Cybersecurity isn’t something that small business owners want to spend time thinking about. Unfortunately, it’s a very real problem that threatens to tear your business apart at the seams if not dealt with efficiently. Let 2022 be the year that you proactively address this issue.

The Latest Cybersecurity Data and Trends

According to the latest research from Purplesec, cybercrime incidents have been up 600 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is largely due to the increase in remote working and the number of transactions and interactions that are occurring online (many over unsecured or vulnerable networks).

Data from IBM shows that remote working has increased the average cost of data breaches by $137,000. In total, more than half a million Zoom user accounts have been stolen and sold on the dark web over the past year.

Malware infections, which are commonly used in spear phishing emails to infiltrate devices and systems, are another big problem. They’ve been on the rise for years. In 2009, there were an estimated 12.4 million malware infections. The latest data suggests there are more than 812.67 million malware infections (92 percent of which is delivered by email).

Ransomware attacks are also on the rise. You might even call 2020-2021 “breakout years.” According to one cybersecurity firm, ransomware costs are expected to reach as much as $265 billion by 2031. And by that time, there will be a new attack every two seconds.

Small Biz Cybersecurity Tips for 2022

The best time to pay attention to cybersecurity was 10 years ago. The next best time is today. If you don’t have a cybersecurity strategy – or if you’re worried that it’s severely lacking – now’s the time to lean in and address the issue. Here are several suggestions:

• Know Your Biggest Threats

While the exact perpetrators might be nameless and faceless, you’re not exactly in the dark when it comes to cyber attacks. The vast majority of attacks fall into one of a few common categories. If your business is attacked, it’ll almost certainly be at the hands of malware, viruses, ransomware, or phishing. Identifying and understanding these threats will make you much less susceptible. (At the very least, it’ll give you the knowledge you need to implement the correct security protocols and strategies.)

• Train Your Employees

Your cybersecurity strategy is only as strong as the people you have in your business. If your employees are making poor decisions – like choosing weak passwords or clicking on suspicious links in emails – nothing else matters. This is why we highly recommend investing in thorough (and frequent) cybersecurity training for your team.

Your employees don’t need to have a degree in cybersecurity, but they should be able to quickly identify threats and suspicious activity. They should also understand the importance of following protocol, practicing good password hygiene, and being mindful of accessing business information on personal devices.

• Implement a Comprehensive Solution

One of the best things you can do for your business is implement a comprehensive security solution that throws a strong perimeter around your company’s IT assets and keeps intruders at bay.

Ideally, you want all of your security tools bundled into one cohesive strategy. The Assist360 Essential Security Bundle is a great example. It includes managed firewall, managed endpoint protection, managed email security, and managed web security.

• Stay Up to Date on New Trends

The cybersecurity industry is constantly evolving in order to meet new threats and trends. Make sure you’re staying up to date on the latest developments so that you can be proactive in your response.

You don’t need to read every cybersecurity white paper and research report that comes out, but you should at least have a working knowledge of what’s happening in the industry and how it affects your business. This allows you to have useful conversations with your team and pivot when needed.

Protect Your Business From Harm

You wouldn’t leave your office in the evening without locking the door, would you? And you wouldn’t leave the password to your bank account lying around for every employee or customer to see, right? Your business is too important to make these mistakes. Unfortunately, many business owners are unknowingly leaving their cyber “doors” and “passwords” exposed for anyone to access.

Now’s the time to take cybersecurity seriously. Experts believe attacks will only increase in 2022, and it’s up to you to take advantage of the technology and strategies that are available to you and your business.

 

Software testing is an essential part of the software development process, and it’s only getting more important with time as well as more complex, thanks to the growth of mobile apps, cloud computing, big data analytics, and other technologies that have reshaped the way we use the software in our everyday lives.

This means that you need to make sure your company invests in the best possible software testing services to make sure your customers get their money’s worth and aren’t put off by bugs and glitches. This is especially true for businesses involved in metal manufacturing or any other sector involving heavy machinery.

If a piece of software isn’t reliable, lives could be at stake; it’s therefore critical that companies invest heavily in solid testing processes to ensure they don’t lose business due to faulty code. You must also invest resources to learn more about utilizing metal forming simulation software, which can do much to improve your production processes while providing clients with better value products.

To give you a better idea about how to manage all these pieces, here are a few tips you should keep in mind:

1) Requirement Gathering

If you’re looking to deliver your best work to clients, you’ll need an accurate understanding of their business model and needs. This can be challenging for businesses that serve different industries or operate in widely diverse markets. You’ll need to make sure you understand exactly what your clients are looking for so that you can develop new solutions from a well-informed point of view.

Writing user stories is a good way to start gathering information about your client’s requirements; try using electronic techniques such as wireframing and prototyping in conjunction with more traditional techniques like customer interviews and market research.

2) Designing

Once you’ve gathered your information about your client’s requirements, it’s time to start fleshing out some concepts for how to meet those needs. At an early stage in development, a concept is far more conceptual than concrete; you should envision what you hope to deliver, but don’t worry too much about how exactly you plan to make that happen.

As part of visualizing your design goals and developing a prototype (and sometimes even before), consider using high-level programming languages like C or Java because they give designers ample flexibility while still allowing them to create in an abstract way.

3) Test Scenario

The ultimate goal of testing is to make sure your design matches your client’s needs. The first stage of testing is creating test scenarios that map out exactly how you plan to validate your design. You can create a test scenario in any format you want, from a document or presentation slide to an interactive prototype; just be sure that it clearly spells out what you intend to do and when.

However, most businesses involved in software development prefer relying on automated tests whenever possible because they are consistent, repeatable, and easy for non-technical clients to interpret. Regardless of what form your tests take, remember that making sure everything has been thought through thoroughly before you dive into development will save countless hours down the road.

4) Development phase

Developing software involves a wide range of tasks and can involve several different teams. Many of these are obvious enough that even non-technical clients will be able to explain what’s involved in them (such as building an interface with NodeJS or C++). Others might require technical input from developers, testers, and other team members.

Either way, it’s important to keep track of your progress using project management tools like Gantt charts so that you can easily stay on top of what needs to get done, when and by whom. With each iteration completed (known in Agile development circles as sprints), make sure you test again just to be sure everything is working as planned; if not, go back and figure out where things went wrong.

5) Testing phase

After you’ve developed your software, it’s time to figure out if what you’ve done matches your test scenarios. Of course, since many of these will have been automated tests, you can run them from a computer without having to do anything manually yourself. This saves time and allows for testing at various times of day (which is helpful if you plan on distributing your software globally).

Many developers choose agile development methods because they know they will be in a better position to meet customer needs and save their businesses money over time.

 

Who wouldn’t like to generate more sales in their business? No matter what strategy you’re using to increase sales, did you know you can use digital signage to get even better results?

If you’re new to exploring the benefits of digital signage, here’s how it works to boost revenue.

Digital signage supports sales teams

Your sales team probably works independently from the rest of your employees. Even when all of your teams are in the same office, sales people have less reasons to connect on a regular basis. This can be rather isolating.

With digital signage, you can facilitate communication between your sales team and other team members. For instance, Visix explains that employee-generated content allows team members to share their wins with each other.

It’s important for employees to know how others are doing because it makes people feel more connected, like a real team. When people feel like they’re part of a team, they enjoy their work and are motivated to do a better job. When your employees perform to their full potential, your customers are happier, which means you get repeat sales and word-of-mouth advertising.

Digital signage can help crowdsource solutions

Digital signage can also be used to communicate with management and other team members for the purpose of crowdsourcing solutions. For instance, employees can suggest ways to streamline processes, note any issues they’re having, or ask someone else for help.

When this information is displayed on a digital screen, it will catch more attention from others who might be able to help. The faster problems are solved, the smoother your projects will be. Smooth projects get done on time and make clients and customers happy.

Digital signage is a great strategy to motivate employees

Today’s generation isn’t motivated by bonuses, raises, or status; they want recognition. Recognition holds some impressive power if you know how to use it wisely.

This study sponsored by daVinci Payments found that 79% of participants would be more loyal to their employer if they received more recognition. However, recognition seems to be scarce, as 50% said they don’t feel like their managers recognize strong job performance.

Digital signage can tell employees they matter

Your employees want to know their contribution to the company matters and their efforts are appreciated. Knowing this, the best way to motivate employees is to recognize them for their hard work.

Using digital signage to recognize employees for their achievements and contributions is an excellent way to keep them motivated. For instance, you can acknowledge promotions, specific achievements, birthdays, or publish general messages of appreciation for each of your employees and entire teams.

If you have an employee of the month program, display your highlighted employee each month. Or, choose a few people each week to recognize for their contributions to the company. When your employees feel recognized, they’ll do a better job.

Digital signage can drive higher engagement

Companies with high-performing, engaged employees drive more sales. You’ve probably heard many people say this, and it’s actually true. A study out of Yale revealed that highly engaged sales reps get more upsells and have more satisfied customers.

The study looked at car rental companies and found that employee engagement was directly connected to successful upsells. Researchers also found a correlation between engaged sales reps and customer satisfaction and retention.

High performing employees can transform your company

Whether you hire them from the start or develop high performers, it will be a game-changer for your organization. High-performing employees embody the following traits:

· They’re innovative

· They embrace and enjoy challenges

· Others come to them for help or advice

· They’re proactive and can solve issues on their own

· They’re transparent

If your employees don’t embody these traits from the beginning, it’s possible to develop them with some effort and a little help from digital signage.

Use digital signage to display progress

If you want team members to be more engaged, digital signage can help. Placing KPIs and other measures of progress in front of your team will do wonders to motivate performance.

For instance, placing KPIs on a digital monitor for your sales team is especially helpful. You can also use leaderboards to create some healthy competition amongst your sales team.

Better engagement equals better sales

When you increase engagement in any department, your company benefits. Ultimately, when your team is happy, they do a better job. When your team does better, your clients and customers are happy, which amounts to more sales.

There are many ways to strengthen employee engagement, but nothing is as dynamic as digital signage.

 

If you’re an independent mortgage professional, you know that the internet is absolutely filled with mortgage lead providers that offer to sell you their leads for a price. But, if you want to grow your business, the money spent on purchasing these leads could be better spent elsewhere.

However, there are three other ways to create more, high-quality mortgage leads without spending any money at all. You can send out postcards or use targeted advertising or even generate your own. Whatever option you choose for generating your own leads, remember that it’s important to tailor your message for each type of lead generation campaign. If you’re interested in learning how to do this, keep reading!

Why You Shouldn’t Buy Mortgage Leads

Buying leads is one of the easiest ways to increase your business’s revenue. Unfortunately, buying leads at a certain price point will only get you so far. The reason is that it’s impossible to know what the quality of these leads is until you purchase them and then spend time with them. So when your prospect isn’t interested in speaking with you, you end up wasting money on leads you didn’t want in the first place.

In addition, lead providers often use spammy tactics to get their business off the ground. And because they rely solely on lead generation for their income, they don’t have the time or resources to develop an effective brand strategy.

So if you’re looking for better results from your mortgage lead generation campaigns and are willing to put in some work for it, consider using one of these three options:

1. Creating a referral network
2. Sending direct mail
3. Using targeting advertising

Create a Referral Network

When you’re generating leads for your mortgage business, a referral program can be a powerful way to attract new customers. When someone recommends your company to a friend or colleague, those people are more likely to be interested in working with you. Reaching out and offering an incentive could be just what you need to grow your business. If you want to make sure people know about your referral program, here are some helpful tips on how to do that.

 

When you are starting your brand new business, you’ll probably notice that there are many things you’ll have to take care of, mostly related to the management of the company as well as its performance.

With the introduction of technology and the many changes it brought to society, many of these aspects have evolved over the years, from the way accounting is done, to the way data is stored, organized, and used.

But there’s a particular thing that definitely relies on technology more than ever: Marketing. Marketing includes a wide range of things, and back in the day it was mostly related to radio and T.V commercials. Nowadays, there’s a branch of marketing that has been proclaimed as the most effective way of creating a presence in the market for any company: Digital marketing.

In this article, we will talk about one specific way of creating a digital advertising campaign known as an audiovisual campaign, and explain why videos are so efficient at catching people’s attention in a very particular, enticing way, especially when you get the help of a professional.

But before we get into that, it is important to understand why advertising your company is so important.

The Basics of Digital Marketing

The simplest way to describe digital marketing, also commonly referred to as digital advertising, is that it is the type of advertisement that relies solely on electronic devices such as computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones, and considering how many people own one of these devices, it is definitely a very powerful tool to have.

This also means that a lot of people that are purchasing things online or contacting service providers are actually doing it through their phones thanks to the internet. So, having an online presence can make a huge difference when it comes to sales and customer engagement.

That being said, there are many ways to take advantage of digital marketing, but the three basic methods involve the use of images, audio, and videos, and at times, a combination between them.

And videos are often considered the most efficient way to advertise any product or service, which is the reason why they are highly appreciated for any marketing campaign, as shown over here. But what is the logic behind it?

Why Videos are Incredibly Efficient at Advertising

The first to consider is that videos are far more engaging. They are a combination of visuals and music that can make a far more durable impression on people, and depending on how good the video is, it can even become a trend that increases the chances of getting potential customers visiting your website and store.

Another thing to take into consideration is the fact that videos have a lot more potential since there are many variables that can be added to them. Marketing that solely relies on images and pictures has a limit to their potential, whereas a video has so many components that can be added to it to improve its quality is much more likely to be a hit.

The Thing About Videos

The only downside about making a video as an advertising tool is that videos are very expensive to make, especially if you want a one that is of high-quality. Making a good video involves tools, equipment, software, training, and above everything else, experience, talent, and creativity.

Without them, the chances of making a good video are drastically lowered. And this is the reason why companies tend to rely on professional service providers.

Companies and Freelancers

The thing is that, when you are a new business owner, you might not have the capital to hire a company that focuses on providing high-quality videos. However, you always have the choice of hiring a professional freelance videographer, like the one you can find at freelancecameramanhire.co.uk which specializes in personalized videos for companies.

Freelancers tend to be more affordable, yet very capable as long as you choose one that is experienced and knowledgeable in the matter. Thankfully you can find this information online fairly easily.

The thing about hiring a videographer, whether it belongs to a company or is a freelancer, is knowing how to approach the process. If you want things to go smoothly, you need a solid idea of what you want to achieve and the type of impression you want to make, as well as a very well-grounded description of your services and products.

If you know for sure what you want to achieve through the video and the type of impression you want to create in your potential customers, things will be far easier for the videographer you decide to hire, and this will enhance the experience of all parties involved, improving the chances of creating a high-quality video that works for you.

Improving the digital product is a priority of every software provider. To make a justified decision that will make a positive difference for your users, it’s worth trying the product discovery process. Here’s how you can benefit from it.

If you’re reading this, you most likely have already created a digital product, or you’re thinking about taking this step. What is your motivation, if you don’t mind asking? Modern companies – regardless of their profile – are often pressured to develop digital products to avoid staying behind the competition.

They often end up with an app that exists to exist and not necessarily solve the problems of their users. This way, even if it has a pretty interface and some cool features, it gets deleted in a relatively short time.

The product discovery process allows the companies to avoid it. As a result, it cuts the risk related to product development, including the implementation of innovations and new features in already existing apps.

What is product discovery?

Product discovery is a process during which the product, design and development team researches the needs of the product’s potential users and comes up with solutions. Focusing on the architecture, methodology, and the creation itself is a domain of the Product Delivery phase. During the product discovery phase, the team brainstorms, tests, and gathers customer feedback.

Both phases are essential to any product development process. But it’s during the discovery phase that the product team defines functionalities of the MVP (minimum viable product) and makes decisions that facilitate fulfilling project goals.

Product discovery workshop – for whom?

Product discovery is a crucial part of any product strategy. Since it may determine the success of your project, it’s worth investing in it. The workshop is an investment that returns, since it gives the product teams and product managers the tools and methodologies to use in future projects. They may help them make the most out of user research and user feedback, wire framing, brainstorming sessions, and other essential parts of the process.

In most cases, digital products are always evolving. With such a rapid tempo of the industry’s evolution, the expiry date of the software is short. If you don’t update it and adjust its features to the market’s specifics, it may turn out that it soon becomes a no-go. That’s why continuous product discovery is not a one-time method but a process applicable to both the products developed from scratch and those that function on the market for some time already.

 

When searching for a custom software front end development partner, it’s worth choosing a company that offers product discovery workshop in order to be able to develop the product independently in the future.

Influencers have become commonplace in today’s world, and that’s not changing anytime soon. Marketing experts, such as the ones at Mint Global Marketing, believe influencer marketing is the future of advertising.

Mint Global Marketing is a leader in the digital marketing world and has helped many businesses of all sizes grow their audience through time-tested and cutting-edge marketing strategies. They agreed to share with me their thoughts on influencer marketing, and why it’s so vital for businesses that want to expand and receive more eyes on their product.

First off, financially, how do Influencers compare to traditional methods of advertising?

Well, let’s look at the most obvious alternative to influencers, celebrities. A celebrity endorsement can be quite expensive, as I’m sure you know, and for startups and small businesses, a lot of the time they’re just not an option on the table.

Influencers are celebrities in their own right. People look up to them, and more importantly people trust them. So, you’re getting the same value of a celebrity endorsement, but at a very steep discount.

If the influencers are more cost effective, or cheaper, does this mean the advertisements are of lesser quality?

Absolutely not. It is possible, I’ll say that, but it is not a rule.

The thing with influencers is that they’re all different. They’re normally their own manager. Most of them don’t have people to contact, you’re just dealing with them directly.

This means that low quality is definitely a possibility, but this is why you should research the influencer, and talk to them. See how they operate and make your own judgement call on their work ethic and how seriously they’ll take your product placement.

How do customers feel about the influencers advertising products? Will it make them go watch someone else?

This goes right back to talking to the influencer and finding out how they operate. What’s great about influencers as compared to say a celebrity, is the influencers built their own brand. They know what makes their fans tick.

A huge mistake I’ve seen companies make is that they’ll reach out to these influencers and tell them “do this” or “say that”. That’s what will turn off the fans, when they know this person is being fake for a paycheck.

Let the influencer speak organically and do what they do, they know their fans more than you do. It is one of the best lead generation approach Mint Global Marketing focuses on.

There are so many influencers on social media, how can a business find one that fits with their audience and their product or company?

To be honest you just have to shop around and research. Spend some time on Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, and all the other popular social media.

Search for keywords and hashtags that fit your business, look through the content and find someone that seems to share your values. Check the comment sections, see how they interact with people, and gauge whether they seem professional.

Are influencers easy to work with? Are they professional?

Influencers are people, like you and me. They come in many different shapes and sizes; personality wise. Some have very inflated egos and will ask for more than they could possibly be worth.

But in our experience at Mint Global Marketing, we’ve had no problems finding very humble, down to Earth people to work with. As an advertiser, working with Mint Global Marketing is one of the best business ventures we’re glad we took.

This is why it’s extremely important to engage the influencer and have long conversations with them to figure out if they gel well with your brand and your values.

 

Investing in Forex can be an extraordinary manner to diversify your portfolio. Forex, or foreign exchange is complex than trading stocks or mutual funds or shoring up your investment approach with investment bonds. Learning the basics, however, can give you a stable foundation to construct on if this is asset elegance you’re interested in exploring. This guide walks you thru the whole lot you want to understand to get began with investing in foreign money. If you have got questions about forex or other sorts of funding, a monetary consultant can assist.

How to do Foreign Currency Investing?

Investing in foreign money entails buying the foreign money of one country whilst selling that of every other. This is executed through the foreign exchange marketplace, or “forex.” If you want to create an fx account, make certain you select a dependent on the platform that has accurate recognition within the market.

Here’s How Foreign Currencies Are Commonly Grouped:

Major pairings: It consists of the most frequently traded currencies. The U.S. Dollar (USD), euros (EUR), the Japanese yen (JPY), and British kilos (GBP) are generally included.

Minor pairings: It additionally includes many of the frequently traded currencies within the principal pairings category, with the exclusion of USD.

Exotics: Here, you will usually have pairings of heavily traded foreign money against a thinly traded one.

Regional pairings: In this class, currencies are paired together primarily based on location. So you might see Asian or European currencies from the equal geographic vicinity being exchanged for one another.

Why you must Invest in Currency

Forex buying and selling generally try to capitalize on fluctuations in foreign money cost. It’s similar to buying and selling shares. You need the forex you buy to grow in cost so that you can sell it at a profit. Your income is tied to the forex’s exchange rate, which is the ratio of 1 foreign money’s value in opposition to any other.

When looking at pairings, you can want to don’t forget how they’re ordered. For instance, in a USD/GBP pairing, USD is the base currency even as GBP is the quote foreign money. The alternate fee is used to calculate how a good deal you’d pay in the quote currency to shop for the base foreign money. Any time you purchase a currency pairing, you’re buying base foreign money and selling quote foreign money.

Tips to Invest in the Forex market

1. Consider speaking to an economic guide about investing in currency and whether or not it’s a terrific healthy on your portfolio. Finding a qualified monetary advisor shouldn’t be tough.
2. Consider investing in currency exchange-traded budget if shopping for and selling at the forex market appears too complex. These finances trade on a change like an inventory but they tend to be extra tax-green than different mutual funds. Foreign currency might also bring a low risk factor, compared to other trading foreign exchange through a broker as those finances are actively managed.

If you’re planning to put money into Forex, confirm the platform first. For instance, IC Markets is one of the best platforms to make investments. It has true reviews and people discover it safe.

Customers are often hesitant to sign up for a subscription service. They worry about being charged every month without being able to unsubscribe, or they’re not sure what they’ll be receiving each month. Managed subscriptions are the answer.

Subscription management gives customers all the benefits of a subscription, but with more control over how it works for them. You can have your customer’s card automatically charged on the day they subscribe, at the time of their choosing during each cycle, or when an item is shipped. Learn how to manage your subscriptions today!

How managed subscriptions work

Managed subscriptions are one of the best ways to make sure your customers get what they want and when they want it. A managed subscription is a recurring billing strategy that means that you can charge your customer on their credit card every month, so long as their order is in good standing.

Each month, you are charged a fee and sent a notification. You can also choose to send one particular email or even set up an automatic email message every day that will notify your customer when it’s time to pay. This makes it easy for customers to manage their subscription stream and control how often they pay each month.

Benefits of managed subscriptions

As customers come to understand their subscription options, they become more likely to choose a managed subscription. That translates into better customer service and more revenue for you. Here are four great reasons why managed subscriptions are a good choice:

1. You can access your subscriber’s account 24-7, and if they ever need help or support they can do it from anywhere.
2. Your customer service team is always available to answer their questions on any channel.
3. A single point of contact allows you to meet all of your subscriber’s needs with one place for all of your business’s products and services at one convenient time of day/month/year.
4. You can have the ability to control what goes in and out of your subscriptions without having to worry about manual billing or other complications that typically come with managing subscriptions manually.

Managing subscriptions for your customers

Managed subscriptions give you more control over how your customers subscribe to your service. You can set recurring billing, which automatically charges the customer’s credit card each time they add an item.

You also have more flexibility when it comes to when and how the subscription will be charged. For example, you can use a pre-determined number of days to automatically charge the customer on their next billing cycle. To manage this type of subscription, you’ll need to choose a recurring payment method that is easy for your customer to understand and get comfortable with.

Conclusion

Subscriptions are a big part of the modern marketing landscape. The main purpose of a subscription is to provide the customer with a value when it comes to their service. By managing your customers’ subscriptions for them, you can make sure that they are getting the best possible value for their money.

 

What business owner doesn’t dream of their company growing rapidly? Most would love to see their idea take off and prove successful overnight.

At the same time, there are some pitfalls of rapid business growth, as entrepreneur Scott Crockett of Everest Business Funding explains. These include creating operational inefficiencies, cashflow problems, issues with customer service, and overworking your employees.

These are just a few reasons why managing rapid business growth is so essential. Here are ten tips to help you do that.

Tip #1. Don’t Lose Sight of Customers

It’s easy to lose sight of your customers as you grow rapidly, but this can be a major downfall. No matter what growth stage the company is experiencing, never lose sight of the experience you’re providing customers.

These customers are who helped you experience this rapid growth. If you ignore them or don’t care about their experience, they’re not likely to stay with you, which will hinder your ability to sustain success.

Tip #2. Have Good Support

Whether you are experiencing rapid growth or not, it’s essential that entrepreneurs have good people supporting them. During times of rapid growth, though, a company’s employees will be key to their long-term success. Getting the right team in place from the start and constantly recruiting new talent is always wise.

Tip #3. Analyze Staffing Constantly

As you grow, it’s likely you’ll need to bring on more people to support your endeavors. Even if this investment wasn’t in the original plans, it’s critical to add to your payroll during rapid growth periods. Hiring workers on a temporary basis is a great way to overcome an unexpected period of growth while you work on building a permanent staff.

Tip #4. Be Adaptive

Periods of rapid growth can be very unpredictable. Scott Crockett says this is why it’s essential that entrepreneurs are flexible and adapt to what’s going on around them as it’s happening. You may need to test a different strategy than the ones you initially employed, and that’s OK. Your ability to adjust on the fly will be key in determining your long-term success.

Tip #5. Understand the Reasons

If you’re experiencing rapid growth, it’s because you’ve done something right. Understanding what this “thing or things” is that you did right will help you sustain your growth. It’ll help you see how you were able to separate yourself from the competition, and what you have to do if you want to do this long-term.

Tip #6. Create a Strategy

To prepare for rapid growth, you’ll need a strategy in place to determine how you’ll handle it. This plan will allow you to pull certain levers when needed to help the company keep customers happy.

Tip #7. Manage Cashflow

Managing cash flow is one of the most essential parts of managing rapid business growth. As Scott Crockett explains, this includes understanding your accounts payables and receivables in-depth and being able to project cash flow accurately. This will help you avoid taking on too much debt to finance the costs you need.

Tip #8. Control the Costs

One of the biggest downfalls of rapid growth is out-of-control spending. Many entrepreneurs will simply throw money at problems and challenges, hoping to fix them. When the rapid growth period ends, though, they’re left holding the bag with all these debts. Don’t be stingy; just be smart with your investments.

Tip #9. Don’t Rack Up Debt

Another pitfall is racking up loads of debt to finance new equipment, larger office space, and more employees. While some of this debt might be necessary for the short-term, try to avoid taking on too many long-term obligations while you’re growing.

Tip #10. Stay Laser Focused

Rapid growth periods can be chaotic at times. This requires entrepreneurs to be laser-focused on the tasks on hand and concentrate their efforts on the most important areas of the day. You’ll never be able to get everything done all at once, so don’t waste your energy trying to.

About Scott Crockett

Scott Crockett is the founder and CEO of Everest Business Funding. He is a seasoned professional with 20 years of experience in the finance industry. Mr. Crockett’s track record includes raising more than $250 million in capital and creating thousands of jobs. Scott has founded, built, and managed several finance companies in the consumer and commercial finance sectors.