Small Business

SMALL BUSINESS MAY 2019 | FUTUREOFBUSINESSANDTECH.COM

An Independent Supplement by Mediaplanet to USA Today

Michael Strahan

shares his tips for what constitutes success both on and off the fıeld

Discover why Gary Vaynerchuk believes patience is the most powerful quality in an entrepreneur Learn about Jean Case’s fıve principles that all leaders need for success and impact Attend for free the Small Business Expo, America’s biggest event for entrepreneurs thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Your employees matter.

Choose the best for them with PrimePay payroll & HR. P R I M E PAY. C O M / Y O U M AT T E R

How Small Businesses Can Overcome Challenges to Find Success We spoke with William J. Pellicano, CEO of PrimePay, for his insights on what makes a small business succeed.

What makes a successful small business?

Awareness. As an entrepreneur, you must understand your people and how they’re managing. Always be in tune with your business as it relates to your industry.

What is the top challenge facing small businesses today?

Finding and retaining top talent is tough.

Larger companies have more resources.

But that doesn’t mean small businesses can’t compete. Consider your culture, perks, and benefits.

What is one technology trend that every small business owner should be embracing?

Cybersecurity. USA Today reported that 760 million attacks happened in a threemonth span in 2018. Smaller companies are more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Protect your business by staying informed.

What is one service that every scaling small business should consider outsourcing?

Payroll and payroll taxes are a top burden for small business owners. As a business grows, it becomes increasingly important to maintain compliance with payroll tax regulations.

Why is it important for readers to support small businesses in their community?

When you support a small business, you support your local community. These small businesses are the backbone of our country — let’s keep supporting all of them.

Staff

Go Global and Turn Your Small Business Into Big Business Learn how the Small Business Administration can help your small business go international.

In line with baseball and apple pie, there’s nothing more American than a small business. So I mean it when I say that I’m blessed to work at the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), where we are singularly dedicated to small business success. At its core, the SBA’s mission is to protect the interests of small businesses to preserve free enterprise and strengthen our nation’s economy. We do this, and we do it well.

International markets One of SBA’s growing offices is one that has the potential to help your small business develop faster, hire more employees, and secure economic longevity — the Office of International Trade (OIT). Our mission at OIT is easy to explain: help small businesses reach global customers. And small business expansion into international markets is an area where we believe there is tremendous growth potential.

Nearly 96 percent of consumers live outside the United States, and twothirds of the world’s pur-

David M. Glaccum, Associate Administrator, SBA’s Office of International Trade chasing power is in foreign countries. Ninety-eight percent of U.S. exporters are small businesses, accounting for a third of total export value — roughly $730 billion. That sounds significant — and, in fact, is significant — but with a global GDP of nearly $85 trillion, 28 percent of which is export related, it’s only the tip of the iceberg.

With only about 1 percent of America’s small businesses exporting, our job is to find out what’s holding the rest of them back and break down those barriers.

Exporting According to the National Small Business Association’s 2016 Small Business Exporting Survey, 37 percent of small businesses said they don’t know where to start, and 17 percent said they can’t get financing.

These are all solvable problems. In fact, OIT is mandated to address these very

challenges. And while selling your goods and services in other countries may seem like a risky endeavor, our team of dedicated specialists stands ready to get you where you need to go — creating a value chain for your small business as you seek to grow your customer base in global markets.

Resources We have a team dedicated to opening global markets to small businesses, fostering small business-friendly ecosystems to promote sales opportunities for American small businesses abroad.

We have a team that seeks to expand small business global market entry through the State Trade Expansion Program, which provides grants to states and U.S. territories to help small businesses succeed in the international marketplace.

We have a team that, in partnership with our private sector lenders, helps finance global sales through loan programs that can guarantee up to 90 percent of export-focused loans. In Fiscal Year 2018 alone, we booked 476 export finance loans for nearly $735 million, supporting over 10,900 jobs and $2.6 billion in reported export sales. n

Publisher Alexandra Devine Business Developer Abraham Freedberg Managing Director Luciana Olson Designers Tiffany Pryor, Keziah Makoundou Copy Editor Sydney Scott Director of Sales Shannon Ruggiero Director of Business Development Jourdan Snyder Director of Product Faye Godfrey Lead Editor Mina Fanous Production Manager Josh Rosman Content Strategist Vanessa Rodriguez Cover Photo ABC News All photos are credited to Getty Images unless otherwise specified. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve USA Today.

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Mesh Makes the Difference for Widespread Wi-Fi Wi-Fi mesh technology helps businesses roll out high-performance Wi-Fi across a large area.

Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk Shares His Advice for Small Business Owners CEO of the business and her or his employees,” says Vaynerchuk. “Businesses need to communicate more with their employees, whether that’s texting or calling or FaceTiming.”

Mesh technology Until recently, traditional Wi-Fi systems were not suitable for these businesses.

However, that has all changed with the introduction of the latest Wi-Fi mesh technology, providing the performance of fixed network lines but without the cost and installation effort. Consistently great Wi-Fi — up to an unprecedented 17,500 square feet —is now within reach.

Optimized A Wi-Fi mesh system offers multiple Wi-Fi access points that, together with a router and advanced software, create a single cohesive network that can span over a large area. The advantage of mesh networks is that the system is self-organizing and self-optimizing.

This means that the Wi-Fi speed and quality throughout the coverage area are consistent.

With mesh technology, businesses can roll out consistently high-performance Wi-Fi access to staff and guests across a large area, cost-effectively, quickly and simply, without any compromise on quality.

Alexandra Mehat, Senior Manager, SMB Product Marketing, NETGEAR

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PHOTO: COURTESY OF GARY VAYNERCHUK

It’s a common story across warehouses, car dealerships, construction sites, and other businesses that are typically spread across a big area. They may be very different, but they share the same challenge: how to keep everyone connected across the site.

These companies, usually small- to medium-sized businesses, may occupy an area as big as a stadium, but unlike a stadium, there are not hundreds of users to connect. That makes it hard to consider the cost and disruption of installing ethernet cables to reach out to the farthest corners of the site, something that may not even be possible anyway.

Gary Vaynerchuk, lifelong innovator and businessman, shares his secrets to success.

Investor and serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk has been an entrepreneur his whole life. The kid who started a lemonade stand at age seven and sold baseball cards for thousands of dollars as a teen grew up to launch Wine Library, one of the first e-commerce platforms for alcohol in the country.

He’s now CEO of VaynerX, a modern-day media and communications holding company, and hosts a daily global top 100 business podcast, “The GaryVee Audio Experience.”

Keys to success Vaynerchuk thinks being an entrepreneur is part talent, part hard work. He says successful entrepreneurs need to have humility, lack of fear, and an enjoyment of the game of building a business.

The biggest advice he has for entrepreneurs is to be patient. Patience “is the delta,” he says. “Everybody wants things so fast.”

He says for 99 percent of people, it’s going to take a decade to build a meaningful business.

Communicate “I believe the most hidden barrier to a successful business is the communication between the founder or

Embrace AI Vaynerchuk, who’s also CEO of VaynerMedia, a full-service advertising agency, says artificial intelligence, especially voice, is the trend to watch. He encourages businesses to strategize about how voice technology can help them and their customers. While it could be too expensive to invest in now, don’t be naïve to it.

Be social Vaynerchuk is all about building a personal brand.

Back in 2006, he started “WineLibraryTV,” one of the first long-form episodic video shows on YouTube. He produced episodes almost daily for five years. He urges all businesses, large and small, to use social media, especially for advertising.

Never give up Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

“I’ve micro-failed every single day,” advises Vaynerchuk, who says it’s more important to come back from failures. “Business is like sports: just because you made a mistake, doesn’t mean it’s over.”■ Kristen Castillo

5 Factors Small Business Owners Should Consider When Thinking About Insurance SPONSORED

Small businesses face many challenges, but the right insurance partner can provide the resources they need to be successful.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20 percent of all small businesses close up shop within one year of opening, and every year about 9 percent of existing businesses shut down.

For the businesses that survive, the key is identifying the right resources and gaining access to them. What a lot of small business owners don’t realize is how the right insurance partner can help them.

“Insurance is another tool in your arsenal and it can help you be more successful,” says Guy Goldstein, CEO and founder of Next Insurance.

Goldstein thinks more small businesses need to see insurance as a meta-resource. “Most insurance companies focus on 'we will have your back when things are

bad.’ We are actually trying to help businesses grow and be successful,” he says, noting five specific areas where small business can benefit from the right insurance partner.

1. Liability It can cost $75,000 or more to settle a general liability claim, and the fundamental use of insurance is to shield your business from these dangers. One problem many businesses face is the difficulty involved in getting coverage. “The reason I founded Next was because at my previous business, getting insurance was very difficult,” says Goldstein. “It took a long time, I felt I was paying too much, and every year the renewal was a hassle. At Next, we make the process easy. Buying insurance takes less than 10 minutes and can be done completely online (unless you choose to talk to an agent). And the product is tailored to the business, it's not a generic solution.”

2. Cash flow Low sales and poor cash flow is the No. 1 reason small businesses fail each year. What most don’t realize is that the right insurance partner can

help with this as well. “Cash management is an issue for many businesses,” Goldstein notes. “One way we help is by providing everything as a monthly subscription so you don't need to pay up front. We also allow you to cancel anytime if needed.

So, if, for example, you don’t work during the summer, you can cancel during the summer. And there are no fees on anything. We have a zerofee policy.”

Another consideration is how long it takes to process claims — something else Goldstein understands. “We are with you every step of the process and handle many of our claims within two days, where the rest of the industry can often take months.”

3. New clients Every business lives and dies on its customers — both retaining the ones they have and gaining new ones.

“Having proper insurance shows potential customers that you run a good business, a responsible business that will protect them,” says Goldstein. “For example, a carpenter will have a very hard time going to a restaurant to fix the cabinets without being able to show proof of insurance.

Our proof of insurance is free for our customers and the documents can be downloaded instantly online.”

4. Property Many small businesses have significant investments in property, equipment, or vehicles needed for their operations, and the right insurance can not only pay for repairs when needed, but can also assist with locating and purchasing replacements or renting temporary offices, vehicles, or tools. With vehicles, some business owners rely on their personal car insurance to cover their business activities — but a personal policy will often not cover an accident that occurs during a run to Home Depot to purchase construction materials. For robust protection, a business needs a commercial auto policy.

5. Protecting employees For many businesses, their most important resource is their employees. The right insurance can protect your employees if they are injured on the job, while also protecting your business against worker’s compensation claims. And the right coverage should not be prohibitively expensive, or take weeks to purchase.

Goldstein is passionate about the ways insurance can help small businesses. “At the end of the day,” he adds, “insurance is a social good.” n Jeff Somers

S M A L L B U S I N E S S S P O T L I G H T: I N T H E I R O W N W O R D S My name is Hally Paulson. I am a certified personal trainer, Barre instructor, and mindset coach. I specialize in helping women find confidence and freedom by helping them exchange body image and comparison for joy and gratitude as their motivation to move their bodies and eat well. My clients lose weight and gain muscle, but, more than that, they learn who they are and how to live their lives with freedom, joy, and confidence. I don’t just help people get fit, I help them live and love their lives, and make a positive impact on everyone else around them.

I’ve been an athlete my whole life — I

played soccer growing up, swam at the the National level in college, and ran track during the off-season. I also danced in my school’s repertory dance group in college.

After college, I wasn’t working out every day with a team and I started gaining weight and feeling ashamed of my body.

So I stopped eating. I lost a ton of weight, thought I looked great, and people told me I was beautiful. I thought that my looks determined my worth. What a lie!

My eating disorder was never officially diagnosed, but, if I’m honest with myself, that’s exactly what it was. After about a year of barely eating, I was walking to a

friend’s house and the thought crossed my mind, “I can’t keep doing this.” I started eating again and began the slow process of teaching myself to work out on my own, without a team telling me when and where and how.

I learned that moving can be fun, that the treadmill at the gym is not the only option, and that consciously being grateful for the way my body moves is the best motivation to work out.

“I love what I do because it’s about helping my clients discover their own potential and helping them bring back their ‘Yay’!”

Hally Paulson is a personal trainer in Colorado and is a proud Next Insurance customer.

No small business should be blocked from achieving their dreams because of insurance. Our vision is to help entrepreneurs thrive and we’ve redesigned business insurance to be: Simple. Affordable. Tailored.

Get an instant quote in minutes and read more customer stories online at next-insurance.com MEDIAPLANET • 5

grand scale, but with no experience in what they’re doing.

What are some qualities shared by successful athletes and successful businessmen or women?

Hard work, focus, the ability to make others see your idea. As a leader, make people know their value to your team. I think a good leader always takes a step back and sees the complete picture.

That’s what an athlete has to do: step back from the big moment of the game to breathe, reassess, and then attack it in the right way.

What motivates you?

Football Star and Award-Winning Broadcaster Michael Strahan’s Advice for Entrepreneurs Super Bowl champion and Emmy-winning broadcaster Michael Strahan knows success in sports and in business.

A seven-time Pro-Bowler who had a 15-year football career, Michael Strahan and his New York Giants teammates beat the previously undefeated New England Patriots in the 2007 Super Bowl.

The current co-host of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” he’s also an analyst for “Fox NFL Sunday.”

Now, the athlete-turned-entrepreneur, who also produces documentaries and TV shows in addition to his charity work, is sharing his insight on what it takes to be a winner in business and in life.

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How did your football career prepare you for the business world?

I think it prepared me for the business world because it taught me how important it was to be organized, to pay attention to detail, and, most of all, to have a good team around you. You have to learn to adapt in real time.

How important are effective communication and collaboration both on the fıeld and in business?

Communication and collaboration are the most important things. The teams I’ve been on that haven’t been successful don’t share. When you have people who all feel comfortable with each

other and know they’re valuable, that breeds sharing. When people feel appreciated, it makes people really want to give it everything that they have.

What’s the most important advice you’d give an entrepreneur who’s looking to make it big?

In order to make it big, you’ve got to start small. We all have big ideas. But you don’t have to start out by spending a million dollars and trying to make that final product.

A friend of mine once said, you know how to make a small fortune in the car business? Start out with a large one. I always pay attention to these businesses that people want to start on such a

Proving to myself I can do things I never imagined. To be in the position that I am with all of these different jobs and fields that I didn’t necessarily study.

To be able to have success in these fields just by being curious about them, and diving in and not being afraid to fail, is awesome. It’s also made me more adventurous to try other things.

Your brand is about compassion, generosity, and happiness.

What advice would you give to a small business owner looking for their identity?

The biggest thing is the authenticity of your brand. People see authenticity from a mile away.

Know your brand and do your best to always keep in line with that. Don’t be deterred by money.

Just stay focused on what your brand is and the money will come.

Success isn’t necessarily defined by finances. Success sometimes is defined by happiness. Waking up every day and doing something you enjoy is the ultimate happiness. Put yourself into it and make sure every day you want to wake up and go to that job. That’s really what business is all about. It’s a journey. ■ Kristen Castillo MEDIAPLANET

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