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Tag: Growth

  • Why the Most Successful Entrepreneurs Don’t Do It Alone | Entrepreneur

    Why the Most Successful Entrepreneurs Don’t Do It Alone | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Over the last several months, I have been deeply immersed in the Goldman Sachs 10k Small Businesses (10KSB) accelerator program. In partnership with Babson College, Goldman Sachs developed an in-depth curriculum that requires small business owners, or “scholars,” as we are called during the program, to take a deep look at each aspect of our businesses and our leadership styles.

    Goldman Sachs developed this program with the belief that small businesses are the economic engine of the American economy and that the stronger those businesses are, the stronger and more resilient the American economy will be. This is particularly important today as we face tremendous economic uncertainty.

    The program curriculum was demanding and required a significant time commitment. The result was a 70-page, comprehensive business plan. The business plan was tangible evidence that my fellow scholars and I completed the program and dug into the guts of our business. We each identified a “Growth Opportunity” and created a detailed plan to capture that opportunity.

    Related: Going Alone in Business? 5 Reasons That’s a Really Bad Idea.

    But to be clear, the plan was not strictly the result of the program curriculum. It was also the result of the invaluable network of hundreds of small businesses from every state in the union in my Goldman Sachs cohort and the alumni of over 13,000 small business owners that now make up my community.

    As I sit at my computer today and pour through my company’s daily, weekly, and monthly financial reports, it is increasingly evident that I cannot do this alone. Like business leaders everywhere, I am concerned about the realities of the economy, the supply chain, access to capital and all the myriad factors that affect my business, which I have no control over. The one fact that is crystal clear to me is that, as small business owners, we need to join forces.

    There is power in numbers. Small businesses are successful when we work together and take advantage of each other’s strengths. Diverting focus from our core business to spend time on our own every internal business process is costly and wastes time. This point was stressed time and time again over the nine months I was in the program.

    If marketing isn’t your core business, find and hire a small business specializing in the marketing type you need to get the message out to your customers. Hire those services you need from another small business so that you can focus. If distribution isn’t your core business, find and hire a business that specializes in logistics. And the list goes on and on. If we are intentional about looking for other small businesses to provide the services we need so we can focus, we can find virtually anything.

    Related: Follow Your Entrepreneurship Path But Don’t Do It Alone

    Spending money is one of the most terrifying things for a small business owner. Like many of you, I look at the bank account and think I can’t afford to hire an outside service to do this. I will do it myself and save money. Here is the rub, how much time and effort am I wasting learning something new? What is my time worth? What if I could spend my time focused on what I do best, on my core business competency? Would that pay for the additional cost of a service?

    I have been forced to take a tough look at my business in a new way. It is not that I suddenly realized that I had better cash flow and could outsource things. I didn’t, and I can’t. But it costs money and lost opportunity when my key employees or I spend time on things that don’t fall within our immediate business and enhance our offerings.

    I will give you a perfect example. I have years of experience in marketing, but marketing is not my core business today. I lead an ecommerce platform for women-owned businesses. The last thing I thought I needed to spend money on was marketing. I have done it for years and know how to identify my target audience and what channels to use to reach them. I have actively resisted my team’s push to hire marketing services. What I didn’t factor in is how much time my co-founder and I spent on marketing execution rather than focusing on building our sales platform.

    Related: Entrepreneurs, You Can’t Handle Everything at Your Startup

    My core business is NOT marketing execution, so why do we have one of the most valuable members of the team spending hours a week focused on it? We need to find a small business whose specific business is marketing execution for direct-to-consumer companies like mine and hire them. I am confident that freeing my co-founder up to focus on building our core offering will enable us to pay for the cost of the outsourced marketing execution.

    The bottom line is that, as small business owners, we can’t do it alone. As the uncertainty in the economy continues, capital is harder to access, and consumers reduce spending, the best thing I can do is surround my business with experts focused on how to grow and invest back into our communities.

    Small businesses have long been the American economy’s growth engine; for this to continue, we need to fuel economic stability and growth by investing and supporting one another. I am fortunate to have been able to participate in an accelerator program that jump-started my network. But there are many places where small businesses can and should connect. Your local Chamber of Commerce is a great resource, as is the Small Business Administration and industry affinity groups with chapters nationwide.

    We can’t do it on our own! And the good news is we don’t have to. Find a hire a small business expert so you can focus on your core business and grow!

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    Kate Isler

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  • 6 Unique Strategies to Generate Immediate Ecommerce Revenue | Entrepreneur

    6 Unique Strategies to Generate Immediate Ecommerce Revenue | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In this article, we will discuss six tactics that can help put immediate cash in your pocket. These aren’t long-term strategies for scaling your business, but rather quick tactics to employ for immediate revenue. You need to be strategic with the traffic sources you allow as part of your marketing mix. Although, nobody is going to blame a scrappy entrepreneur for doing whatever it takes to keep revenues humming.

    Especially with investor expectations and persistent interest rate hikes, having an understanding of tactics that provide immediate revenue and cash flow can help you overcome the ongoing “tough times” in the world of ecommerce.

    Here are six unconventional growth tactics for immediate ecommerce revenues:

    Related: 3 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Tailor Their Ecommerce Strategy for Maximum Growth

    1. Brand partnerships

    Your brand has certain assets of value — including your email subscribers, social media followers, customer lists, etc. A very cost-effective strategy is to partner with like-minded entrepreneurs that sell complimentary products to yours. For instance, you can send an email to a portion of your customers sharing information with an exclusive offer from the partner brand, and they will do the same with your brand and their audience. The goal here is for both parties to get a nice revenue bump, and if both parties are happy with the performance, this can also be repeated on a monthly or quarterly basis.

    2. Call your customers

    Your most loyal customers may appreciate a friendly check-in from the founder of their favorite brand. This gives you an opportunity to share a glimpse of any upcoming product launches, ask for general feedback, share information on upcoming special events, etc. You can also use this time to offer the customer an exclusive offer. This can include free gifts, product samples, free gift cards, etc., as part of a larger bundle. This will give you a revenue boost and can improve repeat customers’ relationships with your brand.

    3. Virtual events

    Hosting virtual events — like webinars, social media live streams or virtual fashion shows and product showcases — can be an invaluable opportunity to help prospective customers alleviate any objections they have to purchasing your product. Use the opportunity to showcase your products, engage with your audience and provide exclusive offers to your attendees. Virtual events can create a sense of community, generate buzz and lead to immediate sales.

    4. Retail takeovers

    You may get into a little bit of trouble with this one. Pretty much, stand outside a big box store that caters to a similar audience to yours. Every customer who comes out gets a flier, a coupon and a sales pitch. If you do a proper job educating these prospective customers on your product or service and have a strong audience fit with the retail stores of focus, your conversion rate can be much higher on this channel. Having more than one person scattered across multiple stores can help. However, this would be a more desperate “mayday” tactic to employ in a “need to make payroll” type of situation.

    Related: How FOMO Tactics Can Increase Ecommerce Revenue

    5. Email networks

    Leveraging your owned email lists to drive revenue is one tactic — leveraging the emails of others can prove to be another cost-effective way to generate revenue quickly. Some people and organizations have access to up to millions of emails — for instance, email newsletters, content publications, brand owners, etc. There are also multiple networks that allow email list owners to monetize while allowing brands to promote their products. You can work with dozens of these mailers, either directly or through networks. Each of these relationships would operate on a performance-based model, meaning, you only pay a fixed pre-determined fee for every sale generated.

    6. Pre-orders

    Money up-front without having to ship inventory until later is a pretty damn good deal. You’re getting an interest-free loan from your customers here. Spin up a landing page for the new product. Make sure to include ample product education and a pre-order offer. The customer is paying the price of having to wait longer to receive their product when they could potentially purchase an alternative elsewhere — giving them a discount, free gift or collectible, for example, can help incentivize customers. Ideally, you have a large enough audience of loyal customers that you can focus on for these offers, as your conversion rate may be much lower if served to a cold audience unfamiliar with your brand.

    Having an understanding of the tactics available to you can be invaluable. However, there’s also value in having a level of preparedness — planning ahead, building relationships with vendors and preliminarily testing these channels for their efficacy for your unique brand. When a problem arises, you may not have weeks, but rather days to find a solution. Smaller issues that can come up leading to delays could be detrimental in these situations. You need to ensure that when the time inevitably comes, you’re nimble enough to quickly capitalize on these opportunities.

    Related: 6 Ways to Quickly Improve Your Conversion Rate and Make More Money From Ecommerce

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    Mustafa Saeed

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  • Want to Successfully Start a Business? Start by Getting Off TikTok | Entrepreneur

    Want to Successfully Start a Business? Start by Getting Off TikTok | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    There’s nothing I’m more tired of than 19-year-olds on TikTok selling entrepreneurial advice. Well, there might be one thing: the fact that people listen to it.

    These content creators sell the perception that business is easy; all you have to do is buy a template and plug and play. They promise to teach you how to become rich on the stock market if you’ll only pay them $199/month to do it. But many of the creators giving this advice are not successful CEOs. They’re misleading at best and blatantly dishonest at worst. Unfortunately, an alarming amount of people in our society believe that everything they hear on the Internet is true. But we need to remember that Google is not a replacement for mentorship.

    At the end of the day, you have to find somebody who’s been successful and somebody who has failed — and then learn from both of them. You can’t get that from a 30-second TikTok video.

    What is social media good for?

    Social media is content. Entrepreneurs can never absorb enough content, so long as it’s relevant and reputable. I don’t use TikTok for business advice; I use it to follow my favorite chefs and keep a pulse on what my kids are up to.

    It’s OK to be an entrepreneur or a coach and try to use social media to sell your product.

    But it becomes a problem when people sell a dream that’s not reality. It’s deceitful. And unfortunately, social media makes it pretty easy to be dishonest. In the same way, you can apply a filter to a photo, you can filter reality. And this leads to being catfished on the business side of things. A person having 1.4 million followers on social media doesn’t make them a good CEO — it makes them a good content creator. You have to vet and verify to establish the first part.

    Related: Successful Entrepreneurs Don’t Follow Mainstream Money Advice, And You Shouldn’t Either

    If not TikTok, then who?

    The best advice I can give to someone looking for startup advice is to jump on LinkedIn, reach out to local business professionals who have been successful, and try to meet with them face-to-face. It’s much easier vetting someone’s credibility when they have to look you directly in the eye. But not everyone is who they say they are — LinkedIn doesn’t fact check resumès. Make sure you research by searching the individual’s online footprint and contacting people in their network to verify their reputation. If their online presence is hard to find, that’s a pretty big red flag.

    When seeking a mentor, look for gray hairs. It’s not just because we have more experience; it’s because we likely have more time on our hands. A 31-year-old executive running the same number of companies I do probably has a lot less time; I’m a bit further down the road, so I’ve been able to figure this puzzle out. People in my stage of life are also beginning to think about building a legacy and doing something meaningful with all the knowledge they’ve acquired. It’s wise to tap into that.

    But just as it’s important to seek advice from the right professionals, it’s also important to diversify your perspective. Opinions and recommendations from mentors both inside and outside your industry are critical in widening your lens and creating an all-inclusive view. When you go to these mentors for advice, make decisions that make sense — don’t take shots in the dark by asking generalized questions to people outside your industry. When you look for an outside opinion, choose someone with experience with a problem you immediately need to solve. Maybe they have the financial experience you don’t have or have found innovative solutions to an important tech problem.

    This practice also indirectly introduces you to people who may be able to support you down the road. The person you connect with may have connections to bankers, business insurance reps, etc. Receiving mentorship is more than learning how to run a business; it’s about forming those necessary connections your business will need to survive. Numerous unexpected fires will inevitably pop up that you probably haven’t thought about, and this is how you plan for the unplanned.

    Related: Elon Musk, Richard Branson & Jeff Bezos’ Best Advice for Ensuring Your Startup Doesn’t Fail

    What to expect and how to get there

    Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you the truth: being a CEO is not a comfortable 9-5. It’s an 8-8, and people will have problems at 3 am. Every successful CEO will probably tell you they have 30 sleepless nights a year. If you’re actually invested in your business, that is what it takes. If you don’t work hard, work doesn’t get done. And if you want your team to work hard, you must show up alongside them and lead by example.

    When you approach these potential mentors, there are a few things to keep in mind if you actually want to get their ear. The first is to do your damn research. As an investor, I shouldn’t receive a copy/paste email from you. I want to know why you think I’m the person you need to talk to. Why do you know who I am? What do you think I have to offer you? I’ve received several requests from hopeful entrepreneurs offering to meet me in person and buy me a cocktail, and because they’ve come across as pleasant human beings who have done their homework, I’ve taken them up on it.

    Related: 5 Types of People Who Can Help With Small Business Mentoring

    You can’t replace face-to-face.

    I’m not against online courses, in-person seminars, or other exercises in business education. But nothing can replace face-to-face. It gives you a chance to ask tough questions, be vulnerable and experience their vulnerability in return. The result is a much more valuable learning experience.

    I won’t say everything business-related you find on social media is garbage; it’s not. But the opportunity to look someone in the eye and see their hard-won successes (and failures) is priceless. Take the extra time to find “real” human beings to connect with. You won’t regret it.

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    Shannon Scott

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  • April U.S. factory orders rise for fourth gain in five months

    April U.S. factory orders rise for fourth gain in five months

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    Orders for manufactured goods rose 0.4% in April, the Commerce Department said Monday. It is the fourth increase in factory-goods orders in the past five months.

    Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal were expecting a 0.6% rise.

    The gain was led by transportation equipment. Excluding that sector, orders were down 0.2%.

    Durable-goods orders rose 1.1% in April, unrevised from the initial estimate last week. The advance durable-goods data is always released ahead of the full report. Nondurable-goods orders fell 0.1% in April.

    Orders for nondefense capital goods, excluding aircraft, rose a revised 1.3% in April, down slightly from the prior estimate of a 1.4% increase. The gain was led by computers and machinery.

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  • A Comprehensive Guide to Fractional Leadership | Entrepreneur

    A Comprehensive Guide to Fractional Leadership | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As a business owner, I know firsthand the countless challenges that come with running a company. With responsibilities ranging from financial management to marketing strategies, it can often feel overwhelming just to keep your head above water. It’s for this reason that expert support is valuable, and fractional executives can provide a service that addresses challenges and promotes growth.

    As the founder of a fractional leadership firm, I have worked with businesses in various growth stages. From managing rapid expansion to making critical operational decisions, fractional partnerships allow clients to receive executive-level support at a fraction of the cost, time and effort, empowering them to succeed efficiently. While this success is easily attainable for most businesses, having the right team is a crucial aspect of such success.

    In this article, I’ll discuss the role and benefits of fractional executives and how to choose the right ones for your needs.

    Related: Why Fractional Executives Are the Best Investment For Your Business

    What are fractional executives?

    Fractional executives provide cost-effective part-time or interim support for growing businesses, offering expertise in areas like strategic planning, operational streamlining, revenue operations, marketing, finance and sales. They also stay updated with the latest efficient infrastructure for your business, ensuring it’s customized to your specific stage and scale.

    Signs that you may need a fractional executive

    • You need expertise in a specific area.

    • You have ambitious growth goals and require help achieving them.

    • You’re facing a critical business challenge and need guidance navigating and resolving it.

    • Your rapidly growing business lacks the structure to support growth.

    • You need leadership support during a transition or restructuring period.

    • You find yourself working in your business rather than on your business.

    • You want to implement new technologies, systems or processes, but you lack the appropriate resources or expertise to do so.

    • You lack the capacity to stay current with industry and technology trends.

    • You want to improve leadership practices and company culture but need guidance on where to start and how to create lasting change.

    • You lack a cohesive system for connecting outsourced functions and aligning them with your business goals.

    Benefits of a fractional executive

    Cost savings:

    Fractional executives offer a flexible solution for businesses that need experienced executives without the commitment and cost of a full-time hire. Unlike hiring a full-time executive, you can work with fractional executives on an as-needed basis, allowing you to enjoy the benefits of a seasoned executive without committing to a long-term, super-high expense. This can be especially beneficial for small to mid-sized businesses that want to grow but have limited resources.

    Expertise and experience:

    Fractional executives’ exposure to diverse systems, companies, processes, structures and challenges from working with numerous businesses (often hundreds) gives them a significant edge over full-time executives, who typically hold only 5-6 positions in their careers. This extensive experience provides fractional executives with unparalleled expertise and insights, enabling them to deliver faster, more effective solutions for your business.

    Flexibility and scalability:

    As a full-time executive, I found that 80% of my time was spent on tasks that could be done by more junior staff, given the right guidance. This observation reinforced my belief that many companies don’t necessarily need a full-time executive, as the role doesn’t always warrant constant high-level attention. Fractional executives can be hired on a flexible basis, ranging from just a few hours a week to a longer-term commitment over several months. This can allow you to scale up or down as your business needs change, ensuring that you have the right amount of support whenever you need it.

    Objectivity and perspective:

    Fractional executives offer an outsider’s perspective to your operations, strategy and business practices, providing unbiased feedback and advice to help you make informed decisions. This partnership allows for a more even relationship, working at eye level rather than the traditional, more restrictive manager-employee relationship. This approach can be especially valuable when identifying blind spots or areas for improvement, as fractional executives bring a unique perspective thanks to their experience with a multitude of businesses.

    Related: How a Fractional Executive Can Take Your Business to the Next Level

    Types of fractional executives

    Outsourcing specialized roles like CFO and CMO gave rise to fractional executives, now covering roles like COO, CTO, CHRO and more. This approach lets businesses customize their executive teams to match their goals and needs, tapping into the unique skills and expertise of fractional professionals.

    Fractional executives can be:

    • Interim executives: for short-term leadership gaps

    • Project-based executives: for specific project expertise or guidance

    • Strategic advisors: for long-term planning and opportunity identification

    • Ongoing support: for smaller companies needing continuous assistance

    How to choose the right fractional executive

    Identify your needs:

    Identify critical areas, and seek a fractional executive with the right expertise. Consider using their insights to spot gaps and help you refine your search, securing the perfect fit for your business.

    Evaluate relevant experience:

    Choose a fractional executive based on a successful track record, relevant experience, positive references and commitment to fractional work as a career (rather than a side or temporary hustle).

    Assess their style:

    Look for an executive who is responsive, proactive and able to communicate clearly and effectively. Schedule an initial consultation to get a sense of their working style and consider whether it aligns with your own.

    Align expectations:

    Choose a fractional executive who shares your passion and can work collaboratively to achieve your objectives. Keep an open mind, and consider their suggestions, as their experience can offer valuable insights.

    Consider your readiness:

    During the initial consultation, assess your readiness to delegate control. If you’re not prepared to treat this as a partnership and loosen the reins, a fractional executive may not be the right fit. Trust is key, so choose someone you’re comfortable collaborating with, and formulate a transition plan that cultivates that trust.

    By partnering with a fractional executive, you can tap into their specialized skills and expertise, giving your company a competitive edge and positioning it for long-term success. So, whether you’re seeking to grow your business or address critical challenges, consider that a fractional executive could very well be the missing piece that propels your business to success.

    Related: How to Grow Your Business With Intention

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    Adi Vaxman

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  • The Inevitable Challenges You’ll Face as Your Business Grows | Entrepreneur

    The Inevitable Challenges You’ll Face as Your Business Grows | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The allure of business growth is strong, and for many entrepreneurs, it’s a dream from the very start. In fact, many professionals see expansion as a key indicator of success. But increasing the size of your organization inevitably comes with growing pains. From managing a larger team to navigating complex market dynamics, there are countless obstacles that are hard to avoid along the way.

    Growing pains are a necessary part of the process, and by being proactive and informed, you can anticipate these challenges before they crop up and consider innovative ways to overcome them. And that process starts with acknowledging the need for an operational shift.

    Related: Is Your Company Experiencing Growing Pains? Here’s How to Thrive Through Them

    Communication and other skills you need will change

    When you first get a business off the ground, it’s easy to communicate and execute because your team is right next door. You can catch mistakes quickly. But when you start growing, all of a sudden, everything becomes more spread out. Marketing, support, development and sales can be in totally different parts of the building or even a separate building altogether. Suddenly, it’s harder to get a clear picture of what’s really going on within your own organization.

    As this shift happens, it becomes critical to gather data from all corners of your business. Otherwise, you won’t have a thorough understanding of your business’s day-to-day operations and what your people may need from you. But it’s not just about data; you also need specific processes in place that hold everyone accountable and provide clear direction.

    Adjusting to these new ways of communicating and operating can be uncomfortable. Not everyone will be able to keep up, and you might have some people who don’t stay with you. That’s OK. But your job as a leader is to help shape the attitude of the company overall and enable your team to understand that these adjustments are necessary for success.

    Part of that maturity is being able to discern whether you need to bring in new skill sets to achieve the business’s goals. There has to be a willingness to evaluate what you were doing, admit that those approaches aren’t working anymore and explore the possible ways to evolve — and you have to do it quickly.

    Be ready to remove some hats

    Leaders of small companies are often a jack-of-all-trades. You’re used to answering all the phone calls and responding to customer emails because, in the beginning, the success of your business solely relied on you. One of the hallmarks of entrepreneurship is wearing a lot of hats to make something work.

    The game changes when expansion starts. There comes a point where you cannot logistically handle everything on your own. At that point, you have to decide whether you can recruit someone from the inside to take on a role or if you need to hire talent from the outside.

    Remember, not everyone who’s with you is necessarily ready to lead or grow. Even if you can promote someone from within, they might still need some guidance and support as they take on new responsibilities. On the other hand, hiring externally comes with a different set of challenges — you have to trust that they’ll be able to do the job well and mesh with the rest of the team. One of the biggest growing pains you’ll have to deal with is transitioning into the mindset of needing to hire other people and having faith that your business won’t fall apart if you hand off responsibilities.

    Related: 5 Tips for Expanding Your Small Business (The Right Way)

    Closed-loop learning and development don’t stop

    Most growing businesses understand the importance of moving quickly to stay on top of innovative technology that can help them get ahead of the competition. This was certainly the case at Vagaro, where we not only had to look at what competitors were doing and what options already were out there, but we also had to develop our own software. We’re still constantly researching and tweaking to improve.

    But the same research and development concept applies to all of your products. To create something that’s different and unique, you have to constantly look at what’s available. In the beginning, you don’t have a marketing team to do that. You have to rely on yourself to identify and develop a product that would set your business apart.

    Once your company starts gaining traction and your sales increase, you now need a sales department. You start needing people who can do customer support. Hiring people becomes harder because you have to set clear expectations and teach them how to do things the way you’ve been doing them.

    There’s a real need to balance your expectations and training with a good dose of humility — you have to accept that you don’t know it all and remember that you’re bringing in new people because they have fresh ideas and skills. This is one of the reasons I’ve intentionally made the choice to let my team manage what they can on their own and allow them some room to experiment and sometimes fail. I know I need to share what I’ve tried and be clear about the costs I’m willing to embrace so they can make some mistakes.

    This growing pain of always having to research, adjust and hire doesn’t end. But that’s part of what makes developing a company thrilling. You’ll always have a new problem to solve, and the achievements and improvements resulting from the healthy pressure to find answers and solutions keep you excited.

    Related: How to Tackle the 5 Challenges Every Expanding Business Faces

    Many professionals who talk about growing a business focus on all of the good things that happen, and that’s inspiring. But the best entrepreneurs know that there’s also going to be some discomfort along the way. Rather than shy away from their growing pains, they realistically anticipate them and work proactively to handle them well, such as seeking advice from mentors or building solid feedback infrastructures. Seek the same type of perseverance and preparedness in your own business, because it’s during the discomfort that you’ll learn how to thrive rather than survive.

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    Fady

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  • 3 Strategies to Help Your Business Thrive During a Recession | Entrepreneur

    3 Strategies to Help Your Business Thrive During a Recession | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    If there’s a word that perfectly describes the state of the economy in 2023, that must be inflation. Ask any U.S. adult, and they’ll likely be aware of the inflation that has been hitting the American economy since the 2020 global pandemic. Recent studies show that Americans see inflation as the #1 issue facing the country, with 70% agreeing it’s a big problem and 68% revealing that inflation had an impact on their spending.

    In a context where people are choosing to cut essential items like gasoline, clothing and health products, it becomes essential for brands and business owners to ask themselves how to effectively market during a recession.

    My current business, Mawer Capital, was born in the midst of the recession. Since we sell online programs, the biggest challenge for us was to figure out how to market those products in a period where people were re-evaluating their spending choices.

    Three years later, I can safely say that we didn’t just survive the recession, but that our business thrived despite the state of the economy.

    In this article, I wanted to share some key lessons I learned while building a business during a recession with anyone who wants to build an unbreakable venture. Despite the terrible economic conditions, Mawer Capital had stellar growth last year, with annual revenue doubling and hiring tripling since 2021.

    I’ve chosen three key lessons I believe everyone should follow during a recession to grow their brands. These principles are also backed by historical evidence.

    Related: I Started 2 Companies During Recessions: Here Are 4 Tips For Scaling Your Startup During a Downturn

    1. Increase your marketing budget

    I know this might sound counterintuitive, but one thing you should NOT do during a recession is cut your marketing budget.

    There are countless examples that highlight how bad an idea this is. For instance, during the 1990-1991 recession, fast food giant McDonald’s decided to advertise less on television and print to cut costs and ride out the economic downturn. At the same time, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut — two of their major competitors — decided to take the opposite approach and increased their advertisements significantly.

    The result? Pizza Hut and Taco Bell increased sales by 61% and 40% respectively, while McDonald’s decreased sales by 28%.

    At Mawer Capital, we experienced something similar. While everyone else was cutting their ad budgets (Marketing Week estimated that ad spend went down by more than 30% during this period), we doubled our marketing budget.

    We started ramping up our ad budget to almost $100K a month, getting featured in the press multiple times and growing our social media presence. We did this because we realized that while all our competitors were going radio silent, we had a chance to replace them and become the industry standard.

    Don’t get me wrong. The decision to spend more money while everyone else was panicking was mentally challenging. But in hindsight, I can say that my company wouldn’t be where it is today if I had stopped communicating with potential customers.

    During times like these, the best thing you can do is to find smart ways to market your products or services rather than cut all your marketing efforts completely.

    2. Create a flawless customer experience

    During a recession, when it’s harder to attract new clients, the last thing you want is to lose your existing customers. This is why it’s so important to invest in building a flawless customer experience to ensure existing clients keep purchasing from you.

    For us, this meant doing two things. The first was to give our customers so much value on their first purchase, that many of them asked us to upgrade to higher-priced programs and are still with us to this day.

    The second is to communicate regularly with our clients to ensure they’re satisfied. If you aren’t sure how your customers feel about your business, try implementing a customer success survey to understand what you could optimize to retain more customers and keep your business afloat.

    Related: Starting a Business in a Recession: What You Should Know

    3. Build trust with your audience

    When prices increase and wallets shrink, brands must recognize that consumers will choose the brand they have a connection with.

    This is done by associating what you sell with an emotional state your customer can relate to. For us, that meant understanding the position our clients came from and identifying what their financial and life goals were.

    All of a sudden, we weren’t selling info products anymore. We were giving them an option, the chance to learn valuable skills they could use to grow their businesses or learn a new skill that could help them live life the way they wanted to. Obviously, this should be done ethically as consumers are becoming more and more sophisticated and can immediately sniff when a brand is trying to rip them off.

    This trust-building should be done through your communication and feedback, the care you put into making sure their concerns are heard and focusing on providing your customers with a product that goes well and beyond their expectations.

    In the end, countless successful businesses have been built during recessions. One could even argue that this is the perfect time to start your own venture or grow your existing one, as competitors are left without a compass. I hope you will find these three pieces of advice useful as you set out to build your business during these difficult times.

    Related: Don’t Let a Recession Ruin You. Here’s How Your Business Can Thrive During Hard Times

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    Rudy Mawer

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  • Sinn Féin scores record win in Northern Ireland as voters rage at DUP blockade of Stormont

    Sinn Féin scores record win in Northern Ireland as voters rage at DUP blockade of Stormont

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    DUBLIN — Sinn Féin has scaled new electoral heights in Northern Ireland. They can thank the Stormont-wrecking antics of their sworn enemies, the Democratic Unionist Party, for making it possible.

    The Irish republicans had been tipped to finish a strong first place in Northern Ireland’s council elections last Thursday, overtaking Jeffrey Donaldson’s DUP along the way. But even Sinn Fein’s wildest hopes were eclipsed as the weekend’s results built to a crescendo over a marathon two-day count.

    When final results were declared in Belfast City Hall after midnight Saturday, Sinn Féin had won 144 seats, a 39-seat gain that more than doubled expectations. Its 30.9 percent share of the vote marked a historic high, two points better even than last year’s poll-topping Northern Ireland Assembly election — a performance that should have propelled the party’s regional leader, Michelle O’Neill, into the first minister’s chair for the first time.

    But O’Neill has been denied the chance to lead a cross-community executive, as the Good Friday peace accord intended, because the Democratic Unionists — used to finishing first — have spent the past year blocking the formation of any government at Stormont. The current rules of power-sharing require both Sinn Féin and the DUP to participate.

    According to analysts and other party leaders, the DUP’s obstructionist tactics may have galvanized support with unionist die-hards — but also triggered waves of new support for their traditional enemies from voters sick of the deadlock.

    “Jeffrey Donaldson has become the greatest recruiting sergeant possible for republicans. The longer Michelle O’Neill is blocked from becoming first minister, the more voters are driven into the arms of her party,” wrote Suzanne Breen, political editor of the Belfast Telegraph.

    Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Colum Eastwood, who competes with Sinn Féin in Irish nationalist areas, said his own moderate party’s grassroots had switched to Sinn Féin in unprecedented numbers because the DUP had exhausted their patience.

    “They’re very annoyed that Michelle O’Neill hasn’t been able to become first minister,” said Eastwood, whose party — one of the architects of the Good Friday breakthrough a quarter-century ago — suffered heavy losses amid the Sinn Féin-DUP showdown.

    “They want politicians to get back to work and deal with the issues besetting our community,” Eastwood said. “Now it’s over to the DUP to get on with it.”

    Still waiting

    When or whether the DUP actually does so remains far from certain, given that its own vote held up well at Thursday’s election.

    Donaldson and other senior DUP figures have spent the past three months picking holes in the British government’s Windsor Framework, the successor post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland designed to reduce — but not eliminate — EU-required checks on goods arriving from the rest of the United Kingdom. Unionists argue such checks effectively place Northern Ireland partly outside the U.K., and on a slippery slope toward a united Ireland, Sinn Féin’s ultimate goal.

    U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had hoped the Windsor Framework compromise package would have persuaded the DUP to resume cooperation at Stormont with a strengthened Sinn Féin.

    Jeffrey Donaldson said that his party’s resilient performance showed most unionists would rather have no Stormont than accept “barriers to trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.” | Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

    But Donaldson told reporters at Belfast City Hall that his party’s resilient performance — it won 122 of the 462 seats on Northern Ireland’s 11 councils, the exact same total as in the 2019 election — showed most unionists would rather have no Stormont than accept “barriers to trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.”

    “The DUP have polled strongly despite everything that has been thrown at us,” said Donaldson, who now wants Westminster to pass unspecified legislation reinforcing Northern Ireland’s constitutional ties to Britain. “The U.K. government must move to ensure that our place in the United Kingdom is not only respected, but protected in law. The mandate we’ve been given reinforces that message.”

    His immediate predecessor as DUP leader, Edwin Poots, said while others expected the party to end its Stormont sabotage now that the election was out of the way, such a move remains unlikely unless the U.K. government finds extra support for Stormont’s ailing finances.

    “We’re ready to go back but we need to get more than what’s currently on the table,” Poots said. “If we went back into the assembly and executive in the morning, with this budget, the first task of every minister would be to implement cuts. It’s imperative that we get a package to ensure this will not be the case.”

    O’Neill, who spent much of the weekend joining in jubilant scenes with Sinn Féin activists, expressed exasperation that the DUP might string others along indefinitely for many months longer.

    “I am not accepting the autumn as a timeframe for a restored executive, as a lot of people are suggesting. There shouldn’t be any more delays. Let’s do it Monday morning,” she said.

    Joining O’Neill in Belfast was Sinn Féin’s overall leader, Mary Lou McDonald, a Dubliner whose eye remains on a bigger prize: leading a government in the neighboring Republic of Ireland for the first time.

    Sinn Féin, the only party contesting elections in both parts of Ireland, wants as part of its Irish unity strategy to gain the reins of power in both jurisdictions simultaneously. For decades a fanciful dream — and a unionist nightmare — this scenario has become a probability.

    The party’s growth to become the top party in Northern Ireland is matched south of the border by McDonald’s successful efforts to build Sinn Féin into the dominant opposition party in Dáil Éireann, Ireland’s parliament. It has topped every opinion poll for years and looks likely to win the next general election, which must happen by 2025 but could come sooner.

    As McDonald and O’Neill together ascended the steps of Belfast City Hall, Sinn Féin activists cheered their party’s rising expectations of gaining power in both the Dáil and Stormont, with McDonald as prime minister in Dublin and O’Neill as first minister in Belfast — if the DUP ever relents.

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    Shawn Pogatchnik

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  • Fed’s Bullard backs two more interest-rate hikes

    Fed’s Bullard backs two more interest-rate hikes

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    St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on Monday said he would like to see two more quarter-percentage-point interest-rate hikes this year.

    “I think we’re going to have to grind higher with the policy rate in order to put downward pressure on inflation,” Bullard said in a moderated discussion at the American Gas Association’s Financial Forum in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

    Bullard said that the timing of the rate hikes was uncertain but that he has been an advocate of raising rates “sooner rather than later.”

    “You want to get the downward pressure while you can,” he said.

    The Fed raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a range of 5%-5.25% at its meeting in May. That matches the median forecast of Fed officials for the peak interest rate in this cycle.

    Officials at the Fed are divided over whether to continue to hike rates at their meeting in mid-June or pausing to see how the economy is affected by lags from the rapid pace of hikes. Some officials don’t like the word “pause” and have described holding rates steady in June as a “skip,” because it underlines that they are not saying they are done raising rates.

    The markets think the Fed is done with rate hikes and have even been pricing in rate cuts later this year.

    Bullard said that the Fed’s forecast of no more hikes was based on its expectations of slower growth and a faster drop in inflation in the first half of the year than has been seen in subsequent data.

    “Inflation is hanging up too high,” Bullard said.

    Stocks
    DJIA,
    -0.24%

    SPX,
    +0.22%
    were set to open slightly higher on Monday, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.716%
    rose to 3.7%.

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  • Why a Recession Can Be a Good Time for Expansion | Entrepreneur

    Why a Recession Can Be a Good Time for Expansion | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    “We very much believe strongly in investing through downturns” is a famous remark by Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc. With this philosophy, Apple has time and again managed to not only survive but thrive during periods of economic upheaval. At a time when major tech companies were shutting down shops during the recession of the dot-com collapse, Apple focused on acquiring graphics and productivity software companies.

    Opportunity and hidden value are often-overlooked aspects of recessions, but it takes the right entrepreneurial mindset to see the potential upside of recessions in the first place.

    The mainstream and more conservative approach calls for minimizing costs and risks and “waiting it out” until the economy improves. Indeed, the current economic climate, with a boogeyman recession that has been looming “just around the corner” for a year or more, has induced similar feelings of uncertainty, caution and a desire to tighten things down and wait until sunnier skies prevail.

    But does this strategy make it harder for you to spot new opportunities that may arise? Could a shift in mindset to viewing recessionary periods as rife with opportunity help take your business to the next level?

    As someone who has helped scale hundreds of companies, I sit firmly in the camp that views recessions as opportunities for growth. It doesn’t mean I act or advise clients to act recklessly. Far from it. In fact, investing in new markets, technologies or sectors during challenging economic times requires even greater awareness of market conditions on the ground and an ability to perform due diligence optimally.

    International expansion, my area of expertise, is one area in particular where businesses can find greater value or opportunity during periods of economic uncertainty or downturn. But how do you spot those opportunities, particularly in a market where you have no presence and limited knowledge?

    Related: Is a Recession Actually a Good Time to Expand Your Business?

    Spotting value in overseas markets

    Through accurate assessment of internal and external factors, you can maximize your chances of spotting value overseas in the wake of reduced competition. For instance, you can reprioritize your expansion plans by focusing on markets that are hit harder than most during a recession. This will increase your chances of success as your competitors are likely to be on the defensive in such markets. Businesses operating in industries relatively immune to a recession, such as consumer staples, shipping, utilities and healthcare, tend to fare better than others when executing expansion plans in recession-hit economies. What opportunities may offshore markets yield for your company in these areas?

    Once you’ve evaluated your product/market fit in new markets and identified any gaps you may be able to close, you stand to benefit immensely by identifying and investing in undervalued assets and opportunities. These investments can develop into a sustainable competitive advantage to last for the long run.

    Identify top talent

    Recessions are almost always accompanied by companies laying off employees in droves to stay afloat. This often results in even the best employees departing despite stellar job performance and drive to grow. This creates a unique scenario where the supply of top talent increases while demand decreases.

    If the world were to experience another Great Recession, the job market would be flooded with people looking for opportunities even at lower compensation in return for job security and a growth ladder. Your business can take advantage of this skewed job market by seeking out top talent and investing in it.

    This human resource investment can prepare your company for success in the future. You can hire skilled, ambitious and growth-oriented employees at less-than-market rates to become partners in your future vision.

    Related: Most Businesses Slow Down During a Recession — Here’s How to Keep Pace and Grow Your Company in 2023

    Explore incentive programs overseas

    It is not uncommon for a country to offer incentives to foreign players to pursue investment and expansion plans during a stagnant economy. This can be a win-win for the affected economy and the foreign businesses setting up shop in a new market.

    For instance, China’s recent stimulus package in the wake of its zero-Covid policy, tax cuts and liquidity injections are meant to spur demand and kickstart business activity.

    Such government incentives are great for providing a cushion for your global expansion plans and gaining a first-mover advantage. While your competitors are busy firefighting a recession, you can strategize and pivot to expanding rather than cutting back.

    To avoid missing out, you need to stay up-to-date with the policy changes and new incentives, which can be quick and time-sensitive. One way to spot opportunity in an unfamiliar market and act quickly is to leverage the local expertise of a Professional Employer Organization (PEO).

    Expand through a recession with a local expert

    A recession can be a challenging period for growth, especially when expanding into a new country, and it is not for everyone. There are often unprecedented market forces to tackle in addition to intense competition and thin margins. But if you manage to focus on your strengths while minimizing your risks, you can use the recession to your advantage.

    A recession offers unique value that simply requires experience and the right timing to yield significant rewards. Partnering with a trusted PEO partner like INS Global is one such strategy that helps you leverage decades of global expansion expertise while being fast and effective.

    Related: How Great Entrepreneurs Find Ways to Win During Economic Downturns

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    Wei Hsu

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  • How 8 Minutes A Day Will Change Your Customer Service | Entrepreneur

    How 8 Minutes A Day Will Change Your Customer Service | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    It’s hard to picture how a mere eight minutes a day (every day) could spell the difference between where your customer service is today and where it needs to be to work as a true competitive advantage for your business — to transform you into an icon of exceptional customer service, able to command customer loyalty and passion and, often, a price premium as well.

    Plugging the eight-minute gap between where your customer service level is today and where you want it to be is one of several ultra-brief repeating behaviors that I offer to my consulting clients as truly transformational. I’m what’s known as a customer service transformation consultant — I work with companies to bring them ever closer to the pinnacle of customer service excellence, helping clients in varied industries become “the Zappos of car dealerships” or “the Four Seasons of banking.”

    1. The Ritz-Carlton-inspired eight-minute customer service refresh

    If you want to be thought of as the “The Ritz-Carlton of Industry X” because of your great customer service, consider this: since 1983, the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company has held what they call a “lineup” every day (and at the start of every shift if there is more than one) without fail. I use the same technique but call it a “customer service refresh.” The reason to keep it at eight minutes is that when you start edging your way toward 10 minutes, or — shudder — fifteen, you’re well on your way to becoming just another meeting. (Note: depending on your company culture, a daily refresh may be impractical. If this is the case, do it weekly.)

    At the customer service refresh, you don’t talk about quarterly numbers, and you don’t talk about KPIs. You don’t talk about anything along those lines. Instead, you work on conveying and learning and being inspired by one of your company’s core customer service principles or behavioral guidelines.

    For example, at Monday’s customer service refresh, you might be discussing the “default to yes” principle: that as an organization and as individuals, you always strive to find a way to say “yes” to a customer — and that if you can’t say yes, to never flat-out say “no” without offering one to two reasonable alternatives. Ideally, employees will even share examples of applying the “default of yes” approach to real-life customer situations.

    On Tuesday, you will highlight another principle, maybe your approach to customer service recovery, which means helping and ultimately turning around the feelings of a customer. And so forth. Think of how much learning and reinforcement your entire company will have experienced in even one week, let alone one year!

    Related: 5 Life-Changing Customer Service Secrets You Can Learn From Five-Star Hotels

    2. The 10-5-3 sequence to make sure no customer is ignored

    A nearly universal desire among customers is for recognition: the feeling that they are being seen rather than disregarded or ignored. One quick and easy-to-implement way to make sure the latter never happens, at least when they’re on-premises, is the 10-5-3 sequence:

    • At 10 feet: Look up from what you are doing and acknowledge the guest with direct eye contact and a nod.

    • At 5 feet: Smile, with your lips and eyes.

    • At 3 feet: Verbally greet the guest and offer a time-of-day greeting (“Good morning”).

    The only exception is that at three feet if you notice your customer engaged with their cell phone, a fellow shopper, or a kid (or parent), it’s important to just walk on by; do not disturb this customer!

    Related: A Great Customer Experience Begins With Great Employee Engagement and Management. Here’s Why.

    3. The 3-ring rule

    Answer incoming phone calls before they get to a fourth ring, any time it’s humanly possible. Why? Because by the fourth ring, callers start to feel uneasy, doubting whether you’ll ever pick up, and beginning to assume that, if you finally do, you’ll be too distracted or to be much help. In consideration of this, many of the highest-touch brands, such as Nordstrom and all major luxury hotels, have taken the 3-ring rule to heart.

    It’s standard of the Forbes Travel Guide rating system; a hotel striving to attain four-star or five-star status will get points are taken off that may ultimately deny them their desired star rating if they lag too often beyond that third ring!) So now, to demonstrate to customers that you also belong in this top echelon of service, it’s best to abide by the three-ring limit when possible.

    4. Instant behavioral correction

    To build and maintain an excellent customer service-focused company, it’s essential to correct missteps by employees right away — for two reasons. First and most obviously, you want to improve customer service performance immediately rather than letting destructive behaviors fester. Second, if you wait a while — say, until a performance review rolls around — the employee will never remember the incident the same way you do, and they’re going to bristle at rather than learn from your correction at such a late date.

    For best results, you should be doing a lot of “managing by walking about” so you can simultaneously model good customer service behaviors and witness inevitable missteps as well: language blunders, excessive informality (and excessive formality, for that matter), and so on — tiny-seeming things that make a world of difference when you add them all up. Wait until customers are out of earshot and say, “Do you have a minute?” If you do this both frequently and with grace, nobody will get their stomach tied in knots when they hear these words.

    Beyond a doubt, many aspects of the customer service transformation work I do take time. You’re not going to revamp your hiring process, rewrite your collateral or design your behavioral best practices in just a few minutes a day. But it’s impressive how these brief but repeating steps above can help you move up the ladder from tolerable customer service to excellent, even legendary, customer service.

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    Micah Solomon

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  • Pathify Selected by Brigham Young University-Hawaii to Personalize Student Experience

    Pathify Selected by Brigham Young University-Hawaii to Personalize Student Experience

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    The institution plans to implement Pathify to optimize the digital campus experience for students.


    DENVER, May 18, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Pathify — the premier centralized user experience hub for higher ed — is honored to welcome Brigham Young University-Hawaii to their expanding community of partners committed to improving the student technology experience. The institution, which is part of the nationwide Church Educational System for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, plans to implement Pathify to optimize the digital experience for students.

    “We are excited about the many different features that the Pathify portal provides,” said Leilani Guerrero, Manager of Digital Communications at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. “Being able to make resources available by groups and communicate with those individual groups is very important when we have such a diverse and international student body with different needs. Pathify also allows us to provide a customizable repository of tools and allows for two-way communication between students and departments.”

    Pathify fills the massive user experience void at the center of the higher education digital ecosystem, delivering a personalized user experience unifying technology, content, communications and people. Offering highly personalized experiences for users at every point in their journey, the Engagement Hub encourages system-agnostic integrations, collaborative social groups, personalized tasks, and multi-channel communication with full web/mobile parity.

    “BYU-Hawaii represents a unique partner and use case for our platform,” said Matt Hammond, Chief Revenue Officer at Pathify. “Their unique campus environment and distinct institutional culture create an exciting opportunity for how they utilize Pathify to support their students. We can’t wait to see the awesome work they do!”

    BYU-Hawaii joins the Pathify customer community along other recent customers such as Howard Payne University, Aquinas College, and their sibling institution – Brigham Young University-Idaho.

    About Brigham Young University-Hawaii

    Brigham Young University-Hawaii is the preeminent international center of learning in the Pacific. Its small campus is a unique laboratory of intercultural leadership development, where a diverse population of 3,200 students representing over 70 countries live, study and work together. Small classes taught by expert faculty empower students to master a challenging and relevant curriculum. Affordable tuition, financial aid, and online study options make this valuable education more accessible. Operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a total BYU-Hawaii education involves not only intellectual learning and career preparation, but also moral, ethical, and spiritual enrichment. All the while, students enjoy living and learning in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Graduates go forth to serve, prepared to promote peace and prosperity as leaders worldwide.

    Learn more at byuh.edu.

    About Pathify

    Obsessed with making great technology while developing incredible long-term relationships with customers, Pathify remains hyper-focused on creating stellar experiences across the entire student lifecycle. Delivering cloud-based, integration-friendly software designed to drive engagement, Pathify pushes personalized content to the right people, at the right time — on any device. Pathify is led by former higher ed executives, entrepreneurs and technology leaders.

    Learn more at pathify.com.

    Source: Pathify

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  • How Data-Driven Marketing Strategies Help You Achieve Growth | Entrepreneur

    How Data-Driven Marketing Strategies Help You Achieve Growth | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In the midst of economic turmoil, CEOs and entrepreneurs are focusing on a bright future. Nearly 75% of leaders surveyed during a joint Hello Alice-Mastercard initiative said they planned to grow in 2023. This means business owners nationwide aren’t allowing the heat of inflation to squelch their optimism. However, they can only generate good results with equally good data-driven digital marketing strategies.

    Fortunately, this isn’t a revelation to most leaders. Everyone has heard about the importance of data. Yet, many companies spend less time mapping out a successful, data-backed, growth-centered plan than the average family does when preparing for a vacation. It’s just not enough to choose some data points to measure.

    To see growth — and scalability when your team is ready for it — your business needs to know where it wants to go. When you have a destination in mind, you can reverse-engineer your process to determine which data you need to make your growth dreams a reality. You’re bound to wander off course when you don’t have a destination set in stone. That’s costly but fortunately avoidable.

    To start, you need to do a deep dive to understand what “growth” looks like for your company. Instead of picking metrics based on what you think you should measure or setting up data reports, answer four questions. First, where do you want your business to go in the coming 12 months? Pinpoint specific goals. Second, do you have assets in place that are helping you reach those goals? These could be anything from audiences and offers to channels.

    With these questions answered, evaluate how your existing assets are working. In other words, where are the gaps? Be very honest with what you see, or else you won’t be able to respond to the last question: Is your current plan helping you reach those goals?

    Once you’ve taken this deep dive into your overall sales and marketing objectives and strategies, you can employ data-focused, successful digital marketing measures. Each of these measures will nudge you closer to the growth you want and protect you from preventable roadblocks.

    Related: 3 Steps to Assemble the Right Infrastructure Building Blocks to Successfully Scale Your Business

    1. Set up metrics that are personalized to your stated goals

    You’ll never be confident that you’re moving in the right direction unless you measure the right metrics. One of the biggest errors many leaders make is not testing their metrics or KPIs against their overall growth strategy objectives. Your metrics must have an impact and not just be chosen at random.

    A 2021 Adverity announcement indicated that around one-third of all CMOs don’t trust their marketing data. That is, they’re reluctant to believe the metrics their dashboards show. You can’t afford to be in this position because it hinders your ability to make informed decisions. This is why you need to be choosy and particular when it comes to metrics.

    Run each possible metric that you might measure through an assessment. How will you use the metric? Why will it show whether you’re on or off track? Are there other corresponding metrics that could shed light on the metric?

    Spending time on this kind of upfront evaluation will pay off later. Just be sure that you examine your metrics every few months. You may want to decrease or add data points as you move closer to your goals.

    2. Take a “big picture” approach to your data

    With your metrics in hand, you can start getting data insights. The insights may or may not be valuable, though. Plus, they might not say what you think they’re saying. Believe it or not, sometimes you have to interpret the numbers. This is where stepping back and being able to look at everything from a 35,000-foot view makes sense.

    Our company works with many leaders who, in their eagerness to examine the data, haven’t skimmed it beyond the surface. As a result, they’ve sometimes been surprised when they discover that their data is showing red flags — and that they’ve ignored those red flags.

    For instance, one of our clients was showing high-profit margins via the metrics and assumed the company was on a serious growth trajectory. Just in case, we poked around a few additional data points. What was really happening was that two or three of the client’s customers were very profitable, but about 10 other customers were dropping in profitability.

    The company realized that it had to get to the bottom of why such a high percentage of customers were unprofitable. If their leaders hadn’t been open to the big picture, they could have found themselves without the growth they sought.

    Related: How to Collect Digital Marketing Data in 5 Easy Steps

    3. Include catastrophe management in your data-driven digital marketing strategy

    Catastrophic things can happen to any company. Just ask the countless companies that reported a collective total of 1,802 data breaches or compromises in 2022 per Identity Theft Resource Center. Every time you add a new data entry or endpoint to your workflows, such as a cloud-based software tool, you’re opening the door to being hacked. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t allow fear to shut down your data-driven digital marketing campaigns. Instead, leverage the experience of vendors and partners who’ve seen it all and want to help you avoid being a worst-case scenario.

    You can use certain metrics to help you shed light on the unknown and be proactive. Being able to get real-time data on internal and external security protocols, subscription sign-ons and more can help you avoid heartache and headache. Remember, not all catastrophes come from nefarious places.

    Another client of ours said their product turnover was 90 days. They built a thriving, data-driven digital marketing strategy around that belief. Orders started coming in, and their metrics, including SEO-created online authority, looked amazing. All except one: fulfillment. They were wrong about the 90-day prediction and couldn’t fulfill orders. Their business tanked because they couldn’t support the growth they sought and we achieved.

    Essentially, your job is to unveil buried information so you can grow without faltering. Let others pay the “school of hard knocks” tuition. You have better places to spend your money, like consistently tweaking and honing your digital marketing plan throughout the year.

    Getting bigger and better requires that you identify your baseline objectives and then construct data-driven strategies around them. It’s the healthiest way to keep your business ticking and humming straight toward your goals.

    Related: A Practical Guide to Increasing Startup Success Through Data Analytics

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    Ross Denny

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  • Consumer sentiment tumbles to six-month low in May on renewed fears about U.S. economy

    Consumer sentiment tumbles to six-month low in May on renewed fears about U.S. economy

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    The numbers: The University of Michigan’s gauge of consumer sentiment fell to a preliminary May reading of 57.7 from an April reading of 63.5. That is the lowest level since November last year.

    Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had expected a May reading of 63.

    Americans view on near-term inflation moderated slightly in May. They now expect the inflation rate in the next year to average about 4.5%. Inflation expectations had surged to 4.6% in April from 3.6 in March.

    Inflation expectations over the next five years rose to 3.2% from 3% in April. That’s the highest reading since 2011.

    Key details: A gauge that measures what consumers think about their financial situation — and the current health of the economy — fell to 64.5 from 68.2 in April.

    Another measure that asks about expectations for the next six months moved down to 53.4 in May from 60.5 in the prior month.

    Big picture: Consumer spending is the engine of the economy. If households grow concerned about the outlook and pull back, it could push the economy into recession.

    And Federal Reserve officials won’t be pleased to see expectations of inflation over the long-term increase. They view expectations as a key source of future inflation pressure.

    What UMich said: “Consumers’ worries about the economy escalated in May alongside the proliferation of negative news about the economy, including the debt crisis standoff,” the press release said. In the most serious debt-ceiling standoff in 2011 consumer sentiment plummeted to recession levels but recovered quickly when the crisis was averted.

    What are they saying? “While we don’t place too much weight on the relationship, if sustained, the latest plunge in consumer sentiment would be consistent with falling consumption in the second quarter. That would be alongside the probable hit to consumption from tightening credit conditions,” said Olivia Cross, assistant economist at Capital Economics.

    Market reaction: Stocks
    DJIA,
    -0.18%

    SPX,
    -0.22%
    were lower in volatile trading on Friday while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.437%
    rose to 3.41%.

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  • You Made a Bad Hire — Now What? Practice Self Reflection to Overcome and Grow | Entrepreneur

    You Made a Bad Hire — Now What? Practice Self Reflection to Overcome and Grow | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    We’ve all been there. You hire people, partner with people, or trust someone with the precious gift that is your business venture. And they let you down. After you’ve invested your time, money, and, perhaps more importantly, your emotions into the relationship, what do you do when it all turns south and you can’t take it anymore?

    Asking for help for most entrepreneurs can cause anxiety. Bringing in an “outsider?” Eek! We tend to be an independent lot who can juggle and manage a myriad of tasks at once. Hiring someone to ease our workload isn’t always a road easily traveled.

    So, let’s look at what you should do when that ugly speedbump of a bad hire pops up, and you have no option but to face it head-on. After all, ignoring it and hoping it would fix itself hasn’t worked these past few weeks, has it?

    In most cases, this type of situation comes from hiring someone specializing in an area you don’t have expertise in, such as copywriting or technical backend integrations. You reach out to a handful of people asking for references. You dive into some calls, and more often than not, you hire a person you interview because you get along with them so well (and let’s face it, it’s tough to find the perfect person anymore).

    Related: How to Let Go of Control and Hire an Expert

    They say the right things. They’re full of energy and enthusiasm for your work, and you breathe a sigh of relief because the burden of responsibility has finally been lifted. You like this person and have high expectations.

    You amble along as you share information while having great conversations and laughter. You can’t wait for them to take over part of the workload and get things done as you envisioned.

    • You have standards.
    • You have preferences.
    • You have a vision.
    • You set a path to reach your goals.

    Their fee (or salary) is paid upfront and immediately (because you generally hate when people don’t do that), and the expectations timer kicks into action.

    And then it happens. You face the reality that they don’t get it. You still really like the person, but they don’t seem able to deliver what you expected — or what they seemed capable of in the first place. The first instance you let slide. “It’s a learning curve,” right?

    Perhaps it was a miscommunication. Maybe you weren’t as focused on giving enough pertinent information for them to do the job. Or maybe, just maybe, they weren’t capable from the start. And that is heartbreakingly disappointing.

    It was hard enough to ask for help in the first place. But now, you don’t have the results you expected, and, on top of that, you’re out a boatload of your hard-earned money, you need to find someone else, and pay them even more of your hard-earned money to clean this mess up.

    Your first knee-jerk reaction is emailing that person to release frustration and irritation. Because come on, you’re annoyed and hurt if you’re honest. You’ve invested personally and professionally in that person, and they let you down. Or did you let yourself down? That might be more disappointing!

    So, what can you do with this current situation to save your mental health spiral of negativity, intense remorse at throwing away good money, and reflective finger-pointing and blame?

    Here are three steps I take to overcome a disappointing hire:

    1. Take responsibility

    Your first step is to take accountability for your side of the equation. This is the hardest pill to swallow because it’s the size of a submarine. But swallow you must. You’re the one who chose to work with the person in the first place. I know you want to blame someone else, but you can’t do that without also taking some of the blame.

    I call this the “Red Flag Counter” philosophy. We all generally dismiss more red flags than we ought to. We like someone, so we let the first handful of gut-instinct red flags go without paying attention.

    Then comes the non-gut instinct red flags. These are when behavior or actions are like neon signs flashing in your face. The work just isn’t done well. Period. You had expectations that weren’t met. That’s a literal red flag.

    It’s time to stop letting so many of them pass by before halting the process and recalibrating.

    But we like this person so much that we’re distracted by their mutual love of your favorite TV show. Or perhaps the mere thought of starting over with the hiring process is exhausting and undesirable. Who has time?

    By the time three or more red flags have been stuffed into a back closet, your irritation factor is only waiting on the sidelines to explode and at that point, remedial recovery may be too late.

    Related: The Real Impact Of A Bad Hire For Your Business

    2. Take a breath

    Take several of them. You need oxygen because this scenario isn’t an easy one to digest. But rest assured that there are ways to take away something positive from this seemingly hopeless and frustrating situation.

    It would help to remind yourself that this isn’t the end of the world. Stop for a few moments and remind yourself that if you can calm your body down with deep breathing, your emotions will also calm. A clear and focused mind is the best way to handle any disappointing situation. Our emotions tend to distract and muddy the waters making logic and common sense dissipate.

    So, take a breath and accept that this is a picture you allowed to be painted. The other person may be at fault for not delivering, but you also had a hand in it. As an entrepreneur, we must be realistic about our role in any situation. With that awareness and perspective, you gain the skills to grow. Once calmed, you can move on to the next step.

    3. Try to salvage the relationship

    People are more important than a project. You’ll have ongoing projects or tasks, but finding people you like gets harder and harder to come by as you get older.

    I’m not saying you need to invite them to dinner every Friday night but find a way to calm down and make sure you know — and they know — that you still respect them as a fellow human being. It’s not easy. Especially if you paid them and they didn’t deliver.

    I may not have chosen this as a step in the process, but there’s been so much open hate and divisiveness in the world that we don’t need more. Another interesting point of view is how small the business world tends to get the longer you’re in it.

    It’s astonishing how paths can cross again later in time. My partner reconnects with people from decades ago and often strikes up a new working relationship or joint venture. The more you can salvage a relationship in the heat of a disruption, the more you’ll have an open door as your business grows. Just because something didn’t work out this time around doesn’t mean it won’t come back to work at a later date. After all, there was a reason you connected and hired this person in the first place.

    It is time to let the basic foundation of human decency step back into the spotlight. And how better to start than with ourselves? After all, you got yourself into the mess and can get yourself out.

    Related: 6 Tips for Hiring the Right People

    4. Time for acceptance and learning

    If you paid for a service, your money is gone. No one stole it from you or forced you to pay for it. There’s always a moment when you need to look that decision in the face and accept that you made it and it can’t be changed. You can’t reinvent history, so why not learn from it? You decided to bring that person in, and you paid them.

    Your time is gone (whether you paid or not). You can’t get that time back no matter how many time-travel, sci-fi films or TV series you watch.

    You’re now sitting with your disappointment and need to get some value from it. The most significant value you’ll get is learning a lifelong lesson not to make the same mistake again.

    It would be best to attempt rectifying things and communicate that you think something went wrong. You should offer ideas on how to collectively work together so your expectations are better met — making sure theirs are also met.

    But in the end, it didn’t work. Many things in life don’t. The disappointment of not getting what you wanted may sting. Ok, maybe the sensation is more like a severe burn! But it too shall pass, and your best bet is to let it go and move on (quickly) as you’re fully equipped with new knowledge and insight on how to prevent it from happening again.

    Grow with the process

    Think deeply, assess the process, and see all things with clarity. Accept your role in the situation. Focus on profoundly understanding what went wrong and why (or how), and grow more powerful from a lesson painfully learned. Remember to hold your head high with the pride of putting another person’s humanity into the solution.

    Side note: If you hired someone to do a job and they flat out didn’t deliver (versus them providing something different from what you expected or wanted), ask for a refund or partial refund. That’s fair, also.

    The best bet is to write out a detailed job description in advance. Send it to the applicant or your new hire and have them sign it. Have them initial each line item. That way, you have something you both can revisit if delivery is lacking.

    As the saying goes — get on the same page. Getting on the same page upfront clears the way for great success flags, not red ones of a problem or white ones of surrender. Go get ’em!

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    Lauren Hirsch-Williams

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  • 4 Books for Entrepreneurs Looking to Break the Mold | Entrepreneur

    4 Books for Entrepreneurs Looking to Break the Mold | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Most new businesses fail within a decade. The actual rate depends on your data source — there are lots of small businesses, which means there are lots of small business data sets — and your time horizon.

    Many more businesses stagger on, neither thriving nor failing. If we’re being generous, we might call them “boring.” If we’re feeling punchy, we might call them “zombie companies.”

    No entrepreneur sets out to run a zombie company. Or a failed business, for that matter. While doing things differently than your peers isn’t a guarantee against either fate, it’s more likely to get your enterprise noticed and to achieve escape velocity before it runs out of capital, talent or both.

    Read these four new books to gain the confidence and capability to chart your own course as an entrepreneur.

    Related: The True Failure Rate of Small Businesses

    1. Build the Fort: The Startup Community Builder’s Field Guide by Chris Heivly

    Every city wants to be the next breeding ground for unicorn startups. But even at this late stage of the tech revolution, we can count America’s true startup meccas on both hands: Seattle, the Bay Area, Boston, Austin, New York, North Carolina’s Research Triangle and maybe Denver-Boulder, if we’re feeling generous.

    What gives? Time and again, it’s not geography that’s the problem. It’s entrepreneurs getting in their own way as they try to build the next big thing.

    Chris Heivly’s latest book asks entrepreneurs looking to find (or build) a thriving startup community to stop being so adult about it. He implores them to get back to basics, literally, by channeling their inner child and building a “fort” that attracts talented, ambitious neighbors — and just maybe turns their corner of the world into the next Silicon Valley.

    Heivly knows what he’s talking about. Back in 2009, he started Raleigh-Durham’s Triangle Startup Factory. The following year, he launched a long-running accelerator program where he met Brad Feld and David Cohen, one-half of Techstars’ founding team. Inspired by their work, he spent the next decade creating “numerous founder-oriented activities,” which he writes “helped propel the region into one of the fastest-growing startup communities in the world.” (He’s not wrong: Venture capital has flooded the Triangle since 2018, and local startups raised over $3 billion in 2022 alone.)

    Building a world-class startup ecosystem is complicated, and Build the Fort won’t guarantee rocket-ship growth for your hometown. But it offers an actionable, easy-to-understand and, most importantly, fun toolkit for entrepreneurs eager to build dynamic early-stage communities.

    Related: 4 Books for Entrepreneurs Seeking to Challenge the Status Quo

    2. Your Multimillion-Dollar Exit: The Entrepreneur’s Business Success(ion) Exit Planner by Wayne Zell

    The typical founder is reluctant to contemplate their exit strategy.

    Writing for Harvard Business Review, Tourag Parang identifies five behavioral root causes of “exit avoidance,” including: optimism bias (believing they’ll succeed where most founders fail), present bias (prioritizing short-term gain at the expense of longer-term growth), signaling problems (assuming investors don’t want to work with entrepreneurs eyeing the exits), risk-taking mythology (believing risk mitigation is a sign of weakness) and acquisition failure mythology (overinterpreting rare but high-profile stories of post-acquisition implosions).

    For some, exit avoidance is almost pathological. The longer it continues, the greater the threat it poses to the business.

    Wayne Zell’s new book tackles exit avoidance head-on. Zell’s blunt, powerful prose loops founders and growth-minded executives in on the dangers of waiting too long to develop an exit plan, then walks them through the pillars of a successful strategy.

    Your Multimillion-Dollar Exit covers preparing for “unexpected” exits (death and disability), leveraging a high-quality team to advance your exit strategy, reducing the tax hit from a sale or transfer, avoiding common pitfalls that erode business value, negotiating like an investment banker and more. By the end, you’ll understand your business’ potential value and have the tools to unlock it.

    Related: Want Your Succession Plan to Succeed? Avoid These 8 Stumbling Blocks.

    3. We Are All Stakeholders: Culture, Politics, and Radical Accountability in the Boardroom by Shireen Muhiudeen

    The political backlash to environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is growing, but the problems that gave rise to it in the first place aren’t going away. On the environmental front, at least, they’re steadily worsening, and no amount of political wish-casting can change that.

    The political dynamics around ESG are a sort of funhouse mirror of the dynamics inside many boardrooms, both at early-stage startups wondering whether ESG detracts from growth and at mature companies used to doing things a certain way. The “old guard” eagerly minimizes the risks of business as usual. And it retains tremendous power in boardrooms across America.

    Shireen Muhiudeen’s newest book offers an optimistic vision and an actionable blueprint for entrepreneurs and corporate leaders ready to push back on the old guard and build more transparent, sustainable and diverse organizations. It focuses not just on implementing an ESG lens but on transforming corporate culture with an eye to radical transparency and globally-minded decision-making. It’s a must-read for leaders tired enough of the status quo to break the mold as they reinvent it.

    4. Find Your Clear Vision: A New Mindset to Create a Vibrant Personal or Professional Brand with Purpose by Lisa Guillot

    It’s a heavy lift to change the dynamics of a fossilized boardroom. So is changing your personal mindset and its impact on the world. But at least you don’t have to get buy-in from anyone else to reinvent yourself.

    That’s the gist of Lisa Guillot’s new book. She writes Find Your Clear Vision for entrepreneurs and executives who are more than ready to make fundamental changes to their professional and personal lives but have no idea how to implement those changes. Or even where to start.

    Guillot’s Clear Vision Framework argues for a holistic approach to personal reinvention, one that weaves spirituality, creativity, brand strategy and professional development. She states that we’re more than the sum of our professional credentials and past roles and that focusing too narrowly on traditional measures of success can actually prevent us from reaching our full potential. Sometimes, the easiest path forward is not the best — and that’s okay.

    Related: How to Build a Successful Personal Brand in 5 Simple Steps

    No business leader or entrepreneur starts their journey thinking that their business will go stale or fail. But, if leaders are willing to adopt practices that help their business stand out and break the mold of predictability, they have a better chance of prevailing. If you are looking to step out of the more conventional patterns of practice in your given industry, these new books can help be your guide.

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    Peter Daisyme

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  • Pathify to Empower Indiana Tech to Optimize Their Student Experience

    Pathify to Empower Indiana Tech to Optimize Their Student Experience

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    The innovative private university selects Pathify to better serve all their students.


    DENVER, May 11, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Pathify – the only centralized user experience hub for higher ed — proudly welcomes Indiana Tech to the growing community of global customers obsessed with improving the student technology experience.

    Dedicated to providing a world-class student experience, Indiana Tech amplifies this commitment with a unifying platform tailored to current student needs and interests. 

    “At Indiana Tech, we often say that tech is everything and everything is tech,” said Jeff Leichty, Chief Information Officer at Indiana Tech. “It’s an acknowledgement both of our deep roots as a STEM-focused university and of the vital role that technology plays in every career field today. Our partnership with Pathify is enabling us to better leverage technology to fulfill our commitment to providing every student with world-class support and service. Just as important, it’s helping us better connect our students, faculty and staff with one another.” 

    Pathify fills the massive user experience void at the center of the higher education digital ecosystem, delivering a personalized user experience unifying technology, content, communications and people. Offering highly personalized experiences for users at every point in their journey, the Engagement Hub encourages system-agnostic integrations, collaborative social groups, personalized tasks and multi-channel communication with full web/mobile parity.

    “The partnership with Indiana Tech marks another exciting addition to our growing partner base in the Midwest,” said Matt Hammond, Chief Revenue Officer at Pathify. “We are looking forward to supporting Indiana Tech’s emphasis on community engagement with their students on our platform.”

    Indiana Tech joins the Pathify customer community in the Midwest with other customers such as Cornerstone University, Aquinas College and Stark State College.

    About Indiana Tech

    Indiana Tech is a comprehensive non-profit four-year private university which provides learners a professional education; prepares them for active participation, career advancement, and leadership in the global 21st-century society; and motivates them toward a life of significance and worth.

    Founded in 1930, Indiana Tech’s main campus is located in Fort Wayne, Indiana; through its extensive online programs and regional locations around the Midwest, it serves students from around the globe. The university offers career-focused certificates, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in fields such as engineering, computer sciences, cybersecurity, allied health fields, business, criminal justice and many more.

    Learn more at https://www.indianatech.edu/.

    About Pathify

    Obsessed with making great technology while developing incredible long-term relationships with customers, Pathify remains hyper-focused on creating stellar experiences across the entire student lifecycle — from prospect to alumni. Delivering cloud-based, integration-friendly software designed to drive engagement, Pathify pushes personalized information, content, and resources to the right people, at the right time — on any device. Led by former higher ed executives, entrepreneurs, and technology leaders, the team at Pathify focuses every day on the values Impact, Wit, Contrast, Technique and Care. 

    Learn more at pathify.com.

    Source: Pathify

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  • How to Balance Ethical Growth and Competitive Advantages | Entrepreneur

    How to Balance Ethical Growth and Competitive Advantages | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In sports, games depend on rules — boundaries, penalties and rule-keepers to enforce them — that skirt the edge of viewer excitement without becoming dangerous or unfair. Everyone agrees on adhering to these rules, and despite them, the game can still be very competitive. In hockey, players can throw down their gloves and fight as long as their actions stay within the limits of competition. Those who play dirty risk more than expulsion from the game: That reputation can ruin their careers.

    In business, we also have to follow rules and expectations to sustain our companies and avoid tarnishing our personal and professional brands. The purpose of any business is growth, but unless we play within those boundaries, that growth is not sustainable. Stakeholders, such as employees and customers, have higher expectations for businesses, from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. The first to step up with new and effective ways to meet more of those demands is the company that will continue to grow.

    While ignoring these trends may bring short-term savings, going against what clients expect will not create sustained growth over the long term. Any company that wants sustainable growth must consider and accommodate the expanding range of rules and expectations in balance with their value proposition in order to continue building.

    Related: Ethics In Business: Why You Shouldn’t Put A Price On Your Integrity

    Equal freedom to grow

    In life, we all have unlimited freedom to grow — as individuals, partners and leaders, but also for our companies. This freedom is not necessarily an innate right, but rather the limitlessness of our potential to learn more and develop our skills to attain greater achievements. However, to ensure equal freedom for all, our pursuit of individual freedom must not come at the cost of the freedom of others. These limits establish the scope of what our freedom can entail — the boundaries within which we can build, manage and sustain our growth.

    Equality in our freedom to grow is not sameness, neither in how much we grow nor the path we take to get there. Giving a group of people all the bananas they want might seem like equality to someone who loves bananas, but those allergic to bananas would see the situation differently.

    To be equal, everyone needs a fair chance to obtain however much of whatever fruit they want. Maybe “as many as I want” is less for some. Maybe the fruit I want is more challenging to obtain, but I am willing to put in extra effort to pursue it. Many compromises can still demonstrate equal freedom if everyone accepts the resulting limitations as equal. Just like hockey, you may come with a different size and weight, but with the rules accepted, you have a fair chance to win if you fight hard and smart both on the ice and off.

    The limitlessness of opportunity within those limits

    People today have higher standards with more access to information about companies and their leaders. Leaders now have to think about DEI and ESG initiatives on top of other business limitations to their freedom to grow — our abilities and natural laws, as well as these newly-evolved legal and ethical boundaries that must be considered. Meeting these limits is now a balance of following the right rules and considering the expectations (and additional boundaries) of these new stakeholders in the game.

    If I were to take as many as I wanted of a rare fruit from a largely undeveloped rainforest, today’s consumers would see this as coming at the cost of their well-being because of its impact on the environment and society’s well-being. My fruit-harvesting team would need to be inclusive and diverse to attract top talent and maintain a positive public reputation. Additionally, I would need to consider ways to minimize our interference and impact within the rainforest so that, once harvested, the forest will have enough time to return to its undeveloped state.

    But within all these parameters, we can still find infinite growth opportunities. Despite the rules in hockey, there are still endless ways players can improve: their skating, speed, timing, body strength, knowledge of plays and the skills on the opposing team, to name a few. In the same way, there are infinite parts to the puzzle of pieces that impact a company’s ability to improve despite the limits of modern business standards. By studying the floor plan deeper, we find more ways to improve in more areas and sustain greater company growth.

    Related: 5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Growing (or Scaling) a Business

    Staying within those limits makes us competitive

    I like to put myself in other people’s shoes to better understand their boundaries and how I can grow without infringing on those limits. Of course, someone could choose to ignore how others feel for the immediate benefits, but stepping on other people’s toes in the pursuit of growth can be dangerous. It might work the first time, but the second time it happens, they tend to fight back. After a couple of times of pursuing short-term benefits at the cost of others, you may find no one wants to work with you anymore.

    Meeting every demand from every possible perspective could be an endless investment of time and resources, so the best way to approach these evolving expectations is to focus on building our own strength, just like how a hockey player does. For companies, it is the value proposition: what we do well, how we connect that ability with a solution to bring the benefit to our customers and how we solve it in a unique way that no one else does or even can. Just as we have the freedom to grow in ourselves and our companies, we are limitless in developing a better value proposition. By incorporating more of the details we learn about the “floor plan” and its boundaries (rules, standards, expectations), we narrow our efforts toward building more of the limitless achievements within them.

    We must make efforts to meet these new expectations for sustained growth today, but those efforts must support, not hinder, our own freedom for growth. This framework is universal and applicable to all businesses of any size, from a small fruit-cart operation to a multinational corporation and everything else in between.

    Related: 5 Ways to Succeed in a Competitive Environment

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    Simin Cai, Ph.D.

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  • How to Achieve Business Longevity | Entrepreneur

    How to Achieve Business Longevity | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Successful entrepreneurs understand the value of being prepared. As technology and customer expectations rapidly evolve, it’s crucial to be proactive in anticipating what lies ahead. By leveraging forecasts from experts about trends that are poised to emerge over the next decade, business owners can stay on top of their competition – positioning themselves for success long into 2030 and beyond!

    As technology evolves rapidly, entrepreneurs need to keep ahead of the curve when it comes to staying competitive. This means taking advantage of new tools, technologies, and opportunities as they arise. For example, businesses should consider adopting cloud-based solutions that enable remote collaboration and use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as natural language processing (NLP). These technologies can help businesses streamline processes and increase efficiency. Additionally, entrepreneurs should pay attention to emerging industry trends such as ecommerce and digital marketing, which have become increasingly important sources of revenue in recent years.

    According to experts, artificial intelligence is set to revolutionize how businesses operate shortly. AI technology can be used by businesses to automate mundane tasks, like data entry or customer service inquiries. This frees up resources and allows companies to focus on more strategic decision-making. Additionally, AI can help businesses save time and money by streamlining processes and identifying areas where efficiency can be improved.

    AI is also being used to detect anomalies in financial records, identify patterns in customer behavior and provide predictions about potential outcomes of marketing campaigns. In addition, AI-based chatbots are becoming increasingly popular for providing personalized customer service experiences at scale.

    Related: How Relationships can Build Business Longevity

    Entrepreneurs should start and continue to get familiar with AI-powered tools to understand their customers better and develop better products and services that meet their needs. By leveraging powerful tools such as machine learning algorithms and natural language processing, businesses can gain insights into customer preferences and trends — providing valuable information that can be used for making decisions about product development, marketing strategies, and more.

    The use of AI is rapidly transforming various sectors of the industry — from finance to retail to healthcare — allowing business owners to drive innovation and remain competitive in an ever-evolving environment. With its ability to automate routine tasks and make sense of large data sets quickly, it’s no wonder experts view AI as a critical enabler for the success of today’s businesses.

    Beyond just the technological side of things, there are several other ways entrepreneurs can prepare their businesses for 2030. As the world becomes more connected through digital platforms like social media and mobile apps, businesses will need to ensure that they have a strong online presence — from providing accurate information about their services or products to engaging with customers regularly. Additionally, entrepreneurs should strive for sustainable growth by developing systematic processes that foster efficiency and savings over time.

    Businesses can use social media in several ways in 2030 — from connecting with potential customers and building brand recognition to increasing awareness of products or services and providing customer support. By leveraging the latest trends and making it a priority to understand the customer, businesses can create meaningful engagement with their fans, followers, and loyal customers — driving sales in the process.

    Related: Why Embracing Chaos is Crucial to Your Success and Longevity

    Another way social media can help businesses in 2030 is through targeted advertising. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter allow advertisers to identify their target audiences more precisely than ever before — allowing them to tailor advertising campaigns for maximum effectiveness. Additionally, by tracking user interactions with ads over time, businesses can gain valuable insight into consumer behavior which can then be used to improve future campaigns. This process will only become easier with time.

    Finally, entrepreneurs should stay connected with other industry leaders and experts who will remain up-to-date on the latest developments in the field. By keeping track of what’s happening both inside and outside their own industry sector, entrepreneurs can better anticipate disruptions before they happen and plan accordingly — whether that means stocking up on supplies in advance or diversifying investments into new markets or sectors.

    Related: How Networking Is Necessary for Effective Entrepreneurship

    Staying connected with other industry leaders can be a key factor in helping businesses succeed. Not only can it help executives get access to valuable information and insight from their peers, but it can also open up opportunities for collaboration and growth. This allows entrepreneurs to stay ahead of the competition and identify areas where they may have an advantage — giving them a chance to capitalize on those areas before others do.

    By preparing adequately now for potential changes over the next decade or so, entrepreneurs can position themselves well for long-term success. Taking proactive steps such as harnessing emerging technologies, using automation tools where appropriate, working remotely if needed, maintaining an online presence and staying connected with customers, the team and industry leaders are all essential components of this preparation process. Entrepreneurs who take these steps now will be well-positioned to tackle any unexpected challenges that may arise in 2030 and beyond — ensuring their success far into the future.

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    Brandon Pena

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  • Chicago business activity index less negative in April

    Chicago business activity index less negative in April

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    The Chicago Business Barometer, also known as the Chicago PMI, rose 4.8 index points to 48.6 in April.

    Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal forecast a decline to a 43.8 reading. 

    This is the eighth straight reading below the 50 threshold that indicates contraction territory.

    The index is produced by the ISM-Chicago with MNI. It is released to subscribers three minutes before its release to the public at 9:45 am Eastern. It is the last of the regional manufacturing indices before the national ISM data for April is released on Monday.

    So far, the regional data suggest a modest improvement this month in the manufacturing ISM. In March, the ISM factory index fell to 46.3% from 47.7% in the prior month. It was the fourth month in contraction territory.

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