What is a Disruptor in Chief and Why Does Your Small Business Need One?

If you want your small business to grow and thrive, you’ll need to embrace change. If your business is fairly established, then change can represent a pretty big risk making some business owners uneasy. But failure to change can get your left behind, as plenty of retail store owners, travel agents and newspaper publishers can attest to.

In order to find opportunities for change and growth, you might consider designating a specific team member as you “Disrupter in Chief.”

Michael Haddon, CEO at business software company Kradle, said in an email interview with Small Business Trends, “A Disrupter in Chief (DC) is a stakeholder in a business who inspires and supports positive change by challenging the status quo.”

Why You Might Need a Disruptor in Chief

Haddon also shared some insights on why this position can be so beneficial for small businesses. Here are the top reasons why you should consider adding a disrupter in chief to your team.

You Need to Change, But Are Afraid to Do So

Change is essential for any growing business. But it also represents a significant amount of risk. So many entrepreneurs simply hope to grow without taking that necessary risk that goes along with it.

Haddon says, “As businesses evolve, often the biggest hurdle to future success is an unwillingness to change – or the desire to keep doing things the same way as they have always been done. As an example, based on research we commissioned in 2018 (a comprehensive survey of 700 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) across USA, UK and Australia), we found that 76% of businesses in the US would like to grow however only 27% of those same businesses anticipated change in the next 12 months. A DinC embodies the 27% of businesses which recognize that in order to grow, change must occur.”

You Need Someone to be Proactive in  Making Change Happen

Even if you’re open to change, you might not be able to put enough focus on looking out for those opportunities while you’re busy running all of the other aspects of your business. A disruptor in chief can can be a decision maker within your organization, or an influencer or advisor whose sole focus is on finding those opportunities proactively so that you and the other members of your team can focus on your specific duties while still being able to take advantage of growth opportunities as they come up.

Haddon says, “They recognize gaps and opportunities and they use that knowledge to take it upon themselves to improve the business. This could be by creating and driving a new growth strategy based on market changes, identifying inefficiencies within the operations of a business, inspiring staff to be more productive and loyal to the business, or identifying innovative technologies that can improve the business. In a nutshell, a DC is proactive and always looking for new ways to continuously improve any aspect of a business.”

You Need Someone to Inspire Others

In addition to being proactive, a disruptor in chief also needs to be knowledgeable, driven and able to inspire others. That final quality can really help businesses shape their culture into one where change and innovation are embraced, fostering even more growth opportunities than one person can lead you to.

Haddon adds, “These traits as a complete package can be hard to come by – as reflected in our research which rated finding top talent as the third greatest challenge for SMEs – as they do not always come naturally. These traits can also be taught to the right people and further nurtured by the right mentors/leaders. Businesses need to invest in their staff to bring out the best in them, not simply seek to hire perfection. An irreplaceable quality is attitude. If they lead by example, others will follow. After all, diamonds don’t start out shining.”

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "What is a Disruptor in Chief and Why Does Your Small Business Need One?" was first published on Small Business Trends

What is Slack Actions and How Can It Help Your Business?

The integration of apps within Slack are becoming more intuitive thanks to the new tool it just launched called Actions. Any Slack message can now be turned into a follow-up or next step using Jira, Bitbucket, Asana, Zendesk, HubSpot, and more without leaving Slack.

Introducing Slack Actions

The goal for Slack is to be a hub for the way people within an organization connect, communicate and transfer work-related content. Actions will give developers and the more than 1,500 applications, bots and workplace services within the Slack App Directory the opportunity to improve their functionality by connecting users even more.

For the many small businesses who have integrated Slack into their workflow, doing more within the app means being more efficient. And because the workforce of even one single company can come from different parts of the world, everyone is looking for a comprehensive solution.

Slack Platform general manager Brian Elliott explained the need to address this very point. Elliott told VentureBeat, “The world has changed dramatically. Users have choice in the enterprise space as well, and they’ll vote with their actions in terms of what they want, so what we’re building is the ability for these systems to interoperate with each other because it’s what the user wants.”

Interoperability

On the official Slack blog, the company shares examples of this interoperability with other apps.

Specifically, interoperability with project management platform Asana lets your team receive Asana updates, take action on those updates and even translate Slack messages into tasks or comments in Asana. So you can create Asana tasks and add details like due date, project specifics and the person responsible for completion. You can also leave comments that stay attached to each task and all of this can be done without leaving Slack.

Integration with inbound marketing and sales platform HubSpot gives you the ability to use Slack messages to create tasks in HubSpot and connect them with a specific company, contact or deal. The company says this integration increases the collaboration possible within sales teams to help close sales.

Finally, interoperability with customer service platform Zendesk lets your team get notifications of new or updated Zendesk tasks through your Slack channels. You can also use a Slack comment to create a new Zendesk ticket or add a Slack comment to an existing ticket. As you can imagine, this makes it easier for your team to monitor and respond to tickets while still in Slack.

By improving how each of these apps functions within the Slack ecosystem, users are more aware of the conversations they are having with each other. And with everyone on the same page, misunderstandings are eliminated and issues get resolved in a timely manner.

What is Slack?

Slack is a cloud-based collaboration software suite that has evolved by leaps and bounds beyond its humble messaging beginnings. It now has more than 8 million daily users, 3 million of whom are paying customers.

Strategic partnerships with companies such as Google, Workday, SAP, Salesforce, Oracle, and many others have made it a tool for small companies and large enterprises alike.

Image: Slack

This article, "What is Slack Actions and How Can It Help Your Business?" was first published on Small Business Trends

Jeff Brathwaite of 2 The Next Level: Alexa’s Secret Recording Gives Google An Opening in the Battle for the Smart Home

Usually my co-host for doing the Watching Amazon video podcast is my buddy, John “ColderIce” Lawson, but with him out of the country, I was lucky to have my friend, Jeff Brathwaite, web guru and Google Home/Assistant expert, join me.

And it was perfect timing. Last week, it was reported Google outsold Amazon in the smart speaker device category for the first time ever in the first quarter of 2018. I did not think this would happen anytime soon, let alone last quarter.

Google vs Amazon Race Heating Up

In our conversation this week, Jeff and I talk about Google catching up to Amazon in the race for our homes, how a new way to measure the race might help Amazon stay in front for a while longer, and how Alexa’s recording (and emailing) of a private message could be a game changer — for Amazon and the entire smart speaker category.

Below is an edited transcript of our conversation. To see the full conversation watch the video below, or click on the embedded SoundCloud player. And a special thanks to the folks at Farm Burger in Buckhead (Atlanta) for letting us geek out while eating natural burgers and sweet potato fries!

* * * * *

Small Business Trends: Alright, so, last week a article came out, in the first quarter of 2018, Google actually sold more units of the Home device, than Amazon sold of the Echo.

Jeff Brathwaite: Oh really?

Small Business Trends: I gotta admit, gotta throw it out there. So, they’ve caught up in a little, in a certain way.

Jeff Brathwaite: Okay.

Small Business Trends: The market share leader is still Amazon right now, total market share.

Jeff Brathwaite: Right.

Small Business Trends: But this was the first quarter that Google folks, they actually passed them in terms of units.

Jeff Brathwaite: Okay.

Small Business Trends: Alright, so this is why I’m going to tell you that’s the good news, but I’m also gonna tell you why it’s not as good as it may seem.

Jeff Brathwaite: Okay.

Small Business Trends: The new metric is going to have to be, how many third party manufacturers are putting Amazon Alexa in versus Google Assistant. And right now, that’s still not a contest.

Jeff Brathwaite: Okay, I’ll have to give you that. Yes, there are so many more who are integrating the Echo, yes, I agree.

Small Business Trends: I will say this, Google, and the technology in the Google Home, and with Google Assistant, you can’t fault it, I mean it’s some good stuff.

Jeff Brathwaite: Right.

Small Business Trends: Way ahead in terms of certain areas than the Echo and Alexa. But I think what’s gonna continue to keep Alexa, maybe a little ahead, Amazon a little ahead, is the ecosystem, no pun intended. Well actually, there was a pun intended …

What Amazon has done by reaching out to these manufacturers, by Alexa being in more and more appliances and devices around. Seeing the deals they’re making with car manufacturers …

Jeff Brathwaite: Right.

Small Business Trends: Seeing the deals that they made with, was it Acer? Or one of the computer laptop manufacturers, now they have Alexa inside the laptop, which is really a shame for Cortana more than anyone.

Jeff Brathwaite: Oh gosh, yes. I agree.

Small Business Trends: How does Google respond to that?

Jeff Brathwaite: It also doesn’t hurt that they have taken every Google device off of Amazon, okay?

Small Business Trends: And then on the flip side, you also have YouTube not allowing the Echo devices to show YouTube videos.

Jeff Brathwaite: Yes, yes, and so the mere fact that you can’t buy a Google device on Amazon, and that whole YouTube thing, Amazon wants more content than anything now, right? They want to somehow bring, ’cause they got screens now, they wanna fill those screens.

Small Business Trends: Right. The Echo Show.

Jeff Brathwaite: I really like that. I’m looking forward to when Google gets a version of that type.

Small Business Trends: You’re not gonna make the jump?

Jeff Brathwaite: No, not yet. But I think Google will eventually have one like that, and I do like that, that little Echo, that screen right there is part of it: I think there’s gonna be a lot more back and forth as they evolve and put more devices out.
That was great to know that the integration of all these third parties, and they’re falling behind, but Google, at any one time, can put those types of deals together, just as well. I’m pretty sure some of the car manufacturers are already working with them. So, you name it. There are gonna be some things going on with the both of them.

Amazon will still gonna be the leader, I give you that, but I guarantee you, Google’s gonna be there. This Christmas is gonna be a pivotal time frame for both companies.

Small Business Trends: The big, 800 pound gorilla in the room, at the moment, is what happened with Alexa last week…

Jeff Brathwaite: Oh boy. Yes.

Small Business Trends: Listening, and recording …

Jeff Brathwaite: Yes.

Small Business Trends: And then emailing the recording to a contact.

Jeff Brathwaite: Yes!

Small Business Trends: That is a huge…

Jeff Brathwaite: How did that happen?

Small Business Trends: Well, they tried to say it was like a perfect storm of things, but that’s just, that’s bad. That’s really bad.

Jeff Brathwaite: Oh boy.

Small Business Trends: They have to be open and transparent, as much as possible, about how it happened, and how they’re gonna fix it, and if they’re able to, and they’ve kind of started doing that …

Jeff Brathwaite: Temporarily they had to turn the speaker off.

Small Business Trends: Yes. So I would say they have been pretty quick with the response, but they have to be because if this goes on, this is one of those things that could go very wrong.

Jeff Brathwaite: Right.

Small Business Trends: It could really make a difference between who’s the top, who’s not.

Jeff Brathwaite: Kind of reminds you of the murder case that happened, right? If you didn’t hear about that, there was someone who was murdered, and as the device, was in the room, and they wanted the information to see …

Small Business Trends: Oh right, I remember that.

Jeff Brathwaite: … if the device had heard something that went on, either before or after the murder.

Small Business Trends: Right.

Jeff Brathwaite: And they had to get with Amazon to find out. And they say it did actually record some stuff.

Small Business Trends: Yeah, so this is gonna be… not just an Amazon thing, this whole area of privacy …

Jeff Brathwaite: Right.

Small Business Trends: But Amazon is front and center and on the hook right now.

Jeff Brathwaite: Okay.

Small Business Trends: They have to get this right. ‘Cause if they don’t get this right, this impacts them particularly, but it also impacts the whole smart speaker category.

Jeff Brathwaite: Yeah, yeah. It can do damage to both companies.

Small Business Trends: Absolutely. So are you still pretty gung-ho about Google?

Jeff Brathwaite: I am, I am. They’ve lowered the prices, they’re trying to get them out there. That’s probably where that spike in the amount of devices went up, because they lowered a lot of their prices and they’re trying to get them in people’s hands.
I got one for free, the Doorbell, I just got the Google Doorbell. And I got a Echo, Echo, I didn’t mean to say Echo.

Small Business Trends: Oh wow, he said it.

Jeff Brathwaite: I got a Google Mini, a small one, for getting the actual Doorbell. And I love the Doorbell. The Doorbell is amazing.

Small Business Trends: Amazon bought Ring.

Jeff Brathwaite: And so they’re going at that same, whole smart home thing.

Small Business Trends: They bought Blink. I mean, yeah it’s funny, it seems like Amazon has been a little bit more proactive on the acquisition side …

Jeff Brathwaite: Yeah.

Small Business Trends: I know everybody’s mobile, we’re in a mobile world, but you gotta come home, you gotta have a home base. And you’re seeing more smart devices in the home.

Jeff Brathwaite: Right.

Small Business Tends: TVs, appliances, refrigerators, and if you’re able to put your Assistant, if you get Alexa inside or Google Assistant inside, that brings you more interactions with customers, those interactions brings data.

Jeff Brathwaite: Right.

Small Business Trends: That data becomes insights that they can leverage to keep providing a better experience on a more ongoing basis. So the more devices your Assistant is in, the more you’re gonna know about these folks.

Jeff Brathwaite: My Nest device, I can turn down the actual temperature in my home.

Small Business Trends: Yeah.

Jeff Brathwaite: I can speak it out and say, “Turn down the temperature in my home,” because of the actual speaker devices. And I can listen to the chime from my Doorbell, and see who’s at my Doorbell from my Google device in the same manner.
So, all these things are gonna be encompassing.

This article, "Jeff Brathwaite of 2 The Next Level: Alexa’s Secret Recording Gives Google An Opening in the Battle for the Smart Home" was first published on Small Business Trends

Ethereum wallet imToken raises $10M Series A from IDG to expand in the US, Asia and Africa

imToken, which claims to be the world’s largest Ethereum wallet, will focus on expanding in Asia and the United States after raising a $10 million Series A from IDG Capital, it announced today. The capital will also be used to add new features, including support for Bitcoin, EOS and other blockchains.

imToken is the latest addition to IDG Capital’s cryptocurrency investments, which include Coinbase and Circle. In a press statement, IDG Capital partner Young Guo said “imToken has developed its product into one of the top crypto asset wallets in the world with such a sound reputation. We believe it will become a significant infrastructure for the tokenization manifesto, benefitting both the crypto economy and blockchain technology. We’re excited to back imToken.”

Founded in 2016 by chief executive officer Ben He and based in Hangzhou, imToken’s core market is currently China. The company supports 30,000 tokens, claims more than 4 million monthly active users and says it handled $35 million in pass-through transactions last year.

He tells TechCrunch the company will use its new capital to study local regulations and launch imToken 2.0 international in new markets. It will focus first on Southeast Asia before looking toward other Asian countries, like Korea, Japan and India, where “regulations are maturing quickly and as a result we’re doing our due diligence amid increasing scrutiny from local governments,” He says.

Then imToken will concentrate on countries in Africa, including Nigeria, where they already have a user base. Its expansion into the U.S. will happen at the same time as the rest of its international roll out.

In addition to the imToken wallet, the company’s services also include Tokenlon, an in-app decentralized exchange in partnership with Kyber Network and 0x, and DApp store, a marketplace for decentralized mobile apps.

In its new markets, especially the U.S., imToken will face several established competitors, including digital services MyEtherWallet, Coinbase and Ledger Nano, as well as a host of hardware wallets. He is sanguine about the competition, saying the goal of all blockchain companies is to move the technology forward and that imToken has built positive relationships with its rivals.

He adds that imToken’s advantage, however, is “taking a step further than our competitors, as we’re focused on building an ecosystem within imToken for all our users.” The company wants to “move toward a blockchain-agnostic stage,” which means users will be able to store different assets in one of imToken wallets. Then it wants to lower the barrier for entry into blockchain tech by making it easier to manage assets across different platforms, including peer-to-peer transactions and merchant payments, with imToken 2.0 International.

Another side effect of higher minimum wages: Lower health-care benefits

(This post originally appeared on The Washington Post)

Although the national minimum wage remains stuck at $7.25 an hour, a wave of states and municipalities have taken it upon themselves over the past few years to raise the amount, in some cases to as much as $15 an hour. Advocates believe that paying a higher wage provides a better quality of life to workers and helps to spur consumer spending.

But many business groups that oppose it say a higher minimum wage limits their ability to hire more people and forces them to cut back on workers’ hours, hire part-timers, outsource or invest in more technology. A controversial study conducted in 2017 appeared to bolster that position when researchers at the University of Washington found that the costs of a minimum-wage increase in Seattle — the result of employer cutbacks in workers’ hours — outweighed the benefits of the increase by 3 to 1.

Now a new study further supports the anti-minimum-wagers.

A working paper released this week by researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research looked at employee pay data from 2011 to 2016. It concluded that employers who were forced to raise minimum wages for lower-paid workers also raised the hourly wages of higher-paid workers to maintain parity. However, the same study also found “robust evidence” that employers who raised the minimum hourly wages also reduced the amount they paid for their employees’ health-care benefits to cover those added costs.

According to the research, workers whose minimum wage was increased by $1 found that 9 percent to 57 percent of their wage gains were offset by a decline in their employer’s health insurance coverage. The study also found that many workers who lost their health-care coverage went without insurance rather than seeking out subsidies from the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

The minimum wage debate is far from over. The study’s authors suggested that more research should be done to quantify the effects of raising minimum wages on benefits other than just health care, such as the flexibility of work hours and occupational safety.

Small Business Trends Magazine’s Kidpreneurs Edition Looks to the Next Generation

The next edition of Small Business Trends Magazine is available today!

In this issue, we’re talking Kidpreneurs. They’re the next generation of small business owners and entrepreneurs and in this edition of the magazine, we have stories and advice for and from them.

You can get this edition of the Small Business Trends magazine for FREE!

Inside this month, you’ll see why we should be taking kidpreneurs seriously. And if you’re a kidpreneur and reading this, you’ll want to check out our cover story to see how to get others to take you seriously as an entrepreneur.

We love lists here and in this edition of the magazine, we’re overstuffed with business ideas. All the business ideas inside this edition are perfect for younger entrepreneurs.

And for parents of entrepreneurs, we’ve got advice inside on how to help your children manage their businesses without doing all the important work for them.

You’ll find all this and so much more!

So be sure to download your FREE copy of Small Business Trends magazine today.

Subscribe to the magazine today to get future issues of it delivered straight to your inbox. You can do that by clicking here.

Check out previous editions of Small Business Trends magazine by clicking on our archive.

This article, "Small Business Trends Magazine’s Kidpreneurs Edition Looks to the Next Generation" was first published on Small Business Trends

The startup community must defend merit-based immigration

Bobby Franklin Contributor

Bobby Franklin is the president and chief executive of the National Venture Capital Association and previously served as an executive vice president for the CTIA – The Wireless Association.

More posts by this contributor

• Ensuring foreign-born founders can grow their startups in the U.S.
• Finally, legislation to support startups

The Trump administration just moved to kill a key tool to support immigrant entrepreneurs, and the startup community must make our voice heard to save it.

Supported by Republicans and Democrats, the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER) operates like a startup visa and allows foreign-born founders to launch new businesses in the U.S., rather than overseas. IER is in place after the National Venture Capital Association (which I lead) successfully sued the Department of Homeland Security when it unlawfully delayed the program last year. But now, the administration is taking new steps to end the rule before it has a chance to bring new companies and innovation to our country.

Why would the administration do something so obviously counter-productive? That’s the question those of us who understand the importance of immigrant entrepreneurship keep asking. The track-record of foreign-born founders is staggering.

Studies show that immigrants have started more than half of America’s privately-held startups valued at $1 billion or more, and 43 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded or co-founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant. A 2013 NVCA study found that one-third of all venture-backed companies that went public from 2006 to 2012 had at least one immigrant founder.

Specific to IER, one study found that the rule will create more than 300,000 jobs over ten years, although I believe this is on the low-end because a single entrepreneur could create a startup with tremendous growth or even an entirely new industry. IER is tailored to attract founders who are positioned to launch the next-generation of great American companies and would unleash fresh entrepreneurial energy and dynamism that we desperately need in the economy.

The Trump Administration’s hostility toward IER is also puzzling considering President Trump’s previous statements on immigration. During the State of the Union address, the president emphasized the need for a “merit-based immigration system – one that admits people who are skilled, who want to work, who will contribute to our society, and who will love and respect our country.”

Photo courtesy of Flickr/jvoves

It’s almost like he was describing IER without naming it. After all, we are talking about a program where a successful applicant must create a new high-growth enterprise that will in turn employ Americans and contribute to our nation’s technological and scientific advancement.

Furthermore, the applicant’s status in the United States is completely tied to the startup company and would be unable to remain in our country if the enterprise fails. There is nothing more merit-based than that, and yet the administration is saying no to the new jobs that come when young companies scale and grow.

The administration’s rejection of IER comes at a particularly troubling time for American entrepreneurial standing. Twenty years ago, U.S. startups received 90% of global venture capital, but that number has precipitously dropped to 54% last year.

Policymakers must understand that U.S. startup dominance is being challenged every day, and the top entrepreneurs now have a world of choices when it comes to where to launch their high-growth company. Other countries are copying the American blueprint for startup activity and making their countries more attractive for new company creation.

One way they’re doing this is by taking advantage of our intransigence on immigration policy and then welcoming foreign-born founders to their shores. The idea of a startup visa was first proposed in the U.S., and while we still don’t have one, countries like Canada, France, and Singapore have copied the idea and are reaping the benefits.

Rejection of IER is also incongruent with the Trump Administration’s goal of American leadership on critical technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, machine-learning, and new drug discovery.

If we are to lead in these areas, the world’s top entrepreneurs must be here in the U.S., rather than overseas where they will compete with us. Rather than pushing entrepreneurs away, the administration should be fighting to attract top talent. That’s the only way the U.S. will be the innovation leader going forward.

Despite the overwhelming arguments in favor of IER, the Department of Homeland Security is moving forward to rescind the program before it truly gets off the ground. This is a setback to be sure, but so was the first DHS delay, and we beat the administration that go around. We’re going to keep fighting, but we can’t do it alone.

How can you help? The best way to do your part is by engaging in the public comment period that is open now and closes on June 28.  Visit fwd.us/ier and share your perspective on why the International Entrepreneur Rule is needed. Everyone’s voice is valued in the process.

Tell your personal stories of immigrant entrepreneurs who have impacted our country, how IER will help maintain U.S. competitiveness, or how IER will create American jobs. Together, we can win, and by doing so help our country remain the best place on the planet to launch a new company that provides a better way of life.

Best 12 Tips for Your New eBay Store

Selling products on eBay makes for one of the quickest and easiest ways to start a business. However, creating a successful business around eBay requires more than just signing up for an account and listing a product or two. You have to consider your inventory, marketing and extra services to optimize your shop’s processes. Here’s a guide to help you make the most of your eBay business.

How to Start an eBay Store

Set Up Your Store

Though there is a lot more that goes into building a successful business on eBay, the first step is setting up the actual store. Sign up for an account, then choose the type of shop that you prefer. There are three different options, including basic, premium and anchor. They all come with different price points and features, so be sure to compare those elements when making your decision.

Personalize Your Storefront

From there, you’ll need to choose a name for your shop and add a custom header with your branding. You can also select some settings based on your preferences, like whether you’ll offer products via auction or buy it now.

Familiarize Yourself with eBay Policies

If you’re going to sell (or buy) on eBay, you need to do it within the policies set by the company. So make sure you read the terms and seller guides available on the website so you don’t risk breaking any rules over the course of running your business.

Create Your Own Policies

You also need to set your own shop policies so that customers know what to expect when they buy from you. For example, how do you ship your products? How quickly should customers expect to receive orders? Do you accept returns or exchanges?

Build Up Your Inventory

Once you have the shop basics down, you need to focus on the actual products. You can sell nearly anything on eBay, from handmade products to inventory that you buy and resell. So come up with a niche that works for you and then build up enough of an inventory to get your shop started.

Invest in Shipping Supplies

Then, once you have the products, you also need some supplies to actually ship them. Purchase a stock of boxes, bags, tape, labels and other shipping must-haves so you’re ready to go when you receive an order.

Consider Branded Shipping Supplies

When your customers receive their order, you want it to be a positive experience. So invest in some branded boxes and other packaging items that display your logo and other design elements. EBay even offers its own branded boxes for sellers.

Increase Traffic to Your Shop

You also need to focus on actually getting potential customers to visit your online shop. There are plenty of methods you can use to market it and get more eyes on your products, from optimizing listings for SEO to investing in PPC ads. Experiment with some different options and find the mix that works best for you.

Send Out Marketing Emails

You can also increase your sales by constantly connecting with your past and current customers. Email is a great way to do this. And eBay allows sellers to upload their own lists and add a ‘sign up for store newsletter’ option for buyers so you can grow your list right from your eBay storefront.

Manage Your Inventory

Once you start selling products regularly, you need a system for managing inventory so you can stay organized and know how much you have to sell at all times. The eBay Seller Hub gives you a method for keeping track of everything in one place.

Sign Up for Additional eBay Apps

There are a bunch of additional business tools available from third party providers that can help you run your shop effectively. Here are some of our top picks.

Outsource Your Processes

One app you might consider is eBay Valet. This option from eBay allows you to outsource most of the selling process, from taking photos and writing descriptions to mailing out orders. So if you just want to supply the products and outsource the rest, this option can help.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Best 12 Tips for Your New eBay Store" was first published on Small Business Trends

Rebel launches new tools for developers to build marketing emails

Until now, Rebel has been known as a platform allowing marketers to incorporate interactive elements into their emails. Today, it’s launching a new version of its API that will allow developers to build entire emails, interactive or not.

Co-founder Joe Teplow explained that the new Rebel Lite API was created in response to developers who were already using the company’s API.

“Our customers loved being able to build these actionable modules in bite-isized chunks with our API,” Teplow said. In fact, they loved it enough that they started asking, “Could we build the entire email with your API?”

So with the Rebel Lite API, Teplow said they can create emails using JSON, “without writing one line of HTML.”

And yes, this is a tool built specifically for developers, not a drag-and-drop email editor for marketers. Teplow said that as the industry has become more complex, “Email as a channel requires a really tight integration between marketers and developers.”

But what’s so hard about sending an email? Kevin Dutra, who leads Rebel’s product team, explained, “The main problem in email market fragmentation on the rendering side.”

In other words, Dutra said it takes extensive testing to make sure your email shows up properly on every device and email client, turning the creation of email into a full-time job. Rebel, on the other hand, is constantly keeping track of changes in email rendering, so if you build an email using the API you can take advantage of all that work to know that your code is up-to-date and that your emails will render properly.

In addition, Rebel has created a number of reusable components to enable the creation of complex layouts.

Teplow added that the new API could also help Rebel reach a new audience — not just large enterprises, but also “regular developers at a smaller company.”

“They weren’t a fit for Rebel before, but we’re slowly starting to let those people in,” he said.

Is Your Customer Service Sending Mixed Signals?

I don’t know what it is about a guy in the background with an evil grin that makes me happy.

I’ve done a few in the same vein: guy selling balloons has guy behind him selling “sharp little pins,” guy juggling bowling pins has guy in background with evil grin readying a bowling ball …

I think it’s something about the potential for mischief — the delayed payoff…

But mostly I think it’s a funny evil grin.

This article, "Is Your Customer Service Sending Mixed Signals?" was first published on Small Business Trends

Bitcoin exchange abandons Poland even as the government invites it to a working group

In a delightful bit of irony BitBay, a Central European exchange, has shut down operations in Poland even as it received an invitation by the Polish government to participate in a national blockchain working group. The news, which appeared in a Tweet, states that the group will assess regulations for cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and ICOs.

“Our exchange has received an invitation from the PFSA to participate in the Blockchain Working Group. As we have recently said, we do not want to abandon crypto activity in the Polish community,” wrote BitBay.

Nasza giełda otrzymała zaproszenie z KNF do udziału w pracach Grupy roboczej ds. Blockchain. Jak zapewnialiśmy ostatnio, nie porzucamy aktywności na rzecz polskiej społeczności krypto. @k_wysota @Bitcoin_org_pl @comparic @bithub @Marta_Bellon @MichWasowski @_ZajacPiotr @macdac pic.twitter.com/bxhu4EGWvJ

— BitBay (@BitBayPolska) May 30, 2018

Poland has had an odd relationship with Bitcoin. First, some of the central banks funded a YouTube propaganda video that showed a person losing plenty of cash in crypto. Further, the community is fighting back but releasing counter-propaganda to the central bank’s policies.

After being shut out by Polish banks, BitBay moved its headquarters to Malta and stopped serving Polish customers.

 

Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash

Lawsuit Claims Facebook Job Ads Are Ageist, Could Your Business be Targeted?

A union filed a lawsuit against multiple companies Tuesday, claiming Facebook’s proprietary advertising services help discriminate against those who are older and looking for a job.

Ageism in Facebook Job Ads?

Legally representing members as well as other job seekers, the Communications Workers of America are alleging that they weren’t presented with the same job openings due to Facebook’s targeted ad tools, according to Bloomberg. It specifically blames the artificial intelligence aspect, which accounts for several personal factors to hone in on a certain demographic.

“When Facebook’s own algorithm disproportionately directs ads to younger workers at the exclusion of older workers, Facebook and the advertisers who are using Facebook as an agent to send their advertisements are engaging in disparate treatment,” the group alleged in the complaint filed in a San Francisco federal court, while also referencing California’s official employment competition stipulations.

The Communications Workers of America, though, aren’t directly suing Facebook, but rather the companies it believes uses or used the tools inappropriately, including Cox Media Group, Cox Communications, T-Mobile and Amazon. Other entities named in the amended filing, but not listed as defendants, according to Bloomberg, are Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Ikea and the University of Maryland Medical System.

“It’s important that the EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] engages in a rigorous and comprehensive investigation of Facebook, since Facebook is the largest employment agency in the history of the world,” Peter Romer-Friedman, a lawyer for the union, told Bloomberg.

Facebook’s technology, which empowers would-be marketers with the ability to specify who they want to reach, has gotten the company in hot water before.

Facebook announced in November of 2016 that it was going to discontinue a feature that allowed advertisers to select an audience based on ethnicity and race. A class action lawsuit also filed in California at the time accused Facebook’s tools of violating key civil rights laws, like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the Fair Housing Act.

A Facebook spokesman adamantly refuted the allegations made in that legal complaint when asked by The Daily Caller News Foundation for comment.

“The lawsuit is utterly without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously. Multicultural marketing is a common practice in the ad industry and helps brands reach audiences with more relevant advertising,” the company representative said in 2016, even though at a later point the company ditched that particular capability.

Facebook’s huge stake in the digital ad revenue industry in general (along with Google) has also triggered the ire of several people, groups and competing businesses.

Republished by permission. Original here.

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This article, "Lawsuit Claims Facebook Job Ads Are Ageist, Could Your Business be Targeted?" was first published on Small Business Trends