Make ‘Out of Stock’ a Thing of the Past for Your Business

By Rieva Lesonsky

Post sponsored by inFlow Inventory.

If you are still using spreadsheets to keep track of your business inventory, it’s time to consider moving to a more efficient and accurate modern solution.

For the busy small business owner forced to wear many hats, it can be difficult to keep track of everything going on in your company. A robust retail and e-commerce store inventory management system can help you maintain the proper amount of stock to meet customer demand without spending more on a higher volume of goods than you need to have on hand. Striking this balance is achievable when you have accurate, real-time data about everything in your inventory.

The power of cloud-based inventory management software offers plenty of reasons to move beyond less sophisticated tools like spreadsheets for keeping track of parts and products. The best software solutions allow you to involve your employees (during inventory periods from multiple locations and mobile devices) and incorporate various workflows. More advanced offerings will synchronize point of sale (POS) data or the monthly statement from your e-commerce platform.

inFlow Inventory is inventory management software designed for small business owners to see the complete picture of their business inventory. Used by more than 10,000 customers in over 120 countries, inFlow is helping business owners in industries such as wholesale, distribution, retail, manufacturing, and e-commerce.

The cloud-based version of the company’s software, inFlow Cloud, keeps all of your information in sync across all of your devices. inFlow Cloud runs off the Microsoft Azure cloud, but many customers find that a hybrid approach, which includes a downloadable local Windows app in addition to the cloud-based app, works best for their needs. Many web-only apps can be slow and unresponsive at times, so this approach puts a bit of the processing demand on your local machine. And downloadable companion web and Android apps allow you to use your smartphone as a barcode scanner. (The company also offers an on-premise solution for customers who prefer to store their data on their own computer.)

Detailed data to better understand customers

One of the big advantages of moving beyond spreadsheets or reducing manual inventory efforts, which can be tedious and prone to inaccuracy due to human error, is that you have a variety of data points, accessible at any time, that can help you manage your business growth.

For instance, detailed inventory data can help you track buying trends (Which items are your bestsellers? How many sell and how often?). It can also help you understand your customers better (Do they buy certain products at certain times of year?). Monitoring inventory will help you figure out which customers are the most loyal, valuable info to help you build a loyalty program that produces more sales.

Instant virtual showrooms and low stock alerts

inFlow Cloud can instantly create “showrooms”—customized websites where you can share product details with whomever you wish. You control who has access, which products are shown, and details such as price, stock levels, and more. These showrooms are perfect for private price lists, B2B portals, custom online catalogs, and read-only inventory reports for your staff.

Once you begin to increase your business knowledge through inventory control, you will be able to generate reports on sales, profits, costs, vendors, customers, back orders, how long inventory will last, and more. (See a full list of inventory reports that come standard with inFlow Cloud.)

inFlow’s inventory tools allow you to set up reorder points to help your business avoid an “out of stock” situation, which can result in lost sales opportunities and disappointed customers. You can set reorder points representing the minimum levels you should keep on hand for each item. When you dip below this point, the system will tell you it’s time to reorder. The end goal, of course, is to ensure you’re thinking ahead and reordering before you ever run out of stock.

There are many aspects of running a business that can keep a business owner from focusing on the most important tasks, but by leveraging the right inventory management software solution, you can reduce the busy work and spend your time on what matters most—growing your profits.

About the Author

Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media and custom content company focusing on small business and entrepreneurship. Email Rieva at rieva@smallbizdaily.com, follow her on Google+ and Twitter.com/Rieva, and visit her website, SmallBizDaily.com, to get the scoop on business trends and sign up for Rieva’s free TrendCast reports.

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4 Reasons Your Content Isn’t Generating Traffic

You’re finally writing consistent content for your blog, which you’re sure will send leads pouring into your funnel—though, in reality, it seems like your Aunt Wanda is the only one reading your business blog.

What are you doing wrong with your content??

The fact is, writing good content is just one component of a solid content marketing strategy. The other component—quite possibly the more important of the two—is promoting it to ensure that it reaches the widest audience possible. If your content is still coming up short, you might be doing a few things wrong on the promotion side.

1. You set up social media to automatically share it . . . once

Any time a new blog post is published, it automatically gets shared on your Twitter, Facebook, etc. profiles. But that’s the extent of the effort you’re putting into social media promotion.

Think for a moment about how you use social media. You probably check in for about five minutes, scroll through your feed to see what’s interesting, then go about your life. There’s a ton of content you’re missing simply because of how often your network posts updates.

So if that one social share happens at 8 a.m., what about all the people who check their feed an hour later? Or the next day? They’ll likely never see it.

That’s why you need to also write manual shares and schedule them for the days following the post’s publication. Another reason for this: the automated share usually just takes the blog title as its social text. Handcrafting your updates gives you the opportunity to be more engaging. You could pull a statistic or quote from the post or ask a question that clicking to the blog will answer.

Buffer, MeetEdgar, and Ops Calendar are examples of tools that let you easily schedule social shares of your content.

2. You’re not asking your network to share

I get that you might be uncomfortable emailing your contact list every time you publish a new post to ask them to share it, and you might annoy them if you do. But when you have a really important post that you’d like to extend the reach of, there’s nothing wrong with pinging your contacts and asking them to share it. Let them know you’d do the same in return.

Actually, you could also create a group of like-minded folks in your industry who share and support each other’s content and content marketing efforts. It’s a great way to bolster what you’re doing on your own promotion-wise—and you make great contacts.

One specific strategy here is to create an experts’ roundup post, asking a question to several well-respected thought leaders in your space. Once you publish the roundup, ask the experts to share the post. Most will be happy to do so, and you’ll get your content in front of their sizeable audiences.

Other Articles From AllBusiness.com:

• 25 Frequently Asked Questions on Starting a Business
• 50 Questions Angel Investors Will Ask Entrepreneurs
• How to Create A Great Investor Pitch Deck for Startups Seeking Financing
• 17 Key Lessons for Entrepreneurs Starting A Business

3. You have no goal

You’re writing content, yes, but do you have a purpose behind it? Or is it just one more thing you want to check off your “how to market my business” list?

Every piece of content you publish should have an objective, such as:

• Educate your readers about something (that you can help them with)
• Address a common problem your audience suffers (that you can fix)
• Establish expertise on an industry topic
• Drive leads
• Drive sales

I know articles out there pound into your head the importance of writing, writing, writing—of having tons of content on your site. But I’m going to play devil’s advocate here and say if a piece of content doesn’t have an explicit purpose that drives more business (even if it’s just through brand awareness), then don’t write it.

4. You’re ignoring what your audience is telling you

You write content based on what you think your audience wants to read, not what they actually do want to read. You’ve missed the mark for no reason, because it’s incredibly easy to figure out what they’re interested in.

Your blog analytics dashboard will give you all the data you need to see which of your articles are attracting the most visits, clicks, and shares. See which topics are resonating with your audience, and which aren’t. From there, you can brainstorm additional content ideas to piggyback off the success of past articles. (Bonus tip: Create internal links to your most popular posts when you write about related subjects.)

You’ve already got great content. Now put in a little more effort to get more readers and subscribers to your blog.

RELATED: The 8 Essential Elements of a Successful Blog Post

The post 4 Reasons Your Content Isn’t Generating Traffic appeared first on AllBusiness.com

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Make ‘Out of Stock’ a Thing of the Past for Your Business

By Rieva Lesonsky

Post sponsored by inFlow Inventory.

If you are still using spreadsheets to keep track of your business inventory, it’s time to consider moving to a more efficient and accurate modern solution.

For the busy small business owner forced to wear many hats, it can be difficult to keep track of everything going on in your company. A robust retail and e-commerce store inventory management system can help you maintain the proper amount of stock to meet customer demand without spending more on a higher volume of goods than you need to have on hand. Striking this balance is achievable when you have accurate, real-time data about everything in your inventory.

The power of cloud-based inventory management software offers plenty of reasons to move beyond less sophisticated tools like spreadsheets for keeping track of parts and products. The best software solutions allow you to involve your employees (during inventory periods from multiple locations and mobile devices) and incorporate various workflows. More advanced offerings will synchronize point of sale (POS) data or the monthly statement from your e-commerce platform.

inFlow Inventory is inventory management software designed for small business owners to see the complete picture of their business inventory. Used by more than 10,000 customers in over 120 countries, inFlow is helping business owners in industries such as wholesale, distribution, retail, manufacturing, and e-commerce.

The cloud-based version of the company’s software, inFlow Cloud, keeps all of your information in sync across all of your devices. inFlow Cloud runs off the Microsoft Azure cloud, but many customers find that a hybrid approach, which includes a downloadable local Windows app in addition to the cloud-based app, works best for their needs. Many web-only apps can be slow and unresponsive at times, so this approach puts a bit of the processing demand on your local machine. And downloadable companion web and Android apps allow you to use your smartphone as a barcode scanner. (The company also offers an on-premise solution for customers who prefer to store their data on their own computer.)

Detailed data to better understand customers

One of the big advantages of moving beyond spreadsheets or reducing manual inventory efforts, which can be tedious and prone to inaccuracy due to human error, is that you have a variety of data points, accessible at any time, that can help you manage your business growth.

For instance, detailed inventory data can help you track buying trends (Which items are your bestsellers? How many sell and how often?). It can also help you understand your customers better (Do they buy certain products at certain times of year?). Monitoring inventory will help you figure out which customers are the most loyal, valuable info to help you build a loyalty program that produces more sales.

Instant virtual showrooms and low stock alerts

inFlow Cloud can instantly create “showrooms”—customized websites where you can share product details with whomever you wish. You control who has access, which products are shown, and details such as price, stock levels, and more. These showrooms are perfect for private price lists, B2B portals, custom online catalogs, and read-only inventory reports for your staff.

Once you begin to increase your business knowledge through inventory control, you will be able to generate reports on sales, profits, costs, vendors, customers, back orders, how long inventory will last, and more. (See a full list of inventory reports that come standard with inFlow Cloud.)

inFlow’s inventory tools allow you to set up reorder points to help your business avoid an “out of stock” situation, which can result in lost sales opportunities and disappointed customers. You can set reorder points representing the minimum levels you should keep on hand for each item. When you dip below this point, the system will tell you it’s time to reorder. The end goal, of course, is to ensure you’re thinking ahead and reordering before you ever run out of stock.

There are many aspects of running a business that can keep a business owner from focusing on the most important tasks, but by leveraging the right inventory management software solution, you can reduce the busy work and spend your time on what matters most—growing your profits.

About the Author

Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media and custom content company focusing on small business and entrepreneurship. Email Rieva at rieva@smallbizdaily.com, follow her on Google+ and Twitter.com/Rieva, and visit her website, SmallBizDaily.com, to get the scoop on business trends and sign up for Rieva’s free TrendCast reports.

The post Make ‘Out of Stock’ a Thing of the Past for Your Business appeared first on AllBusiness.com

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How a High School Teacher Carved Out a Side Niche in Woodworking

In this series, NerdWallet highlights people with great side jobs. We share how they landed the gig, what they’ve learned and their tips for getting started. Some of Steve Smith’s earliest memories are of pounding nails and boards together in his grandfather’s basement as a 5-year-old. That experience helped spark a lifelong interest in making...

The article How a High School Teacher Carved Out a Side Niche in Woodworking originally appeared on NerdWallet.

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5 Reasons Why Startups Should Never Ignore Trade Shows

By Prianka Dhir

I know what you’re thinking—trade shows?! How old school. With endless rows of booths, stacks of pamphlets, and thousands of people crowding the aisles, trade shows don’t exactly have a reputation for being trendy.

Despite not being the most enticing form of marketing these days, the trade show industry is expected to grow 2.8% in 2018, driven primarily by economic and job growth. What’s more, companies are continuing to send employees to trade shows as a way to treat them to an industry event, while getting some work done in the process.

When employees attend trade shows, morale is boosted, new contacts are made, skills are improved through educational seminars, and hopefully, sales leads are generated. A study by Meeting Professionals International found there’s a 40% close rate for meetings conducted in person. The industry continues to prove that face-to-face marketing isn’t entirely replaceable—and will likely never be.

A couple of years ago, I challenged myself to a trade show sprint where I attended a whopping 63 trade shows over the course of eight months. I attended everything from bridal shows and kids camp expos to business forums and health-care conferences. I even attended the trade show for trade shows—yes, there is in fact a trade show for trade shows.

When it comes to trade shows, startups often overlook them and opt for cheaper online alternatives, due to budget or logistical constraints. But after pushing through the aisles, winning a few attendee contests, and participating as both an exhibitor and attendee on different occasions, it was clear that trade shows are worth the time and investment.

Here are five reasons why your startup shouldn’t ignore the power of trade shows:

1. Startups can get noticed

Industry influencers and bloggers walk trade show floors to gain insight into the best, brightest, and most up-and-coming companies and trends. Cold emails to influencers may never be opened, but an interesting booth and a clever sales hook may spark a genuine conversation with a press representative, giving you an even higher return on your marketing spend than you imagined.

2. Startups can target prequalified customers

A prequalified customer is one who has traveled, spent money, brought a friend, or made an actionable investment to participate. Trade shows are swarming with people who have opted into the experience, and 84% of them have the power to recommend, specify and/or make real purchasing decisions. The trade show floor is the ideal place to engage with customers who actually care about learning more about the companies that are exhibiting.

3. Startups can get immediate feedback

Watch and learn, literally. Trade shows offer a unique opportunity for you to see how attendees interact with your product and hear the questions they ask, so you can get a deeper understanding of your ideal customer. Use the trade show experience to gain insight into new features to add to your product, to see how your customers use your product, and to get valuable testimonials and feedback.

Other Articles From AllBusiness.com:

• 25 Frequently Asked Questions on Starting a Business
• 50 Questions Angel Investors Will Ask Entrepreneurs
• How to Create A Great Investor Pitch Deck for Startups Seeking Financing
• 17 Key Lessons for Entrepreneurs Starting A Business

4. Startups can check out competitors

As trade shows offer a great opportunity to introduce new products and services, you also can use the experience to become more aware of how your competitors are positioning their products. Also, it’s important to be at the same shows as your competition in order to be considered a viable alternative for potential customers.

5. Startups can build stronger networks

Turn on that trade show charm and build new relationships that exist offline. Trade show floors are flooded with CEOs, C-suite executives, investors, and customers. You never know the power of one great new contact, so remember to engage in meaningful conversations with everyone you meet.

Yes, trade shows can be expensive, but the value they deliver in terms of leads, network, and feedback over a short period of time can be worth the extra dollars. In the startup world, time is valuable, and using it wisely can make all the difference.

RELATED: Putting Your Best (Exhibitor) Foot Forward: 5 Ways to Stand Out at a Trade Show

About the Author

Post by: Prianka Dhir

Prianka Dhir is the co-founder and CEO of Beyond the Booth, a San Francisco-based startup focused on event strategy through technology. Prianka works with innovative trade shows across North America to help exhibitors secure up to 50% more leads on the trade show floor. She has been featured in TechVibes, Fox News, and Vancity Bride for her work in trade show innovation, specializing in consumer trade shows. Prianka holds a BCom in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.

Company: Beyond the Booth
Website: www.beyondtheboothhq.com
Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

The post 5 Reasons Why Startups Should Never Ignore Trade Shows appeared first on AllBusiness.com

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4 Reasons Your Content Isn’t Generating Traffic

You’re finally writing consistent content for your blog, which you’re sure will send leads pouring into your funnel—though, in reality, it seems like your Aunt Wanda is the only one reading your business blog.

What are you doing wrong with your content??

The fact is, writing good content is just one component of a solid content marketing strategy. The other component—quite possibly the more important of the two—is promoting it to ensure that it reaches the widest audience possible. If your content is still coming up short, you might be doing a few things wrong on the promotion side.

1. You set up social media to automatically share it . . . once

Any time a new blog post is published, it automatically gets shared on your Twitter, Facebook, etc. profiles. But that’s the extent of the effort you’re putting into social media promotion.

Think for a moment about how you use social media. You probably check in for about five minutes, scroll through your feed to see what’s interesting, then go about your life. There’s a ton of content you’re missing simply because of how often your network posts updates.

So if that one social share happens at 8 a.m., what about all the people who check their feed an hour later? Or the next day? They’ll likely never see it.

That’s why you need to also write manual shares and schedule them for the days following the post’s publication. Another reason for this: the automated share usually just takes the blog title as its social text. Handcrafting your updates gives you the opportunity to be more engaging. You could pull a statistic or quote from the post or ask a question that clicking to the blog will answer.

Buffer, MeetEdgar, and Ops Calendar are examples of tools that let you easily schedule social shares of your content.

2. You’re not asking your network to share

I get that you might be uncomfortable emailing your contact list every time you publish a new post to ask them to share it, and you might annoy them if you do. But when you have a really important post that you’d like to extend the reach of, there’s nothing wrong with pinging your contacts and asking them to share it. Let them know you’d do the same in return.

Actually, you could also create a group of like-minded folks in your industry who share and support each other’s content and content marketing efforts. It’s a great way to bolster what you’re doing on your own promotion-wise—and you make great contacts.

One specific strategy here is to create an experts’ roundup post, asking a question to several well-respected thought leaders in your space. Once you publish the roundup, ask the experts to share the post. Most will be happy to do so, and you’ll get your content in front of their sizeable audiences.

Other Articles From AllBusiness.com:

• 25 Frequently Asked Questions on Starting a Business
• 50 Questions Angel Investors Will Ask Entrepreneurs
• How to Create A Great Investor Pitch Deck for Startups Seeking Financing
• 17 Key Lessons for Entrepreneurs Starting A Business

3. You have no goal

You’re writing content, yes, but do you have a purpose behind it? Or is it just one more thing you want to check off your “how to market my business” list?

Every piece of content you publish should have an objective, such as:

• Educate your readers about something (that you can help them with)
• Address a common problem your audience suffers (that you can fix)
• Establish expertise on an industry topic
• Drive leads
• Drive sales

I know articles out there pound into your head the importance of writing, writing, writing—of having tons of content on your site. But I’m going to play devil’s advocate here and say if a piece of content doesn’t have an explicit purpose that drives more business (even if it’s just through brand awareness), then don’t write it.

4. You’re ignoring what your audience is telling you

You write content based on what you think your audience wants to read, not what they actually do want to read. You’ve missed the mark for no reason, because it’s incredibly easy to figure out what they’re interested in.

Your blog analytics dashboard will give you all the data you need to see which of your articles are attracting the most visits, clicks, and shares. See which topics are resonating with your audience, and which aren’t. From there, you can brainstorm additional content ideas to piggyback off the success of past articles. (Bonus tip: Create internal links to your most popular posts when you write about related subjects.)

You’ve already got great content. Now put in a little more effort to get more readers and subscribers to your blog.

RELATED: The 8 Essential Elements of a Successful Blog Post

The post 4 Reasons Your Content Isn’t Generating Traffic appeared first on AllBusiness.com

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5 Things Founders Often Overlook That Can Kill Their Startup

A bad idea, gross mismanagement, or a poor work ethic can kill a startup before it’s out the gate. But there are other things founders often overlook that can kill their businesses–or severely hamper it–a little later down the road.

The problem with these things is they become either difficult to fix or totally unfixable if you wait too long. On the bright side, none are extremely difficult to handle if dealt with early on. Here’s a rundown of five often overlooked items that can bite you bad.

1. What comes next?

Many founders become so obsessed with their initial vision they fail to give any consideration to their next stage. Forward momentum and growth are baseline requirements for business success, no matter how high you set your sights. Whether your goal is to establish a local presence, or you’re laying the foundation for a nationwide enterprise, you need to have a vision for how your business will move forward.

Another reason to be prepared is to protect your business from future competitors. Right now you might not have competition, but one day there will likely be competitors that will do what you’re doing right now—and just as well as you. And because they will be entering the field later than you, they’ll more likely have a sense of “what’s next.”

Planning ahead can take you down several different roads, and you may want to experiment with a few of them. By the way, if you’re planning to go for venture capital initially, your plans for growth will be one of the questions you’ll be asked to address.

2. What’s your online identity?

Whether you’re founding an electric bicycle shop on the corner, an e-commerce operation, or a service you intend to take national, much of your marketing will be conducted online. Prospects will relate to you through your online presence, so you need to decide early on what that presence looks like and sounds like.

Along with the blueprint for your digital marketing strategy, you need to create a guide that defines the look, feel, and sound of your digital marketing materials. There are many ways a marketing plan can fail, and some are immediately obvious in retrospect. This includes having an inconsistent voice, which won’t jump out at you as the reason why your marketing isn’t meeting your expectations. Further, it’s difficult to correct when you’ve let it slide. Take care of it upfront.

3. Are you properly insured?

None of us loves the idea of buying insurance. But it’s one of those things that when you need it, you need it badly. And since a fledgling business can be knocked out of the game very easily, startups need to be sure they have the proper business insurance.

This even applies to home-based businesses. I know a guy who works from home and also owns some rental properties. Occasionally, a renter will come to his home to pay rent. Over the course of a year, one of his tenants who pays in person told him how she was filing “slip and fall” suits against two local businesses. He wisely decided he needed to contact his insurance agent and get a rider to cover the amount of business that he conducts with people at his residence, as well as any equipment he uses solely for business purposes.

I’d like to also specifically mention disaster insurance here. When a flood, tornado, or earthquake hit an area, they don’t skip over new businesses.

Other Articles From AllBusiness.com:

• 25 Frequently Asked Questions on Starting a Business
• 50 Questions Angel Investors Will Ask Entrepreneurs
• How to Create A Great Investor Pitch Deck for Startups Seeking Financing
• 17 Key Lessons for Entrepreneurs Starting A Business

4. Are you creating the right company culture?

Many founders start their projects with a “do whatever it takes” attitude. This is understandable and you want to be high-energy and totally focused on your goals. However, you don’t want to end up with a team of jerks or lone rangers who will walk over others or play fast and loose with the truth.

Your goal should always be long-term growth and success. This depends in large part on the tone you set ,and then make sure you hold your team to it. If you set the wrong tone, you can create a culture that will not function well beyond your early startup days.

This is one of the reasons we see so many founders and founding team members replaced soon after the organization hits its early milestones.

5. Do you have a coach or mentor?

Founders can get so caught up in themselves and their visions they end up discounting the need to connect with a good coach or mentor. Even the most successful professional athletes have coaches; let that fact be a lesson for you.

Take the time to find a good business mentor early in your planning stages. You’ll get invaluable guidance, accountability, and encouragement from this professional. In fact, your mentor will probably help you avoid the four previous errors I’ve discussed here.

Looking ahead

Finally, let me say a little about emotions and human nature. When we’re working on something brand new, like founding a business, the excitement level runs high. Things change after the initial success, and making progress often becomes much more difficult.

If you overlook one or more of the five points I’ve covered, that compounds the difficulty of taking your business to the next level. So, as the Boy Scouts say: Be prepared.

RELATED: Do You Really Need a Business Plan to Start a Business?

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Ask Brianna: You Know You’re a Financial Adult When …

How Are Americans Using Social Media?

What’s the latest on your customers’ social media habits? The Pew Research Center recently released the results of its latest study on US social network use. Here are some of the trends you need to know to make your social marketing a success.

What’s the most popular social media network?

You might be surprised. Although it’s not always considered a traditional social media site, YouTube actually ranks number one in terms of popularity. Almost three-fourths (73%) of all US adults use YouTube, including a whopping 94% of those aged 18 to 24. Even among the 65-plus demographic, 40% use YouTube.

Facebook is the second most popular social site, used by about two-thirds (60%) of all US adults. It also encompasses a wide range of demographics.

Overall, Facebook and YouTube are head and shoulders above the rest of the social networks in terms of popularity. None of the other sites in the survey are used by more than 40% of Americans. (The survey covered Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp.)

More than one

Americans aren’t limiting themselves to just one social network: The average American adult in the survey uses three of the eight social media platforms measured. The average 18-to 29-year-old uses four social platforms; 50 to 64-year-olds use two platforms on average; and the average respondent 65 and older uses just one.

Overall, use of each social media network in the survey has grown steadily compared to past surveys. Instagram enjoyed the biggest jump in popularity: More than one-third (35%) of US adults now use it, up from 28% in 2016.

Different demographics, different social media

The majority of Americans of all ages use social media, except for those 65 and up. However, even among that demographic, 37% use social networks. Here’s the rest of the breakdown:

• Ages 50-64: 64%
• Ages 30-49: 78%
• Ages 18-29: 88%

Pew broke the youngest age group down into two demographics (18-24 and 25-29) because the two groups had significantly different behavior. The younger people are, the more likely they are to use Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. For example, almost eight in 10 (78%) of 18 to 24-year-olds use Snapchat, compared to just 54% of those aged 25 to 29.

Hooked on social media

Social network use is not a once-in-a-while or even once-a-day habit. Almost three-fourths (74%) of Facebook users check it daily; more than half (51%) visit Facebook multiple times a day. Sixty-three percent of Snapchat users and 60% of Instagram users visit those sites at least once a day (usually more). Forty-six percent of Twitter users and 45% of YouTube visitors do the same.

Not surprisingly, considering how often we use social sites, survey respondents showed some reluctance to give it up. Younger users are more entrenched in their habit. More than half (51%) of social networking users aged 18 to 24 say it would be hard to give up social media; however, only one-third of users over 50 feel the same way.

Other Articles From AllBusiness.com:

• 25 Frequently Asked Questions on Starting a Business
• 50 Questions Angel Investors Will Ask Entrepreneurs
• How to Create A Great Investor Pitch Deck for Startups Seeking Financing
• 17 Key Lessons for Entrepreneurs Starting A Business

Social media stats

The survey also uncovered some other interesting stats:

• The more affluent survey respondents are, the more likely they are to use social media in general.
• The more educated survey respondents are, the more likely they are to use social networks.
• Urban dwellers are more likely to use social networks than people in the suburbs; rural dwellers are least likely to use it.

Certain social networks are more popular with different demographics:

• 41% of women use Pinterest, compared to 16% of men.
• LinkedIn is most popular with college graduates and high-income Americans.
• 49% of Hispanics use WhatsApp, compared to 21% of blacks and 14% of whites.

Social media takeaway

What does this information mean for your small business’s marketing plans? Rumors of social media’s death are greatly exaggerated, as the consistent growth of all the platforms in the survey shows. However, there are some important differences in terms of which social networks attract which demographic. In order to succeed with social media marketing, you need to pinpoint which networks your target customer base favors, and focus on those.

RELATED: 10 Easy Ways Your Business Can Be More Authentic on Social Media

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How I Turned My Hobby Into a Successful Business Venture

By Eric Fanelli

I come from a family of hockey enthusiasts. It’s a sport that I grew up playing and I’m happy that I’ve passed the love of hockey on to my daughters, whom I now coach in my spare time. Several years ago, I walked down to my basement to discover that my cat had decided to use my hockey gear as her litter box. I had to buy all new gear pronto since I needed it for an upcoming alumni game.

I decided to go online to look at my options, and came across a used pair of hockey pants from the University of Connecticut that were selling for half their original value. That’s when the lightbulb went off and I decided that buying and selling used sporting gear could be a fun gig.

I didn’t have enough gear of my own to really make much of a side hustle out of this, so I began by selling locally sourced equipment I bought off of surrounding college and club teams. I remember my first purchase being so exciting—I drove two hours to Boston University, where I bought $750 worth of gloves, pads, and jerseys from the women’s hockey team. I initially started listing these items on my Facebook page, where I flipped them for a $350 profit. I was lucky to have a friend in college hockey who helped me make the all-important connections. I started buying gear in bulk, repairing any damages, and selling it for a reasonable price online.

This hobby quickly began to escalate, and I found myself partnering not only with colleges, but with professional hockey teams as well. I would say the biggest turning point was when I partnered with the Detroit Red Wings minor league.

Finding the right platform

Eric Fanelli, founder of Fanellihockey

Since I was growing so rapidly and had a lot of items to sell, I quickly realized that Facebook was not the right platform to use. When I was looking at different places I could pursue this venture, I stumbled across SidelineSwap, an online marketplace where I could sell my gear to other athletes. I instantly thought it was a great platform because of how specific it was to athletes and how easy the buying/selling process was. In early 2015, I started a page on SidelineSwap called Fanellihockey, which is where I continue to sell all my gear. I started by selling a couple thousand dollars’ worth of gear a year to selling over $250,000 worth in 2017.

I had been working out of my basement for years, but I began to outgrow it once I started getting gear from minor league teams. My inventory was so large that at the beginning of 2017, I had to start renting out a 1,600 sq. ft. warehouse to store and repair all of the gear. I’m currently still storing my inventory there, but we are even starting to outgrow this place and may have to look at renting an even bigger warehouse in the near future.

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Side hustle becomes full-time job

For several years I was working both my 9-to-5 sales job as well as managing my side hustle, but balancing both jobs was becoming more and more challenging. I worked on Fanellihockey both before and after my day job, meaning I put in about 80 hours of work each week. To me it was worth it because nothing is better than hearing my daughters talk about how cool it is that we own a hockey business. I had been increasing my sales each month for a while now, and this year I was fortunate enough to be able to make Fanellihockey my full-time job.

Since I am not interested in starting a traditional brick-and-mortar store due to the high expenses and risk involved, using SidelineSwap as my platform has really given me everything I’ve ever wanted out of Fanellihockey. I get to spend time with my wife and daughters fixing up hockey equipment in our warehouse without having the pressure of owning an entire storefront—it’s really the best job I can imagine.

Fanelli’s crowded 1,600 sq. ft. warehouse, where he stores and repairs all of his gear.

To have something start as a hobby and progress all the way to a full-time job has been a dream come true. My advice to others out there who are looking to start a side hustle is to go all in. It can be demanding, both in terms of time and money, but if you commit yourself 110%, success will follow. You have to have initiative in this field—build relationships, know your market, and be persistent. Those are the keys to a successful side hustle.

RELATED: What You Need to Know When Starting a Side Hustle

About the Author

Post by: Eric Fanelli

I’m an entrepreneur and family man. I live in Hartford, Conn., with my wife and our three daughters. Starting with my passion for hockey, I found a way to make some extra cash by doing what I love—working with hockey gear. This turned into a booming business that I now balance with family time and fatherly duties, such as coaching my daughters.

Company: Fanellihockey
Website: Fanellihockey
Connect with me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

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Wedding Gifts That Mean (but Don’t Cost) a Lot

Receiving a wedding invitation should be exciting, not dreadful. But if it’s not the first one this season, or if you’re keeping a wary eye on your budget, getting that embossed white card in the mail could bring mixed emotions — and the search for a tactful way to decline. One-third of Americans have skipped...

The article Wedding Gifts That Mean (but Don’t Cost) a Lot originally appeared on NerdWallet.

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Is Your Business at Risk for Embezzlement?

Do you think your business is too small to be a target for embezzlement? Small business workplaces are often like families, and it’s hard to accept the fact that one of your family members may be stealing from you. But according to a study by insurance company Hiscox, the majority (55%) of embezzlement takes place at companies with fewer than 100 employees.

Not only are small businesses disproportionately affected by embezzlement, but they also suffer disproportionately large costs from this crime in comparison to big companies with big bank accounts. The median loss for small businesses from an incident of embezzlement is more than $289,000. That’s a huge hit for a small business—one that your company may not survive.

Here’s what you need to know about embezzlement and how to protect your business.

Who’s the typical embezzler?

• While 37% of the criminals work in finance or accounting, embezzlement can occur in any department of your business.
• Embezzlement also occurs at all levels: Managers and executives are frequently involved in this crime.
• Embezzlers are typically in their mid- to late 40s.
• Women are slightly more likely to embezzle from their employers than men.
• Embezzlers generally work alone.

How do they embezzle money?

The typical embezzlement doesn’t involve a big, one-time “heist.” Instead, embezzlers frequently embezzle small amounts of money over a period of several years. This helps them avoid detection.

Over time, however, those small amounts begin to add up. According to the survey, the median case of embezzlement that lasts five years costs a company $2.2 million, while the median case of embezzlement that lasts 10 years costs a company $5.4 million.

The most popular form of embezzlement is funds theft; it accounts for more than one-third of cases. In funds theft, embezzlers transfer their employers’ cash or deposits into a bank account that they control. Check fraud, in which embezzlers forge or alter checks, is the second most common type of embezzlement, accounting for more than 22% of cases.

Embezzlers may also use vendor invoicing or false billing. This means either altering or fabricating invoices from real vendors. Some embezzlers even make up fake vendor companies, invoice their employers, and receive the payments.

Credit card fraud accounts for about 10% of cases; however, the majority of those who commit credit card fraud are managers. They defraud their employers by making personal purchases on the company credit card or issuing themselves unauthorized credit cards.

Other, less common forms of embezzlement include theft of property or merchandise, expense fraud, payroll fraud (“paying” fictitious employees and diverting the money to their own bank accounts), and loan fraud (taking out a loan in the company’s name and depositing the funds in their own accounts).

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How can you prevent embezzlement in your business?

To help safeguard your business, Hiscox recommends setting up a system of checks and balances. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but at minimum, more than one person should be involved in every financial transaction. This makes it harder for embezzlers to hide their theft. You, the business owner, should also review the company’s bank statements, credit card statements, and other records of financial transactions on a monthly basis.

Conduct background checks before hiring employees who will be involved with your company’s finances. But don’t assume all is well because an employee has passed a background check. Employees may work for a company for years before they start to steal. Hiscox advises keeping an eye out for employees who live lavish lifestyles that are out of proportion to their salaries. Sadly, you also need to keep an eye on that hard-working employee who never takes a day off or a vacation: They may be afraid to take time off for fear their unscrupulous activities will come to light in their absence.

What can you do if someone embezzles from your company?

As soon as you suspect embezzlement is taking place, start taking detailed notes and begin reviewing financial records to see if you can spot anything out of the ordinary. If you need to involve others in your investigation, limit it to one or two trusted employees whom you know can keep it quiet.

If you do discover that embezzlement occurred, it’s important to talk to an attorney and report the crime to the authorities. Filing charges probably won’t help you recover the money that was embezzled, but it will send a strong signal to other employees that you won’t tolerate fraudulent behavior.

Last, but not least, learn from the experience. Use the information you uncover in your investigation to change your company’s policies. This will help prevent anyone from stealing from your business ever again.

RELATED: Eight Tips to Prevent Employee Theft and Fraud

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Top 10 Money Mistakes Baby Boomers Make

Members of the baby boomer generation—those Americans born between the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s—are heading into retirement age in large numbers these days. But this generation faces numerous challenges to a financially stable retirement.

Here are the 10 biggest mistakes boomers make with their money and retirement investments:

1. Assuming real estate always appreciates

Many baby boomers bought their homes when the market was strong, assuming that real estate would always stay at that level or continue to appreciate. While real estate prices are climbing again these days after the slump seen during the Great Recession, many boomers retiring before the recovery found they had a lack of cash flow due to making payments on real estate not worth a fraction of the original cost.

2. Using home equity as a primary retirement nest egg

If there should be another real estate slump, boomers who bought real estate as an investment may find themselves paying high payments on something that is only valued at a fraction of the original cost.

3. Failing to diversify investments

Failing to spread investments into more than one area means that if something happens to the one investment, no options remain. Boomers are notorious for investing everything in one pot. In the past, baby boomers often made their money by following the instantaneous profit or “quick buck” strategy. Today, however, boomers may find themselves cash-poor because the quick buck markets failed.

4. Underestimating their life expectancy

People are living longer today than they did in the past. Many boomers underestimate how long they will live and do not plan properly for their retirement. When calculating what age to begin collecting Social Security, a person’s overall health should help to determine when to begin the process.

If you are in good health, and think you will live to be at least 80, you can benefit by waiting until age 65 to begin collecting Social Security. A plan of 10 to 15 years of retirement used to be recommended, but today experts recommend planning for 15-20 years or more of retirement.

5. Sacrificing retirement for their children

Many baby boomer parents are maxing out their home equity line of credit (HELOC) or, even worse, borrowing from their retirement accounts to pay for their children’s college educations. Retirement accounts should be left untouched until actual retirement, and used to plan for things such as the possibility of long-term medical care and funeral expenses.

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6. Addiction to material things

Many in the baby boomer generation are accustomed to acquiring what they want, when they want it. Because of this instant gratification habit, their debt can grow to unmanageable levels. When the economy takes a tumble, they still have bills to pay. When people approach retirement age, thinking about simplifying is better than continuing to acquire material goods.

7. Failing to save money

People need money to live, and the most reliable way to make money is to work. The trick to actively managing money, rather than being managed by it, is to learn how to control the outgoing ledger so more money is coming in than you are spending.

If you do not control your money, you may find yourself working all of your life and never finding the money to retire.

8. Divorcing and remarrying

Baby boomers are also accustomed to multiple remarriages, which includes multiple divorces. Along with those divorces come property settlements; starting over means losing equity. The more equity you have, the more the divorce may cost.

DON’T MISS: Top 10 Money Mistakes That Retirees Make

9. Relying solely on Social Security for retirement income

As a generation, baby boomers are used to a good income. If they are depending on Social Security for their retirement income, they will likely be unpleasantly surprised. Once a person enters retirement age, the medical bills will usually increase and Social Security alone will likely not pay for all living expenses.

10. Relying on their partner’s retirement plan

If boomers have had multiple marriages, then the chance of relying on a partner’s retirement plan, along with their own, is slim. Even if you stay married, the possibility of the premature death of that partner would mean you no longer have that second source of income. Plan for how you would survive financially were you to lose half of your household income due to the death of your spouse.

RELATED: 3 Investment Strategies to Grow Your Retirement Savings

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Student Loans: Are You Making Repayment Harder?

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Here Are 10 Essential Office Items We Can’t Live Without

Your office is your home away from home. You spend as much time there (if not more) than you do in your own living room. The items you surround yourself with are very important. They can help you to be more productive, and in some instances, you virtually can’t live without them.

Here, 10 members of FounderSociety discuss the things that help them to be their best in the office each day.

Q: What is one item you can’t do without in your office, and why?

1. Asana

We love Asana! It’s a great way to eliminate email clutter, delegate projects, and manage multiple clients and multiple moving parts across teams throughout the country, allowing you to track everything in one simple dashboard. —Angela Delmedico, Elev8 Consulting Group

 

2. Amazon Echo

Amazon’s Alexa has become our go-to office DJ and our source of truth for random questions. —Jim Huffman, GrowthHit

 

3. CRM

The one thing that would really hinder business would be not having our customer relationship management (CRM). Keeping organized and working efficiently is essential to our job; the CRM allows us to work in order of importance and not miss important deadlines. —Bryan Driscoll, Think Big Marketing, LLC

 

4. Great attitude

A positive attitude and collaborative spirit are essential. We are very focused on having a great environment around us so that we can do our best every day. To overcome any issue, it’s important to be surrounded by people with positive energy who are working toward a common goal. This ensures that the best possible solution can be found. —Jessica Baker, Aligned Signs

 

5. Our whiteboard

Our agency often works through omnichannel marketing strategies, which need to account for a lot of moving parts, controlled variables, and unknowns. A whiteboard helps our team to draw out the ecosystem that exists for each one of the brands that we work with, and it assures that we maintain context and perspective. —Justin Moodley, LASANAN

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6. A list of all current clients

We’ve got a giant whiteboard in our office with all of our clients listed on it. At the beginning and the end of each day, we look at it and decide how we can best allocate our resources among clients that day. Which of our clients is waiting on a response from us? Who needs something done immediately? It really helps us stay on track and ensure we’re giving them the attention they deserve. —Claire Winslow, Best Practice Media

 

7. Notebook

I would for sure miss my handy notebook. I’m always jotting down different ideas and tasks to remember and carry out. —Kurt Akers, Kannatopia

 

8. Goals and purpose

Having clear-cut goals and purpose is the key to everyone’s success in the workplace—not just monetary goals, but culture goals, relationship goals, transparency goals, and project goals. As leaders, if we lead our team with openness and transparency, we create understanding, trust, and loyalty. If we let our team be an integral part of the process, we give them a sense of power and purpose. —Melissa Rautenberg, Latin & Code

 

9. Basketball hoop

Our team loves to work hard and compete. Having a mini basketball hoop in the office allows us to unwind and have a little friendly competition amongst the team between meetings, calls, and executing for our clients. —Ryan O’Connell, Boomn

 

10. Food

I find that having snacks available at arm’s reach is key to productivity, especially on those long days when it might be difficult to sit down and have a proper meal. Munching on what’s at hand gives us energy when we need it the most. I try to keep healthy granola bars and drinks stocked in the office at all times. I find it more productive to grab a bar than making a quick run and eating in the car. —Ajmal Saleem, Suprex Learning

RELATED: Want Your Team to Collaborate More? Keep These 6 Things in Your Office

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New Study Reveals Millennial Business Owners Differ in Surprising Ways

What are small business owners’ biggest challenges right now, and how do they feel about the future? A recent survey of businesses with sales between $100,000 and $20 million annually from JPMorgan Chase has some insights.

The survey Small Business Leaders Outlook 2018 found some important differences between millennial small business leaders and small business leaders in general. Here’s what you need to know.

Millennial business owners are optimistic

Of course, small business owners in general are optimistic. However, millennials are above average in this regard. Seven in 10 millennial business leaders are optimistic about their local economies, and a whopping 84% are optimistic about their own company’s prospects for 2018.

Millennial business owners expect growth in 2018

Compared to small business leaders in general, millennials are much more confident that their businesses will grow. For example, 82% of millennial business leaders expect to see profits increase in 2018, compared to 62% of all small business leaders. In addition, 45% of millennial business leaders expect capital expenditures to increase this year (versus 25% of all small business leaders) and 44% believe their need for credit will increase this year (versus 25% of all small business leaders).

Millennial business owners seek financing

Speaking of credit, one-fourth of millennial business leaders are considering financing to invest in their marketing efforts, and 26% are thinking about financing in order to purchase inventory. In comparison, among all small business leaders, 14% are considering financing for marketing and 16% for purchasing inventory.

Millennial business owners have different priorities

Where do small business leaders want the government to put its energies? Not surprisingly, the top answer is “reducing regulations,” cited by 39% of all small business leaders. But millennial business leaders are more likely than other generations to care about less traditional “business” concerns. For example, 36% believe government should focus on protecting consumers’ interests; 23% want the government to focus on cybersecurity legislation; 22% would like to see the government produce a comprehensive jobs plan; and 19% want the government to work on expanding foreign trade.

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Millennial business owners are hiring . . .

Millennial business leaders are willing to put their money where their mouths are when it comes to growth. Sixty-three percent of them (compared to 32% of all small business leaders) expect to hire more full-time employees in 2018. In addition, 61% of millennial business leaders (versus 41% of all small business leaders) plan to increase their employees’ wages this year.

. . . But it’s not easy to find good employees

Although they are eager to expand their businesses, millennial business leaders are suffering from some of the same problems that small business leaders in general are facing in finding qualified job candidates. In fact, 42% of millennial business leaders (compared to 31% of all small businesses) say they are concerned about the difficulty of finding skilled job candidates with the experience they need. This may be one reason why millennial business leaders are more likely than small business leaders in general to say that increasing productivity (32%) and managing labor costs (28%) will be key challenges for their companies in 2018.

Millennial business owners rely on technology

While the majority of all small business leaders (63%) say they’re always looking for new technology to help them run better businesses, millennial business leaders are even more eager to take advantage of new technology. Nearly eight in 10 (78%) of millennial business leaders report that they actively seek out new technology to help them manage their businesses. Their reliance on technology, as well as their awareness of the risks it can pose, may be one reason why millennial business leaders are more likely than business owners in general to name cybersecurity as a major challenge for their businesses this year.

Are you a millennial business owner? Think about how these opinions compare with your own.

RELATED: Warning to Millennial Entrepreneurs: Avoid Committing These 6 Fatal Errors

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‘Hoax Marketing’ Can Be an Effective Branding Opportunity for Your Company—When Done Well

5 Secrets to Successful Cash Flow Management

By Carl Faulds

Every small business struggles with its cash flow from time to time, but with the right planning, the occasional emergency doesn’t have to become a crisis. So, what can you do to minimize the disruption caused by late payments from customers or a sudden cyclical downturn? Here are a few of the secrets behind cash flow success.

If you don’t plan to succeed, you plan to fail

Forecasting your cash flow is crucial. If you don’t know what you will need to pay and when, or when to reasonably expect your customers to pay you, then you can easily find yourself with large bills and without the money to pay them.

The good news is that cash flow forecasting doesn’t have to be onerous. By using a simple formula, and with the help of Excel, you can easily prepare a good forecast. Start with the following cash flow forecasting formula:

[Cash You Start With] + [Cash You Expect to Receive] – [Cash You Spend]

A good financial forecast will allow you to see at a glance whether you’ll be able to meet your financial commitments and quickly take remedial action where needed. Taking the time to make careful cash flow projections will save you time and trouble later.

Make sure to include everything in your forecast; don’t be too optimistic about when your customers will pay, and of course, update your forecast the moment anything changes.

Keep a cash flow cushion

When business is going well, it can be tempting to invest your spare cash in growth or to treat yourself to a well-earned dividend. However, you should always keep a cash reserve on hand to deal with unexpected bills or the loss of a major customer.

Conversely, the gain of a major customer can be equally risky from a cash flow standpoint. You will need to invest in people, equipment, and raw materials to meet the new customer’s needs before they pay you.

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Try to get paid faster

Late-paying customers are the number one cause of cash flow crises. Be proactive about credit control to ensure that your customers adhere to their agreed payment terms. You also may want to consider taking a “carrot-and-stick” approach to encourage faster payments—a discount of, say, 5% for payment within a week, with interest levied for any late payments.

Try to pay slower

Conversely, the later you can pay your suppliers, the better. Don’t simply drag your payments out—missing the agreed payment date can impact your credit score. If you can renegotiate payment terms from 30 to 45 or even 60 days, you’ll buy yourself some breathing space and also help ensure that you stay in business.

Consider invoice factoring and discounting

Invoice factoring and discounting are innovative forms of financing which can help you tame a troublesome cash flow problem forever, allowing you to borrow against your invoices as soon as you issue them. Repayment is made when your customers pay you, so even though a financing company will take a small proportion of the payments, you will no longer be derailed by late payers.

If you opt for factoring, the financing company will go after your customers to secure early payment, while with invoice discounting, you retain control of your own debtor ledger.

Finally, don’t forget to see the wood for the trees

Profit and growth are vital to any successful company, but without positive cash flow you will soon find yourself out of business—however high your turnover and however good your prospects. Never lose sight of the need to pay your bills on time, every time.

RELATED: The Best Ways to Finance Cash Flow Emergencies

About the Author

Post by: Carl Faulds

Carl Faulds is a business recovery specialist who offers advice and support for overcoming cash flow problems and ensuring positive future for businesses.

Company: Cashsolv
Website: www.cashsolv.co.uk 
Connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

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