As an entrepreneur you’re often asked to estimate how long a particular task or project might take. Whether you are doing projects for yourself or for others, it’s important to get this time estimate right. You want to overestimate or get it just right, but you never want to underestimate. Clients are thrilled to read an invoice and discover that something you quoted was less than they thought it would be because it took you less time. But, they are never excited to hear that you underestimated the time and you’re going to have to charge more for the project. Even worse for you is if you charge by the…

Facebook is a social media giant. Without a doubt it’s the most popular social networking site in the world, and in the past ten years it’s managed to get billions of people hooked on the platform. There are many different kinds of Facebook posts but here we’re going to look at Facebook posts that will engage people. Social networking is all about interacting and if you can’t get people to interact with your posts, you’re probably not doing it right. Let’s take a look at twelve types of Facebook posts that are guaranteed to get people involved. 1. Like or Comment Facebook is a very visual social network and one…

Coupons are a great way to get more attention for your business. Your number one goal is to get more sales and the right coupon could help you do just that. Coupons will never go out of style because if there’s a chance that someone can get a product they want to buy for less than the retail price, they will always take it. In order to use coupons to get more sales you have to make sure your coupons are attractive. Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can engage people through coupons. Make Them Visually Appealing We as people are easily stimulated by images. One…

It’s very important to create a process whereby you provide your virtual assistant with clear instructions and limits. You want your VA to know when it’s okay to contact you, what method you want them to use, and what deliverables you’re expecting. But, at the same time, you also want to empower them to help you improve your systems. Hire More Than One VA Don’t expect that one VA can realistically do every task and project you have from A to Z. In fact, your business will run more smoothly if you have different VAs to do different portions of any one project. Then have a project manager, which can…

Some people are very risk adverse, others are excited by risk. Regardless of which category you fit into, taking risks is a must if you want to be successful in life. Many people view risk taking as a negative factor but if you think about it and put risk taking into perspective, there are smart risks such as learning a new skill, and poor risks such as choosing to speed in a school zone. While these two risks are obvious, there are other risks that don’t jump out as obvious – so it takes some thought and consideration to choose which risks are smart and which aren’t. However, you can’t…

Creating websites that get results if you’re not a web designer can be done with the technology available today. You can use website builders, and even self-hosted WordPress to do it yourself. However, if you really want to leverage other people’s time so that you can create a balanced and viable business for yourself, you should consider outsourcing your website design and updates to professionals. Evaluate Your Skills More than likely if you’re thinking of outsourcing website design and updates, you realize that you’re lacking in the skills needed to do it right. It may take you months to do what someone else can do in just a few hours.…

Whether someone is selling laundry detergent, self-help books, coaching, or business advice, case studies go a long way to helping prove a concept and create new, satisfied customers. This, ironically, will produce more case studies. The whole concept of case studies is self-perpetuating and they can go on continuously if you want them to. Advantages of Using Case Studies The good things about case studies are that they’re customer focused, tell a story, and prove success of your concept, product or service. Customer focused – Each story is told from the customer’s perspective and not from the business owner’s perspective. It really goes far in using the marketing concept of…

It’s always important to consider search engine optimization (SEO) when it comes to ensuring that you get the word out about your business. SEO is part of everything you do online. There is on-page and off-page SEO that every online and off-line business owner should participate in if they want to successfully market their business online. The Many Benefits of SEO SEO Is a Critical Part of Your Marketing Plan Creating a highly optimized website or blog can go far in helping you get visitors to your site before you even start creating content. Ensure that you have a plan from the beginning, and that plan will pay off. The…

Managing your business finances is a lot easier today than it was prior to the proliferation of online, cloud-based software solutions that can do everything from automatically posting transactions to figuring your quarterly taxes. There is a lot to choose from when it comes to online tools, with more appearing every day. Here are a few stand-outs. GoDaddy Bookkeeping – If you’re not sure about double entry bookkeeping and you have a very small business without any employees and hire only contractors, GoDaddy Bookkeeping may be the answer. You can sync it with your PayPal account, bank account, and/or FreshBooks account to help accomplish a lot of data entry tasks,…