Start, Run, & Grow Your Business

Useful Techniques for Defining Your Brand Identity

Ask ten small business owners to give you a good definition of brand, and you’ll get 12 different answers. Branding is a slippery concept even among the best & brightest entrepreneurs. For all the chatter about the topic on business blogs, much about branding seems elusive, contradictory, impractical, or expensive. Many people don’t think of much beyond their logo & color scheme, something they paid a marketing agency to develop for them a couple of years ago but were never really sure why and then rarely used. The confusion around branding is unfortunate because the concept itself is critical to marketing, sales, and corporate culture as a whole. Let’s add a little clarity to the discussion here. In some cases, the word “brand” refers to a type of product. For example, you could say that Coca Cola owns several brands such as Sprite and Mr. Pibb. Broadly speaking, however, the …

How to Use Your Existing Phones with a Virtual Phone System

Entrepreneurs have a lot of questions on their minds, especially when starting out or scaling up. How will I make payroll? How do I advertise my business? Is my product properly positioned in the market? Even, what’s the best phone system for my business? We’ve been entrepreneurs a long time, and we’d like to help answer some of those. Check out our blog for some great tips for new business owners to help solve the first three questions and others about getting started in business. And as far as phone systems go, well, that’s our business, so we can certainly get you started off on the right foot there, too. We think simple, fast, and easy solutions are the best solutions for entrepreneurs. So we believe that the best business phone system is not a particular make, model, or brand. The best one is the one that works consistently. On …

How to Motivate and Promote Entrepreneur Success

To be effective is also to learn from others who have already accomplished their goals. Having a mentor is an incredible blessing for an entrepreneur, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea to find one. The path to a productive entrepreneurship may seem thrilling and full of adventure, but the reality is that being your own boss isn’t easy whatsoever. As they say, with great powers come great responsibilities. Starting a business is one thing, but effectively managing it is quite another that you may need to tackle because each company has to go through its own ups and downs. To this end, a good company depends a lot on how well you can cope with stress and face the obstacles that are inevitably bound to come along. If you don’t know how to get there and stay motivated throughout your journey, here are the top 10 tips to help …

How Spanx CEO Sara Blakely Built a Billion Dollar Business

In 2012, Sara Blakely joined an elite club of just 2,604 people in the world. That year, Forbes crowned her the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, and Sara was welcomed into the world of the Walton family, Carlos Slim, and Warren Buffett. Pretty good for a girl who once failed her audition for the part of Goofy at Disney’s Orlando theme park. It wasn’t the only failure Sara had experienced before she hit the quarter-century mark. In fact, nearly anyone else would have given up on success long ago if they’d faced as many setbacks and disappointments as Sara did. Sara’s story showcases two major themes — failure and grit. As a young woman, Sara got a major dose of both. It wasn’t that she came from a hardscrabble background. In fact, Sara grew up in Clearwater, Florida under an artist mother and a lawyer father. Her failures were her own, …

5 Engaging Formats that Work Best for Marketing Blogs

Whether your writing experience is in conventional media or blog content (or you’re a business owner trying to put out a blog because you see the value in it) isn’t the most important thing. You have to realize that writing a marketing blog for your business is a totally different feat. At its core, the principles aren’t all that different. If the articles are exciting, original, interesting, or useful, then people are going to read them! However, what works in a marketing blog isn’t quite the same as traditional written work. There’s definitely a different slant on what captures the attention of an Internet audience. Take these five examples of article formats, and run with them because they will give you an immediate advantage..the ability to inspire clicks. 1. Numbered Lists Numbered lists are still some of the most clickable blog post types that you can use. Yes, the Internet …

8 Personalized Notes to Give Your Customers for Valentine’s Day

It’s always a good thing if you can find an occasion to send out a note to your customers. Just to show them that you haven’t forgotten about them, and that they aren’t just a number to you. Sending out a personalized note on Valentine’s Day might be one of the best times to do it because they’re probably not expecting it, and it will come as such a pleasant surprise. It’s not difficult at all to send out a quick message.. even if it’s just to say hello and greet the customer, showing them that you care enough to take the time. However, we get that it can be tough to think of something to say. Which is why we’re giving you a bunch of pre-written notes here that you can use for your Valentine’s Day message. Now you have little excuse NOT to! Standard Valentine’s Day Greetings Want …

How Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore Made News More Relatable

Mashable is a media & entertainment company with over 48 million followers across a variety of social media platforms. Millions of users view Mashable content each day on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and the company’s website. If a news story is trending online, they likely have an article covering the topic. Mashable launched in 2005, a year after Facebook and a year before Twitter. Just 12 years later, it sold for close to $50 million. So, who is responsible for the growth of Mashable? How did the company become one of the fastest-growing digital publishers? Where does the company have planned next? In the following article, we examine the history of Mashable & the person behind its success. Mashable Started as a Blog Written by a Teenager Pete Cashmore founded Mashable in 2005 as a simple WordPress blog. Four years later, Time Magazine voted Mashable one of the …

Set Your Sights on Success: Propel Your Business in 2024 - Success Tips for the New Year

Set Your Sights on Success: Propel Your Business in 2025

With a brand new year comes so many new opportunities for your business. After the challenges of the past 5 years, you may be very much looking forward to a fresh start in 2025. So, what is the best way to start the new year with a positive perspective? When it comes to goal planning and setting your business up for growth, the beginning of the year really is the perfect time to re-evaluate your current practices. In the following article, we will explore some of the most effective strategies for propelling your business to even more success in 2025. From goal setting to disaster planning, use these tips to make sure this a banner year for your business. Set Clear Goals for the Coming Year Start by thinking about the long-term goals you hope to achieve by the end of the year. Where do you see your …

5 Reasons Why You Should Get Rid of Your Business Landline

In the old days, one of the first steps to opening a business was having a telephone installed. Now, the traditional landline phone may be on its way out, replaced by cell phones and PSTN technology. In fact, many companies began phasing out their landlines at least a decade ago. It may be time for you to eliminate your landline, too. If you’re wondering whether you’ll be able to keep a professional business running without a landline, the answer is yes. You can set up a virtual phone system which provides everything that your old landline used to—a call menu, a welcome greeting, professional voicemail, and much more. Of course, if you’d like to keep your landline, that’s perfectly fine! You can incorporate it into a virtual phone system as well. Keep on reading for some of the best reasons to cut the cord on your business landline. Five …

6 Ways to Pinch Pennies & Cut a Ton of Company Spending

Businesses have been looking for ways to cut their operating costs for as long as businesses have existed. It can be a troublesome area because business owners have to sort of use triage to figure out what gets cut and what stays, sometimes resulting in cutting things out that you don’t necessarily want to get rid of. There’s only so much money in the budget, though, which means some things are going to have to go. The trick is to take a really close look at where you’re spending money, down to the very smallest of expenses. In fact, the really small expenses can be the best things to eliminate because they tend to have less of an impact, or consequence on your business. If you find yourself in need of cutting costs, this post is going to help because we’ve compiled a list of a few ways you …

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