The 3 Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs

by

Spencer Dulal-Whiteway

Entrepreneurs have been referred to as “the only people who will work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week.” Building a company from scratch requires dedication, persistence and tenacity, and it takes time to complete the process properly. If you’re considering starting your own business, but know that your current lifestyle will not be able to accommodate this massive undertaking, it is important to work on developing habits that will serve you well in your new role as the founder and CEO of your own company. Here are the top 3 habits of successful entrepreneurs – try to adopt some, if not all, of these habits in your own life, and watch how much of a difference they make.

1) Successful Entrepreneurs Wake Up Early. As an entrepreneur, you control your own schedule, and it can be tempting to stay in bed and relish the fact that you no longer have to wake up to commute to your 9-5 job. With that said, ask any successful entrepreneur, and he will tell you that without fail, he starts his day earlier than he did when he worked for someone else. There are only 24 hours in a day, and the more of them you can spend working on building your business, the better. Furthermore, many successful entrepreneurs develop morning rituals to aid them in staying focused and concentrated for the rest of the day. Try using the first half an hour of your day to practice mindfulness, and make a regular practice of outlining your to-do list for the day before you start working.

2) Successful Entrepreneurs Push Themselves. If you’ve decided to start your own business, it’s safe to say that you’re not one of the many people in this world who deliberately stay in their comfort zone because doing so is just easier. Entrepreneurs who create lasting and successful companies understand that in order to succeed, one must dispense with his fear of failure and be willing to push himself, even if it makes him uncomfortable. Sometimes, this means not being afraid to ask for financing – other times, it can mean negotiating on your own behalf without worrying that doing so will damage your business relationships. Identify the areas of your entrepreneurial endeavors that make you uncomfortable, and work extra hard on building those skills. Resting on your laurels will only get you so far, and you can’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves if you really want to build a business that makes a splash.

3) Successful Entrepreneurs Are Willing to Pivot. If you’ve invested a significant amount of time and energy into your business, but you still aren’t seeing real results, it can be tempting to continue biding your time in the hope that your situation will improve or people will suddenly come to see the value of your business. In business, this time and energy is referred to as your “sunk costs” – that is, the resources you’ve already devoted to your business that you don’t want to see go to waste. That said, sometimes, it is necessary to pivot and change directions in order to succeed. Do not shy away from candidly and objectively analyzing how your business is doing; taking stock of where you are versus where you want to be is the only way you will be able to polish your product until it is truly irresistible to your target audience.

If you’d like to read more of my advice for entrepreneurs, please continue checking this space for regular updates. Good luck in your business endeavors, and remember: no pain, no gain. 

TedTalks: Roselinde Torres and What it takes to be a Great Leader

by

There are many leadership programs available today, from 1-day workshops to corporate training programs. But chances are, these won’t really help. In this clear, candid talk, Roselinde Torres describes 25 years observing truly great leaders at work, and shares the three simple but crucial questions would-be company chiefs need to ask to thrive in the future.

Customer Communication: How to Improve your Company’s Site

by

apple-desk-office-technology-large

In the entrepreneurship sector, customer communication has become one of the hall markers for success. While as much as we would like to focus our attention in creating the best product and service for our client, in reality, this is just half the battle. The second half requires the day-to-day operations of customer communication. When we look at customer communication in a bird’s eye view, the overall procedure plays a grander role in building that much needed rapport for company-client relationships. It allows customers to gain the necessary information they need, while also giving the company the essential communication in how we can improve each and every day.

As you have probably noticed in your business, the customer will, and will always be, king. In addition to what you are doing now, there is always ways in which you can improve and maximize customer communication channels, especially on your website. To compete with them, start taking a different approach in how you market and communicate your brand, your product, and your company online.

Below, I have provided five tips for you can improve your company website. These tips break down the overall logistics you need so that your customers have a holistic understand of your company and your services.

Get Into the Mind of the a Customer

Like in any business, you want to make sure you are looking at things in the perspective of your client, especially for your website. Having this holistic open-minded outlook will allow you to fix any tweaks or misunderstandings clients may have when viewing your site. Start off by signing onto your site. Ask yourself a variety of questions:

  • Will they be able to get in contact with us?
  • Does our site highlight our Vision, Goals, and Beliefs?
  • Do we showcase our product and service to the best of our abilities?

If you are able to answer the following questions, your site is in good hands. If, however, you are struggling to find detail-oriented answers for these questions, then this may be a great starting point in revamping your company site.

About, Contacts, & Vision and Goals Pages

Regardless of what field or industry that you are in, you want to make sure your customers have a strong understand of your company and your services. To accomplish this, make sure you have a page (or pages) that showcases your company history, your products, and your vision and goals. Having this type of information allows customers to understand the type of people they are doing business with while also adding a level of trust and faith for the reputation of your company. To enhance this even further, make sure you have a contact page where your clients and customers can communicate their questions, concerns, or thoughts about your business and your services.

Showcase your Work

To help build up a strong and sound reputation, you should try and provide videos, photographs, and reviews on your company site. This will once again prove to your customers how trustworthy you are as a company. Make sure that these videos, photographs, and reviews highlight your mission and customer satisfaction. One thing I would advise is to not over do this process. Two to three videos are enough to showcase your company’s services. Anything more can be overwhelming, or worse dishonest, to your clients and customers. Be natural and organic. If there are some flaws, make sure you stay ahead of the game and highlight what your new product will do to overcome this problem.

Live Chat Feature

Now, some of the best customer service sites are those that have live chat features. When a visitor lands on your site, you want to make sure they are able to get their questions answered easily and conveniently. To enhance this without simplify your content, try and add a ‘Live Chat’ software where a person can communicate freely with someone at your company. Having this option can help guide and support those visiting your site and provide them with that much needed information.

Stay on top of your Social Media

Like it or not, we live in the digital age where social media is one of many marketing tools for the future. For many people, this concept can be unfamiliar. While it may be daunting to jump into a new field, familiarizing and enhancing yourself with various SEO tactics can be the game changer you need in improving customer communication. To optimize this to its fullest, make sure you have the following

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Blog (on your site or a new site)

These big three social media platforms provide your customers with real-time communication. In addition, it gives your company an opportunity to branch out and tap an online market that can benefit your sales and your image.

Once all of this is done, be sure to test out these features. As you navigate through your company site, you want to once again assume the perspective of your customers and make sure you are able to go through each page with ease. Having this constant mentality of your customer’s perspective will help you refine and enhance any glitches so that your business’s customer satisfaction can improve each and every day.

What Epitomizes a Strong Leader?

by

bow-tie-businessman-fashion-man-large

What makes someone an effective leader? Does their tenure at a company classify them for leadership? What about their title?

As simple as this question may be, the variations of the answers continue to vex some of the best thinkers and business leaders within both the private and nonprofit sector. The reason why so many people have trouble describing leadership is because the answer is both simple and complex at the same time. Leadership itself does not have that one size fits all definition like other descriptions do. Instead, it encompasses a variety of characteristics, examples, and knowledge that make up this star individual. While instances of leadership can vary between situations to situation, the underlying impact that a leader can have on a group is something that is noteworthy, especially within the field of business.

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.

When it comes to identifying leadership, you can start off by what you already know. In this case, you can begin by understanding examples and reasons of what doesn’t make a leader. First and foremost, a leader is not based on the seniority and hierarchy of their position. While personal titles do exemplify your overall professional success of an individual, it does not automatically solidify you as a leader or game changer in your organization. Nor do personal wealth or management styles provide that title for leadership. Instead, a leader is an influencer. They are visionaries who spark action amongst their employees and inspire others to challenge the antiquated system in order to reach their objectives and goals.

pexels-photo-large

While this may sound demanding, today’s business professionals are looking for those individuals who can drive that high level of success. They want committed lifelong learners that are willing to foster and cultivate that efficient and consistent work environment with the utmost confidence. For this to happen, a leader needs to have these following professional skills perfected:

  • Communication: Having strong communication, especially across a variety of different networks, can aid the overall logistics and operations of a business. A good leader must possess outstanding communication skills and communicate the company’s vision, goals, and products in the simplest ways possible.
  • Build Teams: Putting together a strong team that can work effectively and efficiently is a strong sign of a good leader. To optimize this, a leader must understand each individual’s strengths and weaknesses. From there, the leader needs to know how to leverage and optimize the best from their works each and every day.
  • Risk Taking: While this may not necessarily be one of the biggest concepts people talk about when they discuss leadership, risk taking is something that is absolutely necessary if you want to develop as a leader. The act of inspiring your employees to go above and beyond their job description will show how influential you are to your team.
  • Vision and Goals: No matter what field you are specializing in, a great team depends on its leader’s vision and goals for the future. Even if they are short-term objectives, goals are what motivate people to go above and beyond the standard. In order for you to be a great leader, you need to be able to articulate your goals in the most inspiring way. This will in turn impact your workers to perform at the highest level.

startup-photos-large

At the end of the day, a leader provides an inner sense of drive and commitment for their company. They are the ones who know how to optimize their strengths of their workers and leverage the weaknesses of their organizations. They are the people that, no matter what the situation, you can count on.

While the definition of a strong and transformative leader may vary, these individuals encompass similar traits that make them stand out amongst the crowd. These are candidates who have integrity and honesty. They see people as human beings and try to inspire and encourage them to move to the next level. These are individuals who are confident. They know how to make those hard-hitting decisions, but are methodical in their thinking. Last but not least, these are individuals who are positive. They understand the high moments and the low moments and the necessary steps to improve morale.

In any type of business, regardless of the field, having numerous leaders will be the huge factor in the overall success of your company’s future. To ensure you have the right people, take a look at three additional qualities and traits that go beyond the standard list of what we already know about great leaders.

  • They Know Your Organization, Inside-and-Out: Effective leaders know the business’s overall purpose and goals. They understand the agreed-upon strategies and know their role in the overall big picture. Having this level of understanding will play a bigger role, especially when moving forward with the company.
  • They Reflect: An important role in being an effective leader is periodically looking back at their own personal strengths and shortcomings. This type of internal reflection is something that forces them to dichotomize their strengths and weaknesses as an individual. Knowing these types of abilities will allow them to delegate, improve, or leverage their skills in the most optimal way.
  • They are Responsive to the Group: Being perceptive and astute can help a leader be more effective in knowing the strengths and weaknesses their teams. This ability to hear, see, and comprehend their workers daily operations gives them strategic and effective ways to perfect any misaligned notions that can compromise the momentum of the group’s goals.

How to Market to your Consumer

by

6358382237757689182061122880_Internet-Marketing-Email-Banner

Far too often, businesses and organizations make the mistake of assuming that the consumer or client is willing to buy something based on its novelty. While that appeal may work for certain products, the approach itself will undeniably leave you to a dead-end. When it coming to marketing, it is absolutely vital that you market for the consumer. This means targeting your audience. Successful companies did not get to their level that they are at through ‘shot in the dark’ approaches. Instead, they thought strategically and creatively about their products and services and how it could better and attract the public’s need to buy.

Below, you will find five categories for the marketing process. These tips will help your business and organization reach its targeted audience in the best way possible. The main concept is to understand the buyer and to revamp your approach specifically for them.

1. Problem Recognition

To put it simply, customers want to have a reason to believe in the product before making that final purchase. Because of this, you have to make sure that your business or organization’s product or service provides that problem-solution desire. Take for example Apple. While they had to face a variety of obstacles of getting establish and competing with the bigger name companies, they made sure to market and perfect their product as a user-friendly computer. That mentality eventually shaped future designs and business decisions that we are seeing today. Like Apple, you want to be proactive with your products. You want to create an opportunity of solving a problem. That idea, while difficult to come up with, will be the sole definer of achieving success or experiencing failure.

2. Research

Once a problem is recognized, the research process begins. New products are tested for months to see how well they will perform with potential customers. As a marketer, you want to establish your brand based off of this information. Leverage out the strengths and see what can be changed with the negatives. This type of research, while taxing, will be incredibly beneficial in the long run.

3. Evaluate your Product (even against the competition)

Just because you have a great product or service does not mean that it is in high demand. Just like step two (research), you want to make sure you evaluate your product or service in the best possible way. Try even comparing it against your competition. Yes, this can be daunting, but understanding what your other competitors are offering can help you gain insight on what the audience is looking for.

4. Marketing the Purchase

Some companies sell through gimmicky advertisements. Others sell by name. Regardless of your situation, you want to make sure you strategically plan and evaluate the way you are going to market your purchase. Rather than going off of others, try thinking about your product as a story. What is the message you want to send to your customers and how will they receive it? Your answer will allow you to shape your marketing campaign in the best possible way.

5. Post-Purchase Evaluations

One of the biggest benefits you can do once your product is accessible to the public is to evaluate your success in a quantifiable way. Try looking at this both monthly and quarterly. Compare the units sold and the amount purchase. Then go back to the drawing board of how you marketed and branded the product. If you found that it was a success. Fantastic! Continue what you are doing. If you found, however, that the first few months did not go well, reevaluate the product and your marketing plan. Sometimes the small changes can be the game-changer for success.

House Votes to Lift Oil-Export Ban, White House Vetoes

by

oil

The beginning of October 2015 was an absolutely historic moment in the power and oil sector where the House voted to lift the 40-year-old ban on the export of U.S. crude oil that has been in place since 1975 during the height of the Arab oil embargo. Lawmakers voted 261 to 159 to ending the 40-year prohibition. For oil producers and lawmakers from oil-producing states, the repeal is seen as a way to find new markets for American energy and to bring back jobs to districts that have been hit hard from the excess supply by allowing American fuel to be sold overseas.

(Learn more about the benefits here.)

While many Republicans have come out in favor of the idea, the vote has fueled a clash with most Democrats, including President Barack Obama. President Obama sent out a powerful message to Congress and to the American public regarding the issue. He states that the administration is unlikely to sign off on any measures expanding fossil fuel production and sales even if those measures carry economic benefits for the country. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton added on with the negative ramifications that the lifting of the ban could have on the environment. This supports many environmental groups who also oppose the lifting of the ban, arguing that doing so could further stimulate production of fossil fuels.

George Baker, executive director of the coalition of more than a dozen oil companies such as Marathon Oil Corp and Apache Corp states, “this is a vote to level the playing field for U.S. workers and businesses who should be allowed to compete against foreign oil suppliers like Iran and Russia.” Baker continues by stating various benefits that the lift could have on the American public. Allowing oil exports would not only provide equal opportunities but also eliminate the market distortions, create jobs, and stimulate more U.S. petroleum production, which has increased significantly (80%) since 2008.

(Learn more about the vote here.)

Regardless of the benefits, the White House plans on threatening to veto the bill. They believe that Congress should focus its efforts on supporting transitions to a low-carbon economy.

Currently, 235 Republicans and 26 Democrats supported the bill. These numbers are short of the 290 needed to override a presidential veto.

While this is currently still a heated topic, some politicians are going a different route stating the ban no longer holds value. According to a report released this year by the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. may achieve energy interdependence between 2020 or 2030. For them, tinkering with the import and export won’t change things. What matters is who has the oil and how much.

So the questions remain. Should the ban be lifted? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Is this the right move for the American public? For now, we can only just watch. The chess pieces are already at play. Let’s just hope we see our futures with a checkmate.