As the owner of a company, you know how important (and challenging!) it is to keep up with the daily merry-go-round of running a business: overseeing projects, managing budgets, and communicating with employees. Often you find yourself having to do all this while on the go, so what better way to organize and streamline the process than with a mobile app? Here’s an excellent article from Entrepreneur Magazine with some great app suggestions! These 8 Mobile Apps Multiply How Much You Can Get Done Every Day … [Read more...]
3 Steps to Happier Customers
As a small business owner, you already know that keeping your customers happy is key to your success. The thing is, it’s not always straightforward how to do this, and can get confusing and frustrating. It can be particularly tricky when you own a digital company because there are few face-to-face interactions. So what do you do? There’s a great article in Entrepreneur Magazine that outlines 3 steps to happier customers. Don’t just be friendly, be a friend. There’s nothing worse than a stiff, “reading off the script” tone when it comes to customer service responses. Have a personality and keep it light. Think about how you’d approach helping a friend, and apply that to how you … [Read more...]
Writing Off Charitable Travel Expenses
Do your plans this year include donating your valuable skills or services to charity? If traveling is part of the plan too, some travel expenses may be deductible for your business. While this can help lower your tax burden when filing next year’s return, you should use caution when listing those deductions. Here are three things you can write off when traveling for charity: 1. Although you can’t deduct the value of your services that you donate to charity, you may be able to deduct some out-of-pocket costs associated with your services. This can include the cost of travel, meals, and lodging, but all out-of pocket costs must meet the following criteria: The expense must be … [Read more...]
How to Deal with an Angry Client
In a perfect world, everything would go smoothly and your clients would always be gushing over the incredible work you’ve seamlessly prepared for them. In the real world, you need to learn how to roll with the punches. Your clients aren’t always going to be happy, but handling those situations while maintaining client relationships (and your sanity) is part of running a business. So what do you do when a client confronts you? My number one rule is to stay calm and don’t get defensive. If you take the confrontation personally, you won’t listen to what the client is trying to tell you. You need to get to the heart of the problem and do what you can to fix it. For more tips on how to … [Read more...]
5 Requirements for Successful Email Marketing
How do you keep in touch with your customers? Social media? Postcards? The occasional phone call? It’s important to maintain contact with clients, both past and present, but it can be tough when we’re busy running your businesses and maintaining your personal life. One of the simplest ways to maintain contact with your customers is by sending out email newsletters. Email newsletters are a common marketing device used to engage customers and sell products and services. When used right, they can be advantageous to your business; however, it requires plenty of time and brain power before you can build a successful newsletter. When brainstorming, consider these 5 necessities for … [Read more...]
Why Every Business Needs a Website
Some people say that having a bad website is better than having no website at all. That is absolutely, 100% not true. Your website is your business’ online reputation. You need to keep it updated, fresh, and exciting for your customers so that they don’t leave your page due to slow downloading time, ugly design themes, and/or content that just doesn’t make any sense. So how do you start building a fabulous new website that everyone will flock to? Here are some tips: 1) Choose a recognizable domain name: Many companies use abbreviations in their domain names because their company names are too long. Make sure to choose a name or abbreviation that makes sense to the customer and that is … [Read more...]
5 Ways Exercising Helps Your Business
For many entrepreneurs it’s a struggle to find time to go to the gym every day. You come home from work and just want to sit and relax with your family. Or you set an alarm to go before work, but the bed is just too comfy. Then, that liiiiiiiittle voice in your head says, “I eat a healthy diet, and I’m constantly on-the-go, so I should be OK skipping the gym today.” Let me tell you why that little voice in your head is wrong, and why exercising is one of the things you need to be doing for yourself and your business. 1) Exercising reduces stress. We all know that being an entrepreneur doesn’t come without stress. Working out will produce natural hormones that reduce stress and increase … [Read more...]