Becoming Your Superhero

superhero

From the Desk of Michele Foster…

✨Roll in another one… It’s been another heck of a year, so many things. ❤️ lots of good and some ehh… but one thing I know is I want to make sure of this month (my second favorite of the year)is that it will be one for the. Doing all the fun things, enjoying every day with who you are, being as festive and focused as heck.

I want to be more happy, calm, peaceful, and present‍♂️ as I wrap up this year looking forward to a fresh year with new things on the horizon to look forward to ahead.

Enjoy all the JOY this beautiful month brings, creating new memories that will be in your heart for a lifetime to come.

❤️❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️❤️

1. Emphasize Personal Growth: Share stories and tips on how individuals can develop their strengths, overcome challenges, and become the best version of themselves. Encourage readers to set goals, embrace their uniqueness, and cultivate a growth mindset.

2. Highlight Real-Life Superheroes: Feature individuals who have made a positive impact in their communities or the world. This could include stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things or profiles of inspiring figures from history or the present day.

3. Unleash Inner Strength: Provide strategies and techniques for readers to tap into their inner strength and resilience. Discuss topics such as self-care, mindfulness, positive affirmations, and finding one’s purpose.

4. Superhero Training: Offer practical advice and exercises to help readers build important life skills, such as effective communication, leadership, problem-solving, and decision-making. Encourage them to step out of their comfort zones and embrace new challenges.

5. Superhero Lifestyle: Share tips on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, both mentally and physically. Discuss topics such as exercise, nutrition, stress management, and self-care routines that can empower individuals to lead fulfilling lives.

6. Superhero Mindset: Explore the power of positive thinking, self-belief, and self-motivation. Encourage readers to cultivate a mindset that embraces challenges, perseveres in the face of adversity, and maintains a positive outlook.

How many times did you say… I will soon, I can’t just right now…I am not sure I can commit at the time…

It’s December already and what a year it’s been. Another full year has almost come and gone…if you’re serious about making anything happen in your life, YOU COMMIT, do the real do…and in time results happen. Consistency wins all the time.

Image: Canva Pro

5 Reasons It’s Essential to Ask for Help

5 Reasons It's Essential to Ask for Help

The best business leaders know not to take everything on themselves. After all, that’s the quickest route to burnout, not to mention inefficiency and the potential for poor business decisions.

To run a successful and sustainable business, it’s essential to not just accept help from others but actively seek it out. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a step in the direction of taking charge, delegating, and maintaining laser focus on what you do best and what’s most important to your business.

Here are five common situations entrepreneurs find themselves in that are a sure sign it’s time to ask for help.

1. You’re investing time learning how to do a task yourself.

Why waste your precious time learning how to build a website or write a press release? With countless resources available that enable you to easily outsource tasks like web design and writing, you can save yourself valuable time and avoid rankled nerves so that you’re able to focus on what matters most to you: your vision for the businesses.

For example, rather than finding yourself stuck trying to figure out how to update your website or write a more effective business plan, hire a freelance web designer or business writer who can not only save you lots of time, but can also give the job a more polished and professional look.

2. Managing your finances is eating away at your workweek. 

Keeping your eye on the bottom line is essential to running a business, no matter how big or small, but that doesn’t mean getting lost in the weeds of managing day-to-day finances.

Handing tasks like merchant services and depositing checks to a trusted advisor like PNC Business Banking frees up your time and most importantly, gives you the added assurance that your money is being handled and managed by a professional with a reputation of excellence behind its name.

Working with a business banker also gives you access to financial resources like business loans, lines of credit, and digital real-time resources like Cash Flow Insight(SM) that can help you easily track and review your business’s receivables and payables. What’s more, getting help managing your money means you can automate otherwise time-consuming tasks like invoicing customers, reminding them when payments are due, and paying vendors on time.

3. You’re constantly putting out fires.

One of the thrills of entrepreneurship is that every day can feel like a new adventure. You’re poised to take on whatever challenge comes your way but having a system in place to help you deal with particularly stressful times will make sure you don’t burn out too quickly or find yourself in a rut.

For example, you can hire a virtual personal assistant, organizer, or productivity coach to help optimize your workflow, manage emails and handle scheduling when unexpected things pop up in your calendar. If you know you have a large order to prepare and ship out, bring on extra hands to help you make that process more manageable.

4. It feels like you’re sitting on a mountain of menial tasks.

Sure, handling the dirty work often falls to you when you’re running a lean small business, but if you’re not careful, it may drain you of valuable energy and time needed to keep the business afloat.

You know those days: You’re stuck on the phone for hours troubleshooting a tech support issue, a leak in the ceiling requires your attention, the printer needs to be unjammed, and boxes of furniture are waiting to be assembled in the middle of the office. These menial tasks pose the threat of overtaking your day to the point of sucking all your energy from you.

Remember that time spent on menial tasks is time away from strategizing and making important decisions. Rather than wrack your brain on how to assemble a maddeningly complicated cabinet, hire someone to come in and do the dirty work for you. For an estimated $50 or less an hour, you can hand those dreaded but necessary tasks off and keep your mental sanity.

5. You look at other businesses and wonder: How’d they do that?

A beautiful ad campaign, a well-designed website, a flawless online customer experience. If you’re wondering how other businesses manage to get so much done exceptionally well, the answer is simple: They probably aren’t doing it themselves.

Don’t let the polished exterior of other companies fool you. Underneath each is most likely a boss who knows how to delegate tasks to the people who can do them best. Guard your own time preciously and don’t hold back on asking for help when you feel like you’re becoming consumed by specific tasks.

Your job as a business leader is to keep the ship afloat, but without a crew and the right support in place, you’ll have a heck of a time navigating rough waters.

Source: entrepreneur.comBy Entrepreneur Partner Studio Staff ~ Image: Canva Pro

10 Simple Yet Powerful Business Goals to Set This Year

Business Goals

We often think of the goal-setting process as something done when we first start a business or a new job. However, the reality is that we need to regularly set new business goals as well as monitor the progress of past goals.

I think it’s best to assess and establish business goals during the first quarter of the new year to stay motivated and commit to your goals. This allows for both you and your employees to have a clear understanding of what the expectations are over the coming year.

When deciding on what goals you will have for the year, don’t get bogged down in the minutia of figuring out every last detail of how you plan to get there. This is big-picture stuff, your vision for what the organization should look like in a year.

This long-term goal-setting will serve as an overall framework for your short-term planning. Short-term planning is where you will lay out the individual steps necessary for achieving the goals.

That’s a long-winded way of saying that you first need to figure out where you want to go before you plan the trip.

While no list could apply to all businesses or situations, these 10 business goals have been a part of every successful business I’ve been involved in.

1. Maintain a Healthy Budget

This trips up a lot of entrepreneurs, and I’ve seen many people start businesses without a financial plan.

Academics have coined a new technical term for this type of financial plan: they are calling it a “budget.” And if you don’t have one, then that’s your number one goal for the year.

Having a budget not only helps with tracking where your money is being spent, but it also allows you to analyze things, like what type of advertising is working best for you.

How do your payroll expenses compare to the industry average? Are you spending too much or too little on commissions and bonuses? Are you lacking funding?

Going anywhere for funding (banks, Investors, VC firms) without a professional budget will get you booted out of the office without a second look.

2. Hire a Certain Number of Employees

If you don’t have any employees, now is the time to consider hiring some as part of your business goals. Trying to do everything yourself is the curse of the entrepreneur. We all try being the Jack-of-all-trades, but we forget the rest of that saying: “But master of none.”

You can start by hiring someone to do all of the little tasks that have to get done but don’t contribute to the bottom line. These tasks take your attention away from growing the business, so delegate them out to others to save yourself time and energy.

3. Reduce Expenses

Running a lean business should be the goal of every entrepreneur. After all, every dollar saved in business expenses is an extra dollar in your pocket. The problems arise when you begin to cut into areas that affect the bottom line.

For example, it’s always tempting to look at payroll first because it’s such a big expense in most businesses. But will cutting sales staff hurt sales? What about the shipping department or customer care? You might not feel the effects of those cuts right away, but if you’re not giving the customer the experience they expect, you will feel it down the road.

Try looking for other ways to reduce expenses. Try new software, change the implementation of your processes, and most of all, reduce debt!

4. Refocus on Your Customer

You should always be re-evaluating your relationship with your customers when setting business goals. You need to know what areas are working right and what areas need improvement.

Look at the entire customer service experience. Are your customers happy with the product or service? Is your refund/exchange process easy to understand and use? If they have questions or need help, is it easily accessible? Are you delivering your products promptly?

No matter how good you currently are, vow to make the customer experience even better with short-term goals and a detailed business plan.

5. Get More Traffic to Your Website

Even if you’re not generating sales from a website, increasing traffic is great for brand awareness.

If you haven’t updated your website recently, take some time to give it some attention. Make sure it’s pleasing to the eye, easy to navigate, and constantly updated with all the latest information and helpful hints.

6. Evaluate and Refine Your Social Media Marketing

This dovetails nicely with the previous suggestion. Social media marketing, when done right, will generate traffic, leads, and sales for your company.

I see a lot of companies (especially smaller ones) using a shotgun approach to their business goals related to social media marketing. They end up throwing a bunch of stuff up on their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and hope that something works.

You need to have a strategy for social media. Your posts need to be consistent and on-message. It can be a lot to handle all at once, and if you’re not sure what you are doing, some companies and individuals will set up and manage your social media marketing for you.

7. Conduct a Marketing Audit

Marketing, along with payroll and rent, are the biggest expenses most businesses have. You want to make sure you are getting the most bang for your marketing buck[1].

Analyze and evaluate every aspect of your marketing budget. Eliminate the worst performing (in terms of ROI) 20% of your marketing efforts, and use that money to expand the top 10% of your best-performing assets.

8. Develop or Improve Your Employee Incentive Program

Your employees are the lifeblood of your business. Employees are the ones implementing the company’s policies and procedures. They are (usually) the ones interacting directly with the customer.

Keeping happy and motivated employees is the only way your business goals can thrive. Unfortunately, too many small businesses neglect this issue because of the perceived expense involved.

And while money is certainly a motivating factor for your employees, most people will respond to other types of incentives as well[2]. Things like public recognition, lunch with the boss, or flexible time off can all be used as incentives. Check out this article for 17 Proven Tactics for Motivating Employees.

9. Evaluate Your Company’s Mission Statement

This should be done every year. Depending on how long your company has been around, you may not have even looked at your mission statement in years (if you even have one).

Take the time to get it out, dust it off, and make sure that it’s still relevant. I’ve consulted with companies that, when asked to do this, discover that the original mission statement described a completely different organization!

Over the years, as the business climate evolves and technology changes, there’s a good chance that your mission statement needs to be updated.

10. Strive to Create a Better “Work-Life Balance”

Being a successful entrepreneur means making sacrifices. You sacrifice the stability of a regular paycheck, time with your family, sleep, and more, and while the rewards can be great, just make sure the costs aren’t too high.

Things like stress and anxiety will take a toll on your physical and mental health. Time away from spouses and family can cause tension that only adds to the stress level. You need to take evasive action before it can cause irreparable damage. This is why including personal goals within your business goals is so important.

If you’re not eating right and exercising, start taking an hour out of your day.

Whether it’s one day a week, or an hour a night, your family needs to know that they are a priority. Have a scheduled “date night” with your spouse. Chances are you’re not the greatest company after working a 12-14 hour day, and making your spouse a priority is just part of the deal.

Making a conscious decision to prioritize your home life is like brushing your teeth. If you do it, they stay strong and healthy, if you ignore it, they go away.

The Bottom Line

Setting, evaluating, and reassessing goals is a constant theme in business. Knowing the right places to allocate the right resources will keep your business thriving in an ever-changing world.

Lou Holtz, the famous football player and coach said,

“In this world, you’re either growing or you’re dying, so get in motion and grow.”

That statement is certainly true in today’s business climate. You need to be constantly on your toes looking for new and better ways of doing things.

Technology is moving at a light speed, bringing new, better, and faster ways to deliver products and services to the consumer. If you’re not innovating with specific business goals, you can be sure your competition is.

Source: lifehack.org ~ By: David Carpenter ~ Image: Canva Pro

7 Ways to Bootstrap Your Business to Success

Bootstrap Your Business to Success

Most first-time entrepreneurs seem to believe the myth that they need a minimum of a half a million dollars to start a business. At least that is usually the lowest number I see requested from our local angel investment group. In reality, over 80 percent of successful new businesses are self-funded for much less — often as little as $10,000. I’m convinced this also reduces risk.

Starting a new business on a limited budget without investor involvement is called bootstrapping, and it’s the only way to go if you don’t want to spend months on the investment pitch preparation and delivery circuit. Also, with bootstrapping, you won’t have the added pressure and risk of an investor boss hanging over your shoulder and second-guessing your every move.

Over the years, I’ve accumulated a list of common startup practices from entrepreneurs who have managed to avoid the ironic pain and suffering of comfortably starting a business with a large cash stash from a rich uncle or a vulnerable investor.

1. Stick to a business domain you know and love.

Starting a new business in an area where you have no experience, just because it appears to have great potential, is a recipe for failure. There are unwritten rules in every business, and your lack of insider’s knowledge will cost you dearly. Good connections can get things done for very little cash.

2. Find team members to work for equity rather than cash.

People working with you need to understand their failure means startup failure, rather than expect money up front. Managing employees and contracts is difficult and expensive, and new entrepreneurs aren’t very good at it anyway. Equity is your best assurance of commitment and focus.

3. Build a plan around your budget, rather than around your wishes.

Entrepreneurs who start without a plan spend more money. Likewise, those who feel compelled to keep up with the popular media will spend most of their time courting investors. Most investors agree that too much money leads to poor spending decisions and lack of controls.

4. Defer your urge to find office space until you have customers.

Remote startup team members are the norm today and can be very productive with smartphones, video and the high-speed Internet. Office space costs money up front, requires equipment, staffing and travel expenses. With a website, your business can look as big as any competitor.

5. Ask for advance on royalties and vendor deferred payments.

If you solution has real value, future partners will jump on discounted future royalties, and many vendors and existing partners will understand your cash flow challenges. You may also be able to barter your services to offset theirs. It never hurts to ask. Practice your sales skills early.

6. Negotiate inventory management with suppliers and distributors.

For many products, suppliers or distributors will direct ship your product to eliminate your inventory. For services, don’t be afraid to ask for a retainer up front to offset your costs. Business terms are negotiable, but new entrepreneurs with plenty of cash don’t bother to ask.

7. Choose a business model to optimize your revenue flow and timing.

Popular examples include monthly subscription fees and optional service fees, versus one-time product sales. Another is the use of an ecommerce site, rather than retail, to facilitate product sales seven days a week, around the clock and around the world.

One of the biggest ways to reduce your budget and your risk is to use social media, which essentially is free, to find our whether you have an attractive solution, before you invest your time and limited resources in creating the product or service. Social media is also an invaluable and inexpensive marketing approach, since no one buys a solution they can’t find or don’t know anything about.

A limited budget can be viewed as your biggest constraint, or as an incentive to do things more creatively. With startups, there is a big premium on creativity and innovation. Big competitors are quick to copy a conventional solution with minimal risk. Let a limited budget be your driver to winning, rather than a curse.

Source: entrepreneur.com ~ By: Martin Zwilling

Updated 7/21/23

8 Musts to Start Your Business with Little to No Capital

business startup

Entrepreneurs will often have amazing business ideas, but they put them on hold due to a lack of capital. They assume that their idea will never get far off the ground unless they have major funding behind them.

It seems that every day there is a new startup receiving millions of dollars from venture capital firms, but what you don’t hear about is the several startup failures that burn through millions of dollars only to fizzle out and shut their doors forever.

If your idea and plan of execution aren’t well thought out from the beginning, no amount of money can turn it into a winner. Have a great idea but very little money? Don’t let that stop you! Yes, there will be ridiculously long days with little to no sleep. Yes, you are going to be stressed. But those that want it bad enough will make it.

Here are eight tips that can help you get your idea off the ground with limited funds.

Don’t let unforeseen circumstances leave your business in a bad place. Here are a few helpful reminders to keep your company on the right course.

Build your business around what you know

Instead of venturing off into uncharted territory, make sure that you build your business around your skills and knowledge. The less you have to rely on outside sources the better. When your business is built around your own personal expertise you can eliminate consultants and outside assistance.

Also, having that knowledge is sometimes all that is needed to successfully take the plunge into entrepreneurship.

Tell everyone you know what you are doing

Inform your family, friends, business contacts and past colleagues about your new business. Call, send emails and make your new venture known on your social-media profiles. Your friends and family members can help you spread the word, and past business contacts can introduce your brand to their professional contacts as well. This type of grassroots marketing can help introduce your company to a much larger audience.

Avoid unnecessary expenses

You are going to have plenty of expenses, and there are some that just can’t be avoided. What you can avoid though is overspending. Take something as simple as business cards. You could drop $1,000 on 500 metal business cards that give off the “cool” factor, or you could spend $10 on 500 traditional business cards. Being frugal in the beginning can be the difference between success and a failed business.

Don’t get buried in credit card debt

There is a smart way and a suicidal way to use credit when starting a business. New computers, office furniture, phones and supplies can all quickly add up. Instead of purchasing everything at once and throwing it all on a credit card, use your company’s revenue to finance your expenses. Eliminating the stress and burden of debt will greatly increase the chances of creating a successful business.

Make sure your receivables policy won’t sink you

If your business is a retail operation then this isn’t going to apply, but if you are providing services such as consulting or products to retailers you need to make sure that your payment policy is well thought out. Can you remain above water with net-15 or net-30 terms? Don’t base your receivables on what you think your customers will want. Base them on what is going to make your business operate successfully.

Build up sweat equity

When I first started my business I worked around the clock, handling every aspect of the business as well as the marketing and growth. All of the hard work and long days that you put in isn’t for nothing. You are building a brand and your hard work is essentially increasing the value of your business. Your sweat equity will come into play if you ever decide to sell off a piece of your company or take on a partner.

Take advantage of free advertising and marketing

There are several ways to generate a buzz for your business without breaking the bank. Social media is a great way to gain exposure and interact with potential customers. You can also reach out to local media and offer your expertise.

Make as many local media contacts as you can and be extremely responsive with their requests. This can lead to them to branding you as the local authority, generating plenty of free press for your business.

Get ready to hustle

Hard work is an absolute necessity, but when you are starting a business with little to no capital then you must be prepared to dedicate everything you have into making the business a success. This might mean cold calling, handling customer support, dealing with billing and accounting, and every other working part of your business. You will wear many hats and it will require the majority of your time and energy if you are to make it.

Don’t let limited capital prevent you from taking a great idea and running with it. Will it be difficult and will you have some stressful situations? Of course, but that is part of entrepreneurship.

Have you started a business with sweat equity alone? If so, let us know about your experiences in the comments section below.

Source: entrepreneur.com ~ By: ~ Image: Canva Pro

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