Small Business Doesn’t Have to Mean Horse and Buggy Posted on March 14, 2016June 20, 2018 by Jessica Lunk When it comes to marketing software, many small businesses dismiss the idea as something too expensive, too complex, and too much the exclusive province of major global companies. However, nothing could be further from the truth: 21st-century marketing automation software is affordable, versatile, and can provide a quantum leap in marketing effectiveness for your business. What is Marketing Automation Software? Marketing automation software is designed to help businesses automatically manage multiple business campaigns, to automate a variety of daily businesses practices, and to measure the impact of different business strategies. Ultimately, the goal of such software is to allow businesses large and small to take advantage of advanced marketing tools like digital communication without creating new logistical problems that end up hampering overall marketing effectiveness. How does it benefit small businesses? When it comes to ways for marketing automation software to benefit small businesses, the sky is truly the limit. Software can help manage business leads via dynamically segmentation via online forms, and then automatically generate a reply to interested queries. In fact, this software can help track and manage all leads while helping to facilitate communication within the business and, most importantly, with clients. The longer you use such software, the more useful it becomes, because as you gather more data about clients, leads, and marketing campaigns, you are better able to tailor future marketing strategies to your specific audience through marketing messages. What’s the catch? It’s not often that sales professionals are on this side of a pitch, and the natural question about this software and all of its uses is, “What’s the catch?” In all honesty, there isn’t a catch. The software does, of course, require a significant investment on the part of the small business. However, the improvements that the software provides to efficient lead management helps it pay for itself many times over. In fact, 98% of buyers are looking for dedicated marketing automation software for the first time. Because the whole point of automation software is to ease the workload of a business, you don’t have to worry about hiring additional personnel to manage it. How do you pick the best software? Start by creating a list of features you would like to have the software to handle. The more features a software has, the harder it will be to manage without hiring additional personnel. As for pricing for the marketing automation software, you will be looking at an upfront startup fee and a monthly subscription which may be based on the size of your database of contacts, so it’s important to know if the price will increase as your business grows. Similarly, it’s important to note what the minimum license period is – standard agreements are for 12 months, though whether the full amount must be paid up front or part in monthly installments is up to the software manufacturer. Finally, do your research. Read reviews on software review sites. Find similar-sized businesses who have adopted this software so that you can ask for unbiased opinions, and, if you decide to purchase the software, see if there are additional charges for user training. For more information on improving your marketing strategies, be sure to download our Big Guide to Small Business Marketing:
How to Stop Complexity from Choking Your Business Posted on March 9, 2016May 27, 2016 by Don Breckenridge For small businesses, complexity is particularly mystifying. Getting as many employees to do as many things as possible to attract as many customers as possible is, on paper, a gateway to productivity. In reality, trying to do too much, too soon, and with too few resources is a recipe for disaster. Fortunately, there’s a few key ways to make the complicated, complex world of small business both simpler and more productive. 1: Don’t compromise When facing difficult business challenges, it is often tempting to take the simpler, easier path. After all, they all lead to the same goal, right? Not exactly. It’s actually simpler and more productive to tackle the toughest situations directly. This helps to define your values and work ethic to employees and customers alike and may actually lead to new opportunities. This, of course, should already be a major part of your SWOT analyses – sifting through threats to discover hidden opportunities to help the business and its employees grow. 2: Focus on core services As Steve Jobs himself once noted, it’s highly important for companies to focus on doing “simple” things and doing them well. An iPhone, for instance, is one of the most sophisticated devices in the world … yet it is simple enough for a child to intuitively use. In terms of running a business, the focus on simplicity should be on the core services provided by that company. Instead of confusing clients and employees alike by adding a non-stop bevy of new bells and whistles, focus on making key services more intuitive and easy to use. This always builds client trust much more effectively than making things needlessly complex. 3: Deliver one point at a time On a related note, it’s important to keep information delivery simple. Whether it’s informing consumers about a new product or describing a new marketing strategy to employees, the temptation is there to give everyone as much information as possible. However, in a world of hashtags and headlines, people crave a simple and direct message. Even relatively simple messages can be made simpler. People often try to give three important points at once, but that time might be better spent focusing on one key message. This way, the points don’t compete with each other for the attention of your audience. 4: Embrace imperfection One particular affliction is shared by almost all of the great business leaders and innovators throughout the world: They want things to be absolutely perfect. After all, when bringing their ideas to life, why would they settle for anything short of their vision? However, as Inc.com notes, waiting for something to be perfect can be dangerous: Productivity grinds to a halt as individuals and entire teams focus on doing one thing perfectly instead of doing several things well. Ultimately, customers are not expecting everything to be completely perfect, but they are expecting prompt service and high (though not impossibly high) standards. If a business waits for perfection, the simple truth is that customers won’t wait for the business. For regular tips on how to simplify the complicated things in your professional life, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.
4 Branding Strategies for your Small Business Posted on December 30, 2015August 29, 2016 by Jessica Lunk Is your branding message truly getting across or are you simply blowing hot air? If you don’t have definitive guidelines for your brand and if you are not following them across all platforms, you could be missing out. Here are several ways to boost your branding and ensure that you are actually creating a cohesive and recognizable brand for your small business. Define Your Brand Guidelines Make sure that every promotional piece, press release, and Tweet that leaves your office conforms to your branding guidelines. Clearly outlining your brand expectations and how your logo, mascot, and merchandise are to be referred to can prevent mismatches and mixed messaging for your brand. Disney is one of the masters of branding and everything they put out is designed to clearly represent the brand. From the annual blockbuster movie to the whimsical, talking trash cans at the theme parks, every single item is carefully created and screened with the big picture in mind. A simple list that depicts phrases or things we “always” do when speaking with customers or promoting the brand can help create a consistent and positive message across all of your platforms. Putting together a Brand Guideline for your company can help you make sure everyone is on the same page – even if your business is small. Here are a few areas to address: Logo: Using your logo consistently across all channels adds cohesiveness to your brand. For example, is it ok to display your logo without your tagline, or not? Do you have a version of your logo to use on light colored backgrounds and a version you use for dark colored backgrounds? Is there an emblem in your logo that can stand alone, or do you always want to include the wordmark with the emblem? Staying within specific brand guidelines for your logo will help boost recall and recognition of your brand. Color: Even a color as simple as “red” has variation to it, and everyone has their own interpretation. Setting guidelines on what your brand colors are and how to use them will help everyone stay within the lines of your brand when working on print, web, or promotional materials. Identifying a Pantone (print) and corresponding hex color (web) will help keep your brand looking sharp and consistent everywhere your prospects and customers see you. Voice & Tone: Branding is visual, but there is also a copy element that comes to play. For instance, carrying a serious tone on your website while you’re funny and irreverent on social media would give your brand a bit of an identity crisis. Decide if the voice and tone should be professional, playful, comedic, introspective – whatever best reflects your brand and culture. Naming Conventions: What you call things can increase brand equity – and even help build a sense of community around your business. Think Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeers, Rackspace Rackers, and, of course, Hatchbuckers. From your tagline to your product and service lines, naming consistently gives and instant lift to your branding. Message Consistency Once you’ve established some brand guidelines, you need to share them with everyone on the team, from the employees who create the packaging and images to the ones who answer the phones. One of the most often overlooked branding slipups is via your social media channels; make sure every site you use has a fully branded profile and that the person posting your tweets, updates, Instagram shots, and pins is correctly representing your brand. Enhance your Brand with Inbound Marketing Inbound marketing allows you to position your brand as a go-to for education, innovation and expertise. When you put informative branded content out there for prospects to find, use, and share you’re building focus on your brand in a positive way. It doesn’t matter what you sell as long as you’re getting information into the hands of people who can use it in a good light. This will automatically enhances your brand. Leverage Social Media If you have social media accounts just because you “should”, you’re not using them with branding in mind. Your social media accounts can be valuable brand builders, provided you cultivate followers and actually engage with users. Simply throwing up a (branded) profile page isn’t enough, you need to join the conversation. A quick look at your social media accounts can tell you how you are doing in this area. If you are not consistently posting and interacting with followers and connections, you’re missing out on a powerful way to build your brand. Branding may seem like a task left for the bigger guys, but defining your brand and staying consistent across all channels can be extremely valuable to your small business. Invest some time in developing your brand to develop instant recognition and recall of your business when it’s time for your audience to buy. Original source of the infographic: Better Business Brand
The Most Important Online Marketing Lessons of 2015 for Small Businesses Posted on December 29, 2015July 8, 2016 by Jonathan Herrick Can you believe that 2016 is just a few more days away? If you’re like us at Hatchbuck, you’re ready to jump into the new year and continue the momentum you’ve built in 2015. While we’re setting the deck for 2016, we thought it was a good time to look back on the year and reflect on what worked best on the marketing front. To help, we’ve tapped into small business influencers to ask them the most important marketing lesson they learned in 2015. Here’s what they had to say: The Cloud Is a Given, The Focus is on Tools Marketing technology is evolving fast, and the beauty of SaaS (software as a service) is that it gives small businesses the ability to quickly implement cloud-based technology without being tied down to long-term contracts or manual maintenance and upgrades. This is a unique advantage to small businesses, as their counter-parts in the enterprise space can find it challenging to switch out legacy systems and adapt. Today, SaaS is the obvious choice for small business, changing the conversation from, is it in the cloud? to does it work for my business? “Cloud is out, usefulness is in,” says Anita Campbell, Founder and CEO of Small Business Trends: The focus going forward is on what that software can do for your small business — whether it’s marketing software or any other kind of software. And since cloud software is now the default choice of small businesses, the emphasis is on the ability to quickly get up and running, and do tasks seamlessly, without a lot of custom programming. That’s what business owners and marketing managers looking for marketing tools will be focusing on in 2016. And that’s where the focus should be — on the usefulness of the tool, not on enterprise buzzwords like “the cloud” that we consider a given. Your Customers Hold the Key to Your Success You can spend lots of time and money to attract new customers to your business, but if your customers don’t stick, you’re left with a leaky boat that is tough to paddle where you really want to be as a business. In 2015, putting the customer first was the ticket to success, according to Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com: The biggest marketing lesson I learned in 2015 is to think like the customer in all efforts! Where are my customers online? What conversations are they having? What outlets are they reading? Those are just some of the questions I was able to answer to target key clients and market them services resulting in fantastic ROI. I used this tactic from everything to my social media to content marketing and plan on doing so in 2016! Deborah Sweeney, CEO of My Corporation also credits re-engaging customers to her business’s success in 2015: Our best online marketing lesson this year is the value of re-targeting to current customers. We do a lot of work to bring new customers into our net of offerings. Once we have their attention, we have truly recognized the value of offering value-add services and ancillary services to grow our interaction with our customers. When we market to small business owners and entrepreneurs initially, they may not need certain services we offer, but re-marketing with other offers (For example, the entrepreneurs initially need a corporate filing or DBA assistance. Over time, though, they may need business licenses and trademarks.) Marketing to your own customers and providing top-notch customer service in the process will keep your customers coming back and your revenue growing! For us, that was the best success story in online marketing from 2015. Whether you’re launching a new service or introducing a mobile app, tapping into your customer base can give your initiative instant momentum. Rebecca Xiong, CEO of GrowEpic, leveraged GrowEpic’s engaged audience of customers to drive downloads of their new mobile app: We have an active software-as-service social tool site with hundred of users a day. We used that to market our mobile app, telling people the app makes it easy for them to do what they do on the site already. Most apps rely on app store promotion or a branding site to promote. With our strong user-base and regular new users, our mobile app grew quickly and reached 100,000 downloads in a few months. It Pays to Invest in In-Depth Content The key to getting found online in 2016? Creating in-depth, quality content that goes beyond the standard 500-word blog post will bring big returns in getting your business found online, according to Martin Harrison, Co-Founder at Copify: The biggest lesson I learned in 2015 is that Google is increasingly favouring long form content in its search results. We have seen our rankings for several competitive terms switch from specific landing pages created specifically for that query, to long form, guide-style content such as this: http://us.copify.com/guides/how-to-start-a-blog. My advice for brands would be to invest time and budget creating new, or expanding upon existing site content to deliver genuine value to your audience. Entrepreneur Brent Hale echos Harrison’s advice to invest in in-depth content this year: The biggest online marketing lesson I’ve learned over the past year is that content marketing is still the most effective and economical way to expand your audience (for businesses where content marketing makes sense). Not only that, but the longer and more thorough your content, the more effective it is. Ultimately, if you can produce high-quality content that educates and inspires your audience on a consistent basis, you will see a significant increase in your business. Guest Podcasting is Effective, Inexpensive and Scalable Building your small business brand? Shawn Chhabra, Host & Creator of the podcast, “Winning the Game of Life,” explains how small businesses can build an audience in a very effective, inexpensive and scalable manner: Podcasts are effective because you are being featured as a show guest on the shows where your prospects and ideal customers are listening to the Podcast; whole hearted, fully involved while listening. You are really speaking directly to your dream customers as a Podcast guest. They want to hear what you have to say, so you can see how your listeners can turn into your loyal customers. It is inexpensive and almost free, because the host of the Podcast show is the one who is doing almost everything. All you have to do is just show up for the interview. Scalable because you can continue to look for other related Podcasts where you can be featured as a guest. Social Media Isn’t Just About Engagement – It Should Convert Small business owners know that they should be using social media, but are often perplexed at how social media can actually impact their business. Casey Cornett, Director of Social Media at VI Marketing and Branding, advises to think about your entire marketing funnel when putting together your social media strategy: If I had to give one marketing lesson from 2015 for small business owners, it would be to stop looking at social media as just one section of your marketing funnel (Engage), and begin using it at all areas: Attract, Educate, Engage and Convert. Social Media has grown tremendously over the past few years, but one thing 2015 brought to the industry is incredible targeting (offering very cost-effective Attract), auto-play videos (use to Educate) and finally reliable Conversion tracking through website pixels. Stop posting your latest 10% off sale, and begin growing your customer database. Your Marketing Strategy is Bigger than Each Individual Channel Social media, SEO, email marketing, content marketing – each digital channel you touch will give lift to your other campaigns. So, if you have a well thought-out content strategy, it will naturally boost your SEO, impact what you share on social media, and influence what you send in your email newsletter. Likewise, building an enormous social media following can impact SEO as your content is shared, and drive more traffic to your website. When you orchestrate a marketing strategy in which each channel works together to augment the others, you’ve got a recipe for blockbuster success. Mandy McEwen, Inbound Marketing Specialist and Leader at Mod Girl Marketing, explains: If we learned anything in 2015, it is the importance of cohesive digital strategies. Online marketing has a lot of moving parts that businesses cannot ignore. The days of one-channel digital marketing are gone. It’s not enough to just have a great SEO strategy. It’s not enough to just have great content. It’s not enough to just have an email newsletter. Effective online marketing must be holistic and must be user-centric. In order for businesses to really succeed online, they must have a holistic and mobile-friendly marketing strategy that includes several digital channels and segmented campaigns. Having a strong brand voice and active social media presence is no longer an option – it’s a necessity. Let’s not forget about analytics and user experience, which are both extremely important when devising marketing strategies that actually produce a healthy ROI. Investing in the right software solution, turning existing customers into repeat buyers, expanding on existing content, leveraging guest podcasting, converting social media connections into customers, and leveraging each digital channel to boost the others – successful small business marketing is all about making the most of every resource you have at your disposal. What marketing lessons did you learn in 2015, and what marketing strategies are you ready to try in 2016?
6 Small Business Investments to Plan on Before the Year is Out Posted on December 2, 2015December 14, 2020 by Jessica Lunk This blog post was updated on December 14, 2020. Like every year, the shopping season is jam-packed with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday deals. And this year, since most of the holiday shopping has moved online, it seems like every time you open your email or log on to social media you’re being inundated with promotions and discounts. And while you’ve probably already planned out your holiday shopping, what about shopping for your small business? Small business owners dedicate a lot of time to their customers and improving sales. However, if you want your business to thrive, it’s important that you find ways to invest in tools that will improve it long-term. You can’t expect to rise above your competitors if you are still being held back by less efficient processes and a lack of insights into your strategies. You’re probably thinking that now is really not the best time to make a business investment of any kind. But the truth is, now is one of the most strategic times to be dipping into your budget. Sure, investing in tools and products will require some fees upfront, but doing so will afford you benefits in the next year that you won’t want to miss out on. If you are a small business owner that runs a profitable operation, accelerating your expenses for the end of the year could help to offset taxable income. So if you have been planning to make a purchase of any kind, but have been putting it off for the right moment, pulling the trigger now, before the end of the year, can be a good idea for your business. Now, we know the high from making purchases is very real. However, don’t start adding to your cart just yet. You need to proceed with caution and be specific about the purchases you make if you want to actually offset your taxable income. Luckily, we’re here to help you make sense of some of this so you can determine what you’ll want to go over with your tax professional. Broken up into two categories (fixed assets and operations), here are some six small business investments business owners should consider before the new year: Fixed Assets Fixed asset expenses – you know, those big-ticket investments that are intended to last a long time for your business – may be depreciated over time. However, for small businesses, the Section 179 business tax deduction allows you to deduct more than the depreciated amount – up to $1,040,000 for 2020. As an added bonus, Congress has raised the deduction limit significantly every year for the past decade or so. For instance, last year, they extended the deduction limit to $100,000,000 – that’s a huge small business tax write off! This typically happens at the last minute, so while there’s no guarantee the deduction limit will be raised this tax year, the odds are in your favor. While we’re here to help offer you some tips, remember, we are not tax experts. Before making any small business investment, you should always consult your tax advisor or a tax professional. You’ll want to ensure that whatever purchase decision you make is one that will benefit you business and offer the right strategy for taking fixed asset deductions for your business. Here are a few fixed assets to consider purchasing this year: Equipment The end of the year is a good time to take a look around and see which equipment is no longer working at optimal performance. Farm implements, wide format printers, manufacturing equipment, restaurant-grade freezers, and ovens, etc., – if you’re planning on adding some expensive equipment fees to your credit card in the upcoming year, consider bumping your equipment purchase up to December. Vehicles Purchasing a company car? Adding a food truck to your restaurant? Or, maybe it’s time to get a truck or van added to your fleet. Again, make your purchase before the end of the year to help offset your business income tax and keep more of your money when your 2020 business tax bill comes in 2021. Property or Real Estate Expanding your business is always an exciting milestone. Perhaps you’re opening a new location or expanding your business into new regions. Or, maybe you’ve chosen to upgrade by moving to a bigger and better location. Whatever your growth plan looks like, if it involves a real estate purchase, you may want to get it in ASAP. Real estate purchased before January 1st is another fixed asset your business can deduct from your 2020 taxes. Operations Not every small business can take advantage of Section 179 deductions for fixed assets in 2020, but even those smaller investments can add up to deductions. So, tally up any operational fees you may need to make and consider taking the plunge sooner rather than later. Technology Whether you’re planning on upgrading systems, investing in new financial software, or maybe even taking a stab at small business marketing automation in 2021, make your business investment now in 2020. Not only will it be another expense you can deduct, but getting your technology sorted out now means you can start the new year with a clean, streamlined slate to make it the best year yet for your business. To give small business owners even more incentive to invest in sales and marketing technology before the year is out, BenchmarkONE is offering 10% off when you sign up for semi-annual billing of any of our plans by December 31st, 2020. If you’re even slightly considering upgrading your sales and marketing software, now is a great time to watch a demo and check it out! Supplies Printer paper, ink, post-its, and paper clips…stock up now on the essentials that keep your business running smoothly. Getting everything you need now means you won’t have to stop for an office supply run for a while, so you can concentrate on getting your year off to a good start. Projects Planning a rebrand in 2021? Need to redesign your website? Digitizing all of your old files for easy access and less storage? If you can tick a few of your 2021 projects off your list now before the year is out, you’ll be in a better spot when the new year starts – and can deduct the expense for 2020. If you’re looking for more tax tips for your business and hiring a tax professional isn’t an option, Freshbooks has a whole section dedicated to small business resources on their blog. And, of course, always consult a tax expert to make the best bookkeeping and tax decisions for your business. For profitable small businesses, it’s all about smart spending at the end of the year. Consider making your investments now instead of waiting for the next tax year. Not only will you benefit from the 2020 tax deductions, but (and maybe more importantly), you’ll be positioned to start the 2021 tax year off with a bang. Just remember, consult your tax advisor or a tax professional before making any big decisions.
8 Marketing Podcasts Every Entrepreneur Needs to Hear Posted on November 30, 2015 by Jessica Lunk If you are an entrepreneur, you’re always in learning mode, and most of that learning happens as you go—making mistakes, regrouping, evaluating and reiterating. But not all the lessons have to be reactive. With the rising popularity of podcasts—spurred, in large part, by the runaway success of the podcast Serial—there are a host of informative and entertaining podcasts focused on entrepreneurship and small business. With so many to choose from, we’ve compiled a list of seven of the best podcasts right now for startup founders and small business owners. Each one offers valuable insights into starting, running and growing a business. Entrepreneur on Fire: hosted and founded by John Lee Dumas, who interviews entrepreneurs to get insights and information from them to guide listeners on their entrepreneurial journey. That includes, for instance, advice about creating the right products and services for your audience, tips for boosting blog traffic or how to create an effective 60-second sales hook. Entrepreneurs talk about their failures and the lessons learned and every interview features that founder’s “Ah-Ha!” moment and the steps they took to turn that moment into success. ConversionCast: hosted by Tim Paige, this podcast helps marketers find measurable results to use in marketing their business and increasing revenue. Each episode features real-life case studies from seasoned marketing professionals who share tactics they’ve used to increase their numbers. And every marketer on the show gives hard data about before-and-after results. Stories From The Influencer Economy: hosted by Ryan Williams, an entrepreneur and marketer based in Los Angeles. This podcast features one-on-one interviews with those in the “world of influence,” and that includes creators, entrepreneurs, social media gurus, entrepreneurs and writers. The shows give valuable information about launching your product or service to the world, and gives insight into how people, businesses and brands can learn from top influencers. The Suitcase Entrepreneur: hosted by Natalie Sisson. Sisson has built an online business that gives her the freedom to travel and live the life she wants. She shares what she’s learned about online marketing, business and entrepreneurship twice a week. Sisson is big on figuring out the “why” behind what you do, and finding the “sweet spot”— essentially asking you to understand why you are offering what you offer and why people will want to pay for it. StartUp: a podcast from Gimlet Media (a startup itself). Gimlet was founded by Alex Blumberg, who spent 15 years as a producer and reporter at the public radio show “This American Life” and NPR’s “Planet Money,” a podcast he helped start during the financial crisis. His cofounder is Matthew Lieber. Startup chronicles the struggles and successes of a different business in each season, including Gimlet. Everything is on the table, from how to market your idea to angel investors to how to determine what differentiates you to your customers to how to balance startup life with regular life. Entrepreneur Effect: Hosted by Dush Ramachandran, this podcast highlights opportunities for entrepreneurs in digital marketing with thought-provoking interviews and discussions on strategic topics like product, positioning, pricing, packaging and promotion. Social Triggers Insider: This podcast was created and is hosted by Derek Halpern. He is a marketing expert and entrepreneur whose business, Social Triggers, helps entrepreneurs get more customers and partners, negotiate more effectively, price products correctly, market them and gain referrals, among other challenges. Forbes wrote that Halpern, is an “expert on how consumer psychology applies to online marketing.” The Slack Variety Pack: a podcast from Slack, a project management tool to get more stuff done in less time. This is a podcast about loving what you do in work and in life. Each episode highlights people following their dreams in our innovative and modern culture.
How Small Business Owners are Celebrating Thanksgiving in 2015 Posted on November 25, 2015November 11, 2022 by Jessica Lunk This Thanksgiving we want to turn our attention to small business owners. With Black Friday around the corner and Small Business Saturday close behind, we’re wondering if small business owners are getting caught up in the frenzy, or taking time to be present with family and friends. Their answers may surprise you – or, maybe they won’t. Here’s what 11 small business owners had to say about how they’re spending Thanksgiving this year. 11 Small Business Owners Share Their Thanksgiving Traditions We host a traditional Thanksgiving meal at our home with extended family. We don’t travel on Thanksgiving which makes it much more enjoyable in my view. After the meal we often attend a movie with our kids or work on a large puzzle spread across the kitchen table. The day following Thanksgiving my mother-in-law hosts a broiled Cajun shrimp feast! I also look forward to starting a good book during Thanksgiving. I close my small business and give my staff two paid days off to enjoy a four day Thanksgiving break with their family. Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year! John Kinskey, Founder and President of AccessDirect Thanksgiving to me is a time for family and for a few days out of the year it is alright to forget about business and just relax. Each year I look forward to seeing all of my friends and family, attempting to cook (it always ends in some sort of disaster), gorging myself on way too much food, and just kicking back without a care in the world – I know that all our employees feel the same so we close our business on both Thanksgiving Day as well as Black Friday. David Batchelor, Co-Founder / President of DialMyCalls.com I am the CEO of CDJ & Associates and the “mom” of a gigantic blended family that includes 11 kids, their spouses and our grandchildren. Carving out time to keep traditions is a BIG part of keeping me grounded no matter massive an undertaking I am enduring with the business. Some of our traditions include cooking while listening to disney movie showtunes and later listening to a very specific Holiday CD. As soon as we hear it, it shifts the atmosphere of the house. Before the meal, EVERYONE is responsible for sharing with everyone at least one thing they are thankful for. With a family our size it takes a while to get through everyone, but it is important to us that we remain mindful and are able to verbalize what blessings we have. Lastly, we are from the Detroit area, every Thanksgiving includes watching a Lions football game and given their track record we begin praying for them as soon as we are done blessing our food! Camille D. Jamerson, President & CEO of CDJ & Associates While I might take on a gig Saturday morning (because newborns arrive whenever they feel like it!), the rest of the weekend is mine to enjoy with friends and family. Luckily my industry has a steady stream of clients since babies are constantly being born, so I have the luxury of taking a weekend off to spend with my loved ones. Thanksgiving in my family is all about the food and good company, but mostly the food. Between the turkey, the stuffing and the sweet potatoes, elastic waist wardrobe options are a must! And don’t forget about dessert! Baking homemade apple pie with my mom has always been part of the tradition, complete with a flour-covered face and sneaking bits of raw crust to devour. Nowadays, a nice glass of wine (or three!) with fancy cheese balls, crudités and charcuteries, and a pile of board games makes for a wonderful and entertaining night. The best part? I get to enjoy leftovers for days! Stephanie de Montigny, Birth, Belly and Baby Photographer at Pure Natural Newborn In my family my brother, sister & I always spend Thanksgiving with my dad together. For Christmas they go to their in-laws but turkey day is sacred for us. We always go out to eat (vs cook), we go to different cities depending on what my dad prefers (since he treats), we toast our family members who have passed with champagne, the kids play hangman with my husband and we often go to a movie too. We usually all leave town on the Saturday after to beat the rush and try to take the whole week off work. I started my company 14 years ago and have never considered missing the holiday with my family no matter how busy we get, times like this get more special as you age. Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder & CEO of Mavens & Moguls Our traditions are changing. For over 30 years we celebrated Thanksgiving at home with our two daughters. Both daughters have families and live out of town. Now we travel and spend time with one or both families and four wonderful grandchildren. About ten years ago we migrated our traditional brick and mortar retail stores to eCommerce. This has given us the freedom to travel. Bob Shirilla, Owner of Simply Bags As a small business owner it is always hard to completely unplug, especially since I am married to my business partner! Our family tradition is to totally unplug, hop on a plane and spend Thanksgiving in Maui. That way we literally cannot escape each other! 😉 We spend the days together going on adventures and on Thanksgiving day we settle in for a traditional meal and start by going around sharing what we are each thankful for. It really has created some of the best memories and I look forward to doing this yearly for many more years to come. Nellie Akalp, CEO & Founder of CorpNet.com I own my own small business. I always try to wind down on client work by Wednesday afternoon so we can enjoy spending time with the kids and traditions like watching a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Our family Thanksgiving day traditions include watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade-the kids look forward to that every year. Then, we usually host our family for dinner. We make the turkey and everyone brings a dish to share. One thing that’s NOT a tradition at our house is no pumpkin pie – none of us like it! So, we usually have a cherry or apple pie instead. Unusual, but we just don’t enjoy the pumpkin. (-: Michelle Garrett, Owner of Garrett Public Relations My business partner and I own two small business ventures that see extra activity around the Thanksgiving holiday – our studio rental business, The Studio Hampton Roads, and our convention for working women, the Modern Femme Movement. Our core vision revolves around our commitment to our families, so it can be especially challenging to navigate the busyness of Thanksgiving while also staying true to what’s most important to us. We commit to unplugging during the holidays. It’s a time to be spent with family, making memories, decorating for Christmas, cooking together and being fully present and mindful of the people we love the most. We cherish the time spent around the dinner table, laughing and relaxing in the joy of the season, get outside in the brisk cold to hunt down the perfect tree, and refresh with later mornings and favorite movie marathons. To make this special time possible, we work very hard the week before Thanksgiving to accomplish as much as possible before we disconnect and shift the focus fully to our families. The Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving can be especially crazy for us, but it’s worth the extra effort to be able to truly take time off for the rest of the week. Our most important business decision has been to NOT engage in Black Friday selling. We want to encourage the families and business owners we support to enjoy their holiday time as well, and do not want to squash the holidays with a feeding frenzy of shopping. We instead host our special holiday deals on Small Business Saturday, and even have a few offers that we run as “Small Business Month” deals. This decision helps us to serve our customers and offer special savings to them while also encouraging them to join us in celebrating what is truly important on Thanksgiving – being fully present with family and friends. Katy Blevins & Somer Chambley of Modern Femme I am extremely excited and grateful for Thanksgiving this year! With having two jobs and owning my own business, it can be difficult to have time to see most of my family. Luckily, I will be able to participate in this year’s festivities! We usually go to Grandma’s and have the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, bread, pie, and much more. After eating, we usually take naps (Kidding, but I wish). We usually sit around and chit chat, until we decide to start burning off the calories by going pheasant hunting! After hunting we will end the evening with eating leftovers and parting our own ways! Derek Barnick, CEO of DNA Motivation Every Thanksgiving when we go to our family feast I leave my cell phone at home. No emails, calls or texts while celebrating with my family. During our dinner, we all write down on a piece of paper what we’re thankful for. After dinner my uncle reads the papers one by one, and we all try to guess who wrote them. We all take the challenge to be accurate but just opaque enough to keep everyone guessing. Eric Schlissel, CEO of GeekTek IT Services While every small business owner has a different tradition, there are some major trends that thread them together. Things like giving thanks, getting some extra rest & relaxation, spending time with family, taking care to let their employees have time to spend with their families as well, and of course, the food are all on the small business owner’s mind this Thanksgiving. How will you be spending your Thanksgiving this year? Share your traditions with #ThanksgivingTraditions.
8 Popular Project Management Tools for Small Businesses Doing Mighty Things Posted on November 20, 2015November 3, 2020 by Erin Posey Some small business owners believe that only large corporations need to use sophisticated tools to help manage projects. This might be because many activities conducted in smaller companies are of short duration and only conducted by a single person or a very small team. However, it might be fairer to say that many companies have grown large and prosperous because they do employ the right tools to manage all of their business activities. What is a Project That Needs Management? Sean Maserang, of the University of Missouri, points out that almost every business activity should be considered a project that needs management. If you are sitting down with an agency to discuss marketing strategies for small business or getting your accountant to prepare a tax report, it’s still a project. The right tools can make management simpler and more seamless. Because many of these tools are now delivered online, prices are often very friendly for small-business budgets. 8 Project Management Tools to Try Consider these eight popular tools for your own small business: Basecamp: This software works well for smaller teams of people. It includes tools for both project managers and team members to help schedule meetings, set due dates, and communicate. The monthly rate is based upon the number of projects, but the company allows unlimited users. When discussing small business project management software, Basecamp often gets mentioned first. The software also comes with online messaging. Slack: Slack is an app for teams that helps them organize projects by bringing communication all in one place, sharing and commenting on files, and integrating with other apps to get more stuff done in less time. TeamGantt: The Gantt Chart helps you track deadlines and milestones. If you are a visual person and would enjoy a nice interface and plenty of useful charting functions, TeamGantt might be a great choice. It’s also fairly easy to use and affordable. The highlight of this software is the slick interface. Trello: This software usually gets a vote for small companies because it is fairly easy to setup and use. The main interface functions almost like a whiteboard. There is a limited, free option to test out, and monthly fees are very inexpensive. Asana: The design of this project management software resembles a computer’s file management system. This company also offers a free option, but you can’t set permission levels with this option. The paid option is more expensive than the other tools listed above. Evernote: Evernote is my fave when it comes to saving things I love or find interesting. But it also has some features that make it flexible for project management, too. It’s simple to create notes and categorize everything in project-specific notebooks. You can even scan in paper docs to make keeping track of project documents a cinch. Google Drive: If you’re just dipping your toe into project management, Google Drive is a simple way to share documents, co-edit documents, see revision history, and let team members leave & resolve comments. Drive offers a plethora of business tools including documents, spreadsheets, and presentation slides. Plus, it’s free. Teamwork: Teamwork has five products in total that complement each other and can help small business teams run more efficiently and effectively. The main product is Teamwork, which is a project and task management tool that can increase visibility across the organization, allowing for better collaboration. They also have a chat product similar to Slack, a Helpdesk Product, a CRM, and Teamwork Spaces which is a collaborative document management system. How to Select the Right Tool for Your Own Company Determine Your Needs You wouldn’t want to take the kids to soccer practice or do the grocery shopping in a Ferrari. Nor would you want to sign up for the Mario Andretti racing experience in a mini van. The right tool for the job makes all the difference. If you need to track several people and multiple tasks, an app like Basecamp might suit your needs, but if you just need a way to stay organized, an app like Evernote might do the trick. Often, it can be a challenge to get your team members to adopt new technology or new processes. So give them a Ferrari when they need to be fast and nimble, and give them the mini van when they need room to manage for the long haul. Choosing the app that fits your goals will help avoid frustration, making user adoption much simpler. Take a Test Drive Most of the software companies that produce these tools offer some sort of free trial. If they don’t, monthly rates are usually low enough to justify paying them for a month or two for a test. Also, the companies will offer demos. The best option is to test a handful of them with your own projects in order to find the tool that works the best for you and your team. Project management tools can help the busy small business owner delegate tasks and monitor progress – without micromanaging their team. These tools can also help employees take ownership of projects and the role in completing a project successfully. And now, a time out for a project management rap: Happy Planning!
21 Great Small Business Blogs Posted on November 10, 2015August 2, 2018 by Jessica Lunk If you’ve ever searched for small business blogs, you know how ubiquitous they are—everyone, it seems, is blogging about small business (as well as entrepreneurship and startups). Most of these blogs are just marketing tools–their creators try to lure you in with a few bits of generic information and advice and then comes the pitch for whatever they want to sell to small businesses. There are some blogs, however, that do provide guidance, insight and advice for small business owners about how to build successful ventures. Here are twenty-one of the best blogs out there for small business owners—providing education, information and inspiration: BizSugar A blog with small business news and tips that is crowd-curated. BizSugar’s community of readers share business blog posts, videos and other content from which readers of the blog can learn something, For those that share content, they are reinforcing their reputation and brand and bringing online visibility to their content. The community votes on member-submitted tips, advice and information, advancing the most popular (and what’s considered by the community to be most useful) posts to the home page. Top posts are pushed to the top or can make it into the BizSugar Top 10 list. Kabbage Kabbage is redefining how small business find and apply for loans online and their blog is full of tips to grow, manage, fund, or innovate your small business. Social Triggers A blog from Derek Halpern, who writes about sales, marketing, entrepreneurship and the world of social media. Halpern was called “the master of social media” and the world of online communications by Inc. magazine. DIY Marketers Small business owners are often limited by their marketing budget. DIY Marketers focuses on those creative marketing strategies that help you reach more customers for less money and Ivana Taylor makes it fun. Penelope Trunk Raw, funny insights from the entrepreneur Penelope Trunk about starting, running and marketing a business. You’ll also find advice on productivity, management, blogging and other business-related issues, as well as life lessons—all of them Trunk’s, of course, but useful nonetheless. Marketing Profs If you’re looking for a digest of the latest and greatest marketing tips and news, Ann Handley’s got you covered. Her aim with Marketing Profs is to educate the modern marketer using real world data and examples. With the PRO membership, you get access to their best content. Both Sides Of The Table A blog written by Mark Suster, a two-time entrepreneur who sold one of those companies to Salesforce.com and then became a venture capitalist. (Get it? Both sides of the table?) He’s a general partner in Upfront Ventures and blogs about startups, entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, management, leadership and more. Copyblogger The mother of all content marketing blogs. Copyblogger will help you advance your content marketing skills across the board. They produce some of the most valuable content resources on the web and their topics cover a wide range. Writing well is a skill that requires frequent studying and practice and Copyblogger can be an excellent guide to improvement. AVC A blog written by Fred Wilson, managing partner of two venture capital firms, Flatiron Partners and Union Square Ventures. Wilson is a leader in the entrepreneurial community and has been a VC for more than 20 years. He has been writing on the blog everyday since Sept. 2003 and the topics are wide-ranging but related to starting and running a business (while also trying to live a somewhat normal life). Small Business Survival This blog has been around since 2006 and is geared toward rural and small town small businesses, with how-to articles and an emphasis on social media marketing, plus a chance for business owners to share good news in the blog’s weekly “Brag Basket.” OPEN Forum American Express has really knocked it out of the park with OPEN Forum. They’re covering topics from agile marketing to building company culture and everything in between. Adrian Swinscoe Blog of consultant and speaker Adrian Swinscoe, which features interviews with business people and posts about customer experience, building a customer-centric business, service, social media as well as employee and customer engagement. Buffer All social everything! What I love the most about Buffer is their transparency. They are not afraid to share their data, what they’ve failed at, and what they’ve learned. They have a buzzing community of people who want to discuss what they’ve learned from the Buffer blog. Chat with Buffer’s content creators and grow in a fun, exciting community! The Franchise King The blog of Joel Libava, otherwise known as The Franchise King®. Libava is a franchise ownership advisor and the author of Become a Franchise Owner! The Star-Up Guide to Lowering Risk, Making Money and Owning What You Do (John Wiley) Everything you ever wanted to know about researching, choosing and buying a franchise. Evergreen Small Business Written by Stephen L. Nelson, a Seattle-based CPA who specializes in serving small business owners, this blog is focused on the details around running a small business, like tax issues related to LLCs, a review of do-it-yourself incorporation kits, Affordable Care Act information for small businesses and how to handle past due tax returns. Mixergy Mixergy interviews entrepreneurs on their successes and failures. Learn from a wide range of passionate business leaders who not only had a business ideas but a mission. Mission is #1 at Mixergy. Google Small Business This is Google’s official blog for small business owners, where the company discusses new releases, new Google tools and how to make the most of them, and instructional information like how to set up your first data feed, and experts weighing in on how to make the most of social media. The blog is somewhat promotional—after all, it’s mostly about Google products and tools—but it’s still very useful. Duct Tape Marketing John Jantsch is his name, and the “World’s Most Practical Small Business Expert” is his game. He runs Duct Tape Marketing, providing reliable marketing advice to small business owners and marketers. Farnam Street Have you been meaning to read up on the great philosophers but don’t have the time? Farnam Street will teach you how to think, read, and perceive the world around you the way the famous big thinkers do. Become a better leader and “go to bed smarter than when you woke up.” Fast Company So there’s Fast Company… and then there’s the Fast Company blog. They do things differently by using Tumblr as their blog platform filled with beautiful pics, gifs, and that same digestable information we crave from Fast Company. They cover leadership topics as well as design, productivity, business, and useful life topics. Richard Branson Because who doesn’t like the dude? This post was updated on August 2, 2018.