This 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 moreHow to team up with ‘slash workers’ for small business success
The difficulty of hiring solid talent has been a complaint among small business owners for the last several years. I suspect the convergence of one economic development and one social development may be to blame in large part. The economic component is our emergence from The Great Recession. As the recession worsened, small business owners cut staff or held off rehiring to fill vacancies. Then, as the outlook brightened many found themselves in positions where they wanted to expand their teams. But at the same time Millennials, the cohort that should have been coming in strong to the labor market were looking at life and careers from a different perspective than previous generations. Understanding this, I believe, will help small business owners bring on the talent they need to position their companies as leaders in their industries or localities. Survey insights This is why I was fascinated to find a very thorough study conducted by And Co on the group now being dubbed the “slash workers.” Slash workers are talented freelancers who provide a variety of services. One might be a writer/designer/developer. You get the idea. The And Co study reveals the priorities and attitudes about work, life, and career for these individuals. I suspect if you’ve needed any of the skills and talents these workers possess and tried to reach them through a help wanted ad – even an online job posting – they would never see your outreach. Further, if you did make a connection, but failed to understand their goals and desires, they might not sign on with you. Let’s look at some key results of the study. Freelancing forever! Freelancing isn’t a temporary fix between fulltime gigs. Only 6 percent of the freelancers interviewed said they were really just doing it until something fulltime turned up and over 40 percent said they planned to freelance “forever.” Further, they value the flexibility and opportunities for personal growth that freelancing affords them above the bottom line of a regular paycheck. They don’t get into freelancing for the money and fully a quarter of those in the study said they were “digital nomads.” The commitment to freelancing and flexibility, and the lessening of importance on maximizing income is reflected in the fact that 68 percent of respondents said their quality of life improved when they started to freelance. Is the office going extinct? Add up all of these elements and it looks like either the death or the radical transformation of the office is well on its way. Don’t feel bad; it could mean that you may require less office space even as your company grows. That’s called productivity! No matter how quickly or slowly this trend develops, I think there’s a strong case for small businesses to connect with more slash workers. Talented individuals who can fill more than one role are ideal candidates for small business teams. Go where they go To recruit these folks you need to go where they hang out, like the other top freelancing sites. However, according to the study, word of mouth referrals were the primary driver of new business for these freelancers. This means you may not find the best freelancers. To bring them onboard and build loyalty, you need to provide them with the flexibility they’re looking for and...
read moreThe two things you need above knowledge for success today
A lot of “know-it-alls” are unsuccessful. What’s worse, many know-it-alls do have an excellent command of a lot of information, yet they accomplish little. I’m making this point to stress the truth that knowledge alone won’t make you successful in business. I truly value and encourage your ongoing education, but two other elements are required to be successful in business: A management plan, and The discipline to execute it. Combine those two elements with good knowledge and you’re well on your way to creating a business that has potential for long-term success. And let me tell you a little secret: You can always acquire the knowledge you need, by either training yourself or hiring someone who has the knowledge you want. However, if you lack a plan or lack discipline, you might find yourself in a situation where it’s too late to acquire those elements – and you can’t buy discipline at any cost! Where are you in the evolution of your business? If you’re in the planning stages, you need to focus your efforts on your initial business plan. But once you get a launch date within reach, you need to be formulating your management plan. It’s important to remember that the tone and culture you create as you launch your business will, in great part, determine the trajectory of your business. If you launch in an unorganized, haphazard fashion, that will be difficult to overcome as you move forward. Further, your team will sense that “anything goes” as long as it gets you through the business day. Processes and people need to be in place to handle production, personnel, quality assurance, scheduling, marketing, and accounting. If you’re just a single, self-employed individual when you launch, those are a lot of bases to cover. Apps, cloud services, and contact workers can cover some of those; don’t delay finding the right assistance – that’s where discipline starts to kick in. You probably know the right way to get something done, but when you’re under the pressure of launching or growing a small business, cutting corners can be tempting. I’m reminded of an old saying, “A stitch in time, saves nine.” When you have the discipline to do things right the first time and put systems in place to assure they are done right every time, you save yourself countless problems later on that could kill your business. I have one little “homework” assignment for you. Honestly look at your strengths and see where discipline ranks. If it’s at the top of the list, that’s great. However, if you’re more of an “idea” person who bristles at being confined within a disciplined system and your reject imposing discipline on others, you probably need to bring in a partner or board that will inject some discipline into your management. ...
read moreNationwide study reveals troubling small business statistics
Looks like a disaster waiting to happen… We all know that common expression and it perfectly reflects my thoughts when I was recently reviewing the results of Nationwide’s 2017 Business Owners Attitudes and Usage Study. Here are the key findings that I found rather scary: Only 20 percent of business owners have built a disaster preparedness kit for their business, Two out of three business owners do not have a succession plan in place, and 45 percent of business owners have been a victim of a cyberattack without knowing it was an attack, yet 75 percent of business owners think a cyberattack is unlikely to affect their business. “(Business owners) can often believe the myth that ‘it could never happen to me,’” observed Mark Berven, president of property and casualty for Nationwide. “That’s why it’s crucial business owners remain prepared. Whether it’s planning for leadership succession or enduring an unexpected event like a cyberattack, the viability of businesses across the country is a requirement for a healthy economy that we can’t ignore,” Berven added. If a natural disaster hits your community or a cyberattack or death hits your small business, it won’t take down the national economy. However, the local impact on you, your family, and your neighbors can be overwhelming and extremely difficult to recover from. Going back to what Berven said, let me state a fact and ask you a question. First the fact: These disasters are going to happen to business owners this year. Now the question: Why not you? The only good answer to the question “Why not you?” is to say that you are prepared. When you are sufficiently prepared, occurrences that create disasters for others create a manageable problem for you. Sadly, few business owners can give a positive answer to that questions because: Only half have cybersecurity measures in place to protect sensitive information, Just 23 percent have a natural disaster preparedness program, and 37 percent have a succession plan in place. Nationwide’s survey of 1,069 small business owners also found a couple of interesting and I believe generally unexpected results. While Millennials are often the object of criticism in the business and career world, the survey found that they are more likely to appreciate the importance of planning for these threatening events than older demographics. Similarly, African-American business owners are more likely to have plans in place to deal with these issues than their Hispanic of Caucasian counterparts. Don’t be caught on the wrong side of these statistics – the price is too steep. We know that many small businesses that are hit by natural disasters never reopen. Further, you’re the victim of a cyberattack and customer or employee information gets stolen, it is very difficult to recover from the loss of trust. And succession planning is extremely critical. Many small business owners depend on selling their businesses to fund retirement and when the time comes to retire there aren’t any “do-overs”! Of course, sometimes circumstances force owners to retire early; that makes early planning even more important. One final note: I’m sure that most of you know that Nationwide is one of the country’s top small business insurers, but have you discovered its Business Solutions Center? It offers a lot of advice and information on a wide range of topics...
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 moreSmall business owner: Are you up for the $10,000 UPS 2017 X-Port Challenge?
As important to the world economy as the United States is, most consumers don’t live within our borders, and their buying power is increasing all the time. However, less than 1 percent of U.S. companies export and of those who do, 58 percent export to just one country. Those figures come from UPS, a company that knows quite a lot about international shipping and commerce. And, UPS has a tantalizing challenge for any small business that would like to start exporting: The UPS X-Port Challenge where qualifying start-ups, entrepreneurs and small businesses will compete for $10,000 in international shipping credits with UPS. It’s an interesting competition because it’s very decentralized in its initial stages. Here’s the outline of how it works: Interested companies that qualify in participating markets submit an application online via the UPS website contest page listing their specialty, global appeal, and market challenges. A team of UPS employees will evaluate the applications based on criteria such as uniqueness, presentation, market demand and global readiness. Application deadlines vary by geographic market. The top 10 applicants from each participating market will pitch their businesses to a panel of judges from the local international business community. The judges will then select the top three finalists as prize winners. The second and third place winners will receive $2,500 and $1,000 in credits respectively in UPS export shipping. The winner of each market competition will be included in a virtual run-off where UPS employees will vote on which product is export worthy. The top three contestants with the most votes will be invited to a national competition held the first quarter of 2018 for an opportunity to win a cash grand prize of $25,000. Second place wins $15,000 and third place walks away with $10,000. In 2016, there were 33 different first through third place winners spread over 11 UPS regions – that fact should give you a good level of confidence that you have a decent chance to win at some level. Finally, if you’re in a competitive mood, check out the list we maintain of various small business and startup competitions around the country. You can’t win if you don’t enter! Image: By Flickr User qnr (Flickr: provenance url image url) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia...
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