Tag: Growing a Business

3 Easy Ways to Improve Your Software Developers’ Efficiency

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

I’ve observed an odd trend in company board meetings. Marketing and sales vice presidents will come in with charts, reports and finely-tuned data. The CFO will fire up a dashboard detailing every penny of revenue and expense. The HR chief will share hiring metrics down to the last employee. But when it comes to engineering, the lifeblood of any modern company, there’s little data — just a vague sense of what’s working and what’s not.

The reality is that engineering efficiency and developer experience remain a black box, even at some of the most tech-forward organizations. And inside that box lurk inefficiencies on an enormous scale.

I’ve heard of big banks that employ tens of thousands of developers who are operating at 30% efficiency because of bloated processes and unnecessary toil. This is more than a waste of resources. Frustrated developers quit. Company payroll sags under the weight of extra salaries needed to compensate for inefficiencies. Customers are stuck waiting on deliverables. Considering the global impact on productivity and output, this is easily a trillion-dollar problem.

The good news is there are simple, concrete ways to prioritize developer experience (DX) and engineering efficiency. I’ve seen the transformative benefits of improving DX as a developer, founder and CEO of three high-growth tech companies. Here’s what every CEO should know:

Related: Use These 4 Tips to Attract and Retain Software Developers

The true cost of poor DX

Any company dependent on software development should be obsessed with optimizing developers’ work experience. Research shows most software engineers spend more than half their workday performing tedious, repetitive tasks. No engineer wants to spend hours troubleshooting an issue that could be detected by automation or wait weeks for approvals from other teams. Yes, they can (and do) move on to other projects, but context switching increases drag and the likelihood of errors. It’s also a stressful way to work.

A frustrating work environment leads to heavy turnover, which is costly at any time, but particularly now when demand for great developers far outstrips supply. In the U.S., there are around 162,900 open positions for software developers and related occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As word travels about a company’s DX failures, recruiting becomes difficult, creating a downward spiral.

All of this translates to the bottom line, with developers earning a median salary of more than $120,000, leaving them idle amounts to burning money. Worse, inefficient engineering inevitably slows product development. Companies in competitive industries like banking, retail or healthcare that can’t figure out DX will lose customers to competitors able to launch apps, updates and new products quickly.

The silver lining is that since most companies are new to DX, a few simple improvements can yield substantial benefits. Here are three practical ways to improve your developers’ efficiency:

Related: The Future of Software Development in 2022 and Beyond

1. Make it someone’s job

It could be a Developer Experience Officer (DXO), lead engineer or rotating team, but you need someone to own DX inside your company. Here at Harness, we have a Tiger Team that analyzes inefficiencies and recommends solutions. Here’s a recent example: The team learned that our code base was too large for developers to test changes on their laptops, which turned a two-minute test into a 40-minute excursion to use a sufficiently robust computer. Once they identified the problem, the fix was straightforward: Reduce the number of microservices needed on developers’ laptops so they could use their own computers to test the code.

2. Gather data, and put it to use

It’s pretty ironic that engineering — of all departments — suffers from a lack of quantitative operational data. Most companies know more about sales team productivity than the engineering teams at the heart of their work. You can’t fix what you haven’t measured, so start by gathering hard numbers. Some useful metrics include the number of automated processes in your developer workflow, how much work a developer can complete within a certain timeframe and the lead time between a project’s beginning and delivery.

Then, there are qualitative insights. Most companies rely on feedback from customer and employee experience surveys to make sure they are on target, but there’s no equivalent for developers — and that’s a huge oversight. Use surveys to gather qualitative data from engineers, and pinpoint bottlenecks and deficiencies to resolve. DX measurements can include metrics like how easy it is to locate the information, tools or systems they need to do their work.

3. Remove needless barriers

Barriers faced by developers can be cultural or technological. Endemic to many large companies is a culture of micromanagement and excessive oversight. For developers, that means wasting time waiting for someone to greenlight incremental progress. Instead, establish high-level guardrails around cost, security and quality, and give engineers free rein within those parameters. The streamlined process will boost creativity and productivity and increase developers’ job satisfaction.

This goes hand in hand with upgrading developers’ own tech toolkits. Too many are stuck using dated and manual tools and processes or hacking their own fixes. That’s why I’ve worked to build solutions using automation and AI to enable users to build, test, deploy and verify on-demand. For example, if a developer is working on a feature, merging it into the main code can require thousands of tests, which could take hours to run. But using intelligent automation, the same process might take 20 minutes. There are even automations that allow you to programmatically define your guardrails and automate approvals when a project meets the specifications.

Related: How AI Will Transform Software Development

Ultimately, improving developer experience can’t be a one-time event. It takes ongoing attention and iteration to gather relevant data, remove blockers and increase productivity and job satisfaction. Yet improvement is well within reach, and the potential return is far too great to ignore.

I dream that I’ll soon walk into a boardroom and see a developer productivity dashboard as comprehensive as any other department’s. We have the tools and data to unlock productivity, morale, efficiency, customer satisfaction and innovation gains. It’s time to free developers from toil so they can do the work they love.

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Jyoti Bansal

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November 17, 2022
7 Signs You’re Ready to Transition from Employee to Entrepreneur

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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.

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Maria Dimitropoulou

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November 17, 2022
3 Ways I Attracted The Best Generation Z Applicants
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Just when you think you’ve figured out the generational differences in your team, a new generation exits the classroom and into the workplace. For the first time in history, there are five generations in the workplace. They are traditionalists (born 1925 to 1945), baby boomers (born 1946 to 1964), Generation X (born 1965 to 1980), millennials (born 1981 to 2000) and Generation Z (born 2001 to 2020. And trust me, navigating these differences is no easy feat. I found this out the hard way.

When I first started my own business, I lived out the old adage, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” I figured the same recruiting and retention practices that had worked for my own generation would easily translate to Gen Z. But I was wrong. Very wrong.

In fact, I had to relearn everything before I could create a business that attracted top-level Generation Z applicants. But it was well worth the effort. So, how did I do it?

Here are a few things that helped me in my own journey:

1. Rethink your office space

The “always on” mentality really started to take hold as the internet revolutionized how we communicate and interact. The first generation of employees expected to be “on” 24/7 were millennials. The workplace was no longer separate from your life — in many ways, it became your life.

Generation Z recognized this. They saw the mental health struggles and burnout that came with being “always on” from the generation before them. This is why when they left the classroom and entered the boardroom, they valued, above all else, a work-life balance. They want flexibility. They want privacy. They want boundaries.

That’s why, when I first started my company, I made sure to cut the cereal bar out of the budget and offer employees the ability to work from anywhere and at any time. How do I do this?

Well, I meet with my team once a week via Zoom and we cover our weekly, quarterly and annual goals. Then, I’m able to break them down into manageable projects that can be done from anywhere. Once they’re done with the task that week, they can either take the rest of the week off or use that time to work ahead on the next week’s project.

Now, I realize that this format doesn’t work for all types of businesses. But, if you have the capability of being entirely remote, giving your team the freedom to work from anywhere will go a long way in attracting top-level Generation Z applicants.

Related: Gen Z Brings a Whole New Dynamic to the Workforce

2. Let them lead the conversation

One of the worst mistakes that I did early on was trying to lead with answers instead of questions. Well, let’s just say that didn’t go over too well. In fact, it completely flopped. And for good reason.

You see, I was terrified of looking like a fool in front of my team. So, I didn’t give them a chance to catch me off guard. I lead with confidence, masked my fear and hoped that I could get through the day without falling flat on my face. However, my facade came at a high price. I almost lost the respect of my employees in the process.

My team was frustrated because they felt like I was trying to control the conversation instead of letting them have a voice. They were done with the top-down management style and desperately wanted a leader who would listen to their needs.

I knew I needed to change — and fast. This is why I started hosting weekly one-on-one conversations via Zoom.

During these conversations, I asked my team about their work-style preferences, what motivates them, and how I could better support them. I even asked about how they like to socialize and what their favorite type of team-building activity is. And you know what? These conversations completely changed the way I ran my business –– for the better.

My Gen Z employees are now some of my most valued team members because they feel heard and appreciated. Because once they knew that I was willing to listen, they were willing to open up and share their ideas — which has led to some pretty amazing results for my business.

Related: 5 Ways Businesses Can Reach ‘Generation Z’

3. Focus on their development, not placement

The great Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” Now, I’m sure Twain wasn’t thinking about Generation Z when he made this statement, but it couldn’t be more relevant for today’s young workers. And I’ll tell you why.

I learned the hard way that if you want to retain Generation Z workers, you need to focus on their development, not placement. For instance, when I brought on my first intern, I eagerly looked at my needs and then placed her in the department where I thought she would excel the most.

But, after a few weeks, it became clear that she was miserable. She wanted to be doing something completely different — and she’s not the only one.

According to Deloitte, “Most Gen Z professionals prefer a multidisciplinary and global focus to their work, with the expectation that this can create opportunities for mobility and a rich set of experiences.”

For Gen Z, A plus B equals growth. This is why offering them the chance to cross-train is so important.

My intern didn’t want to be boxed in by her past experience or education. She wanted an opportunity to grow. And, once I gave her that chance, I grew as a leader, too. I stopped focusing on placing my employees in specific roles and started focusing on giving them the freedom to grow within the company.

Working with Generation Z can be a challenge, but I can guarantee you that it’ll be worth it in the end. In my experience, I’ve found you need to offer them these three things:
- The ability to work from anywhere.
- The chance to lead the conversation.
- An opportunity to grow.
If you start with that, you’re well on your way to attracting and retaining top Gen Z talent — and becoming a better leader in the process.
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Dr. Colleen Batchelder

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November 16, 2022
Do You Need to Copyright Your Logo? Here’s What You Need to Know.

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These days, art theft isn’t restricted to elaborate heists staged in a museum or gallery. With design inspiration being copied or outright stolen in every arena, from graphic design to fashion, it’s more important than ever to protect yourself and your work. A quick Google search on the allegations and evidence of design theft should be enough to bring the potential seriousness home.

But what about logo design?

Is your logo design safe?

It may seem strange to question whether logo design should be — or even can be — copyrighted. Logos are small pieces of branding, after all, and often very simple. But the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Logos are invaluable as the main identifier of brands, and the reputation of an individual company is inextricably linked with the logo.

With that in mind, it’s prudent that business owners take measures to ensure the protection of their company’s logo.

At times, a case of similar or even identical logo design could be merely an inadvertent copycat. For example, my company is devoted to making logo design easy and accessible to all, and provides an extensive library of choices in graphics, fonts and colors. Though they’re designed to be editable and should be molded to fit the individual needs of the brand, there’s always the possibility that companies who use the same site could potentially find themselves with similar logo designs. But that’s not the real problem here.

The main danger of putting any proprietary material on the internet for all to see is the possibility of theft with malicious intent. In other words, someone sees your graphic or logo design and decides to make a deliberate dupe of the design — either for their own use or to mislead others into thinking they represent your company. In the case of a logo design for which you’ve paid a professional designer top dollar, this is even more devastating.

So what can be done about it?

Related: All You Need to Know About Using Trademarks for Your Business

Protecting your logo design

Can you copyright your logo design? This can be a difficult question to answer straight.

The more common term used for logos and other branding materials is “trademark.” Your logo, business name and any other identifying assets of your business may have common law trademark rights. Such trademark rights prevent other businesses from using your trademark to sell goods or services — but there are limitations. Common law trademark protection only covers the locality in which you first started to use it.

Related: Attorney Confession: Those Little TM and (R) Symbols Are More Important Than I Thought

For example, let’s say you start a business in Anaheim, California. Your trademark protection from common law works for you there, and if someone takes your logo, you can pursue them in court. But if you move the business to New York City and find that someone uses the same image in their logo, you can’t force them to change it. They have the benefit of common law protection in their own home area.

A federally registered trademark, however, extends your geographic reach of protection. You must file an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). If approved, your trademark will have nationwide protection and will prevent other businesses across the country from using a similar trademark.

One thing to note, however, is that logo copyright extends to creative works — which doesn’t include works in the public domain, as they can’t be “owned” by any individual. Many graphics and fonts that are included in commonly available design software are part of the public domain and would not be covered by logo copyright. Creating a bespoke design that doesn’t include pre-existing elements is the best way to ensure the best copyright coverage.

For companies that have an eye on expansion and want to protect their brand from possible infringement by other companies, logo copyright is worth considering.

Related: How to Create a Logo

How logo copyright can save a brand

As your business grows and expands, you’ll likely extend your target demographic to customers outside your immediate area. To ensure branding continuity no matter where you offer services, logo copyright could be invaluable.

Logo copyrights also regulate and protect against the use and misuse of your logo, business name and other trademark properties. This is important to ensure that no one is representing themselves as your brand, misleading customers or making promises that can’t be kept.

To go a step further in protecting your brand, consider trademarking your logo. Portions of copyrighted material can still be used under “fair use” laws, but if a logo is trademarked, that means that no portion of the logo could be used by anyone else without legal repercussions.

Whether you’re the company owner or a logo designer yourself, it’s worth finding out the details about filing for logo copyright and registering your logo and other brand materials to be protected against misuse or stealing.

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Zaheer Dodhia

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November 16, 2022
I Quit My Job Last Year and Have Made More Than $300,000
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
When I left my job as a consultant in October 2021, I had never made more than $5,000 per month from my business.

Courtesy of Clo Bare Money Coach

In fact, when I made a plan to leave my 9 to 5, I had an honest conversation with myself about whether or not I was okay with the possibility of only making $60,000 per year as a money coach — less than half what I was paid at my consulting gig.

And my answer? Absolutely.

As a 31-year-old millennial who graduated college with around $80,000 of debt for a degree in English and Spanish, I never would’ve dreamed I’d be able to someday consider taking a pay cut to quit my job and go full-time with my business. In fact, prior to 2018, I was still living paycheck to paycheck, knew nothing about investing and assumed I’d work the rest of my life.

You see, I grew up believing I was just “bad with money,” like it was some character flaw you were either born with or without. I’d seen my parents struggle with credit card debt, furloughs during the Great Recession and the unending stress of living paycheck to paycheck while raising five kids. I thought struggle was normal, especially when it came to money.

I started working at the age of nine to have a little spending money and hoped I’d someday do better, but money always burned a hole in my pocket, no matter what I did.

I kept telling myself if I just had more of it, things would be fine.

Spoiler alert: No matter how much money I made, it never fixed the problem of my overspending.

It wasn’t until 2018, after spending most of my 20s without an emergency fund, overspending, not investing and thinking I’d die with student loan debt, that I decided it was time for a change.

Related: Instead of Panicking, Deal With Your Student Loans Like a CFO Would

I started learning about the debt-free community, which led me to the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) community, and eventually I thought, Why not me? Why not at least try?

Well, I’m glad I did.

Not only do I now know the peace of financial flexibility and a retirement savings that I’ve already invested enough in to have millions by the time I retire even if I don’t invest another dollar, but it also led me to something I never expected.

I started writing about budgeting and investing online, which led me to creating content on Instagram and TikTok, which led me to become who I am now: a multi-six-figure business owner.

But this time last year?

I was just excited to even be able to consider quitting my job to pursue my passion of teaching people about money full-time.

So, with a year’s emergency fund saved and a solid $5,000 from one-on-one coaching filtering into my bank account each month, I went off into full-time entrepreneurship land.

Last month was my one year anniversary, and I did not make $60,000.

The gross revenue I made from my first year as a full-time business owner was $305,000 with about $45,000 of expenses.

How did I do it?

By recognizing I had to scale, bringing in an expert and focusing on one funnel and one product.

Recognizing I needed to scale

When I quit my job, almost 100% of my income came from one-on-one coaching. In fact, during my first month of full-time business ownership, I had 60 coaching calls, with more than half of the calls lasting two hours.

By the end of the first week, after 17 coaching sessions, I was already losing my voice, and feeling drained and discouraged.

I knew I couldn’t keep up with that kind of grueling schedule, so I increased my prices in October and again in December, thinking it would lighten the load without really impacting my income.

I was wrong.

By the end of the year, I charged $499 for a two-hour session and $299 for a one-hour session — but no matter how many times I increased my prices, I still sold out within 24 hours of announcing openings in my coaching calendar.

The coaching clients kept rolling in, and I had a hard time saying no to the emails requesting help as soon as possible or clients who needed another follow-up call. So, despite trying to manage my client load, I’d always end up with more than I could handle. Between October and December that year, I ended up coaching nearly 150 people.

I was exhausted and already burned out, just two months into full-time entrepreneurship.

Then, one day while lying on the couch to close my eyes for three minutes before the next coaching call, it hit me: I needed to scale. At the rate I was going, I’d be back in corporate in three months. I was capped, and despite wanting to help more people, my system at the time was unsustainable.

I needed to find a way to move beyond selling my time. But I had no idea where to begin. That’s why I decided to bring in an expert.

Related: 5 Marketing and Branding Tips to Scale Your Online Business

Bringing in an expert

Scaling beyond coaching was new territory for me, and although I’d seen other creators create courses and digital products, I wanted to make sure I was doing what was best for my business.

When I started shopping for a business coach, I was nervous because there are so many problematic business coaches who teach people how to run a business despite never having run a business before. I wanted someone I could trust, and who I knew had worked with people in a similar niche, with similar goals.

After doing my research, I decided to hire a well-regarded coach who had helped the giants in the space scale to multi-six-figure — and even seven-figure — businesses. She’d be the person who would teach me how to launch a course and build a funnel.

By working with my coach, I was able to go full-speed ahead and avoid a bunch of mistakes I would’ve made trying to do it all myself — mistakes that would’ve cost me time and money.

Investing $2,000 into my business resulted in my first product launch bringing in $35,000 — but I would’ve never gotten these kinds of results if I hadn’t hired my coach and implemented a funnel.

Related: 10 Reasons Why You Need a Business Coach

Implementing a funnel

I did not know what a funnel was when I quit my job, but my funnel was the single most important investment I made in my business.

A funnel allowed me to make sales without doing anything — no posting, no DMing people, no going live to push the sale.

Instead, I was able to get people into my funnel and let the funnel do its automated magic.

Here’s how my funnel worked:
1. Instagram or TikTok followers would sign up for a free guide.
2. The free guide would invite them to my free class.
3. The free class would have a small pitch for my course, and all registrants would be put into a sales funnel of emails for the next 2-5 days.
Keep in mind: At each stage, I was providing more value.

My funnel made me sales even while I slept. No posting. No exhausting my followers on all my accounts to get in on the sale. My emails were set up to do it all for me so I could spend my time doing other things to build my business.

The emails people received after signing up for the free class addressed their concerns, answered most frequently asked questions, shared testimonials and painted the appealing picture of what their life would look like after they completed the course.

I’ve come to view my funnel as a relationship builder.

So many content creators create a course or digital product and push it out to their audience without a funnel. They just put it on sale and hope people from their Instagram or TikTok will buy it because it exists. If you build it, they will come, right?

Not exactly.

We have to nurture the relationship, and an Instagram follower is at a much different stage than an email subscriber or someone who has downloaded your free guide and attended your workshop.

We have to provide consistent value that builds trust with our ideal audiences. Going straight for the killshot of “Hey, buy my product” would be like asking for a job without having ever applied or submitted a resume. You need to date your leads and nurture them by providing value.

Focusing on perfecting my funnel has allowed me to zone in on what is and isn’t working, understand my audience better and not get distracted by the shiny-object syndrome that so many new entrepreneurs face.

Related: 5 Steps to Building Your First Online Sales Funnel

Focusing on one product

Focusing on one product also allowed me to scale for several reasons.

First, it allowed me to streamline my messaging to my audience to make sure they were never confused about what I have to offer. I wanted to guarantee people went to my page and saw immediately what I specialized in: lazy investing. Not a little bit of lazy investing with some debt pay off, credit repair and budgeting sprinkled in. I want my audience to come to my page and understand exactly how I can help them.

Think about the last time you were shopping for a service: for example, a person to clean your home.

If you came across someone who had a list of services that included lawn care, car detailing, oil changes, handyman services — and oh yeah, they’d also clean your home for you — you likely wouldn’t choose that person over someone who made it clear that cleaning your home was the only thing their business did.

Focusing on one product also helped me master the product, which only made my confidence in the product stronger and, in turn, allowed me to sell with ease.

When we know without a shadow of a doubt that our products solve the problem we say they do, selling becomes simply highlighting the problem and explaining how our product is the solution.

I don’t think I could’ve made as strong of a course had I not focused on only that course in the last year. Every month I added to it, tweaked, surveyed my members and found new ways to improve it. And the result is more than 500 happy customers who are now out there building wealth on their own.

We all know how overwhelming and stressful it can be to manage a million different things: coaching, courses, digital products, group coaching and the list goes on. The mental space and clarity that come with focusing on one thing is something I’ll continue to prioritize as I build out more products in the future.

Related: 3 Things You Need to Know About Launching a Product Business

So, what’s next?

Now that I’ve worked on The Lazy Investor’s Course and its funnel for a year, you might be wondering if I’m moving on to something new.

But in 2023, I plan to continue to perfect the funnel and my offer. Because even though I’ve made more than $300,000 from my business so far, I know I can still make improvements. So I’ll continue to refine this one offer I have until I’m confident I’ve squeezed everything out of it that I can.

And then — and only then — will I move on to the next thing.

As my friend Allison Baggerly said in her keynote at Fincon this year: simple scales.

And for me?

Simple allows me to maintain a level of sanity and make sure I don’t burn out.
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Chloé Daniels

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November 16, 2022
Give Your Employees The 3-Point Strategy They Need To Drive Sales
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
It’s your employees’ job to motivate buyers, but employees similarly need the right tools to succeed. In today’s competitive environment, a well-written value proposition fills that need.

What is your value proposition?

A value proposition isn’t just useless information about your company, products or services. It’s a statement about what outcomes a person or group can expect when working with your company.

A company’s value proposition is at the core of its business model. It’s a promise the organization makes to its customers regarding the value of its products and/or services. A value proposition should be simple, but powerful and clear. A compelling value proposition strategically examines the factors that influence customer focus, and overall business ambition and sets expectations. It serves both your customers and employees by setting up their expectations. Guiding employees by setting these expectations help ensure they understand your company’s standards and gives them something substantial to aspire to in regard to product quality, service, etc.

Your value proposition guides your strategy

A value proposition is a critical component of your strategy rather than just a feature of your marketing plan. It should provide three critical benefits:
- Functional benefits: This is how your product performs. These benefits tie your offer to the outcome the customer wants.
- Product attribute benefits: This is what makes your product stand out. These benefits provide a credible point for comparing your offer to competitors’ offers.
- Personal benefits: These benefits account for emotional connections tied to the purchase decision.
The most successful value propositions will offer the customer all three types of benefits at once. It is a promise that you plan to offer the buyer a positive experience with a great product or service. It convinces the buyer your product is the best choice for them and appropriately capitalizes on how the buyer feels. For employees, an effective value proposition gives them a better sense of what marketing strategies will be most effective.

Related: How To Create A High-Performing Strategic Plan

A strategy with real benefits

Value propositions examine factors that influence a range of areas, such as customer focus or overall business ambition. So rather than seeing them as a feature of your marketing plan, develop the value proposition as a strategic core for all your operational models (e.g., decision-making, finances and resource prioritization).

Once you have a clear operational strategy based on your value proposition, it will provide direction for all the interactions your employees have with your customers. It tells your sales representatives exactly who the target market is, what that audience wants to get or achieve and what’s most important for the audience to know about your product or service.

With this clarity, the sales team can become more efficient and productive. They can reduce operating costs, all while improving customer engagement, segment reach, customer retention, market share, revenue, net profit and market share.

Take my company, for example. I’m the chief marketing officer (CMO) of an investment management company that has made our value proposition a part of our deeper strategy. Our team recognized most organizations handling exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focus on beating a single financial index. However, we acknowledge that investors have specific, long-term goals and want investment solutions based on those unique objectives. We allow those goals to drive the development of all our products. The approach simultaneously meets investor needs and serves as a differentiator.

Related: Want to Increase Sales? Think Deeper About What You’re Really Selling

Determining the need to pivot

Even when employees have a clear value proposition to offer customers, they’ll only be successful if that value proposition is still in line with current markets. Put your value proposition into context by looking at what’s happening outside your business. Is your industry — or an adjacent one — experiencing big changes? If so, you’ll likely have little choice but to pivot and transform.

But what does transformation look like? You will either expand your value proposition or create a new one. Most companies will rationally expand their proposition until they have evidence that maintaining their core strategy is no longer safe. If you’re in an industry where digital disruption isn’t immediately emerging, you could probably get away with maintaining your tech infrastructure. If your industry is already adopting new digital options, simply optimizing your work might not be enough.

Whether expanding your value proposition or starting from scratch, your employees need to understand your changes’ intent and practical application. The more they understand these elements, the easier it will be for them to commit to the shifts in an authentic way that improves customer trust.

A must-have formula

Whether you’re drawing up a new strategy or tweaking your current one, the key is to define your position based on the target segment you want to dominate and the value proposition you intend to dominate it with. The following formula can help you establish clarity:
- Our product is for [target customers; functional] who want to [alternative to the norm or current options; functional].
- Our product provides [key problem-solving capability; functional] that offers [product attributes; product], allowing you to [key product features; personal].
A completed version of the formula might read: “Our product is for new parents who want to better understand their baby’s emotional wellbeing. Our product provides AI-based emotional tracking for infants that offers biofeedback analytics, calendar graphing and predictive alerts, allowing you to use a customized dashboard to respond and bond more deeply with your little one.”

Then, you’ll need to differentiate their value proposition from others to stand out. Find ways to demonstrate that your brand offers something competitors do not. Or, explain how the service or product fulfills a need no other company can.

Strong value propositions build strong business

In today’s competitive environment, you have to give your employees the tools that can drive customers to take action. And a well-written value proposition can do that. It does more than just serve as a marketing hook. It directs the business and provides strategic guidance for your entire team. It gives workers insight into your values and goals, offering them direction. The resulting unity and efficiency set your brand apart and enable you not just to respond to customer preferences but to drive them. Keep the value proposition formula offered above in your back pocket so that you’ll adapt well and enjoy smooth sailing no matter where the market winds might blow.
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David Partain

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November 15, 2022
How Going on 3 Dates a Week Improved My Sales Skills
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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.
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Dejon Brooks

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November 15, 2022
How Brands Can Turn Rewards Programs Into Long-Term Loyalty
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There are about 4 billion loyalty program memberships in the U.S., and they’re all fueled by some type of reward. Yes, even Starbucks‘ recently-announced metaverse loyalty program is expected to deal in NFTs (a fancy way of saying a digital asset as a reward).

Entrepreneurs, take note: There will be significant changes over the next decade in the expectations consumers have for brands and banks. Between stocks, NFTs and advancements in blockchain and crypto, “loyalty” is a category that will undergo significant advancement to keep an enticed consumer. What’s driving this change, and what will move the needle for the consumer while bringing a solid return on investment to the brand?

A reward alone doesn’t necessarily create loyalty. In fact, a reward often brings a customer in for just one more transaction at a time. Brands are learning that there is a difference between loyalty and rewards: one creates lasting, long-term company success rooted in a relationship with aligned incentives, and the other merely extends a brand’s lifeline to the next quarter’s earnings.

Loyalty means an attachment to the institution one spends with. It means awareness of the decision being made to shop at one brand or another. It’s going out of the way to arrive at the store, gas station or restaurant the customer cares most about. When a customer is merely incentivized to return one more time via a disposable reward, this generally doesn’t speak to loyalty as much as it does to the “deal” they will get by doing so at that moment.

My team talks with brands every day about rewards currencies and the merits or drawbacks associated with the most common incentives. There are so many different kinds of programs; these include points, cash back, rebates and miles. Brands have spent the last two decades building different combinations of the same rewards currency — many of them to great success by tying their rewards to brand values and their most popular and beloved products. So how does a brand ensure rewards turn into loyalty, rather than just a second transaction?

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

Keep it simple, keep it connected

Consumers have been burnt by complexity — frustration in managing multiple loyalty platforms with various web-based logins has led to a wave of brands building and launching their own self-contained loyalty programs. Recent additions to this “self-contained loyalty” approach include the McDonald’s MyMcDonald’s Rewards or Taco Bell‘s mobile app. These brands realized that asking customers to do the work of tracking, managing, and redeeming their rewards could be more of a burden than a relationship-building experience. So, they threaded ordering, rewards and other user engagement all into the same space.

The beauty of this approach? Rewards don’t disappear. They are reimagined in ways that spark creativity, engagement and camaraderie with the customer. They become personalized and presented with choices that the customer can make along the way.

The quickest way for a loyalty program to feel out of touch or antiquated is if it’s a disjointed experience — a program that assigns arbitrary points that deliver inconsistent rewards or a program that only rewards on a transaction, but doesn’t open the opportunity for additional customer behaviors and engagement. Instead of focusing on that reward, a bond must be built between the customer and the brand.

Related: Why Small Businesses Should Be Utilizing Customer-Loyalty Programs

How we can evolve rewards programs

Classic rewards currencies incentivize transactions. They create fleeting, one-off moments that don’t serve the connection to the customer. In some cases, they can even tarnish the brand. Those are the rewards we want to move modern loyalty away from.

Let’s use coupons as an example: The customer may come into the store to use a coupon they earned for a recent purchase. That coupon (while serving the transactional purpose) sets the expectation that what is being sold has a lower value than it’s listed for, and it tells the customer to make their choice based on the price tag alone. The traditional rewards equation prioritizes low cost over quality, convenience and value alignment — the transaction over the relationship.

That’s not to say that coupons (or miles, points or a free frozen yogurt at the end of a 10-visit punch card) don’t have their place in a loyalty program. They simply need to be connected to more than a transaction. What other ways can customers earn those rewards? Is there an option to redeem vs build for a larger reward? Does the reward currency provide tangible value? Maybe that coupon is offered because a customer has exhibited loyalty and earned the coupon through loyalty, rather than as a way to achieve such loyalty.

Related: How Loyalty Programs Are Emerging as Effective Marketing Tools

Matching rewards currencies to loyalty programs

Brands don’t need to build and launch full-scale interactive apps to connect with their customers (it doesn’t hurt, of course, but it all comes down to intention). In many cases, they can reassess or add reward currency options that can grow with their customer relationship. There are so many more ways that brands can reward their customers than when the loyalty and incentives space was created. They can give ownership of digital assets via NFTs, unlock access to exclusive events or offerings and can even give shares of stock as a reward.

Using the example I know best, let’s look at how some of these new reward mechanisms change the customer experience. When a brand rewards its customers in stock rewards, also known as ownership, they can:
- Deliver immediate validation for the consumer, which can power more immediate behavior change
- Reinforce long-term brand/consumer relationships instead of cherry-picking, couponing or continuously discounting
- Create meaningful access points to financial markets that half of Americans don’t currently have
Related: Customer Loyalty Brings Long-Term Sales

With standard points programs, customers usually need to rack up a significant number of points, miles or whatever the chosen type of currency is to start seeing any benefits. But the opportunity to reward in stock or ETFs, even in small amounts can create immediate gratification — which then can serve as an entry point to other aspects of a loyalty program. Stock-related rewards can potentially grow over time, along with the consumer’s confidence, loyalty and brand love.

Most importantly, this is a program that speaks to long-term vitality for a brand and consumer. According to user surveys through our company, Bumped, 65% of users have told friends about a company they own after becoming a shareholder. The customer now has a new thread of relationships that coupons can’t create. A total of 31% of users who become shareholders are willing to pay more for a product from a brand they own, versus expecting to pay less the next time they’re in the store. Most importantly, the consumer may even feel awkward shopping with a competitor once becoming an owner — now that’s loyalty.

Let’s work to build a world of incentivized, aligned and motivated consumers, one where everybody wins and is a part of what they care most about. That is the future of alignment that extends beyond a single transaction, whether in the form of crypto, NFT, points or stock.
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David Nelsen

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November 15, 2022
Press Releases May Seem Old-School, But They Work. Here’s How to Use Them.

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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

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Jigar T

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November 15, 2022
4 Money Beliefs That Are Holding Your Business

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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

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Daniel Mangena

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November 15, 2022
This Pitch Scored a $250,000 Investment — And It Almost Didn’t Happen

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Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch is the show where contestants get into an elevator and have just 60 seconds to pitch their business to a video camera. Our board of investors is watching, and if they like what they hear they open the doors and the entrepreneur steps into the boardroom to try to seal the deal. If they don’t like what they hear, the entrepreneur gets sent back down.

staff

In this ongoing article series, we’re celebrating the entrepreneurs who walked into the boardroom and came out with a win and sharing their tips for pitching success.

Who are you and what is your business?

I’m Alicia Tulsee, founder of Moxie Scrubs, the first direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand for nurses. I went on the show seeking $500,000 and walked out with a $250,000 investment from Kim Perrell.

How did you prepare for the show?

I sought the help of our existing investors to come up with a one-minute pitch that would hit all the key points, such as total addressable market (known as TAM), customer acquisition costs (known as CAC), average order value (known as AOV), and key performance metrics such as repeat purchases and product return rates. Also, they wanted to know why and how our product is different from what’s out there in the market today and how it addresses our customer’s pain points.

We also set up times to go through mock questions and answers to prepare me for any questions we believed investors would like to know after hearing my one-minute pitch for the first time. Once we came up with a pitch that hit all the highlights we agreed on, I practiced it nonstop — while brushing my teeth, reciting it impromptu to my husband when waking up in the middle of the night, cooking dinner. I practiced so much that I could repeat it in my sleep at the drop of a hat! This is exactly what you have to do when your one-minute timer starts counting down.

Related: Watch the Pitch That Landed a $175,000 Investment

What did you think was going to happen? What was different from your expectations?

I honestly had no idea what would happen or what to expect. Nothing could prepare you for how intense the moment is when it’s your turn to give your one-minute pitch: The entire set is pin-drop silent. All eyes, ears and lights are on you. And you get no retakes. All you have is this one 60-second moment to pitch. While it was one of the most intense experiences of my life, I’m happy to share that the whole experience was better than I could have imagined. The entire crew was friendly, helpful and just really great people/ I appreciated their kindness and helpfulness so much because I had a tough time getting to Fort Lauderdale (where the set is) from Boston. I was rerouted to Miami, which is an hour away from Fort Lauderdale by car, my flight was extremely delayed, and I ultimately didn’t get to my hotel until 1 a.m. the day of filming. I was so exhausted from what was already a very intense week. I woke up a few short hours later at 5 a.m., did my hair and make-up and was the first person at the studio, camera ready at 6:30 am. When they said to be prepared for a 10-hour shoot day, they meant it. Even though I did not know what was going to happen throughout the day, all of my preparation, the support from the staff leading up to my turn to pitch, one large cup of coffee, two shots of espresso and a can of Red Bull paid off — I had victory!

Related: She Flew Around the World to Make This 60-Second Pitch

Why do you think they opened the doors?

It’s hard to encompass all your hopes and dreams as an entrepreneur and all of the unique wonderful nuances of your business into a one-minute pitch. I know that investors want to know the key metrics that demonstrate why they should care about your business and why you’re motivated to do what you’re doing. I included the big takeaways from these areas in my pitch and believe that this is what made them want to learn more. For example, I demonstrated our path to profitability, metrics that proved customers love our product and backed it up with what makes Moxie Scrubs the best in the market.

How did the negotiations go? Would you do anything differently?

When I received an offer from Kim Perell, I was thrilled. Kim is the investor I went into the show wanting on my team. She knows exactly what it takes as a female entrepreneur to grow and scale your business. Kim built her business from scratch and understands what it’s like for the everyday American with a dream. There was nothing to negotiate because I know the value that someone like her will bring to any company. If you couldn’t already tell, I greatly admire her.

What do you plan to do with your investment?

This investment will be used to fund inventory costs and marketing, both essential to scale Moxie Scrubs and take our business’s impact to the next level. We are excited to grow our business with Kim Perell’s mentorship and support and make a huge difference in the lives of every single nurse across the country.

Related: You’ve Got a Great Invention. Now How Do You Get People to Buy It?

What did it mean to you personally to get in the doors and walk out with a win?

As an entrepreneur, every statistic is working against you. As a female minority entrepreneur, the statistics become even worse. Getting through the doors and walking out with a win was proof to me and the world that I have moxie and will continue to defy every statistic that says people like me should not succeed. It was so gratifying because when one woman succeeds, all of us succeed. I found myself saying that Dr. Seuss quote, “Oh the places you’ll go!” in my head all day. This is, in my opinion, the most beautiful thing about entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship allows you to take your life in directions you would never think could be possible. And it’s even more beautiful when your business helps to improve the lives of millions of people across the country. I feel so grateful that I get to build this amazing brand that supports nurses where they need the support the most. Walking out with a win made me more determined to continue doing what I am most passionate about — supporting nurses.

What is your advice for anyone thinking of applying to be on a future episode?

Go ahead and do it. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take! And my next piece of advice would be: Don’t wing your pitch. Practice. Practice. Practice. You never know what might happen and when things don’t go as planned, your preparation will be all that you have to fall back on. And lastly, please arrive a couple of days early!

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Entrepreneur Staff

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November 15, 2022
What the Downfall of Web Cookies Means for Advertising

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

With initiatives to prioritize consumer privacy by companies like Apple, app trackers and third-party cookies are disappearing, which is impacting the efficiency of traditional methods for performance advertising.

How does paying 25% more to reach the same audience this coming year sound? While nobody wants to spend more to get less or the same, that is going to be the reality for 44% of marketers, according to GetApp.

Perhaps this increased cost is a fact that you have accepted already. Maybe you’re not ready to make drastic changes to your advertising approach, or your company has decided to reduce its advertising budget. But what if you have to spend 50% or more for the same audience the following year? At what point will the pain become too much that you are forced to make a complete baseline paradigm shift? What’s really at risk here?

Related: Data in 4 Flavors, and the Demise of the Cookie

The downfall of the cookie

That we are forced to pay more with less quality of tracking and measurement really shouldn’t come as a surprise. The whole space has been the Wild West for so long, and third-party tracking has made it easy to find our target audience — something had to give.

In advertising, we’ve had easy access to audiences. If someone looks at Perrier on one website and then sparkling water on another, cookies tell us they are in the market for beverages. However, for consumers, the disconcerting experience of talking about cats with your phone nearby and then being presented with cat food ads on Facebook seems to have crossed a line: it’s just plain creepy. In fact, 69% of people are concerned with how their data is collected.

We are still in the Wild West. Even though the EU adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), privacy experts question its robustness. In the U.S. — where a U.S. version of GDPR hasn’t been passed by Congress — companies are basically only required to display pop-ups that prompt users to accept all cookies or not and 76% of people choose to ignore it. Who’s really going into the advanced cookie settings and carefully selecting 36 different tracking options on every website they visit?

What’s most at-risk is discovering who our audience is, what they are interested in and where they are hanging out so we know where to serve them best. If we play our cards right, it could be a win-win situation instead: Customers could be served ads they are actually interested in (and in the medium they prefer) while advertisers can become more efficient and stop wasting money serving ads to people who aren’t interested.

This becomes a question of data: Who’s got the best first-party data, and how do we make the most of it?

Powerful data, served up fresh (and safe)

Fortunately for us, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel; the framework for obtaining and leveraging powerful data is out there already; we just need to use it. Things like retail media and first-party shopper data aren’t typical media investments for marketers and can be overlooked easily, but regardless of whether you sell a physical product in the retail space, retail media platforms have incredible tools to activate for your brand.

Retail media data is better because it provides a clearer picture of who is actually in the market. Just think of what all that single sign-in user information from Amazon can provide — everything a customer buys; the movies they watch; all the items they spend time looking at across all the web properties Amazon owns like IMDB or DPreview — the list goes on.

Let’s dig deeper and consider all of the companies that Amazon owns, like MGM Studios. Amazon is buying bits and pieces of what are powerful touchpoints to identify customer interest, age and preferences to create a comprehensive view of the audience.

Now, when I skip past all the horror films to watch my favorite new comedy, Amazon knows what I like. When I binge a new Podcast on Wonderly, it gives insights into what captivates me. Combine that with Amazon’s ownership of other publications like Twitch — the top game-streaming platform in the U.S. — Alexa devices and Whole Foods, and not only does Amazon have the data but it also has the avenues to communicate with audiences.

In contrast with the creepy social media ads that seem to know a little too much, most first-party data is brand-safe. For instance, Amazon has spent the last 20 years becoming one of America’s most trusted companies, and it wouldn’t risk that by tinkering with data in an unscrupulous way. Thus, leveraging this type of information allows us to identify audiences in a way that is safe for our brands, all while being comprehensive and giving us access to premium advertising inventory.

Related: How Marketers Can Prepare for the Removal of Third-Party Cookies

A no-brainer

As we adapt to the changing tides of the digital advertising landscape, a new way is necessary — and the solution really isn’t complicated. While 81% of companies still are dependent on the sinking ship of third-party cookies, we can use our own first-party data combined with retailer data through Amazon Marketing Cloud to create a powerful picture of our consumers and serve them ads where they congregate.

This goes beyond simple awareness advertising — which doesn’t have many useful metrics (in the prehistoric days of TV and radio, it was really just general demographic data from surveys) — by tying that awareness to a specific event. With a clickable icon or a QR code in a StreamingTV, we now have traffic to the landing page and information about how people interacted with it — a constant feed of measurable and trackable consumer behavior.

And we can do all this, from discovering our audience and shopper behavior to ad platforms and measurement, while getting the most out of our advertising dollars and respecting our customers’ privacy.

Take that, cookies.

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Joshua Kreitzer

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November 14, 2022
How I Secured a Top Advisor for My Company in 60 Seconds

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Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch is the show where contestants get into an elevator and have just 60 seconds to pitch their business to a video camera. Our board of investors is watching, and if they like what they hear they open the doors, and the entrepreneur steps into the boardroom to try to seal the deal. If they don’t like what they hear, the entrepreneur gets sent back down.

staff

In this ongoing article series, we’re celebrating the entrepreneurs who walked into the boardroom and came out with a win and sharing their tips for pitching success.

Who are you and what is your business?

My name is Archie Clay III. I’m the co-founder and CEO of the luxury hat and accessories company WEAR BRIMS. We are disrupting this mature industry and reimagining how luxury feels inside and out. I walked out of Elevator Pitch with a deal with Nicole Walters, CEO of Inherit Learning Company, who is going to be my advisor and mentor.

Related: She Brought a Baby to the Boardroom While Asking for $1 Million. There’s No Way That Worked…Right?

How did you prepare for the show?

The preparation for this show really focused on just being confident and doing my best. I practiced every single day with family, friends and my team, but most importantly I put everything in the hands of God! He truly prepared me for this amazing opportunity.

What did you think was going to happen? What was different from your expectations?

I honestly thought I was going to kill my pitch because of my preparation, but that didn’t go as planned. But as I stated, God had my back and allowed me to make it to the next level and get a deal.

Your pitch won over investors, and they voted to open the elevator doors. Why do you think they let you in?

I honestly think they opened the doors because they saw my passion, perseverance and hustle to be the best. And they saw that even when I messed up my pitch, I didn’t stop and continued to push forward.

Related: You’ve Got a Great Invention. Now How Do You Get People to Buy It?

How did the negotiations go? Would you do anything differently?

I think the negotiations went well. I think that I could have been a little more aggressive, but I do believe that the deal I got was what God provided for me.

What do you plan to do with your investment?

I plan to utilize the investment to help us create a better strategy around our marketing and influencer strategy for 2023 and beyond.

What did it mean to you to get in the doors and walk out with a win?

Man, the feeling was amazing. The fact that I completely messed up my pitch and still was able to recover then walk through those doors and still get a deal? Simply amazing.

Related: This Is the No. 1 Mistake You Can Make When Pitching Investors

What is your advice for anyone thinking of applying to be on a future episode?

Do it. Don’t be afraid to step out on faith and show the world what you’ve built. This was an amazing experience, and I’m super glad that I did it.

New episodes stream Wednesdays on entrepreneur.com. Follow Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch on Facebook, YouTube and IGTV.

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Entrepreneur Staff

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November 14, 2022
How SOMA Breath Became a Leading Breathwork School

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The founders of SOMA Breath School argue that there is a lot to learn about something as simple as breathing. Hundreds of thousands of happy students are proof they are indeed on to something with teaching people to use their breath correctly.

SOMA Breath

The breathwork movement is rapidly taking over the West, just as some time ago yoga infiltrated every gym and studio from megapolises to small towns. At the forefront of the movement is SOMA Breath: an online school of breathwork that started just 5 years ago and quickly rose to become one of the best-recognized names in the industry. Founded by a former pharmacist from UK Niraj Naik, SOMA Breath has reached hundreds of thousands of students around the world, certified over 2000 instructors, and headlined some of the best stages in personal development industries, such as Mindvalley or Envision festival. What is the secret to the brand’s rapid growth?

Related: How the Leaders of Trip Tribe Wellness Grew a Business Based on Their Shared Love of Health and Travel

Breath is a path to physical healing

Today, various breathwork modalities are used for emotional and physical healing, and they are even being studied clinically as a form of therapy. As a founder of SOMA Breath, Naik himself is living proof of the power of the modality. In his early 30s, he was faced with ulcerative colitis: an autoimmune disease that left him with little choice between becoming a guinea pig for an untested new drug or having his colon permanently removed. Instead, life offered him an alternative path. He was initially skeptical that some simple breathing exercises would help his condition. However, in his desperation, he was willing to try anything. Imagine Naik’s surprise when lifestyle changes, combined with dedicated breathwork practice started to show true improvements in his condition. A year later, having completely recovered he was truly encouraged to study the science behind breathwork and share it with more people.

Researchers prove breath aids emotional healing

Loyal to his pharmaceutical background and scientific outlook on physical healing, Naik has created precise protocols that allowed many students of SOMA Breath School to use ancient breathing techniques for physical healing. Many of the school’s students are sharing other inspiring stories of physical transformation, such as the improvement of arthritis, muscular dystrophy, gut issues, and many more. Breathwork is also getting known as a tool for emotional healing. Once again, thanks to using precise protocols for its breathing techniques SOMA Breath has caught the attention of Cambridge University researchers. The research that’s currently being carried out studies the impact of the SOMA Breath technique on conditions such as anxiety and depression. A previous clinical study led by Dr. Jeff Tarrant of Neuro Meditation Institute has found that the SOMA technique helps with anxiety and depression. It has been proven to create effects similar to those achieved using psilocybin. Multiple case studies and clinical research are now an important part of SOMA Breath’s rapid growth through word of mouth.

However, let’s get it straight, no breathwork technique is truly unique, as most of them such as shamanic breathing, rebirthing, and others derive from ancient pranayama practices described thousands of years ago by ancient yogis. So what makes SOMA Breath different?

Related: How Success Happened for Emilia Fazzalari, Co-Founder and CEO of Cincoro Tequila

Ancient Practice to the Sound of Modern Beats

Our modern life requires us to move fast, make hundreds of decisions a day and stay constantly connected. We might know of the benefits of things like meditation and pranayama, but deprioritize the practice, giving space to more pressing tasks. Often, it takes a serious health challenge like Naik’s to make people question their lifestyle. And this is a challenge many in the wellness industry face. It’s not the lack of knowledge but the lack of commitment to healthy practices that keep people unhealthy. No one has the time and patience to practice breathwork as ancient yogis did. People of the 21st century need a modern way to use ancient practices that honor the rhythm of our day-to-day lives. SOMA Breath addressed this issue by integrating the rhythm into the core of its product. Unique music created by a global team of musicians is the true secret behind the “stickiness” of the practice. Students report feeling “hooked” onto the practice because of the beautiful music created by Naik himself as well as multiple artists. Taking this even further, SOMA Breath started to collaborate with some well-known DJs and music producers around the world to truly create a unique musical experience. A real modern twist to ancient techniques.

Related: How Success Happened for Rich Kelleman, Co-Founder of Bond Pet Foods

There is no one factor behind business success, and in the case of the rapid growth of SOMA Breath, there is a combination: the rise of interest in breathwork globally, accessibility of the practice, and the strong and dedicated team behind the scenes. However, Naik believes a lot of it boils down to creating a truly unique product. SOMA Breath’s “pharmacy” of techniques offers a winning combination of ancient wisdom, scientific backing as well as modern music that leaves people completely hooked on the practice.

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Robert Tuchman

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November 14, 2022
5 Crucial Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Traveling the World

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Any entrepreneur could tell you that the road to success is paved with blood, sweat, tears and many lessons learned. While you can learn some of these lessons from home, there is a level of personal and business growth that can only come from traveling to new places.

According to the Brightpark Edu-Travel report, 94% of U.S. business leaders believe that world travel gives them a competitive edge in the workplace. From opening your eyes to different perspectives to learning how to effectively communicate with people from all walks of life, travel offers a broad spectrum of valuable benefits for entrepreneurs everywhere. Here are five crucial lessons entrepreneurs learn while traveling:

Related: Why Travel Should Be a Top Priority for Every Entrepreneur

1. Traveling teaches you to be open to the unexpected

Starting a new business venture comes with a lot of ambiguity. After all, you’re signing up for a truckload of the unpredictable. Will the business succeed? Will this year be a good one? Can I trust this investor? Is this the right move? Embracing the unpredictable can be a tall order, but doing so will afford you a much better chance at success.

Traveling can be brutal at times. You’re forced to say goodbye to the comfort of your home and family, you have to trust strangers along the way, and you are constantly off balance as your mind and body adjust to a new time zone, new surroundings and new people.

When you travel, you quickly learn that it’s imperative to be open to the unexpected. There are many variables in travel that cannot be controlled, and how you react to those challenges will determine how you can move forward — just like in business. As an entrepreneur, you must be open to the unexpected. Traveling the world is a fantastic way to learn that lesson early.

2. Traveling can prevent burnout

Taking calls or responding to emails when you should be sleeping doesn’t make you a better entrepreneur. On the contrary, devoting every minute of your existence to your career can actually prevent you from reaching your full potential and lead to burnout early on.

Sleep deprivation has several adverse effects on your body, including:

Lack of sleep will eventually catch up with you, causing you to hit a wall both physically and mentally. The effects of workplace burnout are real and can significantly hurt your chances of success. Likewise, stress and sleep deprivation can be detrimental to your business growth.

Leading a healthy lifestyle is essential for entrepreneurs seeking success, and sometimes this means taking some much-needed time off to avoid burnout. Taking a vacation can give your mind and body the break they crave while allowing you to get a fresh perspective in a new environment. Traveling gives you time to reflect, come up with new ideas and gain focus.

Burnout can quickly become the nail in the coffin for a hopeful entrepreneur, especially since it commonly leads to poor decision-making in the workplace. If you are feeling excessively fatigued, stressed or irritable, it may be time for you to hit the road for a refresh.

Related: 5 Reasons Why Travel Should Be an Essential Part of Building Your Business

3. Traveling gives entrepreneurs new ideas

Traveling to new destinations around the world is an incredible way to benefit from the shift in perspective that can only come from experiencing different cultures and places. As entrepreneurs, we never stop searching for new ideas and business solutions.

When you explore somewhere new, you gain a new understanding of what people in different parts of the world are interested in and what they worry about from day to day. If you’re stuck creatively or looking for inspiration, traveling abroad is the best way to form new ideas.

Well-traveled people are more likely to think outside the box since their thoughts and beliefs are constantly being challenged. A curious mind is a creative one, and sticking to your daily routine forever is bound to lead to an eventual drop in productivity and innovation.

4. Travel teaches entrepreneurs how to form valuable relationships

During our daily lives, much of our communication is limited to colleagues, friends and family. When you travel, you’re forced to step out of your shell and communicate with strangers in all sorts of situations. It could be the man sitting next to you on the plane to Denmark, the hotel manager in Prague or the waitstaff at a sushi restaurant in Japan.

These immersive experiences cause a mental shift to occur as you converse with people from different backgrounds, participate in new adventures, try new foods and adjust old habits. While it may not seem like much at the time, learning how to connect with different types of people and embrace new connections is a valuable lesson that will prove to be beneficial in the workplace.

Your opinions and beliefs are re-evaluated when you travel. The more you learn about how others live and think, the more open-minded and curious you become. When your mind is flexible and void of rigid ideas about the world, it’s much easier to connect with those around you.

As you gain insight into unique cultures and the common struggles of people in various parts of the world, you learn more about how you can support different people through your business ventures. The more you travel, the more you stray from your comfort zone, leading to a powerful transformation into an entrepreneur who is more willing to take risks and try new things.

5. Traveling teaches entrepreneurs how to use body language effectively

You have less than seven seconds to make a first impression. In business interactions, making a positive first impression is crucial. Once someone labels you — whether it’s as trustworthy, suspicious, powerful or submissive — everything you do is viewed through this lens.

While it’s impossible to stop anyone from making a snap decision about you, you can use effective body language to sway the decision they make in those first few seconds after meeting you. It is widely believed that non-verbal cues are significantly more influential than verbal cues.

Past studies have found that individuals who communicate through active gestures are generally perceived as warm, energetic and agreeable. On the other hand, those who remain still or whose gestures are more likely to come off as stiff or robotic are viewed as cold, dull and analytical.

When traveling to foreign places where you don’t speak the language, you’re forced to rely more on nonverbal cues to communicate with those around you. By researching the culture ahead of your trip, you can determine how to use body language to your advantage. This knowledge can later be used in the workplace to help form positive interactions with peers and clients.

Related: Traveling the World Is an Adventure That Makes You a Better Entrepreneur

Travel offers a staggering number of benefits to anyone, but entrepreneurs are uniquely capable of turning these benefits into actionable ideas and solutions. Plan a trip — maybe even one without a set travel itinerary — and write down everything you learn during the journey.

You might just be shocked by how many fresh ideas you bring back home. Perhaps you’ll even be inspired to start a whole new business. After all, variety is the spice of life, and what better way to discover variety than by exploring the world?

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Kareem Dus

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November 14, 2022
Avoid These 4 Mistakes When Raising Venture Capital
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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.
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Eric Ashman

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November 14, 2022
As Inflation Soars, Consumer Habits Are Changing. Here’s How to Adapt
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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.
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Jordan Glazier

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November 14, 2022
Find Success With This Unconventional Business Model

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

People coming into the workforce today want to do things differently, and it’s critical that, as employers of multiple generations, we figure out how to support each one quickly. The newer generations want more autonomy, and the reality is that entrepreneurial people exist at every level of every sized company. Still, traditional bureaucracies hold them back until they rise to a position of influence.

When structuring an organization — either incorporating another company or entering into a startup and setting out to structure from square one — you have more options than the traditional top-down structure. In our experience, there are better ways of organization that bring out each individual’s full potential and drive company growth. But fair warning: This model is more than just shuffling seats — it’s a total redesign of the bus.

Related: How an Adhocracy Stimulates Entrepreneurial Growth

Adhocracy as we see it

As opposed to a traditional, bureaucratic business model, adhocracy is a flexible and adaptable organizational structure where groups form when necessary for a particular purpose. The ad hoc, problem-solving work groups of adhocracy, create a business environment more conducive to innovation.

In our “adhocracy,” non-hierarchical business units run independently with their portfolio of clients, but at the end of the day, they are still part of our organization. Within each business unit, there are specific leadership roles: Our “executive squads” — an operational person, a finance person, a technical person and a business development person. No different than a C-suite, each one brings their expertise to be part of a collaborative leadership team to support a business unit. And we mean support — this is not an old-school top-down structure.

Our business units, named after constellations, are all supported by a platform: “Hubble” — the ecosystem’s brain. If I wanted to bring a technical squad to a business unit’s team, we could use Hubble to identify the right people, their location, time zone and rates. We can also use it to seek out particular expertise for a new project or to move someone to a team that needs it.

Related: 5 Tips to Consider When Designing (or Redesigning) Your Organizational Structure

Encourage agency and entrepreneurship

The adhocracy model emphasizes leadership — encouraging it from more people at different levels throughout the company. The ability to break things down and reassemble provides organizational fluidity. Teams can identify problems to solve and take action quickly, accomplishing more and bigger efficiency.

Each business unit has the autonomy to design what they’re leading and how they want to run it. They control their growth to fit the project needs, which benefits the greater company growth. They see how their efforts can positively impact the company, which creates a greater sense of ownership, camaraderie and ultimately, less turnover. It also drives healthy competition: Who will grow bigger or better in pursuing our goals? When more people feel empowered to try and make a difference, more will rise to the occasion and try.

Related: Establishing The Structure For Organizational Growth

Take our advice

This model allows everyone to step up, be leaders and drive their unit and company growth. People can broaden their experience within one company, making them more likely to stay than look for other opportunities elsewhere. The products we build for our clients make them better and make us better. We hold no one back.

But this is not a model for an organization looking to stand still; you must have the following recipe to make it work.

1) Have an appetite for radical change

To foster the company-wide shift in mindset required to drive this model to success, it takes a strong group of believers at the C-suite level to go all in on a radical shift from a typical organizational structure. It can’t be achieved by teams alone. At our company, we shifted from an organization passing down directives to allowing individual business units to operate in service to their clients. We even encourage our clients to make this shift when restructuring because we see how it could benefit them, but they realize it requires radical change.

2) Find the right people and rethink their roles.

From within the organization, find back office people capable of this mindset shift and position them to enable these teams. Our executive squads make things happen at our company, so the rest of us support what they need. My role in HR shifted to being more proactive and engaging with these leadership teams as strategic growth partners. Be on the lookout for people with the natural ability to think like a leader, solve complex problems and seek out opportunities to learn.

3) Stay flexible.

Changes often happen: merging, joining, shifting, expanding portfolios and exploring new industries. Teams can grow to scale to the size they need to take on any project. We’ve had business units split. We have had business units join. We have had business units give birth to baby business units. We embrace the fluidity — if it makes sense for the executive squad, we’re all in favor.

4) Beware the threat of silos

These business units can grow large at a certain point, making it harder to prevent silos. A siloed company cuts off fluid cross-communication needed to support a healthy adhocracy model, so we must be careful about not letting them form. If you follow the Dunbar Theory, then 300 is a critical number. If you go bigger, getting more siloed becomes inevitable. Consider these numbers to set a cap on the size for individual groups but leave them the flexibility to form alliances and grow.

At my company, we devour new books on great business theory, absorb it and run with what seems most likely to work for us. It keeps us evolving all the time. If a better, more proven way of structuring exists, we would look at it critically and see if it might be worthwhile. In most cases, change will happen regardless, so we may as well anticipate it. For now, this model puts us in the best position to do just that.

Related: To Break Down Silos, Build in Cross-Communication

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Victoria Maitland

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November 13, 2022
3 Ways to Supercharge Your LinkedIn Marketing Today for Tomorrow’s Growth
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
LinkedIn is “the place to be” for online professional networking. But why is that? Why do more than 830 million business professionals from over 200 countries use the platform?

There’s no simple answer, but there are a few foundational reasons to employ a LinkedIn marketing campaign: to grow your professional network, to identify high-quality leads, to drive targeted traffic to your website and to share thought-leadership content.

Knowing why you should use LinkedIn is a good start, but it’s only that. A generic approach isn’t likely to generate the results you’re seeking. You need to supercharge your LinkedIn marketing efforts, and here are three of the best ways to do so.

Related: 7 Ways You Can Use LinkedIn To Blow Up Your Brand

Ask your team for help

You can make a lot of noise on LinkedIn as a single person, but there’s no reason to stop there. Ask your team to get involved. As the most reputable and reliable advocates of your brand, they can expand your reach in just a few short minutes each day.

Ensure that all employees have updated their profiles to reflect their position at your company. Request that they follow your company page. Encourage them to share personal and brand-related updates. And of course, support them on their quest to provide value to their audience.

Another idea is to create a LinkedIn Group related to your industry. This is a win-win. It’s a place for your team to share news, guidance, and advice with interested parties, while also building an audience that you can use to your advantage in the future.

If resources allow for it, hire a dedicated employee or contractor to manage your LinkedIn marketing strategy. With a singular focus, this person can make a bigger impact in a shorter period of time. It’s not required, but keep it on your radar.

Related: 8 Tips to Help You Grow Your Business on LinkedIn

Consistently publish relevant, insightful content

A social network with so many users is sure to generate quite a bit of low-quality content, but you don’t want to be part of this group. Be part of the group that consistently publishes relevant, insightful and actionable content. That’s how you stand out from the crowd.

Creating engaging content is a trial-and-error process. It takes time to pinpoint your audience’s needs and find a cadence that works for you, so don’t jump ship too soon. It could take days, weeks or even months to hit your content-related goals for the first time.

Increase your odds of success by:
- Consistently sharing content (1x/day, 2x/day, 5x/week, etc.).
- Publishing unique (not rehashed) insights
- Tracking what does and doesn’t work and adjusting accordingly
Also, keep in mind that publishing original content is only one piece of the puzzle. It’s good practice to engage with your audience in the comment section of their posts. Share your take, answer questions and — when appropriate — send direct messages to continue the conversation in private.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew early on. Start slowly to gain your footing and to better understand the wants and needs of your audience. As you settle in, ramp up content production without sacrificing quality. A slow and steady ascent is the best approach.

Related: Navigating the Great Reshuffle: Why Your Employer Brand is Key in Recruiting Talent

Get serious about analytics for your content

This one word — analytics — can be the difference between success and failure on LinkedIn. Creating content is only the start. Knowing what’s resonating with your audience is what really matters. This allows you to continually adjust your strategy with the goal of reaching a larger audience and boosting engagement.

You can view analytics for all types of LinkedIn content including short-form posts, articles, videos, images, polls and events. This includes data such as:
- Engagements
- Discovery
- Impressions by demographics
- Article performance
- Video performance
These insights are needed to understand the impact your content has on your audience. Soon enough, you’ll have the data you need to determine what type of content generates the best response. You can then create more content that matches what’s worked to date.

While it’s important to get serious about analytics for your LinkedIn content, don’t let it cloud your vision. Know what matters most to you — such as making industry connections or generating leads — and create content that points you in that direction. Vanity metrics will make you feel good, but they don’t always have the intended impact on your bottom line.

Related: The Underrated Power of LinkedIn Content Creation

Repurpose your LinkedIn content

The guidance above will help you supercharge your LinkedIn marketing, but it can do more than that. It’s a good jumping-off point for growth on other platforms and channels marketing professionals will use to their advantage.

Examples include repurposing the content for publication on Twitter and Facebook, using it as a foundation for blog content or sharing it with your email list via a weekly newsletter. When you repurpose content, you give it new life. And with that, you’re taking the steps necessary to establish your authority and grow your brand on other platforms.
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Austin Rotter

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November 11, 2022
Why Having a Great Plan Isn’t Enough to Grow Your Business

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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?

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Doug Walner

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November 11, 2022