entrepreneurs – idaconcpts.com

How to Get the Computer Skills Your Business Needs

If you own a business, you may already be feeling overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of computer skills you need to make it work. Staying in business today requires business owners to do more than just send emails and update online bookkeeping software occasionally. These days, you need to be able to develop your business’s website, build mobile apps, promote your brand on social media and maintain a solid online presence, collect and analyze data, optimize your pages for search, optimize your online conversion rate, and more. All of this means that, increasingly, today’s entrepreneurs need to know how to code – and more than that, they need to be computer scientists.

You see, learning how to code, in and of itself, isn’t that hard. But being a good developer requires much more than simply knowing how to code. You need to understand the foundational theories and systems on which the code is built. You need insight, experience, skill, and discipline – but there’s good news. Thanks to online learning, you can develop the computer skills you need to get ahead, while still having time to focus on the day-to-day demands of running your business.

Tech Skills Give Entrepreneurs an Advantage

If you’re running a tech startup, chances are you already understand the value of good developers. But even if you’re running a business outside of the tech sphere, solid computer skills can give you a strong advantage over the competition.

That’s because your computer is one of your most important business tools, and you need to fully understand its capabilities, so you can make the most of it. As a small business owner, you probably won’t have a dedicated IT department, so it’s up to you to know your computer’s basic functions, how to troubleshoot problems, and how to make the most of its capabilities by hacking it to make it do what you need it to do.

But, the entrepreneurial advantages of studying computer science extend far beyond simply knowing how your computer works. You’ll learn to use SQL queries to analyze data in Microsoft Excel and Access; you’ll learn how to set up and run higher-level analytics software and what to do with the data it produces. You’ll learn HTML, CSS, and Javascript coding, so you can build and maintain your own website and make it mobile-responsive. You’ll even have the chance to learn Ruby, Java, or Python so you can build your own apps, which can be hugely beneficial from a customer-service perspective – wouldn’t it be nice to let customers collect and track loyalty rewards points, monitor their personal accounts and spending, or even place orders through a custom app?

You’ll also learn more than you may have thought possible about applications you may already use, like email. Wouldn’t it be nice to understand features like filtering, labeling, auto-forwarding, auto-responding, and inbox keyboard shortcuts so that you can zip through your inbox instead of spending all morning on it?

Even if you end up hiring developers, your background in computer science will make it easier for you to work with them. You’ll understand important concepts like wireframing. You’ll speak their jargon. They’ll appreciate that you can interact with them on their level, and projects will go more smoothly for it.

But, perhaps most importantly, a background in computer science will teach you how to learn new technology. You’ll never again have to worry about not understanding a new piece of technology, because your background will have given you the mental models and conceptual framework to grapple with it.

Develop Computer Skills Through Online Learning

As a business owner, it can be impossible to find the time to drop everything and go back to school to learn computer science. It can even be hard to find the time for a programming boot camp. But, by enrolling in a computer science bachelor’s degree online, you can build the skills you need without sacrificing your business.

Online degree programs are designed with busy, working adult professionals in mind. Professors and administrators understand that students in these programs have jobs or businesses, families, homes to maintain, mortgages to pay, and other responsibilities. That’s why online courses are designed with flexibility in mind. Students can go through coursework on their own schedule, at their own pace. And you can do it from anywhere – there’s no need to move closer to campus or commute to classes.

Computer skills, or your lack of them, can make or break your business. If you’re a business owner looking for a way to beef up your computer skills, an online degree in computer science may be for you. With online learning, you can learn the skills you need – while still finding time to keep your doors open during business hours.

5 Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs

Whenever you ask successful entrepreneurs about the secrets to their success, you’re likely to hear them use words like “passion,” “perseverance,” and “commitment.” There’s no doubt that these are all important traits for running a successful business, but as anyone who has struggled to get their enterprise off the ground, it’s not always enough to be passionate about your work and to keep trying and going after opportunities.

The fact is, a great deal of entrepreneurial success comes down to individual personality traits and habits. You can have all the enthusiasm in the world, but if you don’t have the knowledge required to compete in today’s marketplace, you’re going to flounder. If you are a jerk, no one will want to do business with you, and so on and so forth. With that in mind, as you prepare to launch into the world of entrepreneurship, it’s useful to practice these five important habits.

1. Keep Learning

The world of business is changing all the time. New technologies, new trends, and an ever-shifting economic landscape require entrepreneurs to remain on their toes. A willingness to learn, ask questions, and remain open to new ideas and possibilities will help you accomplish that goal, as well as keep your business fresh and running efficiently. Investing in continuing education for yourself as well as your employees can help maintain everyone’s motivation and productivity, as well as help ensure a steady stream of creative ideas. Remember that some of the most successful people in the world have achieved their goals in large part because of their willingness to learn – and their acceptance of the fact that they don’t know everything.

2. Be Nice

“It’s not personal, it’s business.” How many times have you heard that expression as an excuse for someone’s rude behavior? Or been advised to give someone a pass on their nastiness simply because they are exceptionally good at what they do?

Everyone has bad days, but overall, you should cultivate a reputation for being considerate, kind, and empathetic. This doesn’t mean that you need to be a pushover, but you can be direct, firm, and confident without being mean or rude. Being “the best” at something isn’t a free pass to treat people poorly, either. In other words, you want people to work with you and your company because of you, not in spite of you, so just be nice. The world could use a bit more of that these days.

3. Focus on Service

A recent survey of consumer behavior revealed that nearly half of all consumers will pay more for something if they receive good service. They want to feel heard, get the answers they need quickly, and feel like the company really cares about them and their business. Therefore, if you want to differentiate yourself and your company from the competition, focus on delivering the best customer service possible. When hiring staff, look for those individuals who have a customer service mindset and will be as committed to your customers and clients as you are. There may be times when you question whether all the work is worth it, but as your loyal customer base grows, you’ll see the payoff of your hard work.

4. Have a Plan

Nearly every successful entrepreneur lists planning as one of the most important habits for business growth. You need to plan in terms of the big picture – what is your vision for your business, your major goals, and how do you plan to get there? – and on a smaller scale, i.e., what am I going to do today? Having a plan helps eliminate distractions and more efficiently evaluate opportunities along the way; by evaluating ideas, tasks, and opportunities in terms of your overall goals, you can better manage your time and maintain focus on those things that are most important to your business’s growth.

5. Stay Positive

Finally, stay positive. Maintaining a positive attitude will help you overcome setbacks, without becoming discouraged. Envision yourself successful, and refuse to acknowledge failure as an option. Staying positive requires maintaining faith in yourself and your ability to reach your goals. If you can do that, then there’s no stopping you.

So many factors come together to create a thriving business, that’s it’s virtually impossible to narrow it down to a single winning recipe for everyone. However, if you maintain these five habits, your chances increase

5 Career-Ruining Mistakes Made by Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship is an enticing gig: You get autonomy, power, prestige, excitement, and, if you are lucky, excessive wealth. However, being an entrepreneur isn’t just planting the seeds of business and watching them sprout into a money tree. The world is filled with wannabe entrepreneurs just like you, which means you must do everything right to find success.

Unfortunately, you probably won’t do everything right. Still, you will probably survive a few blunders – unless they are any of the following devastating mistakes that will end your entrepreneurial career before it truly begins.

1. Wasting Time

Any entrepreneur will tell you that you need real-world experience before you can successfully run a business. However, that shouldn’t give you a reason to procrastinate on your dreams. While you might take a couple years between undergrad and graduate school to gain familiarity with your industry of choice, you should be careful to avoid putting off your entrepreneurial plans for too long.

The business world moves fast, and sooner or later someone else with the same idea and more speed will beat you to success. Before time runs out, you should acquire an online MBA, no GMAT required, so you can gain the skills you need for your business as soon as possible.

2. Assuming All Responsibilities

You desperately want everything in your business to be perfect, and that means you must know how to delegate. Too many entrepreneurs are unwilling to relinquish any control; some will refuse to hire new employees to take over, while others will try to meddle in projects they’ve already given to their teams. The conclusion is always the same: Work doesn’t get done – or it gets done sloppily – and the business crashes.

Even if you want to, you simply can’t handle all the responsibilities of a new business on your own. You aren’t experienced enough in many complex processes, like financial management or marketing, to maintain complete control in perpetuity. You must give your less important tasks to employees who are more proficient at them. Then, you can devote your attentions to more influential undertakings, like growth and change.

3. Forgetting About Passion

Human resources, corporate wellness, economic consulting – according to Forbes, these industries are ripe for startups, but if they don’t ignite in you an entrepreneurial passion, you should probably stay away. If the product or concept behind your business is less than exhilarating, you will never be able to commit enough of yourself to it to find success. Entrepreneurship is unbelievably hard, but it is fulfilling and worthwhile when you care about the outcome. Therefore, instead of chasing the money, you should chase the high of doing something interesting.

4. Being Inflexible

Like any good entrepreneur, you developed a business plan before embarking on your entrepreneurial dreams. While a business plan is an indispensable tool for beginning your business journey – necessary for challenges like acquiring funding and hiring talent ― that plan should never be written in stone. You will incur obstacles that you didn’t expect, such as technological innovation, changes to consumer taste, and unforeseen competition in the market. The road to success is never bump-free.

You must be willing and able to adapt your plan and vision. In fact, you should try to anticipate market changes that will impact your business. Continuing to test your products, pursue new options, and chase new audiences will help you stay ahead of the curve.

5. Expecting Success

It is okay to imagine being a titan of industry, but if your fantasies ever solidify into expectations, you are in trouble. A generous proportion of startups fail; according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only about half make it five years, and a third survive to 10. It is good to be confident in your skills, knowledge, and plans, but you should consistently remind yourself that you are one bad decision away from being on the losing side of those stats.

Being realistic will help you budget effectively, expand carefully, and respond appropriately to opportunities and obstacles alike. Realism will keep you upbeat when you are in the red for your first two years, and it will keep you grounded when cash starts rolling in.

All entrepreneurs fail. However, some of those entrepreneurs learn from their failures and go on to become famous successes. The mistakes listed above are sure to discourage any budding entrepreneur beyond hope. Thus, as you begin you career in entrepreneurship, you must learn from others’ failures first.

Building a Successful Online Business

There are many details that go into the success of an online business. You need more than just a great product and flashy logo. By using multiple resources at your disposal, online businesses can grow almost exponentially overnight. Consider these aspects to your business as the Internet offers opportunities across the world.

Simplify Your Website

Building a successful online business starts with simplifying your website. Regardless of the industry, the site shouldn’t be confusing or frustrating to work with as you click around each page. Simplify the appearance by only using two to three colors, a mixture of text and images and intuitive page organization. When visitors hop onto the site, they want to complete their transaction as quickly as possible. Make their journey a rapid yet productive trip to the checkout page. They’ll be interested to see your other products when they can quickly pick and choose their necessary items.

Utilize a Third-Party Call Center

Call center services are perfect entities to partner with because they’re merely used as a background filter. Look like a huge company when you only have a handful of people at your office. These service centers field calls, online inquiries and perform transactions as your website thrives in the marketplace. You won’t miss any questions or comments on the site because the live operators perform this service for the company. Sign up for various services, such as transaction inquiries, so that you can concentrate on building other aspects of the business.

Strategize With Social-Media Accounts

Social media is the perfect place for building an online business. Post useful information about your industry, and link back to the website. Add links to your website pages so that customers can explore the posts too. Social media gives you a chance to connect with more people on a daily basis. Sharing, adding followers and other account perks can spread your business’s name across the industry. If a customer responds to your social-media posts, answer as quickly as possible. Your response time and tone directly impact the business as it grows through these personalized connections.

Ship With the Customers’ Needs in Mind

Keep shipping as simple as possible by using flat rates on your products. Guessing on shipment prices will only frustrate customers. Consider free shipping if the customers purchase a certain amount of products in bulk. You’ll make a profit while pleasing the customer with a free-shipping perk. Pay attention to the shipping quality of the packing materials too. You want the items to show up at the customers’ doors without any damages. Strong boxes and eco-friendly packing materials are smart ways to please customers as they enjoy their chosen products.

Always use a professional manner when you’re working with vendors and customers. By being courteous and strong, you gain respect within a given industry. Losing your temper or lashing out will only cost you business ties in the future. A solid, online business still relies on personal courtesies and favors that last for many years.

The Best Online Courses for Entrepreneurship

Ideally, a business leader hires experienced employees to perform tasks that require skill, but since the economy has recovered, most entrepreneurs are finding that available talent is rare on the ground. Today, skilled workers are being snatched up by established businesses and firms that have the profits and power to offer sizeable salaries and appealing benefits, leaving many startups without the talent they need to accomplish essential goals.

However, few aspiring business owners are willing to let lack of skill prevent them from achieving their business dreams. Thanks to the explosive growth of e-learning, online courses are helping entrepreneurs gain the skills they need to build their business on their own. Here are the online courses entrepreneurs should take to succeed in their entrepreneurial dreams without wasting time, money, and energy chasing down outside talent.

Coding

Tech is indispensable in today’s business world, and understanding the language of tech gives entrepreneurs more control over their business. Even businesses ostensibly not tech-related, like retail shops or health care facilities, rely on technologies like point-of-sale software and monitoring equipment to do business safely and effectively. By taking a few coding courses, entrepreneurs can supervise their tech teams or develop their own rudimentary tech projects to benefit their business.

Programming

Though coding and programming are often used interchangeably, the truth is programmers have a much deeper knowledge of computer languages and are better prepared to build complex programs from the ground-up. Those entrepreneurs looking to enter the tech industry must master programming. Without a programming background, tech entrepreneurs will lack the ability to comprehend their products’ functionality and potential, putting them at a disadvantage in a market full of tech geniuses. Therefore, those with a tech-focused business plan must grasp programming before building their business.

Marketing

On the outside, marketing seems like a simple skill and one you might be able to sort of improvise, but history shows that businesses that invest in strong marketing strategies tend to succeed. Visibility is a primary goal of new businesses, which means entrepreneurs should have marketing ideas built into their initial plans, and to do that effectively, they need to have some understanding of marketing concepts. Most MBA programs require a few classes on marketing – as well as other courses covering critical knowledge and experience for entrepreneurs – so aspiring business leaders would do well to obtain an MBA degree online before starting their business.

Online Marketing

Since the rise of social media, online marketing has become more and more important to a business’s success. Surprisingly divergent from traditional marketing strategies, online marketing requires knowledge of the internet, especially the functionality of search engines, the habits of social media users, and the most popular digital trends. Entrepreneurs who have some experience with traditional marketing tactics might be better prepared to learn about online marketing strategy, but taking targeted courses for online marketing is advantageous.

Finance

Finance means many things to entrepreneurs. Primarily, it brings to mind the money they desperately need to get their business ideas in motion, but finance also relates to the careful management of cash that keeps businesses healthy and alive. Finance courses can teach entrepreneurs how to master both skills: the attainment of capital as well as the balance of it. Then, entrepreneurs will never feel pressed for cash.

Growth Hacking

A relatively new concept – but one that is especially appealing to startup entrepreneurs – growth hacking is the process of expanding a business as quickly as possible by experimenting with different business tactics. Traditional business leaders often see growth hacking as unnecessarily risky, but the rise of disruptive technologies has proven that hacking growth can by a wildly profitable practice. Experienced growth hackers are few and far between, but it doesn’t take much for an entrepreneur to grasp the fundamentals of growth hacking by taking online courses on the subject.

Brainstorming

More than anyone else in business, entrepreneurs spend inordinate amounts of time daydreaming. Brainstorming courses help entrepreneurs guide their fantasies, so they might pull feasible ideas and constructive plans from their brain space. Brainstorming courses also help entrepreneurs learn how to think with a team, so ideas can merge to create solid strategies that ensure business success.

Ethics

In a world where consumers are retaking control of the market and using their buying power for the greater good, entrepreneurs must be more conscious than ever of the ethics of their business practices. Ethics is a dense field, and business ethics can be confusing and disheartening. Still, aspiring business leaders should take some responsibility for the state of society and learn proper business policies and practices that protect everyone, from leaders to workers to customers.

The Top 5 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From MBAs

There’s a growing sentiment that anyone can start a business, regardless of their background. All you need is a great idea, and a willingness to put in the hard work — and the ability to handle setbacks — and you can start a successful business.

Whether or not that is the case is up for debate, but one thing that isn’t debatable is that business education, specifically an MBA, is immeasurably valuable for entrepreneurs. The lessons one can learn while studying for an MBA can be applied to nearly every aspect of life and business, and the hands-on, real-world skills gained through the study of business can actually make it easier to run a business and prevent some of the setbacks and difficulties that many entrepreneurs face.

While typically students must take practical coursework to learn the principles of business while they earn an MBA degree (click here to learn more), there are also a number of theoretical lessons learned as well. Whether you are just starting out with your own business or you have several years of experience under your belt, learning these lessons can help you run your business more successfully.

Continue reading “The Top 5 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From MBAs”

Online Marketing 101 for Entrepreneurs

When you’re a struggling entrepreneur, your business takes over your world as you try to boost your brand and broaden your customer base. Past entrepreneurs used to rely on traditional marketing, such as billboard or newspaper advertising, but today’s platform resides squarely on social media. From “liking” a company to “following” it, consumers are closer than ever to favorite businesses. You simply need to get your business into the online discussion world with a few key strategies.

Continue reading “Online Marketing 101 for Entrepreneurs”

Strategizing for Entrepreneurs

Most see the do-it-yourself entrepreneurial business as fairly lucrative because they are the sole beneficiary of revenue although most don’t see the work that goes into it. Common mistakes continue to repeat itself in this business which plagues entrepreneurs each year. The key is to seek guidance as well as to follow the standards that work.

Entrepreneurship is the definition of hands on learning in a fast paced environment. People tend to choose this lane because they can work under their own terms, on their own time. They are capable of choosing their own team to work with and working in a field they truly love rather than a job that may just pay the bills. But what is required of the business is an internal drive because in the beginning everything relies on you, you are the business. Major attention to all costs is also a large part of the self-starter job because there isn’t any room for financial mistakes. Seek outside advice from credible sources and relations so that you are prepared for what is to come.

Continue reading “Strategizing for Entrepreneurs”