ReportWire

Tag: Business models

  • What is Staff Augmentation? 3 Reasons It is Vital For Your Business

    What is Staff Augmentation? 3 Reasons It is Vital For Your Business

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Recruiting and retaining exceptional talent is challenging and takes a lot of time, especially when companies in the tech space demand experienced developers and engineers.

    Moreover, filling in the gaps due to a lack of resources or specialists can be challenging and time-consuming at the same time, especially for high-tech roles like iOS developers or machine learning engineers, for which the demands have been escalating since the great resignation.

    This is where the model of staff augmentation comes into play! In this article, we will discuss the concept of staff augmentation, its increasing demand and why enterprises need to focus on in-house team expansion for quick hiring.

    Related: 10 Strategies for Hiring and Retaining New Employees

    Staff augmentation

    Staff augmentation is a type of cooperation model where businesses, from startups to corporate enterprises, source talent via staffing agencies to work with them temporarily to fill the talent gaps promptly.

    Today, staff augmentation has turned mainstream, with nearly $500 billion annual spending on global IT staffing services alone.

    Businesses now prefer partnering with staff augmentation service providers to boost the competency of their internal teams and accelerate the development process rather than spending weeks prospecting ideal candidates, conducting interviews and shortlisting candidates to fill an immediate talent gap.

    Related: 6 Ways to Effectively Navigate Market Turbulence in the IT World

    Why is staff augmentation surging in popularity?

    The staff augmentation model has been successful over recent years due to the following three reasons:

    1. It is suited for a hybrid work environment

    People willing to switch to low-paying remote jobs rather than continuing on-prem work in their previous settings indicate that the future of work is remote. Remote work is the new normal, especially in the technology and digital transformation sectors.

    Staff augmentation services are suited to cater to the needs of a remote-first global economy that still needs to prepare to let go of all the advantages of on-prem work. With this setting, businesses can extend support to their internal teams by partnering with staff augmentation service providers to cater to bridge talent gaps and meet deadlines faster.

    2. It is low risk compared to other outsourcing models

    The staff augmentation model triumphs over all the outsourcing models regarding flexibility, affordability and quality. Compared to other outsourcing models, the risks involved with staff augmentation services are zero to none due to constant collaboration with the internal teams.

    The augmented team or resource operates either as mere extensions of the internal teams or under the supervision of the in-house managers. Uninterrupted collaboration and seamless integrations of both teams eliminate any possibility of errors.

    Thus, the risk involved in this model is considerably lower than the other project outsourcing models like offshoring or managed services.

    3. Staff augmentation is flexible to scale without compromising sustainability

    As the global recession started knocking on the doors, the results of aggressive hiring and fierce spending started becoming more evident. Consequently, most businesses either stopped or at least cut-down spending on scaling by considerable margins.

    This phenomenon has kept thousands of global entrepreneurs from putting all the stakes in and investing aggressively in scaling their businesses. However, things have started to take quite an exciting turn as IT staffing, and resource augmentation services became mainstream.

    With IT staff augmentation, businesses no longer remain prone to compromising sustainability, as they can end contracts with external teams if things start going south.

    This model enables entrepreneurs to fuel their desires to achieve exponential growth and scalability without worrying about laying off permanent employees or (in the worst case scenario) signing up for bankruptcy.

    Related: 6 Ways to Effectively Navigate Market Turbulence in the IT World

    Why you need to start implementing the staff augmentation model

    The following facts and figures are clear evidence that the staff augmentation model is here to stay:

    1. The great resignation and the wake-up call

    The quiet quitting culture has been disturbing the workflow of organizations since the epidemic. Even amidst the global recession session, where companies like Meta and Amazon are forced to lay off a considerable part of their workforce, the culture of quiet quitting has not stopped.

    People silently leave their well-paying jobs due to a lack of serenity, toxic work environments, pay disparity or other reasons. As an entrepreneur, you should be prepared to deal with such cases within your organization.

    Although you must prioritize fostering a culture of collaboration and encouragement, you should also be prepared to fill in talent gaps in case a team member resigns on short notice rather than compromising on the resource quality to fill the gaps.

    2. Going above and beyond to fill talent gaps

    The onshore, offshore and nearshore markets could provide more diversity in IT skills and expertise your company needs, depending on your location. With staff augmentation services, you can access a broader universal talent pool, including from regions acknowledged for having the finest IT talents, such as Europe and Asia.

    Building external teams to bridge the talent gap using staff augmentation services can also help you save the time and cost of setting up dedicated workspaces and recruiting highly-skilled teams.

    3. Increasing cyber attacks

    As businesses switch to fully remote and hybrid working models, they become prone to cyber-attacks and data breaches. According to Statista, the data breaches in the third quarter of 2022 were at the all-time highest, with businesses reporting approximately 15 million data breaches.

    Although businesses are now setting up dedicated networking teams to safeguard confidential information from hackers and intruders, not all of them can afford it. Thus, they eventually recruit network engineers via an augmented staffing model to stay protected from potential cyber threats and data breaches.

    Related: 4 Best Practices When Choosing a Staffing Agency

    Final thoughts

    Using staff augmentation to address the talent gaps instead of outsourcing or managed services models let business owners keep the charge of the project. As a business owner, you get to choose the talent you deem fit for the role and maintain authority over the project to get things done your way.

    With staffing services, you not only eliminate the recruitment time and cost but also access a global talent of highly-skilled developers and engineers to work alongside your in-house teams to optimize overall competencies and boost productivity.

    [ad_2]

    Asim Rais Siddiqui

    Source link

  • How Retailers Can Win In a Post-Pandemic World

    How Retailers Can Win In a Post-Pandemic World

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    It has been an unprecedented few years for brick-and-mortar retailers, but in 2022, physical stores have started to bounce back. In October, nationwide foot traffic to shopping centers was up more than 18% from two years ago. Meanwhile, 54% of consumers prefer brick-and-mortar retail to any other channel, suggesting that people still love going to physical stores.

    There are bright spots for retailers, but it is important to note that while in-store shopping has surged, the industry has evolved since the pre-pandemic era. Recent consumer habits and preferences that emerged during the pandemic appear to be here to stay.

    Let’s explore these in more detail.

    Related: As Inflation Soars, Consumers Want More Rewards and Shopping Incentives. Here’s How to Give Them What They Want

    A lot of retail journeys start online but end in store

    According to Google, searches for “open now near me” have increased 400% Year-over-Year, which suggests that even those who love shopping offline rely on digital tools to point them in the right direction.

    That’s why it is essential to have a solid online presence in search engines and to improve your business’ discoverability by optimizing your listings in business directories and review platforms. To fully leverage this opportunity, you should ensure your business details are complete, add photos of your location and update your details when needed.

    Social platforms help drive offline traffic

    Social platforms like TikTok and Reels for Instagram and Facebook boomed during the pandemic and continue to be popular today. This is good news for retailers because you can leverage these platforms to drive brand awareness and foot traffic.

    Social apps and platforms are excellent product discovery tools — even for physical retailers, as 81% of shoppers have made an in-store purchase after seeing a product on social media. To stay relevant, you need to meet shoppers where they are, and for many of them, that means being on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

    Related: Why Social Media Platforms Are Adopting Ecommerce as a Saving Grace

    Product and order fulfillment expectations are higher than ever

    The rise of ecommerce, “Buy Online, Pay in Store” (BOPIS), and same-day delivery has increased shopper expectations regarding when and how they get their orders. Research and Markets forecast the BOPIS market will reach $703.18 billion by 2027 — representing a 19.3% compounded annual growth rate over six years.

    In-store (and curbside) pickup is here to stay; if you haven’t done so, it’s high time to implement these initiatives.

    That said, it is essential to remember that the success of your order fulfillment efforts will also depend on how well you forecast and manage inventory. Customers have little patience for “out-of-stocks,” as 50% of consumers report that they will switch products, brands or retailers when faced with shortages.

    This is why it is critical to stay on top of stock management. Invest in robust inventory and reporting tools that enable you to identify trends and make smarter ordering decisions.

    Related: The Future of Online Shopping Is ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’

    It’s more challenging to gain true customer loyalty

    The pandemic shook brand loyalty, and shoppers switched brands at an unprecedented rate. On average, US shoppers belong to 17 loyalty programs; but engagement is low, and less than 50% are active loyalty memberships.

    Winning the loyalty game is a challenge, but not an impossible one. The key to improving shopper loyalty is ensuring your brand aligns with your customer’s needs and values.

    Accomplishing that starts with obtaining the right customer insights. Knowing where your customers are from, why they buy from you and what their shopping preferences will enable you to make moves that are relevant to them.

    Omnichannel is now table stakes

    It is no longer enough to have a presence on different channels (e.g., online, in-store, social). You must seamlessly connect these channels to win over and fulfill today’s shopper’s needs, wherever they are.

    To do that, you need a solid commerce platform with omnichannel capabilities. Investing in a point-of-sale solution with built-in ecommerce functionality enables you to sell and manage multiple channels from one system.

    Another option is to choose a retail management platform that can integrate with other solutions. If you already have an existing POS system, set your sights on ecommerce platforms that can integrate with your current tools. Whichever route you take, see that sales, orders and inventory data flow smoothly from one channel to the next.

    The current retail landscape presents numerous challenges; the good news is there are plenty of opportunities for savvy retailers to thrive. Equipping yourself with the correct data and tools will put you in the best position to compete — now and in the future.

    [ad_2]

    Ana Wight

    Source link

  • Prioritize This Tool to Increase Customer Satisfaction in a Recession

    Prioritize This Tool to Increase Customer Satisfaction in a Recession

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As economists continue to debate whether or not a recession is in fact going to happen, many companies are busy developing strategic plans should this come to fruition, taking the “hurry up and wait” mentality and focusing efforts on becoming more efficient with their dollars.

    The past few years have been transformative for many, and hopefully, your business has implemented some customer experience and digital transformation initiatives. Maybe you were already ahead of the curve or in more cases than not, the pandemic lit a fire under your organization as it did for many others. But if not, the good news is that it’s not too late to get started and with the economic uncertainty, now is a perfect time. The first step? Giving your customers what they really want with self-service options, which in turn will help you operate more efficiently from a digital perspective and more importantly, lead you through the potential recession.

    So how is this done? Let’s take a look at what your company can (and should) be doing:

    Help your customers help themselves — literally

    We are all familiar with how sales used to happen: Handshakes, order forms and catalogs over lunch. This method still worked before Covid-19, but changed drastically afterward — everything went remote and many companies had no choice but to go digital if they wanted to keep up. And now with another likely economic downturn, everyone’s minds are on their wallets, which means that one of the easiest ways to level up your business and lower the cost of sales is to ensure your customers have access to self-serve options so they can get the products they need without assistance. Convenience is key, as is ease of use — for every single interaction.

    It doesn’t really matter what your starting point is. Maybe you’re still employing dozens or even hundreds of field reps that are meeting face-to-face with customers, or maybe your customers use a call center where they’re helped by a rep with their product needs. The thing that matters most is where you need to go: A thoughtful digital experience tailored to your customer’s needs, accessible from anywhere to get what they need in real-time. Things that are easy should be easy. This means that if your customer wants to do something like order a product, track it or update payment information with you, they should be able to do all of those things themselves at a time and place that is most convenient for them. Therefore, creating the digital infrastructure for this is crucial. If something isn’t easy and cannot be done on its own, a customer may second guess their decision or withgo it all together — after all, budgets are tighter, so why waste time on something that isn’t convenient? Upgrading digital also means fewer sales responsibilities. However, with this lowered-cost-of-sale concept may come the logical thought, “are you suggesting we reduce the size of our sales team?”

    Related: The 6 Essential In-Store Experiences That Your Customers Want to See

    Make sure your sales team is still providing exceptional customer service

    To be clear, we are not advocating for you to make drastic changes to your sales team. In fact, quite the opposite. While we’d argue that many clients, especially the big strategic ones, should have a dedicated human being they can go to when they need something, there are always going to be long-tail customers that are perfectly happy to get set up once and from then on, use self-service for all routine smaller orders or account status questions.

    Once your sales team is freed from checking inventory, providing shipping updates, and other administrative tasks, they have a lot more time to do what they’re best at: building relationships and serving your customers with an unparalleled experience that differentiates your company from others. After this is implemented, watch as your customer relationships thrive and flourish. The option of self-service options will be a huge support for your sales team and make them better at their jobs and happier at work, which means you’re far less likely to deal with retention problems – something many industries are still feeling the crunch of in a post-Covid world.

    When we start working with just about any client, one of the first things we want to know is how their selling gets done, and what we can do to make it better, because, at the end of the day, this is what ultimately helps the client’s bottom line. What are the nuts and bolts of how your products are ordered to end up in your customers’ hands? While it may seem that you have bigger things to worry about in the face of economic uncertainty than changing your selling model, I’d argue there’s never been a more important time. Self-service may be the very thing that helps you weather this storm and thrive well beyond it.

    [ad_2]

    Andrew Walker

    Source link

  • Game Removes Loot Boxes, Players Revolt Instead Of Celebrate

    Game Removes Loot Boxes, Players Revolt Instead Of Celebrate

    [ad_1]

    A man with a cake hat sits near a logo for removed loot boxes.

    Popular free-to-play mobile game Brawl Stars is doing something a bit different. In an era where it seems every game is trying to nickel and dime you with more and more stuff to buy, instead it’s removing loot boxes and all random rewards entirely from the game. It’s yet another sign that loot boxes are likely to become a relic of the past as lawmakers and players push back on the random rewards. But that doesn’t mean Brawl Stars players are universally happy about their removal.

    Released in 2019 for phones and tablets, Brawl Stars mixed cute characters with MOBA-like gameplay and some battle royale elements. The end result was a fun top-down competitive action game that I played for weeks and weeks. But since I stopped playing, millions have continued to enjoy it: Brawl Stars has made over a billion dollars in profit for Supercell and still has an active player base and community. Now, Supercell has removed all loot boxes from the game, and reaction to the change is oddly mixed.

    Announced in a Brawl Talk video posted last week, Supercell’s latest update to Brawl Stars has removed all random rewards from the game. These boxes were mainly used to unlock new characters in the game. Since its release three years ago, Brawl Stars has heavily featured loot boxes as part of its rewards. But with yesterday’s update, that’s no longer the case.

    Supercell / Brawl Stars

    “No more probabilities, no more random rewards, and no more playing the guessing game when you unlock Brawlers,” said the game’s lead designer Frank Keienburg in Supercell’s Brawl Talk video.

    Yesterday, as part of this update, all unclaimed boxes were automatically opened and all the rewards were given to players accordingly. Moving forward, Keienburg and Supercell say that all rewards—including its battle passes—will be replaced with “different, deterministic rewards, some of which are new to the game.” Now, players have a new battle pass-like feature, The Starr Road, which lets them unlock all characters for free via grinding. Players can now just buy any brawler they want with gems, instead of randomly buying dozens of loot boxes to maybe get a specific hero.

    “We’re making this change for a few reasons,” continued Keienburg. “Mainly, moving away from probabilities and chance, which will make things more fair and predictable for you. It also gives you clear and exciting goals every time you play the game.”

    Of course, there’s also the possibility that Supercell and other devs are removing loot boxes as various governments around the world begin cracking down on them with proposed new laws and regulations.

    While I think removing loot boxes is a good thing and something worth celebrating—especially as mobile games continue to be some of the worst offenders with even good games like Marvel Snap including predatory purchases of over $100 or more—the community reaction is far less positive. While some players seem happy about the removal of random reward crates, others expressed disappointment. The comments on the Brawl Talk video has players rallying against the devs and demanding boxes return to Brawl Stars.

    Why? For some it seems that the excitement of a loot box outweighed the frustration that often accompanies them. Others suggested they now have little interest in playing the game since random rewards are being removed. (I think some of these people need to stop and think if they really like Brawl Stars or just like pulling a virtual lever on a slot machine…) We saw something similar to this happen with Overwatch 2’s release, where some players were angry at the removal of loot boxes and demanded they be returned to the game. And while I agree that progression in Overwatch 2 sucks at the moment, I’d rather Blizzard figure out a way to fix that doesn’t involve bringing back loot boxes, even if it did give you a lot of free ones before.

    The reality is that as games continue to become more and more popular, more countries will begin investigating the industry and how it makes money. And loot boxes are likely never to return in vogue as long as so many governments are leading crusades to regulate or outlaw them.

     

    [ad_2]

    Zack Zwiezen

    Source link

  • 3 Critical Lessons When Changing Your Business and Journey

    3 Critical Lessons When Changing Your Business and Journey

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Leadership isn’t easy, nor is entrepreneurship. Bringing a new idea or concept to market is a dream for many, but it can often feel daunting. When reflecting on my journey to CEO, I recently asked myself, what are the three important lessons I would tell my younger self?

    I came up with the following: Always listen to your customers, choose progress over perfection and get your employees involved. Keeping these lessons in mind will help your quest for entrepreneurial excellence and change in your business. Here’s why I think so.

    Related: Entrepreneurship is Risky. Follow This Less Risky Path For Entrepreneurial Success

    1. Listen to your customers

    When changing your business or product, customers will usually react in one of two ways. On the one hand, they may be receptive and open to change. Often, this occurs when the change doesn’t require a significant shift in customer behavior. Customers don’t want to be pushed too far outside their comfort zone (or their existing process), so if the change requires a substantial shift in attitude or perhaps a change in how they interact with your business, they might be more resistant.

    Knowing this, it is essential to listen to — and acknowledge — their concerns. As a leader, you probably won’t be able to solve all their problems, but by listening and acknowledging, you can move people down the path toward accepting changes. In addition, you’re supporting the notion that they are on the same team as you, which helps bolster change.

    Another effective way to reinforce a new belief is to focus on “peak moments” — i.e., specific parts of the consumer decision journey that have a disproportionate impact and that consumers tend to remember most.

    Peak moments often include first-time experiences with a product or service, touchpoints at critical milestones in the customer journey (such as the first renewal cycle), and other moments of intense consumer interaction (and reaction).

    Related: How to Quickly Adapt to Change and Future-Proof Your Business

    2. Progress over perfection

    In today’s competitive start-up landscape, it is tempting to strive for perfection when launching a new product, idea or solution — especially those of us with an engineering bent. No one wants to go to market with something that feels “less than.” However, grasping for the goal of perfection can be a barrier to real growth. Like the well-worn aphorism says, “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”

    Without making mistakes and allowing the chance to improve, we’d never know what success looks like — that’s the danger of letting perfection be the enemy of good. And honestly, it’s those ups and downs that make entrepreneurship life interesting.

    Related: Seek Progress, Not Perfection: Why Your Business Should Embrace the “Toothpick Rule”

    During my career, I have witnessed the transition in both thinking and execution from so-called waterfall to agile — essentially moving from sequential to iterative. It is a huge difference maker in quickly demonstrating (or not) progress. While it might sound scary to release something small and seemingly incomplete, realize that as consumers, we have grown accustomed to that approach of consuming new products and processes — think about the last mobile app you downloaded.

    Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself and your teams to take high-risk and high-reward opportunities. Taking the time to experiment, learn from problems and discover new solutions is all part of the process. It not only allows you and your business to grow but encourages your team’s development as well.

    3. Get employees involved

    While the C-suite garners a lot of attention and credit when a company performs well, each employee is part of the beating heart of the organization and plays a vital role in enacting change. So, think holistically about change from the bottom to the top.

    To make this happen, as a leader, you should strive to cultivate an environment of trust, curiosity and learning. Leaders must build trust rather than undermine it to spark a sense of commitment and create a culture of motivation and professional development in their business. This helps encourage more discussions and synthesis about what is and isn’t working.

    Also, companies that make innovation, transparency and trust a core value of their culture often attract similar qualities in the employees they hire. There is no doubt that the next generation of talent is making waves in the workforce landscape. From the pandemic to the Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting, there’s a shift in what employees look for in their employers.

    The needs of each employee and organization differ, but generally speaking, it’s not surprising that employees want to be valued and take responsibility for high-value initiatives. To be clear, success here starts with attracting talent that embodies your company’s values.

    Related: Entrepreneurs Are Struggling With Mental Illness. Here are 5 Ways to Manage Your Mental Health As An Entrepreneur

    Moving forward

    All in all, change in your business, your products and the market can and should take time. Accomplishment doesn’t happen overnight. Be open and wise to this. Also, be prepared to learn as you go. There is a difference between reading about and experiencing these lessons firsthand.

    And perhaps most importantly, don’t underestimate what your team can accomplish when given a clear vision and the resources to execute — empowerment is the secret sauce of top-performing organizations.

    [ad_2]

    Jim Contardi

    Source link

  • 7 Secrets of Truly Successful Personal Brands

    7 Secrets of Truly Successful Personal Brands

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The choice to launch your brand is noticeable. But creating a solid brand is essential. Authenticity, consistency, initiative, confidence, courage, and time are required to complete everything.

    Personal branding is not a thing to do because social media says so. Today it’s an essential element in your communication strategy, used by not only famous and influential people and big businesses but also every individual that wants to be seen, heard and ultimately valued.

    Globally, everyday people are already creating their own brands. The corporate branding machine enslavement is too much, so many professionals are leaving employment. It is crucial to build your brand authority because other than leading to commercial and reputational opportunities, it’s also positive for your self-expression.

    Better clientele, industry recognition and financial gains result from it. Due to declining trust in our institutions, customers trust individuals more than businesses; therefore, you should concentrate on establishing your personal (and business) brand as part of your elevation strategy.

    Check out these seven personal branding success secrets:

    1. Find and curate your “A-Team”

    A new brand’s path can be pretty tricky and resemble an endless race of overcoming technical, emotional and personal obstacles. A key component of overcoming these obstacles is finding and building a solid team that shares your vision and mission.

    Co-founders, workers, advisers, consultants, mentors, coaches and even dependable family members may be a part of your team — link your team selection to your values and ideals and favor compatibility above competence.

    Related: I’ve Interviewed and Hired Thousands of People. Here’s What to Keep in Mind Before Offering the Job.

    2. Tap into future trends and needs

    Adapting based on future trends and customer needs is pivotal because the world is evolving daily. For example, if Jeff Bezos tried setting up an online bookstore today, he would most possibly fail miserably. However, his foresight to know what customers need drove Amazon to a global ecommerce store today. Timing is everything!

    Likewise, knowing the market’s future can help your brand make the right moves and become successful. But it doesn’t imply it’s impossible to foresee how the corporate world will develop. What matters most is how analytically sound you are and how well-equipped you are to anticipate future events.

    Even though it won’t always be exact to a tee, this will give you a solid idea of where things are going. Making assumptions about future trends carries some calculated risk, but staying safe will never help you or your brand grow.

    Related: Looking for a New Business Idea? Here’s How to Identify What People Really Need

    3. Unlearn outdated trends to make way for the new

    For a brand to flourish, it is vital to unlearn in business. We can only build something fresh and distinctive if we let go of our outdated attitudes and practices—discovering a new project or closing a transaction with unexpected customers results from curiosity.

    Unlearning is a systematic strategy to advance and overcome barriers one at a time.

    Entrepreneurship success is composed of 20% learning and 80% unlearning. Remove the restrictive presumptions to make room for helpful information.

    4. Think fast for solutions and act fast

    One of the secrets to a great brand is having the capacity to think and respond quickly. Since environmental issues are worsening, the brand must move soon, seek eco-alternatives and sustainable solutions that reduce their adverse effects, and convey the concept of conscious living to the next generation as quickly as possible.

    Simply acting quickly and moving quickly to find answers can give you a competitive edge. If you are not in a technology-dominant business-like distribution, manufacturing, or something not typically controlled by technology firms, your rivals are probably advancing slowly. We must make many daily decisions, but some are more crucial than others.

    For example, eating is essential, but whether you choose a salad, chicken or a Big Mac is less important at the moment. You can think more rapidly if you can swiftly pick what to eat. Even if your choice weren’t the best, the effects would be minimal in the short term.

    5. Be adaptable and flexible

    Being an entrepreneur entails weighing possibilities and dangers equally. This will help you create a distinct brand and ensure its long-term survival and competitiveness. Many new brands tend to concentrate on a single item or service.

    Meanwhile, they frequently need to see the value of brand creation right away. Startup brands often think that the benefits of their products are evident and that the brand can speak for itself. You can only place that much faith in some potential consumers.

    You must include the development of your brand skills in your content strategy and make sure that the visuals reflect this.

    You must evaluate new items in light of your company values as you grow. Check to see if your objectives are compatible, and if not, make any necessary modifications.

    6. Become an autodidact

    After college, education for most people typically comes to an end. However, your reputation will continue to rise if you develop a passion for studying and being an autodidact.

    However, in this day and age of information overload and many online distractions, being an effective autodidact can be taxing. Therefore, staying focused on your mission is more crucial than ever.

    Some people contend that the age of the autodidact, or self-directed learning, is currently upon us. After all, the internet is brimming with tools for self-learning that you can utilize to build your brand. However, beware that some may lack substance and are merely shiny bells and whistles.

    Related: 6 Little-Known Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

    7. Be street smart

    Being “street smart,” or able to foresee and handle unexpected everyday business issues, is generally seen as a crucial ability for brand owners and entrepreneurs.

    Most investors claim to be able to spot this capacity when they see it, but the experience is necessary to describe it. To be a street-smart person, you need to comprehend your brand’s surroundings or condition well.

    You are consciously aware of your surroundings. Moreover, you can see what’s happening around you even when you can’t see it. You can form opinions about the situation based on lived experience, the environment and the people in it, giving you the confidence to put your faith in these opinions.

    Related: Are You ‘Intelligent’ Enough to Be an Entrepreneur?

    Conclusion

    To succeed at personal branding, you must be a brand new, evolving you. In a world full of imitators, be genuine and authentic to yourself.

    Authentic personal branding is more than simply self-promotion and marketing commonly seen online. It focuses more on making a courageous difference in people’s lives and inspiring them to live better lives. It can also be about inspiring humanity to do good. After 33 years in this game, I believe and practice that “doing good” is all possible.

    You must invest time and effort to be the “go-to” authority in your chosen area. All things worth doing must be done well; therefore, it’s better to make the most of that time and effort!

    Applying the seven tips above will help you create an authentic personal brand that is true to you and enjoy the success that will inevitably follow.

    [ad_2]

    Jon Michail

    Source link

  • Loot Boxes Would Be For Adults Only, If Australian Bill Passes

    Loot Boxes Would Be For Adults Only, If Australian Bill Passes

    [ad_1]

    Image for article titled Loot Boxes Would Be For Adults Only, If Australian Bill Passes

    Image: Blizzard

    Following the example set by governments in countries like Belgium and the Netherlands, an Australian politician has put forward a bill that would, if passed into law, massively restrict the use of loot boxes in video games aimed at children.

    Federal politician Andrew Wilkie, an independent, introduced the bill into parliament yesterday. He proposes that loot box mechanics—where players use actual money to buy random in-game items—prey upon the same impulses that gambling does, and that they can serve as a pathway to get kids hooked. He suggests that any game with loot boxes (or similar systems) should not only be restricted to those over the age of 18 (the legal gambling age in Australia), but should also carry warning labels specifying the reason for the rating as well.

    While Australia has a reputation for being incredibly heavy-handed with its classification of video games—mostly down to a broken old system from decades past that has since been overhauled (but which still has some drug-related kinks in the pipe)—I think this is a no-brainer?

    I’ve got a nine-year-old son who plays a lot of games, and the extent to which this stuff is rampant inside platforms like Roblox is terrifying. Then consider the popularity of sports games like FIFA and NBA2K, both of which feature extensive focus on what’s basically gambling, and you can see how this is a regulatory (and psychological!) timebomb that just keeps ticking away.

    Here’s the full outline of the bill, which in some cases wouldn’t just restrict the sale of these games, but in some situations just straight up ban them (“RC” means Refused Classification, and games without classification can’t legally be sold here):

    Loot boxes are features of interactive games containing undisclosed items that can be purchased with real currency. They can take the form of a virtual box, crate, prize wheel or similar mechanism and contain a prize or item which may or may not benefit the player. For example, a loot box might contain a particular character, additional play time or access to levels and game maps. As the rewards contained within these loot boxes can offer competitive advantages within the game, they carry significant value for players and may hold resale value.

    By tempting players with the potential to win game-changing items, encouraging risk-taking for possible reward, delivering random prizes on an intermittent basis, and encouraging players to keep spending money, loot boxes give rise to many of the same emotions and experiences associated with poker machines and traditional gambling activities. This is especially concerning as many games which contain these features are popular with adolescents and young adults. Despite this, loot boxes are not currently required to be considered in classification decisions nor are games required to advertise when they contain this feature.

    This bill remedies this by requiring the Classification Board to consider loot boxes when classifying a game. Further, the Board must set a minimum classification of R18+ or RC for games containing this feature, which will restrict children from purchasing and playing these games.

    The amendments also require a warning to be displayed when games contain loot boxes or similar features, so that they can be easily identified by parents and guardians.

    [ad_2]

    Luke Plunkett

    Source link

  • 10 Cost-Saving Ideas For Businesses

    10 Cost-Saving Ideas For Businesses

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    None of us is immune to what’s currently happening in the economy, forcing many business owners and executives to consider ways to cut costs. I recently asked my leadership team to take a good, hard look at their expenses to determine what can and should be cut and gauge the effects those specific savings would have on the business.

    Finding ways to save money in your business is not always as obvious as you think and can come from a few places that are not typically looked at. Here I outline ten money-saving ideas all business owners should consider.

    Related: 7 Outdated Habits That Will Paralyze Your Business

    1. Root out process inefficiencies

    Take a look at how technology can play a role in improving efficiencies. How can you utilize technology to minimize time, effort and money spent where it doesn’t need to be? Whether it’s analytical data that helps you be quicker to market or process improvements that make your supply chain run more efficiently — plus having good processes around where you spend money.

    For larger projects, obtain three quotes from separate vendors before placing an order. Make sure you negotiate the best possible cost on a meaningful purchase. Be assured that what you are buying is right for your business.

    Related: How to Ditch the Inefficiencies That Are Eating Your Revenue

    2. Reduce office expenses

    I think that the mentality of being scrappy is essential. What I mean by scrappy is being pugnacious and determined not to be wasteful. Think local and establish relationships with local businesses. In our industry, for example, we buy, manufacture and print labels for our customers and brands. Fortunately, our label vendor is literally down the street, so we’re saving money on transit costs. Utilizing your local network ensures you’re getting the best price, not just in direct costs but also in time and effort.

    3. Make sure you have the right employees for the right roles

    This boils down to “right people, right seats.” When you look at the world today and how the labor pool has, for various reasons, contracted, having the right person in a role who’s passionately engaged is vital. They get it, they want it and they can do it. Over the long haul, that spells increased efficiency and savings. Running a business where you don’t have the right people in the right seats makes everything cumbersome and challenging.

    In most businesses, marketing tends to be something companies can overspend on. That’s why it’s essential to have the right marketing person in the right seat. This person has relationships and expertise and knows when a consultant can do something and when something should be handled in-house.

    Employee retention helps, too. Teams have chemistry, they understand how people operate and they play off each other’s strengths and weaknesses. When you’re constantly replacing people on the team, that’s all learning that must be done over again instead of doing the job.

    Related: 5 Effective Strategies for Employee Retention

    4. Expand on social media and community engagement

    I’ve seen brands effectively connect the organization to the consumer through social media. One thing to understand is that your content should be organic and user-generated, not scripted or overly polished. Recording content on your own versus paying an influencer or agency thousands of dollars has a cost-benefit. But there’s an even bigger reason why you want to choose this path.

    Today’s consumers see right through content that’s heavily produced and edited. Instead, they follow, work with, purchase from and remain loyal to easily relatable brands that don’t take themselves too seriously and have no problem being transparent about every aspect of their business.

    Sit with your marketing and finance teams to determine what percentage of the annual budget needs to be allocated toward purchasing equipment and boosting posts. Use data and analytics to determine what posts help you meet your goals (e.g., engagements, views, conversions, etc.) and place your bets accordingly.

    5. Refine, then automate

    When you’re talking about logistics and shipping and the operational piece of the business, the more automated you get your orders in and out the door, the more efficient you’ll be. This hopefully means you’ll have more bandwidth to spend time doing other things, right?

    I also believe in minimizing clicks and pain points within your sales process. Have information readily available, so employees don’t have to click five different screens to get to what they need to get through. You want to free up the time to sell and reduce the time spent on administrative tasks. For example, you could automate invoicing or utilize a service that consolidates your accounts payable, so you don’t have to pay somebody for that.

    Related: Want to Improve Workplace Efficiency? Improve Your Team Dynamics First.

    6. Slice operational costs

    If you can operate all aspects of your business under one roof, that’s ideal. For example, if you complete the shipping or manufacturing of your products in-house, you don’t want to be in three different buildings — you want to be in one building so you can organize things, get the best use of your staff, maximum use of the space and highest possible output.

    You don’t want to sit on tons of office space because that is bleeding money. Whatever you can do to get out of those situations as soon as possible, the better off you’ll be. Looking into co-working spaces might be worthwhile in certain cases, too.

    7. Look at insurance and cash flow

    You need to have somebody who has the experience, knows the right questions to ask, understands your business needs, and is bound to save you money regarding insurance. For employee health benefits, make sure people have a choice and have an option that makes sense for both the business and the employee. Over and above making sure you’re not under-insured or over-insured, it’s more important that you’re insured correctly.

    Avoid short-term loans, cash advances and borrowing on high interest. If you’re buying things on credit, pay it off. And don’t get smashed with interest. Make sure you’re only buying what you need. All of those things factor into good cash flow.

    One of the things my CEO mentor always used to say is that there always needs to be a certain number in the bank. So, if we even got close to that number, he would send out fire alarms. It was all hands on deck evaluating things, cutting things we didn’t need and making sure that the company’s cash position was one we felt comfortable with. This way, we could sleep at night and know we were in good shape. That’s just one of those old-school mentalities that have always stuck with me.

    8. Staff up or hire out?

    If you don’t have the expertise, you need to be ultra-selective in ensuring you’re not just being penny-wise and pound-foolish. I always say you don’t want to step over the dollar bills to pick up pennies. If you can save money on wages and other things, that’s great, but you must set KPIs.

    You have to understand (and communicate) what your expectations are from these independent contractors; otherwise, you’re just going to be spending good money without seeing any benefit from it. And that’s throwing money out the window. So, there’s a little bit of a catch-22 there. You’ll save money on the fringe but must have measurables to ensure they’re performing.

    Related: 8 People You Should Hire to Grow Your Startup Fast

    9. Reduce travel expenses

    If you don’t have to travel, don’t. But when you do need to travel, travel effectively. Make sure that there’s a good travel policy about meals, hotels, flights, etc. These expenses can go through the roof if you don’t have some control. Use Zoom, Teams and other messaging applications when possible, but also be cost-effective in managing travel.

    Related: 9 Business Expenses You Can Reduce or Eliminate to Save Thousands

    10. Specialize in what you’re good at

    So, you’re a sales and marketing operation, and you’re struggling. Then you, all of a sudden, decide you’re going to start doing packaging, but you have no clue how to do it. This is probably a recipe for failure because you’re not focusing on the areas you’re good at, and you’re taking time and effort away to try and learn something you don’t need to. But the nice thing about the way the world is that somebody out there can do it; you need to find the right partner.

    Being careful with money doesn’t mean being cheap — quite the opposite. It means honoring the value of the money entrusted to your company by customers for goods and services they care about.

    Related: How to Specialize Without Locking Your Startup Out of the Market

    [ad_2]

    Vincent Tricarico

    Source link

  • The 4 Principles of Onboarding for Product-Led Growth Platforms

    The 4 Principles of Onboarding for Product-Led Growth Platforms

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As the product-led growth (PLG) motion becomes increasingly more popular, the process will mature as will the strategic process of acquiring customers. The stages of customer acquisition are becoming ever more apparent in line with the flywheels of both the PLG process and the inbound marketing strategy.

    The PLG flywheel has four stages; activate, adopt, adore and advocate. The inbound flywheel has three; attract, engage and delight. Each of these spins faster the more you learn, test and iterate for long-term success. Yet none of these reflects the principles of product-led onboarding in my mind.

    Related: How Customer Enablement Drives Product-led Growth

    The stages of onboarding for B2B PLG organizations

    To set the scene, onboarding does not start at the point someone signs a contract or inserts their credit card details. Onboarding is widely agreed to start at the first touchpoint in any channel your organization owns. This could be an ad, a social media post, an event or a speculative email, for example, and each of these must set the tone or trend for the following activities and actions. So, what are the four principles?

    • Marketing onboarding: making the unfamiliar familiar

    • Platform onboarding: familiar to the freemium user

    • Value onboarding: freemium to paid user

    • Peer-led onboarding: paid user to product champion

    For each principle, there are corresponding tactics and strategies — some of which can be applied in silos, and others perform best when used in a cumulative or combined strategic approach. Let’s discuss these in more detail.

    Marketing onboarding principles for PLG companies

    The very first stage of onboarding for product-led companies is marketing. From here, there is a natural flow to take strangers to champions. But what does that look like, and what is the best strategy focusing on B2B SaaS? For me, it’s the inbound marketing strategy, but let’s look at some of the channels you can adopt:

    You can dominate a single channel alone, but that may not prove beneficial to your longer-term goals. For many, content marketing is the price of admission to sit at the table, but for content to succeed in today’s overcrowded online world, you need email marketing to support it, paid advertising to promote it and social media marketing (both organic and paid) to distribute it.

    Therefore, a multi-channel persona-led inbound marketing strategy is the only choice. Unless, of course, your PLG platform also sells to the enterprise, and then you will require both an inbound and account-based marketing strategy for continued success. Beyond this, you need a strong messaging strategy on your website’s copy that will drive your new interested parties to start to try your platform.

    Related: Inbound Marketing — What is it and Why Does it Matter?

    Platform onboarding principles for PLG companies

    Once you’ve fully optimized your marketing strategy (which can only happen over time as you collect and use your data) you want to fully optimize your onboarding process. To do this, you need to use a recognized framework or combination frameworks like:

    Nail this stage of the onboarding process and your customer acquisition program will be heating up. Not only have I given you the playbook on PLG onboarding here, but I’ve also given you the tools to do it — and I’m not done yet.

    Value onboarding for product-led SaaS

    The articles I’ve shared with you in the hyperlinks will give you and your team more value guidance and context for sure, but there’s another stage to optimizing onboarding and that requires tools. These tools come in the form of:

    • Pendo

    • Userflow

    • Chameleon

    • Heap

    • Amplitude

    • Mixpanel

    • FullStory

    There’s also a whole host of other tools to help you understand if your product is delivering the value you set out to deliver, where the bottlenecks are and how you can deal with them. Optimizing your PLG platform for value is how you minimize the time that your freemium users take to recognize the true value of your product.

    Keep optimizing to deliver ongoing value and to understand how to build and focus on future product and/or feature releases.

    Peer-led or peer-to-peer onboarding for product-led organizations

    The final principle of onboarding is to optimize your platform’s ability for your champions or cheerleaders to invite their friends and colleagues. Whilst incentives are always good, ultimately, you want to build a product so good, so valuable and so necessary that your best users can’t help but talk about you and hype you up.

    You want these users to tell their stories and have your platform as a hero in the story. So, how do you do that? The likelihood is that if you nail the first three, this one takes care of itself. However, your job is not to become complacent but to treat this onboarding phase like a partnership channel — one that is driven by a user community, not a sales team.

    You can add the ability to invite and share from their account, that’s pretty much standard these days, but ask your team this question: How do we enable our best users, the champions and cheerleaders, to easily invite and onboard new users on our behalf? Figure that out through a champions committee or something similar, and you’ve nailed the four stages of PLG onboarding.

    Related: How to Turn Strangers into Loyal Customers With User Onboarding

    I hope you enjoyed this take on the four principle stages of onboarding for product-led growth platforms and that I’ve given you enough for you to go back to your teams and refocus your efforts. Using this framework will allow your organization to become more embedded and cross-functional, which can only prove beneficial for the entire go-to-market motion.

    [ad_2]

    Paul Sullivan

    Source link

  • 7 Tips to Manage a Fully Remote International Business

    7 Tips to Manage a Fully Remote International Business

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    More companies are ditching the overhead costs of dedicated office spaces and unlocking global growth opportunities by transitioning to a fully remote business operation.

    While the potential benefits are significant, business leaders will face various challenges. Follow these tips to manage your fully remote company better.

    Related: 7 Outdated Habits That Will Paralyze Your Business

    1. Clearly define your mission and vision

    Steering a company in a strategic direction is challenging when everyone is located within the same building, and it is even harder for fully remote organizations.

    A clearly defined and adequately communicated mission and vision are vital for every successful remote business as this serves as a roadmap to guide the actions of every employee and the organization.

    If your employees connect with your mission and vision, everyone understands what they are working towards, how the company plans to get there, and what is expected from them. This unified vision is increasingly essential in an organization characterized by diverse backgrounds, cultures and languages.

    2. Don’t think local. Think global

    A fully remote business gives you access to new markets and a global customer base and opens up opportunities to tap into global talent pools.

    Don’t fall into the trap of keeping your hiring strategies and recruitment drives contained to home markets.

    For example, despite an ample supply of English-speaking Eastern European teachers, when Novakid was ready to launch, the founders looked for native English speakers from across the globe via Facebook groups.

    Building a globally distributed workforce enabled the business to expand into new markets with teachers in each region rapidly. This approach also created a pool of non-native English-speaking tutors who are highly proficient in the language but offer services at a lower cost to the company.

    Furthermore, offering classes with bilingual teachers from different regions created unique opportunities for students to experience diverse cultures and accents, which became a competitive differentiator for the company.

    A globally distributed workforce also provides additional benefits, such as better business continuity and diverse thinking, which can drive innovation and greater organizational agility.

    Related: Are Fully-Remote Businesses the Future?

    3. Build a company culture based on accountability

    The lack of direct oversight of employee time often causes concern for business leaders as their company transitions from a brick-and-mortar operation to a fully remote business. While keeping a tight rein on working hours is tempting, it is vital that every remote business finds the balance between flexibility and accountability. Rigid rules and set working hours can stifle innovation and complicate working arrangements.

    Instead, give employees the flexibility to structure their workdays around their individual needs, circumstances and preferences. The key is to set clear expectations regarding outputs and deliverables rather than tightly monitoring their inputs.

    Employees who understand this dynamic will have the discipline to manage their time effectively to complete their work tasks while also getting to the personal things they plan for their day — be it a family time or an exercise session.

    4. Empower your employees to act independently

    Building a company culture based on values like trust, honesty, discipline, courage, integrity and curiosity are the ingredients for a thriving remote international business.

    Over time, this gives employees the courage to take the initiative, make decisions, solve problems independently and, ultimately, take responsibility for their actions and outcomes when they don’t have direct access to management or colleagues. And waiting for feedback via online collaboration tools can also create bottlenecks that slow implementation and reduce organizational agility.

    As such, successful remote organizations give staff the autonomy to make their own decisions and the space they need to be brave.

    Fostering a culture of trust nurtures other positive traits within a remote workforce, such as curiosity, bravery, innovative thinking and bold experimentation. The freedom and confidence to explore, develop and try new methodologies and new ways of working can create a competitive advantage for your organization.

    This environment also supports a trend known as the “culture of everyone,” where employees become responsible for their development and learning paths. This is a powerful tool to boost employee motivation and satisfaction and can serve as an effective way to attract and retain talent.

    5. Prioritize talent and experience

    A key element in my company’s success as a remote international business has been our preference for hiring people with expertise and experience. While some companies prefer hiring junior people and developing them internally to keep salary costs low, this is not always the most appropriate option for remote organizations.

    The time and resources this approach requires often comes with an opportunity cost. And a junior person with no experience has to learn a lot. However, the nature of remote work means that managers cannot always provide the access and availability needed to quickly get junior staff up to speed.

    Bringing in people with expertise and experience means you get staff who can self-manage and work with freedom while delivering the quality outputs they require.

    6. Implement technologies that help employees

    Technology offers the ideal solution to transcend the geographic boundaries and time zones that remote international companies deal with daily.

    Online productivity tools like Slack create clear communication channels for different goals and purposes while supporting collaboration between dispersed teams and different workstreams.

    Video conferencing tools are another indispensable tool. They ensure that remote companies maintain interpersonal face-to-face interactions, which are vital to building rapport and conveying meaning beyond verbal or written communication. These interpersonal interactions are also important to transmit corporate culture.

    Productivity management tools provide managers with insights into workforce efficiency and outputs. The resultant analytics can help identify improvement areas or highlight workflows or processes that need refinement.

    7. Champion internal communication

    Fully remote international businesses require the appropriate tools, processes and procedures to drive clear and concise organization-wide communication and foster collaboration among employees in remote teams.

    Remote teams must frequently communicate transparently and correctly, regardless of the channel. Management and leadership must ensure they can effectively convey their messages to the right targets.

    Effective communication fosters trust through transparency and ensures remote employees clearly understand their tasks, roles and responsibilities.

    Creating multiple channels for staff to give their feedback and opinions, ask questions, share ideas, profile great work or simply voice their concerns allows remote workers to communicate their value and makes them feel heard and empowered.

    Related: Maintaining a Collaborative Culture in a Hybrid and Remote World

    [ad_2]

    Max Azarov

    Source link

  • How to Build the Infrastructure Needed to Scale Your Company

    How to Build the Infrastructure Needed to Scale Your Company

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Scaling your business might sound like a dream come true. But without the proper infrastructure in place, it can quickly turn into an absolute nightmare. Trying to grow when you haven’t put solid building blocks in place is like throwing up a tent on quicksand. It won’t be long before you sink — and at that point, getting out might not be an option.

    Many companies, especially newer ones, overlook the importance of infrastructure in business. Unfortunately, their oversight can often lead them to fail when they try to gain steam. A 2022 CB Insights study of failed startups revealed the top dozen reasons that can lead to an organization’s demise. Three of those reasons are related to a lack of proper infrastructure: a flawed business model (19%), a poorly hired team (14%) and stakeholder disharmony (7%).

    You might want to think of constructing your infrastructure like planning a vacation. Most vacationers don’t put their families in the car and take off for the week without prior planning. They create a general road map based on their goals, their budget, the number of people and maybe some very personalized factors such as preferred types of restaurants or lodging. The road map would need to be flexible enough to handle pivots but sturdy enough to provide a definitive guide, perhaps with a few guardrails.

    The same is true for business. When you’ve invested in a framework for scaling up, you reward yourself with a higher likelihood of seeing your business scaling strategy come to fruition. You also make scaling less stressful because everyone is working toward the same objectives rather than moving toward cross-purposes.

    A solid infrastructure is a crucial building block to ultimately see growth and scalability in your business. Keep the following suggestions in mind to assemble your ideal infrastructure:

    Related: Serve Your Employees With a Better Infrastructure

    1. Make sure you have the right internal team in place

    It will be challenging for your business to keep getting bigger if you have several skills and knowledge gaps in your team. The same is true if your staff is working at (or beyond) full capacity and you don’t plan on bringing in any help. If your employees feel overwhelmed or unprepared as you scale up, you’ll see your growth opportunities fall apart at the seams.

    It is imperative to make sure you have the right people in place that have digital DNA and ensure your term is cross-functional with a high-level understanding of how to serve across all functions. For example, a technical person who knows how to create proper onsite functionality and work with the proper tracking tools such as pixels and tag manager will create results that are significantly more beneficial to the company.

    You can start measuring your team’s strength by developing two organizational charts. The first should show your organization as it is today, and the second should show it as it needs to be for your company to scale. Be sure to pick out any places where team members will require training to participate fully. Then figure out how to deliver that training so you can remain competitive throughout the business’s rapid growth.

    A recent Capterra survey indicates that nearly half of all companies asked said they were putting more funds into upskilling. Doing likewise makes sense because your employees will then be able to exhibit the confidence to master scaling, thanks to their education and the company’s reorganization.

    Related: 4 Mistakes to Avoid While Scaling Up Your Infrastructure

    2. Refine your marketing machine

    If your marketing efforts aren’t producing impressive returns now, they won’t suddenly start working great just because you scale. You could even end up wasting dollars on poorly designed marketing campaigns that don’t reach the right audiences or deliver the data you need. As one study found, around one-quarter of all marketing budget funds could end up going down the drain for myriad reasons.

    Marketing is a critical component because it sets the stage for you to bring in the leads you need to scale. Without more leads, you can’t grow — case closed. So, before you get into growth mode, you need to refine your marketing, from PPC to SEO and all the acronyms in between. Start by determining which marketing tactics are driving the most qualified prospects into the top or middle of your sales funnel. You want to hone those tactics, so start testing ways to make them produce leads on a reliable basis.

    Don’t be afraid to take on a partner to outsource your marketing. Trying to do everything in-house can be both costly and challenging, particularly as your marketing becomes more complex (hint: It will!). The benefits of a partnership with an agency or provider that understands your business are widespread. You’ll have access to expertise, advanced tools and innovative strategies that you don’t usually have in-house. Even if you do have in-house marketing, the team might not be familiar with what works best in an ever-changing digital age. In contrast, an agency with multiple clients is more commonly on the cutting edge of innovation.

    Plus, with an agency, you won’t have to lean so heavily on your capital expenditures and employees to deploy campaigns, track data, create content or generate and interpret reports. Most importantly, a great agency will not only increase your chances to grow successfully but also help you achieve your goals faster with less effort and total investment.

    3. Be certain your product works

    This might sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many companies go all out before making sure they’ve addressed glaring flaws in the items they sell. Even if you’re in a service industry, you must ensure all customer-facing experiences, features, assets and the like are ready for prime time.

    Trying to gain steam when you’re not selling something worth buying makes zero sense and often creates unnecessary friction between buyers and sellers. Nonetheless, companies routinely spend about 20% of their sales income on poor-quality products that haven’t been adequately addressed. Not only will your sales and customer support representatives end up fielding unhappy calls all the time, but your brand reputation could take a terrible hit, too. As part of your infrastructure planning, be honest about any design snags in your offerings. Then spend time correcting them.

    Don’t forget that processes might also deserve some tweaks. Let’s say your customers constantly complain about your time to ship. Those complaints aren’t going to evaporate when you get larger. Smoothing them out makes a lot of sense, especially during the beginning stages of growth.

    Related: Moving Beyond Startup Mode: 5 Tips for Building a Solid Infrastructure

    Scaling might be on your mind in the near future. Don’t rev the motor just yet, though. Make sure your infrastructure roadmap includes everything you need to make your scale adventure an unmitigated success.

    [ad_2]

    Ross Denny

    Source link

  • 7 Relationship-Building Lessons I Learned By Partnering With Over 20 Franchises

    7 Relationship-Building Lessons I Learned By Partnering With Over 20 Franchises

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Franchising has become increasingly popular in recent years, and with good reason. There are two big reasons to do franchising: It allows you to partner with another business to share resources, customers and brand recognition. Secondly, the franchisor and franchisee rely on each other for growth — one can’t grow without the other. So this creates an incentive for both to strengthen their relationship and keep each other happy.

    Business is rough. It’s a battle full of discomfort, pain, haziness, unpredictability and uneasiness. When I consider all the pieces of this business puzzle, the biggest realization I have is that I need to build a team. By working with other entrepreneurs, we can go to “war” together and become stronger because we will have built a supportive network for each other.

    Related: 3 Tips on How to Empower Your Franchisees to Acquire Local Customers

    Having worked with over 20 franchises, I’ve learned so much about partnering with other business owners. I’ve found many similarities between building a business partnership and getting married. In both cases, you’re committing to working with someone else towards common goals, sharing resources and dealing with the good and bad times together.

    Related: Why People are Rethinking Retirement and Franchising Instead

    In business, we often discuss partnerships and franchising as if they are marriages. And in many ways, they are. Both require constant communication, trust, honesty and commitment from all parties involved.

    Just like in a marriage, these relationships can be incredibly rewarding and fraught with challenges. But if all parties are committed to making the relationship work, it can be a very successful venture.

    Here are some key lessons I’ve learned from franchising and partner relationships in business:

    1. With more franchises, you’ll have less time to give them

    When you have just a few franchises, you can dedicate more time and attention to every franchise, as you can keep up and meet their needs. However, it’s important to understand that as you grow in partners, the harder it gets to provide the necessary support and attention they need.

    When you’re starting out and only have to manage a few franchisees, you can get to know them personally and understand their business goals. But as your franchise network grows, providing that same support and attention becomes harder.

    2. You need self-sustaining partners

    As your franchise network grows, you need self-sufficient partners who can sustain themselves without your constant hand-holding. These partners clearly understand the franchisor-franchisee relationship and know how to operate their business independently.

    Communicating and meeting your business partner’s needs is important. However, having them be self-sufficient removes a lot of pressure from you and your team, allowing you to focus on other important matters.

    Related: 10 Ways the Pandemic Transformed Franchising

    3. Franchisees need to feel like they’re part of the family

    Like in a marriage, both partners need to feel like they are part of a family. For a franchise relationship to be successful, franchisees need to feel supported by the franchisor. They should feel like they are part of a team and that their success is the franchisor’s.

    As the franchisor, you must provide adequate training and support so franchisees can succeed. But more importantly, you need to create an environment where franchisees feel like they belong.

    4. Disagreements are inevitable — it’s how you handle them that’s key

    Just like in any relationship, there will be disagreements. It’s important to remember that how you handle these disagreements will determine the relationship’s success.

    In a franchising relationship, both parties must be willing to compromise and find a middle ground. They need to be able to see things from the other person’s perspective and be open to finding a solution that works for both parties.

    5. It’s difficult to keep everyone happy

    In any relationship, it’s impossible to keep everyone happy all the time. And in a franchising relationship, there will always be franchisees who are unhappy with something.

    The key is to listen to their concerns and try to find a way to address them. But at the end of the day, you need to make decisions that are in the best interest of the franchise as a whole.

    Related: How To Launch, Grow and Thrive in Franchising

    6. All relationships require work

    All relationships – whether they’re marriages or business partnerships require work. If you want your relationship to be successful, you must be willing to put in the time and effort. You need to communicate constantly and work together towards common goals.

    The relationship will suffer if you’re not willing to do the work. And in a business setting, that can mean big problems down the road.

    7. Focus on the opportunities

    Having a successful franchising relationship comes down to focus. You need to focus on the opportunities that the relationship provides. You must understand that this requires hard work, but it’s a very rewarding experience.

    You need to see the potential for growth and expansion. And you need to be willing to work together to make it happen. You’ll be well on your way to a successful franchising relationship if you can do that.

    [ad_2]

    JC Hite

    Source link

  • 7 Signs You’re Ready to Transition from Employee to Entrepreneur

    7 Signs You’re Ready to Transition from Employee to Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I recently had a call with one of my best friends who moved to London to work for a big, multinational public company. She’s talented, successful and hardworking.

    Yet, she called me full of tears, anxiety and anger. “They are restructuring the company; they are cutting positions. My role is about to die.”

    I suggested that she apply for the same role in other ventures, companies that could offer multiple benefits, from remote working to stock options. I explained that with her talent, potential and ideas, she could even be self-employed through freelancing for various clients with contracts. She could chase her version of success and happiness. And she could probably end up with more money and even more freedom.

    “You don’t get it.” She said. “I don’t want to be nobody. I want to work for the top companies in the world.”

    Perhaps I don’t get it. But I also don’t get why talented, hardworking individuals like her want to throw their full potential into hierarchy and politics for prestige. Why do they let their companies fill them with stress, ruin their day, restrict their career options and define their value?

    Related: 7 Signs It’s Time to Transition From Employee to Entrepreneur

    Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of great people acknowledging their worth and consciously choosing to advocate the employee’s mentality. They are okay with that.

    But if you’re fed up with the corporate world, feeling like it’s limiting your options in life, and wondering when is the right time to leverage your skillset and make a transition, it’s probably now.

    Here are seven signs you no longer have an employee mentality.

    1. You’re in love with the idea of working wherever and whenever you want

    Flexible work hours and location independence started becoming the norm after the pandemic in 2020. You proved to your employer that location doesn’t affect productivity and that a strict 9 to 5 workday could burn you out instead.

    And while many companies allow work-from-home days and a flexible working schedule, you still have to report your location and total work hours.

    However, with an entrepreneurial mindset, complete location and time flexibility is your dream; you know the only way to achieve that is to fully own your freedom by creating your income stream instead of expecting a salary.

    Related: Remote Work Is Here to Stay: Are You Ready for the New Way of Life?

    2. When in meetings, you’re daydreaming instead of participating.

    The average employer spends at least 3 hours weekly in meetings, with 30% reporting that they spend over 5 hours weekly.

    And instead of actively participating in that meeting, you’re contemplating how to avoid the next one so you can work on something instead. You know you could be spending your time in a more fruitful way than attending company meetings, but there’s nothing you can do about it.

    Someone more senior requested your presence; you have to be there. So there you are, visualizing how you can escape this misspend of your hours, wasting time while time is money.

    Related: Your Time Is Money, So Stop Wasting It

    3. You absolutely despise titles and hierarchy.

    When having an employee mentality, you get so caught up in titles. You fool yourself with pride, showing off on Linkedin, gossiping about others’ abilities, and jealously spreading your best wishes to the colleagues who claimed the C-titles first.

    When you are a business owner, you laugh at job titles. You want people to work with you, not for you. You also know that a title cannot determine your worth. Anybody can go on Linkedin and claim that they are the CEO or an executive member of a 5-people company.

    What does that even mean?

    Fancy titles in corporate jobs almost always equal less freedom, less time to work on your relationships with others and less time to spend with your kids before they become adults.

    C-titles while climbing the corporate ladder also mean less time to invest in your self-care planning, wellness, and personal skills and less time to enjoy life.

    4. You’re testing multiple side hustles after or before work.

    With an employee mindset, you look at the clock at quarter to six and know it’s time to shut down your laptop and get on with your day.

    And while maintaining a work-life balance is crucial, as a business owner, you are continuously testing concepts and trying side hustles to build multiple income streams whenever you can. You don’t depend on one client, idea or salary, but you’re willing to test, take risks, fail and start over.

    Related: 4 Creative Side Hustles That Fight Inflation and Earn Extra Cash

    5) You’re not afraid of building relationships from outreach.

    As an employee, you are terrified of cold pitches. You are not fond of being rejected or ignored because that usually happens. You don’t attempt to reach out to others unless you’re selling something; in that case, you face outreach as a transaction, not a relationship.

    However, as an entrepreneur, you know that expanding your systems by connecting, advising, or simply interacting with others is one of the most vital steps in building a personal or professional brand.

    You don’t underestimate the power of community and networking; you aim to create daily connections with one or two new people in your industry. In one year, you are astonished by your reach and the ways your network proved helpful.

    6. You know that building passive income and making money online is 100% possible.

    When having an employee mentality, you don’t care about investing or building a passive income online. Even if you care, it strikes you as too-good-to-be-true, and you don’t bother putting effort into creating a diversified portfolio.

    On the contrary, when you have entrepreneurial tendencies, you get excited about passive income ideas and turn your world upside down to build an online income.

    Creator’s economy is not a too-good-to-be-true scenario nor a get-rick-quickly scheme. It’s an available reality with no barriers to entry, and as a business owner, you like that challenge. You know that spending an x amount of time creating the tiniest passive income stream can yield 10x results in the near future.

    They know they must find what they enjoy creating and work on it daily.

    7) You’re constantly enriching your knowledge and skillset to increase value.

    You are exchanging your skills and experience with payable work hours as an employee. However, as an entrepreneur, you offer your skillset, idea or business as a service that solves problems and delivers value.

    You don’t charge by the word, hour, or month. You charge according to the advantages and utility of your solutions. You answer questions and deliver results. And because your expertise is directly related to the value and results you deliver, you’re working daily towards improving and enriching it.

    Final thoughts

    Perhaps you’re not 100% ready to escape the rat race. However, if any of the above signs hit true, you know it’s time to start owning your career and follow a path you can fully control.

    [ad_2]

    Maria Dimitropoulou

    Source link

  • A Guide to Consolidation Strategy in Acquisitions

    A Guide to Consolidation Strategy in Acquisitions

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The search fund model is a method of investing that enables entrepreneurs to take a unique path to business ownership. It is structured to help searchers (entrepreneurs who engage in the search fund model) acquire, operate and scale an existing business instead of building one from scratch.

    By offering a rapid path to business ownership, and CEO status, search funds have created a new breed of entrepreneur — those who embrace the notion of plug-and-play.

    A critical factor in the search fund equation is the economic upside searchers could see for their efforts. Historically, this has meant a 32.6 % internal rate of return and a 5.5x multiple on invested capital.

    Related: How To Find Success During Search Fund Launches

    Value creation

    With competition brewing in the form of fellow searchers and even some traditional private equity funds showing interest in acquiring smaller businesses, how do searchers achieve their edge? They look towards combining two or more companies with synergies in size, geographic coverage, key personnel or supply-chain advantages — in other words, a consolidation.

    Programmatic mergers and acquisitions (M&A), according to McKinsey, “remains the least risky approach with the smallest deviation in performance and the largest share of companies that generate positive excess total returns to shareholders (65%)” when compared to large one-off transactions, selective deals or organic growth.

    What does this mean for searchers competing at the smaller end of the enterprise spectrum? It represents an opportunity to bring the tailwinds of M&A-based growth further downstream, and to industries it has yet to touch.

    However, in a survey of 185 Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) businesses purchased by Harvard Business School graduates in the past decade, only 8% have implemented a consolidation strategy of buying multiple businesses in the same industry vertical.

    Challenges

    The timeline and structure of search acquisitions are often limited to two years. Additionally, searchers are often freshly minted MBAs with limited operational and M&A execution experience, which makes adding an additional business target to acquire a daunting task. However, the benefits vastly outweigh the possible downside.

    Related: Search Funds: What You Need To Know About This Investment Model

    Advantages

    With this business strategy inherently being an operational play, key considerations when looking for a second (or more) target could include financial and further operational synergies in the form of:

    • Capital structure improvements from the combined larger size of the businesses
      • Ability to take on additional debt at a lower rate
    • Capital intensity reduction
      • Shared fixed assets, working capital and capital expenditures
    • Margin expansion from greater purchasing power and unit economics
    • Valuation multiple arbitrage
      • In a similar vein to “greater than the sum of its parts,” businesses when combined, often command a higher value than if they were to stand alone

    Related: Data Security and the Downside Risk of M&As

    Picking an industry

    With that, what can searchers do to further de-risk a search consolidation? The answer to this lies in a refined thesis. Searchers with a background operating in a specific industry (i.e., healthcare) have an inherent advantage in launching a search with a focused thesis.

    Finding an industry to commit to can be challenging for those with multiple passions. However, the following markers could indicate the right fit:

    • Fragmented industry landscape (i.e., medical, dental, and veterinarian practices)
      • Industries in which business owners primarily operate a single entity or location
    • Mature and standardized industry operations
      • Businesses that have relied on tried and tested practices over the years
    • A large number of companies
      • Many businesses serve a similar customer profile but in different geographies
    • A large number of companies within the target enterprise value of the fund
      • Understanding the average value of a business in a target industry can help filter out opportunities that are either too small or too large
    • Historically stable growth and sustainable profit margins
      • Businesses that have operated profitably for many years and serve customers who have (if B2B based)

    Picking a business

    Zooming in a layer deeper, companies characteristic of success in the search consolidation model touch on a combination of the following elements:

    • Competitive industry advantage
      • intellectual property, proprietary software, etc.
    • Seller motivated to exit
      • retirement, change in a succession plan, career transition, etc.
    • Historically stable recurring revenue
    • Strategic avenues for growth
      • geographic expansion, marketing strategy, recruiting key personnel, etc.
    • Alignment with the financial mandate of the search fund
    • Viable exit vision over a five to seven-year horizon

    Eight percent is a small but growing fraction of the ETA community that has chosen to tread the path of consolidation. As more seasoned operators and mid-career searchers get involved, the odds of a consolidation strategy becoming more commonplace is only set to grow. This next wave of search fund entrepreneurs could bring revolutionary methods in creative financing, operating and growing businesses — a win-win for budding entrepreneurs and seasoned operators alike!

    [ad_2]

    Karl Eshwer

    Source link

  • Should You Prioritize Growth or Profitability in a Recession? The Answer May Surprise You.

    Should You Prioritize Growth or Profitability in a Recession? The Answer May Surprise You.

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    This year has seen economic slowdown, inflation and war combine into a cocktail that’s now fueling fears of a recession across business sectors, driving uncertainty in everyone from business leaders to investors to employees. Such uncertainty is forcing business leaders to reprioritize and scale back their once-ambitious growth plans. And now, as interest rates go up and valuations go down, more and more businesses are returning to prioritize what was once the only way to ensure a business’s success — positive free cash flow.

    All of this is a very strong reminder for all businesses, but particularly startups and small businesses, that it’s vital to build a company to make money — in both good times and bad. Prioritizing free cash flow is the only way to manage against forces outside of your direct control.

    Related: Never Worry About Cash Flow Again by Using These 5 Strategies

    Positive free cash flow isn’t a luxury

    Many entrepreneurs, especially as they start their businesses, begin at a deficit. While this is expected (“You’ve got to spend money to make money,” as the saying goes), too many businesses, especially in the last decade or so, have spent too long in the unprofitable growth stage. Many notable companies in tech are now faced with hard decisions with real consequential and disruptive effects, including dramatically curtailing investments and layoffs.

    This recent and too-common strategy of sacrificing profitability for growth’s sake can and has worked for some companies. Private and public capital markets faced with a low-interest rate environment have been heavily anchored on the high growth segments of the economy to deploy their capital. This capital glut has distorted long-term value drivers of business, i.e., the relationship between revenue growth rate and free cash flow margins. Given the valuation rewards, too many have solely built their businesses for high growth at all costs.

    For most companies, prioritizing profitability and free cash flow should be seen as the norm. Many business leaders might be surprised that doing so doesn’t materially impact revenue growth.

    Speaking frankly, if you’re running a $100+ million organization that is just burning cash, it is a hobby. That doesn’t mean leaders shouldn’t invest in the business, it’s simply a question of prioritizing investment with the goal of also generating positive free cash flow.

    Businesses are meant to turn a profit. While Wall Street has recently been exceptionally forgiving to growing but unprofitable companies, this historically has not been the case. With extremely low interest rates since the financial crisis of 2007-08, there have been little to no penalties for taking risks on fast-growing but heavily cash-burning companies. The phrase TINA — there is no alternative — came about as a result of the extremely low interest rates providing a significant incentive for investors to chase growth without considering risk, as they had few opportunities to realize returns with lower risk. With interest rates normalizing, however, there are very real investment alternatives to high growth, and valuations for growth are down substantially as a result.

    Now that we’re trending towards a “normal” economy as interest rates return to something approaching long-term historical levels, it’s time for business leaders to return to managing their business operations for these “normal” times. Capital access is going to be tougher now, and investors will demand more balance between growth and free cash flow after the initial phases of product-market fit are established.

    Related: How to Maintain Profitability in a Changing Market

    Prioritizing what’s important

    For small business owners and startup founders who have been less concerned with generating free cash flow and are looking to bolster their balance sheet, there are a few things you can and should do immediately.

    First, you must determine the math that will allow you to control your burn. You and your team need to find a realistic revenue trajectory and break-even point. Without realistic expectations for your near and long-term revenue and fixed expenses, you and your team can never plan for responsible, realistic and profitable growth.

    Once you have your revenue and break-even point, you should be able to figure out what you can plan to spend. Armed with that spend number, it’s time for leadership at all levels to take a look at how their activities connect to revenue. This is where you need complete buy-in from your team and likely a significant change in mindset.

    People get sloppy in good times, which we’ve all been fortunate to enjoy for the last decade. There’s more room for experimentation when horizons are far out, but now as horizons shorten, pies shrink and forecasting becomes less sunny, business leaders must get ruthless about prioritizing projects that are driving revenue — everything else must be seen as a luxury. Projects outside revenue drivers will likely need to either operate off a slimmed-down budget and with more creativity or put on the shelf until sunnier days come.

    Being honest is going to be important here. Be honest with yourself as the business leader about your growth and spending trajectories, with your team about what can and will be prioritized and with investors about what you’re doing to generate cash flow. Setting these expectations will be key to keeping your employees motivated and engaged during what can be a stressful time.

    Related: Positive Cash Flow and Smart Financing Solutions

    Focus on productivity

    As I’ve seen various economic cycles come and go, there are always two terms that seem to come back with a vengeance at every downturn — efficiency and productivity. While there is nothing wrong with having an efficient operation, it seems to me that many companies and leaders only prioritize efficiency when times get tough.

    Instead, I wish leaders focused more on productivity. For many, it will be a return to early startup days when teams were lean and scrappy. It’s incredible what teams can do when focused on making the highest impact on the highest priority work. Get your teams focused and aligned on the right things, and cut out the low-priority items. You’ll be amazed at what can be accomplished.

    There is nothing wrong with making operations more efficient, but this can’t and shouldn’t be a short-term fix that goes out the window the second things look brighter, and neither should a focus on productivity. If and when we climb out of inflationary and recessionary periods, and your team goes right back to prioritizing growth over cash flow, you will likely find yourself in a similar situation the next time the markets begin to dip.

    Related: Why Founders Should Focus on Productivity Instead of Efficiency

    It is easier to burn cash than to generate positive free cash flow. That is to say, it’s easier to defer hard decisions instead of making them now. If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that the future is unpredictable, and businesses — especially SMBs and startups — would be wise to shore up a safety net built on a foundation of profitability. Be realistic with your revenue and spending expectations, and prioritize projects that represent the best opportunities to drive growth and efficiency. This will enable long-term sustainability in good and bad times.

    [ad_2]

    Yancey Spruill

    Source link

  • These Comic Creators Got a $500,000 Shark Tank Investment

    These Comic Creators Got a $500,000 Shark Tank Investment

    [ad_1]

    “I wanted to tell a story about African history before slavery,” Manuel Godoy, co-founder of Black Sands Entertainment with his wife Geiszel, says. “[So I wrote] a story about Ancient Egypt and the surrounding areas. And it was amazing — people gravitated toward it because they finally felt included in historical contexts.”


    Courtesy of Black Sands Entertainment

    The Godoys began Black Sands Entertainment in 2016 to draw attention to the characters and stories that so often go unwritten in mainstream media. Now, the comic publisher and media venture boasts dozens of titles that represent the entire diaspora, and young adults are devouring them — just like the Godoys would have, if they’d had the opportunity at their age.

    Black Sands stands apart for its dedication to Black history and its commitment to the Black community, but something else has also contributed to its striking success: The Godoys’ status as United States Army veterans.

    Ahead of Veterans Day, Entrepreneur sat down with the Godoys to learn how they’ve grown Black Sands from crowdfunding to almost IPO with investments from Kevin Hart and Mark Cuban — and how their Army backgrounds have informed their entrepreneurial journey along the way.

    Related: 6 Ways Small-Business Owners Can Celebrate Veterans Day

    “Momentum is the biggest factor when it comes to raising capital.”

    From the start, the Godoys spread the word about their content on social media and set their sights on raising capital. Between 2017 and 2020, Black Sands ran four Kickstarter campaigns and raised $80,000 in total. Then, in 2020, they decided to launch another campaign on WeFunder.

    “We basically judged the intent of our biggest followers,” Manuel says of their approach to the 2020 campaign. “We asked them, ‘How much were you planning on investing?’ [Then we said], ‘If you were to invest this much money, we would spend at least 15 minutes talking to you about any questions you have about our company, our financials, etc.’”

    The Godoys asked, and their readers answered: They raised $40,000 in those first 24 hours. Ultimately, that campaign brought in $500,000.

    “No one wants to be the first investor,” Manuel adds. “But if you already got 300, 400 investors in the first day, everybody’s like, ‘Hey, I’m joining too.’ Momentum is the biggest factor when it comes to raising capital if you’re going through customers.”

    And the Godoys have kept up Black Sands’ momentum since those early days, climbing to the top 1% of the Patreon community, raising $2 million in capital and earning more than $2 million in revenue to date.

    Related: Why Creators Are Recession-Proof

    “We got on stage, pitched our information, and everybody fell in love.”

    Earlier this year, the Godoys appeared on Shark Tank to pitch their company.

    Shark Tank features Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary as permanent judges, with Kevin Hart, Emma Grede, Peter Jones, Daniel Lubetzky and Nirva Tolia as recurring guest judges.

    The Godoys knew that Hart was going to be one of their judges ahead of time.

    “We knew we had to make him fall in love with our content,” Geiszel says. “So we got on stage, pitched our information, and everybody fell in love.”

    Initially, the Godoys offered the Sharks a 5% stake in Black Sands for $500,000, with the funds earmarked for animation development and additional titles. But Hart and Cuban countered with a 30% stake for the same investment, citing the media resources that Hart’s production company, HartBeat, could provide as Black Sands expands.

    The fact that Black Sands’ Shark Tank deal went through is a testament to its strong business model and the Godoys’ entrepreneurial savvy. Forbes spoke to 74% of the people who were offered deals on the show in seasons one through seven and found that roughly 43% of those agreements didn’t go through — because the Sharks pulled out or changed the terms.

    Now, Black Sands is focusing on that animation development — and on taking the company public.

    Not only are the Godoys dreaming of an eventual $1 billion IPO, but they’re also envisioning a future where Black Sands’ fans-turned-investors are at the forefront, continuing to hold stock as “their slice of the pie.”

    Related: The Basics of Raising Capital for a Startup

    Image credit: Courtesy of Black Sands Entertainment

    “Being in the Army taught me how to be an entrepreneur.”

    The Godoys’ experiences in the Army have helped lay the foundation for Black Sands’ success.

    “Being in the Army taught me how to be an entrepreneur,” Geiszel explains. “In the Army, I was leading a group of 30 soldiers. So it taught me about how to manage a team and run a company, because [it gives] you that discipline and structure you need.”

    Manuel agrees, noting that the Army imparts significant leadership experience, even for those lower on the chain of command — because you have to learn how to get things done on time.

    Another skill the Army teaches that every founder should have on lock? Inventory.

    “You have to know where everything is and how much you have,” Manuel says. “Otherwise, one day you run out, and it takes three months to get the next part. And you’re out of business for three months.”

    The Army has given the Godoys essential skills for running a business — and it’s also inspired some of Black Sands’ narratives.

    “I’m a war nut,” Manuel says. “I love war, so anything that has to do with strategy, military tactics, logistics, that’s stuff that I put into my writing. I make sure it logistically makes sense that [a particular] battle is happening, and that’s probably why people like the accuracy of the storylines.”

    Related: 7 Qualities the Army Instilled in Me That Helped Me Launch a Business

    “Veterans always want to choose five different businesses at once. I’m like, ‘No, stick to your favorite.’”

    There are many reasons why veterans make excellent entrepreneurs. Manuel notes the benefits they have at their disposal, which can help accelerate their business’s growth.

    Still, the Godoys stress it’s important to keep several key things in mind.

    First up? Stick to one business idea — and see it through.

    “Veterans always want to choose like five different businesses at once,” Geiszel says. “Stick to your favorite, take those military skills, apply them to your everyday business life, and you will succeed. Don’t give up. If you fail, keep going.”

    Additionally, you should know exactly who’s buying what you’re selling.

    “Find out who your core customer is,” Manuel says. “Don’t worry about what you’re going to make and how you’re going to do all that stuff. Find out who you want to sell to — because once you figure that out, then you can make a product that’s tailored to them.”

    Once you have your idea and customer in mind, you have to surround yourself with people who will help you level up.

    “Hiring the right team is very important for a business to thrive,” Geiszel says. “And you want to make sure your team is going to be loyal to your company.”

    One sure way to cultivate company loyalty? Pay people fairly, raising benefits as the company succeeds — it will make employees feel valued and willing to continue their contribution. Manuel says that Black Sands has people who have been on the team for five or six years.

    Related: The 4 Rules of Treating Employees Equitably

    “We have to champion things that the Black community wants us to champion.”

    Above all else, Black Sands is a company that refuses to sacrifice its principles.

    Originally, the co-founders wrote and designed all of Black Sands’ comic books by themselves, but they’ve begun allowing other Black creators to write for them as they build their own brands.

    Black Sands has also harnessed the power of Kickstarter as part of its larger effort to lift up Black creators and their work. The Godoys recently launched a campaign for Everett Montgomery’s Flame comic series.

    Image credit: Courtesy of Black Sands Entertainment

    “We are a company that’s dedicated to Black history,” Manuel says. “And that means that we have to champion things that the Black community wants us to champion. We can’t just go out there and be like, ‘Oh, we make comic books, and that’s all we do.’ We have to be involved in social issues and other things that are related. We have to be able to say that we actually are doing something about it.”

    [ad_2]

    Amanda Breen

    Source link

  • Are You Charging Enough Money for Your Software? Here’s How You Can Tell.

    Are You Charging Enough Money for Your Software? Here’s How You Can Tell.

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    My biggest mistake as an entrepreneur and startup founder happened just before raising our seed investment. I was sitting on a windowsill at our old office, looking over the sea, contemplating what masterstroke could take my company to the next level. Then it hit me: Why don’t I just lower the price to $4 per month per user? “If the product is cheap enough, everyone will buy it and see its immediate value,” I thought to myself.

    What happened was that I totally overestimated our brand, the maturity of our product and our ability to drive product-led growth. I was convinced that the quality of our product would be self-evident and that it would sell itself because of the embedded virality of the platform. Instead, I learned that our product was underdeveloped, the market immature and that we had to educate our users to show them the full value and capacity of our product. In many cases, we even had to help them implement our solution for our customers to prevent them from churning.

    Later, it would show that raising prices wouldn’t just increase our top-line growth. It made our users happier with our product as they got more committed.

    Related: 4 Reasons Why Raising Your Price Is a Brilliant Marketing Move

    The problem with under-charging

    My mistake is not unusual — quite the opposite. I often see young, inexperienced founders under-charging for their products. Either because their imposter syndrome makes them underestimate the value of their product, or they overestimate their ability to make bottom-up sales.

    Selling a product at $4 per user would require an utterly insane amount of users to keep growing. Having so many users means you must have virtually no touchpoints with the users, which requires a totally self-explanatory UI. You need a really sticky product that sells itself. That’s not impossible. Slack did it. Notion did it. But it’s extremely rare to hit such a home run on your first try.

    So, what justifies charging big money for B2B software? What makes companies pay 50k or 100k for a piece of software? As I see it, your product must be hard to replace, business-critical for the users and show a clear return on investment. Let’s take a closer look at those three elements.

    1. Is it hard to replace?

    The first aspect is making your software hard to replace. By that, I’m not suggesting that you take your users hostage with opaque termination conditions and well-hidden cancellation buttons. The point is that you ensure your software is embedded deeply into the workflows of the business you serve. The truly value-adding solutions in today’s B2B software landscape aren’t just digitizing a process or replacing another similar solution. They change the way we work. Driving actual behavioral change in your users’ approach to work requires skilled consultants, multiple touchpoints, a forward-thinking mindset and a lot of education from your end. But it also makes your product unique and very hard to replace. Simple licenses are convenient in some instances, but they don’t drive loyalty because no real commitment is involved.

    Related: How to Let Customers Know About Increased Prices Without Making Them Mad

    2. Is it business-critical for users?

    Second, your product must touch something sensitive and business-critical for your user. You can justify a higher price if your software cures a real pain than if you just remove a little nuisance. And you can charge more if your product reaches far into the heart of a business. Certain products are so important to the operation of my own business that I’m willing to pay very high sums for them — like our CRM system or billing software, for example.

    3. Does it show a clear return on investment?

    The third aspect is the most obvious but may also be the hardest to achieve. Your price point is only fair if you can justify it from a return-on-investment point of view. You must be able to show your users the value you bring them in order to charge real money. It’s one thing to create a product that really creates value, but it’s another thing to be able to back it up with actual proof. Nevertheless, finding a way to calculate your value will enable you to set the price point where it belongs — usually higher than you think.

    Related: How Raising Your Prices Can Actually Help You Make More Sales

    With all that said, there is also a mental aspect. You have to believe in yourself and your product, and don’t underestimate your worth. Finding the right price point takes experimentation and iteration. I probably still haven’t found it, and it changes over time. But in my experience, charging too little psychologically affects your users. It makes them less committed and less likely to perceive the true value of your product. With higher prices, you might lose customers, but those who stick will be more devoted. Luckily, I could rectify my mistake and take my business to the next level despite my initial wrong-doings. But there is no reason you should make the same mistake.

    [ad_2]

    Niels Martin Brøchner

    Source link

  • How To Find Success During Search Fund Launches

    How To Find Success During Search Fund Launches

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Search funds have started flipping the script on generalists winning in a largely specialized business environment. The efforts of a specialized thesis have recently proved more fruitful than the opportunistic approach, as Stanford’s 2020 Search Fund Study found, “Searchers who focus their search, as well as developing and adhering to a systematic approach of creating deal flow and analyzing deal opportunities, have a higher likelihood of identifying and closing an acquisition.”

    Although the inspiration for a thesis and industry vertical might be apparent based on the searcher’s passions and past experience, often finding an enterprise that fits the search mold could prove challenging.

    Related: Search Funds: What You Need To Know About This Investment Model

    The good news, however, is that value chains in almost every industry are riddled with opportunities that fit the model. They are the hidden gems. What this means, for example, is if the goal is to serve as an operator in the healthcare supplement industry (from knowledge gained over the years as a professional athlete), an operation that makes or procures a certain ingredient that goes into the final product, as opposed to the final product sold to consumers, would make for an ideal opportunity.

    This “value-chain-based searching” approach also opens up flexibility on the geographic front. Running a geographically agnostic search while widening the pool of potential targets might not be viable for most searchers. Offsetting this with more businesses within an industry’s value chain helps keep the net wide while respecting the searcher’s mandate.

    While necessary from the outset, alignment with the entire cap table on a thesis (and geography) and continuing commentary through the process unlocks resources that come from having a large experienced team and seeing multiple searchers and transactions from an investor’s lens — the successful, the break-evens and those who didn’t make it. The most valuable resource of which is a playbook, be it in the form of time committed to mentorship or proprietary documentation conducive to a successful search.

    Related: Search Funds: A Financing Option for Business Buyers

    Whoever first said, “it takes a village,” was probably a searcher. Building out a team who are unequivocally sold on the vision and believes in the mission is crucial to the searcher’s experience as a leader pre-CEO, as well as their chances of landing on a hidden gem of a business. Most searchers achieve this through interns, both in undergrad and business school, looking for an appetizer to private equity.

    While more heads the better by way of sourcing and in the data room looking over opportunities, a key factor lies in the fund’s governance. Karl Scheer, now CIO at the University of Cincinnati, was clear in his governance remarks, “you can’t have investment success with a bad governance structure.”

    Although at a vastly different scale, the same principles apply in aligning incentives and what a potential intern or search fund fellow can get for their time and effort. Additionally, a decision to build out a remote vs. in-person team in 2022 remains a personal preference. This could change with a clearer answer as work dynamics continue to get tested and studied over the next few years.

    Another important set of people to have in a searcher’s arsenal is a set of mentors who celebrate your success by way of unbiased advice — advisors, for lack of a better term. With a large population of the search community embarking on the search journey out of business school, a valuable pool of resources could come from a supportive group of professors and classmates in touch with the focus industry. The Stanford Search model dubs these people as “river guides” and even suggests an incentive structure with which searchers have found success over the years.

    With the people in place, the tools to set the search up for success help close the loop on the most effective use of everyone’s time. A tech stack helps automate low-effort tasks like initial outreach, and net-net gets the searcher in front of more potential targets. A project management suite opens up a layer of transparency on what everyone’s working on and helps move the needle from zero to one.

    Finally, like many things, we are tuned to think the next opportunity around the corner could be a better bet, and regardless of how good the current deal looks, it’s hard to think past the “what-ifs.” With most searches limited to a two-year time horizon to complete an acquisition and competition from other searchers as well as some private equity funds intensifying, having a “take the train” approach should be top of mind. If a deal fits the thesis, can model out successful growth over the next five to seven years, has a viable exit strategy, and is an experience a searcher deems enjoyable above all else — go for it!

    Related: A New Breed of Private Equity Investors Present More Exit Options Than Ever for Entrepreneurs

    [ad_2]

    Karl Eshwer

    Source link

  • 3 Simple Reasons to Add Technology to Your Non-Tech Business

    3 Simple Reasons to Add Technology to Your Non-Tech Business

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    You are a business owner but aren’t in the tech industry, so why would you need to focus heavily on adapting technology in your daily workflow? Some people may say you don’t need to. However, I’m here to put a bug in your head and prove how technology is critical to any business across any vertical. And that includes you!

    We know technology can be intimidating. It also can be complex, and there are seemingly endless options. So, is it worth the cost, integration headaches and question if you are picking the right ones? Yes! Here are my top three reasons to focus on technology, and I’ll explain how to integrate it into your business:

    1. Not applying technology means you could face a technology deficit

    Let’s face it, not having a line item in your books for technology and software subscriptions means your company will hit a point where you can’t grow any further. Whether your marketing team will be missing major data points for essential customer acquisition or your efficiencies will eventually put you behind, your competition could pass you by (we’ll get to this one more in the next point). No matter the roadblock you will hit, the point is your growth will have to slow down or halt. You don’t want to wait until that point to use technology once the train has left the station without you!

    Related: 5 Types of Technology All Entrepreneurs Need Access to in the Digital Age

    2. Results are everything

    No matter your business or vertical, your most valuable resource is your team. How can you empower your team to work smarter, not harder, and ultimately produce the best results? The answer is with the right technology! Even if your staff has been set in their ways and doesn’t want to learn a new program, you must pick the right operational systems and offer proper training. A minor setback in the learning curve will mean a huge uptick in productivity.

    I once ran into a mid-sized company that was technologically behind due to not prioritizing this aspect of its business. This inadequacy caused marketing and sales to lag compared to its competitors. I likened their technological powers and abilities to taking a knife to a gunfight.

    If a company can increase its operational automation in the marketing space, that would allow it to understand its target customer and truly understand how to sell to its market in an efficient and results-driven way.

    A data warehouse and congruent CRM would allow this business to properly segment and hit goals for its best marketing demographic more accurately. Identifying, understanding and addressing low-hanging fruit, such as abandoned shopping cart funnels, is crucial.

    When you are focused on results, technology almost always needs to be integrated to increase efficiencies and drive sales in the long run. And it’s always easier and cheaper to integrate the right technology early to ensure your team is trained and using it along the way!

    Related: How Technology Is Shortening the Road to Fame

    3. You’re increasing your footprint of liabilities without the right technology

    I’ve seen every range of technology integration, from the tech-savvy millennial CEO who relies on data and analytics for every business decision to the companies that don’t integrate it at all and still use a pen and paper within every significant department. However, if you are closer to the latter, you are potentially putting your team at a huge safety risk. If you have only minimal or wrong technology, you could be putting your customers, reputation and finances at risk too!

    I’ve even seen clients using only a single source for major bookkeeping and documentation, like Excel. One wrong move or fat-fingered mistake can change your calculations completely. Or worse, delete everything! If that isn’t risky, I don’t know what is.

    Technology can feel overwhelming, which is often why we hear people stay away from adding it to their daily workflow. However, there are simple ways to make that change. Start with finding a company to give you a technical audit — which is often cheaper than you might expect. Take their advice and then apply it in chunks.

    You may not need to go from 0 to 100 in the first week. You can slowly add, integrate and manage critical technology into various departments as you feel comfortable. And as I mentioned earlier, a key to tech success is training! Empower your team to take the tech leap with you and work on this together. Everyone can learn a new trick, and it could even be fun! Finally, ensure that you have a base infrastructure to make the ideal environment for success. This includes having the basic technology hardware and compatible systems in place.

    Take this article as your sign to take the first step and better your business with tech!

    [ad_2]

    Craig Ceccanti

    Source link

  • Steam Game Bails On Loot Boxes To Win Back Players

    Steam Game Bails On Loot Boxes To Win Back Players

    [ad_1]

    A character figurine sits on the playfield in Moonbreaker.

    Screenshot: Unknown Worlds Entertainment

    These days it’s rare to see an online game without built-in live-service monetization, let alone one that’s getting rid of that stuff. But that’s exactly what the Subnautica devs behind Moonbreaker are doing. Recently launched in Early Access on Steam, the tabletop RPG is throwing out both its premium paid currency and its loot boxes, and refunding players who have already bought in. Whether the game will remain monetization-free after its full release is a different question.

    “Early Access is a time for us to experiment and improve the game, and the monetization in its current form was affecting that goal,” Unknown Worlds Entertainment, the studio behind Moonbreaker, posted on its blog yesterday (via RPS). “So we’re removing it to focus on making the best game that we can, before we leave Early Access.”

    Revealed during Gamescom 2022, director Charlie Cleveland described Moonbreaker as a “digital miniatures game” inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy and Firefly. Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson (best known for the Mistborn series) was brought on to write, and the D&D-inspired strategy combat looked like an intriguing mashup of Hearthstone and XCOM. Lofty comparisons aside, players have largely been receptive to the game’s mechanics and lore while slamming the microtransactions.

    Moonbreaker is priced at $30, with a “founder’s pack” that raises it to $50. While this includes enough booster boxes for players to unlock most of the game’s units, PvE matches were previously locked behind premium currency, meaning players have to pay or grind to play solo. And as a miniatures game, much of the fantasy revolves around cosmetically customizing units, which also costs money. Most of the negative reviews on the Steam page all cited the free-to-play monetization of a paid game as their biggest issue.

    Pulsars, the game’s paid currency, will now disappear, as well as the paid booster boxes. Players’ purchases will be refunded, and all units will automatically unlock at the start of each new season. “In celebration of this business model change, I’m gonna be purchasing the base game for some friends tomorrow,” one player wrote on Discord following the announcement. “Thanks so much for listening to community feedback and being willing to make big (potentially scary) changes so early on in development.”

    G/O Media may get a commission

    20% off

    Ettitude – 20% Off

    20% off bundled bamboo bedding
    The brand’s proprietary CleanBamboo is a soft, breathable fabric; their signature sateen is cool to the touch.

    That’s exactly what Early Access is for, and it’s good to see Moonbreaker not only backing off the free-to-play monetization, but also refunding players. That might change in the future, with some players suspecting Unknown Worlds might make the game free-to-play by launch and bring back some form of live-service microtransactions. In the meantime at least, players can enjoy the evolving TTRPG without all the other bullshit. It might even help Moonbreaker win back some of the players who bailed shortly after Early Access began.

    [ad_2]

    Ethan Gach

    Source link