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Your employees’ personalities and work ethics have a direct impact on how effective and efficient you and your company are at getting anything done. Because of this, putting together a well-functioning team isn’t always straightforward. For an entrepreneur who needs to have team members they can count on, a few personality traits stand out as necessary. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some of the attributes they consider nonnegotiable in potential hires for their companies and how these traits impact the ability to complete good work.

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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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Building a brand takes a lot of time, effort and resources—but so does monitoring the competition. No business can perform both at the maximum possible effectiveness, and so compromises must be made. Companies must balance their time and other resources to ensure they can achieve both. However, how companies balance these responsibilities differs. Some prefer a more brand-centric approach, while others prefer to know what the competition is up to. Below, eight experts from Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on how they think businesses should approach competition monitoring and how to balance these demands to best benefit the company.

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An entrepreneur is only as powerful as the people they surround themselves with. Starting and attempting to grow a business can be a difficult journey, and the sheer amount of outside challenges you need to tackle can be overwhelming. That is why a solid support network is one of the most important things a business owner should create. With the right team behind them, an entrepreneur can overcome almost any obstacle. Below, seven members of Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on the strategies they use to hire the right people and why those strategies are so vital to building a dream team.

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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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17 members of YEC share effective tactics for gathering together leaders in a way that will lead to actual productivity and strategizing. For a business to thrive it needs its leaders to be able to communicate, plan and execute effectively. In order to do this, it’s vital for leaders to gather together — whether in person or virtually — to discuss plans and exchange ideas. For most leaders, these meetings are a chance to have their say in how the business runs. And with companies these days looking at ways to pivot and take advantage of a new business environment, it's not strange to see companies branching out to find more creative ways to bring leaders together. In the past, boardrooms or conference venues were the preferred meeting point for leaders. But as busy executives, it can be challenging to find a time that works for everyone. And even if you can get together, meetings that don’t have a game plan may not always lead to the most productive conversation. Below, 17 members of YEC look at different creative ways business leaders can gather together for effective strategizing and conversation.

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As an executive, difficult conversations often come up in the workplace. It may be something as sensitive as expressing a concern to an employee or explaining why the company's letting someone go. Part of being in a position of leadership is learning how to navigate those conversations. These difficult conversations are part of the territory, and even though it may be challenging to deal with them, they must be dealt with head-on. So how can a professional best deal with these kinds of situations? We asked eight executives from Young Entrepreneur Council about their most successful strategies when dealing with difficult conversations in their daily work life. Here's what they suggested.

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The backbone of a company is its employees, but the brain of a business is its leadership. The best leaders inspire and encourage the employees working under them, but even these leaders need positive reinforcement from time to time. While a lot of this reinforcement comes from those above them in the hierarchy, it has special meaning when the employees under them reach out to show their appreciation. So what are some appropriate ways employees can show their appreciation for key leaders and everything they do? Below, eight professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council share ways employees can recognize the positive impact of leaders and give them a much-appreciated "thank you."

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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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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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End-of-year reviews are an essential tool to gauge the business's effectiveness and efficiency over the previous year. Unfortunately, few businesses implement a review, and some that do only look at the cursory metrics that would give them a basic understanding of the company's strengths and weaknesses. An in-depth review is necessary if the business wants to learn where it can improve and how to do so. If you haven't gotten started on your year-end review, it isn't too late to do so. Seven experts from Young Entrepreneur Council shed some light on what businesses can do specifically to get started on their year-end review and explain why these steps are crucial for the review's success.

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It's no secret that the holidays are among the most hectic times of the year for businesses. Everyone wants to close off the year well, and the holiday season makes for some fantastic business opportunities, but staff also looks forward to spending more time with loved ones and away from work. However, this year has been challenging for many people. Most businesses adopt an "all hands on deck" approach to the holidays, and this year is no exception, as the state of the world has encouraged companies to juggle an uncertain future in addition to the holiday rush. Here, nine professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on how businesses can successfully manage the extra holiday workload while already in crisis mode.

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One of the worst things for a budding entrepreneur is to realize that the problem they're solving already has a solution. The business environment has diversified a lot, but the low cost of entry has now made it easy for others to develop similar ideas. In a saturated market, the businesses that stand out and become memorable to their consumers will have the best chance of survival and expansion. These eight leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council examine a few ways that a business can differentiate itself from others in the same competing space and offer advice for companies that want to set themselves apart from the rest of their industry.

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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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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.