Small business lending is at an all time high, reports Forbes. The March approval rate was 27% according to a the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index.

 

Read the article on Forbes

Instagram is the new word of mouth for many small businesses, reports The Verge. Savvy businesses can use the social media platform to grow their business.

 

Read the article on The Verge

According to Forbes, a new survey by Vistage finds that small to medium sized business are starting to incorporate artificial intelligence into their technology. The primary place AI is appearing is in “smart” CRM (customer relationship management) platforms.

Read the article on Forbes

Online reviews are important for a business, but it can be hard to get people to review your business, reports Entrepreneur. There are a few things you can do to encourage your customers to give you a review, such as using your existing email list and sending an email encouraging your customers to leave a review.

Read the article on Entrepreneur

Depreciation is perhaps one of the most complex terms for small business owners to grasp. With many rules associated with it, it becomes even more complicated for anyone except for the professionals in the finance sector. The most important way you can ensure you understand this concept is to avoid being intimidated by big words employed.  You can achieve this by focusing on how depreciation affects us in our daily lives.

What is depreciation?

Depreciation is the phenomenon where the value of items reduces over a given period of time.  For example, assets such as furniture, computers, buildings, office equipment, machinery outdoor lighting cars, etc are assets which last for approximately three or four years. It is known that these assets will not last forever. As time goes by their value reduces. During each accounting period, -say monthly, quarterly, yearly etc, a given portion of these assets gets used up. This portion is normally shown on the income statement as depreciation expense. Primarily, this entails allocating the cost of the firm’s tangible assets in its useful life to be used to account for declining value.

Usually, firms depreciate long-term assets for the purposes of taxation and accounting. For tax purposes, for example, businesses may view the cost of the tangible assets that they buy as business expenses and deduct them. However, IRS rules must be considered while depreciating these items as well as how and when the deductions can be taken by the company.

Depreciation can be calculated and reported using two principles. These principles are:

Cost principle: With this principle, Depreciation Expense needs to be reported on the income statement and the amount of asset based on its historical or original cost. The amount of the asset should not be based on the current market value.

Matching principle: With this principle, the cost of an asset should be allocated to the Depreciation expense of the asset’s lifetime. The asset’s expense is matched with the same period of accounting as the revenues that the asset helped to generate. Simply put, matching principle requires that revenues that are earned in a given accounting period be matched with the expenses related to that asset.

The methods of depreciation for achieving matching principle can be categorized into two: Accelerated depreciation and straight-line depreciation.

Straight-line depreciation is known for its simplicity and as such, it is widely used in the US.  With this matching depreciation method, a company charges an equal amount of the cost of assets in each accounting period. The formula of this method is:

(Historical cost of the asset – its estimated salvage time)/useful life of the asset

For example, assuming that the cost of purchasing a car is $10,000 and has an estimated value of 5,000 and a useful life of say 5 years, the depreciation expense for the first year is $1000. (10,000-5,000)/5.

Accelerated depreciation on the other hand is mainly used for income tax purposes or accounting which allows more deduction in the asset’s early years. Contrary to the straight-line depreciation method which spreads the cost of assets evenly throughout its life, accelerated depreciation allows higher deductions to be made during the first years after the assets purchase and lower expenses as the asset ages.   

Regardless of the difficulty you may encounter when calculating depreciation of your assets, the most important thing is that the IRS provides tables which simplify the calculation. Also, quite a majority of accounting software some of which you might be using in your business come with a program for calculating depreciation. It will therefore be easy for anyone to calculate depreciation if they know the basics.

As a start-up, you are pulled in many directions, and all seem equally important. From developing your customer base to fulfilling promises of goods / services, you must jump in fast and keep the momentum going. So, at first, you focus on generating business, but very soon, you must devote time to your finances.

A Steep Learning Curve

A business degree is unnecessary to become an entrepreneur, but it would help to possess some financial acumen to avoid costly pitfalls. To stay profitable, start-ups should be mindful to prepare for and overcome the following accounting challenges that confront small businesses:

1. Poor Bookkeeping Habits. Start-ups that experience financial struggles often lack a good system to track income or neglect to balance their accounts. Find the right software or spread sheet template to record transactions to accurately balance your books, or if feasible, hire a bookkeeper. It’s important to find a method, stick with it, and continually review your books.

2. No Accounting Analysis. Entrepreneurs who fail to interpret their finances will ultimately fail to thrive. Bookkeeping alone won’t monitor growth and success. Knowing what your balance sheet and income statement mean is the key to understanding the direction a business is headed. So, start-ups need input from an accountant or at least some online research into how to analyze the books.

3. Ignoring Cash Flow. A new business owner who doesn’t understand that cash is king may get in trouble fast. Without a sense for cash flow, the numbers will be a confusing mess. For example, the books show income earned, but the account won’t receive cash until 30 days later. Properly maintained financial statements should distinguish between money due versus paid, or you won’t see an accurate picture of the business.

4. Too Much Debt. The adage, “It takes money to make money,” is popular because it’s true. New start-ups face steep expenses, and if entrepreneurs turn to credit cards, then it’s easy to get underwater. The challenge is to incur the right amount of debt to support your business without the debt becoming an overbearing liability. So, be conservative, watch interest rates, and look for alternative sources of debt like small business loans or an investor.

5. Inappropriate Resource Allocation. When you’re getting off the ground, it’s hard to manage your resources. Whether it’s time or materials, you have no base of comparison to guide you since everything is just starting up. How can you plan ahead? Instead of flailing in the dark, work with others who do have experience like a mentor or business coach. Get help to develop a solid strategy to follow so that you can allocate according to plan.

An Ounce Of Prevention

As an entrepreneur, if you stay mindful of the challenges you’ll face when starting your own business, then you’ll be better prepared to confront and overcome them. Much comes from finding the right resources and using proper tools. Also, many of the issues facing start-ups come as a surprise to the entrepreneur, but may be well-known to a seasoned small business owner, so learning before they arise might even mitigate those.

‘Tis the season as we are all recovering from the excesses of the Holidays. After weeks of giving and receiving and with the start of a new year, now is a good time to engage your organization in philanthropic goals if you haven’t done so already.

Companies that engage in philanthropic activities are more likely to see gains in their employee productivity and retention. For one reason, highly socially aware employees appreciate the chance to contribute to causes that matter, and another, most employees enjoy extra-curricular activities that elevate their work-days out of the ordinary. Overall, employees will experience greater work-place satisfaction that translates into higher rates of productivity and investment in their jobs.

In synch with work
A standard concern for management when it comes to activities outside the bounds of business is effects to the bottom line if employees aren’t plugged into their work 100% of the time. For most managers, reducing distractions is the goal, not handing out a big distraction on a plate like a day of volunteering. However, though it may seem like a step back at first blush, volunteering or charity work is really two steps forward in the company’s efforts to generate highly motivated employees.

Today’s workforce highly regards companies that care about the community. Most workers will double-down on their efforts to keep up on their workloads in order to participate in an activity, and many find themselves feeling better after giving back, channeling into their performance as they attain a higher level of satisfaction at work. So really, what goes around comes around; when you give employees a chance to participate in charity work or volunteering, they will produce better work, allowing you to gain an advantage in the market.

When you partner with the community, you develop a reputation as a vital community resource that affords your organization a higher level of prestige. The more you do, the more your reputation grows, and the more impact you have in the market. People will want to join your organization and others will want to work with you. It’s also a solid marketing strategy to develop name recognition because your name or logo really gets out there.

Take control
You control the parameters of the organization’s focus on giving back. Limit or expand the scope of effort you want to put toward philanthropy. From simply donating proceeds after a lunch-hour bake sale to sponsoring a local 5K charity run, you have plenty of options that require either low-level or high amounts of effort. In addition, you can also decide the extent that you want to create engagement. It’s up to you whether you offer an annual charity event, a quarterly activity, or a random opportunity throughout the year. Whichever and however you decide to participate, it’s to your organization’s benefit to get involved.

So, while you’re revving up the crew for a great fiscal year or new quarter, don’t forget to muster up volunteers for one or more charity events this year.

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has recommended more than 30 changes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the 2018 Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, and its related instructions.

 

In its May 7 letter, the AICPA indicated the importance and urgency of each of its recommendations.  Eighteen of the 33 recommendations were ranked “high” for both importance and urgency.  They include:

·         Delete the terms and associated definitions from the Glossary in the Instructions to the Form 990 and in all parts of the form and related schedules that have changed under the tax law.The terms are “endowment,” “permanent (true) endowment,” “SFAS 116,” “SFAS 117,” “temporarily restricted endowment” and “FIN 48.”

·         Update the Glossary to define the terms used in Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities, issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) as defined in the FASB Accounting Standards Codification Master Glossary.

·         Update the trigger question for Schedule D to reflect the changed classification of net assets under FASB ASC 958, while still recognizing that the focus of the question is on reporting for donor restricted and board designated or quasi-endowments.

·         Align the trigger questions in Form 990, Part IV and Part X so that they agree with the definition of “interested parties” in the Schedule L instructions.

·         Update the net assets or fund balances portion of the balance sheet to reflect ASU 2016-14.

·         Update the question and instructions related to the Office of Management and Budget/Uniform Guidance rules, and update the instructions to reflect the new single audit threshold of $750,000.

·         Update the instructions for Schedule I, Part II, Line 1 so they are consistent with the instructions for the trigger question in Form 990, Part IV, Line 21.

If you own a small business or your main source of income comes from freelancing you know that cutting costs is an essential part of your day. It could be as small as saving money by buying a slightly cheaper coffee for the office or buying office supplies in bulk. It could even mean cutting down on printing costs. In fact, you can save a lot of money on printing costs. Between the actual printer, paper stock, and toner; printing can get expensive. Before pressing Command + P on your Mac, make sure you’re not throwing any unnecessary money away.

Lets start with printers themselves. The price of printers can vary from $40 to $400. Ensuring that you get the most for your dollar is critical. Before purchasing a printer – read the reviews. Once you decide on a printer in your budget, shop around and see where you can find the best deal. A quick search for the Epson XP-340 Color Ink-jet came up with prices ranging from $74 through Amazon to $99 at Walmart. That’s a $15 savings and for a small business that can be a lot.

Next, let’s look at ink cartridges. When I was a kid I didn’t understand why we had a color printer when we weren’t allowed to print in color. Of course now in my thirties I understand completely. Color cartridges may cost less than black ink but they don’t last as long. When it comes to printing projects, make sure you only print in color when you absolutely have to- you’re printing invitations, official flyers, and or graphic design projects. If you’re just printing out this article to show your friends- black ink will do. Maybe just email them the link to the article and cut costs there. You can conserve a lot of money on ink by buying third-party brands that you can purchase for a discounted price. In a report by Consumer Reports, they found that 63% of surveyors found that third-party ink cartridges were just as good as their brand-name counterparts. That being said, the remaining 36% complained that discounted cartridges clogged their printer heads and set off warning messages. Whether you buy brand-named cartridges or knock-offs, it’s important to do your research and pick the one that you’re most comfortable with.

Next we come to paper. Paper stock isn’t the same and can vary from a thick stock used for resumes and creative projects to flimsy paper that might blow away at any given moment. Figuring out which type of thickness meets your requirements is the first step. From there finding a paper that is inexpensive yet durable is critical.

After you’ve bought your printer, ink cartridges, and paper you’re ready to roll. Turn your printer on, pat yourself on the back for saving money and start printing to your heart’s content. Not so fast. Even after you’ve purchased a printer you can still save

money when it comes to actually printing your documents. Before you press that print button ask yourself these questions:

• · Do I really need to print this file? Can I email it instead?
• · Does this article have to be printed in color or is black ink OK?
• · Can this document be double-sided to conserve paper?
• · Do I need all 40 pages of this essay or can I just print out the first 12?
• · Have I proofread my document?

By asking yourself these five questions every time you press print, you can save a significant amount of money in the long run. So not only can you conserve money when it comes to printing technology itself, but you can continue to save money as time goes on.

Public relations is how businesses promote their  brand to the public. Press attention from news outlets offers an opportunity for brands to share more details than what can be shared in advertising and gain exposure on a wider scale.

Landing an interview or article in a publication, however, is a highly-competitive undertaking.

In this article, we’ll explain how to give your business an edge in attracting publicity for your brand in ways that don’t require a major financial investment. Use it to create strategies for approaching public relations on a budget.

How Social Media Can Help with Public Relations

Social Media offers brands the opportunity to reach the public directly. Consider the following social media marketing tactics.

Use Hashtags

The social media platform you use for promotion can determine the level of visibility and engagement you earn.  

Facebook, for example, makes it difficult for your content to earn visibility without running paid promotions.

To increase visibility, experiment with hashtags for your social media content.

Pinterest and Instagram include “hashtag feeds,” a which are search feeds businesses can get listed in by including relevant hashtags in their posts.

Publish PR-Worthy Content

User-generated content (UGC) can increase a business's exposure and sometimes help generate press.

UGC is any non-paid content that other people post about your brand, including reviews, videos, and images.

UGC is direct public relations when users share the content to their own feeds, exposing your brand to a wider audience.

For example, Country Walking created a UGC campaign called The Free Walking Challenge to encourage people to walk an hour a day using the campaign hashtag #walk1000miles.

Source: Walk 1000 Miles 2019

 

To encourage people to walk, the campaign offered competitions, shared routes, and encouraged photo-sharing on social media.

The hashtag #walk1000miles accompanied all campaign promotions, and users were encouraged to share it with their images and stories across social media.

The results of the campaign were outstanding: it garnered  4+ million interactions across social media, national press coverage, and an award for the publication and its agency, Bauer Media.

There are many ways to encourage user-generated content that can contribute to your company’s public relations.

Experiment with incentives such as prizes, recognition, or provide charitable donations in exchange for shares to encourage users to share content about their experiences with your company brand.

How Social Responsibility and Social Good Can Help With Public Relations

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social good aren’t only for big-name brands.

Small businesses also can build a strong connection to the public through CSR, which often results in positive press coverage.

Small businesses can leverage the benefits of social responsibility by:

• Taking a stand on an issue that resonates with customers
• Donating a portion of every sale to a social cause
• Starting a movement around a social cause
• Setting company standards that include sustainable, environmentally or pet-friendly policies.

Finding ways to give back to the local community is another way your business can practice social good.

For example, Geekdom co-working space in San Antonio gives back to its community by allowing its office area to be used for local blood drives.

There are many causes that people care about, and learning which ones are important to your target audience can help steer the direction of your company’s social activities.

A recent survey from Clutch found that company attributes people find important include:

• Environmentally-friendly business practices
• Giving back to the local community
• Social responsibility
• Support of social movements

While your company can benefit from the public relations aspects of social good, the causes you support should align with your values and represent causes you genuinely want to support.

CSR is not a public relations strategy – it should be an authentic expression of social responsibility.

All Businesses Can Benefit From Public Relations

Working within a small budget is a reason to pursue public relations, not shy away from it. There are many things a brand can do to generate exposure to the public and in the press, including social media, social responsibility, and social good campaigns.

If you’re still unsure of how PR can benefit your businesses, consider consulting a public relations agency in your area.

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Bio: Grayson Kemper is a Senior Writer for Clutch, a B2B research, ratings, and reviews platform based in Washington, DC.

Running a business is similar to taking a family vacation. To be successful, both require meticulous planning, clearly defined roles for everyone involved, and a predetermined destination.

“Not having a clear vision and specific goals is a proven way to ensure you’ll never achieve them,” says John Collopy, author of the book The Reward of Knowing (www.johncollopy.com). “That’s why articulating your vision is a critical first step toward success—to give yourself something to aspire to besides some general idea of ‘making it.’”

Collopy knows a thing or two about having a vision and then setting goals to make the vision a reality.  He is the owner and broker of RE/MAX Results and its subsequent 38 offices across Minnesota and Wisconsin. Setting goals in his personal life helped him overcome his addiction to alcohol. Now he is dedicated to helping others find the right steps to achieve their dreams, but he says there can be many roadblocks.

“Having an unclear vision can also make it difficult to stay motivated and passionate about your work,” says Collopy. “Identifying a clear vision and set of goals can keep us going through tough times, and give us energy when we want to give up. That’s because, even when you’re in a rough patch, you know you’re working toward something.”

In contrast, a vague, half-formed vision may leave you feeling lost and powerless, he says.
 

“Eventually, you may even give up entirely,” Collopy says. “You may decide that, based on your record of failure, success just isn’t in the cards for you. And that’s the saddest result of failing to articulate your vision.”  

Collopy has the following tips for those who are ready to set goals to achieve their vision:

• Be specific and realistic. Be specific about your goals, and the steps you need to take to reach them. “If you don’t, be ready to deal with challenges now and in the future,” Collopy says. Also make your goals attainable but not too easy. You want to have pride when it is accomplished. If you set the bar too high, you may get discouraged.  And if you set it too low, you will not feel a great sense of accomplishment. 
   
• Make goals measurable. Any good goal that is worthy of your time should be measurable so even if you don’t make it, you can measure your progress.  It will be easier to measure your goals if they are clear goals that are attainable, relevant and time-based.
   
• Write it down and tell someone. Write down your vision, make copies and leave those copies where you will routinely see them – on your refrigerator, in your car, on your dresser, in the bathroom. “This will remind you about your vision throughout the day and keep you on task,” Collopy says. In addition, the more people you tell about your vision and your goals, the better.  They will encourage you because the next time they see you, he says, they will probably ask you about your progress.  
   

“Once you have attained your goal, take some time to celebrate your victory with your team,” Collopy says. “Even if the goal wasn’t a team goal, invite others that work with you or for you to share in your accomplishment.”

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John Collopy, author of the book The Reward of Knowing, is the owner and broker of RE/MAX Results and its subsequent 38 offices across Minnesota and Wisconsin.  With annual sales of more than $5.3 billion, RE/MAX Results is now one of the largest RE/MAX franchises in the world.  Collopy lives in Minnesota with his wife and children.

Incorporating social media into your marketing strategy is crucial to grow your business. Used correctly, social media creates awareness for your brand and allows you to reach potential customers faster than other marketing campaigns such as direct mail or referrals.  While companies have previously relied on Facebook as the go-to Social Media platform to advertise, Instagram is slowly gaining momentum for companies looking to advertise to younger generations and increase sales

Through posts and recently added stories, businesses account for 25 million profiles on Instagram. If that statistic doesn’t make you want to immediately create a Instagram account, according to Instagram 60% of users discover products on Instagram.

While posts can bring awareness to numerous businesses, it’s the Instagram stories that create loyalty amongst followers. “I chose to share more candid content there. It’s easier for me to express my personality and humor,” Elena Davies (@elenadavies), former Big Brother contestant explains. Davies who has over 278K followers, recently created her own podcast, “MiscELENAeous” and uses Instagram stories to connect with her audience.  Talia Lifschutz (@talialifschutz), Instagram Personality agrees. She uses both stories and posts interchangeably to convey her brand to her 18.5K followers.

Today’s younger generous want to feel a connection with the brands they purchase. They want to ensure that they hold the same beliefs and sentiments. In a way, stories are a way for entrepreneurs to promote their persona, something that they cannot do by merely posting pictures on their Instagram feed.

Another reason why shifting between posts and stories are important is that stories can reach more people who are interested in a certain lifestyle.  “I think they [Instagram stories] hit more potential followers than just using posts/hash tags,” Katrina Hartman states. The owner of Divine Feminine Birth Services (@divinefemininebirthservices) in Rhode Island, Katrina relies on the awareness of social media to gain new followers and potential clients.  Hartman who is APPA Certified in Placenta Encapsulation and training to become a Doula, recently helped with her first live birth. She turned to Instagram stories to recount her experience- something that she couldn’t have done through a post. “I saw an influx of visitors to my page, more than I have by posting alone.” While some of her visitors may live in other states or countries – too far to take advantage of Hartman’s services, they can still come to her account to find out more about placenta encapsulation. 

Businesses can promote their brand in countless ways with the main goal of creating awareness, which will lead to eventual purchases. There are many different methods to promote their brand that is exclusive to their followers. Davies can post a sneak peak at her new podcast. Or she can post never-before-seen footage of her interviews. Lifschutz often times posts live Instagram stories attending various concerts, which helps to establish herself as an influencer in the music industry.  Stories are also a way to connect with followers. Hartman couldn’t hide her excitement when telling viewers how meaningful it was attending her first live birth. By showing her excitement, she was able to connect with viewers who have had similar experiences.

Facebook isn’t the only social media platform that businesses can utilize when advertising and promoting their brand. Instagram, specifically Instagram stories have allowed entrepreneurs to organically grow their company by showing followers their everyday lives. Whether the brand is an influencer, podcast, or service, Instagram stories can help personalize a brand and get their message across to like-minded individuals and potentially followers.

If you’ve ever gone on vacation and returned feeling renewed, then you’ll understand the popularity of a small business retreat. The concept of leaving the office behind and bringing the team to an off-site, special destination follows the same vein as a vacation. A retreat offers the chance for a team to refresh and return to work in a better state of mind.

Unlike a 1:1 in your office or a conference center townhall, informal retreat meetings break the mold and give the team a chance work outside the confines of roles and titles. The more relaxed atmosphere of a retreat promotes better communication and team bonding, allowing your employees to let go of office politics and embrace a shared experience. Even with nothing in common at the workplace, everyone on the retreat can find common ground through the experience of the get-away.

Reap the Benefits of a Small Business Retreat

The benefits of a retreat appear in employees’ increased productivity. Like the advantage of a vacation, retreats are a break that lets employees relax so that they can come back with more energy. Also, taking their work to a new environment brings fresh perspective to the job and can inspire more contributions back at the office. Finally, retreats improve communication by opening channels between management and employees and developing informal networking between teams in ways that just aren’t possible at the office. The more relaxed retreat atmosphere fosters connections, even between those who may not normally interact, and improves communication overall.

Not Your Traditional Retreat

Though beneficial, there is a cautionary tale from the 2000s to be told about using retreats as rewards without value. Tradition saw executives splurge on retreats while employees watched from the sidelines as these lavish paid vacations catered to the top tier management. Back then, a retreat was a sign of executive largesse, excessive and reserved only for the C-Suite & Friends.

Value-Added Experience

Today, a retreat offers much more meaningful value to the business and pertains to all levels of employees. The ability to remove the team from distractions of the workplace is an opportunity to really focus on an initiative. If you do it right, you can use the time to focus on training, brainstorming, and team building in ways that the office just doesn’t allow; you have the space and atmosphere to shake employees from the routine and explore new ground.

Investment With Returns

There are costs to a retreat, but more than just the price of doing business, this expense is an investment. Spending the money to develop your employees only comes back to you in droves when the work gets done better and more efficiently by employees who feel valued and more committed.

March is the perfect time of year to schedule a retreat since you can take advantage of the quarter’s end and Spring Break season. Use the time to evaluate the years’ progress thus far and set goals as well as minimize the bite from budget with seasonal travel discounts and packages available.

No matter what industry you’re in, there’s always an unknown element when it comes to job security. The economy, who happens to be President, natural disasters, and a host of other life events could take a stable job and turn it on its head, or you may be one of the lucky few who enjoys a 30+ year run at the same organization. Yet with as much innovation as there is in today’s job market, it’s tough to say with certainty that we won’t all end up getting replaced by robots at some point in the future.

On a more serious note, however, it can be difficult to plan ahead if the foundation of your career is uncertain. While there are steps that people can take to help secure their future, it seems that the roadmap to success is always changing. According to a recent article in USA Today, it is possible to create your own destiny in the career world, and it’s as easy as taking two little steps.

Evaluate Your Employer

All too often, we think about changing jobs because of our dissatisfaction with our own position. Perhaps we want more money, different responsibilities, or our coworkers are flat out terrible to be around. But how regularly do people take a hard look at who’s running the show and try to predict where things are going? Probably not as often as is needed.

Whether you work for a small corporation or a multi-national group, try taking an objective look at the future. Are the people in charge innovative? Do they have the foresight to adapt to a changing marketplace? Will they survive and thrive, or will they fall by the wayside as other newer brands make them irrelevant? While you may not be able to control any of the factors that help to answer these questions, you can watch for red flags that may indicate it’s time to look for other opportunities.

Put Yourself First

Time and time again we hear that making yourself valuable is incredibly important in the workplace, but many people don’t really take this message to heart. No matter the industry, you should create a personal mission of always continuing your education. Being someone who is on the forefront of upcoming changes, new ways of doing things, and contributing to the vision of your organization puts you on the short list of getting a raise, promotion, and at the very least, not being the first one to get laid off.

Even more important is the time and energy you put into building your own reputation separate from your company. Online review platforms often associate you with the place you work, making it hard to create a name for yourself within your given industry. However, at Completed.com, you can put all of your networking skills to good use and develop a profile that demonstrates how valuable you really are.

If and when it comes time to make a change and you’re looking for another job opportunity, you can consider your Completed.com profile as an extended resume, highlighting qualities that will help you to stand out from the rest of the crowd. At the very least, it’s a tool that every career-minded individual can benefit from, even if their current corporation is on the path to success.

Young leaders typically go too far or not far enough. They are born to take chances but when the time comes, many retreat to what they have been told by elders or those with more experience.

There is something to be said for brash youth, its penchant for breaking the rules and coming at problems from an entirely different mindset.  But sometimes those rules are there for a reason, and going completely against what has been done before leads to a road to nowhere.

Before young leaders head out to conquer the world, Phuong Uyen Tran, author of Competing with Giants(https://www.thp.com.vn/en/) and deputy CEO of THP Beverage Group, Vietnam’s leading beverage company, says they should dig deeper into their beliefs, actions and goals in order to chart a successful path.

“Young leaders bring passion but sometimes it doesn’t make up for a lack of wisdom,”  Tran says. “Before they set sail, there are a few questions they need to ask themselves to increase their chances for success.”

Tran says the six questions are:

• What are your core beliefs?  To be successful, a young leader needs to be grounded in some fundamental beliefs. Understanding and writing down core beliefs will guide you through stormy times.
   
• What is the mission statement of your product or service? - The mission statement reflects every facet of the business: the range and nature of the products offered, pricing, quality, service, marketplace position, growth potential, use of technology, and your relationships with customers, employees, suppliers, competitors, and the community.
   
• Have you done your homework? - As a young leader, it is imperative that you  do plenty of research.  Older leaders can sometimes go by their gut feelings, but young leaders don’t have that luxury.  You need to be over-prepared before moving forward.
   
• Do you really believe in you product or service? Great leaders truly believe that whatever their product or service is, that it is the best option among all the competition.  If you don’t believe in your product, it is hard to lead your troops into battle.
   
• Are you ready to set sail or are you moored to the dock? - Sometimes you have to take chances. Are you ready to take risks and not be tied to what has always been done in the past?
   
• How will you handle success or failure?  One of two things usually happens - you will succeed or you will fail.  How will you handle success - are you ready to pull all the levers you need to get to the next level?  If you fail, how will you handle it?  Will you go into a depression and blame others, or will you learn from your mistakes?

Tran says young leaders can overcome many obstacles by taking some extra time to  ask themselves those questions.

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Phuong Uyen Tran, author of Competing with Giants (https://www.thp.com.vn/en/), is deputy CEO of the THP Beverage Group, a leading beverage company in Vietnam that was founded by her father. She is responsible for the company’s marketing, public relations, and CSR programs nationally and across Vietnam’s 63 provinces. She also leads THP’s international marketing programs across 16 countries where THP’s products are distributed including Canada and China.

As a small business owner, only you set the tone or appoint direction for the enterprise. Therefore, the onus to stay abreast of relevant business practices falls to you. You must learn as much as you can to stay ahead of the game.

Though it isn’t always possible to take a refresher course in business or to pursue your MBA, you can – and should—continue learning. Sometimes, it’s a matter of shifting your perspective and other times, it’s a matter of learning about a new method that will help your business.

Resources Aplenty

There are some great books available that can motivate, inspire, and teach you. Reading one or all these titles just might make a hill of difference when it comes to walking an easy path to success versus a rough trail full of hard-knocks.

Far from an exhaustive list, the following are entertaining and relevant business books that will give you fresh insights into management, strategy, and methods for running your business (sometimes, a kernel of knowledge turns into a whole new way to think, and these moments of revelation can become breakthroughs that take your business to the next level):

The Art Of War, by Sun Tzu. Not all business books are about business. In this ancient book written in the 6th Century B.C., you’ll find a treatise on human nature and conflict that will guide you through any meeting. The Art of War gives you timeless knowledge about practicing strategy to win that still matters and applies to the world at large but much more specifically to the business world of today.

The Goal, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. An influential and timeless tome for the business world, this book delves into The Theory of Constraint and will change your thinking about the goal of your organization.

The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel, by Dwight Jon Zimmerman. The ultimate comic for a professional, this graphic novel brings the concepts of The Goal to life in story-form, demonstrating the management paradigm in a fresh, captivating format.

Switch, by Chip & Dan Heath. The one constant in life is change, yet it’s a struggle for most people to accept and react accordingly. What causes obstacles to change? How can you navigate change in your life but more importantly, in your business? Switch combines thought provoking tales with a step-by-step method for managing change in your organization and beyond.

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything, by Chris Hadfield. As inspirational texts go, this one certainly provides new perspective beyond the 30,000-foot view! Lessons of life and work from Hadfield’s career translate to any situation, particularly for a small business owner who is attempting their own launch sequence to get a business off the ground.

Taking advantage of these resources will make the process of entrepreneurship easier. Gain wisdom from those who’ve gone before you, learned the ropes, and took notes so that you can follow suit.