When Walt Disney set out to create Disneyland, his goal was simple. All he wanted was to make a magical place where families’ dreams would come true. It didn’t happen overnight, of course. It took a year and a day of construction and over $17 million just to get it opened. 

Can you imagine tackling that “simple” task? Disney might have been a visionary, but even he knew that goal was huge. When we make our business goals broad and overreaching, we can easily become overwhelmed. That’s why we need to break them down into quarterly goals that are far more achievable. This is where SMART goals come in. To be most effective, your goals need to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Among other things, being ‘Smart’ about your goals helps keep you on track and gives you a way to measure your progress

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could leave work at the office? Imagine getting home, kicking your shoes off and never giving work another thought until clocking in the next day? For many self-employed persons, it’s almost impossible to separate work life from home life, and yet that’s one of the reasons so many people decide to go to work for themselves. 

Is it possible to obtain that perfect work-life balance? 

The holiday season is upon us, and you may already be feeling overwhelmed and ready for a break. We totally get it! 2021 was another doozy of a year.

But we’re here to urge you not to let this season go to waste—keep up with your marketing strategy, even if your sales are great.

Can you believe it’s already November? The holidays are here and that means it’s time to start planning out the gifts you’ll give to the important people in your life. 

When you’re a business owner, that list includes your clients!

If you’re short on ideas, check out our favorite go-to gifts below:

It’s just a website…I don’t need to spend money on it, right?

WRONG!

It’s 2021 and your website is the number one way for you to establish credibility as a business. Additionally, it is an essential piece of your online presence and marketing strategy. 

Okay, but if I already have a website, I’m good. I can just let it be, right?

Sorry, wrong again.

Refreshing your website is ALWAYS a good idea. Here’s why:

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an extraordinary amount of upheaval in our lives. There have been layoffs and closures, shortages in supplies, and in many cases a disruption of the entire supply chain. That much uncertainty brings with it the unpleasant knowledge that your company can be a very fragile thing. One area that may have found your business, or another small business you know of, is cybercrime. Cybercrime has been shown to be up 600% due to the pandemic.

We’ve all heard about the big companies being hacked—it’s the little guys that don’t get the headlines. Zacaw recognizes that, as a small-to-medium-sized business, you need exactly what the big guys need. That's why we partnered with Netsonic, a veteran-owned, fully cloud-based company for security and reliability, to provide secure managed hosting services for the small business.

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Many businesses experience a slump between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Summer can be a slow time, and some may not see a sales rebound until Black Friday. In many cases, there are explanations: customers are on vacation, parents are busy with their kids’ activities, and so on. Sometimes that’s just the nature of your industry.

This doesn’t mean you should lock your doors for the summer. You may just need to rethink how and what you are communicating to your customers. The following steps can help you change your approach during rough times.

Have you ever noticed how many of our work-related clichés are OLD? “Put your nose to the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel.” “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Even the relatively new saying, “work smarter, not harder” has been around since the 1930s. It can make you wonder if these old platitudes have anything to do with the modern world today. 

I was speechless. That doesn’t happen often, but it happened the other day when I was talking with a JoomFuse client.

He told me about how he was excited to launch his new Joomla website…that he had searched and searched until he found a developer who could redesign his old website and keep it in Joomla because he wanted to keep JoomFuse to interface with his Keap app.

Yep, that’s when I was so dumbfounded I didn’t know what to say for a minute.

Think about it, would you rather be a pirate or a farmer? Make your choice and then see if you would change it after reading this article. Choice made? OK, let's go.

Being a pirate is a risky, but exciting business with great potential rewards each time you pillage and plunder. You and your crew sail out of your secret cove, board an unsuspecting ship, take all their treasure, and head back to your secret cove far richer than when you left.

How many times have you complained to someone that you did not receive the email they claim to have sent, only to discover it arrived in your junk mail folder? Or you have repeatedly requested information from someone, and they finally respond that their email filter thought it was spam? And how often have you opened your email only to find that same dreaded spam?

These situations can cause more problems than just being aggravating. They waste time and cause miscommunications and hard feelings. In short, they cause you to lose time and money. These are not things you want customers and clients to associate with you and your business.

Here are some things you may want to consider:

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Nope, you’re not in school anymore. But note-taking is still an extremely valuable skill to practice on a regular basis!

Well-known avid note-takers include Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, George Lucas, Tim Ferriss, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, J.K. Rowling, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Sandberg, and Aaron Sorkin. So, if you aspire to be like any of the names listed above (or just more successful in your chosen career), it’s time to sharpen those skills!