Category: business coach

Trust The Process: Does The Type Of Your Startup Matter?

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Being an action oriented person I’m not afraid of starting things.

Pros: get stuff done, make tangible progress and don’t overanalyze before taking action.

Cons: don’t always do the market research, making money isn’t the priority and I get bored quickly.

What I learned as an employee at my former company is: the size of the market/demand makes all the difference.

At the same time I realized you can be unethical, yet still make a profit.

The reason I left the last company I worked for is because of how they treated people (me included).

Starting a test prep company wasn’t something I was passionate about doing, but understanding the market size (online education is a $100 Billion industry) and realizing how I would run a company culturally I pulled the trigger a few months ago.

Here are the core values that guide us:

Relationships First – by valuing our relationships with employees and customers first, we will create long, genuine relationships that are about more than making a profit. I am partners with my tutors. They don’t work for me. I work for them. Without them I have no business.

Be Unique – acknowledge and express the unique contributions your strengths and style can make. “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” I leverage the strengths of the people around me.

Be Efficient – we will constantly evaluate our work processes and priorities to work smarter. We make a better system together. Constantly communication means you value other’s opinions.

Create Freedom – our decision making will help our employees and customers get it done, their way. Giving people autonomy means you trust them. Without trust you have nothing.

Constant Growth – we will encourage our employees and customers to constantly challenge themselves to continue setting goals and pursue learning opportunities. Focus on leadership development. Period.

The reason I share these core values is because I believe they can be transferred to any type of business. Having a serial entrepreneur mindset it’s only a matter of time before I find a new idea to implement, but what I’m experiencing in my current venture is: keep your eyes on the long-term success of the company and make decisions accordingly.

For example, a big part of my business is forming school partnerships because they are the gatekeepers to parents of high school students. The process of prospecting includes: cold emails, follow up communication, phone calls, sending proposals, finalizing agreements, contacting parents, supporting tutors, repeat.

Whenever I get impatient and want results yesterday, I remind myself relationships are at the heart of what I do and they take time to build. I can’t predict the future, but I can say with confidence I trust the process.

In ways, this endeavor is an experiment of sorts. Implement the “why” and “how” you run a business and once you identify the “what” you plug them in.

Speedy Strategies to a Profitable Ecommerce Business

Scott Asai2 Comments

Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

Ecommerce can be a hugely profitable business – if done right. With hundreds of millions of people shopping online every year, it’s a huge market to target, and with the right offer, products and service, nothing is stopping you from establishing yourself.

However, the process of buying in inventory and building a website can be long and drawn out when you’re just starting out – but it doesn’t have to be this way. The following strategies should help you get to a better place in a faster period of time – let’s take a look at everything you need to know.

Sell products over inventory.

A lot of people think that starting an ecommerce business involves stocking up on lots of inventory and storing it somewhere until you sell it. But it doesn’t have to be this way, and in many cases, it’s possible to start out using a tactic called arbitrage. This term is used to describe the process of selling someone else’s product, with you acting as a kind of middleman.

Let’s say that a product is on sale to the public for $20, and the dealer or manufacturer charges you $10. All you need to do is pay the source $10, and they take care of all the shipping for you – and you take the margin. Not only does it allow you to make money quickly, but it also reduces your storage costs – you can efficiently run your ecommerce store without ever seeing the product.

Get the tech right

Assuming you have a great product to sell – and a market that craves it – the only thing stopping you from making some money is the quality of your website. There’s a lot to think about, from finding a host to building the site itself – not to mention all the technical aspects of SEO, UX and conversion rate optimization. If all this sounds overwhelming, don’t panic – there is help available.

First of all, the platform you use can take away a lot of the pain, for a small monthly fee. Sites like Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce are all easy to use and perfect for beginners. You should also try and find a company that specializes in ecommerce hosting to help you get an edge over the competition in terms of speed and scalability. And if you need further help with your online marketing – with SEO, for example – then learning the basics and outsourcing to a third party firm gets you results fast.

Believe in your niche.

Technically, you can sell anything online. But the reality is that it takes time to learn, understand, and develop some passion for a product or a niche. You are far better off starting out with physical products you are already aware of and have a love for – it’s that simple.

Do what you love, and use your passion to impress your audience, create excitement, and earn a lot more money in a lot less time as a result. One thing to remember before we go, however – don’t try and sell things that aren’t popular right now, as it’s very much like flogging a dead horse. Check Amazon bestsellers, and places like watchcount.com to find out the hot products in your niche, and you’ll have a much higher chance of success.

The ‘Premium Mindset’ Needed For Running Luxury Tourist Experiences

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Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

When it comes to running a business concerned with providing luxury experiences for clients, it’s important to get things right. Your client expects a certain degree of premium service, meaning that anything to subvert these expectations can be problematic for your brand. If you must charge the premium prices in order to attract a certain type of client for your quality experience, then you must also provide fantastic value for money.

We’re here to help you begin, develop and maintain your luxury brand with a set of important business priorities to get you started. This will be focused on the client perspective, hopefully enlightening a few things they are looking out for in your effort to become relevant in the field.

Personal

Clients want to feel important when they’re investing in a premium product or service. This doesn’t mean they desire to feel better than anyone else, they just want to feel significant. Remember, not all premium clients are affluent. They could be those who have saved up their funding in order to experience your offerings. For this reason, offering the personal approach to customer service is key. Hiring well-dressed assistants with great interpersonal charm and a memory for first or surnames (client desire depending,) allows them to build a rapport and charm with your customer. This can go the extra mile in securing repeat business.

Maintenance

Your service should run without a hitch. Let’s use the example of a luxury yacht rental or experience being the service you offer. Breakdowns, especially when the clients are on board, could be considered a shocking faux pas and drive your stock value plummeting. Hiring a maintenance team worth their salt (even invest in the best,) is important, as well as utilizing better and more competently designed equipment. For example, tuned diesel kits compatible with Yachts found here http://www.truckcomputertune.us/ could increase the lifespan of your equipment, and increase its reliability around consumers.

Consistency

Premium experiences need to keep consistency as their core tenet. If you’re willing to charge for an experience time and time again, you must make sure every time you offer that service it’s as good as your best time. You are only ever as good as the reputation you have most recently been given, and so to recall repeat business you must listen to feedback, improve where necessary and run towards the big decisions with a sense of wisdom and ability. Often in premium industries time is limited. Consumers expect their suggestions and demands to be listened to thoroughly, and enacted quickly. If you can keep this ability within your power, you’ll experience a boom in profits, repeat business and the fostering of brand loyalty.

With these tips, you’ll find that your offering truly stands head and shoulders above the market. Using the personal, reliably and consistent touch, your offering will begin to distinguish itself above the competition, as as you return investments to your firm your portfolio of services will increase. We wish you the best of luck in your premium endeavors.

The Price You Pay

Scott Asai1 Comment

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Anyone coming of age in the current working climate should know that there are significant changes afoot. Remote or freelance work is now the norm as more and more people break away from the 9-5. In many ways, this is an exciting change. Instead of settling for jobs which are less than ideal, the next generation can control their work/life balance. And, we all know that’s the best way to happiness.

But, with this freedom comes new responsibilities. Instead of being able to sit back and let a boss make difficult decisions, those going it alone have to step up to the plate. You’ll need to decide everything, from the jobs you accept, to the price you charge for them. And, pricing is exactly what we’re going to look at here. It’s a tough subject. Get it wrong, and you’ll fail to make a living. Worse, you could tarnish your reputation. In the freelance world, that’s a definite no-go. To ensure it doesn’t happen, follow these pointers when choosing a price plan.

Costs and labor

If you don’t know where to start when it comes to pricing, it’s worth estimating how much production costs you, and also thinking about the labor. Add up every expense you spend on each project. That includes printing costs, materials, and even a part of your internet bill if it features. Charging this much would mean that you cover costs but don’t make a profit, so you need to think, also, about your labor. Most freelancers charge more for larger jobs. If you spend eight hours on something, think about how much you can pay yourself per hour. Then, add this to your expenses to work out a rough price bracket.

Read available resources

No matter what your freelancing gig, you can be sure there’s a multitude of resources out there to help you here. The internet helps us all share these experiences in untested waters. Graphic designers talk about how much to charge. Journalists and illustrators do the same. Sites like SEO Jet even provide a good guide for those branching into SEO. You name it; there’s help out there for you. All you need to do is look for it, and learn from what you find.

Know your competition’s pricing

It’s also essential to know how much your competition charges. In fact, this is the most practical help you’ll find. Bear in mind, though, that it may not be best to charge the exact same prices. Instead, think about ways to produce a competitive pricing strategy compared to what they offer. This is the best way to set yourself above the rest. That said, don’t do this to the detriment of your profit. Bear in mind the pricing you developed when estimating costs and labor. Then, develop a competitive price list based on what you’ve found. If your overall price is over that of your competition, think about small ways to reduce it. Cheaper materials, for example, or finding faster ways to work.

Smart Ways to Grow your Business: The Power of Backlinks

Scott Asai2 Comments

Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

It is a known fact that backlinks are directly related to the amount of traffic that you have on your website. The more authoritative sites that you have linking to your site, the better rankings you’ll have and ultimately, the more traffic you’ll get. Quality backlinks should be your first focus. You may feel as though backlinks are hard to get, but they shouldn’t be and there are plenty of ways for you to earn backlinks so that you can benefit from everything that they have to offer.

Take Skip The Line Backlinks for example. They are able to offer you a huge range of backlink and SEO services, so you don’t have to build your links manually and risk low-quality alternatives.

Backlinks on Your Own Site

If you want to get the best result out of your site then you will need to use the right anchor text when linking on your site. You will want to have your own keyword and anchor text but you don’t want to have the keyword alone. The Google Penguin update targets those who do this and for that reason, you’ll only see a ranking increase over the short-term.

Backlinks on Other Sites

High authority backlinks are very important but they are also very tricky. You have to make sure that the link that you have can provide value to another site as well. It’s true that you can’t control what text another company will use, but you can still hope for the best by getting press in sites that are well-read. For example, you could ask the leaders in your company to post on guest-sites and when you have a company announcement, you can even send a press-release to other sites that are relevant and even popular with bloggers. This is one of the best ways for you to grow your business, but you need to show people why your post will benefit the readers of that site, and in exchange, you’ll get a backlink.

If you have an email list or if you have some social media pages then it’s important that you post on these accounts. It’s also important that you include links to other companies when your content talks about them or even other influencers.

Growing your Business

Ultimately, the best way for you to get backlinks would be for you to create high-quality content and to connect with other businesses. If you do this however, there is no guarantee that you will be able to get the best result out of your backlinks because you can’t predict how they will link to you or even if they will altogether. For this reason, it helps to choose a reputable company who is experienced in backlink building so that they can help you through the whole process.

Backlinks really are one of the best ways for you to establish your business online and it could be the ticket you need to ensure your own success. Building a business has never been easier, and you’d be surprised at how much it could make a difference to your own site traffic.

Unique Ways to Boost Business Efficiency

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All businesses are looking for ways to increase their efficiency levels, and if they are not, they should be. Being more efficient means that your business is working as smartly as possible. It, therefore, means that you are maximising your time and consequently your profits. Of course, being efficient now does not mean that you are going to be in a year’s time. The business world moves forward, and we need to make sure we keep up with it, or even better, that we set the pace. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some unique ways to increase efficiency at your business…]

  • Consider OCR software – Have you considering OCR processing software? If not, now is a good time to look into this further. For those who are unaware, OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. It is a form of technology that gives you the ability to convert various kinds of documents – for instance, images captured by a digital camera, PDF files, and scanned paper documents – into searchable and editable data. This gives you the capacity to work more efficiently; you will be able to research more effectively, enabling you to spot trends that will improve your business, leading to even greater efficiencies. It has an incredible knock-on effect.
  • Scale down on meetings – Yes, meetings can boost efficiency at your business when they are done correctly, and you definitely shouldn’t get rid of them altogether. However, you do need to put an end to the “have you got a minute?” type of meetings. These are unscheduled and they will distract you and anyone else involved from working productively. It is an inefficient use of energy and time.
  • Drop the problematic customers – This is a controversial suggestion. After all, dropping customers seems like a bad idea, why would you want to get rid of someone that is paying you money? Nonetheless, you need to ask whether you are spending more time and resources on these customers than the money you are making? If that’s the case, then are you really gaining anything by keeping these customers on board? You will probably find that your time and effort is better spent looking for new customers to plug the gap.
  • Consider outsourcing – Last but not least, you need to decide whether outsourcing part of your business would benefit it. Ask yourself some key questions. Is this task getting in the way of your core activities? Would it be cheaper to outsource? Is this a task that is required on a seasonal or one-off basis? Would you benefit from specialist experience? If you answer yes to several of those questions, it is a clear indication that outsourcing would be better.

Hopefully, you now have some ideas regarding how to improve efficiency at your company. If you can use the some of the tips that have been mentioned above, you are bound to notice a difference. Nonetheless, don’t forget to measure the new approaches you implement to ensure they deliver the results you are aiming for.

Material Matters: Understanding Your Resources

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The world of engineering, manufacturing, and construction are all very complicated. From the challenges found in measuring large objects to the difficulty in understanding the materials being used, there are loads of things you have to keep on your mind. When it comes to the resources you use, making a mistake here could have a huge impact on your company. So, to help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the biggest considerations you have to make before choosing the resource you’ll be working with.

  • The Name

To begin, the easiest way to tell one material from another is the name it has been given. Even amongst metals of the same type, there will be loads of different grades and treatment styles which are given different names. To learn more about this sort of thing, you can look at this article about 304 stainless steel to give yourself an idea of the differences between some metals. Using a name will be the first step you have to take. Along with this, though, you will also have to do plenty of research to get started.

  • The Qualities

With the names of your materials in hand, you will be ready to begin the process of figuring out their qualities. For example, copper is a very soft metal, and can easily be bent to your purpose. Iron, on the other hand, is much less flexible, and will snap rather than changing shape. It’s critical that you understand the qualities of the resources you work with long before you ever do anything with them. In some cases, dangerous fumes could be pumped into the air around you and you wouldn’t know until it’s too late. Extractor fans are one of the best ways to deal with this.

  • The Uses

At this point, you will have some materials in mind, and it’s time to start thinking about what they are best used for. A good engineer will always work hard to ensure that they are using the very best option for the job they are doing, and this will depend on loads of different factors. For example, aluminum is perfect for budget bike frames, as it is nice and cheap while also being light. This creates a great basis for the creation of the finished product.

  • The Pricing/Value

Finally, as the last area to consider, a lot of people will ignore price until the very end in a project like this one. In reality, though, even a couple of pennies would make a big difference when you’re dealing with hundreds of the same item. In some cases, it could be worth compromising to get more for your money, even if it means your product isn’t quite as good. This sort of balancing act is often the hardest part of manufacturing.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time you put into your company’s resources. In a lot of cases, manufacturers and production businesses will completely ignore these crucial elementals, ultimately making their own lives harder in the future.

Safe Warehouse – Safe Workers

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When it comes to keeping your workers safe, there are many simple ways to organize your warehouse. A safe worker is a happy worker. Even if you think you have your safety legislation covered, there are always ways to improve!

Be Bright – Be Seen

The best way to ensure worker safety right off the bat is to insist on the wearing of hi-visibility vests and hard hats where required. You may wish to choose the brightest option possible as opposed to the standard. Your staff safety is paramount, and by selecting a more vivid color, it will go a long way to help your staff stand out.

Guardrails

Installing guardrails will be a necessity especially if you intend to use forklift trucks or ride-on pallet trucks. Guardrails positioned on ramps or corners will slow down your vehicle operatives and force them to concentrate in these areas where manoeuvring space is tight, and accidents may occur more frequently. As an added advantage, drivers will not be able to drift into pedestrian walkways, reducing the risk of such collisions.

Cutting Through The Red Tape

You will already understand that keeping your pedestrian staff well away from your vehicle, forklift operators or PFlow VRCs, is paramount when it comes to avoiding dangerous collisions and preventing accidents.  With floor tape, implementing safe traffic routes or marked lanes needn’t be complicated nor expensive. Make sure to mark out defined areas for pedestrians and ensure vehicles keep to their designated zones. By using tape, you can also very easily and quickly rearrange the warehouse should a  layout change be required after purchasing new equipment or if you require a new area to work in.

Clear The Aisles

Remove the clutter and clear the trash. Not only is it unsightly but these are the primary factors when considering risk and avoiding hazards. Fire risk is significantly increased where there is fuel gathered to feed a breakout. Loose waste packaging not only is a trip hazard to pedestrians but can also get under the wheels of any warehouse vehicles, causing slips which may lead to collisions. Keeping the area clean is a simple yet most effective way of reducing risk, upholding the ideals of good health and safety and increasing efficiency. It’s also an elementary rule to implement with the help of your Managers and the cooperation of your employees.

Safety Signs

It’s important to display as much information as possible to alert workers to potential dangers and which precautionary steps to take to avoid them. Safety signs take care of this directly and inexpensively and are a legal requirement in most warehouses.  Ensure you have adequate signage, which should be placed wherever a risk a posed. It is essential, however, not to go over the top as employees may become blase over the amount and the importance of the signs may be lost in the mire.

They could also be considered a distraction to drivers.

Team Meetings

Although not something that is essential in the overall safety plan, regular team meetings can be one of the more efficient ways of distributing information on any new risks or any changes to your Safety policies within your corporation. The benefit is two-fold, allowing not only the dissemination of such information but encouraging a team responsibility and awareness for each other. It will also reinforce the commitment of the company that it’s employees health and wellbeing are paramount to the Management. When employees feel valued, then productivity is increased.

How to Pursue a Good Idea When You Don’t Know Where to Start

Scott Asai1 Comment

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Good ideas come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes, the person with the good idea isn’t necessarily going to be able to achieve it on their own. For example, if you have a great idea for a line of cleaning products, you might have the marketing and advertising down and the funding covered but you aren’t entirely sure how to actually manufacture the product.

Or indeed, it might be that you can make the product, but every other step in the narrative to success is eluding you.

Don’t panic. This is normal. And, it’s why great inventors tend not to work on their own in a garage at the bottom of the garden, but in collaborative teams where other people and experts can help to refine their ideas.

If you’ve had a good idea but you don’t know where to start, this is what you should do.

Tell People About Your Idea

Of course, knowing that an idea can be done and finding a market for that same idea are two very different things. Talking to your friends is a good plan because they will be able to suggest ways that it might be made better or indeed point you towards similar products on the market.

It can be difficult to tell people about an idea you are holding close for fear of ridicule, but this really is the best way to get it out in the open and start to refine it into something that will sell. You might also be worried about your friend stealing your idea. This is natural and it is probably a wise choice to apply for a patent to protect your idea, and not just from your friends. This process will also show up any similar ideas that have already been patented.

Ask an Expert for Help

Good ideas are rarely the work of just one person so taking your seed and getting an expert’s advice will help the idea to take root. Continuing with the cleaning product analogy, you might want to seek the professional help of a company who can provide custom chemical formulation to find out how you can make the best product with what you have.

Make a Prototype

Once you have consulted friends and experts, it is time to make a prototype. This will show whether your idea actually works, for starters, but it will also flag areas that could be improved as will as parts that could be simplified in order to make the manufacturing process easier. Bear in mind that your first prototype will not be perfect and this is not a reason to give up, just a reason to continue refining and improving as you go along.

Don’t Wait Until You’re Ready

There is a whole blog on the subject but the headline is exactly as it states. If you wait until the perfect time, you will miss the boat. This is because there is no perfect time.

Trust your instinct, run with your idea and get it out into the world.

How To Ensure Your Business Continues To Grow In Success

Scott Asai3 Comments

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As a business owner, you may be looking back on your company’s year through 2017 and feel extremely accomplished with all that you have achieved. It quite possibly could have been your most successful year yet, and you’re thinking “what could go wrong?”

Unfortunately, the answer that follows this question is quite an intense list. Your profit numbers could fall significantly, you could be met by a new competitor that is causing your footfall statistics to plummet, or your services may just drop in demand. Though these examples are not exhaustive, you want to keep your company striving forward – rather than bathing in your current success – to ensure you don’t find yourselves taking a bumpy fall back down the ladder you fought so hard to climb. Here are some sectors of your business that should not be neglected, to ensure your current success is sustainable and able to have continued growth.

Outsource

Keeping outgoings at a minimum is a good way of ensuring a contingency fund of profit should any problems arise. A lot of companies are currently turning to outsourcing for certain services – like customer response, marketing, and accounts – for a very good reason.  Not only will those services be carried out by industry professionals using top of the range equipment and software, but the cost of the service is considerably less when compared to hiring, training up your own staff, and investing in the equipment needed to carry out the job efficiently. It also frees up a considerable amount of your’s and your employees’ time to focus on the core of the business – your product and customer service.

Brand and Customer Service

When it comes to your brand and customer service, both should be under constant scrutiny to ensure you are giving out the best possible service and impression of your business. Your brand is what people will say about your business when you are not there – this is the word of mouth of your business – so you want to ensure this is always as positive and full of recommendation as possible. The top way of ensuring this positivity is making sure your customer service is impeccable. Investing some time in listening to your customer feedback, and making your customers feel like an essential asset to your business, will be invaluable to your success.  

Returning Footfall

Keeping track of your daily footfall, and ensuring you’re always on top of any searches through a company like 180fusion, is a good way of practically guaranteeing your company continues to bring in the growth it deserves. However, it’s sustaining that growth which is imperative. Having a loyal fanbase, who continually chooses your service over competitors, is really the big key to continued success. You can encourage this returning footfall by giving something back to those who support you. This can either be through a loyalty scheme – where so much spent equals to so many points, or you could offer ‘loyal customer only’ discounts through your email subscription service. Either way, customers like to know they will be rewarded for their loyalty and are more likely to recommend you highly to a friend.

Hopefully, this has given you a few ideas of how you can maximize your current success for the year of 2018.