growth hacks

5 tips to build a solid online presence

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have gained massive popularity and it is important for a venture to be active on these platforms for an extensive influence

In the modern day, all businesses are going digital and are engaging in a race to build a strong online presence. The reason one should have online popularity is because it is easier to target your audience online and it serves a base for a huge outreach. With the growth of social media, having strong online presence has become a necessity. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have gained massive popularity and it is important for a venture to be active on these platforms for an extensive influence.

Here are some ways in which one can build a strong online presence:

1. Great content is the way to woo your TG

Attention span in the digital era has considerably reduced and you have very less time to actually grasp the attention of your audience, so, your article or video needs to be packed with entertaining yet informative content. Also, platforms like Twitter have only 140 characters so the content needs to be crisp and attention-grasping.

Great content packed with keywords and information also leads to better search engine results of your company.

2. Branding is the way to go

In an era, where your venture is capable of becoming a brand; you’d be stupid not to adopt branding. A combination of a logo of various colours, tagline, font, style, ads etc helps you brand your product/service. This ensures higher recall and better recognition of your brand.

Almost all e-commerce sites are branding themselves such as Myntra, Flipkart, Amazon, Shopclues, Romwe etc. This increases the value of the offering and also helps the customers associate themselves with the product or service being offered. Hence, to build a strong online presence, branding is crucial.

3. Track your analytics

One can use various SEO told such as Google analytics, Followerwonk, Google Panda, Iconosquare etc to measure the performances of your brand individually and in comparison with other brands in the same market. It gives you a fair idea of important metrics such as engagement, new users, users who have left popularity etc. These tools are mostly free but charge nominal fares for a premium version.

Also, tracking your analytics gives you a fair idea of what strategies are working and what tactics need to be worked upon. These analytics also give you a clear idea as to what time your audience is online so that you can engage them better.

4. Keep up with the dynamic trends

The digital world is dynamic and the trends keep changing and one needs to constantly evolve with them. You might want to put up a kick-ass article but you can’t be uploading only one in weeks; your target audience demands more than that. Videos on Vine and Vimeo are catching up steadily and all brands can definitely tap the video market. Also, not to fall behind, one should understand how hashtags work and not use them for the sake of using.

To be updated about the on-going trends, an entrepreneur needs to keep researching and monitoring the inclinations of the virtual world.

5. Engage your audience

It is not sufficient to just gain a huge base of followers, you need to constantly engage them and keep them interested in your venture. If this step is not implemented properly, users will switch to other products and brands. Social media is the best way to create engagement online. Through hilarious and informative posts, videos, dubsmashes, pictures, articles etc, one can easily captivate the audiences.

For instance, through their varied content, pages like Scoopwhoop and Storypick keep their audiences engrossed via Facebook.

You don’t have to be omnipresent in the digital world but make sure you deliver and keep the Target audiences interested and in the process, increase your growth.

10 online tracking tools every small business and startup should start using now

Tracking your webmetrics, social media followers, leads, conversions and impressions is essential to record the growth or fall.

Tracking your web metrics, social media followers, leads, conversions and impressions is essential to record the growth or fall. If there is an acceptable growth, you should continue with the same strategy whereas if there’s a decline, you need to change your strategy.

Here are a few tracking tools every small business and startup should start using:

1. Google analytics

The most popular web analytics tool, Google Analytics does a brilliant job at providing you with data about your users’ demographics, the kind of websites they use and also where they are from. The data acquired from this tool is completely reliable and the best part about this tool is that it is absolutely free of cost.

2. Social mention

This tool is one of the most popular tools to track your social media progress. It is an easy to use tool which lets you learn your brand’s strength and the number of times it has been mentioned and discussed on social media. This tool also lets you know about the latest hashtags and keywords in the social media circuit.

3. Clicky

Currently, Clicky is gaining more and more popularity on web analytics front due to the amazing features they offer. The best part about Clicky is that it gives you data in real-time so that you don’t have to wait to receive information about the traffic on your website. Clicky is very easy to install and offers Twitter Search Tracking which helps you monitor twitter tags, keywords and retweets.

4. ChartBeat

This is an app priced at $9.95/month but is a must-have for every publisher who needs every detail about the website. This tool gives you real-time data and also tells you how people are interacting with your content. In addition to that, this tool has a brilliant user interface and gives insights as to how users are sharing your content.

5. Alexa

Alexa has a free tool which most websites use to find out the current ranking. All you need to do is write your website’s name and the tool will give you the ranking based on your country and globally. A more advanced version can be purchased by paying a nominal amount.

6. Mint

This tool is a tough competitor to Google analytics because it extensively tracks basic statistics like referrals, searches, popular pages, and traffic trends. It has a brilliant interface with a one-time cost structure ($30). It tells you about the total visitors and the most viewed content. The bird feeder feature is brilliant as it measures feed subscriptions trends and clicks through for each item.

7. Hootsuite

Another social media measuring tool which lets you monitor brand conversations accurately. This tool helps you be up-to-date with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. All you need to do is craft a stream that matches your keyword. There are free, pro and enterprise versions of the tool available.

8. Woopra

This tool is priced from$0-$199 depending on how big your website is. It allows you to measure customer engagement in real time and monitor more than just one website at the same time. The best features of this tool are the live chat and the fact that it lets you track blog posts, comments, and searches through its WP plug-in.

9. Google content experiments

This is a free tool for testing and optimizing your site and is free of cost. Google Content Experiments lets you see how two different versions of a web page perform so you can optimize your site. It also looks after the heavy lifting regarding analyzing the data and lets you know which version of your website is the best and more likely to engage customers.

10. GrapeWeb statistics

This is a free program which helps you learn about the accurate number of website visitors and the referrals. It is easy to use with PHP or HTML and offers basic metrics. It is a must-have tool for webmasters who just want simple analytics. The only drawback is that you’ll have to install and host the tool yourself.

That one essential thing your start-up depends on

One needs to be absolutely sure that the idea is feasible and has chances of gaining success

It is very important to take into consideration one aspect before you start up and that is validation of your idea.
Validating the idea you want your start-up to be based around means verifying, ratifying and substantiating you idea before actually taking putting your idea into action.

Validation is necessary because entrepreneurship and development of an idea requires immense amount of time and effort because something could actually materialise. So, if one is investing so much into an idea, one needs to be absolutely sure that the idea is feasible and has chances of gaining success without which the whole venture will head to a failure. Also, validation of the idea is crucial for you to plan for the future.

You can gain a clear idea about the demand for the product or the service, your target audience and also your future expansion plans.

Sample batch:

It is always better to do a thorough market research about your product is going to be received in the market. If the response is more on the positive end, you can be assured that it’s a great idea and will work out well where as if the idea fails with 4 out 5 people from your sample, it is doomed to be a failure with most of them. For this, you need to be careful about selecting your target group and presenting the idea to them as well.

Your friends or colleagues can also serve as great sources of validation. If you look up to someone or are being mentored by someone, they can also serve as validation.

This sample test will also give you much needed insights about your product and help you understand what customers demand thereby giving you a chance to make your product better.

Related post: Strategic marketing tips for startups

Self-validation:

For an entrepreneurial success, it is essential that the entrepreneur believes in his/her product and is able to stand up for it because if the maker is not confident, s/he is not in a position to convince others.

Hence, as an entrepreneur, you need to be cent percent sure about your product entirely.

6 ways to bounce back after experiencing a failure

In case of a failure, instead of being depressed, one should try and work harder to make things better again

An entrepreneur’s life isn’t a smooth sail. The path to achieving success is etched with difficulties and stress and might lead to failure in some occasions. An entrepreneur is bound to feel pessimism and annoyance when something doesn’t work out. An entrepreneur is always under a lot of stress due to professional and family life because he needs take risks and make sure the risks work. But what happens when the risks don’t work?

Every great entrepreneur has experienced hopelessness and helplessleness when an idea hasn’t worked out because one has put their time and efforts into making it work. However, the outcomes of a decision are not something an entrepreneur can control. A major part of success or failure is dependent on luck and how well the customers receive your product or service. Thus, in case of a failure, instead of being depressed, one should try and work harder to make things better again. Because failure is a part of life and more importantly a stepping stone to success, one must embrace it just like success.

Here are 6 ways in which an entrepreneur can bounce back after experiencing failure:

1. Don’t forget your ambition

There is a reason why you started a particular venture and one roadblock isn’t enough to deter you from achieving success in life. Hard work isn’t easy but you must be willing to put in your everything especially after the little hiccup. Once, you decide to learn from your mistakes and start putting in your best, no one can stop you from achieving what you want to.

All you need to do is be focused on your end goal and work hard towards it.

2. Approach work perseverance

Be ready to bounce back and not be thrown down by failures just like real fighters do. When a fighter falls, he gets back up again and fights like his life depends on it.

Similarly, an entrepreneur needs to adopt the attitude of a winner and consider these failures as the falls which one experiences before a greater victory. Be zealous and pumped with confidence while working towards your goal, and nothing can stop you.

3. Acknowledge failures

To defeat failure for the second time, you need to accept it as a part of your journey because it is as important as success. If you are afraid of taking risks because it might lead to failure, you are jeopardizing a whole venture. Thus, embrace failure and extract the important lessons and then you can work a way to defeat it the next time.

4. Build on your long-term goal

If you were hoping to succeed immediately after starting a venture, you need to change your expectations immediately. An e-commerce company which does well needs 3 years to reach the break-even point.

However, while you’re working hard, it is necessary to never lose vision of the long term goal. Take the failure as an foundation and you can work up decisions from there on.

5. Evaluate the previous gains

If the failure has affected you severely, making a list of previous success is something which might motivate you. In this way, you’ll be focusing on the positive aspects and not the negatives and this change of attitude will help your achieve your aim in life.

While evaluating the success list ask yourself some basic questions like- What lessons have I derived out of this gain? The small awards? Each client who has been affected positively because of you?

6. Don’t be too hard on yourself

Failures are difficult to deal with which is why you require enough time to grieve over them. Give yourself some mourning time as watching something you put your heart and soul into crumble isn’t easy. But the trick here is to set a limit.

After the time limit is over, do not think about the failure even once or let it affect your present work. This helps you accept failure as a mentor and move forward.

Failure is a part of one’s life and is as important as success. So, the sooner we accept it and commit to working harder, the better it is for us.

Image credit: www.huffingtonpost.com

7 tips you must follow for a successful entrepreneurial life

All successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Henry Ford were successful because they put in their life’s efforts to make their big idea work

A lot of people chase success in their lives and leave it on destiny to make them succeed. What they forget is that to be successful, it is absolutely important to be hard working and come up with new ideas. Also, maintaining a disciplined life is essential for gaining success. All successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Henry Ford were successful because they put in their life’s efforts to make their big idea work.

Here are seven tips you could follow to gain success in entrepreneurial life:

1. Have a vision

This might seem like a apparent thing to do but a lot of people forget this initial yet crucial step. It is important to set your goals and the path by which you would achieve the goal because if there is no goal, what are you even doing? The visualisation of success will help you remain more positive and focused and because you’re focused, your hard work will get you there quicker. Along the way, you’ll be amazed to see how you can take simple ideas and convert them into big achievements.

2. Have a routine

Waking up at 12 pm and working till 5 am might seem feasible but it definitely isn’t a healthy routine. Because an entrepreneur is always under so much stress, his health shouldn’t be compromised upon. You should wake up early and have proper meals to keep yourself energised for the day. Also, try and exercise thrice a week to keep your health in proper shape. Once, you are healthy you are able to focus and work better which is important for your success.

3. Overcome the barriers

As mentioned before, an entrepreneur’s life isn’t a smooth sail. It has its ups and downs and there’ll be many barriers that cause hindrances in your path. However, you should be determined and try and work out a solution for each barrier. The biggest obstacle is the one you set for yourself and it can be overcome only when you decide to test your inner strength and decide to defeat it. Also, as long as you don’t give up, the barrier can be beaten.

4. Keep your mind and body in good shape

You can’t work hard if your body and mind don’t cooperate. Try and take breaks between long stretches of work and do something constructive like watch movies, read a book etc which will keep you inspired to work harder with a fresh mind. Also, as mentioned before, an entrepreneur needs to engage in some sort of physical activity because it is essential for your body to support you in your endeavours.

5. If things aren’t going your way, don’t be disheartened

The road to success isn’t a plain road; it is full of hurdles and potholes. There will be many obstacles that will come in your way and you’ll be tempted to give up at many points. However, you should rely on hope and your hard work and not lose it no matter what. If you lose hope, you lose half of the battle. In the end, because of your hope and inner strength, you will be able to overcome all obstacles and emerge stronger.

6. Use your time wisely

Time is a wonderful gift and might turn out to be your worst enemy if not utilised sensibly. As an entrepreneur, you have a million tasks and you need to manage your time wisely in order to gain fruits out of you hard labour. Make a list of the tasks you need to do in a day and complete the most important tasks first, followed by the less important ones. However, if you think some tasks aren’t very important, you can delegate it to your team.

7. Be patient

No entrepreneur became successful overnight; a lot of hard work and perseverance has gone in to becoming a successful human being. Patience is an important virtue every entrepreneur needs to have and practice for success. At times, you will see your venture failing and decisions not bearing success, but you need to be patient and wait for your idea to click.

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8 beneficial social media marketing tools every company should use

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram etc have proved to be the best to promote products or services.

Social media marketing is an important form of marketing for all ventures today as the audiences on social media are growing and sharing content on the platforms is a good way to make people aware about products and services. Social media marketing allows a marketer to target his audience and keep them engaged for a long time. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram etc have proved to be the best to promote products or services.

Here are 8 social media tools a marketer could use:

1. PostPlanner

PostPlanner is an app built in Facebook which allows free flow of your strategy without hindrances. It offers a dashboard which allows you to manage and increase the value of your Facebook page or group. PostPlanner also gives you a list of status ideas, access to the most viral posts on Facebook and insights on trending content based on your industry.

2. Followerwonk

Through this brilliant tool, you can find analyse the growth of your followers on Twitter. Along with that, it gives you a fair idea of your follower demographics for more comprehensive understanding and lets you know what time they’re online at so that you can tweet accordingly. Also, if most of your followers are online at one time, you get an idea of when to engage them in a discussion with the use of this tool.

3. Inforgr.am

This tool allows to make simple yet very professional and great-looking charts or graphs of various infographics. The free version of this tool allows to you to choose from various designs and embed the infographics onto your website. To down the infographic, you need to use the paid version.

4. Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo is a very handy and cool tool which all social media marketer need to know about and use. This tool gives you all the information about “most shared content and the key influencers” on social media. There’s a free and a paid version of this tool. The paid version allows you to export data and access domain reports.

5. Bit.ly

Bit.ly is a very important and handy social media tool which allows marketers to shorten URLs. They can take a long URL and shorten it into something remembrable and more feasible for platforms like Twitter which allow 140 characters. Also, Bit.ly allows you to see how many times the link has actually been clicked on and from which network platform.

6. Iconosquare

Iconosquare is a useful tool on instagram which helps the marketer to analyse the followers’ statistics. Through this tool, they can learn about the followers’ engagement as well as track lost and new followers on Instagram.

7. Tagboard

Hashtags are a huge phenomenon on social media currently. Tagboard is a hashtag-based search engine that lets you monitor mentions and related content on all platforms. If you have a custom hashtag for your venture, all you need to do is register it on Tagboard and add a description. When anyone uses Tagboard to search your hashtag, your description and image will pop up immediately.

8. BulkBuffer

BulkBuffer is a brilliant tool one needs to know to use if they’re uploading content in bulk on the platforms as it allows you to upload a huge load of content without any hassle. For weekly schedules or videos to be uploaded with minimal ease, BulkBuffer is the way to go.

9. PosterMyWall

PosterMyWall is a simple, end-to-end solution for social media marketers that helps them promote their brand effortlessly, efficiently and affordably by creating eye-catching social media graphics using its free online editor in minutes. Not just that, you can repurpose your social media graphics by resizing each design into as many different sizes as needed in a single click with the free Resize button. Once all your content is ready, you can directly publish your designs to your Facebook or Twitter pages without even leaving the platform, or even better, upgrade to the Premium plan and schedule all your posts at once.

Image credit: sellorelse.ogilvy.com

Simple ways to upgrade your business

Expansion is definitely taxing but the fruits borne are definitely satisfying

A business is not a self-growing entity; to optimize it, a lot of revamping efforts are required to be put in by the entrepreneur. Expansion is definitely taxing but the fruits borne are definitely satisfying. The objective of an entrepreneur is to work smart and not clock in futile hours. Also, with minimal efforts and devotion to the business, one can easily chart out expansion plans and do away with inefficiencies and wastefulness.

Here are three simple ways to optimize and upgrade your business:

1. Extraordinary management

A lot of experts would beg to differ but by simply clocking in long hours, one cannot optimize his/her business. The time devoted to the cause should be utilised in an efficient and competent manner. An entrepreneur needs to be an able manager and be able to pin-point things that need to be worked upon. Also, a smart manager knows that it isn’t possible to do everything alone which is why he builds a team of dedicated individuals who are experts in their areas and work in accordance with the entrepreneur. The most important tasks should be undertaken by the entrepreneur first and the rest can be delegated.

It is also important for an entrepreneur to be able to manage finances because they’re necessary for growth. Even with solid investors, if the money isn’t pumped into the right places, the business can turn out to be a failure. Allocation of funds to the departments and causes which are immediate should be done first. Also, profits made by the company should be constantly pumped in for the sake of growth.

An entrepreneur should also be able to forecast trends and manage his business plan accordingly. To become a successful manager, research and awareness are crucial. Good management will allow your business to run smoothly and chart out better strategies for the future.

2. Improved communication

In the modern day, forms of communication are growing but still a lot of stuff remains miscommunicated. Circulation of important information is a great way to make the employees feel more empowered and to make sure that everyone is well informed. Communication is very necessary because without communication, delegation of work, charting out strategies and pitching to Venture Capitalists isn’t possible. Internal communication between the employees is cardinal because without it, there might be long lasting internal disputes which are bound to hamper the growth of the company.

Communicating with the customers is a fundamental aspect of setting up a business. Dissatisfied customers can teach you a lot about what needs to be improved where as good feedback serves as great morale boost. Almost all companies set up Facebook pages and complain forums for customers’ complaints to be addressed.

For instance, Amazon has a wonderful customer service forum and through prompt e-mails they communicate with their customers and solve issues, doubts or problems.

3. Take bigger risks

Like it has been said before, doing business isn’t possible without risks. If your venture is doing well, why not take a bigger risk? If it turns out to be a hit, it’ll generate more success where as if it doesn’t work put, you can learn from it and never repeat your mistakes.

As an entrepreneur, don’t be afraid to explore new opportunities; it will only prove to be a smart or a miscalculated one. If you think you have a great idea, go forth with it and it might just turn out to be the best thing for your business.

Image credit: www.onlinesmoviehollywood.com

4 action tips which will help you be triumphant in life

An entrepreneur knows the actions needed to take in order to be a more successful person

Reaching the end goal isn’t comprised of a few big leaps, instead, it is journey of several small steps which help you get there. You might think a big marketing idea might double your profits, but if the basics aren’t clear and set, your whole venture could result in failure. An entrepreneur knows the actions s/he needs to take in order to be a more successful person.

4 Motivational action tips to become successful are:

1. Clear vision and a reasonable purpose of action

An entrepreneur should have a vision for his innovative idea and a goal for his/her business. If there are no targets or aims to fulfill, what is the point of your venture? Without a target, you can’t be productive or measure your productivity levels.

Hence, one should have an articulated vision and a defined goal which needs to be communicated to the whole team properly so that everyone’s on the same page. This enables unity and coordination amongst the team as everyone works to towards a set and defined goal.

2. Drive and momentum

Drive and momentum are two most difficult things to achieve but they’re absolutely crucial for your business. You need to constantly keep going as the markets are dynamic and your static business won’t really gain you anything. Start taking small but confident steps towards you goal and you will find the process to be much easier than you expected it to be.

Also, if you feel demotivated or feel things aren’t going in your favour, take a small break from work and do things you like. This will help clear your mind and refresh the drive. Once, you have gained the much required momentum, nothing can stop you from achieving what you want to. Also, it is very important to keep this drive alive in your team as well.

3. Motivation

An entrepreneur constantly needs motivation in life to keep pushing forward and achieving his end goal. However, this might be very difficult when one is clocking long hours and is bogged down by work.

But, one can aspire to and find motivation in simple things. Reading a great book or watching an inspirational movie like the Pursuit of Happiness or Rocket Singh will motivate him to achieve his goals and focus on them better.

Stop being pessimistic and focusing only on the negatives, instead, you should be focused on the happier and more successful elements that’ll help you succeed in life. Yoga and meditation can help you greatly with being optimistic.

4. Be intrepid and spunky

The worst thing an entrepreneur can do is be afraid- to take risks, lead a team, expand a venture or anything else. Your decisions are either going to work or fail. If they work, you are going to benefit greatly from them and if they don’t, you need to pull yourself and start again. At least, you’ll be aware of the mistakes you shouldn’t be making for the second time.

The markets are constantly evolving and it is essential for an entrepreneur to be innovative and spunky because you can’t keep revamping an old idea and living your life on it. New innovations are appreciated and will help you become more successful.

Image credit: huffingtonpost.com

6 ways to become a mentally strong person

For an entrepreneur to keep pushing forward and achieving his goal further needs to be a very mentally tough person.

It is a known fact that an entrepreneur doesn’t have it easy. Amidst the kaleidoscope of risk-taking, organising, managing and constantly innovating, it is very common for an entrepreneur to have a mental breakdown. However, an entrepreneur to keep pushing forward and achieving his goal further needs to be a very mentally tough person.

Climbing the corporate ladder and still looking after a team might seem taxing but the fruits achieved out of the hard labour are definitely rewarding.

Here are a few ways in which one can become a mentally strong person:

1. Be happy for others

“Dost first aaye toh bahut dukh hota hai”, stands true for the Indian crowd. It is very easy to envy and rant about co-workers who are doing well for themselves. But, this kind of attitude is just unhealthy and is getting you nowhere. Competition is a reality and to get to the winning spot, you need to work harder than before. The more you hate people, the more negativity you preach.

Also, try and congratulate your peers on their success and learn the tricks of trade from them. Their mistakes could teach you a lot about business.

2. Learn to give feedback to yourself

Don’t wait for validation from others regarding everything in life. If you think an idea is good enough, go ahead with it. Your belief and validation are all that counts. If you think you did well and believe aren’t getting praised enough, don’t feel bad. Instead, buck up and try and make yourself feel better. You are your own critique and use that power to the maximum.

3. Discontentment and whining will get you nowhere

As an entrepreneur, you need to accept that life is never fair and not everything is going to work out in your favour. And, whining about an unfavourable situation isn’t going to get you anywhere. You’ve chosen your life, so why not try and use time more constructively and not whine about things not going your way.

You need to learn to be positive and accept everything that comes your way. The challenge might seem complicated but a fresh and focused approach is bound to do wonders.

4. A calm and composed approach is essential

In the hustle bustle of a busy life, it is very easy to get bogged down with heaps of work and lose your composure. Screaming at employees will just dampen their spirits and cause rifts in the internal situation. A serene approach to important matters is the key to succeeding. If you think things aren’t going your way, take a deep breath and begin again.

If you’re a naturally hot-headed person, try practicing yoga or meditate daily for a composed inner self.

5. Do not forecast results

Mentally strong people never make the mistake of forecasting results as soon as a decision is made. What is even worse is that some people already think of an idea as a failure before thinking of the possibilities of making it work. If you dwell on the idea that it is not going to work, it probably won’t. Instead, if you put in efforts and try to make it work, you might actually succeed.

Hence, predicting negative or unfavourable outcomes is dangerous and partly why your end result is a failure.

6. Money isn’t everything

Earning money is essential for survival but your life shouldn’t revolve around how much earn. As an entrepreneur, you should value the growth and achievements of your company more than the profits you are making. It is easy to earn money but what’s the use if you aren’t getting job satisfaction out of earning that money.

You chose entrepreneurship for freedom and because you love what you do. Once you work with dedication and sincerity, money is bound to pour in. Pump back these profits into your company and watch it grow with pride.

Image credit: lifehack.org

5 lessons for leaders who are just starting out

An entrepreneur needs to be a great leader to motivate his team and make them work as a single entity towards a common goal

In the past we’ve come across some great leader all budding entrepreneurs could learn valuable lessons from. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi were able to mobilise the population of a whole country and made them unite against a common enemy, the British. The movement penetrated down to the peasants who revolted against the British malpractices and in the end, India gained independence.

In the entrepreneurial world, we’ve seen various great leaders such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Binny and Sachin Bansal etc. An entrepreneur needs to be a great leader to motivate his team and make them work as a single entity towards a common goal.

However, not all entrepreneurs are born leaders so here are lessons which will help them emerge as great leaders:

1. Almost all leaders are self taught

There is so course or college which teaches leadership skills. Management teaches the major aspects of leadership but cannot make a leader out of you. Moreover, everyone’s style of leadership is different which is why it’s best if you teach yourself and find your way.

Some leaders are empathetic, while most are a combination of sternness and empathy. You need to find how you want to be perceived and try and learn from leaders who inspire you.

2. Delegation is an art

It delegation might seem like the easiest thing to do but it actually is an art. Delegation doesn’t simply mean handing over tasks to people who are accomplished in their fields. You actually need to find people who you believe are appropriate for the company and hire them. It is a huge responsibility because you trust them with the company’s vision. For instance, if you want an advertiser to make an ad for a product, you are handing him the responsibility of how your product will be perceived by customers.

Thus, it is a huge task and needs to be done well.

3. Keep learning

As a leader, it is also essential to be able to accept criticism and learn constantly because it might be your first time as well. A leader needs to be a good listener because only then can he work out strategies and make his employees feel more empowered and involved in the whole process. An employee in your company might be more experienced and have a brilliant idea and if an entrepreneur lets ego come in his way, he will be losing out on an opportunity of making his company succeed. Hence, it is important to be open to suggestions and be objective about them.

Related post: Things to do to grow your business

4. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

You’re just starting out so you’re bound to make mistakes. Don’t be afraid to make them because mistakes are our best teachers. We learn valuable and important lessons from them. Also, don’t be afraid to let your team members take risks in terms of the venture because that will help them learn and excel in their respective fields as well.

5. Try servant leadership

While servant leadership is a timeless concept, the phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay, Greenleaf said:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

A servant leader focuses more on the growth aspect of the company and even though he’s more powerful than others, he puts his employees’ well-being above all else.

Related Post: How to get better at leadership?

Image credit: motivacionyliderazgo.info

5 things to make sure of before you establish a startup

Here are few things entrepreneurs need to take care of before setting up their startup.

Start-ups can be tricky and caught in a haze of competition after the initiation if proper precautions aren’t taken. However, like other businesses, even a start-up requires different things at different points and it is the entrepreneur’s duty to make sure that all the requisites are met. However, it might be the first time for an entrepreneur as well and s/he might need guidance as well.

Never ignore things that you think can mess with the image of your company. If something is absolutely necessary, the entrepreneur should make sure that the start-up has it.

Here are 5 things entrepreneurs need to take care of:

1. Analyse the risks

It is crucial for an entrepreneur to analyse the risks before venturing into any market and actually setting up a start-up. The industry one is venturing in might be targeting only a niche audience which means lesser demand and this could lead to the company fizzling out due to less orders. One needs to take calculated risks and create back-up options for better functioning of a start-up.

2. Do your market research well

Always do your research extensively about the market you’re going to venture into, the competitors and customers’ responses through surveys. This will help in gaining better business insights and also come handy while expanding the business. Without proper research in place, you can end up making incorrect assumptions and hasty decisions which can be harmful for your venture.

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3. Have a proper Business plan

A business plan is important for any business as it contains information about the company, the team, industry, risks, the marketing plan and the financial plan. Internally, it’ll help the start-up in being more organised and an entrepreneur can keep a track of goals that are accomplished. Externally, it’s easier to get loans from banks, show to VCs and build strategic alliances if you have a proper business plan.

4. Get legal advice

You might think that a business plan is enough to establish a company but there are certain rules and regulations one needs to keep in mind and follow. There are many Government regulated bodies and statutory bodies looking after stuff like patents, copyrights, taxes etc. To be aware of the rules existing in your sector, it is important to hire a lawyer and have his expert advice before starting-up.

5. Set aside a budget for marketing

Marketing and advertising is very important in today’s day and time and the way you market your venture can make or break it. It is absolutely crucial to have a marketing plan which helps you reach out to your target audience better. And, for these plans to work, one needs to set aside a certain budget. An entrepreneur also needs to decide what tactics and channels of marketing he’ll be using- social media, websites, ads on Facebook/Google, billboard advertising etc.

Happy starting up!

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3 important qualities to hike sales results for your startup

All start-ups, companies, brands and services hope to increase sales for higher profits

With everything necessary in place, sales need to boom for a business to become more successful. All startups, companies, brands and services hope to increase sales for higher profits. For higher sales, people invest relentlessly in marketing and social media which are undoubtedly important, but, tend to miss out on more important qualities. However, there are certain qualities which are very important if one wants to increase sales:

1. Flexibility

A startup needs to display an easy-to-work-with nature which is very necessary for the company to grow. If people find your product or service to be flexible, they’re more likely to buy from you. A customer can make out through the services offered if his money and time is worth the investment by the sales pitch that is made to them.

For instance, Ola offers night-time services during peak hours with a nominal added charge which displays their flexibility in timing while offering you varied services.

2. Integrity and good-natured people often take the cake

Customers will prefer a good-natured startup over one which refuses to interact at all. They find it easier to adapt to a brand which is friendly and jolly. Also, integrity is very important to the customer. In case, a sales person is unable to address a query, the customer is not very willing to buy a brand the employees are unsure of. Customers also believe committed people are more likely to provide better after-sales and customer services.

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3. Patience

If you’ve set up a startup today, you can’t expect it to bear you fruits the next day. You need to be patient and willing to wait for customers to pour in and word of mouth to build slowly. In that time, you should apply a pull strategy to try and pull your target group towards your offering. Also, an entrepreneur should make sure to know how to deal with a detour or a roadblock and get back on track in no time.

Example: Sale of Maggi was banned; as soon as it was re-launched, Nestle’s PR team did a brilliant job to push sales and the results were evident.

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The new startup mantra: “learn, try, fail, and repeat”

What if Steve Jobs never created Apple? What if Bill Gates decided to keep his Microsoft idea to himself?

“Change is the only constant” is repeatedly taught to us as children and this stands true for one’s professional life as well. We are often caught in a world of possibilities where there are a million options to explore. So, while one is unsatisfied with the current positioning in life and wants to jump from one level to another, the most sensible thing to do is have an extended period of deep learning.

Earlier, even to switch from one thing to the other, people preferred learning the tricks and dos and don’ts while trying to master the craft. They underwent periods of intense study which was known as an “apprenticeship”. However, people now have realised the worth of practical application and hands-on which are the two times when a person can actually master the craft. Through trial and error methods, one can learn everything there is to.
For instance, a journalist learns about beats and stringers during his job. The practicalities and presence of mind cannot be taught in theory.

This system of trial and error consists of four major steps:
– learn
– try
– fail
– repeat

This method cannot be taught to an individual theoretically. One has to actually go out and do what s/he likes to. By no means, will it be easy in the beginning. Even after one tries really hard, one is likely to fail. This shouldn’t deter an individual from trying again and again. In fact, to achieve success, one has to encounter failure because of the invaluable results it holds. A true understanding of any task can come only from practical application. Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the light bulb failed over 1000 times before actually inventing the bulb. He claims that whilst most people would look at it as over 900 failures, he sees it as learning 900 ways a light bulb could never work. Two things everyone can learn from Edison are to keep trying and seek the positive points and to never give up.

We need to understand that successful people do not achieve everything overnight. There is a lot of hard work and determination that goes into such achievements. This mantra can be applied to entrepreneurs as well. If you think you have a brilliant and completely innovative idea, instead of closeting it, you should be embracing it and trying to make it work. The process of the idea materialising into a successful product or service will be challenging from looking for VCs to marketing but the end result will definitely be satisfying.

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If one never tries, the regret will linger on forever as your idea could have been the one which changed the world. What if Ford never tried out his concept of assembly line? What if Steve Jobs never created Apple? What if Bill Gates decided to keep his Microsoft idea to himself?

The leaps that great entrepreneurs took are what led them to success. Similarly, you need to believe in your idea and yourself to make it work. Going out there and actually trying to change the world is what will count after you achieve success. If it doesn’t work, you can try again; if you don’t want to, you can always draw life lessons from it. You should always keep in mind “One who never tries has already failed”.

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