Essential Skills You Need as a Business Leader

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Business Leader|Essential Skills You Need as a Business LeaderWhen you are a business leader, it is important to be aware of the different techniques you need to home in order to be a success. Business leaders are looked up to by many different people in a company to do what is necessary to provide the required guidance to get your company to the place that it needs to be. The hard part can be knowing which skills you should have to get your company off the ground. Thankfully for you, this guide has been created to outline a few skills that you should be aware of. Read on now to get the full overview.

Public Speaking Skills

To make sure that your company is being promoted to the best of its ability, it is important to hone your public speaking skills well. This is because, whether you are doing a leadership seminar or you are talking at a conference, it is very important to get the philosophy of your business across in the best possible way. In order to hone those skills properly, it is definitely recommended to invest in a public speaking coach.

Honesty

As a business leader, you want to be someone that everyone in your company knows and trusts very well. As a result, one of the traits that you should be focusing on as a leader is honesty. Not honest to the point of revealing unnecessary information about yourself to your colleagues, but more in the sense of being acutely aware of the direction the business is going in at any given moment. People respond well to honesty and might even work harder for you as a result.

Problem-Solving Abilities

No matter what your business might be or how interested people might appear in what you have to offer, you will always be faced with a whole plethora of problems along the way. As a result, problem-solving abilities rank as one of the most important around. You should be able to understand what issues can arise at every step of your business operation before figuring out the ways in which you can tackle them. This way, you can ensure far smoother business processes overall.

Enthusiasm

There is nothing more infectious in the business world than enthusiasm. As a business leader, you have to lead from the front, meaning that the more enthusiastic you are about the work that you do, the better your employees will respond, inspiring them to do their best work. Additionally, to prove your commitment to the team, it makes sense as the leader in making sure that you are the first one in the office and the last to leave, invigorating them to put in the most work that they can.

Fairness

When you are running a business, it is always a good idea to make sure that you are doing so with the principles of fairness in mind. By treating all of your employees equally, you will then be able to posit your business as one that cares about its employees, making them do their best work.

4 Biggest Challenges Small Businesses Face

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Small Businesses|4 Biggest Challenges Small Businesses FaceMany entrepreneurs are often excited to get their business idea off the ground. Yet, many can feel overwhelmed by the many obstacles they will face.

Unfortunately, the issues they encounter might impact a company’s survival. The Bureau of Labor statistics reported 20% of small businesses close within their first year.

If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or have recently launched a new venture, learn about the four biggest challenges small businesses face and the solutions to fix them.

1. Growing Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is crucial for developing a strong industry reputation, establishing trust, and generating substantial revenue.

Yet, building awareness is a major challenge for small companies, as they may need to compete with established rivals with huge marketing power.

For your company to follow in the footsteps of the biggest household names, it must introduce strategies for growing word of mouth referrals and boosting its reputation.

Hiring a PR specialist will increase a brand’s media coverage, which can lead to a bigger social media following and customer base.

Also, you could reach many more potential customers by co-partnering with local brands that sell complementary products or services. This will allow you to tap into their social media following and customer database.

2. Hiring Talented Employees

Labor quality is an issue for many small businesses. Attracting the right candidate for a role might be a challenge, as there might be a particular skills shortage in a town or city.

Also, a brand might not have access to a large database of hardworking professionals with extensive skills and experience.
If so, find an experienced staffing solutions company to help you discover and hire talented, experienced professionals on a permanent or temporary basis. If this sounds ideal, search for staffing agencies near me.

3. Ensuring Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is essential for building loyalty, growing revenue, and encouraging word of mouth.

Yet, keeping customers happy might feel difficult for new business owners, as they may not have a large customer service team to resolve issues.

Also, a lack of capital might make it hard to create loyalty programs to encourage repeat custom.

Improve customer satisfaction by meeting consumer expectations to avoid complaints or refunds, go above and beyond when possible to make customers happy, and measure satisfaction to find ways to improve the customer service experience.

4. Workflow Management

Workflow management is one of the biggest obstacles small business owners must overcome.

It is your responsibility to introduce processes to support efficiency and enhance standards.

As you can’t be everywhere at one time, you might struggle to feel in control of your operations and processes each day.
Unfortunately, managing workflows will become a significant challenge as your business scales.

Take greater control of your company and identify roadblocks by:

  • Introducing anonymous employee satisfaction surveys
  • Asking direct reports to host one-to-one meetings with their team
  • Hosting one-to-one meetings with your direct reports
  • Asking employees about the issues they face in their roles

Every business owner will face challenges when running a small or large company. However, the solutions introduced will determine whether a brand stands the test of time or closes its doors.

The Environmentalist’s Approach To Business

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Environmentalist|The Environmentalist's Approach To BusinessRunning a business and being an environmentalist are two things that might not seem to naturally go together, but they can actually work together pretty easily if you know how best to approach it. The truth is that there is a way to run a business which is good for the environment, but you do have to make sure that you are specifically doing that, otherwise it won’t just happen on its own. Let’s take a look at some of the things to bear in mind if you are keen to run your business in this way. You might find some of these things make a huge difference.

Be Honest With Shareholders

One of the things you need to do is to make sure that you are being honest with your shareholders about what you aim to do regarding the environment and your business’ approach to it. If you are not honest about this, it only means that you are going to attract the wrong kind of shareholder, so that is something that you’ll find doesn’t pay off anyway in the long run. Be honest with them upfront, however, and you should be able to get a lot more out of it.

Take Care With Construction

Essentially, anything new that you create you have to make sure that you are doing so as sustainably as possible, as otherwise you can’t really be sure that you are genuinely helping the planet as much as you would like to. You should therefore consider it a general rule of thumb to take care with your construction of products, buildings and whatever else, and to ensure that you are sourcing your resources sustainably and using them appropriately too. That is going to really make a huge difference, so it’s something you’ll want to think about.

Reduce Waste

That feeds in nicely to our next major point – that you should be aiming to reduce your waste as much as possible as you go about running your business. The less waste you produce in business, the better for the planet it is, not only because it requires energy to have it disposed of, but because it helps to reduce the amount of leachate in landfills and other such toxins that you would rather avoid if at all possible. Do all you can to reduce waste and you are going to be helping the environment a lot.

Take Responsibility & Hold Yourself Accountable

Above all, you need to make sure that you are actually taking responsibility for what you do, and that you are making a point of holding yourself accountable at all times. As long as you are doing that, it should mean that you are going to have a much better chance of doing right by the planet at all times. This is something that you can then do better and better as time goes on and as your business grows – just as it gets more important to do it, too, as your impact grows as well.

Entrepreneurial Ideas for College Graduates

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |College Graduates|Entrepreneurial Ideas for College GraduatesGraduating from college is one of the biggest milestones in a person’s life. While some graduates will move straight into a chosen career, others will be exploring options like starting their own business. If you’ve just completed college and are interested in being an entrepreneur, below are some ideas.

Clothing

If you have a passion for fashion and want to be an entrepreneur, one lucrative idea is to start a clothing business. While you could acquire specialized training, you could easily start an independent clothing company with simply some business acumen. If you’re passionate about this industry and need a few extra skills like silk screening or pattern cutting, you could always take additional courses.

Catering

For grads who are passionate about cooking, catering is another way to go. While it can be a stressful business, it has one of the highest ROI rates. If you’re interested in pursuing this type of business, you’ll want to specialize your services. For example, will you cater to businesses? Weddings? Funerals? Whatever you decide, it’s important that you build a solid team and shape your business around your niche so that you can stay competitive.

Handmade Crafts

Do you have a talent for sewing, jewelry, or other crafts? If so, you could turn a hobby into a thriving venture. Whether it’s a knitting business, a soap-making business, or a bespoke company that makes college cornhole boards, turning your talents into a business can be exciting and highly rewarding. Start-up costs for handmade businesses can be fairly low, depending on what craft you decide on. Once you’ve established your niche, sites like Etsy and ArtFire are great places to start selling your handmade wares.

Content Creation

One notable skill that college trains you in is writing. From essays to reports, most college students will have honed their writing skills over several years. If you love writing and are interested in turning it into a business, content creation is one of the fastest-growing industries online.

As with all businesses, you’ll want to specialize and decide whether you want to create content for a specific industry or a range of them. You’ll also want to decide what type of content you’ll specialize in, whether it’s articles, blog posts, social media copy, etc. While it can take time to make consistent money with content creation, it is a good place to start when you’re fresh out of college.

Event Organizing

If you spent a lot of time in college organizing workshops or conferences, you might be well-positioned to turn event organizing into a career. While this industry is demanding and fast-paced, it will suit those who love the buzz of gathering people under one roof. If you have a talent for setting up events, you can set yourself up as a freelance event organizer or team up with other people and create a company. As event organizing is quite broad, you’ll also need to decide what types of events you’ll organize. The options are endless, ranging from corporate events to private parties. While you may need special training, many event organizers use their experience as a starting point.

7 Ways To Improve Your Personal Credibility As A Business Owner

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Personal Credibility|7 Ways To Improve Your Personal Credibility As A Business OwnerIf people don’t trust you, they won’t trust your business. This is why it’s so important to not just prove that your business is credible, but that you are credible too.

Invest in the right qualifications and licenses

Qualifications and licenses are compulsory to work in certain industries (you can’t become a doctor without a medical degree or an electrician without an electrical license). In other cases, qualifications and licenses may be optional – but they could still be worth pursuing in order to prove to clients and employees that you know your stuff. Nowadays, there are so many flexible options when it comes to taking courses. Think about which qualifications and licenses could be a benefit to you.

Create a LinkedIn account and get people to endorse you

Every business owner nowadays needs a LinkedIn page. Certain clients may want to look you up on LinkedIn in order to get an idea of your credentials – if you don’t have LinkedIn, they may not trust you. Build a page today if you don’t already have one and start connecting with people you know. It’s worth asking these people to endorse skills as this will help you look more reputable.

Show off your achievements with a personal bio website

A personal bio website such as this one belonging to Jonathan Dax Cooke could improve your online credibility further. Such websites are a great opportunity to list your achievements in your own words and paint the best picture of you. It can be particularly good for SEO – when people search your name, they’re likely to see your bio and read it.

Join professional groups and organizations

It’s good to network with other professionals and influential people. By getting to know these types of people, you’re likely to get recommendations, which will improve your credibility. There are all kinds of groups and organizations out there that you can join. This could include local business groups or even industry committees.

Lead seminars and workshops

Seminars and workshops are a chance to pass on your skills and knowledge. This can help you to look more credible – if a client knows that you’ve run a workshop on a subject, it will show that you’re competent enough (or at the very least confident enough) to do a good job. You could host seminars and workshops in person, or you could host them online.

Give advice through blog posts or vlog videos

Blogging and vlogging is another way to pass on your knowledge and skills – and it’s much easier than running a seminar or workshop. Potential clients may read your blog posts or watch your videos and then trust you as an expert. Consider starting a blog or launching a vlog series today.

Make sure that you look the part

How you look can also impact your credibility. Make sure that you don’t look scruffy when meeting clients – keeping your appearance neat and tidy will give off the impression that you’re organized and that you take pride in your image. This guide from Marcus Lemonis explains more about how to look the part.