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Tag: Business Process

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

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

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Related: Your Time Is Money, So Stop Wasting It

    3. You absolutely despise titles and hierarchy.

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

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

    What does that even mean?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Final thoughts

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

    Maria Dimitropoulou

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  • When ‘Who You Know’ Can Actually Hurt Your Success. Here’s Why.

    When ‘Who You Know’ Can Actually Hurt Your Success. Here’s Why.

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Almost everyone across all industries is familiar with the adage that success is based on who you know, not what you know. That can certainly be true.

    We all want a broad network of people, colleagues and friends. It’s human nature and helps us have a community we can turn to when we want to socialize, learn about solutions to daily life and advance our careers.

    Are you having trouble with back pain? Ask someone you know to recommend a good doctor. Visiting an out-of-town location and want good restaurant recommendations? Ask a friend. Are you trying to raise seed capital for your startup entrepreneurial concept? Ask a business colleague if they know any investors to introduce you to.

    That’s how it works. Who you know helps you find success in all aspects of life. Right? Maybe. But it can also be a “false positive,” especially when it comes to business. How? Let me share a few ways an existing network can hurt you as you pitch your project to people.

    1. The person you know may not be a decision-maker

    Just because you know someone with a big title doesn’t mean they can approve or push your project where it needs to go. Sometimes they can, but usually not, especially nowadays when authority and decision-making have become a complex web.

    2. They don’t look at you in terms of business

    If you have a friend in an influential position, it may be hard for them to take you seriously in business. They know you as a tennis buddy or a neighbor and have separated work from personal. They don’t see you in the same light as business colleagues. They may be polite. But will they stake their business reputation on a person they know from down the street? Maybe to your face, the answer is “sure,” but behind closed doors? Not necessarily. These “friends” can be the most devastating. They will “nice” you to death and blame others for the ultimate “no” you receive. Sadly, you never had a chance.

    Related: Friends With(out) Benefits: Mixing Business With Pleasure

    3. It can be harder for you to ask a friend for a favor

    Let’s say your wife’s best friend is married to the head of a company and you ask a favor of him. What happens to those weekly Friday night dinners or Sunday brunches? That couple will suddenly come up with excuses to skip out on these traditional events. Why? The husband doesn’t want to be hounded, nor does he want to be confronted with a person he isn’t able to help. The friendship days have been altered (or are gone altogether), and your wife is upset with you forever.

    4. Bad impressions on another project are hard to break

    If you already have a network of people to go to with your projects and you’ve made poor choices or produced subpar projects with them (even if it’s just once), they’ll remember. Any new work you bring into the fold will be cast in the shadow of your old work or old behavior. It’s tough to wipe a slate clean once it’s been soiled. This is even more true in today’s business atmosphere. Most executives are overly sensitive and risk-averse when protecting their jobs. Beware. It’s challenging to reinvent yourself. Many people do it at some point in their lives, but once you’ve tapped into your network with a project that turns out to be a complete bust and a total waste of time, reinvention is like pushing a peanut up Mt. Kilimanjaro with your nose. It just isn’t going to happen very quickly or easily.

    5. Once you ask a favor of someone, you’ll owe them

    Maybe not officially in a spoken way, but in that underneath-behind-the-shadows way. So what? From that moment, all your communication will be slightly restricted. Either by you or by them. You’ll be waiting for them to reply to your favor and speculate when you think they’ll have an answer for you. And they’ll be hesitant to let their guard down if you ask again… and again and again. You don’t want to be embarrassed.

    On the other hand, if they don’t help at all, you then have to suck it up and act as if it doesn’t matter (when we all know it does matter, a lot — or you would never have asked in the first place.

    6. Your connection might be at too high of a level

    Remember the husband of your wife’s best friend? If he does run the place, he’s too far separated from the initial gatekeepers that screen projects for their worthiness and fit. He doesn’t do the job you’re asking him to do. Instead of asking for help with your project, he’s the one you might want to ask for a referral to the “right” person. A bit of nepotism isn’t bad, but you need to know there will be no awkwardness when the deal doesn’t pan out.

    7. Your timing might be off

    You don’t always want to use your current network to make a project fly because you may want to save the favor. What if the project you have right now isn’t very good? You might think it’s impressive, but what do other people think? You don’t want to cash in a chip with someone in your network until you know the project has legs and is good and powerful. You need to be 100% certain of your timing and readiness.

    So, you see, there are quite a few reasons why tapping into people you know can hurt your chances of success rather than help them.

    Can doors open that might not have otherwise opened? Absolutely.

    Consider what doors are being opened and why

    Are you seeking solutions to a big ask, or are you hoping simply to get a glimpse into a room you might not otherwise have seen? There’s a huge difference. So what’s a person to do?

    Seeking out advice and insight through your own networking is the best way to go when asking a favor of someone you know. You can find those doors on your own, without help from those you know now. Most people are willing to help someone they don’t know when they feel the request is sincere and authentic.

    Get out and meet people on a regular basis — whether it’s in-person or virtually. There are a lot of groups, organizations and mentoring programs to join. Start there and see where things go.

    Related: 5 Ways to Connect and Network With Other Entrepreneurs

    The key is to learn how to ask

    You’ll be amazed at how much you can do without having to know so many people already. What we all have at our fingertips today — which, if used correctly — can also change your success path. Use LinkedIn and other business social sites to create new relationships based on the premise you’re networking to help each other mutually. There is more opportunity for give-and-take and a fresh start in those scenarios.

    No matter where you are in your path, someone out there needs your help or your ideas. Get out there and create a new network of colleagues on your terms without worrying that your weekly Friday night dinner will now be awkward and uncomfortable.

    Lauren Hirsch-Williams

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  • How Going on 3 Dates a Week Improved My Sales Skills

    How Going on 3 Dates a Week Improved My Sales Skills

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As I entered my 20s at the beginning of 2021, I decided to move out of my parents’ house. I wanted to start fresh socially and move somewhere far away from home. Fast-forward six months, and I’ve successfully moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Provo, Utah. When I arrived in Provo, I had no friends. Even though there are two significant universities down the street, I realized that I had to put myself out there and meet new people.

    To do this, I set a goal to meet two new people a day. Not only did this allow me to make new friends, but I naturally crossed paths with people I was compatible with. Some of these people, I asked out on dates.

    Keep in mind, while I was growing up, I never went on any dates — so I had no dating experience. But after meeting two new people a day, not only did I start going on dates, but as a byproduct, I ended up improving my sales skills by accident. Here are three important things I learned from my experience:

    Related: Take Your Sales Skills to the Next Level With These 5 Simple Steps

    1. Everything comes down to timing

    One of the first lessons I learned from going on three dates a week is that everything comes down to timing. Not just timing as in being ready for a relationship or marriage but also when it comes juggling the timing between school, work, family, travel and so many other factors.

    This is why I am obsessed with email marketing. Email marketing sounds lame and old, but it takes advantage of one key thing: catching people at the right time. This is why weekly email blasts are so powerful.

    Someone who is not interested today could be ready to buy six months down the road. You just have to be consistent and catch them at the right time. Because of this insight, I’ve spent a lot of time learning how I can maximize email marketing within my business. Once I have email marketing mastered, I’ll next start looking into other advanced retargeting methods.

    2. Not everyone is interested

    Within the last year, I’ve been able to individually meet over 3,000 people (both guys and girls) because of my goal of meeting two new people each day. This includes learning their name and speaking with them for at least 2-3 minutes.

    After interacting with this many people around my age range, I quickly learned that not everyone is going to like me. When it comes to finding people you are compatible with, you have to play the numbers game until you find someone who likes you.

    I noticed that everything becomes easier when you find people who truly like you for who you are. This is not only true with dating but for just about everything else, including sales. All of my best customers came from people who were truly interested in what I had to offer. Some of them did require a push on the back to help them make the leap, but they were interested.

    Related: 6 Tried and Tested Methods to Improve Your Sales Skills

    3. How to ask great questions

    One thing dating has taught me is how to ask great questions. Icebreaker questions are nice, but after going on 100+ dates within the past year, you start wanting deeper and more meaningful interactions.

    You want to understand people’s pasts and how it shaped them into the person they are today. You want to understand their thought process, how they handle conflict, etc. You slowly start appreciating the internal more than the external.

    To uncover the internal attributes, you must learn to ask great questions and become a good listener. All of my first dates are meaningful coffee shop dates where we get to learn about each other’s life stories. Some of the questions I love asking are:

    • Why did your last relationship end, what did you learn from it? How has it shaped you into the person you are today?

    • What are red/green flags you look for when dating?

    • What is your relationship like with your family?

    • What is your defining moment?

    • What are your dealbreakers?

    • How do you handle conflict?

    Learning to take time to understand someone and ask the right kinds of questions truly has helped me improve my sales skills exponentially. It allowed me to understand the customer’s pain point and provide them with the best solution that will fix their problem.

    Related: The 3 Most Important Skills in Sales

    As someone who had never dated previously, going on three dates a week for the past year has taught me so much. Not only did I build a lot of relationship-building skills, but I was also able to greatly improve my social and sales skills as a bonus.

    I don’t recommend going on three dates a week, though. It is exhausting emotionally and financially, but thankfully, I was able to learn a lot from it. What you should do is make an attempt to meet new people as often as you can. Doing so will teach you the importance of timing, help you understand and accept that not everyone is interested, and allow you to ask better questions as your sales skills improve.

    Dejon Brooks

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  • A Guide to Consolidation Strategy in Acquisitions

    A Guide to Consolidation Strategy in Acquisitions

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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

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

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

    Related: How To Find Success During Search Fund Launches

    Value creation

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

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

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

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

    Challenges

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

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

    Advantages

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

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

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

    Picking an industry

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

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

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

    Picking a business

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

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

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

    Karl Eshwer

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  • Press Releases May Seem Old-School, But They Work. Here’s How to Use Them.

    Press Releases May Seem Old-School, But They Work. Here’s How to Use Them.

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Do you want to increase online mentions, create more backlinks and boost brand awareness? Who doesn’t? Digital PR can do just that, and one of the most overlooked digital PR strategies is creating and distributing press releases. Let’s see how to use the process within your SEO strategy.

    A press release is a written text about specific news or events within your business. Press releases are a proactive way to provide journalists and media outlets with important information about an organization so they can write their piece and publish it.

    Look at it like digital storytelling. You want your press release to be interesting and exciting enough to capture the attention of media outlets, blogs and other distributors.

    Related: Harness the Power of New Public Relations Technology

    Press releases and SEO

    So can press release distribution help your SEO? The short answer is yes. The goal of press release distribution shouldn’t necessarily be to gain a particular number of backlinks to your website, but it should be used as a distribution channel to share your brand’s content. The links you want are created by the journalists who have transcribed your story. They’ll likely be high-quality, natural, relevant and authoritative backlinks, and quality backlinks are a significant ranking factor.

    Every website wants these included within its backlink profile, so with press release distribution, you should aim to provide content that would get journalists and news publications to talk about your business and the information you’ve provided. They’ll write about the press release and put their natural spin on the story; when they do, they’ll link back to your website as a reference for their readers.

    They’re most likely to be linked to your homepage, making press releases an excellent brand-building exercise. Landing media coverage, both online and offline, is great for brand exposure and can generate a good range of natural backlinks to your website, as well as plenty of referral traffic from users who are reading and sharing the news publication.

    Related: How to Write a Press Release Reporters Will Actually Read

    Press release distribution

    Now let’s take a look at how press release distribution works. Firstly, don’t attempt to write a press release if you don’t have anything to write about. A journalist’s time is limited. So is the real estate on their websites. You want to make your press release about a potentially groundbreaking employee initiative or an innovative product you’ve just launched.

    It would be best if you instantly grabbed the media outlet’s attention. You don’t want to be mass selected and deleted before they’ve even had a chance to find out what your press release is about. This applies to the length of the press release too. Get to the point as quickly as possible, and if the journalist wants to know more, they’ll contact you directly. Because of this, stick to one topic. Now that you have your press release, it’s time to look at how you’re distributed.

    To start, it depends on whether you’re planning to distribute your press release or use a service to write and distribute it. If you choose to distribute your press release, you may find that the conversion rate is low. However, you could use a service where everything is done for you.

    Press release writers will craft an engaging press release to get your news across professionally. The benefit of using a service to write your press release is that you don’t need to spend time and resources researching the best way to craft one. You’ll have unlimited revisions, and it won’t be distributed until it’s just right.

    Related: Press Releases Aren’t Dead. Here are 4 Reasons they Remain a Valuable Tool

    Implementing press release distribution into your marketing strategy

    Firstly, you need to consider what your press release should be about. More and more brands are adopting a more personalized, human approach to press releases. People are craving reality now more than ever, so true meaningful stories could work best.

    There is differing research on when to issue press releases; many suggest issuing them on a Tuesday or Friday at 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. Remember that an average of over 1000 press releases are fired into journalists’ inboxes each day, so varying the time of your release could enable yours to stand out and encourage more visibility.

    It may be smart to share releases a few minutes before or after the usual bombardment. Alternatively, if you choose to share your press release on social media, you want to time this when your users are most active. Share on social media in the afternoon and over the weekend because this is when people are most active on these platforms and therefore are more likely to discover, engage with and share your content. Press release distribution can be a very beneficial tool for your SEO strategy and a proper strategy can change the user experience with your business.

    Related: 5 Things Not to Do When Pitching Journalists

    Jigar T

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  • 4 Money Beliefs That Are Holding Your Business

    4 Money Beliefs That Are Holding Your Business

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As business owners, many of us like to create a clear boundary between our personal and professional affairs. And with good reason! It’s not healthy to intertwine the two in a lot of ways. However, it’s also unhealthy to consider them to be oil and water.

    Whether you like it or not, your business is an extension of you. Your personal beliefs about money could hold your business back without you even knowing it.

    “Waste not, want not”

    “Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”

    We’re drip-fed these lines over our formative years, usually with good intent. It’s hard to see at the moment how these words of ‘wisdom’ could do any harm…but their cumulative effect can have a tremendous stunting effect on your growth as an entrepreneur.

    Remember that these beliefs take root in your subconscious long before you set foot on the professional stage. When you start with nothing to lose and everything to gain, these messages of prudence and conservation don’t have much of a foothold.

    After all: what is there to conserve?

    But as you grow and succeed, you’ll find yourself placing more and more restrictions on what you do with your capital — setting the thresholds for investing ever further ahead, convinced that you’ll finally be ready to take that leap by the next one.

    But you never do.

    So here are four beliefs about money that you might hold and could be holding your business back.

    Related: 3 Money Mindset Blocks That Are Holding You Back From Expanding Your Business

    1. It could all end tomorrow

    It’s very easy to be convinced of the need to conserve your capital reserves because it could all be gone tomorrow, and you’ll need the liquidity.

    That’s fair and by no means unreasonable, especially given the current geopolitical situation. As a responsible business owner, you want to ensure you’ve covered your bases should the worst come to the worst. You have employees with mouths to feed, after all.

    However, you can convince yourself of this being the case at any time, and it’s a false economy. Think about it for a moment. You’re a smart person; you know how money works. If you leave your cash in an account, it will be eroded by inflation and taxes. It needs to be put to work to grow.

    The responsible thing to do is to find diverse avenues of investment to grow that money.

    All it takes is a shift in your mindset.

    Related: Want to Make More Money? Start Rewriting Your Story.

    2. I can’t increase my prices, or I’ll lose my clients

    This is one that an awful lot of business advisors speak on, but yet somehow, it just doesn’t get through. All of the logic and intellectualizing in the world can’t convince us that it’s the right course of action. But it is!

    I’m not saying to hike your prices every week. But you change your mindset about regular price rises, even just to keep pace with inflation!

    You also need to do it to optimize your client base. You’ve doubtlessly heard of the Pareto or “80/20” principle. This applies to your clients in a big way. I guarantee you that, within a small margin of error, 80% of your turnover comes from 20% of your clients, which means that you are spending 80% of your resources on 20% of them!

    Here’s the thing, though: it’s not a clear dividing line.

    When you put your prices up, it’s not like you’ll lose 80% of your client base, just like that! Many of them will be brought into the top 20%. Those that will, will be more than you think and certainly will negate any revenue lost, or resources expended on, those that represent the bottom half. Double the number of clients in that 20% bracket; you’ll have 160% of the revenue for less than half the work!

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

    3. Risk mitigation

    Risk is a four-letter word. The thing is… without risk; you will not achieve your business goals. You have to embrace it as a factor in what you’re doing. But risk in and of itself isn’t necessarily a good thing.

    We’re not talking about throwing yourself to the wolves needlessly. But you need to find that mindset where you’re comfortable “taking a punt” (as we Brits say).

    Calculated risk is good, but don’t get too wound up in the minutia. With any new venture or endeavor; there comes a jumping-off point. It’s a time to let go of the theorizing, stop trying to convince yourself of the certainty of the outcome and take the leap of faith.

    If you’re getting yourself bound up with risk assessments and market fluctuations, just remember that not taking action is a risk in itself.

    4. Debt is the last resort

    This is probably the best example of a personal belief that, when carried from your personal life to your professional one, can really impede growth.

    Consumer debt (i.e., buying consumables using debt) is to be avoided because this is servicing debt on an asset that is losing value — a car, for example, or a washing machine.

    But, when leveraged strategically, debt is one of the greatest tools in your arsenal and can increase your value. That’s how rich people get richer! What…did you think that they invested their own money?

    Of course not!

    They use their wealth and capital to leverage debt and invest that. As long as the return is greater than the interest on the debt: you’re winning and experiencing abundance!

    Don’t be afraid of debt in your business. Don’t let it suffocate the happiness and pride in your business. It is most definitely your friend. Awareness is the first step in any problem-solving.

    I hope that by bringing these four beliefs about money that could hold your business back to your awareness, you can start to see your role in all this. That alone could be all the change you need to start opening doors to new opportunities for growth.

    I hope so!

    Related: How Debt and Taxes Can Make Smart Entrepreneurs Rich

    Daniel Mangena

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  • Avoid These 4 Mistakes When Raising Venture Capital

    Avoid These 4 Mistakes When Raising Venture Capital

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Founders who raise venture capital tend to focus on optimizing around four things:

    • Getting to the next round of funding as quickly as possible

    • Increasing valuation

    • Maintaining their reality distortion field

    • Attracting and retaining employees who are motivated by potential future value rather than the current mission

    Notice that there isn’t anything on that list focused on what it takes to build a great business. Focusing on short-term outcomes and motivations can lead your startup down a dangerous path. Here’s how to avoid these pitfalls.

    Related: The Basics of Raising Capital for a Startup

    1. Don’t set an arbitrary deadline for your next fundraise

    When you raised your last round of funding, you probably expected that you would be ready for your next fundraise in 18-24 months. As that timeframe approaches, you might feel pressure to raise again from your board and current investors who are worried that you’re not making enough progress. If you succumb to this pressure before your startup is ready, you’re likely to increase spending to chase vanity metrics and top-line growth, even as your core metrics suffer and cash burn accelerates. You’ll quickly lose sight of product-market fit and pull precious resources away from potentially higher-value initiatives that need more time to play out.

    Set key milestones that will support another round of funding. React to data that suggests your original assumptions were off, and give yourself time to find a better growth path. Leave room for the possibility that your startup won’t reach venture scale, recognizing that it could still be personally and financially rewarding. Don’t treat getting to your next round of funding as a Hail Mary pass. The concept of “go big or go home” sucks if you’re the one going home.

    2. Avoid over-emphasizing valuation

    Founders often over-emphasize the importance of valuation, particularly in the early rounds of funding. Focusing on maintaining or increasing valuation when your business hasn’t achieved the proper milestones leads to longer fundraise cycles, putting your startup at risk. You might save yourself from some dilution only to end up with worse economics and less control in the future. Higher liquidation preferences, ratchets and valuation hurdles can limit future options if you need to raise or sell. And you’ll be more likely to attract mercenaries focused on maximizing their economic outcome rather than missionaries who believe in you and your vision.

    What’s more important than maintaining or raising your valuation? Adding high-quality investors who can best support you through the ups and downs of building your startup. Manage your cap table to protect the future economic outcome for you and your team and keep as many options open as possible.

    When it comes to startups in distress, valuation gets the headlines, and liquidation preferences and other investor-friendly terms get the cash. A flat or even a down round isn’t the end of the world if it keeps you and your team in the game and your future options open. Play the long game when it comes to valuation.

    Related: How a High Valuation Can Run Your Business Into the Ground

    3. Don’t get trapped by the reality distortion field

    Founders have to believe in opportunities that others often can’t see. It’s the fuel that powers you through obstacles and allows you to leap into the unknown. But that power to believe can also be a trap when your best-laid plans run awry and your startup isn’t hitting your milestones.

    Too many founders believe that they must put on a brave face for their employees, their board and the press, regardless of their startup’s struggles. They worry that any crack in the perception of inevitability would lead to the downfall of their startup. That’s the trap.

    You can truly believe in the future opportunity ahead of you while being honest about the roadblocks and challenges on the path to getting there. If you don’t open up to your employees about where your startup is falling short, you’re no longer aligned, and they won’t solve the right problems or exploit the most important opportunities. If you hide challenges from your board, they can’t help you along the way, and they will pull back when you surprise them with bad news.

    4. Hire missionaries, not mercenaries

    Sixty-five percent of VC-backed startups fail to return 1x of capital. When you hire employees, if you overemphasize the potential value of stock options in their compensation package, you risk attracting mercenaries that are more motivated by the potential of future riches than in helping you realize your vision.

    Even for the most successful startups, the path to creating real value in your equity is never straight up and to the right. Mercenaries will jump ship at the first sign of trouble, in search of the next startup that might be on a stronger path to the mythic unicorn status.

    Hire people who, first and foremost, believe in your vision and are excited about the challenges you’re trying to solve. It’s easier to step outside your reality distortion field when you have a team ready to grab an oar and row in the same direction. You will face this moment. Who will be in the trench with you? Who will be the first to jump out and run away?

    Related: How to Get Funding: The Dos and Don’ts of Raising Capital From Investors

    When you jump on the venture capital flywheel, you instantly feel the pressure to shorten your time horizon, thinking only of the next fundraise and the sprint to get there. Short-term execution is critical, but don’t optimize your decisions around the fundraise cycle — or you’ll miss the long-term goals that help you build something great.

    Eric Ashman

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  • As Inflation Soars, Consumer Habits Are Changing. Here’s How to Adapt

    As Inflation Soars, Consumer Habits Are Changing. Here’s How to Adapt

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The current uncertain economy, coupled with rising inflation, is driving consumers to seek money-saving tactics, including cashback rewards, discounts, and online coupons.

    Economic pressures are driving the broad adoption of shopping rewards programs, which are “crossing the chasm” from coupon clippers and early adopters to mainstream consumers seeking to cut costs any way they can.

    In a survey commissioned by Wildfire and conducted by the research firm Big Village, we examined mainstream consumers’ attitudes and expectations toward rewards and other shopping incentives. The findings revealed that 90% of respondents are more interested than ever in getting discounts, using coupons and earning cashback rewards when shopping online, precisely due to rising prices.

    Related: 3 Secret Reasons Why Your Brand Needs a Rewards Program

    Rewards and discounts affect online purchase behavior

    Regardless of the economic environment, consumers will continue to shop. But in challenging financial times, they will modify their buying habits, for example, by purchasing store brands instead of more expensive options. Recent reporting on these types of behavioral shifts includes from Personetics, finding that almost 2 of 3 consumers are curbing spending on non-essentials due to the higher cost of living, and from Gartner, revealing that nearly 1 in 4 consumers will spend less on holiday shopping this year due to higher prices.

    In such a setting, rewards and other incentives are a substantial factor influencing consumers’ online shopping behavior. The availability of rewards and incentives directly and positively affects consumer behavior at the top of the purchase funnel (awareness and consideration) and the bottom (completing a purchase).

    A key finding in the Wildfire survey reveals that rewards impact consumers’ behavior even before they decide where to shop: 81% state that the availability of rewards is a factor when deciding which ecommerce retailer gets their business.

    In addition to influencing where consumers shop, rewards and incentives further impact the decision to purchase, driving higher sales conversion rates. Findings show that most respondents are more likely to complete a purchase when they can earn cashback rewards or use a coupon or discount code.

    Many consumers seek bargains when they shop online, and we expect consumers’ propensity for ferreting out discounts will further increase as the economy tightens. The majority of respondents (61%) state they “always” or “often” look for coupons, discounts, cashback rewards or other ways to save on their purchases.

    Based on these findings, the takeaways for any brand selling online are clear:

    • Retailers can win the battle for consumer preference by offering rewards for shopping, either through native loyalty programs or online cashback rewards programs.
    • Offering coupons through loyalty and rewards programs drive merchant benefits, including increased sales conversion.
    • Businesses choosing not to offer such incentives are disadvantaged in consumers’ selection of online shopping destinations.

    Related: Why Trust and Incentives Help Consumers With Better Brand Selection

    Responding to customer preferences for simplicity

    Furthermore, consumers seek ease of use and want to access rewards and discounts conveniently within the natural flow of their online shopping behavior without detours or hurdles. Most consumers surveyed for Wildfire’s report prefer rewards automatically applied at checkout or activating them while shopping without having to search elsewhere. Conversely, fewer consumers want to receive an email with a special offer, and even fewer still prefer to search through a directory of offers.

    Consumers have spoken: the simpler and more convenient a rewards program or discount offer, the better. Consumers prefer easy-to-understand, simple-to-access rewards such as cashback over rewards like points, miles, or future discounts. The survey also revealed that 80% of respondents prefer cashback as their reward instead of points or credits towards future purchases.

    The need for simplicity and convenience in rewards programs is borne out by other research. In the 2022 Loyalty Marketing & Rewards Program report from Comarch and Forrester, retail marketers were asked what they find to be the most critical elements of a loyalty program. The results showed that most are leaning toward offering cash rewards.

    What’s the implication for businesses considering a loyalty program? Online shoppers have become extremely savvy. They are now much more accustomed to seamless digital experiences, so their expectations regarding earning and redeeming rewards through retail loyalty programs or other shopping rewards programs have changed. Consumers are no longer willing to settle for jumping through hoops, and retailers will see low adoption for their program unless it is simple and convenient for customers to earn and redeem rewards.

    Related: The Marketing Power of Rewards Programs

    Conclusion

    By offering easy-to-access shopping incentives — such as cashback and coupons — businesses selling online can meet the demands of today’s value-seeking consumers. Through such programs, they cannot only positively influence consumers’ purchase behavior but also provide some much-needed relief for their wallets.

    Jordan Glazier

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  • Why Having a Great Plan Isn’t Enough to Grow Your Business

    Why Having a Great Plan Isn’t Enough to Grow Your Business

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    If you’re familiar with the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry saying: “A goal without a plan is just a wish,” you’ve probably only heard the TL;DR version. Here is the full version:

    A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true.

    This is why your plan isn’t going to be enough. A plan in itself is just a piece of paper or a bunch of 0s and 1s that make up words. Luckily, I have had experience with failing and succeeding in business (more of the latter), and these are the five things I focus on to turn my plans into realities.

    Related: Planning To Grow Your Business? Five Tips That Can Help You

    1. Focus

    Focusing on one primary goal per quarter is crucial. As much as we like to brag that we can multitask, we can’t. When was the last time you saw a population that throws 10 balls in the air and catch them before they hit the ground? Exactly. A much better skill is learning how to take all the tasks at hand and realizing which one will have the most impact.

    2. Transparency

    More specifically, internal company transparency. Does your team understand the finances of the company? Do they understand what a burn rate is and that revenue doesn’t mean you are profitable? Internal company transparency means educating your team on how a business works and bringing them into the inner circle that used to be reserved for leadership only. If you add stock options on top of that, you can trigger an ownership mindset that makes your team your partner.

    3. Accountability

    Now that your team has become your partner in success (and failure), they need to be held to a different standard, and being accountable is key. There may be 3-10 people responsible for a priority (remember, only one per quarter) but there is one person at the helm, or what I call the champions, that makes sure everyone does what they need to do. This person needs to understand something, though. They aren’t “the boss.” A lot of times when someone is given this type of responsibility, they believe that they can just shout orders and they only take credit when they succeed and blame others for “not listening” when they fail. That isn’t the case. Accountability goes both ways.

    Related: 5 Keys to Promoting Accountability in Your Business

    4. Hiring

    This is probably the hardest part of the process. Your company is only as good as your weakest employee. When you are small (under 50 employees), you don’t have the luxury of hand-holding — you either find a team that learns quickly or one that is already experienced. Once again, I suggest the latter. You will thank me later. Understand that salary will be your biggest investment and you should treat it just like that — an investment.

    Hire fast and fire quick, especially if you are smaller. Yes, I know this is not the usual battle cry (“Hire slow…”), but you have to realize a day in the life of a small, growing business is like a month for an established one. You need to trust your gut or trust someone else’s when hiring. I also strongly suggest you set expectations with new hires to understand they are in a trial period and that they need to step up. This may seem harsh, but as you grow, you can be a little more lenient and mentor with a softer touch.

    5. Stay healthy

    It’s important to stay healthy financially, physically and mentally. Create an environment that endorses the importance of all three. Physical and financial are usually easier concepts to grasp and fix (I said easier, not easy), but mental is a tough nut to crack. Just saying there is an open-door policy is great and must be said, but sometimes that isn’t enough. Keep in mind that the time you spend doing one thing — for example, focusing on revenue — usually prevents you from focusing on your employees’ well-being. Finding the balance is sometimes not worth the effort when you are smaller but should definitely be on the table as you grow and can afford to implement a mental health check system.

    Related: Keys to Planning for Smart Business Growth

    Did you notice a trend here about plans? There was only one point that spoke directly to taking action, and the rest was to help others be effective at their duties — which has always made me think about Antoine’s quote. I always wanted to add the following to it …

    But remember, a dream is nothing without someone to appreciate it with you

    Without your team running smoothly, a plan can’t take action. And if you really want to make it big, you aren’t going to do it yourself. Don’t you agree?

    Doug Walner

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  • 5 Lessons I Learned From Starting a Company at 19 Years Old

    5 Lessons I Learned From Starting a Company at 19 Years Old

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I had no intention of creating my own software company. I was kind of forced into it. You see, a few years ago, I was a full-time YouTuber. All was well until my channel got demonetized. This means that I was making $0 from the ads being placed on my videos.

    There was a point where I was getting 2-3 million views a month on my channel and didn’t receive a penny. As a way to bounce back from this low, I decided to put my life savings ($5,000) into starting a creator economy software startup at 19 years old. I dropped out of college to work on my SaaS startup full-time, and I have learned valuable lessons along the way. Here are five of the most important lessons I have learned so far:

    Related: How to Start and Grow a Business: A Digital Guide for Young Entrepreneurs

    1. Done is better than perfect

    I had no experience in coding — let alone creating and growing a startup. Despite these challenges, I 100% believed in my idea. Backed with a proof of concept, I was willing to do everything within my limited budget to turn my SaaS idea into a reality.

    With a well-written vision and lots of persistence, I was able to find a good developer overseas that not only fit my budget but believed in my vision for Trend Watchers.

    We still work together to this day. The first versions of Trend Watchers were hideous, but over time, the UI/UX slowly improved. When I look back at my journey from a software development point of view, I should not have made it this far. I went through so many setbacks and hurdles. I should have quit back at the start line, but by having a great vision and team mixed with the desire to succeed, we were able to pull through.

    No matter how challenging a task may seem, done is always better than perfect. Oftentimes, perfection comes through the countless mistakes you make along the way.

    2. The importance of data collection

    One thing I implemented early on is good data collection. What do I mean by data collection? Data collection has a bad rep, thanks to large companies and scammers abusing it to make a quick buck. But there is a good side to data collection. Data collection can be used to make better marketing decisions. It can also be used to discover what users like and don’t like.

    I collect data in a few ways, but two of the most useful data collection tactics I used are asking good questions on our signup sequence and having a session recording software that tracks how long users are on each page and what they click on. These two data-collecting methods have helped with making the right decisions and software updates to improve the user experience.

    Related: The Complete, 12-Step Guide to Starting a Business

    3. Get a proof of concept before you build

    For the people in the back, I’m going to repeat myself: Get a proof of concept before you build. In early 2022, I thought it would be a good idea to build a marketplace within Trend Watchers. Marketplaces are great, and when used right they can be a great growth engine for startups — but no one wanted that. They just wanted trends they can use to go viral online.

    Instead of listening to this market feedback, I went ahead and built it anyway, and it was a major flop. It also caused a whole lot of other issues, but I wasted a lot of time and money on something my users didn’t want at the time. Because of that experience, I always conduct surveys and get a proof of concept before I add a new feature.

    4. Tell your story

    Starting a software company at 19 years old with my own money was already challenging enough financially. The next question was, how am I going to market this thing with a $0 marketing budget?

    Growing up, I’ve always been an amazing storyteller. In my free time after school, I would always write my own books. I would go into our home office, grab a few sheets of paper from the printer, fold them in half, staple them together, and boom — I had a book.

    I decided to leverage this skill I developed at a young age to slowly build a movement of loyal followers that would help me get traction for Trend Watchers. The two platforms I decided to focus on to document my progress were Instagram and leveraging press. This wasn’t an overnight success. It took tons of writing, documentation and pitching to slowly start getting my brand’s story heard, and now it is starting to pay off.

    One interesting insight I recently discovered about my paying customers is that they tend to stay longer knowing that their money is being put to work. A lot of my paying customers follow my story through my email list or Instagram page for weekly updates.

    If you are working on growing your startup, document your journey. Not only do you end up with a well-written journal in the end, but you can also find loyal customers along the way.

    5. Take every opportunity that presents itself

    Some of the best decisions I’ve ever made were time-sensitive opportunities that came my way. Some of these opportunities included opportunities to buy into programs, go to different places and break my schedule to attend certain events. About 90% of these opportunities came out of nowhere, and every time I took one, it significantly helped me in the process of growing my business.

    Related: 6 Tips for Building a Successful, Scalable Software Company

    As most people know, starting and growing a business is not easy, especially for a young adult with no prior experience. Reading books and watching YouTube videos can be very helpful and informative, but experience is truly the best teacher. The skills and lessons I’ve acquired through my experience have helped me grow exponentially, and hopefully, these five lessons above can help other entrepreneurs — young or old — grow their businesses as well.

    Dejon Brooks

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

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

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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

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

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

    Positive free cash flow isn’t a luxury

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Related: How to Maintain Profitability in a Changing Market

    Prioritizing what’s important

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

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

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

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

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

    Related: Positive Cash Flow and Smart Financing Solutions

    Focus on productivity

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

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

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

    Related: Why Founders Should Focus on Productivity Instead of Efficiency

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

    Yancey Spruill

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  • How Founders Can Improve Their Tolerance for Uncertainty

    How Founders Can Improve Their Tolerance for Uncertainty

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Businesses, especially startups, are characterized by uncertainty. From the viability of a business idea to investors’ decisions, as well as how users would respond to your latest product feature, you’re never exactly sure what’s coming. Externally, political, technological and competitive uncertainties are causes for worry as well.

    Studies have shown that uncertainties are constant in entrepreneurship, and a leader’s ability to tolerate and manage them will greatly support the success of their venture. However, repeated exposure to high levels of uncertainty can send entrepreneurs into an emotional rollercoaster that could affect their self-image. Early-stage and first-time founders run greater risks of being broken by the twists and turns of rapidly changing business environments.

    More fascinating, though, is that some — especially serial entrepreneurs — are hooked to the uncertainties synonymous with startups. And their ability to tolerate these uncertainties and adjust accordingly to changing environments has helped them succeed. You, too, can learn to do the same by incorporating these four attitudes into your life:

    Related: 3 Ways to Overcome Uncertainty About Your Business’ Future

    1. Avoid micro-managing your team

    Delegate some uncertainties. So many activities go into building a company. A majority of those activities carry fair amounts of uncertainty. And it’s easy to get roped into bouts of worry trying to figure out how things could go wrong.

    It could be a marketing campaign that your team is trying out for the first time or a new product that your company is working on. Rather than actively engaging in these activities and interfering with your team’s every move, you can rid yourself of the anxiety that comes with the process and focus your energy where it’s needed the most.

    Studies by the Harvard Business Review reveal that micro-managing a team could significantly add to a boss’s stress and anxiety levels. Just lay back a bit, and let the marketing or product team worry about the uncertainty associated with their roles. You’ll thank yourself for it.

    2. Accept what you cannot control

    As far as entrepreneurship is concerned, so many events take place that are beyond the entrepreneur’s control. It could be some government policy changes that threaten the survival of your business. Maybe a key employee is quitting to spend more time with family. Whatever it is, there might be absolutely nothing you can do to change things. And you have to accept that.

    Yes, it’s easier said than done. You’ll most likely feel vile for being in such a position. That’s okay. Feelings make us humans, and you don’t have to deny them. The University of Utah Health Care psychiatrist, Maria Reyes, predicates that recognizing and acknowledging our feelings towards circumstances beyond our control is the first step to managing anxieties related to uncertainty.

    Also, you might need to disengage from the situation a bit. Stepping back helps you gain a better view of what seems like an obstacle to your success. Some entrepreneurs make the best of this step-back moment, by doing things like playing golf or engaging in hobbies of various sorts. You can give it a shot.

    Related: The 4 Things Leaders Need to Do First When Faced With Uncertainty

    3. Be grateful (for the little things)

    Gratitude is an antidote for the negative emotions that uncertainty engenders, wrote psychologist Guy Winch in his book, Emotional First Aid. Being grateful has a joyous effect on the mind. Studies have shown that expressing gratitude causes the release of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. These hormones are associated with happiness, higher self-esteem and motivation.

    Endeavor to take small breaks to reflect on your experiences. Identify the little things that often go unnoticed, and imagine how life would have turned out without them. It could be as trivial as being able to refuel your car at the gas station the day before. If it’s helped move you forward in the slightest bit, then it’s worth expressing gratitude for.

    An act as simple as being grateful, if done repeatedly, can help you build tolerance for uncertainty because you believe that there will be good things to be grateful for either way.

    Related: How to Practice Gratitude as a Business Skill

    4. Make contingency plans

    Building a business requires making assumptions and following gut feelings. A majority of the time, those assumptions are wrong. Worst off, verifiable market research data may look so wrong when reality sets in. If they were always right, I guess uncertainty would be every entrepreneur’s least problem.

    So, as you make assumptions and lay out plans to succeed, it’s crucial to also plan for failure. What would you do if reality renders your assumptions nonviable? What are your Plan B and Plan C?

    You have to figure these out. According to a report by the Harvard Business Review, in times of uncertainty, the best entrepreneurs create contingency plans that can allow them to change course quickly. This is particularly helpful because most lethal circumstances are beyond the entrepreneur’s control. Talk about changes in market trends, and like in 2020, the pandemic.

    Related: 6 Strategies You Need to Run Your Company Through Uncertainty

    It’s very easy to get tangled up in the need to control your future and that of your company. And knowing that some things just aren’t fated can be unsettling. That’s understandable. You’re not alone. Many have learned to live with it. And so can you.

    The best approach to tolerating uncertainty is to stop resisting change and accept what you can’t control. Also, reduce the amount of uncertainty that you need to deal with by delegating some of them while making plans to recover from possible failures.

    Most importantly, don’t forget to pause and appreciate the little things that you experience along the way. As with most processes, building tolerance for uncertainty is a worthwhile journey. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to be grateful.

    Judah Longgrear

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  • 6 Critical Questions to Answer When Drafting Your Buy-Sell Agreement

    6 Critical Questions to Answer When Drafting Your Buy-Sell Agreement

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    So, you’ve done it. Your lifelong dream of being a business owner is now a reality. You’re running a successful company. But have you considered what happens when you’re ready to retire? Or even worse, what happens if there is a premature death or disability of an owner? While it may seem like a far-off reality, legacy planning for the business you’ve worked hard to build is an essential ingredient in running a successful business for the long haul. And that’s where a buy-sell agreement comes in.

    A buy-sell agreement is, in its barest definition, a contract between business owners to provide for ownership succession. It is a foundational tool that helps ensure the business can keep thriving as the organization and its owners grow and change.

    Below are some of the key questions to consider when creating your buy-sell agreement.

    Related: What Is a Buy-Sell Agreement and Why Is It Vital for a Successful Partnership?

    1. How will you fund owner exits?

    Often, we see that the exiting of an owner can cause the organization to produce a large amount of capital for the owner’s buyout, which has the potential to create financial stress on the company. This can often be mitigated through stipulations in the buy-sell agreement.

    There are several ways to fund owner exits, including lump-sum payments, installment payments and gradual stock transfers. Transfer of this risk to an insurance company can also mitigate the capital needed from the business or other owners. Working with a wealth advisor and an attorney can be useful to figure out a good financing option for your organization.

    2. How should you structure any insurance policies held to fund a buy-sell agreement?

    While this may seem unlikely, protecting your business in the event of an owner’s death or disability is important. The two most common forms of funded buy-sell agreements are cross-purchase and entity purchase arrangements.

    Usually implemented in businesses with fewer owners, in a cross-purchase arrangement, each owner purchases an insurance policy on the other. This allows the surviving owner to fund a buyout using the insurance proceeds and increases the tax basis of the survivor. This can also help reduce any subsequent taxes due on a future sale of the business. In an entity purchase arrangement, the business owns the insurance policies on all owners and uses the proceeds to repurchase the shares, which are then retired.

    Related: Estate Planning for an Owner-Dependent Business

    3. How do you replace owners that have exited?

    Typically, when owners start exiting, the business is still going. Therefore, it’s important that the buy-sell agreement lays out the terms of owner transition.

    For example, who is replacing this owner? What guardrails are in place for the person replacing this exiting owner? How will knowledge transfer work? All of these items should be outlined in your buy-sell agreement to help ensure the business is not negatively impacted by an owner’s exit.

    4. How do you prepare for the unthinkable?

    Despite the efforts many business owners put into planning for the inevitable, you can’t predict the future. The unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic resulted in significant business slowdowns and caused many business owners to revisit their buy-sell agreements. Some took advantage of the temporarily decreased value of their businesses and moved them into trusts at a significantly lower valuation. Others temporarily adjusted valuation calculations and owner stipulations to keep the business safe while it “weathered the storm.”

    Let’s say an employee wanted to buy into their business during the pandemic. Based on the existing valuation formula, the transaction would have occurred at a significantly undervalued price for the owner. A review of the business owner’s buy-sell provision in the operating agreement resulted in adding a section to allow for the normalization of earnings in times of temporary stress. We are seeing more and more agreements include these types of “failsafe” clauses to protect a business during unforeseen, usually temporary events.

    5. How will you valuate your business?

    Your buy-sell agreement should outline how you value the business. There are a few ways one can value their business for legacy ownership or sale. Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBIDTA) multiples are one way but are not the only way.

    From book value to enterprise value, it’s vital to use the right formula for your industry and organization. It is also fairly common to include a failsafe provision that allows an independent valuation expert to appraise the business. And even more importantly, as the company grows, it’s essential to reassess your valuation formula. Of course, it’s not wise to constantly change your valuation formula. However, if your company grows from 20 employees to 200, it may be time to revisit your valuation method.

    Related: Exit Planning for Modern Leaders: How to Determine Your Company’s Worth

    6. How will you create a business prepared for your exit?

    Once you’re ready to retire and fully enjoy the fruits of your labor, it’s important that the transition set you — and the organization you’ve worked hard to build up for success. Will you remain on the board? Will you be passing the organization to family or key employees? Will you be selling the business? These are key questions to consider as you build the legacy terms in your buy-sell agreement.

    Whether you’re a business owner who hopes to sell soon or one who wants to build the company for many more years, an effective succession begins before the exit happens. Developing a high-quality buy-sell agreement is an important part of legacy planning. Answering these questions can help protect the integrity of the business you’ve worked hard to establish.

    Matt Barber

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

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

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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

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

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

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

    The problem with under-charging

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

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

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

    1. Is it hard to replace?

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

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

    2. Is it business-critical for users?

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

    3. Does it show a clear return on investment?

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

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

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

    Niels Martin Brøchner

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  • How To Find Success During Search Fund Launches

    How To Find Success During Search Fund Launches

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Related: Search Funds: A Financing Option for Business Buyers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Karl Eshwer

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  • How to Set Measurable Goals and Achieve Maximum Success

    How to Set Measurable Goals and Achieve Maximum Success

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As an entrepreneur or business leader, there are myriad reasons why you should care about goals: They help lead you in the right direction for your vision; they motivate teams and hold them accountable; they help leaders make decisions, clarify priorities and eliminate day-to-day distractions.

    But most importantly, the measurement of goals will help you track progress and explain the direction of your business to funders and other opportunities for financial capital — and the best way to do this is to include goals in your strategic plan.

    A strategic plan captures and communicates your goals to various audiences. The strategic planning process includes a document that summarizes your vision for the future of your organization and lists the goals and objectives to reach that vision. The result of this process is not only meeting the goals you were seeking, but also achieving greater organizational capacity, hitting your mission, generating greater revenue and being more financially secure. Here’s how to do it right.

    Related: How To Create A High-Performing Strategic Plan

    A common challenge with goals

    You’ve likely been hearing about goals since you were a kid. They’ve been taught and promoted to you by your teachers, counselors, coaches, bosses and so on.

    As a result of all of the different inputs, you have likely learned different definitions of goals. In fact, I bet that if you ask members of your team to define a goal, then you’d get a variety of different answers — and that’s a major problem.

    One of the challenges that I frequently encounter as an obstacle to successful strategic planning is the varying definitions of goals that team members have. When your team members define goals differently, they approach goals and performance with different perspectives and ends in mind.

    So let’s get everyone on your team on the same page with a common definition of a goal.

    I take my goal-defining guidance from the world of sports. In soccer, for example, a goal happens when the ball crosses over the goal line. In hockey, a goal is scored when the puck crosses the line. There are numerous other sports examples, but all of them provide crystal clarity for when a goal is scored.

    Applying this concept brings me to the following simple definition of a goal: a specific and measurable desired achievement.

    Related: A Guide to Goal Setting

    How to write strong goals

    You may be familiar with the well-known SMART mnemonic acronym for writing goals:

    • S: Specific
    • M: Measurable
    • A: Accountable
    • R: Relevant
    • T: Time-bound

    Over the years, I’ve found the SMART acronym to be quite useful. My definition above highlights the specific and measurable elements of the SMART acronym.

    Most of the time, the “A” in the acronym refers to either “achievable” or “attainable.” While that works, I think “accountable” (or even “assignable”) is stronger. All too often, I see teams create goals that don’t have people identified as being accountable to them. And, not surprisingly, the goals don’t get completed.

    Regarding the “R,” as in “relevant,” your goal should be taking you in the direction of a long-term vision.

    One other thing: I like to add a “goal topic” to the beginning of goals on a strategic plan since it helps readers get a quick idea of what the goal is about. For example, when setting a goal of receiving a specific score on a staff survey, I’d use the goal topic of “staff engagement.”

    When developing your goals for your strategic plan, ask yourself the following questions:

    • Is it specific?
    • Is it measurable?
    • Does it have accountability?
    • Is it relevant?
    • Is it time-bound?

    You’ll know you’ve got the right goals for your plan when the answer to each of those questions is “yes.”

    Related: Define Your Short-Term Goals With These 3 Components for Long-Term Success

    Goal guidance for your strategic plan

    There are two different types of goals that you can develop for your strategic plan: results goals and process goals. Results goals are accomplished when a specific metric has been achieved. Process goals lead to the completion of a plan, process or system.

    That said, you may be wondering about how you can measure process goals. Those goals are complete when you have a documented process in place. Sure, it’s not a number, but it’s still a measurable achievement.

    This leads me to a very important piece of guidance. Several years ago, I started to notice that organizations I worked with that were really succeeding in strategic planning utilized a high percentage of process goals. In other words, they created and achieved goals that helped them develop capacity-building processes. So, be sure to consider including process goals in your strategic plan if you want to create the changes you’re seeking.

    I recommend having goals on your strategic plan that are organization-wide that have a completion timeline of several weeks to one year. You can also list action items, the individual tasks of the larger goals, that will take a shorter amount of time to complete.

    In summary, it’s critical that you and your team have a common approach to how you write strategic goals. This guidance will help your organization solidify its strategic plan and achieve greater success.

    Eric Ryan

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  • How Data Analytics Can Help Your Startup Achieve Success

    How Data Analytics Can Help Your Startup Achieve Success

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Data analytics is one of the most important tools that startups can use to help them succeed. In this article, we will provide a practical guide to using data analytics to help your startup achieve its goals. We’ll cover topics like identifying key data points, analyzing data and making informed decisions. By the end of this article, you will have everything you need to start using data analytics to help your startup achieve success. So, let’s get started!

    What are the benefits of using data analytics for startups?

    There are many benefits to using data analytics for startups, and here are just a few:

    • Data analytics can help you identify patterns and trends in your data that you wouldn’t be able to see otherwise. This can help you improve your product or service in ways that you never thought possible.

    • Data analytics can also help you identify which areas of your business are most profitable and which ones need more attention. This can help you prioritize your resources accordingly, making sure that you’re investing in the areas that are most likely to succeed.

    • Data analytics can also help you track user behavior and determine what kind of feedback they give you. This helps you create better products and services that meet their needs and expectations.

    • Finally, data analytics can help you measure the success of your company both short-term (in terms of revenue) and long-term (in terms of customer retention).

    Related: Data Analytics Are Invaluable to Your Business. Here’s Why.

    How to get started with data analytics

    If you’re looking to increase your startup’s success, then data analytics is a key tool you need to have in your arsenal. As stated above, data analytics can help you understand and optimize your business processes, identify and correct any issues early on and improve customer retention rates. It can also help you create better marketing campaigns and track the progress of your products and services.

    There are a few things you need to keep in mind when using data analytics for startups:

    • Start by identifying your data projects and their respective business goals. What are you trying to achieve? What kind of data will help you achieve those goals?

    • Make sure all the data you use is accurate and up-to-date. If it’s not, then it’ll be useless in helping you reach your objectives.

    • Work with a data analyst who understands startup processes and can guide you through the analytical process step by step.

    How to identify key data points

    In order to increase startup success using data analytics, you need to identify key data points that will help you improve your business. There are a number of ways to do this:

    • Use surveys or interviews to gather feedback from users and customers about their experience with your product or service. This will help you measure how well it meets their needs and what areas you need to focus on in order to improve it.

    • Monitor social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to see what people are saying about your product or service. This will give you an idea of whether people are happy with it or not and which areas might need improvement.

    • Analyze the financial data of your company in order to understand how well it’s performing financially. This will give you an idea of whether there’s potential for growth or if there’s a more pressing issue that needs addressing first.

    • Collect sales data from retail outlets where your product is sold in order to get an idea of how much demand there is for it. This will help you decide whether marketing efforts are effective or if there are other strategies that would be more successful in reaching more people.

    Related: Why Data Analytics Can Help Drive Sales For Your Business

    How to use data analytics effectively

    There are a number of different ways to use data analytics to improve your startup’s performance. Some common techniques include:

    • Data mining: This involves extracting valuable information from large data sets by using special algorithms. This can help you find patterns and insights that you wouldn’t be able to see otherwise.

    • Forecasting: This is the process of predicting future events based on past data. It can help you make informed decisions about marketing campaigns, pricing strategies or other strategic decisions.

    • Performance monitoring: This allows you to track key performance indicators (KPIs) over time to identify areas in which your company is performing well or not well. This can help you make necessary changes to your strategy in order to improve results.

    • Insights reports: These provide a detailed analysis of specific aspects of your data that can help you make better decisions.

    5 tips for making data analytics work for your startup

    1. Make a data-driven culture part of your startup from the beginning.

    2. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different data analysis tools and techniques.

    3. Be sure to collect and track the right data for your startup’s needs.

    4. Keep your data analyst team small and nimble for maximum agility.

    5. Use data analytics to inform every decision made in your startup, from product development to marketing to sales.

    Related: Data Analytics Should Become Part Of A Company’s Culture

    To sum up, data analytics is a powerful tool that can help your startup understand its market better and get you to the top. However, it is important to invest in the right tools that can take your analysis process further. In case you are running low on funds or time, we have curated a list of data analytics tools to equip your startup with everything it needs.

    If you’re ready to take the next step, all you need is a few months of hard work and dedication. You can then start tracking your every move with data analytics in order to find trends that will help you achieve stellar results!

    Piyanka Jain

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

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

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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

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

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

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

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

    2. Results are everything

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

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

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

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

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

    Related: How Technology Is Shortening the Road to Fame

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Craig Ceccanti

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  • Is Your To-Do List Overwhelming? Here’s What You Need to Do.

    Is Your To-Do List Overwhelming? Here’s What You Need to Do.

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Do you feel extremely overwhelmed from looking at your to-do list? Do these tasks feel infinite and impossibly daunting? Do you dread opening your laptop with the idea of facing your unorganized, messy assignments? We’ve all been there.

    More often than not, going through your tasks may feel like wading through waist-high sand. This may sound trivial, but work stress often comes from task disorganization, making them look more difficult than they actually are. Worse, it can deter your motivation, productivity and sense of accomplishment. From swamped emails to meeting deadlines, the anxiety of not knowing where to start or how to finish can burn you out.

    Perhaps it’s about time to regroup and rethink the ways to manage your overwhelming to-do list. Here’s how:

    Related: The Hidden Secret to Completing Your To-Do List

    1. Delete low-priority tasks

    The truth is you can’t do it all. The first step to managing your to-do list is to sort your tasks according to priority. Keep an eye on your low-priority tasks. Quickly go over them and assess their importance. If deemed inconsequential, delete them. The reality is some tasks are better deleted than completed. Just because they’re on your to-do list doesn’t mean you have to do them.

    Low-priority tasks are jesters in a deck of cards. Oftentimes, they’re there for no reason, and yet they’re the biggest obstacles that prevent you from completing your high-priority workload. For one, low-priority tasks don’t age well. They may have displayed importance the moment you captured them, but some tasks simply resolve on their own and no longer require further attention, making them obsolete. In fact, they are often tagged as “no priority.” Not only do they make your list a lot longer than it is, but it takes you in a completely different direction, hindering your productivity.

    Use your sense of discernment in determining their relevance. For each task, ask yourself, “Is this necessary?” If the answer is “no,” delete them, move on, and don’t waste your time.

    2. Batch similar tasks together

    It’s important to remind yourself that you’re human, not AI. Unlike a computer, you can’t effectively run multiple processes at a time. The brain takes time to process whenever you switch contexts, halting you from finding your flow.

    The key to productivity is by getting into the groove. Once you’ve found your rhythm, it will be much easier for you to go with your workflow effectively and efficiently. Being in the zone is key to accomplishing tasks quickly without compromising their quality. The trick to this is grouping similar tasks together.

    Task batching is an effective productivity strategy that helps you avoid context switching. By categorizing your work, you’ll be able to find a perfect approach that applies to a variety of assignments, making it feel like it’s just one fluid execution rather than mentally jumping back and forth from one type to another. Not only will this make your to-do list a lot more organized and easy on the eyes, but it will also improve your speed and efficiency.

    Related: The 5-Minute Solution That Can Transform Your To-Do List

    3. Make a list of completed items

    On top of your to-do list, it’s equally important to include your completed items. This will not only help you track your progress, but it will also help boost your confidence by knowing how productive you have been. If it’s taking a long while to fill your completed items, that’s your cue to reconsider how to improve your speed. Perhaps you’re taking too long on a task that’s not necessarily urgent? Perhaps you’re spending too much time in your inbox? Perhaps you’re prioritizing obsolete tasks? It’s your opportunity to reassess and adjust to hit your daily quota.

    4. Don’t overcheck your inbox

    Did you know that most professionals spend more than two hours of their time at work checking their emails without even realizing it? From waiting for responses and digging through old attached files, to simply mindlessly scrolling, over-checking your email is one of the leading productivity deterrents in a workplace. Ideally, one shouldn’t spend more than 30 minutes in their inbox. Remember that it’s a communication tool, not your task manager. Not only does it interrupt your flow, but it interferes with your work execution. My friend Yoel Israel, CEO of WadiDigital, once told me during a collaborative work session that I spend too much time in my inbox. I agreed with him and fixed it.

    Keep in mind that emails can wait. They don’t bear significant weight in the urgency of your tasks. Consider alloting a good amount of 25 to 30 minutes a day for checking your inbox — 15 minutes in the morning and another 15 in the afternoon. Or you can evenly divide it into seven minutes every 2 hours.

    Related: Find a To-Do List Strategy That Works for You

    The golden rule is to always be on top of your to-do list. From the level of urgency and degree of importance to the type of context, the key is to be organized to achieve clarity on what to do first, what to do next and what not to do. Strategize, launch your tactics, and attack. Control your tasks; don’t let your tasks control you.

    Omri Hurwitz

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  • What is Disruptive Marketing and Why is it Crucial for Success?

    What is Disruptive Marketing and Why is it Crucial for Success?

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As marketers, we are always trying to stand out from the crowd. Enter: disruptive marketing.

    Think back to 20 years ago when Steve Jobs said that iPhones would replace computers. People didn’t believe him at the time, but I bet you are either reading this article on your phone or your phone is at least next to you. Steve Jobs’ claim is a perfect example of disruptive marketing.

    I’m not a fan of buzzwords, but I am a fan of disruptive marketing. So much so that I recently came on board a disruptive marketing agency, Overit, as the Senior Marketing Director. Part of my role involves being a disruptor in the marketing industry, and with this article, I aim to help you become a disruptor. As disruptors, we need to be cutting-edge and unafraid so let’s explore how to do just that.

    What exactly is disruptive marketing?

    While innovative, disruptive marketing is also strategic. It goes against the status quo of traditional marketing tactics and reaches your target audience in new and creative ways. Disruptive marketing resonates with your current customers and unlocks new audiences.

    FYI, this marketing strategy is only for risk-takers. However, it’s an excellent opportunity to grow your brand rather quickly. It is not just about being unique to get attention; disruptive marketing should be paired with data and strategy — just like any other marketing technique.

    To put it simply, disruptive marketing is the process of using new and original marketing strategies to reach your target consumers in a way that your competitors are not.

    This type of marketing allows for a lot of creativity and, like all marketing strategies, can continually be refined by the data you collect from your efforts. This data is important because disruptive marketing involves experimenting, and some tactics will work while others won’t.

    Disruptive marketing pushes boundaries and creates new norms. Strategies we have in our marketing toolboxes were once disruptive. Take influencer marketing for example, it once was a foreign way to get authentic brand recommendations, and now it’s a strategy that many brands implement.

    If you want to be a disruptor, you can’t be afraid to fail. However, this type of marketing has the chance of going viral. Are you a risk-taker like me?

    Why should my marketing be disruptive?

    The modern-day consumer is quite intelligent. They know when they’re being “marketed” and are sick of the traditional advertising norms. Disruptive marketing involves you doing something unique to allow you to stand out in an over-saturated industry.

    Consumers value innovation. In fact, they expect it. There is a sea of repetitive marketing trends out there, and your target audience craves something different. This type of marketing makes your products or services stay top-of-mind by being unique and memorable.

    The top 10 disruptive marketing tips

    Have I convinced you to be a disruptor yet? If so, I’ve streamlined the top 10 tips I use in my disruptive marketing efforts. Write them out on a sticky note and post them on your monitor so you can always remind yourself how to be disruptive.

    • Stay up to date with social media trends and success stories
    • A/B test different strategies
    • Capture data and implement the insights you glean from it
    • Consult your buyer personas to ensure you’re reaching your target audience
    • Challenge current marketing assumptions and do the opposite
    • Speak to consumer pain points
    • Embrace technology
    • Follow disruptive thought leaders for inspiration
    • Be unusual but not bizarre
    • Implement storytelling best practices

    Examples of disruptive marketing

    Uber appalled people when they announced that they came out with an app in which people essentially get into a stranger’s car. Today, there are competing apps, and “ubering” is part of our English language.

    Bitcoin is the world’s largest bank but has no actual cash. That didn’t stop them. They kept promoting their values and honed in on target consumers who don’t trust traditional banks, and now look at how far they’ve come.

    Dollar Shave Club came out with its first commercial in 2011 and flipped the entire razor industry on its head. They studied what consumers were looking for, addressed those pain points in a brand new way, and the rest is history.

    REI took a risk and set itself apart from other brands vying for consumers to spend money on Black Friday. In 2015, they started #OptOutside and discouraged consumers from shopping at their store on the biggest consumer spending day of the year. Many consumers actually respected this stance, which clearly didn’t hurt business because REI still encourages consumers to opt outside on Black Friday.

    In 2015, HBO released their HBO Go app. Instead of pushing typical pain points like watching HBO from anywhere, they released a commercial of a family watching awkward HBO shows together. They then showed how the family went to different rooms in the house to avoid awkward viewing. They thought outside the box, and it worked.

    Air Wick implemented disruptive marketing with their Scent Decorator quiz. They invite consumers to take quizzes to find the perfect home scents. Typically, people want actually to smell something before purchasing, but Air Wick found a way around that, and they did it successfully.

    A balance between traditional and disruptive

    Disruptive marketing creates quick impact and brand awareness. However, this strategy doesn’t mean you throw traditional marketing out the door.

    There is a balance between holding onto traditional marketing that works and using your tried and true strategies to power your disruptive efforts.

    Like traditional marketing, when implementing disruptive marketing, look at things like the consumer’s journey, pain points, value propositions, etc., when allocating your time and budget for 2023.

    Final thoughts: How to be disruptive with your content

    So much of modern-day marketing is content-driven. Naturally, some of your disruptive marketing efforts will be rooted in content. After all, 91% of brands use content marketing, bringing in 6 times as many leads as traditional marketing at 62% of the cost.

    A great place to start with disruptive marketing is through your content.

    User Generated Content is popular and effective. Consider challenging your audience to post content about your brand with a theme that gets people’s attention. You can then promote your UGC using marketing strategies that you already use.

    The beauty of content creation is that it allows you to experiment with disruptive marketing. Look at your competitors’ typical blog posts and publish the opposite. Be bold. Be experimental.

    Same with the content you put on social media. Do something risky and measure the results against your other social posts.

    You don’t have to re-work your entire marketing strategy, you just need to not be afraid to be different and think outside the box.

    Kristen Matthews

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