When you're starting a business, innovation and motivation are the most important aspects. You need to know about business terms also, such as dba meaning. The more you know and understand, the more confident you will be. However, people venture into business for different motives that include a sense of accomplishment, autonomy, a vision to transform their life, and generating wealth.

Motivation and Innovation

More than any other, entrepreneurship is about motivation. For entrepreneurs, the best time to innovate is during a startup phase when there is a lot of pressure and responsibility to deliver a product or service that satisfies a critical need. Your goal of venturing into business is to develop innovation that will help you generate substantial cash flows.

Think of your inspiration when you decide to begin your own business. Is it an emotional drive that drives you, or is it about a business opportunity you see or a service you need? The answer to this will set the tone for how you will be inspiring yourself to work hard and push for success. An entrepreneur without a sense of motivation is unlikely to accomplish their goals.

How to Be an Entrepreneur

While entrepreneurship is a talent that anyone can learn, some people are more likely to pursue the life of an entrepreneur. The skills that entrepreneurs need are in demand, and they require skills that other people might find boring. Entrepreneurs need to be creative, independent, analytical, aggressive, and a good negotiator.

On the other hand, self-starters are great at starting something and building it from scratch. People who are talented at group management are also great entrepreneurs. Two ingredients that entrepreneurs need are drive and inspiration. A person can work hard all day, but he won't see the point if he is not passionate about what he does.

How Can You Grow These Qualities?

You can enhance the startup process through these suggestions:
• Keep your mind open to possibilities and diversity
• Have your ideas, brainstorming sessions, meeting, social events, and other activities, which allow you to expand your awareness and minds
• Add variety to your work schedule to keep you energized and motivated
• Make room in your day for studies, reading, meditating, and reading inspiring books
• Go out on weekends and make for yourself a special day.

Also, keep in mind that some entrepreneurs are passionate about using technology, electronics, the Internet, and other tools of the trade. These days, people like to work, meet and interact via the Internet, mobile phone, Skype, and even over the phone, which gives you a chance to promote your business and interact with clients.

Establishing and Finding Your Vision

A key aspect of entrepreneurship is having a clear vision of the type of business you want to start. For example, do you know of any new health products or services? Are you willing to work on that idea and spend the necessary time and money to see it come to fruition? It's always easier to start a business with a solid vision, but it's also essential to keep things moving. Your vision should be the basis for your long-term growth.

A vision is a guiding principle you utilize to build your business. For example, if you want to sell healthy food to people, your vision is to make healthy food accessible and affordable. You then establish a business plan to accomplish that vision. This will include market analysis, competitive analysis, and a forecast on how many customers you can target.

Collecting Resources

Finding the resources needed to start a business can be challenging. The first years can be demanding before generating any income. However, what can be done is first to find the resources that can help you get started.

The Journey Begins

An entrepreneur gets a business idea or an organization, and a business has different functions or operations, such as manufacturing, selling, or producing an individual product or service. Entrepreneurship involves planning the business model, resource collection, market positioning, financial management, and risk management.

Finding the Right Business Partner and Mentor

Entrepreneurship is about finding a business partner that can share a similar vision. The business partner should be qualified and have experience in a specific industry and experience in the business world. The business partner should also have similar business goals. You also need a business mentor to help you achieve your goals. This person should be a professional with broad knowledge.

An entrepreneur can become driven and inspired due to the fundamental attributes that are associated with the business. But in the context of innovation and motivation, this can be attributed to the entrepreneurial mindset, which ultimately helps create a new business venture.

An entrepreneur's journey begins with the arrival of an idea. The entrepreneur then takes steps to turn this idea into reality, including analyzing the market, creating a business model, and generating ideas for execution.

Augmented reality is quickly becoming a new trend in the e-commerce space.

Businesses have started to look at alternative ways to create an immersive shopping experience by providing shoppers with a new way to get a feel for a product before they make a purchase.

What is augmented reality?

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that provides an interactive experience of a real-world environment on a digital platform. This enhanced computer-generated perceptual information allows for digital users to experience real-life through the medium of digital platforms more than ever before.

AR can include visual as well as auditory effects to make the experience as real as possible. An example of AR in the digital space would be product testing on the IKEA website.

Their AR software allows consumers to test and fit every product they sell in the consumer’s actual home to give them a real-life preview before they make a purchase.

How to apply it to e-Commerce?

Augmented reality provides customers with a better sense of whether a product would be suitable for their needs or not. Many e-commerce businesses have already started to use AR in order to provide their consumers with more confidence when making a purchase.

IKEA

IKEA is one of the first large global e-commerce retailers to capitalise on the use of AR. Their AR software allows consumers to preview products and how they would fit in their actual homes.

The application is simple. With a tap into a smartphone’s camera, the consumer can preview and place different pieces of furniture in real-time from anywhere in the world. The software will then render a 3D picture of the furniture in the given space. The consumer can then decide if the product is a good fit or not.

This fantastic feature that AR offers is revolutionising IKEA’s UX design and potential for revenue and limiting product returns. This especially applies to their high-ticket products like kitchen designs which will convert a lot better once a consumer can see what the product would look like in real life.

CoverGirl

The recently established American based beauty brand CoverGirl has been quick to jump on the trend and provide an AR product experience to their customers. Similar to IKEA, shoppers can apply beauty products over a live image of their face on camera and see if a particular make-up product is the right match for them.

Through the use of AR, the brand enabled consumers to try all different kinds of makeup combinations without spending a dollar or consumers having a negative brand experience due to ordering an unsuitable product.

What are the benefits for the shoppers?

After all, it is important to remember that a customer cannot try on a product on the internet and so, a creative UX/UI design strategy is crucial as they most often need to go with their intuition and believe that it is exactly what they are looking for.

Adequate product preview

Everyone has had an experience where you order a product that looks nice on images but is nothing like the images in real life.

With AR, customers will be able to preview a product from all angles just like they would in a retail shop. This will allow the consumer to preview a product in a similar to a real-life environment before they decide whether a product is good for them or not.

Testing and fitting a product

IKEA is one of the largest e-commerce distributors across Europe for furniture and home décor. They currently use AR on their website to give customers a preview of their products and what they would look like in their actual homes.

Augmented reality is a remarkable digital technology that has allowed businesses like IKEA and CoverGirl to revolutionise their UX design and offer consumers a new way to experience their products. With this change in digital technology, consumers are going to be more satisfied and businesses will experience a lot fewer returns or product exchanges.

Singapore’s cybersecurity giant Acronis has just announced the appointment of Ren Bonvanie as their new chairman of the board. Acronis has grown into a global technology company that develops cloud and on-premise software for backup, secure file sync, disaster recovery, and share and data access. They were founded in Singapore in 2003 and play a key role in helping businesses across Asia (as well as many other parts of the world) keep their digital information secure. With Bonvanie as their new chairman, they are expected to further develop scaling their services to meet the needs of any size business.

Who is Ren Bonvanie?

Bonvanie has been a member of the Board of Directors at Acronis since 2014, so he’s not new to the company, and he is also vice president of strategic accounts at Palo Alto Networks, an American cybersecurity company. Bonvanie has over 35 years of experience when it comes to marketing and executive management and is also a member of the boards of Guardsquare, Collibra and Nexthink, resulting in many considering him a security veteran. Due to his experience, it’s expected that he’ll work on Acronis’ enterprise strategy and execution alongside the chief executive officer and management team. Ultimately, this means more businesses should be able to benefit from Acronis’ services, helping to keep information safe and secure.

Asia’s businesses that can benefit from Acronis

Acronis specializes in cyber protection in all areas and uses blockchain-based data authentification and AI technologies to enhance what they do. They protect all data, systems and applications in every type of business, giving their users full control. This essentially means that almost every business across Asia that uses any form of digital data can benefit from their services, helping to protect their own business, as well as their customer’s sensitive information. Bonvanie backs this by stating that Acronis provides “fully scalable, easy, efficient, and secure cyber protection to meet… needs.”

Other steps businesses should take

While digital security is an evergrowing priority, it’s important that businesses throughout Asia also concentrate on security in other places within their business. One obvious area is ensuring that premises are secure, such as by installing CCTV, alarms and access control in offices, warehouses, stores and other places of business. Industry experts DSC also note the value in incorporating the use of the cloud, such as with video surveillance, making it easy to mix security with the services on offer from the likes of Acronis. Additionally, businesses of any size should make sure that all of their staff are well trained in security, as having the software and equipment is one thing, but employees need to understand how to use it and why it’s important to get the most from it.

Security for businesses is essential in all forms, but digital security can get left behind as it’s growing so fast. All businesses in Asia using any form of digital data need to have cybersecurity measures in place to protect themselves and their customers.

Cryptocurrency is hardly anything new anymore. It’s been around since 2009 with the accidental invention of the first decentralized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. Despite the fact that it was created as part of a side project, it has opened up a world of modern transactions and innovation. Today, cryptocurrency is well known and well traded, with many major banks and companies accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment.

What exactly is cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that is completely decentralized, meaning that it doesn’t earn its value from a single person or entity but rather from the network of people who use it. Cryptocurrency is transferred online without ever being a physical object, so users can make transactions from anywhere in the world.

If you break it down to its most simple definition, cryptocurrency is just entries into a database that are limited by the entities who accept it. It’s just the same as any other currency if you think about it, as physical money is just entries into a database, but the database is public and physical. Money always needs to be verified in some kind of database, whether it’s a physical bank account or a digital one.

What is network marketing?

Network marketing is a business strategy and model that relies on a network of people to help grow a business or sell a product. Network marketing consists of three basic types of strategies in order to be profitable: lead generation, recruiting, and building and management. Highly successful network marketers, like the Toni Vans network marketing team, don’t just sell products for others to sell. They add partners to their network and then train, motivate, and manage new recruits to become just as successful as they are.

There are three main types of network marketing, although there are many more types of programs. The first is single-tier network marketing, where you simply sign up for an affiliate program to sell that company’s product or service. There’s no need to recruit others, and you only get paid if you make a sale. An example of this is Avon. Some single-tier programs are now online-based only, and you get paid for traffic you refer to the affiliate’s website.

The second type is two-tier network marketing, when you sign up with an affiliate and are paid for direct sales (or, in the case of online network marketing, direct web traffic referrals) as well as any referred traffic that was made by the people you have recruited to work under you. An example of this is SiteSell.

The third type is multi-level marketing (MLM). An MLM program is any distribution-based affiliate marketing program that goes two or more tiers deep. An example of this is LuLaRoe.

How does cryptocurrency factor into network marketing?

Network marketing involves a large number of people, sometimes connected across large distances when they are successfully run. One network marketing business could expand across the entire globe, so it’s clear to see why a digital currency would be an attractive option for quick and easy transactions. Without a centralized currency, having to worry about conversion rates and fees, and having transactions deposited slowly means much less headache for network marketers.

The age of multiple fiat currencies will be well and truly over in 50 years, according to new research that predicts cryptocurrencies and blockchain at the heart of a new financial landscape.

IG, which trades forex, cryptocurrency and other assets, looked ahead to the world of 2069. Its research - A Time Traveller’s Guide To The Future of Trading - suggests cryptocurrencies will have won the battle with fiat currencies and that blockchain networks will have replaced exchanges in 50 years.

It stated: “It may sound like lofty thinking, but the introduction of a global cryptocurrency and mainstream adoption of blockchain could be closer than we think.

“Through cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ripple and litecoin, blockchain is already being used to store transaction data in secure, transparent and readily-available databases.

“Additionally, a number of cryptocurrency networks are already powering smart contracts and decentralised apps – including Ethereum, NEO and EOS.IO – suggesting that the popularisation of blockchain and cryptocurrency trading accounts may not be too far away.

“Moreover, the concept of a global currency has been around for a while, with suggestions including the Geary-Khamis dollar – an international dollar which would slowly phase out all modern-day fiat currencies and disrupt traditional forms of forex trading.”

The potential power of cryptocurrencies has been a hot topic for debate in recent weeks after Facebook announced it was going to launch Libra – its own digital payment method.

The move is a further to challenge to the existing order – with the likes of Twitter’s Jack Dorsey suggesting that the world will eventually end up with a single shared method of payment.

He told The Times: “The world ultimately will have a single currency, the internet will have a single currency. I personally believe that it will be bitcoin.” Dorsey’s bold prediction is that this could happen in ten years. While it remains to be seen if the future is dominated by one or more cryptocurrencies, there’s mounting evidence that this could usurp fiat currency is one form or another.

IG’s research also predicts thought-powered trading, AI assistants and holographic 3D trading rooms powered by smartphones will be commonplace by 2069.

Technology is evolving in a truly rapid pace. Products and technologies that were just a dream a decade ago are not turning into reality. However, considering the rate at which technology develops, it seems like more and more technologies are being developed each day. Tech advancements have significantly revolutionized the life of people in all fields. Self-driving cars, medical advancements or 3D printers are just a few relevant examples. Technology plays an important role in people’s life these days but not only because gadgets are everywhere. Technology facilitates their life and saves them valuable time and even money.

For that matter, many tend to believe that in a few years the workforce will be replaced by robots. For some, that is just a distant dream, but it is definitely a possibility. Until then, these are just a few innovative technologies that make people’s lives easier.

Medical Technology

When it comes to the medical field, there are a lot of amazing technologies that facilitate so many doctors’ work. Some of the most important ones are the robot nurse, remote patient monitoring devices, spectral computed tomography or 3D printing. A few decades ago these innovations were just a dream, but these days almost any medical facility is using them without fail. Technology in healthcare can provide cheaper and faster solutions for diseases. Therefore, it could end the battle against cancer, Ebola or AIDS.

Social Technology

Nowadays people use technology on a daily basis to interact with friends and family that are situated all over the world. Technology allows them to communicate and exchange pictures in real time. Technology facilitates the way people communicate and provides all kinds of sources of entertainment. Smartphones, phones or tablets are the most common devices these days. They help users complete simple tasks by providing a great interface and user experience.

Information Technology

Thanks to the development of technology, people are now able to learn new things and make money in an unconventional way. The integration of technology in our daily life gives them the chance to work from anywhere. There are a lot of amazing ways of generating an income with the help of technology. The information technology field is continually developing, and IT specialists that know how to build a website, create branding or design a logo are required without ceasing. Yet there are some other simple and great ways of making money. For example, selling photos online, creating blog content or playing casino games are just a few of them. On Unibet, one can find a lot of great games and have a good time while making money.

Educational Technology

The most common technologies used in a classroom are computers, class websites, digital microphones, mobile devices, interactive whiteboards or online media. All of these are amazing ways of facilitating the learning process. Pupils are not able to discover new information through educational technology. Therefore, technologies do not only facilitate the learning process, but also the teacher’s work. No matter what devices they are using in the classroom, they are able to acquire new information in a faster and more efficient manner.

Technology is an important matter in today’s society. It is used in most branches, and it provides great help and usability.

With the new year comes the opportunity to reflect on the past and identify ways to make improvements so that the following year is enhanced and more productive. Typically, we apply this introspection to our personal lives with changes to diet, exercise regimen and the setting of goals to aspire to, but we should also apply these same principles of innovation to our businesses, and what better place to start than the face of business: the company website. Here are 3 ways to improve your website in 2018.

1. Website usability

You want visitors to your website to be able to navigate through the pages of your website with ease and efficiency. Review the user experience that your website provides. It is easy to overcomplicate your website with too much information that drowns the call to action in an excess of text. Less is more: remove distractions. Be selective about the information that you are displaying, and how you display it. The visitors need to have a clear path to take them to the information or product that they are seeking. You want your website’s usability to lead to conversions, so make sure that your call to action is clear and direct.

A consistent style across the websites pages, not only supports your brand’s credibility through the display of logo and the choice of colors that you use, but it increases the readability and comprehension of the information that you are displaying. It allows the visitor to access the information that they want quickly.

Improving your website’s usability from the visitor’s perspective will help your search engine rankings. Google likes pages that are relevant and informative to the searchers. If your visitors are quickly clicking through pages trying to find the information that they are seeking, their actions tell Google that your site is not providing them with value.

2. Website performance

Performance is an essential aspect to the success of your business’s website. You may be very happy with the design of your website, and the information that it can potentially provide your customers and clients, but if it is slow to upload and has frequent downtime, your efforts will be thwarted. Ensure that the cloud hosting service that you choose for your business can support the demands that are made on it is a crucial area to review. You need to have an agile solution and theaccessgroup.com is one such company that can host your website and protect your company data.

3. Website ranking

The aim of the game is to get your business website as highly placed on the search engine ranking pages as possible. If you have addressed your website’s usability and performance, you now need to concentrate on the quality and construction of the content that you are posting. The content needs to be regularly updated and specifically targeted to engage the audience to improve your site’s relevance and authority. Identify keywords that will attract the visitors, but don’t sacrifice good writing for SEO – remember Google wants quality!

Complete an audit of the metadata and alt tags that are currently in your website; they need to be concise and descriptive. They collectively provide the search engine bots the information that it needs to understand the content that you have displayed to rank your pages.

Photo by Igor Miske on Unsplash

There has been some heated controversy going on amid the successful start of Amazon in India. The marketplace giant launched with better than expected numbers coming in, but Flipkart, Amazon’s major rival in India, has made an amazing turnaround and so the race is on. For the past several years the economy in India has been staggering a bit, and so these two marketplaces just might rekindle hope for India’s future in e-commerce.

India’s Continued Growth Overall

The race may be on, but will it really matter who comes out the winner if their efforts can bring about the changes needed to put India back on the map again as a key player? Thought to be the most promising of all emerging nations, this nation with 1.25 billion inhabitants is quickly gaining momentum because of the entrepreneurial spirit of the largest portion of the population – India’s young adults.

While there have been some setbacks, they pale in comparison to those which many of the world’s superpowers are experiencing. Uncertainty still looms over Brexit in the UK and it is unclear what the highly controversial US president will do for the economy of the United States, so India is in a prime position for massive growth. Amazon and Flipkart are just two of the reasons why there is hope for the future.

India’s Youth Answering the Call

Since such a large portion of the population is young and with a high priority placed on education, India is in a prime position to literally explode in the technology sector. As e-commerce expands, India just might set the pace for the advancement of a digital economy in the region, according to US marketing agency Single Grain. With China also making a move towards expansion in the free-market, these two nations may soon enjoy a place of global dominance in the technology sector once dominated by Japan.

The reason why India is looking towards the younger generation isn’t only because of their sheer numbers but because of their thirst for knowledge and a will to succeed. Saying India’s youth have a pervading entrepreneurial spirit is an understatement at very best. It is more of a passion for working towards a better future for their impoverished country and Amazon and Flipkart might just set the stage for this generation to elevate the GDP far above where it now stands at less than a quarter of China’s per capita.

E-commerce Offers a Better Future

As one of the world’s poorest nations and sadly one of the four most populous, India lacks the infrastructure that many other emerging nations now enjoy. Pumping money into the system will enable the Indian government to update that very same infrastructure that is holding the nation back.

With travel and communications often hindered by this very lack of updated infrastructure, e-commerce takes on greater significance. Startups can work from home with just a computer and an Internet connection, and that is likely the one factor that will bring India up to the ranks of finally being a ‘developed’ nation and a global presence to contend with.

Before diving into what you should do before opening a big virtual conference, it is important to look at what makes an online conference different from a traditional conference. An online conference means that your group does not have to miss important information just because they cannot make it to a meeting. A virtual conference can be archived, and made available to those who were not able to attend the live presentation. The people who are attending can watch the content whenever they are available.

Enjoying the Live Experience

For the people who can attend the live event, being able to interact in a live question and answer session allows the presenter to better guide the presentation to suit the needs of their audience. In comparison with ground based conferences, a virtual conference provides:

Now that you know the benefits of online conferences, let’s dive into the six steps you should take before you dive into live event webcasting, such as the options provided by BlueJeans.

Know Your Audience

The heart of any live event is creating audience participation. Before you lock yourself into a live event, make sure you have the right content in mind for a broad audience. Once you understand your broad audience, focus in on your target audience. Identify the type of people you want to reach and focus you event content accordingly. Consider the various topics and themes you feel your audience will be the most interested in. What benefits can your live event provide and who you should reach out to as guest speakers to attract your desired clientele.

Ensure You Have Adequate Lead Time for Planning

If you are planning a live event, you should provide yourself with a few months to focus on the various planning and logistics that go into a live event. An online event can easily become a complex situation, and you will need to be prepared. It also allows you time to gather the right guest speakers for your event, create and edit the presentation, and set up a website to market the event.

Design an Event Offering a Variety of Content

After you have created a buzz about your online presentation, maintain their interest about your event. Send emails to the people who have reserved a spot and create more appeal.

When you are creating your content, keep in mind the different learning styles that people have. Set up your email list to provide statistics of how your viewers respond to text, visuals, and audio. Make sure your content is presented in a way that all audience types have their needs met.

Make sure to meet the needs of your attendees by providing the following:

Provide a Chance for Interaction and Connection between Attendees

Creating a successful online conference depends on the ability of attendees to interact with one another. It is important to promote participation by creating a time for the audience to interact with each other. This interaction can take place on any of the following:

These opportunities can have a very powerful impact on your conference. It can also promote deeper connections between attendees. By creating a sense of community, you will make it more desirable for people to attend.

Work with Dedicated Event Coordinator and Online Conference Vendor

If you are new to hosting online conferences, having an experienced event coordinator can assist in the planning process. Make sure that your event planner can work closely with the platform vendor. They will be better able to anticipate what will be the most attractive aspects to attendees, help design the site, create appropriate visual interest, and ensure that design aspects are in place.

Take Time to Train Yourself in the Software
If you are working with an experienced, partner-based conference platform vendor, make sure you opt for the training, technical support, and any other hand-holding they offer. By taking this training, you will feel more at ease with online conferences, and be better able to provide content to your attendees.

Understanding the Online Conference World

If you are new to live event webcasting, following these six simple steps will ensure the success of your conference. It may seem intimidating at first, but once you have everything in motion, you will feel more confident in your hosting abilities. Using customer-focused technology allows you to suit the needs of your attendees, provide a wealth of knowledge, and a sense of community support.

Over the past couple of years, increasing numbers of businesses in Asia have been moving their operations to the cloud. While it used to be expensive – and difficult – for corporations to switch to cloud computing, the services and solutions available today are making cloud computing even more accessible to small businesses across the continent.

It makes sense for small businesses to take advantage of cloud solutions because they bring so much value to the table. There are a number of key cloud services and solutions that can help small and medium enterprises stay competitive in today’s economy.

Streamlined Sales Efforts

One of the most popular cloud-based solutions on the market today is SalesForce, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform designed to help businesses fine-tune their sales workflow to the very last detail. It is amazing how many tools are offered by SalesForce on its platform, especially considering the same tools used to be offered exclusively to larger corporations.

By moving sales operations to the cloud using SalesForce and other available solutions, small businesses can now have a strong sales team with the ability to work effectively and flexibly. When doing sales visits, for example, sales officers can convey requests from clients directly to the rest of the sales team at the office. In return, decision makers within the business can manually approve or reject the requests and formulate the perfect quotation for the client.

This type of streamlining has an enormous impact on efficiency. Not only does it allow small businesses to be more flexible when facing market challenges, it also helps businesses expand their operations without investing a lot of money in the process.

Better HR with Cloud Solutions

Another popular category of cloud solutions is cloud human resources management or HRM. Companies such as XCDHR.co.uk have been offering their HR solutions to small and medium enterprises while catering to larger corporations at the same time. Instead of developing an in-house HR department, small businesses can now save a lot of money while getting the same level of HR expertise and tools in the cloud.

Cloud HR is a particularly useful solution for small businesses trying to cope with market growth. Anything from managing existing employees to finding new team members to fill key positions can be done in the cloud, with the help of experienced HR specialists catering to the business’s needs.

Cloud-Based Data Management

Last, but certainly not least, we have different data management solutions designed to run in the cloud. Thanks to recent advancements, it is now easy to store a large amount of data securely using affordable cloud solutions. In fact, cloud storage and backup solutions have the ability to offer more storage space – and advanced data management systems – at lower prices than the more conventional offline solutions.

The availability of cloud computing is really helping small and medium businesses be even more competitive in an already competitive market. If you’re looking for ways to expand your competitive advantage and take advantage of market growth, a suitable cloud solution is just what you need.