Category: Business Tips

The BIG Reason Why Online Marketing Is More Important To A New Business Than Ever

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According to the U.S Bureau of Labour, 15% of new businesses are unable to survive through their first year of operation, and only 50% make it past 5 years. Hence for any new business to stay afloat, it is important to drum up a crowd and customers. Considering the fast-paced and intricately connected world of the 21st century, entrepreneurs must understand and make full use of targeted web marketing.

In the United States, the online marketing industry’s current growth rate stands at 20%. Using web marketing allows businesses to advertise based on the audience’s interests and reach people across physical boundaries – this is especially useful for companies providing services that can be exchanged via phone/ email or where transportation costs of the physical goods are low.

Web marketing is the portal to personalized communication with the audience, at lower pricing and higher returns than print advertising. Keeping costs low on advertising will allow some wiggle room in expenses and open up the opportunity to re-invest in the business. Keeping funds focused on more important things such as the actual good/service of the company will allow for overall improvement, which will, in turn, leads to more customers.

Spending as little as $5 per day for paid advertisements on Facebook for paid advertising can increase post reach by over 750 people, while the average cost per impression on social media can be as low as $0.38. These impressions are important because it imprints your brand in the viewer’s brain subconsciously, which causes them to gravitate towards your product without actually realizing it.

An experiment was conducted in 1957 in which during a movie the phrase “Drink Coca-Cola” was flashed multiple times and speed too high to be recognized by the conscious mind. At the end of the movie, coke sales at the concession stand rose to over 50% percent. This method of ‘subliminal advertising’ is similar to the idea of paying for increased impressions on social media – just entering an idea into a person’s subconscious can be enough to attract them towards your product. For example, just seeing the word ‘coke’ in this article, will increase your chances of having a coke, as opposed to any other drink, the next time you reach for a soda can.

Aside from paid marketing, many businesses also maintain a social media presence in the form of Facebook pages or twitter/Instagram accounts. As of 2015, there were nearly 30 million small businesses worldwide running pages on Facebook. Though statistics don’t support organic social media marketing as useful in gaining new traction, it is still significant in keeping current and past customers engaged with the company.

Researchers in Canada found that our attention spans have fallen from 12 seconds to 8 seconds in the past 15 years. This means that readers can no longer be expected to remember information from print ads and recall them while making choices. Having a web presence ensures that the audience is directly linked to your business and is continuously reminded of your goods/services.

5 Simple Ways to Reduce Your Entrepreneurial Risk This 2020

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The day to day activities of an entrepreneur has many challenges and lack of courage to overcome them may lead to failure. There are a lot of sacrifices you need when entering an unfamiliar business. However, you have to take the risks to ensure your effort is worthy and you can secure your family’s future. Risk management can be learned through your willingness and optimism.

Looking for the resolutions of these common risks will definitely help you run your business smoothly in the future.

Building your brand and credibility

Trust is the primary value you can gain from the customer before he purchases your service. However, building his trust to an unfamiliar business without a record of good credibility is hard to achieve. This is why marketing strategy through the use of social media and press releases is very important in building your audience awareness. Following the next guidelines will help you build the trust of your potential customers in the long run.

Meeting the demand of your target market

Unable to meet the needs of your customers will lead to their bad impression to your company. Make sure you give attention to every detail your customer wants such as delivering the right quantity of product at the requested place and time. They also need to arrive in a good condition to avoid dispute. Meeting these simple needs will result to a repeat customer.

Learning effective marketing strategies

Different marketing strategies that are tested and proven to be effective are content marketing, social media, video marketing, and loyalty programs. Another advantage of using these tools is its ability to access a large number of potential customers in a day. People have been using the internet for their daily activities and it is not impossible to gain audiences in a day most especially if you are able to produce an attractive offer, compelling content, and attention-striking demographics of your products and services.

Hiring the right team to handle each area of your business

One of these teams is the customer service because they are the primary contributor of sales and production. One improper way of serving your customer could lead to the destruction of your credibility. It is very easy to access social media and this could be used by the customers to express either their frustration or satisfaction with the service they receive. Therefore, ensure you hire the right employees who will be assigned to this important area of your company. They served as front liners so they should be well-trained in handling customer’s concerns.

Keeping a long-lasting relationship with your customers

Aside from using the internet as a marketing platform, another marketing strategy which has started even before social media exists are brand promotion and loyalty programs. This are useful to show how you value your customer for being an avid user of your products and services. Offering discounts and loyalty rewards will not only help the company increase the chance to maintain their customers, but they can also gain additional buyers through the word of mouth.

5 Simple Ways To Fund Your New Business

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It’s a pretty big step and a much bigger investment. You are not just simply giving your time and effort into it but you would also need to use some cash to finance it.

If you have an idea and you believe it can be a great business, you would want to embark on it of course. But without the money, that would be hard if not impossible. Here are some tips for you to get the money that will finance your new business idea for it to start rolling.

Raise money through your friends and family

This is the most common way to raise the money you need for any start-up. But also remember that when you make your loved ones’ creditors, their financial future may be at risk as well as your relationship. Clarify to them what you need. Are you asking them to loan you money? Or are you asking for some equity? These matters should be clear from the very start. Financial projection should be in place as well. They need to see, that the chance of seeing their money back is greater than forever losing it. There are risks involved in running your own business and this should be emphasized when you hit it with them.

Try Crowdfunding

There are special platforms to use for crowdfunding. Here, you can spread the news about your new product or service and then you will have to wait for interested investors to come and see you for it. If the thing you are offering is really something interesting, then good investors will see that there is a future for it. You can make campaigns for your product on these platforms to spread awareness. KIckstarter.com is one of the most famous and effective sites for crowdfunding so that’s a resource you need to tap.

A loan from a bank

The standards of lending had become stricter as time goes by. But there are still those banks that lend funds for small businesses and start-ups. You can apply to any of them to start your business. Just make sure that you will keep up with your promise to the bank. Also, just make sure that you pay the bank back so that you won’t get a bad record which could affect your future request for any loans.

Pledge some percentage of your earnings in the future

You can borrow from people you know with the condition that you will pledge a portion of your earnings to them in the future. If you are confident with your capabilities and the product you are launching, then you could try this route.

Use your credit card

This is probably one of the riskiest ways of financing your business. For your repayments, once you fall behind, the chances would be something like having a whacked credit score. But this would only happen if you let it. You need to be responsible for your use and payment of credit card otherwise it could affect your credit rating and you won’t be able to borrow from the bank in the future.

Financing your business is a real challenge and many are just not up to the challenge. There are many ways to get on it though. You only need to find the best one that would suit you so you can get your new business rolling.

The Power Of A Strong Mindset: 3 Steps to Achieve Any Goal

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If you’re not going anywhere with your life then it’s probably because you haven’t set proper goals to follow.

When it comes to building a business or excelling in your chosen field, the first step is always to set a clear and specific goal that you really want to achieve.

Walt Disney, for example, is a great example of a goal setter. He was fired from his first job because apparently, he lacked imagination.He became bankrupt at one stage and had around 300 banks turn down his idea for a Walt Disney theme park. But that didn’t stop him from sticking to his goal and doing whatever it takes to make his dream a reality. Fast forward to today, Disney is a billion dollar company with Disneyland theme parks all over the world.

He once quoted “To some people, I am kind of a Merlin who takes lots of crazy chances, but rarely makes mistakes. I’ve made some bad ones, but, fortunately, the successes have come along fast enough to cover up the mistakes. When you go to bat as many times as I do, you’re bound to get a good average.”

Michael Jordan is another great example of a great goal setter. During his sophomore year, he didn’t make the cut to the varsity basketball team because of his height and apparently he just wasn’t good enough yet. After he got cut he worked twice as hard until he finally made the cut and beat everyone else.

Jordan is the type of person that when he sets a goal, he’s going to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. He was determined to be the best basketball player of all time and he worked harder than everyone else around him because he was that committed to becoming the best. Fast forward to today and he still remains to be the greatest player of all time.

He once quoted “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” He also said, “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”

Setting goals can be very powerful as long as you stick to what you want to achieve and envision your success. So now the big question is, how do you create compelling goals?

Figure out why you want to achieve your goals

You need to ask yourself: Am I setting this goal for myself?

How would you feel once you’ve achieved your goal?

Whether it’s earning money for your family or wanting success to improve your station in life, you need to figure out why you want to achieve your goals to give you that sense of purpose. How will achieving your goal affect you as a person?

Knowing the purpose of your goal is what’s going to keep you going and totally focussed on what you want to achieve in life. As long as you know why you’re doing whatever it is you’re doing then you’ll be able to focus long and hard enough to achieve your goals.

Don’t focus too much on the outcome

If you’ve already created your goal then you need to stick to it may it hail or shine. It may seem impossible at the moment because you’re just a small fish in an ocean full of big fishes, but as long as you have that inner belief that you’ll eventually get to where you want to be then you’ll be totally in control of your destiny. It’s the mentality that whatever happens, you’ll succeed eventually. It may not happen overnight but eventually, it will happen.

A number of people give up at the early stages especially when the tough times hit, that’s because they look at their long-term goals, realize how massive it is and tell themselves “there’s no way I can reach that level” or “I’m not equipped enough to make it to that level.” What you need to do is start small, and take baby steps. Focusing way too hard on the big picture might discourage you. If you take it one step at a time you’ll get there slowly but surely.

Repeat your goals over and over again

Repetition is the key to achieving success in life.

You can’t just create a goal and look at it as a one-time thing and that’s it. If you want to achieve success then you need to keep drilling your goals in your head repeatedly. The more you sound like a broken clock, the faster you’ll get to your destination.

3 Powerful Visualization Techniques Visualization Techniques To Manifest Your Desired Outcomes

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What do you think is the difference between a dreamer and a doer?

One word: confidence.

Let’s face it, if you’re confident that you’ll eventually achieve your goals because you are willing to do whatever it takes to get there then you will no doubt achieve it. However, if you’re not confident about yourself and you don’t think your plans will pan out then you won’t really feel the need to take any steps to achieve your goals.

Confidence is the key to making something of yourself. It’s having the inner confidence that whatever happens around you, may it hail or shine, your confidence remains rock hard. If you believe in yourself that you will eventually achieve your goals, you’ll reach it. One of the most effective ways of achieving your goals is through Effective Visualization.

So what is Effective Visualization?

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a big-time celebrity who used the power of visualization to achieve his bodybuilding goals.

Schwarzenegger didn’t just go to the gym every day and worked out, he actually visualized his success. He said “I had this fixed idea of growing a body like Reg Park’s. The model was there in my mind; I only had to grow enough to fill it… The more I focused in on this image and worked and grew, the more I saw it was real and possible for me to be like him.”

Schwarzenegger conditioned his mind and convinced himself that he was capable of achieving his goal, he firmly believed that he would be able to do it and that’s exactly what happened.

He also said, “What you do is create a vision of who you want to be — and then live that picture as if it were already true.”

This is the power of Effective Visualization.

You need to visualize your desired result over and over again as if it had already taken place. There’s no room in your head for doubting yourself and your capabilities because if you do this, you are unconsciously sabotaging your success.

Effective Visualization is a technique that’ll help you get over the barrier of self-doubt. You need to visualize and actually see yourself achieving your goals and you need to envision how you’re going to do it in the most detailed manner as possible. The more you visualize your success, the more it’ll transcend to reality because the power of the mind, if harnessed the right way can make a huge impact in your life.

What do you think is the difference between a successful person and a loser?

It’s two words: mind power.

The big reason why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer because the rich people have such a powerful mindset – they are willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top and they can see themselves right at the top even though they’re not even there yet. They condition their minds over and over again to the fact that no matter what happens, they will eventually achieve the results they want.

Here are four effective Visualization techniques you might want to implement in your life:

Be in the moment

If for example, you have a meeting with some prospective sponsors, visualize yourself going to the meeting and winning that pitch. What do the potential sponsors look like?

What does the meeting place look like?

Can you picture the surroundings?

Can you hear their voices?

Imagine how calm and collected you are going to that meeting and shaking their hands.Imagine the potential sponsors intently listening to your pitch. By doing this simple practice you’ll be able to go that meeting with rock hard confidence because you’ll be able to transcend that imagery into real life since you’ve gone over the scenario in your head over and over again.

Focus on you

Besides visualizing the surroundings you need to effectively visualize yourself going into that meeting.

What clothes are you wearing during this meeting?

Is your posture on point?

Do you look confident enough to secure the deal?

How calm and collected are you?

How is your tone of voice during the pitch?

Are you injecting a sense of humor to make the sponsors feel more comfortable with you as a person?

Have a backup plan

Visualizing yourself nailing the sponsorship is definitely a must, but you need to also have a plan B just in case things don’t go according to plan – at least you have a backup plan. Having a plan B or even a plan C will be good for you in the long run because it enables you to be a bit more prepared. Think of possible ways the potential sponsors would react negatively to your pitch and then think of ways in advance that you’ll be able to address their concerns.

Practice how you would react to their negative response and then repeat that scenario in your head over and over again so that when the time finally comes and they react negatively to your pitch, you’re 100% confident that you have the answers they are looking for because you have visualized this scene a number of times.

In conclusion

Your goal here is to strongly instill the experience you want in your mind so that this will transcend into real life and you’ll be able to embody the version of yourself that you know in your heart can be.

You need to make sure you note down everything you see and hear in your head and go over it again and again. Before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to nailing down that life-changing pitch.

5 Steps to Achieving Any Goal in Life

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Are you willing to do whatever it takes to be successful?

Let’s face it; most of us dream of being successful in our chosen fields but for a majority of us that’s pretty much it – just dreaming about being successful and not doing anything about it.

How do you expect to be successful if you’re not even prepared to take any actionable steps to achieving your goal?

Instead of sitting around daydreaming, why don’t you stand up, dust your pants and actually do something about it? The longer you sit there daydreaming about possibilities the harder it is to stand up and make something of yourself.

So where should you start?

Here’s a five-step process to creating an effective action plan that should push your drive for success to another level.

Discover your motivation

Before you decide to come up with some actionable steps to help you achieve your goals, first you need to ask yourself – what’s your motivation?

Do you want to be famous?

Do you want to be rich beyond your wildest dreams?

Do you want to be successful so you can provide for your family?

Think about what’s going to motivate you on this journey to success and then look at the big picture. Once you’ve pinned down your motivator then that’ll serve as a reminder whenever you feel lazy or experience failure.

Devise your plan

Once you’ve discovered your main motivator it’s time to actually sit down and devise a plan. To do this you need to ask yourself four questions:

What do I really want to do with my life?

What’s the actual reason behind my goal?

Am I willing to do whatever it takes to achieve my goal?

What steps can I take to achieve my goal?

Start your journey

Now that you’ve created an action plan, it’s time to put your plan into action.

You need to really manage your time effectively if you want to be successful in your chosen field. You need to figure out what sort of research you need to take on in order for you to be successful, fix your schedule to make sure that you have a balance between doing the research and taking mini steps towards achieving your goal and phase out interruptions or steer clear of things that can hinder your progress. If you really want to achieve your goals, you need to surround yourself with things and people that will help you achieve them.

Sticking to your action plan may just be the hardest step in working towards achieving your dreams, but once you’ve found a way to stick to the plan and remain motivated – I guarantee that you’ll feel that you are finally on your way to becoming successful.

Track your progress

Having an action plan without a way to measure how much you are advancing towards your main goal will most definitely leave a big hole in your journey to success.

You need to figure out a way to measure whether or not you’re progressing at all. Unless you can find a way to track your progress, you won’t really know if you’re on the right path.

Keep in mind that if you’re doing the best you possibly can already – don’t think that you should be doing a lot more. This type of mentality can burn you out. Just do the very best you can and make sure you’re tracking your progress, as long as you’re consistent and working as hard as you possibly can, that should be enough.

Don’t be discouraged by failure

If you’re not failing at all then that means you’re not working hard enough.

If at some point in your journey you’re experiencing failure, keep in mind that this is normal. Everyone experiences failure even the best of the best.

Former president Robert F. Kennedy once said: “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”

Successful TV host Ellen DeGeneres also said: “It’s failure that gives you the proper perspective on success.” She was even quoted saying “When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail and both are equally important.”

Don’t be that person who decides to quit when the battle has just started. If you stumble upon a roadblock just stick to your main motivator and focus on your action plan again. Remember that failure is merely a stepping stone to success.

Take time out to enjoy your journey

Once you’ve got your motivation and action plan in place and you’re finally on your journey to success, take time out to

enjoy the journey on a constant basis.

Make sure that you celebrate even the smallest successes. Go shopping for a nice outfit or get a full body massage and

relax – enjoying the journey is equally as important as doing the journey itself because these are the moments that one day

you’ll look back on and cherish.

In conclusion

Success is not for everyone because not everyone is willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Once you’ve determined what you want in life, you’re 100% motivated and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to be successful – then it’s only a matter of time that your dreams become a reality.

Some people just like to dream big and not do anything about, some people like to procrastinate way too much and eventually end up in a rut, while some are dedicated to really pushing ahead in life and making a difference in the world.

Which one are you?

3 Basic Financial Tips Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know Before Launching A New Business

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Image via Shutterstock / Sofi photo

A startup without a proper plan and pre-analysis of different risks you may encounter during your business venture could lead to problems and waste of money. One of the things you need to protect when building a business is your investment. Therefore, it is critical to learning how to manage your finances to guarantee a sustainable business.

Track your finances

Make sure you track all your funds to know where your money goes. Keeping the record of your expenses up-to-date allows you to review your financial status. If you can monitor your cash flow, you can point out which part of your business areas are spending a lot so you can allocate the excessive amount to a more critical business plan you want to implement.

Proper cash flow management also enables you to limit excessive expenses for less essential business needs. Control spending at your startup since you are not yet able to generate your profit. It is still very early for you to reward yourself with fancy things without yet generating your net income.

Ensure you organize every record of expense such as marketing costs, mortgage loan or rental fee of your office, water and electric utilities, employee’s payroll, taxes, and many other aspects where money is involved. Organizing these expenses helps you do the proper computation easily.

Hiring professional help

Not all entrepreneurs possess an accurate computation skill. Hiring a professional can help you do the complex computations and get accounting done efficiently. Through his/her help, you can also allocate a specific amount specially intended for the tax contribution. Monthly reconciliation with your bank also enables you to verify if there are accounting errors done or unusual transactions without your knowledge.

Save some money for a rainy day

It is also essential to reserve some portion of your money to be used for your personal or household finances. Aside from this, you also need to allocate an amount intended for emergency use in case your business needs it. Since you are still in the start-up stage, avoid using the money from your company, so you can compare your profit versus your expenses.

Having savings will also allow you get prepared in case worse things may happen while your business is running. This will help you avoid the risk of running out of money which may be a cause of its loss or failure to operate.

Every step you have to make involves finances. Therefore, time is another thing you have to value. You do not have to rush things to achieve success. However, you still need to make sure you can appropriately schedule your day to day activities.

Once you have already mastered all these things mentioned, you can now be ready for a smart investment. This could be for your retirement, insurance, or another business expansion. These are just some of the financial goals most entrepreneurs dream to achieve. Aiming and achieving these things are the rewarding gifts you got from your effort and self-discipline.

5 Basic Things Every Newbie Entrepreneur Needs To Know About Starting A New Business

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 image via Shutterstock / Kiselev Andrey Valerevich

Starting your own business is never easy, it takes time, money, effort and most of all – perseverance! Now if you are currently considering starting your own business at the moment, here’s the top 5 things you need to look into before taking the big dive.

1. Put together a business plan

The sad fact is that most businesses don’t actually make it past the first year because they have poor cash planning, inadequate market research and most of all, they don’t have a proper business plan. The very first thing you should do before starting a business is create a business plan. That business plan should highlight where you want to be in the next 5-10 years and should also highlight your goals as well as provide details on how you will achieve these goals. Nobody else has to see it; this is your own personal guide on how you will grow your business.

2. Will you be providing a product or service?

Of course, if you’re planning to start a business you should already know if you will be offering a service or selling a product to the consumer. Most budding entrepreneurs start a business based on their knowledge and expertise on a specific industry sector, others start a business based on something they’ve always been passionate about and some start a business because they can see a ‘hole’ in the market which they want to infiltrate. Keep in mind that once you’ve decided on what business you’ll be starting you then have to determine what would make your business different? Will you be offering a cheaper product or a faster service? What would make your product or service better than the competition? What’s unique about your business that others would pay attention?

3. What will be your business structure?

There are actually a number of choices to choose from when it comes to business structure, the most common ones though are sole trader, partnership and limited company. The typical choice by most people is the sole trader business structure because it’s the structure with the least hassle. However, this business structure can affect your personal security. If you’re wondering what the better choice is, well here’s a brief description on the 3 business structures: As a sole trader you carry all the risk – which means that if something goes wrong in your business then you are personally liable for all the costs. If you are thinking of entering a partnership structure with a bunch of friends, keep in mind that this could all change at some point due to the demand in the business. Now if you are thinking of setting up a limited company, yes you may lessen your individual liability, however, it’s not cheap to maintain a limited company structure because you’d have to pay a yearly government fee – and this will be tough on you especially if you won’t be making any money yet in the next 3 years. If you are seriously thinking of setting up a company for the first time, it’s probably best to obtain professional advice from either a solicitor or accountant so that they can explain the risks and costs involved.

4. What will you name your business?

Finding a name may sound like the easiest part of the process – but think again! Some companies take years before they can come up with a suitable name for their business. Think about it this way, the name of your business will be its brand for life, whatever name you come up with is what you’ll be working with for the duration of the business. Here are some questions you should ask yourself: Does the name suit the product or service you are offering? Is the name original? Can you trademark the name? Is the name available online? It’s always good practice to register the name of your business to the Fair Trading office to make sure that no one else has the exact same business name as what you have.

5. How are you going to market the new business?

Marketing is a crucial part of any business, without proper marketing your business is as good as dead. The big question is: what approach will you take to reach your specific target market? Do you need to look into magazine ads, billboards, social media or maybe direct mail to reach your target market? Your marketing approach will of course depend on what your product or service is, it’s basically trial and error at the start. Just take the plunge and start your marketing efforts and whichever one works for your business is what you should stick on. If you don’t know where to start it may be a good idea to check out what you’re competition is doing, you can always do the same thing but just give it a twist to make it more favourable for your business.

The Dark Side Of Entrepreneurship: 3 Sacrifices Every Entrepreneur Must Make to Be Successful

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image via Shutterstock / Kaspars Grinvalds

Let’s face it; the concept of being an entrepreneur is exciting for a lot of people. The notion that you’re the boss and you run your own business sounds quite appealing to a lot of people but unfortunately, there is a downside to entrepreneurship that most people don’t see.

As an entrepreneur, you need to go through a number of sacrifices otherwise you won’t eventually get to where you want to be. Now here are the 3 most common sacrifices every entrepreneur must face when they’re just starting out:

Work/Life Blur

Once you decide to become an entrepreneur then you need to be prepared for your private life and your work life to cross over all the time. If you’re just starting a new business then say goodbye to your private time for a while because you’ll be working 24/7 even when you’re not in your place of business. You’ll be thinking of new strategies, marketing techniques and ways of improving your business wherever you are and that’s just the tip of the iceberg because you’ll have dozens of phone calls and emails to attend to. At some point, when you’re business has finally stabilised then you’ll find a healthy balance between your business and your private time.

Unstable take-home pay

It’s common knowledge for entrepreneurs that you’ll probably lose money or at best break-even on the first five years of your business before you eventually start making money. If you’re starting a new business then you need to be in it for the long haul! If you want to make a profit in about a year or two then you need to create a powerful marketing plan that can penetrate the industry in a big way and earn you some much needed profits.

Sleep deprivation

Most people need at least 6 hours sleep, but as an entrepreneur, you may need to have a lot less. There will be a number of times when you’d have to sacrifice sleep so that you can look after your business properly. There will be some days when you need to stay up all night to work on urgent projects and there will be a number of nights when you’ll be lying awake thinking about your action plan the next day. When you start a new business – expect to sleep a lot less for the next couple of years!

On the brighter side of things, even though you need to make these sacrifices don’t be discouraged though, you’ve got to start somewhere to get somewhere right? Look at these sacrifices as a form of investment. Just sacrifice for now but as long as you stay committed to the overall picture then you’ll eventually reap the rewards.