Document process to train new hires
Documenting processes is a critical aspect of running a successful business. It helps to ensure that tasks are performed consistently and efficiently, and it can also be a valuable resource for training new hires. By documenting processes, you can provide new employees with a clear understanding of their responsibilities and how to perform their tasks effectively.
There are several different ways to document processes in a business. One common method is to create process manuals or standard operating procedures. These documents outline the steps involved in completing a particular task or process, and they may also include guidelines for decision-making and problem-solving. Process manuals and SOPs can be particularly useful for training new hires, as they provide a clear and concise reference for employees to follow as they learn the ropes.
Another way to document processes is through the use of flowcharts or diagrams. These visual representations of processes can be helpful for new hires to understand the relationships between different tasks and how they fit into the overall workflow of the business. Flowcharts and diagrams can also be useful for identifying bottlenecks or inefficiencies in a process and finding ways to streamline them.
Video tutorials and online training modules can also be an effective way to document processes and train new hires. These resources can provide a more interactive and engaging way for employees to learn, and they can be accessed at any time for reference or review.
In addition to the methods mentioned above, there are many other ways to document processes and train new hires. These may include creating checklists, conducting job shadowing or mentorship programs, and using project management tools to track and manage tasks.
Overall, documenting processes is an essential part of running a successful business. It helps to ensure that tasks are performed consistently and efficiently, and it provides a valuable resource for training new hires. By taking the time to document processes, you can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your business, and set new employees up for success as they join your team.
Earning a living as an independent musician
Independent musicians can monetize their music in a variety of ways, including booking their own tours, creating and selling merchandise, putting their music on streaming platforms, creating podcasts or vlogs on YouTube, offering music lessons or workshops, collaborating with brands on sponsored content, licensing their music for use in film, television, or other media, and monetizing their social media following. To be successful, it is important for independent musicians to diversify their income streams and be proactive in finding new opportunities. Developing practical business skills such as budgeting, marketing, and sales can also be helpful. With dedication and hard work, independent musicians can achieve success and make a living in the modern music industry.
One way that independent musicians can monetize their music is by booking their own tours. This involves finding venues to play at, promoting the shows, and coordinating logistics such as transportation and accommodations. There are many ways to find gigs, including reaching out to venue owners or booking agents directly, using websites or databases like Bandmix or Gigsalad, or joining a touring collective like the DIY Musicians Conference. Musicians can also earn income from ticket sales, merchandise sales, and merchandise bundles that include tickets to the show. It's important to keep in mind that touring can be costly, with expenses including transportation, accommodation, and equipment rentals, so it's important to budget carefully and charge enough for tickets to cover these costs and generate a profit. It can be challenging to estimate how much an independent musician may make from touring, as it depends on factors such as the size of the venue, ticket prices, and the popularity of the artist. However, it is possible to use industry averages and other resources to get a sense of what to expect.
Another way for musicians to monetize their music is by creating and selling merchandise. This can include items such as t-shirts, hats, and other clothing items with the artist's name or logo on them, as well as physical copies of their music, such as CDs or vinyl records. Musicians can sell merchandise at their shows or through online stores like Bandcamp, Big Cartel or Squarespace. It can be helpful to offer a variety of merchandise options at different price points, as well as limited edition or exclusive items to encourage fans to purchase. In addition to generating income, merchandise can also serve as a way for musicians to promote themselves and connect with their audience. As with touring, it can be difficult to estimate how much an independent musician may make from merchandise sales, as it depends on factors such as the popularity of the artist, the price of the merchandise, and the quantity sold. However, musicians can use industry averages and other resources to get a sense of what to expect.
In addition to touring and merchandise, musicians can also monetize their music by putting it on streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora. These platforms allow artists to earn a small amount of money every time their songs are played. The exact amount of money that an artist will earn from streaming depends on the terms of their contract with the streaming service, as well as the number of streams their music receives. Musicians can also earn money by selling their music on platforms like Bandcamp and iTunes. In addition to generating income, streaming can also help musicians reach a wider audience and build their fan base. As with touring and merchandise, it can be difficult to estimate how much an independent musician may make from streaming, as it depends on factors such as the number of streams and the terms of the artist's contract. However, musicians can use resources such as the Spotify for Artists dashboard or the Apple Music for Artists app to track their streams and earnings.
Another way for independent musicians to monetize their music is by creating podcasts or vlogs on YouTube. These can be music-focused or can cover a variety of topics, such as the artist's creative process, life on tour, or other topics of interest to their audience. Musicians can monetize their YouTube channel through ads, sponsorships, and merchandise sales. To monetize their channel, musicians will need to reach the eligibility requirements set by YouTube, which include having at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the past 12 months. In addition to generating income, YouTube can also be a useful platform for musicians to share their music and connect with their audience. As with other monetization methods, it can be difficult to estimate how much an independent musician may make from YouTube, as it depends on factors such as the number of views, ad rates, and the terms of any sponsorships or partnerships. However, musicians can use resources such as the YouTube Analytics tool to track their views and earnings.
There are many other ways that independent musicians can monetize their music in the modern music industry. For example, they can offer music lessons or workshops, either in person or online. This can be a good way for musicians to share their knowledge and skills with others, while also generating income. Musicians can also collaborate with brands on sponsored content, such as creating a video for a product or performing at an event. This can be a good way for musicians to reach a wider audience and generate income from partnerships. Musicians can also license their music for use in film, television, or other media, which can generate income from royalties. Finally, musicians can monetize their social media following by offering exclusive content or merchandise to their followers, such as access to exclusive streams or discounts on merchandise. This can be a good way for musicians to engage with their audience and generate income from their online presence.
By monetizing their music in a variety of ways, independent musicians can earn a living and build a successful career. In addition to their musical skills, musicians can also benefit from developing practical business skills, such as budgeting, marketing, and sales. These skills can be useful not only for monetizing their music, but also for starting a record label or other music-related business. To get started monetizing their music, musicians can begin by building their online presence, networking with other musicians and industry professionals, and experimenting with different monetization methods to see what works best for them. With hard work and dedication, it is possible for independent musicians to make a living and succeed in the modern music industry.
What is screen printing?
As a method of the art of printmaking, screen printing is a printing technique that involves transferring ink onto a substrate using a mesh screen. Also known as serigraphy or silk screening, the process involves creating a stencil of the image to be printed, which is then applied to a screen made of silk or synthetic mesh stretched over a frame. Ink is then forced through the screen and onto the substrate, creating a print.
One of the main advantages of screen printing is the ability to produce high-quality prints with vibrant colors. The process can be used on a wide range of materials, including paper, cardboard, fabric, metal, glass, and ceramics. This versatility makes screen printing an ideal choice for a wide range of applications, such as printing T-shirts, posters, and other artwork.
Screen printing is a popular choice for artists and businesses alike, as it allows for the creation of large quantities of prints with a consistent quality. The process begins with the creation of a design, which is then transferred onto a film positive and burned onto a screen using UV light. The screen is then coated with a light-sensitive emulsion and exposed to UV light, which hardens the emulsion and leaves a stencil of the design on the screen.
Once the screen has been prepared, it is placed onto a printing press, and the ink is placed on top of the screen. A rubber blade, or "squeegee," is then used to push the ink through the screen and onto the substrate, creating the print. The screen is then cleaned and the process is repeated for each color in the design.
Screen printing is a versatile process that can be used for a wide range of applications, including printing T-shirts, posters, and other artwork. It is also a popular choice for printing promotional materials, such as signs and banners. Many artists and businesses use screen printing as a way to produce high-quality, consistent prints in large quantities, making it an important tool for marketing and branding efforts.
Screen printing has a long history, with roots dating back to the Song Dynasty in China. During this time, the technique was used to print textiles and decorations. In the early 20th century, screen printing was adapted for use in the printing industry and quickly gained popularity for printing posters, signs, and other promotional materials.
There are many notable screen printers throughout history, including Andy Warhol, who is well known for his colorful, graphic screen prints of celebrities and everyday objects. Another notable screen printer is Jasper Johns, who was known for his use of stencils and layering in his prints. More recently, street artist Shepard Fairey has gained fame for his screen printed posters and murals, including the famous "Hope" poster featuring Barack Obama during his presidential campaign.
Overall, screen printing is a unique and highly regarded art form that allows artists and printers to create high-quality prints with vibrant colors and precise detail. Its versatility and ability to produce large quantities of prints with a consistent quality make it an enduring and popular choice for a wide range of applications.
What is Zapier?
Zapier is a powerful automation tool that helps businesses and individuals streamline their workflows and save time by connecting their web applications and automating repetitive tasks. With Zapier, users can easily move data between apps, trigger actions based on specific events, and automate complex processes without writing a single line of code. As a cloud-based platform, Zapier allows users to create custom integrations with minimal computer knowledge, making it accessible to users of all skill levels.
One of the key benefits of Zapier is its wide range of integrations. The platform currently supports over 2,000 popular apps, including Google Sheets, Slack, Trello, and Salesforce, to name a few. This means that users can easily connect their favorite tools and create custom integrations to fit their unique needs. For example, a sales team might use Zapier to automatically send new leads from a form on their website to their CRM, or to pull data from a Google Sheet and add it to a project management tool like Asana. By automating these tasks, businesses can save time and reduce the risk of human error.
Another use case for Zapier is automating complex workflows. For example, a marketing team might use Zapier to automatically send a series of emails based on specific actions taken by a customer, or to trigger a series of actions in response to a new customer sign-up. By automating these processes, businesses can increase efficiency and free up their teams to focus on more important tasks. For instance, instead of manually sending follow-up emails or tracking customer interactions, a business can set up a series of Zaps to handle these tasks automatically.
In addition to saving time and increasing efficiency, Zapier can also help businesses save money. By automating routine tasks, businesses can reduce their reliance on manual labor and potentially save on labor costs. For example, a business might use Zapier to automate invoicing or billing processes, freeing up their finance team to focus on more important tasks.
Overall, Zapier is a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes. It helps streamline workflows, increase efficiency, and save time and money. If you're looking to automate your workflows and connect your favorite tools, Zapier is definitely worth considering. With a wide range of integrations and the ability to create custom integrations without coding knowledge, Zapier is a powerful tool that can help businesses of all sizes save time, increase efficiency, and streamline their workflows.
10 marketing ideas for your small business
Marketing is an essential component of success for small businesses, and this is especially true for art and craft businesses that may be competing against larger, well-established brands. Utilizing digital marketing strategies can help these businesses reach a wider audience, increase sales, and build a loyal customer base. As today’s tools are only getting more and more user friendly, the possibility of owning a small business is available to more and more people. Below are 10 marketing ideas for small businesses, art businesses, and craft businesses to consider when looking to promote their products through ecommerce and digital channels:
Social media marketing: Utilizing social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest can be a powerful way to showcase your products and interact with potential customers. Posting high-quality photos and videos of your products, along with engaging captions and hashtags, can help increase the visibility of your business to a targeted audience. Joining relevant Facebook groups and utilizing Instagram's "Explore" feature can also help increase the reach of your content. Additionally, interacting with your followers and responding to comments and messages can help build a sense of community and encourage customer loyalty.
Offering discounts and promotions: Consider offering discounts or promotions to first-time customers or for referring friends to your business. This can help bring in new customers and encourage repeat business. You can promote these special offers through social media, email marketing, and on your website. Offering free shipping or a percentage off their purchase can be especially appealing to customers.
Building a professional website: A strong and professional website is crucial for any small business, and this is especially true for ecommerce businesses. Make sure your website clearly showcases your products and includes a clear and easy-to-use ecommerce platform. High-quality photos and detailed product descriptions are essential for giving potential customers a good sense of what they are purchasing. A well-designed website can also help build trust and credibility with potential customers.
Email marketing: Email marketing is a cost-effective way to stay in touch with your customer base and promote new products or sales. Make sure to include a newsletter sign-up on your website and send out regular emails with engaging content and special offers. Segmenting your email list by interests and past purchases can help ensure that you are sending relevant content to each subscriber.
Collaborating with other businesses: Collaborating with other small businesses or influencers in your industry can be a great way to cross-promote each other's products and reach a new audience. You can collaborate on social media posts, offer joint discounts or promotions, or even create a limited edition product together. Collaborating can also help increase your credibility and build relationships with other industry professionals.
Search engine optimization (SEO): Utilizing SEO techniques can help improve the visibility of your website in search results, which can lead to more traffic and potential customers. This can include optimizing your website's title tags, meta descriptions, and including relevant keywords throughout your website's content. Utilizing SEO can also help improve the user experience on your website by making it easier for search engines to understand the content and structure of your website.
Paid advertising: Paid advertising on platforms like Google AdWords or social media can be a powerful way to target specific audiences and increase the visibility of your products. Carefully targeting your ads to the right audience can help ensure that you are reaching potential customers who are most likely to be interested in your products. Setting clear goals and metrics for your paid advertising campaigns can help you track the effectiveness of your efforts and make informed decisions about future campaigns.
Excellent customer service: Offering excellent customer service is crucial for any business, but it can be especially important for small businesses looking to build a loyal customer base. Responding to customer inquiries and complaints promptly and offering a satisfaction guarantee or returns policy can go a long way towards building trust and encouraging repeat business. Providing a personal touch, such as handwritten thank-you notes or surprise gifts with orders, can also help create a memorable customer experience.
Personalized products or services: Offering personalized products or services, such as custom artwork or handmade crafts, can help set your business apart and offer a unique customer experience. This can be especially appealing to customers looking for something special and one-of-a-kind. Personalization can also be a great way to upsell customers by offering additional customization options for a higher price.
Utilizing data and analytics: Utilizing data and analytics tools can help you track the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and make informed decisions about future strategies. This can include tracking website traffic, conversion rates, and social media engagement. Analyzing this data can help you identify trends, determine the most effective marketing channels, and optimize your marketing efforts for better results.
Small businesses, art businesses, and craft businesses have many options for promoting their products and reaching new customers through ecommerce and digital marketing. Utilizing social media, email marketing, collaborations, SEO, paid advertising, excellent customer service, personalized products or services, and data and analytics can all be effective strategies for increasing sales and building a loyal customer base. By carefully considering which marketing tactics will be most effective for your business and continually testing and refining your strategies, you can increase the visibility and success of your business.
What is product market fit?
Before throwing your life savings at an idea, it is a good idea to think a little bit about if your idea is the one to invest into. Doing a little bit of experimentation and testing on an idea before dedicating your resources to it can help you avoid the pitfall of throwing everything you have at something that won’t work. Figuring out if your idea has product market fit, before running with the idea, is a great first step to set yourself up for success. Product market fit describe when a product meets the needs and desires of a specific market. It is the sweet spot where a product's value proposition aligns with the needs, wants, and limitations of its target customers.
Finding product market fit is crucial for entrepreneurs because it helps them determine whether their product has the potential to be successful in the marketplace. Without product market fit, an entrepreneur may invest significant time and resources in a product that ultimately fails to gain traction. This can be costly and demoralizing, and it can drain resources that could have been better invested in more promising ventures.
There are several strategies that entrepreneurs can use to find product market fit for their idea. One of the most effective approaches is to conduct market research to understand the needs and desires of their target customers. This can include gathering feedback from potential customers through surveys, focus groups, and interviews, as well as analyzing data from existing customers to identify patterns and trends.
Another strategy is to continuously test and iterate the product based on feedback from customers. This can involve releasing prototypes or MVPs (minimum viable products) to small groups of early adopters and gathering feedback on what works and what doesn't. This process can help entrepreneurs fine-tune their product and make it more appealing to their target market.
Entrepreneurs can also consider partnering with complementary businesses or organizations that can help them reach their target market. For example, a company that makes organic snacks may partner with a fitness company to reach customers who are interested in healthy living.
Ultimately, finding product market fit requires a combination of market research, customer feedback, and continuous testing and iteration. By following these strategies, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of creating a product that resonates with their target market and has the potential to be successful in the long term.
5 houseplants that are easy to find and care for
Houseplants are a great addition to any home as they can provide a number of benefits, including improving air quality, reducing stress and anxiety, and adding a touch of nature to your living space. Easy-to-care-for houseplants are a particularly good investment as they are low maintenance and can thrive in a variety of conditions, making them suitable for busy individuals or those new to plant care. Listed below are five common, easy-to-care-for houseplants that are widely available at plant shops. These plants are resilient and can tolerate a range of temperatures and lighting conditions, making them a great choice for anyone looking to bring some greenery into their home.
Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) - Pothos is a vining plant with heart-shaped leaves that is native to the Solomon Islands. It is an extremely resilient plant that can tolerate a wide range of temperatures and lighting conditions. It is also drought tolerant, making it easy to care for. To care for pothos, simply water it when the top inch of soil feels dry and provide it with bright, indirect light.
Snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) - Snake plant, also known as mother-in-law's tongue, is a popular houseplant known for its hardy nature and ability to tolerate low light conditions. It has long, sword-shaped leaves that grow vertically from a central point, making it a great option for small spaces. To care for snake plant, allow the soil to dry out between waterings and provide it with bright, indirect light.
Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) - Spider plants are easy-to-grow houseplants with long, slender leaves that grow in a rosette pattern. They are known for their ability to tolerate a wide range of temperatures and lighting conditions, making them a great option for beginners. To care for spider plants, water them when the top inch of soil feels dry and provide them with bright, indirect light.
ZZ plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) - The ZZ plant is a tropical plant native to eastern Africa that is known for its ability to tolerate low light conditions and infrequent watering. It has dark green, glossy leaves that grow on thick, sturdy stems. To care for ZZ plants, allow the soil to dry out between waterings and provide them with bright, indirect light.
Philodendron (Philodendron spp.) - Philodendron is a large, tropical plant with heart-shaped leaves that is native to the tropical rainforests of South America. It is an extremely resilient plant that is able to tolerate a wide range of temperatures and lighting conditions. To care for philodendron, water it when the top inch of soil feels dry and provide it with bright, indirect light.
Overall, these five houseplants are easy to care for and resilient, making them great options for both beginner and experienced plant owners. They are commonly found at plant shops and can add a touch of greenery to any home.
What is backlinking?
Frustratingly, it can take a long time for search engines to start sending organic traffic to your website. Something that helps expedite this process are backlinks. Backlinking is a process of linking one website to another website. When a website links to another website, it is called a backlink. Backlinks are important for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) because they help to increase the authority and credibility of a website.
When a website has many high-quality backlinks, it tells search engines that the website is popular and trustworthy. As a result, the website is more likely to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), which can lead to more traffic and potentially more business for the website.
There are many ways that businesses can get backlinks to their website. One way is to reach out to local media outlets, online newspapers, and blogs and ask them to link to their website. This can be a great way to reach a new audience and increase the visibility of the website.
Another strategy for getting backlinks is to create high-quality content that other websites will want to link to. This could include blog posts, articles, infographics, or other types of content that are informative and valuable to readers. By creating valuable content, businesses can attract backlinks from other websites naturally, without having to reach out and ask for them.
Overall, backlinking is an important part of SEO because it helps to increase the authority and credibility of a website, which can lead to more traffic and potentially more business. By reaching out to local media outlets, online newspapers, and blogs and creating high-quality content, businesses can increase the number of backlinks to their website and reach a new audience.
What is Figma?
For anyone that doesn’t know how to code a website or app from scratch, that technical hurdle can be a limiting factor for your entrepreneurial endeavors. Luckily, in the age of no-code, tools like Figma exist. Figma is a cloud-based design and prototyping tool that enables users to create and collaborate on interactive designs for websites, mobile apps, and other digital products. It is a helpful tool for both designers and non-designers alike, as it offers a wide range of features and a user-friendly interface.
One of the main benefits of Figma is its collaborative nature. It allows multiple users to work on a single design project at the same time, enabling real-time collaboration and communication. This is particularly useful for companies that have distributed teams or need to work with clients and stakeholders remotely.
Figma also offers a range of design tools, including vector editing, prototyping, and design components, which make it a powerful tool for creating high-quality designs. It also integrates with other popular tools such as Slack, Trello, and JIRA, making it easy to incorporate into existing workflows.
Non-technical entrepreneurs can benefit from Figma in a number of ways. For example, they can use it to create wireframes, mockups, and prototypes to communicate their ideas to designers, developers, and other stakeholders. They can also use it to create and edit simple graphics and designs for marketing materials and social media posts.
In December 2020, Adobe announced that it had acquired Figma, making it a part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of tools. This acquisition is expected to bring Figma's collaborative design capabilities to a wider audience and further integrate it with other Adobe products.
Overall, Figma is a valuable tool for anyone involved in the design and development process, including non-technical entrepreneurs. Its collaborative features, wide range of design tools, and integration with other popular tools make it a valuable addition to any team's toolkit.
Planting evergreens saves on winter heating costs
Temperatures are dropping, and winter is around the corner. Luckily there is still time in the growing season, as you can plant trees until the ground is frozen. Strategically planted evergreen trees can act as a wind screen, blocking cold winter winds from drafting into your home. This wind blockage means that your furnace has to work less to maintain a baseline of heat, meaning that you end up saving on your yearly cost of energy.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, “evergreens that block winter winds can save 3 percent on heating.” This means that by investing in evergreen trees, planted along side your home, you can end up saving on your winter heating bills, year over year. As these evergreens grow, it stands to reason that your savings may even gain in value, since they will grow taller and wider, blocking more and more wind.
The Utah State University Forestry Extension, “Effective windbreak trees have crowns that extend to the ground and branches that keep their foliage in winter (evergreens). Junipers, spruces, firs, Douglas-fir, and evergreen shrubs are good choices for wind protection.”
“Trees for winter wind protection should be planted upwind of the area to be protected. This will often mean planting on the west, northwest, and north sides of a building. However, local conditions like mountain ranges may cause prevailing winter winds to be from other directions,” according to the Utah State University Forestry Extension.
“Windbreak trees can be planted in straight or curved rows or in linear groupings. They should be close enough together so their crown edges meet within a few years without overcrowding. Small or narrow-crowned trees can be as close as six to eight feet while larger trees can be as far as fifteen feet apart. Shrubs can be planted as close as two to four feet apart. Windbreaks can consist of one or two dense rows or several less-dense rows.Wind protection extends downwind ten to twenty times the windbreak height, so the trees need not be planted close to dwellings to be effective. Keep in mind that snow drifting will be the worst at two to three times the windbreak height downwind,” continues the Utah State University Forestry Extension.
Ticketmaster processes 70% of US ticket sales
Would you spend a thousand dollars to see your favorite live act? Okay, how about ten thousand dollars? Twenty? More than that? If you answered no to all of those amounts, then you may not be lucky enough to see Taylor Swift’s next tour, especially if you missed out on the pre-sale, and are finding tickets on the re-sale market. This massive inflation in price is due to the experience of buying the most in demand tickets. A mixture of bot-resellers and technical issues can mean that those who are meant to buy tickets (actual fans) can miss out to opportunists who are trying to flip a ticket for profit.
As reported by Bloomberg, “the two control more than 70% of the primary ticketing and live event venues market, according to consumer groups, and Skrmetti said he’s concerned a lack of competition has led to a poor experience and higher prices for consumers.” Continuing, “tickets for Swift’s show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on May 26 are listed for as much as $21,600 each on ticket resale site StubHub. That price tag will get fans a spot on the floor in front of the stage. As for just getting into the stadium — that’ll cost at least $350 on Stubhub,” reports CNN.
When companies reach monopoly status, or having enough control over a market that a company can disregard customer complaints or poor user experience, it can become harmful to the customers of that company. In this instance, fans of Taylor Swift reported being dropped from wait lists for tickets, fees that were not made apparent until checkout, and overall dissatisfaction with the experience of buying tickets for the Eras Tour.
“Since Swift announced ‘The Eras Tour,’ there’s been a rush to land a ticket to one of her shows. Fans were asked to register on the Ticketmaster website for the chance to nab a presale code, and many received only a waitlist notification instead. Soon after the presale window opened, the Ticketmaster website crashed on Tuesday under what it said was ‘unprecedented demand.’ West Coast sales were delayed from 10 a.m. local time to 3 p.m. on Tuesday,” Bloomberg reports.
Competition forces companies to keep pace with the needs of the market. Bloated, complacent companies can afford to not invest in customer experience, yet overcharge for a dissatisfying experience. Once enough marketshare has been owned, or an exclusive on a resource has been claimed, price is set at the whims of the company, and not a market rate. Monopolies can undercut prices when needed to defend marketshare from upstarts, then over charge when competition is exhausted.
Instead of a mosaic of ticket processors that represent the different markets in the United States, Ticketmaster and Live Nation get to dictate the user experience and end price of buying tickets. Hidden fees can be tacked on at checkout, with little recourse, as the monopoly has the only source of tickets. Independent venues, independent ticket processors, and event planning platforms like Eventbrite are a solution to this problem. While of course, large companies have their benefits to customers, when it comes to a nationwide market, regional players can help make the process of buying tickets easier for those people in those regional markets.
Learn with Shopify: everything you need to sell
Perhaps the best educational content made by a company about its own products, Learn With Shopify on YouTube has a video on almost anything you would need to know about starting and running a store on Shopify. From its first upload two years ago titled, “Start A Business From Home,” to the specific, “How to Launch a Makeup Brand and Sell Online,” or the fundamental, “Business Plan Template: A Framework to Streamline Your Next Business Plan.” Shopify has made a fantastic resource for customers and in doing so is also marketing itself to potential new business.
Every video goes in depth significantly and serves as a complete walkthrough for the topic that the video is about. Have questions about how to market the business you just started? Learn With Shopify offers channel specific videos for every social media platform. Learn With Shopify also offers granular instructional videos about the topics covered. Have a question about how to maximize reach and conversions for your brand’s Instagram Stories? Learn With Shopify has you covered. Have a question about how to make sure that you are using your TikTok advertising budget in the most efficient way? Learn With Shopify has a video for that.
Learn With Shopify’s YouTube channel offers a wealth of information, and is truly an invaluable resource for anyone who runs a Shopify store, or really, anyone who runs a business of any sort. The learnings are transferrable to most ecommerce platforms, though obviously tailored to Shopify’s set of features.
Shopify’s educational offering is a win-win for both an entrepreneur and the company Shopify. The company succeeds when you do, as you pay them to host your website, and they get a cut of payment processing. By providing a wealth of knowledge to Shopify users, Shopify is helping its clients, and is incentivized to provide the best information possible.
Starting a business online can be daunting. Putting your in-person retail store online can seem overwhelming. While true, Learn With Shopify helps to make the process of selling and marketing online simple. You’ll have to do the work to actually watch the videos and learn the skills that are transferrable to your business, but long gone are the days when you had to find that information on a scattershot of websites, or having to figure things out by yourself. When you win, Shopify wins, and because of that Learn With Shopify will bring you from idea to first sale before you know it.
One in five Americans listens to a podcast daily
Here’s a fun fact for the next time you find yourself making small talk or at a party: the first podcast was a Grateful Dead song. The first podcast feed was uploaded in 2001, on January 20th, the day George W. Bush was inaugurated. The song was U.S. Blues, long before Marc Maron got his start podcasting, way before VH1’s Best Week Ever podcast, and more than a decade before NPR’s Serial podcast was considered to be a breakthrough for the medium. Twenty two years later, the medium has grown from a single song to something that 20% of the American public listens to daily.
What is a podcast? A podcast is essentially a publicly available RSS audio feed, freely accessible by anyone. Podcasts began to hit their stride when iPods and the iTunes store launched, with the mp3 players letting people find and upload songs from iTunes to the portable players. Nowadays, podcasts can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or really anywhere online. Podcasts can be subscribed to for a paid tier, though the majority are still free in majority.
It is notable that 20% of the United States listens to podcasts daily, as reported by the Verge. “That may still pale in comparison to those that, say, watch TV or listen to music every day — but it’s a lot more than it used to be. The new data from Edison, which was gathered in the third quarter of this year, shows that 18 percent of people in the US age 13 and up listen to a podcast every day, up from 15 percent during the same period last year. That 18 percent figure is also double the rate it was in 2018.”
As anyone can upload a podcast to the internet, and the tools of today have made it almost too easy to create something that sounds professional, it has never been easier to start a show and actually acquire listenership. While true that there are absolutely too many podcasts in current circulation to be able to listen to everything, what podcasts represent is creative freedom.
If you want to make a podcast within a niche of niches, there’s an actual possibility that people who are interested in that specific niche will find your podcast. If you maintain consistency, that likelihood only goes up. Twenty percent of the population of the United States equates to roughly 66.38 million people. That’s 66.38 million people who are listening to podcasts ranging from the NPRs and New York Times produced podcasts of the world to shows that are recorded by not-professionally-trained people kind of just hanging out while recording the conversation.
Podcasting is still very much in its infancy, even though the medium has had a few notable moments in its brief history. It took from 2001’s Grateful Dead song podcast feed until 2014 when major media outlets began reporting on podcasts having a ‘breakout moment.’ As of writing, it has been eight years since that breakout moment, and there have only been a few shows since that have hit similar critical mass. Joe Rogan and Call Her Daddy would be examples of these shows, and yet they are only two in number, and niche in scope. We will likely never reach the monoculture of television and radio’s heyday, yet that is also a good thing for independent creators who are trying to find an audience that can sustain a career.
Employees who feel heard are 4.6x more productive
In a recent study conducted by Salesforce, it was shown that “employees who feel their voice is heard at work are nearly five-times (4.6X) more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work, and employees who say their company provides equal opportunities are nearly four times (3.8X) more likely to say they are proud to work for their company.
The report expands on these findings. “We’ve all heard stories about the brand new intern who pipes up with a great solution to a problem or a quiet employee who changes the course of a company with an innovative idea, but these scenarios simply aren’t going to happen if meetings are conducted in a way that people feel their voice or point of view isn’t going to be heard.”
Noting that, “everyone should have a right to add value to meetings; no one should be made to feel invisible. If employees feel respected, they can be solid contributors to the company’s mission.”
Essentially, when employees feel that their opinions about their jobs matter, or that they can inform how their company operates, they enjoy their jobs more, which in motivates them to perform at their best. A takeaway being to stop paying for external consultants and learn from your employees, who know your business best.
What is a commercial kitchen?
Have an idea for a food business, but don’t have the savings to rent a standalone building to cook out of? Or are you already running a cottage food business out of your home kitchen that is starting to take off, and need to expand? A solution to these problems that is sometimes not considered are commercial kitchens. Commercial kitchens are shared commercial grade cooking spaces that can be rented on a short time basis. Startup food companies, catering companies, meal prep companies, or anyone else that needs access to a commercial grade kitchen, but doesn’t own access to one, can rent these spaces to operate their businesses. These kitchens are helpful for people starting businesses, as you can start with a minimal budget.
“As a food entrepreneur, you need a place where you have the freedom to create. Shared-use or commissary kitchens in Chicago, IL have become the go-to-place that chefs, caterers, trucks, and other food producers need to focus on their business. They offer clean, commercially-licensed space so you don’t have to worry about the overhead of getting your own kitchen,” explains The Kitchen Door.
"Most kitchens require a monthly lease and security deposit on top of the hourly rate. The hourly rates typically ranges from $15-$30 an hour. This may not sound bad, however many monthly memberships or leases range from $300 to several thousand dollars, meaning it can be costly to rent a commercial kitchen for a singular event,” reports Giggster.
Commercial kitchens do all of the work for you other than the actual cooking. This service lets you keep working on your business, without having to wait for licenses or finding a long term space that fits your budget. You get to show up with your materials, get your work done, then get to shipping your product or cater your next event. Building maintenance and deep cleaning are included in your short term rent.
There are even new spaces that have services like delivery and pick-up already built in, called ghost kitchens. You can launch a virtual restaurant with CloudKitchens in a month, and be fully integrated into all local delivery apps and be able to advertise pick-up for your food at a convenient location. “Capture more delivery orders with multiple brands. Our most successful customers are often running 5 brands out of a single kitchen,” furthers CloudKitchens. Continuing, “Manage all your delivery orders from a single tablet and leverage the data to increase your efficiency.”
You can start a food business in your kitchen, but eventually you’ll need more space, bigger appliances and more capacity. Commercial kitchens are going to be a relatively cheap way to expand your business, and absolutely affordable if you have an already profitable business. If you find a commercial kitchen with a free or cheap monthly fee, you can get started right away with the same materials as an established business. Commercial kitchens can either start your business or grow it to where you want it to be in no time at all.
Trees, shrubs and perennials that attract winter wildlife
During the winter months, wildlife passing through your landscape can be a beautiful sight that saves you through the last of winter. The dreary grays of January can make even the shortest days feel endless, and catching a glimpse of a cardinal or deer fluttering or jumping through your yard can be the godsend needed to get you through the day, reminding you of the thawing of spring. It may be getting too late in the year now to consider planting things that wildlife likes to eat in the winter, but if you have any of the plants listed below in your landscape, then it may be worth considering holding off on cutting them back during your fall cleanup.
“Usually deer can comfortably survive the winter by eating their usual diet of twigs, stems, grasses, and other plants wherever they typically would find them, as well as by supplementing with higher-calorie foods such as nuts, fruits, and even mushrooms,” explains Tufts University.
For birds, you’ll need to consider shelter as well as food sources. Alaska Department of Fish and Game explains, “spruce and hemlock trees provide excellent cover; birch, willow, and alder provide natural seed sources, and some berry-producing plants attract birds that rarely come to feeders. A brush pile also can provide cover for some birds.”
Plant life to consider incorporating into your landscape or saving from your fall cleanup:
Trees and Shrubs: Beautyberry, Black and Red Chokeberry, Hawthorns, Winterberry Holly, Large Sumac, Dogwood, Viburnums, Junipers and Crabapples.
Perennials: Echinacea, Coreopsis, Penstemon, Sedum and ornamental grasses. Keep these plants to attract birds to your gardens during the winter. It would then be recommended to cut these perennials back in the springtime.
Take stock of your landscape at this time to consider if you can add in some of the plant life listed above next growing season. By observing how your landscape looks in winter and planning for winter earlier in the season, you’ll be maximizing your chance to have a winter wonderland of your very own, right in your back yard.
What are Amazon Ads?
When you search for something on Amazon.com, unless you’re looking for it, you may miss noticing the results that are sponsored, or seeing the well placed ads throughout the website. These sponsored results are ads that are paid for by brands to get their products higher in search results. The ads are pay-per-click, meaning the merchants only pay whenever a potential customer clicks through to the product page, and very cost effective.
If you sell a product on Amazon and don’t use Amazon Ads yet, this may seem too good to be true. Since Amazon is a shopping platform, customers are already usually searching when they want to buy something (as opposed to a social media app or game). According to Amazon, “our analysis of survey responses shows that 31% of customers who spent 10 minutes or more on product pages ended up purchasing a product within the category, with 14% of customers purchasing on Amazon and 17% purchasing off Amazon.” Because people who are searching on Amazon are generally going to buy something, being able to pay-per-click for showing up at the top of search results can be very valuable.
Amazon Ads is also not just for the biggest brands selling on Amazon. “Choose the budget that's right for your business. You decide how much you want to spend, and just $10 USD a day can help increase sales,” explains Amazon. Continuing, “create and launch a campaign in as little as 5 minutes. Our ads are designed for everyone, meaning you don't need to have any advertising experience to launch a campaign. We’ll provide performance insights and reporting before and after campaigns, too.”
Advertising on Amazon is simple. You can create an ad using the product page you already have, and you can start and stop the campaign whenever you want. Set the budget, and add more if you see positive results. If you aren’t happy with the ad’s performance, stop the ad right away or decrease the budget.
Launching a product? Amazon Ads can be a way to get your product into potential customers’ searches on day one. Try the recommended minimum ad spend and see how much of a boost that gives your current sales. If you have a best seller already, why not extend its success and potentially raise the sales of your other products as well? Amazon Ads are an efficient pay-per-click way to get your product on Amazon higher in search results. As Amazon is a search engine for shopping, that bump to the top of the results page can really translate into an increase in sales.
What is Illinois’ right to garden law?
Becoming only the second state to do so, Illinois recently passed a law that makes it a legal right to be able to grow vegetables on your own property. This means that if you live in a subdivision or neighborhood that has strict rules about what you can and can’t have in your lawn, under this new law, your neighborhood can’t prohibit you from gardening vegetables on your own property. Formalizing this in law ensures that Illinoisans will always be able to grow their own food on their own land.
As stated in Illinois law, “Right to cultivate vegetable gardens. Notwithstanding any other law, any person may cultivate vegetable gardens on their own property, or on the private property of another with the permission of the owner, in any county, municipality, or other political subdivision of this state.”
“‘This bill strips local governments of the power to impose HOA-style prohibitions on an act of self-sufficiency in which humans have been engaged for thousands of years,’ said IJ Attorney Ari Bargil. ‘Just about a year ago, as fears of the COVID-19 pandemic took hold nationwide, many Americans developed grave concerns about the weaknesses in our nation’s food-supply chain as grocery stores rationed purchases and shelves grew depleted. If we’ve learned anything from the past twelve months, it’s that the ability to grow food is not just a right—for many, it is a necessity. Passing this bill is an important step in the march for food freedom for all Americans,’” as reported by Institute for Justice.
Growing your own food has many benefits, now protected by this law. Growing your own vegetables produces vegetables healthier than anything you could get at the store, boosts mental and physical health, increases self sufficiency, decreases a reliance on the traditional food system, and can foster a sense of community when sharing or trading a harvest. Growing your own food will never not be a helpful thing to do for yourself, and the Illinois Vegetable Garden Protection Act makes sure that you will always have the right to do so.
Create demand with a drip campaign
After all of your hard work creating a brand new product, a new song, or anything else that you may want to announce to your audience, you’re likely going to be excited to get what you made out there as soon as possible. This is completely fine, as it shows that you’re proud of what you made. Unfortunately when you launch something you’re excited about too soon, without any notice to your following, that announcement can get drowned out in the social media of that day. By dropping your announcement without planning, you’re missing out on an opportunity to build demand for what you’re about to release.
A drip campaign can be simply defined as a slow rollout to an eventual announcement. Similar to a dripping faucet, each “drop” represents a new piece of information that can either generate excitement or inform your customer base/audience.
If you have a product to launch, you can first announce that you’re going to announce a new product. Then you can announce its product category, then you can start to announce different aspects to what the product actually is. Are you launching a new t-shirt? Announce the new shirt, then the next day announce your production collaborators, another day post a video of your production process, another day post a photo of the final products inside of a closed box, then post some of your inspirations for the shirt. Finally after teasing the new product, post photos of influencers wearing your new design, leading up to a post that contains the actual link to buy the product.
If you’re announcing a new song or music video, start by posting a teaser to the song. This teaser can simply be an image or graphic, where you say “new music soon” in the caption. If you’re releasing a song, then release the album art or song title next. If you’re announcing a music video, post a still from the video or a behind-the-scenes shot. Keep posting relevant media to the song or video, and after a week or so, go ahead and drop the final release. This will keep your audience engaged, and looking forward to what you’re about to put out there. If you’re releasing an album, follow this same strategy, but also pick a few singles from the album to post 15 second snippets of to generate that demand.
This tactic is used by almost all major artists and brands. Any major label release will have teams of marketers, graphic designers and video editors that are all working to generate hype around an upcoming release. Most brands make product announcements before that product goes on sale.
By breaking an announcement post up into several posts, you can stretch out the reach of that announcement over several days to even weeks or months. With every post there is an opportunity for new people to find what you’re going to announce, which means there’s more opportunity for people to want that product. If you’re lucky enough, or have an engaged enough following, a single customer may see several of these announcement posts, which increases the likelihood that they purchase your product or stream your art.
TikTok is finally launching in-app purchasing
A feature that has been long available on Instagram and Facebook, the newly popular short-form video app has just announced that it is testing a brand new feature that will allow its users to make purchases without leaving the app. As TikTok has shown to be the home of viral products ranging from the questionable Pink Sauce, to the practical Blackstone griddle, being able to sell these products at wide scale, it is notable that users within the United States will soon be able to make their purchases with less friction and less clicks.
This is a feature that has been on Instagram and Facebook. Shoppable posts, or posts with products tagged in them, can be posted or advertised on these Meta platforms. This allows business owners to post an image or video of their product, then add a button to that post that lets people on Instagram or Facebook purchase the product right from the app. Generally if the transaction occurs on the social platform, there is a percentage commission that is charged by the platform for facilitating the purchase.
As reported by The Verge, “E-commerce has long been a focus for TikTok, but it’s had a slower start in the US than in other regions like Asia. The company had previously experimented with a Shopify shopping tab and is gearing up to bring live shopping features to the US after a reportedly slow start earlier this year.
TikTok spokesperson Laura Perez confirmed that the new feature is being tested in the US but didn’t provide additional details. It was previously limited to the UK, Indonesia, and other countries in Southeast Asia. According to Semafor, TikTok is inviting US businesses to the new shopping program, with access extending to international sellers eventually.”
In-app purchasing is a great way for businesses to merchandise their products in a passive way. Merchants and businesses can post lifestyle content, where their product is in use (but not the main point of the post), and with a few taps, followers can purchase without leaving the app they’re already using. This functionality also heightens the experience of shoppers, as the product tags are generally non-invasive while streamlining the purchase process. If you haven’t yet tried product tagging, try linking your best seller to your social accounts and see if your audience starts to make purchases.