The Team

Business Insurance: Shield Your Business From a Variety of Risks

Ask yourself, “Is your business financially stable to meet the emergencies?” or “Is there someone to help you or your organization in case of any accidents?” If the answer to these questions is negative, this article is just the right thing you need.

Before you started your company, you signed up for so many risks, financially as well as physically. For instance, your business might face a natural disaster that could destroy the property, or any employee might get indulged in fraudulent activity. In any case, you and your company have to suffer huge losses.

For such reasons, it is important to consider protecting your assets. And getting your business insured is one way to do it. In fact, many industry experts confirm that a business insurance policy lets you deal with any potential mishap that either harms the organization or its assets. And it is never a wrong decision. Because even if you don’t use it in your business’ lifetime, it provides a mental satisfaction that everything is safe and secured.

Such types of precautions help the entrepreneurs to protect their company’s buildings or assets against any accidents. But what exactly do the insurance policies cover? To know more about it, keep scrolling!

Covers the theft or any other crime

Imagine this, someone broke into your shop and stole all your inventory, and damaged the property in the process. Felt a sudden chill?

You never know what sort of crimes linger out there. Did you know that Larceny or theft was the most common crime in the USA? 5.2 million accidents were reported recently. And that’s not a piece of good news.

Right?

So, if in case your business encounters any accidents, an insurance policy might come in handy to cover up the losses. For example, if you own a retail store, stock insurance is the best option to keep your inventory safe from theft or any other accidental damage. Not many people know this, but if your customer left any item with you for any repairs. And it got stolen while in your possession. Such types of policies can be used to pay for them too.

Helps you with law and ordinance

The law clearly states that if a commercial building gets damaged or destroyed due to an accident, the building must be demolished and rebuilt to meet the latest construction norms.

You literally spent your life’s earnings in your company’s building. It’s hard enough to see it getting demolished and definitely challenges your financial status.

And you might be familiar with the fact that rebuilding a damaged or demolished building is not an easy task. It takes a lot of money to meet the latest construction codes.

The policyholders can be benefited from the “Law and ordinance” section of their contract. It covers the demolition, debris removal, and the increased cost. Isn’t that awesome? Just imagine how much money you’ll be saving just because you had an insurance policy.

Protects your equipment

Suppose all your electronic equipment got damaged due to an unavoidable accident. How are you planning to pay for such massive damage? Being an entrepreneur, you might be familiar with the fact that these assets are not only costly but prone to accidents/theft/mishappenings.

And the loss of such equipment is definitely a big deal for any organization. No business can survive without its equipment, especially if you own a factory or a warehouse. And machines have an expiry date. Everyone knows that. But, sudden accidents or mishappenings accelerate the withering process. So, it is better to get those electronic equipment and machines covered to avoid any losses.

According to the LoPriore Insurance Agency experts, this type of coverage protects the businesses in case your electronic systems face any issues due to accidents. These include systems, such as telephones, computers, and others.

Covers your commercial gaps

Financial gaps in the commercial world are widespread. It involves the risks that you were willing to take but didn’t turn out as you planned, harming your organization or projects in the process.

For example, if you own a construction company, you probably are familiar with the fact that your projects are prone to several risks and might land you in some financial troubles. For this reason, a builder’s financial coverage policy is prepared to cover the losses, damages related to the construction or renovation of the commercial property.

Such types of policies have flexible clauses to match the uniqueness of the project. It helps you deal with the damage caused due to natural disasters, fire, mechanical breakdown, etc.

Thus, business insurance provides coverage to fill in the commercial gaps when you fall short of finances.

Covers Employee Dishonesty

Let’s get one thing clear, your company thrives in the industry because of your employees. So, having loyal and efficient employees is what you need to sustain your organization in the market.

But what if your employees aren’t living up to their commitments? What if your employee is damaging the property of your organization or stealing from you?

Obviously, you can’t put every employee on the radar. So, what can you do to keep your company safe from the black sheep?

Fortunately, now you can protect your organization by opting for appropriate insurance policies that can help you compensate for the financial losses caused by those dishonest employees. The best part of this coverage is that it can either be purchased alone or with other crime coverages.

To sum it up!

Now that you know how important it is for an entrepreneur to opt for financial coverage, it is advisable to contact licensed professionals to avoid falling prey to fraudsters.

No matter how much you avoid accidents, mishaps wait for none. It is better to prepare yourself and your business for any potential threats. However, every company is different.

Therefore, the policyholders must make the best decision to safeguard and shield it from any kind of dangers out there because the risk is a metaphorical synonym for business. If things went wrong, insurance policies have your back!

4 Tips for Managing a Software Startup

It’s never easy to start a small business of any kind, and while the idea that two-thirds of small businesses fail in their first year is a myth, it’s rare for them to survive ten. The software industry may seem like a relatively safe avenue to go down for your startup, and you’d be right, at least to an extent. More people and organizations rely on software solutions every day, and advancements are being made constantly. Whether you’re looking to design and sell products for personal use or to launch a B2B software startup that offers software to help organizations with their digital transformations, there’s a high demand for software everywhere.

Of course, it’s important to realize that being in a good industry alone isn’t a guaranteed path to success. If that were the case, anyone could start an e-commerce shop and expect to rake money in thanks to the popularity of online sales. To get established, you’ll naturally need to have a detailed business plan, and you’ll possibly have to get investors on board, but how do you effectively manage your startup once it’s, well, started? Here are some great things you can do to manage your software startup and transform it into a successful business.

1. Establish an effective development strategy.

It should do without saying that if you’re a software company, then you need to develop useful software that your target audience will be able to use. You can conduct research on your competitors and the market to get a general idea of what you can be doing better or how you can fill a need that’s currently ignored, but to really be effective, you need a proper product development strategy.

A large part of this is figuring out how to make your minimal viable product (MVP). Essentially, your MVP is the version of a new product with the least amount of features and functionality possible to show your product to investors, other team members, and potential end-users. In the early days of new product development, it’s important to determine what the “bare bones” of your software are, so you can focus on executing these tasks as well as possible. This is useful for product testing since it allows potential users to give detailed feedback on the basic functions without being distracted by extra features. It also helps you get a product ready with the least effort.

When designing your minimum viable products, you’ll need to think about important differentiating features if you’re entering an existing market with competition. Even if you’re trying to break new ground, you’ll need to carefully consider how easily your end users can operate your software and what the average user is likely to do with it. Once you’ve built your MVP, you can measure how user behavior is stacking up to your expectations and make adjustments to all your new software products from there.

2. Secure IP address space.

A software startup is no doubt keeping up its own website, and it’s crucial that you have enough IPv4 blocks to support your site as it expands and to have enough IP address space to host all your users and accounts as they grow. This is why it’s important to buy an IP address space.

Every device that connects to the internet uses an internet protocol identifier (IP address). These are numerical identifiers used to detect devices and direct web traffic. Each geographic region connected to the internet has a regional internet registry (the United States and Canada use ARIN, for example) that assigns local identifiers to ISPs and end-users. IPv4 is the currently used IP system, and it’s served well for decades.

The problem today is that thanks to the internet of things (IoT) and the fact that most internet users connect to the network on multiple devices, we’re simply running out of IPv4 addresses. There soon won’t be enough room left to reliably host all the sites out there and to connect devices to them. This is because IPv4 uses 32-bit numbers for its IP addresses, and the amount of possible combinations is running low. IPv6 can replace it in theory, but its complexities are still so great that most organizations still don’t want to use it.

This is where IPv4 brokers come in. These sellers not only ensure that you’ll have enough IPv4 addresses, but they also ensure that they’re clean before selling them. Many IP addresses become blacklisted due to problems like spam or fraudulent activity. IPv4 address blocks sold by brokers are wiped clean ahead of time, so you can be assured that your site’s reputation stays intact and that you can rank high in search engine results.

3. Utilize goal-setting frameworks.

The best way to manage any business is to make sure that all team members understand your company goals and that everyone is working toward them in an effective way. You can do this by using OKR’s. This stands for objectives and key results, and it’s a management framework that defines goals, encourages transparency, and inspires employee engagement.

Your objectives are your primary business goals. An example for your startup could be to get the first major update to your latest product out before the next quarter. Your entire team will see this as a top priority, and you can use OKR software to track exactly how progress is being made. These progress indicators are your key results. In the current example, key results will come in as progress reports on the software update. You may find that you’re making good time on your objective and can add additional stretch goals. Conversely, if you had too many ambitious goals, you can set more realistic expectations next time. The OKR system has been used by a variety of hugely successful companies like Google, Uber, and Microsoft, and it can no doubt make a big difference to your startup.

4. Control your data effectively.

Data is one of the most valuable possible resources for a software startup. The data you collect helps you make decisions about everything from product development to how you should update business processes to work more efficiently. Data is only at its best, though, when it’s accurate and current. This is why any software company should invest in master data management (MDM).

Software startups need to use integrated software systems so that they can easily send data between use system they’re using. Otherwise, they’d have to rely on the manual transfer of data from one application to another. This is a process that’s both time-consuming and error-prone. With full integrations, the sharing of data becomes easy, and all data shared between applications is called master data. With a reliable MDM system, you can collect all of your master data in one single source of truth, and it’s constantly updated, so you’ll know your data is always reliable.

MDM helps you quickly and accurately determine how effective your business is and gives you actionable insights into how to improve your processes. Essentially, good data management can tie your entire organization together and make following the rest of these tips significantly easier.

How To Start a Political Campaign

To get involved with politics is to take on a role and a responsibility which can have an effect on numerous people. As a politician, you’re serving the will of the people who voted you into office, including those citizens who voted against you. You have to constantly find a balance on a variety of issues, hoping that you can get the results that you’ve shot for. This is often not the case for politicians as they have to find a middle ground with members of opposing parties and even with members of their own parties who may not see eye to eye with them on a common issue which they both actually support.

At the most basic level, a politician is a civil servant. When elected into office, they propose, support, and create laws and policies that help to govern the people of the land. On the state level in the United States, some of the political roles include the Governor, the Lt. Governor, City Manager, New York City mayor, New York City police chief, student council member, and a city attorney. On the federal level, some of these roles include President of the United States, Congressman/Congresswoman, Senators, and Vice President of the United States. Whatever the role, before running for office, each of these civil servants had to run a political campaign. Below are tips on how to start a political campaign.

Utilize technology to the fullest.

We live in a technologically rich world where advancements have helped politicians to reach more potential voters. For instance, utilizing social media, politicians have been able to contact prospective voters and keep in constant touch with them throughout their campaigns. This is done through direct online mailing lists, political ads on social media platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), and through the websites for potential candidates.

Websites are key pieces of technology that can be used for your presidential campaign or a run for local office in the United States or elsewhere. This is the go-to place for people to find out more about you personally and where you stand on the topics which they’re concerned about. You’ll need a counterbalance to the attack ads which your opponent is tossing out about you to whoever will listen and a website helps to accomplish this. In addition to providing information to potential voters, you want to also make sure your presidential campaign website is easy to navigate, responsive (meaning it’s formatted to be viewed on a desktop, mobile phone, or tablet), and is engaging.

Make sure to consult with software outsorcing companies to ensure that your website is up to par for the task of getting you elected. Since the internet can sometimes provide glitches and errors, finding a company that can ensure that your website functions well is a big part of running a successful first time campaign. Having the best software development company working on your software outsourcing activities is a good first step to starting a success-oriented local or presidential campaign.

Write a top-notch bio.

When you announce your bid to run for U.S. office, people are going to want to know about you. They’re going to want to know about you as a person, your experience, and where you stand on various issues. One good place for them to find all of this information is through your political bio. This will be the “one-stop-shop” to learn everything that they can about you.

In most cases, it’s best to hire a campaign writer, speechwriter, a public relations representative, or a professional writer who has experience putting something like this together. Spend money on someone like this to ensure that you’re getting the best bio possible. In the bio, you’ll want them to describe your personal experience, discuss what you’ll accomplish as a politician, and also end your bio on a strong note. Having a chance to speak directly with potential voters can go a long way in starting a successful U.S. political campaign.

Create a brand identity.

Political campaigns are known for their branding. Often, this is what voters remember about the campaign, whether they were successful or not. In some cases, people might even just vote for a candidate based on how successfully their brand spoke to them. Branding your campaign can be just as effective as when successful Yale Law school graduate/ Forbes featured business people like Vivek Ramaswamy brand their own products and services.

When you get ready to create a brand, choose a logo and color scheme. Stick with these choices, and soon your political campaign will become associated with whatever you’ve chosen. You don’t want to change your branding midway through a campaign. This will show prospective voters that you are possibly indecisive, and at worst, weak. Make sure your logo is clean and doesn’t include too many design elements. You don’t want there to be any misunderstanding of what you represent to potential voters. At the end of the day, you don’t want to be the cautionary political story for last year.

The best way to do this is to keep your messaging short and sweet, giving people not much time to parse any hidden meaning in what you’re saying. A catchy phrase, or even a mantra, can speak to voters just as much as a long-winded speech. Verbal messaging is a huge part of creating your brand identity.

Research the current issues as much as possible.

As with making any major decision in life, it helps to do your homework before making a choice to run for political office. You want to ensure that the decision you make is well informed and not something which you haven’t looked into. You want to learn about the political landscape which you’re about to step onto.

Attend local community meetings to learn more about the issues your prospective constituents are facing. It’s also a good idea to speak with the civic and political influencers for the space that you’re trying to jump into and find out what they are focused on. The main goal with doing all of this is to see what the concerns are for the area in which you’re running for office, concentrate on what’s being said, and come up with solutions. A common criticism of politicians is that they’re disconnected from the will of their people and that they don’t know “what’s going on.”

You might do your homework on what’s happening and decide it’s too daunting a task for you. On the other hand, this might be the fire that needs to be lit within you to jump into the deep end of the political campaigning pool. Whatever your decision, doing your homework before launching a political campaign is a great first step to becoming the next President Barack Obama or Vice President Kamala Harris.

Tips for Businesses Experiencing Growth in 2021

When you opened your small business, you intended to grow all along, but sometimes businesses grow faster than the entrepreneur’s expectations. It’s both a great and terrifying scenario. On the one hand, your business is flourishing beyond your wildest dreams. On the other hand, you have a demand you can’t meet, which could undo your business.

The key to scaling your business to fulfill your demands and sustain your success is to have a plan for growth that matches your market’s pace. That means applying technology to get valuable insights into your IT systems to ensure your enterprise application infrastructure’s efficacy and security. You also need to encourage customer loyalty and acquire new customers. It’s also imperative that you optimize your production means and supply chain management to deliver the best and most cost-efficient products to your customers. Not to mention, you also have to finance the whole venture. Continue reading to get some tips to help you grow your business before your customers outgrow you.

Optimize your enterprise infrastructure.

COVID-19 has shown us the value of technology to our society, and its importance is seen in the business world as much as anywhere else. An essential part of scaling your business is building an enterprise infrastructure capable of managing the load.

One of the most important steps of building a robust enterprise application infrastructure is buying your own IP address. You need the ability to shut your network off from intruders and insulate it, so nothing comes in or out without your permission, and that’s exactly what an IP address gives you.

Having an IPv6 or IPv4 address block is like having your own subdivision in the internet community. The American Registry of IPv6 and IPv4 blocks are full of dirty addresses, but Ipv4 Connect has clean IPv6 and IPv4 addresses for sale. They check regional registries all over the United States to ensure their integrity in the IPv4 and IPv6 secondary market and the satisfaction of their customers.

Big data is your friend.

These days, some companies exist entirely online. Even if you don’t employ eCommerce as your central business model, it’s still imperative that you create an IT framework to manage data and your daily operations.

One of the most powerful tools businesses have at their disposal is big data. With data analytics, companies can turn raw data into metrics that can show them anything from what products specific customers like to buy during what times.

Even within data analytics, there are various unique and exciting tools and techniques that have forever changed the way businesses approach marketing, customer service, and supply chain management. With predictive analysis, companies can use historical data and apply predictive algorithms to forecast future events. Its use cases are far-reaching and include law enforcement using the technology to predict where criminals on a spree will strike next and manufacturers using it for predictive maintenance of their machinery.

Optimize your machinery.

One of the most important parts of growing your business is increasing your capacity to supply your customers. Sometimes it means repairing your old machines or somehow enhancing them, and other times you have to replace them altogether.

The vaping business is on the rise, and if you have a burgeoning vape company, the last thing you want is to fall short of your customers’ demand. There are many vaping brands, and if you can’t produce, even your most loyal customers will flock to a company that can.

Adding the top vape filling machine on the market to your arsenal would optimize the entire process of making your vape pens, allowing you to release new products quicker and send out larger shipments. If you can increase your production enough, you could even get your products on the shelves of retail stores instead of only online in the foreseeable future.

Another key to optimizing your machinery is by applying the aforementioned predictive analysis to production equipment. With predictive analytics, you can tell when your equipment is most likely to breakdown, what the problem will be, how to fix it, or whether it’s time to replace it. Your machines may have brawn, but the internet of things (IoT) and big data are the brains of the operation.

Hire people who line up with your vision and values.

The one thing that’s more important than your production machines and your enterprise application infrastructure is the people who make it all run. Even if you’ve been the sole operator of your company, expanding your business means expanding your workforce. Plus, hiring people provides opportunities for others, which is good juju for you.

The key to hiring the right people, once again, comes down to using the right tools—specifically data analytics. Recruiting programs scour job and recruiting sites searching for potential hirees with the skills and qualifications you’re looking for. The more specific you are about your requirements, the better chance the software has of finding the ideal candidates to fill key roles in your organization.

You need a new-millennium marketing strategy.

One of the main reasons some small companies fail to grow or even get off the ground is they fail to put together a feasible marketing strategy. If your business is an eCommerce business and you spend more money on road signs than digital marketing and social media ads, your marketing strategy is bass-ackwards.

Almost everyone has a social media profile—awkward selfies and all—and they spend more time on social media than driving around, spotting signs for online vape companies. If you want to succeed in eCommerce, you have to meet people where they are, and that’s Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Even if you’re not a fan of social media, you’ll fall in love with it when you see how cost-efficient and efficacious a marketing tool it really is. There are entire television shows dedicated to playing the most viral social media video clips of the week. That means it’s a mainstream marketing tool, but you get way more bang for your buck than you do with traditional marketing methods.

You may have been successful from the day you launched your business, which is quite an achievement, but you have to adapt to sustain your momentum. To grow your business, you have to scale your enterprise infrastructure and your production means and enhance your marketing strategy to meet consumers where they are.

Scalable Solutions for Beauty Businesses

So, you’ve decided to grow your beauty business. Congratulations! Starting a beauty business can be very challenging, but it’s also rewarding. Success is possible if you put the right measures in place to ensure that you meet growing demand. “Traditional” businesses may focus on efficiency and cost alone when implementing scalable solutions. However, in the beauty industry, you’ll also need to compete to offer positivity, ethical practices, personal touch, and tranquility in addition to offering reasonable prices for your services.

The beauty industry is a highly competitive one, and you’ll need to give off your best every time if you want your business to grow. Here are some scalable solutions to help you grow your beauty business.

Invest in technology

It might sound like a peculiar combination—beauty plus technology, but these two work very well together. For your beauty business to grow, you need to find effective and time-saving tech solutions to meet potential growth in demand. Use social media platforms to increase your brand visibility and reach out to a range of clients with less time and costs.

You can also invest in appointment management systems to make it easier for clients to book appointments online. Online surveys are also useful as they allow your clients to leave feedback and reviews about your services. However, to get the best out of using online systems, you should have a reliable defense to ensure your cybersecurity and MonsterCloud offers just that.

MonsterCloud provides complete, managed cybersecurity services at affordable prices. Their comprehensive platform can provide your beauty business with both the technology and expertise needed. That’ll help to defend it from hackers, data breaches, ransomware, and other external threats. You can check out some of the MonsterCloud reviews and feedback from satisfied customers.

Stay on Top of Trends

The beauty industry is a continually evolving one, with new trends and techniques popping up all the time. One effective way to scale your business is by staying on top of all the relevant trends, developments, and strategies that can help your business grow. Take advantage of simpler and less time-consuming ways of offering your services.

One good example is the magnetic lash liner available at Glamnetic. This lash liner will help make your lash routine easier and save you a lot of time. Plus, Glamnetic is committed to providing the highest quality products and experience while finding ways to make your beauty routine easier.

Hire Wisely

Another great way to grow your beauty business is to improve your hiring process and bring in more capable hands. Hiring is one thing, but hiring the right people is quite another task, and plays a massive role in expanding your business. The right team will create the right atmosphere to make your customers feel more comfortable. And a happy customer is more likely to return to your business.

No matter how impressive your range of services is, it’s easy to lose your customers without the right team working with you. Be sure that the applicants can handle the various tasks they’d be assigned to complete. Make the conscious effort to know them and if they’ll be willing to make some sacrifices to improve your business. Do this before deciding to hire them.

Work on Financial Security

Whether you’re just starting your beauty business or already have years of experience under your belt in the industry, financial security is essential. It’s necessary to have a well-thought-through financial plan for your business, which should pay particular attention to the unexpected. From delays in payments by clients to natural disasters, so many things can stall your business growth. That’s why you should ensure that you always have at least three months’ worth of business profit saved up to help you go through the rough times.

You can also try looking for investment options, even if it means looking outside the beauty industry. For example, you might find a keen Canadian Couch Potato type of investor, who uses Passiv as a tool to build a passive investment strategy. The investor may well take a liking to your business proposal.

Reconsider Your Location

When looking for ways to grow your business, location is a crucial element. For example, if you run a beauty salon, you might consider moving to a site with high human traffic daily. Places like busy pedestrian strips, malls, and markets can be ideal. Plus, such areas help you to cut the cost of advertising considerably.

Educate Others

Your customer needs specific knowledge. You’ll be surprised how little people know about simple beauty tips and techniques. That means you might have clients coming through your doors for simple things they can easily do at home. While you may be able to make some profit from the simple tasks, greater profits may lie in delivering major beauty solutions. By educating your customers, you can free up your time to engage in more productive business services.

So, take the time to teach your clients by providing regular beauty tips, tricks, and DIY ideas. Doing this will also help cement your expertise and make you more credible.

Before You Expand Your Beauty Business

The thought of expanding your business is always an exciting one, especially when you consider all the prospects. But you first need to be certain of the reason why you want to expand. Are you trying to cope with more clients than you already manage, or are you simply looking to increase your revenue? If the latter is true, then you should consider moving cautiously and slowly. That’s because a speedy expansion can put you at risk of turning profits into losses. If you’re trying to expand to cope with a growing demand base, consider the tips already mentioned in this article.

But no matter what your reason for expansion is, you need to consider these points first:

Is there an upward trend in the beauty industry?
Do you have more clients than you can currently manage?
Do you have a steady flow of revenue?
Do your customers want you to extend or expand your services?
Do you have a loyal customer base?

Expanding your business comes with so many prospects and risks. With the points mentioned, you should have the right tools to make a smart and profitable expansion.

How to Use Your Social Networks to Grow a Nonprofit

Non-profit (charitable) organizations serve a much-needed role now, more than ever. Amid COVID-19, these organizations have taken on the role of caring for those who have been hardest hit in the wake of this pandemic. As people suffer from unemployment, food shortages, and in some cases not having access to proper medical services, non-profits have stepped in a huge way. Non-profits at their base level are organizations that operate for the collective, public, or social benefit.

This is in contrast with businesses that operate for the sole sake of profit. Charitable organizations like these provide financial assistance, food, medical assistance, and even educational help for those who require it. In 2019, the revenue for non-profits topped $84.7 billion, which was 5% higher than the previous year. In the wake of COVID-19 (which is creating a strain on the abilities of non-profits to perform to peak capacity), non-profits are trying to figure out ways to raise their brands, and grow. Below are a few tips on how to use social networks to grow a non-profit.

Utilize social network technology to grow your online presence.

Technology has become extremely useful for those organizations seeking to build a presence online. There’s a host of computer software that has made it easier for businesses and non-profits to complete their day-to-day activities without any interruption. For non-profits, this can be a lifesaver as they need to stay at peak performance to serve people who truly need their help.

An example of such technology would be Engaging Networks. The great thing about this software is that it was created specifically with the needs of non-profits in mind. The organization provides a flexible, completely customizable, and innovative software platform for non-profits. It helps you to customize web pages and emails to your desires, helps you to raise more online funds, can assist with building online notices about events, and also has Facebook functionality which helps with spreading the word about your brand online.

Brainstorm your social network goals.

Social media can be used for much more than making funny TikTok videos (though those can be hilarious at times). We live in an age where social networks have inspired social change in ways unheard of and provide a voice to the voiceless. This platform can be extremely useful for those nonprofits who are seeking ways to grow their organization’s reach for a platform (the internet) of 4.66 billion users.

What you’ll first want to do is determine what your social platform goals are. Figure out a plan of action, and move on from there. With the social network component of the internet being so vast, it’s best to have a game plan before making any moves with establishing your social network footprint.

Begin by asking yourself what you want your charitable organization’s social platform strategy to accomplish? Are you seeking more financial donations? Does your group need more volunteers to man the phones during an upcoming food donation fundraiser? Are you needing blankets to be donated during the height of a cold spell for the homeless? Figure out where you want to direct your social platform strategy by first figuring out what needs to be taken care of.

When you have a better idea about what your social platform goals are, it allows you the chance to also keep yourself safe from possible online scams. When you cast too wide of a net across the digital space it increases your chances of possibly coming across online scammers. Rather than having to learn what is a common method used in social engineering, try to keep your social platform goals in check. You don’t want your organization to become the victim of common scam social engineering tactics like phishing, spear phishing, phishing email, vishing, pretexting, baiting, tailgating, and quid pro quo methods.

Focusing on a smaller social platform goal can help to keep you off the radar of online scammers who unfortunately would take advantage of your charitable organization’s online efforts. You don’t want any sensitive data taken from your organization like confidential information, private information, and personal information that suggests a certain digital vulnerability for your non-profit.

Try to reach the right audience.

As with every online business, you want to try your best to find out who needs your services or wants to help you succeed. Define who your target audience will be. Figure out who those supporters will be, or those people that need your help. Build demographic information based on people that you’ve helped in the past, in addition to checking in with your board members and volunteers. All of this information will help you to build an idea of the people you’ll be attempting to reach with your social platform presence.

In cases like this, it might be helpful to think like a business. Consider a company that has created a revolutionary photo storage device. Their customer base is looking for a place to store iCloud photos, that also allows for unlimited photo storage. This business is going to do its best to try and aim ads about this to social platform networks where photo sharing is huge. They’ll also be looking for a host of people who practice digital photography including professional photographers looking for a photos app (iBi, Flickr, Google Photos) where they can have unlimited photo storage.

You’d expect to find ads like this on places like Facebook and Instagram, where image sharing is a huge component of those social media platforms. When potential customers see these ads on their social mobile apps the hope is that they will then reach out to connect with an unlimited photo storage provider like iBi, Flickr, or Google Photos. The same goes for non-profits and social media platforms.

If for instance, you want to raise money to help families purchase groceries. You’ll utilize social platforms to check those demographics of people who care about hunger-related issues across the United States. In addition to that, you’ll want to focus your social platform’s presence on reaching those people who like to give money to non-profits. Most, if not all, social platform tools allow ways to reach a specific audience/demographic when promoting your organization across social platforms. Use these tools to grow the reach of your non-profit.

Develop a comprehensive social media strategy.

When you utilize social media to spread awareness about your non-profit, you’ll want to create a sound strategy, that hits many points. You’ll first want to find which social media platforms your potential audience utilizes the most. You don’t need to attack every social media outlet. Only focus on those where your potential audience can be found in great numbers. Do this once again by conducting surveys with your board members, and volunteers to get an idea of where they reside on the social media landscape.

You want to then determine how to maximize your posts to reach more potential backers and those that might need your assistance. Follow the lead of someone like Hayes Barnard with his GivePower’s Solar Water Farms organization. Create focused posts that can help to boost donations and reach a target audience as in the case of an organization like GivePower. With these posts, you can advertise for upcoming donor events, spread volunteer stories, and even highlight the successful projects which your organization has taken on. Developing a comprehensive social media strategy can help a lot with growing your non-profit.

Hiring a Criminal defense lawyer? Look for these qualities!

Getting charged with a crime and dealing with the criminal justice system at the same time can be very daunting. In this situation, you fairly know the importance of a criminal defense lawyer. You are already at the wrong end of the law, and therefore, it is not easy for you to handle the legal representation and all the necessary paperwork on your own.

Since your legal representation portrays your side of the story, you must have the right person by your side to help you out in these difficult times. He should have the ability to mend your damaged reputation without any unwanted delay. Having said that, you do not want to add to your problems by picking a lawyer that does not fit your personality. Isn’t it?

Choosing the right lawyer will help you to protect your rights and attain an equitable trial. From understanding your case entirely to owing the abilities, skills, and knowledge, he/she should have an insight into the criminal court system. In this post, we have mentioned the qualities that you need to look for in your criminal defense attorney. Have a look at them and find a lawyer that matches the criteria.

Researching Abilities

The lawyer that you are thinking of hiring should have good research skills. Your attorney should know about the legal strategies that prosecutors are going to oppose in the courtroom. From spending hours researching for his clients to knowing the how of a particular case, he/she should possess comprehensive knowledge. With the collection of information, it is very important to know about the source. This will help in building a strong defense backed up by the respective sources.

The ability to analyze

An attorney should be very quick. While communicating your entire case to him, observe his responses. The solutions and strong suggestions provided by experts like https://www.fighterlaw.com/ are powerful enough to get you through the complicated
legal process. If he/she is fast enough to retaliate, he/she is the one. It is very important for a lawyer that he/she be able to make judgments very quickly. In the courtroom, your attorney has to contradict the prosecution and make arguments to the jury. For this, he/she will not be provided with any extra time. Therefore, a lawyer needs to have the ability to analyze and respond promptly.

Communication skills

Being a skilled communicator is a must for a lawyer. If an attorney is a good listener, he/she will be a good speaker. To know about your attorney’s communications skills, you need to have conversations and see his approach towards other clients. If he is a good communicator, he will not confuse you with his words and effectively explain the policies. Because he/she is the one who is going to speak in your favor, consider going through the legal documents. This will enable you to illustrate his\her ability to frame the documents and skill to speak in the courtroom.

Sympathetic and understanding

You are charged with a crime. This is a very stressful situation for you. Hiring an attorney by your side who is sympathetic and understanding will help you to get rid of the emotional tension that you are going through. Your attorney should be concerned about you, your family, and the outcomes of the verdict. Any guilty verdict, without any jail sentence, can also affect your professional life. Thus, to avoid such a situation, always opt for an attorney sympathetic to your safety.

Respect the privacy of their clients

A good attorney is always confidential and classified. He prefers being true to his words and decreases public exposure. He very well understands the significance of the case and tries his best to keep the documents safe and secure. Discussing your case with outsiders is just not his thing. The first and foremost priority of the right lawyer is to respect the privacy of his clients. If he gains your confidence, this is the basic quality that you need to see in your defense lawyer.

Courtroom order

An attorney who is not well-bred with the mandate of the courtroom cannot handle your case. Therefore, when you pick a defense attorney, make sure that he understands the courtroom proceedings. In the courtroom, there will be different situations that will require different responses. He should know when to be aggressive and when to remain silent. This should not be a matter of doubt to him. The proceedings in the courtroom are formal and official. He should be appropriate enough not to get intimidated by the prosecutors.

The knowledge of policies

An attorney can perform well only when he is aware of the ins and outs of the law. The expanded knowledge of the legal policies and the intricacies is essential for any lawyer. Without knowledge of the mannerisms and the technicalities, a lawyer will not be able to take the best course of action in the courtroom. Thus, consider picking a lawyer with full-fledged knowledge of the intricacies of the ordinance.

Links with the legal community

In every state, there are different laws and have a varied structure. The attorneys should know the prosecutors, and everyone knows about the presiding judges. Having criminal defense lawyers from your state will enable you to have the legal advice according to your state laws. Therefore, the attorney advocating on your behalf should have any involvement in the legal community of your state. This can get the things done rapidly and to call upon for important information.

If you don’t want to have any kind of negative impact on your case, look for these qualities. Once your attorney has these attributes, begin the research part and make sure that your lawyer is certified and is devoted to protecting your rights and freedom.

For a successful case, you need an experienced attorney. Choosing an inexperienced attorney can put you at risk and reduce your chances of winning the case.

We hope that you get the best criminal defense attorney for your case.

Get To Know All About Logo Emblazoned Corporate Essentials

Your company’s logo serves as a visual advertisement for your brand. It can elevate your organization’s popularity and enhance the sense of loyalty among customers. It can also do wonders for brand awareness and recognition. Being synonymous with your services, people easily recall your business by glancing at the logo. If you already have one, you can refurbish it to generate better marketing results. Try to make your logo unique, eye-catching, and leave imprints on the audience’s mind. Choosing the right color theme, typography, and artistic embellishments can give you a long-lasting logo. Here are certain qualities and essential features you must incorporate in the logo design.

CREATING A LOGO:

Your brand logo represents the nature and professionalism of your company. Emblazoned on corporate essentials, it can become a useful marketing tool. By using negative space efficiently, your company can create a powerful means of communication. Your logo needs to possess these qualities:

COLOR:

Colors have unique psychology and sentimental connotations. Different pigments evoke different feelings and emotions. The color of your logo must align with the personality of your brand. Some 84% of customers admit that color is the primary reason why they purchased a product. Colors can have different meanings in diverse cultures. For instance, green means nature in NZ but death in South America. Also, don’t use bright colors and create a logo that looks good in grayscale too.

FONT:

The typography of your logo also represents the nature of the business you run. For instance, a professional company using Cosmic Sans seems comical. The font will become identical to your corporate identity. It’s ideal to use one font and don’t go beyond two. The font must not look amateurish. Try to use serifs for a professional brand. Hand-written fonts can appear less professional but friendlier. You can hide a shape/symbol in the font too.

ORIGINALITY:

The purpose of creating a logo is to make it appear distinctive. That’s why you need to come up with an original idea for your brand signature. You can distribute logo-emblazoned stationery and branded office supplies to ensure substantial marketing boosts. If your logo fades in compared to your rival’s, you probably need to revitalize your graphic designing. Avoid downloading free templates available online. Bring an out-of-the-box idea to create an appealing and eye-catching logo.

TREND:

Your brand mustn’t look outdated with its logo. The symbol must show your company as a modern, relevant, fashionable, and contemporary brand, and watch out for constantly-changing trends to maintain an evergreen logo. Smart designers know what’s hot in the market and what’s gotten cold. That’s why your logo must be capable of adapting to recent trends without losing its true spirit. The key feature of modern graphic designing is the art of simplicity and minimalism.

SIZE:

Size matters in professional logo designing. And you need to have multiple variations of your company’s logo. So, it can appear on heavy billboards as well as in an in-app advertisement. Keep it small and simple to increase its recognizability. Just look at how Nike and Apple have made their symbols marketable with minimalism. Remember to declutter when you’re designing your brand signature. Don’t try to communicate everything with your logo. Keep its message to-the-point.

ESSENTIALS TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE LOGO

A logo must be relevant to the services you’re providing and have the capacity to change without losing its spirit. Here we are about to present the essentials of an effective logo:

MEMORABILITY:

Build a logo that becomes memorable. Make people unable to shake off the picture of your brand signature just by looking at it once. This memory creates a connection between your company and its consumers. Consider how the McDonald’s logo has become synonymous with an elite eating experience. Know that people are quick to remember shapes. But they’re even faster to memorize a logo’s color scheme. So, the design needs the right balance between its visual and textual features.

TIMELESSNESS:

We’ve talked about conforming to the current fads and fashion. But sometimes, the logo becomes a trend on its own. Consider Coca-Cola‘s iconic wordmark. Pepsi is an excellent example of brand evolution. Each version takes some elements from the previous one, making the brand nearly eternal and unforgettable. Your logo will need redesigning in the future. So, make the basic features of your symbol iconic. Always try to be unique to make your logo appear to be distinctive.

VERSATILITY:

The log must be flexible and usable in versatile positions. For instance, you can create a logo that can have a vertical and horizontal version simultaneously. The logos should be capable of modifications without losing their essential body. You can look at different examples by DC Comics. This logo can represent the tonal diversity of its massive library of superheroes. Here are some beneficial tips to ensure the versatility of your logo design.

RELEVANCY:

We’ve mentioned how different colors trigger different responses in people’s imagination. Make your logos relevant to your target audience. For instance, if your company sells children’s toys, use bright color schemes. But avoid these colors if you’re running a professional law firm. Similarly, if this is a tech company, use thin and angular fonts. Soft and cursive characters are ideal for a brand that works in jewelry. Symbols can act as concise versions of your logo, so choose them cleverly.

PERFECTION:

Conclusively, your logo doesn’t need to be just OK. It must be a perfect artwork, a divine combination of business promotion and graphic designing. Your logo must consume all its potential to become professional and unmistakably gorgeous. Don’t just create a font from scratch; learn what makes characters look extraordinary. Graphic designers must be familiar with the color theory to push too many colors in the logo. Only a flawless execution makes logos effective.

CONCLUSION

Brand recognition plays a vital role in bolstering your company’s popularity. Focus on compelling people’s minds to remember you as a brand. Successful marketing campaigns don’t let the public forget about your organization. An essential element of such a drive is the company logo. A logo doesn’t (directly) sell your merchandise, but it identifies by serving as the symbolic representation of your company. Your symbol must help the consumer connect with your brand. Paul Rand believed that what a logo stood for was more significant than the perceived way. A great logo consists of an excellent concept executed like art. Create a sign that frankly reflects the essence of your brand.

San Diego Entrepreneur Sawyer Winston Breaks Down His 2021 Goal Setting Approach

If there is anything most people learned from 2020, it would be how to prepare for uncertainties. However, we can’t live in the despair of 2020 forever. The time has come for everyone to move on and chart a new course for the new year.

One of such people eager and prepared to approach 2021 with a positive mindset is Sawyer Winston. Over the years, Sawyer Winston has established himself as one of San Diego’s finest serial entrepreneurs.

He had a lot to say about the past year. But more importantly, he lets us know where he is headed for the coming year. Here’s Sawyer Winston outlining his goal-setting approach for the new year.

Sawyer, you kept a low profile in 2020. How did the year go for you?

On a personal note, 2020 was all about personal development. Being in lockdown allowed me to spend quality time with family. I was also able to do some individual learning all through the year.

On the other hand, business did not go as smoothly as expected at the beginning of the year. As we all know, there were a lot of uncertainties surrounding the year’s progress. The pandemic has hit everyone hard, and small businesses took the heaviest punch.

So, businesses were stuck as to what decisions to make. Thankfully, adapting to technology came easy for me as a serial entrepreneur. Safe to say, I’m leaving 2020 better equipped than I entered it.

You’re a key figure in San Diego’s business world. How did San Diego’s economy fare?

San Diego is a haven bustling with encouraging entrepreneurial activity. As a significant player in the economy, I witnessed firsthand what the pandemic did to the economy.

San Diego lost as much as $12 billion due to the pandemic. Tax revenue and job losses were also low points for San Diego in the year. However, I’m sure the economy will bounce back in the coming months.

What is your goal setting approach for 2021?

I take each year as a business adventure. So, I tend to adopt the SMART goal approach.

In the end, I want to be able to measure how much I have achieved within the time frame. For everything I hope to achieve, I make sure they are realistic and timely.

I also try to separate business, personal and physical goals. The aim is to have a work-life balance and still emerge as a complete individual at the end of 2021.

What should we expect from you in 2021?

I see myself venturing into new projects, all things being equal. Real estate has always been an exciting area of business for me. I’m looking to launch new businesses in that area.

Also, one thing people should know about Sawyer Winston is that I am passionate about helping communities. I will focus on providing aid for struggling communities within and outside San Diego.

Where do you see San Diego in 2021?

I see San Diego tapping into its immense potential. I believe the government is making great efforts to speed up San Diego’s recovery. The passion for innovation in San Diego is also enormous. I have no doubt 2021 will be a positive year.

Ryan Dean Hoggan on Reinventing the Direct-to-Consumer Business Model

Retailers are still very much present with us. Yet, lately, we’ve seen businesses radically change the conventional mode of reaching final consumers. Thanks to the ever-expanding benefits of the internet, new companies bypass retail and resell barriers. This way, they meet their customers with products directly.

In the business world, this style is called the direct-to-consumer business model. The first businesses to adopt this model rose so highly they became billion-dollar companies. However, what if I told you these businesses are losing the spark that once made them the cynosure of the mainstream business world.

However, Ryan Dean Hoggan believes new businesses are reinventing the direct-to-customer model. We spoke to Ryan Dean Hoggan on the current trends in the DTC space. He shares some insights into the model’s trajectory and what the future holds for bypassing retail agents.

Ryan, what contributed to the rise of the direct-to-consumer business model?

Principally, I believe it’s the internet and social media. The internet opened a lot of opportunities to reach people right in their homes. So, direct advertisement and sales became possible.

I should also mention that competitors were mostly absent. It was a developing model, so it took some time for rivals to catch up. With a large number of venture capital support, nothing could stop the blossoming DTC model companies.

The DTC business model is still around, but the industry leaders are losing out on value? Why?

It’s a general opinion that DTC businesses are become less viable compared to when they started. Gary Vaynerchuk believes that 90% of DTC brands are unknowingly out of business. The reasons are not far-fetched.

The success of companies like Warby Parker opened the doors to a lot of competitors. With this influx, the cost of social media ads skyrocketed. Business owners can no longer sustain the expenses required to draw the customer base to upscale their business value.

What does it take to reinvent the direct-to-consumer model?

In my opinion, reinventing DTC starts and ends with one word – omnichannel commerce. Direct-to-customer models are losing out on popularity and numbers. The omnichannel model is the perfect replacement.

In this new concept, businesses diversify on retailing processes. The biggest enterprises recognize that consumers will approach products through different channels. So, they create a strong online presence without missing out on the benefits of brick-and-mortar retail chains.

Are there prospects of success for businesses revamping the DTC model?

Most definitely. Albeit omnichannel won’t work all by itself. Businesses must support this model through vertical integration and preparing for what Les Schlesinger calls the “voice revolution.” In essence, new businesses may develop voice interfaces to market products since consumers are more driven by what they can both see and hear.

How can businesses prepare for disruptions to existing models?

Businesses must build a solid brand strategy with business models while they exist. Along with that, they should ensure ongoing consumer feedback. Feedback affords them the flexibility to undertake a change in the business model if necessary.

We recommend the following articles if you’re looking for more Ryan Dean Hoggan Interviews:

Multiple Ventures? Here’s How Ryan Dean Hoggan Structures His Multi-Brand Strategy
Ryan Dean Hoggan Shares: 5 Ways Venture Capital Funding Will Change in 2021