This week in small business: Secrets to a great daily grind (and we aren’t talking about coffee)
Whether you think of it as your “daily grind” or simply your daily schedule, you’ll find a lot of tips to help you get it under control and maximized for success and productivity among this edition of our carefully curated content. Leadership, management, and productivity Even when you’re chasing your dreams you need to deal with the “daily grind.” Sherrie Campbell offers eight ways to structure your daily grind for success. And if Campbell’s tips aren’t enough, check out Sujan Patel’s advice on how to optimize your daily schedule for maximum productivity. Team loyalty is central to business success. Annie Pilon delivers 25 employee appreciation ideas that are ideal for small business owners. Marketing and sales Chris O’Neill explains why you need to keep SEO in mind and ask the right questions when you’re designing your website. Could your future success be as simple as telling your story? That is certainly a major component of success today, says Damon Brown writing for Inc. Duncan Alney gives us some experiments to conduct to discover ways to drive more visitors to our websites. Snapchat’s new Snap Map feature can boost your social media marketing, according to Jonathan Furman and he explains the basics. In this infographic, Shubhomita Bose shares 10 marketing lessons we can swipe from the Apple play book. Need to build your mobile online presence? Siobhan Kenna introduces a range of new Facebook tools to help you get the job done. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Failure is a reality for many startups. Peter Daisyme talks about how to pick up the pieces after a startup failure. Aditi Wardhan Singh, founder of @Raising World Children, gives us five challenges to entrepreneurial goal setting when you are an entrepreneur from home. Is there one piece of advice that causes 97 percent of startups to fail? Yes, contends Chad Perry. Politics, government, and the economy If you follow business and economic reporting, you’ve seen almost daily pieces on Bitcoin. And, if you’re a bit confused by Bitcoin, this article/slideshow by Stephen J. Bronner will get you up to speed. David Z. Morris contends that a universal basic income would grow the U.S. economy by an extra 12.5...
read moreThis week in small business: Older women, younger women, older companies, younger companies, they’re all here!
This week we chronicle over-50 women leading startups and younger women leading a startup that was spun off from company over 50 years old! Who would have thought it? Lots of fun and functional advice among the articles cited here. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Moya Sarner introduces us to women in their 50s who are launching startups. You go ladies! And as an interesting contrast, Esha Chhabra tells us about a 50-year-old company that just gave birth to a startup being run by 12 young women! The stress of possible failure isn’t the only stress that comes with being an entrepreneur, says Willian Vanderbloemen. When a four-time entrepreneur shares his success secrets, it’s time to listen…or read Rose Leadem’s article in Entrepreneur. Recruiting creatives and making a good first impression for an unproven startup can be difficult. Writing for Entrepreneur, Justin Gignac offers sound advice. Leadership, management, and productivity In this profile by Rachel Moss, outspoken UK entrepreneur Michelle Mone tells women to “make no excuses” and start pushing to the top. Maybe they’ve heard her in Japan, where Noah Smith says female managers may be the key to fixing the country’s deadening corporate culture. Shubhomita Bose has translated small business cyber security preparedness into an infographic. Check it out and see if your organization is up to snuff.’ As much as we love social media, business misuse of it can get you in trouble. Learn how to stay on the right side of the law in this article by Joanna Belbey. Here’s a good tip of the day: For more productivity, treat your energy like your bank account. (I’m hoping you’re not overdrawn!) Chris Dessi gives us his list of “five powerful books to hack your life for success.” Some real classics make his lineup. Are you losing productivity to “hurry worry”? Check out what Leah Ryder has to say on the topic to find out. Ashley Crouch says that these “five unexpected apps” will streamline your startup. However, I think they’ll benefit almost any business. Marketing and sales Karina Tama-Rutigliano, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Caring People Inc., offers three ways to leverage your clients when developing a marketing plan. The collected thoughts of 25 experts are featured in Robbie Abed’s article on social media marketing best practices. David Kaplan shares ways for brands to navigate Millennials’ shifting loyalty to Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Need to dramatically grow your network? Follow in the footsteps of Gilt co-founder Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, as detailed in this piece by Jenna Abdou. Politics, government, and the economy Wondering what the economic implications are when a city like Houston essentially shuts down? Daniel Gross offers some...
read moreThis week in small business: Insights from the poker table
Get some lessons in productivity from Millennials, learn about efficient distribution from NGOs, and take some entrepreneurial tips from the game of poker. Those are just a few of the insights you’ll get from this week’s crop of curated content. Leadership, management, and productivity In this installment of her Women in Business Q&A, Laura Emily Dunn talks with Kyle Moshrefi, the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Kipper Clothiers and a seasoned veteran of the fashion industry. When NGOs can optimize distribution, it boosts their ability to provide aid. Federick Guerrini writes about connecting local suppliers with NGOs. It’s what you don’t know about your business that will bite you in the you-know-what, so I appreciate Iris Leung’s Forbes article 3 Ways Your Business Unknowingly Kills Worker Happiness And Productivity. Millennials often take it on the chin in the media, so it seems, so I was happy to see Danielle Sabrina give us three productivity lessons we can learn from this up-and-coming generation. Marketing and sales University of Nebraska business professor Jeremy Harris Lipschultz talks to Klipfolio president and CEO Allan Wille on how entrepreneurs pivot by using data to make good decisions. It’s a question many have: What’s the difference between content marketing and SEO. Jayson DeMers answers here. Cold, hard facts alone don’t often make sales. Check out what Vicky Law has to say about four ways your marketing campaigns can trigger emotion and inspire the soul. Murray Newlands suggests that you don’t staff up for your marketing campaign, but build a chatbot instead. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Alana Matos outlines five funding sources you can tap right now to help bootstrap your startup. Are you the kind of entrepreneur who jumps at the chance to go all in? If so, you should read Jaclyn Ling’s article that gives us five lessons entrepreneurs can learn from poker. On a related note, check out John Greathouse’s article, 7 Fears Holding Back Your Inner-Entrepreneur, 4 Of Which Are Bogus. Your spirits will soar when you read Candice Helfand-Rogers’ portrait of entrepreneur and female pilot Chelsea Abingdon Welch....
read moreThis week in small business: Bootstraps, myths, and zombies
If you need some inspiration and advice for your startup, you’ll find it in this week’s collection of curated content. And, all the great marketing tips won’t hurt either! Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation How does a married couple with no e-commerce expertise get to 30K+ customers and $5M+ in annual revenue from their living room? Read Tom Popomaronis’ article to find out. Jesse Tevelow and his cofounder struggled with their startup, then they made a pricing move that generated six figures in less than 30 days. Tevelow explains the price vs. growth paradox. Kandia Johnson’s advice for entrepreneurs is simple, yet profound and to the point: Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Have the itch to be an author? Chris Myers gives us three things every entrepreneur needs to know before writing a book. Jim Duffy’s article for The Guardian focuses on “Zombie startups” and why entrepreneurs are failing to grow their businesses. Think globally, entrepreneur locally. That’s the bottom line when Chris Myers tell the story of Colorado-based entrepreneur Lani Dolifka. Vinay Dora may have been inspired by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman in his article Three startup myths busted. Leadership, management, and productivity Need money? Do a self-check against Jared Hecht’s seven reasons you won’t qualify for a loan. I don’t know if I totally believe him, but Chris Jager says he has 11 ways to boost productivity without coffee. See if Rafi Chowdhury’s article lives up to the promise of its title: Everything you should know about time management and productivity. I hope you won’t need these: 5 SEO Best Practices for Crisis and Reputation Management, by Sophie Maerowitz. Jason Wheeler talks to Lauren Leahy, the Chief Legal Officer for Pizza Hut, about women competing and cooperating with other women in a male-dominated profession. Marketing and sales Gen Zers may be the most social-media-savvy demographic on the planet, but Deep Patel nonetheless has four social media marketing tips they need to learn. Don’t accidentally make the SEO errors Ron Dod outlines and hurt your e-commerce site. Fail to plan, plan to fail. Deborah Anderson explains how to incorporate your startup social media marketing tasks into a day’s plan. Zac Johnson offers five solid methods to drive social media traffic back to your site. In his Entrepreneur article, R.L. Adams offers a curated list of his top 10 marketing conferences for entrepreneurs. Ryan Klein gives three “pros” and three “cons” in his discussion of whether or not marketing conferences are worth it. If you’re changing domains, plan for unexpected SEO costs, advises Jim Stewart....
read moreThis week in small business: Harsh truths, sweet fragrances, and sound advice
Jo Malone’s fragrance company story passes the smell test, Joleena Louis recommends a prenup, and Jessika Phillips gives delivers some harsh marketing truths in this week’s collection of curated content. Dig in! Leadership, management, and productivity If you’re a local merchant, you need to read what Jia Wertz has to say about the long-term impact of Amazon on your ability to survive. Are you a leader looking to increase your productivity? If so, you’ll appreciate these 10 productivity hacks from startup founders posted by Susy Alexandre. However, you don’t have to be a big-time founder to be productive. Courtney Connley relays five productivity habits of high-performing employees; #5 is one you don’t see stated that way very often, or at all. Attention women entrepreneurs: A prenup may be your best friend. That’s according to Jenny Odegard’s article where she interviews attorney Joleena Louis. Jim Morack does a great job examining the critical relationship between customer service and sales. Have a little time to watch some videos? Zameena Mejia has three inspirational TED talks you should check out to help boost your productivity. Marketing and sales You won’t consistently hit your target if you can’t improve your aim, that’s why Ruby Rusine’s infographic on matching your social media KPIs to your goals is so relevant. Ouch! Jessika Phillips delivers the 12 harsh truths of marketing no one wants to talk about. After you’ve faced those harsh truths, then it’s time to check out Joyce Solano’s Forbes article to learn the three marketing mistakes you need to avoid. (Hey! No pain, no gain!) Writing for HubSpot, Marcus Andrews says that the future of social media is now and outlines the trends we need to know. Annie Pilon sends you to a lot of excellent curated content in her article, 10 Tips for Creating an Online Marketing Strategy to Consistently Bring in Customers. Here are seven reasons to start a new focus on inbound marketing from Martin Zwilling. (Number one is very revealing and something that needs to be internalized.) Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Jo Malone started her fragrance business from her kitchen table, later selling it to Estee Lauder for millions. Carmine Gallo relates her inspiring story in this article. If you’re bootstrapping your startup or want to lengthen your “runway” then you need to watch every nickel and dime. Kelly Lovell’s advice on how to whittle down your travel costs will prove valuable. Few things are as important to entrepreneurs as their personal brands. Take Marsha Hunt’s advice – it will serve you well. Sometimes the best way to support women entrepreneurs isn’t to take the “feel good” approach. You need to go way beyond cheering them on, says Lisa Abeyta. Tech entrepreneur and investor Arie Abecassis gives you five ways the best board members will add value to your startup. Politics, government, and the economy Robb Starr pulls together the data from Paychex’s last small business employment report. Job growth is tailing off a bit – 0.7 percent slower in July than last year at the same...
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