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Tag: Business models

  • Tap Into Boundless Success Potential With These Remote Business Ideas | Entrepreneur

    Tap Into Boundless Success Potential With These Remote Business Ideas | Entrepreneur

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    The world of work has undergone a significant shift due to the global pandemic. More and more people are realizing the boundless potential of remote work and the opportunities it presents for entrepreneurs.

    From the comfort of your own home, it is now possible to start and manage a thriving online business. Below is a look at a variety of remote business ideas, shedding light on different types of businesses that leverage the power of an internet connection and a solid online presence.

    Related: 50 of the Best Work from Home Jobs That Pay Well in 2023

    Embracing entrepreneurship: Small business opportunities

    In today’s digital era, the face of entrepreneurship has dramatically evolved. It’s no longer confined to individuals with significant capital or specific educational backgrounds. In fact, with the advent of online business opportunities, anyone with a robust idea, a clear vision and determination can become a business owner.

    Small businesses, in particular, have emerged as a driving force in today’s economy. They offer numerous advantages, such as flexibility, the ability to respond quickly to market changes and a closer relationship with customers, which can lead to improved service and innovation.

    From setting up an ecommerce store to starting a web design agency or becoming a freelance copywriter, there are several opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to venture into the world of small businesses.

    One of the most compelling aspects of small online businesses is the lower barrier to entry. These businesses often have minimal startup costs, especially compared to traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. With a solid internet connection, a laptop and a dose of creativity, you can start your business journey from the comfort of your own home.

    Entrepreneurs come from all walks of life. They could be stay-at-home parents looking for a part-time venture, professionals tired of the 9-5 grind or even students eager to gain practical business experience while still in school.

    The beauty of online small businesses is the diverse range of people they empower. Everyone has the potential to harness their unique skills and experiences, turning them into a successful business venture.

    So, if you’ve ever dreamed of being your own boss, there’s no better time than now. Explore your interests, identify market gaps, develop a business model and take the plunge. With passion, perseverance and a little bit of entrepreneurial flair, you could be the proud owner of a successful small business.

    1. Ecommerce

    Ecommerce has emerged as a viable business model for entrepreneurs looking for both part-time and full-time ventures. The convenience of online shopping, coupled with an ever-growing digital consumer base, has propelled ecommerce to new heights.

    Renowned platforms like Etsy and Amazon have showcased the success that can be achieved in this space, with entrepreneurs selling everything from handmade crafts to high-quality tech gadgets. These online stores allow you to sell anything you can make, from jewelry to stickers, really anything that grabs your interest.

    Particularly worth exploring is the dropshipping business model, where products are sold directly from the manufacturer to the customer without going through the traditional retail process. It offers the attractive feature of low startup costs as it removes the need for inventory storage. With the right marketing strategy, product selection and dedication, a dropshipping business could turn into a highly profitable venture.

    Related: Starting an Arts & Crafts Business

    2. Social media

    Another emerging trend in the digital realm is the rise of social media as a platform for business. From influencers who turn their massive followings into profitable partnerships to entrepreneurs who offer social media management services, the opportunities are broad and diverse.

    Businesses have learned to leverage their social media accounts as powerful tools in their marketing strategy, reaching out to their target audience in a more personal and engaging way. Partnerships with influencers and sponsorships of popular posts offer a new avenue for businesses to increase their visibility and sales. Additionally, with the right know-how, managing a company’s social media accounts can become a lucrative business on its own.

    Related: 10 Laws of Social Media Marketing

    3. Virtual assistant and freelance gigs

    A new job profile that has gained immense popularity in recent times is the role of a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant provides remote administrative support to businesses and entrepreneurs, handling tasks such as email correspondence, calendar management and social media management. This role, thanks to its remote nature, provides a great business opportunity for individuals seeking work-from-home positions.

    Further, freelance gigs, like web design, graphic design and digital marketing, offer an array of opportunities to monetize your skill set. Platforms like Fiverr serve as the perfect medium to connect freelancers with clients. Whether you’re looking to work full-time or want to supplement your income with part-time work, these freelance roles offer flexibility and the potential for substantial earnings.

    4. Online tutoring and courses

    The shift to remote learning during the pandemic has paved the way for a surge in online tutoring and course creation. Educators and experts in various fields have an opportunity to reach potential students around the globe, all from their own homes. From academic subjects to specialized skill training, the demand for high-quality, accessible online education is substantial.

    Platforms such as Skype, Zoom and LinkedIn have made it easier than ever to communicate and market these educational services. By establishing a solid online presence and demonstrating your know-how, you can tap into this flourishing online business model.

    5. Web and app development

    In today’s digital age, the demand for web development and app development skills is at an all-time high. Every type of business, from startups to established enterprises, requires a well-designed website and potentially a dedicated app to enhance customer experience and boost their online presence.

    If you possess the technical skills, diving into web and app development could open doors to countless remote business opportunities. These services are highly valued and can command impressive rates, making them a lucrative business venture. Moreover, the ability to work remotely, flexibly and potentially even start your own business in this field adds to the appeal.

    Related: App Development – Articles & Biography

    6. Content creation and SEO

    In a digitalized world, content is king. Engaging, high-quality content creation has become essential to any successful online business. From starting a blog or a podcast to running a successful YouTube channel, the opportunities are endless for entrepreneurs with a knack for captivating an audience.

    However, creating excellent content is only half the battle won. To ensure the right people see your content, you need to understand and implement search engine optimization (SEO).

    This technique involves optimizing your website design and content to improve its visibility for relevant searches, thereby attracting a steady stream of visitors. For instance, a successful blogger creates engaging posts and utilizes SEO techniques to drive organic traffic, effectively monetizing their site.

    What are some other unique online business ideas?

    Are you passionate about a specific subject or have a unique skill set? Why not transform these interests into a profitable business?

    Whether you’re into graphic design and want to sell unique t-shirt designs, or you’re a real estate enthusiast looking to share your insights through online courses, there are limitless possibilities when it comes to online business ideas.

    Real-life examples of successful entrepreneurs abound, many of whom started with a side hustle and turned it into a full-time venture. However, success doesn’t come without effort. A crucial step is conducting market research to ensure there’s a demand for your product or service and that it’s something consumers are willing to pay for.

    Work hard from home

    The world is teeming with remote business ideas, each offering its unique potential for success. From ecommerce and social media management to freelancing and online education, there’s an opportunity that suits every skill set and interest.

    The digital era has made it possible for entrepreneurs to explore these opportunities without the traditional constraints of in-person businesses. With the right blend of passion, skill and dedication, anyone can pave their path towards a successful online business.

    So why wait? Start exploring, learn and adapt, and soon, you might find yourself at the helm of a thriving online business.

    Check out Entrepreneur’s other articles that can guide you on your path to starting a new business.

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    Entrepreneur Staff

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  • Streamlining Your Tech Stack to Unleash Maximum Efficiency | Entrepreneur

    Streamlining Your Tech Stack to Unleash Maximum Efficiency | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Amid escalating economic uncertainty due to inflation and a potential downturn, companies are increasingly gravitating toward cost-cutting measures and investment reduction. However, a more sustainable solution could lie in streamlining processes and bolstering operational efficiencies.

    Most businesses look to reduce spending, with the software and digital technology sectors heavily targeted. But this isn’t the only option. Rather than reducing your investments in this area, you could look more closely at your current activities in the digital arena, to first identify and then address inefficiencies. With this approach, you could reduce costs without actually hampering your capacity to serve your customers’ needs or scale up operations.

    Related: This Tech Leader Breaks Down How You Can Avoid Business Disaster With This Often-Overlooked Tactic

    Completing your tech stack audit

    Your tech stack audit should classify each technology according to use:

    • Marketing
    • Sales
    • Customer success
    • Ops and analytics

    This type of breakdown will facilitate a more organized approach to testing and evaluation. This necessary audit helps determine the overall return on your investment of each tool and how it contributes to the company’s operations, seamless internal and customer communication and objectives.

    Furthermore, the data you collect and analyze should shed light on the most important metrics, such as sales velocity and conversion rates.

    Your tech stack includes the software, web applications and tools needed to construct functional websites — for your customers and you.

    To deliver great results, your digital interfaces and applications should be fast, well-organized and straightforward. One or two poorly chosen technologies can hinder performance by introducing inefficiencies that can cost both time and money, and by making it more difficult to complete sales, or collect and process essential data.

    Greater diversification in the tasks required by their users have caused tech stacks of today to become increasingly byzantine in their structures, resulting in an increase of both the types of digital devices needed to access online portals and in the volume of data that sites are now required to process. Businesses with an online presence are expected to do more in the digital environment than before..

    This increases the likelihood of inefficiencies developing due to incompatibilities with software that doesn’t integrate smoothly with other technologies in your stack. For optimum efficiency and integration, your first step should be to evaluate each technology.

    Your tech stack audit should classify each technology according to whether it’s used for marketing, business development, analytics, customer support or sales. This type of breakdown will facilitate a more organized approach to testing and evaluation, as your evaluators go through each category one at a time.

    Finding the inefficiencies that sabotage your business

    There may be multiple inefficiencies hidden deep within your tech stack. In your relentless efforts to uncover obstacles that might negatively impact profitability, here are some critical aspects of your business operation you should be evaluating.

    Related: Your Tech Employees Are Your Most Potent Reputational Tool as Your Firm Recruits

    Data collection

    You can choose a set of tools that functions in a perfectly coordinated manner, but it doesn’t benefit you if the right data are not being collected, analyzed and communicated.

    The data you collect and analyze should shed light on the most important metrics, such as sales velocity and conversion rates. If you aren’t getting actionable data that helps you streamline your operations or strengthen your relationships with your customers, you may need to eliminate some tools from your stack or replace them with newer technologies.

    Business processes

    If you haven’t already done so, you should add software to your tech stack that can automatically calculate prices for the customized products and services you provide. Trying to handle CPQ (configure-price-quote) responsibilities the old-fashioned way, via human calculation, will take too much time and increase the chances of miscalculation.

    Customer retention services

    You need to differentiate your strategic customers (your most loyal and active supporters) from those who are less committed. While the customer service you provide should be diversified and personalized to meet the needs of both constituencies, you shouldn’t waste time and money on services aimed at low-value customers — a negative return on investment is highly likely.

    Marketing

    You need to analyze your current marketing efforts carefully and with a skeptical, even critical eye. You need to know if you’re getting an acceptable return on investment, which means reaching your targeted audience with a message that resonates. If your ROI is lacking, your present marketing strategies should be sent packing.

    CRM capabilities

    Your customer relationship management (CRM) platform is the hub of your operations, and as such, you can’t afford to choose or keep a product that doesn’t fully support the implementation of your business plan.

    You shouldn’t assume that any CRM platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce or Zoho are automatically right for everyone. And while one, all three or others may very well be, you should carefully evaluate the strengths and the weaknesses of your current CRM choice and be prepared to switch to another option with capabilities that are more closely aligned with your unique and vital needs.

    Scalability

    Your technology ecosystem should always be scalable, no matter how rapidly your growth occurs. Your software should be able to accommodate increases in customer engagement and sales volume without creating logjams or bottlenecks that require technological additions, subtractions or substitutions.

    Related: Want Tech Workers to Stick Around Longer? Think 30 Years — Not 3.

    Greater efficiency will give you the edge

    The kind of exhaustive tech evaluation proposed here is not for the faint of heart. It’s a meticulous and comprehensive process that will take time, effort and extraordinary attention to detail, whether you hand the responsibility over to an in-house vetting team or contract outside experts to perform the job for you.

    What you’re really doing when you undertake such a process is signaling a revolution in your way of thinking. A comprehensive review of your technology choices can help you refine, retool or redevelop your go-to-market (GTM) strategies without cutting your investment in your business, which you now realize is the best way to survive difficult times. The changes you make afterward will give you a leg up on the competition, providing you with a real opportunity to scale up while others are only thinking about scaling back.

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    Catherine Mandungu

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  • How This Coach Helps His Clients Become 7-Figure Earners | Entrepreneur

    How This Coach Helps His Clients Become 7-Figure Earners | Entrepreneur

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    Have you ever struggled to express how you help people and why they should buy from you? If so, you’re going to enjoy listening to the next episode of the Launch Your Business podcast featuring Seth Czerepak.

    Seth is the head marketing coach at Mawer Capital, a mastermind for new entrepreneurs serious about growth or experienced six and seven-figure business owners wanting to go to the next level — faster.

    He’s described as the world’s premier expert on sales funnel copywriting and my head coach at Mawer Capital. I meet with him every Monday to review my sales emails, website copy and the creative work I develop on behalf of my clients. He’s not just good with words though, you can easily see a measurable impact from his work. The number of leads generated from my 1:1 coaching page tripled after Seth made several changes.

    He’s incredible, but our calls almost always get sidetracked by me asking questions about how he discovered one technique or another. It’s hard to describe how his brain works or how impressed I am with the output. So, I decided to bring him on my podcast so you can hear from him yourself.

    You can check out a few of my top takeaways below.

    Expanding your market is the key way to grow

    Seth compares expanding your business to a plant growing in a pot. After a certain amount of growth, the roots are expanding and you need to move to an entirely different, bigger container to allow the plant to keep growing.

    “You have to get outside of your warm network,” Seth said. “Being able to convert complete strangers (a cold audience), using paid ads to your customers is the way that you break out of that “small pot” of marketing only to the people in your warm network and having access to almost a limitless sea of prospects.

    And that, in my opinion, is the only way that you can grow to seven figures unless you just become a viral sensation overnight, which is a lot of time a game of luck.”

    How to make your message relevant

    When you’re reaching out to a cold audience, it’s critical to grab their attention with relevant information. “Your message has to be relevant to the conversation going on in their head every day, surrounding the problem that you’re going to help them solve,” Seth said. “So if you were to follow your prospect throughout their entire day like you’re filming a documentary, think about the times during their day when they run into the problem that you’re going to help them solve. And what does that experience look like? What are they saying to themselves? What’s [their] internal dialogue like?”

    Seth used the example of selling cream for plantar fasciitis (pain in the heel). You don’t start your ad with, “Do you have plantar fasciitis?” You start with, “What is that pinching pain in your heel? It started small, but now it’s so bad you can’t walk.” Because you’ve started with their situation — not jargon — you can move forward with introducing your solution.

    Don’t bury the lead

    “The most common mistake I see people make is a lot of the time: Their best headline is usually about three-quarters of the way down the page,” Seth said. “There’s too much throat clearing, too much preparation before they actually get to the point.

    And a lot of times you can chop off the top of a sales page, find the buried lead, move that up to the headlining and increase your conversions right away.”

    Another common error is not understanding your audience. You need to be so inside their head, that you’ll know whether you should be selling to their pain or pleasure points. The sooner you can address that internal dialogue and sell what’s most relevant to them, the better.

    Next steps

    Seth has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs become six-figure earners and dozens more break the seven-figure-a-year mark.

    His signature copywriting framework, “The Antifragile Sales System,” has been endorsed by direct response marketing legend, Dan S. Kennedy, and is the topic of his upcoming book, “The Antifragile Sales System,” which will be coming out in January 2024.

    Connect with Seth on social media to get more of his content and updates about upcoming books, podcasts, and products. And if you’d like to work with him 1:1, just like I do, consider joining the Mawer Capital mastermind group.

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    Terry Rice

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  • 5 Ways Retailers Can Unload Excess Inventory | Entrepreneur

    5 Ways Retailers Can Unload Excess Inventory | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The struggle is all too real when it comes to excess inventory in retail. Market volatility and unpredictable events make it difficult for merchants to accurately forecast demand, resulting in excess stock.

    That, coupled with inflation and the fact that consumers are being more mindful of discretionary spending, means retailers today are holding on to more inventory than they’re comfortable with.

    Retail Customer Experience reports that half of U.S. retailers are dealing with excess stock and 27% wrote off surplus inventory as a loss in 2022. And if that weren’t concerning enough, 53% indicated their business will face “dangerous ramifications” if the excess stock remains unsold.

    In light of these challenges, it’s crucial to implement strategies that address excess inventory head-on. That way, you can minimize financial losses, create space for new merchandise and improve overall business performance.

    Let’s look at five ways to do just that.

    1. Be proactive with stock transfers

    If running multiple stores, regularly review stock levels across different locations. Optimize inventory distribution by strategically unloading (i.e., transferring) surplus stock from locations with high inventory counts to those with greater sales potential.

    For instance, if a certain SKU is underperforming in one store, but is doing well in another, consider initiating a stock transfer sooner rather than later. Don’t wait until the end of the season to take action. Pay attention to your daily and weekly sales data, then take preemptive measures accordingly.

    Quick, decisive action is possible if you have a centralized retail inventory management platform for all your locations. By ensuring all your stores are managed from a single system, you gain better visibility into your inventory levels and streamline operations.

    Related: Free Up Your Finances By Avoiding the Pitfalls of Excess Inventory

    2. Leverage your online store and marketplaces

    Expand your reach beyond brick-and-mortar by setting up shop online. This doesn’t just mean selling on your website; in many cases, retailers will benefit from selling on social media and online marketplaces.

    These platforms provide access to a vast online audience actively seeking products, so by listing your excess inventory on these sites, you’ll be able to get more eyeballs on them—and potentially more sales.

    3. Re-merchandise products

    In some cases, it isn’t the product that’s stale; rather, it’s the merchandising strategy behind it.

    Unloading excess stock doesn’t necessarily mean donating products or selling them for a massive discount. If you’re sitting on surplus products, you may be able to sell them faster by changing how they’re displayed.

    Perhaps you can showcase unique ways to use an item. Maybe you can implement a bit of storytelling in your windows or shelves. Think outside the box and get creative with your displays to make surplus products more enticing to customers.

    Related: The Best Way to Move Your Excess Inventory

    4. Implement promotions

    Sales and promos are classic tactics for getting rid of surplus stock, and for good reason: they work. Research from Google reveals 87% of shoppers say that getting a good deal is an important consideration when deciding which retailer to buy from.

    As for which type of offer to implement, consider the following.

    Discounts: Incentivize customers to purchase surplus stock by offering discounts. This can include seasonal sales and clearance events. In some cases, you could instill a sense of urgency by running flash sales or limited-time promotions to encourage customers to take action ASAP.

    Buy One Get One (BOGO): Get rid of surplus stock faster by selling them two (or more) at a time. BOGO promos lend themselves well to categories like apparel and accessories; shoppers appreciate the opportunity to mix and match. BOGO also works well for beauty products, as customers enjoy the chance to stock up on cosmetics and skincare items.

    Gift with purchase: If you’re having difficulties unloading excess inventory, offer them as freebies. This tactic clears out excess stock and can improve basket size and order values, especially when you offer gifts with qualifying purchases.

    5. Negotiate return to vendor agreements

    Consider using return-to-vendor (RTV) agreements to address excess inventory. RTV contracts allow retailers to return unsold merchandise to the original suppliers.

    Depending on your relationship with vendors, it may be feasible to negotiate the ability to return unsold products. Remember that an RTV agreement could mean paying more per unit.

    RTV agreements can also add complexity to your operations, especially if you’re running multiple stores. Coordinating the logistics of packing, shipping and tracking unsold goods can be difficult and lead to operational costs.

    Final words

    Getting rid of excess stock requires a strong inventory management system and a proactive approach to inventory management. You can reduce the negative impact of surplus stock by keeping a close eye on your inventory reports and taking proactive steps to correct course.

    From there, ensure you cover all your sales channels to get merchandise in front of as many shoppers as possible. And if you want to boost conversions, add some promotions to the mix. Finally, consider negotiating RTV agreements with your vendors to minimize the risk of surplus stock.

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    Ana Wight

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  • 7 Affiliate Marketing Strategies for Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneur

    7 Affiliate Marketing Strategies for Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    We’ve all been there. You invest hours into crafting your brand, diligently expanding your audience, yet your revenue isn’t reflecting the time and effort you’ve put into your platform. All major brands utilize partner marketing, which is significant in growing brands and gaining revenues.

    Partner and affiliate marketing play a crucial role in brand growth by leveraging the influence and reach of trusted partners. Companies can tap into new audiences by collaborating with them, increasing brand awareness and driving customer acquisition. This strategic approach allows brands to benefit from the credibility and expertise of their partners, resulting in expanded market reach and ultimately higher revenues.

    Below are seven things to remember while working with marketing partners for your company.

    1. Redefining high-earning potential

    The commonly held belief that fashion and beauty are the most lucrative sectors in affiliate marketing is becoming obsolete. While these areas maintain a significant market share, the high competition they attract can make differentiation challenging.

    Special events are also worth considering. During Black Friday 2022, for instance, event tickets, various online services and PC and mobile games claimed the top three positions based on our data. These niche sectors have vast potential for affiliates willing to explore them.

    Related: Start an Affiliate Marketing Side Hustle to Bring in Passive Income

    2. Fostering niche communities for greater profit

    Traditionally, the recipe for maximum income in affiliate marketing revolved around maintaining a wide audience with high engagement. The landscape has evolved today, with the biggest profit potential now lying within fast-growing niche sectors.

    Growth of partner sales in niche segments worldwide in 2022 demonstrates this shift, with niches like Console and PC Games seeing a 35% growth, Mobile Services and IT services growing by 95%, and even Movies & Music growing by 33%, according to ConvertSocial data.

    Such trends indicate you can unlock significantly greater profits by building a loyal, engaged community in a specific niche.

    Related: How to Effectively Beat Your Direct Competition in a Niche Market

    3. Engagement is the new currency

    Engagement has emerged as the new currency in the digital space, outweighing the importance of audience size. Our report shows that even creators with smaller audiences can earn significant sums, provided they maintain high engagement levels. For instance, one of our client’s Telegram channels, with around 200,000 users focused on gadgets, earns $2,000 monthly.

    In contrast, another fashion-focused channel with only 8,200 subscribers made a whopping $6,400 in the same period. This underscores that an actively engaged audience, regardless of its size, is the cornerstone of a successful affiliate marketing strategy.

    These statistics demonstrate that the affiliate marketing landscape is undergoing a transformative shift, opening up new avenues for profit and engagement. As we step into this new era, it’s essential to adapt our strategies to these changing dynamics. After all, success in affiliate marketing is no longer just about casting the widest net — it’s about casting the right one.

    Related: 3 Tips to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing

    4. Monetizing blogs — Quality over quantity

    While monetizing a blog can seem daunting, it’s far from impossible. The key lies in focusing on creating and delivering real, valuable content that goes beyond mere advertising. This approach builds a loyal readership and makes your blog more appealing to advertisers looking for high-quality, engaging platforms to showcase their products or services. Rather than churning out countless low-value posts, invest time and effort into producing fewer but high-quality, insightful articles that resonate with your audience.

    Related: 3 Tips to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing

    5. Fair revenue share — the new norm

    In the early stages of content creation as a recognized profession, creators often found themselves at the short end of the stick when it came to revenue generation. The platforms hosting the content usually claimed the lion’s share of profits, leaving creators with a meager sum for their efforts. This imbalance in revenue distribution made it incredibly challenging for creators to generate a significant income, often stifling their creative potential and enthusiasm.

    Today, major content hosting platforms have introduced improved revenue-sharing models. These new agreements often involve a higher percentage of ad revenue allocated to creators, more monetization opportunities, and even bonuses based on engagement or view counts.

    Such changes have helped boost creators’ income and created a more appealing industry for content creators. By recognizing and rewarding quality content creation, platforms invest in a future where creators can thrive, producing richer and more diverse content. This progressive move has thus set the stage for a new era of content creation, characterized by fairer revenue distribution and a greater focus on quality.

    Related: 12 Myths and Misconceptions of Affiliate Marketing

    6. Data diving for sales success

    The key to future sales success lies within the depths of audience and demographic data. By identifying your audience’s preferences, behaviors and habits, you can tailor your content and marketing strategy to better align with their interests, consequently boosting your sales. Engagement data is your key to sales success.

    7. Branding relationships are more than money

    There’s more to a brand relationship than just monetary compensation. Influencers can leverage these partnerships to garner additional coverage and audience reach. Plus, a host of intangible perks and networking opportunities are only available to creators with robust relationships with these brands.

    Brands are also recognizing the value of investing in top creators. For instance, GoPro hosts a large-scale creators summit with all expenses paid and makeup brand Tarte sent a brigade of their creators to the Turks and Caicos for an “influencer retreat.” This recent collaboration with brands and their creators garnered significant attention, demonstrating how strategic brand relationships can yield benefits beyond financial gains.

    A shift is taking place in the partner marketing space. New, more effective methods replace old strategies prioritizing quality content, audience engagement and a deeper understanding of data. It’s time to adapt and tap into the rich potential of this new era. To build a successful brand means to build a mutually beneficial alliance that can amplify your reach, enhance your reputation, and generate greater opportunities in the future.

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    Ksana Liapkova

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  • Struggling in Franchising? You Need to Think Bigger. | Entrepreneur

    Struggling in Franchising? You Need to Think Bigger. | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A few years ago, I was speaking to some friends and colleagues about a vision I had for a new franchise restaurant. I told them the brand had a unique concept and could quickly be on track to 1,000 worldwide locations. The responses were fairly consistent: incredulity and laughter. And these people were supposed to be my friends!

    The brand we talked about was The Halal Guys, a company I work with. After an extremely successful 2022, one in which the company opened its 100th location — and with 300-plus more in development — it was tempting to then ask them, “Who’s laughing now?”

    The plan was aggressive from the jump: We’d target the 50 largest markets in North America, then go international. Most of those major metro areas are covered now, and international expansion has begun with the UK and South Korea. Pulling this all off as quickly as we’d envisioned seemed impossible to a great many, but that ambitious mindset worked.

    Here are some essential strategies I’ve applied in the course of taking more than 10 such brands worldwide.

    Related: 5 Strategies You Need to Build Your Brand

    Think positively

    There’s nothing a failing person likes to see more than someone else fail. So, it’s okay if someone doesn’t see your vision: It wasn’t their vision anyway, it’s yours.

    My story about The Halal Guys isn’t an outlier. When you’re building, many people are going to root for you to tank simply because they aren’t winning, which often means that they’ll give you bad advice, encourage you to back off and/or withhold a helping hand. That’s why it’s so important to think positively about your brand’s potential and growth plan. Because challenges arise for young franchises daily, and panic doesn’t put money in the bank.

    When I was helping PayMore through its initial franchise launch, it seemed that we couldn’t sell to anyone. Despite great unit economics and a scalable business plan, many thought its buy-sell-trade model seemed too much like a pawn shop, and in truth, we weren’t doing the company any favors by presenting it like one.

    Still, there was no panic. We stayed positive and altered our presentation. It’s been a little more than a year now since we launched franchising, and over the last two months have completed more than a dozen deals encompassing 60-plus units. Put simply, positivity paid off.

    Think aggressively

    It’s important to have brand standards, but it’s also important to know when to bend them. You may be dead-set on only allowing multi-unit deals, for example, but the right single-unit deal can get the ball rolling for a stagnant brand, including attracting good press, which could lead to a multi-unit franchisee down the road.

    Also, think about how you can incentivize franchisees to expand their territories because encouraging them to embrace affordable conversions could lead to quicker growth (keep in mind that this requires having the right design and brand standards in place). Thinking aggressively means being prepared to act fast when opportunities arise, so plan accordingly when building your business strategy.

    Part of thinking aggressively is thinking big: Don’t be content with small, steady growth if your concept can handle rapid expansion. Don’t be afraid to go for it.

    Related: As a Leader, You Need to Be Both Positive and Aggressive

    Think beyond yourself

    Building a brand that aims to be a household name is a lot easier with a solid team in place. I’ve always enjoyed getting my hands dirty, and I’ve never worked harder than I did for real mentors and with other people who have taught me about the industry.

    Case in point: I’m working with a new brand out of Chicago called Cilantro Taco Grill. Their story is inspiring — run by a family of first-generation immigrants from Jalisco, Mexico, who built the restaurant as a tribute to their father and as a celebration of the authentic flavors they grew up with. They’ve dominated the quick-service Mexican scene in Chicago, in part because their business plan was born out of familial love. The company’s story and standards are authentic, and its food tastes better because of that.

    This is just part of why it’s so vital to share your goals, and even more so to share your success. Team members should also be in line with the business plan and where the brand is headed — should be thinking positively and aggressively right alongside you. Of course, that requires the right workplace dynamic: People naturally invest themselves in people who take care of them, so incentivize success, offer quality benefits and provide a comfortable workplace.

    Related: Why Are Companies Still Holding Back on Investing in Employees’ Development?

    Think about the future

    The goal for any franchisee should be to get wealthy, certainly, which involves building towards an exit. This business, like virtually all others, is about growing an asset that has the potential to sell at peak value. That’s why you need to be positive, prioritize aggression and focus on building a team — with the very possible goal of attracting a buyer. A profitable five-unit franchise chain that sells at eight times its yearly income could potentially set you up for life — a return most other industries can’t offer in a comparable timeframe.

    You shouldn’t be looking to create a job — heck, you can go find a job. Your future in franchising should be building generational wealth — for your family, your kids and yourself.

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    Dan Rowe

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  • Your Guide to Gaining a Competitive Edge and Succeeding as an Entrepreneur Over the Next 5 Years | Entrepreneur

    Your Guide to Gaining a Competitive Edge and Succeeding as an Entrepreneur Over the Next 5 Years | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As an entrepreneur, you must stay ahead and anticipate the future. To do this, you must refine your current skills and understand successful business practices while sharpening the most important skills you should master in the next five years.

    From recognizing potential opportunities to adapting quickly to change and maximizing resources for growth, you’ll be better equipped to take your business further than you ever imagined.

    Identifying opportunities

    Identifying potential business opportunities is critical for entrepreneurs looking to take their businesses to the next level in the coming years. Move ahead of the curve and capitalize on emerging opportunities by analyzing market trends, conducting market research to understand your customer base and leveraging data to uncover valuable insights into developing trends.

    Recognizing potential business opportunities is about realizing what’s happening in your industry and beyond. Identifying current trends can help you spot new markets or understand customer pain points that must be addressed with your product or service. Market research is a key factor, as it provides a deeper appreciation of customer needs and preferences, allowing you to create a better product or service that solves their problems.

    Develop an understanding of the competitive landscape. This is crucial to identifying potential business opportunities. Analyzing your competitors’ strategies helps you find ways to differentiate your product or service from theirs and gain an edge over them. Additionally, staying current on the latest technology trends provides insight into using technology for innovation and identifying new business opportunities.

    Utilizing data analytics tools is an entrepreneurial necessity for uncovering valuable information hidden in data sets. Data analytics give you a better grasp of customer behavior, allowing you to make more informed decisions about how best to serve them. With these combined strategies, you’re better equipped to identify potential business opportunities in the next five years and maximize your growth potential going forward.

    Related: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Crafting a Successful Future

    Developing clear strategies

    Planning and strategizing enable you to identify opportunities, make informed decisions and maximize your growth potential. Here are some key points for developing effective strategies:

    • Analyze the current market and trends: By monitoring the market trends and competitor strategies, you can spot any potential opportunities to capitalize on. You should also consider up-and-coming technologies that could disrupt your industry to stay on top of the latest trends.
    • Set goals and objectives: Goal setting is a natural process of business. But here’s some advice: set realistic goals that are reachable within a specific timeline. Stay focused on achieving goals, and don’t get distracted by other tasks or projects. Be SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, time-phased) when setting goals. This process will ensure you have a plan of action that can be easily tracked and monitored.
    • Create a timeline: Planning out each task into specific steps with deadlines helps you focus on completing each step efficiently to reach your goal in time. This also keeps you accountable as you work toward achieving goals over time instead of getting overwhelmed by tackling everything at once.
    • Develop an implementation plan: Once the timeline is set, create an implementation plan detailing each step in the process and any resources or risks involved. This detailed plan will help minimize surprises along the way, which can lead to delays or unnecessary costs.
    • Monitor progress: Regularly monitoring progress allows you to make necessary course corrections quickly to stay on track toward completing your goal within the desired timeframe. It also helps detect areas where additional resources may be needed, such as hiring new staff or investing in technology solutions.

    Creating connections and building relationships

    The secret sauce to successful entrepreneurialism is connections and relationships. Establishing meaningful connections not only enables you to gain access to resources but also allows you to learn from others. Furthermore, creating solid relationships can open potential opportunities for growth and success.

    To create meaningful connections, do your homework. Research potential contacts through networking websites like LinkedIn or attend local events and conferences related to your industry. You must also use these opportunities to build relationships — engage in conversation and remain genuine and authentic.

    When building relationships, find ways of adding value to the connection. For example, providing helpful advice or referring someone else who may benefit from the connection is an excellent way of strengthening a relationship and fostering mutual trust. Additionally, it’s important to stay in touch even after the initial meeting — follow-up emails or friendly conversations over coffee can keep relationships alive and demonstrate initiative.

    Now that you’ve established a network, you must nurture it. Stay in touch with contacts regularly and help each other out where possible. For these relationships to be beneficial in the long run, both parties must be mutually invested in each other’s success — this will ensure that both sides get something out of the relationship and foster a sense of trust.

    Related: 5 Ways to Organize a New Business to Take Advantage of the Future of Work

    Adapting to change quickly and effectively

    Entrepreneurs must adjust quickly and effectively to market changes in the ever-evolving business world. First, recognize the catalysts for transformation in your industry and evaluate how these modifications will influence their operations. Designing flexible tactics and processes to handle such shifts is vital for success.

    You must keep a positive attitude and be willing to explore novel approaches. Keep up with industry news and trends. This will provide useful insight into the movements of the business landscape and customer buying patterns.

    Successful entrepreneurs understand that adapting rapidly doesn’t mean taking every chance without restraint; rather, it requires pivoting quickly without sacrificing quality or efficiency. They develop practices that enable them to make rapid choices based on real-time data points and customer feedback while staying within budgetary and timeline restrictions. You must do the same!

    Ultimately, remaining agile is imperative to succeed in a dynamic business world. By mastering essential skills — detecting drivers of change, formulating flexible strategies, maintaining an open mindset, tracking sector trends and news updates and gathering customer responses, you’ll have all the necessary tools to take your company up a notch over the next five years.

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    Adam Povlitz

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  • The Benefits of Contrarian Real Estate Investing | Entrepreneur

    The Benefits of Contrarian Real Estate Investing | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Contrarians, in contrast to most investors, prefer to go against the prevailing market sentiment. By doing so, they seek out opportunities that others may overlook and attempt to capitalize on them. In this article, we will explore the concept of contrarian investing, its benefits, and how it can be applied to the real estate market.

    Contrarian investing involves adopting an approach that goes against the grain of popular opinion and prevailing market trends. Often referred to as “value investing,” contrarianism is based on the belief that markets are not always accurate or rational in their pricing of assets.

    Rather than following the crowd, contrarian investors seek out undervalued assets that others may overlook due to pessimism or lack of awareness. By taking a different stance, contrarian investors aim to identify undervalued assets and capitalize on their potential for future growth.

    Related: How to Profit From Value Investing

    The current real estate landscape

    The housing market in recent years has experienced significant challenges. Rising property prices and high mortgage rates have made it difficult to find income properties or affordable homes for renovation and resale.

    These market conditions can deter many conventional investors. However, for contrarian investors, these challenges can present unique opportunities.

    Contrarian perspectives in real estate

    Contrarian investors in the real estate market recognize that market fluctuations and rising interest rates are part of the long-term investment landscape. They understand that real estate typically outperforms other assets in terms of value appreciation and is less affected by short-term volatility compared to the stock market.

    Contrarians also consider factors such as population growth, economic development potential and property trends to identify potential opportunities that others may overlook.

    Contrarian real estate investors also look at regions that are unpopular or not trendy among most investors today. These areas can have hidden potential for economic growth, job creation and population growth. By looking beyond the popular, contrarian investors can capitalize on the potential gains that others may miss.

    Related: 5 Amazing Tips on Turning Real Estate Into a Real Fortune

    Benefits of contrarian investing in real estate

    1. Lower competition: Contrarian investors thrive on less competition and lower pricing. When popular sentiment is negative or hesitant, there is often reduced competition for real estate opportunities. This can provide contrarian investors with a better chance to negotiate favorable deals and secure undervalued properties.

    2. Favorable interest rates: Although interest rates have risen in recent years, they are still historically low compared to average rates over the past few decades. Acknowledging that interest rates are expected to rise further, contrarian investors understand the long-term nature of real estate investments and how today’s rates can still be considered attractive.

    3. Creative financing: Contrarian investors have the ability to think creatively and explore alternative financing options. This mindset can lead them to uncover financing strategies that others may not have considered, further enhancing their ability to seize valuable investment opportunities.

    4. Wealth creation through appreciation and cash flow: Contrarian investors recognize that real estate investments offer the potential for both short-term cash flow and long-term appreciation. By selecting properties that offer positive cash flow and have the potential for future value appreciation, contrarian investors can build wealth over time.

    5. Diversification: Contrarian investing can provide additional diversification to a real estate investor’s portfolio. By considering demographically or geographically different markets than conventional investors, contrarian investors have the potential to earn additional returns from diversification.

    Implementing a contrarian strategy

    Successful contrarian investing in real estate requires thoughtful analysis, research and the ability to identify opportunities others might miss. Contrarian investors should keep an open mind, constantly seek creative financing options, stay aware of market trends and economic indicators and conduct thorough due diligence on potential investment properties.

    It’s worth noting that contrarian investing can be a high-risk strategy, particularly if not implemented properly or if due diligence is not conducted well. However, by identifying undervalued assets that have the potential to appreciate with time, contrarian investors can generate substantial returns on investment that they might not achieve using traditional investment strategies.

    Related: This Boutique Father-Son Investment Firm Thrives By Ignoring Conventional Wisdom

    Contrarian investing in real estate is a bold approach that can potentially provide significant rewards for investors. By going against the crowd, contrarian investors have the opportunity to discover undervalued properties and capitalize on their potential for long-term growth.

    As with any investment strategy, it’s crucial to conduct proper research and analysis to make informed decisions. By embracing a contrarian mindset, aspiring real estate investors can set themselves apart and unlock unique opportunities in the market.

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    Roy Dekel

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  • Why You Need a Company Profile and How to Make One in 8 Steps | Entrepreneur

    Why You Need a Company Profile and How to Make One in 8 Steps | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A company profile is like a virtual handshake that introduces your business to the world. But it’s more than just an introduction. An effective company profile can help you attract potential investors, clients, partners and employees. How?

    A well-crafted company profile highlights your company culture, values, mission statement and accomplishments while providing a clear overview of your products, services and benefits. As a result, it persuades others to engage with your business and establishes your brand’s credibility and equity over time.

    Sounds interesting? Keep reading to find out how a company profile can benefit you and how you can make a company profile that stands out and impresses all your stakeholders.

    A company profile is a document that encapsulates your business’s vital information, including its name, location, history, ownership, management team, mission statement, future objectives and products/services.

    The length and format of the profile can vary depending on its intended purpose and audience. For instance, a company profile for a website or social media platform might be shorter and more informal than one used for a funding proposal or a business plan.

    Related: Branding Your Company Helps You Attract Better Quality Talent: Seven Steps To Cultivating A Good Employer Image

    Going into further detail, here are the major reasons why crafting a company profile is beneficial for your business:

    Showcasing your culture and values

    A professional company profile highlighting a positive organizational culture and strong values can help you attract and retain like-minded investors and employees. Showing what you stand for, what you want to achieve and how you are working in that direction will surely help you get more stakeholders on board.

    Boosting your public brand image

    A well-rounded company profile can highlight your unique selling propositions and give you a competitive edge. It can also display your achievements, values and social responsibility efforts to set you apart from the competition. These factors ultimately bolster your brand image and attract more customers.

    Related: The 5 Principles You Need to Create a Magnetic Brand Image

    Supporting and guiding business growth

    A company profile is a roadmap for expanding your business operations and revenue. It can help you identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and set realistic and measurable objectives.

    How to create a company profile

    Now that we’ve discussed what is a company profile and why you need it, its time to make a profile that stands out and establishes your brand’s authority. Just follow these simple steps to make a company profile for your business:

    1. Determine the profile’s purpose and audience — Before you begin writing, understand why you’re creating the profile and who is the target audience. This will help you decide what to include and the tone and style to use.
    2. Collect basic company information — This includes your company name, logo, address, contact details, website URL and social media handles. You may also want to include facts or figures highlighting your size, growth or market share.
    3. Write an engaging introduction — The introduction should grab the reader’s attention and provide a brief overview of your company’s activities, mission, objectives and strengths. You can also include statistics or testimonials to support your claims.
    4. Describe your products/services with persuasive media content — Explain what you offer to your customers or clients and how you address their problems or fulfill their needs. Mention any features or benefits that set you apart from your competition. And don’t hesitate to add demos or other explainer videos where appropriate. After all, 64% of people are more likely to buy something after seeing a video on it and videos form nearly 82% of web traffic. These numbers show the unparalleled popularity and effectiveness of video content to attract attention and convince the audience.
    5. Introduce your ownership and management team — Introduce the people behind your company, such as founders, owners, partners, executives, or board members. Include their names, roles, qualifications, accomplishments and vision or values for the company.
    6. Share your company history — Engage your audience by telling the story of how your company began and how it has evolved over time. Include any milestones, challenges, achievements or awards that you have received. You can include images, videos and infographics to maximize your story’s impact, but remember to keep this part concise.
    7. State your mission statement and future objectives — Summarize your company’s purpose and direction to validate your venture’s potential and future growth. Describe the problem you aim to solve or the impact you want to make with your business. Also, remember to mention specific and realistic goals for the future.
    8. Provide contact information — Conclude your profile by offering clear and straightforward ways for the reader to get in touch with you or learn more about your company. Include your phone number, email address, website URL or social media handles.

    Inspiring company profile examples

    To spark your creativity, here are examples of well-written company profiles from various industries:

    Starbucks

    The company profile of Starbucks is truly comprehensive, encompassing its mission, history, product offerings, store ambiance and even the intriguing tale behind its name. Remarkably, they strike a balance between authenticity and grandeur. Not many coffee shops can claim a mission as lofty as “to inspire and nurture the human spirit.”

    Starbucks’ company profile is an excellent example for businesses offering everyday products, such as coffee. They have distinguished themselves from competitors by emphasizing their unique mission and values, showcasing the power of a well-crafted company profile.

    General Motors

    General Motors (GM) hardly requires an introduction, as it stands as one of the world’s oldest and most prominent automotive manufacturers. Their company profile page is a testament to their credibility and presents a comprehensive overview of the company in a sleek and stylish manner.

    The “About” page is organized into three sections: Goals, Visions and Industries Served. In addition to this, General Motors features well-crafted, informative pages on its brand story, operations, growth strategy and leadership. The prominence of the company profile as the first tab on their website underscores the importance they place on it.

    Summing up

    We saw that the company profile is a crucial document that introduces your company to various stakeholders and showcases your strengths, values and achievements. A company profile that expresses your brand’s value proposition and resonates with the audience will form a lasting positive impression.

    So, go ahead and apply this guide to make a company profile that attracts and convinces investors, employees, partners and clients alike. All the best!

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    Vikas Agrawal

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  • She Ditched Corporate Life and Bet on Herself. Did It Pay? | Entrepreneur

    She Ditched Corporate Life and Bet on Herself. Did It Pay? | Entrepreneur

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    On this episode of “Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch,” find out if a new food company has investors digging in or saying no thanks.

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    Entrepreneur Staff

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  • What Are Summer Hours? | Entrepreneur

    What Are Summer Hours? | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    This story was originally reported on ReadWrite and Calendar.

    In an effort to attract and retain workers, employers offer nontraditional perks across various industries. It is not uncommon for companies to implement summer office hours, such as Fridays off or reduced work hours, in order to give their employees a break.

    The history of Summer Fridays isn’t clear. However, some sources say it began in New York City during the 1960s when advertising executives would drive early on Friday morning to the Hamptons, a rich, rural area on Long Island.

    By the 21st century, 55% of employers offered summer Fridays. There are more summer hours schedule components than just Summer Fridays.

    You can offer your employees flexibility during the summer

    During the summer, staying productive at work can be challenging — to say the least. It’s a popular time of year to take vacations, visit family, and otherwise stay away from work. As a result of these factors, as well as the temptation to skip work to enjoy nice weather, summers are less productive.

    Related: Some People Aren’t Cut Out to Be Managers — And That’s Okay. Here’s What You Can Do Instead.

    If you offer summer hours, your employees can plan their work around vacations and holidays. When productivity dips, and projects take longer to complete, employees are more likely to complete them if they are provided incentives. In addition, employees are more likely to front-load their work week during summer hours.

    Increased productivity during the summer

    Continuing from the previous point, weather-based timetables make employees happier and more productive. Are you aware that happy people are also 12% more productive? This is a win-win situation for both your employees and your company.

    As a result of the increased focus, employees can accomplish more tasks. The assumption is often made that remote work on Fridays or on days off will negatively impact productivity. The opposite is true, according to Opinion Research Corporation. In the study, 66% of employees who enjoy summer hour benefits are more productive.

    Further, the 4 Day Week Global Foundation undertook a study in 2022 to determine the implications of a four-day work week, similar to the schedules of some businesses during the summer. The study found that businesses with reduced work hours were more productive and performed better. In some cases, revenue increased for these organizations.

    There is an upswing in morale among employees

    When the weather outside is nice, your employees might feel demotivated. However, when morale is low during the middle of the year, summer hours are a great way to boost it. This gives them something to look forward to at the end of the week.

    Related: Want To Make Money As a Freelancer? Avoid This Mistake That Can Cost You Clients.

    It is through all of these things that employee satisfaction can be improved. When there is a high level of employee morale, teammates work together more closely and are more self-confident.

    A higher level of employee satisfaction

    In order to increase employee satisfaction, companies can emphasize work-life balance and summer hours. This leads to more loyal employees and fewer employee departures.

    Absenteeism decreases

    Employees are allowed to take vacations or other obligations during summer hours, reducing absenteeism. Therefore, it is possible to run the workplace smoothly, and the costs of replacing absent employees are reduced.

    As stated by Circadian in their ‘Absenteeism: The Bottom-Line Killer,’ unscheduled absences cost hourly workers roughly $3,600 per year. For salaried employees, it costs roughly $2,650 per year.

    A greater level of creativity among employees

    Taking time off for vacations or sick leave encourages employees to be more creative, according to research. By doing so, new ideas and innovations can be generated.

    An increase in employee health and well-being

    It is also beneficial to your health to have summer hours. When your employees constantly work without time to play, their health can quickly deteriorate. In your role as an employer, you must promote a healthy work environment.

    In the words of the Families and Work Institution’s Senior Director of Research, Ken Matos, “The simple reality is that work, both mental and physical, results in fatigue that limit the cognitive and bodily resources people have to put towards their work.”

    Furthermore, your employees will benefit from summer schedules after working a 4 or 4.5-day week in hot weather. Employees with Fridays off can also take a 3-day vacation to relieve stress and prevent burnout.

    You can also reap long-term benefits from providing your employees with sick days or mental health days. As well as increasing employee engagement, corporate healthcare costs will likely decrease.

    An improved company culture

    Additionally, summer hours can contribute to a more relaxed, fun work environment. The result is an increase in employee engagement and productivity.

    As Patrick Whitesell, Co-CEO of WME, puts it bluntly, “You can have all the right strategy in the world; if you don’t have the right culture, you’re dead.”

    Trust and respect are demonstrated

    Offering flexible summer work hours is one of the most important benefits of showing respect to your employees. By providing this key benefit, employers signal to workers that they can trust them to take care of their responsibilities to the fullest extent possible on Fridays.

    Typically, these gestures of trust increase employee engagement and loyalty.

    Retention, sustainability, and cost savings are improved

    Again, summer hours are becoming increasingly important when recruiting and retaining top talent in an increasingly competitive job market. Because of this, companies are becoming increasingly dependent on flexible working arrangements. One way to demonstrate that your business is flexible is by offering summer hours to your employees.

    Also, by shutting down the entire office every week, businesses will save on electricity and other operational costs. In addition, your sustainable business model can contribute to the conservation of natural resources.

    Costs associated with turnover were reduced

    It can be expensive to hire, train, and replace an employee. However, turnover costs can be reduced by summer hours.

    According to some studies, it costs a business on average, 6 to 9 months’ salary to replace a salaried employee. For example, recruiting and training expenses typically amount to $30k to $45,000 for an employee earning $60k a year.

    Enhanced customer service

    When employees are happier and more productive, they are more likely to provide good customer service. Customer satisfaction and loyalty can increase, boosting the company’s profitability.

    Conclusion

    When offering summer hours to your employees, there are a few things to consider. The first step is ensuring that your company can handle the reduced hours without sacrificing productivity. Additionally, it would be best to inform your employees well before the change so they can plan accordingly. Lastly, it would be best if you were flexible and willing to adjust your schedule as needed.

    Summer hours can boost employee morale, productivity, and loyalty. With summer hours, your company can attract top talent and improve profits.

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    John Hall

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  • How to Stop Online Marketplaces From Robbing Your Brand | Entrepreneur

    How to Stop Online Marketplaces From Robbing Your Brand | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Marketplaces have become extremely influential in ecommerce over the past three years. Major market players such as Amazon, Alibaba and JD attract millions of users, facilitating massive transactions across a wide range of product categories.

    They also generate a wealth of data on consumer behavior, preferences and trends. This strong market position gives them an advantage and the ability to charge unreasonably high commissions, basically robbing brands.

    The rise of marketplaces

    The journey of marketplaces goes back to the early days of the Internet when platforms such as eBay and Amazon pioneered the concept of online commerce. Founded in 1994 as an online bookstore, Amazon has evolved into a comprehensive marketplace offering a wide range of goods. eBay, launched a year later, popularized the concept of consumer-to-consumer online auctions. China’s JD.com and Alibaba also burst onto the market in the late 20th century.

    With the growth of ecommerce, niche and vertical platforms began to flourish. They focused on specific industries or product categories. A prime example is Etsy, a marketplace for handmade and vintage goods founded in 2005. And as technology has evolved, so have the capabilities of marketplaces. The introduction of secure payment systems, improved search algorithms and user-friendly interfaces have provided a new level of convenience, trust, and efficiency in online shopping.

    However, it wasn’t until after the pandemic that marketplaces took off. The year 2020 was a stellar time for them and e-commerce in general. Online platforms have become critical for brands to reach a broader customer base. In 2021, a whopping 42% of all online purchases were made through marketplaces. The convenience of shopping from home, the ability to compare prices and read customer reviews, and the seamless transaction process for customers have contributed to the rapid growth of online platforms. And in 2022, almost two-thirds of consumers said they were happy to be able to order everything they needed through one merchant.

    By 2027, third-party marketplaces will become the world’s largest and fastest-growing retail channel, accounting for nearly two-thirds of online sales. Amazon, Alibaba, Pinduoduo and JD.com are expected to generate $4.3 trillion in global sales, up from $2.5 trillion today. Experts say that the most successful retailers, both now and in the future, will operate third-party marketplaces, and consumer brands must align with them to flourish in this new retail environment.

    Although the concept of marketplaces itself is beneficial, including for brands, the strong position of online platforms has allowed them to dictate their terms to sellers and vendors and practically rob them.

    Related: 7 Revenue-Killing Mistakes for Ecommerce Retailers

    How online platforms make money on brands

    In the early days of marketplaces, when they needed to attract new suppliers to basically unknown platforms, contract conditions for vendors and commissions for sellers were usually based on a small percentage of the transaction amount. As marketplaces expanded and diversified, they introduced tiered commission structures to incentivize sellers with high sales volume. Those who achieved such volumes or met specific performance criteria could qualify for lower commissions, which offered a potential savings advantage.

    With time, marketplaces expanded their revenue streams by introducing additional services. They included premium placement in search results, featured listings, advertising options, and other services such as fulfillment, delivery, and marketing support. With these, marketplaces generate additional revenue while allowing merchants to increase their visibility. The problem is that though online platforms aim to increase the effectiveness of services and tools offered to sellers, their main goal is still to earn more by raising the penetration of those products, not optimizing sales for specific brands.

    As a result, Amazon, for example, now gets more than 50% of sellers’ revenue on average, compared to 40 percent five years ago. Sellers are paying more because Amazon has increased fulfillment fees, making advertising costs inevitable. The typical Amazon seller pays 15% per transaction, 20-35% for order fulfillment, and up to 15% for advertising and promotions. The cost of Fulfillment by Amazon, when Amazon stores, picks, packs, and ships orders, has been steadily rising, and there are few success stories of operating outside of this model. Advertising is optional, but it takes up most of the screen with the best conversions, so sellers inevitably have to buy Amazon advertising services to get noticed.

    The company has even been sued recently. According to the claim, Amazon penalizes sellers for failing to set the optimal price for their products by demoting them in search results and disqualifying products from the “Buy Box” feature, a white box on the right side of the Amazon product detail page, where clients can add goods for purchase to their cart.

    The power of AI

    With the growing influence of artificial intelligence, companies can now leverage AI to expand their presence, optimize operations and ultimately generate more revenue. We estimate that the global retail AI market will be worth about $350 billion by 2032 as more companies realize the benefits of neural networks and take advantage of them.

    Marketplaces already use AI-based tools that provide valuable insights into consumer behavior, campaign performance, and keyword search. Their main goal is to increase sales, and algorithms help them calculate which sellers’ products are worth promoting to maximize overall revenue. Online platforms analyze customer buying behavior, items in the shopping cart and the most viewed items to make recommendations, predicting what each client is likely to buy.

    Brands, too, can use AI to get to the top of marketplace search and increase the share of sales in their categories at the expense of internal marketplace traffic. However, sellers cannot access marketplace AI models. Platforms keep information about their developments secret and notify merchants of updates only when they occur. In Amazon’s case, Amazon Vendor Service can be used to access some of the AI functionality, but it increases the cost of doing business. At the same time, the service itself remains a black box. It means that brands cannot use platforms’ AI to promote their products. It also means they need third-party solutions to do so. What exactly would such AI solutions offer them?

    Related: How to Leverage the Power of ChatGPT and AI to Boost Your Shopify Store’s Success

    1. Intelligent and dynamic pricing

    AI solutions enable brands to implement intelligent pricing strategies. By analyzing market data, competitor pricing, and customer demand patterns, AI can determine optimal price points for products. Dynamic pricing allows sellers to adjust prices in real time based on factors such as supply and demand fluctuations, competitor activities, and customer behavior. This ensures that sellers remain competitive and maximize their revenue potential on marketplaces. Our experience shows that using AI to determine pricing allows sellers to recover up to 6% of previously lost margins.

    2. Intelligent adjustment for performance bids

    Leading marketplaces usually use real-time bidding (RTB) systems allowing advertisers to bid to show their ads to buyers. For example, on Amazon sellers bid on keywords, and the one with the highest bid and the best-targeted keywords usually wins. In other words, the winning bidding strategy is when the buyer’s search query matches the seller’s target keywords.

    With real-time data and advanced optimization techniques, businesses can ensure that their ad spend is used efficiently. AI algorithms can continuously recalculate billions of possible combinations of bids and amounts of budget, campaigns and segments, helping to rebound 20% of previously lost ROIC, based on our experience. Amazon, Alibaba, and JD already use such algorithms for in-house performance marketing.

    3. Efficient inventory management

    AI can optimize inventory management processes for sellers and vendors operating on online marketplaces. By analyzing historical sales data, algorithms can forecast shipments and sales by warehouse and SKU with granularity to organic and promotional sales and high accuracy, identify peak selling periods, and optimize inventory levels. This helps brands avoid out-of-stock or dead-stock situations, reducing storage costs and ensuring a seamless supply chain. Additionally, AI can automate inventory replenishment and order fulfillment processes, streamlining operations and minimizing human error.

    Related: 4 Ways to Use AI to Enhance the Customer Experience

    AI vs. People

    AI has enormous potential for sellers and vendors on marketplaces. By using AI to learn about customers, adjust rates, optimize pricing and manage inventory, brands can improve their competitive advantage, drive sales and increase overall profitability on online platforms.

    AI models also allow brands to save on time and resources of in-house teams and agencies, which, in our experience, companies typically hire to get their products to the top of marketplace storefronts. Сonsider, a medium-sized company from the food industry. Typically, a marketplace team (the one working to distribute products through online platforms most efficiently) includes an e-commerce leader, a manager, a designer, and a marketer. In addition, the company may hire an outside contractor to help its internal team.

    Nevertheless, these people are forced to engage in routine operations instead of using their time to solve strategic problems. With AI, teams can focus not on playing cat and mouse but on developing strategy and launching innovations, while algorithms will help implement them around the clock and in the most efficient way.

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    Pavel Podkorytov

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  • Why Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap is Good for Business | Entrepreneur

    Why Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap is Good for Business | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Philanthropy and government programs have been trying to close the racial wealth gap for a long time, but they’ve been focused on band-aids when we need ladders. While the wealth gap is fueled by several contributing factors, including disparity in home ownership, accumulation of financial assets and strong growing wages, as small business investors, we can draw our attention to a core piece of the problem: the wage gap.

    Let’s take a moment to clarify what we mean when we talk about the wage gap as it relates to the racial wealth gap. We are not just talking about good-paying jobs for people of color. We really need good-paying jobs that provide a clear pathway for Black and Brown employees to build a stronger, sustaining financial future.

    The typical white U.S. household has nearly eight times the wealth of the typical Black household. To address the systemic issue of racial wealth inequity, the private sector must do what it does best – invest in great companies and entrepreneurs that create quality jobs –and ensure all workers, especially Black and Brown workers, have an equal opportunity to build a lasting, positive economic reality for themselves and their families.

    Related: Compounding Inequality to Compounding Success: Bridging the Racial Wealth Gap

    Media reported widely that recent pandemic aid cut U.S. poverty to a new low, but that was a short-term solution to a global crisis — it wasn’t aimed at driving wages higher in perpetuity. As that funding source dries up, those in a lower economic bracket return to the same or even worse circumstances than they were at the start. To truly attack the racial wealth gap, we need the private sector to make the change that the government and non-profits simply cannot do independently.

    Private sector employers and investors often can’t see how they can drive the change needed to give Black and Brown Americans access to wealth-creation opportunities while growing businesses and pleasing investment partners. But it is not as hard as they may think, and the benefits to their business and community deliver a long-lasting ROI for companies, workers and families.

    Building a path to financial security starts with strategic wages

    For decades, wages for Black and Brown workers have lagged behind those of white workers with the same experience and education, even in the same geography Even when people of color climb the corporate ladder, they make less — 97 cents on the dollar.

    These communities need more than just a living wage; they also need opportunities for long-term career development, pay parity and wage progression. A rising wage promotes economic stability, helps workers provide for their families and facilitates wealth accumulation for future generations.

    Wage progression — whether linked to individual performance, company performance, tenure, skills development, or promotion — is also good for business. It helps attract the best employees, improves retention, and sustains and incentivizes business growth.

    Related: How to Support Black Employees During (and After) Juneteenth

    The role of benefits in building generational wealth

    Meaningful benefits are a major piece of increasing sustainable employee wealth. Most employee wealth is derived from workplace benefits packages: health insurance, 401ks, stock options, etc. Low-wage workers typically don’t have those options, which are key to building generational wealth.

    Business leaders and investors can change this situation by learning from employees what benefits and opportunities would make the greatest difference in their lives and free up income for saving and investing– be that affordable healthcare, child/eldercare support, or direct wealth creation through incentivized savings opportunities like 401k plans, IRAs, and employer matching savings programs.

    Offering these types of household-stabilizing benefits could largely pay for themselves in terms of lower absenteeism, greater productivity, increased retention and worker-driven competitive advantage.

    Help employees continually grow their skills

    Too often, the leadership potential and training of Black and Brown Americans is overlooked. According to McKinsey, Black workers are disproportionately concentrated in entry-level jobs with low pay and underrepresented in leadership and executive positions.

    Correcting this divide means providing entry-level workers with access to training and development opportunities from the moment they are hired. Programs that teach employees valuable skills for remaining relevant in their careers to prepare them for higher responsibilities while reducing turnover, improving engagement and accelerating business growth.

    Making it happen

    Investors typically provide small businesses with growth capital, but they can also provide operational capital that is invested directly in employees. Business leaders, their investors and advisors can collaborate to devise a feasible and ambitious plan that establishes measurable goals for the company and the impact company leaders aim to achieve by driving an innovative wage strategy.

    Several local or national advocacy groups for diverse workplaces, such as the Business Consortium Fund, the National Institute of Minority Economic Development and the Minority Business Development Agency, can assist with this kind of wage-targeted approach to eliminating the racial wealth gap.

    Furthermore, it is crucial to monitor and evaluate outcomes using meaningful metrics. Failing to measure outcomes from these changes means businesses will not know what they’ve really achieved, which keeps them from continuous improvement.

    Related: How to Overcome Workplace Inequality and Reach Gender Parity

    Opportunity and obligation

    I believe that every employer and their investors have a moral imperative to make closing the racial wealth gap a focal point of their business model, even if it means taking a little less for themselves and other executives off the bottom line. There is a tremendous opportunity to hire workers from disadvantaged communities and grow and sustain a strong workforce that helps grow all businesses. In return, employees would benefit from quality jobs and greater economic vitality now and in the future, setting up the next generation for even greater progress.

    It’s about doing something incredible and making work “work” for businesses and employees alike. This type of investment is the catalyst for the change we need in our business world and our society —but it can’t happen without the private sector and its leaders driving the charge.

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    Sandra M. Moore

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  • How to Balance Entrepreneurship and Parenthood Without Losing Your Cool | Entrepreneur

    How to Balance Entrepreneurship and Parenthood Without Losing Your Cool | Entrepreneur

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    Like many parents, I thought things would get “back to normal” after the pandemic. My kids would start attending school in-person and I’d finally be able to get my work done during the day without any interruptions.

    I was wrong.

    Sure, my kids are back in school. But they’re still home quite often due to breaks and other unexpected reasons. Beyond that, I often cut the workday short to attend their events or take them to various appointments. Is this all part of the job? Absolutely. Is it still frustrating at times? Yep! And, it creates an interesting paradox.

    I work so I can give my kids the resources and opportunities they need. But they often interrupt my work, and it’s usually to tell me something about the resources and opportunities they need.

    So if you’re also balancing the world of entrepreneurship and parenthood, the latest episode of the Launch Your Business podcast is for you. We’re joined by parenting expert and licensed educational psychologist Reena B Patel. Get ready to take some notes as she shares the secret to getting your work done while still giving your kids the attention and support they deserve.

    You can check out some of my key takeaways below.

    Work-life balance is a myth

    Reena started our time together with some myth-busting. Although many of us get into entrepreneurship for flexibility, many of us expect to find some kind of perfect equilibrium between our work life and our real life/family time.

    But perfection doesn’t exist – you might get one day a year that feels like the exact right balance of each. “There is going to be a give-and-take,” Reena said. “There are going to be days where you’re going to have to put in more hours at work because you might have a deadline, and there are gonna be days where your children really do need you.”

    But Reena also says that the give-and-take can actually be good for our kids:

    “I think that fluidity and flexibility is the one life skill, if we can give to our kids (but also teach ourselves) is really important.”

    Having a schedule is your friend

    While committing to being flexible is important, Reena said it’s also critical to maintain a schedule and a routine. This can look like getting dressed for work after you make the kids breakfast, or setting your preferred work hours and looping in your partner.

    You can still arrange this schedule around your kids (Reena said she made sure she took her lunch break at the same time her kids did during the pandemic), but the main point is that there is a schedule and shared expectations of what your time looks like.

    “I think that’s really important to establish an environment, a workspace that’s conducive for you to be productive,” Reena said. “The last thing we wanna do is finish the day and feel like we got nothing accomplished.”

    When your child is your coworker, use novelty to keep them busy

    The younger the kid, the harder this is – but Reena said that one key to keeping your child entertained is bringing novelty to your child’s time at home (or in your office/workspace). Give them a designated place for them to play, and cycle through different kinds of toys/puzzles/games.

    “You don’t want all the toys out at all times,” Reena said. “You wanna rotate them because that keeps that novelty and excitement there. Put the things that they haven’t engaged with in a long time in that bin. And so there’s that excitement, there’s that newness.”

    Some other ways this could work: Bring in books they haven’t read from the library, add some new toys or crafts to the mix from the dollar store, and reserve “headphones on” activities for when you really need to work uninterrupted – like when you’re hopping on a Zoom call.

    Bonus: Be annoying

    Here’s one of my favorite tips from Reena, teaching your child empathy. Of course, this is an important trait to instill, but Reena provided a unique way of doing so.

    Start by having your kids engage in an activity they enjoy. Let’s say it’s coloring for example. Then, continually interrupt them while they’re engaging in that activity. Get obnoxious with it to the point where they get frustrated.

    Once that happens, say something along the lines of “You don’t like being interrupted when you’re doing this, and I don’t like being interrupted while I’m working, so let’s find a way to give each other space when we need it.”

    In the best-case scenario, your kids learn how to keep themselves occupied when you absolutely must focus on your work. Worst case scenario, at least you’ll have some fun messing with them!

    Next steps

    Ready to learn more from Reena so you can get your work done while still giving your kids the attention they deserve?

    Visit Reena’s website to access her latest guides and tools.

    Follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn

    And of course, listen to the full podcast episode below.

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    Terry Rice

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  • 3 Critical Strategies to Help Your Company Sell | Entrepreneur

    3 Critical Strategies to Help Your Company Sell | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    When you’re getting a new business off the ground, selling it is likely the last thing you’re thinking about.

    However, the truth is that it’s much easier (and much less costly) to develop your exit plan from the start than it is to restructure your company to sell. For business owners, the best course of action is to grow a sellable company right from the beginning.

    Not sure how to develop a sellable business? Here are some tips to get you started.

    Related: 3 Reasons You Should Sell Your Business

    How do you improve sellability while building a business?

    Making your business sellable doesn’t only benefit you when it comes time to make a sale. The businesses that command the highest sale prices are also the most profitable, so when you’re building a sellable business, you’re also setting yourself up for success as a business owner.

    One of the keys to building a sellable business is making early investments to improve scalability over time. You can do that by focusing on the following:

    • Implementing high-quality, efficient technology systems
    • Hiring executive leaders
    • Having financials regularly reviewed and audited
    • Building human capital function

    These might sound like obvious investments to make to some. Still, many founders do not want to make the necessary investments in infrastructure to be able to scale the business, instead viewing it as ‘overhead.’

    Investing in infrastructure from the outset may involve a substantial cash outlay, but it will dramatically increase your business’s value when it comes time to sell. Align Business Advisory, a leading M&A advisory for small and mid-size businesses, also points out that a third-party advisor can greatly help businesses to figure out ways to improve their overall scalability with services like business valuation and exit planning.

    If your company has quality infrastructure that can be built upon, potential buyers are looking at a turnkey sale. You’ll be poised to make significantly more from the sale in this situation. If a buyer sees that they will need to restructure the company for scalability after they purchase it, they’ll pay much less.

    Related: Top 5 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Scaling Their Business To 7 Figures

    How do you help your company sell for a higher multiple?

    Even if your company has already been in business for years, there are still several things you can look at to optimize total value. If you want to make sure you’ll make as much as you can from the sale of your company, start with these steps.

    1. Enhance operational efficiency

    Many smaller business owners are owner-operators; their presence is essential for business success. However, when it comes to making a sale, this situation can dramatically decrease what a buyer is willing to pay.

    Why? If the buyer purchases a business like this, they’re taking on considerable risk. Once you leave the business, there’s a possibility that daily operations will suffer or key customers will leave.

    If you can demonstrate that your business functions well without your involvement, buyers will see a purchase as much less risky, so they’ll likely pay more when the time comes to sell.

    Related: Selling Your Business? Do These 6 Things Right Now.

    2. Optimize gross margin and EBITDA

    Not all revenue dollars are created equal. For instance, If a company must spend $99 to make $100, then that $1 of profit is not as valuable. So, regarding profitability, the cash in your business’s bank account isn’t the only thing that matters.

    To ensure your profit margins are high enough to draw in quality buyers, you’ll want to look at your EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation Amortization) margin profile.

    Your EBITDA margin indicates your operating profit as a percentage of your total revenue. In most cases, buyers want an EBITDA margin of at least 10%. Many buyers view businesses with lower margins as too risky.

    3. Diversify your customer base

    Having one or two customers who routinely spend large amounts at your business can give you a sense of security. But buyers want to see diversified revenue. If most of your revenue comes from a few customers and those customers stop patronizing your company, your finances will suffer.

    In most cases, buyers look askance at any business where a single customer accounts for over 20% of the revenue. They may still purchase your business but are likely to pay substantially less.

    If you currently rely primarily on a few customers for steady income, make an effort to diversify income sources. That could mean offering additional products or services or using targeted advertising to draw in different demographics.

    Related: The 11 Rules of Highly Profitable Companies

    Build a sellable company from the ground up

    Creating a business that’s built to sell can be a challenge, especially if you’re wrapped up in running that business from day to day. However, it is vital that entrepreneurs prioritize sellability from the start of their business journey.

    The tips above provide ways to help maximize your business’s total value and attract quality buyers. By proactively working toward sellability, you are not only positioning yourself for a successful sale, but also setting yourself up for long-term business success and profitability.

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    Peter Daisyme

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  • Why Startups Must Drop the ‘Fake It ‘Til You Make It’ Mentality | Entrepreneur

    Why Startups Must Drop the ‘Fake It ‘Til You Make It’ Mentality | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The recent imprisonment of Elizabeth Holmes got me thinking more deeply about the old Silicon Valley adage, “Fake it ’til you make it.” This saying has long been the mantra of startups not only in Silicon Valley but throughout the country. I’ve been involved in the startup community for the better part of 8 years now. I worked at a startup that believed faking it was a legitimate business strategy. Its founders are now staring at substantial prison time tied to a multitude of fraud convictions. I’ve also worked at two startups (my current one included) where the focus was grit, effort and hard work always backstopped by integrity. You don’t tell people you can do something you can’t do simply to benefit your own self-interest.

    The fact is ratifying “fake it ’til you make it” is nothing more than creating an excuse about your own personal or professional failures. Does that mean you can’t push limits? Or test the abilities of your team? Does it mean you can’t seek to achieve goals that seem unattainable? Or to publicly aspire to accomplish those goals? Absolutely not. Startups are typically only successful when they are backed by seemingly impossible dreams. But there are ethical ways to get there. Let me explain.

    Let’s say your startup idea is to create a two-sided marketplace for art. On one side, you have buyers who are interested in art from particular artists, and on the other side, you have sellers who have access to legitimate pieces of art from those artists. Your goal is to programmatically match buyers and sellers and to use technology to validate and authenticate the art. In your mind, this will all eventually be done without human intervention, but it will take months (or maybe years) to make that happen technologically. So, now let’s break this down into two models: (a) a model based on “fake it ’til you make it”; and (b) a model based on grit, hard work and creative but ethical solutions.

    Related: Here’s Why You Should Not “Fake It Till You Make It”

    “Fake it ’til you make it” model

    Let’s start with the “fake it ’til you make it model.” You put out a pitch deck and marketing materials that tout proprietary matching algorithms that will connect the right buyers to the right sellers and an AI-based software that will detect fraudulent or forged works of art. Without question, these are how you envision the future state of your business. Moreover, your website states that you’ve completed thousands of successfully matched art transactions. What does it matter if it’s not true? It’s not hurting anyone.

    Now the truth is it’s still your dream to create proprietary matching algorithms and AI-based fraud detection, but what you currently have is a simple database of sellers and buyers of art with a basic taxonomy that allows you to classify the works. You also employ a few art experts who can review the listings for any clear or apparent fraud. Since you started the site, you’ve matched around 100 buyers and sellers who all seem generally pleased with the experience and what they’ve received. Seems simple. Unfortunately, the fact is, you have completely misrepresented your product, your transaction history, and fundamentally, what your company does to provide value.

    It may seem harmless because your users are satisfied, but what if an angel or VC firm is so interested in your pitch that they want to invest seven figures into your business? You’re a startup. You need money. Depending on the angel or VC, it may also provide significant clout or publicity to your business. So, now you’re stuck between Scylla and Charybdis. Do you perpetuate false information and financially insulate and benefit your business? Or do you turn down the money and attempt to rectify the untruths which may severely impact your business’s ability to survive? Neither is a good option. The fact is, because you touted the potential future state of your business instead of its current reality, you’ve engaged in “fake it ’til you make it” and, depending on the outcome, committed fraud.

    Related: The Truth About ‘Fake It ‘Til You Make It’

    Reality-based model

    Now, how could this have been done ethically, while still generating interest and buzz in your business? It’s simple. In your marketing materials, you could state your value proposition as a technology company/marketplace that helps buyers find sellers, sellers find buyers and ensures that each party is comfortable with the legitimacy of the pieces of art. Your goal can still be the creation of algorithms that help match buyers and sellers as well as an AI-based fraud detection software, but that isn’t what you are currently selling.

    In order to make sure users have a good experience, you can have team members in the background manually poring over the listings to find the best matches and those same art experts perusing the lists for forgery and fraud. The truth is, the users will be happy as long as they have a good buying or selling experience, get what they want and feel as though the platform provides transactional transparency and certainty.

    Publicly, your marketing materials can tout that you’ve successfully matched “numerous” buyers and sellers and even use quotes and endorsements from those satisfied customers. Angels and VCs will see traction and may very well decide to invest in your vision without believing it to be the current reality. Most importantly, you haven’t committed fraud or compromised yourself ethically simply to boost your ego. You’ve simply used grit and ingenuity to provide a good experience without relinquishing a much grander vision for the future.

    We’ve now seen the result of the “fake it ’til you make it” culture — Sam Bankman-Fried, Elizabeth Holmes, Charlie Javice, etc. Right now, we’re operating in a legal climate where the traditional startup mantra is having real and serious repercussions. But that doesn’t mean it won’t change in the future. More importantly, it doesn’t mean the temptation won’t be there for the next generation of entrepreneurs and startups. It’s hard to be patient. It’s hard to grind. But it’s also the only real path to success. Speed kills is another old adage that has existed for generations. Perhaps that should be the new mantra for startups.

    Related: The 5 Worst Tips I Received When Starting My Business

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    Collin Williams

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  • How You Should Dedicate Your Early 20s to be a Successful Entrepreneur | Entrepreneur

    How You Should Dedicate Your Early 20s to be a Successful Entrepreneur | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    If you are aspiring to become an entrepreneur, your early 20s are the perfect time to get started.

    By spending this important time in your life getting the right qualifications, building great personal qualities, and expanding your professional connections – you’ll be thanking yourself down the road.

    Acquiring a higher education qualification

    Your early twenties are the perfect time to obtain an additional degree or certificate to add to your resume. This is especially true if you aspire to become a business entrepreneur. If you are looking to start a new business venture, enrolling to complete an MBA online, for instance, will provide you with invaluable life skills, capabilities, and technical knowledge that you can bring to your new business.

    Related: The 9 Most In-Demand Professional Certifications You Can Get Right Now

    Also known as a Master of Business Administration, an MBA will effectively teach you the many skills you require to be successful as a business entrepreneur. Some of the course material you are likely to cover during an MBA degree will usually include:

    Business function skills and expertise – If you’re venturing out on your own, you need to know the business world and how it functions and operates. Studying core MBA units around strategic decision-making, planning, and analysis is essential to becoming a business expert. Your business studies will also focus on understanding and leveraging marketing concepts. Some of these concepts will cover the areas of consumer demand, supply chain management, and marketing data analytics – to name a few.

    Related: Do You Need an MBA to Succeed in Business?

    Leadership and management capabilities – A competent leader is essential to running your business. If your venture is successful, you may hire your own staff in the not-too-distant future, even in your early 20s. The best part about this is that by training your employees to understand how to operate your business autonomously, your own workload will be greatly reduced. Ideally, you want to be able to employ staff who can run the business without you. Essentially, the goal is to generate somewhat of a passive income without having to physically be involved in the daily operation of your business.

    Transformational change techniques and strategies – Lastly, you need to learn to adapt to change. As such, learning and developing techniques and strategies that will assist with adapting to transformation and change is invaluable for any business entrepreneur. Some of these capabilities involve understanding how to navigate the complex and changing landscape of the business world. Additionally, it will help you make strategically-beneficial business decisions.

    Developing relevant personal characteristics

    As well as pursuing formal education, if you’re serious about becoming a business entrepreneur, you need to cultivate certain personality traits, characteristics and personal attributes. These include:

    Passion, drive and ambition – If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, you will already have the passion to get yourself going. You may also have a new business concept in mind. Your passion for this concept will drive and propel you forward. If you are in your early 20s and you are already passionate enough to want to start your own business, you definitely have it in you to succeed. Next, you’ll need to put in the work.

    Related: 13 Characteristics of Successful Hustlers

    Discipline and motivation – Sometimes, passion isn’t enough. You also need to stay consistently motivated. It can If you’re not feeling especially motivated, then you need to learn to be disciplined. There is a difference between being motivated and being disciplined. Discipline will enable you to stick to your positive habits, routine, and objectives, even when lacking motivation. As such, it is vital to develop this important attribute to stay on track toward your business goals.

    Dedication and a strong work ethic – Dedication and a strong work ethic are central to success as a business owner. Undoubtedly, the road ahead will be bumpy, and many obstacles will come your way. The only way to combat this is to work through the challenges and remain dedicated to your cause. By showing dedication, hard work, and commitment, you also become a role model to the staff you employ to help run your business in the future.

    Building your professional network

    There’s no way around it; if you want to be successful in the business world, you need to network. Perhaps the best way to expand your network is to engage with a professional business mentor.

    Related: Communication Tips 7 Entrepreneurs and Leaders Wish They’d Known in Their Early 20s

    Importantly, engaging with a mentor who can show you the ropes of the business world is extremely helpful, especially when you are starting out on your own. Likely, your mentor will already have experienced exactly what you are about to go through as a new business owner.

    Your early 20s are a formative time in your life. And, if you make the most of these years by developing the skills and characteristics required of a business owner, your ambition to become a successful entrepreneur is well within your reach. So, take the time to invest in higher education, cultivate desirable personal qualities, and grow your business network.

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    Under30CEO

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  • 3 Key Methods of Boosting Franchise Operation Sales | Entrepreneur

    3 Key Methods of Boosting Franchise Operation Sales | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The old saying goes, “Sales cures all,” and that may be right, but how exactly does a savvy businessperson intending to grow a franchise go about boosting their sales numbers?

    My inbox and social feeds are filled with “helpful” pitches by marketing professionals — digital marketing, PR companies, lead generators, funnels, text marketing… the list seems endless. It’s vital, in considering all these come-ons, that you not confuse efforts and results.

    Think, for example, about how improvements in operations can compound sales growth. I call it the “10/10/10 Method:” By focusing on increasing daily customers, check size and visit frequency by 10% in each category, you’ll juice yearly sales in a disproportionality large way.

    Take Five Guys: Its average franchise location does about $1.2 million in yearly sales — roughly 220 customers a day averaging about $15.00 per check. If you can attract just 22 more people a day, and manage to up-sell one additional item on each check, things change dramatically. I recently sat down with Fransmart‘s CFO and ran the numbers: Yearly sales would go from $1.2 million to $1.59 million — a 32% increase by being just 10% better.

    Here are three ways to ensure that your 10/10/10 growth strategy is a success.

    1. Nail that trial period

    Most of your marketing budget, particularly in the early days, will be spent on getting customers to try your concept, so great operations and loyalty programs will keep guests coming back and spending more. Sweetgreen, for example, has a loyalty program that builds revenue by charging customers for extra perks, and it works. Rest assured: people will pay good money for a quality experience.

    Grand openings are, of course, vital. These events are usually held between a month before and a month after you open and should be designed to create a buzz in the market. Break through the noise by being creative; add a twist to your messaging so people won’t want to miss out.

    Be exhaustive in your research of the local market and tie your brand’s message and marketing into it. And, whether in tandem with opening events or in a separate effort, consider a discount or giveaway to give folks additional motivation to stop by. Give them a reason to invest, because good value and community support are equally vital.

    When that crowd inevitably shows up, capture it in every way you can — whether in photos, video — heck, rent a drone and show just how far the line goes. A giveaway or other tempting draw may be great, but there’s no incentive better than the fear of missing out. If the community sees a massive line, they’ll be through the door soon.

    Related: The 8 Rules to Live By in Franchise Marketing, According to Top Franchise CMOs

    2. Encourage frequency

    Repeat customers are the most profitable because you don’t have to re-market to them. If someone enjoyed their first experience, the instinct is to repeat it, in the process hopefully trying other products. There’s no marketing or incentive needed to bring these people back through the door: Your brand is the draw.

    Remember that marketing is an investment in repeat customers: it’s not a cost. Consider a customer who uses you two times a month and spends $10 each time: That person isn’t just the $10 they spend at that moment, but $240 a year and $2,400 over ten years. And that’s not even factoring in the word-of-mouth business they provide by bringing in friends.

    Another major component of encouraging repeat business is making sure customers can enjoy your brand in whatever way they want, which means having a quality delivery program. You may cringe at the cost of developing your own, and/or partnering with third-party apps, but remember: This isn’t just about building incremental sales but building a relationship with a repeat customer who will pay full price the next time they drive by your business. That’s worth an investment.

    Another vital consideration: The quickest killer of repeat business is making guests feel unsafe or uncomfortable. Great marketing might get someone through the door, but if they walk through a cobweb on their way in, it’s over. Ensure that locations are adhering to high standards of presentation, or all the other good work is wasted.

    Related: 3 Customer-Service Tips That Will Ensure Repeat Business (60-Second Video)

    3. Grow check averages

    I once asked the founder of a popular burger brand what percentage of customers also ordered its fries and maybe a fountain beverage. “Everyone does,” he replied. “Well, most everyone. I think most do.” We watched the line for the next 10 minutes, and less than one-third of the customers were also ordering fries and a drink. Why? Because there was a line out the door and the cashier was trying to move it along instead of suggesting extras.

    Once you have people in the door, you’re failing as a business if you’re not doing everything you can to maximize each sale. This is an art: You don’t want to apply undue pressure, but remember that you’re in business to sell, not just take orders.

    To that end, customer service is more than a warm smile. People want a valuable experience, and that means having their needs met. Businesses should be prepared to ask good questions, identify specific needs and offer the right products to meet them. That means making sure the staff is well-trained. Suggestive selling will lead to a better experience if it’s addressing a genuine need.

    Many businesses are turning to kiosks now to address the need for such selling. I love Wow Bao, an Asian concept in Chicago that’s nailing the ordering process. In the early days of the company, new customers were clogging the lines by asking a long series of questions when ordering, causing regulars to turn away and avoid the wait. In response, the company installed kiosks, and the check average went up by almost 20%! This has driven revenue growth while lowering labor costs and giving repeat customers a better experience… a truly winning formula.

    Related: Five Ways To Upsell Your Products And Services

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    Dan Rowe

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  • How Sales Farming Can Bring New Life to Dead Leads | Entrepreneur

    How Sales Farming Can Bring New Life to Dead Leads | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In the fast-paced business world, there is no asset more valuable than leads, as they are the key drivers of growth and profitability. As is often the case, many leads within your CRM may become inactive and be classified as ‘dead’ due to their lack of recent engagement or conversion. Numerous companies prioritize investing in acquiring new leads instead of allocating resources towards re-engaging inactive prospects. As per the Harvard Business Review, retaining an existing customer is significantly more cost-effective, with a range of five to 25 times less expensive than acquiring a new one.

    What if you could convert these dead prospects or clients into profitable sales? Welcome to the world of ‘sales farming’ and revenue recovery, which has proven to be a game-changer for experts, coaches and consultants.

    ‘Sales farming’ differs from the conventional ‘sales hunting’ strategy, which focuses predominantly on acquiring new leads. Instead, it promotes the maintenance of existing relationships and the reactivation of dormant leads. This strategy entails meticulously combing through your contact database, identifying prospects whose interest in your business has waned, and strategically reviving it.

    Related: How to Get High-Quality Business Leads with LinkedIn and Marketing Automation

    Notable businessmen such as Dan Lok and fitness legend Brandon Carter have effectively employed sales farming strategies. This innovative strategy focuses on nurturing and re-engaging these cold prospects and clients, giving them new life and substantially boosting your bottom line. We assisted Dan Lok in generating over one million dollars in six months by reactivating 300,000 leads. Similarly, we assisted Brandon Carter in converting 25,000 cold prospects into over $400,000 in revenue within four months.

    How, you ask? By leveraging the power of AI and effective Sales Farming strategies.

    Dead leads: recognizing the hidden treasure

    Before implementing the strategy, it is essential to analyze the inherent value of ‘dead’ leads, which are commonly disregarded. A lead may initially go cold for various reasons, including that the timing wasn’t right, the prospect wasn’t ready to purchase, or your solution didn’t meet their current requirements. Often, it is also a previous buyer who, over time, stopped purchasing your solutions. However, conditions alter. What a prospect or client may not have been interested in a few months ago may be exactly what they’re looking for now.

    Therefore, these inactive leads represent a concealed treasure trove of potential business, and it is your responsibility to unearth this value.

    Related: How to Maximize Your Online Sales Leads

    Sales farming: key strategies to implement

    Sales Farming as a strategy relies heavily on personalization and automation. Several market tools can help your business achieve these goals, including Salesforce, HubSpot, GoHighLevel and Harvest AI.

    Bespoke Outreach: The initial step is to create tailored communication. This isn’t just about mass communication; it’s about crafting messages that feel individually personalized, which can help reignite interest in your business. Tools like Salesforce and HubSpot are particularly well-equipped for crafting and managing these personalized emails, texts, and voicemail drops.

    Automated Appointment Scheduling: Streamlining your sales call booking process can significantly improve the experience for your leads, thus increasing the likelihood of conversion. Platforms like GoHighLevel can provide the kind of automated bot assistance you need. Using advanced AI technologies, these bots can interact with leads, understand their schedules, and set appointments accordingly.

    Personalized Video Content: The power of video as an audience engagement tool can’t be overstated. Creating a video and then personalizing it for each lead can greatly enhance your outreach efforts. Several advanced tools in the market, such as Harvest AI, can modify the lip-sync of the video to align with the lead’s first name, taking personalization to a new level.

    Improved Deliverability: Ensuring your outreach messages reach your leads is critical. Services that assist in obtaining A2P and STIR/SHAKEN approvals can enhance your deliverability rates, increasing the chances of your messages being seen by your leads.

    Efficient Lead Management and Tracking: A key aspect of Sales Farming involves efficient lead management. This involves organizing and tracking all communications with a lead. CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot give you visibility into a lead’s interaction history, enabling you to design more targeted outreach strategies.

    In conclusion, Sales Farming isn’t just a technique; it’s a comprehensive strategy designed to turbocharge your sales efforts. By offering personalized outreach, automated processes, and optimized deliverability, platforms like Harvest AI and others provide you with the tools you need to breathe life back into your dormant leads and unlock new revenue opportunities.

    Building a sustainable business model

    While the impact and results of Sales Farming are apparent in the short term, it’s also essential to recognize the long-term benefits of this strategy. By nurturing and re-engaging existing leads, you create a sustainable business model that doesn’t solely depend on acquiring new leads. This shift reduces your cost per lead and establishes a more stable revenue stream for your business.

    Remember, the leads in your CRM were once interested in your business. They may have gone cold, but with the right approach, they can be re-engaged and converted. In the grand scheme of things, nurturing these relationships can prove to be more valuable than constantly seeking new leads.

    Conclusion: Unearth hidden value

    In conclusion, Sales Farming, particularly when powered by Harvest AI, provides a significant opportunity to unearth the hidden value within your CRM. It allows you to maintain fruitful relationships with your prospects, keep your pipeline healthy, and build a sustainable business model.

    Remember, your CRM is not a graveyard for dead leads. It’s a farm, ripe with potential, waiting for the right strategy to cultivate it. Start farming your leads and watch as your ‘dead’ leads spring back to life, generating revenue and driving growth for your business.

    It’s time to put your CRM under the plow and plant the seeds of re-engagement and retention. As the saying goes, ‘the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.’ The same goes for your leads. Start Sales Farming now, and harvest the fruits of your efforts in the form of revived leads and increased revenue.”

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    Joel Yi

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  • How to Balance Purpose and Profit for Long-Term Success | Entrepreneur

    How to Balance Purpose and Profit for Long-Term Success | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    It used to be enough to drive profitability, but modern businesses (and their employees) now require a transcendent higher purpose. This is the “why” behind your company’s mission and vision statements and helps align the decisions you make when dealing with uncertainty in business.

    Purpose-driven organizations are valued by stakeholders because they grow three times faster on average than non-purpose-driven competitors. Purpose-led organizations encourage personal development among all employees with the understanding that businesses have a powerful influence on society and should be focused on more than just financial goals.

    Of course, creating a purpose-driven organization without sacrificing long-term profits is easier said than done. It requires the right catalyst and transformative leaders understand that authentically reaching for something deeper and more meaningful achieves better business results. There are four ways to be a change catalyst and lead your organization with purpose.

    Related: Why a Purpose-Driven Business Is the Real Key to Success

    1. Look to the voice of your organization

    Purpose isn’t invented — it’s discovered. And the best way to discover your organization’s purpose is to listen to it. I call it “hearing the voice of the organization,” and it’s the future of leadership development. Committed leaders at purpose-driven organizations model behavior with appropriate rewards and consequences that are aligned with societal standards and organizational objectives.

    Being a change catalyst means you must recognize your organization’s higher calling and be transparent and open about how that must be balanced with financial stability. Money alone is not a driving factor, and you need clarity on the true vision you want everybody to follow. This will help you influence those around you to become change champions, too.

    Take Burt’s Bees and its mission of “For Nature. For All.” as an example of this idea in action. The popular skin and lip care manufacturer has emerged as a leader in sustainability efforts over the years, with the vast majority of its products’ packaging being 100% recyclable. While its corporate mission could stop there and be fulfilled, the leaders at Burt’s Bees take their mission further by ensuring their products are sourced responsibly and not bringing more harm to the environment. Its operations are landfill-free by directing waste to compost, recycling and waste-to-energy sites.

    As co-founder Roxanne Quimby said, “We take from nature, so we must respect and preserve it.” It’s a stance that has served the company well. Is Burt’s Bees sacrificing some profit to be an industry leader in sustainability? Without a doubt. Is it the right thing to do for the long-term health of the company and, beyond that, the communities it serves? Absolutely, and it all begins with its mission.

    Related: Why a Purpose-Driven Business Is the Real Key to Success

    2. Be genuine about your vision

    Your purpose will be the arbiter of all business decisions, so it must relate your courage and conviction to investors, employees and customers. Change champions must take accountability for making important decisions, no matter how difficult they may be. We are naturally drawn to people with courage and conviction in their actions, even if it means facing consequences.

    When it comes to being genuine in their convictions, Patagonia and its founder, Yvon Chouinard, have been a consistent example of this with the mission statement, “We’re in business to save our home planet.” As a company, Patagonia donates 1% of its profits to charity each year and became a certified B Corporation. Patagonia also emphasizes the quality of clothing to combat the waste of fast fashion. To support this, the company created the Worn Wear program to divert more garments from landfills by repairing consumers’ Patagonia clothing and allowing customers to trade them in for different items. Patagonia could stop its initiatives at its activism efforts, but to stay true to its mission, Patagonia makes efforts to ensure its products are better for the planet.

    Speak from the heart when communicating your vision to the team. Your passion and resolve will spread and become a driving force in managing uncertainty in business that would normally create anxiety and pressure. When you are genuine in your purpose, it makes business easier.

    Related: Power With Purpose: The Four Pillars Of Leadership

    3. Connect each employee to the purpose

    An organization is only as good as its individual people, and converting your team into change champions means investing in leadership development. Every employee in every department should feel appreciated and meaningful in what they do with their professional lives.

    Finding a purpose isn’t easy, and changing your organization to follow it after the fact is even harder. According to Bain & Company research, only 12% of companies undergoing large-scale change management fully achieve their goals. This shows that creating a purpose-driven organization is easier than converting a wayward one after the fact, but enacting the change isn’t impossible.

    Purpose-driven organizations empower every employee to do their best for the greater good. This motivational factor will give your entry-level employees more agency to work smarter and make bolder decisions that can improve overall operational performance. A sense of purpose can increase both customer and employee loyalty, making the business more profitable in the long run.

    Related: How to Build More Purpose Into Your Work

    4. Align changes back to the same purpose every time

    The most important ingredient in creating purpose-driven organizations is consistency. Change is the only constant in business, and you must consistently show progress toward the same goal through all of these changes. When Apple pivoted from Macintosh computers to iTunes, iPods, iPhones and everything else, it maintained its same greater mission throughout: “Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and internet offerings.”

    Although the landscape and your business will change often throughout your lifetime, your higher calling should not. Consistency is a powerful weapon when dealing with uncertainty in business because it provides a safe foundation for people to work and build on proactively.

    The hardest part isn’t starting the habit. It’s keeping it. This is something you believe in, so share your passion for the goals, share that vision with your employees and listen to their feedback. They might even know how to make the purpose of your organization become a reality faster.

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    Anjan Thakor

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