Syed Balkhi

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Entering into a business partnership should not be taken lightly. Even if your new partner is your best friend, you'll want to make sure you plan ahead for all possible contingencies. To help mitigate any future problems, business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council recommend that these 10 elements be part of a partnership contract.

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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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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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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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Public speaking is an invaluable tool for personal and professional growth, but it often strikes fear into the hearts of even the most seasoned professionals. The task can be daunting, especially for those new to the experience. But despite the nerves and anticipation, there are ways that any public-speaking newbie can put their best foot forward, showcase their brand or company and get the word out while on stage. Below, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members share the best advice they have for nailing a first-time public speaking event.

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As consumers are gearing up for gift giving this holiday season, companies are similarly gearing up for the likely influx of business they’ll see over the next few months. From a greater demand for products and services to increased customer service needs, there are a multitude of ways in which businesses must ready themselves for the holidays—or else be too caught up in putting out fires to meet the needs of customers. Having experienced multiple holiday seasons themselves, the business leaders of Young Entrepreneur Council know what it takes to ensure you’re ready and able to tackle the challenges ahead. Here, they each share one tip they’d recommend for preparing your business for the busy holiday season and why following this tip will ensure you’re able to ring in the new year with ease.

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Interview questions always have a purpose behind them—whether it’s “What are your strengths?”, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” or “Why are you interested in this position?” Standard questions are generally considered standard for a reason, as they’ve been tried and tested at generating the information the hiring manager needs to make their decision. However, it’s often the nonstandard questions that can really tell you a lot about a person. Here, 13 business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council share the questions they love to ask during interviews and why. Consider adding one or more of these options to your list to see what you can learn about your next job candidate.

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When you're actively searching for a new career, you know the importance of crafting a compelling resumé. In addition to the expected information, such as work history and experience, there are certain "green flags" that can help your application catch the eye of prospective employers. To help job seekers land that coveted interview, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their experiences on the other side of the hiring table. Read on for 13 attributes that can send your resumé to the top of the list—and the top of a hiring manager's mind.

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Putting the right people together—ones who get along, who play off each other’s strengths and who support each other—can be one of the most difficult aspects of being a leader, as getting the formula wrong can be disastrous for team morale and productivity. While some signs, like arguing, can be a clear indicator of an ineffective team, others may not be so easy to spot. To offer some clarity, 10 business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council each offer up one thing ineffective teams tend to do poorly and what they would suggest they do instead to better their productivity and teamwork. Keep an eye out for these telltale signs that your team may be struggling more than you think.

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Any successful business has at least one thing that sets them apart from their competitors and that makes customers choose them over anyone else—their core strengths. Determining what those strengths are may require some reflection on the leader’s part, or even some feedback from the team. However, once you’ve determined your core strengths, you’ll likely want to make them even stronger, as doing so will put your company at an even greater advantage over others in your space. But what steps can you take to get there? Below, 12 business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council offer their expertise and recommend just a few of the paths you can take toward improving your company’s core strengths and setting you, your team and your business apart from the competition.

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It can be said that no professional is ever truly done learning—even ones with years of experience. This is especially true for marketing professionals, as the interests and behaviors of consumers are constantly changing, meaning the way companies must market to them must change as well. In order to keep up, marketers must continue to hone a number of skills throughout their careers, whether that’s through online courses or continued on-the-job training. While not every skill or trait should be given the same amount of attention, there are a few that should make the top of your list. Here, the business leaders of Young Entrepreneur Council share nine skills or traits even the best marketing leaders should continue to work on and why.

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In his 2023 report, the U.S. Surgeon General reported that millions of Americans are lonely, not just at home, but also at work—and this continues to be an ongoing issue. While this trend began before the pandemic isolated millions of individuals from their families and friends, these feelings of loneliness have only increased since. As one’s work makes up a significant part of a person’s life, finding ways to seek connection with co-workers and build a sense of belonging and camaraderie is key to addressing this ongoing problem. So how can employers help? Here to share their insights, 10 business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on what employers can do to ensure their teams feel connected and supported at work, and discuss why doing so is so important for everyone’s well-being.

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The modern work landscape is dotted with transient employees hopping from job to job, making the recruitment and onboarding journey a costly affair for employers. With the rise of the gig economy and the allure of diverse experiences, retaining talent has become an uphill task. Yet, within this trend, there are candidates seeking stability and a lasting professional journey—you just have to find them.  Here, 12 Young Entrepreneur Council members explore the strategies businesses can leverage to ensure they're selecting candidates eager to establish long-lasting professional roots.

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It should come as no surprise that a healthy and happy employee is a more productive one. This is why many employers are looking to employee wellness programs to help their team members build healthier habits to improve both their physical and mental health. However, getting employees interested in taking advantage of these benefits means considering their needs and what gets them excited to participate. For a list of perks, policies and initiatives that might spark the interest of your team members, consider the following suggestions from the business leaders of Young Entrepreneur Council. Here, they recommend ideas they themselves have implemented or have seen succeed in the workplace and discuss why they believe employees are so excited to take advantage of these benefits.

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As leaders of their respective companies, CEOs are naturally very busy, so often it can make sense to outsource tasks to a virtual assistant, or VA. From simple yet time-consuming tasks like scheduling meetings and managing emails to more involved tasks such as research and report preparation, VAs can help CEOs gain back a significant amount of time during their workday, allowing them to turn their focus back to vital decision-making and operational tasks. But not every task a CEO may have on their to-do list each day can be assigned to someone else, so what are the tasks best suited for a virtual assistant? Here, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in with 10 tasks they recommend CEOs outsource to VAs and why doing so will save them so much time.

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Businesses, like their owners and leaders, need to keep learning to grow.

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Getting promoted or moving into a new role at your company can be a difficult path to take if you’re not sure how to get there. While you may feel you’re ready for such a change, you may still need certifications, new skills or more experience that can give you the resume you need to take on this new role. Rather than guessing what further qualifications you may need, it can be helpful to reach out to your manager first. By asking the right questions and starting the right conversations, you can learn a lot about what problems your company faces and what you can do to help tackle them. To help get you started, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council each offer one question they believe you should ask your manager if you're looking to both improve in your current role and advance in your company and career.

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Knowledge is the key to success. This is especially true for entrepreneurs, as the wisdom shared in books can prove to be invaluable for both the budding startup founder and the seasoned business owner. From time-tested strategies for growth to profound insights on leadership and innovation, these literary gems have the power to shape the way entrepreneurs approach challenges and opportunities. Whether you're seeking inspiration, seeking to hone your leadership skills or simply looking to expand your entrepreneurial mindset, books are a must-have resource to empower and guide you on your entrepreneurial journey. To recommend a few of their favorites, Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) business leaders answer the following question:

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"Build your network" is common advice given to professionals looking to find new jobs, make major business moves and succeed in their careers. But when the busyness of life and work sets in, it can sometimes be difficult to build and then nurture those relationships so they maintain their strength over time. Without these relationships, you may miss out on potential opportunities or connections that could play an important role in your future success. To help you find the balance needed to manage both your network and your personal life, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their top advice for maintaining professional relationships while also prioritizing your personal ones.

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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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No business’s sales always trend upward. In fact, there may be times when you see your sales start to even out or even drop for a period of time. While this can be normal, it is also a good indication that you may need to take a look at your current processes to figure out the reason for the dropping numbers.  Stagnating sales also provide you with the opportunity to freshen up old campaigns or breathe new life into your current sales tactics. But before you start, consider the following recommendations by the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Here, they discuss steps you can take to help turn around slowing sales as soon as possible and get your customers engaging once more.

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Of all the considerations an entrepreneur has to make when starting a business—what to name it, how to price the products and more—the legal considerations are perhaps the most important. From determining a business structure, to complying with local labor laws, to ensuring you prepare for and properly file your taxes, forgetting to account for any of these aspects could lead to disastrous legal consequences down the line—ones that may be impossible to recover from. To ensure you don’t make any legal missteps as you begin your entrepreneurial journey, consider the advice of those who have experience dealing with the legalities of starting a business. Here, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council outline some of the most important legal considerations to make when starting a business and why handling these tasks should be at the top of your to-do list.

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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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With vacations, warm-weather activities and a renewed sense of energy to occupy your mind, staying productive in the summer months can sometimes be a difficult task. But whether you’re an entrepreneur trying to grow your business or a busy professional trying to get through a project, finding ways to maintain focus is key to being able to do your best work. Luckily, you don’t have to sacrifice your summer in order to stay productive. According to the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, it’s all about balance. Here, they discuss some of their best tips for how to find your focus and stay productive when the joys of summer are making you feel a bit distracted.

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When it comes to building a healthy working relationship with your employees, trust is essential. However, building trust takes time, and for new employees, it can be even more challenging. As a manager, you want to establish trust with your new hires as quickly as possible to set the stage for a positive and productive working relationship. Fortunately, there are practical steps you can take to build trust with your new employees from day one. From establishing clear expectations to showing empathy and support, these strategies can help you create a culture of trust and respect that can benefit your team and your organization. To help, Young Entrepreneur Council members share their best tips for quickly establishing trust.

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While a business’s goal is always to please its customers, there will likely be times when a customer will end up dissatisfied with the end result of a particular project or product. The way a business responds to this situation can often determine the future of that client relationship and whether or not they will continue to work with that business moving forward. In order to ensure your client’s happiness with the final result—and save the relationship—consider the following advice. Here, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council each recommend one step you should take to help resolve the issue when a client isn’t happy with you or your team’s work and discuss the impact it will have for the future.

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In today's digital age, data privacy has become a top priority for individuals and businesses alike. Small businesses in particular need to ensure that they are taking the necessary steps to protect their customers' personal information. By doing so, they not only comply with data protection regulations but also build trust and loyalty with their customer base. While implementing robust data privacy measures can be challenging for small businesses with limited resources, even small steps can make a significant impact. To that end, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weighed in on the following question:

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When it comes to finding funding for a new business, aspiring entrepreneurs have a wealth of options to select from—from completely bootstrapping the business themselves to bringing on investors who can act as business partners in addition to providing funds, to everything else in between. The trouble doesn’t necessarily lie in the lack of opportunities but instead in weighing the pros and cons of each and choosing the right one for you and your business. To help provide some clarity, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the more common funding sources for startups, what disadvantages they see in them and what they personally recommend you consider instead. Consider their points of view to help determine the best course of action for your business.

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Every once in a while, a new team member "wows" leadership right out of the gate. Whether it’s because they dove headfirst into an important project, shared feedback on an inefficient process or simply asked great questions, these new employees found creative ways to impress their leadership and quickly establish themselves in their new positions.  As business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have brought on many new hires over the years. Below, they each share one effective method they’ve seen new employees use to jump right into their new roles and explain why doing so can create such a positive first impression with the leadership team.

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Especially when first starting a business, finding customers can be one of the most difficult aspects of getting your company off the ground. However, even more experienced businesses can struggle to find customers if their approach isn’t dialed in. In this digital era, focusing on your digital marketing efforts can be an effective way to reach the right people. To provide further insights, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best tips for improving your digital marketing efforts to find not only more customers but also the right customers as well as achieve greater success as a business.

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Many companies begin their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts with the best of intentions. They want to ensure that their employees feel included and supported, that the company has diverse points of view at the table and that customers feel represented in their marketing. But this doesn’t always mean these efforts are going to be successful. To help shed some light on why that is, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their insights on why many companies’ DEI efforts fail and what leaders can do to ensure they actually succeed.

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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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Seasonal e-commerce businesses, such as those specializing in holiday decorations or summer clothing, rely heavily on specific seasons or holidays to drive their sales. However, when the off-season rolls around, these businesses can often struggle to maintain their customer base and generate revenue. Finding ways to attract customers during the off-season can be challenging, but it is essential for the long-term success of these businesses. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members share effective strategies that seasonal e-commerce businesses can use to keep their customers engaged and generate sales throughout the year.

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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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Marketing and branding experts have long touted the power of live video content to build genuine, long-lasting relationships with target audiences. Not only does this help you improve your follower count, but it can also help you boost your brand recognition among new viewers. But to do so, you’ll need to focus on how to make your live videos interesting and engaging.  To help, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss their best tips for successfully leveraging live video content to improve your brand recognition and grow your brand’s following on social media and beyond.

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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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If any business is to not only survive but also thrive, it's essential to develop simple, repeatable systems for handling common business tasks and functions. Rather than dealing with inconsistencies and the need to make up new processes as various situations or problems arise, having a set system in place for how things are done can speed up work completion and improve overall productivity—and, in many cases, customer satisfaction. There are many aspects of business that entrepreneurs should be systemizing, but below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the most impactful. Consider developing systems for these areas of your business and start improving your team’s productivity today.

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There are countless successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders in the world today, each with a wealth of information and experience to share. Thankfully, many of them have written books that detail their most powerful thoughts, ideas and lessons. The difficult part comes in choosing which ones to read. For the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, the following nine books have been some of the most impactful for their businesses. Below, they discuss these books and why they believe every entrepreneur should read them in order to become better leaders for their teams.

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Building a personal brand as an industry expert is no doubt one of the best ways to draw attention to your business. But it’s not just about having new ideas—when trying to build your reputation as a thought leader and expert in your field, connecting with others should be high on your priority list. After all, sharing your thoughts and experience is nothing without an engaged audience to listen to it. So how do you balance connection and creating interesting content at the same time?  The members of Young Entrepreneur Council have a few ideas. As business leaders themselves, they have experience building up their personal brands as thought leaders and industry experts, and below, they share seven ways you can authentically connect with others while making the positive impression necessary to build a loyal and engaged audience.

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Climbing the corporate ladder all the way to the top is a common goal of many high-achieving professionals. No matter which rung you’re on, there’s always steps you can take to help you achieve that goal. From building a positive track record to taking leadership development training, there are a number of ways you can build the skills and the experience necessary to succeed in the C-suite. Here, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share this advice and more, recommending some of the steps a professional can take now if they want to be a desirable future candidate for the C-suite and why doing these things will help set them up for success.

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Few customers actually enjoy being sold to, yet companies still have to be able to sell their products or services in order to survive. The trick comes in finding the balance between pitching your product and fulfilling the needs of your customers. If you find yourself unsure of how to get started, however, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have a few essential tips. Here, they share their advice for how to balance both the need to sell and the customer's desire not to be sold to when creating marketing content and why doing so will be the key to your business’s success.

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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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As your business grows, it's important to regularly assess whether your current software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendor is meeting your needs. Some factors you can evaluate periodically are whether the vendor is able to scale with your business, provide necessary features and offer the level of support that you require — and if the answer is “no,” it may be time to move on to a new provider. To help you understand whether you've outgrown your current SaaS vendor, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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A healthy company culture is critical for fostering employee engagement, productivity and overall success. However, creating a positive culture is easier said than done, and even the best efforts can fall short. When an employee comes to you with negative feedback about the company's culture, it's essential to handle the situation with care and sensitivity. To help you do this, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) share their best approaches for addressing employee feedback by responding to the following question: “When an employee approaches you with negative feedback regarding the company's culture, what's the best approach for handling it? What should be a leader's first step?” Here’s how they recommend you turn this negative situation into an opportunity for growth.

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Deciding to franchise your business is a big step in entrepreneurship and there are many factors to consider before doing so. Aside from ensuring that your main business has enough financing to support your overall brand, there are legal processes that need to be completed, hiring that needs to be done, and branding procedures that must be solidified. Here, 11 Young Entrepreneur Council members note some specific questions to ask yourself when thinking about franchising your company and why you need to do so.

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Often, the leaders we remember the most are the ones who inspire us to take action or to better ourselves and make an impact. To be inspirational in this way is a goal many leaders dream of achieving, yet it’s not a skill that always seems to come naturally to those who try.  Thankfully, there are a few steps you can follow to help put you on the right path. Here, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council each offer up one step leaders can take to be more inspirational day to day and discuss why developing this trait will benefit you, your team and your company overall.

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Though they are often set with the best of intentions, it’s not uncommon for New Year’s resolutions and the motivation to meet them to fall by the wayside after a few weeks or months into the new year. Busy personal lives and stressful workdays can end up getting in the way, with “just getting by” taking precedence over any push to accomplish more than the status quo. But according to the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, your year doesn’t have to go that way. Below, they each offer their top trick for making New Year's resolutions work, especially as they relate to business, and explain why it’s possible to achieve your goals with the right plan in place.

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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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Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or you’ve recently opened a business, you’re likely thinking about all the skills you’ll need to make your business thrive. While different types of businesses will require different skill sets of their owners, there are several skills that are universally useful across the small-business landscape. To share a few of their top picks, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council sound off below. Consider their recommendations if you’re looking to improve your leadership skills and better manage the day-to-day operations of your current or future business.

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One of the first steps entrepreneurs should take after starting their business is getting word out to the public and attracting potential customers via marketing. A customer can’t find and make a purchase from a business unless they first hear about it, and this means marketing should be top of mind for any entrepreneur looking to grow their business. But when you’re new to entrepreneurship, you may not know the most effective ways to market to your audience, which could cause you to make a mistake that might unintentionally damage your efforts. Here, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the mistakes new entrepreneurs might commonly make when it comes to marketing their business, why they fall into these traps and what they should do instead.

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If you're a new entrepreneur, an important task is ensuring that your business is compliant with all local, state and federal regulations. Some legal matters require immediate consideration, and you will want to address those issues as soon as possible. To help, Young Entrepreneur Council members share 10 essential tasks to handle right away when starting a 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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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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For an introverted or shy entrepreneur, public relations may not be a favorite activity—but it's a necessary one. Without good PR, you can’t get a positive message out about your company or connect effectively with potential stakeholders, both of which are vital to growing your business.  If networking and speaking about your business don’t come naturally to you, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have a few tips that can help you improve. Below, they discuss these tips and how they can help introverted or shy business owners successfully (and confidently) get through any public relations activities they may need to participate in for the good of their business.

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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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When your business rolls out a new product or service, you and your team hope that it's effective and meets the needs of your customer base. Unfortunately, there are instances where that product or service simply isn't working as intended for your buyers — and it's up to you as a business leader to determine whether this is the case. To help you make this determination and understand your next steps, a panel of leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:

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When your company starts to grow steadily, it can become nearly impossible for you as a leader to find time to meet with staff individually on a regular basis. Instead, consider alternative communication strategies to save time while ensuring you and your team stay on the same page. To help you do this, 11 Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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Even if they manage to take some time off, many entrepreneurs can have a hard time actually relaxing during the holidays, and they may find themselves checking in or worrying about whether things are running properly in their business. To truly get some well-deserved rest and relaxation, however, entrepreneurs will need to find ways to unplug from business activities and step away from their day-to-day responsibilities—if only for a little while. To help, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best advice for enjoying the holiday season without worrying too much about your business.

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Video is big for consumers—in fact, video watching has doubled since 2018—so those businesses that are not yet taking advantage of this key marketing tool are missing out on potential opportunities and leads. As the top video-sharing platform across the globe, YouTube is a great place to get started. But what exactly should businesses do? To offer some insight, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss unique ways to use video-sharing platforms like YouTube that most companies are not doing and why taking advantage of these strategies can help grow your business.

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When one of your early employees decides to quit your new business venture, there are a lot of emotions to process and decisions to make. Depending on the size of your company, you might be scrambling to find someone to pick up their responsibilities — or worse, end up having to add more tasks to your already lengthy to-do list. To help you handle this difficult but common situation, a group of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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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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Obtaining an accurate valuation of your business isn’t just about determining how much your company is worth; it’s about figuring out where your business stands today and the potential it has for the future. In this way, accurately valuing your company is a vital first step in growing your business and bringing on board investors who can help you do just that. To ensure you’re taking the right approach with your valuation, consider this advice from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Below, they offer their top tips for determining your company’s valuation prior to fundraising and how doing so will set you up for future success.

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With the end of the year looming, companies across all industries will begin scheduling end-of-year performance reviews with their employees. But rather than stick to what was always done, even if it wasn’t very effective, leaders can strive to generate more meaning from these reviews and give their team members more actionable, personal feedback they can take with them into the new year. But to do so, leaders will need to consider a few tips first. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best advice for how businesses can make end-of-year performance reviews more meaningful and explain why these techniques may actually be better than what's traditionally done.

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There's a strong learning curve to leadership, but newly promoted managers should aim to avoid these key mistakes. When you’re starting out as a new boss, there are a lot of priorities to balance and decisions to make. Often, it can feel like you're being pulled in several different directions throughout the day, so much so that it can be difficult to focus on just one thing. As a result, new bosses often make mistakes. They may struggle when it comes to delegating work, communicating or even hiring the right people. Below, a group of successful entrepreneurs shared the biggest mistakes they made as first-time bosses and what they would do differently if given the opportunity.

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Expanding your business can be exciting and a real show of success. However, there are many factors to consider when deciding on a second location for your brick-and-mortar store.  To help business owners in their search for the perfect spot, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members weighed in on the following question:

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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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One of the most challenging quarters for business leaders is often Q4. There is often a rush to close out the year’s expenses, plan year-end initiatives and marketing campaigns, and coordinate holiday PTO. Even though Q4 is sure to be a busy season, it’s also a great time to do some business “housekeeping” and check in on annual goals that haven’t been completed. Here, eight Young Entrepreneur Council members each share one item that’s always included on their year-end checklist.

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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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One of the many benefits of being an entrepreneur is the leadership aspect and the ability to make all the key decisions for the future of your business. However, there often comes a time, especially early on, when entrepreneurs may find themselves in need of help. Whether they’re feeling overwhelmed, burned out or simply don’t have the experience or knowledge necessary to make a well-informed decision, many entrepreneurs find that hiring a business coach can be a beneficial solution. Here, seven members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share the “last straw” moment that made them realize they needed help from a coach and why hiring one helped set them on a better course for success. Consider their stories whenever you’re unsure whether or not to seek assistance with your business.

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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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No matter what industry you're in, it's important to ensure that you have enough capital to maintain your business year-round. However, this is especially important if demand for your products or services ebbs and flows based on seasonality, such as with pool accessories or holiday decorations. To that end, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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Whether they intend to promote them internally or simply want what's best for their careers, many business leaders make it a priority to develop their employees into leaders themselves. Doing so not only helps ensure the company has high-quality talent to run it, but it also ensures employee happiness as they see their leader caring for their personal and professional development. If you’re a leader looking to undertake this journey, consider the following advice from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Here, they each recommend one specific, actionable step employers can take now to help develop their employees into future business leaders and well-rounded employees.

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One of the best ways to ensure your company is always in good hands—whether you are at the helm or not—is to make sure your team is made up of great leaders. And while careful hiring can deliver a similar result, another and perhaps more effective strategy for achieving this is to create those leaders through your company culture and values. Whether it’s by giving employees more autonomy or encouraging curiosity, there are a multitude of ways you can ensure your company culture breeds successful leaders. To share a few of their favorites, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council list their recommended methods for building leaders within your company and why this is important for the long-term retention of your employees and overall growth of your business.

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The recruiting and hiring process is one of the most important aspects of business, as a single hiring decision can have a major impact on the way the rest of the business functions. To make the right decisions during this process, business leaders can collect and analyze data to assist them in their efforts.  But once leaders have collected this information, what do they use it for? How can they best leverage it to not only hire the right talent but also improve the recruiting process overall? Here, seven members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss ways business leaders can use data to support their recruiting efforts and how doing so can help them achieve their goals.

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When it comes to work and getting things done, effective communication is about more than getting along with your teammates. In a business context, communication can affect not only the interpersonal relationships of the people who work there, but also the speed at which a project is completed, the quality of a product and even the rate at which employees leave the company. Effective communication, then, acts as a solid foundation necessary for any business to thrive.  To help build up this foundation, you’ll first need to clear out any of the mistakes, such as those listed by the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Below, they share some of their biggest communication pet peeves in business, and what people can do to communicate more effectively at work.

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When you start a business, you not only become a part of your local community, but you also join a network of local business owners. Being part of this business network means you can often find help among your fellow entrepreneurs and even lend a hand yourself when others are in need. This may come in the form of advice, but it can also take the form of partnerships where you both support each other’s businesses while also marketing your own. There are a few ways to take on a partnership like this, so business owners can choose which solution works best for their situation. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the methods they recommend any business use and why this kind of partnership can be beneficial for both parties.

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Many entrepreneurs start new businesses while also balancing full-time jobs. When there’s limited time to work on developing a new company, you need to pick and choose what tasks to focus on first. Here, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members each share one task that should take priority over all others when you have limited time to work on your startup.

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As they plan for this year's holiday season, many business leaders are looking for something new to shake up their current marketing routine. It’s easy for holiday marketing to grow stale, especially when relying on old gimmicks or traditional strategies of years past. To stand out among the sea of other eager businesses looking to increase sales, companies will have to think a bit more creatively. To help, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council each list one thing businesses can do to make their holiday marketing stand out from years past and explain what effect this will have on their relationships with their current and future customers.

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If you're looking to increase traffic to your blog, you should consider writing some of these posts.

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Whether you run a global business or you simply live far away from your vendors and clients, maintaining quality relationships with your business’s stakeholders is key to your business’s success in the short and long term. Ensuring the happiness of your vendors, clients and team often means avoiding miscommunications, preventing problems and streamlining processes that will help maintain the smooth running of your company. But when in-person interactions are limited—or completely off the table—how should business leaders go about improving these relationships? Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their answers as well as insights behind their own relationship-building strategies.

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When you're a solopreneur, it can be difficult to find time to both run your business and market it on social media. However, if you want word to spread and your customer base to grow, building a presence on social media is a key way to achieve that goal.  As entrepreneurs themselves, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council understand that business is a juggling act—especially as a one-person show. Below, they share their best tips for actively growing your social media presence while also running the other parts of your business and why these tips will help you succeed at both.

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An advisory board can be a helpful resource for a business at any stage of growth. Whether you're launching a brand-new startup or looking to exit after a period of successful growth, getting advice from experienced leaders in your industry can help you reach your goals in the most efficient and well-planned way. If you've never built a board of advisors before, it can be challenging to identify the right members to bring on. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one essential trait of a quality board advisor and why this trait makes them an excellent asset for your business.

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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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One of the biggest challenges of getting a new business off the ground is gaining traction in your target market. Building awareness requires an effective public relations strategy that can create a steady stream of positive news about your company. When you're on a small startup budget, you may not have the immediate resources necessary to hire a PR firm. Fortunately, there are some simple strategies you can employ to drum up publicity yourself. Here are 10 ways to encourage positive press for your business, as recommended by the members of Young Entrepreneur Council.

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Running a small business can be time-consuming, so certain tasks may be pushed back in favor of more pressing ones. One task that should be prioritized, however, is professional development. By making the time to learn, you'll be better poised to grow as a leader and scale your business for the long term. To help you achieve this, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members responded to the following question:

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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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As technologies advance, companies collect more data and the trust consumers once had for those companies wanes, new laws surrounding consumer privacy are going into effect, constantly changing the way businesses learn about and sell to their customers. Such laws would put customers back in the driver’s seat, giving them control over what data they would like to share and when. But even so, one responsibility of every business leader is safeguarding the data and privacy of their customers, and this means they must pay attention to these changing laws in order to best protect any data they do have. Here, eight Young Entrepreneur Council members share the key points every business leader should know about changing consumer privacy regulations and why they’re so important to understand.

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In some professionals' eyes, one "con" of remote work is the lack of visibility. Without your peers or your boss around you to notice you working on a project or accomplishing your goals, it can be all too easy to feel siloed, isolated and like you aren’t getting the recognition you deserve for your hard work. But just because you aren’t physically around your boss when working remotely doesn’t mean you can’t achieve the same level of visibility as you would in the office. To help, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the tips they'd give employees for how to increase their visibility and get their projects (and their hard work) noticed.

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One key way of ensuring your team members have the tools and knowledge to do their jobs to the best of their abilities is to provide them with plenty of feedback. But between busy schedules and stressful projects, leaders may think it too difficult to find the time. So while many employees may be eager to receive more feedback from their leadership, companies aren't necessarily providing it.  However, giving honest, constructive feedback or praise doesn’t have to take up a lot of time—nor be relegated to once-a-year performance reviews. Here, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss specific ways managers can create more opportunities for feedback during their employees' workdays and why these methods are so effective.

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In an age when more and more businesses are moving to or being created online, one advantage brick-and-mortars have over online stores is their ability to create in-person experiences and atmospheres that can surprise and delight their customers. Experiences rife with human connection and sensory enjoyment simply aren’t able to be duplicated in the online space in the same way. The key to creating those moments, according to the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, is playing to your store’s strengths. Below, they share specific strategies you can use to awe your customers and give them a truly memorable in-store experience.

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Small businesses have taken a hit over the past few years with pandemic-related supply chain issues and increased inflation. Throughout these challenges, many business owners have been able to pivot and thrive in the current climate. However, there is always room for continued financial improvements to promote sustainable long-term growth. To help, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:

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As with many aspects of business, implementing a new digital marketing strategy can sometimes feel like a risky endeavor. When you’re new or have limited experience in business ownership, testing out new tactics and investing money in projects and initiatives that may or may not fail can feel like a waste of money and resources. And while there’s no way to ever fully guarantee a strategy will work, there are some steps you can take to help ensure you obtain a return on your investment. Here, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their insights on those steps and explain why they find them so beneficial.

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Your website’s landing page gives customers their first impression of your business. Customers will notice if your page has a slow load time, too many calls to action, broken links, or if it’s just too confusing to use—and they will likely click out of your page before viewing your products or services. This is why it’s so important to have a strong landing page that draws customers in, instead of pushing them away. From A/B testing to focusing on SEO keywords, Young Entrepreneur Council members share 12 best practices for optimizing your website’s landing page.

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Releasing a mobile app is often an exciting next step in many entrepreneurs’ journeys after their websites are up and running successfully. However, in the excitement of building and launching their mobile app, it can be easy for an entrepreneur to forget one of the most fundamental aspects of creating this technology: protecting it. With cases of cybercrimes only predicted to rise in the coming years, not making cybersecurity a priority puts your app—and those who use it—at risk for data theft, lost money, fraud and much more. Here, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the precautions companies can take to safeguard their mobile apps against cyberattacks and cybercrimes. Taking even just one of the following precautions can put you and your business in a much more secure place.

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While many companies are looking to improve their efforts when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion, it’s estimated that only 34% of companies currently have the resources to support those efforts. However, promoting better inclusivity in your company doesn’t have to immediately involve major staffing changes or expensive education programs. There are steps any business leader can take today that may not require any resources at all. Here, business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council list 10 of those steps and explain why these practices can have such an effect on your employees, your business and your overall company culture.

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Sometimes, leaders aren't able to grant an employee's request for a raise, whether it's because there's no budget for it or because the person's performance or skill set doesn’t currently warrant one. In either case, leaders need to focus on tact and kindness when declining the employee's request — a task that may feel awkward or uncomfortable for leaders who have never done it. To help leaders in this situation, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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Choosing the right software as a service (SaaS) tools for your business can prove to be a Herculean task. Whether it's for accounting, marketing or HR, it's important to choose software that will grow with your business and offer ongoing support for your questions and needs. It's also important to consider how well your SaaS selections will integrate and communicate with each other. As you make your decisions, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend asking yourself the following 10 questions. You might find that the answers can help make assembling your SaaS stack a little bit easier.

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To encourage sales, your product—and the platform you're selling on—needs to be appealing to prospective customers. Hard-to-use platforms or unattractive site designs that make a consumer pause should be avoided at all costs. But what seems intuitive to you and your team may not be so to the average user. When you’re building your company website or app, user experience research helps mitigate this problem. Below, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members explain how to conduct effective UX research and how it will help your business in the long run.

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Choosing an investor for your business is like choosing a business partner: Their resources and input are going to have a major impact on the way your business functions and the potential it has for success. Determining the right investor for you, then, is not an endeavor to take lightly. As business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have experience seeking investors and weeding out the bad from the good. Below, they provide a list of nine questions you can ask yourself to gain insight into your needs and wants, and help you determine your ideal business investor.

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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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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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A new business won't survive long if it doesn't have solid cash flow and a good accounting system in place. Unfortunately, some of the most common financial problems stem from simple mistakes new entrepreneurs may make the first time they're tasked with keeping the books. Luckily, there are ways to avoid or fix most of these common mistakes and save your business's bottom line. To that end, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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Every team needs someone who they can turn to for guidance, inspiration and motivation. Without a great leader, a business may quickly find itself directionless and producing poor results. As successful business leaders themselves, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have learned a lot about effective leadership during their careers. Below, nine of them share some of the lessons they’ve learned recently, and explain how these lessons have helped them improve their leadership skills and, ultimately, their businesses.

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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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In 2022, employers are still feeling the effects of the Great Resignation as employees continue to quit their jobs in droves. Research points to burnout and dissatisfaction as two of the main reasons people are leaving their organizations in favor of more "meaningful work." If you want to define and achieve meaningful work for yourself, read on for some key insights from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Below, 10 of them share how their definitions of “meaningful work” have changed throughout their careers and how other professionals can achieve their own versions of meaning in current or future jobs.

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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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Creating and maintaining a website is often one of the most important parts of running a successful business. Without a website, customers will have a hard time discovering and purchasing your products or services, so it’s key to ensure your website is up and functioning properly. When you’re a solopreneur, however, and all of the work falls on your shoulders, it can be all too easy to let website maintenance fall by the wayside. To help offer some direction, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the best practices solopreneurs should focus on when maintaining their websites and the impact this will have overall.

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Employees are searching for employers who take an interest in their career trajectory and genuinely care about their future with the company. If an employee doesn't believe they're truly valued, they may choose to find an employer who does value them, which is why it's so important for businesses to focus on professional development. Employers hoping to retain employees and leverage overall team happiness must work with their staff to develop well-planned pathways for their time at the company. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some effective strategies for leaders who want to create clear, realistic and meaningful career paths for their teams.

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As a small business owner, you know that branding is key to success. But what makes a great brand name, and why does it matter?

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It's often said that “the devil is in the details”—and getting them wrong could mean the difference between a successful and unsuccessful project. If you’re working on a major project requiring attention to fine details, it’s important to keep your team organized and to have a plan in place. You may also benefit from prioritizing certain tasks and holding team members accountable throughout the project's life cycle. To help you maintain organization during a complex project, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain some key strategies for keeping your team on the right track.

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Taking up a side hustle has become increasingly popular and easier to achieve in the modern digital age. While there are countless side hustles people can take advantage of, there may be a few opportunities that are more lucrative than others. If you're looking for your next side hustle idea, it helps to get inspiration from individuals who have successfully launched and grown businesses themselves. Below, members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one side hustle they believe will be popular in the coming years and why each one is such a good opportunity.

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During job interviews, prospective hires strive to put their best foot forward and provide thoughtful, impressive answers to the interviewer's questions. While there are countless interview questions an interviewer can ask during the meeting, it's crucial for interviewees to ensure the answers they give aren't stale. No matter whether a prospective hire is only saying what they think the interviewer wants to hear or they've searched how to answer a question "correctly," some interviewers can get tired of a seemingly rehearsed answer. Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the rehearsed interview answers they're tired of hearing and what candidates should say instead.

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As a new leader, there's an exciting sense of accomplishment when you deem your company "open for business." However, there are multiple decisions left to be made on the operations side that can make a new organization sink or swim. This is especially true if you have employees who are counting on your leadership to grow a successful business. To share their insights, nine Young Entrepreneur Council members each discuss one common operational mistake leaders make when first starting out that can jeopardize the future of their business. If you're concerned about your startup's success, read on to learn how these entrepreneurs recommend avoiding these common errors.

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In the remote work era, the boundaries between work and personal time have become increasingly blurred. But regardless of work environment, industry or even job level, it can be difficult to "turn off" work when the day is done, leaving professionals to struggle with consequences like burnout, mental health crises and increased stress levels. As experienced business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council know that a poor work-life balance can be a significant obstacle on the road to success. Below, 10 of them share some clear signs that you might need to improve the balance between your personal and professional lives, as well as how you can achieve it.

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A company's mission serves as the foundation for everything it does. While the specific goals of the business may change over time, your original mission, vision and values should remain intact until you and your team consciously decide to change them. If you find your business moving away from its original mission unintentionally, it may be time to figure out the next steps. To help, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some recommended first steps you should take when you sense your company moving away from its original mission, vision and values. Follow their advice to reassess where you stand and decide whether it's best to return to your core mission or make a conscious pivot.

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With so many forms of digital communication available, the traditional cold phone call may seem like a lesser form of gaining a sale or finding a business partnership. Some people may believe that cold calling will only lead to rejection—or worse, mid-call hang-ups. However, there are still ways to effectively cold call about prospective business transactions that will lead to success.  Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each detail a strategy they have for effective cold calling and why it works so well. Rather than dismissing cold calls as a sales tactic, try these thoughtful and personal approaches out.

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Amid millions of employees quitting their jobs at record rates, companies are desperately searching for top talent to join their teams. As businesses look to strengthen their workforce, they must also figure out the best ways to attract ideal candidates. While there's no shortage of talent in the workforce today, there are a few ideal traits leaders hope to find in an employee. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the qualities they look for in their ideal employees and what businesses can do to attract them.

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With quotas to reach and profits to gain, it can be easy for a sales team to zero in on a "transaction now" mentality regarding consumer relationships. While this mentality makes for quick sales and easy wins, it can leave customers with a bad taste in their mouths. Building strong consumer relationships promotes customer loyalty and allows them to share their satisfaction with other potential consumers. So, to help transition your sales staff away from a transactional mentality to one centered around building consumer relationships, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips below.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss where to draw the line with artificial intelligence in business. With all the improvements that have been made in artificial intelligence, there’s no doubt that using it in business is a great way to increase efficiency and save money and time. Incorporating artificial intelligence into the everyday running of a business can leave many leaders wondering where to draw the line, however. Where should they leave room for a human touch? Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their insights on the key areas of business where human involvement is still necessary and why AI may need to take a back seat.

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An effective sales strategy involves a precise plan explicitly crafted to sell products and meet consumer demand. When planning an optimized sales strategy with your team, it's essential to reach for a well-balanced option that satisfies your consumers while driving profit. When developing your sales approach, it's important to consider both new leads and the loyal customers or clients who have helped get you where you are. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss their advice for developing an effective strategy that addresses both audiences.

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There are many situations in which an aspiring or established entrepreneur could benefit from a business partner. Maybe you're just starting out and believe your business idea would perform better with someone else by your side, or perhaps you've grown your company as much as you can on your own and need another person at the wheel with you to reach the next level. While it's essential to know the qualities you're looking for in a business partner, it's just as important to know what to avoid. If you're searching for your ideal business partner, keep an eye out for these nine types of people. Here's why the experts of Young Entrepreneur Council say entrepreneurs should avoid them, as well as how these qualities will affect your relationship.

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After the Covid-19 pandemic hit and lockdown was in full swing, many businesses were forced to figure out how to run their operations remotely in order to stay afloat. Although business is regaining a sense of normalcy now, many job applicants continue to look for hybrid work environments when seeking potential job opportunities.  Many companies have thus realized the benefits of operating under a hybrid work model, but they still need to ensure their hybrid work environment is appealing to candidates. Here, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss various ways for business owners to ensure they’re providing what potential hires are looking for.

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

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Modern automation capabilities can free up workers’ valuable time to help them be more productive and focus on big picture tasks that will further a company’s vision. With so many tools available, how can you determine which automation technologies would be best for your company? To help you decide, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share a few of their favorite tools that have helped them automate their work and boost productivity.

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Social media management is a career field filled with limitless opportunities in our increasingly digital world. More companies than ever before are searching for tech-savvy social media managers who can uplevel their social media content and reach wider audiences. In a competitive, trending industry, it's critical to know how to stand out and put your best foot forward. For professionals just starting out as social media managers, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members offer their best advice below.

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No matter how busy your workday seems, you can always carve out a few minutes to take a breather. On a busy workday, you may begin to feel burned out and yearn for a restful break. But you likely won’t need to take a full-on vacation to reset your mind and feel refreshed enough to tackle your remaining tasks. With the right strategies, you may be able to recharge right in the middle of the workday, no plane ticket or PTO necessary. To help you do this, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members provided a list of strategies they recommend you try if you need to take a few minutes to unplug and recharge during your day.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share marketing methods you can use to get potential customers interested in your new mobile app. Even with the right tools and skilled team members in place, companies may find that building a mobile app can be a lengthy and complex process — though a very rewarding one once users experience the app’s benefits. The real problem, however, often lies in marketing the app. Once you build this useful tool, how are you able to ensure the right people discover and find value in it? According to the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, the key is choosing the right marketing methods. To help, they offer their top strategies for companies looking to get people excited about their new apps and explain why these tactics work so well.

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Motivation and energy don't always stick around for long, so it's good to know how to channel it for maximum productivity. Few things feel better than being struck with a sudden burst of motivation. Suddenly, those tasks you've been putting off seem easy to tackle and your to-do list doesn't seem too overwhelming.  Because this unexpected bout of energy can be fleeting, it's helpful to have a plan in place to take advantage of the inspiration and productivity created by this motivation. Sometimes this means starting with an easy task, but other times it means starting with hard tasks you've been putting off. Below, a group of successful entrepreneurs share what they like to do when they get a burst of motivation and how it helps their business.

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Without customer loyalty, a business can struggle to succeed. While your business may have a few standout customers who have become brand ambassadors for your product or service, the unengaged or inactive customers are often the ones you need feedback from the most. These customers can provide candid and honest feedback as to why they aren't more engaged with your business. To help get these customers excited about your business again, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one way to reconnect with unengaged customers. Follow their recommendations to gain the feedback and repeat business of these once-lost customers.

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Marketing is both an art and a science. It requires acute attention to detail, in-depth analysis, an understanding of mass psychology and a level of creative thinking that not many people possess. There are, however, several things that the best marketers all have in common. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss these things and explain how they make marketers so good at their jobs.

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Innovation drives a business forward, so it’s important to know how to tap into it as well as harness the creativity of your team. To help you create an environment that’s conducive to brainstorming and new ideas, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips below.

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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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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend ways of defeating imposter syndrome and gaining confidence at work. When entering a fast-paced, ever-changing industry like tech, falling victim to impostor syndrome can be easy. With new breakthroughs and innovations happening every day, it can seem like you’re constantly scrambling to keep up, which can make you feel like you’re playing catch-up to the rest of your peers who seemingly have it all together. But the members of Young Entrepreneur Council know that isn’t true and that impostor syndrome is a mindset that can affect anyone at any time — even leaders in the tech industry. Below, they share 10 tips you can implement to get out of that place and gain confidence in your ideas and abilities at work.

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As the Great Resignation continues, one in five employees say they are planning to switch jobs in the next year. Experts have cited a few reasons why so many people are making the switch since the start of the pandemic, with one of those reasons being poor management or leadership. If your company has a high turnover rate and you discover bad leadership is to blame, there are steps you can take to mitigate the situation. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain the steps you can take to fix a poor leadership problem and the impact this change will have on your company.

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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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One path for starting a business is to leverage a startup accelerator. These programs offer mentorship and education to new business owners while providing funding opportunities in exchange for equity. You may even find there are certain nuances and eligibility requirements to abide by during your search for the right startup accelerator. If you're an entrepreneur trying to determine the right accelerator to apply to, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council can help. Below, eight members discuss what to look for when choosing a startup accelerator for your business.

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When trying to solve a problem—small or large—many people may tend to rush to a solution in order to get a process in motion or to just get it off their plate so they can focus on other things. However, this method has the potential to create negative consequences, especially if the wrong decision was made or all variables weren’t considered.  To help prevent this situation, it’s vital to slow down your problem-solving process. To do this, consider these tips recommended by the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Below, they discuss their advice in detail and explain why it’s so important to think problems all the way through—especially as a business leader.

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Global workplaces are a melting pot of cultures, work styles and professional backgrounds. Having a global team is an incredible opportunity to learn more about other individualized experiences and even boost your team's worldly viewpoints. However, employees from different cultures may have differing opinions about leadership styles or even contrasting ways of approaching problems, which can cause disagreements in the workplace. To help ease any conflicts, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how you can be mindful and respectful of cultural differences when leading a global team.

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Whether it's cold calls, sales calls or building a relationship with a vendor, phone conversations are prevalent in many professionals' daily working lives. However, it can be tricky to sound confident and at ease over the phone without a face-to-face connection. No matter what your specific role is, getting comfortable with phone conversations is crucial, as these conversations can make or break sales and important working relationships. To help, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their tips for sounding more confident during business phone calls and explain why each strategy is so effective.

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Good customer service teams can help maintain healthy customer relationships and build back any trust that may have been lost due to a poor experience. Conversely, a bad support team can have the opposite effect, leaving customers feeling like their money could have been better spent elsewhere. Properly training customer service teams to handle the myriad of issues that can occur will help customers maintain a favorable opinion of your company and keep them coming back again and again. To help you do this, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members share the best advice a leader can impart to their staff while training on one of the more popular modes of customer support—live chat.

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Success in content marketing requires a deep knowledge of existing and prospective customers and successful, tailored campaigns to reach them all. But while reaching those customers and making the sale can be achieved with the right plan, there is still the possibility of making a lot of mistakes along the way. To see positive results from your content marketing efforts, there are some important "dos," but there are also some very important "don'ts" that should be considered. Below, 13 Young Entrepreneur Council members share their top actions to avoid in content marketing and why.

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Data is a key factor in determining many critical business decisions. As a business owner, you're most likely tracking multiple points of data each day, from transactions and payroll to projected profits. While there are many metrics out there that are important to track for business growth, there are a few high-level metrics that can uplevel your business operations. To that end, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some high-level metrics your business should be tracking and why.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss what business leaders should do in the event of a cyberattack. You should always take great care to ensure your company is protecting itself against cybercrime. Mistakes can happen, however, and breaches can always occur. Once your company has been hit with a cyberattack, you’ll need to have an action plan in place to ensure minimal damage to your systems and data. To help, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the steps they recommend taking after your business has been affected by a cyberattack. Although opinions differ on the very first step you should take, incorporating all of these action items into your plan in some way will get you off to a great start.

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All new hires should be given a fair chance to acclimate to their new position and get used to the way things are done within your company. However, after some time, you may start noticing signs that the onboarding period simply isn't going well for your new employee. So how can you tell if it's just new-hire jitters or if they're not a good fit for the role? To help, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weigh in on the following question:

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Many aspiring entrepreneurs start their businesses as "side hustles" so they can keep a steady income from their day jobs while still working on what inspires them. Still, they may dream of the day when that side hustle can become their main hustle. To ensure the growth you need to take your business full time, there are a few things you can start doing now, even while only working on it part time. Below, Young Entrepreneur Council experts each share one thing you can do right now to turn your business dream into a reality in the not-too-distant future.

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Companies with a 5-star rating have earned their stellar reputation by delivering a superior product or service and following best practices for customer service. Today's consumers typically do a lot of online research before deciding to engage with a company's product or service. Part of this research may entail reading reviews from other customers to see what kind of star rating the business has received.  Companies with a 5-star rating have a clear leg up in this scenario because previous customers trusted their business enough to tell other consumers about their stellar experience. But becoming a 5-star company doesn't just happen overnight -- it takes consistent effort and a commitment to the best customer service practices. Below, a group of successful entrepreneurs shared some key practices these top-rated companies follow and how you can replicate them in your own business.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss website elements that could help boost customer engagement and overall sales. Often, when entrepreneurs think of trying to boost customer engagement and sales, they start brainstorming marketing campaigns they could run or different social media techniques they could implement to get customers more interested in their business. Not as much thought is given to the business’s website as a way to increase engagement, however. More than just the place of transaction, a business website can serve as an information hub, a community and a place customers will want to return to again and again — all with the right design. To help get you started, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council each discuss one website design element you’ll want to consider in order to increase your business’s sales and engagement.

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Trust is key for any relationship to be successful, and this is especially true for manager-employee relationships. Managers rely on their employees to carry out the daily tasks necessary for the success of their business. Employees rely on their managers for guidance, support and leadership.  But in order for trust to be built, both managers and employees need to put in the work. This can be more difficult for managers who work remotely or who have to split their time between so many different people and tasks. To help you work on building trust with your team, these tips from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council are a great starting point.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their insights on what it takes to stay happy as a business owner. Owning a business can be a trying journey. If you’re in it for the long haul, you may find your passion or motivation — or maybe both — waning over time. With the stress of running and scaling the business, plus dedicating the time necessary to develop your skills as an employer and industry leader, you can too easily let your own happiness and fulfillment take a back seat to the success of the company. As business leaders themselves, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council understand the stressors of entrepreneurship, but they also know what it takes to thrive despite them. Below, they share some of the secrets to staying happy and fulfilled as an entrepreneur and why doing so is important.

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Local shoppers can become a business's most loyal customers by helping spread the word about the business to other community members. It's important, then, for businesses to establish these local connections early on to see the best results from local marketing. To help businesses create more meaningful interactions with local community members, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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As your startup grows and you hire more employees, you may find it's time to make your first human resources hire. Founders often take on this role early on in their business journey, but with more employees comes more HR administration and responsibilities, and it's important to find a well-qualified professional. To help you with your hiring process, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share what they think startup founders should seek out in an HR candidate. From leadership skills to decision-making abilities, here's what these business leaders recommend looking for.

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Love them or hate them, pitches are essential components of the sales process. But it's not enough to have a simple slide deck and a few talking points. Your sales team needs an engaging presentation that truly showcases the value of your company's product or service. Luckily, there are multiple ways professionals can optimize their sales pitches to close the deal. To help, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best tips for developing a presentation that will help you land the sale.

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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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Mid-year checks are a great time to reevaluate the goals your company made at the beginning of the year and ensure employees and metrics are on the right track. When conducting these check-ins, it's crucial to look at a few pertinent areas that could hinder your company's success. To that end, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weigh in on the following question:

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When you're just starting out as an entrepreneur, you may have big growth aspirations. However, it takes a lot of work to get there: According to the Small Business Administration, only about half of small businesses with employees make it to the five-year mark. To survive those critical early years of your startup, it's important to keep your skills sharp and seek assistance from others when needed. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council each discuss one resource that helped them as an up-and-coming entrepreneur and the difference it made in their future endeavors.

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When done thoughtfully, internships can have major benefits for both the interns and the companies who host them. Interns are able to get valuable hands-on experience in their chosen field, and companies are able to get to know and evaluate potential employees before committing to hiring them. But while the basic premise is the same, the dynamic changes when the environment shifts to a virtual setup. When interns are instead behind a screen instead of in the office, managing them and their program requires extra consideration and intention. To help make this task a little easier, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council list some of their top tips for setting up and running a virtual internship program and share how you can ensure its success.

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It's necessary to create user-friendly and varied content in the form of blog posts, videos and full-fledged online courses. This practice of educating users is a form of marketing that generates powerful results in the long run. 

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As more companies shift toward remote work, managers may find some employees struggling with productivity throughout the day. Whether it's tending to personal matters at home, reprioritizing tasks or warding off distractions, some employees may find it more difficult to work from home than in an office environment. Thankfully, there are multiple apps and software programs that can help you get back on track. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommended their favorite apps and software remote workers can use for increased productivity.

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With the internet, social media, streaming services and more at our fingertips, it's easier than ever to start your own side hustle centered on curating your own content. As the demand for content—especially niche content about a specific subject or area of expertise—continues to grow, thought leaders and creators can establish themselves in the online space and even develop a loyal following, leading to potential revenue opportunities through advertising and sponsorship deals. However, for those unfamiliar with the process, it can be difficult to figure out how to monetize your content, especially early on. To help, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss their top tips for monetizing your content.

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When you invest in ongoing education and professional development for your employees, it shows them that you value their contributions to the company and, in doing so, it may also bolster morale and loyalty. To support this development, many companies will host speakers or workshops, but it's important to ensure your employees are feeling engaged — especially if it's a virtual meeting. To help you do this, 14 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:

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No matter how good you are at your job, you’ll still have stressful days. However, it’s how you handle the stress that can make a positive or negative impact on your mindset and abilities.  For professionals who have their well-being in mind, maintaining daily habits can be beneficial to their success. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members share the daily practices they adhere to in order to set their day up for success. They explain why these habits are worth sticking to no matter how busy or stressed you are and how they can motivate you to keep going, even when work gets tough.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the ways businesses can leverage technology to improve their sales strategies. Business today is all about leveraging technology to make even the most ordinary of functions faster and more effective, and sales is no exception. Although sales is still largely a person-to-person operation, taking advantage of certain tools or software can help make the sales experience more efficient and even more personal for the sales team and potential customers than previous methods. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members suggests ways in which any business can incorporate more tech into its sales process and why doing so will benefit everyone involved.

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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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Having more than one social media account for your brand may mean reaching more people, but it doesn't mean businesses can simply post the same content to each platform. If you want to grow your audience, it's important to differentiate your content across accounts while still ensuring everything feels cohesive and consistent. To help you do this, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weigh in on the following question:

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

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Great leaders are constantly evolving, gaining additional skills and finding new ways to effectively manage and guide their teams. This proactive style of leadership comes with practice and self-awareness of any weaknesses or blind spots you may have. To help hone these skills, nine Young Entrepreneur Council members discuss how entrepreneurs can boost their leadership abilities. Below, they share their top-recommended exercises to help leaders take stock of their skills and find out where they can improve.

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Ensuring employees are engaged is key in business, as it leads to higher company morale and improved quality of work. Further, a lack of engagement can be a telltale sign that something is wrong.  For companies finding that their employees aren’t engaged—whether it’s during meetings, feedback sessions or fun social outings—there are ways leaders can drive motivation. Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some simple things companies can do to get employees more engaged and involved.

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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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Many entrepreneurs find it particularly difficult to recover from financial mistakes. Small businesses especially often run on very tight margins, meaning that one slip-up can be detrimental to a young company. Here, eight Young Entrepreneur Council members share some steps an entrepreneur should take in the event of a financial mistake. Here’s why they believe these actions can help an entrepreneur to recover and learn from their errors to ultimately grow their business.

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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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Your personal brand is the version of yourself you showcase to the world. It encompasses your values, mission and brand personality that you showcase to customers, your network and potential employers. A personal brand can even be utilized alongside a business brand with great effects—up-leveling your professional identity and opening doors for new business opportunities. If you're looking to build a personal brand, check out this advice from nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council and find out how optimizing your personal brand can help you as a job seeker.

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Businesses need systems and processes to maintain quality and efficiency in their operations. Systemization helps to communicate to your team how you'd like your business to be effectively run and provides a clear model for them to follow. However, busy entrepreneurs don't always take the time (or have the time) to put those systems in place. Streamlining common business functions like bookkeeping, marketing and employee onboarding can be extremely beneficial for your business. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain which tasks they believe should be systemized and why.

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From team meetings to one-on-ones to virtual happy hours, Zoom has become a key tool for dealing with the challenges of remote work and communication. Even though Zoom has become an asset for companies, many remote and hybrid employees battle “Zoom fatigue,” especially if constantly having to meet on screen is a big part of their jobs. Members of Young Entrepreneur Council have also felt this struggle. Here, they offer their best tips on Zoom fatigue and transform your next virtual meeting into a more engaging endeavor for all.

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When you're looking to impress potential employers and business peers, it can be difficult to show off your personality on the limited pages of a resume or job application. Thankfully, LinkedIn provides a great opportunity to get more personal with your network. With room for a summary that encompasses your career highlights and the option to write recommendations for your fellow colleagues, LinkedIn can truly help showcase your personality. To help you drive deeper, more personal connections, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council detail how to put your best foot forward and let your unique self shine through.

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Getting your business noticed online is only getting more challenging, as every day new businesses are opening up and creating more competition for consumer attention. The go-to strategy for many companies, therefore, is to leverage social media to get in front of their target audience and convince them to make a purchase. But the perfect social media ad won’t come about without a little forethought and planning. If you really want to persuade potential customers, consider the following tips as recommended by the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Implementing these steps could give you a significant leg up on the competition.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list criteria you should look at when determining the right web host for your business. Having a well-designed, easy-to-use website is vital to ensuring your customers have a good experience with your company. Having a good service to host that website is equally important, though. With the right web hosting service, your site can offer fast loading speeds, reliable and safe connections and many more benefits that will only add to the overall user experience — and your bottom line.  When selecting a web hosting service, however, you’ll need to be mindful of the various features and options. Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council list the top 11 criteria they believe entrepreneurs should consider when researching the best web hosts for their businesses.

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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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When you need to cut costs in your business, it's difficult to know where to begin, especially if you have employees who rely on your business's success. However, there are a few good ways to get started on getting your business finances back on track. To help you choose the best path, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weigh in on the following question:

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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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Online safety is critical when you’re serving e-commerce customers. If proper protocols aren’t followed, e-commerce sites can easily fall prey to cybersecurity breaches, which may expose private customer information.  These security breaches can cost your company both in money and in customer loyalty, so it’s essential to prioritize shoppers’ online safety. To help you secure your consumers’ shopping experience, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council outline the key security steps companies should take with their e-commerce sites.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the rules they think all entrepreneurs new to SEO should know. Whether you’re building your own website from scratch or are just getting a little more hands-on with its creation, entrepreneurs new to search engine optimization must figure out how to rank first (or at least high up) in search results. This project can seem like a daunting task. Luckily, though, a few key rules will help you to get started. Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council list the most important rules for those new to SEO and explain why they’re so vital for generating traffic.

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Is your brand in need of a makeover? While it may seem as simple as something like changing your company’s name, rebranding is a complicated process with many moving parts.  After a time, many companies change or update their missions, and rebranding is an effective tool for signaling to customers that a company is undergoing major changes, but it can also result in pushback from the target audience if not handled well. Below, nine Young Entrepreneur Council members reveal steps you can take if your rebrand doesn’t achieve the reaction you were hoping for.

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For entrepreneurs who want a leg up when starting a business, consider becoming a franchisee of an already successful company. This path ensures a built-in customer base, brand recognition and support from a parent company—benefits you might not get if you started a business from scratch. There are many profitable franchising models out there across nearly every industry, so aspiring entrepreneurs of all interests and backgrounds have plenty of options to choose from. To help you narrow the list down, seven Young Entrepreneur Council members weighed in on current franchising trends. If you’re looking for a starting point to explore the world of franchising, check out the industries these experts say lend themselves well to the franchising model.

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Many business leaders may make the mistake of assuming that a well-designed desktop website will translate into a well-designed mobile website—and will quickly learn that’s not the case. With a different screen size, different applications and varying user behaviors, mobile requires separate consideration when it comes to design and function. But you don’t necessarily have to start from scratch if you want to make sure your existing website is mobile-friendly. For easy changes any business can make, consider the following tips from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Making even just one of these changes could have a positive impact on the way your users engage with your business.

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Leveraging psychological principles can help you make better content, improve your website design and keep people engaged.

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There may come a time during your entrepreneurial journey when you need to decide whether or not to sell. Maybe business is booming and sales are thriving — so how will you know when it's time to hang up your hat and walk away? Regardless of the circumstances, it can often be difficult to see the signs that will lead you to the correct decision for your business. To help, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council explained what leaders should be looking for as an indication that they should sell their businesses.

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A product or a service can really only be effective and helpful to others if customers are able to find that product or service online. Search engine marketing (SEM) helps solve this problem by targeting customers through keywords and drawing them into your website. There are many things business owners can do to improve their SEM strategies and bring in as much website traffic as possible. From using quality backlinks to optimizing your company's video content, here's what the members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend doing when designing an effective search engine marketing strategy.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss why you might not be seeing a good ROI on your business's mobile app. With the number of shoppers who choose to make their purchases on mobile platforms steadily rising every year, businesses these days would be remiss not to consider building a mobile app to serve their customer bases. Although building such an app aims to increase sales, many businesses might actually find themselves losing money post-launch. Many factors can affect this sales dip, but the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have narrowed down their top 11 reasons why you might not be seeing the ROI you’d hoped for after building your mobile app. Below, they explain what you can do to turn the situation around for the better.

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For many people faced with an unpleasant assignment, procrastination provides a welcome escape. While putting off the work might be comforting in the short term, however, it inevitably results in more stress and frustration down the line.  As an entrepreneur, you’ll likely come across many tasks you’d rather not do, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed, burned out or are just having a busy day. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members discuss the challenges of facing particularly daunting assignments and share their tips for tackling even the most dreaded tasks.

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Every business project is unique and will likely require a customized approach to manage it. No matter the size or scope of the project, though, all team members must work together to ensure each moving part is in place. Being on the same page is crucial to the overall success of a project, and it's up to the leader or project manager to keep their team moving forward toward their shared goal. To help you do this, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council explained the most important elements that you’ll need for the successful completion of your project.

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Many employees set out with dreams of climbing the company ladder and someday becoming part of the executive leadership team. But the journey to the C-suite is filled with obstacles that young professionals might not expect when they first start out.  Below, nine Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their advice for aspiring business leaders looking to land that executive promotion. Follow their recommendations to give yourself the best chance at upward career movement.

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Getting customers through the sales funnel can sometimes be an arduous task. It can also be difficult to juggle multiple prospects at different stages of the funnel, which is why it's important to automate what you can. Automating your sales process doesn't have to be complicated or expensive, either. Installing chatbots on your website to answer questions or reusing email templates for cold outreach are easy-to-implement solutions that can speed up your operations. Below, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council leaders shared their best strategies for how to save your sales team time and effort in the short and long term through automation.

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When it comes to creating a successful marketing strategy, you don’t always need to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes a few small changes can have a huge impact on your ROI.  To that end, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their top eight tips to help business leaders quickly level up their marketing strategy. Below, they discuss what makes these simple strategies so effective.

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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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Partnering with another business in your industry on a campaign or promotion is an effective and mutually beneficial way to market your product or service. Not only does it bring brand awareness for your company, but you'll also expand your reach by tapping into your partner company's existing audience. If you're gearing up for a collaborative cross-promotion with another company, there are a few steps you’ll need to take in order for the partnership to go well. Below, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council each shared one step they recommend you take for a successful collaboration.

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Believing in yourself can sometimes be the hardest part of any job. Sometimes, you can be your own worst enemy. That little voice in your head telling you that you're not good enough is often one of the only obstacles standing between you and success. This is especially true for professionals who suffer from imposter syndrome, or the belief that you're not as competent as others perceive you to be.  Professionals who suffer from imposter syndrome are prone to burnout because they tend to overwork, feel the need to prove themselves at everything, and can have a difficult time delegating tasks. To help you boost your confidence and productivity, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the most effective strategies they know for banishing imposter syndrome for good.

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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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Success in any business largely depends on the success of its marketing efforts. But with so many ways to market and so many areas to focus on, it can be challenging to narrow a campaign down to a single focal point. However, if you fail to create a focused strategy, your marketing efforts will likely be less than successful.  To that end, 11 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) were asked the following question:

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list the industries they think should make better use of augmented and virtual reality technology. As consumers eschewed brick-and-mortar stores for online shopping and as people distanced themselves from each other, businesses needed new solutions to fill the gaps brought on by Covid-19. Although augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) existed before the pandemic, they were catapulted into the mainstream by necessity, and many adaptations and adoptions have been made since the start of the lockdowns. As our world gets used to living more digitally, even industries that once seemed to have no use for AR or VR could find benefits from the technologies. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members lists a few of those industries and why they believe they could benefit from these innovative technologies.

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Jumping on the latest cultural trends can be a good way to make some quick money or earn some fast fame. However, steering your ship off course to try to take advantage of passing trends isn't always the best long-term decision.  It often happens that businesses try to profit from what's trending just to end up wasting time and resources in the end. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their arguments for why it’s actually better to stay the course with your business and let the trends pass you by.

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Many professionals look for meaning and purpose in their work—their "true calling." Passion is a great motivator for business owners, and being intentional with your work will help generate great outcomes. If you have a specific mission and vision in place, you have something to return to any time you feel stuck in your business. However, your purpose doesn't have to be extravagant and grand; it can be as simple as you'd like it to be. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared their own personal career callings and how following those paths has impacted their business journeys.

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Every business leader hopes to see an impressive return on the campaigns and projects they launch. These initiatives can cost a lot of time, energy and resources, and it's always disheartening when the results aren't what you anticipated. But a failed campaign isn't the end of the world. It's a great opportunity to learn from your mistakes and learn more about what your audience is looking for. Whether your team decides to hire an external auditor or spend more time doing market research first, Young Entrepreneur Council members recommend considering these nine strategies for diagnosing what went wrong in your campaign and how to improve results moving forward.

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When you're starting a new business, it can be easy to get lost in the excitement. Instead of carefully planning next steps, you may end up taking shortcuts or rushing to advance, which can ultimately have a lasting negative impact. It's important for new business owners to take things slowly and have a well-developed, organized plan for growth. But it can be difficult to know what mistakes you might make if you've never been an entrepreneur before. To help you, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members share some mistakes that may sabotage your future business success and explain why each action has such negative effects.

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The idea of a four-day workweek isn't a new concept, but since the pandemic, whether or not this type of work model should be implemented has become a hot topic of debate in the professional world. Some say four-day workweeks make employees more productive, while others argue that, even if this is true, they can't spare their entire staff on a Friday. It boils down to leaders knowing what will work for their companies. But with so many factors to consider, coming to a practical conclusion can seem overwhelming. To share their own perspectives, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members offer their opinions on the popular four-day workweek model and whether or not they believe leaders should consider it as a valuable solution for better work-life balance.

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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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As an entrepreneur, you may come to realize that certain aspects of your personal and social life have to be put on the back burner to get your business off the ground. Neglecting your personal life can come at a cost, though. New entrepreneurs may experience burnout and have a greater chance of giving up on their businesses entirely if they can’t find better work-life balance. If you're heading toward burnout because of your business, follow these recommendations from eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Below, they give their best tips for retaining time for loved ones and rest while still building a successful business.

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The "Great Resignation" has forced many businesses to contend with understaffed teams, demanding customers and discouraged employees. This environment of overwork and reduced morale can naturally have a negative effect on a team’s productivity. To keep productivity high, even while experiencing a staff shortage, you’ll need to be intentional about your work. To help set you on the right track, 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weighed in on the following question:

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While some entrepreneurs are content with one business under their belts, there are many others who run two, three or even several businesses all at once. Some business owners are simply brimming with ideas and, at some point, they may find themselves itching to launch their next venture. Others see success in their first business and want to replicate it. If you're contemplating serial entrepreneurship, it's important to make sure you're up for the challenge. To help you make this decision, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some clear signs that you may be ready to get your next business off the ground.

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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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A great employee shows up to work each day ready and willing to do their best work for your business. It's only fair that, as their employer, you support their professional development—especially if these skills will help them grow within your company. If an employee expresses interest in learning new skills, it's crucial that you show them you have their back. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members explained how to encourage your team members' professional development initiatives. Follow their advice to create an environment where employees are eager to grow and learn.

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Let’s take a look at some of the different functions using this underestimated tool.

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More and more businesses have made the shift to cloud computing in recent years, and it's not hard to see why. There are countless ways the cloud can benefit a company, from cost savings and sustainability to greater work location flexibility. As cloud computing evolves, it can offer even more benefits that you may not have even realized before. To that end, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some unique ways for businesses to take advantage of cloud computing and improve their operations.

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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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Every business leader should develop some go-to coping strategies for staying calm in difficult situations. Pressure and stress are inevitable parts of any business leader's journey. The question is not necessarily what kinds of pressure you will face, but how you'll respond to them and move forward. Every entrepreneur will find their own unique strategies for succeeding under pressure, but it never hurts to hear from leaders who have mastered the art. Below, a group of successful business owners offer their best practical tactics for combating the stress of leadership and coming out stronger on the other side.

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Hint: organization and time management go a long way. Any leader, entrepreneur, business owner, or working professional will be the first to tell you that there aren't enough hours in a day to get everything done. No matter what industry you work in, the feeling of being overwhelmed with various tasks that all seem to have the same level of priority is a common one. However, if you don't get a handle on things, you can find yourself burning out fast. Organization and time management are a couple of key factors to focus on when you want to maximize your efficiency at work. But what are the best ways to get organized and manage your time? Here, 13 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in with their best advice. Whether you’re just getting started or are already running your own business, here’s how to get more work done in less time.

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At the beginning of the year, companies and employees alike are setting resolutions for the months ahead. As employees set their sights on new goals, there are a few questions leaders should be asking them at the start. With these thought-provoking questions, leaders can be a part of the solution to set employees up for success and help them contribute to the company goals. To help you identify the best things to ask, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each offered one question business leaders should ask employees in January to pave the way for a successful year.

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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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The beginning of January is ripe with new possibilities. "New Year's resolution" season is the perfect time for companies to reassess their business vision and set concrete goals for the upcoming year. Not sure what resolutions you should make for your business this year? Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council each shared one resolution they believe companies should set for 2022 and why.

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The future of your business relies on finding the best candidates to hold senior positions. Making the right choice can spell the difference between success and failure for your company, but it isn’t always easy finding the best fit to lead your company to the next stage. To help fellow leaders hiring for senior-level roles, Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members weighed in on the following question:

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Strong, clear communication is a must when it comes to manager-employee relationships, but certain behaviors can work against you. Strong communication skills can help anyone thrive in a business environment, but when it comes to managing employees, they are absolutely essential. An effective communication strategy can help leaders optimize the flow of information within their organization and keep teams on track.  Below, 12 Young Entrepreneur Council members shared some of the biggest communication mistakes managers make. Follow their advice for avoiding these common errors and setting up stronger lines of communication with your team.

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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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Technology is evolving at a faster pace than ever, and each change affects the consumer market in different ways. Every year, innovations are introduced that impact the market in ways some people never would have imagined.  Now that 2021 has come to a close, professionals in every industry are anticipating the tech innovations that will take the market by storm in the coming year. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in to share which tech innovations they believe will have the greatest impact on the market in 2022.

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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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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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When an entrepreneur is first starting out, they go through a lot of trial and error. In an effort to grow and scale their business, they often try out various ideas to see what works and what doesn’t. However, scaling a business isn’t easy, and without prior experience, mistakes can be made. While not every venture will be a success, there are ways to effectively scale your business while minimizing risk. To that end, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared the tips they wish they had known when they first started out to safely and smartly scale a business.

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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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Modern entrepreneurs know the importance of using social media to grow their business. It can be a great way for business owners to connect with customers and expand their company’s reach. As social media’s relevance has grown, so have the benefits of using popular platforms like Instagram to reach your target audience. To help you make the most of your business Instagram account, members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best advice for engaging and retaining followers. Follow their recommendations to take your Instagram game to the next level.

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In the variety of options for financing a startup, many entrepreneurs entertain the idea of inviting investors into their businesses. Working with an investor can help you grow your business quickly while also leveraging their expertise. However, despite the benefits of an investor, there are also many reasons not to partner with one. On the fence about this important financial decision? A panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members share some reasons why aspiring entrepreneurs may wish to opt against investors for their business.

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As the weather gets colder and the days get shorter, it's easy for your team's motivation to decline alongside it. If you don't want to see morale and productivity plummet through the winter months, it's important to take proactive steps to energize and inspire your staff. To help, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend some ways in which you can keep their spirits and motivation high all winter long.

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Investing in employee training and development is a great retention tool to ensure continued growth within your company. In the era of the “Great Resignation,” every employer is wondering how to hang on to their best employees. One smart approach is encapsulated by Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, who once said, "Train people well enough so they can leave and treat them well enough so they don't want to."  The two key lessons in this mantra are that employers should invest in employee development and also give them a supportive, collaborative environment in which they can fully utilize their skills. This type of workplace, whether in person or virtual, promotes employee loyalty and continued long-term growth within the company. Below, a group of business leaders shared their interpretation of Branson's quote with some practical tips for boosting retention through training initiatives.

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In the war for tech talent, a well-crafted, well-placed job listing can make all the difference. There's a certain art to listing a job, from posting to the right websites to using the right language that will attract the right candidate. This can be especially difficult when trying to find the best tech talent. Depending on the exact wording of the job listing, your company could potentially receive tons of applications from candidates who aren't right for the job. On the other hand, many talented potential applicants may pass by your job listing if it doesn't appeal to their unique skill set and career goals. To help, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members offered their best advice for optimizing your tech job listings.

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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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In a world wrought with societal and environmental issues, both millennials and Gen Z strive to ensure their work serves the greater good, whatever that may mean to them. Finding purpose in their work is an attractive goal for both generations, and it’s one many of them are unwilling to compromise on. To help employees looking for this purpose in their careers, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members offered their best career-building advice for Gen Zers and millennials who want to make a difference. Here's how they recommend vetting potential jobs and work environments and cultivating a career that can make any professional feel more fulfilled.

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Some of the best parts about having a small business are the benefits that it brings to employees: more equity, a hand in the decision-making process and smaller teams, just to name a few. Although the successful growth of your business is something to celebrate, day-one employees may eventually come to miss the small business feeling that they signed on for. To that end, members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weighed in on the following question:

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer ways professionals can leverage social media when job hunting. Social media plays a big part in all our lives, including our work. Many employers have been known to research potential hires online before committing to a hiring decision, and so what candidates post to their social media profiles can either have a positive or negative impact on their prospects. But candidates can also take control of their job search by using social media to their advantage. To explain, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members discuss 12 ways professionals can leverage social media to find the right job for them.

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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.

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We live in a world of constant distractions and interruptions. While it's easy to blame these external factors for our lack of focus, it's often our own reactions to and bad habits around those distractions that are truly sabotaging us. In the remote work era, certain productivity-killing habits like multitasking and constantly checking notifications have become even more common as professionals try to juggle work and home life. Below, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some practices that may be unintentionally hurting your ability to focus and how to break those bad habits for good.

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During the pandemic era, virtual events like webinars and conferences have become more common, offering business value and education from the comfort of your home. Although these online gatherings are popular, it’s hard to drum up the same level of excitement for them that people seem to have for in-person events. As successful business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have seen their fair share of successful digital events and understand what factors will generate interest and engagement. Below, 10 of them offered their best tips on how to draw a crowd and increase sign-ups for your company’s virtual events.

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Building a positive company culture is crucial, especially with so many businesses shifting to a permanent remote work model. Employees want to work in an environment where they feel accepted and appreciated. When they feel this way, employees are more likely to be motivated and work efficiently. To help you build a great culture regardless of where your employees are, there are a few important factors your business needs to get right. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared the essential elements you’ll find in company cultures that get people excited to come to work.

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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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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 share the top tools that will help any company improve their remote work process. Whether it was communicating important information or collaborating on multiple projects at once, many companies faced new challenges as they made the switch to a remote or hybrid work environment. Luckily, there exist a multitude of tools and tech solutions that can help struggling companies improve the way they work remotely. Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council suggest 12 of the solutions they use for their own companies and explain why they recommend you implement them to make your remote work processes a little more efficient.

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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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When you apply inversion thinking to your business, you can remove obstacles to making a successful sale.

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Working on a team can be challenging for those accustomed to working alone. Teams bring different opinions, ideas and ways of working, which can be incredibly helpful for collaborative projects. However, this environment can sometimes be difficult for those used to independent thinking and solo projects. If you're a professional who prefers to work on your own, it helps to have a strategy for approaching and thriving in team-based work environments. To get you started, eight Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their best tips for how you can improve your teamwork skills at work.

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When your business starts to grow, it's an exciting indicator of success. However, it can also be an indicator that organizational changes need to take place. If your business has outgrown its current location, it's time to start considering moving into a new office space. There's a lot to think about before making such a significant change, though. To help, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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Many product-based companies want to be carried by major retailers, but with so much competition, only a select few ever achieve that goal. Landing your product in a major retail store will take a lot of time and persuasion, and you’ll have to be able to demonstrate why your product is worth a retailer’s shelf space.  To help entrepreneurs sell their product to a big retail store, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their best advice. Here, they offer important steps an entrepreneur can take to get their product on shelves nationally and even globally.

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When meeting with a potential investor, it’s important that entrepreneurs come prepared for any questions that may arise. You’ll likely spend hours preparing your answers, but even then, tough questions may be posed that, without good answers, could damage your confidence. Therefore, to help you avoid being surprised during a pitch, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members each shared the toughest question they’ve ever been asked during an investor meeting and how they recommend you prepare for it.

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Working hard and being a creative problem-solver can go a long way. Whether managing a team or an entire business, anyone in a management position has a lot on their plates. This means that while you may be itching for a promotion, your position may not be at the forefront of your manager's mind. It's up to you to put it there.  But how can you get your manager's attention and prove to them that it's time for you to move up as a leader? Here, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in and offer their perspectives as managers who have had to give those promotions and employees who have successfully leveled up in the past.

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As the holidays quickly approach, it's almost time for you and your team to set your “out of office” auto-replies and get some well-deserved rest and relaxation. However, this is easier said than done when many professionals continually feel the need to be productive. This feeling of not doing enough and needing to be “always on” can lead to guilt about taking time off and will keep you from enjoying a much-needed break. To help your company avoid this issue, eight Young Entrepreneur Council members shared some tips to help you and your team truly unplug and enjoy the holidays.

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Sifting through piles of job applications and resumes can be tedious work. However, you can take advantage of certain recruiting “hacks” to find the best job candidates, people who are likely to be a great fit right from the start. To learn more about methods that work, 14 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) shared their favorite recruiting tips for finding the best of the best.

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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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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list some struggles business leaders face with digital marketing and how to overcome them. Consumers are spending more time online, visiting more platforms than ever before. Therefore, digital marketing is an important way to spread brand awareness and convert potential customers. But with so many evolving trends in digital marketing, keeping up and mastering best practices isn’t always easy. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members discusses some of the common hurdles entrepreneurs face when dealing with digital marketing and offer their advice on overcoming them.

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Competition between businesses gets fierce during the holiday season. This means your marketing game needs to be on point if you want to steal the spotlight from your competitors and attract more customers during this busy time of year — especially if you're a small- and medium-sized business operating on a limited budget. To help get you started, 12 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:

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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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When you start a new business, one of the first things you need to do is create your social media pages and start building an online presence. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of expecting to have thousands of followers the moment they set up their page only to get discouraged when they have a hard time getting recognition. Sometimes all it takes to gain momentum in building an audience is one post to go viral. However, this is easier said than done, and you may find yourself feeling more often than not that you're just sharing posts into a void. Here, eight experts from Young Entrepreneur Council share their best pieces of advice on how a new business can gain those first few followers and start building an audience.

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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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Accurately gauging the fit of a job candidate can be difficult, and sometimes new hires who seemed great during the interview process don't pan out as expected. In situations like this, a leader must take action to course-correct and figure out the problem before the whole team suffers. To help you identify some red flags to look for early in a new employee's tenure, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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Employees, especially when new to their positions, often need guidance to be successful in their work. However, too much direction can be less like helpful and constructive feedback and more like micromanagement. This, in turn, can have a negative impact on an employee's work performance and mental health, and they may begin to feel less confident in the work they produce. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council offered advice on what to do as an employee if you feel like you’re being micromanaged at work.

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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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The holiday season is fast approaching, which means it's time for businesses to start planning and executing their marketing strategies for the busiest time of the year. With so much riding on this season, it's not enough to recycle the same old marketing campaigns you've used in years past. Instead, try thinking outside the box and coming up with a fresh, new strategy that will entice and engage consumers throughout the season. To help you shake up your holiday marketing, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some innovative tactics they believe companies should try this year. Follow their advice to set yourself up for a successful holiday sales season.

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Customers are the key to success for any business. The way you communicate with your customers can make or break their decision to work with you. That's why it's crucial your customer communications are always impactful and meaningful. As business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council know the importance of effective communication. Below, nine of them share what they've learned about customer communication during their careers and why those lessons were so important to their professional development.

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As a new business owner, it's wise to work with someone who has been in your shoes and possesses the experience to help you navigate any uncertainty you might face. Launching and running a successful business requires time, energy and seasoned insight. However, many budding entrepreneurs tend to shy away from spending money on a consultant. If you're unsure whether it's worth investing in a business consultant, there are some clear indicators that might suggest you could benefit from one. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared 10 signs you should hire a consultant for your business.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the innovative apps and software that help them better manage their work. When it comes to getting work done, a myriad of tools are out there, all designed to save you time and effort. But with so many options on the market to choose from, with many having the same features and benefits, you may feel overwhelmed when trying to select the right one for you and your team. To help narrow down your choices, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members each shared their favorite software or app for managing their daily, weekly or monthly tasks and why they simply can’t live without them.

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Long-term brand recognition and customer loyalty are common goals of almost every business. To create this kind of longevity, business owners will need to create brands that people like, remember and trust. As successful business leaders themselves, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council understand what it takes to build a company that withstands the test of time. Below, they shared eight key steps you can take to cultivate a truly timeless brand.

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Today's consumers are more skeptical than ever. They crave authenticity and often demand it from the companies they buy from. Today's most successful B2B and B2C organizations across many industries have learned to meet this expectation head-on. When your company comes across as authentic and trustworthy, it helps you build strong, lasting relationships with customers and clients. To help you achieve this, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council offered their top tips for how to be more trustworthy to your customers.

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With so many professionals now leaving their current jobs and rethinking their future career goals, companies are looking for ways to retain their employees for the long term. However, it can be difficult for leaders to identify a clear strategy for loyalty-building and employee retention, especially with larger teams.  To help, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared strategies for leaders to build or earn loyalty from employees. Follow their advice to keep your best workers on board and satisfied for years to come.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some important qualities companies should look for in their CTO candidates. Because the chief technology officer position is so important, you need to ensure that the right person assumes the role. A CTO needs to not only have a strong command of technology, but also project management, organization and team dynamics, among other things. If you’re hiring a CTO for the first time, you may not know exactly what to look for when reviewing applications and interviewing job candidates. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared 14 traits they look for when hiring a CTO and why each quality is so essential to the job. 

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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.

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Before a new business can set up a marketing strategy, the very first thing it must do is determine who its target customers are. While it may seem simple to pinpoint your ideal customer, sometimes you can end up making assumptions that aren’t actually true, and if you don't get your target customer base right, your marketing efforts will be focused on the wrong people. Fortunately, there are some tried-and-true ways for a business to determine who its target customers are. Here, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for how to go about doing just that.

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Technology can be an incredible asset for a small business when its uses are carefully considered and researched. Some business owners, however, may feel overwhelmed by the amount of technology they do or don’t need to succeed. To help you avoid making poor decisions around business tech, we asked Young Entrepreneur Council members to weigh in on the common business technology mistakes startups make that you should definitely steer clear of.

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Email marketing can be extremely effective for advertising products, whether through sale announcements or updates highlighting new items. But this marketing channel can also be leveraged in a number of other ways to connect with customers on a more direct and personal level, ultimately leading to more purchases. If you're looking to expand your current email marketing efforts, it's important to explore and execute the right strategies for your business. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some of their favorite email marketing strategies that go beyond just selling a product.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share simple, cost-effective ways companies can build credibility and trust with their customers. As a foundational pillar for business success, consumer trust can make or break a business — and building it from the ground up is no easy feat. With no experience or reputation to back it, a fledgling business can seem questionable and untrustworthy to potential customers. But to build that necessary credibility, new entrepreneurs will have to make the most of their startup budgets. To help set you on the right course, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council provided 13 cost-effective ways new companies can build credibility while earning the trust of their customers.

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By understanding the audience’s "why" or main emotions during the holidays, you’ll be able to build marketing strategies that boost trust and keep sales on track. 

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Regular pay raises can show employees how much you appreciate their hard work and can also prevent them from feeling dissatisfied in their current environment. However, it's important to know when a raise will be the most effective and well-earned. That's why a panel of experts from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) weighed in on the following question:

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Your customers can be an invaluable business resource if you know what to ask. Happy customers are the key to any successful business. Ensuring a great customer experience requires sales and customer service teams to speak with customers and find out how they feel. However, your team must know the right questions to ask to gain truly valuable insights from customer conversations. Below, a group of successful entrepreneurs shared eight smart questions sales and customer service reps should be asking their company's customers. Here's what to ask and the potential impact the answer could have on your business's growth.

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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.

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As the holiday season draws near, so does the chance to market your offerings to holiday shoppers. To ensure successful end-of-year sales, it's important to plan effective campaigns that will entice shoppers to buy from your business. This means getting innovative and thinking beyond the "traditional" holiday ad campaigns and promotions consumers are used to seeing. To help you do this, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one overused holiday marketing trend they'd rather not see this year. If you want your business to stand out, avoid these tired approaches and try something fresh.

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Though a company's internal planning process is important, an outside perspective can also be equally beneficial. An advisory board, composed of experts who provide valuable insight and strategic advice, can offer that perspective to directors and higher-level managers. A strong board offers businesses a competitive advantage, allowing them to make informed decisions that will drive growth and success. For this reason, each member of the board must be a quality candidate who is truly invested in your organization's success. To help you find the best advisors for your business, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared nine key traits to look for in a great board advisor.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their advice on how to stop chasing an imaginary perfection and move forward with your business. Entrepreneurs naturally want their businesses to be as perfect as possible. What many business leaders may not realize, however, is that in striving for perfection, they may actually be doing more harm than good. Leaders who always seek perfection can end up delaying projects, spending unnecessary money, destroying team morale and undermining their own self-confidence if they aren’t careful about how they channel this perfectionism. To provide guidance on how to do just that, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared their best advice for overcoming perfectionism in business.

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During the pandemic, consumers who couldn't safely shop in brick-and-mortar stores turned to online shopping instead. Whether it be for mundane tasks like grocery shopping or picking up prescriptions, or more leisurely activities like clothes shopping, these errands could be done efficiently from the comfort of home. But as brick-and-mortar businesses open back up and pandemic restrictions ease or disappear altogether, these businesses are once again looking to draw in more customers. To help, Young Entrepreneur Council members weighed in on what might help increase foot traffic to these stores and continue to keep shoppers invested in the "in-person" experience.

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Few people stay in the same exact role at just one company for their entire career. At some point in your professional journey, you'll likely seek out change, whether it's moving up in your organization or finding a job elsewhere. When a job opportunity presents itself, you may wonder whether it's the right move for you at that particular time. You don't want to take too long to make a choice, lest the chance passes you by—but you also don't want to rashly jump into something that isn't a good fit and later regret it. To help you make this important decision, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared nine questions you should ask yourself to determine whether a new professional opportunity is right for you.

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A strong manager can inspire loyalty and guide their team toward reaching their goals, helping the company reach new heights. Conversely, a manager who is ineffective or difficult to deal with can drive away talented employees, leading to high turnover rates and the subsequent loss of time and capital. That's why it's crucial for managers of all levels to focus not only on team deliverables and outcomes, but also on their own leadership skills as well. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared their best strategies for business leaders looking to help their managers succeed and retain more employees.

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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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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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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list some common missteps companies make with social media engagement. Achieving high social media engagement rates is a valuable goal for any modern company. Likes, shares and comments all give companies a quantitative way to measure how positively they’re perceived by their audience members. But in striving for these numbers, companies can overlook certain mistakes that, when resolved, would actually end up helping their efforts in the long run. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members list some of the most common mistakes companies make when it comes to engaging their audience on social media and explain what they should be doing instead.

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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.

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Influencer marketing has become one of the primary ways brands advertise their products since the rise of social media. However, when celebrities and influencers become embroiled in scandal, the brands they represent end up dropping them. In addition, the pandemic has changed the way customers have been interacting with brands, forcing many to rethink their strategies. It's apparent that influencer marketing is changing, but what direction it's headed in isn't exactly clear. To share their insights, members of Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in with their predictions for the future of influencer marketing in the coming months and years.

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As your company grows, you might face challenges maintaining the same level of transparency across departments and teams as you had when your company was small. However, doing so is crucial to cultivating a healthy company culture with every employee on the same page. A big part of promoting transparency is ensuring clear communication between all departments, especially when it comes to shared projects and goals. To help you do this, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council explained how to achieve the right level of communication and transparency.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best advice for switching career fields to technology. People often lose interest in their careers over time. Accelerating this trend, the pandemic has seemed to ignite the spark many people needed to finally realize their dissatisfaction with their current work. As a fast-growing field with unlimited opportunities for the future, the tech industry is a popular place to turn to for those seeking new challenges. Below, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for breaking into the tech industry when you’re new to the field and explain how you can set yourself up to land that first job. 

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In the growing gig economy, there's fierce competition in many freelance markets. Far too often, contractors will try to earn repeat work from a client by going the extra mile and taking on extra work only to not get properly compensated for it. As business professionals, it’s important for freelancers to stand up for themselves and their work and get the compensation they deserve. To help, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their advice. Below, they discussed what freelancers can do before or after taking a job to ensure that they don't get taken advantage of by their clients.

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No matter if your company has been remote since the start or if you’re new to the remote working environment, you can always learn new remote employee onboarding tips to improve your virtual onboarding process. From potential technical difficulties to struggles connecting with your team, the issues associated with virtual onboarding can be smoothed over with the right strategies in place. Here, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council list out what those strategies should include in order to be successful.

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For those working within a small business or team, it can be difficult to take time off. No one wants to go on vacation at the expense of their company and peers—especially during periods of rapid business growth. Still, employees and leaders need to establish healthy work-life boundaries, even when their team is small and the work is plentiful. To provide guidance on how to do just that, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some strategies to help small teams establish balance while their company is growing quickly. Follow their advice to help you and your team better prioritize rest and relaxation.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share strategies for making your sales pitch over Zoom more effective. It’s a generally understood rule of sales that your sales pitch and technique should always adapt to the individual client or business you’re selling to. To be a truly effective salesperson, however, you must also adapt your technique to the environment in which you’re pitching. Increasingly, the sales environment of choice has been over Zoom or other video conferencing tools. Because you don’t have your usual in-person strategies to fall back on, you’ll want to consider these 10 steps recommended by a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members if you want to nail your next pitch.

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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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As intimidating as discomfort is, it’s something that you can learn to cope with and, as a result, transfer your ability to deal with discomfort in one situation to another. 

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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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Now more than ever, people are skeptical about the products and services they want to purchase. Prospects will spend a lot of time researching everything there is to know about a brand before they commit. With technology to the point where augmented reality and virtual reality can be applied to a website easily—and at low cost—many brands and businesses are using it in different ways to enhance their websites' user experience. Here, members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the ways any company can use augmented reality and virtual reality for their sites.

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Business leaders have a lot of responsibilities to juggle, which often lead to non-stop workdays and sleepless nights. The overwork culture naturally drives entrepreneurs to burn out, whether in the short or long term.  Thankfully, there are some simple, yet powerful changes that business leaders can make in their daily routines to live healthier and more successful lives. Here, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best advice on how to stay strong and motivated without losing momentum.

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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.

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Podcasts offer a convenient, time-saving way for entrepreneurs to keep up with current events and gain new insights about business and finance. Most business owners likely have a list of go-to podcasts that they tune into regularly to get advice on everything from hiring people to managing a team and other important aspects of running a business efficiently. In order to spread the wealth of knowledge they've obtained from their favorite podcasts, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

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It’s a common tenet of American culture that with a little hard work and determination, you can make your greatest dreams come true. While being a hard worker is an admirable trait, it can quickly turn into a negative one if your everyday life is consumed by work. This fact has been amplified by the remote work era, when the line between work and personal time has become completely blurred for professionals who work from home. For any professional, however, it’s best to strive for a healthier, more balanced life instead of working around the clock. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their tips for how best to achieve this balance and break free from this negative stereotype.

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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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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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When starting a business, entrepreneurs are likely to encounter many barriers to success. Discoverability can be difficult, as companies may struggle to find new customers or clients at first. Cultivating an audience can then be an even larger challenge when it involves a new product or service. Customers are sometimes hesitant to spend money on something new.  But these and many other entrepreneurial challenges all relate to actually selling that first product to your first customer and building sales from there—and convincing someone to actually purchase your product isn’t always as straightforward as it sounds. Below, nine experts from Young Entrepreneur Council share the key facts every company founder should know about sales and how that knowledge can lead to greater success down the road.

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A public relations crisis is a common incident many companies face at some point. The lasting impact of the incident is not so much about the crisis itself, but the way it’s handled. In the midst of the crisis, it’s important to approach your audience and the issue at hand with careful consideration. This is often achieved by delivering the right communication at the right time through the right medium, such as your social media channels. Below, 15 members of YEC shared some of the ways you can use social media to help resolve negative PR situations as they occur.

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School looked very different for many students this past year and a half due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For recent college grads, the future of work may seem like it’s filled with even more of the same uncertainty as the job market evolves and heals in the aftermath of 2020. But despite what’s occurred, it’s important to move forward and find ways to begin your career in a way that will set you up for success. To provide some guidance on how to do that, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council offered their best advice for recent graduates looking to start their careers during this unprecedented time.

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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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Popular television shows, books, movies and the media in general often paint an idyllic picture of entrepreneurship, but it’s not until you’re actually in the thick of business that you fully understand what it means to be a business owner. While it’s perfectly OK to view entrepreneurship as a positive goal to aspire to, it’s important to be aware of the reality behind working for yourself and running a business to ensure you start your entrepreneurial journey with the right expectations. To offer their insights, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the most common misconceptions about being a business owner and why they’re not always true.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explore some possible negatives of shifting your entire business model to the cloud. The pandemic opened up new possibilities for remote work among companies big and small. Some organizations are even interested in remaining remote or utilizing a hybrid work model by implementing a cloud-based system. While this model can have some major advantages, including minimizing costs and increased accessibility, cloud computing can also have major drawbacks. To help you make the decision that’s best for your company, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council explained some disadvantages to consider before going completely cloud-based.

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The Internet of Things (IoT) has been gaining more and more traction over the past few years as connected devices and smart home and office gadgets dominate the market. According to Statista, the IoT market revenue worldwide is projected to climb to over 1 trillion dollars by 2030. With this increased revenue comes a number of new ways for businesses to leverage IoT technology. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared some business opportunities they see emerging in the IoT sector. Keep an eye out for these 10 growing trends in the B2B IoT space.

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Starting a new job can be difficult for anyone, but it can be especially daunting for someone hired for a managerial position. Integrating yourself into an established culture and work environment as a leader can be nerve-wracking and raise a lot of doubts and fears. Will your new employees accept you? How can you earn their trust and respect? To help start the job on the right foot, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members each detail one step a new manager can take to establish strong relationships with their team. Here are their recommendations and why it’s so important to follow these steps when you're starting out. 

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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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Searching for a new job can be a huge challenge. Modern recruiters have an influx of applications to sift through and judge, and it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. Many professionals offer advice to help people get noticed by potential employers or guide them toward better career options, but not all job hunting tips are good ones. To provide some clarity, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council weighed in on some of the most overrated job search advice they often hear. Here's why they believe these commonly-dispensed words of wisdom aren't necessarily all that wise.

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Fear is a paralyzing emotion and can stop even the most experienced business owners in their tracks. For entrepreneurs — who count on moving forward as a way to keep their businesses thriving — letting fear get out of hand can be debilitating.  But like any business leader, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have had their fair share of fears throughout their own entrepreneurial journeys. Below, 13 members shared what they've been most afraid of as entrepreneurs and how they’ve changed their mindsets to reduce the impact of those fears on their businesses.

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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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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.

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In any type of face-to-face or video meeting, your body language can set the tone for the direction of the conversation. Depending on how you present yourself, the other person may be able to tell if you’re tense, worried or even closed off. Poor body language can have detrimental effects, especially if you’re speaking to a "very important person" who can determine the fate of your business. That's why it's important to put your best foot forward with parties like potential investors and business partners by paying extra attention to your nonverbal communications. To help you, eight Young Entrepreneur Council members shared some common body language mistakes you should avoid when speaking to a VIP.

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So, you have a great business idea and a basic foundation of your vision. Your next step, before pitching to investors or even thinking about launch day, is to write a solid business plan. A business plan serves as the guide to your business’s beginnings by laying out potential stumbling blocks and fielding your target market. However, crafting one isn't always as easy as it seems. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain what they wish they'd known when they were writing their first business plans and why that would have helped them.

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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.

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One of the most common complaints in the business world is about being forced to attend unnecessary meetings. Nobody wants to sit through an in-person meeting or video conference to hear things that could have instead been summed up in an email message. To help business leaders run more purposeful meetings, we asked 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share their best tips for how to make meetings more efficient and useful.

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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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We can apply the principles of stoicism to leadership practices and, as a result, make better decisions faster.

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Many employees are familiar with receiving feedback from their managers. However, few are as familiar or comfortable with giving feedback to their managers. Whether it’s because, as an employee, you don’t feel like it’s your place to offer criticism or because you just aren’t sure how to go about doing it, approaching a superior with a critique can be a frightening prospect. But with the right attitude and strategies at your disposal, you can make the feedback process less intimidating and even helpful—for you, your manager and your relationship. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council each shared their best advice for how to offer feedback to your manager and do so in a way that will be well-received. Follow these tips to start building a more constructive culture at work.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for marketing your newly launched mobile app. When launching a new app, you’ll want to invest your time, money and effort into marketing it. Otherwise, you won’t reach your intended audience or boost your sales. If people don’t know about your app, they likely won’t be able to find it or won’t feel inclined to try it out.  To that end, 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared marketing tactics a company can use to get people excited about their new application before and after launch. Here’s what they recommend and why these methods work so well.

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Entrepreneurs and business leaders are often filled with ideas, but that doesn't mean they should always move forward with them. It’s first important to determine if that new product or service idea is actually a viable option for your business. Asking yourself some initial questions can help you validate your idea before taking the next steps to see it through to fruition. As business leaders themselves, these eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council have also tossed plenty of ideas around, wondering if they will be successes or failures. Below, they've provided a set of questions you can ask yourself before investing any more time, money or resources into a product or service idea. Spend time thinking on these eight questions to determine if you should move forward with the idea or not.

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With the rich educational value podcasts often provide their listeners, it’s no surprise that the business community turns to this popular form of content to improve their skills and strategies. Some entrepreneurs even make major business decisions based on the information they’ve learned and the stories they’ve listened to on podcasts. With this in mind, 14 members of Young Entrepreneur Council responded to the following question:

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the best technology innovations they've seen recently and why each is so impressive. The technology industry continues to boom faster than ever, especially in today's digital-first world. New innovations are springing up every day, from smartphone technology to machine learning and more. Tech innovations not only optimize business practices across industries, but also afford a better quality of life to consumers. But which ones are the most impressive and useful? Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council describe what they see as the best recent tech innovations and why each one is so helpful.

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Startup accelerators and incubators are great opportunities for new businesses to grow and scale their operations quickly. These programs are pivotal for the startups who participate in them, as they often provide access to exclusive business resources and funding opportunities. However, they can also be highly competitive -- acceptance to an accelerator program relies on creating a compelling pitch and proving your startup's potential right out of the gate. If you're thinking of applying to a startup accelerator or incubator, consider this advice from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council.

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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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One of the best ways to learn how to manage your employees is to ask them questions. If you pose the right questions, you'll get to know what motivates your employees and what their goals are. You can then use this information to manage them more effectively and help them succeed in their jobs. To help you figure out which questions to ask, 12 business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) respond to a question of their own:

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The key to success for most startups is having adequate funds for growth. In many cases, this means finding investors and raising capital to get your business off the ground. As founders seeking capital quickly learn, finding the right investor is often all about who you know. To that end, nine Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their top tips for building and maintaining relationships with experts in your field. These industry relationships can open countless new doors for you when it comes time to seek an investor for your business.

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Business leaders often think they need to have all the answers. It's true that a manager or executive should be a trusted source of information when employees or clients need something. However, it can be difficult to know how to proceed when someone asks a question you don't know the answer to. Fortunately, there’s power in admitting you don't know something, and it often makes you appear more authentic and human. So to help you navigate interviews, meetings and customer interactions with ease, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council explained how business leaders should answer questions they’re unsure about and why each approach is so effective.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for overcoming self-doubt when starting out in business. Impostor syndrome describes the feeling that you’re somehow a fraud in your personal or professional life. People who suffer from this psychological pattern often believe that they just got where they are by luck, which invalidates or diminishes their achievements in their own minds. New entrepreneurs, especially those who have limited experience in their industry, often succumb to impostor syndrome. They may feel like they don’t know what they’re doing and that their partners, clients or employees might find out and walk away. If you’re struggling with impostor syndrome, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some strategies here that may help you combat it.

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Hiring talented new employees can help a company grow. Young employees, in particular, often bring fresh perspectives, new skills, and lots of creative energy to the businesses they join. However, it can be difficult to attract young talent, especially in today’s competitive hiring environment. Here, 10 members from Young Entrepreneur Council share how your business can attract the best young professionals.

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First impressions are everything, especially when you’re first starting out on the job. When you’re trying to make a name for yourself within a new role or company, it’s important to know how to make an excellent impression. As successful business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council know that first impressions can lay the foundation for the rest of your time at any organization. Below, 10 members detailed the best things a new hire can do to impress their managers and company right off the bat. Here's why those actions are so impactful and can prove your worth and value as an employee.

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As a new small business, engaging your community is crucial to getting your business off the ground. The goal is to nurture lasting relationships that will drive your revenue and increase brand awareness; however, forming genuine connections with members of your community requires strategy and patience. To help you do this, 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council answered the following question:

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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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Major changes are often necessary for a company that wants to keep growing and scaling. When critical moments occur, however, (such as a merger or landing a major client) leaders need to set the tone for the rest of their employees. How they respond to them will trickle down and set the example for how everyone else will work. One of the most important things a leader can do in these times of change is fortify and maintain the trust of their employees. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared their methods for keeping employees' trust during pivotal moments for a company.

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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.

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With so many people accustomed to working in remote environments, businesses no longer need a centralized location to find success. If they make strategic choices about which technologies to adopt, ambitious entrepreneurs can launch, run and grow a successful business right from their own home. One important part of the equation in building a home-based business is having the right tech tools in place. Below, ten members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss key ways for entrepreneurs to leverage technology to help their home-based business thrive. Follow their tips to set yours up for success.

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Return on investment is one of the most critical metrics any company can track. Knowing the ROI of each company function makes it easier to make key business decisions. Measuring the return on customer service investments can be especially helpful in improving your service and experience. However, it's not always clear how to distill those numbers in actionable ways. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members discusses the most effective ways to make customer service ROI figures more measurable and impactful for a business.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the most important lessons they've learned about leading from afar. The COVID-19 pandemic has rocked the world’s foundations in all aspects. Countless companies have had to change their business models and switch to remote work to keep their employees safe. But after more than a year of this virtual work environment, leaders have learned valuable lessons on how to lead—and how not to lead—when their teams aren't all in one location. The members of Young Entrepreneur Council know the challenges of pivoting their leadership style in the current climate. Below, 13 of them shared the lessons that have taught them how to be better leaders in this new remote work era.

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These are just a few ways that psychology can help you as a leader. You already use it in marketing, whether you realize it or not. But with regular learning, by listening to audiobooks or following experts in the area of behavioral psychology, you’ll make better decisions.

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Tracking the progress of your company goals is the best way to ensure they get accomplished. When a business leader sets company goals at the beginning of a year, they should also plan to check in on those goals periodically. One major common check-in time is the mid-year check. This reflection period can be a good reminder of what the organization should be focused on, as well as an opportunity to share progress and alternate plans. To get the most out of this goal discussion, leaders should have a specific and focused agenda. Below, members of Young Entrepreneur Council suggested a few factors leaders should check in on in order to stay on track all year long.

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A journal can be a valuable tool to an entrepreneur. Being able to sit down and reflect on your thoughts throughout the day can provide a much-needed dose of perspective and can help you to improve your focus. Unfortunately, there’s no one step-by-step guide on how you should journal to obtain these desired results. Some techniques work well, and others are less effective. For a busy entrepreneur, journaling effectively may require trial and error. Here, 12 leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council share their techniques for those who may be hesitant to try journaling or those who are unsure of where to begin and how those methods help them get their thoughts in order as business owners.

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Getting recognized by peers can significantly increase a business’s exposure, potentially resulting in increased visibility and more customers. However, not all awards are worth the time and effort to apply to them. Some of them don't carry a lot of weight with other experts in the field, some you may not even qualify for and others try to get businesses to pay them for consideration. But which ones are worth it? To offer their best advice, 10 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) respond to the following question:

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The pandemic has made remote and hybrid work arrangements mainstream. But it has also given managers a unique opportunity to bring different talent to their teams from all over the country and the globe. That being said, it's also important to think about how those new hires will work and be managed in a remote setting. It takes a certain skill set to succeed in a remote work environment, so it's vital to identify some key traits that will set a candidate up for success. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared the qualifications they've been looking for in new hires lately, especially those who will be working remotely.

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Disagreements will happen from time to time, regardless of how well a team works together. However, conflicts shouldn’t result in destroyed relationships or grudges. It’s important for professionals to know how to prevent a situation from escalating and get their point across without becoming rude or arrogant in their words and actions. While resolving disagreements on a positive note can take a bit more work, the end result is a happier relationship and overall workplace. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council examine the best strategies for dealing with disagreements in the office and how these methods can help the conversation move forward.

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While introversion should not be considered a negative trait, in the world of business, where so many daily tasks require people-to-people interaction, introverts can quickly find themselves drained of energy. Figuring out methods to cope with this issue isn’t always easy. Employers can help, however, by ensuring their work environment and duties are introvert-friendly. To accomplish this, employers should keep a few helpful tips in mind. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some strategies for helping introverted employees succeed in the workplace and achieve their goals, and how that may benefit the entire team over the long term.

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When examining the habits and routines of successful people, specific patterns start to emerge. While they may approach their morning schedules differently, successful business leaders all include essential steps that help them prepare for their day. The small details may vary from time to time, but the overall sense of preparation remains. However, there are some actions that successful people just don’t include in their morning routines—for good reason. Here, eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council list a few of those actions and explain why successful people never do these things in the morning (and why people looking to achieve success shouldn’t either).

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Not every method is going to work the same for every person. These days it seems like every working professional is trying to hack their productivity. From multitasking to juggling more work adeptly, these productivity hacks claim that they can help individuals do more in a shorter span of time. For many business owners who are strapped for time, these hacks seem like the perfect solution. However, many of them aren't worth the time that someone may dedicate to them. While these hacks work fine in theory, their effectiveness levels vary from individual to individual. Below, 11 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss several popular productivity hacks that they personally find highly overrated.

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When it comes to creating a valuable email newsletter for your customers, you need to consider the value of the content within it. For the newsletter to create real impact, it should include a wide range of topics and content types, as some readers will respond to certain types of content differently than others. Here, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the components every newsletter should include in order to pique and maintain reader interest. Ensure these components make it into your newsletter design plan to help you build a list with impact.

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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:

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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.

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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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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.

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Effective task management can be quite a challenge for many professionals and businesses, especially when dealing with complex assignments or a large volume of projects, each with its own specific requirements, deadlines and deliverables. Luckily, advances in business technology have created a significant increase in the number and availability of task management solutions. It can, however, be challenging to know which tool to choose, and a user can quickly get bogged down by the number of options in front of them. To help, eleven professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on the most effective tools and solutions they've used to get organized and explain what about those solutions helps them stay on track.

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Working from home has become the norm for many professionals during the pandemic. However, not every remote employee has found the ideal way to plan their workday. It can be difficult to focus when handling your tasks from home, especially if there are other family members or distractions present during your working hours. That's why eight Young Entrepreneur Council members offered their insights on how remote employees can best schedule their day. Here’s how you can create a daily plan that promotes productivity and focus.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain what every prospective smart home system owner should think about before making an investment. From video doorbells to smart locks to thermostats, smart home systems can be incredibly beneficial for homeowners. They can make tasks simpler and make your home run more efficiently. However, there are a few things homeowners should know before installing one. To help you prepare for this investment, 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss what they believe all consumers should know before purchasing a smart home system. Keep these insights in mind as you're shopping for your next device.

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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.

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Building a brand is an essential part of starting a business. The brand should accurately reflect what the company is, what it offers, its values and more. Along with a brand, however, comes the story that lets consumers understand the “why” behind your company. To help you develop that story, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared the most important components of a captivating brand story and how to leverage them. Follow their tips to craft a story that will engage your audience and build a loyal following.

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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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As it has with many other parts of running a business, technology has granted business leaders the tools that can make recruiting a much simpler process. Today’s tech can help gather and sort applications, offer communication tools to ensure recruiters have a safe and secure location to speak with their potential hires and many of them even provide contract services that can help speed up onboarding. But with so many options to pick from, these recruitment tools aren't necessarily known to everyone. Below, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the most valuable software and solutions they use in their recruitment processes and why these tools help get the right talent into their businesses.

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The face of social media has changed significantly in a short time, and today short video content is dominating user news feeds. While some social media platforms use video as a feature, like Instagram Stories, others, such as TikTok, use short videos as their main form of communication. Businesses can then leverage this content on their own social media pages to help improve their customer engagement and boost sales. To share insights on how to do just that, 12 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answer the following question:

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their predictions for upcoming advances in encryption tech. Privacy and security are becoming increasingly important in today’s highly digital business world. With many employees working remotely and technology rapidly advancing, encryption technology will need to advance just as quickly. To that end, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared what they predict will be some of the next big steps in encryption technology in the near future. Keep an eye on these developments to see what kind of effect they’ll have on privacy and security for you and your business.

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Make the decision to make fewer decisions. Making decisions is a necessary and frequent part of any businessperson's day. The decisions they make can have a significant and fundamental impact on their company’s future. However, making those decisions can have a profound effect on the entrepreneur as well. Having to consider each facet of a problem to come up with a viable solution takes significant mental energy — especially when it happens multiple times a day. To help ease some of that decision fatigue, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council examine the following question:

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The concept of internal resistance is also known as self-sabotage. Most people experience resistance in some form or the other but aren’t aware of what it is.

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Search engine optimization is a prominent concern for marketers across all industries and for any business with an online presence. Having good SEO habits is likely to get your website ranked on search engines above your competitors. However, poor SEO habits likely won’t produce the results you’re looking for and can potentially lead to your site getting heavily penalized. To help you cultivate acceptable SEO practices, 13 professionals from YEC discuss several examples of poor SEO habits they've run into and explain why these habits could have a severely negative impact on your marketing.

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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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Many entrepreneurs learn early in their careers that they are never going to be the best at everything. When it comes to running a business, most entrepreneurs do some things really well but can be terrible at something else. However, strengths and weaknesses are all part of the human condition, and even the most seasoned business owner is not without weakness. However, you can always be more intentional with how you approach your weaknesses. With the right plan, entrepreneurs can shed some light on their weaknesses and work to improve them. To offer a few strategies, eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of their tips for turning weaknesses into strengths and how that can positively affect your business.

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Getting quality guest posts on your website is one of the most effective ways to ensure that your brand gains added visibility. The more high-quality sites post to yours, the better search engines will rank you and the more positive relationships you’ll build. However, if you want to get a top publication’s name on your website, you’ll need to convince them your site is worth their effort. So how does a marketer best approach a site to write a guest post? Below, 10 experts from YEC discuss the best techniques for reaching out to a popular publication to guest post on your website and explain why their methods work so well.

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No matter what type of business you're in, your team will undoubtedly encounter problems with creativity and inspiration sooner or later. It’s difficult for any human being to always be “on” creatively, and these uninspired moments can happen during the most inopportune times. If deadlines are looming and work is piling up, leaders can take it upon themselves to help their teams get reinspired. However, this is easier said than done, especially without the right techniques. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council examine some techniques they've used to motivate and inspire their teams to reignite their creativity.

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Building positive relationships with your customers is essential to running a successful and sustainable business. That’s why many business owners rely on customer relationship management (CRM) tools to connect with clients and nurture ongoing interactions. With so many options on the market, leaders may not know where to start in their search for a great CRM tool. Below, 15 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council shared their favorite CRM tools and why they’re so effective.

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Whether you’re a business leader or just someone trying to improve their life, surrounding yourself with positive people can be an important part of personal development. Aside from offering support when you most need it, positive people can also challenge you to grow and evolve as an individual, all while giving you the confidence you need to take action. But how do you find these positive people and make them a part of your inner circle? Twelve experts from Young Entrepreneur Council examine some of the steps you can take to locate and attract positive people to stand in your corner and challenge you to grow in both your personal and professional lives.

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Organizations may carry with them a long history, but sometimes, it may be necessary to revamp the way a brand appears to the public. Successful rebranding keeps the core promise of the business but reinvents how the consumer sees them. While some companies may benefit from that traditional appeal, many others realize that consumers prefer a business that they see as modern and innovative. Businesses who choose to rebrand can breathe new life into their enterprise and change how consumers view their products or services. However, rebranding is a risky choice since it could backfire if poorly done. To help, eight experts from Young Entrepreneur Council suggest several critical steps businesses should take to ensure successful rebranding.

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If you want to lead, you may want to nurture these traits first. Many people want to be influential, to be able to lead and solve problems and create real change in the world. But not everyone knows what it takes to get there or what qualities one must have in order to achieve that influence. If you study someone you find influential, however, you’ll likely find they have certain characteristics that help them seem that way.  But what are these elusive traits? Here, 13 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council examine this by answering the following question:

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Public relations can be a delicate balancing act. If your business does PR right, it could skyrocket in popularity overnight. If, however, you run afoul of public opinion, you may find your company falls as fast as it grew. Startups, especially, may be at a disadvantage. They don't have dedicated PR firms behind them and have to develop unique ways to engage the public that get them noticed and ensure their relevance. For a discussion on some of the methods startups may not have considered, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share what they’d recommend to boost PR efforts and how these approaches can result in a better company image.

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Devastating occurrences sometimes happen in business without a lot of forewarning. Entrepreneurs can leverage insurance to protect themselves from things such as fire or theft, but there are other less obvious disasters that are more difficult to prepare for. And yet, these negative situations can often be blessings in disguise, pushing the business to regroup, rethink and grow in the process. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the devastating occurrences that have affected their organizations and the lessons they learned that helped them move forward and achieve success.

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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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As with other marketing efforts, social media can sometimes be a challenge because it has to balance customer appeal with staying true to its brand promise. But with so many social media platforms, trends and opportunities for innovation, it can be easy to let the brand message get lost along the way. So how does a company keep all of its different social media profiles and content on brand with each and every post? Below, 11 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) examine the following question:

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Bookkeeping is a tedious but necessary process for all businesses. But for small businesses with limited resources, streamlining the process becomes of even greater importance. One way to do this is to invest in a reputable accounting software or tool that keeps you organized and on track. With so many options on the market today, however, it can be difficult to know which accounting software is right for your business bookkeeping needs. It's helpful to get insights from experienced entrepreneurs who have tested out a variety of tools to find what works and what doesn’t. To that end, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared the bookkeeping software and tools they recommend for small business owners.

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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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Video remains one of the most popular marketing formats that companies can use to reach out to their customers, and with so many online platforms adding live video capabilities, more companies than ever are able to interact with their customers in real time.  However, as with all content marketing formats, there are many ways to go about creating live video content. Not every approach will be successful for every type of company. To help you determine what’s right for you, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council examine some specific ways they’d recommend using live video to boost your brand’s following and why these strategies can help your business succeed.

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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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Sensitive information is stored and accessed digitally by businesses every day. While it's a lot more convenient for companies to have data stored digitally, unfortunately this also means these files are more vulnerable to attacks from hackers. Malicious users can gain access to a company’s data in several ways, including phishing, a method which takes advantage of unsuspecting employees as a gateway.  However, there are also a number of ways companies can protect themselves and their data from such attacks. Below, nine professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss how companies can guard against these attacks and why every business should make their digital security a priority.

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There may come a time for certain employees when they notice that their skills or interests are better suited to another part of the company and they ask to switch to a different department to better serve their goals. When this happens, managers may not know how to react as the request may come out of the blue or it could be taken as a slight on their current department. However, it’s important to keep a few key ideas in mind and help this employee grow and develop the most positive way possible. To help managers keep perspective, eight experts from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss what managers should do when an employee asks to move to a different department and why facilitating these moves could be to the benefit of the employee and the company as a whole.

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When an entrepreneur starts a business, the immediate concern is how much it will cost to set up. Cost can sometimes seem like a barrier to entry for those hopeful business owners looking to get started on a budget. Luckily, evolving tech has provided many free alternatives to the paid tools other professionals use. But with so many of these tools on the market, you could spend months sorting through them to find the ones that work best for you and your business. To help you narrow down the list, 15 leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best suggestions for free tools that solopreneurs can use to help keep startup costs down.

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Many businesses are aware that they need to have a website so they create one out of necessity. They don’t want to be left behind in the digital age and believe that creating an online presence is all they need to do.

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In business, time is money, and it can be easy for entrepreneurs to overload themselves with work. But with so many demands on their schedules, every task can begin to seem important and too much information can get out of hand. In these cases, it’s vital that entrepreneurs pause and take a moment to figure out how to best manage their time. When projects pile up and a sense of overwhelm is building, the experts from Young Entrepreneur Council recommend following this advice. Below, they’ve offered several actionable tips for entrepreneurs looking to better prioritize their time and avoid information overload.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for combating the discouraging thoughts that plague many entrepreneurs. As you're tackling challenges in business, it can be easy to fall into the trap of negative self-talk. This pattern of behavior, while common, can be extremely discouraging and leave you mentally and emotionally depleted. To embrace your fullest potential, you’ll want to become your own biggest advocate and engage in healthier, more empowering dialogue with yourself. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their best strategies for overcoming the toxic, negative self-talk that can hold you back as a business leader.

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Entrepreneurship is an exciting and fulfilling career path, but there might be times when you’ll feel discouraged and riddled with self-doubt. Combating these emotions isn’t always easy and takes patience and continued practice. Whether you’re a newbie business owner or a seasoned entrepreneur, it helps to affirm to yourself just how capable you are of accomplishing your dreams. To offer some guidance, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared things everyone should periodically remind themselves of in order to be more positive, confident and tenacious. Follow their advice to boost your self-esteem and move beyond self-doubt.

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For many people, networking is not a skill that comes naturally—even to entrepreneurs. But without this skill, entrepreneurs may end up developing bad networking habits that could hinder their ability to form new business relationships. Because cultivating good connections is crucial for any entrepreneur, breaking those bad networking habits is a necessary undertaking. To help, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council list some of the bad networking habits that entrepreneurs need to ditch immediately if they intend to improve the quality and quantity of their business connections and master the art of networking.

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Many businesses rely on software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies to help them run their everyday operations. However, with so many specialized vendors, it's easy to lose track of the number — and price tag — of the SaaS providers you're working with. To help, members of Young Entrepreneur Council weighed in on the following question:

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain the tactics they've used to encourage customer downloads of their branded mobile apps. In today's mobile-first world, businesses can get tremendous value from developing and promoting branded mobile apps. It's a great way to reach customers where they are and it provides them an exciting new way to engage with your brand. The problem, however, is that app fatigue may discourage consumers from downloading your newly launched mobile app. They may think, "Why should I download another app on my phone when I can just go to the company's website?" To show your customers your app is valuable and worth downloading, consider these 11 tried-and-true strategies leveraged by the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, who have successfully encouraged consumers to use their companies' mobile apps.

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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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As machine learning becomes more prevalent in business, it has the potential to affect a company’s day-to-day interactions with its customers, whether positively or negatively. Many businesses have already invested heavily in machine learning and have found great success. However, new tech can always be intimidating, scary or potentially difficult to implement. Below, eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council attempt to quell some of those fears by discussing the merits of machine learning and how they see it affecting their own daily interactions with customers. These are just a few things machine learning can do to help take your business to the next level.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their firsthand insights on leveraging social media effectively this year. Social media is one of the most powerful tools business owners can use. How you leverage your accounts can make all the difference in terms of your overall success and business growth. As 2021 moves forward, it’s important for entrepreneurs to know how to maximize their social media use to achieve success throughout the year. To help, 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council use their firsthand experience to share some of their best social media tips for today’s business owners.

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Email marketing is a great way for small businesses to stay connected with their customers and encourage more sales. The problem is that because of their size they often have limited resources for growing their subscriber lists. So to help small business owners expand their email audience (even on a budget), the members of Young Entrepreneur Council weighed in on the following question:

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During the interview process, there are some red flags that will be immediately apparent to an employer. Unfortunately, there are also a few of them that may slip by unnoticed, and it's only after the hire starts working that the company realizes they may have made an error. These post-hire red flags aren't the end of the world, though. By approaching the issue proactively and identifying the best way to mitigate any potential damage it may cause, this type of situation can usually be easily rectified. To help, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the red flags that companies may not notice until later and how business leaders can properly respond to them.

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Marketing is a crucial element of any successful business, and even small business startups will need to begin building their marketing department as soon as possible. However, some marketing roles are more critical to your business’s success than others. To help you determine which role you need to hire for first, 13 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answer the following question:

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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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For any aspiring business owner or entrepreneur, establishing the right practices and habits as part of your normal behaviors can set you on a path toward career success. However, there are a few habits that might actually be hindering your entrepreneurial journey rather than helping it. These habits might be things you consider to be completely harmless in the grand scheme of your total behaviors, and many entrepreneurs might not even see them as significant hurdles to overcome. Yet, the longer you maintain these bad habits, the less likely you'll be to encounter success as a result. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council examine some of the seemingly harmless habits they believe can hinder an entrepreneur’s progress and what they should consider doing instead.

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When you're a busy entrepreneur, there never seems to be enough time in a day. You likely have long lists of tasks that require your full attention, but little time to sit down and focus on them. This can be overwhelming and, in turn, send your productivity levels into a slump. It’s important to find the best ways to prioritize your time so you can accomplish everything you want to do. To help you find what works for you, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their best time management and prioritization tips.

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Whether through branded content on social media or print ads for specific products, consumers often first encounter a company through its marketing efforts, and reaching target customers both online and offline is integral to a brand’s success today. However, if these strategies aren’t aligned, the messaging at different touch points can be diluted and inconsistent, which could end up confusing consumers rather than tempting them to learn more about the company’s offerings or make a purchase. Below, nine leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss ways to seamlessly unify online and offline marketing strategies and explain why connecting the two is critical to a business’s success.

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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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Many companies set goals for the year, but can often lose track of them as other problems and priorities arise. Ensuring each department has its own goals to work toward is one way to help prevent this issue. But how can a leader figure out if each department is on track with its goals? Leaders need to determine the most effective way to track department goals and ensure each unit is working in harmony with the others and helping to achieve the company’s overarching objectives. To provide some guidance on how to do this, seven members of Young Entrepreneur Council share valuable advice for leaders who want to track department-specific goals throughout the year, as well as explain why these methods are so successful.

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When it comes to small and large businesses, not every encounter has to be about competition. Sometimes, interactions could result in a mutually beneficial partnership. The path to getting there, however, isn’t always so clear. For small businesses to ensure they are heard and that they don't get the short end of the stick in the deal, there are certain steps they should take. To provide some insight on exactly which steps you should consider taking first, 10 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on what a smaller company should do to get noticed and strike a beneficial partnership with a larger company.

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Entrepreneurs typically have long, nonstandard workdays, with some even working more than 15 hours at a time. Yet even though they may be spending all this time working on their business, there's no guarantee that their days are truly as productive as they could be. Building structure within your workday helps solve this problem. But how does someone specifically go about structuring their day, and what types of elements should be included? To help, nine leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the workday scheduling techniques that function best for them, and offer some advice on how others can follow in their footsteps.

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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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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some basic how-to tips for small businesses that want to use cloud computing. From data storage to web-based software solutions to cloud hosting, many companies rely on some form of cloud computing to streamline their day-to-day operations. This technology has been a game-changer across industries in recent years, especially in today's world of remote work where employees need anywhere, anytime access to important company files.  Using the cloud can help small businesses scale their operations to new heights. Below, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best advice for small business owners looking to grow their business through the use of cloud computing.

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Without the support of employees, a company’s branding efforts can only be so successful. It’s when the whole team comes together to promote the business, and your employees have all become effective brand ambassadors, that your business’s brand is able to truly shine. But forcing employees to take part in branding efforts can seem demanding and may not have the same result as when they contribute voluntarily. To offer some ideas on how business leaders can transform their team members into eager, authentic brand ambassadors, 10 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council answered the following question: What's one specific way you can encourage employees to help contribute to a company's branding efforts? How do you do this without seeming demanding?

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Strength and adaptability have never been more important than right now.

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Every day, new devices pop onto the scene promising change and innovation. For an entrepreneur who's focused on the expansion of their organization, staying up to date with the latest technology that can support personal and business growth is essential. Whether it’s in a simple or a major way, some of these technologies carry with them the power to change how we do business altogether. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council take a look at some of the tech gadgets they've acquired recently that they now consider essential to their life or business.

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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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Inclusion and diversity have certainly become buzzwords in recent years, but they are more than just a passing fad; They are vital elements to a business's success. A diverse, inclusive workforce leverages the knowledge and experiences of a broader cross section of society and helps bring the business closer to the people it serves. However, not all leaders know the best way to promote inclusion and diversity in their businesses, and even some well-intentioned efforts could harm the business in the long run. Here, eight professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the more effective ways you can promote diversity and inclusion in your company and explain how these methods can help any business succeed.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share how to prepare your company for greater integration of artificial intelligence and automation. As modern technology continues to advance, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are playing an increasingly vital role in the workforce. Routine, recurring tasks are being automated in nearly every industry to save time and money. As we rapidly approach the start of the “AI/automation revolution,” businesses may be wondering how they can leverage this technology to their advantage. To help, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share 14 ways companies can prepare for this upcoming revolution to maximize their future success.

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Everyone feels down from time to time, even entrepreneurs. Constantly surrounded by others who are seemingly experiencing success, business leaders can sometimes have a hard time reminding themselves of their own potential. This mental hurdle can be a massive one to overcome, but the key to feeling knocked down is having plans and strategies for how to get back up. Below, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips and personal methods for dealing with this type of negative thinking.

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You can't avoid the occasional upset customer, but you can quickly and effectively smooth things over. A business depends on happy customers for lasting success. Unfortunately, no matter what steps you take to prevent customer service issues, not every client is going to be happy. Whether their reason for anger is justified or not, you’ll need to address the situation and the person’s concerns. The way you respond can make the difference between a customer who’s ultimately satisfied and one who refuses to do business with your company again. To help you assuage angry customers, these successful entrepreneurs share their top tried-and-true tactics for conflict resolution.

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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:

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Establishing a personal brand is something many professionals do to get noticed by the right people and make themselves available to the right opportunities. Unfortunately, with all the different information sources out there, it's easy to get confused about how exactly to do that. Where one source would advise you to do one thing, another article may recommend the complete opposite. Therefore, it's not uncommon to see people drawing conclusions about personal branding that are simply wrong. Below, nine contributors to Young Entrepreneur Council look at the most common mistakes you might make when it comes to developing your personal brand and how you can fix those errors before they have a significant impact.

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Being an entrepreneur and owning your own business is an end goal for most people. It's a thrilling end result -- the fact that you're your own boss, you set your own hours, and remain accountable only to yourself can be a heady mix. Yet, the benefits of the position usually overshadow the more pertinent considerations that would-be entrepreneurs overlook. Although there are significant benefits to being a business owner, there's also a considerable amount of background work that rarely gets highlighted but needs to be done. These 12 members of YEC look at these extraneous factors that new entrepreneurs tend to overlook before embarking on starting their business and explain why these elements are so critical to your success as a business owner.

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Communication is one of the most essential skills that a business leader needs to master to be successful. Great leaders may develop their communication skills early on in their careers, but they also have created and maintained habits that help them communicate more effectively. When you watch great leaders address an audience or interact with others, the practices they cultivate to help them communicate so well may not be immediately apparent. Even so, their effectiveness is unquestionable. Here, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the habits they believe all great leaders have and explain why these help make them such powerful communicators.

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Young Entrepreneur Council members look ahead at consumer IoT device trends they expect we’ll see more of this year. The internet of things (IoT) has been a booming sector of the tech industry in recent years. As people are now spending more time at home than ever, the need for connected devices has taken on new importance and relevance.  Because of this need, 2021 will likely be the year that consumers and businesses alike upgrade their smart home and office technology. Below, 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared their predictions for which IoT devices will have the greatest impact on the consumer market in the coming months ahead.

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Hiring for a senior position at a company usually requires a lot more time and effort than hiring for other positions. In many cases, business owners may have a hard time finding the most effective way to source senior talent for their organization. You don't want to lose out on great talent, but you also need to spot the best talent out of the field of applicants, because making a wrong hire at this level can spell disaster for the organization. To offer some guidance, 13 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) use their own experience hiring for senior-level positions to reflect on the following question: “What's the best recruiting lesson you've learned when it comes to hiring for a senior position within your company? How has it affected future hires?”   Here’s a few of their most important tips.

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As the new year signifies new beginnings, most people come up with things they want to change as the January rolls around. If these resolutions stick, they could lead to an entirely new way of life. Yet so many people let these goals falter, and within the first few weeks of the new year, these resolutions are relegated to the proverbial garbage heap. However, some people really do manage to attain their goals. Some entrepreneurs have developed great success by sticking to their New Year’s resolutions, but what's their secret? Here, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some helpful tricks to ensure that you can achieve your own New Year’s resolutions this year.

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When posting a job listing, businesses generally have their go-to, established platforms that they know are frequented by potential candidates. Sometimes, however, a company needs to think outside the box when sourcing talent. Occasionally, the least obvious places to post vacancies may result in the most remarkable outpouring of candidates. That’s why these 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) reflect on the following question:

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Social media has changed how businesses and entrepreneurs interact with their audiences. In the past, you were required to go out and meet in person with your customers to establish a rapport with them. The internet has mostly simplified this, making it much easier to engage an audience on a social media platform. Yet even this level of engagement can be overwhelming for more introverted business owners for whom networking and conversation don’t come as naturally. Why then should a business owner still try to engage their potential customers online? Online customer engagement has many tangible benefits for businesses. Here, eight professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of these benefits, highlighting the importance of engaging on social media for even the most introverted entrepreneurs.

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Finding funding is typically one of the most challenging parts of starting a new business. The risks versus rewards of investing in new companies can usually have investors worried about jumping in. The responsibility is then on the entrepreneur to make their business idea exciting and attractive enough to warrant investors' attention. No matter whether the funding comes from friends, angel investors or venture capital firms, the entrepreneur must have a clear strategy for obtaining this funding. To help, these eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council offer some strategies for persuading someone to invest in a new business.

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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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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer some effective ways to keep users coming back to your mobile app. Everyone with a smartphone or tablet uses mobile apps, and businesses have increasingly seen the value in creating their own. However, it’s hard to stand out in crowded app stores where many competitors are doing the same thing. Even if you do get people to download your app, the real challenge lies in getting them to come back and continue using it. To help, we asked 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council how they recommend engaging and retaining mobile app users. Here are their suggested strategies and why each is so effective.

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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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Small businesses, like any business, have finances that need to be kept in order. Owners can deal with these duties to a point; however, small businesses tend to grow, and hiring an employee dedicated to keeping the company's finances in check is often a necessary next step. Luckily, many small business owners can hire someone on a part-time basis. This route carries a lot less overhead in terms of time and money compared to hiring a full-time employee, but it also comes with its own challenges. That’s why we asked 11 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

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Members of Young Entrepreneur explain how hands-on CEOs can get more comfortable with delegation. When you first started your business, you were likely very hands-on with all aspects of your company. As you've grown and hired people, you may have found that you're struggling to step back and let go of the day-to-day tasks that helped get the company off the ground. While it's good for a CEO to remain involved in their business, it's also important to know when to delegate and start giving more power to your employees. This can be tough for someone who's used to doing everything themselves, but there are ways to practice and get better at handing off business tasks. To help, we asked 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share their best delegation strategies for CEOs who want to empower their teams. Here's what they recommend.

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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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[LONG FORM EMAILED TO KELSEY] 2020 has been a year of challenges on multiple fronts, from the COVID-19 pandemic, to racial injustice protests, to a highly contentious Presidential election. Businesses have had to contend with rapid changes in consumer behaviors and spending patterns, and many have had to adjust their models accordingly. To stay afloat, business leaders have had to learn to market successfully while navigating this strange new environment. We asked a group of entrepreneurs the best marketing tips they've learned this year and why. Read their insights for some valuable lessons to take with you into 2021.

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Being able to continue writing even when you don’t feel good about it is an experience that you need to learn to contend with if you do any kind of writing at all.

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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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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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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. However, some organizations have refined their candidate sourcing. They've streamlined the process to ensure that they only get those that are already qualified for the position. In such a case, it's just a matter of choosing the most viable candidates. Narrowing down these candidates is a lot easier with filtering early on in the process. Here, 10 experts from YEC explore their preferred methods for locating the ideal candidate for their businesses and explain why those strategies work so well to net them the best individuals for the job.

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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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It’s a myth that successful leaders never make mistakes – even the best leaders have slip-ups from time to time. It’s crucial to learn from those mistakes so they aren’t repeated and equally important to be transparent with your employees when remedying the situation.  The members of Young Entrepreneur Council have made their fair share of missteps in their past and current leadership roles, and they’ve learned a lot of important lessons from those mistakes. Nine members detail their greatest leadership blunders below and what they would have done differently if they could change their actions today.

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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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Communication is one of the core components of a successful business. The leader of said business must be a master of communication to ensure that their wishes are understood throughout the company. When we look at the most outstanding business owners and captains of industry in the recent past, their skill as communicators stands out as one of their defining characteristics. Yet a lot of what these leaders think of as second nature is still a mystery to the rest of us. Here, eight professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on the communication secrets of great leaders and offer some anecdotal evidence to support their assertions.

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A company’s valuation relies on the entire economic value of the whole business unit, taking into account investor agreements on how much the company is worth. Finding the sweet spot of your company’s valuation can make or break someone’s decision to invest in your company entirely.  We asked 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council their top tips for determining a company’s valuation prior to fundraising proceedings. Here, they explain why these tips are key to raising a successful round of capital and the future valuation of your business. 

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Whether it’s frustration from limitations in their current industry or being shaken by the instability of the job market during COVID-19, many professionals are starting over in their careers, possibly in a new industry entirely.  But pivoting to a new industry isn’t as simple as mixing and matching your current skill set and hoping it fits. It’s important to examine how your current skills and experience apply to the industry you’re ready to dive into.  To help you, we asked 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members to share strategies for how to do this and tips to convince your future employer you’re qualified to make the switch.

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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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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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When you first start your business, every member of the “founding team” -- i.e. you and your first employees -- is crucial to its early success. As your business grows and changes, there may come a time when you feel yourself starting to outgrow your original employees. If you want to retain these valuable employees, you must ensure they’re evolving in their roles with your business. Otherwise, it may be time to phase them out and look for fresh talent. To help you navigate this situation, we asked 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members how employers can assess employee growth and ensure they’re evolving in step with the company.

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LONG-FORM ARTICLE EMAILED TO KELSEY You have a great idea for a startup. You know there's a gap in the market and you have the funds to start financing your business. Now all that's left to do is to land your first customer. Making your first sale as a brand-new company isn't always as easy as it sounds, though -- it requires extensive market research and a deep understanding of what messaging and marketing channels will resonate most with them. If you're embarking on the sales journey for the very first time, it helps to know what methods and strategies other entrepreneurs have used to grow their customer base. Below, seven business owners share their best tips for acquiring your startup's first customer.

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New entrepreneurs sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that they can make their hobbies profitable through their business. When you're putting together a company, the first thing you may want to consider is whether you're doing this as a passion or for profit. There are times when these conditions overlap, but it doesn't happen very often. It's far more likely that you'll need to figure out if you want to invest money into a passion project or a business that will support you. Nine entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss what elements a businessperson needs to consider when deciding between passion and profit, and even offer personal examples to highlight these factors.

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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. However, entering retail distribution is complicated and requires a carefully planned strategy. To help, eight business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council share their insights into what steps a company can take to move its invention or product close to retail distribution and why those steps are likely to result in success.

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Occasionally, a business may require a part-time chief financial officer because their full-time employee has left or transitioned to a new portfolio. A part-time CFO doesn't need to have the same skill set as the original office-holder. However, to be successful in their endeavors on behalf of the company, they need to have a series of qualities making them suitable for the position. CFOs are responsible for the company's economic health and well-being, and these traits are instrumental for them to understand unspoken truths about the business. Below, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on the critical qualities that part-time CFOs should demonstrate and why these characteristics are so crucial to the role.

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Track the data and make improvements on what you see.

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Resumes are the first look that business owners get at potential hires. As a result, they must use these resumes as a basis to figure out if that person is worth bringing in for an interview or not. Each business has its own demands for potential employees and therefore looks for specific elements in candidates’ resumes to determine possible fit. How can job seekers optimize their resumes to include these essential elements? To help, we asked we asked 13 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

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When you set out to pitch your idea to an investor, you usually go through the most common questions that they're likely to ask. Discerning investors are careful about where they put their money, but a well-prepared entrepreneur can quickly answer a surprising amount of what they ask. However, sometimes, a businessperson may encounter smart questions that they never prepared to answer. Intelligent questions indicate investors that are on-the-ball, and who could be a priceless addition to your business. Ten members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the smartest questions they've gotten from an investor and how they handled them.

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With most people working from home and away from their office’s internal server, data security is a pressing concern for employers. Companies and employees must make security a priority and understand how to keep their data safe when they’re working outside of their business’s secure network. To help, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council for their best advice on how to keep corporate files safe while working from home. Below, 12 of them shared their insights for remote workers and employers.

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Once your company has achieved financial success, you may find yourself in a position to give back to your community. By donating time or money to a good cause, you’ll not only become a more socially responsible company, but you’ll also feel more fulfilled as a business owner and potentially strengthen the loyalty your clients feel for your organization.  Before you make any kind of charitable donation, it’s important to ensure you’re choosing the right recipient. To help, we spoke with 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council about what leaders should look for or be wary of when deciding where to donate. Read on for their tips for identifying the best organizations or causes to support.

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With the current corporate focus on remote work, file-sharing and syncing services have become an essential part of the modern office. While some companies have bespoke designed solutions that meet their needs, these can be complicated and clunky to implement, requiring cybersecurity and IT administration input. Luckily, there are several free or accessible options available that small businesses can tap into to help them cope with a remote office's demands. To help, we asked eight entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

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Innovation is the key to a successful and progressive business, and your staff should constantly be looking for ways to grow your brand. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to keep your workers engaged and motivated. To help you inspire and encourage your staff, we asked the experts of Young Entrepreneur Council about ways to spark deeper thinking. Here are 10 important questions leaders should ask their employees to generate ideas and solutions to problems.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for getting things back on track when your business is going through a turbulent period. Every business endures trying times at some point. Your job as a leader is not to prevent every possible issue that might arise, but to properly prepare so you can keep your footing when unexpected challenges inevitably occur. To help you, we asked 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council how leaders can regain order among their team and operations during a chaotic time. Here’s what they recommend, and why it’s so effective.

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A website can be a critical marketing tool as long as you manage to keep your audience engaged. Marketing can drive traffic to your website in several ways, with video, text, or image content. But once they get there, how do you keep them there? Website analytics uses a metric known as "bounce rate" to figure out how many visitors to the site remain there and how many leave within a few seconds of their visit. And if the bounce rate is high, you can be certain your website isn't engaging enough. To help, we asked nine members of YEC to share their best strategies for making a website more attractive and engaging to incoming visitors and explain why these techniques are so successful. Here’s what they had to say.

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A business is only as good as its employees. In order to thrive, you have to ensure our workers are on the same page and willing to grow with you. A truly loyal team will stand with your business during the ups and downs and dedicate themselves to the business’s overall success. To help you build a team that's in it for the long haul, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council for their advice. Below, they shared nine simple ways leaders can earn their team's loyalty.

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Staying motivated as an entrepreneur takes a lot of effort. In several situations, business owners find themselves struggling to point themselves in the right direction, whether in their profession or in their personal life. In both of these cases, your inspiration dictates the drive you have to accomplish your goals. But how do you know when you or someone in your team might need a boost in motivation? What happens when you lose that compass that points to success? Here, 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the clear signs that someone might need a motivation boost and discuss the best methods to deal with this lack of direction in business or personal life.

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As a business owner, it’s important to know who your competitors are so you can keep up with the market. However, it’s just as beneficial to show your support for other small businesses, regardless of their industry. This is especially true in today’s economic climate, when many entrepreneurs are struggling to stay afloat. We asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council why it’s important for small business owners to support one another and how to do it. Here are 10 practical ways they recommend lifting up your fellow entrepreneurs.

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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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Every successful business leader needs to know how to communicate effectively. Both written and verbal communication skills are crucial if you want to build and maintain strong relationships with your employees, customers and partners. These essential communications insights are often learned throughout an entrepreneur’s journey, and sometimes they can come to you through unexpected career situations. That’s why we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share the best communication lessons they’ve learned during their careers so far. Here are their top 10 lessons and why each was so impactful.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share the upcoming technology trends they're most excited about and how they plan to jump on board. No matter what industry you work in, staying on top of the latest tech trends can give your business a competitive edge. By implementing cutting-edge technology, you'll not only streamline your processes, but also differentiate yourself from your competitors. As successful business owners, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council stay on top of the latest business trends, including those in tech. Below, they share 12 big tech trends they’re most excited about and how they plan to leverage them. Follow their recommended steps to take advantage of these trends, too.

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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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To improve one’s video marketing, it’s vital to use video marketing metrics that show you how your marketing efforts are going.

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Working from home requires paying attention to many small details regarding your mental and physical well-being, with work-life balance tending to be significantly higher among remote workers compared to traditional office workers. Most companies have now opted to offer remote work packages for their essential staff in response to the global pandemic. But when you're only just getting into the remote working lifestyle, it can be challenging to figure out a proper work-life balance. Remote work, especially, tends to infringe upon your daily life incessantly, making it hard to set boundaries and stick to them. Below, these eight professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council share the habits they rely on to achieve a better work-life balance while working remotely and explain why their strategies can help other entrepreneurs, as well.

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There's some merit to the adage of working hard to play hard. With workers devoting their all to a business, especially when it's just getting off the ground, it can be easy for them to lose sight of their need for relaxation. Therefore, it is up to the leaders to intervene and help employees realize that their peace and mental health are just as important as the valuable work they do. Employees that relax and take things in stride are less likely to experience burnout or have emotional breakdowns. Here, eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council offer sage advice on how to encourage employees to take time off for relaxation as a core element of keeping them motivated and functional.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council offer suggestions for entrepreneurs that want to change up their mobile ad campaigns. Mobile web traffic continues to skyrocket as consumers spend more and more time on their smartphones and tablets. Approximately half of worldwide web traffic comes from mobile devices, so it makes sense that brands would want to focus on mobile-optimized ad campaigns. But success in mobile advertising is about more than creating visuals and video content that fits on a mobile screen. It's important to follow the right practices and create an enticing experience for viewers and potential customers. Below, 14 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some simple changes entrepreneurs can make to their mobile ad strategy to improve their results.

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Being able to close a deal is a crucial part of an entrepreneur’s skill set, but sometimes, vendor agreements and partnerships can fall through due to unavoidable circumstances. Knowing that a deal is about to fall through before that actually happens can be quite beneficial for a company, as it gives the opportunity to choose its next steps in advance: pursue the agreement more aggressively, back off and let it fail, or do nothing and see if it corrects itself. However, before the business can take any action, it must be able to identify the telltale signs of a deal collapsing. To help, we asked 11 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

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Artificial intelligence is an extremely valuable tool that can save your business time, energy and money. However, implementing AI can be a big challenge for any company. From choosing the right AI-powered tool to setting up the right data inputs and workflows, the process of adopting AI can be stressful and cumbersome, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the inner workings of this technology. To help you, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council how they’ve overcome some of the biggest hurdles of employing AI in their business. Their best responses are below.

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A truly timeless brand sticks with people for a long time, no matter how many trends emerge or how the world around them changes. Not every business ever reaches this stature, but it’s something your brand should work and strive toward if you want to be memorable. To that end, there are a few steps you can take to make your brand feel timeless as you’re developing it. We asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share the key to creating a timeless brand. Here’s what they had to say.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain which qualities a hiring manager should seek out in a senior creative director who's working on both print and web campaigns. The right senior creative director can have a huge influence on your business’s marketing and ad campaigns. When seeking someone for this role, it’s important to consider whether they have the right skills to bridge the print and digital gap: If they came from the print world, their thought processes and experiences may be different than someone who’s only worked in digital communications. That’s why we asked 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council what specific traits and qualities to look for when you’re hiring a senior creative director who will be working on both print and web campaigns. Here’s what they believe you should seek out, and why these qualifications are different than if the creative director were hired for one media type over the other.

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Many companies that shifted to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic have helped employees eliminate their daily commute. However, some professionals do still need to make regular trips into the office – and spending time commuting to work can feel stressful and counterproductive. If you use your time wisely, though, there are plenty of ways to maximize your commute and make it a productive one. We asked 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council how they maximize their commute time and how it helps them in their professional and personal lives. They shared their insights with us below.

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Young Entrepreneur Council members share some upcoming tech trends they believe will have an important impact on business leaders. The world of technology is evolving faster than ever. With so many new tech trends emerging, it can feel impossible to keep up with them all. However, identifying and investing in the right ones can give your business a competitive advantage and set you up for success. That’s why we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council what tech trends more entrepreneurs should prepare for and what concrete actions they can take to move in the right direction. Their best answers are below.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the past year's most pressing technology concerns and how we should address them. The past year has seen unprecedented changes to public health and the global economy. Many facets of daily life and work moved into the digital realm, and the shift highlighted some underlying business technology issues that are getting in the way of productivity, communication and security. As successful business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council understand how important it is to have functional, up-to-date technology. That's why we asked a panel of them to share what they view as the biggest business tech problem of the past year. Here are the issues they're concerned about and the innovations they believe will help solve them.  

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When you set up your startup and start hiring your first few people to staff, not all of them will be tech workers. Non-tech professions such as sales, marketing, etc. are also crucial to the success of a product. Some companies don't offer these hires any equity, but this may be a huge mistake. You can lose talented professionals if you don't sweeten the deal enough. Yet how much equity is too much for these non-tech hires? What are the elements to look at when considering how much equity they should get? To help, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on what any leader should keep in mind when figuring out how much equity non-technical hires should receive in their startup.

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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. To help you put your staff in an innovative mindset, we asked 14 members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:

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Members of Yount Entrepreneur Council offer their tips for effectively growing a service-based company. As a service provider, you’re always looking to grow your client base. But service-based businesses can be trickier to scale than a product-based business. It’s not as simple as completing a transaction; service relationships must be nurtured and built over time, and more sales mean more clients to pay attention to. To help you effectively increase your service-based business’s sales, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council for their advice. Below they shared their best tips for founders who are looking to scale up without sacrificing quality.

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If you're like the hundreds of content marketers out there that have invested in blog content, you want people to read it. If you've been watching your metrics for visits, you might realize that many visitors don't even bother with your blog. Sure, they might follow a social post from your media to your blog, and possibly read a single entry, but they won't engage further than that. So how do you get readers to come back to read about the amazing things you post? These 15 professionals from YEC expound on the methods that work for them to get return visitors and further explain why those techniques are so successful at maintaining user engagement.

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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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After a user likes or shares one of your posts on social media, you've got them interested in your brand or product. But how do you leverage this engagement and keep it going? Commitment is a fickle thing since people tend to have short attention spans. In the modern age, those attention spans are even further limited because of a society based on instant gratification. If you want to keep users liking, sharing, and commenting on your posts or blogs, you're going to need a strategy to drive that engagement. We asked 11 entrepreneurs from YEC to offer their own insight into how an organization can keep the commitment going after that initial like or share.

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[long-form emailed to Kelsey]

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Sales is a challenging industry that takes a unique combination of traits and skills to succeed. When we examine the truly memorable salespeople we know, a few things become immediately apparent -- most notably, that there are certain features all successful salespeople share. Logic would dictate, then, that we should pattern ourselves after those people if we are to achieve the same measure of success. To help, we consulted eight associates of Young Entrepreneur Council about the elements they would include on a checklist for those looking to become spectacular salespeople, and what it would take to check those boxes off. These are the factors they highlighted.

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For online businesses, a high-performing website that encourages engagement and conversions is the key to successful growth. It often takes time to build up a steady stream of website visitors and consistent buyers. However, there are some things you can do to help accelerate the process. If you want to scale your site visits and engagement, try these 13 growth hacks recommended by the experts of Young Entrepreneur Council.

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If your company has a blog and social media presence, you know how challenging it can be to keep up with the constant demand for new content. Recycling and updating existing content is a great way to put a fresh spin on what you’ve previously published without the hassle of coming up with a brand-new idea. However, there’s an art to repurposing content: The best brands don’t just copy and paste across platforms; they recontextualize their content and adapt it before reposting. To help you do this, we asked 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council for the best ways to get more mileage out of their online content. They gave their tips below.

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17 leaders from YEC share the tools and processes they use and why they work. In the digital age, a company not tapping into automation is losing time and productivity. Relying on human contributors to produce content is still the best approach. However, in distributing this content, automated processes, tools, and strategies are always more efficient. In marketing, efficiency means a better return on investment because it speeds up turnover time and costs less than manual methodologies. Companies can ill-afford to waste time on manual methods when automated means of getting the message out to an audience exist. In the world of marketing, time is money. Automation utilities save time, and as a result, increase the company's ROI on their marketing budget. How does a business automate its marketing? Some entrepreneurs think automation is complicated, requiring a long process of learning how to use new tools. Others fear it requires adding a specialized IT department to their company, which might be a considerable upfront cost to the company. Neither of these things is true. In fact, some of the best automation tools that you need to use are both simple and cost-effective. Even those with an associated price tag usually pay for themselves in the savings the business makes through its automation. Automation doesn't have to be a scary, unknown landscape. To help, we consulted 17 entrepreneurs from YEC about the marketing automation tools, strategies, and processes they utilize to make life easier and increase their marketing ROI.

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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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You’ll get insights that may help you make peace with the week that’s passed and meet the following Monday with gusto.

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Young Entrepreneur Council members share some of the most exciting trends and developments they've seen in digital marketing this year. Digital marketing is constantly evolving, and professionals must stay on top of trends to remain competitive in their respective industries. This year in particular has presented new and unprecedented circumstances for businesses around the world. As a result, companies have had to adapt their digital marketing strategy to customers’ ever-changing needs -- which, while challenging, has also led to incredible innovation. We asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council about the most exciting digital marketing developments they’ve seen this year so far. Below, they share 14 of their favorite trends and how they’re impacting the future of the industry.

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When you’re overworked, it’s easy to burn out. The extra hours and workload can cause you to become stressed and ultimately less productive at work. While burnout can have a negative impact at any job level, it’s especially detrimental to executive leaders, so it’s important to understand how to reverse this feeling when you’re stuck in it. To help you, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share some recommendations for getting back on track when you feel burned out. Here are their top strategies for executives who need to reset.

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“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. But what does it take to become a thought leader, and what actionable steps can you take toward that goal? We asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share some specific factors that define an industry thought leader and what actions people can take to start stepping in the right direction. They shared their responses below.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain how companies can optimize their mobile shopping experience. As every successful business owner knows, it’s important to meet your customers where they are. In today's world, that means creating a top-notch mobile shopping experience.  The majority of e-commerce traffic (65%) comes from mobile devices, so optimizing your sales page for mobile is crucial to keeping your business thriving and accessible to your audience. Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared tips for creating a mobile-first e-commerce experience. Follow their tips to ensure your customers will love shopping with you, no matter what device they're using.

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Congratulations! You’ve just had a great pitch meeting with an investor. But holding an investor’s attention during your pitch is only the beginning of securing a deal. The real challenge lies in staying top-of-mind afterward.  To ensure a lasting good impression, you’ll want to keep the conversation going with investors post-pitch. A panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members shared effective ways to continue the discussion after your meeting.

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Plans are crucial to success in any endeavor. It doesn't matter if that project is building a business or writing a book. Without planning, even the most well-intentioned projects can hit a roadblock and stop. Developing a success plan takes time and effort. It also requires a certain level of experience, and newcomers are unfortunately hit with this realization after they start their projects. Moreover, not all success plans are functional. What sets the viable success plans apart from the amateurish ones? Fifteen entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for success planning and explain why their advice is particularly useful in implementing a plan.

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Once seemingly confined to the spheres of gaming and technology, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are becoming increasingly common in both personal and professional ventures. In fact, VR and AR can be used to great effect in one’s personal branding strategy, especially if it's giving your audience a deeper connection or more intimate look at your business. As successful business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council are on the pulse of the latest industry trends and technologies. Below, they share nine high-impact ways you can incorporate VR and AR into your personal branding.

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

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

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Businesses are increasingly focusing on wellness in the workplace to increase employee productivity and overall satisfaction. Choosing a wellness program for your company is an important first step, but you’ll also need to ensure that it runs smoothly and that your employees get the most out of it. We asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share their best strategies for leaders looking to successfully implement wellness programs in their organizations. Below, they share 10 ways you can ensure your company’s initiative goes off without a hitch.

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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. To help you stay inspired, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share some unconventional ways content teams can create fresh content that will engage their audience. Their best answers are below.

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Entrepreneurs have some bad habits, one of which is not knowing when they need a break. With many young entrepreneurs, it's almost impossible to take a step back and relax. Yet studies have shown that entrepreneurs that don't take time out to smell the roses risk serious health problems later on in life. The goal of being a successful yet happy businessperson is knowing how to distance yourself from your business. Summer vacations are crucial in ensuring you keep your perspective. That’s why we asked 11 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

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When you approach habit-building with determination, you’re certain to succeed. 

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Opt for gradual change and seek to align daily tasks with long-term goals.

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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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No business’s recruiting process is the same, largely because of the fact different organizations look for different things in their candidates. Each company has a particular skill or set of abilities it values above others. However, even though individual industries value different things, some skills transcend the boundaries of field and discipline. When hiring employees, businesses would do well to focus on these essential skills as the dividing factor to separate the candidates that will distinguish themselves from everyone else. But what are these vital abilities? Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council explore some of the critical skills all employees should have, regardless of industry, and explain why these traits are so important.

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In today's world, every business knows that consistent, quality content is the key to engaging consumers. Publishing giants like BuzzFeed have mastered the art of drawing people in with engaging headlines and interactive features, and encouraging repeat visitors with well-researched, valuable articles. While the average business likely doesn't have the need or the resources to publish dozens of daily pieces like BuzzFeed, there's value in striving to become a publishing powerhouse that meets consumers' desire for a steady stream of content. That's why we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council what companies can learn from these media conglomerates that garner tens of millions of unique daily visitors. Here are a few publishing lessons and tips they believe business leaders can benefit from.

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A marketer's job is a challenging one in today's always-on, digital-first world. Not only do they have to come up with an appealing brand image and message, but they have to figure out how to adapt marketing collateral to countless different channels and learn best practices for each one. To keep up with the demands of the modern marketing industry, professionals should consider adopting and incorporating certain habits into their workflow. We asked 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council what habits they recommend marketers pursue to help them boost their career. Here's what these experienced business leaders had to say.

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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. That's why we asked 16 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

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Every job candidate’s goal is to stand out from the rest. However, it’s not enough to talk about your education and work experiences, which may be very similar to other qualified applicants. Great candidates shine by saying things that are truly unique. To help you stand out, we asked Young Entrepreneur Council members to share some memorable things past candidates have said that really impressed them. Be sure to bring up these 15 things in your next job interview if you want to make a great impression.

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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. These devices collect personal data and monitor things like increased heart rate, steps taken and hours slept. But just how long will they remain in consumers' good graces? We asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members about their thoughts on what might derail the wearables revolution. Here’s what they had to say.

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

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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. By limiting the data you collect to just the most pertinent bits, you will still be able to extract useful knowledge about clients while also  earning their trust for not asking access to all of their information. To help businesses wondering what kind of data to collect, we asked 13 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

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Americans have grown up in a society that has drilled into them the need for hard work to guarantee success. An unfortunate consequence of these constant messages is a skewed mindset toward working long hours in the hopes of "making it" in the industry they've settled on. However, instead of ensuring a long, happy life, the focus on long hours could lead to severe health problems, as numerous studies have shown. How can Americans start working around the grind-till-you-die mindset and live healthier lives? These eight associates of Young Entrepreneur Council offer their best advice on how to escape this mindset and the troubling health problems associated with it, while still maintaining a driven attitude to success.

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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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Learning from others is vital to your success. It's a widely held belief that experience is the world's best teacher. Life lessons, both in and out of business, usually stem from experiences. However, as people, we can't expect to have all the experiences we need to figure out what to do in a particular situation. That's why learning from the experiences of others is such a vital skill for an entrepreneur. If you end up in a situation where you're not sure how to proceed, you might want to ask other, more experienced persons in the industry. To help newer entrepreneurs, these 14 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council have offered to discuss the lessons they learned from their earlier positions and why they were crucial to success.

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Renew your love for learning; it's one of the best gifts you can give to yourself.

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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. The companies that make IoT products have a responsibility to ensure the security of its users' personal data. That's why we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share some often-overlooked ways IoT companies can make their newest products more secure. Their best insights are below.

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All entrepreneurs are excited to see their businesses grow, but this growth isn't infinitely exponential. Occasionally, the company's growth may become stalled. This contraction might happen due to any number of factors affecting either the business itself or the industry as a whole. For a company to continue growing, it needs to regain its momentum. But how does a business restore the initial force that set it up for a significant growth spurt in its early development? Here, 15 experts from Young Entrepreneur Council share a few tips about how a company can regain its drive and continue to grow at a massive rate, even after stalling.

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

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As a leader, you know your workplace dynamic directly impacts employee morale and, in turn, your bottom line. No matter how great your company culture might be, there is always room for improvement. But to make impactful changes, you’ll have to first understand which areas warrant the most attention.  To help you identify those areas, we asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members this question:

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Customer feedback is an invaluable asset to any company. Without this information, businesses would struggle to figure out what’s working, what isn’t and how they can improve their processes. But how exactly do you get your customers to share their honest opinions – and what do you do with that information once you have it? We asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share how they collect feedback from their customers, and how they then make that information useful to their company. Their best answers are below.

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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. As successful business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council are constantly watching and analyzing marketing trends to improve their growth and brand recognition. Below, they share the smartest social media moves they’ve seen, and how you can execute that same strategy to achieve great results.

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Stress is common when you’re in a management position. With countless tasks to complete, employees to manage and business operations to oversee, it’s no surprise many leaders end up feeling overwhelmed at one point or another. One of the most effective ways to combat stress in the business world is by improving your adaptability, so you’re ready to take on whatever is thrown your way. Below, 16 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared their best tips for becoming more opportunity-oriented as a leader.

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While every mentor is unique, the truly great ones will check certain boxes.

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Winning a business or industry award can be a great honor for your business, as well as a highly effective PR opportunity. However, to be considered, you'll first need to submit an application to be reviewed by the award committee. To help you with this process, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:

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Businesses have seen a period of massive growth, especially those that deal solely with online sales and services. While this development is promising, it also opens up a business to another problem -- that of having their growth outscale their ability to communicate. Business communication deals with how the company interacts with clients including their overall branding promise. Naturally, a small company is likely to have a different approach to a larger one, simply because of the scale of the communication involved. We consulted 14 entrepreneurs from YEC to ask them about the best ways for a business to ensure that their communication scale keeps up with their business growth. Here's what they had to say.

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Since the internet has permeated business to such an extent, PR crises are becoming far more common for companies. Many of those PR faux-pas are due to misuse or misunderstanding of social media interaction. However, as much as social media can be a tool to cause a PR crisis, it can also be useful in helping to manage it. Social media is still the best way to create a rapport and interact with a particular demographic of customers directly. We consulted 10 members of YEC to figure out what smart ways exist for business leaders to use social media to manage potential PR conflagrations. Their responses are below.

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

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A strong creative team can help your business develop great ideas and soar to new heights. However, simply having the most talented or innovative people on board isn’t enough. They must not only be willing to make unconventional moves, but they must also place trust in their other team members. To help you strike the right balance, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share the most crucial ingredients needed to build a successful creative team. Their best answers are below.

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Professionals, regardless of their work environment, sometimes find their focus flagging. If you're someone who has to deal with divided attention between multiple tasks, the amount of effort you put into a job will start telling on your psyche before too long. To deal with this situation, you'll have to figure out how to retain your focus and discipline within the workplace. Luckily, there are several approaches to reestablishing your focus at work. Productivity is linked to your mindset and your environment, after all. Below, 14 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of their favorite and most effective approaches.

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Develop empowering beliefs about yourself by focusing on the bright side.

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Leading a business can be like a roller coaster: There will always be ups and downs. No matter how smoothly things run most of the time, the occasional problem is inevitable, and when one pops up, your team will turn to you for guidance. Rather than panicking during a company crisis, leaders should have a plan for addressing the issue quickly and transparently. To help you create a plan of action, we asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members how they recommend moving forward in such instances. Below they shared nine strategic approaches you can take to handle a crisis with competence and calmness.

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There are more accurate (and less overused) ways to tell the world what you do.

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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:

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[long-form article emailed to Kelsey]

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Feeling like you're not good enough can leave you struggling with your job and halt your career growth.

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In all walks of life, there will be pitfalls that plague professionals. For an entrepreneur, especially, it may occasionally feel like nothing is working out, no matter what you do. There's a saying that success only comes to those who get back up each time they get knocked down. The problem is that the saying doesn't detail how you get back up from a fall. Some leaders can find themselves falling over and over, and each time the recovery takes more out of them.  Recovering from a fall doesn't have to be such a trying experience, however. Here, 15 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council provide their most effective methods for bouncing back from life's setbacks.

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[LONG-FORM EMAILED TO KELSEY]

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Working remotely has become the new standard in the COVID-19 era. Companies that followed a traditional in-office model have had to adjust to how they presently work, and soon have to learn how to hire remotely. It's possible to find the right candidate via online screening and video interviews, but a fully virtual hiring and onboarding process can seem like a daunting proposition for companies that haven't done it before. To help, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share some insights from their personal experiences with bringing on remote hires. Follow their advice when you're ready to hire your first remote team member.

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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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In today's always-on, digital-first world, consumers increasingly expect companies to offer fast and convenient channels for customer support. To this end, many brands now offer live chat so customers can reach them faster than an email or phone call. While live customer chat may be an attractive option that sets you apart from competitors, it's important to understand the commitment involved and how to best serve the customers who reach out to you through this channel. We asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members what businesses should keep in mind when implementing live chat functionality. Follow their advice to ensure your customers are satisfied, no matter how they reach out to your company.

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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. However, the way Gen Z uses social media is different than older generations, and reaching them can be a challenge. You need a targeted approach that speaks to their values, interests and lifestyles. Here's how 16 members of Young Entrepreneur Council recommend connecting with Gen Z-ers on social media.

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19 entrepreneurs delve into where online freelance talent is most readily found Businesses have changed their approach to hiring in recent years. More and more companies are relying on freelance talent as opposed to in-house contracts. It's not surprising that the paradigm has shifted in this way, however. Freelancers can be less of a drain on company resources, but they can also be more efficient than in-house hires. Even so, businesses need to find freelance sites that offer talented individuals, accessible search functions, and escrow services in some cases. All of these factors contribute to developing a long-lasting relationship with a freelancer. The rise of freelancing has seen several different locations open up around the internet that offer businesses a chance to interact with professionals. Unfortunately, there are many freelance sites to sort through, and finding the right fit for your needs may take some trial and error. Businesses need to be careful about sourcing their freelancers to avoid hiring someone who is not good for the project or who may have a nonprofessional behavior. How does a company narrow down the best places to source a freelancer online? We consulted 19 entrepreneurs from YEC about the best places to source freelance talent online. Here's what they told us.

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18 leaders from YEC discuss what elements business leaders should keep in mind before selling their company. Selling a business is a significant step and one that entrepreneurs usually spend hours agonizing over. There are just too many uncertainties when it comes to a transaction. Is the estimation of value correct? Are you exiting the market at the right time? How do you ensure that you get the amount that you think the company's worth? Growing a business from humble beginnings to the point where it commands a decent value takes time, effort and a bit of your soul. For many small entrepreneurs, it's like selling a part of themselves. For an entrepreneur to be able to sell their company, they need to sever the emotional bonds they have with its growth and approach the sale without emotion. The best way to do this is to examine the elements that make up the sale critically before even putting the business on the market. But what features are the important ones to consider, in this case? Eighteen business owners from YEC delve into the elements they think entrepreneurs should consider before they decide to list their business for sale, and why those elements are so crucial to the decision.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted nearly every business and industry in some capacity. Some non-essential employees have taken to remote work, while many others have faced reduced hours or layoffs. With this widespread loss of income and minimal social outings, many consumers have also cut back their spending. That’s why retaining your current customers is more important than ever in today's world. Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some effective customer retention strategies they're leveraging during these uncertain times.

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Although social media can seem like a harmless way to pass time, it can creep up and significantly affect you.

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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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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. We asked eight successful entrepreneurs to share their best approaches for handling disagreements with colleagues. Follow their advice the next time you and your colleagues seem to be butting heads.

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Focus on building what’s good in your life.

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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.

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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.

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Accessing capital is one of the biggest challenges many new entrepreneurs face. From loans to investments, securing the proper financing is a long and taxing process, but it can be overcome. Members of Young Entrepreneur Council explained how they worked through their funding challenges.

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A solid company culture is one that supports employees' efforts to grow and develop professionally so they can reach their full potential within the organization. Sometimes, these efforts may help the employee realize that they could learn more or would be a much better fit in a different department than they're currently in. Great leaders want their employees to succeed -- even in a different department -- but if the transition isn't done thoughtfully, transferring workers to other departments can cause disruptions and destabilize team morale. To help, these six entrepreneurs offer their best advice on how to effectively move employees to a new department so as to help them continue their growth and development, with minimal disruption to the organization.

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Making your communication more human shows that there are real people behind your brand.

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Build relationships with your audience and win loyal customers by investing in your social media presence.

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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.

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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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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.

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Developing your emotional intelligence is key to empowering your diverse organization to grow.

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Being a productive writer is its own reward.

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When you own a small business, you have to take on many of the day-to-day responsibilities yourself -- at least in the beginning. Having some basic knowledge across all aspects of business operations can go a long way to making your business flourish, and ultimately turn you into a more well-rounded manager when you do eventually hire staff. But which skills are the most important to develop from the get-go? We asked 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council which fundamental skill – tech, operations, leadership, etc. – all small business owners should have to manage day-to-day operations. They shared their answers below.

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A New Year’s resolution is a great way to kickstart the year on the right foot, while setting the stage for continued growth. However, most people struggle with sticking to their resolutions beyond the first few weeks (or days) of the new year. So how can you beat the odds and meet your goals in 2020? We asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share how they make their New Year’s resolutions work in the long term. Their best answers are below.

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Having an active social media presence is a great way for leaders to grow their business. It helps you establish your personal brand and authority, as well as reach a wider audience of potential customers. However, it also requires you to expend time and energy, which can be especially draining for an introverted or introspective business owner. Fortunately, you can use your introspection to your advantage while engaging on social media. Below , 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members share their best tips for introverted leaders who want to stay active on social media without burning out.

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The winter months mean less sunlight, colder temperatures and often, dampened moods. It’s common for people to feel more tired and less motivated in the winter, which can negatively impact work performance. However, a winter slump is not inevitable -- it may require a bit of extra effort, but you and your teams can stay just as motivated during those colder months. To help you out this winter, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share how they raise spirits in the workplace throughout the season. Follow their recommendations to keep your team feeling productive until spring arrives again.

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Businesses today struggle to get noticed in a sea of online content. Your business needs to focus on building customer loyalty.

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Technology advances rapidly, and business owners need to keep pace with it, or they risk losing their best talent. Thanks to connectivity in all parts of the world, entrepreneurs no longer need to have employees inside their offices at all points in time. Many businesses outsource work to professionals around the globe and leverage specialized technology that makes it easy to plan meetings and manage teams and projects from a centralized office. With these advancements in technology, asking workers to chain themselves to a desk is virtually inhumane. Below, seven contributors to Young Entrepreneur Council examine how employers can make the most of remote workers to drive their organizations’ growth and success.

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As digital payments evolve and become more commonplace, an increasing number of businesses are accepting them, with some businesses rejecting cash payments entirely. While digital payments can certainly be convenient for customers and businesses alike, it’s important to understand the process and avoid any potential pitfalls. We asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council for their takes on digital payments. They shared 10 things you should keep in mind as digital payment options evolve, and how those offerings will impact your business in the future.

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Risk is often inherent in business, especially when you’re running your own. However, there are steps you can take to manage that risk. As highly successful entrepreneurs in their industries, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council have learned a lot about effectively mitigating risk and minimizing its impact on their businesses. We asked them to share some practical tips for new business owners who are also new to risk management. Read on for their best answers.

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Office culture doesn't stagnate, and there will always be a constant change around how a business operates. Instituting new office procedures and policies as the company culture changes may mean taking some chances. Not all new plans are guaranteed to succeed, and some of them require considerable risk on behalf of the company. If a business isn't sure if a policy or proposal will turn out positively, then its implementation should be weighed carefully. Failure of the policy might mean severe drawbacks to the business as a whole. For entrepreneurs who are looking at instituting new policies, such as, for instance, allowing pets at the office, 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council examine the core considerations companies should make when evaluating the viability of implementation.

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Successful thought leaders know how to build credibility with high-quality, nonpromotional content across various channels.

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expert panel

In the age of social media, a controversy -- and a potential public relations crisis -- is always lurking. It's impossible to completely avoid controversial issues and conversations if your business is on social media, but knowing how to handle them with grace and professionalism can save you from landing your brand in hot water. To help you, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:

expert panel

Online videos are one of the most successful marketing materials that a business has at its disposal. However, crafting an online video to draw people in takes a bit more skill than merely recording something and adding branding to it. A company should consider doing a short video ad like doing a mini movie. Just like a professional production, it should communicate a message and know who its target audience is. Aimless video production will only create something forgettable, the exact opposite of what a successful video should be. To help, we consulted 11 associates of Young Entrepreneur Council about what they consider to be the most vital aspects of successful online video creation.

expert panel

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:

expert panel

The rate of technological advancement has seen the world change almost entirely in just a single decade. In a short space of time, humanity has managed to develop advances that people only 50 years ago would be unable to fathom. The march of tech isn't slowing anytime soon, either. From fully connected homes to self-driving cars, we are in an age where technology has changed the way we interact with the world around us as well as each other. Each year we get even more tech to experiment with. We asked 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council what technological advances they were excited to see this year and their immediate implications, as well as why they think these advances are so significant.

expert panel

The rate of technological advancement has seen the world change almost entirely in just a single decade. In a short space of time, humanity has managed to develop advances that people only 50 years ago would be unable to fathom. The march of tech isn't slowing anytime soon, either. From fully connected homes to self-driving cars, we are in an age where technology has changed the way we interact with the world around us as well as each other. Each year we get even more tech to experiment with. We asked 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council what technological advances they were excited to see this year and their immediate implications, as well as why they think these advances are so significant.

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