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How to Become an Idea Machine

by Paul Joseph July 8, 2011 Featured

“I think and therefore I am” said Descartes. A modern day successful entrepreneur might as well say “I think and therefore my business thrives.” Entrepreneurship thrives on ideas. Ideas are the fuel that drives business, the lifeline in times of crisis and the basis of entrepreneurship itself. Importantly, good ideas are incredibly hard to come by. Where as bad ones abound. So how can you generate great ideas for your business? And the right ones too? It’s an Ideas Factory Out There First of all, to know what you can do differently, you have to know what exists. Knowledge and information greatly powers your capacity to think innovatively. Often, entrepreneurs are great at obsessing over every single news snippet related to their business, but they ignore other areas of interest that they may have had in their lives. For instance, if you’ve set up a Social Media Marketing business, what are the chances that you’re reading about theatre or art, or music? Keeping abreast with information and interests can greatly help you with idea generation and innovation. A great example of this would be Steve Jobs. In his Stanford Graduation speech, he talks about dropping out of college and attending classes that purely interested him. He talks about his interest in Calligraphy, and how that interest led to the creation of beautiful font options in the Personal Computer.  It is just a small example of how, a little, ‘by the way’ interest led to an idea that rules how we type on our computers in today’s world. Write Them Down – They’re Important There are many complicated idea generation techniques out there, like Mindmapping and the Ishikawa Diagram technique. Try them and if they work for you, that’s great. But the chances are they will be mere stimulants. If you focus on being well-rounded, pursuing interests outside your business, while also passionately pursuing your business interests, you’ll never lack ideas. In fact, you’ll have so many ideas that you will not remember them or you will just not have the time to implement them. The best idea generation tip is to not forget or lose good ideas. Make a list and review them whenever you’re consciously working towards generating new ideas. The likelihood is that you can build on an existing good idea you might have had months ago, and make it a great one. Get Out of the Idea Often, when you’re an integral part of your business, there are view points you’re completely missing. If you’re sitting in front of your desk and trying to figure out what the customer wants it’s going to be harder to come up with a great idea. Going out there and interacting with customers, getting out of the situation and actually putting yourself in your client’s shoes can help you understand what they really want. With great insights, great ideas are born. Sometimes, getting out, also means distancing yourself from your business. When was the last time you took a day off from not thinking about your business? It may not always be possible to take a holiday, but how about going for a movie, spending time with your family or just re-reading your favorite novel and giving your brains time to recharge. Taking a break helps your subconscious mind ruminate over ideas and present them to you when you’re ready. What are Great Ideas for? An entrepreneur must routinely look at different ideas and analyze them. Not just business ideas, marketing or promotion ideas, but little innovations that businesses make, say to cut costs or motivate employees to think big, their hiring practices and so on. A deep understanding of what makes ideas great will not just help you with generating better and better ideas, but it will help you evaluate your own ideas better. If you’re not naturally inclined to a fascination with great ideas and innovation, develop that obsession. Read about how Bill Gates started Microsoft and about how Pixar does such great work. Understand how Google’s 20% percent project time for its employees has helped generate some of the greatest ideas in tech history. Analyze how Music Record execs create millions worth of record selling artists. The world abounds with great ideas, start following them, chase some of your own, and soon your business life will be full of wonderful ideas. Giving it Time & Chipping Away at it The truth is that out of 100 ideas, 1 might be half-decent. Great ideas are hard to come by, but by consistently chasing them, you make idea generation a part of your personality. Some of the biggest innovators of our time have personality types that can be defined as ‘idea-chasing’, which involves constantly thinking about the next big thing. The best part is that this thinking seems to come naturally to them, and the motive is not always profit. Often, it’s about creating something absolutely innovative and mind-blowing. Take Richard Branson’s Flight to Space, for instance. Agrees, that an idea like that needs billions of dollars to bring to life, but there are hundreds of billionaire entrepreneurs who are merely chasing more billions. It is the innovative entrepreneur like Richard Branson, who wanted to offer something different that came up with it and in the process, makes more billions than the rest. Innovative businessman didn’t become star thinkers overnight. But they chased great ideas constantly. They chipped away at it, like it was what they were born to do. Give it time, chip away at generating great ideas, take it easy, get out of the box occasionally but persistently chase ideas and you will start generating good ideas on a daily basis. Idea generation is the first step to innovation, and innovation is the key to a successful business. So do what it takes, to get those great ideas! Preetam Kaushik is a freelance writer/independent columnist and an avid blogger. He is a web 2.0 expert and writing consultant serving a wide array of clients. Read more about Preetam here .

Tagged as: business psychology, business-ideas, client, entrepreneur, family, ideas, personality, space

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Getting Quality Testimonials Instantly

by Paul Joseph July 5, 2011 Featured

One of the best things any of us can do to market our business is to get some great testimonials from current and past customers. A testimonial is better than anything else, because it is someone who has experience dealing with your company saying that the experience was a good one – that you did what you said you would do, as well or better than you said you’d do it. Consumers are leery of advertising. They know you can say pretty much whatever you want to say in an ad and justify it. It might not be “untrue” technically, but it is slanted at best. That’s not to say advertising and other forms of marketing don’t work. They can work very well, and each medium should be considered seriously to see which avenues are best for your business. But no matter what your business is, testimonials – either as part of your advertising or just placed conspicuously on your website – are useful and an outstanding marketing tool. How to Get Testimonials that Matter It should go without saying that the first step in getting great testimonials from customers is to take great care of them. And taking great care of them, doesn’t mean simply “good” customer service. Testimonials are best when they come from people who feel you’ve gone above and beyond in serving their needs. A person’s enthusiasm comes across in their written words (or in a video especially), and their enthusiasm will be non-existent if you deliver average service. To understand the secret to getting great customer testimonials right away, from every happy customer, you have to understand something about how humans in our society are wired. There is a term known as “instant reciprocity” which refers to the tendency of people to want to return a favor or good deed immediately upon receiving the same from someone else. You see this at business and personal lunches all the time. There is a small tussle over the check, and then the person not paying says, “Well, you have to let me get the next one.” The Magic of Reciprocity Although we’ve been told many times to ask for referrals and testimonials immediately after every sale, there is a better way, using the concept of instant reciprocity. The way it works is simple and very effective. Before asking for a testimonial, pay your client or customer a genuine, sincere compliment. Thank them for being so easy to work with, for example. Tell them how refreshing it is to deal with a client who really gets it. What you say will depend a lot on the type of business you’re in, but you get the idea. Once you’ve paid your customer a sincere compliment, the law of instant reciprocity will automatically kick in, and you can relieve their urge to return the compliment by then asking for a testimonial. At that point, asking them to say a little something about how it was dealing with your company, so you can show it to other clients, will solicit the kind of testimonial you really want. Caution: This is not some “trick” you’re playing on your customers. Notice the word “sincere” was used a couple of times in the explanation. If it looks like you’re paying a fake compliment just to get them to reciprocate, chances are, you’ll get a testimonial that looks fake too. What other tips do you have for getting quality testimonials from clients? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Tagged as: advertising, business, client, customer, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, time

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How To Beat Procrastination When You Don’t Know What To Do Next

by Paul Joseph June 29, 2011 Featured

This is part one of a two part series where I want to address some of the common issues that are faced by many Internet marketers. This article will focus on an obstacle I feel is stopping many people from getting started with Internet marketing. The second article will focus on proper business strategies for an online business. A growing part of my work is private consulting where I help other people with the “sticking points” of developing and growing a profitable online business. The common issues that I help people with are many of the topics I have shared with you here previously such as market research , narrowing your niche and creating a USP . Other areas I commonly help with can include developing customer relationships , product creation ideas , and strategizing . Recently I had a consult with a young man and it really brought home a few of the main points where I see online marketers failing. I thought I would share the story with you. The Story Of Tom Tom (not his real name) is a smart person and he has been dabbling in Internet marketing for a couple of years now. He does not make near enough to quit his day job, but he is spurred on by the small returns his online ventures do make and the success stories of others he reads about. After chatting with Tom for awhile, a few issues became apparent as to why he was maybe struggling with his online efforts. Like most people trying to make money online, Tom had immersed himself in the vast amount of knowledge available. He was constantly reading, researching and learning. We all know there is no shortage of information on the Internet and sometimes a bit of research can really lead to going down the rabbit hole, so to speak. I am all for learning and researching. But I am also all for acting upon that information and actually doing something with it. Sound Familiar? For example, one of Tom’s websites had very little content on it and I quizzed him why that was the case, and he told me the reason was because he wasn’t sure about what traffic source he was going to focus on. He told me he was thinking of doing some videos and putting them on video sites, he also had thought about doing some article marketing to the article directories, and lastly he was contemplating creating a Facebook fanpage. The end result? He did nothing . He just thought about what he should do or could do. It was like Tom was suffering from a term some people joke about called “ analysis paralysis ” – where so much thinking is going on that nothing actually gets done. I’m certainly not saying that some thought and planning into your actions isn’t necessary, I’m saying excessive thought and planning that prevents action is not a way to build a business. The Decision Making Rule Successful Internet marketer Jason Fladlien is known for his expertise in time management (he is the author of Double Your Productivity for Life ) and one of his key principles relates to decision making. Jason says that the ability to make decisions is like a muscle and can be trained and strengthened. If you always labor and hesitate over decisions you have to make, then your decision making muscle will be weak. If you are assertive and take action quickly, then you will build that into your decision making ability, and you will feel comfortable and confident making quick decisions. Like anything it takes practice. Once great principle Jason has is the 30 second decision making rule . This is something he implements to strengthen the decision making muscle . Jason does have some other rules related to business decisions but he says that this is a great way to get started on making decisions that you can use in everyday situations. He recalls going out to lunch with some fellow Internet marketers during a seminar and how it took ten minutes to decide where to eat. Jason highlights if the 30 second rule had been applied then they would probably already have been seated at a restaurant and already ordered their meals in this time. Break Through The Stagnation It is much easier to correct a wrong decision once it’s made then to make the right decision in the first place. I know the above statement sounds a little irresponsible or maybe even a bit crazy. But people often say the first step is the hardest. And sometimes that first step is just making a decision about what to do. Just make a start, it doesn’t have to be perfect. I told Tom that he just needed to do something . The fact is all those previously mentioned traffic avenues work. Many people have had success using each of those content methods. Obviously it depends on your market, for example Facebook may not be an appropriate choice depending on your demographic. All you can do is give it a go. Trial And Error Is A Good Thing With regards to traffic mediums, you may find you or your audience tends to gravitate towards one of the mediums. But you will never know if you don’t try . That is what is great about an online business, there can be some trial and error involved and that is OK. And while a lot of learning can be gained from researching and reading, the best learning is actually applying the information and giving it a go. So I told Tom that he needed to pick article marketing, video or Facebook and decide which one he was going to use (I didn’t mind if he used all three, as long as he did something!), and to make a start on getting some good quality content out. And now he could spend all the time he was researching, which was the best avenue, and dedicate that time to content creation and helping his customer base by providing them with some great information. Just Making A Start Can Be A Relief Well, Tom felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He told me later that the decision had been weighing him down. And it can. Decisions can go around and around in our head and wear us out. However, once we make a choice it can relieve a lot of that anxiety and give us a sense of peace of mind . Conclusion There can be many obstacles to starting a successful online business. Knowing what to do can certainly be one of them. Most of us have a general idea of what we have been procrastinating on. So hopefully this article will give you some motivation to make a decision and get started on something you have been putting off. Unfortunately, the act of not doing wasn’t the only obstacle facing my client Tom. His overall mindset and approach to his online businesses was also letting him down. But I don’t think he is the only one suffering from an ineffective online business strategy. But more about that next week. Leevi Romanik Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: book, client, mindset, people, young

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Why Keeping It Real Is Your Best Selling Tactic

by Paul Joseph June 20, 2011 Featured

Greetings once more fellow entrepreneur, this week I have something quite unique and extraordinary to share. Yesterday, I interviewed Shaune Clarke , and what began as a 45 minute interview spilled into nearly two hours as we took a free fall into the mind of one of the most uniquely gifted entrepreneurs I’ve encountered. Because Shaune shared such a wealth of information, I’ve had to edit the interview into several parts, so today we’re looking at the first part, in which Shaune shares with us his insights for entrepreneurs about creating your own game , the 1/2 step away market , unwarranted sales resistance , and the art of graceful persuasion as it relates to building trust through authenticity and our unique giftedness. Phew! And all this in under 20 minutes! You can just imagine what we covered in two hours! So, let us begin, come and join me at the edge to take a leap into the farthest reaches of the unique genius of Shaune Clarke Creating Your Own Game One of the comments that  people consistently make about Shaune Clarke, is that he’s not like anyone else they’ve met in the business he’s starring in, whether it’s Speaking Training , Copywriting , Internet Marketing , Interviewing or Natural Health . Shaune explains that most people will often compare themselves to competitors and try to compete with them, when really, there’s no reason to do this. Shaune learned from his experience as an extremely successful copywriter, that having something different equates to having something valuable, providing there is a market for it. Shaune says that 95% of the time, there is a market, and there are already people in that market spending money. After Shaune had hired one of the top gun copywriters to write sales copy for him and it flopped, he thought, “You know what? I didn’t like that style of sales copy, I wouldn’t respond well to it, so there must be others who would feel the same.” So he invested time and money into learning about how others wrote sales copy, then set about writing in his own unique style that was more aligned with his own values and preferences. This turned out to be so successful, that within 6 months , he couldn’t keep up the demand for his work and he was asked to train other copywriters. Shaune realized two things through this experience. One was that bringing his unique gifts to his work was extremely valuable and lucrative , and training others to emulate his style would not work either. For his clients in his trainings, learning to find their own unique style and inner giftedness and bring that to their work was going to be far more valuable and lucrative to them as well. The Half A Step Away Market Shaune explains that the market is always changing and evolving, and doing so rapidly. The established players are often not able or willing to adapt or change to the market as it evolves, so when we come into the market with something new, there are clients already in the market who are going to resonate with what we’re offering. He also speaks about the 1/2 step away market , which is the people who are at the very edges of the market. These clients have a problem that needs solving, but there’s currently no one in the industry that has communicated to them in a way that resonates with them, and therefore draws them from the edges of the market into it. Everyday, someone who has not spent money in an industry will begin to invest their money in it. There are people both in your market and right at the edges who will resonate with your unique style and gifts that you bring to your business. Unwarranted Sales Resistance Shaune explains further that all clients will experience something he calls unwarranted sales resistance . This is because all of us have had an experience of spending money before on products and services and not getting our problem solved. This means someone’s previous bad experience is going to be projected onto us when they are considering buying from us. This is unwarranted sales resistance because it has nothing to do with us , it is related to a previous experience our client has had, and it is being projected onto the current situation. Our role as business people is to just be aware of this, and to maintain our certainty of the value and quality of our products and services and communicate this elegantly to our clients. It doesn’t involve pushing or comparing. It’s a matter of understanding that there is an element of risk involved in spending money, and the biggest thing is not to try to sell somebody on our products or services, but to build trust. The Art Of Graceful Persuasion Shaune goes on to say, “We don’t need a sales formula, we need a formula for imbuing authenticity into our work which inherently builds trust .” Shaune is acutely aware that his speaking training clients experience a far greater degree of competence, confidence and authenticity when their presentation is imbued with their own unique gifts. He says, “Speaker training should adapt to you, you should not have to adapt to speaking training.” The more our unique giftedness is allowed to be present on our work, the more authenticity there is to it, and the greater the level of certainty and trust we can build with our clients. “We’re all very good at persuasion when we’re self motivated, like persuading our partner to go to a particular restaurant or holiday location or getting the kids to do their homework,” Shaune explains. But when it comes to exchanging money for goods and services, we can get tangled in an uncomfortable and encumbered selling process, when it really doesn’t have to be like that. The art of graceful persuasion is being aware the combination of unique skills, insights and information that you bring to your business, and using these to bring authenticity to your work. This inherently builds trust with our clients so that they understand that we are going to give them quality goods and services, and they will have their problem solved. Shaune’s speaker training is really a method for gaining a greater depth of understanding and self awareness of your unique giftedness and learning how to communicate this to your clients. This builds trust and moves clients through unwarranted sales resistance gracefully and with understanding and empathy . When he was considering taking on the task of training others to speak, he told his partner, Clarinda, “the world does not need another speaker training, what the world needs is a training that shows people how to bring their authentic self to their work and demonstrate this value to others. ” Luckily for those clients like myself, who were seeking to bring more awareness to our unique combination of skills, insights and information and then learn how to communicate this value to our clients, Shaune has put together exactly this, and the art of graceful persuasion is no longer an enigma. There is, however, a lot more to learn from Shaune, but we’ll have to wait for another article to find out as this one is has reached critical mass for the quantity of insights I can fit into my head in one go! I would love to hear your comments at the end, thanks for watching or reading. Cheers, Neroli. Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: article, business, client, clients, kids, marketing, money, sales, unique

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How To Stay Ahead Of Your Industry

by Paul Joseph June 7, 2011 Featured

In the first article in this series – Ask Yourself This Important Question: Is Your Business Growing Or Dying? – I talked about why the ‘be the best’ mindset is so important and why it has been the ultimate success factor for many businesses. There were, however, a number of misunderstandings, prevalent in the comment section, which I would like to clarify. A business, just like a person, is either growing or dying. Our bodies begin by making us bigger and stronger, we then reach optimum performance, which we maintain for a relatively short time before our body gradually begins to decline. It’s a natural process, or ‘life cycle’. Business also has a life cycle. It is created because we see a gap in the market or an opportunity for potential revenue creation. We work hard at growing this market, but naturally it reaches a peak and then starts to decline. The reasons for the decline can vary, but most commonly it is simply due to changing habits or technological innovations, which make our existing businesses less relevant. The key message thus from my first article was perhaps that we must always understand that our business has a shelf life . In business degrees we are taught that this shelf life is an average of just seven years, however in modern times that is even shorter. There will come a point, sooner rather then later, when the needs of your customer will change, and unless you are helping educate them on their changing needs, you are likely to be left behind. Please do not confuse this with an industry as a whole. Blogging is really an industry technique and not in itself a business. WordPress itself is perhaps a business, but as we have seen, the constant WordPress updates are not just keeping up with the times, sometimes they are perhaps guiding the industry. Which brings me nicely to a reminder of the second key message from last week’s article; unless you are striving to be the best and push your industry forward , you are likely to be left behind and fighting for space in an ever decreasing market. In my Online Marketing coaching program I strive to give the very best business knowledge to Internet Marketers, so that they can grow their businesses. I use multiple tools and techniques to ensure that I am at the very forefront of my industry, and that I am creating new and innovative products. I will share many of these techniques within this article. These tools and techniques can be adapted to almost any industry and to almost any business. But my advice comes with a warning. Being at the forefront of your industry, can at times be a lonely place. Very few people are ‘early adopters’ of new thinking. Many more people tend to follow on once the idea or product has become established, with more following very late in the product life cycle . My advice is sometimes seen as somewhat radical within Internet Marketing circles and thus I know it is currently not for everyone. I firmly believe that all Internet Marketers will need my knowledge, but I am also aware that not everyone is currently ready for it. I am catering to the early adopters for improved business education and understand that many of the haters/sceptics will turn loyal followers in due time. The masses will follow, but the early adaptors will still be more then profitable for me. When you consistently lead your industry, then you begin to form religious followers – people who follow you and your brand as if it were gospel. Think about Apple , people questioned what we would do with the iPhone, but now it is a household name. Even the iPad, which is limited in it’s use, is a major hit because people believe in the power of Apple to bring us products that will one day become our future. We must aim to be just as innovative, or at least ensure our businesses are innovating along with the times, or we will find ourselves on the wrong end of the product life cycle. I must digress a little here just to make one more point. Yes, there is plenty of room for other companies within the growth and maturity period. This is when we see a lot of copy cat companies and products. However, the profits and loyalty you develop by being at the forefront of your industry are unparalleled . Increased competition is great for the consumer and not so great for business profits. Do what is good for your business and ensure you are ahead of the competition and enjoying unchallenged profits. How To Ensure You Stay Ahead Of Your Industry 1. Surround Yourself With Industry Leaders So many people always talk about surrounding yourself with successful people, but nobody ever seems to discuss how it is done. Well I’m more of a practical advice person, so here are some things that have worked well for me and my clients: Conference and Mastermind calls Thankfully as Internet Marketers we are always welcome to join conference calls where Online Marketers help each other out. I founded and currently run such a call at the European Marketing Network . There is no way that I can know everything that is happening within the Online world and run a great business at the same time. With conference calls, however, I do not have to. In these short one hour weekly calls I get to hear about the latest tools and techniques being used by a group of top class marketers. Gaining this information alone may take me all week, but this way I am able to gain just as much within one short hour. I thoroughly recommend you find a conference call related to your niche. You can check out popular Internet Marketing forums for conference call sections or even check out our European Marketing Network calls . My advice is to always join at least two calls, that way even if you do not feel you are the most knowledgeable person in the world, simply recommending one or two of the top tips you learnt from the other call (or simply connecting people together) will make you a valuable asset to any group call. Many of the top marketers have private mastermind groups. I’m invited to many of them as successful people appreciate that nobody ever makes it alone. Physical meeting We all have Linkedin or similar networks throughout the world. These professional networks are a great way to meet not only new clients, but also interesting people for an informal mastermind at a social event. Check to see if your town or city has a regular meet-up, and if it hasn’t, why not start one yourself? I regularly join professional meet-ups, just so I can understand common business problems and what the changing needs of the general market are. I’ve picked up some greatly successful friends along the way, which is always nice. I’m also a local ambassador for a large professional meet-up organization, meaning that at events people actually come and talk to me. I do not just give advice to you, I’m practicing it myself. To be successful you have to get out there . Conferences I cannot state enough, just how important meeting people within your industry is. We should always be keeping one eye on the competition and know who our competitors are. I try to attend many Internet Marketing events, not just to see my old friends, but to really see who the new generation of leaders within my industry are. I mentioned earlier that the average product life cycle is seven years long. Facebook was born in 2004 alongside perhaps the big surge in Online Marketing. 2011 could therefore represent the age for a new era in Online Marketing with many new faces taking the limelight. If you believe it is your time then get out there and get yourself known. Organize your own meet-up Why not find an excuse to organize your own meet-up with people within your industry? It does not have to be on a large scale. One of my groups, which has over 500 members, started with just three people who met monthly for drinks. Three years later the idea snow-balled, partly because the industry grew. We were at the forefront, so reaped the benefits of being innovators. You can easily do this too. 2. Educate Yourself If for some reason you haven’t already realized, I’m the continuous education kind of guy. Here are my favorite methods to educate myself: Top Notch Blogs There is a reason why you come to this blog regularly (I hope you are coming to mine too). It’s long been a source of really good, relevant information for bloggers. Make a list of at least five leading resources within your chosen niche and ensure you visit those sites regularly. Never rely on one source, that means you are a follower. Innovators like to see what the industry is doing as a whole, and by using at least five key resources you can ensure you are regularly up to date with most things within your industry. Industry Magazines I do not know why more people miss this, but it is the first thing I do when exploring a new industry. I search online for ‘free’ magazines for professionals within my chosen industry and request subscription. Simple. The information within these specialist magazines is legendary . It comes direct to your door and it is free. Not to mention the respect you gain when you approach someone mentioning an article they were featured in, within this somewhat exclusive magazine. Some of my work is even due to be published within such a magazine, which will bring me somewhat greater respect within corporate circles. It all started with a request to join a free magazine, which is reserved for leaders within the industry. Email lists may be similar, but I have never found one that carries the same value as a magazine. Training courses Many marketers including myself run great coaching courses. I truly believe (and have even been humbled) by finding out just how much I have to learn from others. My conference calls never fail to surprise me. It is impossible to know everything, and I would happily pay someone for top class knowledge. When I wanted to start blogging many moons ago, I came across Yaro’s course and paid him without thinking twice or ever looking back on the decision. Find the best person for your particular need and learn from them, even if you have to invest in the education. 3. Stay Close To People Who Need Your Skills Do not forget to stay close to the changing needs of your target market. Thankfully this does not always involve costly market research, sometimes we can use a few tricks: Search Job Boards Search Job Boards to see what recruiters are looking for within your niche. When I first started doing a little Social Media Marketing I had no idea what the client would really expect. I then starting monitoring job boards, both online and within newspapers, discovering the job descriptions were very similar. I could then use this as the basic premise of my offering, and ensure that I was never left behind by their changing needs. Agreed this may not keep you ahead of the industry, but it may help ensure you are never too far behind. Read Forums related to your niche Like the above point, this may not keep you ahead of the pack, but it will definitely keep you in touch with the consumer. I actually use a forum to pick test candidates for my new products. They gain free access to my course in return for blogging about their experience or giving me direct regular feedback. This way I gain new followers and do not disrupt my paying customers. I do not have too much time to participate in forums, but I do make time to browse them regularly. Conclusion I sincerely hope the ideas on how to stay in the lead in your industry did not distract from the key message, which is: you must ensure that your business is continually growing . I often go back to the example of Apple, and I will again here. Apple have an amazing feedback method as they have stores in major cities, where the customer comes along and tells them their problems. Apple listens, fixes their problems in store, and then relays their feedback up the line of command. It is a simple yet amazing way of ensuring that they understand their customers’ changing needs, long before their competitors. Dream to be the best, take the necessary action to be the best, and surround yourself with the best people, knowledge and education available. Keep these key lessons in mind, and maybe one day I could be writing about how your company is a great example to follow. Dee Kumar Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: business, client, education, internet marketing, power

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The Mentality Of The Young Entrepreneur

by Paul Joseph May 5, 2011 Featured

My name is Ken Sundheim . I am a 29 year old business owner of an executive search firm by the name of KAS Placement based out of New York City at Herald Square. I started KAS shortly after I graduated from Fordham University , after resigning from a corporate sales job after three months of being at the company. Throughout my writing on Entrepreneur’s Journey, I plan to document how I opened a million dollar business with no experience, no contacts and even more odds against my favor. I want to discuss what I have learned being a 29 year old entrepreneur and what is necessary for the aspiring business owner to become familiarized with. I want to touch on my successes and my mistakes and show the reader what they can learn from both. I am convinced that entrepreneurship and intelligence only have a slight correlation. Anybody can be an entrepreneur, however not everybody is willing to put themselves out there and truly follow their dreams, their heart and use their God-given skills to take what they deserve. I am living proof that anybody can be their own boss. Hopefully, my stories, my knowledge and my ongoing experiences can help at least one individual. How I Started As An Entrepreneur I didn’t grow up and sit through my college classes thinking that if I didn’t open a business, I’d be cheating myself. Instead, my exceptional lack of corporate political prowess at a young age taught me that it’s either entrepreneurship or thirty years of a miserable boss and even more miserable pension. Living in New York City and being unemployed in a great economy at age 25 prompted to me to visit the entrepreneurship section at Barnes and Noble shortly after leaving and, by fate or stroke of something close, I happened to pick up a thirty-page book on staffing, went home and started KAS. The corporate headquarters started out being a studio apartment on the Upper West Side. At first, I did what a 25, 26 and 27 year old would do with a dramatically increased salary. Then, around 28, I began to get serious about growing my firm – albeit from a one bedroom apartment at the time. Now at the age of 29, I own a revenue generating company in New York City, I pay a couple of Manhattan rents, have five full-time, very talented employees whom I care about on payroll, and my firm is currently catching the turning economy, which means more growth, training, management, and whatever may come as well. I live a life that is hard to obtain and that I am grateful to have. The Price Of Success If you think successful entrepreneurship does not come with a price tag, think again. Then think another time after that. At an early age, I feel hardened. I joke a lot with my friends, but when it comes to business, I feel that I don’t smile as much as I would if I were an employee. Being successful is arduous. Being successful is stressful. If you want to be successful at a young age, don’t just read the below, but come to terms with it : this is the mentality that a young entrepreneur needs. If You’re A Rattlesnake, Nobody Pokes You With A Stick It was about a year and a half ago. I had three employees working from my apartment on the Upper East Side. It was a little embarrassing because I run a staffing firm and we would occasionally have candidates come to the “office.” That is, until somebody claiming they were competition sent me a nasty email regarding not having an office. With 48 hours, I signed a two-year, $70,000 lease. I could not sleep. I worked and learned out of anger, out of spite for two days straight. I consider myself a rattlesnake. If you try to whack me with a stick, I bite like a s.o.b. If I want something, I work so hard for it that being on the other team means that you’re going to put in 18-hour days. If it sounds harsh, that’s because it is. I can’t apologize for my style, but the other firms in my space now know better. Nobody is dumb enough to get bitten twice. It’s The Work That Doesn’t Directly Pay, That Pays As a young entrepreneur, nobody is going to hand you a thing. Clients are going to be skeptical of you. The other teams have leverage simply by telling the client who shops around, “We’ve been in business for 15 years.” That means that I was 14 years old when they started. Get used it. So, how do you combat this sentence? It’s simple. Be more knowledgeable and gain better credentials . I started reading a lot of books about every aspect of business, persuasion, job seeking and whatever else the iPad would download. The reason why many younger entrepreneurs seem to avoid this is that it’s not listed on the job description. It is this exact work that helped me to learn how to get media exposure, which mitigates the aforementioned skepticism of potential clients. My writing has been syndicated in WSJ.com , NYTimes.com , Forbes.com , USAToday.com , About.com , HuffPo , AOL.com , Yahoo! Buzz and Yahoo! Finance and just about every other publication. Now, the “We’ve been in business for 15 years,” looks pretty bad when you’ve accomplished 20 times more in a quarter of the time. Once You’re Able To Recruit Them, Treat Your Employees Like Family Any entrepreneur, or for that matter, large corporate entity, lives by effective, loyal employees and dies by turnovers. Unhappy employees are easy to get because they are cheap and they screw up a business. Happy employees are so hard to find and procure because they are a serious expense, but they make a business. I had to recruit employees from an apartment. This was not easy. The first few took a chance on me and for that, I owe them everything. Management for many entrepreneurs is tough. For me, at first it was damn near impossible. I had a lot of growing up to do.  Management takes patience, it takes learning, it takes caring and it takes energy. Jack Welch put it best when he said that before you are a leader, you spend time growing yourself ; then when you become one, you spend that time growing others. As a young entrepreneur, know that your employees are the future of the company. Care about them . They are the ones standing next to you in the trenches and the moment you forget that, you’re in for a very gloomy day. Ethics: Have Them And Stand For Something At the age of 29, you don’t get to own your own business by not making mistakes. I have been called everything in the book except unethical . At the end of the day, you have your word and that is all you have. I have had clients, vendors and others that I’ve come across display despicable ethics, and dealing with them is tough, but you don’t back down. When someone acts in an unethical manner, tries not to pay you (and they will), you call them on it and fight to get whatever they owe you. I recently had to collect over $12,000 from clients overseas that were not paying. Yes. It’s a pain, but as a young entrepreneur you learn that not everybody acts with the utmost integrity . It’s a part of life and it’s a part of business. Say what you want, but you can’t call me “unethical.” Ken Sundheim 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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Entrepreneur Dr. Debasish Bebartta, Founder of Samvab – On solving some pressing problems in healthcare in India.

by Paul Joseph April 24, 2011 Featured

What is the mission of Samvab? Samvab is a social enterprise in healthcare sector, operating in my hometown Berhampur in Orissa. We provide high-quality medical services to the middle class and likewise to the poor. You offer the same services even to the poor communities. How is this sustainable? Our subscription model, with different fees based on the client’s income, enables literally… (Visit Yourstory.in for full news, other content, and much more!)

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