A Million Lives

A million lifestyle hacks...unlimited possibilities

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Helpful Hacks To Get Your New Business Off To A Smooth Start

Launching a new business is a huge milestone for you. It’s likely been a long and rocky road to get to where you are, and you’re probably basking in the fact that you’re finally open for business. While it’s good to be proud of yourself and happy about all you’ve accomplished, this is the beginning of a new chapter.

You have to be prepared to dedicate the majority of your time and energy to making sure your company sees a smooth start. These handy hacks are going to help point you in the right direction and allow you to build a successful business. It’s a good idea to put a few priorities in place and focus your efforts there while you get going.

Invest in Technology

It’s never too early to invest in technology. It helps you with your daily tasks, to innovate and stay connected with employees who work remotely. Once you have it, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Keep in mind that part of the investment includes security and data retrieval. You’ll want to hire help, and you should use a company like Secure Data Recovery Services if you should ever find yourself in a bind. They’ll get your information back to you quickly, and you can go on with running your business.

Find A Good Mentor

You don’t have to run your business all on your own. Be willing to reach out to others who’ve been in your place before and have come out profitable. Use mentors to discuss issues in your mind, bounce ideas off of them and help keep you focused on what matters most. You’ll thank yourself later when you come to a crossroads and aren’t sure where to turn. You can call up your mentor and get some sound advice.

Secure New Customers

You’ll be busy with a lot of different tasks, but don’t forget to start building your book of business as soon as possible. You need to get your company and products out there, so people know who you are and what you’re selling. Use a mix of different channels to find new customers like social media, your website and in person events. It’s a good idea to hire a business development and marketing person to tackle this initiative so that you can work on other high priority projects.

Work Hard & Take Care of You

Running a business is going to require a lot of your time and energy. There’s no way around it, especially when you’re just starting out. You have to be willing to put in long hours and work hard if you want to take your business to new levels. This also means you’re going to be tired and probably forget to take care of yourself. Do whatever it takes to put yourself first. Adjust your schedule to hit the gym in the morning, bring a healthy lunch to work and set limits on your hours.

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The Good and the Bad of Pay Per Click (PPC) Marketing

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Nowadays, businesses rely on digital marketing campaigns to get their products and services out in the market. One of these successful marketing campaigns is called pay per click or PPC, which is a popular way of advertising across different platforms, whether that’s through search engines, web pages, or within applications.

If you’re interested in performing a PPC marketing campaign, then here are a few things you need to know. Here are the pros and cons of PPC:

PPC Marketing Pros

  1. PPC usually comes with remarketing.

Remarketing or retargeting is a digital marketing strategy that uses the information of your website’s past visitors in order to show them your ads when they browse the web. This is how remarketing works. When a user visits your website, they get tagged based on the categories that you set up, so that when they perform a similar search online, your ads will appear as sponsored links on the search engine or as banner ads, whenever they visit a different website. Remarketing actually drives up customer/audience retention.

  1. PPC is more effective than SEO.

Search engine optimization (SEO) heavily relies on keywords to target users. However, it is not as accurate as pay per click in terms of the amount you pay as the advertiser. With SEO, you likely have to pay a monthly subscription fee, whereas PPC only charges you with a certain amount when a person clicks on your ads. Hence, the term “pay per click”. At the same time, the return on investment on a PPC marketing campaign is usually bigger than that of SEO. Because only people with real interest in your products and services will likely click on your links, there’s a higher chance that their clicks will get turned into actual sales.

PPC Marketing Cons

  1. PPC is not beginner-friendly.

Pay per click can be a bit complicated because it requires a lot of technical knowledge about digital marketing. If you decide to release this type of marketing campaign, you may want to consider hiring a pay per click agency to help you with the complex stuff. A pay per click agency will guide you through the technical side of digital marketing, so that you can allot your budget in a way that maximizes results.

  1. PPC comes at a cost.

For small businesses that are only starting to learn about digital marketing, they may get discouraged with the costs that come with a pay per click marketing campaign, even though it is comparatively cheaper than other forms of digital marketing. Aside from hiring a pay per click agency, there are other costs that you need to consider. Competitors may even drive up the cost of your campaign by deliberately clicking on your ads—this means that each click will not be translated to an actual sale. Therefore, even though a pay per click agency will come at a cost, it is smart to hire one, so that you have someone who knows how to strategize, given the current market competition.

With any business decision, you need to consider the pros and cons. While PPC isn’t all good, it’s clear that the good outweighs the bad. For new businesses, this may be a good way to start a digital campaign.

marketing campaign.

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How Can You Accelerate Early Growth in a New Business?

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Many new businesses experience initial growth that levels off once they begin to mature. The experience is not a new one nor is it isolated to the first few month or couple of years either. The peaks and troughs of growth haunt businesses because they must be managed by a succession of skilled managers along the business journey.

You don’t have to just sit and passively take it though. There are things you can do to stoke the fire of growth once more.

Look for Repeat Business

As a business gets busier, staff are pushed to the limit and find it difficult to cope. One of the things that tends to fall by the wayside is keeping up with existing customers and asking for that next order. There’s so much focus on finding new customers and securing their first order that the best fruit is left unpicked on the tree.

As the experts at access2knowledge.org will happily tell you, the least expensive and easiest way to increase sales is to mine your existing customers. When was the last time that a salesperson touched base with these customers? Do they feel considered or cared about? Are their business needs being fully met? Maintaining a solid business relationship with existing customers is smart, as they are the foundation it’s built upon.

What’s Already Effective with Your Marketing?

You may have already tried many different approaches to marketing in a “throw the paint against the wall and see what sticks,” approach. That’s all well and good, but now it’s time to stop trying everything you can think of and review what’s been working for you. If there hasn’t been any effective measurement of results, can this be examined retroactively, or is it something that can only be implemented going forward?

When you have a proper handle on what’s been working so far, ask yourself the question: Will this marketing method still work today, just like it has in the past? Sometimes, marketing approaches get overcooked and are no longer as effective. Are there some tweaks that can be applied based on what you’ve learned that will improve your results going forward, or is a completely new marketing plan going to be required to accelerate sales growth?

Local Only? Try Expanding Regionally

When you’re sensing that you’ve reached a saturation point with prospects in the local area, it’s time to expand carefully, further afield. You don’t have to start taking out full-page ads in a niche magazine, but certainly, you should begin creating a plan to offer your product or service to businesses or consumers outside of your normal catchment area. How will you go about doing this? What should your first steps be? Consider whether you can rank for local search terms in the areas you wish to target and dip a toe in the water there. Learn how customers in this area might want different things and adapt your offering where you can to meet that need.

Accelerating growth when it’s slowed down isn’t that difficult when you’re a newish business. There are plenty of areas to mine that either hasn’t been picked over yet or have been overlooked in the previous push for ever-faster growth. Sometimes, it helps to be more mindful of the best approach the second time around to help sustain the new growth pattern for longer.

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Strategic planning for your small business success this 2018

As we start 2018, it’s high time you reflect on the year that’s been and start planning so you can launch right and with minimal constraints. What’s important is to take note what you have in mind and write it down so you can easily hold yourself and your team accountable.

Involve key people.  If you work solo, then there’s only you who’s accountable. If your business has a team, then you need to get the right people involved so that they can feel a sense of ownership over the outcome of your plans. Even though they don’t have the final say, just having their concerns heard is enough. The meeting should include functions of HR, finance, operations, marketing and sales represented.

Start planning. After knowing the people involved in the planning, you must make sure that your time with them is well structured and that any data or market research necessary as input is gathered and assessed by all parties present ahead of time. Next, determine your agenda for the following day.

Step 1: Reflection. Understanding where you are right now is key to knowing where you’re going. You must confront brutal facts. Invite the team to give input so you can create an atmosphere of truth. Brutal facts may include the following:

  • Financial performance year-to-date up to 5 years back if available.
  • Updated competitor analysis
  • Market share analysis
  • Sales analysis
  • Consumer trends
  • Marketing performance
  • Operational performance
  • People analysis

If all of your team members are prepared, having read the background analysis, you can start debating and creating insights. What are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats? It’s SWOT time!

Step 2: Future planning. Now, this is the goal setting part of the plan and how far into the future you want is your choice. Setting around 1, 3 and 5 years is good as it will shape how you approach getting there.

Include revenue, profit, and market share in your goals. This could also be the time to refine or craft your vision for the type of business you want to be. Make your goals achievable by using S.M.A.R.T – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. This framework lets you set out some elements of your course of action.

Step 3: Getting there. With specific goals ready, it’s time to determine the actions needed to get there. Taking the S.M.A.R.T. goals as the starting point, each person in the team should outline their plans for the functional areas they are in. The following must be determined:

  • Sales forecast. By month or quarter.
  • Marketing spends and strategy. Activities to get to desired market share and positioning.
  • Operational budget. Required new investments.
  • New services. Service another market segment. A new type of product/service offer.
  • People planning. How many staff is necessary. Training required. Recruitment and retention plan.

The need for online presence

Here’s a hard truth. Many business owners still don’t use or benefit from the power of business websites.

If you still don’t have one or are using a very old website, then it’s time for an upgrade. Include website to your competitor and SWOT analysis, then consult a web development company and accomplish domain name registration right away. Registering your domain means reserving your online business address or trade name. It’s a crucial step towards a successful web presence.

In summary, business planning will take time and effort to pull off. However, it pays off big when the entire organization understands the goals and priorities including the role they need to play to achieve them.

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Online Shopping Stats That Will Change the Way You Run Your Store

Do you own an online store? Are you looking for ways to achieve greater success this year? Do you have any ideas for changing your approach to boost sales and profits?

There is a lot that goes into running a successful online store. At first, you may not think about anything more than comparing product ideas and trying to understand which pricing structure will work best for your business model. Over time, however, you’ll learn there are many other details that require your attention, and your business needs are always growing and changing. As  people become interested in crypto tokens, for instance, you’ll need to decide if there are any relevant changes you need to make to your business or its infrastructure to scale and stay on the cutting edge.

If you’re open to change, you’ll find it much easier to reach your goals as an online store owner. With this in mind, let’s examine five online shopping stats that are sure to change the way you do business:

  1. On Black Friday 2017, there was an increase of 16.9 percent in dollars spent compared to the previous year.(CNN)

Simply put, there are times of the year when you’ll find it easier to make sales online. One clear example is Black Friday and the ensuing shopping season in general, but depending on your industry, there are likely other prime seasons for making sales, too.

More importantly, though, your business must be ready to handle the increased volume during these high-volume sales times. It’s one thing to attract more business, but another thing entirely to continue to run at peak efficiency while supporting it. You don’t want to risk customers by providing poor service just when people are taking the most notice of your site.

  1. 34 percent of online store owners sell through their own website, with 40 percent also selling through social media.(Big Commerce)

It’s easy to believe your website is the only place you can make sales, but nothing could be further from the truth. If this is the strategy you’ve been using up until now,  you may want to start considering other options for the future. Facebook and other social media platforms allow you to get your brand in front of a much larger audience.

Remember that you don’t necessarily have to make sales on social media (although one-click purchasing is becoming more common on these platforms), you can post calls-to-action that redirect traffic back to your website, where you can provide additional information and support to encourage conversions.

  1. 79 percent of Americans are now shopping online. (TechCrunch)

There used to be a time when having an online store was still completely optional, but in today’s tech-centered world, if you don’t have an online presence, you should expect the competition to pass you by. With nearly 8 out of 10 Americans shopping online, you can’t afford to ignore this pipeline to your audience any longer. Not only do you need to have a functional website, it needs to have the streamlined checkout processes and intuitive features your customers have come to expect from their interactions with major online retailers like Amazon.

  1. 69.23 percent is the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate.(Baymard Institute)

This is a problem facing many online store owners. They do a good job driving traffic to their website and engaging their audience while they’re there; however, something happens when it comes time to place the actual order.

If your store’s shopping cart abandonment rate is entirely too high, you need to spend some time analyzing why this is the case. Is your checkout process too complex? Are your prices too high? Are your customers turned off by high shipping costs or other “surprise” fees tacked on to the end of their transaction? Are you doing something that gives the impression their financial information may not be secure?

A high shopping cart abandonment rate can hold you back from reaching your goals, so it’s critical to determine what is causing shoppers to leave their products behind.

  1. The mobile shopping segment is worth $3.2 trillion, up from $1.5 trillion in 2013. (Fit Small Business)

If you want to get every last dollar out of your online store, you need to make it simple for all consumers to browse your website and make a purchase, which is why a mobile-friendly design is an absolute must in today’s market. Don’t ignore the mobile experience provided by your website; make sure you confirm that all your processes are just as streamlined and your site design is just as appealing when it is converted to a mobile platform.

These online shopping stats are sure to change the way you run your store. If you’re already achieving a high level of success with your online store, you don’t want to sit back and assume this will continue; don’t sit around the office watching People You May Know and hoping for the next order to roll in (it may be a movie about social media, but it still probably won’t change your marketing game like taking these tips to heart!). Even if you only take one of these to apply to your business, there’s a good chance it’ll have a positive impact.

Which online shopping stat was most surprising to you? Share your feedback in the comments.

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Simple ways to boost productivity in the workplace

For a lot of us going to work can be a struggle, especially in the winter months when it feels like we go to work and come home in the dark. Setting an early alarm and commuting to work is something most of us dread but once we arrive at our place of work, we all like to make the most of the day and be as productive as possible.

A large portion of the working population call an office their place of work and many people aren’t aware that the design and appearance of your work space has a big impact on productivity. Although most employees wouldn’t consider office design as a key factor for working at a particular company, statistics show that the well-designed office can increase productivity by around 20%.

So, what does make for a well-designed office environment?

Have a sort out

Working in an overcrowded environment can be a big distraction so having a declutter every now and again is a must. As well as making you feel a lot better, a cluttered office won’t look particularly good for potential clients. Any bits of scrap paper or unwanted documents need to be disposed of but for any important documents you can always file them away. Investing in cupboards or filing cabinets from companies such as Furniture At Work means all of your important documents are organised and the office looks tidier.

Choose the correct lighting

We may think lighting is obvious because the majority of us want to work in a dark room. Working in a badly lit room can cause headaches, eyestrain and has been known to cause depression. Making sure the room is well lit is really important, not only for your health but also productivity.

Introduce a scent into the office

This may not go down very well in most places of work but certain scents can affect our mood and productivity. For anyone who has a home office or works in a smaller office you may want to research what scents can affect your mood and introduce them into the working environment. For example, studies have shown that peppermint can lift your mood, lavender can help you relax and cinnamon can improve focus.

We can increase productivity in a number of ways; the above points are just some of them. For any of us who work in an office it’s worth researching some others ideas and hopefully boost not only your mood and productivity, but your colleagues’ as well.

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Randy Benderson: Continuing the Benderson Legacy

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Randy Benderson is the youngest of three boys. At the young age of 16, Randy’s father, Nathan Benderson, built Fun N’Games Amusement Park; Randy was tasked to manage all operations and head the seasonal company. Randy would later team up with his father, helping lead one of the country’s national commercial real estate firms.

If there’s one thing Randy Benderson inherited from his late father, real estate powerhouse Nathan Benderson, it would be his passion and impressive work ethic. However, there’s more to his father’s legacy than running one of the region’s largest real estate development companies. To this day, Randy Benderson continues to honor and support the charities his great father had cared about, taking them up as his own.

Jewish-related Charities That Alleviate Poverty

Among the causes Randy Benderson focuses on are Jewish-related charities that alleviate poverty. When his father was still at the helm of Benderson Development Co. he was awarded the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award by The Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies in 2004 for his extraordinary generosity, service, and community commitment. The Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies is a not-for-profit public charity that aims to provide for the quality and continuity of Jewish life in Western New York. The Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor the charity can bestow and Randy Benderson is committed to keeping his father’s legacy alive by seeking ways to help and provide significant contributions to the Jewish community in Buffalo.

Support for the Community and the Elderly

Randy Benderson was greatly influenced by his father to help charities that support the elderly as well. Some of these charities are JCC Buffalo, or the Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo, The Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo, and the Israel Bonds Organization. At JCC Buffalo, Randy’s father helped develop the Weinberg senior living campus. These senior programs are now up and running at the Benderson Village. The Jewish Community Center also named a campus after him in Amherst. Meanwhile, The Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo created a leadership award in honor of his father, the Nathan Benderson Leadership Award. Randy Benderson aspires to become an active patron of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Food Bank of Western New York and Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, just like his father was.

Rescue Animals

Finally, Randy Benderson is also keenly interested in supporting causes that rescue animals. His father was a major benefactor of the Buffalo Zoo. Additionally, he put up Nate’s Place in 2007 by converting a prime storefront spot near their corporate headquarters in University Shoppes. Nate’s Place is an animal adoption center that rescues and places as many as 1,000 animals a year. Having worked closely with his father from a young age, Randy Benderson knows intimately how much his father had a

soft spot for animals. As such, animal adoptions as an advocacy resonate strongly in Randy Benderson.

Other causes and charities the Benderson family, including father-son tandem Nathan and Randy

Benderson have supported are SPCA Serving Erie County, Variety Club, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

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Tips to increase engagement on Instagram

Instagram is where the beautiful content of the internet lives. The page has become synonymous with visually spectacular work. No wonder that it’s the choice for travel, fashion and food influencers and marketers. Here are a few ways to increase your Instagram engagement.

  1. Sizing matters – images are lovely only when people can see it. The Instagram size for a picture is 612×612 pixels and it makes sense for you to keep within the number. You can use different tools to create picture collages, including Snapseed, Pic Stitchand Hipstamatic. Brighter colors work better for people, research has shown. So keep that in mind too. Look for more green, gray and blue, pastel and light tones for maximum effect.
  2. Use your words – while Instagram is known for visuals, it doesn’t make sense to not have text. Give the audience a sense of what you’re going for or why the visual has appeal for you. Put in a message, speak your heart and mind and then see the numbers increase. Among the many things you can do, do consider asking your audience to share your work or tag their friends. Humor goes a long way so keep that in mind. Appropriate humor is vital here, so make sure you don’t offend people.
  3. Stories – Instagram Stories are perfect – they are short-lived and disappear after 24 hours and you can post raw content and writing on the page. Since they appear on top of the news feed in circular form, and are interactive, they make for great opportunities to take the product further. Use a link for ease of access for users.
  4. Hashtag it – many people believe that hashtags are only for Twitter. They are not. When a marketer uses a hashtag and then a term to look for information on Instagram, he has more than a 10% chance of finding the information he needs. Influencers can bring more views to their page using the same. Do make sure that you don’t overuse the hashtag option. More than 10 is too much! Look for specific hashtags for maximum effect. If you think about it, most hashtags are about brands. What better way can you have for your own brand to gain mileage than the hashtag?
  5. Choose the right time – if you want your post to get noticed the most, post on a Monday. As the week progresses and the weekend beckons, the interest levels tend to peter out. Look to post late night or early morning, so it’s the first thing that users see when they log on. Or in the evening, when the day is winding down and the audience is in a better frame of mind to take information in.
  6. Give them something – engagement is the key in Instagram and when you offer something to the audience, they are more likely to get involved. Consider freebies, discounts and cash prizes. A contest is a great way to show the audience that you’re interested and involved in giving them what they like. In fact, if it’s a product launch, the product could be the prize that people compete for. Don’t forget to tell them to use a hashtag when they take part!

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Stretch Your Dollars: 5 Ways to Cut Business Costs

As a business owner, you know that keeping up with the constant changes to run a business can be financially challenging. The goal is to control costs while maximizing profits. Although today’s economy is recovering, it’s still unstable. Discover five ways business owners can cut costs and save money.

Optimize Your Office Space

Image via Flickr by TRAstudio

Take some time to analyze your workspace and evaluate whether you’re using that space efficiently. Can any area be used for dual purposes? For example, can the break room also be used to hold meetings? Equipment such as copiers waste space. If you have a storage closet that can fit the machine, use that space.

Another idea that can save you money is moving to an open floor plan design. Open floor plans not only promote collaboration, but the shared desk and worktable model also reduce square footage required which, in turn, reduces costs.

Hiring contractors can quickly help you get the job done, and you can still save money. Many contractors you hire may purchase at least some equipment, while others can save money by renting heavy-duty construction equipment when the time arrives for your company to expand and add space.

Embrace Virtual Offices

While an open floor plan saves you money, don’t forget about virtual offices and telecommuting. Having a brick-and-mortar space can be expensive, but virtual offices can significantly cut overhead. With no space to lease or buy, you also won’t need to pay for furniture to buy or additional items such as liability insurance coverage.

If your business model doesn’t support a virtual office, you can still minimize travel expenses by having virtual meetings.

Reduce Marketing Expenses

Image via Flickr by ePublicist

Paid advertising is the cornerstone of your business, but you don’t want to cut what’s working. The good news is that you can find cheaper alternatives to reduce marketing expenses. You can build a customer email list and set up a referral program that offers incentives. Participate in business fairs and other networking events. These opportunities offer a great way to meet clients, and people are more likely to hire someone from a business with a familiar face.

Take advantage of advertising using social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is a cost-efficient way to advertise online, and creating a Facebook ad is easy.

Maximize Employee Potential

Analyze and evaluate employee skills and experience, and delegate responsibilities to those most qualified. For example, if you have an employee who is proficient in computer programming as a hobby, then use the individual’s skills. You could also invest in training courses to keep employees up-to-date with computer programming skills. When you do, you can avoid paying an outside business to manage or troubleshoot your software.

Consider Vendor Hunting to Cut Supply Costs

Image via Flickr by CO-PhotoGuy

Save money on office supplies using nontraditional vendors such as Walmart, Target, and Overstock.com. Nontraditional vendors can often give you a better deal than traditional office supply vendors. You’ll have to do a little price matching, but in the end, going this route could save you money.

Cutting costs doesn’t mean sacrificing your business and is easy if done correctly. Develop a plan, execute it, and ask for help when you need it.

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How to forge a successful career as a contractor

Working as a freelance contractor is a great way to start your own business in a field that you love. As a contractor you’ll be your own boss, meaning you can decide when you work and what jobs you take on. You’ll also have the satisfaction of knowing that all the money you earn is going to support you and your family.

Decide if it’s the right path for you

There are pitfalls and obstacles to working as a contractor; being your own boss means no holiday pay, sick pay or other traditional in-work benefits. You have to constantly find work as well as do the job, and there’s no guarantee of a regular paycheck. All the stress and responsibility for keeping the business going will be on your shoulders, and not everyone has the right temperament to handle that.

Make sure you have some savings

Jobs aren’t going to fall into your lap immediately, and the first few months will be a struggle as you get yourself known, build up your client base and establish a reputation. It’s a good idea to have several months’ worth of income banked before you start out, in order to tide you over financially. There are several ways that you may be able to raise the necessary finances, including getting a bank loan, asking friends and family, or attracting outside investors, but every business needs some level of capital behind it.

Establish a business plan

There are many good reasons for having a realistic business plan in place, including the fact that investors will want to see one before they consider loaning you any money. A plan can also map out where you see your business going, and what you need to achieve to make it work. It should include a personal budget- what you need to earn to live on and cover your basic expenses- and a business budget that includes the tools, equipment and running costs you’ll need to make a go of your new career.

Structure your business

When you register as self-employed you need to decide how your business is going to be set up legally, for instance whether you operate as a sole trader or establish yourself as a limited company. The easiest route to take when first starting out as a contractor is to use an umbrella company to take care of invoices, taxes and contractor pay, as well as ensuring that you are IR35 compliant.

Brush up on your networking skills

In order to find work and grow your business you need to know how to network. This is a skill like any other and can be learnt through practice. You need to find clients who will give you regular work, and build up a collection of useful contacts within your industry. If your work is good, word of mouth will be your best friend, but you still need to help it along by making your presence known.

Working as an independent operator you’ll be doing something you love and that you’re really good at. Often a good specialist contractor can command higher rates than an employee doing the same job. It can be hard work but the rewards are definitely worth it.

A Million Lives

Travelling in all its glory is fun and exhilarating but sometimes you might want to find some information on where to go, what to see and how to go about it from someone other than the go-to websites, especially when it comes to travel hacking and the coolest, most useful ways to get the most out of your next adventure.

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