Business Partner Magazine - Issue 51 by Business Partner Magazine

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Stay Relevant In Business By Creating Fresh Paradigms

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Sandra Hinshelwood EDITOR

Business Partner Magazine is issued bi-monthly by Sandra Hinshelwood of Effective Website Marketing

Six Tips For Building A Team From Solopreneur To Entrepreneur

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Why You Shouldn’t Neglect Traditional Marketing Channels

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Co-Selling With Partners Tips And Strategies To Drive More Sales

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How Your Business Can Transfer Files Securely In This Digital Age

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The Pros of Hiring a Wealth Management Expert for Your Assets

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Aljon Sampaga LAYOUT/DESIGN

Why Small Businesses Should Take Intellectual Property Seriously

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MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to Issue 51 As business owners, we know how difficult getting a business off the ground, especially in difficult times. So we continue to share tips and advice to grow your business in this issue. Our cover article comes from Malik Muhammad, who shares his thoughts on what is required to stay relevant in business. “It is no longer sufficient to ‘think out of the box’ or ‘be different’ or ‘stand out from the crowd’.” Instead, staying relevant in business requires the creation of fresh paradigms. The way we work is changing rapidly, and if you don’t keep up, you will get left behind. But how do you know what path to go down when there are so many options to choose from? It is not easy when some minor decisions can have significant consequences. A good starting point is having a clear vision. As Yker Valerio states, “creating a shared vision requires more than telling or informing your team what your point of view is. It takes involving each team member and engaging in a thoughtful conversation”. Read the article “Six Tips for Building a Team: From solopreneur to Entrepreneur” for guidance on building a business on solid foundations. The final tip for today is to stop trying to do everything alone. Get Help. This can be in the form of collaborative work with co-selling partners, expertise from wealth management experts or lawyers. Working with these partners and experts allows you to tap into their skills and knowledge base - ultimately saving you time and money in the long run. We hope you find these tips helpful and encourage you to share them with your friends and fellow entrepreneurs. Best wishes, Sandra

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STAY RELEVANT IN BUSINESS By Creating Fresh Paradigms

t is no longer sufficient to ‘think out of the box’ or ‘be different’ or ‘stand out from the crowd’. These cliches are redundant because the global business world requires more from you and your team if you intend to stay in business and be relevant considering this Covid-19 pandemic. Creating fresh paradigms and applying functional strategies are essential parts of navigating this changed reality. As we understand it, physical money is easily exchanged or traded for one another. It can be switched or substituted for something of equal utility or equal value.

The same applies to cryptocurrencies because they are fungible. And then, there are non-fungible tokens (NFT) that are generally built using a similar kind of programming as cryptocurrency. Twitter now allows users to change their profile from circular to hexagonal, demonstrating that the social media platform supports non-fungible tokens. This recent move is an improvement on the offer to ‘Twitter Blue’ account users to use these tokens as profile pictures. Personalised tokens have even been distributed to influencers on the YouTube

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social media platform. The art world has passionately embraced NFT due to its unique digital representation, which also functions as evidence of the authentic nature of a work of art that is recorded on a blockchain. This is not an endorsement or recommendation of cryptocurrency trading or NFT activity. The sole purpose of this discussion is to highlight the powerful change in financial circles. You are primarily in business to make a profit, so factors that influence the financials will potentially impact the core of your business. Therefore, there is value in being aware of such factors. Other factors to consider are how you directly communicate with your customer base. Amazon is almost a synonym for shopping, so your online presence should be simple to use and efficiently run. Invest in your team as the people who work with you must be clear about the value they add to the business’s overall success. This is also good for personal development and a positive work environment. Another factor to consider in creating fresh paradigms is genuine respect for diversity and inclusion. Genuine as opposed to the ‘tick box’ exercise that satisfies official guidelines. Different perspectives bring a wealth of knowledge/ life experience to a given situation, and applying the most effective solution is good for business. Faith base, sexuality, gender or otherwise defined, race, ability, educational levels etc. can bring unique viewpoints to a particular issue in business.

These times demand the application of unique and creatively intelligent strategies. Eco-friendly credentials will benefit your business as consumers are savvier about creating a better planet. Evidence of charitable donations alongside regular demonstrations of corporate responsibility are also areas that customers pay attention to. The creation of fresh paradigms is an organic experience. Therefore, you and your team must keep pushing forward by using all the skillsets, expertise and knowledge that you have at your disposal.

About the Author

Malik Muhammad was raised and educated in Jamaica and read law in London. He created The Empowerment Mastery System to influence, help and inspire businesses to cultivate their visions. Malik enjoys vegan cooking and quad biking. He is an afterdinner speaker, event host and convenes empowerment seminars internationally. His latest book COFFEE & CONTEMPLATION: a taste of empowerment is available on Amazon.

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SIX TIPS FOR BUILDING A TEAM: From Solopreneur to Entrepreneur

tarting a solo business is tough enough. But then, leaping to go from solopreneur to entrepreneur is quite challenging. Hiring people is a serious thing. It doesn’t only imply money, but time and management skills. Not to say you’ll need to become a leader! Furthermore, growing a business takes more than simply hiring people. But I didn’t write this article to freak you out. On the contrary, I am looking forward to sharing my experience and insights to help you. After working more than ten years as a management consultant, I learned a few things about businesses mistakes and best practices. Some small companies I knew made stellar decisions, while others buried themselves.

Now, I work as a freelance content creator while growing my own small business, writing product reviews and informational content. So, if you’re looking for some tips to build your team, find below the best advice, I gathered during my career to go from solopreneur to entrepreneur!

Create a shared vision It may sound grandiloquent, but creating a shared vision is more practical than you may think. In short, it’s about talking with your team about your business aspirations

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your team what your point of view is. It takes involving each team member and engaging in a thoughtful conversation. Ask them how they contribute to that vision and how they see the company’s future. You’ll be surprised!

Set standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines Small businesses tend to fail because they depend on personal knowledge. Growth requires knowledge timely available for every team member.

and making each member a part of it. Some people may be against involving team members so deeply in business strategy, particularly in the earliest stages of the business. But, if you’re serious about transforming your solo business into a company, it’s better to start with solid foundations. Creating a shared vision with your team helps set clear expectations for everyone. Additionally, it helps to find inspiration, prioritize, and make decisions. Now, remember that creating a shared vision requires more than telling or informing

The most traditional way to share vital information is to set standard operating procedures (SOPs). It may sound boring at first, but providing guidelines from scratch saves time and money. Bad stuff happens when your team doesn’t have enough information about their daily duties. Mistakes skyrocket, customer experience suffers, and you end up having a disorganized and frustrated bunch of people, not a team. Before hiring freelancers or any employee, it’s vital to define standard procedures according to the size and scope of your business. You won’t need complicated manuals or long documents. Sometimes, a simple infographic or a video explaining the essential steps and rules is enough.

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Here is a short warning. Your SOPs don’t need to be cast on stone. Remember to be open to criticism and improvement.

A good tip is to find a decent contract template. If you’re extra-careful, asking for legal advice might be a good option.

Organize your hiring process

Balance teamwork and individual performance

Many businesses stall because they underestimate the complexity of the hiring process. For this reason, it’s all too common to find poorly written job postings.

You’ll find tons of gurus telling you how important it is to promote teamwork for success. Sure, it does matter, but it’s crucial to acknowledge individual qualities when you’re starting.

Before spending valuable hours writing a job post and interviewing candidates, it’s better to start with the basics. Don’t start recruiting before learning the critical skills your business needs to grow. For instance, if you’re a great salesperson but lack organization skills, look for a Virtual Assistant (VA) that can help to streamline your daily work. Or, if you’re an excellent strategist that doesn’t enjoy small talk, hire someone for a customer-facing role. Additionally, it’s crucial to think about the hiring process. Before going all in, I suggest trying a freelance marketplace and checking some talent that might be a good fit for your company. Depending on your budget, you can start small by hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA). Then, after your first experience, define the hiring steps for your company. In this way, it’ll be easier to repeat it in the future.

Every team member has a meaningful impact on your company’s results at such an early stage. In my experience, individual skills and working styles contribute to the global results as long as you don’t get in the way. The only downside here is that you need to keep personal interests at bay: individuality shouldn’t become an obstacle to teamwork. In this regard, promoting healthy compromises from team members is vital whenever necessary.

Promote transparency and open communication Few managerial mistakes are as old and damaging as promoting complacency and punishing honesty. As the old saying goes, don’t shoot the messenger!

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Growing a business requires communication, and when you’re solo, all the feedback comes from your clients. However, as your business grows, you’ll start getting it from your team. And that’s pure gold!

Scheduling and task management tools like Trello, Asana, or ClickUp are great, too, mainly when your business is open to more agile management practices.

Ready to grow?

To get full advantage of your team’s feedback, establish clear guidelines for identifying and communicating all kinds of problems and issues. And then, commit to listening and take action accordingly.

After reading these tips, I hope you feel ready to take steps to grow your business soon enough. Which of the recommendations above do you find the most useful?

Enable collaborative work

Share with your friends and fellow entrepreneurs, so they can all grow their businesses and prosper!

Sending emails back and forth with revised documents and spreadsheets is outdated. Controlling versions and dealing with all those details is risky and time-consuming.

About the Author

It’s better to use online tools like Google Workspace or Office 365 to collaborate. It requires shutting off your inner control freak, but in my experience, it’s worth it.

Yker Valerio (he/him) is a freelance

content creator. After more than 10 years of working as a management consultant, he started the blog Bon Vivant Caffè to share his passion for specialty coffee.

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Why You Shouldn’t Neglect

TRADITIONAL MARKETING CHANNELS

igital marketing has surpassed traditional marketing in many sectors today. Proponents cite the ability to target specific groups and ease of analysing results. Promotional materials can be refined based on results from social media, email campaigns and your website. And yes, while digital marketing can be very successful, it can also be a laborious process. Constantly posting new content can take time, particularly for smaller companies with fewer staff. Creating fresh content for your website and social media several times a week really requires a dedicated resource.

a more mature audience than online. Newspapers are still frequently read by older generations, and specific papers will reach a more affluent audience than you might find online. Newspapers also allow you to target a local audience through local publications.

While digital marketing has its place, businesses should not neglect traditional marketing channels to focus solely on it. Traditional marketing, such as advertising, telemarketing, and direct mail, can reach different audiences from digital channels to help your business grow.

Types of Traditional Marketing 1. Advertising Through advertising in magazines or newspapers, you can potentially reach

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Advertising has the benefit of sustainability. It will always exist in the magazine you target, so it will be around a lot longer than social media posts. In addition, it will give your business kudos - the perception that you are doing well and can afford to advertise in the press or on billboards.

Through specialist magazines, you can reach specific target markets that might suit your business; for instance, fishing magazines will be read by the fishing community. Billboard advertising, whilst not the cheapest form of marketing, can reach a very wide audience.

2. Telemarketing Direct selling can be a very effective form of marketing. You can target specific businesses that might be interested in your products. Whilst it can be challenging to get to talk to the person you want to, once successful, it can be followed up by a meeting that is much more likely to convert to a sale than online posts. People are much more likely to buy in a face-toface setting, and telemarketing enables you to set this up. Telemarketing has the following benefits: • You can provide a more interactive and personal sales advice. • Create an immediate rapport with prospects. • The ability to explain technical issues more clearly. • Generate leads and appointments. • Increase your sales territory. • Cost-effective marketing channel.

3. Exhibiting Exhibiting at appropriate events and trade shows is another form of direct selling that can be very successful.

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Nowhere else will you find a room full of hundreds, or possibly thousands, of people all in buying mode, looking to source new products. Exhibiting can bring the following benefits to a business:

match the ROI that an exhibition brings. You are in a room full of people who want to buy new products; if you have an eyecatching stand and decent staff on it, you will see great results”.

• Lead generation – most attendees have buying authority and are looking for new products; therefore, you have the potential to gather qualified leads. • Brand awareness – being at an exhibition where all your competitors are will show that you are a serious player in the industry. • Networking – trade shows bring people together from far and wide. All the main players in your industry will be there, allowing you to mingle with them. • Learn about industry trends – the presentations and seminars will enable you to learn about all the latest developments in the industry, potentially giving you ideas about where to take your business. • Assess the competition – find out what your competitors are up to. If they are launching new products or developments, you will be able to see if they go down well with visitors. • Source new partners or suppliers – who may be able to help your business grow. • Meet clients face-to-face – potentially enabling direct selling.

4. Direct mail

Exhibition stand contractor, Quadrant2Design, sees the benefits exhibiting brings to businesses every day. MD Alan Jenkins said, “When done properly, no other form of marketing can

Sending out information to select people can be an effective form of marketing. For instance, if you are a business, like a landscaper, who wants to target people in a certain area, a leaflet through the door can bring several enquiries. You can include photos of your products or previous work and recommendations. People are more likely to pay attention to direct mail than an email that gets lost amongst the hundreds of others received every day. Direct mail also potentially has the advantage of longevity, customers may not want your services immediately, but they may keep your brochure for future reference. It is also cost-effective, especially if you already have brochures printed. And you can track performance by including a redeemable offer code within it.

5. PR Getting articles published in newspapers or magazines is another traditional form of marketing that can be effective. Issuing press releases about your achievements or new developments can lead to publications printing them, which will bring you publicity. PR can:

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• Increase your brand’s credibility. Publicity through public relations gives credibility to your business as the content is more authentic and informative. • Attract your target market – particularly through specialist publications • Bring short and long-term lead generation. • Build your brand image.

6. TV and radio advertising These are the most expensive forms of marketing, so they are only an option for those with a substantial budget. However, they are probably the most effective form of marketing. TV advertising displays greater success with key performance indicators (KPIs) than any media source. According to recent data, adults spend 13 times as many minutes watching video on television than through the internet and 23 times as much as on their mobile devices. Multiple studies have shown that combining radio and television can help advertisers reach audiences not achievable with only one medium. Customers who were exposed to ads on both TV and radio had a 35% higher ad recall than those who only saw it on TV. Digital marketing is undoubtedly effective if done consistently and should form part of every company’s marketing strategy. But there should also be a place for traditional forms of marketing too. These often offer greater longevity and will allow you to reach different and specialist audiences.

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CO-SELLING WITH PARTNERS:

Tips And Strategies To Drive More Sales

Thinking of co-selling with a complimentary firm? Here’s a quick guide to driving more sales leads. There are numerous reasons why a business might choose to co-sell with partners. Collaborative work helps both parties grow their audience and earn mutual profitbased benefits. Co-selling with a partner has become an integral part of many online, cloud, and software-based businesses. If you want to go down this route, there are some established tips and strategies to make it more worthwhile, carved out from

the trailblazers that went before us. Let’s review some of the hottest strategies, tips, and tricks, for co-selling with a partner. Unlock the full potential of collaboration and elevate both businesses with one fell swoop.

Tips and Strategies to Drive Co-Selling Sales Industry experts agree that Partner CoSelling is the key to success for future business operations. The modern consumer wants everything here and now

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within a few clicks. Making it easier for your customers to purchase complimentary services is the way of the future. If a client can get everything, they need in one place, why would they go elsewhere?

can work out ways to grow it using each other’s sales channels. A fantastic way to identify overlap in audiences is to use the analytics from your website. However, you should allocate a dedicated team to do this.

Choosing the Right Partner

A dedicated co-selling team is easier if you are a large corporation, but for a hotel and cab service example, you might just allocate the extra work to a single member of staff. This member of staff becomes the point of contact between you and the other firm, and everyone is always up to date with one another.

The first tip is in your choice of partner. Your services should complement each other, and you should have a crossover in audience. If you ran the analytical data, you would both have a percentage of the market that fit into a specific demographic. Let’s look at an example. Say you run a hotel, and you regularly get phone calls from guests stuck at the nearby airport that didn’t plan transfers. Why not partner with a local taxi firm. The cab service could offer a small discount for transfers if clients use your hotel, while you could offer a small discount on rooms if they choose your co-sell cab service partner. You’re both helping each other’s businesses anyway, and you might as well drive more leads while you are at it.

Capitalizing on Overlap to Drive Sales To capitalize on the overlap, you must identify where it is. Having found it, look to your websites and share space for branding. Look at your social media accounts and mention each other once in a while—guest blog on each other’s sites to add authority. Share advertising space in local papers. When you choose the right partner, and you know your market well, the opportunities are endless.

Identifying Overlap A truly beneficial partnership will focus on the overlap before anything else. If you can focus on that 20% of your clientele that forgets to book a cab specifically, you

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How Your Business Can Transfer Files Securely In This Digital Age

fficient file management is one of the essential factors that can ensure productivity and efficiency in a business’s daily operations. Files such as records and client information should be easily accessible to key players in your organization yet must be safe and secured at all times. Today, thanks to modern technology, file sharing and transfers have been made easy and convenient. However, as much as technology has been proven beneficial, it’d be good to note that it poses risks such as cyber-attacks. While it is common, it can be preventable. By observing safe digital practices, you can protect your company’s files and records against threats. To start, here are some ways your business can transfer files safely and securely in this digital age.

Utilize Digital File Transfer Services

Digital file sharing and transfer are now becoming more common in most organizations, as they allow for easy collaboration and coordination among team members and third-party consultants, as well as smoother client transactions. For instance, most companies are now utilizing cloud-based systems for file and data management. In addition to that, one of the technological advancements in this digital age is online faxing. Online fax services such as MetroFax allow businesses to easily send and receive

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• Secure Cloud Storage With this feature, you don’t have to worry about losing sensitive data, as they’ll be properly and securely stored in the cloud. You can further boost the security of this feature by enforcing key codes to limit file access to authorized users only.

files and information such as organization correspondences and workplace memos. Moreover, digital faxing is safe as most faxing providers take the security of your business seriously. When looking for an online faxing provider, consider looking for the following features: • Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Encryption This feature encrypts the transmission of the documents by building a secure tunnel safeguarded by 128-bit encryption. With SSL encryption, the data you’re sending will stay secured as you transfer the files from your device to your provider.

Enforce Multi-factor Authorization In Your System

Cybercriminals target organizations of all sizes. Once an unauthorized third party gets information on your administrator account and password, they can easily hack into your system. Chances are they might steal important business information such as documents, e-mails, consumer information, spreadsheets, and financial records. With that said, securing file access and transfer by implementing multi-factor authorization is important. Using multi-factor authorization when accessing files can significantly boost the security measures of your system. This is because it provides an additional barrier between your business files and documents and cybercriminals. Aside from the username and password, this measure will require a system-generated key or pin before being allowed to access the files. Moreover, you can also utilize this added security measure to limit your employees’

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access to files that are not related to their role or line of work. For instance, if an employee is working under the Marketing Department, their access to financial records can be limited and can only be available upon request.

Provide File Management Training To Employees

Your employees need to understand the importance of protecting the company’s confidential records and information and the risks of mismanaging these files. Moreover, they must also have a clear grasp of the data they can and can’t share outside the workplace. That said, consider having regular seminars and workshops that can brief them on the appropriate data protection and file management and sharing practices. A well-trained and empowered workforce is critical in any comprehensive data security policy. You can utilize executives and senior managers in your organization as training leaders who can quickly help you actively cascade and disseminate ways to detect potential file threats.

• Establish clear metrics on determining which information and records are considered confidential and therefore are not to be disclosed to external parties. This can be a good reference and reminder for your team members. • Educate your employees to be wary whenever they open suspicious emails and attachments. • Implement strong passwords and update them regularly. • Avoid transferring and sharing files via e-mail. • Avoid using Universal Serial Bus (USB) for file sharing as much as possible.

Takeaway While it is with no doubt how the digital age has transformed how most organizations function today, it is worth noting that these technological advancements have their share of risks and threats to look out for. This article aims to provide helpful tips on how you and your business can securely take advantage of this modernization when it comes to transferring files.

To help you start, here are a few strategies on securing digital file transfer effectively you can implement and impart to your employees:

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The Pros of Hiring a Wealth Management Expert for Your Assets

aking proper investment decisions can prove easier than managing your wealth and assets. You need knowledge and guidance to keep your investment steady and wealth intact. Unless you have the knowledge and expertise, hire and work with a wealth management expert. Here are the pros of hiring a wealth management expert you should know.

professionals will work hand-in-hand with you and help lay down a solid investment plan.

An Avenue to Learn More There are many things related to wealth and finances that you must know to protect your assets. Hiring a wealth management expert becomes crucial as you learn about investment, risk management, savings, and other related things. Having a proper knowledge base remains paramount as you find better ways to protect yourself and make your investment more profitable. According to Frederick Baerenz, wealth managers help avoid mistakes that might cause negative impacts on your investment plan.

Personalized Investment Plan You need an entirely new financial and investment plan to make the wealth management process easier. By working with a wealth management expert, you get an avenue to understand the aspects of a functional financial and investment plan for your assets. Before developing the plan, a wealth management expert will look into your investment goals, personal financial health, and external factors. These

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Helps Avoid Conflicts With Wealth Supervisory Authorities Once you start to amass wealth, accountability becomes paramount. You should avoid conflict with wealth supervisory authorities to protect your assets. By hiring a wealth management expert, you get a platform to learn the wealth regulation policies and other variables that you must adhere to. A wealth management expert helps you get organized and work in harmony with the government and other supervisory authorities.

An Avenue to Grow Your Wealth

A management expert can easily help you grow your wealth by developing an investment plan. It is a pro to work with a reputable wealth management firm as you tap into skill sets, strategies, and knowledge base that can help expand your investment and grow your assets. Working with professionals like AOG Wealth Management becomes the best avenue to expand your assets and grow your wealth.

Effective Guidance Through Life’s Transition As much as you have wealth and a proper investment plan, you might still need to prepare for life’s transitions. You should understand that your wealth and financial plan will play a major part in these life transitions. Getting into a marriage, expanding your business, buying a home, getting an inheritance, and developing a retirement plan are all life’s transitions you need proper guidance on. A wealth management expert will help make the transitions easy and productive. As you assess your wealth and assets, you need a proper plan and ways to protect them. Seeking expert help becomes crucial in information and proper guidance. Going through the above list helps you understand the relevance of wealth management experts and reasons to hire one.

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WHY SMALL BUSINESSES SHOULD TAKE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SERIOUSLY

ntellectual property (IP) theft is not new in the marketplace. To an extent, small businesses are the target for such. Serious business owners are always innovative and creative, while the unserious ones tend to look out for market-worthy ventures to duplicate. Therefore, protecting your small business IP gives you complete ownership over every factor that plays a role in the market value of that business. Without your consent, no one can duplicate or offer anything similar to what you’re offering.

Even if such happens, it’d be easier to take legal action because there’s a legal base to sue the offender. You can file lawsuits yourself or hire IP legal agencies such as https://www.themyerslg.com/ to do the litigation. However you execute it, this piece shows why small business owners should take intellectual property seriously.

WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP)? Generally, IP consists of intangible commercial assets produced using mental

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creativity. But for this piece, an IP will be defined as the elements that differentiate and make small businesses recognizable in the marketplace. The most popular examples include logos, patents, trademarks, customer support ideas, and digital marketing strategies that set a company apart.

WHY IP SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY While imitation could be the highest form of flattery, it’s not the case in the business world. IP theft is especially disadvantageous to small business owners due to its manipulative and coercive nature. Therefore, small business owners should take it seriously, and here are reasons:

1. SAFEGUARDING THE IDEAS THAT MAKE YOU UNIQUE No idea is new in the world, but old ideas are innovated to solve more problems. Small businesses that have their unique selling point (USP) tied to an innovative idea stand a chance of being duplicated in the marketplace. Now, the issue is not just the idea being duplicated. The effect of such is the reduction in sales because this small business would no longer be the only one

in the field. Worse than this is the bad image it creates for the original company. Most duplicate businesses don’t keep to the standard. They cut corners, produce lowquality commodities and sell at outrageous prices. Because the public doesn’t know your idea was wrongly copied, they’ll assume you’re not trustworthy and avoid doing business with you. That’s a reputation wreck. What small business grows without consumer trust and loyalty?

2. PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY Competitors are often on the lookout to see what their peers are doing. Usually, the aim is not to duplicate the strategy but to modify it to check excesses, cover loopholes, and adopt it as theirs. If such should happen to your small business, you may be out of the market in no time. Remember, your IP is what gives you attention. If that attention is no more there, how do you exist?

3. THE CONSUMER EFFECT Every knowledgeable consumer out there cares about product standards. To this end, buyers would rather spend more to get patented products because such go through a process before getting a patent.

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So to an extent, they feel like a level of care goes into the production of such products since producers wouldn’t want to risk their identity and reputation with the government. From another perspective, consumers know that unprotected products can be duplicated easily. So the fear of buying substandard commodities makes them focus on protected businesses. But if you can enforce the IP rights of your small business, you’re already ahead of consumers’ perception. You can win their hearts and build trust for your products.

4. EXPANSION OPPORTUNITIES Save for the benefits of protecting your small business from competitors and hijackers, IP rights make it easier for you to do business globally, especially if you’re in the e-commerce industry. One factor that enables e-commerce businesses to go global is affiliate marketing. Claiming your right to your company’s IP is a sign to affiliate marketers that you claim responsibility for the outcome of your products and services. This is part of what boosts their trust for your brand. No affiliate marketers want to entangle themselves with products that can easily be duplicated. Such can ruin their reputation.

5. INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES As a small business owner, you may seek investors for your venture or get a loan to help you grow. One of the factors investors and banks will look out for is the business competition your business will have to overcome. A prerequisite for staying ahead of competitors is licensing your business and the elements that contribute to being unique in the marketplace. Not handling this aspect will scare investors away, as the possibility of them losing their investment to avoidable causes, such as IP theft, will be high.

CONCLUSION Behind every successful small business is a success-driven intellectual property. In the real sense of commercializing, these intangible assets are the core of small businesses. They’re indeed what consumers pay for when they purchase a product from your company and what they’ve come to trust. So protecting your IP is equal to protecting your small business.

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