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.

The Skills Every Entrepreneur Should Have

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Entrepreneur Skills|The Skills Every Entrepreneur Should HaveAn entrepreneur is someone who starts their own business and is responsible for building it up from the ground. As you might imagine, this is by no stretch of the imagination, but if you are determined to make it work, you have every chance of doing so.

Something else that will help you to have the best possible chance of succeeding as an entrepreneur is having the right skills. Some of the most common skills that entrepreneurs require are inherent, but most of them can be learned, so if you are willing to put the time and effort in, you could acquire abilities that will help you to run a much more successful business in the future.

With that in mind, here are some of the most important skills every entrepreneur should have:

Inquisitiveness

In order to come up with great new ideas and solve pressing new problems, you really do need to have an inquisitive mind that is always thinking about things, how they work and how they could be improved. This is probably the most important skill to have.

Communication

Successful entrepreneurs like Jonathan Sears, and Bill Gates if you want to be successful in business, you need to learn how to communicate as effectively as possible. From being able to pitch an idea to investors to directing employees how to handle a work project, and of course, dealing with customers, you are going to be doing a lot of talking one way or another, and the more eloquently you can put your point across, the more successful you are likely to be.

Time management

When you are turning a business, there really aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that you need to do. It is your job as an entrepreneur to find the time, which means you need to have excellent time management skills, Of course, you can hire other people to help you (and you should) but if you aren’t able to fit everything you need to do into your daily schedule as efficiently as possible, you really will struggle.

Resilience

Being an entrepreneur is hard. Not all of your ideas will land, some of your big dreams will fail, and you will fall short of many of your goals. If you cannot handle those things, you will ultimately be unsuccessful in business and feel terrible in your personal life. If, however, you can handle the rejections, stresses, and bad times and learn from them, you can come back better and stronger and ultimately lead your company to great success.

Mathematics

If you want to do well in business, you need to be able to raise funds, create business plans, work out your bottom line, and a million other things that require the ability to think mathematically, Obviously, there are lots of tools that can help you with this these days but if you have an innate understanding of mathematics, you will find it a whole lot easier to succeed.

If you have all of these skills or are able to work towards developing them, then you are fsr more likely to succeed as a modern entrepreneur.

Managing your time more effectively as CEO

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Managing your time more effectively as CEOThe responsibilities of a Chief Executive Officer are seemingly endless. From managing strategic direction, evaluating group and company operations to communicating with various stakeholders – the daily schedule of a CEO can be relentless. There are never enough hours in the day, and for business leaders this is certainly true. So, if you’re a relatively new CEO or you’ve been at the helm for a while – how can you manage your time more effectively?

Master Delegation

The most important thing any business leader can do to manage their time more effectively is improve their delegation skills. It can be tempting to control and oversee every aspect of a business, particularly if you’ve built it from nothing, but it’s impossible to do this as a company grows. In order to delegate effectively, you must have the right team around you and an appropriate structure beneath you to support this. This includes people that you trust to get the job done, and competent employees that you can rely on.

Travel Smart

CEOs can spend a significant amount of time traveling between meetings, offices and partners. Therefore, being smart with this time is an absolute must. For example, you could opt for private jet rental instead of commercial flights to save time by avoiding busy airports, and give you more flexibility when it comes to multi-destination trips. It’s also important to make best use of the time while traveling to free up space elsewhere in the day. You could use your travel time to power through some emails or catch up on some work that doesn’t require much collaboration.

Reserve Time

Much is demanded of CEOs from others in the organisation, and as such, a large proportion of their day can be filled with meetings and other scheduled commitments. It’s essential that you reserve some time each day or week for your own priorities, work or even just for a 10-minute breather. Pockets of time here and there can help to boost productivity and break up the day. Reserving time for yourself also relies on delegation – if someone else can take one of your meetings per day, you’ll automatically create more time for yourself to work on other projects.

Power Sessions

Being a CEO is all about imagining and developing the big picture, but you can still get caught up in the intricacies of operations. Use power sessions, or periods of intense focus, to blast through the more mundane or administrative tasks that you will undoubtedly have to do every once in a while. The same goes for emails – reserve a time slot to power through your inbox and you will almost certainly clear it quicker than if you have your mind on other things.

If You Want To Grow Your Business, You Have Got To Be Careful

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Grow Your Business|If You Want To Grow Your Business, You Have Got To Be CarefulIf you want to grow your business, you have got to be careful. There are a number of things that have to work together properly in order for an expansion to ever be successful, and if you are not willing to work for this to happen, then the expansion is going to fail. Do you even know how to start expanding your business? It’s a good thing that you have found this article either way, because down below we’re going to be looking at some of the important pieces of information that you need to know and consider if you want to expand your business. Keep reading down below if you would like to find out more.

It’s Expensive

The first thing that you need to know is that growing your business is extremely expensive in some cases. You are going to need to hire new people, you may need to hire a company like Modular Genius in order to get some new office spaces built, and you are going to have to spend more money on advertising. It’s an expensive feat to take on, but if your business is ready for it then it’s going to pay off.

You need to be sure that your business is ready though, otherwise this is just going to be a super expensive lesson that you will learn. Set aside some money for the expansion, but don’t go over budget if you can avoid it as this will start impacting other areas of your business if you do.

Is The Demand There?

Do you actually have the demand to warrant growing your business? If the answer is no then there is no need to do this and you should stop your plans right now. If the answer is yes, then you need to do your research first into who is buying from you the most, where are most of the sales coming from and so on. You need this information to be able to expand your business properly as this will tell you where the target areas are, and where you should be focusing. We promise that if you take the time to understand the demand and cater to it, the expansion is going to go a lot smoother than if you don’t.

What Do You Need?

Finally, you have got to think about what you need as a business in order to expand. Coming up with a plan is really the only way to do this in an organized fashion. Once you have this plan in place of the things you need and how to achieve them, you can start getting things going.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that you are going to need to think about if you are going to be growing your business. We know that this is important for all business owners at some point down the line, but it is better to slow down and let things work naturally rather than trying to force something that is not needed. We wish you the very best of luck.

Best Tech Business Niches To Get Into

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Tech Business Niche|Best Tech Business Niches To Get IntoThe employment landscape of today is more uncertain than at any point in history. With the seemingly endless digitization of business and the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), it seems there isn’t a single area of commerce that isn’t being transformed by technology.

However, while many might view the increasing reliance on computers and machines in the workplace as a negative thing, technology is opening a world of opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs and bringing entirely new business prospects.

If you’re looking for ways to jump on the tech bandwagon and start capitalizing on our brave new world, below are some business ideas you could look at developing now to gain a head start before the masses follow.

Graphic and web design

As the real and virtual worlds continue to merge, there is now a huge demand for designers that can aid companies in promoting themselves online and in print. Building a strong brand is essential in today’s highly competitive markets, and firms the world over are starting to wake up to the considerable importance of promoting themselves effectively both on and off-line.

Sign design, engraving and marking

While there’s little doubt about the effect the web and associated online technologies have had on business, there will always be a demand for more traditional signage, vehicle livery and engraving skills. Modern laser cutter technology is now more accurate and precise than ever, making it easy to accurately transfer digital designs onto everything from glass to laminate, wood and metal.

3D printing

For the vast majority of businesses, a 3D printer is an expense they simply can’t justify – so investing in the tech and setting up as a dedicated service provider makes good commercial sense. These days, a professional 3D printing machine can cost as little as $10,000 but will soon pay for itself as you build a market and take more clients on board.

3D printing is becoming increasingly popular for educational purposes, construction, and in particular, manufacturing and prototyping – and the demand shows no signs of slowing.

Mobile application development

When Steve Jobs first showcased Apple’s flagship mobile device, the iPhone, on June 29th, 2007, surely even he couldn’t have predicted the massive societal shift-change his product would cause. These days, pretty much all of us have a smartphone that we rely on for day-to-day tasks like messaging, browsing, emailing and shopping.

Today’s smartphones have usurped a multitude of devices – everything from personal music players to cameras and satnavs – and the majority of these capabilities are powered by mobile applications.

Mobile app growth has been exponential over the last few years and continues to increase at breakneck speed. In 2016, research shows there were a total of 140.6 billion app downloads globally. By the end of 2021, that figure is forecast to grow to a whopping 258 billion, representing an 83% increase over just five years.

Working as an app developer, you will have options to build and market your own software (normally generating revenue from sales, advertising or subscriptions) or could go the more traditional route and build applications for clients (getting paid per project). Certainly, one thing is for sure – apps are here to stay, and app development will be a key niche for the foreseeable future.