Category: Small Business

This post was originally published on Jan. 8, 2015, and was updated on March 5, 2018, Jan. 17, 2019, Jan. 30, 2020, and Jan. 15, 2021. 

The above content should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Always consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific legal or tax situation.

When I first started my business, I was naïve about a lot of things. I treated colleagues like competition, didn’t require clients to sign contracts, and charged way too little. But I was by and far the most naïve about taxes. Quarterly estimated taxes? What are those?!

For one, I didn’t get that I was supposed to pay my taxes four times per year.

Wait. What? If you just did a double-take, don’t worry. Many of us have been there before you. We get so caught up in creating our first invoice or picking a logo that … Read the rest

Before Covid-19, Rebecca Minkoff’s products were sold in more than 900 retailers. At this year’s Inc. 5000 Conference, Minkoff explains how a fast and aggressive pivot helped shift her business to DTC.

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Employee development is a powerful tool for business owners. According to LinkedIn’s 2018 Workforce Learning Report of 4,000 professionals, 94 percent of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their careers. One great way to invest in your team is to coach them, stepping out of the training classroom and helping them learn day-to-day. Using coaching as a leadership technique can help you better connect with your employees — and help them become even better workers. Keep reading to learn more about what coaching involves and how to do it as a leader.

What is coaching in business?

Like all in-office learning, coaching is used in business to help employees learn and grow their skills. It’s not unlike in sports, where a hitting coach will help a baseball player get out of a slump or a shooting coach will work with an NBA player on their … Read the rest

Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest offers a Covid-era guide for startups to get funding, advice, and help navigating their way to the public and private resources within their city’s ecosystem.

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Did you know that the overwhelming majority of time spent working on website projects is taken up with communication between the project manager and the client? It’s possible to read this statistic as an indication that project managers and website developers are aware of the importance of communicating with their clients, carefully listening to their needs, and taking the time to explain the process of website development.

In reality, however, this statistic represents the inefficiency of much client communication – instead of indicating the importance that website developers place on communications, it indicates the frustration that many of us feel when trying to talk to clients. Some of this frustration is unavoidable, particularly if you see yourself as an antisocial developer who is paid to code, not talk. But it’s also possible to make client communication a whole lot easier via some pretty simple techniques. 

Previously, we’ve shown you how … Read the rest

Three areas to focus your attention on this year.

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Why do people buy what they do, when they do? Understanding why the customer does anything is important in delivering the right product or service at the right time. That’s one reason learning how to anticipate needs with consumer psychology and micro-moments is key in building a successful business.

Business owners and marketers just like you have spent hundreds of hours — essentially days of their lives — trying to find ways to attract new customers, convert leads and build loyalty. They’ve spent millions of dollars on fancy campaigns with all the bells and whistles, short of a big neon sign that says, “Buy our stuff, please!”

So hold off on that neon sign until you know that your customer actually needs your products or services.… Read the rest

And how you can use this cognitive bias for good, not evil.

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Goodbye 2020, hello 2021! The past year was definitely a memorable one. As increasing numbers of businesses turn to online store solutions, e-commerce sales have reached record highs. And there’s no denying that this has led to astronomical growth in the website design and development space. 

More than ever, clients demand beautifully designed websites, quick page load speeds, secure environments, and impeccable UX. 

According to Sweor.com, it takes about 0.05 seconds for a user to form an opinion about your website. These snap judgements are typically related to design aesthetics and performance, so you really need to make those milliseconds count. 

GoDaddy Pro has your back. To better support you, we’re releasing in-depth specs about the features you need to delight and engage your clients — and their audiences.

Work smarter with detailed specs.

Based on the documentation that our own care guides use, we’re exposing all of the … Read the rest

And, since science is involved, maybe do a tiny bit of math.

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