Mohit Tater's Blog, page 572

Leading Business Coach Believes Coaching Industry Should Be Regulated

Nowadays,
more people are trying their hand on entrepreneurship, and a big percentage of
these novice entrepreneurs need the help of businesses coaches to be able to
develop the necessary skills to run a successful business on their own. Many
young people opt to set up small businesses instead of seeking employment with
established companies, and they need a guiding hand, at least during the first
phase of their ventures. Even those who join big companies still need to learn
key leadership skills so that they can climb up the career ladder. Young
entrepreneurs and aspiring business leaders often turn to business coaches to
get the necessary guidance, but with the current state of the business coaching
industry, many of them end up getting disappointed by the coaching that they
receive.

The
business coaching industry is unregulated, and that presents a big problem for
entrepreneurs who need professional coaching services. Anyone can decide to be
a business coach, even if they don’t have the academic credentials, business
acumen, or coaching expertise to justify their entry into the field. That is
not necessarily the government’s fault or anyone’s fault for that matter
because the practice of coaching doesn’t readily lend itself to regulation; if
someone is willing to dish out advice, and someone else is willing to pay for
it, it’s really difficult to come up with a set of rules that will govern how
those two parties will interact with each other, and it’s even more difficult
to enforce such rules. So, with no recourse, entrepreneurs end up spending
money on canned coaching programs from unqualified coaches who overpromise and under
deliver.

Like any
other consumers, entrepreneurs and young professionals who seek out the
services of business coaches need to be protected. But is there anything that
anyone can do to ensure that these ambitious innovators and upcoming business
leaders don’t get short-changed?

To answer that, we talked to Stuart Hayes, a leading business coach and the founder of Stuart Hayes Leadership. Stuart is a qualified business coach by any imaginable metric. In terms of academic qualifications, he has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Monash University, and he is a CPA. In terms of business experience, he spent over a decade working with accounting firms that audited flailing businesses to figure out how to resuscitate them; a skill that comes in handy in his new career as a coach. In terms of expertise, the track records of the CEOs he has coached say everything you need to know.

Stuart
acknowledges that the business coaching industry would have a better reputation
if it were properly regulated, and he says that in principle, he supports the
idea of having a regulatory body that says who can or can’t offer coaching
services, or what claims coaches can or can’t make when they are trying to win
over clients. Stuart says that “Every coach has his own unique style, but
most coaching programs would be better if they were subject to guidelines that
required them to use a more pragmatic approach… this would force coaches to
take a hard look at the client’s business before prescribing a specific
solution, so that you have a coaching program that is tailored to the needs of
the individual client, instead of the one-size-fits-all programs that you see
everywhere.”

Despite his convictions, Stuart is not naïve. He told us that “I’ve been in the coaching game for such a long time that I understand it would be difficult to fundamentally overhaul the way coaching is done, through regulation or even through training of coaches, so, it ultimately falls on the clients to be very keen when deciding who to hire”. According to him, universities that are offering courses on coaching are taking a step in the right direction, but great coaches need to also have real-world experience.

So, even though regulation and training could help, the fact is that for the foreseeable future, business coaching will still be a self-regulating industry. Entrepreneurs who want to get their money’s worth when investing in coaching programs need to do their own due diligence. Stuart advises that “entrepreneurs should check the credentials of the coaches they hire to make sure that they have the academic background, business experience, and coaching track record, but on top of that, they should closely examine the coaching program and ask, is this based on my needs, or is this just general stuff that could be given to anyone?”

Stuart’s
advice is that entrepreneurs should be wary of coaches who come in with
preconceived notions about what steps need to be taken, and they should instead
go with coaches who take the time to study the business before creating a
targeted coaching program.

The post Leading Business Coach Believes Coaching Industry Should Be Regulated appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Why Automation Is the Way Forward for Businesses

The market
is providing businesses with plenty of opportunities to grow. There are new
markets to access and a growing number of potential customers in almost every
industry. Businesses are leveraging these opportunities and expanding their
operations as a response. Even small businesses can scale up exponentially in
today’s economy.

Scaling up,
however, can be difficult when you don’t have the resources to do so. With many
businesses scaling up at the same time, finding great talent and other
resources needed to sustain such a rapid growth is difficult. This is why more
businesses turn to automation as one of the solutions, and there are some very
good reasons why automation is the way forward.

Access to Technology and
Talents

The fields
of automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics are on trend right
now. More professionals are going back to school for the purpose of mastering
these fields. The high demand for AI specialists, electrical and computer
engineers, and data scientists is also pushing more reputable universities like
Kettering University Online to keep their curriculums up to date.

An electrical and computer engineering master’s degree is also valuable because of the wealth of skills and knowledge it comes with. You can, for example, find an MS Engineering-ECE-Advanced Mobility program to learn more about advanced mobility and how AI and robotics can be used to improve autonomous vehicles at different scales and levels.

The
technology behind automation is improving rapidly. More importantly, the same
technology is becoming more accessible. Enterprise-grade solutions like IBM
Watson and Google’s Vision AI are just an API call away, which means small and
medium enterprises can now tap into automation as a way of scaling up in a more
efficient way.

A More Efficient Way

That last
part is another reason why automation is the way forward for businesses: there
is an opportunity to reach a higher level of efficiency through careful use of
automation. At the very basic level, automation can take care of mundane,
everyday tasks as well as repetitive processes. This means key talents can focus
on more advanced tasks and additional resources can be freed up.

Automation
in business can be very basic. Instead of manually filing purchase orders, for
instance, an automated system can handle the task easily. All customer orders
are processed and analyzed to determine the right purchase orders (i.e. for raw
materials) to issue. Thanks to machine learning, this process can be optimized
further.

The key talents that were normally handling this task can then move on to more important challenges, such as boosting sales and drawing the attention of more potential customers. As a result, the business can grow and capitalize on market growth without having to expand structurally. Isn’t that the most efficient way to go?

Process Reduction

Another key
benefit offered by automation is the reduction of processes within a business’s
operations. Rather than pouring resources into automating 100 tasks, the very
process of automating workflows and processes allows businesses to do a more
thorough review of those processes. Streamlining becomes the next step to take
at this point.

Process
reduction isn’t just good for efficiency. In order for a business to scale up
without suffering from the stress of more overhead costs and operational
delays, it is important to move on to a more streamlined and concise series of
processes. The process of implementing automation simply makes going through
and optimizing every process well worth the efforts.

Redundant processes can be merged and made more efficient. Other processes that still require manual work can be redesigned or replaced completely. It all comes down to the needs of your business as well as the challenges you face on the market. One thing is certain though: there are always ways to improve business processes.

Data-Driven from A to Z

Automation
relies heavily on streams of data, and that’s a good thing. Through the
implementation of automation across the organization, you also gain the opportunity
to fine-tune data streams and how you utilize them. You can, for example,
automate tracking customers along the sales funnel using automation tools from
Salesforce or ActiveCampaign.

Since there
is no need to analyze data streams manually, you also gain the ability to tap
into more streams and external sources of information. This gives you access to
a wider view of the market, which in turn can be a huge competitive advantage.
When you understand your market segment perfectly, you can tailor your
operations to that segment just as perfectly.

Automation
leads to more data-driven decisions being made on a regular basis. At one
point, you can start letting AI make some decisions for you. The previous
example of purchase order issuance shows how AI and the right data streams can
also be used to automate mission-critical decisions in an organization.

Automation in the Cloud

The last,
and perhaps the biggest, reason why automation is now used by more and more
businesses is actually cloud computing. In the old days, you would have to
invest in servers and supporting infrastructure to access this level of
automation. Today, cloud-based business solutions already have automation tools
built into the user interface.

ActiveCampaign,
for example, can be integrated with a wealth of other tools, including your
ecommerce website. It automatically tracks customers and learns more about them
before sending content – emails, ads, etc. – that matches specific customers
and where they are in the sales funnel. It doesn’t just optimize your marketing
campaign; it transforms the customer experience too.

It is only a matter of time before automation becomes more integrated and more advanced – before it becomes more accessible and more robust as a solution to scalability challenges. That brings us full circle to the underlying technology and talents behind automation. As universities and their engineering programs train more AI and automation experts, more use cases will be visible on the market.

Here’s
another bit of great news: you can start today. Automation tools and solutions
are widely available and integrating them into your business processes is
nowhere near as difficult as you think.

The post Why Automation Is the Way Forward for Businesses appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Tal Melenboim Talks About the CGI Influencers Digital Trend

Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) is the
next step in the evolution of consumer marketing on the web.  In a traditional sense, digital influencers typically
produce content through various channels (both off-line and online) to
influence customer behavior. Social media channels on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and Pinterest are peppered with instances of digital influencers.
Many popular stars have emerged over time, including Jen Selter, Ryan Deiss,
Jenna Marbles, Neil Patel, and Rand Fishkin. These folks are the superstars of
the online milieu. They offer viable marketing solutions and strategies to help
grow businesses.

Mention is often made of popular YouTubers with throngs of subscribers. Names like PewDiePie boast 95,648,856 subscribers with over 21.4 billion video views. Dude Perfect boasts 41.9 million subscribers with 7.8 billion video views. Clearly, there is tremendous power in social media and particularly with digital influencer marketing. In this realm, there is yet another avenue being explored by leading entrepreneurs and technologists like Tal Melenboim. Rather than adopting the conventional route of uniform appeal, Melenboim has crafted a dynamic virtual digital influencer known as Zoe Dvir.

What is Zoe Dvir and How Does it Work?

Zoe Dvir is a digital rendering; she is everything she needs to be based on her clients’ expectations. This rising star on Instagram bridges the gap between a company and its target market. ZoeDvir is a vibrant, trendy millennial with a free spirit, and a zest for life. She is the face of her target market and she represents the best qualities of her base. This concept was years in the making. With Melenboim at helm and co-founder Dan Edry at his side, Zoe Dvir was launched.

ZoeDvir uses proprietary digital technology
to craft a marketing strategy for clients. Zoe is an Instagram model, and a
popular one at that. At the time of writing, she boasted 28,300+ followers on
Instagram and growing fast. Another hugely popular digital influencer is the
iconic ‘Lil Miquela’ on Instagram. She is the face of the new generation,
routinely posting about trending issues, and social causes. She currently has
1.5 million followers on her channel. The technological advances with this
virtual influencer are evident in the video interviews which juxtapose the 3D
animated avatar alongside real-life people. The result is a subscriber base of
epic proportions.

The Brains Behind Zoe Dvir

For Melenboim and Edry, the concept was extrapolated to be of use to companies seeking to market their products and services to their base. Zoe Dvir comes with the tagline, ‘You’re amazing just the way you are’ and that resonates with audiences worldwide. With just a few dozen posts to boot, this virtual digital influencer is already drawing compliments from the crowds. The key to her success as a digital influencer is personalization. After careful evaluation of a client’s target market, all the necessary adjustments are made to tailor a marketing campaign to specs.

Virtual digital influencers have a slight
advantage over human models (1.77% vs 1.39%) and this is driving change in this
direction. Social media influencers rely on mass-market appeal to convert
traffic into paying customers. Slight percentages can mean the difference
between success and failure in this realm. Zoe Dvir is the product of
significant ideation, from concept to creation.

The market for avatars for branding
purposes is steadily growing and entrepreneurs are leveraging this for the most
effective marketing campaigns. Conventional marketing methodology no longer
generates the mass-market appeal; today, it’s all about social media and
virtual influencers driving the narrative. ZoeDvir is a veritable ‘Labor of
Love’; a start-up project designed to craft the ideal marketing initiative.

Computer-Generated Imagery Influencers a Big
Hit with Fans

Consider that influencer marketing is one of the fastest-growing areas on the web, with an estimated spend of $8 billion by next year. With a CPM of $5, marketing gurus are crunching the numbers to bring these groundbreaking projects to the fore. Many years ago, Hollywood released a film starring Al Pacino, known as SIMONE (Simulation One). A virtual popstar performed in front of massive crowds. An entire persona was created, fanfare was generated, and record sales resulted. The public’s interest in digital influencers is at an all-time high. Augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence have introduced these concepts to mainstream audiences. The commingling of virtual and corporeal elements is pervasive and this is the next step in that evolution. ZoeDvir is appealing, independent and spirited. She serves as the brand ambassador for companies across multiple sectors, tiers and industries. Behind-the-scenes, in-depth analytics allow for careful evaluation of audience stats, engagement levels, and conversion rates. Once the requisite work has been completed, the marketing campaign is rolled out in earnest.

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How to Keep Personal and Business Finances Separate

There’s one common mistake that most first-time entrepreneurs make and that is failing to keep their business and personal finances separate. This can lead to a mismanagement of funds, tax errors, and it can expose all of your finances in a lawsuit. These tips can help you draw a line between your personal life and your business so those risks can be minimized.

Open a Business Checking Account

All of your business finances should be managed through a business checking account. The primary reason for doing this is to distinguish your business in the eyes of the IRS. If you manage your business through your personal checking account, they may view your business as a hobby. That means you won’t be eligible for certain tax benefits. Keeping an active business checking account will also make it easier for you to keep accurate records, allowing you to see exactly how much your business is making within each quarter.

Managing Your Personal Life

Keeping your finances separate means restricting the flow of cash in both directions. While it’s important to resist pouring your personal capital into your business, it’s equally important to resist the urge to use your business’ capital to cover expenses in your personal life. You should act as though the business does not belong to you and look for other ways to cover your personal debts. If you do fall behind and need the help, it’s best to consider personal installment loans in Utah and other states where these options are available, rather than taking money out of your business accounts. This helps ensure your personal money problems won’t end up harming your business.

Apply for a Credit Card

While getting approved for a business credit card may be a little more challenging, it will be worth the trouble. It gives you the resources you may need to make emergency repairs or replace equipment without having to dip into your personal savings. Additionally, the interest you’re charged on the account will be tax deductible as a business expense. Finally, this is another way to keep your business records more accurate.

Make Sure You Take a Salary

While it may be tempting to simply take money from your business account as you need it, you’ll be better off paying yourself a modest salary. Try to pay yourself a smaller salary to start, giving yourself modest raises as the business starts to grow. This will ensure you’re not taking too much of the business’ revenue for your personal use. Additionally, issuing your pay from your business checking account will help you keep your finances separate in terms of filing taxes. Just remember to issue yourself a paycheck just as you would in paying any of your other employees.

Document Contributions to the Business

As you start out, you’ll undoubtedly be using your personal money, credit, or property to create your business. While that’s not uncommon, it’s important to document how those contributions are to be considered. Whether the assets are to be used as an investment or a loan from yourself to your business, properly documenting the transaction is essential. Again, how you choose to identify these contributions will determine whether or not they will be tax deductible. If you’re unsure which is the best option, it may be wise to consult your accountant or tax preparer ahead of time.

Making use of these tactics can help you keep your finances separate so you will be able to maintain more accurate records. This will help you remain more secure in your personal life while helping you record the financial data that will help you operate your business more efficiently.

The post How to Keep Personal and Business Finances Separate appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

4 Useful Content Writing Tips for Beginner Student Bloggers

Content is
what people come to your blog for – its inner site (texts, photos, videos,
etc.). Content is the king of the blog. You may have inconvenient navigation, a
curved design, poor positions in a search engine, a complete lack of purpose,
but it doesn’t matter if you create fresh content – you will still be read
(assuming good progress, of course).

Whether you want to create written content but always dreamed, “I wish somebody could write my essay online,” it would be hard for you to create exciting blog content. However, you still have a chance to become the top 1 among other college student bloggers with our tips.

Blog
rubrics

Rubrics are
needed to reveal each of several topics on your blog or to reveal one topic
from different angles. It is not necessary to try to embrace all the issues in
the blog. You can twist one from different sides, crossing it with other
topics.

What
is the most crucial thing in any blog besides content?

The main
thing is the regularity. Content plan and blog rubrics set the pace and do not
let you give it up for a week or forever.

The uniform
distribution of content over time is also essential. The worst thing is when you,
for example, give out five posts in a week and then keep silent for two months.

Preparations
for the future (canned blog post ideas)

In case of
vacation, lack of inspiration or a lot of work-around, you need to have a few
blanks that you can get and put on the blog when there is no time or desire to
write posts. In order not to leave readers, you can pre-write several positions
that will be relevant on any given day.

Another
important thing is the equal ratio of content under the headings in the blog. That
is if you plan to release three posts per week, and you have three headings,
then ideally, each heading should have one post.

It is clear that life makes its adjustments, and you can post, for example, two posts in a row on one topic, and then write a month to another. But ideally, you should strive to ensure that the content is diverse. Otherwise, readers who are interested in only one rubric may get bored and get away from you.

Moral: do
not immediately throw out a bunch of posts to the reader, but evenly distribute
them by month. When a muse arrives, write several posts at once.

Remember
about responsibility

The most
important thing is to be responsible for everything that you write in a blog,
and be prepared for any reaction, sometimes even the most inadequate. It is
clear that we are changing, our opinion is not carved in stone, but at the time
of the release of the post, you must be 100% certain about what you write.

Newbie
student bloggers always wonder how to write a blog. Of course, it’s a popular
occupation that sometimes brings money, but you should remember all that we
have listed here is not a dogma. You can use some elements and forget about
others. The main thing is to decide for yourself what is the purpose of your
blog.

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Why Phone Data Backup is Crucial for a Social Media Influencer

Being
a social media influencer means you run most of your business from your phone.
You need to be on trend 24×7. You need to keep posting throughout the day. Most
influencers prepare batch content to put up on their social media handles. Most
of the influencers use iPhones because of the camera quality they get. One
problem that they have to deal with is losing data.

There are a number of reasons for you to
lose data like you accidentally deleting messages which are called the wrong
operation, your iPhone getting crashed or water damaged, iOS upgrade, or even
having to restore the factory settings on your iPhone.

Data
is becoming one of the most important commodities in the 21st century. But if
you don’t have it backed up, turns out sometimes even credible companies like
Apple cannot save you from a hard time once the fragile hard disk in your phone
decides to die on you. Or maybe you shot yourself in the foot by deleting some
important information yourself, maybe you didn’t backup important information before
resetting your phone which started lagging lately.

If you have had the pleasure of using an
iPhone, then you might be aware of the n number of issues it comes with. The
charger dies faster than Usain Bolt runs, the audio jack appears disappears,
the amount of subordinate stuff you need to buy is insane. That being said, we
love them.

The built-in apps on your iPhone and
iPad are quite powerful. They are designed for your daily use. You send emails,
messages, browse the internet, read maps, make notes, etc. You rely on the
device a lot, which means it has a significant amount of data on it, which if
lost might topple the smooth running of your days.

Deleting something very important can be disastrous. What if you accidentally delete crucial information? Business contacts, family pictures, important notes, business transaction detail notes, etc. Most importantly losing all the content created can have a serious effect on your business.

Let’s see what the stats look like for
the top causes of data loss-

35% by accident deletion20% by iPhone being water damaged
or broken15% by iPhone being lost or stolen15% by failed iOS Upgrade or
jailbreak10% by iPhone being restored to
factory settings without backup5% by virus attack

Which is why it is important to always
back up all your data so that even if you lose something, it won’t be
significant enough to affect your business for a long time.

Back data up dailyKeep multiple copies of your
important documentsKeep your system up to dateBack up your contact listDo not save passwords on your
phone as texts or notesAvoid using public wifis

These things do not ensure you not
losing any data at all, but they ensure to minimize the damage as much as you
can. When your business is run on your phone, you have to take every precaution
to ensure the smooth running of your business no matter what.

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5 Useful Tips to Increase Traffic to Your Website

ads on your site, publish paid articles and sponsored
posts or even earn through online business or through e-commerce shop. However,
before you can do any of these, your site must have decent amount of traffic
first. It is the first major goal for any website owner. In this post, we will
share some useful tips to help increase site’s traffic. And we do not, in any
way, recommend to do blackhat techniques because that can only worsen your
situation sooner or later. It may be a tedious and long process to improve your
website’s traffic the right way but it will surely be worth it once you start
seeing results.

Choose a good domain name – first of all, you should choose a domain name that can easily be remembered by online users. It is ideal that users can easily type in your domain URL in their browser without any difficulty. You may also go for a domain name that represents your niche. And in case there should be a consideration of any targeted region, it would be best to get geo-targeted domains like .au, .co.uk, .sg domain to properly display your location.Do a keyword research – you should do your homework and come up with lists of keywords to target for your site. You should not only focus on most searched terms or popular keywords since competition is usually very tough for those keywords. Instead you should come up with variations from long-tail keywords to related keywords and terms and other words with great potential. You should target those keywords until you land a good spot in result pages of various search engine sites.Publish high quality content regularly – content will always be king. Visitors will keep coming back when they know that you offer high quality materials from products, services to articles and images you publish. Promote your site in social media – everyone is on social media these days so it is great to reach them through these platforms. You should be more active in different social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and others and then promote your website if you have opportunity. The power of social media is so strong so you must put a high priority for this.Come up with promotions – it is also advisable to come up with different promotions to gain more followers and to keep them happy. It is best to study competitors about their current promotions and see if you can surpass it. Some promotions to consider include voucher for next purchase, free e-book, double deposit, free shipping fee or others. You can also come up with promotions wherein users need to post something on their social media accounts and will contain link to your website. You will definitely receive more traffic with that kind of promotion.

Those are some tips that will help you build up traffic to your site. You should be consistent with your efforts like publishing content at least twice a week so people will keep visiting your site. It may be a while before you see results but just be patient. Success does not happen overnight. You should work hard for it and for sure, success will be a lot sweeter.

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TextExpander Review

TextExpander is a productivity software for Mac, Windows, iPhone, and iPad users. It lets you create snippets of frequently typed words, sentences, and paragraphs. It even works with other computer programs. TextExpander users are claiming to have saved hours that would otherwise be wasted in typing repeated text.

You can suggest TextExpander the tasks you need it to perform. Moreover, it will only work on the applications you choose in the settings. Unlike other apps, it doesn’t show unnecessary pop-ups or notifications. Of course, you don’t have to be an expert to set snippets. You can configure it even if you’re a novice.

SmileOnMyMac, LLC is a San Francisco, California based software firm. They specialize in building productivity apps for Mac, Windows, Chrome, iPhone, and iPad. Smile has been developing software for Mac for the past decade. Its team comprises of experts in specialized fields like marketing, software development, customer support, and advertising.

Following are some features of
TextExpander version 6.



1) New features in TextExpander 6

TextExpander
6 is a new version with plenty of exciting features. They did some major
modifications to the older version. In the Mac snippet editor, they added the
editing bar right across the top of the text area. This is where you will be performing your
major typings tasks.

Furthermore, they save all your snippets in their own database. And you work with a team, it lets you create groups of members in your organization. You can share your snippets to any of the groups in a single click. For small teams comprising of 2 or 3 people, it is a lot easier to use their email for sharing.

2) The Editing Bar

As already mentioned above, the editing bar sits above the content window. The editing bar is powered with several different tools to help you write faster. In the content window, you can put the frequently used text that you wish to create a snippet of. This same text will appear on typing its abbreviation in any other text area.

It will take a while to get used to this user interface. But once you become proficient, adding date and time to your text will also seem easy. In the editing bar, there are tools that can help you add date, time, keystrokes, etc to your text. Everything can be done with the click of a mouse.

3) Sharing your snippets

TextExpander lets you can share your snippets with family members, friends, or with your colleagues at work. You will have to group them together and attach a label describing the nature of the snippet. You can also mention the name of the organization. Don’t forget to log in with your TextExpander account before you share the snippets.

You can also share one set of snippets to multiple departments of an organization. Don’t worry about the modification of snippets. They are always synced. Your change will get reflected and in everyone’s accounts.

What I like

I can create a snippet for all kinds of text formats. I use it to store emails, URL‘s, common answers to my client’s queries, etc. It saves so much time and energy. Because of that, I always stay ahead of schedule. I am also less distracted since I don’t have to worry about grammar and spelling mistakes in my text. 

My recommendation

I
recommend TextExpander for people who have super busy lives and have to get a
lot of repetitive writing done. If you find yourself typing something more than
once a day can be easily made into a snippet. In addition, it also syncs
between Mac, iPad, and iPhone. So, you can get its benefits from literally
anyplace.

Pricing

TextExpander provides a free trial for 30 days. In the trial period, you can evaluate how well suited TextExpander is for your needs. It is two subscription plans. One is for an individual(single user) and another for a team(multiple users). A single user plan will cost you $3.33/month. And multi-user for $7.96/user/month. Both billed annually.

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Take advantage of Digital Marketing to Impact Your CBD Business

So by this time you
have probably acknowledged the empowering market CBD has become in the last
year. It is trending and maximizing its way into different niches. After the
Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, also known as the Farm Bill, on December
20, 2018, the hemp legality shaped up. This legislation allowed the cultivation
of hemp, removing all restrictions regarding the possession and transportation
of hemp-derived products which includes CBD. On a federal level, the Farm Bill
has detailed no restrictions over transporting or selling the hep-derived
products as long as it sticks to the guidelines, for example: cultivating
without a license or production of cannabis with more than 0.3 THC percentage.

So you figured you
want to start your own business on CBD products, ranging, from tinctures,
edibles or vaping oils. Yo have envisioned a business with great potential, but
there is still one big question: How do I attract my future clients? Other than
attracting future clients, the doubt of figuring out how to do this on a
budget, or for free!

There is no denying
marketing is the strength supporter behind any business. Ever thought about the
many ways we can successfully market different kinds of companies? There are
plenty of channels in which we can directly target our audience with specific
messages, from traditional billboards or page-turning journals. Luckily we’re
living in the digital era, where marketing has shifted in ways we never
imagined.

Here are 4
marketing tips to market your online CBD products online. These come in with
tools that maximize outreach, and end up costing little to nothing when
compared to the future success-revenues:

1. Define your products, brand and your niche on your site

Your
website is basically the shield and sword of every knight int the Internet
world. It’s most likely people will go over your website before even
considering if they are interested in buying your CBD product. Why? Well,
people really want to check out what the product promises, what is it good for and
is it really worth their money. Make sure your website has different angles
about your product. Below are a few points to highlight while creating your
brand and ultimately your website. You wouldn’t want to miss any of them once
your site is live and running:

Keep
in mind that the manufacturing process is the defining process of your final
product. Making sure quality, believable and necessary precautions on
hemp-derived CBD productions are followed. People would want to make sure
they’re buying a believable and legal product (since cannabis has obtained an
infamous role).

Make
it a priority to establish your brand’s DNA. It’ll really give you an idea of
how to settle its packaging, visuals, tone, and design. After settling this
down you will have a clear view of the direction you want to take with your new
CBD brand.

After this, It is important to establish the USP of your products! Some questions you might want to ask yourself are: How do they differ from the competition? How does it make it exclusively important? By positioning your brand you will encourage prospective clients to identify your brand without any doubts, even when there are other similar products in the market. All in all, how does your brand benefit your customer, or how does it guarantee benefits to their health––this will also help on defining when it’s the right time to recommend to your customers when is the right time to recommend CBD to your customer even if it’s related to pets or humans.

Establishing
your niche is equally important. Once you’re in this position you might want to
think about the structure you want to establish in the market. Do you want to
direct your products to a younger audience, for pets or recently retired
elderlies?

Good
marketing comes with the idea of acknowledging that marketing itself comes in
different ways, shapes and sizes! In its packaging, the perfectly combined
ingredients in the CBD tinctures, who is the product directed to, it’s website
and the tone it projects. All these are minimal yet high impacting assets in
the marketing path. 

2. Marketing Platforms

Social
media and e-mail marketing are relatively affordable ways to create engaging
campaigns. With e-mail marketing, you could scrape thousands of people from
different parts of the city, countries, and regions. Remember the best tip you
can take from e-mail marketing initiatives are to grasp your audience’s
attention with exciting subject lines and engaging copies in the body of the
e-mail. If you’re talking about CBD for prospect clients, you might want to add
a percentage off as a CTA. People would most likely check out your website.

It’s important to keep in mind the guidelines each social media platform has over CBD regulations, they vary depending on the content and their advertising guidelines. Instagram is great to upload quick informative videos or brand awareness content. You might want to explore how to use a product before actually buying it, and videos are great ways to do this from a B2C perspective. Instagram is amazing for influencer campaigns!

To reach highly targeted and engaging audiences CBD brands are partnering with social media influencers. They are known as being the founders of the latest trends when it comes to lifestyles and holistic health practices. Influencer marketing is a great way to keep your audience interested, contrary to paid ads, which are usually ignored. Many people think of them as being annoying and a bit creepy (hence the cookies)! For this reason, influencer opportunities have arisen and become so popular. The user gets to experience product awareness while following users that are actually interesting to them.

3. The CBD-igital Era: SEO Building

 Oh, how times have changed! The internet is flushed with different kinds of online stores, websites, information, and articles referring to the benefits or the usefulness of hemp-derived CBD. You might think this is a bad thing, but it’s actually really good! If you ever look up “CBD uses” online you will get a few great sources that detail how it your health.  SEO building reduces to great keyword search. It is pretty simple: if you want to get good rankings in the google search, you need to get Google approval to do so. This is naturally built on backlinks, something very similar to an essay being backed up with good, relatblae soiurces in your bibliography. There are many tools that can help you decide which website is good worth paying for a backlink. Many website admins or editors have kits that define the benefits of your payment. The average is $50 to $100. Always try to verify the stats of the sites’:

Domain AuthorityOrganic TrafficReadersWorld RankGoogle RankCitationsSource

This
helps by saving you money since you wouldn’t want to pay a website that covers
daily tips for newly-weds when your end goal is to rank your CBD products.
It’ll also give you perspective on what site is good enough to help you boost
your organic traffic and resourcefulness in backlinks.

The post Take advantage of Digital Marketing to Impact Your CBD Business appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

5 Office Tips for Improving Productivity

Productivity in the
workplace is so important. The price tag for lost productivity is a whopping
$544 billion each year. If your team isn’t productive, you lose out on valuable
working hours, and will have difficulty meeting milestones and goals. Fortunately,
there are several things you can do to improve productivity within the office.
With that in mind, here are five tips for improving workplace productivity:

Clean
Up the Clutter

There are several
studies that have determined how clutter has a negative impact on your
productivity. In the workplace, clutter can happen very naturally. Things pile
up, and staff gets busy. But a cluttered desk or office can thwart your ability
to work productively, dampen your mood, and create stress. This is why it’s so
important to provide your team with the tools they need to clean clutter and keep their spaces organized. Give them the
organizers, paper trays, file cabinets, and other items necessary to keep
things tidy. You can even make an event out of office cleanups; perhaps once
per quarter, your team will spend half a day cleaning and organizing their
spaces (and cleaning up their digital space, too).

Use
Project Manage Tools

Project management tools
are a great way to help streamline tasks and boost productivity among
individuals and teams. Tools like Basecamp, Asana, Trello, and Wunderlist are
all great apps that help manage projects and day-to-day operations. It’s important
to try out free trials for a handful of platforms to determine which works best
for you. Some tools also have easy integration with messaging platforms you
might already be using. For example, both Trello and Asana can be integrated
directly into Slack, one of the most popular messaging systems for offices.

Offer
Some Privacy

Today’s innovative businesses are changing the way they curate collaborative spaces by having open office concepts. However, it’s important to understand that open office concepts aren’t always the answer: many employees actually prefer a bit of privacy. An extensive study found that the open office workplace design actually yielded less human-to-human interaction.

Compared to traditional
office setups, employees who worked in open floor plan setups had email and
instant messaging usage that was up by 67%, and there were 73% less time spent
with face-to-face interactions. Previous research has found that open floor
plans made it difficult for employees to concentrate on their work and
focus—especially when it came to brainstorming, number crunching, and working
on high-level projects that require deeper levels of concentration.

“To help improve productivity, talk to your staff about how you can aid their privacy and consider their input as you rework your workplace and office flow,” says ROSI Office System, a company that produces some of the best priced cubicles in Houston.

Bring
the Outside In

Incorporating nature
into your office is a unique way to boost productivity among your staff. It’s
no secret that nature helps people better connect with their environment and
with themselves. When you connect with nature, you can improve your mood, your
cognition, your sense of well-being, and your health. As John Muir once
famously said, “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out
till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

Adding a bit of foliage doesn’t just bring in a nice creative touch to the space. In the business world, plants are also known for their ability to improve productivity. A study from Harvard analyzed the results of productivity across 10 high-performances offices in the United States, and found that those who worked in green environments had better cognitive function, information usage, strategy planning, and crisis response.

The study states, “They
found that cognitive performance scores for the participants who worked in the
green+ environments were, on average, double those of participants who worked
in conventional environments; scores for those working in green environments
were 61% higher.

Put
the Phone Away

Even when you think
simple glances towards your phone throughout the day don’t matter, the truth
is, it adds up. One report, titled “Smartphone addiction, daily interruptions
and self-reported productivity,” found that smartphones have a negative impact
on productivity in the workplace. This is because it disrupts the natural flow
of a person’s work task. Your workflow pertains to the interrupted dedication
to a something specific, and just a one second interruption could change that
flow completely.  

The post 5 Office Tips for Improving Productivity appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.