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Freedom And Business: How To Balance Both

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

Everyone will have a different reason for why they go into business for themselves. For some, it has been a lifelong dream of making their own fortune, for others they just kind of fall into it. And for some people, it’s all about the freedom and flexibility that being your own boss brings. When you want to balance your life out equally with your work, running your own business is great. But, you can sometimes find that your business requires a lot of attention and dedication. So, how can you make sure that you’re able to balance your freedom out right?

Have A Strong Vision

Firstly, it’s important to have vision. Whether you have strong sustainability views, you want to make a difference in your customer’s lives, or you want to be able to have your own freedom in life, you have to keep that in mind. Business can suck you in and consume you, so it’s easy to lose sight of why you started out. But if you’re able to keep a strong vision, you should always be able to keep on track.

Set Strict Working Hours

When you run your own business, it is tempting to work flexible hours or whenever you feel like it. Whether you’re a freelance contractor or you have your own small office, it’s important that you set yourself office hours. Not only will it give off a level of professionalism to your customers and ensure that you’re more productive, but it will ensure that you’re able to keep your flexibility and leave your work at work too.

Blur Lines Finely

Next, you should feel comfortable by blurring the lines between your working world and home life. Some people say that you should keep them completely separate, but when you want flexibility, it’s often best to blur. Because your business can often boost your life. Take your work truck with BAK covers and head out of town with your family camping for a few days, just because you can. Take your other half on that corporate entertainment trip, just because you can. But just be sure that you blur the lines to benefit your life and enjoy your freedom, and not the other way around.

Always Be Productive

When it comes to balancing your freedom with work responsibilities, the best way to ensure that it always happens is to focus on your productivity. To do that, you may want to use something like a time tracking app to make sure you’re working to your full potential. It’s okay to be flexible and want to spend more time out of work than in, but you do need to make sure that you’re getting everything done in order to enjoy some freedom.

Know It’s Okay To Say No

And finally, you should also realize that it is okay to say no every once in awhile. If you started out on your own to enjoy more freedom and a flexible life, then you don’t have to feel obligated to tie yourself up with work commitments. You should have limits. That way, you can keep your freedom and enjoy the flexibility that comes with being a business owner.

Turning The Tables On Your Failing Business

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The sad fact of the matter is that no business is guaranteed long-term success. Statistics show that at one point or another, most entrepreneurs will be faced with the task to reviving their dying business. So if your business is failing, don’t worry because you’re not alone. At one point or another, most businesses will have a ‘near death experience’.

Often, these difficult periods are caused by bad business conditions such as low sales, a lack of morale, low funds, and the loss of innovation and dedication. Some businesses are able to bounce back from being in this slump and are stronger and more successful because of it. While other businesses don’t quite manage to get back on top and end up closing their doors for good.

Although it can be hard to bring your business back from the brink of death, it is possible; it’s just a case of knowing what steps to take, that’s all. To make the process of reviving your business a little easier, below are some tips and pieces of advice to take note of and implement.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Re-evaluate the situation

To fix a problem, you need to determine the cause. What this means for your business is that you need to re-evaluate things and try to work out what the exact cause is of your business problems, if you don’t already know, that is. To make determining what the problem is easier, here are some areas to focus on: strategy, customers, team members, products/services, and finance. Take your strategy, for instance, ask yourself whether your company has a direction – does it have goals to meet? Look at whether your business is focused on the right things or if it might be time to slightly alter your direction. Re-evaluating your business situation is easier than you would think, it just takes some time, that’s all. Don’t rush the process, take things slowly and work through each area of your business, determining what needs to be changed.

Focus on finance

The fact is that to bring your business back to life; you will need money. If the reason your venture is struggling is because of a lack of funds, the need for more money can make it seem like it’s impossible to breathe new life into your business. However, there are a range of options that you can consider, so even if money is an issue, it’s not the end of the world. Perhaps you could look into getting a loan – you could find out about business lending and see what options you have. Or, if this isn’t doable, maybe you could consider teaming up with a financier and making them a partner in your business.The fact is that money makes the world go around, and without it, it can be almost impossible to successfully run a business, which is why it’s important to look into your options, to ensure that you give your business every chance of success.

Adapt your business

To get your business back on track, the fact is that you are going to need to adapt it. If you attempt to run it in the same way that you were before, it will fail – that’s a fact. So what you need to do is look at how you will adapt your business to ensure that it’s more successful this time around. You need to create a game-plan that will allow you to turn the tables on your business and make a success of it. The things to look at include your purpose as a business, your vision and goals, your values, and your branding. What you need to do is work out what changes you need to make to ensure that your company is successful this time around. Don’t rush this process, take your time. You may also find it helpful to get an objective opinion on things – for this, working with a business consultant can be useful. As by doing so, you will gain an objective overview of your business and what changes you need to make to ensure that it’s successful.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Rebrand

If you want to make a success of things, you need to be willing to rebrand. The saying ‘out with the old and in with the new’ is apt for this occasion, as you need to change up your business to ensure that the old problems don’t come back to haunt you. When a brand fails, often customers lose trust in the brand, and so, it’s worth rebranding by changing your business’s name and making other small changes, to demonstrate to your customers that it’s a “new” business and one that is going to be highly successful. All your company needs is a face lift and a new identity, and you should be able to make a success of it. If you’re stuck for ideas when it comes to your rebranding or marketing, it could be worth calling in the experts. If you’re not sure how to make changes and ensure that your marketing and branding are both spot on, invest in help. If it means your business will have a higher chance of success, it’s worth the cost.

Get your motivation and passion back

Have you lost the motivation and passion that you had for your business and products or services? If the answer is yes, then you need to do something about it. The fact is that you cannot effectively run a business without motivation and passion. If you are going to make a success of your venture this time around, you need to be motivated to work hard and should have passion for the products or services that you are providing, and so should your team members. The best way to get your passion back and keep yourself motivated is to goal plan and understand just how much potential your business has for success. Get excited about your venture, and you will find yourself raring to go, just like when you first started out.

There you have it, a guide to turning the tables on your failing business. Take note, and you can ensure that your venture is a success, even if right now it’s not doing very well.

How Agile Project Management Can Improve Your B2B Business

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StrategyDriven Project Management ArticleAgile project management can seem to be complex and daunting to undertake but it doesn’t need to be. The key principles are the same as with traditional project management; organisation and planning must be undertaken before a project begins and then the project must be continually managed throughout to ensure it is being completed in the most efficient way. The difference is that agile management is specifically targeted at adapting the project as it progresses, ensuring the end result is more successful and meets the changing demands of the business or customer. As such, agile management can be extremely beneficial for B2B businesses.

Better Results

The success of projects is dependent on various factors, some of which are beyond the control your business. However, those elements which can be controlled should be carefully managed to ensure the success of your project. Agile management will take project management one step further. By breaking each stage of the project into separate components for completion, there is more potential to make changes to the project as it progresses. This can ensure that end result of the project meets the needs of the business. It also reduces the number of failed projects or projects which exceed their deadline.

Working Faster

Agile project management is a good way to increase the pace of your work. The careful planning of each stage of a project means that employees should have a clear indication of every action and step they need to take to ensure the project is completed. Although there is room for adaptation and flexibility, the general pace of competition should be much quicker. Agile management should enjoy workers productivity levels as there is more room for their input as the project progresses, enabling them to work in a much more efficient manner.

Keeping Up With Trends

A significant benefit of agile project management is that it enables businesses to keep up-to-date with the latest trends in technology and marketing or even software updates. These areas are constantly changing and developing, so being able to implement a new idea in the middle of a project without disrupting the schedule too significantly is essential.

Feedback

Agile project management enables regular feedback to be given on each stage of a project. This feedback can come from both the project manager overseeing the completion of a project and from the stakeholders. It also offers more opportunity for collaborative feedback, which improves communication between members of the team and allows them to raise any issues before they become a significant cause for concern.

Agile project management can require a significant change within a B2B business. It can be difficult to engage employees with a new method of working. However, this is a worthwhile undertaking for many businesses and can improve the success rate of your projects and your business as a whole.

Enroll in agile courses to learn more about the techniques involved, from communication to prioritisation, and how these can benefit your business.

Only The Best Will Guarantee Revenue Growth

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
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It doesn’t matter what business you are in or what the size of your business is, if you have an online presence then you have one specific goal in mind: increase your online sales. Of course, the battle lies in the execution, which isn’t as easy to do as you may have first thought, especially with the constant changes in this part of business. It can just be a lot to get your head around and keep up to date with.

That is why we have come up with a list of strategies, platforms and techniques you can start using to seriously increase your online sales performance.

The Best Strategy: Honest Sales Copy

The oldest and most obvious strategies are often the best, and that is certainly the case when it comes to writing your sales copy. Honest is always the best policy. That is why it dumbfounds us just how often companies make promises they simply can’t keep. Please, don’t do this. In today’s economy, reputation and trust are synonymous with success and that is why honesty is one of the things every entrepreneur needs to embrace. There is just too much consumer choice out there for your unsubstantiated claims to have anything but a negative impact on your revenue. So, this afternoon, we urge you to go through all your sales copy – from your email campaigns to your website content – and amend anything that isn’t absolutely true.

The Best Platform: Real-Time Bidding

This is one of those areas where the newer introductions to the market tend to always be better than the last, and that is what makes in app advertising such a must-have weapon in your money-generating arsenal. We already know that consumers prefer apps to websites, but what you may not know is that consumers are on the cusp of using apps more. It is on the rise. That is what makes sophisticated real-time bidding so important. It works by competing with your networks at the impression level in such a way that it ensures your inventory is filled by the highest-paying source, and that guarantees an improvement in your revenue.

The Best Technique: Ad Extensions

Extensions are absolute must-have for any business that is selling something online. It is simple: the bigger the ad, the more places to click and the more chance you will be clicked. The best bit, though, is that it doesn’t cost any extra while drastically improving the click-through rate your advert boasts. What’s more, all the big search engines offer this feature. The reason it works from a consumer’s perspective is that it increases the speed in which they can get to their desired product, making it the experience that much nicer. Let’s say they have searched Google for shoes, and a big advert comes up at the top of the page which says “Designer shoes – Free Shipping & Returns” and then below that has the clickable options of Men’s Shoes and Women’s Shoes, you have made their life easier.

The Best Asset: Your Customers

We’re going to keep this short: customer feedback is the most important asset you have when it comes to increasing your revenue. That is because new customers need something to trust before they commit to buying. They want to read that someone before them bought what they wanted and absolutely loved it. No matter how good your sales copy is, it will never be as powerful or effective as a satisfied customer giving you a thumbs up.

Old School Meets New School: How To Mix Marketing Methods For Success

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
Photo courtesy of CORE-Materials via Wikimedia

Businesses are constantly looking for an answer to the question: ‘Old school or new school marketing?’ The answer is simple, and it is a mixture of both. By merging the two together, you can use the pros of each to reach a wider audience and raise awareness of the brand. Simply put, there is no better way for a firm to cover all of the marketing bases. However, saying that you are going to do it and doing it are two different things. As you can imagine, implementing such a strategy isn’t straightforward or simple, especially if it will make such a big difference.

The good news is that it just got a lot easier thanks to the tips below.

Generate & Nurture

With the help of new age techniques like social media, it is simple to increase lead generation. As long as you are creative and have an eclectic base, there is a lot of scope for leads. Plus, if the social media strategy takes off, it might reach every corner of the globe. Still, generating leads is only one aspect of marketing. The other is to nurture them into something concrete. Once you have them in your pocket, this is where old school methods like meeting face to face come in handy. Speaking and using your charisma is a great way to convince clients and customers to get on board.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
Photo courtesy of Nick Youngson via The Blue Diamond Gallery (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Hire A Specialist Agency

Almost every business has a marketing agency to help them get a foothold in the industry. But, most of them focus on new techniques such as SEO and Pay-Per-Click. Yes, these are two essential tools that you need to exploit, but there are lots more at your disposal. If you have an agency that uses a broad range of techniques, the odds of success are bound to be higher. Or, you can hire a firm like Ruby Digital on the one hand and link them with an offline specialist. As long as they work together, there shouldn’t be many problems, but there should be lots of rewards.

Market Based On Current Position

In the beginning, the newer methods will call out to you. For example, an email blast is a cheap and effective way to reach a broader audience. Plus, it is pretty easy to track the effectiveness of the strategy with analytic software. However, you won’t stay small and young forever. When you do start to grow and expand, the offline methods will come into their own. Think about business cards for a moment. Are they more effective when the brand name is recognizable? Of course they are which is why they work better when the business has a buzz. That doesn’t mean you should stop using SEO because that would be foolish. What it does mean is that you need to know when to bring in offline to maximize results.

And there you have it: the three main tricks of the trade. There are more, but these are the most effective. Hopefully, they will help you create a well-balanced marketing strategy.