Tech Trailblazers’ Ten Terrific Tips:

This week we have gathered ten tips from successful tech-prenuers around the world:

“Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.” —Biz

Stone, Twitter co-founder

“The secret to successful hiring is this: look for the people who want to change the world." —Marc Benioff,

Salesforce CEO

“If you’re going to put your product in beta – put your business model in beta with it.” —Joe Kraus, Google

Ventures partner

“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” —Reid Hoffman,

LinkedIn

“If you’re interested in the living heart of what you do, focus on building things rather than talking about them.”

—Ryan Freitas, About.me co-founder

“Nothing works better than just improving your product.” —Joel Spolsky, Stack Overflow co-founder

“Get five or six of your smartest friends in a room and ask them to rate your idea.” —Mark Pincus, Zynga CEO

“Wonder what your customer really wants? Ask. Don’t tell.” —Lisa Stone, BlogHer co-founder and CEO

“Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.” —Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder

“So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than

working hard.” —Caterina Fake, Flickr co-founder

Alternatives to Trial: Save Time and Money

     It is a well-known saying in business that no matter the results of a trial, the only winners are the lawyers. Lawsuits require lots of time, cause bad publicity, and waste tons of money. It is no surprise that potential litigation is a business owner’s worst nightmare. No matter how careful you are, you are always just one step away from a lawsuit. Luckily, there are some established, useful, and valuable alternatives to a traditional civil court proceeding.

     Mediation is one possible way to avoid the negatives of a court case. In this process, both sides meet with a neutral, third party “mediator.” This person will help facilitate a discussion between the disputing parties. The goal is to arrive at an effective and mutually agreeable solution. The mediator has no authority to impose any judgements. This process can be great because it is much lower cost and much faster than the normal litigation process. It is also less formal than a normal court proceeding and allows for more creative solutions to disputes. Best of all, simply talking out your problems and avoiding a court battle will help you possibly preserve a future relationship.

     Another alternative is arbitration. Like mediation, both parties meet with a neutral third party, an “arbitrator,” and present their side. But in this case, the arbitrator, most often a retired judge, makes a decision based on the facts of the case. He decides who is right and what the remedy should be. Both parties are legally bound to this judgement. It is more formal, with both sides able to present evidence and witnesses. This can be a useful process, especially in more serious cases. Although more expensive than mediation, it still costs less than a conventional trial.

     Hopefully you will never be involved in a case, but if you ever are, these alternatives will help. Keep doing everything you can to avoid a lawsuit, but know there are alternatives. Often mediation or arbitration clauses are written into contracts, specifying that the disputing parties must go to the alternatives before trial (it’s a good idea to check your current contracts so you are prepared before any issues arise.) In addition, after realizing the enormous time, money, and energy commitment of a trial, most people will be receptive to at least trying an alternative. All in all, these could be potential solutions that save you some of the pain of a lawsuit.

Business Hacks to Maximize Productivity

Ch. 9 of the Comprehensive Checklist for Growing Your Business: Get #Instafamous

You probably stumbled upon this article through another site like LinkedIn, Reddit or Facebook. That in itself is proof that social media is prevalent and crucial as a source of retrieving information. In the small business world, there’s a stigma around social media marketing that leads business owners to focus their efforts elsewhere. “I can’t gauge how many people are reading this,” and “I pay for ads but don’t see traction from it,” are common frustrations when you’re trying to get your name out there.

In our previous post, we mentioned The Rule of 7, which states that it takes 7 impressions or touches on a customer before they make a purchasing decision. Social media platforms can be a very heavyweight fighter in being one (or more) of those touches. Here are some tips to keep in mind about managing social media for your business.

1. Understand Who Your Audience is.

Before diving into this any further, identify who is looking at your posts. If your business is blindly posting content that isn’t relevant to your audience, your efforts won't yield positive results. Understand their lifestyle, know why they’re interested in you, and cater your verbiage and content around this information. This also differentiates a bit further on different platforms. For instance, LinkedIn followers expect more, “professional” information than let’s say, Instagram followers. That being said, Instagram followers might expect pretty, visual pictures and videos that inspire. This means your content has to get creative in different formats but consistent messaging is key. Which leads me to my next point…

2. Be consistent, everywhere.

Plan a well-defined message that you want your customers to know about your brand and/or business. Then relay that throughout all of your social media platforms. If your business is pushing out a lot of different messages, it’s a guarantee that your content will get lost in the noise, and might just confuse your customers as to what you're trying to say. Instead, hone in on one aspect of your business and drive it through all the way. A great starting point in figuring this out is asking, “What’s my company mission/belief that keeps me in business?”

Although each social media platform looks different in layout, keep your logo consistent, and your branding similar everywhere. This way, your customers can quickly identify your business and it’s a more professional way of representing your brand. It’s a good idea to have a light and dark version of your logo for the instances where the background differs. Consider having a strong accent color for your business and neutral tones to complement it. 

3. Get Viral

When you offer content and information that is relevant to your consumers, they would feel inclined to pass along your marketing message. The impact of creating viral content is explosive in the world wide web and can put your business in the spotlight of many potential new customers and leads. Viral marketing involves more crafted content than normal. When brainstorming for viral content, just remember that it has to be unique, inspiring, and driven with emotion in order to get people to repost it. In a statistic reported on KissMetrics, viral content can get 500-1000 times more of a reach than neutral content.

4. Track and Analyze

We asked LA based Social Media Superhero, Nicholas Mar to share best practices for tracking a business' success online. He says, "using multiple platforms to track analytics help us really figure out how our audience reacts to our content." Using management platforms like Hootsuite or Sprout, in conjunction with Facebook Insights or Twitter Analytics, paints a very detailed picture that guides the content of future posts.  Facebook insights provides helpful information about the demographics of your audience, as well as high-traffic times for when your customers are looking the most. Squarespace lets you check how many people visit your page, where they’re coming from, and what pages they fall off on. Frequent the analytics page of your platforms to find a goldmine of information. Then, craft your page and schedule your posts accordingly to maximize the potential of your content.

To keep it short and sweet, social media marketing can strengthen your brand image and will convert into concrete sales when done right. Keep your messaging and branding consistent, and offer relevant, unique content. Lastly, assess often how well your posts are doing with information offered to you and craft your posts accordingly.

4 Office Hacks to Keep the Creativity Flowing

1. Get a Whiteboard, Any Board

   Visualization is so important to help conceptualize ideas and sometimes, an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper just won’t cut it. Drawing out your thoughts on a greater scale that’s quickly presentable to your colleagues helps everyone understanding your thought process. It’s also more efficient in hashing out possible contingencies and with a good whiteboard eraser, anyone can jot down ideas as fast as the conversation is going.
    

2. Find a New Playlist

   Music makes you think more creatively - plain and simple. According to an article on bufferapp.com, “moderate noise levels increase processing difficulty which promotes abstract processing, leading to higher creativity.” Simply stated, if we distract our brains just a bit more, it’ll push itself a bit harder and find new approaches to understanding the work at hand.
    

3. Mobile Office Day

   The day-to-day environment of being inside the same four walls can get you stuck in the same mindset. Throwing yourself into a fresh setting or location will push your mind to reconceptualize ideas as new influences come into play. Go outside, catch some sun, feel the breeze on your face! At Handlr Headquarters, we like having our meetings on a hike or during a fencing lesson, no big deal.
    

4. Wine

   Need we say more? Dealing with a task that you just can’t solve is frustrating as it is. And, acknowledging the frustration can push you deeper into the spiral of frenzy. It’s all going to be just fine. Now, although we don’t condone excessive amounts of alcohol consumption, letting loose over a glass of wine can increase your creativity. Don’t believe us? In a study titled, “Uncorking the muse: Alcohol intoxication facilitates creative problem solving,” it stated, “Moderate intoxication … improves problem solving and leads to what participants in the Consciousness and Cognition study referred to as ‘sudden insights,’ which the sober participants reported significantly less often” (Vinepair) Boom.

Ch1. So You Want to Start Your Own Business

Well that’s great! You’re about to embark on a very exciting journey of self-exploration, discovery, and knocking down the doors to countless opportunities for your future. There are many, many aspects to consider when starting your own business. Skipping a minor step can send you down a windy, bumpy road to getting your business where you dreamt it to be. Fortunately, there are plentiful resources at our fingertips that can smoothen the journey. We’ve assembled a small starting checklist and some insightful info for the first chapter of your story.

 

Make sure you have your DBA and a Business Tax Certificate

First off. DB-What? It’s an abbreviation for “Doing Business As” and sometimes it’s needed to conduct business under another name. Many entrepreneurs overlook the legalities of registering a DBA and later on, encounter fines, penalties, and lawsuits. Know what your state requires for a DBA and don’t take any shortcuts. A DBA can help you open up business bank accounts and can add asset to your existing business. Legalzoom.com can get you started with your DBA for a small cost.

Obtain a Business Tax Certificate (also called Business License) in the city you are doing business in. Any person who conducts business, trade, profession, or enterprise within a specific city will need a tax certificate – and it doesn’t matter if your physical business address is in or outside the city. Your Business License is good for one year from the date of application. Check with your City Hall for fees and specific requirements.

 

What about an LLC or Inc?

There’s a lot of confusion between the differences of establishing an LLC or Inc., but it’s good to know the roles of each so you can choose the appropriate setup for your business. An LLC is a limited liability company – it’s a marriage of two business structures of providing the limited liability of a corporation and the tax efficiencies and operational adjustability of a partnership or sole proprietorship. The pros of establishing an LLC gives the business owner choices on how they will be taxed, less administrative paperwork, and record keeping (as opposed to a corporation), are protected from some or all liability for acts and debts of the LLC depending on state laws, and can even be set up with just one natural person involved (wikipedia).

In contrast, an Inc., is an abbreviation for Incorporated and it declares the corporation as a separate entity from its owner(s); nonetheless, it can raise its own funds, own property, and conduct business. Many find this an appropriate business option because it protects the owner’s personal assets against the company’s liabilities. Because this option is more ideal for larger establishments and is legally complex, it is not always ideal for new and small businesses.

 

1-800 Call-Saul

Okay, maybe not Saul from Breaking Bad, but it is very well advised to speak to a small business attorney just to cover all ends you may overlook. It’s highly recommended that you have a Terms and Conditions agreement with your clients and if you have contractors working with you, have an Independent Contractor Agreement ready to go. Depending on the nature of your business, a small business attorney will assist you in making sure that you are legally protected. You can also visit LegalZoom or RocketLawyer for quick and easy standard agreements.