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Level Up Your Financial Leadership by Using a Coaching Approach

January 24, 2023

By Lauren Owen

As you grow your business, adding employees or even locations, you will need to develop managers who are responsible for achieving sales and profit goals. Mastering your financial coaching skills is essential to profitable growth.

Many owners are comfortable discussing marketing, operations or human resources, but struggle with conversations about financials. How can you get people engaged in this important topic? Here are some tips for creating financial insights and driving action using goal-focused, solutions-oriented coaching conversations to jump-start your managers’ financial success.

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How to Find a Business Mentor: 7 Places to Explore

January 17, 2023

Behind every successful business person is a mentor who taught them everything they know. Mentors teach valuable lessons and provide moral support when the going gets tough. But where do you find one? From in-person networking events to casual online chats, here are seven places to explore.

1. Scour LinkedIn for Someone With Your Dream Job

LinkedIn: The quintessential networking tool for professionals in virtually every industry and a great place to start your quest for a mentor. Enter your dream job into the search bar and filter by “people.” From there, you can search by criteria that are important to you, such as geographic location, industry, and even specific companies.

Quick tip: Before pitching someone on LinkedIn to be your mentor, follow them on social media, attend their live streams, interact with their content, ask questions, and do whatever you can to show your interest before asking for any favors.

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5 Useful Data Security Tips for Small Businesses: How to Keep Your Remote Staff Secure

December 29, 2022

It’s no secret that cybersecurity should be a top priority for any business, big or small. But if your business has remote workers or if you have a small staff working from multiple locations, you may be wondering — why does my small business need to worry about data security?

More than half of all cyberattacks are committed against small to midsize businesses. And cyberattacks on remote workers rose 238% during the pandemic. Despite this, 47% do not have a cybersecurity defense plan in place. 

Arm your small business against all-too-common breaches by implementing the following security measures we’re listing below.

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Want to Achieve Your 2023 Financials Goals? Start Now and Get Your Team Involved.

December 23, 2022

By Lauren Owen

Imagine it’s December 2023 and you are about to stand up and thank your team for a job well done at your annual holiday party. You’re happy because you set and met many strong goals for your business this year, including your profit goals. This year’s profits allowed you to distribute meaningful bonuses to your team and make plans for investments that will help grow your business in the years to come. Yes, there were some challenges, but for once you didn’t feel like it was all on your shoulders. The team really stepped up.

As you reflect on what actions made the difference, a couple of things stand out.

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13 Things I’ve Learned From Building a Startup

December 20, 2022

By Ken So

Though Silicon Valley startups are often treated as separate from Main Street small businesses, the basic tenets of starting and growing a business are the same no matter what you’re building. As the founder of a business that serves both enterprise and everyday businesses, plus a mentor to new startups, it’s been a special privilege to be able to observe and learn from business owners from all backgrounds and walks of life. Here’s advice I find myself giving a lot to new founders that I think all entrepreneurs can learn from.

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