Small Business Tips: How to grow your small business.
Building a small business means working round the clock. No realvacations, no time offs, and no dumping the responsibility over someone else’s shoulder.
We’re not sure why you chose the grind.
But now that you have, we’d like to congratulate you.
You’ve made a bold move because only 5% of the world’s population chooses entrepreneurship.
It’s surely a tough journey.
But if you do it right, it’s just as rewarding.
In this post, we will cover 6 tips that can help ease your early days and help you lay a strong, unshakeable foundation to grow your business successfully.
1. Know that you’re running a small business, not a one-person business
How to grow a small business
Speaking of 2022, one of the most common mistakes people make when they begin a small business is that they assume they have to do it all on their own.
They do so with the intent of saving more and having complete control.
That’s a destructive approach unless you’re running a one-person business.
Finances, marketing, product management, customer service, and resource management are all different and demanding domains.
If you hold yourself responsible for everything, there’s a high chance you’re going to mess things up and burn yourself out.
Consequently, you may lose your existing customers, waste investments, and lose health.
Your business will suffer instead of growing.
So, one of the first things you should do when trying to grow a small business is to accept that you need help and build a team to help with your business goals.
While this is a viable option, it’s not the only one and definitely not the smartest in the long term.
Small business growth hacking is all about minimizing risks.
So, instead of taking on additional debt, consider these financial options:
Crowdfunding: This is a great option if you have a solid product/service and an audience that’s willing to invest in your business.
Family and friends: You can always approach your loved ones for financial help. Just make sure you have a proper structure in place and treat it like a business deal by creating contracts, specifying interest rates (if any), and having a clear repayment plan.
Grants: Check with the government or other organizations for business grants that you may be eligible for.
3. Aim for a small, dedicated, and resourceful team
If you’ve been smart enough to realize the need for teamwork in growing your business, there’s another common mistake you need to look out for — building a big team.
And we mean that both in terms of quality and quantity.
You don’t need to hire big names (i.e., the best professionals in the industry), and you don’t need to hire a lot of people.
Instead, consider hiring only a handful of energized people. Prioritize soft skills, field knowledge, and professionalism over field experience.
If they’re good at learning and have a dedicated drive to work, they can help you make your business a success.
Remember, you can teach technical skills, but you cannot teach soft skills. If the person is skilled at what they do but not dedicated to work, they can only keep your business running.
They’ll never help you grow it because they won’t be interested in going the extra mile. So, look for people with the right drive.
Also, initially, it’s a good idea to hire someone who can take care of 2-3 roles instead of one. The smaller your team, the better you’ll be able to communicate and innovate.
4. Build a strong online presence
How to help a small business grow.
Digital presence is a great opportunity for any business in the 21st century.
Even if your target audience lives in your vicinity, it’s essential to establish a website and maintain active social media pages.
Why? Because:
It builds credibility and helps you become an authority in the industry
It eases customer experience as they can approach you without leaving their home
It serves as a gateway to potential partnerships and investments
And the best part?
It’s much cheaper than physical advertisements.
You can begin marketing your business on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube simply by creating and sharing relevant content for your target audience without any substantial investment.
You can also try to create video content as it has taken over the internet. In a variety of settings, videos may captivate and involve your target audience.
There are options to create interesting short reels and upload full-length videos on well-known social media platforms.
Using any online video editing software, you may create and edit persuasive and appealing videos for your audience and attract the right kind of consumer attention.
Here are some easy marketing hacks to help kick-start your small business’s online growth.
Blogs are also a part of your online presence. But if we were to recommend one aspect of digital marketing that can boost your small business’s growth by leaps and bounds, it would be blogging.
How so? Well, blogs help you build customer relationships and generate leads.
Basically, people read blogs to learn something new. When you share bits of your business and educate them about subjects relevant to your product/service, it helps them trust you and regard you as an authority.
It also helps them view you as an approachable and customer-friendly entity when they interact via comments or emails.
Plus, if you link your blog with an analytics tool, you can monitor the traffic and get some very useful data to generate leads. You can further narrow down your target audience or market your service/product to them via email marketing.
Now, blogging need not be on websites only. You can maintain a blog wherever you’re likely to find the majority of your audience. If you target other business owners or CEOs, it’s a good idea to maintain a blog on LinkedIn.
Plus, this approach is highly resource effective. It takes only about 30 minutes to share something valuable with your target audience (no need to go fancy, use free tools like Canva to design graphics and pair them with value-adding content).
If you’re blogging on a social channel like LinkedIn, you will have minimal platform costs. And if you have a website, you’ll only have to pay around $20 – $60 monthly.
Did you know that every day you procrastinate starting your online business it’s affecting you?
Yup, that vision you keep seeing for yourself and your family gets further from you when you don’t start.
But it’s not too late!
I’m going to answer all the questions you might have regarding starting an online business for the first time.
A few of the basics including what type of online business you should start, how to scale it, and what makes an online business successful.
Welcome to Franknez.com – the blog where you can digest content on personal finance, side hustle ideas, entrepreneurship, and trending investing topics.
Lets get started!
A little bit of background before I break this down.
I left my 9-5 working for the family business in order to start my own online businesses.
One of them is a hybrid model.
With this business I sell a service and product remotely.
The second online business is 100% online, earns 5-figures per month, and I don’t sell any products or services!
This is the type of business most of you might want.
And I’m going to break down step by step how you can do this too.
Key Points and Questions
Where and how to start an online business
Online business ideas for beginners
What makes an online business successful
How to scale an online business
What type of online business should you start
Why are online businesses popular nowadays
How does an online business work
Why online businesses fail
Can an online business make you rich
Why are Online Businesses Popular Nowadays?
Online businesses are attractive because they tend to provide people with a freedom like no other.
People like you and I are ditching our 9-5s to provide value online and at scale.
Which leads me to the second reason why online businesses are so popular.
An online business will provide you with the freedom to work from home or anywhere else in the world.
If you value the freedom to travel then know that this is what an online business can provide for you.
Travel While You Work
Also known as the laptop lifestyle, traveling while you work requires discipline.
However, the lifestyle provides a freedom working in a desk will never provide.
Notice I said travel while you work not work while you travel.
That’s because life changes when you get your freedom back.
You’re technically working all the time while enjoying your surrounding freedom.
The first taste I got from the laptop lifestyle is when I went on vacation to Rocky Point while working a sales commission job.
And even though I was on vacation, I still had obligations for my clients.
We were in this beautiful luxury apartment with a stunning view of the resort and ocean.
That day we arrived I had emails to answer and clients to call back.
Keep in mind at that time I was managing my clients from an office.
That’s when I first discovered this freedom.
Here’s a picture of my son Frankie chillin as we unpacked food in the apartment.
I knew that if I wanted a life like this, I would need my online businesses to out-earn my salary.
That’s not how it happened though, I took the leap and eventually went all in.
More on that later!
Scalability Skyrockets Your Income
So not only do you get your time back but you have the advantage of earning a ton of money with an online business.
The reason being is that most online businesses can be scaled MASSIVELY.
Online businesses can all be scaled very differently.
Some are easier and quicker than others while a few businesses do take more time.
Now, just because some online businesses are easier and quicker to scale, it doesn’t mean they don’t require a lot of hard work and attention to detail.
An online business is still a very real business.
Your new business will require you to put your real life skills to work in order to manifest your career goals and that dream life.
Online businesses are the reason why you see and hear about a lot of younger people earning 6-figures per year just from their laptop.
I’ll get more in depth on how you can scale your online business a little later.
Here’s how you start.
How Do You Start an Online Business?
How do you start an online business, right? Where can you start an online business?
These questions usually leave beginners a little mind boggled.
How exactly do you turn nothing into something?
The answer is actually quite simple.
You’ll need a website or online platform to use depending on your niche and type of business you’d like to create.
Your website will be your foundation to your entire online business model.
It doesn’t matter what type of online business you create, but you’ll need either a website or platform to begin.
I would personally avoid a free website like WIX only because it will not provide you with the tools necessary to scale.
The purpose of an online business is to scale it enough to provide you with the financial freedom you deserve.
So, for starters, I recommend building your own site using Bluehost.
It’s very easy to use but if you don’t want to spend the time personalizing your own site you can always pay a few hundred to thousand dollars to a professional who will use the same platform.
What type of online business models require either a website or platform to begin?
If you are interested in the following, you will need a website:
Blogging
Providing online services and consultation
Reviewing products
If you prefer the following, you’ll need a platform:
Selling a product
Entertaining
Visually informing or training
It may not seem like a ton of options but believe me there are many niches within each of these categories.
How does an online business work?
An online business provides value online, and you get compensated online.
Your online business will earn money depending on what type of service you provide.
You will get paid depending on how your online business is monetized.
I’m going to go over this more in detail down below.
What Online Business should I start?
The online business you start is going to depend on these 5 major key points.
Ask yourself:
Would you rather provide a service, provide information, or sell a product?
Are you looking for a more hands-on experience or more virtual experience?
Do you want to earn money per project or passively?
Will your startup require a lot of capital, or very little to no capital?
How important is mass scalability to you?
By answering these 5 questions, you’ll have a grasp on what type of online business you’d like to create.
Below you will find a number of online business ideas that will help you identify which model aligns with your needs.
Online Business ideas for beginners
I’m going to break down all the things you can do with these online business models.
Your personality and intuition will naturally gravitate towards a specific idea.
Blogging
This is a writer lovers paradise.
Blogging allows you to share your experience, knowledge, and stories at massive scale.
What makes blogging an attractive online business model is that just about anyone can provide value to an audience based on a particular niche or subject.
Entrepreneurs are blogging about really just everything!
Here are some blogging topic ideas:
Write about your experience in ‘X Industry’. Maybe you love the industry you work in or are an expert in it. Write about it and answer questions people might have on a variety of subjects pertaining to your industry.
As long as there’s a real interest in it, you can blog about pretty much anything. People are earning money blogging about travel, teacher life, mom or dad life, pet life, college life, automotive, tech, and so much more!
How Do Bloggers Earn Money?
Bloggers earn money through a number of ways.
One is through display advertisements, like the ones you see on my website. T
he second way bloggers earn money is through affiliate programs.
Bloggers can earn a commission for making a sale of certain products or services.
Bloggers may even sell their own products or services online.
How Much Money Do Bloggers Make?
Bloggers can earn 3 to 6-figures per month depending on how you monetize your website.
My website currently earns 5-figures per month.
Scaling your audience is key to scaling your online business.
If starting a blog interests you be sure to read the beginners guide below.
It will walk you step by step on how to start using a self-building website platform called Bluehost.
The process is very easy and only takes minutes to set up.
If you love to travel, you only need to pack up your filming gear and move it with you to produce content no matter where you are.
How Can I Incorporate YouTube With My Niche?
If you’re into tech you can always review products or film unboxing videos.
People love this type of content.
You can then diversify your income by leaving amazon affiliate links to the type of gear you use in the description area of the video.
If your audience loves your channel to the point where they want to support your work they can always become a patron.
My patrons altogether cover most of my website’s monthly expenses.
If you’re a trainer, you could combine the use of YouTube with your website to generate leads.
Not only can you upload content to YouTube, but you can also provide consultation or 1-1 virtual training sessions.
It’s really all about creativity and leveraging these ways of earning money online to benefit and scale your online business.
How to scale an Online Business?
So how exactly do you scale an online business?
Audience is key. You’ll need a lot of eyes on your product, service, or content to scale your online business.
Once you’ve figured out how you’ll be monetizing your online business you’ll need as many people as you can get over to your website.
The more people that see you means the more possibilities you have to earn big money.
#1. Produce quality content
Quality content is going to be the foundation to your online businesses’ success.
People want to consume and buy quality product, services, and content.
Take as much time as you need to ensure your content is superior to that of your competitors.
Forget what they’re doing, just do what you know how to do but do it exquisitely.
Quality content never fails to be noticed, recognized, and appreciated. In fact, quality content has a higher chance of being shared on social media and referred through word of mouth.
Everything on this list can be perfect but if you’re not producing quality content then your online business will not be taken seriously.
Take your time to learn something if you have to or invest in the tools to make your presentation look and feel better for the engaged user.
#2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization is the key to a successful and high ranking website.
You build your SEO by using the correct keywords and building backlinks to your website.
When you’re building your website you’ll want to make sure you’re using keywords that reflect what your online business is offering.
This will give you a higher chance of being found organically on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Don’t be discouraged if you aren’t seeing your online business pop up on Google right away.
SEO takes time to build but trust me, Google will automatically start ranking you after a few months of being active online.
Meta description, titles, subheadings
SEO is also heavily influenced by your website or platforms description, titles, subheadings, images, and even what is being vocalized in a video.
The more you stay on topic means the higher chance you’ll have at ranking higher in the organic search and recommended results.
#3. Social media marketing
Scaling your online business is heavily dependent on the use of social media marketing.
You’ll need to identify which social platform best connects with your target audience the best in order to drive traffic to your website or platform.
Get involved in Facebook Groups, relevant Twitter topics, or even network using LinkedIn.
Every niche and every website/platform will connect with a group differently.
Sometimes it takes time to find which will work best for your online business but you must find it.
Sharing your content, service, or product on social media is the first step towards promoting your online business.
Once you’ve worked on your SEO, you’ll want as many people as possible to click on these ‘backlinks’ leading them to your landing page or video.
Google loves backlinks and actually ranks you higher when you have plenty of them which means you need to consistently be sharing content that drives people to your site.
Search engines begin to ignore you if you stop producing content so be consistent.
This is the part of building any type of business whether it’s online or traditional that requires patience.
You cannot expect to produce content once or ten times and start seeing huge results.
It takes time and effort.
Consistency is going to improve your marketing and pitching skills online.
It’s also going to make you produce better content for a bigger audience.
When search engines see your links have been spread around consistently for quite some time, your domain authority begins to climb meaning your visibility also begins to climb.
#5. Brand your online business
The fifth tip to scaling your online business is to brand it.
Branding your business is more than just a logo.
It’s the character of your business, the personality, and the likeability.
Your brand should attract your customers or audience and make them feel like they belong.
Did you know that you can evoke emotion through colors?
When you create an identity, people will remember you and come back for more.
This is how you can get your customers to use your services again, buy another product, or indulge your content every day.
In the beginning, your brand will change from time to time.
This is 100% okay. Branding is about discovery and this takes time.
Your brand will slowly begin to reveal itself to you as you continue to push forward.
What makes an online business successful?
To me personally, an online business is successful when it is able to provide you with a certain freedom a 9-5 can’t.
Whether it be more family time, personal time, recreational time, or even money, it’s different for every individual.
Perhaps you’re making a little less with your online business than you were from your corporate job but at least now you have more time with your family.
I see this as successful.
Maybe you keep scaling it and now you earn your previous salary every month.
I’d say that’s tremendous success.
My online businesses have provided me with the freedom to work from anywhere I please and to earn money in my sleep.
I could work less hours, but my work ethic doesn’t allow me to.
I have to constantly be providing value because as an entrepreneur, nothing is truly every secured and my family’s financial freedom is that important to me.
I make every minute count and I’ll ease off the gas pedal when I reach certain milestones.
Work hard now rest later!
Can an Online Business Make You Rich?
I think you know the answer to that.
Due to how scalable online businesses are they can certainly provide substantial income to by most standards be considered to be wealthy or rich.
They key to your wealth will heavily resonate with the amount of people you’re able to provide value to.
You will become wealthier if your scalable model can reach 1 million people oppose to 100k people.
There is no shortage of people by whom you cannot provide your services to.
It’s a matter of figuring out how to get in front of them.
Everyone is fighting for attention one way or another.
Your job as an entrepreneur is to figure out how to stand out so that your product, service, or content is seen.
The marketplace will then decide whether or not your product, service, or content is worth buying, using, or indulging in.
So, be sure quality is always the first thing in mind when building your online business to provide value at scale.
Why Do Online Businesses Fail?
Like almost anything else in this world, any endeavor will fail once you stop working on it.
It’s really that straight forward.
If the marketplace didn’t react well to your service or product and you quit then you were the reason for the businesses failure.
Instead of tweaking and perfecting your product or service you rendered in self defeat.
Online businesses fail when their owners are defeated by adversity and barriers along the way.
An online business is not worth failing over.
The upside is too valuable.
Write that down in case it ever gets overwhelmingly difficult for you. “An online business is not worth failing over. The upside is too valuable”.
Online Business Courses
Should you attend them?
This is a financial literacy blog and financial literacy says don’t sign up for online business courses when in the end, you end up learning from experience instead.
I didn’t take online business courses, but I did attend a private college and earned my associates degree in business administration.
I was left with $50k in debt and didn’t know how to sell, apply social media marketing, or file taxes for a small business.
You have to understand that any school offering you any online business management degree is scamming you.
They’re a business themselves.
They will teach you theory and give you a good grade for your efforts and presentations.
But they will not teach you how to become a successful entrepreneur. That you learn on the streets.
Online Business School
I’d be lying to you if I didn’t personally look into online business schools after I received my associates degree in order to ‘further my education’.
It wasn’t until I began earning money in a sales position where I learned that there was no need for me to attend an online business school.
Online business school wasn’t for me at this point.
In fact, my business professor wasn’t a very successful entrepreneur. He owned a volleyball team but the startup was a partnership.
And he had given up on it and referenced selling his half to his partner quite often.
Online Business Management Degree
If you’re thinking about getting an online business management degree through an online business school, I would take financial literacy a little bit more seriously.
You can invest the money for your tuition into your startup instead!
The money could go towards gear for that YouTube channel or towards your domain name and website configurations.
There’s so much more you can do with that investment.
An online business management degree will not teach you the real world aspect of running a business or managing people.
Start off small and work for a small business to gain exposure and experience.
Learn the ropes and start with data entry.
I began my journey managing a small team due to my leadership skills, not through my degree.
Start there and see how much further that takes you.
Start Your Online Business Today
Stop procrastinating.
You got this!
Get excited about it and start taking your first steps towards that new life.
That vision you keep seeing is the preview to life’s upcoming attractions.
And if you’re lacking strength to get started then I encourage you to borrow mine.
Should I close my business? When to close your business for good.
Published by FrankNez Team.
Deciding to close down a business is never easy—specifically, the paperwork associated with it and whether or not you still have employees.
Having to lay them off and sell your assets can be troublesome if there is a lack of demand for them in the market. Hence, making your work even harder.
There might be certain things you should be considering and keeping in mind before you close down for good.
This may include all the financial obligations and other liabilities you must meet before you can shut down your business. If you have been in the industry long enough and are willing to close down your business for good, this article is for you.
Read this article to learn about the eight things to consider before you close your business for good.
8 Things to Consider Before You Close Your Business for Good 550
What to consider before closing down business
In this section, we tried to outline the eight things you must do before you close your business altogether.
● Submit A Notice of Dissolution
When closing down a business, you will have to file paperwork that declares that you are closing it down. You must submit the notice of discontinuation to the corporate registry in your local city or area.
When trying to close down a financially solvent business, you must also go through the formal process of member voluntary liquidation.
The company’s assets will be liquidated, any legal problems will be resolved, and any unpaid creditors will be compensated by a professional insolvency practitioner who has been appointed as liquidator.
Before you shut down your business, you should remember that you have to pay off all your due taxes. This includes the taxes from last year that are being carried over to this year and must be paid off.
When settling taxes or liabilities, you should be able to show that you are financially solvent and can pay the dues on time.
● Inform Your Staff
When closing down your business, you must inform your staff and employees beforehand. This is because they need to prepare alternative ways as you will be closing down as a business.
Furthermore, you also need to assure and inform them that you will provide them with their due payment for their work.
You should send all the necessary documents to your tax center with payroll accounts containing EI premiums, income tax deductions, and CPP contributions within seven days.
● Clear Your Company name
Canceling your business name is necessary when you are closing down your business. This is because if you do not clear up your business name, it will keep showing that your business exists in real-time when it doesn’t.
● Disable your bank accounts
While you remove your business name and cancel it, it is essential to erase anything associated with it.
It may include business bank accounts and cards related to it. Make sure to cancel all the credit and debit cards and close the bank account.
● Tally up your supplies
If you are the type of business specializing in selling goods instead of services, you might have closing inventory at the end of the month that you couldn’t sell.
You can sell this remaining stock with discounts to liquidate the asset to have some cash in hand. especially if you have a business that contains perishable stock.
● Clear off any liabilities that remain
Paying your taxes is important. However, the paying of other liabilities is very important as well. Hence, try to pay off all the liabilities as soon as possible. This may include debt remaining to suppliers or landlords.
You can learn more about debt when closing down your business.
● Provide your contact details before leaving
Sometimes, people cannot communicate with you further when you close down a business. This is because you are no longer operating, and they have no valid reason to talk to you about debt or possible future prospects.
In such cases, you must leave some sort of information or method of communication, for example, for your suppliers.
Ending a business journey respectfully and in a good manner is what makes you a good businessperson at the end of the day.
Conclusion
Overall, we tried to outline the possible eight things to consider before you close your business for good.
Therefore, we hope you can understand what to do when closing down. From liabilities to staff notice, we hope you got all the aspects of what should be done when closing down a business.
What are the contributing elements to the company’s closure?
The most common reasons a business may actually close down are insufficient capital, personal use of funds, poor location, and poor management. All of this mainly leads to the failure of a business.
When should I shut down my company?
It’s time to think about closing up shop if you see that your business and personal partnerships are hurting significantly.
There is no correct time to shut down your business, but if you notice the financial solvency of your business is curving down, you should probably shut down.
How can you determine the value of a small business?
The total value of the company’s assets, including inventory and equipment, is added, and all liabilities and debts are subtracted.
Which is preferable: closing a business or selling it?
You should always consider selling before you end your company. As a result, the business will be able to pay you well for the time and effort you put into it.
VDRs are not only superior to cloud storage in terms of security and functionality.
They are simply made for different deals and your business.
You can ultimately reduce everything to remote work without unnecessary worries, forgetting that data can be stolen or compromised.
Online data room software is an ideal documentation solution.
Most large companies have already understood how important it is to have remote access to data in a safe place.
That is why competition in the market is growing, and providers offer more and more different tariffs at affordable prices.
If you need not only remote document management through cloud storage but also safe storage for your files, read more about M&A data room software.
Flexible Workflow Permissions and Management
Virtual Data Room – Flexible Workflow and Management – Management Software
Is it possible to give different access levels to a single document to other employees?
Of course, if you use a virtual data room.
Here, you can get all the keys to convenient document management for employees without leaving home.
With a VDR, you may both revoke access to some and grant it to others at the same time.
The process that used to be complex back in the day is now easy to coordinate in two clicks.
It is also easier for the administrator to carry out checks because all activities and operations are monitored centrally.
No unnecessary third parties and excessive intervention in the system.
The system also lets you configure your workflow such that only one person can work on a single item at a time.
You can also configure files to retain versions as they evolve.
Each version will store particular metadata, allowing you to go back to the previous version without extra effort.
In addition, the user receives complete control over how much access you grant to whom, so you are precisely protected as you want to be.
From Real Estate Documentation to M&A
For those companies in which paper transactions occupy an essential place, datarooms have become a real revolution. Among them are:
loan syndications;
private equity;
mergers & acquisitions.
Document management is now a very convenient process that saves resources and time thanks to an optimal automated system.
Furthermore, digitization of the process allows you to control the sending of files and access levels remotely.
Real Estate Documentation
VDRs allow users to share different data during negotiations on real estate projects.
It can be both drawings of assignments and final words in the form of reporting.
A virtual data room helps to transfer data centrally and remotely.
The files can be saved as a digital archive at the end of the transaction.
Board Communication
In the 21st century, it has become very convenient to interact with international companies on the go.
You no longer need to change locations.
Moreover, for reporting, you can share data even from home.
Now managers have only the task of file sharing security, but an electronic data room can cope with this.
Virtual data rooms are particularly suitable for including remote specialists, such as consultants or supervisory board members.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Deadlines for closing the sale of the company are a weak point for mergers and acquisitions.
An M&A virtual data room makes the process more prudent and transparent, which speeds up the conclusion of the transaction.
In addition to the ability to revoke access and give it different levels to individual folders and files, you can even restrict the ability to leave the data room without mutual consent.
Common Document Management Features
Virtual Data Room – Common Document Management Features – Management Software
Online data rooms make document management and collaboration as effective as you always wanted.
Now the traditional meeting room has transformed into a fully digital experience.
Previously, when sending a document, the owner completely lost control over it, but now the situation has changed.
It is unnecessary to send it using VDR. Instead, you can share access as a reader so that no one can copy or edit the information.
Moreover, there are unique protection systems that restrict third-party access to files.
Moreover, you can provide access not for everything but for a limited time. Therefore, it is convenient to do this throughout a specific project.
Additionally, the system saves reports on the adjustments made. It can be seen not only when they were committed but also by whom. This will prevent the possibility of information flow.
There is also the possibility of access only in the browser and data deduplication.
Moreover, it is also convenient to carry out operations in parallel in several documents at once. Creating a single database of documentary information allows you not to worry about data loss.
The document search system allows you to easily and quickly find the necessary data and any information in the repository. In this process, you can save a lot of time without needlessly interrupting tons of wastepaper.
All these functions together simplify doing business and make it centralized. So, the manager himself can evaluate everything that his employees are doing from a bird’s eye view.
The board portal is a widely used software that helps establish communication between individual board members, ensures the security of information exchange, and provides convenient access from anywhere in the world.
Each board portal has an individual set of features, but it is the collaboration and project management tools that play the leading role.
With the help of collaboration features, you can ensure effective interaction between the project team and third parties (for example, stakeholders).
To do it, most board software portals implement tools for tracking document versions, viewing history, and scheduling task assignments.
In addition, each boardroom software allows you to comment, join discussions, organize polls, and much more.
As for the project management tools, the software helps establish effective communication at each stage of project creation:
Initial stage,
Executive stage,
Post-project stage (when you analyze errors, make adjustments to the business plan).
Together, these features help boost your business performance and reduce financial costs.
For more info, you can read the board-room Canada article with a review of the top-notch providers.
Key Features of Board Room Software
Board software key features
Along with the management and collaboration tools, each boardroom software comes with a set of other features.
As a rule, they directly depend on a certain brand, but there is also a standard set that is common for the most board of directors’ software.
Document management
Most of the up-to-date boardrooms allow you to operate with a large amount of information.
You may use almost any existing file format. Sometimes, the size of the storage you can utilize correlate with the type of boardroom pricing plan.
At the same time, there is a tendency when board room providers do not set such restrictions.
It means you may upload as many files as you need and still have quick access to any of them during any stage of the board meeting.
Security features
Often, the usage of board of directors software implies third parties like potential investors, stakeholders, etc.
So, to make sure that your information will not be misused or damaged, boardrooms implement 128-bit or 256-bit advanced encryption keys and SSL protocols.
Also, boardroom admins can set the role-based access to files and change it in a couple of clicks.
Mobile compatibility
The current business realities are such that employees of one project can be located thousands of kilometers from each other without compromising the overall effectiveness of the team.
One of the important conditions for this is the mobile compatibility of the software they use.
It means you can use any mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet to connect to a conference, access files, upload and sync data to internal storage, and much more.
For this purpose, modern providers offer their own boardroom application or provide an opportunity to work with the web version of the product.
The second option is predominant at the moment since it does not require downloading additional software.
The only limitation of the board portal software, in this case, may be a slow Internet connection.
Who Uses Board Management Software?
Board Software Program
A boardroom is a popular software almost in any type of business.
Below, you can see some of the areas where such soft is a must-have.
Charity
As a rule, charity funds spend a lot of resources, especially time, on paperwork, communications, and so on.
With the help of the boardroom, you can significantly reduce these expenses to a minimum and automate processes as much as possible.
Trade associations
This business area is perhaps the second after the legal one, where a large volume of paper documents becomes an inhibitory factor.
Most trade associations spend much time on distributing documents, reading and synchronizing them, getting feedback, signing, and so on.
With the help of the board portal, you can eliminate this shortcoming.
Funds
There are various types of foundations: private, corporate, family organizations, and so on.
In any case, you are dealing with personal and financial data that must be kept secure.
Thanks to advanced board document management and security features, the board portal allows you not to worry about possible data leakage or unauthorized use of financial documentation.
Healthcare
If you work in the healthcare industry, then you are probably a face with a lot of meetings.
Boardroom allows you to make them as convenient, accessible, and efficient as possible.
With remote access, more people can join the meeting.
With the use of voting and questionnaire tools, you can collect more information and make more realistic conclusions, forecasts, etc.
The healthcare sector is characterized by an intensive flow of documents that are of critical importance.
The virtual boardroom helps you structure and cluster files, use filters for quick searches, and make changes instantly.
Using the boardroom, you should not worry about the corporate information of your customers, as it is protected from leaks and unauthorized use.
How to Pick the Right Board Portal Software?
Board Software Program – Board Software Project Management
When choosing the right board portal software, you should decide what type of business you are running and evaluate its pain points.
It is important to determine the feature set of the future board portal software.
Here the main thing is to choose a solution that offers the minimum necessary tools to achieve the tasks.
Also, you should evaluate the solution and test it.
Before purchasing, you need to do a little research on the Internet and understand the general impression of the product.
Give preference to feedback from users on independent resources to make a board management software list of pros and cons.
In addition, test the trial version of the product to the maximum.
Don’t forget about the customer support service.
In order to do it, you can make a request and examine the time and quality of the response.
The time of the financial crisis during the pandemic forces us to reconsider the company’s strategy and look for new incentives for development.
With proper resource planning, this time can be a new stage for realizing opportunities.
You can optimize business processes, facilitate the acquisition of new partners and implement new tools for better financial returns.
For this, you can choose software for online conferences, electronic accounting of finances, or tools from the list on data-room.ca.
The viability of the company will depend on your decisions during this challenging time for business.
We will tell you how to survive the financial crisis during Covid.
Financial Control is Your Lifeline
Business Financial Crisis
Most entrepreneurs do not separate personal finance from business finance.
And this is a big mistake.
One of the most common causes of bankruptcies in small and medium-sized businesses is the waste of capital.
Money should work for you constantly, but if this does not happen, then it does not bring any benefit and disappear.
This approach threatens both the stability of the company and the financial security of the businessman’s financial resources.
Separation of cash flows is necessary to:
see the financial result from the business;
control the costs of the enterprise;
discuss current issues through dataroom software;
minimize the risks of financial loss;
ensure transparency of transactions in the interests of partners or investors.
To maintain a clear distinction, the head of the company must record all amounts invested in the business.
You can use these finances for personal purposes only after the profit for the past period has been calculated.
Some executives are wise to use mobile or desktop software to control and share finances.
This will help visualize the current financial position of the company and adjust expenses.
Building Financial Reserves
Business Financial Crisis
Often all the income received by the enterprise goes to cover current costs.
It is extremely important during a financial crisis to have some financial backup to ensure the performance of the company.
In this way, you will be able to recover from unforeseen situations and have the resources to grow and develop your business.
Below are some ways to keep financial reserves for use in a crisis.
Bank account
It is optimal if you use a deposit account that will bring additional income. Use insurance to secure the deposit in case of any accidents.
Exchange investments
Reasonable investments in shares of other companies as a way of investing and creating reserve capital.
Diversify in multiple ways
You can keep some of the money in a savings account, invest some in stock shares, and some in a safe deposit box. We recommend using a data room to store and record financial data and reporting.
Keep in mind that the reserve fund should be enough for 3-6 months of unprofitable existence of your business.
This amount can be used to pay rent, pay salaries for employees, or purchase goods.
Also, the financial reserve will help with the rapid expansion of the company – when you need to purchase more goods than usual, hire new employees, and buy equipment.
It is better to form such a reserve at the stage of starting a business, and then replenish it by 10-20% of the profit.
Next Step — Cost Adjustment Strategy
Company Financial Crisis
The key factors for successful financial management in a crisis are regularity and consistency.
To do this, you need to ensure that important data is not lost, which is quite difficult when working on paper.
Virtual Instruments help facilitate this process but must undergo VDR due diligence.
If you properly organize the accounting process from the very beginning, when there are still few numbers, it will be easier to control this as the business grows.
However, even in a large company, such digital tools should not be neglected, especially during a pandemic.
In critical situations, it is important to continue to count and analyze cash flows, as well as adhere to the following tips:
Adjust financial planning. Business owners should consider several scenarios for the possible development for each of the cases.
Create a reserve fund. As we said earlier, this is an important point for minimizing the consequences of the financial crisis.
Review expenses. To survive the forced financial crisis, it is necessary to visualize the company’s current expenses and store up-to-date data in one of the virtual data rooms.
In crises, it is often the best option to make personal decisions on each transaction and cost item.
In such cases, planning helps a lot, including short-term planning: for example, drawing up a payment plan for the day or week.
Virtual services for data storage at the same time help to exchange information with employees and partners.
After you can analyze the causes of the crisis, you will be able to solve systemic problems, for example, seek additional funding.
Expansion of the Company’s Activities
Company Financial Crisis
In addition to monitoring the financial performance of their business, a businessman must be able to analyze data and make decisions.
Using an electronic data room is the best option for visualizing information and sharing data with business partners.
After delegating certain areas of your company’s activities to specialists, it would be wise to reconsider the sphere of influence of your business.
In the context of the pandemic, the demand market has moved to the virtual space, so it is more expedient to develop in this direction.
To expand the activities of the company during Covid, you should:
study the current needs of the target audience.
consider opportunities for business restructuring;
implement data room services;
use additional financial resources to open up new opportunities.
To stay afloat, it is enough for the owner of the company to minimize financial losses.
However, to take advantage of the crisis and new opportunities, an entrepreneur must be able to embody several roles in business at once.
This includes conducting business negotiations, searching for suppliers, developing the company’s social networks, etc.
At first glance, it may seem that such information is too much for one person, but it is not really true.
Conduct a data room comparison and you will be able to keep records of data in the virtual space simply and efficiently.
If you’re coming straight from LinkedIn, welcome! After competing in the marketplace for 5 and a half years, I decided it was time to leave the family business and work on my personal brand.
When the stars began aligning, I knew I had to develop my brand full time. I took Franknez.com from earning 8,400 views its first year in 2020, to 1.8 million views (and counting) as of today.
Here are the top 10 strategies I personally use to promote my brand!
#1. Create Content Pertaining To Your Niche
When I create a piece of content, I create it for a specific community in a particular niche.
If you’re reading this, you are more than likely interested in marketing and branding. Marketing and branding allows us to get our product, service, or brand in front of the right audience.
Avoid publishing content that isn’t going to serve a specific group of people with the same interests as yours.
#2. Use Your Logo Everywhere!
If you’re publishing a video, blog article, or image online, be sure to brand it with your logo.
By implementing a logo design, you’re raising brand recognition and awareness.
This strategy is going to help you stand out from the rest of the crowd offering similar services, products, and content.
I was putting my website and tagline on every Instagram photo I published before I even had my logo. This told my audience I was a brand and not just a general account.
Here are other areas where you can use your logo:
At the bottom of an email signature
Watermark your YouTube content
Every page on your website
In your profile picture
Social media banners
Is it overkill to promote your content? Ask Gary Vee or Grant Cardone and they’ll say absolutely not. And I agree. Leave me a comment below if you follow these two marketing masters.
#3. Publish Content Daily
If you’re not publishing content daily then you’re not being seen. This is one of those things that seem like in some areas could be a waste of time. But the fact is that these small steps actually compound over time.
Every piece of content you publish for your audience, existing customers, or prospects, is an opportunity to provide value at scale.
Your brand needs to be promoted daily through the use of some sort of content. This could be in video, blog, or social media.
The compounding effects of publishing content daily is what took my blog from 8,400 views to 1.8 million views its second year.
This strategy is considered to be taking ‘massive action’. So if you’re not taking massive action, and you know you need to, publish content daily.
#4. Take Advantage of Social Media
Social media allows us to connect with people we’ve never met before and make an impact in their lives.
This impact should always be for positive change.
Once you shift your mindset to this golden rule, you will be able to curate your social media content to help others no matter which platform you choose.
Once you’re creating social media content to provide value to your existing customers, prospects, or audience, be sure to take advantage of every tool.
One tool I love using throughout social media is the ‘story’ tool. This story tool is highlighted when you post a new story, letting your audience know:
You’ve published new content
You have something important to share
You’re actually active
This goes back to publishing content daily. Even if you don’t put out a new post, keep your story rings lit for newcomers visiting your social media accounts for the first time.
Promote Your Brand Everywhere
Use more than one social media platform to promote your brand. Even if engagement isn’t as high on some platforms, use them to your advantage.
Your website will be ranked higher on Google’s search engine if it sees your links are being found all over the biggest social media platforms.
I found that although my engagement is different on Facebook, Twitter, and IG, there are always people engaging with my content.
My advice is to curate content differently for each platform since each user prefers a unique type of content experience.
#5. Use Relevant Hashtags To Promote Your Brand
Hashtags are basically portals from which your content can be discovered on social media feeds. If you content receives a lot of engagement, then the platform’s algorithm will push it to a larger audience.
Use relevant hashtags when promoting your brand to ensure the right audience has a chance to discover you.
Certain niche topics will have higher engagement than others depending on which platform you decide to use. This is mainly due to popularity and where your niche audience hangs out the most.
For instance, you might have a larger group of #contentmarketing audience on Twitter than you do on Facebook. The same could be said about another niche topic, such as travel. #Travel could have a significantly larger audience on Instagram than on Twitter.
Engage With The Hashtag
Engage with accounts using the same hashtags as you. Like their content, comment, and share it if you love it. This will expose them to you.
This is one of those small steps that also feels like a waste of time in the beginning but ends up compounding over time. Before you know it, your brand will be growing in months time so as long as you’re consistent.
#6. Create A Newsletter
When I first started building my brand I would see this tip often. I didn’t think it was very important starting out since my audience was so small at the time.
However, it is never too early or too late to set up a mailing subscriber tool for your business or brand.
I use OptinMonster to connect with my readers via email.
This tool has allowed me to connect with over 5,000 readers via email. You can integrate OptinMonster on your website to provide all types of information, discounts, or announcements to your potential or existing customers!
I use my newsletter to let my readers know when I’ve published a new article or announce a giveaway.
I never understood just how important this tool would be for both my brand and my audience.
#7. Be Engaged With Your Community
If you have not found a community to provide value to yet, don’t worry. At least now you know this is something you have to be on the search for.
I found that when I engage with my community, my brand awareness spikes. And that’s because your brand isn’t your logo, it’s you.
Everything you do within your community is setting your brand apart from everyone else. Communities are also a great way to network with people who can share your product, service, or content with other people.
Your community is where word of mouth happens. And we all know that word of mouth can reach a significant amount of people, especially when done online.
Communities have been part of my branding success. Of course, you have to get all the other strategies down first. Otherwise, the community will stumble into a social media account or website with little to no content and be turned off immediately.
This is why it’s so important, at least for me, to ritually process each of these strategies to grow my brand. But I’m confident that if you follow these proven strategies too, your brand will begin to takeoff.
Where Can I Find A Niche Community?
Niche communities can be found just about everywhere online. There are communities within Facebook Groups, Quora, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and other online forums.
My advice is to identify where your community hangs out the most and introduce yourself there.
Provide them with solutions; being your product, service, or content. If what you have to offer improves their lives, then they will follow what your brand has to offer.
8. Prioritize Quality
My brand was nothing like what it is today when I first started. A few aspects of it was because my brand is me, except it was an amateur me.
Consistency forced me to get better at writing and creating content as a whole. But when I realized that quality in content creation is king, that’s when I decided to step up my creativity and content marketing game.
I switched from the free Canva tool to Canva Premium. It’s small reinvestments like these that allowed me to take my brand to the next level.
The paid version of Canva allowed me to publish much higher quality content on Instagram, it allowed me to create amazing banners for all my social media accounts, and it’s helped me establish an awesome first-impression.
I didn’t begin to see exponential growth immediately. That’s because when you begin to prioritize quality content, it’s almost like starting from scratch.
It should be unrecognizable from your older material, whether it be your website, social media content, service or product.
This means you must now be patient for that compound effect to begin taking place. When you produce high quality content at consistent levels, your brand will be spread organically by your audience.
In Summary
Quality promotes your brand. Consistency promotes your brand. Being engaged with a community promotes your brand. And connecting with your audience via your content, emails, and social media elevates your brand awareness.
#9. It’s Okay To Use A Personal Account
If you’re promoting strictly from your brand page and not from your personal account then you’re missing out!
I use my personal account to share my publications on Facebook, and even post my brand’s content on my personal stories.
I promote my brand on my personal accounts to show people what I’m up to and what I’m creating. If they’re curious about what it is exactly that I’m sharing, they’ll have direct access to that content and what my brand has to offer.
One way you can elevate your brand awareness is by sparking curiosity in your own personal circles.
What this does is it leaves an open door for curiosity.
10. Be Genuine
And lastly, one of the most powerful ways to promote your brand is to be genuine. As cliché as this sounds, your personality has the power to draw masses of people in.
Being genuine established an awesome connection with my stock investing community. I’ve made friends and allies in this niche group of over 4 million people, and am seen as a community leader by many.
If you really care about your audience, customers, and prospects, believe me when I say they’ll know. That’s because they’ll care about you back.
Remember, you are your brand. So show people who you are and why there’s no other brand like yours.
Leave me a comment if you found this article helpful. I’d love to hear back from you. And if you have any questions, leave them below too.
In today’s world we are being marketed to all the time. You see it everywhere you go in some form or another. The marketing clutter is real though. So, how do you stand out in a world where everyone is demanding for attention? Here are a few secret marketing hacks that guarantee your small business gets noticed in today’s crowd.
Welcome to Franknez.com – the blog where you can digest content on personal finance, side hustle ideas, entrepreneurship, and trending investing topics.
Lets get started!
What is Marketing?
Marketing by definition refers to the actions taken by a business to promote a product or a service through stories.
It’s a strategy in business that puts what you have to offer in the marketplace in front of the right people. Seth Godin is a master at marketing and I’m actually still learning about it to this very day.
The first time I started marketing I didn’t even know I was doing it! It was my senior year in high school when I was the front man for a band. I was promoting our sound, our gigs, our Facebook page, you name it! I’ve been in love with marketing since.
Why marketing is important for small business
The purpose of marketing is to attract people to your business. This creates leads known as potential buyers. Buyers are the sustainability to a businesses growth.
A business who doesn’t market is always chasing sales. A business who markets attracts a potential buyer and focuses on closing a sale.
Marketing creates credibility for your business
When your target audience sees you over and over and over again, at some point they begin to question what they’re missing out on.
People notice when your social media following has increased, whether your content is high quality, and how engaged you are online.
If your business isn’t marketing online who’s going to know you?
Marketing goals
The purpose and goal of marketing is to put your brand in front of the right people. You should only be marketing to people who could potentially use your product or service.
Marketing your brand to a broad range of businesses in people will often times be time-consuming, non-effective, and result in a poor reinvestment.
How do I choose the correct marketing target?
Choosing the correct marketing target can take quite some time. Especially if your services or product can be used by all type of businesses and people.
So where do you start?
Niche down
Begin by targeting a specific market and work your way out. Eventually, your product or service will get shared by word of mouth.
Referrals may bring your business from both within the niche, or outside the niche.
How to Market Your Business Online
Every business should be marketing their business online. The internet has allowed online businesses to scale at no limit. This is why we see blogs and YouTube channels making 6-figure incomes, if not more.
How are businesses marketing online?
Social media is the #1 way new businesses are promoting their product or service online.
Paid advertising through Google puts your business contact information at the top of their search and result pages. However, advertising doesn’t work like it did before, ask Seth Godin.
Blogs such as Franknez.com who generate tends of thousands of views per day write and promote your product or service on their website.
How do I choose the right platform to promote my business?
Start off with social media. It’s easy to use and you can begin showing the marketplace what you have to offer instantly.
I use Instagram mainly for my advertising agency and Twitter mainly for sharing blog posts. Find which platform best suits your business and connects strongly with your audience.
You can also see where similar businesses are on social media to get an idea where to start as well.
#1. Social Media Marketing Hacks
If you haven’t opened any social media accounts for your business be sure to do so after reading this post. And while you’re at it, be sure to give this post a social share!
Here’s a quick rundown of social media marketing hacks that guarantee your business to be seen.
How to market your business on Instagram
Go to a related hash tags most recent posts on Instagram and like 100+ posts: you will get followers without a doubt. Same with Twitter. Your followers now have exclusive access to what your business has to offer.
Create content specifically for your targeted audience: if your target audience are college students, create infographics or art that include campuses, library’s, students, etc. Make your audience feel at home.
Leave interesting and eye catching comments on posts to redirect viewers to your social media profile.
Use paid advertisement to promote your social media content: this is time for your content to shine. Target a specific audience and draw them to your profile or website. I’ve found this actually works better on IG than on FB; however, advertising isn’t the same as marketing unless you’re telling a story.
Be sure to use social media every day. Consistency is key to marketing your business online.
I’ve found that if you start scheduling your day, you can really post content on social media every day!
Scheduling it makes it a task and will keep you consistent.
#2. Promotional Products and Apparel
Promotional products and apparel are a great marketing hack to get your business seen. Easy Marketing Concepts ships custom t-shirts, mugs, pens, and more, domestically in the United States.
Click the image to see Instagram Profile
Wearing a t-shirt, jacket, or hat with your company logo on it is a guaranteed way for people to see your business name out in public.
Gifting pens with your phone number and logo allows your brand to get recognized and remembered. Pass these out at social events or gift them to your customers.
America loves coffee. Market to coffee lovers by putting a captivating logo on a mug with your business info. When they need your service or product, they’ll have your info “handy”.
How would you feel if you get the spotlight but weren’t wearing something that represented your business. It would feel like a missed opportunity, right?
Don’t put yourself through regret, get promotional products and apparel to market your business wherever you go.
Elevate Your Brand with Easy Marketing
#3. Evoke Emotion Through Color Marketing
This marketing hack is more important than you know. Colors have a way of conjuring up emotions that can influence people to buy your product or service.
Think of the golden arch from McDonalds. Did you know that yellow evokes warmth, optimism, youth, and happiness. Does this sound like McDonalds to you? Absolutely. By using Ronald McDonald as the company’s mascot, they were able to further execute all four of these sentiments perfectly.
How about Coca-Cola? The color red evokes strong emotions, excitement, passion, and energy.
Certain console games even feature character drinking a can of coke refilling their health points. What a creative way to evoke energy right?
How about Coca-Cola’s commercials? They’re usually advertising exciting content leading to a sip of the beverage. Remember when they printed names on their bottles? This strategy most certainly evoked emotion.
Email is often times overlooked due to social media’s popularity but did you know that you can use emails for your market strategy?
Here are 2 great ways you can market through your emails!
Paste content to the body of an email: you can copy and paste content you create such as advertising images to send out to leads and prospects. You know when you get discount emails from your favorite retail stores straight to your email? That’s what these emails should look like.
Link your social media and website to your signature: Use your signature as a means of connecting to other business platforms. This increases the chances of a prospect to see your work on Instagram, visit your website, and spark up an interest in your service or product.
For anyone who thinks emailing is dead, think again. Emailing is a great way to connect with your network and provide them with tons of useful information and content.
And lastly…
You can support the blog by giving this post a social share. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter! I personally email my readers articles I feel they can gain loads of value from.
Leave me a comment below if you found any of these hacks to be helpful or if you’d like to see more posts like this one.
