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When your business is one of the most important things in your life, it's hard to trust others to handle any aspect of it. No matter how good a candidate looks on paper, you likely won’t have a good idea of how trustworthy they are until you’re able to meet them face-to-face. Luckily, there are some productive questions you can ask a potential hire to help you gauge their trustworthiness. To help, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members share their thoughts on the following question:

expert panel

expert panel

When you're working to complete a project that will span a long period of time, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Without proper preparation and oversight, a long-term project runs the risk of getting derailed along the way as more immediate and pressing concerns pop up. Anyone leading this type of project should take the necessary steps to make sure every piece of the endeavor stays on track and progresses smoothly. To help you do this, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members discuss how to ensure long-term projects reach successful conclusions.

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A large part of the personal branding process relies on speaking with others, presenting new ideas to digital and in-person audiences, and establishing connections. To a self-described introvert, these tasks can seem like big hurdles on the way to success. But there are ways for introverts to get their names out there and create strong relationships within their network. Whether it's becoming more active on LinkedIn or publishing articles on sites within your discipline, introverts have many opportunities to be involved in the business community while still leaving space to recharge with solo activities. Below, 13 Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their keys to personal branding success as an introverted leader.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the software or hardware that has helped them succeed while working from home. Many professionals know that having the right tools can really make a difference in your ability to get work done — and get it done well. The same is true while working from home. In addition to dealing with a different environment from a traditional office, working from home also means you may be contending with decreased focus or a lack of communication, so having the right tools in place can be paramount to your success. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council experts share some of their favorite tech tools that have helped them succeed every day while working from home and why they think others should take note.

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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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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer steps to take if you want to keep your home-based business safe from cyberattacks. When you’re launching a new business, cybersecurity and data protection likely aren’t top of mind for you. But doing business comes with a lot of sensitive information that you don’t want getting in the wrong hands, and the nature of being online means safeguarding that data should be approached from several angles — especially if you run your business from home. Whether you’re a solopreneur operating from your home office or a remote-first startup, there are a few steps you need to consider to ensure your business’s safety online. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council experts weigh in on those steps and how they can help prevent cybercrime.

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Are there specific traits of great managers, personal qualities that are crucial to success in any managerial role? It seems that there are, and while some of these traits are innate, others can be learned. In this article, 13 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council list a few of the most vital traits you should possess if you want to thrive in a managerial position.

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Business owners in any industry can affirm that running a company is a lifelong lesson. Though many entrepreneurs have strong gut feelings and a long history of success when it comes to decision making, there are times when they make bad business decisions as well. In these situations, your whole outlook on your business can change. You may even feel discouraged from making significant decisions in the future. To help entrepreneurs learn from their unsuccessful decisions, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared some lessons they've learned from times they were proven wrong in business and how it has impacted their decision making now.

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expert panel

expert panel

While it may not always feel like it in the moment, business challenges are great opportunities for growth. When we’re thrown outside of our comfort zones, we build confidence and see our strengths. This is especially true for business leaders and entrepreneurs, who face a constant stream of challenges that can often be turned into positive opportunities. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared experiences where they used a challenge as a learning opportunity. They describe how it affected them and how they used the lesson to improve their business.

expert panel

expert panel

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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Employees aren’t the only ones who can receive feedback about their performance at work. As a manager or business leader, it’s important to receive feedback from your employees so you can understand how you’re doing and what you need to do to improve. While every manager hopes for positive feedback, they may still receive negative feedback from time to time, and it’s how they respond to that feedback that can really make the difference. If an employee thinks you're not performing at your best and lets you know about it, there are some steps you should take to address the complaint the right way. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council explained what leaders should do after they receive negative feedback.

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No matter how well-aligned two business partners may be, there will inevitably be times when they don't see eye to eye. However, when larger issues arise and the partners are no longer on the same page, it's critical for both parties to get back on track to resolve their conflict. Otherwise, they risk making decisions (or making no decisions at all) that could ultimately harm the business and its culture. If you and your business partner can't seem to agree on an important issue, first remember that you're working toward the same goal: the good of the company. Then, try these 15 strategies recommended by Young Entrepreneur Council members for realigning with your partner and resolving conflict.

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Clear communication and empathy go a long way. Of all the positive traits a leader can possess, the ability to be fair and equitable in the most challenging of circumstances is a crucial one. A leader who is able to ensure that everyone on their team is being treated fairly is someone who has the ability to see things from an objective perspective and to solve problems creatively. Employees are also more likely to respect a leader who makes a conscious effort to treat everyone fairly and holds themselves accountable to the same standards as well. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the most important questions they ask themselves when they want to be sure that they're leading their teams in a fair and equitable way.

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In business, conflict is bound to be a daily occurrence. While no leader desires conflict, as entrepreneurs they often experience it on a day-to-day basis. Differing opinions, struggles with working relationships and team management issues can all lay the foundation for potential conflict, and not all leaders are equipped to handle it. In order to get more comfortable with conflict then, leaders must be proactive and develop a plan to overcome their fears. To help, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared 14 ways leaders can get more comfortable with conflict and be more successful as a result.

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As a leader, it’s important to ensure that every voice at your company is heard, no matter the size of the team. Barriers should be broken between upper and lower management, if they exist, to allow for the free flow of information and ideas. But it can still sometimes be difficult for lower-level employees to feel their ideas are being heard all the way at the top. Below, nine Young Entrepreneur Council members share specific steps leaders can implement to encourage the sharing of ideas across all levels of the organization.

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Everyone has certain biases, but making an objective business decision requires you to recognize and set aside those perceptions. Human beings are biased by nature. Each of us forms opinions about the world based on the experiences we've had and the backgrounds we come from.  While bias itself is not inherently bad, it's important for entrepreneurs to understand their own unconscious biases and work to eliminate them from their business decisions to ensure the fairest outcomes for all involved. Below, a group of successful entrepreneurs shared their best tips for recognizing your own biases and removing them from your decision-making process. Follow their advice to achieve greater objectivity within your company.

expert panel

expert panel

Getting press for your business is important for growth and for your bottom line. The larger the audience that sees or hears about your company in the news, the more potential customers your business brings in. But for smaller businesses or for businesses with smaller budgets, PR and marketing campaigns might not be cost-effective. To support your business’s growth on a budget, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some easy ways of getting positive publicity and free press coverage. Follow their recommendations to boost awareness of your business for little to no marketing spend.

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Every decision you make in business will have its consequences. While you always want to make decisions that will result in positive outcomes, things don't always go as well as you hoped they would. In this way, it's important for a leader to take the time to think through a potential decision before committing to it.  Thankfully, there are some important questions you can ask yourself to help you gain clarity on a decision before you make it. Below, members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the questions they always ask before making any major business decisions for their companies and how those questions help them make better decisions overall.

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When you work in a team setting, conflict is inevitable. However, when members of your team aren't getting along, the negative energy can be toxic for the entire team and the business can suffer as a result.  Part of a leader's responsibility is to help mediate conflict in such situations and generate positivity throughout the team. Here, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the most effective ways they know to mediate conflict and provide positive conflict resolution when their team members aren’t working well together.

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No matter how organized and productive you normally are, there will be times when you'll feel overwhelmed with the amount of work you have to do. Feeling like you’re behind on your work can cause additional stress that can affect your output. It's important to recognize when you're feeling this way and take the proper measures to get back on track. To that end, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discussed the steps they take to reset their work and get back on track. Here’s how these strategies can help you establish a better overall plan for managing your workload.

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There are many reasons why a person's career idles, but it will likely happen to just about everyone at some point. Personal issues, an economic crisis, a creativity block or financial trouble are just a few factors that might cause a person to lose their passion for work.  Realizing that your career has stalled or that you've lost passion for something you once loved to do can be frightening and overwhelming. It's enough to send some people into despair and depression. Here, a group of Young Entrepreneur Council members weigh in with advice on what they would do—or have done—when faced with the same problem.