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New Year's Resolutions For Entrepreneurs
We all know it’s a good idea to make New Year’s Resolutions for entrepreneurs. While it’s important to resolve to make certain improvements, it is even more important to follow through on them. We can do that by setting goals we can stick to and by breaking those goals down into smaller measurable chunks. Resolutions such as, I will eat healthier, exercise more, read more etc., are often abandoned quickly because they’re really just wishful thinking. In order to be achievable, goals need to have a tangible and measurable outcome and you need a plan to get there. An example of a measurable goal is I will lose 10 pounds. Giving up deserts or working out five times a week are examples of a plan to get there. New Year’s Resolutions For Entrepreneurs 1. Set Realistic Goals And Milestones Make a resolution to set realistic goals and break them down into achievable milestones. This is important because every milestone reached becomes a small victory and this will motivate you to keep moving toward your major goal. 2. Measure And Keep Track Of Your Successes It’s easy for an entrepreneur to feel too busy to build proper feedback loops into the business. But without ways to measure your success, you’re just hoping for the best. Resolve to follow the lean startup methodology of build, measure and learn. 3. Delegate More Do more of what you do best and support and encourage your staff to do what they do best. Then, stay out of their way while they’re doing it. People are happier and more productive when they feel like they’re making a meaningful contribution. The difference between surviving and success can be as simple as knowing how to manage your time by focusing on what you do best. 4. Improve Your SEO Whether you’re an established retailer or you’ve just started a business, you need to constantly improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and local SEO. You’re never done with SEO. Your competitors are constantly working on it and so should you. 5. Find Healthy Ways To Manage Stress It’s easy to use stress and a busy schedule as an excuse for unhealthy habits. Eating clean and working out will lead to increased performance but fast food meals and skipping out on physical activity will deliver the opposite result. Making poor choices comes with a price and it’s not a good deal for you. 6. Get Inspired Read the biography of a successful person. It's a way to learn something new and get inspired to do more at the same time. One of the easiest ways to achieve success is to model successful people. 7. Keep Up With Industry News Staying current is a must for entrepreneurs. You need to know what’s going on in the world to make smart, forward-thinking decisions for your business and to grow your social network effectively. 8. Pay More Attention To Customer Feedback Entrepreneurs often forget to ask for and listen to customer feedback. This could be costing you a lot of money in lost sales. Make it a priority to engage with your customers and ask them how your business could serve them better. Conduct surveys, use focus groups or reach out to people on social media. Implement whichever suggestions make the most sense. 9. Expand Your Knowledge Applied knowledge is power. Make time to read a few good business books or listen to a podcast while you’re driving - you'll be making an investment in yourself. Resolve to learn more and become a better entrepreneur in 2017. Conclusion New Year’s resolutions are a long-standing tradition. January gets its name from Janus, a two-faced god who looked backward into the old year and forward into the New Year. This tradition can be a starting point for real improvement in your business if you follow the advice in this article. Make a list of your resolutions for 2017 (and milestones) and keep it posted where you can see it every day. Wishing you much success and a Happy New Year!
Learn more10 Winter Holiday Activities
While a trip to a tropical resort makes for a nice winter holiday, it’s not in the cards for all of us this year. However, there are many ways to have fun with the entire family even if you happen to be staying at home. Here’s a list of 10 winter holiday activities to help keep your spirits up and fight cabin fever over the winter holiday. 10 winter holiday activities 1- Snowshoeing or Cross-country skiing According to Harvard Health Publications cross-country skiing and snowshoeing activity burn calories at the same rate. A 185-pound person will burn about 355 calories in 30 minutes. You can rent or buy the equipment and hit the local parks or a sky hill. Both are low-cost hobbies and lots of fun year after year. 2- Bowling Bowling used to be driven by bowling leagues. While there are fewer bowlers today, there has been a shift from a blue color to a white color clientele. You might want to give it a try. 3- Swimming Swimming is another healthy activity regardless of your level of proficiency. You will burn as many calories doing a breaststroke as you would if swimming fast freestyle. Get your summer swim trunks out and it will seem like you are in Hawaii or some other warm locale while you’re in a warm indoor pool. You’ll feel like you’re on vacation without any of the stress from traveling. 4- Tobogganing Because you have to climb back up the hill, you will burn a lot of calories here too. Tobogganing is a low-cost activity and it is a lot of fun for the entire family. You don’t have to go to an expensive facility for this one either. Practically any hill will do. Remember to make safety a priority during any of these activities. 5- Winter bike ride This isn’t for everyone, but some people ride their bikes all year long. They usually make a few equipment changes, like adding mudguards, cheap/old wheels and wider tires to make the bicycles function better in winter conditions. 6- Check out a climbing gym If there’s a climbing gym in the area, you might want to climb the walls there instead of climbing the walls in your own home. It’s a terrific way to fight cabin fever and it’s great for skill development. Climbing gyms have come a long way - some companies spend millions of dollars on carefully designed facilities that cater to climbers of all levels. 7- Take the kids on a five senses walk Here’s a fun way to get the entire family outdoors and help build an appreciation for nature. Pick one of the five senses for each outing. You could even keep score and offer a prize to the winner. Here are a few ideas for a five senses walk: Hearing: Listen for sounds and call out what you hear. You could mimic the sounds and identify the source for added fun. Touch: Describe anything you can touch - trees, moss, rocks etc. Sight: Pick an object and play a game like bug where the person who sees a Volkswagen beetle first, yells bug. The person with the most sightings wins the game. Taste: This one could be a bit of a challenge while you’re out in the field, but you could save it for later you get back home. Smell: What do you smell while on your walk? You could turn this into a game as well by having whoever detects a new odor first call out the name and then try to identify the source for extra points. Indoor winter holiday activities Because you can’t be outdoors all the time, we've come up with a few fun things for you to do indoors too. Most of these are low-cost as well: 8- Go to the library for books, tapes, and movies. 9- Take a trip to the museum. 10- Play indoor games like card games, scrabble, puzzles, board games, or organize a treasure hunt if you have younger children. You don't have to spend a lot of money to have a memorable winter holiday. Spend some quality time with friends and family and make sure you get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Sending you our best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season from Stickerbeat.
Learn more5 Tips To Help Boost Your Sales
The most important skill to master in direct sales is the art of schmoozing. Many people have never learned how to feel comfortable around strangers. And, if you can’t be comfortable around strangers, you will have a difficult time making them feel comfortable around you. These 5 tips to help boost your sales will also help you break the ice when speaking with people you don't know. The easiest way to make someone comfortable is to show a genuine interest in them. Ask a few questions to find out what problem they want to solve and then help them make a good decision. We like to keep it short and sweet here at Stickerbeat, so here are 5 tips to help boost your sales. 5 Tips To Help Boost Your Sales Know Your Product. Experienced one-on-one sales people will tell you that a big part of being successful in sales is product knowledge. You have to know your product and you have to know your competitor’s product. Lead with Your Biggest Benefit. What is the biggest benefit your product delivers. That’s your strongest selling point, so use it to drive interest in your product. Qualify Your Prospect. Find out what problem your prospect is trying to solve and show him how your product or service will fix it. Your product or service has many good features but your prospect is mostly interested in how it will solve his problem. Don’t talk yourself out of a sale. Be Emotional About Your Product. Customers often buy on impulse, not logic. Be excited about your product or service. Enthusiasm is contagious. Get them excited about using your product or service and you will increase sales. Ask For The Sale. Once you think the prospect is genuinely interested, ask for the sale. If they are not quite ready yet they will tell you why and you can then deal with that objection. The Art Of Schmoozing The best schmoozers are able to gain your trust almost immediately. These people have the ability to make you feel as if you’ve known them for a long time, even though you just met. You can train yourself to get better at this by following the five simple steps presented in this article. Make a point to really listen to your prospects when they talk and give them appropriate feedback at the right time. Don’t get into technical details unless the client appears to be interested in them. Too much information will only confuse the prospect and they will want more time before they come to a decision to buy. Some people are born with the gift, but most of us have to work at it. The good news is, even if you’re not a natural at this, you can learn these skills and with practice, you will develop the ability to win people over quickly and build lasting relationships with them. This skill will transform and advance your career or business very quickly. There you have it. You only have five things to remember. Start working on this right away and you will see a dramatic increase in the sales you close vs the ones you quote.
Learn moreWelcome To Stickerbeat
It all began in 1986 when two elementary school buddies saved up enough money to buy a t-shirt printer and a computer sign-maker. There were no cell phones and the internet had a long way to go before it would serve a useful function for the public. In fact, we had a rotary phone on the order desk! But times changed and so did we. With Stickerbeat, we take one part of our business completely online. We started the business in the basement of a house. The two original partners are still together and we now use four different high-speed, state-of-the-art digital presses to produce our work. Today, our children are part of the team and we’ve launched this website to take this part of the business completely online. Get Stickers That Rock From Stickerbeat On Stickerbeat, you can create and order stickers, decals, and magnets right from your own computer. This reduces costs and we’re passing the savings on to you by shipping it to your door for free. That’s right. There are no shipping charges on Stickerbeat! Besides offering a great product at a great price, we are also sharing informative content to help you make a success of your business. If you’re thinking about starting a business, you might be interested in reading this post, advice for entrepreneurs. If you’ve already started a business but you’re not quite sure how to go about carving out a niche for yourself, you should read this article about branding your small business. We’ve also posted some great marketing tips for the Christmas holiday season here. And since we’re all about stickers and decals, we’ve looked into the history of using stickers for marketing. You can read all about it in this post titled custom stickers. We hope you enjoy browsing our site as much as we enjoy creating it. Keep checking back, because we are continuously posting new content. And remember, we’re here for you if you need help with custom work. Just fill out this form and one of our designers will get right back to you.
Learn moreTwelve Marketing Tips For Christmas
It’s almost December and fifty-five percent of shoppers have already started shopping for Christmas. The Christmas season is the peak of retail sales in most countries. While some shoppers know exactly what they want, many do not – and that spells opportunity. Here are twelve tips to help spice up your Christmas marketing campaign. Twelve Marketing Tips For Christmas 1- Have a Christmas countdown. It helps get people in the mood and it reminds them how much time they have left to shop. Use your social media accounts to spread the cheer and send subtle reminders that time is running out. 2- Starting on December 12th, promote 12 last-minute gift ideas, one on each day. You could coordinate this with the countdown mentioned in the previous suggestion. Promote a great gift at a discount on each of the last twelve days. It could be extra inventory or special purchase items. Run this along with an advertising campaign to generate lots of excitement. 3- Think outside the box and expand your marketing to incorporate other aspects of the holiday season. It’s not just about presents. There’s food, decorating, celebrating and the spreading of holiday cheer. People are also very interested in seasonal purchases for their own use. 4- While most of the shopping is related to the Christmas season, your regular shoppers still need to shop for their day to day needs. And who knows, even Scrooge might buy himself something special, though out-of-season, despite himself. 5- Take advantage of the difference in when men and women shop. Women are more likely to shop early while men notoriously wait till the last minute. Tailor your specials to coincide with their shopping habits. 6- There’s a big shopping rush on the last few days by the shoppers who put off their buying until the last minute. Target these late-comers with limited-time offers of short duration to encourage them to buy certain products. Late shoppers often have no idea what it is they want to buy – it’s a great opportunity to help them out. 7- Have an in-store lottery. Raffle-off several valuable gifts to the few lucky shoppers with winning receipt numbers. If you’re competitive in other regards, it could tip the scale in your favor. People love to win prizes. 8- Much of the gift-buying is for kids and they have considerable influence over what it is their parents buy for them. Take advantage of this by offering deep discounts for the kinds of things kids like. You’ll be doing them a favor and your bottom line will like it too. 9- Use custom die cut stickers in targeted areas of your business to build on the buzz created by your sales flyers. This works especially well in high traffic areas. 10- Rather than offering a discount on repeat purchase items, reward your customers with endowed progress cards. It works like this: if a customer is given a Buy 10, get 1 free card and two of the stamps are already marked, they’re very likely to make the required purchases to receive the freebie. It’s a sure-fire way to increase sales and customer loyalty. 11- Give small gifts with a personal touch. Have you ever received a handmade gift? It felt pretty special, didn’t it? You can show your customers you truly appreciate them by giving them a small gift. Even a magnetic grocery list that sticks on the fridge comes across as a personal gift if it doesn’t have the name of a business on it. They will always remember where they got it. 12- Always Have Gift Cards Available. Most of us have at least one person that is difficult to shop for, or sometimes the gift we want to buy is sold out. It’s important to have gift cards so you don’t miss out on these sales. Twelve Marketing Tips For Christmas Wrap-up The holiday season is an exciting time for marketers due to the enormous sales opportunities. Most of the ideas listed above can be adapted to work for different types of businesses and for different marketing channels. Here’s wishing you much success with these twelve marketing tips for Christmas.
Learn moreStickers
Welcome to Stickerbeat. Over the past 30 years, we’ve printed a wide variety of stickers for individuals and small businesses. We've also made custom stickers for well-known companies like Nike, Home Depot, Walmart, Best Buy and many others. Heavy Duty Stickers Our stickers will hold up to the harshest weather conditions. We make them out of the same material that we use to wrap vehicles, like the one in you see in the featured image of this post. That means they’ll hold up to any use you’re likely to put them to. Our custom stickers are much more than just dishwasher safe – you’ve seen them rolling down the road on the sides of trucks and buses at highway speeds. They hold up despite heavy storms and hundreds of trips to the carwash. History of Modern Day Stickers Stickers have evolved to meet the changing times. The earliest stickers date back to ancient Egypt. Egyptians made glue by boiling a combination of animal hides, hooves and connective tissue and used it to plaster product and pricing stickers to the walls of ancient cities. Postage stamps are stickers too, and the first one was called the penny black. It went on sale May 1, 1840 in the UK. Stanton Avery is credited with developing the modern day sticker. He designed a machine that put self-adhesive labels onto a paper backing treated with silicone. This allowed the mass production of sticker sheets that could be peeled off and reapplied elsewhere. Bumper Stickers Czechoslovakian automaker N. Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft was the first to put bumpers on cars in 1897. Unfortunately, the early bumpers were not designed well and they often fell off before they offered any protection to the vehicle’s owners. A few years later, British engineer Frederick Simms was granted a patent for his new impact-absorbing bumper. Credit for inventing the bumper sticker goes to Forest P. Gill. He attached advertisements to car bumpers with wire in the early 1930s and later used pressure-sensitive stock. By 1984, the Gill-line company had produced more than 1 billion bumper stickers when it celebrated its 50th anniversary. You can order bumper stickers here. Stickers Go Viral People have advertised with stickers for a long time, but their popularity really boomed in the early 1980’s when John Keaton invented a peel and stick product for rock band posters. He developed durable stickers to resist vandalism in tough neighborhoods. Mirrors, guitar cases and windows have never been the same since John’s invention. Custom Stickers That Rock Stickers have evolved significantly over the years and people are now using them for personal expression as well as for mass advertising. Whether you want stickers for your personal use or for your business, you deserve the best. Don’t take a chance with an inferior product - order stickers that rock from Stickerbeat.
Learn moreAdvice For Entrepreneurs
Not everyone is cut out to be in business. It takes a serious commitment of time and money and there’s no doubt your personal life will suffer, at least in the short term. If you feel compelled to take the plunge and start your own business, we offer the following bits of advice for entrepreneurs. Be Realistic About Money The most important thing to understand is how much money it’s going to take to carry your business until it brings in enough cash on its own. You need a solid business plan for generating and managing money. Don’t be afraid to get help with this if you need it. How much money do you have and how long will it carry you? Do you have enough to pay the rent and overhead for at least one year? The number one reason most start-ups fail is because they run out of cash – don’t become a statistic. Understand What Your Customers Need The key to your success lies with your customers. What problem are you going to solve for them and how are you going to do this differently or better than your competition? Make sure you talk to your customers now rather than later after you’ve spent all your money. Communicate Your Value Proposition If your value proposition is a well-kept secret, you’ve got a problem. You need to communicate your message in a clear, concise and compelling manner. Do your customers understand who you are and what value you bring to them? Make sure to use words that persuade your customers to take the action you want them to. Invest In Yourself Realize your business is your baby - that makes you the founder and the leader. Even if you have good ideas and the ability to execute them, you could still crash and burn if you lack people skills or if you have personal issues that need to be resolved. Invest in yourself and improve what needs to be made better. Fix what needs to be fixed so you don’t self-sabotage your dream. Your Word Is Your Bond If you make a commitment, you have to deliver no matter what happens. Not only is your business brand at stake, but your personal brand and reputation are at stake too. Poor business decisions could put your status as an entrepreneur at risk. Marketing Advice For Entrepreneurs Have A Good Marketing Plan Make sure you set aside enough money for marketing. It’s pretty hard for people to do business with you if they don’t know you exist. Remember, the last thing you should cut back on is marketing, even during lean times. Take Advantage of Online Marketing It doesn’t cost a lot to promote your business through online marketing and social media. However, while many companies have a web presence of some sort, it is surprising how many businesses don’t sell their products online. That’s money slipping through their fingers and a missed opportunity to gain new clients, especially younger ones. In an age where ‘Google’ is a verb, you have to make it easy for your customers to buy your products on your website. Your online marketing efforts will be available 24/7 and in addition, they will have a positive impact on your business for years to come if done properly. Lastly, remember to maximize the effectiveness of your web presence with your social media accounts.
Learn morePatriotic And Religious Stickers
We've been getting a lot of requests for patriotic and religious stickers lately. Emotions are running high since the last presidential election and it’s a good time to remember all the things we have in common, regardless of political affiliation. History of the US Motto In 2011, Congress voted to reaffirm In God We Trust as the national motto of the United States. This was partly a criticism of President Obama who said in Jakarta one year earlier, that the US national motto was E Pluribus Unum. While it is true that In God We Trust is the current official motto, E Pluribus Unum was the official motto in earlier times. It was adopted in 1782 and it is still found on the Great Seal of the United States. The Great Seal Soon after signing the Declaration of Independence, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson began work on the design of a seal and a motto for their new nation. Artist Eugène Pierre Du Simitière worked on the design with them. Several years and a number of committees later, Congress approved the final design which features an American bald eagle clutching thirteen arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other, along with the official motto E Pluribus Unum. This original design is still in use today on the on the Great Seal of the United States. In God We Trust In God We Trust was first used on coinage during the Civil War. The motto originated with Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase when he asked Congress to pass a law to change the composition of the two-cent piece to include the motto In God we trust. Congress approved the change in 1864 and the motto eventually appeared on many U.S. coins and currencies. It was made the official motto in 1956 at the height of the Cold War, as the fear of communism swept the nation. On July 30, 1956, a law was passed stating "the national motto of the United States is hereby declared to be In God we trust. The House Judiciary Committee recognized that the phrase E Pluribus Unum had also received wide usage in the United States, and the joint resolution did not repeal or prohibit its use as a national motto. In 1963 the Department of State took the following position: In God we trust is the motto of the United States. It seems to the Department, nevertheless, that there is ample basis both in history and in law for calling E Pluribus Unum a motto of the United States. The Congress has used both. Patriotic And Religious Stickers Whether you prefer In God We Trust, E Pluribus Unum or another motto on your stickers, you’ve come to the right place. We make stickers in all sizes and shapes – just pick a shape and upload your artwork. Add a short message and you’re done.
Learn moreMarketing Ideas For Holidays For Small Business
Many businesses are planning a marketing campaign for the Thanksgiving holiday using only traditional media like postcards and flyers. That’s a mistake because stickers aren’t just for kids anymore. Good marketing ideas for holidays will drive sales up and boost your brand image. A quality sticker is usually viewed as a gift. That makes it harder to throw away than other promotional items like brochures and flyers. In addition, they are more engaging than a business card. Because stickers are powerful sales and identity building tools, they should be a part of your marketing program. Here are a few ways you can use stickers to boost your Thanksgiving holiday profits. Marketing Ideas For Holidays 1. Think outside the box and put attention-getting stickers in unexpected places. They grab your customer’s attention and they will stick in your customer’s minds. Here’s where imagination and ingenuity can beat out a bigger budget – think guerilla marketing. Vehicles, trash cans, public restrooms, walls, floors and ceilings – all are perfect places for this type of marketing. 2. Use cues and clues to drive sales. Use footprint stickers to help customers find deals or arrows that direct customers to areas where you have special discounts. 3. Use stickers to drive sales of related products that go together. Place color-coded discount stickers on components that go together to increase overall sales for example. 4. Use attention-getting stickers directly on products. Create stickers that show a features and benefits list, a call to action, or some other device. This will encourage customers to buy your product now. 5. Use stickers to build on existing sales. You could use an in-the-box sticker to entice customers to make another purchase. Some examples would be an extended warranty or a discount on the purchase of a related product. 6. Stickers are easy to share. If you create a campaign that is easy to share, you maximize the odds that your campaign will go viral . Remember, the large majority of consumers rely on word of mouth as the biggest influence in their purchasing decisions. Use Marketing Ideas That Work Politicians and savvy business people have been marketing with stickers for over half a century. Promotional stickers come in all shapes and sizes and can be applied to all sorts of things. They can be placed on bottles, equipment, vehicles, signs, phones, windows, people… almost anywhere. Most of all, stickers are long-lasting and have a low cost per impression. Take advantage of this powerful, low-cost marketing medium and order Stickers That Rock.
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