5 Warning Signs a Startup Is a Bad Investment

A company that’s not growing is dying. This is an unpleasant reality that comes with the capitalist system, and it’s especially harsh for smaller or newer companies. Between concerns over debt, resource acquisition and client maintenance, plenty can go horrifically wrong. It’s no wonder that 80 percent of small businesses fail.

The prudent investor must watch for these five warning signs.

1. Lackluster products. A common challenge for any new business is separating themselves from the crowd. A company unable to provide a quality or niche product will likely get steam rolled by others already established in their field.

Look through their product catalog to determine if the company has carved out a niche. If nothing stands out as unique to either the area or the market in general, rest assured someone else is already providing it. You should avoid investing in companies like that because, more often than not, you are disappointed in the end.

2. Lack of vision. To survive, a company needs a solid business plan stating the targeted markets, as well as a vision statement stating how the market will be penetrated.

One of the major issues small companies encounter is their inability to reach out, grasp the public’s attention and convince them to utilize their services or products. Ask to see the company’s planning documents. If they don’t have a one, that is your sign to pass.

3. Lack of growth. A young company needs rapid, yet scalable growth to survive. The reason  is simple. There is no guarantee their faithful customers will be there tomorrow. It’s vital to find new ones as often as possible.

Ask to see the company’s purchasing history and compare it with their list of clients. The company probably doesn’t have a very bright future if they only have one or two major clients and no active plans for expansion. Save your money for a brand that understands the importance of a diverse client base.

4. Crowded marketplace. A market with dozens, if not hundreds, of competitors will prove much more difficult for a new company with limited resources for marketing itself and its services.

Look for companies that start in smaller areas, or have a niche product patented or trademarked. If in doubt, check to see if the company has spread. A startup is much more likely to succeed if it exists in more than one market, especially when competition already exists.

5. No research and development budget. Markets change frequently, thanks to the changes in public demand and the pace of technological innovation. To succeed, a company will need to nimbly recognize changes as they come, adapt and take advantage ahead of their competition. 

Check the company’s financial report. Back away from any firm that does not dedicate a decent chunk of their profits towards preparing for the future. A hefty research and development budget is vital.

VC investing offers no guarantee you’ll make a profit or even get your money back, so pay attention to the warning signs of predictable startup failure. Obtain the necessary documents and consult with a financial analyst if you have the time. Otherwise, stick with more established companies and avoid the 80 percent failure rate.

From Entrepreneur

5 Tips to Creating a Successful Content-Marketing Campaign

The phrase “content marketing” is all over the web these days. Content has become a conglomeration of many things: webinars, blog posts, videos, social network shares and more. It sounds like a great idea. If done right, a well-executed digital campaign will yield considerable benefits for both established businesses and entrepreneurs. Such a strategy has the power to position a business as a topical authority and establish the owners and executives as experts.

The devil, as they say, is in the details. Implementing such a campaign isn’t as easy as it seems and takes a bit more effort than pressing a button. Depending on your business goals, time needs to be spent aligning your company's brand’s online persona with your customers’ needs. Once posted, content that’s shared requires interaction on your part. Interact directly with your community by saying something meaningful to stimulate continued conversation.

Content marketing can be a boon for your brand. Be sure to follow these tested truths when planning your campaign:

1. Know your audience and keep the content relevant. Each social network has a unique identity and audience, so take time to research the demographics of the social marketing platforms you use to share. All sites are not the same. Some skew highly to men (Google+) and others are more popular with women (Pinterest). Check the current information on the sites to determine where to share your content to the to best effect.

Whether you market to businesses or consumers, you no doubt have a grasp of their interests. Blogs are still a great way to build an engaged community around your brand and interests. An example of a blog that successfully uses content marketing is SavvySeller.co. This is a community site offering helpful advice for online sellers while displaying ads for its parent company, World Lister.

Check what your customers are sharing on social media. By making your blog posts relevant to readers, they may pass along your content as well and become your advocate, awarding you with free, yet most valuable, marketing.

2. Beware of constant self-reference. Repetitive self-reference will not stimulate engagement. The days of broadcast advertising are long past, and without giving your message a twist, broadcasting will do nothing but discourage readers. Rather, use stories to illustrate the benefits your business has to offer. 

Direct your message to the reader and be sure to personalize it by using the word “you.” In this way your posts directly address (and pique the interest) of your community. Keep the promotional content to no more than a 1-to-7 ratio. As social scientist Dan Zarrella says, “Stop talking about yourself." Instead, "start talking as yourself.”

3. Share what works. When creating content for your business, consider your own time schedule and talents. Sitting down to write a white paper may be painful for many people, and small businesses may not have the time or resources to produce one. If you are more comfortable communicating your messages in another format, for example, why not try sharing the following:

Short-form articles (like this one)

Infographics or small sharable graphics are easily produced on a platform such as Canva

Photographs of products in action that you can share on Instagram 

Short product demonstrations or instructional videos (try to keep them under two minutes)

Other related business content

Also consider sharing content about things you are passionate about. By posting ideas and subjects that are personally relevant to you (the business owner), you project your humanity to your online influence. 

4. Consider curating. A growing trend is content aggregation, which is deriving content directly from others’ RSS feeds and automatically turning them into shares. Aggregating is not curating. In contrast, curating content requires a human being to find, read and qualify digital content that is relevant to your audience. Curating may sound like a lot of work, but it may take as little as 30 minutes a day. If you (or another member of your staff) regularly read digital content that relates to your business, finding articles to share is a simple proposition. 

Even the owners of niche businesses can find articles that might resonate with their audience. If you curate and share content from others, your audience will look to you as a reliable source for information on a specific topic. A secondary benefit of sharing third-party content is that you build relationships by broadening the conversation with others within your industry.

5. Measure once and then again. Track the comments and responses to your pieces. When you share links on social media platforms, use the many free metrics tools to decipher which of your posts were on track. By on track, I mean were they read? Shared? Acted upon? If a platform or content type isn’t working for you, be sure to put effort into the ones that are.

Know that your content marketing will build with time and continuity, and social content may not translate into sales immediately. Set up a plan in advance and have reasonable expectations. You are brand building for the long haul.

From Entrepreneur

5 Things You Never Should Say to a Client

The world of business can be tricky to navigate. Sure, you have a great product, but now you must procure and retain clients. And that can be like navigating a minefield. Each customer brings a different personality and expectations to manage.

Because so many companies are vying for business, the slightest misstep can sink an enterprise. Here some basics to keep in mind, including what to never say to clients, no matter how well you think you know them.   

1. Can I give you a lift in my new Bentley? You want clients to think you're the best at what you do and successful. But you don’t want them to think that they are overpaying to support your extravagances.

Some of this involves jealousy. If the client is not driving a fancy car, he or she doesn’t want to know that you do. The customer might imagine that maybe the reason you can afford such expensive toys is that you overcharge for services.

2. Your current supplier or vendor is terrible. Never ever badmouth the competition no matter what you know or think about that firm because you won’t come off well. It can look like sour grapes.

3. You don’t want that. You want this other thing. Always give clients what they want. No matter what they say, people generally think what they want is right. Saying that they're wrong may only offend them -- and make them want to take their business to a salesperson who will give them what they seek. You can always propose an additional option to consider, but present it with a light touch. Ultimately, it’s the clients' choice and you can live with the outcome if they can.

4. Did I ever tell you about my crazy, drunken weekend in Las Vegas? There’s bonding and then there’s sharing too much information (or TMI). Sure, the client will laugh heartily at how you became so drunk that you forgot which hotel room to return to.

But then the customer will question your discretion and professionalism. Even when you have quasi-social relationship with a customer, don’t make the conversation too personal too soon. It's fine to ask about a client's family or a vacation, but don't delve too deeply. And don’t discuss sex, politics or religion right off the bat.

5. I heard your co-worker is seeking a divorce. Don’t gossip. Period. This shows a lack of discretion and if you talk freely about another person, a client might assume that you also talk about him or her. (Think about it: What's your reaction when you hear someone whom you don’t know very well make a negative remark about another person?) If you must discuss people you both know, find something positive to say. You will come across as upbeat, friendly and professional -- someone a customer wants to be around. 

The bottom line is really pretty simple: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Or more simply: Keep your mouth shut and a smile on your face. 

From Entrepreneur

10 body language tips every speaker must know

We all know that when we give a presentation or speak in front of a group, not only are our words important, but the body language that accompanies them.

Your words may give the audience one message while your body sends quite another.

As if getting the words out wasn't hard enough, right?

An infographic from SOAP Presentations lists 10 body language tips to employ during your next presentation. These tips range from how to get the audience to like you, to how to make sure the audience remembers your key points.

For example:

1. To get the audience to like you, make eye contact. People tend to pay more attention to and like those who look them in the eye.

2. To boost your confidence, open your chest and arms, and keep your back straight.

3. To demonstrate authority, be calm and use small, stiff gestures.

4. To draw the audience's attention to something, point directly at it and look at it yourself. The audience will follow your lead.

5. To convince the audience of something, use positive gestures — smiling, nodding, open movements, etc. — throughout the presentation.

Check out the full graphic for more:

From PR Daily

Is Your Voice a Business Asset or a Liability?

As if tackling business development, sales and the raising of capital were not hard enough, researchers have found one more challenge for entrepreneurs to worry about: the sound of their voice! 

In March, University of Glasgow researchers Phil McAleer and Pascal Belin, along with Princeton University researcher Alexander Todorov, published a study after testing how the sound of people’s voices affected those listening to the communication: They concluded, “On hearing a novel voice, listeners readily form personality impressions of that speaker. Accurate or not, these impressions are known to affect subsequent interactions.”

And a 2012 study by Quantified Impressions found that the sound of a person's voice is twice as important as what the individual is saying. This means that no matter how well crafted the message, the wrong sound could kill a deal.

As Irv Shapiro, CEO at Ifbyphone, a voice-based marketing automation company, wrote in Marketing Profs in February, “in today's digital world, the roles that the human voice and the phone call play in marketing and sales success have never been bigger. Calls have re-emerged as the most effective channel for generating high-quality leads and closing business.”

Indeed, ask people their opinion of their voice and most will respond along a spectrum that includes harsh self-assessments such as "I don't like it" or "I can't stand it." 

Entrepreneurs can spend considerable amounts of time working on how they look and the way they work and think. But most have not given any serious thought to how they sound and if any changes may be needed to improve their business prospects.

And people judge others -- in some cases very harshly -- based upon how they sound. As Jayne Latz, president of Corporate Speech Solutions, told KPCC's AirTalk, "People are absolutely judged by how they sound." Latz stressed that just as professionals must learn how to dress for success, they should learn to use their voice for the best outcome.

Entrepreneurs should be concerned by voices that are rough, raspy, weak, strained or breathy. Listeners consider these qualities unappealing and they may have an adverse effect.

Some argue that in the age of social media, face-to-face interaction is less critical and the sound of a voice less important. But the reality is that social media and other Internet-based applications are merely tools that may be ultimately leveraged for the purpose of arranging face-to-face or telephone meetings.

“Nothing will replace face-to-face," Joyce McKee, CEO of Let’s Talk Trade Shows, contended in a 2012 publication of Meeting Professionals International. "Yes, social media can augment it but … dots are connected on the trade show floor. Inspiration is born on the trade show floor.”

Given that so much entrepreneurial energy is spent communicating on the phone or face-to-face, it seems logical that entrepreneurs spend an appropriate amount of time to analyze their voice. Joseph Love, creator of Sing for Success, told me in an interview that he believes that "every businessperson should record their voice to find trouble spots." 

Love encourages entrepreneurs with voice deficiencies to seek the assistance of a voice professional. While some issues are physical or health related, voice coaches can in many cases provide quick and affordable remedies such as exercises and other strategies to improve the sound.

At a minimum that entrepreneurs should record their voice, listen for trouble spots and look for insights online, he suggested. 

Based upon the importance that voice plays in business transactions, entrepreneurs should find it in their best interest to analyze their voice to ensure it works for them as an asset -- and isn't a liabilty.

From Entrepreneur

10 Excuses Unproductive People Always Use

Want to spot the unproductive employees? Listen to the excuses they make.

They moan. They wail. They shuffle around the office looking for free candy. Unproductive employees have an excuse for everything. Here are a few of the phrases they use to explain away the problem. Listen for them, then correct the action to get things back on track.

1. I'm overworked.

I hear this one constantly. What unproductive people might not realize is that we are all overworked. We're in an overworked age. Instant access to email and a mobile browser means work is always just a click away. What separates the wheat from the chaff? The really productive people don't dwell on the problem. They just do the work.

2. That's not my job.

I've written before about staying productive by focusing on your job and not doing the work of unproductive co-workers. That's always a bad pattern to set. Curious, then, that the really unproductive people always seem to notice when they're doing extra work to help a project. They focus on their role too much and on what everyone else is not doing. Truly productive people don't even care. They just do whatever it takes to get things done and plow ahead, analyzing the exact role definitions later.

3. I'll finish that later.

Forget the Mark Twain quote about procrastination. Unproductive people waste time because they live in a constant state of incongruity. The loose ends of their tasks never meet up, and stay loose. They start one Word document, work on it for a while, drop it, then start working on a PowerPoint. In the "picking up and setting down" process they waste time because each tasks needs a jumpstart, which uses more energy.

4. I don't have all of the answers yet.

Overly detail-oriented people use this one. They wait until everything is perfectly lined up before starting a task, usually languishing in perpetuity because things rarely do line up. And, ironically, some of the employees in your company who are wasting time mindlessly browsing all day are the ones who think they have to wait for the project pieces to fall in place. The solution? Productive people just do whatever they can now on any tasks that need to be done. They don't wait for the perfect timing.

5. I'll wait for the boss to tell me what to do.

For any employee in a small business, a lack of independence is a true productivity killer. While someone is waiting to be told what to do, a project will spin out of control. We all know the "get it done" crowd just figures out the problem and starts working on a task. Besides, if the boss has to explain every little detail, that's using up valuable time anyway.

6. I don't understand all of the variables.

Really? Is there an employee who won't act until he or she has all of the answers? That is a sign of someone who will be waiting a long time because no one ever has all of the answers. The folks who started Airbnb and Uber didn't wait for all of the regulatory issues to be ironed out. And Google didn't wait to test driverless cars until every state allowed them.

7. I don't see the benefit for me.

We are living in a world of narcissists who take selfies every 30 minutes and post about their inner feelings on Twitter. The underlying problem? They're slowing down a project because they only care about their own rewards. Productive people see the greater reward of a successful company and want to play a part in building something cool. The selfies can wait until the weekend.

8. I might not get the credit.

Related to that problem is another productivity destroyer: the need to take credit for the task. The process of hyping up your work, demanding crediting, and pestering people to notice your actions all contribute to an unproductive day. The employees who are slowing things down the most are spending too much time trying to get the attention of the boss.

9. I'm worried about my quality of work.

Productive people know how to slam out good work in a constant flow of creativity and skill. They care about quality, but they also understand that being productive requires a push to finish. When the goal is to always create perfection, unproductive people create a serious slowdown. Praise quality, expect proficiency, but encourage productivity.

10. I might fail.

The hallmark of every unproductive person at work is being worried about failure. It's a time-tested truth. If employees don't ever start a project, they don't have to worry about failure, right? I've written about total failure before, but letting a few tasks fail is okay. It means you are trying new things and staying busy. Holding back because you want every task to succeed? It just means completing fewer tasks.

From Inc.

10 Cheap Ways to Reduce Employee Stress

Do you want to see productivity go up and costs go down? Keep your employees healthy and focused with these 10 stress busters.

As an entrepreneur, you're accustomed to dealing with high stress levels, but what about your employees? Yes, they have stress, too. And when work stress builds up, your team members become less productive and emotionally disconnected, and they lose sleep.

Last week Inc's Graham Winfrey posted a very telling infographic on The Scary Truth About Stress in the Workplace. Did you know that stress-related health care and missed work are costing employers $300 billion a year? Heck, for a small business even $3,000 a year is a lot. It's time to pay attention to your employees' stress levels, not just because it's costing you but also to show them you care.

Here are 10 free or inexpensive ways to help your team de-stress on the job. Learning more about these simple things may even help them develop healthy habits outside of work. Healthy, happy employees will lower your stress level as well, so there are benefits all around.

1. Let them come in late or leave early.

That's right, flex time offers employees a sense of independence, which is known to reduce stress even more than shorter hours. As long as they are meeting quotas and getting the job done, do you really care which hours they choose to do it in? Of course, some employees do need to be present during specific hours. Try staggering their hours to give these team members a sense of independence, too.

2. Feed and educate them.

Studies have linked vitamin B with good mental health, and omega-3s may help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. Whole-grain carbs help regulate levels of serotonin, the "feel-good" neurotransmitter that helps us remain calm. In short, eating right ranks high on the list of stress-busting activities.

Busy people tend to grab a snack from the vending machine and eat at their desks. You'll help them break that habit when you cater a healthy lunch-and-learn once a month. Many local professionals who are willing to come in to talk about nutrition and other health-related topics.

3. Talk to them.

When I work with my clients' employees, I hear a lot of complaints about being kept in the dark at work. Concerns over pending changes, the state of the company, and unknown expectations cause great stress. Don't keep your employees in the dark. Communicate what you expect of them, how they are doing, what they can improve upon, and what's ahead for the company.

4. Take a break to imagine.

By now you've probably heard that meditation is relaxing, but what scientists are also discovering is that meditation actually increases the amount of grey matter in the brain, essentially rewiring the body to stress less. Other benefits include boosting cognitive function, strengthening the immune system, and reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Do an online search for "guided visualizations" and choose a few recordings to share with your team (many are free). Most of them are under 10 minutes and offer lasting benefits. Doing a guided visualization is much easier for the beginner than a silent meditation, but just as effective.

5. Make 'em laugh.

When you come across a funny video, share it with the office. Don't just forget those silly jokes you hear. Instead, share them at the start of weekly meetings. If silliness feels too unnatural for you or you don't have the time, assign an employee to be your laugh ambassador.

6. Take your meeting for a walk.

If your team consists of only two or three people, you really don't have to sit around a conference table for every meeting. Why not do a little exercise and take in some fresh air while you're sharing your updates and ideas? A break in the routine will also give them a break from the stress.

7. Offer relaxing smells.

Pure essential oils are known to reduce tension in the body and help increase mental clarity. Purchase an inexpensive ultrasonic diffuser and some quality essential oils (I use Young Living) and sparingly share these olfactory delights in the office. Make sure to inquire about allergies and sensitivities before you make the investment.

8. Encourage breaks.

Deadlines and demands usually lead to hours of unrelenting physical and mental stress. This is counter-productive. The human brain needs a break every two hours and the body needs a break every hour. Just five minutes will do the trick. So instead of asking where your employees are when they are missing from their desks, congratulate them for taking a break.

9. Give them a massage.

The folks at Mayo Clinic say that massage reduces anxiety, insomnia, headaches, and muscle tension. Your team will function better if they receive a regular massage, but you probably don't pay them enough.

There are lots of new massage therapists out there who would jump at the chance to promote their business by dropping by your office to offer 10 minute chair massages. Be nice, tip them well.

10.Pretty up the place with plants.

A study at Kansas State University says non-flowering plants are proven to reduce blood pressure levels. Introduce a few low-maintenance plants to your environment; not only are they pretty but they will help to keep your team healthy.

In short, your employees are your number one asset, so help them to live a long, healthy life!

From Inc.