How to Start Your Own Business and Grow it Smoothly

Usually, these grouches have their heads full of desperate complaints. Guess you have at least one friend, or maybe you will be the only one in your office clique who is not of that kind. Usually, these guys are a majority, and there is nothing you can do about it, except being different.

What should a man do to start a life of a lone ranger and become self-employed?

So many men prefer years of suffering from some tiresome office work, crazy bosses, exhausting industry toil, and other daily hardships of anonymous working-class heroes? Why can`t they swap to independent, free business life of an entrepreneur?

In this article, we will answer these questions. We will give you clues on how to change your way of life and make it different once and for all. If you are afraid of changing anything – stop at this line and don`t read further.

1. Vanquish your fears and JUST START

You will never become a successful entrepreneur if you can’t risk. If you think you have no fears, try to figure out what hampers you all the time. Did you ask yourself why you are always holding back from starting your own trade?

You call it being considerate and careful, while when you analyze grassroots of your carefulness, you will see a naked, pure fear. This feeling drags you away from your dreams and becomes inherent and takes the reins over your emotions and plans for the future. You give your fear other names, but the essence rests the same.

Try to uncover all your tremors to overcome a hidden panic in front of new challenges entrepreneur life can bring. Usually your fear is coming in disguise of arrogance, procrastination, partiality, prejudices. Usually these drawbacks of peoples’ behavior are caused by a innate animal fear in front of changes. Work out what is the cause of your anxieties, and then you’ll visualize faces of enemies of your dreams.

Learn and analyze your habits, get to know yourself better and then you will uncover what hurdles your progress. The most powerful fears of all is a fear of failure, regardless of how old are you, eighteen, a young man in his mid-twenties, 40 years old adult, you care about what your friends are going to say.

There is an inherent feeling of fear to fail. To surpass it follow this valuable advice of Thomas Edison, who said: “I have not failed 10,000 times,” and then added: “I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” After reading these words you have no moral right to complain.

Don`t say that you are afraid to make at least one step out of a comfort zone only because you’re afraid to fail. Where should you start from? From your garage! Well, if you don’t have one – take it as a metaphor and start everything from some small idea. Our era of business can be named an era of startups. Big corporations these days are yesterday’s small ideas implemented by some hard-nosed nerdy clerk or a student who refused to be a victim and dared to risk. These guys were persistent enough to deny the way of living they used to have. Living in a garage, working sleeplessly on the ideas they burned with.

That is where the Amazon, Apple, Disney, Google, Harley Davidson, Hewlett-Packard  came from – a garage. Look at where these guys started from, and now look at your fancy suit and the golden cage of your office – wouldn’t you exchange it for a lead role in your project?

2. Choose the perfect name

ou are starting your new business, having this brilliant idea in your mind and a few talented fellows to help you to make come true. You even have potential investments in your plan. The only thing which kind of suck is the name of your brand. You know that it could be something more catchy and better describing the core of your business, but you didn’t come up with anything good. It’s only a name, isn’t it?

Dang! It’s not only a name. It’s THE NAME and the first thing people will remember about your product or services. You don’t believe me that the name is important? So here is why.

How a Poor Name Can Ruin Your Business

When you are brainstorming the perfect name for your brand, you could run into people who tell you not to worry about your business name. Many people will tell you that there is no actual value to a business name. The same people believe that names are just frills and aren’t worth investing your time and resources into. However, studies show that simple, catchy names perform better than non-captivating names on the stock market by 33%.

Rather than focusing on the monetary value a good brand name will bring you, why not try considering the opposite for a few minutes. How can a poor brand name weaken and diminish your brands’ presence in the business world? Let’s consider all the ways a poor name can damage your brand.

A Poor Name Won’t Establish a Solid Brand Foundation

In today’s ever-changing market, first impressions for your brand are truly everything. Oftentimes, your name is the first thing a potential client or customer will hear about your business. You brand should encompass everything from your name the design of your logo, your values and mission statement. A great brand name will encompass who you are and who you want to be, all rooted in one memorable name.

If your name is not strong enough then it will not be able to carry the weight of your brand. If people hear your name and don’t understand what your brand is, they will move on to the next business. The brand name should provoke questions about the brand while still intriguing the audience to want to learn more.

The brand name is essentially the identity of your company. If the name is weak then it will not be able to carry your brand forward and keep you from expanding in the future.

A Poor Business Name Will Not Capture Your Audience

Your target market is likely already overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available in today’s market. You could be offering completely unique services or products, but without a great name that interests your audience, you could lose customers. If your name does not immediately capture your audience’s attention immediately, they will likely move on to another brand. You won’t want to lose customers because that means you will also be losing out on future potential revenue sources through referrals.

A good name should create a connection between your audience and your brand. In addition, a brand name should offer your target market something to remember. For example, one of the main reasons why the tech giant apple is because of their name! Apple is such a successful business name is because all people have experience with apples. Apples are a simple, accessible fruit, as well as a tangible, everyday object. By giving their technology company the name of an organic object explains why Apple has done a great job captivating their audience.

Your business name should captivate your audience while making a point to not drive them away. Arduous, unclear, or offensive names can drive away many of your potential customers. Avoid any cringey or embarrassing business names because they will drive customers away and send the wrong message.

Offensive names are even riskier than embarrassing brand names. If your name ends up being unintentionally offensive to a specific group it could spell disaster for your brand. An offensive name means that your brand risks losing potential sales from the group you offended, and from people who align themselves with the group that was offended.

If you want to check that your name won’t drive away your audience, try audience testing! Audience testing is a great way to ensure that your name performs well with your target demographic. In order to test your brand name, try creating a list of possible names and ask friends and family or your target market what they think.

The biggest mistake you could make in this process is to ask anybody, especially friends and family, “Which one of these names do you like?” That’s an esoteric question because your business name will likely mean nothing out of context. What does it mean to like a name? Do you like how it looks on the page or how it sounds when said outloud? Is the name descriptive of what you do? Or do you simply like a name because it reminds you of your best childhood friend? Your questions must extend beyond the simple, subjective territory of “like.”

Here are some great examples of what your questions should look like:

• Which one of these investment apps are you most interested in learning more about?

• Which one of these toothpaste brands are you most likely to try?

These questions are strong because they force the target audience to slow down and consider your brand in a rooted context.

You can also try simple questions that are based around value or benefit propositions. For example:

• Which one of these names would be the best fit for a revolutionary payment process company focused on individuals and global usage? (PayPal)

• Which of these bank names do you feel most embodies prestige and trust?

A Forgettable Name = A Forgettable Brand

Even if a customer really wants to remember your name could forget it. A customer will forget your brand name if it is bland or too confusing to say and spell. When your own customer cannot remember your name then you will likely lose out on sales. Customers are great at referring their friends and family to a brand if they are passionate about it and had a good experience. However, you could be preventing possible referrals if your customer cannot seem to remember your brand name.

A great example of a forgettable name is when Jeff Bezos opened an online book retailer called Cadabra, Earth’s largest bookstore. The name was intended to be short for the magic term “abracadabra”. But Bezos realized that the name was not catching on with his target audience. It was entirely too difficult for people to spell and understand, and many people simply did not understand the reference to magic.

Another reason the name Cadabra failed was because many people would accidentally hear “cadaver” over the phone or in crowded bars instead of Cadabra. After brainstorming with his wife, Bezos decided to change his company name to Amazon, and then the company really exploded in growth.

By changing the name to Amazon, Bezos created many advantages for his company. The first advantage was that since Amazon starts with A, it is generally high up on alphabetical lists. In addition, the Amazon is also the earth’s largest forest, so the name works metaphorically.

Another benefit was because most people have heard of the Amazon rainforest, they immediately understand the reference of the name and knew how to pronounce the name. With one simple name change, Bezos solved all of his problems with Cadabra. The name change was clearly worth it because after the name change Amazon grew to become a hugely profitable business.

A memorable name makes for a brand your customers will never forget. It’s important that your brand does not fall by the wayside when brainstorm a snappy and memorable name. Check out lists online of winning brand name ideas to help you get an idea of what names grab your attention.

Lose Referrals

Finally, a good brand name for your company will have the power to captivate and draw in your audience. Additionally, a name can drive referrals and make growing your brand easier.

It’s crucial that when someone use your services or purchase your products they remember your name. If your target audience can’t remember your name or can’t pronounce it, they are going to be less likely to pass it along to their friends and family. This means that your poor brand name will cause you to ultimately lose out on sales because your name was not strong enough to carry your brand. Weak names mean worry sales.

In addition, your business name should accurately reflect your brand. Furthermore, a good brand name should be captivating and memorable enough that it sets your brand up for future growth and success. If your brand doesn’t set a solid foundation for your brand with a good name, your business will lose out on potential clients and the potential referrals from your clients.

If you dedicate yourself to investing your time and resources into your business name, it will make it worth it in the end. It will all be worth it because it will increase your profits down the line. Every aspect of your business will add up in the end. Especially if your name helps you get one a few more chains of referrals, it makes a huge difference.

3. Validate Your Business Idea

It is all too easy to become single-minded in your pursuit of that seemingly perfect, previously untapped business idea. This can, of course, leave you blinkered to the kind of constructive criticism and feedback that people who have a bit of distance from the concept can provide.

Step 1: Search For Your Idea Online and Get Input From Others

In short, you need to be willing to share your idea with those whose opinions you respect and, more importantly than that, take any input they provide onboard, rather than forging on even if the general consensus is that it is a non-starter.

Step 2: Produce A Prototype

If your business idea involves a tangible product, it may be hard to convince anyone that it has valuable without being able to let them experience it first-hand.

Of course in the digital era, the world’s most influential and successful businesses have largely been based around software and related services which may not benefit from prototyping in this way. Indeed such tech titans as Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos whose revolutionary ideas and approaches are now being spread in the “best business books” collections used prototyping as their dominant strategy.

Regardless, if it is obvious that prototyping makes sense in the context of your concept, it will be very valuable. And with the dawn of affordable 3D printing, it is now cheaper and easier than ever to create a proof of concept that will let you assess whether or not your idea is workable in practice as well as desirable from a consumer perspective.

Step 3: Build A Brand

The best idea in the world can fail to flourish if it is not supported by a suitable brand identity. In some cases, up to half of a firm’s value can be tied to its brand.

According to Foundr, because of this, the sooner you start thinking about how to develop a brand for your fledgling business, the better chance it has of succeeding in the long term and realizing the potential of that initial kernel of a concept.

At this point, you will likely be looking to recruit outsiders to work with you on your project, so it is possible to delegate branding efforts if it makes sense and is feasible within the constraints of your resources. It also pays to turn your view outwards again at this point and see how your rivals are handling brand identity, as this will help both shape your message while also making it distinct and memorable, rather than feeling like a poor imitation.

Shoring up your brand against interlopers is also vital at this stage, just as it is important to protect your IP and stop your ideas from being exploited once word starts to get around.

Something as simple as registering a domain name for your business website can be a great step to take, especially as it does not require any special skills and can be done at almost any point in the journey. This, as with many aspects of validating your business idea, requires swiftness and decisiveness of action, since procrastination can negatively impact more than just your firm’s short-term prospects of growth.

Step 4: Find Your Customers

For most businesses, one of the most significant challenges they face in their early stages is actually getting customers to commit to taking a risk on their as-yet unproven product or service.

Because of this, you need to make sure that as soon as your concept is starting to take shape, you also think about where you will find your early customers, how you will engage them and the means by which you will convince them to take a chance on what you have to offer them.

Acquiring and keeping customers is of course something that organizations of all sizes have to battle to achieve, but if you can lay out your plans to tackle this sooner rather than later, it will make your business idea look all the more appealing and well-founded to anyone who might be looking to invest or involve themselves in other ways.

In the end, you need to be relatively ruthless and deliberately discerning when developing and dissecting any business idea. You also need to come around to the fact that most start-ups do not succeed, and endeavor to learn lessons from those that have gone before. Burying your head in the sand could be sorely tempting, but being realistic and methodical will let you avoid common pitfalls.

4. Challenge to overcome is finance

What to do if you don’t have capital to start from? Should you take loans and bank credits, or sell your grandma’s heritage?

Try to get away from these traditional prejudices and think different;  if you have a good idea – this is your initial capital. If you still can’t get your idea to work without a money influx – work out some good presentation of your business plan, provide it with charts of coherent statistics and other persuasive data and knock the doors of investors who can become interested in your ideas.  One day you will feel yourself a winner of Dragons’ Den series!

Be inventive, sell services, barter what you need, work out unusual exchange offers, resell. There are so many ways to start doing things without having any money  – be inventive and try out your way. Rethink traditional methods and make up new ones, no matter how extravagant they can be.

Ensure that your receivables scheme management is solid and secure. If you are a retail seller and your finance operations are secured by online platforms like Amazon or Etsy you shouldn`t be worried. Usually, such big companies are taking care of their client`s security. The field of services is absolutely different, as well as wholesale marketing.

Adjust your business to some strict payment rules, don`t be too naive. There are so many buyers who will use any possibility to delay payments or extend them for ages. Don’t let anybody to trick you, but don`t forget to be flexible at times as well. Sometimes business should take certain bold decisions to profit from them later.

5. Create value

Whatever you do, if people like it they will be ready to pay for it. But if you will try to trick them your success won’t last for long.

Usually, when an entrepreneur puts earning money as a cornerstone of his business he never achieves any attainments. The product itself doesn’t matter that much. You can hardly supply people with anything unique, with something they can’t find on the web or the nearest market.  The Same statement can be applied regarding services your company provides.

If your trade will not bring any value to the society, it is not worth launching.

Even if you are selling lollipops on the fairs, the principle thing you should keep in mind is that you are not selling colored lumps of sugar, but you bring joy to children. You can apply this rule to large corporations as well.

6. Promote whatever you do

We don’t offer you to be annoyingly persistent. Be yourself and value what you do. The business you started is a baby, it was conceived and brought up, and now you need to show it to the world. Make your idea sparkle and work for people.

For that, you need to popularize it and offer it to clients. The best way of advertising your product if you don’t have any budget is a word of speech on the web – social networks. Create your page on Facebook, invite your friends, former work partners. Gather anybody who can be possibly interested in what you produce or in services you provide.

If your business is local – use some printing handouts, spread information about your activities in some gripping way. Use your imagination or ask somebody who can do it best to help you.

The main point is to reach to the public, involve as many potential clients as possible. Let’s focus on expanding your own business on Instagram and through explainer videos.

Top 5 Ways To Create Your Brand On Instagram

Instagram is fast becoming a forum for brand building and promotion. It is vital to be aware of the Instagram growth service, tool and techniques to build and maintain your brand on Instagram.

A brand is something that not only keeps the current members glued but it also attracts new members towards your product or service. Mentioned below are some of the ways how you can build your brand on Instagram:

# Relevant Content

One of the best ways to attract followers and build a brand is by creating effective content. When followers provide feedback and react to the posts, it leads to the expansion of following and this can be a huge boost to your online brand. In fact, in order to get followers on Instagram most of the companies post innovative and unique content at all times.

But what does it mean relevant content? Authentic, original, beautiful. Think about your visitors first. What you want to show them? What could make your profile different from the million other profiles out there.

# Hashtags

Users follow Hashtags on Instagram. And if you create catchy and interesting Hashtags you are sure to gain a lot of followers. It is important that the Hashtags that you create are relevant to your brand. Hashtags are a wonderful tool to rope in new followers. It is ideally recommended to have five to ten Hashtags for ever post that you make. Make Hashtags that are specific to the post that you have made.

#Stay Constant

There is nothing overnight on Instagram. In case you desire to look professional, you need to demonstrate your persistence with the medium. In fact, several people buy likes to enhancetheir visibility. For instance, if you are running fitness studio, your online presence is a testimony to what kind of workouts or fitness plans are being executed in your gym. So, there is a need to be consistent.

# Strategic Partnerships

Both unpaid and paid strategic partnerships go a long way in drawing more traffic and achieve your goals. When a brand is referred, either by paying the influencers or just for free, this leads to a huge rise in the number of followers. This also leads to the building of trust in the brand. When influencers promote your brand, people feel that it is authentic and it is right to follow you.

# Continuous engagement with followers

It is extremely vital to engage with potential as well as current customers. It shows that you care for them and their well being holds a lot of short shrift for you. Nothing can undermine the need for active engagement on Instagram. It is important that you respond to what the followers’ post is a timely manner. A response can be by way of gratitude or showing your excitement about something. A simple reply comment can also be a big thing.

It is outstanding to see how the loyalty of the followers on Instagram grows. But, then effort need to be made in the right direction. Social media marketing is now a new way of reaching out to potential customers. Follow these techniques and build your brand on Instagram.

How Explainer Videos Help In Promoting Business Locally & Globally

In this era of internet, the online world has opened countless ways to market a business. Among them, one of the most basic yet powerful ways to promote a business is through creating an animated explainer video.

Animated explainer videos are known to have an effective tendency for catching the audience’s attention. They help in featuring a company’s objective, aim, and focus in the manner of minutes.

For example, if the company’s target is to sell a product, or to explain the firm’s concept, video animation can easily grab the targeted audience’s attention. In fact, many video production services claim that you can attract massive crowds if you use animated explainer videos to explain your business or brand.

No big surprise, video animation is becoming an astonishing marketing apparatus because through a video you can hold the audience’s focus, build the business image, easily explain the product, improve conversion rates, and boost your sales.

Mentioned below are a couple of reasons that clarifies why putting resources into animated explainer videos can be a smart choice to indorse a brand locally and internationally.

Explainer videos easily introduce a business. As it so happens, text alone is not enough to introduce a business. Not every person will be comfortable with reading a full description of your product or brand. Therefore, using an explainer video is the perfect method to show and present your business.

Videos are considered effective because it portrays your perspective in a positive and storytelling kind of way. Same as a TV show or film, the pictures and sounds you see and listen are enough to catch the eye and mind of viewers.

# Explainer videos add increment in conversion rates

Even a single explainer video has the ability to benefit a business by converting the audience into potential clients. There are many surveys and reports demonstrating an increase in the purchasing percentage of individuals once they have viewed an animated explainer video. YouTube is a perfect example of that. By adding an explanation video into a business can bring a brand’s prosperity and an increase in conversion rates.

Videos are considerably more than simple telecom of moving visuals or pictures. Advancement and innovation have created a new possibility called communication through a video. Today it is possible for watchers to interact with a certain character or brand through a video they frequently watch, which is why an explainer video can assist you in reaching your objectives quicker.

# Explainer videos as compelling content

With this new development of video marketing, most viewers don’t even prefer pursuing written content. At Genius Videos, our professional usually offer to consider a video for the brand because it is an inventive and convincing approach to pick up the enthusiasm of your targeted audience.

Viewers like to watch a video all the way to the end rather than reading a blog or long service page describing the product. Creating a connection with visual and sound always grab the viewer’s attention.

Videos involve colors, movement, illustrations, and sound, which is why an explainer video can become a magnificent tool to create connections and commitment among the viewers. Since explainer videos are cheaper in cost, you can try adding a video on your landing page and see the difference for yourself with no extra advertisement cost.

# Explainer video for explaining the benefits of the product

While there are a few products that are easy to explain, others may not be as obvious. Animated explainer videos can actively show your audience what your item or administration is about, how the product can be used, or what benefits it may offer. Understanding an item that is actively seen on video brings a more elevated level of comprehension than with written content. You can likewise smartly disclose the reasons why to pick your product over others in a video – taking you and your brand on the top of the market.

Becoming famous or viral has been a typical term experienced by many online users. Viral recordings are the ones that jump out of nowhere, however, gain bigger review and more following response. Although, there is no particular recipe on how to make your video go viral.

In any case, a few products and services have gain popularity by going viral. An explainer video is usually short and can easily circulate around the internet, particularly if the video is made uniquely with an attractive message.

# Explainer video lifts Search Engine Optimization

The tactics of SEO are not restricted to website content. Instead, with properly aligned search engine optimization and video, you can upgrade your brand or product to contact a bigger crowd. Through a video’s title, or depiction, or even tag, you can easily add on the keywords that people are searching online.

This is how, when you make a video animation by contacting video production services and upload your video on social media channels like YouTube, or Facebook, the video gets shared which increases your chances of getting recognized by Google.

Animated video exhibits your brand’s personality. You need to sell your product alongside your brand’s image, this is the first rule of marketing at Genius Videos. Seeing a personality or a character connected to the business can have a significant effect on clients as they select whether or not buying your item is a good choice.

Having the option to see a face makes a kind of emotional connection which leads numerous individuals to gain trust and purchase from a business. Let’s say, you give clients something unique which only your business can offer, then surely you are in for a positive response. Apply this approach with your brand including an explainer video and prepare to be amazed.

7. Work as if tomorrow is your last day

Most of the people think it is the hardest point in doing business and are getting disillusioned. Low self-esteem and inferiority complexes make them believe they will not manage working day and night to make their business work.

But if to take a closer look at successful entrepreneurs – they like what they are doing, their industrious toil brings them pleasure. People think different when they know they work for the development of business they started.

Entrepreneurs are regarded to be happier than office workers as they are fully motivated for work. Making your business grow is a way of self-expression as well. While artists are getting satisfaction from masterpieces they are doing entrepreneur experiences same feelings while working on their own business.

8. Never stop learning and always try something new

If you want your business to follow modern trends and be сompetitive, you need to learn all the time. You can make a tragedy out of this statement, especially if you weren’t a diligent student during your schooling. Try to look at it from a different angle.

When you create your business in a field you like, it is always a pleasure to evolve and deepen your knowledge in it. Discovering anything new in a business you do will bring you only pleasure.

You have some hobbies? You are best at something you never regarded to bring income? Start developing what you prefer best and learn more about it. If it is close to your heart you’ll love learning and developing every day in the field you choose.

9. Just 20% of Your Effort Gives You 80% of the Result

Here we need to dicuss one crucial rule called the Pareto Principle, which despite its simplicity, the importance of  should not be underestimated. Its name comes from the surname of the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who was the one to make such a conclusion after realizing that 80% of Italian land is in fact owned by 20% of the population.

No matter how much effort you put into something, some aspects will turn out to be more contributing than others. Take into consideration the following stats:

1. 20% of customers create 80% of revenue
2. 20% of features generate 80% of usage
3. 20% of employees produce 80% of results

How to Use The Pareto Principle in Business

If the success of your business is strongly dependent on customers (which is true for most businesses), you are aware of the fact that the 80% of the revenue you get is provided by 20% of your customers. Surely, you want to increase your revenue. The simplest way to do that is to find new customers that are like that 20% you already have. This is a superb tip your marketing team should definitely make use of.

If you manage to attract more customers that will help you generate revenue, you will never have to worry about other ways to make money doing business. Surely, such a scenario seems a bit idealistic, especially in a tough market where it is impossible to predict an outcome. Yet, what you need to do is to show that 20% of customers how much you value them.

This way, they will start telling others about the high quality of service/product you provide and about your company philosophy as well. The word of mouth is still an effective tool, especially in sales.

As soon as you notice that your business starts growing, figure out what aspects play the most significant role and focus on them. This way, you will manage to increase the number of loyal customers as well as generate revenue for the company. Your service/product should not be appealing to everyone.

Contrary to popular belief, having a successful company that makes profit is not about selling your product to everyone or being able to target every single customer on the market. The key point is to define who your target audience is. Find your 20% and focus on making sure they are always satisfied with the quality of services you provide. This is where the Pareto Principle really comes in handy as it helps you define who your 20% of loyal customers are.

Be brave, choose to dare and follow your dreams! Regardless of how old are you: eighteen or forty, value every moment of your life and don’t give anybody to be a master of your destiny. Go for it!