The New Business Blog

I always say that the most important asset of a company is its customers, and I will reiterate that again here. If you have no customers, or more accurately, no paying customers—you have no business. It is impossible to have a business without any customers. This gives your customers unbelievable power, they own you! So, if you believe owning a business means you get to be the boss, forget it; the customer is the number one boss, bar none.

If you think that you have worked for some of the most incompetent, god-awful, foolish, horrible superiors before, they may pale in comparison to your new bosses—your customers. This is exacerbated if you work in a business that services end-customers (rather than a business-to-business scenario, which isn’t a picnic either). I have worked for nearly a decade and a half with businesses that sell products and services to the consumer; let me tell you that customers as a group can be beyond anything you have imagined.

Have you ever spoken to someone who works in customer service? If you don’t work directly with customers in your current job, then I suggest you speak with someone who does before going to work serving customers. Some customers will blatantly try to scam you or steal from you. I have spoken to numerous customer service representatives that have recounted stories about people wanting refunds because their dog chewed up a product and now believe it is “defective.” There are the representatives who work for a major bath and home retailer who explained that every year, right after Christmas, customers would return dozens upon dozens of used holiday tablecloths. One customer even had alterations made to the tablecloth to fit her unusually shaped table. The reasons for those returns—it “just didn’t work for me.”

There will be customers that will try to not pay you, there will be ones that try to nickel-and-dime you, customers who return products as damaged that they actually broke themselves, and customers who will take the product out of the box, replace it with something that you don’t even sell, and try to return it for a full refund. There will be customers who will dispute your charge on their credit card because they didn’t like the way they were treated or who will complain that the meal you served them was too cold and needs to be “comped” or discounted. Then, there will be customers who are so lonely that they will want to keep you on the phone, tied-up in person, or engaged in an email dialogue about all of their personal problems (none of which relate to your business).

You will send promotional emails to customers with a 50 percent discount on one item from May 1–6, and dozens will email back asking when the offer is good through, how much is it good for, and whether they can use it when they get paid on May 10. Guess what? All of these people are your new bosses. Lucky you—as a business owner, these are the people for whom you now work!

We talk a lot about personal finance here on this blog, as our regular readers know. Of course many of our readers are entrepreneurs and, in 2015, many will start a new business.

With that in mind, we wanted to remind all of them (and maybe even you) that there’s one vital step that they need to take, and make, in order to increase their chances of success incredibly. Some of you might say “well, duh we already knew that” when you hear it, but the reason we’re writing about it is because many entrepreneurs simply don’t do it.

The “it” we are talking about is writing down your business goals.

You might call them something different, maybe objectives or accomplishments, but it’s incredibly vital that you think them out, write them down and, over the next days, weeks and months, come back to them and make sure that you’re on track.

Some experts will tell you that, without writing down goals, you can’t make a marketing plan because you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish.

Even a basic marketing plan should include the end result, and without goals you don’t know what the end result would look like or should look like.

Again, some of you might be thinking that this is so incredibly obvious that it shouldn’t even be mentioned, but the simple fact is that many entrepreneurs don’t write down their goals but instead simply just launch their business, even though they still don’t have an idea of where they want that business to end up.

For example, do you want to build your business for a year and then sell it to the highest bidder? Do you want to own a chain of businesses, or just one? Do you have a specific number in mind for how much money you want the business to make, or how long you are willing to take in order to get there.

No matter what you are planning to start in 2015 (or whenever) you need to identify your business goals first before anything else.

One other thing that’s important about goals is this; they need to be measurable.

Every single goal that you write down should have some kind of quantifiable component that you use in order to measure whether or not you’ve been successful in meeting that goal. For example, if you’re launching a small boutique cosmetics store, you should have goals in terms of numbers, sales, customers and so forth. You also need to have measurable goals for your marketing and advertising as well.

As you can see, setting goals is incredibly important part of starting a business and writing your marketing plan. Indeed, writing them out and seeing them on paper is sometimes enough to put a fire under your butt to get going or, in some cases, slow you down a bit to take a look at exactly what you’re planning, and possibly change those plans.

No matter what type of business you begin this year, write down those goals, check back on them often and, of course, good luck!

Each year, a number of people come up with attractive ideas to start retail or wholesale business. No matter, how ground breaking your idea for a new business is, you cannot get it off the ground without arranging finance. You need money to make money. You might think that there are many ways to fund your business but most of them are suitable only for established businesses. Following are a few ways that can surely be financially helpful for start-ups.

Contact investors with a well-written business plan

Before even considering financing your business, most of the investors ask for a business plan. Your business plan must be brief with clearly defined short and long-term goals for your business venture along with sale, cost and revenue projections. You will have to mention how much money you require to start the business, how much finance you already have and if you have any assets or resources to start a business. Depending upon the type of investor, you will have to indicate the degree of control an investor would have over your business operations.

Evaluate possible financing options

Personal Savings

On average, more than 60 percent of start-up financing comes directly from the pocket of newbie entrepreneurs. Even if you do not have a lot of liquid assets, there are other ways to finance your new business by leveraging your other assets such as property, jewellery or half-priced items. Your personal investment shows investors that you are personally handling some risk and are committed to your business.

Equity Investment

Equity means ownership and equity investment means money in the form of personal savings from your banking and checking account, loans from any individual including you or other people. Investors agree to fund your business in exchange for a share in the ownership of the business. You must do full homework before considering the equity investment option by first determining how much ownership you are willing to offer and at what price. Remember, if you will sell 51 percent of your business shares, you lose the control of your company.

Angel Investment

Another form of business financing is to approach investors or venture capitalists. These are the individuals or financing companies that fund businesses with high growth potential, based on the merits of business plans. Make sure, you have a proper exit plan when you sign up for angel investment. Most of the angel investors offer money, not as a loan but as an equity investment. Be very careful before accepting angel investment. On the contrary, you do not have to worry about regular payments with varying interest rates as angel investment is not a loan.

Commercial Loans

Commercial loans from banks and financial institutions are considered as the most common form of financing for wholesale businesses. You can go for long-term loans for larger expenses or for fixed assets such as property, machinery and equipment. Banks also offer short term loans that are viable to finance small and daily expenses such as inventory, payroll and emergency items. Short-term loans are usually issued for one year or for a few months and can include revolving lines of credit.

Securing loan for wholesale business start-up is usually difficult but you can increase your chances by making a good impression on your lender with a strong and practical business plan and by showing dependable projected cash flow.

Getting your modern business on its feet is one thing, getting it to make money can be a total beast. Running a business can also be overwhelming without the right tools and ideas to create success in this day and age. From smartphones to the internet, and advertising right, to getting people to like and trust you–it can be a real nightmare. Take the monsters out of the think tank, and set sail for success with these great business development tips for the modern entrepreneur.

Smartphone Savvy

Get smartphone savvy, and create apps that promote your business. People are constantly face first in their mobile device. Which is where apps come in. These little guys are great tools that take the load off your back, and get your company rolling. If you have a restaurant offer delivery on GrubHub. Sell fabulous fashions and beauty items on Etsy. Have a lawn service or beauty salon? Offer deals on Groupon. All of these and more are there to help you get your name out there.

Create Coupons

Online coupons and promo codes are the smart tools for the modern business. Companies like Groupon will run your sale items for a minimal price. Remember, you have to invest your own money wisely in order to make money. Then watch the purchases fly in! People are constantly looking for that ‘big deal’ or ‘way to save BIG’, give them a good reason to do it with your business.

All in Advertising

Get with the social media program. Twitter, Facebook, Google plus, Tumbler, Linkedin, Pinterest and your email are all hard to manage just for your personal life. They can also enhance your business life! Ever searched for an item on Amazon, then mysteriously see that same item in your facebook feed reminding you you really want it? Yeah. That’s social media for you. Programs like HootSuite can help you manage all your social media posts at once, or if you want the big guns to come out you should search for an SEO/Social Media Management company. These guys can even track where you see the most traffic, get the most for your money, and tell your facebook friends what’s new this week!

Post it!

People forget about the power of the U.S. Post Office. Create fun postcards for local advertising or sweet ‘thank you’ notes. No matter what sort of business you have, some people think through sight and touch. You can do this on the cheap with stores like Shutterfly. Use simple design software to create a logo or a classic design that is eye catching, include your contact information and what you offer, and send it to potential customers or people you’d like to thank for their business–and spark a good relationship.

There are, to be sure, many things that contribute to your overall success. Things like your attitude, your ability to lead, your people skills and so forth all have a big influence on it, no doubt.

One factor that many people don’t realize is extremely important however their ability to manage their emotions and, when under pressure, remain calm. Below are a number of behavioral factors that the president of TalentSmart, Travis Bradberry, advises that you avoid in his post on LinkedIn entitled “Emotional Intelligence 2.0”

If you want to make sure emotions don’t hinder your success, read on. Enjoy.

1) Successful people never live in the past. Bradberry says that “Emotionally intelligent people know that success lies in their ability to rise in the face of failure, and they can’t do this when they’re living in the past.”  He goes on to say that “Anything worth achieving is going to require you to take some risks, and you can’t allow [past failures] to stop you from believing in your ability to succeed.” In other words, living in the past makes it very difficult to move forward in the future.

2) Successful people don’t try to be perfect. Here’s the thing; perfection doesn’t exist. Bradberry says that “Human beings, by our very nature, are fallible”, and adds that “when perfection is your goal, you’re always left with a nagging sense of failure, and you end up spending your time lamenting what you failed to accomplish and what you should have done differently instead of enjoying what you were able to achieve.”  Realizing that perfection is an impossibility, successful people instead aim to do their very best and are content with the results.

3) Successful people avoid surrounding themselves with negative people. The fact is, it’s human nature to listen to people who complain because we don’t want to seem impolite or insensitive but, as Bradberry says, “There’s a fine line between lending a sympathetic ear and getting sucked into their negative emotional spiral.”

Unfortunately, negative people are quite toxic and, if you associate with them too closely or too often, that toxicity can definitely cause you problems you don’t want or need.  Bradberry gives some excellent advice about how to deal with negative people; “Think of it this way: If a person were smoking, would you sit there all afternoon inhaling the secondhand smoke? You’d distance yourself, and you should do the same with complainers.”

4) Successful people don’t hold grudges or dwell on past problems.  Highly successful people are usually emotionally intelligent and they focus on solutions rather than focusing on problems or holding a grudge for an error that someone made in the past. Bradberry explains that a person’s emotional state is determined by where they focus their attention. “When you fixate on the problems that you’re facing, you create and prolong negative emotions and stress, which hinders performance. When you focus on actions to better yourself and your circumstances, you create a sense of personal efficacy that produces positive emotions and improves performance.” He advises that anyone looking to be successful avoid holding grudges, and anger, at all costs.

5) Successful people can say “no” if it’s necessary.  Interestingly, it’s been found that people have a difficult time saying “no” are more likely to burn out early in their careers, suffer from stress and even from depression. Bradberry says that “Saying no is indeed a major challenge to most people,” adding that “it’s a powerful word that you shouldn’t be afraid to wield.” In fact, successful people don’t “beat around the bush” when they feel the need to say “no”, especially if it means honoring their existing commitments. They simply say it and move on.

Hopefully the information and advice above has opened your eyes to some negative habits that you might have yourself and will help you to change them. Working on these things regularly can, over time, change your negative habits to positive ones, and usher in a success that you never thought possible.

Optimising content marketing is as important as the digital strategy. Every day we read the already well-known phrase “content is king”. However, we do not always stop to understand the magnitude of that statement. Indeed, to reach our target audience today, we need to provide value, offer a proposal that highlights, and sparks interest.

As a result, we turn to the daily publishment of vast amounts of information, in all its versions (articles, videos, photos, infographics …), which do not always get the expected response from the user. This happens for a reason: the content must not only be good, but extraordinary. It must be so very bright that it can impact directly in the heart of the recipient.

Therefore it is important to develop a content strategy; to work each message, to highlight each piece of content, each element that makes it, in order to maximize its ability. This is called content optimisation, which can be achieved if we follow the following steps:

Adapt content to different devices

Some small business trends show that we are not yet really aware that there is life beyond the computer. When consuming information, 41% of these users opt for their smartphone, while 20% prefer their tablet, while only 16% use their computer. Therefore, the content must be clearly visible on any device, especially considering the usability of it.

Enrich the message with links to reference sources

One way to increase the credibility of the content is to strengthen the arguments with opinions and media data demonstrated and corroborated. Thus, our contribution gains in value; which will help you stand out from other similar pieces.

Do not forget the visual component

The image is the queen of the Internet. Not surprisingly, Marketingquery has suggested that 90% of the information we pass on to our brain is visual. 4 out of 10 users better assimilate the content text in image. So the success of infographics explains this trend. It contributes to a better assimilation of the message, and we are able to remember up to 80% of what we see, while only 20% of what we read. Therefore, we cannot pass up the opportunity to strengthen our content with images.

A video is worth a thousand words

The demand for audio-visual content by users continues its remarkable growth. The latest report from Adobe Digital Index showed an annual growth of 157% in this type of behavior. So, the videos have been established as the most demanded of the Internet content. An incentive that becomes a key for optimizing our content element.

Similarly, the existence of video helps to increase the residence time of the page, and thus the contact mark.

We must feed the need to know more

Resources like suggesting related articles, links to other posts or content created by the company, and the proposed discharge incentives are complementary content that engage the user, while allowing us to know them better, tastes, preferences, habits of behavior and why not, personal data to keep in touch.

 

Digital Activity

There are plugins and online options that allow specific phrases to be tweeted with the article, with one click. Thus, their natural instinct to share feeds. Users enjoy discovering and sharing content on social networks. 84% say they share content as a way to convey their commitment to certain social problems. Furthermore, for 78% share in social networks allows them to get in touch with people, promote interaction and know their interests. Also, 69% feel part of this place called world when contributing content. Ultimately, 49% shares information and ratings on products in order to contribute their personal evaluation and even move to action.

 

Encourage conversation and interaction with content

The Internet is an open dialogue and a free exchange of information and content medium. Therefore, it is important to give the public the tools to express themselves, discuss and share their content wherever they wish.