business tips

Long gone are the days when the majority of Americans dreamed about owning a home with a white picket fence.

The traditional American Dream may be on its deathbed, but that doesn't mean a core component of the vision can't survive. It simply takes a diverse perspective. People can still believe they can attain their own vision of success in society with hard work, knowledge, and risk-taking. Investing in today's American Dream may literally mean investing money in our modern economy, starting with our infrastructure.

Real estate investing in particular is a lucrative method that can boost income and secure a better financial future for many. There's always risk involved, but the payoffs can far outweigh the uncertainty. Selecting solid financial investments is about confidence and competence. If you're looking for some advice on this kind of investment, here are a few savvy tips for new real estate investors.

Stick To a Specific Strategy or Niche

Real estate is a challenging sphere of the business world, one that requires several key skills: groundwork knowledge, networking, perseverance, and organization. True knowledge of the real estate market will come with time and experience, but it's a smart idea to select one area of the market and stick to it. This is the best way to attain in-depth familiarity with your specific niche.

First, choose a geographical area close by and then a niche strategy within it, such as house flips, rental rehabs, or residential or commercial properties. By doing so, you can become aware of current inner working conditions in the market and you'll have a better idea of how these trends may change in the future.

Be Vigilant About Viable Financing Options

While it takes money to make money, you don't have to use all your own money. A common misconception about real estate investing is that you must be wealthy to start off. This isn't straight fact, however. A majority of people can test the waters of real estate investing without a lot of initial cash in their pocket.

Aside from traditional financing options from banks and institutions, private lending options can be worthy solutions. Hard money lenders are popular, reasonable choices, and they tend to have fewer qualification requirements upfront. However, be sure to strategically choose a hard money lender to find the best possible fit.

Master the Art of Finding Good Deals

There may be hundreds of thousands of available properties for sale on the current market, but the bulk of them will never amount to the final money-making result you desire. Another great tip for new real estate investors is to use good math to estimate profit. Taking risks is part of the process, but you have the ability to analyze properties and use networking sources to find the greatest deal. You can't win every deal, but you can steadily work towards a thriving financial future.

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If you've ever quit a job before, you're probably already familiar with an often uncomfortable and overlooked aspect of employment: the exit interview. But what you might not realize is that an exit interview can be just as important as a job interview. Not only do you want to leave your place of employment with a good reputation for the purpose of references, but in case you want to come back some day.

Here are our top tips for nailing your exit interview.

1. Don't Think It Doesn't Matter

While you may be tempted to air all your grievances and get your complaints out in the open, in most cases, this isn't a good idea. Not only is it unlikely to actually incite change, it's a surefire way to get yourself written off by the company. There's nothing wrong with calmly and respectfully telling the HR representative you're likely to talk to that you have issues with the company, but make sure you don't cause a scene, no matter how much you may feel like it.

2. Prepare Ahead of Time

Don't go into an exit interview assuming that you'll just come up with what to say on the spot. While you may not know exactly what they're going to ask you, you can be sure they're going to ask you what you liked about the job and what you didn't like about the job. Make sure you have a clear and concise list of the pros and cons of your former position, a few ideas about how you would improve your position, and a few ideas about what you wouldn't change. Try to project the kind of poised and positive attitude you would want to project in a job interview.

3. Focus on the Relationships You Built at the Company

This doesn't only apply to the exit interview itself, but also to all of your behavior as you prepare to leave your job. Write notes to all your colleagues that you connected with, thanking them for their help and support. Try to compliment a specific talent you think each person has. These kind of small gestures may seem like no big deal, but they go a long way to ensuring you preserve the relationships you built at the company — relationships that may open doors for you later in life.

4. Focus on the Positives

If you begin the interview by first telling the HR rep what you loved about your job, they're more likely to see you as a level headed, neutral person when you tell them the things you didn't like about your job. Plus, focusing on the positives is a much better way to ensure you leave the company on a good note.

Most importantly, keep in mind that an exit interview isn't an ending, its a new beginning that could have a big impact on your career in the future.

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It's the age of the startup, and it feels like everyone has their own business. Whether you have an idea for an app, a cafe, or a publication, working for yourself can be a very tempting prospect. But running a business isn't a one person job, and you'll undoubtedly need help bringing your aspirations to fruition. Most likely, you'll turn to an equally ambitious friend to help you get your business off the ground, but is working closely with a friend a good idea?

Here are 5 tips you need to know before going into business with a friend.

1. Keep it Equal

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The tips on this list are in reference to a business relationship in which each party has an equal share of authority. Hiring a friend to be your subordinate in a business venture is never a good idea, as the unequal power dynamic will undoubtedly cause problems in the friendship. Additionally, it can be hard to respect someone as your boss if you're used to grabbing drinks with them on the weekend and know all about their personal life. When going into business with a friend, the only real option is for both parties to have an equal investment in the venture. This also means trying to keep salaries and work loads as equal as possible.

2. Set Clear Guidelines For Your Professional Relationship

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One of the dangers of working with someone you're close to can be withholding honest feedback for fear of damaging your friendship. It can be harder to be blunt with a friend than it is with a colleague, but open communication is necessary for any business to work. Before you go into business together, sit down and discuss how you will both work to create a productive professional relationship, without sacrificing your friendship. This may mean agreeing that the success of the business depends on neither friend taking professional feedback too personally or even very explicitly laying out each person's role so that there's less potential for conflict later on.

3. Agree to Keep Work Within Work Hours


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One of the fastest ways to ruin a friendship is by making it all about the business you have together. A simple way to avoid this is to agree to only discuss work during work hours, allowing your friendship to continue to exist as something separate from the business. Of course, with the long hours that often come with starting your own business, sometimes this is easier said than done. If you and your friend need to be able to talk about work at all hours of the day for most of the week, that's fine, but make sure that you leave at least an evening a week where you can just be friends.

4. Avoid Being Competitive


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It's natural for friends to share a sense of healthy competition, but this can backfire when you're both working towards the same goal. Try to create a business relationship in which success and failure is shared equally, regardless of who had a larger hand in the creation of each outcome. If you're constantly trying to prove to each other that you're the more valuable half of the partnership, it's going to be pretty hard to get anything done.

5. Know Each Other's Strengths and Weaknesses Before Going into Business

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If you're constantly frustrated with your friend for being bad with clients, and they hate the way you handle numbers, you may find yourself with an unproductive partnership and a damaged friendship. Before you go into business with a friend, it's important to have a real understanding of the way your respective traits will complement each other and what weaknesses you need to keep in mind. If you start the business relationship with a clear understanding of the other person's strengths and weaknesses, you're less likely to grow resentful towards them later on and can create a distribution of responsibilities that best suits each person's skills.

When you're just starting out with a small business that's on the brink of getting attention from the public eye, creating that special "buzz" is what will make your business stand out from the pack.

So many new businesses, particularly small ones pop up every year, and even with lots of hard work, many sadly fail. Part of the reason these businesses don't make it as far as they could have is due to a lack of awareness from clients, customers, and consumers. If they've never heard about your business, how will they ever know to choose it when it comes time for their need for the products or services you provide?

Generating and maintaining a buzz is imperative to getting your small business to get to the next step. The quote from that famous baseball movie, "If you build it, they will come," is only part of the process. Having a great small business that's virtually unknown may be a nice project for you, but don't you want to hit it out of the ballpark? These tips will help you create that important buzz your business needs for success.

Unique Marketing Angle

You surely know you'll need to put some budget into marketing, from email to direct mail to ads and even TV commercials. Every small business is unique in some way, even if there are other companies in the same field, so use that "certain something" your business has in order to market most effectively.

As per Forbes, your business needs a "creative marketing hook." This could be in the form of a "short phrase that conveys your unique value proposition, a catchy jingle, an important benefit, or a 'slant' or angle of your business that gets people talking." Be sure your "hook" truly conveys what your business offers and isn't just an empty promise. Not much turns away a customer more than disappointment.

Grasshopper adds, "Differentiate yourself. Make funny fliers or tell stories that set you apart."

Once your unique angle is established, you'll be easily remembered and find customers coming back time and time again. And these are the very people who will recommend your business to family and friends.


Online Giveaways and Promos

Use social media to your advantage. While you are creating your online presence, use the various social media platforms to create buzz by doing regular contests and giveaways and sales or deals for social media followers only. You'll gain popularity far more quickly and keep people coming back to your social media pages to check for these benefits regularly.

As Hubspot notes, "From Twitter to LinkedIn to Facebook and more, investing in social media can take time. But it's free and can quickly create the kind of momentum you're looking for in the early stages."

Additionally, once you gain customers, give them the thanks they deserve with a percentage off the next time they shop, or a special deal if they refer a new customer. It will cost you very little to offer these markdowns, but it will mean a lot in the minds of customers who had the chance to go elsewhere.

Network with Movers and Shakers

Part of being a small business owner is wearing lots of hats. This means you won't likely have a marketing or sales team to do initial networking for you as you're starting out.

As per Grasshopper, "Go to networking events, startup meetups, co-working spaces, and other industry events to try to get your name out. Talk, talk, talk, until you're ready to drop." The more you put your name out there, the better chance for a hit. Plus, you'll learn more about the business from the people already doing well in the field.

Forbes adds, "Connecting with influencers in your niche can help by lending you credibility. Find ways to connect and engage with influencers online. Share and retweet their content, or reach out to them via email. You never know where these types of connections can lead; and the potential to get a link or mention from a well-known industry expert makes your efforts worthwhile."

By placing yourself among those in your industry, you may find people interested in joining your efforts and even those who are willing to back you financially if they see a diamond in the rough. Hubspot notes, "Their qualified feedback might help improve your startup's offerings, and those relationships will cultivate your startup's success."

Keep at it and never let the buzz die down. That initial push is crucial, but keeping the momentum alive every day is the key to a successful life for your small business.