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- The Best States for Small Businesses in 2019
- Pro-Tips for Working From Home
- How to Build a Business During a Recession
- How to Become a Full-time Airbnb Entrepreneur
- The Best Online Resources for Learning Social Media Marketing
- Save on Apps with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
- 11 Innovative Ideas for Handling the Client Conundrum
- 20 Résumé Mistakes Keeping You From Getting a Job (and How to Fix Them)
- A Step-By-Step Process for Making the Right Business Decisions
- The Most Interesting Office Equipment Stories Imaginable
- How California's Consumer Privacy Act Will Affect Your Business
- Most Companies Fail to Engage With Seasonal Workers
- 5 Ways to Build Customers' Trust
- How to Create Alexa for Business Skills Without Coding Experience
- How Leaders Can Inspire in the Workplace of the Future
- How New Tariffs Will Impact American Consumers
- How to Become a CIO or CTO
- 7 Steps for Hiring Great Employees
- Small Business Credit Card Processing: What You Need to Know
- How to Know Your Numbers and Manage Your Sales Department
| The Best States for Small Businesses in 2019 Posted: 07 Aug 2019 11:26 AM PDT 
There are several key factors that immediately have an impact on your level of success when you're starting a small business. One of the most important decisions a fledgling SMB owner can make is where to set up shop. Location matters, and according to a newly released survey, it can determine how easy you'll be able to get your business off the ground. Released earlier today, Thumbtack's 2019 Small Business Friendliness Survey polled more than 5,000 SMB owners throughout the country to determine how easy or difficult it was to start a business in their home states and cities. Respondents answered more than 40 questions on the matter, ranging from local tax code and licensing regulations to the ease of finding workers. Kellyn Blossom, the head of public policy at Thumbtack, said the information was important for a number of reasons, including the upcoming 2020 elections. "Small business owners are active, involved members of their communities and local economies," she said. "Our survey shows the economic impact of healthcare, housing and transportation are top of mind for them. With 96% of small business owners planning to vote in the 2020 elections, they could have a big impact on the outcome." Demographics of the American small business ownerAmericans are a diverse bunch. Thanks to the influx of numerous nationalities and races, people of all ages, colors, genders, and political ideologies have the opportunity to start a business and make their own way in life. Even though there's no such thing as the "typical American small business owner," researchers found that most survey respondents were 35 to 44 years old (28%), male (56%) and white (69%), with at least an associate's or technical degree (30%). Approximately 47% of respondents have been in business for five or more years, 48% work alone, and 28% work in events-related industries. Looking at the survey's respondents through a political lens revealed that 30% considered themselves Democrats, 30% were Republicans, 31% were independent, and 9% said they were "other." Furthermore, 10% were either veterans or actively serving in the military. Local economic realities shape small businessesAs the country continues to experience economic growth, it's no surprise that Thumbtack's survey found that 76% of small business owners said they felt their communities had enough economic opportunities available to them to survive and succeed. Of the remaining respondents who felt there wasn't enough local opportunity, 42% live in suburban communities, 31% live in rural areas, and 26% live in urban locations. According to researchers, respondents said the three most important things state policymakers can do to foster a stronger small business community were "lowering or simplifying taxes, improving access to healthcare and insurance benefits, and making housing more affordable."  According to the survey, here are the top 10 friendliest states:
The top seven states on the list have an A+ ranking. Here are the top 10 SMB-friendly cities:
At the city level, only the top three were given an A+. The bottom 10 states (and their grades) in terms of SMB friendliness are as follows:
These are the bottom 10 cities (and their grades) for small businesses:
Benefits and the daily commute are challenges for SMBs, regardless of locationOne major determining factor of how friendly a location may be for small businesses is the proximity to workers and potential customers. Researchers found that without enough affordable housing and public transportation, many locales just don't lend themselves to a conducive small business environment. According to the survey, many small business owners reported finding it difficult to find housing near their customer base. As a result, 32% of respondents said they commute between 31 and 60 minutes each day, while 7% said their travel time to work is more than an hour long. Within this group of commuters, 93% said they drive themselves to work, with just 3% saying they utilize public transportation. In addition to the time spent on their daily commute, respondents sounded off on the difficulty of gaining certain benefits. Thanks to rising healthcare costs, only 79% of small business owners said they currently have health insurance, with 58% of that group reporting that their monthly costs have gone up in the last year. Even more shocking were the 30% of SMB owners who said their monthly premiums increased by more than $100. In terms of other health benefits, 64% said they had dental insurance, and 59% said they had vision coverage. When it comes to planning for the future, researchers found that just 44% had access to a retirement savings account, such as an IRA or 401K. Small business friendliness and the 2020 electionAs we get closer to the 2020 election, a major focus has been placed on national politics. While legislators in Washington have a major impact on the country's economic future, it's officials at the local, county and state level that often impact small businesses the most. Through their research, officials found that 86% of the small business owners polled were registered to vote, with 96% planning to vote in the coming election. Even though President Trump's tax plan aimed to help small businesses and the middle class, just 33% of respondents said they approved of the president's economic policies. |
| Pro-Tips for Working From Home Posted: 07 Aug 2019 10:00 AM PDT  Welcome to planet earth, home to almost 8 billion people. We are a resource-starved, mismanaged race who don't have their priorities in order. But, we are approaching a threshold in terms of basic demand and supply of work, and with the rapid advancement of technology, it's time to start thinking along the lines of dual/multi careers instead of relying on one single source of income. Jobs will eventually become more competitive and more demanding and with a rise in job demands, people need to have the comfort and ease of fallbacks as well. Multiple streams of income expand your horizons, but if done carelessly overstretch you and leave all your employers hanging. This is something I have been practicing for a few years now and have now moved from making ends meet to putting money in the bank. Check out these pro-tips to get you working well from home – bear in mind these are from personal experience and will also touch upon time and monetary investments you should look to make while you are stabilizing your multi-stream career: Do your researchFirst things first, figure out which revenue streams can be built. Lead with your strengths, let's say you're a business graduate, you need to assess which external career prospects exist, the best way to do that is to review what options exist within your frame of work. As a business graduate, you have a native understanding of the concepts of marketing, finance, HR etc. depending on which field you chose to pursue, you have massive communities available to you to give you an idea of the kind of commercial opportunities that exist both full time and part-time (the reason I mention both full time and part-time is because we are yet to establish the notion of primary and secondary careers – more on that below). Communities like LinkedIn exist to help you get a feel of what formal opportunities exist (LinkedIn has now also expanded into the temporary work space), you also have localized HR portals that will give you an understanding of what recruitment firms are looking for in the market. But with respect to secondary jobs, careers, freelancing – however you choose to define it, there are portals like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer etc. that will give you options on what options exist to you that are contractual, temporary and/or secondary. Connect and correctAnother important life lesson here is that regardless of what people are looking for there is always an option to give that what they might not be looking for or what they might actually need. I like to call this bit of business fishing – Unsolicited storytelling. Imagine that you are a writer and want work, it's a good tip to look at follow other writers, see their body of work and try and try and reach out to their clients or similar. Organizations are always on the lookout for a fresh perspective – if you have what they want, or what they might need, you may just land a gig. The way you do this is being brutally honest and telling them that this is me and this is what I can bring to the table. It pays to have a body of work of your own before you try this approach, but honestly, this is a game of trial and error, connect and correct is the way to move towards actual projects. Build enough boxesWhile it's good to focus on your core strengths it's always a good idea to expand your vision past your current business pursuits as well in hopes of identifying greener pastures. The name of the game is diversification. An example of this is that while you might be a business graduate, driving an UBER or a CAREEM shouldn't be something you should shy away from. The idea is to experiment with multiple revenue streams and finding a winning formula. Taking a short course online from experts who've built boxes before is also a great idea to get some perspective as well. The entire concept of setting up revenue streams can be quickly visualized in boxes. Each box is a source of income – not a task. A quick example of this would say you've just picked up a client (that client represents a task or a series of tasks) this is your box – you need to keep that box safe, make sure that you unbox it and keep expanding its capacity, the bigger the box the better it is. Now with respect to primary and secondary careers, I personally like to treat them like boxes as well. The first box you have, your biggest box (mostly in terms of income and general occupation of time) is your primary box. This might be a stable career or a long-term gig – that is for you to decide and keep evaluating. The thing with boxes is to never settle. A human being is a resilient and adaptive creature, one that has to understand its own capacity and to grow it as well. You should know when you have enough boxes – because juggling these boxes is an arduous task , but as an individual you have to adapt and move from micromanaging these boxes to maybe outsourcing them or handing them over to individuals you trust – that is the way you expand your boundaries and move towards more structured work practices. Invest in a home officeThis is a pretty important Pro-tip because it has to do with certain work/lifestyle choices that I felt I am yet to accomplish. See a lot of what has been happening recently around the world is a growing sense of discontent and dissatisfaction with material things. What better way to illustrate this then the following article. You see the race isn't about creating material possessions, it's about becoming efficient. Unfortunately, we were made to believe that investing in assets was a slow and failure-prone way to becoming successful. Pro-tip number four is something even I am trying to implement right now because I was under the impression that working out of rented premises, and leading some sort of a nomadic lifestyle was the way of the future. Believe me, I have nothing against people who do this or continue to do this, but as an entrepreneur, as an employee, I want to invest into assets that will be available to me on my own terms. It is a good idea to invest into owning your own home-office, it serves a purpose and if you do land a deal it can always serve as a source of income for you as well. It is also very important to invest into home-based business assets early on. Because I am doing this right now, I wanted to do it the right way and frankly I have massive horror stories from friends and family from across the globe (from trees falling on their roofs leaving them unable to work, to guests trashing their possessions, and theft of professional and/or business property) I want my investments to not be mental baggage I keep lugging around. To put my mind and yours at ease, try and build safety nets as early as possible and make sure that you future-proof them as well. Go to a good comparison website and look-up insurance rates for your home. You shouldn't be living or working from your home without it. Be ethicalI feel there's a lot more I could write at this stage and frankly, I will be looking to do a PART 2 on this one but I wanted to end on some solid advice that is not just necessary with respect to just working from home but applies to life in general. Too many of us get this wrong and believe we if more and more of us do this, it pulls all of us down, in terms of trust, performance and as a species. Be ethical in your pursuits, if you are working for someone and are on their dime you need to put in the hours or the effort to make their work possible. Too many times I have been at the receiving end of the business where the other organization bit off more then they could chew in terms of work and in the end scope creep led to massive delays. In short, be vigilant on what you're supposed to deliver and the timelines around it. Naturally, this is work in progress but in the pursuit of excellence be your own critic.
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| How to Build a Business During a Recession Posted: 07 Aug 2019 09:00 AM PDT  Starting a business is difficult, especially when you have to fund it yourself. Bootstrapping – using your own savings or credit to launch a company – requires planning, dedication and a stomach for risk. However, many entrepreneurs launch their businesses out of necessity, without resources or lending options available to them. John Zaccone, founder of Northstar Truck Lettering and Signs, was driven by necessity during the 2008 Financial Crisis. As his employer's business contracted, he knew he would soon be on the chopping block, so he started thinking about an exit strategy. With no savings and no prospects of obtaining a business loan, Zaccone was faced with a stark choice: Use his savings to pay his mortgage or bet on himself and fund his new business. Launching a business in a bad economyZaccone had long dreamt of going into business for himself but never quite took the step to do it. Following the 2008 financial crisis, though, he realized he would soon be laid off. Sure enough, the moment came on April Fool's Day in 2009 when his employer had to let him go. "I could tell they didn't want to do it," Zaccone said. "I had already been afraid to go out on my own, but now I had nothing to lose by doing it. This forced me in that direction." He was given a month's notice to look for another job, but because of the horrible state of the economy, no one was hiring. He secured two interviews at companies more than an hour away from his home, where each position offered just a fraction of the pay he was accustomed to making. Zaccone recalled the lettering machine at his old company, which was seemingly always profitable. He thought that even in a recession, lettering and signage would be in demand; after all, as people lost their jobs or scrambled to keep their business afloat, they'd likely need lettering for trucks and signage to attract more customers. "Little by little, I started buying equipment to test the market," Zaccone said. He initially set up shop in his house; within three weeks, he was inundated with orders. "That kind of answered my own question." He needed a shop. Requests were coming in left and right, and it was unsustainable to continue bringing prospective clients to his home. One day, as he was driving, Zaccone spotted a shop with relatively affordable rent and decided to go for it. "I thought 'I really have to do this,'" he said. "It was scary, because I had hardly any money put away – maybe enough to cover my mortgage with a little more than that. So, I could pay my mortgage or try to start my business and make an income." Zaccone chose to invest in his business without any guarantees that it would pay off, in an economy where people were losing their jobs, livelihoods and homes. With no loan and little savings, Zaccone launched Northstar Signs with one goal in mind: hold on to his home. "There was a lot of fear, but that pushes you not to fail and to look at every decision closely from every angle," Zaccone said. "It's essential, that fear. It keeps you 100% committed." Finding support to grow a new businessIt was a tough economic environment, and Zaccone knew he couldn't do everything on his own. To find support, he joined Business Networking International, a networking group with a strict attendance policy. That was important, because he knew the other members would be as serious as he was. There, he learned the essential elements of running a business, like public speaking and communication. He also joined the Self-Employed Assistance program, part of the unemployment office. That program connected him with resources at Atlantic Cape College, where he learned about the necessities of writing a business plan, the benefits of guerilla marketing and small business accounting. "They wanted me to do a business plan, and I said, 'There's no way I can get a loan,'" he said. "The professor asked me if that's what I really thought a business plan was for. He told me that a business plan prepares you for every aspect of your business and has to be constantly tailored to your business as it grows. That was key." Support goes both ways, he added. His customers needed constant communication regarding price quotes and the process, even when it wasn't what they wanted to hear. "It is always important to keep customers in the loop, whether it is a delay or rescheduling," he said. "I was blown away to find out how many of my competitors just never got back to their customers, and in a recession no less." Finding external support and offering support to his customers became a key part of launching his company despite the challenging business landscape he encountered in 2009. Still, nothing was guaranteed, so Zaccone had to get creative. Dedication and creativityAlthough Zaccone secured a shop, success was far from certain. He built a brand around lettering and signage, but he needed income quickly. He relied on restoring and selling furniture to keep money coming in as he worked to drum up signage clients. "I was doing anything I could to take advantage of the shop," Zaccone said. "I had to do whatever it took to put money in my pocket, even if it wasn't totally related to my business in the beginning." Zaccone worked long hours and weekends. Even though he promised himself he would never work on a Sunday, he found himself doing just that. One piece of furniture he restored sold for $600, and he recalled thinking "That's just about one month's rent." Despite the tough situation, Zaccone said he had a huge motivator driving him to do all the heavy lifting on his own. "The biggest motivator was just not wanting to lose my house," he said. "I refused to lose my house. Having that fire in your belly is essential. It's constantly door pounding, not taking no for an answer. And then when you get yourself going, it's repeat word-of-mouth." Today, clients that started their business with Zaccone's help have fleets of trucks and equipment at their disposal. Many remain loyal clients to Northstar as well, which Zaccone credits to his work ethic and dedication in helping his customers build successful businesses of their own. "My slogan is 'Helping businesses grow one sign at a time.' It's not about making money, because if I do my job and help them grow, then I will make money," Zaccone said. "That's always been my passion, small business." As time passed, Northstar itself continued to grow. Zaccone was paying his mortgage despite the rocky economic landscape. And soon, he said, he realized that fear wasn't his primary motivator any longer. From fear and necessity to optimism and growthFor years, Northstar was a passion project started and grown out of necessity and fear. Those powerful motivators drove Zaccone to keep his company afloat and do whatever it took to continue bringing money in. He had his nose to the grindstone for so long that the moment he realized his business had shifted gears to the next level came suddenly and without warning. "When I had my first job that took me 1.5 hours [to complete], and I made what I used to make in a week, I thought 'Whoa, I didn't realize I could make this kind of money,'" he said. "Then it was what I used to make in a month, I made in a day." Ups and downs still happen, he added, calling them "roller-coaster rides," but after a while, you get used to it and plan for them. Through all the sacrifice and hard work, Zaccone had carved out a successful business with loyal customers, many of whom were also growing successful companies and coming back to him for more work. "I hired a part-time employee to have a constant office presence, and I've been blessed, because she is awesome," he said. "It's working out really well, and now my regular business is up and my main accounts are up, so that's great." Ten years after Zaccone lost his job and started Northstar out of necessity, he's happy to say his business is successful and growing. Advice for new and aspiring entrepreneursFor Zaccone, if he could launch a successful business during the biggest recession in recent American history, new and aspiring entrepreneurs can do it today. The advice he offered to those looking to bootstrap companies of their own is simple: Stay dedicated, be creative, and give back. "First off, don't panic," he said. "It's easy to fall to your fears, but just think outside the box. If you don't have the funds, you have to be creative. Put the time in, believe in whatever it is you are doing, and have passion." In addition, new business owners should do their homework by researching competitors and their local market, investigating pricing and processes, he said. Finally, Zaccone added, when your business gets off the ground and you have the ability to, it's important to give back to your community. As he says, "It comes back to you all the time." "Any chance you get, if you're in the position to, it's essential, it's good karma, to give back," he said. "Call it cosmic forces or the business gods, but it comes back to you tenfold." Whether you're starting from nothing or looking to grow your existing company, finding supportive organizations, communicating closely with your customers and dedicating yourself to doing quality work is key. As Zaccone said, "It doesn't always take money, you just have to be fully invested in what you're doing." |
| How to Become a Full-time Airbnb Entrepreneur Posted: 07 Aug 2019 07:00 AM PDT  Airbnb is an economic revolution that is turning millions of people like myself into entrepreneurs. But how do you quit your 9 to 5 and turn your Airbnb side-gig into a full-time job? I founded PassiveAirbnb to support other Airbnb hosts on their entrepreneurial journey. Now I'm sharing my top tips with those of you who are just getting started. Airbnb is the global phenomenon that's built around the idea of sub-letting your spare room. It's well known that hosting on Airbnb is one of the best side gigs to make a little bit of extra money. There are more than 6 million Airbnb listings worldwide, but many of them are being managed by part-time hosts. But when you're hosting alongside a full-time job it's hard for an Airbnb business to reach its full potential. For many people, leaving the security of a full-time job is a daunting idea, and something they don't know how to achieve. So how do you take that leap and become a full-time Airbnb Entrepreneur, and is it the right move for you? Here are the 5 things you should consider before becoming a full-time Airbnb host.
Is Airbnb right for me?Hosting on Airbnb is not a walk in the park. Before you quit your day job make sure you've asked yourself if it's right for you. Great hosts need hospitality knowledge, organization skills, business acumen and good communication. Airbnb is also dependent on customer satisfaction, so if you're not a 'people person' you may find it's not a suitable profession. Many people start hosting on Airbnb as a side hustle, which is a good way to gauge if you enjoy the day-to-day management of an Airbnb business. Your reasons for becoming a full-time host should also guide your decision to go full-time. I turned to Airbnb after burning out in the corporate world. For me, the decision focused on taking control of my own workday, lifestyle and earning potential. There are many different motivations for hosting on Airbnb, and they're not always driven by money. If you're looking to ease into retirement or have more flexibility in your work hours, then Airbnb may be an easy fit. But, if you're looking to replace a high income with Airbnb revenue, you'll need to be sure you're aware of the challenges and realities of hosting. Is Airbnb worth it?Yes, Airbnb can be 'worth it' – but not for everyone. Priceonomics researched the biggest platforms in the gig economy. They found Airbnb to be the most profitable side gig, above Uber, Lyft, Doordash and other hustles. Airbnb is often touted as an easy way to make money, but it's not a way to get rich quick. Airbnb hosts make on average, $924 a month, with a median of $440. Remember that these numbers include part-time or occasional hosts. Not everyone who dabbles in Airbnb is going to get rich off it. Airbnb hosts earning $2,000 or more per month make up just 10% of all hosts. There is, however, the potential for savvy hosts to make tens of thousands of dollars in Airbnb with the right strategy. I know, because I've done it myself using the Airbnb Arbitrage method. The amount of risk you are willing and able to take will determine how much you can scale an Airbnb business. I took my last $5,000 dollars from my savings to invest in my Airbnb business idea. With some hard work, I was making $10,000 every month within six months. That's twice my initial investment. But not everyone is comfortable or able to take such a risk. Do your researchIf you want your Airbnb business to replace your income and be profitable, make sure you do your research before taking the plunge. Here are four important questions every would-be Airbnb entrepreneur needs to answer. 1. Is it legal?Before diving off the deep end into Airbnb hosting make sure you're not doing anything illegal. You can't sub-let a property without the owner's permission, but there are other legal obstacles even if you own your property. Laws differ by location. You should research the legalities of short-term rentals in your city and state. If you are in a multi-family building be sure to look carefully through the rules for any housing associations 2. What is my market?You will need to extensively research your market and find out the worth of your property and the average occupancy rate in your local area. Airbnb offers tools to help you scope your earning potential, but you should also do extra research. For people in touristy areas, it may be easy to turn a decent profit. Others may not earn enough from their Airbnb rental to replace their current income. Highly seasonal markets can have a big impact on cash flow throughout the year. 3. Who is my customer?Knowing your market will help you understand your potential customer. Your location and the type of property you offer will dictate the type of people you are likely to cater to. Your audience could be business travelers, couples, families, etc. You should research what your target customer would require from an Airbnb. You may find you need to spend some money on furnishings or amenities to properly accommodate them. 4. How can I scale?If your aim is to be in the top 10% or higher of Airbnb earners you usually need to scale beyond one property. If you're thinking about scaling an Airbnb business, by buying or renting out extra properties, you usually need to invest capital to get started. Be sure you've suitably scoped the potential return on your investment before taking on any additional debt. If you want to expand your business, but don't have spare capital, there are still opportunities to scale. You can investigate Airbnb Arbitrage opportunities or start by co-hosting for other property owners. What do I need to get started?So, you've scoped your market potential, planned your business, and you're almost ready to launch. Here are five important steps to take before becoming a full-time Airbnb Entrepreneur. 1. Form a legal entity. A legal business entity, such as an LLC, prevents you from being personally liable. 2. Get your taxes in order. Depending on your state there are a number or tax considerations for Airbnb businesses. If you can afford it, getting professional tax help can make this much easier to navigate. 3. Gather permits and licenses. Depending on your state you may require additional documentation to run a short-term rental property. You should have researched this before taking the leap. 4. Open a business bank account. As a business, your associated costs and income should be separate from personal accounts. When getting started it's important to track all your start-up costs in your business bank account. 5. Get insured. Alongside insurance for the property, you should also consider business insurance. So, are you ready to take the plunge? If you've done your research and decided Airbnb is right for you then I wish you the best of luck, Check out my blog for more tips and advice on optimizing and marketing your property. |
| The Best Online Resources for Learning Social Media Marketing Posted: 07 Aug 2019 05:10 AM PDT  Social media has changed digital marketing. Consumers now learn about the latest products and services from their social feeds. However, not all social networks are created the same. For example, an ad that performs extremely well on Twitter may perform poorly on Facebook. That's why it's important to understand how each platform works to curate advertising content on each site. Fortunately, learning the ropes of social media marketing doesn't require a business degree. Social media marketing can often feel like an abstract practice; this article will help with the following questions:
Two experts – Megan Stulberg, a self-employed social media and content strategist, and Alan Murdock, creative director of Green Vine Marketing and founder of Murdock Media Production – weighed in on this new, innovative world of advertising. How to learn social media marketingThe first thing, according to Stulberg, is to understand which area of social media is the most meaningful to your brand. To narrow your focus, ask yourself, "Do you want to focus on content creation, strategy, community management, digital marketing, paid media or beyond?" said Stulberg. "Where do your strongest skills lie?" While there are several low-cost and free certifications and resources online (see below), the most important practice is right in front of you: "It may sound obvious, but the best social media tool out there is social media itself," said Stulberg. "The resources are right there. Watch what brands are doing, track what goes viral and why, study influencer engagement patterns, and keep up to date with how content is affected by new in-platform features." Where to learn social media skillsMurdock recommends a variety of resources for learning this relatively new type of marketing. Follow websites like Social Media Examiner for the latest news and trends in the industry. He also suggests periodically skimming and studying social media white papers. "There are a lot of data companies that provide current practices," he said. "Yes, they are trying to sell their data services, but for many of them, well-run social media feeds are the starting point for their service. They want you to be successful so you can buy what they offer. There can be some good information in those reports." Also look for online courses, seminars and workshops to build your skills. "Although often not necessary, certifications like Facebook Advertising Blueprint, Google Analytics Academy and HubSpot Academy's Inbound Marketing Certification are incredibly educational tools for beginners, and also look great on a resume," added Stulberg. Here are a few online resources to kick-start your learning efforts. Not all are free, but they can be much more affordable than going back to school. LyndaFrom the masterminds behind LinkedIn, Lynda compiles video courses from expert teachers that can be viewed on any device. Membership begins at $19.99 per month, which gives you unlimited access to all the site's content. This site offers a range of courses from the basics, such as Facebook for Business, to more niche and advanced topics like Social Media for Government and Corporate Video Weekly. You may already be eligible for a free membership, especially if you're a solopreneur starting out. Check with your local library to see if they offer a free membership with your library card. edXedX – which also runs mooc.org – is a massive open online course (MOOC) provider. Many of the courses are self-paced but follow a more traditional classroom feel compared to a DIY approach. However, even classes with a start and end date allow folks to access and interact with content after the course has ended. Notable courses include Reputation Management in a Digital World by Curtin University (self-paced) and Social Media Marketing by Boston University (which begins on April 18, 2018). Membership is free. CourseraCoursera has compiled many MOOCs from top universities, such as Yale University and Stanford. Membership is free, but some courses require payment. There is the option to pay for a certification, indicating you've successfully completed a course. For instance, Coursera offers Social Media Marketing Specialization from Northeastern University. UdemySimilar to Lynda, Udemy instructors are industry leaders rather than academicians. Although with Udemy you pay for each course individually rather than with a monthly membership, there are more timely, specialized selections to choose from, such as Facebook Ads and Facebook Marketing Mystery Guide and Instagram Marketing: A Step-By-Step for 10,000 Followers. Plus, many courses are under $20. SkillshareUnlike the other sites mentioned above, Skillshare is creator-focused. In other words, anyone can submit a course to Skillshare. As a result, the content is much more personalized. For instance, Brian Peters, the digital marketing strategist at Buffer, offers his own Introduction to Social Media Strategy course. Membership is free, but access to certain content requires a Premium membership, which costs $15 a month. For more resources on social media marketing, check out Business News Daily's guides on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat. How to generate free social media attentionGarnering free social media attention comes with a catch: It requires creativity, a hook of some sort. It doesn't necessarily have to involve a large budget or high production value, but the concept needs to be something people will find engaging and exciting enough to post on their own accounts. Adding a hashtag here and there won't get you desirable results. "The best way to get free social media marketing is to set up interesting events, spaces or products that encourage your audience to photograph and share what you do," Murdock said. "I don't know how many theme park photos I've seen in my feed this week posted by friends and acquaintances, but each one of them is keeping that venue front of mind for me when I think about vacation." Oftentimes, this can mean adjusting whatever project, event or space you have to be more pleasing to the eye. Party planners, for instance, often create photo booths but add logos and hashtags to encourage people to post the content online. "[Go for] quality over quantity," said Stulberg. "Be intentional … Viewing social media work as entry-level is one of the biggest mistakes a company can make." Qualifications of a social media marketerIn the business world, it has traditionally been difficult to rise through the ranks without a degree from a college or university. However, online business has made this less of a sticking point. The internet is constantly changing, evolving faster than any certification program can keep up with. In other words, experiential skills learned outside of the classroom can be more valuable than textbook knowledge. Having a successful, engaging social media following, for instance, can be a great example. Not only does engaging an online audience require being an effective communicator, it requires a unique type of creativity and strategy. "For a social media role, employers are more likely to care about your experience – and what you can offer – rather than your formal education," said Stulberg. "Although I have a bachelor's degree in a relevant field, having strong communication skills and a creative mind are what have helped me the most. Time management, being data-driven, and having copywriting experience also make a world of difference." |
| Save on Apps with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Posted: 07 Aug 2019 04:00 AM PDT  Being a business owner, you must have heard these words a number of times. And you have understood by now that they are more than just buzzwords. They are biz words. Innovation is the fuel that drives any business idea. But the realization of an idea is always backed by certain factors that include time, effort, risk and money. It all depends on how amazingly you create a go-to-market strategy for your app idea. One of the essential components of a tangible idea for sure is its market validation and sale-worthiness. And there can be nothing better than MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to validate your app idea. What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)An MVP has much greater penetrability when it comes to doing business. It is about carefully analyzing the demands of your target market and building a real, workable product with core functionalities that can help estimate its viability in the consumer market. How is the viability factor integral to risk mitigation for MVPStartups are often idea-rich but short of funds. To pave their way toward attracting investments, the viability of the idea needs to showcased. It has been observed many times that businesses burn their pockets and time building on an idea without assessing the ROI. If it works that is wonderful, but if it doesn't the loss can be irreparable. Minimum viable product (MVP)is a cost-effective and proven way to minimize cost, as well as the risk involved. This is possible because MVP unlike other app idea realization processes like Proof of Concept or Prototype, revolves around the functional realization of the product (app) idea. MVP in simple terms can be called a 'working model' of your final product with all the essential features integrated into it. A minimum viable product is a tool to evaluate your business idea. And the pivotal question that guides it is 'What problem is your business solving' and what is your buyer's persona. If your MVP lives up to your customer expectations, you can be assured of your app idea being validated for actual development. Are you ready?Building a successful MVP for your app idea is based on how well you chafe out the 'need' from the 'wants' of your target buyer persona. For a limited, low-cost MVP project, you can only focus on the core essentials – features and functionalities – that is a must-have for a product of that category. Once your MVP is built and out in the public domain for validation (a crowdfunding site is a great podium to estimate validation as well as garner funds), it is crucial to deeply analyze every response and work on improving the critical aspects without any qualms. An MVP tells you what improvements to start working on next, so as to decrease the risks of failure to the minimum:
Remember, this is one of the most dominating reasons why startups build MVP, i.e. to showcase the potential investors about the viability of their idea and demonstrate their team's capability to transform the idea into a product-in-demand. Ascertaining the cost of your MVPWhile you brace up to imbibe the conventional startup MVP strategy that starts with ideation to initial funding – from MVP launch to market validation, and then more investments here is an insight into how the cost of a minimum viable product can be ascertained. One of the proven methods is using the Product Definition & Product Identification Framework.
Take the instance of a Travel App MVP that will help execute essential requirements that a travel application cannot function without: Search feature for flights/hotels/locations, travel booking, geolocation tracking, payment gateway, reviews and ratings, etc.
Here you can see the features that are proposed to be used in the final version of the travel app development:
I'm sure the array of additions in the final product version gives a clear picture why the cost of investments is higher in the latter (and so is the risk, if the idea isn't validated). While a travel application development will cost broadly between $50,000 and $85,000, an MVP for travel will cost you roughly around $5000 to $10,000. Ask yourself three questions before you build an MVPWhile businesses are open to invest in building applications like travel apps, healthcare app or ecommerce application that are quite a rage at the app stores, the concept of MVP has its unique role in minimizing the 'risk quotient' while validating the prospects of a successful product. So, once you decide to build an MVP for your app idea, it's time to ask yourself the right questions. 1. Is your app idea and your effort to drive attention worth the risk?While your intention here is to assess the market response towards your application, different people will have their own assumptions. For those who are not very sure about the credibility of their product idea, can be found to even go ahead with a webpage showcasing the product idea, its benefits, etc. along with a sign-up form for a mailing list. Here they may consider the sign-ups as validations of interest in their product idea. But you can do much better by building a minimal 'working model' application and share it in communities and crowdfunding sites to get a broader data and feedback, that will help assess the demand and facilitate garnering funds to build a viable full-featured product. 2. Are you sure about the conviction of your MVP supporters that they'll retain?Most of you are aware of the 'freemium model' in mobile apps and the huge popularity it enjoys. They are very similar to the trial versions of web apps. While they provide partial functionality for free and comes with a price to pay for premium functionality, what matters is how many of your customers (who have given their nod for MVP as a freemium product) will choose to stick around when it moves into the premium payable mode. This calls for your final product to comprise of highly intriguing and useful features, besides a less expensive price tag. After all the success of your MVP relies on good adoption and retention as well. 3. Will your customers be ready to pay for your set 'product price tag'?Once the stage is all set for the launch of your product, it's time to gauge the financial feasibility of your product. Will consumers be ready to pay by the price tag? How to ascertain the optimum price? 'Minimum' is a moving target. Because, some of the features you integrate into the final product specifications may come with deeper investments like payment gateway, app security, credit card processor, etc. – leading to cost escalation at times. Over to you…It is only your users who can define what features your MVP lacks, and what features are not needed. So, the validation of your app idea and success can only be possible by carefully analyzing the feedbacks and improvising on your application and test. In short, MVP success is determined by a cycle of BUILD - TEST - LEARN, BUILD - TEST - LEARN again – stressing on the benefits of building, measuring and learning when launching your minimum viable product. |
| 11 Innovative Ideas for Handling the Client Conundrum Posted: 06 Aug 2019 08:00 AM PDT  Client handling is important but things get tricky when you encounter hard-to-please individuals. Some even thwart the agents and customer service executives. And there are a few who would like the concerned organization to push in more offers, just to be accommodative. However, whether a business grows not, depends on how the client conundrum is dealt with. To simplify things, note that while a business usually encounters normal and happy clients that are actually looking for services, the difficulty of an entrepreneurial venture is determined when difficult clients pose numerous challenges, including the ones pertaining to services, after-sales support and more. In the subsequent sections, we shall talk about 10 innovative strategies that can help companies please a diverse clientele without losing sleep over CTAs, ROI and other aspects of marketing. Reevaluate and reorient pricesBefore you plan out an extensive client-pleasing strategy, it is necessary to cover the existing loopholes. Based on independent findings, a majority of customers refrain from converting due to higher prices. A company must reevaluate the service and product rates besides reorienting them for suiting the clientele. You, as a business owner, must also realize that every client has his or her precise budget considerations, and instead of avoiding the irritable clientele it is necessary to convert them making the pricing and services extremely flexible. However, lowering the prices way too much can backfire. There would be a certain segment of people who would consider you as a cheap agency and remain displeased even when the best deal has been offered. This is where discretion and personal client handling becomes necessary. Help clients make better decisionsCompanies need to realize that more isn't always better when it comes to customer satisfaction. A business must concentrate on improving the decision-making capability of the client instead of confusing him or her with an extended repertoire of selections. While this often means offering fewer options to the clients, it also signifies concentrating better on the existing set of possibilities, to give customers the best product or service. A company finding it hard to deal with difficult clients must instruct the concerned project managers to minimize the choices and better the output to input ratio. The main idea is to take the client ideas into consideration and come up with a strategy that bests their expectations. Make room for watertight communicationClients that pose challenges are known to defer deadlines, respond late to request and even make delayed approvals. While these make some of the most unfortunate issues, you need to make sure that watertight communication, preferably in the form of contracts, is made available. Clients, if intimated that delayed deadlines come with penalties, will certainly make better efforts toward quicker fund remittances. Contracts must be predefined and should have the following details:
Inform and educate the concerned clientsThere are certain clients who have minimal technical expertise regarding the product that is being delivered. Lack of knowledge, therefore, makes them difficult ones to cater as they fail to understand the project requirements and the completion challenges. You, as a business, must realize that not every client is supposed to be well-informed and therefore proper information and education regarding the particular topic must be provided, before starting with the project. Therefore, it is necessary for a business to:
The best advice for a business would be to create a communication plan with client education at the fore. QR codes come in handyClients do end up asking difficult questions, which the project manager or even the agent might not be able to answer. In cases like these, it is necessary to depend on QR codes that serve a host of purposes for the concerned businesses. Moreover, the best QR codes make sure that every bit of information is available without the clients having to interact personally with the business. Moreover, these codes can also be used for simplifying payments as clients cannot typically bargain and defer finances. Put yourself in the clients' shoesFor a business to succeed, it needs to understand the client's outlook, including his or her expectations from the project. Inability to do so is the reason why clients become difficult to handle. To follow this strategy to the T, it is necessary to be empathetic while gauging unfortunate situations at the client's end. Review promisesWe, as businesses, make numerous promises to clients and when some aren't fulfilled, it becomes obvious that an expecting client would create some ruckus. This is why businesses must continuously review the promises made to clients, especially to minimize the number of unhappy clients. Businesses must:
Establish standardsBusinesses are bound to market themselves in the best possible manner but without being unrealistic about the goals and client expectations. However, if you are as good as the client expects, try to establish standards before taking up the project. While this increases client expectations, it also makes room for a better payout. Being upfront with a client regarding the quality of deliverables minimizes the chances of meager payments, upon project completion. However, a difficult client would still try to defer payments. Keep recordsThe client conundrum can be best dealt if the company keeps a track and record of all the conversations. Clients often create issues before making payments and having substantial records can help you stay ahead of the issues in hand. The record-keeping habit must include emails, invoices, quotations, deadlines and anything or everything that can be documented. Minimize lossesWhile most of these strategies are expected to work and pacify almost every kind of client, there are a few who would never get satisfied. They shall continue being unrealistic and rude and this is when you should cut them off without worrying about losses. A client is worth a lot but never worth the self-respect that you have acquired. Rely on automationTechnology helps businesses with improved levels of client satisfaction. Automating interactions is a good way to start as businesses can integrate live chat support to the websites for minimizing actual interaction with the more difficult clients. InferenceAgencies and other forms of businesses are expected to handle clients that are hard to please. However, if the following ideas are followed, it would be possible for any business to convert even the most snobbish clients into recurring and loyal customers, sans hassles. |
| 20 Résumé Mistakes Keeping You From Getting a Job (and How to Fix Them) Posted: 06 Aug 2019 07:50 AM PDT 
For ultra-keen job seekers, there's nothing more patronizing than being advised to double-check your résumé. Yet anyone in the recruiting industry will tell you it's shocking the number of résumé they receive that are either rife with errors or openly flout the job posting's instructions. Part of that may be a mismatch in résumé advice and recruiter expectations. We can assume you already know to use proper spelling and correct grammar, but who knew that using a Microsoft Word 2003 program could be the mistake that's landing your resume in the (digital) trash? When resume mistakes become deal-breakersFor those who need further convincing to read on, in a 2018 survey conducted by hiring site TopResume, 70% of employers said that personal deal-breakers of theirs – like missing contact information or an unprofessional email address – were enough to reject a candidate before they even finished reading the resume. "It's all subject to the type and level of position you're pursuing and the individual recruiter's personal preferences," said Amanda Augustine, career expert at Talent Inc, parent company of TopResume. "If you're new to the workforce, it's more acceptable to include a list of hobbies on your resume because, frankly, you have less material to work with and may need the information to fill an entire page for your resume." Another exception to hobbies is if they're relevant to the work you're pursuing, Augustine said. On the other hand, there are some résumé mistakes to be avoided no matter the industry. Such mistakes alone may not be deal-breakers, but they still leave a bad taste in the employer's mouth. Augustine broke it down: Lack of interest in the position. If you can't be bothered to properly proofread your résumé for typos and tweak the content to demonstrate how you're qualified for the job, how interested can you really be in the position? All things being equal, the candidate who best represents their experience, talents and interest in the position will end up with the job offer. An employer will begin assessing all those things in the first glance at a resume. Lack of judgment and/or attention to detail. Aside from making sure a candidate has all the technical skills and experience to execute a job, employers also look at soft skills that may not be explicit in a resume. "While it can be challenging to demonstrate that you possess certain soft skills on a résumé, it's fairly easy to send employers the signal that you lack other soft skills, such as sound judgment and attention to detail," Augustine said. "When you include details and images that recruiters find to be inappropriate, opt for an over-the-top résumé design, or don't proofread your application, you're allowing employers to question your judgment and decision-making skills." We asked recruiters and hiring professionals for the most common résumé mistakes they're confronted with. 20 common resume mistakes1. Giving vague employment dates"When headhunters or gatekeepers see dates on your résumé that don't include months, they automatically assume something's wrong. If they suspect you're hiding a gap in employment, they'll assume the worst, and they'll view you as dishonest for attempting to deceive them. If they're busy, they'll trash the résumé instead of wondering what the gaps are about." – Giacomo Giammatteo, owner and author at Inferno Publishing Company "Use a chronological format with an emphasis on results over the past three to seven years. Many candidates, especially those with lots of experience, are being encouraged to keep their résumé at a page or less. The fact is, we need context, so if a résumé [is two pages], that is OK. Having said that, most of the details need to be in the recent time frame so that your audience gets clarity on your context, responsibilities and accomplishments." – John Light, partner at Evolving Talent Group 2. Letting inconsistencies slip through"Every once in a while, someone will forget to recheck their dates, job titles or job duties. For me, this is worse than typos. These days, most HR professionals search on LinkedIn and across social media accounts to vet potential employees. If your start dates, titles or duties do not line up, it can raise red flags to employers. It leaves us thinking, 'Are they lying on their resume or on LinkedIn? Or both?' It immediately disqualifies a candidate. I always encourage people to double-check their résumé. An inconsistency could be an honest mistake that costs you the job." – Adele Alligood, HR consultant and engagement manager for EndThrive 3. Failing to identify and delete irrelevant work experience"One résumé mistake many people make is that they feel obligated to include every job, including part-time work, that they've had since college. For example, including that you were a Subway sandwich artist for three months is superfluous if you're applying for a technology job – unless, of course, the company's technology improves the sandwich-making process. Including information like this shows laziness and a general lack of understanding." – Joshua Goldstein, co-founder of Underdog.io 4. Bolding the wrong information"Do not bold the company you worked for; bold your position with the company. This is what the recruiter or hiring manager is looking for. One exception – if the company is highly recognizable (Facebook, Google, etc.)" – Bill Benoist, leadership and career coach 5. Making claims without measurable evidence"If you're going to boast about increasing sales or improving process efficiency, support these claims with real statistics and an explanation of how you accomplished these feats. When I read 'improved department sales revenue' on a resume, I'm not convinced." – Tyson Spring, co-founder and head of business development at Élever Professional 6. Adding too much fluff to your job descriptions"One of the biggest mistakes I have seen in résumés floating around today is people amplifying their qualifications with fancy words. They are not lying on their resume; they are just turning a task they once completed into years of experience. Once you sit down with them and utilize them in something practical, you quickly realize their résumé was a lot of hot air and little practicality." – Victoria Ley, founder of Life Levels INC 7. Including obvious skills"Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are no longer skills to call out on your résumé. These days, employers assume that all good applicants have a working knowledge of the Office suite. Instead, use that space to highlight experience with more advanced technical tools in your sector – e.g., SQL, Google Analytics, Salesforce, Mixpanel and Adobe Creative Suite. These skills are very compelling to employers and will help you stand out from other contenders." – Maisie Devine, co-founder and CEO of recruiting app Savvy 8. Failing to explain a career change"This is a byproduct of the generally bad job search approach founded in keeping your options open and, therefore, applying for practically anything and everything under the sun. For example, your professional background and experience is in marketing, but after months of searching for a marketing job, you decide to expand by considering other objectives … All the employer does is look at the resume for a few seconds and ask herself, 'Why is this person applying for this job?'" – Jewel Bracy DeMaio, resume coach at Perfect10Resumes.com 9. Getting too cute with the design"Write a résumé that has a clean, neat and simple-to-read layout. Many times, people try to invent and do something new but forget that employers read hundreds and thousands of résumés and want to quickly find what they are looking for." – Hugo Pereira, former head of product and growth at Talentsquare 10. Listing education at the top of the page"When moving beyond the entry- and intern-level position, schooling, education, and GPA no longer need to be listed at the top – your experience should speak for itself." – Hannah Landau, PR consultant 11. Choosing weak verbs"All too often, applicants bury the lead when it comes to describing their past experiences and accomplishments. A great resume paints a picture of an active, inspired and engaged professional. A verb like 'helped' or 'assisted' does neither. Skip the setup and get right into the actual work you carried out for your past employers." – Andrew Jones, senior consultant at Source One 12. Failing to use enough white space"The notion of white space is often overlooked as we try to cram all of our accomplishments onto two pages. You may even be guilty of playing with the margins and the fonts to fit everything in. But this only makes it overwhelming for the reader. Bear in mind that your résumé will be skimmed over in just a few seconds before the hiring manager decides if they want to give it closer attention. Make it inviting and readable. Less is more." – Maryna Shkvorets, communication consultant and coach 13. Copying and pasting job descriptions"Do not copy and paste the job description that you were hired under (in the past) into your résumé. Recruiters do not want to read what they already wrote. They want to read how you accomplished those tasks and responsibilities in your current and past jobs. Recruiters are looking for skill sets, experience related to those skills in achieving a goal for current/past employers, what you personally did to help those goals get reached, if you managed or supervised others who performed your career-related tasks (oversight), if you trained anyone in your job (cross-training), if you brought in revenue or reduced overhead costs, and if you handled or managed a budget (of how much money?)." – Dawn D. Boyer, CEO of D. Boyer Consulting 14. Including personal hobbies"Unless your personal interests relate to the job, then it's best to leave them out. We don't necessarily need to know that you like watching The Office (even though I do too). Those details can wait. We'll get to know you better if we hire you." – Adele Alligood, HR consultant and engagement manager for EndThrive 15. Giving a nondescript objective"Your objective should never be, 'I want to work at X company in Y role.' That's a no-brainer; the act of submitting an application indicates interest in the role. What do you want to do with your career? What do you want to bring to a company? If you can't come up with something unique and engaging, leave the objective off your résumé altogether." — Bethany Perkins, people growth manager at O3 World 16. Selecting a tiny font"For most fonts, size 10 is the absolute smallest, and even then, it might be too small, depending on the font you are using. If your reader needs to take out his/her reading glasses to read your résumé, you have already aggravated them, and your résumé is heading for the trash can." — Michelle Riklan, founder and managing director at Riklan Resources 17. Saving your resume using an outdated file format"Avoid using dated Microsoft packages for your Word doc résumé, as new systems don't always read the document accurately. Many résumés come through unreadable at the worst or unaligned at the best." — Chris Delaney, founder of Employment King 18. Ignoring application instructions"I just hired an assistant and had to review over 250 résumés and cover letters for this position. My ad asked to not send a generic cover letter and to visit our website and explain why their skills are a good fit for us. About 70% of the time they'd shoot off a non-customized résumé, and 90% of the time they wouldn't include a cover letter. Because of this lack of following directions, [I] weeded out a huge portion of applicants." – Julie Weinhouse, principal at HERO Entertainment Marketing 19. Choosing a bad file name"People should name their résumé by their first and last name. A lot of times candidates will send in résumés named "espence_résumé91.pdf, Résumé2013, or even revision5résumé. I'm glad you have revised your résumé five times, but it would be great if version six had just your first and last name." – Pete Juratovic, president of Old City Press & Co 20. Including a photo"With the widespread use of social media sites like LinkedIn, there is no need to add pictures to résumés. Use the space for more detail." – Mark Frietch, senior recruiter at Redfin Lying on your resumeWhile careless mistakes may cause a candidate to appear inept, résumé lies paint a far shadier picture. Neither create a very compelling case for employment. However, according to a study from Hloom, a provider of résumé templates and samples, such lies can have varying degrees of harm. "People find lies about education fairly serious, while fabrications about specific skills are deemed more harmless," the study's authors wrote. Here are the complete rankings, based on a 1 to 5 scale (with 1 being not serious and 5 being extremely serious), of the significance of each résumé lie:
When résumé lies are uncoveredIt's easy enough for a candidate to lie when pinging off their résumé via email. The interview process, however, can bring such lies to light, especially when the candidate finds themselves unable to speak in detail about the things they've lied about. "In addition, background checks and reference checks often expose a résumé's lies," said Augustine. "Lying about your education is pointless, because it's simple for an employer to call the institution directly for verification or to use a service, such as the National Student Clearinghouse, to confirm details of your educational background." Getting caught in a lie won't only cost you the job, but it may lead to further repercussions. Worst-case scenario, you'll get blackballed from your desired industry. "Some job markets are small. If the lie you told was egregious, you may find it has spread beyond the office walls of this prospective employer," said Augustine. "Also, if you are working with a third-party recruiting agency, there's a good chance they may cut ties with you. Lying about something that's easy to catch also speaks to your judgment – or lack thereof – which can be a deal-breaker for most employers." Additional Reporting by Marisa Sanfilippo, Dave Mielach, Jennifer Post, and Chad Brooks |
| A Step-By-Step Process for Making the Right Business Decisions Posted: 06 Aug 2019 06:15 AM PDT  Starting a business is a major feat that comes with endless decisions. Many small business owners find themselves paralyzed in decision-making phases of their businesses, so it is important to employ various strategies to help you successfully make the right choice. Business decisions must be made starting at the ground level, like knowing if your business idea is good enough and choosing the right business name, all the way through the lifespan of your business. Having board members or a decision committee on your team can help with the process, but if you're a solopreneur, you'll make tough choices on your own. Whichever route you go, Logan Allec, CPA and owner of personal finance site Money Done Right, recommends always, at the very least, having a reliable person to act as your sounding board. "The biggest thing business owners need is a reliable sounding board, someone who they can talk through difficult decisions with that they know will listen and give them advice," said Allec. "It is important that a business owner's sounding board is honest, because honesty will ensure that the business owners are making the right choices in difficult situations." In addition, Allec recommends that business owners always trust their instincts when it comes to making tough decisions. You might be wondering whether you should just make the decision and stick to it. Should you test different options? Should you use statistics to make a business decision or implement a multistep process? The answer to these questions depends on what type of decision you are making. How do you make business decisions?Jon M. Quigley, founder of the training and consulting agency Value Transformation LLC and author of several management books, recommends using a testing approach that allows you to figure out important parameters and evaluate them accordingly. Quigley suggested using this multistep process for effective decision-making:
This is a general guideline to follow for making informed decisions; there are other strategies and variations that you can incorporate as well. For example, you can use different forms of testing. You can either repeatedly test on a small scale to see its effect before implementing on a larger scale, or you can A/B test, which consists of testing two different methods at the same time. Quigley said to explore these methods with small, inexpensive, trial-run experiments. "[Creating] a small prototype run of a product that has the key features to allow the company, and perhaps key customers, to examine and use the product and give feedback on will aide in the decision-making," said Quigley. "Low-cost exploration can help us understand the true things that matter in the decision." When you are in the research phase of making a business decision, learn from your past achievements and failures, see what competitors are doing and possibly even survey your consumers. It is also a good idea to seek the advice of relevant experts, trusted colleagues and other business owners. They can help you obtain an objective opinion that is clear of your own biases and judgements, and they can play devil's advocate to help you see the pros and cons of each scenario. If you are unsure whom to turn to, Allec suggests finding a mentor from a chamber of commerce group. "There are many experienced and well-connected business owners who are members of their local chamber of commerce who would love to help business owners with decisions they are unsure of," said Allec. For certain business decisions, you might be able to play out a reverse outcome scenario. Start with your desired outcome and work backward to see what steps need to be taken to get there. Some decisions that don't have a monumental impact on the company can be made with the "just do it" mentality. Regardless of what decision you make, it is important to stick with it. Feel confident in your choice, and don't look back. If you have taken the proper steps to make the decision, don't second-guess yourself. Give your decision time to make an impact, and then re-evaluate the results. What are good decision-making skills?Every entrepreneur will face a challenging decision at least one time in their career. There are several skills and traits you can develop, though, to become adept at accurately judging the situation and making wise decisions. If you already possess these decision-making skills, even better. Quigley and Allec believe the skills and qualities below are the most beneficial for making decisions:
It is also important to know and accept that your decision might not please everyone, and that's OK. Common business questions and decision techniquesWe posed five common questions entrepreneurs and business owners face to Allec to see which strategies he would use to make a proper and thoughtful decision. Q: What business should I start?A: Research – find out about the demographics of your community, and survey the different groups to figure out their interests. Find out what businesses already have an established market or which markets are very competitive so you know in advance. Q: How do I know if my business idea is good enough?A: Communication – ask friends, family and business leaders in the community about the idea. Coherently describe and detail the idea, read it out loud (and to another person), and make sure everything sounds correct and complete. Q: Should I quit my full-time job?A: A cost-benefit analysis would be best, because it involves calculating how much money would be lost versus the social capital gained from starting a business. A plus/delta chart would also be helpful, as business owners could analyze the areas that are positively affected by quitting and what changes would occur. Putting your thoughts on paper helps process the reality of a decision. Q: Is this the right [X] to buy?A: Information and data gathering – investigate the market and find out what other companies are using [X], or find out what companies are using in place of [X]. Acquire [X], and gather the data of whether it works for you or not. Q: Should I franchise my business?A: Consult with other business owners, employees and, most importantly, an attorney. Big decisions with cross-state legal implications and changes require expert advice. Some business decisions may seem more obvious than others, but it is important to consider your options and weigh the benefits versus the consequences. Trust your instinct, consult with others, and do what is best for your business. "The most important thing business owners and entrepreneurs should remember is to always trust their instinct but never to take any constructive criticism about their ideas personally," said Allec. "If a business owner or entrepreneur wants to be successful, they will learn that they may not always have the best idea." |
| The Most Interesting Office Equipment Stories Imaginable Posted: 06 Aug 2019 05:55 AM PDT  Whether it's a jammed printer, faulty technology or an uncomfortable office chair, few things are as frustrating as bad office equipment. Unfortunately, it can be challenging to avoid these failures.
If you work in an office, you know that office equipment malfunction is part of the job. These frustrations can also hinder productivity. Emails can stop sending, your printer can randomly spit out paper, and your computer can randomly decide to stop working. These office equipment malfunctions are both frustrating and time-consuming. Sometimes, office equipment problems can make one's heart skip a beat. We talked to business owners about their office equipment horror stories. Here are the five most embarrassing, scary and cringeworthy stories we heard. 1. Our neighbors used our printer and hundreds of pages of paperJames Pollard, owner of TheAdvisorCoach.com, has a heavy-duty wireless printer in his office. He loves the printer because he works from different computers and will print documents from his phone. However, one day, the people next door accidentally selected his printer and printed a document more than 300 pages long. "We had no idea what was going on," Pollard said. "Because the people next door couldn't find the document on their printer, they kept hitting Print again and again and again. It used up all our toner and thousands of pages." Printers and copiers can be expensive; when you add in a mistake like this, the costs really add up. This is a good reminder to take your time setting up your office equipment, and ensure that everything is installed and connected correctly. Even if your work neighbors aren't using your machine, it's easy to accidentally print unnecessary pages, and waste ink and money. Avoid that mistake by taking extra time to get your employees and team clear on the installation process. 2. The printer sensor went badRichard Pummell, founder of Workonnex, once worked for a large payroll processing organization and used the office printers to print payroll – sometimes tens of thousands of checks and pages of reports – which he would print at night. "Every once in a while, the sensors in the printers would have a mind of their own," he said. "They were supposed to ensure everything was in sequence and stop the printer if they encountered an issue." Sometimes, though, the sensors wouldn't detect there was a problem. When this happened, Pummell and his co-workers had to manually sort through thousands of checks and reports, and put them in the right order, often late at night. When an office product breaks down, it can make life more challenging. Finding the right office equipment and products for your business matters. Whether it's a printer, or any other type of office equipment, take time to read reviews on different products. Find printers that print efficiently, find durable and comfortable chairs, and consider including your employees in the purchasing process. 3. My chair and computer screen broke"One of my biggest entertainments in the office has always been balancing myself on the executive chair, back and forth, or turning to the sides," said Sophie Miles, CEO and co-founder of elMejorTrato.com. "I prefer to think that it helps me to have better ideas," she added. "Once, I was doing this, and when I leaned my back firmly on the backrest, the chair broke in half, and I fell to the floor." Not only did the chair break, but Miles was also holding the mouse, which caused a chain reaction of small, catastrophic events. Her entire desk ended up on the floor and her computer screen cracked. Office furniture doesn't seem like an important aspect of a business, but when you find yourself lying on your back after the furniture gives in, you gain a newfound appreciation for stable office furniture. 4. A chance encounter leads to a new petWhile the office equipment side of this story falls into the "horror story" category, the ending is quite happy for everyone involved. "We had a client that worked with popcorn, and as a thank you, they sent us boxes and boxes of kettle corn," said Alex Shvarts, CTO of FundKite. "It was a fun snack to have around the office, even a little too addicting. Well, maybe a month later our copier machine is broken, and we call in someone to come fix it. While fixing the machine, the repair guy mentioned that his Dachshund had recently had puppies, and he was looking for homes. It just so happens that one of the company employees was looking for a Dachshund puppy. The copier repairman discovered the problem: a popcorn kernel was stuck in the copier. Since the reason he was connected to the employee looking for a puppy was a popcorn kernel, the puppy was adopted and named Kernel to honor the chance meeting of them finding each other." This is the only office equipment malfunction story we've heard that ends with an employee getting a puppy. Most printer jams and broken office equipment leads to frustration, but this story has an extremely happy ending. It also serves as a lesson to take care of your equipment. 5. The near 911 mishapRob Stephens, founder of CFO Perspective, faced an issue as he started working with his office equipment after starting a new job. "I needed to download some information securely from the internet," said Stephens. "This was 20 years ago so that meant using the internal computer modem to dial directly to the secure site. My computer didn't have a modem, so I used my boss's computer. I needed to dial 9 to get an outside line and then dial 1 plus the area code and phone number. I was having trouble connecting and decided to add an extra 1 before the area code. Of course, this caused me to dial 911 from my boss's computer." Dialing 911 from your boss's computer is less than ideal. Luckily, Stephens avoided an embarrassing situation in the end. "The 911 dispatcher answered, but there was no microphone on the computer to reply to them," Stephens said. "I panicked and immediately hung up. They called back, and I now had visions of police and fire trucks arriving at the 15-story office building to try to find who had dialed 9-1 and whether they needed help. The computer modem picked up and, thankfully, replied back with the standard modem/fax screech tone. The dispatcher realized that the call came from office equipment, hung up, and didn't send anyone to check it out. Crisis averted." How to avoid office equipment disastersThe easiest solution for avoiding office equipment disasters is buying or leasing quality office equipment. Spend time researching the best office equipment on the market, and pay for quality office furniture and solutions that will hold up. Getting the right equipment, whether it's an expensive printer or a sleek file cabinet, puts you in a position to avoid office equipment disasters. Consider what equipment your office needs. Does your business still use a fax machine? What type of printer best suits your business? Look for office equipment and machines that best fit the unique needs of your operation. It's also important to prepare for any potential natural disasters that could hit your business, especially if you live in an area commonly hit by natural disasters. Matthew Berman, president of Emerald Digital, dealt with an issue like this just last month. With heavy rains and flooding hitting New Orleans, Emerald Digital had to adjust to the coming weather. Luckily, the business avoided costly equipment damage by finding a sensible solution. "As soon as we understood the situation was dire, we quickly removed all of our servers from the office, relocating upstate where the flooding couldn't damage our equipment," said Berman. "We did have one desk that we left on the first floor of our office space that was damaged, but for the most part, we know to leave all important equipment on the second floor." Another tip is to make sure people on your staff can fix or handle errors. Multiple staff members should be well versed in how to operate your office equipment. Don't rely on one person to know the ins and outs of the printer. Having multiple staff members who can troubleshoot issues can help your team avoid any major disasters. If you do experience issues with your office products and technology, you might want to speak with a technology expert or customer service specialist to fix the problem. If it's a one-time error that doesn't require customer service help, go ahead and laugh it off. Office equipment malfunctions happen to the best of us. Additional reporting by Saige Driver. Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article. |
| How California's Consumer Privacy Act Will Affect Your Business Posted: 06 Aug 2019 05:35 AM PDT  California passed its California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) on June 28, 2018. It's a law that protects the privacy rights of consumers within the state. Similar to Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the CCPA will affect many businesses who collect personal information from those in California. The law allows Californians, known for being litigious, to sue businesses if their personal information is compromised in a data breach. It will go into effect on January 1, 2020, but most businesses don't know how this will affect them. A recent survey by ESET polled 625 business owners and executives to gauge the business readiness for this regulation. Nearly half (44.2%) had never heard of CCPA. Only 11.8% know if the law applies to them, and 34% are unsure if they need to change how they capture, store and process data. It's worth noting that 2018 was the second-most active year for data breaches, according to Risk Based Security. There were 6,500 reported breaches, including some 5 billion records, ranging from mega-breaches of companies such as Facebook to much smaller ones. Here's everything you need to know about the act, and what you can do to prepare as a small business owner. What is the CCPA?Matt Dumiak, director of privacy services at CompliancePoint, and Greg Sparrow, senior vice president and general manager of CompliancePoint, said that the CCPA is a bill that will require businesses to implement new policies and procedures to ensure the protection of personal information. This includes privacy policies, security protections and facilitation of consumer rights. However, businesses are not required to honor all consumer requests. Each should be analyzed to ensure the business is only honoring those applicable, they said. According to the CCPA website, the act protects the following consumer rights:
Dumiak and Sparrow said that business have 45 days to respond to consumer requests; and any damages that occur due to a breach are limited to $750 per consumer per incident. The CCPA, before it was in amendment with Assembly Bill 375, originally had more stringent regulations that might have nearly paralyzed the tech industry, which has thrived in California's Silicon Valley. But Dumiak and Sparrow noted that the official CCPA allows businesses a 30-day window to amend any violations, so long as they can prove they have been amended and that no more will occur. Otherwise, violators might face penalties of up to $7,500 per intentional violation. How does it affect SMBs, and what can they do to prepare?Dumiak and Sparrow noted that the bill will apply to "any business that earns $25 million in revenue per year, sells 50,000 consumer records per year, or derives 50% of its annual revenue from selling personal information." This includes businesses that collect or sell personal information from consumers in California, regardless of where the company itself is located. The average annual revenue for a small business is less than $25 million. In fact, for businesses with between 20 and 99 employees, the average revenue is $7,124,000 million, according to Quickbooks. While the qualifications to be affected by this bill might exclude many small businesses, it doesn't mean you shouldn't prepare. "The CCPA provides small businesses with incentive and motivation to start thinking about the personal data processed and protected within their business environment," said Dumiak. "Most organizations feel resource-constrained and small businesses are no different, if not more so." "California's law will raise the bar significantly, and this won't be the last time it's raised as states seek to emulate the EU's new GDPR," added Robert Cattanach, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney who helps clients navigate regulatory law. "This measure is likely to increase litigation as more consumer rights are created and expanded." But the lack of awareness could lead to a lack of compliance, which could expose businesses to significant financial penalties. "It's clear that businesses are confused about this upcoming regulation, they do not know whether they are subject to the law and what they need to do to become compliant," said Tony Anscombe, global security evangelist at ESET. "The penalties will be severe, and the financial harm could be grave to these firms. Businesses should particularly focus on the 'reasonable security' aspect of the law by ensuring they have stringent processes and practices in place, including strong endpoint protection and encryption, throughout their organization." [Are you in the market for internet security and antivirus software for your small business? Check out our reviews and best picks.] While California is just one state, its regulations are spreading awareness and encouraging like-minded individuals to speak up and take action. Businesses should expect similar laws to be passed across the country in the next few years. In fact, Nevada passed an amendment to its online privacy law, requiring businesses to offer consumers a right to opt-out of the sale of their personal information. It will take effect on October 1, 2019. New York, Washington and Texas each introduced similar bills to CCPA. A federal privacy law is still under consideration in Washington, DC. "Congress will feel pressure from both pro-privacy advocates to endorse the rights created by California, and businesses to try to bring uniformity to what is increasingly a dynamically evolving policy area," said Cattanach. "The bottom line is that this leverages on the concepts contained in GDPR and is certain to be picked up as the standard by other states." The CCPA will go into effect in January of 2020, so small businesses have a little time to prepare. But not a lot. To do so, Dumiak said, they should review areas of business including:
"Further, the fines and privacy right of action while having an impact on any organization, will arguably be a larger percentage of their revenue and more impactful on business operations and revenue," said Dumiak. "While many see regulation as a headache, this regulation is a terrific opportunity for organizations, small and large, to get much-needed resource help in the security and business operations space." If your small business hasn't already hired a data processing consultant to make sure your company is compliant with GDPR, now may be the time to investigate such a professional. You may want to look for someone who is certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). It is the largest and most comprehensive global information privacy community, which contains some 40,000 members. Even if you are already compliant, it's worthwhile to keep an eye on California regulations, as there are two bills currently under consideration that would expand CCPA. And there are nine bills being considered that would narrow the scope of CCPA. Additional reporting by Sammi Caramela. |
| Most Companies Fail to Engage With Seasonal Workers Posted: 06 Aug 2019 05:00 AM PDT 
Depending on the audience your small business caters to, certain times of year are busier than others. For instance, retail store owners know that foot traffic generally spikes from Thanksgiving until just after New Year's Day. Regardless of when your busy season takes place, most businesses rely on seasonal hires to temporarily fill staffing needs. While the gig economy is expected to take up half of the American workforce next year, a recent study found that most employers don't do much to engage and motivate seasonal hires. Throughout June, Speakap polled 500 HR, management and operations employees from large organizations in the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands about how they are trying to change their internal communications to include the rising tide of gig workers. Despite how important gig workers, such as seasonal hires, are becoming to businesses around the world in the coming years, Speakap CEO and Co-Founder Erwin Van Der Vlist said the company's survey shows employers are not keeping up with the times. "We're now seeing that the way in which companies traditionally engage, motivate and speak with their employees is not evolving with or reaching this growing, often deskless, workforce," said Van Der Vlist. "Many companies still see gig workers as temporary employees, failing to future-proof their organization by ensuring this growing workforce is engaged with the company, feels valued within the workforce and is thus more productive than workers of their competitors." Employers are more likely to engage with younger workers.For most people, working as a seasonal hire generally takes place while they're still in school, opting to earn money during extended breaks between semesters. While that may be the case for most, that's not how people typically enter the gig economy. These days, plenty of age groups re-enter the workforce to help make ends meet. According to Speakap's data, age plays a big part in whether a seasonal hire finds themselves feeling more engaged at work or not. Workers who are 45 or older reported feeling less engaged with their employer than employees aged 34 and younger. Furthermore, regular employees said they felt conversations with seasonal workers between the ages of 35 and 54 were a "one-way street" roughly 60% of the time, while the same was said only 37% of the time for their 18- to 24-year-old counterparts. Respondents also told researchers that their companies were often more likely to do "nothing" to engage with older seasonal workers than they were with younger employees. "This suggests that organizations put more effort into engaging younger seasonal workers than they do in older ones," researchers wrote in the study. Many companies struggle to onboard and communicate with seasonal workers.Along with the age factor, researchers found that companies with a higher number of seasonal helpers were failing to engage with those workers. In fact, companies that had a majority of seasonal employees treated those workers "less personally and are less engaged" than organizations that employed a smaller percentage of seasonal workers. In companies with 51% to 75% of its workforce made up of seasonal hires, 42% of respondents said they would rather finish their workday on time than make sure the seasonal help was being properly onboarded. Companies with 1% to 25% of its workforce made up of seasonal workers saw 70% of respondents wanting the opposite. As such, a company could end up lacking clarity on how their seasonal workers are performing. According to researchers, 43% of the employees who onboard seasonal help said they felt those workers regularly performed "above expectations." Only 27% of the employees who managed and instructed a seasonal worker every day felt the same way. Respondents from companies that had many seasonal workers told researchers that communication was often more difficult than with full-time, regular staff. According to researchers, employees in charge of hiring and onboarding seasonal gig workers found communications more difficult (38%), along with those in charge of seasonal workers' day-to-day tasks (24%). "While the study's findings clearly indicate that companies have not been updating their internal processes to accommodate the growth of the gig economy, there are relatively easy ways to improve," Van Der Vlist said. "Technology ... can be a vital tool in helping to make employees feel connected to both the wider company and fellow colleagues across the entire organization." |
| 5 Ways to Build Customers' Trust Posted: 06 Aug 2019 05:00 AM PDT  If there's anything that customers value more than price, it's trust. At a time when consumers have to worry about their data being breached, their identities being stolen and their faith being shaken, building trust with your customers is key. Fortunately, this may be one area of competition where small businesses have a distinct advantage over their behemoth counterparts. Building trust has always been an important business strategy. It helps with employee retention, B2B partnerships and a whole host of other business functions. But these days, building trust is about more than fostering goodwill in some theoretical sense. By at least some measures, today's consumers value trust and transparency even more than price, opting to spend more for a product when it comes from a business they can rely on, according to a study by Label Insight. When you consider the sheer number of threats to consumer data and privacy in today's marketplace, this valuation of trust makes sense. In the first quarter of 2019 alone, more than 26.9 million consumer records were compromised, according to the 2019 ForgeRock U.S. Consumer Data Breach Report. Plus, it's not just data breaches that have consumers worried. It is now more important than ever to build a brand on being a "trusted partner" and backing it up with consumer-friendly practices. Once untouchable, large, out-of-touch retailers may increasingly find themselves falling out of favor with U.S. consumers because of a lack of transparency. For small businesses, of course, this presents an opportunity. Small businesses have always thrived on a "good neighbor" business model that leverages community-based relationships and word-of-mouth marketing. Now more than ever, it's essential to earn – and keep – your customers' trust. Here are five ways you can build that trust. Be genuineIt turns out, consumers do want to see how the sausage is made. Showcasing your business online, in video or on social media, gives customers a genuine perspective. While you want to keep things professional, not every photo or video has to be a picture-perfect snapshot of a carefully staged, finished product. Instead, show customers your workflow and invite them into that process. Do you spend hours toiling away at your craft? Do you experiment with new recipes? Do you treat your team to coffee in the morning? Giving your customers a behind-the-scenes look at your business can humanize your brand and create a lasting connection with your followers. Not to mention, this also allows you to diversify the content you post on social media, which helps boost engagement and cut through the algorithms. Transparency starts with the messages you share about your business, so make sure to show your customers what is "real" about your business. Shout out to your suppliersConsumer trust goes deeper than the people behind the brand. It's also about the materials or ingredients used to create the final product. Your customers undeniably want to know where their product comes from and what it is made out of. That way, they can better understand the quality and value of the product. This explains the strategy behind marketing campaigns like Kind's promise to use "ingredients you can see and pronounce" and Patagonia's commitment to causing "no unnecessary harm" to the environment. It has worked for these big brands, but it's just as important for small businesses. As a small business owner, you likely work with a network of local or regional vendors and suppliers. Enrich your brand messaging by giving a nod to this network. If you source wood, fabric or some other material from the community, give a shout-out to your source on social media. If your ingredients are grown in your neighbor's backyard, add that information to your menu board. These tactics allow you to cross-promote your partners, but they also foster trust between your business, your products and your customers. Engage with the communityLocal businesses have a certain advantage over their big-name competitors: they are closer to the customer. As a local business owner, you aren't limited to interacting with customers only in your store. Rather, you can find your customers and make new connections all around town. Many small and local businesses build their connection to the community through a Main Street organization. By joining a Main Street group, your business can participate in downtown revitalization projects, seasonal celebrations and buy-local campaigns. These groups make it easy to stay up-to-date with community projects, and they often offer valuable promotional opportunities for their members. Whether you set up a booth at the local flea market, enter a float in the downtown parade or sponsor a local Little League team, your business can become more familiar with and connected to the community through regular engagement. By getting out in the community, local consumers can come to know your business as more than the billboard they pass on their commute or the shop they visited last year on Small Business Saturday. Take advantage of these additional touchpoints you have with local consumers, compared to out-of-town or online retailers. As they get to know your business throughout the community, consumers will naturally come to trust your business. Focus on the customer experienceTrust is a two-way street. As much as you want customers to value your business, your customers want the business to value them. Customer service goes a long way to building customers' trust because it allows your business and – on an individual level – your employees to show customers that they matter. Small businesses tend to excel at customer service, but it nonetheless bears repeating: treat customers the way you would want to be treated. Perhaps more importantly, make sure that your employees do the same. Greet customers as they come into the store, answer their questions and offer to improve their experience. Enrich the in-store experience with opportunities to demo or sample products. A positive experience will lead to repeat visits and long-lasting trust. Give backIf your business wants to be good, it has to do good. Today's consumers trust businesses that give back. This is particularly true for millennial consumers, who grew up at a time when recycling campaigns and Giving Tuesday became mainstream. However, consumers of all ages are more inclined to support businesses that have a charitable streak. Most savvy business owners likely know the value of giving back, but it's just as important to consider how you're going to do it. Compelling causes exist at every scale, from the neighborhood level to the international level. For most small businesses, it makes sense to give back at the local level. Finding a cause that disproportionately affects the local community, like hurricane relief, can allow local businesses to have a more visible and more meaningful impact. Ultimately, though, it's important to find a cause that fits your brand. If breast cancer runs in your family, then supporting a nationwide campaign for breast cancer research can make sense for your business. Remember the first point: it's all about staying genuine. For many consumers, trust is the new currency. They put their money where their trust is by supporting businesses that focus on transparency and goodwill. Fortunately, small businesses are in a strategic position to earn what consumer trust has been lost by big brands. By staying true to the community and the customer, small businesses can turn consumer trust into long-lasting patronage. |
| How to Create Alexa for Business Skills Without Coding Experience Posted: 06 Aug 2019 04:55 AM PDT 
While Amazon's Alexa has become a popular tool for turning on lights, playing music and storing your shopping lists at home, it is now providing some added benefits in the workplace. Whether it's answering employee questions or scheduling meetings, Alexa for Business is finding itself to be a useful device for increasing productivity around the office. However, some professionals are hesitant to use the voice assistant because they are unsure how difficult ‒ and costly ‒ it will be to create the tasks they want to implement. The good news for nontechnical professionals is that Amazon has released its own "Skill Blueprints" that allow you to create your own skills, no coding required, in just minutes for free. What is Alexa for Business?Similar to how it is used in homes across the world, Alexa for Business is an intelligent voice assistant that can complete tasks for you. While your Alexa at home is likely focused on more personal tasks, Alexa for Business is designed specifically to help employees stay organized, answer their questions and boost productivity. With Alexa for Business, employers can install shared devices throughout their workplace. For example, they can be placed in conference rooms and used, among other things, to launch and control conferencing systems. Shared devices can also be placed in other areas, like common areas, copy rooms, lobbies, etc. Among the Alexa devices you can use as shared devices are the Echo, Echo Plus, and Echo Dot. In addition, employees can have their own devices in their offices to help them boost productivity by managing their calendars and to-do lists. When used in personal spaces, like an office, employees are considered enrolled users. As an enrolled user, employees can tap into Alexa for Business on any Alexa device at work or at home. Being able to access Alexa for Business from their home Alexa devices gives employees the ability to access their calendar and other personal skills regardless of whether they are in their office or their own living room. Setting up Alexa for Business is a simple process. You first register and set up your account in the Alexa for Business console. You then purchase the devices you want for your business. Once they arrive, follow the steps in the Amazon Admin Guide for device setup and to start enrolling individual users. The cost for Alexa for Business consists of two parts. There are monthly fees for each shared device your organization has and how many enrolled users there are. The specific monthly costs are:
If, however, your business just wants to take advantage of Alexa for Business in common spaces like conference rooms and lobbies, and not have employees using the service on a personal basis in their offices or at home, you don't have to have any enrolled users, and can just pay the monthly fee for each shared device you have. How to use Alexa for BusinessThere are many different ways businesses of all sizes can take advantage of what Alexa for Business has to offer. Shared devices can be placed in a number of different places around your office. One of the most common is in a conference room. Alexa for Business can integrate with a number of popular video conferencing equipment, including Cisco TelePresence Systems, Cisco Webex Rooms kit, Polycom Group Series, Zoom Rooms and Crestron 3-Series. Additionally, Alexa for Business is builtin to Polycom Trio 8500 and 8800. [Are you looking for video conferencing systems for your small business? Check out our best picks and reviews.] Alexa for Business also integrates Office365, Google G Suite and Microsoft Exchange calendars. The integration allows you to use voice commands to look up your scheduled meeting. In addition, it can automatically join meetings from a number of unified communications systems, including Amazon Chime, BlueJeans, Cisco Webex, RingCentral and Zoom. Among some of the specific functions you can ask Alexa to handle while in a meeting include asking it to start a meeting, join a meeting, end a meeting, or if you are having technical difficulties, to call the IT department. You can also use Alexa for Business to book meeting rooms, find out who has booked certain rooms, ask when the next meeting in that room is scheduled for and to extend the time you have booked in a conference room. Editor's Note: Looking for a video conferencing solution? Fill out the below questionnaire to be connected with vendors that can help. Harsha Reddy, co-founder and editor in chief of SmallBizGenius.net, was considering hiring an office assistant who could help with meetings and keeping other loose ends in order. Instead, their business opted for Alexa for Business to handle some of those tasks. "We are mainly using Alexa for checking in to meetings and taking care of schedules, as well as checking in on various processes' progress," Reddy said. "We had her connected to our company Google Calendar and our individual working calendars." Employees who are enrolled users can use Alexa in a number of ways: to schedule and joining meetings, access companywide applications, check their calendar, create to-do lists, set reminders and make calls. Ollie Smith, CEO of Energy Seek, said he has seen great value from using Alexa for Business. "In my experience, the service has enabled my employees to become much more productive through the automated management of schedules, reminder alerts and the option to dial into team conference calls remotely," Smith said. "In addition, the intuitive system allows my managers to monitor individual device usage from the central dashboard, saving valuable time in the process." Digital marketer David Alexander said he has used Alexa in his office for the past two years and has found it beneficial. He believes the digital assistant can speed your workflow if you are using the right skills. "Using Alexa as a digital virtual assistant can definitely save you time in the office, but it largely depends on the type of recurring tasks you can automate, and this differs from person to person," Alexander said. "I do expect to see more enterprise suites and features become available over the next year or two that will broaden the possibilities of Alexa." How to create your own Alexa skillsYou are likely to get the most benefit from Alexa for Business if you create the type of skills that support how you run your business. While there are a lot of prebuilt skills that can help, many organizations want specific skills tailored to their needs. While some organizations may turn to coding experts and developers, Amazon has made the process of creating your own private skills a relatively simple task. Using its "Skill Blueprints," those without coding skills can create private skills to be used only by their organization and employees. According to Amazon, Alexa private skills are voice-powered capabilities that enhance the Alexa experience while remaining private to members of an Alexa for Business organization. "With Alexa for Business Blueprints, you don't need to write a single line of code to create a private skill for your workplace," Amazon writes on its website. "Select one of dozens of easy-to-use Skill Blueprints, add information, such as common questions and answers for your workplace, and publish the skill to Alexa for Business as a private skill." There are two main types of business skills you can create without knowing any code: business Q&As and onboarding guides. The Q&A skills allow you to create questions and answers that your employees may ask that they need quick and easy answers to, such as "Who handles our social media?" or "When is the help desk available?" Using Blueprints, you can log in, and type out a specific question and then variations of the same question in case someone doesn't ask it exactly as you have it written. You also type out the answer. You can then customize the experience by typing out welcome and ending messages. Finally, you name the skill and publish it. Unlike public skills, these private skills can only be used within your organization and by enrolled users. The other main type of business skill you can create using Amazon Blueprints are onboarding guides for new employees. Instead of providing new employees with a link to a website with all the information or a printed handbook, you can create an onboarding guide that allows new employees to simply ask Alexa the questions they have. For example, it might be "Alexa, tell me how to set up my email on my phone?" or "Alexa, how to I mail a package?" You can also include information on where things are in office, such as the cafeteria or copy room. Finally, you can include contact info for different departments and employees. For the onboarding guide, you include all of the questions you want to answer and then type out the steps involved in completing each question. Once that is complete, you can include welcome and exit messages, and then publish the guide. Once your private skills have been published, you can then decide what rooms you want them available in and whether you want each individual enrolled user to have access to them from any of their devices. While this technology can help boost your productivity and ease some of your administrative tasks, you should be cognizant of what companywide information you are including in your skills. Based on Amazon's recent admission that some Alexa conversations are listened in on by employees, avoid including sensitive information in your skills. "The truth is, a malicious threat could also figure out how to hack into Alexa," said Will Ellis, founder of Privacy Australia and an IT consultant. "Most hackers won't care about what you're talking about at home, but you can bet that some will care about what is going on in a business setting." |
| How Leaders Can Inspire in the Workplace of the Future Posted: 05 Aug 2019 11:15 AM PDT  Cheryl Cran shares how leaders can adapt to the workplace of the future. The business.com community is a place where business owners and professionals come together to learn from each other. Those looking for advice can solicit it from their peers, while others share their extensive expertise with those who need it. It's that peer-to-peer give-and-take that makes the community such a valuable part of business.com. The site has more than 190,000 members worldwide. The community thrives because of members' eagerness to drive conversations, whether through asking questions, answering questions or contributing articles. Each month we spotlight a community member for their contributions. This month, we are recognizing Cheryl Cran, the founder of NextMapping.com and author of seven books, including NextMapping: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Create the Future of Work. Managing remote workersCran has been a frequent contributor to the business.com community. She regularly answers questions from small business owners seeking advice and writes articles as a way to share her expertise with others.  One question Cran recently weighed in on was from a community member asking what the key was to managing remote employees. Cran said it is all about communication. "Leverage video for communication using platforms like Skype and Zoom to be able to connect face to face on a regular basis," Cran wrote. "Include remote workers in team events by bringing them in virtually." She also said it is important to inspire remote workers to stay engaged. "Incentivize them to perform at peak levels ‒ i.e., they can have a Friday off once they achieve X," Cran said. "Coach consistently and check in weekly to ensure connections." Cran also shared her thoughts on another question about how best to motivate employees. "Constant communication, weekly coaching, rewarding results, real-time performance feedback, caring and inspiring communication," Cran wrote. Cran's most recent article was on how to improve employee loyalty. Cran said that the definition of loyalty, as it relates to loyalty in the workplace, is quickly shifting. "It's not that workers are less loyal today – there are more choices for workers, more technological solutions, and more workers want to work on their terms," Cran wrote. To solve loyalty challenges employers are grappling with, Cran said it is critical leaders ensure that when workers are hired that management communicates a clear pathway that shows the future for the worker. "Leaders should partner with HR and senior leadership to clarify who does what and what types of workers are needed," Cran wrote. Leaders should also re-evaluate their leadership approaches to determine what makes employees happy and more engaged at work. "Companies need to build in remote work, flex work and shared jobs to align changing worker needs and to increase loyalty," she wrote. "Finally, leadership attitudes must adapt to the reality that worker loyalty is not what it used to be. Employees have more options than ever before. They want open and trustworthy leaders who share power, share resources and help workers succeed." Bio
Q. What attracted you to the leadership development industry?A. I was a leader early in my career at the age of 23 and was highly successful quickly. I had great bosses who were great coaches and leaders, and it inspired me to seek out what it meant to be a great leader. I started the consulting firm in 1997 after a highly successful career as a leader in finance and insurance. I feel that leadership is the key to solving problems, to inspiring people and to making the world great through business. Q. What is the future of work, and why is it important for businesses to be prepared for it?A. The future of work is now ‒ it is the trends, the shifts and the impacts of both people's values, as well as technology innovation. Businesses need to be flexible and adaptable to a fast-changing reality of how people want to work and what customers want. Further, businesses must be able to anticipate change as well as lead change toward creating an optimal future. Q. What are the biggest changes leaders and teams need to make to ensure they are prepared for the workplace of the future?A. Mindset, willingness to collaborate beyond current methods, leveraging technology to better collaborate and the ability to be "change leaders" with a people-first focus. Q. How should the future of work, which includes robotics, AI, automation, etc., impact the way entrepreneurs think when starting a business?A. Entrepreneurs need to be thinking with a futurist focus ‒ what are the trends of people's values, how people are living their lives, how people want to work and live? Entrepreneurs also need to be focused on how to leverage technology tools to do more with greater efficiency so that they can work on high-value projects for their clients. Entrepreneurs need to partner with their outsourced suppliers and internal teams and be able to lead people that work remotely and keep them engaged and inspired. Q. Why did you join the business.com community?A. It offers relevant information to running a business and is a great resource for all aspects related to being a successful entrepreneur Q. What do you enjoy most about being a part of the business.com community?A. The information, the success examples and the resources Q. How do you decide what to write about when contributing an article?A. I write about issues and challenges facing businesses and then look to provide insights and solutions that move things forward for business owners. Q. What makes you want to answer other community members' questions?A. If I can help or if I have experience or a success tool, I will share it Q. What is the best professional advice you have received?A. Leverage the business beyond the "founder's" mentality. The business is only as successful as the ways you can scale to reach and help more people Q. What is the biggest professional mistake you have made, and how did you overcome it?A. Trying to do too many things on my own and resistance to delegate. I overcame it with a coach who helped me see that I could get more done and I could, at the same time, grow my people, which gave me incentive to get better at sharing the workload and developing my team to deliver the quality of work I wanted. Join the business.com communityAt business.com, we understand the stress of running a business. You are so bombarded with advice on the importance of marketing, improving your website or training employees that you can barely focus on day-to-day operations. Our community was created to cut through the clutter of information and be a place for business professionals to connect and share advice to overcome business challenges. To join our community (which is free), click here. As a business.com community member, you'll have access to:
If you are already a community member and want to be considered for our Member of the Month feature, send an email to editor@business.com. We'd love to share your business story. |
| How New Tariffs Will Impact American Consumers Posted: 05 Aug 2019 10:24 AM PDT 
Starting Sept. 1, a 10% tariff will be imposed on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports coming into the U.S. despite objections from President Trump's economic advisers. Such moves have a direct impact on American consumers and small businesses. According to the results of a newly released survey, many shoppers are already planning to switch up their spending habits. Conducted by the shopping rewards app Shopkick between June 28 and June 30, a survey of 30,799 users revealed that 60% said they planned to "adjust the retailers at which they shop" if the tariffs stick. Researchers also found that nearly 40% of that group said they've already noticed increased costs as a result of the Trump administration's trade policies. This new batch of tariffs is expected to take place just months after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping brokered a trade war "truce" during the G-20 summit in Japan. Prior to that breakthrough, both countries had imposed tariffs on $250B of imported goods. According to the survey, 38% of shoppers anticipate seeing household costs increase by as much as $500, while 30% expect a spike of more than $1,000 as a result of the ongoing trade war. As a result, businesses of all sizes should gear up for slower sales. Trade policies will hamper shoppers.Figures like $250 billion and $300 billion are hard to quantify, but consumers understand that a 10% and 25% tariff on imported goods will drive up costs on many items – which means that American shoppers can expect to see their buying power squeezed. Researchers said they found that 44% of respondents are planning to curtail their shopping habits. Furthermore, 29% said they were stocking up on items before the next round of tariffs take effect. Despite the tariffs' intended effect of driving consumers to purchase more American-made goods, researchers found that only 25% are planning to make the switch. Tariffs prompt a generational reaction.Given the amount of coverage the proposed tariffs have received in recent months, it would be easy to imagine that most people know they're happening – even if they don't understand what they are. Through Shopkick's survey, researchers found that awareness of the tariffs and how people plan to react to them varied by generation. According to the survey, only 34% of Gen Z members said were aware of existing and proposed tariffs, compared to 74% of baby boomer respondents. As for how people will react once the Trump administration's latest tariffs take effect, 50% of millennials said they were getting ready to dial back their spending while 38% of boomers said the same. Rather than cut back, a majority of boomers (62%) said they would "seek alternative options to cut costs." Looking forward, 40% of millennials told researchers that they expected the tariffs to raise their household costs by up to $500 annually, while 31% of Gen Zers anticipated the same amount of impact. |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2019 10:05 AM PDT  Many IT professionals listen to speeches delivered by CIOs and CTOs and think, "I'd make a great CIO or CTO," or "I am clearly more knowledgeable and capable than that person." This is a fun daydream, but it also raises this interesting question: What does it take to become an effective CIO or CTO? Do you have the right C-level stuff? If not, do you know how to hone your skills and develop your expertise so that you can, one day, be a chief information officer (CIO) or chief technology officer (CTO)? Here are some thoughts and ideas to ponder as you prepare to walk that walk and talk that talk. What is a CIO and CTO?CIOs are typically responsible for leading an organization's IT staff and related assets, projects, and personnel. That position may report directly to the CEO or another C-level executive, such as the chief operating officer or the chief financial officer. CTOs typically own the overarching technology strategy for a company and how that strategy meshes with and supports that company's business requirements and objectives. A CTO may also report directly to the CEO or another C-level executive. Of course, there are many different types of CIOs and CTOs. Though there is no single definition of what constitutes a great CIO or CTO, we can identify some common traits and skills that are shared by the best of these many breeds of humankind. Leadership and team-buildingThere are managers, and there are leaders. Managers tell people what to do and how to do it, while leaders seduce, cajole and, well, lead an IT organization to achieve the goals defined by executive management. It's likely that you've worked with IT managers and IT leaders, and there are advantages to each type of management style and capability. Managers are usually tightly connected to a traditional IT hierarchy and organizational processes. Many managers work their way up through the ranks and have earned their managerial roles through hard work, relevant experience, and technical competency. IT leaders may also come up through the ranks, or they may earn a leadership role through force of personality, communication skills, political acumen, or industry knowledge. It's not unusual for CIOs and CTOs to be recruited from outside a company, usually because they possess outstanding management and leadership skills. The Holy Grail for IT executives is someone who is both a good manager and a motivating leader. That is, someone who can comprehend an IT project plan and budget while also effectively communicating big-picture goals and priorities for an IT organization. This requires a heady mix of both hard and soft skills. Technical and industry knowledgeThe typical job requirements for a CIO or a CTO include technical, financial and organizational experience. Efforts over the last 10 years to more closely link IT to the business side of a company adds in-depth business skills and knowledge to the CIO and CTO job requirements mix. Gone are the days when a CIO or CTO could ignore the business and deliver IT on IT's schedule. CIOs and CTOs who don't fully support an organization's business goals could find themselves looking for work elsewhere, such is the requirement for integrating business needs and requirements into IT planning and operations. Following high-tech industry websites and influential CIO/CTO blogs is a great first step to understanding, and eventually attaining, this exalted role. Learn the CIO/CTO lingo and see for yourself what working CIOs and CTOs are talking about and why they care about such things. For the technical foundation, a CIO or CTO needs to be successful. Avail yourself of advanced technical training and IT project management training at every opportunity. If your company offers tuition reimbursement or a technical training budget, you should advance your technical skills and knowledge through those vehicles. And don't forget to learn all you can about how the business side operates within your company or industry sector. If your technical chops and your business chops are both well-developed, you put yourself in the best possible position to eventually become a CIO or CTO. CIO/CTO education and certificationMany companies prefer a CIO or CTO with an advanced degree, usually an MBA, considering the complexity of IT budgets, governance and processes. That said, we've met outstanding CIOs and CTOs with no more formal education than a high school diploma or a bachelor's degree. We've also met CIOs and CTOs with doctorates in unrelated fields. We'd rather work for a non-degreed CIO or CTO who makes well-informed decisions and can lead the IT staff into battle than for a CIO with a Ph.D. who lacks knowledge about the culture and internal workings of IT and the business it supports. Beyond college or university degrees a CIO or CTO may or may not have, several key areas in IT suggest themselves as worthy of pursuit for aspiring C-level executives who wish to remain active and functional in that field. Governance and IT/enterprise architecture are incredibly relevant, as are project management, budgeting, and leadership skills. Ambition and driveBeing a CIO or CTO is a difficult job that requires dedication and persistence. Most CIOs we know are basically on call 24/7/365 should any IT-related issues come up, especially if those issues impact the ability of the company to perform day-to-day business operations. That level of personal sacrifice means it's not the right job for everyone. It usually takes years of hard work to make your way into the executive ranks. The timeline is often shorter at smaller companies, so working as a CIO or CTO in a smaller IT shop can be a great way to get your foot in the C-level door and gain valuable experience that can be a steppingstone to a similar role at progressively larger companies. For an interesting look at how CTOs of several large corporations reached their lofty positions, visit The Path to Tech CTO page. This interactive content, by Agil8, lets you hover over the steps for each CTO to see his or her career moves, the length of time in each job, and how long it took each of them to make the grade. Communication skillsWe've saved the most important CIO and CTO skill for last: the ability to inspire and lead your IT troops through excellent communication skills. If you do not have experience talking in front of large groups, spend time at a Toastmasters club gaining the confidence to communicate with individuals, teams and organizations. All of the CIO/CTO skills we mention in this article are important, but if you can't communicate clearly and concisely, with passion, you will struggle to be the people leader most companies look for when filling a CIO or CTO position. CIOs and CTOs must also be able to communicate clearly and concisely through the written word. If your writing skills need honing, consider taking a business writing class to learn the specialized way that IT communicates. Learning terms and acronyms specific to your company or industry is also an effective way to gain a common vocabulary that will serve you well in IT. Is this for you?Pursuing a CIO or CTO position is not a decision to be made lightly. It takes years of hard work and maybe even a little good luck for you to achieve your C-level goal. If your company has an IT mentoring program, that is one excellent way to gain relevant knowledge and skills while also identifying yourself to executive management as someone who has the will and stamina to climb the IT leadership ladder. Make the decision with your eyes wide open about the challenges ahead, then never take no for an answer. Remain focused and committed to your goal, and good things will surely come your way – if not sooner, then perhaps later! Ed and Earl met in the late 1980s when Ed hired Earl as a trainer at an Austin-area networking company that's now part of HP. The two of them have written numerous books together on NetWare, Windows Server and other topics. Earl is also a regular writer for the computer trade press with many e-books, white papers and articles to his credit. |
| 7 Steps for Hiring Great Employees Posted: 05 Aug 2019 07:00 AM PDT  In a small business, any one person can greatly impact the company and the working environment, so it's essential to take your time to ensure you're hiring the right person for the job. If you rush the process, you may hire someone who isn't a good fit. They could leave your company quickly and leave you right back where you started. Recruiting qualified employees can be challenging for small businesses – especially if you try to compete with larger companies who can pay more and offer better benefits. Nevertheless, these seven steps can help you optimize your recruitment process and ensure you find great employees that are just right for your team. 1. Know when you are ready to hireBefore you dive into the recruitment process, decide if you're prepared to take on a new staff member. You may be ready to hire more help if the following statements are true:
If you already know what the position is that you're hiring for, you'll be able to write a great job posting that attracts the types of candidates you want. Waiting until you are prepared to compensate a new hire will help ensure you don't have to lay them off because you can't afford their salary or don't need them in the long term. Letting go of employees shortly after hiring them can severely injure your reputation as an employer, making it more difficult to recruit great workers in the future. 2. Determine salary and benefitsBefore you write your job announcement, consider whether you're willing and able to offer, both, in terms of salary and benefits. Candidates will almost always ask about these during the interview process, so be prepared and know what you can afford. To get a good idea of what applicants will expect, use a website like PayScale to find out the average market rate for the position. Remember, if your salary offer is too low, you may attract people who don't have the appropriate experience or qualifications. Of course, job seekers will most likely be looking at more than just salary. They will also consider your benefits package as a part of their overall compensation. Things like health insurance, retirement plans and paid time off can be valuable to your future recruits. Larger companies may have an advantage because they can afford to offer better benefits, so it's up to you to be creative when you're considering what benefits to provide. As a small business, you can choose work perks that appeal to an individual candidate and will help them achieve a healthier work-life balance. These can include things like flexible schedules, floating holidays, or the ability to work from home occasionally. In the end, create the best salary and benefits package your small business can afford and don't try to compete with the larger companies in your area. 3. Write a compelling job announcementNow it's finally time to sit down and write your job announcement. It may be the first impression job seekers have of your company. So, make sure it's accurate and professional while still showcasing your business's personality. At the very least, your job posting should include basic information about your company, the position's responsibilities, the ideal candidate's qualifications and how to apply for the job. If you have more space, consider discussing your company's culture, values and mission statement. Job seekers don't just apply for specific positions; they also consider whether they want to work for the company. Sharing your culture can attract people who align with your values and are excited to work for you. They'll then be more engaged and stay with your company longer. Share your culture through the way you write the announcement. If your company is laid-back and casual, write the post like you're having a conversation with the applicant. If you pretend that you're something you're not, you're likely to attract people who won't excel in your company. You may even share examples of how your employees live out your culture daily. For example, if you value relationships, talk about how you try a new activity as a team once a month. Explain why someone would want to work for your company. Share your reputation as a great employer by asking members of your existing team to tell you why they love working for your business. Then, describe the benefits and perks you can offer. You might include things like:
You might also include benefits of working for a small business, like the ability to wear many hats, which allows your team to learn new skills. Not everyone is suited to work for a small business, so don't try to hide the fact that you are one. Include details about the position. Although it's crucial to attract people who want to work for your company, you still have to give information about the open job. List the job's primary responsibilities and consider discussing what the employee would do during a typical day. You should also describe your ideal candidate. Mention the preferred skills, experience and qualifications. But remember, you can always train skills; you can't teach attitude. To that end, you might just describe the attitude and personality traits that would make someone successful in this position. For example, if you're hiring a new daycare teacher, you might want someone with a lot of energy and patience. If you're hiring a salesperson, however, you're likely looking for someone with initiative who's willing to pound the pavement looking for new opportunities. Tell potential candidates how to apply. Do they need to fill out an application or email you a resume? Let them know if you would like to see references. If you're asking for a cover letter, give examples of what to include so you don't end up with a reiteration of their resume. For instance, ask them to describe a time they used a specific skill in a previous job, or how they would handle a particular situation. 4. Promote the jobOnce you're happy with your job announcement, it's time to spread the word that you're hiring. As a small business owner, you have several affordable options:
5. Review applicationsAfter you've posted your job ad, you'll start to receive applications and resumés. It can be tempting to schedule interviews with every applicant. As a busy small business owner, you don't have time for that. Instead, split the applications into three piles:
You can further narrow down the list by conducting phone interviews before committing to an in-person interview. Phone interviews will give you a chance to learn more about each person to decide if they would be suitable for your company. 6. Interview applicantsOnce you've narrowed down your list of candidates, schedule in-person interviews. Ask each candidate the same questions to ensure you're treating them all equally. Include follow-up questions to get each person to open up and share more with you. For example, if they tell you what their biggest weakness is, follow up by asking them how they overcome that weakness. Be careful, however, not to ask any questions that could reveal information that might lead to hiring bias. Avoid questions about:
If anyone reveals this information voluntarily, don't write it down or pursue it any further. Leave time at the end of each interview for the candidate to ask you questions. During the conversation, you're trying to determine if the candidate is right for the job. But, they're also trying to decide if you're the right company for them. 7. Review and contact candidatesAfter the interviews, check references and verify employment histories of your top choices. When you're calling their previous employers, consider trying to speak with past co-workers, subordinates and bosses. That way, you'll be to get a full view of the person's work ethic and ability. Once you know who you want to join your team, offer them the job quickly, so you don't lose them to another company. Start with a verbal offer so you can share how excited you are for them to join you and can answer any questions. Then, follow up with a written offer to avoid misunderstandings. If you found someone who is an excellent fit for your company but may not be right for the position, follow up with them and keep the lines of communication open. Make sure they had a pleasant experience with you and encourage them to apply for future positions. |
| Small Business Credit Card Processing: What You Need to Know Posted: 05 Aug 2019 06:45 AM PDT  As a small business owner, you have a lot of decisions to make, including whether or not you want to accept credit and debit card payments. If you do, you'll need to work with a credit card processing company. Finding the right card processor for your small business can be daunting, but here are three questions to ask potential partners to make your decision easier:
Should your small business accept credit cards?If you run a small business, it's almost impossible not to accept credit cards, but the decision is ultimately up to you. The number of people who carry cash on them daily is rapidly shrinking. Phillip Parker, founder of CardPaymentOptions.com, said, "People prefer to pay with cards, and fewer people are carrying sufficient cash for all of their purchases." If you don't accept credit and debit card payments, you risk losing out on a large percentage of sales. Editor's note: Looking for a credit card processor for your business? If you're looking for information to help you choose the one that's right for you, use the questionnaire below to have Business.com, provide you with information from a variety of vendors for free:
According to the 2017 Federal Reserve Payments Study, total credit card payments increased from 103.5 billion in 2015 to 111.1 billion in 2016 with 22% of those credit card payments being remote. The number of mobile wallet users increased, too. The number of Apple Pay users jumped from 15 million in 2015 to 86 million in 2017. Accepting digital payment methods – including contactless card payment – is just as essential as accepting credit and debit cards. More small businesses and merchants have implemented the near-field communication (NFC) technology required for these types of payments. Digital wallets such as Venmo and PayPal are fast becoming customers' preferred payment option. Because this payment process connects directly with a customer's banking information to send and receive payments, it's an ideal payment option for e-commerce businesses. With the low cost of processing these payments (much lower than processing credit and debit card payments) and the ease of integration into most websites and payment gateways, it's a great mobile payment option to offer. How much does it cost to work with a credit card processing company?There are costs involved with using a credit card processing company, including:
The amount of money you'll be charged to accept credit card payments depends on a few factors, but on the whole, credit card processing fees are on the rise. Visa and Mastercard increased their card processing fees in April of this year. Other factors that influence the fees you pay include the transaction amount, how the payment was processed, and, ultimately, the credit card processor's pricing model. Some processing companies charge a flat rate plus a percentage of the sale, while others only charge a percentage of the sale. If your small business sells big-ticket items, being charged a flat-rate fee and a percentage of the sale might be more beneficial than if you only sell lower-priced items, in which case, forking over a percentage of the sale to the processor might be better for your business in the long run. When you're researching card payment processing options, ask for a sample bill to give you an idea of how much you'll spending monthly on fees for their service. In addition to the above-mentioned fees, consider whether or not it's more cost-effective for you to rent or purchase the necessary processing equipment. Some processors provide the equipment for free. Others may charge you a monthly rental fee or an upfront fee for using their equipment. Is there a difference between processing in-person credit card transactions and mobile credit card transactions?The type of business you run (brick and mortar, e-commerce) dictates the type of payments you process. Ideally, you want a credit card processor that accepts all major credit and debit cards; prepaid and gift cards; and digital wallet payment methods, including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay. If you have a physical store, your processing system should allow customers to insert and swipe cards or tap their smartphone to complete the transaction. If you run an ecommerce business, your payment processing solution should work on both mobile and desktop devices. For B2B companies, the most common form of payment accepted, according to the Federal Reserve Payment Study, is ACH electronic bank transfers. Which credit card processor is the cheapest for small business?Finding the cheapest credit card processor possible might not wind up being the most cost-effective option for your small business. If your small business processes less than $2,500 per month, payment facilitators – or mobile credit card processors – like PayPal, Square or Stripe are the best options for you. While payment facilitators charge a higher percentage compared to other rates, you'll save money in the long run because there aren't any other fees, including setup fees and annual PCI compliance fees, associated with using a payment facilitator. [Are you looking for the right credit card processor for your business? Check out our reviews and best picks.] If your small business processes more than $3,000 per month or has large sales totals, you'll want to work with an ISO/MSP – independent sales organizations (ISO) and merchant service providers (MSP) processing companies – such as Helcim, Flagship Merchant Services, Fattmerchant or Payline. These companies can set up a merchant account for your business, and although they charge additional fees that payment facilitators don't, you'll save money because of the lower rate they charge for processing transactions at a higher volume. If your small business processes a low volume of credit card payments each month, look for a processor that won't charge you a monthly minimum fee, which is the minimum dollar amount of credit card processing fees you must meet each month. If you don't hit the minimum requirements, you'll have to pay the difference. For more information about accepting credit card payments and finding the right credit card processor for your small business, check out our guide for accepting credit card payments and our comprehensive review of credit card processors. |
| How to Know Your Numbers and Manage Your Sales Department Posted: 05 Aug 2019 06:00 AM PDT  Recently, I had one of my top clients come to me with a problem. He said, "Susie, I know I make a million in revenue, but sometimes I can not pay my rent. What is the problem?" Unfortunately, this is a problem for many entrepreneurs. They fail to see the bottleneck in their company, and that is because they do not know the numbers. Gathering up the data, in the beginning, will be challenging; however, once you're in reality with where you are - you can make the necessary decisions to scale. Knowing my way around business accounts did not come naturally, but I understood its importance, and I was serious about growing my business. So I invested some of my time and effort to learn the basics of keeping accounts for my business. In the end, I never had to do all the accounting since the business outgrew my capacity to do so. However, due to the knowledge, I gained while tracking my business's numbers, I am still able to review my records and tell which direction my business is taking. Here are six essential points that will help you keep track of the numbers in your business. Get clear on where your bottleneck isWhen I looked at my client's numbers to see what his cost per person was, I was able to quickly determine where the money was going and why he had cash flow issues. Each person within the company was expected to sell $3,100 per week, but they were only selling about $2,500. That is a loss of $600 per person. He had 30 people, which comes out to $18,000 per week. If you multiply that out, it equates to $864,000 a year. That is a lot to lose. To think, it all started with that small leak of $600. When was the last time you looked hard at your sales numbers? One way I tell my clients to manage sales by the numbers is to use a sales member analysis tool. I have a particular worksheet for this that will appear in my upcoming book Bootstrap to Bigtime. This strategy tells you what each salesperson in your business needs to make for you to reach your numbers. Know which numbers to trackTo understand which numbers to track in your business, you need first to understand what numbers matter. All numbers matter, but there are those that top the priority list. These include cash flow, profit, business wealth and value. To keep track of these numbers, you need a couple of resources and some little skills you can learn in a day. You will need cash flow reports to know how much money is coming in and going out regularly, income statements to function as your establishment's financial scorecard, and balance sheets to let you know how much you own and owe, as well as your net worth. You need to know what expenses you have each month and where your money is going too. Not only will this help you identify where you're spending where you shouldn't be, but it will also show you how much you need to generate each month to break even. This knowledge should be basic, but to many people, it is not. Do you allocate money to invest in growth every month? It is important to allocate targets for each member of your sales team. It is a great way to know who is producing how much, and what they need to reach their goals. This formula holds you accountable to a certain number. If your sales team is not meeting the threshold, then you share that with them to make things work for your business. Get all the help you canWhen I was starting my entrepreneurial journey, there was so much fire and determination in my heart that I almost thought I could do it all on my own. However, I had learned something about life, and I was going to use it to get where I wanted in the business. I had learned from all the successful people I knew that asking for help is not a show of weakness. When you ask for professional help, even from your head of sales, you acknowledge that there is still room for additional value. There will come a time when your business will be so huge that you won't be able to keep track of the numbers on your own. That's why it is wise to invest in advisors, accountants, and/or auditors. Professional financial consultants can help your business grow by giving you detailed information on all the financial pitfalls in your business and how to best deal with them. Know your datesIf you are ever going to be successful in keeping track of the numbers in your business, you have to get it right with the dates as well. Proper planning always involves the setting and meeting of deadlines. To scale my business, I have had to target and achieve my financial goals by setting and meeting timelines. I always know when to pay my dues. I also always keep a record of all past important dates in terms of my purchases and sales. The reason is not that I still want to remember when I made the most money or the least; it is just that it makes it easier for me to refer back. You will need these records when you hire a financial consultant. Take pride in your numbersBe proud of how much you are making in your business. Don't get comfortable, but appreciate where you have come from, where you are and where you are headed. It does not matter at what stage your business is on in the development process. Most businesses that fail to keep track of their finances during the initial developmental phase are likely to have a problem tracking progress. At some point in my business, I was making just enough money to keep the company on its feet. A friend, who also doubled up as my adviser, always reminded me to keep records even if it didn't make sense. She assured me that I would thank her later for the advice. Honestly speaking, I did. Every time I went back to making entries on my records, I would study the patterns, consult with my advisor and use that knowledge to plan. I started seeing a gradual improvement in the way the finances in my business were being handled. On another note, when you learn to appreciate the little things in your business, it gives you the motivation to go for more and prepares you to recognize and manage the big bucks in the future. In closing, when you create these systems, please share them with your team. Make sure they're clear that if they're not meeting targets, you need to work on a plan that helps improve your sales process. You can manage results a lot easier than you can people's behavior. So, pull your numbers, determine what each person should make and what the goal is so you can have profit within your business. After you do that, hold your salespeople accountable through a system that's replicable and solve bottlenecks in your business by analyzing the data. |
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