Intelligent Insights to Ignite Positive Change for Your Business

Brought to you by Spark Business® from Capital One®

Whether you’re breaking into new industries, creating services within a community, or carving a niche out of an existing market, as a modern entrepreneur, you’re set on exceeding expectations on all fronts. Part of getting to that place is sourcing helpful insights that work to demystify small business, and in turn, lead to positive change.

Spark Business IQ by Spark Business® from Capital One® aims to keep business owners inspired and on the path towards growth and improved financial management through news, tips, tools, and business stories.

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Architect

This editorial is sponsored by Spark Business® from Capital One®

How MOOC s are Changing the Way we Do Corporate Education

Remember when everyone thought the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) would be the future of higher education as we know it? Yeah, that was only 2012. In recent years, the popularity of the MOOC has dramatically decreased. Yet inversely, the number of high profile research institutions that have presented these courses has steadily risen. As eighteen year olds continue to opt for more traditional means of education, there is room for the MOOC to make major waves in the world of corporate training and education.

Professor using MOOC

The Educational Landscape

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve realized that the cost of education has skyrocketed.…

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Increase Productivity with Flexible Working

Businesses can often be reluctant to engage a flexible working policy through fear that the system will become more of problem than a benefit. The correct structure has to be in place to support the system and maximise the benefits but can it increase job satisfaction? Should it and can it be made available to all employees or just a few? Certainly, some jobs would not fit the ‘work from home’ criteria but with planning, flexible working could be available for most roles providing the needs of the business are being met.

Office worker working at home

Attract and retain a skilled workforce

Essential for any business, attracting and retaining an appropriately skilled workforce will always be a priority.…

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5 Challenges Faced by Small Businesses in 2015

Companies face difficult challenges in today’s competitive business world. Some researchers estimate that about 50 percent of companies only last four or five years before going out of business. To avoid failure, entrepreneurs need to know how they can face these five common challenges in 2015.

Freerider

1. Keeping Up with Regulations

Large companies hire lawyers to make sure they follow the latest regulations for their industries. Small businesses rarely have enough money to keep lawyers on retainer. This can make it difficult for them to keep up with evolving regulations.

There are several ways to lower the costs of regulatory compliance.…

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Consulting Advice for your Startup

Startup companies typically have a high amount of energy, which they need to grow into something that is viable as a business. Taking it to the next level isn’t always easy, though. Read on for advice on how to organize leadership, manage projects, and develop tools that help startups succeed.

Organizational Management

Your startup’s leadership team is the strength that holds your entity together, so how you organize your leadership team is important. Building a leadership team involves inspiration, motivation, goal championing, and efficiency.

For a business to succeed, you typically need the right people to hold the right positions.…

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5 Considerations to Make When Your Stock Falls

Investing in the stock market can be an incredibly rewarding, and dangerous, game. Many investors are successful in turning a profit every year due, in part, to their choices when deciding whether to keep or sell stock. When you have invested in a stock and it drops, you may be considering whether or not to sell. Included here are a few tips to consider when your stocks fall.

Falling stock prices

Weakness in the Market

When your stocks fall, it is crucial to keep in mind whether the problem is the specific company, or the stock market overall. Weakness in the stock market is never a good reason to sell, as stocks are always prone to rises and falls.…

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Office Rebranding: 7 Personalization Tips to Make Your Space Your Own

It seems that nine out of 10 offices look exactly the same: gray cubes, white walls, fluorescent lighting, and dull, dreary-eyed workers. While this uniformity may be the cheapest décor option, it certainly doesn’t inspire your workers to be better — or entice prospective clients to buy your products. What you need to rebrand your frumpy office interiors with a bright new style that encourages everyone to feel better and work harder.

Office rebranding

Here are seven tips to claim your company’s office space with inviting decoration.

1. Develop a Theme

Your corporate brand didn’t come together in a single afternoon — it took weeks of brainstorming to develop a meaningful message and attractive logos to go with it.…

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Here’s What You Need to Know About Trademarking Your Company Name

If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur, you probably don’t need to be told how important it is to protect your company name and logo. The hit to your business if some other company started using your name or logo could be substantial. Trademarking your company’s name and logo is one of the best things you can do to protect your intellectual property from infringement.

Brand

You can use the trademark (TM) logo without having a registered trademark, but registering your mark is what gives you the right to take intellectual property infringers to court. You should trademark your company’s name at the same time as or soon after you file for incorporation.…

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Effective Leadership Makes an Impact

Few things can impact a company as greatly as effective leadership. When executives and other management level personnel show tremendous dedication to an organization, the rank and file employees notice. Productivity can be enhanced, morale can be increased, and the employee satisfaction can be substantially higher.

Effective leadership

Leadership has a way of trickling down from the CEO throughout the entire organization. Ian Mackechnie Amscot Financial CEO utilizes effective leadership practices to serve as a viable example for everyone at the company, which pays off in several ways with every employee.

Slow Growth

One aspect of leadership that has the possibility of backfiring is growth.…

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5 Things to Remember in Dominating Long Tail Keywords

For any person who is focusing on SEO campaigns for a business, it is essential to know about long tail keywords. Long tail keywords can be the difference between a successful business website, and one that nobody visits. They are especially important for people running small businesses, as you don’t have some large team handling your SEO efforts.

SEO

If you are using long tail keywords in your SEO strategy (and you should be), here are 5 things that you should remember to help you dominate the competition.

1. Stay Focused on Your Subject

The point of a long tail keyword is to find a phrase that people are searching for a lot, but not one that every other company is also going after.…

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