Search results

What’s the difference between a small business that achieves breakthrough growth and one that fizzles quickly after launch? Oftentimes, it’s having a solid business plan. Business plans provide you with a roadmap that will take you from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur. It will guide nearly every decision you make, from the people you hire and the products or services you offer, to the look and feel of the business website you create. But did you know that there are many different types of business plans? Some types are best for new businesses looking to attract funding. Others help to define the way your company will operate day-to-day. You can even create a plan that prepares your business for the unexpected. Read on to learn the seven most common types of business plans and determine which one fits your immediate needs. What is a business plan? A business plan is a written document that defines your company’s goals and explains how you will achieve them. Putting this information down on paper brings valuable benefits. It gives you insight into your competitors, helps you develop a unique value proposition and lets you set metrics that will guide you to profitability. It’s also a necessity to obtain funding through banks or investors. Keep in mind that a business plan isn’t a one-and-done exercise. It’s a living document that you should update regularly as your company evolves. But which type of plan is right for your business? 7 common types of business plans Startup business plan Feasibility business plan One-page business plan What-if business plan Growth business plan Operations business plan Strategic business plan 01. Startup business plan The startup business plan is a comprehensive document that will set the foundation for your company’s success. It covers all aspects of a business, including a situation analysis, detailed financial information and a strategic marketing plan. Startup plans serve two purposes: internally, they provide a step-by-step guide that you and your team can use to start a business and generate results on day one. Externally, they prove the validity of your business concept to banks and investors, whose capital you’ll likely need to make your entrepreneurial dreams a reality. Elements of a startup business plan should include the following steps: Executive summary: Write a brief synopsis of your company’s concept, potential audience, product or services, and the amount of funding required. Company overview: Go into detail about your company’s location and its business goals. Be sure to include your company’s mission statement, which explains the “why” behind your business idea. Products or services: Explain exactly what your business will offer to its customers. Include detailed descriptions and pricing. Situation analysis: Use market research to explain the competitive landscape, key demographics and the current status of your industry. Marketing plan: Discuss the strategies you’ll use to build awareness for your business and attract new customers or clients. Management bios: Introduce the people who will lead your company. Include bios that detail their industry-specific background. Financial projections: Be transparent about startup costs, cash flow projections and profit expectations. Don’t be afraid to go into too much detail—a startup business plan can often run multiple pages long. Investors will expect and appreciate your thoroughness. However, if you have a hot new product idea and need to move fast, you can consider a lean business plan. It’s a popular type of business plan in the tech industry that focuses on creating a minimum viable product first, then scaling the business from there. 02. Feasibility business plan Let’s say you started a boat rental company five years ago. You’ve steadily grown your business. Now, you want to explore expanding your inventory by renting out jet skis, kayaks and other water sports equipment. Will it be profitable? A feasibility business plan will let you know. Often called a decision-making plan, a feasibility business plan will help you understand the viability of offering a new product or launching into a new market. These business plans are typically internal and focus on answering two questions: Does the market exist, and will you make a profit from it? You might use a feasibility plan externally, too, if you need funding to support your new product or service. Because you don’t need to include high-level, strategic information about your company, your feasibility business plan will be much shorter and more focused than a startup business plan. Feasibility plans typically include: A description of the new product or service you wish to launch A market analysis using third-party data The target market, or your ideal customer profile Any additional technology or personnel needs required Required capital or funding sources Predicted return on investment Standards to objectively measure feasibility A conclusion that includes recommendations on whether or not to move forward 03. One-page business plan Imagine you’re a software developer looking to launch a tech startup around an app that you created from scratch. You’ve already written a detailed business plan, but you’re not sure if your strategy is 100% right. How can you get feedback from potential partners, customers or friends without making them slog through all 32 pages of the complete plan? That’s where a one-page business plan comes in handy. It compresses your full business plan into a brief summary. Think of it as a cross between a business plan and an elevator pitch—an ideal format if you’re still fine-tuning your business plan. It’s also a great way to test whether investors will embrace your company, its mission or its goals. Ideally, a one-page business plan should give someone a snapshot of your company in just a few minutes. But while brevity is important, your plan should still hit all the high points from your startup business plan. To accomplish this, structure a one-page plan similar to an outline. Consider including: A short situation analysis that shows the need for your product or service Your unique value proposition Your mission statement and vision statement Your target market Your management team The funding you’ll need Financial projections Expected results Because a one-page plan is primarily used to gather feedback, make sure the format you choose is easy to update. That way, you can keep it fresh for new audiences. 04. What-if business plan Pretend that you’re an accountant who started their own financial consulting business. You’re rapidly signing clients and growing your business when, 18 months into your new venture, you’re given the opportunity to buy another established firm in a nearby town. Is it a risk worth taking? The what-if business plan will help you find an answer. It’s perfect for entrepreneurs who are looking to take big risks, such as acquiring or merging with another company, testing a new pricing model or adding an influx of new staff. A what-if plan is additionally a great way to test out a worst-case scenario. For example, if you’re in the restaurant business, you can create a plan that explores the potential business repercussions of a public health emergency (like the COVID-19 pandemic), and then develop strategies to mitigate its effects. You can share your what-if plan internally to prepare your leadership team and staff. You can also share it externally with bankers and partners so that they know your business is built to withstand any hard times. Include in your plan: A detailed description of the business risk or other scenario The impact it will have on your business Specific actions you’ll take in a worst-case scenario Risk management strategies you’ll employ Financial projections 05. Growth business plan Let’s say you’re operating a hair salon (see how to create a hair salon business plan). You see an opportunity to expand your business and make it a full-fledged beauty bar by adding skin care, massage and other sought-after services. By creating a growth business plan, you’ll have a blueprint that will take you from your current state to your future state. Sometimes called an expansion plan, a growth business plan is something like a crystal ball. It will help you see one to two years into the future. Creating a growth plan lets you see how far—and how fast—you can scale your business. It lets you know what you’ll need to get there, whether it’s funding, materials, people or property. The audience for your growth plan will depend on your expected sources of capital. If you’re funding your expansion from within, then the audience is internal. If you need to attract the attention of outside investors, then the audience is external. Much like a startup plan, your growth business plan should be rather comprehensive, especially if the people reviewing it aren’t familiar with your company. Include items specific to your potential new venture, including: A brief assessment of your business’s current state Information about your management team A thorough analysis of the growth opportunity you’re seeking The target audience for your new venture The current competitive landscape Resources you’ll need to achieve growth Detailed financial forecasts A funding request Specific action steps your company will take A timeline for completing those action steps Another helpful thing to include in a growth business plan is a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis will help you evaluate your performance, and that of your competitors. Including this type of in-depth review will show your investors that you’re making an objective, data-driven decision to expand your business, helping to build confidence and trust. 06. Operations business plan You’ve always had a knack for accessories and have chosen to start your own online jewelry store. Even better, you already have your eCommerce business plan written. Now, it’s time to create a plan for how your company will implement its business model on a day-to-day basis. An operations business plan will help you do just that. This internal-focused document will explain how your leadership team and your employees will propel your company forward. It should include specific responsibilities for each department, such as human resources, finance and marketing. When you sit down to write an operations plan, you should use your company’s overall goals as your guide. Then, consider how each area of your business will contribute to those goals. Be sure to include: A high-level overview of your business and its goals A clear layout of key employees, departments and reporting lines Processes you’ll use (i.e., how you’ll source products and fulfill orders) Facilities and equipment you’ll need to conduct business effectively Departmental budgets required Risk management strategies that will ensure business continuity Compliance and legal considerations Clear metrics for each department to achieve Timelines to help you reach those metrics A measurement process to keep your teams on track 07. Strategic business plan Say you open a coffee shop, but you know that one store is just the start. Eventually, you want to open multiple locations throughout your region. A strategic business plan will serve as your guide, helping define your company’s direction and decision-making over the next three to five years. You should use a strategic business plan to align all of your internal stakeholders and employees around your company’s mission, vision and future goals. Your strategic plan should be high-level enough to create a clear vision of future success, yet also detailed enough to ensure you reach your eventual destination. Be sure to include: An executive summary A company overview Your mission and vision statements Market research A SWOT analysis Specific, measurable goals you wish to achieve Strategies to meet those goals Financial projections based on those goals Timelines for goal attainment

I started working full-time when I was 19, first as a marketing associate and then as a product manager when I transferred departments. Getting to work on a product I believed in with a fun and talented team was very fulfilling, and I enjoyed my time there a lot, but I found myself completely drained every day when I got home. There were a lot of things that made working full-time difficult for me. My sleeping disorder impeded my ability to get up on time every day, and I would often have to stay a little later to make up for sleeping in. I also had no time for creative projects and found it difficult to focus on work for hours and hours at a time. I started fantasizing about what it would be like to work from home and sleep in, take breaks to watch TV, and do things on my own time. Despite my self-employment ambitions, I took another full-time position when I moved to New York, so that I could pay rent. I would think and talk a lot about becoming a freelancer, but I was terrified that I wouldn’t find any work if I left my job to freelance. Getting laid off was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Suddenly, I had no job to fall back on and no safety net. I had never freelanced before, but I promised myself I’d never work full-time again. Over that next year, I worked hard at finding new clients, branding myself, and finding a balance of life and work that made sense for me. Here’s what I learned. How to become a freelance UX designer 1. Build up your portfolio 2. Invest in LinkedIn 3. Make a website 4. Contracts, contracts, contracts 5. Invoicing 6. Bring your personality 01. Build up your portfolio This is the first thing that a prospective client will look at. If your portfolio is lackluster, they likely won’t bother looking at your CV or your work history. If you’re not happy with your portfolio, take the time to make new things to add to it or create a new portfolio. 02. Invest in LinkedIn A lot of people looking to hire on freelance sites will want to see your LinkedIn profile to get a better sense of who you are and the environments you’ve worked in. Flesh out your previous roles and make sure you’re highlighting the accomplishments you’re most proud of. Ask your former (or current) coworkers to endorse you and write a review. They go a long way. 03. Make a website You should have a professional website featuring your work. Make sure to add a “Hire” or “Contact” option to prompt or persuade leads into taking action. This will generate more traffic for your business and give you a calling card you can use for interested clients or people you meet by chance outside work hours (this has happened to me multiple times). Learn more about how to make a website or create a freelance website. 04. Contracts, contracts, contracts Before you start a job, always make sure you have a contract in place to protect yourself in the hopefully unlikely event of any disputes. If you’re working through a freelancing site, they will have those in place for you. Sometimes clients have contracts as well, which you should read as thoroughly as possible. If you need a contract, Jyssica Schwartz was kind enough to create a great template you can use. 05. Invoicing Again, freelancing sites and clients sometimes take care of this, but you should look into your options and your local laws regarding payment and protections for freelancers. Generate invoices with Wix. 06. Bring your personality One of the most important qualities in a freelancer is personality. Your attitude, insight, kindness, and optimism will go further than you think in your relationships with clients. Being good at your job will get you gigs. Being a pleasure to work with will help you keep them. The combination of both hard and soft skills will take you far when it comes to starting a business. UX freelance designer tips Getting work is hard, but not impossible Before officially becoming a freelancer, I had eyed freelance job postings occasionally. I noticed that in the full-time job market, companies tend to look for UX designers, whereas in the freelancing world, clients were mostly looking for one person to work on both UI and UX. Having worked with UI designers in what was essentially an unofficial art director position for six years, I had already started dabbling in UI, but, when I decided to become a freelancer, I bit the bullet and invested in a graphic design course. While looking for work, I also continued practicing my UI design skills by doing the DailyUI Challenge and getting involved with the design community on Dribbble. Since I wouldn’t be able to share specs I wrote for my previous jobs, I made up an app for which I wrote a job application-friendly dummy specification document detailing its functionality. I checked a few different freelancing sites, but the clear choice for me was Upwork. They tend to list longer term jobs and have higher quality clients, unlike other sites that focus more on one-off projects and attract lower paying clients due to their branding and business model. The great thing about freelancing sites is that they list your profile and help clients find you for free, but the trade-off is that they will take a cut of your income for using their platform. While their fee may be a turn off, it’s worth noting that they provide other services that can make it worthwhile; while freelancing on your own can lead to contentious disagreements with clients, Upwork has hour tracking and mediation in place. Upwork also uses an automatic billing system that makes sure you get paid on time and verifies prospective clients’ ability to pay you. The catch-22 I found myself in when getting started on Upwork was that it was extremely difficult to get work because I didn’t have any logged hours or reviews on my profile, but I couldn’t get reviews or log hours without getting work. After a few weeks of applying to jobs with no traction, I decided that I would need to become much more competitive to get my first job, which would mean temporarily lowering my freelance design rate. I started sorting posts by number of proposals, so that I’d only focus on projects with fewer submissions that other designers with more work experience weren’t applying to. I had been on the hiring end of Upwork for previous jobs, so I knew what it looked like to receive submissions and what stood out to me. A lot of freelancers don’t invest in a cover letter (no one likes writing them, but they do make a difference), so I knew that, by putting some effort into mine, I’d stand out. I always used optimistic language, even going so far as to sign off every letter with “Looking forward to working with you!” While somewhat presumptuous, it made me seem excited and ready to get started. I would also try to pick out parts of the job that I have experience with and explain my expertise and why I’d be a good fit. After a lot of submissions and cover letters, I finally managed to secure my first gig at my lower rate. I made sure to work fast and communicate often and clearly–two important things to do while freelancing. After having a completed gig and a positive rating under my belt, I was able to raise my price to the hourly rate I wanted. While jobs were still hard to get, my win rate started increasing, and, after a few months, I was able to find my first long-term client. As a freelancer, nothing is guaranteed. Hang on to your long-term clients and work hard, but, remember, you’re not an employee, and they can stop working with you at any time with no notice. Work isn’t reliable I learned the hard way that nothing is guaranteed as a freelancer. After close to half a year of working with my first ongoing client, they had to stop working with me due to budget constraints. (I’ve since started working with them again–always stay on good terms with clients!) I was dealt a major blow because I wasn’t prepared for this significant change in income from what I’d assumed was going to be an ongoing client for the foreseeable future. This was my first hard-learned lesson as a freelancer. Nothing is guaranteed. Hang on to your long-term clients and work hard, but, remember, you’re not an employee, and they can stop working with you at any time with no notice. It took a few more months of scrambling and digging into my savings before I found another long-term client. Here’s freelancing lesson number two. Be ready financially. I’m incredibly privileged not to have any debt and to have saved up from working full-time for six years. If I wasn’t in this position, the months with little income would have been devastating. If you want to freelance, it’s absolutely critical that you have money saved up in order to weather the ebbs and flows of incoming work. Searching for gigs when you’re not making money is hard because you’re at the mercy of whatever that comes along. I’m certainly not going to tell you to turn down work if you need it, but if you want to find a long-term gig, make sure you’re in a position to accept it when the opportunity presents itself. There was more than one occasion where I was bouncing between several small gigs and was unable to take a job that would require more of my time. I always make sure to see projects through and to ensure my clients are happy with my work, even when it may be more advantageous to jump ship in favor of another project. For the third freelancing lesson, remember that your reputation is everything. Especially when using a freelancing site, new clients are looking at your reviews and your portfolio more than your resume. Most of the work I’ve gotten since that first gig has been because of positive reviews–Upwork even has a “Top Rated” status for users with 100% job success that boosts your profile visibility. Investing in your clients should be a no-brainer, but it pays off, too. Another thing to keep in mind is that you can be paid hourly or on a project basis. From my experience, working on a per-project basis is often not worth doing unless it’s meticulously defined, as misunderstandings are common, and you might end up doing more work than you had planned. This results in scope creep. Sticking to working on an hourly basis ensures you’ll get paid the amount you expect for the time you put in and will spare you from misaligned expectations. Work-life balance Working from home can be difficult. It requires a lot of self-discipline to constantly search for new work and accomplish tasks when you don’t have a supervisor looking over your shoulder. Figuring out what works for you–how many hours you want to work, when you work, and when you don’t–can be a bit of a trial-and-error process. Picking up a lot of projects can mean you work more hours than you’d like, and having deadlines you need to meet can make you pick up work at strange hours of the day (or night). Every freelancer has different wants and needs, but I found that it was important to create boundaries for work hours. I go through the different tasks I need to complete, and, when I finish, I log off for the day. If I get an email from a client once my “work time” is over, I set it aside and look at it the next day. When you set your hours, it’s crucial to have a hard stop so you can relax. Otherwise, you’re always working. I also have different users in Chrome for my personal browsing and my work, so I don’t have to see work-related content when I’m not working. Sometimes having several projects going at the same time with strict deadlines or client expectations can be daunting, and sometimes it’s tempting to work non-stop to get them done. But remember that there are only so many hours a day you can actually be productive. Working too long will affect the quality of your work. Use white boards, sticky notes, task management software–whatever you have at your disposal–and map out everything you need to do, so you have it written down. Work backwards from your deadlines and figure out where you need to work on what project in order to meet them. Sometimes, we have a lot of balls up in the air, and just writing it all out can help organize it in our minds. Once you see the hours you need to put into each project, you can budget your time, so you don’t overwork yourself. If necessary, pencil in your relaxation time, as well. That being said, I do glance at work emails and texts after hours just to make sure there’s nothing urgent that needs to be addressed because it’s still important to tend to client needs. If it can wait, I’ll put my phone back down. If it can’t, I can subtract the time I put in from my next work day (if possible) and have a longer break. Working from home can also be lonely and a little claustrophobic. When you don’t have to go to an office, your exposure to friends–or just people, in general–is very limited. I’m lucky to have a roommate that also works from home, so the apartment is never empty, which is helpful. When it’s safe to do so again, creating a space for other friends who work from home can make you much more productive. Also, getting out of the house and working from a cafe or a park can be a welcome change of scenery when you’re feeling cooped up.

The process of starting your own business is made up of several steps, such as using a website builder, promoting your products or services, and obtaining funding. Before you dive into any of these pieces though, the initial thing you’ll need to do is draw out an organized overview of your business plan, otherwise known as an executive summary. In this article, we’ll explain what this concept means, and then walk you through the most important steps on how to write an executive summary to set your business off on the right foot. What is an executive summary? An executive summary is a high level overview of your business. It contains many components in brevity, such as your business model, market and competitors, financial projections, and a final request at the end. It’s the first and strongest component of all types of business plans, but it also serves as a highly functional standalone document. Not only does it need to persuade readers to go through the rest of your business plan, but it should also be used as a means for raising money, creating partnerships, launching a new product/service, and for other specific requests and recommendations. If you’re planning on writing a complete business plan at this stage or business proposal, it’s wise to do that first, and then come back to your executive summary after. Doing so will allow you to get the full picture of your needs and where your business stands amongst competitors. Then, you’ll be able to just pull out the most significant highlights and address them briefly in your executive summary. How to write an executive summary: When you craft your executive summary (and elevator pitch), keep the following two things in mind: conciseness and professional language. That’s your key to leaving a lasting impression when it comes to presenting your work, as long as you’re addressing the right audience with the right solution. Here’s how to write an executive summary: Begin with your table of contents State your objective Provide a brief company overview Research your market and competitors Write out your key financial data Address your request Polish your work 01. Begin with your table of contents Although the executive summary is meant to be brief, it’s still important that you distinguish between each of the categories below. The formal way to do this is through a simple and straightforward table of contents. With this, address each section and the associated page(s). Make sure that your table of contents is a complete page of its own, separate from the pages below, which should be 1-2 pages maximum. This is also a great time to start thinking about the layout of your information. You’ll want to list out your topics in the order of importance relevant to the addressed problem, as we’ll discuss in the following section. 02. State your objective The purpose behind writing your plan is as straightforward as this statement: there is a problem, and you have the solution to it. So, the first thing you should do after your table of contents is to introduce the problem, and then explain your strategy for solving it. Walk through your desired outcome and the final day you plan to reach that. Also write out the milestones you aim to reach in your journey to get there too. While doing so, have a particular audience in mind that will read this executive summary. Just like how you would modify your resume to impress a particular company you really want to work at, you’ll want to tailor this document to that audience. The problem you choose to present, as well as the writing style you’ll use, should all cater to the readers. This is because you want them to gain the most value from reading it. For example, an investment firm would be more interested in the numbers, while a potential partner would be more interested in learning about your vision statement and mission statement. If you have not written yours, here are some powerful mission statement examples that stand out. 03. Provide a brief company overview As mentioned before, what you choose to include should be relevant to your audience, so take all of these recommendations with a grain of salt. You will definitely want to address your key company information in this section, while the rest is subject to your goals. Give a background of who you are and what you do. Include information such as your mission statement, core values, and an overview of your company culture. Provide a brief summary of your business structure. Explain who the founders are and other top management. List your investors, partners, and other stakeholders. Talk about the size of your business, location, and whether you plan on growing or relocating anytime in the near future. Summarize your top products or services, including an overview of your production and sales processes. Lastly, make sure to address how the reader can get in touch with you by providing your contact information. 04. Research your market and competitors In this section, detail your target market, industry, and competitors. While performing market research is a core topic to your business plan and a SWOT analysis is a strategic process for making a major decision, this is just a summary of your key findings from those processes. You’ll mainly want to address your competitive advantage, strengths, and other positive highlights that make your products, services or business model stand out. Additionally, mention your plan for growing your customer base, ROI, or other goals and opportunities you plan to take advantage of in relation to your marketing efforts. Consider explaining a problem in your industry and the solution that you can or will be able to offer. 05. Write out your key financial data Since most executive summaries are focused around securing funding for business owners, detailing your key financial data is a must. Include the parts that are most relevant to your targeted readers, as there is no need to provide the entirety of your financial statements here. For example, you can show your income over the past few years if it showcases growth. You can also forecast your future earnings based on new developments you’re working on. 06. Address your request The reason you wrote this document was to get the attention of someone specific. Whether that is to seek partnership or for raising capital, you’re going to want to end on a strong note. First, recap your findings in a few short sentences to build support. Then, ease in on your request in a direct manner. If you’re asking for a certain amount of dollars in funding, you will need to explain what you will use that funding for specifically. In the case of investing, also give your investors a reason to want to back your business. What benefits are you offering them? Do you have a planned exit strategy? How successful do you hope to be? If the previous sections did a good job of persuading your requestees, then this part should be easy to sum up. 07. Polish your work Go back through your work to reread it. This is the time where you’ll want to look at your executive summary from the readers’ point of view more deeply. Think of your reader as someone who is very busy. They don’t necessarily have a long time to read a document like this that is meant to be short in the first place. As soon as possible they want you to get to the point behind why you’re asking them for funding. So leave out the fluff, make sure you didn’t state any points twice, and see where you can condense some of your sentences. Furthermore, make sure that you didn’t use any jargon or acronyms that can cause confusion. When you think the final draft is ready to go, have a colleague or acquaintance also give it a go-through to make sure that everything looks professional, legit, and impressive to your potential readers. Only then are you ready to present your executive summary to the world.

A mission statement is one of the most powerful tools you have for leading your business or organization to success. The trick is knowing how to craft the perfect one, before you start posting it around your office or on your business website. There are a few tips and tricks to nailing exactly the right wording to articulate your vision and values - to yourself, to your employees, and to your target audience. Let’s jump in and review what makes an effective mission statement and how to write one for your business or organization regardless of whether you're just starting your business or scaling. Plus, we’ve included seven excellent mission statement examples at the end for your very own inspiration. What is a mission statement? Let’s start with the basics. You’ve probably heard that a mission statement is the lifeblood of your business. But what really is it? A mission statement takes the ‘why’ of what you do and consolidates it into about one to two sentences (and no, a run-on sentence that’s the length of a paragraph does not qualify). This abbreviated expression of your values and purpose helps everyone who encounters your work to immediately understand what you’re all about (much like your elevator pitch). It's different from an executive summary but still important to your business. And it serves to remind you and your employees why you continue walking in the door each morning. A strong mission statement will contain four key elements: Value Inspiration Plausibility Specificity As in, readers will walk away understanding the value your works adds to the world or to their lives, feeling inspired to join your mission, convinced that your goal is achievable, and crystal clear on the nature of your business or organization. Once these four components are present, you’ve got yourself a mission statement that is dressed to impress. Why your business needs a mission statement The mission statement ingredients sound all well and good, but why exactly is it important for you to adopt one? There are both inward and outward-facing reasons. Internally, it acts as a guiding statement to frame all of your strategic business decisions. It’s easy to reference every time you need a reminder of the values you embody as a company, or the vision you are pursuing. Furthermore, it becomes an important contributor to workplace morale, serving up a dose of inspiration every time your declared purpose starts fading behind administrative emails and fundraising campaigns. Those are the moments when you write your mission statement down on a little sticky note and post it on your computer screen. Externally, this expression is a critical figure in the landscape of brand identity. Readers will associate your tone and register key words you select, and values you highlight with the larger persona of your company. The mission statement, then, communicates to outsiders who you are, and what you will do to guarantee quality business to your clients. In its concise form, its task is to explain how to foster a connection with the curious minds viewing its several sentences, and explain why yours should be the right business or organization for them to choose. How to write a mission statement for your business in 5 steps 1. Ask yourself three fundamental questions 2. Hold a brainstorming session 3. Narrow down your choices 4. Refine your words into sentences 5. Review what you've written 01. Ask yourself three fundamental questions What does your business do? How does it do it? And why? With the first question, evaluate your response through the lenses of your customers or beneficiaries, your employees, and - of course - yourself. When relevant, you can widen the perspectives to also define what your business does for your community, or even for the world. The exercise of answering these three questions will help you tease out your purpose, clarify the value you offer, and reconnect to your motivating passion. 02. Hold a brainstorming session Either by yourself or with your team, throw around words and phrases that convey the answers you generated in the previous step. Of course, we know each of those questions could give way to an essay - sometimes even a book. Yet, here, brevity comes above all. Try instead for “snapshot words” that capture the sentiment of your business’ value and purpose. Don’t hold back here: All ideas are acceptable at this point, and you never know when a phrase that’s slightly off can spark the suggestion of the phrase that’s exactly right. 03. Narrow down your choices Either through a group voting process or by soliciting the feedback of a few people you trust, whittle down the list you generated in step two. At the end of this step, you should emerge with a curated list of your favorite words and phrases that are fitting and truly reflect your brand. 04. Refine your words into sentences Set aside a few hours, a quiet area, and put on your best ‘eureka moment’ playlist. It’s time to start massaging your list of chosen words and phrases into one to two complete sentences, keeping in mind all the key elements we reviewed earlier. Check in frequently with those four criteria to ensure you’re on the right track. Finally, remember to write in the present tense. This an active proclamation of what you do - not what you hope to do someday. 05. Review what you’ve written The editing stage is best done with fresh eyes, after you’ve had some time away from your first draft. Notice points where you can tighten the phrasing, or make your wording even more precise. Run through potential future developments for your business. Will the statement you’re crafting now stand the test of time and an evolving business strategy? Take care to build some of this flexibility into your final version (without losing sight of the specificity, of course). Lastly, cut out the fluff. Big words that sound fancy but don’t add much value or clarity for your readers should be directed straight to the trash can. What survives your editing annotations will be the strong, durable, and exact material that quality missions statement examples are made of. Where to display your mission statement Once you have your mission statement polished and gleaming, it’s time to debut it to your colleagues and target audience. Find a place to print and proudly display it in your workplace so you and all of your team members can look to it as a source of guidance whenever a big decision is in front of you, or you need an inspirational boost. Additionally, your new mission statement should appear across all of your marketing and promotional materials, from printed brochures to your beautiful website. Due to its short length, it also makes for an excellent bio lines on your social media channels. It’s a snappy answer to people’s initial question of ‘What is this?!’ after they stumble across your profile - and on the Internet, it’s important to keep information flowing fast to keep a web visitor’s attention engaged. Your mission statement makes your point quickly and succinctly, giving your online traffic a reason to stick around. Now, that’s good for business! P.S. One little hint from us to you: Keep a note of all places where you feature your mission statement. In the event you update it, you will want to be able to make an easy sweep of your office and your online presence to implement the new edits across the board. Get inspired by these mission statement examples Enjoy some of these examples of great mission statements that have hit the ball out of the park with their bold precision: Amp’d: “To provide people with limb loss/difference resources that allow them to live to their fullest potential.” Southwest Airlines: The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit. Honest Tea: Honest Tea seeks to create and promote great-tasting, healthy, organic beverages. We strive to grow our business with the same honesty and integrity we use to craft our recipes, with sustainability and great taste for all. S’well: It’s S’well’s ongoing mission to create products that are both beautiful and eco-friendly, that infuse innovation with inspiration, and that continue to give back to communities in need. Girl Scouts of the United States of America: Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Snap Inc.: Snap Inc. is a camera company. We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. We contribute to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. The New York Times: We seek the truth and help people understand the world. This mission is rooted in our belief that great journalism has the power to make each reader’s life richer and more fulfilling, and all of society stronger and more just.

We’ve all had that moment riding in a car, listening to tunes on the radio when suddenly a song comes on that takes you back in time and makes you smile. It reminds you of a special person, a gorgeous place or perhaps just a cool thing. Music is a strong trigger for nostalgic memories, but can a game evoke those same nostalgic memories? Why is nostalgia so powerful? Our talented designers here at Wix, for example, tend to use their childhood memories as inspiration when creating our stunning website templates. Being a kid meant that you didn’t need much to be wowed, and those simple things you had to play with encouraged you to use your imagination and dream big. This is why we’ve decided to take a journey back in time and look at how some products we used to think were the bomb, came back to the future in a slick and sophisticated marketing package and left us all wanting to be kids again. Why looking back will take you forward If you want to create something unique – ahem, like a free website, you have to do your research. Looking back at what others have done before you will not only save you from copying or repeating what’s already been done, it will motivate you to dig deeper and find a way to create the next best thing. Just don't let this trip down memory lane stop you from incorporating sustainable marketing best practices into your strategy. Our needs change on a daily basis. Case in point? When you got your first cell phone and texting your friends or playing Snake was the highlight of your day. These days if your phone can’t multitask, send pictures, video chat and surf the Internet, there’s practically no point in owning one. Inventing new technologies is based on studying past user experiences and the ability to reinvent the wheel over and over again, while adding newer elements. Research is your key to identifying what worked and what didn’t. Use that information to inspire yourself in thinking of other ways to make your idea universal and timeless. Without further ado, here are some of the latest products and brands that made a comeback, using our childhood memories (remember 8-bit?) to create a whole new experience that any generation can enjoy. They would also work as part of a wider integrated marketing strategy. 8-bit – Simplicity is the name of the game The third generation of video games was also referred to as the ‘8-bit era’ and began in the early 80’s. Back then, the Japanese launched this exciting product that allowed people to play these games in their very own homes. Their invention used a two-dimensional bitmap and incorporated independent objects that were composed together to create an engaging game. Some of the games that were invented are still relevant today, such as: Pac-Man, Mario Bros and Donkey Kong. Games were easy to play and follow: a hero needed to collect stuff and reach a destination. Using only the keyboard to move and jump (space bar!), made that experience amusing and approachable for most ages. Nowadays major brands decide to use the old school 8-bit look and simplicity in order to push their products in a new way, such as: Old Spice – Youland The infamous male grooming company is always looking to impress everyone with their unique digital marketing campaigns such as their 8-bit inspired Youland game in which the player is the hero fighting to find their friends through various obstacles. Players could connect via their Facebook profile page and add their own friends to compete against. How fun is that? Check out their trailer for Youland: DJ Khaled / Champs Sports – Secure the Bag DJ Khaled is a major social media influencer nowadays, mostly known for providing his “major key” tips for a better lifestyle. Khaled partnered with Champs Sports in order to promote their newest Timberland boot. The decision behind creating this promotion through an 8-bit game was almost expected, as they’re combining a classic brand with a classic game.  The coolest part? When the game ends, the player can choose to play again or head over to buy the shoe. This type of marketing is a genius move. Play it now: La La Land Do you remember who won the 2017 Oscar for best film? La La L… oh wait! No they didn’t. The idea to create a unique trailer that incorporates the look of an 8-bit game with the functionality of a “quest” game (where you choose what the hero would do through a series of multiple choices options). This could have been a fantastic move, however, they fell a bit short when they introduced this promotion as a video and not as an interactive game like the other brands previously mentioned. Take a look at the trailer: Pokemon Go – bringing back the past to change the present Originally launched in Japan in the early 90’s as video games, Pokemon later branched out across many different outlets such as card games, an animated television show, comic books and toys. Throughout the years, this brand kept reinventing itself for the needs of the current gaming industry and kept in mind the importance of social interaction in a world full of endless screens. Their first social phenomenon was the card game of the late 90’s. These cards were a brilliant move during those days when video games became accessible to all, and the challenge to get kids outside was almost impossible. The game encouraged kids around the globe to gather in small groups and exchange different cards. Cut to the late 2000’s where everyone and their grandmothers own a cellphone. Smart phones have kept reinventing themselves, creating quite a segregated community worldwide, and making it one of our primary forms of interaction with the outside world. The latest invention? Pokemon Go. The game uses elements from the original game, like the lovable characters and the concept of locating them. But this time they’ve thrown in a major social twist; you actually have to step outside and search for them on the streets from your mobile phone.“Get Up and Go” is their promotional catchphrase, implementing both the craze of the smartphones and shifting back to a time where players explored what the world had to offer. NOKIA 3310 – When effortless counts as quality Do you remember when your mom got you that brick-like phone that had a small screen and you were able to text your friends and play Snake? Those were the days when charging your phone was just an option. Nowadays we call it a “smartphone” as it can do everything you could imagine and more, that is depending on how long the battery lasts ;). Today’s market is saturated with different smartphones, and the more complicated they get, the more fragile they become (some can even explode in your hands – yikes!). Seems like they’re adding features most of us don’t use, let alone understand. Nokia decided to bring back their beloved phone and gave it a slight makeover. Not quite a smartphone, but not totally old-school like it’s 1999. It’s sure to be a hit among hipsters and technophobes who like the retro and uncomplicated feel that this phone has to offer. Nokia wisely uses the nostalgic trigger in this case, allowing us go back to a time where we felt life was much easier. The benefits of this classic includes: Being a brick that can’t break Having a battery that lasts forever (and ever) Costing less than the competitors It has Snake (!!!!) Nokia took a big risk by bringing an old product back that has basically the same functions it used to have, yet they nailed it by marketing it in a new and a fresh way. This phone is made for all those folks who want to take a step back and enjoy their surroundings, rather than living their lives through an app. Bonus Brand Lego was launched back in 1949 when they first introduced their interlocking toy bricks. What makes them stand out in the crowd of toys is that no matter your gender, you’ve probably played it. Lego made it to our bonus round, for the prime reason that it has evolved throughout the years and branded itself across many horizons such as: video games, board games, films & TV, books and a chain of epic theme parks known as Legoland. Just from looking at their website, you realize that they’re one of the most current brands out there. Take a look for yourself: In order to become a power brand, you need to be in a constant battle against the future and you have to remain current, even when it’s not “cool” anymore. But even in a world that keeps on evolving and changing, you need keep in mind that what used to be hip, might just come back around and be totally lit.

Word of mouth has been one of the most powerful marketing strategies even before marketing itself was considered an actual practice. More than five centuries later, the majority of marketing executives still believe word of mouth to be the most effective form of advertising. The only difference is that nowadays this practice starts with a solid email marketing and outreach strategy. In order to increase your business’s exposure through the recommendation of trusted entities in your industry, you’ll need to put together a detailed plan of action. This plan is known as a marketing outreach strategy, and will help you identify the best sites through which to promote your business website and offering, as well as how to successfully reach out to them. What is outreach marketing? Outreach marketing is a type of marketing that allows you to build relationships with like-minded brands in your field, in order to increase exposure for your website and promote your products or services. As the importance of influencer marketing and event marketing grow, these techniques have become a crucial part of any strong advertising plan. Find out how to promote an event in 9 actionable steps. A mention of your brand on a well-known site or social media channel will guide a large number of leads to the higher-level stages of your marketing funnel, significantly increasing your chances of generating sales. Moreover, outreach strategies can have major SEO (search engine optimization) benefits, as backlinks from high-quality referral websites are seen as a signal of credibility and help you rank higher on search results. A practice with such potential comes, of course, hand-in-hand with fierce competition. In order to conduct successful outreach marketing, you’ll need to come up with a solid strategy that makes your brand stand out. How to craft an effective outreach strategy Define your audience Collect target sites Write a compelling email Follow-up with a fresh approach Track your results Build lasting relationships 01. Define your audience The first step to effective communication is knowing who you are talking to. As you set out to build an outreach strategy, you’ll need to start by identifying the unique characteristics of your target market. One of the most efficient ways to do so is creating a mold of your ideal customer, commonly known as a buyer persona. Your ideal customer profile should include between three to five strict points that are consistent through your entire client base. For example, your buyer persona might be defined as “20-40 year old females with high disposable incomes living in suburban areas.” The more precise you are when creating your ideal customer profile, the more accurate your outreach marketing campaigns will be. 02. Collect target sites Once you know who you’re targeting, you’ll need to find the right platforms through which to target them. For example, if you have a small business that sells baby accessories, you’ll need to find websites and blogs that are related to these products, such as a parenting or maternity blog. This stage is one of the most crucial and demanding parts of developing a marketing outreach strategy, as it requires thorough research of your industry and will directly impact your chances of success. To help you navigate these uncharted waters, we have selected three of the best techniques you can use to find relevant, high-quality websites in your industry: Technique 1: Google search Heading to Google for research seems quite obvious, but it’s the most straightforward way of finding relevant blogs and sites to contact. Just enter the type of blog or magazine (e.g. parenting news or parenting blog) in the search box and click to check out the results. Do they provide quality and relevant content? If so, start by copying the names of the websites into an Excel sheet. Organize them by type, and add a column for email addresses. The more organized you are, the easier it will be to keep track of your work. Technique 2: Related search So technique 1 already provided you with some great websites to approach, but you’re hungry for more. Cue: the related search operator. The whole idea here is to find other websites that would attract the same, or a similar, crowd of visitors. This will allow you to search more accurately for websites that are similar in topic, content and quality. How does it work? Simply enter ‘related: www.examplewebsite.com’ into the Google search box. This will generate a search engine results page (SERP) full of websites that are very much like the one you found. Technique 3: More advanced operators To be even more precise, there are several other advanced operators to search Google for relevant sites. These searches allow you to identify websites that have a specific search phrase in the URL, in the text, in the SEO title or as anchor text within the website. Here are a few of the advanced operators you can use to find more specific websites: allinurl: search phrase – the URL contains the search term, for example allinurl: best baby accessories. allintext: search phrase – the text on the page contains the search term. allintitle: search phrase – the SEO title contains the search term. allinanchor: search phrase – an anchor text (text that links to a URL) on the page contains the search term. 03. Write a compelling approach email Once you’ve identified the right targets, the next step is to reach out to them via email. Considering your prospects likely get numerous marketing outreach proposals on a regular basis, you’ll need to carefully craft every element of your email in order to ensure it doesn’t end up in the trash. More than a third of recipients decide whether to open an email based on the subject line alone. To make sure your messages pass this barrier, craft a short subject line that taps into a certain feeling such as intrigue or FOMO. Afterwards, personalize the body of your email to the person you’re sending it to - a practice that has proven to generate 41% more click-through rates. Show them that you’re familiar with their work and audience, and elaborate on how your product and services can be relevant to them. Making this connection explicit will help improve your success rate. End the email by pitching your plan for collaboration, which can be anything from offering to write a blog post on their site to sending them one of your products to test out and write a review. Don’t forget to include at least two calls-to-action (CTAs) in your email: one near the beginning and one at the end. The first one should offer more information about your brand’s offering, while the second serves as an invitation to respond to your proposal. 04. Follow-up with a fresh approach Follow-up emails are an essential part of a strong marketing outreach strategy. Since not every initial approach gets a response, it’s important to send a second or even third email. However, outreach etiquette determines that you shouldn’t message a potential target more than three times, waiting a week between emails. Set reminders for when to follow up on each email you send and keep track of your communications with each person. The more organized you are, the less likely you’ll be to end up messaging the same person five times within two weeks, or missing potential opportunities. Make sure to change the subject line every time you send a new email to someone, as otherwise they might appear as part of the same thread in the recipient’s inbox. This practice also helps to prevent an email from being erroneously marked as spam. 05. Track your results Outreach marketing requires managing an enormous amount of data. You have to track the websites that you’ve reached out to, the date at which you contacted them and what kind of collaboration you offered them. While a regular Excel sheet may do the trick, you should also consider using some of the more advanced tools available for this purpose: Buzzsumo (paid): This great tool will help you find websites that have covered the topic that you are searching for. Just type a topic into the search bar, and it will provide you with a list of the most popular pieces of content from blogs and websites. You can easily export your findings and create a full blown list of websites that you’d like to contact. Boomerang (free and paid options): This Gmail add-on will help you remember when to follow up on approach emails. If you don’t receive a response from a first approach, it will throw a reminder email right back at you. MozBar (free): This amazing toolbar instantly provides information about the site quality by giving a score called domain authority. The higher the score, the better the website. Email tools and extensions: Even after identifying a new website or blog to approach, it can sometimes be difficult to find an email address. Here are two tools to help you find website owner’s emails; Email Hunter (free and premium options) and Clearbit Connect (free Gmail add-on). 06. Build lasting relationships Paradoxical as it may sound, one of the best things about marketing outreach, is that you get to communicate with real people in your realm or industry. Once you’ve made a real connection with someone, they may continue to have a positive impression of your business and will be more open to further promoting your products or services. This is why keeping your industry colleagues updated with the latest news about your business is a great idea, enabling them to share your updates with their readers. There are several ways that you can invest in these relationships and make sure that your partners know how much you appreciate them, including: Use Wix Email Marketing to send out a newsletter updating your contacts about the latest news and products. To avoid overwhelming them, you should only do this every three to four months. Send them one of your products for free, or a coupon for a service. Send out a letter for the holiday season with a personalized message to each of your partners around the web, as a way to let them know you appreciate the relationship.

Aside from the business itself, there’s a lot that goes into owning a business that might not be in the realm of your expertise. Whether it’s managing employees, creating a business website and a marketing plan, or taking care of the admin side, running your own company will require you to become an expert in a broad number of subjects. Bookkeeping is one of the most important subjects where you’ll need to excel in order to run a successful business, as it allows you to have a full understanding of your finances both on a daily basis as well as in the long run. Despite its seemingly steep learning curve, especially alarming for those who describe themselves as “not a numbers person”, learning how to do bookkeeping isn’t difficult at all with the right guidance. In this beginners guide, we’ll take a closer look at the most important small business bookkeeping basics you need to know. What is bookkeeping? Traditionally, bookkeeping was the act of entering all your business’s transactions into a book to see how you’re spending money. While most businesses have already swapped books for spreadsheets and accounting software, the concept is still the same. Nowadays, the process generally starts by defining the limits between company and personal assets, selecting a small business accounting method, setting up payroll, and taking care of the business’s taxes. While this might sound similar to accounting, the role of bookkeeping and accounting aren’t identical, but they do often go hand-in-hand. Bookkeeping is focused on organizing your business transactions like revenue, debits, credits, sunk costs and expenditures. Once those transactions are organized, the role of an accountant is to analyze them in order to create statements and reports for the business on where they currently are financially and how they can improve in addition to filing tax returns. The importance of bookkeeping Bookkeeping isn’t a task you can sweep under the rug. It’s essential that you get a good grasp of what bookkeeping for your small business looks like before you turn to outside help or even accounting software. Here are a few of the main reasons why bookkeeping is so important for small business owners: Separate business from personal After starting a new business, many business owners struggle to separate their personal finances from their business. While any small business owner probably feels personally attached to their business, that doesn’t mean their personal accounts need to be involved in running it. Bookkeeping helps you keep those worlds apart in order to ensure your business debts are held completely separate from your personal finances. Help prevent errors Everyone makes mistakes. Whether a mistake is made by an employee, a miscalculation from your bank, or something you did yourself, bookkeeping allows you to closely track all your transactions to pinpoint specific errors. While one miscalculation likely won’t throw your whole business off its financial goals, the accumulation of small mistakes over time can make a difference. Regularly keeping on top of your bookkeeping prevents these errors from impacting your bottom line and helps you prevent them from happening again. Track your progress There are several ways to assess if your business is succeeding, and bookkeeping is just one of them. By regularly recording your transactions and staying on top of cash flow, earnings and retained earnings you’ll be able to identify areas for improvement and get a good overall picture of your business’s finances. Furthermore, looking at where exactly your money is going and coming from, you can make smarter decisions to cut costs and decide where to focus your efforts on the things that are bringing more money in. Make tax season easier Filing taxes can be a nightmare for small business owners, unless you’ve been keeping track of your finances all year long. When it comes time to gather all necessary documents and turn them over to your accountant, it will be much simpler if you’ve been bookkeeping the whole year and already have a good idea of what tax deductions your business is eligible to claim. Additionally, this will reduce the chances of any surprises after submitting your tax return, giving you more peace of mind. Allows you to get a loan Knowing the true cost of starting a business will help you decided whether you need to take out a loan. As a small business owner, you’ll likely be asked for proof in the form of financial statements and records. Lenders want to know the ins and outs of your business’s finances, and if that’s not organized enough to begin with, your chances of getting approved will likely decrease. By clearly having records of things like cash flow, revenue, liabilities, and debts, raising money for your business will become a lot simpler. How to do bookkeeping for small businesses Set up and separate your business accounts Decide on a bookkeeping system Categorize all transactions Decide how to store your documents Balance your books Create bookkeeping reports Make a bookkeeping schedule 01. Set up and separate your business accounts The first thing you want to do when establishing the bookkeeping process for your small business is ensuring that there’s no crossover with your personal accounts. Aside from making it easier to discern your business income from your personal funds, having a separate business bank account protects your personal assets from any liabilities. This means that if your business were to run into any issues such as a lawsuit or bankruptcy, your personal funds would remain protected. After separating your bank accounts, you should also consider getting a credit card specifically for business expenses. This will help you build up credit for your business so if you ever need to apply for a loan or any type of funding, your business has its own credit history. 02. Decide on a bookkeeping system There’s more than one way to go about bookkeeping, so one of the first decisions you’ll need to make is deciding which system works best for your business. You have a few options on how you want to go about your bookkeeping: you can do it yourself either manually or with accounting software such as Quickbooks, you can go to an external professional bookkeeper, or you can even hire your own in-house bookkeeper. The option you choose will likely depend on where your business is at. If you’re just starting out, you’ll likely be fine with using DIY software and you can move on to an in-house bookkeeper when you grow. Aside from deciding how you’ll go about bookkeeping, you also need to decide on the method you’ll use. Generally, you can use either a single-entry or double-entry method. Single-entry bookkeeping: you record each transaction in your books one time. For example, if you made a sale and received payment, that would be noted in your books as one transaction. Double-entry bookkeeping: each transaction has its own credit and debit, so the same amount is noted twice in your book. Most professional bookkeepers and accounting software will use the double-entry method. In addition to your bookkeeping method, you’ll also need to decide on your accounting method. There are also two options for this: cash and accrual. Cash method: you note all transactions only when the money is received or paid. For example, if you invoice a customer today but don’t receive the money in your account for another week, then it would only be noted when your money enters your bank account. Accrual method: you note all transactions at the point when you invoice someone or receive a bill. With this method, you’ll need to track your accounts payable and receivable. For both bookkeeping and accounting methods, you’ll need to determine which is better for your business. In general, for smaller businesses it’s recommended to start with single-entry bookkeeping and cash accounting. 03. Categorize all transactions Once you’ve selected which bookkeeping system you’re going to use, you’ll need to start recording every transaction regularly. It’s smart to input transactions as they happen, since otherwise you might forget what it was for and thus won’t be tracked correctly. When categorizing your transactions, there are a few ways to break them down. For starters, each transaction should be noted as either a credit or a debit. A credit refers to money coming into an account, and a debit is the money going out of an account. In a double-entry bookkeeping system, you would have both a credit and debit for each transaction. Aside from debits and credits, you can further categorize where money is going to and from by referring to different accounts. Generally, there are five types of accounts: Assets: anything that your company owns, like equipment, cash, or inventory Liabilities: money owed to someone, such as a loan or payment to a vendor Equity: money that comes from the company owner, usually that won’t be paid back Revenue: money received as a result of sales or services performed Expenses: money you use to run your business 04. Decide how to store your documents Bills, invoices, expense reports, credit card statements… The paperwork adds up and it needs somewhere to be safely kept in. Not only is it important to keep documentation of your transactions for yourself, but occasionally the IRS (internal revenue service) might request to see the documentation as proof of expenses. That being said, you don’t need to start stacking shelves full of folders to store all your documents. You can invest in a way to store them digitally to keep all your transaction records in one place. Apps like Dropbox, Google Drive, or Shoeboxed help you store your receipts in one place so you never need to worry about losing, misplacing, or having the ink fade on a receipt from a client's lunch. 05. Balance your books If you’ve been recording all your transactions and noting them as credits and debits, then you’ll eventually need to balance your books. Whether you choose to do that at the end of every month, quarter, or each year is up to you. For many small business owners, balancing the books mainly means looking at your assets and liabilities using a simple equation to figure out your business equity. The equation should look like this: Equity = Total Assets - Total Liabilities It’s normal for there to be some mistakes while balancing your books. The original number you get from this equation is often referred to as your trial balance. After arriving at this balance, it's a regular procedure to go over all the data and make sure to correct errors in how transactions were recorded. If after correcting any mistakes and going through all the transactions and subtracting your liabilities from assets your assets still come out on top, then your business is going in the right direction. 06. Create bookkeeping reports Once your books are balanced, it’s time to create some reports on your business’s finances. You’ll likely already have a balance sheet from the previous step, which is a great report that analyzes the overall progress of your business. Some other types of reports you might want to use include: Profits and losses: similar to an income statement, this report allows you to compare revenue and expenses over a set period of time to ensure that your business is bringing in more money than it’s spending. Cash flow: this statement shows you where your business is earning and spending the most money, and how able it is to pay off its expenses. Accounts payable/receivable ageing: whether a customer has been taking a while to pay you or you haven’t yet paid a vendor, this will allow you to make sure you’re sending and receiving payments on time so that you can follow up. 07. Make a bookkeeping schedule Once you start getting into the flow of bookkeeping, make sure that you stick with it and update your books regularly to maintain a good level of organization. By turning bookkeeping into a habit, you’ll be able to ensure that nothing is forgotten and you can minimize accounting mistakes. Try and set a date each week to record all your weekly transactions, and then set another time each month or quarter to balance your books. It may seem like a chore, but you don’t want to let your bookkeeping fall through the cracks and then suddenly have months or even years of transactions to record and balance.

If you could be anything in the world, what would it be? If you ask me, I’d be an illustrator. Why? Simply put, artists have the unique ability to take the wildest thoughts that pop into their head and manifest that idea into a stunning work of art! …and meanwhile, I struggle drawing stick figures with even lengthened arms and legs ¯\_(ツ)__/¯. Being unbound by creative limits in the real world, I was curious to know, how does an illustrator create a website and what would it look like? Would the cold parameters of a computer screen harden the beauty of their works, or would the combined elements of digital and hand-drawn create a modern masterpiece, like in these Wix animation websites? Well, I won’t keep you in suspense much longer! Read on to discover nearly a dozen examples of illustrator websites – *spoiler alert, they’re absolutely stunning, web design and all. Ana Duje Originally from Argentina, Ana is now a proud Barcelona-based artist with a “less is more” approach to her work. This illustrator and graphic designer pairs strong colors with bold yet simple shapes to form her signature style on this illustrator Wix website example. Fans of Ana’s art can easily purchase prints off of her websites thanks to the incorporation of an online store. We love the graphic design websites inspiration we can pull from Ana's site. Annie Ryan Annie Ryan is a graphic image maker/illustrator who creates art using mixed media. For her website, Annie lets her art do most of the talking. For her illustration portfolio, she opted for a single-pager that stylishly showcases her work both in an image gallery and as the site’s background using a parallax scrolling effect. Bespoke Pets What would your pet look like if they got up for work like the rest of us? Would they put on a pair of work boots, or would they be more likely to wear a fine Chanel suit? Sarah Zimmer creates custom pet portraits for her clients that showcase just that. The gallery on her illustrator website beautifully showcases what Sparky and friends would look if they were a little lighter on the animal instincts – and maybe more business savvy. Espirro Lisbon-based illustrator, Espirro calls his artistic style “a combo of nonsense and common sense” – which just happen to be my favorite things, too. Not tied to one medium, Espirro showcases his drawings on anything you could think of, including clothing (for humans and dogs), home decor, and you can even schedule an appointment to get a tattoo of your favorite piece. Having so many promo options could have easily ended up an organizational nightmare, but Espirro does a great job keeping his website clean and easy to navigate by separating each project category with a drop-down menu. Olivia Mabrey Olivia may describe herself as an illustrator and “photograph taker,” but between you and me, I think she’s being modest. Her artist website proudly displays gorgeous pattern work, humourous graphic posters, prints, photography and mixed media work. All this and more is stylishly presented on slideshow galleries separated by category on her website. Travis Braun Love music? Prepare to be blown away by Travis Braun. This illustrator and educator creates music posters that are riddled with hidden meanings and Easter eggs that make them super fun for fans to experience. Anyone itching to learn more about Travis’s work can read all about what inspired him to create posters for some of the world’s biggest bands on his website’s blog. Ilpo Rybatzki-Tiensivu This Helsinki-based art educator mixes real world and fantasy by sprinkling fun drawings all throughout his illustrator website. A true artist, Ilpo’s website showcases an array of talent, including: design, illustrations, and even original music. Learn more about how to make a website with our extensive guide.

Wix Code is now Velo by Wix, a comprehensive web development platform that lets you build professional web applications as quickly as possible. A few months ago, we announced Wix Code, a powerful solution that gives you the possibility be able to plan how to make a website without limits. Today, we’re thrilled to tell you that Wix Code is open to everyone! What exactly are we talking about? Wix Code is an integrated web development environment that enables you to manage data, customize the behavior of Wix components, build web applications and create robust websites. In human words: this formidable technology allows you to extend substantially the functionality of your Wix website. And the cherry on top; you can do it all using the visual elements of the Wix Editor. Do (much) more without coding Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you can use Wix Code without coding. As we said, this product gives you access to powerful tools that let you create a no code website and enrich it significantly – without advanced technical knowledge. You might be asking yourself, “what’s in it for me?” Excellent question! In order to illustrate what you can do as a non-coder, we will use Anno’s website as an example. Anno doesn’t know how to code, yet she created this huge repertory of plants for gardening lovers. In order to do that, she used two great features within Wix Code: Database Collections and Dynamic Pages. Let’s take a minute to learn what these are and how she used them: Database Collections: This allows you to manage all of your website’s content in one place. You can collect and store text, images, numbers, documents, user info and more in a database. You’ll be able to use it anywhere on your website. For example, let’s say you want to create a repertory like Anno did on her stunning website. You can compile your text and pictures in your database collection. Each item (in this case, plants) will have its own row as if you were filling out a spreadsheet – it’s that simple. Now, the million-dollar question is: what do you do with all this content? Read on. Dynamic Pages: Once you collected your content in your database, you can generate one single design style that will adapt itself to each item (row) on your list. This allows you to create an infinity of new pages – without having to duplicate them. Each page (generated automatically) will have a custom URL and unique content. Here you can see that Anno has a huge database containing a variety of plants. By connecting her Database with the Dynamic Pages, she now has hundreds of pages, one for each plant. Of course, everything is SEO compatible. Crazy, isn’t it? But this isn’t the only magical thing you can do without coding! You can also generate tailored forms: Custom forms: Create application forms, review sections, quizzes and more without writing a single line of code. All the data you collect will automatically get stored in your database – and again, can be used anywhere on your site. Look at the Buyer and Seller sections on Josh’s website. The forms are totally customized to meet the needs of his real estate business. Create without limits with Code If you know how to code, then you are about to fully understand the power of Wix Code. First of all, since Wix Code is a part of the Wix OS, we take care of the hassle of setting up the infrastructure and maintaining web environments in order for you to enjoy a much better and faster creation experience. This will give you more time and freedom to: Take control of your site with APIs & JavaScript: By coding, you can extend your website’s functionality with JavaScript and APIs. This combination gives you full control over your site’s functionality; from Wix elements to your databases to backend files – including fetching and routing. Customize page element behaviors with custom interactions: Add JavaScript code to your page elements to customize their behavior. Create interactions for any action a user performs, like clicking a button, hovering over a shape and toggling the page layout. It’s easy to do, even if you’re not a JavaScript pro. Have a look at Marisa’s website to see some cool interactions: We think it’s best to hear about Wix Code straight from our users. Here’s what developer Andreas Kviby has to say: “By using Wix Code we will save about 50 percent off the time it would typically take to build on other platforms –  but often more. It is amazing when you can create client apps in days instead of weeks. For designers who are not coders, they can now take some code and extend sites for clients in no time.” How to activate Wix Code In order to enable Velo (formerly Wix Code), all you need to do is open your site's editor and on the top bar click Dev Mode > Turn on Dev Mode. Useful resources Now it’s time to start digging into this gem of a technology. First, check out the mini-site for an overview of Wix Code. Want to know more about the product? The resources page is the best place for you. Still a bit skeptical? Below, you’ll find a selection of websites that are sure to convince you: Stunning websites using Wix Code: How fabulous are these websites, right? Now it’s your turn to take advantage of this revolutionary product for your own needs and to enjoy the freedom of creation! Create without limits with Velo by Wix

Starting a new business is an exciting opportunity to explore your passions. As you work out the details of creating a business website, drafting a business plan and announcing your new venture to the world, another consideration to make is how you’ll obtain funding. Startup loans are a common path to realizing your dream of owning a business, but they aren’t as simple as walking into a bank, getting approved and taking out money. Check out these tips and insights that every entrepreneur needs to know about how to get a business loan. How to get a startup business loan Build a strong loan application Improve your loan approval chances Follow the loan application process Navigate loan negotiations and terms Pull the trigger on your startup business loan 01. Build a strong loan application Getting a business loan is an exciting step in starting a business, but the process can be a little bit confusing, especially if you're brand new to the world of business funding. Start by assessing your financial readiness and gathering the following information: Your loan requirements and business objectives An estimate of the amount you need to borrow A list of what you intend to use the money for Personal and business financial statements, tax returns and a business plan At this stage, you’ll be better prepared for the application process. Your loan application is your ticket to financing, so be thorough—and thoughtful—about the information you provide. Writing a compelling business plan should be your first step. Include key elements like: A summary of what your business does and how it will make money Your intended use of funds Earnings projections for the next two to three years Proof of your repayment ability Your mission statement Company information (objectives, market analysis, competition, etc.) Current cash flow/income and growth initiatives Quotes for relevant supplies, equipment and staffing needs Your proposed method of payment Your requested loan amount, its purpose and expected repayment terms Make sure you highlight the strengths of your business and unique selling points so that potential lenders understand how your company is different from others on the market. An effective way to do this is to provide use cases that demonstrate how you clearly solve a problem for your target customers. 02. Improve your loan approval chances To increase your chances of getting approved for a loan, there are several things you can do. First, focus on improving your personal and business credit score by paying bills on time, keeping your debt-to-income ratio low (ideally under 35%) and having a consistent cash flow. You can further improve your chance for approval by offering more collateral or providing a personal guarantee. For example, putting up an asset like a home or property shows lenders that you're willing to take on risk and that you’re serious about paying them back. Don’t discount the value of partnerships and endorsements. Reach out to contacts who can vouch for you like business owners, banks or peers to see if they’d be interested in investing or becoming a co-signer or guarantor for your loan. 03. Follow the loan application process Once you've done all your preparation and homework, it's time to find funding sources. Start with local business groups and organizations like your local Chamber of Commerce. Request an in-person meeting or telephone call so that you can introduce yourself and explain why you want to borrow money. When you're ready to submit a loan application, you should have all your materials ready to go—this is where all your research and background work really pay off. Filling out the application should be simple since you've already gathered the information you need, but make sure to double check your information for accuracy before submitting it. Mistakes or inconsistencies might result in a rejected application. Once your applications are submitted, follow up with lenders to ensure that they've received everything. This is also a good time to address any issues or questions the lender has and demonstrate that you're readily available. 04. Navigate loan negotiations and terms Congratulations and take a deep breath—you've received an offer (in theory). But you're not done yet. You’ll need to read the loan documents thoroughly and make sure that you understand the terms and conditions of your loan. Pay close attention to interest rates, fees and repayment schedules. Look for additional associated costs to avoid surprises, such as closing costs, processing fees or penalties. If your loan agreement is reasonable and you can afford the monthly payments, then you should accept the loan offer. If not, negotiate with the lender for more favorable terms. You're not completely powerless here—lenders are often willing to negotiate rates and other aspects of a loan package because they want your business. You don't have to go it alone, either. If you feel like you need help in understanding loan contracts and terms, or just want a second opinion, don't hesitate to get professional advice from an accountant or financial advisor. This is a big decision and it should absolutely be an informed one. 05. Pull the trigger on your startup business loan If everything looks good, you can sign the loan agreement and any legal documents associated with it. This is the finalization process and is a good time to review everything. Depending on the type of financing you accept, you may be able to start using the funds immediately (or, at least, very quickly). As with most things that come with running a business, nothing is ever truly finished. You should continue researching and learning about the startup funding process—including potential grants and tax incentives so that you can take advantage of every opportunity available. Staying informed about current market trends and news also helps you remain competitive (and helps you make better financial decisions). Finally, having a budget in place helps you anticipate potential financial needs and meet your goals. Once you have a loan agreement in place, you should revisit your budget, establish a way to track your finances and focus on what you want your business to look like in the next six, 12 and 18 months. This will keep you on a healthy financial track for the long run. Startup business loan options Informing yourself about the different types of small business funding sources and their various terms, interest rates and repayment options can help you find the best loan for your unique situation. Below is a list of the most common startup business loan options and other funding sources. Bank loans and online lending The most common types of loans for small businesses come from banks and online lenders. These can be secured or unsecured loans. Interest rates fall within a wide range depending on the loan amount, your credit score and other factors like repayment terms. Note that since unsecured loans aren’t backed by collateral, rates tend to be significantly higher to hedge against the risk of default. The current interest rates for secured versus unsecured loans range from: Secured business loans: 2% to 7% Unsecured business loans: 7% to 99% Repayment terms for business loans vary as well. Again, this will be contingent on the type and amount of your loan. Generally, long-term loans have repayment periods of up to 25 years, while short-term loans can have repayment periods of 18 months or less. SBA loans, which are backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, have repayment periods of 10 years for working capital and equipment, and up to 25 years for large assets (e.g., land, facilities, etc.). Most business loans require immediate repayment, which means the payment cycle starts within 30 days of receiving the funds. Business line of credit A business line of credit (LOC) is a flexible loan that behaves like a credit card, enabling business owners to borrow and repay funds as needed. Business lines of credit can be as low as $1,000 to as high as $500,000. You’ll draw on these funds, pay them back and they become available again throughout the duration of the loan. Interest tends to skew higher for business LOCs, ranging as much as 10% to 99%. The exact terms of the LOC is dependent on your credit score, loan amount, the lender’s policies and other financial nuances specific to the lender and your circumstances. One benefit about this loan type is that you only pay interest on what you use, so if you’re approved for $25,000 but only use $5,000, you’ll only pay interest on the $5,000. Business lines of credit often require you to be operating for a certain length of time and meet an annual income requirement, but new businesses can absolutely qualify for a LOC. You’ll need a good personal credit score (at least 680, though it will vary by lender) and you’ll likely need collateral if you’ve yet to open or don’t meet the time-in-business criteria. Repayment is immediate. That is, once you start using a business LOC, you’ll need to start paying it off monthly as you would a credit card. Crowdfunding Crowdfunding is a popular way to gain capital and visibility for your startup. It's designed to obtain funding from multiple sources (individuals, businesses, investors, etc.) by leveraging two effective marketing tools—word of mouth and the internet. Business crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo connect startups to potential investors who can be individuals, companies, banks/lenders and nonprofits. They give entrepreneurs an easy way to raise money without having to deal with the complexities of traditional small business loans. Crowdfunding gives you a way to market your new idea or business by creating buzz and interest in a soon-to-launch product or brand. There are different types of crowdfunding (reward, donation, equity, etc.) with different requirements you must meet depending on your business type, your location and the platform you use. Venture capitalists and angel investors Venture capitalists and angel investors are financial professionals, organizations or high-net-worth individuals who provide capital in exchange for some type of control in your business. Angel investors like to invest in early-stage companies and use their own money. In exchange, they often require equity or a seat on your company's board. Venture capitalists, meanwhile, can be banks, pension funds, insurance companies or other financial entities that manage funds that invest in startups. They usually invest in later-stage companies, have more available capital than angel investors and also often require a seat on your board. Small business grants While not technically a loan, it’s worth mentioning that small business grants can help fund your startup with no strings attached. Grants provide non-repayable funds and usually come from the government, private foundations or corporations. They often involve a comprehensive application process and are much more competitive. Eligibility depends on factors such as the type of business you plan to start, your location and/or personal characteristics (women-owned business, minority-owned business, etc.) Some grants require additional funds be put toward your business as a condition of the grant.

If you’re of a certain age, you probably remember the satisfaction of flipping through the Yellow Pages. Whether you needed a plumber to fix that leaking faucet at home or the phone number of that new restaurant in town, the Yellow Pages have long been the gold standard of local directories. Today, Yellow Pages is still putting businesses on the map—the print and digital map. After more than 100 years in business, Yellow Pages is not only an industry-leading online directory service, but also a prominent digital marketing partner. They offer services to help businesses manage their online visibility, reputation, rankings and lead generation, all as a means to earn more customers.   We sat down with Sherilyn King, senior vice president of sales, marketing and customer service from Yellow Pages, to talk about the evolution of the company, kicking bad habits to the curb and the power of marketing in the digital era.  Find the tools and services to help your business grow with Yellow Pages for Business . The evolution of YellowPages.ca In an era where the phrase "Let your fingers do the walking" has leapt from page to screen, Yellow Pages has reinvented its directory services to align with the digital revolution. For entrepreneurs eager to start a business , this modernization of a time-tested service offers a new frontier to tackle small business challenges  in the online realm.  Our conversation with Yellow Pages sheds light on how they've navigated the shift and what insights they can offer to small businesses aiming to thrive in a connected world. Amanda Bellucco-Chatham (ABC):  Can you share about the pivotal moment when Yellow Pages transitioned from a print directory/phonebook to an online platform? Sherilyn King (SK): As you may know, we are leaders in the directory business in Canada. And we understood that there was a need in the market to evolve from a print-only business to an online business; our customers needed it, and their customers needed it. So, we had to change the perception of YP from being just a print directory to an online digital marketing company, and [demonstrate] how businesses would benefit from our help with their business plans—for both their online and offline marketing. ABC:  Would you say that that perception shift was a challenge, or was it something that happened more naturally as you evolved? SK: I would say it still remains a challenge for us. We're an established 100-plus-year-old company that people still perceive as a print directory business. So, it's up to us to continue educating businesses and consumers about all the digital products that we offer to help businesses in Canada with their marketing. ABC: How did Yellow Pages go about building (or expanding) its own reputation online? What did that process look like?  SK: It's a lengthy and ongoing process. Over the last number of years, we have worked on evolving YP’s brand and reputation. We modernized our logo slightly from its original walking fingers to more of a pebble, to symbolize our evolution from print to digital. We changed the look of our [print] directories to show consumers that we can help them discover local businesses in their communities from an online perspective.  From an advertising perspective, we practice what we preach. We advertised our services both organically and paid, through Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and even digital out-of-home to businesses looking for someone to help them with their advertising needs. Most recently, we have focused a lot of attention on our reputation, employing numerous strategies to increase our online ratings and reviews. ABC: Of the things you just mentioned, were there any strategies that you think specifically were a success in terms of marketing and branding? SK:  I don't think there was one thing that was a particular success. It was the combination of everything that we've done. Our multi-channel approach of getting in front of businesses from all stages of their journey in selecting an advertising partner has been very successful. A key element for us is our face-to-face team that's also out promoting what we do and helping to educate businesses on the services that we offer. So, I don't think it's just one thing, I think it's a combination of all the things we've done.  ABC: Sort of a big picture approach.  SK:  Exactly. Bringing your business to the digital forefront Building a strong offline and  online presence is key for business growth  in the modern age. Having mastered this transition themselves, Yellow Pages offers advice on the crucial steps and strategies that business owners should consider to fuel business development  and growth. ABC: Pivoting a little bit more towards small businesses in general. Do you have any advice for the best way small businesses can prepare to get their offline business  online ? And what would be the first thing you suggest they do? SK: First of all, they need to make sure people can find them. We know that many consumers are looking  on various platforms to find a small business. As a business owner, you need to make sure that you're online and on multiple platforms, whether that's through a website or Google. You cannot assume that consumers are only checking one platform.  My next piece of advice is: it's not always easy. Consumers are looking online for quick information. They want to make sure that they can find what they're looking for, whether that be your product or service, or your hours or location. You need to make sure you are present and that your information is up to date and accurate too. It involves time, and as a business owner, you need to make sure that you have a partner that will help you with all of this. ABC: What are some bad habits or “old ways of thinking” that you would urge small businesses to ditch when approaching digital marketing? SK: I would say that their engagement is critical to their success. If they get themselves online and then they don't  update their information, or they don't respond, or they're not making changes, then people will feel they're not relevant anymore. Or, people will feel that maybe that business doesn't exist because, “I checked: the hours say they're open, but I went there, they're not open." Engagement both online and offline is critical to make sure that people understand a business is still relevant, and that the consumer can gather the information they need from that business. ABC: How about your biggest pet peeve when it comes to how businesses handle their marketing? SK: I think my biggest pet peeve is when a business owner thinks it's easy. They think it's easy to establish [themselves] on Google. They think it's easy to manage their online presence. They think it's easy to make updates. But what's happening is there are multiple platforms where a consumer can find you.  Some consumers will look on YP.ca. Some consumers will look on Google. Some will look on Bing. Some will look for a website—and if you don't have a website, they think you're not in business.  Many business owners don't realize how complex their digital strategy has to be or how fragmented the market is. And so I think a lot of businesses think they can do it themselves, it’s “easy”—and then they don't understand why they're not appearing in search, why their optimizations are not working, why they’re not appearing organically in rankings…all of those things are not easy.  ABC: One thing that comes to mind when talking about YP.ca is the concept of future-proofing. In your opinion, what's the most impactful strategy for future-proofing a business in a rapidly changing digital landscape? SK: That's a great question. I think the key is having a digital marketing partner that you can trust. You need to have a partner that stays on top of the latest trends and that has been in business for a very long time. We're here to stay, and our mission is to help small businesses navigate today’s confusing digital landscape.  At YP, our team of experts stay on top of the latest trends. We also pick partners that we can rely on. We're partnering with the biggest and best—like Wix, Google and Facebook—so that we can help small business owners  be informed on how best to execute those strategies. I think that's the best way to future-proof your business: finding the right, trusted, credible partner to move forward with you. Your trusted business partners There’s a lot to learn about how to run a business  successfully, from understanding how to build a website  to making that website convert customers. But with a team like Yellow Pages Canada in your corner, you can skip the guesswork and have professionals take your brand to the next level. Yellow Pages rounds out its marketing acumen and proven track record of success by partnering with trusted brands like Google, Facebook and Wix. This shared expertise offers a unique blueprint for success, providing tools and strategies essential for small businesses to thrive in the online marketplace. ABC: Pivoting for the last few questions, I wanted to actually get more into the concept of Yellow Pages specifically working with small businesses. How does Yellow Pages Canada help businesses optimize their online presence for search engines, and how does Yellow Pages Canada support businesses in adapting to these evolving trends? SK: We have a team of specialists and they're constantly ensuring we follow the best practices. For example, when Google does an algorithm change, our team is fully aware and is adapting to see how we can help both our customers and our own yellowpages.ca platform. ABC: Are there any specific industries or market sectors that have seen the most success on YP.ca's digital platform? SK: We're here to support all businesses and all verticals. However, some of our most successful verticals are home services, professional services and health services. There’s still value on our platform for all businesses and all verticals. ABC: Looking ahead a little bit: What future initiative Innovations can we expect in the digital marketing space? SK: We're constantly evolving our products and offerings to provide the best, most relevant and the most competitive products for consumers. We do that by evolving our products, but also through our strategic partnerships. We will evolve as our partners evolve, and as our partners enhance their products, we will ensure best-in-class offerings. ABC: Final question: How do you think businesses can benefit from the dual power of Yellow Pages’ digital solutions and Wix? SK: We chose Wix as a partner because we believe in the Wix brand. As Wix continues to evolve both their business and their products, we believe we can offer our customers the best website products on the market. Where we come in and add value is for the businesses that do not want to do it themselves. Our team of experts will take care of setting up and managing all of the work to get your website live. And then, of course, there’s all the work needed to promote your business—which is also where we come in. ABC: It seems it can make all the difference to have someone who's actually an expert in the marketing and branding piece to complete the whole puzzle for you so you're not left scrambling trying to figure out “How do I do all  of it?” SK:  Time is the most precious thing that a business owner has. We often hear from business owners, “I'd love to grow my business, but I don't have time because I'm doing the day-to-day functions.” Well, let us help you grow your business by building the right online strategy, and then you can focus on your business. If you're trying to focus on your business and build your digital marketing strategy and update your website and update your social campaigns and optimize your website and, and, and…the business owner will just run out of time.  ABC: Yeah, it ends up sort of diluting the effectiveness of each of these very vital components when you're not able to focus properly on one specific thing. SK: And it's very difficult for a business owner. They are very familiar with their business—whether that be home services, restaurants, professional services, etc.—but how do they stay educated with what's happening in the digital marketing landscape? They would actually have to set aside time every day, every week to check what's going on with Google, Facebook, website platforms, etc.—and then they don't have time to focus on their business. Partnering with a company like Yellow Pages provides a turnkey solution to help businesses grow so they can focus on their business. The digital advertising landscape is constantly evolving so it's more important than ever to partner with someone that you can trust, like YP. Let’s get down to business. Build your business website  today and check out all of the other solutions Yellow Pages offers to help your business stand out online.

Long gone are the days when you would utter the words “AI” and be met with blank stares. Today, it’s no longer a matter of “What is AI?,” but a matter of “How can I use AI to [fill in the blank]?” AI has permeated nearly every industry, affecting everyone from the small business owner to the corporate giants of the world. Nowadays, a majority of businesses (64%) are optimistic about the impact of AI on their productivity, according to a recent Forbes Advisor survey. This begs the question, what’s next on the horizon for AI? How far have we come, and how far do we still have to go? We spoke with four Wix experts from various fields to get their takes. Keep reading for their candid opinions on how much is left to explore when it comes to AI. Note: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Wix. Learn how to start a business on the right foot with the help of sophisticated, AI-powered tools. Get started with Wix’s website builder for small business. Content marketing: “We’re in a mature stage” “I'd say we're in a mature stage of the AI revolution. AI applications are integral to marketing strategies—with widespread adoption of tools for content creation, data analysis and campaign optimization. As technology advances, we keep exploring new ways to use AI for more sophisticated and personalized marketing efforts. AI tools already assist my team in overcoming writer's block and improving the quality of our work. AI-powered analytics platforms also help us analyze consumer trends, track campaign performance and optimize marketing strategies. Looking ahead, AI will bring even more significant changes. We expect advancements in personalization for hyper-targeted content delivery. AI-driven automation will streamline routine tasks, giving marketers more time for strategic planning and creativity. Additionally, AI will enhance customer engagement through smarter chatbots, personalized recommendations and seamless interactions across various touch points. The challenge will be in making sure that AI is fair and transparent. We’ll need to address biases in algorithms and ensure robust data privacy measures. Additionally, there's a need for more professionals who understand both marketing and AI to fully unleash the potential of AI in our field. Ethical considerations are crucial, and responsible use of AI technology is a continuous concern.” - Nirit Braun, Wix content lead Graphic design: “We are on the ground floor” “Compared to AI text generation, AI image generation is still in the early stages. We are still on the ground floor. AI right now is still fluffy and new age-y. Now, it’s time that we take it to the practical level. AI provides this opportunity to bridge the gap between small business owners and the huge corporations that have exponentially more design resources. This is where the magic is happening—in being able to take what the user wants to achieve and proactively building the media that suits their exact preferences. Or, taking something that the user has already created and making deeper changes to the details. This may not sound all that exciting, but it’s actually very ambitious from a technical level. Just being able to take a picture of a product and put it against any backdrop without distorting the proportions or affecting quality in a way that misleads consumers is challenging. Just like how these days someone might type something into ChatGPT and assume the output is correct, we need to assume the same with AI image generation. It needs to be done responsibly and accurately. Ultimately, we also want to be able to preserve the creator’s voice when generating images for them with AI; instead of simply creating graphics that are beautiful, we want to create graphics that actually match a person’s brand and voice.” - Ido Kosover, head of Wix Media Marketing overall: “It’s still relatively early” “Everything is moving really fast but it's still relatively early. There’s so much that we have yet to see. But I think in the near future, the biggest impact that AI will have in terms of marketing will be in personalization. It will help companies big and small go global from day one. For example, let’s say there are three people in a meeting. I speak English, somebody else speaks Spanish and another person speaks Italian. AI is like a magic device that can take what I say in English and personalize it to each person according to their language and culture. Or, in another instance, one concept can be explained at multiple levels so that both the PhD student and a five-year-old can understand. You’ll be able to create one advertisement and have it redesigned for 50 different languages instantly. Or, you could record a video with one actor and dub it—or even change the actor’s clothes, expressions or body movements—to appeal to 50 different cultures. In the grand scheme of things though, I think all this new AI technology will be best used when it makes more time for human beings to be human. It's like going to the doctor’s—these days, you’ll see doctors spend all their time putting info into their records and stressing about documentation that they don't even make eye contact with you, their patient. They’re busy doing all the things that robots could be doing. But AI is teaching us that humans don’t have to do everything. If you view AI as an assistant and not as a replacement, you’ll benefit the most. And soon we’ll see the experts—the people that are really good at their jobs, who are very creative or who have the most unique takes—will be able to scale themselves.” - Shachaf Rodberg, Wix marketing trend analyst Learn more about how AI is transforming business as we know it. Ecommerce: “This is just the beginning” “The AI breakthroughs we’ve witnessed over the last year are just beginning. Right now we’re seeing generative AI dominate headlines and become mainstream. In terms of eCommerce, merchants are already using GenAI on a daily basis to create original content for their digital storefronts, social media, email marketing, SEO—and more. Pretty soon, though, we’ll see the democratization of advanced machine learning (ML) algorithms. Capabilities that were once limited to eCommerce giants will be accessible to any and every online seller. For example, any online seller will be able to benefit from a continuous data loop process, in which customer data is captured, analyzed and applied to optimize their stores automatically in real time. Think: being able to hyper-personalize your storefront to display specific products in a unique order for every shopper, and being able to personalize promotions to each buyer so that they’re more likely to follow through on a purchase. Or, imagine being able to adjust pricing to optimize your profits in real time based on market demand and competition. As yet another example: predictive inventory management, in which AI will forecast product demand for you to prevent over- or under-stocking at any given moment. The scope for innovation is vast in eCommerce.” - Oren Inditzky, Wix VP & GM of Online Stores Hot off the press: Introducing Wix's AI website builder. Create a bespoke website—with a simple chat. Sign up for Wix today and test drive the AI website builder for free.