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Startup

4 Business Lessons Which Every Entrepreneur Should Take From the COVID-19 Situation

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Mumbai, October 21: The coronavirus pandemic has affected every business around the world. Several companies have been shut, people have been fired and many are on the verge of closing down. The pandemic has taught entrepreneurs some harsh lessons which every owner needs to keep in mind before starting a business.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused changes in mindset, attitude, direction, and the behaviour for organisations, according to CISCO.

Here are 4 lessons which entrepreneurs need to keep in mind after the coronavirus pandemic:

Keep a plan B ready:

No one expected that coronavirus pandemic will have this massive impact and the effect will be lasting this long. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, strict lockdowns were enforced and there were several restrictions. This was not an ideal scenario for businesses to run smoothly. Here comes a plan B in handy, on which you can fall back on if your initial plan doesn’t work.

Every day is not going to be the same. Therefore, as an entrepreneur, if you’re struggling to cope with ups and down of the entrepreneurial journey then it is critical for you to have a Plan B in place.

Hire carefully: Allocate a set budget and then hire accordingly. Don’t overspend on resources which can easily be done with limited resources.

Keep a contingency fund ready: Prepare a contingency fund for emergency purpose. This fund is cash or other assets reserved to address unforeseen circumstances or losses in a business. The role of the contingency fund is to improve a company’s financial stability by developing a safety net that the firm can use to fill emergency needs.

Be Open to accepting new technology:  The virus has emphasised the importance of technology, as it was relied on more than ever for companies to conduct work. From work from home to business meetings, closing deals and interviews, everything was done online with the help of technology amid the pandemic.

 

Categories
Business motivation

Basics You Need To Know Before Starting A Wholesale Distribution Business

 When one thinks of building a career, the two broad categories that emerge are getting a good job or starting your own business. The ones who choose to part with the latter generally have the idea that starting a business just means owning a business or getting a franchise. Distributorship is something that often goes unnoticed or missed by these aspiring entrepreneurs.

Wholesale distributor business has been the kind of business that has survived the test of times and proved its mettle by its impressive run time and the profits it brings. If this is something that has caught your interest, then we have some basics for you to make up your mind if you want to set foot into this business.

What Is The Role A Sistributor Plays?

If you were asked as a kid who is a businessman, you would have answered. If you were asked what you mean by the manufacturer, you will give the answer right away. But about when you are asked about the distributors? Distributorship is seldom a topic of discussion when choosing a profession is the point of discussion. Distributors are the intermediate between a manufacturer and the target customer for which the manufacturer produces goods.

After a manufacturer builds goods and products in a plant, the biggest challenge that arises is how to make it reach the right customer considering it’s difficult for the manufacturer to cover the entire geography. This is where a distributor helps by buying those goods, stocking them, and selling them to retailers or customers directly.

What Is Meant By A Distribution Channel?

A distribution channel could be easily defined as a process or way with the help of which manufactured goods finally reach the consumer. A distributor sells the products by covering a big area increasing the efficiency of distribution and retailers. The channels could broadly be categorized into four parts such as

  • When manufactured goods directly reach the consumer
  • When manufactured goods are bought by a distributor and sold finally to the consumer
  • When manufactured goods are bought by a distributor, distributed to the retailer, and sold finally to the consumer
  • When  manufactured goods are bought by a distributor, taken over by a dealer, distributed to the retailer, and sold finally to the consumer

Mandatory And Basic Requirements

It’s good that now you have realized the goodness of the distribution business and want to try your hand at it, but first, you need to figure out how you can afford the basic requirements of becoming a distributor. When you talk of wholesaling business, you can only imagine the kind of space it requires to stock a huge number of goods.

Secondly, if you have figured out a warehouse for your business, you will need to take care of the transportation to distribute goods across the area that you have targeted to sell the goods and products. Depending on the scale of your business, you can see what level of transportation works the best for you.

Most importantly, you will have to take care of the licensing and permits to carry out this business. There are many factors that can affect the process such as the area you are targeting and the laws that are followed in that area.

Hence, if you decide on becoming an entrepreneur, you need to first familiarise yourself with the basics of this industry to figure out what works the best for you and what field do you find yourself most comfortable with. Once the dust settles down and the vision is crystal clear, there will be no looking back.

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MSME Startup

COVID-19 Impact: 78% MSMEs and Startups in India Reduced Workforce in Last 8 Months Since Pandemic Broke Out, Says Survey

Startup (Representational Image Only, Photo Credits: NeedPix.com)

New Delhi, October 20: Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in India, as many as 78% MSMEs and startups across the country have reduced workforce in the last 8 months. As per a survey by LocalCircles, only 22 percent startups and MSMEs have the same or increased workforce as compared to the pre-COVID levels. According to reports, India’s startups and MSMEs ecosystem went through a torrid time due to the deadly pandemic and lockdown that was imposed across the country. Revenues and operations were severely impacted for most businesses which led to cost cutting and some even shut down temporarily or permanently. Per CMIE, 6 million Indians had already lost white collar jobs in the March – August period.

To understand the impact of the pandemic on startup and MSME, a survey conducted by LocalCircles received over 7,000 responses from startups, MSMEs and entrepreneurs spread across 104 top business districts of the country. In the survey, startups and MSMEs were asked about how have workforce adjustments taken place in their business during the Covid-19 pandemic. In response, 25 percent said their business has shut down and all workforce has been let go, while 15 percent said their workforce has reduced by 50 percent or more.

A 19 percent said their workforce has reduced by 25-50%, and another 19 percent said their workforce has reduced by up to 25 percent. A 6 percent said their workforce has increased and 16 percent said they have same workforce as pre coronavirus time. This shows that 78 percent MSMEs and startups in India have reduced workforce in the last 8 months since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and only 22 percent startups and MSMEs have the same or increased workforce as compared to the pre-COVID levels.

The Government also took steps to help these small businesses through the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme, but its advantages per feedback from businesses in July this year has been quite limited, the survey said.

The startups and MSMEs in India were asked about how employment of women has been in their business 8 months into the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, 7 percent said women in their workforce have been reduced by 50-100 percent, 12 percent said women in their workforce have reduced by 25-50 percent, and 12 percent said women in our workforce have been reduced by up to 25 percent. 46 percent said they still have same number of women in the workforce as pre COVID-19. Not a single business reported increase in the number of women employees during the course of the 8 months of COVID-19 pandemic.

This means that 31 percent MSMEs and startups in India have reduced women workforce in the last 8 months. The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) among women in India, is one of the lowest in the world and appears to have slid even further during the COVID -19 pandemic.

In the final question, startups and MSMEs were asked looking at the next 6 months as to how do they see employment of women in their business. In response, 50 percent said they don’t plan to hire any women employees while 30 percent said they plan to hire 1-5 women employees. 13 percent said they plan to hire 6-10 women employees and 7 percent were unsure about it.

 

Categories
Startup Strategy

Startup Growth Strategy: Follow These 4 Steps to Sustain in the Competitive Market

Startup Growth
Startup Growth (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Mumbai, October 20: Starting a company is not an easy task and one of the most important things is a strategy. You need to have a robust strategy in place for your startup to grow.

It is a very difficult and competitive space for a new company to establish itself. According to a report on the Entrepreneur, 50 percent of the startups fail every year and only a few manage to survive for more than five years. The ones who succeed for a longer time in the market can do so by creating a startup growth strategy.

Check Startup strategies shared by Dr Vivek Bindra: 

Today, we will talk about 4 steps to develop your startup growth strategy: 

Create your vision statement

When you are starting, create a vision statement where you would like to see your company in the future. Dream big, aim big but is also very important to remember that there are various restrictions in the form of budget and other resources, unlike a big company. But, if the focus is right, you will soon be able to achieve it.

Own your strengths and weaknesses

Identifying your strengths and accepting your weakness will help you to sustain in the market for long.

Determine your positioning in the market:

You must have an understanding of your business. You must know, what sets you apart from your competitors.

Keep a check on your competitors: 

In the age of digital media, a consumer is bombarded with numerous information from various sources. Very few manage to stick on to the mind. Therefore, it is very important to check on your competition and never underestimate them.

These strategies will help you to increase sales of existing products or services on existing markets, and thus will help in increasing your market share. They will also create a strong brand recall.

Categories
Marketing

Easy And Useful Tips For Festive Marketing Campaign

This pandemic has changed the aspect of the festive season feel and has drastically changed the business possibilities for all businesses. And it’s visible how the brand owners have transformed its marketing strategies to achieve the sales target in this pandemic time. The change in this market strategy is for the only hope to bring back falling businesses into life again.

The festive season is here again! Everyone is thinking about how to shop for dear ones with the unrelenting fear of corona spread. Therefore, if you want to plan to grab this golden opportunity to boost your sale and revenue, it’s time to start planning your festive marketing by following all the safety norms for your customers.

Due to the pandemic, a customer prefers online shopping for festivals. India is a land full of festivals like Navratri, Durga Puja, Diwali and this is the time of the year when officially festive shopping days begin. We bring you a few festive marketing ideas that can help you supercharge your sales.

Review Your Performance

When you go over your previous performance in terms of sale, you come across how successful or down it was. It is okay as every brand face ups and downs. More significant is what you learn from it and how you improve it this time.

Well, once you are over with analysis and reporting, you need to list down the points that concern your team. Your team directly connects your brand with your customer. Think out what skills and training are needed to optimize the productivity of your employees. 

Website Personalization

Personalization is not personalizing the name only but also about providing relevant content to the users. During this festive season, build eye-catching and relevant content. The web site landing page is the first a user sees and entices new or existing clients.

For this, you can plan a festive theme landing page for the festive season. The following step after designing a website, you should focus on the content which is related to the festivals, the more personalized content more traffic from the organic crowd. And most importantly, don’t forget to fix the website mobile-friendly website, so that it’s easy for the user to access.

Use Custom Hashtags

Hashtags are trending and popular in almost all channels. It makes it a lot easier to get to your user. By many digital marketers, hashtags are a successful tactic for gaining. For spreading awareness or taking off a campaign for creating some buzz and make it trending.

When you are working on designing and content for social media marketing, then takes time to research and making custom hashtags for your festive season. There many examples where hashtags turn out to be the reason for the success of the effort.

Make Social and Ads Marketing Plan

Creating personalized marketing helps you to establish a relationship with your audience. Festive seasons mean great deals and offer throughout the time online or offline market. And social media is a smart choice and platform for this start of business growth.

Therefore, planning, social media calendar, and ad structure before this festive season will help you to streamline your work in the time of the festal season. It will assist you to increase the sales and relationship between your brand and customer.

Let this festive season be the reason for a great deal of happiness and success for the brand and your customer. When you act towards making a strong relationship with your new or existing client, then you automatically increase the sale. These tips help you to personalize marketing strategies.

 

Categories
Startup

Indian Startups to Get a Boost As Atlassian’s $50Mn Global Venture Fund to Focus on India’s Growing Startup and Developer Community

Startup (Representational Image Only, Photo Credits: NeedPix.com)

Bengaluru, October 19: In what is believed to be a major boost to India’s growing startup and developer community, Atlassian Corporation, Australia’s leading software firm on Monday announced the launch of Atlassian Ventures. The new $50 million global fund aims to invest startups, including established companies that are already building products in its ecosystem. This leading firm in Australia, which set up a research and development centre in Bengaluru last year with plans to expand it further, said it is keen to nurture India’s vibrant startup ecosystem and rich technical talent pool.

Dinesh Ajmera, Site Lead and Head of Engineering, Bengaluru, Atlassian said that with India’s cloud market among the largest in the Asia Pacific region, the firm believe this fund will be an ideal opportunity for up-and-coming startups in India to access funding when building apps for our cloud products. “India is a significant market for Atlassian, one that’s teeming with an extraordinary developer community and a vibrant startup ecosystem that we plan to tap into,” Ajmera added.

According to reports, the company’s software products such as Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket and Trello are used by 1,74,000 customers worldwide, including Ola Cabs, Reliance, Walmart Labs, and Flipkart, to name a few. Atlassian Ventures will invest in three types of companies.

Ajmera informed that firstly, the early-stage startups which are building apps for any of Atlassian’s cloud products and secondly, the larger, more established ecosystem product partners who are ascaling their businesses and finally, the existing sales channel partners who are looking to step up their cloud services and create new products that support the future of teamwork. “As part of this programme, companies that receive funding are also eligible for mentorship as well as global exposure at Atlassian events,” he said.

Categories
Business motivation

4 Reasons Why People Leave Their Businesses To Work For Someone Else

People are built different, they think differently, they talk differently, they work differently, and they want differently. People want different things from life. In the business world, where professionals can always be seen attracted to starting a business of their own as they that 9-5 routine doesn’t provide them the feeling of contentment.

This Job Vs Business debate has confused many brilliant minds and would continue to do so if people fail to realize what do they want along with what works the best for them. In this article, we will discuss some of the reasons why entrepreneurs leave their businesses to go to work for someone else. So, keep an open mind and try to understand the sincerity of the words.

A Job Provides An Enriching Experience

People often start their businesses thinking that they know enough to be starting an empire. But as time goes on, they realize that they do not know enough to make their business reach their maximum potential. This is the time they realize they need to join or work for someone else who has the expertise and could provide them with the relevant experience. It is almost like paid education.

Acknowledgment And Motivation

Some people who abruptly make the decision to start their own business do not really realize the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to build a business. Many times this hard work is not thanked enough. This causes a sense of hopelessness and a lack of motivation and drives to keep doing better. When you are in a job, you are time and again acknowledged, incentivized, and rewarded for the great work that you do. This motivation and appreciation is a very important factor for some of the businessmen to quit their business and start working for others.

Stable Income

ALthough People know that a business goes through all kinds of phases and ups and downs are the only constants in a business. However, some fail to take the pressure that tough times cause and they give up by quitting the business to go work for someone else. The regular paychecks and stable income is something that lures some of the entrepreneurs to go back to doing what used to do earlier. One can not deny the sense of relief that tags along with stable income especially if you have a family to provide for. 

To Make A Difference

People may be impeccably good at what they do but still might not get the desired results. Some people are ambitious which is not at all a negative trait but sometimes leaves a person less fulfilled with the difference they are making with their business. Some people do not have the required patience to wait and see a business grow eventually, hence they leave to join a bigger organization to make the most of their skills and make a bigger difference with the help of a bigger platform.

The reason behind explaining all this is just to make you aware if you are ready yet to be starting your own business and not at all to discourage the entrepreneur within you. It is all about taking your own time, learning all that you need, and gaining enough wisdom to be enduring all that it takes to build a successful business so that you do not see it as a mistake midway.

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Business motivation

Manufacturing In-Depth: The Good And Bad Of The Manufacturing Industry

उद्योग
उद्योग

How would you define manufacturing? In popular opinion, manufacturing is the process of combining the efforts of machinery and labour to make wonderful things with the help of raw material to put up for sale and making money out of it. Generally, when the manufacturer is used, it is associated with large scale manufacturing of finished goods. However, India is a developing country and has seen its fair share of struggles with keeping up with the manufacturing business.

Realizing the need to keep up with the pace and establishing India as a global player, the government is on top of its game to encourage businesses to make in India. This piece is written to present to you some advantages and disadvantages of starting a manufacturing business in India so that you can decide if you will be up for the challenge to emerge as a winner.

Let’s Break The Bad News First

The power shortage

One of the biggest drawbacks of running manufacturing is the unavailability of power 24*7. This setback does not allow the operations to run properly during business hours, let alone the smooth operations 24*7. This ultimately affects the efficiency, productivity, and output.

The affected Labour Productivity

The evident lag in supply chain management, transportation, and maintenance takes a toll on the productivity of the labour assigned to operate the machinery or to do the manual tasks.

The Costs of transportation & Logistics

The costs of transportation in India are really high and we all know. It takes very long to transport raw material from one point to another. The condition of logistics makes the situation even worse.

Troubles With IP Rights

One of the biggest issues with having a manufacturing business is the trouble that business goes through while protecting intellectual property.  As if it wasn’t bad enough, the ongoing reforms in India related to IP are only adding to the problem. 

We Saved the Good For The Last

The Government Support

Much needed in these troubled times, the support of the government of India is successfully managing to plant a hope in the heart and a dream in the eyes of the potential manufacturers by giving the message loud and clear in the form of the “Make In India” campaign. This pandemic has forced us all to realise the need to become independent as a nation, regardless of the kind of industry.

Top-Notch Quality Of Production

The recent example of Apple moving its manufacturing unit in India is perfect to back the fact that India ranks pretty high when it comes to the quality of production. Indian manufacturers have always believed in using top quality machines which is not beginning fruitful results.

Cost-effective Labour

Now let’s be specific that hiring labour in India is way more economical than hitting it in any other country. Both India and China have a very large population with a very high number of skilled and unskilled labor, but India has a clear upper hand as the labor cost is way less. The corporate giants have realized this fact and now is the time for the start of the Indian Manufacturing industry to shine.

Pros and cons are two sides of the same coin. If you sign up for something, you can not give yourself a false hope that it will be a bed of roses. Just accept the fact that India is still in a developing phase and will take its own sweet time to get there. If you start now, chances are you will be among the leaders in the coming years. Just promise your hard work and dedication to your business, the rest will fall in [place on its own.

Categories
Startup Strategy

Right Marketing Strategies And Tips For Attracting Franchises

Franchise business is one of the great opportunities, which has profited scope and its trending as well. There’s only one risk associated with this business if you can find the right franchise partner.

Whenever we talk about procuring new customers, we have a lot of experts around us, but finding the right partner for a franchise is a difficult task. Having a suitably qualified partner who can operate your franchise can be a definite challenge. Looking for the same minded person who can showcase your brand as you want is tough, but not impossible.

Therefore, we have some tips with which you will be on the right path to find a franchise partner.

Brand Positioning of Your Brand As An Expert

Creating your brand as an expert in the marketplace is far different from creating brand awareness. As a brand owner, your foremost focus should be on enhancing industry knowledge as a resource for the others. For this, you need to make efforts to join the webinar, round tables as often as possible.

You need to ensure on stand out and provide more to your target audience than your competitors. Therefore, you need to be honest, clear, and consistent. It will help you to build trust and establish as an expert in the marketplace.

Be Appealing to Franchises

Never let down your franchise partner by putting the right scalable systems to support. Treat your partner as equal, let them be privy to the inner working of the company, and offer them support programs with good communication to keep them engaged with your brand.

Building Strong Communication

For building strong communication with franchises, you can leverage your social media network and digital communication platforms. By providing all kinds of information to them can help you attract and convert prospective franchises into new partners.

When you provide support and solve the queries by current partners through social media channels, it will showcase your strong communication skills to your new partners.

Building Strong Online Presence

Just finding the right franchise partner should not be the only goal of yours. It doesn’t refer to simple branding and corporate messaging, but also building a strong story for your brand. Your aim should be to share your philosophy, ethics, and your vision behind the brand.

The best idea to support creating a separate web page on the current website to share or talk about the franchise partner. It can have all the details for signing up a new partner to the testimonials of the existing one.

Creating a Strong Marketing Strategy

Building a strong marketing strategy can be beneficial to acquiring a new franchise and doing the happy existing one. A strong brand name with efficient advertising and strategy is what is required at difficult times like COVID-19. Include SEO, organic search optimization in your marketing plan.

Finding the right franchise partner can excel in your business growth. For that, you need to work on the correct tips for marketing strategies to attract franchises on board.

 

Categories
Marketing

Top Trends To Remember Before Planning Digital Marketing Strategy

With the ongoing pandemic, the situation has changed the business operation. Social distancing, lockdown, and restricted movement have given a sudden shift towards digital platforms. Now the use of digital marketing has increased by 10x in the past few months. Now old and new business owners understood the significance of the digital platform and started adapting to this new normal for better growth.

This digitization is bringing a revolution in terms of marketing strategies and communication with the target audience. Therefore, it’s time to adapt and enabled new methods with tools for marketing strategies. Today, most brands are working on reassessing and evaluating their marketing strategies by adopting fresh trends.

Here are a few of the trends that have arisen in the industry:

Referral Marketing

With the changing time, the customer also has changed in perspective towards the brand trust, now they are not driven only by flashy ads. They are more inclined towards deciding on the base of users’ experience previously. Many eCommerce sites like Myntra, e-grocery, Ed-tech sites give an existing user opportunity to referral code for inviting new customers and earn rewards.

That helps you in getting the customer interest of both new and old customers.

Campaigns Led by Influencers

The influencer market has peeked the market to heights. Now brands prefer influencer over celebrities as a customer feel more connected to them rather than celebrities. Therefore, there is a shift to do indirect marketing trends on social media through these influencers.

That leads not to connect existing customers, but attract new ones as these influencers have their huge customer base of own.

Don’t Bind Your Brand With Language

Now brands have set about using regional language to build a connection with customers. This aspect helps in demonstrating a more intimate relationship with the customer, and now brands are creating their interface in the local native language. It is giving an opening to a new potential for brands and customers for more dependable services and feedback.

Focus on Building Interesting Content

As said and proved, that content is the king. The content can build your brand image positively and negatively. Therefore, using the right content plays a major role in building the value of your brand in customer minds.

Now creating creative content, you need the help of an expert team. Therefore, brands are hiring teams with a creative bend of mind. Now brands driving all the best ideas possible to attract existing customers as well as a new one by plain text to animation.

So, as you can see, things are moving fast in digital marketing So as you have noticed, things are changing at a fast pace in the digital marketing world. Still, content is king, and building a connection with the customer is important. It is no time for a brand to stand still, time to rethink your business strategy to attract customers. Hope these trends help you to reach out to your customer and benefit you in business growth.