:: 6 Tools You Need to Make 2017 Your Most Profitable Year Ever
03/31/2017
Getting there starts with breaking down profit into its components and using six tools to move those pieces in the right direction.
Profit is revenue minus costs. But to boost profit, it helps to break it down further into gross profit -- price times quantity minus variable costs (e.g., costs that increase with each unit of product you sell) -- minus fixed costs (e.g., salaries, benefits, rent, and utilities).
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:: 4 Ways Small Businesses Can Compete Against the Major Competitors
03/29/2017
Moving into a new city or job can be daunting, the hassle of finding accommodation, the stress of moving personal items and most especially the people or city accepting someone new might not be pleasing.
The same applies to small businesses that are launching into an industry ridden with bigger competitors. For an SMB, finding a niche can be time-consuming but rewarding on the long-term.
In the article below, I will be sharing 4 effective marketing strategies for SMBs against bigger competitors.
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:: The 5 Things No One Ever Tells You About Starting a Business
03/27/2017
Entrepreneurship is experiencing a romantic renaissance of sorts, a startup spring if you will. Everyone wants to hang a shingle on the back of their budding unicorn. It is culture and it is growth and it is hustle. Starting a business today seems to look really good on a t-shirt.
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:: 3 Reasons Why Small Businesses Crash and Burn Online
03/25/2017
The internet is the perfect forum for small businesses to compete with big brands. Audience reach, social sharing and unlimited sales and marketing opportunities have leveled the playing field between big and small companies. Still, a surprising percentage of small businesses have remained on the sidelines. Either they do not have an online marketing strategy, or the one they are using is inadequate, and therefore unsuccessful. So why are some smaller companies not taking full advantage of this potent and indispensable marketing tool?
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:: How to Avoid Double Taxation with an S Corporation
03/23/2017
Paying taxes is unavoidable, yet that does not mean you need to pay more than necessary. You can make smart decisions to minimize your tax burden, without running afoul of the IRS.
For small businesses and entrepreneurs, business structure impacts how you pay taxes, and potentially how much you pay as well. The biggest difference is whether the business is its own entity responsible for paying taxes or whether the business’ profits are passed along to the owners’ individual taxes.
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:: 6 Ways to Think Outside the Box When Marketing Your Small Business
03/21/2017
Sometimes budget limits small businesses from executing their marketing ideas, but not every successful strategy requires a lot of money. Here are six outside the box ways to market your small business that are both inexpensive and effective.
1. Get personal.
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:: Watch Out For Fake Fonts! And Other Small Business Tech News This Week
03/19/2017
Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
1 – A new form of ransomware centers on a fake font update.
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:: Elon Musks Surprising Strategy for Thinking About Everything
03/17/2017
Elon uses the Richard Feynman technique from what I have read about his approach, mixed with first principles.
... which is, basically, in simple terms: do not try to remember, but try to understand; when you understand, you will remember automatically.
Sounds simple? But yet, so many people do not do it like that. They try to cram loads of info and facts into their brains, especially students, with the result of forgetting a lot of it.
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:: How Business Intelligence Is Being Disrupted for the Better
03/15/2017
More targeted marketing was one of the biggest contributions enterprises welcomed when big data first hit. Big data allowed brands to create elaborate, yet personalized campaigns that evolved to become increasingly effective as salesmen and marketers learned how to actually use all of the data they now had access to. But now, big data has become so broad and complex it has outgrown its ability to provide tangible results without the translation of an IT department.
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:: The Mindset Shifts You Need to Meet Any Goal
03/13/2017
Optimism is powerful -- but so is preparation. In a live chat, Todd Herman explained that too much positivity can actually derail your goals. To that end, he shared three essential questions everyone should ask themselves to stay truly grounded.
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:: Want to Have More Creative Breakthroughs? Redesign Your Day According to This Step-by-Step Guide
03/11/2017
You stare at a blank screen for what seems like hours, waiting for your brain to come up with a brilliant idea, and it never comes. There has to be a better way to brainstorm, right?
There is--and it might be as simple as doing the laundry.
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:: 10 Lies People Believe About Success
03/09/2017
To understand the truth, we must first understand the lies that make it difficult to grasp.
1. Success means the same thing to everyone.
It does not.
Some people value success in pure cash. Some people value it in the freedom that cash buys. Some people see success in how many lives they impact for the better. And some people judge success by how well they perform any given task at any given moment.
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:: What Small Business Owners Can Learn From Wegmans
03/07/2017
Atop many business award programs sits privately-held and family-run Wegmans grocery stores, from No. 4 on FORBES list of Americas Best Employers. Based in Rochester, NY, the supermarket has an ardent fan base – including Alec Baldwins mother, who refused to move to California and give up her access to the grocery store – and legions of die-hard shoppers.
And who can blame them? Clean stores, huge inventories, reasonable prices and a seeming dedication to making life easier for its customers, Wegmans offers many lessons small businesses can learn from and apply.
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:: 4 Social Media Resolutions for Small Businesses
03/05/2017
As 2017 unfolds, small businesses should take a look at what did not work in 2016 and find ways to improve in the upcoming year. While you work to control spending and shed some of the holiday pounds, don’t forget about making social media resolutions for your business.
Social media in 2017 will really be a defining factor in successful marketing strategies and strong businesses. In 2016, social media boomed for businesses. It was part of marketing strategies in previous years, but new advertising updates for social platforms and business-friendly changes made it easier than ever for organizations to make connections and offer valuable customer service.
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:: What Small Businesses Need to Do to Win in Online Retail
03/03/2017
Companies that can figure out how to take advantage of new technologies for digital retail will outsmart and outpace competitors.
Any company of any size -- whether it is one employee working out of her basement or a multi-national company balancing millions in revenue -- must consider how digitization is affecting business as we know it.
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:: 4 Trends in Website Design That Small Businesses Need to Know
03/01/2017
Small businesses are an integral part of our economy. Every business aims to solve a problem and create value in doing so. This is particularly true of small businesses. They provide a service or product that meets local needs and can fulfill requirements for larger businesses.
The benefits of small businesses are numerous, but often they can have difficulty creating, sharing, and establishing their message. Entrepreneurs, startups, and freelancers watch their budgets carefully, and expenses outside of delivering the product are kept to a minimum. That means marketing budgets get shaved first.
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