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Which Qualities Define a Successful Entrepreneur?

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Successful Entrepreneur|Which Qualities Define a Successful Entrepreneur?Let’s face it: everyone wants to be a ‘successful’ entrepreneur. The harsh reality is that few entrepreneurs become successful in their careers, irrespective of whether you use money or popularity as metrics to measure success.

You’re likely reading this article today because you have an entrepreneurial spirit brewing inside of you, and now is the time to do something about it. However, you don’t want to try your hand at business and fail at the first hurdle.

With that in mind, which qualities define a successful entrepreneur? The following points illustrate the qualities you will find in any entrepreneur that has made a name for themselves in their industries:

Hard Work

The path to success, however you measure it, is not an easy one. It requires a lot of hard work and determination to get to the stage where you can begin to reap the fruits of your labor.

Hard work is just one of many qualities found in all successful entrepreneurs, of course, but without it, you are unlikely to achieve your goals and aspirations in the business world.

It’s not uncommon to hear that many successful entrepreneurs like David William Sherrer have sacrificed a lot of their time and dedicated it to achieve their ultimate business goals. Hard work does pay off; you just need to be in the right mindset to follow through with it.

Education

People aren’t born with the knowledge they possess in their latter years; they educate themselves and get educated by others. Knowledge is wonderful, and it can also make you powerful as an entrepreneur.

Some people are born with an entrepreneurial spirit, while others learn the skills to become entrepreneurs through education and experience. Education can teach us about entrepreneurship and how we can use this knowledge will help to start or grow our own business.

For Australian entrepreneur Kath Purkis, to be a successful entrepreneur you need to educate yourself on the market to the point you become an expert. Understanding the market allows you to find gaps and profit from these opportunities when they arise. With constant education your business can stay ahead of competitors and continue to grow.

Passion

Imagine there are two people in a room selling identical products. One of those individuals is highly passionate about what they’re selling and projects positive energy from themselves by talking with almost encyclopedic knowledge on their products.

The other person isn’t particularly interested in what they’re selling and appears disinterested, even to the point of seeming rude to potential customers that ask questions about the products.

Which of those two entrepreneurs do you think is likely to finish their day and go home with no stock and a pocket full of cash? Passion is a crucial element you’ll find in any successful entrepreneur.

Passionate business leaders love what they’re doing and don’t mind putting in the extra hours and hard work into making their enterprises a success.

Conclusion

Success is a metric you can measure through different metrics. When talking about successful entrepreneurs, most people mean individuals that have profitable and popular businesses.
There’s no reason you can’t become a highly successful entrepreneur, as long as you have certain traits like those discussed above.

3 Reasons Why Small Businesses Need Managed IT Services

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Managed IT Services|3 Reasons Why Small Businesses Need Managed IT ServicesRunning a small business isn’t for the faint-hearted. Competing in a global market with limited resources is challenging, which is why it’s essential to have the right resources to hand. Managed IT services give you the opportunity to outsource every element of your tech infrastructure, from installation and maintenance to procurement and future proofing. To learn more about the impact outsourcing your technology can have, take a look at these three reasons why small businesses need managed IT services:

1. Reduced Costs

Instead of hiring your own IT employees, you can avoid costly recruitment processes and minimize your expenditure when you rely on managed IT services instead. Managing a company’s tech infrastructure requires input from a wide range of IT specialists, such as network administrators, developers and cloud engineers. Hiring a full IT department is beyond the scope of most small businesses, but you won’t be at a competitive disadvantage when you outsource your needs to a professional IT company.

2. Access to Expertise

Some small business owners assume that hiring one IT employee will be enough to manage and maintain their tech resources while still keeping costs relatively low. In reality, there are numerous specialisms that are required to implement and maintain the right infrastructure, which is why you need access to a team of IT specialists, rather than just one individual.

When you choose a leading managed IT services partner, like Fidelis, Inc., you gain access to all the expertise you need. From IT consulting and hardware installation to helpdesk support and business continuity, you’ll benefit from having a wide range of resources at your fingertips.

3. Increased Security

Today’s businesses face a wide range of online threats, which often equates to financial risk. If you’re hit by a data breach or a DDoS attack, for example, it’s going to affect your professional reputation and reduce operational efficiency. To prevent this from happening, you need a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy in place. Furthermore, you need the tools and expertise to implement, monitor and update your security strategy.

Small businesses often overlook the importance of cybersecurity. After all, it’s easy to assume that major enterprises are a more likely target. However, the relatively limited security implemented by small businesses makes their systems a prime target for hackers. Fortunately, you won’t need to worry about your company’s digital security when you access managed IT services. By incorporating cybersecurity into your IT solutions package, you can protect your business and your investment.

Finding the Right IT Partner

Managed IT services offer a wide range of benefits, providing you find the right partner. As well as working with an IT firm that offers the services you need, it’s important to find a solutions provider who takes the time to get to know your business, your operations and your goals. This ensures they understand your pain points and growth plans, which allows them to provide maximum value when it comes to virtualization, business continuity and future proofing.

8 Simple Ways to Declutter Your Office

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Declutter your Office|8 Simple Ways to Declutter Your OfficeAs your business grows, you will get busier, and your office will get more cluttered. According to Small Business Trends, a cluttered workspace is less productive. Therefore, if you want to improve efficiency, you should have a system in place that ensures that your workplace stays decluttered. However, while this may look like a simple task, it is quite easy to become accustomed to clutter, especially if you spend most of your time in the office. A cluttered office can cause organizational issues, which can take time for you to realize.

Tips on How to Declutter Your Office

Remove all items in your office

If you truly want to declutter your workspace, you should start from scratch. Remove all the items in your office, including your drawers, computers, and shelves. Place your items in neat piles in another room or on the floor. Now that your office is empty wipe down all surfaces and clean your PCs.

Determine what you need in your office

When everything is still outside, spare some time to evaluate what you will need in your office and what needs to go. For most people, clutter piles up because the brain tricks them into believing that everything in the office is crucial. When you find items that you no longer require or things that you had forgotten exist, you should get rid of them.
Decide where to keep the remaining items

Now that you know what you should keep, your next step is to determine where to keep them. Where you place your items is equally important because you will need to access them quickly. Therefore, organize items in your workspace based on how regularly you will be using them. The stuff you most often use should go in the closet drawer, and everything else can go in faraway drawers. If you have several tax and customer files, then you may need a secure AAA Mobile Storage.

Use your phone to take a photo

You have most likely visited another office and found clutter that the owner was genuinely unaware of. This is most likely the case in your office. Visitors may see your office from a different perspective, and they will tend to be more observant of clutter that you may never notice.

To test this synopsis, take a photograph of your office with your phone from the main office door. This will help you to see your office the same way your visitors do. If you don’t find clutter from that photo, take many photos from different angles. These photographs will help you to pinpoint areas that may need decluttering and cleaning.

Tame your cables

From laptop and phone chargers to headphone dongles and HDMI cables, the cables in your office may seem to multiply. Whether these cables are on top of the desk or underneath it, it isn’t easy to get them under control. In fact, most people end up ignoring them. However, ignoring this issue may lead to problems with your electronics. Additionally, disorganized cables can delay you from identifying where the problem is. You can tame your cables by labeling them during installation and use a system like Cablox to arrange your cables in a neat and organized manner.

Create a hidden storage

If using traditional shelves isn’t appealing to you, you have a few other options. For instance, pegboard is a popular way to hide routers, cables, and other gadgets behind your office desk. You can also use magnets to mount some of your important items or hide other stuff behind your monitor.

Digitize all files

If your office is cluttered, then most of the clutter may be paper-based. These can include documents, sticky notes, business cards, and meeting notes, among others. Paper clutter can occupy most of your office space and you won’t need them regularly. Therefore, instead of preserving all this paper clutter, you can digitize the important documents by scanning the documents or typing them.

There are several mobile apps that you can use to scan your documents and store them on your phone. Take the photos of important documents that you don’t want to lose, and then recycle or discard the paper versions.

Clean your office every evening

Even after decluttering your office, your workspace will still get messy during the day. And that’s okay because it shows you’re working. However, keeping it messy will start becoming a problem. Therefore, you need to prevent this from happening by cleaning your desk and office every evening.

Bottom Line

Your office isn’t just your workspace, it’s a place where you and your employees spend most of your time. Therefore, its organization will not only affect physical cleanliness but also affect productivity. With this in mind, ensure that you organize your office files and maintain a flexible work environment to ensure that you maximize your time and effort.

7 Simple Ways to Improve Local SEO for Your Business

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Local SEO|7 Simple Ways to Improve Local SEO for Your BusinessIf you run a local business then it’s important to be able to reach out to local customers. Potential clients will perform an online search based on location, and you want to be the first name they find. In order to get your website to the top spots of the search engine results pages, you need to optimize it for local SEO. This is essential for local searches. You need solid strategies to ensure you appear as an authority in the field in your community. You’ll then gain a competitive edge in the local market. Here are seven simple ways to improve your local SEO.

Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

A well-written Google My Business Listing is a sure-fire way to improve your local SEO. First of all, you need to claim your business profile and include plenty of information. This includes beautiful photos of your products and engaging copy. You need to create the perfect listing, so as soon as a local person Googles the type of product you sell, they are attracted to your business. For the best results, you could consider outsourcing this to SEO Services as they will have the resources and expertise to optimize your listing.

Post your listing in other online business directories

There are several other online web directories that local customers will use. Post your listing in more of these to increase your chances of being found. This will also help to boost your local SEO and the search engine bots will find your various posts and consider you more of an authority in your field.

Create local content for your website

In order to boost your SEO, you also need to optimize your website. Create engaging video content relating to local events. You could even volunteer as a company and film a corporate charity video. As well as video, include local news and information. This will help your site to rank more highly as a local business. You should also update your social media with local content as well. You can be creative with this or even collaborate with other local businesses.

Use local keywords in your content

Use local keywords in written content across your listings, website, and social media accounts. These keywords need to match what a potential customer might search for on Google. Local keywords, in particular, contain location-specific phrases related to the same geographic location of your business. You can learn how to find keywords for a local search online.

Create separate pages for each location

If you want to boost your local SEO you need to create location pages. This means a separate landing page for each location of your business. If you offer services across multiple locations it could affect your SEO if not. You can’t utilize those location-specific keywords unless they relate to only one place. On your separate location pages, you can include details about each location and places in the town near your business, for example. Google won’t rank the pages as highly if they’re too similar.

Create separate service pages

You should also create individual service pages to improve local SEO, rather than one page listing all services. Search engines won’t consider your brand as an authority in one specific area if you include all your services on one page. You can include a services tab on your main homepage with drop-down links to all your services, for example. This goes the same for the unique products that you offer. These product pages are where potential customers may first arrive. They tend to search for a product or service rather than the name or type of a business.

Incentivize local customers to leave reviews

Customer reviews are very effective, especially for local businesses. They show that members of the community trust your brand and that others should too. There are several ways to encourage customers to leave reviews. You could automate follow-up emails asking them for a quick review or rating. You could even incentivize them by offering a promo or discount in exchange for recommending you to a friend. Post positive reviews on your website and listings. Try to include personal information about the customer, as long as they’ve agreed to it. This will give your business a lot of credibility in the local neighborhood. By boosting your appeal to both local customers and the search engine bots, you can start to make a name for yourself in the field. You’ll create the online presence you need to succeed.

How To Find The Right Suppliers For Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Business Suppliers|How To Find The Right Suppliers For Your BusinessChoosing the right suppliers for your company isn’t always an easy task. First of all, you’ll have plenty of options to choose from, and secondly, it can be difficult to assess quality. To help you find the right suppliers to work with, try checking out these simple guidelines.

1 . Determine Your Needs

When you’re looking for suppliers, you must establish your needs. Think about what you require in terms of delivery, lead times, and returns guidelines. You should also consider which kind of quality procedures you need, and the storage options. Arguably, improving lead time is the most important thing to consider. Delivery and production times must enable you to make your client deadlines.

2. Consider Quality

When you’re looking for the right suppliers, you need to ensure that these suppliers can offer you the best quality. If you want to grow your company and impress your customers, you must provide a top quality product or service. Whether you’re looking for 940nm ir led or the best bicycle parts, perform a quality check on your suppliers and their materials. Before you commit to working with a supplier you might like to check out any reviews and testimonials on offer. You’ll feel better entering into a contract when you know you’re working with a great company.

3. Search With A SIM System

With the help of a Supplier Information Management System, you can search for the right suppliers for you. These platforms work by collecting data about suppliers, helping businesses to make an informed choice. SIM Systems gather information such as quality info and ratings, health and safety info, sustainability practices, and more. You can also take a look at analytics info, usually supplier scorecards. With the help of a SIM System, it’s easier to find suppliers that match your criteria. Whichever kind of specialist suppliers you need, a SIM can help you to find them.

4. Keeping things green

When you put sustainability first, you’ll protect the planet and improve the reputation of your company. You’ve probably already got a few green policies as part of your production procedures, but it’s always worth looking to make improvements. Choose suppliers who also follow sustainable business practices, this will help you to remain consistent. As much as possible, you should try to adopt green practices, across all areas of your business.

5. Continued Evaluation

Once you’ve found your suppliers, ensure that you assess their performance over time. Keep track of their performance, and communicate any issues that you are unhappy with. You’ll need to ensure that you set out clear expectations, so that your suppliers understand your standards. When you take the time to evaluate performance, you can raise the bar, and improve your relationship.

When it comes to your products and services, you’ll want to offer your customers the best experience possible. No matter which area of your business you are looking to improve, it can be helpful to set goals, to stay on track.