Author: Pamela Swift

Categories
Technology

6 Technologies Your Startup Business Must Have

By: Donna Jo

Your business is in the early stages and it’s likely that you’re wearing several hats. Not only are you the accountant, but you’re also the graphic designer. You don’t know how you’re going to manage it all. But there are plenty of AI and automated tools that can help you out.

Now it’s time to worry about which tech tools to use. Starting a business includes the difficulty of using apps and tools that take up too much of your time. But here are some tech tools you’ll need before the stress of having a consistent income and dealing with office space issues sets in. Each of these tools will save you the time and stress from starting a new business.

Online Word Processor

Use Google Docs for collaborating with clients and colleagues. Most people only use 10% of the features that Microsoft Office offers. Save money and use Google Docs, which provides only the features that your startup needs for free. Everyone on your team can edit, share, and view the documents on this platform.

Google Docs is like a presentation application, spreadsheet, and word processor all in one. Moving all of your work to the cloud will increase the versatility that your business needs to move from different locations. It’s also the best storage for all of your documents, files, and photos. For a small monthly fee, you can use your domain name as your e-mail address rather than the Gmail address. You’ll also get immediate access to accountability, analytics, reports, and more.

Project Management Tool

Basecamp and Slack are two of the best project management tools on the market. They allow your teams to collaborate and communicate effectively without the need for e-mail. Both of these applications come with their own virtual chatrooms. Files, messages, and notifications are archived and indexed on a regular basis for easy access. Slack will extract each of your files into Google Docs, PDFs, and Word documents, so you can use them across various applications. These tools increase productivity and prevent your work from suffering.

Graphic Design Tool

Every startup needs its own creative tools. It’s important to communicate your mission, values, and vision to your target audience. Business cards, logos, newsletter templates, and social media icons are some of the branding options you need to create the right way. While there are agencies like 99Designs, tools like Canva and PicMonkey allow you to create a logo for cheap.

You don’t have to be a graphic designer. Now you’re just worried about your job as a security guard. You’re wondering which home security system to use. There are business security systems that come with simple features while others have more advanced features. It’s important to read online reviews before choosing the right one for your business.

Online Discussion Tool

If you want to keep an online brainstorming session going, then use Campfire. This online tool saves a copy of your entire chat history. It’s a great way to discuss any topic that comes up during work without getting distracted. It’s a mindful way to have productive work discussions. It’s also an ideal way of preventing private work conversations and secret projects from escaping out into the world.

Social Media Management

It’s tempting to hire a social media manager to help you attract more followers. Save your money and use a social media management tool such as Hootsuite or SproutSocial. It allows to post to several social networks at once, engage with followers, and schedule your posts to run at various times throughout the day. Social media can be overwhelming if you don’t manage it effectively.

Notes Manager

Start taking notes on the go. Google Keep is ideal for taking notes on your smartphone. Most business owners prefer to use Evernote, Microsoft OneNote or Quip for taking notes and saving images. The point of digital note-taking is to collect little pieces of information from websites you visit throughout the day. Google Keep is not the fanciest out of these choices, but it’s available as an app and is just a tap away. It’s impossible to run a startup without contacts, knowledge, reminders, and other pieces of information.

It’s important not to overwhelm yourself in the beginning stages of your business. The same goes for choosing the right tech tools for your startup. Choose two or three tools to get started. Eliminate the app or tool if you find that it’s not working for you.

Categories
Branding

Reputation Management for Entrepreneurs

Public relations and reputation management tend to evoke the image of companies struggling to react in a crisis. But the truth is, properly managing your public image and reputation as an entrepreneur is an effort that should start long before problems arise. In fact, proper reputation management is something that should be proactively developed as it can yield many positive benefits to a company besides simply helping with damage control.

Taking Your Reputation Online

Once upon a time, the reputation of an average business and its owner depended on a pleasant smile, a firm handshake, and a good customer experience in a brick-and-mortar store. In the modern day, though, this is less likely to be the case.

While physical locations still exist for many companies and the experiences they provide are still important, one of the most crucial ways for modern entrepreneurs to protect the reputation of both their brand and themselves is to cultivate a positive, impactful online presence.

It doesn’t matter if you’re operating a restaurant in the heart of a city center or selling socks on your website; you need to make sure that your online reputation is sterling. With that said, here are several different ways for entrepreneurs to address their online standing and make sure that their influence remains untarnished.

Be Consistent in Your Message

No matter where or when you are in history, human nature is the same. People want to see things like consistency and dependability when they interact with a business leader. They want to know what to expect.

That’s why it’s critical that you project a consistent image of your own thoughts, messages, and values, as well as your company’s goals. If an entrepreneur and their company send inconsistent messages, it can undermine any trust that they may have built with the public. This doesn’t just apply to external communications, either. Even internal communications and interdepartmental strategies and efforts should point towards common, understood goals in order to avoid communicating mixed and confusing information.

Be a Value Leader

Successful businesses typically have a serious commitment to a set of clearly defined best practices and a code of ethics. Proper best practices and business ethics are imbued into the very fabric of a company. Everything from mission statements to employee training, leadership memos, and public communications should practice integrity, demonstrate trust, and exude honor.

If your business is properly established as a value leader, it shouldn’t be something that is only publicly seen through thinly veiled PR announcements and initiatives. It should ooze out of every bit of marketing and every interaction with the public.

Be a Networking Force

Cultivating a good image through consistent networking is another excellent way to increase your entrepreneurial clout. The positive recognition that comes from rubbing elbows with your industry peers can build your reputation all on its own. It’s also something that benefits more than just business professionals these days.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a freelancer, a medical professional, or anyone in between, everyone can benefit from a properly managed social media image. Taking the time to fully fill out profiles on popular professional social sites like LinkedIn and Glass Door is a critical first step. From there, you can engage with the thought leaders and peers in your own and other related fields of business in order to continue to build and manage your online reputation.

Perfect That Online Presence

Of course, social media networking is just a piece of the online puzzle. It’s also important to make sure that you have a smooth, user-centric design for your company’s website and any customer-facing software. Remember, your site is your online hub — the place where all of the “spokes” of your marketing and reputation efforts will point to. Make sure that it’s a place that reinforces your message, allows your customers to easily contact and interact with your brand, and generally keeps their experiences positive.

Practice Active Listening

The concept of active listening is just as crucial online as it is in person. If you want to establish credibility and trust with consumers and clients online, you need to make sure that they feel valued and heard.

This can be done by quickly and politely responding to all of the reviews in places like your My Google Business listing. If your business has a presence on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites, make sure to utilize those as virtual customer service centers as well. Respond and interact with customers. Make sure to show that you genuinely care about their needs and concerns.

Always Watch and Be Ready to Grow

Finally, it can be helpful to set up tools to watch for online activity that may relate to yourself or your brand. Things like Google Alerts, Addictomatic, and Keotag can help you stay up to date on your online presence, receive notifications when you or your brand are mentioned, and allow you to quickly address any feedback or responses.

Tools aside, it’s critical to also keep an open mind when it comes to fostering and managing your reputation online over the long haul. The rules and fads of the internet change on a regular basis. Therefore it can be extremely beneficial to stay abreast of the best ways to monitor your online presence. This enables you to make sure that the reputation of both you and your company remain as intact, valued, and authoritative as possible.

Categories
How-To Guides

Getting Critics to Review Your Ebook

The internet has the power to connect almost anyone with, well, almost anything. As an ebook author, you undoubtedly see the potential to link your written words with a wider audience. This is precisely why independent ebook sales are flourishing: Authors have more power than ever before over how their ebooks are marketed and sold.

The challenging aspect of navigating today’s ebook market is the fact other authors are doing the same thing. Growth in publishing is good, but it means you’ll have to work harder—or smarter—to get your book noticed. Further, to make a name for yourself, you’ll need to find a way to gain readers’ trust.

Getting critics to review your ebook can establish legitimacy and pique reader curiosity. Here’s more on how clinching the right reviews can drive ebook sales and audience loyalty.

The Power of Social Proof and Authority

What is “social proof” and how can it help you sell ebooks? Well, it’s no secret human beings, the social creatures we are, find a degree of security and comfort in following the crowd. Our species has survived in part because there’s safety in numbers. Social proof is an extension of this: People tend to believe the actions of others are correct.

They will give weight to the fact others are reading and enjoying an ebook.

Reviews are one way to generate this social proof.

As Practical Ecommerce notes, expert proof is particularly influential: “Integrating quotes from prominent influencers often results in a conversion boost.” People perceive critics as having good taste in books; seeing a favorable blurb or review can convince them to give it a read themselves. Reviews from critics act as a stamp of authority, which in turn ramps up the social proof that helps convince potential readers to download your book.

Strategies for Getting Critics to Review Your Ebook

It’s entirely possible to increase the chances your ebook will receive quality reviews from critics, but far from guaranteed. This means you’ll have to do everything you can on you end to make it happen. There are a few approaches authors can employ in terms of getting critics and respected industry professionals to read and review their books.

The first option is submitting your ebook to paid review sites. The upside is this course of action can elicit the desired outcome of getting your ebook reviewed and having this assessment posted across various marketplaces. However, it will cost you a chunk of your marketing budget. Some authors feel the payoff is paltry compared to the price tag, so they advise pursuing more cost-effective means of garnering reviews.

Independent authors can also submit ebooks to websites and blogs that publish reviews—many of which do so for free. Here’s what Publishers Weekly recommends authors do before submitting an ebook for review:

– Research the reviewers and bloggers ahead of time.
– Read each website’s review policies for instructions and exclusions.
– Make sure your ebook fits the checklist of submission requirements.
– Make sure your ebook has an author photo and bio, suitable jacket images, a press release and a cover letter.

The more suited your ebook is to a certain blog or website, the greater the likelihood it will earn a review. Quality reviews can drive potential readers to visit your online store selling ebooks, hosted on Shopify or another ecommerce platform.

The Most Important Critics Are Readers

At the end of the day, the most important critics are always readers. One report found 70 percent of adults in the U.S. trust recommendations from each other more than statements from brands. Make sure your content is resonating with its target audience and politely solicit readers from time to time to leave an honest review.

You can pay in the hopes of getting critics to review your ebook or pursue an unpaid strategy. No matter which you choose, make sure you’re also receiving and posting reviews from your readership.

Categories
Home-Based Business

Strategies To Land A Solid Work From Home Gig In 2019

Who doesn’t dream of working from home? No matter how much you like your job, working from your kitchen table or couch sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

According to the Freelancing in America: 2017 study commissioned by Upwork, 57.3 million people (36% of the entire U.S. workforce) are already freelancing. Freelance workers are projected to make up more than half of the U.S. workforce by 2027. This prediction makes sense given that hiring a remote workforce provides access to a wider range of talent.

When you’re the talent searching for the right company, use these strategies to avoid getting scammed and find legitimate work from home opportunities:

  1. Research strategically

There are so many job listings that aren’t legitimate that you really need to do research before sending in your application. Sometimes it’s not worth your time.

Search for the company name on Google, and follow every lead on the first page. If nothing comes up in the search results – not even on the company’s own website – the opportunity might not be legitimate.

  1. Vet the legitimacy of the company

Do a few basic searches online to vet the legitimacy of the company posting the job you want to apply for.

  • Search for a Yelp listing. Some businesses don’t have online business listings because they don’t have a physical presence, but it’s worth checking out. If a business has a listing with current reviews, you’ll get a good idea of how the business operates.

  • Search for a Google My Business listing. Like Yelp, the presence of a Google business listing isn’t guaranteed, but when a listing exists, it will help you vet the company.

  • Check for a verified profile on Inc.com. Inc.com provides profiles for businesses after verifying they’re operational, have a working website, working phone numbers, and appropriate content.

    The profile features the name of the company’s leader, yearly revenue, industry, location, year founded, and number of employees. Inc.com verifies companies that exist solely in the remote work space. Trafilea’s profile, for example, is listed in the Advertising & Marketing section, reports 150 employees, and provides a brief company description.

    Finding a business on Inc.com doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a great company to work for; it just means the company has been verified to a degree. To cut down on the amount of time you spend responding to job postings, reply to ads you can trace back to a seemingly legitimate business. When you run out of those, start replying to the rest.
  1. Calculate your actual pay

Some remote work opportunities pay by the project, not by the hour. A remote gig might pay high per project, but if the work is tedious and takes too long, you might end up earning $5 or $10 per hour.  A solid work from home opportunity won’t pay you peanuts.

The moment you know a job’s pay rate and the work you’ll be expected to perform, calculate your true hourly pay rate. If you’re an independent contractor, you’re not guaranteed minimum wage, so you’ll need to decide if the pay is too low. If you’re considered an employee, be cautious of gigs that don’t offer to make up the difference when your hourly work doesn’t meet minimum wage. If a company doesn’t explicitly state they will make up the difference, they probably won’t.

  1. Create your own work from home opportunity

Take your entrepreneurial spirit and run with it. If you want to work from home, but can’t find a job working for someone else, it’s time to consider starting your own business.

Starting a business isn’t the easiest road, but it does give you more freedom around what you do and where you work. Not all entrepreneurs end up running their business from a standard office. Today, 59% of entrepreneurs continue to work from home after getting their business off the ground.

When you create your own work from home opportunity, you’ll be the one hiring freelancers and other remote workers.

Listen to your intuition

Most of us have shown up to an interview, only to be sold on a multi-level marketing program. The world of remote work is similar. You never know what you’re responding to until you get a reply from the company.

Be brave enough to decline an offer that doesn’t feel right. There is no shortage of opportunity, you just need to be diligent about finding a legitimate offer.

Categories
Planning & Management

Why Businesses Pay for Your Opinion

If you’ve ever researched quick ways to make money, you probably already know a little bit about taking paid surveys online. Paid surveys are an easy way to rack up some extra cash each month, without interfering with your already busy life. Surveys typically take very little time to complete, and the only requirement is having a device that’s connected to the internet.

But paid surveys exist for many other reasons than to put money in your pocket. In fact, businesses use surveys as a way to collect important information that assists in making the right changes to improve their product, marketing campaigns, or customer service in general.

Here’s why businesses pay for your opinion and how you can cash in on it.

How Online Surveys Benefit Businesses

Market research is a huge deal. In fact, companies spend billions of dollars each year by investing in interviews, surveys, product testing, and focus groups. The purpose is to gather data about new and existing products.

Online surveys fit perfectly into the market research realm. Using surveys, businesses are able to learn all sorts of information, including:

  • What products consumers like
  • How consumers decide what to by
  • What factors are most important to consumers when buying products
  • Likes and dislikes about certain products

With a simple survey, it’s easy to gather all of this information at once. Online surveys are also extremely cost effective, especially for the high return on investment that they offer. Traditional surveys are labor intensive, expensive, and require a lot of time, sometimes months, to compete.

With online market research companies are able to save time, which in the end saves them money. If a business is looking to learn about what consumers think about a certain product or brand, an online survey is the most efficient way to gather that data.

Using data from online surveys, businesses are able to make more informed and consumer-driven decisions. This helps to improve a company’s standing in their industry, which hopefully improves profits and their bottom line.

How Paid Surveys Benefit Consumers

Taking paid online surveys won’t make you rich, but the compensation is well worth a few minutes of your time to answer simple questions. As a survey taker, you also have the chance to receive free products in exchange for testing them out and providing feedback. Other companies use a points system where users earn points for each survey completed. Points can be used to redeem gift cards, product discounts, and even airline miles.

While getting paid is definitely the top perk of taking online surveys, another benefit is that you, as a consumer, get to have a say in a business’ product, service, or marketing. Surveys show just how influential and powerful the consumer voice really is. By sharing your feedback, you can help to make products better and to give businesses the boost they need to be even more successful.

Maximizing Your Survey Earnings

Taking paid surveys won’t turn you into a millionaire overnight, but there are ways to you can maximize your earning so that you make as much money as possible.

The first step is to have realistic goals and to create a schedule you can dedicate to. How much money you make each month greatly depends on the number of surveys you complete and how much they pay. Most surveys only pay $0.25-$5.00, but you will find certain paid survey sites offer much higher payouts.

It’s also important to create a schedule and stick to it. In order to meet your earning goal each month, you have to set aside a certain amount of time each day to completing surveys. Make sure that the schedule you design fits within your lifestyle. You can complete surveys during your lunch break, during your commute home on public transportation, and during the time you already spend online.

The next step in maximizing the money you make from online paid surveys is to join several paid survey sites. These days there are dozens to choose from, but some of the top options to consider include:

  • Swagbucks
  • Survey Junkie
  • Vindale Research
  • MyPoints

By joining several sites, you increase your chances of being selected for surveys on a routine basis. This helps to ensure that you always have a steady queue of surveys to complete. The good news is that if you run out of surveys to take, many survey sites offer other ways to earn, such as watching promotional videos, searching the internet, or playing games.

Conclusion

Paid surveys are used by businesses for market research as a way to refine and improve their products, services, and overall brand. On the flip side, consumers who participate in paid surveys benefit from putting extra money in their pockets.