Category: Business News

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Tourism has been one of the most successful parts of the UK economy recently, thanks in part to Brexit.

The weaker value of the pound since the Brexit referendum vote means that the UK is now a much cheaper destination than it used to be.

Many mainland Europeans, Americans and Chinese people are taking advantage of that.

That’s clear from the cacophony of different languages and accents outside Buckingham Palace, and on the streets around the Palace of Westminster.

“It’s a little more economical than it was a few years ago,” says one visiting American tourist.

“Thanks to the euro, London is not more expensive than in France,” a French tourist adds.

Meanwhile, a German man said the euro-pound rate has “made me quite happy”.

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Two-thirds of the international visitors enjoying London’s sites, Cornwall’s beaches and Edinburgh’s Royal Mile are from the rest of the European Union.

The tourism agency VisitBritain forecasts there’ll be a 6% rise in the number of international visitors in 2017, with large numbers coming from France in particular.

VisitBritain’s director Patricia Yates says: “The currency is in our favour. It might motivate more people to come.”

Numbers game

The tourism boom was helped by the Olympics in 2012, a showcase for Britain’s historic towns, picturesque villages, and stunning national parks.

The latest data from Forward Keys, which monitors flight bookings, suggests international arrivals to the UK will be 9% higher for August to October this year compared to the same period of 2016.

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Bookings from China are up 20%, and those from the US are 23% higher, the data suggest.

There aren’t just more tourists, they’re also spending more when they’re in the UK.

VisitBritain predicts tourists’ spending will surge by 14% this year.

“Very often people budget in their own currency. They’re getting more pounds for their money, and we can see their spend going up,” says Patricia Yates.

Sterling has tumbled 16% against the euro since the June 2016 referendum, and has fallen 23% against the US dollar.

Over the past two years, the pound has dropped about 30% against the euro.

“There are some factors putting downward pressure on the pound, and some other things putting upward pressure on the euro,” says Paul Hollingsworth of Capital Economics.

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He lists the downward forces on sterling as “Brexit and uncertainty about the UK’s future relationship with the EU, the economy… and the expectation for interest rates”.

“We’ve seen quite a Brexit bounce,” says Jace Tyrrell from the New West End Company, which represents shops on London’s Bond, Oxford and Regent Streets.

As shoppers carrying bags from all sort of stores rush by on Regent Street, Mr Tyrrell says, “In the past six months, there’s been a 36% increase in spend here, so certainly international visitors are appreciating the value depreciation”.

Stores report sales of pricey jewellery and high fashion items have been rising the most.

‘Golden age’

The large American hotel chain, Hilton, has 138 hotels in the UK, and is planning to open 30 more, partly because of the tourism boost spurred by the fall in sterling.

The company says it has seen double-digit growth in the UK over the past year.

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In the lobby of one of its swanky London hotels, Simon Vincent, Hilton’s president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says we’re living through a “golden age of travel”.

Another factor behind the company’s British expansion is demand from UK customers, as “staycation” becomes more popular.

“The domestic customer has always been an important part of our business mix, particularly in our portfolio outside of London,” says Mr Vincent.

“In fact, it’s the most significant proportion of our business. It’s been growing well.”

Bargain basement Britain?

Despite “Brexit bounce”, the sharp increase in tourist numbers began before the sharp drop in the pound, and the industry says it isn’t relying on currency depreciation to increase numbers further.

“We operate in a competitive global environment,” says VisitBritain’s Patricia Yates.

“We will never be a cheap destination, we don’t want to be. We have to offer good value for the prices we’re charging,” she says.

If you’ve decided you want to create video content, but you’re not sure how to get started, Entrepreneur Network partner Salma Jafri wants to help. In this video, Jafri breaks down how she writes the scripts for her videos and how many she writes in any given month. Then, she explains how creating a reusable set for those videos — Jafri utilizes a green screen — can help lower production costs and give your videos a uniform look and feel.

Just as importantly, Jafri covers how to market your content so you can maximize your videos and create an attentive audience.

Click play to learn more.

Related: The Only 3 Types of Tasks That Matter for Your Business

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Virtual reality (VR) has been on everyone’s mind lately. It is easily one of the most anticipated technological breakthroughs of the last decade. Mark Zuckerberg has been talking up the concept for a long time.

Facebook.

Now that Facebook recently introduced the world to Spaces, it’s looking like the time is finally here when we see VR become a significant part of our lives. Facebook Spaces is a VR experience that can be shared with up to three Oculus Rift (recently bought by Facebook) headset owners. Spaces and Messenger are brought together in which users can interact with each other through virtual windows. 

Businesses of all industries are salivating at the possibilities of bringing this flashy element to their messaging. We’ve gotten a taste of how VR can have a profound impact on marketing — the United Nations’ Clouds Over Sidra video being a prime example.

There are three big possibilities.

With the creative possibilities being practically endless, there are several big changes Spaces could potentially bring to the marketplace. Let’s talk about three of the big ones.  

1. Bridge the Gap Between Brick and Mortar and E-commerce

As it stands right now, one thing is becoming clear in the business world: brick and mortar retail stores are on the way out. 2017 has seen mass closures of stores once known as staples in every mall. Some of the big ones included Macy’s, Sears, JC Penny, and Kmart.

Related: How Retailers Are Thriving Despite the Supposed Death 

It seems as though we are at odds when it comes to shopping. The e-commerce customer experience is built upon a foundation of simplicity and convenience. As great as this concept is, online consumerism comes with drawbacks.

Perhaps the biggest one is you never really know what you’re getting until it shows up at your doorstep. Once Spaces begins to hit its stride and a full-on alternative VR universe presents itself, “brick and mortar” stores could take on a whole new meaning.

Businesses could set up full-equipped virtual stores with customer support employees readily available. Visitors would be able to get the experience of shopping at a brick and mortar establishment and the convenience and simplicity of online shopping. A 360-degree interactive look at items, no fighting traffic, no lines, and much less wasted time if it turns out the store doesn’t have what you need.

Now, it’s too early to tell exactly what role businesses will have in Spaces. As it was introduced the world only a few short weeks ago, it is the equivalent of a newborn in the tech landscape.

However, many are viewing this Zuckerberg brain child as a prodigy set to change the game. As it stands right now, it appears as if Spaces is primarily for forming deeper connections between friends. But then again, this was Facebook’s primary goal when it originally launched back in 2004.

2. Provide Group-Oriented, Immersive Experiences.

No one can argue the 21st century is an era chock-full of distractions (Facebook being one of them). Perhaps the biggest advantage of VR is that it immerses the user into a world void of all outside interruptions.

The experience is a personal journey through a parallel universe completely controlled by the host. This journey was, however, a solo one. Until now.

According to Christopher McCandless, subject of the book Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, “Happiness is only real when shared.”

This is a central theme Spaces seems to be playing with. Virtual experiences are great, but they would be even better in groups. As an example from a business perspective, auto companies could potentially create hands-on VR modules for their new vehicles. From here, multiple people (like a family) could be placed directly in the car to get a feel for what exactly a long road trip would be like.

The possibilities go on and on. Regardless of what companies are trying to sell, marketing their product or service in an immersive group setting could be a difference-maker in boosting revenue.

3. Increased Personalization

Facebook is a gold mine for businesses to provide targeted, personalized marketing. If you sign up to a website with the convenient Facebook login option, that brand now has access to your interests and network. We’ve already seen targeted ads blatantly based on our likes. Imagine how this level of personalization will be when adding VR to the mix?

Related: The One Trend Impacting All Companies This Year

Example

Here’s a scenario. Let’s say you love taking pictures of nature and posting them on Facebook. You previously liked Nikon’s Page. Now, Nikon could not only promote their newest camera built specifically for taking scenic shots, they could bring you to some of the locations where you’ve previously taken pictures. Now they can show you just how much better their new camera is–all through their virtual store on Spaces.

While this level of personalization is wishful thinking at this point, “Never say never,” seems to be a major saying as technology develops.

With nearly 2 billion Facebook users and over 1 billion on Messenger, using this networking platform for brand messaging is no longer an option for marketers.

Related: Here’s How to Master Facebook Advertising

As new VR campaigns begin to take shape, Spaces could cause the business world as we know to be turned upside down. 

Neil deGrasse Tyson has become the new face of science across the United States, taking up the mantle from the late astrophysicist Carl Sagan.

He appears frequently on television to talk about science, as Sagan did. He hosted an updated version of the television series, “Cosmos,” originally hosted by Sagan.

And now he’s also followed Sagan on another issue. He believes marijuana should be legal. More than that, he believes it never should have been illegal in the first place.

“I think if you really analyze it, relative to other things that are legal, there’s no reason for it to ever have been made illegal in the system of laws,” Tyson said in an interview widely circulated on the Internet in August.

He added, “I mean, alcohol is legal, and it can mess you up way more than smoking a few Js.”

Related: What Every Cannabis Entrepreneur Needs to Understand About the Cole Memo

Sagan’s View

In the interview, Tyson made it clear he hasn’t been around people who use marijuana in some time, joking about the archaic phrase “smoking a few Js.” In that respect, he differs from Sagan.

Sagan used marijuana for most of his life. He also wrote about marijuana anonymously for a 1969 book, “Marihuana Reconsidered.” Writing under the name Mr. X, Sagan argued that cannabis improved the experience of eating, music and even sex.

Sagan also wrote that marijuana gave him “a feeling of communion with my surroundings, both animate and inanimate.”

Reading the entire essay is like taking a trip into Sagan’s thinking about art and society in that era. There also are some admittedly trippy moments, like seeing a Volkswagen in the shadows on the ceiling cast by a house plant.

He also writes that while taking a shower with his wife under the influence of marijuana, he had sudden insights into the “origins and invalidities of racism in terms of Gaussian distribution curves.”

Related: Is Big Pharma for or Against Legalizing Medical Marijuana? Maybe Both.

Marijuana Illegality

Marijuana became a Schedule 1 illegal drug in the early 1970s under the administration of President Richard Nixon. Then Attorney General John Mitchell made a schedule of illegal drugs and put marijuana in the most dangerous category.

Congress approved it and it’s been there ever since. The Drug Enforcement Agency, created by Nixon in 1973, spearheads enforcement of federal laws on marijuana and other drugs.

In suggesting that marijuana should never have been illegal, Tyson may have been referring to medical studies over the years.

The American Medical Association initially opposed making marijuana illegal. In 1944, a commission created by the New York Academy of Medicine questioned the reasoning behind making marijuana illegal. They concluded that marijuana is not a gateway drug, does not lead to crime and is not physically addictive.

The very commission Nixon formed, the Schafer Commission, recommended that marijuana be taken off the illegal drugs schedule and regulated more from a public health perspective.  They compared marijuana to how the government approaches regulation of alcohol.

Transcripts of the White House tapes made by Nixon show he wanted laws against marijuana before the commission report was even delivered.

Related: Getting Healthy, Not High: Using Cannabis to Fight Cancer

The War on Drugs

Others have pointed to racism behind the movement to make marijuana illegal. Historian Martin Lee told Scientific American that newspapers in white areas of the deeply segregated nation promoted ideas such as “this stuff makes white women and black men have sex.”

And in a controversial interview published in Harper’s magazine last year, Nixon’s Chief of Staff John Ehrlichman admitted that the War on Drugs started by Nixon originated with the Republican president’s need to deal with “two enemies”: anti-war protestors and black people.

“We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” he told author Dan Baum.

”We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

Follow dispensaries.com on Instagram to stay up to date on the latest cannabis news.

What does it take to create incredible social media content?

Knowing you have to create new content for multiple social media channels every day can feel a little daunting, especially when you consider the range of disciplines you need to rock at in order to be successful.

Related: How to Make Your Facebook Cover Photo Stand Out

Nowadays, every marketer has to be part designer, photographer, videographer, copywriter, editor and more. Thankfully, there are now a bunch of tools out there to make these jobs easier for us all. What’s even better is, with the right apps, you can create, publish and analyze the performance of all your content on just one device.

Your smartphone.

Small businesses are constantly on the lookout for faster, easier and more cost-efficient ways to create new content. And smartphones are now like all-in-one production studios, empowering us to make world-class content using a range of fun and often simple-to-use apps.

In this post, we’ve teamed up with Product Hunt to guide you through the creative process and share 26 apps that’ll help you create incredible social media content using just your smartphone.

Ready to jump in?

Mobile phone cameras are now incredibly powerful and we wanted to share with you some apps to help you capture and create social media content from scratch.

Here are 10 apps to get you started:

1. MuseCam

MuseCam is a great app to help you shoot and edit your photos on iOS. It features a bunch of professional feeling camera presets, manual camera controls and advanced tools like HSL and Curves.

Download Musecam for iOS (free, offers in-app purchases)

2. Boomerang

Instagram’s Boomerang app takes a series of photos and creates a GIF-like image. However, there’s one subtle, but super important difference between Boomerang and a GIF. A GIF loops a video over and over again. Whereas a Boomerang, plays a video forward, and then backward, and then loops that continuously.

Here’s an example Boomerang posted to Instagram by USA Basketball:

Download Boomerang for iOS or Android

3. VSCO

VSCO (formerly VSCO Cam) enables you to capture, edit, share and discover photos. The app features a bunch of high-quality filters to help you get the look you want and also offers a host of free editing tools like fade, clarity, skin tone, tint, sharpen, saturation, temperature and more, each with manual adjustments.

Download VSCO for iOS or Android (free)

4. Halide

Halide is a unique camera app that focuses heavily on enhancing the experience of taking photos on mobile.

Download Halide for iOS (currently $2.99)

5. Manual 2.0

If you’re looking for the ability to customize your photo taking experience, Manual could be a great option. Manual enables you to adjust shutter speed, ISO and exposure values to create the effect you’re after with ease.

Manual also gives you the option to capture images in RAW format, JPEG format or both. If you choose RAW capture, you’ll be able to save images without compression, resulting in a higher quality photo.

Download Manual 2.0 for iOS (currently $2.99)

6. Hyperlapse

Hyperlapse (by Instagram) enables you to create tracking shots and fast, time-lapse videos that were previously impossible without bulky tripods and expensive equipment.

It’s an incredibly easy-to-use app. All you do is tap the screen to start recording, tap when you’re ready to stop and choose the speed you want the video to play at. You don’t even need to register to use the app. Simply point, shoot, speed up and share.

Download Hyperlapse for iOS (free) or an Android alternative, Microsoft Hyperlapse Mobile (free)

7. Camera+

Whether you’re a seasoned photographer or someone who’s barely touched a camera, Camera+ can help you take beautiful photos.

Camera+ gives you the opportunity to set exposure separately from focus so that you can easily control how light or dark your shots come out. It also features a range of shooting modes, scenes and pre-set effects.

Download Camera+ for iOS (currently $2.99)

8. Camera FV-5

Camera FV-5 is one of the standout cameras available on Android. The app is based on a similar approach to DSLR cameras, putting photographic settings like ISO, white balance, exposure compensation and metering at your fingertips.

Download Camera FV-5 for Android ($2.49)

Related: 7 Social Media Analytics and Reporting Tips for Becoming a Data-Savvy Marketer

9. Spark Camera

Spark Camera is a fun way to capture photos and video in full 1080p HD. It also features easy access to advanced camera controls for FPS and stabilization, over 20 filters and the ability to trim, reorder and delete clips within a simple interface.

Download Spark Camera for iOS (currently $0.99)

Bonus: Tips on recording content with your smartphone

Brian, our digital strategist here at Buffer, puts together most of the epic content you see across our social channels. And almost every video Brian produces is filmed from his iPhone 6.

Here are some of Brian’s expert tips for creating content using your smartphone:

Smartphone apps can also help you to edit your footage and photos, turning them into great social media posts in just a few taps and swipes.

Here are 12 apps to help you edit your content:

1. Apple Clips

Clips is a new iOS app for making and sharing fun videos with text, effects, graphics and more, without much prior knowledge of video editing

The app enables users to combine videos, images and sound into a video ready to be shared on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or anywhere you choose (even iMessage).

Download Apple Clips for iOS (free)

2. Clippy

Clippy is the quickest and easiest way to create GIFs and clips from any web video on your iPhone. It’s equipped with many features and enables you to easily add text, emojis or stickers, on top of the GIFs. Clippy has also launched ClippyCam — a cool new way to share photos and videos.

Download Clippy for iOS (free)

3. Adobe Spark

Spark Video helps anyone create compelling animated videos in minutes. Easily add and trim video clips to make your videos stand out on social.

There are over 25,000 images and icons you can use to embellish your video. You can also select a soundtrack and Spark will automatically add striking cinematic motion to your video — no design experience needed.

If you’re editing photos, Spark Post could be ideal for you. Adobe Spark Post enables you to create stunning graphics directly from your phone using professionally designed, eye-catching templates you can easily tweak with just a few taps.

Download Adobe Spark for iOS or join the Android beta (free)

4. Vidlab

VidLab is an all-in-one photo editor that allows you to easily create professional videos. Add and animate text, artwork, music and FX to your videos.

Download Vidlab for iOS (free)

5. Cameo by Vimeo

Cameo enables you to create full HD videos with powerful editing software. You can trim clips, adjust audio and render HD files directly from your phone. You can also choose from a range of pre-set themes to give your videos a cinematic feel as well as adding titles and audio.

Download Cameo for iOS (free)

5. Over

Over is one of the most popular mobile apps for editing photos.

With Over, you can design a range of images, create a graphic, caption a photo and more. There’s also a built-in store with add-ons like font and graphic packs, enabling even more customization.

Download Over for iOS (free)

6. Adobe Voice

With Adobe Voice you can make stunning animated explainer videos in minutes. You don’t even need any footage to create your video as Voice features more than 25,000 images and animations.

Download Voice for iOS (free)

7. Layout

Layout (by Instagram) lets you easily combine multiple photos into a single image. Upload your photos, choose from a range of custom layouts, drag and drop photos to rearrange them, pinch to zoom or pull the sides of each photo to adjust its size and get your layout just right.

Download Layout for iOS or Android (free)

8. Canva

Canva helped you create professional designs and graphics. Edit photos, add text, elements, stickers, borders, frames and more. There’s also more than hundreds of professional templates and tweak them to suit your need.

Download Layout for iOS (free)

9. Priime

A tasteful photo editor developed in collaboration with some of the world’s top photographers. One of Priime’s killer features is its smart style filter recommendations based on your photo’s color palette, exposure, and more.

Download Layout for iOS (free)

10. Create

With Create you can develop sophisticated designs and graphics; communicate ideas easily using images, typography, shapes and icons; or draw your own shapes and lines. Create is awesome for adding graphics, text and arrow to photos. You can create your own graphics, logos, stickers and even Snapchat geofilters from scratch using Create.

Download Create for iOS (free)

11. Snapseed

Snapseed is a powerful photo editing app by Google. Users can edit pictures using swiping gestures to select different effects and enhancements. Alternatively, users can opt for an automatic adjustment of color and contrast.

Download Snapseed for iOS or Android (free)

12. Legend

Legend lets you craft text animations with just a few taps. Each template is created by professional motion designers and there are hundreds of combinations of typography, animations, backgrounds and colors to play with.

Download Legend for iOS (free)

Once you’ve crafted the perfect piece of content, the next step is to publish it across your social media channels.

Here are five awesome apps to help you with publishing your social media content:

1. Buffer for iOS and Android

Share and schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIn — all from one place with Buffer.

Any link, text, picture or video you want to share, just add it to your Buffer. Your updates will automatically be scheduled and spaced out throughout the day to post to your favorite social networks. Plus, you can custom schedule or “post now” right inside the app.

Our mobile apps can help you to:

• Share to multiple Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest accounts from one place.
• Get analytics for each update you share: Clicks, Retweets, Repins, Likes, Shares, Mentions and more.
• Schedule your posts automatically so you never have to worry about setting a time and date. Just hit “Buffer.”
• Schedule your posts using a Custom Time to schedule for specific events or campaigns.
• Share from all of your favourite apps using our iOS extension. Including scheduling native retweets from Safari, Tweetbot, Twitter and more.
• Never run out of amazing content with Instagram Reposting.

Download Buffer for iOS or Android (free)

2. Hootsuite

Use Hootsuite’s free mobile apps to schedule, publish and monitor conversations from anywhere.

Download Hootsuite for iOS or Android (free)

3. Sprout Social

Manage all of your team’s social profiles from one mobile app — access your content calendar, mentions and more from anywhere at anytime.

Download Sprout Social for iOS or Android (free)

Related: How to Use Instagram’s Search and Explore Tool to Boost Your Instagram Marketing

4. Facebook Pages Manager

Pages Manager helps you to manage activity on multiple Facebook Pages, all in one place.

Download Facebook Pages Manager for iOS or Android (free)

5. Sendible

Maintain your presence on social media when from your mobile. Publish content, manage posts and review performance from anywhere.

Download Sendible for iOS or Android (free)

Ash Read

Ash Read is a writer at Buffer.

Read more

Lies. Cheating. Stealing. All are heralded as the way to millions in the Netflix series Girlboss. Although the network peddles the story of Sophia Amoruso’s climb to the top as a comedy, it should be touted as a modern morality play about being a selfish jerk.

Sure, it might sound exciting to boomers, Generation-Xers, millennials and Generation Z up-and-comers aiming for the top rung of the corporate ladder to follow shark-style Girlboss atttitudes. But while the series glamorizes Amoruso, there is nothing remotely regal about an entrepreneur who lacks compassion and foresight.

Related: 4 Takeaways From the Rise and Fall of Nasty Gal

In reality, founders should instead practice selflessness and an attitude of gratitude to genuinely reach the pinnacle of success.The goal should be about grace: You either embrace it or doom yourself to a reputation of soullessness. That’s no way to go through life or build a business.

Sharks belong in the ocean, not the corporate world.

Think being a shark is necessary? Try cutting your entrepreneurial teeth on a different animal: conscious capitalism. Companies such as Southwest Airlines practice this method of transparent, gracious business flow. In fact, Southwest has repeatedly earned a reputation for being a company that has far fewer complaints than its competitors, according to a WalletHub report.

I personally had a frustrating experience with Southwest recently, but after I reached out to the CEO and detailed the problem, the company reached back with solutions. Thanks to the airline’s quick, helpful response, I’m still happily flying Southwest.

Now, let’s juxtapose Southwest’s kudos-laden rise with Uber’s stunning reputational plunge. All it took was a single engineer to expose Uber’s underhanded practices before federal investigators had enough to start a case against the ride-sharing giant.

What brought Uber down? A shaky, dark foundation built on quicksand. You’re never going to have Southwest-style staying power if you build on an unstable surface. So, instead of treating employees, vendors and consumers like pebbles under your feet, turn your sights to loving and serving people as a giver, not a taker.

Related: 4 Things Brands Should Learn From Uber’s Upheaval

Wharton’s Adam Grant, the author of Give and Take, has noted that people who treat others with genuine kindness perform the best over time; and those words are a good reminder for individuals ready to grab the world by the collar. “Giver” entrepreneurs are successful because they know effective relationships are built on positivity, not fear.

Consider my own experience: At a conference, I met another entrepreneur. We spoke at length and exchanged information. As a follow-up, I sent him a gift of Cutco knives — after all, he had, joke, joke, “carved” out time for me. Later, he introduced me to a friend of his, who introduced me to other people. They requested my speaking and product services, and more introductions followed.

Through it all, I continued to add value by staying in touch with everyone. I sent handwritten notes and surprised my network with thoughtful gifts. Those actions changed the game and illustrated how responsive people can be when you put yourself out there.

Making friends and influencing people through gifting

The golden rule here might be a somewhat trite trope, but it’s accurate. Karma tells us that kindness begets kindness. If you do something nice for someone, it’s likely that down the road, someone will do something nice for you, as well.

Related: The Importance of Being Generous

Are you worried that you have zero time to practice giving as an entrepreneur? Hogwash. Try these techniques for bettering yourself and buffering your journey to professional stardom:

1. Take your team somewhere special.

Team retreats to interesting and fun destinations make everyone feel appreciated. Choose a time and a location, then invite all your employees and their significant others. No company is too small to do this regularly: Consider how Professional Irrigation Systems, based in Lake St. Louis, Mo., offered its employees a five-day Mexican retreat. Think turnover is a problem with this company? No way.

If your company is stable, and you want to build momentum and camaraderie, consider at least a weekend retreat for everyone to recharge together. Research from Marketing Innovators shows that businesses where employees report higher morale perform 20 percent better than their competitors. What better way to improve morale than through a memorable group outing?

2. Foster true work-life balance.

As business leaders, we’re pulled in a million different directions — but so are our employees. Allowing for the messiness of life is key. So, consider setting up an office system that offers flexibility. For my team, that means never worrying if we have to leave because one of our kids is sick or we have to head to a doctor’s appointment.

Offering flexibility in the workplace leads to employees who are happy and focused. These employees care about the future of their companies, and they tend not to leave their jobs as often as others. Of course, flex systems work in different ways for different entities. Figure out how and where you can offer fluidity to your talent, and they’ll appreciate you as a thoughtful leader.

3. Give gifts, not swag.

Never call anything with your company logo a gift. It isn’t. It’s a promotional product, better known as swag. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t hand out logo-emblazoned shirts or paraphernalia, but don’t disguise them as gifts. A real gift provides value. Recipients want something they can enjoy long-term, not something that wows them in the moment but goes on to collect dust later, according to research from Carnegie Mellon University.

A gift by nature is recipient-focused. Some business leaders might try to camouflage swag with some element of personalization, but don’t think for a second that will fool employees or clients. Personally, I love sending out handcrafted items made in the United States with recipients’ names — not our logo — on them. The gift doesn’t need our logo if it’s already memorable.

4. Remember spouses and significant others.

This tip deserves more space than it gets here because spouses and significant others are your workers by extension. They get to hear the worst of the worst about your company; they can also be your biggest allies. Give them something special occasionally (and not just on holidays), such as trips, gifts and other perks. Husbands, wives, girlfriends and boyfriends make fabulous cheerleaders.

Research from the Harp Family Institute suggests that more than one-quarter of entrepreneurs surveyed who had worked with their families to set goals, were more satisfied than their counterparts. Remember that, and give generously to those behind-the-scenes family partners.

Related: Do You Have a Bad Boss? Here’s What to Look For. (Infographic)

The bottom line here: Why become a horrid boss when you have a better alternative? Instead of walking over the people you need the most, thank them every step of the way. Make no mistake: Your cloud of giving will produce a veritable downpour of support.

The ongoing workplace difficulties at Uber — accusations of discrimination against women, rebellion among its employees and drivers against what they feel is a complete lack of appreciation for them — seem to surprise no one who worked there. Every story I read indicates that these issues (and others) had been issues for a long time at the company. Uber’s workforce had long been frustrated with their leaders and their inability or refusal to have their backs and listen to their concerns. But, when business is good and managing growth is the only objective, who cares if the culture is failing? Things are good now! What’s the point of making bigger, long-term decisions to keep employees motivated and their teams inspired? Those that complain can leave — and easily be replaced.

This is exactly why Uber is looking for new leaders from the top down: It knows so many of its so-called leaders were not ready for leadership responsibilities and increased levels of accountability required in today’s workplaces. It focused only on managing growth in the marketplace, not making good, thoughtful and smart decisions about the the people who worked there — as if the two were not connected at all. 

What is clear is even in hard-driving cultures like the one Uber created, people still want leaders that can help them grow professionally and that have the influence to advance their careers over time. These leaders know how to organically manage from within the corporate culture, maximize resources, motivate, inspire and — most importantly — make good, sound decisions, not bad ones that create chaos.

Are your leaders making the right and good decisions and thus ready for their leadership roles? Are you? Those that are adhere to the following six behavioral patterns:

1. Knowing experience matters only so much

The only thing certain about business today is uncertainty. Marketplaces shift and competitors emerge globally in much less time than ever before. As a result, what succeeded 25 years ago — or even five years ago — matters only so much. A track record of prior success doesn’t mean that it will apply within any organization, even the industry you work in. What matters most is mindset: Leaders who are adept at being inclusive in their leadership in the workplace make good decisions by constantly seeing and seizing new opportunities.

2. Refusing to play politics

Leaders that play politics lose their leadership identities, because they are always trying to serve other people’s agendas and motives that don’t align with their beliefs. That leads to bad and inauthentic decision-making. It is possible to serve your company’s and boss’s goals and objectives and not get addicted to corporate politics. Is this always possible? No. But, at the very least, leaders who are transparent about playing politics when necessary maintain trust from the employees who depend upon them.

3. Having clarity of purpose

What do you stand for? Do you even know what your core values are? Do they align with what your leaders and company expect from you? Then how can you know you are making the right decisions? Clarity of purpose allows you to make decisions that are true and consistent with the mission at hand and align it you’re your own. Lacking this clarity erodes your ability to make decisions authentically.

4. Knowing how to manage resources

Do you know the resources you have at your disposal — both the human and intellectual capital and the tools and resources that are available and/or need to be acquired to compete? I’m constantly surprised at how few leaders actually know how deep their talent is and what they need to succeed and thus make bad and uniformed decisions leading to a mismanagement of those resources. People are your playbook for success for not just managing growth but reclaiming it.

5. Being able to see and seize opportunities

Seeing and seizing opportunities are the keys to reclaiming growth and require what I call circular vision or wide-angle thinking that makes leaders proficient at anticipating crisis and managing change before circumstances force their hand. It broadens their observation and allows them to see around, beneath and beyond the obvious detail before them.

6. Trusting themselves

Do you trust yourself enough as a leader to adapt to the cultural demographic shift taking place in America’s workplaces and marketplaces? Do you have the courage and wisdom to embrace diversity of thought? The best leaders do and thus have the trust not only of their people but also trust themselves as they lead through uncertainty, even if they can’t know whether their decisions will lead to success.

Many great leaders begin to lose self-trust as they fail or face uncertainty and thus fail to do the other five things that lead to bad decisions. Don’t fall into this trap!

Has your business ever stalled out and simply stopped growing?

It happened to me. Early on in my career as an entrepreneur, I couldn’t figure out why everything stalled. But lucky for me, I didn’t quit there. I kept working, changed my business, and now — having worked with thousands of business owners — I have discovered that the primary reasons a business stops growing tend to land into a handful of categories.

1. Lack of opportunity

Some businesses just aren’t made to scale up. When I first started in the dry-cleaning delivery niche, I didn’t understand this simple fact: Business in my little area was never going to be a million-dollar business, let alone a multimillion-dollar business, no matter how hard I worked. Make sure you aren’t trying to win the Super Bowl with a peewee football team.

On a side note, when I make this argument, sometimes people argue the point. For example, they may tell me I could have expanded into other areas or franchised. Of course, I’m not saying there aren’t ways to scale a business, but some businesses are simply easier and less risky to scale than others. If you are in an industry that is challenging to scale, one where your risk of failure is super high, it may be a good idea to start looking into other opportunities.

2. Boredom

It’s amazing how many of us get bored. We get bored with our marketing, with our product, with our niche. Our boredom causes us to cancel marketing, taking our eye off the main business to focus on some new exciting startup we want to work on.

Want to sell and jump into a new exciting niche where every prospect only says yes and sales come easily? I get it. I’m not immune to those feelings. But, making changes because we are bored is insanity! If you have an ATM machine that spits out hundred-dollar bills, why would you try to rewire it? This is what people do with their marketing or when they take focus off the main cash cow business. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say they are stopping what’s working because they want to try something new. It’s just crazy.

3. People

If you read the crap that comes from some marketers, you’d think that everyone was making money easily, using only the internet with no problems, no skills and no employees. While I do know people I could describe that way who are making money, this is the exception and not the rule. It would be like me pointing to a group of billionaires and selling thousands of products with the premise being: “Just buy this product and you too can be a billionaire.”

In almost all businesses it takes employees (or at least outsourced labor) to grow. If you’ve stalled, it may be because you need to invest in another employee or two to kick-start the growth. I get it, when you invest in employees, payroll is bloated, short-term profits go down, and it is risky. But guess what? You’re a business owner — that’s the job. And 99.99 percent of businesses need employees to make money.

4. Too externally focused

As I write this, I’m in the middle of planning next year’s marketing strategy. I will have a number of new and exciting items on the list (external stuff), but one of the most interesting numbers I’m working on is a plan for our sales call conversion rate. With no increases in the number of calls next year, a 5 percent increase in conversion would equal an additional $1.152 milion in annual revenue. That is an internal number worth focusing on.

I’ll also be looking at how to reduce customer churn, improve employee performance and increase referrals. Just focusing on internal opportunities, we have the potential to add millions in new revenue and/or cost reductions due to improved performance, which leads to increased margins. If you’re not thinking about ways to work on these internal opportunities, you’re leaving tons of new revenue and profit on the table.

Growing a business isn’t easy, but it is pretty simple, assuming you have opportunity in the current business model. You just have to be willing to invest. Invest in yourself (your business education), and invest in your company by hiring the right people, focusing on improving your systems and process.

We’ve talked about why businesses stop growing, and the first two points looked at those reasons, but the last two points could easily be turned around and used as the start of a growth strategy.

• Who should you hire right now?
• What internal challenges could you fix that would have an increase on profits?
• Can you do a better job converting prospects into customers?
• How are you doing on upsells?
• What about referrals?
• Do your customers know who you are, what you do, and that you’re still in business? If not, how are you going to change that?
• What is the communication strategy for both prospects and customers?

I could go on, but you get the point.

The decision to grow (or not grow) is yours; you’re armed with the information. Now you just need to take action.

Image copyright
PA

Sales of British salmon helped the UK export a record amount of food and drink in the first half of the year, according to industry figures.

Exports of the fish jumped more than 53% by value to £408m, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said.

UK food and drink exports rose 8.5% to £10.2bn, helped by the fall in the pound after last year’s Brexit vote.

Whisky remained the top export, while salmon was second and beer rose to third after it overtook chocolate.

The pound has fallen sharply against the dollar and euro since the UK voted to leave the EU in June last year, giving a boost to UK exports as they have become relatively cheaper.

However, the weaker pound has also pushed up costs for British businesses that bring in food and raw materials from abroad, the FDF said.

It said the UK’s food and drink trade deficit – the difference between how much the UK imports and exports – widened 16% to £12.4bn over the period.

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Salmon sales ‘higher than ever’

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Loch Duart Salmon

British salmon is becoming more popular globally, according to Andy Bing, sales director of Loch Duart Salmon in North West Scotland.

“This half we’ve sold more than we ever have,” he said, adding that the firm’s main export markets were France, the US, Italy, and Switzerland.

UK salmon exports have grown after Chilean producers suffered problems in 2015 with algal blooms that killed a large amount of their fish, he said.

Looking ahead, the firm is optimistic about the eventual post-Brexit trade deals that can be struck with EU countries.

“Europe needs lovely Scottish salmon just as we need lovely French wine and wonderful German cars,” he said.

However, he added that Loch Duart was “finding it difficult to plan without better guidance” from the government about Brexit.

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The FDF warned that without a favourable trade deal with the EU, British exports could become less competitive.

Two of the biggest importers of UK food and drink are Ireland and France.

If there is no deal and World Trade Organization (WTO) tariffs with the EU are brought in, “food and drink would face significantly higher tariffs than most other products,” an FDF spokesman said.

However, the free market think tank, the Institute for Economic Affairs, said it would not be a “disaster” if the UK failed to strike a deal with the EU.

Jamie Whyte, IEA research director, said: “In fact, we could unilaterally eliminate all import tariffs, which would give us most of the benefits of trade and export to the EU under the umbrella of the WTO rules.”

A UK government spokesman said it wanted to reach a deal with the EU “allowing for the most frictionless trade including in food and drink as possible”.

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Getty Images

UK’s top 10 food and drink exports

1. Whisky
2. Salmon
3. Beer
4. Chocolate
5. Cheese
6. Wine
7. Gin
8. Beef
9. Pork
10. Soft drinks

Source H&M Customs and Excise

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In the first half of the year, UK food and drink exports rose faster to EU countries, up 9%, than to countries outside the EU, with growth of 7.6%.

But the market which saw the most growth in the first half was South Korea, up 77%, in the main due to beer exports.

Food Minister George Eustice said: “We have ambitious plans to produce and export more of our fabulous foods around the world and more businesses are trying exporting for the first time.

“Last week we announced further market access to China for pork producers and UK beef will soon be heading to the Philippines. We will continue to work with industry to open new opportunities.”