Security Investments All Entrepreneurs Should Think About

Security should be a priority for any entrepreneur’s business. The majority of Internet users are innocent and are not criminals, but there are thieves, some very skilled, that make a living on stealing data and physical goods from others. Luckily, there are ways for entrepreneurs to protect themselves, and the security below will substantially deter the theft of data and burglary of physical items.

Surveillance of Your Premises

Having a surveillance system of your premises is one of the prime ways to deter thieves interested in taking your physical property. Surveillance systems are now compact and cost-efficient, and letting everyone know your property is being recorded is another deterrent. The surveillance security measure can be boosted by extending its power to logging recorded faces, clothing, and other qualities such as, mannerisms and how they walk to a database to make identification easier. Even residential systems and alarms can be used effectively on your business, warehouse, or home business.

Printer Protection

Cyber criminals can have a field day with printers because people are unaware printers store the data they print on a limited storage space on the device. They also have weak security because people are oblivious to the security risk. Stick with wired printer connections, disable printer sharing, and consider printers designed to purge their memory automatically. This is all inconvenient and auto-purge printers may be costly, but the steps keep data secure.

Store Sensitive Data Off-Site

The more successful an entrepreneur becomes, the more competition you will face. Sabotage is a possibility, but so is stealing data to unlock the secrets of someone’s success. Storing data at a remote location prevents this. Ensuring the full measure of success means making sure the data is transferred off-site securely. Use of an encryption layer like SSL is the most important step. Finally, highly sensitive data should have its own dedicated line to send and receive.

Secure Digital Security Functions

It is not possible to lock up certain aspects of your business and data in a well-guarded room, so using solid security steps will keep the data of the business and the customers secure. The most elementary procedure is a strong password, and it should be mandatory for employees to do the same. Passwords should be more than eight characters, and should be alphanumeric and random. Also, keep workstations locked and encrypt data.

The steps above will beef up business security, but they are not perfect. Entrepreneurs should be constantly learning advanced security techniques and implementing them. As the business grows in size, there will be more employees, customers, and thieves wanting to be a part of the business. Implementing better security practices and keeping them updated will be a factor in ongoing success.

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Security Investments All Entrepreneurs Should Think About

How Should You Handle Price Competition on Amazon?

What should you do when your Amazon competitor matches your price?

Even worse, when your competitors undercut you?

Will your sales plummet?

That’s the logical conclusion, especially if they get the “Amazon’s Choice” flag.

So should you cut your prices and race your competitors to the bankruptcy court?

Customer Buying Behavior

Amazon customers choose to buy from the site for many reasons:

• Low prices
• Reviews
• Ease of returns
• Free postage
• Good stock levels
• Free add-ons

Do you always buy from the lowest priced Amazon seller without checking their review ratings? Nobody else works like that either.

Buyers want value at least as much as they want low prices, and they will consider all of the above factors before they make their decisions. If you cut your prices, you also cut your profits on each sale. So it makes no sense to reduce prices while ignoring all the other factors in your buyers’ decision-making process.

Amazon Ranking Criteria

The default ranking criterion on Amazon is “relevance,” and there are hundreds of complex factors that go into this algorithm. These factors include price, average review score, recent review trends, and how long you have been selling on Amazon. They also include how many customers return their purchases, what other customers are clicking on at that moment, and stock levels.

Amazon sometimes flags one seller as “Amazon’s Choice” as shown in the screenshot below.

Screenshot source

If you are awarded this flag, then it will have a significant impact on your sales, but getting it is far from simple. You need to work on every aspect of the value you provide to Amazon’s customers, not just price.

Automatic Repricing Software

There are no monopoly options on Amazon. You are competing with other companies that sell the exact products you sell. If they cut their prices to gain a temporary advantage, should you cut yours?

If you reduce your price, you need to sell more products to make the same profit.

Table source – own work

The table above shows that if you reduce your price by 10%, you need to sell 25% more to make the same profit. If you cannot make this number of extra sales, then your bottom line will suffer.

You need to be continuously evaluating your pricing decisions and how they are affecting your profits. This includes looking at:

• Your competitors’ reactions to any pricing changes you make
• Your stock levels
• Competitors’ stock levels
• Number of sales you are making at a given price point
• Number of sales your competing sellers are making while your price is at a given level

It gets too complicated for any human to handle all the variables, especially when those variables are changing every few seconds.

Luckily, you can automate your pricing decisions with an Amazon repricer such as that which Feedvisor offers.

Screenshot source

Automated repricing software can base pricing decisions on many more factors than your brain could ever handle.

Feedvisor gives you back the time you used to use to spend trying to optimize your prices for maximum profit. It raises and lowers your prices according to the pricing rules you set up and can even take into account the sales you make through other channels.

Most importantly, automatic repricing removes any human bias and is based on numbers in order to maximize efficiency and profitability.

Your Reputation Advantage

If you already have a reputation in your niche, use content marketing to direct readers to your Amazon store. This gives you a hidden advantage over other sellers. Your readers already think well of you, so with a few strategic guest posts you can convert that sentiment into sales.

Your Repricing Options

If you cut your price without cutting your costs, you make less profit. Cutting your prices only makes sense if you can sell enough additional products to make more profit than you were at the higher price.

There are other ways to get the sale, even on Amazon. Better reviews, extra photos, free “extras,” free postage, and better descriptions are how you can position yourself as the seller who offers the best value alongside fair pricing.

Repricing as a response to competitor price cuts is one option, but cutting your own prices is rarely the best choice. If you have repricing software, you will have no worries because the software handles your pricing decisions according to the rules you have entered. Because they give you time to lay down rational repricing criteria in advance, using Feedvisor and similar repricing tools prevents you being bounced into price wars nobody can win.

The post How Should You Handle Price Competition on Amazon? appeared first on Growmap.

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How Should You Handle Price Competition on Amazon?

When Should a Brand Take a Stand? When It’s Values are Clearly Defined.

Whether SNL knows it or not—they have just nailed the kinds of meetings marketing executives on both the brand and agency side will be having for the months if not years to come. While one team pitches «Cheeto executives» the same idea over and over again of political hot topics with the brand tacked on at the end—the other team in futility keeps trying to bring the brand back to more basic truths. People eat Cheetos because it’s fun and they taste good. 

The spoof was in reaction to the 2017 Superbowl, where several brands in reflection of a polarized climate took a definitive stance on where they stood. Knowingly or not, SNL hits a very real chord that marketers must carefully evaluate. Brands don’t like being irrelevant or out of touch with culture, and when a culture is divided and polarized—it puts pressure on the brand to become or stay relevant. But in that rush to relevancy, brands are going to have to answer some key questions or risk out of touch with what they actually are. 

Key Questions Brands Will Need Answered Before Taking a Definitive Stance

Do we have a right to weigh in on a specific societal issue?
When marketers wax poetic over the effectiveness of value-driven campaigns such as #Likeagirl, they often overlook that the brand in such case (Always) has a built in right to cultivate a conversation around woman empowerment. Without a genuine right to join or lead a conversation—a brand stance will fall flat. 

Have we uncovered and articulated our core values?
Brands have personalities like people—and they can often hold values. Not all brands have done the work needed to define what that guiding «north star» is and without this—they risk sailing into consumer activist waters without a compass. 

Do our core values align with our value proposition to the consumer/customer?
Does the average Nordstrom consumer have the same values as a Budweiser consumer? Brands must go beyond traditional demographic data and see their consumers in more nuanced ways. 

Is our brand’s business operations a good representative of the values we are championing? 
Audi’s Superbowl ad looked different from the faces and gender of their executive ranks. Brands that haven’t aligned marketing with business operations must way the risk and rewards of taking a stance especially if there is a gap between communications and operations. 

Does the societal issue fit into our higher purpose at the company/corporate level?
Does your brand operate under a broader «corporate» brand structure or are they the same? Either way when engaging with consumer’s and taking a stance—a brand’s values should align with the corporation. 

Who will we possibly alienate—who doesn’t share the same values we do? 
Taking a stance doesn’t guarantee that everyone will agree with you even if the company and CMO think it’s the right thing to do. Brands will need to be prepared to handle scenarios where even the most positive messaging may be as interpreted as offensive or disingenuous.  

SNL’s Cheeto skit may have been fictitious but it’s closer than they likely know in terms of how brands will wrestle with when they should stand for something or not or if so, how. And in polarizing times—the stakes have never been so high. 

Related articles

Nike CEO Mark Parker Slams Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban

adidas Slams Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban

Shoppers weigh boycott calls as buying gets more political

The Product Plus Politics Equation. | TWIST Creative Inc. — A Full Service Advertising Agency

Audi: DriveProgress Big Game Commercial — «Daughter» — DAILY COMMERCIALS

Audi is under a heap of criticism over its gender pay equality Super Bowl ad

Nordstrom broke the curse of the Trump tweet

The Action-Reaction Cycle: Consumer Activism Ignites Brand Response

Logic+Emotion

When Should a Brand Take a Stand? When It’s Values are Clearly Defined.

8 Reasons Your Business Should Have GPS Vehicle Tracking

Keeping costs low and earnings high is essential when you own and operate your own business. But if you or your employees work in the field, it can be difficult to identify opportunities to reduce costs and increase your revenue.

If your business relies on a fleet of vehicles, you may have already thought about implementing a GPS tracking system. But if you operate a smaller fleet, or even a single vehicle, you might be wondering how GPS trackers can help your company and whether or not it’s worth the investment.

Regardless of how many vehicles you have or the line of work you are in, tracking your vehicles with a GPS device can benefit you on three fronts:

1. Reducing operating costs 
2. Increasing Revenue
3. Improving vehicle safety and security

Let’s take a closer look at 8 reasons why you need to track your vehicles:

Reducing operating costs

When you install GPS tracking devices in your business vehicles, you can expect to keep a little more cash in your pocket. Here are some areas where you’re sure to see savings:

1. Insurance costs

The most effective GPS tracking systems can help reduce your insurance rates by enhancing fleet safety and security in a number of ways, such as:

? Improving safe driving behavior with driver safety report cards

? Deterring theft

? Providing real-time location data if a vehicle is stolen

? Automating routine vehicle maintenance

By protecting your vehicles with these features, and providing mileage and driver history information, you can often negotiate a discount with your insurance provider. Some insurance providers offer discounts up to 30% for companies that track their vehicles with GPS devices.

2. Fuel consumption

Many GPS systems will give you the information you need to build more efficient routes so drivers spend less time on the road — and that means lower fuel usage. For instance, Linxup features an easy to use Google Maps interface, and with Linxup’s real-time alert system you can monitor driver behavior to identify and cut down on fuel-wasting driving behaviors such as speeding or idling. Combined, these features can help you reduce your fleet’s fuel usage by up to 20%. For some businesses, that can mean using up to 8 gallons less fuel per month per vehicle. 

3. Vehicle maintenance

Routine preventive maintenance decreases time lost as a result of unnecessary emergency repairs, keeps drivers on the road, and helps to spot wear and tear before it becomes an expensive problem. With a Linxup GPS tracking system, you can develop an automated maintenance schedule based on mileage or service schedules and receive reminders when service is due so you never miss an oil change or license renewal again.

Increasing revenue

Let’s delve a little deeper into GPS tracking technology and learn about a few of the ways it can increase your business’s revenue.

4. More service calls

Real-time location tracking and live traffic updates give you the ability to plan better routes, monitor traffic conditions, and dispatch the closest or most convenient driver to any jobsite, which means you can serve more clients every day. With Linxup’s Route Monitor feature, you can also use your car tracking device to track job progress and make changes to routes and schedules in real time as problems arise.

5. Better customer service

Access to real-time location tracking and up-to-date traffic conditions means you can give your clients accurate ETAs and direct your drivers on the fastest route to any service call, which is something that will be truly appreciated in emergency situations like a burst pipe. And when service is complete, you can use your GPS tracker’s geofencing feature to automatically email your customers to let them know that their service is complete.

By providing a better customer service experience, you’ll gain more positive reviews and have a happier, more loyal customer base that will recommend you to their friends.

Improving vehicle safety & security

It’s not just about the money! GPS tracking systems can bolster your business’s safety and security, creating a better, safer, and more positive work environment.

6. Decreased risk of theft and assists with asset recovery

Having GPS tracking devices installed in your vehicles or heavy equipment deters theft by signalling to would-be thieves that they can be tracked down more easily, making your vehicle a less desirable target. With Linxup’s real-time location tracking and alerts for unauthorized behavior, you’ll know as soon as someone takes your vehicle or equipment outside an authorized area, or starts up one of your vehicles after-hours.

In the event that a vehicle is stolen, you can provide the police with your GPS data to aid in their investigation and speed up the recovery process, reducing costly downtime spent waiting to recover or replace lost equipment or vehicles.

7. Protects against customer disputes

With a GPS tracking device, your fleet is equipped with hard data that proves your drivers were in a specific location at a specific time. This information acts as a safeguard against customer complaints and bill disputes that may cost you revenue and negatively impact your reputation.

8. Safer driving

Being able to monitor driver performance makes drivers more accountable and provides you with a unique opportunity to encourage safe driving habits. With a Linxup car tracker, you can access a driver safety report card for each day and view the overall safety score of an individual driver or your entire fleet.

Linxup GPS tracking devices also alert you to key driving events like speeding, harsh braking and rapid acceleration, making it easy for you to identify coaching opportunities and areas for improvement, as well as reward safe behavior.

Start tracking

GPS tracking devices can help your business cut down on wasted resources and increase productivity and revenue. Linxup’s vehicle tracking system will help you optimize your fleet’s performance so it can run more smoothly, provide even better customer service, and deliver a superior performance.

Learn more about:

Linxup GPS tracking devices.

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8 Reasons Your Business Should Have GPS Vehicle Tracking

“What Kind of Business Should I Start?” A Surprising Answer from A Successful Entrepreneur

I often get asked what you might think is a simple question: “What kind of business should I start?”

For the first time in many years, I find myself in the same boat as the folks who ask me that question. I (surprisingly) don’t have a concrete answer to this question for myself right now–but, as I’ll show you in this post, I have a way to figure it out.

After I sold my software company last year, I did a ton of soul-searching. I coached other successful entrepreneurs, and ended 2014 by taking a 3-month, part-time marketing consulting gig for Help.com, a funded software startup. I’m helping them launch a successful software product into the world while I figure out what kind of business I’d like to start.

Is Starting a Business Right For You?

The first question you have to answer for yourself is deciding whether you really want to start a business, or if you’re more interested in the idea of running a business than the actual daily grind of doing so. You have nothing to lose here–be honest!

The truth is, there are many more profitable routes (especially when you take into account short-term profitability.) I make more money now as a consultant and coach than I did when I was running my software company–and that’s not unusual for strong consultants with an in-demand skillset.

Realistically, if I were only looking at the money side of it, I could easily fulfill all my financial obligations and then some by continuing to do coaching and marketing consulting. I also enjoy what I do–as an early-stage startup consultant, I get to do everything from coding a front-end website to writing blog posts to coaching CEOs to writing marketing copy. I have a unique and interesting skillset that’s in high demand. So why not just do that for a while?

My problem seems to be one that plagues many of my readers, and might sound familiar to you as well: I just don’t enjoy working for other people as much as I enjoy working for myself.

I’m now in my mid-thirties and have started, run, and sold several companies, so I no longer fear diving off a cliff and starting a new business. What’s holding me back right now, though, is that I’m not sure what kind of business I want to start.

That’s why I figured I’d open it up here on my blog.

Stepping Up to The Plate with Personal Transparency

I’ve long been a fan of personal and professional transparency, as espoused by people like Pat Flynn and John Lee Dumas with their monthly income reports, and Buffer with their vow of complete transparency with their company. More recently, Dan Norris has come onto the scene doing some great income reports and open transparency on his blog.

I like all of these folks, and their respective companies–but I think it’s time for some other people to step up to the plate in this area, particularly more women. And I know that if I feel that way, I need to take the lead and make this happen! So this year is the year where I become more transparent on my blog about what’s going on with my businesses–even if, like you, I don’t always know exactly where I’m headed.

“So How Do You Decide What Business to Start?”

My first step is to take stock of who I am and where I stand right now. If you’re in the same boat I am, give this a shot as well! What are your strengths and weaknesses? Be honest with yourself.

Here’s where I stand:

1. I want to build a software company, or something that has software as a significant component. I love to code. I’ve been building websites from scratch since 1996 and I still love doing it, 19 years later (wow! 19 years!)
2. I have a large, overarching goal of building a university. In the interest of full transparency, I don’t think of “building a university” in the typical sense of a giant campus with towering buildings, dorm rooms, and beautiful open spaces. I think of it more as a platform that teaches hyperactive ADHD folks like me how to learn.

   I find startups in this space like Coach.me interesting in that sense–a mobile app where you “check in” to your goals every day and can hire coaches to help you. That’s something in the general space of what I’d like to build when I say “I want to build a university.”

3. I’d like to start a podcast, but I don’t want to take on too many things at once.
4. I’m determined to get back into blogging. I’ve realized that to do so, I have to make specific time for it every week. It’s the difference between saying “I’d like to do some yoga” and actually going to classes a few times a week. Blogging takes discipline and focus–two mental muscles I need to build right now, if I want to start another company.
5. I want to build a profitable company. I definitely feel at odds with the whole “seed funding” mentality. I’m not saying getting funding is wrong for everyone–just that my personal preference in building businesses is to take something that has a small up-front monetary investment and turn it into a profitable cash cow, month after month. That’s who I am and what I do–and that’s what I intend to do in 2015.

Looking at all this, one thing is clear: I don’t yet know exactly what I want to build. This is the point where a lot of people stop–they don’t know exactly what they want to do, so they don’t take action.

Yet, I know a profitable business will only be found by going out there and building something. I’m also excited to blog the entire process, because it will be so illuminating to those of you who really want to become an entrepreneur, but–like me right now–don’t know exactly what you want to do.

The Scary Part: Making A Commitment

My commitment to you is: Every week, I’ll blog here about my progress. If I fall flat on my face, I’ll blog that. If I didn’t do crap for the past week, I’ll write about that. If I end up building something that has nothing to do with software or building a university, but it’s still profitable and works, I’ll share all the details about that!

And, if for some reason, I don’t blog one week, well, I’ll pick it up again the next week. I will fail as I go along. I understand my weaknesses (focus and commitment) and my strengths (a strange and exciting combination–I equally love to code and write copy!)

It’s my hope that, in a year, I can come back here and read at least 50 posts about how I built a business that makes money, is profitable, and is growing. Failing that, I can at least read 50 posts about how I tried–how I found out, week by week, what worked and what didn’t work in going from “I have a vague idea of what I want to build” to actually building a business that makes money.

And, with those 50+ posts, I’ll be able to answer one huge question that hundreds of people have asked me: What kind of business should I start?

I’m right where you are. Stay tuned (and join my email list, below) if you’d like to have some input into where I’m headed in 2015. I welcome your feedback.

Here’s to a very interesting 2015!

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“What Kind of Business Should I Start?” A Surprising Answer from A Successful Entrepreneur

Why You Should Not Be A Freelance Photographer

As a professional photographer, one of the worst things you can do is be a freelancer.  That is, just as you should banish the phrase «day rate» from your lexicon, so too should you banish the word «freelance» from the word set you use to describe yourself.

Words not only have meanings, they insinuate something about whomever they describe. An entire chapter on language was included in the book MORE Best Business Practices for Photographers, titled «A Linguistically Accurate Lexicon», for that very reason.

Consider the characterization of a person of the female gender. The word «girl», «woman», «lady», «chick, «madam», and «doll», all carry similar sentiments to «boy», «man», «gentleman», «dude», «sir», and «guy» for a person of the male gender. The disparity between saying «that boy over there» versus «that young man over there» is not lost on the recipient of that characterization, nor is «please help the chick with her luggage» versus «please help the lady with her luggage» in a hotel lobby.

Fast Company recently wrote an article about the value in stopping calling yourself a «freelancer» (12/3/15, «Why I stopped calling myself a freelancer«), and I commend it to you.

What can you do?

Avoid introducing yourself using that word. Don’t say «Hi, I’m a freelance photographer», or even, «I’m a freelancer.» Instead try:

• I’m a professional photographer
• I produce photography on assignment for a range of clients
•  I’m a photographer
•  I’m a photojournalist
• I’m an independent photographer

When asked «oh, who do you work for», I would avoid «I work for myself», and instead try:

I work for a variety of clients in the…

•  News business
• Industrial sector
• Public relations area
• Magazine industry
     …etc.

When someone tries to then re-characterize you as «oh, so you’re a freelance photographer?» The answer is «no, not really. I work independently for a variety of clients, and the word «freelance» just doesn’t speak to the broad spectrum of services I offer, not just for covering a story or making images, but all the production and organization involved in making the final results possible.»

Avoid using it in your LinkedIn profile, your resume, CV, or biography. Describe what you do instead. Don’t use derogatory shorthand. Saying «I’m a freelancer» is derogatory compared to «I’m a professional photographer», almost like calling saying «get the guy a coffee» when what you should have said was «get the gentleman a coffee» instead.

Another point from the Fast Company article was that «freelance» connoted cheap or low-cost,  something I don’t think any professional photographer would want themselves characterized as. You want to be considered a «premium» — as in:

•   «he’s an amazing football photographer…»
                             or 
• «she’s an incredible portrait photographer…»
                             or 
• «he’s a wonderful wedding photographer…»
                             or 
• «she’s a stunning storyteller with her images from around the world…» 

For anyone whom you hear described as above, you are immediately going to have a perspective in your mind that they are not «cheap» nor «low cost.»  in the chapter I reference previously, I talk about Jenika, a baltimore luxury portrait photographer, who uses the word «luxury» in all her language about what she does. So, who would you rather hire, a «luxury portrait photographer», or a «portrait photographer’? Whom do you think will produce a better result? Or, better yet, who would you rather your clients perceive you as?

(Comments, if any, after the Jump)

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Why You Should Not Be A Freelance Photographer

Why Should I Have a Website

The biggest change in business over the last fifteen years is our ability (in most countries) to create and launch our own business without anyone’s permission. We have also been granted (via the Internet) the tools to reach our prospective buyers without anyone else’s help. If you WANT to do more business, the first step (after having something to offer others) is to create a home base on the web.

The Idea of a Home Base

I started blogging in 1998, when they called it journaling. I did it for a really simple reason: I wanted to have a voice that was heard beyond my few friends. I wanted to share my ideas with others. That’s it, nothing fancy.

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