Posts

Young and Determined: 5 Tips to Start Walking Towards a Bright Future as a Student Athlete

/in /by

StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Student Athlete|Young and Determined: 5 Tips to Start Walking Towards a Bright Future as a Student AthleteStudent athlete? To many people, that’s the ultimate oxymoron. After all, you’re either a student or an athlete, right? And never the two shall meet. While on campus, if you happen to be an athlete, it often feels like you have a sign on your back that says, “Dumb Jock.”

Many people don’t stop to realize that being in your situation serves two purposes: it helps a student get through school and it polishes a school’s image. It should also be no secret that being an athlete can lead to great things in the future. All it takes is some polish on your game as well as your image. The first is in your hands. The second is the business of Creatitive.

5 Tips for a Bright Future

Focus on the Job

Anyone who believes that it’s no big deal to be in your situation has probably never tried it. This is because it really is a lot of work to balance all the responsibilities. Being a student and an athlete is a continual mix of practice, class, weights, study, eat, sleep, and doing it all again tomorrow. The secret of effectively handling all of this, without losing your mind is balance. Between being a student and being an athlete, it’s a full-time job. Treat it that way by effectively managing time to make sure everything gets its rightful share of attention.

Keep Them Posted

If professors know what you are doing, they will expect that there will be missed classes. However, this does not absolve you of the responsibility to keep them informed about your schedule and make sure that there are arrangements in place to get notes, take tests, turn in assignments, and manage anything else related to studies.

Avoid “Imposter Syndrome”

There will be a time in your college career when you feel like you are considered a big, dumb jock. It’s easy to feel like you don’t fit in when this happens, either because of a lack of confidence or poor treatment by others. This is the time to step out of the comfort zone. Make an honest effort to cultivate friends outside of the regular circle. Explore a new interest with someone else.

Don’t be “That Guy”

There’s always one in the crowd. Everybody knows him, but nobody can stand having him around. He’s the one who causes everyone grief. Instead, go out of your way to be a part of things. Show up on time, regardless of whether it’s for practice, class, or study. Be responsible and reliable from the start. If you are going to be late, let someone know. Because of all this, you will have something more valuable than anything else, a good reputation.

Command Your Brand

Signing in as an athlete will mean that you will stand out from day one of your college career. You are not only the face of your team; you are the face of your college or university. Make that face a good one.

Whatever you do as a college athlete, do your best. One black mark can ruin a career. It’s not about you. It’s about the team and contributing as a teammate. Make your contribution as a teammate a good one.

How To Become Successful In The Fashion Industry

/in /by

StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Fashion Industry|How To Become Successful In The Fashion IndustryRegardless if you’re launching a clothing brand or you want to make your fashion business known globally, there are various ways on how to be successful in the fashion industry.

While it’s helpful to have a little experience, it’s easy to learn about fashion as you go using online resources, books or classes. What you need is a thoughtful business plan and some brilliant marketing ideas for your fashion company to take the first step on that path of success.

Below are some of the ways to become successful in the fashion industry:

1. Create A Recognizable And Strong Brand Identity

If you don’t have any clue on how to create a brand identity, there are many ways to find out how. For starters, you can check out a podcast about marketing. You can research online, or seek the help of a professional. Like any business, you would want to stand out from others in a distinct way. In order for your brand to do well and be unique, determine what concepts, ideas or actions represent your brand and make it different from your competitors’.

For instance, you may only sell dresses that fit a certain style or look, or maybe all your clothing is made sustainably. In that case, you will want to create a unique logo to illustrate what your brand is all about. It should incorporate certain elements to relate what it is you’re offering.

2. Think Of Your Niche

In the fashion industry, it’s always important to stand out if you want to become successful. The primary goal, then, is to know your niche and establish your identity on that.

It’s also better to be a master of a certain niche than focusing on multiple ones. In this way, you’ll recognize if you do one thing well instead of trying to please your audience by creating or designing a lot of products.

For instance, if you offer bridal wear, never try offering swimsuits. Also, if your passion is women’s shoes and accessories, don’t include non-related things in your line, like items for babies. Just focus on your niche and seek to be recognized in that first before you expand.

3. Build A Network

Building a network is easier said than done. You really have to work hard for it. A successful business strategy means checking in with your customers, connections or followers. Drop them a line or a text saying hello. Ask for their input. Keep them posted on your business.

A lot of brands accomplish this by connecting with their customers on a regular basis via social media or blogs. Your willingness to build a long-lasting and honest relationship is what builds a good network around the fashion industry.

StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Fashion Industry|How To Become Successful In The Fashion Industry4. Take Advantage Of Social Media For Promotion

Make an account in social media platforms, like Instagram, to post photos and captions of your clothing items. Then, don’t forget to use hashtags to get all of your posts seen by your audience. While Instagram is most helpful in promoting fashion brands, other social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook may help you reach a bigger audience.

If possible, try to post daily in order to offer lots of content, and stay consistent. Keep your accounts professional and updated. That includes your contact details on your professional website.

5. Listen To Feedback

Whether it’s from your staff or customers, it’s critical to take feedback into consideration. This will enable you to make some helpful improvements, thus making your brand better and more successful. Constructive feedback helps you determine which changes you can apply to your business in order to provide the best possible fashion items for your customers.

Moreover, if people are unsatisfied, or if they offer you advice on how to make your brand better, make sure to take note of it so you may refer back to them later.

6. Dress For Success

Appropriate attire and good grooming are crucial in the fashion industry. It’s your look that reflects your exceptional professional abilities. It has been noted that those who have been successful in the fashion industry dress to further their brand. They emulate the styles that their clients desire in both appearance and value. Whether it’s their shoes, or handbags, or accessories, moguls in the fashion industry dress for success.

7. Stay Updated With The Trends

Individuals who are passionate about what they do continuously advance by understanding the current trends in which their target audience is interested. You may do this by subscribing to fashion magazines, checking fashion social media influencers, and reading fashion articles online.

The formula to success in the fashion industry is a combination of flowing with the trends while keeping it unique for your customers. Comfort, style, elegance, and functionality are all vitally important with regards to fashion. Each of these elements can come and go with the latest trend. To be successful, there’s a balance that needs to be met between your core value and what the next craze is in society.

Conclusion

Whether you’re starting your own fashion brand or attempting to be perched at the top of the fashion industry, the competition can be tough. Just like with any trade, it’s sometimes hard to establish your brand because the fashion industry is filled with creative and like-minded individuals. But regardless of your niche or experience, it’s always possible to be successful in this industry. All you have to do is to work hard and believe in your passion.

How To Create A Positive Culture In The Workplace

/in /by

StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures Article |Positive Workplace Culture|How To Create A Positive Culture In The WorkplaceSuccessful leaders never overlook the importance of establishing a set of core values and following positive culture within their organizations. Company culture is defined as a set of values, goals, practices, and attitudes that characterize the organization.

Culture is reflected through customer relations, employee engagement, and the types of people you want to hire for open positions. It naturally forms within the organization, as reflected by its leaders and employees.

Importance Of Having A Positive Culture In The Company

Here are other reasons why a positive culture is important in any organization:

1.It Decreases Employee Health Expenditure

A study by the American Psychological Association shows that about USD$550 million are lost each year due to employee’s workplace stress. Workplace stress has been linked to several health problems like cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndromes. A positive workplace culture ensures that employees are happy, healthy, and able to deal with stress more productively.

2. It Eliminates The Culture Of Fear

Building a business with an environment and culture of fear causes employee disengagement. Employee disengagement is costly because it leads to higher absenteeism rates, more workplace-related accidents, and more errors and defects in their output. A positive workplace culture is critical in increasing employee productivity because it drives employees to trust their bosses and work hard to perform well.

3. It Promotes Loyalty

A strong and positive workplace culture also decreases turnovers and improves employee engagement. Employee turnover is costly because it increases the expenses related to recruiting and training. Expertise loss will also decrease productivity.

StrategyDriven Corporate Cultures Article |Positive Workplace Culture|How To Create A Positive Culture In The WorkplaceHow To Establish And Maintain A Positive Environment Within The Organization

To create a strong workplace culture, leaders must be intentional in establishing and applying core values and culture initiatives. As a leader, how can you start fostering a positive attitude and culture within the organization?

Here are some steps you should take:

1. Have Good Interpersonal Skills

When you show employees that you operate from a set of values based on interpersonal skills, your employees will follow suit. Good leaders show empathy, kindness, and respect for their employees. Companies search for executives who have this set of skills because they know how critical it is to build a positive workplace culture.

A good leader goes out of their way to help and mentor those employees who they think are struggling with work. Leaders who have good interpersonal skills demonstrate compassion towards these employees to foster their resilience and encourage them to perform better.

Firms like M&A Search help organizations find the best executives and leaders who can help establish this culture. Hiring the right team leader is critical in establishing healthy work climates for the employees. When this is overlooked, employees will feel fear and resentment towards the organization and reduce their productivity.

2. Set Clear Goals

Having clear goals guides individual performance as employees will feel empowered to contribute to achieving them. Besides that, emphasizing your KPIs (key performance indicators) will cultivate a sense of professional purpose for your employees, becoming the source of their motivation to work. Talking with your team regarding departmental goals will encourage collaboration among team members as well.

3. Encourage Them To Provide Feedback

Employees should be given an avenue to express their thoughts without worrying that the management will take it negatively. As the organization leader, you should take this as an opportunity to improve yourself or the strategies you are all working on to achieve organization’s goals. Listening to their feedback and suggestions will help employees feel empowered and respected as well.

4. Recognize Those Who Do Well

Recognizing and awarding employees who achieved outstanding results or who show initiative and innovation at work is critical in keeping them motivated to continue the good work. It also encourages other employees to do better because they know that the organization sees their hard work. Giving out awards fosters a culture of friendly competition that leads to higher productivity and improved employee performance.

5. Protect Your Employees’ Rights

It’s important to give employees a safe avenue to report incidents in the workplace. Organizations have the responsibility to maintain a healthy and safe working environment for their employees. When an employee feels they were harassed or bullied, they should talk to human resource or their leader about the incident.

Organizations should act on these reports by initiating an investigation to provide fairness to both parties. Once it’s proven that an employee’s rights were stepped on, leaders should be firm in giving sanctions. Having zero tolerance for abuse, harassment, and bullying makes your employees trust the organization.

Summary

A positive culture in the workplace increases positive emotions among your employees and improves their well-being. This, in turn, helps improve their relationship with others, amplifies their abilities, and encourages creativity. Aside from that, establishing a positive culture impacts how work gets done in the company. Organizations tend to achieve significantly higher effectiveness levels, which include customer satisfaction, process productivity, financial performance, and employee engagement.

How influencer marketing doesn’t just stop at Instagram

/in /by

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Influencer Marketing|How influencer marketing doesn’t just stop at InstagramInfluencer marketing is an industry that has taken over all social media platforms, as well as being one of the main advertising exports for the majority of companies. What would convince you to try something new? A random advert on TV or a recommendation from a public figure that you trust?

There are many good reasons why influencer marketing is reshaping the way that marketing works in 2020. Millennials in particular are heavily influenced by their peers when it comes to purchasing decisions. In fact, 70% of them turn to their peers for advice when they’re thinking about a product or service. But Millennials aren’t alone — in general, influencer marketing gets a return on investment that’s 11 times greater than traditional marketing!

Social media influencers need to become your brand ambassadors in their sphere of influence — whether they’re mega-influencers or micro-influencers. You need to find and foster your influencers as if they’re an extension of your own marketing team. But first, you need to know which social media channels people are turning to for advice.

Yes, Instagram should go without saying, but where else?

YouTube

YouTube is only second to Instagram when it comes to influencer marketing reach, even though many would argue it was first to the party — and it may be more powerful among certain demographics.
The platform does seem to have more sway among males. It affects the purchasing habits of 22.8% of men vs. only 13.9% of women. In addition to this, teenagers feel 7 times the emotional attachment to their favourite YouTube stars than they do to other celebrities.

Moreover, YouTube has strong influencers in a broad array of niches, including cars, alcohol, beauty, and toys (just to name a few). Consumers enjoy the funny, sometimes-irreverent familiarity of their favourite YouTubers and really take their recommendations to heart.

Influencer marketing agency Socially Powerful can help businesses tap into the benefits that YouTube influencers can have on brand awareness and sales figures, making it an even greater market for your company to explore.

Pinterest

Pinterest is one of the ‘new kids on the block’ when it comes to social channels, but it already has over 150 million users — and 85% of those are women. However, Pinterest doesn’t think of itself as a social media channel so much as it does a “visual discovery tool.”

Despite that, Pinterest is a channel full of consumers — 87% have purchased something because of Pinterest. If you’re a visually driven brand, Pinterest can be useful. Look for influencers with well-organised boards, easy-to-find keywords, and lots of follower engagement to make it work.

Snapchat

People on Snapchat only tend to follow other people that they know. Because of that, Snapchat influencers tend to be highly effective in inspiring trust.

The downside to Snapchat is that ‘snaps’ don’t have much longevity. Yes, they vanish after just 24 hours which could limit just how effective an influencer can really be. Influencers, even if they’re paid, will lose their authenticity if they’re constantly repeating snaps on the same product or service.

However, that hasn’t stopped a few companies from incorporating Snapchat into their social campaigns. Companies like VaynerMedia and AKQA have found ways to mix Snapchat into their cross-platform social campaigns for MasterCard and the Call of Duty games.

Are You Liable if Your Employee is in a Car Accident with the Company Car?

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Articles |Auto Insurance|Are You Liable if Your Employee is in a Car Accident with the Company Car?Perhaps. It depends on what the employee was doing at the time of the accident and where your business is located. This information is from the office of a car accident lawyer in Norristown, PA.

No-Fault Auto Insurance

If your business is located in Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Utah, you have no-fault auto insurance. Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and New Jersey give drivers a choice between no-fault and at-fault.

No-fault auto insurance was created to reduce the auto accident lawsuit overload on the court system and to eliminate the need for those injured in auto accidents to prove they were not at fault or were not at fault as much as the other driver.

In no-fault states, each driver’s insurance pays that driver’s minor injuries regardless of fault. In many no-fault states, one driver may still sue the other if they suffered damages in excess of a threshold set by state law.

If you are located in a no-fault state and your driver gets into an accident, your insurance will cover the minor injuries of the other driver. Your workers’ compensation insurance may well cover your driver. But if the accident is serious and injuries exceed the threshold in your state, you may be sued and have to establish that your driver was not at fault. You can click website here to learn more.

At-Fault Auto Insurance

If you do business in any state except the states listed above, in an accident involving your company vehicle, each drivers’ insurance company will pay for the damages sustained according to the degree of fault of each driver.

The driver who caused the accident will be responsible for the damages to other parties involved. That driver’s insurance company will pay the victims up to the policy limits on the policy. If there are damages in excess of those limits, the victims can sue.

If your business is located in Arkansas, Delaware, or Maryland, you have the option of purchasing add-on insurance that provides the same type of protection that would be available in no-fault states. If you have this additional coverage, your insurance will pay injured parties without determining who was or was not at fault. However, those injured parties can still sue or be sued for injuries and pain and suffering.

Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation will cover the medical expense and lost wages of the driver of a company vehicle in a car accident if:

  • The driver is an employee of your company;
  • The driver was driving the company vehicle in the course of their regular work duties;
  • The driver was driving the company vehicle in your direction.

Your workers’ compensation insurance may not cover the driver if:

  • The driver is not an employee, but is an independent contractor;
  • The driver took the vehicle without your permission;
  • The driver was doing something illegal when the accident occurred (speeding, running a red light, etc);
  • The driver was using the vehicle as part of regular work duties, but ran a personal errand without your knowledge or permission;
  • The driver was impaired due to drugs or alcohol.

Keep in mind that victims of an accident with your company vehicle, when they have the right to sue, can sue the driver, you, your company, your vehicle mechanic, and the vehicle manufacturers and retailers under various theories of legal liability. Do not skimp on your commercial auto insurance coverage, and be sure to retain the service records of all company vehicles in case they are needed to prove that you maintained your vehicles responsibly.

Additional Resources

StrategyDriven Contributors recommend the following resource that elaborate and compliment this article:

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor |Veronica BaxterVeronica Baxter is a blogger and legal assistant living and working in the great city of Philadelphia, she frequently works with Craig Altman, Esq., a car accident lawyer in Media, PA.