An excerpt from Young World Rising: How Youth, Technology and Entrepreneurship are Changing the World from the Bottom Up by Rob Salkowitz, published by John Wiley and Sons, reprinted by permission. “I’d like to share a personal story, if you don’t mind,” said Yerutí Méndez, Director of Training and Technology for the Young Americas Business Trust , toward the conclusion of our interview. I had just asked whether she felt that entrepreneurship was realistically a path open to those at the bottom of the pyramid, or whether it was only an option for educated Young World elites. “I’m from Paraguay, a very poor country, one of the most corrupt countries in the world,” she said. “There was a time around 1997, during the financial crisis that affected Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, we were very…”  Her voice wavered as she conjured up the memory. “My family was broke. At that point, my parents didn’t even have the money for us to go to school. My mother was fighting cancer. We were in high school, and we couldn’t even enroll.  My brother said ‘ok, I’m going to start a company and I’ll be able to pay for you to go to school.’ And my parents said, no, you can’t do that. You can’t spend all the money we have on something that’s not going to work. So the first reaction my parents had was that it wasn’t an investment, it was something they would lose.” Yerutí’s brother pressed on with his idea. He wrote his business plan, pulled the family’s finances together, and got his company underway. “He started a company to print t-shirts, and after five months he was making profits,” said Yerutí. “He was so motivated! We were going to school in the morning and working from four to ten at night because we needed to get the work done so we could eat and go to school. “That was something that changed our family. Now, each member of my family has a business. It changed our life. We said, ‘we can’t be employees; we have to have something by ourselves.’ And we are proud of that. It made our family have an income. Now we’re helping more than 20 families to have a source of income. So yes, even the most poor people, if they believe in what they’re doing, they can have a success story.” * * * Yerutí’s story is the traditional narrative of the individual entrepreneur: what used to be called the American Dream, but now belongs to the wider world.  If the spread of entrepreneurship were the only driving theme in the rise of the Young World, it would still be a significant trend. Hope can change lives. Empowerment can transform communities. Enterprise can lift up entire nations. That is a lot of potential resting on the shoulders of people like Yerutí and her family. Fortunately, in the age of a global Net Generation united by ubiquitous connectivity, entrepreneurism has become a borderless, collaborative endeavor with unprecedented resources available to shepherd great ideas into fruition. The drive, talent and ambition of individual entrepreneurs can now be channeled and amplified through the coordinated efforts of individuals, governments, NGOs, and grass-roots networks made possible by ubiquitous modes of social collaboration and pervasive access to information. The Distinctive Qualities of Young World Entrepreneurship The spread of mobile and network technology is introducing the billions in the Young World to the mindset of the global Net Generation, and more and more of these young people are looking to make an impact by creating organizations that succeed on both social and commercial terms. Their efforts are driving a swelling wave of ICT-based entrepreneurship, distinguished by six features that reflect the unique influence of the Net Generation norms (collaboration, global focus, sense of urgency, use of networked technologies, and so on). Young World entrepreneurship: Blends social and commercial objectives by putting discretionary effort behind social development initiatives and finding market-based solutions to long-standing problems. Creatively aligns public, private and NGO resources and traverses over old boundaries that served to constrain innovation and limit the missions of organizations. Leverages communities and collaboration to scale up quickly and mobilize resources, knowledge and attention to achieve goals. Is well-adapted and sustainable in Young World environments , making intensive use of capital and the productive power of knowledge, even in rugged conditions. Embraces the globalization of the knowledge workforce by drawing talent and ideas from everywhere, getting above local and national limitations. Solves systemic problems while meeting market needs by filling in the gaps in infrastructure, transparency, workforce capacity and community without waiting for governments or institutions to take the lead. Each of these features enables the growth and spread of innovative ventures in areas where adverse conditions have made indigenous economic development nearly impossible in the past. Because we are so accustomed to the slow pace of top-down development through government programs, aid, foreign direct investment, and the arrival of established multinationals to signal the maturation of Young World markets, it can be difficult to perceive how this swarm of small-scale indigenous entrepreneurism is effecting such a massive and consequential transformation in parts of the world that are, frankly, easy to ignore if you are sitting in New York, London or Tokyo. They are about to become much less easy to ignore. Rob Salkowitz is a writer, consultant and entrepreneur specializing in the social implications of new technology and next-generation workforce. Read more about Rob here .

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Youth, Entrepreneurship and Economic Renewal

Passion is an unbelievable thing.  It’s often what motivates me to get up in the morning, and it definitely what fuels me to be exceptional at my job. You need passion to start something new, to go above and beyond, or even to approach something in a completely original way.  Passion is what differentiates a “Financial Analyst II” at Fidelity from Ryan Smith, the founder of TimeOff (a young innovator who works 9-5 to pay rent and 5 to 9 because he is an entrepreneur). However, as great as passion is and as far as it can take you…you have to be careful.  Sometimes this energy and excitement can be blinding.  Some people are so tremendously passionate, yet lack the ability to take ownership and really get things done.  At times this can even result in overlooking an obstacle so simple, and right in front of you.  Coming from someone who is so passionate that he earned the title of “Ambassador of Buzz”; I wanted to share a few insights and common mistakes I have seen entrepreneurs make when trying to take their idea and grow it into a business: 1. Trying to be interesting, and not imperative I wish I could take credit for this one, but I was lucky enough to learn this lesson from Michael Troiano , a brand/advertising expert here in Boston.  People tend to think that because their ideas are interesting they will sell – but that is often not the case.  Maybe 10 years ago interesting would have been enough, but consumers aren’t buying just to buy anymore.  You now need to be imperative .  Your end user might be more worried about if they are going to make payroll next week, or how they are going to pay their rent.  Make your value added proposition short, clear, and jump out at them.  And if all else fails remember these wise words from Troiano: “Startups fail because the dog won’t eat the dog food”. 2. Hiring the best technical fit Seth Godin makes a really interesting point in his new book “ LinchPin ”, that I think really helps drive this idea home “In a factory, doing a job that’s not yours is dangerous.  Now, if you’re a linchpin, doing a job that’s not getting done is essential”. A linchpin is a single person or thing that is critical to the whole; a central source of stability and security.  As you grow your company you will need to hire people who can help you accomplish your goals.  It’s not always hard to find someone who is a technical fit for the job…but remember you are an entrepreneur not a factory owner. Make sure that your new hires are not only people you like working with, but people who understand and see the same vision that you see.  Make sure they identify with your core purpose.  Surround yourself with linchpins and they will find a way to make your business successful. 3. Waiting until things are “perfect” before you launch We now live in a world where “failing fast” is essential.  By waiting to grow your idea into a business and making sure every little thing is perfect, all you are doing is giving the rest of the world more of an opportunity to create something similar.  Some of the best advice I’ve ever been given was, “Just go out and do something…anything”.  You might fail.  I am not saying you are sure to succeed; however, what I can guarantee is that you will learn something.  You never know, what you end up learning might be even more valuable than the idea you started with.  But if you never got out there and started something, you would still be sitting there just talking….and what fun is that? What mistakes have you made?  What lessons have you learned along the way that made you who you are today? Jonathan Kay is the Ambassador of Buzz at Grasshopper Group. Read more about Jonathan here .

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The 3 Most Common Mistakes When Growing an Idea into a Business

I recently published a video on why it is important to develop a deep understanding of your customer. In that video I covered a brief overview of the different psychological elements that relate to you understanding your customer and how you fit in as a service or product provider, fulfilling their needs. After reading the comments on that video I felt more explanation is required to help you come to a deeper understanding of this very important topic. If you can develop an intimate familiarity of how your target audience operates, what motivates them emotionally, what language they use to describe their problems and how their problem impacts their life in real, external and tangible ways, the easier it is to succeed in that market. All aspects of your business are derived from your understanding of your customer, and if you are working off of assumptions, you’re making mistakes and not likely enjoying the level of success you could. Are You Your Customer? When I first started teaching how to blog in my Blog Mastermind program I related stories of how I began all my successful online projects. For example, when I developed a site targeting Magic The Gathering card players, I was a card player myself, who know the game and the online environment for the game intimately well. I knew what motivated players of the game because it was what motivated me. Magic players want to win tournaments and trade cards. My site was successful because we published content on how to win tournaments, including reports from people who had performed well, listing what cards they used to win with. Later I added a trading forum, the one element that really skyrocketed the success of the site because people kept coming back to list, sell and trade cards every day. My proofreading business began as an idea in my head after I experienced working with international students writing group assignments at university. Group members who had English as a second language struggled with academic writing and I knew how important it was that they maintain a high grade point average, or risk losing their visa to study in Australia. This insight led to developing a proofreading service that targeted a very specific need in a specific group. We never had a lot of traffic to that site, but those who did you use the service used it for every paper they wrote, resulting in a high customer value for the business. If I didn’t understand the psychology behind the motivations of these groups of people, I wouldn’t have been able to meet their needs so closely. It Always Begins With Keywords When developing a niche most internet marketing teachers will explain how to do research online, which pretty amounts to developing an assessment of the supply and demand relationship for certain keywords. Traffic on the internet, especially when it comes to tapping small niches with basic websites as opposed to building authority over time, is all about keywords. Knowing how many people search for things and the quality and amount of websites that currently rank for those phrases, is the difference between making it work and having a site with no traffic. These methods assume you are tapping into organic traffic flows in search engines, the cheapest form of traffic there is. However it doesn’t change much if you are buying traffic with Pay Per Click , as the supply and demand ratio of keywords impacts the cost and results. Almost all internet marketing products I’ve come across that attempt to teach beginners how to make money online start with keyword research , as they should, and usually focus on either search engine traffic or buying traffic with pay per click. Some programs go so far as to not just assess the supply and demand ratio of keywords, but also look at the psychology behind the keywords so they know whether they are “money” terms. Not all search phrases are equal, as some searches are conducted by people researching to buy something, while others relate only to free information seekers, who may or may not ever prove profitable for you depending on how you monetize your site. For those selling information or physical products, whether as an affiliate or producer, getting in front of the buyers is the most important thing. For bloggers focusing on advertising, increasing pageviews is more important, the quality of the keyword may not matter as traffic volume is more critical. Are Keywords Enough? As I teach in my programs, taking steps to research customer behavior beyond just keywords is important. I recommend researching in forums, reviewing comments made to popular blogs, assessing what advertisers spend money on Google Pay Per Click and how long they continue to do so (the longer, the more likely they are profiting from it), checking out facebook groups, leaders on Twitter, and top organic search results to see what people are interested in. In this case the important considerations to look out for are – Are there enough people interested in a subject to support large community sites and retailers who sell products (in other words are people making money in this niche already?) What sub-topics are currently discussed by people at these sites, what language do they use, what are the most common issues, and how do people currently go about solving their problems? This is priceless information that is available simply by searching Google, so there’s no excuse not to do it. A lack of information is a warning sign, and although you might think it’s a good thing because of lack of competition, it’s better if there are people already succeeding because that means there is a market. A lack of websites might mean there is no market, though it could also mean it’s an untapped opportunity too, you never know for sure until you test. Get Personal If you want the highest quality data about your potential customers you need to speak to them or collect information as directly as you can. So many people want to launch information products in markets where they have never actually helped anyone before. If you really want to succeed as an information marketer, spend some time actually servicing real live people . You will learn so much when you go straight to the horses mouth, so to speak. Here are some ways to do this – A survey is an option if you have a means to access a group of people. If you have a blog or email list with a critical mass of responsive subscribers, you can tap into that knowledge base anytime by simply asking questions in a blog post, email or using a dedicated survey tool like Survey Monkey or a Google Docs Form . See my Blue Sky video for more details about how I have used surveys in the past to learn about my customers before launching membership sites. A webinar where you teach some content first, then ask for questions from the audience, is a great research tool. Teleconferences also work. Gideon and I run regular group coaching calls for our members, and we learn a lot about what people are struggling with based on what and how people ask for help with. Providing consulting calls , even for free as a screening tool before taking on coaching clients, is a great method to learn more about your customers. Any time you spend one-on-one time with a client or potential client and learn about their situation and how they describe their problems, is a brilliant opportunity to develop greater familiarity about your people. If you’re just getting started, charge $50 an hour for phone coaching and you’re basically getting paid to do research about your customers. You can’t ever know enough about your customers, so using all of these methods is the best advice, but obviously you need to work your way through the methods as you build your reach over time. Take Action In my case the best way I have learned whether my idea works and refined my understanding of the psychology of my customers is to actually put something out there . All my successful projects were created with NO KEYWORD RESEARCH. That’s right – I’ve never done keyword research for all my money making projects, at least not before I started them. This of course is not advice that you shouldn’t, but realize that if you really want to know the answer, take action and create a website and see if you get customers. I wouldn’t recommend going in completely blind – I knew the people I was targeting and what needs they had. However I launched all my projects okay with the idea that I was experimenting for fun just as much as to make money, and I was fully willing to fail . This is why speed of implementation is so critical. The most successful online entrepreneurs aren’t the best researchers, but they are the best at getting ideas out there, which ultimately is the best form of research you can do – a live test . What Do You Need To Know? On many group calls I’ve been confronted with members of my programs who show me websites looking for critical feedback and improvement suggestions. In almost all cases, every website I review has a fatal flaw – It’s not obvious what the point of the website is . If you want to assess your own website or any marketing materials I suggest you ask yourself the following questions, or have someone else ask you and then you answer them and see if they understand, or you ask them and see if they can answer by looking at your website. The questions, or really it’s just a question, is – Why? Why does your website exist? Why should people visit it? Why did you create it in the first place? Often when you answer these questions you end up describing abstract ideas , so it’s best if you focus instead on t angible and external elements , and then ask why again. For example – My website exists because to give information about healthy eating. Why? Because I want to help people lose weight. Why? Because if people have less weight they live longer and do more fun things like dancing, play tennis or run around with their kids. I could drill down much further, but essentially we are talking about discovering the core, external, emotional and physical elements that motivate your customers to take action. Eating healthy is a concept , being able to play with your kids at the park and experience the joy that activity brings, is an external tangible outcome with a strong emotional drive behind it. If you are concerned about how good a first impression your website makes, watch this video I made demonstrating some ideas to clarify your websites purpose to new readers – Can Your Blog Explain Its Purpose In One Second? You Need To Know This Every single would-be online entrepreneur – me included, and you too – does not have a solid enough understanding of their target customer. There is always more to learn, more to clarify and a deeper understanding to be gained from further study of who you are trying to help. The best way to establish the necessary level of intimacy with your marketplace is to start interacting with the real live humans who make up the market. The more human contact you have, with your marketing brain switched on looking for the cues that reveal the psychology, the closer you get to nailing the needs and wants, so you can better sell to and meet these desires. Yaro Starak Meeting Needs Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

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How To Develop A Crystal Clear Understanding Of Your Customer

Ah… creativity.  It’s one of the things that sets entrepreneurs apart from the crowd.  When you think about it, we have to be creative.  Whether it’s finding new approaches to old problems, devising website copy and marketing materials, or coming up with money-saving processes, most young entrepreneurs aren’t in a position to hire a crack team of creative minds, so a lot of it falls on us.  Recognizing that creativity is vital to entrepreneurship and that it can also be a lot of fun, YoungEntrepreneur.com recently ran a viral video contest.  We collected tons of video submissions from young entrepreneurs who were charged with coming up with a Young Entrepreneur-themed video with viral potential, and we chose a winner, who was awarded $500 cash! And the winner is… Why did this video win?  First of all, we think it’s hilarious!  Also, the editing is super creative, and the skit itself shows a lot of creativity.  The message in the video is actually pretty clever too.  As a young entrepreneur, have you ever had to deal with someone who just didn’t get “the whole Internet thing” or how social media or other tools vital to your business worked?  I think we all have to some extent, even if it was a parent asking when we’re going to get a “real job”! The two guys who put this video together, Nick Scheidies and Josh Stevens of Next Level Ink , are really what young entrepreneurs are all about.  They’re both 21 years old, and they’ve each started and run multiple ventures.  While still involved in other projects, they head up Next Level Ink in Longmont, Colorado, a young, creative media agency that specializes in audio and video.  They’re passionate about taking each of their clients’ brands to the next level with unique, personalized, and professional media.  But, because they’re just getting on their feet, they’re able to do it for less.  What’s really cool is that they are both self-taught when it comes to audio and video production. If you agree that this video is a winner, please do what you’d want people to do with your own winning video: send it out to your networks through Twitter, Facebook, etc.  Because, who knows – you might be next… Announcing our ongoing Viral Video Contest! Want to get in the mix and go for your chance to win $500?  We are excited to announce that we’re kicking off an ongoing Viral Video Contest.  Each month we will sort through video entries to find one winner who will win a $500 cash prize – and be featured in a post like this one!  Here are the details: Create a video – Create a video with a young entrepreneur theme and upload it to YouTube.com . Note: Include our logo – Include this image within your video. Submit your entry – Use our contact form to submit your entry.  Just fill out all the fields, typing “ Viral Video Contest ” in the Subject box, and a link to your video in the Message box. Rules – Entry deadline is the last day of the month, with the first deadline occurring 8/31/2010.  Winner will be notified by the 15 th of the month following entry. We will accept one entry per contestant per month.  If you submit more than one video in a calendar month without prior approval, only the first entry will be considered. To be considered, your video must be young-entrepreneur-themed and must include the YoungEntrepreneur.com logo within the video. The contest is open to everyone, and the prize will be paid in US dollars via prepaid Visa debit card or PayPal, at winner’s option. It is acknowledged that judging is 100% subjective, and the decisions of the judges (us) are final. So that’s all there is to it.  Start shooting, and get your first video to us by August 31, 2010.  You could have an extra $500 in your hands and great exposure for you business shortly thereafter!

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Viral Video: T-Pain Style

I’ve been working with people who are setting up online businesses now for years. Whether it’s comments left on blog posts, conversations at conferences and workshops, group calls for my members or private coaching sessions, these two stark realities about Internet businesses are rarely understood to the depth that is required for success. Find out what two elements I am talking about by watching today’s Yaro.TV video. Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

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The Truth About Niche Selection And Building Long Term Traffic

Here at Young Entrepreneur, we are committed to bringing our readers great content in the form of resources, advice, tools, and much more.  One of the best sources of information about what it takes to make it as a young entrepreneur comes from others who have made it happen.  They’ve felt the excitement you feel, they’ve been through the challenges you’re facing, they know what it takes to achieve success, and we want to share their stories with you.  So today’s post is the first in a series of interviews with such entrepreneurs. We’re honored that our first interview in this series is with Giancarlo Massaro, founder of AnyLuckyDay.com.  Giancarlo embodies what it means to be a young entrepreneur and has some outstanding advice for anyone in business or thinking of starting a business.  Enjoy the interview! Giancarlo Massaro 20 Year Old Entrepreneur Founder of AnyLuckyDay.com Twitter: @anyluckyday What ignited the spark in you to start AnyLuckyDay? How did the idea for your business come about? When I was 13 years old, I created my first website on a free website builder for my club soccer team. My goal was to showcase my team and get companies to sponsor us. As a result, I raised over $5,000 for my team through the website. Since that time, I have actively been building small niche websites and selling them for a profit. Once I went to college, I dropped all of my online work to focus on school and Division I soccer, but then I had no source of income as a fulltime student. So in December 2008, in my sophomore year at college, I started thinking of ideas for a new online business. While watching TV late one night an infomercial came on and I immediately thought to myself “wouldn’t it be great if I could test these products out before I had to buy them?” That’s when the light bulb went off in my head, and with a little tweaking, AnyLuckyDay was born. How long do you stick with an idea before giving up, and how many hours do you work a day on average? I don’t start work on something unless I believe deep down that it can and will succeed. There’s no point in sticking with an idea that has no foreseeable future. The funny thing is though, no one, not my family or friends, thought AnyLuckyDay could be successful and profitable. I was the only one who saw the light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, AnyLuckyDay made no money for an entire year. I worked 7 days a week, 12-14 hours a day. One time I even stayed up for 36 hours straight just working and working. I would stay in on weekends when my friends were out partying because I was that motivated to prove everybody wrong. Now that the business is profitable and doing well I have been able to cut down to a 6-8 hour workday. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing? Social media is a major aspect of marketing for my business. I’m the type of person who likes to explore and take advantage of all the free marketing options, rather than dump money into banner ads and PPC campaigns. I use Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to effectively market AnyLuckyDay on the social media front. The best part about the social media aspect is that my audience willingly promotes the daily contests through their networks, allowing it to spread without me having to do much work. My most successful (and most expensive) form of marketing has been Peter Shankman’s ‘Help A Reporter Out’ as it has helped me acquire hundreds of new clients. What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else? I feel that the major difference between the two is that entrepreneurs care more and are more passionate about something that is theirs. When you work for someone else, you don’t own their company; you just get paid to work for them. I know this situation all too well. Last summer I worked for a company in order to raise more money to fund AnyLuckyDay (before it was profitable). I was extremely unproductive and disliked the fact that I had no say in any matters because the company was not mine, and I had to do what I was told. I found myself eager to leave work everyday just so I could get home and continue working on AnyLuckyDay. Bottom line – I feel that entrepreneurs are passionate about their own ideas and their own creations, not someone else’s. What three pieces of advice would you give to young people who want to become entrepreneurs? 1) Be prepared to work harder than you ever imagined. If you want to succeed in the entrepreneurial world you have to make sacrifices. I would estimate that I’ve worked over 10,000 hours since I started AnyLuckyDay two years ago. Working a normal 9-5 job at 40 hours/week for a year only comes out to about 2,080 hours a year. You do the math, being an entrepreneur is a lot of work. 2) Ignore the naysayers and those who try to bring you down. If you have an idea and you feel it is solid enough to have a foreseeable future, then stick with it. I’ve had so many people tell me that my business idea would never work and that AnyLuckyDay would never make a dime. I just ignored all those people because they were naive. Just because it wasn’t an overnight success, they thought it had no future. They had no idea how hard I was working and the plans that I had in store to turn it into a profitable business. Now they are all saying, “I wish I thought of your idea first.” 3) Be prepared to fail. I developed about 4-5 different online businesses since I was 14. I would always get an idea in my head and think it was the next big thing, only to see it fail and turn into nothing. I view those as blessings though. You can’t be afraid to fail because through those failures you learn new things which help you along your entrepreneurial journey. Giancarlo with just some of the 'swag' he's acquired through AnyLuckyDay We want to thank Giancarlo for a great interview.  If you took something particularly useful away from his words of wisdom, please share in the comments below.

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YoungEntrepreneur.com Interview Series – Giancarlo Massaro of AnyLuckyDay.com

It’s time to switch gears slightly and return to my series on creating positive change in your life. If you’re looking for pure money making tips, you might want to skip this article, although if you do you will miss out on one of the most powerful articles I’ve written about becoming wealthy, so you really should read on… If you’ve not read the earlier parts in this series, I strongly recommend you do so first by reading these articles in the following order: Is It Really Possible To Create The Change You Want In Your Life? What I Can Teach You About Getting What You Want Why Creating The Change You Want Is All About You Don’t Let Ignorance Stop You How I Realized My Sense Of Self and Why It Changed My Life Forever Is There A Force Behind Everything In Life? What Is The Nature Of Truth The purpose of this series is to help you proactively create the changes you desire most in your life. The first few articles in this series laid out a roadmap of practical ideas, mindset shifts and activities you can do to create the change you want. The latter articles delved into the spiritual component of change, which can be of tremendous support when your belief in the possibility for real change in your life is wavering. For some people considering what lies behind the physical, what you might call the spirit, is equally important when working towards change. Open Your Mind One of the very important takeaways I must reiterate to you now because it’s very relevant for this chapter, is the idea that you review resources based on the information provided and how it reflects on the truth you want to create, and NOT judge it based on the delivery mechanism. In other words, judge the message, not the messenger. When it comes to spirituality, we spend so much time assessing the messenger, that it often clouds our ability to take on board the ideas. This occurs outside a spiritual context too, as we pay way more attention to people over ideas, unfortunately even when the ideas are sound and the people are flawed, although sometimes the flaw is what allows us to see the good idea. Every day life is littered with experiences and opportunities to learn from others, whether in a book we read, or a movie we watch, or even just a conversation with a friend. In these instances we spend the majority of our time discussing the history, appearance, or performance of the people who delivered the idea to us, and how they made us feel, which is the “gatekeeper” for how we absorb, if at all, what ideas they teach. We spend the majority of our time talking gossip about the messenger, and much less time about what we can learn from the messages. One major shift you can make right now is always look for the practical lesson or mindset shift you can take away from any given resource you come across. This is especially helpful when people around you make mistakes. You don’t have to make the mistake to learn from it, other people make enough already every day that you have countless sources to draw upon for “inspiration”. Just remember, don’t focus on the sensationalism or scandal that the mistake comes packaged with. Leverage the opportunity for growth by becoming aware of the opposite behavior or choice that would lead to the desired outcome, rather than the not desired outcome. Conversations With God I made the mistake of prejudging a resource that I’m about to introduce because it had the word “God” in the title. God, as I talked about earlier in this series, as a label has an incredible amount of baggage that comes with it. So much so that I was often repulsed from any materials that included some kind of God component because I feared the agenda behind the message. Was someone trying to “convert me” to something? Is a belief in a “God” required in order to benefit from the resource in the first place? Similar questions like this resulted in my default decision to avoid God based materials in the past, including one that I am going to talk about now, which has had the most profound impact on my belief structure of any resource I have ever come across before. The book, or in this case, series of books is called “ Conversations With God ” written by Neale Donald Walsch. Before you stop reading because you know this book already, or you don’t like the direction I’m heading in here with this article, let me assure you that I’m about to relate some of the most powerful lessons I’ve ever learned when it comes to creating positive change – and it doesn’t require a belief in God at all. Still here? Good. I can’t remember when I first heard of Conversations With God , but I had seen the title floating around for years and lumped it into the too “religious” or too “new age” category for a long time. As I grew older, my eyes were opening thanks to life experience and studying other spiritual literature, so for whatever reason, it eventually came time to have a conversation with God . The first contact I had with the book, ended up being the movie of the same name, which is part chronicle of sections of the life of the author Neale, and part content from the book. In typical fashion I was looking for a more efficient than reading method to take on board ideas, so sat down and watched the movie. The movie is good, if perhaps a bit brief in terms of the content it reveals from the book. However it was enough for me to get interested in the book, so I went out and purchased the first book in spoken audio format. If there was ever a book designed for an audio version, Conversations With God is it. The book is a dialogue between “God” and the author Neale, and the audio version features Neale voicing his parts, and male and female voice actors voicing God (the male having a particularly “god-like” voice, which really enhances the experience – it really feels like God is talking to you!). You can find out more about the book in audio and text format at Amazon.com . You should start with Book 1 if you have never read this series before. WTF! Is It Really God Speaking? The first question that inevitably jumps to mind when you learn about this book is what’s going on with this talking to God business? Is it really God? Is the author insane? The answer to pretty much every question like this is “yes” and “both”. Yes it is God speaking, but the author is also making it all up in his head. Yes you might call him crazy for listening to a voice, but that voice has some profound things to say, so it would be crazy not to listen. Here’s my synopsis to clarify – Neale is middle aged and going through a particularly low point in his life. He spends a full year on the streets homeless, finally gets a job, rents a place to live, then the job suddenly disappears and he finds himself heading right back to where he was. He’s so upset by the rollercoaster that is his life, in absolute frustration he takes out his journal and rants. His rant begins with a direct question to God – “What’s the point of all this?” Then, mysteriously, a voice takes control of his pen in his hand and he writes a response… “Do you really want to know or are you just venting” Neale replies that he is venting, but also wants to know, and thus begins a “conversation” between God and Neale, or Neale and the voice in his head, about the nature of, well, pretty much everything. I’ve noticed, based on discussions with people who have been exposed to this book, that reactions are very mixed. Some people identify strongly with Neale rather than God and see the book as a way for him to deal with his issues. Others look at the voice of God as actually being a spiritual force, perhaps God itself, or just Neale tapping into his “higher self”. I’ve had people tell me they couldn’t finish the book because it challenged them to the point of having panic attacks. Others find it contradicts their religious upbringing or existing belief structure so much that they can’t identify with it on much more than a mildly interested level. I can’t possibly account for the range of reactions to this book people have, or what you might have had already. As always I’m not here to try and convince you of anything, but I can say that this book has been incredibly enlightening for me. If you asked me why, I would say that it simply feels right to me on many levels, often makes logical sense as well, and, at the end of the day, has made my life better. It has brought about many profound shifts in my thinking and awareness changes that have impacted my life in a positive way. It’s my intention now to share with you some of the most powerful ideas I took away from studying the Conversations With God series, as they relate to creating positive change in your life, building upon what we have worked on to this point so far in the positive change series. Bear in mind this is just a tiny sampling of the overall concepts covered in the Conversations With God series, so I do recommend you check them out if what I write here resonates with you. If you think me “believing” in this book is foolish, that’s fine. You can ignore this resource and look and what I’m about to share with you as stand alone ideas without the baggage of them coming from someone who thinks he talks to God (that’s probably a good idea anyway!). The Practical Benefits Of Spirituality Before I introduce you to these ideas, I’d like to point out that you don’t have to believe in a “God” in order to benefit from this. These are powerful concepts that, I believe, represent fundamental structures of the universe and because of this, they work. They work on such a profound level, that if you truly adopt what I’m about to share with you, you can literally turn your life around in any direction you want. Excited? Here we go… Love Or Fear Are Base Responses To Everything – And You Choose Which One You Experience I’ll start with the simplest concept to grasp, but the most powerful. Every human on earth, on a fundamental level, understands and experiences this every day with every decision and thought made. If you drill down to the core motivation behind every response you have to everything in life, whether it’s a thought in response to a physical stimulation, words delivered to you from someone else, or your choice to take an action or not, it comes down to two motivations, one of either… 1. Fear Or 2. Love These two words are the best we have in the English language to describe polar opposites of the emotional spectrum that governs our lives. Emotions we might call “negative”, things like jealousy, envy, rage, bitterness, sadness and hatred stem from the core feeling of fear. It might be a fear of loss, a belief that scarcity means you will be denied something, a fear that you are not good enough, or unlucky, or someone else will cause you to suffer or that the world at large is out to get you, or humanity as a whole is bad. On the other side of the coin, love represents what we commonly label “positive”. Things like happiness, abundance, joy, friendship, goodness, care, selflessness and beliefs that you are okay, that there is always enough and people in general are good. What I find particularly interesting about this concept is the benefit when you apply it practically to your decision making process and also your emotional conditioning in real life. If you look at the interconnection between your thought processes , your emotional responses and your resulting real world output (things you say or do as a result of your thoughts and emotions), you can truly look at everything as either black or white , good or bad , or through the eyes of love or fear . This might seem contradictory at first, since life is not black and white and what is good can be bad depending on interpretation. We’ve already explored the nature of truth , which ultimately is in the eye of the beholder (you “make up” your truth, giving whatever meaning you want to whatever you focus on), yet if you remove all the baggage and conditioning and story behind interpretation, at the core it really is that simple. It is either A or B, fear or love, based on your truth in that moment, and you can’t lie to yourself. For example, when talking with friends I experience a range of emotions. As most humans do, whatever other people tell me about their lives I am naturally inclined to reflect on my own life and compare results. If someone tells me they had this amazing experience, like they had tremendous success with a business project, or a beautiful member of the opposite sex asked them out, or they won a competition based on their talent, my response might be one of jealousy, or envy, or bitterness or even hatred for the other person or myself. I might be reminded of my continued inability to experience what they are experiencing, despite how hard I feel I have worked towards it. I will feel sad, depressed and frustrated, all because someone else has experienced what I want. On the flip side, I can be happy for them, I can be excited that I too might have this experience if I work towards it, I can use it as motivation, fuel to stoke my fire and motivate me towards action. I can even go so far as congratulate them, make them feel great as a result (rather than complain about my own lack of success) and then (here’s the super-technique) ask them how I might go about replicating what they did. As humans we all have a barometer within us that we can tap into anytime to ask ourselves whether we are acting in love or fear. Our feelings, those sensations that arise from the solar plexus area of the body, although infinitely complex in variety, can be drilled down into just two feelings – love or fear. I found myself taking on board this practice into my every day life, by asking myself throughout the day whether I felt I was responding with love or fear, and what feeling I’d prefer to experience as a result of my thoughts and actions. This probably doesn’t need to be said, but in general I prefer a sense of peace and feelings of joy and happiness – the love based emotions. I honestly believe all humans on a fundamental level agree with me and we all prefer love over fear, however the emotions are equally powerful. Because truth is always open to interpretation, and there are infinite complexities governing how we respond to things, a fear-base response is just as common, if not more common in our society, than a love response. One of the other powerful realizations I’ve come to as a result of this practice, is that love based responses often focus on OTHER people and improving their lives. Helping others results in an improvement to your life immediately as you experience a positive emotional response in that moment. This can carry on into other areas of your life, as positive emotions tend to breed more positive emotions, thoughts and experiences. Thus the key to improving your life, is actually improving others lives, but this is not intuitively the case, especially in an ego driven society. This insight takes plenty of repeat practice to make the change part of your life. As my default response prior to gaining this awareness, I had focused on my suffering as a result of not having what others have, and a contraction of my world – I want to hoard what I do have for fear of losing it. If you focus on abundance and love for others, the result is the same for you, but intuitively you may not grasp this. This realization has actually been one of the most fundamental shifts in my thinking I’ve ever gone through and resulted in more positive change in my life than anything else I have done. As you will see in a moment when I cover the next point, it is critical you come to terms with this shift in thinking. Next time you are talking to your friends, or listening to any person talking, whether in person or through media, or even while reading text like this you are reading now – stop and ask yourself how it makes you feel? Do you feel a base emotion of fear or love? Do you feel sad because you don’t have something or do you feel happy because you are inspired to become a better person, go after something and change in a positive direction? Are you judging the message and seeing how to positively apply it to your life, or judging the messenger looking for someone else to make the decision for you? You have to take responsibility for what you think is right and then practice thinking and acting congruently with that belief. Remember there are only two ways, at the core, to interpret everything, and one way will improve your life dramatically, and the other will result in more of what you don’t want to experience. Make the smart choice using your emotional barometer to guide you and your logical brain to ask the question in the first place, because you can’t see the answer without first asking the question – What would love do? The True Process Of Change – Adding The Missing Manifestation Ingredient One of the big problems I had when I first looked at the idea of there being some kind of force that reacts to how we think, the law of attraction or the creation field or whatever you want to call it, is how important it is to genuinely feel – to resonate or vibrate with – what you want to experience. Let’s assume we believe that the universe has a set of rules behind how we create reality. These rules state that – What we think and focus on, We thus attract… Then experience in reality. …and we are doing it all the time even when not consciously focused on it. As I’ve talked about in previous chapters, you can look at this like a scientist and view it as simply a process of becoming aware of what you want, looking for ways to go after it and then taking actions to make it reality. This ignores any notions of the magical “universe” helping out, if you lean towards more pragmatic, physical reality only , belief structures. My belief is that there is a fundamental set of rules regarding change based on the principles of thought, emotion and action , and how the physical world reacts to these elements. You can’t ignore them if you want to create real positive change in your life. Whether you study The Secret , Abraham-Hicks , Eckhart Tolle , or Think and Grow Rich , The Master Key , or countless other spiritual, new age, personal development, or even very pragmatic business or psychology texts – everyone repeatedly emphasizes the interconnection between how you think, feel and act. Without clarity and congruency between these three agents for creating what you want, you can’t master the wonderful creation tool that the universe is, at least not in a manner where you feel consciously in control. Feelings, Change And The Impact Of Time One of the key components of this process is genuinely feeling what you want to experience. Your emotional state is linked to how you vibrate and what you send out to the world. What you send out the to the world is what you get back. The mind is strong, but for most people physical reality is stronger. It doesn’t matter if you keep telling yourself you are rich, that’s not going to convince you to feel that way if you don’t genuinely experience what you consider wealth. It doesn’t matter if you keep telling yourself you are attractive, if you continue to interpret how other people treat you as an indication that you are unattractive, and thus you don’t feel attractive. This part of the change process had me completely stumped . I tried convincing myself that I was heading towards what I wanted, I attempted to use positive affirmations so I was “thinking the right things”. I studied how to get what I wanted and even went out into the real world to attempt actions that should take me closer to what I want. All of these things helped, and they are important steps on the ladder towards change, but for the life of me I couldn’t shake the sadness or frustration or depression linked to my inability to attract or create or manifest or just achieve what I wanted. When I didn’t experience my desire, no matter what I did, my feelings couldn’t align with what it felt like to “win”. This of course makes complete logical sense. How can you convince yourself to feel something that you have never experienced? This also, frustratingly, follows right along with the supposed structure of the universe . If I didn’t feel like a winner I would never win. If I didn’t align my emotional state towards my desired outcomes, then the universe wouldn’t give me what I wanted. If my vibration was off, then reality would reflect that vibration, giving me more of what I didn’t want. The whole process felt like one big, annoying, catch-22 . The problem, as I eventually realized, was that I focused 100% on me and what I wanted. I believed I didn’t have what I wanted, so could never feel it. Conversations With God also talked about the same law; the universe has a creation system that is deliberately set up so you can manifest what you want. God said this, and eventually, God solved my catch-22 situation as well, leading to another major breakthrough in my awareness. (The fact that I’m using the word “God” in this manner is still strange to me. I don’t see this “God” as anything religious, it’s just a source of ideas, and as I said at the start of this article, I focus on ideas, not the messenger. I admit, it’s much more fun, vindicating and powerful to believe this comes from somewhere spiritual, and thus I choose to believe it does, but the ideas stand alone without the context of where they come from, in my opinion. You don’t have to believe in God in order to benefit from these concepts. Don’t let ignorance stop you .) The explanation for much of the frustration we experience with manifesting change is because we view our existence through the eyes of time. Our experience is sequential, one thing appears to happen after the other. Our conscious perception of reality makes change, especially the changes we really want, happen really, really slowly (for something to be “slow” you have to perceive time). As a result, change rarely happens when you want it to. What is interesting though, if you take out the concept of time, or even just reflect over longer periods of time – like years or even decades – you can see that almost always, what you want to experience eventually occurs. One thing is certain, change always happens , although it may not be exactly how you expected it (specificity in the creation process is not usually our strong point). In other words, without time, the creation process always happens exactly how you want it to happen and it happens instantly, because there is only the now. However with our perception of time, it doesn’t feel like it during the short periods, like minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and even sometimes as long as years, for the really big changes, because it feels so slow and we are constantly updating the changes we want as we go along. This understanding doesn’t always make you feel better given the present situation that you choose to focus on, but it’s important to recognize the revelation. It is our perception of time that causes the frustration and we all know it’s the experience over time working towards a change that ultimately leads to the real change – the change in awareness about what you really want and what your truth is . Time is the most frustrating factor, but also, eventually, the most satisfying and fulfilling, because it gives you the opportunity to clearly define what you really want, what is true for you and the meaning of your existence. How To Feel What You Don’t Think You Have God, in the book, offered a wonderfully simple explanation for how we can “feel” like we have what we want. As all good insights are the simple ones, this proved to be a tremendous moment of enlightenment for me, and I hope this is for you too. Here we go… If you don’t have what you want, and you need to feel like you do in order to attract what you want and vibrate in sync with the reality you want to experience (the truth you are creating), all you need to do is give it to others . Yep, it is that easy, and it’s a truly beautiful thing. If you want to experience wealth, give the experience of wealth to others. If you want to experience the emotion of beauty, give someone else the experience of feeling beautiful. This ties wonderfully well into the previous insight about two base responses to all situations, love or fear. Remember how I said love based responses are about about helping others? Well the amazing thing is that your emotions don’t know the difference when it comes to you gaining something in your physical reality or someone else experiencing it as a result of your actions. When you give you actually experience the emotional state that resonates with that experience. You experience love in that moment in a form far greater than you could ever experience it if you focused only on your gain . Do this often enough and you can’t help resonate with what you want. You become it before your physical reality reflects it. You could be asking how can you give what you don’t have? The answer again is simple. Emotions are not quantifiable, so there is no “amount” or quota required in order for you to experience something. You feel it or you don’t, and the universe (and your body) doesn’t tie that feeling in with a certain amount of something in the real world. A person who has food on the table and a roof above their head can feel just as much wealth, on an emotional level, as the richest person on this planet. Right now, you can give wealth to someone else who might just need a few dollars for a meal. You can give someone the feeling of being beautiful simply by complimenting them in a genuine way. You can create a state of happiness within you by making someone else happy. Giving to others is the path to experiencing the emotion in you , and in a world of abundance (you can manufacture limitless emotion), you can create these states every day, simply by focusing on others well being at all times. When you see another person benefit from what you provide, you will experience the emotion of love, or at least a derivative of it, like joy, or wealth, or happiness, or beauty or clarity, or purpose – you will realize you actually created it in that experience, which even though physically benefited someone else, you emotionally experienced it. This creates the necessary alignment – the feeling – in order to work the universal creation system. That feeling, combined with your thoughts and actions towards what you want, will bring it to you because you will no longer fight against your desires from a vibration/resonance stance by selfishly focusing only on your gain (or lack of gain). The limiting belief that stops us from doing this every day is that we focus so much on ourselves and what we don’t have. If only we realized that giving is the key to having and lived every moment this way, we’d all be fighting each other to give everything to others. I literally believe we could solve all the world’s problems with just this one shift in awareness. Why I Am Successful Online If you sat me down and asked me why I’m a successful blogger I could give you all kinds of practical explanations and techniques that no doubt would be helpful. However at the heart of it there is only one reason why I succeed at what I do: I thrive knowing that what I create impacts people in a positive way. This is what motivates me. This is what motivates every person who does anything to contribute to the world. There is nothing – and I mean nothing – more satisfying than hearing that what I wrote or said or did resulted in an awareness in someone else that lead to a positive impact on their lives. That, at the heart of it, is why I do what I do. Yes money is wonderful, but people who make money know that as a substance alone it is meaningless. Meaning is derived from how it helps people and the reason why we want to help people is because it makes us feel good, it gives us purpose and a meaning for OUR existence. We all do this using different methods, quantifiable in different ways in physical reality, but at the end of the day, as humans we all experience the same emotions and chase the same desires, to feel and experience love. If you want to feel love, all you need to do is give it , in everything you do. The Final Chapter I’ve just handed you by far the most potent message I could ever give you in this series on change. It’s simple, but infinitely complex. I hope you carry it forward and apply it to your life in the best way you know how and strive to make it who you are every day. In the next, and final chapter in this series, I will conclude with the greatest revelation, in my opinion, of how you can tie all of this into creating positive change on a scale far beyond just you. Of course the change begins with just you, because if you and me, and others like us start making these changes, then global change occurs. I’ll explain why you are so important to the process of global change in the next chapter. Stay tuned. Yaro Starak Blogging The Love Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

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Love, Change And The Reason For Your Existence

Over the last week Don Crowther has released some free videos in the lead-up to his Social Profit Formula launch. You can now watch all three of the content videos here (this is my affiliate link, but you don’t have to buy anything – I strongly recommend you watch the first video, it’s good stuff – especially in the second half, which changed my mindset about social media) – Social Profit Formula Videos from Don Crowther I like Don. He kind of reminds me of a mad social media scientist. You can tell he likes the science and business behind social media just a little too much, but that’s a good thing, because most people don’t know how to actually make money with it. Don’s not your usual small time social media expert who just tweets and facebooks every day and thinks that is enough to make you an expert. He’s actually got results, results for real businesses too and thus he’s called upon to consult in this field, further expanding his knowledge (there’s nothing like helping another person’s business to grow to really understand your market). I’m not a social media expert by any means, and after watching Don’s videos I realized I don’t really have a strategy with my social media and thus I use it mostly to make friends. That’s great for my ego, but not for business. I do make a little money from it no doubt, and it helps build the “Yaro” brand, which brings in traffic, but compared to what Don is talking about, I’m really far off. It’s About Business Relationships Don is all about laser-focusing in on the type of relationship that leads to sales. Most people dilute the effectiveness of their social media by mixing messages. One day you’re talking about what you had for breakfast, then what movie you saw, then promoting a product, maybe releasing some content, etc. On the surface that seems like the right way to use social media for business, but the problem here is that you send mixed messages. It’s okay to personalize your business social media use, but it should be in relation to the marketing message you are trying to deliver. The key, as Don taught in his videos, is congruency of message delivered via valuable content. This means creating separate social media accounts, like a Facebook Fan Page and a separate YouTube and Twitter account specifically for your business purposes and make it clear why people should subscribe. This is about a business relationship, not a friendship for friendship’s sake. Some of this is very subtle, and Don does a great job of explaining it all in his video, in particular the second half of the first video. I recommend you go and watch at least the first video now so you understand this very important distinction. Click Here to Watch the Video (You will have to enter your name to access the videos, then click the link for the first video.) My Ah-Ha Moments This is what I got out of the videos, which makes them must-view content if you have any interest in marketing via social media channels – The key differentiator: Social Media that brings you friends vs. Social Media that makes you money Which social media sites are best to actually make money from and how you do so ( video three has a fantastic map of all the types of social media, including the best sites in each category) Which sites require the least effort for the biggest bang for your buck. This is important as social media is overwhelming, but Don does a great job to demonstrate where and how you should spend your time using it. Video two is 18 minutes long and lays out a strategy for combining short videos you create (one to two minutes long) with YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, your blog and some kind of protected content area where people have to give you their email to access it. This is a fantastic process and quite similar to what I do today, though of course Don’s is more streamlined and focused (this video is definitely worth watching!) The importance of integration between social media sites, because you can leverage your content production across multiple channels, getting more traffic and exposure. There’s a whole lot more in the videos, and if you have an hour spare today I recommend you watch all three, however if you are pressed for time, watch the second half of video one or all of video two – this should take you about 15 minutes. Here is the link again – Download The Social Profit Formula Videos Thanks to Don for producing these videos and giving them away for free, and good luck with your opening launch on Friday. Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

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Can You Actually Make Money With Social Media?

One of the common things you’ll hear from people when you say you’re going to start a business is that you need to write a business plan.  And there is no doubt that planning is a vitally important part of the process when starting out.  You need to know where you’re going and how you plan to get there, and that’s exactly what a business plan should spell out.  The problem is, many would-be entrepreneurs have never written a business plan, and are overwhelmed at the very thought of it.  Sure, you can find “how-to” resources online that will spell out all the sections and what they should contain, but none of the examples are going to match your business and your circumstances exactly, and if you have a unique business model at all, good luck finding a decent resource. Depending on what you read, you might think you need to come up with 30-50 pages of meticulously thought-out, detailed material, including comprehensive financial projections, market studies, contingency plans, and more.  So it’s no surprise that the idea of having to write a formal business plan has kept some budding entrepreneurs from taking the leap into business ownership altogether. As I mentioned, you do have a lot of options for help if you buy into the conventional wisdom that a formal business plan is an absolute necessity.  For starters, there are several hundred books on the subject, ranging from the “ For Dummies ” version for about fifteen bucks, to Bankable Business Plans for Entrepreneurial Ventures for $95.00.  Or you can download some slick software, like Palo Alto Software’s Business Plan Pro for $100-$200.  If you want to go all out, you also have the option of hiring a firm like Portland Oregon’s MasterPlans to create a plan for you, for an average of $1,500-$4,000. Let’s be clear: if you’re in need of start-up financing, you will need a more formal business plan, and it might even be worth shelling out hundreds or even thousands of dollars and spending plenty of time to create one.  Even then though, some bankers will tell you less is more, at least initially.  When it’s time for your proposed loan to go to committee – or whoever the decision makers are – they want to see everything.  But when you first present the idea to your financier, they’ll just want enough to help them decide whether it’s worth taking it to the next step. If you don’t need major financing to get your business going, even if you might need it down the road, and if you’re dreading the idea of creating a formal business plan, take heart.  A study undertaken a few years ago by Babson College has some good news for you.  The study, entitled Pre-startup Formal Business Plans and Post-startup Performance, looked at 116 businesses started over an eighteen year period, from 1985 to 2003, and here’s what they found: The analysis revealed that there was no difference between the performance of new businesses launched with or without written business plans. The findings suggest that unless a would-be entrepreneur needs to raise substantial startup capital from institutional investors or business angels, there is no compelling reason to write a detailed business plan before opening a new business. Does that mean planning is unimportant?  Again, no it does not.  It means you can actually start planning to run your business… planning to do business, rather than planning to plan to do business.  It has been said that a goal with out a plan is just a wish.  I definitely advocate putting together a well-thought-out, written plan.  But for most businesses, that can be as little as a single page. Welcome to the one-page business plan! Your plan should have the following elements, all of which should be able to fit on one or two pages: Vision – Your vision talks about what you’re building.  Whether it’s to dominate your market or simply be the best at what you do, this one to three sentence statement tells your company’s future. Mission – While your vision tells the end result of your efforts, your mission statement talks about why your company exists.  It talks, in a general sense, about how you will accomplish your vision. Objectives – This section can simply be a list of bullet points stating your business goals.  These items might be, “Generate $100,000 in revenue this year,” or “Hire a full-time assistant by the end of the third quarter.”  Don’t worry about detailed specifics in this section; just list end results. Strategies – Your strategies tell how you’ll meet your objectives.  Without going into great detail, list bullet points, such as, “Build a strategic alliance with the Chamber of Commerce to increase local visibility,” or “Maximize gross profit by utilizing co-op advertising with select vendors.” Action Plans – You’ll still use bullet points here and won’t be overly descriptive, but these listed items will have dates tied to them and offer more specifics than your strategies.  Examples are, “Move to Greenway Business Park office – November 1,” and “Negotiate bulk rate pricing with XYZ Supply beginning March 15 th .” This one-page plan, like any good business plan, is a fluid document and will change as your business changes.  If you do go for financing at some point, this plan will provide a starting outline for a more formal plan.  And even then you don’t have to fret too much.  (Check out GrowThink ’s innovative Ultimate Business Plan Template software for an easy-to-use, effective way to create a professional business plan to take to any financial backer.) Unlike the kind of plan you put together for financial institutions, the one page business plan is light, practical, and easy to refer to.  You might even consider keeping it posted on the wall above your desk to remind you where you’re headed and how you’re going to get there.  If you’ve used a one-page business plan – or a traditional plan – share your experience with the community in the comments!

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The One-Page Business Plan – It Might Be All You Need

When groups of consumers move from one type of product to another on a long-term basis, new business opportunities can result. Market switches create demands for new products and services. In this rapidly changing society of advancing technologies and decreasing attention spans, it’s particularly essential to adapt and to pounce on new business opportunities. A Couple of Examples The switch from traditional styles of children’s bicycles to BMX bikes provided an opportunity for a bicycle shop to establish a BMX racing club and racing track. This racing involvement helped the shop to capture a large share of the BMX market. To take advantage of the market switch from Hummers to hybrids, companies have been working tirelessly to accommodate the social “green” push. How To Do It Discover major changes in consumer buying habits by: reading marketing research reports and trade association research forecasts; observing current fads that could potentially turn into long-term changes; observing new products that are growing in popularity; and analyzing changes in your own buying habits, especially when you stop purchasing an item that has become obsolete and begin to buy replacement items with entirely different characteristics. Find products that are associated with a market switch by: analyzing the advantage of new products to find those that are greatly superior and will likely replace more traditional items; and looking for new technologies or new products based on new concepts that are revolutionary for an industry. Look for a major product or service that is needed to meet changing consumer demand, but has not yet been provided, and find a way to provide it. When the major product in the market switch already exists, look for related services or products that can be used in association with the major product. Ensure that there is a demand for the product or service you would like to provide. Key Questions Can I think of any market switches that have recently taken place? Can I think of any market switches that may be occurring now? How can I take advantage of these changes in consumer buying habits? Can I address a current market switch by providing the major product or service? Can I provide secondary products or services related to a new major product? Have potential customers indicated a need for the product or service I have introduced?

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How to Take Advantage of a Market Switch