StartupNation

Blogging is popular among entrepreneurs who want to promote their services and products without using pushy sales tactics. It can be a great outlet for personal creativity. But did you know that blogging can also be a profitable side business? Startup costs are low and the nature of the business is flexible. https://ow.ly/4a9X50SJFKA

Preparing taxes properly requires keeping up on all sorts of rules and regulations, even outside of tax season. It also means staying up to date on the latest security threats and tax-related identity theft schemes, as the Internal Revenue Service reminded recently. Managing taxes and the risks inherent in the tax process is a key part of managing finances, for businesses or individuals. Our post provides the basics you need to prepare your taxes efficiently and be introduced to six professional tax software products to help you manage. https://ow.ly/VG7a50SJE9z

The marketing challenge for small B2B companies is great, given their limited resources and tight budgets. For small firms to make a strong impact, they need to approach the challenge strategically. They must know their customers well and develop a strong value proposition. This is where targeted B2B marketing can be used as an important tool. Small businesses can save time and money while maximizing ROI using targeted marketing. https://ow.ly/y39m50SJCwl

Who likes to talk about money? Not a lot of us. When it comes to discussing our pay, our income or our spending, discomfort quickly sets in. That’s a problem, writes Kent Plunkett in "Get Pay Right: How to Achieve Pay Equity That Works." Whether it’s stigma, anxiety, differing values or a lack of information, reasons abound for why people find money an awkward topic. Approaches exist to counter those negative emotions and foster a healthier attitude around money. That’s especially important for employers, who have to understand how personal an issue pay can be for their staffers. “This is part of what makes discussing pay so difficult. But both pay equity and pay transparency depend on the organization’s ability to both understand and effectively communicate about pay,” Plunkett writes in an informative excerpt. https://ow.ly/IMyT50SJBCK

Grant programs are a no-cost way to build your business in that they provide free money to invest in the people, materials, equipment or promotional tools you need to jumpstart your success. Here are some specific recommendations for crafting a small business grant application any award committee will pay serious attention. You typically have to answer a series of questions about your business idea, your plans for the future, who you are and how the grant is going to make a difference for your venture. Take your time in telling the grant committee why yours is the best business to receive the money being offered. https://ow.ly/JuGR50SJCSJ

Let's say your sales pitch is polished to perfection, your facts, figures, and unique selling points are all in line, and yet you're still not closing like you should be. What’s missing? Which aspect of your sales strategy needs more attention? See our handy guide on the techniques to closing deals and expanding income. We start with listening. https://ow.ly/Ju6350SHFKo

In an excerpt from his book, “Smooth Scaling: 20 Rituals to Build a Friction-Free Organization,” Rob Bier addresses the most pervasive and least-understood fail point that threatens to kneecap even the best-laid scaling plan: organizational friction. Bier gives actionable advice on how to have an effective deep dive meeting. As he points out, nothing drives team performance up (or down) more than the quality of its deep-dive meetings—the ones where the big strategic, commercial, operational, and organizational decisions are made. These are also the meetings where the cohesion of the team is forged and where you transform your top executives from being a source of fragmentation and friction lower down the organization into a source of coherence that reduces friction. If you master the art of running brilliant deep-dive meetings, you’ll be well on your way to peak performance, Bier writes. https://ow.ly/wumk50SGmHp

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Imagine you come up with an absolutely amazing idea for an online store. You’re excited to share your products with the world, but you’re not exactly a tech expert, so setting up a website seems impossible. That’s where many aspiring entrepreneurs turn to Shopify to save the day. As Shopify statistics show (over 2 million merchants use Shopify to sell their products to more than 2.1 million daily active users), it’s definitely a popular platform. Sales on Shopify grew by 47% in 2023 from 2020. But is it right for your store and business goals? This comprehensive Shopify review explains the platform in great detail, including the pros and cons along with key features. https://ow.ly/nK4L50SGmVU

Starting a side hustle carries a lot of advantages. You don’t have to roll up a lot of financing to get started. You don’t have to worry about all the paperwork and legalities of a big, full-time business. After all, it’s called a side hustle for a reason, because you’re making money on the side, outside of a traditional job or business. But that does not mean side hustles are easy paths to putting extra cash in your pocket. You still need to research your market, plan your business and time it right. https://ow.ly/ujea50SGlrC