Monthly Archives: June 2020

How To Grow A Business Online: For Small and Medium Businesses

Businesses can launch and grow on the Internet. Many entrepreneurs have become successful thanks to the Internet. It can be a daunting task launching your own business, especially in this digital world. This article will walk you through some of the best tips on how to grow a business online.

 

Competing for digital attention is hard since there are so many companies looking to be found in Google. Add to that the stress of owning a small or medium sized business. Without having an effective online growth strategy, you’ll be working hard for years without seeing results.

 

I’ve put together a list of ideas that may help you out with this. These are things I’ve shared with my private clients on how to grow a business online. If you have a small business with little money to invest on marketing, this article will make online marketing easier for you.

 

How To Take Your Business Online

 

Even without a lot of technical experience, you can take your small and medium sized business online. You can do this by taking a strategic approach to building a web presence. Here are some of the things you can start implementing immediately.

 

Plan your website

 

A bit of planning goes a long way toward ensuring that your site will do all the things you want it to do. Your business website is online real estate. It’s a basic must for people to know your business.

 

Just make sure that your website is conversion focused. The truth is, most websites are dead now. Meaning, they don’t generate leads for your business. In fact, they don’t even generate traffic on your website.

 

It’s easier for people to discover your business when you have a website planned out and optimized. This is why planning your website is critical. You want to take your visitors on a journey so you can build a stronger trust and relationship in your business.

 

Take Advantage of Free Marketing Tools

 

The Internet is full of free marketing tools from email marketing campaigns to designing perfect social media graphics. While it may take a bit of effort to find tools that work best for you, the end result is a far more streamlined system.

 

In fact, there are a number of social media marketing tools you can start using right now to boost your business. While some may have a monthly subscription fee, many will have free or trial versions you can test.

 

Create Valuable Content 

 

Think about your mission, your passion, and what makes you stand apart from the competition. Then start writing. This will most likely inspire your customers and make them engage with your business. Post content your audience will want to read. Keep it all centered around your industry and niche.

 

Remember, in the world of digital marketing, content is king. To grow a business online, you must publish relevant content in a regular manner. It’s the fuel that drives traffic to your website. This is why publishing is important if you want people to find your website and what you’re offering.

 

Keep Your Website In Shape

 

Updating and maintaining your website’s content and functionality is key to staying current. This will make sure that your website has top notch security. Aside from that, you can deliver more value to your audience.

 

Yes, it may take a lot of work at first. But marketing is the single best investment you can make in your business today. The returns of your effort will give you big advantages now and in the future.

 

Make It Easier For Users To Contact You

 

Make it easier to contact you. If you want your website to bring you more customers, then you need to add an easy way for visitors to contact you. Put your contact details across your website and social media platforms. And make sure they work.

 

In your website, you can put a Contact Us page where people can reach out to you. I’ve had several invitations to do podcasts, interviews, and guest posts through my website. And publishing may open similar doors for your business, too. That’s how you grow a business online.

 

How To Grow Your Online Business Presence

 

How can you stand apart from every other business that is attempting to reach customers online? Having an online presence is important. It helps consumers find your brand before they are aware you exist and it helps them learn about your reputation before making a purchase. 

 

Eventually, all of this information will play a role in your customer’s purchasing decision. Here are simple methods that will not only increase your online presence. It will also attract more customers so you can grow your business organically.

 

Choose Your Social Channels Wisely

 

You’ve heard time and time again that you need to be active on social media. Interacting with influencers and customers via social media is one of the most effective ways to grow your online presence. 

 

You don’t have to be on each and every social media channel. Instead of spreading yourself too thin, be picky and focus your efforts. In most cases, you should at least choose to use some of the biggest social media websites:

 

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
  • Quora
  • Reddit

 

Build An Email List

 

One of the top ways to grow a business online while you build your online presence is to create an email list. An email list will enable you to engage with current and potential customers on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

 

Every big email list started from scratch. So you can start your own right now. Email is very effective since it’s an intimate tool and people love reading great emails. Yes, there are a lot of email newsletters that spam people.

 

This is where you’ll stand out. If you send value-driven emails, you will build trust with your audience. And people buy with businesses they trust and identify with.

 

Be Active Online

 

In order to show up online, you have to be active online. This includes regularly posting to your owned properties, including your website and social media accounts.

 

Customers love it when they feel important. So it would really be a great help for you to be active online so that you can reply to their inquiries right away. This will definitely engage more prospects and customers that will support your business. 

 

Final Word On How To Grow A Business Online

 

You just have to be patient. You also need to work really hard and not let obstacles prevent you from doing better. Whether it’s creating content that engages the audience or messaging fans on Facebook, it takes work to become a success.

 

One of the most prominent ways to boost your business for free is to put in the effort. With focused effort, you can build a powerful online business or grow your business’ presence online.

 

Have patience, and build something that helps your target audience. Focus and you will do this. Soon, you will see the positive results you have always hoped for.

 

What specific strategy are you going to implement today to grow your business online? Share it with me on the comment below!

How to Grow a Business Organically Even If You’re Tight on Cash

For starting businesses, it might be difficult to raise money and expand. It is expensive to scatter all your resources on different platforms. A workaround is to concentrate your efforts on implementing small projects. Organic growth is the best way to grow. This article will show you how to grow a business organically.

 

Growth for bigger companies means merging and acquisition. But capital is one resource that small and medium scale businesses don’t have a lot of. That’s why what works for big companies doesn’t work on small ones.

 

Organic growth is the best way to grow the business without raising a considerable capital.

So if you’re a business owner looking on how to expand your business to the next phase, tune in. Today you’ll learn how to grow a business organically.

 

What Is Organic Growth

 

There are two modes to expand a business. Inorganic growth and organic growth. Inorganic growth is associated with strategies that need upfront investments. Mergers, acquisitions, running paid ad campaigns, and so on.

 

On the other hand, organic growth expands business by increasing output. Meaning, customer base expansion, marketing campaigns that need more effort, and so on. Doing it all with little to no upfront investment.

 

Why Is Organic Growth Important

 

Scaling a business sometimes requires huge capital to succeed. Although possible, small and medium sized businesses don’t have much to invest. They don’t have a big stash of capital on hand.

 

Often, businesses die because they’re not making enough cash flow or they can’t grow it. In the end, they lack the financial stability to let the business stay afloat.

The alternative is optimizing company resources to produce output and reach ROI faster. This is where organic growth comes in.

 

Especially for a startup business, they have to prove that their ideas can make money. So they have to utilize all the resources to get as much returns as they can produce from organic growth.

 

Once you have a proof of concept, the next logical thing to do is to grow it. And if you don’t have enough funds, organic growth is the way to go. It provides a sustainable option to continue with the business.

 

How To Grow A Business Organically

 

As I shared earlier, organic growth has three components: increased output, serving a wider customer base, and rolling out new products.

 

But how can you improve your output when you don’t have enough resources? Quick answer: boost your productivity.

 

Pareto Principle states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In your business, 20% of your clients contribute to 80% of your profit. Evaluate the input that produces 80% of your output. Then continue improving them so it yields more results.

 

Since you’re bootstrapping, knowing the critical few that brings results is a must. Why? Because it’s the one giving you exponential success. Focusing on those will make sure you’re using your time wisely.

 

Increased Output

 

Before a business can serve more people, it must make sure that its process is improved to increase output. But if you are alone in your business journey, how can you serve more people? Increasing output can be achieved through outsourcing, hiring talent, and automation.

 

If you juggle several responsibilities in your company, you’re not being as effective as you should be. It’s time to start outsourcing help. 

 

The best use of your time is doing what you are good at and what your company needs. As a business owner, that means marketing, selling, and focusing on your vision.

 

Relieving yourself from the different responsibilities of your business will also give you time to produce new products for your audience.

 

Customer Base Expansion

 

The more problems you solve, the more money you make. Now that you have built your capacity to produce more output, you can now serve more customers better.

 

This is where marketing comes into play. In this digital age, it is now easier to introduce your product in front of people. If you are a brick and mortar business, set up your Facebook page to reach more eyeballs. 

 

There are many methods of reaching more customers, like ads. But you can also reach more customers organically. These can be done through SEO, social media, e-mail, and content marketing.

 

As with everything, organic reach is at a slower pace. But the key to reaching these new customers who don’t know you yet is creating relevant content.

 

Growing a business online is not a straightforward path. But if you hire talent that can help you accommodate your expanding customer base, you can increase your profits.

 

New Product Development

 

There is no perfect product. This is why you need to know your customers well. Once you know their problems and needs, you can develop new products to help them. That’s what businesses are all about.

 

Now that you have more time on your hands, you can better use that time to think of new products. Or thinking of new solutions to your customer’s problems. This way, you can rest assured that you’re serving your market better.

 

Final Thoughts On How To Grow A Business Organically

 

Building a business from the ground up is hard work. But scaling your business to the next phase requires you to be smarter. By growing a business organically, you are ahead of the curve. You optimize the steps so that you can maximize profit using fewer resources.

 

Have more ideas on how to grow a business organically? Share them below!

How To Get Clarity In Life: The 5 Steps You Need To Know

There’s always 3 ways to live life. Force, flux, and flow. How are you living your life right now? Are you creating more success effortlessly in flow, or are you forcing everything to happen? Are you in flux? This article will walk you through on how to get clarity in life.

 

If you want better results for your life, you have to change your behavior. And if you want to change your behavior, you have to change your beliefs. 

 

That’s why it’s important for you to identify those limiting beliefs or stories that’s holding you back. Ask yourself, “Do you own the story or does the story own you? What do you have to believe to get the results you’ve created in your life right now?”

 

When something happens in life, when people go through brick walls, they stop pursuing their dreams. They stop working for what they want. And then they told the story about what happened and they started owning that story. Why? Because it lets them justify the reasons why they can’t move forward in life.

 

That’s what happens when people aren’t clear about what they want in life. Here are the 5 steps on how to get clarity in life.

 

Step 1: Clarify Where You Are Right Now

 

The first step on how to get clarity in your life is to clarify where you are right now. In each aspect of your life, where are you? With your health, wealth, your relationship, your mindset, your spirituality? Ask yourself, “On a scale of 1-10, where would you say you’re at each aspect of your life?”

 

Without knowing where you are right now, you can’t move forward. You may be deluding yourself of believing that you’re doing well in life. But once you have a check up from the neck up, you’ll realize that you’re not.

 

This is one of the reasons why you must clarify where you are. It’s one of the most important steps in getting clarity in life.

 

Step 2: Clarify What You Want

 

Once you’ve clarified where you’re at, the next thing you must do is to clarify what you want. What do you desire the most? List down the things in life that you want to be, do or have. Ask yourself these questions:

 

  • What would it look like to have those things?
  • How would it feel once you have them?
  • What would you hear and experience in your life when you get these things?

 

You have to break it down at every aspect of your life. Take action and immerse yourself in activities as well to explore new things you might not know. You have to figure out what you really want to be able to prepare the steps you need to achieve it.

 

Without knowing where you’re going, it’s impossible to get there.

 

Step 3: Clarify Why You Want It

 

When setting goals, most people forget to clarify why they want what they want. In fact, most goal setting systems you’ll see out there don’t even include this. That’s the reason why they fail big time!

 

List all the reasons why you want your goals. Who would you become in this process of achieving it? Whose life would it change? How will your life change and how will getting your goals change the lives of people you love?

 

Once you identify that “WHY,” it will give you the momentum and the motivation to get up. You’ll change from motivation to inspiration and start getting excited for your everyday life. You have to understand everything that’s happening to your life right now to know what really is your motive or purpose.

 

Step 4: Clarify The How

 

Now that you know where you’re starting from and where you’re going, it’s easier to create the roadmap. Especially now that you understand WHY you want what you want. These steps are important so you can know how to get clarity in life.

 

As the old adage goes, “One you know the ‘WHY,’ the ‘HOW’ will appear.” That’s where you start building a plan. List the steps you must take and ask opinions from your mentors on what you need to do.

 

One of the best ways to achieve your goals faster is to get a mentor or model someone who’s done what you want to do. It would still take you time to achieve your goals, but it will let you compress decades into days.

 

Step 5: Clarify Your Own Progress

 

What are the skills and experiences you want to develop? What will you do to improve yourself?

You can’t sit back and think that your results are that great if they’re really not. And you won’t know if what you’re doing is working if you’re not measuring.

 

Peter Drucker once said, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” I agree. That’s why you need to take time-outs to check your progress. If possible, get outside feedback from people who have gone to where you want to go.

 

You have to clarify your progress every week – what’s working, not working, and what you can do differently. What you should stop, start, and maintain. And the only way to make it efficient, is to get a mentor that will hold you accountable. Someone who’s going to tell you if you’re doing something wrong or good.

 

Final Thoughts On How To Get Clarity In Life

 

These are the 5 steps on how to get clarity in life. Without clarity, you’ll have chaos, confusion, and conflict in your life. That’s going to stop you from moving forward. Without clarity, people don’t act because they are afraid of making mistakes. And if you don’t act, you won’t move forward. 

 

All creation comes from confidence. Confidence comes from competence. And competence comes from choices in doing the work. And all of that comes from clarity. Once you have clarity, you will create the life you truly desire and deserve.

 

What areas of your life do you need clarity from? Share your thoughts on the comment below!

How to bring innovation to a company

4 Workplace Practices On How To Bring Innovation To A Company (2020)

Resilient companies adapt by practicing innovation. This is important if you want to stay operational despite drastic changes in the business landscape. But is your company ready to push innovation? In this article, you’ll learn 4 practices on how to bring innovation to a company.

 

2020 struck businesses hard when the global pandemic happened. Revenues of businesses were halted because they had to stop business operations. My business is affected just the same. But instead of letting the situation stop me, I reframed my mindset. I shifted my focus to see the opportunities.

 

Once you know how to bring innovation to a company, you can get through any market climate or economic condition. Here are some ideas on how to bring innovation to a company.

 

Incremental Innovation

 

You don’t have to make leapfrog products that revolutionize an entire industry to be considered innovative. In fact, that’s counterproductive. This mindset is hindering your chance to take a shot on innovation. 

 

But there is another way to introduce innovation to a company, and it’s way simpler. It’s called incremental innovation.

 

Incremental innovation is a series of small improvements that are applied into your products, services, and business processes. This way, you’re able to test what the market wants without making a lot of changes in what they already love.

 

Innovation doesn’t have to be always about your products or services. There is always a way to improve your business processes. Reducing a five-step approach to a 4-step process can lessen the friction in your company. Which means more time to be productive and do what you actually love.

 

Eliminate Fear Of Failure

 

People might often find themselves holding their tongue when they have some crazy idea. They want to share it, but they are doubtful as to how others will accept it. They fear being judged and failing.

 

If your company shuts down ideas fast, you don’t benefit from the potential innovation that can happen. Innovative ideas seem crazy at first. But if you let it sink in, you can improve upon the seed idea. Later on, this crazy idea seems more logical as time goes on. 

 

As the famous quote attributed by Henry Ford, “If I asked people what they wanted they would have said faster horses.”

 

At the time, a motorized form of transportation that gets people from point A to point B faster may not seem logical. People only wanted the idea of faster horses because they are not aware of what is possible. 

 

Had Henry Ford, shut down this idea, they could still be in horse carriages. So don’t discourage crazy ideas for innovation. Eliminate the fear of failure in your company.

 

Freedom – 15% Time For Creativity

 

Innovation does not happen idly. This requires a lot of mental space for creativity. You can bring this to your company by giving your team members the ability to work on their own projects.  Freedom to do whatever they want. 

 

One famous example is 3M. They allow employees to work on their personal projects 15% of their time. They are still being paid while they pursue the activities that fuel their creativity. Today, it’s a billion dollar company that has more than 22,800 patents. Most of which came from the 15% creativity time.

 

Now, this is only one example. If you feel like 15% is a huge amount of time that might be wasted, consider the fact that employees only work productively for about 2 hours and 53 minutes per day. Your company will benefit more from giving your employees enough time and space to pursue innovative ideas.

 

Cultivate A Culture Of Innovation: Start With Yourself 

 

As a business owner, you are setting examples for your employees. If you want to learn how to bring innovation to a company, start leading by example. You can do the above steps to guide your team towards innovation.

 

Look for incremental improvements in your business processes. You can also give feedback to the team on how they can improve their process. 

 

To eliminate the fear of failure, don’t turn down a crazy pitch right off the bat. Consider its possibilities and if it seems outrageous, encourage your employee to reflect on it more. 

 

Create a culture of innovation by allowing yourself to work on side projects which stimulates your thinking. This will inspire your people to follow your example. And when they do, you can expect that they will work with their blood, sweat, and tears to help your business win.

 

Final Thoughts On How To Bring Innovation To A Company

 

With these steps, I know you gained some actionable steps on how to bring innovation to a company. It’s not always easy to innovate. But if you don’t, you will soon realize that you’re becoming obsolete.

 

As I always say, there are two kinds of companies: the quick and the dead. The quick are resilient and are always looking for ways to serve their market better. The dead became comfortable living with the status quo.

 

Start bringing innovation into your company by applying what you learned in this article.

 

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