How To Save A Small Fortune When Launching Your New Company

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Launch a new company|How To Save A Small Fortune When Launching Your New CompanyIf you’re thinking about launching a new company during the next couple of months, you’re probably worrying about getting the investment you need to get the concept off the ground. Sure, you’re going to need some cash to turn your business dreams into a reality, but there are plenty of ways to reduce your spending and save a small fortune if you pay attention to the expert advice on this page.

Today, we’re going to take a look at some of the most straightforward and simple ways you can limit the amount you need to invest in getting your venture off the ground. Depending on your business idea’s nature, you may have to tailor some of these suggestions accordingly. Just use some common sense!

Work from home during the early days

There is no reason to rent an office or buy business premises when you’re just starting out. In most instances, you can save lots of money by working from home. Maybe you have a spare bedroom or a garage that you can convert into an office? Perhaps you can take a desk up to your attic or something similar?

Working from home will mean you don’t have to worry about renting an office until you begin to make a profit. Of course, there are some downsides to working from home, and you’ll have to work hard to limit their impact as much as possible.

For example, working from home can become a real pain if you have family members or children in the house. So, you need to make sure they know to leave you alone when you’re sitting at your desk. The last thing you need is for the kids to knock on your door every five minutes.

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Launch a new company|How To Save A Small Fortune When Launching Your New Company Outsource some of the work

You can increase your output during your business’s early stages without spending too much money if you choose to outsource some of the work. You can’t afford to hire employees at the moment, so it’s sensible to find freelancers willing to help out on an as and when basis.

There are lots of excellent freelancing websites you can use to find the right professionals, and you just need to open an account to get started. In most instances, you will post a job, and the freelancers will bid for the work. You then select the individual you deem most suitable and let them get started.

Some of the best freelancing websites around today include:

  • People Per Hour
  • Fiverr
  • Guru
  • DesignCrowd
  • Upwork

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Launch a new company|How To Save A Small Fortune When Launching Your New CompanyPurchase the items you need in bulk

Experts from Supply Link USA and many other professionals claim that buying your essentials in bulk could help you to save a fortune in business expenses. Whether you need to purchase ink and toner for your printer and photocopier, or you need stationery and other items, bulk buying is the best solution.

Don’t make the mistake of buying the things you need from high street retailers because you will pay the highest prices. Instead, you should look towards getting in touch with the suppliers who stock those stores. At the end of the day, you’re in the business world now, and you can get lots of discounts if you’re smart.

Use the latest software

New business software reaches the market every single day, and using it can save you a lot of working hours, according to The Balance. Sure, you’ll have to make an initial investment to get the solutions you require. However, they could save you lots of money in the long run. Why employ humans to perform a task when there is software out there that will do it?

Take some time to research your competitors and the software they use to run their operations if you struggle to know where to start. There is no harm in replicating the processes used by other companies in your industry when you’re just starting out.

Also, find some reputable blogs and news websites that publish articles about your industry. That way, you should remain at the forefront of the market and ensure you hear about any new revelations or software releases ahead of time.

Automate as much as possible

Automation is everything in the business world at the moment, and you’ll need to automate as many of your essential processes as possible if you want to make a killing while reducing your expenses.

It doesn’t make sense to pay someone to enter information into a database for hours when you can find software that will do it instantly. The same goes for lots of other processes and actions within your operation. If you can work out a way to automate them, you shouldn’t have to spend any additional cash.

Depending on your industry and your company’s nature, it could be possible to automate everything from lead generation to distribution if you’re smart.

Ask friends and family to help

Lastly, sometimes you need to call on people who care about you if you need to reduce costs when launching a new business. You might even think about asking them for funding. While you might not have enough capital to employ workers outright, you’ll probably need some assistance. That is where your friends and family could come in handy.

Ask people you trust if they’re willing to lend a hand for a few hours for free whenever you need some help. If it makes you feel better, you could offer to pay the person for their time when your company begins to make a profit. You could even promise to offer them a job first whenever you’re ready to employ workers.

You should now have some excellent ideas that will help you to save a small fortune when launching a new business venture during the next few months. Be sure to spend a lot of time on your business plan and make sure you cover all the bases if you don’t want to face any nasty surprises. Understand your costs, budget accordingly, and make sure you have some cash spare in case something goes wrong. If you do that, nothing should stand between yourself and business success.

How to Handle Working from Home Stress

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Work from Home Stress| How to Handle Working from Home StressWere you one of the 49% of British workers who worked from home during lockdown? If so, you might not be heading back into the office just yet.

For some workers, moving to home turf to do the day job has been a largely positive experience. However, for others, this shift has had a negative impact on their mental wellbeing, causing stress levels to rise and an increase in feelings of isolation – and these feelings are nothing new.

According to a 2017 study by the United Nations, which looked at 15 countries including the UK, US, and India, 41% of employees who mostly worked from home said they were highly stressed. And in his 2014 report, ‘Wat als we Nieuw gaan Werken?’ (What if we Start Working New?’), Belgium-based academic, Henrik Delagrange found that there is a higher risk of burnout for those who work longer hours remotely.

While the stats are negative here, there are ways to find the balance. If we’re feeling overwhelmed while working from home, here are some ways to handle those stressful feelings.

Have something to look forward to

When did you last book a holiday? Lockdown has meant that many of us aren’t taking the holidays we usually would, but it’s important to have a break, even if you’ve not got anything planned.

Also, there are some big events coming up that can help to restore some sense of normality. Halloween and Christmas are just a few months away so why not start shopping for these? Have a look at sweet treats, such as Christmas chocolate hampers, to really get into the festive spirit.

Take a time out

It can be easy to not take any breaks while you’re getting through your daily to-do list. But walking away from your computer and doing something unconnected for 10 minutes can help you switch off for a while. By doing this, you are resetting your mind and you may find that you’re able to focus on what you’re working on in a more productive way.

Set a schedule

We’re connected to work 24/7, thanks to technology. This makes it increasingly difficult to switch off our computer when the working day is over.

However, if you’re finding that your work life is creeping into your downtime, it might be worth setting yourself a schedule – and sticking to it. Decide on what you’ll be doing at 9am, 11am, and after lunch so that you have tasks to do and a rough time to complete them by and this will allow you to methodically get through your to-do list and give you the chance to plan ahead for the rest of the week.

Download an app

There are lots of mindfulness apps that are available right now, and, while they’re all slightly different, their common aim is to help you feel calmer and less stressed. Calm, Headspace, and Aura are just some of the apps that are available on iOS and Android devices, and as they’re designed for your phone, you can take them with you and access them when you need a break or are starting to feel overwhelmed.

Speak to someone

If you’re finding things tough, speak to colleagues or, if you feel you need to let your manager know, arrange a meeting with them. Your manager should be able to offer some advice or point you in the direction of support services.

Should you feel that you need professional support, there are lots of services to help. Mind has a lot of resources online that can help you take the steps to manage stress.

Working from home doesn’t have to have a negative impact on your wellbeing. It’s important to know that you’re not alone.

Why Business Owners Should Detatch From Banks

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Detach from Banks|Why Business Owners Should Detatch From BanksAs a business owner, working with your bank to fund, run and grow your business seems like it’s natural right? Well, it is, and it isn’t. Many people believe that entrepreneurism is all about private ventures, that don’t necessarily involve a bank. It can involve investors, the public in the form of an IPO, or even, family members that are backing you. But why not a bank? Well, banks are inherently linked to the Federal government, so one way or another, big brother has their hand in your pocket. Whether you are taking a loan or credit card from your bank to pay for things in your business, you should reconsider this approach.

Business loan vs investment

A business loan is quick and easy. But, it always comes with strings attached. But so does investment money. So what’s the difference? Well, with a business loan that a bank or lender provides, you can rarely ever negotiate the terms. It’s usually on a take it or leaves it basis. The upside is, that you get to have the money in your account in just a few hours. However, with investor’s money, you can set some of the rules. An investor may want a piece of the company, you can negotiate how much of it you can give away and what kind of creative control you will retain. You can also commission growth reports that can stagger or step the amount of investment put into the business in accordance with success, and how much the investor is to receive in profits from the same correlation.

Banks can pull the plug

Bank loans are usually entirely in the favor of the financial institution. This means you are kind of at the mercy of a bank that is also at the mercy of the government. Essentially, the buck doesn’t stop with the bank, so they feel they can abuse their relationship with you. Take a look and read any business loan contract, and you will find clauses that allow the bank to pull the plug and ask for early payments that were not in the initial structure or payment. The Debt to Success System reviews banking scam, and in an orderly manner lays out how the banks have gone to a debt-based ‘growth’ system. As global debt mounts up, banks will be more inclined to pinch their purse strings and that in turn means, being more aggressive in their actions towards business loan recipients. DSS can also help you overcome your debts, with their unique debt discharge system that banks and governments don’t want you to know about.

YOU are the investment

Rather than going to the bank for a loan, they should want to invest in YOUR business. Banks go to corporations like Tesla, Apple, Mercedes and Microsoft, not the other way around. But how could you become like them? You need to show consistent profits and a brand that has the potential to spread like wildfire. Banks will be flocking to you to invest and you’ll be contacted by their investment firms.

Banks are not the savior of any business. They do provide some financial services that are useful, but before you turn to them, exhaust all your other options first.

Can You Verify Mobile App Users and Is It Worth Your Time?

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Verify Mobile App Users|Can You Verify Mobile App Users and Is It Worth Your Time?As an entrepreneur with a mobile app as either part of your business model or the whole thing, it’s a difficult part of the business to actively embrace. It’s certainly beneficial when people wish to engage with the brand in any fashion, but what’s it worth if it’s not known who they are? For this article, we look into verifying users, and what value it may hold.

Mobile App Strategic Business Models

Some companies offer mobile apps that will proving a meaningful way to interact with customers. The business models may include:

Advertising Based

An app that is monetized using advertising such as the Ad Mob platform from Google can be a primary revenue driver. This requires the app to be highly adopted and sticky enough that it’s frequently opened and used most days of the week. This leads to enough activity that ad revenue is reliably generated. However, millions of users are usually needed to profit substantially. It doesn’t require identification to be usable.

Subscription-based or Premium

A subscription-based model is essentially a premium version of the mobile app. There may also be a free version or a “freemium” one that is upgradable. Scant information through permitted access to certain aspects of the information stored on the mobile device provides little clarity. Taking a payment for the premium app may provide more, but it’s still not verified.

Lead Generator for Main Business

An app that acts as a lead generator for the main business serves a useful purpose. Being able to verify that they’re a real person either representing just themselves or on behalf of a business is useful. It ensures that valuable staff time won’t be wasted.

Supplemental to Main Business

An app that’s offered as a supplement to the main business is helpful too. It’s not always necessary to verify the user if they’re already a customer. However, it can provide greater clarity by using an automated tool to match their name to the phone number provided.

How Are Mobile App Users Verified?

There are companies that can provide a solution to enable quick verification in real-time on mobile app users. One such company is Cognito, found at https://cognitohq.com, which provides an SDK to developers to incorporate their sophisticated technology into their apps. By checking the entered information from a user such as their name and contact number, it’s possible to get a quick confirmation score on the validity of this information. Dummy phone numbers and even incorrectly types names will get appropriately flagged.

Does Verification Change the Game?

Yes, it does. With the number of mobile users growing every day and up to 40 percent of online shoppers now, companies realize that they cannot ignore this kind of growth.

Being able to “automagically” identify the users of a mobile app when they supply a couple of pieces of information is a game-changer. The company can then understand where they are located and glean some statistics that are officially known. This helps the business to offer advanced features in response to the supplied information as an incentive to users.

Identifying at least some of the users of your mobile app proves extremely beneficial to companies, especially when the app is publicly available, and anyone could be using it. They can then build more reliable profiles about whom their users are, including their demographics, and shape their offering accordingly.

5 Ways Content Can Help Your Company’s SEO Efforts

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, 5 Ways Content Can Help Your Company's SEO EffortsIf you’re hoping to improve your business’s search engine rankings, you may be wondering whether SEO content writing and tweaking your marketing strategies could help. Content marketing is a key part of search engine optimization and can make all the difference in getting visitors to your page, especially since studies have shown that most users don’t scroll past the first page of results. With SEO-friendly content, your company can generate the results you need and stay competitive in an increasingly digital business landscape. The key to boosting your search engine rankings is quality content, which helps inform your audience and build organic relationships over time. Here are just a few of the top reasons effective content writing is one of the best ways to make the most of your company’s SEO efforts.

1. It Helps Educate Consumers

As opposed to outbound marketing efforts, which interrupt consumers’ days with traditional tactics like flashy ads, content marketing is part of what’s commonly referred to as inbound marketing. Inbound marketing brings customers to you in an organic way. When a user looks up information in a search engine and your page pops up, they can get informed on the topic they’re interested in and see your company as a trustworthy source. This is mutually beneficial, since you can educate consumers while drawing in potential new customers.

2. It Can Span a Wide Range of Strategies

Content marketing and content writing can actually encompass a wide range of strategies and types of content, which can be tailored according to your business’s needs. Company blogs are a popular option, for instance, since they allow you to post articles relevant to your industry and keep customers updated on the latest news. However, you can also launch social media campaigns, email marketing campaigns and employ search marketing tactics. Some of these types of content, especially social media posts, can be particularly effective for different demographics like younger people.

3. You Can Make the Most of Your SEO Efforts

When you produce quality content on a regular basis, your other SEO efforts don’t go to waste. Savvy SEO strategies won’t account for much if your content is subpar, since users will become disinterested and leave the page, resulting in a high bounce rate and less of a chance of getting conversions. If you’re already investing time, energy and money in digital marketing techniques like linking, creating sitemaps, enhancing metadata, tagging and more, you can help ensure those efforts don’t go to waste by making content readers really want. One important strategy is to identify your most important keywords and to optimize your website for them, making it more likely that customers interested in that topic will find your site.

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4. You Can Satisfy Rigorous Algorithms

If you have good content but don’t produce enough of it, that alone could harm you in search engine rankings. Certain algorithms strongly prefer continuous streams of fresh content, so if you post regularly, you’ll greatly improve your chances of showing up on the first page of results. In fact, in some cases, over-optimizing existing content could even harm your rankings. This means the best way to go forward is to regularly produce and publish new, interesting and well-written content.

5. You Can Get More Backlinks

Finally, if you’re producing high-quality content, you increase the odds of other websites linking back to it. The more backlinks you have, the more your website will be seen as a trusted authority and a noteworthy source. This could help appease algorithms, which may then be more likely to place your website higher up. In creating good content, you give yourself a better shot of impressing other websites and eventually the search engine algorithms.

The key to attracting visitors to your website, boosting your rankings in search engine results pages and building trusting relationships with customers over time is high-quality content. With effective writing and the right content marketing strategies, you can get more out of your SEO efforts and even improve brand awareness and begin establishing your company as an industry thought leader. If your search engine optimization strategies haven’t quite been yielding the results you hoped for, consider focusing on improving the quality of your content writing or outsourcing your content needs to professional services. It could make all the difference in getting the results you’re looking for.