Collecting data is not only important, but necessary to become better at your marketing and business efforts. After all, you can’t improve what you don’t measure. How do you decipher the good data from the bad? What questions are you trying to answer?

Whether you’re just getting started or have been around for a long time, a website is a critical tool for your small business. Not only does it tell potential customers who you are and what you do, but a good website will bring new customers to your small business.

One of the hardest things for small businesses to focus on, even when there’s not a virus spreading globally, is their social media marketing strategy. There are a lot of moving pieces when it comes to being active and interacting with your audience on social media.

Oftentimes, by focusing on perfection, we limit ourselves from future growth because we are scared that something isn’t ready yet. The reality is that even if something doesn’t have everything yet, doesn’t mean the current version doesn’t provide value.

For this year’s #GivingTuesday, each member of the EID Visions team has selected a non profit whose work and mission is important to them to help kick off this season’s charitable giving.

We say we’re not afraid of change but our actions can be at odds with our words. The status quo is comfortable but don’t let complacency be your downfall. What happens when the status quo looks like it’s going to be disrupted? Do you adapt and go with the flow, or do you resist because the uncertainty inspires fear?

An idea itself doesn’t mean anything if you aren’t actually doing market research, planning your business model, fulfilling a value proposition, and solving a problem for a customer. It’s important to reflect on what ideas we have for our small business but also make sure we formulate the plan to get there.

It’s never been more important to balance work with downtime and self-care. What I’ve been doing to relax is playing one of my favorite video games: Animal Crossing. While a seemingly relaxing game on the surface, I’ve found that you can learn a lot from this game that can be applied to your small business in real life.

Owning and operating your own business brings its own set of unique challenges and obstacles that must be overcome. Here are five lessons learned about starting a small business.

With a new year’s resolution, you’re putting it up on a pedestal without a concrete plan or idea on how to achieve it. You’re doomed to lose motivation and quit before you’ve even started. So what can you do?