7 Simple and Powerful Tips for New Entrepreneurs
Starting a business can be a very sensitive issue, and some new and aspiring entrepreneurs are too proud or stubborn to receive any kind of advice from anyone. Yet starting a company is also extremely difficult, which is why some guidance in the beginning is not only welcome, but necessary. Why do you think only 10% of new startups succeed? It’s hard out there. Everyone is doing the best they can, and it’s fierce. This is why you, as a new entrepreneur, should accept all the help that you can get, and listen very carefully to the experiences of others – they can be precious. When you learn what to expect and how to cope with any potential problems, it will be much easier for you to handle whatever comes your way. Basically, what you need to do is be in control at all times. Know what’s happening inside your company and always try to stay objective. This can be very helpful as the key to solving any problem is catching it in the early stages. So with that in mind, here are some tips to consider to help you become a successful entrepreneur. 7 Simple and Powerful Tips for New Entrepreneurs The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. - Vince Lombardi Find a niche In the beginning, every young entrepreneur gets awfully frustrated thinking they need to invent something new and revolutionary that will take the whole world by storm. In reality, this is far from true. However small your idea may be, you should focus on your target audience because they will be your niche. Others will come later on, but for starters, this will do just fine. Don’t take no for an answer There’s no place for sensitivity in the business world. As a new entrepreneur, you have to be tough and know that you’ll be facing many rejections and obstacles along the way. The important thing is to choose your battles wisely. Sometimes, you might need to accept defeat on the less important things, but when it comes to things that really matter, you should never back down. Communication and cooperation are key In order for your company to thrive, it is essential to establish a strong and positive office culture from the get-go, where relations of mutual respect and honesty prevail among all coworkers. Show your employees that you care about them by offering gifts and incentives, for instance, or showing your appreciation in other ways. If you are a well-functioning group of people who respect each others' ideas and know your duties, nothing will stop you on your way to success. Have a flexible plan Having a plan is mandatory for leading a company. However, this plan should not be set in stone. New entrepreneurs should be aware of the fact that as your experience grows and you face new issues and new ideas, you’ll be thinking of ways to improve your plan, which is absolutely fine and expected. Sometimes it’s easy to get lost, so we suggest having some set goals for the long term and more flexible ones for the shorter term. This way, you can change the plan to some extent, but the overriding objectives will stay the same. The customer is always right In the chase for success and power, many entrepreneurs forget what’s keeping them alive and kicking – customers. This is where social media can be of great help. Ask your customers for feedback and carefully study both the positive and the negative ones. Answer all the comments on social media. If they are praising you, thank them – and if they are criticizing, thank them again and apologize. However, don’t just leave it at that, but try to really fix the problem. Fail fast and often Failure is a huge part of the learning process. People are afraid of failure, but the important thing for you to remember is that failing is normal. Everyone fails and it cannot be avoided. What you can do, however, is learn how to cope with it. Instead of moping around and feeling sorry for yourself, you should understand that failure is an opportunity to learn and improve, and try to do that as soon as you can in order to leave minimal consequences. Be grateful for failures; they are our best teachers. Keep learning One more important remark is related to constant learning. Even when all starts going well and you just start tucking into your comfort zone, snap out of it. It’s a trap. You mustn’t lose control or stop trying. Being a successful entrepreneur involves constant self-improvement and learning. There’s no taking breaks or cool-down periods. Attend seminars, read books, educate yourself online, keep up with the trends. One of the biggest hazards of the business world today is letting time beat you. Dangers lurk behind every corner, especially for a young entrepreneur. However, this shouldn’t stop or scare you. If you are always aware of your goals and ready to try as hard as you can to achieve them, there’s nothing to fear. Don’t lose your initial enthusiasm and motivation. Be persistent, and have faith in yourself and your company. That is what is going to guide you even in the darkest times.
4 Surprisingly Effective Marketing Strategies to Promote Your Business
A business that isn’t present in the public sphere isn’t long for this world. Three fundamental features that ensure business success are outstanding products and services, unique communication with customers, and simple yet effective marketing strategies. Most business users recognize the importance of the first feature and only some of them invest their energy in improving the second one. However, the promotional aspect of business deserves a committed approach as well. This is why we’ve highlighted some effective marketing tactics for increasing the popularity of your products and services. 4 Surprisingly Effective Marketing Strategies to Promote Your Business The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. - Peter Drucker Share free social media content As of September 2016, more than 60 million companies had a business page on Facebook, according to the data released by Venture Beat. This fact can be interpreted both as bad and good news. From one point of view, it means that the business importance of social media is still rising. Yet on the other hand, this information might worry some business people, since it’s a clear sign that competition in social media is getting fiercer than ever before. But this should inspire you to work even harder on your social media promotion. Firstly, publish more content from your website to your professional and private Facebook pages. Secondly, open a YouTube account. By creating and posting free and entertaining marketing videos to it, you’ll grab the attention of wider audiences. You should publish these videos on your other social media networks as well. That way, you’ll increase the level of integration across the various online channels you use to inform the online community of your business achievements and offerings. Use offline promotion to boost visibility The core goal of any marketing effort is to leave a memorable impression on your target group. Doing that with little or no investments is even better. Apart from the aforementioned free content on social media, you can also rely on some superb offline marketing tactics that will attract different customers. For starters, you can generate new leads with an impactful tagline that will be distributed in various offline contexts. You can print it on a banner, for example, and hang it on your office balcony or on any other suitable wall visible from the street. Similarly, you can ask around the neighborhood to see whether shop and business owners would allow you to promote your business with such DIY promotional materials. Of course, you should offer them either free services or a professional collaboration in exchange, so as to establish a cross-promotion relationship. In many cases, you’ll manage to create an opportunity to increase your business's visibility if you take a friendly and positive approach. Create infographics to promote your business Although visual materials dominate the Web, the potential of textual content shouldn’t be underrated. And if you create a user-friendly infographic, you’ll get the best of both worlds. Don't worry, you don’t need to be proficient in Adobe or any other software. All you need is Piktochart and other practical tools, and you can come up with beautiful infographics pretty quickly. The main question here is which details this combination of visual and textual information should contain. First and foremost, determine the goal of the infographic. A small business that wants to gain wider recognition should prepare an infographic that will present its business results to its customers and potential associates. You can post it on your social media pages and website, especially if you run a business blog (which you should). What’s more, it can be included in various guest posts you publish on other websites. By doing so, you’ll achieve two important goals. The first one is sharing your recent success with your target audience. The other one is sparking interest in your business. Launch awards-based promotional campaigns The more you promote your brand in various original contexts, the more it will be present in the public eye. Nevertheless, the fact that your business will be visible doesn’t mean that all the leads will convert into customers. Therefore, you should introduce special award-based promotional campaigns. For instance, every customer who brings new clients to your website could be given a little present. These items shouldn’t be too expensive, but they should express your special entrepreneurial spirit. For instance, cotton T-shirts are always a great choice, as they can be used daily and seen by many people. Also, you should develop a more personal connection with your most valuable customers. In line with that, you might want to give your best clients specially designed custom wristbands. Such a gift should contain a writing or symbol that will remind both of you of a successful business deal or a special occasion. Giving such items away doesn’t only mean that your brand visuals will be seen by more people. They also symbolize mutual trust and future perspective, which are two vital features of every successful business collaboration. Let your brand speak for itself. Customers always recognize originality and honesty. Hence, put an accent on those qualities of your brand. Also, highlight the unique value of your products and present them in a natural way. Such a broad-minded approach to promotion will ensure a stable position for your business in a crowded and volatile market.
How To Genuinely Thank Your Employees
Apart from providing top-quality products and services to its customers, a company needs to treat its employees in a similar way for it to be great. Your colleagues are your greatest asset, as they improve the quality of your products, are in charge of communicating with customers and manage high-level operations. How To Genuinely Thank Your Employees Depending on the size of your company and its financial capabilities, you can choose from many ways of showing your appreciation for the work everyone has been putting in. Most of all, you must not forget to share how appreciative you are of both their effort and the quality of work they bring to work on a daily basis. Here are some ideas to help you express your gratitude. These rewards aren’t costly but are sure to make your employees understand you care of them. Make your appreciation personal Sure, everyone would appreciate a gift card, since it’s better to have something than nothing, but that’s definitely not something everyone would appreciate equally. You need to think about something your entire workforce would like. Some would actually like to be given more responsibility, while others would appreciate a bit more flexibility. There are those who need wellness benefits, while some of their colleagues would like some time off work more than anything. The fact that you provide what they truly desire means you truly care about them. Create an event Whether it’s an office party or lunch, it’s bound to be accepted with open arms. Such events are a chance for everyone to let their hair down, relax and have a great time together. You will also have an opportunity to get to know everyone better, in a more informal environment. As an employer, your task is to prepare a toast to let your colleagues know how thankful you are. Also, you need to mingle as much as possible to get to know them on a completely different level. Treats Everyone loves a nice treat. Be it a donut, ice-cream or a pizza, an occasional treat will surely surprise your colleagues in a positive way. It doesn’t have to be anything expensive, but the effect is bound to be much greater than the investment of time and money. Swags People like promotional material given as freebies. It can be a T-shirt with your logo, a custom made coffee or tea mug, as offered by Planet Mugs for example, or one of the increasingly popular water bottles, that people like to use regularly, especially while working at their office desk. These tokens of your appreciation are inexpensive, yet very practical, since people use them on a regular basis. So, each time an employee uses your gift, they’ll remember how thankful you are for everything they’ve done. Provide A Service There’s a trend in some countries for satisfied employers to arrange for an employee’s car to be washed or home to be cleaned. This will not only save the employee’s money, but also the time, since they wouldn’t have to organise the whole thing and drive their car to the car wash, for example. Exchange roles Sometimes, you may offer an outstanding individual an opportunity to take over your position for a day, while you do their job. This can be arranged on a “slow” day, when you don’t expect some major issues to arise, since the experiment can really turn ugly if not managed properly. However, if done right, this is one of the most powerful gifts you can give, because it shows your appreciation and creates an unforgettable experience for your employee. The fact that you showed your complete trust in them by allowing them to be the boss for a day is also a powerful stimulus and great motivation for other employees to work hard and earn a similar opportunity. Honestly, Just Show You Care As you can see, there are many ways in which you can show how grateful you are for everything your team has been doing. Some signs of appreciation are completely free-of-charge and they include kind words in a private conversation or in front of everyone. Others require certain funds, but you can rightfully expect them to be yield one of the best returns on investment, since those receiving such gifts are going to work with more zeal, while others will be motivated to get a similar gift in the future. The most important thing is to recognize the effort and reward it somehow. If you put some extra effort to personalize the gift, it’s more likely to be appreciated. It will also show that you treat each employee as an individual with different needs.
Managing Work Related Stress and Burnout
Even the easiest job can cause work-related stress. In the beginning, we start experiencing pressure and mild discomfort when being confronted with a stressful task. Later, the mild discomfort turns into anxiety and pain, which can be harmful for both our physical and our mental health. Managing Work Related Stress and Burnout Safe Work Australia conducted a survey, which proved that the absenteeism caused by work-related stress costs Australian businesses more than $10 billion each year. Although this survey has proved that work-related stress can be dreadful for company’s finances, employers are still very passive when it comes to work-related stress management. The situation in the United States is not much different. A survey conducted by American Psychologists Association found that only 36% of employers offer sufficient stress management resources. Since there are times when we can’t avoid tensions at work and we often can’t rely on our employers in stressful situations, we decided to write a short guide that will help you to manage the work-related stress and minimize its consequences. The most common stressors Work-related stress can be caused by a wide variety of stressors. Sometimes it is triggered by a personal life situation, which adds up to all the stressors you face at work. These are some of the most common work-related stress sources: Excessive work; Low salaries; Lack of career opportunities; Lack of social support; Personal-life interference; Overambitious performance expectations; Bad interpersonal relationships. Work-related stress symptoms Work-related stress won’t disappear after you call it a day and head home. It’s constantly piling up and if it’s not treated in the right way it can create very serious consequences. Physical and mental symptoms you can feel usually include: concentration difficulties, headaches, stomachaches, sleep disturbances and a bad temper. If it’s not managed in the right way, stress can cause chronic conditions, like: insomnia, anxiety, high blood pressure and weakened immune system. People who suffer from chronic work-related stress use unhealthy ways to suppress it. These usually include: overeating, smoking, drinking and prescription drugs abuse. How to relieve your stress? Although by now you might think that the work-related stress is impossible to manage, we will prove you wrong and give you a 5-step routine that will help you to battle the most common office stressors. 1. Start writing your stress journal Keep a journal of the most stressful situations you face on a daily basis. You should also record your thoughts, feelings, and reactions, as well as all the people and circumstances involved. This type of journal will help you to find your stress patterns and develop healthy responses to future stressful moments. 2. Learn how to respond to stress in a healthy way Whatever the cause, you shouldn’t fight your stress with fast food, cigarettes or alcohol. You should take healthy choices instead. Try exercise, yoga or meditation, because these activities are both healthy and relaxing. You can also spend some time with your family, find a stress-relieving hobby or read a book. Having plenty of healthy sleep is also essential for successful stress management. 3. Establish strict boundaries In the digital era, we often take our work problems home. We should create strict boundaries between our professional and personal life. You shouldn’t check your emails in the evening and answer boss’s calls while eating a dinner or spending some quality time with your family. These boundaries will reduce the work-life conflict and all the stress that goes with it. 4. Get some professional support The best way to relieve your stress is to talk to a psychologist or some other expert specialized in WRS management. If your employer doesn’t offer an employee assistance program, you should review several psychologists and choose the one with the best references and education. Always choose a local expert. So if you live and work in Sydney, choose a psychologist in the Sydney area. This way, you will have more time for other relaxing activities. 5.Talk to your boss Stress-free employees are more productive and that’s why your superiors should create a work environment that promotes employee well-being. You should talk to your boss and try to come up with an effective plan that will help them to manage the stressors you’ve identified. Bosses can help employees to relieve their stress in many different ways. They can reorganize the work process, introduce additional breaks or send their employees to stress management trainings. There are plenty of relaxation and stress-relief techniques you can choose from. Meditation, deep breathing exercises and mindfulness will help you to manage your stress levels and become more focused and productive at work. If the level of work-related stress is too high, you should take some time off. Vacation is a perfect time for you to replenish your energy and return your stress levels back to normal.
