Business.com

Business.com

Your Business's Website May Be Unusable to the Blind

Posted: 16 Aug 2019 11:30 AM PDT

  • Two-thirds of blind individuals' transactions over the internet are abandoned due to their inability to access parts of a website.
  • Blind internet users regularly make multiple calls to customer service about accessibility issues, but, ultimately, are forced to visit a competitor's website.
  • E-commerce accounts for more than half a trillion dollars of U.S. retail revenues – of which $10.3 billion originates from the visually impaired.

While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) established rules to help disabled Americans access businesses in the real world, accessing online businesses has become a growing problem in recent years, stemming from a lack of accessibility options on many websites. As a result, online businesses are running the risk of alienating visually impaired consumers and potentially locking themselves out of a major revenue stream in the process, according to a newly released study.

According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately "1.3 billion people living with some form of vision impairment." Through in-depth interviews with 73 adults living with blindness or severe visual impairments earlier this year, Deque Systems found that disabled individuals find it particularly difficult to shop online, thanks to websites that aren't accessible enough.

"Besides the moral dilemma and legal risk, businesses with inaccessible websites are missing a huge revenue opportunity by ignoring an untapped market," said Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Systems. "Among internet retailers specifically, two-thirds of the top 10 online retailers had serious accessibility issues, meaning they are leaving $6.9 billion in potential North American e-commerce revenues on the table."

Why the internet is inaccessible for the blind

While brick-and-mortar businesses may need to make "reasonable modifications" – such as installing ramps for entrances and exits or adding signage written in Braille – to make their establishments accessible for disabled people, achieving accessibility on the internet relies on technical solutions. Assistive technologies like screen readers or magnifiers can help visually impaired individuals use the internet. Unfortunately, these digital helping hands need to interact with websites designed with their functionality in mind; otherwise, information becomes harder to understand for the end user.

Researchers said they were able to identify three common themes among most websites:

  • Pages were partially inaccessible, meaning some areas were usable for the blind while others weren't.
  • Some pages' accessibility regressed as changes or upgrades to the site were made.
  • Commonplace features such as CAPTCHA, which uses images to distinguish humans from bots, were unusable.

Since the internet is a highly visual form of communication, different "accessibility blockers" can hinder different types of websites. For example, researchers found that 80% of news sites "had significant accessibility issues," while 70% of respondents said they were "unable to access information and services through government websites," including key sites like Medicare.

Editor's note: Need an e-commerce website designed for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you with free information.

buyerzone widget

The business impact of website inaccessibility

The issue of inaccessibility impacts nearly every facet of the internet, but businesses stand to lose out on a lot of revenue if visually impaired and blind individuals are unable to complete transactions.

According to researchers, most major e-commerce websites in terms of revenues, like Amazon, Best Buy and Target, "were relatively accessible." Two-thirds of the top 10 retailers by revenue, however, had "serious accessibility issues," such as missing search labels, a lack of zooming support or having non-CAPTCHA alternatives.

Approximately 90% of respondents said they called a site's customer service to report their problems with the site, only to have to call again when nothing was addressed. They told researchers that even if they abandoned a transaction and went elsewhere, they'd still make a call to get the problem fixed.

As a result of these accessibility shortcomings, researchers found data that suggests that two-thirds of internet transactions started by blind or visually impaired individuals are abandoned altogether. That being said, not all of those transactions are completely abandoned, but, instead, are completed with other companies that have more accessible websites. Researchers estimated that companies with inaccessible websites lose $6.9 billion annually to competitors. [Interested in e-commerce website software? Check out our top picks.]

Researchers estimated that 2% of all e-commerce transactions are conducted by blind individuals, assuming less than half of America's blind population regularly conduct business online. While that may not sound like much at first, it's important to note that $517 billion in online revenues were tallied last year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. As a result, that 2% accounts for $10.3 billion in yearly revenue.

As the American population gets older, officials expect the blind and visually impaired population to double by 2050. To avoid further alienating a growing group of people, Kumar said businesses need to step up to make their websites accessible to everyone.

"A focus on accessibility needs to be a core part of the website design and development process," said Kumar. "Considering accessibility as early as the conception phase, and proactively building and testing sites for accessibility as they move towards production, is significantly more effective than remediating it later, helping organizations save significant time and resources while avoiding unnecessary customer grievances."

5 Ways to Find a Niche for Your Startup

Posted: 16 Aug 2019 11:00 AM PDT

The road to startup success is long, but the start is clear. To reach success, you must first find a market niche with potential value in an unsolved problem, an undiscovered need or an untapped desire.

As tech pioneer Jaron Lanier has written, true utopia is impossible, which means that there will always be flaws to profitably exploit by new innovators, entrepreneurs and startups looking to provide value.

Humans and the systems they create are messy and complicated. Each new innovation, whether incremental or radical, creates change that ripples across industries and economies in unpredictable ways, creating new problems for innovators to solve.

The industrial revolution brought the world into the modern era, but the fossil fuels used to power it now threaten the world's climate. The internet connected the world, but that connection can be exploited by terrorists and foreign governments that want to cause trouble.

Finding niches of potential value before everyone else is easier said than done, but the startup that gets to that innovation first will have an incredible edge.

Many entrepreneurs get their start when they notice an untapped niche of potential value by accident, but market niches are also waiting to be found by smart entrepreneurs following these five methods.

1. Track trends and everyday problems.

I got my first taste of what it was like to earn money online by keeping "an ear to the street" and tracking trends. I started a six-figure business from home that went on to be featured in Forbes because I tracked trends.

Beyond simply searching your own life for unsolved problems, needs and desires, expand your search outside your own little bubble to see what other people are talking about. The world is full of problems needing solutions, and the internet lets everyone complain about their problems and unmet needs.

Keep your ear to the ground. Pay attention to what people talk about in the media, both by using trend-tracking tools, such as Google Trends, and by simply watching for patterns in media coverage.

Remember to read more than just tech news. There's a whole world out there, and even popular books and movies might hold the seed for innovative ideas. Fiction might seem an odd place to look, but it's often where people go to vent their frustrations with the status quo.

For example, in a society obsessed with techno-dystopian fiction, perhaps what people really need is more human connection, which could be fulfilled by smart startups.

2. Focus on human needs and desires.

Unfortunately, innovation doesn't happen just where people know they want it.

Most people in the 1980s had no idea that in two decades almost everyone would be connected to an entire world of information across the internet.

Instead of solving an obvious problem, the internet developed out of emerging technologies as people noticed it could help solve the innate human need for connection and information gathering.

To find a market niche for your startup beyond the problems that people already know they have, look for new ways to meet essential human needs such as hunger and thirst, and also more esoteric needs such as connection and belonging.

Already known problems are often still problems because they're hard to solve, but by exploring the possibilities of a changing economy, you can keep a lookout for new ways to solve problems and fulfill needs. 

There is a lot of room in the world for different ways to meet human needs and desires. For example, Meetup and Facebook both fill a need for connection, but in very different ways. The pure convenience of Facebook doesn't negate the more organic human connection of the in-person gatherings that users organize on Meetup.

3. Apply innovations from one industry to another.

Following the line of technological progress is a good way to find innovation across industries, but be careful not to get caught up in played-out trends and bubbles.

Uber popularized gig work with efficiency and lower costs for consumers, and countless imitator apps popped up trying to be the "Uber of X." Unfortunately, most failed, often because they didn't provide real value in the way that Uber did with taxis and delivery services.

Not every innovation works in every market. The dot-com craze of the late 1990s met a similar fate, as did the video game bubble that popped in the early 1980s.

Applying innovative approaches from one industry to another is still a great place to look for innovation, and certainly, someone is going to try it. Look for outside-the-box solutions to find the highest potential value, such as applying new solutions from one industry to a radically different industry to see if they make sense.

But be realistic about whether you've missed the boat or not, or you risk creating another buzzword-friendly, dead-end startup.

4. Find radical innovation in bottlenecks and hard places.

Instead of just following the technological trends, look beyond what's popular now to what might be popular in the future. While this strategy contains the highest risks, it also provides the highest rewards to a select few.

Incremental innovations, such as applying the innovations of one industry to another, already have a lot of legwork behind them. They are already primed and ready to implement.

Startups working on truly radical innovations, such as the telephone or the internet, are much less likely to succeed. But when they do succeed, they radically alter the economy and often make their pioneering innovators and entrepreneurs wildly rich.

This potential in radical innovation is why some Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors are looking beyond the digital-tech bubble for more radical innovation opportunities.

For example, former Facebook VP Chamath Palihapitiya has turned his investment attention to long-term, hard-to-solve problems in high-value fields such as education, energy and healthcare, telling Fast Company that he looks for startups that are tackling the most difficult problems.

5. There are niche markets waiting in every industry if you think creatively.

It's very rare, if perhaps impossible, to find any industry or market where every niche has been permanently filled. In one instance of an unanticipated problem now being solved, society is so connected that simply getting away from that connection has value for many people, and new startups offer digital detox retreats for people hopelessly attached to their technology. As people increasingly grow wary of the potential for digital addiction, there is room for many startups to copy this simple model with numerous variations.

Despite the narrow purpose of digital detox retreats at first glance, there are many smaller niches even within the industry. For example, many retreats focus on heavily planned and programmed schedules. But not everyone wants to go to a retreat just to be shuffled around from activity to activity. And as for the activities themselves, while some people might like to go to digital detox retreats focused on mindful meditation, others may prefer retreats focused on intensive professional skills development.

Because society is constantly evolving, even the most impenetrable markets are never inaccessible indefinitely. There are niches of potential value out there just waiting for a new startup solution, and there are niches of potential value that yet to be discovered. Even within existing industries, there are many untapped niches just waiting for a new creative approach. For startup success, don't just copy everyone else. Instead, find a new market niche that provides people with value.

Best Free Project Management Training Materials for IT Pros

Posted: 16 Aug 2019 09:30 AM PDT

Project management (PM) and information technology (IT) have a complicated relationship. While it's not exactly a core subject for related academic curricula, such as computer science, management information systems (MIS) and so forth, PM is something that touches deeply and directly on most IT activities. That probably explains why PM certifications like the Project Management Institute's (PMI's) Project Management Professional (PMP) certification command a constant presence amidst the top 10 top-paying certifications of interest to IT professionals over the past decade.

What skills do I need to become a project manager?

Project management sits at the heart of most IT activities, including system design and development, deployment or even maintenance. All these routine activities can also be characterized as projects – some of massive scope and duration, others more quick and evanescent. And, indeed, that's why project management skills and knowledge are in high demand among IT professionals in nearly every specialty and area of technical focus in that field.

The best project managers possess a great eye for detail and are highly organized. Masters of soft skills, PMs are excellent communicators (both written and verbal), and communicate clearly, concisely and effectively. PMs are excellent problem-solvers and negotiators. It's also helpful to possess an understanding of cross-functional areas, such as supply chain, HR and resource constraints, procurement, finance, change orders, and the like, which may impact overall project outcomes.

What are some popular project management methodologies?

As a project management professional, you'll find no shortage of methodologies. There is no one single "right" methodology, and the one you choose to practice will be influenced by factors like the type of project, industry sector, and your employer's preference. When choosing PM training materials, look for materials that complement the PM methodology you want to practice.

While not an exhaustive list, below are a few of the most popular PM methodologies and frameworks:

  • Waterfall – Traditional PM methodology with a linear downward process flow. Design changes are difficult to implement. Project phases include system and software requirements, analysis, design, coding, testing, and operations. It's often used with large projects where defined schedules are required and few changes are expected. 
  • Six Sigma – Six Sigma PMs (usually referred to as a Black, Green or Yellow Belt) focus on improving quality (and efficiency) by identifying what doesn't work and removing it from the process. A Six Sigma Black Belt would define the problem, measure the current process, analyze data, improve the process and then control the future process. 
  • Agile – Introduced in 2001, Agile was a response to the Agile Manifesto and originally geared to software development. In the Agile framework, teams are collaborative and self-organizing. Projects are incremental and iterative, enabling team members to move quickly and respond to change. 
  • Scrum – A type of Agile framework, Scrum focuses on five core values: courage, commitment, openness, respect, and focus. As with Agile, teams are collaborative. Iterations are organized into short blocks of time called sprints which enable great flexibility to respond to design change. A scrum master (a servant-leader) holds daily meetings where team meetings discuss what they did the day before and what they plan to accomplish each day. 
  • Kanban – Another type of Agile framework, Kanban is popular in manufacturing environments. Teams are collaborative and self-managing. Kanban practices include visualization, limiting work in progress, flow management, making policies explicit, feedback and collaborative evolution. 
  • PMI/PMBOK – While not strictly a PM methodology, the Project Management Institute's (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a well-known and respected standard for project management practices. PMI's certifications, especially its Project Management Professional (PMP) credential are among the most coveted project management credentials in the industry. PMBOK practices focus on five primary process areas: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing.

How long does it take to get a project management certification?

Requirements to earn a PM certification are set by the individual certification provider and may include a combination of exams, specific training courses, minimum education levels or experience. The requirements to earn advanced certs are generally more than those for entry-level credentials. For example, the Project Management Professional (PMP) is one of the most highly prized PM certifications available. In addition to passing a rigorous exam, candidates must also possess a combination of education, project management education and experience.

CompTIA's Project+, an entry-level certification, recommends that candidates possess 12 months' experience before attempting the exam. However, since this is a recommendation only, candidates can obtain this PM cert by sitting for the exam only, which makes it the only PM cert we found that is available without the necessity of additional training, education or experience.

In the table below, you'll find five information about how to obtain five of the popular PM certifications.

Certification Skill Level Exams Education/Experience
CompTIA Project+ Entry 1 12 months' experience recommended
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) Advanced 1 High school diploma plus 1,500 hours PM education or 23 hours PM education
Project Management Professional (PMP) Advanced 1

Four-year college degree, 4,500 hours leading and directing projects plus 35 hours of PM education;

Or

High school or associate degree, plus 7,500 hours leading and directing projects, plus 35 hours of PM education
Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) Entry 1 Two-day, fee-based training course
Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) Advanced 1 Three years of experience in one or more of the Six Sigma Body of Knowledge areas plus one completed project with signed affidavit or two completed projects with signed affidavits

 

What are the best online project management courses?

Given the incredible popularity and demand for project management skills and knowledge, it is no surprise that one can find commercial project management training courses to fit nearly every schedule and budget. But that does not mean there aren't good choices available for free training, too.

We scoured the internet to bring you the best free options. Here, you'll also get pointers to some outstanding low-cost offerings as well. Don't forget, many colleges and universities offer courses aimed at the PMP and related PMI certifications (such as Certified Associate in Project Management, or CAPM, PMP add-ons for portfolio and program management, plus other credentials for Agile, risk management, scheduling and so forth). These courses cost the same as other college courses and are taught in similar fashion. That puts them halfway between low-cost/no-cost options, and short-term, higher-priced intensive courses from traditional training outlets (such as Global Knowledge, New Horizons and Learning Tree, for example).

The best of free PMP training: MOOCs and more

An online education phenomenon is reshaping the training landscape as we know it. It's based on free online training courses called MOOCs, short for massively online open courses. These are based on open, high-volume, high-capacity, cloud-based training platforms, such as edX, moodle, COURSEsites, Udemy and versal, among others.

While monetization of training is possible on some of these platforms, a MOOC is supposed to be free for the taking. Organizations or institutions that offer such free courses can still ask for fees for testing, certificates of completion, and other add-ons or nice-to-haves, but the basic course materials remain free to all interested parties.

Here's a short, highly curated list of some of the best of those offerings:

  1. Cybrary Course CYB-2010: Project Management Professional – Professional instructor Vincent McKeown delivers a 10-module series of video lectures, each of which maps to a domain in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) for the PMI PMP certification. At 5:14 in length, the course is neither incredibly detailed nor extensive, but it does provide a useful orientation for those just getting started on the subject.
  2. ALISON: Diploma in Project Management (Revised 2017) – With more than 561,862 students having either taken or now taking this course (from Advanced Learning), this MOOC has seen some serious traction to mostly positive reviews. The course contains three modules, covering 28 topics and takes 10 to 15 hours to complete. While it does not map directly to the PMP or other project management credentials, it does provide a useful introduction to the subject matter.
  3. Other ALISON courses on Project Management – As a full-fledged MOOC delivery platform, ALISON offers a page called Project Management among its Courses listings. In addition to the previous diploma item, it lists additional offerings from XSIQ (two fundamentals in English and Arabic); the Saylor Foundation (five courses, including another diploma sequence, an introduction [in French]); and topics on working with clients and project teams; managing project start-up, scheduling and budgeting; quality, risk, procurement and project closeout); and the Aga Khan Foundation.
  4. Udemy – Udemy courses are not always or even often free, but they're very close. A search on project management at udemy.com produces 854 courses, of which perhaps half are truly relevant to people interested in some facet of PM. Most cost between $20 and $50 each, although we found many as low as $10 and a few on the high end at $200. A search on PMP produces more than 1,600 free and paid courses. You'll spend a lot of time fiddling with their search engine to find what you want, but there are plenty of choices here.
  5. edX.org – edX.org gets many of its project management courses via Microsoft these days. Thus, despite a huge catalog of offerings, many of the project management courses relate to Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Portfolio Management (PPM). I did find a few project management courses from such institutions such as the University of Adelaide, RIT, ANU (Australian National University), and the University of Washington.
  6. MIT Open Courseware – This site pops up 120 hits on project management, but 49 for PMP. The results show a profound focus on engineering and business management topics. Nevertheless, there's a lot of interesting stuff here, well worth trolling through for those seeking top-notch offerings.
  7. ProjectManager.com – You'll find more than 100 training videos on all kinds of project management topics. You'll need some time and willpower to stitch a curriculum together here, but there's lots of good material available. ProjectManager.com also maintains a YouTube channel where you can easily find training videos.
  8. YouTube – YouTube is rife with project management training videos. Probably the best of these is Dr. Jimmie Flores' massive free PMP Certification Training Program, though somewhat dated with a 2011 release. Searches at YouTube for project management or PMP produce hundreds of thousands of hits.
  9. The MOOC List – This website offers consolidated search for offerings available in the next 30 days (most courses are offered with specific starting dates, so this engine points only to relevant courses starting in the near term). Here, a search on project management produces more than 12,000 hits, including listings for a variety of MOOC platforms, such as ApnaCourse.
  10. The Oxford Home Study Short Course – OHSC offers In Project Management, a 20-hour, free online course that introduces candidates to project management, examines the project life cycle and explores the project management role. A certificate is issued at the end of the course.

Low-cost stuff also offers some gems, too

Most Coursera courses go for $49, and multicourse bundles are also available (such as UC Irvine's Introduction to Project Management Principles and Practices). The Master of Project Academy offers numerous free online training courses for PM certifications, such as the PMP, CAPM, Six Sigma and Prince 2.  For $197 per month, you can purchase an all-course bundle deal for materials that include all Master of Project Academy courses.

What about higher-priced offerings?

Hundreds to thousands of other offerings for project management training at higher costs are readily available around the globe. For PMP or other PMI certifications, there's a whole network of partners who teach an official curriculum. Some are in academia; others offer purely commercial courses. All the biggest training companies offer PMP and related certification training, as do the major online training players (Lynda.com, Simplilearn, Pluralsight and so forth).

Where to go from here?

Start digging into the outlets and offerings that interest you most. When training is free, the only thing you can lose is your time and energy. Thus, you can try things out and pull the plug at any time if they don't work for you. When it comes to for-a-fee training, I recommend looking for online reviews, personal recommendations from people you know and trust, and feedback from former course attendees or materials users to help steer you toward the cream of the crop.

Want to Launch Another Business? What You Need to Know

Posted: 16 Aug 2019 09:20 AM PDT

  • Running multiple businesses at the same time is possible, but it takes a special team and a supportive board of directors.
  • Understandably, time management is the most challenging aspect of running multiple businesses.
  • To manage your time effectively, consider hiring a personal assistant or. at the very least. hiring great team members and delegating work.

Starting and running a business can be extremely challenging. From marketing strategy to financial challenges to time management demands, few things about running a business are easy. For some people, this doesn't matter. For some, the thrill of launching and successfully running a business beats out all the demands that come with the journey.

Some people are born with the entrepreneurial bug. For these people, the excitement and grind of starting and running a business are so motivating they want to do it repeatedly.

While some serial entrepreneurs will launch, build and exit the companies they start, others want to continue running their first venture while working on the second (or third or fourth, etc.). It can certainly be done, but it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to each of your businesses.

We spoke with entrepreneurs who run multiple businesses about their experiences and what other business owners should know about owning multiple small businesses.

Managing your business responsibilities

As you've probably learned from your current business experience, entrepreneurship requires wearing a lot of different hats. You need to be organized and know your priorities to stay on top of things — and that's just for one company. Your biggest priority as a multibusiness entrepreneur is prioritization itself, said Emily Miethner, CEO and founder of FindSpark and MGC Social, and owner of two Long Beach, New York, food trucks.

"Knowing how to effectively split your time to ensure both businesses thrive is definitely a skill," Miethner said. "It's important to have the systems and processes in place – and, of course, the team – to ensure you can scale and handle both."

"I go by the philosophy [of getting] the challenging things done first during the day," said Loren Ridinger, co-founder of Market America and SHOP.com, and founder of Motives Cosmetics. "Once those are done, I can then enjoy the rest of the day and be creative." 

Time management is one of the toughest challenges of running multiple businesses. You need to determine when you'll spend time on each business and how you will delegate different business tasks. It's nearly impossible to run multiple businesses without an excellent team helping you manage your responsibilities. In some cases, it may even help to hire an assistant to help you keep track of your different responsibilities. 

When running multiple businesses, you want to spend time on important work. You don't want to focus on juggling your schedule or scrolling through old emails. Try to streamline processes and develop some type of routine to block out all the additional noise that comes with running different businesses.

Being in the right business location

This means a few things. First, does your physical business location make sense? Second, are you in a good place geographically to recruit and hire top talent? Third, when can you be at the physical business location or office for your businesses? 

One of the most obvious challenges of opening a second business is not being able to be in two places at once. When you're at one business, you can't be at a different location, which means you must make sacrifices. If you're running small e-commerce brands out of one office space, the location concern isn't as big. 

Office location matters as you consider expanding. Growing your business may require more employees and an office expansion. It's easy to forget about business location, but it's a critical part of opening a second business. Traffic can even become an unexpected concern depending on where your business is located.

Cover your business basics when opening a second business

This comes with starting any business, but you need to go through the basics of planning out a new business, which can be challenging when you're already running another operation. You need to determine a handful of things when opening your second business, and it can be helpful to put these into a written business plan. 

  • Legal structure – Will your business be a limited liability corporation? Will you opt to form a partnership instead? There are a handful of different business structures in play, and it's important to determine the best option for your new venture, especially when it comes to reducing liability and keeping your personal assets protected.
  • Marketing strategy – How will your new business attract customers? Who are those customers? Will social media marketing play a role in the strategy? Expect to spend significant time figuring out how to market your new product or service.
  • Financing – Will you need business loans? Will you enlist the help of investors? Will you create a crowdfunding campaign? 

There are other aspects of a business plan that should also be considered, like your organizational structure and revenue drivers. Creating a business plan isn't just for serial entrepreneurs, though. Even if you're running just one business, you need to know about your target market, revenue channels and financing expectations.

Harmonizing your brands

Whether your businesses are related to each other or in different industries, they have at least one thing in common: you. Even if the connection is not obvious, consumers and business partners can easily discover that you're at the helm of each company, so you'll want to keep your values consistent. Mathieu Massa, CEO of Mr. Hospitality, who owns and operates multiple restaurants and nightlife destinations, said to make sure that strategies in one business do not conflict with those of the other business(es).

"If you're running a business in which your sales speech focuses on protecting the environment and, on the other hand, you start a business that does completely the opposite, you immediately lose credibility," Massa said. "Find out what your core values are and develop them in all your ventures."

Serial entrepreneur Nick Matzorkis, who co-founded Union Square Media, agreed that your businesses should complement one another, especially in practical ways.

"When I have multiple businesses, I ... mold and manage them in such a way they benefit one another in supporting and helping each other grow," Matzorkis said. "[This can be done] by reducing costs, e.g., sharing common accounting or IT departments, sharing office space, or even shaping simultaneous companies to parlay off of each other's cash flow by benefitting from complementary seasonality trends, for example."

Some of the entrepreneurs we spoke to emphasized diversifying their income channels. Running different businesses is a way to bring in money from different sources, but that doesn't mean your brands need to be complete opposites or work completely separately from one another. By sharing workspace or IT staff or working toward similar missions, you may find even better success as a serial entrepreneur.  

Finding the right staff

It takes a significant amount of work to run one business, let alone multiple companies. However, it doesn't have to mean more work for you if you hire the right people to help you out.

"We've worked very hard to find the right people who are exceptional leaders, and because of that focus, there is awesome synergy between our brands," said Brian Scudamore, founder and CEO of O2E Brands, the parent company of home service brands Wow 1 Day Painting, 1-800-GOT-JUNK, You Move Me and Shack Shine. "All of our managing directors work closely together, share best practices, wins and culture tips. Having four businesses led by the right people is actually a lot easier than just having one."

"I am a very hands-on person and like to be a part of all the decision-making for all of my brands, [but I have] the team and support behind me to help me execute my daily tasks," Ridinger added.

It's not easy to find great talent, either. Your business needs to develop strong recruiting and hiring practices to find the right fit to join your startup or growing business.

Once you find these talented team members, let them shine. Don't micromanage. You brought team members on for a reason, so trust them to do their jobs. It's not a bad thing to delegate.

"One of the biggest challenges for me was letting go of the reins a bit," said Tom Baber, owner of a Money Mailer and an IHOP location. "When I first started branching out, I was micromanaging in order to feel in control of every aspect of every business, which is just not possible. To be able to step away a bit and focus on other aspects, it's critical that you build a team you trust, which was another challenge."

Finding the right team takes time, and hiring is one of the most important considerations when running multiple businesses. You need workers you can trust.   

"To successfully run multiple businesses in tandem, you need to delegate to competent members of staff and remove yourself from day-to-day processes," said Adam McIntyre, a graphic designer and entrepreneur. "For many startups and early-stage businesses, this can be challenging. Hiring competent staff can be expensive, and likewise, it can be difficult to find staff members with the same drive and ethos as yourself."

While it's not easy to hire great employees, it's far from impossible. You need to perform a detailed search to find the best employees, but using things like employee referrals can help make the process a bit easier.

Before you can think about staffing your new venture, your original employees should be on board with your decision, especially if it means they'll be working for both companies, said Dan Gordon, co-founder and head brewer of Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. and Aurum Cider Co.

"Make sure you have the support of your team when making the move and have all of the resources you can muster so the probability of success is great," said Gordon.

Serial entrepreneurs need good team members to succeed, so it's important to value their input and treat them well. If you have different teams at different companies, take time to support and recognize team members at both organizations regularly. It's important to remember that you aren't the only person involved with the day-to-day grind of certain business activities.

Learning new things

Many of our sources said that one of the perks of owning multiple businesses is the opportunity to gain new knowledge and perspectives on how to approach certain business strategies.

"The best part of running multiple businesses ... is learning different methods of marketing, running and building teams, pricing – everything, really," Miethner said. "There are a lot of elements from each you can experiment with on the others. It creates great perspective. For instance, working in the food trucks always reminds me how important customer service and sales are, even though doing both on a food truck is extremely different than what we do through [a professional service organization like] FindSpark."

There are even lessons to be learned when you're working in a similar industry. Gordon noted that, even though both of his companies are in the brewing industry, he faced some production challenges because of the scientific fermentation differences between beer and hard cider.

Learning about new industries and meeting different people may even stir up ideas about future businesses to start.

Getting your timing right for owning multiple businesses

You may be excited at the prospect of launching your next business, but you don't want to bite off more than you can chew. As with any venture, you need time to devote to this new startup to make sure it succeeds – meaning that your first business should be self-sufficient enough for you to step away from it.

"I decided to take on my second venture, Wow 1 Day Painting, after 1-800-GOT-JUNK? was well established," said Scudamore. "1-800-GOT-JUNK? had been built into an international, $100 million business, and we had proven systems that we could leverage in our next brands – a centralized call center, booking and dispatch software we'd created in-house, marketing systems, and PR know-how."

Bandklayder agreed, noting that starting a new business is like having a child: It needs to be nurtured to grow, and you can't just leave it home alone.

"The more time you can put toward your business, the better off you will be," she said. "Don't rush it. I had wanted to start a baking business for years, [and] once the concept fell into place, I worked on the marketing and legal requirements slowly when I had the time. It really is all about timing. I wasn't able to launch as quickly as I had hoped."

Nonetheless, if you feel the overwhelming entrepreneurial urge to start something new, some of our sources advised simply going for it. For instance, Matzorkis said he never consciously set out to start a new company — he recognizes and acknowledges ideas and opportunities as they come to him, and if he has the resources and the passion for it, he moves forward.

"I've never started a business simply because I saw it as a good business opportunity alone," Matzorkis said. "For me, any new business must be more than just a sound business model for me to maintain the focus and drive needed to guide it to success. This personal guideline is of importance to me when choosing to launch and operate multiple companies simultaneously."

"I don't think entrepreneurs wait for a green light," Gordon added. "You get an idea and just run with it regardless of whether it fits into your readiness mode."

While Gordon's point is spot on, it's also important not to create a second business in hopes of miraculously generating more cash flow that can be used for your first business. Don't leap into something without some financial plan for success.

"Be careful you don't jump too quickly to open a second business," Stacy Tuschl, small business growth coach, founder of the foot traffic formula, and host of the foot traffic podcast. "First, ask yourself: Why do you want to do this? If the first business isn't bringing you enough income or you aren't enjoying it, I would suggest fixing that problem before creating another one. If your first business isn't a well-oiled machine, it is time to slow down and maximize business No. 1 first. Just remember Rome wasn't built in a day, and acquiring too many businesses too soon can hurt your business rather than build your empire."

4 Reasons Why Texas Is a Hot State for Starting a Business

Posted: 16 Aug 2019 09:00 AM PDT

Everything's bigger in Texas, especially small businesses! WalletHub recently released 2019's Best & Worst States To Start A Business report that compares all 50 states to determine which ones are best for starting a business in the United States.

If the opening sentence didn't already tip you off, Texas earned the top spot as the overall best state to start a business. Methodology for the report examined conditions that make for ideal business creation. Some of these factors included capital access, available talent in the workforce and affordable office space. Texas narrowly edged out Utah with a total score of 61.05 and earned an additional number one ranking in the category of business environment.

WalletHub's study aside, I've spent a few years writing about which states are great for starting small businesses. As time has progressed, I've noticed that traditional "corporate darlings" like Nevada and Delaware are starting to take a backseat. Entrepreneurs are still forming businesses there, of course, but they are also seeking new places and spaces for their companies. Up and coming states like Florida, Wyoming, and – you guessed it – Texas are on the rise with startups. How did that shift start to take place? What makes The Lone Star State so enticing for today's entrepreneurs? Here are four reasons why Texas is so popular for new businesses:

  • The talent pool is deep, thanks to major metropolitan areas and local universities.
  • There are tax benefits for doing business in Texas.
  • It embraces innovation quickly.
  • Texas has a small business-friendly climate throughout the state.

Let's take a closer look at the reasons why entrepreneurs are heading to Texas to launch small businesses.

1. Texas has an abundance of talent.

One of the keys to a successful startup is the company's team. From human resources to engineers, it takes a village of talented individuals to lead a startup to success.

However, some startups make the mistake of hiring too quickly. Maybe the candidate isn't completely the right fit or lacks key skills necessary for the role. The small business may decide to hire and onboard them anyway. After all, it's a priority to fill the position – and your business might have struggled to find interested, available candidates.

Texas brings endless amounts of talent to the table for entrepreneurs forming startups. According to The Best States For Small Business 2019, a recent study from Guidant Financial, Texas is one of the top two states for boomer and millennial entrepreneurs to open up shop. (California ranks as the other top state.) The reason is simple. Texas boasts a large state population, made all the more appealing due to its educated residents that hail from local universities.

CNBC recently tracked tech startup Bractlet and told the story of why its cofounders decided to do business in Texas. One of the advantages of starting a Texas-based business was the power of its schools and their students. Local universities, like the University of Texas, made it possible for the company to find and hire talented team members. Bractlet, which is now based out of Austin, was even able to find skilled employees beyond the Austin city limits. The startup attracted attention and talent from other Texas cities, including major metropolitan areas like San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. The combination of city hot spots plus educated graduates seeking new jobs is a win-win for startups ready to go above and beyond in their first year in business.

2. Starting a business in Texas has significant tax benefits.

There was a time, not too long ago, when many entrepreneurs flocked primarily to Delaware and Nevada to do business. Delaware has a reputation for being "the incorporation capital of the world" because of its business-friendly corporate tax laws. These laws have allowed the state to become the legal home to more than a million business entities. Similarly, Nevada also has a reputation as a tax haven since the state does not have corporate or personal income tax.

Beyond Delaware and Nevada, more states are passing tax laws that benefit small businesses. Texas is one state to watch. The Tax Foundation's 2019 State Business Tax Climate Index revealed that Texas does not have an individual income tax or corporate income tax. A lack of income tax, along with a thriving economy, continues to make Texas an attractive location for a startup.

3. Texas is open to innovation.

What states come to mind when you think of innovation? You're likely to think east and west coast – specifically Silicon Valley in California and Manhattan (or Brooklyn!) in New York.

But, consider events and conferences like South by Southwest (SXSW), held in Austin, Texas every year, that celebrate the changing landscape of tech and media.

More than 380 airports call Texas home, bringing new faces in every day to check out the sights and sounds (including a lively music scene) throughout the state. You might even be surprised to hear that some of the industries thriving in Texas include the following:

  • Advanced tech and manufacturing
  • Aerospace, aviation and defense
  • Biotechnology and life sciences
  • Energy
  • Information and computer tech
  • Petroleum refining

Remember when we mentioned the tech startup Bractlet earlier? That company is part of the innovation being seen throughout Texas right now. Thanks to a large population, and one that also works hard to serve minority entrepreneurs, Texas is able to put itself on the map with its diversified economy. That same economy, as the Texas Economic Development Corporation points out, allows Texas to pave the road forward in creating new jobs. Texas now leads the nation in job creation – and plans to continue the trend throughout the next decade and beyond.

4. Texas has a consistently-friendly climate for small businesses

Each year, I like to revisit Thumbtack's United States Small Business Friendliness Survey. This survey examines how states and cities throughout the U.S. receive small businesses. From 2012 through 2019, the survey examines key components like overall friendliness, ease of hiring, regulations, tax code, training programs and more to grade each state.

How does Texas fare for overall state friendliness? Texas received an "A" in 2019. Interestingly enough, 2018 marked the first year since 2014 that Texas dropped from an "A+" to an "A" grade.

I hovered over some of the "overall friendliness" responses to see if there was a culprit for the (slight) drop in grade. As it turns out, there wasn't much to dispute. The comment that stuck out the most to me was an anonymous response from a home-security specialist in Lubbock, TX. Their complaint had less to do with the state and its offerings, and more to do with the day-to-day nuances of being a small business owner.

As noted by the Texas Economic Development Corporation, there isn't a guarantee of success for anyone who starts a business, Texan or not. The best way to succeed is to plan and prepare – as is true for any business that wishes to get off the ground. If you need help figuring out the next step you need to take if you're considering starting a business, its website explains the "why" for choosing Texas, the state's advantages, and resources entrepreneurs may utilize for their companies. You can go big or go home in Texas, but you don't have to feel alone or lost on the journey to entrepreneurship.

How to Use Customer Feedback to Your Advantage

Posted: 16 Aug 2019 08:00 AM PDT

Customer feedback is one of the quickest and most efficient ways to improve your business. Twenty years ago, if a customer had a question or issue, they would write a letter or call a hotline. Companies still use this model, but most marketers and small business owners are more interested in getting quick, detailed feedback from their customers online.

There are numerous ways to collect feedback from your audience and marketers know that this information is essential. A survey revealed that 95% of people polled say collecting and measuring current customer data is their most significant marketing barrier.

We are going to take a look at the following benefits of obtaining customer feedback: 

  • Improving your UX 
  • Building social influence and increasing engagement
  • Evolving your product line and creating a development roadmap
  • Improving customer support channels

In addition to talking about the advantages of collecting information from your audience, we will also explore how to increase the number of consumers that provide feedback about your brand. 

Improve the user experience

User experience (UX) is more than just how your website looks; it's how every component functions together. Often, we can miss a bug or glitch, even after vigorous testing. Odds are good that the consumers on your website will find an issue that your testing team didn't identify. That's not to say that testers are inefficient, but there are likely more consumers using your site daily than the number of testers on your team.

When a consumer finds one of these bugs, they need to have a quick way to provide feedback to your support team. If you've ever started scrolling through a program only to have it crash, you likely received a notification telling you that there was an error. Normally, you can send your data to the team for review. This tactic is just one way to collect UX feedback. You could also consider adding an easy-to-use contact form to the sidebar of your website. 

Contact forms are an effective way to ask your audience if they have any constructive feedback on their experience with your business. If you want to take it a step further, you can send out periodic emails to your subscribers, or one email to new customers, and ask about their experience. Make sure to include a question about what they would change about their experience if they could. This data is useful for growing your business and providing value to your customers.

Editor's note: Need customer relationship management (CRM) software for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you with free information.

 

Build social influence 

Social influence, or social proof, is a phenomenon where people are more likely to buy something if they see other people buying and using products from the same brand. You can build social proof with consumer feedback in several ways, but one of the best is using testimonial pages. These are extraordinarily helpful at showing potential customers why your brand is worth their time. You can use the feedback you receive through your contact forms to build testimonial pages for your website. 

Feedback encompasses what people say on your contact forms and includes the opinions they express on social media, both directly and indirectly. When consumers mention your brand, comment on your posts or send you a message, they are providing valuable feedback that you can use to build social proof or enhance your business. Part of understanding your target audience is seeing how they view your brand and products. 

Regardless of the type of feedback customers leave your business, it's vital that you respond to as many people as possible and take their opinions seriously. The people who leave feedback are doing so because they want to praise you, or they see room for improvement. By responding to them, you'll also improve engagement, which can lead to more beneficial feedback. 

Evolve your product line 

As your business continues to grow, you're going to want to think about adding new products or services. It only makes sense to listen to what consumers expect from your business if you hope to gain their trust and turn them into lifelong customers. 

For example, if an online pet store has a ton of customers asking when they are going to add dog and cat treats, this is a great feedback cue. Current customers are happy with your products but wish you could meet their additional needs. 

Before every development roadmap, you should take customer feedback into consideration. In the previous example, you would want to start looking for ways to include high-quality pet treats on your growing list of products. 

It doesn't matter what niche you operate in; this tip will help you use feedback as a growth tool. Listening to your customers and creating a product or feature that's in demand will help improve your retention rate and could help you boost your sales and conversion rates. 

Improve customer service

Finally, customer feedback is an excellent way to improve the way you help future customers. If you're using a chatbot, feedback can help you program and refine your bot to help customers with common questions or concerns. Consider that 75% of consumers expect a response to their question in five minutes or less. Speed and accuracy play a crucial role in obtaining and retaining customers.

If you're using a live customer service team, you can educate your employees about the common issues customers mention when they submit their contact forms. For example, if half of your contact forms contain the same question or complaint, consumers are likely coming to your customer support channel with the same problem. This tactic gives you a chance to educate your team and help them create a fast, helpful answer when a customer comes to them for assistance. 

A knowledgeable customer support team is a huge advantage to online business owners. In your pursuit of building a broad audience, you may lose some interaction with your customers. A strong support team can bridge this gap, move leads through your sales funnel and boost the loyalty of current customers.  

Conclusion 

The key to using customer feedback to your advantage is recognizing patterns. As business owners, we spend almost every waking minute thinking about trends in our sales and conversions. However, it's our customers that allow us to thrive and exist. We have to be mindful of how consumers perceive our brands and look for patterns in the feedback we receive from them. 

As your customer count rises, you'll have a higher chance of identifying trends and making changes based on feedback. UX, social proof, development roadmaps and customer support all pivot on how customers interact and use our products and services. Without input from the people who frequent our websites, you would be forced to use your best judgment when making decisions about how to expand your business. When you have data from customers in front of you, it's clear that there is an advantage to obtaining and using this feedback during every step of the development and marketing process.
Posted by: at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)