Small Business Owners: Survey Says Yes, They Are Happy |  |
- Small Business Owners: Survey Says Yes, They Are Happy
- Instagram Reaches 150 Million Monthly Users
- 5 Pillars of Visual Marketing Plus Some Free Tools
- Dell To Announce Windows Tablet Oct. 2
- Irreconcilable Differences: Best Buy CEO Sells 450,000 Shares to Pay for Divorce
| Small Business Owners: Survey Says Yes, They Are Happy Posted: 17 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT
While the media frequently paints a picture of the average small business owner as a stressed-out workaholic, slave to the smartphone and run ragged by the never-ending demands of his or her company, the reality is quite different. According to the first annual Yodle Small Business Sentiment Survey, small business owners are enjoying a pretty decent work-life balance, they’re working reasonable hours, taking vacations and generally loving what they do. The small business owners survey of businesses with 20 or fewer employees found a whopping 91 percent are happy being small business owners, with 55 percent saying they're "extremely happy." It’s No Wonder: More than half (52 percent) of small business owners say they work 40 hours or less per week, and 72 percent take at least two weeks of vacation annually. In fact, 27 percent take four or more weeks of vacation. Of course, not everyone in the survey is living that large. About four in 10 (39 percent) work 41 to 60 hours per week. Still, the percentage of respondents who are living up to the stereotype of the crazy-busy entrepreneur is very small. Only 9 percent work more than 60 hours a week, and just 11 percent say they never take a vacation. That doesn't mean all is sunshine and rainbows in the world of the entrepreneur. In terms of their personal lives, small business owners' biggest worries are:
On a professional level, the top three business concerns keeping small business owners up at night are:
Overall, 59 percent of business owners say they definitely wouldn't or were unlikely to consider selling their companies in the next few years. One-fourth indicated they "might" sell "if they could get a fair price." Do these attitudes jibe with yours? If not, here are a few suggested changes that could make you change your outlook: Cut Yourself Some SlackIf you've been working day and night thinking that's just what entrepreneurs do, it's time to stop. Figure out ways to take time off to recharge your batteries. It doesn't have to be a month-long sabbatical – even taking an afternoon off now and then can be enough to renew your love of your business. Start small and build up to a real vacation – you deserve it. Plan AheadSmall business owners have to live with uncertainty, that's the nature of the beast. You'll never be able to be 100 percent certain of your income. But then, neither will the average corporate employee, right? The difference is that you have the ability to take matters into your own hands. Take steps to feel more secure by figuring out how to put money away both for short-term needs (like a sales slump) and for your future. Meet with a financial adviser and talk to your accountant if you haven't already. Get Ready for ObamacareSix in 10 respondents believe the Affordable Care Act's implementation will have a negative effect on small business. While much of the outcome remains unknown, don't hide your head in the sand. Start now and investigate insurance exchanges in your state. Talk to your insurance provider and accountant about what changes you'll need to make, what your options are and how this will affect your business. By being proactive rather than reactive, you'll feel more positive about you and your business's future and your ability to handle whatever life hands you. Happy Photo via Shutterstock The post Small Business Owners: Survey Says Yes, They Are Happy appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Instagram Reaches 150 Million Monthly Users Posted: 17 Sep 2013 01:30 PM PDT
If you haven’t yet used Instagram to market your brand, the time may be right to start. The photo sharing platform owned by Facebook announced recently it had reached 150 million active monthly users. To put this into perspective, this means Instagram is only 50 million users short of overtaking Facebook rival Twitter. Twitter currently says it has 200 million active monthly users. The company shared plans for an IPO last week. Instagram Helps Small Business MarketingAn official post on the Instagram blog announcing the 150 million user milestone, focused on documenting protests in Egypt, sharing a trip across the U.S. or taking adorable animal photos. Certainly, some of Instagram’s users are engaging in these uses of the platform. But there are many possible Instagram applications for marketing your business too. You can use Instagram to share sneak previews of your products, highlight your customer service, showcase your employees and company culture or show off your restaurant or new office. Earlier this year, Instagram video was born with the possibility of shooting 15 second videos as a marketing tool. Instagram also offers many “filters” to change the look of your photos and videos, rendering them in either a retro style or with intensified colors. Where is Your Audience?When deciding whether Instagram is the right platform for your marketing message, you should first look at its audience. While Instagram’s community is large and growing, company officials say 60 percent of it is located outside the United States. This might mean Instagram will be more effective marketing an international product than, say, a local pizzeria. What products or services might you consider marketing on Instagram? Instagram Photo via Shutterstock The post Instagram Reaches 150 Million Monthly Users appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 5 Pillars of Visual Marketing Plus Some Free Tools Posted: 17 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT
Visual marketing is one of those buzz terms circulating a lot lately. With the way the Internet itself has changed over time, that is to be expected. Users have a certain expectation that you have to meet, and a lot of it has to do with the visuals associated with the content you create. You are trying to engage people around the world with a universal language, one done through images rather than the standards of text. Able to evoke emotional responses and long lasting associations, visual marketing is a crucial element to any strategy in branding today. Failing to meet this standard could be disastrous, and possibly lead to a lot of work with no payoff. Isn’t that every company’s nightmare? Visual marketing can be broken down into five pillars, and knowing them will help you to establish a better plan to increase visibility and generate brand loyalty. Pillars of Visual Marketing1. Use Various Media TypesA lot of people will make the mistake of sticking with one form of media over others. There is nothing wrong with having your primary content be a specific type, but you should still try and add in others on a regular basis. I usually suggest a 1/5 ratio. If you are posting five photos with funny captions, remove one of the pictures and add in a video instead. While you might be sharing a lot of graphic quotes, make one of them an actual infographic. This also applies to shared content versus original content. Try to make as much as possible original, rather than all shared. And instead of making it all original, add in a few things you have found around the Web to connect with other sources. Just make sure people know where it originally came from. Tip: Content re-packaging is one of the most effective ways to create different media types based on one research. 2. Keep Content RelevantAn occasional off-topic tangent or item is fine. But most of what you present should be relevant to your brand, even if that connection isn’t very strong. Some kind of link should exist, otherwise you are diluting the message you are trying to get across. If you are posting something completely off the subject, try to find a way to link it up to your brand. For example, a picture of a smiling pig might not have anything to do with a sale your site is holding. But adding a caption where the pig is expressing its excitement about getting 40% off of all merchandise does. You will find you can stretch things pretty far to find relevance. 3. Optimize For PlatformsCertain platforms are better for different forms of media, and you should optimize to match their strengths:
Remember to take advantage of different features each platform has, like hashtags, proper categorization, enticing titles, etc 4. Cross Promote ContentMost platforms will be good for more than one purpose, or the same purpose across sites. Cross promotion is a good way to get the same visuals seen on a larger scale and to increase your pool of who sees it. Sites like Twitter and Pinterest are more open natured, so you should definitely post any Facebook content on those pages as well. Or adapt visual content into other media formats in order to cross promote it further, like turning an infographic tutorial into a video for YouTube. 5. Make It Easy To SharePart of marketing is getting others to get the word out for you. This can be encouraged by making it extra easy to share content. Have plenty of social media buttons on your website so it can be posted anywhere. Smartly double post things on your social profiles, such as cycling the same content after a couple of days so more people can see and share it. Ask for a like or share on Facebook if they agree or disagree. Include people to ensure they see they are meant to be a part of the conversation. 10 Free Visual Marketing ToolsVisual marketing is kind of like the industry’s new toy. People are only beginning to really understand and implement it and, as the buzz increases, it is becoming more crucial than ever to get on board. With the Internet more visual than it has ever been before, failing to properly provide such enhancements and engagement is a quick way to lose yourself a lot of visibility on an already saturated market. There are many of them out there that you can use for free, and these are ten of the best (in my opinion): 1. Image Color Picker
The best colors are found in real life. Nature photos, the color of someone’s eyes, the fabrics of a woven blanket…they hold associations in our minds. But they aren’t always easy to break down, and finding the name or code of a color can seem impossible. This awesome tool lets you upload a photo or use a URL to the image, and click on the section you want. It will then tell you the HTML, RGB and HSV codes. 2. Google Fonts
Once again, Google is sticking their hand into the cookie jar. This time it is with their very own font collection. They have thousands available, and all of them are open source so you can use them without credit or payment. Search for fonts by category, thickness, slant, width, script, style and font family or collection. They are previewed using the sentence “Grumpy wizards make toxic brew for the evil Queen and Jack.” That has to be worth a little smile. 3. Font Space
Want even more fonts? This site has more than 21,000 options at the time of this writing, and all of them are entirely free. See what is popular, what is new, browse by category, year published or alphabetically, or find a specific character or letter. There is also a search option, though with how many fonts they have hosted, it isn’t always that accurate. Have some fonts to share? Upload them here. 4. Skitch
A product by popular note gathering application Evernote, Skitch works by allowing you to use fewer words by creating sketches and annotations. This promotes visual content above traditional content, and makes it easy to use. Draw attention to certain points, show instead of tell and share it across the Web. 5. Piktochart
Infographics are sort of the ultimate visual marketing tool right now. People love them, and sites like Pinterest are especially aimed at letting you share them. But not everyone has the time or even skill for making infographics on their own. Piktochat streamlines the process and gives anyone everything they need to get it done. Marketing specialists are using it all the time, as it helps to get the point across more efficiently. 6. Design Seeds
Find gorgeous and unique color schemes based on photos of nature scenes. Flowers, beaches, forests, mountains…they are just some of the inspirations that create some spectacular combinations complete with codes. They also show similar colors that are slightly different, such as brighter or more understated to give you more options. 7. Haiku Deck
This one is cheating a little because while it is free it also has a lot of optional in-app purchases. But I wanted to include it on the list because it is a different kind of visual creation tool. Make stunning and professional presentations using images, graphs, animations and anything else you might like. Show off your data in a dynamic and interesting way that will keep people’s attention. 8. Quotes Cover
Another unique kind of tool, this one is all about visual versions of quotes. You can select from the thousands available in their database, or you can create a custom quote along with the optional date it was said. It allows you to select how it is going to be used for better customization, like Facebook Timeline, a status update or print. Then you select the font, color and resize it to fit your needs. 9. IcoMoon
Browse free vectors and icons, import your own, generate CSS Sprites, use a glyph editor and more with this all-in-one icon tool. They also have premium icons if you want to pay for the full app, which gives you more than a thousand more to choose from. 10. Visual.ly
Create infographics, videos, presentations and interactive graphics, browse through those that have already been uploaded by the Visual.ly community, and just get inspired. Not only is this a great tool for creative visual content, but it is an app that can teach you a lot about the process. Have any good tools for visual marketing? Pillars Photo via Shutterstock The post 5 Pillars of Visual Marketing Plus Some Free Tools appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Dell To Announce Windows Tablet Oct. 2 Posted: 17 Sep 2013 08:00 AM PDT
[Windows 8.1 Preview] A new Dell tablet option is set to be announced in less than a month, and if your business is already built on a Windows environment, it may be worth a look. Dell has indicated it will formally announce a new 8-inch Windows 8.1 device Oct. 2. The device was apparently shown to members of the media at an event in San Francisco earlier this week and photos of the tablet have been bouncing around the Web but few concrete details. The new Dell tablet will be a resurrection of Dell’s discontinued Venue series and will incorporate the Bay Trail processor recently unveiled by Intel. Intel has said the processor should make it possible to produce a tablet for only $199, the Verge reported recently. Windows 8.1 Devices Already AppearingMicrosoft recently released its Windows 8.1 upgrade to hardware developers, and the new Dell tablet device seems to be one of the earliest examples of the devices we may see. The device’s 8-inch display features a 1080p resolution and the company is apparently aiming it at both business users and consumers. Microsoft 8.1 incorporates capacity for greater mobility with multiple devices connected through its SkyDrive cloud storage system. But it also focuses on security with claims of safe single click access to virtual private networks and greater access to company information by mobile devices while also increasing the security of that information. Additional availability of mobile devices like the Venue able to operate seamlessly in a mobile environment is good news for small business owners who may not wish to integrate a different operating system for mobile. The post Dell To Announce Windows Tablet Oct. 2 appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Irreconcilable Differences: Best Buy CEO Sells 450,000 Shares to Pay for Divorce Posted: 17 Sep 2013 05:00 AM PDT
If you've been paying attention, you'll know that Best Buy has had a rough go in the business world for the last few years. However, with a new CEO at the helm since September of 2012, the company has been performing better and seems steady. Recently news broke that CEO, Hubert Joly, was selling about 450,000 of his shares in the company, despite Best Buy’s stellar performance since he grabbed the reigns. So why the sale? It turns out it’s for completely personal reasons – not something that CEOs of big companies are known for. Best Buy CEO Paying for DivorceChris Isidore reported on CNN Money that “Joly disclosed in a filing that he sold 451,153 shares … for a total of $16.7 million.” The motivation is clear: Joly has to pay for a pricey divorce settlement. This isn’t the first time that a Best Buy CEO has had public issues. Less than 18 months ago that the previous Best Buy CEO, Brian Dunn, had resigned “upon mutual agreement.” His resignation was colored by allegations that he’d had an affair with a subordinate (he was married). Dunn’s situation is unrelated to Joly’s stock sale. Wall Street is definitely watching. This report was in most of the major financial news outlets. However, most analysts are still bullish on the company, despite the sale. Most people, like Dhanya Skariachan of Reuters, reporting in the Christian Science Monitor, recognize that Best Buy is currently on a comeback – with stock tripling over last year's. In reality, Joly has done an excellent job at turning Best Buy around from a 9-year low on Wall Street. Shutterstock: divorce image Correction: This story was corrected as to Wall Street’s reaction and other details. The post Irreconcilable Differences: Best Buy CEO Sells 450,000 Shares to Pay for Divorce appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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