Successful Startup 101: October 2014

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What Fuels A Startup’s Success: The Drive to Win or Fear of Failure? -by George Deeb

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The Right Way to Quit Your Job and Launch a Startup -by Marco Terry

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Failure is Good, but Here Are 10 Mistakes Your Startup Should NEVER Make - by Tom Hogan

Shifting Gears: Steve Sax Trades Home Runs For Start-Ups Life Lessons Successful Leaders Wish They Had Learned Earlier -by Brigette Hyacinth What Is Your Business Worth?

- by Natalie Green

20 Signs You’re Succeeding In Life Even If You Don’t Feel You Are -by Carol Morgan 5 Benefits of Collaboration - by Michael Hyatt and Michele Cushatt

October’s Must See Movie for Entrepreneurs: October Sky The Positive Impacts of Outsourcing 7 Tools to Hack Your Growth (That Means Get Big, Fast) -by Murray Newlands How to Close a Sale: The Only Thing You Need to Know -by Jill Konrath

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Cash Today, Losses Tomorrow!

-by Richard Weinberger

Getting Clients from Social Media: 4 Things You Need to Fix - By Michelle Nickolaisen Building Company Culture (On A Budget) -by David Donner Chait

Insider Tip: How to Give Away FREE Stuff and Make Money in the Process -by Assia Salikhova 4 Programs Every Startup Founder Should Know About -by Tabitha Jean Naylor 8 Simple Ways to Reward Employees on a Budget - by Rhett Power 3 Key Factors to Creating Your Customer Experience Strategy -by Alan See How to Avoid Common Startup Blunders The 10 Most Reliable Ways to Fund a Startup -by Martin Zwilling 5 Lessons the Special Forces Taught Me about Business -by Michael I. Kaplan Editorial Focus: Content Marketing Institute Motivational Boosters

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o you remember the first scary Halloween costume you ever tried on? After the mask went on, your outlook of the world changed: you were fearless; you were invincible; and you were on top of the world.

Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert, being a startup founder will force you to face many scary issues that you may be too afraid to take on, but many times, being successful means exploring outside of your comfort zone.

LETTER FROM

THE EDITOR

If you have already begun designing your startup, are in the launching stages or still playing with the idea of running your own business, you have already taken the first step outside of the box.

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Spine-Chilling Situations There are many different kinds of situations that can strike fear in any entrepreneur – many of which seem like they are out of your control. It’s important to face these demons head on and remember that no ghost or ghoul can scare you away from your dreams.

Everyone has their own personal fears about launching a startup, but some examples of scary situations that you may think are out of your control include: • Because it would be your company, the mistakes will be yours; the failures will be yours; the problems will be yours

• Letting down your customers or constantly feeling the need to be perfect or cause no problems for your clients • Letting down your employees, if you have any • Making a bad decision, whether it is regarding business aspects or products • The fear of losing interest in your startup Harboring fear is a legitimate concern.

As an entrepreneur, addressing the fears you have can move you one step closer to your journey to success.

Frightful, But Necessary Changes Before launching your startup, it is important to address some of the concerns you may have or fears that may be holding you back. Stepping out of your comfort zone can be a difficult task, but it is a crucial one to ensuring your success.

There are a couple of changes that you can make that will allow you to feel more comfortable about the decisions or risks you may be faced with as a startup founder.

• Remember that everyone is afraid of change or of failure and that some of the greatest

LETTER FROM

THE EDITOR

entrepreneurs and business owners have failed at least once: Arianna Huffington’s second book was rejected by 36 publishers; Bill Gates’ first startup was launched in high school, which failed; and the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, didn’t see profits from his startup for many years. Wear your failures like a badge of courage.

• Acknowledging your fears and figuring out what the real problem is. For example, a business doesn’t fail as a whole; there are certain areas and changes that need to be made to products or finances, so find out where it is you’re afraid of things going awry. Once you figure out what areas you are concerned with, you can focus more on ensuring they are properly taken care of.

• Once you have address possible failures and learned to accept them, teach yourself how to change these situations into positive ones and face any issues you have head on.

Ignoring your fears and concerns will only allow you to harbor them and let them burrow into your daily emotions.

• Prepare to succeed: write out a business plan with all possibilities and predicted scenarios so that you can feel semi-prepared in the case of a problem or failure.

The Gory Benefits Stepping outside of your comfort zone is scary as is, but it is a necessity to becoming successful. If you have already quit your job or begun launching your startup, you have taken the first step to recognizing these fears and doing what is necessary to overcome them.

Fear will always be following close behind you, but allowing it to benefit you positively can allow positive changes in your business. For example, being afraid or having a small amount of anxiety can sometimes allow you to perform better.

After understanding that you will always harbor fear, you can learn how to control it and change it to positively affect you rather than scare you away from making decisions.

“Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.”

So, our advice for you this month: don’t spook yourself out of success!

All The Best -

Tabitha Jean Naylor Editor & Publisher

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What Fuels A Startup’s Success: The Drive to Win or Fear of Failure?

By George Deeb

The age old debate about what fuels a startup’s success is whether they are “driven to win” or have a “fear of failure”. In this lesson, we are going to try and resolve this question, once and for all.

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I think both sides of this argument are pretty self-explanatory, but let’s just make sure we are clear on what we are talking about here. Being “driven to win” is an insatiable desire to be #1 in your industry, with a “take no prisoners” Successful Startupoften 101 Magazine

mindset of growing market share as quickly as possible. The CEOs of these types of businesses often have a deep disliking of their competitors, and see themselves in a “all-out sprint” against the CEO’s of others in their space. On the other hand, “fear of failure” is driven more by not wanting the company to go out of business, and the perceived negative impact that would have on the CEO’s resume and reputation. To me, the former feels more akin to an “offensive” strategy, and the latter feels more like a “defensive” strategy.

So, if that is in fact a good analogy, are you aware of any competition that doesn’t require the proper balance of both a good offense and a good defense? I really think if you have too much of one, without the other, your success will be hampered. As one example from the sports world, do we all remember the failed Rich Rodriguez tenure as head coach of Michigan Football between 2008-2010. His innovative offense broke every statistically record, as the most productive offense in the 132 year history of this storied program. While at the same time, his lack of defensive focus, broke every statistically record in the wrong direction, as the worst program in the history of Michigan football. This lop-sided mix of skills, resulted in a middle-of-the-road record (7-6 in 2010), and the ultimate firing of Rich Rodriguez at the end of that season.

This analogy holds true in the business world, as well. All offense and no defense, can cripple your company. If you are too scared to fail (e.g, too much defense), that may cripple your ability to innovate out-of-thebox ideas, that if successful, would catapult your business to new heights never before possible. Let’s use Apple as an example.

What if Steve Jobs had stayed “defensive”, focusing on protecting Apple’s marketshare as the leader in personal computers. We would have never seen such great innovations as the iPod, iTunes, iPhone and iPad that revolutionalized the tech scene in the years that followed, fueling Apple’s meteoric growth and stock price. And, on the flip side, if you

try to use too much “offense”, you can cripple your business by growing too quickly, or running out of cash, or entering more markets than logically makes sense for your phase of development, stretching your limited resources too thinly to be sustainable.

I think this theory holds true from my personal experience while CEO of iExplore.

I was equally focused on “offense” and “defense”. I was deeply-driven to win market share and partnerships away from my competitors at the time, like Away.com, Gorp.com, and AdventureSeek. I wasn’t going to rest until we had the largest website and most strategic partnerships locked up.

While, at the same time, I had a deep fear of failing, especially in the wake of 9/11/2001 and the negative impact that had on the travel industry. I wasn’t going to let Osama Bin Laden end my dream or taint my track record, and I fought on through very difficult market conditions, even though the odds of success were not in my favor. Without the “offense”, we would have never built up a #1 market position and partnerships with National Geographic, Travel Channel, Expedia, Travelocity, Lonely Planet, Fodors, Frommers, Conde Nast and others. And, without the “defense”, it would have been a lot easier to simply file for bankruptcy in 2001, given the uphill battle that laid ahead.

So, it is not whether you are “driven to win” or have a “fear of failure”. To me, startup success needs an equal balance of both, for “offense” and “defense”.

About the Author: George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Red Rocket Ventures, a growth consulting, advisory and executive staffing firm based in Chicago. Red Rocket is also a founding member of Ensemble, an allstar powered “Digital Services Suite”. You can follow us on Twitter at @georgedeeb, @RedRocketVC and @EnsembleHQ.

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Failure is Good, but Here Are 10 Mistakes Your Startup Should NEVER Make

By Tom Hogan

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Failure is the fertilizer of Silicon Valley, or so we would have you believe. Like fraternity hazing, we take excessive pleasure in warning plebes (aspiring entrepreneurs) that 80 to 90 percent of all startups fail.

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But failure, when you get right down to it, is neither inevitable nor anything to brag about. As Silicon Valley veterans — Oracle, Sun, SynOptics, and over 40 startups and tech giants — we’ve had ringside seats to some of the greatest successes and flame-outs in tech history. And while everyone associated with technology startups knows that you need to kiss a few frogs at times, we’ve created an early warning ‘failure list’ that we consult before we pucker up:

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It’s the technology, stupid. If they take this approach, they’re lost before they start — and yet it’s the single largest startup sin. The founders have spent years creating their technology and so assume it’s as compelling to others as it is to them.

It isn’t. It’s not what the technology can do (speeds and feeds), it’s what it can do for the customer. Solutions sell, technology doesn’t.

Make the CEO a rock star. Too many first-time CEOs think they’re the next Steve Jobs — down to the bullying behavior and grandiose statements. But even Jobs had his Wozniak. VCs invest in teams, not

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individuals. As Walter Isaacson’s new book The Innovators attests, if a CEO doesn’t bring in a strong exec team, listen to them, and share the credit, the startup will soon be a true one-man operation for all the wrong reasons.

Spend early and big on branding. Don’t create your brand in a cocoon, or with the help of a high-priced branding agency. Let it evolve organically, based on your company culture and customer reactions. The resulting brand will be truer — and cheaper.

Give the UX director power over the brand. A powerful UX director, strong on visuals and light on Marketing, can do great damage to your marketing efforts.

If you’re not going to let your VP of Marketing design your UX, don’t let your UX director have control over your brand.

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Let your people choose their own job titles. Then consider what titles like “sales guru” and “growth hacker” are costing you in enterprise sales.

Print T-shirts to mark product milestones instead of customer milestones. The more t-shirts your company has before its first major sale, the quicker investors should head for the door.

Go virtual from the start (flex time over face time). This is a tough one, since we know how hard it is to hire these days, especially with Google and Facebook poaching the best talent. But hiring remotely from the start is a recipe for

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failure. Too many of a startup’s best ideas happen in ad hoc meetings and shared work space. Bottom line: Face time trumps flex time, at least in the early, formative days of a startup.

Revise your value proposition early and often. Many companies, having read The Lean Startup, think that just because they can throw their product out into the market, gauge initial reaction, and quickly respond, they can do the same with their core value proposition to the customer. Nope. Playing with your core customer value doesn’t make you look responsive, it makes you look indecisive. Challenge and iterate your positioning and messaging before you launch, then go through one sales cycle before you make any major changes.

Leadership, not management, is the key to success. “Vision” (usually the domain of the CEO) is critical to a strong launch. But once you’ve had a strong start and early sales success, it’s time to focus on growth and execution. The days of everyone reporting to the CEO are over, as are the days of the CEO making every major decision. It’s time to manage — in some cases ‘manage managers’ — an entirely new (and essential) skill. If the CEO can’t make the transition, make him/ her ‘Chief Evangelist’ and find a new CEO.

Let your Board of Directors be very hands-on. The more you see board members on-site at a startup, the better the chances that the company is flailing.

A strong CEO needs to rely on the BOD without depending on them.

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So, if you believe you need to fail before you can succeed, make sure you fail in an original way.

Because all of the above are avoidable.

About the Authors

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Tom Hogan and Carol Broadbent are the foun ders and principles of Crowded Ocean, a Silico n Valley marketing agency that has launched over 30 startups, with 10 of those companies being either acquired or gone public.

Successful Startup 101 Magazine

The Right Way to Quit Your Job and Launch a Startup

By Marco Terry

One of the most stressful parts of being an entrepreneur is quitting your job to work full-time in your startup. You are jumping into the precipice of the unknown, hoping for the best. This leap is one of the most important phases of the startup process.

Many entrepreneurs don’t handle this phase well. They quit their job before they are ready, they don’t prepare thoroughly enough, or they resign the wrong way. Regardless, this misstep will affect your startup. This transition is a critical for your business. You can’t afford to make a mistake.

From this article, you will learn: What you need to do before you quit your job The smart way to build a personal budget (hint: it’s really easy!)

How to avoid the biggest mistake How to resign in a professional way

Preparing for the Transition Going from full-time employee to full-time entrepreneur requires a lot of preparation. The amount of effort depends on a number of factors. Your income, expenses, and responsibilities are all important considerations. These factors also determine how much and for how long you need to prepare.

Most people can prepare adequately for the transition as long as they are smart, patient and determined.

Your objective should be to remain employed and draw a salary for as long as possible. Make the transition only once everything is fully prepared. Consider the following:

1. Do you have a business idea in place?

You should not quit your job unless you have a business idea that is fully developed. Often, entrepreneurs think that a business plan qualifies as “fully developing” the idea. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Most business plans are developed using “fill in-the-blank” templates and are seldom adequate.

Fully develop the plan by thinking through contingencies and business processes. Think of most scenarios and develop ways to approach them. Run markets tests and build prototypes to ensure the idea is viable. Expect this process to take a long time – months, not weeks.

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2. Do you have financing in place?

Finding financing is often similar to getting married. You have to find suitable candidates, court them, and hope that they say yes. Often, this process takes just as long as finding a reallife soul mate. Don’t quit your job until you have found a way to finance the initial stage of your business.

By quitting before you have financing in place, you risk running out of resources before you can even launch a business. If you are looking for financing, here are some options to consider.

3. Is your business running?

In an ideal world, you would quit just as your business is ramping up and generating revenues.

You replace your job’s salary with a salary from your startup.

Obviously, the only way to accomplish this goal is to run your business while you have a job.

However, this approach is difficult and, often, impossible. At the very least, try to do most of the pre-launch or launch work while you are employed.

completing this process, you will have six months of actual spending data categorized.

Use this information to analyze your expenses and create a realistic budget.

5. Save enough money for living expenses

4. Create a budget Quitting your job to launch your startup means losing your source of income and, for most people, having to live off your savings for a long time. Having a budget helps you succeed.

Most people don’t know how to create a budget. Often, they just write down expenses and categories as they remember them. Creating a budget by tracking expenses manually though a spreadsheet is difficult and prone to errors.

Fortunately, there is a better and easier way.

Buy a personal finance package such as Quicken.

Upload three (or more) months of past data from your savings account, checking account, credit cards, investments, and any other financial accounts. Most financial institutions have this data easily available.

Review every entry and categorize it. This last point is important. Once you have done that, spend the next three months uploading your income and expenses as they happen. Upon

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Once you have a budget, the next step is to determine how much money you need to save. Look at your revenue projections and determine how long it will take your business to replace your salary. Keep in mind that most initial revenue projections are wrong. Be conservative and allow for a longer period. From personal experience, I believe that doubling the estimated amount of time is appropriate.

The risk of short-changing your savings is that you could run out of money before your startup has had the chance to fully develop. That outcome would leave you with limited income and could risk your ability to stay in business.

6. Do you have an emergency fund?

Having an emergency fund, separate from your budgeted living expenses, is advisable. Its purpose, as its name states, is to cover emergencies. Building this fund is not always possible and is difficult.

Building an emergency fund takes time but it adds security. On the other hand, not building one lets you move faster. It’s a hard decision – a calculated risk that only you can determine.

Making the Transition Once you have completed your preparations, the next step is to make your transition. The following steps help you approach this phase professionally.

1) Keep your business private I always recommend that entrepreneurs keep their business private. Don’t boast about it to your colleagues, and certainly not to your boss.

Obviously, don’t lie if asked directly. Otherwise, avoid the subject altogether.

This strategy serves two purposes. First, your company could fire you if they think you are running a business on the side. Second, your coworkers might believe that you are not carrying your load at work. Obviously, this impression could also lead to employment problems.

2) Write a positive resignation letter Write a proper letter of resignation. Keep in mind that this letter will go in your personnel file. It’s

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7. Remember medical insurance One big mistake that many founders (especially young ones) make is dropping health insurance.

They see it as expensive and unnecessary.

Unfortunately, everyone is susceptible to medical problems or accidents. Without insurance, a single incident (e.g., a car accident) could wipe out your health, finances, and business.

If your former employer offers it, get coverage through Cobra. If not, buy insurance through the private marketplace. Lastly, if you decide not to get regular insurance, consider catastrophic insurance. As its name implies, it covers you for expensive catastrophic events.

best to write a short letter that advises your employer of your resignation, wishes them well, and thanks them for the opportunity.

3) Resign with class To resign, schedule a meeting with your supervisor and deliver your resignation letter.

Let them know that you will be leaving on a specific date. Lastly, reiterate your thanks for the opportunity and wish them well. Consider: 1

Mentioning some of the positive highlights of your career at the firm

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Highlighting that you will miss the firm and your colleagues

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Offering to train your replacement

At all costs, avoid speaking badly of your workplace or your coworkers. Adhere to this rule even if you dislike both. Bad-mouthing colleagues is not only bad form but it is also bad for strategic reasons. Your co-workers and boss will remain valuable contacts throughout your career.

Lastly, do not mention that you are leaving to launch a company. As mentioned before, this approach can backfire. If possible, deflect the question by answering that you are pursuing new opportunities and are unable to talk about them. Most colleagues respect that answer.

About the Author Marco Terry is the managing director and founder of Commercial Capital LLC and Commercial Capital LLC (Canada). He provides invoice financing to small and midsize companies that need working capital. For more information, please call (877) 300 3258.

* This author originally appeared on Steamfeed.

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SHIFTing Gears: Steve Sax Trades Home Runs For Start-Ups

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fter a successful career in Major League Baseball that spanned 18 years and included two World Series Championships, Steve Sax could

have sat back and enjoyed the spoils of retirement, but that’s not his style. Success as

a baseball player was only one of Sax’s dreams, and as soon as his “retirement” began, he dove head first into entrepreneurship in hopes of checking off some of the rest of his list.

Sax has always turned his passions outward, so his startups have focused on helping others start up their own businesses. After a successful post-baseball career in investing and personal banking, Sax decided to use those talents to branch out and power his own companies and efforts. “There comes a time in your life when you want to give back and help other people, and I’m in a position to do that now.”

After looking back on his life experiences, Sax realized that, along with the drive to succeed, his triumphs aligned with his attitude. When he was motivated and empowered, he achieved his goals. The ability to have some control over his own success led to the publication of his book, Shift: Change Your Mindset And Change Your World.

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Sax no longer wanted to just interact with people. He said,“I decided to write the book because I wanted to make an impact on those I came into contact with.”

Sax is firm believer that people can be successful in everything, including entrepreneurship, by starting with a great idea, the right attitude, and a solid work ethic. That’s what Shift is about. “They need to find out what dwells in their passion center,” he said. “People who love what they do are usually very successful.”

The book goes into detail about how attitude and the decisions that entrepreneurs make on a micro level play into the impact that they can have on the macro scale. Sax added, “Writing down goals, starting your work day by 6 a.m., not giving in to fear and doubt, amongst others, are all staples in the foundation of success.”

The dedication to this cause is part of Sax’s bigger desire to reach out and grab the things he wants to achieve in his life. “I have a lot of goals, still,” Sax said. “I’m 54 years old, but I feel like I’m 25.” His youthful vitality drives him, and he capitalizes on that every day to practice what he preaches. After the book’s success, Sax used his experiences empowering adults and rededicated it to young people with an emphases on at-risk youth. In early 2014, the Steve Sax Foundation was born. The goal of the operation is to redirect potential future leaders to positive pursuits using mentor coaching and guidance.

Sax strives to ensure that every young person who could benefit from the mentoring program gets the chance to experience it. “We’ll be mentor coaching tens of thousands of young people across the country. That’s the goal.

Through the great sciences of technology and the internet, we’re able to bring about as many teenagers as we can possibly sign up.”

The Steve Sax Foundation uses the internet as a way to reach a larger number of young people.

The 6-month program is delivered to mentoring participants via online sessions for the masses as well as in-person to smaller groups. Through the

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The dedication to this cause is part of Sax’s bigger desire to reach out and grab the things he wants to achieve in his life. “I have a lot of goals, still,” Sax said. “I’m 54 years old, but I feel like I’m 25.” His youthful vitality drives him, and he capitalizes on that every day to practice what he preaches.

After the book’s success, Sax used his experiences empowering adults and rededicated it to young people with an emphases on at-risk youth. In early 2014, the Steve Sax Foundation was born. The goal of the operation is to redirect potential future leaders to positive pursuits using mentor coaching and guidance.

coaching, they watch a fellow participant explain a struggle and work through it with a mentor. Sax said that the experience is valuable for the young minds because it helps them establish a sense of perspective on their own struggles, as well as those in the world around them. Through the coaching, young people can understand that other people have very similar concerns and barriers, and they can find solutions together.

The inspiration for the coaching program was actually a fusion between the success of his book as well as Sax’s own experience in counseling.

After going through a long divorce, Sax was referred for 10 counseling sessions to ensure that he was properly managing the emotions of such a potentially destructive process. Sax said, “I went to my 10 counseling sessions, and it was just an open forum of a men’s group where they just sat in a circle and talked. You could just listen, and join in if you wanted. I went to the 10 sessions, and I got so much enrichment from listening to these very smart men talk about their lives and what was going on. I wound up going for 12 years

on my own because it was so good, and I got so much growth.”

This kind of growth is what Sax hopes to offer teenagers. Once they have completed the mentoring program, the participants become eligible for college scholarships. He wants all of the participants to be college-bound and open themselves up to achieving all of their goals with every resource possible.

Sax said that the funding for the scholarships will come from sponsors as well as individuals who believe in the program. They hope to partner with major sports organizations that have outreach programs to receive additional support.

In fact, of the donations that they receive, 90 percent go to the students in some capacity, and Sax doesn’t take a Salary. His time is on a volunteer basis.

As far as what’s next for Steve Sax and his incredible desire to achieve, he said that right now, the foundation is the most important thing to him. While he does have other projects and positions including working for MLB network

radio and television as a baseball analyst as well as engagements as a speaker and executive coach, Sax is laser focused on the foundation for the years to come. “We’re continuing to make our production better,” he said. That includes a new website, guest coaches, bigger sessions and more.

Aside from the growth of the foundation, Sax did name one important thing that he hopes to experience over and over through his program: “The look on those kids faces when we hand them a check for $100,000 and say ‘Pick the college that you want to go to.’ That’s a pretty powerful thing.”

Young people from throughout the country could have the benefit of new direction from what Sax has pulled from his experiences. Sax made the conscious decision early on that nothing would stand in the way of his goals no matter whether they were entrepreneurial or philanthropic. He has built a portfolio of entrepreneurial pursuits that rival his baseball career in both magnitude and success. “It all starts with attitude and perspective,” he said. “How you approach the situation sets the trajectory.”

More information about the Steve Sax Foundation and their passionate dedication to the youth of American can be found at www.stevesaxfoundation.org. The curriculum for the mentor coaching comes directly from Steve Sax’s book, Shift: Change Your Mindset And Change Your World, which can be purchased here: http://www.amazon. com/Shift-Change-Your-Mindset-World/dp/1599322234.

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Life Lessons Successful Leaders Wish They Had Learned Earlier

By Brigette Hyacinth

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting,get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). Wisdom is a good purchase, though we pay dearly for it.” ~Dutch Proverb In climbing the ladder of success we will soon realize there are some things, we would have to learn on our own . “We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.” ~ Marcel Proust I would like to share these 6 valuable life lessons from successful business leaders. I hope it will enlighten your path and hopefully prevent you from making the same mistakes.

1) Spend More time away from the office. Spend More time with Family.

David Kim, CEO of the investor consortium that operates chain restaurants was motivated to succeed so he could support his parents. But at his father’s deathbed, he re-evaluated his success and realized in his efforts to do everything for them, he missed a key point: precious time with them. “I regret not spending enough time with him, especially before he was going to go,” His epiphany led to him spending more time with his wife and children.

2) Take Care of Yourself.

Take Care of Yourself - “I wish I could go back and tell myself, Arianna, your performance will actually improve if you can commit to not only working hard, but also unplugging, recharging, and renewing yourself.’’ Arianna Huffington I had a close friend who worked non-stop. He was always “plugged on” and wouldn’t even take vacation. He was diagnosed with cancer, took retirement and died shortly thereafter. Sadly

though, he never got to enjoy any of his retirement earnings. Our bodies are not machines. You can’t keep going 24/7. The lights won’t always be green.

If you don’t slow down, sooner or later, you will come to a red light and have to make a complete stop. That’s why it is important to: Eat Healthy, exercise, drink lots of water, reduce stress levels and get adequate rest. Furthermore, get rid of toxic emotions. Life is too short.

3) Take time to Listen.

Communication is a two way street. Paul Bennett, the Chief Creative Officer at IDEO said the one piece of advice he wished he had known in his early twenties, was to focus on listening. Effective leaders learn that it is important to put aside distractions, to stop multi-tasking, and be truly “present” with people when speaking with them. Listening is a great time and money saver. It can solve a host of problems, bring creativity, give insights and not to mention show people that you care.

4) Surround yourself with Great people, Leaders in your field and be Fearless in pursuit of game-changing ideas.

Scott Weiss: “Whatever vocation you decide on, track down the best people in the world at doing it and surround yourself with them. Aim high and be ridiculously persistent. Bill Ready: “Be Fearless.

Don’t be afraid to pursue revolutionary ideas, and don’t hold back simply because you’re going up against seemingly unconquerable competitors in your market space. At Braintree, many of our competitors are huge, established companies in the market with market caps in the billions--but we’re not afraid of going after them.”

5) Money will never define you; You define your money.

Suze Orman - “When you are starting out in your 20s, it is natural to think about all that you will have and do once you start making money, and making more money. That gives money way too much power over your life. It’s not about how much you make, but the life that you make with the money you have.”

In the end, we have to accept these are all material possessions and we can’t take any of them with

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us when we leave this world. However, people will always remember your character and how you treated them, so spend some time developing priceless attributes as integrity, honesty, empathy, kindness…etc.

6) Giving Back.

Bill Gates: “Ideally people can start to mix in some philanthropy like Mark Zuckerberg has early in his career. I have enjoyed talking to some of the entrepreneurs about this and I am impressed and how early they are thinking about giving back – much earlier than I did”.

Those of us who are blessed with so much more, should be thankful and seek to help the less fortunate.

Giving not only benefits the receiver but also the giver as well.The fulfillment you get from helping someone else is incomparable. It’s also a universal law. The more you give, is the more you receive.

Which life lesson resonates the most with you?

About the Author Brigette Hyacinth is a Small Business Adjustor at ScotiaBank. She is a diligent self starter, continuous learner, avid networker, always seeking opportunities for growth and development and relishes a challenge.

One thing she firmly believes in is that in the midst of all our accomplishments, we should always find ways to give back to the society / community.

What Is Your Business Worth?

By Natalie Green There will come a point in time where you as an entrepreneur want to sell your business. The first thing you are going to want to know is what is your business is worth. We are pleased to share this great infographic from the business valuation team at valuator who share with us some great data on recent sales of small businesses. The information is an analysis of over 700 sales from the business for sale classified website bizbuysell.com and represents all of the public transactions that occur on the market.Â

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Successful Startup 101of Magazine To see the rest all the awesome information contained in this infographic, click here

20 Signs You’re Succeeding In Life Even If You Don’t Feel You Are

By Carol Morgan

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e all feel like failures from time to time. While this is a normal feeling, you have to find a way to see yourself and your life from a different perspective. Sometimes we ignore the “little things.” Just because you are not a millionaire, don’t live in a mansion, and you don’t drive a fancy car, that doesn’t mean you’re a failure. In fact, it’s quite the contrary.

Here are 20 signs that you are succeeding in life:

1. Your relationships are less dramatic than they used to be.

Drama is not maturity. As we age, we should develop maturity. So maybe your relationships were dramafilled in your past, but if you have moved beyond that, then you are successful.

such thing as as setback. It’s all just part of a wondrous journey.

7. You have a support system that includes people who would do anything for you.

If you have figured out the people who “have your back” and recognized the ones who only pretend that they do, then you have succeeded. This is a painful realization, but once you learn to see the signs of betrayal, you can stay away from those people.

8. You don’t complain much.

2. You are not afraid to ask for help and support any more.

Asking for help does not equal weakness. In fact, it is a strength. No person has ever succeeded in isolation. It takes teamwork to accomplish goals. Asking or help is a sign that you have grown as a person.

3. You have raised your standards.

You don’t tolerate bad behavior any more – from other people, or even yourself. You hold people accountable for their actions. You don’t spend time with the “energy vampires” in your life anymore.

4. You let go of things that don’t make you feel good.

No, this is not narcissistic even though it might seem like it. Selflove is success. Love yourself enough to say ‘no’ to anything that doesn’t make you happy, doesn’t serve your purpose, or drags you down.

5. You have moments where you appreciate who you see in the mirror.

Ideally, you should appreciate who you see in the mirror at every moment. But even if that doesn’t happen, if you do it more than you used to, then that is success. Love yourself. You are awesome.

6. You have learned that setbacks and failure are part of self-growth.

Not everyone can have success 100% of the time. That’s just not realistic. Life is about victories and losses. So look at your setbacks as stepping stones to something better. In reality, there really is no

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Because you know there really is nothing to complain about. Unless you really have gone through some horrific life experience and had unimaginable losses, most of what we all experience on a day-to-day basis is just mundane.

And successful people know that. And they live in a space of gratitude.

9. You can celebrate others’ successes.

Just because other people succeed, that doesn’t make you a failure. Applaud the people who rise to the top. The more positive energy you give to other people’s victories, the more you will create your own.

10. You have passions that you pursue.

You are not stagnant. You know you have something wonderful to contribute to the world. You have unique talents and gifts. Not only do you know that, you pursue it.

11. You have things to look forward to.

If you don’t have exciting things going on in your life that you are eagerly anticipating, then you are slowly dying inside. Successful people create goals

that they are passionate about pursuing. They let this excitement drive their life.

12. You have goals that have come true.

Even though “failures” are a part of life, you have stuck to your goals and dreams long enough to make them come to fruition. You have some tastes of victory. It fuels you.

13. You have empathy for others.

A person without empathy is dead inside. Empathy equals spreading love and positive energy into the world. Successful people know this. They love others as if they are family.

14. You love deeply and open yourself up to be loved by others.

19. You change what you can.

And let’s face it again – there are many things you can change in life. Successful people don’t sit around accepting the negatives that are changeable. They get out there and do something about it!!

20. You are happy.

To me, this is the ultimate definition of success. It doesn’t matter what the balance is in your bank account, how big your house is, or how many fancy vacations you take. If you are happy, then you are succeeding in life.

Even if you don’t see yourself in many of these 20 things, don’t fret. It’s okay. Be happy that you see yourself in just a few. In time, the rest will come. You just need to keep moving onward and upward.

Love is risky, and sometimes scary for people. It’s the one thing we all strive for, but it’s also intimately tied to the one thing we fear the most – rejection. If you open your heart enough to love and be loved, then you are successful.

15. You refuse to be be a victim.

You know that life doesn’t always happen to you.

Many times, you are a co-creator of your life experiences. Successful people know this and refuse to be kept down by life experiences. The rise up and conquer anyway.

16. You don’t care what other people think.

You know you can’t please everyone. You know that the standards with which society judges people is many times unrealistic. So you just keep true to yourself and love the person you are.

17. You always look on the bright side.

Life can be full of disappointments – if you choose to see them that way. Otherwise, they are learning opportunities. No negative experience is ever wasted as long as you learn from it.

18. You accept what you can’t change.

Let’s face it – there many things you can’t change in life. All you can change is how you view what happens.

If you can change your negative perspective on situations to a positive one, then you are successful.

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About the Author Dr. Carol Morgan is the Editor of ABetterMeMagazine. com and is a professor at Wright State University.

She is also the host of two different web shows, a motivational expert on the TV show ‘Living Dayton,’ video expert for eHow.com, and keynote speaker. You can visit her at http://www.drcarolmorgan.com or ABetterMeMagazine.com.

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Connect with us for even more great startup information

Successful Startup 101 Magazine

Benefits of

Collaboration

5 Benefits of Collaboration (A Podcast) BY: Michael Hyatt and Michele Cushatt

Welcome to the new season of This Is Your Life. In this first episode, Michele Cushatt, my new cohost, and I talk about why I decided to change my podcast so dramatically and what you can learn about leadership from our experience.

transcript of this episode here, courtesy of Ginger Schell, a professional transcriptionist, who does all my transcriptions.

Many people talk about the value of collaboration, but in this episode, we get very specific about why you must collaborate with others if you are going to reach your potential as a leader. We also discuss how it benefits those you hope to influence.

My favorite part of doing these podcasts is participating in the conversation they provoke.

Each week, I ask one question. This week, it is this:

Read the Transcript You can download a complete, word-for-word

Join the Conversation

Question: Where could you be more collaborative in your leadership and what would it make possible? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Binge on All 13 Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, we have released all thirteen audio episodes of Season 1 here.

The video episodes will be released weekly and are not yet available for batch listening. If you are looking for previous episodes, you can find Season 0 here

Explore Additional Resources In this episode we mentioned several resources, including:

StrengthFinders 2.0 by Tom Rath

Test for All 34 Strengths

Share the Love If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show.

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(c) Startup 2013, Michael Hyatt. Used by permission. Originally published at www.michaelhyatt.com.

Successful 101 Magazine

October’s Must See Movie for Entrepreneurs:

October Sky

When it comes to watching movies, there’s a little bit of something for every entrepreneur.

There are many movies available that can open your mind and teach you some valuable lessons about life, entrepreneurship and running a business.

If you need a little inspiration or motivation, watching October Sky can be just what you need.

The movie is based on a true story and the real-life experiences of Homer Hickman.

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The Plot

Why you should see it

The movie begins based in a small town in West Virginia. Like many other towns during this time, coal mining was not only a job but it was a way of life. The superintendant of the town’s coal mine is the father of Homer Hickman, the main character.

The fact that this movie is based on entirely true events can be motivational on its own.

The real Homer Hickman does pursue his dreams and interest in rocketry and later in life, successfully became a NASA engineer.

Homer’s father has big dreams: for both of his sons to follow his footsteps and to one day grow up and become coal miners just as he did. Becoming a coal miner is not only a goal for many of the town residents but it is almost an inevitable future. After Homer’s older brother receives a football scholarship, Homer is expected to fulfill his father’s dreams of carrying on coal mining legacy.

Things begin to look change for Homer after the world witnesses the Soviet Union launch Sputnik 1 – he becomes inspired and falls in love with rocketry. His inspiration leads him to begin creating and designing rockets with several of his friends. Once the word began to spread throughout the town about their interest in rockets, everyone begins to think they are crazy. Homer’s family agrees and his father stands behind his belief that he is wasting his time.

During the movie, Homer reaches an all-time low: he abandons his dreams of rocketry, drops out of school and works as a coal miner after his father is in an accident. After a turn of events, he goes back to school and returns to his dreams of designing rockets. He wins the science fair, goes off to college and eventually returns to his town as a hero.

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Although Homer wasn’t trying to run a business, many entrepreneurs can relate to the obstacles he had to overcome. The feeling of being doubted, ridiculed or even mocked is an all too familiar situation for many startup founders.

Not only are the dreams of many business owners doubted, but lacking support from your friends or family can be enough to crush your dreams altogether. Some of us have even given up at one point or another because there was no one standing behind your ideas.

October Sky is about following your dreams despite what other people may think or feel about them. There isn’t wrong with living a ‘normal’ life but for someone who dreams outside of the box, taking the harder path can allow you to achieve your goals and reach for the stars.

After seeing this movie, remember this: • You can do anything you set your mind to if YOU believe it to be achievable • Your goals can be the fuel to your motivation especially if you lack outside support.

• It’s okay to take risks – making an impact on the world is never easy.

Special Spotlight Feature:

Startup Strategy & Growth 34

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The Positive Impacts of

Outsourcing

The word outsourcing has earned a bad reputation with many Americans. The act of outsourcing is often associated with jobs being transferred by large companies to other countries.

Unfortunately, because of its bad reputation, many people don’t realize the positive impact and benefits outsourcing can have, not only on the United States but on third-world countries as well.

Outsourcing is going to continue to expand and be used in the business world, so knowing how it benefits the economy, small businesses and other countries can help shed new light on the term for those who are unaware of its positive effects.

Consumer Benefits As a consumer, you may assume that outsourcing has nothing to do with you – this is incorrect. Outsourcing can actually benefit the consumer in a number of ways. • When a company outsources the manufacturing of their products, this can essentially reduce the costs for the consumer. Not only does this make the item more affordable but it allows the customer to utilize the money they save on something that is more valuable to them, such as a rent or insurance payment. For example: it could cost a United States company $1,500 to produce a tablet but a Chinese company $800. This will save the consumer $700 for other expenses they may have.

“

For example: it could cost a United States company $1,500 to produce a tablet but a Chinese company $800. This will save the consumer $700 for other expenses they may have.

• Because many customer service jobs are outsourced, the consumer has access to service assistance almost every day of the year at any time of the day.

• Much of the negative connotation that is associated with outsourcing comes from the sympathy Americans have for those who lose their jobs to outsourced employees. While some of these jobs are lost to outsourced employees, because the costs of labor have been reduced, new jobs can be added to the company.

Advancing Third-World Countries The positive effect outsourcing has on third-world countries may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but many of these countries are experiencing increased development because of these outsourced jobs they have available.

• Outsourcing allows residents of third-world countries to increase their income. For some people, even with a college education, they could never earn wages from outsourcing as they would if they were to be employed by a job based in their own country.

• Countries like Africa do not have access to banking institutions but outsourcing can provide them with these luxuries. For example, freelancer.com has a debit/banking card available for its employees, which allows them access to shop online or anywhere credit cards are accepted.

• Increased Internet access allows anyone to expand their knowledge, education and have the opportunity to work. In many third-world countries, women are not allowed to work but websites that outsource jobs such as transcription or customer service allow women to work right out of their homes.

Benefiting Startups As much as outsourcing benefits the entire world, startup founders can find some relief in utilizing outsourcing for their business. Startup founders have a lot on their plates during the launching stages, so outsourcing can be a great option.

• Before you launch your startup, you may be the only employee for your business. Outsourcing can provide your business the opportunity to grow and gain the employees you need in a brief amount of time. The hiring process can take years to find experienced and

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educated employees, but outsourcing or hiring independent contractors can expand your business in months.

• The cost of labor can be through the roof for many startup founders, but outsourcing allows you to employ qualified individuals for less than the average employee. This option can also provide you with the option to search far and wide for a qualified employee who has many different areas of expertise and knowledge rather than settling for someone local.

• Prioritizing and focusing on what is important can be difficult as a startup founder, because you have so

many tedious tasks to take care of.

Outsourcing jobs can give you some relief and allow you to focus on some of the more substantial aspects of your business. It can also give you more flexibility to be wherever you need to be – such as meeting with investors or potential clients. Many outsourced employees can be assigned a task and left to work on their own without your supervision.

Knowing that outsourcing benefits people all over the world can help change the way you view it entirely. If you can see how it is positively affecting the world, maybe there is acceptance for outsourcing after all.

About the Contributors This article was written by Tabitha Jean Naylor, with extensive insight provided by Nik Badminton, the Regional Director of the North American Market at Freelancer.com.

Check out more of his expertise on outsourcing here. Connect with him directly on Twitter @nikolas_dcm.

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content marketing

7 Tools to Hack Your Growth (That Means Get Big, Fast) Use content marketing to supercharge your growth. Here’s how.

By Murray Newlands

In its earliest days, growth hacking was a fairly ambiguous term that marketers used to describe their often-untraditional methods of gaining rapid traction for startups. However, over the years, growth hacking has evolved into something that more closely resembles a science, and its various techniques have been used repeatedly to help earlystage startups morph themselves into established, successful businesses in a hurry.

From paid search to public relations campaigns, there are countless ways marketers have used growth hacking strategies in the past, but the most frequent and recognizable approach in recent memory has been via content marketing.

How do growth hacking and content marketing work together?

It’s simple, really. The ultimate goal of content marketing is to drive traffic, attract new audiences, and

generate conversions. In and of itself, content marketing is a strategy for overall growth, and thus can be placed under the growth hacking strategies umbrella. From blog posts to YouTube videos, content marketing enables brands to promote their message and introduce new consumers to all of the products or services that they have to offer.

Yet, despite the fact that content marketing can play a significant role in the growth of a new business, it’s often easier said than done. There are any number of ways to promote a brand through custom-made content, but to get the best results, you need to use the right tools and optimize your approach.

The following are six of the best content marketing tools that growth hackers can use to build their brand’s fan base quickly and easily.

1. Optimizely As any marketing professional will tell you, success depends on A/B testing. To know what’s working and what isn’t, you have to constantly compare and contrast different ads or creative elements. From headlines to images, and even down to the nitty-gritty details of font and color palette, you need to deploy different ads to find out which ones generate the best results.

Optimizely is a great tool that allows you to A/B test your landing pages and find a design that provides the best end-user experience and yields the highest number of converting leads.

There are any number of ways to promote a brand through custom-made content, but to get the best results, you need to use the right tools and optimize your approach.

2. KissMetrics Is your site generating a decent amount of traffic, but failing to produce the conversions you’re hoping for? If so, you should look into KissMetrics and its analytics suite. While a

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service like Google Analytics can show you how many people are coming to your site and how long they’re staying, KissMetrics can offer you even more detailed insights into user behavior so that you can identify where your traffic is falling off and fix those problem areas.

3. Bounce Exchange Yes, website traffic is great, but unless you are able to keep your visitors on the page and engaging with your brand, it’s almost worthless. Thus, you should place emphasis on new user retention, and with a tool like Bounce Exchange you can gain a better understanding of your visitors’ actions and discover why they are bouncing from your page. With detailed insights on behaviors like mouse movements, you will be able to make any necessary adjustments to your site and improve the user experience to keep visitors on your page longer, and completing your desired action.

4. Marketing.ai Team members need to stay in contact at all times and know what’s going on with each other.

Marketing.ai helps you manage your content marketing calendar for everyone on your team. You can task and assign projects to team members and track and measure performance.

5. Intercom.io Successful content marketing often boils down to creating tailored content and distributing it effectively to your audience.

With Intercom.io, you have access to data and organization tools for various aspects of your content strategy, ranging from your email

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marketing messages to customer engagement metrics. Intercom. io is one of the most unique, comprehensive growth hacking tools out there--an undeniable necessity for content marketers and growth hackers.

6. Social Mention An integral part of content marketing is social shares and social mentions, and with this tool you’ll be able to find out exactly who is talking about your brand and what they’re saying on various social networks. From blog mentions to social media sites, Social Mention can give you an in-depth look into your brand’s social traction and help you develop better strategies for social media.

7. Crazy Egg At the end of the day, you create branded content to provide a valuable user experience for your customers. With Crazy Egg, you get a detailed map of your customers’ on-site behaviors so that you can better understand their experience and improve on the areas that are driving customers away. With its unique visual read out, Crazy Egg can provide you with all of the information you need to convert more of your visitors into paying customers.

With all of these tools in your arsenal, it’s time to go forth and start building your brand’s fan base. Have growth hacking tools that you’d like to share? Let us know about them in the comments below.

About the Author Murray Newlands is a startup adviser, investor, and entrepreneur. He’s written for many major publications, such as VentureBeat and Entrepreneur.

* This article originally appeared on Inc.com

How to Close a Sale: The Only Thing You Need to Know

By Jill Konrath

Have you ever heard the phrase “detach from the outcome”? It’s a tenet of Eastern religions.

For many years it was a concept that I found totally unfathomable. After all, sales itself is about outcomes. Our income is at risk. We need to get the business.

But over the years, I’ve learned the wisdom of that message. In fact, the more I wanted to close a sale (or should I say – needed to close a sale) the less likely I was to get it.

Why? Because my focus was on me, not my prospect. And, whenever you need something that much, you push too hard for it. You short-circuit the process and go for the close before the time is right and your prospect is ready.

Do they feel it? You bet. They lean back, put obstacles in your path and don’t return your calls or respond to your emails. Then, you get desperate and your neediness shows – and you become even less desirable to do business with. All because you’re so eager to get the sale.

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I’ve learned that the only cure is to detach from the outcome.

To be willing to say to yourself, “I know I need this sale, but I’m going to put that aside and focus on helping my prospect make a good decision.” Sometimes, you have to say it over and over to yourself.

When you stop focusing on closing a sale, everything changes because your prospect’s needs become your driving force. And, paradoxically, that’s the best way to get what you want. Go figure.

About the Author Jill Konrath is an internationally recognized sales expert, keynote speaker and author of three bestselling books: Agile Selling, Selling to Big Companies and SNAP Selling. To accelerate your sales, check out all the free resources on her website: www.jillkonrath.com/sales-resources * This post originally appeared on Jill Konrath’s website and is republished here with permission.

Boost Your Revenue SPREAD YOUR NEWS TO THE WORLD Send your news to the millions of the potential clients

EFFECTIVE PRESS RELEASE DISTRIBUTION 43

Successful Startup 101 Magazine

Cash Today Losses Tomorrow!

Richard Weinberger, PhD, CPA

W

hat’s a killer for many small businesses? It is the need for cash, which can be an overriding factor in many business decisions dealing with customers. The attitude of “make whatever I can today regardless of the consequences tomorrow” can affect future sales and long-term customer relationships. No

business can satisfy the needs of every customer all the time. A business should be prepared to let a sale “go” when the timing is not right, so the customer can be secured for a future sale. Once a customer is dissatisfied, it is highly unlikely that the customer will ever return.

Once lost – lost forever!

Many small businesses do a great disservice to themselves with the philosophy of make a buck today and worry about tomorrow, when tomorrow comes. From a practical standpoint, taking this type of short-sighted approach to business acquisition means:

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These situations and many similar ones accomplish two things for a small business – immediate cash and the loss of future business. Customers are savvy today and competition is intense for the same dollars. Few businesses have a monopoly on the market in which they do not have to worry about customers seeking to do business with competitive rivals.

Over promise and under deliver - Some businesses are notorious for promising customers the moon - whatever the customer wants to hear – knowing they will not be able to provide what was promised.

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Customer service - here today - gone tomorrow –During the typical “sales pitch,” the presentation is all about customer service. You probably get the picture.

Whatever the customer needs or wants, it can all be accomplished until the sale is made or contract signed. Oh, how the service situation changes after that point in time!

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No need for details in writing, we’re all about ethics – It is such a hassle at times to get all the details of a sale or service engagement written in a finely worded document.

While many customers think that they have verbally agreed on the details of a transaction, they later find to their dismay that the business did not consider “this or that” as part of the sale, especially when the small business realizes that the profit margin is much less than originally estimated.

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A loyal customer can be equated to an annuity.

The dollars roll in year after year. A satisfied customer will, hopefully, recommend a business to others, but a dissatisfied customer will most certainly tell a multitude of associates and acquaintances about their unpleasant experience with a business.

So, there is a compound effect on revenues and profits when businesses look only to the short-term to make a sale without considering the long-term effect of turning a current advocate into a longterm adversary. This is not a technique to promote business!

Long-term success relies on steady growth. If a business does not plan for customer retention, then it is a revolving door of securing customers, losing customers, and trying to secure new customers – wasted effort and wasted dollars!

The solution for this dilemma can be quite simple and the reverse of the above points:

•

Under promise and over deliver – Customers want to feel that they received the benefits expected and what was promised. They want value for the money they paid. And, when a business over delivers what was promised, customers are pleasantly surprised and loyalty is developed.

•

Customer service always – Customers do not forget bad experiences. They remember what was promised and what they received after a transaction is completed. Customer service cannot be provided only up to the point of sale and then ignored.

•

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Attention to detail and follow-up – These two factors make it is easy for a business to ensure that all sales commitments are made whether previously agreed upon verbally or written. When other businesses are forgetting about the fine details of a sale, strict attention to detail and follow-up allows a business to springboard past its competition.

Successful Startup 101 Magazine

Business success is not only about today, but tomorrow, as well. Today’s sale should be viewed as an installment for tomorrow. When customers are properly taken care of, they will follow a business into the future. In contrast, once a customer is dissatisfied, that customer is probably lost forever.

When a business is proactive about customer retention, (1) under promising and over delivering, (2) customer service always, and (3) attention to detail and follow-up automatically fall into place.

About the Author Richard L. Weinberger, PhD, CPA, has over 30 years experience as a financial and management consultant for small businesses. An esteemed thought leader, speaker, and former college professor, he is CEO of the Association of Accredited Small Business Consultants. His latest best-selling book, Propel Your Small Business to Success: Accelerated Actions to Maximize Profit, (www.aampapproach.com) gives small business owners an easy, step-by-step, logical method for reviewing and analyzing all aspects of their business to ensure survival and success.

Getting Clients from Social Media: 4 Things You Need to Fix

By Michelle Nickolaisen

M

ost of the time, when social media marketing is discussed, it’s in reference to larger companies. But I often hear freelancers lamenting that their social media strategies don’t seem to be working for them, and they aren’t sure why.

Here are four common reasons that you’re not getting clients from social media — with fixes for each one, of course:

1. You Don’t Have a Distinctive Voice or Brand Social media is noisy. We all see hundreds of social media posts a day, in between LinkedIn, Google+,

Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest… the list goes on. To stand out and be memorable enough that people will hire you, you need to have a distinctive voice and brand. You need to make sure you don’t sound like a personality-less robot.

There’s a line here — you don’t want your Twitter feed to be all jokes about whatever TV show you’re currently watching, or commentary on your local nightlife. But at the same time, expressing personality is important. I always think it’s interesting when I see business gurus encouraging a strict separation of personal and business accounts. It might be a generational issue, but I’ve never bothered to do that, and I’ve had clients who specifically said they sought me out because of the personality that shines through in my social media accounts.

But it’s not just about personality, it’s also about differentiating your business, too. Mike Tielemans, cofounder of Meraki Marketing, says: Create a brand for yourself on social sites by understanding your unique proposition to the market. Don’t try to become everything to everybody. Instead, find one thing that hits the sweet spot between demand and your capabilities/passions.

Design a sexy one-page website with the vision for your company and how you aim to wow everyone you choose to work with. Then validate your idea (see Noah Kagan’s work on validating a business idea in 24 hours) and target from there.

2. You’re Not Sharing Your Expertise People want to see that you have a personality and a unique viewpoint, but they also need to know that you have expertise and real-world know-how to back that up.

One way to do this is by freely expressing your opinions on industry matters — even if it seems like you might drive clients away by doing so. Seth Knapp, CEO at GetChitter, says, freelancers can’t be afraid to be a thought leader: Often times freelancers fail to establish themselves as a thought leader on social media. This is a critical error because businesses automatically carry a certain amount of trust in the eyes of consumers, whether it’s deserved or not, but freelancers lack this natural trust.

They need to use social media to establish themselves as thought leaders by posting relevant, insightful commentary, sharing high quality articles, and engaging with other thought leaders.

As Knapp touches on, another way to do this is by sharing high quality content. Ideally, this is content you’ve created yourself, but you can also share content from other sources. In fact, sharing industry news with commentary can work just as well, says Vishal Srivastava, co-founder at Trainedge Consulting: The key to getting high quality work through social media is sharing lots of relevant content.

You need to understand that you cannot generate all of this content yourself, and nobody expects you to.

If you share good content created by others, that is also valuable. It also tells your followers that you are active in your field, have an intellectual interest in improving yourself, and are in touch with the latest news in your area.

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3. You’re Not Balancing Your Activity There are two sides to this problem: You’re not being proactive enough You should be sharing opinions, industry news, and useful content (whether it’s content you’ve created or not), as we’ve already covered above. But at the same time, you need to be proactively engaging with people one-on-one to see real results from social media.

You might remember this being mentioned in the list of unconventional ways to get clients we published a few weeks ago: Using Twitter and tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, you can set up searches for specific keywords such as “web designer” or “WordPress developer”. Check in on it a few times a day and see what questions people have about your field of expertise or what discussions are going on about working with freelancers in your field. Chime in where you can, always with the goal of being helpful, not salesy.

William Kinirons, president at BMK Media, summarizes the problem as being two-sided: One of the biggest mistakes I see other developers make in promoting is a lack of a true call-to-action, or one that is so broad that it totally fails to engage the viewer. Posting “Busy doing X for client Y” or “We can handle all your development needs” doesn’t really move anyone towards retaining you.

The second biggest issue is lack of deal-closing follow-through; a friend or follower asks a question and the responder fails to reply in a way that allows them to immediately set up a meeting or retainer.

And this article at FastCompany (How Startups (And Everyone Else) Should Handle Social Media) isn’t 100% developer focused, but gives another example of a way that you can be proactive without being pushy.

Being too pushy or ‘broadcast-y’ On the other hand, if you think of social media as strictly a sales tool, your efforts will probably be doomed from the start. John Turner, CEO of UsersThink, says: One of the biggest mistakes a freelancer can make trying to get clients via social media is treating the medium as late in the funnel (the “close” point) when it’s much earlier in the buying process, closer to discover and education. Use social media to prove your abilities, knowledge and skill, not to close.

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Think of it as a balancing act: Your personality, intelligence, and engaging conversations will draw people in, and the call-to-action or promotional posts sprinkled throughout your social posts can help turn people into potential clients. You wouldn’t walk up to someone at a networking event or party and immediately pitch them on your services, but you probably would proactively start conversations, and mention your services if it became clear that they (or their friend, or colleague) could use them.

4. Last but Not Least: Are You Getting an Accurate Perspective?

You may think you aren’t getting any clients from your social media, and wonder what you need to change.

But the problem may not actually be with your social media — it could be with your analytics or salestracking processes. Brian Carter, author and consultant, notes: The lack of good analytics makes it look like you aren’t getting clients from social media, but that may not be the truth.

The number one reason it may appear that you don’t get clients from social media, even if you do, is that usually when we reach people in social media, they aren’t yet ready to buy.

We may get them to become fans, followers or email subscribers, and later when they contact us, the original social media referral information is not attached.

In the research I’ve seen where prospects were tracked long term, and credit was given to the original referrer — the first interaction — it was often social media.

For a thorough guide on setting up your own tracking efforts to make sure you’re getting an accurate picture of your results, check out How To Really Measure the ROI of Social Efforts.

Your Client-Getting Social Media Checklist • Do you have a memorable brand? When interacting with you on social media, are the differentiators of you and your business clear?

• Do you sound like a robot? Is your personality shining through in most — if not all — of your social media updates?

• Are you sharing your industry opinions

and expertise on a regular basis?

• Are you sharing useful content, whether from you or other people, on a regular basis?

• Are you balancing being proactive with not being too broadcast-y?

• And last but not least, do you have an accurate way to track your social media results? (If not, set one up today!)

About the Author Michelle Nickolaisen is a freelance writer/biz owner that lives in Austin, TX. When she’s not writing (typically about business or productivity related topics), she’s watching Buffy, Doctor Who, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. When she is writing, Spotify is her best friend. She’s been freelancing since 2008 and blogging since the wee age of 13 when a teacher encouraged her to start a daily writing practice. You can snag more free content on growing your freelance business here.

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Building Company Culture (On A Budget)

By David Donner Chait

For any young company, building a strong company culture that reflects your core values is essential to a quality product, happy employees, and subsequent sustainable growth.

As a young startup, my company Travefy – an online group travel planner – has focused on building a culture that rewards hard work, while also emphasizing a fun environment. Based on our successes (and failures) here are key tips for building a strong company culture on a startup budget.

1. Share your vision!

As a young startup, chances are your team didn’t join your company for a huge salary, company

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car, and other wild perks. Most likely, they joined your company because they believe in what you’re building and what your company can accomplish.

Knowing this, as a leader, you must continuously share your long-term vision with your team. This understanding of the path ahead and subsequent buy-in from your team puts everyone on the same page and allows for meaningful leaps forward together.

2. Provide high impact benefits.

A common misconception is that providing benefits has to be expensive. Firstly, there are a significant number of lower-cost and high-impact benefits startups can provide. Additionally, one should never forget that the ROI – or return on investment

– of benefits almost always outweighs the cost as happy and valued employees work harder. As such, benefits are a key way to build a culture of dedication and appreciation.

The most important benefit one can provide is equity. Equity – through an employee stock options plan – aligns interests by giving your team true company ownership and is a huge motivator. Healthcare too – even through a lower cost HRA – provides a powerful show of commitment to employees (and hey, don’t you want them to be healthy!).

3. Take time to celebrate wins.

Be a force of positive reinforcement and celebrate team wins and milestones. From big product releases to personal “firsts”, take the time to celebrate, which gives the team a perspective on progress (which can be difficult to gauge from the trenches) as well as a sense of pride in their work.

At Travefy, we celebrate big milestones and also have our Travefy “Team Awesome” award given out weekly for doing something new, great, or high impact the week before.

4. Get out of the office!

Another great way to build office culture is to all interact on a personal (and non-work) level. To best do this, get out of the office!

Beyond these, there are several low-cost, highimpact benefits startups can provide to create a fun culture. These include:

It’s easy to plan budget friendly non-work team events like a video-game night, beach outing, or really anything that would be enticing your team. This provides everyone time to relax and build lasting bonds.

5. Take hiring seriously.

Food perks. Provide free snacks, a weekly team meal or even an allowance for working late. Food keeps your team alert, boosts productivity, and can be low cost (if you’re a smart shopper).

Lastly, one of the biggest things that can impact – positively or negatively – the company culture you’ve so delicately built is new employees. As a result, hiring – from a culture perspective – must be taken extremely seriously.

Remove face-time. Be flexible with your team and let them work from home or coffee shops at times. This lets people work in their preferred environments and demonstrates trust, which is essential to startup culture.

At Travefy we balance for this by ensuring all team members meet potential new hires at the final stage to gauge their opinions and ensure buy-in.

About the Author: David D. Chait is Co-Founder and CEO of Travefy – the easiest online and mobile group travel planner – as well as a regular contributor to Entrepreneur.

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Insider Tip

How to Give Away FREE Stuff and Make Money in the Process EVENT

By Assia Salikhova Hate it or love it, the magic of FREE stuff appeals to everyone.

Whether you are a consumer or a government department, the smallest home based business or a multinational corporation, a FREE offers work over and over again. Some cynics are able to pretend to resist by asking “What is the catch?”, but if there is a good explanation, even cynics are open to the opportunity.

Personally, just like you, I prefer to be paid for what

we do. Just like you, I do not like discounting or giving away our products and services. When it comes to someone else’s, just like you, I like free, discounted and special offers.

Amazing! We all like to be paid in full for what we do, and yet prefer to get everything for free or as cheap as possible. Every time I spot this (happens often!) I wonder how an economy can survive if everyone is focused on selling high and buying...sorry, getting everything free.

Fortunately for you and me and everyone else - there is a solution. There is a solution which is beneficial for everyone, is completely ethical, involves no mysterious games and has a positive impact on the economy by creating more sales, cash flow and new jobs.

Are you ready to know what the solution is? Well ... you are about to discover and experience it for yourself. I’ll give you a hint, just two words to help you uncover this wonderful universal solution for yourself: added value.

Every business has something that costs little, has a high margin and can add extra value. While we are all familiar with the “Would you like fries with that?”, are we offering fries to our customers?

And it may not even be an object; it could be extra service or extra information.

Consultants, suppliers of large items, and many others often complain: “We don’t have anything small like fries and we can’t (don’t want to) give anything away. “ Imagine if offering extra value can help you close the deal.

Would you then reconsider? In

Are you ready to know what the solution is?

Well ... you are about to discover and experience it for yourself.

fact, there is no question about it – offering extra value definitely helps you close a deal. All you need to do is look around – every single company has something to offer. All you have to do is find it, ‘package’ it with words and make a big deal out of it.

Here are three questions you can ask to find this magical free item in your business: 1. Is there an item you already have, which is easy to reproduce (much like fries)? For example you may have electronic books or products, or a product with a high margin that you can easily get in bulk. It may be a promotional product related to your business.

2. Is there relevant valuable knowledge on-line or off-line you can share?

For example if you run seminars you can offer all past participants to come again at no cost.

3. Can you produce vouchers for your store? Or even negotiate vouchers to some other place, which can offset the cost of vouchers as their marketing cost … that leads to another fascinating strategy, which deserves a whole new article.

If you’ve got the idea – now is the time to use it for the benefit of your business.

And if you don’t – it never hurts to ask for help.

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“

Are you ready to know what the solution is? Well ... you are about to discover and experience it for yourself. I’ll give you a hint, just two words to help you uncover this wonderful universal solution for yourself:

added value.

About the Author

Assia Salikhova is a founder of marketing agency E-ideas Limited and strongly believes in the common sense approach to business and marketing.

From a Human Genome project to her own label in fashion design, from IT to communication; Assia’s diverse past allows her to bring ideas across disciplines and create a bigger vision, greater value and leverage them with an array of inspiring strategies for businesses in any industry. Connect with her at + 64 4 977 7877 or assia@whoiswhere.co.nz.

4 Programs Every Startup Founder Should Know About

By Tabitha Jean Naylor

4 Programs Every Startup Founder Should Know About Every startup founder can use a hand when it comes to developing software and finding a way to focus on your customers rather than the nitty-gritty of your business.

It’s easy to get caught up in the technicalities of running a business and lose sight of what matters the most to your company: the customers.

There are four programs and websites that are strictly for assisting startups in using software and finding customers with their huge databases.

Salesforce for Startups is a program started by the well-known company Salesforce. com. The program will allow startups to focus on customers and will help you in the beginning of your journey to success, including helping startups utilize new technologies such as Service SOS or Journey Builder for Apps.

Salesforce for Startups Salesforce for Startups is a program started by the wellknown company Salesforce. com. The program will allow startups to focus on customers and will help you in the beginning of your journey to success, including helping startups utilize new technologies such as Service SOS or Journey Builder for Apps.

Features of Salesforce for Startups: • Allows your startup to grow with free CRM and customer service tools for a year • Provides you with a place to publish your apps to over 100,000+ customers • Gives its members free access to the Salesforce1 Platform • The program has adopted the 1-1-1 model so entrepreneurs can have a chance to give back to their communities • Use of the service cloud, which allows you to respond to customers from anywhere at any time

Amazon also offers Web Services for startups. This includes free tools for your cloud so you can access servers, storage and databases for your business. With a new AWS account, you can receive 12 months of free access to the features for Amazon’s Cloud program.

Benefits of Salesforce for Startups: • Helps businesses find new customers and continue to grow • Offers a community for entrepreneurs to learn from other successful entrepreneurs and Salesforce professionals • Manage your business from any device • Stay in the know regarding startup events and other opportunities available for startup founders • Improve your customer service

Amazon’s Cloud for Startups Amazon also offers Web Services for startups. This includes free tools for your cloud so you can access servers, storage and databases for your business. With a new AWS account, you can receive 12 months of free access to the features for Amazon’s Cloud program.

Features of the AWS: • 12 months of free tier; after that, only pay for what you actually use • Free accounts include the AWS basic support which includes customer service and more • Provides data storage which you can access at any time

• The free tier, Amazon S3, is 5GB’s of storage • Free storage gateway after you activate your first virtual gateway appliance – it then connects software with cloud-based storage • Free tier offers 30 GB of Elastic Block Storage (EBS)

Benefits of AWS: • Storage offers backup options for disaster recovery and archiving • Many of the products you pay for as you use and have no upfront costs • Access as much or as little as you need, so your capacity is always known • Auto scale your Amazon capacity yourself • Focus more on your customers

Google’s Cloud for Startups Google’s Cloud for startups is specifically designed to help startup founders focus on the things that are the most important to them. Google will manage the details so you don’t have to.

Feature of Google Cloud: • App Engine where you can begin developing and building a new app

• Build Cloud Platform solutions through their templates or your own designs • Cloud storage so you can manage data and access from anywhere at any time • Startup a virtual machine or set up your own web server

Benefits of Google Cloud: • Up to $100,000 free in Cloud Platform Credits for 1 year, which can be applied to all Cloud Platform products • 24/7 support if you need assistance • Eligible for startups which include people who have never received Cloud credits, have less than $5 million in funding or make less than $500,000 in annual revenue

Microsoft’s BizSpark for Startups Last but certainly not least, is Microsoft’s BizSpark for startups. Microsoft has created a program called BizSpark, which offers support and software for startups so that they can succeed.

Features of BizSpark: • Access to software and development tools you need to build software applications • You will gain access to advisors and investors to help you begin and run your business successfully • Find and obtain financing through BizSpark for your startup • Free monthly benefits that will help startups build and develop Web

applications • Free one-year Windows Store and Windows Phone developer accounts

Benefits of BizSpark: • With your Windows Store and Windows Phone accounts, you will have the ability to distribute your apps all over the world • A network of over 100,000 startups, 5 years of experience and in over 165 countries • Promote your apps through the BizSpark website • Startups qualify if they are less than five-years-old or make less than $1 million annually

You want to reward your employees, but your business may not be able to afford to give costly raises, bonuses or extravagant gifts but it can still be done on a budget.

8 Simple Ways to Reward Employees on a Budget

By Rhett Power

I

t’s management 101 but as entrepreneurs and managers we often forget to reward people for a job well done. Even if you are just starting out or if your business can’t afford to give costly raises, bonuses or extravagant gifts. Let’s take a look at some ways you can show your employees that you care.

Show Appreciation You can reward your employees by simply showing your appreciation for them and all they do.

1. Paid Time Off

Give your hard working employee an unexpected paid day off work.

2. Parking Space

If you are able, allocate parking spots to those who deserve a reward.

3. Personal Note

Leave a handwritten note on your employee’s desk telling them what a good job they have been doing and how much you appreciate it.

Rewards for everyone in the office can include:

4. Fun Time and Team Building

Take a few hours a week and allot them to having fun. Playing games can be a great stress reliever in addition to being a rewarding break.

5. Food

Bring donuts or a more healthy alternative to the office, buy pizza for lunch, or maybe stock the kitchen once a week with snacks for everyone.

Use office time whenever possible. Some employees don’t want to use their time off to celebrate their business successes.

Recognition One way to reward your employees is by recognizing them. Some ways to do this are:

6. Write Up

Acknowledge employees who have done exemplary work by writing up a small article about them in the company newsletter, blog or on social media.

something that is meaningful. Giving a gift that shows you have paid attention to your employee is often more impressive than something that costs a lot of money.

With these ideas, you can see it’s possible to reward employees without breaking the bank. The reward and the payoff make it worth every penny that you spend building morale.

7. Employee of the Month

Put an employee of the month policy in place.

You can reward someone once a month with a particular parking place or putting their picture on the wall.

8. Simple Gifts

The key to rewarding someone with a gift is knowing them well enough to present them with

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About the Author Rhett Power co-founded Wild Creations in 2007 and quickly built the company into the fastestgrowing business in South Carolina. Learn more at rhettpower.com.

3 Key Factors to Creating Your Customer Experience Strategy

—

By Alan See

Did you know that early phone books included detailed directions on how to use the telephone? For example, a New York City telephone directory from 1885 gave the following instructions:

To Call Press in the button and turn the crank once only; unhook the listening telephone (receiver) and put it close to your ear, when Central Office will enquire: “What number?” Give Central Office and number of person wanted, and upon receiving the answer “All right,” hang up the receiver, and wait until your bell rings, then place the receiver to your ear and address person called. If you do not immediately hear his voice, the delay – except in rare cases – is owing to his failure to promptly answer the call. Therefore, hang up the receiver, press in the button and ring twice, then put the receiver again to your ear. Speak in a moderate, clear tone, with mouth three or four inches from transmitter. Loud speaking jars the mechanism of the instrument and produces a confused sound. When through do not fail to hang up the receiver, and call off, pressing in button and turning crank once. If you wish to call for a subscriber before disconnection is made, hang up your receiver, press in button, and turn crank once; then immediately place receiver to your ear and Central Office will answer.

If subscribers will respond quickly when their bells are rung the service will be much improved.

If bell rings once pay no attention – you are not wanted. If it rings twice you are wanted. Unhook receiver and speak immediately. The receiver, except when at your ear, must be always on the hook.

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We can laugh about that passage now; but think about it, in 1885 the telephone was new technology and nobody had any idea how to use one. In fact, even after the telephone had been demonstrated, there was not universal agreement that it had any immediate practical use. The telegraph and other communications options were working just fine, thank you very much.

Today, many organizations have tossed out the owner’s manual as the ability to immediately start using a device or application without instructions is a feature of User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design. However, judging by the number of “For Dummies,” and other how-to books and videos it’s apparent that not all consumer-focused UX/UI design is intuitive. Or for that matter, that the target audience can visualize the new product or service helping them achieve their goals or solve problems. After all, if the product doesn’t align with the customer’s needs and expectations then what’s the point?

President Rutherford B. Hayes to Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 on viewing the telephone for the first time: “That’s an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?”

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“Experiences” Create Emotional Events that Accumulate Over Time A customer need exists because customers are not being satisfied by either current products offered, or alternatives. And being customer-focused, you want to sell your customers what they are asking for. But what would it take to convert people who aren’t customers into customers? And what about B2B situations where the customers (buyers) and users can be different people? When should risks be taken to let pure innovation step forward? Because in today’s economy, getting the phone to ring is no laughing matter for a start-up or small business owner.

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Henry Ford

The user experience is interwoven with the total customer experience. And “experiences” create emotional events that accumulate over time. Here are three points to consider as you strive to create your desired customer experience.

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and consistency across those channels and touchpoints so you have your work cut out for you.

3

Are you presenting facts and figures, or telling a story? Related to buyer behavior and motivation is the fact that people respond to words and pictures in much the same way that they respond to real happenings. We are attracted to stories because we a social creatures.

Storytelling has the potential to evoke strong responses to help persuade and change consumer behavior in your favor.

1

Go back to your marketing 101 course material and review the chapter on Product Life Cycles.

The telephone, television and internet are like living organisms. They are born, they live, and at some point they’ll die, or morph into something quite different. The early-market adopters have the ability to visualize usages and view new offerings for their potential advantages. During the introduction stage, many potential buyers must be made aware of the product’s features, uses, and advantages. Digital natives do not represent your free pass through the introduction phase. While they may have a comfort level with technology that doesn’t guarantee they get it.

Finally, early-market buyers are generally willing to endure the inconveniences that come with being first-generation customers. But you need to listen to them carefully when they point out your inadequate documentation and missing functionality.

2

Also in your marketing 101 material is a chapter on buyer behavior and motivation. There is probably a section on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In short, what motivational appeal are you going for across your customer interaction points? This won’t be easy because touchpoints include stores, telephones, mail, web and every one of those new social media platforms just to name a few. Consumers generally want convenience, freedom of choice

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About the Author Alan See is Principal and Chief Marketing Officer of CMO Temps, LLC. He is recognized as a most influential CMO by Forbes, Social Media Marketing Magazine and CEOWorld Magazine, as well as a Top 1% Influencer by Kred. Alan is an active blogger and frequent presenter on topics that help organizations develop marketing strategies and sales initiatives to power profitable growth. Alan holds BBA and MBA degrees from Abilene Christian University.

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How to Avoid E Common Startup Blunders

ntrepreneurs bring approximately 543,000 new business ideas to fruition every month, transforming and evolving the consumer landscape with everything from specialty grocery stores to jewelry shops. But with the average cost of starting a new business burning a $30,000 hole in most owners’ pockets, cutting costs without cutting corners can be a major challenge for both experienced retailers and industry newcomers. Despite arguments that for how critical public awareness is for retail success, allotting marketing

MEET THE EXPERT:

Tabitha Naylor,

marketing pro and founder of SuccessfulStartup101.com

your physical storefront are just a few of the many tips Tabitha shared with us in our recent Podcast series on building your small business while avoiding common start up pitfalls. Listen to the full podcast below. You can also jump ahead to key talking points by referencing the index below, or click over to the full transcript.

•

1:10 About SuccessfulStartup101.com

•

3:55 Defining modern day marketing

•

6:15 What differentiates inbound and outbound marketing

•

9:18 How small businesses can incorporate inbound marketing into their business strategies

•

10:25 Why ROI is important in marketing, and other helpful metrics retailers should be aware of

•

12:45 Simple ways to increase ROI

•

15:35 Tips on common outbound marketing approaches

•

17:00 Top tricks for accurately measuring ROI

•

17:55 What should be on every business owners’ startup checklist

dollars from an already limited budget can seem a stretch for many entrepreneurs.

That small business struggle — of managing your bottom line while being conscious of the proactive steps required to get ahead — was the inspiration behind sales and marketing expert Tabitha Naylor’smarketing consultancy practice and business advice site,SuccessfulStartUp101.com.

“Over the years of speaking with business owners I came to recognize that many operators end up making the same mistakes as their peers,” says Naylor. “It doesn’t matter where they are geographically, what niche they’re in, it’s just human nature that, unfortunately, we end up making common mistakes that others already have experienced and that end up costing us in the long run.”

The economic feasibility of startups and small shops requires creativity, perseverance, and perhaps a little insight from industry peers when it comes to critical business components, like marketing. Blogging, social media, and a web presence to match the feel and sophistication of

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This has been an installment of Kimco Realty’s StoreFront, an interview series with leaders of successful retail businesses. For more interviews, visit the StoreFront page. To learn how you can be featured, email us. We’d love to hear from you.

The 10 Most Reliable Ways to Fund a Startup

By Martin Zwilling

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How do I find the money to start my business? I always answer that there isn’t any magic, and contrary to popular myth, nobody is waiting in the wings to throw money at you just because you have a new and exciting business idea.

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” I always answer that there isn’t any magic, and contrary to popular myth, nobody is waiting in the wings to throw money at you just because you have a new and exciting business idea.

On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find when buying a car, home or other major consumer item. If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Of course, every alternative has advantages and disadvantages, so any given one may not be available or attractive to you. For example, professional investors put great priority on your previous experience in building a business, and they expect to own a portion of the business equity and control for the funds they do provide. These are tough for a first-time entrepreneur.

Thus it is always a question of what you qualify for, and what you are willing to give up, to turn your dream idea into a viable business. Here is my list of the 10 most common sources of funding today, in reverse priority sequence, with some rules of thumb to channel your focus:

10. Seek a bank loan or credit-card line of credit.

In general, this won’t happen for a new startup unless you have a good credit history or existing assets that you are willing to put at risk for collateral. In the U.S., you may find that the Small Business Administration (SBA) can get you infusions of cash without normal backup requirements.

9. Trade equity or services for startup help.

This is most often called bartering your skills or something you have for something you need. An example would be negotiating free office space by agreeing to support the computer systems for all the other office tenants. Another common example is exchanging equity for legal and accounting support.

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Most metropolitan areas have groups of local high-net-worth individuals interested in supporting startups, and willing to syndicate amounts up to a million dollars for qualified startups. Use online platforms such as Gust to find them, and local networking to find ones that relate to your industry and passion.

8. Negotiate an advance from a strategic partner or customer.

Find a major customer, or a complimentary business, who sees such value in your idea that they are willing to give you an advance on royalty payments to complete your development. Variations on this theme include early licensing or white-labeling agreements.

7. Join a startup incubator or accelerator.

These organizations, such as Y Combinator, are very popular these days, and are often associated with major universities, community development organizations, or even large companies. Most provide free resources to startups, including office facilities and consulting, but many provide seed funding as well.

6. Solicit venture-capital investors.

These are professional investors, such as Accel Partners, who invest institutional money in qualified startups, usually with a proven business model, ready to scale. They typically look for big opportunities, needing a couple of million dollars or more, with a proven team. Look for a warm introduction to make this work.

5. Apply to local angel-investor groups.

Most metropolitan areas have groups of local high-net-worth individuals interested in supporting startups, and willing to syndicate amounts up to a million dollars for qualified startups.

Use online platforms such as Gust to find them, and local networking to find ones that relate to your industry and passion.

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4. Start a crowdfunding campaign online.

This newest source of funding, where anyone can participate per the JOBS Act, is exemplified by online sites such as Kickstarter. Here people make online pledges to your startup during a campaign, to pre-buy the product for later delivery, give donations or qualify for a reward, such as a T-shirt.

3. Request a small-business grant.

These are government funds allocated to support new technologies and important causes, such as education, medicine and social needs. A good place to start looking is Grants.gov, which is a searchable directory of more than 1,000 federal grant programs. The process is long, but it doesn’t cost you any equity.

2. Pitch your needs to friends and family.

As a general rule, professional investors will expect that you have already have commitments from this source to show your credibility. If your friends and family don’t believe in you, don’t expect outsiders to jump in. This is the primary source of non-personal funds for very early-stage startups.

1. Fund your startup yourself.

These days, the costs to start a business are at an all-time low, and over 90 percent of startups are self funded (also called bootstrapping). It may take a bit longer to save some money before you start and grow organically, but the advantage is that you don’t have to give up any equity or control. Your business is yours alone.

You can see that all of these options require work and commitment on your part, so there is no magic or free money. Every funding decision is a complex tradeoff between near-term and longer-term costs and paybacks, as well as overall ownership and control.

With the many options available, there is no excuse for not living your dream, rather than dreaming about living.

About the Author Martin Zwilling is the Founder and CEO of Startup Professionals, a company that provides products and services to startup founders and small business owners. He writes a daily blog for entrepreneurs, and is also a regular contributor to Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, and other business information sites. He recently released his first book titled “Do You Have What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur?” He can be contacted directly at marty@startupprofessionals.com. * This article originally appeared on Entrepreneur.

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5 Lessons the Special Forces Taught Me about Business

By Michael I. Kaplan

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Last month I had the pleasure of speaking at a Wounded Warrior Project workshop on business and entrepreneurship in Tampa, Florida. During our question and answer session a young veteran made a statement that I found incredibly interesting and served as the inspiration for this article.

The gentleman – a US Army veteran who served as a sniper instructor and team leader – prefaced his question about resume writing with the following statement: “I was an infantry team leader and a sniper instructor, which doesn’t have any real value in the corporate world. So, I wanted to know if you could tell me how …?”

Stop right there. I vehemently disagree.

Veterans entering the civilian workforce have to understand that their resumes should actually reflect much more than hard skills

1. Planning is essential, but contingency plans are critical.

In the military we rely on the Operation Order to guide or missions, hoping that the intelligence data our mission is based on is accurate and timely. We plan, we train and we prepare to execute the mission flawlessly. We’re inserted into the area of operation and beginning our movement to the target when our team leader suddenly exclaims, “WAIT … there’s not supposed to be a river here.”

When veterans come face-to-face with Murphy’s Law, they can adapt and overcome. They have contingency plans that allow them to think and react quickly. They didn’t get this ability from reading a book.

2. 360-degree awareness gets the team home safely.

The ability to be completely aware in hostile and non-permissive environments saves lives in combat situations. There’s no room

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and transferable skills; they have to reflect and promote the benefits of life experiences that will prove to be “mission critical” to prospective employers. Further, those benefits need to be communicated to prospective employers effectively.

More importantly, it’s our responsibility as military veterans to educate Corporate America to this fact as well. Not sometime in the future, but now.

My message to civilian employers and aspiring veteran job-seekers is rather straightforward.

While you may not immediately see a direct correlation between military training and the job in question, be advised that those experiences have created a mindset that’s directly relevant to succeeding in any business environment.

Consider the 5 following lessons that prove this fact to be true.

for “I should have seen that coming” when it comes to explosive devices or rifle barrels protruding from windows in buildings.

Veterans with this experience have command over their business environment.

They walk into offices and immediately scan the walls for informative plaques, and guide introductory conversations after noticing a lapel pin or a class ring on the hand they shook. They seal deals and get the team back successfully.

3. Wait for the best shot, not the perfect shot.

In sniper school we’re trained to patiently wait for our shot, unaffected by our environment. When the target presents itself, we act: range it, dope it, scope it and pull the trigger. We’d like a perfect shot, but we know that if we hold the scope on target too long muscle fatigue sets in and our scope begins a figure-8 wobble. When that happens, we missed our opportunity.

Veterans in the civilian workforce hope for a perfect outcome, but they’re not afraid to execute when ready and make course corrections along the way if needed. They don’t suffer from “paralysis by analysis,” and they certainly don’t succumb to “deer in the headlights” syndrome. They’re doers and fivers.

4. Know when to advance, stand down and retreat.

In our modern age of special operations warfare, small teams of highly specialized personnel with a high degree of autonomy are tasked with successfully executing tactical operations with the hope of having a strategic impact. We’ve been trained to exercise good judgment: we know when it’s right to execute, and we know there are times when the situation requires us to quietly stand down and retreat unnoticed.

Veterans in the civilian workforce don’t let pride and ego override this reality.

When a meeting is going badly they know how to gracefully end the conversation and exit with dignity. When contract negotiations stall, they have the judgment to know when to maneuver to a successful conclusion and when to stand down for

another opportunity. They didn’t obtain this critical life skill in a classroom.

5. Individuals are strong, but teams are powerful.

Special Operations personnel are the most well-trained and highly lethal individuals on this planet. We also know that despite our strengths we have to sleep, and in a hostile environment that would be impossible were it not for the other members of the team remaining awake and alert. When we execute our missions, we’re as focused on the safety of the team members to our right and left as we are on the mission in front of us. As a cohesive team, the effectiveness of our combined individual skills increases exponentially.

Veterans in the civilian workforce live by the mantra “first my mission, then my men, then myself” and know the powerful capabilities of a cohesive team. They derive satisfaction from their individual accomplishments but realize their potential increases exponentially as a unit. They despise selfabsorb, back-stabbing sycophants. If you’ve never heard the term “Blue Falcon,” I encourage you to look it up now.

In summary, if I handed you my resume you’d never see these skills listed … but they’re there. You may not believe Special Forces training is relevant to the sales job you advertised … but it is. The next time a military veteran applies for a position with your company, look beyond the resume and the rifle.

What you’ll discover about our military veterans and their professional capabilities will pleasantly surprise you.

About the Author Michael Kaplan is the founder and CEO of Phase 2 Advantage, a consulting company that provides entrepreneurship and business management training for military and academic organizations. His most recent book, The Prior-Service Entrepreneur: Providing Military Veterans with the Competitive Skills to Start a Successful Business, has earned a 5-star rating on Amazon and is currently used as a course textbook in numerous business and entrepreneurship training programs throughout the United States.

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Editorial Focus

By George Deeb

Content

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What they do So what exactly does the Content Marketing Institute do?

• Provide helpful and useful advice on content marketing • Offer news and exclusive articles, including an ebook, on content marketing • Offer strategies and plans for creating a successful content marketing plan • Give tips to those who are just starting out and need to understand how content marketing works You may be thinking one thing: there are hundreds of websites online that offer the same tips on content marketing that you’ve read over and over. This is where you are mistaken. The Content Marketing Institute goes above and beyond to provide guidance and assistance for those who want more out of their content marketing. They ensure that anyone who has an interest of requires help regarding their content marketing will get it.

E

xperiencing difficulties with content marketing is inevitable. If you haven’t found the answers you need, now is the time for a game changer. If you’re a startup founder who wants their business to take off, it may be time to make some drastic changes to your content marketing.

Because of Pulizzi’s belief that brands have the ability to push harder and do more with their content marketing than they have in the past, this company strives to offer more helpful and beneficial information to anyone who seeks aid.

Why it matters to you Sure – it may be easy for you to push out loads and loads of content without any hesitation, but how useful is that content? Are you sure you’re truly offering your customers information that they need or are you just creating content that is being neglected by the reader?

The Content Marketing Institute is a company that has one focus: improving and advancing content marketing.

As a startup founder, much of your marketing is based around content marketing. It may take awhile for you to establish your business and allow your startup time to take off but with the perfect content marketing strategy, this will give you the chance to truly push your startup out to the audience.

Originally Junta42 in 2007, the business became an industry leader in content marketing matching – but the people wanted more information and education on content marketing. This is where the Content Marketing Institute, Content Marketing World and CCO magazine developed.

The guidance you will receive from the Content Marketing Institute will be relevant to you because it will offer you a strategy and outline on how to create a perfect and successful content marketing plan.

CMI was founded by Joe Pulizzi, who is not only a content marketing master, but is also an entrepreneur, speaker and author on content marketing. His belief in that content marketing can continue to advance is only just the beginning of the importance of content marketing.

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Through the website, you can also find out information such as how your content marketing measures up to others or just read articles and published work from other successful entrepreneurs. This company even offers a consulting group to further assist you if your content marketing needs have not been met!

Many startups fail because of a poorly constructed content marketing strategy.

Startup founders fail to realize that content marketing is not simply publishing articles on your blog or filling up your social media channels with useless information; it takes a strategic plan which the Content Marketing Institute can help you develop.

Content Marketing World One of the other developments founded by Joe Pulizzi after Junta42 was Content Marketing World: the largest content marketing event in the entire world!

In the 2014 Cleveland event, there were over 2600 delegates from over 50 different countries. This event offers content marketers and others who are interested to network, meet with and speak to some of the best professionals in the content marketing industry.

speakers and presentations that were at the event.

The event that recently took place in 2014 had speakers from some of the biggest brands in the world, including Julie Fleischer of Kraft Foods, Jeff Charney of Progressive and David Jones of John Deere.

Attendees also enjoyed a closing from keynote speaker Kevin Spacey.

Once you check out the preview of what kinds of videos and slides they have to offer, you can find a package to purchase that will suit your content marketing needs.

Attending this event not only provided those who attended with a way to gain inspiration for their own content marketing, but they could learn strategies from other successful brands to take back home to their own businesses. This event is hugely effective for startup founders because it allows them to implement useful tools and tips into their business and give it the extra push it needs to successfully take off.

If you can’t wait until next year’s event or you’re a little further from Cleveland than you’d like to be, there is an event available for all the West-coasters: The Intelligent Content Conference.

Thankfully the registration begins on December 1 for next year’s event, which will be in Cleveland once more on September 8-11. Be sure to plan ahead so you don’t miss this unforgettable event.

Were you unable to attend in 2014?

Whatever the reason, if you missed this year’s Content Marketing World event, there are still several options available for you to enjoy and learn from some of the

If you want the experience and insight that the event had to offer, there is a Video on Demand option for those still seeking the exclusive advice and guidance from this spectacular event.

Intelligent Content Conference

On March 23-25, 2015 in San Francisco, you can join some of the smartest content professionals in the world to learn about content marketing, content strategies and more. There will be two full days of information including case studies, discussions, presentations and day entirely dedicated to workshops.

You will gain insight and information on other ideas relative to content marketing such as adaptive content and content management. If you’re passionate about the importance of content marketing and how it relates to your business, then you shouldn’t miss this event.

If you’re still unconvinced, the word on the street says the infamous chocolate tasting bar will be returning!

The Content Marketing Institute Whether you’re a content marketer, digital strategist or amateur entrepreneur, the Content Marketing Institute can help you with your content marketing development. Their services, articles and events are almost guaranteed to help you improve your content marketing skills.

Be sure to utilize all of the options and services the site has to offer and don’t hesitate to sign up for their free newsletter or send an inquiry to their consulting group for more assistance. Taking advantage of these opportunities will open the doors for you, as a startup founder, in successfully improving your business as well as getting information out to your audience in a tactful and beneficial way.

If you’re just starting out or have owned a small business for years, the Content Marketing Institute has a little bit of something for everyone. Stop wondering where your content marketing is going wrong and visit their website today.

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Motivational Boosters 1) Vision Establish a clear vision of your goals, set attainable expectations, understand and consider any risks, and keep your eye fixed on upcoming achievements.

2) Confidence If you’re confident in your organization’s potential for success, the outside world and the employees who make your organization function will share your faith. Never be skeptical, and always maintain a positive attitude.

3) Resources Be prepared for the future by establishing the financial, technical and personnel resources necessary to expand as you reach milestones for your operation.

4) Organize As they become necessary, arrange all of those previously established resources for efficiency. Organizing tools into corporate best practices legitimizes your operation.

5) Commitment Clearly dedicate yourself to achieving your goals in a way that drives your employees and colleagues to reach for their own. Use positivity and motivation to create a favorable environment, and connect with others by being amiable and focusing on integrity.

6) Hard Work All of the intelligence in the world cannot replace a solid work ethic, and there is no way around putting in the hours if you want the result. Dedication results in efficiency, and the combination of the two will create a smart and motivated operation that gets results.

7) Work Hard, Party Harder!

Every member of a hard working operation needs the opportunity to blow off some steam. Punctuating periods of impressive output with small celebrations reinforces the effort and encourages future performance. Teams who work hard together should rejoice together!

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Organize Expenses with Ease

Goodbye shoebox, hello expense import

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