Matthew Podolsky

January 4th, 2021

Tips for Dealing With Controversial Topics on Social Media

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.

December 30th, 2020

18 Things to Consider Before Committing to Business Insurance

18 entrepreneurs from YEC look at the main reasons why an organization should get insurance.

December 30th, 2020

Eight Smart Strategies For Getting Informative Feedback From Your Customer Base

When you understand your customer, you can better tailor your products and services to their needs. The most reliable way to get to know who your customers are and what they're looking for is to get that information directly from them. But how can you persuade customers to give you the comprehensive, actionable feedback you need?

December 22nd, 2020

Entrepreneurs Share Eight Key Takeaways From Their Own Positive Experiences As (And With) Customers

Most of us can look back and remember several less-than-ideal experiences we had as customers. Even more memorable, however, are those times when a company's customer service exceeds our expectations—even delights us. In almost every instance, receiving outstanding service from a business creates a loyal customer for life. Therefore, taking note of and learning from excellent examples of customer service can be an invaluable tool for any entrepreneur or business leader looking for ways to "wow" their own customers. 

December 17th, 2020

12 Considerations When Creating Your Pricing Structure

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:

December 17th, 2020

Want to Boost Your Team's Programming Skills? Try These 15 Expert-Recommended Tools

Programming is highly in demand in today's digital-first world. Try these tools, courses and platforms recommended by business leaders.

December 17th, 2020

10 Effective Methods for Locating the Right Talent

Businesses are in an unenviable position of having to find the most talented individuals in their field and entice them to work at their organization. In many cases, finding qualified candidates has come down to creating the right ads and vetting candidates properly.

December 15th, 2020

12 Foolproof Methods of Growing Your Email Subscriber List

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.

December 15th, 2020

12 Unique Ways to Boost Social Media Engagement

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.

November 24th, 2020

Build Your Brand Via Speaking Engagements With These 10 Tips

Public speaking is a great way to gain exposure for your brand and a reputation for expertise in your field. Events with an audience allow for transparency and vulnerability—two key pieces to success when you're working to build a brand that consumers are eager to engage with. Speaking events also help you show off the core solutions your business has to offer.

November 23rd, 2020

Eight Key Steps To Securing Retail Distribution

There's no question that retail is a challenging industry to master. However, for investors or manufacturers, the challenges it presents are more than worth the rewards. Retail distribution allows a business to serve its offerings up to a much broader population than direct distribution, thus increasing an enterprise’s visibility and revenue.

November 23rd, 2020

14 Traits That Will Get Employers to Notice You

November 23rd, 2020

12 Ways Service-Based Businesses Can Take Advantage of the Holiday Season

The holiday season is usually a goldmine of opportunities for product-based businesses that deploy specific marketing strategies to make their offering stand out and be relevant for that time of the year. While service-based businesses typically find it more difficult to capitalize on this season’s business opportunities, there are still several creative strategies they can deploy to make holiday marketing work in their favor. To help, we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

November 13th, 2020

10 Ways To Stay In Touch With Your Growing Team About Their Performance

Keeping up with your employees on an individual level makes for good leadership. As you hire more and more people to your team, it can be difficult to maintain that one-on-one time with each employee. However, doing so is crucial to ensuring everyone is on the same page and performing their best.

October 29th, 2020

Got Negative Feedback? Nine Smart Strategies For Handling It The Right Way

No matter how diligent a person is, they will, at some point, receive negative feedback in their career. Whether it’s an unsatisfied customer, an upset manager or a tense situation with a colleague, you can’t make everyone happy 100% of the time.

October 28th, 2020

13 Pros and Cons of Using Personality Tests to Evaluate Employees

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.

October 14th, 2020

How To Scale A Service-Based Business: Eight Top Tips From Experts

Growing a business seems like a simple prospect, and it can be deceptively simple on paper. However, once you start to delve into the heart of the matter, you realize that a service-based business requires some deep thought before you can scale it.

October 12th, 2020

20 Uniquely Useful Tools for Conducting Market Research

These 20 entrepreneurs from YEC discuss their favorite market research tools and why you should be using them.

October 5th, 2020

15 Entrepreneurs Share the First Hires They Made for Their Business and Why

October 5th, 2020

14 MAJOR TECH ISSUES OF 2020 (AND THE INNOVATIONS THAT WILL RESOLVE THEM)

Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the past year's most pressing technology concerns and how we should address them.

October 1st, 2020

How To Maintain A Healthy Co-Founder Relationship: Nine Essential Tips

When you create a company with someone else, the initial stages require you to work closely together. Eventually, a bond forms, as it usually does when people work closely together. However, as a business grows, you and your co-founder may decide to work on separate parts of the business. Sometimes this may lead to disagreements between founding members -- whether caused by lack of communication or different views on how to expand the organization.

October 1st, 2020

14 Unique Ways to Encourage Innovation in Your Company

As a business owner, you know your company can't remain stagnant and stuck in its ways if it hopes to grow. That growth requires innovation and creativity, both of which are best sourced from everyone on your team.

September 28th, 2020

14 Simple Tips to Improve Your Recruiting Efforts Right Now

September 24th, 2020

Move Your Career Forward By Making Your Core Strengths Even Stronger

Whether you’re job hunting or starting a business, it’s important to play to your strengths throughout your career. By zeroing in your natural interests and aptitudes, you’re more likely to find the right opportunities and achieve success. That’s why it’s a good idea to continually refine and improve upon your core strengths.

September 23rd, 2020

17 Utilities to Automate Marketing for Better ROI

17 leaders from YEC share the tools and processes they use and why they work.

September 21st, 2020

Stressed Out? 15 Practical Actions to Combat Doubt, Fear and Anxiety

Today's world is more stressful than ever. The fast-paced, always-on environment many of us operate in is enough to cause anxiety among even the most organized leaders. Throw in the current global pandemic and an economic recession, and it's no surprise that many people are experiencing doubts and fears in their personal and professional lives.

September 21st, 2020

13 Best Tips for Practicing Your Investor Pitch

Entrepreneurs should all know by now how nerve-wracking delivering a pitch to investors can be. If you've invested a lot of your time and effort into designing a business idea, you want to get the point across to investors effectively. As with anything, practicing your delivery can go a long way toward making a steadier presentation. That’s why we asked 13 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

September 15th, 2020

THE 14 MOST EXCITING DIGITAL MARKETING DEVELOPMENTS OF 2020 (SO FAR)

Young Entrepreneur Council members share some of the most exciting trends and developments they've seen in digital marketing this year.

September 14th, 2020

15 Common Buzzwords Hiring Managers Hate Seeing on Job Applications

September 10th, 2020

11 Actions To Take Today If You Want To Become A Thought Leader

“Thought leadership” is a big buzzword in the business world right now, and it’s easy to see why it’s become such an important focus for leaders. When others look to you for your expertise and insight, you can become a leading, recognized voice in your industry.

August 26th, 2020

14 Ways to Increase Brand Loyalty Through Social Media

Brand loyalty forms a core concept of marketing in the 21st century. In a paradigm shift, thanks to better interactivity with consumers, brand loyalty is now easier to achieve than ever before. With a medium where the brand can interact directly with clients in the form of social media, all a company has to do is use their social media presence cleverly. Once they leverage their following and provide value to the audience, brand loyalty is sure to follow. To help, we asked 14 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

August 20th, 2020

14 Ways to Get HR Reps and Hiring Managers on the Same Page

August 20th, 2020

10 Smart Ways To Keep Up With Ever-Changing Social Media Functions

Social media is constantly evolving, as are the ways people use it. What was once primarily used for connecting with old friends and family has morphed into a platform for sharing perspectives and launching campaigns.

August 19th, 2020

12 Unconventional Ways To Generate Ideas For Fresh, Engaging Content

Being part of a creative team is an exciting job. However, it’s difficult to always be in an innovative, inspired mindset. Often, creatives experience burnout and roadblocks that hinder their performance.

August 18th, 2020

17 Valuable Recruitment Resources for Your Next Project

17 professionals from YEC share the best websites for locating fresh talent.

August 5th, 2020

16 Things You Should Never Say in a Successful Negotiation

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:

August 3rd, 2020

12 Business Planning Tips for First-Time Founders

August 3rd, 2020

16 Essential Skills to Look for in a New Hire

Within an organization, some skills are far more valuable than others. If your business is looking at hiring new employees, then these skills should be a primary focus for your interviews. Knowing what skills are crucial for an enterprise to grow and thrive helps you figure out if an employee may be worth hiring, even if they don't fit the ideal. Sometimes the company needs more than just the right qualifications for their employees.

July 30th, 2020

14 Things That Could Throw Off The Wearables Revolution

Electronic wearables were an exciting new concept just years ago. Now, they’ve slowly become the norm, with gadgets like smart watches and sleep trackers overwhelming the market.

July 22nd, 2020

13 Concrete Ways Aspiring Entrepreneurs Can Build Their Self-Confidence

As a budding young entrepreneur, you're likely to meet a lot of people telling you, "no." While some of these people are well-meaning, the constant negativity will eventually impact your self-confidence.

July 21st, 2020

13 Most Relevant Bits of Consumer Data to Collect

One of the most significant elements in helping a business get to know its customers is their data. Over recent years, consumers have started to take notice of how businesses use their data. While many aren't bothered, a few are against a company getting its hands on their information. As a result, they are averse to sharing access to their data.

July 14th, 2020

Here's How To Ensure Your New IoT Product Keeps Its Data Secure

The internet of things (IoT) has given consumers and businesses the ability to make their homes and offices "smart." Because IoT devices can communicate and exchange data with one other, they have vast potential for streamlining workflows and making us more efficient. However, with all the data each internet-connected device collects, stores and uses, there's also an inherent security risk.

June 30th, 2020

10 Smart Social Media Moves That Can Help Boost Your Business

Social media is becoming an increasingly important part of every business’ marketing strategy. Making the right move with your social content at the right time can help bring positive attention and new customers to your business.

June 26th, 2020

14 Ways to Ensure Company Growth Doesn't Outstrip Business Communication

Businesses have seen a period of massive growth, especially those that deal solely with online sales and services. While this development is promising, it also opens up a business to another problem -- that of having their growth outscale their ability to communicate.

June 24th, 2020

16 HR Quality Checks to Ensure You're Recruiting With Equity

June 19th, 2020

27 Books for Success to Add to Your Summer Reading List

June 16th, 2020

11 Things Every Good Employee Referral Program Needs

An employee referral program is a win-win for you and your team. Referral candidates tend to be well-qualified, since they're pre-vetted by staff members you know and trust, and hiring referrals shows you value your employees' input. To help you build a great referral program, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:

June 15th, 2020

15 Ways for Leaders to Encourage Employee Self-Teaching

Within any company, the ambitions of individual team members should aid the overall organization. However, it takes a leader to fuel, direct, and inspire this ambition into a way that helps both the team members and the organization as a whole. One way leaders can get their team members to realize their ambitions is by guiding them toward self-teaching and taking initiative, as a way of expanding their knowledge and skills while also seizing new opportunities within the company. To help, we asked 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following:

June 12th, 2020

15 Collaboration Tools for Remote Teams (That Aren't Slack)

With so many remote working teams in the world today, productivity requires utilizing tools that can connect the team through voice, chat and video. Slack rules the roost as the team collaboration software, but it’s far from being the only reliable one. Dozens of team collaboration tools have gained growing popularity over the last two months. Some of them offer similar functionality to Slack and might even be better at some things. Others are sorely lacking in utilities to help a team get organized.

June 8th, 2020

How to Make the Most of Self-Discovery Practices: 15 Proven Strategies

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.

June 5th, 2020

10 Effective Ways To Develop Employee Trust During Periods Of Change

Trust is essential in a team, especially in times of change. Leaders need to believe employees will carry out their tasks properly, and employees need to believe heir leaders are taking them in the right direction. But trust between people isn’t a given -- it has to be earned.

June 5th, 2020

Nine Tips For Keeping Customer Conversations Productive And Positive

Your relationship with your customers shouldn’t exclusively be transactional. To build a bond that leads to customer loyalty, you have to thoughtfully connect with them and continue the conversation with them.

June 4th, 2020

15 Effective Ways to Reach Gen Z on Social Media

As the up-and-coming generation of consumers, Gen Z has become a hot target demographic for many brands. This generation of true digital natives is even more entrenched in the world of technology than the millennials who came before them. Therefore, companies that want to reach them need to go all-in on social media, Gen Z's preferred place to "hang out" online.

June 2nd, 2020

19 Places to Find Talented Freelancers

19 entrepreneurs delve into where online freelance talent is most readily found

May 7th, 2020

8 Strategic Ways to Handle a Professional Disagreement

**NOTE: This is a long-form piece for Inc, edited off-platform and emailed to Kelsey. I selected the wrong export format by mistake!**

Effective teamwork is important to any business, but not everyone will be on the same page 100% of the time. Disagreements, big or small, seem to be inevitable when working with others – but that doesn’t mean your team is doomed. It is possible to work through a dispute and move forward as a team, with better understanding than before.

April 16th, 2020

14 Ways to Define Your Unique Personal Brand

April 16th, 2020

16 Ways to Encourage Engagement With Your Brand

April 15th, 2020

14 Thing To Consider Before Making a Major Business Purchase

Making a major spending decision in your business, whether that be a new hire or a new marketing campaign, is often intimidating. You want to make sure you’re investing your money wisely, in a way that will yield a worthwhile return. To help you, we asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members how to make financial decisions with confidence.

April 7th, 2020

10 Ways To Craft A Truly Captivating Brand Story

Competition among companies can be fierce, especially those in the same field with similar messages. With so many other brands out there, it can be difficult to make your story stand out among the crowd. However, you need to identify that “something special” about your business that truly makes it shine.

To help you, we asked 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members how to captivate customers through the art of storytelling. Here’s how they recommend crafting a brand story that captures attention and engages your target audience.

March 11th, 2020

https://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/7-ways-to-effectively-build-rapport-with-new-customers.html

March 4th, 2020

Wondering How To Save Money While Getting Your Business Off The Ground? Read These Seven Tips

Businesses run on money the way engines run on fuel. Knowing how to effectively save money, especially when a business first gets started, is a great way to build capital to help the company grow. Funding is usually one of the most significant hurdles for a new business to overcome. Unless the company already has an angel investor, this stumbling block might be the one that dooms the enterprise in the long run.

February 28th, 2020

Understanding Market Research For Your Business Plan

Market research needs to happen early in the process to inform your sales and marketing strategy.

February 24th, 2020

10 Entrepreneurs Share One Piece Of Advice That Has Stuck With Them

The world's most successful entrepreneurs are often fiercely independent and self-reliant. They have the courage to keep going when things get difficult and know how to push themselves to overcome even the most challenging of situations.

However, no one becomes a success completely on their own. Entrepreneurs also need a strong support network of peers and mentors who can offer them sage advice and wisdom throughout their journey.

Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the one piece of advice that has stuck with them over the years and helped them get where they are today.

February 7th, 2020

When And Why Your Small Business Needs An Accountant

When you consider the cost of your time, getting an accountant to handle your complex finances makes a lot of sense.

February 3rd, 2020

Eight Essential Gadgets And Apps For The Modern Young Entrepreneur

With tech innovation happening at an unprecedentedly fast pace, businesses and entrepreneurs should stay abreast of the latest developments and find ways to leverage new technology to make their life easier. For entrepreneurs especially, using the right technological tools can streamline their work and free up more of their time, helping them attain that ever-elusive but much needed work-life balance.

December 10th, 2019

Should You Let Your Employees Work From Home?

Telecommuting comes with a host of benefits, though there are drawbacks to consider as well.

November 19th, 2019

Preparing A Great Marketing Section For Your Business Plan

Your goal is to show how you’re going to expose potential customers to your product or service and convince them to buy.

October 28th, 2019

Simple Invoicing Upgrades For Small Businesses

Make it easy for customers to pay you in full and on time.

October 7th, 2019

Basics Of A Business Plan Financials Section

Without an impressive financials section, you’re looking at an uphill battle when it comes to scoring capital.

September 27th, 2019

Technologies That Benefit Small Businesses

Here are some tasks you can automate or streamline with technology, without breaking the bank.

August 9th, 2019

The Different Types Of Business Plans

To find the right plan for your business goal, you first need to understand the potential benefits and applications of each type.

July 19th, 2019

Structured Versus Unstructured Interviews

Should you conduct a structured or an unstructured interview?

June 28th, 2019

Job Benefits Millenials Want You To Offer

If you want your millennial employees to stick around, provide the financial and lifestyle benefits they crave.

June 7th, 2019

Five Signs You’re Ready To Grow Your Small Business

Rely on these indicators to assess your chances of successful business growth.

May 17th, 2019

Overlooked Startup Costs For Small Businesses

Overestimate your startup costs to increase your chances of surviving in the long run.

April 29th, 2019

Six Simple Cybersecurity Tips For Your Small Business

No business is immune to cyberthreats.

April 8th, 2019

Five Tips For Conducting A Great Job Interview

Take the time upfront to craft questions that reveal exactly what you need to know.

March 18th, 2019

Four Affordable Ways To Improve Your Employee Onboarding

When you set up new employees to feel welcome and prepared to succeed, they're more likely to stick around.

February 25th, 2019

Why Every Entrepreneur Needs A Business Plan

Building a solid business plan ensures you are ready to navigate any potential pitfalls of your growing business.

January 4th, 2019

Three Signs It's Time To Hire Your First Employee

Rushing into a hiring decision or hiring for the wrong reasons will cost you.