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SBA Loan Default? 5 Ways to Turn Your Business Around

Posted: 11 Aug 2019 09:00 AM PDT

SBA Loan programs can be extremely useful resources for kickstarting small businesses. However, if you're experiencing tumultuous business in 2019, you may find your SBA loan payment a little tricky.

The constrictive feeling of anxiety is not fertile ground for new business ideas to blossom, leading you to worry about how to turn things around. Take a deep breathe and read through this guide for some stellar tips to make 2019 your year for business. 

Start testing, but start small

If you're defaulting on your small business administration loan payment, something needs to change. The best way to implement change is through manageable human-scale alterations. Incremental changes allow you to recognize, monitor and harness feedback in a controlled way.

This is the clincher in business. To understand whether a change is successful, we need to measure the outcomes of that change and use those measurables to build actionable steps forward based upon the results.

Imagine you have a bar and you want to increase profits. You offer 2-4-1 margaritas on Wednesday. For a whole month, the bar is packed and then starts to tail off the next month. You decide that people have gone off margaritas and now opt to serve mojitos instead. Nobody comes. You change to a different cocktail, nobody comes. You research the best cocktails, drop the price and offer pitchers on the 2-4-1 deal. Still, nobody comes.

If you'd asked for customer feedback over that monthly period, you would have known that there was a Mexican restaurant doing 2-4-1 on tacos and that people enjoyed drinking margaritas after their meal. Once the 2-4-1 deal ended, those people needn't come to this side of town.

Then, collating and analyzing feedback is integral rendering change useful in enhancing your business and driving higher profits to cover your SBA loan payments. Otherwise, it's simply a guessing a game of what's working.

Eric Ries, the author of The Lean Startup, suggests the use of the 'Learn, Test, Feedback' cycle for implementing changes. Start by learning. If you want to know how to improve your business, start by looking at the trends and interests of people within your catchment area, both off and online. This will give you ideas for change. 

Don't get stuck in 'analysis paralysis' here. It can be easy to get glued to the learning phase, trying to perfect our ideas. However, they'll remain simply as ideas if we never take action. Understand when your idea is 'good enough' to go and get it out.

The second step is to test the idea. It is important to understand that change needs to be manageable otherwise it can quickly get out of control ⁠– especially if it goes wrong. If you implement heavy-duty changes, you'll get heavy-duty results. Congratulations are in order if this works out, but also it's catastrophic if it doesn't. 

Editor's Note: Looking for a business loan? Fill out the below questionnaire to be connected with vendors that can help.

 

Imagine you own a restaurant and decide that serving fresh clay-oven pizza is the way to enhance your profits. You plow all your capital into building a pizza oven that takes up half your outdoor seating area. If this doesn't work out, you've not only lost all your capital, you're also now lumbered with a useless pizza oven and half as much outdoor space, which in turn limits your summer sales.

Alternatively, smaller-scale changes with correct feedback metrics provide a signpost to indicate the direction your improvements should take. For example, you would first incorporate a pizza night with a new launch discount and build a robust set of feedback metrics to test it. You monitor whether more customers come in, for how much longer, and how much more they spend on what. Perhaps you'll notice that people tend to order wine more often when they eat pizza or add an extra side. If a customer orders pizza, ask for feedback, not just on the dish, but also on why they bought it.

You may find that your customers were thrilled that pizza was now being offered and that's why they dropped in. In fact, they were so happy about it that they ordered an extra glass of wine for the authentic Italian feel. Good for you — try adding Spaghetti Bolognaise on the menu or offering 2-4-1 on Italian wines. [Are you looking for a business loan? Check out our reviews and best picks of your options.]

However, perhaps the real motivator was price. Where better to take the whole family for a great value meal? It's such a bargain that mom and dad relax mid-week with a bottle of red wine and maybe even splash out on a  side of garlic bread. If that's the case, maybe you offer pizza night twice a week or as an after school 'Early Bird' deal.

Use your feedback system to guide you toward your next moves. Without it, you're flying blind. Motives and behaviors can be tricky, but using feedback systems allow you to see working patterns that can be replicated and harmful patterns to avoid. That way you can start the cycle again, learning about the positive results from your feedback and developing systems to scale them up.

Perhaps a pivot?

Pivoting in business refers to the concept of switching strategies as a way to correct your course as a company. While small, steady solutions are a good step forward, you may find that nothing you try works. This may be because a larger upheaval is needed to readdress the underlying structural presumptions of your business.

While pivoting may seem like a drastic course of action resulting in big time/money costs, often we find that only one substantial element needs to be changed. The difference between incremental changes and a pivot, however, is that that pivot is most often tied to key aspects of the company's personality and operation. Examples of pivots include:

  • Delivery platform
  • Revenue model 
  • Key target audience
  • Main product functionality to suit a different need in the same audience
  • A supporting product may become the main product or vice versa
  • Growth model
  • Change in technology
  • Sales channels

Take YouTube. While it's difficult to picture YouTube as any other company, it was originally intended to be a dating app. However, once it recognized its potential as a more general video hosting platform, it pivoted its main product's functionality to suit a different need in the target audience.

Shopify is another big company that pivoted. The founders had an idea to start an online snowboarding brand but couldn't find any ecommerce storefronts they liked. They decided to build their own. They found a better response to the need for the shopfront than the snow gear, leading them to pivot and make their secondary project their main product.

Curad is another example. While Band Aid held the market for adhesive bandages, Curad decided they needed to pivot to compete with the generic giant. They designed adhesive bandages with cartoon sticker on them. By pivoting their target audience, they became the largest distributor of children's adhesive bandages.

But how do you know if your company needs to pivot?

There may be many signs that you need to pivot including slow progress, high competition, a lack of customer response, changes in your own ethics, or one product outselling everything else. If you've only been struggling with SBA loan payments for a month or so, consider adding small tests. However, if this is becoming a longer-term issue, you may want to consider pivoting.

Whatever the reason, when you recognize that you a stagnating or morphing organically toward an alternate outcome than first planned, it's time to actively pivot. Do it quickly and get yourself measurable goals that allow you to monitor your progress. 

Just like small changes, pivots work best when spun through the 'learn, test, feedback' cycle. Channel your previous hard work into making the pivot easier, using the resources and efforts you've pooled together before. Listen to customer feedback as well as your own metrics, as outside opinions can often highlight points you may not have considered ⁠– maybe even the way to pivot.

Get personal

When we consider all the world's inventions over time, it's pretty clear that everything designed for everyone to use all of the time has already been commandeered by household brand names. Think about things like Tylenol or Kleenex – the products that aren't 'niche' are far harder to compete with as people already know their favorite brands or are indiscriminate about which they buy as it doesn't matter. Do people really have that much of a preference on dish sponges or milk? No, generally people just pick the brand they've always used or the cheapest version. As dotcom millionaire and business mogul Seth Godin points out, "Not everyone is your customer."

To combat people's decision-making apathy when choosing products, you need to be remarkable (or a Purple Cow, as Seth says). To stand out in an over-saturated or historically-commandeered market is difficult. You can try to go head-to-head with Kleenex if you like, but they likely have a mountain of more resources than you to get their brand to the top of the pile.

Instead, consider this. 

It is easier to be remarkable in a niche because the crowds are smaller and you can tailor an idea to specifically suit a certain sector of people. Often niche products can also charge more, meaning you need to make and sell fewer.

It is even more simple to target a niche that you know. Research into a subculture or trend can seriously boost your chances of infiltrating that category, as you'll understand their specific wants, needs, and preferences for delivery, cost, timing, aesthetics, etc.

It is the most simple to target a niche that you already know off by heart. When we're in the inner circle, we understand not only the problems and lack but also how they need to be solved to suit the target audiences' desires and preferences.

Take the app TeuxDeux created by entrepreneur and graphic designer Tina Eisenburg-Roth and her team. Though their main focus is not on organizational improvement for companies, while trying to master their projects, they found that no 'To-Do List' tool met their specific requirements as a creative team. Their response was to design and make a tailored app to specifically manage their situation. This app is now a hugely successful paid-for product that took little effort to design and build. Why? Because they knew the exact issue and how to address it because they'd lived it. 

In this sense, your small business should target a niche you know well and understand on a personal level. That way you're on first-name terms with the niggles and gripes and can find suitable solutions to do the trick.

In this respect, if you're currently offering a wide range of versatile, one-size-fits-all products for everyone and nobody is buying them, that's because something for everyone is something for no one. 

Get specific, narrow down your direction, and hone in. By stacking your efforts on something you know about care about, you focus toward finding real-world solutions that you know work because they help you. These practical, effective solutions are far more appealing and easier to market. Not only that, customers with similar tribulations will find your product better, use it more often, and pay a higher price if it specifically targets their exact needs.

Go greener

Environmental concern plagues the world at present, and whether you're an eco-warrior or not, the green paintbrush is coming your way.

Rather than fighting the oncoming tidal wave of environmental initiatives, it's best for your business to get ahead of the curve. While eco-friendly measures may seem hippie to some, you'll find they save you a considerable chunk of money — money you can now put toward paying off your SBA loan.

Try some of these steps to cut back on costs

  • Start by getting an energy audit and making appropriate changes
  • Change to a green energy supplier
  • Change appliances for low-energy usage appliances
  • Make use of natural light and passive heating/cooling 
  • Go paperless
  • Choose local suppliers to cut down on delivery costs
  • Low emissions company transport
  • Replacing office furniture? Use Freecycle, Craigslist, and other second-hand sources
  • Add water filters rather than giving away plastic bottles
  • Change merchandising
  • Consider having employees work remotely
  • Use Skype and other video conference software instead of traveling

The green revolution not only helps ease your carbon footprint, but it will also seriously cut back your outgoings. When we make a concerted effort to reduce waste and consumption, we find our outgoings tend to shrivel.

Equally, you'll often find various grants and funding available for companies actively demonstrating green initiatives. This may be worth research to see if you can boost your income through green measures.

Instill a sense of ownership

Ownership comes when we feel responsible for the success of a venture, from which we can later reap the rewards. As business owners, we know that we'll put our blood, sweat, and tears into making our small business work because it's our baby – we experience overwhelming ownership.

Guy Singh-Watson is the founder of the UK's top organic farm delivery service, Riverford. Riverford has been 78% employee-owned since mid-July 2018. In Guy's eyes, the full diversity of human potential is often wasted by the binary confinements of conventional ownership, with cynical management neglecting extra attributes that employees may bring to the table.

In fact, since being employee-owned, Guy has noted that sales, cost controls, and margins have never been better while his staff exudes confidence, pride, engagement and dignity. Not only that, once former employees began to take ownership in the project, the business grew in unexpected ways – such as the development of the app. As staff takes ownership in the business, personal concern for its outcome leads people to creatively harness all their skills to produce innovative solutions. This furthers the business in ways not previously considered.

Employee ownership is just one way of driving profits through more effective staff engagement. Consider real estate agents, telesales operatives and others in the selling fields. The financial incentives from commission not only makes these individuals work harder at selling, but it also encourages them to think laterally in their solutions and take pride in their work as the results rely on their own hard work.

For ownership-based or commission setups to work, there are some poignant aspects to consider. 

First, have you hired the right people? Some people simply won't perform better no matter how much commission you offer as they're happy to earn their basic salary and work at a steady pace. If you consider real estate, for example, many agents have a 90/10 salary ratio, where 90% comes from commission. While this may seem a little extreme, the real estate industry weeds out poor salespeople by removing the comfort of standard compensation to fall back on. In this sense, only people confident enough in their capacity to do the job, apply for the job. These people understand the personal responsibility needed to drive results. In fact, you'll often find that those who rebuke the concept of employee-ownership, simply don't want to take the responsibility that goes with it.

Secondly, consider your incentivization scheme. If you offer your employees 10% commission for sales more than $1,000, and 20% commission for sales more than $2,000, you'll find a lot of $1,000 sales. Why? Because it takes a lot more responsibility and strategic effort to close $2000 of deals than a $1,000. As globally recognized entrepreneurial systems expert, Tim Ferriss, points out when faced with a strategic challenge such as this, most people will opt for the lesser effort or the result they know they can achieve. This is because the fear of failing makes the extra effort seem like a waste of time.

So how do you encourage your staff to take ownership of the problem, find creative solutions, and sell the higher priced products? Retroactive incentivization. If your staff reach $1000, give them 10% on all sales. If they reach $2000, give them 20% on ALL sales – even the sales less than $1,000. 

While giving away profits may seem counterintuitive if you're looking to settle your SBA loan, you'll find far more responsive staff when you're generous toward their effort and recognizing of their work. By providing a fair reward yet enforcing a level of responsibility, you coax your employees to take ownership, improving both the number of their sales and the quality of their ideas and efforts.

Conclusion

While SBA loan programs are a great idea, they can often leave you feeling like a failure if you can't make the repayments on time. Not only that, all the stress and worry can leak into your business, affecting the day to day decisions you make. Luckily, through objective analysis and feedback, we can try to straighten the sinking ship and put your business on to a path to success.

Ask yourself what's been working and what hasn't. If you're unsure, it's time to learn, test and measure. If you know what's working, learn, test and measure actions based on that.

If you're sure nothing's working, have you considered a pivot? Pivoting can certainly help you to hone in on the most effective arms of your business and its potential. You may find that something as simple as marketing to a new target audience or changing your technology could do the trick.

Think about the very essence of your business. Are you dipping your toes in water unknown to you? If so, you may be giving yourself an unfair disadvantage compared to others in the field who know the ropes. Seriously consider opting for a niche you know and understand as you're more likely to build an effective and sellable solution built on real-world problems you can easily identify, frame and understand.

Finding harmony within the business is also conducive to making money. Aligning your company environmentally cuts back on a waste of resources and saves you funds. You may even find the odd green business grant floating about in your local area. 

In the same breath, harmony with staff prevents waste of human resources – both in terms of the number of sales and quality of skill. Instead, try rewarding effort and encouraging ownership to boost creative solutions from the myriad of minds within your company. You may find that the hive-mind approach, working as more than the sum of its parts, produces unique ideas that could revolutionize your company.

Fathoming new ideas to boost your business doesn't have to be a chore, but it does mean asking some honest structural questions. While this can be a little frightening, always remember to include robust feedback metrics and measure this feedback frequently and effectively. These patterns form the blueprint to success, increasing profit and paying off that pesky SBA loan.

10 Back-to-School Lessons Entrepreneurs Need to Learn

Posted: 11 Aug 2019 06:00 AM PDT

  • Entrepreneurs should continue learning throughout their careers.
  • The best entrepreneurs always do their homework.
  • Preparation is key to building a successful business.
  • Entrepreneurs should strive to achieve a healthy work-life balance.

As the calendar approaches September, school is on the horizon for students across the country. The relaxing days of summer are coming to an end, and it's time to hit the books once again.

As an entrepreneur, you can learn a lot more than you think from back-to-school season. We've compiled a list of 10 school-inspired tips for entrepreneurs to better lead their businesses.

1. Do your homework.

While no small business is guaranteed to be successful, one thing that will improve your odds is doing your "homework." For an entrepreneur, this means thoroughly researching your competition, financial options and target market, as well as having a solid business plan in place before you launch your startup.

"I would highly recommend drafting a business plan prior to starting a business," said Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.com and a business.com community member. "This document gives you the chance to objectively view the feasibility of your company and outline its future a few years out in terms of understanding its cash flow, organization and management, target market, and goals for the future."

You'll have a much easier time passing the big tests of a startup – the elevator pitch, your marketing strategy, the first sale – if you're thoroughly prepared. 

Preparation is also key when you're establishing a business structure. Research which structure will work best for your business and go through the necessary steps to launch your business. It's easy to overlook the importance of selecting your business structure, but it's important to do your homework on this topic.  

In addition to those elements of preparation, you can also prepare when it comes to deciding what type of business is best for you. Take time to research different industries, and you'll gain a better understanding of the type of business you may want to start. 

2. Go for extra credit.

Providing exceptional customer service and going the extra mile for your customers can make all the difference in getting repeat business. Respond to questions and concerns quickly, express your appreciation for their business, and take the time to talk to your customers to learn about them and what they want. Friendly, personal interactions will earn you a solid A in your clients' minds (and probably a nice profit in your bank account, too). [Read related article: Understanding Your Customers' Experience.] 

If your website receives significant traffic, it might be worth implementing a live chatbot within your website to quickly respond to customer questions or complaints. If you don't use a live chatbot, regularly check your email, phone messages, social media feeds and direct messages to respond to customer questions and concerns. There are many ways to receive customer feedback, and it's critical to quickly respond to their concerns. Customers love when businesses quickly take care of their needs.

3. Teacher knows best.

Mentorship is extremely important for entrepreneurs, especially when they're first starting out. Young entrepreneurs can really learn a lot from someone who's been in their shoes. A mentor can put you in touch with industry connections, help you through your startup growing pains, and give valuable insights for your present and future business goals. Even if you don't agree with all the advice you're given, respect your mentor's willingness to share the time and energy to help you learn and grow as a business owner. [Read related article: How to Find a Good Mentor.] 

"Mentors enhance entrepreneurs' motivation by sharing expertise, acting as a sounding board, and reminding them that they're not alone," said Olivia Boone, partnerships and services officer at MicroMentor.com. "An effective mentoring relationship creates a framework of accountability and support, completely free of charge." 

Mentors can help you set business goals, prepare for the future and tackle unusual problems. On the flip side, make sure the relationship is a give and take. Don't only receive advice. If there are ways you can help them or their business, don't hesitate to offer your services. The mentor-mentee relationship is a two-way street, and you should try to give back to your mentor in some form.

4. Entrepreneurs can't be too prepared.

Remember when you moved into your first college dorm and thought you brought way too much with you, only to discover that the extra screwdriver you packed came in handy midyear? Similarly, you can never be too prepared when it comes to running a business. 

Even if it seems like you're overthinking, it's good to be ready for even the unlikeliest of situations. What will you do if you don't raise all the funds you need? What if one of your team members unexpectedly bails on you? What if you need to rethink your entire branding strategy? Knowing what to do in the event of a crisis helps you navigate any obstacles you might encounter. 

The better you prepare, the better chance you'll have of finding success. Consider even the most basic questions. How will you make money? What happens if you make less money than initially expected? Ask yourself these uncomfortable questions and prepare for problems. 

"In order to keep from being paralyzed in fear, it can be useful to visualize the worst possible outcome and get comfortable with it to the point that it isn't as scary anymore," said Bethany Babcock, founder of Foresite Commercial Real Estate. "From that vantage point, you can better visualize ways to minimize the risks and proceed forward."

5. Make business connections.

College students are constantly told to network with professionals in their future career fields. As many grads – and entrepreneurs – have learned, the right connections can open opportunities that would have remained closed otherwise. Take every chance you get to reach out to other small business owners, whether it's to get a few tips, do a small favor or just have a friendly conversation. You never know who might be able to lend a helping hand to you at some point down the road. [Read related article: 5 Strategies for Expanding Your Professional Network.] 

Forming business connections often means leaving your comfort zone. Consider attending conferences and maybe even participating in a panel related to your business expertise. While public speaking can be intimidating, it puts you in front of other business professionals with whom may want to connect. 

Try to carve out time for networking events. It can be difficult to pull yourself out of your business, but taking an hour to connect with business professionals in the area is a great idea. You may find that an hour of networking leads to multiple connections with people who can help move your business forward.

6. You won't always stick to the syllabus.

Think of your business plan as the syllabus for your startup. Like the syllabus for a class, your plan includes a description of your company, what you'll need to run the business, and your long-term goals. And, like a class, your business might end up taking a slightly different path from what you initially anticipated. Maybe you didn't meet your first-year projections, or you ended up having to change direction on a project halfway through. 

While a clear-cut strategy is crucial, part of running a startup is being able to adapt when things don't go according to plan. Students learn some of the most important and inspiring lessons when their professor veers from the syllabus; the same could be true of your business. 

It's helpful to have a business plan to guide your initial decisions, but every business goes off course at some point. Customer demands change and you need to react. 

7. Find a work-life balance.

Unfortunately, as an entrepreneur, you may find yourself even more cramped for time than you were as a student. It's important to remember to find the time to enjoy your personal life. There isn't a perfect division of your time, but studies have shown that burnout can be detrimental to your career if you don't take time for yourself.

When it comes to combatting burnout, it's important to separate work and business. This can be difficult when you're an entrepreneur, but setting aside time for hobbies or time with loved ones is crucial. Don't let your business completely consume your life. [Read related article: How to Overcome Workplace Burnout.]

8. Building a business routine takes time.

It often takes students a few weeks to get back into the swing of things when the new school year begins. In the early stages of your business (and even later on if you make a drastic strategy change), you're likely to have a trial-and-error period before you figure out the best way to operate. This might be a frustrating time, but you just need to persevere and power through until you get onto steadier ground. 

Patience is an important attribute of successful entrepreneurs. You're going to make mistakes and adjustments. View those situations as opportunities rather than challenges, and you'll be better prepared to get through those business strategy adjustments.

9. Failure is not defeat.

In school, one failed test doesn't mean you should drop the entire class. Similarly, in business, one misstep doesn't necessarily mean you should give up on your entrepreneurial venture.

Take the experience and learn from it. Retrace your steps and figure out exactly where you went wrong. If you have the resources to immediately try again, do so, while employing the knowledge you gained from your mistakes. If you can't keep going right away, hold on to that knowledge and wait for your next opportunity. 

Finding success is challenging, and you're certain to go through failures along the way. View failures as learning experiences to remain positive and improve from mistakes. It takes a lot of hard work to build a successful business, and it's OK to fail. Learn from those failures to improve your business venture. 

"Hard work is never wasted," said Ata Khan, co-founder of Xoobo. "Every failure is a lesson that brings you closer to achieving your goals. You only fail when you quit."

While Khan makes a good point, there are times with it makes sense to call it quits. Some ventures don't succeed, and sometimes the lesson from failures is that it's time to move to a different venture. Other times, you should keep pushing like Khan suggests. Even if your business fails, you'll learn valuable lessons from the process of starting a business.  

10. Entrepreneurs are never done learning.

You might have thought you knew everything when you were in high school, but you quickly discovered you were wrong. Having a successful startup doesn't mean you have nothing left to learn about entrepreneurship. Always be open to lessons from others in and out of your industry. The world is like a university, and your business is just one small course in it. 

"The best advice I can give to entrepreneurs is that you will never reach a point where you don't need to continue your education," said K.M. Robinson, a social media strategist. "Social media changes every single day between algorithms, trends and what viewers want to engage with. If you think you've figured it out, it's time to start researching again or you'll get left behind."

Social media isn't the only thing that changes. Industries are constantly changing, and the best businesses adjust based on changing customer desires. There's always something new to learn about leading your business to success.

"You'll always need to tweak and hone your products, services, and skills to best serve your clients, but if you spend all of your time striving for perfection, you'll never put your products or services out there to begin with," said Robinson. "Do your best, get your work out there, and then adapt and fix as you go."

Additional reporting by Carlyann Edwards and Nicole Fallon.

6 Non-Negotiable Qualities of a Marketing Team Leader

Posted: 11 Aug 2019 05:00 AM PDT

Good leadership plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of a business. It can mean the difference between a happy, thriving team that consistently exceeds your goals and an unproductive, miserable team who spend every spare minute of their workday job hunting.

As a business owner, your focus should always be on big-picture, entrepreneurial goals. If you're majoring in the art of micromanaging and implementation, it's likely your business isn't growing and your people are frustrated. 

Before you think, "that's not me," consider that 65% of employees are more likely to take a new boss over a pay raise. This suggests that most (and possibly all) of the people on your team have worked for an inadequate leader. 

Building an A-team requires a leader who thrives in an autonomous environment, someone hungry to grab the reins and hit the ground running. Not only are they self-motivated to achieve beyond expectations, but they're also in tune with the needs and wants of their team members. They are the key to building a productive and happy marketing team.

To avoid being relegated to "bosshole" status, step back and find a great marketing team leader. Here are the six non-negotiable qualities of the perfect candidate. 

1. Mad copywriting skills

It might seem like an odd first choice, but the ability to write compelling stories, or at least recognize what good copy looks like, is central to marketing and marketing success. It touches everything – from social media to video creation, blogging, websites, newsletters and much more. 

I believe that anyone who can master words has many other great attributes that they can bring to a business. They already understand how to put a good message together, so they're likely to be an excellent communicator. 

These people are also naturally curious. If they don't know the answer, they search for it. As business owners, our time is money. You want a team leader who can see the big picture and work with you on that. Then leave the details to an employee. 

2. Tech-savvy 

Advanced digital skills are among the top two fastest-growing skill categories in tech-centric occupations. But knowing how to operate the latest iPhone doesn't mean you can figure out how to use a Content Management System (CMS). And since marketing has become so much more technical, your team leader needs to feel at home working with CRMs, setting up landing pages and websites, and editing videos, to name a few.

A technophobe won't succeed, especially if this role involves working remotely, which is very likely. In 2019 alone, 66% of U.S. companies allow remote work while 16% are fully remote. You want someone who might not know how to use a particular piece of technology, but they're willing to buckle down and figure out how it all works, or reach out to someone who does.

3. Leadership potential

Your team leader needs leadership potential. It's challenging to determine leadership ability from an interview because many people make excellent interviewees but are terrible at their job. Sadly, once they're in your business, it is difficult to remove them. But, there are ways to avoid hiring the wrong person. 

  • Look at their background. See what they've done and whether they've been successful. 

  • Get in touch with former colleagues. Don't focus on their LinkedIn profile or the glowing review their boss gave them. You want to talk to the people whom they've worked closely with day in and day out. You'll quickly learn if they're a team player and a motivator, or not.

  • Pay close attention to their attitude. Are they open to trying new things, even if it scares them? Do they show enthusiasm or are you met with skepticism? I hire people who don't necessarily have all the skills required for a position because this means they're open to change, to learning how to do things a different way.

  • Set a test task and see how they run with it. Give them a framework around the result you want to achieve and let them figure out how to do it. 

4. Project management

If you, as a business owner, want to focus on the work that makes you happy, you need a team leader who's capable of taking a project from ideation through to delivery without knocking on your door every half an hour or so. 

This is someone who will come to you and say, "Hey, I think we need to implement this, and here's why," and then go ahead and make it happen with minimal input from you. Part of their role involves working with project management tools. They're going to be assigning tasks while managing project delivery and budgets so it's essential that they're responsible and can manage their time.

5. Teachable and coachable

The very best leaders are teachable and open to doing things differently. They rarely think they know it all. You don't want someone who is set in their ways. People with years of experience dislike change. They know what works for them, and they're not easily swayed to try something new. 

I like to hire based on attitude, not experience. For me, you can always teach technical skills, but you can't teach a can-do attitude. 

6. A self-starter

This is possibly the most important quality of a team leader. A self-starter is someone who has confidence and is motivated to work autonomously without needing to be babysat and continuously asked how things are going. It's a cliché, but it's essential for leaders running remote teams. 

Now that you know what qualities to look for in a marketing team leader, it's time to advertise the position. I've put together a sample job description that you can tweak to meet your needs.

Marketing team leader job description example:

If you love all things marketing, and dream of heading up a remote team that gets results, read on. You will be in charge of implementing marketing campaigns that generate leads, acquire new customers, and retain existing customers. Prior experience in a similar role is helpful but by no means a necessity.

As the marketing team leader, you will be responsible for coordinating, planning and executing marketing campaigns across multiple media channels.

You must be able to recognize and write engaging copy, be tech-savvy, and be open to learning new ways of doing things.

We are a small business, so you will establish a collaborative working relationship with the owner, who will work with you on big-picture and strategic goals. It is your responsibility to determine the right tactics and handle the implementation and execution.

A successful candidate must be able to organize, plan, and structure their workload without requiring the business owner's input on every decision. If you thrive under micromanagement, this is not the job for you. It's best suited for a person who prefers to work autonomously and enjoys taking on a great deal of responsibility.

A happy team is the mark of a great leader.

Unhappy teams have high turnover rates, and replacing these employees is expensive, time-consuming, and counterproductive. Get rid of the rot. Invest in a great team leader who engages your people, and your startup or small business is going to thrive. Best of all, this frees up your time to focus on the work that makes you happy. 

 
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