Josh Weiss

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Even the most confident professionals have days where they might be feeling a little low or down on their game. Whether you wake up feeling on top of the world or a little less than confident, it's helpful to have a daily affirmation to remind yourself how special and important you really are.  Affirmations can be incredibly useful for building confidence and self-esteem. Below, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their favorite daily affirmations and discuss how they might help other professionals' attitudes or mindsets at work.

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Many employees are intimidated by salary negotiation, especially if they don’t have any prior experience with it. However, managers are more open to negotiation than you might think. In fact, 75% of managers expect to negotiate when making a job offer; however, workers often don’t take them up on the opportunity. To help professionals who have never done this before, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members shared salary negotiation insights from an employer’s perspective. They offered tips for successfully asking for a higher salary and shared how these strategies have worked in the real world.

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No matter what industry you're in, if you’re trying to hire in the current job market, chances are that you're up against some fierce competition. With so many companies to compete with, it's vital to find a way to stand out so that the best talent will want to join your team — and your job posting is the best place to start. To that end, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members were asked to answer the following question:

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council suggest the information you should try to find when researching your business’s competition. Every business faces competition. In order to succeed in the marketplace, companies must do what they can to stand out from each other. An important step in this process is analyzing the competition to figure out what they do well — and what they don’t — so you have a better idea of where your company stands and what you need to do to get ahead. To help get you started, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared a list of helpful pieces of data or information you’ll want to find out when studying your competition and why those things will help you succeed.

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Businesses thrive on interaction with large clients. They form the most significant inflow of money to the enterprise and help you meet your obligations from month to month. With so many companies closing down, it's not far-fetched to think that one of your massive clients might face bankruptcy. When that happens, you will need to have a clear plan in place to recover any overdue payments and soften the blow until you find new customers. That’s why we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

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Free advertising has leveled up, as there are now more alternatives to paid ads than ever. The world's economy has taken a massive hit, which means that companies will be looking to cut down on different expenses to stay afloat. Unfortunately, many of these businesses will look at their advertising budget when considering what to cut. While advertising can be a significant expense to a business, it's necessary if the company intends to reach out to new and existing customers.  Eradicating advertising could spell disaster for a company, but luckily, there are ways to reach out to clients even if you cut the ad budget completely. Several channels exist that businesses can explore that give them a chance to advertise without the added budget. Many companies overlook them because they associate "free" with "low quality," but that isn't necessarily the case. Businesses concerned about spending on marketing and advertising should explore these channels since they offer a unique way to interact with clients.  Even if your advertising budget hasn't been slashed, these channels still provide massive value for money if you use them right. Twenty associates of YEC discuss some of the best channels and explain how they can help boost the signal of an advertising campaign, even though they cost nothing or very little to use.

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These tools and strategies can make email marketing more efficient and less time-consuming. Email marketing is still a handy outreach method for businesses. It offers something unique in how companies can interact with their clientele. The big problem many companies have with email marketing is how much time it takes up from its staff. But does email marketing have to be that time-consuming? One of the things that businesses have realized over the years is that anything which used to take time can become more efficient. Email marketing isn't an exception to this rule. Where research meant digging through tons of questionnaires and noting results, today you can simply access an automatically-compiled list of preferences, sorted by an algorithm. These lists enable businesses to develop targeted, personalized emails that resonate with their target audience. These tools are only the tip of the iceberg, however. As more and more companies are looking into developing personalized marketing techniques, research needs to finish faster than ever before. Specialized tools and software exist to help businesses realize results more quickly. However, many companies are still in the dark about how they could streamline their email marketing to take up less time. We asked 17 thought leaders from YEC their take on the best tools and strategies to make email marketing a more efficient enterprise. Here's what they had to say.

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Business legal matters can be intimidating, but these tools can help you understand and streamlining the process. Starting a business means dealing with some standard legal matters, like registering your business and complying with tax regulations. This can be overwhelming for new entrepreneurs, especially if they're not familiar with these legal processes. While it's always advisable to consult an experienced business attorney, there are countless resources and online tools available that make it easier to find the information you need. To help you, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council which tools they recommend to make the legal side of business less intimidating for small business owners. Try one of these suggestions when you're faced with common business legal tasks.  

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You don't need to spend a ton of money to build a great business website. A high-quality website can attract customers and give them a positive experience with your company. If you don't have much web design experience, you may be concerned about the cost and time it might take for someone else to build the site for you. Fortunately, there are tons of website building tools that allow you to create your own business website, even if you don't know how to code. Many of these platforms offer plenty of sophisticated features without the hefty price tag, while also being user-friendly. To help you explore your options, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their favorite low-cost, high-quality website builders. Check out these DIY tools before you outsource the job.

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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.  To help you identify those areas, we asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members this question:

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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. Business communication deals with how the company interacts with clients including their overall branding promise. Naturally, a small company is likely to have a different approach to a larger one, simply because of the scale of the communication involved. We consulted 14 entrepreneurs from YEC to ask them about the best ways for a business to ensure that their communication scale keeps up with their business growth. Here's what they had to say.

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It's no surprise that cold calling remains one of the most effective means of getting leads. Unfortunately, people tend to be averse to getting calls out of the blue. Some people even reject unknown numbers to avoid cold calls altogether. Despite this, user engagement with phone calls remains high, and the number of people you connect with increases your chance of success. Even though it's a numbers’ game at heart, you can develop an advantage by stacking the odds in your favor. The most critical thing to figure out is how to approach cold calling so as to get the best results. We consulted eight experts from Young Entrepreneur Council regarding their best advice for landing cold calling clients. Here's what they had to share:

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Innovation can change how a company does business and significantly improve its bottom line. That is why innovation should be a core value for any organization, and leaders should spare no efforts to encourage their teams to come up with innovative ideas. However, the stigma in some companies not to appear too "out there" keeps many creative ideas from coming to the fore. Managers that can put their staff at ease during brainstorming sessions of innovation-focused conversations have a much higher chance of getting them to reveal their innovative ideas. For managers who want to learn how to encourage employees to be more open and embrace their creativity, eight contributors to Young Entrepreneur Council speak about their own experiences within their companies and the most effective ways to have more conversations that lead to innovation.