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

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expert panel

Education is a gift that remains relevant, no matter how old you get. Businesses that encourage their employees to experience new things and educate themselves stand to benefit from the new insights their workforce will come up with as a result. The human brain is a remarkable organ that can do amazing things if given the right motivation. Therefore, within organizations, it's the job of leaders to promote learning and growing while the employee remains with the business. Encouraging continued learning and growth is a crucial investment in the innovative capability of the staff. Below, eight associates of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss how they promote learning within their organizations and underline the importance of pushing employees to grow.

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Entrepreneurship is a journey that no one is fully prepared to take. No matter how much time you spent researching and learning things before you started, there are always things you’ll wish you had done differently in hindsight. While you can’t prepare for every possible scenario, you can arm yourself for some common challenges and circumstances by learning from other’s experiences. We asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council what they wished they knew before they launched their businesses and what difference it would have made. Ten of them shared their insights below.

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expert panel

As an entrepreneur, it’s important to create and implement a branding strategy for your business. This will help you better connect with your customers and share your company’s story/personality with your target audience. Developing a branding strategy can be challenging if you don’t know where to begin, so we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share some specific brands or personalities whose top-notch branding strategies are worthy of emulation. Read their responses to familiarize yourself with these successful branding tactics.

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expert panel

It’s easy to have an “always-on” mentality when you’re an entrepreneur. You own a business that depends on you to survive, so you never really get a day off – right? This attitude can be detrimental both to your business and to you as the owner. While you might feel uncomfortable or guilty taking time off, it’s essential to give yourself time to rest so you can come back strong and rejuvenated. Otherwise, you're likely to end up burning out and being a less effective leader. We spoke with members of Young Entrepreneur Council about their experiences with stepping away from their businesses for vacation. Here are some strategies they shared for feeling confident leaving your company in others’ capable hands while you’re taking much-needed time off.

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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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Building your brand is an important part of running a business. To truly connect with your audience, you must define and express who you are and your goals as a business. Often, the best way to do this is by telling your story. Your brand story encompasses your journey to and reason for starting your company, and the way you tell it can greatly impact the way consumers view your brand. We asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share some strategies for communicating your chosen brand story to your audience. Here’s what they had to say.

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When launching a startup, business owners often receive a lot of advice from everyone around them. As a new entrepreneur, it can be difficult to parse through it all and determine what truly applies to your business.  With all the noise around you, you might be left feeling more overwhelmed and confused than before. To help you identify the right (and wrong) tips, we talked to members of Young Entrepreneur Council about common pieces of startup advice they disagree with. Here’s what they flagged as unhelpful insights you don’t need to follow when launching your company.

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Social media is constantly evolving, as are the ways people use it. What was once primarily used for connecting with old friends and family has morphed into a platform for sharing perspectives and launching campaigns. As an entrepreneur, it’s important to be aware of these changes so you can adapt accordingly. Your business’s social presence can make or break your reputation. That's why we asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members how they keep up with evolving social media functions. They offered their best tips for using such changes to engage your audience.

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17 professionals from YEC share the best websites for locating fresh talent. There has been a change in how companies approach the idea of outsourcing. In recent years, businesses have grown less fond of doing everything in-house and more open to hiring freelancers to lend them a hand. This new reality in the world of employment has spawned a massive explosion of websites that cater specifically to professionals providing talent to companies. Searching for local expertise, in particular, can help to enhance the region and support the local community. Additionally, local contractors are easy to get in touch with, either though message or by direct phone call. Occasionally, you may need someone familiar with the region you're operating in, which is why outsourcing to a local freelancer is the right call. Many companies overlook local talent because they have the misconception that imported talent is automatically better. Knowing where to look to find the best in local talent might encourage you to reconsider your opinion on hiring locals to work for your company. Many of these websites offer businesses access to a wide pool of qualified candidates, as well as the possibility of fine-tuning their search so as to identify the most relevant candidates. Filters you can get access to include the location (for local or regional talent), ratings, and expertise. All of these are critical factors in determining whether a freelancer or professional will fit the business's needs. However, not all of these websites are built in the same vein. Seventeen professionals from YEC share valuable advice on the best websites for finding outside talent -- local or not – and explain why those resources are vital to their own businesses.

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Helping your community doesn't mean that your need to dedicate your company to philanthropic works. Even profit-based companies can give back to their communities in a significant way if they start incorporating philanthropy into their company culture or develop a community-focused approach to business operations. The company culture shapes how employees view the business and interact with each other. By promoting philanthropy, a business seeks to leverage its employees' knowledge and experience in a unique way that will build the business's reputation and do good within the community. To help, these ten experts from Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the techniques they use to build philanthropy into their company culture and explain why this matters.

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Switching a “bad” habit for a good one is not always the best option. We all have bad habits or simply attitudes or routines we would like to change because they are not healthy for us. While not all bad habits are truly bad, it’s important to be able to discern what needs to change for us to advance in our personal and professional life. The internet is full of advice and tips from self-proclaimed gurus on how to shake off a bad habit, but that doesn’t mean their advice works for everyone. Changing your habits is a huge step to take, but before embarking on this journey, you need to become aware of the most common pitfalls and misconceptions of effecting this kind of change. To help, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council look at the most common misconceptions and why they may impact your ability to successfully change habits.

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Great leaders don’t simply tell their team what to do; they lead by example and “walk the talk.” Staff members are much more willing to listen to instructions and respect leadership if their boss is doing the same.  So what behaviors are best for encouraging strong work ethic, relationship-building and leadership development? We asked a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members what habits leaders can adopt to set a good example for their team. Read on for their best recommendations.

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As a budding young entrepreneur, you're likely to meet a lot of people telling you, "no." While some of these people are well-meaning, the constant negativity will eventually impact your self-confidence. The unfortunate truth is that you can't just stick your head in the sand and avoid naysayers altogether. While their negativity is depressing, sometimes they have valuable knowledge and information you will need. How can an aspiring young business owner deal with this situation? We asked 12 members of Young Entrepreneur Council about their experiences dealing with those types of people and how they overcame the negativity to be successful. Here's what they had to say.

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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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It takes more than just raising your voice Getting noticed in a large group of people is already hard. However, when it comes to a professional setting, getting noticed requires more than just shouting above the din. Large gatherings in business can already be intimidating, and making a point heard is a larger challenge. For the professional who wants to stand out, it takes a bit of skill and maneuvering to get into the spotlight. To help less experienced individuals navigate a crowded room, these 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council examine a few proven strategies and explore why they are so good at getting you noticed in a group setting.

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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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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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With the number of tasks that an employee has to accomplish daily, many managers believe that it's impossible to monitor staff workloads accurately. The problem becomes even more involved in organizations where it's difficult to track the movement of jobs between departments. However, even though the process may seem like a futile one, several managers and leaders have started looking into ways to monitor employee productivity practically. Experts in many disciplines have developed techniques that aren't just effective at tracking workload completion and status but are flexible enough to be applied in many situations. We consulted eight professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council about the most effective employee monitoring methods they use and why they're so effective at getting the job done.

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The job of a project manager comes with a world of responsibility attached. As the point-person in an organization responsible for the completion of tasks on time and within budget, their information must be precise and accurate. While many project managers have been trained in the traditional methodology of project management, the field has evolved a lot. Even today, new project managers start the job and have to adapt their knowledge to the current working environment. Project management is a fluid field, with changes required for a constant reevaluation of how a company does things. We asked eight experts from Young Entrepreneur Council what they would advise project managers to do to make sure projects stay on track and within budget. Here's what they said.

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expert panel

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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A great digital marketing strategy can drive potential customers to your website. But high traffic doesn't always translate into revenue. Once you get people on your site, you need to ensure they have a reason to follow through on their purchase. To help you do this, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council how they optimize and convert web traffic into real dollars. Their best tips and insights are below.

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If prompted, there's at least one employee that business owners can point to definitively and state that they are one of the most high-performing hires at the company. However, these high-performing employees sometimes go through issues that can put them off their game. For the company, this can impact performance and efficiency. The business must understand that the employee is still human, not a machine. Getting them back on their game will require a more individual approach. Below, eight contributors to Young Entrepreneur Council examine what a business owner can do to help their prized, high-performing employees get back in gear after a personal or professional struggle.

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Time management is one of the most challenging parts of being an entrepreneur. When you're a business owner, you don't have the luxury of getting all your tasks laid out for you. You have to formulate those tasks, assign importance to them, and schedule them so that they can get done in a reasonable window, all while finding ways to keep the entire business running and growing. For an entrepreneur to maximize their productivity, they need to set strategies in place to help them manage their time effectively. To help, eight contributors to Young Entrepreneur Council share their most effective strategies for putting a clear framework in place to maximize productivity during a work day.

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Spend just the right amount, and watch your business flourish without draining your profits.

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It’s a new year and a new decade — and that means it’s time to tackle search engine optimization in a new way.

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With tech innovation happening at an unprecedentedly fast pace, businesses and entrepreneurs should stay abreast of the latest developments and find ways to leverage new technology to make their life easier. For entrepreneurs especially, using the right technological tools can streamline their work and free up more of their time, helping them attain that ever-elusive but much needed work-life balance. But with so many available options, how can a busy entrepreneur identify the most suitable tools for their own needs? To help, we’ve asked eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council about their own essential gadgets and applications that they can’t do without, whether in their personal life or at work. Here's what they had to say.

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Everyone feels down from time to time -- especially when you're dealing with the stress of running a business. Those negative feelings can make you question everything. While it's OK to feel down, the best way to relieve that feeling is to actively seek out positive thoughts. That's why we asked Young Entrepreneur Council members what they do in moments of doubt to help remind them of their potential. Ask yourself the following questions to regain your confidence during a mental or emotional rut.