Zane Stevens

April 13th, 2023

Nine Methods Entrepreneurs Can Rely On To Help Them Make A Good First Impression

While the way a first meeting goes may not always make or break a deal, putting your best foot forward is much more likely to lead to a good result—especially when it comes to a potential new business partner or client. The first impression you make could set the tone for your whole relationship, which means it’s vitally important to strive for a positive one.

February 21st, 2023

12 Resources That Helped These Entrepreneurs Learn How to Run a Company

February 17th, 2023

10 Tips For Achieving A Better Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance refers to the ratio between the time an individual spends on their job and the time and energy they spend on other aspects of their life, such as their family, friends and hobbies.

February 7th, 2023

How to Beat Procrastination and Power Through a Tedious Task

February 6th, 2023

Business Owners: Nine Tips For Accomplishing Your New Year's Resolutions

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.

January 27th, 2023

10 Important Expenses Every CEO Should Budget For In Today's Economic Climate

As businesses recover from the pandemic-fueled events of the last few years, as well as grapple with the uncertainty of today’s economic climate, entrepreneurs are likely to feel cautious and unsure of how to plan for the success of their businesses going forward. After all, how can you plan for something you don’t know is going to happen?

December 13th, 2022

10 Tips to Guarantee a Successful Relationship With Your Part-Time Bookkeeper

Businesses are only as successful as their ability to manage money, so it's important for leaders to be informed of any financial changes with the help of an experienced bookkeeper.

December 13th, 2022

10 Lessons Any Entrepreneur Should Learn About How To Be A Great Leader

The end of any year is often a time of reflection and self-awareness, with many people taking the time to look at both what went well and what went wrong, as well as what they can do to improve over the next 365 days. For leaders, it can be a time to reflect on their own leadership style, their strengths and their weaknesses. 

November 21st, 2022

Eight Ways To Give Annual Performance Reviews More Meaning This Year

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.

October 11th, 2022

Seven Areas Employers Should Work On To Earn Their Employees' Loyalty

Many employers talk about wanting "employee loyalty," or employees who will give their all to their role and to the company in order to help it succeed. But what's talked about less is what employers can do to actively earn this loyalty from their employees, leaving employers with no action plan for how to inspire this kind of behavior in their teams.

October 5th, 2022

12 Entrepreneurs Share What Inspires Them To Be Better Leaders

While some people may be naturally inclined toward leadership roles, no one is born a perfect leader. The ability to inspire, motivate and guide a team of people is built up over time, and no matter how many managerial positions someone has held, there's always more to learn.

September 6th, 2022

15 Tasks to Always Keep on Your Daily To-Do List as a New Entrepreneur

August 25th, 2022

10 Common Pain Points Of Building A Company Culture (And How To Address Them)

A company’s culture—or its shared values, behaviors, goals and beliefs—can be one of the most difficult aspects of business for an entrepreneur to build. It involves bringing together employees from different backgrounds, with different experiences and with differing goals, and determining commonalities and a unified vision that everyone can agree on and strive toward. Naturally, this process can involve a few bumps along the way.

August 15th, 2022

9 Qualities to Look for When Making the Right C-Suite Hire for Your Business

August 5th, 2022

11 Ways To Be More Convincing When Pitching An Idea To Your Manager

When you have an idea—whether it’s a simple tweak to an ongoing project or a major overhaul to an ineffective work process—and you want to share it with your manager, pitching it can be as simple as walking into their office or messaging them on Slack and explaining the idea. However, if you want to ensure your pitch is successful, you may need to think through your overall strategy first.

July 25th, 2022

Nine Work Habits That Can Improve Your Productivity And Focus

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.

July 11th, 2022

11 Challenging Aspects of Being a Small-Business Owner (and Why It’s Worth It)

Owning a business is one of the most challenging endeavors a person can take on, and owning a small business is no exception. From strategizing to delegating and everything in between, there are many difficulties that small-business owners face, yet most of them would say that it's all worth it in the end.

July 6th, 2022

Pressed For Time? Eight Ways To Make A Quality Decision Fast

The day-to-day life of a business owner is often fast-paced, with a multitude of problems to solve and employees to answer to. This means that, when faced with a decision, entrepreneurs may not have time on their side and they may be forced to make quick decisions on the fly or with very little time to weigh out every possibility. 

June 9th, 2022

10 Effective Ways To Leave A Lasting Impression On A Potential Employer

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.

June 6th, 2022

10 Things High-Quality Candidates Always Do When Applying For Jobs

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.

June 2nd, 2022

Solving A Problem? 10 Tips To Avoid Rushing To A Solution

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. 

May 24th, 2022

Nine Effective Ways To Build A 'Thicker Skin' As An Entrepreneur

Everyone struggles with self-doubt at some point in their lives, especially if they own a business. Self-doubt as a business owner can be daunting to overcome and may sometimes derail you from your goals. But part of being an entrepreneur means learning how to grow a thick skin in order to take on the adversity, rejection and low confidence that can often come with the job.

May 17th, 2022

Entrepreneurs: How To Optimize Your Workflow And Get Hours Back Every Week

As a leader, you likely have a hand in many different sectors of your business, whether it's overseeing employees or directing specific projects. Because of the amount of time you have to devote to so many different activities, you may be losing time jumping from project to project. But there are ways that you can optimize your workflow without risking burnout and still get the same amount of work done—if not more—with time to spare.

May 10th, 2022

10 Important Areas to Explore During Your Company's Mid-Year Check-In

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:

March 29th, 2022

Use These Tips to Combat ‘Zoom Fatigue’ During Your Next Meeting

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.

March 22nd, 2022

How To Transition Away From The 9-To-5 Work Model

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.

February 18th, 2022

10 'Spring Cleaning' Tips To Streamline Your Business Operations This Year

During the first quarter of the year, businesses often start to notice what’s been working and what hasn’t, what goals have been accomplished and which haven't quite yet. Maybe an initiative started in the first few weeks of the year still hasn't gotten off the ground or a campaign launched at the end of January didn't show the results you expected.

February 17th, 2022

Eight Entrepreneurs Share The Passions That Have Impacted Their Careers

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.

February 7th, 2022

Eight Tips For Building Your Business While Balancing A Personal Life

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.

January 28th, 2022

Nine Steps to Ensure You're Treating Your Employees Well as a New Business Owner

January 25th, 2022

Starting a Company? 9 Essential Tech Skills All Founders Should Have.

Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list the tech skills company founders need to get their businesses off the ground.

January 21st, 2022

Swamped With Work? 10 Steps to Achieving Better Focus

January 13th, 2022

12 Mistakes to Avoid When Communicating With Employees

Strong, clear communication is a must when it comes to manager-employee relationships, but certain behaviors can work against you.

December 21st, 2021

12 Tips to Keep Employee Morale High Through the Dreary Winter Season

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.

December 9th, 2021

How to Retain That 'Small Business' Feel as Your Company Grows

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.

December 8th, 2021

11 Common Work Habits That Might Be Sabotaging Your Productivity And Focus

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.

December 1st, 2021

14 Simple Ways To Practice Gratitude In Your Everyday Professional Life

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.

November 23rd, 2021

10 Creative And Effective Ways To Give Your Team Regular Performance Feedback

Performance feedback is an important way for your employees to know how well they are doing in their role, especially in a growing company. While annual reviews help your employees see how they’ve been doing throughout the course of the year, they could also benefit from receiving regular performance feedback. 

November 22nd, 2021

Struggling To Work With A Team? Try These Eight Helpful Strategies

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.

November 16th, 2021

How Your Whole Team (Including You) Can Truly Unplug And Enjoy The Holidays This Year

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.

October 29th, 2021

15 Warning Signs Your New Hire May Not Pan Out As Expected

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.

September 27th, 2021

Start Becoming a Better Communicator Today With These 12 Tips

Like any other skill, better communication comes with practice.

September 13th, 2021

13 Ways to Pull Yourself Out of a Work Rut

A few simple tricks can help you regain that lost motivation.

August 19th, 2021

How Small Teams Can Set Healthy Work-Life Boundaries (Even When Growing Quickly)

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.

July 26th, 2021

12 Budget-Friendly Ways to Prioritize Employees' Mental Health

While many large companies may have the resources to offer funded relaxation retreats or other extensive mental health perks, it can be difficult for small businesses to find ways to offer similar benefits without those same resources. 

July 2nd, 2021

Nine Successful Entrepreneurs Share The Top Marketing Advice They Wish They Knew When They Started

When it comes time to start marketing your business, you either have a ton of ideas you want to try or you have no clue where to begin. You likely understand the importance of sharing the benefits of your products and services with prospective customers, but it can be hard to know if you're taking the right steps in sharing your brand's message.

June 17th, 2021

12 Ways to Empower Your Employees to Become Better Leaders

To be great leaders, they’ll first need a great leader.

May 20th, 2021

10 Important Factors to Consider When Conducting a Mid-Year Check on Company Goals

Tracking the progress of your company goals is the best way to ensure they get accomplished.

May 10th, 2021

14 Ways to Create Your Own Happiness at Work (Even if You Don't Like Your Job)

One of the biggest influences on a business and its employees is a positive attitude. Leaders who have a positive mindset and are pleasant to be around get the most out of their peers and employees. A happy attitude is infectious, and when workers are in a good mood, they yield good results.

April 19th, 2021

11 Ways to Reclaim Your Time for Rest and Relaxation

As entrepreneurs start getting more involved with their businesses, it’s not uncommon that they find there's less time to spend on themselves. Unfortunately, being a successful business owner can often mean spending many hours engrossed in work without taking personal breaks. The result is almost always burnout, which can have negative effects on your health and well-being.

March 30th, 2021

13 Essential Lessons About How to Manage Well

March 30th, 2021

Three Lessons From The Pandemic (And How To Apply Them In Your Business Life)

This year was the definition of life-changing.

March 29th, 2021

13 Subtle Traits That Can Make Someone an Influential Person

If you want to lead, you may want to nurture these traits first.

March 26th, 2021

12 Key Traits to Look for When Hiring for Your Early-Stage Business

March 22nd, 2021

13 Entrepreneur-Recommended Habits To Maintain Productivity (Even When You're Busy)

No matter how stressed or busy you get, the right habits can keep you moving forward.