As An Entrepreneur, It’s Important To Keep Yourself In Check

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |entrepreneurialism |As An Entrepreneur, It's Important To Keep Yourself In CheckMany people think of entrepreneurialism as a form of freedom, and a surefire pathway to courageous success. That’s because it’s more than possible for these two things to be true, and it could be that you’re all too ready to experience them.

That said, often people forget that entrepreneurialism is a big risk, especially compared to simply being an employee and working your way up the corporate ladder. Not only do you have to discipline yourself, but to offer value that others either cannot match, or cannot cater to that part of the market.

In this way, entrepreneurialism is a big challenge, and it takes plenty of self-belief. Will Smith, famous actor, once said that there is a necessary delusional quality about believing in yourself, even when others find it hard to. This is the fundamental mindset of an entrepreneur, and so it’s not hard to see how success can sometimes be hard to find, or that in all probability, it’s unlikely.

Does that mean you have to feel tired or demoralised before you begin? Absolutely not. It just means balancing realism with your willingness to believe in yourself and move forward. This way, you gain the best of both outlooks, and will have a much higher chance of success. People will find your story appealing, and may even support you. We all love to see someone working hard for themselves and building something from nothing.

A great way of measuring yourself in this role, then, is to care for keeping yourself in check. In this guide, we’ll explain what that means, and how it could apply to you as an entrepreneur.

Fully Research Your Idea & Its Ramifications

Many entrepreneurs become entrepreneurs because they feel they have an idea worth dropping out of the default career path for. It does happen, but it’s much less likely that someone simply ‘becomes’ an entrepreneur with no ideas to chase, as this becomes something of an untenable risk.

However, no matter what your ideas are right now, it’s important to know they’re currently just that – ideas. Bringing them to fruition requires deep research, and not only regarding its construction or your development of a service. For instance, on paper, a service can look absolutely necessary, interesting and worthwhile. However, you might find that in this current area, the competition is too stiff, or consumers find it hard to understand your idea in broad strokes, or that a gap in the market exists elsewhere.

For this reason, deep research helps you understand the parameters you may be operating in. ‘Dragon’s Den’, the original UK version of ‘Shark Tank,’ once showcased an entrepreneur who had invested in creating a paddle for plaster and other materials that builders could use without bending over all day. He argued that this would help prevent long term back issues.

In order to present his idea to the Dragons, he had to showcase how many times, on average, a builder may bend over. He had to know just how his product would fit in, and what price point was acceptable, and if purchasing or renting was superior for this product in question. That was great research. However, he had forgotten to look deeply into patent law, and thus thought he had a patent when he didn’t. He secured investment thanks to his prototype, but on the condition that his patent was applied for straight away. In this respect, we see how research or a lack of it can either help or hinder our approach – and so we must commit to it thoroughly.

Your Personal Brand Is You This Time

It can be hard to make the transition from being a somewhat anonymous entity working for a larger corporation to someone who has taken the time to form a corporation, but in the latter respect, you will no doubt be front and centre as a personal figurehead.

This means that understanding exactly how you come across to clients, investors and partners is essential. It means keeping yourself to higher standards, such as making sure you dress well every day, that you work on your handshake, that in your free time you train your presentation skills and ensure your pitch is near note-perfect, confidence exuding from you.

In this way, entrepreneurs develop many interpersonal skills that an actor might hope to train, not to be deceptive, but to come across and highlight their character in the best sense. Put simply – invest in yourself as you do your business. This speaks to your values, virtues, and ultimately, how you and your brand mirror one another’s reputation.

Timekeeping & Discipline

The best thing about being an entrepreneur is that you can select your own hours and are free to work at your own pace. The worst thing about being an entrepreneur is that you can select your own hours and are free to work at your own pace.

As you can see, there’s something of a paradox here. But it’s important to make sure that you keep yourself disciplined in everything you do. This is easier when it’s your own success and income on the line, but even then, it can be important to learn timekeeping, to ensure you’re getting a decent balance of home and work life, and that you’re willing to sacrifice some weekends and after-hours in order to build your business.

Timekeeping, in this respect, helps you itemize your day and be as productive as possible. Google Calendar, note taking tools, planning organizers and digital assistants can help you keep up with your tasks each day. Never start a day unsure of what you’re about to work on. Spend ten minutes each night planning your following day. Review your days, and make sure you understand exactly what you did right and what you could improve on. If you can focus in this respect you can keep yourself measured, and totally honest about your forward action. Not only does this inspire and give a great example to those you manage, but it helps you understand that an entrepreneurs main responsibility is to themselves.

With this advice, we hope you can keep yourself measured as an entrepreneur in the best possible sense.

How to Become a Successful Property Developer

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Property Developer|How to Become a Successful Property DeveloperProperty development is an exciting way to start your business. Thanks to popular TV shows, developing property is often seen as a get-rich-quick scheme. However, making money from property is demanding and may take more time than expected.

It takes a bit of risk and lots of hard work to break even in the real estate market. But the good news is that starting a property development business can be relatively exciting. It offers flexible working hours, and no formal qualifications are needed.

If being a property developer appeals to you, then this article will help you. We have outlined tips on how to become a developer with a decent income.

1. Choose Your Path

Property development comes in all shapes and sizes. Hence, you must choose the route you want to take. You may have plans to grow in the future, but you must have a place to start.

Do you want to develop residential or commercial properties? Will the final project be for rent or sale? Or do you want to renovate run-down properties and give them a new resale value?

Knowing what you want helps you in making strategic decisions. You can also understand the kind of loans to take or where to get funds.

2. Develop a Plan

After choosing your path, come up with a business plan. The plan will help you get the funding for the success of your business. It also helps break down finances, potential income, and costs.

Creating a business plan gives you a map of how to start your business and its growth projection.

There are several business plan templates you can download based on your goals and business type.

3. Get Your Finances in Order

Developing properties, whether from scratch or renovating old houses, is a hefty investment from the start. To get a sufficient amount, you need to assess how extensive the project is, the costs involved, how long it will take to complete it, and the projected income.

Due to uncertainties, create the best and worst-case scenarios and set aside at least 30% contingency if the cost spirals.
You may choose to get a mortgage based on your property plan. Buy-to-let mortgages are easy to get, though you’ll have to deposit 25% or more. When seeking finances, research the local market and pay attention to inflation, interest rates, and employment rate in the area.

4. Choose the Right Location

When it comes to property development, location plays a crucial role. Look for an upcoming community as the property will be cheaper with a great potential to deliver good ROI. You may hire a general contractor to advise you on what to avoid when developing property in a specific area.

Some places might need more work on ground leveling. The type of soil will also determine the location of developing a property.

5. Don’t Get Personal

Remember, this project is for a property and not your home. You should develop a property that suits the market and not your taste.

The Bottom Line

Property development is a lucrative business for both long and short term goals. Approach it with care and a good strategy, and you’ll thank yourself for starting it.

How an Enterprises Video Content System Helps Your Business

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Video Content|How an Enterprises Video Content System Helps Your BusinessVideo content became the most popular way of conveying a message on the internet. Users in the US watch over 180 million hours of video content every day, making it the perfect method of spreading the word about your business.

Videos have the power to help transform some areas of your business and help you communicate with customers through content to improve sales, solve problems, and build trust. Keep reading, and we’ll explain how an enterprise video platform can help you grow your business.

What Exactly Is an Enterprise Video Content System?

When put in simple terms, an enterprise video content system is a centralized management system that allows you to manage and deliver online video content. While it might seem simple, it’s a complicated and handy tool for growing a business.

For example, such a system allows you to access files stored across multiple platforms such as Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and so on. It takes away all traditional restrictions such as file size and type of video and allows you to quickly set up your videos from a single management platform.

Why Using YouTube Isn’t the Best Choice

Sure, you might think that all you need to do to set up a working video platform for your business is to open a private YouTube account used for that specific purpose. YouTube does have some marketing value, but it’s not very good for managing internal video content. Apart from posing another security threat for your entire enterprise, YouTube is followed by other issues you should be aware of.

1. Loss of proprietary content

YouTube has its own policies that keep changing over time. That means that a video you posted according to the rules at the time might become unsuitable according to the current rules. If that’s the case, YouTube will simply delete those videos or the entire channel.

In other words, you’re not in control of your videos – YouTube is. If the platform simply sees your posted video unfit because of whatever reason, they will delete it completely, and you will lose all of the hard work you’ve put into creating those videos.

2. No control over related videos

YouTube comes with its own recommendation tool that pretty much decides what content your videos should be paired with. While that might not be a problem for some type of businesses, it can create a massive issue for your company.

There’s simply no way you can know with which videos your content will be paired with. It can be paired directly with your competitors or with completely irrelevant information that ruins your lead generation.

An enterprise video management system, on the other hand, gives you complete control over your content. It also features advanced security protocols such as restricted access and advanced encryption, allowing you to control who sees the content and who doesn’t.

Other Benefits of Using an Enterprise Video Content Management System

The most basic role of such a system is to provide you with a single platform you can use to save videos on and individually choose who can access each video. However, most advanced solutions, such as VidYard, will give you more advanced features you can use to your benefit. Here are some of those features:

1. Support for large files and high definition videos

Video files can be immense, depending on their video resolution. A minute of a 4K video is often much larger than what most free platforms support. Using your own system, you can upload videos of any size and format, and all of them are saved to a single library for easy access.

2. Built-in video creation tools

A high-quality enterprise video content management system comes with a set of video creation tools designed to make the entire process as simple as possible. You won’t have to spend days and even weeks putting a video together anymore. With built-in recording tools and other features, you’ll be able to record and share videos directly from the manager. That will save you a lot of time and money in the process.

3. Automatic transcription and closed-captioning

Every video should have a transcription to make sure that everyone who sees it understands every single word, even if they are deaf. Advanced video management systems have a built-in feature that processes speech and turns it into text automatically. Again, saving you time and money in the process.

4. Advanced search

Since most advanced enterprise video management systems offer the speech to text feature, you can use it to quickly find the videos you want simply by saying important keywords out loud. A single phrase or sentence is enough to pinpoint the video you want to access.

5. Mobile optimization

Most legacy systems don’t allow access using other devices or software because of the specific formats they use. A management system will allow all of your team members and potential customers to access any content using any device. They can access your video library 24/7, enabling you to spread the word about your business more effectively.

The Bottom Line

Video content is the most effective marketing method used by businesses to generate leads and spread the word about their offers. They will become even more important in the near future, which is why investing in an enterprise video content system is definitely a good idea.

You will get unlimited control over all your video content, and you won’t have to worry about potential security risks or losing your content due to changing rules on third-party platforms.

5 Things That Business Leaders Should Not Compromise On

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | 5 Things That Business Leaders Should Not Compromise OnAs an entrepreneur, if your business is struggling or your budget is tight, you might be tempted to make some compromises when it comes to your operations and the future of your company. However, there are a few elements of your business that leaders should always avoid compromising on at any cost.

Your Equipment

The equipment and tools that you use within your business can make a huge difference to the efficiency of your operations, as well as the quality of the products that you produce. While doing a better job, high-quality equipment and tools also often last longer, which can save you money in the long run. If you are struggling to juggle the quality of the tools that you are using with their cost, a Northern Tool coupon can help you to get the right equipment that you need without spending a lot of money to do so.

Health and Safety

When you do not have a lot of time or money, it can be easy to let health and safety standards slide. However, not only can you be sued and find yourself facing legal action for doing so, but compromising on health and safety can endanger the lives and health of the employees that you rely on, and can damage your reputation. You should make sure that you always take the right precautions by carrying out health and safety assessments and training regularly.

Quality

The quality of the products that you produce can help you to stand out from other brands and can allow you to get more customers. However, many businesses let the quality of their materials and manufacturing processes dip when they are in financial straits as this can help them to save money on elements such as suppliers and equipment. However, rather than saving money by lowering your standards, you should instead consider cutting your product lines to focus on one or two extremely high-quality and coveted products.

Your Values

When you opened your business, you may have created a mission statement that listed all of your values and which you used to promote your business. Even though it can be easy to forget these during business deals and growth, it is paramount that you constantly reflect on why you started your business and what you hope that it can achieve. This will ensure that you do not lose sight of your end vision and that your business still reflects the ethics, values, and opinions that your customers appreciate when they shop with your company.

Employees

The skills and dedication of your employees can make a huge difference to your business and its ability to be efficient and inspired at all times. So, rather than skimping on the skills of your employees, you should put more effort into training campaigns, consider fixing your recruitment methods, and choose to have a smaller team of highly skilled employees, rather than a large office filled with cheaper workers. You will be amazed at the difference.

Knowing Your Territory: Can You Make a Living Podcasting?

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | Knowing Your Territory: Can You Make a Living Podcasting?Podcasts continue to grow in popularity. As a result, there are many people who want to join the individuals who are already taking advantage of this new form of expression. From individual hobbyists who want to share an interest they have while supplementing their income to business owners who want to grow a new customer base and build their authority in an industry, podcasting offers a huge appeal.

While finding a Podcast publishing platform is an important step in this process, it is not the only step that must be taken. If someone wants to find success with a podcast, there are few other things to consider, as well.

How Can Podcasts Make Money?

One of the most effective ways for podcasts to make money is through advertisements. While it may take time to build an audience that will attract the attention of a potential advertiser, it is the best way to earn a profit.

Typically, advertisements are sold by CPM, or cost per mille. This is the fee for every 1,000 listeners. The average rates for podcast advertising are about $18 for a 30-second CBM and $25 for a 60-second CPM.

Usually, advertisement sales will occur directly between the podcast and brand or by using a marketplace or agency. The commission from an affiliated product or program is another common type of income stream for today’s podcasters. With this, hosts will mention products on their show and then give their listeners a custom discount link. After this, the podcast is going to receive a percentage of every sale that is made with a unique URL.

Instead of including advertisements, there are some podcasts that sell subscriptions to their show. This is done by keeping content behind a paywall. For example, there are some crowdfunding platforms that allow subscribers to select a donation tier to get different perks, such as access to episodes early or exclusive content.

Expanding a Podcast Audience to Attract More Advertisers

Today, podcasts are a sought-out way to advertise for brands. Even with the pandemic in 2020, podcast advertising revenue grew by 14.7%. With this in mind, it is clear that this is a great way to generate a new stream of income.

Even though advertisers are going to look at other factors, beyond engagement, interest group, demographics, and more, the size of the audience is still an important consideration. When someone is new to podcasting, they should focus on appealing to and expanding their audience, which is going to help attract more advertisers.

There are a few key components that need to be focused on to build an audience and establish a successful podcast.

Target Audience Considerations

It is necessary for a podcaster to determine who their audience is and keep them in mind during the process. Each time an episode is released, there needs to be a plan to market it. By knowing the target audience, it is possible to create content that will resonate with them.

When it comes to creating a podcast, there are more than a few factors to consider. Be sure to keep the information and tips here in mind to achieve the desired results with the podcast that is created, regardless of the subject matter or the industry that it is being created for.