Matt Wilson

expert panel

Social media can do wonders for a business — as long as you have followers paying attention. It can be a common misconception, especially among new entrepreneurs, that you just need to create a few social media profiles and your followers will find you.  However, if you want to amass a large following of loyal, engaged customers, you’ll need to be proactive. To help set you on the right path, 14 members of YEC share their best tips and hacks for new entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their business's social media following.

expert panel

When you want your business to stand out online, it's crucial to have a never-ending supply of new and creative ideas. Sometimes new ideas come naturally, but every business owner or entrepreneur will go through times when the creative juices aren't flowing when they need them to the most.  This is when having go-to strategies for idea generation can come in handy. Here, 12 members of YEC share their best methods for coming up with new ideas to ensure your content stays fresh.

expert panel

In recent years, technological advances and the Covid-19 pandemic have paved the way for many companies to go completely or partially remote. This type of work environment means professionals are now more responsible for protecting confidential company data, no matter where they're working. From using weak passwords to logging into unsecured networks, there are many ways for well-intentioned remote workers to inadvertently open the door for hackers. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how remote professionals can protect themselves against cyberattacks when they're not working at a central company location.

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.

expert panel

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:

expert panel

One of the most intimidating things about starting a business is having to pitch your idea to a room full of investors. Sometimes a pitch will go great—and then sometimes it won’t. When you start breaking a sweat and feeling like you’re about to mess up, it may seem like your presentation is on its way to becoming a train wreck. However, with some expert advice and a little bit of confidence, you can salvage an investor pitch meeting that’s going downhill. To help, 13 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council share key steps you can take to turn things around and get investors to take a chance on your business.

expert panel

Content may be king, but to truly have an impact, what you create must be engaging and influential. Whether it's blog posts, podcasts, videos, newsletters or something else, today's consumers are looking for a steady stream of valuable, interesting information from the brands and influencers they follow. For leaders, producing high-quality content is an excellent strategy for growing a loyal audience and influencing public opinion. However, if you want your content to be influential, it has to be done right. To help brands and creators up their game, eight successful entrepreneurs share their top-recommended tips for developing and publishing highly influential content.

expert panel

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:

expert panel

The world of marketing is ever-changing, especially in today's digital-first world. Successful marketers not only need to be masters at capturing customers' attention and showing them the benefits of their product or service, but they also need to know how to leverage the most up-to-date digital tools to reach those customers. As business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council understand the importance of staying up to date on marketing skills. Below, a panel of them shared nine of the most important habits and skills all marketers should pursue. Read on for their insights on which actions can advance your marketing career.

expert panel

expert panel

Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how companies can better manage the safety of their customers’ data. IoT devices like home security systems, robot vacuums, fitness trackers, smart lightbulbs and everything in between are designed to make users’ lives easier and more efficient. But to achieve that ease, users must input data, often personal, to help these devices function well—which can sometimes mean forgoing security for functionality. However, there are steps companies can take to protect their customers’ data and ensure better security for their devices. Below, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council list some of those steps and explain why managing data security for these devices is so important.

expert panel

Taking on the leadership role of a manager can be daunting the first time. You're in charge of an entire team, and their successes and failures fall largely on your shoulders. Even though it can be intimidating, it's important to start on the right foot. If you're a first-time manager, you'll want to prove to your company why you were the best person for this position. Begin your new career path successfully by following these tips from expert managers from Young Entrepreneur Council.

expert panel

Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss characteristics all top tech companies share and why. All companies start off in the same place—no clients, no reputation, no proven track record of success—but when you think of any top tech company, there’s usually a reason why they made it there.  As technology continues to progress and the need for technology companies grows, more and more business leaders are going to be looking for ways to emulate that success. To take some of the guesswork out of the equation, these 12 leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the traits all successful tech companies seem to have in common and why. Consider these traits when determining the right path to success for your business.

expert panel

Work can be a distracting place. You have questions and requests from your co-workers or boss interrupting your workflow. You have your cellphone to distract you—emails and texts you feel compelled to answer, social media messages you need to respond to and calls you need to pick up. Without a doubt, maintaining focus is a challenge if you're not strategic about how you spend your time. But achieving a state of deep work is important if you want to maximize your creativity and solve complex problems. For insights on how to achieve this state, consider the following advice from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. These tips can help you set boundaries with your time and take back control of your schedule so you can make the most of your day.

expert panel

expert panel

One of the best ways to keep a business innovative and growing healthily is for leaders to set tangible goals for teams. To motivate teams to accomplish their goals, it helps to assess the progress toward meeting them on a quarterly basis. This way, at the end of every quarter, the whole team can look back and track the progress they’ve made, see what still needs to happen and prepare for the quarter ahead. To help, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared tips for assessing accomplishments at the end each quarter so that you can plan or revise strategic goals. gear up for the next one and keep your company on course.

expert panel

When a business posts a job online, it aims to garner the interest of the most qualified professionals in the field. Just like advertising, getting the job in front of the right eyes is crucial to its success. But with thousands upon thousands of job postings out there, what can a business do to ensure that their online job listing doesn't get buried under the clutter? To share their insights, nine experts from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:

expert panel

Ethical dilemmas are commonplace in society, but when a business experiences one, the impact (and potential fallout) can have a wide reach. In many cases, ethical dilemmas are challenging to work through because the risk and reward aren't as clear-cut as other types of decisions. This complexity becomes even more convoluted with businesses, as other businesses, customers and employees can all be affected. Below, eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council examine some of the more common ethical dilemmas business owners may face and offer their advice on how to overcome them.

expert panel

For many professionals, making a mistake at work can be a big hit to their self-confidence. The scenario can weigh on your mind and cause you to feel like you’re bad at your job or that you’re not cut out for your particular profession. Recovering your self-confidence after a mistake takes some time, but it can be done, and the faster you do so, the more effective you'll be in the future. But forgiving yourself isn’t always so easy. Below, eight professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss how to bounce back after a mistake and how not to be too hard on yourself going forward.

expert panel

Motivating and guiding a team of employees toward innovation can be difficult even for the most seasoned leaders. You want to instill confidence in your employees, but giving up control and allowing them to embrace their creativity can be difficult. To that end, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members shared things employers should avoid doing if they want to encourage their employees to innovate. Here are some common behaviors and mistakes they believe hinder innovation, and why these actions can be harmful and counterproductive in the workplace.

expert panel

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.

expert panel

With the increasing awareness of the need for diverse workplaces and teams, diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies have become a pressing issue in the business world. Yet, not every business owner knows where to begin or what to do to ensure their company is hiring for diverse backgrounds and skills. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the steps a business owner can take to ensure that they have a hiring process that embraces diversity, as well as explain why this is so important to creating a truly successful business.

expert panel

In a market with hundreds (maybe thousands) of competitors, it becomes more challenging for businesses to make a mark that'll impact the core audience they’re aiming for. This is why it’s so important for a business to develop a strategy that will give them an edge over the rest. Saturated markets can still be profitable, but only if the company makes its value proposition known to the target audience in such a striking way that it deeply resonates with them. To offer insight on how to do that, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council look at a few strategies businesses can adopt to stand out in a crowded market and how each tip helps make the company more visible to the consumer.

expert panel

In addition to the position itself, company benefits are one of the most important elements that candidates carefully consider when gauging whether they want to join a company. Once an employee is on board, these perks can also play a role in whether or not an employee chooses to stay and whether they get the sense that the company values their contributions. To help leaders determine which benefits to offer, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) explore the following question:

expert panel

expert panel

For many companies, maintaining a high level of engagement and motivation among employees during the dark winter months can be quite a challenge. And with a growing remote work environment, it is even more difficult to make sure your team stays engaged and productive while also ensuring they make time for self-care. To help, 11 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council reflect on the following question:

expert panel

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.

expert panel

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.

expert panel

It’s already well-known that entrepreneurs spend a lot of their time working on getting their businesses off the ground and keeping them solvent. It's not uncommon to hear a business owner working 50 or 60 hours a week. Many of us know how 10- and 11-hour workdays feel and the negative impact this amount of work can have on one’s mental and physical health. To address the issue, busy professionals need to find a way to work smarter and gradually reduce the number of hours spent to run the business. That’s why we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

expert panel

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.

expert panel

As an entrepreneur, it’s useful to have strong business acumen -- an almost intuitive skill that can and must be honed. However, good business sense alone isn’t enough; there are several other traits an entrepreneur needs in order to succeed. As some of the top leaders in their respective industries, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council know what skills are required to succeed in the business world. Below, they share 10 underrated skills that all entrepreneurs should possess, but often don't.

expert panel

expert panel

As your business develops over time, you may find its original purpose changing as well. Whether you’re incorporating a new service or changing industries completely, trying a new direction for your company can be risky. Fortunately, taking the steps to ensure a smooth transition can set the stage for success, as well as make the process easier for all involved. Below, 10 members ofYoung Entrepreneur Council shares their best strategies for companies looking to pivot to something new.

article

article

Matt Wilson got tired of starting at a computer screen all day, so he spent the last few years building a very different kind of business.

article

Cashing in on your passion sounds good -- until the startup headaches set in.