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While not every day will be perfect in terms of motivation, if you discover your employees generally aren’t finding fulfillment or satisfaction in their work, it’s paramount you find a solution and help get them back to feeling their best as soon as possible. If you don’t, you risk your employees becoming burned out and unhappy, which could lead to them leaving your company in search of something more exciting. To prevent your staff from reaching that point, you’ll need to take a few key actions both before and after you notice a problem. According to the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, taking the following seven steps could ensure employee morale stays high and your staff feel both motivated and fulfilled on a regular basis.

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In both personal and professional realms, growth and progress are often the outcomes of embracing challenges and pushing beyond our comfort zones. Within the workplace, this means professionals who actively seek to challenge themselves may be more likely to experience accelerated development and fulfillment in their careers. Below, Young Entrepreneur Council members explore various strategies for stepping outside the confines of your comfort zone and delving into uncharted territories within the work environment. By venturing into new areas, taking on unfamiliar tasks and embracing discomfort, professionals can unlock their full potential, acquire valuable skills, cultivate resilience and foster innovation.

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When you’re a small team, every employee plays a key role in the business. From marketing efforts to sales to operations, each aspect of the business needs a full team effort in order to get off the ground—and that can often mean team members work beyond the scope of the roles which they were hired for.  With so much extra time and effort being put in, leaders will want to ensure their teams have all the support they need to achieve their goals. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share a few of the ways startup leaders can show their support and set their teams up for success.

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When you decide to become an entrepreneur, there are certain obstacles you know you’re going to have to face—obtaining funding, advertising your business or making that first sale. However, there are often many more obstacles you won’t be prepared for or didn’t even realize would happen. However, with the right strategies and plans in place, each of these hurdles can be overcome. For more insights on how to prepare for these hardships, consider the following advice from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council. Here, they each discuss one obstacle they faced in their career that they never thought to prepare for when they started their company and how they recommend other leaders prepare.

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Innovation is often a key driver for long-term business success, but in order to properly innovate, you have to get creative first. A creative flow state, or any length or period of time during which a professional can think and create uninterrupted by distractions or intrusive thoughts, can be beneficial to those aiming to generate quality ideas in less time—but getting into this state isn’t always the most straightforward task. To help, six members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for getting into a creative flow state and explain how these methods help them achieve their creative goals.

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While you may have started your company blog with a wealth of original, valuable content ideas, after a particular length of time in business, you may find your creativity lacking and your blog content suffering with the same old topics and ideas. With so much content already out there on the internet, it can be difficult to constantly generate new ideas that your audience will be interested in reading. But according to the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, there are a number of ways you can revitalize stale blog content. Below, they discuss these strategies and share their advice for giving your blog content a much-needed creative boost.

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It’s not uncommon to hear the phrase, “Well, that could’ve been an email,” when leaving a meeting the attendees considered to be a waste of time. Whether it’s because the discussion fell off track or the intent was never all that clear, there are a number of reasons why nearly three quarters of meetings are considered to be unproductive.  So when those meetings occur that simply can’t be resolved with a simple note or email, how can leaders ensure that they’re making the best use of everyone’s time? Below, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members discuss some of the steps leaders can take to make sure their next meeting is actually useful and productive for all involved.

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In a competitive labor market, many companies are striving to put their best foot forward during job candidate interviews. However, some interviewers may stretch the truth a bit or omit certain information to better appeal to potential employees. Instead, it’s important to remember that transparency during job interviews will help companies find the best hire for the position while also maintaining company values. To share more insights, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council detail below how interviewers can be more "real" when talking to candidates and how this will help them find the right hire.

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As employees climb the corporate ladder, some may feel their natural next step is a managerial position. However, managerial roles aren't suited for everyone. If an employee asks you if you think they’d do well as a manager, it's important to be transparent and honest with the employee about whether their skills are up to par. If you find yourself in this situation, here are 10 essential things you should tell an aspiring manager they’ll need to succeed. Below, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council explain why these qualities and skills are so integral to a leader's job.

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No matter if working with a team is part of your daily routine or if it’s something you only need to do for special assignments, it's important to understand how to maintain creativity when working together. With a variety of minds and personalities working together, creative thought should flourish—but there are a few factors that can sabotage it if everyone isn’t careful. In order to avoid these factors, however, first you must identify them. Below, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss these sabotaging factors and what teams and their leaders can do to prevent them.

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As a leader, it’s natural to want to reward high-performing employees when they’re already doing so well and they’re likely having the biggest impact on the company’s bottom line. However, focus and support should also be given to average or low-performing employees to benefit not only the company, but also the employees as they continue on their career journeys.  Sometimes, a little acknowledgment and a listening ear is all an average or low-performing employee needs to perform at their best. Here, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the things a leader can do to help support and manage an average or low-performing employee and why these things are important.

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Whether it happens while participating in meetings or partaking in company surveys, the best ideas happen when there's plenty of room for everyone to share. This means that businesses at the helm of true innovation provide each employee with the chance to have their voice heard.  However, this can become more difficult to ensure as your company grows larger. Below, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some systems that companies can put in place to ensure all employees are getting their ideas heard, no matter the business's size.

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Every growing organization will experience role transitions at some point. Whether a project is changing hands, an employee is moving into a promotion, or you’re hiring someone to take on a new position, you will want the transitions to go smoothly. For the best ways to ensure successful transitions, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members share their best advice.

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When you’re in a position of authority, and when you have the livelihoods of not only yourself but also your teams to consider, it can be easy to develop certain mindsets around yourself, your work and the way your business should be run. While many of these mindsets can be positive, many can also be toxic, threatening to overwhelm you and, ultimately, your team’s morale if left unchecked. As successful business leaders themselves, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council are familiar with the toxic thoughts that can sometimes cross your mind when you run a business. Below, they list a few of those toxic mindsets as well as share what you can do to eliminate them when you feel them start to take over.

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One of the main purposes of a business website is to convert website traffic into revenue. This means creating calls to action (CTAs), building sales funnels and curating interesting, valuable content for those browsing your website. But there are multiple ways to optimize your website for conversions and usher potential consumers to your sales page. To help you do this, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council provide their top-recommended "tricks of the trade" to boost website conversions below.

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Whether it's work-related, personal or both, everyone has weaknesses and "blind spots." In order to grow, it's crucial to pinpoint these weaknesses and work on improving them, either by yourself or with the assistance of others. Acknowledging you have weaknesses and working through them not only makes you a better entrepreneur, but it can also make you a better person in all facets of your life. To help you determine your game plan, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council each detailed one way you can actively work on your weaknesses, and how doing this will help you evolve as an entrepreneur.

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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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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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Launching a new company often involves a lot of moving parts and a number of different hats an entrepreneur must wear in order to get the business off the ground. With so many tasks that need to get done, new entrepreneurs can be left feeling overwhelmed with a mounting to-do list and no sense of direction for what needs to be prioritized first. Is it sales? Social media? Designing the right logo? Building a website? The members of Young Entrepreneur Council suggest the answer may not be what you expect. Below, they list out eight of the tasks you should be spending more of your time on as you’re launching your business and explain why those tasks are so key to your future success as a business owner.

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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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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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Finding the perfect candidate to fill an open position is about so much more than choosing someone with the necessary skills and experience. While it's important to hire someone with the technical knowledge and expertise to get the job done well, it's equally as important to find someone who will fit into your company culture or be a positive influence on others.  When you're assessing candidates for a position, you can look for certain traits in addition to their level of experience that will help you make the right hire. Here, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss the top traits they have to see in a candidate before deciding to bring them on.

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For most entrepreneurs, the early days of their business entail doing most of the day-to-day work themselves. However, as your business grows, so will your need to hire and effectively manage others. Expanding your team requires you to hone your leadership skills, as well as a strategic vision to keep your team on track. To help, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared some essential leadership skills every entrepreneur should nurture. Follow their recommendations to improve your management abilities and foster a strong business culture.

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Social media can do wonders for a business — as long as you have followers paying attention. It can be a common misconception, especially among new entrepreneurs, that you just need to create a few social media profiles and your followers will find you.  However, if you want to amass a large following of loyal, engaged customers, you’ll need to be proactive. To help set you on the right path, 14 members of YEC share their best tips and hacks for new entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their business's social media following.

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As social media evolves, so should your social media marketing budget. Changing trends and platforms may mean putting some advertising dollars behind your campaigns and investing in creative talent to help you create and manage content. When determining your social media marketing spend, it's important to create an effective and specific marketing budget that factors in the content, paid ads and other investments that allow you to market to the right audience. To that end, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council members explained the specific questions you can consider when deciding how to break down your social media budget.

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Working from home was gaining popularity in the years leading up to the Covid-19 pandemic. As most businesses were then forced to operate remotely during pandemic lockdowns, many people who may not have considered working remotely before got to have a taste of all its benefits. Now, many companies and organizations are choosing to keep operating with a hybrid workforce as a permanent solution. As leaders accept hybrid workforces as the new normal, they need to establish solid company cultures that revolve around working with in-office and remote teams simultaneously. Below, seven members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their thoughts on how to build a solid company culture with a hybrid workforce and talk about overcoming any challenges that leaders might face while doing so.

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After more than a year of staying at home, many people are excited to travel again -- including entrepreneurs. In fact, getting some space from your business can really help clear your mind and prevent burnout. However, many business owners are still facing lingering challenges due to the pandemic, and it can be difficult to find time to step away from work. With the right planning and delegation tactics, though, business owners can indeed enjoy a much-needed vacation. To help, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shared tips for making it a little easier to take time off this year.

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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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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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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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Time management can be a challenge when you’re faced with work that’s piled up over a period of time. It can be overwhelming to look at a list of tasks and determine which are priorities and which can be temporarily moved to the side, causing some employees to stress or panic about where to even begin.  To alleviate this situation, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council explained what an overwhelmed employee should do to get back on track. From actionable advice like speaking with management to tips for adjusting your mentality, these entrepreneurs share their best habits for better managing your time despite an overwhelming workload.

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In a world filled with uncertainties, businesses want to be able to rely on customer loyalty. Many businesses know they wouldn’t be successful without their customers, but they may not be sure how to best thank them for their loyalty. To retain customers, it’s important to find effective ways to thank them for their business. That's why 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members shared their favorite unique ways to thank loyal members of your brand community. Follow their recommendations and make your customer's day.

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An individual who factors self-reflection into their everyday development is on their way to becoming a great leader. To advance, managers have to ask themselves regularly if their performance is in line with their leadership goals. The evidence can be in how well their team is performing and the results they have achieved. To that end, 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members each shared one question managers should ask themselves to ensure they’re becoming the best leaders they can be. Try to reflect on these questions yourself if you want to gauge your own performance and efficacy as a leader.

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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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Remote work has quickly become the norm across much of the corporate world. Yet, with so many professionals used to in-person interaction, this shift to digital messaging has rapidly and fundamentally changed workplace communication. With increased opportunities for misunderstandings in written text, potential overuse of gifs and emojis, plus a completely different dynamic from in-office communication, professionals need to adjust to the new digital workplace, whether that’s on Slack or communication platforms like it. Here, eight experts from Young Entrepreneur Council offer tips for how individuals can communicate effectively and professionally on these platforms and explain why they’re so key to a productive workplace.

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As an entrepreneur, it’s important to keep an eye on your competition and find ways to set yourself apart from others in your industry. Especially in a saturated market, it's vital to stand out with a strong personal brand. To achieve this, you’ll want to define what makes you and your brand unique. If you’re looking to do this right, follow this advice from the members of Young Entrepreneur Council, who shared eight key steps to take when trying to hone in on your niche.

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As more people are working from home and staying in, online shopping has become the dominant means of commerce. It’s more important than ever for small brick-and-mortar retailers to get their products online and accessible to their customers. However, with so many large e-commerce competitors like Amazon, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. To give these smaller businesses a leg up, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council how brick-and-mortars can still thrive in today's digital landscape. Here’s what they had to say.

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Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best ways to achieve organic growth for your business. Having people advocate for your services can help you attract new customers and increase loyalty among your existing customer base. However, it isn’t always easy to generate referrals naturally, especially as a service provider. That’s why we asked 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council how a service-based business can use digital marketing to drive more positive word-of-mouth. Their recommendations are below.

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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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When you're negotiating a deal, misinterpreted tone or poorly-chosen words could ruin an otherwise-successful conversation. Sometimes you may not know even which phrases might turn a deal sour. That's why we asked 16 members of Young Entrepreneur Council 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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These bad habits can have a lasting effect on your daily productivity and efficiency.

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Starting your own business is not a decision to take lightly. While it’s great to be your own boss with the freedom to set your own schedule, this is only part of the equation. It takes a lot more than just a dream to be a successful entrepreneur. Before you take the leap, there are some important questions to ask yourself to understand if you’re truly ready to launch your own business. To help you make your decision, we asked 10 Young Entrepreneur Council members what everyone should ask themselves before committing to entrepreneurship.

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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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Technological advancement offers us lots of tools that can make our lives easier as entrepreneurs. Mass communication, social media and the ability to connect are hallmarks of the 21st century. Even daily work is a lot simpler, thanks to products such as Slack or Github, which allow remote management of teams. More than anything else, constant connectivity ensures that everyone within the business can be "in the know" at all points in time. Even so, tech is such a wide-ranging field that it's easy for a business owner to be spoiled for choice. To help young entrepreneurs have a better grasp of what's going in the world of tech, eight associates of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tech hacks for getting more done in their daily work life.

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Entrepreneurs usually don't have enough hours in a day to get everything done. That's the primary reason why prioritizing tasks is a common trait of the most successful business owners. However, many entrepreneurs overlook the importance of hiring great talent to their team and place the priority of hiring new employees way down their list. A business's success, however, depends on how well its employees perform, and that should be reason enough to raise this task up a busy entrepreneur's task list. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council shed light on how busy business owners can (and should) find time to locate and hire the best talent, without neglecting their other responsibilities.

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You can enjoy well-deserved rest and family time knowing your team is equipped to function smoothly in your absence.

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What you wear and how you present yourself professionally can have a huge impact on the trajectory of your career.

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Your desk job doesn't have to take a toll on your physical health.