Did you know? - Quickly creating availability using Handlr

In our recent Feature Highlight we covered how easy it is to share photos to social media using the Handlr platform. This was one of the features that we realized our customers had been under-utilizing, many of whom didn’t know how to access it. After talking with more of our customers, it became clear that this isn’t the only feature many of you need help with. So today we will be highlighting one of our best features that is being under-utilized; the Team Availability Calendar.

This incredible tool allows you to quickly setup each of your team members individual availability in seconds. Whether your team members tell you when they want to work or if you make up their hours, this tool has you covered. Simply click on a day, choose which services that team member can perform and the zip codes they can perform them in. Next select the days of the week they work, a date range, and then finally choose the hours they can work. Select a long enough date range and your team members availability will be set for weeks to come! Many of our customer even set availability for their team members months in advance so they can focus on other aspects of running a successful business like marketing and client acquisition.

Now that you have open availability on your calendar, tell you clients to simply drop themselves into your schedule by booking you on the Handlr App! Now sit back, relax and watch your business run itself!

Sharing Photos to Social Media is Quick & Easy on Handlr

Every part of Handlr was designed to save you time. From our amazing Team Availability calendars to our automated payments, Handlr is the best way to put your business on autopilot and make running your business a breeze. With thousands of customers and small businesses around the country using Handlr every day, we have had a chance to really get to know just how our awesome customer use our software.

It has become clear to us that many of you may not be using all of the features we offer, and may not even know they exist. One of the biggest features being underutilized is the option to share your photos on social media platforms. Doing so is quite simple with Handlr and can be a great way to increase exposure and connect with your customers. Showing current and potential customers photos of how your business operates will give them a better understanding of your daily operations and show them you truly care about what you do.

To share a photo to social media from the dashboard, simply navigate to your Company Profile. From there simply scroll down and choose a recent photo to share. Click the photo and choose one of the sharing options at the bottom. That’s it!

We recommend posting photos at least once a day to all of your social media outlets as consistency is key when it comes to marketing.

10 Ways to Handle the Busy Holiday Season

By Britt Alwerud

The holidays are supposed to be the happiest time of the year, but for many pet sitting business owners, it can be the most stressful. After years of getting frazzled around the holidays, I decided to organize and prepare my business for the holidays so that I could spend time baking ginger snap dog treats and snuggling up by the fire with my dogs and family - instead of constantly worrying about my pet sitters and stressing about the schedule. Here’s what I’ve learned along the way…

1. Send out a friendly email reminder to your clients a few months before the holiday season to remind them to book their holiday pet sits and walks early. This is a great time to let them know about any holiday surcharges or extra fees.

2. Prepare your schedule and gather your pet sitters’ availability ahead of the busy holiday season. You can automate this process by using the pet business app called Handlr that I built for my business DogZenergy. I was overwhelmed by constantly being on the phone and struggling with the schedule, so I decide to build an app for my clients and pet sitters. Instead of playing phone tag, going back and forth between your client and staff to cover the pet sit visit, you can use Handlr to organize all of this for you. You just need to collect your staff’s available dates for pet sitting and then your clients’ can book your pet sitters just like they would book a hotel online. They can see the available dates and then book the start and end date. You get notified of the booking, your pet sitter can see the pet sit dates on their app and your customer will also see the visit on their app. This way, everyone knows the dates and time of the scheduled appointments.

3. Give your customers the gift of peace of mind this holiday season. Traveling for the holidays is fun, but can be stressful for your clients if they are worried about their pets at home. By giving your clients an app to GPS track their pet sitter, they will have confirmation that their pet is being well cared for. The Handlr app keeps track of check in and check out notifications for you and your client so that you can both confirm that your pet sitter completed the visit for the full amount of time. You and your client will also be able to see photos and chat messages being sent by the sitter and you can both respond. You can take a quick look at your dashboard to see that all of your pet sitters are where they are supposed to be at all times. You’ll also receive a rating for each pet sit visit, to make sure that your client was happy with your service.

4. Give yourself the gift of automatic payments. Never send an invoice ever again. As soon as your pet sitter checks out of a pet sit visit, your client’s credit card will be charged automatically and will be sent to your bank account. You will never have to go back through your schedule to tally up all of the visits for all of your clients or scan a huge stack of checks ever again (or lose one!). By automating your scheduling, client requests and payments, you will save at least 6 hours every week that you can use to spend time with your family and friends during the holidays.

1. The holidays are a perfect time to show your clients your appreciation. Thank you cards for Thanksgiving or treats or toys for your clients’ dogs for Christmas and Hanukkah are a perfect opportunity to let them know how much you care. A holiday card addressed to your clients’ dog is always a fun laugh too!

2. Get involved with your community. People are out and about enjoying community holiday festivals and parades. Festivals that have booths that support local charities are a great way to give back to your community while getting the word out about your local business. Christmas parades are a great way to invite your clients to bring their dogs and join you in the parade. It’s a ton of fun for the whole family!

1. Network with local businesses by hosting a holiday party or drop off a nice gift basket, holiday card or baked goods. This is a great way to thank them for their referrals.

2. Host a holiday party for your staff or if you really like putting on your party hat, host one for all of your clients too. They invite you into their home everyday, it’s a great way to invite them into yours.

3. Put aside funds for holiday bonuses for your staff. There’s quite a bit of change over in the pet sitting business industry, but if you have holiday bonuses that your staff can earn if they stay with the company long enough, it’s a great way to incentivize them and show your appreciation.

4. Schedule time for yourself. Block out an afternoon or a weekend to bake, wrap gifts, go ice skating or read a book. Protecting your happiness and warming your heart during the holidays will spill over and make you an even better business owner for your clients.

Happy Holidays to you, your family, your fur babies and your clients from all of us at Handlr!

Britt Alwerud lives in Los Angeles, CA with her menagerie of furbabies - two Goldens, Daisy and Taj, two cats, Tiger and Monkey, two horses named Gracie and Moo, and a chameleon named Larry. Britt owns DogZenergy in San Diego, CA. Now she’s the full-time Founder and CEO of Handlr. Learn more about Handlr by clicking here or email her at britt@myhandlr.com. You can also find Britt on Instagram @doggonetechgirl or follow Handlr on Twitter @myhandlr for weekly business tips.

5 Practical tips for staying... practical.

Operating a small business, especially when just starting out, can be the most daunting task of your life. It can also prove to be the most rewarding. In order to guarantee this reward, you must make practical & thoughtful decisions while treating every problem you face as delicately as an egg. Practicality is king, and all too often the stress and flurry of starting a business can lead to hasteful decisions that leave practicality in the dust. We’ve compiled 5 tips for that highlight practicality when making initial decisions for your new business.

1. Hiring? Sacrifice numbers for reliability – manpower is indeed an integral part of the success of your business. But focus first on hiring competent employees with whom you can absolutely trust. You’ll be surprised what a few hard working, intelligent individuals can do when tasked with a job normally requiring more manpower.  You do not need to hire hundreds of employees – just a few that you can trust to finish the tasks at hand.

2. Rent a small office that can serve its function – Please, please don’t make the same immature mistake many startups of this day do; renting a huge, modern office full of pool tables and flat-screens, for your company that has yet to make a dime in revenue.  It’s best to rent a small office so you can do your work more efficiently. Working from a home can also provide the bare-minimum needed to focus just on getting your business running. This is especially true if your startup has taken funding.

1. Don’t discount  Outsourcing – There’s a reason all of the major corporations use labor outside the US for manufacturing; it’s CHEAP. But don’t think that just because you don’t manufacture a product that you can’t take advantage of outsourcing. Tasks such as graphic design (company logo), website design and promotional videos can all be handled overseas. It may take a bit of searching but quality work can definately be had for a fraction of what it would cost in the US. Check out Fiverr.com for anything you might need.   

2. Assess the competitors – Don’t ignore your competitors. If they’ve been in the business long enough for you to know about them, they are doing something right. Read all of the material you can find on them, learn about how they do business, watch how they market themselves and take note of what works & what doesn’t. How do you do this? Simply look at their business from an outsider's perspective, remove yourself from your business owners thought process and ask yourself how you would think of them if you were just a regular customer.

3. Analyse your growth and learn from it – Take regular and detailed notes of your growth. You should analyse your marketing efforts, techniques and basically how you handle your business and the results that you achieved from it. Look back at what has worked in the last week, month and year. Question why these things are working or not working, don’t simply shrug them off as a win or loss. It is not enough to see growth. You must continuously seek strategies and plans that will improve your business.

How to take the stress out of going it solo

Are you a solopreneur? Few will ever understand the challenges associated with running a business by yourself. Those of you who are self-employed, will understand the struggle of constantly having to work smarter than everyone else in order to only work a little harder than everyone else. The truth is, even if you’re working smarter, you’re still working harder than everyone else. This tends to lead to stress. A lot of stress. It can seem like you never catch up while the rest of the world gets to take a break now and again. Shrugging off the stress and staying physically and mentally healthy are crucial components of running a successful business.  

Avoiding stress is important in any business, but as a solo professional, it’s absolutely vital. Here are some key ways to deal with stress as a solopreneur:

1.Take care of your boss.

That’s you after all. It sounds so simple and obvious, but taking care of yourself is something that is easy to put on the backburner when business calls. This is not even considering the outside factors that make going solo in business so difficult; balancing family, friends and work is easier to do when the work is split amongst co-workers. Not having co-workers means you’ll be doing all of the balancing. So make sure your work is balanced with a healthy diet, a good night's rest and plenty of exercise. You’ll feel much better, have more energy and get stressed less.

2. Work ahead

It’s not always easy to do, but it certainly always pays off. There will always be something that comes up; whether you get sick, a family emergency occurs, impassable weather or any number of alternatives will constantly throw themselves at you. If you’re constantly battling to just keep up, any of these will throw a wrench in your plans. Work ahead so when the inevitable happens, at least you’ve done some of the work to keep yourself ahead of the curve.

3. Increase your financial flexibility

As a Solo-preneur it’s more than likely that you’re working on a tight budget. Bootstrapping is great, but be conscious of the realities of running a business on a lean stack of cash. If at all possible, build yourself a buffer of finance in case of emergency. Whether you can take a loan or have to scrimp and save, work towards a safe-box for rainy days. This will dramatically reduce stress as you won’t constantly worry about paying that next bill or employee.

4. Take time off

If you listen to podcasts and attend speeches from successful entrepreneurs, you’ll often hear them talk about the endless hustle and how working 18 hour days for 5 years straight is the only way to make it. Don’t let these book-slinging know-it-alls fool you. Everyone needs a break, and whether the ‘hustlers’ of the start-up world admit it or not, they take breaks too. Giving yourself a vacation to look forward to will give you an end-goal to work towards. You’ll work harder just knowing that you have a break to look forward to. If you don’t plan some time for yourself, you’ll get caught up in the “this will never end” mindset and that’s the easiest place to give up.

How to come equipped to any Trade Show

Fall is often considered "Trade Show Season" for the service industry, chances are you are considering, or have already planned to attend a trade show. Getting ready for a trade show, especially if it is your first, can be intimidating. If you can pull it off though, trade shows can bring enormous potential to your business. Go in poorly prepared and chances are you’ll walk away with a look of solemn disappointment on your face. One of the worst feelings in business is standing in an empty booth while your potential clients head to the competitor's booth across the hall. Creating a professional booth is not just a good idea but an absolute necessity. That being said, here are a few things every booth should have:

Thought-out Marketing Materials.

Don’t leave your booth visitors empty handed - bring well-designed and beautiful pamphlets or brochures to explain what makes your business unique. A big stack of business cards is also a must for customers that want a more direct connection with you. . After these items are taken care of , you’ll want to focus on the extras; swag-bags, hats, mugs, key chains, these are all great give-away items, but you’ll likely see tons of them.  Try to come up with a unique gift to give to those that come and talk with you. Something that stands out in a crowd of cheap pens and branded water bottles. This will not only leave a lasting mark on the customers but also give your booth a must-visit vibe. Raffles and contests can achieve this same effect but again, be careful not to repeat the same washed up techniques of your competition. You want to give away something that everyone will want, but no other booth has. Customers will see this as a sign that your business offers the same.

A professional, eye-catching booth.

Ensuring that your display draws in passersby is often overlooked and underutilized. Don’t count on your product or service alone to bring in visitors. Large, bold and professional signage along with out-displaying  your customers with a big screen TV or projector is a sure-fire way to draw the crowds. EZ-UP tents are popular for a reason, this is a great, albeit expensive option for upgrading a standard booth. However your local sign shop should be able to provide you with some great looking pop-ups at a reasonable price.

A Solid Pitch.

We’ve talked about getting customers to your booth, now to the most important part; keeping them there. A good, solid pitch should be at the core of every business, and if you don’t already have one down, setting up your booth might be the least of your worries. A great pitch will take 30 seconds to one minute and give your customers a reason to stay and ask questions.

Confidence

Always bring a big dose of confidence to the table. If you’re not confident in your company, visitors will smell it a mile away and not even approach your booth. Set a goal for the trade show, prepare a pitch and execute. Treat this as seriously as a job interview and you’ll be in a good place.

A Reliable Team

While going it alone at smaller conventions is doable, it looks unprofessional and leaves customers that are waiting to talk with you out in the wind while you pitch someone else. Having a reliable, confident team improves your chances of making a sale while showing customers that you have built a foundation of employees that believe in your company. You’ll cover more ground and answer more questions, but make sure your team is up to the task. Each of your team members is a representation of your company, so they must look the part, act the part and know how to talk with clients.

4 reasons to stop doing payroll yourself

As a small business deciding where to utilize your budget and where to save is a constant point of struggle. When you’re working with a tight and limited pool of funds, taking on tasks that would otherwise be outsourced is a sacrifice that often has to be made. Many of these decisions are no-brainers while others can be difficult to make. Should you do taxes yourself? Or leave that to the professionals? What about building the company website or doing your own marketing? Most of these will be answered by the pre-existing skills of yourself and your team, but for most small businesses, these will be performed in-house. Payroll is one of the most common tasks that small businesses owners decide to take on themselves. We’re going to tell you why you shouldn’t.

While many businesses still choose to manage their payroll internally through manual bookkeeping, more and more companies are seeing the benefits of using payroll software or hiring professionals to ensure their employees are paid on time, which leaves businesses time to focus on what they do best.

Here are the top reasons to stop manually keeping your books.

1. Consistency

When you have so much on your plate as all small business owners do, mistakes happen, often. Sending out a check late or for the incorrect amount not only leads to disgruntled employees, but it means you’ll need to go back and fix the error, wasting even more time and money than if it had been done correctly the first time. Consistency in Payroll also leads to a clean and tightly papertrail that will make tax season a breeze. Hiring a professional or using software like Gusto can give you peace of mind while you focus on other aspects of your business.

2. Increased Productivity

Leading in from our last point, regardless of how many employees you have, doing payroll yourself takes up a ton of time, especially to do so accurately and without error. Think about how much time it takes you to do payroll each month. No double it, because that’s what it actually takes you. Now think about what you could be spending that time doing and how much extra money that could bring to your business. Outsourcing Payroll can be cheaper than you might think, and the money you could be making with that time more than makes up for the cost.

3. Reduced Costs

Once again we’ll continue with our last point. Hiring new staff to carry out in-house payroll or spending money on training existing staff can be very costly. Additionaly, If they aren’t up to speed on all the ins and outs of government legislation and laws, mistakes can lead to expensive audits, fines and legal fees.

Putting your payroll in the hands of a professional or professional software can ensure that you are following the rules and playing by the books.

4. Security

Hopefully, if you do manually do payroll, you’re not doing so on pen and paper. If that is the case, you should understand the inherent security and liability risks involved in only keeping physical files for such important documents. Again, hopefully you’re at least doing your payroll on a computer. This does come with it’s own risks in regards to security. Hacking and cyber-attacks are all too common-place these days, and even small businesses are at a severe risk. The average PC can be hacked with very little knowledge as the extent of most small businesses security measures come down to a few simple passwords.

Using a system that has built-in security features will not only give you constant peace-of-mind but insure that the average hacker can’t access the kind of information that could bring all of your hard work to a crumbling halt.

If you’ve realized that it’s time to look into your payroll options, we recommend you check out both Gusto and Zenefits at the links below. Both of these services not only provide payroll, but HR as well!

https://gusto.com/

https://www.zenefits.com/

Climbing out of your small business debt.

If you’re a reader of our blog, chances are that you own a small business. If you own a small business, chances are the you’ve accumulated some debt in the process of building it. Starting a business costs a lot of money, taking loans is something we’ve all had to do, yet no one wants to talk about debt. It’s understandable of course, because thinking about how much you owe the bank, or even worse, other individuals will make any business owner sweat. But avoiding the subject is exactly what puts you deeper in the hole. That’s why we’re going to discuss it right here, right now.

There are a lot of different ways to deal with debt, and we always suggest speaking with a financial adviser to get a better understanding of your specific situation and find a solution. However, these 5 tips will help anyone on the journey to a business without debt:

1. Knowledge is Key

If your debt is consistently climbing, you need to immediately reassess the reason. Do not chalk this up to “the way it has to be” as there are always solutions to getting out of the red. Clearly, your business is spending more than it’s making. Start by looking at your largest expenses for a better understanding of where your money is truly going. These will be the easiest to diagnose, but be careful not to underestimate your smaller spending. Most businesses have a lot of small and often unnecessary expenses that add up very quickly. It’s likely that a lot of these can be forgone and even more likely that you’ll be surprised by how much money you save once you get rid of them. Look at what is absolutely necessary for your daily operations, anything else should be scrapped in favor of reducing debt. Remember, debt reduction should take the highest priority.

2. Increase Cash Flow

If only it were so easy, right? If increasing cash flow were that simple, you wouldn’t be in debt in the first place. But you shouldn’t discredit this thought too quickly. There are actually some simple solutions to do this. As discussed above, cutting costs should be the first point of resolution. Next up you should consider raising prices. As we discussed in a previous blog Why You Should Be Charging More Than You Are, there’s a good chance you’re not charging enough. This will be the quickest way to increasing cash flow and getting you on the right track to crushing debt.

3. Revisit Vendor Terms

If it’s been a few years since you took your loan, you should head to the bank and see if you can re-negotiate your terms. This is very common practice and banks are more willing to do this than you might think. This is an easy solution to making your debt more manageable and at the very least, you should always know what you’re options are. A warning; re-negotiating a loan will often lead to higher interest rates over time. So while your monthly payments may be reduced, you will likely pay more in the long run. Just be sure to consider the option best for your business.

4. Consolidate Your Debt

Just like number 3, this is one that should always be discussed with a financial adviser. Consolidating your debt can take all of those pesky payments and convert them into one, easy to manage, and often lower monthly payment. But things are never as good as they seem and these always come with caveats, so be sure to do your research and speak with your adviser about your options.

5. Use Handlr

Handlr can help you organize, manage and simplify your business. Our easy-to-use dashboard can automate your scheduling, team and customer management. While our customer app will increase your booking rates and customer satisfaction. This will save you time and money allowing you to focus on the most important issue in your business; getting rid of your debt.  Apply for Handlr here: http://www.myhandlr.com/apply-now/

Why you should be charging more than you are.

Answer me this, when was the last time your checked inflation rates? Didn’t think so. Let me explain why you should. We understand that the economy hasn’t been great, especially in certain areas of the United States. Additionally, prices are currently at a dip in many sectors of the market. Oil prices and interest rates for instance, are at a fairly low point in recent years.

Despite this, It’s still important to continue to raise prices following inflation. Let me explain why.

Let’s look at the math

Let’s assume that for the next 3 years, inflation increases annually by 2%. Let’s also assume that you don’t do nothing about this and keep your prices how they are. I’ll let Evergreen Small Business Explain the graph-

“Assume for purposes of illustration that you run a business with $200,000 in revenue. Further, assume half of that revenue, or $100,000, goes to pay the expenses of running your business. The remaining half represents your profits.

The table below shows what happens if over three years inflation runs 2% (so hardly enough to worry about) but you don’t bump your prices by 2% annually.”

Description         Year 1                        Year 2                 Year 3               Year 4

Revenues             $200,000            $200,000          $200,000            $200,000

Expenses             $100,000             $102,000           $104,000             $106,000

Profits                $100,000             $98,000            $96,000               $94,000

As you can see, this behavior can hurt your business more than you might think.

Now, you may look at this graph and think “this doesn’t apply to me, my expenses haven’t gone up in years!”. Please don’t make this mistake. It’s very unlikely that this is the case, and most likely that your expenses have increased by a rather gradual rate. However as a service industry business, your biggest cost will be payroll. Out of all components, cost-of-living experiences the largest increase due to inflation. This means you will need to pay yourself and your employees more, even if other business expenses have barely gone up.

Insurance, Health Care and why you have a good excuse.

Perhaps the biggest factor in increasing cost of business operations is the ever-rising cost of insurance and health care plans. By law, you are required to provide these items for your employees. Consumers often forget this fact but you should have no issue reminding them that your health care and insurance provider don’t care how much you charge your clients, they just want their money.

Therefore, you have a perfectly acceptable reason outside of those I mentioned earlier, to increase your prices. If your clients don’t understand this, you may just need some new clients.

Find your business tagline with these simple steps

When we think of marketing our business, we often focus on complex email strategies, high-priced social media campaigns, and big budget Ad placement. It’s easy to forget about some of the most basic forms of marketing, and even easier to forget how important they can be. One such facet of business marketing is the tagline. Taglines are typically 5-10 words that summarize what makes your business unique. Think “Just do it” from the brand that makes those sneakers you’re wearing right now. Or “can you hear me now?” from that cell phone brand that’s in your pocket. Creating a clever tagline like these seems simple enough until you start. Just 5 words to explain why your business is unique? Impossible! Fear-not because we are here to guide you to your new found tagline with just a few simple steps.

• Step 1. Get out some paper. Identify buzz-words that Lend themselves to what your business does, and why that’s different. Think outside the box and don’t throw anything away. No ideas are bad ideas at this point.

• Step 2. Combine some of those words. Still don’t throw anything away, but try putting some of those words together and see what could/ can be used in the same sentence.

• Step 3. Put them away and come back in a week or two.

• Step 4. By the time you come back, crossing off your list will be much easier. Some of the words will seem plain stupid while others might jump out at you. Circle those.

• Step 5. Cross some off and consolidate your list. Keep the best words and best phrases. Now take the list to friends, family and everyone in between so see what’s popular.

• Step 6. Make the switch (Kind of). Treat this as a ‘beta test’. Tell some of your bust customers, suppliers and partners that you’re making the switch or adding the tagline. See what kind of reactions you receive.

• Step 7. Get it out. Make it a part of all your marketing. Once you select a tagline, don’t change it without serious thought.  People are associating it with your company. It will take a tremendous amount of marketing to make it part of your business. Any change will take at least twice that amount of effort.

9 Questions to ask your clients in a survey

Small Biz Viewpoints has put together a great list of questions to ask your clients in a survey:

The important thing to remember when asking for customer feedback is to keep it short and simple. Many people don’t want to spend time to fill out survey forms; however you can improve your response rate by keeping the questions short and making it easy for them to answer them.

Below we have identified 10 questions you should include in the customer feedback form. The goals of the questions are several – to understand what you are doing well, what you can improve, what else customers are looking for how effective is your marketing and which competitors you need to watch for.

1. How long have you been our customer?

   • First time

   • Less than 3 months

   • One year

   • Three years

   • Five years

2. What is one thing you like the most about us?

3. What is one thing would you like us to change?In the last 6 months how has our performance changed?

   • Worse than before

   • Same as before

   • Better

4. What do you find most attractive about our company?

   • Price

   • Product

   • Customer Service

   • Location

5. Would you recommend us to your friends and families?

   • No

   • May be

   • Definitely

6. How do you compare the value we provide against our competitors?

   • The competitors are better

   • Same as competitors

   • You provide better value

7. Which one competitor do you like the most besides us?

8. How do you hear about our company?

   • Word-of-mouth

   • Newspaper

   • Internet

   • Social Media

   • Other

9. Do you want us to me on Social Media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Yelp?

   • Not really

   • May be

   • Absolutely

-Small Biz Veiwpoints

What’s a Landing Page and why should you care?

What is a landing page? If you’ve spent any time researching online marketing, chances are you’ve come across someone talking about landing pages. Here we are going to break down just what a landing page is, as well as the reasons you might want to create one.  

What is it?: Generally speaking, landing pages are created with a specific audience in mind. A Sports medicine company for example, might create a landing page targeting schools, “Student athletes rate us highest in sports therapy and medicine”. The purpose of doing this is to both attract the target audience and give them a direct and easy way to take some sort of action with your business. These actions can vary from a newsletter sign-up to an actual sale.  

Keywords: This is where search engines come in; you want to choose a few keywords that your target audience might be searching on Google, then riddle your landing page with them. Use them in the title, text and even name your images with those keywords. All of these tactics will help put your page in front of your audience when they hit that search button.

Audience: Think about what the people searching for your keyword would want to see. What information is going to speak to them most? What images will catch their attention?

Length: You will hear mixed opinions on this, but generally speaking you want to trade length for keeping the attention of the reader. Keep it simple, short and too the point, getting that user to the call-to-action as soon as possible. A good rule of thumb for most landing pages is around 250-800 words.

Call-to-action: The call-to-action (CTA) invites the customer to complete the goal of your page. This CTA should be obvious, and immediately accessible. It can come in several forms. Here’s a few you might find helpful:

• An email opt-in to sign up for your newsletter.

• A Sales button leading to your storefront or booking service.

• A phone number to your sales team.

Images: It’s important to cater your use of images to both grasping the attention of your target audience as well as selling them on your business. If at all possible avoid stock photos and use your own, quality images that represent the best parts of your brand and what you do.

If you’re ready to create a landing page of your own we suggest trying out Squarespace an amazing tool for creating full fledged websites as well as single landing pages.

How to increase your confidence as a business leader

Extruding confidence is a critical part of leadership. In every part of being a business owner, from driving business to leading employees, confidence plays an integral role. Most employees and customers expect confidence from the owner of a business yet, there’s no guarantee that you’re confident in your ability to manage everything simply because you’re the CEO or you’ve launched a business.

Michael Hyatt brings this point to his blog that taking steps to instill confidence in yourself is a critical part of “kicking fear to the curb:”

“Challenges are a constant, but confidence is not. It comes and goes. And I find I’m usually on the low end right on the front end. I experience the greatest doubt and anxiety at the start of something big. Whether it’s good or bad, I’m usually fine once I’m going. But until then, I’m like the person on the tip of the high dive, overlooking way too much blue. Here’s the problem: If you’re a leader, jumping isn’t optional. You have to go—and you have to go first.”

What should you do when it’s time to “jump” and you just don’t have the confidence? Sell yourself on the idea of confidence just like you might sell your service to a prospective client. Ask yourself what got you to the position you’re in. Are you offering solutions to your clients that solve major problems in their lives? Are you in a unique position to help others improve their lives? Focus on what makes you such a great answer to your clients problems. Boil your motivation down to these essential questions and revisit it when you’re facing challenges that require a confidence boost to power through.

3 Reasons To Keep Excellent Busines Records

As any small business owner will tell you; each day is filled with a seemingly impossible amount of tasks and not much time to do them. In the midst of filling orders, booking clients, managing employees or anything else your day might bring you, it’s likely that bookkeeping is pretty low on the list. Most business owners will reserve this task for once a week, once a month, or worse. This however, is a mistake. Keeping your books up to date, filing receipts and documents and generally tracking everything your business does on a regular basis will end up saving you time and headache.

1. Tax Season is a breeze

Businesses take a lot of tax deductions, if yours doesn't, it certainly should.  Often times, these deductions cannot take place without the proper records. Unfortunately, solid bookkeeping and bank statements aren’t enough. The IRS really likes receipts, like really likes them. In fact in order to deduct any business expense, a proper receipt is required.   

Now before you pull out that old cardboard box to start stuffing your receipts into, realise that this is almost just as bad as throwing them away. Once you actually need to find one of those receipts, make sure it’s easy to do so.  Companies like Neat offer scanners that will read your receipt or document and automatically sort it into the proper file. If this is out of your budget, you can still snap a quick photo with your phone and send it to yourself to be filed away. Digital files are much easier to keep track of, will keep clutter to a minimum and so much easier to reproduce once needed. Always write on your receipts including the date, reason for purchase, etc.

      2. Tracking Your Employees is best done digitally

Tracking your employees is the best way to insure that your business is running smoothly & your team is being productive. Staying on top of hours worked, jobs completed, task progress and more is a vital part of staying in touch. Doing so the old fashion such as written time cards, manual way can be a huge hassle and result in more of a waste of time than it’s worth. However, digitally tracking employees can be a hugely effective and save time for yourself and your team.

Why should you demand employees track attendance and hours? Keeping detailed attendance records feeds directly into your payroll needs. Digitally tracking clock-in and clock-out is easy to do for employees and cuts out the need for timely timesheet creation. Handlr is a great way to integrate this process into your workplace. Handlr tracks employee clock-in as well as the clock-in/out for each service performed throughout the day.

    3. You might just be losing money without knowing it.
 

Invoicing is a huge, integral part of every business. Properly tracking your invoices and who owes you money seems like a no-brainer. Surprisingly, most small business owners consistently lose out on owed money due to poor invoicing practices.

Keeping detailed records of the kind of services you provided each client, how many hours were spent, which employee was on the job etc, will come in handy time and time again. Handlr is an easy solution for tracking all of this data and keeping it organized for future reference. This way, if a client ever has an issue, you can turn to the software to easily produce the data you need to show that the work was done correctly and in a timely manner. You can point to each hour the client is paying for if you have to.

7 Tips for creating a happy, productive workplace

Happy employees mean a happy workplace. A happy workplace has a direct correlation with high productivity. Keeping workers happy and productive is not only crucial to your business, but should be the highest point on your to-do list. Today we are going to take you through some helpful steps that can improve workplace happiness.

1. R-E-S-P-E-C-T

You know the song, now listen to it. Every day if you must. Respect is the single most important trait you can have in a workplace. Treating your employees with an immense amount of respect is so important, that it’s not even an option. No matter what level of employee you're dealing with, from executive to janitor, if they work for you, they deserve an equal level of respect. If you struggle with this one, you might as well shut your doors now. If it’s that difficult for you, try pretending that everyone who works for you is not an employee in the business, but a partner.

2. Be part of the team

Keeping yourself locked away from subordinates in your management level office is the easiest way to create tension in your work space. The vast majority of employees prefer their bosses to be visible and to feel like they are taking an interest in what everyone does. This isn’t a difficult task, chat with each of your employees on a daily basis. Walk around the office with the intent of answering questions or asking your employees if they need assistance. Always interact with your employees in an upbeat mood, even if you're not, emotion is contagious.

3. Make good on your promises

Ask any number of people about an employer that they didn’t like and nine times out of ten, “trust” will come into the conversation. Trust is an easy thing to establish, all you must do is be truthful with your employees. As the boss, your words hold more weight than anyone else in the office, so if you say you’ll do something, do it, period. A boss that’s finicky with his/her actions is not easy to trust. Even if what you do does not directly affect any one employee, they will all view your broken promise as a trait of your character. Obviously some infractions can be worse than others, such as telling an employee that they will receive a raise and then never increasing their pay. However even minor instances can upset an office. For example, constantly changing the direction you want to take, or strategy you want to implement does not bode well with employees. You want each of your employees to get excited about a strategy of business, don’t let them down by constantly changing what that strategy is.

4. Move past the “suggestion box”

As a business owner, it will be impossible for you to give feedback to every single person you employ. However, be in no doubt that you set the tone. You should be giving feedback to all of your employees, and they should be constantly encouraged to do the same. They should never be afraid of giving respectful feedback and should be well aware that a business thrives on it. Keep this attitude in the forefront of their attention, let them know that you crave feedback and that they should too. Watch how quickly your business progresses when there is a constant officeplace dialogue of everything going on.

5. Failure is OK

Fear of failure can lead to a paralysed workforce that is afraid of taking risks. If you openly recognize failure as a normal part of business, it will open up your employees to trying new ideas and taking risks. Having this attitude also keeps not only you, but everyone in the office from pointing fingers whenever something goes wrong. A team is a team for a reason, everyone is there to support and help each other to reach a common goal. Failure is just as much a part of that process as success.

6. Improve the office setup

Pay attention to the physical office space. Are your employees comfortable? Do they have the correct chairs, lighting, facilities? These are basic needs and the better they are met the more productive your company will be. Encourage stretching, walking breaks, fresh air and even days where the whole office gets out for an activity. Take it a step further if you can afford it and add things like a Fuze-ball table or dart board. Take a note from companies like google, having fun things in your office keeps your employees around longer and prevents the 5pm sharp clock out.

7. Celebrate

Celebrating the achievements of your company  and the individuals who work there is a no-brainer. People are happier when they get recognition for their achievements – and rightly so. You need to celebrate their successes as a reward, but also to encourage others to step up to the plate. All successful companies understand this simple fact.

Lose all your Data? Afraid of loosing it all? How to protect yourself...

What is the worst thing you’ve seen on your monitor/screen? Something that immediately drops your stomach? We’re not talking about the latest election polls. It’s dreaded blue screen that means you just might have lost it all. Not a good feeling…

The personal computer is one of the biggest blessings of the modern age, but seeing that blue screen can feel like a terrible curse. Yes, this is bad, but wait! Not all is lost.

Lost Data

The data is gone, now what? Part of that answer lies in what caused the data loss in the first place. We know that mechanical failure is one potential cause, but there are others – natural disasters, for example. We may not consider our weather to play a role in data loss but tornadoes, floods and lightning strikes can all cause damage on a massive scale to physical property. And a computer’s hard drive certainly falls into that category.

Now we must concern ourselves with recovering as much of the lost data as possible. One place to start getting answers to your myriad questions about that is with the professionals who do hard drive recovery for a living.

It’s a complex process to determine how badly damaged the hard disk is, the best means for recovery of the data and then employing the best method to recover the most data possible. Only once we have dealt with the recovery can we think about preventing hard drive failure it in the future.

A very simplistic simile would be going to the local urgent care center with a sore throat. What caused it? A virus, a bacterial infection or something more serious? How do we fix it? Antibiotics, bed rest or is surgery needed? Then get the script filled, get a note for the boss, schedule another appointment. Whatever is needed. Then you can try to figure out how to avoid the illness in the first place. The same is true of your data loss.

Throw It in Reverse a.k.a Backup!

The zeroes and ones that make up the data on your hard drive can be invaluable and hard to replicate. I mean, replicating a string of those digits like 100100110 isn’t all that tough but getting them in the right order and configuration is where the “hard to replicate” idea comes in. Each of those zeroes and ones represents a bit and 8 bits equals one byte. So on a 10G hard drive, one would have 80,000,000,000 characters.

With that 80,000,000,000 number in mind, it seems more than reasonable to get a copy of the hard drive. There are several ways to back up your data whether it’s an ultra-important client presentation or great-grandma’s chocolate chip cookie recipe (possibly even more important). Sending a copy to the company’s server might be an option, as would an external hard drive or there is always the Cloud. You could even buy a gazillion 5-1/4” floppy disks but the time involved and the rent on the vast warehouse space might be a bit off-putting. But by whatever method, it really should be done if there is information on the hard drive you’d rather not lose.

Even if you decide not to back up your hard drive, or your backup plan isn’t foolproof, it is nice to know there is a fall back option. Either way, may the odds be ever in your favor.

-Small Business Viewpoints

Task Manager

Three Tips to Help You Become an Efficiency Expert

Create a Break Schedule

This concept might seem counterintuitive. If it’s my break, why does it need to be scheduled? The reason is that short breaks often turn into long ones, wasting time and killing your productivity. A five minute break can quickly turn in to a leisurely thirty minute siesta. Before each break, plan out exactly what you want to get accomplished. Maybe it’s reading an email, getting a snack, or taking a walk around the building. Most importantly, set a time limit for your break. Know exactly when it’s time to get back to work.

Stretch vs Short Goals

Not all goals are created equal. It’s important to know the difference to use them effectively. A stretch goal is a long term goal that will take considerable time and effort to achieve. It requires many steps and can be quite complicated. An example is “find a new office space for my company.” A short goal is a quick, measurable, and achievable “mini” goal. It is often a step to take to achieve a longer term stretch goal. It can be done in a short amount of time and is reasonably straightforward. An example is “talk to my realtor” or “search three websites for homes in my area.” As you knock out your mini goals, your stretch goal will not seem so daunting. Soon, you will achieve all your goals in no time.

Focus on the Most Important

Before you begin your day, it’s important to find the absolutely most vital and important goal. It’s the most essential “to-do” of the day. If only it gets done, the day won’t be an entire waste. That’s what you need to focus on. If you can delegate or reduce time doing other tasks (this is where Handlr can really help) definitely do so. There is a real difference between being busy and actually getting work done. Being able to effectively prioritize among your goals will ensure you make the most of your day.

Business Advice from “The Art of War”

Let the ancient Chinese philosopher and general Sun Tzu guide you to business victory.

On the Market:

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”

This quote is especially applicable in today’s constantly changing business environment. While some industries are booming, others are busting. Customer demands are constantly evolving. No one knows which direction technology, politics, or the market is headed. But this is not time to sit still, it’s time to charge ahead. Use this chaos to your advantage. Be willing to pivot and adjust your business model t0 adapt to the changing world. Watch how customers are evolving and change to meet their needs. Keep a lookout for trends and be ready to capitalize. If you understand business success is a moving target, you are more likely to achieve victory.

On Your Employees:

“Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.”

This is the perfect motto to remember when dealing with employees. Contrary to what it may seem like at times, employees care about more than a paycheck. If you treat them with respect, involve them in the operations, and show them loyalty – they will notice. A tight bond with your employees will help preserve your relationship when things are not perfect. In small businesses, things go wrong and times get tough – loyal “soldiers” are vital if you want to succeed. Treat your employees well and they will gladly follow you into battle.

On the Competition:

“Thus the expert in battle moves the enemy, and is not moved by him.”

Here, Sun Tzu reminds us how to skillfully handle our competition. Good business owners are aware of competitors, but are not constantly shifting their business’s direction. They understand what their individual strengths are and stand true to them. For instance, let’s say that a discount competitor drops there prices by ten percent. At first, it is tempting to match their newly reduced price. But instead, a wiser move is to understand that your strength is a superior product or service. If you emphasize your quality rather than price, customers will likely be willing to pay more. If you stay to true to your strengths, you will find business victory.

How To Deal With A Bad Yelp Review

Without doubt, Yelp is a great marketing tool for businesses. Positive reviews from satisfied customers can lead growth to skyrocket. Glowing recommendations will surely lead to more business. But, unfortunately, every business will have to deal with inevitable negative reviews. A harsh criticism posted on Yelp is broadcast to the world, potentially scaring away customers and hurting sales. Even the best run businesses have to eventually deal with these dreaded one or two star reviews. But what is the best way to handle these damaging criticisms?

First and foremost, it is vital to remain collected and calm. Don’t let emotion make you do something that will hurt your business. You never want to engage in virtual combat. When it comes to battling angry reviewers on the internet, even if you win, you still lose. No matter if their review is off- base, misinformed, or just totally wrong, attacking a reviewer with harsh language or rude dismals is never right. Not only will it likely provoke the complaining party more, the resulting war of attrition will be embarrassingly displayed to all. So when you see that negative review, take a pause and remember your manners. A thought out, level-headed approach is required.

After controlling your emotions, it’s time to rationally analyze the complaint. You should read the negative review closely and pay attention to the details. Does the review have merit? Can you explain why their experience was unsatisfactory? Have you gotten similar complaints before? Remember that negative reviews are not worthless. They can provide you with valuable feedback on ways to improve your business. However, if a review is totally baseless, a personal attack, or totally inappropriate, it will likely violate Yelp’s “terms of service.” You can contact them and report the problem complaint. Often, they will quickly and totally remove the offending review.

After analyzing the complaint, it’s time to respond. Letting a negative review go totally unchallenged will give it more validation. Assuming you have a free business account with Yelp (if not, it is a good idea to establish one) you can use Yelp’s “review response tools” to respond to customers. You have the option of either replying publicly or privately. While a private direct message to a reviewer works in many cases, a more public response is also a great idea. It shows visitors to your Yelp page that you are engaged and working to improve. You can explain the issue and take the sting out of the negative review. Your responses should be apologetic, but not overly so. Realize what part of their complaint is really your fault and which part is totally out of your control. You can’t make everyone happy. Sometimes “I’m sorry you feel that way” is the best you can do. Next, clearly explain the issue in question and then the give a solution. This is key – show you take customers opinions seriously and are improving your business. An optional idea would be to, in a direct message, personally extend an invitation to a disgruntled customer, and incentivize them with a discount or other incentive to visit your business again. Who knows, a bad reviewer may just turn into a satisfied customer.

Hopefully, these tips will help you deal with inevitable negative reviews. Remember to remain calm, listen to their complaints, and attack the problem. Realize you can’t please everyone, but customer feedback still matters. Effectively responding to criticism will help ensure your Yelp page is an effective marketing tool for your business.

10 Promotional Branding Materials That You Can Order Right Now

1. Business Cards

The most obvious promotional material for a small business. If you don't have these yet, you're doing something wrong. Keep in mind that most individuals take a business card then throw it away the same day. Think outside the box and use something that people wont throw away. Think unique shapes, materials (Wood, Metal) or functionality (Business cards that function as a bottle opener).

2. Beach Towels

This works especially well if your business is in a beach community. Let your clients take home a branded beach towel and do your advertising for you at the beach or gym. 

3. Coffee Mugs

Look in your cabinet right now and chances are you have a mug or glass with a logo on it. These are the types of products people use on the daily bases and bring into work with them for everyone to see.

4. Fancy Pens

Pens are another item that keep showing up in peoples lives. They take them home or to work and throw them in their desk. Then they use them every time they need to write a note. If not, it usually winds up in the hands of someone else, where your advertising effort continues to function. Make sure you use nice ones as the cheapo's represent your business just that way. 

5. Custom Hats or T-Shirts

Let your customers become your walking billboards. Everyone loves a free shirt or hat, and everyone can find someone to wear it, even if it doesn't end up fitting them.  I have countless promotional t-shirts and hats that I wear constantly. 

6. Branded Power Banks

In this day and age, everyone could use a recharge on their phone. This is a new-age and very useful item now that everyone walks around glued to their smartphones. In fact, a power bank is probably the most useful of this list, and will ensure that your clients keep it for a very long time. Just don't cheap out too hard or you will end up giving away faulty, chinese electronics leaving you in a worst place than you started. 

7. Branded Coffee 

Everyone loves coffee, and most people are addicted to it. It's expensive and necessary, so offering a free bag with your company logo on it is like a gift from the heavens above. This will be one of the most popular items you give away guaranteed. Just make sure to keep the bags small enough to not break the bank. 

8. Branded Earbuds 

These are another device that can be very impressive to your audience. Earbuds are typically an expensive purchase, and one that people lose often. Music/ podcast lovers will run to your booth for a pair of free headphones. This is an especially effective strategy if you also have a podcast to promote. 

9. Car Decals

This can be hit-or-miss as it can be a challenge to get people to actually put them on your cars. If you do though, you will get hundreds if not thousands of impressions a day as people see your company decal/ logo on your clients car throughout the day. Make sure that they either look very nice, or that you use a very clever/ funny slogan to get attention. We also recommend keeping the size relatively small. Most people wont put a giant, ugly sticker on their car, but make it small and attractive and you can't lose. 

10. Grocery Bags

With many states following California's decision to charge or plastic and paper grocery bags, it's becoming very cost effective to bring several tote bags with you when doing weekly shopping. Everyone will want one of your branded tote bags for shopping purposes and as a bonus, they'll be doing advertising for you in the grocery store.