Haley Bogaert, Founder & CEO, Haley Bogaert Face

The beauty industry has grown to become a $532 billion industry and has shown no signs of slowing down. Successful startup founders, like Haley Bogaert, understand that the upward growth is due to the continued use of social media influencers and brand ambassadors, reaching untapped demographics with products that big brands may not offer, utilizing a direct to consumer approach, and aligning themselves with the clean beauty movement by offering sustainable products.

Bogaertwas just 24 when she launched her companyHaley Bogaert Faceafter working as a makeup pro for some of Torontos top beauty brands. Gaining significant experience from her time working under these names, she amassed a loyal following of customers as an in-demand make-up artist and brow guru. However, it was only after the tragic loss of both her mother and brother within six months of each other, that prompted her to rethink her career path and launch her own beauty boutique.

From serving clients out of her apartment to opening a flagship retail storefront, I sat down with Bogaert as she shared the approach she has taken to scale her business and why cultivating a close family dynamic within her team has been one of the greatest keys to her success.

Recognize The Talent Others See In You

Before building a business that currently employs nine staff and has over 4,000 clients in the HB Face system, Bogaert knew what she wanted to do from a young age. She started in the beauty industry working for other notable brands as a means to build her experience and foster relationships, but her future as an entrepreneur was clear. I started doing brows and makeup at 16 and I worked at Caryl Baker Visage. The owner of the store once told me, you're going to run an empire one day and it might be mine or it might be your own, but you belong in this industry. So, I always knew what I wanted to do. It just came natural to me.

Use Tragedy To Fuel Your Destiny

One of the most devastating times in Bogaerts life became her call to action and motivation to create the kind of career she always wanted. The loss of her mother and brother initially affected her headspace and drive as she took time to mourn, It was difficult for me to get out of bed every day, put my makeup on and come to work. I went through a lot of ups and downs, she recalls. The thing that helped me the most was to have a routine in order to stay focused, to be healthy and to clear my mind, Bogaert says.When experiencing hardships in ones life, she recommends celebrating small wins and remembering why you started. Use that why to ground you; find your centre and re-direct your next steps. Finding strength in a support system sharpened her vision as she tried to create and build something of her own. Instead of focusing on the pain of the loss, she turned to the work that fuelled her.

Start Small

Bogaert began seeing clients out of her apartment and doing home visits while selling her line of beauty products via an online shop all while attending business school at night. However, within a year the need to give HB Face its own space was clear. She says, I wanted to give my clients a great environment where they still felt at home. My client list grew rapidly in a short period and I knew I couldnt see 50 people in a day and go to everybody's house anymore. It just wasn't going to work. And I also [at the time] started the makeup line and I wanted to sell the product. Shortly thereafter, Bogaert began location scouting and drafting floor plans for her storefront. Leaning on her own intuition, even when others didnt have the foresight to see the dream, she proceeded without permission. And encourages women to the same. No one can succeed on your behalf. You have to want it [success] for yourself. Once you understand the power you possess as a [business]woman, nothing can stop you.

HB Face team photo

Slow And Steady Wins The Race

Ive always move at a slow and steady pace to ensure everything is running efficiently and my thoughts are organized, Bogaert says. Her decision to open a flagship retail store was a natural progression aligned with her business growth and needs. From house visits, she first moved to a studio space and employed a team of two to help with the demand. Within less than a year, she opened a retail storefront. My advice is to take your time. Learn what resources you need to start your business - whether it be a physical location or online - and raise your hand if you need help from an advisor, coach or mentor, Bogaert states. I break my big goals into small steps which helps me make purposeful decisions. Determining the ideal location to figuring out how to negotiate a lease and most importantly, funding the space were all top priorities - and by far the most challenging. To accomplish this, she looked to the insight she learned from business classes as well as mentors for some of the answers to her burning questions about design and operations while a friend and her father invested in the start-up funding. Understanding the importance of managing money early on and having no desire to carry any business debt, Bogaert made sure these loans were paid back within her first eight months of her launch.

Assemble Your Team

Bogaert also implements a careful and purposeful approach when it comes to hiring her team. I never over-hired because I want everybody to be busy before I started to grow, she mentions. Delegating tasks and sharing responsibilities means everyone wears multiple hats to run a successful operation that provides the experience her customers deserve. With an intentional focus on service excellence, Bogaert knows that nurturing a team that feels like family is essential to her business model. Knowing personally what its like to feel disengaged when life outside of work is problematic means that Bogaert creates space for her staff to express and bring their whole selves to the work environment. My girls know they can come to me about anything. There is obviously a fine line between personal and business, but if something is on their mind, I want to work through it together. I want them to feel their best at work, and I want them to succeed with me. Its about making them feel like they're part of something because I wouldn't be able to do anything without them.

Read the original here:
After Losing Everything, This Beauty Entrepreneur Takes A Family First Approach to Leading Her Team - Forbes

You're a company that's done rather well over here, in the UK. Now, you'd like to try your luck over there? Sounds simple enough, however, expanding a business into the US takes foresight and funding.

The most successful companies use technology to become more efficient. So, then, what kinds of technology can help a business succeed in the US?

Cloud computing has levelled the playing field by reducing the cost and complexity of setting up a technology infrastructure across the pond. You can now spin up virtual operating systems and applications quickly instead of installing physical servers to run stateside operations.

One company that experienced this first hand is fin-tech business PCI Pal. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Council's PCI-DSS is an industry regulation that governs how companies store credit card information. Businesses that don't comply with its strict rules risk stiff penalties. The 20-year-old company provides payment solutions that online retailers and other businesses can use to process customer credit cards without having to store that sensitive financial data themselves.

Advertisement - Article continues below

PCI compliance is an even bigger business in the UK than in the US, and a quick look at the data breach headlines reveals why: thieves are pilfering credit card details by the thousand. Seeing the opportunity, PCI Pal expanded into North America in 2017. It set up an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is a hotbed for fin-tech, but needed a solid technology infrastructure to run both its external services and its internal US sales, marketing, and project delivery operations, explains the company's chief revenue officer Darren Gill.

"Cloud has been instrumental in assisting us in our global expansionm and that's not only in terms of the solutions that we use internally, like email or Office 365 in the cloud," he says. "We were actually delivering a cloud-based service to our customers."

The company opted for Amazon Web Services, installing a presence at Amazon East, the cloud service provider's East coast region that communicates with PCI Pal's central hub located on Amazon's instance in Ireland.

PCI Pal can spin up a computing instance in the cloud in two or three days, explains Gill. He uses session border controllers from IP telephony solutions provider AudioCodes, which provide a link between PCI Pal's own VoIP network and its external telephony provider's network in the US. This also lets it funnel telemetry data about the calls that it's routing back to the Irish AWS instances. It's something that it can replicate in any country it tackles using its AWS set up.

Having a cloud-based instance in multiple regions also allows PCI Pal to meet a pressing customer challenge: data sovereignty. With corporate customers (and their consumer customers) increasingly sensitive about where PCI Pal stores their personal information, data centre location becomes a big factor.

"Particularly with the type of information that we provide and deliver, a US customer doesn't want their data sitting over in Frankfurt or in some other country's data center," Gill explains. Another Amazon instance in the Canadian province of Montral also gives customers north of the border peace of mind, he says.

Advertisement - Article continues below

To keep up to date with US customer feedback, the company uses the issue and project tracking software Jira. This enables US employees to log issues from users across the Atlantic and feed them back quickly to development staff in the UK. This means US users don't get left out when suggesting new product features and getting fixes for problems.

As the US took cloud computing concepts and ran with them, PCI Pal also learned some new working practices that it exported back home, says Gill. The company began using Dropbox along with Office 365, setting up a dedicated section for the US office so that it could handle localized administrative paperwork, especially legal contracts involved with spinning up the US entity. It also began using DocuSign, which enables it to take its paperwork entirely digital using electronic signatures.

"The tendency was for most of the employees that were office-based in the UK to show up at the office every day and there wasn't a whole lot of flexibility with respect to working at home versus here," he says. The US culture is different, he adds: "We had an office location for convenience, but the reality is there was a lot of flexibility and most everyone works from home three days of the week." Technology enabled the company to replicate that cultural shift back in the UK.

Website development business UENI used the Internet differently during its own US expansion. The company started in late 2014 offering automated website development for UK businesses and expanding into continental Europe in 2017. It pivoted to a freemium model in summer 2018, abandoning a manual sales process in favour of an automated push-button web development system to grow its customer base. With a 100% digital system and a focus on generating customer volume, it began international expansion in 2019, beginning with the US in April.

The company used a content delivery network (CDN) to deliver its automated website building system to US customers, who now make up 500 of its 3500 global daily sign-ups. The CDN caches content from its central servers in over 50 US locations so that when someone visits a customer's website, they are downloading data from a local node.

"The closer the server, the lower the latency and the faster the content delivery," explains CEO Christine Telyan. "This gives us the ability to load our clients' websites as fast as possible on their customers' devices, wherever possible."

Advertisement - Article continues below

UENI also uses cloud-native software development technologies to help manage its software operations across different regions. "To scale the product, we use systems like Kubernetes, the container orchestration system. Originally this was Google technology, but now the community supports it," she says. "Kubernetes helps us a lot to scale our product to different data centres over the world. This gives the ability to have enough resources for the fastest delivery of the pages of our websites to the end-users."

The company has also used technology to help ramp up the marketing necessary to tackle a market ten times the size of the UK 4,000 miles away. "On our marketing stack we use automation tools at every step of the way," Telyan adds. "From automated rules to optimise andscale ads based on Pixel data and derivative metrics, to A/B testing software to achieve the best match between audience and message"

Fortified by their US experience, both companies are continuing their global expansion. The next step for PCI Pal is Australia and New Zealand, assisted by an Amazon instance in Sydney. Gill explains that the company's successful global push has even allowed staff to migrate between countries. One of PCI Pal's lead developers relocated from the UK to the US after his wife got an opportunity to work stateside.

"Just by virtue of opening the office here that kind of broadened our horizons a bit from a cultural point of view," he says. The developer now works remotely with his colleagues back in the UK using the company's cloud infrastructure.

The internet and the cloud infrastructure built atop it, combined with advances in software development and deployment technologies like containers, has lowered the barrier to entry for companies that want to create enterprise-class infrastructures around the world. There's now less of an excuse than ever not to boot up a business arm in the US using tech that can help with the legal, financial, customer support, and marketing aspects too.

Transform the operator experience with enhanced automation & analytics

Bring networking into the digital era

Artificially intelligent data centres

How the C-Suite is embracing continuous change to drive value

Deliver secure automated multicloud for containers with Red Hat and Juniper

Learn how to get started with the multicloud enabler from Red Hat and Juniper

Get the best out of your workforce

7 steps to unleashing their true potential with robotic process automation

More here:
What tech does it take to make a business succeed in the US? - IT PRO

Stress less with these morning routines that work.

December 30, 2019 6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Kicking off the day with a positive outlook and an organized mindset is integral to running a business or being successful at work.If youre a working parent, you likely deal with some morning madness, andif you have younger kids (or teens!), morning meltdowns.

Aside fromestablishing good morning eating habits, and eliminating unnecessary TV and social media scrolling in the morning, below are 9 tips for reducing morning stress by saving time, all while keeping your kids in a positive mindset.

Lay out your clothes, the kids clothes, pack lunches, ensure that homework is finished and in the folders and even have some breakfast items prepped such as cut-up fruit or hard-boiled eggs.Everyone has a different routine but the key is that we adapt to routines and kids especially do too.Even plan for little things such as knowing where essentials like car keys, glasses, and Bluetooth headphones are.(Tomake the time for this prep, give up some screen time or theseother habits that can destroy your productivity.)

We dont like to be rushed, and especially kids.If your kids can chill a little bit in the morning, they are more relaxed and this will minimize meltdown.On the same note, if you are someone that likes to journal, read the news or enjoy your cup of coffee, rather than just slamming it down in the car or commute, it is game-changing to prioritize waking up 15-30 minutes earlier, so long as you get in bed at a decent time.

Related:10 Tweaks To YourMorningRoutine That Will Transform Your Entire Day

A lot of time can be wasted trying to figure out what to make for breakfast, and it cant always be pop-tarts on the go if you want your children (and you!) to thrive throughout their day.I like to prep the cut-up fruit (because this takes time!)have hard-boiled eggs on hand and toast or bagels are easy for kids to make themselves. One favorite in our household istasty egg muffinsthat can be made over the weekend and are great for just pulling out of the fridge, on-the-go, and even for packing into lunches.

Just like the airplane oxygen mask analogy, you need to take care of yourself first to function best.So whether its exercise, meditation or cleaning out your inbox while you sip your coffee and eat breakfast, ensure that you put your armor on before you take on responsibilities for getting the kids ready.

As with many tasks at the office, its the teamwork that eases the load for everyone and drives success.So why not do the same at home? Identify your strengths and weaknesses and devise a plan with your partner.For example, I like to work out first thing in the morning and can get up and go. My husband prefers to take his time, work early and enjoy his coffee.He spends time with our boys, makes them breakfast, and then I come home in time to finish up the lunch boxes that were prepared the night before, drink a post-workout protein shake and get myself together, before getting the boys out the door for school.For single parents, aim for preparing as much as you can the night before and teaching your children to help out with breakfast and packing their bags.

Teach your children to help out.Our kids are 8 and 11 and we have taught them to make simple breakfasts like toast bagels and spread cream cheese on them, toast waffles or get things like yogurt and cut up fruit out of the fridge. For some families, a chore chart helps keep them organized and depending on the ages of your kids, its best to create a routine for them that includes boxes for them to check for when they: get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, comb their hair (we like to skip this one), pack their backpacks, etc.When you give your children ownership and responsibility, you empower them with confidence and independence that will pay off in the long run.

The last-minute hunt for homework, shoes, after school activity gear or anything else is an immediate stress trigger. Be it hooks and cabinets or an actual shelving cubby system near your back door, this launchpad station for everyone helps foster organization. At our home, we each have our own cubby and its a place where we keep shoes and have backpacks and paperwork.My personal cubby has my gym bag packed and ready to go (even with car keys inside of it!) the night before so that I can just grab it early morning and quietly sneak out the door.

Amazon Fresh, Instacart, Brandless, or whatever you like, find effective online shopping sites and skip the trips to the store.We rely heavily on Amazon Fresh and by using their Past Purchases drop-down tool, its simple to reorder staple grocery and home items.Going to the grocery store mid-week is difficult for many working parents andonline grocery deliveryhas redefined the shopping experience.

No one has ever calmed down when they are yelled at to Calm Down! right?While we are all guilty of yelling, its very counter-productive to getting out the door. Kids sense tension and anxiety and if you are not calm, neither are they.And why should your kids be rushed? For the benefit of all, including yourself, focus on using a calm voice and keeping a positive attitude as you explain to kids why you need their help.

As entrepreneurs and parents, jam-packed days are inevitable, yet keeping anxiety levels low is crucial to your health, well-being and success. Make the most of the limited family time in the mornings and evenings and try to truly be with them and minimize the multi-tasking.Whenever possible, have a back-up plan, get a good nights sleep and allow for some flexibility. Happy less-stressed parents will lead to happier and less-stress kids. Theres no debate about that.

Read the original here:
9 Strategies for Working Parents to Reduce Stress and Get Control of Mornings - Entrepreneur

Emma Oxnevad, Opinions and Social Media Editor|December 28, 2019

Share on Facebook

Share via Email

As the 2010s come to an end, major publications are weighing in to give their takes on the best music of the decade. When looking at the music that filled the decade, one may notice that some of the most enduring hits were made by women.

This is backed by decade-end numbers for album sales, in which Taylor Swift sits atop the likes of fellow heavyweights Drake and Ed Sheeran, selling an estimated 32.5 million albums. Also featured on the list are Adele and Lady Gaga, having sold 23.3 million and 8.1 million albums, respectively.

While numbers are certainly an important metric of measuring an artists success, their cultural capital is essential in a largely saturated media market.

Pop music seems to be the one common thread we all share in the age of ultra-niche media, said Dan Bashara, an adjunct instructor of media and cinema studies at DePaul But everybody at least knows who Taylor Swift is, or has at least ambiently heard Rihanna, even if theyre not a fan.

There were certainly a great number of successful, influential men in the world of popular music in the 2010sthe aforementioned Drake, Ed Sheeran and Kanye West, to name a few.

In terms of cultural significance and enduring legacy, however, it is women of the genre who reign supreme.

Much of this has to do with image. When one thinks of Katy Perry, they also probably think of her neon-colored wardrobe and effervescent aura. When one thinks of Rihanna, they probably think of her tough-girl swagger and aloof persona. And when one thinks of Lady Gaga, they probably think of her role as a provocateur, from her iconic meat dress to her showing up to the 2011 Grammys being carried in a large egg.

I also think pop music tends to be at ground zero for our contemporary discussions of identity and representation, perhaps because of how powerfully central the pop stars image is, as opposed to a cast of actors, plus the overlay of fictional characters, plus writers and directors, as you have in TV and film, Bashara said.

A common thread between popular female artists with the genre is the ways in which their workas well as their imagehas transformed throughout the decade.

Taylor Swift began the decade as the darling of country music, fresh off her Album of the Year win at the 2010 Grammys for her sophomore album, Fearless. At barely 20 years old, Swift cemented her status as Americas latest ingenue, with her girl-next-door charm and adolescence-tinged discography establishing a clear brand.

As the decade went on, however, good faith toward Swift began to decline. It seemed that the world could not go five minutes without Swift dominating headlines, from her series of highly-publicized relationshipsand breakupsto her feuds with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.

Swifts metamorphosis seemed to reach a peak with 2017s Reputation, in which she plays into the bad press that had followed her for years. The album featured a much more electronic, aggressive sound, with Swift appearing in dramatic black outfits in live performances.

On one hand, it is easy to view Swifts stylistic transformation as a routine tried on by many divas prior to her: changing ones sound or style in order to keep up with trends. On the other hand, Swifts journey as an artist can also be viewed as her coming into her own as a woman.

[Swift] went from country music star, to bubblegum pop star, to angry sexy lady seeking revenge, senior Madeline Mason said. Her newest album, Lover, reverts to that bubblegum pop star persona, but its truly amazing how shes been more than one thing. But, shes heavily scrutinized for it. Its almost as if people dont get that women contain multitudes, can be mean and sweet and kind and rude all at the same time.

Ariana Grande kickstarted her music career in the mid-2010s, with her Mariah Carey-esque vocals and signature high ponytail being essential components of her image and success.

Grandes career came to a dramatic turn following the 2017 bombing of her concert at the Manchester Arena. The attack left 23 people dead and over 100 injured, with a white-hot spotlight on Grandes response.

Grande rose to the challenge, putting together One Love Manchester, a live benefit concert with a star-studded lineup, which is poised to be one of the most iconic moments of the decade.

Grande eventually became something of a symbol of resilience following the 2018 death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller and subsequent breakup of her engagement to comedian Pete Davidson. Amid the personal turmoil, Grande released some of her best and most popular work, including the hit song thank u, next.

It is impossible to talk about popular music or culture of the last decade, however, without talking about Beyonc.

Within the last decade, Beyonc has transformed her image into an otherworldy icon, or Queen B, as her fans refer to her.

This is in part due to her undeniable talent, which seems to have only increased throughout her decade-spanning career.

More important is the number of bold statements made by Beyonc that demanded the world at large pay attention, from placing a large sign bearing the word feminist behind her during her 2014 VMA performance to releasing her self-titled 2013 album with no prior promotion.

Beyoncs surprise dropping her self-titled, visual album impacted pop culture because everyone was shocked you could just drop an album without leading up to it with a release date, junior Lesley Perales said. It influenced other artists to start doing surprise releases with singles or albums.

And, of course, Lemonade.

As one of the most strategically private celebrities alive, Beyoncs 2016 album accusing her husband, Jay-Z, of infidelity shook the world of pop music to its core.

Lemonade showcased a side of Beyonc not yet seen to the public. While she had released a number of songs about breakups and men who didnt deserve her, Lemonade made everything a bit too real and personal to consume without a second thought.

Lemonade revealed Beyonc in her most human, vulnerable form, as well as showcased her love and pride in black culture with songs like Formation.

Beyonc later cemented herself as the most relevant artist of the decade with her 2018 headlining Coachella performance being dubbed Beychella by fans and popular media alike. The performance was a celebration of black culturespecifically historically black colleges and universitiesmade all the more relevant by the fact that Beyonc was the first black woman to ever headline the music festival.

Its hard for me to think of another artist after Madonna who has achieved such cultural power and who has shifted the public conversation so thoroughly, Bashara said. I do think her legacy will endure, though I also think it will come in for some re-evaluation; there was a period, the Beygency period when it was impossible to criticize her, and I think that as we look back well see some more complexity in our assessment of her. And thats a good thing! We like to flatten out our pop stars and make them all-or-nothing images, heroes or villains, and its easy to forget that theres a complicated person underneath that image.

As the decade comes to an end, there appears to be a new crop of pop stars on the horizon, like Billie Eilish and Lizzo. These two seem to know the rules of the game and are sticking to a tight, identifiable image: Eilish as a morose, street-style adorned waif and Lizzo as the unapologetically loud, proud life coach everyone needs.

When examining women in pop music, it is clear that a great deal of effort is put into sustaining ones career and, ultimately, their brand. It is not enough for a woman in pop to have a good voice and sing a few good songs; their image is ultimately their empire.

I think female pop artists are held to a higher standard; theyre expected to sing, dance and write their own music when male pop artists are not, Perales said. For many of these women, it was expected of them to have a clear image to attract their audiences. Recently, though, I feel like these women are taking control over their careers and defining pop in their own way.

View post:
End of the decade: women in 2010s pop music - The Depaulia

Once you elect your contribution rate, you need to select investments. Don't make the mistake of leaving your deposits in the account as cash -- you have a much greater earnings opportunity by investing in stock market funds. As a point of comparison, cash interest rates might be as high as 2% before inflation. But the long-term return in the stock market is 10% before inflation.

Of course, your investment return from year to year will be higher or lower than 10%. But if you ride out the downturns, your long-term growth will exceed what you'd earn on cash deposits.

Even if you don't know anything about investing, you can still do a reasonable job picking funds. First, look for funds that track a major index like the S&P 500. Or you could choose a target-date fund, which adjusts the risk level in the portfolio based on your target retirement year. Next, compare the expense ratios of your fund options. The expense ratio is a key performance indicator, and lower is better.

Some 401(k) plans have an auto-increase feature that raises your contributions by a stated percentage each year. Use that feature if you can. You should also manually increase your contribution every time you get a raise. Serious savers will increase the contribution enough to offset the entire raise. And you can do this up until you hit the IRS-imposed maximum contribution limits. In 2020, the maximums are $19,500 (or $26,000 if you are 50 or older). Your company-match contributions do not count against these limits.

Follow this link:
Is the SECURE Act Bringing a 401(k) Your Way? Here Are 5 Steps to Success - STLtoday.com

By: Kerry Pipes and Helen Bond | 380 Reads 3 Shares

A solid franchise development program starts with doing the little things right--all the time, every day, with every prospect. Those "little" things are more important than ever because, by the time you hear from them, today's prospects are more educated about your brand than ever before.

This year's annual Mystery Shopping Survey found that while franchisors have more opportunities than ever to connect with qualified prospects, their challenge is making those connections count. To do so, successful franchisors must have systems in place to keep pace in a 24/7 digital world where prospects form opinions about brands long before they make contact.

"The way prospects research brands has evolved. The ability to conduct most of their due diligence online gives them plenty of information to vet brands," says Therese Thilgen, co-founder and CEO of Franchise Update Media, which mystery shops conference attendees each year. "An opportunity exists to engage with prospects before the first phone call takes place."

In the 2019 annual review of franchise recruitment best practices, researchers evaluated brands by directly calling them from information provided on their development websites; submitting online forms from those websites and grading the subsequent phone call response; thoroughly reviewing each brand's development website elements; grading each brand's social media activity and effectiveness; and measuring franchisee satisfaction.

This year's mystery shoppers were Michael Alston at Landmark Interactive (mobile); Art Coley at CGI Franchise (telephone); Rick Batchelor at Qiigo (social media); Don Rush and Ben Foley at Franchise Update (websites); Jayson Pearl at ServiceScore (website response); and Michelle Rowan and Eric Stites at Franchise Business Review (franchisee satisfaction). Culled from their extensive research and analysis, the following is a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of franchise recruitment today.

Smartphones continue to surge as the most popular way for franchise prospects to begin their research. Among Landmark's findings for 2019:

"To connect with consumers on the ever-changing world of small mobile screens, we have needed to rethink how our websites and mobile apps are designed," says Michael Alston, president of Landmark Interactive. "That quick and reliable connection translates into high-quality prospects who are ready to learn more about exciting franchise concepts."

Landmark's mobile findings also reinforce the need for development teams to have robust systems in place to respond to inquiries whenever they're received. Landmark's study of daypart data suggests that more than two-thirds of prospects are in shopping mode outside of regular business hours. Overall, 67% of new investment prospects researched franchises and initiated contact during nights and weekends. This means that for every 10 daily leads, the odds are that only three are generated during the 9-to-5 workday.

"Knowing that part of the problem is a round-the-clock scheduling challenge, sales teams can adjust their process to better address the daypart differences," Alston advises.

Given the time zone differences in the U.S., the task is even tougher for brands that centralize franchise recruitment. For East Coast prospects, 66% initiated contact on nights and weekends; on the West Coast it was 71%.

"We don't advise texting or calling anyone back at 2 a.m., of course," says Alston. "But knowing when a lead was generated can help sales teams prioritize appropriately so that no one falls through the cracks."

Recruitment teams continue to struggle with picking up the phone and calling prospects back, according to this year's results gathered by CGI Franchise. "We do the phone mystery shop to analyze the responsiveness of recruitment teams to an actual live person raising their hand and saying 'I want to learn more' about a specific brand," says Art Coley, CEO of CGI.

"Brands have become, more than ever, spoiled and complacent. It takes a lot for someone to pick up the phone and say they want to learn more. Why are we not answering the phone and responding back to them in a timely manner?" he asks.

Overall, CGI's evaluation uncovered lower performance scores for brands responding to telephone inquiries from potential prospects and found less of a personal touch than in previous years. "The big brand websites look like they are too big to care, with no way to reach them," he says. "They shouldn't become too big to grow."

This year the CGI team called 125 franchise brands, each caller posing as a qualified lead seeking information about franchising with the brand. The mystery shoppers measured how brands did with their initial response (receptionist/qualifier/appointment setter/director); information obtained (timing, location, financial, personal, etc.); emails and text communication; and overall responsiveness.

Brands were called three times at all hours at different times of day. Instead of seeing calls returned within the first 24 hours, Coley found an increased use of automated response and texting tools. In some cases during business hours, he says, it appeared that brands intentionally did not answer the call and instead called back within minutes.

In their research, the mystery shoppers at CGI were looking for the following:

Coley offered four recommendations to improve performance in this critical aspect of franchisee recruitment:

The business world is experiencing a massive shift in consumer buying behavior, and franchising is no exception. That's why online brand perception is critical, says Rick Batchelor, CEO of the franchise marketing firm Qiigo.

Batchelor and his team shopped 145 franchise brands and evaluated 2,600 Facebook posts, measuring fan counts, engagements, and posts as they applied to franchise development.

"For example," he says, "we looked at things like fan count--the count of the number of fans a Facebook page has. Then, for comparison, we calculated the national average for all the metrics among the brands."

The general idea, says Batchelor, was to determine how a brand engaged with its consumers, looking at the following factors:

Unquestionably, social media continues to change how business is conducted, and franchise recruitment is not immune. Local social media marketing, online reviews, and other consumer opinions affect franchise development efforts. Brands that engage their consumers benefit from more cost-effective franchise development leads.

Recommendations resulting from his research, says Batchelor, include the following:

"Franchise prospects are much more sophisticated today," says Batchelor. "Consumers research your brand long before they decide to reach out to you."

A new pair of mystery shoppers took on the task of measuring franchise recruitment websites this year. Franchise Update's Director of Technology Ben Foley and Web Developer Don Rush expanded how websites were evaluated this year, adding new categories and more granularity to previous years' categories.

By the time today's franchise prospects arrive at a brand's website they already have a lot of information. That's why it's critical for franchise opportunity sites to be performing at optimal levels and providing as much relevant information as possible to potential franchisees.

In addition to researching a brand's franchise opportunity pages, potential prospects also are researching how brands are interacting with their customers. Thus, prospects should be able to move easily between a brand's franchise opportunity site and its consumer site. Amazingly, 100% of brands surveyed had hard-to-find links from the consumer site to the franchise opportunity site.

"Key Content" measurements remained the same this year (including a dedicated About page, an investment chart, benefits of the franchise, earnings claims, FAQs, etc.).

The "SEO Readiness" metric--which includes items such as title tags, meta description, Open Graph tags, and social image--was expanded to include more points of assessment. Likewise for "Website Usability," which included factors such as franchise content accessibility from the home page, process of learning, security and privacy), effective use of technology (video, online chat, responsive website, invasive popups, etc.), and overall site presence.

"We expanded on those last two sections with data that is important in today's web development world," says Foley. "GDPR, privacy, and security concerns are at an all-time high with web users. Mobile is now the dominant player and social media marketing is the latest frontier for generating traffic. And having your site sharable is critical to your digital marketing success."

The researchers found near uniformity among brands in three distinct areas. 1) Nearly all websites were responsive (mobile-friendly); only two were not. 2) Nearly all sites were fully secured (https); however, a few had https but also had other unsecured elements that resulted in a non-fully secure site. 3) A majority of the franchisors used a unique website for franchisee recruitment.

Other observations by the website shoppers were that very few brands used a full application form. Instead, most relied on a short form with basic contact information; a few used a short form with a financial qualifier, time frame, or lead source. Nearly all websites were functional and easy to use, but did not have a cookie policy in place. Nearly all websites included links to their social media.

The following is a list of the items that should be included on a brand's website for prospects, and how well the brands shopped by our researchers did this year (by percentage of those who included the items and/or did it well):

In the end, the overall scoring breakdown is as follows, with 89 as the top possible score. Only two brands--Sport Clips and Tropical Smoothie Cafe--scored above 80; and 17 either had no website or were not a franchise.

The good news is that the brands that scored the highest used proper basic search engine optimization and employed good use of technology on their sites, such as video testimonials. Their websites were easy to navigate and content was well laid out.

The commonality among franchises with lower scores was a lack of information provided, such as benefits of their brand, requirements, investment information, franchisee testimonials, and frequently asked questions.

"These are the areas that could use improvement," says Foley.

ServiceScore focused on evaluating the website responsiveness of 133 brands or multi-brand franchisor parent companies. Researchers submitted a lead form to each, positioning themselves as a qualified lead. This year a new item was added to get a sense of how frequently brand qualifiers are mentioning at least one differentiator about their brand.

"In other words, giving at least one reason for the prospect to take the next step versus the competition," says Jayson Pearl, president of ServiceScore. "This was based on the observation from years past that often screeners aren't taking advantage of actually having a candidate on the phone to engage with them and share something special about their franchise offering. They're just asking a few screening questions, or worse, just calling a candidate to tell them that an email is coming and ask if they have any questions."

Here are some of the key metrics from ServiceScore's mystery shopping:

"We know that candidates today have researched a brand before they 'raise their hand' to ask it to tell them more through an online form submission or a call to a franchise development line," says Pearl." There's a great opportunity for brands to take advantage of this to find out what sparked the prospect's interest and share and reinforce those attributes that are special and unique."

Additional findings ServiceScore unearthed included the following:

"A best practice we're seeing--and a growing trend over last year--is from brands re-directing the site to engaging information that allows the viewer to spend more time on the site learning about the brand," says Pearl.

Franchise Business Review (FBR) researched 71 brands representing 25,799 business outlets. A total of 7,894 franchisees completed an independent survey consisting of more than 50 questions related to their business performance, satisfaction with their brand, and general business demographics. Results were compared with benchmark data from about 25,000 franchisees representing more than 330 leading franchise brands across all industry segments.

Satisfaction was measured across eight key areas: training and support, franchise system, leadership, financial opportunity, core values, franchisee community, self-evaluation (franchisee performance), and general overall satisfaction. Overall, the Franchise Satisfaction Index score of the Franchise Update group (69.4) was very close to the FBR Franchise Sector benchmark (71.7), which represents data from those 330-plus franchise brands in the benchmark group.

Nearly 8 in 10 (78.2%) of franchisees in the Franchise Update test group would recommend their brand to others. Brands earned high marks for franchisee enjoyment, general satisfaction, community engagement, and the belief in the honesty and integrity of their franchisor. The group scored lower when it came to the financial opportunity their franchise provides, training and support, innovation and creativity, and how well senior management involves franchisees in important decisions.

Of the three major industry sectors researched (food, retail, and services), FBR found that food franchise brands ran 5% to 10 % lower in franchisee satisfaction overall.

See the original post here:
Shopped for Success: Annual Mystery Shop of Recruitment Practices Reveals Strengths and Weaknesses - Franchising.com

PROVO, Utah, Dec. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Maybe it's no surprise to learn success in 2020 won't hinge on luck. But a new study shows success in the coming year will also not be the result of the decisions you make or your natural talent. New research from VitalSmarts, a Top 20 Leadership Training company, reveals that the most important factor to your success in 2020 is your habits.

According to the study of more than 1808 workers, people attributed nearly 46 percent of their career success to having the right habits. That means a person's simple, routine behaviors were more than twice as critical to their success than even the decisions they made (22.5 percent). And for those who feel they're simply not cut out for the job; the good news is habits far outweigh natural talent (24.6 percent). It's likely no surprise, that habits also trumped good old-fashioned luck, which people attributed to only 6 percent of their success.

"When it comes to success, nothing trumps good habits," said Emily Gregory, lead researcher and VP of Product Development at VitalSmarts. "No amount of luck, talent, brains or good decisions can compensate for your habits and your routines. And that is good news for anyone looking to make changes in 2020. Ultimately, you're just a few habits away from success."

The study asked workers to rate their success in five different areas of life: career success, economic success, physical success, inner success and parental success. They were then asked to estimate how influential habits, talent, decisions and luck were in contributing to success in each of those areas.

And it turns out, habits weren't only influential in a person's career but they also had a disproportionate impact on success in every area of life. On average, respondents attributed around 50 percent of their overall success to having the right habits. They attributed only 5.8 percent to luck and also said their habits are more than twice as important as the decisions they make (24.7 percent) or their talents (19.5 percent). Additionally, the more successful a person rated themselves in a particular area of his life, the more he attributed his success to having good habits.

And while there are likely keystone habits for success, what's surprising is that many of the habits people attributed to their results are less heroic than they are simple. For instance, some of the career habits respondents felt made the difference between success and failure include:

"A lot of these habits are what we call Trigger Habits," says Gregory. "While they seem small, they actually trigger a series of other powerful habits. For instance, 'Thinking yes before saying no,' is likely to create a habit of being less impulsive, more thoughtful, and even more visionary and creative. In fact, many of the good habits successful people have at work carryover into their personal life."

So instead of agonizing over every decision, counting yourself down and out because you aren't as gifted as the next guy, or even wearing your lucky socks to work each day, Gregory and her team at VitalSmarts recommend creating new, simple habits that will jump start your workplace performance. The skills to learn and adopt new habits are taught in the training course The Power of Habit, which is based on the New York Times best-selling book of the same title by Charles Duhigg.

3 Tips to Learning New Career Habits in 2020:

About VitalSmarts: Named a Top 20Leadership Training Company, VitalSmarts is home to the award-winning Crucial Conversations, Crucial Accountability, Getting Things Done, The Power of Habit, and Influencer Training, andNew York Timesbest-selling books of the same titles. VitalSmarts has consulted with more than 300 of the Fortune 500 companies and trained more than 2 million people worldwide.www.vitalsmarts.com

SOURCE VitalSmarts

Home

Read the original here:
Resolving to Find Career Success in 2020? New Study Says Habits Trump All--Even Decision-Making and Talent - PRNewswire

Too often, high-achieving professionals are frustrated, desperately trying to balance aspects of their lives that simply do not exist in a state of equilibrium.

A body or object is said to be in equilibrium when the sum of the forces acting on it is equal to zero. But I believe there is no magic organizational skill and no amount of planning or self-care that makes this possible. Work-life balance is, for many, a mythological concept because we attempt to expend equal effort where unequal effort would bring success.

Even as the literal concept of spending equal amounts of hours at leisure as spent at work became largely disregarded by well-meaning companies (that never had any responsibility to structure the lives of their employees at home), the phrase insists the only way to "have it all" is to have professional and personal success in equal measure. This unhealthy and unattainable standard can lead to an almost constant feeling of failure.

Here's how I coach clients to demote balance from its mythical, idealized status and develop a clear vision of a well-integrated life that honors individual circumstances and journeys:

Begin with the end in mind.

In his book The 8th Habit, Dr. Stephen Covey wrote, "People are working harder than ever, but because they lack clarity and vision, they aren't getting very far. They, in essence, are pushing a rope with all of their might."

Refining your vision is more than setting smart goals; it reaffirms who you are, puts your goals into a larger framework and context and moves your ideas into the real world. Your personal vision should not be a one-time, specific goal or target that can be met and discarded. It serves as a guide for activities over time; these activities are specific actions that can be adjusted based on circumstantial interpretation, and they should always move you closer to the abstract vision.

Writing the vision is important, as it gives body to the intangible as you design the life you're seeking. Ask yourself what you want your life to look like in one, two or five years, and include as much detail as possible. What are you doing? Who are you with? How do you feel? Vision is the foundation of intention. Your responses create the basis for your vision and the standard by which you will set your goals and tasks.

Break free of standards that are not your own.

I was initially surprised by how frequently executive coaching clients measured their present and future success against standards they didn't set themselves. We all have expectations that come from well-established scripts of how things are or should be in the world.

However, conforming to an ideal of balance or success simply because you believe people in your circle or reference group think you ought to is personal treason. From my perspective, this self-minimization fails to recognize individual conditions or ambitions, constraints or strengths and causes you to wage an internal war against yourself in the form of negative self-talk or other self-deprecating emotions.

When designing your vision, it is critical that you eliminate anything that does not represent the life you desire. It doesn't matter who wants it for you; they cannot achieve it and deliver it to you. If your dream career is to be a data analyst, it doesn't matter that you have been told you'd make a fantastic corporate attorney.You cannot integrate your life in a way that brings peace if there are standards that are warring against your personal vision.

Prioritize rather than compartmentalize.

Once you've developed your vision and identified the standards against which you should measure your progress and success, you can begin to prioritize based on your lifestyle and needs. Rather than siloing each aspect of your life, develop strategies to prioritize within your blended lifestyle.

When you compartmentalize, the limits of 24 hours in each day require you to de-prioritize goals and tasks that might be significant in an effort to give equal time to items that can wait. Without a plan, it's easier to fall into a reactive cycle rather than staying proactive toward your personal vision.

Prioritization might require a decision to forgo something you enjoy or deciding to work on the task that gets you closer to your own goals when everything on your list feels crucial. Compartmentalizing might cause you to work a full eight-hour day feeling the need to give 100% to the work compartment when a five-hour day would give you extra time for dinner and a strategy session with a mentor. If you're in reactive mode, its easy to overlook times when youre falling away from your priorities. This is when mindfulness becomes a true ally and time-management tool.

Embrace renewal as an intentional strategic practice.

Because life does not exist in equilibrium, we must approach renewal as a time to realign. There are so many forces working within our lives daily, staying upright and true to our "north" can be exhausting. Taking a moment away from all work modes renews our energy levels so we can continue and opens our minds for a creative spark.

Mindfulness is a time-management tool. It ensures we are expending time validly. The beginning of any control over our lives begins with identifying our treasure, developing our talent and prioritizing our time. This is where harmony and peace are found and perhaps what we might call "balance."

Read the original here:
Getting Past The Pressure And Myth Of 'Work-Life Balance' - Forbes

If youre looking to break into a career that makes the most of your financially-savvy skill set and start you on a course into the world of business investment, the job of a financial analyst may be for you.

Thinking you want to break into the field is all well and good, but what is a financial analysts role in a company? How do you become a financial analyst and what kind of degree do you need to succeed in the industry?

Financial analysts work to determine the viability of purchases and sales, and help guide their clients' or managers' investment decisions. They use their knowledge of a company and the markets financial state to recommend potential avenues of growth, improvements to performance and possible pitfalls to avoid when making either an acquisition or sale.

The role of a financial analyst is vital to the success of an investment enterprise.

Regardless of the size and focus of the company you choose to work for, youll find yourself delving into critical business matters as their financial analyst. You may deal with shareholder interests, stock viability and availability, growth expectations, the fluctuation of market values, industry competition, areas of opportunity and a variety of other issues influencing the direction an investor may take. Further, these issues will likely change over time, be added to or eliminated as the company, client base and market evolve.

A financial analyst is charged with providing company leaders with the information they need to make strategic decisions. Your research and analysis skills will be utilized often and intensively, as you'll be digging into financial data, business trends, weighing the values of companies, and providing reports to allow your managers to make their decisions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) breakdown of the role. Additionally, you may be called upon to meet both with your own leadership team and those of the companies you're called on to review. Interpersonal and communication skills will be important to succeeding on this career path.

Finance is a part of every business and most large corporations have financial analysts on staff. Financial analysts may also find job opportunities wherever investments are handled in banks, securities firms, and insurance companies, the BLS notes. You don't have to tie yourself to one specific company, however. You can find work within the business media and research houses that provide independent data.

As you grow within your career, you might find yourself further specializing within your chosen avenue of financial analysis. According to the BLS, some of these options include becoming a portfolio manager who assumes responsibility for the management of a company or clients investment portfolio, a fund manager who deals specifically with hedge or mutual funds, a ratings analyst who focuses on evaluating the ability of an entity to repay debt, or a risk analyst who determines the inherent risk of an investment, guiding the decision on whether or not to pursue it.

Whatever path you choose to take, financial analysts hold a valued role in the business world. The BLS reported an average median pay of $85,660 per year in 2018 and jobs are expected to increase at a rate of 6% (on par with the national average) through 2028.

Youll need some important skills to bring to the table as a financial analyst, but having a good head for crunching numbers or even personal success with investing isnt going to be enough. Potential employers will want to see credentials, which means the place to start is an education.

Data gathered by the BLS shows that a bachelors degree is necessary for any position within financial analysis. Kristin Regis, associate dean of business at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), said that job listings will often require a degree in finance, though a related field like accounting may be acceptable.

While taking courses will help build the skills youll need to break into the financial analysis field, there are a number of opportunities you should consider taking advantage of outside the classroom.

Reach out to connect with a career advisor early on so they can help to guide you alongside your academic advisor. Its never too early in your degree program to team up with the career department and youll have the benefit of all their insider knowledge of events and programs offered by the school that could complement what youre learning in class.

See if there are any organizations you can become involved in to start building connections with fellow students, instructors and industry professionals. This will be the foundation of your professional network. Join a finance club if your school doesnt have one, ask an instructor or dean how to get one started, Regis said. Join a finance association such as the American Finance Association or the Association for Financial Professionals and start networking in your desired field many associations offer student rates.

There are also opportunities to broaden your knowledge of the industry while keeping abreast of developing news that pertains directly to your field. Consider getting yourself a subscription to the Wall Street Journal (which also offers a student discount), said Regis. Even small steps like this are a great way to start getting ahead on the road to becoming a financial analyst.

Sarah A. Easley '12 '18G is a professional content writer and proofreader. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Read the original post:
What Does a Financial Analyst Do and How to Become One - Southern New Hampshire University

(photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photo Office)

As a small business owner of a toy company in Brooklyn, and a working mother who employs a nanny and a house cleaner, I am standing up in support of the Paid Personal Time bill under consideration in the New York City Council. This piece of legislation would ensure that over a million New Yorkers, including domestic workers and other workforces, would have the right to paid vacation time, something I take for granted as an employer.

One of the biggest motivations I had to be self-employed, was to have the right of having paid time off. I knew that by working for someone else, the right to paid vacation days wasnt secured.As an employer and working mother, I can take the time I need to care for myself and be present for lifes special moments taking my kids to their first day of school, seeing them graduate. I wouldnt miss these moments for the world and its inhumane to think that some of the hardest working people in our city who need a break the most are denied this right.

I know firsthand how an investment in workers pays dividends for employers. The success of my business and the caring environment at home for my children both depend on the hard labor of all my employees.

At home, I provide my nanny almost six weeks paid vacation per year. I am also considering providing paid time off to our house cleaner in 2020 and have already started the conversation with her about signing up to Alia, a benefit program that provides paid time off to house cleaners.

At work, my business provides 16 days of paid vacation time and sick days annually to nine full-time employees. Additionally, my business partners and I are in talks to offer paid personal time to our two part-time employees next year.

While these high-road practices definitely impact our bottom line, it pays off in the loyalty and dedication of our workforce. I know that having a happy and well-rested team contributes to the successful and productive results for my company. We all win.

Passing paid personal time, we are also advancing womens rights. From my 11 employees, 10 are women. As women, we know what it feels like to not be respected as a worker. For example, in the United States we dont have a law to ensure paid maternity leave, affecting millions of working mothers and their children. My company, however, provides 12 weeks of paid parental leave for full-time employees.

With Paid Personal Time we have an opportunity to set standards for gender equality. All employees should be treated as full human beings who have lives outside of work. For example, in November, which is the beginning of the high season for our business, one of my employees took paid personal time for her wedding. Our team came together to make that possible by preparing our strategy in advance and making sure other employees could cover her daily tasks.

As an employer, I strongly believe we can be good employers and have a successful business. I want my employees to balance their job with showing up and honoring the other aspects of their lives. If my employees feel treated with dignity and respect, they will be happier and more fully themselves. My family and business benefit from it too.

I understand that passing Paid Personal Time would demand that we add more vacation time required by the law, and that it might create an additional financial cost. However, it would also mean that families will take time off to eat in restaurants, go shopping, travel, and provide an injection to our local economy. I want my business to reflect my values in treating people with respect no matter what. I accept that this is the ethical cost of doing business and know that at the end I am building a strong and loyal team of employees.

When I became an employer I knew I wanted to do the right thing for my employees.

For all of these reasons, I urge the City Council to pass Paid Personal Time and bring our city up to the standards of London, Paris, Tokyo, and other places that already guarantee this right for all workers. Lets all make the necessary commitments recognizing equality and fairness for all workers and employers.

*** Emma Katz is a member of Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network since 2018, the CEO of Hazel Village, a toy company located in Brooklyn, and a resident of Jackson Heights, Queens.

*** Have an op-ed idea or submission for Gotham Gazette? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Continued here:
Paid Personal Time is the Right Thing To Do - and Benefits Both Workers and Employers - Gotham Gazette