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Blair Williams is the founder of MemberPress, the leading WordPress software for creating membership websites.
When team members get along, they communicate better, trust each other more, and work together more effectively. But how can leaders encourage this camaraderie and bonding, especially when budgets are tight?
Being an entrepreneur requires a unique blend of creativity, vision and innovative thinking. To stay ahead in the ever-evolving business landscape, entrepreneurs need constant inspiration and fresh perspectives. Luckily, podcasts have become an invaluable (and readily available) source of knowledge and motivation for ambitious business minds.
Running a business from the comfort of your home can be both rewarding and challenging. While a home-based business offers flexibility and convenience, it can also blur the lines between work and your personal life, leading to burnout and a lack of work-life balance.
In both personal and professional realms, growth and progress are often the outcomes of embracing challenges and pushing beyond our comfort zones. Within the workplace, this means professionals who actively seek to challenge themselves may be more likely to experience accelerated development and fulfillment in their careers.
Whether you are delivering a keynote speech, presenting a sales pitch or just leading a team meeting, effective communication is key to getting your message across and inspiring action. As a business leader, your ability to communicate effectively can make or break your career, as being an engaging speaker is not only essential for motivating your employees but also for pitching your ideas to potential investors, clients or partners.
When trying to hire a team with diverse backgrounds and skills, business leaders can be left wondering how to find candidates who are different enough from each other to ensure varied points of view and experience levels but also similar enough to each other to work well together and create a cohesive team culture.
Small, local businesses face unique challenges when it comes to marketing. While many marketing techniques may be effective for larger corporations, they may not yield the same results for small businesses operating within a specific community. Investing in expensive advertising campaigns or generic marketing strategies that fail to resonate with local consumers can be a waste of precious resources.
In the age of e-commerce, brick-and-mortar businesses face increased pressure to remain relevant and competitive. However, these businesses also have the unique advantage of being able to provide customers with an immersive in-store experience that cannot be replicated online.
When starting out as a freelancer, the toughest step is often finding your first client. Not only do you have to convince them to take a chance on working with you when you may or may not have extensive experience in your field, but you also have to figure out where to find them in the first place.
Small actions to build trust with your team can go a long way.
In today's digital age, data privacy has become a top priority for individuals and businesses alike. Small businesses in particular need to ensure that they are taking the necessary steps to protect their customers' personal information. By doing so, they not only comply with data protection regulations but also build trust and loyalty with their customer base.
When it comes to finding funding for a new business, aspiring entrepreneurs have a wealth of options to select from—from completely bootstrapping the business themselves to bringing on investors who can act as business partners in addition to providing funds, to everything else in between. The trouble doesn’t necessarily lie in the lack of opportunities but instead in weighing the pros and cons of each and choosing the right one for you and your business.
As the demand for eco-friendly products and services—as well as consumers' interest in protecting the planet—grows, more and more businesses are looking to reduce their carbon footprints and adopt more eco-friendly business practices. However, many companies may not know where to start, and certain efforts may come off as disingenuous if not handled properly.
When it comes to business cybersecurity, there's no such thing as "too small a target." If your company uses poor cybersecurity practices, leaving sensitive customer or company data at risk, hackers can exploit those vulnerabilities to accomplish their goals—no matter how big or small your company is.
Many companies begin their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts with the best of intentions. They want to ensure that their employees feel included and supported, that the company has diverse points of view at the table and that customers feel represented in their marketing. But this doesn’t always mean these efforts are going to be successful.
It can be argued that any company that collects and handles customer data has the responsibility of leveraging strong methods to protect it, but a similar point can also be made about the company’s responsibility to educate consumers about malware and cyberattacks. Safe customers are happy customers, and helping to ensure your customers follow cybersecurity best practices can help keep them that way.
Marketing and branding experts have long touted the power of live video content to build genuine, long-lasting relationships with target audiences. Not only does this help you improve your follower count, but it can also help you boost your brand recognition among new viewers. But to do so, you’ll need to focus on how to make your live videos interesting and engaging.
An entrepreneur with a fresh and successful idea might consider establishing a franchise, but it's not always the best move. To give them confidence in their decision, they’ll want to consider an industry which is already showing success with the franchise model.
Climbing the corporate ladder all the way to the top is a common goal of many high-achieving professionals. No matter which rung you’re on, there’s always steps you can take to help you achieve that goal. From building a positive track record to taking leadership development training, there are a number of ways you can build the skills and the experience necessary to succeed in the C-suite.
As your business grows, it's important to regularly assess whether your current software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendor is meeting your needs. Some factors you can evaluate periodically are whether the vendor is able to scale with your business, provide necessary features and offer the level of support that you require — and if the answer is “no,” it may be time to move on to a new provider.
Networking is a scary prospect for a lot of people. Seeking out events, speaking to new people and trying not to feel imposter syndrome while doing so can be intimidating for new entrepreneurs (and even seasoned ones). And while many entrepreneurs will give networking their best effort, they may end up accidentally sabotaging their efforts if they’re not careful.
Due to the monotony of everyday life and the frequent stress that comes with living in the modern world, many people often have trouble getting into a creative headspace or just thinking creatively in general. This comes as bad news for those in the business realm, as the ability to think creatively is essential to the problem solving and innovating necessary to succeed as an entrepreneur.
Deciding to franchise your business is a big step in entrepreneurship and there are many factors to consider before doing so. Aside from ensuring that your main business has enough financing to support your overall brand, there are legal processes that need to be completed, hiring that needs to be done, and branding procedures that must be solidified.
As employees grow more concerned with inflation, employers may be left wondering what they can do to help. A happy workforce is a productive workforce, and wrestling with the uncertainty that comes with rising prices and economic turmoil can leave any professional feeling a little off their game. So what's one effective way employers can help support them?
Though they are often set with the best of intentions, it’s not uncommon for New Year’s resolutions and the motivation to meet them to fall by the wayside after a few weeks or months into the new year. Busy personal lives and stressful workdays can end up getting in the way, with “just getting by” taking precedence over any push to accomplish more than the status quo.
Executive team leaders serve as role models by supporting the company mission, maintaining a high standard of work output, encouraging individual growth and leading the company to success.
When your business rolls out a new product or service, you and your team hope that it's effective and meets the needs of your customer base. Unfortunately, there are instances where that product or service simply isn't working as intended for your buyers — and it's up to you as a business leader to determine whether this is the case.
When your company starts to grow steadily, it can become nearly impossible for you as a leader to find time to meet with staff individually on a regular basis. Instead, consider alternative communication strategies to save time while ensuring you and your team stay on the same page.
Especially given the growing remote workforce, companies may be looking to tighten up their cybersecurity efforts come the new year. Hackers and cybersecurity threats unfortunately aren’t going anywhere, so finding new ways to secure your company’s technology and protect your customers’ data is a good practice to begin to ensure your business’s safety all year long.
When one of your early employees decides to quit your new business venture, there are a lot of emotions to process and decisions to make. Depending on the size of your company, you might be scrambling to find someone to pick up their responsibilities — or worse, end up having to add more tasks to your already lengthy to-do list.
One of the most challenging quarters for business leaders is often Q4. There is often a rush to close out the year’s expenses, plan year-end initiatives and marketing campaigns, and coordinate holiday PTO.
When just starting out, many new business owners don't have all the financial tools or experience they may need to run a business successfully. They may rely on their peers, what information they can find online and various business books to get them started, but nothing can truly beat experience when it comes to knowing how to handle and succeed with money in business.
One of the many benefits of being an entrepreneur is the leadership aspect and the ability to make all the key decisions for the future of your business. However, there often comes a time, especially early on, when entrepreneurs may find themselves in need of help. Whether they’re feeling overwhelmed, burned out or simply don’t have the experience or knowledge necessary to make a well-informed decision, many entrepreneurs find that hiring a business coach can be a beneficial solution.
From DiSC to Myers-Briggs, there’s no shortage of personality tests available today. While leaders often use these tests to better understand their current teams, personality assessments can also provide critical information on prospective hires.
For many entrepreneurs, experience can have a major impact on the way they conduct business. Whether it’s changing a marketing strategy after an unexpected failure or pivoting a product after getting more acquainted with their target audience’s needs, leaders must constantly evolve alongside their businesses if they’re to succeed long term. This can also mean changing the way they interact with their customers, their employees and their peers on a regular basis.
As they plan for this year's holiday season, many business leaders are looking for something new to shake up their current marketing routine. It’s easy for holiday marketing to grow stale, especially when relying on old gimmicks or traditional strategies of years past. To stand out among the sea of other eager businesses looking to increase sales, companies will have to think a bit more creatively.
Small businesses have taken a hit over the past few years with pandemic-related supply chain issues and increased inflation. Throughout these challenges, many business owners have been able to pivot and thrive in the current climate. However, there is always room for continued financial improvements to promote sustainable long-term growth.
If your team's morale seems a bit lower than usual, acknowledgement and rewards for their hard work can go a long way.
Sometimes, leaders aren't able to grant an employee's request for a raise, whether it's because there's no budget for it or because the person's performance or skill set doesn’t currently warrant one. In either case, leaders need to focus on tact and kindness when declining the employee's request — a task that may feel awkward or uncomfortable for leaders who have never done it.
If you're building a product for your new business, you'll first need a solid prototype. This will help you better visualize your concept and start getting necessary feedback from customers or peers. But if you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur, you may not yet have the budget for multiple iterations or complex software or tools to build your prototype, so finding a way to save money will be key.
Choosing the right software as a service (SaaS) tools for your business can prove to be a Herculean task. Whether it's for accounting, marketing or HR, it's important to choose software that will grow with your business and offer ongoing support for your questions and needs. It's also important to consider how well your SaaS selections will integrate and communicate with each other.
Of the many duties of a leader, perhaps one of the most important is bringing out the best in their team members. Understanding their needs, strengths and weaknesses and giving them opportunities to shine can help you set them up to succeed in any endeavor they take on. This is especially true as Gen Z professionals enter the workforce with their own perspectives and challenges to overcome.
Maintaining a positive relationship with your clients is important for both your business and theirs. However, there are times when your team and your client may disagree about how a project or initiative is being carried out.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their insights on what makes effective ad copy.
Business travel is an excellent opportunity to make new connections and close deals. However, between transportation, meals, accommodations and other per diem expenses, it's easy for a traveling professional to rack up a hefty bill.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share how changing these habits could bring you greater success in the marketing field.
If you track the right information, you may even find that opportunities are available to you right now.
A new business won't survive long if it doesn't have solid cash flow and a good accounting system in place. Unfortunately, some of the most common financial problems stem from simple mistakes new entrepreneurs may make the first time they're tasked with keeping the books.
Creating and maintaining a website is often one of the most important parts of running a successful business. Without a website, customers will have a hard time discovering and purchasing your products or services, so it’s key to ensure your website is up and functioning properly. When you’re a solopreneur, however, and all of the work falls on your shoulders, it can be all too easy to let website maintenance fall by the wayside.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share advice for creating a solid internal communications strategy for remote businesses.
Small businesses starting from scratch have a long road ahead of them when it comes to building a brand. Defining a mission, finding your voice and building trust all take time to develop, but luckily there are a few key steps new entrepreneurs can take to get there a little faster.
In the remote work era, the boundaries between work and personal time have become increasingly blurred. But regardless of work environment, industry or even job level, it can be difficult to "turn off" work when the day is done, leaving professionals to struggle with consequences like burnout, mental health crises and increased stress levels.
A company's mission serves as the foundation for everything it does. While the specific goals of the business may change over time, your original mission, vision and values should remain intact until you and your team consciously decide to change them.
Amid millions of employees quitting their jobs at record rates, companies are desperately searching for top talent to join their teams. As businesses look to strengthen their workforce, they must also figure out the best ways to attract ideal candidates.
When your business is one of the most important things in your life, it's hard to trust others to handle any aspect of it. No matter how good a candidate looks on paper, you likely won’t have a good idea of how trustworthy they are until you’re able to meet them face-to-face. Luckily, there are some productive questions you can ask a potential hire to help you gauge their trustworthiness.
Social media management is a career field filled with limitless opportunities in our increasingly digital world. More companies than ever before are searching for tech-savvy social media managers who can uplevel their social media content and reach wider audiences.
No matter how busy your workday seems, you can always carve out a few minutes to take a breather.
Without customer loyalty, a business can struggle to succeed. While your business may have a few standout customers who have become brand ambassadors for your product or service, the unengaged or inactive customers are often the ones you need feedback from the most. These customers can provide candid and honest feedback as to why they aren't more engaged with your business.
Every job application you fill out presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Whether you're writing a cover letter, ensuring your resume is tailored to the job description or trying to remember what to say during your interview, you have a chance to impress the hiring manager and land the job. The challenge, of course, is making sure your application outshines the dozens of others a hiring manager may receive.
One path for starting a business is to leverage a startup accelerator. These programs offer mentorship and education to new business owners while providing funding opportunities in exchange for equity. You may even find there are certain nuances and eligibility requirements to abide by during your search for the right startup accelerator.
Whether it's cold calls, sales calls or building a relationship with a vendor, phone conversations are prevalent in many professionals' daily working lives. However, it can be tricky to sound confident and at ease over the phone without a face-to-face connection.
Success in content marketing requires a deep knowledge of existing and prospective customers and successful, tailored campaigns to reach them all. But while reaching those customers and making the sale can be achieved with the right plan, there is still the possibility of making a lot of mistakes along the way.
Data is a key factor in determining many critical business decisions. As a business owner, you're most likely tracking multiple points of data each day, from transactions and payroll to projected profits.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss what business leaders should do in the event of a cyberattack.
Everyone struggles with self-doubt at some point in their lives, especially if they own a business. Self-doubt as a business owner can be daunting to overcome and may sometimes derail you from your goals. But part of being an entrepreneur means learning how to grow a thick skin in order to take on the adversity, rejection and low confidence that can often come with the job.
Being a solopreneur is exciting and empowering, but it can often feel draining. Because you're starting a company by yourself, you're often forced to wear many different hats to manage all parts of the business before you can hire any staff.
Local shoppers can become a business's most loyal customers by helping spread the word about the business to other community members. It's important, then, for businesses to establish these local connections early on to see the best results from local marketing.
A negative mindset can be poisonous in the workplace. It can lower morale, decrease productivity and spread to other members of the team, leading to toxic work culture.
When leveraged well, your writing can fuel creativity and problem-solving.
Whether you're an experienced entrepreneur or just starting out, investors can be a crucial part of your startup's continued success. While it's possible for investors to take a chance on a business, many investors have certain criteria they'll look for before they take the plunge.
As more companies shift toward remote work, managers may find some employees struggling with productivity throughout the day. Whether it's tending to personal matters at home, reprioritizing tasks or warding off distractions, some employees may find it more difficult to work from home than in an office environment.
Whether your schedule allows for flexible working hours or you hold a 9-to-5 job, you may find that your energy wanes throughout your workday. Whether it's from decision fatigue, stress or just a natural productivity slump, sometimes you just need a boost of energy to keep you going for the rest of the day.
With the internet, social media, streaming services and more at our fingertips, it's easier than ever to start your own side hustle centered on curating your own content. As the demand for content—especially niche content about a specific subject or area of expertise—continues to grow, thought leaders and creators can establish themselves in the online space and even develop a loyal following, leading to potential revenue opportunities through advertising and sponsorship deals.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss how companies can make the best use of their customer relationship management tools.
When you invest in ongoing education and professional development for your employees, it shows them that you value their contributions to the company and, in doing so, it may also bolster morale and loyalty. To support this development, many companies will host speakers or workshops, but it's important to ensure your employees are feeling engaged — especially if it's a virtual meeting.
Graduation season is quickly approaching, and many soon-to-be grads are now being inundated with advice from advisors, professors and family members about their chosen career paths.
No matter how good you are at your job, you’ll still have stressful days. However, it’s how you handle the stress that can make a positive or negative impact on your mindset and abilities.
Having more than one social media account for your brand may mean reaching more people, but it doesn't mean businesses can simply post the same content to each platform. If you want to grow your audience, it's important to differentiate your content across accounts while still ensuring everything feels cohesive and consistent.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how to merge your website's copy and design to create a more engaging user experience.
Great leaders are constantly evolving, gaining additional skills and finding new ways to effectively manage and guide their teams. This proactive style of leadership comes with practice and self-awareness of any weaknesses or blind spots you may have.
Ensuring employees are engaged is key in business, as it leads to higher company morale and improved quality of work. Further, a lack of engagement can be a telltale sign that something is wrong.
Many entrepreneurs find it particularly difficult to recover from financial mistakes. Small businesses especially often run on very tight margins, meaning that one slip-up can be detrimental to a young company.
A large part of the personal branding process relies on speaking with others, presenting new ideas to digital and in-person audiences, and establishing connections. To a self-described introvert, these tasks can seem like big hurdles on the way to success. But there are ways for introverts to get their names out there and create strong relationships within their network.
Sales challenges are unavoidable in any business, regardless of industry. From curating an effective sales process to pinpointing your ideal customer, solving these sales challenges is crucial during the early stages of your company.
Your personal brand is the version of yourself you showcase to the world. It encompasses your values, mission and brand personality that you showcase to customers, your network and potential employers.
Businesses need systems and processes to maintain quality and efficiency in their operations. Systemization helps to communicate to your team how you'd like your business to be effectively run and provides a clear model for them to follow. However, busy entrepreneurs don't always take the time (or have the time) to put those systems in place.
When you're looking to impress potential employers and business peers, it can be difficult to show off your personality on the limited pages of a resume or job application. Thankfully, LinkedIn provides a great opportunity to get more personal with your network.
You can guide your product design, marketing approaches and so much more when you study your competitors.
For many professionals, having the option to work from home has brought significant benefits, like cutting commuting costs or working in a more comfortable setting. However, it can be even easier to lose time at work when sharing that space with responsibilities in the home, whether it’s the laundry sitting in the corner of the room, the kids’ homework or the dog needing to go outside.
Getting your business noticed online is only getting more challenging, as every day new businesses are opening up and creating more competition for consumer attention. The go-to strategy for many companies, therefore, is to leverage social media to get in front of their target audience and convince them to make a purchase.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list criteria you should look at when determining the right web host for your business.
Throughout the pandemic, it has been difficult for many professionals to build and maintain new business relationships. Interactions may have been limited to Zoom calls or virtual happy hours, while valuable in-person networking events were placed on the backburner.
Many business leaders may make the mistake of assuming that a well-designed desktop website will translate into a well-designed mobile website—and will quickly learn that’s not the case. With a different screen size, different applications and varying user behaviors, mobile requires separate consideration when it comes to design and function.
There may come a time during your entrepreneurial journey when you need to decide whether or not to sell. Maybe business is booming and sales are thriving — so how will you know when it's time to hang up your hat and walk away?
Workplace stress levels continue to climb across all professions, resulting in increased burnout and decreased productivity. But just because employee stress is common does not mean it should be ignored.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss why you might not be seeing a good ROI on your business's mobile app.
Every business project is unique and will likely require a customized approach to manage it. No matter the size or scope of the project, though, all team members must work together to ensure each moving part is in place.
Getting customers through the sales funnel can sometimes be an arduous task. It can also be difficult to juggle multiple prospects at different stages of the funnel, which is why it's important to automate what you can.
When it comes to creating a successful marketing strategy, you don’t always need to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes a few small changes can have a huge impact on your ROI.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer steps to take if you want to keep your home-based business safe from cyberattacks.
Partnering with another business in your industry on a campaign or promotion is an effective and mutually beneficial way to market your product or service. Not only does it bring brand awareness for your company, but you'll also expand your reach by tapping into your partner company's existing audience.
Cloud computing has become wildly popular in the past decade as it offers an array of benefits for businesses—especially ones with large-scale operations that require a vast amount of computer system resources. Cloud computing services provide an affordable and secure way to store data and access it on demand so you're not losing money purchasing, storing and maintaining your own servers and data centers.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list the industries they think should make better use of augmented and virtual reality technology.
Success in any business largely depends on the success of its marketing efforts. But with so many ways to market and so many areas to focus on, it can be challenging to narrow a campaign down to a single focal point. However, if you fail to create a focused strategy, your marketing efforts will likely be less than successful.
Believing in yourself can sometimes be the hardest part of any job.
Jumping on the latest cultural trends can be a good way to make some quick money or earn some fast fame. However, steering your ship off course to try to take advantage of passing trends isn't always the best long-term decision.
In all the excitement of opening a business and launching that first product or service, it can be easy for aspiring entrepreneurs to forgo a thorough audit of their finances in favor of speed to market. However, it's absolutely crucial for business owners to keep a close eye on their income and expenses—especially if they want to ensure their survival past year one.
When you're starting a new business, it can be easy to get lost in the excitement. Instead of carefully planning next steps, you may end up taking shortcuts or rushing to advance, which can ultimately have a lasting negative impact.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss how to leverage tech to meet diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
Choosing the right software-as-a-service (SaaS) product is like choosing a new car or buying a new house — you want to make sure that it's high quality and meets all your wants and needs. However, if you're not used to shopping for software, it can be hard to know how to choose the best option for you.
Super Bowl commercials are known for capturing their audience’s attention in an extreme way, whether through humor, storytelling or the star power of their commercial cast. It seems that everyone has a favorite Super Bowl commercial that, no matter how many years have passed, they still remember.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend upgrading your business software or hardware when you notice these signs.
As an entrepreneur, you may come to realize that certain aspects of your personal and social life have to be put on the back burner to get your business off the ground. Neglecting your personal life can come at a cost, though.
While some entrepreneurs are content with one business under their belts, there are many others who run two, three or even several businesses all at once. Some business owners are simply brimming with ideas and, at some point, they may find themselves itching to launch their next venture. Others see success in their first business and want to replicate it.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council suggest the information you should try to find when researching your business’s competition.
Every business has employees who aren't on the same page from time to time. Whether it's clashing personalities or differences of opinion, conflicts can arise at any point, and it's up to the manager to help mediate them.
A great employee shows up to work each day ready and willing to do their best work for your business. It's only fair that, as their employer, you support their professional development—especially if these skills will help them grow within your company.
A persuasion trigger is any marketing tactic that convinces people to take action that grows your brand and there are proven methods that get people to say "yes."
Starting a new business isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes courage, ambition, and a tangible plan. Many people will be eager to support you on your journey, but some may actually give you advice that could hurt your chances for success. Here, members of Young Entrepreneur Council list an “unlucky 13” collection of the worst startup advice they were given, and explain why that misguided startup advice is so harmful to entrepreneurs who are just starting out.
One income stream isn't enough for many people to make a comfortable living these days. Luckily, there are a myriad of ways for a working professional to make money on the side — so many, in fact, that it can be difficult to settle on just one.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list the tech skills company founders need to get their businesses off the ground.
Social media is an effective, low-cost way to market your company’s products or services, and is also a great way to keep customers engaged while expressing your brand’s mission. However, to make the most of a platform’s potential, you need to be active and strategic, which can require your entire team’s involvement. To get your employees excited to participate, consider the following advice from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council.
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, it put many professionals out of work. Others faced cutbacks on hours or began working remotely, which allowed more time for pursuing multiple income streams. These factors led to a major uptick in startup and small business launches, many of which are still thriving as we enter 2022.
Every professional should master the art of persuasion. Whether you're negotiating for a raise, pitching to an investor, giving a presentation, or trying to win a new client, having influence can help reach your goal.
The beginning of January is ripe with new possibilities. "New Year's resolution" season is the perfect time for companies to reassess their business vision and set concrete goals for the upcoming year.
Strong, clear communication is a must when it comes to manager-employee relationships, but certain behaviors can work against you.
Are there specific traits of great managers, personal qualities that are crucial to success in any managerial role? It seems that there are, and while some of these traits are innate, others can be learned. In this article, 13 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council list a few of the most vital traits you should possess if you want to thrive in a managerial position.
Even if you're not feeling on top of your game, you can still use these "fake it 'til you make it" tips.
When an entrepreneur is first starting out, they go through a lot of trial and error. In an effort to grow and scale their business, they often try out various ideas to see what works and what doesn’t. However, scaling a business isn’t easy, and without prior experience, mistakes can be made.
Modern entrepreneurs know the importance of using social media to grow their business. It can be a great way for business owners to connect with customers and expand their company’s reach. As social media’s relevance has grown, so have the benefits of using popular platforms like Instagram to reach your target audience.
In the variety of options for financing a startup, many entrepreneurs entertain the idea of inviting investors into their businesses. Working with an investor can help you grow your business quickly while also leveraging their expertise. However, despite the benefits of an investor, there are also many reasons not to partner with one.
During the holidays, business owners are pulled in all different directions. Both customers’ and employees’ needs change during this time, and leaders are often left to figure out how to balance them out. With the increased demand and added chaos from the holiday shopping season, this can be a tough task; however, there are steps business leaders can take to ensure they’re keeping everyone happy.
An effective, collaborative team is the backbone of any successful organization. But when you're in the midst of hiring a lot of new players, it can be difficult to bring them all together and ensure they’re connecting as a true team. Figuring out a way to help them feel comfortable with each other and with the existing team, therefore, should be a top priority for any leader.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer ways professionals can leverage social media when job hunting.
While it may not always feel like it in the moment, business challenges are great opportunities for growth. When we’re thrown outside of our comfort zones, we build confidence and see our strengths. This is especially true for business leaders and entrepreneurs, who face a constant stream of challenges that can often be turned into positive opportunities.
We live in a world of constant distractions and interruptions. While it's easy to blame these external factors for our lack of focus, it's often our own reactions to and bad habits around those distractions that are truly sabotaging us.
During the pandemic era, virtual events like webinars and conferences have become more common, offering business value and education from the comfort of your home. Although these online gatherings are popular, it’s hard to drum up the same level of excitement for them that people seem to have for in-person events.
Building a positive company culture is crucial, especially with so many businesses shifting to a permanent remote work model. Employees want to work in an environment where they feel accepted and appreciated. When they feel this way, employees are more likely to be motivated and work efficiently.
Every business needs to market its products and services, but there's a lot of competition out there. When you're creating a content marketing campaign for your brand, the last thing you want to do is use precious time and resources to create content that doesn't measure up to your direct competitors'.
Launching a new product on social media can be a great way to go to market, but that’s only if you design an effective social media campaign. From creating content to scheduling, building awareness of your new product on social media requires a lot of careful planning and consideration.
Opening a small business isn't easy, even when you have plenty of money to do it. Getting a small business off the ground with little to no budget is an even more challenging feat. However, with the right amount of passion and strategic planning, anything is possible.
With so many work stressors, it can often feel difficult to feel grateful for your professional life. Long days and difficult co-workers can be hard to handle, and these factors may sometimes overshadow your job’s positive benefits in your mind. However, intentionally looking for the good can help you feel more gratitude for the opportunity you’ve been given and improve your overall mental state.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the top tools that will help any company improve their remote work process.
Businesses may need to participate in fundraising efforts to secure additional capital, fund research efforts or expand their market reach. Before they can begin, however, leaders must determine their company's valuation.
Leaving a toxic workplace situation can leave a lasting impression on an employee. Even if you investigate and a company seems to have a good workplace environment, it can be hard to fully ensure that you are stepping into a company that will treat you better.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend using these e-commerce tricks for lowering shopping cart abandonment rates.
As a company leader, your email inbox is likely overflowing with unread or missed information on a daily basis.
A sign of good management is when a manager or business leader is able to step away from work without the business falling apart at the seams.
Working on a team can be challenging for those accustomed to working alone. Teams bring different opinions, ideas and ways of working, which can be incredibly helpful for collaborative projects. However, this environment can sometimes be difficult for those used to independent thinking and solo projects.
When your business starts to grow, it's an exciting indicator of success. However, it can also be an indicator that organizational changes need to take place. If your business has outgrown its current location, it's time to start considering moving into a new office space. There's a lot to think about before making such a significant change, though.
When meeting with a potential investor, it’s important that entrepreneurs come prepared for any questions that may arise. You’ll likely spend hours preparing your answers, but even then, tough questions may be posed that, without good answers, could damage your confidence.
Holiday shopping can be a stressful time for many people. Customers are worried about items being in stock, finding the perfect gift and avoiding long lines when searching for help or checking out.
Working hard and being a creative problem-solver can go a long way.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list the factors companies will want to consider if they want to improve their website UX.
When your team is feeling uninspired, try these activities and initiatives designed to boost morale.
Sifting through piles of job applications and resumes can be tedious work. However, you can take advantage of certain recruiting “hacks” to find the best job candidates, people who are likely to be a great fit right from the start.
Due to their dispersed nature, remote companies are tasked with finding innovative ways to remain transparent and keep communication flowing throughout the business. When teammates and whole departments aren’t able to interact together in person, the way they communicate must adapt. But when communication breaks down, information silos can develop, leading to confusion and low morale.
YouTube is one of the top social media platforms in the world. As such, it provides a plethora of untapped potential for many businesses. Whether you're a new business looking for ways to establish an online presence or have been on the platform a while but haven't been able to figure out how to tap into the potential it has to offer, once you know how to use it effectively, you're sure to grow your following.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend taking these steps before using content made by your audience.
No matter how well-aligned two business partners may be, there will inevitably be times when they don't see eye to eye. However, when larger issues arise and the partners are no longer on the same page, it's critical for both parties to get back on track to resolve their conflict. Otherwise, they risk making decisions (or making no decisions at all) that could ultimately harm the business and its culture.
Clear communication and empathy go a long way.
Anyone who’s hired an employee knows that a resume is not the only indicator of whether or not a job candidate will be a good fit. However, there are some key elements to look for in a resume that usually signal that a candidate may be the right person to join your team.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the methods they wish companies would stop using to advertise on mobile.
As the leader of a growing business, you might be tempted to set your goals high and hold your employees to meeting them. You and your team likely have a ton of great ideas and are eager to pursue each of them, but aiming too high can actually be detrimental to your business's growth and success.
The holiday season is fast approaching, which means it's time for businesses to start planning and executing their marketing strategies for the busiest time of the year. With so much riding on this season, it's not enough to recycle the same old marketing campaigns you've used in years past. Instead, try thinking outside the box and coming up with a fresh, new strategy that will entice and engage consumers throughout the season.
The secret to a successful and efficient company culture is transparent communication. This is especially true when you need to announce big news to your team in a way that will make them feel confident about the company's direction and decisions.
You don’t have to wait to start your journey toward success.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some important qualities companies should look for in their CTO candidates.
Entrepreneurs who are operating and maintaining a business all on their own have a ton of work on their plates. Often, the duties of a solopreneur can seem daunting or unmanageable as they tackle every task, big or small. Even if you can outsource some tasks to vendors and contractors, however, it's still important to streamline your to-do list and make the most of your time.
When you want your business to stand out online, it's crucial to have a never-ending supply of new and creative ideas. Sometimes new ideas come naturally, but every business owner or entrepreneur will go through times when the creative juices aren't flowing when they need them to the most.
Before a new business can set up a marketing strategy, the very first thing it must do is determine who its target customers are. While it may seem simple to pinpoint your ideal customer, sometimes you can end up making assumptions that aren’t actually true, and if you don't get your target customer base right, your marketing efforts will be focused on the wrong people.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share alternative fundraising solutions for entrepreneurs not looking for investors.
When an entrepreneur starts a new business, it's never with the intention to give up on it one day. The sad truth, however, is that running a business unfortunately doesn't always equate to success, and a particular business venture may not work out how you’d planned.
Technology can be an incredible asset for a small business when its uses are carefully considered and researched. Some business owners, however, may feel overwhelmed by the amount of technology they do or don’t need to succeed. To help you avoid making poor decisions around business tech, we asked Young Entrepreneur Council members to weigh in on the common business technology mistakes startups make that you should definitely steer clear of.
Email marketing can be extremely effective for advertising products, whether through sale announcements or updates highlighting new items. But this marketing channel can also be leveraged in a number of other ways to connect with customers on a more direct and personal level, ultimately leading to more purchases.
You can take practical steps to get more reviews for your business.
Getting your voice out there is an important part of becoming a successful thought leader. However, it can be difficult to know the right way to convey your perspectives on different topics without a strong writing foundation.
A few simple tricks can help you regain that lost motivation.
In the world of business, leaders aren’t only giving advice—they’re getting it too. Whether it’s tips from books, movies, friends, family or other leaders, leaders are often surrounded by others with well-intentioned advice on how they should run their businesses or how they can succeed in top leadership positions. However, not all of it is advice that should be followed.
With so many other ways to keep in touch digitally and so many other places businesses can compete for attention, email may not seem like a good first choice for communicating with your customers. And yet, while it's no secret that many people ignore their emails these days, email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to reach customers.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best advice for switching career fields to technology.
The happiness of its employees can make all the difference in a company's success.
There's a lot of planning that goes into designing the look of a retail store. While you definitely want to add style elements that are expressive of your brand, you also need to consider your target customers. A well-designed store will not only attract more customers, but can also lead to higher sales. To help you figure out the most important aspects to consider when designing your retail store, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:
In the growing gig economy, there's fierce competition in many freelance markets. Far too often, contractors will try to earn repeat work from a client by going the extra mile and taking on extra work only to not get properly compensated for it.
One of the biggest challenges for any new entrepreneur is learning their own sales habits and processes. It can take years for a person to really hone their skills and become an excellent salesperson.
Garnering tons of social media engagement sometimes requires an out-of-the-box approach.
Whether it’s for donations or to kickstart a new business idea, crowdfunding that works has a lot of lessons for entrepreneurs and marketers.
Now more than ever, people are skeptical about the products and services they want to purchase. Prospects will spend a lot of time researching everything there is to know about a brand before they commit.
Content is the key to reaching and engaging new and existing customers. But after you've been creating content for so long, it can start to feel like you've covered everything you can possibly cover about your brand or in your niche.
Everyone has to start somewhere when building their skills. Here's where to begin if you want to lead.
When you are interviewing job applicants, there are certain “soft skills”—that is, non-technical skills that relate more to how you work with others and solve problems—that you should be on the lookout for, as these attributes are not usually spelled out on a candidate’s resume. Here, members from Young Entrepreneur Council share 13 underrated but important soft skills they look for when they are hiring new employees.
School looked very different for many students this past year and a half due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For recent college grads, the future of work may seem like it’s filled with even more of the same uncertainty as the job market evolves and heals in the aftermath of 2020.
When starting a business, entrepreneurs are likely to encounter many barriers to success. Discoverability can be difficult, as companies may struggle to find new customers or clients at first. Cultivating an audience can then be an even larger challenge when it involves a new product or service. Customers are sometimes hesitant to spend money on something new.
Businesses have access to a treasure trove of valuable customer data, from how their audience is engaging with a social media post to their feedback on a product or service. When properly collected and analyzed, this data is invaluable for improving the customer experience — but you need to be collecting the right data.
Having a “side hustle” can be a great way to test the waters of entrepreneurship. Aside from providing a creative outlet and a chance to develop new skills, a side hustle can also turn into a reliable income stream.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explore some possible negatives of shifting your entire business model to the cloud.
An individual who factors self-reflection into their everyday development is on their way to becoming a great leader. To advance, managers have to ask themselves regularly if their performance is in line with their leadership goals. The evidence can be in how well their team is performing and the results they have achieved.
In a world filled with uncertainties, businesses want to be able to rely on customer loyalty. Many businesses know they wouldn’t be successful without their customers, but they may not be sure how to best thank them for their loyalty.
While many large companies may have the resources to offer funded relaxation retreats or other extensive mental health perks, it can be difficult for small businesses to find ways to offer similar benefits without those same resources.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has been gaining more and more traction over the past few years as connected devices and smart home and office gadgets dominate the market. According to Statista, the IoT market revenue worldwide is projected to climb to over 1 trillion dollars by 2030.
Searching for a new job can be a huge challenge. Modern recruiters have an influx of applications to sift through and judge, and it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd.
With social media, businesses have a unique tool to get firsthand insights from customers in an environment which allows them to interact with their audience, ask questions, highlight new products and share information.
Fear is a paralyzing emotion and can stop even the most experienced business owners in their tracks. For entrepreneurs — who count on moving forward as a way to keep their businesses thriving — letting fear get out of hand can be debilitating.
Leaders often fall prey to and mistakenly share myths about sales with their team. Believing these misconceptions can hurt their ability to sell.
Transparency is often boasted as a defining quality of successful business leaders. Oftentimes it helps team members feel valued and comfortable enough to share their own opinions. But can too much transparency have negative effects on company operations and employee morale?
A normal part of running a business is having ideas fail. However, sometimes these circumstances lead to crises within the business. When this happens, employees look to business leaders for guidance on how to respond.
One of the most common complaints in the business world is about being forced to attend unnecessary meetings. Nobody wants to sit through an in-person meeting or video conference to hear things that could have instead been summed up in an email message. To help business leaders run more purposeful meetings, we asked 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share their best tips for how to make meetings more efficient and useful.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss characteristics all top tech companies share and why.
Making thorough, educated decisions doesn't have to take tons of time.
This 80/20 principle, in essence, states that 80% of an outcome comes from 20% of its causes. It explains how small actions, a small group of people, events or elements are responsible for a disproportionately large percentage of a result.
Many employees are familiar with receiving feedback from their managers. However, few are as familiar or comfortable with giving feedback to their managers. Whether it’s because, as an employee, you don’t feel like it’s your place to offer criticism or because you just aren’t sure how to go about doing it, approaching a superior with a critique can be a frightening prospect.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for marketing your newly launched mobile app.
Thanks to search engines leveling the marketing playing field, even the smallest business can today benefit from the reach that search engine marketing (SEM) offers. But when you’re short on money, time, and resources, learning all about SEO and SEM—and how to leverage them effectively in your digital marketing strategy—can be a challenge. Here, 13 leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council share SEO and SEM tips that work for them, and that won’t break the bank.
Work can be a distracting place. You have questions and requests from your co-workers or boss interrupting your workflow. You have your cellphone to distract you—emails and texts you feel compelled to answer, social media messages you need to respond to and calls you need to pick up. Without a doubt, maintaining focus is a challenge if you're not strategic about how you spend your time.
With the rich educational value podcasts often provide their listeners, it’s no surprise that the business community turns to this popular form of content to improve their skills and strategies. Some entrepreneurs even make major business decisions based on the information they’ve learned and the stories they’ve listened to on podcasts.
For new business owners, it may not always be clear when to move beyond core employees and begin bringing on some new teammates. Growing pains are normal for a startup that is doing well, so until you see your employees are struggling, you may not realize that it’s time to bring on additional help.
Startup accelerators and incubators are great opportunities for new businesses to grow and scale their operations quickly. These programs are pivotal for the startups who participate in them, as they often provide access to exclusive business resources and funding opportunities.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for overcoming self-doubt when starting out in business.
Hiring talented new employees can help a company grow. Young employees, in particular, often bring fresh perspectives, new skills, and lots of creative energy to the businesses they join. However, it can be difficult to attract young talent, especially in today’s competitive hiring environment. Here, 10 members from Young Entrepreneur Council share how your business can attract the best young professionals.
As a new small business, engaging your community is crucial to getting your business off the ground. The goal is to nurture lasting relationships that will drive your revenue and increase brand awareness; however, forming genuine connections with members of your community requires strategy and patience.
Sometimes an employee just doesn’t work out within an organization and needs to be let go. Firing an employee is a task that needs to be handled with delicacy and care, and the process can be intimidating for someone who has never been responsible for terminating an employee before.
Content marketing is one of the most effective methods of gaining exposure for a brand and bringing potential customers into the sales funnel. By integrating strategic distribution, search engine optimization and inbound tactics as part of this approach, most businesses see excellent returns on their investments in content marketing.
One of the best ways to keep a business innovative and growing healthily is for leaders to set tangible goals for teams. To motivate teams to accomplish their goals, it helps to assess the progress toward meeting them on a quarterly basis. This way, at the end of every quarter, the whole team can look back and track the progress they’ve made, see what still needs to happen and prepare for the quarter ahead.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the most important lessons they've learned about leading from afar.
Thought leadership can be a way to create personal and professional growth for yourself and others. Done correctly, it can help you stand out in your industry and build your personal brand.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some important insights every entry-level tech candidate should know before joining the field.
Disagreements will happen from time to time, regardless of how well a team works together. However, conflicts shouldn’t result in destroyed relationships or grudges. It’s important for professionals to know how to prevent a situation from escalating and get their point across without becoming rude or arrogant in their words and actions.
Not every method is going to work the same for every person.
For many professionals, making a mistake at work can be a big hit to their self-confidence. The scenario can weigh on your mind and cause you to feel like you’re bad at your job or that you’re not cut out for your particular profession. Recovering your self-confidence after a mistake takes some time, but it can be done, and the faster you do so, the more effective you'll be in the future.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain what every prospective smart home system owner should think about before making an investment.
Building a brand is an essential part of starting a business. The brand should accurately reflect what the company is, what it offers, its values and more.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their predictions for upcoming advances in encryption tech.
One of the most alluring aspects of remote work is the notion that you don’t have to leave home to do your job. However, remote working comes with its own stressors and if you aren’t aware of them, they can overwhelm you.
Members of the Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on whether a long-term or campaign-by-campaign content strategy works best for brands.
With the advent of social media, companies are now closer than ever to their buyers' feedback. However, these buyers may or may not be charitable with their opinions. Occasionally, a business may encounter a consumer who wasn’t happy with their experience or the product itself.
Getting quality guest posts on your website is one of the most effective ways to ensure that your brand gains added visibility. The more high-quality sites post to yours, the better search engines will rank you and the more positive relationships you’ll build.
Many entrepreneurs will concede that their worst problem is overthinking complex decisions. The issue with overthinking is not only that it stifles creativity and innovation; it also erodes your confidence as an entrepreneur and can make you second-guess yourself.
Public relations can be a delicate balancing act. If your business does PR right, it could skyrocket in popularity overnight. If, however, you run afoul of public opinion, you may find your company falls as fast as it grew.
If you want to lead, you may want to nurture these traits first.
Devastating occurrences sometimes happen in business without a lot of forewarning. Entrepreneurs can leverage insurance to protect themselves from things such as fire or theft, but there are other less obvious disasters that are more difficult to prepare for.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer tips for developing effective, sales-boosting e-commerce ads.
When you run a business and hire employees, it’s essential your new staff members feel like they are valued members of the team. Your efforts should begin on day one with an onboarding process that will help new employees feel welcome, and that will set them up for success as they start their work.
Video remains one of the most popular marketing formats that companies can use to reach out to their customers, and with so many online platforms adding live video capabilities, more companies than ever are able to interact with their customers in real time.
To appeal to today’s on-the-go world, many businesses have considered the value in creating a branded mobile application for their customers. In theory, it's a great idea—but app fatigue is very real, and if you don't want users to delete your app after a few uses, you need to give them a good reason to keep coming back.
Sensitive information is stored and accessed digitally by businesses every day. While it's a lot more convenient for companies to have data stored digitally, unfortunately this also means these files are more vulnerable to attacks from hackers. Malicious users can gain access to a company’s data in several ways, including phishing, a method which takes advantage of unsuspecting employees as a gateway.
A leader who steps back a little creates positive benefits in a business.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for combating the discouraging thoughts that plague many entrepreneurs.
Many businesses rely on software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies to help them run their everyday operations. However, with so many specialized vendors, it's easy to lose track of the number — and price tag — of the SaaS providers you're working with. To help, members of Young Entrepreneur Council weighed in on the following question:
Email marketing is a great way for small businesses to stay connected with their customers and encourage more sales. The problem is that because of their size they often have limited resources for growing their subscriber lists. So to help small business owners expand their email audience (even on a budget), the members of Young Entrepreneur Council weighed in on the following question:
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their firsthand insights on leveraging social media effectively this year.
For any aspiring business owner or entrepreneur, establishing the right practices and habits as part of your normal behaviors can set you on a path toward career success. However, there are a few habits that might actually be hindering your entrepreneurial journey rather than helping it. These habits might be things you consider to be completely harmless in the grand scheme of your total behaviors, and many entrepreneurs might not even see them as significant hurdles to overcome.
Being a leader is more than running meetings and managing a team. It’s a skill that takes a lifetime to master, and there will always be room to grow as a mentor, coach and source of inspiration to your employees.
Managers have the difficult responsibility of achieving their own goals to meet the business objectives of their company while simultaneously overseeing the performance of its employees.
As an entrepreneur, it’s important to keep an eye on your competition and find ways to set yourself apart from others in your industry. Especially in a saturated market, it's vital to stand out with a strong personal brand.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss how you’ll know when it’s time to consider a career switch.
If you’re trying to attract highly qualified professionals to your company, it’s likely that they’re mulling over multiple offer letters in addition to yours. To incentivize a top job candidate to accept your offer, you have to find a way to make it stand out. To help, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:
Entrepreneurs often find themselves swamped by work, with little or no time to be mindful of themselves and what is happening around them. Mindful moments aren’t always easy to come by, so business leaders need to take advantage of them when they show up or learn to be intentional about making the time for them.
Many companies set goals for the year, but can often lose track of them as other problems and priorities arise. Ensuring each department has its own goals to work toward is one way to help prevent this issue. But how can a leader figure out if each department is on track with its goals?
When a client signs on with your business, they have certain expectations about what your performance will be. The best way to end up with a happy client, however, is to manage these expectations early on. If you don't, and a client feels as though they should have gotten more from your business but didn't, their testimony could severely damage your future business and your reputation. To ensure you don’t end up in this situation, 12 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) share their insights on the following question:
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some basic how-to tips for small businesses that want to use cloud computing.
Thanks to the explosion of tech, there are many new skills a small business owner must learn in order to be successful in the modern world. However, there are also a whole host of necessary basic skills that stand the test of time.
When you’re running short of ideas, an "oldie but goodie" approach is to go back to the classic topics you know will always be a winner with any audience.
The goal of any recruitment effort is to find a candidate who would be a good fit for the company. This would mean that the hire would not only be proficient in their role, but would also do well within the specific company culture. But beyond an interview, how can leaders ensure new hires will be the right choice?
For many companies, maintaining a high level of engagement and motivation among employees during the dark winter months can be quite a challenge. And with a growing remote work environment, it is even more difficult to make sure your team stays engaged and productive while also ensuring they make time for self-care. To help, 11 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council reflect on the following question:
If you’re looking to expand your business, franchising your business could be a great option. Growing a company by franchising can offer many benefits—but you need to be aware of the drawbacks, too. To determine whether or not you should franchise your business, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:
When posting a job listing, businesses generally have their go-to, established platforms that they know are frequented by potential candidates. Sometimes, however, a company needs to think outside the box when sourcing talent. Occasionally, the least obvious places to post vacancies may result in the most remarkable outpouring of candidates. That’s why these 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) reflect on the following question:
Businesses never stay the same size forever. An entrepreneur may yearn for the early days when their business was just a handful of people. But over time, businesses find great success and become entities that may span several offices and regions.
Finding funding is typically one of the most challenging parts of starting a new business. The risks versus rewards of investing in new companies can usually have investors worried about jumping in. The responsibility is then on the entrepreneur to make their business idea exciting and attractive enough to warrant investors' attention.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer some effective ways to keep users coming back to your mobile app.
Members of Young Entrepreneur explain how hands-on CEOs can get more comfortable with delegation.
Social media is a place for anyone to express their opinions and beliefs, and often that means talking about controversial topics. Sometimes, a business may post something that sparks a heated debate, or its social media followers might bring up these touchy issues on the business’s page, leaving the brand to come up with a response that won't offend or alienate its audience.
If you carry out social media marketing, then working with influencers is something you need to seriously consider. When you’re a small brand, it can take months of consistent effort, if not years, to build an audience.
When you understand your customer, you can better tailor your products and services to their needs. The most reliable way to get to know who your customers are and what they're looking for is to get that information directly from them. But how can you persuade customers to give you the comprehensive, actionable feedback you need?
The easiest part of opening a business is coming up with the idea and filing the paperwork. The most challenging part often might not be apparent right away. No leader can predict or prepare for every obstacle they might encounter as a business owner, and hurdles can vary by industry and by each entrepreneur. However, with a little insight from more experienced entrepreneurs and the right mindset, you can successfully guide you and your business through any challenge.
Onboarding a new employee is an exciting time for any business. While you're eager to get your new team member up and running on their tasks, you also need to ensure they understand the company culture and will mesh with your organization for the long term. That's why we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:
Facing adversity can help you grow in ways you never imagined.
Self-doubt can be debilitating for some individuals. If you're trying to advance your career, the belief that you’re not good enough can quickly put an end to those aspirations. It can make you feel less confident about your abilities, which in turn can make you seem less trustworthy and dependable to others. If you can't believe in yourself, will anyone else?
Programming is highly in demand in today's digital-first world. Try these tools, courses and platforms recommended by business leaders.
Whether it’s frustration from limitations in their current industry or being shaken by the instability of the job market during COVID-19, many professionals are starting over in their careers, possibly in a new industry entirely.
Whether it's hyperfocusing or scatterfocusing, there is more than one way to drive productivity.
Everyone online shopper has added items to their cart, only to close out of the website before completing the purchase. This behavior has led to an average online cart abandonment rate of 60% to 80% for many e-commerce sites.
16 entrepreneurs from YEC share their favorite sales automation tools and strategies and explain why they work.
When you first start your business, every member of the “founding team” -- i.e. you and your first employees -- is crucial to its early success. As your business grows and changes, there may come a time when you feel yourself starting to outgrow your original employees.
Blogging is a great way to share information and valuable content with your audience. It also brings a great chance to send potential consumers your way based on your search engine optimization (SEO).
New entrepreneurs sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that they can make their hobbies profitable through their business. When you're putting together a company, the first thing you may want to consider is whether you're doing this as a passion or for profit.
Public speaking is a great way to gain exposure for your brand and a reputation for expertise in your field. Events with an audience allow for transparency and vulnerability—two key pieces to success when you're working to build a brand that consumers are eager to engage with. Speaking events also help you show off the core solutions your business has to offer.
Occasionally, a business may require a part-time chief financial officer because their full-time employee has left or transitioned to a new portfolio. A part-time CFO doesn't need to have the same skill set as the original office-holder. However, to be successful in their endeavors on behalf of the company, they need to have a series of qualities making them suitable for the position.
The holiday season is usually a goldmine of opportunities for product-based businesses that deploy specific marketing strategies to make their offering stand out and be relevant for that time of the year. While service-based businesses typically find it more difficult to capitalize on this season’s business opportunities, there are still several creative strategies they can deploy to make holiday marketing work in their favor. To help, we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:
When you set out to pitch your idea to an investor, you usually go through the most common questions that they're likely to ask. Discerning investors are careful about where they put their money, but a well-prepared entrepreneur can quickly answer a surprising amount of what they ask.
With most people working from home and away from their office’s internal server, data security is a pressing concern for employers. Companies and employees must make security a priority and understand how to keep their data safe when they’re working outside of their business’s secure network.
With the current corporate focus on remote work, file-sharing and syncing services have become an essential part of the modern office. While some companies have bespoke designed solutions that meet their needs, these can be complicated and clunky to implement, requiring cybersecurity and IT administration input.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for getting things back on track when your business is going through a turbulent period.
These 20 entrepreneurs discuss the best features for remote management of a displaced workforce.
Using the right tools and tactics can help your customer support team provide the best service.
A website can be a critical marketing tool as long as you manage to keep your audience engaged. Marketing can drive traffic to your website in several ways, with video, text, or image content. But once they get there, how do you keep them there?
Influencers are the newest way of reaching out to social media audiences. Unlike traditional advertising, these influencers have their own goals and ambitions. Influencers thrive on building relationships between themselves and their audiences. Microinfluencers tend to have fewer followers but an even more close-knit community. In many cases, this closer relationship makes it easier for them to convince users of their perspective. When dealing with micro-influencers, businesses should understand what makes this particular relationship work so well. To help, we asked 13 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:
Staying motivated as an entrepreneur takes a lot of effort. In several situations, business owners find themselves struggling to point themselves in the right direction, whether in their profession or in their personal life. In both of these cases, your inspiration dictates the drive you have to accomplish your goals.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some creative ideas for tech companies that want to leverage more user-generated content.
We all have biases that affect our decision-making. These biases can sometimes be minor and have minimal impact, but other times they can have an outsized and potentially negative influence on your business and how it’s run.
As entrepreneurs, we understand how powerful the classification of personality types can be in recruitment. From Myers-Briggs to Enneagram, the number of ways to gauge a person's innate traits can be measured in a hundred different ways. Several companies use one or more of those personality tests to develop their employees' potentials.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the upcoming technology trends they're most excited about and how they plan to jump on board.
Anyone can find intrinsic motivation in their life.
Remote working has taken the world by storm, as more and more businesses are looking at hiring workers and having them operate remotely. Aside from the convenience of the workers, the company also benefits from higher productivity and worker morale. However, getting those employees onboarded can be a challenging task. Businesses can't rely on the tried-and-true formulae they've used for years to onboard on-site employees and should instead adapt their techniques to cater for remote hires.
Many companies that shifted to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic have helped employees eliminate their daily commute. However, some professionals do still need to make regular trips into the office – and spending time commuting to work can feel stressful and counterproductive. If you use your time wisely, though, there are plenty of ways to maximize your commute and make it a productive one.
Young Entrepreneur Council members share some upcoming tech trends they believe will have an important impact on business leaders.
When a business advertises for a position, you can be assured that there will be a flood of applications coming in. If you're a young entrepreneur with a small company, you'll be doing most of the application sorting yourself. The first step is determining which applications suit the character, demeanor, and qualifications you're looking for.
As a business owner, you know your company can't remain stagnant and stuck in its ways if it hopes to grow. That growth requires innovation and creativity, both of which are best sourced from everyone on your team.
Members of Yount Entrepreneur Council offer their tips for effectively growing a service-based company.
If you're like the hundreds of content marketers out there that have invested in blog content, you want people to read it. If you've been watching your metrics for visits, you might realize that many visitors don't even bother with your blog. Sure, they might follow a social post from your media to your blog, and possibly read a single entry, but they won't engage further than that.
For online businesses, a high-performing website that encourages engagement and conversions is the key to successful growth. It often takes time to build up a steady stream of website visitors and consistent buyers. However, there are some things you can do to help accelerate the process.
If your company has a blog and social media presence, you know how challenging it can be to keep up with the constant demand for new content. Recycling and updating existing content is a great way to put a fresh spin on what you’ve previously published without the hassle of coming up with a brand-new idea.
Education is a gift that remains relevant, no matter how old you get. Businesses that encourage their employees to experience new things and educate themselves stand to benefit from the new insights their workforce will come up with as a result.
When you start a business, one of the first questions you ask yourself if you should be doing this alone, or if you need help. This decision determines whether your company is a solopreneurship or a partnership. Some entrepreneurs work better by themselves, but others realize the benefit of having a partner.
Motivation works cyclically. There are moments when you feel as though you can take on the world, punctuated by moments when you feel like it makes no sense to do anything. If you've been feeling unmotivated at work recently, you're not alone. Workers worldwide go through the same moments of "boom and bust" when it comes to their motivation.
Online courses can build your customer base and improve your brand image.
Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how companies can optimize their mobile shopping experience.
Brand loyalty forms a core concept of marketing in the 21st century. In a paradigm shift, thanks to better interactivity with consumers, brand loyalty is now easier to achieve than ever before. With a medium where the brand can interact directly with clients in the form of social media, all a company has to do is use their social media presence cleverly. Once they leverage their following and provide value to the audience, brand loyalty is sure to follow. To help, we asked 14 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:
Social media is constantly evolving, as are the ways people use it. What was once primarily used for connecting with old friends and family has morphed into a platform for sharing perspectives and launching campaigns.
Being part of a creative team is an exciting job. However, it’s difficult to always be in an innovative, inspired mindset. Often, creatives experience burnout and roadblocks that hinder their performance.
Master these skills to build a great site that drives awareness and dollars to your brand.
As a small to medium enterprise owner, it can be challenging to find time for anything. Even in your supposed downtime, you invest time into ensuring the company runs smoothly. Work-life balance as an always-busy professional can be hard, if not impossible, to find. When you don't focus on your well-being, both your health as well as your relationships suffer. Being busy is essential for success, but so is knowing when to stake a step back. In such an active lifestyle, however, how does an entrepreneur know how to balance work and pleasure? That’s why we asked 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:
In today's world, every business knows that consistent, quality content is the key to engaging consumers. Publishing giants like BuzzFeed have mastered the art of drawing people in with engaging headlines and interactive features, and encouraging repeat visitors with well-researched, valuable articles.
When you're negotiating a deal, misinterpreted tone or poorly-chosen words could ruin an otherwise-successful conversation. Sometimes you may not know even which phrases might turn a deal sour. That's why we asked 16 members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:
Leadership is a battle for constant improvement.
Come up with creative ways to repurpose your content and engage your audience.
The internet of things (IoT) has given consumers and businesses the ability to make their homes and offices "smart." Because IoT devices can communicate and exchange data with one other, they have vast potential for streamlining workflows and making us more efficient. However, with all the data each internet-connected device collects, stores and uses, there's also an inherent security risk.
Having a side hustle is a great way to develop a creative outlet outside of your regular career. However, these projects can consume a lot of your time, energy and money. That's why it's important to consider the required commitment and effort – and the potential return – before going all-in on your idea.
Getting any business off the ground requires sufficient capital. However, all the financial stress doesn't have to fall on you as the entrepreneur – there are other ways to secure funding for your startup without assuming 100% of the risk yourself. That's why we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:
All entrepreneurs are excited to see their businesses grow, but this growth isn't infinitely exponential. Occasionally, the company's growth may become stalled. This contraction might happen due to any number of factors affecting either the business itself or the industry as a whole.
You don't need to spend a ton of money to build a great business website.
As a leader, you know your workplace dynamic directly impacts employee morale and, in turn, your bottom line. No matter how great your company culture might be, there is always room for improvement. But to make impactful changes, you’ll have to first understand which areas warrant the most attention.
Businesses have seen a period of massive growth, especially those that deal solely with online sales and services. While this development is promising, it also opens up a business to another problem -- that of having their growth outscale their ability to communicate.
It takes time, but allow yourself the opportunity to make meditation a positive part of your daily routine.
Professionals, regardless of their work environment, sometimes find their focus flagging. If you're someone who has to deal with divided attention between multiple tasks, the amount of effort you put into a job will start telling on your psyche before too long. To deal with this situation, you'll have to figure out how to retain your focus and discipline within the workplace.
An employee referral program is a win-win for you and your team. Referral candidates tend to be well-qualified, since they're pre-vetted by staff members you know and trust, and hiring referrals shows you value your employees' input. To help you build a great referral program, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:
Within any company, the ambitions of individual team members should aid the overall organization. However, it takes a leader to fuel, direct, and inspire this ambition into a way that helps both the team members and the organization as a whole. One way leaders can get their team members to realize their ambitions is by guiding them toward self-teaching and taking initiative, as a way of expanding their knowledge and skills while also seizing new opportunities within the company. To help, we asked 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following:
In all walks of life, there will be pitfalls that plague professionals. For an entrepreneur, especially, it may occasionally feel like nothing is working out, no matter what you do. There's a saying that success only comes to those who get back up each time they get knocked down. The problem is that the saying doesn't detail how you get back up from a fall. Some leaders can find themselves falling over and over, and each time the recovery takes more out of them.
Entrepreneurs can be so busy in today's business world that they lose sight of themselves. Introspection has an essential place in an entrepreneur's mindset. Understanding one's goals and motivations can help one come to terms with what one wants out of life.
As the up-and-coming generation of consumers, Gen Z has become a hot target demographic for many brands. This generation of true digital natives is even more entrenched in the world of technology than the millennials who came before them. Therefore, companies that want to reach them need to go all-in on social media, Gen Z's preferred place to "hang out" online.
If you’re a driven entrepreneur who also wants to make time for family, a home-based online side hustle may seem like a great idea. While this type of work offers more flexibility than a side business you have to run on-location, being at home doesn’t mean it’s easy to find balance.
It takes a lot of mental fortitude for an employee to approach their employer for a raise. There's no playbook for managers and business owners to know how to gauge whether an employee deserves a raise or not. The factors as to whether an employee deserves to earn more can be approached in several different ways. From the addition of value to the support they provide, each plays an integral part in determining whether a raise is warranted. That’s why we asked 10 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:
It isn't possible to always have high self-esteem, but self-acceptance can get you through all of life's vagaries.
Despite the overwhelming preference for digital media among modern marketers, traditional advertising methods are still being implemented today and driving great results. Newspaper, TV and radio spots can offer tons of potential for businesses looking to reach a local market -- if they're used the right way.
By definition, creativity is about pushing boundaries and exploring unusual ideas.
Making a major spending decision in your business, whether that be a new hire or a new marketing campaign, is often intimidating. You want to make sure you’re investing your money wisely, in a way that will yield a worthwhile return. To help you, we asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members how to make financial decisions with confidence.
Part of being a leader is constantly learning.
A business is built on the reputation it gets through its dealings. Not all the press a company receives will be positive, however. Depending on how the consumers see the business, a company might have mixed reviews on social media.
A business is built on the reputation it gets through its dealings. Not all the press a company receives will be positive, however. Depending on how the consumers see the business, a company might have mixed reviews on social media.
Personal and business resolutions are easy to make but harder to keep.
Entrepreneurs have habits that can both aid and hamper their efforts to be better businesspeople. Some practices even seem to be completely harmless but we don’t truly realize how damaging they can be until we make a small change that impacts them and shows how die-reaching its consequences are.
It's easy to let the stress of a pending deadline or doubts in yourself impact your ability to get started.
A leader is someone who takes the initiative and drives the business forward to fulfill its goals. Within a company, leaders are responsible for guiding and inspiring those whose departments they lead. Many leaders get to their positions after years of experience and learning what their jobs entail.
Understand and challenge these content marketing myths to take your strategy to the next level.
Everyone feels down from time to time -- especially when you're dealing with the stress of running a business. Those negative feelings can make you question everything. While it's OK to feel down, the best way to relieve that feeling is to actively seek out positive thoughts. That's why we asked Young Entrepreneur Council members what they do in moments of doubt to help remind them of their potential. Ask yourself the following questions to regain your confidence during a mental or emotional rut.
As your company grows, managing both company-wide and department goals can become more and more challenging. It can feel like a delicate balancing act -- and if it's not coordinated properly, prioritizing broader company goals could come at the expense of the individual departments. As successful business leaders, the experts of Young Entrepreneur Council have learned how to track their department-specific goals as their companies have grown. That's why we asked a panel of YEC members to share their best tips for monitoring departmental objectives. Here's what they had to say.
The winter months mean less sunlight, colder temperatures and often, dampened moods. It’s common for people to feel more tired and less motivated in the winter, which can negatively impact work performance. However, a winter slump is not inevitable -- it may require a bit of extra effort, but you and your teams can stay just as motivated during those colder months. To help you out this winter, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share how they raise spirits in the workplace throughout the season. Follow their recommendations to keep your team feeling productive until spring arrives again.
Incorporate interactivity into your content calendar to enrich the customer experience.
As digital payments evolve and become more commonplace, an increasing number of businesses are accepting them, with some businesses rejecting cash payments entirely. While digital payments can certainly be convenient for customers and businesses alike, it’s important to understand the process and avoid any potential pitfalls. We asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council for their takes on digital payments. They shared 10 things you should keep in mind as digital payment options evolve, and how those offerings will impact your business in the future.
Risk is often inherent in business, especially when you’re running your own. However, there are steps you can take to manage that risk. As highly successful entrepreneurs in their industries, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have learned a lot about effectively mitigating risk and minimizing its impact on their businesses. We asked them to share some practical tips for new business owners who are also new to risk management. Read on for their best answers.
Office culture doesn't stagnate, and there will always be a constant change around how a business operates. Instituting new office procedures and policies as the company culture changes may mean taking some chances. Not all new plans are guaranteed to succeed, and some of them require considerable risk on behalf of the company.
Focusing your marketing strategy on your community builds the foundation of a strong brand.
Entrepreneurs usually don't have enough hours in a day to get everything done. That's the primary reason why prioritizing tasks is a common trait of the most successful business owners. However, many entrepreneurs overlook the importance of hiring great talent to their team and place the priority of hiring new employees way down their list.
In the age of social media, a controversy -- and a potential public relations crisis -- is always lurking. It's impossible to completely avoid controversial issues and conversations if your business is on social media, but knowing how to handle them with grace and professionalism can save you from landing your brand in hot water. To help you, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:
The world has been enamored with the use of virtual reality ever since the movie “Tron” came out in the 80s. Today's VR is a bit different from the fancy world of the silver screen, but the technology has a lot of practical uses.
By showing your audience that your products have a vocal and satisfied user base, you’ll see increased engagement, traffic and conversions.
Influencers play a crucial role in consumer buying decisions, and you have the opportunity to harness that power.
Internet security is a big concern for business owners and their customers, but you can take steps to stop hackers in their tracks.
It’s safe to say that the recent emergence of AI in marketing is just the beginning.
Mastering video is well worth the effort to reach consumers.
Online customer interactions have largely taken the place of face-to-face ones.
When workers care about what they do, they are more likely to stay with a company and deliver an excellent customer experience because they are happy to be there and engaged in the company culture and values.
Automation has made customer personalization one of the most important tools in a marketer’s tool belt.
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