​Build a flex fund or contingency into the budget
 
A great budget that can last throughout the entire project and protect a company's balance sheet is more than just estimating how much everything will cost.  No, it involves understanding the risk and realities of the project you are undertaking.  Be sure to have a portion of your budget allocated for contingencies or emergencies with undertaking the project.  This helps you stay on budget rather than having no backup plan and when unexpected expenses crop up, having to scramble to find the resources or shut the project down which wastes valuable time and money. 
 
Ensure you have an amazing project manager/leader
 
The key to an efficient and smooth project is largely due to the manager or leader of the project.  This person’s job is to allocate the resources budgeted to the project properly, as well as motivates and organizes the staff to complete the project on schedule.  It is critical to ensure the project manager fully understands the scope of the project and ideally, has worked on or led a similar one before.  It is very difficult to complete a project or estimate its costs if you have never undertaken something similar. That unknown means a greater risk, which means the project is more likely to go over budget. 
 
Organization and communication are key
 
Spending the first few days or weeks of a project, establishing a routine and system for organization and communication can seem like a waste of time on the surface. However, the more complicated the project, the more likely issues in these areas will arise.  Information and instructions passed along the chain can be misconstrued by different mid-level managers causing confusion in their subordinates.  Work completed which is not tracked and organized could be repeated unnecessarily--wasting time and money in the process. 
 
A system, whether digitized or based on company hierarchy, can help keep your project on budget by increasing efficiency in all areas of the project.  Assumptions are a project's worst enemy and can cause aspects of the project to have to be redone or changed after completion, which can ruin timelines and budgets in the process. 
 
Establish a relationship with freelancers, outsourced help, and suppliers beforehand
 
Nothing can derail a project more than a key supplier not fulfilling an order or delivery as they previously expected. Even if they have a legitimate reason such as port delays or equipment repairs, projects often have a linear component that means they cannot move forward without certain aspects complete or in place.  If at all possible, you should work with suppliers, freelancers, and other outside the company, on small projects or one-off assignments before relying on them for a key component of a major project. This precaution will ensure that the vendor is reliable, indicating that you are a serious company and should be respected.  Mutual respect ensures the supplier follows through on their promise, on time, and assures the supplier they will be compensated for their efforts as you already have established your working relationship on previous projects.  

​Understand your industry
 
If you plan to open an ecommerce store or a monthly wine service it can help your business and planning in many ways to start researching and studying the competition.  While you may not find a verbatim business plan that they made, either because they got lucky and didn’t make one or didn’t publish it to the public, your studying will help you capture all aspects of your industry without leaving a stone unturned.  The challenges, supplier issues, definition of target customer, headwinds, tailwinds--all these things become more apparent, clear, and will make writing your business plan much easier.
 
Once you know the challenges you are likely to face, your business plan can establish how you plan to tackle those and what resources you need to allocate to that task.  Of course, there will be a myriad of unexpected challenges along the way that you did not plan for, but your business plan could even address how you will respond to those in a general way. 
 
Maybe your plan states you will use a line of credit or debt to handle situations like that or there is a lever on capital expenditures you can pull to reduce cash burn and shore up the balance sheet if an unforeseen event happens. 
 
Look at templates or sample business plans
 
While every business plan will be different, utilizing a template or an existing plan as a reference can help you focus your plan to what really matters.  Often small business owners or budding entrepreneurs can romanticize or neglect certain areas of the business, such as less glamorous things like taxes or legal fees, to the detriment of their business.  While a business plan is a high-level view of your business as well as how it will operate, it is not uncommon for these plans to be tens of pages, often close to a hundred for very complex enterprises.
 
Don’t neglect the mission statement
 
Many businesses neglect their mission statement or hire it out to a freelance writer to produce in fancy, lofty language.  A mission statement is not an archaic concept that no longer applies to fast moving, bootstrapped technology startups, but is the foundation of your business identity and culture.
 
If you want to start a business in a saturated industry but plan to stand out because of x, then your mission statement should be focused around x.  There is a reason you think this venture is a good idea, and that is what the mission statement reflects.
 
That way, when looking back on your enterprise in the future or faced with a tough decision about the direction you should take; referring back to your mission statement can remind you of your original goals, intents, and help to refocus the company. 
 
That is not to say a mission statement can’t be revised--it can and should, but a powerful, well thought out statement can do wonders for a company.  Johnson and Johnson has one of the best etched in stone at their headquarters, and as a result have become one of the most successful companies in the world.  

​Keep the marketing team cohesive
 
Often companies that are performing digital marketing such as Social Media, Targeted Ads, and other fancy techniques will have separate teams performing each function.  These teams do a great job but work in relative isolation, especially at larger companies.  A better way to obtain the marketing results you desire is to ensure these teams work together and that their efforts play off one another.  Data from social media and the types of people that interact or follow the company can be used to target ads to a better demographic or influence other areas of the overall marketing engine. 

Integrate marketing in your product or service at every level
 
Marketing is not just something you should do to drive people to your website or product page.  Rather, it should be an important and integral part of everything you do.  With digital media marketing, the product or service can help market itself, sometimes achieving things for free that no paid marketing could ever accomplish.  A link at the end of your app, a flyer for your website or app included with every product shipped, or other traditional and digital combinations can pay off as well.  Leveraging both traditional and digital techniques to penetrate the marketplace and ensure your message is reaching your target customer is crucial to growing your brand and taking market share. 
 
Email marketing is still king
 
Digital marketing can be overwhelming with all the choices a company can have on how to go about it.  From blogs and communities to product reviews and landing pages, the methods are endless and constantly evolving.  But, one method stands out above all others and has since the beginning-- email marketing.  The best email marketing is one that is voluntary, that is, the customer has gone through a few steps and clicks to give you permission to market to them.
 
Why is this a more effective marketing system, because they are more likely to be engaged with your product or message.  A list of a thousand potential customers that only got on your list because they thought they were getting a free book are a lot less likely to buy something from you then those who voluntarily gave you their email or filled out a survey after purchasing from you.  This type of quality email list can also reduce the time you spend cleaning out and filtering the list and increase open rates and sales funnel success. 
 
Email marketing is a long-term strategy whereas advertisements lose all effectiveness once they are no longer shown unless you pay to keep showing them.  A customer who doesn’t open or view your first few emails may eventually convert, for whatever reason, down the line.  They might have not seen your email, had it accidentally go to spam, or not trusted or been interested in your brand at the time.  Unless they unsubscribe altogether, you will always have the ability to enter their email box with your best shot and try to convince them.  Long-term marketing and repeat customers of the highest quality can be found through email marketing.  Remember what they say, ‘the money is in the list’.  

​Young entrepreneurs are the backbone of the economy.  From creating jobs to advancing technology and improving our lives, these trailblazers embody the American spirit and are important to our success as a society and a nation.  Here are some of the reasons why the world needs more young entrepreneurs. 
 
Inspiration
 
The world needs leaders, role models, and success stories to inspire and motivate individuals to exceed their given situation and accomplish things they never thought possible.  What is more inspiring than a young entrepreneur that created a successful business or an amazing new technology product and became wildly successful and wealthy in his or her twenties? 
 
Young entrepreneurs bring a fresh perspective, an intimate knowledge of technology and the positives and negatives it can have since they grew up with tablets and the internet at a very young age, and help create jobs in places and sectors of the market that are growing and in demand. 
 
It is rare to see a young entrepreneur open up a car factory or a textile plant.  Rather, they are focused on technology-oriented endeavors that will sculpt our future and increase the standard of living across the less developed world.
 
Bootstrapping
 
Bootstrapping is a startup concept or method of operations that involves growing and starting a business or enterprise without much capital, resources, or investors.  Typical bootstrap businesses are not making a profit yet, turning all their profits and revenue around into growing, advertising, and expanding their ventures. 
 
As the economic cycle shifts and rising interest rates tighten access to capital from both debt and equity sources, bootstrapped businesses are likely to make a resurgence.  Young entrepreneurs lead the way in this field, as older entrepreneurs tend to favor the traditional ways of starting an enterprise that they learned in business school.  Older entrepreneurs are also more risk averse because of their mistakes, experiences, and looming retirements.
 
Young entrepreneurs are fearless, sometimes careless, but this allows them to challenge the status quo and help advance society in new and unforeseen ways.
 
Innocence and ignorance as advantages
 
Sometimes not being properly educated or having experience can be an advantage.  Traditional advice affirms that it is usually a disadvantage, but in today's marketplace this is not always the case.  Sometimes it takes a visionary to accept that the way the world drinks coffee is not the best, that the taxi cab monopoly is not good for the environment or the consumer, or that there is a better way to store our files then local hard drives prone to failure and tampering. 
 
An entrepreneur with typical business experience and a typical education struggles to come up with a creative and innovative idea, but the young entrepreneur can live outside these restrictions. 
 
Young entrepreneurs also prefer to work with colleagues and employees that are similar in age and temperament to themselves.  The more these individuals are allowed to foster and become successful, the more opportunities will exist for our young people who have mixed education backgrounds. 
 
These entrepreneurs can also take other misguided or confused kids under their wing in a mentor type program.  This in-house growing of future entrepreneurs bodes well for the economy and society as there is a belief that small businesses are the ones that create true job growth in the economy as opposed to mega corporations either from home or abroad.  

​In a saturated marketplace, the only way to get the word out and establish your brand's story is through PR efforts.  Very few products or companies are truly original but may have slightly different or innovative approaches.  Here are some ways to use public relations to tell your story and establish the subtle differences that make your company stand out and gain market share as a result.
 
 
Establish what your brand is and what you want it to be first
 
No PR strategy can begin without a plan.  Think through who you want to reach, why, where they are, how you are going to get to them, and how brand building helps your business. 
 
Just because more people know about your brand's existence doesn't automatically turn them into customers—they might just know your brand exists but not be more interested in it than they were when it didn't exist to them.  Any message is not better than the wrong one. 
 
Align charitable giving with your customers’ values
 
Choosing a charity or a group of charities and organizations to donate to should not be done haphazardly.  While some companies might donate to things they believe in, that their employees support because of their own experience, or any number of other reasons, brand building through PR could be a better option.
 
Consider who your customers are—are they likely to donate their time or money to this organization?  Why or why not?  If your goal is to reach customers that value animals and the health of the planet, say, because you sell organic dog treats, then donating to the American Cancer Society is great and all, but the PR it may or may not generate is not optimized. 
 
While doing good should not be reduced to a cold calculated maneuver, it is not much effort to simply shift contributions to different organizations to help build your credibility and brand in the marketplace that you desire to occupy.  The previously mentioned company could instead donate to animal shelters, green organizations, or anything else more closely aligned to their customers’ goals and values.
 
The best PR is genuine, non-solicited, and from a third party
 
Any company can buy an interview, an advertisement, or paid money to force their way into the spotlight.  But these days consumers are savvy and getting smarter by the minute.  Millennials know when they are being advertised and marketed to, and they despise it.  A third party who you did not pay or solicit sharing or talking about your brand, however, is pure gold and the end goal of every great PR or brand building effort.
 
The reason this has such a big impact is that the end consumer sees the extra layer of filtering and credibility.  This is not the company telling me their product is awesome, this is somebody else putting their reputation on the line to tell me it is awesome or not, and that I can get behind.  But how do you achieve this?
 
Make something great.  Something worth talking about.  A cucumber infused soda is much more interesting than the next marketing widget or program.  But if that marketing program has a better story or is more well known, it might have a stronger brand presence.  Story is important as well, and we focus on that next.
 
What do they mean by story?
 
Storytelling is an essential human need, condition, and want.  It comes in many forms whether it is pictures, video, oral dialogue, a fake story that we build up in our minds and convince ourselves is true, books, media, or almost anything.  This is what PR can do for your brand.  It is not enough to simply tell a magazine that your product exists anymore.  No one will care. 
 
What you need is the story behind and in front of it.  Why did you make it?  What motivated you?  How does it change the users’ story in their own life?  Does it let you spend more time with your family, creating great memories and scrapbook moments?  Does it take grocery shopping into virtual reality, letting you embrace your wildest childhood dreams and fantasies?  Then tell customers that.  That is what customers want to hear.
 
Don't neglect your internal brand
 
Many people focus purely on their external brand and the perception of it.  Whether it be their products, their packaging, what kind of furry animal is in the commercials, or the reputation of their services, that kind of brand building is no doubt important.
 
But what can be just as important is your internal brand.  This is sometimes referred to as your company culture, but it is more than that.  Google and other tech companies have become infamous for their unique working conditions that go against the mold of rigid schedules, pointless meetings, structure, and cubicles. 
 
Instead, Google aligns their internal brand with their external one to create a cohesive message.  When you hear a news story about Google, whether it is their basketball games at lunch or the latest amazing invention, the story is the same:  this a company at the forefront of innovation and is not afraid to be different.  They are going places.
 
Aligning your internal brand can help employees at all levels to embody and believe in their external brand building and approach.  This can reduce employee turnover and increase productivity with a healthier workplace to boot.