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Articles in Category: Business Strategy

Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs

“Believe in yourself and own your own success.”

          ~ Sheryl Sandberg

Things are looking up for female entrepreneurs. In 2017, more than 11 million U.S. firms were owned by women, employing 9 million people and generating over $1.7 trillion in sales. That’s according to the National Association of Women Business Owners. The organization estimates that nearly one in four businesses are owned by women. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though. Women entrepreneurs still face a steep barrier, especially when they’re first starting out. The challenges these women face are varied. It might be overcoming self-doubt or struggling to be taken seriously. More practically, women face greater challenges generating the start-up capital they need to succeed. 

Work-Life Balance: Be Very, Very Productive

We’ve all heard the slogans about how we need to do more with less. We’re supposed to work smarter not harder these days. It may sound trite, but it is actually possible. And if we can get more done in less time, that frees us up to concentrate on other challenges, or, believe it or not, to achieve a better work-life balance. Here are some ways to do that.

Work-Life Balance: Date Night

Remember your first date with your current partner? Maybe it was a great experience that makes you wistfully smile when you think back on it. Maybe it was an epic disaster straight out of a sitcom. However it worked out, it was interesting and fun (or at least memorable enough for a second try.) With that in mind, how long has it been since you had that sort of excitement? If you’re like many of us, you can probably think of a long list of work projects that are more recent than your last date. If we’re going to keep our lives balanced, it’s important to remember the excitement of that first date and try to recapture it once in a while. And what better way than a date night? 

Do You Text Your Customers and Prospects? What to Know About Complying with the Law

Do You Text Your Customers and Prospects? What to Know About Complying with the Law

According to a study by Asurion, Americans check their phones 96 times per day—or at least once every 10 minutes. So, it’s no surprise that text message open rates are at 98 percent. 

That’s right, 98 percent!

Compare that to email marketing’s 20 percent open rate…

If you’re not already using text message marketing, you’re considering it now, right?

Coronavirus: Working on your business

As nonessential businesses close down across the world, more and more small business owners are left with significantly more time on their hands. However, just because your business isn’t open and running as usual, doesn’t mean you can’t use this time to set it up for success once the current health crisis has resolved.

We’ve compiled a list of things that you can do right now to stay productive and accelerate growth once life goes back to normal:

Work-Life Balance: Book Your Vacation Now

We’ve all heard the expression about all work and no play making us a dull boy or girl. Sure, work is important, but it shouldn’t be the only thing we have going on in our lives. Like everything, there should be a comfortable equilibrium, and that’s what we’re going to talk about in our upcoming series on work-life balance.

The first part of the series is a fun topic— vacation! Everyone needs to get away now and again. Chances are you’ll remember those two weeks in Cancun a lot longer than you’ll recall the latest work project team you were on. Of course, if you are going to ‘go on holiday’ as the Brits say, you’ll want to start planning. While spontaneity is great sometimes, the general rule is that the more you plan something the more smoothly it will go. In other words, book your vacation NOW.

Creative Marketing Approaches: Create a New Twist on Your Old Product

Kentucky Fried Chicken has been around for a long time. The company got its start during the great depression and opened its first franchise restaurant in Utah in 1952. A lot has changed since then. Its original founder, Colonel Harland Sanders, sold his interest in 1964. Along the way, the company recognized emerging health trends and officially changed its name to KFC. It has added spicy chicken, chicken poppers and even chicken bowls to its repertoire. One thing that hasn’t changed is that it still makes fried chicken. The new offerings aren’t really new. They’re a new twist on an old product. 

How to Zoom

How to Zoom

Social distancing has been essential in slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, allowing our health system to keep up with the influx of patients and increased need of life-saving medical supplies. That’s good news, right? What we’re doing is working. We’re accomplishing what we set out to do.

However, there are many unfortunate consequences that come along with social distancing; including increased feelings of isolation, loss of income, economic turmoil, and a higher rate of depression and anxiety. Luckily for us though, living in the 21st century provides us with tools to soften the blow of some of these issues. 

Work-Life Balance: Learn to Unplug

We live in a world of technological marvels that would have astounded our ancestors. It’s pretty amazing when you think about. We have access to more information on our phones that the ancients of Alexandria had in their entire library. Videos, news, sports and more are just a click away. We’re connected to our world in more ways than we ever thought possible. 

PureChat

PureChat

The Best-Selling Live Chat Software for Small Business

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  • Provide instant answers on your website and see visitor history.
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Check out others who we recommend - solid vendors and products that could benefit your business today.

 

Work-Life Balance: Set Limits on Work Talk

There aren’t many advantages to a long commute to and from work. It’s the price you pay for living in the country and working in the city. Sure, you may be able to catch up on some podcasts and use your vehicle as a mobile office to some extent, but it doesn’t make the rush hour traffic any more entertaining. A long commute does have one advantage, however. That long trek enables you to shift gears from work to home and from home to work every day. That type of separation can be a key step to helping your work life balance.

Wicked Reports

Wicked Reports

WRlogo

WARNING: Half Your Marketing Is Wasted.  Do You Know Which Half?  We Do.

We automatically pull data from your ad networks. We then apply over 10,000 lines of database logic to track sales revenue to specific clicks, ads, audiences, campaigns and emails (we’re the only ones who do this!).

We then translate all this data into easy to use marketing reports so you can make data-driven decisions about your business and make more money!


Check out others who we recommend - solid vendors and products that could benefit your business today.

 

Creative Marketing Approaches: Interview Your Best Customers

Advertisements are great, but it’s very difficult to hide their intent. As soon as we see an ad come up on our television screen, computer monitor, phone or tablet, we already know the ad creator is trying to sell us something. With that knowledge comes a certain cynicism. People don’t want to be advertised to, so there’s already a built-in resistance to the message before the message even starts. 

One of the best ways to combat that inherent distrust is by being authentic. Customers want to deal with people, not faceless corporate entities. They want someone to have a conversation with them about their needs, not to be the subject of a slick advertising campaign. People want to see you. The more genuine you are, the more they’ll come to trust that you’re trying to help them instead of parting them from their money.