This company is happy to say goodbye to employees

This coming Friday, don't forget to grab some donuts for the office and send your remote workers a little thank you note — it's Employee Appreciation Day.

In this week's edition:

• Saying goodbye to an employee — happily
• Turning your side hustle into a full-time biz
• The art of making better decisions
• Social platforms to keep an eye on this year

LOVE YOU, MEAN IT, BYE

Why you shouldn’t be afraid to lose employees

It's not you, it's me.
Breakups are tough — even when it comes to business relationships. But one company not only welcomes the employee breakup, they view it as a sign of success. Just ask Michael Wong, founder and CEO of DayBlink.

Unlike most leaders (who want to retain their team), Michael isn’t afraid to lose his employees to the best brands. He develops his people so well that they’re “poachable.” Whether that means pursuing more education, founding a firm, or even working for someone else.

The right stuff.
His theory goes a little something like this: focus on hiring people based on values instead of solely focusing on skills. For DayBlink, the best employees are entrepreneurial people. “We’re not looking for someone great at PowerPoint. We want great entrepreneurs because we want the right talent,” Michael explained.

In other words, their top players are not only problem solvers and executors, but they’re also big dreamers (and often autonomous). That means the same values that brought them to DayBlink might also be the reason they leave one day.

Okay, but how does it actually work?
Despite employees coming and going, DayBlink’s revenue continues to grow. And Michael says it’s because they’ve recruited high performers with their people-centric model.

I’m into it. Tell me how I make my business more people-centric.
Here are a few tips:

1. Make sure your business is attracting like-minded people. That means recruiting and hiring the right people. Especially those who are entrepreneurial and growth-minded — they’ll use those characteristics to support the company’s goals and help your business grow.
2. Treat your business like a training ground. One where staff can hone their skills and grow their knowledge base.
3. Help your team members get to where they want to be. Encouraging employees to follow their interests ensures everyone at the company wants to be there. And that contributes to a better employee experience, which impacts the customer experience.

👉 More on their people-centric model.

UP, UP, AND AWAY

Signs you’re ready to take your side hustle full time

There’s an idea…
Right? If you’re amongst the 1 in 3 Americans that have a side job and it’s successful, you might have considered taking your side hustle full time.

Am I ready?
Well, you don’t want to leave a steady paycheck before you’re ready to bear the costs of starting your own business. The reality is, your full-time job helps make the side hustle happen — at first.

You need to be sure that you’re ready to be self-employed when you decide to quit. Because once you leave a steady job, there are new responsibilities that come with being a business owner.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go for it! Look for signs that you might be ready to make the leap into self-employment.

Give me the signs!
Okay! Here’s what to look out for:

• You love your side hustle more than your job. If you love your side hustle, you’re going to be more willing to work hard doing it. Which means you might be ready to go full time.
• Your side job can cover all major expenses. Can your side hustle cover your bills? Figure out how much you pay for your monthly expenses (shelter, food, utilities, etc.). If you can cover that, you can consider taking your side hustle full time.
• You have enough money saved for challenges down the road. Before you quit your full-time job, you need to save enough money to cover 12 months of your basic expenses. Anything can happen, and you want to have some savings put away in case you need it.
• You can confidently manage your taxes, healthcare, and retirement funds. Once you go full time with your side hustle, you’ll have to start putting aside money for business taxes, paying for health coverage, and managing your retirement.
• Your side hustle will make a profitable business. You want to have a solid business plan in place before going full time. It's important to lay out a clear path for success and make sure that your side hustle is actually a sustainable and profitable business.

THIS OR THAT

7 ways to make better decisions for your business

Business decisions are…
Important (duh). You make decisions for your business every day — both big and small. From what font to use in your emails, to which candidate you’ll hire for the open position, to how you’ll implement your marketing strategy.

And when you add all your decisions up, you get your business. So you’ve got to do everything in your power to make ‘em good ones.

How do I get better with decisions?
Simply put, good decisions lead to good results. So we’re sharing 7 hot tips on making good (AKA profit-boosting, game-changing, team-centered) decisions.

1) Zero in on what you really want.
Decision-making consultant Ralph Keeney advises asking yourself, “what do I hope to achieve by addressing this choice?” That way, you’re focused on your objective and can craft a better way to meet it.

2) Don’t dwell on small choices.
We make so many decisions every day — what to wear in the morning, what to make for lunch, grande or venti white chocolate mocha (hey — treat yourself and go with them venti). And if you stress over the quality of your small decisions, you won’t have enough energy to make the best decision when something big comes up.

So instead, make quick decisions for low-impact scenarios and don’t look back. In other words, don’t sweat the small stuff.

3) Decide as much as you can in advance.
Sometimes, making a decision before you’re in a situation can help you from being swayed by unimportant factors or feeling overwhelmed. Essentially, you don’t want to just roll with the punches when it comes to your big decisions.

This might look like setting a monthly ad budget at the beginning of the year or prioritizing your quarterly goals before tackling them. When you set logical guidelines for your company ahead of time, you don’t have to stress about what’s best down the road.

4) Get a second (and third, and fourth) opinion on the big stuff.
Reach out to a handful of people individually to get their opinions on what you should do. The more experience they have, the better. That way, they’re less likely to be biased and more likely to give you helpful insight.

👉 Learn all 7 tips.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Marketers, watch these new social media platforms

So, more social media.
We get it. There are hundreds of social media apps available, and that’s a lot of ground to cover, whether you have a marketing team of one or 50 (or when you have to do your own marketing, alongside your other roles).

But when over half the world uses social media and 54% of those people use platforms to research products, you can understand why your business needs to have a social media presence.

Okay, but I’m already on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.

That’s great! But since 2020 (and we all remember what happened in 2020), the way people socialize has changed. Especially online.

According to Hubspot’s social media trends report, two of the hottest social media trends are live streaming and audio-based social networking. AKA social platforms that allow people to communicate in real-time and in ways that mimic in-person interactions.

Look, you don’t have to join these platforms today. But you should have them on your radar. And if you do decide to try them out, you’ll have more time to figure out what works versus what doesn’t (possibly giving you a leg up on the competition).

Alright, you’ve got me hooked. What’s on the list?

• Caffeine. A live-streaming platform that has garnered over $290M in investments. Live streaming has become popular with younger audiences, and there’s a lot of room for improvised marketing opportunities.
• Clubhouse. A synchronous audio-only platform that allows people to speak directly to their audience. Because the platform is so new (they launched in 2020), there are still a lot of questions of what works best from a marketing perspective. But with 10M weekly users, there’s potential there, too.
• Discord. A chat app for communities who can use video, audio, and text on their distinct servers to talk about anything and everything. Originally popular with gamers, businesses can use the platform to build direct communication with their consumers; it’s also a great avenue for feedback and insights into what works about a product or service and what can be improved.

👉 Check out other new social media platforms.

TL;DR

This week's highlight reel

• Ketchup ain’t nothing but a number. At least according to Heinz. The brand recently announced that the “57” on its labels is a completely made up figure. But it’s so central to the brand’s identity, they’ve made a strategic decision to let it permanently stick around.
• #DidIGetScammed? TikTok’s become an advertising juggernaut for businesses. So much so, scammers have begun taking advantage of its popularity by creating fake ads that masquerade as legit, well-known businesses. We’ll pass on that “Fucci.”
• Ready, set, (price) hike. U.S. inflation jumped 6.1% in January compared to a year ago, which has translated to sharp price increases. But Americans have largely said “meh,” boosting their spending 2.1% from December to January.
• Cash out. Looking to grow or scale your business? Barclays is handing out $255,000 in cash prizes to help you do just that. Check out their “Small Business Big Wins” promotion and submit your company’s story for a chance at the pot.