Bookmarks (42)

    The field of digital marketing is constantly changing as new technologies become available and consumers come to expect more from the brands they do business with. It’s a problem that tests businesses of all types, especially those on the smaller end of the spectrum.    Thankfully, with a solid foundation, it is very much possible to rise to the challenges posed by...

  Starting a business can be as exciting as it is daunting. There are so many things to consider and organize; it can be overwhelming. But, don’t fret because there are many things you can do to get yourself a head start, and your business will become a success with diligent work and effort.  What is a freelance business, and why should you start...

Too many business owners marketing their businesses on social media spend their time chasing trends and trying to keep up. This can be a big mistake. It is impossible to maintain a consistent strategy that delivers actual results if we’re distracted by what everyone else is doing. As a rule, try not to worry about social media trends and instead focus on what you...

Over 50% of small business owners say it’s harder to find qualified workers, and many are getting desperate.  Classic ways of finding employees like hiring fairs and site listings aren’t working anymore: so how are companies supposed to find workers who can do what they need to be capable of? These are the top reasons you should create an employee referral program to ensure...

Work-Life Balance is a buzz phrase that you have no doubt come across over the last few years, and it isn’t going to disappear anytime soon. According to the Cambridge Dictionary online, it is the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things you enjoy. It’s how your time is...

Having the right staff mix may determine whether or not you achieve your business goals and impacts the time it takes to reach them. Depending on the type of industry you’re in, as a business owner or department head, you’ll have to thoroughly plan for your human resource requirements. Whether your company provides a product or service, having the right team is key to...

Whether you’ve recently started your own business or you’ve been in the entrepreneurial game for several years, you understand the massive impact that being self-employed can have on your mental health. There are reasons that the majority of people choose to work for someone else. Working for yourself is a vastly different way of life from being an employee. Being an entrepreneur often affects...

“Disrupt or be disrupted.” This proclamation by venture capitalist Josh Linker has become a mantra in the startup world over the last decade. We’ve typically judged whether a startup is going to be successful and the potential scale of its success by this question: “Will your startup disrupt the status quo?” It turns out that we’ve been asking the wrong question. In an HBR...

When you look at your business’s logo, do you ask yourself, “does this really represent the kind of company that I want to be?” It’s challenging to build a good brand identity if your business has no personality. It can be hard to find a suitable logo, slogan, or color palette when you don’t know who you are as a company. You’ll need to...

Hiring is a difficult task. For example, there are multiple applications for one job vacancy, and you must choose only one. Is there any way to quickly skim through all of them and identify the right individual for the job? Well, for that you need good questions. But should you be asking the same old questions that every interviewer asks and hearing the same...

You’ve built your business from the ground up and handled all the challenges that arose on your own. But as you grow, you’ll need to start building a team around you that can help take your company to the next level. Who you hire, in the beginning, will be crucial. Not only because you need to think about the return on investment but also...

There are times when you should take business personally. If you have ever felt heartbroken about losing an employee you have invested a great deal of time, money, and effort in, you know it feels personal. Or suppose you have spent hours writing and negotiating a proposal, only to have the client go in another direction. In that case, you can’t help to feel...

By Radhika Dutt Remember playing the game of “Pin the tail on the donkey” when you were little? You were blindfolded and people around you turned you around a few times until your head was spinning and you wobbled toward your mission armed with a tail on a thumbtack. As an entrepreneur, our days are often reminiscent of this game. As an entrepreneur when...

What is an elevator pitch? Do you have difficulty answering questions like “Tell me about yourself”? Then, you can prepare a short speech for yourself that is intended to give an overview of who you are and what you do. An elevator pitch is helpful in this regard. An elevator pitch, also known as an elevator speech, is a short, engaging speech that helps...

‘Time is money,’ ‘you can’t get back lost time’…We’ve all heard these sayings before and experienced the sense of urgency and regret that they come with. But, how do we go about economizing and ultimately maximizing the potential of this precious resource? Whether you’re a business owner or aspire to move up the corporate ladder, a large part of your success depends on planning...

  Everybody feels stress from time to time. With the constant deadlines, conferences, and dealing with clients all day, there’s no wonder people struggle with the accumulation of stress throughout a busy work week.  Stress can also be problematic in the long run. It is because it has a direct link to causing many health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and...

It is easy to identify those companies that have an amazing workplace culture. They’ve created environments that allow their teams to be focused, driven and innovative. Conversely, you won’t struggle to find those organizations that don’t have a positive culture. They often have high staff turnover, toxic leadership, and gossip and rumor run rampant. But how did they get to these places? Fostering workplace culture...

Nothing is more fulfilling than becoming your own boss. However, when becoming an entrepreneur, success doesn’t usually come overnight. When growing your startup, you may have to work harder than you did at your nine-to-five job. It also takes a lot of strategy, resilience, patience, and flexibility. Sometimes there is minimal to no room for error, especially in areas like marketing, customer service, finances,...

Your start up logo is an important part when you’re launching your own business. You probably have a lot of things to think about and while a logo may seem small, it has a big impact on your brand. As you build your brand, your logo will have to make sense. What do you want to tell the world in the simplest way? We’ll...

Your aspirations of building a successful business are slowly coming to fruition. You’ve established that there is a need for your product or service through thorough market research, your company has finally been registered, and you’ve officially opened your doors. Chances are, you’re well aware of the resources needed to win over new clients, follow through on your commitments and ensure repeat business. When...

When you hire someone new, you usually have to provide some form of training. This is relatively standard practice. You do this not only for them to excel in their new position but also to improve your business. Entry-level and more experienced employees need guidance. Without training, they are flying blind, creating stress and chaos for everyone. This can lead to increase employee turnover,...

As an entrepreneur, although you’ve braved the world of self-determination, having the next best business idea doesn’t guarantee that once you’ve identified a market, you’ll be able to secure clients in the long term. Besides offering a brilliant product, your passion should extend to include stellar service by having effective and efficient company processes. Establishing administration systems isn’t reserved for major corporations, and documenting...

The idea of the self-made man or woman has been associated with the United States since its founding. Entrepreneurship is a huge part of American culture and the American Dream, so not surprising that it also plays an enormous role in the American economy today, even if it does come with its fair share of pitfalls. Studies have shown that in 2019, a total...

Maybe you’ve dreamed about living in Thailand or just used one of their many beach scenes as a screen saver on your computer. Dreams could soon become a reality as more people have to work remotely due to covid-19. Moving to another country might seem scary, but I assure you, all the creature comforts of home exist in Thailand, just with a touch of...

  If you are like many new entrepreneurs, you’ve spent your life toiling away in the trenches of the corporate world. When you graduated from college, you had a starry-eyed view of life and were excited about the future. You landed your first job working for a big company, and began your career with high hopes. The goal was to make a living while...

According to author Roy T. Bennet, “Happiness depends on your mindset.” I would argue that success in business does too. When we study business in school, the focus is on profit and loss accounts, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis), and market research. In all of my years studying business, I don’t remember ever hearing the word mindset mentioned. And yet, in my...

When appropriately done, meetings are an excellent tool for addressing conflicts, making critical decisions, evaluating performance, and achieving goals. When performed improperly, they tend to waste time and resources. Some common mistakes make many meetings ineffective and a waste of time. Here are some tips to help you address those mistakes and make your meetings more effective. 1.Holding a meeting when an email will...

There comes a time when every business owner makes a discovery that feels like a eureka moment. For me, evergreen funnels were one of those discoveries. Before coming across the idea of evergreen funnels, I struggled to sell my services consistently. It felt as though I was always selling, selling, selling with no way to ensure steady sign-ups and predictable growth. Since using evergreen...

    A good work-life balance is one of the most important things you can do to ensure that you are happy and healthy in the long-run. Protecting time for family, hobbies, rest and relaxation is absolutely essential for mental, emotional and physical health. We all know this. So, why do we struggle so much to make enough time for it in our lives?...

It has been over a year since we were struck by a worldwide pandemic.. While adapting to the many changes Covid-19 brought with it, we had to work from home. As a result, video calls became the only source of follow-up with peers at both personal and professional levels. There are very easy ways of appearing presentable on a webcam, which require some understanding...

If you have built a successful startup in a short period of time, complacency can set in very quickly. To stay relevant and reinforce your brand image and value in a consumer’s mind, your business needs to scale rapidly. Scaling a business is less exciting than it appears, and growing a company quickly can be a challenge. In 2021, the nature of business operations...

The key to attracting great employees with good credentials even when you’re on a budget is creativity. It’s not easy to compete against other companies for the best employees when you have a limited budget. Even with the changes in how and where we work, there are still a few ways you can entice great employees. One of the best ways to grow as...

Growth for any business can be nearly impossible without having access to mentors, peer-to-peer discussion, knowledge of industry-specific standards, as well as education and training. Fortunately, business leaders have access to many organizations, online and off, to connect them to the resources they need. These organizations or business associations provide appropriate resources and connections to both established and newly created enterprises. The following are...

  Fear of success is a real thing. There are even names for it like “success phobia.” This fear can have a serious effect on your success and satisfaction in life. Fear of success will likely destroy your business or at the very least, it won’t be as profitable as it could be. You may sabotage things unknowingly due to the tension of the...

  As a new business owner, you have dreams and aspirations, you’ve got the grit and determination needed to succeed in your chosen industry – but in terms of running a business from day one, you might be lacking in confidence. A start-up that struggles to get off the mark is effectively already falling behind its competitors, therefore it’s never been more important for...

Sleep is crucial for everyone, but it is vital for entrepreneurs who want to perform at a high level. However, 35% of adults in the U.S report not getting the suggested 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Not getting enough sleep has been linked in several studies to memory impairment. Without proper sleep, your brain struggles to function correctly. Over the long haul, insufficient...

If you run a business, you’d know that your customers are the lifeblood of your organization. After all, they’re the ones bringing in the money by purchasing your products and services. Therefore, you need to do all you can to encourage them to return and patronize your brand. It’d be even better if they’d tell their friends about their positive experience with your company....

With work from home trends continuing to rise, and more businesses going digital, the amount of time spent in front of a computer screen has dramatically increased. With the increase of screen time comes some unwanted risk. Any extended sitting — such as at a desk, behind a wheel or in front of a screen — can be harmful. An analysis of 13 studies...

It can be challenging when you start a new business to say “no” to a potential client or customer. Still, there are times when saying “no” is necessary.  Saying “yes” to things you’re not adept in, don’t have time to do, or something you don’t want to do can reflect poorly on you and your business. You want positive reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations, but...

Regardless of the nature of your small business, setting up an effective employee payroll system is critical. It not only helps you fulfill your responsibilities in a timely manner, but also allows you to boost the efficiency of your operations. Due to the complexities that are involved with the process, establishing a proper payroll setup can seem like a daunting task. But with some...

You want to be the go-to service or product in business, but that requires you to outshine your competitors. How can you do that? You can use many different strategies. There’s no one cookie-cutter way, and each industry will vary in its approach. Many companies will try to nullify the impact of their competitors to gain an advantage in market shares. Here are some...

If you are starting your own business and planning to quit your job, you are a brave person. Everybody wants freedom. But just like all the other great things in life, it has its own cost. Only a few people can pay for it.  Entrepreneurship involves certain risks. You have to make new plans, new teams, and make decisions at the right time. Therefore,...