A Personal Finance Expert’s Guide for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Starting a venture and being your own boss promises unparalleled independence. But launching a business isn’t necessarily a piece of cake. Personal finance is something that is very important to manage. As an aspiring entrepreneur, you have to jump through multiple hurdles just to get your business off the ground. And then there is the whole ordeal of keeping the venture afloat and steadily growing it.
The life of an entrepreneur is never easy, but the first few years are especially tough. It’s quite possible that you’re still working a part-time job along with running your business, which is barely breaking even. Considering that it will be a while before you earn a decent paycheck from your entrepreneurial ambition, you cannot afford to neglect your personal finances.
In this post, we’re sharing useful tips to keep your personal finances on track. Take a look.
Know Your Financial Goals
Defining your financial goals will give you something to work towards. Rather than setting up vague ideas, like the desire to buy a house, come up with time-bound and attainable goals. For example, if you decide to buy a house now, make sure you have the means to pay the mortgage regardless of whether your business turns a profit.
Tackle Debt
It can be difficult to start saving and meeting your other financial goals if you are drowning in debt. Efficiently tackling debt is crucial to free yourself from the shackles of high-interest debt and focus on building your wealth.
If you’re struggling to prioritize debt payment, we suggest consulting a credit counselor to figure out a practical repayment plan.
Follow a Monthly Budget for Personal Finance
Setting a monthly budget is a dependable and convenient way to avoid spending beyond your means. Instead of trying to portray a fancy image with an over-the-top lifestyle, strictly follow your monthly budget.
Don’t Neglect Insurance
There is a lot relying on your shoulders as an entrepreneur. Insurance offers you, your family, and your assets an additional layer of protection. You should invest in adequate health insurance for you and your family. Additionally, if you are planning to buy a car, consider embedded Insurance. It allows you to affordably buy the right coverage at the right time.
Keep Expenses in Check
If you are planning to launch a business with limited funds in hand, it’s time to reevaluate your personal expenses. Do you need to dine out every night? Is there a need for multiple streaming services? Such expenses may not seem much, but they add up over time. It’s time to cut back on unnecessary spending.
Grow Steadily with Your Personal Finance
There’s nothing more exciting than leaving your desk job to work for yourself. But that doesn’t mean you have to take out multiple business loans, hire a full staff, and rent a huge office space. Growing too fast can lead to financial strain, which will certainly impact your personal finances. It’s imperative that you grow steadily and take every financial decision after careful consideration.
Have a Backup Plan
Who would have predicted the economic havoc the global pandemic caused? While you can plan for contingencies, there is no way to predict every uncertainty in the business world. That’s why you can’t keep all your eggs in one basket.
Unless your business is taking off, don’t rush to quit your daytime job. You should have multiple streams of income to meet your personal expenses.
Don’t Mix Finances
It may seem like an obvious tip, but many budding entrepreneurs don’t see the harm in combining their personal and business finance. Unfortunately, that’s a recipe for disaster. Rather than mixing finances and losing your mind when it comes time to file taxes, keep your business and personal finances separate from the beginning.
Key Takeaway on Personal Finance
While your sole focus on making your business a success is admirable, you cannot let it overshadow your personal financial future. Maybe you are supporting your family or have a mortgage to pay off, it’s important to responsibly deal with all your financial obligations.
7 Qualities That Every Entrepreneur Must Have For Their Small Business
Small businesses are taking charge of the business market like never before, and it is considered the backbone of the world’s economy. Technological advancements and people’s necessity are the key factors why being an entrepreneur is uplifting and more people choose entrepreneurship as their career. Today, we will discuss some of the qualities that every entrepreneur should have to run their small business.
An entrepreneur is a person that must have multiple abilities and qualities because entrepreneurship is a very dynamic career. It is a very demanding career, and one should have the proper attributes and qualities to withstand. Although, it is something that has a lot of scopes and is one of the exciting careers to move forward with.
There are lot of scope and opportunities in this advanced tech world, and those aspiring entrepreneurs can grab and establish their small businesses. According to The Hill, there are more than 500 million entrepreneurs in the entire world.
Small businesses have more scope to succeed these days as they are profitable, and a good entrepreneur always comes up with profitable ideas to start their business. There is no harm in starting your venture as a small business because even the biggest MNCs today started with the smallest of investments.
What Is The Role Of An Entrepreneur?
The role of an entrepreneur is diversified, especially when you are setting up your small business. Sometimes, only an entrepreneur starts running the business with no staff and employs due to lack of resources for having dedicated staff for running business initially. The entrepreneur’s role is to make sure the venture you are running has resources and fulfills the business’s demand.
Running a small business is a very demanding job, and an entrepreneur is responsible for handling the etiquettes of business from planning to execution to creating opportunities and ensuring success. These are the duties that an entrepreneur needs to do for their business.
Qualities Of An Ideal Entrepreneur
1. Inventiveness
The small business entrepreneur needs to create innovative ideas, especially for their marketing, as they don’t always have enough budgets. Inventive ideas like video marketing and creating video content with creativity are something that quality entrepreneurs can generate.
Every small business has unique marketing needs, and referring to the source from Elluminati Inc on how to create innovative videos for small businesses, one can know the kind of innovative idea that entrepreneurs need to generate.
2. Passion
Passion forces you to become an entrepreneur, but you will lack some passion if others have forced you to be an entrepreneur. Earlier, we discussed that being an entrepreneur is a very demanding job. If you have passion for your small business, you will start fulfilling the demand without getting tired or exhausted because it is your passion. Hence, this is the reason this quality is required to be a successful entrepreneur.
3. Self-Motivated
Self-motivation is an essential quality that an entrepreneur should have these days because there will be times when you need the motivation to continue and move forward. Business can have ups and downs, and entrepreneurs can have self-motivation and move ahead rather than get demotivated, which can end up losing interest. The biggest source of motivation is inside you, and hence, you need to find it for being self-motivated.
4. Persistence
The entrepreneur’s quality to persist in the worst of situations and move forward is always tested when running a small business. The complexity in business is very common, and there will be times when you lack resources and are not able to find the resources to fill the gap. There can be a lack of revenues, and you don’t know how to find capital. The increase in the composition is also one of the factors where persistence is important.
5. Adaptability
Adaptability is the quality that all of us require universally because change is constant, and you need to adapt to the change as time moves forward. The same philosophy goes for entrepreneurs running their ventures. As all the controlling factors are not in our hands, there are dependencies on the exterior market conditions for the small businesses.
The market dynamics keep on fluctuating, and an entrepreneur with the quality to be adaptable will always find a way to succeed in the fluctuating market.
6. Decision-Making
Decision-making is a skill that is very important because, as an entrepreneur, there will be stages when you need to make decisions. Those are important decisions because the entire business model is dependent on these decisions.
Whether it is a decision for technology adoption or preparing the business plan, or introducing new products, these are the decisions that need to be taken. Also, there are many more situations where an entrepreneur needs to know how to take the right actions by proper decision making.
7. Social Skills
Social skills are something that will help you to be one of the active players in the market. Remaining behind closed doors never helps any entrepreneur, and you cannot get that reputation and recognition in the market. Social skills will allow you to share your knowledge and can make strong connections in the business market.
The helping hand nature of an entrepreneur will always create a good impression. Entrepreneurs that are always keen on sharing knowledge with aspiring entrepreneurs and guiding them have good social recognition. Hence, social skills are very important these days for creating a good impression and reputation for an entrepreneur.
Key Intakes On Being An Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is something that most people feel is a cakewalk, but it is not true. The above qualities you have gone through might have given you the idea how demanding and dynamic the entrepreneurship career is. If you go through all the qualities of an ideal entrepreneur, you will get one thing in common: growth.
The entrepreneurs that keep growing and hustling will never fail. Some of the qualities like punctuality and resilience are also very important, and that is something entrepreneurs always have. The qualities mentioned herewith are very important for small business entrepreneurs.
Final Words On Being A High Quality Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs are the ones who are always keen on creating new opportunities, and to create those opportunities, they must have some qualities and skills to hustle. More importantly, they do not need to care about themselves only, and as an entrepreneur, many people will depend on you, and you need to take care of them.
An entrepreneur needs to be active and understanding in all aspects viz. socially, professionally, emotionally, personally. Hence, maintaining a healthy balance in all aspects requires good qualities in an entrepreneur. Small business entrepreneurs need to be constantly active and must have a growing and competitive attitude. Thus, adapt and improve to grow further and scale your business to newer heights.
Author bio
Deep Moteria
Deep is a serial entrepreneur and blogger who wishes to support the ground transportation industries with his writings. He covers up all the known and unknown facts around the industry and puts it together to create trending articles across different websites. He also includes details on the latest trends, fun facts, business expectations, strategies, and models to follow to achieve success in the transportation sector.
When thinking about the many types of entrepreneurship, this is a big reason I decided to become a business coach. I love the variety of the amazing small business owners that I coach.
An entrepreneur is someone with the ability and desire to start up, administer and succeed at a particular business, bearing the associated risks to make a profit. When we hear of entrepreneurs, we often think of individuals who establish new business ventures regardless of the risks.
Entrepreneurs are often regarded as a hub of innovation, as they bring new ideas and innovation to the market. They break cycles of monotony in processes and products. They combine resources like land, labor, capital to generate new goods/services.
There are various types of entrepreneurship, classified based on several factors. In this article, we will be exploring the nine different types of entrepreneurs. But before we get into it, let’s see some common characteristics among entrepreneurs. Check out this information on employer of record services.
Characteristics of Entrepreneurship:
Before we proceed, it is worth mentioning that not all entrepreneurs succeed in their ventures and being an entrepreneur doesn’t automatically make one successful. However, most successful entrepreneurs have some traits in common. Here are a few of them.
They take risks
The associated risks with starting a new business venture are pretty considerable, as there are chances of failure. Entrepreneurs, therefore, need to be bold and very courageous. They also need to evaluate the risks and benefits of a new venture and make relevant conclusions about whether it is worth engaging. Taking risks is what being an entrepreneur is all about.
They are innovative
Entrepreneurs are a hub of new ideas. They think differently and outside the box too. Their innovative ideas are capable of generating new revenue streams for their companies. This could involve introducing a new product to the market, augmenting an existing product in the market, or establishing a new market for products. They could also positively impact the production process, making it more efficient, thereby maximizing profits.
Having the vision is one thing, and materializing it is quite another. Thus, successful entrepreneurs can combine available resources towards the attainment of set goals and objectives. They possess unparalleled leadership skills in guiding and influencing employees in the path of success.
They are usually open-minded
Successful entrepreneurs can recognize circumstances as opportunities with the potential to benefit the company positively.
They are flexible
Successful entrepreneurs aren’t rigid; they are flexible and open to change when the need arises. They are ready to embrace a new path or product when necessary.
Nine Types of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs materialize ideas into reality. They create jobs and have a tangible impact on the economy. There are many entrepreneur types, each with a distinct characteristic and path, defined by their personality, ability, and surrounding environment.
There isn’t a universally accepted distinction in the types of entrepreneurs, as the types differ from region to region based on the country and the sectors active in that country. The most common, however, are,
Small Business Entrepreneurs
Large Company Entrepreneurs
Scalable start-up Entrepreneurs
Social Entrepreneurs
Innovators
Hustlers
Fabian Entrepreneurs
Researchers
Drone Entrepreneurs
Buyers
With the many types of entrepreneurship I would venture to say that when you factor in the many different styles, talents and personalities, there is a different type for every business on the planet! But to simplify the list, we will discuss the 9 types. Each of these distinct categories of entrepreneurs has different rules of business success. Still, they usually go through similar tussles regarding finance, people, marketing, and even self-management issues.
Let us explore some of the more prominent types of entrepreneurs, what makes them unique, their roles, and how they impact the business’s success.
Innovative entrepreneurship
As the name implies, innovators describe the class of entrepreneurs that develop entirely new ideas and transform those seemingly far-fetched ideas into viable business opportunities.
These entrepreneurs usually change peoples’ perceptions of things, opening up their understanding to view and think differently. As a general trend, innovative entrepreneurs are usually passionate about their cause, sometimes coming off as obsessive, and are deeply intrinsically motivated because of their business ideas’ uniqueness.
As a unique characteristic, innovating entrepreneurs usually introduce new goods/ / services and new production methods, create new markets, and completely restructure an enterprise for greater productivity.
Being innovative also applies to their ability to devise new approaches and ways to market their products. They use unique strategies that separate their companies from the crows and help them stand out with product differentiation strategies. And it doesn’t end there. They may not only stand out from the crowd but have the potential to create a new crowd, changing the status quo in significant ways.
Advantages of Innovative Entrepreneurship
They usually receive all the credit for the business’s success, as they bear the brunt.
They create the rules of engagement.
During the initial days of the business, they would, very often, face minimal competition
Disadvantages of Innovative Entrepreneurship:
Birthing a new idea to reality would usually necessitate vast amounts of capital.
They often encounter significant resistance and opposition from current shareholders.
Their job always requires patience as the timeline for success is a lot longer than usual.
They can work only when a certain development level is already achieved, and people look forward to changing and improving.
This type of entrepreneurship’s unique attribute is their ability to visualize a new pattern of thinking and discover new ways of doing things, which sets them apart from the crowd of entrepreneurs and makes them largely successful. However, innovators’ burden reflects the amount of patience, commitment, and required capital to bring about innovation.
Hustle Entrepreneurship
As a mark distinction from innovators who go through the pain to develop new ideas as fuel for the business process, hustling entrepreneurs invest hard work. They are not afraid to get on their blue-collar suits and get their hands dirty. Unlike the innovative type of entrepreneurship that looks to significant capital to implement their new vision, hustlers usually start small and focus on investing hard work and effort to grow their businesses. These entrepreneurs pay attention to a small start-up and look to grow it steadily with the hope of becoming more prominent in the future.
With their dream, hustlers find the motivation and the commitment to work very hard to realize them. They are usually very focused individuals who’d stop at nothing to achieve their dreams. They would quickly get rid of any distractions in their path, preferring to take risks and the discomforting path than indulge in pleasure and comfort. Think of the famous Mark Cuban, as an example here, who started at a very young age selling trash bags, postage stamps, and newspapers. His company later progressed to a goldmine which the internet giant Yahoo later purchased.
Advantages of Hustler Entrepreneurship
they are the most hardworking of all types of entrepreneurs. They will outwork most
they usually don’t give up easily and will usually develop thick skin.
Having a thick skin also implies they’d see challenges, rejection, disappointments, and failures as a part of the journey.
Disadvantages Hustler Entrepreneurship
Having to invest such gruesome amounts of hard work means they are more likely to burn out.
The degree of work they engage in can also wear out their team members, who may not have the same agility of work ethic.
Some hustlers may overlook the need to accumulate capital as they’d prefer to invest their labor in working harder.
This type of entrepreneur usually never gives up. It also means they are usually more willing than most to try just about anything to succeed. Though they may succeed, the number of trials and errors may become significant, and the time taken to achieve their dreams daily increase.
Fabian Entrepreneurship
Fabian entrepreneurs are a type of entrepreneurs that are generally stereotypic concerning change. They are generally skeptical about implementing changes in the business.
Fabian entrepreneurs do not initiate new ideas but can copy innovations only after being fully satisfied with the innovative entrepreneur’s already implemented initiative. Fabian entrepreneurs are more imitators than initiators.
Imitators are those who copy others (captain obvious!) Fabian entrepreneurship, thus, involves copying the trends and patterns of other businesses and making improvements upon them. Fabian entrepreneurs can copy other business ideas or products and improve upon them to gain the upper hand and dominate the market.
This type of entrepreneur usually has great readiness to adopt successful approaches already implemented by successful innovative entrepreneurs. Though they may not innovate themselves, they also do not copy and implement without making some adjustments and improvements to suit their context and agendas. In developing nations, such entrepreneurs are pretty instrumental in driving in a new wind of change. They can adopt new strategies and techniques from other successful entrepreneurs and usher in combining factors of production foreign to their economy, but not to already developed regions.
Imitators incorporate attributes of innovative and hustling types of entrepreneurship. They do not seek to maintain the status quo but seek to change things, and they ride on a great deal of confidence and handwork in what they strive to achieve.
Advantages of Imitators
Modifying and adapting an already-existent and tested idea is a lot easier and less strenuous.
Adapting an already tested idea also makes it possible to compare your results with the original developer and implementer of the idea.
Taking the route of imitating makes it possible to avoid mistakes that would have been made in initiating a new idea.
Disadvantages of Imitators
The ideas of imitators always appear to be in the shadow of the original.
They are always behind, trying to reach up to already set standards.
It can be a great idea to adapt an existing idea to suit one’s context in developing a business. The associated risks with imitation aren’t as much as initiating a new venture altogether, but it might not acclaim all the credit for the initiative when the copied idea finally succeeds.
Researcher Entrepreneurship
Even when an individual has an idea, there needs to be adequate research to gather relevant information, which takes time. This is where research entrepreneurs come in.
Researchers take the time to get all the necessary information before engaging an idea. To them, there isn’t any room for failure since they know all there is to know about the venture they’re engaging in.
Researcher entrepreneurs go the route of information gathering because they believe a business has a higher chance of success when there is an in-depth understanding of all aspects of the business. That is why they put in the work to seek out the knowledge. Consequently, they usually take a great deal of time to launch new products or make new decisions because they need great knowledge foundations upon which to act. They, thus, rely heavily on facts and existing data than intuition and instincts.
For researcher entrepreneurs, there should be no room for errors.
Advantages Researcher Entrepreneurship
They consider and plan for as many foreseeable contingencies as possible
Their business and financial plans are usually well thought out, detailed, and substantiated with relevant data.
They rely on data and facts rather than instincts for decision-making.
They usually wouldn’t make a move until they feel they have adequate knowledge of the market.
Because of the immense research, they are less likely to make mistakes or fail in business.
Disadvantages of Researcher Entrepreneurship
Since they require extensive research backing their actions and decisions, they usually move slowly.
They don’t like taking risky ventures, and for new ventures, that will stagnate and hinder the move as every new venture requires some degree of associated risks.
Researcher entrepreneurs invest a great lot of time investigating and digging into existing to substantiate their decisions/actions. That can easily land them in the harmful habit of drooling over the numbers rather than paying attention to the business’s running.
Drone Entrepreneurs
This type of entrepreneurship is very resistant to change. Drone entrepreneurs exhibit great reluctance in accepting change and are very conservative in their methods and procedures.
Drone entrepreneurs exhibit great contentment with the business’s current state and see no need to alter an already perfect system of operation. They will, thus, prefer to maintain an inefficient production process even though they are suffering losses than to introduce changes of any kind.
Advantages of Drone Entrepreneurship
They are more stable in their operations and can’t be influenced by temporal trends.
They quickly get content and can wave off unnecessary pressures for change
Disadvantages of drone Entrepreneurship
Stereotypic attitudes can birth stagnation in the business
They run the risk of having irrelevant businesses in their failure to embrace changes.
Buyer Entrepreneurship
Buyers have a characteristic feature as entrepreneurs – their wealth. They have the money and are specialized in buying off profitable businesses.
Buyers scan through and identify valuable businesses. They then assess the business’s viability and, based on their conclusions, move to buy the business and get a competent individual to run and grow the business actively.
Advantages of Buyer Entrepreneurship
The risks associated with purchasing an already established business are minimal.
This type of entrepreneurship has little worry for innovation as it jumps on already implemented innovation.
Rather than building from the foundation up, buyers can easily focus on developing an already-started venture.
There already exists a market, and buyers inherit the products’ market when they purchase a business.
Disadvantages of being a Business Buyer
The cost of acquiring a business can sometimes be very costly, and buyers often pay high prices for profitable businesses.
There is still a degree of associated risks involved in buying businesses with problems that are underestimated or you think can be easily handled. That may not always be the case.
Small Business Entrepreneurship
Small business entrepreneurship is a type of entrepreneurship that involves the ownership and running of one’s small-scale business.
Most businesses today are small businesses. This type of entrepreneur toggles capital and profit sufficient to take care of self, household, and other basic needs. They don’t go for large-scale ventures or capital-demanding businesses. They would, most often, hire family or local community members.
Funding for such small businesses comes from gifts, small-scale loans, or savings.
Advantages of Small Business Entrepreneurship
Requires very little capital to become a small business entrepreneur
Work with smaller teams of individuals
Disadvantages of Small Business Entrepreneurship
Profits from these businesses are small
It May sometimes not be recognized by official government programs.
Large Company Entrepreneurship
Large-scale entrepreneurs work with companies with a finite amount of life cycles in this size-based classification, larger-scale businesses. This type of entrepreneurship requires professionals with innovative skills to sustains business.
Large companies usually introduce new products to meet customer demands and grow from small businesses under the right growth conditions. Small businesses can also become large companies if an already large company buys them over.
Advantages of Large Company Entrepreneurship
Prominent company entrepreneurs are innovative. They can bring new ideas and sustain company relevance for generations
Disadvantages of Large Company Entrepreneurship
Requires more professional skills and innovations, thus limiting the range of persons that can become prominent company entrepreneurs
Scalable Start-Up Entrepreneurship
When entrepreneurs believe that their company can change the world, they become scalable start-up entrepreneurs. They are often funded by venture capitalists and must need hire professionals with specialized skills.
This type of entrepreneur has an eye to identify needs in the market and provide adequate solutions as a business idea. Most cases of scalable businesses are technology-based and have global impacts, like Facebook.
Scalable start-up entrepreneurs require investors who believe in their idea and can appreciate out-of-the-box thinking. Their need to work with just the best and brightest in a specialty can sometimes make this entrepreneur picky. They also would need incredible amounts of capital to fund their ideas.
Advantages of Scalable Start-Up Entrepreneurship
They are innovative and can think outside the box
They usually have a great degree of confidence in what they do.
Disadvantages of Scalable Start-Up Entrepreneurship
They require more professional teams of individuals to work with and can be very picky
Their notions of changing the world with an idea can sometimes depict them as crazy, especially if they fail.
They require significant amounts of capital to start and fund their ideas
Social Entrepreneurship
When an entrepreneur focuses on solving social problems by supplying particular goods and services, they are social entrepreneurs. They aim to make the world better by their goods/services they supply. Their focus isn’t the amount of profit they make but the degree of a positive impact on the world.
Social entrepreneurs will, most often, engage in non-profit companies and NGOs, dedicating themselves towards the social welfare of humanity.
Advantages of Social Entrepreneurship
They focus on the social well-being of humanity
Their focus isn’t profit-making but making the world a better place
Disadvantages of Social Entrepreneurship
Having a social well-being perspective means their decisions and actions may not always favor the company’s growth.
Social causes may not attract as many investors as profit-making ventures.
Importance of Entrepreneurship:
Creates Employment
The activities of entrepreneurs generate employment opportunities for the public. They create new jobs for both skilled and unskilled labor.
Increase Public Standards of Living
Entrepreneurship harnesses and promotes innovation. Such innovation is the drive behind introducing new products, services, technology, and qualities of goods to the market. Their innovation, thus, enhances the standards of living of the general public.
Promote Development
There is bound to be development in society when there are increased employment rates and better living standards. Facilities for investment like education, sanitation, markets, infrastructure, etc., become highlighted for development. By their activities, entrepreneurs promote social and community development, leading to a better quality of life.
Increase Income Levels
Entrepreneurship also provides more opportunities for individuals to raise more money for themselves and their loved ones, thus raising income levels in the community. Increased income levels mean increased expenditures on essential commodities and luxury commodities, thus raising general living standards.
Promote research and development
Entrepreneurship is a hub for innovation, and by the work of entrepreneurs, new products and services come on the scene. But these new products need to be adequately researched before they can be introduced for public consumption. As such, entrepreneurs invest in research ventures and dispense towards research institutions and universities. Their drive promotes research and, consequently, development in the economy.
Online entrepreneurs know that knowledge is power – the phrase is attributed to an English philosopher in the 16th century and has been used in numerous scenarios along the years.
Despite its age, the phrase retained its power and even gained on it as it has never been more accurate than the present time. In our highly technologized times, with readily available mountains of information, knowledge is extremely powerful.
As an online entrepreneurs in today’s hyperactive online world, you can never have enough knowledge. New skills will keep you one step in front of the competition and will make you better prepared for modern customers’ demands.
3 Technical Skills Online Entrepreneurs Should Have
While an online entrepreneurs must have a diverse set of skills, from a wide range of domains, technical skills are crucial. Of course, this is a broad term, so we narrowed it down to three main tech skills that any online entrepreneurs must acquire.
1. SEO Basics
The world of search engine optimization (or SEO) is complex and dynamic. Google, as the most popular search engine of the present, is constantly adapting to provide users with the best experience. As a result, every new update leads to new SEO rules and guidelines.
For instance, Google launched two broad core updates in 2020 (one in January and one in May).
While they perform small updates almost daily, broad core updates have an impact on search results all over the world. This is usually seen in changes in search ranking. For instance, if a site’s content improved in relevancy towards its core audience since the last update, it will be moved up in SERP. If it lost relevancy, it will be pushed down.
What ONLINE Entrepreneurs Should Know
Whether you have a team of SEO specialists working around the clock, or you’re a one-person business, there are a few knowledge bits that can help you stay on track with these changes:
How Keywords Work
There will always be people who will say that keywords don’t matter anymore.
And, to some extent, they are right.
While search engines don’t establish a page’s position by the number of keywords it uses, they still use them as a factor for relevancy and ranking. Furthermore, according to SEO specialists, it matters the type of keywords you use.
Long-tail keywords are the ones that help you reach a specific niche, that’s more likely interested in making a purchase rather than browsing.
For instance, if you develop a virtual reality (VR) software product (an app or a game), the go-to keyword is “virtual reality”. However, the competition is high on this keyword and the audience is broad.
On the other hand, if you use “virtual reality games for PS4” or “virtual reality app for Android”, you have a better chance of standing out from the crowd. With long-tail keywords, the competition is lower, so it’s easier to rank in search engines.
Content Relevancy is Key
You probably know that “content is king”, but you also need to know how to use its power. There are many bloggers out there who post new content on a daily basis without any significant results.
So why doesn’t it work for them?
It’s all about relevancy and how search engines interpret your intentions. Are you creating content just for ranking or are you genuinely trying to create value?
According to a study done by Neil Patel, the May Google update impacted (in a negative way) websites with old and thin content the most.
In conclusion, search engines appreciate content that’s constantly updated to reflect the present and that brings value to the target audience by providing detailed information.
This sort of knowledge can be integrated into SEO strategies to adapt to the current market demands and prevision for future fluctuations.
2. Coding Skills
Whether you own a standard website or you’re a prolific e-commerce online entrepreneurs, coding skills are a must-have.
While there are plugins (especially with flexible platforms like WordPress) that can help with virtually anything, there are situations when a few lines of code can save time and money. As such, basic coding skills are valuable knowledge for today’s online entrepreneur.
Most modern web pages are developed using a mixture of HTML, CSS, JavaScrip, Java, and Python, but it never hurts to consider other technologies as well.
Luckily, nowadays it’s rather easy to understand how coding works and it doesn’t take much to learn your way through functions and procedures. Also, there are plenty of online coding courses one can join and it only takes a few weeks of study to become familiar with the process.
As an online entrepreneurs, you will work with highly-skilled developers, but it helps to know how to solve quick and easy problems. It’s also a way of knowing your product, whether it’s an app or a web page.
3. Social Media
Why is social media a technical skill? After all, you’re only using these platforms, you’re not developing them.
Social media is a bit different for businesses than it is for regular people. As an entrepreneur, you’re using these platforms to attract new leads and disseminate messages in an optimal manner.
This means that you need to understand how the platform works and how it is being used by your audience.
For instance, according to HubSpot, the success of your Instagram posts depends on the day and time of day you decide to publish. Research suggests that the best time to post on Instagram is on a Thursday, at 5 AM, 11 AM, 3 PM, and 4 PM.
Of course, the data is different for other platforms, and it’s important to understand why and how the information is relevant for your target audience.
In addition to this, social media platforms offer analytics data and tracking tools that can be useful in planning new marketing strategies. A successful online entrepreneurs, you must be up to date with everything social media has to offer and learn new methods of promotion.
Wrap Up
There’s more to a successful business than just learning new skills, but it all starts here. When you’re open to new information and knowledge, you open your mind to new possibilities. As a result, it will be easier to accept and implement change and adapt to a market that’s highly influenced by new technologies.
Erika Rykun is a content strategist with Udemy which offers online courses and producer who believes in the power of networking and quality writing. She’s an avid reader, writer, and runner.
There isn’t a universally accepted distinction in the types of entrepreneurs, as the types differ from region to region based on the country and the sectors active in that country. The most common, however, are,
As a mark distinction from innovators who go through the pain to develop new ideas as fuel for the business process, hustling entrepreneurs invest hard work. They are not afraid to get on their blue-collar suits and get their hands dirty. Unlike the innovative type of entrepreneurship that looks to significant capital to implement their new vision, hustlers usually start small and focus on investing hard work and effort to grow their businesses. These entrepreneurs pay attention to a small start-up and look to grow it steadily with the hope of becoming more prominent in the future.
Fabian entrepreneurs are a type of entrepreneurs that are generally stereotypic concerning change. They are generally skeptical about implementing changes in the business.
