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entrepreneurship

4 ways to support a small business

By Vaishnavi Kumar

Small Businesses are here to stay. Due to the ongoing pandemic, small businesses have emerged into the spotlight. People have started operating businesses on a small scale. Survival has become difficult as situations are uncertain. One moment everything seems to be falling in place and seconds later, a new variant of the coronavirus has entered the market. Nobody has a secured and fixed salary in today’s times – from people earning daily to even those with a high-level job. You never know whose job can be lost. Even well-settled businesses are at a risk.

In such a situation, small businesses find it hard to survive. Since it’s a new venture, people are suspicious about the quality and service and we don’t blame the consumers for that. It is a natural human tendency to continue doing things one is familiar with instead of trying out new things. The same applies when we shop or seek services. We tend to rely on our go-to brands instead of small businesses.

Most of the time, small businesses do have a better or equivalent quality when compared to branded products. We won’t know until we give it a try. Explore new options, try them out, and decide for yourself.

Here are 4 ways you can support a small business:

Shop local as much as possible – The first step to support small businesses is to start shopping locally. Many street vendors and people run businesses from their homes. Instead of ordering things online or travelling long distances to buy products, buy them from local vendors. This way you can save up and encourage small enterprises.

Recommend – When you are satisfied and happy with the services of a small business, make it a point to recommend them to your friends and family. If they are on social media, give them a shoutout with a positive and attractive review. It might take you only a few minutes to do this but for them, you provide engagement.

Don’t ask for discounts – When you shop with local vendors, do not ask for discounts. We don’t ask for discounts at malls. Bargaining comes to us naturally, but try not to do it when you shop from a small business. They do keep a low margin as compared to other big brands. Therefore, pay the amount they quote and support their business.

Be a helping hand – Help small businesses in various ways. You may have tips to improve their business, do share with them. If they are inexperienced and require assistance such as making use of technology, then lend your support. Explore if they need resources or it may be something as simple as not having an appropriate place to showcase their products/services and you have it, provide them with the space.

A famous quote says, “When you support a small business, you support a dream”. Supporting someone to see them fulfil their dreams is one of the kindest things one can do. You get countless blessings from the people who achieved their dreams because of your little contributions.

We hope this encourages you to support small businesses and if you are doing it, we’re proud of you!

Let us know in the comments below how you support small businesses.

Here is a post on more ways to support a small business by Vogue Magazine.

Want to start your side hustle? Or already have one and want to build on it? See this post here.

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5 ways to embrace uncertainty in your business

By Vaishnavi Kumar

If there’s one thing that’s certain in business, it’s uncertainty
– Stephen Covey

Uncertainty in Business is a given and can happen anytime. It refers to the unforeseen risks that you might face. A natural disaster might occur or there might be sudden changes in the political, economic, or technological landscape and new competitors might emerge in the market. All these factors add up and it becomes difficult to make sound decisions. Stress often aggravates things for worse. It’s important to maintain your calm and embrace uncertainty in your business with grace.

Here are 5 ways to deal with such situations:

Be prepared for every possibility– Operating a business has several outcomes, most of which cannot be predicted no matter how efficiently planned. Anything and everything can happen all of a sudden, and you will experience new things which might be difficult for you to cope with if not prepared. Of course, it’s not possible to be effectively-prepared. Having a resilient mindset and a backup plan goes a long way during uncertain times.

Cling to your uniqueness- Being unique can be demotivating and disappointing in some circumstances. Not everybody is ready to welcome new things. It takes time for people to accept and acknowledge your uniqueness. Have patience, but never lose your distinctiveness. Always remember the famous quote – “Your uniqueness is your magic”.

Go with the flow– All businesses have their ups and downs. A great day may arrive with huge profits and sales but you might not have even a single customer on other days. It’s alright for that to occur. Take a deep breath and go with the flow. Sit back and assess the situation thoroughly, before you make your next move with a solid action plan.

Have a bigger picture and focus on long-term goals– People always crave instant gratification and focus on short-term goals. It is important to understand that in businesses, a bigger picture needs to be created. Short-term goals might give quick results but they won’t last for long. Instead focus on setting long-term goals. The situation might look uncertain, but you can see results if you work consistently.

Explore ways to grow business – Research is the best way to deal with any situation. Do explore new tricks and tips to grow your business. Keep an eye on your competitors’ moves and about what’s happening around you. Read and gain as much knowledge as possible. This will prepare you to handle uncertainties that come your way.

These are some simple tips that might help you embrace uncertainties in businesses in a better manner. Let us know in the comments below how you deal with such situations.

This is great article in the Harvard Business Review on strategy for uncertain times.

Also read our post here on things to know before you start your Business

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How to Set Good Client Boundaries

By Bhumika Ramesh

As one ventures into the world of business, setting good client boundaries becomes a priority. As hard as it is to navigate around learning how to best-set boundaries, it can be an easy task if you already know your limits and convey them to the people around you. Doing so makes sure you’re leaving ample time to stay focused on the client as well yourself and not rushing about after work hours, trying to finish up pending assignments.

Here are a few tips on how to help you figure out the best client boundaries and relationships:

Have it down in writing : When setting up a deal with a new client, putting the terms of your relationship legally in your contract is a great way forward. This lays down the groundwork for future interactions and makes it official. The document also helps the client understand the boundaries to which they’re entitled and which they’re not. Any problems that arise during the relationship can look back at the set precedent. This should include how to contact you what to do in case of an emergency, what are office hours etc

Don’t succumb to scope creep – This occurs when the projects and assignments start taking more time than usual and for more than the agreed amount. You find yourself accommodating small requests and they pile up. You also start to put more time into finishing work rather than on yourself. When this occurs, it’s best to retreat to your original contract and go through the terms established. You may be entitled to extra compensation for the increased workload, but avoiding scope creep is a better alternative altogether.

Create preferences around the way you want to communicate – Each person prefers a mode of communicating with others, whether it be through text, phone calls or a video call. Apart from your preferences, setting up schedules and topics to discuss during the call is a great way to make sure you guys stick to your communicated boundaries. Doing so also puts the client and you at ease during conversations.

Put down what works for you and what doesn’t – Set down timings and schedules which work for you. Find out when you’re most focused at work and center your client interactions around that. This will ensure that you meet the client during your productive hours. Blurring out timings for a client isn’t a good thing to do. Make your health and yourself a priority as well.

Making sure you achieve success along with your clients requires professionality as well as loyalty. Boundaries help you reach those goals in a much more comfortable manner without the guilt of over-working or saying yes to things that make you uncomfortable.

Hoping these tips help you progress those client relationships!

See this post on Forbes for more on client boundaries.

Also see this post on finding your ideal client.

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Make your Business Legal

By Anusha Bapat

Setting up your Business legally may be an unnerving process. It involves fulfilling many key tasks apart from the main business setup. Not all of us are masters of law and understanding the legal requirements to set up a business can be daunting. We make this simpler for you.

Here is a list of some basic legalities to get you started:
1. Register your business
Registering your company will save you from unwanted legal battles. Research the licenses required for your business and register your startup as a sole proprietorship, partnership or LLP, private limited company. However depending on the type of company you plan to create, talk to your lawyer and Chartered Accountant for the best advice how to structure your company. Chances are that you will need to register for multiple licenses since different industries require different permits. You will need to register for GST if your income levels are over the limit or depending on who you want to do Business. Along with this you will also need to get Bank accounts and PAN card in place.
1. Get the contracts in place for working with clients
Create contracts that will not only protect your Business but also will make your Business professional. You will need this if you have suppliers and vendors as well as employees. Set licensing agreements and Non disclosure agreements in place to avoid legal quarrels with parties you deal with. (If required) However be careful to not complicate it with over documentation either.
1. Adhere to the local laws
It is very important to know the labor laws around minimum wage, maternity leaves, working hours and sexual harassment. So do your homework and understand what you will need to implement.
1. Protect your intellectual property
Trademarks, IP’s etc need to be created to protect you. Contact an IP lawyer to help you with intellectual property protection and obtaining copyrights, patents and trademarks. Keeping everything nice and legal.

5. Research government schemes and grants

The local and central Governments may have a number of programs to help new businesses grow faster and make the set-up process easier. Take time and evaluate these to see if they may be useful for you and if you are eligible. Do your research and apply for these benefits!

6. Finally set up your payment gateways

Once your Business is registered, you now have the opportunity to have many more payment gateways and payment options available to your clients. That is a big win!

Applying for each and every license can be taxing. But with the help of a good accountant or financial/legal advisor you can get this done with ease. Set up your business legally from the start so you don’t have to deal with this stuff after starting the business.

See this link to learn how to register your Business.

Want help with learning how to stay on top of your finances? See this post.

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Why creating an MVP is important?

By Anusha Bapat

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a prototype of a product idea with basic features and characteristics that can be used by a group of early customers for feedback and product development. MVP’s help in minimizing costs. A final product is developed after analyzing the preferences and response of your early customers.

Here are 4 important points to remembering while creating your MVP offering:
1. Identify what problem your product intends to solve. This will give you an idea of the features that can be incorporated into the product. The key to coming up with a successful product is to identify market gaps. And then offer efficient solutions to cover the gap. Spot your success criteria. Identify your users and demography and strategise to ensure your product impacts your audience.
1. After you know what your product is going to be, you will have to create a market offering. Build a compelling call to action. You have to create a brand that will attract customers and allow them to trust your brand enough. Credibility builds appeal.
1. Create different prototypes. A feature you might not deem important might end up being useful to a few customers. Focus and build on the features that receive a positive response. Eliminate the ones that don’t add to the utility of your product. Start building hype around the product to excite interested customers and attract new ones.
1. Consistently record data and assess your initial product. Evolve your product around the consumer response. Filter your product to an optimal blend of the most used features. Once you’re satisfied with the response of your upgraded and optimized product, you will begin the “Minimum marketable product” (MMP) stage of your market offering. This is when you release your product for all customers and earn your initial revenue.
MVP is a very efficient strategy to spend as little time on product development. This helps you go to market while keeping costs to the minimum. This allows a better user interference and gives a clearer understanding of your customers needs. Instead of directly going through a stressful product release, creating a MVP helps you optimize your product to match the demand and increases your chances of success.

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Staying on top of your finances in business

By Bhumika Ramesh

Managing finances while handling a company at the same time can often be a little tricky. Disorganized piles of papers, cheques and various bank statements after a stressful day is well stressful. It’s important to feel in control of our finances. So staying on top of your tasks with a regular schedule is something to strive for.

Consider the followings tips to help you in the process of doing so:
- Review your costs, expenses and income everyday/weekly
Keeping these up to date daily or weekly keeps away unnecessary stress at the end of the month. You wont have to rush to get those monthly statements in order. Record your expenditure and make sure you understand where the money is going. Retain your receipts – it makes this job easier.
- Oversee accounting
This can be done with the help of an accounting software or a first hand accountant. Cloud-based software helps you with daily updates and save time instead of those multiple excel sheets listing out your bills and transactions. Banks usually integrate with these software, and that just makes your job easier – linking accounts to software ensures seamless flow of cash. You can also hire an accountant to keep track of these financial operations. We like Zoho or Dubsado.
- Monthly review of your main financial statements
Sit down every month to track your business projections, cash flow, investments, budget and any other core financial aspect of your company. Instead of rushing over these at the end of the year, a cyclic review is the best route – calculating taxes becomes easier too.
- Developing cash flow charts
Understanding the profits and inputs of your company from a financial standpoint can help you maintain a sort of equilibrium instead of over or under investing in one sector and closely see which part needs more attention so that it can grow. Keeping profits consistent is the main goal – inflow exceeding the outflows. We like doing courses and learning from platforms like Ellevest and Lxmeoffical regularly to keep us updated on Finances.
- Have a payment process in place
One of the regular problems faced by business owners which entail first hand interaction with their clients is not following up with payments. This can cause a delay in recording your weekly or monthly statements. Use small, positive or assertive reminders to prompt your customers to send those payments in. Set up a process and add now the invoicing software you use enables options like reminders for invoices that are due.
- Take note of internal payments
Every thing that concerns your business such as power bills, salaries, rent, subscriptions to various software and other maintenance come under your operating cost. When managing finances, people forget to keep an eye out of these small but crucial expenses. Lookout for hidden costs, apps and programs you don’t use as much and always ask yourself where can you reduce costs. Staying lean is key.

Finally if you haven’t already, be sure to pay yourself. Even if its a small fee at first – you are an integral part of the company too.

Finances can be easy to manage, nothing can get in the way of a well-planned schedule! Staying on top of your finances can save a lot of worries, unwanted work at tax time. It can help you sleep peacefully at night instead of feeling frenzied and and anxious. Hopefully, these tips help you get there.

Want to feel more confident around Money? Read this post

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Have you set boundaries with your clients?

7 Tips to set Client Boundaries

Building good relationships with your clients is quintessential to ensuring customer satisfaction. It’s important to find clients that value what you bring to the table and match your energy. You want to deliver such great work that customers give you good testimonials and keep coming back to work with you.

There has to be a nurturing process in your customer experience. You need to nurture your clients’ needs by having a good relationship with them.You want to be friendly and personal and make them feel like you truly care about their success.

However, in order to have a healthy relationship, you need to put in place certain boundaries. Consistent boundaries are essential for building a trusting partnership. You may go above and beyond what the customer expects but you need to have clear communication channels that makes it easy for a customer to work with you.

Here are 7 tips to work on your relationship with your clients :

1. Decide on your hours of operation and when you will be available to your customers. Modern technology allows us to be at a customer’s beck and call around the clock but there’s a reason why companies establish set hours of business. Choose your hours of operation keeping in mind the needs of your customer and make them known to your client. Having said that, great customer experiences also involve having a certain amount of flexibility and customization. Sometimes your client will have a crisis and you will have to take that call or send that email.

2. Decide how you will communicate with your customers. Email and social media are both appropriate for business communications these days. However, you might want to be careful about texting or chatting apps. It can infringe on your personal time. This can sometimes feel too personal and invasive. WhatsApp groups or telegram groups, end up being a place where people just send a tonne of forwards, jokes and videos. If you use Whatsapp for personal and business use and you see a lot of notifications, you might end up getting distracted or miss some important messages. Establish clear forms of communication channels with your client.

3. Make allowances for urgent issues. As stated before, always have a certain degree of flexibility. There may be some cases where you can bend the boundaries you set. For example, you might tell clients that they can reach you for urgent issues over the phone. So make allowances for urgent issues. But be clear on what’s urgent and what isn’t.

4. Define your services. Although you’d like to be there for anything your clients need, you should define exactly what services you can and can’t offer. If they want you to do something outside of your defined services, decide whether you will do it for an additional fee. Be very clear on what you do or don’t do.

5. Keep your distance. You will experience people who don’t understand or respect professional boundaries. Identify these people early on and put strategies in place to deal with them. Some strategies include diverting conversations away from personal topics. You need to decide to tell them or you’ve got to let them go.

6. Learn how to say no. We instinctively don’t like to say no. We all want to be helpful and don’t want to offend someone by rejecting their request. But it’s sometimes necessary to formally decline and you should have techniques in place for doing that. You can suggest someone else who can help when you’re busy. Say no clearly and politely and explain why.

7. Building trust. By defining the terms of your relationship, you are building trust and mutual respect. This should be one of your key values, to keep in mind when you’re building a relationship with a client. It is important for both parties to respect each other’s processes and be open to each other.

Always let people know at the start about all of these boundaries. You should have a process in place where you send them an email when you begin working with them. This should have information about how they can communicate with you, what are the right ways to reach out to you and what the office hours are.

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4 simple email marketing hacks you should be using now

By Bhumika Ramesh

Email Marketing is an extremely versatile tool used in the world of advertising and online marketing. Apart from its several other purposes. Email marketing is an excellent strategy to include in your business to up your game. It has proven to be 40% more effective than Facebook Ads. However getting people to sign up for your mailing list might be a little tricky, but the real challenge comes with your open rates.

The higher your open rates, the higher the engagement is. And the higher the possibility of your client purchasing your services or products. Even the smallest changes to your strategy can increase the number of readers, so let’s get into it!
- Modify your previews -The preview text is what appears after the sender’s name and subject line. It is a wonderful tool to catch the attention of your audience. By having an interesting preview line, you make your email stand out from others in an inbox. Since not all users can see your preview text due to device availability, keep it between 50 – 100 words.
- Personalization is key – Adding first names to address the client or using your own name can help a lot. People will pay more attention when they see name is being used to address them. Make the email cater to them – pique their interest. This increases the user’s recognition of your emails and those open rates get higher!
- Timing the sends – Determining when to send out your mails is quite a tricky task and requires experimentation – especially if you cater to several clients over several continents. There is no one best time to send them out. Research your audience, their working hours and the time zones they are in.
- Pay attention to your CTA button – The CTA(Call to Action) button exists to help users complete an activity or task such as reaching a website or downloading a guide. Highlighting it is important. Experiment with different texts, backgrounds and overlay designs. If you’re trying to lead the audience to one destination, try to keep only one CTA button in your email. Optimising CTA can lead to a decrease in unsubscribes.
Email marketing can help make your brand visible, stand out and expand your presence online. In the present digital age, it is one of the most consistent techniques to bring in more users. Hope these tips help you to increase those open rates in your mailing lists!

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How to grow your side hustle while slaying it at your 9-to-5

By Anusha Bapat

A side hustle can help you grow personally as well as professionally. Not only can it aid you financially but it can also act as an escape from work. With a practical schedule and a positive attitude, you can set up a successful side hustle while doing your 9-to-5.

Here I share 4 things to help you stay the course:

1 Commit to a schedule – Productivity is key. You need to create a schedule that allows you to set up your business without allowing it to eat up time from your other projects. Analyse what time of the day or week you have a clear mind and when you are most productive. Some people work better early in the morning and others work better before bedtime. Figure out how often you want to spend time on your side hustle and do your best to stick to the plan.

2. Treat the side hustle the same way you treat your job – Give it the same effort, seriousness and importance. You would not forfeit from doing office work just because you were lazy. Don’t skip your side hustle schedule just because you aren’t in the mood for it. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’s important to set a practical schedule. Set small, reasonable goals so that you feel productive and motivated.

3. Be a part of an entrepreneurs community – This could be a facebook group or an online forum where individuals like you wanting to be entrepreneurs while holding a job discuss resources and tips to grow. This is a great way to help keep yourself accountable while also building your network and connections.

4. Don’t compromise on quality – Outsource and hire when you need help. Investing in a good team,can really boost your performance. Not only will your business look more professional but you will also have more time to manage all your work load.

Ensure you have a sustainable flow of customers before quitting your day job. People often get carried away with the excitement of starting a business but forget that it takes time and effort for it to return profits. Don’t quit your day job until you have financially padded yourself, for both personal and business use. Plan for at least 6 months to a year in savings to help you survive the loss of earnings.

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5 Canva tools and features everyone should be using

By Bhumika Ramesh

Almost all of us use Canva as a platform to get the best designs for our products and content. With the site getting updated now and then, here are our favourite tools and features!

Importing PDFs

We have all had those documents we wanted to desperately edit but realized that they were PDF’s! It’s time to put away those frustrations as Canva has brought out a new feature where you can import your files and directly edit them. Upload them on the website as a new design and you can get down to changing the various images, fonts, text and way more.

Multiple Brand Kits

Ever had too many projects or clients which require separate kits? You can now create up to 100 brand kits in a single account – satisfying all those extra designs of yours! You can just upload all the brand essentials such as a branded palette, logos and fonts to supercharge your work. Teamwork becomes easier with such kits.

Copy style

Using tools may be a bit tricky, but the paintbrush icon on the top right of your screen works wonders! Called the copy style – it allows you to copy the various sets of different styles and settings from your previous works and applies it to any other text you wish to format in the same way. But unfortunately, it does not do the same for images, Nevertheless, it’s a great tool for implementing texts in your designs.

Canva Magic Resize

While handling several platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram or even your blog, you will need to resize your content pieces to fit the dimensions of each website. Canva has got this covered for you! The Magic Resize feature allows you to resize your graphics to various formats for your different platforms. This will save you time and energy that it takes to resize your graphics. You will save time with the crop tool or searching the net for the perfect size ratios.

Adding Comments

One of the most important tools for those who seem to forget their ideas or thoughts is the function to add comments. This helps you not lose those important ideas while designing your content. Working with teams makes this feature worthwhile. As you can pass on notes and comments to your colleagues without having to email each other or use other apps to correspond.

Click on any element present on your template and a little speech-bubble will pop up. Click on it and type down those thoughts!

Here’s to creative sessions in Canva – made a little easier with all these new tools and features!

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entrepreneurship

7 Tips to set Client Boundaries