Tips to Follow When Starting a Delivery Business

Exploring through different business ideas and finding the right one for you can be a very daunting and time-consuming task. However, for those who are aiming to own a small business that’s easy to handle and manage, a delivery business can be a perfect choice. You will have to go through some paperwork to register your business and get a tx dot number, and once you complete all the paperwork, you can be your own boss, hire drivers and related staff, and Whoosh! Congratulations! A new journey involving respectable earning has begun!

Below are some tips which you can follow when starting your own delivery business.

Get a Big Vehicle

The market is full of different trucks and vans for you to choose from. Finding the right vehicle for yourself that meets all your wants and needs can be a difficult process. You can contact different moving companies and check which vehicles they are using to transport their cargo. Moreover, you can take suggestions from the internet as well by carrying out wide research. All kinds of cargo vans and trucks are best to be used in the delivery business. You can search for vehicles that consume less fuel so that you can save some money on that too.

Choose an Appealing Name

The name of your business is extremely important and is a critical aspect of your business. It has to be unique because it’s the crown your business is going to wear for the rest of the future. The name of your business is going to represent your brand; therefore, choose it very wisely. You can use various name generating apps from the internet and can also take suggestions from friends and family. If you have an attorney working aside from you, it’s best to take a name suggestion from them, as these legal practitioners have been working with many business owners in the past and know the name requirements.

Get Insurance

When starting a delivery business, if you want to develop trust in your customers, you need to get appropriate insurance that covers all your wants and needs. Business owners also need to shield their business from potential significant losses in case of an accident, and for that, insurance is a must. When it comes to a delivery business, insurance becomes a bit detailed because you will have to get insurance on your vehicle, cargo, and also liability insurance to ensure that you stay protected from every side. Let it be clear that if your business doesn’t have insurance, reputed companies will hesitate to work with you because they need security on their cargo as well. You should get insurance immediately if you have started your own business. Contact an insurance broker nearest to your location and get all the details on it.

A Good Reputation Is Must

Once you have your business all set up, it’s about time that you start executing all the tasks. Remember, if you want the customer to come to you again, you need to make sure that you keep up with good customer service. Addressing the problems of your clients frequently can help you establish a relationship built on trust with them. Your clients would also appreciate your frequent availability and will recommend your business to more people. You should dress professionally when going to meet your clients and also should make sure that your cargo van or truck is neat and clean to give a positive and professional impression to the outsiders.

Market Your Business Effectively

Marketing is one of the most critical aspects of the business. You need to look for an effective marketing strategy that carries the name of your brand in the most appealing way. You can use social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to make business accounts and post about your business. Some people use custom stickers for advertising their company too. Get your business cards made and give them to everyone you meet on the way. Develop connections with people, starting from the local ones near your house. You can also consider taking part in school charities and spread your brand’s name there. There will be a large population of both the kids and parents and while the kids are busy with each other, you can engage with their parents and talk about your business.

Man delivering pizza -DepositPhotos

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How to Handle Your Business When It Comes to Fitness

As a human species achieving excellence is a common aspiration for most people. For fitness athletes, this is even more so as they are mentally programmed to always yearn for the top levels of achievement in their many different categories, be it bodybuilding, sports, weight lifting, and much more.

On the other hand, many people only consider fitness as a hobby and fail to understand the true value or meaning of what a complete fitness lifestyle should look like. I have met a lot of great fitness enthusiast that have hit a brick wall when it comes to maintaining a competitive edge in the world of fitness. 

What’s more, over the years we have found people who struggle with real-world applications and solutions to succeed in this fast-paced industry. This is why we have taken it upon myself to advocate for physique athletes that seek a guide or footprint to what they should expect in this industry. Moreover, we also ultimately tackle the ways on how to succeed as a fitness athlete in today’s world. Visit southfloridaathleticclub.com for a free powerlifting training program. 

What Is a Physique Athlete?

To sum it up quickly, a physique athlete is a person who is on a quest through a structured training regime, specific nutritional habits – to achieve their preferred ideal body.  

The Delusion of Many Physique Athletes

Bodybuilding/fitness is in essence a business that has a ‘HEALTHY’ part of the population glued to its every move. We have found that many athletes believe that they only need to show up on stage and deliver the goods at bodybuilding events for instance. This is only partly true because what you do off stage has a great impact on your performance on stage. 

To make it clearer, people don’t buy products that they are not aware of and this is why publicity and branding are so important. The fitness industry is no exception when it comes to publicity and branding and they want the best bodybuilder, fitness enthusiast, speakers, and ambassadors to promote their brand. 

So you will have to be all-encompassing with the media who will deliver you to the general public. How the general public receives you will be paramount on which direction your career will take. This relationship with the media should be nurtured and maintained throughout your life cycle as an athlete to ensure maximum publicity is achieved. 

Note: You should always make sure you are on the right side of the publicity. 

How to Encapsulate the Public

It can be a minefield trying to navigate the ruthless and devouring industry of the media to generate publicity. But if you have just won your first bodybuilding contest or fitness event don’t expect your phone to be ringing off the hook with potential TV interviews. You will have to generate your hype and use your talents to win the imagination of the public. For if you have their attention now come competition day you will be more than just a fly by night athlete. 

Here are a few ways to magnify your appeal and build your brand:

Utilize Your Gym– Your gym is the best place to start. Hang some professional pictures of yourself at the gym with the consent of the gym manager of course. This will solidify you with your base audience and this is partly half of the battle won.  

TV – After the clout, you achieved from winning you should try to maximize it by appearing on TV. You should reach out to a casting agency for better-suited opportunities as the TV industry is a WHO-KNOWS-WHO kind of setup. 

Magazines – Make some effort and put pen to paper and reach out to magazine editors. This will show the editors that you are more than just a physical athlete but you can also take the initiative. 

Supplement Companies – This is a good way to reach your direct market. They change their campaigns yearly and you can offer your services as a promotional model. Remember exposure is what you are after so money should not be your main concern. However, if it is offered, the better it will be for you.  

The World-Wide-Web – With the internet, your brand can grow exponentially in a short amount of time. This is probably the most important way to magnify your brand to the general public. You can also garner support from other countries all over the world this technique is great if you have aspirations of competing overseas. 

Ultimately How Do You Reach Your Goals?

This is a loaded question as far as loaded questions go. You have to realize that everyone is unique and every path will differ. There are as of today millions of diligent, hard-working fitness athletes who are hoping to make their passion for fitness and bodybuilding a full-time profession for them The sad reality is not many will make it to realize this dream. If you don’t have that commitment and believe that you can defy the odds then you might as well stop reading further and quit altogether. 

As we suspected you have continued reading because quitting is not found in a true fitness or bodybuilder’s DNA. For this I commend you, you will receive the fruits of your labor soon. 

The only way to make it in this industry is if you can see the bigger picture. You must then find a way to insert yourself into that bigger picture and grow the industry as a whole, be it as a trainer, fitness coach, competitive athlete, promoter, advertiser, etc. 

We need to mention that you must not become complacent. As there will come a time when you reach the pinnacle of what you can achieve as a competitive athlete. Take for example Ronnie Coleman he won Mr. Olympia eight years in a row. 

This could be said to be the pinnacle moment of his career winning the eight titles. However, did he just retire or exit the sport altogether? Or did he search for other avenues to contribute to the sport in meaningful ways – that makes the industry bigger. We want you to do some research and figure that out for yourself. 

Mastering a Profile of Yourself

This may sound weird to some of you but making a profile of yourself can be life-changing. It will give you a broader idea of who you are in the fitness industry and give you insight into the strengths and weaknesses you possess. Make no doubt about it that you are entering a business world with business people who are ready to devour you. So it is best to be prepared, and knowing who you are is just one of the steps needed to take on the fitness industry. 

Irrespective of what market you are in you should know what it is all about. It is your duty as a business professional/fitness athlete to ensure you are the best situated to reach all of your goals that you set out for yourself. This profile can also be used as a mirror which you can use to reflect how far you have come in the industry from time to time. 

Target Your Niche Market

This is important to note because if you waste resources in a niche market that isn’t yours you could lose valuable money. Your niche market is the part of the fitness industry where you spend the majority of your time. It is where you want to make money and thrive. However, you can also branch out to other niche markets that complement yours to maximize your earnings. 

Conclusion 

There are many hopefuls, dreamers, overachievers, and much more. You will have to find out what sets you apart from all of them and capitalize on that. Whatever, the route you take as a competitive fitness athlete, bodybuilder, or coach, much more. know first what you want out of the industry and find a way to obtain it. Follow these guidelines we have mentioned but don’t forget you do this because you love it so always enjoy every moment of it. You are in a fantastic industry that not too many people get to enjoy.

 

Bodybuilder prepare to do exercises with barbell -DepositPhotos

The post How to Handle Your Business When It Comes to Fitness appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/growth/personal-growth/fitness-careers

4 Types of Videos You Should Create for Your Small Business

That’s right! The world has gone digital and every business conceivable, for every product and service, has now established their literal real estate space on the Internet. In this day and age where customer attention is the new dollar, all businesses, big and small, are trying to put their best foot forward. This means establishing a strong digital presence on social media and other digital spaces and creating valuable assets that will serve them in raking in more attention than ever.

Videos are one of the smartest ways to ensure your business gets the eyeballs it needs.

Don’t believe us? The numbers speak for themselves.

About one billion hours of video are streamed on YouTube every day! In two years, 82% of all consumer traffic on the Internet will comprise solely of videos. But more importantly, 81% of all businesses already use video as a marketing tool. Legend has it that the other 19% are on their way to oblivion.

What about small businesses, you may ask. Do they really need to be a part of this conversation? The answer to that is a resounding YES, especially if the business wants to be seen and heard, given that as many as 72% of customers rely on videos to learn more about a business or service.

Now that you’re (hopefully!) convinced of the need to create videos, let’s talk about viability. Not every video needs to have a massive production budget along with all the expensive frills that come along with it. There are a number of smart marketing videos that you as a small business owner can create, which can be tailored perfectly to your needs and budget requirements.

1. Tell the World About Yourself AKA the Brand Video

An absolutely essential video asset to possess, the brand video sets the tone of how your business will be known and perceived by the outside world.  By telling the brand’s story in your own way, you have the chance to shape your target customers’ perception about it before they even try your product or service. A great brand video instils more customer confidence.

All you need is to do is tell a compelling story about your brand like Dollar Shave Club did!

2. Now You Have Their Attention, Talk About What You Offer AKA the Product Video

Once you’ve told people what your business is all about, it’s time to get down to… well… business! Make a product video that tells your customers exactly how they can expect to benefit from the particular product or service you have on offer. One thing to keep in mind is that a great product video should straddle the fine line between entertainment and informative information around your offering.

Nine Lines achieved the perfect mix of being creative and showcasing their product effectively, without even saying a word!

3. Show Them How AKA the Explainer Video

If by any chance the usage of your product or service is completely self-explanatory, and easily understood by the end-user, you may skip this type of video. Chances are, though, you won’t.

Explainer videos open that window of complete understanding for your audience, who can access and realize the benefits they can derive out of your offering, and can then decide to jump onto your bandwagon!

And the fact that explainer videos make up the 2nd most-watched category of videos on YouTube doesn’t hurt at all!

Here’s Shootsta, a global tech company that specializes in video production in London, Sydney, and a host of other locations, showcasing how they keep their promise of a 24-hour turnaround in editing videos for any business around the world.

4. Let Them Say It for You AKA the Testimonial Video

Like every good business, yours too will have several satisfied customers who’d swear by your product or service. While their words may satisfy your soul and reinforce the reason you started your business in the first place, they can also serve as a means to get more customers through your doors. Studies have shown that 79% of customers trust online reviews and testimonials as much as they place faith in personal recommendations.

It’s important to note that the key to creating a great customer testimonial video lies in how organic and natural it looks to your prospective customers.

FreshBooks helped Sarah grow her business, and also made a great video about it! Be like FreshBooks!

All in all, you do not need a massive marketing budget to pull off the videos that you need for your business. You can always start with these 4 essential video assets, and go on to create more content, like a product-integration documentary, or a series of videos displaying the wide array of your products, and more.

One thing is for sure – videos are here to stay, and your business needs them to stay in the game!

Detail of camera man -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/smb-video-promotion

A Step-by-Step Guide to Patent Filing

So you have an invention in your hand. 

Maybe it’s something extraordinary. Maybe it’s a new way of doing something ordinary. Or maybe it’s something no one has ever seen before. 

So what do you do? You can’t just leave it be. What if someone steals your idea? What if they start using it and you get nothing out of it? 

That’s where patents come in.

Patents provide you, with the help of the law, the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling your invention or idea. 

Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights

In case you’re confused about the difference between a patent, copyright, and trademark then let’s review them before learning about the patenting process. 

A patent, as we just learned, stops others from using your patented invention or idea. Trademarks, on the other hand, provide protection given to a word, phrase, symbol, or logo that is used in conjunction with goods or services. And copyright is an exclusive right given for any form of literary, artistic, or musical material for a specific duration. 

While patents have an expiry date, trademarks do not.

For instance, this is the patent of the earliest camera by Frank Benjamin.

 

And here are few examples of trademarks:

Source 

And copyrights can be applied to anything from books, music to computer codes. 

How to File a Patent:

“How do I patent an idea?” is quite a common question in the intellectual property industry and it’s mostly asked by those who are new to the industry. Patents can be quite expensive depending on the type, so if you want to file a patent you need to consider many things before you go to the patent office for filing.

Below are some pointers that you need to take into consideration.

Check for Existing Patents

There is a chance that your idea might be novel, but it might not be. So, it would be better to do a prior art search to find if your idea is really novel. There are many benefits for a prior art search. If your idea is novel, then you are free to file a patent. And if not, the search firm can give you some ideas to tweak it so you can get a patent. But it’s not possible in every case.

So, it would be ideal to check if your idea has already been patented. This would avoid any future hassles with the patent office. 

You can do this with a thorough search through patent databases. For instance, if you live in the U.S. you should look through USPTO’s website (United States Patent and Trademark Office). Here you will be able to search for patents dating back to 1790. Apart from govt websites that only show patents of a specific country you can go through free and paid patent databases. Here are a few of them:

• Espacenet Patent Search
• Japan Patent Office
• Google Patents
• Patent Lens
• Delphion

You can also take help from a specialized patent attorney. Not only will they help you through your search, but they can also help with the patent filing process. 

Types of patent

After you’re sure that your idea is patentable, you need to see what type of patent you need to file.  This varies from country to country. For instance-

Here are some of the patent types in India-

• Ordinary or Non-Provisional Application
• Convention Application
• PCT International Application
• PCT National Phase Application
• Patent of Addition
• Divisional Application

And here are a few patent types in the U.S.-

• Utility Patent
• Design Patent
• Plant Patent
• Reissue Patent
• Defensive Publication (DEF)
• Statutory Invention Registration (SIR)

Once you figure out the kind of patent that you need to file you can begin the actual process of filing a patent. 

Filing the Forms

When it comes to the actual drafting and filing of a patent, you need to see the legal procedure that your country requires you to follow. India, Australia, and the U.S. for example follow different patent filing procedures in a few key manners. So it’s important to understand the rules of your country. 

Once you file for a patent there are a few things to keep in mind. Such as:

Patent Drafting

There are a few things to keep in mind when you are drafting a patent. For instance, the title of your invention should be less than 500 words. It is also recommended to add images and charts to better explain your patent. 

While there is no restriction on the language of your patent, however, if you are to file your patent in a language of your choice, then you’re supposed to submit a translation in the official language within two months of submission. 

Patent Application Time

On average, it takes 21 months for a patent to get approved and published. So fret not if your patent application takes time since it’s standard procedure. 

You can also check the status of your patent application on the government website of your country. Apart from that, you are likely to get notification from on your registered E-Mail ID (depending upon if your country provides this facility)

Patent Rejections

In case your patent is rejected, there is no need to be dejected You can appeal for revaluation if you think the reason for rejection was invalid. 

And no, your patent will not be published in the public domain upon rejection. 

Maintenance Fee

Once your patent has been granted you have to pay a maintenance fee to continue to hold the ownership of your patent. Failing to do so will make you lose ownership of the patent and it will enter the public domain, free for use. 

Patent Monetization

The sole reason to file a patent is to make money from it. There are three common methods of monetization, and we have covered them before. 

You can take a look at the article here: 3 way to make money from patents

In short, you can make a product from your patent. And if you think you don’t have a resource, approach a company and license your patent to them, this way you can get royalties and the other company will make a profit via a product. 

There is another aggressive way to make money too which is patent infringement. If you find a product that is infringing on your patent, then you can ask the company to either license or pay royalties on your patent. 

Bicycle patent from 1890 -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/innovation/patent-filing-guide

The Firm of the Future – Trends and Next Steps for Today’s Accountants

Disruptive Trends in Accounting

It is no surprise that clients demand more from you as a CPA today than they did 5 years ago, and the profession is more competitive than ever. As bookkeeping and data entry technologies become more powerful, business owners increasingly require their accounting professionals to provide greater value. The most successful accounting firms are doing just that, and as a forward-looking CPA, you can learn much from what others are doing. We asked the experts at BooksTime, an outsourced bookkeeping service that partners with QuickBooks and modern accounting firms around the US, to tell us what they see the smartest, most innovative accounting firms doing with disruptive technologies. They identified three major trends:

1. Automation and AI

An immense shift is underway toward data entry automation for bookkeeping and accounting. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is leading the automation trend to eliminate manual data entry and save you significant time and labor costs. The big system providers use AI for auditing, extracting key information from documents and contracts, and inventory monitoring. Automation impacts Accounts Payable operations in a significant way, substantially reducing the cost per invoice. According to a Sage Practice of Now report, 55% of accountants plan to use AI in the next three years. So, where does that leave the over 45%? In the dust.

2. Cloud solutions

Cloud-based data services, such as QuickBooks Online, are changing the way smaller businesses scale. Cloud computing enables small companies to access more data and infrastructure at a fraction of the cost compared to traditional on-premise systems. Small businesses increasingly rely on the cloud for their entire technical operations. If you don’t know the cloud, you won’t know your clients.

3. Outsourcing

Small businesses recognize more than ever in today’s volatile economy the absolute need to focus on core competencies. Such focus is not just desirable but crucial to survival. Ubiquitous broadband and high-speed Internet permeates business locations, fueling remote connectivity and communications and realizing the ability for bookkeepers, controllers and CPAs to have high-speed, two-way conversations with clients via video streaming. Bookkeeping service companies like BooksTime, using powerful systems like QuickBooks, can service clients around the globe as well as around the corner. More than ever, you need to connect with your clients through technology.

Becoming a Tech Expert

The future of accounting is technology, and the CPAs who master technology will be in the best position to provide the business value in their practices. An article in CPA Practice Advisor suggests, “Technology advancements have enhanced the accountant’s ability to interpret data efficiently and effectively. He/she now has the ability to interpret the language of business with such ease that the accountant has become a corporation’s most trusted business advisor.”

In a world of technology, where should the astute CPA zero in? An article in Account Today identifies strategically essential systems you need to know:

• Base accounting systems – modules for general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank reconciliation, budgeting, financial reporting, and payroll.
• Financial forecasting systems – using select datasets to predict an organization’s financial outcomes based on past results and known or expected factors affecting the business.
• Enterprise Resource Planning – integrating ERP with the base account system is crucial to providing real-time insights into the financial health of the organization.
• Supply Chain Management – also called spend management, SCM supports business continuity.
• Customer Relation Management – CRM tracks and facilitates communications with customers.
• Cloud systems – putting these essential systems on a cloud platform greatly enhances the opportunities to integrate and combine data to gain efficiencies in data entry, processing, reporting and analyzing.

As a CPA, your key to success is not to be an expert at every detail of these systems, but to focus on integration. You need to become more than just a service provider, you need to be a service integrator.

So what does a service integrator look like? The Journal of Accountancy identifies four skills of a tech-savvy accountant:

1. Understand how processes work

Even the best-engineered systems work only if they are set up and administered properly. You are in an excellent position to advise and consult on sound business practices that underlie successful systems implementations.

2.Communicate effectively with technologists

Combine your business knowledge with technologists’ programming expertise to deliver systems that meet requirements and deliver valuable results.

3.Consult rather than command

In advisory and consulting roles, you must adapt to giving opinions and advocating ideas rather than stating autocratic certitudes.

4.Analyze data and communicate with clients

With automation doing much of the heavy lifting of bookkeeping, you have more time to spend with clients. You can increase the value of your client facetime by learning how to analyze data for business insights. QuickBooks and Xero are two excellent examples of automation platforms that handle the mundane tasks while delivering rich data through robust analysis tools.

Outsourcing for Leverage

The breadth and depth of technology’s impact on accounting can be overwhelming. How do you even begin to come up to speed in the technology ecosystems?

That is where outsourcing comes into play. Start with QuickBooks Online for an integrated, cloud-based software solution that already hooks into the other main business systems, like ERP, SCM, and CRM. Then, rely on BooksTime’s in-depth expertise with cloud accounting systems to take the burden off your shoulders for the daily bookkeeping operations. Free yourself to focus on high-value, high-margin services, maximize your financial expertise, accentuate your differentiators, leverage your core competencies, and deliver real business value to your clients.

After all, you didn’t get your CPA license to spend all day categorizing transactions. Embracing technology, becoming an integrator rather than just a service provider, and outsourcing the manual tasks so you can focus on your value-add expertise will put your accountancy on the top rung of the best and brightest. Make technical disruption work for you.

Business team at work -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/accounting-trends

How to Edge Out the Competition as a Small Business

Having a small business can be one of the most rewarding endeavors in life, but also one of the most difficult. If you have fallen victim to binary options scams, there are ways in which you and your business can recover. Get help to protect your company against scams and get help to recover if you have been victim to a scam.

There are a few ways in which you can position your small business to beat out the competition, but most importantly you want to be careful when getting involved with binary options, as in many cases it could lead to your small business being scammed out of money.

With the right amount of patience and hard work, you can easily position your small business to beat out the competition.

Protect Your Company

Make sure you have insurances, securities, and protections in place should you ever happen to be victimized by a scam. This will make the recovery process for your company a lot easier. Partner up with a company like Pay Back so your assets are protected in the event that you ever do get scammed out of money. Pay Back will work on your behalf to get back any and all money that you lost as part of a binary options scam.

What Exactly Are Binary Options?

Usually, these options have an expiration date and they involve a financial transaction in which the buyer is losing investment instead of the option expiring in the money. Since there is an expiration date, when the option does expire, the investor’s account could be charged the money from a loss that he was not expecting to have.

It’s essentially a risky bet. You are betting your money on whether or not an asset will lose value. If it loses value, you lose your money. Very risky, these options frequently result in losses of large amounts of money that can be detrimental to your small business.

What To Do After a Binary Option Scam

If the worst happened, and you have been scammed, there are a few things you can to do start the recovery process. Even if you have done everything possible to avoid a scam, unfortunately sometimes it is unavoidable.

Contact a company that will work on your behalf to get you back all the money you lost in the scam. While binary options themselves are not a scam, any binary option that is promising access to “instant money” should be considered a scam. If you find that you have fallen for this, it’s ok, and a company like Pay Back can help you recoup the money you lost.

Be Careful of Investors

Sure, you should reach out and ask investors to invest in your small business. That is how many companies get started. Just make sure you do your due diligence, as the wrong investor can set your company up for a scam.

Fake investment companies are notorious and do a great job of pretending to be real. Do your homework and vet your investors, and this can go a long way toward preventing your small business from being scammed.

Be mindful of any investor that is promising you a quick turnaround and guaranteed success. A good investor will know that it takes time to build up a successful business and earn good money. You want to work with investors who are in with your company for the long haul.

Stop Doing Everything Yourself

Maybe your small business was a lifelong dream and you finally are executing on that. However, that does not mean you need to do everything yourself. Build a team you can trust. From auditors to cashiers to insurance agents, you will need a strong team surrounding your small business in order to edge out the competition.

If you and your competition both fall victim to a binary options scam, you want to be in a position to recover quickly so you can get back to work. Have a company like Payback on-call so they are ready to instantly jump in and recover your money. If your competition did not plan ahead like you, you will be far ahead of them in your money recovery process.

Build Relationships To Get Ahead

Building relationships can be the most important thing you do as a business. You want to develop relationships with your customers, with your staff, and any companies you hire to do work on your behalf, like if you are recovering your money from a binary options scam.

Do not underestimate the power of relationships. People would much rather go out of their way to help you if they have a pre-existing friendly relationship with you. Just because you do not need to work with someone today does not mean that will be the same tomorrow, so build relationships today with an eye towards the future.

Business in competition -DepositPhotos

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source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/smb-competition

How to Build a Strong Brand on Social Media: The First Steps You Should Start With

Creating strong brands on social media is not easy. And when it comes to which steps or patterns to follow, we encounter techniques as diverse as making efforts to establish our brand’s cross-platform personalities, using engagement growth services, like Socialsup.

Most of the time, the best advice is to blend several techniques in the shape of steps inside and overall marketing campaign.

That being said, we may take a deeper look into these steps and the way you can organize them to get the best results out of each one.

Establish Your “Brand Voice”

This may be something you have already heard about.

The matter of a brand ‘possessing’ a distinct voice or tone is not something new thing in the catalog of marketing tools. A matter that renders very well to the area of digital brand building.

What is a brand voice, and what does it work for?

Most of the time, a brand voice will translate into a guide filled with information of interest regarding the brand’s personality.

This information, which is composed of actionable details on matters like the brand’s target audience, buyer persona, catchphrases, type of humor, vocabulary, and others, is created to educate people on the problem of how to handle and implement the brand’s digital communications.

In this sense, this guide is created to be used regularly by community managers, graphic designers, copywriters, and content managers (and overall, almost every other individual with some access to the brand’s social media accounts).

Being a new brand on social media makes a genuine opportunity to freely establish your brand’s voice without being restrained by things like the brand’s record customer service and historic out-of-the-screen personality.

Cross-Platform Campaigning

It’s a common mistake to think of cross-platform campaigning as the task of copying and pasting the same images and texts one has published on one platform in all others.

And nevertheless, almost every brand taking its first steps into social media branding has been convinced of this idea based on so tell branding tactics of “unity” and “efforts saving”.

Although “unity” and “efforts saving” are concepts commonly treated in general marketing, they don’t translate so good to “social media branding”.

Why? Because, simply put, every platform has its very own dynamics. A complex matter that translates into elements so diverse as the platform’s algorithm, audiences’ moods, channel vocabulary, image formatting, and captions length.

How to do cross-platform campaigning for small brands and not die in the effort

Most of the time, accounts that have somewhat similar audiences across platforms have both a higher tendency of slipping into repetitiveness and a greater higher risk of boring their audiences.

This is a critical barrier for new brands. As they don’t have that much content to sway from, neither they’re common to have that much international following.

Let’s see how to use digital content in multiple ways, making it cohesive but not repetitive:

Facebook

Facebook is about long-lasting relationships and intrigue.

People don’t look into the platform so much for ads and images as they for storytelling.

One case study is Starbucks’ Facebook campaign, where the creation of group communities like “Leaf Raker’s Society” – an Appreciation group for the coffee shop’s autumnal beverages with more than 40,000 members – has delivered for Starbucks custom channels opt to share brand stories in a way that boosts brand identification and engagement.

Facebook is a great platform to build call-to-actions that inspire your audiences.

Twitter

Twitter is wired to be consumed fast, with a news-paced nature and little room for teasing or approach.

Audiences visit Twitter to receive direct information. So when advertising something, be precise.

To help your ads have a better chance of standing out the crowd chatter, compliment your messages with visually appealing content –like GIFs, related images, short videos, and social cards.

The fewer words, the better. Firstly, focus on sharing crucial info in your message – date, time, topic, and place.

Instagram

Instagram is about visual stimulation. Based on ideas that range from image quality, visually told stories, color harmony, and overall image-focused content.

Although what makes that image-focused content will depend on the overall strategy you choose. At the end of the day, it’s important to understand the written text on Instagram (like captions and bios) more as an excuse for images than a source prone to communicate with audiences.

Simplify your processes. Focus on sharing good-quality images that are both appealing and work to share the information you want.

Buying Likes to Enhance Engagement

As we have said in another entry, engagement growth services are rooted in the idea of creating a ‘snowball effect’ that makes such elements as platforms’ algorithms and users to perceive your content as more valuable.

This enhancement on visibility and engagement leads to higher indexes of brand awareness in the platforms regarded.

Making the Best of Digital Growth Services

Most of the promoting services out there have plenty of options to choose from, covering a diverse set of options alternate between platforms to be used on, delivery time, and number of likes, and/or views. As we’ve talked here about cross-platform marketing, you may find better results using your resources on platforms where you’ve historically targeted your efforts the most; or where you plan to do it in the coming future.

Timing Is Key

You may buy these services in crucial moments –like right after publishing a story, just before posting an image, or in a time when your account is marking low on likes or retweets.

Growth deliveries (likes, views, or followers) are better to be implemented in a way that feels natural for your average audience. In this regard, ‘making use of the moment’ is a recommended way to make your general audience feel less conflicted about these sudden growths.

When given the option, make use of the ‘gradual delivery’ option.

Businessman hand writing branding your business -DepositPhotos

The post How to Build a Strong Brand on Social Media: The First Steps You Should Start With appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/social-media-marketing/branding-first-steps

How Can Your Business Benefit From a Mobile Application?

The rapid development of mobile technologies has provided great opportunities for either individuals or businesses. Millions of companies in various industries, from e-commerce shops and banks to restaurants and healthcare providers, have duly appreciated mobile apps business opportunities. The reality is that today it is not enough to have a user-friendly website. The experience of numerous successful businesses has shown that a mobile app is the most effective way to boost your development, increase income, and build strong relationships with your customers. In order to substantiate this statement, let’s consider the advantages of mobile apps for business in detail.

Advantages of Mobile Apps for Business

Enhanced Brand Awareness

One of the most sure-fire ways to enhance your brand awareness is to develop a branded mobile application.

Therefore, your business will be exposed to a broader audience. Your task is just to create a stylish, helpful, and informative app that will meet your business requirements and customers’ needs. If your mobile app offers features that your customers like, more people will get involved with it. “Keep in mind that your app must be bug-free and work properly. That is why pay particular attention to your application testing,” says Oleh Sadykow, a co-founder of DeviQA – a leading automation testing company. “Professional testing is the best way to guarantee the high quality of your mobile application.”

24/7 Availability and Excellent Customer Service

These days good customer service is not just face-to-face communication. Today It is important to provide your customers with information and services whenever they need them. A mobile app provides you with an opportunity to be always available to your customers. Having your mobile application at their disposal, people will be able to get information about the required products and services or make a booking wherever they are and without waiting for business hours.

Customer service should be of primary importance, and a mobile app is the best practice to improve customer satisfaction. Well-designed mobile apps are speedy, helpful, and informative. Besides, they are extremely convenient as some information can be accessed offline, and certain features of your mobile app can work efficiently offline as well. Therefore, customers are tempted by the rapidity and convenience of mobile apps.

Opportunity To Keep Customers Engaged

Mobile applications for businesses can significantly increase the engagement of customers by means of customized options and features:

• 24/7 accessibility for current and prospective clients;
• Buying and booking options;
• Secure payment options;
• Effective customer support;
• Social login;
• Push notifications and reminders;
• Comments and reviews, etc.

Direct Communication With Customers

Direct personal communication is the best way to establish strong relationships with present and prospective customers. Mobile applications give great opportunities for such direct communication to provide fast and effective responses to inquiries and issues through customer support, feedback, suggestions, reviews, FAQ, etc.

Sales and Revenue Increase

The main goal of any business is to increase its revenue continually. With the help of a business mobile application, you can effectively showcase, promote, and sell your products and services. Convenient search options, simple ordering steps, and secure payment options can help you significantly increase sales and revenue by providing an excellent user experience.

Recommended: How to increase your sales with mobile app

Effective Marketing Channel

A mobile app can be used as an effective marketing channel that completes other marketing platforms like your official website and social media accounts.

Using push notifications, you can promote your goods and services, inform customers about news, special sales, discounts, campaigns, etc. and remind them about your business whenever it is needed.

Tracking and Analysis of Customer Behavior

Having a mobile application and using special tools, you have an opportunity to collect and analyze valuable information, including customer behaviour in mobile app usage and users’ activity, demographics, preferences, completed transactions, and many others. Using this valuable information, you can identify market trends and customers’ needs, and correspondingly adjust your business performance, update the app content, and customize features.

Cost Reduction

With mobile applications for businesses, you can considerably cut down expenses on SMS messages, brochures, flyers, and various advertising and marketing activities. The thing is that a good mobile app can be effectively used as single marketing, advertising, and customer service platform. Besides, it can also decrease your staff workload as they will not have to send information requests and make calls anymore.

Increased Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is an important business aspect that you must cultivate to achieve success. Customer loyalty is built on the condition that you regularly remind your customers about your existence and inform them about new products or services you offer. Brand awareness and excellent customer services also play an essential role. A good mobile application can help you to cope with all these tasks and enhance customer loyalty.

Conclusion

What is the most important benefit of an enterprise application? We have already listed numerous advantages of a mobile app. However, the most important thing about it is an opportunity to keep up with modern market tendencies and needs. Today, people cannot spend a day, some people even cannot spend an hour, without their smartphones. The world has gone mobile. Sooner or later, every business will have to consider mobile app development in order to withstand. That is why do not waste your time and start to reap the benefits right now.

Young hipster using a mobile phone -DepositPhotos

The post How Can Your Business Benefit From a Mobile Application? appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/mobile-app-benefits

Why You Need a Professional Software Developing Company?

In today’s highly competitive business, it is no longer enough to create a brand, a strategy for its promotion and development. Such an approach to company positioning will hardly bring customer loyalty. The whimsical buyer wants to trust the company, know that he pays for and what he will get in return. Therefore, any company needs to present its competitive advantages to its potential client, to provide a quality product to satisfy customer needs at 100%.

In this post, we will talk about the main secrets of creating a great product and the role of a professional software development team in this process. So why do you need to hire a professional software development company? How can you find a good service? And what will you get from this cooperation?

Secrets of Getting a Professional Development Team on the Project

Why do you need a professional developer for your business? Will the cooperation with a web developer from Beetroot be an enjoyable experience bringing success to your business? What programming skills should a web developer have, and how can they improve your business?

You should already be in a hurry to make your project address customer needs and offer a one-of-the-kind product/ service. To make it all happen, you need to hire a professional web development team for your business. If you have no idea of the main functions of a software developer, you are not alone. Most startups have the same problem – they do not understand the role of a web developer for the success of the project.

Here are some goals that a good software development team will help you achieve:

• creating a full-fledged product/project map;
• preparing technical specs (technology used, programming language);
• addressing potential pitfalls;
• product testing;
• bug fixing;
• product maintenance;
• product optimization;
• adding extra features to the ready-made solution.

Of course, one developer will not be able to cover all the tasks. That’s why you should hire a dedicated team for this purpose.

Why Should You Have a Team of Developers?

Why do companies strive to hire software development teams? How can they help your business grow? Are they beneficial? Well, such teams are well versed in everything – both back-end and front-end development. Hiring web development teams has many benefits. For example, they can develop a software product on their own and can easily solve any problems.

Such teams can ensure that your site/project works properly. Below are some reasons for hiring a team of web developers.

#1 Effective Problem Solving

A startup company needs web developers because the latter can easily manage work from a wide variety of programming projects. From the user interface to the server-side programs. A web developer has this potential and inherent knowledge.

#2 Technological Skills

A team of web developers has broad scope of technical skills, which can greatly help to further expand the business. One web developer may never have such a deep technical knowledge as a team.

#3 Fast Problem/Bug Fixing

A team of web developers can quickly identify and fix any issues. Thus, you can be sure of the smooth development of your project.

Where Can You Find Web Developers?

There are many different platforms where you can find freelance specialists for your online project. However, it is quite risky sending a job offer to a person you do not know and have no feedback about. Therefore, the best way to find a trusted and professional web development team is to go to an IT firm that has professional teams and offers web development services. Thus, you can be absolutely sure that such specialists have relevant background and experience working on multiple projects.

Developer Using Laptop -DepositPhotos

The post Why You Need a Professional Software Developing Company? appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/technology-trends/professional-dev-companies

Home Office Setup: 7 Best Gear for Working From Home

With the coronavirus pandemic forcing millions of Americans to transition to remote work, many find they don’t have an adequate home office setup that allows them to be productive and efficient. Whether you’re now a remote worker or a freelancer working from home, it’s important to have the right gear to ensure you can get your job done. Whether you’re turning a corner of your living room into a workspace or have a separate room that can be dedicated as an office, take a look at our list of the top seven best gear for working from home.

1. Adjustable Desk

As they say, sitting is the new smoking. To ensure you’re keeping your body in good health, it’s important to get up and move once in a while. Investing in an adjustable desk or a sit-stand converter is a great way to get you up out of your chair while still being able to work behind your computer. Studies have also found that working while standing boosts productivity, making this essential gear a win-win!

2. Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

From your computer to your dual monitors and phone charger to your digital clock, your home office can quickly turn into a maze of cords and wires. When possible, try and find wireless options to prevent all of your cords from getting tangled. To reduce clutter and keep your workspace clean and tidy, invest in a wireless mouse and keyboard. This way, you can keep your desk clear of clutter and prevent yourself from tripping on cords and bringing everything down with you.

3. Blue Light Glasses

Staring at a computer all day can do some serious damage to your eyes. The blue light emitted from computer screens can lead to dry eye and eye strains and disrupt your circadian rhythm, which is responsible for helping you sleep at night. One nifty gadget that can be as cheap as $10 is a pair of blue light glasses. Blue light glasses can filter out blue light, so your eyes can remain sharp and alert. They can also help you feel more energized and help you get through that 3 o’clock slump as the workday begins to wind down.

4. Noise-Canceling Headphones

When working from home, there can be a lot of distractions, especially if you have family members, pets, and roommates wandering around the house. To keep you on your A-game, a pair of noise-canceling headphones will come in clutch. When it’s time to enter the zone, pop on your favorite playlist, and tune out the world.

5. Houseplants

Being stuck inside all day behind a computer can take a toll on your well-being. While you may be on a tight schedule that reduces your ability to head outdoors, you can bring nature inside with some houseplants. Houseplants are proven stress-relievers and are also great at removing toxins from the air and boosting productivity. Because you’re so busy, invest in easy-to-care-for plants, such as:

• Spider plants
• Snake plants
• Monstera
• Fiddle leaf fig tree
• Aloe vera
• Peace lilies

By placing a few green houseplants on your work desk, you’ll feel much happier at work even during stressful periods of the day.

6. Gaming Chair

Hear us out—gaming chairs aren’t just for video game enthusiasts. They also make great everyday chairs for the busy workaholic. Gaming chairs are designed with ergonomics in mind. This means different trigger points in your body are taken into account, such as your shoulders, neck, back, and legs. With adequate lumbar support and cushion throughout, a gaming chair will keep your body comfortable, so you don’t suffer from sore or strained muscles.

7. Under-Desk Bicycle

If you’re worried about not getting enough exercise or movement throughout the day because you’re glued to your work computer, consider purchasing an under-desk bicycle. An under-desk bicycle sounds just like it is—a bicycle underneath your desk. While it’s not actually a full-sized bicycle, it’s a pair of pedals you can spin while you’re sitting in your chair. This way, you can get your heart rate up without leaving work, so you can kill two birds with one stone.

The Bottom Line

Working from home can be extremely uncomfortable without the right gear. To ensure you don’t end up resenting both your home and your job, it’s important to invest in the right gear that promotes a productive workspace. With this list of the top X gear, you’ll enjoy working from home like never before.

Home office -DepositPhotos

The post Home Office Setup: 7 Best Gear for Working From Home appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/remote-working/best-home-office-gear

4 Insanely Effective Ways to Generate More B2B Leads

Do you want to generate more business-to-business (B2B) leads? If so, you’re not alone—business owners worldwide focus on appeasing both business-to-consumer (B2C) and B2B customers. 

There are two fairly common misconceptions about these two aspects of marketing. First, many people think that B2C and B2B leads are virtually identical, which means that they don’t have to adjust their strategy to get more business leads. 

The second theory is that B2C and B2B are nothing alike, which leads to marketers trying wildly different strategies and getting lackluster results. 

In reality, B2C and B2B have many things in common, but also some differences. You need to take different approaches to the way you reach these customers. However, you’re still selling to a person, so certain aspects of consumer marketing are necessary for a successful B2B campaign. 

Today, we are going to look at 4 practical ways you can generate more B2B leads for your business. 

Define Your Audience

Before you can generate more B2B leads, you need to identify your audience. Some brands only work with other businesses, while others work with companies and individual consumers. Understanding the difference between these two groups can help you make smarter marketing decisions in the future. 

For instance, if your goal is to attract consumers and businesses to your website, you need to think about how companies can benefit from your product or service. Do you pride yourself on offering wholesale pricing to B2B leads that buy in bulk? Or, do you offer unique products not available to individual consumers? 

Understanding your audience, and more importantly, what they expect from your brand can help generate new B2B leads. You can define your audience by reviewing past site analytics, checking social media feedback, and reviewing feedback forms. All of these routes provide information on your B2B and B2C visitors. 

Segment Leads at Point of Signup 

Lead segmenting is an effective way to implement personalization, which leads to more leads, sales, and conversions. Essentially, businesses segment their audience by their interests, pain points, and goals. 

If you’ve done your homework and researched your target audience, you likely know your customer segments. Let’s say you have an online pet store. You want to offer pet food in bulk to small businesses, but have single bags for retail purchase. 

These two groups are different segments of the same market. You wouldn’t want to send a buy one, get one free offer on a single bag of food to your B2B leads, right? 

Segmenting your leads can double your click-through rate because it contains information that’s relevant to users. You can ask new subscribers to confirm their intent by asking if they are there for a business or household. Once you have your answer, you can put them on a list with relevant marketing material and content. 

If you need more proof that this strategy can generate leads, consider this: there’s evidence that shows segmenting campaigns can boost revenue by a breathtaking 760%. 

Create a Sense of Urgency

Next, let’s talk about a specific marketing strategy that will help you generate more leads. Fear of missing out, also known as FOMO, is a technique where business owners create a sense of urgency to get consumers to subscribe or buy a product. 

We know that 60% of people make purchasing decisions due to FOMO, so adding this strategy to your marketing toolbelt can drastically improve B2B and B2C sales. 

The best way to build urgency is to create limited-time offers and event registrations. For instance, if you’re an email SaaS and offer 50% off your annual plan, but only for a few days, you will see more sales and generate more leads. 

B2B prospects on the fence are likely to accept your offer if they feel like they are getting a good deal. Paying half always looks more appealing to an undecided consumer. 

You can show FOMO ads on social media, through email, and on your website. All marketing channels can benefit from an occasional FOMO campaign, especially if you want to generate more business leads. 

Use Retargeting 

Retargeting is a marketing strategy used to reach B2C and B2B consumers. Let’s say someone lands on your site, adds items to their cart, but don’t complete the order process. This action is known as cart abandonment.

People can abandon their cart for a number of reasons, including added extra fees, poor UX, or they simply got distracted. You can convert these people into customers by using retargeting on social media and through email. 

Ads will pop up, showing people the item they abandoned, and you can choose to offer a discount if they come back and complete their order. While you may not see fast sales, mainly because B2B transactions require more conversation than retail customers. 

But you can bet that the person representing this company will subscribe to your list so you can talk more about the options available for their business. Even if you only convert 20% of these prospects into sales, that’s far more sales than you would have if you let everyone leave without retargeting. 

Back to You

The key to generating more leads for your business is simple: show customers the value in your brand before they ever pull out their credit card. Consumers and business leaders alike are looking for companies that can consistently add value to their lives. 

Offering great content and reaching your audience with relevant offers is a great way to start. Spend time getting to know companies that use your product and find out what you’re doing right, and where you can improve. As you make changes to cater to business customers, you’ll start to see more curious leads funnel to your list. 

If your product or service is lackluster, it’s unlikely that you’ll secure a sale. The best thing you can possibly do to keep your leads after they’ve subscribed is to offer a product that exceeds their expectations. Using the tips mentioned above, you will have an easier time reaching your target audience and securing B2B leads. 

Workplace with laptops concept -DepositPhotos

The post 4 Insanely Effective Ways to Generate More B2B Leads appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/sales/b2b-sales/effective-lead-generation

5 Businesses That Made It Big in the eCommerce Rental Industry

The eCommerce rental industry is expanding at a rapid rate and diffusing into various business domains. A notable reason behind its success is the undergoing transition in consumer trends and minimalist lifestyle of the modern generations. Millennials and Gen Z are willing to rent both used and unused products if they come at a reasonable price and are easily accessible. To meet these demands and start an eCommerce rental store, the main preliminary requisites are a working business model and persisting availability of bankable rental products.

Fulfilling these requirements, several businesses took the bold decision to launch their eCommerce marketplaces and made the online rental business appealing to other entrepreneurs.

A few examples of such marketplaces are:

GearFlow (Heavy Equipment Industry)

GearFlow is a multi-vendor rental platform that came into existence in 2018. Soon after its launch, it was able to raise a seed funding of $1.1 million and establish its name in the equipment rental market.

By providing free listing spaces, Gearflow attracts dealers and merchants to its website and uses a B2C equipment rental business model to conduct operations. It also handpicks only the top suppliers for trust-building.

Today, along with renting services, GearFlow also provides free consultation to rentees and partners, with shipping services to deliver heavy orders when needed. According to news sources, it was able to attract 90 independent and national equipment rental suppliers within a year of activity.

Turo (Carsharing)

Turo made it big in the rental eCommerce by enabling locals to lend their cars effortlessly. It was established in the year 2010 with the name RelayRides but considered rebranding it in 2015.

To attract consumers, Turo provides car owners with $750,000 insurance on theft and damages and roadside assistance for renters. Operating in over 5000 cities in the US, UK and Canada, Turo follows a simple peer-to-peer business model with which it has raised more than $500 million of funding in its journey.

In 2019, IAC, an American holding company, valued Turo at $1 billion while investing $250 million in it. According to Crunchbase, there are 14 million users registered on its website, along with 450,000 vehicles in 2020.

GymLend (Fitness Industry) 

GymLend is a company that evaluated and capitalized on the rental business opportunity that arrived in the aftermath of the COVID19 lockdown in Australia. It is a peer-to-peer marketplace started by two Sydney-siders that allows locals to rent workout equipment both from listed gyms and existing equipment owners.

Due to its impressive business model that includes lucrative terms and flexible delivery options for both owners and rentees, GymLend gained quick popularity amongst its users. As the gyms were shut nationwide, people could bring equipment to their homes at a small price without the need of buying.

According to resources, GymLend had 660 listings within the first month of its launch, which was a great response according to its owner Jordan Smith.

Cort (Furniture Rental)

Cort is a rental furniture company whose roots date back to 1972. Cort started an eCommerce store and was able to generate enough revenue with its rental model to own showrooms throughout the US.

The company also expanded its business in three countries and formed partnerships with businesses in over 80 nations. In 2010, Cort acquired its competitor Lounge22 and became the most dominant player in the American furniture rental industry.

Currently, it provides rental furniture to both homes and office spaces with the B2B market comprising 80% of its total market share. In 2020, it’s estimated revenue is $512 million.

Rent the Runway (Fashion Rental)

Two section mates, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss of Harvard Business School had the idea of launching a fashion rental store in 2004, which gained shape with Rent The Runway in 2008.

After receiving $126 million in venture capital, the two entrepreneurs started their eCommerce store and followed a simple B2C business model to provide women with formal, casual, and luxury fashion apparel on rent.

The services of Rent The Runway are further divided into monthly subscription plans. Hyman and Fleiss made the concept of fashion rental so popular that their business grew to $600 million in 2018. The TIME magazine also honored the company’s CEO, Jennifer Hyman, as one of 100 Most Influential People of 2019.

Closing Thoughts 

The aforementioned companies executed the rental eCommerce business idea to its full potential and overcame the industry-specific adversities with preliminary research, advance planning and effective marketing. As the online rental industry is still lingering in its initial stage, its scope remains relatively unexplored, paving the way for many more entrepreneurs to step in.

If you are searching for a readymade solution to launch your online rental store, check out Yo!Rent, a fully customizable white-labelled solution that you can rebrand to establish your business.

Man holding credit card and using laptop -DepositPhotos

The post 5 Businesses That Made It Big in the eCommerce Rental Industry appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/e-commerce/rental-industry-successes

5 Fears Entrepreneurs Face And How They Cope

The experience of being an entrepreneur is often thought of as one that is daring and highly rewarding. However, an entrepreneur’s journey is more about facing their fears on a daily basis than feeling like they’re on the right path. 

Seth Godin says that resistance is what keeps creators from achieving their goals. This can take the form of procrastination, stress, and fears too. In this post, we’ll look at the common fears that entrepreneurs have to deal with. By understanding these fears and examining the flimsy foundations they’re built on, we’ll be able to deal with them and grow into more confident leaders and business owners. 

Let’s check out the common fears that many entrepreneurs face and how to do away with them. 

Fear of Lacking Expertise and Credibility

A common feeling with many successful entrepreneurs is the feeling that they inherently lack the ability to run a profitable business. 

Even people who have proven track records in their work suffer from ‘imposter syndrome’. They feel like they are pretending to be good at what they do and don’t deserve the recognition or success they have. 

There are a few ways to approach the fear that you may lack credibility and expertise. 

The first thing to remember is that if you are starting out as an entrepreneur, then you don’t have to know everything from the outset. Learning as you go will help you retain the lessons you learn and make you more experienced. 

You can also continue to learn by joining online courses, listening to podcasts, and building your skills. Leadership and entrepreneurship are activities that require constant learning. It’s the willingness to learn from mistakes that matter. 

Be aware of your thought processes and check in to find out if you’re feeling the effects of ‘imposter syndrome’ or that you don’t think you know enough. With awareness, you can dismiss the unhelpful thoughts and take steps to learn new skills. 

Fear of Failure

This is likely the most pressing fear that any entrepreneur may have. Entrepreneurs usually put their hearts and souls into their ideas and businesses, and the idea that they can fail is stress-inducing. 

Some fear of failure is helpful since it can motivate you to work hard and take risks, but too much harms your likelihood of success. The fear of failure can cause unnecessary anxiety, cloud your judgment, and lead to poor decision making. 

The truth is that many startups do fail and there’s no guaranteed path to success. Part of being a leader and an entrepreneur is assuming the risk. 

What helps is developing the mindset of acceptance. Acceptance means allowing for the possibility of failure but doing your best in spite of that. You need to remember that relying on data, creating a great product, and taking care of your customers will give you the best chances of success. 

Failure is temporary and you’ll always learn something important from it which helps you become even more effective in future efforts. 

Taking Large Investments

In any business venture, it becomes necessary to undertake investments that are financially intimidating. Hiring a fully salaried employee, investing in an expensive marketing tool or machinery are significant undertakings.

You need to invest in such things to grow your business while having no certainty that your investment will pay off. In cases like these, it isn’t unusual to freeze up and procrastinate on investing in the right tools. 

Relying on data, facts, and measured considerations can mitigate this fear to a large degree. When you know what you’re investing in, your expected rate of return, and have taken up a reasonable payment scheme, you’ll gain a sense of control. 

Making rational and data-backed decisions are powerful ways to manage your business. But they also serve to ease emotional discomfort and feel confident in the financial decisions you take. 

Fear of Being Wrong

The entrepreneur’s journey is not a common experience for most people. It’s a path that that diverges from the normal life choices that most people make. There’s risk involved and many entrepreneurs often receive negative feedback about their life choices. 

So, being ‘wrong’ and even losing face can keep entrepreneurs up at night, worried about whether they’re doing the right thing. 

I think that taking a major step like starting a business gives you the greatest opportunity for personal growth. You’ll soon learn not to get affected by external judgments that hurt your ego but don’t have much truth to them otherwise. 

Being an entrepreneur means making mistakes, failing, or even disappointing yourself and others. But this can happen even if you take the safe routes in life. Learning from mistakes is just part of the experience. It’s helpful to remember that you’re displaying courage and perseverance by creating something new that helps people and society in general. 

Fear of Financial Ruin

There’s no denying that if your startup doesn’t become successful, you’re likely to see financial setbacks in life. While businesses offer great rewards, the flipside is that you’re taking big risks involving money and time. Time and money that could be placed into a job that pays a steady salary and offers greater stability. 

You can mitigate such risks early on by being financially responsible, planning, and making rational decisions. Work with mentors, financial advisors, and others to manage your money as best as possible. 

Before you launch your business, save up as much as you can, and look for loan options that are manageable. You also need to mind your expenses and invest in tools like marketing software or equipment only after doing your due diligence. 

With some financial training and legwork, you can offset the risk to a large degree. So stay updated on news and invest in your financial education. And finally, collaborate with trade associations and governmental institutions that exist to help businesses become more effective. 

Conclusion

Every entrepreneur has to deal with fears as part of their journey. In some cases, you just need to be aware of your fears and push through them. In others, you have to plan and be rational when it comes to making decisions. 

Make sure that you keep learning by reading, doing online courses, and getting advice from a mentor. As you become more experienced, you’ll learn to manage your fears more easily.

Business People Walking in City -DepositPhotos

The post 5 Fears Entrepreneurs Face And How They Cope appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

source https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/self-development/fears-entrepreneurs-face