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Overlooked Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs

by Paul Joseph July 25, 2011 Featured

Entrepreneurs are not born successful. They work long and hard to achieve their goals. If you have a plan and are willing to put forth the time and effort needed to see your plan through, you too can be the kind of entrepreneur you desire to be. There are some important, often overlooked secrets to remember as you work your way down the path to success. The first thing you must know is that you need to do what you enjoy. When you start out doing what you love, you’ll be happier right from the beginning. Know your talents and tap into them. Don’t waste your valuable time having a career that you can’t stand. If you focus your business on what you know and love, potential employees and clients will notice and be immediately attracted to it. You’ve heard the adage, “You are what you eat.” You are also what you do. If you want to manage your own interior design business, be the best designer possible, as your success as a designer will define the way you feel about yourself and the way others see you. Don’t forget to project a positive image in both your business and personal lives. Being successful in business starts when you take care of yourself physically and mentally. Get enough exercise. Allow enough time in the day to rest and sleep. If you want to be at your peak when you are promoting your new ideas and business, take time to rejuvenate your personal self. Then, you will project excitement and enthusiasm to everyone you come in contact with. A big part of success in any aspect of life is learning how to find and maintain balance, particularly between work and play. As important as it is to devote the necessary time to getting your business up and going, you must not let work overtake your life. Make time for breaks. If necessary, schedule break time just like you would an appointment and be vigilant about it. Vacations are also a must. Maybe you can’t take the time off or spend the money to go on a seven-day cruise, so try a stay-cation. Don’t go into the office, stay home and work on a hobby or take a nap. Sometimes just a day or two are all that it takes to get the spring back into your step and clear your mind. Also, give your employees time off as well. Every person works better on a fully-charged battery. Another secret is to continue to invest in your education. Look for ongoing classes offered by other successful entrepreneurs and business people. Remember that there is always room for improvement in your business, and if you want to attract success, surround yourself with it. Read books and then read more. There is no such thing as too much knowledge, and every time you learn something new you will become a better business person and a better employer. Above all, be willing to accept advice. You might think this is a tricky concept, but just because you allow someone to give you advice doesn’t mean you have to use it. Be open to new concepts and ideas, but rely on your intellect and instinct. After all, you’re ultimately the only person responsible for your own success. Finally, look everywhere for opportunity. Don’t be afraid to start out small. Know that sometimes seemingly insignificant opportunities can lead to key developments in your business. As stated before, most successful people become successes because of time and effort. Thinking big but starting out realistically will get you where you want to be faster than trying to become a millionaire overnight. About the Author: Kyle Mortensen is a freelance writer for Tektronix. Tektronix is a leading supplier of test and measurement equipment such as a digital multimeter .

Tagged as: become an entrepreneur, education, entrepreneurship, mind, money, office, personal, time

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How To Be Happy – All The Time

by Paul Joseph July 19, 2011 Featured

Before writing this post, I was unhappy. A lot had happened in the hour since I woke up in the morning! Then I said to myself, “If you’re going to write about always being happy, why not try out what you’re telling others to do?” So I did. It worked. I felt happy. And then, I sat down to write this – for you. Wouldn’t you like to know more about an approach that can take you from being unhappy to being happy – in five minutes or less ? Here it comes… How to be happy – all the time! Why Be Happy? As entrepreneurs, we’re often seized by the “WHY?” question. It’s sheer survival dynamics. If we grab every idea that passes by, we’ll have little time for doing anything. So we look for a compelling reason before taking action. Here’s what being unhappy will affect in our entrepreneurial lives: Efficiency – It’s hard to get motivated to do something well when you’re feeling blue, lonely and hopeless, like it all doesn’t matter. The simplest action seems forbidding and overwhelming. Productivity – Anyone with disgruntled employees understands how significantly this impacts your business. Tiredness, lethargy and lack of focus are all symptoms of unhappiness. Innovation – When was the last time you had a great idea while you felt sad? Me neither. Creativity peaks when the mind is agile, active and stimulated – not when you feel dull or depressed. Fulfillment – Doing something you love and enjoy gives a deeper sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, and doing it happily multiplies this feeling. When you’re unhappy, you lose this sense of purpose and achievement. And that’s why you are better off being happy than sad. But happiness has never been available “on tap”, has it? After reading this, you may be surprised! “How Can I Always Be Happy?” There are only TWO ways to be happy all the time. 1. Have Whatever You Want 2. Want Whatever You Have Simple things are usually powerful. Like pithy quotes and short parables, the impact created by basic but universal truths resonate through our lives. The more we think about them, the deeper their message gets. Here’s a simple diagram. I call it the ‘Happiness Paradigm’ . WANT HAVE YES NO NO YES Take a close look at this. Let it sink in fully. Think about it a little. Then, we’ll talk about it some more. Having Whatever You Want This sounds like a nice way to be happy. But let me tell you the story of a Gambler who died. He entered the pearly gates and was given a warm welcome, led to a huge casino, and turned loose. Happily the Gambler played baccarat and the slots. He won, and kept winning. He tried backgammon, roulette and blackjack. It happened over and over. His winnings mounted. He grew more daring. Bet larger amounts. And won again. His excitement mounted – until, after a few hours, he realized that no matter what he did, he was always winning. The Gambler called out to God. God appeared, and asked him: “What can I do for you?” “Listen, Lord, I love being in Heaven, but couldn’t I lose just once in a while?” God looked surprised. “Heaven? Whatever gave you the idea you’re in Heaven?! “ That’s how it can be when you always have whatever you want. Apart from being impractical. Because, let’s face it, no matter who you are, how powerful or influential or networked you may be, there simply is no way you can have everything that you want (or will want in the future). The human state being what it is, whenever we get something we’ve wanted badly, our mind tends to want something more, something better, something different. That’s just the way we are! When you have one decent suit or one pretty dress, you’re happy – for a while. Then, you start wishing you had another. A costlier one. A prettier one. One just like that guy or girl has. Oh, and it would be nicer to have three of them – after all, your friend or neighbor or boss or someone you know does. Before you know, you’re no longer happy with your one nice dress… you’re unhappy about it! Pegging your happiness on such an impossibility as always having whatever you want condemns you from ever enjoying your life. So that’s a dead-end. Let’s look at the alternative. Wanting Whatever You Have This is big. Really BIG! It gives you a deep sense of appreciation and gratitude to everything you already have. Like, maybe two legs! If you have only one leg because you lost the other in an accident, you’re still better off than the guy who has none because he was born with a birth defect. If you’re having something you don’t like for lunch or dinner, you’re still lucky – because many folks don’t have ANY kind of food to eat. If you come from a broken family, or are going through divorce, or struggling at work, you’re still the envy of someone who doesn’t have what you’re unhappy about having… a family, a spouse, a job, anything! Here’s another story. This is about a billionaire. He lost a fortune when the stock market crashed. Almost overnight, his personal wealth dropped by $300 million. Ouch! He was so upset by what happened that he committed suicide. He chose to die because he lost $300 million. He could have chosen to live – because he still had $700 million ! Yes, this is an extreme example of how perceptions can be distorted to keep us unhappy. You may not lose $300 million… but you don’t have to in order to understand this message. On a smaller scale, this is representative of everyone’s life – including yours and mine. We refuse to acknowledge and appreciate our generous blessings and gifts that a kind destiny has showered upon us . Our lives. Our bodies. Our minds. Our intellect. Our upbringing. Our necessities. Our little (or big) luxuries. Our friends and family. We ignore them all – and focus instead upon the things we don’t have… but want. That makes us unhappy. You Can Choose To Be Happy You have a choice – to decide to want whatever you have. That changes everything. And it leaves you happy – all the time. It’s better still, because now YOU have all the control over your state of happiness. You can choose how to react to what’s around you. To what you have. To what you don’t have. You can decide to feel regret, frustration and anger at all the burdens Life dumps on your weary shoulders. Or you can see it all from a different perspective – and appreciate, nurture and treasure everything anyway… because it’s more than some others have (or ever will). Since writing this post, I’ve had a chance to view this exact mindset in action – by a good friend and role model who recently faced a disaster in his personal life, and is dealing with it like a champ . This friend is a guy you know and love too. It’s Yaro Starak – read his post “ The Day My Life Changed ” – then think over this message again. Won’t That Kill Any Ambition? This post you’re reading came about from a discussion with my little girl on a long drive to the railway station. After listening to me quietly, she asked: “If I’m happy with whatever I have, won’t I lose any ambition to improve? I’d just stagnate, and waste my talents!” “Not necessarily” I replied. And explained. Even as you’re happy with all that you have, you can choose to be happier if you get something else. That new ‘something’ now becomes desirable, motivating you towards it, fuelling change… but with a difference. You’ll always succeed at everything you try – even before you begin. Because in one sense, success is about being happy about whatever you do . And being perfectly happy exactly where you are, with only the upside potential of being happier still if and when you attain your new goal, you are already successful! It’s a frame, for sure. But an intelligent frame for your goals and targets. True, being unhappy or dissatisfied with where they are in life is usually a powerful motivator for some people to seek to change. Unfortunately, the mindset of discontent usually persists in whatever new, altered life they attain – so they end up being unhappy somewhere else, with someone else, or something else. Let me tell you one MORE story to illustrate… The Wisdom of A Gatekeeper A man arrived at the outskirts of a village, and was stopped by the gatekeeper. “What do you want here?” he asked. “I’ve left my village and am looking for a new place to live. Tell me, what kind of people live here?” The gatekeeper stared at him for a long moment, and then asked: “What kind of people lived in your village?” The man thought for a moment: “Oh, they were the worst. Cheats. Liars. Small minded people. I hated it all. That’s why I left.” The gatekeeper looked sad. “You’ll find the people here just the same.” The man shook his head in disappointment, turned around, and walked away. A few hours later, another traveller arrived at the same village for the same reason. Again the gatekeeper asked him: “What kind of people lived in your village?” “Oh, they were wonderful folks. Kind, generous, warm-hearted. I didn’t want to leave. I wish I could have stayed forever!” The gatekeeper said: “You’ll find the people here just the same.” He opened the gate and smiled as he welcomed him in. This is a powerful story – because it’s so true. The world ‘outside’ is just a reflection of the world ‘inside’ us. It’s like a mirror, projecting back to us the attitude, feelings and worldview we have adopted and developed over years. When we try to alter our inner state of happiness by focusing on external events or possessions or people, it usually fails. Lasting change can only begin on the inside. By the way we think, feel and view our reality. And then, almost magically, the same things manifest on the outside. Within each of us lies the seed of our personal greatness. We already have everything inside us to attain it. We have the power to always be happy. To the extent that we seize our opportunities and maximize our potential, we will fulfill our greatness And be happy as we do. But when, instead, we obsess over other people’s achievements, or what they have that we don’t, we tend to lose our inner balance, grow unhappy and desire change for the sake of it – which never brings deep, inner joy. We end up shifting the arena, never the game. Instead, play the game. Play to win. Aim to be happy… no matter what. Dr. Mani . Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: game, goals, personal, power, success, young

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4 Mantras to Personal Branding Success

by Paul Joseph June 27, 2011 Featured

Today’s marketplace is constantly evolving. It’s vibrant and dynamic, irrespective of the state of the economy. It’s part-real, part-virtual. And this environment has been a breeding ground for independent-minded and independent professionals, making it incredibly important to stand out. Personal branding has become an all-important mantra for those people whose business is all about what they can offer as individuals. In a cluttered environment, how can you create a personal brand that stands out? Here are 4 simple mantras that could help you fashion your own unique personal brand. But, remember, this is not a blueprint; just some tried and tested steps. The most important aspect about personal branding is the word ‘personal.’ Create your own unique chart to personal branding success. Mantra 1: Honesty is the best personal branding policy You can’t fake who you are, online or in person. Who you are is what the personal brand should be about. People relate to honesty and make long lasting connections based on the real you. When you fake a personality, you won’t be able to keep it up forever, and the followers you have accrued will fall by the wayside the minute the façade comes off. A great example about honest Personal Branding is Zen Habits’ blogger, Leo Babauta. After 4 years of blogging about personal goals and realizing his dreams, Leo has some 200,000 subscribers and his blog has been ranked the No.1 blog of the year, two times in a row, by TIME magazine. Whether you want to start a blog, a small business or become a consultant, you can apply Leo’s approach. By behaving and working in ways that you are truly comfortable with, not only are you happier, but you also help people build trust and confidence in you. Leo’s cult is only growing by the day, and he’ll continue to wield influence, if he continues to live and preach honestly. A growing number of gurus in the self-help space, where personal branding is very important, lose followers, because sooner or later, they’re ‘exposed’ for being something they said they weren’t. Mantra 2: What’s your middle name? Think hard. In high school, did kids call you Tom-cool head-Jackson or Sarah-math wiz-Smith? Or something not so flattering? Whatever your strengths and weaknesses are, they are unique. They will set you apart from hundreds of thousands of others, peddling the same goods as you. Leveraging your Unique Selling Point, is far more than just having a logo or a catchy slogan that talks about your special quality. It’s living your Unique Selling Point. Heard of Anthony Bourdain? Sure you have. Gordon Ramsay? Sure you have. They are both loud, angry, and aggressive people but also world famous chefs. Their signature qualities aren’t typically seen as positive or good. But the fact is, these very qualities make them unique individuals with something, unique to offer. Make the most of what is unique about you. Use it to your advantage. Surely, throughout their careers, Bourdain and Ramsay may have been advised to tone down their ‘loudness’. Ramsay, being more aggressive, might have been branded arrogant and abusive, but it is these very qualities, while making his sous-chefs’ lives miserable, makes his personal brand come alive. A very important lesson in personal branding is to accept who are, and work on those very qualities to build a brand that’s unique and different. Mantra 3: No money in anonymity Online presence these days, involves leaving your personal brand behind, wherever you go – whether it’s posting on forums, responding to blog posts, maintaining a blog, tweeting or creating online profiles on various networks. There is literally no money for those who want to stay behind the scenes these days. Increasingly, employers ask for twitter accounts and blog addresses to be mentioned on resumes. In fact, these resumes need to be uploaded on a personal website too! Establishing online presence or presence within professional networks in your area of expertise is a crucial first step in building a person brand. While social media and the internet are still evolving in many ways, privacy concerns frequently emerge. It may be tempting to share everything about yourself, but in the process of building a personal brand, do remember not to reveal personal information like home numbers and address. Mantra 4: Look up, but don’t imitate If you take the blogging world as an example, the phenomenal success that some bloggers have achieved, simply blogging about day-to-day things like personal goals, has spawned thousands of replicas. But, the truth is, there are only one or two stars in the sphere. Chris Guillebeau is a star ‘travel hacker.’ He travels around the world, at a fraction of the normal cost, by manipulating travel miles, reward points and frequent flyer bonuses. Through his newsletter, where he initially shared travel hacking tips, he has attracted millions of followers. He’s got book deals about living a non-conformist life, his career, is literally made. But he has also spawned hundreds of other bloggers like him who want to travel, write about it and live off those earnings, but only a very small number has succeeded, and only remotely. Building his personal brand was an arduous journey for Chris. He shares his difficulties in many blog posts, where he talks about writing assignments at top dailies that paid pittance, about how he shared information for free and relied on donations from readers. Personal brand building is a difficult journey and there is no one road to success, you can have mentors who inspire you but imitating their every move will only make you a rip-off. With that, we come to not just the end of this article, but also the essence of it. In an effort to build a personal brand, acquire millions of followers on twitter or subscribers to your blog posts, or that big, half-a-million dollar project, don’t forget who you are. 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, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, environment, marketing-strategies, personal, time, unique

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Take Control Of Your Publicity (Or End Up Like Bill Clinton)

by Paul Joseph June 23, 2011 Featured

What Is Your ‘Personal Brand’? Your personal brand is what should determine your media activity and the type of presence you seek to obtain publically. In my last post, I debated the topic “ Is All Publicity Good Publicity? ” I looked at a range of factors that would influence this statement, and the main conclusions can be summed up as the following: Publicity stunts can be really fun and serve to get attention in a crowded and noisy world, but be sure that any stunt and expected/possible outcomes are suited to your audience and what you would ideally like your reputation to be. Don’t ever let the negatives outweigh the positive, particularly if you are trying to place yourself in a position of authority. The best publicity is well planned and thought out. Don’t be sloppy with any publicity you can control. Be in charge – it’s your reputation after all. Unsurprisingly, a controversial topic such as this one had quite a strong reaction, and there was some debate about whether my example of Bill Clinton’s escapades worked in his favor. There was one school of thought along the lines of the fact that his ratings increased (arguably for a brief time) after he confessed and his wife forgave him. However, another opinion was that he lost credibility and made the white house staff look foolish, as well as putting a question mark over US politics and politicians, and what they really stand for and spend their time doing. With this in mind, I thought it ideal timing to address the topic of what your personal brand is. It is only once you have a grasp on this, can you really take control of your publicity and decide what type of publicity to engage in, how to behave and what messages to put across. What Determines Your Personal Brand? Just as companies have a brand, so do you. Your brand should be largely determined by your industry and the type of clientele you are hoping to appeal to. If your desired clientele are conservative, it goes without saying that you should take a conservative stance with your personal brand. If your industry is one that needs to be taken seriously, such as financial planning, then a personal brand that involves skate boarding and rapper-style trousers would not be altogether appropriate. On the other hand, you may be looking for an excuse to tread some different ground in your industry in order to stand apart from the sea of competition. One good example is Richard Branson , who obviously decided that business and entrepreneurship was altogether too dry and boring, so he decided to take a few risks by stepping outside the square, and launching himself out of a plane quite literally, among other adventurous antics. The public fell for his affable nature and repaid him in the greatest way – millions of fans for him and his business ventures. On a more local level, I have heard of an accountant who delivers seminars and talks on business accounting, but his image is totally opposite of what you might expect from an accountant. He could almost be described as “off-beat” and “hippy”, with colorful clothes and crazy hair. But he is genius in knowing his stuff, and this brand sets him apart from the other hundreds of accountants out there. In fact, a younger demographic feel that they can relate, so he has hit upon another niche altogether – Gen Y business owners . How Your Personal Brand Should Influence Your Publicity Activity If your brand is outlandish and adventurous, and your industry is one of enormous and rapid change (such as internet marketing), you can afford to be a little more controversial in your media statements and image. If, however, you are a politician, you need to be careful to stick to your party’s political policy when speaking publicly, and be careful not to behave or speak in a way that is contrary to what your party is pledging. This is where we can address Bill Clinton’s actions. Middle America is on the whole a conservative public, and while it may be acceptable, even expected, for celebrity to have their “dirty washing aired,” it is the last thing a person in a position of authority would hope for. Tiger Woods was a respected sports identity, and even his debacle tarnished his reputation and caused him to lose sponsorship arrangements together with his marriage. We all make mistakes, but a public, who are replying and entrusting one person to make important decisions on their country’s behalf, would most certainly hope for fewer distractions and more work getting done in the Oval Office. So, yes, while his votes may have increased in the short term, one might describe it as a “pity vote.” I would challenge you to mention the words “Bill Clinton” to any group of adults in most parts of the world, and not receive a snicker, or reference to a cigar. How embarrassing for anyone to endure that as their brand reputation, especially when their industry is meant to be one of a serious and important nature. Having said that, the publicity that surrounded this incident was not encouraged or organized by Clinton himself, and when faced with the horror of the story going to press, he conducted himself in the most appropriate way under the circumstances. Any publicity that is carried out in a controlled way should be given much consideration as to whether it matches your personal brand. This is where having a strategy in place works wonders and should prevent you from acting in conflict to your desired brand. Social Media And Your Personal Brand Social media is where many of us have tripped up, because it is so new and evolving . If you are trying to present a professional business image, clients may be shocked to discover your drunken weekend adventures posted all over your Facebook profile page. Even if that isn’t you, there may be some interests, hobbies and family matters you don’t necessarily want to share with your clients. A public or fan page that separates your “private” and “public” self should avoid any issues. Kerry McDuling Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: business, online, opinion, personal, social-media, young

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Add people you meet in person through an iPhone app on Facebook

by Paul Joseph June 18, 2011 Featured

What would you do if you wish to stay connected with a person whom you just met? Obviously, you would want to have their personal contact number or else a connection through a social networking site. If it’s Facebook, here is an easy way of befriending them. Rather than sending a friend request, getting it accepted, which generally takes a lot of time, can be cut short to a simple friend request… (Visit Yourstory.in for full news, other content, and much more!)

Tagged as: content, facebook, frontpage, other-content, personal, yourstory-in

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How Entrepreneurs Adapt To Change

by Paul Joseph June 14, 2011 Featured

Nostalgia is a wistful yearning for the past, an almost childish desire to have the world unchanged, constant, secure as it once used to be. It’s an emotion most of us feel for different things – but that can be deadly and dangerous for an entrepreneur to feel about business. Because change is constant in a business environment. Being willing, even eager, to embrace and adapt to change is a serious competitive edge for any entrepreneur. Welcoming trend shifts, positioning yourself to stay on top of them, and striving to remain ahead of your competition are all functions of such readiness to change. The changes you’re forced to face, accept and adapt to may be big or small. For this very column I’m writing for Yaro’s blog, I have a plan and outline of topics to cover. But after reading Yaro’s interesting insights into how he is planning to change his blog profit model , I changed my schedule to write this post! Some changes are major and serious. They can have a significant impact on your business – and there’s no saying if it will be positive or negative. If you read the comments on Yaro’s post , you’ll see how mixed the reactions are. Can you imagine being in his shoes, wondering what to do next? There’s income at risk, an audience who may leave, a brand that could become diluted. . . and maybe more at stake. Yet embracing change, trying new things and growing in some ways are mandatory choices every entrepreneur must make . My mentor Jay Abraham says about business, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying!” So stagnation, or a wishful longing for ‘constancy’, is the kiss of death for your business ventures. Let’s look at why and how you change, and maybe it will encourage you to make those changes more confidently and securely. Evolution Depending upon how long ago you started your entrepreneurial journey, you may look back and wonder at how far you’ve come. Not just by way of business growth, but how much you personally have changed, improved, grown. That’s evolution. It’s what sets apart the more seasoned business owner from the raw greenhorn. And because everyone of us evolves, we internally drive certain changes in our business and related pursuits. These are some of those factors that will power change in your business: More Knowledge And Experience When I started my Internet infopreneur voyage , I didn’t even know if writing was my strong suit. It was a carefree step taken into an exciting new Web based world that was just opening its doors to new citizens. By constant practice and incremental improvement, I grew better at expressing my thoughts, opinions and feelings in writing. This led to more people reading what I had to say. Some of them were publishers of bigger websites, and it led to my being invited to write for them. Watching how a large infopreneur business like About.com was run gave precious insights that could be used in building and growing a smaller operation. And that’s how my own information business started. As my knowledge and experience grew, I made changes more swiftly, effectively and confidently. Some of them worked. Others didn’t. By weeding out the ‘losers’ and keeping (and scaling) the ‘winners’, my infopreneur business grew over 15 years to where it is today – raising enough money to fund 78 heart operations for under-privileged children with congenital heart defects . Investment Capital When setting out to launch my online business, I had to bootstrap my way and set a limit on expenses. So I decided they would always be less than my earnings! Now, looking back, that was probably not a smart decision. But way back when I had zero experience as a business owner, and not even a vague concept of what it takes to build and run an online business, this sounded like a reasonable approach, and so I followed it. My very first purchase was a $19 ebook, “Make Your Site Sell” by Dr. Ken Evoy , and it came after I had spent two YEARS as an information marketer. What I learned in it literally tripled my income, and that funded many more purchases, each of which grew my results to a higher level. More recently, I worked on a new project to develop 50 niche websites, all at once. Without a budget to spend on outsourcing content creation, buying domains and web hosting, and marketing the sites to rank well on search engines, this project would have been a non-starter. Sometimes having money available to throw at a project changes the scale, scope and nature of what you can attempt. Changing Needs And Goals In an earlier post, we discussed the purpose of your business – and how that purpose evolves over time. Your own needs and goals from your business are changing all the time. And five years from now, you’ll most probably find that the targets you set yourself today are completely different from what you want then. In 2001, when I launched my first foray into becoming a serious information marketer and built a portfolio of infoproducts, my goal was to be able to fund one heart operation from business profits. Ten years later, as I detailed in my book “47 Hearts – How to live your dreams, with passion, purpose and persistence” , this goal has grown to funding 47 operations every year. Your goals and purpose will be different. But they will also change. Your personal choices will not be constant. You may get married or divorced, have kids or change jobs, move to another country or find a new passion. And your priorities will shift. Your business goal posts will move to fit the new realities. Adaptation All of these are ‘internal’ factors, determined by what happens to you and therefore impacts your business. But you and your business do not exist in splendid isolation. You’re a part of a complex, interactive and ever-shifting universe, and external factors influence your decisions in a major way too. Your success – even survival – depends upon how well you can adapt to them. These are some of the issues that may force you to adapt and modify what you’re currently doing: Technology Every online entrepreneur is affected by technology. We love it, because technology streamlines and fuels most of our daily activity. We fear it, because it changes so rapidly, often leaving the older versions in the dust. Sometimes today’s technology fades a little in significance. At other times, it gets totally decimated by new developments. If you run an online business that is rooted in old technology, change is forced upon you – becoming a ‘do or die’ situation. Competition While it may not be true of some niches, the explosive and continuous growth of Web usage has led to growing competition in many areas. Where there used to be five competitors, there are now 50 – or even 500. Where only novices were competing against other beginners, today there are established behemoth business giants entering (or getting entrenched) in the online marketplace. Smart entrepreneurs will always adapt and compete efficiently. It may be through re-defining the market they target, or re-positioning their offer to be more attractive and appealing, or even by re-aligning and partnering with the bigger competitor with deeper pockets. Regardless of how you adapt, competition forces you to start changing. The status quo just got a lot more shaky and uncertain! Customer Demands Sometimes it’s better NOT to know how the future will be! Way back when I started, my naive goal was to build an automated information marketing system, grow it to hit an income target of $X, and then let it run on auto-pilot, while I used the revenue to fund my non-profit project upon which I would concentrate all my resources. If I had known how things would turn out, I might never have started! Sure, my information business has grown. But not automatically. Not in a way that can run hands-free. And not so that I can totally walk away from it and focus exclusively on other things. That’s because my clients’ needs are changing, shifting, moving with the marketplace. To stay viable, competitive and useful, what I do for them must change to mirror their new requirements. And your customers are the same. What they wanted three years back is different from what they want today. If you only keep offering them the “same old”, they’re going somewhere else for what it is they want now! Business Environment One more factor that thrusts unwelcome change upon entrepreneurs is the broader shift in a business environment. If you’ve been in your online business for over ten years, you’ll recall the ‘dot bomb’ catastrophe of 2000, and how the ridiculous “freebies for eyeballs” concept imploded spectacularly. Even if you launched your online business three years back, you’ve weathered the rough seas of a global recession that has eaten badly into the profitability and sales of many information marketers, forcing many to close doors or move into other ventures. So How To Deal With Change? Simple. Accept it. Evolve. Adapt. Yaro’s excellent post shares some of the ways he adapted to these changes . Curiously enough, about a year earlier I went through nearly all the same steps – selling off unused domain names, whittling down my Aweber database, selling off unproductive or stale projects, streamlining Web hosting (I had six different services, some with more than two accounts!), canceling paid subscriptions and more. A few years back, after seeing the shenanigans going on in the ‘make money online IM’ space and no longer wanting to be associated with them, I chose to re-brand myself as an ‘Internet infopreneur’ instead of ‘Internet marketer’ – and that helped a lot in changing perception. The exact steps you’ll take will depend upon you, your business and your attitude towards change. But taking those steps is no longer an option – it has become a necessity. Remember: If your business isn’t growing, it’s dying! Dr. Mani Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: business, daily, environment, internet, online, personal, project, search engines, small-business

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A meeting point of end users of technology

by Paul Joseph June 6, 2011 Featured

  NASSCOM EMERGEOUT Conclave Chennai focused on end users of technology tomorrow; Cricket and technology added to the agenda   Technology is integrated into our lives like never before. We can’t imagine lives without those BlackBerrys, iPhones, Android phones, satellite televisions, Internet, and social media at the personal level. Technology is also transforming businesses—SMBs and big… (Visit Yourstory.in for full news, other content, and much more!)

Tagged as: black, content, frontpage, internet, other-content, personal, technology

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A Few Surprises on Which Entrepreneurs Succeed

by Paul Joseph June 1, 2011 Featured

We can all dream about what it takes to make our startup a success.  From recent survey feedback, it seems evident that the urban legends leading to success are wrong.  The average entrepreneur is not the one who dumped a promising career, sketched his idea on the back of a napkin, and accepted millions from an investor to make a billion of his own. I was just perusing a more realistic recent report from the Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship , titled “ Making of a Successful Entrepreneur .”  They surveyed 549 successful company founders across a variety of industries, and gathered their views on success and failure factors.  Many are predictable, all were interesting, and a few even surprised me: Stick with the business area you know. We all have a tendency to think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but 96% of these founders ranked prior work experience in their business area as an extremely important or important success factor. It’s the learning – not success or failure – that makes the difference. Successful founders try and try again. 88% attributed their success to prior successes; 78% attributed success to prior failures. The management team is critical. In looking back on their success, 82% of the founders attributed their success to strength of the management team (not the idea, business plan, or money).  No surprise here. A little luck never hurts. Surprisingly, a full 73% said that good fortune was an important factor in their success.  22% even ranked this as extremely important. Perhaps we can discount this a bit for humility, but there is nothing like being in the right place at the right time. Don’t discount the value of your network. Professional networks were deemed important in the success of 73% of the founders.  62% of the respondents felt the same way about their personal networks. Dropping out of school is not recommended. 95% of these founders had earned Bachelor’s degrees and 47% had more advanced degrees. 70% said their university education was important, so only a few said skip it. Born to be an entrepreneur may not be enough today. First-timers usually fund their own venture. Venture capital and private/angel investments play a relatively small role in the startups of first-time entrepreneurs. 70% said they had to use personal savings as a main source for their first business. Advice from investors is not worth much. Of the entrepreneurs who received advice from their company’s investors, only 36% ranked it as important, and 38% said it was not important at all.  Surprisingly, even in venture-backed businesses, 32% said it was only slightly important. It sounds like founders want to make their own mistakes. Willingness to take a big risk. When asked what may prevent others from starting their own business, the highest ranked factor by 98% was lack of willingness or ability to take risks. Founders clearly found entrepreneurship to be a risky endeavor. Huge time and effort commitment. Along the same lines as the previous item, 93% felt from their own experience that the work and time challenges were a major barrier (no support for the part-time, work from home, get rich quick crowd). Hopefully, by understanding what entrepreneurs think and believe, we can foster more successes, fewer failures, and better guidance to those of you who haven’t taken the big step yet.  If you are already committed, take heed of the advice of those who have been there and done that.  I would like to hear more positive surprises. Martin Zwilling is the founder and chief executive officer of Startup Professionals, a company that provides products and services to start-up founders and small business owners. Read more about Marty here .

Tagged as: become an entrepreneur, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, management, personal, startup

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Why I Am Cutting Costs And Changing Business Models

by Paul Joseph May 27, 2011 Featured

The last few months have been interesting. I’m currently going through a transition phase. While I experience this process I think about my business goals, what kind of money I want to make, how I want to make it and what roles I specifically want to do. This takes time. It’s an exciting process, one that very much appeals to my entrepreneurial side as I get to start new projects and think about what kind of business I want to be in charge of for the next few years. The downside of this process is the direction change has an impact on my income in the present. Many of my current projects are winding down, and because I’m not launching new projects just yet, I rely on ongoing cash-flow from my more consistent income streams like blog advertising and affiliate income . This means I’m not making quite as much money and I’m also spending money to invest in new projects. I’ve seen the signs of these changes coming for a while now so I’ve been preparing for it. Previously I spent money easily and didn’t worry if I was “wasting” money here and there because my focus was on generating revenue. Since my new projects won’t generate revenue for a while, I’ve reduced costs, an activity many business owners neglect, which is a real opportunity to increase profit. A Changing Environment There are many changes occurring right now that are impacting my business. Here are some of them – The US dollar has dropped in value significantly . I’m in Australia and pay for my life in Australian dollars. In the past I’ve earned as much as 50% extra when converting USD to AUD. If I made $1,000 USD, that would go into my bank account as around $1,500 AUD. Today as I type this that ratio has changed dramatically. Now for every $1 US I deposit I receive about $0.90 Australian – I lose 10% on the currency exchange. The amount of blogs and information products out there in the make money online and internet marketing niche has exploded . A lot of people are doing good work, and that means people have more choice with whom they choose to spend their educational dollars with, or even just whom they pay attention to. If you’re not constantly over-delivering, then you are losing your audience to other, better content producers. What works in my market has changed . For example, when I wrote the Blog Profits Blueprint , Blog Carnivals were a traffic tactic that still had some merit. Today people want to know about Twitter and Facebook . Fundamentals never change, but some tools and techniques grow old and new ones emerge, and people want to know what is the latest and greatest. You personally need to remain current in your knowledge . With all these changes going on to technology and marketing techniques and media formats, you need to at least stay aware of what is going on. If you truly want to remain at the top of your field, awareness alone is not enough. You have to study and implement these new options so you can speak with authority that only comes from actually doing something. You need to be your own case study. These are just some of the changes. Not all of them affect every industry, but from my point of view based on the business model I have followed for the last few years, they are all very relevant. Responding To Change I’ve had to make some changes to respond to the current market conditions so I can ensure I have enough ongoing cash-flow to keep things running smoothly while I am in an investment and development phase. I’m also considering how my current projects will evolve to deal with these changes. Here are some examples of the kind of changes I’ve been making to my business – The Currency Issue The weakening US dollar combined with a transition period in my business direction has seen my income fall compared to previous years. I’ve already begun to make some changes, switching some of my income streams, such as advertising prices on this blog, to Australian dollars. I am also changing the price to AUD for my products, but I have to be careful with that because the majority of my customers are from the US. If the currency exchange results in a significant increase in cost for Americans, sales will drop. This problem is difficult to judge because I don’t know where the dollar is going. If the USD collapses completely then focusing on the Australian market may be my best option (selling to Australians in AUD is sustainable while I live here, although a significant reduction in market size because Australia has a much smaller population). If the USD stays around where it currently is, or doesn’t get much worse or improves, then charging in AUD or USD won’t have much of an impact. For now I’m adjusting on the fly based on what the exchange rate is. Cutting Costs I’ve cut the cost of some of the ongoing expenses I have in my business, for example – When I built my training programs I initially used Cachefly CDN to host my media, including videos, audios and PDFs, which provide a server specifically set up for delivering large files. When Amazon S3 came out (another service specifically for delivering large files based on Amazon’s cloud hosting technology) I switched over to that service. Amazon charges by how much bandwidth you use. Cachefly charges a flat monthly fee for a set amount of bandwidth, regardless of whether you use it. My hosting bill was significant because I had purchased so many Cachefly accounts. I continued to pay the fee for a long time because I couldn’t be bothered moving all the files to Amazon and updating the links. Finally at the start of this year I made the switch, I moved the files and my assistant updated the links. It took a couple of hours all up, and reduced my hosting bill by over $2,000 a year . Like most internet marketers I’ve registered a lot of domain names for ideas. Most of the domains I will never use, and even though they cost about $10 a year to maintain, if you have enough domains doing nothing, the bill can add up. I’ve saved almost $500 this year simply by not renewing the domains I’m not going to use. AWeber , my email autoresponder, is vital to the success of my business, however it’s long time overdue for me to “clean” my list. Cleaning simply means taking some steps to cull people from your list who are no longer reading your emails. I’ve got over 80,000 people on my lists collected over five years now, but I know a proportion of these email addresses are dead. Aweber charges by how many people subscribe and my bill has been over $500 a month for a while (even after culling deleted subscribers regularly). In the near future I’ll send notices to everyone on my email list letting people know that if they want to continue receiving my messages they have to confirm their intention. I’ll do this a few times to make sure everyone gets a chance to keep their account active, but if they don’t respond to any of the notifications they will be removed from my list. I expect I might lose as many as 50% of my subscribers doing this, but the end result will be a list of more responsive people and I won’t be spending money to keep dead email addresses on my list. This will save $2,000 to $3,000 a year. Just making these changes has “found” about $5,000 I now get to keep instead of spend on things I don’t need. There are many other things I am cutting out too that I no longer need or never needed in the first place. Cutting costs is worth taking the time to do, so think about it for your own business. Renovating My Products I’ve got some great training materials in my courses. Most of it is relevant and valuable, although some sections need to be updated or removed, and a few new topics need to be added. I also need to restructure what content goes in what courses and consider where I want to expand out into new training resources. In short, my entire sales final needs renovating, which is something I’d like to complete this year. I also have the 2-Hour Work Day report (finished) and program to release, and consider how it will fit into my business as well. There are branding decisions to make, as well as pricing decisions, which are critical when it comes to structuring a solid front and back end sequence of products. What Floats My Boat If you are anything like me, despite knowing there are some great opportunities in front of you doing what already works, sometimes you want a change. In my case although I love running an information publishing business I’m more excited about two things I am working on right now. They are – A software service for bloggers that will be released in the second half of this year. Switching to the magazine model for this blog. These two things are my main focus and heavily interlinked. These are the projects that excite me the most. I’ve always wanted to get into software and I’ve had an idea for a long time that has finally started to come together with the right people helping me make it happen. I like this project because it’s not about me, my personal brand, and has significant potential for leverage if it works. I see this as a true Internet start-up that could go big, and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how you respond once I release it. It delivers a service I want as a blogger, and I expect lots of other bloggers will want to use it too. This blog for a long time has been a front end for my information publishing business , but that is changing. I’ve always loved the idea of having my own magazine, and running a blog that is focused on being a true “media” site, is pretty much the same thing. There are so many great blogs out there today that are larger than the biggest newspapers and magazines in the print world based on how many people read them. They run a model that isn’t about selling ebooks or courses, instead they deliver a stream of content that people check in every day to consume. The model is about audience size and advertising revenue, and owning a “content channel”. The focus isn’t on one individual personality. You may have noticed that both these focuses are similar in one aspect – they remove me from the equation . While I will be heavily involved with the development of these projects, and I will continue to write to this blog, the goal is to make everything less dependent on any one person. This means they are businesses that deliver value because of the system in place and/or a group of people are responsible for success, with no one individual responsible for any critical component. If someone leaves, the value doesn’t, so the business continues. This is a deliberate choice because I want to create businesses that are sellable and income streams that don’t rely on me. I’ve done a pretty good job of this already in the information publishing world despite basing it on my own brand, but this can only take you so far. I want to move beyond me. You can already see evidence of these changes with all the great columnists coming on board here at Entrepreneurs-Journey. Obviously for this to work we have to continue to deliver value and that is my primary goal. I realize some people come to this blog specifically for my work, which will still be here (this article is yet another example of me continuing to write about my own entrepreneurs-journey), but now you will get more. What Do You Want? I have no idea if any of these changes will pay off, but it’s exciting to be doing it. It’s a new phase for me and I enjoy the challenge and the potential. I value your feedback throughout this process and I’d especially love to know what you would like to see more of on Entrepreneurs-Journey. You come here for a reason and face challenges of your own. The more awareness I have of what you are striving for, what problems you need to solve and what goals you have, the better job we can do providing solutions here at this blog. I’d love to hear your feedback as comment replies. As always, thanks for reading, Yaro Starak Entrepreneur Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: article, australia, business, domains, entrepreneur, internet, online, personal, project, small-business, young

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Notes from the Hiring Front

by Paul Joseph May 16, 2011 Featured

Our company is in the fortunate position of growing at a significant rate. We have more than doubled in size in the past year and anticipate the same rate of growth over the next year. Not a day goes by when we don’t have at least one candidate in the office seeking out a job in one of our many departments. For an entrepreneurial company, few decisions are more important than hiring decisions. Every hire is an investment in money, time and effort. A single bad hire can result in a significant setback to a business. A great hire, on the other hand, can be a godsend to a small business. No employer has a perfect record when it comes to hiring. There will always be candidates that seem like a perfect fit and then turn out to be duds… or worse. At Blue Fountain Media, we’ve been fortunate enough to make some tremendous hires, but we’ve also had our share of mistakes. Over the years, though, we’ve gotten much better at identifying individuals both with the talents we are looking for and the personal qualities we seek in our team members. Here’s how we do it: The Job Description Some job descriptions are written like a kid’s list for Santa. They ask for the impossible and hope someone responds who has half the skills listed in the job description. We have found that it is much smarter to take the time to focus on exactly what you’d need from the position and lay it out clearly. If you are an entrepreneurial company where everyone wears many hats, make sure you emphasize that in the job description. A lot of people aren’t cut out for working in small, hectic workplaces and you don’t want to be stuck with someone who can’t handle the pressure. Writing a clear job description also helps you to focus on exactly what skills you need to add to take your team to the next level. Reading the Resume I have found you can learn a lot from a resume. More often than not, a resume will have at least one significant red flag. Make sure you pay attention. Typos, Grammatical Errors, and Terrible Writing Skills: It all goes back to discipline. If you can’t take the time to do things right, then don’t waste my time by sending me your resume. Since I need the members of my department to have excellent writing skills, I always make a major point of this in the job descriptions I write. You’d be amazed how many people who can’t put together two coherent sentences profess to want to be communications or content specialists. The worst instance of this- and I’m not making this up- was a guy who misspelled his own name in his logo ! Ignoring the Job Description: A job description is not a wish list. It is a specific blueprint for the person we feel will be suited to the position. When I say “minimum four years communications experience,” that does not mean four years of texting your friends in college. It means working in the communications field for four years! Self Aggrandizement: When you are applying for a very junior position, don’t call yourself an “expert,” unless you can prove your expertise immediately and convincingly. If you interned at a large company, don’t tell me how you “coordinated the project” you were working on. I really don’t mind that you did grunt work- that’s what interns do . Liars: This may seem like a no-brainer, but misrepresenting your background can come back and bite you in the butt. I routinely do Google searches on job candidates and I can’t tell you how often information on the web contradicts information on a resume or in a cover letter. Social Media Inventory In this day and age, an employer who fails to check out a candidate’s social media presence is making a huge mistake. How a person presents themselves in social media can tell you an enormous amount in relation to what kind of employee they would be. Positives include a network of close friends, creativity, writing ability and humor. The negatives, of course, can range from clear substance issues to a dramatic lack of judgment. Also, social media pages can help verify or put into question information contained on an applicant’s resume. The Interview Don’t waste your time interviewing dozens of candidates for a job. If you’ve reviewed the resumes carefully and done your social media homework, you should be able to narrow the search down to a handful of seemingly qualified applicants. Once I see a candidate face to face, I’m looking for the intangibles. I try to see how quick they are on their feet, how much preparation they’ve done for the interview and how excited they are to be there. You are not looking for your next best friend, but you are looking for someone you will enjoy working with for a long, long time. A candidate who has only the sketchiest idea of what your company does is someone who is either a fool, interviewing at dozens of places or simply has no interest in the job. We have a website that gives great detail on our people, our services and clients. If a candidate can’t take an hour to carefully review our website in anticipation for an interview, then that person is likely to be sloppy or careless in doing Another great “test” of a candidate is to go through the resume and ask about specific results. Anyone can tell you that they are a great marketer or salesperson, but I want to hear them tell me about a project they were involved in, what they contributed to the project and what the specific outcomes were. Even if a candidate is right out of school, I ask them to tell me what you attempted and what the results were: “I wrote an article in the college newspaper about waste in the dining halls and a new program was implemented…” “I organized a fund raising event for my fraternity and due to my efforts (with specifics) we raised $12,000 for…” “While in college I started a web design business and was able to pay my tuition for junior and senior year…” In Conclusion Every hiring decision you make will either advance your business or damage it. Failing to take the hiring process seriously is one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make. When you hire someone, you are putting a piece of your business into their hands. So do it right! Jon Gelberg is the Chief Content Officer at Blue Fountain Media, where he oversees a wide range of content initiatives including Blue Fountain Media’s “Business Learning Center.” Read more about Jon here .

Tagged as: business, entrepreneur, friends, interview, media, office, people, personal, small-business, time, web-design

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