Shannon Gronich – Page 27

How to Sell Your Personal Brand as a Real Estate Agent

February 17, 2022 by Shannon Gronich Leave a Comment

When you are working as a real estate agent, a lot of your ability to find and keep clients is based on your personal brand. But it can take time and work to figure out what your brand is and how to really sell it to potential clients. If you can master your personal brand and market it to others, you can make your real estate business as successful as possible.

Use Social Media

One of the best ways for you to connect with your customers is through a social media platform. If you can build an audience on social media, you can interact more with customers and start building up a larger client pool. Make sure to be active on your social media platform and to stay consistent with your brand. Respond quickly to comments and messages so you can build a reputation on social media as well as in person. You can also use social media for targeted advertising based on your location.

Create a Website

In the modern world of real estate you can’t be as successful as possible if you don’t have a website. You also need your website to be well designed, highly functional, and easy to navigate. Visibility is crucial for gaining clients in the real estate industry, and your website is one of the main ways that people will learn about you and start interacting with your brand. Having your website professionally designed can help you to put a professional face on your real estate business.

Choose a Niche

Having a niche is a great way to give your personal brand more meaning. When you are trying to make your brand work for everyone, it is hard to make things happen. But when you know your niche and your audience, you can tailor everything you do to their needs. You can focus on particular kinds of properties or even specific geographical regions or price ranges. With that focus you can better suit the needs of your clients and make more of a name for yourself while you are at it.

As a real estate agent, your personal brand is a huge part of your ability to succeed. When you feel confident that you can reach the people you need in a way that will appeal to them, you can be far more successful. Now is a great time to start developing your personal brand and selling it.

Check out this article on how to prepare for the worst at your business!

Filed Under: entrepreneurs

How to Run a Successful Brick-and-Mortar Store in 2022

February 15, 2022 by Shannon Gronich Leave a Comment

With COVID-19 lockdowns and social media shopping, it seems like the past few years have discouraged a lot of brick-and-mortar business owners. However, even though there have been a lot of changes in the last few years, you can still run a successful in-person business. Here are a few steps that can help you to find success at your brick-and-mortar location.

Stand Out

First off, it is necessary that you stand out. One of the most important tasks that you have in order to keep your brick-and-mortar store running is standing out from all your competitors. You want customers to walk into your store and instantly want to come back again. For example, if you own a photo lab, you don’t want your customers to enter your store and wish that they’d just ordered at Costco or Walgreens. You want your customers to think, “I’m never ordering photos anywhere else!” There are lots of different elements that can make you stand out. Of course, the décor and atmosphere of your store will prepare them for a good experience, but ultimately, the quality of your products and the interactions that your customers have with your employees will determine how they feel about your company.

Integrate With an Online Store

Next, you need to integrate your brick-and-mortar business with your online store if you want to be successful with your customers. POS software allows you to seamlessly integrate your online store with your physical store. This will allow you to receive online orders and ship products to different areas to customers that wouldn’t be able to visit your brick-and-mortar store. Having an integrated online store will also help you to gain a greater online audience and following, especially if you have an attractive and functional website.

Make the Most of Social Media

Finally, if you’re not taking advantage of social media to help your brick-and-mortar store, you’re making a big mistake. Social media isn’t only for online exclusive shops, or little Instagram businesses without a storefront. Social media can help you to attract new customers that would have never found your store by passing it on the street. There are millions of users on social media each day that could possibly be exposed to your great products and services, which could increase sales and help your business to be more successful. Social media can also help you to connect with other businesses or creators in your industry, which can expose you to customers or followers in your niche.

So, now that you’ve been reminded that it is still possible to have a successful brick-and-mortar store, even in 2022, don’t let any of your fears hold you back. Remember to make your business stand out, integrate your in-person store with your online store, and make the most of social media to better grow your business. This will help you to grow your audience, improve your sales, and reach goals that you’ve never dreamed of.

Check out this article on how to make your company an attractive place to work!

Filed Under: Business

How to Prepare Now for a Major Malware Attack

February 14, 2022 by Shannon Gronich Leave a Comment

There are few things more important to your business in today’s digital world than cybersecurity protections. Without cybersecurity protections, your business can be incredibly vulnerable to dangerous attacks that can end up costing your business in major ways. One of the most common types of cybersecurity attacks is the malware attack, where any type of malicious software that has been downloaded begins doing unauthorized tasks on your systems. This can result in things like spying, ransom, remote control of your servers, etc. Here is how you can prepare now for a major malware attack on your business.

Implement Cyber Security Protocols

The very first thing that you need to do to protect your business from a major malware attack is to implement cybersecurity protocols across your company. The only way to prevent cybersecurity attacks is with the proper protocol to ensure your data and systems remain safe. This includes things like requiring strong passwords and dual factor authentication, as well as mandating firewalls, and other protections. Make sure you work with a cybersecurity professional to discuss your options and find out what protocols are the most important to protect in your business from a malware attack.

Back Up Everything

Another important thing that you need to do to protect your business from major malware attacks is to back up everything that you have on your systems. Backups can come in handy in the event of a data breach. These backups will allow you to have a system backup with all the data that you have, ready and able to relaunch as soon as you notice a problem. You should be backing up your servers and systems very often, so that whenever anything changes, you have a new backup that can be used for information or as a backup plan.

Update Your Software Always

The final thing that you need to do to prepare your business for a major malware attack is to update your software frequently. When your software is old, there is more time for hackers and cybercriminals to find the weak points and exploit them to their advantage. One of the major reasons software has upgrades is for better security. By updating your software, you are ensuring that you have the most up to date protections on your computers to keep your business safe from attacks.

There is nothing more catastrophic to a business than a major malware attack. And they are far more common than you may be led to believe. Make sure that you are following these steps to ensure that your business is properly protected from the threat of a malware attack.

Check out this article on how to make your company an attractive place to work!

Filed Under: Business

Retirement Account Options Businesses Can Choose From

January 26, 2022 by Shannon Gronich Leave a Comment

To keep a competitive edge and attract the best talent to your business, it is important to offer the benefits that your employees want most. Retirement benefits are the second most desired benefit, falling just behind health care benefits. Choosing the best retirement plan for your business will depend on the number of employees and whether your business is a sole proprietorship, an LLC, or a corporation. Here are a few good options to consider.

A SEP-IRA

If you are self-employed, then a SEP-IRA is a great option. Even as a sole-proprietor, you as owner can receive the same benefits that would be offered to employees. The maximum contribution allowed per year is relatively high, sitting at 25% of your annual income or 61,000, whichever is less, in 2022. This creates a double benefit for sole proprietors, who get to make pre-tax contributions and claim any business-funded matching as a deduction. Bottom line, you can save more with a SEP-IRA. The SEP-IRA is also one of the simpler plans administratively, with minimal paperwork and no IRS reporting. However, if you have employees and you choose the SEP-IRA, you must contribute the same amount across the board into each employee’s account, including your own.

A 401(k)

If you want to provide a 401(k) plan for your business, there are several options. The three basic 401(k) plans are Standard profit sharing 401(k)’s, Simple 401(k)’s, and Safe Harbor profit sharing plans. Standard profit sharing 401(k) plans give employers the flexibility to choose their desired level of contributions, including the option to contribute nothing. The downside is that this plan is highly complex, with massive amounts of paperwork and required IRS equality testing. The Simple 401(k) plan is ideal for smaller businesses, with less than 100 employees. While this plan does not require IRS equality testing, it does enforce employer contributions. Finally, the Safe Harbor profit sharing plan was designed to eliminate the need for nondiscrimination testing by enforcing highly structured employer contributions. A safe harbor 401(k) helps you avoid onerous IRS rules.

SIMPLE IRA

While the SIMPLE IRA is easy to set up and maintain, the name is actually an acronym that stands for Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees. This plan provides free setup, allows for relatively high employee contributions through elective deferrals, and requires relatively low employer matching. The simple IRA is exempt from nondiscrimination testing and is easy to file. All of this means that the SIMPLE IRA is another great option for smaller businesses.

With great options and an abundance of support, offering a retirement plan at your business is simple. And because of the tax exemptions and credits available to businesses, it is an affordable benefit to provide.

Check out this article on how to inspire your employees to perform their best!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

How to Prepare for the Worst at Your Business

January 25, 2022 by Shannon Gronich Leave a Comment

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. These words of wisdom ring true for most ventures, and it’s smart to take this advice in your business practices as well. It is very easy for many business owners to hope for the best, imagining huge success and growth for their business, but it is harder to get business owners to prepare for the worst. But time and time again it is the businesses that are prepared to get through the bad times that experience the most of the good times. Here are three ways that you can prepare your business for the worst to improve your resilience.

Stay Financially Healthy

The very first step to preparing your business for the worst is just solid business advice regardless, and that is to stay financially healthy. The financial health of your business is one of the many aspects that excites investors and customers about your business. More than that, your financial health is what makes your business viable. After all, if your business loses money consistently, eventually you are going to flop. Make sure you can pay off all debts that you take on and that your business is generating a profit, or at the very least breaking even. You can always work from there.

Backup Your Data

The most important step to preparing your business for the worst in the digital age is backing up your business data. You should have a business backup both in the cloud and on a physical server location. Data should be backed up to a location offsite for the most security. If you are only backing up your data on site then you are leaving yourself more vulnerable, as cybercriminals will know where to be looking for your data and how to find it.

Business Insurance

The final step to preparing your company for the worst is to make sure that you have good business insurance. Business insurance can protect your business from all sorts of issues like theft, bankruptcy, and liability. With business insurance, you can rest easy knowing that if something terrible were to happen, your business is well protected and can survive just fine. If you have a business and do not have business insurance, you must get it ASAP.

There are few things as stressful as owning your own business. When you take your livelihood into your own hands, your chances of success go through the rough, but so do your responsibilities. Make sure that you’re doing these three things to ensure that your business is always prepared for the worst, so that you can keep hoping for the best.

Read this next: How to Form Lasting Connections with New Customers

Filed Under: Business