⛪ Jeremy G. Woods

When it comes to a risky digital marketing strategy, go slow. Listen to advice and don't turn that advice away. If it's risky as in money can be lost, that's one thing, but if it's risky as in it can be immoral or illegal, avoid it.

Let me be contrarian by saying don't prove your worth to your employer. Especially not in order to get a raise. Your employer will know something is up. What you need to do instead is work hard in your role and, through your hard work, let them see your value you bring. But, again, don't do that in order to get the raise. Do that because you're passionate about your job and, when your employer sees that, your value will be proven to him or her.

Decide why you want to build your network. Is it to have more prospects, or is it more for getting partnerships? Either way is good, but building a company is easier with Joint Venture Partnerships with companies who already work with your niche and have complementary, not competing, services or products.

It's been said that business plans aren't necessary anymore. That can be partly true (especially if you're not looking for outside funding), but it's still great to develop a business plan to map out what your goals and plans are for the business. Some entrepreneurs prefer using Lean Canvas, and that's also a great alternative.

Figure out what you're the best at. At this time, focus on using those skills and finding a co-founder who is good at what you're not good at. When the co-founders complement each other, not sharing the same great skills, the company has a better chance of succeeding.

Use the failure as a springboard to success. Write down specifically what the task/project was, what the issue/failure was, and the results of the proposed solution. Keep this available for your team, so they can also learn from it.