3 Wall Street Terms You Need To Know To Play the Stock Market

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | 3 Wall Street Terms You Need To Know To Play the Stock MarketUnderstanding financial news is a key part of participating in the stock market. Unfortunately, Wall Street often describes business activities in less-than-clear terminology. Read on to learn more about three common business terms that will help you make sense of your investments.

What Are Advisory Firms?

Consulting and advisory firms provide various professional services to corporate clients. They help companies communicate better with customers and shareholders, conduct the research that businesses use to make decisions about their investments and provide clients with expert advice on improving their management and strategy decisions.

Many of these firms also work with nonprofits; for instance, Teneo’s Declan Kelly has a longstanding relationship with advocacy network Global Citizen. Declan Kelly, who founded the company, has years of expertise in international business, allowing Teneo to meet the needs of clients all over the world, a capacity essential for any advisory firm’s success.

What is Private Equity?

You’ve probably heard of several private equity firms like Blackstone or Bain Capital. These firms use investor funds to buy out publicly traded companies and take them off public exchanges or to make capital investments in private businesses. The “private” in private equity simply means that the capital isn’t listed on any public exchanges. Although there are many types of private equity, such as venture capital, you’ll encounter this term most often when it’s used to describe buyouts of struggling companies by larger firms that may be able to return them to profitability.

What is Venture Capital?

Private equity and venture capital both involve third-party investments, but venture capital is spread over several newer companies that demonstrate growth potential, and venture capitalists usually hold less than 50% equity in those companies, allowing the founders of those companies to retain some control. Private equity usually involves a complete takeover of a single company. Venture capital is also concentrated in tech startups, whereas private equity portfolios span broader industries.

Wall Street terminology might have a steep learning curve, but there’s no reason you can’t learn what you need to know to keep up with stock market trends and achieve your financial goals.

6 Modern Business Growth Strategies Every Entrepreneur Should Know

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Business growth strategy|6 Modern Business Growth Strategies Every Entrepreneur Should KnowAbout 83% of successful business owners start their business from scratch, and while it is challenging, it eventually pays off. One of the biggest challenges that you will face as an entrepreneur is identifying various means to expand your business, but that does not mean it is highly impossible. Growth is a significant indicator that your business is on the right track and involves taking more risks, developing innovative ideas, and identifying the right audience. So, what can you do to grow your business in a way that suits the current times? These few strategies should help answer that.

1. Expand your locations

You will sell more if you are open and available in more places. Of course, that does not mean you have to open up your business just anywhere. It takes a fair amount of research, and you would have to consider several factors, such as its proximity to your target market, among many others. When you open your business at a new location, you aim to gain access to new markets and customers. You can choose to open a physical store at another site, and you can either run it or operate it as a franchise. Alternatively, if you run a digital business – or your current business has an online presence – you can expand your sales channels. You can list your products on other websites like Amazon or even use social media.

2. Diversify your product offerings

If you are into manufacturing, then it will not be a bad idea to expand your product lines. It could be as simple as adding more colour options or creating new product styles and designs. Scope out your competition to see what sort of product upgrades they have to offer, or you can identify a gap and fill that need. Before you expand your product offering, it would be best that you conduct research. Apart from researching your competitors, find out what your existing and potential customers would like for you to add.

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3. Have a reliable team

To run a successful business with growth potential, ensure that you have a reliable, dependable team behind you. Take your hiring processes seriously and employ high-quality motivated staff members who share your business’ ideals. Invest in your staff members by organizing training sessions to help them become more adept with their tasks and to make proactive decisions. As a business owner, you must motivate your employees by ensuring that they are adequately compensated. You must also ensure that you are as transparent with them as possible and let them know they can trust you too. You will see that your business’ turnover rate will be less when you build and maintain a healthy relationship with your team.

4. Get your business online

Every modern business must have an online presence, especially if you want to stay relevant. The internet allows you to reach a wide range of potential and existing customers. If you have not done so already, you should make your business’ digital marketing efforts a priority. You can hire digital marketing companies skilled at optimizing your website for better search engine results. They can also help you with retargeting, website building, and content creation. They create campaigns that are designed to generate traffic to your website and social media pages. Whether you are an influencer like Sierra Skyee, or you run a bakery, digital marketing companies can help expand your business.

5. Expand your customer base

Your customers are one of, if not the most important, drivers of growth for your business. You must maintain your current customers by ensuring that you regularly keep in touch with them. After all, a 5% boost in client retention might increase your profits by 25% to 90%. It is also equally vital that you reach out to new customers to expand your base. So how do you expand your customer base? You can share free newsletters on company news and updates. You can also ensure that your company has excellent customer service. You will also gain more clients by promoting your business on social media and always updating your website.

6. Merge or acquire another business

Another way to grow your business is by merging or consolidating or purchasing another business altogether. This move can reduce your competition, expand your product lines, and increase your market share.

Successful businesses do not grow overnight; they take years of commitment and smart strategies to succeed. If you desire your company to grow, why not consider these strategies and set targets to track your efforts?

A Business That Never Sleeps: Running A 24 Hour Business

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |24 hour business|A Business That Never Sleeps: Running A 24 Hour BusinessBeing open 24 hours is necessary for some businesses such as hotels and security companies. For others it can be convenient (such as businesses that deal with international clients in different time zones). Running an around-the-clock business can be very different from running a nine to five business. Here are just some of the measures you may want to consider when going 24 hours.

Find the right staff

If you’re open all hours, you need to be able to have staff on duty 24/7. You may want to hire set staff to work night shifts rather than encouraging everyone to work flexible patterns. Alternatively, if you’re struggling to find candidates willing to work night shifts in your area, you may find it easier to create a system in which employees work one night shift per week. In certain lines of work there may be creative ways of sourcing night staff. For instance, if you’re looking for a task that can be carried out remotely, you could consider hiring staff from another country that operates in a different time zone.

Train them to deal with emergencies

When operating 24/7, it’s impossible for you to always be on shift. As a result, you need to enable your business to run without you. On top of carrying out essential tasks, your night time needs to be ready to deal with emergencies and they need to be able to carry out response plans without having to wake you up for support. You can train your employees to deal with various emergencies by conducting drills and by setting up handbooks that they can easily refer to if necessary.

Take advantage of outsourcing

Outsourcing could be a low-cost way of handling certain roles. For instance, if you need to keep your network monitored 24/7 and maintain a constant defence against cyberattacks you could consider outsourcing a managed service provider. This could be a lot cheaper than having to hire several IT specialists to work shifts around the clock (outsourcing may cost as much – or even less – than hiring one employee, while giving you the manpower of several employees). Other tasks you may want to outsource in such a fashion could include phone answering or email support. Not all tasks can be outsourced so bear this in mind.

Schedule maintenance tasks during your least busy times

Some businesses like to carry out tasks like cleaning, repairs and servicing outside of opening hours, so that day-to-day work is not interrupted. If your business is always open, you cannot do this, so you have to consider the next best alternative – which is to carry out these tasks at your least busy periods. The quietest time may not always be the best time. For instance, 3AM may not be the best time to carry out noisy cleaning tasks in a hotel – you might be better off doing these tasks during the day when customers aren’t likely to be disturbed. Make sure that maintenance tasks are carried out, otherwise you’ll run into numerous problems in the long run.

How To Start Selling On Amazon

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Selling on Amazon|How To Start Selling On AmazonAmazon is the biggest retail company in the world. It’s no wonder that Jeff Bezos is the richest man alive when you consider how many people use Amazon. It offers all sorts of products and a convenient way for people to purchase goods in seconds.

Consequently, if you can sell things on Amazon, you tap into a massive market. Millions of people use this website every single day, so you could find loads of eager customers. Plus, you don’t have to worry about marketing as Amazon’s power already leads people to the website!

How do you get started? Selling things on Amazon is easy as soon as you have everything set up and ready for action. Here are the three critical steps to help you set your business up:

Create your Amazon Seller account

To start, you have to set up an account on Amazon that lets you sell products. You can do this by going to the Amazon Services page and clicking on the ‘ Start Selling’ button. From here, it’s a case of going through the different menus and filling in all the information. For a more detailed guide, you can check out the video here:

Get your supply chain sorted

Obviously, you have to think about how you will get your products to the customer. Ideally, you have a warehouse or garage that stores all of the products ready to be sent out. But how do you get the products to your premises? Basically, you need to find a shipping partner that can forward the products from their initial location to you. Generally, your best Amazon freight forwarder will have access to countries that provide cheap goods. Therefore, you can buy them for a low price, get them shipped to you, and sell for a profit. It’s business 101, and this is how most people make a profit as an Amazon seller.

Choose your products wisely

You can sell just about anything on Amazon, but be smart with your choices. If you sell a product that loads of other people/businesses are selling, it will be hard to gain a profit. Customers will choose whichever listing has the best reviews, the lowest price, and the quickest delivery! Instead, try to pick products that are quite rare on Amazon. This will be hard, but it’s not impossible. Food and clothing items are two great product categories to look into. It’s much easier to find products that are unique to Amazon in these domains. It doesn’t have to be 100% unique; you just need to pick things that aren’t too common.

These three steps will set you up with a plan to sell products on Amazon. The benefits of choosing this platform over, say, eBay is that it offers more profit potential. Amazon charges relatively low fees but provides a massive audience to tap into. You also don’t have to worry about things like building trust with customers or marketing your brand. The fact you sell on Amazon will make people trust you right away.

How to Become a Successful Landlord in the Property Business

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Property Business|How to Become a Successful Landlord in the Property BusinessLandlord is an occupation that gets a lot of negative attention. According to popular opinion, they simply own a lot of buildings, charge other people to live in them, and make a great deal of money without much in the way of effort.

This is overstating things a tad. Acquiring property is far from easy – especially if you don’t have a sizeable amount of capital to begin with. We’ll look at some of the steps you might take to become a landlord. But first, let’s ask why you might want to do so!

Why Become a Landlord?

The category of ‘landlord’ is broader than you might think. If you own several properties, and you’re renting them out, then you certainly qualify. But, as far as the rules are concerned, you also qualify if you’re just temporarily letting out the house you’ve been living in, because you’re staying elsewhere for a longer period of time.

Landlords can make a sizeable income, if they’re competent. But it’s easy to understand and account for all of your potential costs ahead of time, and to set aside a fund that can act as a buffer if you find yourself overstretched.

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How to get there

A buy-to-let mortgage is an easy way to become a landlord. You fund the purchase of a property through borrowing, and pay back the debt over time. The difference between the amount you charge your tenants in rent and the cost of repaying the mortgage is your profit. Factor in the cost of maintenance, wear and tear, and the fact that the property might not always be occupied, and you might find that this margin shrinks considerably.

For years, lenders have been suggesting that the Bank of England’s base rate could rise, and thus variable-rate mortgages are inherently risky. The coronavirus depressed rates even further, and thus this advice rings truer than ever. Bear in mind that your rate of repayment will be more generous depending on how much you’re putting down as a deposit.

The first property is among the most important you’ll buy. Choose the right location and your career as a landlord will get off to the best possible start. Don’t rush into a purchase, and always be ready to walk away. Look at the amount you need to not only pay off the mortgage, but to expand into a second property, and then a third.

Insurance

When you have many properties, the risk of wear and tear and sudden damage is spread. When you only have a few, the danger becomes that little bit sharper. You can protect against sudden losses through landlords’ insurance.

Renovating

If you’re buying a property in need of renovation, then factor in not only the cost of the actual work, but the time it’ll take (during which you won’t be able to rent the place out). If you have the time to spare in daily life, then you might commit to overseeing the renovation personally. If this isn’t something you can commit to, then outsource the work to a professional project manager.

Managing Tenants

As your empire expands, you may have difficulty in handling all of the day-to-day problems which will inevitably arise. If you have half-a-dozen properties, then it might be only once in a while that a tenant phones up with a problem. If you have several hundred, then the administrative workload will become unworkable. If your margins allow, you might consider outsourcing your responsibilities.