Category: Starting Up

Launching a business is hard. Launching a business before you’ve done the legwork to determine your market and identify your challenges is nearly impossible. Similarly, if you’re becoming the head honcho without mastering some important skills first, you may find success harder to come by.

Here are some of the most important skills any entrepreneur should know, and where to learn them. All these courses are on sale for Memorial Day, so make the savvy business decision and take advantage.

1. Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is one of the most important programs in business today. It’s far more than just a spreadsheet software (although that’s a valuable use case, as well). Excel helps you with data analysis, financial forecasting, and many more things that are essential to running a data-driven, solutions-oriented business.

2. Public Speaking

Entrepreneurs must be able to sell their product or service to others. Whether you’re pitching to investors, employees, or potential customers, public speaking will be a significant asset. With great public speaking skills, you’re more likely to inspire people to see your vision and get on board with your company.

3. Developing Business Plans

Naturally, every entrepreneur needs a business plan. This course is led by an award-winning business school professor and offers a 13-step methodology to creating a business plan. It even comes with 50 business plan templates and 25 business presentations made specifically for startups.

4. Data Science

Data drives everything in business. As an entrepreneur, if you can successfully model and understand data, you’re already a few steps ahead of the pack. Not only will you save money by not having to hire analysts, but you’ll also have the skills to make informed business decisions right out of the gate.

5. Facebook Marketing

Facebook is the second-largest advertising platform on the planet, meaning it’s a key tool for any entrepreneur starting out. In this course, you’ll learn how to reach and engage with new audiences on Facebook. Hitting the ground running with a Facebook marketing strategy can go a long way for your business.

6. Search Engine Optimziation

If you don’t have a ton of capital to work with when you’re just starting out, paid advertising may not be for you. Search engine optimization (SEO), however, is often free and just requires a technical understanding of how to make content stand out online. This course will show you how to get your web pages to the top of Google’s search pages.

7. Copywriting

Great copywriting sells products. You can outsource your marketing and sales content to third-parties, or you can handle it yourself. This guide will teach you how to write copy that sells so you can save money and generate more income from the get-go.

8. Quickbooks

QuickBooks is the top accounting software on the market. When you can use QuickBooks effectively, you can handle all of your business’s financial and bookkeeping needs, thereby saving money on accounting services. It’ll also help you track inventory, vendor payments, invoices, and much more.

9. Generalist Skills

The best entrepreneurs never stop learning. With that in mind, check out Big Think Edge. This library is filled with lectures from Ivy League professors and world-renowned experts like Elon Musk and Malcolm Gladwell, covering some of today’s most important topics.

10. Project Management

Project management is all about finding the most efficient and least wasteful way of doing something. For entrepreneurs who are likely strapped for cash after launch, that’s extremely important. This training will introduce you to several top project management methodologies, including Scrum, Agile, and PMP.

10 Skills to Master Before Launching a New Business [Entrepreneur]

Are you a business-oriented person and would like to have your own business established in Switzerland? This is possible and very easy to achieve, as long as you follow all the necessary steps and procedures before you do it; this is to avoid going against their laws.

Switzerland is a destination for many foreign investors. There are numerous favorable factors like low taxes, transparency that does not accord for corruption, and many more. If you have no idea how you can achieve that or have Swiss resident director services when you create a Switzerland business, this article will give you a better understanding.

How to start a company/business in Switzerland?

Switzerland allows every person interested in starting a business to do so without too many restrictions. That includes foreign investors, but they have to follow the constitution’s laws.

For foreign investors, they must first have a valid C permit from a third-party Country, a spouse to the C permit holder, or a spouse to a Swiss resident.

The following are necessary steps of the application process to start a business in Switzerland;

It would be best if you had a clear business plan that will pass the evaluation process. You should also have an existing relationship with other similar companies about what you want to put up.

Your application must also have a commercial registration entry and foundation charter. For a successful application, you are guaranteed a short-term permit for the third-party Country persons, also the L permit, or a resident permit also the B permit, which can last for up to a year and is subject to renewal.

Starting a Limited Liability Company (GMbH) (SARL)

If you are a local, the steps are simple before starting your business/company. The LLC is registered by a single owner, whereby they must have a minimum paid-up capital of CHF 20,000. According to the Switzerland constitution of article 718 Swiss Code of Obligation.

The company has the obligation of submitting each year’s financial statement to the Swiss authority. (Annual audit report required-waiver is possible for small companies)

The taxes may differ depending on the province in the business. They may be set up and maybe subjected to audit if the company has over 250 employees, assets exceeding CHF 2 million, and above CHF 40 million as the turnover. Similarly, for foreign investors, you must have the paid-up capital for registration, following the same procedures and steps, and have a local representative residing in Switzerland.

The unlimited number of shareholders allowed but at least one founder (individual or legal entity). The Shareholder’s liability is limited to the amount subscribed.

The Resident Director

The resident director of a Swiss company can be a Swiss or foreign national, but they must be resident in the country. The other directors of the company may come from elsewhere. The board appoints him to act as the shield of the shareholders and other directors. They should be very professional and must be at least 18 years old. They must also meet the legal law set before assuming any fiduciary role entrusted to them.

Duties of the Swiss resident director

The resident director’s role does not mandate to control the company without the board of directors’ and shareholders’ consent. You only act as a representative of the company before third parties like banks or tax authorities.

They also play a role in managing the administrative functions, preparing the general meetings conducted annually, and taking reports and minutes of the attended meeting. He also takes care of the accounting and auditing, and he has the power to meet and negotiate with the business’s creditors. 

In dissolving a company, the resident director ensures all the proper procedures are followed before its dissolution and that every shareholder and board members’ interest were met. Sometimes the business objectives may have been achieved, and you wish to dissolve or expand in other areas. The resident director is primarily involved in the business’s daily activities and not its operational activity.

Switzerland has been a home for many potential business people, and they have always profited from their investment by the laws set to protect them. By now, you know where to start from and what is expected of you before having any business. A financial services company can provide entrepreneurs such services and accomplish the administrative formalities involved in setting up a new company and ensure you get a resident director to push your business to profitability.

Starting a new business, particularly in the early stages, is a big commitment. In making the leap into entrepreneurship, would-be entrepreneurs would do well to leverage their network of people — their family, friends and business associates — as a critical resource. Here are five favors that all new entrepreneurs should call in during the early stages of their startup journey.

1. Try out my prototype.

Starting lean is the reality for most entrepreneurs. Making a large investment in a fully developed product or service offering may not be possible, let alone a good strategy. Eric Reis, in his book The Lean Startup, popularized the concept of the minimum viable product — the most basic useable prototype. Friends and family can be a great resource, willing to review or try out an early prototype and provide critical feedback to the design process.

Gathering as much information as you can early on can reduce the amount of uncertainty around a potential business. It clarifies the extent customers would be interested in what you want you have in mind. It will also indicate how much design work would be necessary to get your product or service to a level of interest sufficient to consider launching a business.

2. Help me write a business plan.

It can be very tempting to avoid writing a business plan. The excitement of a new idea, inexperience with the process, and, in some cases, ready access to funding can make it seem as if the best course of action is to get started offering your product or service to the market as soon as possible. Taking the time to write one, however, can be critical to understanding how best to bring your business to market. You can have a fantastic product or service design, but if it is not launched with sufficient financing, a sound operating model and a compelling market strategy, it likely will not gain the traction necessary to succeed. A third-party perspective of your network is a great way to help you uncover needs in the market and to size-up opportunities. As the saying goes, goals without plans are nothing more than wishes.

3. Make an investment.

In the early stages of an entrepreneurial venture, it can be very difficult to gain access to funding from venture capitalists or angel investors. A business loan or a business grant may be possible, but they come with added costs: interest in the case of a loan and an arduous application process for a grant. When entrepreneurs are unable to finance the startup on their own, family and friends are an historically significant source of early stage financing. Family and friends invest upwards of $60 billion annually in startups.

4. Help me manage myself.

Starting a new business is time-consuming and extremely stressful. Busy founders can get so absorbed in the day-to day needs of the startup that they struggle to manage their own well-being, both physically and mentally. In fact, they may not even be aware of the toll their business is having on their health. Having a spouse, family member, trusted friend or advisor willing to meet regularly to act as a sounding board for ideas and struggles, and to help provide some balance between work and personal life can be extremely valuable. It ensures that founders are taking care of themselves and are thus well-positioned to take care of the business.

5. Be my business mentor.

Generally startups are built up around a new idea, but these ideas are most often launched into established markets. It can take a very long time to learn the best practices and subtleties of the industries in which you want your new business to compete. Having someone familiar with the target industry is extremely valuable for positioning your startup to take on already established competitors.

As the founder of a potential new startup, you have a lot of work ahead of you. The good news is that you don’t have to go it alone. Reach out to the resources you already have in your network and put them to good use.

5 Favors to Call in When Launching a Business [Entrepreneur]

Are you trying to find the inner drive and inspiration to be become an entrepreneur? We surveyed over 1,200 American adults from diverse backgrounds all over the country, seeking to understand the factors that lead people to pursue their entrepreneurial goals.

Our big takeaway? It isn’t all about money, or success, or even business.

It’s this: If someone feels that their life has meaning, they’re more likely to become an entrepreneur.

And it goes even deeper than that. When we looked at the people who said they want to start a business, we saw a pattern: The most energized, confident, and goal-focused of them all also believe they have the ability to live meaningful lives. In fact, regardless of whether or not they have plans to start a business, survey respondents who believe strongly in their ability to live meaningful lives also had the most positive views about entrepreneurs.

In short, meaning in life inspires the entrepreneurial spirit—as well as the public opinions needed to make our society supportive of entrepreneurship.

So, what exactly is meaning in life?

When we say “meaning in life,” we mean that you feel that you play a significant role in the world. It’s a sense that you have a purpose. To feel meaningful is to believe that you matter, that you can make important contributions to your family, friends, communities, and broader society.

It has powerful implications for physical and mental wellbeing, for confidence and motivation, and for optimism about the future. Decades of research in psychology has shown the importance of this feeling of meaning in making people resilient and focused in difficult times.

And here’s why this is so important to understand now: If we can take advantage of the power of meaning, then aspiring entrepreneurs can rise up, and provide the resiliency and focus necessary to help us all navigate these difficult times.

How entrepreneurs can harness this power

No matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, start by taking the time to focus on what currently gives your life meaning. Then, think about how your entrepreneurial ambitions build on that. For most of us, meaning is found in close relationships, by connecting with and serving the ones we love. Therefore, it may be helpful when developing a business plan to think about how it will not only help you pursue your own ambitions, but can also benefit those you care about most.

For example, are you building a business that can provide opportunities for family and friends? Will your business give you the ability to spend more time with loved ones? Or might it offer new ways for you to be better able to be there for them?

More broadly, think about how your future business can help make significant contributions to your community, and perhaps even the broader world. Focusing on the meaningful role you can play may not only help give you inspiration, it may also help you generate novel ideas and innovation solutions to challenges you and your community face. You may be the one that helps make important breakthroughs, the one who finds a way to help vulnerable populations in the community, or the one who finds a new way to deliver goods to meet people’s needs during social distancing.

Eventually, when our global challenges have passed, an economic recovery will depend on the entrepreneurial spirit and business innovations to help our society flourish. As people continue, at least in the short term, to reduce their travel, limit their retail shopping and dining out, avoid attending large events and meetings, and continue other social distancing behaviors, businesses will need to continue to explore new ways of delivering and producing goods and services.  New opportunities will arise for those that are able to innovate in this environment. In addition, individuals will need to support entrepreneurs and their businesses in order for them to rebuild and thrive.

Believing that your life is meaningful, that you have a significant role to play in the world, can help you cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit and innovate in ways that not only help you fulfill your need for meaning but also help shape a flourishing world where others can do the same.

Want to Be An Entrepreneur? Focus on What Gives Your Life Meaning [Entrepreneur]