Bill Mulholland

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No matter what business you run, when you’re designing your website, you’re not really designing it for your business—you’re designing it for your customers. Users of your website need to be able to easily find your website and navigate it to find the solution to their problem. This process is all part of their user experience (UX), and providing them with a positive experience should be your main motivation behind every design choice you make. As business leaders themselves, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council understand what it takes to produce a thoughtful website that keeps the user experience in mind, and here, they each share the one rule or lesson they think about when trying to create a better user experience for their website visitors and how this thinking helps shape their final design.

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When you start a business, not only do you have to convince potential customers you can solve their particular problem, but you also have to convince them that your business can solve their problem better than any other company can. Differentiating yourself from your competition in this way is essential if you want to succeed in your niche and build a loyal following of customers. But what steps do you need to take to do so? Here, 12 business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council share their insights on what new entrepreneurs should do when it comes to differentiating themselves from their competition and what steps they’ll need to take to ensure their success.

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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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Onboarding a new manager can be an overwhelming experience for both the new manager and the employee doing the training. Not only does the new hire have to learn the organizational culture and procedures, but they’ll also need to meet and establish a rapport with their team. The best way to set up a manager for success from day one is to implement a thoughtful, thorough onboarding procedure. Here, seven Young Entrepreneur Council members share their best tips for onboarding new managers, so these hires can be successful from the start.

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There are many crises that a company can face during its lifetime, and they happen for many different reasons. Whether it's a financial crisis, an economic crisis, an environmental crisis or any other type of crisis, it's important for business leaders to have a plan in place to manage the situation quickly. If well thought-out, a business leader's first step when faced with a company crisis can set the course for an effective solution. Here, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the first steps a business leader should take when faced with a company crisis and why they should take them.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss their favorite tech that's come about in response to ongoing culture changes. The ongoing pandemic has permanently changed the way we behave. Working remotely more and leaving the house less means that our whole culture has had to adjust in order to meet new and ongoing needs. As a result, a whole host of innovative technologies have been created or improved upon, giving people the chance to more easily adapt to a world turned upside down. Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share a few of their favorite new or improved technologies that came about in response to the pandemic and why they’re excited to see them grow in the future.

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One of the first things a business owner might do when starting their business is determine their target audience. Even after narrowing down your target audience, however, you'll still find a lot of diversity in your customer base. Whether they’re of various ages, genders, careers, cultures or needs, there are many different types of people who may be interested in and find value in your product or service. In order to appeal to them all, then, you’ll need to design your website thoughtfully. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the strategies you can use to make your website more appealing to a diverse audience. Try out one of their methods to ensure everyone has a positive experience with your business.

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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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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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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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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council list the tech skills company founders need to get their businesses off the ground. Even if you’re not opening up a technology-based business, it’s hard to open any kind of business today without at least a few basic tech skills under your belt. And while hiring help for more difficult technical projects down the line is both acceptable and recommended, when you’re just starting out, odds are you’ll need to tackle technology on your own first. However, you don’t need to be a tech genius to get started. Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council list a few of the basic skills all company founders should have to start a business and explain how these skills will get you up and running successfully.

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January is a time when many professionals and businesses set goals and company resolutions for the year ahead. However, even the most well-intentioned may lose sight of their goals as the year goes on. The key to following through with your business's big annual goals is measuring your progress each week, month and quarter. To help you do this, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council each provided an effective solution for tracking progress on your department-specific goals over the next 12 months.

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With 2021 now at a close, it's the perfect time of year to start looking forward to the year ahead and setting goals for success. As you set your personal resolutions, don't forget to focus on your career aspirations for the coming year too. From earning a promotion to taking the lead on a project or upping your skills in a specific area, there are plenty of career goals you can set for 2022. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their top tips for anyone who wants to crush their career goals in the year ahead.

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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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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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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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Turning a poor customer experience around continues to be one of the main struggles customer service professionals face daily. When the service experience goes poorly, a company can risk losing that customer forever. The key to success is having go-to strategies for remedying the situation and regaining that customer's trust and loyalty. To demonstrate how to turn unsatisfactory experiences into satisfactory ones, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared their top-recommended ways to improve customer service.

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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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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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When you think about outstanding personal branding, at least one person comes to mind. This person displays all the elements of what a personal brand should be, but they also have a little something more—an “X” factor. But what are these factors and how can other entrepreneurs tap into those same skills or traits for their own benefit? Below, eight professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council discuss their favorite examples of amazing personal branding and the particular elements that make them so outstanding.

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If you're looking for business advice, there are a lot of different places you could go. There are countless books and seminars that promise you success with your business, but many of them are built on the achievements of their creators. No two entrepreneurs or businesses are precisely the same, and because of this, their advice may not apply or resonate with you. Yet, some advice is universally valid, no matter the industry, area of focus or target audience. Here, nine leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council talk about some of the best advice they've encountered throughout all their years as entrepreneurs and explain why any business founder could act on these tips to achieve success.

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Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss how you’ll know when it’s time to consider a career switch. From decreased motivation to frustration with the industry, every professional faces ups and downs in their career. It’s quite common for even the most passionate employees to fall into a funk, then come through the other side of it just as fulfilled as before. However, those negative thoughts or feelings you’re experiencing can also signify something deeper. Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council share some of the signs you may actually be ready for a significant career move. Read on to discover if you’re just in a temporary funk or if you need to consider making a change.

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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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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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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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Trying to get people interested in your startup may seem like fighting a losing battle. The early stages of a startup have several challenges to getting customers involved in the business. Advertising to a large market can be expensive, and you have to figure out if your strategy will even work with your core audience. Standard marketing campaigns can be useful, but audience responses can be lackluster for something they've seen dozens of businesses try before. The solution is to think out of the box when developing your promotional campaigns. These 10 leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council walk us through how they created unique, out-of-the-box promotions that helped their business immeasurably in the early days of development and explain why they worked so well.

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Keeping up with your employees on an individual level makes for good leadership. As you hire more and more people to your team, it can be difficult to maintain that one-on-one time with each employee. However, doing so is crucial to ensuring everyone is on the same page and performing their best. To help you, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share some creative and effective ways to give regular performance feedback to your key team members. Follow their advice to stay connected to your team, even as your company grows.

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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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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 create a company with someone else, the initial stages require you to work closely together. Eventually, a bond forms, as it usually does when people work closely together. However, as a business grows, you and your co-founder may decide to work on separate parts of the business. Sometimes this may lead to disagreements between founding members -- whether caused by lack of communication or different views on how to expand the organization. It's tempting to just put these arguments down to strong personalities butting heads, but reconciling these differences is critical for the good of the company. Below, nine professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council offer their insight into how co-founders can maintain a healthy relationship, even while the company grows around them.

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Startups have the potential to be massive earners for an investor. Getting in on the ground floor enables investors to make the most out of a startup's innovations. However, not all startups are successful. Quite a large number of them seem to have good ideas but fail to implement them properly. When you examine the successful startups, however, a few shared elements become apparent. Smart investors know what those elements are and how to determine if a startup has that potential for massive growth. Eight associates of Young Entrepreneur Council delve into the critical aspects investors should keep an eye out for when prospecting startups, and how these elements affect their decision to invest.

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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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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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