents and nuclear families are always short of time to take care of their children. Hence, there is always a demand for compassionate childcare professionals. It is a lucrative career option if you love being around kids.
But before taking the plunge, be sure about the age-group of the kids you are willing to look after. As you gain experience, you can also open your own day-care center to look after the kids and expand your business.
To increase your chances of finding success in this arena, you might want to earn formal certification in childcare.
18. Handmade Jewelry
Hand-made jewelry is the new fad. Teenage entrepreneurs have raked in vast amounts by selling handmade jewelry.
There are huge opportunities in the industry, with its growth projected at 5 to 6 percent per annum. With no big players in the field, the entry to this segment is also easy.
You can start selling online to earn a name, and if you end up becoming a household name, you can even open up a brick and mortar storefront.
Take a diploma or opt for online courses to understand the nuances of jewelry design and its making.
19. Wedding Planner
Weddings have become more opulent, organized, and resource-intensive. To manage all aspects of the wedding efficiently, couples these days look for credible wedding planners.
You can jump into the wedding planning business right away if you have contacts with professionals like good caterers, florists, performers, travel agents, photographer DJs, and more.
The process is time-intensive and capital intensive but can bring abundant rewards. An average wedding planner earns a good amount per hour for their services. You can also do a diploma in wedding planning to take your skills to the next level and prove your credibility in the industry.
20. Contract Customer Service (CSR)
Many organizations cut down their costs by outsourcing customer service to freelancers. If you are good at communicating and have sufficient management skills, then you can easily take customer service jobs.
Freelancing websites, including UpWork and Fiverr, offer a lot of contract-based customer service. If you already have the relevant experience, then you can also build a virtual team and start your own customer service agency.
21. Business Incubator
The job of a business incubator is to help new companies and startups plan and launch successfully. A typical business incubator will provide clients with management training, office space, high-speed internet connectivity, gym, food catering, and other necessities.
You don’t have to think too big – a small, local incubator can the perfect place where to start.
Are you asking “Why have a website?” because you aren’t sure if you need one? Read this article and learn the top reasons your business needs a website.
Are you asking “Why have a website?” because you aren’t sure if you need one? Read this article and learn the top reasons your business needs a website.
Why have a website?
Aren’t websites a hassle to build and time-consuming to maintain? Do you need one when your physical store already gets customers?
Consider the fact you’re reading this on the Internet, through a computer or phone, right this very moment. You’re looking up information on a website. But how does this translate to your business?
Don’t worry, we’re going to lay it out for you. Read on below to discover 10 reasons why you should have a website now:
1. Gain Credibility and Build Trust
Businesses without a website these days look like amateurs. People expect establishments to have a basic website, even if it only contains enough pages for a basic blog, contact information, and a gallery of products or services.
Without a website, you have no credibility. People won’t see you as an authority for your niche and therefore you can’t build trust with consumers. Don’t wait anymore, just hire a good Web Design Dallas company and get your website ready in a short time.
2. 24/7 Access to Valuable Information
We live in a digital age and people don’t sleep on a regular schedule. A lot of folks work two or three jobs. Others work at night.
Yes, having a physical location helps but how will you cater to people only free at night? One of the reasons you need a website is to make your business available 24/7. With a site, people can still window shop, check product details, or get your contact information even during the hours your store closes down.
3. Better Customer Service
Having a website also gives you the tools to improve customer service. For one thing, you can now cater to hundreds or thousands of people simultaneously.
If you only had a physical store, you can only have a few people dedicated to customer service. You can’t have a hundred people in a tiny store walking around answering questions for walk-in customers and you won’t fit a hundred more to answer phone calls.
Using AI chatbots, you can automatically address thousands of inquiries at once. The only time people will need to talk to a human employee is when they have major concerns.
4. Why Have a Website? It Increases Walk-In Customers
Did you know about 91% of people rely on the Internet to get information about a product or service? Also, 90% look up businesses online before visiting. If you don’t have a website, you could lose out on all these potential customers!
It makes sense when you stop and think about it. Someone might come across your shop while commuting around town but they normally won’t walk right in. They’ll want to look up reviews, comments, and details online to make sure they won’t waste time and money.
Now imagine a situation without a website. They can’t conduct research, meaning they may lose interest and try another establishment.
5. Advertising Venue
Without a website, you have limited venues for advertising. When you only have a brick-and-mortar shop, you’ll have to rely on newspaper advertising, flyers, business cards, magazine ads, and TV or radio ads.
However, with a website, the sky is the limit. Now you can use paid ads on Google and run an efficient PPC campaign. Now you can conduct a proper SEO strategy to spread brand awareness, boost reviews, and create some buzz about your business on social media.
Over half the population of the planet uses the Internet. Why lock those people out of reach when you can design a website now and start advertising to them all?
6. Expand Your Business
Without a site, the only people who will know your business exists are the locals and the people passing by. The moment you launch your website, more people will know about your establishment.
Even people from other cities and states can come across your website whenever they look up tour destinations and high-rated establishments in the area.
Once you have a website running, you can accept orders from other places. Of course, you’ll need to communicate with logistics companies to deliver products but it’s still a great expansion.
7. Rivaling the Competition
Businesses live and die by beating the competition. You have to get ahead of your local rivals and you have to do better than they can.
If they have a website and you don’t, you’re already miles behind. Take all the benefits of having a website and then dump them on your competitors because they’re that far ahead unless you take action now.
Having a website also gives you more opportunities to spy on your competitors. Tools like SpyFu allow you to check with keywords they rank high on and you can always check the prices of their products or the website design denton trends implemented on their site.
8. Showcase Your Products
Imagine a physical store that can only welcome 50 customers at a time, limited by the space available. You won’t be able to showcase your products to thousands of people because of these physical restrictions.
Why have a website? That website can allow thousands of people to simultaneously check out what you offer. There’s no physical space to worry about.
9. Building Brand Identity
With effective web design, people can instantly tell what kind of business you run the moment they visit your homepage. If it’s sleek and monochrome and minimalist then people might take your business as a formal, professional establishment. If you feature wacky colors, askew designs, and bold font then they might associate you with geek culture, like a site selling board games, comic books, or video games.
10. Educate and Entertain
The main purpose of a website is to expand your retail operations. It should exist to allow people to shop even when your physical store closes for the night. However, that’s not its only function.
It should also educate and entertain visitors. Your website can provide information about your services or products. It can provide blog posts that people can read and share.
By educating and entertaining, you’ll become the trusted authority for that specific niche. Your target audience will learn to trust you and this builds your credibility as a business.
Don’t Waste Time, Launch a Website Today!
Why have a website? Without one, it’s like running a business in the Stone Age! There are too many benefits of having one and your competitors likely already have a website of their own.
Don’t let them get too far ahead! Compete by designing and launching your website today!
Don’t panic if you don’t know the first step to build a website. We’ve got more guides for you to check out. Read them here to continue learning how to build a site, how to market it, and more!
In the business world, leadership and motivation have been subjects that have attracted the attention of many entrepreneurs over the years.
In the business world, leadership and motivation have been subjects that have attracted the attention of many entrepreneurs over the years.
This is mainly because most organizations realize that it is not just a good salary that motivates people and enables them to work for the company’s growth, but also their aspirations.
The search for employee engagement in the company through motivation is strongly linked to the concept of leadership that places the company’s employees as key elements for the achievement of the organization’s goals.
Thus, keeping all employees of the firm in a good state of motivation becomes vital for the organization’s survival, since if the established goals are not met with excellence, the company’s growth will be compromised.
Thus, the motivation process must be considered by the company, especially regarding the relationship between leadership and motivation in business.
Since to motivate the teams, the leadership of the firm must also be involved, because it is the leaders who with their influence impact the workers, acting in a way as “motivating agents”.
Decisive Factors for Good Leadership
There are characteristics that every great leader presents, so it is necessary that the management of any company also seeks to acquire these strengths to have good leadership.
Due to the importance of these characteristics, they are even decisive factors for good leadership, and therefore must be known.
KNOWLEDGE
If you have a quality not lacking in great leaders, it is the frequent search for new knowledge to improve your leadership and administrative skills. So no matter what your current position as a leader, you should never forget to study more and more.
It is essential that the leader has in his diploma specializations and MBA’s in the management area – it can be Business or Project Management.
Such knowledge is necessary because much of a manager’s qualities, for example, are critical in any leader who wants to effectively manage teams and projects.
Not only do you have high qualification courses, but you can also choose to take additional courses, as they are perfect for acquiring important qualities in shaping the image of a good leader, such as the communication and speaking course.
Another tip on how to gain knowledge to enable good leadership in the business, as well as motivation that is worth applying, is participation in lectures and short-term training programs, as they also enable the acquisition of knowledge that helps in achieving a good leadership.
Knowledge of study is critical to building leadership that makes the business successful, so be sure to adhere to every training opportunity you have (With Prioritization, of course!).
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP
Managing the relationship established between the leader and employees is a key factor in leadership.
The development of healthy relationships in the workplace allows the created collaboration space to be psychologically alternative. In this kind of environment, even if distrust, fears, and conflicts arise, they can be accepted and worked on by both actors.
However, it will only be possible to form this environment and be able to achieve optimal interpersonal relationship management if you can create a climate of mutual trust, the experts at https://pollackpeacebuilding.com/ suggest.
As a member of the interpersonal relationship that has the responsibility of uniting team members and enabling good work, the leader should serve as a motivator and connector for employees.
At this point, you see a lot of what is the relationship between leadership and motivation in business, since as we saw earlier, motivation is one of the elements that can not lack in leadership.
Going deeper into this issue of interpersonal relationships, it will also be necessary for the leader to take care that the personal lives of team members do not interfere with the execution of their tasks in the company.
LISTEN TO EMPLOYEES
There is no better way to improve leadership and effectively motivate employees other than by listening to them for their needs.
Knowing the needs of the employees also enables the leader to be able to synchronize these wants with those of the company, thus generating benefits for both parties.
Although this is a very important point in leadership, unfortunately, many ignore it. Very few companies have a consistent channel that allows them to communicate with employees through which they can meet the real needs of their employees.
By listening to workers, the company can also benefit from suggestions, new ideas, and listening to complaints that may lead to the discovery of failures and their correction before they cause harm.
UNDERSTAND BUSINESS DEEP
Although it seems obvious, many leaders often fail their leadership because they do not understand very well how their business works.
This disregard, as to the need to know the business model in-depth, is due in part to the fact that many entrepreneurs or leaders take this need as unnecessary because they have the idea that they already know everything about the type of business.
Knowing the line of products/services and the method that is used during its manufacture counts a lot when it comes to leadership and motivation of employees, because at times, customers and even the team itself may need clarification.
However, in case of inconsistency in the response, those who were previously motivated by the leader may gradually lose their confidence in him, and may no longer see him as a source of motivation by example, especially if this type of situation recurs.
So, don’t waste your time and check to see if all the good leadership characteristics mentioned in this post are noticeable in your company’s leaders. If not, start cultivating them as they are the key to success in teamwork. So that’s it, these factors are decisive for good leadership and business motivation.
Top 3 things to consider before choosing which platforms to use for your business.
If you own a company or a marketing practitioner, then it’s a no-brainer: your business’ presence should, by all means, be felt on social media platforms. Every entrepreneur and marketer worth their salt understands the importance of having an online following to promote their products and services.
There may be a long list of social media marketing secrets in circulation online, but the main thing to remember is that having a successful social media marketing strategy lies in understanding which platform works best with your brand.
You should be able to identify three key factors, so you do not end up wasting a ton of resources (time is money, and money is time!) on the wrong platforms.
1. Identify the nature of your business
It matters whether your company is a Business-to-Consumer (B2C) operation or Business-to-Business (B2B) enterprise. Perhaps it is a mix of both. People still really do not use social media to buy things.
Social media users are generally at the topmost layer of the sales funnel, meaning they are mostly there just to see what’s up—this translates to them being at the very first stage of the buying process: awareness.
B2C companies have added visibility on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. You could take advantage of this by visually engaging your customers with on-brand content like targeted blog links or visual assets such as photos, short videos, or GIFs.
B2B companies, meanwhile, will reap great benefits from building personal connections with existing and prospective customers via LinkedIn. Lead gathering methodologies like publishing regular blogs, industry-relevant whitepapers, case studies or ebooks, should be cross-promoted on social media.
YouTube is also useful for both B2C and B2B when it comes to increasing Google rankings. Posting the right content on YouTube increases the authenticity of your brand because it encourages viewers to interact with you and share it on their own social media accounts.
2. Know your target market
Small-to-medium-sized businesses will get the best value for their social media marketing budget if they gain a genuine understanding of their target clients. Knowing your target customers’ profiles is the first step in accurately telling where you can find them. An accurate profile will help you optimize your strategies.
Spreading yourself too thin by trying to be in all social media platforms all at once at the start is a rookie mistake that wastes valuable resources. You want to be as specific as can be when it comes to profiling your target demographic so that you can maximize your digital marketing and advertising efforts and make your budget work for you.
Some of the data you should gather include your target audience’s gender, age range, location, average income, educational attainment, the challenges and problems they face and how they intend to solve them, level of technological aptitude, and relevant interests outside of your product or service offerings.
Having accurate data on your target market will give you the right insight into where your ideal clients spend most of their time online. Through diligent research, you will get to choose the right social media platforms where you can consistently run targeted ads to reel the right customers.
This way, the money you spent on running campaigns with targeted content will be taken full advantage of and make the biggest impact. Your campaigns will be seen by prospects who are looking for what you have to offer, increasing your conversion rates as they are turned into paying clients.
Search engine Google often gets the best return of investment in targeting content in most cases, and for other instances, photo-sharing platform Instagram or social media giant Facebook might do the trick.
3. Identify your goals and objectives for being on social media
Knowing what makes your target market tick is just one part of the equation. Once you have all the data you need, you will have to identify what your goals are for your prospective clients. This will allow you to choose the best social media platform based on your client’s social demographic profile’s engagement rates on every platform.
Companies use social media for two main reasons. The first one is to gain brand awareness to foster a friendly relationship with their target market. Other businesses use their social media platforms to supplement customer support.
Setting up an account for any platform is pretty easy, and you can even build your business’ social media presence with your smartphone, but you will be faced with varied creative content marketing challenges that will depend on the goals and objectives you set.
For example, social media management platform Hootsuite, a B2B company, uses Twitter for dedicated customer support where they encourage users to tweet them for how-tos and answers.
Meanwhile, those that operate in the travel industry or hospitality, such as hotels or restaurants, may benefit from having Instagram accounts to advertise their offerings using visually compelling photographs, Instagram stories, or short clips. For instance, Airbnb showcases lovely photos of their property listings in their main platform Instagram.
A guide to the seven most useful social media platforms
Now that you know of the top things you should consider before choosing which social media platforms to concentrate on, here is a handy guide on the seven leading social platforms that you can use to help get your business off the ground.
1. Facebook
With a total of over 2.23 billion users online, Facebook is indeed the leader of the pack when it comes to engaged users. Here comes the tricky part: figuring out how those individual users are using Facebook. It is mostly used to keep in touch with friends and family, by virtually all genders and age groups (mostly women, which makes up 53% of its total user base).
For all its many features that cater to brands and businesses, one thing remains certain: Facebook is an excellent channel for building relationships with your existing market base.
If you are looking to acquire new leads for your business, it might not be the best out of the lot because of its low organic reach and vast user population. But if your goal is to establish a following and nurture your relationship with them by keeping in touch with regular content (1–3 posts a day), then it can work wonders for building and maintaining brand loyalty.
2. Twitter
With over 326 million users, it is a fantastic platform for building brand awareness through industry-relevant news, press releases, customer support, or to get in touch with potential brand ambassadors. The platform is also widely used for real-time updates, and a lot of companies use it in combination with offline engagement efforts like events.
Twitter has also popularized the use of hashtags, which organizes conversations. With a simple search of a hashtag, you can keep your thumb on the pulse of your target audience so that you can create tweets and join in on popular topics. With the right, timely tweet crafted around a popular hashtag, your brand can be discovered by news outlets that often use the platform to search for trending stories.
3. YouTube
Viewing content on YouTube does not require an account, so it is truly one of the most powerful search engines and social media platforms. To date, it has over 1.9 billion users, but its reach goes well beyond that number because of the eliminated need for sign-ups.
Putting out quality content can be time-consuming and expensive, so it is best used by brands that can truly reap benefits from being there, such as service industry businesses. How-to videos and tutorials are huge on YouTube, as users often search for step-by-step guides to solve a variety of problems.
4. Instagram
Instagram is extremely popular among the young ones, mostly aged 18–29 years old. With over 1 billion active users, the image and video sharing platform is one of the fastest-growing social media channels. It works exceptionally well for more visual-based brands that are in the food, hospitality, retail, art, or beauty industry because it depends on images to spark conversations within the community.
5. Pinterest
There are over 250 million Pinterest users as of writing, which is dominated by middle-aged, female users. It is also a visual-based platform that allows users to save content by “pinning” images to their organized virtual scrapbook.
Pinterest is mostly useful for driving traffic for blogs and ecommerce retailers. Custom images are required, and photos with high engagement rates include style ideas, do-it-yourself craft projects, and recipes.
6. LinkedIn
With a large user base of people aged between 25–54, LinkedIn is a popular platform for older audiences that are searching for jobs or those who are looking to expand their professional network. This makes it a popular choice for B2B lead generation and recruiting companies and is a good channel to establish your brand as a thought leader in the industry.
Vigilance and consistency, always
Social media ecosystems can change in the blink of an eye, that is why you should always be up to speed when it comes to current best practices, trends, challenges, and upcoming platforms that are making waves in the digital sphere. It takes a perfect blend of timing, luck, and some digital analytics science to identify which platforms you should focus on.
You can leverage social media to grow your business exponentially by taking note of how active your target audience is in your chosen platform, how they use social media, and creating a consistent social media content strategy that allows you to maintain a steady stream of content to keep them engaged.
There is something to be said to gaining experience through real-life problem-solving in your business ventures, but you can save time by not learning lessons the hard way and fast-track your path to business success.
Experience is largely listed as the single greatest attribute an entrepreneur can cultivate any time they begin a new path to improve the overall odds of success. While that isn’t exactly groundbreaking, the data behind the difference that experience makes is significant:
Founders who have successfully cultivated a business previously have a 30% higher chance of success in their next venture.
Founders who failed at prior businesses have a 20% chance of succeeding the second time around.
First-time entrepreneurs have an 18% chance of success.
There is something to be said to gaining experience through real-life problem-solving in your business ventures, but you can save time by not learning lessons the hard way and fast-track your path to business success. Here are a few tips:
Spend Investment Capital Wisely
Again, not groundbreaking advice, but you’d be surprised that this is one of the most common pitfalls for a young company managed by an inexperienced entrepreneur. Early on, companies can be funded through small groups of angel investors, but it’s often the entrepreneur’s own savings.
If you’re fortunate enough to gain investors and raise investment capital through private funding, don’t let it lull you into a false sense of security. This influx of money can help you beef up your team to meet aggressive growth goals, but it can also help you spend ahead of need. Aggressive expansion timelines are more often than not overly optimistic, which can burn valuable resources much more rapidly than a young company can afford.
Most industries already have formulas to work through this, so do your research. Whatever money you end up asking for should be completely planned for and put to good use.
Don’t be scared to invest in your team, but focus on A-players who can play multiple roles early on. Choose quality talent over quantity.
Protect Company Assets
If you’re inventing, intellectual property can be invaluable. Spend early and often on protecting your property. Legal can be invaluable in the product-based business and even in service-based or knowledge-based industries to protect intellectual property.
If you’re attempting to acquire capital, you want investors to feel secure in the fact that their money is going to be relatively protected and that the capital is going to good use. Be prepared to know if patents or trademarks exist and who owns what. Giving investors an understanding of what and how you’ve reached product-market fit is important as well.
Spend your money on attorneys who can provide protection to company assets. Hire a lawyer to draft a solid client contract- poorly worded contracts will cost you.
Spend Time Creating Revenue-Driven Solutions
Services or technology that easily demonstrates ROI in a direct manner is low hanging fruit for young companies. Plenty of companies succeed by focusing on solutions that drive savings to their clients, prospects get more value (and buy more frequently) when solutions are revenue-driven.
Understand Your Timeline
When working on bringing transformative technology to the market, it’s important to remember that often, this solution is disruptive. This can create a situation where users have to adjust their systems and processes in order to experience the best results possible.
This is challenging- people don’t like change. No one does. But big and meaningful change takes time which can present a challenge, as clients won’t experience results immediately. If your business is built around disruptive tech, it’s important to set expectations at both the client level and the boardroom level. The potential for reluctant transition with clients is absolutely there and you must set reasonable expectations at all levels about delayed returns.
These are not easy conversations to have as they’re difficult realities to accept when real dollars are being spent and you’re burning through capital every month.
Invest In PR Early
Many founders consider public relations and media outreach to be fluff- something that is a lower priority until you have a bigger budget. However, securing placement in reputable publications when you first hit the market can help a young company in a number of ways. Targeted exposure is extremely effective in getting the word out, driving an initial wave of leads.
Articles in respected publications can enhance buy-in and help prospects convince stakeholders to take a leap with new tech or a new process. Press can help substantiate timeliness, but more importantly, it can help educate prospects.
Build Outside Relationships
Building relationships with third parties will allow you to establish relationships that can vouch for your work. This provides ongoing value for a young company and its emerging technology or services. This can take the form of validating success through white papers, third-party research, or case studies.
Have Reasonable Expectations
People assume that launching a tech company brings overnight success and riches, but it doesn’t typically work that way. Most things of value take time and it’s incredibly important to remain resilient and flexible. Learn quickly from failures and mistakes and then regroup as necessary to press on towards success.
Building a successful business is incredibly difficult. By taking your time, doing your research and starting from the beginning can help you get your startup off the ground. Make sure you do the proper steps to plan the remaining steps to launch the company and prepare yourself so that you’re ready to raise money.
Without proper financial planning, your business doesn’t stand a chance. Make sure you’re network is on point too- you’ll want to surround yourself with the right people. It’s incredibly important to find people who can help you in areas that are not your strongest point of expertise.
Placing your business in the best position to establish a steady clientele will help to grow your startup. Launches are never perfect- you should always prepare for unforeseen circumstances. Proper planning is absolutely crucial to help you clear and anticipate any hurdles.
To make up for the lack of skills, an aspiring entrepreneur could always look to take courses to enhance his venture’s reach.
While the concept of the self-taught entrepreneur is catching up across the globe in a huge way, it is only normal that these entrepreneurs teach themselves the various courses and skills they have missed out on in B-school. Most entrepreneurs have had help from the experts in the field while looking to make their venture a successful one. For instance, the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg heavily relied on the advice of Sheryl Sandberg to make it big in the field of social media.
Similarly, to make up for the lack of skills, an aspiring entrepreneur could always look to take courses to enhance his venture’s reach. Listed below are a few courses we believe every entrepreneur needs to make it big:
1. The web designing course
It is a waste of money to keep hiring a web designer to develop and keep revamping your website when you can do it yourself. The web designing courses are fairly simple and teach you how to work around the complex languages: HTML, JavaScript and CSS. You could use these skills to propel and start your website with minimal finances and efforts and also make some extra bucks by putting these skills into use as you can now develop websites for other companies.
2. The marketing basics
It isn’t a big deal if you’ve skipped basics by not attending a B-school or doing your MBA and delved into this field directly especially when there are a variety of courses to help you get your fundamentals right. These basics will enlighten you on the various business models that exist and teach you the different tactics you could employ to make your business a successful one such as push-pull strategies, SOSTAC, PESTEL analysis etc. Hence, this is a recommended course for every entrepreneur who wants to make the best use of marketing strategies.
3. Online user engagement course
If you already have a venture, it is a smart move to examine and employ a few new strategies to improve your current situation. The various courses available online help you learn how to market your product/service online and keep a track of engagement. The course will help you understand website traffic, use email subscription, increase engagement, read analytics and observe and predict online trends which are necessary for any digital business to prosper.
In a hundred years, when most people reading this and the person writing this are long gone, Musk’s cars and rockets will still be circling the Earth and the skies. How can such a person get started against all odds is the question. And, more importantly, what can we learn from him?
Learning From The Outlier
Learning from Musk might seem naive. After all he is an outlier even among billionaires. We think this is exactly why he is worth studying – you don’t get insight into the extraordinary by studying the ordinary. Even with a sample size of one Musk we may find something in the way he started out that is fundamentally borrowable.
Sure, we can’t recreate the exact circumstances of his life for ourselves – we all have different parents, live in different countries, and have different bodies. Despite all the differences, we have control over our mindset as much as he does over his. This part of Musk we can borrow. The ways he deals with uncertainty, the books he reads, the ways he makes promises, and patches up his own mistakes are all borrowable, for example.
Thinking From First Principles (And Not Just By Analogy)
You might be skeptical about how studying another person’s life can help. His circumstances are not like yours. Musk would be the first to remind us here to think from first principles, as scientists do, rather than by analogy. Why should you think like Musk? You might know better than him after all. It’s true that thinking from first principles gives a truer result. But it also takes time which is limited for all of us. Yes, it’s best to think about your situation from scratch. But reasoning by analogy makes sense given that life is finite. To minimize our own mistakes we don’t need to borrow the exact decisions Musk made but study the way he makes them. Then we can apply his thinking method to what we know to be true for sure.
It’s Easy to Explain Greatness in Hindsight – The Narrative Fallacy
One psychological barrier to learning from other people’s lives is the narrative fallacy – making a neat story out of facts that at the time of their happening made little sense. As the classic book on improbability The Black Swan explains, we do it to deal with the randomness of life – we explain it away because we know how the story ended. We’d rather not figure out why we didn’t know what we didn’t know.
The media often write this way. Articles about Musk call him a “genius”, which he is. But labels like this make his accomplishments sound like a foregone conclusion. They aren’t. For example, he still has to deal with big oil companies that want to see Tesla go down.
We might assume he knows what to do with this because he is a “genius.” But genius is not a strategy. And his victory is far from certain. As you are reading this, he is doing something to deal with the uncertainty of his situation. What sort of a mindset is he in?
Life = Decisions + Circumstances + Results
Life is a combination of decisions – things you do; circumstances – things that others do to you, including people you’ve never met, like politicians; and results – your decisions + the circumstances.
Labeling each significant event in Musk’s life on a timeline produced a lot of decisions, unsurprisingly. It’s fair to say he is a product of his decisions more than his circumstances. Musk seems to have been decisive and deliberate from the start. A quick glance at the timeline shows that his decisions by far outnumber his circumstances.
A pivotal moment in Musk’s life came when he got his computer. It came along with a BASIC programming language workbook. The workbook was supposed to take 6 months, but he decided to stay up for 3 nights in a row and finished the whole thing. Within 3 days he basically was a programmer by the 1984 standards. His new skill brought his first success – he wrote a video game called Blastar and sold it for $500.
Even today in most countries universities don’t encourage you to graduate faster even if you learn faster. Lawyers and doctors are required to be in school for a certain period of time regardless of their learning speed.
The Immigrant Mindset
Do you need to move far away to bring out the best in you? Musk plotted his escape from South Africa ever since he had access to information about America. His idea of America was cliché – he didn’t overthink it. He wasn’t interested in criticizing the system – he wanted to move to the land of yes-men, and he was one himself.
Getting His Hands Physically Dirty
Musk doesn’t seem to think that physical work is beneath him. He embraces it. When he moved to Canada at 17 on his own, he sought out a job that required him shoveling dirt in a boiler room wearing a hazmat suit. Even today, with his designer clothes on, Musk walks the floor of his rocket factory and sometimes gets physically involved in the process – his clothes ruined with epoxy.
Sharing Wildly Ambitious Plans
Compared to other people and companies, Musk has an unusually futuristic outlook. He has made and shared his plans for as far away as his death on Mars after he helps a million people move there on his rockets at $500,000 per ticket. It’s easy to dismiss this as marketing hype – and people did dismiss a younger Musk. By now it’s clear though that he lives up to his ambitions.
Not Looking Back
Musk is known for not hanging on to things or people. He looks forward. Ironically he might have a lot more to look back at and be sorry about than many. His first child died at 10 months old, he divorced his first wife, the first 3 times he launched his rockets they blew up – one of them destroying an expensive NASA payload. He has blown promises, missed deadlines, miscalculated costs and had to charge customers extra after they had already paid (Musk had to ask 400 customers who already prepaid to add extra $17,000 for each Roadster). This list alone is enough, I believe, to make most people look back and infer that maybe it’s time to reign in the ambition, to mend relationships, etc. But that is not the point – for all his failings, Musk is capable of greatness. His products justify his mistakes. At the age of 44 he still has more to gain than he has lost – more rockets to launch, more cars to manufacture, and even more children to have.
Starting Really Small
Compared to what Musk is doing now – electric cars, rockets, and solar panels his first businesses were ridiculously straightforward – selling computer parts from his dorm room, running a glorified speakeasy from his house in college. Would he do this if he saw a straight path to making electric cars back in college? I think not. It looks like he took incremental steps towards a goal he had no idea how to reach at the beginning.
Just Enough Money To Start
Most people would say that it’s the lack of money that prevents them from starting a startup. Musk’s biographer helpfully tells the amount he had when he started. Between him and his brother Kimbal they had $28,000 that came from their father plus $6,000 from their friend Greg Kouri, who joined as a co-founder of Zip2. Today the $34,000 adjusted for inflation would be $53,000. This amount was enough to set up an office in Palo Alto. Musk and his brother slept in the office, showered at the YMCA, and subsisted on a diet of fast food.
Teaching Himself From Books
When Musk decided to do something with space he apparently realized that he needed to learn about space himself. He correctly estimated that money alone, which he didn’t have enough of to start a rocket company either, does not solve the space problem. Wealthy people have done this before – threw some money at a space project and watched it fizzle out helpless without the engineering knowledge. Not Musk. Jim Cantrell, an aerospace engineer that Musk cold called back in 2001 said this about how Musk learns, “He literally sucks the knowledge and experience out of people that he is around. He borrowed all of my college texts on rocket propulsion when we first started working together in 2001. ”
Over-Optimism, Over-Promising, and Over-Delivering
With both SpaceX and Tesla there is a pattern: make a wildly ambitious promise, delay the reveal several times, finally unveil the product, promise to deliver it soon, delay the delivery date, deliver a product that surpasses expectations.
In design I’ve learned that you can have only 2 out of the three things: amazing, fast, or cheap. Musk doesn’t seem to compromise on amazing. He is definitely striving for cheap (100 times cheaper rockets than now, Model 3 at $25,000 after tax incentives). So you don’t get fast. The Model X, for example, came 3 years late.
How Many Tries Does It Take?
It took 4 tries for Musk to successfully launch his first rocket. This number is low compared to his competitors who blew up a lot more hardware before it would fly.
There is one key difference, though – Musk only had enough money to launch 4 times. If the 4th time didn’t fly that would have been it.
Not Failing
“I’d rather commit seppuku than fail,” Musk tells an investor to explain why he should get the investment. This is a theme with Musk in negotiations, physical activities, and relationships. He might move on but he doesn’t fail. He might be late on his promises, he might come across as too pushy, or get kicked out of the company he started, but he doesn’t let things fail.
Having a go-to market strategy ensures the success of your product each time.
The way you connect with your customers and how you gain their trust and loyalty all depends on your marketing team and the marketing strategy they use.
Having a reliable and effective marketing style can give your business the boost it needs every time you launch a product or service. Additionally, having a go-to strategy ensures the success of your product each time. At times you need to take approvals from the local authority to carry on your work, you need specialists like Michael Grayum to present your company in that situation.
Although building a go to market strategy can come with a few pitfalls if you’re not careful enough, it’s still essential and beneficial for your business. The trick is to be cautious with how you develop it and ensure that it’s bulletproof.
So, why is having a go-to market strategy essential? To give you further information, here are the top benefits that come with having a GTM:
Reduces costs
In anything you do with regards to your business, reducing costs is always a top priority. With a go-to market strategy, you can reduce marketing costs associated with failed product launches, as you already have a bulletproof and effective plan.
A study from Harvard Business Review showed that the majority of product launches fail because its marketing techniques are not effective. Thus, companies waste thousands of money each year.
When you have your go-to strategy, you’re sure that your products are not only great but will also have success in the market because you advertised it well. And you did so without wasting any money.
Reduces time and resources allotted to marketing
Sure, building a go to market strategy takes a lot of time that can maybe last for months. But when you finally find your perfect formula, it is worth it.
Imagine all the time you take creating a marketing strategy each time you release a product? Each project could take weeks to months to complete.
But when you take your time building a go-to strategy, you can implement this technique in all of your product releases without having to waste time or resources on new approaches that might not work for you.
Better ability to adapt to change
If you have a go-to market strategy, and you have done it a couple of times on your products or services, you already know this strategy by heart and how to execute it flawlessly.
Primarily, your knowledge and expertise with your market strategy will ensure that you will have a productive and successful launch. But aside from this, a go-to strategy also gives you the ability to adapt to change quickly.
For example, if a sudden change in your target demographic comes, you will know what to tweak in your strategy for it to work for that demographic.
A strong go-to market strategy can quickly adapt to any market in any given circumstance and maintain its effectivity.
Ensures growth and success
When you have a go-to market strategy that you know is effective and will work every time, then you’re guaranteed that your company and product is on its path to growth and success.
There is no need for you to waste your time thinking about whether your strategy will work or not. You do not have to worry if it will cost you too much because you know that it works, and it always will as long as you tweak it to your target consumers’ needs.
The bottom line is that having a GTM is an essential part of any successful business. So ensure that you take your time creating a great go-to strategy, and you take experts’ advice.
If you plan on going the business route, an entrepreneur workshop is something you have to look for.
A new adventure, no matter what it may be, is exciting and filled with expectations. So much so that there are also a lot of things involved which can become risks in the future. Like everybody else, if you take on a new venture, you need to start somewhere. No one is an expert in the beginning.
If you plan on going the business route, an entrepreneur workshop is something you have to look for. It would help mold you into possessing the mindset of an effective businessman with the accompanying skills and confidence. If you are not yet convinced, here are some more reasons why you need to attend one soon.
Why Is It Important?
Not everyone has an entrepreneurial degree from college, but everyone has a fair chance of succeeding as an entrepreneur. Although it is not a matter of luck, it does involve skills, perseverance, and intelligence. And that is what any entrepreneur workshop aims to impart to its attendees.
There was a survey that took people’s reasons for attending such seminars. The top reasons are because they want to improve their skills, learn about what is new with the industry, and even expand their network.
What Should You Look For in an Entrepreneur Workshop?
Mentorship
People who should be conducting these seminars should know how to walk the talk. Therefore, when looking for an entrepreneur workshop, go to one who has successful businessmen as their speakers. These people have experiences that got them where they are and have not learned and played everything by the books.
Experiences
Not everything is learnable inside the four corners of any room or any book. Some programs let their students experience what it is like to work with and inside a successful company. Through these internship programs, the attendees do not limit themselves to knowledge while knowing how it should genuinely work.
Interaction
Some workshops would throw everything to you and tell you everything you must know. However, unknown to these organizers, attendees do not only arm themselves with the desire to learn but the need to express themselves as well. They attend these seminars because they are already interested in learning and probably have brilliant ideas inside them, too.
Therefore, when searching for the best workshop out there, look for ones that allow interaction between the speakers. It enables people to share fresh ideas while letting others learn from them too.
On-Hands Experience
Not every entrepreneur workshop has it, but there are some which allow them to have hands-on experience. It might only be a day, but some enable their attendees to have a little buying and selling or trading time. To make it even better, some organizers ask their students to make what they want to sell by themselves. It increases confidence and polishes their skills as well.
Should You Attend an Entrepreneurship Workshop?
Yes, absolutely. Anyone who intends to learn and has the willingness to is welcome to attend these entrepreneur workshops. However, it would help if you equip yourselves with a lot of patience and perseverance since it certainly is not a walk in the park.
Still, it is worth every penny since these workshops offer a lot of new knowledge for their attendees. At the same time, it allows you to improve your skills while allowing you to earn money on their own, for themselves.
Most women entrepreneurs grapple in the dark and don’t know what to do to become successful.
The numbers of women entrepreneurs have steadily escalated in the recent past. Although men have for long ruled most businesses, nowadays, there’s a shift in the trend, and more women are involved in big corporations. However, most women grapple in the dark and don’t know what to do to become successful.
Below are tips on how to succeed as a woman entrepreneur:
1. Enroll for business courses
There are many cases of women entrepreneurs who mishandle their business partnerships, lose money, end up with a destroyed image, and in debts. Luckily, there are many courses you can take to equip you with the necessary skills on how to succeed as a woman entrepreneur.
Although managing a company may take much of your time, this should not hinder you from gaining skills on how to empower yourself as a woman. You should know how to study smart and if you lack time to attend your classes, online class help is the way to go. They have a team of professionals who assists students struggling to balance classwork and busy schedules and can help with your classes, assignments, and even exams.
2. Have a business coach
Business coaches can help you address your internal struggles before you set out to build your brand. But why? Starting a business as a woman can be challenging, you can do marketing, and that’s good, but a relationship with yourself is also essential for your success.
Conclusion
There are different ways on how to succeed as a woman entrepreneur. To avoid struggling, like many other women entrepreneurs, you need to enroll for various courses, create adequate for studying, listen more, and pay attention to the course materials. This way, you’ll acquire critical business ideas on how to flourish.
The epic saga has a few management lessons which every entrepreneur can learn in order to prosper in the field of business.
Ramayana is an epic written by Valmiki which symbolises many things like values, virtues, the triumph of good over evil, etc. However, when viewed in an alternate light, the epic saga also has a few management lessons which every entrepreneur can learn in order to prosper in the field of business:
i. Over commitment is never okay
Dashrath over-committed to his wife Kaikei which led to a lot of problems later and was dangerous later. This can prove to be a great lesson to entrepreneurs as they learn that it is better to promise less and deliver more instead of the opposite as your credibility is at stake here.
ii. Build your team smartly
When Ram had to cross the sea to reach Lanka, it was important for him to build a team that consisted of dedicated and loyal members. Similarly, if one wants to prosper in the professional sphere, it is important to be able to find people who will share your vision in order to succeed as a company.
Just like Hanuman was burdened with the task of taking a decision when he couldn’t find Sanjeevani on a mountain, every entrepreneur is bombarded with choices and hard decisions that need to be made without consulting anyone. Hanuman decided to carry the whole mountain which might not be the best decision but seemed like the most feasible one to him.
A person has to make many sacrifices in order to succeed in the entrepreneurial field as one has to work long hours and let go of a personal life. Unless you are willing to let go of certain things, you can never make it big. The best lesson of sacrifice you can take from Ramayana is from Sita who sacrificed the comfort of a home and luxuries of a queen to accompany her husband to the forest.
Raavan was an able soldier and a great man in various aspects; however, what led to his downfall was his ego which he couldn’t curb. Similarly, a lot of entrepreneurs fail because their ego comes in the way and overshadows all the good things they have achieved. In order to be a good entrepreneur, put your ego aside and let your work do the talking.
Leadership is an essential function of management that connects internal and external stakeholders.
One-fifth of the small businesses fail in their first year. This accounts for almost 20% of the industry. Common reasons contributing to the failure of these startups include lack of funding or capital, unsuccessful marketing efforts, faulty business models, and inadequate leadership.
Leadership is an essential function of management that connects internal and external stakeholders. Influential leaders can help businesses enhance productivity and maximize efficiency to achieve business goals.
One of the best ways to develop leadership is by hiring a startup CEO coach. A reliable startup CEO coach is responsible for supporting business founders in their personal and professional growth.
These individuals are usually industry experts that have sufficient knowledge to help startup CEOs take bold risks to accomplish something great. Here are the reasons why every entrepreneur can use a startup CEO coach like Brett J. Fox.
They Put You on Track
Startup founders are energetic and consider themselves as the Jacks of all trades. However, every entrepreneur has strengths and weaknesses and knowing each one of them can help further your business into greater heights.
A startup CEO coach will help you recognize and concentrate on the most critical aspects of the business. This helps you point out your blind spots and catch the big picture so that you will not limit the success of your business.
They also help you create clear and specific goals so that you can develop an innovative strategic direction that can adjust to evolving trends. Ongoing training with CEO coaches will keep you on the right path in the continually changing business environment.
CEO Coaches Bring a Competitive Edge
A competitive edge distinguishes a business from its competitors. It results in more customers, higher prices, and brand loyalty.
However, establishing such an advantage is challenging with the lack of differentiation and the rise of unique types of competition. A CEO coach will ease out the process by helping your brand advance at a quicker pace and ensure that you differentiate yourself from the crowd.
The biggest challenge among business owners is making themselves stand out. You want to have a product that everyone is buying, but you also need to achieve a share of the market to protrude.
A CEO coach can see your business strengths and weaknesses better than you can and will help you market yourself in a manner that makes those differences pooch in your market. Coaches can also ensure that you are showing your abilities to your best advantage.
Enhance Your Personal Growth
CEO coaches are here to help you grow both executively and personally. They can develop an interactive environment for you to see yourself clearly so that you can meet unique challenges every step of the way.
The most significant risk to the success of most businesses is not usually the state of the market, competition, or even the economy. Instead, it is the thought and behavioral changes of startup leaders.
Coaches can also identify your thoughts and behavioral patterns that are slowing and preventing the growth of your business. They help you deal with those particular issues so that it can no longer bring adverse effects to your business.
Building a successful business does not happen overnight. Having someone experienced enough to provide advice and encouragement will help you reach business goals quicker.
If this saying reminded you of your company’s accounts first, then you might be looking at the picture from a wrong angle. Stick with us till the end of the article to find out why.
Often, the financial woes of the business are intricately linked to the personal monetary problems of the entrepreneur himself. For an entrepreneur, managing his personal monies well is half the battle won when it comes to managing his venture’s finances.
As someone whose expertise lies in personal finances and runs her own startup, here is my experience and learning condensed into 5 points to keep your money situation afloat if you’re starting a business.
Should we bootstrap the company or seek funding?
This is a crucial decision as it decides your company’s future cash flows. Those who bootstrap their companies witness all or most of their savings getting invested in the company. Entrepreneurs who get funded generally are able to draw out some salary from the company. But that does not necessarily make one preferred over another. While the decision to bootstrap vs funding depends on a lot of strategic factors, discussing the eventualities with the right financial planners may help you manage your personal finances better and mitigate risk over at this website.
Track your money!
You need to stay on top of your cash flow. Keep a tab on each Rupee, from where it is coming to where it is going. Once you kick start your business, you will tend to get too occupied with what the business demands. This leads to putting your own finances on the back bench. Monitoring your personal finances regularly will help you to analyze and discover ways in which you can strike a balance between your personal finances and your company finances.
Build an emergency fund
If you’re starting a business, starting without a personal emergency fund is a bad idea.
Aptly, an emergency fund should cover about 3 to 6 months of emergency expenses. You can create this fund using your current savings. This should never be invested in your business. During lean periods in your business, your friends and family may or may not be around but you can at least turn to this fund. (Unless you exhausted it which brings me to my next point).
Ensure this fund is replenished at regular intervals. Running out of it might not be such a safe idea as the unlikeliest things hit you at the unlikeliest times in a business.
Maintain financial stability
Draw a line in the sand so that you do not mix your personal finances with your business finances. Keep your personal and corporate accounts separate. This will not only allow you to save up for the future but shield you from corporate liabilities and debts.
Define a clear-cut role that you would play in the life of your business and pay yourself accordingly. Create a good financial plan for yourself. Doing this may be very tricky but you can always consult a financial planner or advisor. Many entrepreneurs are ignorant of their personal finances in this context and this usually ends up to be the ultimate reason why they go broke unexpectedly. Maintaining financial stability will protect you from liability and severe tax burden, as well as generate lucrative business leads.
Write down your financial and personal goals
Irrespective of whether your business does well or takes a longer time to get established, your life goals do not change their goal-post. If you are married with a child, you still need to plan for your child’s education. And have liquidity for those sudden medical expenses. It is therefore important that your personal goals have a Plan B in case things do not work out in your venture.
There you have it- 5 golden tips from the experts. With your personal finances organized and under control, your chances of business success will be even higher.
A successful business is all about striking a balance with your finances. Be smart, be frugal, and put your money into avenues which will lead you to the pastures green with success.
About the author:
Shruti Agrawal is passionate about helping individuals take better financial decisions and determined about embarking women on the journey towards financial independence. She pursued her bachelor’s degree from ST. Xavier’s, Kolkata in 2009 and went on to pursue an MBA in finance from the MDI, Gurgaon. She completed her CFA from the CFA Institute, USA alongside her MBA. With over 7 years of corporate experience across Strategy and Finance, Shruti found her calling in helping people get their heads around the right use for their money. At CAGRfunds, she is the brain behind the online platform and client relationship.
If you are going to start a new business, then there are lots of things that you should always keep in mind.
If you are going to start a new business, then there are lots of things that you should always keep in mind. Starting a new business is not a piece of cake, so it is important to pay equal attention to several factors. You should decide your business goals, and then you can achieve them with the help of making a good plan. You should take every step very carefully before going to establish a new business. It is really important to manage finance and many other aspects related to business.
With the help of paying proper attention to your plans, you can get success in establishing a business. Starting a new business is all about the right planning because many uneducated people are also running their businesses smoothly. First of all, you should decide whether you want to establish a small or large scale business. After this, you can take your next steps accordingly and get the desired success. Many people are still confused about how to start a new business. If you are also one of them, then you should follow some important tips that have been shared by experts.
To start a new business, you need to manage a lot of tasks at the same time. You need to make a good plan, and it is also important to follow it properly. There are many other things that you should do like evaluating the business idea, choosing the name of the company, etc. most of the people want to build an online presence of their brands and businesses. In this situation, it is also essential to design a quality website that will guide the customers for 24×7 and help them to know more about your business.
Prepare yourself
To make your business dreams a reality, you should make a lot of efforts. Well, it is not as simple as you think so you should pay proper attention to it. First of all, all you need to do is to complete the basic work and try to prepare yourself to move forward. While preparing yourself to start a business, you should analyze your business idea, and you can also consider the business idea of your competitors to get an idea. You should also check the type of products and services that are more in demand these days. After doing this, you can take your next steps with ease for your startup.
Try to understand your customers
Before going to start a new business, you should know about your customers. With the help of considering the needs and requirements of your customers, you can provide them better services. It will also make a good impact on sales as well as the profitability of your business. All you need to do is to build stronger relationships with your customers. By doing this, you can attract them to come back. When it comes to an understanding of your customers, you should analyze their needs and do the market research properly.
Make a business plan
With the help of knowing the needs of customers and getting some more information, the next thing you should do is to create a business plan. Many people are taking it lightly, which is not good. Everyone should pay proper attention while building a business plan. They should make the right use of time and other resources to create the best business plan. With the help of an effective plan, you can make complete the other steps with ease. With the help of a good plan, you can easily get success in achieving your objectives.
Business structure
After making a business plan, you should follow it and take the other steps very carefully. Before starting a business, it is essential to choose the right business structure. Well, there are mainly four business structures present to choose from, such as sole trader, partnership, trust, and a company. You should understand the various types of business structures, and then you can choose the right one for your business; you should make your choices wisely after doing the proper research about these various options.
Register the business name
The name of the business always plays an important role, so you should always choose it wisely to run your business smoothly. With the help of choosing the best name for your business, you can easily introduce it in front of your customers and the people from all around the world. After the selection of the right business name, the next step you should take it is to register it. If you are a sole trader or have a partnership firm, then it is up to you that you want to register your company name or not.
Registration and license
With the help of getting certificates and license regarding your business, you can achieve your goals much faster. Most of the people prefer to hire licensed and registered companies to avail quality services. There are various types of permits as well as certificates that you should get according to the type of business that you want to operate. With the help of getting registered or licensed, you can improve your chances of getting success in the future.
Business finance
After completing all the steps before starting your new business, one more thing you should do is to manage the finance. You should check out the various finance options available for you, and then you can pick the best one to get started. Most of the people always face various finance issues while starting a new business. To get rid of all these finance issues, you should visit libertylending.com or other similar websites. With the help of managing your business finance, you can operate your business smoothly.
Wrap it up
It is not easy to run a business in the competitive market, but you can make it possible with the help of right planning and other efforts. You should always follow the important tips carefully to achieve your business goals.
Usability testing isn’t a one-time thing. It should, therefore, be implemented to explore, assess, and compare the product.
Usability testing is a process used to evaluate a product, which in this case is your website or online store, by testing it on real users. Participants are asked to complete a number of tasks, while researchers watch, listen, and take notes. The aim of the test is to identify any usability problems, collect data, and make recommendations to help overcome the issues identified. Usability testing isn’t a one-time thing. It should, therefore, be implemented to explore, assess, and compare the product.
There are several types of usability testing methods used by QA companies, and they can all be broken down into:
● Moderated in-person: Here, tests are done in a specific location under specific conditions. The moderator guides the participant through the test while taking notes.
● Moderated remote: These tests are basically similar to the ones above, except they’re done remotely. The moderator and the participants are in different locations and have to rely on screen sharing software.
● Unmoderated remote: Instead of using moderators, these tests rely on online tools to help facilitate the sessions. They can come in handy if you want to collect a lot of data quickly, or you have dispersed users, or you’re looking for greater flexibility.
That being said, let’s take a look at some of the common usability testing methods out there:
1. Hallway Testing
This method uses random people to test a website, as opposed to choosing individuals who are trained and experienced in website testing. Hallway testing should be used to test a new website early on in product development.
2. Eye Tracking
Eye tracking tests are meant to determine where users are looking on your site, and in what order. Eye tracking software generates data using several useful features such as:
● Heatmaps: To track where participants move their mice
● Clickmaps: To track where they actually clip/tap
● Scrollmaps: Where users scroll to and how long they take to look around
The deeper the colour of the above features, the more the amount of time a user spent at that particular section of the screen. These tests aren’t the most rewarding when it comes to UX usability testing methods, but they still offer enough data to help pinpoint navigation issues.
3. A/B Testing
A/B testing is used when there’s a decision to be made regarding two versions of one product. For instance, you can create a similar landing page to the existing one, but with some variations like bullets in place of a text box, ‘Click here’ vs. ‘Sign up’, altered images, and so on. You’ll then have to test both samples against the same participants, at different times of the day. Data is then collected to determine which one experiences the most engagement. This is considered one of the best usability testing methods for websites looking to improve conversion rate. Ensure you request feedback, asking users why they preferred one version over the other. Ultimately, this testing method helps you create the best version of your product.
4. Problem Discovery
The goal here is to uncover and fix as many problems as possible. A number of users are asked to attempt a few tasks, during which you can discover the most common issues. The problems are then corrected to make the interface much easier to use. Problem discovery is mostly conducted using a moderated approach, allowing the moderator to really dig into the participants’ actions and utterances. It can still be conducted through the unmoderated approach, only if the participants think loud and agree to have their screens and webcams recorded. Problem discovery studies should be undertaken throughout product development.
5. Survey Testing
Surveys can be sent out to massive groups of people, making them one of the most convenient ways to collect a great amount of information on UX. They contain questions that address the desires and needs of users. On the downside, this type of testing doesn’t allow for the direct observation of UX. That’s why the survey questions need to be carefully thought out. You also need to have a defined purpose for testing in place and recruit participants who represent your potential users so as to get reliable data.
A closer look at some of the more common pitfalls of entrepreneurship, and how you can overcome them.
You’ll see many successful entrepreneurs and business owners talk about their road to success in interviews, on their professional profiles, and in the media in general. Rarely will you find a business owner talking that openly about their previous failures, of which there might as well be several, not just one. They’ll talk about what helped them reach their heights and share their finest tips on how you can do the same. However, sometimes it’s wiser to learn from the mistakes of others than to only focus on their greatest triumphs. After all, most of these victories were built on their previous failures.
So, let’s take a closer look at some of the more common pitfalls of entrepreneurship, and how you can overcome them, or preferably, prevent them while you’re building your own entrepreneurial empire. Of course, they are certainly not the only ones you’ll encounter, so make sure you learn as much as you can about the risks your specific niche comes with, so as to brace yourself properly for its challenges.
Not securing your cash flow
Unlike the entire budget for funding your marketing campaigns, brand development, and overall business strategizing, cash flow is the “live” money you need to have for everyday operations. It’s the money you pay your suppliers and your manufacturers, the money your customers pay for your products or services, that allows your company to stay liquid. In your rush to impress your customers or build relationships with suppliers, you might fail to negotiate a deal that enables you a steady flow of cash for your daily operations.
Now, in addition to traditional ways to secure cash flow, you can also look into other options such as invoice factoring that enable you to receive a regular influx of cash, and give your customers a more flexible timeframe for their payments. This prevents disruptions in running your business and allows you to invest the money in the most relevant sectors of business development.
Failing to understand your business model
Much like with everything else in life, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all for your business endeavours. If you’ve spoken to another entrepreneur and discovered that their specific model works wonders for them, don’t be too quick to assume that the same one will be optimal for your professional goals. Understanding, for example, what a franchise business definition entails can mean the difference between choosing a profitable franchise with a strong support system or investing in a less optimal opportunity. In the same manner, knowing what it takes to become a startup owner can help you establish if this is a good match for your business idea.
The former model allows you to work under an established brand and use the help and support from the management every step of the way. The latter, on the other hand, comes with that innovative excitement of delivering a unique solution to your customers’ issues. A partnership, on the other hand, could be the best way forward for you, especially if you cannot finance a solo endeavour at this point in time. Do your homework before you settle for a model, and talk to entrepreneurs with similar experiences to get a first-hand glimpse of each one.
Not creating a market-specific product
Some entrepreneurs simply want to please everyone. The truth is, you cannot possibly do that and be able to make your brand stand out in this beehive of a business crowd. Differentiating your brand by settling on a specific set of services or products you can offer is still a pivotal step in making sure you aren’t a jack of all trades in your industry. This also raises doubts when it comes to your expertise and experience, and reduces the credibility of your brand for the long haul. If your goal is to solve a particular problem, make sure you declare your goals in every aspect of your business.
Too wide of a target audience is as harmful as sticking to a very small pool of interested people. You can always expand your services or products once you earn your market’s trust for your initial offers. Until that day comes, make sure that you know precisely who your target customers are, what they want, and how you can deliver an exceptional product or service to help them enjoy their lives more.
Not ensuring proper funding
Unlike cash flow, funding problems are ones that can prevent you from either starting your business altogether, or they can cut your entrepreneurial journey short once you run out of funds to finance your strategy and service. Do you need engineers and developers as members of your staff? Can you pay for your office space? What about marketing? Before you even start talking to your potential crew, you need to make sure that there’s enough financial backing to your idea.
Go to investors, banks, and friends and family if need be, but talk to them with a strategic approach, a forecast for your profit, and plenty of ideas and plans as to how to execute your strategies to succeed. Every solid innovation and even powerful franchises require that initial capital that will help you launch your business. Do your research to see what sort of investments will be necessary to fund your idea, and of course, remember to build a contingency funding plan just in case the first one falls through.
You are bound to make mistakes on your way to building a successful business. However, make sure to prevent some of these most common and most harmful errors of judgement that might drive the entire project to the ground.
Keith Coppersmith is a business and marketing expert who has experienced both the rise and fall of many businesses. As a regular contributor at BizzmarkBlog, he enjoys writing and providing insight of the marketing industry based on both practice and theory.
With the growing popularity of social media, it is only important that everyone should join LinkedIn for a broader network and the benefits they offer.
LinkedIn is a popular social networking site for professionals and is slowly catching up to become one of the most popular employee hunting grounds for almost all big companies and MNCs. With the growing popularity of social media, it is only important that everyone should join LinkedIn for a broader network and the benefits they offer:
1. A lot of users
With a huge population of professionals of over 350 million people, LinkedIn is the biggest social networking. LinkedIn has a very active crowd which is the reason for its popularity. Having a LinkedIn profile shows that you are career oriented and people are researching you. Recruiters are often looking for a pool of talented professionals.
2. Building connections and relationships
Because the user base of LinkedIn is so huge, it helps in establishing networks and connections with professionals all over the world. It helps you grow and connects with people from your profession and other professionals as well. Entrepreneurs can also look to meet venture capitalists and build relationship via this diverse social media platform.
3. Well connected to Google
LinkedIn and Google are almost best friends because the first thing that shows up while googling a person is their LinkedIn profile. Because Google is considered so reliable, people often check out your LinkedIn profile before any other social media profiles. Google adds immense credibility to your LinkedIn account and helps professionals from diverse fields find you.
4. Promote yourself via LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great platform if one can use it well to promote themselves in the best possible way. If you’re good at spotting recruiters via social media, you can always connect to them via LinkedIn which will show them your work experience and achievements in the best possible way. Build connections with the necessary people but at the same time, try and remain credible and reliable. This eventually leads to personal branding.
It is not just hard work which you need to put in to become an entrepreneur.
We’ve often heard that hard work is what will get you where you want to be. However, it is not just hard work which you need to put in to become an entrepreneur. Instead, it is a combination of factors along with hard work which is the true reason for entrepreneurial success.
Here are 7 reasons why you need to put in more than just hard work to succeed as an entrepreneur:
1. Hard work doesn’t come up with a kick-ass idea
Hard work begins only after you have a brilliant idea which is innovative, out-of-the-box and appeals to the masses. No amount of hard work can boost your creativity to come up with an idea in an instance. An idea might come to you randomly or with some inspiration but hard work is certainly not the way to get one.
2. Entrepreneurship requires team effort
Hard work isn’t enough to succeed as an entrepreneur because it isn’t a one-man show. It is a collaborative team effort and you’re doomed if you’ve hired the wrong guys. No matter how hard-working you are, you might have to slow down for your team members to catch up and then, continue working as a team.
Some people are creative while some aren’t; no amount of hard work will make you as creative as the other person. You can look for inspiration which comes from within or the surroundings but putting in mindless hours of hard work won’t make you a creative person.
4. Earning money
In order to earn more money as an entrepreneur, one needs to be smart and take good decisions instead of slogging like a donkey. Hard work is necessary but what is more important is to apply it the correct places for maximum productivity and output. If you can earn 500$ in 5 hours, why put in 10 hours to earn the same money?
Just because you work for 20 hours a day doesn’t mean you can compete with people who’ve been in the scene for 20 years. No amount of hard work can match up to experience and it is only the latter which can help you make quick yet balanced decisions for your company.
6. You can’t kill competition with hard work
You competitors might be better than you because they have a more evolved idea and better investors. You need to buck up on those fronts rather than just adding hours to your work schedule. Hence, for an entrepreneur, it is necessary to strategise well and come up with a plan which informs you about the shortcomings you need to work on.
This is the worst thing you can do to yourself. Just because you work very hard doesn’t mean that you have the opportunity to ignore everything else. Instead, it is important to take breaks and spend time with loved ones so you can remain more focused on your work and eliminate the chances of emotional burnout.
This article doesn’t demean the importance of hard work in any way. All it says that an entrepreneur shouldn’t mindlessly put hours of work which might go for a waste. Instead, one should be smart and try to gain maximum benefits and success from the time one actually devotes to a task.
