Kalin Kassabov

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As the online marketplace grows increasingly competitive, businesses must put in strategic effort to stand out from their competitors. Social media can serve as a powerful and cost-effective tool in achieving this goal by getting a brand's products and services in front of the right audience. To help small businesses make the most of their social media efforts, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:

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While many people try to avoid arguments at work, constructive disagreements can often lead to creative solutions. Left unchecked, however, these discussions can quickly head in an unhealthy direction and foster a negative atmosphere. To build a culture of innovation and open communication, leaders must foster healthy disagreements among their teams while ensuring things don't get out of hand. Below, 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their tried-and-true tips for encouraging constructive disagreements in the workplace.

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From books to seminars to online articles, there's no shortage of advice for business owners. While some insights are invaluable, others are questionable—and then there are some which are downright disastrous. Following the wrong business advice can prove detrimental to the health and growth of a business. Here, members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the worst business advice they've been given and why ignoring that advice is often the best solution.

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Organizational success relies heavily on a supervisor's ability to manage their team. When led properly, a well-managed team works cohesively to reach company goals, navigate challenges and explore new opportunities for growth. To help leaders looking to create cohesion and productivity within their own teams, 13 Young Entrepreneur Council members dive into the most potent methods for managing high-performing teams. From servant leadership to delegation, these effective strategies are instrumental in empowering teams and driving organizational success.

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When making a budget, entrepreneurs may account for some of the more obvious expenditures, such as payroll and production costs. However, some important expenses might be overlooked—which can significantly impact the health and longevity of a business. To help you create a more accurate business budget, members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the less obvious costs of running a business. From professional development to software upgrades, make sure your budget accounts for these key expenses.

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As new financial products and services emerge, companies must be aware that traditional marketing strategies may need updating. 

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Years after the “Great Resignation” turned the job economy upside down, businesses are still feeling the ripple effects today. With many industries struggling to attract employees—and others struggling even more with trying to retain them—some business leaders are desperately looking for solutions to this ongoing problem. One such solution is an overhaul of the interview process. One of the first opportunities businesses have to make a good impression on potential hires, interviews are perfect for highlighting what makes your business so attractive. According to the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, the following 10 strategies can help you create a quality interview experience that will be sure to impress.

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For many entrepreneurs, building an online store is a quick way to get their business up and running without having to deal with the overhead of a traditional brick-and-mortar store. But the world of e-commerce isn’t without its own obstacles to overcome. Challenges like getting noticed among the competition and designing a functional, appealing website can feel like major roadblocks to those new to navigating a digital business.  However, you don’t need a lot of experience to get started. According to the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, following these 11 steps can help you build a successful e-commerce site that will draw in customers and increase your chances of making a sale.

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Going from ‘solopreneur’ to ‘manager’ isn’t always as simple as it seems. Many people are attracted to entrepreneurship because they like the idea of being able to work for themselves. However, at some point in their career, they may find that they can no longer handle all the work themselves, and bringing on an employee or two -- or more -- may be the best solution as their business continues to scale. But managing yourself and managing others are two very different tasks. Naturally, some entrepreneurs end up making a few mistakes along the way. Here, seven entrepreneurial experts outline some of the top mistakes solopreneurs make when transitioning into an “employer” position -- and what you can do to avoid making those same mistakes with your business.

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As the year draws to a close, small service-based businesses face the challenge of not only reflecting on their past performance but also positioning themselves for success in the upcoming year. But how can these businesses stand out in the crowd to truly distinguish themselves and set a solid foundation for the year ahead? Here, 15 Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question to help small businesses rise above the competition and pave the way for a bright 2024.

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From securing funding to handling growth, launching a new business comes with several hurdles that must be cleared. Failure to understand these challenges can cause a business to falter before it ever truly gets off the ground. However, with the right preparation, entrepreneurs can overcome (and sometimes, even mitigate) obstacles and continue on the path to success. To help new and aspiring business owners looking to launch, Young Entrepreneur Council members share 10 common hurdles startups face—and how to most effectively overcome them.

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For many businesses, the holiday season is a time of increased demand and heightened activity, necessitating the hiring of seasonal or temporary workers. While these short-term team members are invaluable in meeting customer needs, managing a sudden influx of new hires can be a daunting task. To ensure a smooth and successful operation, it's essential for employers to master the art of managing seasonal or temporary teams effectively. Here, Young Entrepreneur Council members offer practical tips and strategies for setting up these temporary workers, and the entire team, for success during the holiday rush. These tips will help employers navigate the challenges that come with seasonal staffing while maintaining service quality and customer satisfaction.

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Entrepreneurship is a thrilling pursuit filled with opportunities, but it can also be a breeding ground for stress and burnout. To thrive in the highly demanding world of entrepreneurship, adopting specific habits is essential for reducing, and even avoiding, stress regularly. Below, Young Entrepreneur Council members explore the significance of cultivating these habits and why they are crucial for every entrepreneur. They also share the practices that not only help entrepreneurs navigate the turbulent waters but that also contribute to their long-term success and well-being.

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To stand out from other candidates, job seekers are increasingly called on to earn certifications, learn new skills and develop their personal brands. However, these rapidly shifting expectations have led to common misconceptions among job seekers about what it takes to get hired. Here, 11 Young Entrepreneur Council members share their perspectives on these common misbeliefs and the advice they would give to job seekers instead. Consider their insights to gain clarity on how prospective job candidates can develop the right strategies to land the jobs of their dreams.

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More than ever, people are consuming content via social media—a platform where you have to quickly stand out if you don’t want users to pass you by. One of the most popular ways of doing that today is through short-form video content. Only growing in popularity, this medium gives businesses and creators sometimes just a few seconds to make their point and draw viewers in.  This can be difficult for businesses that may be used to producing longer-form content, such as blog posts or interviews. Luckily, there are several ways you can take advantage of tools like TikToks and Instagram Reels even with little to no experience. Here, the business leaders of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their advice for leveraging short-form videos to draw more consumers to your business.

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As job hopping becomes more and more common among professionals—Gen Z in particular—many business leaders are looking for ways to increase employee loyalty and retention. While some employees look for higher pay and better benefits, others are just looking for somewhere they feel like they’re making a difference and where their hard work is appreciated and noticed. That being said, there are a number of ways employers can entice their team members to stay, improving not only their individual work lives but the company’s overall culture as well. Here, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the advice they would give leaders looking to build loyalty and reduce turnover in their business.

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Converting a potential customer takes more than just rattling off the facts about your product or service. It often requires a personalized approach based on a genuine understanding of the customer's needs. To gain this understanding, you'll need to ask the right questions during the sales process. Below, the business leaders of Young Entrepreneur Council share the eight most insightful questions you can ask a potential customer as well as how they will help you land that coveted sale.

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When you’re an entrepreneur, time management and productivity are key to lasting success. However, finding the time to get everything done can seem overwhelming, especially with the packed to-do lists that come with running a business. Fortunately, in today's technology-forward landscape, many apps are available to help busy entrepreneurs make the most of their (limited) time. Below, Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) leaders share their answers to the following question:

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Often, one of the most gratifying parts of being a small-business owner is building a connection to your local community. One of the many ways business owners can do this is by hosting local events. Whether it’s an intimate gathering in your store or a big summer bash, events are key opportunities for strengthening your relationship with your customers — but that doesn’t mean they have to break the bank. To help you determine the best ways to cut costs while still putting on an event to remember, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weigh in on the following question:

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Customer retention is an ongoing process, and it requires a genuine commitment to understanding and meeting your customers' needs.

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Marketing is an evolving practice, with new channels, trends and platforms emerging seemingly every day. In such an ever-changing industry, marketers themselves must also evolve to keep up with the latest in consumer interests and behaviors and better position their products or services as necessary solutions to customers’ problems. As such, it can be helpful for both new and established marketers to develop a few habits that will help keep their skills and knowledge fresh and their methods effective. If you’re a marketer looking to upskill or improve your daily habits, consider implementing one or more of the following habits recommended by the business leaders of Young Entrepreneur Council and give yourself an edge over others in your career.

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Negotiating contracts and terms with clients is a critical aspect of any business engagement. Whether you're a freelancer, a small-business owner, or work for a large corporation, understanding and implementing effective negotiation strategies is crucial for achieving mutually beneficial outcomes. To employ the best practices in contract negotiation—as well as safeguard your interests, foster productive client relationships, and ensure the smooth execution of projects—consider the following advice from members of the Young Entrepreneur Council.

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While it’s important to find balance throughout the year, the summer months are a great reminder to make more time for fun activities and personal or family time outside of work. A determined focus on one’s career or budding business can be necessary to achieve your goals and grow as a professional, but if left unchecked, it can also leave you feeling unbalanced, tired, stressed and like you’re missing out on precious time with your loved ones. If you think you may be letting your work life get in the way of your personal one, consider these other signs of overwork, as listed by the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Here, they discuss these red flags as well as what you can do to finally achieve work-life balance.

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It’s perfectly human to have “off” days—those when you can’t help but feel distracted by every little thought or feeling that enters your mind, or when smaller, less important tasks suddenly seem necessary to complete immediately. It can be difficult to get into a state of deep focus or even to find a normal amount of motivation on days like these, which means your productivity and ability to get things done can drastically decrease. Business leaders are no strangers to these kinds of off days, but thankfully the leaders of Young Entrepreneur Council have found a few solutions to recommend. Below, they each discuss one method they use to find their motivation for work even when they’re feeling distracted and how you can implement each tip to regain your own motivation.

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With the popularity of remote work today, companies are able to look for talent regardless of geographical location. But while this means access to a larger talent pool with varying skill sets, it also means navigating the legalities of hiring outside your home country and incorporating various cultures into your own unified company culture.  While this can be a tricky task to get right, with the right tools and tips, you can successfully expand your hiring to international applicants. To help, eight business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the tips they would give companies for how to be successful with their global recruiting efforts as well as how this might differ from traditional, location-based recruiting. 

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When it comes to hiring someone for their team, nearly every employer likely already has an image of their ideal candidate in mind. Whether it’s someone who isn’t afraid to push the envelope or someone who is reliable, trustworthy and gets their work done on time, the “ideal” hire can vary from employer to employer, sometimes making it difficult for potential candidates to know what qualities they should emphasize in their application. To provide a little bit of guidance, business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council list 11 words they’d use to describe their ideal employees and explain what it is about those specific characteristics that makes someone such a great hire.

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While LinkedIn is a great place to connect with others in your space and share your unique perspective on industry problems, engagement isn't always guaranteed. Because the platform boasts over 930 million members, if you aren’t being intentional about your LinkedIn strategy, your content may not even get noticed. However, if you’re looking to seriously up your LinkedIn game and give your engagement a major boost, consider the following advice from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Here, they outline nine steps any professional can take to increase engagement with their content and why these methods work so well.

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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. Whether you're just starting your entrepreneurial journey or are a seasoned professional, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) offer their suggestions by answering this question:

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From rejection and adversity to self-doubt, entrepreneurs will inevitably encounter many challenges as they work to build a thriving business. Fortunately, there are effective strategies new business owners can leverage to help them navigate the rough patches and stay motivated to achieve their goals.  Without preparing for unexpected setbacks and downturns, a new entrepreneur may struggle to maintain the focus and confidence they need to succeed. Here, 12 Young Entrepreneur Council members share their best advice for persevering through the difficulties that come along with entrepreneurship, offering tips to help entrepreneurs stay the course and find lasting success.

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As mobile technology gets better and becomes more widely used, it's only natural that more users will interact with companies on their devices.

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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. Luckily, there are some questions leaders can ask themselves to help make the hiring process a little more straightforward. Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss seven of those questions and why they are so effective at helping you determine whether or not someone would be a good fit for your team.

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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. To offer their thoughts on the matter, eight Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members weigh in on the following question:

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While the way a first meeting goes may not always make or break a deal, putting your best foot forward is much more likely to lead to a good result—especially when it comes to a potential new business partner or client. The first impression you make could set the tone for your whole relationship, which means it’s vitally important to strive for a positive one. To help you do this, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer nine of their top tips for ensuring you make a great first impression with a potential partner or client, and explain why using these methods will be so beneficial for the future of the relationship.

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As an entrepreneur, joining an online group can be a great way to stay up to date on the latest trends and developments in your field. These groups, which can be found on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, offer a wealth of information and advice from other entrepreneurs, industry experts and thought leaders. To help you find the right community for you, a group of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members weighed in on the following question:

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Obtaining funding can be difficult for new business owners with a small or nonexistent team, but there are some effective ways to meet this challenge head-on. Launching a business as a solopreneur or with a small team can be an exciting and rewarding experience, but it also comes with a unique set of challenges, particularly when it comes to accessing funds. With limited time and resources, finding the right funding opportunities can be a daunting task for new business owners. However, there are little-known but effective ways for solopreneurs and small teams to raise capital and fuel their growth. To help you tap into these underutilized methods, a group of successful business leaders shared some helpful funding options that can assist small startup teams access the capital they need to turn their ideas into successful businesses.

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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.  There are a number of industries and focuses that lend themselves well to this particular business model, but below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share nine industries that they think entrepreneurs would do well to think more about and why.

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Email is a core component of many companies' marketing strategies, and its success depends on how effectively you can grow and maintain your subscriber list. The more people who opt in to receive your business's newsletters and marketing messages, the greater the number of potential leads you're reaching every time you send a campaign. To help, 10 members of YoungEntrepreneur Council share some creative and effective strategies to help small businesses gain (and keep) email subscribers.

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No one enjoys having difficult conversations—especially with their boss. However, whether it’s about a problem with a co-worker, a mistake that’s been made or a disagreement on a project, difficult conversations are often necessary in the workplace and can help you and anyone else involved move forward and grow as a professional. But, that doesn’t make approaching your boss with a problem any easier. To help you learn how to do it right, eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council offer their advice. Here, they share tips from a leadership perspective for how to approach your manager or boss with a difficult conversation in a way that reduces your anxiety and allows you to succeed.

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Certain business trends may be popular among the entrepreneurial crowd, but that doesn't mean they're all worth pursuing. As the business world continues to evolve, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest trends. It can be even harder to identify which of those fads will help your business and which just aren't worth your time. To that end, a group of successful entrepreneurs shared their thoughts on seven trends they believe business owners should steer clear of in the coming year. These insights can help small-business owners make informed decisions and set themselves up for success while avoiding common pitfalls that could stem from following these trends.

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When it comes time to upgrade or replace your business's equipment—such as computers, vehicles, tools or anything else your team may use to get the job done—it would be quicker and far simpler to merely purchase the newest model or renew your subscription without much thought. However, to truly ensure you’re getting the best return on investment in terms of cost and team productivity, careful research and reflection is necessary. But what exactly should you consider before making a purchase? Here, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss just that, each offering up one factor you should consider first before upgrading or replacing your equipment and why it can ultimately help you make a better decision for your business.

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During difficult economic times, “layoffs” are often one of the first fears that enter professionals’ minds. Whether it’s a sudden economic downturn or a looming recession, many business leaders resort to laying off staff in a desperate attempt to keep their companies afloat. Even successful tech companies and large financial corporations sometimes exercise this type of cost-cutting measure. However, layoffs don’t have to be the only solution. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each discuss one thing companies can do to avoid laying off staff when times are tough and why it may be a better solution for the future.

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Many professionals look up to entrepreneurs for their determination, perseverance and freedom to have more control over their day-to-day lives. But even entrepreneurs have role models they look up to. Whether they’re other highly successful entrepreneurs, billionaires or simply inspirational people, the world is full of those with amazing stories who serve as inspiration for today’s business leaders. Below, members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share someone they look up to in the business world, an important business lesson they learned from them and how that lesson has impacted the decisions they make as an entrepreneur.

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While increasing the number of visitors to your site is always the goal of any e-commerce business, it’s a goal that can quickly become overwhelming if your site isn’t properly set up first. As your e-commerce business and your customer base grows, a sudden spike in traffic or just a gradual increase in purchasers over time can result in slower load times, unprepared customer service agents, irritated customers and even a total website crash. To prevent this situation from happening, it’s vital to take steps ahead of time that can help prepare you and your site for more and more traffic. Here, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one step you should take to ensure your online store can handle an increasing number of visitors and shoppers and why that strategy is so effective.

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It only takes one unhappy customer leaving a negative review to damage a company's reputation and drive away future business. Therefore, it's imperative that customer service teams immediately resolve any customer complaints before they can snowball and turn into bigger problems for a company. To find out the best ways to keep customers happy, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members offer their best advice on how leaders can improve their customer service efforts by being proactive rather than reactive.

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Though it began in early 2021, the Great Resignation and the resulting attitude shift toward the workplace was still widely prevalent throughout 2022. Easily categorized as a job seeker’s market, 2022 was a year when employers either rose to meet the demands of their candidates or they failed to attract the talent they needed to keep operations running smoothly. With 2023 now in full swing, employers have the opportunity to start anew and reconsider or revamp their hiring and recruiting strategies to ensure a successful year. To share their own insights, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one major lesson they learned last year about how to attract top talent and how carrying this lesson forward into 2023 can help you build the best team for your company.

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When you first start your business, you must essentially build your company culture from the ground up. This can often mean taking the personalities and values of your small team into consideration and also defining what the overall values and mission of the company will be. But as your company grows and you add more team members into the mix, the original culture can get muddled or lost entirely as you face new challenges. But that doesn’t mean you can’t return to that same culture once you find your way. To help, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one tip they’d recommend for how to maintain your desired culture as you begin hiring more people to your team.

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Let's look at why this is the ideal time to take advantage of this important marketing development. 

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Every year, new technologies are introduced or improved upon that have a major impact on the business world. From major to minor innovations, and from physical machines to complex code, each advancement has the potential to change the way the world does business—and this year was no exception. There were a multitude of technological innovations and improvements within the last 12 months, and to share a few of their favorites, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council chime in below. Here, they each share one technology that they think has the most exciting implications for business in the coming year and why they believe its impact will be so great.

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The workforce of 2023 will continue to change and evolve, from more hybrid work policies to a greater focus on global candidates. Over the last few years, businesses have grappled with decisions such as offering permanent remote work, creating hybrid work models or requiring employees to return to the office. Businesses have also faced the impact of quiet quitting and the Great Resignation, which have made them think more deeply about hiring policies, employee benefits and retention rates. In the new year, businesses are likely to see even more changes come about. Below, a group of successful entrepreneurs share their predictions for some of the workforce changes we might see in 2023 and how businesses can adapt.

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A toxic workplace can lead to lower-quality work, a decrease in productivity, and employee dissatisfaction—all of which may lead to staff turnover. When you’re a leader, it’s important to address the signs of a toxic workplace as soon as you notice them in order to avoid cultivating a negative company culture. To help you deal with a toxic work environment, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members explain what signs to watch out for and how to address issues head-on before they spiral into a bigger problem.

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In an effort to be unique, informative and persuasive, many businesses can end up with overly complicated and wordy websites that may be doing more to push customers away than pull them in. When it comes to building an effective website, often simplifying its content and design is the most effective approach, giving visitors the space they need to find the answers to their problems. But when you’re trying to ensure visitors have all the information they need to determine your product or service is the best solution for them, you may not know where to start reining it in. To help, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each offer one piece of advice they'd give well-intentioned business owners for simplifying their websites and why these tips are so effective.

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Whether you run a fully remote or a hybrid business, keeping corporate files safe while your employees work from home is of the utmost importance. Remote work creates new challenges for business leaders to contend with—such as employees using personal devices to access documents or working from unsecure public networks—and that means leaders will need to take certain steps to ensure sensitive information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. To help, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council provide a few strategies business leaders can use to help their employees keep company data safe, and discuss why these tips are so effective and necessary for any business with remote team members.

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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. That’s why eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best guidance below. Here, they each share one financial tip they wish they had known when they got started, and why this advice can help any entrepreneur get their business off the ground successfully.

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Whether it’s to make a purchase, fill out a form or sign up for a list, the natural purpose of any business website is to get visitors to convert. When first starting out, entrepreneurs may focus more on the logistics of their website—ensuring each page works properly and that it is designed to meet brand standards—but in the process, they may forget to think about action steps for potential customers. However, if entrepreneurs want to boost sales or generate leads, they’ll want to optimize their digital strategy for conversions. To help, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best tips for increasing conversions and explain why their advice is so effective.

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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 business leaders themselves, these 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council have evolved in their own ways over the course of their careers. Here, they each share how becoming a more experienced leader has changed the way they speak to others and what impact this has had on their business overall.

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Resolving conflicts in the workplace is imperative to a healthy workplace culture. Leaving conflicts unsolved builds resentment among team members and creates a toxic environment that can be distracting from the work that needs to be completed. As a leader, it's your job to help resolve any conflicts that arise and act as a mediator between employees when necessary. Properly handling conflict resolution can also help influence employees to better solve future conflicts on their own. To help get you started, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council experts share different ways they recommend approaching conflict resolution and the example that sets for your team.

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Maintaining good relationships with your vendors helps ensure that you consistently receive the goods and services you need and achieve mutually beneficial goals. But when the buyer-supplier relationship begins to sour for whatever reason, it may be best for your business to cut ties and move on. To help you determine whether it's time to seek out a new vendor partnership, 11 Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members shared their insights on the following question:

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With so many companies competing for consumers' attention on social media, creating compelling, unique advertising campaigns is a great way to stand out. On Facebook in particular, there are a few key strategies that can help you target your audience effectively. As successful business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have extensive experience developing and executing successful Facebook ad campaigns. Below, nine of them each share what they believe is the most important element of a great Facebook ad campaign and why it's so effective at capturing users' attention.

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Creating great content on social media doesn't mean much without a highly engaged and loyal following. Whether it's Instagram Stories, Facebook Lives, or TikTok videos, there are more ways to interact with your audience online than ever before. However, once you capture your audience's attention, you'll need to keep them engaged. Because your brand is competing with the countless other accounts your audience may be following, sustaining engagement from your followers may require some unique and unconventional strategies. To help, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members each share their insights on audience engagement.

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In marketing, attracting new customers is only one half of the equation; businesses must also focus on how to keep those customers once they earn them. Sending customer retention emails is one way to help accomplish this. But simply asking customers to make another purchase likely won’t be effective—and could come off as pushy, which may turn off otherwise interested customers. So what’s the right approach to take? What should businesses include in these emails, and why? Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council each name one tried-and-true tip they have for effective customer retention emails and explain why these tips help keep customers engaged and coming back for more.

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Receiving a bad review for your product or service—no matter if it’s your first bad review or your 50th—can often feel like a personal attack. After all, entrepreneurs often put a lot of themselves in their businesses, including time, effort and passion. But a bad review doesn’t have to be a negative issue. In fact, it can be a great opportunity to learn. When responding to the review then, you’ll want to keep certain best practices in mind. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss a few of those practices and why entrepreneurs should follow them when determining how to handle any bad review their business may receive.

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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.  To truly bring out the best in them, leaders can focus on a few key tips as recommended by the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Here, they share their advice for helping this generation shine, and how doing so will benefit your overall business as well.

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Negotiating your salary—especially when you haven’t officially gotten the job—can be a frightening prospect. Obstacles like imposter syndrome or inexperience can make you feel as though you should just accept the company’s original offer and move on, but it’s important to know your worth and to advocate for yourself if you believe you deserve a higher salary. However, even if you build up the confidence to negotiate, knowing exactly what to say—or what not to say—is yet another obstacle to overcome. To help, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one thing you should never do if you want to successfully negotiate your salary, and why doing them might actually hurt your efforts from the start.

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Live chat is one of the most effective ways to provide quality, real-time support to website visitors.

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There’s a lot of great business advice out there—but there’s also an equal amount of unhelpful advice. While many people think they have the answers, only you can know what’s right for your business. However, it can sometimes be hard for new business owners to know what advice is worthwhile, leading to costly mistakes.  Below, eight Young Entrepreneur Council members each describe one piece of productivity advice they disagree with and why, and instead offer alternative advice they feel is more worthy of your attention.

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Employers look for a variety of qualities and traits in job candidates. While you’ll always want to highlight the hard skills that are relevant to the position you’re applying for, there are also soft skills that could help you land a job, even if you’re a little less qualified than the other candidates. Because it’s so important to develop these skills to impress potential employers, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their insights on the soft skills they think are key to succeeding in any career and why you should develop them if you want to get hired.

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Innovation comes from teams working together to collaborate on projects and share ideas. However, when ideas aren’t flowing as they should, a little friendly competition can offer a boost of creativity and innovation. Healthy competition is good for a team and its productivity, but it’s important to do it right. To help, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members offer some ways leaders can foster healthy competition at work, and explain how doing so can benefit the company.

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Increasing productivity and focus is something most professionals strive for. But while there are different tricks and tips for being more productive and focused on your work, the tips don’t always work for every person. The key is to find advice that works for you and your lifestyle. Here, nine Young Entrepreneur Council members share the habits they try to instill in their teams to help them be more productive and focused. Try out their recommendations and see which is most effective for you.

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If bad managers are a top reason why people quit their jobs, you should strive to be a leader who makes people want to stay. Managers can make or break a company. A good manager can drive a team forward, keeping them motivated and interested in working toward company goals. A bad manager, however, can drive great employees out the door with a complete lack of inspiration and guidance. To help businesses avoid creating the kind of leadership team and culture that make people want to quit, a group of successful entrepreneurs shared what they believe it takes to be a good manager. Follow their recommendations to become the type of manager no employee wants to leave.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share advice for creating a solid internal communications strategy for remote businesses. The key to the smooth running of any company — remote, hybrid or in person — is getting everyone in the company on the same page and ensuring they have access to the same resources. With a remote company, however, this is especially vital, as team members can be in different locations and even different time zones, making effective communication an even more challenging task.  This is where having a solid internal communications strategy comes into play. According to the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, the following eight tips can help you and your team create an effective internal communications strategy and ensure everyone has the information they need to succeed.

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Hybrid and remote work models have quickly become the new normal for many companies. While working remotely offers many benefits to employees, many of the perks that used to keep staff productive and happy in an office setting are no longer relevant when employees are working from home. To learn about creative perks to offer your remote employees, members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend the following 11 ideas.

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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.  To help get you started, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members responded to the following question:

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The day-to-day life of a business owner is often fast-paced, with a multitude of problems to solve and employees to answer to. This means that, when faced with a decision, entrepreneurs may not have time on their side and they may be forced to make quick decisions on the fly or with very little time to weigh out every possibility.  However, sometimes speed can equal low quality, and when it comes to solving problems that can impact not only the business, but also those who work in it, quality is key. To make quick, yet quality decisions then, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend the following eight strategies.

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One of the quickest and easiest ways to gather applicants for an open position is to post an ad on a job board. There are several popular boards out there today, and each has its benefits and drawbacks.  But while job boards offer a quick and easy hiring solution, they aren't the only place to find the best talent. Many companies are looking for alternatives to posting on job boards in order to find the most suitable, high-quality candidates. To help, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend some alternatives to posting on job boards when looking to hire the right talent.

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With so many electronic devices and social media platforms, it's easier than ever before for even the most focused and organized of professionals to get distracted from the task at hand. Combine that with the fact that work-from-home and hybrid work models have become popular for many companies, and it should really come as no surprise that people are having a hard time focusing. However, with a little discipline and a few routine changes, there are some effective ways to banish procrastination, minimize multitasking and achieve focus during your workday. To that end, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) share their insights on the following question:

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Whether it happens while participating in meetings or partaking in company surveys, the best ideas happen when there's plenty of room for everyone to share. This means that businesses at the helm of true innovation provide each employee with the chance to have their voice heard.  However, this can become more difficult to ensure as your company grows larger. Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some systems that companies can put in place to ensure all employees are getting their ideas heard, no matter the business's size.

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Whether you're applying for a position at a large corporation or a job at a growing startup, the potential employer is likely going to have a lot of applicants to comb through and some tough decisions to make before they settle on one particular candidate. When you’re interviewing, your first impression is often a lasting one, so it’s vital to leave a positive impression during the hiring process. So, what's the best way to leave a lasting impression on a potential employer? Ten members of Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on what you can do to prepare and what you may want to say during the interview to put your best foot forward.

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For years, podcasts have been delivering high-quality content to businesspeople around the world. Whether you're looking for business advice, inspirational feedback, personal stories or industry updates, there's a podcast to suit your fancy. To offer up an idea of the best business podcasts out there today, 11 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) respond to following question:

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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. While there's no secret formula for impressing potential employers, there are ways you can make yourself stand out. To help, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one thing the high-quality candidates employers look for do when applying for jobs and why you should do those things too.

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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. As a leader, it's critical to have a positive mindset to effectively work through difficult situations and keep your team on the same page. Below, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss how to exude more positivity at work and why these practices are especially crucial for those in leadership positions.

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Data and metrics are critical drivers of a business's overall success. The more data streams you have, the better you can understand your customers, their needs, what works and what doesn’t. But collecting data doesn’t necessarily give you all this information. You still have to interpret it and use it to take actionable steps toward bettering your business. To help you do that, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best tips for turning data into action items for your business.

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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. Your business’s investor is just as important as your brand's values and mission, so when you find a good potential candidate, you'll want to do all you can to impress them. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some crucial tips to follow when you're trying to gain the interest of a potential investor.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss their favorite tech that's come about in response to ongoing culture changes. The ongoing pandemic has permanently changed the way we behave. Working remotely more and leaving the house less means that our whole culture has had to adjust in order to meet new and ongoing needs. As a result, a whole host of innovative technologies have been created or improved upon, giving people the chance to more easily adapt to a world turned upside down. Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share a few of their favorite new or improved technologies that came about in response to the pandemic and why they’re excited to see them grow in the future.

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With so many competing companies in today's marketplace, customers have countless options when it comes to patronizing a business. To influence their decision-making, customers look for companies that they believe will add value to their lives.   Below, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared their thoughts on ways small business owners can consistently bring value to customers. They explain how these methods strengthen a business's connection with its customers and ultimately ensure the company's longevity.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how to merge your website's copy and design to create a more engaging user experience. Two of the most important elements to consider when building your business’s website are the copy and the user experience (UX) design. Ensuring you write quality text and construct a visually appealing design will give you a great basis for an engaging website. When you combine your focus on these two elements, however, you’ll end up with a truly attention-grabbing business site that will keep your audience coming back. Unsure of how to go about merging your copy with your UX design? Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shares 11 tips to get you started.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best advice for moving your physical retail store online. As the popularity (and necessity) of online shopping continues to rise, many business owners are choosing to transition their brick-and-mortar stores to an e-commerce model. However, running a business online can differ dramatically from running a physical store, and it may require new approaches to and new mindsets about selling and advertising goods. To help make the transition easier, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council experts share their best advice for moving into the e-commerce space. Follow their tips to get your online business up and running the right way — the first time.

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As the Covid-19 pandemic pushed more companies to embrace remote work, global hiring and flexible schedules, the traditional 9-to-5 workday has become less and less standard among professionals. Instead of requiring everyone to work during the same hours, companies are beginning to entrust their workforce to manage their tasks on their own time. While there are certainly advantages to having set hours, the pros of asynchronous work outweigh the cons in the eyes of many modern employers and employees. For companies looking to adopt an asynchronous work style, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain what leaders need to do to make this model work effectively.

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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. Now that many restrictions have eased and employees are heading back to the office or have settled in to their new work-from-home routines, many people are ready and eager for more intentional networking efforts. Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how professionals can make their networking efforts more effective for the rest of 2022 and beyond.

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The relationship between you and your clients shouldn’t be solely focused on business transactions. Deeper client relationships start with a willingness to get to know your customers on a personal level rather than as a number on your invoice. But there are nuances that go into obtaining a loyal customer base and advancing them into motivated brand advocates willing to promote your products on your company’s behalf. To assist you in making those deeper connections, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best relationship-building strategies below.

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There's a story behind the start of every business, and many entrepreneurs write books to share their own. Whether it's a motivating story of overcoming challenges, an inspiring story of passion or a story full of practical lessons and advice, an entrepreneur's first book can be used to help them grow their business.  To share insights on how to do that, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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Email marketing campaigns can be a cost-effective way to reach a lot of people in a very short period of time. However, many companies rely on ineffective practices, like clichéd subject lines and recycled “limited-time offers.” These practices can be annoying to readers and cause your email to end up in the trash. Here, members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their biggest email marketing pet peeves and why you should avoid them.

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Guest posts are an excellent way to gain publicity for your business. Through this form of content marketing, you'll establish yourself as a credible expert in your industry and gain valuable brand exposure to the publication's audience. However, it's not enough to write an article mentioning your product or service. With guest posts, it's important to strike the right balance between effectively promoting your company and serving the needs of the outlet that's publishing your post. If you have a guest posting opportunity coming up, be sure to follow this helpful advice from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council.

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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. To help, a group of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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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. Given the national attention these ads garner, entrepreneurs can look to these commercials for lessons on what advertising works and what doesn't. Here, eight Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their favorite Super Bowl commercials of years past and the lessons each one taught them about advertising in their own businesses.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend upgrading your business software or hardware when you notice these signs. A business can only be as successful as the tools it uses to conduct that business — which means that having the right technology at your disposal is vital to your ability to please your customers and succeed in the long term. Trying to make due with outdated or inefficient technology may save you money upfront, but the effects of this can build up to major problems down the line. So how will you know when it’s time to upgrade? Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share 11 clear signs you can look for that will indicate it’s time to update your current technology and improve your productivity.

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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. If left unchecked, these conflicts could cause serious division between colleagues and lead to a toxic work environment. To help you find the best way to handle them, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council explained what not to do when mediating employee conflict and offered better approaches to take instead.

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One of the best ways to attract customers to a business is by offering discounts. Whether your business is brand new or a multimillion-dollar company that's been in the game for over a decade, this tried-and-true tactic will always increase traffic. However, small businesses often can't afford to offer deep discounts on their products or services in the hopes of attracting new customers — They need to be strategic and creative in offering other incentives instead.  To help, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members responded to the following question:

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Artificial intelligence has worked its way into our everyday lives, and in doing so, has given businesses in many industries a chance to leverage it for better marketing opportunities and smoother operations. Each year, new developments are being made with artificial intelligence and automation that businesses can use in various innovative ways. The year 2022 promises to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor and start with a whole new realm of possibilities for artificial intelligence and automation. Below, nine professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in with their predictions of the roles artificial intelligence and automation will play in business this year.

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The metaverse will provide many opportunities for businesses of all sizes and types to reach a wider audience.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list the tech skills company founders need to get their businesses off the ground. Even if you’re not opening up a technology-based business, it’s hard to open any kind of business today without at least a few basic tech skills under your belt. And while hiring help for more difficult technical projects down the line is both acceptable and recommended, when you’re just starting out, odds are you’ll need to tackle technology on your own first. However, you don’t need to be a tech genius to get started. Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council list a few of the basic skills all company founders should have to start a business and explain how these skills will get you up and running successfully.

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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.  With this fact in mind, a panel of 11 Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) experts answered the following question:

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Email marketing is an essential component of any strong marketing strategy. This form of marketing gives businesses the chance to convert their audience members into long-time customers and provide value in a convenient way. Whether you're just starting out with email marketing or have been utilizing it for years, it's a good idea to assess your strategy to see what's working well for your business and what may be hurting your overall efforts. To help you do this, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some common email marketing mistakes they often see companies make and what you can do instead.

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As a new entrepreneur, getting your product out into the market is hard enough, but when there is a lot of competition in your market, it can make things even tougher. When trying to differentiate their products in a situation like this, entrepreneurs are bound to make mistakes along the way. Many members of Young Entrepreneur Council have gone through this themselves and have learned some valuable lessons from the experience. Below, eight of them explained the most common mistakes entrepreneurs tend to make when trying to differentiate their products in an oversaturated market and offered advice for how to remedy this situation.

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A CEO's email inbox can quickly become unruly if not properly managed. While being constantly bombarded with emails from various recipients making different asks of them, many CEOs may find they get overwhelmed by their inbox, leading to lower productivity and missed communication in the long run. And unfortunately, they don’t always have much time to deal with a mess of emails. While you can’t always slow down the number of emails coming in, there are tools and strategies that can help get your inbox organized. Below, nine Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their favorite email inbox hacks to help you get a better handle on your work and priorities.

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Determining the right price for a product or service is one of the most important elements in a business's formula for success. If the price is too low, you'll be losing out on well-deserved profits, but if the price is too high, you'll be losing out on potential customers and clients. There are several factors to take into consideration when setting a fair price for a product or service. To share insights into what these factors are and why they're important, nine professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:

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Even if you're not feeling on top of your game, you can still use these "fake it 'til you make it" tips. When candidates are interviewing for a job, confidence is key. Employers want to see that you know your stuff and that your skills and qualifications are up to par. However, it can be hard to have confidence while under pressure. Fortunately, there are some strategies and tips that can help you present a confident, collected demeanor, regardless of how you feel inside. Below, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share how these methods work to help candidates perform better during interviews.

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E-commerce has steadily risen in popularity among aspiring entrepreneurs who want a simple business model with less overhead than a traditional retail store. Selling online is a great way for inexperienced entrepreneurs to make money, test their business acumen and interface with customers online. However, like any business, creating an e-commerce site isn't as easy as paying for a domain and letting the website sit. You have to ensure a positive customer experience with great products and excellent service. Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council give their best advice for building a successful e-commerce site for those with no or limited business experience.

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Sometimes, all you need is a little boost to get yourself and your goals on the right track. While some people are naturally driven to accomplish their goals, not everybody is as motivated. Although it isn’t always easy, getting motivated can push you forward and help you advance in the world. That’s why it helps to have some go-to strategies for giving yourself a boost of confidence and energy. As successful business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have learned and developed some effective self-motivation techniques to kickstart their drive and passion. Below, they share these techniques and describe how they can help you excel in your career and life. Q. How can someone become a more driven person? What's one unique technique they can use to self-motivate and find the drive to excel in their career and life?

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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'. In order to differentiate your content from theirs — and gain more consumer attention — you’ll need to take certain purposeful measures. Below, 15 professionals from YEC share their best tips for creating unique content that stands out against the competition.

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Let's explore some ways you can prepare for these challenges and keep your business running smoothly. 

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When starting their businesses, a major concern for entrepreneurs is whether or not their company will succeed. This can hinder them from taking chances, expanding or starting a company altogether. While there isn't a way to fully guarantee your business will do well, there are signs you can look for that might indicate you’re on the path to success. To that end, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members described these telltale signs and how to spot them in your own business.

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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. Below, 14 Young Entrepreneur Council members offered some ways to practice thankfulness in your everyday professional life and explained why it’s so important to do this.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend using these e-commerce tricks for lowering shopping cart abandonment rates. Losing money is never at the top of any business owner’s to-do list, but when eager shoppers suddenly back out of the checkout process and abandon their online shopping carts, that’s exactly what happens. Implementing strategies to reduce this rate of cart abandonment, therefore, should be a top priority for every e-commerce entrepreneur. To help get you started, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their top “hacks” for lowering online shopping cart abandonment rates and why implementing these tricks is so effective.

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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. Given the nature of the holidays, customers may be more anxious or demanding than usual. It’s important for leaders, therefore, to properly train employees to handle the expectations of holiday shoppers to keep them happy. To help, eight Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their best tips for customer service professionals working this holiday season.

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When you first started your business, you may have found a few trustworthy team members to back you up. As the business is growing, you may be noticing your original startup team isn't aligning with your overall vision or perhaps you've simply "outgrown" the need for the roles you hired them to do. This misalignment can ultimately lead to stagnation within all facets of your company as well as an unhappy workforce. So, how do you know when it's time to bring in fresh perspectives? Nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council offered some signs that may indicate your original startup team is no longer suitable for your current business direction.

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Whether you're an entry-level employee, a CEO or anything in between, if you're passionate about your career, sometimes downtime can get pushed to the side. Instead of burning yourself out on work, however, there are ways you can use your downtime wisely. Some of the most successful professionals in the world use their downtime to practice self-care, focus on ways to build creativity and learn new things. Here, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the things they believe every professional should be doing in their downtime if they want to truly succeed in their career and improve their life.

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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. To help you identify those elements, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members weighed in with what to zero in on when reviewing resumes to determine if a job candidate will be a good fit for the position.

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In business, making an active effort to support the entrepreneurial community can be game-changing for your company’s growth. After all, these individuals have been through similar experiences and challenges as business owners themselves, and can often help you navigate them. However, to gain the support of your fellow entrepreneurs, you have to be willing to give back to them. If you’re not sure where to begin, eight Young Entrepreneur Council members explained some simple methods for supporting other business owners and why it's important for all entrepreneurs to do so.

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Pinpointing a target audience is one of the most crucial steps in launching any successful business effort, including creating marketing campaigns and increasing sales. However, determining your audience is often much easier said than done. Before you can narrow down your ideal customer, you need to know how to do it correctly. To that end, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share alternative fundraising solutions for entrepreneurs not looking for investors. Entrepreneurs may have many reasons for not seeking out investors for their startups, not the least of which is the desire to maintain total control of their companies. New entrepreneurs may not realize that other options are available that can be just as effective for getting a business started without all the cons of an investor. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council leaders list some alternatives to investors that entrepreneurs can explore in order to fund their projects. Whether you choose to pursue one or a combination of these suggestions, effective fundraising solutions exist for every type of business.

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In order for any business to thrive, it needs to have a productive leader and team. However, productivity means a lot more than simply keeping busy. Sometimes, you can keep yourself busy working on tasks that essentially amount to nothing and lead you down a dead-end path of wasted time and energy.  As a leader, it's important to understand how to make the most of every moment you have and the decisions you make. To that end, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weigh in with their answers to the following question:

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As conditions remain uncertain in 2021, coworking remains a viable option for businesses and entrepreneurs.

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One of the most significant milestones for any business is the day it reaches a point of expansion. While every business owner looks forward to the day they can grow their business, it's important not to be hasty in doing so. A successful business expansion depends on a number of factors and needs to be carried out at the right time. To help you understand when the time is right for you to expand your business operations, 13 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answer the following question:

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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. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the leadership advice they’ve heard throughout the years and why they strongly disagree with it. Consider their insights before applying any of this advice to your career.

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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.  To make your emails stand out, you’ll need to employ a few strategies to make your emails more enticing and able to grab the attention of your target audience. Here, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for creating effective marketing emails and why they work so well.

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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:

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Garnering tons of social media engagement sometimes requires an out-of-the-box approach. Having a strong social media presence is a must-have for entrepreneurs, as this is where most consumers search for or connect with businesses. However, it isn’t enough just to have an active account. To really reap the benefits of social media marketing, you must actively engage with your followers.  To help companies better leverage their social media presence, 14 Young Entrepreneur Council members share some effective, yet potentially unconventional ways companies can maintain and boost engagement with their audience.

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Getting involved in your local community is an easy way to build relationships and find loyal customers for your business. Hosting a community event can help you kick-start these relationships, but events can be expensive, and a new small business may not have the resources necessary to host one. To help small businesses find some effective yet budget-friendly event solutions, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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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.  Fresh content is always there, but sometimes you're just too burned out to see it. When you've hit a content roadblock, there are plenty of ways to refresh your perspective and spark new ideas. To help, 10 members of YEC share their best tips for summoning the creativity you need to take your content to the next level.

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A critical aspect of gaining recognition online is mastering the all-important blog post. While blogging has been around for decades, many people still struggle with understanding how to utilize blog posts to attract readers and gain more recognition. If your blog isn't performing optimally but you're not sure why, you're not alone. Here, 14 members of YEC share the most common blogging mistakes companies make and their expert advice on what you should be doing instead.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some major issues with the e-commerce experience. In 2020 alone, e-commerce sales worldwide reached a total of nearly $4.3 trillion, and it continues to be one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. However, that doesn't mean consumers are always happy with their online shopping experience. From lack of product information on e-commerce websites to slow page speeds, customers have spotted holes in the e-commerce experience providers should be filling. To help e-commerce companies create better customer experiences, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared the biggest pain points customers face and potential solutions companies can implement.

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As companies look ahead to the post-pandemic world, many are struggling with whether or not to bring employees back into the office. Some have opted to stay remote full time, some will bring employees back to the office and others have considered embracing a hybrid workforce with a mix of in-office and remote work. No matter which path companies choose, a few hurdles are bound to crop up—especially in cases where an employee was hired remotely and is now expected to report to a physical workplace. To help curb any issues companies might face during these transitions, members of Young Entrepreneur Council proposed some solutions for employers who want to support their employees as they shift back to "normal."

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Learning how to speak up in a group and make your voice heard is an essential professional skill. Anyone who's worked on a group project knows how difficult it can be to ensure each person's thoughts and opinions are heard. When there's a lively discussion happening, there will always be a few people who dominate the conversation and try to take the lead. However, it's important to be able to politely interject and advocate for your ideas. To help you do this, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their best insights. Here's how they recommend making your voice heard in a group setting, and why doing so is an important skill for all professionals and entrepreneurs.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss why open-source software meets small business needs better than tech from major corporations. To be an effective business, it helps to have the right technology at your disposal. Because of their name recognition and broad advertising reach, major tech corporations like Microsoft and Google may be the first thought of businesses big and small looking for the right software to meet their needs. However, they may not actually be the best choice. Especially for small businesses with limited staff and often even more limited budgets, open-source software may be exactly what they need. To explain why, nine Young Entrepreneur Council members list off some of the specific reasons why open-source software may be able to help small businesses in ways major tech companies never can.

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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.  There may even come a point where you begin to wonder whether your side hustle can become your full-time gig. But how can you test whether your side hustle is actually a worthwhile business idea without risking it all?  To help you answer this question, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council offered some steps you can take to determine if you can turn your side hustle into a successful business venture.

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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. Below, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) share their insights by responding to the following question:

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As social media becomes a go-to communication platform for consumers across all demographics, it’s important for companies to increase their brand awareness on the platforms their audiences use. Leveraging these social media platforms effectively can help create strong connections with customers, draw them to your business, and build brand loyalty. To help businesses boost brand loyalty, 14 Young Entrepreneur Council members offer their best advice.

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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. However, with this tool can come the potential for massive disaster. Social media is littered with examples of brands and companies that failed to realize the best way to use these channels for customer service and have suffered the consequences. To help, 12 professionals from YEC weigh in on some of the rules businesses should keep in mind when using social media to engage with clients in a customer service setting.

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Making thorough, educated decisions doesn't have to take tons of time. In the business world, leaders often need to make quick decisions. However, because they’re made during a time crunch, these choices can be rash — at least when not approached the right way. Thankfully, there are ways to efficiently make decisions while still thinking through all your options. Below, 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council offered tips for speeding up your decision-making process while still ensuring quality. Follow their tips to help you get better at making fast, but thorough decisions.

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New entrepreneurs start businesses every day with great ideas and visions for success. However, many of these ideas never materialize and up to 20% fail within the first year. This is especially true of one-person businesses, which make up a considerable portion of new companies. These "solopreneurs" may have the best intentions starting out, but many end up running out of funding or aren’t able to reach their target market. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council laid out the main reasons why many one-person businesses fail and what solopreneurs can do to prevent this.

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Everyone is going to have to gradually adjust to reopening, and you want to make it as convenient and painless for everyone as possible.

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Everyone experiences changes in their lives, whether big or small, and the stress that comes along with these changes can either hurt you or allow you to grow stronger. One of the best ways to manage this stress is to learn to be more adaptable. When you're able to adapt, you're less likely to feel stressed by minor or major changes that happen in life. Here, 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how you can adapt to whatever comes your way so you can fight off the stress of new circumstances.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council predict which industries AI is likely to have a major impact on in the near future. Artificial intelligence has already had a major impact on the tech industry. The numerous products and applications that now run on AI have allowed businesses and consumers alike to streamline everyday tasks and save valuable time and effort. As AI becomes more readily available, it will continue to become more prominent in other industries. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council experts shared which fields they believe artificial intelligence will disrupt next and why. Keep an eye out for AI-powered trends in these 14 industries.

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Newcomers to the world of business ownership may have a hard time navigating all the requirements and challenges of setting up their first company. If you’re just starting out, finding another founder who has been through it and can provide sound advice may be worthwhile. With industries evolving so quickly these days, though, it could be difficult to find someone who understands your target market very well. When planning to open your new business, the first steps you take are crucial. Doing the right thing from the get-go can give entrepreneurs an advantage, as they can get up and running that much sooner. To help, 12 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council shared key first steps to take to ensure that your company achieves long-term success.

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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. Building a content marketing campaign strategy around specific goals the business wants to meet helps narrow the focus, which improves results. Brand promotion, for example, requires different content than product marketing. Here, members of Young Entrepreneur Council explore eight content marketing secrets that all business leaders should know about to successfully promote their brand.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how to encourage employees to play an active role in shaping organizational culture. Cultivating an empowering and supportive culture for employees is one of the most important parts of building a team. A company's culture should be created for and by its staff, so involving your team in the development process will help you reap the best results. To help you do this, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared 10 creative ways to encourage employees to foster their own company culture. Here’s why these tactics are so effective, and how you can implement them in your workplace.

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One of the biggest influences on a business and its employees is a positive attitude. Leaders who have a positive mindset and are pleasant to be around get the most out of their peers and employees. A happy attitude is infectious, and when workers are in a good mood, they yield good results. But if you aren’t where you want to be in your career or you’re unhappy at work, getting to that frame of mind consistently can be difficult. Below, 14 members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the ways professionals can keep a positive attitude and take charge of their own happiness at work—even if they're not in love with their job.

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Not every online storefront is the same and, when looking to set up and maintain their own online store, business owners can end up spending hours researching various components, add-ons, features and capabilities to find the right software to use.  So what unique features should business owners be zeroing in on? What capabilities are likely to come in handy after the store is up and running? Here, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the most valuable online store management software features and why these elements are so vital to online business owners.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how to craft SEO content that will withstand trends. In a world of changing algorithms and content trends, it’s important to prioritize search engine optimization (SEO) to keep up with competitors and get found by your audience. When creating content, you’ll want to appeal to current trends so you’re actually able to reach your target audience. However, it's also important to follow proven best practices that give your content staying power, no matter how many times search algorithms are updated. To help, members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared tips for creating long-lasting, SEO-friendly content. Follow their advice to publish pieces that stand the test of time.

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Entrepreneurs can face obstacles from many different areas, but when you’re young and new to the business, there always seem to be extra hurdles to jump over. Both external and internal pressures can wear down on you, and before long, you can start feeling overwhelmed. But these pressures shouldn’t deter you from becoming an entrepreneur, and there are steps you can take to overcome them. Here, eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of those common obstacles young business owners face and offer their best advice based on their own experiences as young entrepreneurs.

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No matter what else changes in the business world, negotiating will remain an essential skill.

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Writing a business email? Don't hit "send" until you've completed these key steps. Crafting an effective business email has become something of a lost art. More and more professionals are receiving correspondences with misspellings, lack of structure, and unclear content. These poorly-written emails may reflect badly on the sender or even discourage someone from doing business with them.  That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to best practices when communicating with business contacts, colleagues and employees via email. Below, a group of business leaders shared their tips for writing the perfect business email and why each is so effective.

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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. However, it can sometimes be difficult for a business owner to separate their personal feelings from the criticism of the brand. For some tips on how to deal with this issue, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council look at how businesses can avoid taking customer criticism personally and extract the necessary feedback to grow and improve.

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When you think about outstanding personal branding, at least one person comes to mind. This person displays all the elements of what a personal brand should be, but they also have a little something more—an “X” factor. But what are these factors and how can other entrepreneurs tap into those same skills or traits for their own benefit? Below, eight professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss their favorite examples of amazing personal branding and the particular elements that make them so outstanding.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain the first steps a business should take upon discovering a negative review. No one likes to receive bad reviews or negative feedback from customers. Often, business owners may feel they’re personal attacks or a competitor trying to start trouble. Rather than responding with patience and an open mind, some businesses lash out and become defensive. While it may feel justified in the moment, the only thing you're doing is adding fuel to the fire—and potentially making the customer angrier.  If you want to handle a negative review tactfully and efficiently, try one of these strategies recommended by the members of Young Entrepreneur Council.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer tips for developing effective, sales-boosting e-commerce ads. E-commerce is a great way for a business to boost its sales, especially in today's world of social distancing and online shopping. But with so many businesses gravitating toward e-commerce, the space has become rather crowded. Companies that want to sell online successfully need to maximize their advertising efforts and keep attracting new customers. To help, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some effective ways to take your e-commerce advertising to the next level. Follow their tips to keep customers coming in your virtual door, even during your off-season.

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Putting together a book takes time, energy and a lot of effort. And while it accounts for a lot of the book's labor, writing isn't the only thing an entrepreneur needs to concern themselves with. Publishing the book and the marketing associated with it also have a place in the overall success equation. But not all new writers know what to expect from the writing process. To help, 11 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answer the following question:

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No matter how stressed or busy you get, the right habits can keep you moving forward. As an entrepreneur, you’re going to battle stress, busyness, and likely even exhaustion from time to time. While these episodes might feel discouraging, they’re not permanent, and you’ll be able to push through and find motivation again.  The ability to keep up your energy and mental stamina begins with good, healthy habits. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared habits they adhere to in order to maintain productivity. Try some of their tips to get you through the rough patches in your business.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their favorite resources to help you stay abreast of industry changes. The tech industry is notorious for moving quickly and abruptly. If you want to stay relevant in the field, you’ll have to be able to identify and adapt to changes and new trends.  However, keeping up is a daunting task, even for the most seasoned tech professionals. For newcomers, it’s important to build up a collection of reliable resources to help maintain industry knowledge.  For guidance on where to start, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their favorite platforms and resources to help you stay up to date with industry changes.

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Staying tuned in to the pulse of your industry is key to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Public groups, online forums and the like are among the most valuable resources for gathering and contributing industry information. But if someone is looking for in-depth insight into their business niche, locating the right groups where this discussion occurs is the first step. To help you find them, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) respond to the following question:

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It may not be easy to find a job right now, but it’s definitely possible.

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Finding a core audience to market to is a crucial part of making a business profitable. Many marketing departments spend thousands of dollars building a picture of their ideal customer to inform how and where they should market. Once they do that, it's just a matter of unifying their content and media planning to target their product's most viable buyers. But how exactly should they go about this? What’s the best way to unify these two plans? To offer some guidance, eight professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council examine some of the strategies they recommend for combining content and media planning to target a specific market and explain why they’re so effective.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some foolproof ways to break down a complicated concept for your target market. You come up with a great idea. On paper, it makes perfect sense. You and your team talk about it together all day long, but when you go to explain the idea to your target audience, the idea just doesn’t translate well and you lose them. It can be frustrating to not have the skills or words to properly articulate your concept, but effective communication is a core skill for any entrepreneur. That’s why the members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some simple ways you can successfully explain challenging concepts to their audience. Try these strategies to help you get your idea across, no matter who you’re talking to.

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Encouraging and maintaining a high level of audience engagement is critical for any brand keen on building a loyal following and a tight-knit community of reliable customers. Engagement serves as a foundational pillar to growing a business’s presence in the broader market, and those happy customers are often your best form of advertisement. However, building a loyal community is only possible if the brand is strong enough and forges a robust relationship with those customers. To offer guidance on how to achieve this goal, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss a few lesser-known ways brands can encourage engagement and why those methods are so successful.

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2020 brought a plethora of changes to consumer behavior. Many of these changes will serve as inspiration for new product ideas and functions that will help businesses better serve their customers in the year ahead. In many cases, serving customers better begins with great design. This applies not only to the design of physical products, but to the user experience and interface of digital products. To provide their own expert insight, a group of successful entrepreneurs shared some design trends they expect to see in 2021 and why these trends will be so impactful.

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At a time when in-person meetups are typically off the table, virtual networking platforms like LinkedIn can be valuable resources for business owners. The opportunity to connect regardless of location can open doors that just aren’t possible without these online tools. But while LinkedIn has some of the same features as traditional social media sites, its purpose, and therefore its use, should differ. To help professionals leverage LinkedIn and other virtual networking opportunities correctly, eight associates of Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in with their best advice on how to effectively utilize virtual networking to achieve your goals and how these practices might differ from in-person networking.

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Business advice can come from anywhere, even from those who have never owned a business. But if you’re a new entrepreneur just starting out, you tend to soak up all the information that you can. The most significant problem is there’s no simply way to tell the lousy advice from the good advice. Sometimes experience is the only way to figure out the difference. To share lessons they’ve learned in their business careers, 13 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council reflect on the following question:

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Let's look at some top small business trends that can help you respond to these challenges and find success in the coming years.

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Email lists are fantastic tools for keeping in contact with consumers, sharing information and generating leads. But putting together an email list and figuring out how to attract customers to your list can take a lot of time and effort if not done thoughtfully. So how does a company go about creating an email list that will yield a good return on investment? What's the first thing an entrepreneur needs to do to ensure that the list is successful? Here, 11 experts from YEC look at some crucial first steps to setting up an email list that will offer a good ROI, and why these steps are so critical to the list's (and the entrepreneur's) success.

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As a new business owner, it isn't easy to sort out which business strategies work and which ones don’t. There's no standardized roadmap that guarantees success. Instead, success in business is a series of trial-and-error tests that result in a positive outcome, with plenty of mistakes along the way. When it comes to marketing, many business owners make mistakes without even knowing they’re doing so. If not addressed, these issues can lead to failed campaigns, unjustified expenses and very few results. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council look at some of the most common mistakes new entrepreneurs make when planning their marketing efforts and the best ways to remedy them.

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Last year's challenges were too many to count, but one of the most ever-present ones was the shift to an online workforce. Remote workers are nothing new—they've been around for at least a decade in some form or another. However, they've been mostly contractors and freelancers, not full-time employees. With the widespread focus on remote work still necessary, business leaders need to find a way to capitalize on the growing remote workforce. To help, nine professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss practical ways business owners can make the most out of this revolutionary change.

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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. To help business owners handle this situation tactfully and professionally, we asked 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question: Whether it's politics during an election year, a major crisis or even just a regular day, controversial topics are bound to come up on a business's social media. What's one tip you have for dealing with these issues, and why does it work?

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2020 caused many disruptions for small businesses, including restaurants, coffee shops and bars. The future of dining out is quite uncertain as 2021 approaches. What can such business owners do to help see them through this challenging period?

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18 entrepreneurs from YEC look at the main reasons why an organization should get insurance. New entrepreneurs sometimes look at business insurance as a luxury, not a necessity. For a lot of small-business owners, business insurance is a gamble -- it covers the business from liability and in the event of property damage, but unless either of those happens, it seems like wasted money. Before a company decides to avoid insurance altogether, the owner must look at what the insurance offers in more than just economic terms. Insurance also deals with how efficiently the business can operate. Businesses that have the assurance that they’re covered in any eventuality may be more inclined to take risks and innovate. Insurance, by design, can help or hinder a business. By focusing on the important details that impact a business’s everyday operation, an owner can determine whether insurance is a crucial consideration for the long-term health of the company. In some industries, insurance can save the company tens of thousands of dollars in liabilities. Some professionals require coverage before they’re allowed to open a firm in some states. If your industry requires that you have business insurance, you will need to examine what each of the providers offer with their policies to ascertain the level of coverage they provide. An additional element that business owners ought to consider is what the insurance covers. Some insurance companies only offer the bare minimum of coverage. Their policies don’t cover damage to assets or the building, and may only offer third-party coverage to individuals the business may have caused damage to. It’s vital that a company that takes out business insurance know what their insurance can cover and whether they may need more than the basic third-party coverage. To help, 18 associates of YEC discuss what a business owner should consider when deciding on business insurance and why these elements are crucial to the decision.

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Facing adversity can help you grow in ways you never imagined. No one likes to think about facing adversity and hardships. However, everyone must deal with challenging situations at some point in their personal and professional lives, especially in the midst of today's pandemic and social climate. Having a strategy to confront adversity head-on can help you be better prepared when obstacles do pop up. To help, we asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members for their advice. Below they share their No. 1 tips for overcoming hardships and why doing so can help you grow as a person.

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If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that the workforce can be adaptable and deal with many challenges as they arise. From pivoting into remote work to changing their priorities from real life to the digital realm, employees have had to evolve their practices to remain competitive. While everyone is looking forward to what a new year will bring, there will still be a lot of change to witness in the workforce. This year's struggles have started a ball rolling, and the coming year will see it pick up momentum. Here, nine leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council suggest a few ways that the workforce will adapt to this new year and why they expect these changes to occur.

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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? Sadly, self-doubt feeds a negative feedback loop, leading to a spiraling of emotions that may leave you scrambling to find a way out. To help guide you, thirteen experts from Young Entrepreneur Council share some valuable tips on how professionals can seek to conquer self-doubt, and explain why these suggestions can be so practical at helping you overcome this debilitating mental state.

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One of the worst things for a budding entrepreneur is to realize that the problem they're solving already has a solution. The business environment has diversified a lot, but the low cost of entry has now made it easy for others to develop similar ideas. In a saturated market, the businesses that stand out and become memorable to their consumers will have the best chance of survival and expansion. These eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council examine a few ways that a business can differentiate itself from others in the same competing space and offer advice for companies that want to set themselves apart from the rest of their industry.

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Prices can make or break a business, and deciding on what to charge for a particular good or service varies by the company. Finding the "sweet spot" for your pricing takes a bit of market research and a lot of trial and error, especially for new entrepreneurs. Sometimes, their approach to pricing structure can change over time, evolving to account for further information they learn in their journeys as business owners and new key considerations that affect a company’s pricing model. That’s why we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

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Programming is highly in demand in today's digital-first world. Try these tools, courses and platforms recommended by business leaders. Today's world is all about technology, which means people who can develop software and applications are in very high demand. However, many companies that need help with development have found there simply aren't enough qualified programmers to go around. Businesses that are in need of programming talent but can't find or don't have the budget to hire top tech candidates often choose to build the skills of their internal team to supplement their needs. Fortunately, there are countless free and low-cost tools, courses and programs that can help teams boost their programming skills. We asked 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share their top tool recommendations for businesses that want to build programming into their professional development flow.

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If you've been around the marketing world at all lately, you'd realize how much of a game-changer social media can be for a business. Setting up posts, scheduling them to come out, and engaging with those who follow your social media feeds can help you cultivate your audience. However, you may have noticed that not a whole lot of people engage with your posts immediately after they get published. Engaging people with your social media platform requires a little bit more skill and strategy than just posting regularly. These 12 associates of YEC examine some of the lesser-known or unique ways companies can use to get their followers to engage more on social media.

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Email marketing is still among the most effective ways to target an audience. However, for email marketing to be successful, you need to encourage people to sign up for your email list. This step might seem like a simple task, but recently consumers are extra-protective about their email addresses. Individuals have been flooded with spam and have become a lot more cautious about who they share their information with. Even so, there are a few handy tips and tricks that you can use to get people to trust you enough to give you their email -- most notably by being transparent and showing the value you will provide them with. These 12 experts from YEC discuss some of the most effective methods and take a look at why they're so good at convincing people to sign up for your email list.

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With the holidays approaching quickly, many are ready to set their “out of office” messages and relax and recharge. It’s important for employers to encourage this balance and promote the use of paid time off around the holidays. However, if everyone takes off at the same time, it may leave you with a skeleton crew and piles of work for when employees return, making for a not-so-happy start to the new year.  To address this problem, we asked eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council for their own creative solutions. Below, they detail the balance between encouraging their team to take time off and leaving the company short-staffed during the holiday season.

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One of the best ways to call attention to your business is to give things away.

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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. Whether consumers aren’t a fan of the price or decide to look elsewhere, businesses must figure out why customers are abandoning their purchases so they can address those issues and encourage completion of the sale. That's why we asked 14 members of Young Entrepreneur Council how companies can lower their online cart abandonment rate. Read on to learn how you can improve conversions on your e-commerce website.

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LinkedIn is often thought of as the go-to social network for professionals, but it’s more than just a social media platform. It’s a powerful marketing tool for brands to engage with customers, employees and business partners. With new features such as live video, polls and team moments, LinkedIn is offering innovative ways to foster engagement and share content on its platform. We asked the experts of Young Entrepreneur Council how business owners and other professionals can best leverage the platform's new tools. Follow their tips to up your LinkedIn game in 2021.

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It's often said you only get one chance to make a first impression, and that holds true for your company website. The visual appearance and written copy on your sign-up and landing pages must be compelling enough to grab a visitor's attention and convince them to take the next step in their relationship with your brand. This can be easier said than done, so to help, we asked 16 members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some creative ideas for tech companies that want to leverage more user-generated content. Many businesses have realized that user-generated content (UGC) is a simple and low-cost way to increase online engagement and brand awareness. Strategies for leveraging UGC may seem fairly obvious for businesses with a physical product – it’s easy to share photos of customers wearing an item of clothing or using a product in their home. However, tech companies may need to get a little more creative in how they incorporate content from their users. To help you, we asked 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council for their insights. Below they shared some effective ways tech companies can leverage user-generated content.

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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. As with all approaches, however, there are significant positives and negatives to using personality tests this way. To help us understand the extent to which employers should rely on personality tests to gauge an employee's viability for recruitment or development, we asked 13 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

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You may measure your effectiveness with several metrics. However, not everyone has the time to dedicate to figuring out their level of daily effectiveness and productivity. As professionals, most of us have to learn how to spot the red flags indicating that we are being ineffective. Once we manage to catch on to these signs, we can safely estimate whether we're doing more or less than we expect to be doing. As an entrepreneur, effectiveness could mean the difference between achieving something concrete and simply wasting another day while getting nowhere substantial. These nine professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the signs they keep an eye out for to determine whether they're making a difference and the steps they take toward being more productive.

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These 20 entrepreneurs from YEC discuss their favorite market research tools and why you should be using them. Without a proper view of the market, a business has no chance to resonate with the consumers most likely to buy their product. In the past, the best way of interacting with consumers was to simply put out an ad in the most-seen public medium at the time and hope it would land on fertile ground. Thankfully, the approach has changed in modern days, and now we have a lot more tools to offer us in-depth insights into what our ideal customers like and dislike. Using this as a basis, we can adapt our marketing attempts to appeal to those customers. The question now is, how do we obtain that data? Market research tools go hand-in-hand with e-commerce and internet marketing. Visitors to a website provide the best and most accurate picture of the kind of people the website already attracts. Using this data as a baseline, a business can feed it into an analytics engine and get back valuable information about the kind of customers already coming to its site. Based on those results, the business can then adjust its marketing push to reach out to a broader demographic or drill down into converting more of those visitors to buyers. There are many layers that marketing data reveals that can be priceless to a business looking to raise its conversion rates. Today, a business that doesn't depend on market research to guide its advertising and marketing is at a distinct disadvantage to other companies that do. The companies that make the best use of available tools will be more successful in reaching out to their ideal customers. Here, 20 associates of YEC discuss their favorite market research tools and explain how those solutions can help any business achieve its marketing goals.

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Employees are a critical resource in any business. When they take on the role of brand advocates, they become even more valuable.

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With each passing year, demographics change. Where a company's core demographic might have been millennials a few years ago, today it's shifted to Generation Z. Unfortunately, there's a marked difference in values between generations, and businesses need to revamp their marketing strategy to reach out to their newest client base without alienating their other followers. If the wrong strategy is applied and a company’s messaging reaches the wrong part of its audience, it can cost the business valuable sales. To help avoid such situations, these 11 entrepreneurs from YEC share their insight into how companies can reach out to their Gen Z audience while remaining marketable to their existing clientele.

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Social media following is an integral part of executing a successful marketing strategy. Engagement on social media is far higher than other channels. However, despite their constant presence, social media networks aren't the only way for a company to do outreach and connect to their core audience. Several other companies have delved into different methods of connecting and advertising to their core audience -- with surprising results. We asked 12 entrepreneurs from YEC to help us understand what nontraditional media channels they've seen work, and why those strategies were so beneficial to the parent companies.

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[long-form emailed to Kelsey]

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As more people are working from home and staying in, online shopping has become the dominant means of commerce. It’s more important than ever for small brick-and-mortar retailers to get their products online and accessible to their customers. However, with so many large e-commerce competitors like Amazon, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. To give these smaller businesses a leg up, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council how brick-and-mortars can still thrive in today's digital landscape. Here’s what they had to say.

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Having the right clients can make all the difference in your business’s success. Of course, finding those ideal clients isn’t always easy. You don’t want to be too selective and turn down a good business opportunity, but you also don’t want to overextend yourself for a client who won’t stick around in the long run. We asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council how they’ve managed to attract -- and more importantly, keep -- the right clients in their roster. Here are their best strategies.

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The entire marketing world knows how powerful a well-funded social media campaign can be when growing a brand image. It can be challenging for smaller entrepreneurs to determine how much money should go into this part of your marketing, as there are several dozen social media channels that you can invest in. How do you determine how much money to dedicate to one or more of those social media accounts? Social media has made interacting with customers a lot easier, which means the considerations compared to traditional digital marketing are different. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council explore the critical elements they consider when allocating their social media budgets, and offer advice about budgeting effectively as a small-business owner.

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Small-business owners realize almost immediately how different their businesses are to run than large corporations. For success, a small business needs to adopt its own strategies that work with limited available resources. Entrepreneurs in this position need to make critical decisions about what approaches they'll take to elements of business growth and development. From figuring out how to find and develop new talent to discussing how to expand the business's outreach, these entrepreneurs have to think creatively about solutions they can implement to improve operations and increase productivity. That’s why we asked 13 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

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It’s easy to have an “always-on” mentality when you’re an entrepreneur. You own a business that depends on you to survive, so you never really get a day off – right? This attitude can be detrimental both to your business and to you as the owner. While you might feel uncomfortable or guilty taking time off, it’s essential to give yourself time to rest so you can come back strong and rejuvenated. Otherwise, you're likely to end up burning out and being a less effective leader. We spoke with members of Young Entrepreneur Council about their experiences with stepping away from their businesses for vacation. Here are some strategies they shared for feeling confident leaving your company in others’ capable hands while you’re taking much-needed time off.

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Social media is constantly evolving, and your business needs to keep up.

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Content marketing has become a cornerstone marketing approach in the world of business and for good reason. It's a cost-effective method of getting new clients to notice the company while keeping current customers engaged with valuable information. However, for the bloggers, it can be a pain to come up with new ideas. With content so widespread on the internet, it's challenging to develop new topics or new spins on old issues. The trading value of a blog's content is how unique or exciting it is. If your content doesn't interest your core audience, then it's not doing its job. To help, nine professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council share some insight into how to come up with unique yet engaging blog content ideas, and explain how these ideas can attract a new audience.

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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:

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Leadership is a battle for constant improvement. In modern business, there is a particular need for competent leadership. However, leaders don't retain their positions by being complacent. One of the most effective methods of self-reflection is by asking yourself searching questions and answering them truthfully. The catch is that this requires you to be entirely honest with yourself. But what are the questions that would encourage you to be better? What should you ask yourself to develop into a more effective leader? To help, these 13 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council share the questions they ask themselves daily in their bid for self-development.

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A strong daily routine can make all the difference in a team's productivity. Things like creating a to-do list at the start of each day and blocking off time for "deep thinking" work often help people get organized and feel more focused throughout the workday. There are plenty of small habits like these that can help you be more efficient at work, but they're easy to forget when you're caught up in the daily grind. That's why we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council what habits managers should instill in their team to help them become more productive and focused. Read on for their best responses, and why you should encourage these daily habits among your team.

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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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Even if you started doing virtual events out of necessity, you'll likely find it advantageous to continue the practice.

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When your company's growth is gaining traction, make sure your culture grows right alongside it.

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Transparency in business has become a practice that’s favored by not only consumers, but by employees as well. When leaders are transparent with their team about the business, it builds a sense of trust and equips employees to make informed decisions. However, sharing more information than necessary can be distracting at best, and detrimental to company culture at worst. So how do you determine how transparent to be with your employees? Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some questions and considerations for leaders.

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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. The underlying problem that affects leaders that don't delve into self-discovery when they should, is not fully understanding how this exercise can benefit them. Introspection is more than mere navel-gazing. It imparts in-depth knowledge about oneself that can go on to aid a leaders' business interests. Fifteen associates of Young Entrepreneur Council offer insight into how any entrepreneur can make the most of daily reflection or journaling practices.

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Small business owners are especially vulnerable during a crisis.

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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. To help with your next traditional media campaign, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:

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One of the most common complaints that professionals have in the 21st century is how little time there is in a day. The truth of the matter is that the day hasn't changed, but how we manage our time has. Losing time on frivolous activities is nothing new. However, with the advent of attention-stealing applications, we lose more time than ever before without even realizing it. If you're someone who wants to reclaim those lost hours, there are practical methods of doing so. However, they require understanding what you want to get out of your revamped time-management strategy. Sixteen members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their insight into what any busy professional can do to reclaim those lost hours in a day and make each one more productive.

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In the wake of COVID-19, many businesses have had to significantly modify or even temporarily shut down their daily operations. In tough times such as these, finding new revenue streams can be a great way to make up the lost income and keep the company afloat. The members of Young Entrepreneur Council understand the struggle of running a business during difficult times, as well as how to navigate that challenge successfully. Below, they share 10 creative ways to diversify your company’s cash flow.

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Working from home comes with advantages, such as increased flexibility, and drawbacks, such as feelings of isolation.

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A famous adage that many young entrepreneurs know is that there are never enough hours in a day. If you feel like this, the problem is probably not with the day, but with how you utilize the time available to you. As an entrepreneur, the to-do list is always growing, and you need to be able to figure out which elements hold the most importance. Not all time management methods work for everyone, and you may need to get a broader view to figure out what is likely to work and what isn't. Business owners understand how crucial proper time management is to ensuring that things get done. To this end, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best time management tips for entrepreneurs below.

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When you're focused and consistent with your efforts, LinkedIn can be one of the most cost-effective sources for B2B leads. 

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Many a company had to reinvent themselves and especially their customer interactions in order to stay in business. Listening closely to your target audience is often the first and best step your organization should take when planning a major shift. Listening and implementing the received feedback shows precisely how important an empowered community of consumers is. It doesn't matter which industry your business is concerned with, a community of users linked by the same likes or taste can be an influential demographic. However, building an empowered customer community isn't something that occurs accidentally. It requires a lot of long-term planning. To help, eight experts from Young Entrepreneur Council share what they believe are the crucial steps in developing an empowered customer community that a business can count on.

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Automation and a personal touch don't have to be contradictory.

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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. Knowledge is only half of the equation, with the other being an innate sense of leadership. If managers can spot this sense early, they may be able to guide those young leaders while they gain the necessary experience. To help, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council examine the key traits that they look for to identify potential future leaders within the hierarchy of the business.

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Not understanding how to manage your money can undermine your business.

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As an entrepreneur, you’ve likely encountered various risks and obstacles while juggling a myriad of responsibilities. With all these challenges, it’s common for self-doubt to strike at some point in your career. However, it's important to not let those negative perceptions and fears get the best of you. Many members of Young Entrepreneur Council have felt the sting of uncertainty throughout their careers -- and they’ve figured out how to conquer it. Read on for their best practical tips for banishing self-doubt and growing from the experience.

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Not every trend impacts you equally, but it's important to remember they're still influencing your customers' expectations.

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Entrepreneurs usually have to locate a source of funds to make their dreams into a reality. Sometimes, all you have is an idea, and as good as that idea is, unless you know how to get funding, it'll remain a thought in your head. Convincing people to invest in a business is more than just laying out the positives and negatives. Finding the right pitch for the correct type of investor is crucial in securing their financial help. But what method works with which investors? To guide you on your quest to land investors, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their insights into how to source funding, using their own experiences to help you figure out your path. They offer their ideas below.

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Polls and surveys, when done right, are a simple way to learn more about your customers.

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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. Simulation technology has improved drastically since its initial creation. Virtual reality is the next logical step in making simulation resemble the world around us. As VR is already being used in business for training and gaming for immersion, we asked 12 contributors to Young Entrepreneur Council to share the coolest application of virtual reality they had ever encountered. Here's what they had to say:

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Local SEO is a huge factor in attracting prospective customers to your brick-and-mortar location.

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The more reviews you have, the more trust consumers will place in your brand.

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If you let a negative review pass without responding, your silence could speak volumes to potential customers.

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Here are some creative free strategies to get the world to take notice of your business.

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It's definitely possible to engage in effective branding on a small budget.

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You don't have to spend a lot to build your brand.

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Stay vigilant and don't give any information to someone you don't know.

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Small businesses may not be able to compete on selection and price, but they can offer personalized customer experiences.

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Networking, when done right, can help you build brand awareness.

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No matter what form of marketing you use, make sure it is consistent.

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I've learned that, while you can't literally stretch time, you can get more done.

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Figure out what you can do to sell online, even if it's a one-off product.

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Having your customers help build up your business's reputation takes hard work and collaboration.

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Give your customers a specific reason to seek out your services.

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The more you know about your customers, the better you can serve them.

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You may find that one or more of these strategies is just what you need to take your business to the next level.

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There are many tactics that businesses can use to connect with their cities and regions.

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Think of ways to connect with people that differentiates you from the competition.

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Jump right in and put in the work, but most importantly, don’t forget to laugh along the way.

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Outstanding customer service could even be considered a type of marketing.

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It often takes extra effort and determination to get people to try something new, but the rewards can be tremendous if you succeed.

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Mobile is only going to get bigger in the coming years. Every type of business needs to adjust to this reality if they want to stay relevant.