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3 Ways To Make Your Workplace More People-Friendly

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Archives, Commentary, Global Trade Daily

3 Ways To Make Your Workplace More People-Friendly

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The work dynamic in this generation has changed. In the past, people had a fierce dedication to their company. They were rewarded for their commitment to a company that took care of them forever.

Technology was born and it grew like a weed. Employers began using technology to replace people. When performed old-style, companies needed accounts payable and accounts payable teams. Now, computers prepare reports, forecast inventory, calculate commissions, and implement URL shortener to make your link easier to remember. This was good news for the companies, but not so great news for the employees.

What happened next

When technology entered the scene, it was more valuable than the CEOs and Business Owners understood. In their day a boss kept his finger on the pulse of every aspect of their company. But, the managers under them knew that technology would take companies to new heights. Further, they knew that refusing to get on board would be a costly mistake. As the older generation retired, new leaders threw open the door for technology and commerce jumped a couple of light-years ahead, tossing the employees into a tailspin.

Hit the brakes

The most amazing thing happened. The managers, now in control, found out what their predecessors knew. Your employees are the backbone of your business. They are the voice and the brand. While technology, like HR Payroll, allows businesses to do more with fewer people, they need to treat the people they have very well.

Collaborate with employees

These are the people on the front lines. They are the first smile your clients see and the first voice they hear. Let them have a voice and hear what they have to say. Maybe they can solve an issue or maybe you can enlighten them in things they may not understand.

Give them tools

Give them what they need to make their jobs easier, like online timesheets that will figure overtime and mandatory breaks, tracking purchases, and easy ways to keep up. While your employees are given the tools they need, you have the means to track their productivity. When experienced employees and good technology move in sync, productivity goes through the roof. If it doesn’t, something needs to be adjusted. If an employee is not doing a good job, speak to him, pray for him and if he doesn’t perform, get rid of him and cut your losses.

Focus on their health

Let them know they matter. Encourage employees to take their sick days or personal days when they are ill. Show them the same respect you expect when they have problems in their homes. Do not praise them for being there 60 hours per week. Praise them for doing their job in the 40-hour work week. Be there for them. Change is difficult in the workplace. When it is time to have the employees trained on using the new software, cross train the departments so everyone will understand how a problem in one department can mean a problem in several departments.

Final Thoughts

There are few things that will ruin morale in the office more than upper management forgetting who butters their bread. Employees are not part of the office furnishing, they are people, and they pour their energy into the business. Respect is a give and take proposition. Why invest years in teaching an employee their trade and then not taking advantage of their knowledge?

The future of commerce is bright. Businesses will use knowledge and technology so their employees can grow. Workplaces will care as much about their people as they do about their future. This will give corporations the best of business past and the power of business future.  Employees will once again become dedicated people who will pull together in lean times.

_________________________________________________________________________

Anna is a specialist in different types of writing. She graduated from the Interpreters Department, but creative writing became her favorite type of work. Now she improves her skills while working as a specialist of one of the custom research paper writing services and to assist a lot of students all over the world and has free time for another work, as well. So the question to ‘ hire someone to write my research paper ’ is resolved rather quickly with her help. Always she does her best in the posts and articles. She also has training and helps and basic writing tips for students all over the world.

Entrepreneurs
Archives, Global Trade Daily, Special Reports

5 Tips to Make Entrepreneurs Resilient When Challenges Threaten their Business

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Many entrepreneurs discover that building a business brings difficult challenges, which in turn require resilience to overcome.

But simply having the capacity to recover and keep going doesn’t always lead to better results. Resilience in the context of long-term business success also means learning from past difficulties and, as a result, changing direction to the right path, says James Webb (www.jamesharoldwebb.com), author of Redneck Resilience: A Country Boy’s Journey To Prosperity, and a successful entrepreneur in the medical and fitness sectors.

“ ‘Pivot’ has become the preferred word among business owners while trying to survive the COVID-19 pandemic,” Webb says. “For many companies now, it’s pivot-or-die.

“Resilience and the ability to pivot go hand-in-hand. Resilience is the key ingredient of success and the thing that will never let you down. And it is also about looking at different paths and taking one, acknowledging you were wrong, learning how to fix it, and doing so.”

Webb offers five tips to help entrepreneurs be resilient and pivot in these challenging times:

Hope for the upside, but plan for the downside. “In business, it’s easy to let a vision of great things ahead trick you into ignoring the real possibility of failure,” Webb says. “Every entrepreneur does it. Every great business has more than one plan. COVID has weeded out those businesses that never planned for the downside.”

Let go when your gut tells you to. Webb says that today’s business world moves too fast and leaves too many behind for a struggling entrepreneur to stay stuck in their ineffective ways for long. “You have to trust your instincts and learn when to step away, and to find another path,” Webb says. “Rather than beat your head against a stone wall, find a way around, over, or under that wall, and continue on the new path of your choosing.”

Dive in the deep end – even if you’re not fully ready. Webb has met many people in business and in life who trust the philosophy that your next move should be the one for which you’re already prepared. He disagrees. “Pursue your next path regardless of your level of preparation,” he says. “Be decisive. Be confident in the fact that if you’re smart and focused, you’ll learn faster when you’re in over your head or out of your depth.”

Learn the powers of contingency management. Entrepreneurs sometimes get overwhelmed by adversity because they are too controlling by nature, Webb says. Empowering people as a regular practice and overseeing a collaborative work culture leads to calm and problem-solving when difficulties surface. “Manage the situation, but don’t rule it,” Webb says. “Care for your people, but don’t set them up for failure by micromanaging them. Hold them accountable but don’t be a dictator. Being resilient as a company and pivoting the right way can only happen if there is mutual trust and a comfort level between the business owner and his workforce.”

See every closing door as a new one opening. Webb says when things aren’t working as they once did, entrepreneurs need a mindset that embraces a challenge and is excited by finding a new way to make things better. ”I have found that the most important lessons in life are the ones you don’t see coming,” he says, “and they bring opportunities you hadn’t considered. When a new opportunity presents itself as a better way, take the risk.”

“Resilience doesn’t just get back up,” Webb says. “Resilience finds a way.”

__________________________________________________________________

James Webb (jwww.amesharoldwebb.com) is the author of Redneck Resilience: A Country Boy’s Journey To Prosperity. His career in radiology saw him rise from a technologist to becoming a leader in the industry as the entrepreneur of several companies. After over 40 years in the medical field, Webb focused on the fitness sector, owning and overseeing the management of 33 Orangetheory Fitness® franchises throughout North Texas.

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Archives, Commentary, Global Trade Daily

7 Things You Should Do to Build a Successful Business

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The idea of starting a company is appealing to many people. It makes sense not to be tied to a 9 to 5 job and be your boss. However, it takes a lot to start and grow a business to success. There are, however, many components that must be put together for the success of the company. For instance, you need to get the right team, establish your goals, seek finance, among many others.

This article will educate you on critical things you must do to put your business on the right path for success as you start your business.

1. Have a Strategy to Achieve Your Goals

One important thing to do after deciding to start a business is to have a goal. This will be like the compass of your business that will give you a focus. It is not only about financial resources but human resources and others.

You need a strategy on how to reach your target and the channels that will make that happen. One also needs to contemplate how to make customers loyal to you.

Your approach to financing also matters. You need a cost plan which involves the kind of cost you intend to face. It also requires financing possibilities alongside a plan to cover expenses and make a profit. If you set up a limited company, think about the implication on finance.

2. Stand out from the competition.

Already established businesses all have their strong reputation, brand names, and more. This makes it essential to have something that makes you different in a good way compared to similar businesses. On starting your business, you must prove yourself without the advantage of reputation that other brands enjoy.

As a result, you need to have something that gets you ahead of the crowd, unique to your business strictly. It could be a bonus, new product, which could be the point of attraction to customers. This can serve as a selling point that will attract potential customers.

3. Have Strong Network

New and exciting business opportunities do not simply appear on a platter of gold. One needs to put in effort in terms of networking. Using your current contacts, you can reach out to new ones and strengthen your network.

Social media is an excellent place to start and meet new people. You can consider joining groups and courses that relate to your niche. Also, consider trade shows, workshops, and seminars as it presents opportunities to meet industry leaders and influencers in your field.

Even if you cannot attend such events, have a representative that can promote your business. Networking is a reliable tool to get the lead your business needs.

4. Encourage Recommendations

One of the best ways to market your business is via recommendation or positive reviews. This only happens if you have a good product that has worked for others. A lot of people rely heavily on positive reviews before making their purchasing decision.

However, you will hardly have a recommendation if you are not offering a good product. If your product is of low quality, you will lose customers, which will negatively dent your business.

5. Get the Right People

Running a business is hard work, and you need all the help you can get. This makes it essential to surround yourself with the right set of people.  Moreover, this is not about the workforce alone because you need mentors, advisers, and strategic partners to help during the growth process. With the right people, accomplishing your goal will be easy.

The right team will help transform your business. With the right workforce that shares the same goal with you, meeting your target will not be an issue. This involves having positive corporate culture by building an environment where everyone takes part and contributes their quota for the greater good.

Also, make sure to encourage and motivate your team over time. This comes down to reasonable compensation, bonus, and other sources of motivation. You also need to invest in training your workers and getting them updated on the latest ways of doing things.

6. Have Good Records

A detailed accounting system and good records are essential to the success of your business. It will help with many things like getting funds, paying taxes, etc. Furthermore, it is in your best interest to have good records as they will come in handy in many areas. No matter how busy the business is, good record keeping and accounting systems need to be prioritized.

You need not be experienced in accounting and bookkeeping as you can hire people with such skills. Majorly, you will need a tax accountant or tax attorney who will handle your taxes; a bookkeeper who will log your invoices and expenses and keep records. Make sure to employ the cloud storage system as it will come in handy at essential business stages.

No one prays to have an IRS audit, but in such a case, an immaculate business record can be a lifesaver.  This includes records of receipts, transactions, invoices, etc., as the IRS will want to check such during the audit.

7. Have a Good work Life Balance

One of the menaces plaguing our world today is stress. It is the precursor for other health issues like high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, menstrual problems, etc. This makes it essential to prioritize an optimum work-life balance. There is a reason many companies give vacation to their workers. It provides them with time to relax, recharge, connect with their family and be better equipped for work. This means that working continuously without a break or a timeout can even be counter-productive.

No matter how busy you are, make sure to separate work from personal life. It can be the difference between your failure and success. Make sure not to give in to burn out through working excessively. Make sure not to wait till you see signs of stress before you take a step back. Avoid bringing your work home, and draw the line if you work from home. It is essential not to sacrifice rest and take every opportunity to get it.

Conclusion

There are many things you need to put in place to run a business successfully. However, these seven points can give you a head start on positioning your business for success.

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Archives, EU Trade, Global Trade Daily

Is Europe The Best Place to Set-up your Business? Benefits and Pitfalls To Look Out For.

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Your business is growing and successful in your country. You may have gotten to the point where you are asking yourself “What is next?”

It may be the most fitting choice in specific situations to launch a new product line or service to help you develop and grow your company. In other instances, entering into a new market is the next logical step.

For companies seeking to grow their businesses abroad, Europe has always been considered a great region. Expanding your company to Europe offers plenty of opportunities outside of your home market to expand. Expanding to Europe, however, is not without its challenges. In this article, we look at the benefits and pitfalls to look out for.

Benefits

First Mover Advantage

When it comes to first-mover advantage, Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) is becoming increasingly popular. CEE comprises countries such as Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

Example:

Businesses with the best e-commerce services can take the best mover advantage, as Forrester E-commerce Readiness Index suggests that the EU businesses lag behind in that area. Businesses can expand successfully by looking for places where established products and service levels are low, providing better alternatives.

Dreamland For Entrepreneurs

If you are an entrepreneur or the first company in your sector or market, you must consider setting up your business in Europe. This might provide you with an opportunity to earn a foothold before the market gets saturated.

Example

Take the example of Dublin (Ireland). There are many excellent reasons to uncover your new start-up company in Dublin. Dublin offers a favorable low tax system and a supportive environment for start-ups to the availability of well-educated workers. You need to be in the best location if you want your company to flourish.

Cost-Saving

It can be a cost-cutting step to set up a business in a European country in certain situations. Compared to the U.S., it could end up costing your company less to produce goods in the EU or to have your headquarters located in a European country. It can also help you save on shipping and transportation costs by providing a home base for your company in the EU.

Pitfalls

Pressure of Compliance

A company must adjust and function according to country regulations while expanding into a new market. These regulations may be quite distinct from your country of origin. In Europe, where employment law is concerned, each country has its own rules and regulations. Therefore, it is vital to associate with the right people who will help you stay compliant and ensure that the correct business procedures are in place from day one.

Global employee management

When it comes to employment legislation, every country in Europe has its regulations. Although some EU countries have parallels with some European laws, these directives are operated differently by each country and by the laws of their own country. A new level of HR support and administration includes the employment of foreign workers. For successful global expansion in Europe, staying compliant is key. Severe costs will result from failure to remain compliant.

Time zone issues

Your country offices can be four to 10 hours behind your European counterpart, depending on your company’s location and the location of your new venue. Differences in the time zone will make communicating a challenge. One possible difficulty of operating across time zones is that it can mean that it needs to become more coordinated and on-the-ball for your company.

How PEO Provide help

It’s just a matter of duration before you start planning a roadmap for your growth as a successful company owner. Luckily, there is a more straightforward option for companies that are trying to dip their toes into a new market without exhausting themselves with substantial investments and a set of criteria for international compliance. Engage with a PEO if you are looking to grow overseas using a lower-cost, lower-risk business model.

What’s a PEO, then?

A Professional Employer Organization works closely with small to medium-sized companies to assist with various activities, including providing access to better employee benefits, managing certain aspects of human resources, managing taxes and payroll, and other employer-specific admin positions that are required to operate a company effectively.

So, Precisely What a PEO Offers?

-International expansion

-Compliance support

-Payroll and HR

-Better recruitment options

-Risk protection

-Access to more engaging benefit packages

Example

You may take the example of Germany PEO services that offer employers of record service for businesses who want to recruit workers and run payroll without first setting up a branch or subsidiary. The candidate for your company is hired in Germany in compliance with local labor laws through PEO and can be set up within a few days. PEO services in Germany help customers in Germany to run payroll while HR utilities, tax, and compliance management problems are eliminated from their shoulders. As global PEO professionals, they practice the best strategies in employment contracts and severance problems and even termination if needed. Also, these services keep you up to date on any changes to local jobs laws in Germany.

Final Thoughts

Expanding worldwide has its pros and cons. However, companies seeking to grow their business internationally should take advantage of the many edges that Europe has to offer. With a population of over 500 million, a diverse community of countries, and a common market, Europe gives companies plenty of opportunities to grow.

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The Path To Business Success? Treat Employees As Assets, Not Expenses.

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Any number of factors can cause businesses to struggle. A lack of working capital. Poor planning. Ineffective management.

But one factor that always affects business performance is employee engagement and the degree to which employees feel valued by their company, says Bill Lyons, the ForbesBooks author of We Are HR: The Business Owner’s Definitive Guide to Professional Employer Organizations.

“Your company’s profitability depends on its people – and you want your team to be composed of the brightest and the best,” says Lyons, who also is the CEO of Lyons HR (www.lyonshr.com), one of the largest privately held Professional Employer Organizations in the country. “In this labor market, to recruit and retain the best people you have to first make your company a desirable and compelling place to work.”

That means offering attractive wage and benefit packages, along with a healthy workplace culture that keeps employees engaged and productive.

“Instead of seeing employees as an expense,” Lyons says, “businesses need to view them as assets that help improve the bottom line.”

In his work, Lyons says he has learned that there are four pillars of profitability that are critical to business success, and all four in some way impact employees. Those pillars are:

Payroll. Employees expect the correct amount of money to arrive in their bank accounts on time and they want their information easily accessible online, Lyons says. That sounds basic, but businesses sometimes fail to make payroll, or they commit errors when deducting for things like taxes and benefits withholdings. “An employee’s paycheck is what enables them to meet life’s responsibilities,” he says, “so payroll errors and omissions are not things that can be tolerated.”

Employee benefits. If businesses don’t offer such benefits as health insurance or a retirement plan, the better employees will look elsewhere, Lyons says. But smaller businesses usually are at a disadvantage when compared to larger competitors. For example, in 2018 about 85 percent of workers at businesses with 100 or more employees were offered a retirement plan. In contrast, just 53 percent of workers at businesses with fewer than 100 employees had such plans, according to a Department of Labor report. The report said cost and regulatory complexities are factors discouraging small businesses from offering retirement plans.

Risk management. Many small businesses have a certain level of risk baked into their business models, Lyons says. “They may rely on heavy equipment, vehicles, machinery or other factors that can potentially threaten the safety of the workplace,” he says. “The question is: How effective is your risk management program?” Often small businesses that have a clear exposure to employee injuries do not have any formalized risk management program in place. “It’s important to prioritize and clearly communicate this risk management program so employees know the company views their safety as paramount,” Lyons says.

HR compliance. A myriad of employment laws and regulations have been passed through the years and businesses need to make sure they are in compliance, Lyons says. “The workplace is a melting pot of liability for employers,” he says. “Are your hiring practices lawful? What about your compensation plan, is it discriminatory? What about terminations, do you have all the bases covered? How do you determine when an employee deserves a promotion or a raise?” It’s important to have an updated employee handbook that addresses all these issues along with current job descriptions that are compliant. This makes things clearer, Lyons says, for both management and employees, who like to know where they stand.

“To truly drive employee performance,” Lyons says, “you also need to drive employee engagement – the emotional commitment that each individual team member has to their organization and its goals. Healthy employee engagement means a person truly cares about their work and their company. It’s up to owners and managers to create an environment where everyone is allowed and encouraged to consistently produce their best work.”

________________________________________________________________

Bill Lyons, the ForbesBooks author of We Are HR: The Business Owner’s Definitive Guide to Professional Employer Organizations, is the CEO of Lyons HR (www.lyonshr.com), one of the largest privately held Professional Employer Organizations in the country. Lyons has more than three decades of experience and has helped hundreds of businesses drive performance, control HR and labor costs, increase profitability, and mitigate employment liabilities. Before starting Lyons HR Prior in 1995, he held positions in accounting and finance for both private and publicly held companies.

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Archives, Global Trade Daily, Top Cities

Cities With the Most Startup Businesses

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Startups are a significant driver of the U.S. economy. Each year, thousands of entrepreneurs launch new businesses that create jobs and spur innovation and efficiency across the market. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 420,000 startups accounted for 2.2 million new jobs in 2018.

Unfortunately, entrepreneurship in the U.S. has been declining for decades. In the late 1970s, the startup formation rate in the U.S.—defined as the number of new firms in a given year divided by the total number of firms—was nearly 14 percent. Four decades later, the rate was just above 8 percent

One of the major factors contributing to this trend is firm concentration. In recent decades, many sectors have shown a trend toward consolidation and greater concentration in the market, making large firms even larger and more successful through economies of scale, network effects, and other incumbent advantages.

Economic downturns also tend to slow startup formation, and the Great Recession’s effects on new business creation have proven to be especially stifling over the last decade. Unlike in past recessions, when a dip in startup activity has been followed by a period of growth, the overall startup formation rate fell in the wake of the Great Recession and has more or less remained flat at around 8 percent since. With less economic security due to a long, uncertain recovery, many potential entrepreneurs chose to minimize their risk and forgo new business opportunities. This is especially true of many would-be founders now in their late 20s and 30s, who graduated in a poor job market with large debt burdens.

This past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought even more economic hardship, and the unique circumstances of this downturn have created an even more complicated picture. In addition to the typical barriers to entrepreneurship that a recession creates, different industries face divergent fortunes in the era of shutdowns and social distancing. Certain sectors have become even more entrenched in daily life, creating new opportunities for growth in areas like e-commerce, video conferencing, online education, and collaboration tools. On the other hand, COVID-19 is likely to further suppress startup activity in many sectors like accommodation, food services, and retail. In recent years, these fields have experienced stagnant or declining startup formation rates. Today, the prospect of entering these industries will become even more daunting with consumer concerns about health and safety stifling demand and increasing overhead costs.

New startup formation is distributed unevenly across geographies as well as industries. Most of the states seeing the highest rates of new business creation are based in the western and southern U.S., led by Nevada (10.39 percent) and Florida (10.16 percent). Many of these states offer some combination of business-friendly policies, low individual and corporate tax rates, relatively low costs to operate, good educational institutions, and population growth that provides both a customer base and a market for labor.

Unsurprisingly, at the metro level, most of the leading hubs for startup formation are found in the states with the highest levels of startup activity. Many locations in the West and South continue to see strong rates of new business creation and associated job growth. To find out which metros are leading the way, researchers at Roofstock calculated the trailing five-year average startup formation—defined as the number of new firms in a given year divided by the total number of firms. The research team also analyzed the impact of startup activity on job growth.

Here are the large metropolitan areas with the most startup business activity.

Metro

Rank

Startup formation rate

Annual startup formations

Annual new jobs created by startups

Jobs created by startups as a percentage of all new jobs
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV     1      11.44%     3,467     21,074 17.82%
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL     2      10.95%     4,861     25,533 16.68%
Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX     3      10.61%     3,858     21,357 16.49%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL     4      10.46%     14,894     69,769 18.57%
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX     5      9.82%     10,731     69,696 15.11%
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO     6      9.64%     5,590     28,485 14.69%
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ     7      9.63%     6,108     37,785 14.02%
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA     8      9.52%     9,140     48,582 14.14%
Jacksonville, FL     9      9.50%     2,474     11,796 14.41%
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX     10      9.48%     9,214     55,475 14.44%
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA     11      9.47%     24,718     144,716 18.05%
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL     12      9.47%     5,174     25,792 12.31%
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA     13      9.40%     4,867     28,137 16.10%
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA     14      9.28%     5,599     27,338 15.13%
St. Louis, MO-IL     15      9.09%     4,715     19,078 12.22%
United States     –      8.13%     423,148     2,285,251 14.12%

 

For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, you can find the original report on Roofstock’s website: https://learn.roofstock.com/blog/cities-with-most-startups

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Archives, Commentary, Global Trade Daily, Uncategorized

10 Mistakes Online Shop Owners Make

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Supplied makes it easier for small boutique owners around the world to access high-quality, affordable wholesale boutique items, whether to stock their physical store or IG shop.

As a brand new boutique owner, you’ve got things pretty much under control… but experience is the best teacher, and you don’t have a whole lot of that under your belt yet. If you’re not careful, you’re at risk of making one (or more!) of the 10 mistakes online shop owners make without even knowing it until it’s way, way too late.

You’ve basically got two options – you can learn the hard way, or you can learn from other people who have learned the hard way.

Whether you’ve already started an online boutique or you’re planning on starting an online shop in 2021, you’re bound to get some things wrong the first time. Making mistakes is a crucial part of being an entrepreneur, and as much as you may like to believe you’re superwoman, you’re only human. And you can come back from most mistakes even stronger than before. But doing the right thing the first time whenever possible could save you hours of time you’ll never get back (and not to mention loads of $$!)

We’ll go over 10 mistakes online shop owners make when they’re getting started and what you can do to avoid them. (You’ve got this!)

1. Not having a business plan

If you don’t have a plan, you’re planning to fail. Before you start your online boutique (or at least very early on!), you’ve got to make sure your boutique is on the right track to make money. Take the time to identify the opportunity, the market, your competition, your ideal customer, what you’ll sell, and your plan to become profitable. (Chances are, you’ve already done most of the heavy lifting to identify those things, but writing it all down will help you stay on track!)

To learn more about how to create a business plan for your boutique, click here.

2. Pricing their items too high

High prices may be good for your margins… but they might have the opposite effect on your revenue. Pricing your items too high can alienate more price-sensitive customers. It can also make you less able to compete with similar businesses, causing casual browsers to click away and look elsewhere.

3. Pricing their items too low

On the other hand, pricing your items too low can also be a big mistake. Setting super low prices can lower the perceived value of your products and make them seem cheap, even if they’re high quality. Plus, setting your prices so low that they don’t cover your costs can even cause you to lose money… and that’s pretty much always a mistake!

To learn more about how to price your wholesale boutique items, click here. 

4. Stressing over the details

You’ll have plenty of time to tweak things, but to get started, there are only a few things you NEED. You know, like products and a place to sell them! Sure, it’d be great to have the perfect logo and branded packaging and a business phone number… but those things can wait. The key is getting started and focusing on the things that are directly tied to profit in the beginning.

For a handy checklist of everything you need to do to launch an online boutique, click here.

5. Neglecting customer service

It’s way easier (and more cost-effective) to retain a customer than it is to find a new one. All you need to do is to keep them happy and make sure they have an amazing experience with your shop. It can lead to future purchases, good reviews, and even referrals. So be responsive to your customers and go above and beyond for them, especially if you make a mistake.

6. Trying to focus on all social platforms

No need to do it all for Facebook, IG, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, AND TikTok – you’ll burn out pretty quickly. It’s good to have a presence on a lot of different platforms, but there’s no need to treat them all equally. Build a customized audience with a small budget by zeroing in on the platform where your audience spends the most time.

To learn more about how to leverage different social platforms to grow your online shop, click here.

7. Trying to do everything on their own

Hate to break it to you, but you can’t do everything by yourself. Spreading yourself too thin will only cause you to feel burnt out and overwhelmed. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, whether by hiring a part-time employee, delegating marketing responsibilities to a freelancer, or hiring a nanny for a few hours a day.

For more tips on how to avoid burnout while running your own business, click here.

8. Forgetting to focus on marketing

It doesn’t matter how awesome your products are if no one ever sees them! You’ve got to have a strategic marketing plan from day one. Don’t skimp on this – you can do it yourself, but it’ll often be more efficient and cost-effective if you leave it to the experts.

For more boutique marketing tips, click here.

9. Not asking people who have been there before

You’re not the only one who’s ever started an online business from scratch. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people who have been there before and ask them questions. Build a network that’s full of people you trust and can relate to. The Supplied Family Facebook group is a great place to start.

To join the Supplied Family Facebook group, click here. 

10. Failing to fully commit

We won’t lie to you – building your own boutique from the ground up is going to be really hard. It might be a while before you see the success you were hoping for. Don’t give up once it gets difficult. Press forward and do whatever it takes to reach your goals. That’s what separates the dreamers from the doers.

We have total faith in you! With the right attitude, tools, and mindset, it’s possible to join the ranks of thousands of successful female entrepreneurs and build a profitable online shop. As you steer clear of these common pitfalls, you’ll be able to spend your time moving forward instead of looking backward.

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By: Joseph Heller, small businesses expert and CEO of SuppliedShop.com. 

franchise
Archives, Global Trade Daily, Special Reports

Tips For Beefing Up Your Franchise Development Plan In 2021

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The franchising industry has often been resilient, and 2020 was the latest, and perhaps greatest, example. As COVID-19 caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and ravaged our economy, franchises from various sectors found ways to adapt, survive, and in some cases thrive.

So how do we do it again in terms of franchise development in 2021 – despite more economic uncertainty ahead? At some point later this year, hopefully, thanks to vaccines, we can put the pandemic behind us. But what can we learn from last year’s trying circumstances, how can we apply those lessons this year, and what should we consider adjusting or doing differently? Here are five tips to help your franchise development and keep it ahead of the curve as the economy tries to recover:

Extend your digital marketing and communications. This includes building out your social media, including YouTube, for immediate, consistent, and far-ranging reach. Accentuate your message with video and posts geared to solutions for your target audience. Join neighborhood Facebook groups to connect with your company’s demographics. The pandemic took digital technology to another level as companies saw upgrading it as a necessity, incorporating Zoom calls with employees, franchisees and clients. Stay on top of the ways technology can connect your franchise with customers and make operations run smoothly.

Open a career path for the unemployed. With unemployment still a big problem due to the recession caused by COVID-19, entrepreneurship has become a more attractive option for those seeking work. For franchisors, a larger pool of potential franchisees and people whom franchisees can hire is available. Franchisees can be drawn to the freedom, growth potential, company support, and other attributes that their former career didn’t have. Entrepreneurs of any age can turn to franchising to build their own legacy while still having the support of an established brand. Another selling point: with low interest rates, entrepreneurs are in a better position to receive the funding needed to start a franchise business.

Find different ways to expand your in-person grassroots efforts. Obviously, door knocking isn’t as easy in COVID times. But we find that partnering with HOAs is a good way to attract new customers. Also, you can host local events and organize giveaways, or set up a booth at such events to inform the community about your business. Combining this old-fashioned kind of networking and marketing with the digital approach can help fill your pipeline.

Give back, and create good will. In these challenging times, giving back to the community has taken on heightened importance. Get involved with your community, show that you can be used as a resource, and for more than just your service. For example, one of our Mosquito Authority franchisees is giving 100 free treatments per week to frontline COVID workers. And after the hurricanes in Louisiana this year, our franchisees treated work camps for utility workers who were helping to restore power. Good will goes a long way and leads to customer loyalty.

Be a dependable means of support for franchisees. Most people starting their own business don’t have the built-in benefit of company support. That reassurance and reinforcement in myriad ways certainly aided our franchisees during the challenges of 2020. Across the country, franchisors in our business and other sectors stepped up to help. Whether it was financial restructuring or providing infrastructure, supplies, or employees in a pinch, franchisors learned how doing these things strengthened franchisees and their commitment and the companies as a whole. Keeping this mindset of always being there for their franchisees is a crucial piece of the overall development plan.   

There is a lot of promise in general for franchising in 2021. Technology has provided the tools and new ways to do business. Many talented, enterprising people are eager to seize new opportunities and reach their potential. People are trying to help each other more in trying times, and franchisees not only fill needs, they are all about reaching out. Finding and maintaining business success is never easy, but a development plan geared to different times, and the discipline to stick to it, can make the journey fulfilling and rewarding.

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Chris Buitron is president and CEO of Mosquito Authority® (www.mosquito-authority.com), a nationwide leader in mosquito control with franchises serving communities across the U.S. and Canada. Buitron has an extensive background in franchise industries. He was chief marketing officer for Senior Helpers, vice president of marketing for Direct Energy (home services division), and director of marketing for Sunoco Inc., where he supported the company’s 4,700 franchised and company-owned rental facilities across 23 states (over $15B in annual revenues).

 

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Archives, Commentary, Global Trade Daily

How to Build an Entrepreneurial Sales Team

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The front lines that your sales team steps into have never been more challenging. Hustling for a business no longer means spending long hours and perfecting the process. Cutting through the noise and clutter requires adopting the posture, mindset, and hustle of an entrepreneur.

In a typical firm with 100-500 employees, an average of 7 people are involved in most buying decisions. (Source: Gartner Group)

Today’s sales process takes 22% longer than 5 years ago. (Biznology)

So what do you do to shake things up to enable your team to find the decision maker quicker and educate and inspire the influencers to close the deal?

Incentivize risk-taking with reward

Encouraging and incentivizing risk-taking is a great place to start. Taking a bit of a risk, and thinking outside of the box, is what makes many entrepreneurs successful. Elon Musk was on the verge of bankruptcy when trying to keep SpaceX and Tesla afloat. The risk paid off, and the rise and grind mentality he brought to his team each day resulted in one of the most valuable energy companies in the world.

But in order to free teams up to take risks, they have to have the support of their manager. And, adding compensation incentives demonstrate that this is a mandate, not a mantra. 

Michael Ahearne of Harvard Business Review suggests implementing a multi-tiered sales targeting and compensation program that encourages risk-taking at the junior and senior levels. 

This type of compensation works well to incentivize top performers and minimize the negative impact of laggard performers. It’s a great way to foster a high-performing entrepreneurial sales environment.

Create a scalable sales infrastructure

In addition to risk-taking, teams need to think creatively about how to approach accounts or companies with complex networks of influencers and decision-makers. Some ideas can be:

Leverage applications like Rapportive and Email Hunter to quickly gather contact information to optimize the email capture process

Use a CRM like Salesforce or HubSpotCRM that allows your team to visibly organize different decision-makers and team members for target accounts in one location.

First, let your team experiment with these tools. Then, once best practices have been identified, take the time to document the workflows and places where tools such as these are most effective. 

Once your team has the tools and best practices in place, they can be turned loose to go after more challenging accounts. 

Rethink messaging and outreach 

Building rapport and connecting with the C-suite often requires innovative approaches to messaging and sales outreach. Boilerplate templates filled with generic phrases and industry buzzwords simply will not elicit a positive response. 

Sales teams must be encouraged to infuse their messaging and outreach with their personality and creative approaches. Not every “great idea” is going to be great. But that’s okay. As long as your sales team can self-reflect and quickly make changes so that they can use a different tactic with the next prospect. 

We suggest finding personalization opportunities in every outreach to encourage a response. Sales professionals who use personalization when contacts decision-makers at target accounts receive a 600% increased response rate. 

These types of strategies enable your team to find ownership in their deals – they’re humanizing each target account and beginning to develop a personal connection to the deal.

Automate and standardize workflows and technology 

Sales performance often increases when teams collaborate and have strong relationships with one another. One of the best, and most efficient, ways to foster collaboration and a spirit of entrepreneurship is with next-generation tools. GetAccept has spent a lot of time in the document tracking and sales automation world and we know the value of optimizing the sales cycle to increase deal conversion rates.

Sales visibility through the contract process is huge, because your sales team needs to know how the prospect is engaging with the proposal, regardless of what they’re communicating back to your team. 

Your proposals are being read frequently, but not closing. 

Prospects are not spending enough time on the pages most relevant to closing the deal 

Prospects are opening your proposals on Tuesdays, but not on Mondays or Fridays.

Knowing this information helps you craft more engaging, more successful documents that convert.

A sales workflow must allow for seamless integration of data between applications. As a sales team leader, your job should be to automate and optimize as much of the manual data process so your team can focus on what they are good at – selling. Your reps shouldn’t be digging through multiple applications to find a phone number they need. Integration between your prospecting tools, CRM, and sales document tracking needs to be smooth.

Socialize internal sales training

All successful entrepreneurs leverage mentors to avoid mistakes and seize hidden opportunities. Part of building an entrepreneurial sales team that is actually successful is connecting your underperforming team members with overperforming members.

Much like playoff brackets are developed in sports, where the #1 team is paired up against the worst team, and the #2 team is paired with the second-to-worst team, so should you build a mentorship bracket.

Rank your sales reps from highest performing to lowest performing. Then set up mentoring schedules for your best reps to help train, motivate, and support their mentees. Weekly coffee meetings between the two reps can result in big wins for the team:

The best sales reps feel simultaneously empowered and valued by you and the rest of management.

The “learning” sales reps feel like they’re being invested into and management wants them to succeed.

You socialize the mentoring and training process, thereby scaling sales empowerment and efficiency across the whole team.

Every quarter, refresh the bracket and re-pair the team. This will allow new relationships to form and learning sales reps to receive coaching from other team members who can provide new perspective and ideas.

As a manager, you’ll want to set up a way for your team to adopt these behaviors and add their own special touch so that it’s authentic. Leading a sales team is a demanding yet rewarding job. Seeing the team thrive under leadership that values risk, empowers team members, and removes roadblocks is highly satisfying and leads to improved morale. 

Try a few of these ideas this quarter and watch your reps mature into a successful entrepreneurial sales team.

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Samir Smajic is the CEO and Founder of Get Accept, the all-in-one sales platform where you design, send, track and market your proposal to get more deals digitally signed.  

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Archives, Global Trade Daily, State Spotlight

Cities Most Dependent on Small Businesses

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Small business is often held up as a key driver of the U.S. economy, and for good reason.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses account for 64 percent of net private-sector jobs created since 2005. Collectively, small enterprises employ around 60 million Americans, which represents nearly half of the private workforce in the U.S. Compared to larger firms, small businesses tend to be more nimble, which promotes competition and innovation in the economy. Additionally, small businesses help strengthen communities, and entrepreneurship is a common route through which immigrants assimilate into the social and economic life of the U.S.

But with fewer financial resources than larger firms, small businesses are especially vulnerable during economic downturns. Where large firms can more easily turn to banks or capital markets for an infusion of funding in tough times, small enterprises are more likely to respond by scaling back operations, letting go of employees, or closing altogether.

While the recession of 2008 and the slow recovery that followed were hard on all sectors of the economy, small businesses struggled even more than large firms. Thousands of small businesses failed in the wake of the recession. Many would-be small business owners decided not to take on the financial risk of starting a business during the weak economic recovery, and lenders proved more risk-averse in financing new businesses as well. As a result, industry concentration in large firms has increased over the last decade, and employment growth at large businesses has far outpaced that of small businesses over the same period.

Today, COVID-19 is creating more difficulties for small businesses. Some of the industry sectors that tend to be most densely populated with small firms have also been the sectors most affected by shifts in consumer behavior and government restrictions meant to slow the spread of the virus. Notably, accommodation, food services, and retail businesses together employ nearly a quarter of all small business employees. But with more people staying at home, these firms—many of which have already been forced to close—face dire circumstances.

The continued success of small business matters more for some locations than others. Rural states in the Upper Plains, like Wyoming and Montana, and in New England, like Vermont, have a much higher share of small business employees in the workforce than other states. Because these areas tend to have few large employers, failures in the small business sector could create job shortages and prolonged economic hardship in these areas.

At the metro level, some of the areas most dependent on small businesses are in the aforementioned rural states, but other factors are at play as well. Some are Rust Belt communities where employment was formerly dominated by now-offshored manufacturing operations, leaving smaller businesses to generate most of the economic activity. Others have strong startup ecosystems that encourage entrepreneurs to create new firms.

To identify the locations most dependent on small businesses, researchers at Construction Coverage used U.S. Census data to find the percentage of employees in each metro employed at small businesses, defined as those firms having fewer than 500 employees.

Here are the large U.S. metropolitan areas most dependent on small businesses.

Metro Rank   Percentage of employees at small businesses  Total number of small business employees  Total number of small businesses   Percentage of total payroll paid by small businesses   Total small business payroll per employee  

Total large-firm payroll per employee
New Orleans-Metairie, LA     1      53.65% 265,378 23,960 49.26% $43,602 $51,989
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL     2      53.50% 1,184,791 167,326 48.27% $43,392 $53,498
Oklahoma City, OK     3      53.32% 269,939 28,210 48.62% $40,574 $48,974
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA     4      52.36% 333,667 33,162 47.72% $43,098 $51,898
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA     5      51.98% 4,356,853 499,998 41.10% $56,279 $87,294
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA     6      51.93% 2,764,749 313,657 46.12% $52,115 $65,764
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA     7      51.41% 538,511 55,667 41.79% $45,280 $66,725
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY     8      50.93% 245,969 21,132 46.54% $40,162 $47,880
Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI     9      50.36% 253,133 19,092 48.50% $43,895 $47,283
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA     10      50.31% 1,090,428 104,849 37.81% $67,798 $112,911
San Diego-Carlsbad, CA     11      50.06% 634,069 69,216 42.59% $49,023 $66,233
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV     12      49.64% 1,327,443 116,882 45.11% $60,027 $71,999
Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, CA     13      49.45% 367,438 38,300 41.78% $45,280 $61,702
Austin-Round Rock, TX     14      49.39% 413,394 40,661 42.47% $48,145 $63,651
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD     15      48.53% 573,447 52,387 42.56% $48,700 $61,994
United States     –      47.09% 60,556,081 5,976,761 40.32% $44,777 $58,996

 

For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, you can find the original report on Construction Coverage’s website: https://constructioncoverage.com/research/cities-most-dependent-on-small-businesses