7 Series A Companies That Used Direct Marketing to Grow Their Customer Base by More Than 10x
Direct marketing has proven to be the most effective method for founders and marketers to build their customer bases. But what is direct marketing? In this article, we cover direct marketing examples and strategies that can be used to multiply your customer base.
Top Tips for Setting Team Stretch Goals
To achieve your biggest goals, gain or maintain industry leadership, or attract wide brand recognition, it may be necessary to set stretch goals. These are audacious, scary, and almost impossible goals that inspire your team to go beyond their normal abilities to create novel approaches and solutions. Stretch goals are aggressively ambitious and rarely achieved. When they are, the results are exponential, attracting rewards and opportunities and boosting your teams' confidence. Stretch goals can move a team to new levels of competence and productivity. They improve employees' mindsets and strengthen team bonds. If you want to boost motivation among your team, stretch goals just make sense. Setting goals are associated with increased self-esteem and autonomy, while a study by The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) found that the probability of completing a goal increases by 25% if you consciously decide to work towards that goal. Research has long indicated that setting goals is associated with success, so it should be a priority of your team to focus on them. However, if not managed correctly, stretch goals can create a disconnected work environment and demotivate employees. As a leader or manager, how you set and communicate stretch goals to your team is critical. But what is a stretch goal? How do you benefit from them while tackling their challenges? This article defines stretch goals and explains how to get the best results from them in your organization. Let's get started. What is a stretch goal? A stretch goal is a high-effort and high-risk goal. It is intentionally set above normal standards to attract exponential rewards, opportunities, and experience. Stretch goals are not expected to be achieved one hundred percent. They are set to inspire growth and counter complacency in teams. When a stretch goal is achieved, it's recognized as high performance. When it's missed, it should not be judged as low performance. Stretch goals are deliberately set out of reach. Achieving a substantial fraction puts your company ahead of peers and teaches your team valuable lessons. What are the benefits of stretch goals? If a stretch goal is not expected to be achieved, why then do we set them? Are we setting our teams up for failure? There are several reasons why stretch goals are beneficial. Regardless of the outcome, they breathe new life into uninspired work environments and challenge teams to create better results. It's best to set stretch goals alongside regular SMART goals. The juxtaposition between the stretch and SMART goals creates direction for your teams, clarifying the organization's vision, roadmap, and minimum targets for employees. Here's an example of the difference between SMART and stretch goals: SMART goal: Increase revenue by 20% in the next quarter Stretch goal: Increase revenue by 500% and become a European market leader in four years Your SMART goal is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. Your stretch goal is grand and calls for rethinking current processes and solving more expansive problems for your market. Your teams can see the company's long-term vision, what peak performance looks like in the short term, and how their role contributes to it. Other benefits of stretch goals include: Stimulating peak performance in employees and encouraging giant leaps of innovation across the organization Inspiring more commitment, creativity, and effort from team members, birthing new ways of doing things, and discovering hidden talent Encouraging your teams to rethink how they work and leverage available resources Inspiring employees to try new, out-of-the-box methods to solve old problems Increasing your organization’s chances of success. Even when you miss the stretch targets, you're likely to achieve more than you would have without them Providing a strategic way to control and impact our environments, although many elements are out of our control Keeping teams aligned, improving productivity and collaboration as everyone knows the markers and their importance Adding insight and managerial foresight to the executive team, helping to make better decisions for the organization's future Creating opportunities to chart exciting and proactive paths for your teams and organization What are the challenges of stretch goals? Despite their many benefits, the very nature of stretch goals brings many challenges, including: Your stretch goals may be too vague and ambiguous, leading to a disconnection from the teams working to achieve them. Clearly articulating your goals is crucial as this informs the metrics, tasks, and activities managers break the stretch goals into. Stretch goals provide employees with motivation, but not the required skills. Just because you set goals and your team is aligned doesn't mean they immediately know how to tackle the work. Stretch goals do not provide employees with the ability to execute. Outlandish stretch goals can cause frustration with high-performing employees and teams. When teams that usually exceed their targets find themselves behind and unable to catch up, they may become frustrated, reducing productivity and morale even further. Setting stretch goals may only positively impact employees pursuing them for the first time. Employees who have been involved in the previous pursuit of stretch goals may be uninterested in new moonshot goals. Failure to meet stretch goals can lead to a crisis of confidence and low employee engagement. If there's immense, unrelenting pressure to achieve these goals, employee dissent may spread. Stretch goals may cause tunnel vision in teams and managers. They may become fixated on the measured outcome of the stretch goal and lose sight of what drives the organization forward. This happens if your goals do not fully align with your company vision or product roadmap. Lofty stretch goals may cause unethical behavior in employees, leading to negative consequences for the company. Studies show links between ambitious goals and cheating in academic and professional settings. When employees are up against the wall, they may try unethical means to hit their target by any means necessary. The stretch goal paradox explained The stretch goal paradox shows how stretch goals are often misused. Organizations that could most benefit from them rarely use them and businesses with less chance of success set them, leading to failure and team demoralization. A much-cited Harvard Business Review article on the stretch goal paradox explains that stretch goals are most likely to work when an organization or team is on a winning streak with recent good performance and high employee morale. When these winning organizations also have slack resources to expend on the stretch goals, their chances for success become higher. [caption id="attachment_465694" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash[/caption] On the other hand, companies on a losing streak are not in the right place or emotional space to tackle stretch goals, especially when resources are tight and the organization needs to cut costs or make money urgently. Employees in such fragile organizations may snap under the pressure of stretch goals or resort to unethical means to achieve them. Though perfectly positioned to take advantage, companies with recent good performance may become satisfied or complacent with their market position and feel no need to set ambitious stretch goals. Inversely, companies on a losing streak, who are least likely to succeed, often set lofty stretch goals, leading to high-pressure, sometimes toxic work environments for their teams. It is essential to be aware of employee morale when setting stretch goals. In the right environments, stretch goals inspire workers to exhibit optimism, attract opportunities, and reach new heights. In deflated teams, stretch goals may seem like threats, causing employees to grasp for quick fixes and exhibit fear or defensiveness. How to set stretch goals Stretch goals should focus on developing original and innovative approaches to complex challenges, and not necessarily lead to longer hours at work. They should inspire teams to try new things and think beyond the standard. When setting stretch goals, start by asking open-ended questions like: What is the best possible outcome you can imagine? How can you accelerate the process to achieve this outcome? How can your team improve current work processes? How can the company improve? How can employees create maximum value? How can organizational resources be used best? How can your products bring more joy to your customers? How can your company positively affect your industry and move the needle? To set your own stretch goals, start with a simple template like the one below, which ties in with our open-ended questions and can help you to more clearly define your goal. Q. What is my ideal outcome for my time in this role? What is the best-case scenario for me and my team? Q. What can I do in my current role to move towards this scenario? Q. What would I need from my team to achieve this goal? Q. What would I need from my wider organization to achieve this goal? Q. What are my next steps towards this goal? These questions help you think widely and come up with an ideal roadmap. Keep in mind that you may not achieve your stretch goals, but they serve as a picture of the future your company is working towards. Before you set a stretch goal, remember to consider your organization's position regarding: Recent performance: If your team recently had a win, you are in a good place to strive for more audacious goals. Available resources: If your company has spare resources to allow for little margins of error, you'll get better results from setting stretch goals. More tips for setting stretch goals Once you've confirmed your company's position and gotten enough answers to focus your stretch goals, follow the tips below to increase your chances of setting impactful targets. Use ranges for goals, not single points. Set stretch goal metrics as ranges, not fixed, single points. Setting ranges helps to reduce employee anxiety and provides options for tackling the stretch goals. Focusing on a range gives managers and teams room to stretch their performance with less pressure. Allow autonomy for teams and employees. Leaders may set stretch goals, but it's best to leave it up to the teams to figure out how best to achieve them. When employees have autonomy, it liberates them to use their specific knowledge and expertise creatively. Break your stretch goals into SMART goals. Stretch goals are great as long-term goals and an aperture into the company vision. To effectively implement them, break them down into smaller SMART projects and tasks. Use work management software like Wrike to assign tasks, collaborate, and track results. Allocate time. Give your team a shot at success by allowing enough time to tackle the stretch goal. Include slack time for trial and error. Examples of stretch goals for employees Depending on your industry, organization size, and market position, stretch goals for your employees would vary. Here are some examples of stretch goals for employees: Fast-paced marketing team: Reach one million marketing-qualified leads within the next year and develop a world-class marketing curriculum to train and certify young marketers Digital marketing team in a seed-stage B2C startup: Build a social, professional, and personal brand that attracts a global audience and commands ≈40% engagement every week Software developers at a legacy organization: Refactor the entire backend code and reduce technical debt by 80% Operations manager: Cut down customer waiting time from 1.5 hours to ten minutes Project manager: Develop a system to maximize cross-functional collaboration and achieve 100% project success Can stretch goals go into OKRs? Adding stretch goals to OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is tricky as they can be so ambitious that employees do not believe they can achieve them. However, in the best cases, moonshot goals inspire teams and create an exciting work environment. The key to using stretch goals in OKRs is communicating the rationale and expectations behind them and the thresholds for success. For most companies, success means achieving 70% of the objectives — fully reaching the OKRs is acknowledged as extraordinary performance. When aiming high, even failed goals result in substantial advancements. Be realistic when adding stretch goals to OKRs. Note what's possible and what's not. Keep the key components of OKR goal-setting in play: Objectives are what you want your team to accomplish Key results describe how you accomplish it Can a business have a stretch goal? There are many examples of businesses that set and achieved audacious stretch goals. There are also examples of many that failed. The time it took to develop new products at Motorola famously fell tenfold in the 1990s after the company mandated stretch goals throughout the organization. Stretch goals created a culture of excellence at Apple, caused ethical issues at Wells Fargo, and led to failure at Yahoo. For the best results, managers should define strategically aligned metrics and ethical guidelines to achieve stretch goals. Here are some examples of stretch goals for businesses: To be in the top 5% in its industry, based on brand recognition and customer loyalty To be the fastest in terms of customer fulfillment and satisfaction (e.g., fastest Wi-Fi connection) To become one of the best places to work globally, based on attracting and retaining the best talent To be in the top three green corporations, based on the carbon emission ratio in your specific industry To reduce customer service complaints by 90% by improving core product and user experience Who should set a stretch goal? Founders, executives, and managers can set stretch goals. However, teams and employees should be given autonomy in brainstorming, experimenting, and innovating to achieve these goals. How to motivate your team to reach stretch objectives Teams may become complacent and resistant to change — especially when a company is successful and everything is working as it should. If you're in this situation, motivate your team by reframing your company's future in terms of potential losses, instead of continued success. Emphasize what could happen if you don't take action. To keep your team challenged and invested in your stretch goals, it's important to: Define metrics and give a clear picture of what achieving the stretch goal would look like Encourage focus on excellence and innovation and less on fixed, financial targets Encourage employees to see things from new perspectives where the only way forward is to tackle your stretch goals Imagine yourself as your competition and encourage your team to come up with solutions to your organizational weaknesses Celebrate small wins to build momentum and commitment Foster a learning culture that allows your team to take on more ambitious goals How to set employee goals with Wrike Wrike helps to turn your goals into actionable results. Its collaborative workspace allows your teams to zoom out to see the company's big-picture goals and zoom in to tackle the tasks and activities required to complete each one. With Wrike's OKR template, you can define the steps you and your team need to take to achieve set goals, assign tasks, measure defined metrics, extract insights, and make adjustments to your project plans as you progress towards your stretch goals. Get started today with a two-week free trial of Wrike.
Top Bookkeeping & Accounting Tips for Small Businesses
The majority of small business owners and start-up founders are on their toes almost every day. Though several activities stake their claim on your time, accounting and bookkeeping form a significant chunk of your workload. Whether you are documenting your monthly expenses, getting tax papers in order, or taking care of bills, organizing your accounting back-office is essential. Cash flows are critical for business. US Bank research confirms that cash flow issues are the number one reason for the closure of almost 82% of small businesses. The failure rate of sole proprietorships is even lower, according to the same study. What differentiates businesses that become successful from those that shut up shop? Sometimes, the difference between success and failure can be as simple as: Setting clear and manageable goals Making a plan of action for business visibility Investing in the right tools to run the company Proactively avoiding common pitfalls In this blog, we’ve curated our top accounting and bookkeeping tips that’ll help organize your finances, prevent liquidity issues, and grow your small business. Accounting tips and tricks for small business owners and startups You may get away with manual processes in the beginning. However, things can get messy as the business grows and takes on more clients or staff. Here are some top bookkeeping tips for startups that will help you plan, organize your cash flows, and build a successful business. Keep tabs on expenses Overspending can be the bane of businesses. However, it is important to note that not all expenses provide the same value. Remember that every dollar spent takes the company one step away from profit. So when you start your business, keep a close watch on all expenses. Understand the benefit gained from every expense and document it carefully. Choose an accounting structure Deciding which accounting structure to use for your small business is not your accountant’s prerogative alone. Consult your accountant on which accounting method to choose from — cash-based accounting or accrual-based accounting. Here is a brief primer on both methods: Cash-based accounting: In cash-based accounting, companies document revenue when money is received. They record expenses when the cash is paid. Cash-based accounting is perfect for smaller businesses and professional service firms that do not hold inventory. Accrual-based accounting: In accrual accounting practice, income is reported when earned, not when cash is received. Expenses are documented when money is incurred, not actually paid. Accrual-based accounting is suitable for significantly larger and more complex businesses with inventory or shareholders and investors. Automate manual processes Automating routine processes is one of the golden accounting tips for startups. Many accounting and bookkeeping activities are repeated, such as: Calculating mileage payments for staff reimbursements Documenting utility bills in a centralized database Tracking invoices sent to customers Following up on late invoices Paying staff salaries each month Make your life easier by using a unified accounting project management solution to track expenses, generate custom reports, and send invoices automatically. Categorize expenses Tracking business expenses can make or break your business. No business owner wants to pay unnecessary taxes. To ensure that you receive the benefit of tax write-offs and deductions available to your company, keep a record of all expenses. Start by documenting expenses, then classify them into appropriate categories such as bill payments, vendors, administration, or miscellaneous. Keep an eye on the credit One of the most common signs of an insolvent business is an inability to make payments on time. It may struggle with a poor credit score, lack of funding, or difficulty fulfilling its working capital needs. When companies use bank finance to fund their daily operations, they often struggle to pay back the high-interest debt. Do adequate due diligence before taking on any external funding. Forecast future expenses and income When setting your financial goals, consider three distinct elements — the past, present, and future. Going full steam ahead without a financial forecast is a waste of time and money. An Institute of Business Forecasting and Planning study confirms that businesses can save up to $3.5 million per year with accurate financial forecasting. Companies need to create and maintain accurate financial forecasts that keep finances in top shape. This will help answer questions such as: What will our annual sales be in the next two years? What will the percentage increase in customers be in the coming five years? Will the company break even in the next accounting period? Do we have enough staff to handle client projects for the next year? Keep business and personal banking separate Getting a business bank account is one of the first steps you should take as a small business owner. Put this on your to-do list once you get a social security number as a sole proprietor or an Employer Identification Number (EIN) as a professional service firm founder. Here are some reasons for separating personal and business banking: Having clear visibility into business cash flows Saving time by not scrambling through endless bank statements to identify and differentiate individual and business transactions Keeping tax-related documentation clear and ready Avoiding legal responsibility for business debts [caption id="attachment_472816" align="aligncenter" width="2500"] Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash[/caption] Know the law Many small business owners know how to manage a business. However, they may not have sufficient knowledge about accounting and bookkeeping. Additionally, business owners are likely to be unaware of the federal, local, and state laws and legal regulations required for business. For example, a company must: Maintain paper receipts for the last three accounting periods (accountants recommend retaining receipts for the previous seven years) Provide paper receipts to legal authorities such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to claim tax deductions Accurately record income to avoid tax underpayments and IRS penalties Create business budgets Did you know that setting up and reviewing a budget is directly related to startup success? According to a survey by the US Small Business Administration, small businesses that review their budget weekly, monthly, and annually have success rates of 95%, 75%, and 25%, respectively. The survey found that successful small businesses have these financial management traits in common: Relatively higher unused credit balances The ability to earmark appropriate amounts for payroll expenses Regular budget monitoring An understanding of the benefits of using credit for business Consider paying yourself Entrepreneurs managing S corporations and C corporations pay themselves a salary on regular business payroll. Small business owners and startup founders can do the same and consider it an owner’s draw in legal terms. Having an apportioned salary for the business owner is an accepted business practice that helps you reinforce the business’s distinct and legal standing. Consider a tax accountant Investing in a professional tax accountant can bring immense value to your business, with a time commitment of a few hours per week or month. A bookkeeper records income and expenses and categorizes them for specific periods. An accountant, meanwhile, helps file taxes and sets up the accounting backbone of the organization. With an accountant or bookkeeper taking care of financial tasks, small business owners can spend more time attracting new customers — Fundera estimates that this could net small companies up to $320k annually. Invest in accounting software Simplify business finances by automating manual workflows and processes to save precious time and resources. One of the easiest ways to do so is with accounting software that fits your business needs and budget. Forget the days of clunky, on-premise software. Pick from a wide variety of cloud-based accounting project management software that gets bookkeeping in order, streamlines cashflows, and helps you stay updated on finances. Worried that you need to be tech-savvy? There are many accounting project management solutions with clean and straightforward user interfaces perfect for non-techy entrepreneurs. Avoid business thefts and losses A study by Hiscox found that 68% of employee theft, fraud, and losses occur in small and medium businesses. The same study reports that a small business encounters an average loss of $289K a year. The most common occurrences were: Theft of business funds by employees (34% of cases) Check frauds (22% of cases) More than 70% of check fraud cases happened in companies with less than 100 employees. Optimizing your inventory management and automating your bookkeeping with dedicated software is essential to safeguard your small business from employee theft. Stay on top of invoicing Everyone likes being paid on time. As a direct fallout of COVID-19, more than 54% of businesses are struggling with delayed invoice payouts. Late invoice payments can mean: Failure to make timely payments to vendors, suppliers, and banks (for interest payments) Inability to make utility payments, including water, electricity, internet, or software subscriptions Struggling to pay staff salaries and travel expense reimbursements Inability to expand, invest, and make capital purchases Corporate insolvencies Delayed client invoices can also make businesses too dependent on bank financing or shareholder capital funding, which can further impact their finances. Plan for major purchases Whenever there is a major purchase in the offing, a business will need to have adequate cash flow to meet it. Bad credit can ruin business finances. In such a scenario, it may be difficult to obtain the necessary funding for business expansion or complete capital expenditures. Having your accounting and bookkeeping in order will help you get external funding or bank financing for major purchases. Why use Wrike software to keep your books up to date? Accounting and bookkeeping can be complex, time-consuming, and tedious. Establishing robust accounting practices and processes can help small businesses be more financially organized, tax-ready, and profitable in the long run. Most accounting tips for small business owners have less to do with accounting and more to do with managing your business. Elevate business productivity by getting Wrike’s project management software for accountants that helps: Teams collaborate seamlessly with automated reports for clear project visibility Adjust team workloads to ensure optimum productivity Improve business profitability by tracking project budgets in one place Speed up expense approvals and automate manual workflows Finance forms the core of any business. Get a free Wrike trial to establish a predictable cash flow system, eliminate the guesswork in accounting, and achieve small business success.
What is the Future of Work? (2022 Update)
Remote work as we know it will transform in 2022. With the effects of COVID-19 variants rippling worldwide, new workplace and project management trends for the year deal with a well-rounded approach to new methodologies. So take a few moments to stop worrying about today and take a peek into the future of work — you won’t want to miss these exciting predictions! How is technology shaping the future of work? The emergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has led to the reduction of manual tasks, which will allow employees to focus on their creativity. In order to keep up with these trends, workers will need to learn new skills and continuously improve their knowledge. Meanwhile, employers will have to strategically choose tools that are easy to master and improve productivity, despite the growing demand and complexity of work ahead. Automation and the future of work The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many organizations to rethink their operations. The need for increased efficiency without sacrificing quality will lead to an increased dependence on automation. According to Gartner, by 2024, organizations will save 30% on operational costs by combining task automation with existing processes. This is no surprise, as most organizations are already implementing more advanced automation methods such as AI. AI and the future of work AI is expected to completely transform the way project management and standard functions are performed by 2030. Not only will this make it easier to automate tasks, but it will also help employees companywide make better decisions. For example, project managers will continue to use AI-powered data analysis tools to predict project requirements based on evidence from past recorded work. Future ways of working in project management The digital transformation of project management that we’ve seen over the past two decades should be the norm in 2022. New tools and methods of working allow employees to work from anywhere, while employers benefit from the increased productivity of their workers. Online project management tools are becoming more prevalent in today's business environment. The line between home and office will blur Remember going into the office? Whether you’re fully remote, hybrid, or finally in-person again, the work sphere as we know it will continue to evolve this coming year. Office buildings are going extinct Virtual tools such as Zoom, Slack, and project management solutions will continue to make it easy to collaborate with team members all over the world. And now that companies are pulling from overseas talent, it makes sense why the need for entire buildings with multi-floor offices is a thing of the past for some brands. Working from home will be the norm The Global Workplace Analytics forecast states that “25-30% of the U.S. workforce will be working-from-home one or more days a week after the pandemic.” It makes sense considering how teams have adjusted to this style of work already. Between cost-opportunity savings, employees’ willingness to trade a commute for a pay cut, and the flexibility work from home offers, we can see how Global Workplace Analytics came to their conclusion. Workspaces will be personalized Organizations will look to technology to personalize every aspect of the office, including open workstations that will be “beamed” a worker’s lighting and temperature preferences, as well as their contacts, projects, and work files, so employees can easily move around. Offices will be less expensive to maintain Emerging Internet of Things (IoT) technologies will measure foot traffic and daily activity to turn off lights and A/C in empty rooms, tell cleaning crews not to bother with an unused conference room, and make offices more efficient. Technology moves from tool to strategic advantage Advances in technology will continue to be a huge driver of change. How we interact with our colleagues, clients, and employers is about to see a radical shift thanks to the prevalence of mobile devices, social media, wearable tech, and public health and safety concerns. You'll join a social workplace Although there was once a pronounced line between your life on social media and your life at the office, that line has blurred in recent years and will start to disappear completely as companies start implementing internal social networks like Slack and Facebook At Work. There will be an emphasis on devices According to Gartner, “Through 2024, remote workers will use at least four different device types for remote working, up from three devices in 2019.” This includes everything from phones to computers to remote employee monitoring tools. More collaboration tools will be adopted Collaboration apps, along with the remote teams they support, are here to stay, and more companies are using them than ever before. But in order to spur adoption of these tools among their teams, businesses will start emphasizing the benefits for individual employees (schedule flexibility, better recognition for achievements, etc.) over benefits to the company (greater innovation, productivity, etc.). Your own personal work assistant is coming soon Smart voice-activated assistants like Siri and Alexa are going to keep improving, to the point where artificially-intelligent assistants will be running in the background at work, learning our patterns in order to anticipate and provide the information we need to improve our productivity and work performance. Expect IoT and wearables at work Mundane tasks like starting a fresh pot of coffee or turning on lights at the start of the workday will be taken care of by IoT devices, freeing employees to focus on more creative and complex tasks. Wearables will tell employees when to take a break and which foods to avoid for better energy and focus. Companies will collect data on employee activity, mood, and habits and start to experiment with people analytics in order to determine how best to support employee performance and satisfaction — without looking like Big Brother. Work management will no longer be ad hoc It’s not just the tools and technologies we use that will change; our attitude towards work and how we approach getting it done is shifting. Over the next several years, organizations will embrace new management techniques, values, and standards in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and cultural shifts around work-life balance. Expect smaller, flatter organizations More new ventures will keep it small, with a core group of founders and key employees, and they'll hire freelancers from around the globe to fill the other necessary roles. Meanwhile, larger companies will minimize hierarchy and embrace flat management styles like Zappos' “holacracy,” giving workers greater ownership over their projects, freedom from rigid job titles and descriptions, and more input in the company’s direction. 'Entrepreneur' will be redefined As the way we take on new projects changes, so will our concept of entrepreneurship. The word will no longer primarily refer to someone who invents a new product or launches a business; it will come to include independent freelancers who team up with other freelancers, forming a temporary group to take on bigger, more lucrative projects than they could tackle individually. Experimentation and iteration will be the norm Companies will start to see themselves as laboratories, focusing less on refining the same standard processes and products and instead prioritizing experimentation and constant innovation. Slacking off? You won’t have to hide it Businesses are coming to appreciate and encourage “off times” when the brain is able to wander, explore, and later make interesting connections that lead to new ideas. Companies like Google have long encouraged and made time for employees to pursue side projects and indulge their curiosities, and that attitude will spread to companies looking to keep their employees sharp and engaged. Since we as a collective have been in survival mode for more than two years, it’s no surprise that managers are interested in helping their employees thrive now more than ever. Cross-functional and soft skills will dominate As new tools and technologies open up fresh possibilities and modes of approaching our work, the skills we'll use to succeed will become more unconventional, and soft skills will be highly sought after. The gig economy will bring new opportunities Some of the most in-demand skills for the next decade revolve around the emerging "gig" economy, like personal brand coaches who help freelancers and consultants market themselves, and ‘Tribers,’ who work with companies to assemble the perfect teams for specific projects. Even teachers and professors will go freelance, choosing to work for one of the many on-demand, online learning platforms. You’ll be updating your resume more often The days of spending your entire career at one company, painstakingly working your way up the ladder to the corner office, are gone. In fact, a recent study shows “Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) plans to move on from their current employer in three years or less, and only one in four plan to work for an employer for five years or more,” which means short-term gigs are here to stay. The new norm will be to work for a company for a handful of years, gain experience and skills, and then move on to a new opportunity. It'll no longer be enough to master one skill and use it throughout your career — you'll need to master several and be able to switch between them. Highly specific "nanodegrees" that take a year or less to earn will become increasingly popular, and both companies and employees will learn to adapt to higher turnover rates. You'll need to master remote work You’ve seen the statistics — with 80-90% of the workforce stating they want to telecommute at least part-time and 50% stating they already do, remote work is here to stay. But over the next several years, we’ll refine our approach to remote teamwork in order to better recreate the genuine social connections and collaboration that, as of now, we can only get at the office. Companies will be remote by default Instead of established companies embracing some remote teams or employees telecommuting occasionally, companies will be built remotely from the get-go. Everyone meeting face-to-face will be the exception, not the norm, as companies embrace the technology that allows them to hire talent wherever it happens to be located. You'll redecorate your home to accommodate work Many homes have an open floor plan, which isn't usually conducive to focusing and getting work done. With more people working from home, telecommuters will start creating spaces within their homes for work. Culture will define company success Flexible hours, remote work, and the need to keep talented workers engaged over the long term will lead many organizations to spend more time and resources creating a company culture that makes employees want to come to the office. Colleagues will become members of a community In a time where “85% of employees are not engaged in the workplace”, the question is more commonly not how to hire the best talent but how to keep them. Companies will focus more effort on creating a tangible and genuine sense of community, which excites its employees and compels them to stick around. Circular evaluations and feedback are coming Performance reviews are going away as companies phase them out in favor of more flexible means of giving and receiving employee feedback. Organizations will place greater emphasis on coaching, skills development, and letting employees set their own goals, as well as gathering internal feedback on an ongoing basis so that everyone in the company is focused on improvement, from the CEO down. And don't forget: New employee perks While health insurance, paid vacation, and other typical benefits won't go away, more companies are adding personalized perks that stress their company's unique culture and their employees' personalities. They're rethinking standard benefits to provide what their workforce really wants, like paid parental leave, ongoing learning opportunities, and helping employees repay student loans. Organizations will prioritize diversity Facebook and Pinterest require that at least one woman and one underrepresented minority be considered for every open senior position, and Twitter and Pinterest are making their hiring goals public for greater accountability. More companies will follow suit as they become increasingly intentional about cultivating diversity on their teams, and they'll implement measures to counteract unconscious bias, like “blind” interviews where candidates and interviewers can’t see each other or their voices are masked. Hiring managers will look for culture fit... For your next job search, experience, diplomas, and GPAs will start to take a backseat to your drive, goals, and willingness to learn. Essentially, do you fit with the company culture? You also may be able to BYOP (Build Your Own Position), focused around your specific interests and industry, developing a relationship with a company first and then creating the right role from there, rather than applying for a specific open position. ... And you'll be choosier about accepting jobs Compensation will no longer be the top consideration. As people look for jobs that fit in with their lifestyle, values, and professional goals, organizations will adapt by fostering a sense of purpose for employees — although what that looks like can be difficult to discern (and even more difficult to deliver). Ready to put these cutting-edge trends into practice? Get a jump-start on your 2022 project management with Wrike’s two-week free trial.
Graphic Design for Beginners: Top Tips
With so many brands vying for customer attention in a sea of digital content, it’s more important than ever to use effective images that draw people to your message and brand. But having Photoshop loaded on your work laptop doesn’t automatically make you a designer, and a bad visual can annoy viewers (at best) and attract the wrong kind of attention (at worst). Good design is not something you can master overnight. There's simply too much to learn. The principles of brand identity, layout, and white space, color and typography, how to convey a message — not to mention complex design software. So how do you, as a non-designer, avoid common mistakes and navigate a suite of design applications to create eye-catching visuals without getting bogged down by too much information? We've collected a library of quick tips, cheat sheets, and online courses to help you master the basics and design beautiful creative assets for your business in no time. Why learn graphic design? Why should you spend time learning about graphic design for beginners and consider this as a career field? 1. Graphic design skills are in demand For starters, it’s an in-demand career path. Research suggests that the job market for graphic designers is expected to increase by 4.6% between the years 2016 and 2026. CareerFoundry echoes a similar sentiment, placing graphic designers at number seven on a list of the top 10 most in-demand design job titles for 2022. 2. Graphic design offers plenty of career options Another perk of learning graphic design for beginners is that it’s applicable to just about every industry. Graphic designers can assist with a variety of services, including business promotion, software, trade shows, and product packaging, to name a few. And because there are so many different types of services graphic designers can help with, the graphic design skillset is relevant across all industries, whether you work with product or service-based clients. 3. Graphic design work keeps you on your toes While some professionals prefer a consistent day-to-day workflow, graphic design means every day is different. New projects and work vary across the board, so there’s never a dull moment. The types of tasks that you work on will differ depending on client needs — one moment, you could be working on a logo design, and the next a full branding guide. There’s no telling what each day will bring, but it’s guaranteed to be a mix of types of work, unique tasks, and clients spread across industries and sizes. 4. Graphic design lets you flex your creative muscles Graphic design provides the opportunity to tap into your creative brain, and Entrepreneur suggests that reaching our creative potential in our work is paramount to feeling fulfilled and living a meaningful life. Sure, there are technical skills in design, such as using particular software systems and understanding design basics. But good graphic design also requires creative expertise. Coming up with new and unique designs means you’ll need to tap into your creative brain as much as possible. Graphic design courses for beginners Are you convinced and ready to learn graphic design? It can be tempting to dive in and try to learn everything all at once but don’t overwhelm yourself. We’ve rounded up some graphic design for beginners courses to help you get started. Free graphic design courses Graphic Design Workshop For Beginners Professional Advertising & Graphic Design [Mascot/Logo] Graphic Design for Entrepreneurs…Who Can’t Draw Graphic Design Basics Introduction to Graphic Design History Graphic Design Paid graphic design courses Become a Graphic Designer Graphic Design Basics: Core Principles for Visual Design Introduction to Graphic Design: Illustrator Basic design fundamentals everyone should know Want to take your learning a few steps further? Let's dive into some basic design fundamentals and resources for you to uplevel in these areas. Typography Your choice of typeface gives your design character, in addition to legible text. A stylish font is pointless if it’s unreadable, and using too many different fonts can be overwhelming to the eye. In general, limiting yourself to two to three complementary fonts in your design is recommended. Color theory Achieving harmony with color is essential for an eye-pleasing design. You don’t want your design to be either too bland or too chaotic. Some basic formulas for color harmony include using analogous colors (three colors that appear side-by-side on a 12-part color wheel), complementary colors (any two colors that are directly opposite each other on the color wheel), and a color scheme based on nature. Hierarchy What’s the most important element of your design? Don’t overwhelm your headline by overlaying it on a bright, bold image, for instance. Prioritize each of your design elements and keep that priority in mind when placing them, determining size and color, etc. Grids and balance Grids create guidelines for how visual elements should be positioned within your design layout and help determine proper proportion and balance. The golden ratio, or the ‘“rule of thirds,” is commonly used with grids to create an eye-pleasing result. And by placing certain elements outside of the grid, designers can naturally draw the viewer’s eye to these break-outs. Another way to learn graphic design? Study others’ work Start a collection of designs that you like, taking the time to define what you like about them and why. By analyzing successful designs and adopting certain elements into your own creative assets (without copying the design outright, of course), you can learn what works and quickly improve your visuals. Some common design mistakes to avoid: not using enough white space, placing too much text on one line, and using too many fonts and colors. Additional resources: Fundamental design principles for non-designers Want to learn graphic design? 9 tips and tricks for beginners The designer's guide to grid theory Typography design: Rules and terms every designer must know 10 basic elements of design Logo design: 15 golden rules for crafting logos How to design the perfect business logo (infographic) Graphic design software: Three options (and how to learn them) When it comes to software for graphic design, there are a few choices on the market that seem to reign supreme – and they’re all from Adobe. Below, we’re breaking down some tips and helpful resources for each of the most popular options: Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. And when you’ve improved your graphic design chops and need to manage the ins and outs of your creative projects? Adobe Creative Cloud integrates seamlessly with Wrike. Photoshop Tips for beginners Unfamiliar with Photoshop? We have a few quick tips and extra resources to help you get started with this popular design software. Crop your images to create the best composition. If you find the horizon is off, you can level it by dragging any corner of the image box to rotate your photo. Use the Healing Brush to erase any spots on your image left from specks of dust or scratches on the camera lens. Bump up the contrast by brightening highlights and deepening shadows using the Levels window. Go easy on the color saturation. You can boost saturation to make your image more colorful, but too much can make it look glaring and overwrought. Additional resources: 2022 Adobe Photoshop keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet 5 easy Photoshop tips for beginners 18 quick Photoshop tips for beginners 10 Photoshop tips and tricks for beginners 120 Photoshop tips, tricks, and fixes Illustrator tips for beginners Illustrator is another popular software option used to create vector graphics. Vector graphics can be enlarged without compromising the integrity of the original image, so you get a crisp image no matter the final size (unlike bitmap graphics created by Photoshop, which can look jagged and blurry when scaled up). Additional resources: Adobe Illustrator cheatsheet Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator 10 essential Adobe Illustrator tips and tools for beginners 11 quick tips for Adobe Illustrator The absolute beginner's guide to Adobe Illustrator InDesign tips for beginners InDesign is built specifically for designing printed materials, including brochures, ads, business cards, books, and more. It’s the tool you use to put the visual elements you create in Photoshop and Illustrator together into one place or publication. One of the trickiest aspects of print design is being artistic while also making sure your work can be printed without any technical issues messing things up. You'll need to understand things like bleed, file format, image resolution, measurements, and more. Additional resources: Beginners guides to InDesign 2022 Adobe InDesign CC keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet InDesign tips I wish I'd known when starting out 14 little-known InDesign tips Adobe InDesign tips and tricks Take your creative campaigns to the next level Of course, having the right graphic design chops is crucial. But, when it comes to organizing your work, using collaborative campaign management software helps ensure that everyone on your design team is using the latest, approved creative assets and that what’s produced is in line with brand guidelines. It’ll save you hours (and headaches) and result in a better finished product. Wrike’s all-in-one solution for creative teams streamlines the administrative side of creative projects and includes proofing and approvals and an extension for Adobe Creative Cloud. Start your free trial to give it a try, with nothing to download or install.