Smarter Office Blog

You’ve created a business plan for your startup. You’ve even read it from the perspective of investors, and perhaps you’ve already revised it as your plans change and your business evolves.

Today’s marketplace is highly competitive, and oftentimes a great product alone isn’t enough to ensure success. Customers will be more likely to stick with your brand if they’ve had a positive experience with your overall customer service, but why is this personal touch more important than ever before? Keep reading to find out five compelling reasons why your small business needs to excel in this department.

As a business owner it can be tough to step back and relinquish some control. This mindset may have been helpful at the beginning of your business journey, but now that you’re growing and have employees it’s time to let them take on some of responsibility. That’s why you hired them, after all.

Are you trying to break out on your own to start your own freelancing business? Regardless of your industry, skillset, and niche there are several integral keys to establishing a successful freelance career. If you keep these tips in mind as you embark on your freelance journey success will be that much more attainable.

It's important to keep your existing customers, but your business will quickly stop growing if you don’t reach out to new markets and target new customers. In a perfect world new customers would find you, but unfortunately that isn’t how business works.

You can't do everything as a entrepreneur. This very often is what entrepreneurs themselves refer to as “Entrepreneur Syndrome.” These are the men and women who are afraid to give up control and want to do everything themselves. From answering the e-mails to securing venture capital to buying the office supplies, they want to do everything themselves. This gets even more complicated when it comes to juggling finances, which distracts many entrepreneurs from the core of their business.

Cost Per Acquisitionadvertising, also known as Cost Per Action advertising, is a method of paying for advertising that allows the advertiser to pay for each conversion as a download, transaction, or lead instead of paying each time someone clicks on the ad. In other words, the advertiser only pays when the user completes a transaction. In traditional CPC models, the advertiser pays each time someone clicks on the ad.

In a crowded market, especially one like Silicon Valley, Austin, Portland, Minneapolis or other startup markets favored by venture capitalists, getting attention can be tough. When we talk about “PR,” it’s important to define what we’re really talking about. “Public Relations” refers to the art and science of establishing and promoting a favorable relationship with the public. Bear in mind that “the public” isn’t the same as seeking funding, taking out a bank loan, or establishing a base of customers. Here, we’re truly talking about how your startup is perceived by the public at large, and what benefits or challenges present themselves by the manner in which your startup is perceived. The goal here is becoming a known brand.

Getting noticed is one of the most difficult parts of getting your startup on the track to success. If you can’t attract the attention of potential customers and clients, your sales certainly won’t increase.

The Small Business Administration, or SBA, is a federal entity that provides resources, loans, and other helpful information to small business owners throughout the country.

As an entrepreneur, you will always be creating projects for yourself and your team. Whether you realize it or not, the business of running a startup is organized around a distinct grouping of tasks and exercises. A good startup needs to be well organized so that your tasks drive completion of your projects and your projects serve the larger goal of accomplishing your business objectives. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs don’t do their due diligence when it comes to project planning and try to do everything at once, which increases stress and drives down productivity over time. Here are some tips from experts on how to stay organized and in control of all your business projects.

Things can change quickly in the entrepreneurial world and it’s important for you to be able to adapt quickly. Nobody goes into business expecting for their entrepreneurial venture to fail. The very idea violates everything that the entrepreneurial mindset stands for, which doesn’t change the fact that 92 percent of startups fail. It’s because of these unkind statistics that it’s important for every entrepreneur to be realistic about their chances for success and develop alternative strategies to ensure the success and longevity of their business. Here’s how to build a backup plan in case your business needs to take a quick 360.